The Religion of the Samurai
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Kaiten Nukariya >> The Religion of the Samurai
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[FN#376] A. 'The perfect doctrine, in which eternal truth is taught
by the Buddha.'
[FN#377] The ultimate reality is conceived by the Mahayanist as an
entity self-existent, omnipresent, spiritual, impersonal, free from
all illusions. It may be regarded as something like the universal
and enlightened soul.
[FN#378] Tathagata's womb, Tathagata being another name for Buddha.
[FN#379] The book was translated into Chinese by Buddhabhadra, A.D.
418-420.
[FN#380] The highest epithet of the Buddha, meaning one who comes
into the world like the coming of his predecessors.
[FN#381] The all-knowing wisdom that is acquired by Enlightenment.
[FN#382] The inborn wisdom of the Original Enlightenment.
[FN#383] The wisdom that is acquired by the union of Enlightenment
with the Original Enlightenment.
Then he tells a parable of a single grain of minute dust[FN#384]
containing large volumes of Sutra, equal in dimension of the Great
Chiliocosmos.[FN#385] The grain is compared with a sentient being,
and the Sutra with the wisdom of Buddha. Again he says
later:[FN#386] "Once Tathagata, having observed every sort of
sentient beings all over the universe, said as follows: 'Wonderful,
how wonderful! That these various sentient beings, endowed with the
wisdom of Tathagata, are not conscious of it because of their errors
and illusions! I shall teach them the sacred truth and make them
free from illusion for ever. I shall (thus) enable them to find by
themselves the Great Wisdom of Tathagatha within them and make them
equal to Buddha.'
[FN#384] One of the famous parables in the sutra.
[FN#385] According to the Buddhist literature, one universe
comprises one sun, one moon, one central mountain or Sumeru, four
continents, etc. One thousand of these universes form the Small
Thousand Worlds; one thousand of the Small Thousand Worlds form the
Middle Thousand Worlds; and the Great Thousand Worlds, or Great
Chiliocosmos, comprises one thousand of the Middle Thousand Worlds.
[FN#386] This is not an exact quotation of the sutra.
Let me say (a few words) about this doctrine by way of criticism. So
many Kalpas we spent never meeting with this true doctrine, and knew
not how to trace our life back to its origin. Having been attached
to nothing but the unreal outward forms, we willingly acknowledged
ourselves to be a common herd of lowly beings. Some regarded
themselves as beasts, (while) others as men.
But now, tracing life to its origin according to the highest
doctrine, we have fully understood that we ourselves were originally
Buddhas. Therefore we should act in conformity to Buddha's (action),
and keep our mind in harmony with his. Lot us betake ourselves once
more to the source of Enlightened Spirit, restoring ourselves to the
original Buddhahood. Let us cut off the bond of attachment, and
remove the illusion that common people are habitually given to.
Illusion being destroyed,[FN#387] the will to destroy it is also
removed, and at last there remains nothing to be done (except
complete peace and joy). This naturally results in Enlightenment,
whose practical uses are as innumerable as the grains of sand in the
Ganges. This state is called Buddhahood. We should know that the
illusory as well as the Enlightened are originally of one and the
same Real Spirit. How great, how excellent, is the doctrine that
traces man to such an origin![FN#388]
[FN#387] The passage occurs in Tao Teh King.
[FN#388] A. 'Although all of the above-mentioned five doctrines were
preached by the Buddha Himself, yet there are some that belong to the
Sudden, while others to the Gradual, Teachings. If there were
persons of the middle or the lowest grade of understanding, He first
taught the most superficial doctrine, then the less superficial, and
"Gradually" led them up to the profound. At the outset of His career
as a teacher He preached the first doctrine to enable them to give up
evil and abide by good; next He preached the second and the third
doctrine that they might remove the Pollution and attain to the
Purity; and, lastly, He preached the fourth and the fifth doctrine to
destroy their attachment to unreal forms, and to show the Ultimate
Reality. (Thus) He reduced (all) the temporary doctrines into the
eternal one, and taught them how to practise the Law according to the
eternal and attain to Buddhahood.
'If there is a person of the highest grade of understanding, he may
first of all learn the most profound, next the less profound, and,
lastly, the most superficial doctrine-that is, he may at the outset
come "Suddenly" to the understanding of the One Reality of True
Spirit, as it is taught in the fifth doctrine. When the Spiritual
Reality is disclosed before his mind's eye, he may naturally see that
it originally transcends all appearances which are unreal, and that
unrealities appear on account of illusion, their existence depending
on Reality. Then he must give up evil, practise good, put away
unrealities by the wisdom of Enlightenment, and reduce them to
Reality. When unrealities are all gone, and Reality alone remains
complete, he is called the Dharma-kaya-Buddha.'
CHAPTER IV
RECONCILIATION OF THE TEMPORARY WITH THE REAL DOCTRINE[FN#389]
EVEN if Reality is the origin of life, there must be in all
probability some causes for its coming into existence, as it cannot
suddenly assume the form of body by accident. In the preceding
chapters I have refuted the first four doctrines, merely because they
are imperfect, and in this chapter I shall reconcile the temporary
with the eternal doctrine. In short, I shall show that even
Confucianism is in the right.[FN#390] That is to say, from the
beginning there exists Reality (within all beings), which is one and
spiritual. It can never be created nor destroyed. It does not
increase nor decrease itself. It is subject to neither change nor
decay. Sentient beings, slumbering in (the night of) illusion from
time immemorial, are not conscious of its existence. As it is hidden
and veiled, it is named Tathagata-garbha.[FN#391] On this
Tathagata-garbha the mental phenomena that are subject to growth and
decay depend.
Real Spirit, as is stated (in the Acvaghosa's Çastra), that transcends
creation and destruction, is united with illusion, which is subject
to creation and destruction; and the one is not absolutely the same
as nor different from the other. This union (with illusion) has the
two sides of enlightenment and non -enlightenment,' and is called
Alaya-vijnyana. Because of non-enlightenment,[FN#392] it first
arouses itself, and forms some ideas. This activity of the Vijnyana
is named 'the state of Karma.[FN#393] Furthermore, since one does
not understand that these ideas are unreal from the beginning, they
transform themselves into the subject (within) and the object
(without), into the seer and the seen. One is at a loss how to
understand that these external objects are no more than the creation
of his own delusive mind, and believes them to be really existent.
This is called the erroneous belief in the existence of external
objects.[FN#394] In consequence of these erroneous beliefs, he
distinguishes Self and non-self, and at last forms the erroneous
belief of Atman. Since he is attached to the form of the Self, he
yearns after various objects agreeable to the sense for the sake of
the good of his Self. He is offended, (however), with various
disagreeable objects, and is afraid of the injuries and troubles
which they bring on him. (Thus) his foolish passions[FN#395] are
strengthened step by step.
[FN#389] A. 'The doctrines refuted above are reconciled with the
real doctrine in this chapter. They are all in the right in their
pointing to the true origin.'
[FN#390] A. 'The first section states the fifth doctrine that
reveals the Reality, and the statements in the following sections are
the same as the other doctrines, as shown in the notes.'
[FN#391] A. 'The following statement is similar to the fourth
doctrine explained above in the refutation of the phenomenal
existence subject to growth and decay.' Compare Çraddhotpada-castra.
[FN#392] A. 'The following statement is similar to the doctrine of
Dharma-laksana.'
[FN#393] Here Karma simply means an active state; it should be
distinguished from Karma, produced by actions.
[FN#394] A. 'The following statement is similar to the second
doctrine, or Hinayanism.'
[FN#395] A. 'The following statement is similar to the first
doctrine for men and Devas.'
Thus (on one hand) the souls of those who committed the crimes of
killing, stealing, and so on, are born, by the influence of the bad
Karma, in hell, or among Pretas, or among beasts, or elsewhere. On
the other hand, the souls of those who, being afraid of such
sufferings, or being good-natured, gave alms, kept precepts, and so
on, undergo Antarabhava[FN#396] by the influence of the good Kharma,
enter into the womb of their mothers.[FN#397]
[FN#396] The spiritual existence between this and another life.
[FN#397] A. 'The following statement is similar to Confucianism and
Taoism.'
There they are endowed with the (so-called) Gas, or material (for
body).[FN#398] The Gas first consists of four elements[FN#399] and
it gradually forms various sense-organs. The mind first consists of
the four aggregates,[FN#400] and it gradually forms various
Vijnyanas. After the whole course of ten months they are born and
called men. These are our present bodies and minds. Therefore we
must know that body and mind has each its own origin, and that the
two, being united, form one human being. They are born among Devas
and Asuras, and so on in a manner almost similar to this.
[FN#398] A. 'This harmonizes with the outside opinion that Gas is
the origin.'
[FN#399] (1) Earth, (2) water, (3) fire, (4) air.
[FN#400] (1) Perception, (2) consciousness, (3) conception, (4)
knowledge.
Though we are born among men by virtue of 'the generalizing
Karma,'[FN#401] yet, by the influence of 'the particularizing
Karma,'[FN#402] some are placed in a high rank, while others in a
low; some are poor, while others rich; some enjoy a long life, while
others die in youth; some are sickly, while others healthy; some are
rising, while others are falling; some suffer from pains, while
others enjoy pleasures. For instance, reverence or indolence in the
previous existence, working as the cause, brings forth high birth or
low in the present as the effect. So also benevolence in the past
results in long life in the present; the taking of life, a short
life; the giving of alms, richness, miserliness, Poverty. There are
so many particular cases of retribution that cannot be mentioned in
detail. Hence there are some who happen to be unfortunate, doing no
evil, while others fortunate, doing no good in the present life. So
also some enjoy a long life, in spite of their inhuman conduct; while
others die young, in spite of their taking no life, and so forth. As
all this is predestinated by 'the particularizing Karma' produced in
the past, it would seem to occur naturally, quite independent of
one's actions in the present life. Outside scholars ignorant of the
previous existences, relying simply on their observations, believe it
to be nothing more than natural.[FN#403]
[FN#401] The Karma that determines different classes of beings, such
as men, beasts, Pretas, etc.
[FN#402] The Karma that determines the particular state of an
individual in the world.
[FN#403] A. 'This harmonizes with the outside opinion that
everything occurs naturally.'
Besides, there are some who cultivated virtues in the earlier, and
committed crimes in the later, stages of their past existences; while
others were vicious in youth, and virtuous in old age. In
consequence, some are happy in youth, being rich and noble, but
unhappy in old age, being poor and low in the present life; while
others lead poor and miserable lives when young, but grow rich and
noble when old, and so on. Hence outside scholars come to believe
that one's prosperity or adversity merely depends on a heavenly
decree.[FN#404]
[FN#404] A. 'This harmonizes with the outside opinion that
everything depends on providence.'
The body with which man is endowed, when traced step by step to its
origin, proves to be nothing but one primordial Gas in its
undeveloped state. And the mind with which man thinks, when traced
step by step to its source, proves to be nothing but the One Real
Spirit. To tell the truth, there exists nothing outside of Spirit,
and even the Primordial Gas is also a mode of it, for it is one of
the external objects projected by the above-stated Vijnyanas, and is
one of the mental images of Alaya, out of whose idea, when it is in
the state of Karma, come both the subject and the object. As the
subject developed itself, the feebler ideas grow stronger step by
step, and form erroneous beliefs that end in the production of
Karma.[FN#405] Similarly, the object increases in size, the finer
objects grow gradually grosser, and gives rise to unreal things that
end in the formation[FN#406] of Heaven and Earth. When Karma is ripe
enough, one is endowed by father and mother with sperm and ovum,
which, united with his consciousness under the influence of Karma,
completes a human form.
[FN#405] A. 'As above stated.'
[FN#406] A. "In the beginning, according to the outside school,
there was 'the great changeableness,' which underwent fivefold
evolutions, and brought out the Five Principles. Out of that
Principle, which they call the Great Path of Nature, came the two
subordinate principles of the Positive and the Negative. They seem
to explain the Ultimate Reality, but the Path, in fact, no more than
the 'perceiving division' of the Alaya. The so-called primordial Gas
seems to be the first idea in the awakening Alaya, but it is a mere
external object."
According to this view (of Dharmalaksana), things brought forth
through the transformations of Alaya and the other Vijnyanas are
divided into two parts; one part (remaining), united with Alaya and
the other Vijnyanas, becomes man, while the other, becoming separated
from them, becomes Heaven, Earth, mountains, rivers, countries, and
towns. (Thus) man is the outcome of the union of the two; this is
the reason why he alone of the Three Powers is spiritual. This was
taught by the Buddha[FN#407] himself when he stated that there
existed two different kinds of the four elements--the internal and
the external.
[FN#407] Ratnakuta-sutra (?), translated into Chinese by Jnyanagupta.
Alas! O ye half-educated scholars who adhere to imperfect doctrines,
each of which conflicts with another! Ye that seek after truth, if
ye would attain to Buddhahood, clearly understand which is the
subtler and which is the grosser (form of illusive ideas), which is
the originator and which is the originated. (Then) give ye up the
originated and return ye to the originator, and to reflect on the
Spirit, the Source (of all). When the grosser is exterminated and
the subtler removed, the wonderful wisdom of spirit is disclosed, and
nothing is beyond its understanding. This is called the
Dharma-sambhoga-kaya. It can of itself transform itself and appear
among men in numberless ways. This is called the Nirmana-kaya of
Buddha.[FN#408]
[FN#408] Every Buddha has three bodies: (1) Dharma-kaya, or
spiritual body; (2) Sambhoga-kaya, or the body of compensation; (3)
Nirmana-kaya, or the body capable of transformation.
THE END.
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