The normal structural framework of all Buddhist sutras
Master Dao-an was famous for establishing a threefold structural framework for all Buddhist sutras: the “Preface Section,” the “Main Teaching Section,” and the “Circulation Section.” The Preface Section is generally further divided into the “General Preface” and the “Specific Preface.”
The Main Teaching Section presents the main doctrine of the sutra, including its purpose, method of study, and how to practice the sutra. The Circulation Section concludes the sutra. Its aim is to transmit the essence of the teaching, extol the merits of its practice, and to enable sentient beings who have karmic affinity with the sutra to benefit.
The General Preface, also known as the Authentication Introduction, always begins with the phrase “Thus have I heard,” indicating that Ananda faithfully heard and correctly transmitted the Buddha’s teachings. It also specifies the belief, hearer, time, speaker, place, and audiences in the assembly, known as the Six Fulfillments.
The Specific Preface, also called the Origination Introduction, describes the specific causal conditions that prompt the teaching of the sutra. It typically involves a Dharma-recipient, who initiates the teaching and addresses a specific question or problem. He or she then requests advice and guidance, in order to attain the respective answer or solution, and to gain benefits or merit and virtues through the practice of the teaching.
For example, in the Contemplation Sutra, the principal interlocutor is Queen Vaidehi. She asked the Buddha how she can be reborn in a realm that is free from suffering and affliction. To let Vaisehi see, the Buddha directly “revealed” all pure lands over His head, including Amitabha’s Land of Bliss, with His awesome paranormal power without uttering a word.
Having “selected” Amitabha’s Land of Bliss, Vaidehi asked the Buddha, to teach the practices of contemplative reflection and correct meditative absorption (samadhi), in order for her to attain rebirth there. This constitutes the causal condition for the Buddha to speak of the Contemplation Sutra.
The perplexing and unusual qualities of the Authentication Introduction to the Contemplation Sutra
The Contemplation Sutra starts with the Authentication Introduction with the Six Fulfillments:
Thus have I heard: At one time, the Buddha was staying at Rajagriha on Vulture Peak, together with 1,250 great bhikshus and 32,000 bodhisattvas with Manjushri as their leader. At that time, in the great city of Rajagriha, there was a prince . . .
At first glance, the introduction appears no different from that of other sutras. However, upon closer examination, several puzzling points arise:
1. Place Fulfillment: The actual teaching of the Contemplation Sutra occurs in the royal palace of Magadha, not on Vulture Peak.
2. Assembly Fulfillment: The teaching is directed specifically to Vaidehi and a small group of her servants, not to an assembly of 1,250 bhikshus and 32,000 bodhisattvas.
3. Contextual Discrepancy: At the time of teaching the Contemplation Sutra, the Buddha is not describing the present event, but referring to an earlier event, when he taught the Lotus Sutra on Vulture Peak.
Why did the Buddha introduce a prior event before he began speaking the Contemplation Sutra?
The Authentication Introduction as the Pre-Teaching Introduction within the Origination Introduction
Various masters have interpreted this text differently. Among them, Master Shandao, who established the Pure Land school through his Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra, and offered a unique insight with underlying intention. He identified the text as the Pre-Teaching Introduction within the Origination Introduction.
In other words, within the Origination Introduction, this portion (the Authentication Introduction as quoted above) serves as the Distant Origination Introduction, while Queen Vaidehi’s request in the palace constitutes the Immediate Origination Introduction, which revolves around the dramatic upheaval in the royal court of Rajagriha, consisting of six causal conditions, as identified by Master Shandao:
1. Cause for the Father’s Confinement: Ajatasatru imprisoned his father, King Bimbisara.
2. Cause for the Mother’s Confinement: Vaidehi is confined in the inner palace.
3. Cause for Aversion to Suffering: Experiencing her familial tragedy, Vaidehi becomes deeply overwhelmed by worldly suffering.
4. Cause for Admiration of Purity: She aspires to be reborn in Amitabha’s Pure Land.
5. Cause for Revealing the Practices of Non-Meditative Virtues: The Buddha teaches the Three Meritorious Practices for rebirth-aspiration.
6. Cause for Expounding the Contemplations as Meditative Virtues: The Buddha reveals Pure Lands in the ten directions and teaches visualization practices for rebirth.
Two interpretive frameworks of the preface: “two introductions and seven causes” versus “three introductions and six causes”
In summary, there are two ways to classify the Preface Section in the Contemplation Sutra:
1. Two Introductions and Seven Causes
In this classification, there are Two Introductions consisting of the Authentication Introduction (“Thus have I heard”) and the Origination Introduction; while the Seven Causes include the Pre-Teaching Introduction (distant) and the Six Causes (immediate).
2. Three Introductions and Six Causes
This classification prioritizes the Authentication Introduction, Pre-Teaching Introduction (“At one time…”), Origination Introduction (“At that time…”); while the Origination Introduction includes only the Six Causes.
The significance of establishing the pre-teaching introduction
Why does Master Shandao even have this category of the “Pre-Teaching Introduction?”
“Pre-teaching” means that all teachings given by Shakyamuni Buddha prior to the Contemplation Sutra are regarded as the “expedient teachings,” just for getting prepared to speak the Contemplation Sutra for ordinary beings, like Vaidehi, and lead them to entrust themselves to the “real or true teaching” of Amitabha’s deliverance to the Pure Land.
This is a profound doctrinal claim or declaration, touching on the classification of the Buddha’s lifetime teachings into: Expedient Teachings (for the purpose of persuading or guidance) and real or true teaching (ultimate reality). What do these mean?
In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha speaks of his original intent for appearing in the world, for sagely beings: sravaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva, and uses the metaphor of the “Burning House in the Three Realms” as “expedient teachings,” in order to awaken and lead them towards the One Buddha Vehicle, the “real or true teaching,” representing the profundity of the Buddha’s wisdom and vision, the ultimate reality.
However, in the Infinite Life Sutra, the Buddha expresses his original intent more concretely: “The Tathagata, with infinite great compassion, pities those in the three realms and appears in the world to expound the Dharma; in order to save all beings and bestow upon them the benefits of what is real/true.”
With respect, the original intent spoken in the Infinite Life Sutra is “true original intent” for appearing in the world, as compared with the previous one in the Lotus Sutra, which is just considered to be “expedient.” Let’s discuss this in my next article.
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