Master [Hui-ssu] of Mt. Nan-yüeh105 suggests three types [of dharmas], i.e., sentient beings, the Buddha, and mind.106
As [the Lotus Sūtra says, the Buddha manifests himself in the world] in order to lead sentient beings to expose, point out, realize, and enter [an understanding of] the Buddha’s knowledge and insight.107 If sentient beings [inherently] lack the Buddha’s knowledge and insight, how can it be exposed through discussion? It should be known that the Buddha’s knowledge and insight dwells [inherently] within sentient beings.
The [Lotus] Sūtra also [refers to the seeing] merely with “eyes engendered by one’s parents.” This refers to physical eyes. That which can see through the “inner and outer mounts Meru…” is called the “Divine Eye.”108 That which has penetrating insight which sees through all visible forms without being defiled by attachment is called the “Eye of Wisdom.” That which perceives visible forms without error is the “Dharma Eye.” In this way, even though one has not yet attained the state of no outflow [of passions], nevertheless one’s sight organ is [inherently] pure. For one eyesight to include all of these eyesights is called the Buddha Eye. This text in the Lotus Sūtra clarifies that the dharma of sentient beings is subtle [because they inherently have the Buddha’s knowledge and insight].
Chih-i’s master, considered by the T’ien-t’ai tradition to be the second patriarch in the T’ien-t’ai lineage. For details see chapter 8 and also Paul Magnin 1979. return
106
A classification of all reality into the three aspects of sentient beings (representing phenomena in general), the Buddha (representing the state of perfection), and mind. The basis for Chih-i’s analysis here must be his experience of practicing the an-lo-hsing based on the fourteenth chapter on “The Practice of Peace” of the Lotus Sūtra under Hui-ssu. See Hurvitz, Chih-i, 108-109. Hui-ssu’s work on The Meaning of the Practice of Peace in the Lotus Sūtra (Fa hua ching an lo hsing) is extant. In this work, however, Hui-ssu emphasizes the dharma of sentient beings and their practice of Lotus Sūtra contemplation rather than the three dharmas of sentient beings, Buddha, and mind. Nevertheless there is a correspondence between this work and Chih-i’s comments in so far as they often quote the same passages from texts such as the Lotus Sūtra and the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. This classification of reality is probably based on the verse in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra:
The mind, like an artist,
Paints the various five aggregates.
In the entire world
There is no dharma which it does not produce.
The Buddha also is like the mind,
And like the Buddha, so are sentient beings.
The mind, the Buddha, and sentient beings:
These three are not distinct. return
107
This is a key phrase based on the chapter on “Expedient Means” in the Lotus Sūtra, which to Chih-i sums up the purpose of the eternal Buddha in manifesting himself in this world of sentient beings. Hurvitz, Lotus Sūtra, 30, translates the section as follows: “The Buddhas, The World-Honored Ones, for one great cause alone appear in the world. Śāriputra, what do I mean by ‘The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, for one great cause alone appear in the world’? The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the world because they wish to cause the beings to hear of the Buddha’s knowledge and in sight and thus enable them to gain purity. They appear in the world because they wish to demonstrate the Buddha’s knowledge and insight to the beings. They appear in the world because they wish to cause the beings to understand. They appear in the world because they wish to cause the beings to enter the path of the Buddha’s knowledge and in sight.” return
108
The reference is to the chapter on “The Merits of the Dharma-Preacher” in the Lotus Sūtra, which lists the benefits and virtues attained by one who practices the Lotus Sūtra. Chih-i’s interpretation of this passage is that of the fundamental unity of all the five eyesights, from physical eyes to Buddha-eye, as inherently possessing the ability of the Buddha’s eyesight, or the Buddha’s knowledge and insight. The Lotus Sūtra itself, however, does not explicitly state this. Rather, as Hurvitz’s translation shows, it is distinguishing between the abilities of the various kinds of eyesight while emphasizing the powers of physical eyesight which can be attained by one who practices the Lotus Sūtra. Hurvitz, Lotus Sūtra, 264-265, has: “If any good man or good woman shall accept and keep this Scripture of the Dharma Blossom, whether reading it, reciting it, interpreting it, or copying it, that person shall attain eight hundred virtues of the eye . . . by means of which virtues he shall adorn his six faculties, causing them all to pure. That good man or woman, with the pure eye of flesh engendered by father and mother, shall see all mountains and forests, rivers and seas, both inner and outer. . . . He shall thoroughly see and thoroughly know the causes and conditions, the fruits and retributions, of the being’s deeds and places of birth. . . . This man shall attain eight hundred / Virtues distinguishing his eye / With which adorned / His eye shall be very pure./ With the eye engendered by father and mother/ He shall thoroughly see the thousand-millionfold world/ Its inner and outer mounts Meru/ … Every one of them, shall he see./ Though he may not yet have acquired a divine eye,/ Such shall be the power of his fleshly eye.” This same passage is referred to in Hui-ssu’s Fa hua Ching an lo hsing: “If a person accepts the Lotus Sūtra, chanting it and cultivating [its teachings] one will perfect the four kinds of subtle practices of Peace, attain the six supranormal powers, and the eyes engendered by father and mother will be pure and eternal eyes. When this eyesight is attained, that person can know the realm of all Buddhas.” return
