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Reply to Hoshina Goro Taro
After Emperor Ming of the Han dynasty dreamed at night
of a golden man [and dispatched emissaries to the western
region], the two sages, Kashyapa Matanga and Chu-fa-lan,
came to China and stood for the first time at the gates
of Ch'ang-an. From that time until the reign of Emperor
Hsuan-tsung of the T'ang dynasty, the Buddhist teachings
of India spread throughout China. During the Liang dynasty,
Buddhism was first introduced to Japan by King Songmyong
of the Korean kingdom of Paekche. This occurred during the
reign of Kimmei, the thirtieth emperor of our country. Thereafter,
all the sutras and treatises were circulated widely, and
various Buddhist sects arose throughout Japan. Fortunately,
therefore, even though we were born in the Latter Day of
the Law, we are able to hear the teachings preached at Eagle
Peak, and even though we live in a remote corner of the
world, we are able to scoop up with our hands the water
of the great river of Buddhism.
However, a close examination shows that there are distinctions
to be made among the Buddha's teachings, such as the Hinayana
and the Mahayana or the provisional and true teachings,
or those of the sequence of preaching. If one is confused
about these distinctions, he will fall into erroneous views,
and even though he may practice Buddhsim, his offense will
be greater than that of committing the ten evil acts or
the five cardinal sins. For this reason, those who abhor
the secular world and seek the Way should understand this
standard of evaluation before anything else. Otherwise,
they are destined to follow the path of the monk Kugan and
other slanderers. As the Nirvana Sutra says: "If one
clings to distorted views, at the time of his death he will
surely fall into the Avichi Hell.
Question: How can we discern the error of distorted views?
Although I am a humble person, I am nevertheless anxious
about my next life and have resolved to seek the Buddhist
Law to the best of my ability. Therefore, I wish to know
this standard of evaluation by all means. Should it be that
I am adhering to distorted views, I will reflect on them
and turn to the correct view.
Answer: It can be neither discerned with one's mortal eyes
nor clarified with one's shallow wisdom. One should use
the sutras as his eyes and give precedence to the wisdom
of the Buddha. Surely, however, if this standard is made
clear, people will become enraged and harbor indignation
in their minds. Let them do as they will. What matters most
is that we honor the Buddha's command. As a rule, people
in the world value what is distant and despise what is near,
but this is the conduct of the ignorant. Even the distant
should be repudiated if it is wrong, while that which is
near should not be discarded if it accords with the truth.
Even though people may revere [their predecessors' doctrines],
if those doctrines are in error, how can we employ them
today?
I am told that the scholars of the ten schools - three
in southern China and seven in northern China - were so
outstanding in authority and virtue that they were revered
by the general populace for more than five hundred years.
However, the Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai, who lived during
the reigns of emperors of the Ch'en and Sui dynasties, examined
their doctrines and denounced them as erroneous. Hearing
of this, the people hated him intensely, but the Ch'en and
Sui emperors, being worthy rulers, summoned T'ien-t'ai to
debate with the priests of the ten schools and settle the
matter. Truth and error were thereby made clear, and in
consequence, the priests all revised the distorted views
that their schools had upheld over a period of five hundred
years and became followers of the Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai.
And in our own country, the Great Teacher Dengyo of Mount
Hiei, the founder of the Tendai sect, debated with the scholars
of Nara and Kyoto and distinguished between right and wrong
in the Buddhist teachings. In every case, T'ien-t'ai and
Dengyo based their arguments on the sutras.
However, the people of our time - whether clergy or laity,
nobles or commoners - all revere persons and do not value
the Law. They make their own mind their teacher, and do
not rely on the sutras. Consequently, they take up the provisional
teachings of the Nembutsu and discard the mystic scripture
of the Mahayana, or employ the heretical doctrines of Shingon
to slander the True Law, the one supreme teaching. Are they
not slanderers of the Mahayana? If what is written in the
sutras is true, how can they escape the sufferings of hell?
And those who follow their erroneous teachings will also
suffer the same fate.
Question: You claim that the Nembutsu and the Shingon should
be denounced as provisional or erroneous doctrines, and
that their followers are people of distorted views or slanderers.
This seems very doubtful. Kobo Daishi was a manifestation
of Kongosatta and a bodhisattva of the third stage of development.
The Shingon is the most powerful secret teaching. Moreover,
Priest Shan-tao was an incarnation of Amida Buddha, the
lord of the Western Land, and Priest Honen was an incarnation
of Bodhisattva Seishi. How can you call such eminent priests
men of erroneous views?
Answer: Such criticism must of course not be leveled on
the grounds of one's personal opinion; the matter must be
clarified on the basis of the sutras. The statement that
the Shingon teaching represents the most profound of all
secrets derives from the assertion that the Soshisuji
Sutra should be ranked as the king among the three Shingon
sutras. Nowhere in the sutras themselves do we read that
the Shingon is the highest of all the Buddha's teachings.
In Buddhism, that teaching is judged supreme which enables
all people, whether good or evil, to become Buddhas. So
reasonable a standard can surely be grasped by anyone. By
means of it, we can compare the various sutras and ascertain
which is superior. The Lotus Sutra reveals that even the
people of the two vehicles can attain enlightenment, but
the Shingon sutras do not. Rather, they categorically deny
it. The Lotus Sutra teaches that women are capable of attaining
Buddhahood, but the Shingon sutras make no mention of this
at all. In the Lotus Sutra, it is written that evil people
can attain enlightenment, but in the Shingon sutras we find
nothing about this. How can one say that the Shingon sutras
are superior to the Lotus Sutra?
Moreover, if we discuss this matter in terms of the omens
occurring at the time of preaching, six portents preceded
the preaching of the Lotus Sutra. Among them, flowers rained
down from the heavens, the earth trembled, and a beam of
light emanated from the tuft of white hair between the Buddha's
brows, reaching as high as the Akanishtha Heaven and illuminating
as deep as the Avichi Hell. Moreover, the Treasure Tower
rose from the earth, and all the emanations of the Buddha
assembled from the ten directions. In addition, the Bodhisattvas
of the Earth led by Jogyo emerged from beneath the earth,
each with his followers equaling in number the sands of
sixty thousand Ganges Rivers, fifty thousand, forty thousand,
thirty thousand, and so forth, down to the sands of one
Ganges River, one half, and so forth. When such awesome
and wondrous events are considered, how can one still maintain
that the Shingon sutras surpass the Lotus Sutra? I have
no time to dwell on these matters. I have brought up only
one drop of the ocean.
I have here a copy of the one-volume work called Bodaishin
Ron, which is attributed to Bodhisattva Nagarjuna. This
work says, "Only in the teachings of Shingon can one
attain Buddhahood in his present form. Accordingly, the
Shingon expounds the method of entering samadhi.
This doctrine is neither found nor recorded in any of the
other teachings." As I thought this statement extremely
doubtful, I examined it in light of the sutras. I discovered
that although the Shingon sutras contained the words "attaining
Buddhahood in one's present form," they gave no example
of anyone who had actually done so. And even if they had,
because the attainment of Buddhahood in one's present form
is also taught in the Lotus Sutra, Nagarjuna should not
have proclaimed that this principle is "neither found
nor recorded in any of the other teachings." This is
a gross error.
In truth, however, this treatise is not the work of Nagarjuna.
I will explain this in detail on another occasion. Yet,
even if it were the work of Bodhisattva Nagarjuna, an error
is still an error. In the Daichido Ron, Nagarjuna
refers to a vital point in differentiating among the teachings
expounded by Shakyamuni during his lifetime: "The Hannya
sutras are not secret teachings because they contain no
mention of the attainment of Buddhahood by persons of the
two vehicles. The Lotus Sutra is the secret teaching because
it does." It also says, "Those sutras which expound
the attainment of Buddhahood by those of the two vehicles
are esoteric teachings, and those which do not are exoteric
teachings."
If one goes by the words of the Bodaishin Ron, then
he must not only specifically contradict Nagarjuna's Daichido
Ron, but more generally deny the one great reason why
all Buddhas make their advent in the world. Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu
and others all appeared in this world in order to propagate
the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. Nagarjuna was one of
the Buddha's twenty-four successors. Could he really have
put forth such an erroneous interpretation?
The Shingon sutras are inferior even to the Hannya
sutras. How can we compare them with the Lotus Sutra? Nevertheless,
in the Hizo Hoyaku, Kobo claims that all the teachings
expounded during the Buddha's lifetime are contained within
the teachings of Shingon. He not only relegates the Lotus
Sutra to third place, but even dismisses it as "childish
theory." Yet, when I reverently open the Lotus Sutra,
I find that it declares itself to be the highest among the
teachings of all Buddhas, as well as the sutra supreme "among
all those I [Shakyamuni] have preached, now preach and will
preach." In the ten comparisons of the Yakuo
chapter, the Lotus Sutra is likened to the ocean, the sun
and Mount Sumeru. This being the case, could anything be
deeper than the ocean, brighter than the sun or higher than
Mount Sumeru? One should realize the truth through such
comparisons. On what basis can Kobo claim that the Shingon
sutras are superior to the Lotus Sutra? We find no such
passages whatsoever in the Dainichi or other sutras.
Trusting only to his own view, he has violated the Buddha's
intention for a long time.
The Great Teacher Miao-lo states, "I call upon those
with eyes to examine this thoroughly." Is he not without
eyes, who regards the Lotus Sutra as inferior to the Kegon
Sutra? The Nirvana Sutra reads: "If there is a person
who slanders the True Law of the Buddha, his tongue should
be cut off." Ah, how pitiful that the tongue which
slanders shall utter no words in world after world, and
that the eye attached to false views shall fall out in lifetime
after lifetime, seeing nothing! Moreover, the Lotus Sutra
says, "One who refuses to take faith in this sutra
and instead slanders it ... After he dies, he will fall
into the hell of incessant suffering." If this statement
is valid, Kobo will surely fall into the great citadel of
the hell of incessant suffering where he will undergo agony
for countless kalpas. One should also recognize the fate
of Shan-tao and Honen through his example. Who, among those
endowed with wisdom, will dip into the stream of such slanderous
teachings and be consumed together with these men in the
flames of the Avichi Hell? Truly, the votary should fear
this. These are all persons of profoundly distorted views.
In this connection, we find, among the true and golden words
of the Buddha: "[This Devil of the Sixth Heaven and
other devils will in time try] to destroy this True Law
of mine. They will be like a hunter who wraps his body in
a priestly robe. They will assume the forms of stream-winners,
once-returners, non-returners, arhats, pratyekabuddhas
or Buddhas, and will try to destroy this True Law of mine."
Shan-tao and Honen, displaying a variety of majestic powers,
deceived ignorant priests and lay believers, and schemed
to destroy the Buddha's True law. And the Shingon schools
in particular make it a point to emphasize worldly benefits
exclusively. Using animals as objects of worship, they conduct
prayers not only to satisfy the passions of man and woman,
but also to fulfill desires for estates and the like. They
claim such trifling results as wondrous benefits. However,
if they are going to assert the supremacy of Shingon on
these grounds, they are no match for the Brahmans of India.
Hermit Agastya kept the waters of the Ganges River in his
ear for twelve years. Hermit Jinu swallowed up the four
great oceans in a day, and Brahman Uluka turned into a stone
and remained that way for eight hundred years. How could
the results of the Shingon prayers surpass these? Hermit
Kudon assumed the form of the god Taishaku and preached
for twelve years, while Kobo transformed himself into Vairochana
for an instant. Judge for yourself whose powers are the
greater. If you believe that such transformations confer
great benefit, you might just as well believe in the Brahmans.
Yet it should be known that, while the Brahmans possessed
such impressive powers, they could not escape the flames
of the Avichi Hell, not to mention those with only trivial
powers of transformation. Even less can slanderers of the
Mahayana avoid this fate. The Shingon priests are evil friends
to all living beings. Avoid them; fear them. The Buddha
states: "Have no fear of mad elephants. What you should
fear are evil friends! Why? Because a mad elephant can only
destroy your body; it cannot destroy your mind. But an evil
friend can destroy both body and mind. A mad elephant can
only destroy a single body, but an evil friend can destroy
countless bodies and countless minds. A mad elephant merely
destroys an impure stinking body, but an evil friend can
destroy both pure body and pure mind. A mad elephant can
destroy the physical body, but an evil friend destroys the
Dharma body. Even if you are killed by a mad elephant, you
will not fall into the three evil paths. But if you are
killed by an evil friend, you are certain to fall into them.
A mad elephant is merely an enemy of your body, but an evil
friend is an enemy of the good Law." Therefore, even
more than venomous serpents or malevolent demons, one should
fear evil friends who follow Kobo, Shan-tao and Honen. This
is just a brief clarification of the error of holding distorted
views.
The messenger is in such a great hurry that I have written
only a small part of what I had to say. When an opportunity
arises in the future, I will write to you again, examining
sutras and treatises in detail. Never show this letter to
anyone. If I survive until then, I will visit and talk with
you in the fall of next year, as you requested.
With my deep respect,
Nichiren
The fifth day of the twelfth month
Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin,
Vol. 4, page 41.
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