法華初心成仏抄 その一 How Those Initially Aspiring to the Way Can Attain Buddhahood. Part 1.

　

How Those Initially Aspiring to the Way Can Attain Buddhahood through the Lotus Sutra

Original text

■Writing date: 1278 (A.D.), written at the age of fifty-seven.

■Place of writing: Written at the hermitage on Mount Minobu.

■Background: This book was given to the Nun Okamiya Myoho in Okamiya (now Numazu City) in Suruga Province.

　Nun Okamiya Myoho was a woman who continued to take refuge in Daishonin despite the death of her husband and elder brother, and remained pure in her faith. She asked numerous questions to Daishonin about her faith in the Lotus Sutra, he answered in this book.

　In this book, Daishonin writes: "When we revere Myoho-renge-kyo inherent in our own life as the object of devotion, the Buddha nature within us is summoned forth and manifested by our chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. This is what is meant by “Buddha.” To illustrate, when a caged bird sings, birds who are flying in the sky are thereby summoned and gather around, and when the birds flying in the sky gather around, the bird in the cage strives to fly away."

　 Using this metaphor, he explains in an easy-to-understand manner how even novice believers can manifest their own Buddha nature by chanting 'Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo'.

■Autograph: Not extant.

[The text]

　Question: Of the eight schools, the nine schools, or the ten schools, which is the true school founded by Shakyamuni Buddha?

　Answer: The Lotus school is the school founded by Shakyamuni. We know this because of the statement that, of all the sutras “I [Shakyamuni] have already preached, now preach, and will preach,” the Lotus Sutra is foremost. These words were spoken by Shakyamuni Buddha himself. Therefore, the school based on the Lotus Sutra is known as the Buddha-founded school and is also called the Lotus school. It is also known as the Tendai school.

　For this reason, the Great Teacher Dengyō states in his commentary, “The Lotus school, which Tendai elucidated, represents the school founded by Shakyamuni, the World-Honored One.” In none of the sutras other than the Lotus does one find a passage concerning the relative superiority of all the sutras that “I have already preached, now preach, and will preach.” Here, the sutras that the Buddha has already preached refer to the various sutras expounded by the Buddha in the more than forty years before he preached the Lotus Sutra. That he now preaches refers to the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra. That he will preach refers to the Nirvana Sutra. The Buddha thus firmly decreed that, transcending these preaches, the Lotus Sutra alone constitutes the school that assures the attainment of Buddhahood.

　The various other schools were founded by bodhisattvas or teachers in the period after the Buddha had entered nirvana. Should we now turn our backs upon the Buddha’s decree and follow the schools established by the bodhisattvas and teachers? Or should we ignore the words of the bodhisattvas and teachers and follow the school established by the Buddha? Or should we entrust ourselves to either course as the feeling strikes us, and uphold whatever sutra or doctrine suits our inclination? The Buddha knew long ago that we would have doubts of this kind, and therefore he clearly designated the sutra to be embraced by those who are truly aspiring to the way in this defiled and evil age of the Latter Day of the Law.

　A sutra says: “Rely on the Law and not upon persons. Rely on the meaning of the teaching and not on the words. Rely on wisdom and not on discriminative thinking. Rely on sutras that are complete and final and not on those that are not complete and final.” The meaning of this passage is that one should not rely upon the words of the bodhisattvas and teachers, but should heed what was established by the Buddha. It further means that one should not rely upon the teachings of the Shingon, Zen, and Nembutsu schools, which are based upon the sutras of the Kegon, Agon, Correct and Equal, and Wisdom periods, but should depend on the sutras that are complete and final. And by relying upon “sutras that are complete and final,” it means upholding the Lotus Sutra.

　

　Question: Observing Japan at the present time, we see that the obstacles presented by the five impurities are very grave, that quarrels and disputes occur incessantly, and that people’s minds are consumed with anger and their thoughts filled with jealousy. In such a country and at such a time as this, what sutra ought to be propagated?

　Answer: This is a country in which the Lotus Sutra should be propagated. Therefore, the Lotus Sutra itself says, “I will cause it to be widely propagated throughout the whole world and will see that it never comes to an end.”

　The Treatise on the Stages of Yoga Practice states that there is a small country situated to the northeast where the Mahayana teachings of the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law should be spread. And the Reverend Annen states, “This refers to our country of Japan.” From the point of view of India, Japan is indeed situated to the northeast.

　Moreover, the Supervisor of monks Eshin states in his Essentials of the One Vehicle Teaching, “Throughout Japan, all people share the same capacity to attain Buddhahood through the perfect teaching. Whether at court or in the countryside, whether far or near, all alike turn to the single vehicle; and whether monks or lay believers, whether eminent or humble, all hope to attain Buddhahood.”

　The meaning of this passage is that the people of Japan, whether they live in Kyoto, Kamakura, Tsukushi, Chinzei, or Michinoku, whether they live nearby or far away, are endowed with the capacity to attain Buddhahood solely through the one vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sutra, and that Japan is therefore a country where high and low, eminent and humble, those who observe the precepts and those who break them, men and women alike, can all attain Buddhahood through the Lotus Sutra. Just as there are no ordinary stones in the K’un-lun Mountains and no poisons on the mountain island of P’eng-lai, so Japan is purely and wholly a country of the Lotus Sutra.

　And yet we find people who, while declaring with their mouths that the Lotus is inherently a wonderful sutra and that no one could therefore refuse to take faith in it, nevertheless spend night and day, morning and evening, reciting the name of Amida Buddha. They are like people who sing the praises of a particular medicine and yet morning and evening dose themselves on poison.

　Or there are those who declare that the Nembutsu and the Lotus Sutra are essentially one. They are like people who claim that ordinary stones are the same as gems, senior monks identical to junior monks, and poison equivalent to medicine.

　In addition, there are many who hate, envy, resent, slander, despise, and look down on the Lotus Sutra. The sutra says, “It will face much hostility in the world and be difficult to believe.” It also says, “Since hatred and jealousy toward this sutra abound even when the Tathagata is in the world, how much more will this be so after his passing?” These predictions of the sutra have come about without the slightest deviation.

　Therefore, the Great Teacher Dengyō writes in his commentary: “Speaking of the age, the propagation of the true teaching will begin in the age when the Middle Day of the Law ends and the Latter Day opens. Regarding the land, it will begin in a land to the east of T’ang and to the west of Katsu. As for the person, he will be born among people stained by the five impurities who live in a time of conflict. The sutra says, ‘Since hatred and jealousy toward this sutra abound even when the Tathagata is in the world, how much more will this be so after his passing?’ There is a very good reason for this statement.”

　From these passages of the sutra and commentaries, one should know the following: In Japan, in one mountain monastery after another, in temple after temple, at court and in the countryside, in both near and distant regions, though scriptural teachings other than the Lotus Sutra, such as those of the Shingon, Zen, Precepts, and Nembutsu schools, are being propagated, these are not teachings that suit the country, or that conform to the Buddha’s true intention, nor can they free us from the sufferings of birth and death.

　

　Question: The Kegon school propounds the doctrine of the five teachings and declares all the other sutras to be inferior, and the Kegon Sutra, superior. The Shingon school puts forth the doctrine of the ten stages of the mind, declaring that all the other sutras, being exoteric teachings, are inferior, while the Shingon school, because it represents the esoteric teachings, is superior. The Zen school rejects all the sutras as belonging to the realm of written teachings and asserts “a separate transmission outside the sutras, independent of words or writing.” Because enlightenment, they say, is gained merely by sitting and facing the wall, the Zen school alone is superior. The Pure Land school sets forth two kinds of practices, correct and sundry. The Lotus Sutra and the various other sutras are rejected as belonging to the category of sundry practices, and hence one is urged to “discard, close, ignore, and abandon” them. The three Pure Land sutras, on the other hand, they claim, are adapted to the people’s capacity and are wonderful sutras belonging to the realm of correct practices. Thus each school in its conceit maintains its own biased attachment. But which one represents the true intention of Shakyamuni Buddha?

　Answer: Each school declares its own sutra to be superior, all other sutras being dismissed as inferior, and on this basis labels itself the correct school. But their arguments are based merely upon the words of the teachers and not upon the Buddha’s teaching. Only the Lotus Sutra was proclaimed superior by the Buddha himself when he expounded the simile of the five flavors, likening them to the teachings of the five periods. He also declared that of all the various sutras that he “has preached, now preaches, and will preach,” in terms of the path of attaining Buddhahood, none could rival the Lotus Sutra. These statements are in truth the Buddha’s own golden words.

　Therefore, when people declare that their own sutra surpasses the Lotus Sutra, or that their own school is superior to the Lotus school, they are like persons of inferior rank calling someone of high rank a commoner, or retainers whose families have for generations been in the service of a certain lord turning against him and declaring him to be their servant. How can they escape grave retribution?

　On the other hand, the assertion that the various other sutras rank below the Lotus Sutra is not based upon the words of the teachers, but is plainly stated in the text of the sutra itself. In this respect, it is like a ruler asserting that he is superior to his subjects, or a samurai calling a mediocre of low rank. What penalty could this possibly bring? This sutra, the Lotus, represents the real intention of the Buddha and the prime concern of Tendai and Myoraku.

Continued

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