\vi\W>?v;>\
lR^\\\\Sxx\\^.\w-^.:^-
■1 -^V^S ;•
\",
. V ,1* « »■
■^^^ ;-t^^■•-•^^'*^>^;-
".A
■^ *» «\N
J* * ^ *
ls^\\\ccc^\\^^\\\^^\\\\\\\\\\v^\>x^^^
i^ibmx^af
lllrllrslnt
•^.-
Citllri|f.
(>
an introduction to
mahAyana buddhism
With especial Reference to
Chinese and Japanese
Phases
BY
WILLIAM MONTGOMERY McGOVERN, Ph. D.
Lecturer on Japanese and Chinese at the
School of Oriental Studies {University of London) ;
Priest of the Nishi Honganji, Kyoto, Japan
Author of Modern Japan, Colloquial Japanese,
Elements of Japanese Writing, etc., etc.
LONDON :
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD.
NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.
1922
6^
/ ^2:2
DEDICATION
TO
MRS. C. A. F. RHYS-DAVIDS, M.A., D.LITT.
Dear Mrs. Rhys-Davids,
In dedicating to you this exposition of the
bare essentials of the Mahayana philosophy, I
feel that I must explain something of its scope
and aim.
In its original form the present work was part
of a thesis which, when presented to the Japanese
cathedral, the Nishi Honganji, secured me my
Buddhist degree, and an honorary ordination as
a Buddhist priest. In consequence I hope that
it may be considered to represent, as far as it
goes, what the Japanese Buddhists believe to
be true, and what they consider accurate.
In presenting the book in a new dress before
the Western public, a good deal of revision has
taken place, but this has been chiefly a matter
of omission and simplification. All technical
details have been deleted, and any unusual
idea or term has had placed after it a few words of
elementary elucidation.
^^
iv DEDICATION
I have called it an " introduction " for three
reasons. First, because it is intended for a guide
to the general reader of average education, who
does not care to go into details ; second, because
it is intended also to point out the chief sign-
posts to those who desire to take up the subject
somewhat more seriously ; and third, because
it serves as a preface to my longer, more serious,
and more ambitious book on Buddhism, which is
now in preparation.
Finally, may I add that though working at
Buddhism through Chinese rather than Pali
sources, and from the Mahayana rather than the
HJnayana point of view, with the consequence
that I am afraid that you will not always agree
with my presentation, yet I wish to thank you
most heartily for your encouragement, discussion,
and occasional advice.
Yours sincerely,
WILLIAM MONTGOMERY MCGOVERN.
Christ Church, Oxford.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
INTEODUCTION ; the doctrinal
EVOLUTION OF BUDDHISM . . I
I. EPISTEMOLOGY AND LOGIC . . . . 32
II. THE NATURE OF THE ABSOLUTE AND
ITS RELATION TO THE UNIVERSE 48
III. THE TRIKA"yA — THE BUDDHIST
DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY . . J^
IV. THE NATURE AND POWERS OF
BUDDHAHOOD . . . . • • 99
V. PSYCHOLOGY — ELEMENTS OF EXIST-
ENCE 132
VI. THE WHEEL OF LIFE AND THE ROAD
TO NIRVANA 1 53
CONCLUSION: A short history
OF BUDDHISM AND THE PRINCIPAL
BUDDHIST SECTS .. .. .. 180
APPENDIX : the sacred litera-
TL^RE OF THE BUDDHISTS .. 2! 5
INTEODUCTION
THE DOCTRINAL EVOLUTION OF
BUDDHISM
Buddhism is divided into two great schools,
Mahayana and Hinayana. Both systems origi-
nated in India, but since the former predomi-
nates in China, Japan, Nepal, and, in a modified
form, in Tibet and Mongolia, while the latter is
confined almost exclusively to Ceylon, Burma,
and Siam, they are often, and rather incorrectly,
known as Northern and Southern Buddhism.
Mahayana is again divided into unreformed
and reformed branches, the unreformed branch
being found all over Eastern Asia, while there-
formed branch has its centre in Japan. Eoughly,
we may compare these divisions of Buddhism
to those of the principal Occidental faiths. Hina-
yana, or the earlier and more primitive form of
Buddhism, corresponds to Judaism ; Unreformed
Mahayana to Catholicism, and Reformed Maha-
yana to Protestantism.
Of recent years, owing to the labours of such
scholars as Spence Hardy, Gogerly, Prof, and Mrs.
2 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAY AN A BUDDHISM
Khys-Davids, etc., Hinayana has become more
or less known to the Western world, but Maha-
yana still awaits adequate treatment. Different
scholars in dealing with Mahayana have spoken
of it as a ritualistic and animistic degeneration
of Hinayana ; as sophistic nihilism, as mystic
pantheism. They have claimed it to be now
monotheistic, now polytheistic, now atheistic ; or
finally, they have contented themselves with
stating that it is a vast mass of contradictory
ideas, unassimilated and undefined.
It is obvious that all of these descriptions can
not be true, while the historical importance of
the Mahayana philosophy renders it imperative
to attempt some more concise interpretation of
its essential elements, for as Christians far out-
number Jews, so do Mahayanists far outnumber
Hinayanists ; as Christianity has had far more
important cultural connections than Judaism, so
has Mahayana, at the expense of Hinayana,
ineffaceably linked itself with the civilizations of
vast parts of Asia ; and as the early fathers of
the Christian Church and the schoolmen of the
Middle Ages built up a religious and philosophic
system far more important than the ideas ex-
pressed in Eabbinic schools, so is Mahayana the
outcome of centuries of speculative development,
INTRODUCTION 3
enriched by materials from all sources, and ex-
pounded by the great bulk of the ancient meta-
physicians of India and China, while Hina-
yana has remained far more narrow and confined
in its philosophic evolution.
Indian TJiought at the Time of the Buddha.
Any adequate understanding of Mahayana
must be based upon a comprehension of the
stages of its development, of the processes by
which it differentiated itself from the more primi-
tive Hinayana, of the relation of the latter to
pristine Buddhism, and of the place of this
pristine Buddhism in Indian thought.
The period in which Gautama or ^akyamuni,
the historical founder of Buddhism, lived (some
five and a half centuries B.C.) was in many ways
an interesting one. The earlier child-like beliefs
of the Vedas had dwindled, and the implicit
acceptance of the primeval_deities had given way,
at least among the educated classes, to a keen
discussion, from a mystico-rationalist point of
view of the essential problems of existence. It
was the age of the formulation of metaphysical
systems. Bands of mendicant teachers went
forth proclaiming new syntheses of knowledge,
new outlooks on life.
4 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
These Indian philosophers, like their contem-
porary Occidental brethren, were primarily con-
cerned with problems relating to (I) the nature
of ultimate reality, and (II) methods of ascertain-
ing truth.
I. — Just as the early Greek philosophers were
divided into (a) a School of Naive Eealists, (6) a
School of Being, and (c) a School of Becoming, so
did the Indians divide themselves into (1) those
who followed the Vedic hymns and accepted the
universe at its face value, (2) those who taught
that the ultimate nature of things is quiescent and
changeless, that beyond the realm of fluctuating
phenomena is the realm of the absolute, in which
there is no space and time, but only an eternal
present, and (3) those who taught that change,
flux, becoming, integration and disintegration,
are inherent in the nature of things ; that no
thing ever remains the same for two consecutive
moments ; that even the Absolute is ever evolv-
ing and becoming.
II. — Consequent upon these differences of out-
look upon the nature of reality, there arose widely
divergent theories concerning the basis of truth :
(1) Truth through sense impression. In early
days man instinctively believed in the validity
INTRODUCTION 5
of his sense impressions. All things were sup-
posed to be exactly as we see them, and absolute
truth was to be gained by experience.
(2) Truth through reason. Gradually, however,
as the limitations of the senses come to be felt,
it is recognized that the ceaseless change of the
phenomenal world prevents our obtaining an
insight into its nature by means of the senses.
But the school of Being represented by the
Upanishads taught that man's soul is not of the
phenomenal but of the noumenal world, that he
might, through the exercise of his mental
powers, gain a direct insight into the
ultimate nature of reality. This Vedanta doc-
trine corresponds very closely to certain phases
of Plato's theory of knowledge.
(3) Truth through psychological analysis. —
While the Vedantins and Plato were content to
accept the validity of reason, supported, no doubt,
by the seeming absolutivity of mathematics, the
Indian school of Becoming came to regard the
mind, not as an independent, unconditioned, and
eternal entity having a direct insight into truth,
but as a limited, caused, confined, and con-
ditioned organism whose data are of purely rela-
tive value. Acute analysis of the functions of
consciousness no doubt aided this conception,
6 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAY AN A BUDDHISM
and the conflicting nature of all reasoning seemed
to support it. In spite of age-long disputes, no
two systems of philosophy agreed, and no single
rational doctrine could claim universal accept-
ance.
Consequently, only the immediate data of
consciousness could claim assured validity. We
have no means of ascertaining whether or not
these data correspond to ultimate reality, or are
logically consistent, but of the reality of feelings
qua feelings, there can be no doubt.
Primitive Buddhism.
Primitive Buddhism, so far as we can judge
its doctrines by means of higher criticism of the
various recensions of the Siitra Pitaka, was the
supreme example of the Indian Becoming philo-
soi)hy. Change was the foundation stone on
which its metaphysic rested. The body was
considered a living complex organism, possessing
no self -nature. The nature of the mind was sup-
posed to be analogous. The percipient conscious-
ness had no direct insight into truth through a
stable and transcendent reason, but was a com-
pound effected by the chain of causality, and
conditioned by its environment.
Consequently at the outset Buddhism assumed
an agnostic position concerning transcendental
INTRODUCTION 7
problems. " These problems the Blessed One
has left unelucidated, has set aside, has rejected
— that the world is eternal, that the world is not
eternal, that the world is finite, that the world
is infinite, etc."
In a word. Buddhism insisted that we can only-
deal with facts and data of which we are imme-
diately conscious ; with states of consciousness ;
with an analysis of the emotions ; with the
universe as perceived as opposed to the universe
as it is.
The doctrines of primitive Buddhism are all in
accordance with this psychological basis, as may
be seen by examining its theory of the Three
Marks and the Four Noble Truths.
The Three Marks are not doctrines which are
to be accepted on faith, or as the result of logical
reasoning, but are considered the essential charac-
teristics of life as recognized by every day
perceptual and emotional experience.
They are : " (1) All is impermanent. (2) All
is sorrowful. (3) All is lacking a self." This
last phrase refers not only to the soul, but to
the universe as a whole. It consists not of
simple or self-existing things, but of complex,
caused, conditioned things. The fourth mark,
Nirvana, is no less psychological. By means of
8 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
contemplation certain forms of Samadhi, trance,
or ecstasy were experienced. Magnify the ex-
perience, consider it permanent, associate with it
the abolition of sorrow, sin, and ignorance, and
the theory of Nirvana is formulated, for it must
be remembered that originally Nirvana is purely
a state of mind.
The so-called four Noble Truths are derived
from the same basic ideas. Transformed from
an ancient Indian medical rune, they are: — (L)
Suffering exists. (2) The cause of suffering is
desire (and ignorance). (3) There is a possible
end of suffering — Nirvana. (4) This end may be
achieved by following the Noble Eight-fold Path,
which consists of (a) right knowledge, (b) right
aspiration, (c) right speech, (d) right conduct,
(e) right means of livelihood, (f ) right endeavour,
(g) right mindfulness, and (h) right meditation.
The first and third " truths " (suffering and
Nirvana) are the same as the second and fourth
" marks." The fourth (the path to Nirvana) is
purely a point of ethics, and does not at present
concern us. The second (the cause of suffering)
is the most important, and contains the seed of a
very complete phenomenology, for at a very
early stage " suffering " became, in this instance,
synonymous with life, and this " truth " was
JNTR09UCTI9N 9
supposed to explain the origin of the experienced
world — the experienced universe, let it be noted,
for early Buddhism had no interest in the origin
of the external universe.
Primitive Buddhism though agnostic was
probably realistically inclined. It believed that
there is an external universe closely corresponding
to our sense-data, but it realized that in its
present form the world as we see it is subjective,
the result of the percipient consciousness
(vijndna) acted upon by external stimuli.
The theory of the origin, awakening, and
development of the Vijhana is explained in the
obscure Pratitya Samutpdda, or the twelve-linked
chain of causation. This, though differently ex-
plained by the various schools of Buddhism,
always consists of : —
(1) Ignorance.
(2) Action.
(3) Consciousness.
(4) Name and Form.
(5) The Senses.
(6) Contact.
(7) Sensation.
(8) Craving.
(9) Attachment.
(10) Becoming.
(11) Birth.
(12) Old age, disease, and death.
10 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
The origin of the percipient consciousness is
ignorance and desire. Without these the indi-
vidual consciousness would disintegrate, and
though the experienced universe cannot exist
without object, it equally cannot exist without
subject. Consequently when an Arhat (one who
has attained Mrvana) dies, the experienced world
for that person comes to an end.
It will be seen from this that there is a close
connection between cause and effect. This law
Buddhism calls Karma, and is one of the funda-
mental features of the Buddhist faith. Among
the innumerable divisions of Karma we find the
following : —
Des/'re
Ac//o/j ^ — ^ ffeju/f
^-
Another such threefold classification is : —
1. The Seed. {Retu).
2. Environment or attendant circumstances.
(Pratyaya).
3. The result or fruit. (PJiala).
The doctrine of Andtman prevents the belief
in the persistence of the undying personality,
while the doctrine of Karma, on the other hand,
demands that there be something that can reap
the result of a man's good or bad deeds. Accord-
INTRODUCTION II
ingly the early Buddhists taught that the fruit
of a man's deeds will cause the birth of a new
personality after the dissolution of the old. This
birth may be in one of the numerous heavens or
hells, or it may be on the earth again.
Hlnaydna Buddhism.
The philosophy of primitive or pristine Budd-
hism became crystallized in Hinayana Buddhism,
the Orthodox branch of the faith which was
matured during the period from the death of the
Buddha down to about the time of the beginning
of the Christian era, after which it had to compete
with the newly-developed Mahayana. Hinayana
itself was by no means unified, for shortly after
the death of Gautama it broke up into a number
of sects, with widely varying interpretations of
the earlier philosophy. Out of the eighteen or
twenty such Hinayana sects, two only require
especial attention at the present time. These
are, first, the Sthaviravadins (Pali Thervadins),
and, second, the Sarvastivadins.
The former is probably the school which keeps
nearest to the tenets of early Buddhism, but
soon lost its hold over India proper,
though it has always maintained itself in Ceylon,
Burma, and Siam. The Sarvastivadins were of
a more scholastic nature. They transformed
12 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
Buddhism into a complete and consistent
philosophy, and wrote in or translated their
works into classical Sanskrit, while the more
simple Sthaviravadins retained the more collo-
quial, popular, and vulgar Pali. The Sarvas-
tivadins seem to have gained the upper hand in
India some time before the birth of Christ, and
long remained the most important school of
Indian Hinayana. Most of the Hinayana works
translated into foreign tongues, such as Chinese
or Tibetan, belonged to this school, and though
as a separate school it almost expired with the
extinction of Buddhism in India, it had an
enormous influence on the philosophic develop-
ment of the later sects which survived. In fact,
the Sarvastivadins may be called the Hinayana
school par excellence.
Even the more primitive Sthaviravadin school,
which prides itself upon its maintenance of the
letter of the law as preached by Qakyamuni, has
added several important features. The most
essential point is that in practice it has abandoned
the agnosticism of the earlier faith, and depending
upon the fidelity of sense impressions proceeded
to systematize objective phenomena. Thus, for
example, it accepted, in a somewhat modified
form, the ancient cosmography of India, with its
INTRODUCTION 13
geography, astronomy, and account of the in-
tegration and disintegration of the material {i.e.,
external) universe. Where primitive Buddhism
had ignored, the Sthaviravadins denied, the
existence of an Absolute. Those problems which
the early Buddhists has rejected as being irrele-
vant were answered by the Sthaviravadins, even
though the answers were relegated to the body
of relative, as opposed to absolute, truth. The
latter consisted only of such doctrines as the
three marks and the four noble truths.
One of the most important steps to be taken
was the analysis of the parts of being, approached
in the first place from the psychological point of
view. Early Buddhism had taught that instead
of an ego entity, the personality consisted of five
constituent parts (skandha), viz. : — Rupa (Form,
i.e., the body) ; Vedand (sensation or feeling) ;
Samjnd (conception) ; SamsMra (here meaning
various mental qualities) ; and Vijndna (con-
sciousness). The Sthaviravadins divided Form,
the material world, into 27 or 28 parts ; Sensa-
tion into 3 or 5 ; Conception into 6 ; Mental
Qualities into 52 ; and Consciousness into 89
parts.
These divisions were the result of introspective
analysis, but they were considered absolute and
14 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
final. These several divisions constituted the
unchanging elements of existence from which all
phenomena are compounded. Buddhism was
thus transformed from an agnostic and positivist
system, concerned only with suffering and the
alleviation of suffering, into a realistic and
materialistic philosophy, though the transforma-
tion was gradual and could hardly have been
recognized at the time, for early Buddhism per-
mitted the analysis of subjective states, and the
elements of existence of the Sthaviravadins were
enunciated by merely subdividing the divisions
of early Buddhism, while maintaining the sub-
jective or psychological point of view.
The Sarvastivadins are to the Sthaviravadins
what the Sthaviravadins were to primitive Budd-
hism. The materialism and realism of the Stha-
viravadins was made more explicit and categori-
cal ; the agnostic and psychological aspect was
largely lost sight of. Buddhism thus became a
definite and rigid philosophic system, instead of
remaining a body of truths which were effective
irrespective of metaphysics. A most important
step was made when the elements of existence
were classified from an external or objective as
well as from a subjective point of view. The older
or subjective classification was retained (though
INTRODUCTION 15
the subdivisions of each skandha were somewhat
different from those of the Sthaviravadins), but
the subdivisions were re-arranged in such a way
as to constitute a complete analysis of the
external universe.
According to the Abhidharma Ko§a these
elements (or dharma) are 75 in number, classified
in the following way : —
1. Unconditioned Elements {AsamsJcrita Dhar-
ma) or simple elements, so called because they do
not enter into combinations with other elements.
They are three in number, of which Space or
Ether, and Nirvana are two.
2. Conditioned Elements {Samskrita Dharma)^
or complex elements, so called because they
enter into combinations, though themselves sim-
ple and permanent. Their compounds constitute
the phenomena of the universe. These elements
are 72 in number, divided into : —
1. Material elements, 11 in number.
2. Mind, 1 in number.
3. Mental Qualities, such as love, hate, etc.,
46 in number.
4. Miscellaneous elements, such as life, decay,
etc., 14 in number.
These elements were considered permanent and
unchanging, as were the eighty odd physical
16 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
elements of the scientists of a generation ago.
In their present state all phenomena were sup-
posed to be impermanent and unstable, but
consisted of stable and unchanging rudiments.
TJie Transition from Hinaydna to Mahdydna.
In its finished form Hinayana laid great em-
phasis upon two doctrines. These were : — (1)
It is necessary for all men to strive after Arhat-
ship, or salvation from the wheel of life and death.
This was the religious phase. (2) All phenomena
are unstable compounds of a certain fixed number
of stable elements. This was the philosophic
phase.
Neither one of these doctrines can be said to
be in strict conformity with the principles of
early Buddhism. As regards the first, in Hina-
yana a distinction in hind was made between the
Arhat, he who has merely attained Nirvana or
salvation, and the Buddha who had also attained
supreme enlightenment, or, more correctly, three
stages were enunciated : — (1) Arhatship, or mere
salvation ; (2) PratyeJca Buddahood, or private
Buddhahood, supreme enlightenment for oneself
alone ; and (3) Buddahood proper, supreme en-
lightenment gained in order to teach the world.
According to Hinayana not only is there an
INTRODUCTION 17
immense difierence between each stage, but for
the average man the only possible goal is Arhat-
ship ; only one out of many millions may aspire
to Pratyeka Buddhahood, and only one in many
cycles may attain Buddhahood. In primitive
Buddhism, on the other hand, little distinction,
save one of degree, is made between the Buddha
and his illuminated disciples, and the highest
goal is open to all.
As regards the second point, the thorough-
going anitya or impermanency doctrine of primi-
tive Buddhism is presumed to apply to all parts
of the universe. Every thing, even the com-
ponent parts of being, are in a perpetual flux or
becoming, so that the doctrine of a number of
fixed and changeless elements, constituting an
eternal being, seems a departure from the original
outlook on life. To be consistent even the
dharmas or elements should be considered com-
plex, caused, conditioned, subject to change.
On both these points Mahayana rose in revolt
against Hinayana, and attempted to revert to
the spirit of the original teachings. They
claimed that their own teachings more perfectly
expressed the meaning of the Buddha's teach-
ing, just as the Protestants wished to revert to
the ideas of Primitive Christianity. It must be
18 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAyANA BUDDHISM
confessed, however, that this desire for reform
resulted only in the formation of a new system
of religion and philosophy, which retained
something of the spirit but little of the letter of
the earlier faith. Let us take for example the
question of the universality of the Buddha goal,
whereby the distinction in kind between the
Buddha and his disciples was obliterated.
Mahayana, appealing as it does to the emo-
tional and devotional elements, regarded the Arhat
ideal as selfish. It was enamoured of the idea
of self-sacrifice and proclaimed that those who
were content with self-salvation or self-enlighten-
ment might aim only at Arhatship or Pratyeka
Buddhahood, but insisted that its own followers
preferred to abandon these lower aspirations in
order that they might become all-saving Buddhas.
Once this doctrine had been formulated great
emphasis was laid upon it, and we find many
passages breathing the noblest altruism.
Accordingly in early Mahayana all its own
followers were called Bodhisattvas, Buddhas-to-
be, as opposed to the adherents of Hinayana,
who were termed (Jrdvalcas, or aspirants only
after Arhatship.
Later Mahayana, the so-called true Mahayana,
carried this idea still further, and taught that
INTRODUCTION 19
supreme and perfect enlightenment (Buddha-
hood) was the final goal of all. The first half
of the famous Mahayana scripture, the Lotus of
the Good Law (Saddharma Pundarika Sutra),
is given up to shewing that in reality there is but
one road, that the other goals are but updya —
devices — on the parts of the Buddhas for the
purpose of leading the world away from sensu-
ality and materialism.
Strangely enough, however, though throwing
the gates of Buddhahood open to all, Mahayana
took great pains to exalt the dignity and powers
of the Buddhas. In Hinayana the Buddhas are
men pure and simple, while in Mahayana they
are looked upon as divine incarnations, or as
material expressions of the Universal Buddha,
whose existence Mahayana gradually came to
teach.
In Hinayana Sutras sermons are delivered
by ^akyamuni, generally speaking in simple
and unaffected phrases so as to make the auditor
feel the presence of a fatherly and serene old
philosopher, advising those in the battle of life
as one who has just emerged victorious himself.
In Mahayana SUtras, on the other hand, we find
a mysterious and transcendent person far re-
moved from the levels of ordinary humanity,
20 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
who is listened to and worshipped by countless
hordes of beings, celestial, human, and demoniac,
who shower flowers upon the sage while he per-
forms his stupendous supernatural deeds. In
the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra, for example,
Qakyamuni sits for long ages in meditation. He
is the Supreme Euler who has himself led count-
less thousands to Enlightenment during countless
ages, and who never really dies and who is never
really born. The only explanation of this is
that ^akyamuni and all the other Buddhas, as
well as the Universal Buddha, are one.
The Mahdydna Buddhism of India.
The religious aspect of Mahayana developed
some time immediately prior to the Christian
era, but its philosophical aspect was formulated
during the period extending from the first to
the fifth centuries A.D. Two main schools
came to be differentiated. One was the Madhya-
mika school, founded by Nagarjuna and Arya
Deva in the first and second centuries A.D.
The other was the Yogacarya school, founded
by Asanga and Vasubandhu in the fourth
century A.D.
The Madhyamika school, which was thus some
centuries earlier, largely devoted itself to the
INTRODUCTION 21
consideration of the second point on which
Mahayana claimed that Hinayana had departed
from the original teaching — the question of the
existence of certain permanent stable elements
which composed the universe. In accepting
this doctrine, Hinayana, as we have said, almost
abandoned its spirit of insistence upon change
and becoming, and approached the standpoint
of Western philosophy. The root instinct of the
religion was too strong, however, and in the
Madhyamika philosophy a return was made,
to the principle of eternal transience and im-
permanence.
The basis of this undeveloped or early Maha-
yana is (Junya (literally emptiness or the Void).
This doctrine has been frequently totally mis-
understood in the West and taken to mean the
theory of the non-existence of the universe or
purely Nihilistic Idealism. In reality Qunya is
simply an insistence that all things have no self-
essence ; that they are compounds, unstable
organisms even in their elemental stage. The
science of the present generation believes that
the supposedly rigid physical elements are not
necessarily permanent ; that they may be broken
down ; that the elements may themselves prove
to be compounds possessing the essential quali-
22 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
ties of transformation and decay. In like
manner the Qtinya school supposed that the
Dharmas (elements) are impern^anent and have
no existence-unto-themselves ; that they may be
broken down into parts, parts into sub-parts,
and so on eternally. Accordingly all phenomena
have a relative as opposed to an absolute
existence. All of life was once more reduced
to a single underlying flux, a stream of existence
with an everlasting becoming.
In a word, then, the Madhyamika doctrine of
^unya is that there is no thing-unto-itself,
nothing with a self essence, nothing that cannot
be broken up until we reach the great
transcendent reality which is so absolute that it
is wrong to say that it is or that it is not. This
underlying reality — the principle of eternal re-
lativity, non-infinity — permeates all phenomena,
allowing expansion, growth, and evolution, which
would otherwise be impossible.
It is easy to see that this early and undeveloped
Mahayana idea of the Eternal Flux was the germ
of the later doctrine of the Absolute. The
doctrine of the Madhyamika school, however,
was largely a negative one. It reduced all
phenomena to a constantly changing stream of
INTRODUCTION 23
life, but concerning the nature of this stream of
life it tells us little or nothing.
The next stage of doctrinal development, as
found in the Yogacarya school, was a very
important one, and resulted in the formulation
of a remarkably complete system of idealism.
The stream of life was supposed to be the Essence
of mind, a fundamental Mind substance that was
permanent and yet ever changing like the ocean.
From this all the elements (and the 75 elements
of the earlier school became 100 in the Yogacarya
doctrine) and therefore all phenomena are de-
rived. It was called the Alaya Vijndna, re-
pository consciousness, yet it was considered to
be neither matter nor mind, but the basic energy
that was at the root of both.
It is the imperceptible and unknowable
noumenon behind all phenomena. To quote
Kuroda : "In contradistinction to the fallacious
phenomena of existence there is the true Essence
of Mind. The Essence of Mind is the entity
without ideas and without phenomena and is
always the same. It pervades all things, and is
pure and unchanging . . . so it is called
Bh utatatJidta — permanent reality . ' '
It would be easy to exaggerate the importance
of this doctrine and falsely to identify it with
24 INTRODUCTION TO M AH AY AN A BUDDHISM
more developed systems, but undoubtedly it lia8
many points of contact with certain phases of
modern Occidental philosophy. The Alaya
Vijnana is like the Elan de Vie of Bergson, the
Energy of Leibnitz, or the Unconscious of Von
Hartmann. Like the last, though it is the
essence of consciousness, it is not itself conscious
in its earlier stages. It is mental, and yet there
is a certain objective reality about it. Each
unit of life may be regarded as a vortex in the
sea of life. The action and interaction of these
units one with another and with the common
stream brings about the phenomenal appearance
of the Universe.
Accordingly the Alaya Vijnana is regarded in
three aspects, viz: — (1) as active, or the seed of
percipient consciousness ; (2) as passive, as the
sensibilia of consciousness ; (3) as the object of
false belief, inasmuch as being the root of self-
consciousness, each person comes to regard him-
self as an eternal ego unity.
The Early 3Iahdydna Buddhism of
China and Japan.
Buddhism was introduced into China in the
first century A.D., and was firmly established
by the fourth century. It was introduced into
INTRODUCTION 25
Japan in the sixth century, and was firmly
established there in the seventh. The important
sects of Indian Buddhism were introduced into
those two countries, and we find a Bidon or
Kusha sect corresponding to. the Sarvastivadin
school, a Sanron sect corresponding to the
Madhyamika school, and a Hosso sect correspond-
ing to the Yogacarya school. These were all
eclipsed, however, by a number of schools which
developed in China and Japan itself. In these
schools we may distinguish two phases, an
earlier and theoretical or philosophical phase,
and a later or practical and religious phase.
The early or philosophic phase is best repre-
sented by the two schools of Tendai and Kegon.
The Tendai school is in some ways a further
development of the Madhyamika school, the
Kegon of the Yogacarya, but both are synthetic
philosophies, and have borrowed largely from all
available sources. The doctrines of the two
schools closely resemble each other, differing
chiefly on points of emphasis, so that for the time
being they may be considered together.
Their most valuable contribution to Buddhist
philosophy was the development of the idea of
the Absolute, which was latent in both the
Madhyamika and Yogacarya schools. The
26 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
Essence of Mind, or the Sea of Life is regarded as
the one fundamental reality. It alone can be
said to have a permanent existence, all phenom-
ena being merely ephemeral manifestations there-
of. It is very frequently called the Middle
Principle (Chu), since it transcends both Being
(Ke) and Becoming (Kii). Chinese Mahay anists
answer the question of Being and Becoming by
the simile of the ocean. The ocean is the Ab-
solute, the waves are life's phenomena. The
ocean is always changing. Waves are constantly
arising, and no two waves are ever alike. So does
the stream of life ever go surging past, never
remaining the same. Yet there is a certain
stability, a certain being, a fixity, a changeless-
ness in this very changeability.
The doctrine of the Absolute of most Western
philosophies is based upon the idea of pure
Being. The Mahayana doctrine of the Absolute
(Bhutatathata) evolved from the idea of be-
coming, yet the two doctrines are strangely v/
similar. In both the Absolute is the sufficient
reason of the universe ; it is the principle of
existence which transcends but includes matter
and mind, life and death, sameness and difference,
Samsara (the phenomenal world) and Nirvana
(the noumenal world). The Bhutatathata of
INTRODUCTION 27
Mahayana is the norm of life, the acme of being,
the warp and the woof of the universe. It
comes near to Hegel's conception of the Absolute,
inasmuch as it is not only the force behind
evolution, but also the very process of evolution
itself.
Eetaining, as Chinese Mahayana does, the
conception that all existence is derived from the
Alaya Vijnana, which, in turn, has its essence and
supporting principle in the Bhutathata, it
declares that the Absolute is both identical and
non-identical with the material universe. It is,
to quote the ocean simile again, as if the water
were stirred up by the winds of ignorance where-
by the waves are produced. The water there-
fore is both identical and not identical with the
waves. To quote scholastic verbiage, the Uni-
verse is but a mode of the Universal.
Preceding systems had formulated, as we shall
presently see, the doctrine that every Buddha
has three bodies, the DharmaMya, the Body of
the Law, the Sambhogalcdya, the body of Com-
pensation, and the Nirmanakdya, or the body of
Transformation. In developed Buddhism the
Bhiitatathata is regarded as a sort of Universal
Buddha- Accordingly it was likewise considered
to be possessed of the three bodies, so that we
28 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAY AN A BUDDHISM
find in the later stages an almost Christian idea
of the Trinity. The Dharmakaya corresponds
to an impersonalized God the Father, the
Abstract order of the universe, or better, Mr.
Well's Unmanifested Deity, the Sambhogakaya
a more personalized ideation of the Absolute the
symbol of moral perfection and the object of
devotion — Mr. Well's God the Invisible King,
and the Nirmanakaya is equivalent to the
Christian God the Son, or the Absolute as
manifested in the world in the guise of a human
Buddha.
The Later Mdhdydna Buddhism of China and
Japan.
The later schools of Chinese and Japanese
Buddhism are not so much doctrinal develop-
ments as various adaptations of the foregoing
philosophical foundation. The most important
sects were the Shingon or Mantra sect, the Zen
or Dhyana sect, and the Jodo or Sukhavati sect.
All of them agreed in accepting the older philo-
sophical foundations but gave them a religious,
and to a large extent mystical bias.
The Shingon school claims to be the hidden
or esoteric doctrine of which all outward or
exoteric doctrines are but symbols. The full
INTRODUCTION 29
truth, or the inner mysteries are revealed only to
those who have been initiated into the order. For
the uninitiate the Shingon speaks only in terms ol
parable and symbol. The Absolute and the
various aspects of the Absolute are represented as
celestial Buddhas and Bodhisattyas, each one
with a mystic name, form, colour, and sign —
each represented by a certain sound. The
Bhiitatathata itself, as a whole, is generally
represented as Vairocana or the Sun Buddha.
The noumenal aspect of the universe is called
the Diamond World ; the phenomenal aspect the
Womb World, and sacred charts (mandala) are
drawn illustrating the nature, attributes, and
relations of each. The Shingon sect corresponds
very closely to the Lamaism of Tibet and
Mongolia. Both are derived from the later
phases of the Yogacarya sect in India, about the
sixth century A.D,, when esotericism became
rampant in both Hindu and Buddhist circles.
The Zen Dhyana school represents a different
type of esotericism or mysticism. The basic idea
of Zen is that all formulated doctrines, whether
exoteric or esoteric ; all books ; all speech ; and
even all thought are inadequate to express the
full nature of absolute truth. Consequently
Zen refuses to place complete credence in any
30 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
one book, or collection of books, Buddhist or
otherwise. It refuses to tie itself to any doctrine
or creed. It accepts the philosophy of the Tendai
and Kegon schools from a relative point of view,
but insists that absolute truth must be found by
each man for himself by means of intuitional
realization to be gained through meditation.
The only definite teaching to be found in the
Zen sect is that every man is possessed of the
Bodhicitta (the heart of wisdom) or the seed of
Buddhahood. Every man is a sleeping Buddha.
Consequently a man has but to awaken his
Bodhicitta by meditation for him to gain a
direct insight into the nature of reality. The
Zen sect was introduced into China by Bodhid-
harma in the sixth century, and into Japan by
Eisai in 1191.
The Sukhavati doctrine, more particularly as
represented by the Shin sect, the reformed
branch of Mahayana Buddhism may be called
the mysticism of exclusive adoration. In this
school the Absolute or Universal Buddha is
symbolized as Amitabha the Buddha of Infinite
light, or Amitayus, the Buddha of Infinite Time,
and as such is the object of fervent devotion.
Enlightenment, or Nirvana, or Buddhahood is
symbolized by the Paradise, SukhSvatl, or JMo
INTRODUCTION 31
of Amitabha. Eebirth in this paradise is to be
gained by self-forgetting adoration of the
supreme. In early days Amitabha may have
been regarded as an historical Buddha, and his
paradise a place to be gained by death, but, in
the developed doctrine of Chinese and more
especially Japanese Buddhism, we are told that
Amitabha is without beginning and without end,
that he is but a symbol for an inexpressible
reality, that rebirth into his paradise is nothing
more than the awakening of the Bodhicitta here
on earth, and that this Bodhicitta is to be
awakened by love and by faith. At the present
time both Chinese and Japanese Buddhism is
dominated by the Zen and Jodo ideas — Zen
being an embodiment of absolute truth for the
educated, and Jodo its relative symbol for the
mass of the people.
f
CHAPTER 1
EPISTEMOLOGY AND LOGIC
All understanding of Buddhist metaphysics
must be based upon a comprehension of its theory
of knowledge. This theory we had best consider
under three aspects : — (1) The nature of truth,
(2) The methods of ascertaining truth, and (3)
The methods of demonstrating truth.
1. The Nature of Truth.
In Buddhism we find great emphasis laid upon
the two-fold and the three-fold aspects of truth.
In a primitive form the two-fold division is to be
found in Hinayana Buddhism, and probably
dates back to the time of Qakyamuni himself,
but was first emphasized by the Madhyamika
school of Mahayana.
According to this there are two forms of truth,
Relative Truth (Samvritti-satya or Zokutai)
and Absolute Truth (Paramartha-satya or
Shintai). In earlier days this distinction was
applied to differentiate those doctrines which
were an essential and fundamental part of
EPISTEMOLOGY AND LOGIC 33
Buddhism (such as the Four Noble Truths,)
which were absolutely true and changeless, and
those doctrines which were merely adopted by
Buddhist metaphysicians to fill out a philosophic
conception of the universe, and which would
necessarily be modified as new information came
to light. To this category belong the various
theories of cosmography, etc.
Later Buddhism slightly modified this con-
ception. Absolute Truth was equivalent to
complete and perfect enlightenment. Words
being but symbols are incapable of describing
adequately or defining it. Thought consists of
a number of concepts, and any concept being
equally a symbol and therefore inadequate, it
follows that a knowledge of Absolute Truth
cannot be gained merely by a process of ratiocina-
tion. While, however. Absolute Truth is in-
conceivable it is not unrealizable for through
spiritual development we may gain direct
illumination, more or less adequate, according
to our nature and the stage of our development.
Once we have thus acquired a direct insight into
truth we may inadequately attempt to clothe it
in words and concepts, and crystallize it into
dogmas, as a guide to the later seekers after
truth. It is, however, like trying to describe
34 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
the colours of the rainbow to a man blind from
birth.
This crystallization of truth by formulation of
doctrine is what the Mahayanists call relative
truth. Absolute Truth is ever the same, while
relative truth is ever advancing, coming nearer
and nearer to an approximation of Absolute
Truth, as each generation taking the doctrine of
its predecessors is able more succinctly to
interpret it and compare it with new realizations
of Absolute Truth. While, however, the smaller
circle of relative truth is constantly expanding
and thereby approaching in size the greater circle
of Absolute Truth, the two can never coincide,
since the latter is infinite, and the former must
ever deal with finite instruments, such as the
brain or speech.
Mahay ana declares that all theories, hypo-
theses, doctrines, whether verbal or incorporated
in scriptures, whether scientific, philosophical or
religious, and including its own doctrines of
Nirvana, the Universal Buddha, etc., belong to
the body of relative truth, and must, therefore,
be modified with the course of time. This
conception of the nature of truth greatly facili-
tates the doctrinal development of later Budd-
hism, allowing for the evolution of new theories
EPISTEMOLOGY AND LOGIC 35
and interpretations, while the simpler theory of
truth maintained by the Southern Buddhists
caused them to stick fast to the letter of the law
as taught by ^akyamuni.
The three-fold division of truth is nothing
more than a restatement of this in other terms.
The three classes are (1) illusion (parikalpita),
(2) relative knowledge (paratantra), (3) absolute
knowledge (parini§panna). The first is abso-
lutely false, as when a rope lying in the road is
mistaken for a snake. The second is a pragmatic
comprehension of the nature of things sufficient
for ordinarj^ purposes, as when the rope is seen
to be a rope. The third deals with the real and
ultimate nature of things, when the rope is
analysed and its true nature understood. The
only real difference between the two -fold and
the three-fold divisions of truth is that finite
knowledge is separated into falsehood and that
which is relatively true, and the latter exalted
to its proper position, since otherwise, by neglect
of this important phase, intellectual progress
would be barred.
2. Methods of Ascertaining Truth.
Early Buddhism had no elaborate epistemology
or logic, but in the period of the full development
36 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
of Mahayana Buddhism we find the following
classification of the means of evaluating know-
ledge : —
7. INDIRECT.
1. Tradition.
a. Exoteric.
b. Esoteric.
II. DIRECT.
1. Experience.
a. Empirical.
b. Intuitional.
2. Reason.
a. Pure reason.
b. Practical reason.
A word must be said concerning each of these
points.
Buddhism has both an external and an internal
standard of truth. The saints and sages of the
past have had a direct insight into the nature of
reality, and in consequence the truth which they
expounded must be accepted by all. On the
other hand such sages have only achieved en-
lightenment through means which are open to
us all. By process of experience, both material
and spiritual, and by reason, both pure and
practical, we may test the validity of each of
their positions and reinterpret their meanings
EPISTEMOLOGY AND LOGIC 37
into closer accordance with the knowledge of
the time.
Tradition is of two kinds, exoteric and esoteric.
The first is embodied in the external dogmas of
Buddhism as expounded in the Sutras, Vinayas,
and the Abhidharmas, which are open so that all
the world may read, while many branches of
Mahayana insist that beyond this there is a
secret tradition which may never be written
down, which requires proper training and
initiation before it can be understood.
Experience was likewise divided into two
phases. The first is merely the ascertainment of
truth through ordinary physical sense organs
and sense objects. Provided the sense organs
and the sense perceiving aspects of consciousness
are normally constituted the data which they
furnish may be taken as valid, at least for the
establishment of relative as opposed to Absolute
Truth. Owing to the limitations of the physical
senses and the brain machine, Absolute Truth
can only be glimpsed by transcending them and
gaining knowledge through intuition or direct
realization. For such purposes all doctrines,
theories, and scriptures are but fingers pointing
to the moon, and have no inherent validity.
This doctrine is called the doctrine of Ton or
38 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
suddenness, i.e., the means whereby knowledge
may be gained at one stroke through transcen-
dental apperception without waiting to piece
together, one by one, the data of empirical
knowledge.
Reason is the means whereby we piece to-
gether the separate and unconnected sense data,
whether empirical or transcendental, and thereby
make a system or a new co-ordination of facts,
enabling us to lay down generalizations and
broad formulae. Owing to the whole trend of
its philosophy Buddhism could not place such
great stress upon the importance of abstract or
pure reason as could Plato and Aristotle. Never-
theless even the Hinayana sutras proclaim that
nothing is to be accepted that is not in accordance
with reason, and in the metaphysical systems of
Mahayana the process of abstract reason was the
method most frequently employed, more
particularly in such schools as the Tendai and
the Avatamsaka or Kegon.
Yet, inasmuch as Buddhism taught that the
ephemeral nature of external reality and of
consciousness was an obstacle to the ascertain-
ment of Absolute Truth by sophism or bare
deductive reasoning, we early find a tendency
towards pragmatism, or a substitution of practic-
EPISTEMOLOGY AND LOGIC 39
al for pure reasoning, or a tendency to judge of
the validity of a doctrine by its effect upon human
life. Thus for example in the Hinayana sutras,
in discussing what we might call the freedom of
the will, we find the Buddha saying " Some
Qramanas and Brahmins there are who maintain
that whatever a man has in this life ... is
purely due to predestination. Others say that
it is due to the will of Igvara (God), others
again that it is due to blind chance. Now, O
monks, when I find Qramanas and Brahmins
holding or preaching such views I . . . say to
them, ' So then, you must acknowledge that
men become murderers, thieves, etc. . . on account
of Fate, Igvara's will, or blind chance. Accord-
ingly all attempts at improvement or distinction
between right and wrong, become of no avail.
Such being the case the moral regeneration of
the fallen becomes impossible.' This sort of
reasoning must silence those who hold any of the
three views mentioned above ." The pragmatic
nature of this argument is obvious.
In Mahayana we find the doctrine carried
somewhat further, and associated with what we
might call the symbolic theory of truth, i.e., that
the nature of absolute truth is so great and so
infinite that it can never be completelj' and
40 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
adequately grasped by finite logic, yet neverthe-
less it may be expressed or indicated by a
symbol which teaches us something of its essence
without limiting it by definition.
Thus the nature of the Absolute (Bhfttata-
thata) can never be properly formulated, yet
by symbolizing it as the universal Buddha,
as Amitabha, Infinite Light, or Amitayut^,
Infinite Time, we may have a focus for devotion
which may remain as a living and vital stimulus
towards the spiritual life even when increasing
knowledge may cause us to reinterpret our sym-
bols. This is the doctrine of upaya or hoben,
means or devices, or accommodations of truth
to the minds of the hearers, which is really the
basis of the Sukhavati or Paradise doctrine.
3. Methods of Demonstrating Truth.
Buddhist logic which is comprised in a sort of
inverted syllogism passed through a very inter-
esting evolution. From the first it was obviously
a logic of demonstration of ideas already enter-
tained, rather than a pretence of deduction of
previously unknown facts, as was claimed, and
now considered falsely claimed, by Aristotelian
logic, with which it baa otherwise much in
common.
EPISTEMOLOGY AND LOGIC 41
Again the frankly Becoming and consequently
anti-rational position of Buddhism hindered the
evolution of its logic. Hinayana Buddhism, in
fact, never produced any logical system, and even
the reasoning of the early Madhyamika and
Yogacarya scholars with their five-fold syllogism
is largely based on analogical reasoning, the
citing of individual homogeneous and hetero-
geneous examples rather than the proof of a fact
by citing a universal and invariable law.
Dignaga or Mahadignaga was the first to
devote himself almost exclusively to logic, and
with him Buddhist logic, properly so called,
begins. His syllogism is as follows : —
Thesis, e.g. — Socrates is mortal.
Reason, e.g. — Because Socrates is a man.
Example, e.g. — And all men are mortal.
With this may be compared the Occidental
formula : —
Major Premise. — All men are mortal.
Minor Premise. — Socrates is a man.
Conclusion. — Therefore Socrates is mortal.
Let us examine each of these features some-
what more in detail : —
1. The thesis is divided into the subject or
minor term (pakga) e.g., " Socrates," and pre-
dicate or major term (sadhya) e.g., " mortal."
42 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAY AN A BUDDHISM
Neither subject nor predicate is itself to be
disputed, but only the thesis or proposition
concerning their relationship.
2. The reason or premise must be a known
truth, or a truth accepted by all. Consequently,
Dign^ga wiU place here only those facts known
directly, i.e., through reason or experience, and
not those facts which are known indirectly, e.g.,
by tradition, exoteric, or esoteric.
3. The same thing must hold true of the
Example, which is of a more abstract nature.
The word example (drstanta) is singularly un-
fitted to denote the idea of the major premise,
and is derived from the period when the universal
law of necessary concomitance was unknown,
and in its place there was cited one or two
analogous examples. Thus the old syllogism
would have run : —
Thesis. Sound is non-eternal.
Reason. Because it is produced.
Example. Like a pot, and not like space,
while with Dignaga it is of course : —
Thesis. Sound is non-eternal.
Reason. Because it is produced.
Example. All produced things are non-eternal,
to which might bo added, purely for purposes
of elucidation, and not for proof, the homo-
EPISTEMOLOGY AND LOGIC 43
geneous example " like a pot," and the hetero-
geneous example " not like space."
Dignaga's rule for the formation of his new
example was to " take the reason for the subject,
and the major term for the predicate." Thus
for example : —
Thesis. AU A is B.
Reason. All A is C.
Example. All C is B,
or, in other words, to cite another syllogism :—
Thesis. All diamonds are combustible.
Reason. Because all diamonds are carbon. .
Example. And all carbon is combustible.
This brings us to a discussion of the famous
doctrine of the 3 phases of the reason or middle
term (hetu).
1. The first deals with the relation between
the middle term (C) and the minor term or
subject (A). 2. The second deals with the
relation between the middle term (C) and the
major term or predicate (B). 3. The third
deals with the relation between the middle
term (C) and the heterogeneous example (which
we will call D).
For a syllogism to be valid : — 1. must
include the whole of A, e.g.^ the word carbon must
include all and not merely some of diamonds.
44 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
2. All C must invariably apply to B, but it need
not include all B, e.g., all carbon must be com-
bustible, though combustible things may include
other things than carbon. 3. C must include
no D or Non-B, e.g., carbon must possess no
non-combustible qualities.
Finally we come to the fallacies, the presence
of which in either the thesis, the reason, or the
example would make the syllogism invalid.
We are told that there are 9 fallacies of the
thesis, 14 fallacies of the reason, and 10 fallacies
of the example, but these as lying within the
realm of pure technicality, are outside the scope
of our present undertaking.
4. Absolute Truth, and Buddhist Doctrines.
Such then is the Buddhist theory of the nature
of truth, and the means of ascertaining and
demonstrating it. The question then arises, does
Buddhism claim a unique possession of truth,
does it state that its own doctrines are the sole,
final, and absolute embodiments of reality ?
Such is far from the case. Its doctrine of the
distinction between Absolute Truth and relative
truth, caused it to state that all of its own doc-
trines, and theories, as well as the sacred works
containing them, belong exclusively to the
EPISTEMOLOGY AND LOGIC 45
realm of relative truth, and are, therefore, liable
to error, and capable of constant improvement,
that other systems of thought no less than its
own are equally but the imperfect embodiments
of inadequate glimpses of absolute reality. This
idea, more or less common to all forms of Maha-
yana Buddhism, is emphasized by the Dhyana
sect.
The mode of expression adopted by a modern
leader of the school, Kaiten Nukariya in his
" Religion of the Samurai " is very interesting : —
" The scripture is no more nor less than the
finger pointing to the moon of Buddhahood.
When we recognize the moon and enjoy its
benign beauty, the finger is of no use. As the
finger has no brightness whatever so the scripture
has no holiness whatever. The scripture is
religious currency representing spiritual wealth.
It does not matter whether the money be gold
or sea-shells or cows. It is a mere substitute.
What it stands for is of paramount importance.
" Away with your stone knife. Do not watch
the stake against which a running hare once
struck its head and died. Do not wait for
another hare. Another may not come forever.
Do not cut out the side of the boat from which
you dropped your sword to mark where it sunk.
46 INTRO DUCT IO\ TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
The boat is ever moving on. The canon is the
window out of which we observe the grand
spiritual scenery of spiritual nature. To hold
communion directly with it we must get out of
the window. It is a mere stray fly that is always
buzzing within it struggling to get out. Those
who spend most of their lives in the study of the
scriptures are religious flies, good for nothing but
their buzzing about nonsensical technicalities.
It is on this account that Einzai declared ' The
twelve divisions of the Buddhist canon are
nothing better than waste paper.' "
After outlining the " Relative Truth " re-
garding the Absolute Nukariya goes on to say : —
" Has then the divine nature of the Universal
Spirit been completely and exhaustively re-
vealed to our Enlightened Consciousness 1 To
this question we would answer in the negative,
for so far as our limited experience is concerned
Universal Spirit reveals itself as a being with
profound wisdom and boundless mercy ; this
nevertheless does not imply that this conception
is the only possible and complete one. It goes
on to disclose a new phase, to add a new truth.
The subtlest logic of old is a mere quibble of now-
a-days. . . . New theories are formed, new
discoveries are made only to jfive way to newer
EPISTEMOLOGY AND LOGIC 47
theories and newer discoveries. New ideale
realized or new desires satisfied are sure to
awaken new and stronger desires. Not an instant
life remains the same, but it rushes on amplify-
ing and enriching itself from the dawn of time
to the end of eternity."
CHAPTEE II
THE NATUEE OF THE ABSOLUTE A^'D
ITS EELATION TO THE UNIVEESE
1. The Outlook on Life
Questions concerning the outlook on life have
always played an integral part in Buddhist
philosophy. In fact, in its essence, Buddhism is
not an analysis of the ultimate nature of existence
or an explanation of the noumenon which lies
behind phenomena, but it is an interpretation
of the good and bad of life, taken as a whole and
unanalysed.
Like all other phases of Buddhist thought its
theory of the proper evaluation of life has
undergone great evolution and modification.
Its various ramifications may best be considered
under three stages, which, for want of better
terms, we may call, (1) absolute pessimism, (2)
absolute optimism, and (3) relative pessimism.
The first is associated with primitive and Hina-
yana Buddhism ; the second with the doctrines
of the various schools of unreformed Mahay^ua ;
THE NATURE OF THE ABSOLUTE 49
the third with the reformed branch of
MahSyana.
[a). Absolute Pessimum.
Primitive Buddhism began by saying, as we
know, (1) all is impermanent, (2) all is lacking a
self, (3) all is sorrowful. The very nature of
phenomenal life is transient, and consequently
all joys are transient. Where there is birth
there is necessarily old age, disease, and death.
Those whom we love are estranged, or are taken
from us. Achievement is disillusionment. The
few benefit at the expense of the many, and even
the few find no real enjoyment in life.
This state of affairs holds true not merely for
the present earthly existence, but for all possible
forms of life, whether in heaven or hell, whether
in the past, present, or future. Consequently
for primitive Buddhism, and for Hinayana
Buddhism life, qua life, has no fascination. It
can find peace and satisfaction only in emancipa-
tion from all known forms of existence, in com-
plete escape from the phenomenal world, in the
annihilation of bodily and mental existence,
namely Mrvana.
Nirvana, to be sure, is purely a state of mind
obtainable anywhere and at any time, and is to
50 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAY AN A BUDDHISM
be achieved while still in the flesh, but as life or
the corporate personality is only formed as the
result of ignorance and desire in the past, when
the Arhat, he who has attained Nirvana, dies no
new personality can be formed, and certainly,
from our material point of view, the personality
is wiped out of existence.
This is what is known as the 8hd1cyoku-teki no
Nehan or the negative view of Nirvana, where
life is compared to the waning of the moon.
Here the moon is compared to the sins and
sorrows of life. Gradually it wanes until finally
there is nothing left.
(&). Absolute Optimism.
All this was changed by the formulation of the
doctrine of the Absolute, the Universal Buddha,
or the Essence of Mind, the supreme ideal
which is behind all life and from which all things
draw their sustenance.
Every sentient being is possessed of the
Bodhicitta (the wisdom heart) or the seed or
kernel of enlightenment. This is the spark of
Buddhahood which has only to be awakened to
spring into the flame of perfection or Buddhahood.
Consequently all forms of life spring from the
noumenon which is itself good, which is possessed
THE NATURE OF THE ABSOLUTE 51
of the four-fold qualities of Jo purity, raku
pleasure, ga self essence, and jO permanence.
All phenomenal life is bad only because it is
relative, incomplete, imperfect, because it in-
adequately expresses the absolute, because it is
bounded and conditioned, for latent within each
phenomenon is supreme bliss.
Nirvana consists not in escape from the world,
but in the unlocking of the hidden nature, the
development of the sleeping Buddha, the un-
folding of potentialities. It is the fruition of
life rather than its denial. Sin and sorrow are
not so much exterminated as transmuted into
holiness and joy.
This is known as the Shakkyoku-teki no
Nehan or the positive Nirvana, in which Nirvana
is compared to the waxing of the moon. The
moon is the Bodhicitta, which steadily grows in
intensity until the full moon of Buddhahood be
reached.
(s,
Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas. It was not created
in the past, nor is it to be annihilated in
the future ; it is eternal, permanent, absolute ;
and from all eternity it sufRcingly embraces in
its essence all possible merits." (ii) greatness
of manifestations, " that is to say (the Absolute)
has such characteristics as . . : — the effulgence of
great wisdom ; the universal illumination of
the dharmadhatu ; the true and adequate
knowledge ; the mind pure and clean in its self
nature ; the eternal, the blessed, the self-regulat-
ing, and the pure." (iii) greatness of activity,
because as a result of its activity all the innumer-
able phenomena of the universe came into exist-
ence, and also because through its influence
aspiring mankind feels a deep compassion for all
beings, " Bodhisattvas treat others as their own
self ; wish to work out a universal salvation of
mankind in ages to come . . . and do not
cling to the individual existence of a sentient
being."
(h). Detailed Explanation.
The Absolute has two phases or aspects : —
(1) the Unmanifest or Transcendental phase
(literally the soul as Pure Form) or the Absolute
62 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAY AN A BUDDHISM
proper, and (2) The Manifest or Immanent phase
(hterally the soul as birth and death) or the
Absolute become limited.
(1) The Unvianifested Phase, is the Ideal
World the underlying unity, the quintessence
of all being. It is the eternal sameness
under all apparent difference. Owing to our
subjective activity (nen) we build up a
vision of a discrete, particularized universe, but
in reality the essence of things ever remains one,
void of particularity. Being absolute " it is
not nameable or explicable. It can not be
rendered in any form of language. It is without
the range of perception." It may be termed
^iinya or the Void, because it is not a fixed or
limited entity but a perpetual becoming, void of
self-existing component parts. It may likewise
be termed A^iinya, the Full or the Existent
because when confused subjectivity has been
destroyed " we perceive the pure soul manifest-
ing itself as eternal, permanent, immutable, and
completely comprising all things that are pure."
(2) The Manifested Phase is the Womb World
where are stored all the potentialities of every
form of life. It is identical with the Alaya
Vijnana, the repository consciousness, or the
Essence of Mind. This Essence of Mind has
THE NATURE OF THE ABSOLUTE 63
likewise two aspects, (a) that of Enlightenment
in which it is regarded as the focus of purity in
the phenomenal world, (b) Non -enlightenment
in which the Alaya Vijnana becomes entangled
by ignorance, and as the result of consequent
confused subjectivity gives rise to the formation
of the phenomenal world, which is, of course, at
bottom subjective.
(a) Enlightenment consists of supreme
wisdom and purity. In one sense it is latent
in all sentient beings however low their state.
This is known as Potential Enlightenment, or
enlightenment a priori. The majority of man-
kind, however, have still to develop this seed of
Buddhahood until this enlightenment be made
manifest and conscious. Enlightenment is then
known as Active Enlightenment or enlighten-
ment a posteriori. The various ranks such as
Common People, Qravakas, Pratyeka Buddha,
Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas are but stages
leading to Active Enlightenment.
(b) N on- enlightenment consists of the fecunda-
tion of the Essence of Mind by Ignorance which
results in blind activity and the subsequent
evolution of units of consciousness, which,
interacting with one another create for themselves
the image of the phenomenal world. " There-
64 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAY AN A BUDDHISM
fore the three worlds are nothing but the mani-
festation of the Alaya Vijnana — separated from
the mind there would be no such things as the
six objects of sense." In order to explain the
evolution of the phenomenal world the Mahayan-
ists have brought in the Pratitya Samutpada
or the twelve Nidanas, which in Hinayana refer
almost exclusively to personal origination, to
explain the evolution of the external world.
First comes ignorance, which, acting upon the
Absolute, brings about action, which results in
the formation of consciousness — and so on
through the list.
An examination of the details of this theory
lies outside the scope of our present undertaking,
but the following points should be of interest.
The Bhutatathata quickened by ignorance and
ready to be realized in the world of the particu-
lars is known as Tathagatagarbha, literally the
Tathagata's womb, or store house. It may
rightly be called the womb of the universe
which gives birth to the stream of consciousness.
The stream of life being set flowing, from the
action arising therefrom we find the beginning of
the individualization of the particular units of
latent consciousness. Thus is the Alaya Vijnana
which as Suzuki says, " is a particularized ex-
THE NATURE OF THE ABSOLUTE 65
pression in the human mind of the Tathagata-
garbha. It is an individual, ideal reflex of the
cosmic garbha. It is this psychic germ, as the
Alaya is often designated, that stores all the
mental possibilities which are set in motion by
the impetus of the external world."
The Alaya Vijnana ( Vijndna means conscious-
ness, and Alaya repository) is not waking or
normal consciousness. In itself it is more like
the unconsciousness which is behind matter and
spirit, thought and extension. Although it is
individualistic, or the centre of blind activity, it
has not yet reached the stage of self-consciousness,
or distinguished itself from other such centres.
It is but the seed from which the flower of
consciousness will blossom, or the material
out of which the world of subject and object
wUl be constructed.
Gradually, just as the Unconsciousness of
Von Hartmann evolves into the Conscious in
mankind, so does the Alaya Vijndna evolve into
the Kligtomano-vijnana. Kligto-mano -vijndna
is literally " Soiled Mind Consciousness " and
means the state in which the unit of life begins to
be aware of itself, to distinguish itself from other
such units, to become a co-ordinated organism.
As this organism comes more and more into
66 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
contact with the stream of life around it, it
begins to react to its external environment, to
distinguish sensations, to group them together,
to abstract them into ideas and to associate ideas
into memory and reason. Instinctively, follow-
ing the line of self-preservation, it likes certain
sensations and dislikes others, to crave for the
pleasant and to avoid the unpleasant. In this
way the Mano-vijnana (Mind consciousness)
comes into being.
The external world has, in its essence, a real
existence. It is a part of the stream of life
based in the Essence of Mind. The world as it
appears, to us, however, is the result of action
of the Alaya, Kli^to-mano, and Mano-vijndna,
stimulated by contact with the real external
world, which in turn is but a phase of the uni-
versal Alaya.
Sectarian Views on the Relation between the
Absolute and the World of Phenomena.
The foregoing may be said to represent the
views of all branches of Mahayana irrespective
of sect. Most of the schools, however, were very
fond of metaphysical hair splitting, and it may
be of interest to see something of the manner
in which they carried on their discussions. As
THE NATURE OF THE ABSOLUTE 67
an instance let us examine, for a moment, the
manner in which some of the sects have vied
with one another in formulating examples of the
unity of life, and the identity in essence of all
phenomena.
The argument employed is somewhat compli-
cated, and to understand it at all it is necessary
to bear in mind two things, one, the old distinction
between the noumenon and phenomena (the
Samskrita and Asamskrita Dharmas of the older
Buddhist phraseology), the other, the three
states of being, or the three philosophies of life,
Ke, Kii, and Chu.
A. In China and Japan the noumenon or
the Essence of Mind is sometimes called Ri or
Eeason or Principle, as opposed to phenomena,
Ji or Thing. These terms should be remembered
as discussions concerning the nature of the Ab-
solute, the relationship between the Absolute
and the material world, and the relation of one
thing to another, were carried on solely in these
terms.
B. The three states of being, it will be re-
membered, referred to the metaphysical stand-
point of different stages of Buddhist develop-
ment.
1. Ke, stands for Eealism, where the various
68 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
phenomena of the universe are disintegrated into
a number of real and self-existing permanent
elements.
2. Ku, or Qunya, has no direct European
equivalent. It is usually expressed by Nihil-
istic Idealism, but in reality it is neither nihilistic
nor idealistic. The ^iinya doctrine simply
asserts that there is nothing-unto-itself, that
there is nothing changeless and eternal, but that
every thing is in a state of flux, that there is
never a Being but only a Becoming. Modern
European science is nihilistic in asserting that
there is no changeless and self-existing table,
as every table is a changing concatenation of
elements. The Qtinya doctrine, as we have
already observed, goes on to say that these
elements are in turn composite, and continues its
process of desintegration until we reach the
ceaselessly flowing stream of life.
3. C?iu, or Madhya is the ontological de-
velopment of this stream of life. Madhya in its
metaphysical aspect is equivalent to the Absolute
or the Essence of Mind, the Bhutatathat§«. It
is the norm of existence which is ever the same
and yet ever changing. It is thus the union
of opposites. In the light of the Madhya
doctrine we are able to say that the Universe
THE NATURE OF THE ABSOLUTE 69
both exists and non-exists. The universe has
no final existence per se, i.e., it may be broken up
into component parts, so that to regard it as a
fixed reality is an illusion. On the other hand
it has a relative existence. As a complex it
does exist and being derived from the Essence of
Mind its existence is based upon ultimate reality.
The Universe is but a passing phase of the
Universal Life Essence.
So much by way of introduction. Now for the
discussion itself. In Chinese or developed
Mahayana we find two main systems of thought,
one that of the Avatamsaka or Kegon school,
which was adopted by the Mantra school, the
other that of the Tendai school which was taken
over by the Dhyana School.
According to the Avatamsaka School the
teachings of its rival consists of the Ri-ji-muge
doctrine and its own the Ji-ji-muge doctrine.
Let us see exactly what this means.
Ri-ji-muge Ji-ji-muge.
_/f/
Ri it will be remembered stands for reason,
Principle, the Noumenon, or the Absolute j
70 INTRODUCTION 10 MAHAY AN A BUDDHISM
Ji for the particular, phenomena, the various
objects of the universe. Muge means undivided.
Now in Mahayana, as we know, the Absolute
or the Noumenon and the World of Life and
Death or the realm of phenomena are identical.
Accordingly, to use the technical phrase, the
Ri and the Ji are undivided, the greater including
the less. The followers of this school try, by
means of meditation, to unlock the secrets of
all phenomena (Ji) by fathoming the real nature
of the one noumenon (Ri).
We know moreover, that it is not the case
only for one phenomenon, but that all things
are one in essence with the essence of mind.
In consequence, following out the idea on logical
lines, we have.
If A =x
and B =i
then A =B.
Substituting for x the Ri, and for A any pheno-
menon (Ji No. 1), and for B any other phenomenon,
(Ji No. 2), we have
Ji No. 1 -Ji No. 2.
or in other words, the fundamental essence
of any phenomenon is the same as all other
such objects. In this school of thought (the Ri-
ji-muge), however, one thing equals another
THE NATURE OF THE ABSOLUTE 71
thing only indirectly, i.e., only because the two
things are both identical with the one transcend-
ing Ri and not because of their own essence.
The Kegon School declares that this doctrine
is not that of the true immanence of the Uni-
versal Buddha, which is only to be found in the
theory of the Ji-ji-muge. Literally, of course,
Ji-ji-muge means " Phenomena-phenomena-
undivided " or more freely, the direct identity
(in essence) of all phenomena. This doctrine
insists upon what we may call the a priori unity
of all the material objects of the universe.
The line of argument employed in working out
this system is the very opposite of the preced-
ing :—
By investigating their basic nature we discover
that one object is of the same substance with all
the others, or let us say,
If Ji No. 1 =Ji No. 2
And Ji No. 2 =Ji No. 3, etc.,
then we must postulate a universal noumenon
which is at the back of them all.
In this system phenomena are emphasized at
the expense of the noumenon, or let us say that
instead of trying to understand the nature of the
particular by comprehending the universal, as is
done in the Tendai School, we must attempt to
72 INTRODUCTION TO MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
understand tlic universal by studying the par-
ticular.
It can readily be understood from this that
while the Ei-ji-muge idea tends to make one seek
(he Buddha in the mind, the Ji-ji-muge concep-
tion causes us to look for the Universal Buddha
in the body. Following out the former idea the
flesh is regarded as a shackle imprisoning the
enquiring spirit, so that by retiring from the
world one should reduce it to proper submission
and thereby obtain enlightenment, while with the
Ji-ji-muge School illumination can only be
found through perfecting the flesh by bringing
out its latent potentialities, and thereby un-
covering the Buddha hidden in the human heart.
As a matter of fact, however, the Tendai and
the Kegon school have much the same idea on
the subject, since not only are the two doctrines
not fundamentally different, but, in addition,
the Tendai school really teaches the Kegon
conception of the Ji-ji-muge under another name,
which it calls Enyu or the doctrine of complete
identity.
This introduces the question of the three
states of being, Ku, Ze, and Chii^ and also the
fact that later metaphysicians like to distinguish
between the shallow Tendai and the profound
THE NATURE OF THE ABSOLUTE 73
Tendai doctrine. From the fact that the pro-
found doctrines developed in the home of the
school (Mt. Tendai, or T'ient'ai) it is called the
Sange (mt. home) doctrine. The shallow
doctrine developed in various temples away from
the centre, so it is called Sangai (outside the
mountain) doctrine. These names, sange and
sangaif should be noted for future reference.
Mahayana scholars like to codify the two
doctrines regarding the nature of identity in the
following way : —
I. The Shallow (Sangai) Doctrine of
Identity.
Abso/ufe Trufh / J1_ \ A/oa/ryenon
/fe/crffoe Traf/i „ /^ „ P/?e/7ome/7ff ^ TAeJOOO l^cr/c/j
II. The Profound Doctrine (Sange) of
Identity.
!/
/(e .^^--^^/fe J
Another way of presenting the^same idea is : —
I. The Shallow Doctrine.
f A/ourr/enon j
"6"
/ie
f/^enon7e/y 
