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  • The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin I/II
    • Volume I
    • Volume II
  • The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras
  • The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings
  • The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism

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  • Eagle Peak

    [霊鷲山・耆闍崛山・霊山] ( Gridhrakūta; Pali Gijjhakūta;  Ryōju-sen, Gishakussen, or Ryō-zen)

  • Earnest Donor

    [能施太子] ( Mahādāna;  Nōse-taishi)

  • earthly desires

    [煩悩] ( klesha; Pali kilesa;  bonnō)

  • earthly desires are enlightenment

    [煩悩即菩提] ( bonnō-soku-bodai)

  • Earth Repository

    [地蔵菩薩] ( Kshitigarbha; Chin Ti-tsang;  Jizō-bosatsu)

  • “Easy Practice” chapter

    [易行品] ( Igyō-hon)

  • easy-to-practice way

    [易行道] ( igyō-dō)

  • Eben

    [恵便] (n.d.) (; Kor Hyepyŏn)

  • Echi

    [依智]

  • eight arrogances

    [八慢] ( hachi-man)

  • eight cold hells

    [八寒地獄] ( hakkan-jigoku)

  • eight consciousnesses

    [八識] ( hasshiki)

  • eight difficulties

    [八難・八難処] ( hachi-nan or hachi-nansho)

  • eight dragon kings

    [八竜王] ( hachi-ryūō)

  • eighteen elements

    [十八界] ( jūhachi-kai)

  • eighteen heavens

    [十八天] ( jūhachi-ten)

  • eighteen Hinayana schools

    [十八部・小乗十八部] ( jūhachi-bu or shōjō-jūhachi-bu)

  • eighteen miraculous powers

    [十八変] ( jūhachi-hen)

  • eighteen schools

    [十八部] ( jūhachi-bu)

  • eighteen sense-elements

    [十八界] ( jūhachi-kai)

  • eighteenth vow

    [第十八願] ( dai-jūhachi-gan)

  • eighteen unshared properties

    [十八不共法・十八不共仏法] ( jūhachi-fugūhō or jūhachi-fugūbuppō)

  • eight emancipations

    [八解脱・八背捨] ( hachi-gedatsu or hachi-haisha)

  • eight errors

    [八邪] ( hachi-ja)

  • eightfold path

    [八正道・八聖道] ( ārya-ashtānga-mārga, ashtānga-mārga, or ashtāngika-mārga; Pali ariya-atthangika-magga or atthangika-magga;  hasshō-dō)

  • eight grave offenses

    [八重] ( hachijū)

  • eight great dragon kings

    [八大竜王] ( hachidai-ryūō)

  • eight great hells

    [八大地獄] ( hachidai-jigoku)

  • eight hot hells

    [八熱地獄] ( hachinetsu-jigoku)

  • eight kinds of nonhuman beings

    [八部衆] ( hachibu-shu)

  • eight kinds of sufferings

    [八種の大難] ( hasshu-no-dainan)

  • eight major hells

    [八大地獄] ( hachidai-jigoku)

  • eight major offenses

    (1) [八重・八波羅夷] ( hachijū or hachi-harai); (2) [八重] ( hachijū)

  • eight negations

    [八不] ( happu)

  • eight pārājika offenses

    [八重・八波羅夷] ( hachijū hachi-harai)

  • eight phases of a Buddha’s existence

    [八相・八相成道・八相作仏] ( hassō, hassō-jōdō, or hassō-sabutsu)

  • eight precepts

    [八斎戒] ( hassaikai)

  • eight precepts of reverence

    [八敬戒] ( hachikyōkai)

  • eight schools

    [八宗] ( hasshū)

  • eight sufferings

    [八苦] ( hakku)

  • eight teachings

    [八教] ( hakkyō)

  • eight types of arrogance

    [八慢] ( hachi-man)

  • eight unpardonable offenses

    [八重・八波羅夷] ( hachijū or hachi-harai)

  • eight winds

    [八風] ( happū)

  • eighty characteristics

    [八十種好] ( hachijisshugō)

  • eighty-four thousand

    [八万四千] ( hachiman-shisen)

  • eighty-four thousand teachings

    [八万四千法門・八万四千法蔵] ( hachiman-shisen-hōmon or hachiman-shisen-hōzō)

  • eighty thousand teachings

    [八万法門・八万法蔵] ( hachiman-hōmon or hachiman-hōzō)

  • Eikan

    [永観]

  • Eisai

    [栄西] (1141–1215)

  • Eizon

    [叡尊] (1201–1290)

  • Ekan

    [慧灌] (n.d.) (; Kor Hyekwan)

  • Elephant-Head Mountain

    [象頭山] ( Zōzu-sen)

  • Eleven-faced Perceiver of the World’s Sounds

    [十一面観音] ( Ekādasha-mukha;  Jūichimen-kannon)

  • Eloquence

    [弁才天・弁天] ( Sarasvatī;  Benzai-ten or Benten)

  • Ema Mitsutoki

    [江間光時] (n.d.)

  • emanation Buddhas

    [分身] ( funjin)

  • emanations of the Buddha

    [分身] ( funjin)

  • emancipation

    [解脱] ( moksha, mukti, vimoksha, or vimukti;  gedatsu)

  • “Emergence of the Treasure Tower” chapter

    [見宝塔品] ( Ken-hōtō-hon)

  • “Emerging from the Earth” chapter

    [従地涌出品] ( Jūji-yujuppon)

  • Emma

    [閻魔] ()

  • Enchin

    [円珍]

  • Enchō

    [円澄] (772–837)

  • “Encouragements” chapter

    [勧発品] ( Kambotsu-hon)

  • “Encouragements of the Bodhisattva Universal Worthy” chapter

    [普賢菩薩勧発品] ( Fugen-bosatsu-kambotsu-hon)

  • “Encouraging Devotion” chapter

    [勧持品] ( Kanji-hon)

  • Endō Saemon-no-jō

    [遠藤左衛門尉] (n.d.)

  • Endowed with a Thousand Ten Thousand Glowing Marks

    [具足千万光相如来] ( Rashmi-shatasahasra-paripūrna-dhvaja;  Gusoku-semmankōsō-nyorai)

  • Enemy before Birth

    [未生怨] ( Mishō’on)

  • Engaku-ji

    [円覚寺]

  • Enlightened One

    [覚者] ( kakusha)

  • enlightenment

    [悟] ( satori)

  • enlightenment of plants

    [草木成仏] ( sōmoku-jōbutsu)

  • Enni

    [円爾] (1202–1280)

  • Ennin

    [円仁]

  • En no Ozunu

    [役小角] (b. 634)

  • Enryaku-ji

    [延暦寺]

  • Ensai

    [円載] (d. 877)

  • “Entrustment” chapter

    [嘱累品] ( Zokurui-hon)

  • envoy of the Thus Come One

    [如来の使] ( tathāgata-dūta;  nyorai-no-tsukai)

  • equal in principle but superior in practice

    [理同事勝] ( ridō-jishō)

  • eranda

    [伊蘭] (, Pali;  iran)

  • Eryō

    [慧亮] (802–860)

  • Eshin

    [恵心]

  • Eshin school

    [恵心流] ( Eshin-ryū)

  • Esoteric Buddhism

    [密教] ( mikkyō)

  • esoteric teachings in both theory and practice

    [事理倶密] ( jiri-kumitsu)

  • esoteric teachings in theory

    [理秘密] ( ri-himitsu)

  • Essay on the Protection of the Nation, An

    [守護国界章] ( Shugo-kokkai-shō)

  • essence of the Lotus Sutra in four phrases

    [四句の要法] ( shiku-no-yōbō)

  • essential nature of phenomena

    [法性] ( dharmatā;  hosshō)

  • Essentials of Rebirth in the Pure Land, The

    [往生要集] ( Ōjō-yōshū)

  • Essentials of the Eight Schools, The

    [八宗綱要] ( Hasshū-kōyō)

  • Essentials of “The Fourfold Rules of Discipline,” The

    [四分律行事鈔] (Chin Ssu-fen-lü-hsing-shih-ch’ao;  Shibun-ritsu-gyōji-shō)

  • Essentials of the One Vehicle Teaching, The

    [一乗要決] ( Ichijō-yōketsu)

  • essential teaching

    [本門] ( hommon)

  • Essential Works of the Fuji School, The

    [富士宗学要集] ( Fuji-shūgaku-yōshū)

  • Establishment of Truth school

    [成実宗] (Chin Ch’eng-shih-tsung;  Jōjitsu-shū)

  • Ever Wailing

    [常啼菩薩] ( Sadāprarudita;  Jōtai-bosatsu)

  • evil friend

    [悪知識] ( aku-chishiki)

  • evil path

    [悪道・悪趣] ( durgati;  akudō or akushu)

  • exclusive practice of the Nembutsu

    [専修念仏] ( senju-nembutsu)

  • exoteric teachings

    [顕教] ( kenkyō)

  • expanded replacement of the three vehicles with the one vehicle

    [広開三顕一] ( kōkaisan-ken’ichi)

  • expedient means

    [方便] (, Pali upāya;  hōben)

  • “Expedient Means” chapter

    [方便品] ( Hōben-bon)

  • eye-begging Brahman

    [乞眼の婆羅門] ( kotsugen-no-baramon)

  • eye-opening ceremony

    [開眼供養] ( kaigen-kuyō)

eight teachings [八教] ( hakkyō): A system by which T’ien-t’ai (538–597) classified Shakyamuni’s teachings. The eight teachings are divided into two groups: the four teachings of doctrine and the four teachings of method. The first is a division by content, and the second, by method of teaching. The four teachings of doctrine are: (1) The Tripitaka teaching, which corresponds to Hinayana, is so called because it consists of the three divisions of the canon ( tripitaka)—sutras (the Buddha’s teachings), vinaya (the rules of monastic discipline), and abhidharma (commentaries and treatises). The teachings of this category reveal the cause of transmigration in the threefold world and urge one to free oneself from this continual rebirth and enter the state of nirvana in which all desires are extinguished. To help one cast off attachment to the threefold world, they teach the analytical view of non-substantiality, or the perception that all things, when analyzed into their constituent elements (dharmas), prove to be without substance. These teachings were expounded primarily for persons of the two vehicles and secondarily for bodhisattvas. (2) The connecting teaching, or introductory Mahayana, which is so called because it forms a link between the Tripitaka teaching and the specific teaching. Like the Tripitaka teaching, the connecting teaching is concerned with casting off attachment to the threefold world. The teachings of this category deny the view of the Tripitaka teaching that all things, when analyzed, prove to be without substance; instead they teach the view that all things, just as they are, are without substance, because they arise and disappear only by virtue of dependent origination. These teachings are directed primarily to bodhisattvas and secondarily to persons of the two vehicles. (3) The specific teaching, or a higher level of provisional Mahayana, which is so called because it was expounded specifically for bodhisattvas. The teachings of this category set forth a long series of austere practices spanning many kalpas, which bodhisattvas must carry out to attain Buddhahood. They address the three truths of non-substantiality, temporary existence, and the Middle Way, but indicate them as separate from and independent of one another. (4) The perfect teaching, which expounds the mutually inclusive relationship of the ultimate reality and all phenomena, and the unification of the three truths. The perfect teaching is directed to people of all capacities and holds that all can attain Buddhahood. According to T’ien-t’ai’s system, the Tripitaka, connecting, and specific teachings are all means leading to the perfect teaching, which encompasses and unifies them.
  The four teachings of method is a classification of the teachings in terms of the way the Buddha taught them. They are (1) The sudden teaching, or those teachings that Shakyamuni expounded directly from his own enlightenment without giving his disciples preparatory knowledge. This category corresponds to the Flower Garland Sutra, traditionally regarded as the first teaching he expounded after his enlightenment at Buddhagayā. (2) The gradual teaching, or those teachings expounded to gradually elevate people’s capacities to an understanding of higher doctrines. The gradual teaching corresponds to the sutras of the Āgama, Correct and Equal, and Wisdom periods. (3) The secret teaching, or those teachings that the listeners understand differently according to their respective capacities and from which they each receive a different benefit without being aware of the difference. (4) The indeterminate teaching, or those teachings that the listeners understand and benefit from differently as above but are aware of the difference. See also five periods.


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