Tiantai and Nichiren Buddhism and their views of the Madhyamaka and Yogachara schools of Buddhism

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Vert
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Tiantai and Nichiren Buddhism and their views of the Madhyamaka and Yogachara schools of Buddhism

Post by Vert »

I saw this discussion here a few times in this forum and so i would like to post a few quotes of significant teachers on this matter here.

In Great Concentration and Insight Zhiyi writes the following:
“Vasubandhu and Nāgārjuna clearly perceived the truth in their hearts, but they did not teach it. Instead, they employed the provisional Mahayana teachings, which were suited to the times.”
On “The Words and Phrases.” Miao-lo (Zhanran) sixth Tiantai patriarch and Saicho's teacher writes:
“Does this not mean that Buddhism has been lost in India, the country of its origin, and must now be sought in the surrounding regions? But even in China there are few people who recognize the greatness of T’ien-t’ai’s teachings. They are like the people of Lu.”
Nichiren comments in a few writings about such:

In The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind Established in the Fifth Five-Hundred-Year Period after the Thus Come One’s Passing:
I will now address the problems posed by the scholars you mentioned above. The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai comments: “Vasubandhu and Nāgārjuna clearly perceived the truth in their hearts, but they did not teach it. Instead, they employed the provisional Mahayana teachings, which were suited to the times. The Buddhist teachers who came later, however, were biased in their understanding, and the scholars obstinately clung to their own views, until in the end they began to battle with one another. Each defended one small corner of the teachings and thereby completely departed from the sacred way of the Buddha.” The Great Teacher Chang-an says of T’ien-t’ai, “Even the great scholars of India were not in a class with him, and the Chinese teachers—well, one need hardly mention them. This is no idle boast—the doctrine he taught was indeed of such excellence.”
In their hearts Vasubandhu, Nāgārjuna, Ashvaghosha, Sāramati, and other Buddhist scholars knew [the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life], but they did not reveal it to others because the time for it to be expounded had not yet come. As for the Buddhist teachers in China who preceded T’ien-t’ai, some kept this treasure in their hearts, and others knew nothing about it. Among those who came after him, some accepted this doctrine only after first trying to disprove it, and others never accepted it at all.
In Aspiration for the Buddha Land:
When I sent back from Teradomari the lay priest whom you dispatched on the tenth day of the tenth month to accompany me, I wrote out and entrusted to him certain teachings for you.1 As you may have guessed from these, [the advent of the great Law] is already before our very eyes. In the twenty-two hundred and more years since the Buddha’s passing, and in India, China, Japan, and throughout Jambudvīpa, [the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai said], “Vasubandhu and Nāgārjuna clearly perceived the truth in their hearts, but they did not teach it. Instead, they employed the provisional Mahayana teachings, which were suited to the times.” T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō commented generally on it, but left its propagation for the future. The secret Law that is the one great reason the Buddhas make their advent will be spread for the first time in this country.
The Selection of the Time:
If we examine the merit achieved by the Great Teacher Dengyō, we would have to say that he is a sage who surpasses Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu and who excels both T’ien-t’ai and Miao-lo. If so, then what priest in Japan today could turn his back on the perfect precepts of the Great Teacher Dengyō, whether he belongs to Tō-ji, Onjō-ji, or the seven major temples of Nara, or whether he is a follower of one of the eight schools or of the Pure Land, Zen, or Precepts school in whatever corner of the land?
On Repaying Debts of Gratitude
Thus, although their enlightenment may have been the same, from the point of view of the teaching that they propagated, Ashvaghosha and Nāgārjuna were superior to Mahākāshyapa and Ānanda, T’ien-t’ai was superior to Ashvaghosha and Nāgārjuna, and Dengyō surpassed T’ien-t’ai. In these latter times, people’s wisdom becomes shallow, while the Buddhist teaching becomes more profound. To give an analogy, a mild illness can be cured with ordinary medicine, but a severe illness requires an elixir. A man who is weak must have strong allies to help him.
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From this quotes one can see that the Tiantai patriarchs saw their school as beyond and superior to the Indian schools that had come previously and as such outlining the definitive teachings instead of provisional teachings of both Madhyamaka and Yogachara.

Nichiren comments on such matters also show us that he had this same view on the matter and as such seeing the Tendai interpretation of the teachings of the Lotus being ultimately different and superior to Indian schools of Buddhism including the Madhyamaka and Yogachara schools.
ronnymarsh
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Re: Tiantai and Nichiren Buddhism and their views of the Madhyamaka and Yogachara schools of Buddhism

Post by ronnymarsh »

In that case, these quotes and mentions made by Nichiren are referring to the practice and not the doctrine, otherwise how can it be said that Vasubandhu and Nagarjuna knew in their hearts?

When we are talking about Yogacara and Madhyamaka we are referring to philosophy and not to Buddhist practices. In the Sino-Japanese tradition there are two texts attributed to Nagarjuna (Shí zhù pípóshā lùn & Dà zhìdù lùn) and Asanga (Shè dàchéng lùn) and Vasubandhu (Wúliángshòujīng yōupótíshè yuànshēng jié) where the authors propose the easy way, faith and recitation of nembutsu with the intention to be born in the pure land of Amitabha.

That is, even if these masters have taught the truth in doctrinal, theoretical terms, the same cannot be understood from the practical, meditative teachings.
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Astus
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Re: Tiantai and Nichiren Buddhism and their views of the Madhyamaka and Yogachara schools of Buddhism

Post by Astus »

Vert wrote: Sun Aug 21, 2022 10:21 pmIn Great Concentration and Insight Zhiyi writes the following:
“Vasubandhu and Nāgārjuna clearly perceived the truth in their hearts, but they did not teach it. Instead, they employed the provisional Mahayana teachings, which were suited to the times.”
That's not exactly what Zhiyi wrote.

The original:
天親龍樹內鑒冷然。外適時宜各權所據。(T46n1911p55a21-22)

Translation by Paul L. Swanson (Clear Serenity, Quiet Insight, vol 2, p 830):
'Vasubandhu and Nagarjuna internally had insight and were enlightened, and externally each responded appropriately to the needs of their times on the basis of tentative means.'

And that is the proper way to explain the Dharma, as it becomes clear in the sentences following the above one:

'However, some [Buddhist] teachers have a one-sided understanding, and some scholars are carelesslyattached [to their own limited interpretation], so that they [argue and fight uselessly,] like shooting arrows at a rock. They each maintain one extreme, and thus pervert the noble path. If you obtain this meaning, then you comprehend both the impossibility of verbal expression and the necessity of verbal expression.'
1 Myriad dharmas are only mind.
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?

2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.

3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.

4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.


1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
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