Hachiman Also, Great Bodhisattva Hachiman. One of Japan’s main deities. Though originally a Shinto god, after the introduction of Buddhism to that country, Hachiman came to be closely associated with Buddhism. In the late twelfth century, Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura shogunate, erected a shrine to Hachiman in Kamakura, and the worship of Hachiman as a protective deity of the warriors and the villages spread throughout Japan. Since the Heian period (794–1185), Hachiman was regarded as the deified spirit of the fifteenth sovereign, Emperor Ōjin.
hakei (Jpn) A legendary beast, resembling a tiger, that is said to devour its own father.
Harivarman (n.d.) An Indian monk of the third or fourth century, regarded as the founder of the Establishment of Truth school of China. Originally a student of Brahmanism, he later studied Hinayana Buddhist teachings under Kumāralāta, founder of the Hinayana Sautrāntika school, and studied the Mahayana teachings as well. He authored The Treatise on the Establishment of Truth, translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva in the early fifth century, a work that became the basis of the Establishment of Truth school in China.
Hearer of Many Teachings See Vaishravana.
Heart Sutra A short sutra containing the essence of the teachings of the Wisdom sutras and briefly stating the doctrine of the non-substantiality of all phenomena.
heavenly devil See devil king of the sixth heaven.
heavenly gods and benevolent deities Also, Buddhist gods, protective gods, tutelary gods, guardian gods, and so on. Gods who protect the correct Buddhist teaching and its votaries. These gods also work to protect the people and their land and bring fortune to both. “Heavenly gods and benevolent deities” is a generic term for Brahmā, Shakra, the four heavenly kings, and other deities.
Heaven of Freely Enjoying Things Conjured by Others Also, sixth heaven. In ancient Indian cosmology, the sixth and highest of the six heavens in the world of desire. Its dwellers make free use of things created by others for their own pleasure, hence the name of this heaven. This heaven is the abode of the devil king, called Māra in Sanskrit, often referred to as the devil king of the sixth heaven, who is said to harass practitioners of Buddhism through various means to prevent them from attaining Buddhahood.
heaven of the thirty-three gods The second of the six heavens in the world of desire. It is said to be located on a plateau at the top of Mount Sumeru where it is home to thirty-three gods, including Shakra who rules over the others.
Hei no Saemon (d. 1293) Officially Hei no Saemon-no-jō Yoritsuna. Also known as Taira no Yoritsuna. A leading official of the Hōjō regency, which controlled the Kamakura shogunate and ruled Japan from 1203 till 1333. Serving two successive regents, Hōjō Tokimune and Hōjō Sadatoki, he wielded great influence as deputy chief of the Office of Military and Police Affairs (the chief being the regent himself). He played an active part in persecuting Nichiren Daishonin and his followers.
hell The realm of utmost suffering. Various kinds of hells are described in the sutras, such as the eight hot hells and the eight cold hells. Also, hell is the first and lowest of the Ten Worlds. Viewed as a state of life, hell is a condition of extreme mental or physical suffering, characterized by impulses of rage and self-destruction.
hell of black cords See eight hot hells.
hell of crushing See eight hot hells.
hell of great wailing See eight hot hells.
hell of incessant suffering See Avīchi hell.
hell of repeated rebirth for torture See eight hot hells.
hell of wailing See eight hot hells.
Hiei, Mount The mountain in Japan where Enryaku-ji, the head temple of the Tendai school, is located. In Nichiren Daishonin’s writings, it is often used to indicate Enryaku-ji itself. In 822, after the death of Dengyō, its founder, his request for permission to build a Mahayana ordination platform was granted and the temple was named Enryaku-ji. When Dengyō first built a temple on Mount Hiei in 788, he had named it Hieizan-ji temple, after the name of the mountain, Hieizan.
Hie Shrine A shrine located at the eastern foot of Mount Hiei in Japan where Enryaku-ji, the head temple of the Tendai school is located. Hie Shrine is dedicated to the god Mountain King, the protective deity of Mount Hiei. It was considered the protective shrine of Enryaku-ji after the temple was established in 788.
Hinayana The Buddhist teachings that aim at attaining the state of arhat. Hinayana, literally “lesser vehicle,” was originally a pejorative term used by Mahayana Buddhists, who regarded the practitioners of these teachings as preoccupied solely with achieving personal emancipation and indifferent to the salvation of others. Hinayana teachings are represented by the doctrines of the four noble truths and the twelve-linked chain of causation. They regard earthly desires as the cause of suffering and assert that suffering is eliminated only by eradicating earthly desires. In his system of analyzing and categorizing Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings, T’ien-t’ai designated Hinayana as the Tripitaka teaching and ranked it as the lowest of the five periods of teachings.
Hiranyavatī Also, Ajitavatī. A river that flows through Kushinagara in India. Shakyamuni passed away in a grove of sal trees near the west bank of this river.
Hōhon (n.d.) A priest of the early Kamakura period (1185–1333). He became a disciple of Hōnen, the founder of the Pure Land school in Japan, but he later subscribed to the doctrine of rebirth in the Pure Land through one-time recitation of the Nembutsu propounded by Kōsai, another of Hōnen’s disciples. For opposing the master’s views, he was expelled from Hōnen’s order.
Hōjō Tokiyori (1227–1263) Often referred to as the lay priest of Saimyō-ji. The fifth regent of the Kamakura government in Japan. Tokiyori became regent in 1246, after the death of his brother, Tsunetoki, the fourth regent. After solidifying his power, he retired as regent in 1256 and lived at Saimyō-ji temple, which he had built. Though he was a lay priest, he retained his hold on power.
Hōjō Yoshitoki (1163–1224) The second regent of the Kamakura government. In 1221, the Retired Emperor Gotoba issued a command to attack Yoshitoki, who instead defeated the imperial army. Known as the Jōkyū Disturbance, this battle solidified the rule of the Kamakura government as well as the regency. In Nichiren Daishonin’s writings, Hōjō Yoshitoki is often referred to by the title Acting Administrator. Hōjō Shigetoki, who is often referred to as the lay priest of Gokuraku-ji, was a son of Hōjō Yoshitoki. Ema Mitsutoki, also known as Hōjō Mitsutoki, who was the lord of Shijō Kingo, was a grandson of Hōjō Yoshitoki.
Hōki-bō See Nikkō.
Hōnen (1133–1212) Also known as Genkū. The founder of the Pure Land school in Japan. He first studied the Tendai doctrines but later turned to chanting the name of Amida Buddha, urging people to discard all of Shakyamuni’s teachings other than the three sutras on which the Pure Land school is based.
Hsing-huang (507–581) A priest of the Three Treatises school in China. Also known as Fa-lang and Tao-lang; the name Hsing-huang is taken from that of the temple where he lived. Ordained in 527, he studied meditation and traveled the country learning various doctrines and precepts. At Chih-kuan-ssu temple, he studied The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, The Treatise on the Middle Way, The One-Hundred-Verse Treatise, and The Treatise on the Twelve Gates under Seng-ch’üan. In 558, by imperial decree, he settled at Hsing-huang-ssu temple in the capital Chien-k’ang and lectured on the above four treatises.
Hsing-man (n.d.) A priest of the Chinese T’ien-t’ai school during the T’ang dynasty and a disciple of Miao-lo. When Dengyō went to Mount T’ien-t’ai from Japan in 804, Hsing-man taught him the T’ien-t’ai doctrine and entrusted him with the major works of the school.
Hsi-shih (n.d.) A woman of ancient China famous for her beauty. In the early fifth century b.c.e., King Kou-chien of the state of Yüeh was defeated in battle by King Fu-ch’a of the state of Wu. Intent on revenge, he sought a means to conquer the state of Wu. Having discovered the lovely Hsi-shih, who carried firewood about for sale, he offered her to Fu-ch’a. Fu-ch’a, enamored of her, came to neglect his duties as ruler of Wu. Thereafter Kou-chien vanquished and incorporated Wu into his domain.
Hsüan-lang (673–754) The fifth patriarch of the T’ien-t’ai school in China. He engaged in the T’ien-t’ai practice of concentration and insight under the tutelage of Hui-wei at T’ien-kung-ssu temple in Tung-yang, thereafter continuing this practice on Mount Tso-hsi for more than thirty years. In his later years, he lectured on the T’ien-t’ai doctrines and devoted himself to training disciples. Hsüan-lang transmitted the teaching to his disciple, Miao-lo, who as the sixth patriarch interpreted and further developed T’ien-t’ai’s teaching and helped to restore the school.
Hsüan-tsang (602–664) A priest of the T’ang dynasty in China and a translator of Buddhist scriptures. He left for India in 629, where he studied the Consciousness-Only doctrine and other Buddhist teachings. In 645 he returned to China with numerous Sanskrit texts, many of which he later translated. His extensive travels are described in The Record of the Western Regions. Both he and his disciple Tz’u-en are regarded as the founders of the Dharma Characteristics school.
Hsüan-tsung (685–762) The sixth emperor of the T’ang dynasty. During his reign (712–756), the dynasty reached the height of its prosperity. However, he became infatuated with the beautiful concubine Yang Kuei-fei and began to neglect affairs of government. In 755, a rebellion broke out, headed by the military leader An Lu-shan, and the rebels ultimately captured the capital, forcing the emperor and his court to flee.
Huai-kan (n.d.) A priest of the Pure Land school in China during the seventh century who lived at Ch’ien-fu-ssu temple in Ch’ang-an. He first studied the Dharma Characteristics doctrines and the Buddhist precepts, but, dissatisfied with these, he turned to the Pure Land teaching. To address his doubts about the doctrine of rebirth in the Pure Land, however, he sought out Shan-tao, the third patriarch of the Pure Land school. Following Shan-tao’s guidance, he meditated upon Amida Buddha for three years and is said to have realized the essence of the Pure Land teaching.
Hui-k’o (487–593) The second patriarch of the Chinese Zen school, disciple of Bodhidharma, who brought the Zen teaching to China from India.
Hui-kuan (n.d.) A priest of the fourth and fifth centuries in China who became a disciple of Kumārajīva and joined in his translation work. He also revised the two existing Chinese translations of the Nirvana Sutra and produced what is called the southern version of the sutra.
Hui-kuang (468–537) The founder of the Fourfold Rules of Discipline school in China. He studied the vinaya, or rules of monastic discipline. When Bodhiruchi and Ratnamati translated The Treatise on the Ten Stages Sutra into Chinese, Hui-kuang assisted in its translation and wrote a commentary on this treatise. He is therefore regarded as one of the founders of the Treatise on the Ten Stages Sutra school.
Hui-kuo (746–805) A priest of T’ang-dynasty China and the seventh patriarch of Esoteric Buddhism. Hui-kuo was one of Pu-k’ung’s six major disciples. He is said to have transferred the esoteric teachings to Kōbō, the founder of the Japanese True Word school.
Hui-neng (638–713) The founder of the Southern school of Zen in China. Hui-neng was a disciple of the fifth patriarch of Chinese Zen, Hung-jen. After Hung-jen’s death, Chinese Zen split into two branches—the Southern school headed by Hui-neng and the Northern school headed by Shen-hsiu. Hui-neng’s words were recorded as The Platform Sutra.
Hui-ssu See Nan-yüeh.
Hui-tsung (1082–1135) The eighth emperor of the Northern Sung dynasty in China. He ascended the throne in 1100 but took little interest in ruling, devoting his time to calligraphy and painting. He was a follower of Taoism and suppressed Buddhism.
Hui-yüan (523–592) A Chinese priest of the Treatise on the Ten Stages Sutra, or Ti-lun (Jpn Jiron), school. He remonstrated with Emperor Wu of the Northern Chou dynasty when the latter threatened to abolish Buddhism.
hundred worlds and thousand factors “Hundred worlds” means the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds—the principle that each of the Ten Worlds possesses all ten within itself. Each of the hundred worlds in turn encompasses the ten factors, thus constituting a “thousand factors.” In contrast to the three thousand realms in a single moment of life, which includes all things in the universe, both sentient and insentient, the “hundred worlds and thousand factors” applies only to sentient beings.
Hung-jen (601–674) The fifth patriarch of the Zen school in China. In 607, as a child, he became a disciple of the fourth patriarch, Tao-hsin, inheriting his teachings after practicing under him for thirty years. Hung-jen had many disciples, and Zen Buddhism prospered in his time. Among his disciples was Hui-neng, who became the sixth patriarch. Shen-hsiu, another major disciple, founded the Northern school of Zen, while Hui-neng’s teaching came to be called the Southern school.
hungry spirits Also, hungry ghosts. The spirits of the dead who, as described in the Buddhist scriptures, are suffering from hunger as karmic retribution for their greed and selfishness while alive. The realm of hungry spirits is one of the three evil paths. The realm of hungry spirits is also regarded as a state in which one is tormented physically or spiritually by relentless craving.
Hyōe no Sakan See Ikegami Munenaga.