On Reprimanding Hachiman Chapter5
Now if we consider the matter, we realize that Hachiman is merely the ruler and patron deity of this small country of Japan. In terms of the Hinayana teachings, he is a bodhisattva of the three stages of worthiness; in terms of the Mahayana teachings, a bodhisattva who has mastered the ten stages of faith; and in terms of the Lotus Sutra, a bodhisattva who has mastered the five stages of practice,6 which correspond to the stage of hearing the name and words of the truth. No matter who the patron deity may be or how many inexhaustible blessings he may have acquired through his religious practice, if he does not heed the words of the Lotus Sutra and protect those who practice meditation on the three thousand realms in a single moment of life, then he is a bodhisattva who has failed to live up to his position and will no doubt spend countless years sunk in the great citadel of the hell of incessant suffering.
Thus A Brief History of Japan says: “Again for the benefit of Great Bodhisattva Hachiman, the Great Teacher Dengyō in person lectured on the Lotus Sutra in the temple attached to the bodhisattva’s shrine. After the great deity had finished listening to the lecture, he spoke through a medium, saying, ‘Many long years have passed in which I was unable to listen to the sound of the Law. Now I have had the good fortune to encounter you, Reverend, and have been able to hear the correct teaching. Moreover, for my sake you have carried out various types of meritorious practices. Truly I am overwhelmed with joy. How can I ever repay such kindness? As it happens, I have some priestly robes that I have possessed for some time.’ Then the medium who delivered the oracle himself opened the sanctuary of the shrine, took out a purple surplice and a purple robe, and presented them to the Great Teacher Dengyō, saying, ‘I trust through the power of your great compassion you will do me the favor of accepting these.’
“At that time the Shinto priests and their assistant priests all sighed in wonder, saying, ‘Never in the past have we observed such a marvelous happening, nor have we ever heard of its like!’ The robes that were bestowed by the great deity at that time are now preserved in the Monastery of the Mountain King.7”
Now it should be noted that Hachiman appeared long ago as Emperor Ōjin, the sixteenth sovereign of Japan.8 But at that time there were no Buddhist sutras in existence in Japan, so he could not have come into possession of any priestly surplice and robe.
Later, in the thirty-second year of the reign of the thirtieth sovereign, Emperor Kimmei [571], Hachiman manifested himself as a god.9 Thereafter, until the fifth year of the Kōnin era [814] [when the incident described above took place], the sanctuary of Hachiman Shrine was constantly guarded by a succession of Shinto priests and their assistants. During the reign of what sovereign, then, are we to suppose that the priestly robes were deposited there? The Shinto priests and their assistants declared that “never in the past had they seen or heard of such a thing!” How then did this Great Bodhisattva come into possession of this surplice and robe? It is all very strange, very strange!
Furthermore, the period from the time of Emperor Kimmei until the fifth year of the Kōnin era embraces the reigns of twenty-two sovereigns, a span of over 260 years of the Buddhist teachings in Japan. During that time, the Three Treatises, Establishment of Truth, Dharma Characteristics, Dharma Analysis Treasury, Flower Garland, Precepts, and Zen schools that make up the six or seven schools of Buddhism were introduced to Japan, and the persons who lectured on the sutras in the presence of Great Bodhisattva Hachiman must have been too numerous to be counted. And it is impossible to think that there were none among them who read and recited the Lotus Sutra. What is more, alongside the sanctuary of Great Bodhisattva Hachiman is the temple attached to the shrine, called Jingū-ji, a hall in which lectures are held on the Lotus Sutra and the other sutras that make up the canon and which was already in existence before the time of the Great Teacher Dengyō. In the time following its founding, the deity must have heard the Buddhist teachings expounded there. Why then did he now suddenly declare through a medium that many long years had passed in which he could not hear the sound of the Law? And since any number of persons must in the past have lectured to him on the Lotus Sutra or the other works that make up the canon, why did he not present this surplice and robe to one of them?
Notes
6. Five stages of practice to be followed after Shakyamuni’s death, which T’ien-t’ai formulated based on the contents of chapter seventeen of the Lotus Sutra. They are (1) to rejoice on hearing the Lotus Sutra, (2) to read and recite the sutra, (3) to expound the sutra to others, (4) to embrace the sutra and practice the six pāramitās, and (5) to perfect one’s practice of the six pāramitās. “The stage of hearing the name and words of the truth” is one of the six stages of practice (see Glossary).
7. One of the monasteries at Enryaku-ji temple on Mount Hiei, where Dengyō enshrined a statue of Thousand-armed Perceiver of the World’s Sounds.
8. Around the beginning of the Heian period (794–1185), Hachiman was given the title Great Bodhisattva by the imperial court, an early instance of the fusion of Buddhist and Shinto elements. Also during the Heian period, Hachiman became identified with Emperor Ōjin.
9. This statement appears in A Brief History of Japan. Kimmei is now regarded as the twenty-ninth emperor, because the administration of the fifteenth ruler, Empress Jingū, is no longer considered a formal reign. In Nichiren Daishonin’s time, however, she was included in the lineage, so Emperor Kimmei was counted as the thirtieth sovereign. In the reign of Emperor Kimmei, Buddhism was introduced to Japan from the Korean kingdom of Paekche in 552.