The Opening of the Eyes

Chapter30(Putting out the fact that the voice-hearers were scold in the past)

The four great voice-hearers, in the passage that expresses their understanding, proclaimed: “Now we have become voice-hearers in truth, for we will take the voice of the Buddha way and cause it to be heard by all. Now we have become true arhats, for everywhere among the heavenly and human beings, devils, and Brahmās of the various worlds we deserve to receive offerings. The World-Honored One in his great mercy makes use of a rare thing, in pity and compassion teaching and converting, bringing benefit to us. In numberless millions of kalpas who could ever repay him? Though we offer him our hands and feet, bow our heads in respectful obeisance, and present all manner of offerings, none of us could repay him. Though we lift him on the crown of our heads, bear him on our two shoulders, for kalpas numerous as Ganges sands reverence him with all our hearts; though we come with delicate foods, with countless jeweled robes, with articles of bedding, various kinds of potions and medicines; with oxhead sandalwood and all kinds of rare gems, construct memorial towers and spread the ground with jeweled robes; though we were to do all this by way of offering for kalpas numerous as Ganges sands, still we could not repay him.”⁹¹

In the various sutras preached during the earlier period of the Buddha’s teaching life, which have been compared to the first four flavors, the voice-hearers were depicted on countless occasions as being subjected to all kinds of abuse and shamed before the great assembly of human and heavenly beings. Thus we are told that the sound of the Venerable Mahākāshyapa’s weeping and wailing echoed throughout the major world system,⁹² that the Venerable Subhūti was so dumbfounded that he almost went off and left the alms bowl⁹³ he had been carrying, that Shāriputra spat out the food he was eating,⁹⁴ and that Pūrna was berated for being the kind who would put filth in a precious jar.⁹⁵

When the World-Honored One was at Deer Park, he extolled the Āgama sutras and enjoined his disciples to rely on the two hundred and fifty precepts as their teacher, warmly praising those who did so, and yet before long, as we have seen, he turned about and began condemning such men. He is guilty, we would have to say, of making two different and completely contradictory pronouncements.

Thus, for example, the World-Honored One cursed Devadatta, saying, “You are a fool who licks the spit of others!” Devadatta felt as though a poison arrow had been shot into his breast, and he cried out in anger, declaring: “Gautama is no Buddha! I am the eldest son of King Dronodana, the elder brother of the Venerable Ānanda, and kin to Gautama. No matter what kind of evil conduct I might be guilty of, he ought to admonish me in private for it. But to publicly and outrageously accuse me of faults in front of this great assembly of human and heavenly beings—is this the behavior appropriate to a great man or a Buddha? He showed himself to be my enemy in the past when he stole the woman I intended to marry,⁹⁶ and he has shown himself my enemy at this gathering today. From this day forward, I will look upon him as my archenemy for lifetime after lifetime and age after age to come!”⁹⁷

When we stop to consider, we note that, of the great voice-hearers, some were originally from non-Buddhist Brahman families, or were leaders of various non-Buddhist orders who had converted kings to their teachings and were looked up to by their followers. Others were men of noble families or the possessors of great wealth. But they abandoned their exalted positions in life, lowered the banners of their pride, cast off everyday clothing, and wrapped their bodies in the humble, dingy-hued robes of a Buddhist monk. They threw away their white fly whisks, their bows and arrows, and took up a solitary alms bowl, becoming like paupers and beggars and following the World-Honored One. They had no dwellings to protect them from the wind and rain, and very little in the way of food or clothing by which to sustain life. Moreover, all the people of the five regions and the four seas of India were disciples or lay supporters of the non-Buddhist teachings, so that even the Buddha himself was on nine occasions forced to suffer major hardships.

Thus, for example, Devadatta hurled a great stone at him, and King Ajātashatru loosed a drunken elephant on him. Failing to receive alms from King Agnidatta, the Buddha was forced to eat horse fodder, and at a Brahman city, he was offered stinking rice gruel. Again, Chinchā, the daughter of a Brahman, tying a bowl to her belly, claimed to be pregnant with his child.⁹⁸

Needless to say, the Buddha’s disciples were likewise forced to suffer frequent hardships. Thus, countless numbers of the Shākya clan were killed by King Virūdhaka, and ten million of the Buddha’s followers were trampled to death by drunken elephants that were set upon them. The nun Utpalavarnā was killed by Devadatta, the Venerable Kālodāyin was buried in horse dung, and the Venerable Maudgalyāyana was beaten to death by members of a Brahman group named Bamboo Staff.⁹⁹ In addition, followers of the six non-Buddhist teachers banded together and slandered the Buddha before King Ajātashatru and King Prasenajit, saying: “Gautama is the most evil man in the whole land of Jambudvīpa. Wherever he may be, the three calamities and seven disasters rampage without fail. As the numerous rivers gather together in the great sea and the groves of trees cluster on the great mountains, so crowds of evil men gather about Gautama. The men called Mahākāshyapa, Shāriputra, Maudgalyāyana, and Subhūti are examples. All those who are born in human form should place loyalty to the sovereign and filial piety above all else. But these men have been so misled by Gautama that they disregard the lessons of their parents, abandon their families, and, defying the commandments of the king, go to live in the mountain forests. They should be expelled from this country. It is because they are allowed to remain that the sun, moon, and stars manifest sinister phenomena, and many strange happenings occur in the land.”¹⁰⁰

The voice-hearers did not know how they could possibly bear such persecutions. Then, as if to add to their hardship, [the Buddha himself began to denounce them]. They found it difficult to follow him. Now and then, hearing him condemn them repeatedly in great assemblies of human and heavenly beings, and not knowing how to behave, they only became more confused.

On top of all this, they had to face the greatest hardship of all, as revealed in the Vimalakīrti Sutra, [when the Buddha addressed the voice-hearers], saying, “Those who give alms to you are cultivating for themselves no field of good fortune. Those who give alms to you will fall into the three evil paths.” These words were spoken when the Buddha was staying at Ambapālī Garden.¹⁰¹ There Brahmā, Shakra, the deities of the sun and moon, the four heavenly kings, and the heavenly gods of the threefold world, along with earthly gods, dragon gods, and other beings as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, had gathered in this great assembly, when the Buddha said, “The heavenly and human beings who give alms to Subhūti and the other monks will fall into the three evil paths.” After the heavenly and human beings had heard this, would they be likely to go on giving alms to the voice-hearers? It would almost appear as though the Buddha were deliberately attempting through his words to inflict death upon those who upheld the two vehicles. The more sensible persons in the assembly were no doubt repelled by the Buddha’s action. Nevertheless, the voice-hearers were able to obtain enough of the alms given to the Buddha to keep themselves alive, meager though the amount was.

Notes

91. Lotus Sutra, chap. 4. “A rare thing” in the quotation refers to the Lotus Sutra, and “offer him our hands and feet” means to serve the Buddha and practice his teachings.

92. This story appears in the Vimalakīrti Sutra. When Mahākāshyapa heard Vimalakīrti speak about enlightenment, he could not understand it at all and wept over the fact that he did not inherently possess the seed of Buddhahood. The sutra relates that the sound of his weeping echoed throughout the major world system.

93. This story is also found in the Vimalakīrti Sutra. One day Subhūti came to Vimalakīrti asking for alms. Vimalakīrti filled Subhūti’s bowl but told him that he did not deserve to receive alms and that those who offered alms to him would invariably fall into the three evil paths. At that time Subhūti was so shocked that he almost went off without his alms bowl.

94. This story is found in The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom. When Shakyamuni Buddha reproached Shāriputra for eating impure food, Shāriputra was so surprised that he spat it out. Impure food indicates what is not an offering made from the heart.

95. This story appears in the Vimalakīrti Sutra. When Shakyamuni Buddha saw Pūrna preaching the Hinayana teachings to the people, he told Pūrna that he should not put impure things into a precious vessel.

96. In the period before Shakyamuni renounced the secular life, he married Yashodharā, a beautiful woman whom Devadatta had wished to marry. As a result, Devadatta nurtured a grudge against Shakyamuni.

97. Based on a passage in the Nirvana Sutra.

98. The above stories are included among the nine great ordeals or persecutions suffered by Shakyamuni Buddha. They are described in Great Perfection of Wisdom and other texts.

99. The story of King Virūdhaka appears in The Monastic Rules on Various Matters and elsewhere; it is also included in the nine great ordeals mentioned above. The story of the nun Utpalavarnā is found in Great Perfection of Wisdom; because she reproved Devadatta for being a great enemy of Buddhism, he was so enraged that he beat her to death. Kālodāyin’s disaster is described in The Ten Divisions of Monastic Rules: one day when he was going about begging, a woman offered him alms, but her jealous and enraged husband killed him. The fate of Maudgalyāyana is found in Monastic Rules on Various Matters. All of these stories appear also in the various Āgama sutras.

100. Adapted from a passage in the Nirvana Sutra.

101. The garden of mango trees in the city of Vaishālī in India.

 

 

 

Chapter31(Suspicion that there is no protection by the voice-hearers)

 

Notes

101. The garden of mango trees in the city of Vaishālī in India.

102. A History of the Buddha’s Successors states that, when Mahākāshyapa felt that death was approaching, he transferred the teachings to Ānanda and went to Mount Kukkutapāda in Magadha, where he entered into meditation and died. It is said that not until Bodhisattva Maitreya appears in the world 5,670 million years after the Buddha’s death will Mahākāshyapa reappear.

103. Reference is to a passage in the “Medicine King” chapter of the Lotus Sutra that reads, “After I have passed into extinction, in the last five-hundred-year period you must spread it abroad widely throughout Jambudvīpa and never allow it to be cut off.”

104. Reference is to a special transmission outside the scriptures, not dependent on words and phrases, an expression commonly used in Zen.

105. Hōnen does not use these words in this particular form, however. Nichiren Daishonin took these words from The Nembutsu Chosen above All and put them together as a set.

 

 

 

Chapter32(The sutras preached before the Lotus Sutra had little kindness at all for the various Bodhisattvas)

In the sutras preached before the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha is shown predicting that various great bodhisattvas and heavenly and human beings will attain Buddhahood in the future. But trying to realize such predictions is like trying to grasp the moon in the water, like mistaking the reflection for the actual object—it has the color and shape of the object but not the reality. Likewise, the Buddha would seem to be displaying profound kindness in making such predictions, but in fact it is little kindness at all.

When the World-Honored One had first attained enlightenment and had not yet begun to preach, more than sixty great bodhisattvas, including Dharma Wisdom, Forest of Merits, Diamond Banner, and Diamond Storehouse, appeared from the various Buddha lands of the ten directions and came before Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings. There, at the request of the bodhisattvas Chief Wise, Moon of Deliverance, and others, they preached the doctrines of the ten stages of security, the ten stages of practice, the ten stages of devotion, the ten stages of development,¹⁰⁶ and so forth. The doctrines that these great bodhisattvas preached were not learned from Shakyamuni Buddha. At that time, Brahmā and other deities of the worlds of the ten directions came together and preached the various teachings, but again those were not what they had learned from Shakyamuni.

These great bodhisattvas, deities, dragons, and others who appeared at the assembly described in the Flower Garland Sutra were beings who had dwelt in “inconceivable emancipation”¹⁰⁷ since before Shakyamuni Buddha began preaching. Perhaps they were disciples of Shakyamuni when he was carrying out bodhisattva practices in previous existences, or perhaps they were disciples of previous Buddhas of the worlds of the ten directions. In any event, they were not disciples of the Shakyamuni who first attained enlightenment in this world and expounded his lifetime teachings.

It was only when the Buddha set forth the four teachings in the Āgama, Correct and Equal, and Wisdom periods that he finally acquired disciples. And although they were doctrines preached by the Buddha himself, they were not doctrines that revealed his true intention. Why do I say this? Because the specific and perfect teachings, as set forth in the sutras of the Correct and Equal and the Wisdom periods, do not differ in meaning from the specific and perfect teachings as set forth in the Flower Garland Sutra. The specific and perfect teachings given in the Flower Garland Sutra are not the specific and perfect teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. They are the specific and perfect teachings of Dharma Wisdom and the other great bodhisattvas mentioned earlier. These great bodhisattvas may appear to most people to have been disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, but in fact it would be better to call them his teachers. The World-Honored One listened to these bodhisattvas’ preaching and, after gaining wisdom and understanding, proceeded to set forth the specific and perfect teachings of the sutras of the Correct and Equal and the Wisdom periods. But these differ in no way from the specific and perfect teachings of the Flower Garland Sutra.

Therefore, we know that these great bodhisattvas were the teachers of Shakyamuni. These bodhisattvas are mentioned in the Flower Garland Sutra, where they are called “good friends.” To call a person a good friend means that that person is neither one’s teacher nor one’s disciple. The two types of teachings called Tripitaka and connecting teachings are offshoots of the specific and perfect teachings. Anyone who understands the specific and perfect teachings will invariably understand the Tripitaka and connecting teachings as well.

A teacher is someone who teaches his disciples things that they did not previously know. For example, in the ages before the Buddha, the heavenly and human beings and followers of Brahmanism were all disciples of the two deities¹⁰⁸ and the three ascetics. Though their doctrines branched off to form ninety-five different schools, these did not go beyond the views of the three ascetics. Shakyamuni, the lord of teachings, also studied these doctrines and for a time became a disciple of the Brahmanic teachers. But after spending twelve years in various painful and comfortable practices,¹⁰⁹ he came to understand the principles of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self. Therefore, he ceased to call himself a disciple of the Brahmanic teachings and instead proclaimed himself the possessor of a wisdom acquired from no teacher at all. Thus in time the human and heavenly beings came to look up to him as a great teacher.

It is clear, therefore, that during the teaching period of the first four flavors Shakyamuni, the lord of teachings, was a disciple of Dharma Wisdom and the other great bodhisattvas. Similarly, he was the ninth disciple of Bodhisattva Manjushrī.¹¹⁰ This is also the reason why the Buddha repeatedly declares in the earlier sutras, “I never preached a single word.”

 

Notes

106. These four types of ten stages are divisions of the fifty-two stages through which a bodhisattva advances from his first resolve to his attainment of perfect enlightenment.

107. “Inconceivable emancipation” is defined as awakening to the profound and subtle principle of Mahayana. Described in the Vimalakīrti Sutra.

108. The two deities are Shiva and Vishnu.

109. After he renounced secular life, Shakyamuni engaged in various practices for twelve years until he attained enlightenment. It is said that for the first six years he carried out ascetic practices (painful), and for the second six years he persevered in the practice of meditation (comfortable).

110. This story appears in the “Introduction” chapter of the Lotus Sutra. In the distant past, Manjushrī appeared as Bodhisattva Wonderfully Bright, a disciple of Sun Moon Bright Buddha. After the Buddha’s demise, Wonderfully Bright continued to embrace the Lotus Sutra, which his teacher had expounded. The Buddha had fathered eight sons before renouncing the world. Wonderfully Bright led the princes to enlightenment. The last of them to attain Buddhahood was Burning Torch Buddha, under whom Shakyamuni practiced the sutra for enlightenment in a previous existence. This is why Shakyamuni is called “the ninth disciple of Bodhisattva Manjushrī.”

 

 

 

Chapter33(Revealing the deep benefit of the Lotus Sutra)

When Shakyamuni Buddha was seventy-two, he preached the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra on Eagle Peak in the kingdom of Magadha. At that time he denied all the sutras he had preached during the previous more than forty years, and all the fragmentary teachings derived from those sutras, saying, “In these more than forty years, I have not yet revealed the truth.” At that time, the great bodhisattvas and the various heavenly and human beings hastened to implore the Buddha to reveal the true doctrine. In fact, in the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra he made a single pronouncement that appeared to suggest the true doctrine,¹¹¹ but he did not elaborate on it. It was like the moment when the moon is about to rise. The moon is still hidden behind the eastern hills, and though its glow begins to light the western hills, people cannot yet see the body of the moon itself.

In the “Expedient Means” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, in the section that concisely reveals the replacement of the three vehicles with the one vehicle, the Buddha briefly explained the concept of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, the doctrine that he had kept in mind for his final revelation. But because this was the first time he had touched on the subject, it was only dimly apprehended, like the first note of the cuckoo heard by someone drowsy with sleep, or like the moon appearing over the rim of the hill but veiled in thin clouds. Shāriputra and the others, startled, called the heavenly beings, dragon deities, and great bodhisattvas together and, begging for instruction, said: “The heavenly beings, dragons, spirits, and the others, their numbers like Ganges sands, the bodhisattvas seeking to be Buddhas in a great force of eighty thousand, as well as the wheel-turning kings [who] come from ten thousands of millions of lands, all press their palms and with reverent minds wish to hear the teaching of perfect endowment.”¹¹²

The passage indicates that they requested to hear a doctrine such as they had not heard in the previous more than forty years, one that differed from the four flavors and the three teachings. With regard to the part “[they] wish to hear the teaching of perfect endowment,” it may be noted that the Nirvana Sutra states, “Sad¹¹³ indicates perfect endowment.” The Profound Meaning of the Four Mahayana Treatises states, “Sad connotes six. In India the number six implies perfect endowment.” In his commentary Chi-tsang writes, “Sad is translated as perfect endowment.”¹¹⁴ In the eighth volume of his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra T’ien-t’ai remarks, “Sad is a Sanskrit word, which is translated as myō, or wonderful.” Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna, in the heart of his thousand-volume Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, comments, “Sad signifies six.” Nāgārjuna was thirteenth in the lineage of the Buddha’s successors, the founder of the True Word, Flower Garland, and the other schools, a great sage of the first stage of development, and the person whose true identity was the Thus Come One Dharma Clouds Freedom King.

 

Notes

 

 

 

Chapter34(Explaining the the characters Myoho-renge-kyo)

The characters Myoho-renge-kyo are Chinese. In India, the Lotus Sutra is called Saddharma-pundarīka-sūtra. The following is the mantra concerning the heart of the Lotus Sutra composed by the Tripitaka Master Shan-wu-wei:

 

namah samanta-buddhānām

om a ā am ah

sarva-buddha-jna-sākshebhyah

gagana-sambhavālakshani

saddharma-pundarīka-sūtra

jah hūm bam hoh vajrārakshaman

hūm svāhā

 

Hail to all the Buddhas! Three-bodied Thus Come Ones! Open the door to, show me, cause me to awaken to, and to enter into the wisdom and insight of all the Buddhas. You who are like space and who have freed yourself from form! Oh, Sutra of the White Lotus of the Correct Law! Cause me to enter into, to be everywhere within, to dwell in, and to rejoice in you. Oh, Adamantine Protector! Oh, empty, aspect-free, and desire-free sutra!¹¹⁵

 

This mantra, which expresses the heart of the Lotus Sutra, was found in the iron tower in southern India.¹¹⁶ In this mantra, saddharma means “correct Law.” Sad means correct. Correct is the same as myō [wonderful]; myō is the same as correct. Hence the Lotus Sutra of the Correct Law and the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law. And when the two characters for namu are prefixed to Myoho-renge-kyo, or the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law, we have the formula Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.¹¹⁷

Myō means perfect endowment. Six refers to the six pāramitās representing all the ten thousand practices. When people ask to hear the teaching of perfect endowment, they are asking how they may gain the perfect endowment of the six pāramitās and ten thousand practices of the bodhisattvas. In the phrase “perfect endowment,” endowment refers to the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, while perfect means that, since there is mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, then any one world contains all the other worlds, indicating that this is “perfect.” The Lotus Sutra is a single work consisting of eight volumes, twenty-eight chapters, and 69,384 characters. Each and every character is endowed with the character myō, each being a Buddha who has the thirty-two features and eighty characteristics. Each of the Ten Worlds manifests its own Buddhahood. As Miao-lo writes, “Since even Buddhahood is present in all living beings, then all the other worlds are of course present, too.”¹¹⁸

The Buddha replied to the request of his listeners by saying that “the Buddhas wish to open the door of Buddha wisdom to all living beings.”¹¹⁹ The term “all living beings” here refers to Shāriputra, and it also refers to icchantikas, persons of incorrigible disbelief. It also refers to the nine worlds. Thus the Buddha fulfilled his words, “Living beings are numberless. I vow to save them all,”¹²⁰ when he declares, “At the start I took a vow, hoping to make all persons equal to me, without any distinction between us, and what I long ago hoped for has now been fulfilled.”

All the great bodhisattvas, heavenly beings, and others, when they had heard the doctrine of the Buddha and comprehended it, said, “Since times past often we have heard the World-Honored One’s preaching, but we have never heard this kind of profound, wonderful, and superior Law.”¹²¹

The Great Teacher Dengyō comments: “‘Since times past often we have heard the World-Honored One’s preaching’ refers to the fact that they had heard him preach the great doctrines of the Flower Garland Sutra and other sutras in the time previous to the preaching of the Lotus Sutra. ‘We have never heard this kind of profound, wonderful, and superior Law’ means that they had never heard the teaching of the one vehicle of Buddhahood propounded in the Lotus Sutra.”¹²²

They understood, that is, that none of the previous Mahayana sutras—which are as numerous as the sands of the Ganges and include those of the Flower Garland, Correct and Equal, and Wisdom periods, such as the Profound Secrets and Mahāvairochana sutras—had ever made clear the great principle of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, the core of the Buddha’s lifetime teachings. Nor had they clarified the bone and marrow of those teachings, the doctrines that persons of the two vehicles can attain Buddhahood and that the Buddha attained enlightenment in the remote past.

 

Notes

 

 

 

Chapter35(Revealing deep benefits in the Lotus Sutra)

FROM this time forward, the great bodhisattvas, as well as Brahmā, Shakra, the gods of the sun and moon, and the four heavenly kings, became the disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings. Thus, in the “Treasure Tower” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha treats these great bodhisattvas as his disciples, admonishing and instructing them in these words: “So I say to the great assembly: After I have passed into extinction, who can guard and uphold, read and recite this sutra? Now in the presence of the Buddha let him come forward and speak his vow!” This was the solemn way he addressed them. Then, among the great bodhisattvas, it was “as though a great wind were tossing the branches of small trees.”¹²³ Like the kusha grass¹²⁴ bending before a great wind or like rivers and streams drawn to the great ocean, so were they drawn to the Buddha.

But it was still a relatively short time since the Buddha had begun to preach the Lotus Sutra on Eagle Peak, and what he said seemed to his listeners dreamlike and unreal. The treasure tower had first appeared to confirm the correctness of the theoretical teaching in the first half of the Lotus Sutra, and after that the treasure tower prepared the way for the expounding of the essential teaching in the latter half. The Buddhas of the ten directions gathered in assembly, Shakyamuni Buddha announcing that all of these were emanations of himself. The treasure tower hung in the air, with Shakyamuni and Many Treasures seated in it side by side, as though both the sun and moon had appeared side by side in the blue sky. The great assembly of human and heavenly beings were clustered in the sky like stars, and the Buddhas who were emanations of Shakyamuni Buddha were on the ground, seated on their lion seats under jeweled trees.

In the Lotus Treasury World described in the Flower Garland Sutra, the Buddhas in their reward bodies all dwell in their separate lands. Buddhas of other worlds do not come to this world and call themselves emanations [as happened in the case of the Lotus Sutra], nor do Buddhas of this world go to other worlds. Only Dharma Wisdom and the other great bodhisattvas come and go.

As for the nine honored ones on the eight-petaled lotus and the thirty-seven honored ones¹²⁵ described respectively in the Mahāvairochana and Diamond Crown sutras, although they appear to be transformation bodies of the Thus Come One Mahāvairochana, they are not Buddhas enlightened since the remote past or endowed with the three bodies.

The thousand Buddhas described in the Larger Wisdom Sutra and the Buddhas of the six directions represented in the Amida Sutra never assembled in this world [as did the Buddha’s emanations in the Lotus Sutra]. The Buddhas who assembled when the Great Collection Sutra was preached were not emanations of Shakyamuni. The four Buddhas of the four directions depicted in the Golden Light Sutra are transformation bodies of Shakyamuni Buddha.

Thus, in the various sutras other than the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni does not assemble Buddhas who carry out different austerities and practices and who possess the three bodies, nor does he identify them as emanations of himself. [Only in the “Treasure Tower” chapter of the Lotus Sutra does he do so.] This chapter, then, is intended as an introduction to the “Life Span” chapter that follows later. Shakyamuni Buddha, who was believed to have attained enlightenment for the first time only some forty years previously, calls together Buddhas who had become enlightened as long as one or even ten kalpas ago, and declares that they are emanations of himself. This is a far cry indeed from the Buddha’s usual preaching on the equality of all Buddhas [in their Dharma bodies], and in fact a cause of great astonishment. If Shakyamuni had attained enlightenment for the first time only some forty years earlier, there could hardly have been so many beings in the ten directions who had received his instruction. And even if he was privileged to possess emanations, there would have been no benefit in his showing them to his listeners. T’ien-t’ai, describing what went on in the astonished minds of the assembly, says, “It was evident to them that Shakyamuni Buddha possessed numerous emanations. Therefore, they understood that he must have attained enlightenment in the far distant past.”¹²⁶

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

Chapter36(Clarifying the appearance of the Bodhisattvas who came forth from the earth)

In addition, the great bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust particles of a thousand worlds appeared, rising up out of the ground. Even Universal Worthy and Manjushrī, who had been regarded as the leading disciples of Shakyamuni, could not compare to them. The great bodhisattvas present in the assemblies described in the sutras of the Flower Garland, Correct and Equal, and Wisdom periods and in the “Treasure Tower” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, or Vajrasattva and the rest of the sixteen great bodhisattvas of the Mahāvairochana [and Diamond Crown] sutras, when compared with these newly arrived bodhisattvas, seemed like a pack of apes or monkeys, with the new bodhisattvas appearing among them like so many Shakras. It was as though great ministers of court had mingled with humble mountain folk. Even Maitreya, who was to be the next Buddha after Shakyamuni, was perplexed by them, to say nothing of the lesser personages in the assembly.

Among these great bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust particles of a thousand worlds there were four great sages called Superior Practices, Boundless Practices, Pure Practices, and Firmly Established Practices. In the presence of these four, the other bodhisattvas suspended in the air or seated on Eagle Peak could not bear to gaze on them face to face or begin to fathom their dignity. Even the four bodhisattvas of the Flower Garland Sutra,¹²⁷ the four bodhisattvas of the Mahāvairochana Sutra,¹²⁸ or the sixteen great bodhisattvas of the Diamond Crown Sutra,¹²⁹ when in the presence of these four, were like bleary-eyed men trying to peer at the sun, or like humble fishermen appearing in audience before the emperor. These four were like T’ai-kung Wang and the others of the four sages of ancient China,¹³⁰ who towered above the multitude. They were like the Four White-Haired Elders¹³¹ of Mount Shang who assisted Emperor Hui. Solemn, dignified, they were beings of great and lofty stature. Aside from Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the emanations of Shakyamuni from the ten directions, they were worthy of being good friends upon whom all beings could rely.

Then Bodhisattva Maitreya began to consider the matter in his mind. He said to himself: “Since the time Shakyamuni Buddha was a crown prince, and during the forty-two years since he gained enlightenment at the age of thirty up until this gathering on Eagle Peak, I have known all the bodhisattvas of this world, and all the great bodhisattvas who have come from the worlds of the ten directions to attend the assemblies. Moreover, I have visited the pure and impure lands of the ten directions, sometimes as the Buddha’s emissary, at other times on my own initiative, and I have become acquainted with all the great bodhisattvas of those various lands. As for these great bodhisattvas who have appeared from the earth, what kind of Buddha is their teacher? Surely he must be a Buddha who is incomparably superior to Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the emanation Buddhas from the ten directions! From the fury of the rain, we can judge the greatness of the dragon that caused it to fall; from the size of the lotus flower, we can tell the depth of the pond that produced it. Now from what land did these great bodhisattvas come, what Buddha did they follow, and what great teaching have they practiced?”

Thus did Bodhisattva Maitreya wonder to himself, becoming so puzzled that he was unable to utter a sound. But, perhaps through the Buddha’s power, he was at last able to put his doubts into words, saying: “Immeasurable thousands, ten thousands, millions, a great host of bodhisattvas such as was never seen in the past . . . This host of bodhisattvas with their great dignity, virtue, and diligence—who preached the Law for them? Who taught and converted them and brought them to this? Under whom did they first set their minds on enlightenment, what Buddha’s Law do they praise and proclaim? . . . World-Honored One, from times past I have seen nothing like this! I beg you to tell me where they come from, the name of the land. I have constantly journeyed from land to land but never have I seen such a thing! In this whole multitude there is not one person that I know. Suddenly they have come up from the earth—I beg you to explain the cause.”¹³²

[Paraphrasing Maitreya’s statement,] T’ien-t’ai comments: “Since the time of the Buddha’s enlightenment at the place of meditation, up until the present gathering, great bodhisattvas unceasingly came from the worlds in the ten directions to attend the various assemblies. Their numbers are unlimited, but I, with the wisdom and power appropriate to the next Buddha, have been able to see and know every single one of them. And yet, among the newly arrived multitude, I do not know a single person—this in spite of the fact that I have traveled in the ten directions, have served the various Buddhas, and am well known among their audiences.”¹³³

Miao-lo comments, “Wise men can perceive the cause of things, as snakes know the way of snakes.”¹³⁴

The meaning of these passages of scripture and commentary is perfectly clear. In effect, from the time of Shakyamuni’s enlightenment up until the present assembly [on Eagle Peak], in this land and in all the lands of the ten directions, Bodhisattva Maitreya had never seen or heard of these bodhisattvas who came forth from the earth.

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

Chapter37(Almost indicating that the Shakyamuni attained enlightenment in the unimaginably distant past)

The Buddha, replying to Maitreya’s doubts, said: “Ajita,¹³⁵ these bodhisattvas . . . whom you have never seen before in the past—when I had attained supreme perfect enlightenment in this sahā world, I converted and guided these bodhisattvas, trained their minds, and caused them to develop a longing for the way.”¹³⁶

He also said: “When I was in the vicinity of the city of Gayā, seated beneath the bodhi tree, I attained the highest, the correct enlightenment and turned the wheel of the unsurpassed Law. Thereafter I taught and converted them, and caused them for the first time to set their minds on the way. Now all of them dwell in the stage of non-regression . . . Ever since the long distant past I have been teaching and converting this multitude.”

But Maitreya and the other great bodhisattvas were further perplexed by these words of the Buddha. When the Buddha preached the Flower Garland Sutra, Dharma Wisdom and countless other great bodhisattvas appeared in the assembly. Maitreya and the others wondered who they could be, but the Buddha said, “They are my good friends,” and they thought this must be true. Later, when the Buddha preached [the Great Collection Sutra] at the Great Treasure Chamber and [the Larger Wisdom Sutra] at White Heron Lake,¹³⁷ great bodhisattvas appeared in the assembly, and Maitreya and the others supposed that they too were good friends of the Buddha.

But these great bodhisattvas who had newly appeared out of the earth looked incomparably more venerable than those earlier bodhisattvas. One might conclude that they were the teachers of Shakyamuni Buddha, and yet the Buddha had “caused them for the first time to set their minds on the way,” and, when they were still immature, had converted them and made them his disciples. It was this that Maitreya and the others found so profoundly perplexing.

Prince Shōtoku of Japan was the son of Emperor Yōmei, the thirty-second sovereign. When he was six years old, elderly men came to Japan from the states of Paekche and Koguryŏ in Korea and from the land of China. The six-year-old prince thereupon exclaimed, “These are my disciples!” and the old men in turn pressed their palms together in reverence and said, “You are our teacher!” This was a strange happening indeed.

There is a similar story found in a secular work. According to this work, a man was walking along a road when he saw by the roadside a young man of about thirty who was beating an old man of about eighty. When he asked the reason, the young man replied, “This old man is my son.”

Bodhisattva Maitreya, continuing to doubt, said: “World-Honored One, when the Thus Come One was crown prince, you left the palace of the Shākyas and sat in the place of meditation not far from the city of Gayā, and there attained supreme perfect enlightenment. Barely forty years or more have passed since then. World-Honored One, how in that short time could you have accomplished so much work as a Buddha?”¹³⁸

The various bodhisattvas who had attended the numerous assemblies held in the forty-some years since the Buddha preached the Flower Garland Sutra had raised doubts at each assembly, asking the Buddha to dispel these doubts for the benefit of the multitude. But this present doubt was the greatest doubt of all. It surpassed even the doubt entertained by Great Adornment and the others of the eighty thousand bodhisattvas described in the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra when the Buddha, after declaring in the previous forty-some years of his teaching that enlightenment was something that required countless kalpas to attain, now announced that it could be attained quickly.

According to the Meditation on the Buddha Infinite Life Sutra, King Ajātashatru, led astray by Devadatta, imprisoned his father and was on the point of killing his mother, Lady Vaidehī. Reprimanded by the court ministers Jīvaka and Chandraprabha, however, he spared his mother’s life. At that time she begged that the Buddha appear to her,¹³⁹ and then she began by posing this question: “What offense have I committed in the past that I should have given birth to this evil son? And, World-Honored One, through what cause have you come to be related to a person as evil as your cousin Devadatta?”

Of the doubts raised here, the second is the more perplexing, the question of why the Buddha should be related to an evil person like Devadatta. A wheel-turning king, we are told, is never born into the world along with his enemies, nor is the god Shakra to be found in the company of demons. The Buddha had been a merciful personage for countless kalpas. Yet the fact that Shakyamuni was born together with his archenemy might make one doubt whether he was indeed a Buddha at all. The Buddha, however, did not answer the question of Lady Vaidehī. Therefore, if one reads and recites only the Meditation Sutra and does not examine the “Devadatta” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, one will never know the truth of the matter.¹⁴⁰

In the Nirvana Sutra, Bodhisattva Kāshyapa posed thirty-six questions to the Buddha, but even these cannot compare to this question posed by Maitreya. If the Buddha had failed to dispel Maitreya’s doubts, the sacred teachings of his entire lifetime would have amounted to no more than froth on the water, and all living beings would have remained tangled in the snare of doubt. That was why it was so important for him to preach the “Life Span” chapter.

 

Notes

135. An epithet of Maitreya, meaning “invincible.”

136. Lotus Sutra, chap. 15. The following quotation is a continuation of this passage.

137. A lake on the grounds of Bamboo Grove Monastery in Rājagriha, Magadha.

138. Lotus Sutra, chap. 15.

139. According to the Meditation Sutra, when Ajātashatru killed his father and confined Vaidehī to the interior of the palace, she faced Eagle Peak where Shakyamuni was preaching and prayed to him. Out of compassion, he appeared in her chamber and taught her how to reach the Pure Land of Amida Buddha.

140. The “Devadatta” chapter describes the teacher-disciple relationship between Devadatta and Shakyamuni in their previous existence. The chapter refers to a king, who, in order to seek the great Law, served a seer named Asita for one thousand years. After relating this story, Shakyamuni identifies the king as himself in a previous existence and Asita as Devadatta. He is now the teacher of the man who once taught him. The “Devadatta” chapter thus provides an answer to the question posed in the Meditation Sutra.

 

 

 

Chapter38(Widely indicating that the Shakyamuni had attaining enlightenment in the unimaginably distant past)

Later, when the Buddha preached the “Life Span” chapter, he said: “In all the worlds the heavenly and human beings and asuras all believe that the present Shakyamuni Buddha, after leaving the palace of the Shākyas, seated himself in the place of meditation not far from the city of Gayā and there attained supreme perfect enlightenment.” This passage expresses the view held by all the great bodhisattvas and the rest of the multitude from the time of the Buddha’s first preaching at the place of enlightenment until his preaching of the “Peaceful Practices” chapter of the Lotus Sutra. “But, good men,” the Buddha continued, “it has been immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of nayutas of kalpas since I in fact attained Buddhahood.”¹⁴¹

In three places the Flower Garland Sutra says that the Buddha attained enlightenment for the first time in his present existence. In the Āgama sutras he speaks of having attained the way for the first time in his present existence; the Vimalakīrti Sutra states, “For the first time the Buddha sat beneath the bodhi tree”; in the Great Collection Sutra, “It is sixteen years [since the Thus Come One first attained the way]”; in the Mahāvairochana Sutra, “long ago when I sat in the place of meditation”; in the Benevolent Kings Sutra, “twenty-nine years [since his enlightenment]”; in the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra, “In the past I sat upright in the place of meditation”; and in the “Expedient Means” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, “I first sat in the place of meditation.” But now all these passages have been exposed as gross falsehoods by this single pronouncement in the “Life Span” chapter.

 

Notes

 

 

 

Chapter40(Rebuking the fact that various schools of Buddhism  have gone astray concerning the true object of devotion and revealing the true father of sowing seeds)

Nevertheless, the schools of Buddhism other than Tendai have gone astray concerning the true object of devotion. The Dharma Analysis Treasury, Establishment of Truth, and Precepts schools take as their object of devotion the Shakyamuni Buddha who eliminated illusions and attained the way by practicing thirty-four kinds of spiritual purification.¹⁴⁴ This is comparable to a situation in which the heir apparent of the supreme ruler of a state mistakenly believes himself to be the son of a commoner. The four schools of Flower Garland, True Word, Three Treatises, and Dharma Characteristics are all Mahayana schools of Buddhism. Among them the Dharma Characteristics and Three Treatises schools honor a Buddha who is comparable to the Buddha of the superior manifested body.¹⁴⁵ This is like the heir of the supreme ruler supposing that his father was a member of the warrior class. The Flower Garland and True Word schools look down upon Shakyamuni Buddha and declare the Buddha Vairochana and the Buddha Mahāvairochana to be their respective objects of devotion. This is like the heir looking down upon his own father, the supreme ruler, and paying honor to one who is of obscure origin simply because that person pretends to be the sovereign who abides by the principles of righteousness. The Pure Land school considers itself to be most closely related to the Buddha Amida, who is an emanation of Shakyamuni, and abandons Shakyamuni himself who is the lord of teachings. The Zen school behaves like a person of low birth who makes much of his small achievements and despises his father and mother. Thus the Zen school looks down upon both the Buddha and the sutras. All of these schools are misled concerning the true object of devotion. They are like the people who lived in the age before the Three Sovereigns of ancient China and did not know who their own fathers were. In that respect, the people of that time were no different from birds and beasts.

The people of these schools who are ignorant of the teachings of the “Life Span” chapter are similarly like beasts. They do not understand to whom they are obligated. Therefore, Miao-lo states: “Among all the teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime, there is no place [other than the ‘Life Span’ chapter] where the true longevity of the Buddha is revealed. A person ought to know how old his father and mother are. If a son does not even know how old his father is, he will also be in doubt as to what lands his father presides over. Though he may be idly praised for his talent and ability, he cannot be counted as a son at all!”¹⁴⁶

The Great Teacher Miao-lo lived in the T’ien-pao era (742–756) in the latter part of the T’ang dynasty.¹⁴⁷ He made a deep and thorough examination of the Three Treatises, Flower Garland, Dharma Characteristics, True Word, and other schools, and the sutras upon which they are based. Then, he concluded that, if one fails to become acquainted with the Buddha of the “Life Span” chapter, one is no more than a talented animal who does not even know what lands one’s father presides over. “Though he may be idly praised for his talent and ability” refers to men like Fa-tsang and Ch’eng-kuan of the Flower Garland school or the Tripitaka Master Shan-wu-wei of the True Word school. These teachers had talent and ability, yet they were like sons who do not even know their own father.

The Great Teacher Dengyō was the patriarch of both esoteric and exoteric Buddhism in Japan.¹⁴⁸ In his Outstanding Principles he writes: “The sutras that the other schools are based upon give expression in a certain measure to the mother-like nature of the Buddha. But they convey only a sense of love and are lacking in a sense of fatherly sternness. It is only the Tendai Lotus school that combines a sense of both love and sternness. The Lotus Sutra is ‘father of all sages, worthies, those still learning, those who have completed their learning, and those who set their minds on becoming bodhisattvas.’”¹⁴⁹

The sutras that form the basis of the True Word and Flower Garland schools do not even contain the terms “sowing,” “maturing,” and “harvesting,” much less the doctrine to which these terms refer. When the sutras of the Flower Garland and True Word schools assert that their followers will enter the first stage of development in this lifetime and achieve Buddhahood in their present form, they are putting forth the teachings of the provisional sutras alone, teachings that conceal [the seeds sowed in] the past.¹⁵⁰ To expect to harvest [the fruit of Buddhahood] without knowing the seed first sowed is like the minister Chao Kao attempting to seize the throne or the priest Dōkyō trying to become emperor of Japan.

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

Chapter41(The seeds of enlightenment implanted by the Lotus Sutra were designated as “the seeds without peer”)

The various schools argue with one another, each claiming that its sutra contains the true seeds of enlightenment. I do not intend to enter the argument. I will let the sutras speak for themselves. Thus Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, speaking of the seeds of enlightenment implanted by the Lotus Sutra, designates them “the seeds without peer.”¹⁵¹ And these seeds of enlightenment are the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life as expounded by T’ien-t’ai.

The seed of enlightenment for the various Buddhas described in the Flower Garland Sutra, the Mahāvairochana Sutra, and the other various Mahayana sutras is the one doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life. And the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai Chih-che was the only person who was capable of perceiving the truth of this doctrine. Ch’eng-kuan of the Flower Garland school usurped the doctrine and made it the soul of the passage in the Flower Garland Sutra that reads, “The mind is like a skilled painter.”

The Mahāvairochana Sutra of the True Word school contains no mention of the fact that persons of the two vehicles can attain Buddhahood, that the Buddha Shakyamuni achieved enlightenment in the distant past, or of the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life. But after the Tripitaka Master Shan-wu-wei came to China, he had occasion to read Great Concentration and Insight by T’ien-t’ai and came to gain wisdom and understanding. He then stole the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, using it to interpret the passages in the Mahāvairochana Sutra on “the reality of the mind” or the one that reads, “I am the source and beginning of all things,” making it the core of the True Word teachings but adding to it the practice of mudras and mantras. And in comparing the relative merits of the Lotus Sutra and the Mahāvairochana Sutra, he declared that, while the two agree in principle, the latter is superior in practice. The mandalas of the two realms,¹⁵² the True Word teachers claim, symbolize the attaining of Buddhahood by persons of the two vehicles and the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, but are these doctrines to be found anywhere in the Mahāvairochana Sutra? Those who claim so are guilty of the grossest deception.

Therefore, the Great Teacher Dengyō states: “The True Word school of Buddhism that has recently been brought to Japan deliberately obscures how its transmission was falsified in the recording [by I-hsing, who was deceived by Shan-wu-wei], while the Flower Garland school that was introduced earlier attempts to disguise the fact that it was influenced by the doctrines of T’ien-t’ai.”¹⁵³

Suppose someone were to go to some wild region like the island of Ezo and recite the famous poem:¹⁵⁴

 

How I think of it—

dim, dim in the morning mist

of Akashi Bay,

that boat moving out of sight

beyond the islands.

 

If the person told the ignorant natives of Ezo that he himself had composed the poem, they would probably believe him. The Buddhist scholars of China and Japan are equally gullible.

The Reverend Liang-hsü states that the doctrines of the True Word, Zen, Flower Garland, Three Treatises, and other schools, when compared with the Lotus Sutra, serve as none other than an introduction to the true teachings [of the Lotus Sutra]. We are told that the Tripitaka Master Shan-wu-wei was subjected to torments by Yama because of his mistaken view [that the Mahāvairochana Sutra is superior to the Lotus Sutra]. Later, he had a change of heart and became a supporter of the Lotus Sutra, which is why he was spared further torments. As evidence, when he, Pu-k’ung, and the others devised the Womb Realm mandala and the Diamond Realm mandala of the True Word school, they placed the Lotus Sutra in the center of the two mandalas as the supreme ruler, with the Mahāvairochana Sutra depicting the Womb Realm and the Diamond Crown Sutra depicting the Diamond Realm to the left and right as ministers to the ruler.

When Kōbō of Japan drew up a theoretical statement of the True Word teachings, he was attracted by the Flower Garland school and assigned [the Flower Garland Sutra to the ninth stage of advancement and] the Lotus Sutra to the eighth stage.¹⁵⁵ But when he taught the practices and ceremonies to his disciples Jitsue, Shinga, Enchō, Kōjō, and the others, he placed the Lotus Sutra in a central position, between the two realms of the Womb and the Diamond, as Shan-wu-wei and Pu-k’ung had done.

In a similar case, Chia-hsiang of the Three Treatises school, in his ten-volume Treatise on the Profundity of the Lotus Sutra, assigned the Lotus Sutra to the fourth of the five periods of teachings,¹⁵⁶ claiming that it repudiated the two vehicles to reveal the one vehicle of the bodhisattva and then incorporated the former as the means to attain the latter. Later, however, he became converted to the teachings of T’ien-t’ai. He ceased giving lectures, dismissed his disciples, and instead served T’ien-t’ai for a period of seven years, personally carrying T’ien-t’ai on his back [when T’ien-t’ai mounted an elevated seat for preaching].

Again, Tz’u-en of the Dharma Characteristics school, in his seven-volume and twelve-volume Forest of Meanings in the Garden of the Law, states that the one vehicle doctrine set forth in the Lotus Sutra is an expedient means, and that the three vehicle doctrine represents the truth. He also makes many similarly absurd pronouncements. But in the fourth volume of The Essential Meaning of “Praising the Profundity of the Lotus Sutra,” he is represented as saying that “both doctrines are to be accepted,” thus bringing flexible interpretation to the tenets of his own school. Although he said that both doctrines were acceptable, in his heart he supported the T’ien-t’ai teachings on the Lotus Sutra.

Ch’eng-kuan of the Flower Garland school wrote a commentary on the Flower Garland Sutra in which he compared the Flower Garland and Lotus sutras and seems to have declared that the Lotus Sutra is an expedient means. But later he wrote: “The T’ien-t’ai school defines this teaching [of three thousand realms in a single moment of life] as the truth. The doctrines of my own school, on matters of principle, do not disagree in any way with those of the T’ien-t’ai school.” From this it would appear, would it not, that he regretted and reversed his earlier pronouncement.

Kōbō is a similar example. If one has no mirror, one cannot see one’s own face, and if one has no opponents, one cannot learn of one’s own errors. The scholars of the True Word and the other various schools were unaware of their errors. But after they were fortunate enough to encounter the Great Teacher Dengyō, they became conscious of the mistakes of their own particular schools.

Notes

151. In his Treatise on the Lotus Sutra, Vasubandhu asserted the superiority of the Lotus Sutra over all other sutras from ten viewpoints. “The seeds without peer” is the first of them.

152. The Womb Realm mandala, described in the Mahāvairochana Sutra, and the Diamond Realm mandala, described in the Diamond Crown Sutra.

153. From the preface to A Clarification of the Schools Based on T’ien-t’ai’s Doctrine. I-hsing (683–727) assisted his master Shan-wu-wei in translating the Sanskrit version of the Mahāvairochana Sutra into Chinese and compiled his oral teachings as The Annotations on the Mahāvairochana Sutra.

154. The island of Ezo here refers to Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands. This poem is by an anonymous poet from the ninth volume of A Collection of Ancient and Modern Poetry. In the Japanese text, only the first words of the poem are quoted.

155. In his Treatise on the Ten Stages of the Mind, Kōbō classified the various Buddhist teachings as corresponding to ten stages of the mind’s development and ranked the Lotus Sutra eighth, the Flower Garland Sutra ninth, and the esoteric teachings tenth or the highest.

156. The translation has been expanded in explanation of technical terms used. In his Treatise on the Profundity of the Lotus Sutra, Chia-hsiang, more commonly known as Chi-tsang (549–623), asserted that the Lotus Sutra was inferior to the Wisdom Sutra.

 

 

 

Chapter42(Why is there no protection of Bodhisattvas?)

The various Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and heavenly and human beings described in the sutras that preceded the Lotus may seem to have gained enlightenment through the particular sutras in which they appear. But in fact they attained enlightenment only through the Lotus Sutra. The general vow taken by Shakyamuni and the other Buddhas to save countless living beings finds fulfillment through the Lotus Sutra. That is the meaning of the passage of the sutra that states that the vow “has now been fulfilled.”¹⁵⁷

In view of these facts, I believe that the devotees and followers of the Flower Garland, Meditation, Mahāvairochana, and other sutras will undoubtedly be protected by the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and heavenly beings of the respective sutras that they uphold. But if the votaries of the Mahāvairochana, Meditation, and other sutras should set themselves up as the enemies of the votary of the Lotus Sutra, then the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and heavenly beings will abandon them and will protect the votary of the Lotus Sutra. It is like the case of a filial son whose father opposes the ruler of the kingdom. The son will abandon his father and support the ruler, for to do so is the height of filial piety.

The same thing applies to Buddhism. The Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and the ten demon daughters described in the Lotus Sutra will not fail to lend their protection to Nichiren. And in addition, the Buddhas of the six directions and the twenty-five bodhisattvas of the Pure Land school, the twelve hundred honored ones¹⁵⁸ of the True Word school, and the various honored ones and benevolent guardian deities of the seven schools¹⁵⁹ are also certain to protect Nichiren. It is like the case of the Great Teacher Dengyō, who was protected by the guardian deities of the seven schools.

I, Nichiren, think as follows. The gods of the sun and moon and the other deities were present in the two places and three assemblies when the Lotus Sutra was preached. If a votary of the Lotus Sutra should appear, then, like iron drawn to a magnet or the reflection of the moon appearing in the water, they will instantly come forth to take on his sufferings for him and thereby fulfill the vow that they made in the presence of the Buddha. But they have yet to come and inquire of my well-being. Does this mean that I am not a votary of the Lotus Sutra? If that is so, then I must examine the text of the sutra once more in the light of my conduct and see where I am at fault.

 

Notes

 

 

 

 

Chapter43( The three pronouncement of the Buddha in the “Treasure Tower” chapter)

Question: What eye of wisdom allows you to perceive that the Nembutsu, Zen, and other schools of our time are the enemies of the Lotus Sutra and evil companions who are ready to mislead all people?

Answer: I do not state personal opinions, but merely hold up the mirror of the sutras and commentaries so that the slanderers of the Law may see their ugly faces reflected there and perceive their errors. But if they are incurably “blind,” it is beyond my power.

In the “Treasure Tower” chapter in the fourth volume of the Lotus Sutra we read: “At that time Many Treasures Buddha offered half of his seat in the treasure tower to Shakyamuni Buddha . . . At that time the members of the great assembly [saw] the two Thus Come Ones seated cross-legged on the lion seat in the tower of seven treasures . . . And in a loud voice he [Shakyamuni Buddha] addressed all the four kinds of believers, saying: ‘Who is capable of broadly preaching the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law in this sahā world? Now is the time to do so, for before long the Thus Come One will enter nirvana. The Buddha wishes to entrust this Lotus Sutra to someone so that it may be preserved.’”

This is the first pronouncement of the Buddha.

Again the chapter reads: “At that time the World-Honored One, wishing to state his meaning once more, spoke in verse form, saying: ‘This holy lord, this World-Honored One, though he passed into extinction long ago, still seats himself in the treasure tower, coming here for the sake of the Law. You people, why then do you not also strive for the sake of the Law? . . . In addition, these emanations of my body, Buddhas in immeasurable numbers like Ganges sands, have come, desiring to hear the Law . . . Each has abandoned his wonderful land, as well as his host of disciples, the heavenly and human beings, dragons, and spirits, and all the offerings they give him, and has come to this place on purpose to make certain the Law will long endure. . . . as though a great wind were tossing the branches of small trees. Through this expedient means they make certain that the Law will long endure. So I say to the great assembly: After I have passed into extinction, who can guard and uphold, read and recite this sutra? Now in the presence of the Buddha let him come forward and speak his vow!’”

This is the second proclamation of the Buddha. The passage continues: “The Thus Come One Many Treasures, I myself, and these emanation Buddhas who have gathered here, surely know this is our aim. . . . All you good men, each of you must consider carefully! This is a difficult matter—it is proper you should make a great vow. The other sutras number as many as Ganges sands, but though you expound those sutras, that is not worth regarding as difficult. If you were to seize Mount Sumeru and fling it far off to the measureless Buddha lands, that too would not be difficult. . . . But if after the Buddha has entered extinction, in the time of evil, you can preach this sutra, that will be difficult indeed! . . . If, when the fires come at the end of the kalpa, one can load dry grass on his back and enter the fire without being burned, that would not be difficult. But after I have passed into extinction if one can embrace this sutra and expound it to even one person, that will be difficult indeed! . . . All you good men, after I have entered extinction, who can accept and uphold, read and recite this sutra? Now in the presence of the Buddha let him come forward and speak his vow!”

This is the third admonition from the Buddha. The fourth and fifth admonitions are found in the “Devadatta” chapter, and I will deal with them later.

 

 

 

 

Chapter44(Judging the relative merits of all the sutras)

 

 

 

Chapter45(Pointing out the errors of the other schools and showing justice)

 

 

 

Chapter46(Revealing the justice of the family and referring to the similar sentences)

 

 

 

 

Chapter47(Unless one can perceive the relative profundity of the various writings, one cannot judge the worth of the principles they reveal)

 

 

 

Chapter48(Referring to two enlightening admonitions and judging whether the attaining Buddhahood is possible or not in the sutras preached on the Buddha’s lifetime)

 

 

 

 

Chapter49(Expressing three types of strong enemies)

 

 

 

Chapter50(Explaining three types of strong enemy)

 

 

 

Chapter51(Indicating the arrogance and presumption of lay people and priests respectively)