第 le ReIief Offered by Buddha Wisdom. His manifestations ⅱⅡ up the world for everyone t0 see but only those wh0 have faith notice them. Those whO are able tO see His temporal manifesta- tions acquire abiding satisfaction and happiness. Moreover, those who are able to see the real Buddha realize incalculable fortunes Of jOY and peace. 6. Since the mind of Amida Buddha with all its bound- less potentialities Of love and wisdom is compassion itself, Buddha can save all. The most wicked of people ー those whO commit unbelievable crimes, whose minds are filled with greed, anger and infatuation; those whO lie, chatter, abuse and cheat; those who kill, steal and act lasciviously; those wh0 are near the end Of their lives after years Of evil deeds they are destined tO long ages Of punishment. A good friend comes t0 them and pleads with them at their last moment, saying, "You are now facing death; you cannot b10t out your life Of wickedness, but you can take refuge in the compassion 0f the Buddha 0f lnfinite Light by reciting His Name. Ⅱ these wicked men recite the holy name of Amida Buddha with singleness of mind, all the sins which would 216

Defilements ings, clingings and attachments tO ever ything inevitably fO Ⅱ ow. lt is this constant hunger for every pleasant thing seen and heard that leads people into the delusions of habit. Some pe 叩 le even yield to the desire for the death of the body. From these primary sources all greed, anger, fool- ishness, misunderstanding, resentment, jealousy, flattery, deceit, pride, contempt, inebriety, selfishness, have their generations and appearances. 2. Greed rises from wrong ideas of satisfaction; anger rises fr()l 蝨 wrong ideas concerning the state ()f one's affairs and surroundings; foolishness rises fror れ the inability tO judge what correct conduct is. These three ー greed, anger and foolishness ー are called the three fires of the world. 羽 le fire of greed con- sumes those whO have lost their true minds through greed; the fire Of anger consumes those who have lost their true minds through anger; the fire of foolishness consumes those whO have lost their true minds through their failure to hear and to heed the teachings of Buddha. lndeed, this world is burning up with its many and various fires. There are fires of greed, fires of anger, fires 162

Duties of the Brotherhood Thus, with his mind concentrated, he should culti- vate excellent wisdom and aim only at perfect Enlightenment. 4. Ⅱ a renunciant, forgetting himself, 1 叩 ses into greed, anger, resentment, jealousy, conceit, self-praise, or insin- cerity, he is like one carrying a keen two-edged sword, covered only by a thin cloth. He iS not a renunciant simply because he wears a monk's rags and carries a begging bowl; he is not a renunciants just because he recites scriptures easily; he iS only a man Of straw and nothing more. Even if his external appearance is that of a monk, he can not remove hiS worldly desires. He iS not a renun- ciants; he iS no 1 れ ore than an infant clothed in a monk's rob e. Those who are able to concentrate and control the mind, who contain wisdom, who have removed all world- ly desires, and whose only purpose is to attain Enlightenment - only these can be called the true renun- ciant. A true renunciant determines to reach his goal of Enlightenment even though he loses his last drop of b100d and his bones crumble into powder. Such a man, 390

Defilements killing, or by other unkind acts, cause others to suffer. Third, there are those who cause other people to suffer along with themselves. Fourth, there are those who do not suffer themselves and save others from suffering. These people of the last category, by following the teach- ings Of Buddha, dO not give way tO greed, anger or f001- ishness, but live peaceful lives of kindness and wisdom without killing or stealing. 2. There are three kinds of people in the world. The first are those who are like letters carved in rock; they easily give way tO anger and retain their angry thoughts for a long time. 羽 ne second are those who are like letters written in sand; they give way to anger also, but their angry thoughts quickly pass away. The third is those who are like letters written in running water; they do not retain their passing thoughts; they let abuse and uncom- fortable gossip pass by unnoticed; their minds are always pure and undisturbed. There are three other kinds of people. 羽 le first are those wh0 are proud, act rashly and are never satisfied; their natures are easy to understand. Then there are those 、 Mh() are courte()US and al 、 act after considera- tion; their natures are hard to understand. Then there are those 、 Mh() have overcome desire completely•, it is impos- sible to understand their natures. Thus people can be classified ⅲ many different 176

Building a Buddha lnnd Second, there are those that are organized because Of itS convenience tO the members, 、 WilI continue t() exist as long as the members satisfy their conveniences and do not quarrel. Third, there are those that are organized with some good teaching as its center and harmony as its very life. Of course, the third or last of these is the only true organization, for in it the members live in one spirit, 斤 01 which the unity of spirit and various kinds of virtue will arise. ln such an organization there will prevail harmony, satisfaction and h 叩 piness. Enlightenment is like rain that falls on a mountain and gathers intO rivulets that run into brooks, and then intO rivers which finally flow into the ocean. The rain of the sacred teaching falls on a11 people alike without regard to their conditions or circumstances. 羽 nose whO accept it gather into small groups, then into organizations, then intO communities and, finally, find themselves in the great Ocean of Enlightenment. minds of these people mix like milk and water and finally organize into a harmonious Brotherhood. 450

le second of the foci can be placed on the Buddhism of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. There appeared such great priests as Hönen ( 1133-1212 AD. ) , Shinran ( 1173-1262 A. D. ) , Dögen ( 120 住 1253 AD. ) and Nichiren ( 1222-1282 A. D. ). we talk of the Buddhism of Japan we can not dO SO without mentioning the names Of these great priests. 、Ⅵ then did only those centuries ⅲ question produce such outstanding men? lt is because of the fact that a common problem was facing them all at that time.What was this common problem, then? Perh 叩 s it was the fact that Buddhism was being accepted, but in a unique J 叩 anese way. This might lead to the question, " 、Ⅵ ? Was it not true that Buddhism had been introduced tO this country long before that time?" lt is so histor- ically. But it is also true that several hundred years were needed for the people Of this country tO sufficiently digest and remodel the imported reli- gion SO as t0 make it completely their own. ln short, it was ⅲ the seventh and eighth centuries that the efforts ⅲ this country for the acceptance 0f Buddhism began, and as a result of these efforts, the religion bloomed through those Buddhists of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. After this, Buddhism in Japan, based on the foundation built up by those prominent priests, has kept up its work tO this day. Since the time those distinguished men 叩 peared, no more 0f the brilliancy 0f those cen- turies has ever again appeared in the history Of Japanese Buddhism. However, it seems to the present writer that there is another thing that attracts our attention and that is the fruit Of the research intO original Buddhism made in our modern times. Since the time of its first acceptance, practically all Of Buddhism in Japan, was Mahayana, under the influence 0f Chinese Buddhism. EspeciaIIy after the appearance Of the great teachers during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Mahayana teaching formed the maln cur- rent with the sect founders as its center; this view has continued to this date. ln the history 0f Buddhism in J 叩 an as such, the study of original Buddhism was started after the mid-Meiji Era. The figure of Gautama Buddha vividly re 叩 peared before those who were apt to forget that there was also the founder of Buddhism besides the sect founders, and it was 526

Building a Buddha Land Thus, the true teaching is the fundamental require- ment Of a perfect organization and, as mentioned above, it is the light which enables people tO recognize one another, tO become adjusted tO one another and tO smooth out the rough places in their thinking. Thus, the organization that is formed on the perfect teachings 0f Buddha can be called a Samgha. They should observe these teachings and train their minds accordingly. Thus, the Buddha's Samgha will theo- retically include everyone, but, in fact, only those whO have the same religious faith are members. 3. 羽 le Buddha's Samgha will have two types of mem- bers:—there will be those who are teaching the lay mem- bers, and those wh0 are supporting the teachers by Offer- ing the needed f00d and clothing. They together will dis- seminate and perpetuate the teaching. Then, to make the Samgha complete, there must be perfect harmony among the members. The teachers teach the members and the members honor the teachers so that there can be harmony between them. 452

During the earlier years, those whO played pivotal roles in the intro- duction Of the scriptures and in making translations thereof were mostly the priests 斤 om the CentraI Asian countries. For instance, An-shih-kao, mentioned above, came from Parthia; K'angséng-k'ai, from the Samarkand region came to Lo-yang ⅲ about the 3rd century and translat- ed 。立厩 i り励 4 " (the Book of Limitless Life). Moreover, Chu-fa-hu or Dharmaraksha, who is known as the translator of the " S 靃襯 4 面 , " came 仕 om Tukhära and stayed ⅲ Lo-yang 仕 om the latter part Of the third century to the early part of the fourth century. When KumäraJiva, who came 仕 om Kucha, 叩 peared in the early part of the fifth century, the translation work ⅲ China reached a high point. From about that time priests began visiting lndia 斤 om China to learn Sanskrit. 羽 le pioneer of such priests was Fa-hsien ( 339-420 ? A.D. ). He le 代 Ch'ang-an ⅲ 399 for lndia and returned home fifteen years later. 羽 le most distinguished Of these priests visiting lndia was Hsuan-chuang ( 602- 664 A.D. ) who le れ for lndia in 627 and returned home in 645 , after nine- teen long years. Further, l-ching ( 635-713 A. D. ) (not to be confused with the book l-ching) le れ for lndia by sea ⅲ 671 and returned home by the same route twenty-five years later. These priests visited lndia by themselves to learn Sanskrit and brought home those scriptures they had chosen, playing the leading role in the scriptures translation work. The linguistic ability that Hsuan- chuang showed was especially outstanding, and by his energetic work, the translation of the scriptures in China reached another peak. The works of the former days done by those represented by KumäraJiva are called the "Old Translations" and the works by Hsuan-chuang and the later translators are called the "New Translations" by Buddhist scholars in later periods. 518

Causation suffering will be ended. This is called the Truth of the Cessation of Suffering. ln order to enter into a state where there is no desire and no suffering, one must f0110W a certain Path. 羽 stages of this Noble EightfoId Path are: Right View, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Behavior, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. This is called the Truth of the Noble Path to the Cessation of the Cause of Suffering. PeopIe should keep these Truths clearly ⅲ mind, for the world is filled with suffering and if anyone wishes t0 escape from suffering, he must sever the ties of worldly passion which is the sole cause of suffering. 羽 le way 0f life which is free from a11 worldly passion and suffering can only be known through EnIightenment, and Enlightenment can only be attained through the discipline 0f the N0ble Eightf01d Path. 2. A11 those who are seeking Enlightenment must understand the Fourfold Noble Truth. Without under- standing this, they will wander about interminably ⅲ the bewildering maze of life's illusions. Those who under- stand this FourfoId NobIe Truth are called "the people wh0 have acquired the eyes of Enlightenment. " Therefore, those who wish to follow the Buddha's 76

made plain to those who did not heed anything other than the Mahayana teaching that there was also the systematic creed 0f Buddhism. These new phases still remain within the sphere 0f scholastic learning and as yet are not strong enough tO awake religious enthusiasm among the masses. But it seems that the knowledge 0f the people 0f this country ⅲ regard tO Buddhism 叩 pears t0 be taking a turn. 羽 writer would like t0 put a mark on this phase, t0 make it the third or the last 0f the three foci referred to above. 528