T2426 Shingon Texts

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Title Page

BDK English Tripitaka 98-1, II, III, iy VI, VII SHINGON TEXTS

On the Differences between the Exoteric and Esoteric Teachings The Meaning of Becoming a Buddha in This Very Body

The Meanings of Sound, Sign, and Reality The Meanings of the Word Hum The Precious Key to the Secret Treasury by

Kukai

Translated from the Japanese (Taisho Volume 77, Numbers 2427, 2428, 2429, 2430, 2426) by

Rolf W. Giebel

The Mitsugonin Confession The Illuminating Secret Commentary on the Five Cakras and the Nine Syllables by

Kakuban

Translated from the Japanese (Taisho Volume 79, Numbers 2527, 2514) by

Dale A. Todaro

Numata Center

for Buddhist Translation and Research 2004

Copyright

© 2004 by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and

Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed in any form or by any means —electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise— without the prior written permission of the publisher. First Printing, 2004

ISBN: 1-886439-24-9

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2003114203 Published by

Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research 2620 Warring Street

Berkeley, California 94704

Printed in the United States of America

A Message on the Publication of the

English Tripitaka

The Buddhist canon is said to contain eighty-four thousand different teachings. I believe that this is because the Buddha's basic approach was to prescribe a different treatment for every spiritual ailment, much as a doctor prescribes a different medicine for every medical ailment. Thus his teachings were always appropriate for the particular suffering individual and for the time at which the teaching was given, and over the ages not one of his prescriptions has failed to relieve the suffering to which it was addressed. Ever since the Buddha's Great Demise over twenty-five hundred years ago, his message of wisdom and compassion has spread throughout the world. Yet no one has ever attempted to translate the entire Buddhist canon into English throughout the history of Japan. It is my greatest wish to see this done and to make the translations available to the many English-speaking people who have never had the opportunity to learn about the Buddha's teachings. Of course, it would be impossible to translate all of the Buddha's eighty-four thousand teachings in a few years. I have, therefore, had one hundred thirty-nine of the scriptural texts in the prodigious Taisho edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon selected for inclusion in the First Series of this translation project. It is in the nature of this undertaking that the results are bound to be criticized. Nonetheless, I am convinced that unless someone takes it upon himself or herself to initiate this project, it will never be done. At the same time, I hope that an improved, revised edition will appear in the future.

It is most gratifying that, thanks to the efforts of more than a hundred Buddhist scholars from the East and the West, this monumental project has finally gotten off the ground. May the rays of the Wisdom of the Compassionate One reach each and every person in the world.

Numata Yehan

Founder of the English

August 7, 1991 Tripitaka Project

Editorial Foreword

In January 1982, Dr. NUMATA Yehan, the founder of the Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai (Society for the Promotion of Buddhism), decided to begin the monumental task of translating the complete Taisho edition of the Chinese Tripitaka (Buddhist canon) into the English language. Under his leadership, a special preparatory committee was organized in April 1982. By July of the same year, the Translation Committee of the English Tripitaka was officially convened. The initial Committee consisted of the following members: (late) HANAYAMA Shoyu (Chairperson), BANDO Shojun, ISHIGAMI Zenno, (late) KAMATA Shigeo, KANAOKA Shuyu, MAYEDA Sengaku, NARA Yasuaki, (late) SAYEKI Shinko, (late) SHIOIRI Ryotatsu, TAMARU Noriyoshi, (late) TAMURA Kwansei, URYUZU Ryushin, and YUYAMA Akira. Assistant members of the Committee were as follows: KANAZAWA Atsushi, WATANABE Shogo, Rolf Giebel of New Zealand, and Rudy Smet of Belgium. After holding planning meetings on a monthly basis, the Committee selected one hundred thirty-nine texts for the First Series of translations, an estimated one hundred printed volumes in all. The texts selected are not necessarily limited to those originally written in India but also include works written or composed in China and Japan. While the publication of the First Series proceeds, the texts for the Second Series will be selected from among the remaining works; this process will continue until all the texts, in Japanese as well as in Chinese, have been published.

Frankly speaking, it will take perhaps one hundred years or more to accomplish the English translation of the complete Chinese and Japanese texts, for they consist of thousands of works. Nevertheless, as Dr. NUMATA wished, it is the sincere hope of the Committee that this project will continue unto completion, even after all its present members have passed away.

It must be mentioned here that the final object of this project is not academic fulfillment but the transmission of the teaching of the vii

Publisher’s Foreword

Editorial Foreword

Buddha to the whole world in order to create harmony and peace among humankind. To that end, the translators have been asked to minimize the use of explanatory notes of the kind that are indispensable in academic texts, so that the attention of general readers will not be unduly distracted from the primary text. Also, a glossary of selected terms is appended to aid in understanding the text. To my great regret, however, Dr. NUMATA passed away on May 5, 1994, at the age of ninety-seven, entrusting his son, Mr. NUMATA Toshihide, with the continuation and completion of the Translation Project. The Committee also lost its able and devoted Chairperson, Professor HANAYAMA Shoyu, on June 16, 1995, at the age of sixty-three. After these severe blows, the Committee elected me, then Vice President of Musashino Women's College, to be the Chair in October 1995. The Committee has renewed its determination to carry out the noble intention of Dr. NUMATA, under the leadership of Mr. NUMATA Toshihide. The present members of the Committee are Mayeda Sengaku (Chairperson), BANDO Shojun, ISHIGAMI Zenno, ICHISHIMA Shoshin, KANAOKA Shuyu, NARA Yasuaki, TAMARU Noriyoshi, URYUZU Ryushin, YUYAMA Akira, Kenneth K. Tanaka, WATANABE Shogo, and assistant member YONEZAWA Yoshiyasu.

The Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research was established in November 1984, in Berkeley, California, U.S.A., to assist in the publication of the BDK English Tripitaka First Series. In December 1991, the Publication Committee was organized at the Numata Center, with Professor Philip Yampolsky as the Chairperson. To our sorrow, Professor Yampolsky passed away in July 1996. In February 1997, Dr. Kenneth K. Inada became Chair and served in that capacity until August 1999. The current Chair, Dr. Francis H. Cook, has been continuing the work since October 1999. All of the remaining texts will be published under the supervision of this Committee, in close cooperation with the Editorial Committee in Tokyo. MAYEDA Sengaku

Chairperson

Editorial Committee of

the BDK English Tripitaka

viii

Publisher's Foreword

The Publication Committee shares with the Editorial Committee the responsibility of realizing the vision of Dr. Yehan Numata, founder of Bukkyô Dendo Kyokai, the Society for the Promotion of Buddhism. This vision is no less than to make the Buddha's teaching better known throughout the world, through the translation and publication in English of the entire collection of Buddhist texts compiled in the Taishô Shinshü Daizôkyô, published in Tokyo in the early part of the twentieth century. This huge task is expected to be carried out by several generations of translators and may take as long as a hundred years to complete. Ultimately, the entire canon will be available to anyone who can read English and who wishes to learn more about the teaching of the Buddha.

The present generation of staff members of the Publication Committee includes Marianne Dresser; Brian Nagata, president of the Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Berkeley, California; Eisho Nasu; and Reverend Kiyoshi Yamashita. The Publication Committee is headquartered at the Numata Center and, working in close cooperation with the Editorial Committee, is responsible for the usual tasks associated with preparing translations for publication.

In October 1999,1 became the third chairperson of the Publication Committee, on the retirement of its very capable former chair, Dr. Kenneth K. Inada. The Committee is devoted to the advancement of the Buddha's teaching through the publication of excellent translations of the thousands of texts that make up the Buddhist canon. Francis H. Cook

Chairperson

Publication Committee

IX

Contents

A Message on the Publication of the English Tripitaka NUMATA Yehan v Editorial Foreword MAYEDA Sengaku vii Publisher's Foreword Francis H. Cook ix Shingon Texts Texts by Kukai Translator's Introduction Rolf W. Giebel 3 On the Differences between the Exoteric and Esoteric Teachings 15 The Meaning of Becoming a Buddha in This Very Body The Meanings of Sound, Sign, and Reality The Meanings of the Word Hum The Precious Key to the Secret Treasury 63 83

105

133

Notes 217

Texts by Kakuban Translator's Introduction Dale A. Todaro 241 The Mitsugonin Confession 251 The Illuminating Secret Commentary on the Five Cakras and the Nine Syllables 257 Glossary 329 Bibliography 351 Index 355

A List of the Volumes of the BDK English Tripitaka (First Series) xi

Texts by Kukai

ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE EXOTERIC AND ESOTERIC TEACHINGS

THE MEANING OF BECOMING A BUDDHA IN THIS VERY BODY

THE MEANINGS OF SOUND, SIGN, AND REALITY THE MEANINGS OF THE WORD HUM THE PRECIOUS KEY TO THE SECRET TREASURY

Translator’s Introduction

Translator's Introduction

Kukai (774-835), founder of the Japanese Shingon school of Esoteric Buddhism and popularly known by his posthumous title of Kobo Daishi, was one of the most important figures in Japan's religious and cultural history. Born into a declining aristocratic family in Sanuki province on the island of Shikoku, he entered the government college in the capital at the age of eighteen with the intention of studying to become a bureaucrat. But for reasons that are by no means clear, he abandoned his studies after only a few years and turned to Buddhism, probably becoming an itinerant, privately ordained monk and devoting himself to meditative and ascetic practices. In 804 Kukai sailed with an official Japanese embassy to T'ang China as a government-sponsored student. In the T'ang capital of Ch'ang-an he met Hui-kuo (746-805), a prelate versed in esoteric ritual, and within three short months he had become an ordained master and, according to the traditional sectarian view, eighth patriarch of Esoteric Buddhism. He had initially intended staying in China for twenty years but he now decided, probably in part because of Huikuo's death, to return to Japan, and he arrived back in Kyushu toward the end of 806.

Kukai was kept waiting for three years in Kyushu before receiving permission to proceed to the capital, Kyoto, in 809. But once he took up residence at Jingoji, a temple on the outskirts of Kyoto, he soon rose to eminence as a religious and cultural leader of early Heian society. In 819 he initiated construction of a monastic center on Mount Koya, some distance to the southeast of Kyoto, and along with the systematization of the teachings and practices of the Shingon school, the completion of this monastery became Kukai's main concern during the remainder of his life. In 823 he was presented with Toji, the 3

Kukai Texts

most important temple at the southern entrance to Kyoto, and it became the official headquarters of the Shingon school, which also finally received official recognition at this time. In 831 Kukai was forced to resign from his official duties because of ill health, and when his resignation was eventually accepted he retired to Mount Koya, where he spent most of his remaining days.

Kukai was an acknowledged master of classical Chinese prose and poetry, but the works translated here, although showing ample evidence of his skills as a writer, are (perhaps with the exception of the last) expository rather than literary in their style, and they represent five of what are traditionally regarded as his six most important doctrinal and philosophical works. The first, setting out the differences between Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism, could be described as a religious manifesto, proclaiming the independence of Shingon Buddhism and its superiority over all other forms of uddhism prevalent in China and Japan at the time, while the next three form a trilogy traditionally considered to deal with the "three mysteries" of the body, speech, and mind respectively. The fifth and last work translated here was perhaps Kukai's last major opus, and it presents what might be described as a phenomenology of the religious mind 1. On the Differences between the Exoteric and Esoteric Teachings (Benkenmitsunikyoron)

On the Differences between the Exoteric and Esoteric Teachings (hereafter: The Differences), the title of hich might be more literally translated as A Treatise on Distinguishing the Two Teachings of the Exoteric and the Esoteric, is generally thought to have been composed some time between 813 and 815. In late 812 Kukai had performed two initiation ceremonies at Takaosanji, the first for Saicho (the founder of the Tendai school, who had traveled to China with the same embassy as Kukai) and three laymen, and the second for Saicho and more than one hundred and ninety other people, who included the leading priests of important temples and many members of the nobility. The following spring seventeen disciples of Saicho received a further initiation from 4

Translator's Introduction

Kukai, and as a result of these ceremonies Kukai established himself as the master of esoteric ritual in Japan. At the same time, he may also be assumed to have gained the confidence necessary to engage more actively in the propagation of the ideas underpinning these practices, and the first literary product of this activity was The Differences. Although in later years Kukai was to espouse a more synthetic view of Buddhism, considering Esoteric Buddhism to embrace all other varieties of Buddhism, in The Differences his aim is to highlight the differences between Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism and explain why the latter is superior to the former. One reason that he adopted this contrastive approach was that he felt that most people still had a poor understanding of Esoteric Buddhism, and to rectify this state of affairs he set forth his views on the essential features of Esoteric Buddhism.

The Differences consists largely of quotations from Buddhist scriptures and treatises, both exoteric and esoteric, and by showing that some of the basic tenets of Esoteric Buddhism as understood by Kukai could already be detected in exoteric works, he hoped to demonstrate the legitimacy of Esoteric Buddhism. According to Kukai, the fundamental differences between Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism are to be found in the expositors of their respective teachings and in the nature of the content of their teachings: Exoteric Buddhism was taught by the historical Buddha Sakyamuni in accordance with the religious capacities of his listeners, while Esoteric Buddhism was revealed by the Dharma-Buddha, or Dharma body (dharmakaya), and gives direct expression to the ultimate state of enlightenment. These were radical assertions, for at the time it was axiomatic that the Dharma body did not expound the Dharma and that the state of enlightenment, embodied by the Dharma body, transcended language and was ineffable. But not only did Kukai find evidence in exoteric literature of the exposition of the Dharma by the Dharma body, but he also maintained that it was Esoteric Buddhism that corresponded to the teachings revealed by the Dharma body as direct expressions of the ultimate state of enlightenment. 5

Kukai Texts

It may be readily surmised that these fundamental differences between Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism as delineated by Kukai reflected inherently divergent views of "language," and this subject is taken up in greater depth in The Meanings of Sound, Sign, and Reality and, from a somewhat different angle, in The Meanings of the Word Hum. In addition, Kukai also touches on other differences between Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism—the great disparity in the time required to attain enlightenment, differences in methods of practice, and the different benefits to be derived from each—and these are dealt with more fully in The Meaning of ecoming a Buddha in This Very Body, while the whole issue of the relationship between Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism is readdressed from a quite different vantage point in The Precious Key to the Secret Treasury. 2. The Meaning of ecoming a Buddha

in This Very Body (Sokushinjobutsugi)

It is not known when Kukai wrote The Meaning of Becoming a Buddha in This Very Body (hereafter: Becoming a Buddha), but it is thought to have been composed sometime around 820. The word gi in the title, which also appears in the titles of the other two works of Kukai's trilogy and is rendered here as "meaning," could in this case be equally well translated as "thesis" or "principle," but for the sake of consistency it has been translated as "meaning" in each case. The idea of "becoming a Buddha in this very body" (sokushin jobutsu), or attaining Buddhahood in one's present lifetime, was not original with Kukai. Although the prevailing view was that a period of three incalculable eons was required to attain enlightenment, Kukai's contemporary Saicho, for example, propounded the notion of the swift realization of Buddhahood on the basis of the Lotus Sutra, while Amoghavajra (705-774), the great translator of Esoteric Buddhist texts into Chinese, had stressed the speed with which enlightenment could be attained through esoteric methods. In both of these cases, however, the emphasis was on the rapidity of the attainment of Buddhahood and/or the somaticity suggested by a purely literal understanding of the phrase "in this very body" 6

Translator's Introduction

(,sokushin). If this had been all that Kukai meant by the expression "becoming a Buddha in this very body," then the scriptural evidence cited at the start of Becoming a Buddha, together with some brief annotations, would have been sufficient for his purposes, and it would be unclear what objective the remainder of the treatise, consisting of a two-stanza verse and its line-by-line exposition, was meant to serve. But it is in fact this verse that encapsulates the essence of Kukai's conception of "becoming a Buddha in this very body" and the subsequent exposition that demonstrates the originality of his thought in this regard.

According to Kukai, the first stanza explains the meaning of "in this very body" (sokushin) and the second that of "becoming a Buddha" (Jobutsu). The fact that Kukai goes on to discuss the thesis of "becoming a Buddha in this very body" only in terms of these two component concepts would seem to be of some significance, for it suggests that what might, in simple terms, be described as a principle of universal interpenetration underpinning all existents, set forth in the first stanza, does not in itself guarantee the actualization of "becoming a Buddha in this very body," which, according to the second stanza, invariably entails "wisdom." Moreover, the link between the two— principle and wisdom —is provided by the practice of meditation defined in terms of the "three mysteries" of the body (mudras or hand gestures), speech (mantras), and mind (visualization). In other words, the three mysteries could be said to act as a conduit whereby the vision of reality presented in the first stanza is converted into the wisdom, now actualized, of the second stanza, and it is presumably only then that the underlying themes of the two stanzas, discussed only separately by Kukai, are brought together in the unitary realization of "becoming a Buddha in this very body. "

3. The Meanings of Sound, Sign, and Reality

(,Shojijissogi)

The Meanings of Sound, Sign, and Reality (hereafter: Sound, Sign, and Reality) clearly postdates Becoming a Buddha, for it contains two references to the latter work, and it was probably composed in 7

Kukai Texts

the first half of the 820s. It was noted earlier that Kukai's differentiation of Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism implied an understanding of "language" on Kukai's part that differed considerably from conventional views, and it is in Sound, Sign, and Reality that Kukai sets forth the view of language underpinning his assertion that the Dharma body can and does expound the Dharma.

The main elements of Kukai's ideas concerning the "language" used in the exposition of the Dharma by the Dharma body are to be found in the opening section of Sound, Sign, and Reality, according to which the Tathagata invariably makes use of patterned signs (monji) when expounding the Dharma, the essence of patterned signs lies in the six sense objects, and the six sense objects have their basis in the three mysteries of the Dharma-Buddha. In other words, Kukai has extended the notion of "language" to encompass all objects of the senses and the mind, that is, all phenomena, and these phenomena are, moreover, said to be grounded in the Dharma-Buddha, or ultimate reality. It is made clear in the following section, where Kukai uses the six types of compound words in Sanskrit to analyze the various possible relationships between the three terms "sound," "sign," and "reality, " that not only are all phenomena expressions of reality, they are reality, and the ability to perceive them as such —as instantiations of the exposition of the Dharma by the Dharma body— is what distinguishes the enlightened from the ignorant. In the remainder of this work, Kukai elaborates on these themes, first by citing scriptural evidence and then by commenting at length on two verses, constantly reinforcing the message that all phenomena are direct expressions of ultimate reality. It could thus be said that while Kukai shared mainstream views on the limitations of everyday discursive language and on the impossibility of giving direct expression to ultimate reality by means of such language, he overcame this problem by developing a totally different conception of "language," or communication, on the basis of which he then asserted that, contrary to exoteric claims, the Dharma body did indeed directly expound the Dharma and reality could be apprehended through the medium of "language" as defined by Kukai.

8

Translator's Introduction

Sound, Sign, and Reality comes to what would appear to be a premature close, for it ends after having treated of only the first of the six sense objects (matter), the discussion of which falls under the explication of only the third line of the four-line stanza constituting the basis of the main discourse, and it has long been debated whether or not the work is complete. As regards its formal structure, it is clearly incomplete, but it could be argued that little more of substance could have been added to Kukai's thesis by a detailed discussion of the remaining five sense objects, and in terms of philosophical content it can be considered complete.

4. The Meanings of the Word Hum (Unjigi)

In Sound, Sign, and Reality Kukai extended the connotations of "language" to embrace all phenomena, but in The Meanings of the Word Hum, he moves to the other extreme, as it were, demonstrating how the entire teachings of Buddhism can be encapsulated in a single word or syllable, in this case Hum. This notion had already been hinted at in the discussion of mantras in Sound, Sign, and Reality, and it finds its most comprehensive treatment in The Meanings of he Word Hum, generally assumed to have been written not long after Sound, Sign, and Reality. Stated in another way, whereas Sound, Sign, and Reality deals with the ontological aspects of language in its broadest ramifications, The Meanings of he Word Hum explores the potential veridicality of language in a narrower sense by focusing on a single, concrete example.

Many reasons have been suggested why Kukai should have particularly chosen the word Hum to illustrate his ideas on the expressive potential of words, albeit words of a special type. Hum, is a socalled seed-syllable (blja), used as the linguistic symbol of many different deities, but in the present context the fact that it is said to symbolize the "bodhi-mind" (bodhicitta), or aspiration for enlightenment, is probably significant, for one of the underlying themes of The Meanings of the Word Hum, is praxis, dealt with in particular in the "Synthetic Interpretation" in Section III. Furthermore, it is also worth 9

Kukai Texts

bearing in mind that for Kukai the Sanskrit alphabet and Sanskrit in general had a special significance and were believed by him to be a product of the truth-principle, corresponding to the natural state of things as they really are, and therefore to be fundamentally different from all other scripts and languages (including, of course, classical Chinese, in which he wrote).

Kukai's discussion of the meanings of the word Hum is based on a distinction between "superficial meaning" (jiso), which may be equated with the conventional or exoteric meaning of a word, and "connotative meaning" (Jigi), which corresponds to its esoteric interpretation. Having resolved the word Hum into its constituent elements of h(a), a, u, and ma (to), Kukai proceeds to give first the superficial or literal meanings of each of these four letters or syllables, then their connotative or real meanings, and lastly their synthetic or combined meaning as represented by the word Hum. Kukai's aim in thus analyzing the different levels of meaning contained in the word Hum, was, of course, not merely academic. In his view, language as used in Exoteric Buddhism merely defines and interprets the world, but in Esoteric Buddhism language can directly reveal reality, and it is only by comprehending the true meanings of inguistic expression that reality is apprehended and true wisdom attained. The Meanings of he Word Hum, could be said to provide a practical illustration of how this process takes place. It was noted above that one of the underlying themes of The Meanings of the Word Hum, is praxis, and another salient feature, especially pronounced in the long explication of the "real meaning" of the letter u, is a world view of absolute affirmation, to which Kukai gives repeated expression. Although this sense of absolute affirmation was but a natural outcome of his overall religious philosophy, one of its most explicit articulations is to be found in this section of The Meanings of the Word Hum,.

5. The Precious Key to the Secret Treasury

(Hizohoyaku)

During the Tencho era (824-34) Emperor Junna ordered each of the Buddhist schools then established in Japan to submit an exposition of 10

Translator's Introduction

its teachings, and in response to this imperial request Kukai, representing the Shingon school, wrote the Treatise on the Ten Stages of the Mind as a Secret Mandala (Himitsu mandara ujushin ron; hereafter: The Ten Stages). This was a voluminous work in ten fascicles, consisting largely of quotations from an enormous number of sutras, treatises, and commentaries, and perhaps because of its length Kukai subsequently wrote a simplified version, called The Precious Key to the Secret Treasury (hereafter: The Precious Key), in three fascicles. The exact dates of composition of The Ten Stages and The Precious Key are not known, but they are generally thought to have been written sometime around 830.

Both The Ten Stages and The Precious Key are similar in their basic structure. That is to say, they both describe the development of the religious mind as a process which, although entailing innumerable stages, can provisionally be divided into ten stages, ranging from those whose behavior is governed by instinctive impulse to those who have unlocked the "secret treasury" and realized the ultimate truth as represented by Esoteric Buddhism. These ten stages may be further divided into three pre-Buddhist and seven Buddhist stages. The three pre-Buddhist stages are: 1) the stage of the ordinary person driven by uncontrolled desire; 2) the stage of those who observe basic individual and social ethics, equated with Confucianism and also Buddhist precepts for the laity; and 3) the stage of those, such as Taoists and Hindus, who worship various gods in the hope of being reborn in heaven. These three mundane states of mind are followed by seven stages corresponding to different levels of Buddhist understanding: 4) the stage of the sravaka, 5) the stage of the pratyekabuddha, 6) the stage of the Yogacara (Hosso) school, 7) the stage of the Madhyamika (Sanron) school, 8) the stage of the T'ien-t'ai (Tendai) school, 9) the stage of the Hua-yen (Kegon) school, and 10) the stage of soteric Buddhism. These seven Buddhist stages can again be subdivided into Hinayana (4 and 5), Mahayana (6-9), and Vajrayana (10).

The inspiration for this hierarchical schema came from Chapter One of the Mahdvairocana Sutra. But although the basic schema presented in The Ten Stages and The Precious Key is identical, the 11

Kukai Texts

two works differ somewhat in their treatment of the relationship between Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism. In The Ten Stages, the sections on the third through ninth stages are each accompanied by an esoteric interpretation, implying that the teachings corresponding to these different stages of spiritual growth can in essence, when viewed with the understanding gained in the tenth stage, be all regarded as manifestations of the Shingon teachings. They are, in other words, both subsumed and surpassed by Esoteric Buddhism. In The Precious Key, on the other hand, these esoteric interpretations of the pre-Shingon stages are missing, and instead the emphasis is on the way in which successive stages overcome the limitations of the previous stages, culminating in the attainment of true enlightenment in the final, tenth stage. In this sense, Kukai could be said to have returned to the stance initially evidenced in The Differences, with his prime focus being on demonstrating the ultimate superiority of Esoteric Buddhism.

Another distinctive feature of The Precious Key is the lengthy dialogue between a young Confucian and a Buddhist monk that has been inserted in the section on the fourth stage. It covers various aspects of the relationship between Buddhism on the one hand and the state and society on the other, a topic about which there had already been much debate in China, and we find here an early Japanese variation on this perennial theme.

A Note on the Translation

The English translations presented here are based on the Taisho edition, but reference has also been made to the new critical edition of Kukai's writings (Teihon Kobo Daishi zenshu, Vol. 3 [1994]), and a number of ariant readings are given in the notes. There is, of course, a long history and large corpus of commentarial literature on the five works translated here, but there would seem to be little point in providing a list of the many commentaries; references for previous translations of these works into Western languages (including some excerpts and abridged translations) may be found in the Bibliography. All head12

Translator's Introduction

ings have been added by the translator, and parentheses and square brackets enclose further additions by the translator, while passages in italics within angle brackets < > are explanatory interpolations in the original (where they appear as half-sized, two-column text), either by Kukai or in works quoted by Kukai.

13

ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE EXOTERIC AND ESOTERIC TEACHINGS by

Kukai

Fascicle One

Preamble

The Buddha has three bodies, and the teachings are of two kinds. The sermons of the response and transformation [bodies]1 are called the exoteric teaching; their language is plain, cursory, and accommodated to the religious capacity [of the listener]. The discourses of the Dharma-Buddha are called the esoteric treasury; their language is secret, recondite, and veridical.

The divisions of the scriptures in the exoteric teachings have millions [of scriptures]. When dividing them into collections (pitakas), they differentiate one to ten or fifty-one [collections], and when speaking of vehicles iyanas), they distinguish one, two, three, four, or five [vehicles]. When discussing practice, they make the six perfections (paramitas) their standard, and when describing the attainment [of Buddhahood], they make three great [asamkhyeya eons (kalpas)] the requisite term. The Great Sage has explained these matters quite clearly.

According to the explanation in the Adamantine Pinnacle Sutra of the secret treasury (T. 18: 288a), the transformation body of the Tathagata expounds the doctrines of the three vehicles for bodhisattvas yet to enter the [ten] stages, for those of the two vehicles, and for ordinary people, while the other-enjoyment body expounds the exoteric One Vehicle for bodhisattvas of the ten stages—these are both exoteric teachings; the Own-nature and [Self-]enjoyment Buddhas each together with their attendants expound a gateway to the three mysteries for their own enjoyment of Dharma bliss— this is called the esoteric teaching. These gateways to the three mysteries represent the sphere of the wisdom innerly realized by the Tathagata. Even [bodhisattvas of] equal enlightenment and 17

375a

Kukai Texts

the ten stages cannot enter its inner sanctum, let alone those of the two vehicles and ordinary people, none of whom can even reach its threshold. Therefore, the Treatise on the [Ten] Stages (T. 26: 133c-134a) and Commentary on the [Mahayana] Treatise (T. 32: 601c) declare that it is removed from individual religious capacity, and the [Treatise on the Establishment of] Consciousness-only (T. 31: 55b) and Middle [Treatise] (T. 30: 24a) lament that speech is cut off and the mind extinguished. Such absolute remove is, however, spoken of in terms of the causal stage [of those not yet enlightened], and it does not refer to those who have attained the result [of enlightenment]. How can this be known? Because there are clear examples in the sutras and treatises. Clear evidence of this is given in detail below, and I hope that those who seek the Buddha will clearly understand its purport.

People caught in the net of exoteric [teachings] are like rams butting against a hedge [in which they have ensnared their horns]; blocked by the barriers of the expedient [teachings of the Mahayana], they unharness their horses [and go no further]. How can travelers resting in a phantom city[, believing it to be their final goal,]2 or children enamored with [yellow] willow leaves[, thinking them to be genuine gold,]3 hope to preserve the inexhaustible adornments of which they are possessed, [numberless] like the sands of the Ganges River? As for the likes of those who discard ghee and look for milk, or those who throw away a mani (gem) and pick up a fish eye, these people have extinguished their [Buddha-]seed and have an incurable disease before which even the King of Physicians would fold his hands and a sweet shower of rain would be of no avail.

If men and women of good [birth] once inhale the fragrance of this [esoteric teaching], their minds will be illumined as if by the [flawless] mirror of the [First Emperor of the] Ch'in and their confusion of the expedient [teaching] with the real [teaching] will melt like ice. Clear evidence to this effect is most abundant in the sutras and treatises, but I will for the moment reveal only a part of it in the hope that it will be of assistance to beginners. 18

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Question: Those who transmitted the Dharma in ancient times widely composed treatises in which they set forth the Six Schools and explained the Tripitaka. The scrolls [of these treatises] are too numerous to store even in a large building, and people collapse from unrolling them and rolling them up again. Why then do you go to the trouble of writing this work? Of what benefit is it? Answer: There is much that I want to say, and therefore I have to write it. Everything transmitted by earlier masters was the exoteric teachings, whereas this represents the esoteric treasury, about which people do not yet have much understanding. For this reason I have culled [pertinent passages from] the sutras and treatises and put them together to serve as a guide.

I. Questions and Answers

Question: What are the differences between the exoteric and esoteric teachings?

Answer: The expositions adapted by the response and transformation bodies of other-enjoyment4 to the religious capacity [of the listener] are called exoteric. The expositions of the sphere of innerly realized wisdom by the Self-enjoyment and Dharma-nature Buddhas are called esoteric.

Question: That the response and transformation bodies expound the Dharma is acknowledged by all schools. As for the Dharma body, however, it is formless and imageless, the path of speech is cut off and the workings of the mind are extinguished, and it neither expounds nor reveals [the Dharma]. The sutras all explain this principle, and it is likewise discussed in treatises. Why do you now say that the Dharma body expounds the Dharma? Where is your evidence for this?

Answer: This proposition is frequently found in the sutras and treatises, but these passages remain hidden because of biased views, and their meaning is revealed only in accordance with the religious capacity [of the reader]. It is, for example, like the differing 19

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perceptions of heavenly beings and [hungry] ghosts (prêtas) [who, looking at the same water, see either a bejeweled pond or pus and blood] or like light and darkness for men and [nocturnal] birds [who on a pitch-dark night see either only the color of darkness or bright light].

Question: If it is indeed as you say, then this proposition would be found in various teachings. If that is so, why have previous transmitters of the Dharma not discussed this proposition? Answer: When expounding the Dharma, the Tathdgata administered medicine according to the diseases [in the minds of his listeners]. Just as there are myriad differences in the conditions of patients, so too are there a thousand variations in acupuncture and moxibustion. Expositions adapted to religious capacities are often expedient and seldom real. When composing treatises, bodhisattvas followed the sutras in elaborating on the meaning and did not presume to violate [their purport]. For this reason Vasubandhu, in his [Treatise on the] Ten Stages, presents a discussion to the effect that the causal stage [of practice] can be expounded (T. 26: 133c-134a), and Nâgârjuna, in his Commentary on the [Mahayana] Treatise, mentions the thesis that the perfect ocean [of inherent virtues of the resultant stage] cannot be discussed (T. 32: 601c). In these cases they have followed the sutras in setting forth their arguments, and these are not their ultimate assertions. However, although the Dharma generals who transmitted the exoteric [teachings] understood their profound meaning, they followed shallow [interpretations] and neglected their esoteric import, giving no thought to it. The masters kept [the esoteric meaning] to themselves and, conforming to the oral teachings, concealed [the real teaching] in their minds, while their disciples pursued their studies and conducted discussions in accordance with the tenets of their schools—they vied in drawing on arms favorable to themselves, but had no time to seek out swords detrimental to them. In addition, Sâkyamuni's teachings spread eastward to China, and from being insignificant grew in prominence. From the 20

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time of [Emperor] Ming of the [Later] Han (r. 57-75 C.E.) to the time of Empress [Wu] of the Chou (r. 684-705) everything that was transmitted and translated was exoteric teachings. During the reigns of Hsiian-tsung (r. 712-756) and Tai-tsung (r. 762-779), at the time of Vajrabodhi (671-741) and Amoghavajra (705-774), the esoteric teachings flourished and their secret import was widely discussed. But the new medicine had not been long in use and the old disease was not yet cured, and with regard, for example, to the passage on the exposition of the Dharma by the Dharma-Buddha in the Lanka [Sibra] and the statement about the wondrous form of the [Dharma-]nature body in the [Great] Perfection of Wisdom [Treatise]5 people were governed by their own sympathies in interpreting the words and driven by the tenets of their own schools in taking the meaning. It is indeed regrettable that the worthies of yore should have failed to savor the ghee [of the esoteric teachings]. Question: If that is the case, which sutras and treatises explain the differences between the exoteric and esoteric [teachings]? Answer: They are differentiated and explained in sutras and treatises such as the [Adamantine Pinnacle] Five Mysteries [Sutra], Adamantine Pinnacle [Sutra of ll Yogins], [Adamantine Pinnacle] Sutra on [Differentiating] the Positions of the Deities, [Mahavairo]cana [Sutra], Lanka [Sutra], [Sutra of the Great] King of Teachings, [Treatise on the] Bodhi[-mind], [Great] Perfection of Wisdom [Treatise], and [Commentary on the] Mahayana [Treatise], Question: I beg to hear their evidence.

Answer: So be it. I shall send flying a solar disc to dispel your darkness and brandish a vajra to smash your delusion. Question: Yes, please do so, for I want to hear what you have to say.

II. Scriptural Evidence with Explanatory Remarks In the bodhisattva Nagarjuna's Commentary on the Mahayana Treatise it says (T. 32: 637bc):

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375c

All sentient beings have all possessed original enlightenment since the beginningless past, and at no time have they ever abandoned it. Why, then, are there some sentient beings who become Buddhas sooner, some who become Buddhas later, and some who become Buddhas now? Why are there some who practice diligently and others who do not practice at all, and some who are bright and others who are dull?—Why are there such innumerable differences? If they possessed one and the same [original] enlightenment, they ought all to generate the aspiration [for enlightenment], cultivate the [requisite] practices, and reach the unsurpassed goal at one time. Is it because of disparities in the strength or weakness of their originally enlightened Buddha-nature that there are such differences? Or is it because of disparities in the denseness or slightness of their mental affliction of ignorance that there are such differences? If one were to say that it is the former, then that could not be so. Why? Because originally enlightened Buddha-nature has perfected virtues more numerous than the sands of the Ganges River and is without increase or decrease. If one were to say that it is the latter, that too could not be so. Why? Because the proposition that [the mental affliction of ignorance] is cut off in one particular stage [of religious cultivation] would no longer hold true. These diverse and innumerable differences all have their existence on account of ignorance, and they are completely unrelated to the ultimate [truth-]principle.

If that is so, do all such practitioners who cut off all evil, cultivate all good, transcend the ten stages, reach the unsurpassed stage [of Buddhahood], perfect the three bodies [of the Buddha], and are endowed with the four attributes [of nirvana] represent knowledge or ignorance? Such practitioners belong to the station of ignorance and not to the station of knowledge.

In that case, since the beginningless past, pure original enlightenment has not looked to the cultivation of practice, 22

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nor has it been subject to some other power; its inherent virtues are completely perfect, and it is endowed with original wisdom; it both goes beyond the four propositions and is also removed from the five extremes; the word "naturalness" cannot express its naturalness, and the idea of "purity" cannot conceive of its purity; it is absolutely removed [from verbalization] and absolutely removed [from conceptualization]— does an original locus such as this represent knowledge or ignorance? An original locus such as this belongs to the extremity of ignorance and not to the station of knowledge. In that case, the one Dharma-realm mind is not found in a hundred negations, it defies a thousand affirmations, and it does not correspond to the middle; not corresponding to the middle, it defies heaven (i.e., supreme truth), and since it defies heaven, discourses of flowing eloquence are stopped in their tracks and speculations of careful deliberation are left with no recourse—does the one mind such as this represent knowledge or ignorance? The one mind such as this belongs to the extremity of ignorance and not to the station of knowledge. In the Dharma of the Mahayana with the one mind and its own three [attributes of essence, aspect, and function], the "one" [mind] cannot be one [since it is one yet all], but it is provisionally called "one" from the standpoint of entry [to the Mahayana]; [likewise] the [one] "mind" cannot be the mind [since it is one mind yet all minds], but it is provisionally called "mind" from the standpoint of entry [to the Mahayana]; although it is not really [the referent of] the term "self," it is [provisionally] called "self," and although it is not [the referent of] the designation "own," it [provisionally] corresponds to "own"; it is termed ["self"] as if it were the self, but this is not the real self, and it is called ["own"] as if it were the own, but this is not the real own; it is more mysterious than the mysteriously mysterious and more remote than the remotely remote—does a superior state such as this represent knowledge or ignorance? A superior state such as 23

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376a this belongs to the extremity of ignorance and not to the station of knowledge.

It is only the Dharma of the nondual Mahayana that is the Dharma of the nondual Mahayana—does the Dharma of the nondual Mahayana such as this represent knowledge or ignorance?

Explanatory Remarks: The above fivefold questions and answers are extremely profound in meaning.6 If you examine them closely, then you will be able to reach the ultimate [goal]. Every single profound meaning cannot be expressed on paper—think carefully about this.

[In the Commentary on the Mahayana Treatise] it also says (T. 32: 601c):

Why is the Dharma of the nondual Mahayana without causes and conditions? Because this Dharma is most sublime and very profound, it alone is to be revered, and it is removed from religious capacity [which constitutes the causes and conditions of other teachings]. Why is it removed from religious capacity? Because there is no religious capacity [for which it is expounded]. Why then was it posited [earlier in the Commentary on the Mahayana Treatise as one of the thirty-three teachings]? Because it was not posited [for a particular type of religious capacity as were the other thirty-two teachings]. Is this Dharma of the [nondual] Mahayana obtained by the Buddhas [of the realm of thusness]? [No, but the Buddhas of the realm of the nondual Mahayana] can obtain [the state of] the Buddhas [of the realm of thusness]. Can the Buddhas [of the phenomenal realm] obtain [the state of the Buddhas of the realm of the nondual Mahayana]? No. It is also the same for bodhisattvas, the two vehicles, and all ordinary beings [who can realize only those teachings that correspond to their religious capacity]. Such is the completely perfect ocean of inherent virtues [of the resultant stage]. Why is it so? Because it is removed from religious capacity and because 24

The Differences

it is removed from doctrines [that cater for different types of religious capacity].

[Why do] the eight kinds of fundamental teachings arise from causes and conditions? Because they accord with religious capacity and conform with doctrines. Why do they accord with religious capacity? Because there are [different types of] religious capacity [for which they are expounded]. Are these eight kinds of [fundamental] teachings obtained by the Buddhas [of the eight kinds of secondary teachings]? [No, but the state of the Buddhas of the eight kinds of secondary teachings] is obtained by the Buddhas [of the eight kinds of fundamental teachings]. Do [the Buddhas of the eight kinds of secondary teachings] obtain [the state of] the Buddhas [of the nondual Mahayana]? No. It is also the same for bodhisattvas, the two vehicles, and all ordinary beings. Such is the ocean of causes planted through cultivated practice [in the causal stage]. Why is it so? Because there are [different types of] religious capacity and because there are doctrines [that cater for different types of religious capacity]. [In the Commentary on the Mahayana Treatise] it also says (T. 32: 668a):

"The profound and vast meanings of the Buddhas"7 corresponds to the gateway that comprehensively encompasses all that was previously expounded [in the Treatise on the Awakening of aith in the Mahayana], for it fully encompasses the fundamental number of thirty-three kinds of teachings [set forth in the Commentary on the Mahayana Treatise]. What is the meaning of this [line]? "The Buddhas" corresponds to the Dharma of the nondual Mahayana. Why is this so? Because, when compared with the Buddhas [of the other thirty-two teachings of the causal stage], this nondual Dharma [of the resultant stage] is superior in its virtues. In the [original] larger version of the Flower Ornament Sutra the following explanation is given: The Buddhas with the virtues 25

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of the perfectly perfect ocean [of the resultant stage] are superior to all [other] Buddhas, for [the latter] are unable to accomplish the perfectly perfect ocean since they are inferior. If that is so, why then is the following explanation given in the currently circulating Flower Ornament Sutra? The Buddha [Vai]rocana [who is the expositor of the Flower Ornament Sutra and corresponds to the enjoyment body] has made the threefold world his body and mind. The threefold world encompasses [all] dharmas without exception, and [therefore] there is nothing that the body and mind of that Buddha (i.e., Vairocana) do not encompass.—Although the Buddha [Vai]rocana encompasses the three worlds, he encompasses [only the causal stage] and does not encompass [the resultant stage]. Therefore, there is no fault [regarding any apparent contradiction between the two versions of the Flower Ornament Sutra],

Explanatory Remarks: The nondual Mahayana and the Buddhas with the virtues of the perfectly perfect ocean mentioned [above] correspond to the own-nature Dharma body. This is called the secret treasury, and it is also called the Adamantine Pinnacle Great King of Teachings. Even [bodhisattvas of] equal enlightenment and the ten stages cannot see or hear it. Therefore, it gets the designation "secret. " It is explained in detail in the Adamantine Pinnacle Sutra.

In Fascicle One of the [Essay on the] Five Teachings of the Hua-yen it says (T. 45: 477a):

I shall now reveal the teaching and meaning of the One Vehicle [expounded by] the Buddha Sâkyamuni while in the oceanseal samâdhi. It consists in brief of ten sections__ First, I shall explain the establishment of the One Vehicle. The scope of the teaching and meaning of this One Vehicle is, moreover, divided into two sections: 1) the distinct teaching and 2) the identical teaching. The first (i.e., distinct teaching) is again [divided into] two. The first is the resultant stage of the ocean 26

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of inherent nature, and this represents the meaning of that which cannot be expounded. Why [can it not be expounded]? Because it does not correspond to any teaching. It is, namely, the state of [Vairocana] himself endowed with the Ten Buddhas. Therefore, this is what is meant when it says in the Treatise on the [Ten] Stages that the causal stage can be expounded, but the resultant stage cannot be expounded. The second [of the two divisions of the distinct teaching] is the causal stage of dependent arising, and this is, namely, the state of Samantabhadra.

Again, in Fascicle Two [of the Essay on the Five Teachings of the Hua-yen],a in [the section on] the meaning of the "Teaching of the Nonobstruction of the Dependent Arising of the Ten Mysteries," it says (T. 45: 503a):

The dependent arising of the Dharma realm is absolutely free and without end, but for the present its essentials may be summarized in two [parts]: the first clarifies the meaning of ultimate resultant realization, which is, namely, the state of [Vairocana] himself endowed with the Ten Buddhas, while the second discusses the teaching and meaning in accordance with conditions and with reference to causes, and it is, namely, the state of Samantabhadra. The meaning of the first is that [everything is] perfectly merged and absolutely free, one is identical with all and all is identical with one, and its appearance can simply not be described. For example, the ocean of [Buddha] lands, the meaning of the self-merging of the Ten Buddhas, and so on of the ultimate resultant stage in the Flower Ornament Sutra correspond to this, not to mention [the Mystery of the Dharma Realm of] Indra['s Net] and [the Mystery of the Mutual Containment and Establishment of] Minute Entities.9 This represents the meaning of that which cannot be expounded. Why [can it not be expounded]? Because it does not correspond to any teaching. Therefore, this is what is meant when it says in the Treatise on the [Ten] Stages that 27

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the causal stage can be expounded, but the resultant stage cannot be expounded.

Question: If this is the meaning, why then does the [.Flower Ornament] Sutra expound the result in the "Chapter on the Inconceivable [Dharmas] of the Buddha" and elsewhere? Answer: As for the meaning of this result, this result was expounded with reference to the conditions [of the practitioner] and by way of contrast so as to establish the causes [of practice], and it is not based on the ultimate result of absolute freedom. The reason for this is that the "Chapter on the Inconceivable Dharmas [of the Buddha]" and so on were expounded at the same assembly as [the chapters dealing with] the causal stage, and it is thus evident that they merely contrast [in relative terms the resultant stage with the causal stage]. It also says [in the Essay on the Five Teachings of the Huayen\ (T. 45: 505c): Question: Above it was said that the resultant stage is removed from conditions and is of inexponible aspect and that only the causal stage is to be treated. Why then is the teaching for becoming a Buddha and obtaining the result discussed in [the stage of] the final mind of the ten [levels of] faith? Answer: In the present instance "becoming a Buddha" means that after having first seen and heard [the teachings of the Flower Ornament Sutra], one then accomplishes understanding and practice in a second lifetime, completing the causal stage in [the stage of] the final mind of [the stage of] understanding and practice, and in a third lifetime one then obtains the ultimate result of absolute freedom and perfect merging,10 for the essence of this cause is accomplished in dependence on the result (i.e., it functions as a cause only in relation to the result). Only those who have fulfilled the causal stage progressively advance until they disappear into the 28

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ocean of the result. Since this represents the state of realization, it simply cannot be expounded.

Explanatory Remarks: The passages in the Treatise on the Ten Stages and [Essay on the] Five Teachings [of the Hua-yen] about the inexponibility of the ocean of inherent nature concur with the words of the bodhisattva Nagarjuna [in the Commentary on the Mahayana Treatise] about the inexponibility of the perfectly perfect ocean of inherent nature of the nondual Mahayana. That the causal stage can be expounded is the province of the exoteric teachings, while the inexponibility of the inherent nature of the result corresponds to the proper domain of the esoteric treasury. How is this known to be so? Because it is clearly explained in the Adamantine Pinnacle Sutra. Those who are wise should carefully think about this.

In Fascicle Three of the [Great] Calming and Contemplation by [the Great Master of] T'ien-t'ai it says (T. 46: 26c-27a):n The principle of these three truths (i.e., emptiness, provisionality, and the middle) is inconceivable; having no determinate nature, they really cannot be expounded. If they are expounded as a lead, there are no more than three senses in which this is done: one is expounding them in accordance with [others'] feelings <that is, speaking in accordance with others' minds>; the second is expounding them in accordance with [others'] feelings and [the Buddha's] wisdom <that is, speaking in accordance with his own and others' minds>; and the third is expounding them in accordance with [the Buddha's] wisdom <that is, speaking in accordance with his own mind>.

What are the three truths expounded in accordance with [others'] feelings? It is like the case of blind people who do not know [the color of] milk—when the four analogies of the seashell, rice flour, snow, and crane are explained to them, the four blind people will each form their own understanding, clinging to which they will give rise to four arguments 29

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376c

[with each maintaining that the color of milk is like either seashells, rice flour, snow, or cranes]. Those blinded by the ignorance of ordinary feelings are also like this. They do not know the three truths, and so when the teaching of existence, the teaching of emptiness, the teaching of both emptiness and existence, and the teaching of neither emptiness nor existence are explained to them with the expedient means of great compassion, these ordinary people can never see permanence, bliss, self, and purity, the characteristics of true reality; with each of them clinging to either emptiness or existence, they criticize one another just like the four blind people. Thus there are normally twenty-three schools of interpretation of the two truths; none are the same, each has a different view, and they cling to their own and reject those of others. Although they drink the nectar [of immortality], they harm their life and die early__

As for the three truths expounded in accordance with [the Buddha's] wisdom, from the first abode onward it is not only [the truth of] the middle that is beyond looking and listening; the true (i.e., absolute truth) and the mundane (i.e., conventional truth) are also the same. The three truths are mysterious and subtle, illuminated only by wisdom, impossible to point out and impossible to think about; those who hear them are startled. They are not within and not without, not difficult and not easy, not with [discernible] characteristics and not without [discernible] characteristics, not worldly phenomena, and without any external appearance. The hundred negations vanish, the four propositions all disappear, and only the Buddhas are able to fully comprehend them among themselves; the path of speech is cut off, the workings of the mind are extinguished, and they cannot be conceived of by means of ordinary feelings. Whether it is the one [truth of the middle] or the three [truths of emptiness, provisionally, and the middle], they are all beyond the range of [ordinary] feelings. Not even those of the two vehicles can fathom 30

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them, much less ordinary people. It is like the true color of milk—if one's eyes are open one will see it, but however many words one may expend, the blind will never know it. Expounding it thus is called the characteristics of the three truths expounded in accordance with [the Buddha's] wisdom, and this corresponds to speaking in accordance with his own mind. Explanatory Remarks: The views of this school do not go beyond the three truths. In a single moment of thought the mind is endowed with the three truths, and this is regarded as "wondrous." As for the statement that "the hundred negations vanish, the four propositions all disappear, and only the Buddhas are able to fully comprehend them among themselves," this school and other schools regard this as the ultimate. This is the linchpin of the exoteric teachings, but exponents of the mantra treasury regard this as the first gateway for entering the path. It is not secret or recondite, and sattvas ("beings") who yearn for enlightenment should not fail to think about this.

In the Lanka [Sutra] it says (T. 16: 560c):

The Buddha addressed Mahamati: "I give predictions [of their future attainment of Buddhahood] to sravakas who have formerly practiced bodhisattva practices but adhere to nirvana without residue (anupadhisesa-nirvana). Mahamati, the reason that I give predictions to sravakas is to make timorous sentient beings engender thoughts of courage. Mahamati, in this world and in other Buddha lands there are sentient beings practicing bodhisattva practices who are, however, desirous of the practices of the sravaka teachings, and in order to turn their minds [away from the sravaka teachings] and make them opt for great bodhi, the Buddha with a responsive-transformation body makes predictions for sravakas in responsive transformation; it is not the Buddha of Recompense or the Dharma-body Buddha who bestows the predictions. " Explanatory Remarks: According to this passage, the Lotus Sutra [in which the Buddha predicts the future attainment of 31

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Buddhahood by leading sravakas] was expounded by the Responsive-Transformation Buddha. Why? Because the Buddha bestowed

predictions on sravakas in responsive transformation. Some peopie say that it was expounded by the Dharma body, but this is quite spurious.

The Dharma master Tz'u-en (K'uei-chi) says in "The Meaning of the Two Truths" [in his Essays on the Garden of harma and the Grove of eaning in the Mahayana] (T. 45: 287bc): In the Yoga [Treatise] and [Treatise on the Establishment of] Consciousness-only [... ] the two truths each have four levels.! ... ] The four names of conventional truth are (cf. T. 30: 653c): 1) worldly conventional truth <also called "truth with name and no reality">, 2) rational conventional truth <also called "truth that discriminates in accordance with phenomena'">, 3) realized conventional truth <also called "truth established by expedient means">, and 4) conventional truth of the supreme principle <also called "truth not established by provisional names">.[... ] The four names of supreme truth are (cf. T. 31: 48a): 1) worldly supreme truth <also called "truth that manifests essence and function">, 2) rational supreme truth <also called "truth that discriminates cause and result">, 3) realized supreme truth <also called "truth that reveals reality by means of the teaching [of the emptiness of ersons and things]">, and 4) supreme truth of the supreme principle <also called "truth that tells of the [ultimate] purport by abandoning explication">. The first three kinds [of supreme truth] are called "established supreme truth," and the fourth kind is "nonestablished supreme truth." It also says [in the same section of Essays on the Garden of Dharma and the Grove of eaning in the Mahayana] (T. 45: 288a): The supreme [truth] of he supreme principle is subtle in essence, removed from language, and far beyond all things, and so it is called "supreme principle"; it is the inner realization of those 32

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with sacred wisdom and transcends the previous four conventional [truths], and so it is again called "supreme." It also says [in the same section of Essays on the Garden of Dharma and the Grove of eaning in the Mahayana\ (T. 45: 288b): The fourth supreme truth of the supreme principle [... ] is said to be nonestablished, to tell of the [ultimate] purport by abandoning explication, and to be the one true Dharma realm. Explanatory Remarks: In this section [of Essays on the Garden of harma and the Grove of eaning in the Mahayana it says] "supreme [truth] of the supreme principle, " "to tell of the [ultimate] purport by abandoning explication," "inner realization of those with sacred wisdom," "one true Dharma realm," "subtle in essence and removed from language," and so on, and absolute remove such as this corresponds to the domain of the exoteric teachings. That is to say, it is beyond the reach of all four kinds of speech of people in the causal stage, and there is only the own-nature Dharma body that is able to expound this sphere of absolute remove by means of true speech accordant with the [true] meaning. This is called the secret teachings of mantras, and the Adamantine Pinnacle [Sutra] and other sutras correspond to this. In Fascicle Five of the [Great] Perfection of Wisdom Treatise it says (T. 25: 97bc):

Not born, not extinguished, not annihilated, not eternal, Not identical, not different, not gone, not come— Dharmas born of causes and conditions are devoid of all frivolous argument (prapanca).

The Buddha has explained this, and I now pay homage to him__

Dharmas are neither born nor extinguished,

Neither not born nor not extinguished,

Not neither not born [n]or extinguished,

Nor not neither not born [n]or extinguished. 33

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377b Once one has obtained liberation, it is neither empty nor not empty. [Statements] such as these put an end to all frivolous argument, the path of speech is cut off, and one enters deeply into the Buddhist Dharma; one's mind is perspicacious and unobstructed, and one is unmoving and nonregressing. This is called acceptance of the non-birth [of dharmas] (anutpattikadharma-ksanti), and it is the first gateway to assist one on the path of the Buddha.

Again, in [Fascicle] Thirty-one [of the Great Perfection of Wisdom Treatise] it says (T. 25: 289a):

Then again, apart from the conditioned (samskrta) there is no unconditioned (asamskrta). The reason for this is that the real characteristic of conditioned dharmas is that they are unconditioned, and the characteristic of the unconditioned is that it is not conditioned. It is only because of the perverseness of sentient beings that it is explained differentiatingly that the characteristics of the conditioned are birth, extinction, duration, and change and the characteristics of the unconditioned are non-birth, nonextinction, non-duration, and non-change. This represents the first gateway for entering the Buddhist Dharma.

In the verses of the chapter "Examination of Nirvana" in the bodhisattva Nagarjuna's Lamp ofPrajha Treatise12 it says (T. 30: 130c):

Within that first principle (i.e., supreme truth) the Buddha does not from the very outset expound the Dharma; The Buddha is without discrimination, nor does he expound the Mahayana;

That the Buddha of Transformation should expound the Dharma—this is simply not so.

The Buddha has no thoughts of expounding the Dharma, and he who converts [by expounding the Dharma] is not a Buddha;

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Within the first principle he too does not expound the Dharma.

Nondiscrimination is by nature empty and does not have any thoughts of compassion.

Since sentient beings have no essence, there is also no Buddha-essence;

Since the Buddha has no essence, he also has no thoughts of pity.

In the commentary by the bodhisattva Bhaviveka it says (T. 30: 130c-131a):

Let us [now] explain the "first principle" (paramartha) [alluded to] here. Since it has one characteristic [without any distinctions], it is said to have no characteristic, and there is neither the Buddha nor the Mahayana [within the first principle]; the first principle is the sphere of nondual wisdom. The verses that you have spoken precisely explain the reasoning of our Buddhist Dharma. I shall now explain about the Tathagata's body for you. Although the Tathagata's body is without discrimination, by means of the power of the vow to benefit others made earlier [when he was still a bodhisattva] and because of the habitual cultivation of the adornments of his great vow, he is able to encompass all sentient beings and give rise to the bodies of Buddhas of Transformation at all times. On account of these transformation bodies there are letters and sentences, and they progressively give voice [to the teachings], which is not shared with any non-Buddhists, sravakas, or pratyekabuddhas. Moreover, they explain the two kinds of no-self (i.e., no-self of people and no-self of things) because they want to establish the paramita (perfection) of the first principle and because they want to establish those who travel by the best vehicle. This is called the "Great Vehicle" (Mahayana). Because there is a Buddha of the first principle, transformation bodies are caused to arise on the basis of that Buddha, 35

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and through these transformation bodies he gives rise to the exposition of the Dharma. Since the Buddha of the first principle is the cause of the exposition of the Dharma, it does not contradict the thesis proposed by me, nor does it contradict the inclinations of the world at large.

It also says (T. 30: 130b):

Within the first principle it like an illusion, like a [magical] creation. Who preaches and who listens? Therefore, "The Tathagata expounds nowhere not a single Dharma for [anyone]."13 It also says in the chapter "Examination of False Views" [in the Lamp ofPrajna Treatise] (T. 30: 135bc):14 In the Prajna[paramita Sutra\ it says (cf. T. 7: 1081c-1082a): "The Buddha addressed the bodhisattva Suvikrantavikramin: 'If one knows that matter is not that which gives rise to [false] views, nor that which cuts off [false] views, and that likewise sensation, ideation, volition, and consciousness are not that which gives rise to [false] views, nor are they that which cuts off [false] views, this is called prajna-paramita (perfection of wisdom).'" Now, bringing about understanding through the absence of the dependent arising of distinctions of arising and so on puts, namely, a stop to all frivolous arguments and various [false] views regarding identity, difference, and so on, and everything is quiescent. This is the teaching of selfenlightenment, this is the teaching [untainted] like empty

space, this is the teaching of nondiscrimination, and this is the teaching of the sphere of the first principle. To bring about understanding by means of the nectar of truths such as these is the gist of the arguments of the entire [Middle] Treatise. Explanatory Remarks: On the basis of these passages it will now be evident that the exponents of the Middle View put a stop to frivolous arguments and regard quiescence and absolute remove as the school's ultimate [standpoint]. The implications of such a thesis all represent the approach of [negatively] inhibiting the 36

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passions [of ordinary people] and do not represent the sense of [positively] expressing the attributes [of ltimate truth]. The author of the [Great Perfection of Wisdom\ Treatise himself declares that it is the first gateway for entering the path. The mindful man of wisdom should take heed and think about this ninefold. In [Fascicle] Thirty-eight of the bodhisattva Nagarjuna's Great Perfection of Wisdom Treatise it says (T. 25: 336bc): In the Buddhist Dharma there are two truths: one is conventional truth, and the second is the truth of the first principle (i.e., supreme truth). In accordance with conventional truth it is taught that sentient beings exist, and in accordance with the truth of the first principle it is taught that sentient beings do not exist.

Again, there are two kinds [of people]: there are those who know the characteristics of names, and there are those who do not know the characteristics of names. For example, it is just like when an army raises secret signs, there are those who know them and there are those who do not know them. Again, there are [another] two kinds [of people]: there are those who are practicing for the first time, and there are those who have been practicing for a long time; there are those who are attached, and there are those who are not attached; and there are those who know the minds of others, and there are those who do not know the minds of others. <Although there are those familiar with language, they proclaim the [truth-]principle in terms of the superficial meanings of] words.>

For those who do not know the characteristics of names, who are practicing for the first time, who are attached, and who do not know the minds of others it is taught that sentient beings do not exist, and for those who know the characteristics of names, who have been practicing for a long time, who are not attached, and who know the minds of others it is taught that sentient beings do exist.

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Explanatory Remarks: The two truths of the first type are the same as in usual discourse. In the next two truths there are eight kinds of people. For the four [kinds of] people who do not know the characteristics of names and so on it is taught that in real truth there are neither Buddhas nor sentient beings, but for the latter four [kinds of] people it is taught that in real truth there are both Buddhas and sentient beings. Think about this carefully. The meanings of "secret signs," "characteristics of names," and so on are clearly explained in the mantra teachings. Therefore, it says in the Bodhi-site Sutra (T. 19: 207b-208a):15 Manjusri said to the Buddha, "World-honored One, with how many designations are you active in the world?" The Buddha said, "I am called 'Sakra,' I am called 'Brahmaraja,' I am called 'Mahesvara,' I am called 'naturalness,' I am called 'earth,' I am called 'tranquility,' I am called 'nirvana,' I am called 'heaven' (or 'god'), I am called 'asura,' I am called 'sky,' I am called 'supreme,' I am called 'meaning,' I am called 'unreal,' I am called 'samadhi,' I am called 'compassionate one,' I am called 'benevolence,' I am called 'Water-God' (Varuna), I am called 'dragon' (naga), I am called ' aksa,' I am called 'seer,' I am called 'lord of he three realms,' I am called light,' I am called 'fire,' I am called lord of demons,' I am called 'existence,' I am called 'nonexistence,' I am called 'discrimination,' I am called 'nondiscrimination,' I am called 'Sumeru,' I am called 'vajra,' I am called 'permanence,' I am called 'impermanence,' I am called 'mantra,' I am called 'great mantra,' I am called 'ocean,' I am called 'great ocean,' I am called 'sun,' I am called 'moon,' I am called 'cloud,' I am called 'great cloud,' I am called 'lord of men,' I am called 'great lord of men,' I am called 'dragonlike elephant' (hastinaga), I am called 'arhat,' or 'one who harms mental afflictions,' I am called 'not different,' I am called 'not non-different,' I am called 'life,' I am called 'non-life,' I am called 'mountain,' I am called 'great mountain,' I am called 'unextinguished,' I am called 'unborn,' 38

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I am called 'thusness,' I am called 'nature of thusness,' I am called 'apex of reality,' I am called 'nature of the apex of reality,' I am called 'Dharma realm,' I am called 'real,' I am called 'nondual,' and I am called 'having characteristics.' Manjusri, I have established in this world five asamkhyeyas of hundreds of thousands of designations with which I tame and direct sentient beings. Although the Tathagata makes no effort, he turns [the Dharma wheel] with innumerable kinds of mantras, physical strength, and phenomenic characteristics." In Nagarjuna's Commentary on the Mahayana Treatise it says (T. 32: 605c-606b):

There are five kinds of speech, there are two kinds of names,

And there are ten kinds of mental activity—this is on account of differing explanations in the scriptures. Discussion: "There are five [kinds of] speech"—What are the five [kinds of speech]? They are 1) speech [indicative] of [individual] characteristics, 2) dream speech, 3) speech [born] of deluded attachments, 4) beginningless speech, and 5) speech accordant with the [true] meaning. In the Lanka Sutra the following explanation [of four kinds of speech] is given (T. 16: 530c-531a):

Mahamati, "speech [indicative] of [individual] characteristics" arises through attachment to form and other characteristics. Mahamati, "dream speech" arises when one recalls delusionary objects that one has previously experienced, has a dream on the basis of those objects, and upon waking realizes that it was based on delusionary objects and was not real. Mahamati, "speech [born] of [deluded] attachments" arises when one recalls what one has previously heard or done. Mahamati, "beginningless speech" arises through the habitual impressing [upon the storehouse-consciousness] of the seeds of the 39

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mental affliction of attachment to frivolous argument since the beginningless past.

In the \Adamantine] Samadhi Sutra the following explanation is given (T. 9: 371a):

Sariputra said, "All the myriad teachings all consist of speech and writing. But the [superficial] aspects of speech and writing are not to be identified with the [true] meaning, for the true meaning cannot be verbalized. Now, how does the Tathagata expound the Dharma?"

The Buddha said, "As for my expounding the Dharma, because you sentient beings are speaking while in [the cycle of] birth[-and-death], you say that [ultimate truth] cannot be expounded. [But I expound the Dharma from a different position.] Therefore I do expound it. What is expounded by me is meaningful speech and not superficial [speech], and what sentient beings expound is superficial speech and not meaningful speech. That which is not meaningful speech is all vacuous, vacuous speech does not express the [true] meaning, and that which does not express the [true] meaning is all deluded speech. Speech accordant with the [true] meaning is really empty and not empty [in a relative sense], and emptiness is real but not real [in a substantive sense]. It is removed from the two aspects [of existence and emptiness], and it does not correspond to the middle [between them]. The Dharma that does not correspond to the middle is removed from the three aspects [of existence, emptiness, and the middle], and it is found to have no [fixed] locus, for it is explained to be thus [removed from existence], thus [removed from emptiness], and thus [removed from the middle]."

Among these five [kinds of speech], the former four [kinds of] speech are delusionary speech and therefore cannot discuss the truth, while the latter one [kind of] speech is speech 40

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accordant with reality and can therefore discuss the truthprinciple. Because the bodhisattva Asvaghosa based himself on the former four [kinds of speech], he makes this statement [in the Treatise on the Awakening of aith in the Mahay na (T. 32: 576a)] that "[all dharmas are from the very beginning] removed from the characteristics of speech. "[... ] "There are ten [kinds of] mental activity"—What are the ten [kinds of mental activity]? They are 1) the mind of eyeconsciousness, 2) the mind of ear-consciousness, 3) the mind of nose-consciousness, 4) the mind of tongue-consciousness, 5) the mind of body-consciousness, 6) the mind of mind-consciousness, 7) the mind of manas-consciousness, 8) the mind of aZaya-consciousness, 9) the mind of many-and-one-consciousness, and 10) the mind of one-oneness-consciousness.16 Among these ten [kinds of mental activity], the first nine kinds of minds cannot cognize the truth-principle, while the final one kind of mind is able to cognize the truth-principle and make it its object. In this instance, basing himself on the former nine [kinds of minds], [the bodhisattva Asvaghosa] makes this statement [in the Treatise on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana (T. 32: 576a)] that "[all dharmas are from the very beginning... ] removed from the characteristic of mental cognition. "

Explanatory Remarks: The meaning of remove and non-remove with regard to speech, mental activity, and so on is clearly explained in this treatise. Those wise in the exoteric teachings should consider it carefully and dispel their confusion.

In the Adamantine Pinnacle Treatise on the Generation of the Bodhi-mind it says (T. 32: 572c):

Formerly, when they were in the causal stage and had generated this mind [of enlightenment (bodhicitta)], Buddhas and bodhisattvas made the supreme truth, the vow to practice, and samadhi their precepts, and they did not forget them even briefly right up until they became Buddhas. Only in the 41

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mantra teachings does one become a Buddha in this very body, and therefore they explain the methods of samadhi; in other teachings these are missing and have not been recorded. Explanatory Remarks: Among the thousand treatises composed by the great sage Nagarjuna, this treatise is an essential treatise of the esoteric treasury. Therefore, the differences between the exoteric and esoteric teachings, their [relative] shallowness and depth, as well as the tardiness and speediness and the superiority and inferiority of their attainment of Buddhahood, are all explained therein. "Other teachings" are the exoteric teachings expounded by the other-enjoyment bodies and transformation bodies. "They explain the methods of samadhi'' refers to the samadhi gateway of secret mantras expounded by the own-nature Dharma body, and it corresponds to the one-hundred-thousand-verse sutra of the Adamantine Pinnacle [Sutra] and so on. On the Differences between the Exoteric and

Esoteric Teachings, Fascicle One

42

Fascicle Two

In the Six Paramitas Sutra it says (T. 8: 868bc):17 The Dharma jewel is by nature forever pure—thus have the World-honored Buddhas taught;

It is covered with adventitious mental afflictions just as clouds may obscure the sun's rays.

The untainted Dharma jewel is endowed with all virtues, and [its attributes of] permanence, bliss, self, and purity have all been completely perfected;

How does one seek the purity of Dharma-nature?—It is nondiscriminating wisdom that is able to realize it.[... ] The first Dharma jewel corresponds to the Dharma body [characterized by] mahaprajna (great wisdom) and liberation! • •• ]

The second Dharma jewel is, namely, the wondrous merits of [the three disciplines of] morality (sila), meditation (dhyana), and wisdom (prajna), that is to say, the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment__ By cultivating these factors one is able to realize that pure Dharma body. The third Dharma jewel is, namely, the true Dharma expounded by innumerable Buddhas in the past and that being expounded by me (i.e., Sakyamuni) now, that is to say, the aggregate of the eighty-four thousand wondrous teachings, which discipline and bring to complete maturity sentient beings with the right conditions and cause Ananda and the other great disciples to memorize them all upon hearing them only once, and they may be reduced to five divisions: 1) sutras, 2) Vinaya, 3) Abhidharma, 4) Prajnaparamita, and 5) dharani gateway. These five kinds of treasuries (pitakas) educate and convert sentient beings, and they are expounded in accordance with [the requirements of] those to be saved. 43

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If those sentient beings wish to dwell in mountains or forests, always live in tranquility, and cultivate quiet contemplation, then for them the sutra treasury is expounded. If those sentient beings wish to practice proper conduct, preserve the true Dharma, and enable it to perdure through unanimous harmony [within the sangha], then for them the Vinaya treasury is expounded. If those sentient beings wish to expound the true Dharma, discriminate between [inherent] nature and [external] characteristics, study methodically, and plumb the depths [of the Dharma], then for them the Abhidharma treasury is expounded. If those sentient beings wish to practice the true wisdom of the Mahayana and become free of [false] discrimination due to attachment to self and things, then for them the Prajnaparamita treasury is expounded. If those sentient beings are unable to uphold the scriptures (i.e., sutras), discipline (i.e., Vinaya), Abhidharma, or Prajna[paramita], or if sentient beings have committed evil acts and various grievous sins, such as the four grave [offenses of a monk], the eight grave [offenses of a nun], the five [rebellious] offenses that bring immediate [retribution], slandering of the Vaipulya (i.e., Mahayana) sutras, and [the offenses of] an icchantika [who has no hope of attaining Buddhahood], then for them the dharani treasuries are expounded to extinguish [their sins] so that they may be swiftly liberated and suddenly enlightened and [attain] nirvana.

These five Dharma treasuries may be compared to milk, cream, curds, butter, and wondrous ghee. The scriptures are like milk, the [Vinaya] is like cream, the Abhidharma teachings are like curds, the Mahayana Prajna[paramita] is just like butter, and the dharani gateway is comparable to ghee. The taste of ghee is first in delicacy among milk, cream, curds[, and so on], and it is able to remove illnesses and make sentient beings happy in body and mind. [Likewise] the dharani gateway is foremost among the scriptures and so on, and it is able to remove grievous sins and make sentient 44

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beings liberated from birth-and-death (samsara) and quickly realize the Dharma body in the happiness of nirvana. Then again, Maitreya, after my death Ananda will be charged with upholding the sutra treasury that has been expounded, Upali will be charged with upholding the Vinaya treasury that has been expounded, Katyayana will be charged with upholding the Abhidharma treasury that has been expounded, the bodhisattva Manjusri will be charged with upholding the Mahayana Prajnaparamita that has been expounded, and the bodhisattva Vajrapani will be charged with upholding the profound and subtle dharani gateways that have been expounded.

Explanatory Remarks: Now, according to this scriptural passage, the Buddha assigned the five flavors to the five treasuries, calling the dharani [treasury] "ghee" and likening the [other] four flavors to the [other] four treasuries. The teachers of China have vied in stealing the [designation] "ghee" and applying it to their own schools,18 but if considered in the light of this sutra, it should not need to be explained that theirs is the [self-deceiving] wisdom of those who cover their ears [while stealing a bell, and their deception will inevitably be exposed].

In the Lanka Sutra it says (T. 16: 569a): The innerly realized wisdom of my vehicle is not a sphere [accessible to those] of deluded awareness. After the Tathagata has passed from the world, tell me who will uphold it.

After the Tathagata has passed away, there will in the future be a certain person.

Mahamati, listen carefully: there will be a person who upholds my Dharma.

In a great kingdom in the south there will be a bhiksu (monk) of great virtue.

He will be called the bodhisattva Nagarjuna,19 and he will refute the [false] views of being and nonbeing 45

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And expound for others my vehicle, the unsurpassed Dharma of the Great Vehicle.

Explanatory Remarks: When it says "the innerly realized wisdom of my vehicle, " this refers to the secret treasury of mantras. The Tathagata has clearly predicted the mastery of the teachings by such a person (i.e., Nagarjuna). People who are wise should not have any doubts about this, like the suspicious fox. In [Fascicle] Two of the Lanka \Sutra] it also says (T. 16: 525bc):20

Then again, Mahamati, the Recompense-Buddha [emanating from] the Dharma-Buddha explains all dharmas in terms of individual characteristics and common characteristics!... ] It is because, attached to false essence and characteristics, the discriminating mind receives habitual impressions that, Mahamati, these are called "discriminated false essence and characteristics. " Mahamati, this is called the characteristic of the expounding of the Dharma by the Recompense-Buddha. Mahamati, the expounding of the Dharma by the Dharma-Buddha is removed from any essence correspondent to the minds [of ordinary people] and represents the sphere of sacred conduct based on inner realization. Therefore, Mahamati, this is called the characteristic of the expounding of the Dharma by the Dharma-Buddha.

Mahamati, the Response-Buddha created by the Responsive-Transformation Buddha expounds [the six perfections of]

giving (dona), morality (sila), forbearance (ksanti), effort (virya), meditation (dhyana), and wisdom (prajna) and the [five] aggregates, [eighteen] realms, [twelve] sense fields, and [eight] liberations, establishes the differences and workings of consciousness and thought, and expounds the characteristics of he successive stages of non-Buddhists' samapatti (mental attainment) in [the realm of] non-form. Mahamati, this is called the characteristic of he expounding of he Dharma by the Response-Buddha created by the Responsive[-Transformation] Buddha. 46

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Then again, Mahamati, the expounding of the Dharma by the Dharma-Buddha is free of the cognizing of objects, free of the seer and the seen, free of the characteristics of action and the characteristics of cognition, and is not the sphere of sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and non-Buddhists. Again, in Fascicle Eight [of the Lanka Sutra] it says (T. 16: 560c-561a):

Mahamati, [... ] the Responsive-Transformation Buddha performs deeds for converting sentient beings, but this differs from the exposition of the characteristics of true reality, and he does not expound the innerly realized Dharma, the sphere of sacred wisdom.

Explanatory Remarks: Now, according to this sutra, when expounding the Dharma, the three bodies each have their own bourne. It is clear that the Responsive-Transformation Buddha21 does not expound the sphere of innerly realized wisdom, and it is only the Dharma-body Buddha who expounds this innerly realized wisdom. If one peruses the passages [quoted] below, the truth of this will be determined.

In the Adamantine Pinnacle Five Mysteries Sutra it is taught (T. 20: 535bc):22

If one practices in the exoteric teachings, only after a long time and the lapse of three great incalculable eons will one realize unsurpassed bodhi. During this time, among ten who advance nine fall back, or else they may realize the seventh stage [of the ten stages] and direct the merit and wisdom that they have collected to [the attainment of] the fruit of the sravaka's or pratyekabuddha's path, thereby being unable to realize unsurpassed bodhi.

If a practitioner] has recourse to the Dharma of he innerly realized and self-awakened sacred wisdom expounded by the selfenjoyment body of the Buddha Vairocana and to the wisdom of the other-enjoyment body of reat Samantabhadra-Vajrasattva, 47

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then he will in his present lifetime encounter a mandala dcdrya (teacher) and be able to enter a mandala. Having completed the karman (ordination rite), [the dcdrya] will induct Vajrasattva into his body by means of the samadhi of Samantabhadra. On account of the majestic power of empowerment he will instantly realize innumerable samayas (pledges) and innumerable dharani gateways. By inconceivable methods [the dcdrya] will transmute the disciple's seeds of innate self-attachment, at which time he will accumulate in his person the merit and wisdom [normally] collected in one great asamkhyeya eon, whereupon he will be deemed to have been born into the Buddha's family.[... ] By just seeing the mandala [... ] he plants the seeds of the Adamantine Realm[... ]. He receives in full an adamantine name of initiation to the position [of an initiate], and hereafter he will obtain vast, profound, and inconceivable teachings and transcend the two vehicles and ten stages.

Explanatory Remarks: The sphere in which speech is cut off and the mind extinguished that is spoken of in the exoteric teachings is, namely, the sphere of the innerly realized wisdom of the Dharma-body Vairocana. According to the Necklace Sutra (cf. T. 24: 1015c, 1019c-1020a), Vairocana is the Dharma body as [truth-]principle, Rocana corresponds to the Dharma body as wisdom, and Sakyafmuni] is called the transformation body. However, the Dharma of the innerly realized and self-awakened sacred wisdom expounded by the self-enjoyment body of the Buddha Vairocana that is spoken of in this Adamantine Pinnacle [Five Mysteries] Sutra corresponds to the sphere of the Dharma body as both [truth-]principle and wisdom.

Again, in the Adamantine Pinnacle Sutra of [All] Yogins it says (T. 18: 253c-254a):23

The Tathagata Vairocana of the Adamantine Realm, with his fourfold Dharma body composed of the five wisdoms, was in the palace of the adamantine mind of the originally existent 48

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Adamantine Realm together with his attendants composed of his own-nature..., vajras of body, speech, and mind who [with] the secret mind-ground of the subtle Dharma body have transcended the ten stages__

It also says [in the Adamantine Pinnacle Sutra of ll Yogins\ (T. 18: 254a):

There are no bodhisattvas of the [ten] stages able to see them, nor do any of them perceive them....

Again, in the [.Adamantine Pinnacle] Sutra on Differentiating the Positions of the Deities it says (T. 18: 288a):24 The Self-enjoyment Buddha brings forth from his heart innumerable bodhisattvas, all of identical nature, namely, adamantine nature, and for their own enjoyment of Dharma bliss these Buddhas and bodhisattvas each expound a gateway to the three mysteries that they themselves have realized.... [.Explanatory Remarks:] These passages all [describe] the sphere of the Dharma body of self-nature and self-enjoyment qua [truth-]principle and wisdom, and these Dharma bodies expound this sphere of innerly realized wisdom for their own enjoyment of Dharma bliss. This coincides perfectly with the passages in the Lanka [Sutra\ saying that the Dharma body expounds the sphere of innerly realized wisdom and the responsive-transformation [body] does not expound it. This is a place at absolute remove from the exoteric teachings.

As soon as a person who is wise sees these passages, the clouds and haze [of his delusion] will immediately clear and the bolt and lock [of the gate to the truth] will open of their own accord. [It will be as if] a fish trapped at the bottom of a well [now] swims freely in the wide ocean, or a bird caught in a hedge [now] flies up into the open sky; [as if] someone blind from birth for a hundred years is unexpectedly able to recognize the color of milk, or the dark night of a myriad eons is suddenly flooded with sunlight. 49

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In the Adamantine Pinnacle Sutra on Differentiating the Positions of the Deities it says (T.18: 287c-288a):25

The mantra-dhâranî school is the most secret teaching of All the Tathâgatas, the Dharma gateway for the cultivation and realization of self-awakened sacred wisdom. It is also the samâdhi gateway for entering the altar (i.e., mandata) of the oceanlike assembly of All the Tathâgatas, receiving the duties and position of a bodhisattva, transcending the three realms, and receiving the Buddha's instructions. Fully possessed of these causes and conditions, one promptly collects merit and vast wisdom, and none falls back from unsurpassed bodhi; one is freed of heavenly demons, all mental afflictions, and hindrances caused by [past] sins, which dissolve moment by moment; one realizes the fourfold body of the Buddha, namely, the own-nature body, enjoyment body, transformation body, and homogeneous body; and one fulfills the requirements for the unshared qualities of a Buddha such as the five wisdoms and thirty-seven [deities of the Vajradhâtu Mandala], <This indicates the main gist of this] school.>

Moreover, the Tathâgata's transformation body (i.e., Sâkyamuni) attained perfect enlightenment at the place of bodhi (bodhimanda) in the land of Magadha in Jambudvipa, and he expounded the doctrines of the three vehicles for bodhisattvas yet to enter the [ten] stages, srâvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and ordinary people, either teaching in accordance with the inclinations of others or teaching in accordance with his own inclinations. If people of various religious capacities practice as taught with various expedient means, they will obtain the reward of [rebirth among] men or gods, or else they will obtain the fruit of liberation in the three vehicles; they will repeatedly advance toward unsurpassed bodhi and then fall back, and after having practiced and exerted themselves for three great incalculable eons, they will finally attain Buddhahood. [Sâkyamuni] was born in a palace, died under 50

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two [sdla] trees, and left his physical sari[ra] (relics), and if one erects a pagoda (stupa) and worships it, one will experience the supremely wondrous rewards of men and gods and the cause of nirvana. <This describes in brief the teaching of the Tathagata Sakyafmuni] and the benefits to be obtained from it.>

This is not the same as the recompense body of Vairocana who, while in the palace of the Akanistha Heaven in the fourth [stage of] meditation at the summit of the realm of form, and with all the Buddhas who had gathered as if in a cloud, filling empty space and pervading the Dharma realm, and the great bodhisattvas who had completed the ten stages as his witnesses, aroused his body and mind and suddenly realized unsurpassed bodhi.26 <This describes the expounding of the Dharma by the other-enjoyment body and the benefits to be obtained from it.>

The Self-enjoyment Buddha brings forth from his heart innumerable bodhisattvas, all of identical nature, namely, adamantine nature. They receive initiation to their duties and positions from the Tathagata Vairocana, and these bodhisattvas each expound a gateway to the three mysteries, which they offer to Vairocana and All the Tathagatas and then request empowerment and instructions. The Buddha Vairocana says, "In the future and in innumerable world-realms you are to cause those of the best vehicle to obtain the accomplishment of mundane and supramundane siddhi in their present lifetimes." After having received the Tathagata's instructions, these bodhisattvas make obeisance to the Buddha's feet, and having circumambulated the Buddha, they each return to their own position in their own quarter, forming five circles and holding their own insignia.27 If one sees this, hears of it, or enters the circular altar (i.e., mandala), one will cut off the karmic hindrances that cause birthand-death in transmigration through the five destinies, and if one worships and serves one Buddha after another in the 51

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five circles of liberation, they will all cause one to obtain unsurpassed bodhi and attain a determinate nature indestructible like a vajra. This is the assembly of Vairocana's sacred hosts, and it represents the stupa-pagoda of actual realization. Every bodhisattva, every uq/raL-like being], each dwells in his own samâdhi and dwells in his own liberation, and all dwell in the power of the vow of great compassion and widely benefit sentient beings. All those who either see them or hear of them will realize samâdhi, merit and wisdom will promptly accumulate, and they will be successful. <This explains the expounding of the Dharma by the own-nature body and self-enjoyment body and the benefits to be obtained from it.>

Explanatory Remarks: This sutra clearly explains the differences in the expounding of the Dharma by the three bodies and their [relative] shallowness and depth, as well as the tardiness and speediness and the superiority and inferiority of their attainment of Buddhahood, and it agrees in meaning with the characteristics of the expounding of the Dharma by the three bodies in the Lanka [Sutra], Wise men of exoteric learning all say that the Dharma body does not expound the Dharma, but this is not so. Such are the differences between the exoteric and esoteric teachings. Examine them most carefully!

III. Scriptural Evidence with Annotations

In the Adamantine Pinnacle Sutra of All Yogins it says (T. 18: 253c-254a):28

At one time Bhagavân, the Tathdgata Vairocana of the Adamantine Realm <—this extols the deities' virtues with a general statement>, with the fourfold Dharma body composed of the five wisdoms <—the "five wisdoms" are 1) great perfect mirrorlike wisdom, 2) the wisdom of quality, 3) the wisdom of wondrous observation, 4) the wisdom of accomplishing what is to be done, and 5) the wisdom of the essential 52

The Differences

nature of the Dharma realm, and they correspond to the Buddhas of the five directions: know that they are arranged in the order east, south, west, north, and center; the fourfold Dharma body is 1) own-nature body, 2) enjoyment body, 3) transformation body, and 4) homogeneous body; this fourfold body has two meanings, vertical and horizontal: the horizontal corresponds to self-benefit and the vertical corresponds to benefiting others; ask further about their deeper meaning>, was in the originally existent Adamantine Realm <—this indicates the wisdom of the essential nature of the Dharma realm as his inherent virtue> sovereign great samaya <— this represents the wisdom of wondrous observation> selfawakened original beginning <—wisdom of equality> full moon (i.e., lunar disc) of Samantabhadra [representing] the great bodhi-mmd <—[this] is the wisdom of reat perfect mirrorlike wisdom> palace of the indestructibly adamantine radiant mind <—"indestructibly adamantine" extols as a whole the eternally abiding bodies of the deities, "radiant mind" extols the mind's virtue of awakening, "palace" shows how the body and mind act as abider and abode for each other, and "in" (lit., "middle") is the mystery of peech and also has the meaning "free of xtremes"; this represents the three mysteries, which are removed from the five extremes and one hundred negations and alone abide in the middle that is not the middle; even [bodhisattvas of] equal enlightenment and the ten stages cannot see or hear it, for it is, namely, the sphere of the Dharma body's self-realization; it also represents the wisdom of accomplishing what is to be done, and the activities of the three mysteries all arise from this; the above five phrases29 together clarify the abode [of Vairocana], and the name of is abode represents the secret designations and wondrous virtues of the Five Buddhas; one should realize its esoteric meaning> together with attendants composed of his ownnature, [namely,] Vajrapani and the other Sixteen Great Bodhisattvas as well as the heavenly female messengers of 380b

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the four acts of conversion30 and the adamantine heavenly female messengers of the adamantine inner and outer eight offerings,31 each through the empowerment of their own vow dwelling in a lunar disc on a vajra and holding an insignia of their own samâdhi and all [representing] vajras of body, speech, and mind who with the secret mind-ground of the subtle Dharma body have transcended the ten stages <—this clarifies the basis of the thirty-seven [deities], the wisdoms of the inner attendants of he own-nature Dharma body>. From a [five-]pronged pestle (i.e., vajra) [emitting] the light rays of the five wisdoms, each manifested five million koti subtle vajras that pervaded the Dharma realm, [which is like] empty space. There are no bodhisattvas of the [ten] stages able to see them, nor do any of them perceive them, and their blazing light rays have free-playing majestic power. <This shows that the basic five wisdoms of the thirty-seven deities are each endowed with inherent virtues [numberless] like the sands of the Ganges River; if onsidered in terms of rogression, there are passages [describing] their [progressive] manifestation, but if onsidered in accordance with original existence, they have completely perfected these virtues all at one time.> Indestructible transformation bodies constantly benefit sentient beings throughout the three ages without stopping even briefly <—"three ages" is the three mysteries, "indestructible" denotes "adamantine," and "transformation" is activity; that is to say, by means of the activities of the adamantine three mysteries they constantly cause sentient beings, both themselves and others, to receive the bliss of he wondrous Dharma throughout the three ages>. By means of adamantine ownnature <—the seal of the Buddha Aksobhya>, univeral illumination by light rays <—the seal of the Buddha Ratnaprabha>, pure untaintedness <—the seal of the pure Dharma-realm body>, various activities <—the seal of the karma wisdom body>, and the empowerment of expedient means <—the seal of the enjoyment body as expedient means> 54

The Differences

they save sentient beings <—the virtue of reat compassion> and expound the Adamantine Vehicle (Vajrayana) <—the virtue of the wisdom of the expounding of the Dharma>, and the sole vajra <—the wisdom of the virtue of the completely perfect altar (i.e., mandalaj>32 is able to cut off mental afflictions <—the virtue of sharp wisdom; the above nine phrases correspond to the five seals [of he Five Buddhas] and the four virtues [of their four attendant bodhisattvas]; every Buddhaseal is endowed with the four virtues, and for self-enjoyment they constantly expound the one vehicle of adamantine wisdom>.33 The bodhisattvas are encompassed by the eternally abiding Dharma body, the own-nature of Samantabhadra, of this profound secret mind-ground <—this shows that the ownnature Dharma body encompasses his own attendants; he also encompasses [the attendants off all others, for the reference to his own includes others>. Only this Buddha land is the [Land of] Secretly Adorned Flower Ornaments, completely formed of the purity of its adamantine own-nature <—"Secret" is the adamantine three mysteries, "Flower" is the open flower of enlightenment, and "Ornaments" is the possession of various virtues; that is to say, [it refers to] the adornment of the [Buddha's] body and land with Buddha virtues [numberless] like the sands of the Ganges River and with the three mysteries like dust motes in number, and this is called a mandala; again, "adamantine" denotes "wisdom," "purity" denotes "[truth-]principle," and "own-nature" applies to both; that is to say, the deities are each endowed with the natural [truth-] principle and wisdom>. It has been established through the perfect completion of the stock of merit and knowledge of sentient beings by means of the practices and vows of great compassion <—that is to say, the deities [numberless] like the sands of he Ganges River mentioned above are each endowed with the expedient means of Samantabhadra's vow to practice>, and it is the wisdom body of equality that shines with the radiance of the five wisdoms and eternally abides 55

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380c

throughout the three ages without stopping even briefly <— the "five wisdoms" are the wisdoms composed of the five elements, and every element is endowed with a wisdom-seal; the "three ages" are the three mysteries and three bodies; "without stopping even briefly" [means that] the activities of these deities are uninterrupted, and by means of these Buddha actions they benefit self and others; as for "wisdom body of equality," "wisdom" is a function of the mind, "body" is the essence of the mind, and "equality" is universality—that is to say, the wisdom-seals of the three mysteries composed of the five elements are immeasurable in number, and body and mind's wisdom completely pervade the threefold world, engaged in Buddha deeds without resting for a ksana (moment); in passages such as these every sentence and every phrase is a secret designation of the Tathagata; those of the two vehicles and ordinary people merely understand the [superficial] meaning of the phrases and are unable to comprehend the connotative meaning; they merely understand the superficial meaning and cannot know the secret designations of he words; wise people who read these [passages] must not distort the secret meaning with the exoteric [superficial] meaning of the phrases; if ne looks at the explanatory sutra of Vajra]sattva,34 one will understand the meaning of this; be not suspicious! be not dubious!>.

In the Mahavairocana Sutra it says (T. 18: lab):35 At one time Bhagavan was dwelling in the vast Adamantine Palace of the Dharma realm empowered by the Tathagatas, in which all the vajradharas (lit., 'Tcyra-holders") had all assembled. These vajra[dhara\s were called the vajradhara Gaganamala... and Vajrapani, Lord of Mysteries. Accompanied by a host of vajradharas equal in number to the dust motes of ten Buddha lands with these at their head, and surrounded on all sides by great bodhisattvas such as the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva Manjusri,... [Bhagavan] expounded 56

The Differences

the Dharma through the empowerment of the Tathagata's sun which transcends the three periods [of past, present, and future], namely, the Dharma gateway of the state of he equality of body, speech, and mind. <—This shows the expounding of the Dharma hy the own-nature body.>

Then, with the bodhisattvas headed by Samantabhadra and the vajradharas headed by the Lord of Mysteries, through the empowerment of the Tathagata Vairocana, there was swiftly made manifest the treasury of the inexhaustible adornments [of the equality] of the body; likewise, there were swiftly made manifest the treasuries of the inexhaustible adornments of the equality of speech and mind. <—This shows the expounding of the Dharma hy the enjoyment body.> These were not produced by the body or speech or mind of the Buddha Vairocana, and yet the limits of their arising and disappearing in all places cannot be apprehended. Yet all of Vairocana's physical actions, all of his verbal actions, and all of his mental actions proclaim everywhere and always in the realms of sentient beings the Dharma of the words of the mantra path. <—This shows the expounding of the Dharma by the transformation body.>

In addition, he manifested the forms of the bodhisattvas Vajradhara (i.e., Vajrapani), Samantabhadra, Padmapani, and so on and proclaimed everywhere throughout the ten directions the Dharma of the pure words of the mantra path. <— This shows the expounding of he Dharma by the homogeneous body; as for "and so on," by mentioning Vajrafpani] and Padmapani, it equally includes the deities of he Outer Vajra Division [on the periphery of the mandala/; the fourfold Dharma body of his sutra also has both vertical and horizontal meanings, and these should be understood from the contexts It also says [in the Mahdvairocana SutraX (T. 18: 40b): Thereupon the World-honored One Vairocana addressed the vajradhara Lord of Mysteries: "If one enters the stage of 57

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initiation into the great wisdom of the Great Awakened World-honored One, one will see oneself dwelling in the state of the three samayas (i.e., equality of ody, speech, and mind). Lord of Mysteries, if one enters initiation into Bhagavan's great wisdom, then one displays Buddha deeds in the form of dharanis. Then the Great Awakened World-honored One dwells conformingly in front of all sentient beings, performing Buddha deeds and expounding the state of the three samayas. " The Buddha said, "Lord of Mysteries, observe the sphere of my circle of speech, which is a gateway to purity that is vast and extends throughout innumerable world-systems, a gateway that in accordance with their own nature expresses the Dharma realm for various kinds of beings, and causes all sentient beings to all obtain joy. Again, it is like the present World-honored One Sakyamuni, who pervades inexhaustible realms of empty space and diligently performs Buddha deeds in [many] lands. <—This passage shows that the manner in which the three bodies of the Honored One Vairocana pervade world-systems and perform Buddha deeds is just like the three bodies of Sakyafmuni]. [But] it should be realized that the three bodies of akyafmuni] and the three bodies of Vairocana are not the same.>

In the Sutra of the Dhdrani for Protecting State [Rulers] it says (T. 19: 565c):36

The Buddha addressed the Lord of Mysteries, saying, "Good sir, the World-honored One Vairocana has already widely proclaimed this dhdrani in the Akanistha Heaven for the heavenly lord Sakra and the heavenly hosts. I shall now briefly expound this dhdrani gateway in this Adamantine Site under the bodhi tree for kings and for you all. " In [Fascicle] Nine of the [Great] Perfection of Wisdom Treatise it says (T. 25: 121c-122a):

The Buddha has two kinds of bodies: one is the Dharma-nature 58

The Differences

body, and the second is the body born of parents. This Dharma-nature body fills empty space in the ten directions, is immeasurable and infinite, handsome in physical form, and adorned with the [thirty-two] major characteristics and [eighty] minor marks [of a Buddha], has innumerable light rays and innumerable voices, and the multitudes who listen to the Dharma also fill empty space <—this shows that the multitudes are also the Dharma-nature body and not visible to people in [the cycle of] birth-and-death>. It forever manifests various bodies, various designations, various birthplaces, and various expedient means to save sentient beings, forever saving all without stopping even for a moment. Such is the Buddha of the Dharma-nature body. He who saves sentient beings in the ten directions and receives retribution for sins [on the other hand] is the Buddha with a body born [of parents].37 The Buddha with a body born [of parents] progressively expounds the Dharma in the way that people [in this world teach] the Dharma.

It also says [in the Great Perfection of Wisdom Treatise] (T. 25: 126b):

The Dharma-body Buddha is forever emitting rays of light and forever expounding the Dharma, but on account of their sins [people] neither see nor hear this. They are, for example, like the blind who, when the sun rises, do not see it and the deaf who, when thunder reverberates across the earth, do not hear it. In this manner the Dharma body is forever emitting rays of light and forever expounding the Dharma, but sentient beings are thickly layered with the soil of sins of innumerable eons and neither see nor hear this. Just as one will see one's face when it is reflected in a bright mirror or clear water, but will see nothing if [the mirror is] soiled or [the water] murky, in the same way sentient beings will see the Buddha when their minds are pure, but will not see the Buddha if their minds are impure.

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It also says [in the Great Perfection of Wisdom Treatise] (T. 25: 127c):

As is explained in the Sutra of the Adamantine [Guardian of\ Secrets (cf. T. 11: 53b), the Buddha has three mysteries— the mystery of the body, the mystery of speech, and the mystery of the mind—and no gods or men can either understand or know them.

<The above passages from sutras and treatises are all evidence of the differences between the exoteric and esoteric [teachings] and of the expounding of the Dharma by the Dharma body. The wise who peruse them should consider them carefully and dispel their confusion.

38ib IV The Differences between the Exoteric

and the Esoteric

Question: If it is as you say, the expounding of the sphere of the Dharma body's innerly realized wisdom is termed "esoteric" and the rest is called "exoteric." [In that case] why do sutras expounded by Sakyamuni have the designation "secret treasury"? And in which treasury should the dharani gateway expounded by him be included? Answer: The meanings of "exoteric" and "esoteric" are multilayered and innumerable. If one views the profound from the shallow, then the profound is secret and the superficial is exoteric. Therefore, the canonical works of non-Buddhists also contain the term "secret treasury. " Within what has been taught by the Tathagata there are many layers of exoteric and esoteric. If one views the teachings of non-Buddhists from the vantage point of the small teachings (i.e., Hinayana), then [the latter] may be called profound and esoteric; if the Small [Vehicle] is compared with the Great [Vehicle], there will also be [a contrast between] exoteric and esoteric; the One Vehicle takes the name "secret" in contrast to the three [vehicles]; dharanis gain the designation "esoteric" to distinguish them from wordy discourses; and since the expositions by 60

The Differences

the Dharma body are profound and recondite while the teachings of the response and transformation [bodies]38 are shallow and cursory, [the former] are termed "secret. "

Now, "secret" has two meanings, one being the secret of sentient beings and the second being the secret of the Tathagata. Because sentient beings have concealed their own proper nature of true enlightenment on account of ignorance and deluded thoughts, this is called the sentient beings' own secret. The expounding of the Dharma by the response and transformation [bodies] is [like] the dispensing of medicine in accordance with religious capacities, for their words are not in vain. Therefore, the other-enjoyment body hides his inner realization and does not speak of his sphere [of being], [Bodhisattvas of] equal enlightenment can neither hear nor see it, and [bodhisattvas of] the ten stages are absolutely removed from it. This is termed the Tathagata's secret. Thus [the meanings of] the term "secret" are multilayered and innumerable. What is called "secret" here is the Dharma body's own ultimate and uttermost sphere [of being], and it is to this that the esoteric treasury corresponds. In addition, although the dharani gateways expounded by the response and transformation [bodies] are similarly termed "secret treasury," when compared with that expounded by the Dharma body, they are expedient and not real. Among what is secret there are the expedient and the real, and they should be categorized according to the circumstances.

On the Differences between the Exoteric and

Esoteric Teachings, Fascicle Two

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