ing the True Word school in the first place, the Zen school in the second, the Tendai Lotus school in the third, the Flower Garland school in the fourth, and so forth.127 Because of this egregious error in interpretation, the Zen school has been able to spread its teachings throughout Japan, bringing the country to the brink of ruin. And Honen was able to propagate the teachings of the Nembutsu school, similarly causing the nation to be imperiled as a result of the opinions first put forth by Eshin in the preface to his Essentials of Rebirth in the Pure Land. The Buddha tells us that only the worms born from the body of the lion itself feed on the lion. How true are those words!
The Great Teacher Dengyo spent a period of fifteen years in Japan studying the Tendai and True Word doctrines on his own. He was endowed by nature with a wonderful degree of understanding, and without the aid of a teacher realized the truth. But in order to dispel the doubts of the world, he journeyed to China, where he received instruction in the teachings of the T’ien-t’ai and True Word schools. The scholars in China held various opinions, but Dengyo believed in his heart that the Lotus Sutra was superior to the True Word teachings. Therefore, he did not use the word “school” when referring to the True Word school, but simply spoke of the “concentration and insight” and “True Word” practices of the Tendai school. He decreed that two priests should be ordained each year and should spend a period of twelve years in study on Mount Hiei. In addition, he received an imperial edict designating the Lotus, Golden Light, and Benevolent Kings sutras as the three scriptures for the protection of the nation and decreeing that they be read and recited in Shikan-in.128 It went on to liken these three sutras to the three treasures of the imperial house
hold, the eternal and foremost treasures of the Japanese nation, which are the sacred jewel, the sacred sword, and the sacred mirror. After Dengyo’s passing, the first chief priest of the Tendai school on Mount Hiei, the Reverend Gishin, and the second chief priest, the Great Teacher Encho, carried on Dengyo’s intentions without any deviation.
The third chief priest, the Great Teacher Jikaku, also went to T’ang China, where he spent ten years studying the relative merits of the exoteric and esoteric teachings under eight distinguished priests.129 He also studied under priests of the T’ien-t’ai school such as Kuang-hsiu and Wei-chüan.130 But in his heart he believed that the True Word school was superior to the T’ien-t’ai school. He felt that his teacher, the Great Teacher Dengyo, had not gone into the matter in sufficient detail, that he had not remained for an extended period in China and hence had acquired only a rough understanding of the True Word doctrines.
After Jikaku returned to Japan, he founded a great lecture hall called Soji-in west of Shikan-in in the Toto area131 on Mount Hiei, in which he established the Thus Come One Mahavairochana of the Diamond Realm as an object of devotion. In front of this image, he composed, on the basis of Shan-wu-wei’s commentary on the Mahavairochana Sutra, a seven-volume commentary on the Diamond Crown Sutra and a seven-volume commentary on the Susiddhikara Sutra, making a total of fourteen volumes.
The essence of these commentaries is as follows: “There are two types of teachings. One is called the exoteric, which corresponds to the doctrine of the three vehicles; in this, worldly truth and the superior truth of Buddhism are not completely fused. The other is called the esoteric, which corresponds
