The History of Buddhist Thought c27.13

c27.13

It was quite impossible for either Chinese or Japanese to recognize any chronological sequence in the mass of doctrinal works that they received. They could not even, like the Mahāyānists of India, set aside the Āgamas of the Tripiṭaka as superseded. Hence they invented quite artificial methods to explain the different portions of the literature as partial or complete revelations of the teaching. The Tendai school made five divisions: (1) the Avataṃsaka-sūtra, which was taught in the second week after the enlightenment, (2) the Āgamas (i.e. of the Sarvāstivādins), which for twelve years were taught at Benares, (3) certain Mahāyāna-sūtras, such as the Laṅkāvatāra and Suvarṇaprabhāsa, which were taught for eight years, (4) the Prajñāpāramitā-sūtras, for twenty-two years, and lastly (5) the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka (the Lotus) and the Mahānirvāṇa-sūtra, taught for eight years.² The two last sūtras are the Scriptures at the Tendai (T’ien-t’ai) school, which reached Japan in the eighth century. As will have been seen (p. 185) the Lotus does not expound metaphysical questions. It is really a theology preaching an eternal Buddha and an infinity of bodhisattva saviours. Its philosophical principles are those of the Void and conventional and absolute truth. The Rev. Yamakami says, “the mountains soar high up in the air, the water flows in the river, stars adorn the sky, the flowers beautify the earth : all these have distinctive existences. These existences, however, are not real, but are only conventional. In other words, they are subject to the law of causation; they could not have their respective existences without causes and conditions. This law of causation is technically called ‘the principle of conventionality’ in the Tendai school. And the ‘law of causation’, according to this school, is nothing but an active principle of the Truth or Reality; hence individual existences in the universe are not independent manifestations apart from the Reality . . . We must not, therefore, forget that in every phenomenon or individual we may recognize the light of Truth. Or more buddhistically speaking, we should comprehend that the mountains, which soar high up in the air, the water which flows in the stream, the stars that adorn the sky, or the flowers which decorate the earth, are all manifestations of the supreme reality; therefore we may enjoy the enchanting views of the realm of Truth through their manifestation.”¹