The Opening of the Eyes: "3,000 in One Thought.", The Cardinal Doctrine of the Lotus Sutra PART 1 PROLOGUE Chapter 2

"Two important doctrines are in this Lotus Sutra. Such schools as Kusha, Jojitsu, Ritsu, Hosso and Sanron do not know even their names while the two schools of Kegon and Shingon plagiarized them to build their own fundamental structure. The '3,000 in one thought' doctrine, founded on these two basic doctrines, is hidden between the lines of the sixteenth chapter on "The Life Span of the Buddha" in the essential (hommon) section of the Lotus Sutra. Although Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu were aware of it, they did not speak of it. It is only our Grand Master T'ien-t'ai who preached it.

The teaching of the "3,000 in one thought" is based on the "mutually-possessed characteristics of the Ten Realms" meaning that each of the Ten realms has the characteristics of the other nine. Ignorant of the Ten Realms, the Hosso and Sanron Schools established the Eight Realm theology, missing the realm of bodhisattvas and that of Buddhas. How can they know of the mutually-possessed characteristics of the Ten Realms? The Kusha, Jojitsu, and Ritsu Schools, based on the Agon Sutras, Hinayana sutras, preach only Six Realms ignoring the top four of the ten. They insist on the existence of the one and only Buddha in the worlds throughout the universe, denying the existence of His manifestation in each of these worlds. It is only natural that they leave out the concept of every human being having the Buddha-nature. They do not recognize the possession of the Buddha-nature by man.

Nevertheless, the Ritsu and Jojitsu Schools today speak of the existence of Buddhas in various worlds throughout the universe or of the Buddha-nature in man. It must have been that scholars after the death of the Buddha plagiarized the Mahayana doctrines to the advantage of their own schools. For instance, Brahman teachings before the time of the Buddha were shallow in theology. After the Buddha, however, they seemed to realize their own shortcomings as they learned from Buddhism and cunningly stole Buddhist concepts to make their own heretic teaching more sophistacated. They are the so-called Buddhists assisting heretics and heretics stealing Buddhism.

The same can be said of Confucianism. Confucian and Taoist scholars before Buddhism was introduced to China had been as simple and immature as infants. However, in the later Han dynasty when Buddhism came to China and gradually spread after the initial controversies, some Buddhist monks returned home because they could not keep Buddhist commandments or chose to return to secular life. Some Buddhist monks simply adopted Buddhist teachings into Confucianism and Taoism in collaboration with secular men. Therefore Grand Master T'ien-t'ai states in the Mo-ho-chih-kuan, no. 5:

'Nowadays there are many evil monks who, having

abandoned the Buddhist commandments, would go

back to secular life and being afraid of punishment,

would become Taoist teachers. Again contrary to the

Taoist teaching, they would seek fame and profit by

boastfully talking about Chuang-tzu and Lao-tzu. They

would utilize Buddhist concepts in their interpretation

of Taoism, forcibly taking the high for the low, crushing

the honorable to mix it with the humble. and leveling

Buddhism to Taoism.'

Grand Master Miao-le elaborates on this in his commentary on the Mo-ho-chih-kuan:

'Some Buddhist monks destroy Buddhsim. Men like Wei

Yuan-sung abandon Buddhist commandments, secularize

themselves, and work havoc upon Buddhism as laymen.

They plagiarize Buddhism to bolster Taoism. "Forcibly

taking the high for the low" means that these men with

the heart of Taoist masters, forcibly equate Buddhism

and Taoism, mixing up the right and evil. With their

shallow background in Buddhist ministry, they plagiarize

the just teaching of Buddhism to back up the false teaching

of Taoism, and forcibly cram the 80,000 teachings of the

Buddha in twelve kinds of scriptures into the base teachings

of Taoism with 5,000 words in two rolls in order to support

their false and base teaching. This is what is meant by

"crushing the honorable to mix with the humble."'

Commentary:

Today, Zen has incorporated the teachings of Taoism and Taoist masters have taken up the practice of zazen. Some of these so-called Zen Masters of Buddhism continue to perpetuate the base idealogy of Taoism and continue to teach Buddhism to whomever has a buck to pay the temple fees, to Christians, Jews, atheists, and pagans. Other sects continue to promote inter-religious dialogue so that every "ethical society" and cult is now teaching and incorporating Buddhist philosophy and calling it their own. Apparently, little has changed since the 6th and 7th centuries. The Soka Gakkai is far worse, appropriating the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra while taking interfaith as one of their core doctrines.

The Opening of the Eyes: "3,000 in One Thought" The Cardinal Doctrine of the Lotus Sutra Chapter II continued...

In contemplating these interpretations by T'ien-t'ai and Miao-le, we can see that they are in agreement with the foregoing. The same thing was happening in Buddhism itself. Introduced in the Yung-p'ing era of the Later Han period, Buddhism showed supremacy over Confucianism, establishing itself in China. Three Southern and seven Northern masters of Chinese Buddhism competed with each other for supremacy as though orchids and chrysanthemums bloomed at the same time. They were all refuted, however, by Grand Master T'ien-t'ai of Chen-Sui china, and Buddhism was revived by him as the saving of all living beings.

Afterward the Hosso, Shingon and Kegon Schools were transmitted from India. The Hosso School among them was against T'ien-t'ai in theology. opposing each other like water and fire. Although the Venerable Hsuang-chuang and his disciple, Grand Master Tz'u-en of the Hosso School, did not go as far as to abandon their own school, they seem to have surrendered to T'ien-t'ai in heart as they read his interpretations carefully and realized their own fallacies.

Next, Kegon and Shingon were originally provisional schools based on provisional sutras. Venerable Subhakarasimha (Shan-wu-wei) and Vajra-bodhi (Chin-kang-chih) stole the '3,000 in one thought' concept from T'ien-t'ai using it, as the basis for their own school. They added to it the symbolic finger signs and mantras to appear superior to others. Those scholars who do not know this believe that the Great Sun Buddha Sutra has had the '3,000 in one thought' doctrine from its beginning in India. At the time of Ch'en-kuang, the Kegon School stole the doctrine and read it into the words of the Flower Garland Sutra asserting, 'Mind is like a skillful painter.' People do not realize this.

The Six schools of Nara such as Kegon were brought over to Japan before the Tendai and Shingon Schools. The Kegon, Sanron, and Hosso Schools continued to disagree like water and fire. Then grand Master Dengyo appeared in Japan and not only refuted the fallacies of the Six schools of nara but also decisively proved that the Shingon School had stolen the T'ien-t'ai interpretation of the Lotus Sutra in order to establish its own foundation.

Grand Master Dengyo cast aside the opinions of various teachers in various schools and based his argument solely on Buddhist scriptures. He thus won in polemic against high priests of the Six Schools --- eight, twelve, fourteen and some three hundred in number --- as well as Grand Master Kobo. Everyone in Japan without exception surrendered to the Tendai School. As temples in Nara, Toji Temple in Kyoto, as well as all the temples in the entire land of Japan came under the spell of Mt. Hiei.

Grand Master Dengyo also clarified in his Ebyo-shu that founders of various Buddhist schools in China had surrendered to T'ien-t'ai, which made it possible to escape the charge of slandering the true dharma.

Afterward as the world degenerated and the understanding of the people deteriorated, the fine theology of T'ien-t'ai was no longer studied. As other schools grew stronger in devotion, the Tendai School was reduced gradually by the Six schools of Nara and Shingon until it was no longer equal even to them. It was further reduced by the unworthy Zen and Pure Land Schools with lay members moving over to these false schools. The movement was gradual at first, but in the end even revered high priests all left Tendai for those schools of Zen and Pure Land to strengthen them. Meanwhile the farms and fiefs of the Six Nara Schools as well as those of the Tendai and Shingon were all destroyed, and the true dharma of the Lotus disappeared. Not having tasted the delicacy of the true dharma, such great righteous guardian deities as Goddess Amaterasu, Shohachiman, and Sanno left the land, leaving room for demons to grow in power, and this country was about to crumble."

Commentary:

The world continues to degenerate further and the understanding of the people continues to deteriorate. How wondrous that thanks to Nichiren Daishonin, more than 20,000,000 people chant the Daimoku with faith in the Lotus Sutra and the Original Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni, despite the decadence of the times. Although many of these chanters of the Daimoku are not pious or zealous followers of the Way of the Lotus as Nichiren taught, they are infinitely more fortunate and respectworthy than the High Priests, estimable Monks, Lamas and laymen of the heretical sects. We can see that wherever these heretical sects hold sway, in Burma, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Tibet, the good fortune of the people have evaporated because the Buddhist deities have abandoned their lands.

The leaders, priests, and members of the Soka Gakkai and Nichiren Shoshu can not be included with the people who chant Daimoku with faith in the Lotus Sutra and Eternal Buddha Shakyamnui since they have neither faith in the Lotus Sutra nor Shakyamuni Buddha. They are in another category, the category of the worms in the body of the lion. More will be said about this later.

The greatest lesson in the history of the world is the lesson of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the effect of the non-Buddhist teaching of Shinto having supplanted the glorious teachings of Buddhism and the rise of the Nichiren Shoshu and Soka Gakkai. How wondrous that this Hell of Incessant Suffering will be transformed into the Eternal Buddha Land as the popularity of Shinto, Soka Gakkai, and Nichiren Shoshu  wanes and the true Lotus Sutra Buddhism of Nichiren becomes the predominant form of Buddhism in Japan. This is proof that the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana, the World of Buddha exists in the World of Hell, and the World of Hell exists in the World of Buddha.