Soga Ryojin (1875-1910) was President of Otani University in Kyoto. In
     this essay he assigns Pure Land Buddhism to its proper place in the
     Mahayana tradition of which Zen Buddhism is a part. Thanks to the work
     of Daisetz T. Suzuki, as Professor Soga agrees, Zen is now known all
     over the world--an event Arnold Toynbee compared in importance with
     the splitting of the atom.

     Professor Soga retells the crucial myth of Dharmakara Boddhisattva in
     its relation to that most profound concept of the Yogacara school of
     Buddhist thought: the alayavijnana or Storage Consciousness. It has
     been called "the all-conserving Mind," and has been described as a
     collective unconscious, fathoms below our grasp and control, a kind of
     memory bank that stores as "seeds" all the mental and physical acts in
     our present lives, individually and collectively, but also beyond
     these in the remote past. Perhaps--it sometimes occurs to me--it
     encompasses the "seeds" of our entire species from its beginningless
     beginning, perhaps even from the origin of all life on earth. Its
     power therefore to influence the present, not to mention the future,
     is unimaginable.

     To be aware of the normally ungraspable depth of alaya's memory bank
     constitutes "liberation." Its rising fully into consciousness is the
     actualization of the innate Buddha Mind, known as Enlightenment. A Zen
     Master questioned by one of his monks about the nature of the
     alayavijnana answered: "I know not. It makes one think!"

     It does indeed.

--Frederick Franck

It may be recalled that the two major schools of Mahayana Buddhism are the
Madhyamika School of Nagarjuna (second century C.E.), which expounds
sunyata ("emptiness"), and the Yogacara or Mind-Only school of Asanga and
Vasubandho (fifth century C.E.). The Mind-Only school teaches that what we
regard as existing outside of ourselves is nothing but the differentiated
forms of our consciousness in its unbroken continuity of transformation.
The sole reality therefore is consciousness.

The Avatamsaku Sutra states that the triple world is illusory and only the
product of One Mind. In order to expound this teaching, the Vijna-navadins
postulate beyond the six forms of consciousness of Theravada Buddhism--eye,
ear, nose, tongue, body, mind--a seventh and an eighth form in order to
explain the whole structure of consciousness that functions uninterruptedly
even during deep sleep. Manas is therefore postulated as a kind of
supraconsciousness which sustains our particular identity or ego. Manas
generates the instinctive impulse to appropriate external objects as
"mine," it takes things from the standpoint of 'I' and "mine"; but
according to this teaching even manas by itself cannot have illusions like
"I" and "mine" without a further basis, and this basis is called
alayavijnana, which never ceases to receive and store stimuli, all "things
as they come." This "storehouse-consciousness" is the I in its most
authentic sense. It is the most basic subjectivity capable of creating
human life as such. It is the seed of the realization of salvation in this
life. It is grasped, appropriated as it were, by manas. Still, it is the
self-realization in the act of self-realizing itself. It is at once the
principle of avidya, primal ignorance, and of enlightenment. The actual
world of ignorance is brought about by alayavijnana, but once aware of,
awakened to, the process by which alayavijnana comes to be defined, we are
already on the way toward Enlightenment. Enlightenment involves the dynamic
process in which ignorance, avidya, itself is infinitely subjected to
penetrating insight.

The history of Buddhism shows, however, that the teaching of the
Vijnanavadins, which leads to the transcendental wisdom of enlightenment by
the transformation of illusory consciousness, has been understood only by
an elect few of superior intelligence. Even if the doctrine were
understood, it would be extremely difficult for ordinary people to actually
practice it as taught, since the teaching of alayavijnana involves a system
of practices relying upon self-effort (jiriki).

Therefore let us turn to the exposition of the Larger Sutra of Eternal Life
on which the Pure Land doctrine is based and in which alayavijnana is
described in terms of the relationship between Dharmakara Bodhisattva (the
causal name of Amida) and sentient beings. In this sutra the philosophical
concept of alayavijnana is presented in the personal form of Dharmakara
Bodhisattva, with the purpose of making it clear that the Way by which
Dharmakara attained Buddhahood is open to each and every sentient being
whose spiritual life is rooted deep in alayavijnana, the Buddha-nature.

Dharmakara Bodhisattva is presented by the Larger Sutra of Eternal Life in
the following myth: Innumerable eons ago, the story begins, a Buddha called
Dipankara appeared. After he had enlightened numberless people, he left the
world. Dipankara was followed by fifty-three Buddhas--among them Ko-on
(Far-Light,) Gakko (MoonLight), Sendanko (Shining Sandalwood), and so
forth--who appeared and disappeared in successive eons. The narrative then
turns to the time of the appearance of the fifty-fourth Buddha,
Lokesvararaja, and tells of a certain king who upon hearing the preaching
of Lokesvararaja was so profoundly touched that there sprang up in his mind
an eagerness to seek supreme enlightenment. Forsaking his country as well
as his royalty, he renounced the world, became a sramana ("way-seeker") and
called himself Dharmakara ("storehouse of Dharma"). His wisdom was
superior, his resolution steadfast, and he was in every respect without
peer among mortal men.

The Bhiksu Dharmakara faced the Buddha Lokesvararaja, saluted him in
reverence with his palms respectfully held together, and praised the
sublime virtues of the Buddha in verse, expressing his aspiration: "I wish
to become a Buddha so as to deliver suffering beings. In order to fulfill
my purpose, I wish to establish a land, pure and peaceful."

Thereafter he meditated for five kalpas until he realized that there was no
other way but the teaching of "namu Amida Butsu": "I take refuge in the
Buddha of Infinite Light (Wisdom) and of Eternal Life (Compassion) for
sentient beings one and all to be delivered." Thereupon he expressed in
forty-eight articles his Vow to realize the teaching of "namu Amida Butsu"
(which are also known as the Forty-eight Vows), and epitomized them in this
verse:

I have now made a vow transcending the world. First of all, I shall become
a Buddha myself, then I shall deliver each and every sentient being. This
vow of mine shall reverberate throughout all the worlds, being embodied in
the invocation of "namu Ami-da Butsu," to be heard by all people in all
conceivable worlds. It shall be heard and believed.

As soon as Bhiksu Dharmakara had uttered this verse, the earth shook in six
ways, divine flower petals fluttered down, heavenly music filled the air,
and a voice was heard to say: "O Bhiksu Dharmakara, you are sure to attain
the supreme enlightenment." Bhiksu Dharmakara thus made his vows after
having gone through the severe practices required over innumerable kalpas
so that he might fulfill his Original Vow, and finally fulfilled his
prodigious vow to become Amida Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Wisdom and
Compassion.

This, in brief, is the myth of Dharmakara. Its narration points to the
profundity of the background from which the historical Sakyamuni Buddha
appeared in the world.

It is generally accepted that Buddhism as such started with Sakyamuni
Buddha. Indeed, all the scriptures which convey the message of Buddhism
have appeared after Sakyamuni Buddha. Yet all Mahayana scriptures reflect
the Buddha-Dharma prior to the historical Buddha, as the principle which
made the manifestation of Sakyamuni as a historical person possible. The
background of Sakyamuni's appearance, testifying to his transhistorical
aspect, is what we find in the mythical narrative of the fifty-four Buddhas
preceding him, and which is worked out in the Larger Sutra of Eternal Life.
The historical Sakyamuni's preaching in the Larger Sutra of Eternal Life
enables us to conceive of the Buddha-Dharma as predating Sakyamuni.

Contemplating the profound background of his own experience of
enlightenment, Sakyamuni successively encountered innumerable centers of
light in eternity. Penetrating deeper and deeper into his being, Sakyamuni
finally encountered Dharmakara Bodhisattva, whom he recognized as none
other than his own primordial being for which he had long been searching.

Excerpted from The Buddha Eye: An Anthology of the Kyoto School, edited by
Frederick Franck (New York: Crossroad, 1991). Copyright (C) 1982 by Nanzan
Institute for Religion and Culture. Reprinted by permission of the editor.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): The seed character for "namu Amida Butsu"