1) In our Dharma Ending Age,
the icchantikas are extremely hard to detect?
The six-volume Parinirvana Sutra says, "The extreme is impossible
to see.
That is, the extremely evil deeds done by the icchantika are all
but impossible to perceive."
"There are also icchantikas who resemble arhats but who commit evil
deeds. There are also arhats who resemble icchantikas but display
merciful hearts. The icchantikas who look like arhats spend their
time slandering the correct and equal sutras to the populace.
The arhats who look like icchantikas, on the other hand, are
critical of the voice-hearers and go about preaching the correct
and equal sutras. They address the populace, saying, 'You and I are
all bodhisattvas. Why? Because each living being possesses the
Buddha nature.' But the populace will probably call such
men icchantikas."
2) Unable to perceive and teaches the inappropriate Dharma teaching
to the wrong capacity of beings could drive them to become
icchantikas?
In the Mahaprinirvana sutra: Shariputra attempted to instruct a
blacksmith by teaching him to meditate on the vileness of the body,
and to instruct a washerman by teaching him to conduct breath
counting meditation. Even though these disciples spent over ninety
days in their respective meditations, they did not gain the
slightest understanding of the Buddha's teachings. On the
contrary,
they took on erroneous views and ended by becoming icchantikas. So
the end Buddha came into rescue and swap the teaching in
understanding their respective capacity.
3) Icchantikas are totally hopeless case?
In Mahaprinirvana sutra description: "dead trees or stony
mountains" that can never bring forth growth.
They are "scorched seeds that, although they encounter the sweet
rain," will not grow. "Bright pearls have the power, when put into
turbid water, to change it into clear water. . . . But when thrown
into the mud of icchantika, they cannot purify it." They are [like
persons without a wound on their hands when the sutra says], "If a
person with a wound on his hand handles poison, it will enter his
body, but it will not enter the body of a person without a wound."
"Just as torrents of rain cannot remain suspended in the sky, [so
the rain of the Law cannot remain in the sky of icchantika]."
In The Great and Vast Buddha Flower Garland Sutra states: "There
are only two places where the Great Medicine King Tree, which is
the wisdom of the Thus Come One, will not grow and bring benefit to
the world. It will not grow in the vast void that is the deep pit
into which persons of the two vehicles fall, or in the profoundly
distorted and craving-filled waters wherein drown beings unfit for
Buddhahood who destroy
their own roots of goodness."
- Where the Great Medicine King Tree and is the monarch of all the
trees that grow in the land of Jambudvipa tree is employed as a
metaphor for the Buddha nature, and the fiery pit is used as a
metaphor for the mind of persons of the two vehicles, and the
watery circle is used as a metaphor for the mind
of icchantikas ¨C for groups of of beings will never attain
Buddhahood.
4) Knowledge without faith turn one into icchantikas?
From the Daimoku of Lotus Sutra, Nichiren: ¡°The monk Sunakshatra
observed the two hundred and fifty precepts, mastered the four
stages of meditation, and was versed in all the twelve divisions of
the scriptures, while Devadatta memorized the sixty thousand
non-Buddhist teachings and the eighty thousand Buddhist teachings,
and could manifest eighteen miraculous powers with his body. And
yet it is said that these men, because they had knowledge but no
faith, are now in the great citadel of the Avichi hell.¡±
¡°Mahakashyapa and Shariputra on the other hand lacked knowledge
but had faith, and the Buddha accordingly predicted that they would
become the Thus Come Ones Light Bright and Flower Glow,
respectively. The Buddha stated: {If one should harbor doubt and
fail to believe, one will fall at once into the evil paths, - Lotus
Sutra Chapter 15 }..¡±
5) Killing of icchantikas is not a cardinal sins?
From Mahaparinirvana sutra: "In the past, when the Thus Come One
was the ruler of a nation and practiced the way of the bodhisattva,
he put to death a number of Brahmans¡..There are three degrees of
killings: the lower, middle, and upper degrees¡.. Good men, if
someone were to kill an icchantika, that killing would not fall
into any of the three categories just mentioned. Good men, the
various Brahmans that I have said were put to death - all of them
were in fact icchantikas.¡±
¡°Good men, at that time I cherished the great vehicle teachings in
my heart. When I heard the Brahmans slandering these correct and
equal sutras, I put them to death on the spot. Good men, as a
result of that action, I never thereafter fell into hell."
6) The Lotus Sutra can cure the Icchantikas?
Great master T'ien-t'ai ( Chi-I) in his ¡°Great Concentration and
Insight¡± stated: "Neither the Flower Garland Sutra nor the Larger
Wisdom Sutra could cure [the plight of these persons of the two
vehicles]. The Lotus Sutra alone was able to produce the roots of
goodness in those who have nothing more to learn, and
to make it possible for them to attain the Buddha way. Therefore,
the sutra is called wonderful ( Ãî, sk. Sad, ch. Miao, jp. Myo ).
Again, the icchantikas, or persons of incorrigible disbelief,
nevertheless have minds,
and so it is still possible for them to attain Buddhahood. But
persons of the two vehicles have annihilated consciousness, and
therefore cannot arouse the mind that aspires to enlightenment. And
yet the Lotus Sutra can cure them, which is why it is called
wonderful .
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