This is a continuation of the introduction to Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist Tradition.

From Kyoko Motomochi Nakamura preface:

Kyōkai reveals his view of man in a section of his autobiographical material (111.38). Although man is driven by desire, he also possesses potential for enlightenment. Kyōkai believed that some people totally lacked such potential, for in interpreting his first dream, he says: “ ‘He does not have any ways to support them’ means that those who lack potential are not oriented for enlightenment” (111.38). In the note to a story on a wicked robber who broke a Buddhist statue, he quotes from the Nehan-gyō [Nirvāṇa Sūtra], and adds his comment:

“Those of the ichisendai shall perish forever. If you kill even an ant, you will be accused of the sin of killing; you will not, however, be accused of the sin of killing if you kill the ichisendai.” (Because the ichisendai slanders the Three Treasures, fails to preach to all beings, and lacks a sense of gratitude, killing him is not a sin.) [11.22].

Ichisendai is a transliteration of a Sanskrit term icchantika, which is translated as “culmination of desires” “one lacking faith,” “one lacking good stock.” It designates a man who is driven continuously by his desires and lacks any potential for enlightenment, who commits sins and never repents.

Ichisendai was a controversial concept in both Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, for it conflicts with the idea of universal Buddha-nature expounded in the same Nehan-gyō. Since the goal of Buddhists is enlightenment, the doctrine of Buddha-nature or Tathāgatagarbha is fundamental. The Hoke-kyō and Nehan-gyō, which influenced Kyōkai more than any other scriptures, are known for the doctrine that Buddha-nature exists in all sentient beings, while both denounce those who slander Mahayana teachings. However, Kyōkai never stressed the central message of the Nehan-gyō, that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature; instead, he repeatedly warned against those who committed offenses against the Three Treasures, such as persecutors of monks, usurpers of temple properties, and slanderers of dharma. Kyōkai explicitly says that a man who commits such acts is inferior to an ant. He also says:

Without compassion man is just like a crow. The Nehan-gyō says: “Though there is a distinction in respectability between man and animal, they share the fact that they cherish life and take death seriously.” [11.101

Man shares a common destiny of mortality with other living beings, and knowledge of mortality makes him cherish both his own life and that of others. However, he differs from them in that he is able to attain enlightenment. Buddhists often say that it is difficult to obtain birth as a human being and hear dharma. This statement can be understood only in the context of the Buddhist cosmology which presupposes an infinite expanse of time and various modes of existence. If a man fails to make good use of this rare opportunity with gratitude, he is no better than an animal. (Page 61-62)

Doctrine of universal salvation

In the Japanese religious tradition, no clear-cut distinction can be made between sacred and secular. What is closest to “sacred” is (sei, shō, or hijiri), but its antonym is “ordinary,” as understood by Kyōkai. “Sacred” means “supreme, preeminent, extraordinary.” No discontinuity exists. This is the basis for the doctrine of universal salvation. Each person has the potential to be a bodhisattva, although there are differences in the degrees of achievement, which is by no means predestined. The ideal image of man is not a scholarly and virtuous monk, but one who lives an ordinary life yet reveals an extraordinary quality through such a life. In other words, he is in society and at the same time rises above society. (Page 79)

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This is a continuation of the introduction to Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist Tradition.

From Kyoko Motomochi Nakamura preface:

Buddhist cosmology and Japan

Buddhism served to internalize ancient Japanese rituals such as purification rites and ancestor rites. Traditional rituals and symbols persisted because of their significance for human life, although they were given new meanings. Dharma was interpreted by Kyōkai as the universal law in the sense of tao. He included the way of kami, yin-yang tao, and all other ways in dharma itself, for dharma is universal and comprehensive, and there is common ground for them in the idea of cosmic interrelation of all existences. The cosmos can be renewed and restructured according to traditional patterns and rhythms of life, which Buddhism incorporated in its cosmology. (Page 49)

King Yama: The Administrator of Karmic Law

Judgment after death is postulated in many religious traditions. For the Hindu-Buddhist tradition it has the following significance: Yama could never exist apart from karmic retribution, and the sentence given by him is not of his own making. He is not a judge in the common legal sense but simply an administrator of the law of causation. (Page 56)

Hell and Buddhahood in this world

In the Nihon ryōiki … there is an interpretation of the other world that transcends time and space. One such instance is the story about a wicked man who used to eat birds’ eggs. One day a messenger from Yama came to lead him into hell. Villagers saw the man running around in the field as if he were crazy until eventually he died from burns. Kyōkai’s note says: “Now we are sure of the existence of hell in this world. We should believe in the law of karmic retribution” (11.10). The passage gives a popular understanding of hell as a mode of existence. Although Kyōkai quotes from the Zen’aku inga-kyō [Sutra on the Effects of Good and Evil] “The one who roasts and boils chickens in this life will fall into the Hell of the River of Ashes after death,” he insists on the idea of “hell here and now.” Hell exists in this world in this life and not in the other world after death. This interpretation is parallel to the popular understanding that Buddhahood was attainable in the life of this world. Accordingly, the world view of the Nihon ryōiki is said to be “this-world centered,” and stands in sharp contrast to that of a later period when men longed for rebirth in the pure land because of their conviction that they were living in the degenerate age of dharma. (Page 60)

The interdependent nature of existence

In the Buddhist world view not only human beings but all living beings are destined to die and to suffer as a result of their desires. Each being forms a psychic entity intricately connected with all other beings. As shown by Kyōkai, the doctrines of karma and samsara are understood in the following way: “Beasts in the present life might have been our parents in a past life” (1.2 1). Therefore, every act, whether good or bad, will leave its effect on the community of all beings as well as on the actor. For this reason many Buddhist treatises have the same ending as the three prefaces in the Nihon ryōiki.

“The deep significance of the three karmas as taught by Buddha, I have thus completed elucidating in accord with the Dharma and logic:

By dint of this merit I pray to deliver all sentient beings
And to make them soon attain perfect enlightenment.”

This passage expresses the author’s sincere wish to offer his merit for the deliverance of his fellow beings. “Merit” (Skt. puṇya) is the motive force toward enlightenment, but the realization of interdependent relationships among all existences is a positive restraint against the accumulation of merit for oneself alone. (Page 60-61)

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