English
The doctrines preachel by AS'akyamuni are altoge- ther eighty-four- thou sand in number; that is to Siiy, he taught one kind of people one doctrine such as the Holy Path, and another, as that of the Pure Land. The doctrine of the Pure Land was not only shown by Gen-ku, but also by Zen-do in his great work. A<>-ain this was not only pointed out by Zen-, do, but it was derived from the Sutra prc:iched by the o-nMit teacher 5akyarauni. It is siid that when Zeu-do was writing his commentary, he prayed tor a 112 JO-DO-SHU. wonderful exhibition of supernatural power. Then there appeared to him in a dream every night a dignified priest, who gave him instruction on the division of the text in his first volume. Therefore the author (Zen-do) treats his own work, as if it were tiie work of Buddha; and says that no one is allowed either to add or take away even a word or sentence of the book. This is the reason why Cien-kti quotes the three Sutras and Zen-do's commentary as the texts in his own w^ork, the Sen-jaku-shu. If one wants to know the doctrine of the Pure Land, he must believe in the words of Buddha. /S'akyarauni was the sage who perceived the three times, past, present and future, which are just as yesterday, to-day and to-morrow. Among the Indian heretics, there were some who spoke of the fucture, but their account of it was not accurate; and there was none who spoke of the past. Now the modern people speak of the present life only, and do not know the past and future. Buddha alone knows the three without any mistakes. The Pure Land is the western world where Buddha Ainitabhi lives. It is perfectly pure and free from faults. Therefore it is called the Pure Land. Those who wish to go there, will certainly be born there; but otherwise they will not. This world Saha (Sha- ba), on the contrary, is the effect of the actions of all beings, so that even those who do not wish to be born JO-DO-SHU. 113 here, are also obliged to come. This world is called the path of pain, because it is full of all sorts of paios, such as birth, old age, disease, death, etc. This is therefore a world not to be attached to, but to be disgusted with and separated from. One who is disgusted wnth this world Saha and who is filled with desire for tliat world Sukhavati will after death be forn there. Not to doubt about these words of Buddha even in the slightest degree is called the deep failh; but if one entertains any doubts, he will not be born there. For this reason, Ryu-ju said: ' In the great sea of the Law of Buddha, faith is the only means 'to enter.' This is an outline of the doc- trine of this sect. 114 CHAPTER X. The Zen-shu or Contemplative sect. I. A doctrine of the sect. The word Zen is a shortened form of the terra Zen-na, which is a transliteration of the Sanskrit word Dhyana, or contemplation. The general character of the doctrine of this sect is briefly explained by the eight Chinese words, Kyo-ge-betsu-den-fu-ryii-mon-ji, or Special trans- mission indejiendent of a common teaching and not established on any letter or word. Besides all the doctrines of the Mahayana and Hinayana, whether hidden or apparent^ there is, therefore, one distinct line of transmission of a secret doctrine, which is not subject to any utterance at all. According to this doctrine, one is directly to see the so-called key to the thought of Buddha or the nature of Buddhn, by bis own thought, being free from the multitude of different doctrines, the number of which is said to reach eighty-four thousand. In short, it is the truth made apparent by one's own thought. II. A history of the sect. ( a ) The transmission of the doctrine. When the Bhagavat (Se-son, or ^Blessed') /Sakya- muni was at the assembly on Mount Gridhraku^a (Ryo-zen) or ^ vulture's peak,' there came the heavenly king Mahabrahman (Dai-bon), who offered Buddha ZEN-SHtJ. 115 a flower of a golden colour, and asked him to preach the Law. The Blessed one only took the flower and held it in his hand, but said no word. No one in the whole assembly could understand what he meant. The venerable Mahaka^s'yapa alone smiled. Then the Blessed one said to him: ^I have the wonderful thought of Nirva^ia (Ne-han), the eye of the right law, which I shall now give to you.' (See tho Dai-bon-tenno-mon-butsu-ketsu-gi-kyo, or 'Siitr a on the Great Bramnan king's questioning Buddha to dispel a doubt.') This is called the doctrine of thought transmitted by thought. Kasyapa gave it to Ananda, who gave it in turn to /S'aTiavasa, and so on till Bodhidharma, the twenty- eighth patriarch. The following is a list of the names of these patriarchs: — 1. Mahakasyapa (Ma-ka-ka-sho). 2. Ananda (A-nfln-da). 3. /S'a?^avasa (Sho-na-wa-shu) 4. Upagupta (U-ba-kiku-ta) 5. DhWtaka (Dai-ta-ka). 6. WikhJmka (Mi-sha-ka). 7. Vasumitra (Ba-shu-mtisu). 8. Buddhanandi (Butsn-da-nan-dai). 9. Buddharaitra (Fu-da-mi-ta). 10. Parsva (Ha-ri-shu-ba). 11. Pmiyaya.sas (Fu-na-3^a-sha). 12. Asvaghosha (A-na-bo-tei). 116 ;^EN-RHU. 13. Kapimala (Ka-Li-rao-ra). 14. Nagar(/iina (Na-gya-a-ra-ju-na). 15. Ka?zadeva (Ka-na-dai-ba). 16. Raliulata (Ra-go-ra-ta). 17. Samghanandi (So-gya-nan-dai). 18. Samgliayasas (Ka-ya-slia-ta). 19. Kumarata (KTi-mo-ra-ta). 20. (rayata (Sha-ya-ta). 21. Vasubandhu (Ba-slui-han-dzu), 22. Manura (Ma-do-ra). 23. Haklenayasas (Kaku-roku-na). 24. Sirnlia (Shi-shi). 25. Vasasuta (Ba-slia-shi ta). 26. Pwzyamitra (Fu-nyo-mit-ta). 27. Pra^?7atara (Han nya-ta-ra). 28. Bodhidharma (Bo-dai-daru-ma). Bodhidliarma was the third son of a king of the Kashis, in South India. Thinking that the time of teaching his doctrine of contemplation in the East had come, he arrived in China, in the first year of the Fu-tsu period under the Eyo dynasty, 520 A. D. Bodhidliarma then taught the Em2:)eror Bu the secret key of Buddha's thought, who was, however, not yet able to understand it. So leaving there, he crossed the river Yo-shi, and entered the dominion of the Northern Gi. In the Sh5-rin-ji (the name of a monastery) on Mount Sti he sat down cross-legged in meditation, with his face to a wall, for nine ZEN-SHU. 117 years. During that period, people did not know liim, and called him simply the Wall-gazing Brah- mawa. Afterwards he had a number of disciples, but they had different views, that are called the trans- mission of either skin, flesh, or bone of the teacher. Only one of them, E-ka hy name, got the whole body of his teaching. The fifth patriarch from Bodhidharraa wasKo-nin. Amonghis disciples, there were two worthy men, E-no and Jin-shu. The latter taught the doctrine to his followers in the northern part of China, and established the Northern sect. E-no did so in the southern part, founding the Southern sect. The Southern sect was soon divided into five schools known as Rin-zai, Gi-go, S5-to, Un-mon and Ho- gen. In the first school Rin-zai, there were two subdivisions, namely, Yo-gi and 0-ryu. All these are collectively called the five houses and seven schools of the Southern sect. There was no division of the Northern sect. As to the propagation of this doctrine in Japan, T3o-sen, a disciple of one of Jin-shu's pupils, came over from China to this country, in 729 A. D. He lived in the Dai-an-ji, and handed down the doctrine of the Northern Contemplation to Gyo-hyo, who transmitted it to Sai-cho, the eytablisher of the Ten- da i sect in Japan. 118 ZEN-SHU. The Southern branch of the Contemplative sect was first transferred to Japan by Ei-sai; of the Ken- nin-ji. He went to China in 1168 A. D., and be- came the disciple of Kyo-an, of the Man-nen-ji. By him the Rin-zai sect was first established in the Empire. After that, the successors of the Rin-zai school became numerous. Sho-ichi of the To-fuku- ji and But-ko of the En-gaku-ji were both the disci- ples of Yo-gi's ninth generation. Sho-ichi had a disciple named Dai myo, who had the Nan-zen-ji built. Mu-s6 of the Ten-ryti-ji was taught by a pupil of But-ko. Dai-kaku of the Ken-cho-ji was a disciple in the tenth generation of Yo-gi, and Dai-to of the Dai-toku-ji, the eleventh. The latter had an active disciple named Kwan-zan, who founded the Myo-shin-ji. Thus the *Ken-niii-ji, To-fuku-ji, En-gaku-ji, Nan-zen-ji, Ten-ryu-ji, Ken-(;ho-ji, Dai-toku-ji, Myo-shin-ji, together with the So-koku-ji, are called the nine principal monasteries of the Rin-zai sect. The So to sect was established here by Do gen of the Ei-hei-ji, who went to China in 1223 A. D.