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.Cave temples had obvious advantages.Theywere durable and easy to keep in good repair (no leaking roofs), and they could be keptwarm in winter and cool in summer.One also suspects that they provided a psychologicalimage of emanation from one mass and return to unity.Among the most important ofthe cave temple complexes is that of Longmen (Lung-men), near Luoyang in NorthernChina.The construction of temples and images at Longmen was given enthusiastic supportby Empress Wu.The shrines were hollowed out of the sandstone cliffs of a river gorge,and the central carved figure is an enormous Vairocana Buddha, some 15 metres from thebase of the pedestal to the tip of his halo.This figure took three years to carve, from 672to 675.It was carved, therefore, during the reign of Empress Wu and the lifetime of Fazanghimself.The figure is solid, aloof, and majestic, wearing a monastic robe of simple folds.Small very small Buddha figures are depicted in the halo, radiating from the centralcosmic Buddha.40Huayan Buddhism came to Japan in the eighth century.It was brought from China by anumber of Chinese missionaries, and also by an Indian, Bodhisena.The Emperor Shdmu,Bodhisena, together with Gydgi, surnamed the Bodhisattva a priest who spreadBuddhism, engaged in public works, and advised the emperor and also Rdben, the abbot,jointly founded the monastery of Tddaiji.This monastery is to the present day the centreof Kegon (Huayan) Buddhism in Japan, with some 70,486 adherents in 1970.41 Fromthe beginning Japanese Buddhism was closely tied to the welfare of the state, and this wasnever more so than during the Nara period (710 94).When, in 735 7, a smallpox epidemicravaged Japan the emperor ordained that every province should have a 5-metre-highimage of the Buddha and a copy of the Perfection of Wisdom.Subsequent edicts foundedmonasteries and stepas.All monasteries were to be supervised by Tddaiji.But the prin-cipal anti-smallpox precaution, indeed the dominant concern of the age, was the construc-tion at Tddaiji of an enormous bronze image of Vairocana, over 16 metres high.It is saidthat the Shintd Sun Goddess gave her permission for the enterprise.Vairocana, she said,is the Sun a useful basis for Buddhist Shintd syncretism and further Buddhist mission-ary activity.The figure was probably based on the great Chinese images, but the TddaijiBuddha was cast, in sections, out of metal.The first discovery of gold in Japan soon afterthe completion of the statue was held to be a miraculous blessing and enabled the wholeimage to be gilded.The wooden building which housed the Tddaiji Vairocana remains thelargest wooden structure ever built.Unfortunately, however, it was burnt down in the 9780203428474_4_006.qxd 16/6/08 11:58 AM Page 148148 MahÖyÖna Buddhismtwelfth century, as was also its replacement in the sixtenth century (demonstrating anotheradvantage of caves).The present building is only two-thirds of the original size, but isstill the largest wooden building in the world under a single roof.The Vairocana figureitself is unimpressive apart from its size, since over the years it has been badly damaged,particularly due to fire, and badly restored.The Bodhisattva Samantabhadra (Japanese: Fugen) is often portrayed in Japanese art,usually associated with his vehicle , a white elephant.While seen (along with Mañjuzrc) asone of the principal Bodhisattva attendants of Vairocana, the portrayal of Samantabhadrain Japanese art is as much due to his connection with the favourite Japanese setra, how-ever, the Lotus SEtra, as with the Kegon tradition.It is to this setra, therefore, that weshall now turn. 9780203428474_4_007.qxd 16/6/08 11:58 AM Page 1497 The SaddharmapuèåarÇka(Lotus) SÑtra and itsinfluencesThere were once two Japanese priests, Hdgon and Renzd.Hdgon practised reciting theAvataTsaka SEtra, while Renzd was a devotee of the SaddharmapuURarCka (White Lotus ofthe True Dharma) SEtra.As a result of the power of the AvataTsaka SEtra, and Hdgon svirtue, a deity regularly supplied Hdgon with food.Out of his charity, and perhaps also alittle spiritual pride, Hdgon requested one day that the deity provide enough food for two,and invited Renzd to dine.Alas, in spite of the deity s agreement, on the appointed day nofood appeared.Evening came, and Renzd, realizing perhaps that he had something betterto do, returned home.As soon as he left the hermitage the deity appeared, laden with food.At first sight one might suppose that Renzd was lacking in virtue but nothing could befurther from the truth.It seems that Renzd, through the power of the Lotus SEtra, cameaccompanied by so many invisible protector deities that the poor deity of the AvataTsakaSEtra could not get through the door.Hdgon, duly impressed, abandoned reciting theAvataTsaka SEtra and became a fervent supporter of the Lotus SEtra instead.As so often,religious practice is a matter of power and the greater magical potency lay with theLotus SEtra.This story, and many like it, comes from the Hokkegenki, an eleventh-century collectionof miraculous tales attesting to the efficacy of having faith in, reciting, copying, and gener-ally promulgating the Lotus SEtra (Dykstra 1983: 59 60).For many East Asian Buddhistssince early times the Lotus SEtra contains the final teaching of the Buddha, complete andsufficient for salvation.For many contemporary Japanese Buddhists who follow the leadof Nichiren (1222 82), the Lotus SEtra is not only sufficient for salvation but is the onlysetra adequate to the task during the present epoch of spiritual decline ( Japanese: mappD).From China we are told of a court official who recited the whole setra once every dayfor 30 years, and three times a day after the age of 80.A certain Chinese abbot recitedthe Lotus 37,000 times in 30 years.If we can believe the Hokkegenki, there were Japanesewho recited the complete setra more than 30 times a day and 1,000 times a month.1One Chinese monk speaks of the inconceivable merit of writing out the Lotus SEtra inone s own blood.2Any text which inspires such fervent enthusiasm (and not a little of East Asian art andliterature) deserves closer examination.3 The Sanskrit text of the Lotus SEtra survives in a 9780203428474_4_007.qxd 17/6/08 3:35 PM Page 150150 MahÖyÖna Buddhismnumber of different versions, mainly fragmentary, the textual history of which is complex.The earliest extant Chinese translation was made by Dharmarakwa in 286 CE (revised290 CE)
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