Questions and Answers on the Object of Devotion Chapter10-2

Questions and Answers on the Object of Devotion Chapter10-2

———————————-（continued from Chapter10-1)———————————-

The Dharma Characteristics school was originally a shallow and inferior doctrine derived from the sutras of provisional Mahayana. But it gradually developed and expanded until it stood side by side with the other schools of provisional and true Mahayana, and even attempted to defeat the other schools. It is like the military leaders Masakado and Sumitomo of Japan, men of inferior rank who attempted to overthrow their superiors.

The Three Treatises school is likewise a type of provisional Mahayana, teaching a version of the doctrine of non-substantiality, though it thinks of itself as representing true Mahayana.

The Flower Garland school is also a type of provisional Mahayana, but superior to the other schools mentioned, being comparable in rank to the regent or prime minister in the imperial government. But because it is founded on doctrines that are inimical to the Lotus Sutra, it is like a subject or government official who attempts to rank with the sovereign.

The school known as Pure Land is a division of provisional Mahayana. But Shan-tao and Hōnen cleverly deceived people by relegating the other sutras to an impossibly exalted position and declaring the Meditation and other Pure Land sutras to be easily accessible, relegating the capacities of the people of the Former and Middle Days of the Law to an exalted position and those of the people of the Latter Day of the Law to a subordinate position. They declared that the Nembutsu practice is suitable to the capacities of people of the Latter Day of the Law, catering to the people’s capacity and destroying the message of the sutras. They ignored the true meaning of the sacred teachings expounded by the Buddha during his lifetime and reduced all to the one practice of the Nembutsu. The school is thus comparable to a person of clever mind but lowly position who attempts to elevate his position, who pays respect to those who are foolish but ignores persons of real worth.

The school known as Zen claims that there is a doctrine of truth that is separate from the sacred teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime. It is like a person who slays the father but makes use of the son, or like a retainer who slays his lord and then usurps the lord’s position.