English
There is One, however, who rules over your heart and mine, as well as over all the world, even the Lord of lords How, then, can you say that your heart and the Supreme are the same ? He then said that Buddha was Supreme. He was asked what Buddha? Amida Buddha? That was a fabulous being. Shakyamuni Buddha ? That was a mere mortal, who was born and died like other men, and who never displayed anythiug of a Divine power." SCRIPTURES FROM THE CHINESE. 249 The conversation then turned upon the real object of worship among the Buddhists^ whether it was Buddha himself, or the image which represented him. They asserted that Buddhists were divided into three classes : the superior class worshipped Buddha without the intervention of any image; the middle class worshipped him through the medium of images ; the inferior class never worshipped at all. For themselves^ they said they could worship without any image, and they thought it best to do so. We asked them what was the need of images ? They said they were necessary for the vulgar, who could not be induced to attend to Rehgion without such aids and that such persons would never rise/and must therefore be left as they were."^ From this quotation we gain some insight into the belief of these Tian-tai priests. We also see the defects of our own method of argument with them. The priest who spoke of " production" and " annihilation," and that Nirvana con- sists in the absence of these, did, in fact, only repeat the well known argument found in the Maha-pari-nirvana Sutra.- A work of art — a vase, for example — is certainly produced, and may be certainly annihilated, by the will of man. The clay is not the vase, but the vase is produced from the clay. The fragments of the shattered pitcher are not a pitcher, but they -were so once. The pitcher, qua pitcher, is annihi- lated. The vase, qua vase, is produced. And it is precisely this kind of production and of annihilation that the Buddhists regard as constituting a condition of constant change, and therefore of Sorrow. The Tian-tai priest spoke of Nirvana as consisting in the absence of such conditions, but he did not say that it consisted in the absence of all existence. And, in fact, from his remark made afterwards that his own Heart (atman) was supreme, and the same as the Supreme Heart (paramatman) , it is plain that he did not believe that the annihilation of which he spoke was the destruction of existence, but merely the destruction of that which is chang- 1 " Trip to Ning-po and T'heen-t'hae." (Shanghai Almanac, 1857.) ^ Vide p. 17;3 of the present work. 250 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST ing and perisliable. There are constant allusions to this subject in the Sutra alluded to above/ and it seems plain that this is the true belief of the best informed Buddhists. The work of which I proceed to give a brief extract^ viz., the " Siau-chi-kwan/^ was written by Chi-kai in the Siu- shan Temple in the Tian-tai hills, and was reprinted from the Canon in the second year of Keaking (a.d. 1798). The preface states that there were originally four works Avritten by Chi-kai on the subject of " Chi-kwan" (knowledge and meditation), of which the present work was the last, and therefore was the completion of his labours. With reference to the phrase Chi-kwan, the preface adds that it means pre- cisely the same as ten-hwui (absolute wisdom), or as tsih-chau (passive-splendour, a common phrase for the supreme con- dition of Nirvana, a condition, viz., which admits of efful- gency united with passivity), or as ming-tsing (brightness and rest) /■ [From which we gather that " Chi-kwan" ' Compare, e. g., the assertion in the fourth Kiouen and eighth page. "Destroy the sources of sorrow, and this is Nirvana; as fire is destroyed and has no further being, so destroy sorrow, and there will be rest." Compare, also, with this the words of Prof. j\Iax Miiller (Dhammapada, XLi). " Nirvana may mean the extinction of many things — of selfish- ness, desire, and sin, without going so far as the extinction of subjec- tive consciousness." There are some gathas on the subject on the next page of the Maha-pari-Nirviina Sutra. '•Just as the heated bar of iron, Hammer'd, emits the star-like sparks Which, scattered everywhere, are lost, And have no further place of being. But are got rid of and desti^oyed for aye : So also is Nirvana. Having destroyed all lustful desire, And all unholy attachments. We reach a condition of llest, Beyond the limit of any human knowledge." * These various phrases occur constantly in the later scholastic works on Buddhism. The aim of all is to denote the union, in one substauce or Being, of the two conditions of active exertion and of imperturbable Rest ; as the jMoon, which constantly emits rays or reflects light, and yet is ever substantially at Rest. The Syrian Christians, who esta- SCRIPTURES FROM THE CHINESE. 251 denotes that condition of being, which admits of a union of knowledge and meditative repose.] Chi-kai begins his work with the following well known Gatha — " Scrupulously avoiding all wicked actions, Reverently performing all virtuous ones, Purifying this intention from all selfish desire, Is the doctrine of all the Buddhas." (He then proceeds) — "Although a man may earnestly desire to enter the path to Nirvana and studiousl}^ pursue. the directions of the various discourses (Shasters) on the sub- ject, he may nevertheless miss altogether attaining his desired aim. Now the two laws contained in the idea of chi-kwan are simply these : that which is spoken of as chi (fixity) is the first mode (or, gate to Nirvana), and consists in overcoming all the entanglements of mind; that which is called kwan (meditation) is the Eest which follows or ac- companies the separation of mind from all external influences. Once "fixed,^^ a man will tenderly foster the good principles of knowledge (heart-knowledge). Possessed of true medi- tation, a man has gained the mysterious art of liberating his spiritual nature (his soul) . The first is the excellent cause of absolute mental-repose,^ whilst the second is the fruitful result of Supreme Wisdom. A man perfect in wisdom and in meditation, he is thoroughly provided by his own advan- tage to advantage the world. Hence, the Lotus of tJie Law says : " Buddha, self-estabhshed as the great vehicle, was blished themselves in China, and erected a monument commemorating the progress of Christianity in that country (a.d. 718), use similar phrases in their attempt to define the Nature of God, e.g., in the first words of the monument "the Everlasting and yet the truly passive" (shang jen chan tsih), where " chan tsih" is a purely Buddhist phrase denoting Nirvana. ' It is impossible to translate literally Buddhist phrases which relate to the various conditions of mental being ; the words translated " abso- lute mental repose" refer to the condition of Samadlii (teng), resulting from " meditation" (dhyana ; Ch. shan.) 252 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST thus himself an attainable Law (for others), himself adorned with the might of meditation and wisdom, by these was en- abled to save mankind." So these two powers are like the two wheels of a chariot, or the two wings of a bird ; a man who practises himself in both, forthwith destroys the power of error ; hence the Sutra says : " if a man with a one-sided aim acquire merit by meditation, and do not learn wisdom, he is called *^ foolish^; and if he leai^n wisdom without practising meditation, he is called 'deluded/" And another Sutra says: '^'A Sravaka, because he has great power of self-composure, does not necessarily arrive at (see) the Nature of Buddha ;^ nor does Shi-chu Bodhisatwa, although by the power of Wisdom he may arrive at (or see) the Nature of Buddha, necessarily understand the Nature of all the Buddha Tathagatas." But whoever has completely mastered both the practice of medi- tation and the acquirement of wisdom, that man has accom- plished his great aim, and shall certainly arrive at Nirvana. [And much more to the same effect.] Now, for the purpose of assisting those who wish to pi-ac- tise these two principles (chi kwan), we have put together the following brief sections : — I. Accomplishment of external means. These are five.