Buddhist Scriptures

by Donald Lopez

  At the same time there was a novice named Gyōgi. His secular status was Koshi lineage, Fuhito title. He was from Kubiki District, Echigo Province. His mother was from Ōtori District, Izumi Province, Hachita line, Kusushi title. Gyōgi discarded the secular, avoided desires and propagated the dharma to reform deluded people. He was clever, diligent and innately intelligent. Inwardly he concealed his bodhisattva attributes, while outwardly he assumed the form of a ārâvaka [disciple]. The Heavenly Sovereign Shōmu [701–756], awed by Gyōgi’s majesty and virtue, trusted him completely. Ordinary people revered him and addressed him as ‘bodhisattva’. For these reasons, during the eleventh moon of the Elder Tree Year of the Monkey, Tenpyō sixteen [744], Gyōgi was appointed Great Saṅgha Prefect (daisōjō).

  Chikō became jealous. He slandered Gyōgi: ‘I am the wise person while Gyōgi is a mere novice. Why does the heavenly sovereign not rely on my wisdom? Why does he promote Gyōgi alone to office?’ Filled with enmity, he returned to Sukita Temple to reside. Almost immediately, however, he came down with diarrhoea, and after just one month he faced death. Chikō admonished his disciples, ‘After I die, wait nine days before cremating my corpse. If student monks inquire about me, say that I had business elsewhere. Postpone making any offerings [in my memory] and be careful not to let anyone know [of my death].’ His disciples accepted his instructions and sealed the door to their teacher’s room. They did not inform anyone else, but cried tears in secret. Day and night they guarded his home, waiting for the designated period. When student monks came seeking Chikō, the disciples responded as they had been instructed. They postponed the offerings.

  [The deceased] Chikō was fetched by two attendants of Yama, the king of hell. First, they took him west [towards the direction of the pure land]. Further ahead on that route Chikō could see a golden palace. He asked: ‘What is that residence?’ They replied: ‘How could the famous wise person from the Land of Reed Plains [i.e., Japan] not know? It is the residence into which the bodhisattva Gyōgi will be reborn.’

  On the left and right of its gateway there stood two gods. They wore armour and had crimson foreheads. The two attendants bowed to the ground and reported: ‘[Here is the one] you summoned.’ [The gods guarding the gateway] asked: ‘Are you the one from the Land of Abundant Reed Plains with Rice Sprouts [i.e., Japan] who is known as dharma master Chikō?’ ‘Just so,’ Chikō replied. The guards pointed towards the north and said: ‘Go that way.’

  Accompanied by the two attendants, Chikō walked ahead. Although he could not see any fire or sunlight, he felt rays of heat burning the surface of his body. While the extreme heat was uncomfortable, nonetheless his mind was drawn towards it. Chikō asked: ‘What is the source of this heat?’ The attendants replied: ‘It is the heat of hell, which will boil you.’ Further ahead on that route there stood an extremely hot iron pillar. The attendants commanded: ‘Embrace it.’ Chikō did so. His flesh melted and burned until only his skeleton remained. Three days passed. Then the attendants came, swept together all of his remains from around the base of the pillar, and said: ‘Live! Live!’ Chikō’s body was reborn. Again they directed him to travel north. There stood a copper pillar, even hotter than the one before. Drawn towards it by his evil deeds, Chikō wanted to embrace the hot pillar. The attendants commanded: ‘Embrace it.’ Chikō did so. His body burned and melted away. Three days passed. As before, the attendants swept around the pillar and said: ‘Live! Live!’ Chikō was reborn. Once again they directed him towards the north.

  Fiery heat rose like clouds of mist. It was so hot that if a flying bird had happened upon it, the bird would instantly fall as [its blood] boiled. Chikō asked: ‘What is this place?’ The attendants replied: ‘Avīci Hell, where you will be boiled.’ They immediately grabbed Chikō and threw him into the boiling flames. Only by hearing the sound of a bell being struck could Chikō cool off and rest. Three days passed. The attendants pulled Chikō out of hell and said: ‘Live! Live!’ Chikō regained his former self.

  They took him back the way he had come until they arrived at the gateway to the golden residence. The attendants announced: ‘We have brought him back.’ The two guards at the gateway said: ‘You were summoned here so that you might eliminate your sin of having criticized the bodhisattva Gyōgi in the Land of Reed Plains. After the bodhisattva finishes converting people in the Land of Reed Plains, he will be born in this residence. We are waiting for his arrival. Be careful not to eat any food cooked on the hearths of Yellow Springs [i.e., the netherworld]. Now, return home.’ Accompanied by the attendants, Chikō headed east towards the way he had come.

  When the disciples had observed the nine-day period, they heard Chikō call out for them. They gathered around him, overjoyed at his recovery. Chikō sighed heavily, turned towards his disciples, and told them in detail of the lands of Yama. He respectfully decided to tell Gyōgi of his jealousy.

  At that time Gyōgi was in Naniwa, where he directed the construction of bridges, canals and docks. When Chikō physically recovered, he went to Gyōgi’s location. The bodhisattva saw Chikō and by means of his penetrating vision instantly knew what Chikō thought. Filled with loving kindness, Gyōgi said: ‘Why have we so rarely met?’ Chikō announced his repentance. He confessed: ‘I was jealous of the bodhisattva. I said, “I am a fully ordained, senior monk, with innate wisdom. Gyōgi is a novice with shallow intelligence who has never been ordained with the complete precepts. Why does the heavenly sovereign only elevate Gyōgi while discarding me?” As a result of this verbal sin, King Yama summoned me and forced me to embrace iron and copper pillars for nine days until I had atoned for the sin of slander. I fear what retributions my remaining sins will engender in my afterlife. Therefore I am confessing. Please excuse my sins.’ Venerable Gyōgi, with a kind expression, silently [consented]. Chikō added: ‘I saw the golden residence where you will be reborn.’ Gyōgi listened to him and said: ‘How joyful! How valuable!’

  Our mouths are entryways for mishaps that injure our bodies, while our tongues are axes that mutilate our goodness. For this reason, the Inconceivable Radiant Bodhisattva Sūtra [Japanese: Fushigi kō bosatsukyō] teaches: ‘Because the bodhisattva Surplus Assets (Nyōzai) committed the sin of criticizing the faults of the bodhisattva Noble Divinity (Kenten), for ninety-one aeons he was always reborn in the womb of a whore, who always abandoned him at birth, so that the wild foxes always ate him.’

  Translated by William Bodiford from Endō Yoshimoto and Kasuga Kazuo (eds.), Nihon ryōi ki, Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei, vol. 70 (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1977).

  4

  A LESSON FROM A GHOST

  Ghosts are one of the six types of beings that populate the Buddhist universe. Although they have their own underground realm, some of them venture into the human world, invisible to all but the spiritually advanced, as in the story below. Ghosts suffer from hunger and thirst (thus, the common translation from the Chinese, ‘hungry ghosts’). They are constantly seeking food and drink, and when they find it, they encounter obstacles. A river, upon their approach, may turn into burning sand or into a current of pus and blood. Ghosts are often depicted as having huge abdomens and tiny limbs. Their throats are sometimes the size of the eye of a needle, sometimes tied in a knot. The origin of the category of ghost is unclear, but their depiction in Buddhist iconography suggests a human suffering from acute starvation, with a bloated abdomen supported precariously by a skeletal frame. The Sanskrit term rendered here as ‘ghost’, preta, means ‘departed’, suggesting that these ghosts are the wandering spirits of departed ancestors whose families have failed to make the proper offerings for their sustenance in the next life.

  There are many stories of Buddhist monks encountering ghosts, who relate to them the story of how they arrived at their sad state. Their accounts serve as cautionary tales. Here, the monk Nārada encounters a ghost with a golden body and the mouth of a pig. In Buddhist stories, one’s past deeds are often displayed on one’s present body, and marks of both virtue and sin may
be present, as with this ghost.

  This story appears in a work called the Exposition of the Ultimate (Paramatthadāpanī) by the monk Dhammapāla, said to have lived in the south of India, perhaps in the middle of the sixth century CE.

  This story was told about a certain ghost who had the mouth of a pig when the Teacher was living in the park of the Venuvana monastery near Rājagaha.

  Once upon a time, at the time of the previous buddha Kassapa, there was a monk who was disciplined with respect to his body, but undisciplined with respect to his speech, and he insulted and abused other monks. When he died, he was reborn in hell. For the whole period in between buddhas, he cooked in hell. Moving from hell, he was reborn at the foot of Vulture Peak as a ghost at the time of the arising of the Buddha. He was afflicted with hunger and thirst as a result of what he did with his mouth. Moreover, his mouth was like the mouth of a pig, although his complexion was golden.

  At that time, the Venerable Nārada was living on Vulture Peak. After taking care of his bodily hygiene, he took his bowl and robe and went to Rājagaha to collect alms. He saw this hungry ghost while on his way to Rājagaha, and said this verse to ask what had been done by him to become like this:

  Your complexion is all of gold, it shines in all directions,

  But your mouth is like a pig’s, what action did you do earlier?

  The hungry ghost, asked about his karma, replied with the following verse:

  I was disciplined with my body, but I was uncontrolled in my speech.

  Because of that my complexion is like this, just as you see, O Nārada.

  When the hungry ghost had replied to the question of the elder, he said this verse to give the monk advice:

  O Nārada, I say this to you: This was seen by yourself.

  Don’t sin with your mouth, don’t become someone with the mouth of a pig.

  Then the Venerable Nārada went on to Rājagaha for alms. He returned with his afternoon meal and, sitting in the middle of the fourfold assembly of monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen, told the whole story to the Teacher. The Teacher replied that he had seen that hungry ghost earlier and he preached a sermon that displayed the several kinds of disadvantages and dangers connected with poor control of speech and the benefits connected with good conduct in speech. That sermon was filled with meaning and usefulness for everyone present.

  Translated by Charles Hallisey from the Paramatthadīpanī by Dhammapāla, ed. E. Hardy (London: Pali Text Society, 1894), pp. 9–12.

  5

  A SCRIPTURE THAT PROTECTS KINGS

  The word of the Buddha is said to possess extraordinary power, and there are many stories told of miracles that occurred when a sūtra, or even the title of a sūtra, was recited. The efficacy of scripture in Buddhism, therefore, does not derive simply from the ideas and doctrines it contains. Its more immediate qualities – the sound of its words and the pages that record them – are a source of power and blessing. Knowledge of these extraordinary qualities is not derived merely from the testimony of the faithful. A common element in Buddhist sūtras, especially Mahāyāna sūtras, is an entire section or chapter in which the Buddha extols the special powers of that very sūtra itself and explains the wondrous benefits that will accrue to anyone who reads it, copies it, recites it, preaches it, bows down before it, places it on an altar, offers it a flower and so on. In some cases, these benefits are described by someone in the Buddha’s audience (as in the passage below), with the Buddha certifying the truth of their claims. Scholars speculate that many of these chapters, often occurring at or near the end of the text, are interpolations into an earlier text, providing a kind of advertisement for the text from the Buddha himself. For the rewards promised by the Buddha are many, including, as in the text below, protection provided by the world itself, here in the form of the kings of the four directions.

  The passage is from the Sūtra of Golden Light (Suvarnaprabhāsottama Sūtra), an Indian Mahāyāna sūtra that was especially important in East Asia. In the chapter translated below, the four divine kings praise the Sūtra of Golden Light and describe its powers. The four kings preside over the four cardinal directions – Vaiśravana in the north, Dhrtarāstra in the east, Virūḍhaka in the south and Virūpākṣa in the west – from their heavens on the four slopes of Mount Meru. In the passage here, the four kings offer their protection to any monk who will travel to another land to preach the Sūtra of Golden Light. Any monk who does so will also gain the support and protection of the king of that land. And any king who upholds the Sūtra of Golden Light and protects a monk who preaches it will gain the protection of the four kings (and their armies) for himself and for his realm.

  Throughout the history of Buddhism, the saṅgha has depended on the support of the state, and the king, for its survival. The Buddha himself counted kings among his most loyal disciples. These relations would be repeated throughout Asia, as monks carried texts and technologies to foreign courts, where they sometimes became the teachers and advisers of monarchs. In China, despite periods of persecution, a symbiotic relationship developed between imperial rule and the saṅgha, between state law and Buddhist law. The ruler was responsible for protecting and maintaining the saṅgha. The saṅgha was responsible for maintaining moral rectitude, thus creating the merit that would sustain the state, and for instructing the populace in the virtuous behaviour that would promote social order. In addition, the saṅgha had in its possession texts with special powers that could protect the king’s realm from natural disasters and invading armies, as the four divine kings explain below.

  The Chapter on the Four Divine Kings

  At that time, the Divine King Vaiśravaņa, the Divine King Dhrtarāṣtra, the Divine King Virūḍhaka, and the Divine King Virūpākṣa, having arisen together from their seats, bared their right shoulders, kneeled with right knee to the ground, and faced the Buddha reverently with palms joined. Having prostrated to the Buddha’s feet in obeisance, they addressed him, saying, ‘World-Honoured One, this Sūtra of Golden Light, peerless king among sūtras, is borne in mind and watched over constantly by all the buddhas and world-honoured ones. It is revered by all the bodhisattvas; it is worshipped by the sovereign gods, bringing joy to all the heavenly hosts; it is praised in eulogy by all the divine protectors of the world; and it is constantly received and upheld by śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, alike. [The radiance of this sūtra] is able to illuminate the palaces of all the gods; it is able to give animate beings the most sublime happiness; it is able to put an end to the sufferings in the destinies of the hells, hungry ghosts and animal [realms]; it is able to expel all fear and to cause all malicious enemies to instantly flee in retreat. It is able to supply more than one needs in times of famine and want; it is able to cure the pains of every imaginable illness. [In its presence] the hundred thousand afflictions that arise from natural anomaly and disaster will all disappear. World-Honoured One, this Sūtra of Golden Light, the peerless king among scriptures, is able in this way to bring security, benefit, happiness and succour to us all. Our sole wish is that the World-Honoured One will proclaim and expound it widely to the grand assembly [of the saṅgha]. Whenever we four divine kings and our retinues detect the ambrosial flavour of this unsurpassed dharma, we experience a surge in our vital energy, an increase in our majestic aura, and a redoubling of our vigour, our boldness and our supernatural powers.

  ‘World-Honoured One. We four divine kings ourselves cultivate the true dharma; constantly we are expounding the true dharma, and by means of this dharma we transform [and bring] the world [to order]. We cause all gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras and mahoragas, demons and spirits, as well as all human kings to govern the world by means of this true dharma and to expel and keep in check all the evils. All those demons and spirits, devoid of compassion, that suck and feed off the vital energy of human beings we cause to move far away. We four divine kings and our various yakṣa generals of the twenty-eight divisions, together with their hundreds of thous
ands of yakṣas, demons and spirits, survey and watch over this continent of Jambudvīpa with a pure and divine eye that far surpasses that of ordinary humans. World-Honoured One, it is for this reason we divine kings are called “protectors of the world”.

  ‘Moreover, if in this continent there is a king who suffers invasion by malicious brigands from other regions, or who suffers the rampages of famine and plague and countless hundreds of thousands of other sorts of crisis and disaster [then he should realize], O World-Honoured One, that we four divine kings venerate and make offering to this supremely sovereign Sūtra of Golden Light. Should there be a bhikṣu dharma-master who receives and upholds this sūtra, we four kings will collectively go to that individual to enlighten and encourage him. That dharma-master will thereupon, by dint of the power of our supernormal abilities and our enlightenment, [be made to] travel to that realm and widely proclaim and distribute this most sublime Sūtra of Golden Light. By the power of that sūtra, those hundreds of thousands of tribulations, calamities and crises will all be removed completely.

  ‘World-Honoured One, if a bhikṣu dharma-master who upholds this sūtra should reside among the realms of the various kings, you should realize that when the bhikṣu arrived in that land, this sūtra arrived in that land along with him. World-Honoured One, the king of that land should then go to that dharma-master’s abode and listen to what he preaches. Upon hearing it, he will be overjoyed. He will revere and make offerings to that dharma-master; and with profound heart he will protect [that bhikṣu] and keep him from trouble. He will publicly expound this sūtra, [thereby] bringing benefit to all. World-Honoured One, because of this sūtra, we four divine kings, united in our singular purpose, will protect that human king and the people of his realm, ensuring that they remain free of calamity and that they are always secure. World-Honoured One, whenever there is a bhikṣu [monk], a bhikṣunī [nun], an upāsaka [male lay disciple], or an upāsikā [female lay disciple] who upholds this sūtra, and that king of men provides for and offers whatever he needs, so that he lacks nothing, then we four divine kings will cause that sovereign and the populace of his realm to all experience security and be far removed from calamity and misfortune. World-Honoured One, if there is a person who receives, upholds, reads and recites this sūtra, and a king should make offering to, venerate, honour and praise it, we will cause that king to be revered and honoured as the foremost among all kings, and to be praised together by the kings of all these other lands.’ Upon hearing this, the grand assembly was overjoyed, and all resolved to receive and keep this sūtra.