The Religion of the Samurai: A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and JapanNukariya, Kaiten
Religion
The Religion of the Samurai: A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan
Nukariya, Kaiten
Buddhism -- China; Buddhism -- Japan; China -- Religion; Human beings -- Origin; Japan -- Religion; Zen Buddhism
(3) Although almost all of the Mahayana sutras, excepting
Avatamsaka-sutra, treat of Hinayanism as the imperfect doctrine
taught in the first part of the Master's career, yet not merely the
whole life of Gotama, but also events which occurred after his death
are narrated in the Hinayana sutras. This shows that the Mahayana
sutras were composed after the establishment of early Buddhism.
(4) The narratives given in the Hinayana sutras in reference to
Shakya Muni seem to be based on historical facts, but those in the
Mahayana books are full of wonders and extravagant miracles far from
facts.
(5) The Hinayana sutras retain the traces of their having been
classified and compiled as we see in Ekottaragama, while Mahayana
books appear to have been composed one after another by different
authors at different times, because each of them strives to excel
others, declaring itself to be the sutra of the highest doctrine, as
we see in Saddharma-pundarika, Samdhinirmocana,
Suvarnaprabhasottamaraja, etc.
(6) The dialogues in the Hinayana sutras are in general those between
the Buddha and his disciples, while in the Mahayana books imaginary
beings called Bodhisattvas take the place of disciples. Moreover, in
some books no monks are mentioned.
(7) Most of the Mahayana sutras declare that they themselves possess
those mystic powers that protect the reader or the owner from such
evils as epidemic, famine, war, etc.; but the Hinayana sutras are
pure from such beliefs.
(8) The Mahayana sutras extol not only the merits of the reading, but
the copying of the sutras. This unfailingly shows the fact that they
were not handed down by memory, as the Hinayana sutras, but written
by their respective authors.
(9) The Hinayana sutras were written with a plain style in Pali,
while the Mahayana books, with brilliant phraseology, in Sanskrit.
(10) The Buddha in the Hinayana sutras is little more than a human
being, while Buddha or Tathagata in the Mahayana is a superhuman
being or Great Deity.
(11) The moral precepts of the Hinayana were laid down by the Master
every time when his disciples acted indecently, while those of the
Mahayana books were spoken all at once by Tathagata.
(12) Some Mahayana sutras appear to be the exaggeration or
modification of what was stated in the Hinayana books, as we see in
Mahaparinirvana-sutra.
(13) If we take both the Hinayana and the Mahayana as spoken by one
and the same person, we cannot understand why there are so many
contradictory statements, as we see in the following:
(a) Historical Contradictions.--For instance, Hinayana sutras are
held to be the first sermon of the Buddha by the author of
Saddharma-pundarika, while Avatamsaka declares itself to be the first
sermon. Nagarjuna holds that Prajnya sutras are the first.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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