Practice and Learning: Buddhist Advice from Myoe Koben

Lately, I’ve been avidly re-reading a book on the life of a famous 13th-century Japanese monk, Myōe Kōben titled Shingon Refractions, and I wanted to pass along some good quotations from Myoe’s writings, as translated in the book by Professor Mark Unno. Myoe, like Jokei, is often overshadowed by other contemporaries of the time, and unfairly labeled as “old guard Buddhism” when in fact the book demonstrates that Myoe was a prolific author, dynamic Buddhist and highly regarded during his time. His legacy for promoting the Mantra of Light to a wider audience is still seen today in its widespread usage among many sects in Japanese Buddhism,¹ where before it was something more obscure. His efforts to revive the Buddhist monastic precepts, as with Jokei, are lesser known, but commendable efforts to resist the tide of apathy and corruption at the time.

Indeed, Myoe highly regarded the moral precepts of Buddhism as central any serious Buddhist practice, as stated here (inserts added by Prof. Unno):

Within the three learnings of precepts, meditation, and wisdom, the two dharmas of meditation and wisdom are profound and complex. The one gate of the precepts is the way to enter the buddha-dharma without too much ado. It stops the evil karma of sentient beings who are at the first gate of practice; it is not complex but easy. It is like a doctor who knows where the moxacautery points are and marks them. As one reaches deeper levels, so too, do these precepts become more profound and [eventually] come to interpenetrate meditation and wisdom. Thus, it is said that the way is [one] with meditation and [one] with the precepts. (pg. 66, trans. Professor Mark Unno)

As Professor Unno shows, Myoe utilized a wide range of resources for promoting adherence to the Buddhist moral code:

• The classic monastic precepts, the Pratimoksha
• The precepts found in the Nikaya sutra literature for lay practitioners.
• The fifty-eight Bodhisattva Precepts of the Brahma Net Sutra.
• The threefold pure precepts also in the same sutra.
• The sanmaya precepts of esoteric Japanese Buddhism.²

Myoe, as evinced by his wide variety of writings, and the extensive sources he drew upon, was also not afraid to draw teachings from other schools as well, as shown in his writings:

If there is something that one can not understand by studying one’s own school, then one may obtain the view [of the matter as taught in] the Zen school and thus benefit by consulting a Zen priest, or by relying on the Buddhist teachings [in the scriptures], or [some other] person. Do not be confined to one-sided views. (pg. 79, trans. Professor Mark Unno)

I think that’s advice any Buddhist can appreciate.

Namu Amida Butsu

P.S. Unrelated, but for French readers and Francophiles, today is Bastille Day, or Le Quatorze Juillet (14th of July).

¹ Including a Rinzai Zen prayer book I brought back from Ginkakuji. I was surprised by that one a little.

² As explained in the book, these are the sanmaya-kai (三摩耶戒), and are as follows:

1. Never to abandon the True Dharma.
2. Never to negate Bodhicitta.
3. Never to withhold or be selective of Buddhist teachings toward others.
4. Never to cause any sentient being any harm.