Questions and Answers on the Object of Devotion Chapter6-3

Question: Had the Great Teacher Kōbō never read the Lotus Sutra?

Answer: The Great Teacher Kōbō had read the complete body of sutras. But when he came to evaluate the relative profundity of the Lotus, Flower Garland, and Mahāvairochana sutras and to rank them in terms of superiority, this is how he read the passage [in the “Peaceful Practices” chapter] of the Lotus Sutra: “Manjushrī, this Lotus Sutra is the secret storehouse of the Buddhas, the Thus Come Ones. Among the sutras, it holds the lowest place.” And the passage [in the “Teacher of the Law” chapter] he read in this way: “Medicine King, now I say to you, I have preached various sutras, and among those sutras the Lotus is the third in rank.”

And when the Great Teachers Jikaku and Chishō came to read these passages, they read them thus: “Among the sutras the Lotus Sutra holds the middle place” and “The Lotus is the second in rank.”

The Thus Come One Shakyamuni, Many Treasures Buddha, the Thus Come One Mahāvairochana, and all the other Buddhas have declared of the Lotus Sutra as it compares to all the other sutras that “the Lotus is foremost,” and that “the Lotus Sutra holds the highest place.” In the end, then, it is a question of whose opinion one is to regard as authoritative, that of Shakyamuni and the Buddhas of the ten directions, or that of the three great teachers, Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō. Just because it happens also to be my opinion, is it right to reject the opinion of Shakyamuni and the Buddhas of the ten directions and instead to go on for so long accepting as authoritative the opinion of these three great teachers?

———————————-（continued to Chapter7-1)————————————–