Nichiren teaches:
"Among those who propagate this sutra in the Latter Day of the Law, who compares with Shāriputra, Mahākāshyapa, Perceiver of the World’s Sounds, Wonderful Sound, Manjushrī, and Medicine King? Persons of the two vehicles [such as Shāriputra] had destroyed all the illusions of thought and desire, thus freeing themselves from the six paths. Bodhisattvas [such as Perceiver of the World’s Sounds] had eradicated forty-one of the forty-two levels of ignorance and were like the moon on the fourteenth night before it reaches fullness. Nevertheless, Shakyamuni Buddha refused to entrust the mission of propagation to any of these people and gave it instead to the Bodhisattvas of the Earth. Thus these bodhisattvas are the ones who had thoroughly forged their resolve."
and in another writing:
"Amida Buddha and the other various Buddhas were determined to make compassionate vows. For this reason, though they felt ashamed to do so, they made their appearance in this sahā world, Amida Buddha proclaiming his forty-eight vows, and Medicine Master Buddha, his twelve great vows. Perceiver of the World’s Sounds and the other bodhisattvas who live in other lands also did likewise.
When the Buddhas are viewed in terms of the unchanging equality of their enlightenment, there are no distinctions to be made among them. But when they are viewed in terms of the ever-present differences among their preaching, then one should understand that each of them has his own realm among the worlds of the ten directions, and that they distinguish between those with whom they have already had some connection, and those with whom they have no such connection.
The sixteen royal sons of the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence each took up residence in a different one of the lands of the ten directions and there led their respective disciples to salvation. The Thus Come One Shakyamuni, who had been one of these sons, appeared in this sahā world. We ordinary people, too, have been born into the sahā world. Therefore, we must not in any way turn away from the teachings of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni. But people all fail to realize this. If they would look carefully into the matter, they would understand that [as the Lotus Sutra says] “I [Shakyamuni] am the only person who can rescue and protect others,” and that they must not cut themselves off from the helping hand of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni.
For this reason, all the living beings in this sahā world, if they detest the sufferings of birth and death and wish to have an object of devotion to which they can pay respect, should first of all fashion images of Shakyamuni Buddha in the form of wooden statues and paintings, and make these their object of devotion. Then, if they still have strength left over, they may go on to fashion images of Amida and the other Buddhas.
Yet when the people of this world today, being unpracticed in the sacred way, come to fashion or paint images of a Buddha, they give priority to those of Buddhas other than Shakyamuni. This does not accord either with the intentions of those other Buddhas, or with the intentions of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni himself, and is moreover at variance with secular propriety.
The great king Udayana, when he carved his image of red sandalwood, made it of no other Buddha, and the painting offered to King One Thousand Stupas was likewise of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni. But people nowadays base themselves upon the various Mahayana sutras, and because they believe that the particular sutra they rely on is superior to all others, they accordingly relegate Shakyamuni Buddha to a secondary position."
Since that is true and since Shakyamuni Buddha has special qualities not possessed by other Buddhas, there is no place for a separate enshrinement of other Buddha and Bodhisattvas.
Nichiren teaches along this line:
"This sahā world occupies the lowest position among all the worlds of the ten directions. Among these worlds, it holds a place like that of a prison within a nation. All the persons in the worlds of the ten directions who have committed any of the ten evil acts, the five cardinal sins, the grave offense of slandering the correct teaching, or other terrible crimes and have been driven out by the Buddhas, Thus Come Ones, of those worlds, have been brought together here in this sahā land by the Thus Come One Shakyamuni. These people, having fallen into the three evil paths or the great citadel of the hell of incessant suffering and there duly suffered for their offense, have been reborn in the realm of human or heavenly beings. But because they still retain certain vestiges of their former evil behavior, they are inclined to easily commit some further offense by slandering the correct teaching or speaking contemptuously of persons of wisdom. Thus, for example, Shāriputra, though he had attained the status of an arhat, at times gave way to anger. Pilindavatsa,11 though he had freed himself from the illusions of thought and desire, displayed an arrogant mind, while Nanda, though he had renounced all sexual attachment, continued to dwell on the thought of sleeping with a woman. Even these disciples of the Buddha, though they had done away with delusions, still retained their vestiges. How much more so must this be the case, therefore, with ordinary people? Yet the Thus Come One Shakyamuni entered this sahā world with the title “One Who Can Endure.” He is so called because he does not berate its people for the slanders they all commit, but shows them forbearance.
These, then, are the special qualities [possessed by Shakyamuni Buddha, qualities] that the other Buddhas lack."
More proof of what I say:
"But when I open the Lotus Sutra and reverently peruse it, I see that even the bodhisattvas Manjushrī, Maitreya, Perceiver of the World’s Sounds, and Universal Worthy, who had reached the stage of near-perfect enlightenment, were scarcely able to uphold so much as a single phrase or verse of this sutra, because the sutra itself states that it can “only be understood and shared between Buddhas.”
Nichiren went on to say:
"Only the Lotus Sutra represents the wonderful teaching preached directly from the golden mouth of Shakyamuni Buddha, who is perfectly endowed with the three bodies. Therefore, even Universal Worthy and Manjushrī were hardly able to expound so much as a single phrase or verse of it. How much more difficult then must it be for us, who are no more than ordinary people living in this latter age, to embrace even one or two words of this sutra!"
Though we may be poor and lowly and no better than a beggar, still, we are able to preach a word or phrase of the Lotus Sutra unlike the Great Bodhisattvas of the past....
"The bodhisattvas Medicine King, Medicine Superior, Perceiver of the World’s Sounds, and Great Power, on the other hand, were envoys of the Buddha during the two thousand years of the Former and Middle Days of the Law. Because their turn has already passed, they can no longer benefit people as they did in those ancient times. Just observe what happens when prayers are offered to them at present! All such prayers go unanswered. Now, in the Latter Day of the Law, it is the turn of the bodhisattvas Superior Practices, Boundless Practices, and the others."
and in another writing:
"Now, the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra says that Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, attained Buddhahood numberless major world system dust particle kalpas ago, and that the cause that made this possible was the practice he had carried out at that time. Since then he has manifested emanation bodies throughout the worlds of the ten directions and preached all the sacred teachings of his lifetime to teach and convert people as numerous as the dust particles of the land. When we compare the number of disciples in the essential teaching with that of disciples in the theoretical teaching, the former is like the ocean, and the latter, like a drop of water, or the one, like a great mountain, and the other, like a speck of dust. What is more, a bodhisattva of the essential teaching is far p.361superior to any bodhisattva of the theoretical teaching, including Manjushrī, Perceiver of the World’s Sounds, or any of the others who gathered from the worlds in the ten directions. The difference between them is even greater than that between Shakra and a monkey. Are you saying that besides these bodhisattvas, the persons of the two vehicles who obtained their enlightenment by destroying their illusions, Brahmā, Shakra, the gods of the sun and moon, the four heavenly kings, the four wheel-turning kings, and the immense flames of the great citadel of the hell of incessant suffering—all beings and all things in the ten directions are inherent in the Ten Worlds and in the three thousand realms of our own lives? Even if you say that this is what the Buddha taught, I still cannot believe it."{
and in still another
"It was under such circumstances that the four bodhisattvas emerged from the earth. When Bodhisattva Manjushrī, whose teaching the Thus Come One Shakyamuni was the ninth to inherit and who is the mother of the Buddhas of the three existences, and Bodhisattva Maitreya, who will succeed Shakyamuni Buddha after his next rebirth, stood beside these four bodhisattvas, they seemed to be of no significance whatsoever. They were like humble mountain folk mingling in the company of nobles and high ministers, or like apes and monkeys seating themselves beside lions." - Nichiren
In this last passage, we may include Bodhisattva Perceiver of the Cries of the World. I say this, not to defame her. I say to this to explain why we receive her protection. Because she worships us.
Nichiren concludes:
"The mantras associated with the Buddhas Mahāvairochana, Medicine Master, and Amida and Bodhisattva Perceiver of the World’s Sounds are of the same nature. Though in the various sutras containing these mantras they are said to be like a great king, Mount Sumeru, the sun and moon, good medicine, a wish-granting jewel, or a sharp sword, they are as far beneath the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra as mud is beneath the clouds."
These are the reasons why no separate enshrinement of Kuan Yin was allowed by Nichiren.
In conclusion, Nichiren teaches:
"The bodhisattvas Medicine King, Medicine Superior, Perceiver of the World’s Sounds, and Great Power, on the other hand, were envoys of the Buddha during the two thousand years of the Former and Middle Days of the Law. Because their turn has already passed, they can no longer benefit people as they did in those ancient times. Just observe what happens when prayers are offered to them at present! All such prayers go unanswered. Now, in the Latter Day of the Law, it is the turn of the bodhisattvas Superior Practices, Boundless Practices, and the others."
No comments:
Post a Comment