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
(b) Contradictions as to the Person of the Master.--For instance,
Agamas say the Buddha's body was marked with thirty-two
peculiarities, while the Mahayana books enumerate ninety-seven
peculiarities, or even innumerable marks.
(c) Doctrinal Contradictions.--For instance, the Hinayana sutras put
forth the pessimistic, nihilistic view of life, while the Mahayana
books, as a rule, express the optimistic, idealistic view.
(14) The Hinayana sutras say nothing of the Mahayana books, while the
latter always compare their doctrine with that of the former, and
speak of it in contempt. It is clear that the name 'Hinayana' was
coined by the Mahayanists, as there is no sutra which calls itself
'Hinayana.' It is therefore evident that when the Hinayana books
took the present shape there appeared no Mahayana sutras.
(15) The authors of the Mahayana sutras should have expected the
opposition of the Hinayanists, because they say not seldom that there
might be some who would not believe in and oppose Mahayanism as not
being the Buddha's teaching, but that of the Evil One. They say also
that one who would venture to say the Mahayana books are fictitious
should fall into Hell. For example, the author of
Mahaparinirvana-sutra says: "Wicked Bhiksus would say all Vaipulya
Mahayana sutras are not spoken by the Buddha, but by the Evil One."
(16) There are evidences showing that the Mahayana doctrine was
developed out of the Hinayana one.
(a) The Mahayanists' grand conception of Tathagata is the natural
development of that of those progressive Hinayanists who belonged to
the Mahasamghika School, which was formed some one hundred years
after the Master. These Hinayanists maintained that the Buddha had
infinite power, endless life, and limitlessly great body. The author
of Mahaparinirvana-sutra also says that Buddha is immortal, his
Dharma-kaya is infinite and eternal. The authors of
Mahayana-mulagata-hrdayabhumi-dhyana-sutra and of
Suvarnaprabha-sottamaraja-sutra enumerate the Three Bodies of Buddha,
while the writer of Lankavatara-sutra describes the Four Bodies, and
that of Avatamsaka-sutra the Ten Bodies of Tathagata.
(b) According to the Hinayana sutras, there are only four stages of
saintship, but the Mahasamghika School increases the number and gives
ten steps. Some Mahayana sutras also enumerate the ten stages of
Bodhisattva, while others give forty-one or fifty two stages.
(c) The Himayana sutras name six past Buddhas and one future Buddha
Maitreya, while the Mahayana sutras name thirty-five, fifty-three, or
three thousand Buddhas.
(d) The Hinayana sutras give the names of six Vijnyanas, while the
Mahayana books seven, eight, or nine Vijnyanas.
(17) For a few centuries after the Buddha we hear only of Hinayanism,
but not of Mahayanism, there being no Mahayana teacher.
(18) In some Mahayana sutras (Mahavairocanabhisambodhi-sutra, for
example) Tathagata Vairocana takes the place of Gotama, and nothing
is said of the latter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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