On Reprimanding Hachiman Chapter18
The second kind of uprightness is that of the non-secular world. The sutras preached previous to the Lotus Sutra and the sutras, treatises, and commentaries of the seven schools of Buddhism38 are lying words, while the Lotus Sutra and the commentaries of the Tendai school are upright works. In his original form he is Shakyamuni Buddha, who expounded the sutra that contains no lying words, while in his temporary manifestation he is Great Bodhisattva Hachiman, who speaks no lying words. The eight-petaled lotus represents Hachiman, and the central dais represents Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings.39 Both Shakyamuni and Hachiman were born on the eighth day of the fourth month, the day of the tiger, and after a life of eighty years, departed this world on the fifteenth day of the second month, the day of the monkey. How then can one doubt that the lord of teachings was born here in the country of Japan?
The stone inscription at Hachiman Shrine of Ōsumi40 reads, “Long ago on Eagle Peak he preached the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law. Now he has manifested himself as the Great Bodhisattva and resides in the main shrine.”
The Lotus Sutra says, “Now this threefold world [is all my domain, and the living beings in it are all my children].”41 And it says, “Constantly I have dwelled on Holy Eagle Peak.”42 Long ago all the living beings throughout the major world system were children of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni. And more recently the 4,994,828 inhabitants of this country of Japan have been the children of Great Bodhisattva Hachiman.
Now for all the living beings of Japan to pay honor to Hachiman and yet cast aside Shakyamuni Buddha is like showing respect for the shadow but contempt for the form that casts it, or like welcoming the child but speaking ill of the parent.
In his original form he made his appearance in the land of India as the Thus Come One Shakyamuni, who, “honestly discarding expedient means,”43 preached the Lotus Sutra, and in his temporary manifestation he was born in the land of Japan as a being who dwells upon the heads of those who are honest or upright.
The original form of various provisional beings is the single true reality of the Lotus Sutra, but in their temporary manifestations they follow innumerable different doctrines. Thus the Venerable Bakkula44 in existence after existence observed the precept against the taking of life, while Angulimāla in lifetime after lifetime killed living beings, and Shāriputra was a follower of non-Buddhist teachings.45 Thus they were at first ordinary followers of various different doctrines. After these people had attained Buddhahood and devoted themselves to saving others, they revealed the kind of life they had lived when they were still ordinary mortals and had first conceived the determination to attain the way, doing this in order to show what sort of doctrine or manner of life led to their attainment of the way.
Thus the Great Teacher Miao-lo says: “If one is speaking of a Buddha in his original form, then although he may have killed living beings and done other evil deeds in the past, he still gained emancipation from the sufferings of birth and death. Hence it is possible that his temporary manifestations could also have killed living beings and thereby been led to the doctrines that bring salvation to others.”46
Notes
38. The six schools (see Glossary) and the True Word school.
39. Applying the concept of the Womb Realm mandala of Esoteric Buddhism, the Daishonin explains that Shakyamuni Buddha seated on the central dais is the original form and Hachiman seated on one of the eight petals is its temporary manifestation.
40. Ōsumi Province was an area in what is now Kagoshima in the southernmost part of Kyushu. The stone itself no longer exists, but the inscription is quoted in a work by the Zen priest Nampo Genshō (1555–1620).
44. One of Shakyamuni Buddha’s disciples. He was born to a wealthy family in Shrāvastī, India. It is said that in the remote past he offered some money to Vipashyin Buddha and received instruction in the precept “not to kill.”
45. According to The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, in his past existence, Shāriputra was practicing the bodhisattva way when a Brahman begged for his eye. Shāriputra gave it to him, but the Brahman was so revolted by its smell that he dropped and crushed it. Seeing this, Shāriputra withdrew in despair from his practice.
46. The Annotations on “Great Concentration and Insight.”