Questions and Answers on the Object of Devotion Chapter4-1
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Question: In Japan there are ten Buddhist schools, the Dharma Analysis Treasury, Establishment of Truth, Precepts, Dharma Characteristics, Three Treatises, Flower Garland, True Word, Pure Land, Zen, and Lotus schools. These schools all differ in their object of devotion. The three schools of Dharma Analysis Treasury, Establishment of Truth, and Precepts honor the little Shakyamuni of the inferior manifested body. The two schools of Dharma Characteristics and Three Treatises have the big Shakyamuni Buddha [of the superior manifested body] as their object of devotion. The Flower Garland school honors the Shakyamuni Thus Come One of the reward body who is Vairochana on a lotus pedestal.3 The True Word school honors Mahāvairochana Thus Come One, the Pure Land school honors Amida Buddha, and the Zen school, like some of the other schools, pays honor to Shakyamuni. Why then does the Tendai school alone take the Lotus Sutra as its object of devotion?
Answer: There is a reason why these other schools have a Buddha as their object of devotion, while this school, the Tendai, has a sutra as the object of devotion.
Question: What then is the reason? Which is superior, a Buddha or a sutra?
Answer: As the object of devotion one should select that which is superior. Thus, for example, Confucianism has selected the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of antiquity as its object of devotion. And in like manner, in Buddhism, Shakyamuni should be regarded as the object of devotion.
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Notes
3. Vairochana is the central Buddha of the Flower Garland Sutra. Though Vairochana is interpreted differently according to the various schools, the Flower Garland school identifies it as another name for Shakyamuni Buddha and, among the three bodies, as the reward body.