T2003 Zen Texts – BDK America

Fascicle One

2b13

First Gate: Having the Buddha's Teachings Abide Long Second Gate: Protecting the State Third Gate: Eliminating People's Doubts Fourth Gate: Scriptural Verification by Ancient People of Virtue Fifth Gate: The Sects of the Zen School's Lineage Sixth Gate: Scriptural Evidence for Promoting People's Confidence in the Zen School

Seventh Gate: Citing a General Principle and Exhorting People to Practice Zen

Eighth Gate: Establishing a List of the Essential Patterns of Activity in the Zen School

Ninth Gate: Information from the Large Countries Tenth Gate: Merit Transference and Making Vows Gate I

By the first gate,

"Having the Buddha's Teachings Abide Long, "

I mean what follows.

The Sixfold Prajñåpåramitå Sutra(T. 8: 868c) says: The Buddha [¸åkyamuni] said,

"So as to have the teachings

abide long, I expound a collection of precepts for monastic discipline (Vinaya-pi†aka).

"

The Mahåprajñåpåramitå Treatise(T. 25: 130b) says: The Buddha's disciples are grouped into seven: monks (bhik≈us), nuns (bhik≈u√∆s), young monks to be ordained (Ωråma√eras), young nuns to be ordained (Ωråma√er∆s), female novices (Ωik≈amånås), laymen (upåsakas), and laywomen (upåsikås). The former five are mendicants, while the rest are householders.

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Insofar as these seven groups of disciples are free from transgressions, the Buddha's teachings will abide long in the world. Hence the statement in the Chan School Monastic Rules (Zoku zøkyø2-16, 439a): Indeed, it is by establishing precepts for monastic discipline and getting the practitioners free from transgressions that the school can have models for all the threefold world. Therefore, practicing dhyåna(chan; zen) and investigating into the Way29 presuppose moral conduct that follows precepts. Unless one gets free from transgressions and keeps oneself away from wrongs, how could one attain awakening and become a patriarch? Accordingly you should obtain benefit by reciting items from the Vinaya in Four Divisions:the four grave o›enses that result in excommunication (påråjikå), the thirteen transgressions short of excommunication (saµ ghå vaΩe≈a), the two faults of indefinite character, the thirty faults concerning priests' possessions (nai˙sargikå˙ påyatti kå), the ninety moral transgressions (påtayantikå), the four [kinds of conduct] that must be confessed concerning receiving meals from others (prati deΩan∆ yåni), a hundred rules to be observed concerning personal behavior (Ωaik≈adharma˙), and the sevenfold decorum for appeasing quarrels (adhi kara√a Ωamathå). 30

Also items from the Brahmå Net Sutra on the Bodhisattva ¸∆la (T. 24: 1004-9)—that is to say, the threefold collection of purifying precepts, especially the ten weighty and the fortyeight less weighty precepts. 31

By doing all this you should be well versed in both keeping and transgressing precepts, besides in [knowing] what is prohibited and what is not. You should take recourse only to the noble words that come from the Buddha's golden mouth. You should not indulge in obeying people of mediocre capability.

The Mahåparinirvå√a Sutra (T. 12: 472b) says: 76

Should this scriptural treasury be extinguished, the Buddha's teachings would be extinguished on the spot. Indeed, this scripture advocates religious observances for the days of deterioration.

The Mahåsåµghika Vinaya(T. 22: 227b) says: The Buddha said,

"If Buddhas don't prescribe rules for moral conduct, their authentic teachings will not abide long. "

The Buddha Treasury Sutra(T. 15: 787bc) says: The Buddha said,

"This person, dear ¸åriputra, has forsaken the unsurpassed treasury of truth and deteriorated into embracing evil views. He is among those way-seekers who are likened to outcastes.... This will relegate my teachings, dear ¸åriputra, which are free from defilement, to gradual extinction. The teachings of mine on the awakened truth (bodhidharma), which I have attained after the long period of birth and death I su›ered from, will be ruined in those days by people of such evil views.... From such people I would not allow myself to accept a drink of water. "

The Brahmå Net Sutra on the Bodhisattva ¸∆la(T. 24: 1009a) says:

Those who violate the moral conduct they have vowed to keep on their way to attaining awakening are unable to receive any o›erings from lay devotees, unable to walk the ground in the monarch's land, and unable to drink the monarch's water. Should they dare to walk, some five thousand hungry ghosts (pretas) will always stand in their way. Ghosts will call them "big thieves.

" Should they enter a monk's residence,

a town, or a house, ghosts will sweep their traces away from the ground.... Those who violate the moral conduct of their own vow are no di›erent from beasts.

The Sutra of theBenevolent King(T. 8: 833bc) says: 77

In the ages, Lord of the World, when my teachings on the awakened truth are almost [completely] neglected, there may be monks who see the four kinds of sangha members (i.e., monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen) often being treated by the king and his ministers in a manner that goes against the teachings. The latter will make willful transgressions against the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha (the community of mendicants who seek awakening). The o›enses committed by them are against the Buddha's teachings and against the moral precepts. They will bind monks with cords as in criminal law. When things go like this, the extinction of the teachings of the Buddha's truth will not take long.

The Mahåprajñåpåramitå Sutra(T. 6: 539ab) says in e›ect: Dear ¸åriputra, after my death, in the last time, on the last occasion, in the last five hundred-year period32 when my teachings are lost, a scripture that accords with the profound knowledge of emptiness (prajñå) will play a great part in helping people attain awakening in the direction of the northeast [as well]. This is because all the Tathågatas33 will make much of that kind of scripture, and pray for its preservation in that direction [as well] forever, without extinction. This statement clarifies how the awakened truth of Zen that supports people in keeping precepts34 will cause the Buddha's teachings on the truth to abide long. The Great Dharma Torch Dhåra√∆ Sutra(T. 21: 677a) says:

By protecting the Buddha's teachings I mean that at the time when the Buddha's teachings are exposed to extinction, bodhisattvas, realizing this, will resort to various means35 to protect and preserve them, whereby they can have the teachings abide long. It is for this reason that those bodhisattvas will also come to have the protuberance (u≈√∆≈a)36 on their heads as Buddhas have.

78

Gate II

Herewith I have established the [first] gate "Having37 the Buddha's Teachings Abide Long.

"

Gate II

By the second gate,

"Protecting the State,

" I mean what follows.

The Sutra of the Benevolent King(T. 8: 832b) says: The Buddha entrusts realization of the knowledge of emptiness to monarchs and ministers of various countries, large and small, in present and future ages, and wishes to have them realize that this knowledge is the secret treasure for protecting the state.

By the knowledge of emptiness is meant the principle of Zen;38 the above statement comes to mean that insofar as there are people within the land who keep precepts for moral conduct, deities will protect the state. The Supreme Deity King's Prajñåpåramitå Sutra (T. 8: 689a) says:

Suppose a bodhisattva who practices to know emptiness for all beings as well as for himself happens to become a monarch, and some people who su›er from extreme poverty and humiliation come to curse and slander and disgrace him. On that occasion the monarch will refrain from intimidating them with punishment by saying,

"I am ruler of this country; the

law will subject you to capital punishment. " Instead, he will

immediately think this way: "For many lives gone by I have vowed in the presence of the World-honored Ones that I would rescue all living beings from their su›ering by causing them to attain unsurpassed awakening. Should I arouse wrath now, it will go against the original vow of mine. "

The Sutra of Forty-two Sections(Zokuzøkyø1-59, 36a) says: Feeding a hundred evil people won't be as good as feeding a single good person. Feeding a thousand good people won't 79

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compare with feeding a single keeper of the five precepts (pañca Ω∆låni). Feeding ten thousand keepers of pañcaΩ∆la won't exceed feeding a single new enterer into the stream of nirvana (srota-åpanna). Feeding a hundred thousand srotaå pannas won't be equal to feeding a single attainer of the stream of nirvana who has one more birth and death left before final attainment (sak®dågåmin). Feeding a million sak®dågåm∆s won't be like feeding a single attainer of the stream of nirvana who has no more birth and death left before final attainment (anågåmin). Feeding ten million anågåm∆s won't surpass feeding a single attainer of the stream of nirvana who is worthy of respect because he has nothing more to attain (arhat). Feeding a hundred million arhats won't go beyond feeding a single solitary enlightened one (pratyekabuddha). Feeding a billion pratyekabuddhas won't supplant feeding one among the Buddhas who appear in the three times of past, present, and future. Feeding ten billion Buddhas who appear in the three divisions of time won't be on a par with feeding a single person who thinks of nothing, abides nowhere, makes no-practice, and has nothing to attain. "Thinks of nothing" and so on stand for none other than the principle of this Zen school. The Sutra of ¸¥raµgama Practices (T. 19: 133 ff)says:

Dear Ånanda, you should keep these four kinds of restraint39 with you, become as clear and bright as ice and frost, and be singleminded in reciting my mantra verse named "white umbrella" (sitåtapatra-dhåra√∆).

40 You should select the most

pure of the keepers of ethical precepts for your teacher, wear a new and clean robe, burn incense, abide quietly, and recite this divine series of mantras uttered by my heart-Buddha (xinfo; shinbutsu),

41 one hundred and eight times. Then fix a

place to make it a depository for rules of morality (s∆må bandha) and there build a seat of awakening (bodhi ma√∂a), seek for a quick presence of the fulfillment (siddhi) of the 80

mantras, give rise to a bodhisattva vow in the bodhima√∂a, bathe and cleanse yourself every time you leave and enter the place, and six times a day circumambulate the Buddha statue. You should practice in this way without sleep for three rounds of seven days consecutively. Before such a person I shall manifest myself, stroke his head with my hand and comfort him, and cause him to open up awakening.... If people constantly recite this series of mantras, no fire can burn them, nor can water drown them. They will attain perfect self-concentration (samådhi), so that no curse or any evil star could impose evils on them. Dear Ånanda, you should know that this series of mantras always has a bodhisattva named Vajradhara ("Thunderbolt Bearer") and his whole family, as many as eighty-four thousand and nayutas, as protectors of the mantras. Every member of Bodhisattva Vajra dhara's family has followers as many as that family, and all of them will attend the mantra reciter day and night. Even if either mentally or verbally they keep this series of mantras in their distracted mind, Vajradhara will always attend them. How much more so with those who are firm in their aspiration to attain awakening (bodhicitta)!...

Dear Ånanda, in this su›ering world are eighty-four thousand disastrous stars that evoke evil fates and twenty-eight stars of great evil, and when they appear in the world they can arouse various portents. On the ground where this series of mantras is alive, however, all those portents disappear. You may establish an area of twelve yojanas42 to make it a depository of rules of morality. No evils or disasters will ever enter there. That is why the Tathågata propounds this series of mantras, so that in a future world all those mendicants who newly begin their practice may be protected from evils. The recitation of this "white-umbrella" series of mantras is constantly practiced in Chan temples. This will su‡ce to prove that the significance of the Zen school lies in protecting the state. 81

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In the Official Document Presented to the Emperor,Great Master Chishø43 of the Tendai school says:

Great Master Jikaku,

44 in the days when he was in China during the Tang dynasty, made this vow: "I am here after having crossed the four-stretching waves of the blue sea to seek for the stainless truth (Ωukladharma). Supposing I could return to my native land under the rule of our emperor, by all means I will build a Zen temple.

" By this the master meant specially that

the state must be protected and that ordinary beings be helped toward their attainment of awakening through Zen practice. As one of those who want to propagate the principle of Zen, I just follow these noble forerunners. Herewith I have set up the [second] gate,

"Protecting the State.

"

Gate III

The third gate,

"Eliminating People's Doubts,

" discusses two doubts

to be eliminated. One is the doubt caused by ignorance through confusion and suspicion. The other is the doubt that scholars tend to embrace through bigotry.

Question:Someone asks,

"People in the last five hundred-year

period when the Buddha's teachings are lost are dull-witted and not very wise. Who can practice the principle of this school?" Answer:The Great Sage ¸åkyamuni took time into consideration when he handed down the teachings to posterity. Why should we trust our worldly feelings to conclude that? It is said (in the Mahåprajñåpåramitå Treatise,T. 25: 125c) that in the past the Buddha lived in Jetavana45 for twenty-five years. [During that period,] among the nine hundred thousand families in the city, one-third saw the Buddha with their eyes, another one-third heard him speak with their ears but failed to see him, and the last third neither heard nor saw him. 82

Gate III

On the part of the Buddha, to people of one capacity he manifested eight forms of being;46 for others he left his relics, for others he left remains of his teachings; for still others he enabled them to listen to his teachings in the land beyond after this life. He even provided some people with adverse circumstances. The Sutra on the Abiding of the Dharma(T. 12: 1112c) says:

The Buddha said,

"Dear Ånanda, soon I shall assume the

form of death. I have already finished everything a Buddha has to do. I have finished helping those who were to cross the sea of su›ering to do so. For those who have not, I have provided them with the conditions in which they all can cross it. I have already made non-Buddhists, the army of demons, and others submit to the way of awakening. I have fulfilled my previous vows. For the future world I shall be the unsurpassed Awakened Eye.

"

Do you not see that the Buddha has already provided us with the present-life benefit? The same is true with the principle of the Zen school. If a person happens to have the conditions for it, he will practice it. Otherwise, no one would seek it. Even if he does not practice it, occasions of seeing, hearing, encountering, or knowing about it will lead one to attain ultimate liberation. You see in India that not all people have practiced Zen. In China there are some who have never practiced it. In Japan the same will be true. If there is one out of ten thousand people who practices it, how could it be impossible? If on the grounds that no one can do it you won't exhort anyone to practice it, then people will lack both the proper and adverse occasions for it. Moreover, the Mahåprajñå påramitå Sutra(T. 6: 539ab, quoted above, p. 78) has this: Dear ¸åriputra, after my death, in the last time, on the last occasion, in the last five hundred-year period when my teachings are lost, a scripture like this that accords with the profound knowledge of emptiness will play a great part in helping people attain awakening in the direction of the northeast as 83

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well.... Innumerable men and women of noble mind will gain unimaginable benefit.

Further, the Middle Treatise(T. 30: 1b) says in e›ect: Question:Why do you compose this treatise? Answer:47 During the last five hundred-year period after the Buddha assumed the form of parinirvå√a,people are dullwitted and deeply attached to various forms of his teachings, and seek something final in them. Instead of realizing what the Buddha meant by them, they merely cling to their verbal expressions. While they hear about ultimate emptiness in the Mahayana teachings, they don't know for what reason things are empty of self-nature. Therefore, they give rise to fixed views and doubts about emptiness. Why do various faults arise in the midst of ultimate emptiness? In order to [clarify] this, the author composed this Middle Treatise. The Tiantai school's Elucidatory Comments(T. 33: 858b) says:48 Here is a doubt: The Lotus Sutrahas already revealed the ultimate truth through provisional teachings. Why does the Mahåparinirvå√a Sutrafurther propagate what is provisional? Master Zhiyi in the treatise explains that the latter teaches about the life-redeeming valuable treasure. The Mahåparinirvå√a Sutra, fascicle 14, says:49 Seven varieties of gems, which their owner does not take out for use, are called treasures. The reason this person keeps them hidden is that he thinks of their future use. When the cost of grain is high, when enemies invade the country, or when the nation happens to have an evil king, the possessor can use the treasures so as to redeem his life. When it is hard to get some property, he can take them out for use.

The same is true with the Buddhas' hidden treasure. It may happen that in the latter-day world evil members 84

of the sangha will hoard prohibited properties, or that all the four groups of sangha members will insist that the Tathågata (¸åkyamuni) finally entered into complete extinction, and will read and recite non-Buddhist scriptures without respecting50 Buddhist sutras. At the time when such evils appear in the world, those evils must be destroyed. That is why the Tathågata expounded this sutra. Should this sutra disappear, the Buddha's teachings will disappear on the spot.

What the author of the treatise means by pointing to the Mahåparinirvå√a Sutraas the valuable treasure is this: passages of the sutra that appear before and after the above quote all propound the eternity of nirvana, the extinction of su›ering, the very teaching that truly supports morality. In this latter-day world evil sangha members who break the moral precepts (Ω∆la), or who make no e›orts [to learn] the Mahayana teachings as well as [to uphold] moral conduct, will lose the life of eternal abiding. But let this sutra be trusted; it propounds the eternity of nirvana, the very teaching that is the true support for morality. It is fully equipped with both yåna(vehicle) and Ω∆la(precepts). The Tiantai school's Solutions for Propagation(T. 46: 345b) says:51

Then again the Mahåparinirvå√a Sutrais specially meant for the latter-day world because it carries the exposition of expediency.

In addition, [Zhanran's] Calming and Contemplation: Their Meaning and Examples(T. 46: 447b) says:

We need the Mahåparinirvå√a Sutrabecause, although everyone in the various vehicles, relying on the Lotus Sutra, returns to the one real truth, people of the latter days, who are dull-witted, will see their own practice fall flat should 85

they lack support. Only their own practice and support from the ground of their being together can cause them to proceed further. The Buddha in transformation himself looked upon his death as the end of his lifetime activities. Much more so with our latter-day world, where practice will not advance without support. Therefore, the sutra expounded the eternity of nirvana as the true support for morality, and revealed the reality.

The Lotus Sutra(T. 9: 37c) says:

In a latter-day evil world...a bodhisattva may sit in a secluded place and practice calming himself, contemplating that everything that has form is empty of self-nature, and that [all phenomena] are in their forms as they should be. . . . He may always be willing to contemplate on such forms as they are in their original way, and abide unmoved and stable like Mount Sumeru.

Great Master Tiantai,

52 in his commentary on the chapter

"Abiding in Bliss" [in the Words and Phrases in the Lotus Sutra] (T. 34: 120b), says:

By "contemplating,

" the scripture means the wisdom of contemplating the Middle Way. By "everything that has form, "

it means everything in all ten directions. . . . Contemplation goes with nineteen phrases. The first [phrase]53 expresses what is general; the other eighteen phrases correspond to the eighteenfold emptiness (Ω¥nya) expounded in the Mahåprajñå påramitå Sutra. Further, the [Lotus Sutra] (T. 9: 37c-38a) says: In a latter-day world after the Tathågata manifested pari nirvå√a,a bodhisattva who wants to preach on this Dharma Lotus truth should abide in bliss. No matter whether it is when he is explaining the truth to others or when reading the scripture, he may not speak of the faults of any other person or 86

scripture. He may not despise other preachers. He may not talk about his like or dislike of others or of their merits or flaws. It further says (T. 9: 38c):

In the latter-day world where the Tathågata's teachings are about to be extinguished, those who want to hold the truth of this Lotus Sutraas their guide should be friendly and amiable to everyone, both laypeople and mendicants. They should be compassionate to those who have not been seeking awakening, making this vow: "When I attain awakening, no matter where I may find myself then, I will exercise to the full my possible supernatural power and wisdom to enable them to abide in this awakened truth.

"

These passages on four blissful ways of being from the Lotus Sutraall refer to a latter-day world. Then we know that all three sutras—the Mahåprajñåpåramitå,the Lotus,and the Mahåpari nirvå√a—expound the essentials of self-concentration (samådhi) in seated posture (i.e., zazen) and the contemplation based on it that were intended for the latter-day world. If the generations of [people of] the latter-day world lacked the capabilities and occasions for attaining awakening, the Buddha would not have ex pounded them. Since, however, this is not the case, the practice flourishes in the great land of Song. Only out of their ignorance do some people in the contemporary world believe that Buddhism, a religion based on the Buddha's teachings, has been extinguished. But they are wrong, as you will see from the details noted in the ninth gate. Above I quoted a passage from the Mahåprajñåpåramitå Sutra, "[people attain awakening] in the direction of the northeast [as well].

" This indicates China, Korea, and Japan. The Buddha's teachings have already been transmitted into China. Korea has had the transmission of the Fayan sect of the Chan school. When Deshao, the State Master of Tang, had some missing fascicles of Tiantai school texts sought in Korea and Japan, he knew that the Chan school was flourishing in Korea.

54

It has been nearly three hundred years since State Master 87

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Deshao of China passed away. Before this, in Japan in the Tenpyø era, a master from Tang China, Daoxuan (Døsen), 55 who stayed at

Dai'anji in Nara, transmitted the teaching of the Chan school to Reverend Gyøhyø.

56 Great Master Dengyø (Saichø)57 says in his Genealogy(Zensh¥1):

According to the permit for my joining the sangha as a monk, the guiding master was Gyøhyø, Dharma Master for Transmission of the Lamp, who lived at Dai'anji, in the left quarters of the capital.

My forefather in the Dharma, Reverend Daoxuan, had brought with him from the Great Tang a copy of Great Master Bodhidharma's treatise on Chan, which has been stored in the treasury of Mount Hiei. Toward the end of the Enryaku era (782-805) I visited the Great Tang to ask for further guidance about Great Master Bodhidharma's transmission. On October thirteenth, the twentieth year of Zhenyuan (Jøgen, 804), from Xiaoran (Shøzen or Y¥nen, dates unknown), a monk of the Chanlinsi (Zenrinji, present-day Dacisi; Daijiji) on Mount Tiantai, I received transmission of the lineage of the Dharma through the two countries, India and China, as well as Bodhidharma's Dharma transmission, a Dharma treatise fom Mount Niutou, and so on. I brought home these texts with high esteem to be preserved on Mount Hiei. Four hundred years have passed. I, Eisai, who regret the severance of this school, have recourse to the Buddha's sincere expositions meant for the last five hundred-year period, and eagerly wish to let flourish what has been abandoned and to carry out what has been cut o›. As for direction and time, they accord with the Buddha's words. How dare you say we have neither the capability nor occasion for attaining awakening?

Besides, since the [time when the] Tathågata manifested his pari nirvå√a,which corresponds to China's Zhou (Sh¥) dynasty, the fifty-second58 year of King Mu (Boku), the year of renshen(mizunoe-saru,949 B.C.E.), counted through to the present ninth year of 88

Kenky¥ in Japan, the year of (wuwu) tsuchinoe-uma(1198 C.E.), it has been two thousand one hundred and forty-seven years. This means that we are now within two hundred years in the last five hundred-year period after ¸åkyamuni. Great Master Tiantai says [in his Words and Phrases[in the Lotus Sutra] (T. 34: 2c)]: The last five hundred-year period receives the benefits of the living truth of awakening that originated in the distant past. Great Master Miaole (Myøraku, i.e., Zhanran; Tannen) comments on the above statement [in his Notes to the Words and Phrases] (T. 34: 157b):

At the beginning of the latter-day world the great teachings flourish. Hence,

"five hundred.

"

Now you have said [that contemporary people have] "neither capability nor occasion" [to attain awakening]. This goes against our Original Teacher's (i.e., the Buddha) edict. It also finds fault with the knowledge of emptiness; it disparages Buddhas and bodhisattvas59 as well. The Mahåprajñåpåramitå Sutra(T. 7: 189b) says: Among the mendicants who practice my teachings on the awakened truth and monastic precepts, there will be ones so foolish and stupid that although still calling me Great Master, they will slander and destroy my expositions of the profound knowledge of emptiness. Dear Subh¥ti, you should know that slandering the knowledge of emptiness is slandering Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

60 Slandering awakening is slandering the

Buddhas' knowledge of all forms.

The same scripture, in the passage preceding the one quoted above (T. 7: 189a), says:

If I explain in detail what forms and measures of evil rewards a transgressor of my teachings on the awakened truth will come to have, on hearing me he will be horrified, vomit hot 89

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blood, and immediately his life will end as if [he were] shot by a poisoned arrow.

All this means that for those who have become mendicants in the Buddha-Dharma to give rise to the view of self even for one moment will amount to slandering the knowledge of emptiness. The Buddha Treasury Sutra(T. 15: 786a) says: Dear ¸åriputra, in my teachings on the awakened truth one has the base of all fixed views rooted out; one has all the verbal ways cut o›, like hands in the empty sky that have nothing to touch and be obstructed by. The right way of being for way-seekers (Ωrama√as) should always be like this. The Sutra of Pleasure and Garlands(T. 14: 931abc) says: Being free from the mind and from discrimination is the wayseeker's right mode of being; to protect one's sense faculties in their functioning is the way-seeker's right mode of being. This being the case, even if some may try propagating the ancient texts of the Vedas in this country, people of wisdom will not stand in their way. You may take good care of your sense faculties in working them, and never obstruct the Buddha's teachings from flourishing.

The Lotus Sutra(T. 9: 50a) says:

All the various productive activities in the world to help sustenance accord with the true mode of reality and don't contradict it. The school of Zhenyan (Shingon, i.e., the Mantra school) [in the Commentary on the Mahåvairocana Sutra] (Zokuzøkyø1-36, 459b) says:

Insofar as you find yourself in the Tathågata's teachings for helping people attain awakening, you may make a vow and practice in that direction. Don't belittle the scriptural 90

teachings of any of the three vehicles. If you do, you will be slandering the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; you will be slandering people's great aspiration for awakening (bodhi citta). Since every means in the treasury of esoteric teachings is the Buddha's expedient, to find fault with any of them is to find fault with all his teachings. Various things of the world, e›orts of livelihood, industries, the arts, and so on, have their right reasons. They accord with what the Buddha has preached. You cannot slander them. Much less so with the teachings of the three vehicles.

In addition, the MañjuΩr∆ Inquiry Sutra(T. 14: 501a) says: In the future there will be twenty divisions among my disciples. They will enable my teachings to abide long. They will all acquire the four grades of attainment culminating in arhatship. In their inheritance of my teachings in the three collections (Tripi†aka) they are equal, without relative superiority or inferiority or even without medium. Like seawater, whose taste has no di›erence in being salty, and like the same person having twenty children, as the true expositions of the Tathågata, dear MañjuΩr∆, the original two divisions come from the Great Vehicle; they come from perfection of the knowledge of empiness (prajñåpåramitå).

According to The All-pleasing: A Commentary on the Rules of Discipline (T. 24: 796c) as well as other sources, we have this expression:

For what reason did the Buddha [at first] not permit women to be ordained as sangha members? He could not do so before he established regulations for female members to respect male ones. If he had permitted women to be ordained without the regulations, his teaching would have diminished five hundred years from its original duration, which was one thousand 91

4c

years. Establishing the eight rules of respect for nuns toward male mendicants reestablished the longevity of the teachings to the full one thousand years.

After the period of the authentic teachings comes that of another thousand years when what has the appearance of authentic teachings prevails. Then comes the period of ten thousand years when the teachings come to an end. During this latter-day period, for the first five thousand years people practice to attain the three kinds of wisdom and the four grades of attainment. After six thousand years, there will be no attainment of arhatship. After ten thousand years, there will be no practice of the Buddha's teachings; scriptural expressions will be lost of their own accord. What you say is contrary to the significance of these passages, by falsely making arguments and hindering their circulation. This already violates reason.

The Mahå[prajñåpåramitå] Treatise(T. 25: 416a) says: All arguments have faults of transgression. Only the Buddha's profound wisdom extinguishes all discursive thought and speech. The Lotus[Sutra] (T. 9: 10a) says:

The Tathågata appears for the purpose of

Proclaiming the Buddha's wisdom.

Also this (T. 9: 15a):

What you now have to attain is

None but the Buddha's wisdom.

Generally speaking, the Tathågata's original intent to appear in the world is to cause living beings to destroy evil views and abide in the broad mind of no-dispute, which is the knowledge of emptiness.

The Tiantai school's GreatCalming and Contemplation(T. 46: 63b) says:

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The Tathågata's teachings show people the truth of no-dispute. Digested, [the teachings] will make sweet dew; otherwise, they will turn into poison.

The Solutions for Propagation(T. 46: 317c-318a) comments on the above passage:

The expression following "the Tathågata" means that the original intent of the Buddha's teachings is to show people no-dispute. Disputation is a human fault. How could one relate it to the Dharma and find fault with the Dharma? Now the Buddha wants to show people the truth of no-dispute. Therefore, he expounds the Mahåprajñåpåramitå[Sutra].... All this means that the Buddha's teachings, either great or small, originally show people the truth of no-dispute. Heavenly sweet drops of dew originally grant longevity to the taker; foolish people take them undigested [and as a result] they shorten their natural lifespan. The same is true with the Buddha's teachings. Originally they make one directly realize the extinction of su›ering (nirvana) as one's eternal abode. As one gives rise to disputes, he enters into one of the three evil modes of existence.

The Sutra[of the Brahmå Called] Excellent Thinker(T. 15: 36c) says:

Buddhas don't appear in the world to cause living beings to quit the su›ering of birth and death and enter nirvana. They appear in order to cause beings to become free of the two fixed views of birth and death and nirvana.

Because what you say is contrary to these passages, you slander prajñå, the knowledge of emptiness.

Question:Someone says,

"The principle of the Zen school does

not set up words out of which to make any dogma, so it lacks verbal evidence. Without any scriptural verification, however, the lord of the state will have di‡culty in trusting and accepting it. Besides, 93

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you are such a worthless character. How dare you abruptly surprise the lord's hearing!"

Answer:The Sutra of the Benevolent King(T. 8: 833a) says: The Buddha said,

"As I clearly see the kings in the three divisions of time now with my fivefold eyes, it is because of their attendance with five hundred Buddhas in their past lives that they have become sovereigns. That is why all the sages and arhats come to see them in their lands and bring about great benefits. If the sovereign exhausts his good fortune, sages will abandon him and quit the land. The land, abandoned by sages, will necessarily su›er seven disasters.

"Lord, if in a future world kings uphold the Three Treasures [of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha], I shall have the five powerful bodhisattvas visit and protect their lands.... Those five great beings, assisted by five thousand great deity-kings, will bring about great benefits in your lands. "Lord, you and you all may uphold prajñåpåramitå. "

Therefore, all the kings, on hearing the Buddha's teachings, will naturally have confidence in them and accept them. Insofar as monarchs esteem the Buddha's teachings, who should first have to gain evidence for the teachings and then allow them to prevail? The violent king of Qin (Shin) ordered the burning of books (213 B.C.E.). During the Huichang (Kaishø) era (842-5 C.E.) Buddhist monks and nuns were injured. The Daoist minister Lingsu (Reiso) suppressed the Buddhist religion (1117 C.E.), and his emperor Hui zong (Kisø, r. 1101-25 C.E.) disfigured Buddha statues. None of these rulers were those who enjoyed their sovereign status as a reward of their attendance with Buddhas in past lives. They belong to those whose existence was formed by their evil desires. You should not say that the Buddha's teachings are too subtle for monarchs to trust in. Thus, a monarch who succeeded to the throne through abdication of the previous monarch had already attended five hundred 94

Buddhas, hadn't he? The same is true with mendicants who transmit the lamp of truth. They have planted excellent roots of virtue, not merely with two, three, four, or five Tathågatas. With Buddhas as numerous as the grains of sand in the Ganges River they have deeply planted the seeds of vast prajñå,and now they realize the living truth of one phrase.

The Diamond Sutra(T. 8: 749ab) says:

The Buddha said,

"You should know that these people planted

roots of virtue not just with one, two, three, four, or five Buddhas. They have already planted roots of virtue with an innumerable thousand, ten thousand Buddhas, and on hearing these phrases they will have even one moment of calm pleas-" ure.

It will be the monarchs who will be the most pleased [with the phrases of the sutra], won't it? So what fault could there be in surprising the emperor's ears with my wish to let Zen flourish in this land?

Generally speaking, destitute people's grief is likely to reach the emperor's notice. Much more so must it be with the appeal from a monk who has been granted a royal certificate of ordination! How could it be otherwise with me, Eisai, who has risen to the present priestly rank? Xuanzang's Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions(T. 51: 907c) says in e›ect: In ancient times in Central India in a country named Yudha pati there were three Buddhist mendicants coming from the northern direction, on their way to make a pilgrimage to the Buddha's holy traces. Meanwhile, temple priests in India despised these three mendicants, calling them "men from out of the way" (i.e., non-Buddhists), and would not let them stay overnight in their temples. The [mendicants] were always turned away with the reason that in all the five parts of India mendicants had their ears pierced with hanging rings but these monks did not. Exposed to the rain and mist, they were skinny, wan, and sallow.

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It happened that the king came out to take a walk in the street and, on seeing the three mendicants, said to them, "From which direction have you come, revered mendicants, to find yourselves [in such a condition]?" They answered, "We

are from the northern country of Tukhara. Once a few of us promised one another,

'The living principle of the Buddha's

teachings is so subtle and deep, words or talks cannot penetrate it. Fortunately the Holy One's traces still exist. Paying a respectful visit to them may extinguish our human transgressions. Let us share the same wish and be pilgrims together.

' Having made this promise among ourselves, we traveled this far. But the way-seekers of India don't dare show compassion toward us. On the contrary, they have always rejected us, shutting us out of their monasteries, and so on. That is why we have become like this. "

Hearing the mendicants talk, the king's sympathy increased. He chose a beautiful place, had a monastery built, and on a white piece of cotton wrote an inscription: "Our Royal Self, most honored among the people, enjoys this status through the graceful protection of the Three Treasures. Being lord of the people, I have already been entrusted by the Buddha to help his teachings be propagated throughout the land. Those who wear the dyed robes of monks will be in my gracious service. I have had this monastery built to invite traveling way-seekers here. From now on those mendicants who have ears pierced with hanging rings will not be allowed to stay overnight in this monastery I have built. "

What an honest and sincere remark this is! The Sutra of the Benevolent King(T. 8: 833b) says:

Therefore, I entrust kings with [the Three Treasures]. It also says (T. 8: 833a):

Their attendance with five hundred Buddhas in the past lives enables them to become sovereigns.

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It also says (T. 8: 833a):

Great Lord, I now entrust you with the Three Treasures. It also says (T. 8: 833c):

Great Lord, after my death in the future world the four [kinds of sangha members] (monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen), my disciples, and the lords and princes of all the small countries will be those who preserve and protect the Three Treasures.

The monarch of Japan is not a descendant of this king of India but the most honored of the imperial palace is always a child who takes shelter in the Buddha. The great lord of Yuezhi (India), on hearing of the three mendicants' trials, had a monastery built for them. Why would the noble lord of Japan not respond to an appeal from a poor monk and grant an edict on paper? Your hindrance and reproach against me is something that will cause the destruction of the Buddha's teachings; it will ruin the land itself. You should not be so insistent [on denouncing me]. The Sutra of the Benevolent King(T. 8: 833c) says:

[The Buddha said,] "In the future world monarchs of small countries as well as the four [kinds of sangha] disciples will all commit this transgression. It will cause the destruction of the country, a result they must su›er themselves. They run counter to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

"Great Lord, in the future world let people have the truth of this scripture circulate among them, for this is the vessel of the truth awakened to by the past seven Buddhas; this is the path that all the Buddhas in the ten directions unfailingly tread.

"Evil mendicants mostly look for fame and profit. In the king's presence they will preach what will directly or indirectly cause the destruction of the teachings of the Buddha-Dharma. The king, not discerning, will trust [them] and listen to their 97

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words, and willfully establish laws without having any recourse to the Buddha's moral precepts (Ω∆la). I take this for the direct and indirect cause of the destruction of both the teachings of the Buddha-Dharma and their land. It will be precisely at this time that the authentic teachings of the Buddha-Dharma will be lost.

"

Hearing this exposition by the Buddha, the kings of the sixteen larger countries wept with grief. They cried their hearts out and their tears moved the three thousand great worlds. The sun and moon, the five planets, and the twenty-eight stars lost their brightness and became invisible. Then, each of the kings in his sincerest heart accepted and upheld the Buddha's words,

"We should not restrain people from becoming mendicants to practice the Way as one of the four [kinds of] sangha members; we should do as the Buddha teaches us to. "

The Mahåparinirvå√a Sutra(T. 12: 381a) says: Now with the propagation of the Buddha's unsurpassed authentic teachings does the Tathågata entrust kings and ministers as well as the four [kinds of] sangha members. These sovereigns and four [kinds of] sangha members should admonish way-seekers to make their [practice of] morality (Ω∆la), self-concentration (samådhi) and knowledge of emptiness (prajñå) become61 powerful. If there are those who would not learn to practice these62 three kinds of vessels of the truth, who are lazy, who violate precepts, and who slander the Buddha's teachings, then the kings, ministers, and four [kinds of] sangha members should try hard to cure them of such wrong ways of being. Dear KåΩyapa, the kings who do this are free from transgressions.

As you see, the Buddha has already entrusted kings with prajñå,the unsurpassed, authentic teachings of his truth. Monarchs should give directions for themselves. Why should wicked minds be left uncontrolled to create obstacles? I want to let the declining 98

Zen [school] flourish in this country, whereas you forcibly find fault with it. I am a poor mendicant, unworthy of the name, but how does that mean that the Zen truth can be faulted? This kind of inference betrays the Buddha's children, who then find fault in the Buddha's teachings. The Mahåparinirvå√a Sutra(T. 12: 380c-381a) says: For those who slander the Buddha's teachings, the sangha should decide either to expel them from the sangha or to chastise them within the sangha. . . . Dear KåΩyapa, the reason the Tathågata demands a decision for taming those who find fault with the Buddha's teachings is that he wants to show that evildoers will have their own retribution. After my death, in every direction there will be mendicants who keep the moral precepts, who live in full dignity in their conduct, and who wish to preserve and protect the authentic teachings. When they see those who destroy the teachings, they respond actively, curing them through punishment, such as expelling or chastising them. These mendicants will surely acquire immeasurable and incalculable merit.

Monarchs, therefore, should think well of the Buddha's entrustment and have no objection to it. Question:Someone says,

"Zen is a principle commonly applied

in the various schools. Why do you dare to set up an independent school for it?"

Answer:For naming an independent school with a common principle or for making a single truth represent two fields, we can cite more than one example. The so-called religious observance of restraint (saµvara-Ω∆la) is a common concept among the schools. Nevertheless, it establishes the Vinaya school. Mendicants' morality cannot be di›erent but all the five parts of India have five divisions of the Vinaya (monastic rules). The three collections of Buddhist [teachings] (Tripi†aka, i.e., sutras, Vinaya, and Ωåstras) is the truth of the one same path but the eighteen [plus two basic] branches in 99

5c

India had their own Tripi†akas. The Middle Treatisedirectly discusses the one real truth, and it has become the basic text of the two schools, Sanlun (Sanron) and Tiantai (Tendai). The Zhenyan (Shingon) school is an esoteric vehicle, and it has the two temples, Tøji63 and Tendai.

64 Still more so with the Chan (Zen) school, which represents the ultimate principle of all the schools and the capital of the land called Buddha-Dharma. In setting up one independent Zen school, there should be no hindrance at all. Because of this, Great Master Dengyø's Genealogy (Zensh¥1, 199-248) says:

It has been a long time since the genealogy came into being. The Buddha's teachings had their source in Central India. They came through the Great Tang and flowed into Japan. In India, transmission of the teachings already included sutras and their commentaries. In China also, transmission from one to another formed a lineage. Transmission of the Buddha's teachings down to me (Saichø) in Mount Hiei has had no genealogy from master to master as yet.

Therefore, I respectfully compile the transmission of the Buddha's teachings through the three countries, and want to show them to those of our school who will come in later ages. They are:

A lineage genealogy, in Great Master Bodhidharma's entrustment, of master-to-master transmission; A lineage genealogy, in the Tiantai Lotus school, of master-to-master transmission; A lineage genealogy, in the Tiantai perfect teaching (yuanjiao; enkyø) of the bodhisattva Ω∆la,of master-to-master transmission; and

A lineage genealogy, in the two fields of activities of the esoteric deities (ma√∂ala), matrix (garbha) and thunderbolt (vajra), of master-to-master transmission. Great Master Chishø's Similarities and Dissimilarities of the Teaching Forms(T. 74: 312c) says:

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Question:Traditionally it has been said that the Buddha's disciples are of three sorts: Dhyåna masters (zenji), Vinaya masters (risshi), and Dharma masters (høshi, hosshi). Of the contemporary schools, which school has which master? Answer:The three schools of Zen, Tendai, and Shingon have Dhyåna masters. All the other schools [except the Vinaya school] have Dharma masters. These three sorts of masters are found in Dharma Master Shenfang's (Shinbø) Brief Commentary on the Ten Wheels Sutra. Question:As for the Zen school, what kind of school is it? Answer:This school is not included among the eight schools. 65

Question:What is the characteristic of this school? Answer:The Zen school has the Diamond Sutraand the Vimalak∆rti Sutraas its main references. Its principle is that the mind is nothing other than the Buddha. A mind freed from clinging to anything constitutes its religious act. Its purpose is [to cause people to realize] that everything that has its own characteristics is empty of self-nature. Since the Buddha handed down the robe and bowl to KåΩyapa, transmission from master to disciple has not changed. Details are known from the records.

Question:Who has introduced this school to Japan? Answer:Great masters one after another left Mount Hiei, entered the Great Tang to seek the truth, personally received this transmission, and returned home.

Venerable Annen's Treatise on Teaching Time Polemics(T. 75: 355b and 362a) says:

In the three countries, various schools have had times of rise and fall but the nine schools have been practiced side by side. . . . According to the degree of depth of their doctrines, 101

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from deep to shallow, the nine schools are as follows. First, the Shingon school, with its doctrine, the one perfect principle, which is the mystery of all the Buddhas, expounded at all times and places by the Tathågata Vairocana ("Great Sun"), who is eternal and free from change, naturally stands first. Then the Zen school, with its traps and nets amply employed by ¸åkyamuni all his life, and ultimately with emphasis on the transmission of mind to mind without reliance on scriptural authority, constitutes the heart of all the Buddhas' [teachings] (sarvabuddhapravacana-h®daya). For this reason it counts as the second in order. . . . The Kusha (AbhidharmakoΩa) school stands as the ninth. The Song Dynasty Biographies of Eminent Monks by Zanning (Sannei) (T. 50: 724b) says in e›ect:

Buddhism in China has had three teachings: exoteric, esoteric, and [the teaching] of the Mind. The exoteric teaching has [KåΩyapa-]Måtaçga66 as its first patriarch. The esoteric teaching has Vajrabodhi67 as its first patriarch. The teaching of the Mind has Bodhidharma as its first patriarch. We have seen how in China and Japan the Chan (Zen) school has been interpreted; in the three countries the nine schools have been practiced together. This school arose in the Liang dynasty, flourished in the Song dynasty, and in the Chen and Sui [dynasties] brilliant scholars did not argue whether Chan was a general principle or a particular school. Wise emperors of the Tang and Song let it be practiced along with other schools. Gyøhyø and Dengyø transmitted it to Japan. Chishø and Annen both practiced it. As soon as young people heard the name "Zen,

" they began arguing

about it. Whose shame is this?

Question:Someone says,

"Establishing a new school is a rare68

matter. You are far from the right person. Why do you want to accomplish such an important matter?"

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Answer: Two thousand years ago when ¸åkyamuni passed away, he entered into perfect calmness (parinirv®ta) together with his teachings as many as the grains of sand in the Ganges River. ¸ånavåsin was the third [after KåΩyapa and Ånanda] who was entrusted with transmission of the teachings of the Buddha-Dharma. He entered into extinction and simultaneously carried away eighty thousand teachings from each of the threefold collection (Tripi†aka). Since then, as time passed, the number of teachings gradually decreased, and the practice of morality (Ω∆la) became more leaky and faulty, depending on the decline of practitioners. However, in India AΩvagho≈a (second c. C.E.) and Någårjuna (second-third c. C.E.) realized the truth of one reality. In China Nanyue Huisi (Nangaku Eshi, 515-75) and Tiantai (Tendai; Zhiyi; Chigi, 538-97) attained samådhi.The Dharma light illuminated the four distant quarters; the practice of morality reached the [latter-day world in its second] five hundred years. If by identifying ourselves with mere commonality and vulgarity we did not practice following these holy footsteps, how would the teachings of the Buddha-Dharma continue? How could you not feel sorry about the extermination of the Zen truth but instead scrutinize the faults of humans and the truth? The Lotus Sutra(T. 9: 38b) says:

You should not belittle and rebuke those who learn to practice the Buddha's Way so as to uncover their merits and demerits. Venerable Annen69 says [in his Treatise on Teaching Time Polemics] (T. 75: 355a):

Publicizing oneself while belittling others cannot be called propagating the Way.

The Mahåprajñåpåramitå Treatise(T. 25: 63c) says: If one slanders and rebukes others' religion because of strong attachment to one's own, even a practitioner of morality won't be exempt from the torture of hell.

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The Mantra school's [Commentary on] the Mahåvairocana Sutra(Zokuzøkyø1-36, 276c) says in e›ect:

What is the demonic (råk≈asa) mind? It is that which gives rise to evils in the midst of goodness. Let me explain this. Someone may believe in the Buddha's words and build places of worship. Finding blame in this, the demonic mind will say, "You are injuring innumerable worms and giving much trouble to the benefactors. What could be the benefit of this? You deserve only the retribution of pain.

" This kind of evil mind

is what I mean by the demonic mind. Simply observing the merit and benefit of that person's faithful act, without looking for his faults, counters the demonic mind.

The Sutra of¸¥raµgama Practices (T. 19: 107a) says: It is because the Tathågatas in the ten directions are of one and the same path. What makes one free from the su›ering of birth and death is always the genuine mode of his being (åΩayama√∂a; jikishin). It is because his mode of being and words are genuine and not artificial.

This being the case, when both one's mode of being and words are not genuine but artificial, and when he looks to find fault in both humans and the truth, how could that person know the path? The Mahåprajñåpåramitå Treatise(T.25: 129b) says: One hundred years after the Buddha passed away, a man named Upagupta attained arhatship and became a great guiding master for the world. In those days there was an old nun, aged one hundred and twenty. As a child, she had seen the Buddha. Upagupta came to hear from her how the Buddha had looked and comported himself. The nun wanted to examine the master's behavior so she attached a bowl filled with oil to the back of the door. Upagupta approached and slowly opened the door. A little of the oil was spilled. After he entered and sat, he asked how the Buddha had emitted light from 104

himself. He also asked how the sangha members had comported themselves. The nun answered: "In the days when the Buddha was alive, there was a group of six sangha members who were very evil mendicants, yet their behavior accorded with the regulations and excelled yours. In walking, standing, sitting, and lying down they never missed established rules. When the group of six entered this door, they never caused any oil to be spilled. You are an arhat who possesses the six supernatural powers. Nevertheless, you cannot equal them. "

Hearing this, Upagupta felt deeply ashamed.

However, in the days when the Buddha was alive, of the group of six mendicants two fell into the någa's (serpent demon) mode of existence and two rose to the realm of the devas (heavenly gods). On the other hand, Upagupta was a man who had gained all the four attainments.

70 Does this not tell us that in the latter-day world not even a single precept should be made little of? Still less so with our intention to benefit other beings. Since our intention can never go against the Buddha's, how could ours be distinguished from the Buddha's intention?

The Mahåparinirvå√a Sutra(T. 12: 590a) says:

As for the aspiration to attain awakening (bodhicitta) and attaining ultimate awakening (anuttarå samyaksaµbodhi), these two cannot be separated. Of these two the first is very hard; it is the aspiration to have others attain awakening before oneself does so. Therefore, I respectfully salute people of original aspiration.

Although this is a rare thing in the history of this country, and although I am an unworthy person to promote it, my daring to follow in the footprints of preceding sages with the practice and vow of great compassion won't meet any obstruction, will it? Besides, although the latter-day world would not have any appropriate vessel, examples of an important position to be o‡cially established in founding a new school have not been lacking. If we 105

want a Taigong71 for the ministry, we shall wait in vain for a thousand years. If we need a Kumåraj∆va as a model for teachers, ten thousand generations will pass without a Kumåraj∆va. However, even "half a verse" on the awakened truth was not belittled. 72 Why

should the citer be strongly despised? As for me, I have already ascended to the o‡cial position for Transmission of the Lamp.Concerning the matter of reviving what has been abolished, why should we not expect imperial sanction? I sincerely hope there will be thorough investigation into this matter.

Question:Someone says,

"Ancient patriarchs were all those

Tathågatas who had manifested themselves as bodhisattvas. You have no special virtue. How could imperial sanction be a›orded to you for reviving what has been abolished?"

Answer: Do you abandon the gems that lie buried within ore, saying that the ore does not yet emit bright luster? No one would give up [a bag of] gold [for the reason] that the leather bag stinks. For the valuable brocade from Shu (Shoku; Sichuan Province) no one asks who the owner is. Betel palm is sought only for its taste. The Zen school alone expounds that the Dharma causes living beings to cross the sea of birth and death. Besides, the teachings of the Buddha-Dharma for the latter-day world mostly work with hidden benefit. Not necessarily do they seek supernatural transformation. The recent rebuke against Eisai is far from a digrace to Eisai alone, isn't it?

The Vinaya in Four Divisions(T. 22: 568c) says: It is said that the following once happened. The World-honored One accepted an invitation from a man of priestly caste (brahman) at Veranjå. Misled by the destroyers (måras), the priest forgot his dedication to the World-honored One whom he had invited, and made no meal o›erings. The World-honored One had arrived at Veranjå with five hundred mendicants. It was already the summer rainy season [when the sangha dwelled together in one place] (i.e., summer retreat). Unable to return 106

to Råjag®ha, they stayed in the woods of a nearby hamlet. There they met with famine, and it was extremely hard to obtain any food from almsrounds. At that time a horse trader from Parikhå came around with five hundred horses. He happened to see that the Buddha and his disciples were starving, and immediately donated half of his horse barley to the five hundred mendicants. To the Buddha he donated a peck of [the barley]. Then Maudgalyåyana said to the Buddha, "I shall fly to

Uttarakuru in the north and obtain rice there. " The Buddha

said to Maudgalyåyana,

"You have the supernatural power to do so. As for ordinary mendicants, how could they do the same thing?" Maudgalyåyana said, "I can take them with me,

using my supernatural power.

" The Buddha said,

"Give it up.

You possess supernatural power but in the future how could ordinary mendicants accomplish this?" It also says in e›ect (T. 22: 946c): Venerable Pi√∂ola (Bhåradvåja; Binzuru) displayed his supernatural power for a benefactor. The Buddha scolded Pi√∂ola, saying,

"How dare you display supernatural power to a benefactor for one meal! It's like a prostitute who for the profit of half a coin will show her body to others. I am punishing you. You may not enter final extinction but will abide in the world to be a field of merit for the latter-day world. "

The above shows how the Tathågata made this regulation against displaying supernatural power for the latter-day mendicants. In ancient days73 the king of Pengcheng (Højø) blamed Chan Master Farong (Høy¥, 594-657) of Mount Niutou, 74 patriarch of

Great Master Dengyø. Later the king saw a true friend in the master and put his confidence in him. As for the hidden fragrance of divine responsiveness, who could know its omen? Question:Someone says,

"The Zen school insists that it does not set up words out of which to make any dogma. This will make 107

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lazy people more disinclined to study the holy teachings and will lead to the extinction of the Buddha-Dharma. "

Answer:The Buddha-contemplation Samådhi Sutra(T. 15: 648a) says:

My disciples in the future world, if they want to contemplate the Tathågata, should practice three things. The first is to recite the profound scriptures expounded by the Buddha. The second is to keep the moral precepts and the four basic postures (sitting, standing, walking, and lying down) without transgression. The third is to concentrate [their] thoughts on the essential features of the Tathågata and not scatter them. Therefore, this school studies all the eight treasuries, 75 and

practices all the six perfections (påramitås). If anyone says that the Zen school advocates the mind as nothing other than the Buddha, and won't examine the traces of the Buddha's teachings, how would this be di›erent from a person who, [while traveling] in the night just before dawn when it is not yet bright enough, discards their lamp and thus falls down a rocky precipice? Question:Someone says,

"Great Master Dengyø, in his Notes

to the Latter-day World Dharma Lamp(Zensh¥1, 418) says: The latter-day world has no one who will keep the moral precepts. If anyone should say to the contrary, it will be a strange matter. It would be like a tiger roaming in a marketplace. [How would you defend your position against this view?"] Answer:The Mahåprajñåpåramitå Sutra(T. 7: 939a) says: A lion would bite a man, while a mad dog would chase a clod of dirt thrown by a man.

This may be applied to your case. Let me ask you: Why do you chase one clod of letters and words after another, whereas you have long forgotten that we have people who keep the moral precepts 108

and practice good? When we see the skillful means of the holy teachings comprehensively, we come to know that the Buddha examined living beings' acts of good far into the future. As we saw above, the Mahåprajñåpåramitå Sutra (T. 6: 539a) mentions "in the last five hundred-year period when my teachings are lost, " the Mahåpari nirvå√a Sutra(T. 12: 472b, Northern version) says "in the latterday world" and "to redeem his life, " and the Lotus Sutrasays "in

a later, latter-day world.

" The Mahåprajñåpåramitå Treatise,the

Middle Treatise,and the Great Calming and Contemplationalso have similar expressions. The Diamond Sutra(T. 8: 749ab) says: In the last five hundred-year period there will be those who keep morality, practice for the sake of merit, and have delight and confidence in these phrases. You should know that these people planted roots of virtue not just with one, two, three, four, or five Buddhas. They have already planted roots of virtue with an innumerable thousand, ten thousand Buddhas, and on hearing these phrases they will have at least one moment of calm pleasure.

All these exhort [those in] the latter-day world to practice morality. It seems that every time the Tathågata opened his mouth, the phrase "latter-day world" came first. Patriarchs moved their tongues both for the present and the future. Great Master Dengyø's interpretation, quoted above (p. 108), may be taken in this sense. Otherwise he may have meant the Small Vehicle (Hinayana) precepts of restraint, and not the Great Vehicle bodhisattva precepts of morality.

Queston:Someone says in rebuke,

"Why does the Zen school

newly call itself [a school] that will cause the Buddha's teachings to abide long?"

Answer:Moral precepts (Ω∆la) and monastic precepts (vinaya) are what causes the Buddha's teachings to abide long. Now, the Zen school regards Ω∆laand vinayaas its principles. Therefore it has the 109

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meaning of causing the Buddha's teachings to abide long. The Tiantai school's Great Calming and Contemplation(T. 46: 4b) says: Ordinary beings' indulgence in things for pleasure is what people of wisdom and sages chastise and for which they find fault with them. Breaking evils is achieved by pure wisdom (prajñå). Pure wisdom comes from pure concentration of the total being (samådhi). Pure concentration derives from pure morality (Ω∆la).

Question:Someone says in rebuke: "How can the Zen school alone be the religion that keeps the state protected?" Answer:The Sutra of Forty-two Sections(Zokuzøkyø1-59, 26a) says in e›ect:

At that time the World-honored One, having already attained awakening, had this thought,

"Getting free from desire, keeping calm and composed—this is the supreme way of being. Abiding in this great concentration of the total being, I have defeated all the evil modes of existence. I will begin turning the wheel of the Dharma to expound my teachings and cause living beings to cross the sea of the su›ering of birth and death.

"

The Bequeathed Teaching Sutra(T. 12: 1111a) says: Dependence on this morality will give rise to various sorts of concentration and the wisdom that extinguishes su›ering. Therefore, we know that without the concentrating force of the total being it will be very hard to break every evil. That is why we consider promoting the Zen school to be the most essential of all means for protecting the state.

Question:Why does the Zen school vigorously exhort people to practice morality?

Answer:It expresses what the Mahåparinirvå√a Sutrameant 110

by the teaching that the eternity of nirvana o›ers ultimate support to monastic discipline (vinaya). The Bequeathed Teaching Sutra (T. 12: 1111a) says in e›ect,

"Dependence on morality gives rise

to concentration; it also gives rise to wisdom. "

The Tiantai school's Great Calming and Contemplation(T. 46: 4b) says:

Breaking evils is achieved by pure wisdom. Pure wisdom comes from pure concentration of the total being. Pure concentration derives from pure morality. Question:If that is the case, can those who have transgressed morality achieve self-concentration after they repent? Answer:The Mahåparinirvå√a Sutra (T. 12: 477c) says: "Repentance is called the second purification. "

The Essentials for Chan Practice(Zokuzøkyø2-15, 419b) says: If in the Great Vehicle one can cease the mind, one will be in true repentance. Because of this, hindrances will vanish and morality will naturally come. Because of this, concentration of the total being will be achieved.

The Tiantai school's Great Calming and Contemplation(T. 46: 39c) says:

The Sutra on Contemplation of Samantabhadra(T. 9: 393b-394a) says in e›ect: "Taking the [seated meditation] posture and focusing one's thought on the true mode of reality . . . this is called the first repentance.

"

The Sutra on the Most Wondrous Supreme Dhyånasays: "Transgressors of the four grave o›enses and the five grave transgressions76 will, except for deepening their thought (dhyåna), have no way to be saved.

"

The Vaipulya Sutra (T. 21: 645c) says in e›ect: "As for the three refuges, the five moral precepts, and the two hundred and fifty precepts, there can be no reason for their not taking place with those who repent in this way. "

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Therefore, the Zen school has morality as its starting practice and concentration of the total being as its ultimate practice. If a transgressor of morality can make his repenting heart cease evils, then he may be called a person of Zen. Much more so with those who abide in the compassionate heart. In that case all sorts of morality and wisdom will not fail to be developed. Therefore, with the Zen school, which is understood to have great compassion as its original basis, I wonder what kind of transgression would be left unextinguished? The Bodhisattva Garland Sutra(T. 16: 87a) says: Men and women of good heart, from the beginning of their aspiration, should practice the bodhisattvas' heart, and in deepening their thought should fully develop the practice of all six perfections (påramitås).

The Sutra of Supra-sunlight Samådhi(T. 15: 53bc) says in e›ect:

The Buddha said,

"The destroyers (måras) represent four

things to disturb you. . . . When your ego-thought ceases, when your ego-thought is cut, the destroyers will surrender. Those four destroyers all derive from yourselves; they never come from outside.

"

Therefore, the Great Vehicle has it that when our mind is brought to rest, morality presents itself and dhyånais achieved. Question:Why do you strongly expect an imperial sanction to be issued?

Answer:The Buddha's teachings must necessarily wait for the monarch to allow them to prevail. Therefore, the Buddha was solicitous to entrust monarchs with the propagation of his teachings. The benefit gained by kings who were entrusted with them was also unbounded. Concerning the reason why the Buddha's head emits light from its protuberance (u≈√∆≈a)—this is what a Buddha of the past, named RaΩmipramok≈a ("Ray-Emitting"), himself said in the Great Dharma Torch Dhåra√∆ Sutra(T. 21: 676c): 112

There are three roots of virtue: 1) renouncing envy and rejoicing in what is taught and indicated; 2) when working for the sake of others, not seeking any reward; and 3) not abusing or injuring others so as to accomplish one's own good. Besides this, there are two things: 1) protecting the teachings of the Buddha-Dharma, and 2) expounding the teachings well. By protecting the teachings I mean this: When the teachings of the Buddha-Dharma are about to be lost, bodhisattvas realize this well, protect them so that they may be propagated through various means, and cause them to abide long. Because of this, one also gains the unique feature of a protuberance on the head (u≈√∆≈a) that emits light.

By expounding the teachings well, I mean that when a bodhisattva expounds the teachings to the four [kinds of] sangha members, if there is anyone who misses the teachings even for a moment, the bodhisattva takes care of that person and repeats the teachings for him.

The Mahåparinirvå√a Sutra(T. 12: 383b) says: Because I have protected the teachings of the Buddha-Dharma, I have gained this indestructible body. The story of a mendicant named Buddhadatta and King Bhavadatta [who saved the life of the mendicant] is also related in the same section of this scripture.

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End of Fascicle One

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