" From Gautama, Vairokana and Maitreya the
doctrine passed through more than twenty Buddhas elect, and arrived in
China on the twentieth day of the twelfth month, A.D. 401. The delivery
to disciples was secret, and the term used for this esoteric
transmission means "handed over within the tower."
In A.D. 805, two Japanese pilgrims went to China, and received orthodox
training. With twenty others, they brought the Ten-dai doctrines into
Japan. During this century, other Japanese disciples of the same sect
crossed the seas to study at Mount Tien Tai. On coming back to Japan
they propagated the various shades of doctrine, so that this main sect
has many branches. It was chiefly through these pilgrims from the West
that the Sanskrit letters, writing and literature were imported. In our
day, evidences of Sanskrit learning, long since neglected and forgotten,
are seen chiefly in the graveyards and in charms and amulets.
Although the philosophical doctrines of Ten-dai are much the same as
those of the Ke-gon sect, being based on pantheistic realism, and
teaching that the Buddha-tathata or Nature absolute is the essence of
all things, yet the Ten-dai school has striking and peculiar features of
its own. Instead of taking some particular book or books in the canon,
shastra, or sutra, selection or collection, as a basis, the Chinese monk
Chi-sha first mastered, and then digested the whole canon.
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