English
Although /S'akyaraimi's manners of teaching are numbered by thousands of myriads^ such as the Hina- yanaand the Maha-yana, temporary and true, apparent and hidden, subordinate and original, etc., yet his object is nothing but to lead living beings to the highest state of Kirva^za by the way of gradual teach- ing. Therefore; in the last period of his life, /S'akya- muni preached the Sad.dharma-puwc?arika-sutra (Ho~ ke-kyoy or 'Sutra of the Lotus of the Good Law.' In this Sutra, he compared all the Sutras preached in the three periods past, present and future; and called the Saddharma-pu?zc?arika the best of all. This judgment was made by him according to the rules of preaching of all Buddhas past, present and future; so that even MangnsYi and Kasyapa dared not say a word againist it. As /Sakyamuni's own preaching was in this order, all the Buddhist teachers in the later periods followed that order, through the Three Periods of the Law, viz., the Period of the Eight Law (Sho-bo), of the Image Law (Zo bo), and of the Latter Day Law (Mappo). During the two thousand years of the first ' No. 134. NICHT-REN-SHU. I33 two periods, therefore, all the great teachers promul- gated the Law, either the Hina or the Maha-yaua the temporary or the true, according to A^'akyamnni's command. Now, the Period of the Latter Day of the Law came, when the original or primitive doctrine of the Saddliarma-pim(iarika was to be expoimded. In 1252 A. D., when all the other sects had already been established, Nichi-ren, founder of the sect, began to promulgate the doctrine of the Saddharma-pwicZarika only. He did so, following the rules of /S'akyamuni's teaching, and explaining the doctrine taught by /S'akyamuni himself. This excellent doctrine, giving benefits to the people of the present period, had never been known, during two thousand two hundred and twenty years sinee /S'akyamuni entered Nirva?ia. For Nichi-reu was most probably an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Visish^aZ'aritra (Jo-gyO; lit. ^eminent conduct'), who had been a 'primitive convert' (Hon- ke)- of ySakyamuni, and received special instruction from the latter, in the chapter on the Transcendent Power of the Tathagata,^ amidst the so called ' Sky - For this Bodhisattva, see the 15th and 2fst chapters of the Ilo-ke-kyo, i. e. Kumarac/iva's Chi- nese tranlation, and also the l4th and 20th chapters of Kern's English version of the Saddharma-pu??(ia- rika, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXI. ^ I. e. the 21st chapter of Kumara^/iva's version, and the 20th of Kern's. 134 NICHT-REN-SHU. Assembly' at Mount Gr/dhraku/a. This Bo(llii?attva was bora in Japan under the name of Nichi-ren, at the proper time for promulgating the doctrine, which had been transmitted to him from /S'akyarauni. Thus Nichi-ren first established this sect in Japan, expecting to make his doctrine known in the world at large, during the ten thousand years of the Period of the Latter Day of the Law. The sect is, therefore, either called Hokke-shfi or ' Saddharma-pu?icZarika-sect,' after the title of the principal /Sutra, or Nichi-ren- shu, after the name of the founder. Though this sect adopts the Saddhar- mapu?ic?arika as the principal yS'utra, like the Ten-dai sect, yet the substance of the doctrine is very different from the latter; so that it is also called Nichi-ren- hokke-shu, or Nichi-ren's Saddharma-puric?arika sect. The following are the principal Sutras and com- mentaries of this sect: 1. Myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo ( Saddharma-pimcZarika- sutra),'' eight volumes, translated by Kumara(/iva, under the Shin dynasty of the Yo family, 384- 417 A. D. 2. Mu-ryo-gi-gyo ( Amitartha-sutra),'^ translated by Dharma(7atayasas, under the Northern Sei dynasty, 479-502 A. D. 3. Kwan-fu-gen-kgo ( Samantabhadra-dhyana- sutra),^ translated by Dbarmamitra, under the So ' No. 134. ' No, 133. ~"iVo. 394. NICHI-KEN-SHU. . 135 dynasty, 420-479 A. D. The second and third Sutras are called the Intro- duction to and Conclusion of the first siitra. 4. Chu-ho-ke-kyo, or 'Commentary on the Sad- dharma-pwic^arika-sutra,' ten volumes, compiled by Nichi-ren. 5. Ku-ketsu, or 'Oral Decisions,' two volumes, containing the leaching of Nichi-ren, as recorded by his chief disciple Nichi-ko. (b) The Line of Transimission of the Law. In Nichi-ren's Sadharma-pu?2c?arika-sect, there are two lines of transmission of the Law, viz, internal and external. The ex.ternal transmission is the line of the teachers in the three countries of India, China and Japan, who expounded the doctrine of the Sad- dharma-pundarika, namely: — /Sakyamuni Buddha. • i India Bhaishagryarar/a (Yaku-o) Bodhisattva.^ Ten-dai Dai-shi (the ^ great teacher'). China. Den-gyo Dai-shi. Nichi-ren Dai-bo-satsu (Bodhisattva Japan. Mahasattva). - The internal transmisson is the line of those wlio understood the truth of the * original or primitive doctrine ' (Hon-mon), contained within the Stupa of Prabhutaratna (Ta-lio-to), according to the chapters on the Preacher (liosshi-hon, i. e. the lOth chapter) and tiie Transcendent Power of the Tathagata (Jin- 136 NICHI-REN-SHU. dzu-hon, i. e. Jin-riki hon, tlie 20tli chapter of the Sanskrit text and the 21st of the Chinese version), namely : — AS'akyamani Buddha. Visish^aHritra Bodhisattva (Jo-gyo Bosatsii). Nichi-ren Dai-bo-satsii. Though the outer form of tlie doctrine of this sect depends on that of the Ten-dai sect, the principle is absohitely in harmony with the principal Sutra; so that the internal transmission is much more correct than the external one. II. The Doctrine of the sect. (a) An outline of theSaddharma-pwzc?arika-sutra. The Saddharma-pu?ic?arika-sutra contains the doct- rine which is characterized by the term Gon-jitsu- hon-jaku-kai-C; i. e. 'open comprehension of tempora- ry and true (doctrines); and that of original and su- bordinate (states of Buddha).' The ' temporary '(Gon) doctrine is that of all the Sutras spoken by Buddha during the first forty years of his career, before he spoke the Saddharma-pu?ic?arika-sutra, which alone contains the ^true' (Jitsu) doctrine. The 'original' (Hon) or primitive state of Buddha means the 'ori- ginal enlightenment' (Hon-gaku) of the very remote time when Buddha was in his primitive stage (Hon- ji). The 'subordinate' (Shaku, lit. footprint) or se- condary state of Buddha is the 'first enlightenment' (Shi-kaku) of Buddha's life-time in this world (Sui- NlCHl-EEN-SHtl. 137 shakn). The ' open comprehension ' (Kai-e) means to show the final trnth, as the object of the appearance of ^S'akj^amuni in this world. In the first place we shall explain the 'open com- prehension of the temporary and true doctrines '{Gon- jitsu-kai-e). When /S'akyamun i appeared i n this world, there were three classes of beings concerning the power of their unederstanding. The lowest ckss was called ^S'ravakas (Sho-mon) or Miearers;' the middle, Praty- ekabnddhas (En-gaku) or ^singly enlightened/ and the highest,Bodhisattvas (Bo-satsu) or ' beings of wis- dom.' Buddha taught the /S'ravakas to destroy pas- sions, separate from transmigration, and attain to the state of Arliat (A-ra-kan). ' He instructed those who were capable of becoming Pratj^ekabuddhas, to attain to that state. The Bodhisattvas were taught to make the great vow and prayer to save all beings and bocome Buddhas like /Sakyamuni himself, when their meritorious actions had been completed. These three classes were called Tri-yana (San-jo) or ' three vehicle?,' the first two being the Hina-yana (Sho-jo) or 'small vehicle/ and the last, the-Maha-yana (Dai- jo) or 'great vehicle.' One who attained either to the state of Arhat or Pratyel^abuddha, according to the Hina-yana, did not become Buddha of the Mnhayana; and vice versa. One person could not comprehend two ways at once. They were, therefore, taught to practise any of the three vehicles at their 138 NICHI-REN-SHU. pleaaure. So, there were three distinct classes of people, who became the sages of as many vehicles. This is called the doctrine of temporary expedient. Thus, during the first forty years. Buddha spoke several SutraS; observing the distinctions of three vehicles. But in the Saddharma-pu?2C?arika, he de- clared that all his speecLes of the first forty years were expedients; and that there was only one vehicle (Eka-yaua) and not three. Farther he said: 'The /S'ravakas and Pratyekabuddhas are also the Maha- yana and able to become Buddhas. Even the IHVian- tis (Is-sen-dai) or 'unfaithful men ' and women are able to attain to Buddhahood.