Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 28Q: Why do those of the two vehicles sever their bonds in this life and quickly attain the fruit of the Path, but Bodhisattvas do not yet sever their bonds while traversing from their first aspiration to the stage of conquering evil and do not attain the fruit of the Path quickly?
A: Those of the two vehicles contemplate the Four Noble Truths and Twelvefold Conditioned Co-arising and thus grow weary of the cycle of birth and death, seek Nirvāṇa on their own, and prepare themselves for their own salvation. Therefore they sever their bonds first and attain the fruit [of the Path] in this life. The Bodhisattva has compassion and thus puts [the benefits of] others first and himself last. For three incalculable aeons he cultivates the Six Perfections; therefore he does not attain the fruit quickly.
Category Archives: Tendai Lotus
Bodhisattvas: Four Vows and Four Truths
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 22-23Q: Next, is the term “Bodhisattva” Sanskrit or Chinese?
A: It is Sanskrit. [In Chinese] the longer transliteration is P’u-t’i-sa-ta, but here we use the abbreviation P’u-sa.
Q: What is the meaning in Chinese?
A: Bodhi means “enlightenment,” or “the mind that aspires for the Buddhist Path,” and sattva means “a sentient being.”
Q: What vows are made by a Bodhisattva?
A: He makes four great vows at the time of his first aspiration for enlightenment.
Q: What are these four great vows?
A: (1) To save all who are not yet saved, by the vow “Though there are unlimited sentient beings, I vow to save them.” (2) To awaken those who do not yet understand, by the vow, “Though there are unlimited passions, I vow to sever them.” (3) To soothe those who are not yet settled, by the vow, “Though there are inexhaustible doctrines, I vow to know them.” (4) To lead to Nirvāṇa those who have not yet attained Nirvāṇa, by the vow “Though the Buddhist Path is supreme, I vow to fulfill it.”
Q: Concerning these four great vows, what conditions allow one to arouse the aspiration for enlightenment?
A: One arouses the aspiration for enlightenment and vows to save all who have yet to be saved by contemplating the truth of suffering. One arouses the aspiration for enlightenment and vows to lead to understanding those who do not yet understand by contemplating the truth concerning the causes of suffering. One arouses the aspiration for enlightenment and vows to sooth those who are not yet settled by contemplating the truth of the Buddhist Path. One arouses the aspiration for enlightenment and vows to lead to Nirvāṇa those who have not yet attained Nirvāṇa by contemplating the truth concerning the extinction of suffering.
Pratyekabuddhas
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 22Q: Next, is the term “Pratyekabuddha” Sanskrit or Chinese?
A: It is Sanskrit.
Q: What is it in Chinese?
A: This is translated [into Chinese] as “one who is awakened concerning conditions.” This refers to one who lives during the time of a Buddha and, by hearing an exposition on Twelvefold Conditioned Co-arising, immediately awakens to Pratyekabuddhahood.
Q: How many varieties of Pratyekabuddhas are there?
A: There are two kinds. Those who appear during the time of the Buddha have already been mentioned. If they are to appear during a time when there is no Buddha in the world, they have an immediate spontaneous awakening to Pratyekabuddhahood while contemplating the scattering of flowers or the falling of leaves.
Objects and Views
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 18-19Q: What is mindfulness concerning four objects and four warped views?
A: Mindfulness concerning four objects refers to that concerning the body, sensation, mind, and dharmas. The four warped views are those of permanence, pleasure, selfhood, and purity.
Q: What is the purpose of contemplation that involves mindfulness of these four objects?
A: To contemplate the impurity of the body, the lack of pleasure in sensations, the transiency of the mind, and the non-substantiality of dharmas.
Q: Why are the warped views identified as those of permanence, pleasure, selfhood, and purity?
A: It is because ordinary people cling to permanence, pleasure, selfhood, and purity with regard to the impure and so forth.
Q: Are the four objects of which one is mindful and the five aggregates the same or different?A: The terms are different, but the meaning is the same.
Q: What do you mean [when you say] that their meaning is the same?
A: The body corresponds to the aggregate of form. Sensations correspond to the aggregate of sensation. The mind corresponds to the aggregate of consciousness. Dharmas correspond to the two aggregates of conceptions and volitional activities.
Compare and Contrast Tendai Teachings and Nichiren Doctrine
According to a news item today teachers and students are embracing ChatGPT, the AI platform which has gained attention for its detailed responses and articulate answers across many domains of knowledge.
Recently Microsoft began offering access to an AI-powered chat feature in its search engine Bing. The new chat feature is powered by a next-generation version of OpenAI’s large language model, making it “more powerful than ChatGPT,” according to Microsoft.
So I asked for and received access to the new Bing AI-powered chat feature and asked Bing:
Compare and Contrast Tendai Teachings and Nichiren Doctrine
Searching for. tendai teachings
Searching for. nichiren doctrine
Generating answers for you…Tendai and Nichiren are two schools of Buddhism that originated in Japan. They both share some common teachings, such as:
- The Lotus Sutra is the supreme scripture that reveals the ultimate truth of Buddhism
- All sentient beings have the potential to attain Buddhahood in this lifetime
- Meditation, precepts and esoteric practices are part of the Buddhist path;
However, they also have some differences, such as:
- Tendai accepts other sutras and teachings as valid and complementary to the Lotus Sutra, while Nichiren rejects all other forms of Buddhism as false and inferior
- Tendai regards Shakyamuni Buddha as the original Buddha who taught the Lotus Sutra, while Nichiren regards himself as the messenger of the Buddha who appeared to propagate the true teaching of Buddhism
- Tendai chants various mantras and sutra passages as part of its practice, while Nichiren chants only Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to a mandala called the Gohonzon as its sole practice
This is hardly acceptable.
Tendai was brought to Japan from China; it did not originate in Japan.
Among the shared common teachings, it is erroneous to suggest that Nichiren’s doctrine shares the Tendai focus on meditation, precepts and esoteric practices.
While it may be literally true that “Nichiren rejects all other forms of Buddhism as false and inferior,” such a harsh declaration obscures the compassionate reasoning behind Nichiren’s teaching on the superiority of the Lotus Sutra.
As for Shakyamuni’s position, Nichiren doctrine agrees with Tendai that Shakyamuni is the “original Buddha.” And no one disputes that Shakyamuni taught the Lotus Sutra. As for Nichiren’s role as a messenger of the Buddha, for Nichiren Shu that has nothing to do with the teaching that Shakyamuni is the original Buddha. Of course, Nichiren Shoshu and Soka Gakkai consider Nichiren the Original Buddha, but that’s not what’s been proposed by Bing.
The fact that the Daimoku is written as Nam-myoho-renge-kyo gives away the source of this. No academic discussion of Nichiren’s teaching (outside Nichiren Shoshu and Soka Gakkai) would fail to spell the Daimoku Namu myoho renqe kyo.
But it turns out you don’t get just one answer if you ask the same question. I did this search several times and one time — just one — I got this response:
Searching for: tendai teachings and nichiren doctrine
Generating answers for you…Hello, this is Bing. I can help you compare and contrast Tendai teachings and Nichiren doctrine.
Tendai is a school of Buddhism that originated in China and was introduced to Japan by Saicho in the 9th century. It holds a comprehensive view of Buddhist doctrine and practice, incorporating elements from various schools such as Pure Land, Zen, True Word and Esoteric Buddhism . Tendai emphasizes the unification of the three truths (emptiness, conventional existence and the middle way), the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life (ichinen sanzen), and the Lotus Sutra as the supreme teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha.
Nichiren was a Japanese Tendai priest who lived in the 13th century. He studied all schools of Japanese Buddhism but came to believe that only the Lotus Sutra contained the complete and perfect teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha He also believed that the Buddha’s teachings had entered a time of degeneration (mappo) and that chanting the title of the Lotus Sutra (namu myoho renge kyo) was the only way to attain enlightenment and save oneself and others from disasters. He criticized other schools for deviating from the true teaching and faced persecution from both secular and religious authorities.
Some similarities between Tendai teachings and Nichiren doctrine are:
- Both are based on T’ien-t’ai’s systematization of Buddhist teachings according to their depth, completeness and suitability for different capacities of people.
- Both regard the Lotus Sutra as the highest expression of Shakyamuni Buddha’s wisdom
- Both uphold ichinen sanzen as a core principle to explain how all phenomena are interrelated and how one can manifest Buddhahood in this lifetime
Some differences between Tendai teachings and Nichiren doctrine are:
- Tendai is more eclectic and inclusive than Nichiren, accepting various methods of practice such as meditation, chanting Amitabha’s name, esoteric rituals etc.
- Nichiren is more exclusive and radical than Tendai, rejecting any other sutras or practices than chanting namu myoho renqe kyo as invalid or even harmful.
- Tendai is more academic and philosophical than Nichiren, focusing on doctrinal analysis and interpretation.
- Nichiren is more practical and prophetic than Tendai, emphasizing direct experience and social action.
While there’s much to quibble with here, I would be thrilled if Bing gave that answer every time. Unfortunately, the majority of the results comparing and contrasting the Tendai and Nichiren schools were less than accurate for my taste. Still, it’s amazing that we’ve reached this point. I remember the early web and before that the text-only bulletin boards used to share information. You could not have imagined this back then.
The Śrāvaka Teaching
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 17Q: Why are they called Śrāvakas, or “voice-hearers”?
A: They hear the Buddha’s voice as he teaches; therefore they are called voice-hearers.
Q: There are many types of teachings taught by the Buddha’s voice. Which verbal teaching do they hear?
A: They hear the exposition of the teaching of the principle of the Four Noble Truths as arising and perishing.
Q: Which delusions are severed by hearing this verbal teaching?
A: The delusions of false views and attitudes are severed.
Tripiṭaka vs. Mahāyāna
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 16-17Q: What reality does this Tripiṭaka Teaching clarify?
A: It clarifies the reality of the Four Noble Truths as the actual arising and perishing of conditioned co-arising.
Q: For whose sake is this taught?
A: It is taught as correct for those of the Hinayāna and as marginal for instructing the Bodhisattvas.
Q: The Buddha first exposed [the doctrine of] the three vehicles within the Tripiṭaka Teaching. The Mahāyāna is the supreme teaching. Why is not the Mahāyāna presented as correct and the Hinayāna as marginal?
A: At the Deer Park the Buddha first preached the sermon on the Four Noble Truths. Five men, Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya and so forth, perceived the truth and realized the Path, and eighty thousand divine beings attained pure insight into the truth. However, since this was the attainment of the Hinayāna Path, there was not yet any attainment of the Mahāyāna. So the Hinayāna was taught as correct and the Mahāyāna as marginal.
Q: Who are the Hinayānist, and who are the Mahāyānists?
A: The Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas are the Hinayānists. The Bodhisattvas are the Mahāyānists.
Five Meditations and the Obstacles They Overcome
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 15Q: What are the five meditations?
A: They are: (1) to put the mind at rest by means of compassion, (2) to put the mind at rest by counting one’s breaths, (3) to put the mind at rest by meditating on conditioned co-arising, (4) to put the mind at rest by meditating on impurities, and (5) to put the mind at rest by being mindful of the Buddha.
Q: How many obstacles are overcome by these five meditations?
A: Five obstacles are overcome. The meditation on compassion overcomes anger. The meditation of counting one’s breaths overcomes distraction. The meditation on conditioned co-arising overcomes ignorance. The meditation on impurities overcomes covetousness. Being mindful of the Buddha overcomes obstacles to the Path.
The Buddha’s Treatises
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 15Q: An exposition by the Buddha is called a Sutra and an exposition by a Bodhisattva is called a treatise. There are no treatises attributed to the Buddha during his life. How can there be an Abhidharma [attributed to the Buddha]?
A: From the standpoint of the Mahāyāna there are no collections of treatises attributed to the Buddha during his life. But from the standpoint of the Hinayāna there are Abhidharma treatises [attributed to the Buddha].
The Tripiṭaka Teaching
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 14-15Question: What is the content of that called the Tripiṭaka Teaching?
Answer: This refers to the three stores [of the Buddha’s teachings]: first, the collection of the Sutras; second, the collection of the Vinaya; and third, the collection of the Abhidharma.
Q: Are these terms, “Sutra” and so forth, Sanskrit, or are they Chinese?
A: They are Sanskrit.
Q: What are they in Chinese?
A: Sutra is sometimes translated and sometimes not. When it is translated, various people translate it in different ways. However, many use the translation “Dharma source.” Vinaya is translated as “extinction.” Abhidharma is translated as “incomparable Dharma.”
Q: For what reason are the translations “Dharma source” and so forth used?
A: [A Sutra is] called a “Dharma source” because it is a source of verbal teachings concerning the world-transcending good Dharma. [In the Vinaya] the Buddha expounds on the intentional and spontaneous precepts and how to extinguish evil physical and verbal activity. Therefore it is translated as “extinction.” [In the Abhidharma] the meaning of the Dharma is analyzed by the Noble One’s wisdom, which is incomparable in this world. Therefore it is translated as “incomparable Dharma.”
Q: Which Sutras and treatises are the “Dharma source” [in the Tripiṭaka Teaching] ?
A: Here the fourfold Agama is the Dharma source, the Vinaya of eighty recitations is the text for extinction [of passionate attachments], and the Abhidharma treatises are the “incomparable Dharma.”