With regard to sūtra that means garlands being tied together (flan Chieh-man), Chih-i elucidates that to tie teaching, practice and doctrine together is like garlands being tied together to prevent them from scattering. The Four Siddhāntas function to tie up either teaching, or practice, or doctrine, which accomplish the three wheels of the Buddha respectively (for Chih-i regards the verbal turning wheel as indicating teaching, body-wheel as indicating practice, and the wheel of knowing the mind of others as indicating doctrine). (Vol. 2, Page 392)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismQuotes
Nichiren’ Soteric Modalities
[I]t is the “outer” soteric modality of giving one’s life for the Lotus Sūtra that frames the story of Nichiren’s career. His refusal to compromise his exclusive devotion to the Lotus, his conviction in his unique mission, his intemperate attacks on influential clerics and deliberate provoking of authorities, and his fortitude in the face of danger and privation left for his followers a model of “not begrudging bodily life,” and the persisting charisma of his image as prophet, martyr, and emissary of the Buddha formed the pivot around which the later Nichiren tradition would define its identity. However, behind Nichiren’s mandate that one should be ready to give one’s life for the Lotus Sūtra lies the question of what exactly about the Lotus Sūtra he thought worth dying for. This brings us to Nichiren’s “inner” soteric modality, that of realizing Buddhahood in the moment of chanting the daimoku that lies at the heart of his mature teaching. (Page 264)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismAspects of Sūtra
Chih-i illustrates that sūtra that is taken as the foundation for teaching (Chiao-pen) entails two aspects. On the one hand, it means that, based on single truth from the Word of the Buddha, there flow out countless speeches and teachings, such as the Common and Separate Teachings that can cause beings to attain the Path. On the other hand, based on the teaching of the Buddha, the bodhisattvas have made vast commentaries to explain the meanings in sūtras, which can also cause others to attain the Path. Sūtra that is taken as the foundation for practice (Hsin-pen) means that when one practices according to the teaching of the Buddha (whether it is Common or Separate Teaching), through these various Dharma-doors, one is able to attain the Ultimate Truth. Sūtra that is taken as the foundation for doctrine (I-pen) means that one doctrine can be derived from one sentence, and countless doctrines can be derived from countless sentences. It can also be the case that countless doctrines are derived from one sentence, and one doctrine is derived from countless sentences. Chih-i comments that summarizing these three aspects (teaching, practice and doctrine) in terms of the Dharma-door means that they are identical to the three ways to wisdom: hearing, thinking and cultivation (Wen Ssu Hsiu; Skt., śrutactābhāvanā), respectively. (Vol. 2, Page 391)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismNichiren’s Innovative Teaching
“The doctrine of three thousand realms in one thought-moment (ichinen sanzen) first established by Great Master T’ien-t’ai [Chih-i] is the father and mother of the Buddhas,” Nichiren wrote. Quoting Chan-jan, he praised it as “the ultimate truth of his [Chih’i’s] teachings.” “It is clear that only the T’ien-t’ai [doctrine] of three thousand realms in one thought-moment is the path of attaining Buddhahood.” For Nichiren, the single thought-moment possessing three thousand realms was the heart of the Lotus Sūtra and the core of the Tendai teachings he had inherited. As Kanno Hiroshi has pointed out, it was by means of this doctrine that Nichiren sought to legitimize his own position within the T’ien t’ai/Tendai Buddhist tradition originating with Chih-i, and at the same time, also expressed the innovative aspects of his own teaching. (Page 263)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismSūtra and the Four Siddhāntas
With regard to sūtra that means foundation for the dharma (Han Fa-pen), Chih-i explains that the dharma is inexpressible, but for the sake of teaching sentient beings, the Buddha expounds the dharma by means of the Four Siddhāntas. To be associated with the three perspectives, the Worldly Siddhānta is taken as the foundation for teaching; the Siddhānta for Each Person and the Siddhānta of Counteraction are taken as the foundation for practice; the Siddhānta of Supreme Truth is taken as the foundation for doctrine. (Vol. 2, Page 390)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism‘Nichiren Is Not the Founder of Any School’
“Nichiren is not the founder of any school,” he wrote, “nor is he a leaf at the tip [i.e., of the branch of some existing school].” The Lotus Sūtra as he understood it was Buddhism, the ocean in which the teachings and practices of the various schools would be absorbed. In later life, he distanced himself from the esoteric Tendai of his own day and denounced earlier Tendai prelates such as Enchin, Ennin, and Annen for adulterating the Lotus-based Tendai teaching with esoteric teachings. On the one hand, he clearly considered himself heir to the earlier tradition of Chih-i and Saichō: “Nichiren of Awa Province has reverently received the transmission from the three teachers [Śākyamuni, Chih-i, and Saichō] and assists the spread of the Hokke lineage in the Final Dharma age,” he wrote. “Together we are the four teachers in three countries.” Such passages have led some to see Nichiren as attempting to revive a “pure” Tendai independent of esoteric accretions. There is no doubt that Nichiren saw himself as standing within the Tendai tradition. Nevertheless, in claiming possession of a Dharma teaching that (1) was received directly from Śākyamuni; (2) was intended specifically for the Final Dharma age; and (3) was to assume a concrete form—as the daimoku, the object of worship, and the ordination platform—that had never before been revealed and transmitted, it appears that Nichiren was in effect establishing a new religion. This distinctive doctrinal basis, along with Nichiren’s fierce emphasis on devotion to the Lotus alone; the charisma of his image, which survived his death, as prophet, martyr, and messenger of the Buddha to the Final Dharma age; the establishment of ordination rites for his clerical followers independent of those of Mt. Hiei; and the formation among his followers of lay patronage networks independent of older religious institutions enabled the emergence and survival of a new sect. (Page 261-262)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismAll Possess Buddha-Nature,
The general analogy with the lotus indicates that regardless of whether it is the beginning stage of an ignorant being or the final stage of the Buddha, all of them possess the Buddha-nature, and are all characterized by the Ten Suchnesses. Therefore, the subtle dharma is always there, embedded within living beings. Through such a general analogy, Chih-i emphasizes that the beginning and final stages of Buddhahood are the same reality. Chih-i argues that the initial stage of Buddhahood (that is analogous with the lotus root) all the way up to the final stage of Buddhahood (that is analogous with the formation of the seed) serves as a metaphor for the subtle dharma. The beginning and final stages of Buddhahood do not differ (which are analogous with the beginning and end of the lotus) and are replete with the meanings of the Ten Suchnesses. This analogizes that although living beings in the Buddha-realm start from ignorance, they will eventually reach Buddhahood, the stage of perfection. (Vol. 2, Page 387)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismThe Non-Duality of Life and Its Environment
Buddhist non-duality does not end with the body and mind. The teaching of Dependent origination also implies the non-duality of life and its environment. Buddhism recognizes that body, mind, and environment are not separate entities, but are all interconnected parts of the dynamic flow of causes and conditions. This interdependence of life and its supporting environment has been a basic principle of Buddhism from the very beginning. Just as Shakyamuni Buddha taught that one should be mindful of the body, he also taught that one should reflect on the elements that make up the body. As in most of the ancient world, the Buddha taught that these elements consist of earth, air, fire, and water. In fact, it is fairly easy to recognize our dependence upon these four elements, which are usually thought of as nonliving matter. For instance, could we live without food, which is derived from the soil? Could we live without air to breath, water to drink, or the warmth of the sun? Even a simple reflection upon the way our body is composed of these four basic elements should be enough to make us realize that we are nothing without the environment of which we are a part.
Lotus Seeds‘Secret Dharma of the Sole Great Matter’
[During the Sado period,] Nichiren elaborated three aspects of this “secret Dharma”—the daimoku, the object of worship, and the ordination platform—to be discussed below.
Being the teaching and transmission of the original Buddha, this “secret Dharma of the sole great matter” has its locus in the origin teaching (honmon) of the Lotus Sūtra. Up until this point, Nichiren had merely asserted the superiority of the Lotus Sūtra over all others; now he turned his attention to its latter fourteen chapters. “The teaching of three thousand realms in one thought-moment is found only in the origin teaching of the Lotus Sūtra, hidden in the depths of the text of the ‘Fathoming the Lifespan’ chapter,” he wrote. Where Chih-i had derived the doctrine of three thousand realms in one thought-moment from the trace teaching, specifically from the “Skillful Means” chapter, Nichiren now identified it with the origin teaching: thus the “one thought-moment containing three thousand realms” becomes the thought-moment of the original Buddha. This was not entirely a novel move but was closely related to medieval Tendai associations of kanjin or “mind-contemplation” specifically with the origin teaching. Nichiren’s emphasis on the origin teaching was distinctive, however, in that he defined it as uniquely related to the Final Dharma age. For him, the origin teaching mediated a “great secret Dharma,” embodied as the five characters of the daimoku, that had been transferred by Śākyamuni Buddha to the bodhisattvas who had emerged from beneath the earth, especially for the mappō era:
“Now at the beginning of the Final Dharma age, Hinayāna is used to attack Mahāyāna, the provisional is used to repudiate the true. East and west are confused, and heaven and earth are turned upside down. … The heavenly deities forsake the country and do not protect it. At this time, the bodhisattvas who sprang up from the earth will appear for the first time in the world to bestow upon the children the medicine of the five characters myōhō-renge-kyō.” (Page 260)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismThree Analogies for the Door of the Origin
In terms of the three analogies for the door of the Origin, they are spoken of by Chih-i in terms of the relationship between the Traces and the Origin. The Traces would not be correctly clarified without the introduction of the Origin, but the Origin would not be known without the Traces (serving as the prelude in preparing audiences to be capable of receiving such Ultimate Truth). The correctly recognition of the Traces being derived from the Origin is the Buddha’s tactic to enable audiences to gain freedom from their attachment to the Traces. Such a gain in freedom is what will result in final realization of the Ultimate Truth (represented by the Origin).
The first analogy indicates that in the beginning stage of the Buddha’s teaching, the Traces are misunderstood as the ultimate, due to the fact that the Buddha’s real intention for the Origin is difficult to be known. Chih-i depicts that the flower containing the seedpod analogizes that the Traces certainly contain the Origin and are contained in the Origin. Although the intention of the Buddha is for the Origin, such purpose of the Buddha is difficult to be known, just like the seedpod that is contained in the flower is hardly known before the flower blooms.
The second analogy indicates that the final teaching of the Buddha can be characterized by opening the Traces and revealing the Origin. The recognition of the Origin enables the bodhisattvas to progress to strive for Buddhahood. Chih-i states that when the flower blooms, the seedpod is revealed. This analogizes that the opening of the Traces and the revelation of the Origin is for the Traces, for it can cause the bodhisattvas to recognize the expedient means employed by the Buddha. The recognition of the Traces enables one to return to perceive the Origin.
The third analogy indicates that as the result of the final teaching of the Buddha, the Traces are abandoned when the Origin is manifested, whereby one is no longer attached to the Traces, and one practices to attain perfect enlightenment. Chih-i delineates that when the flower falls, the seed is formed. This analogizes the abolishment of the Traces and the revelation of the Origin. Since the Origin has been recognized, one is no longer ignorant about the Traces. Such recognition of the Traces leads one to pursue Buddhahood only, from which one will eventually attain perfect enlightenment. (Vol. 2, Page 385-386)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism