Benefits of Buddhist Practice: Innate & Acquired Awakening

My understanding is that Innate or Original Enlightenment [Hongaku 本覚] refers to the Buddha Nature and its inherent merits, which are transferred directly from the Eternal Buddha. It is contrasted with Acquired Enlightenment [Shikaku 始覚], which is earned through accumulating merit [punya / kudoku 功徳]. Some in the Tendai School of Japan took the concept of Hongaku to the extreme of asserting that humans are already Buddhas as we are, so practice is unnecessary. From what I gather, this view was promoted in Kamakura Era Japan by Dainichi Nonin, a founder of the Nippon Daruma Zen School. Others, such as Dogen, a founder of the Soto Zen School, who equated practice with Innate Awakening, and Nichiren Shonin, rejected Dainichi Nonin's teaching.

If I understand correctly, there are two Transmissions of the Dharma in the Lotus Sutra. One of these is the internal, specific transmission from the Eternal Buddha to his original disciples, the Four Leaders of the Bodhisattvas from Underground. These Four leaders are named Pure Practices [Vishuddhacharitra / Jogyo 浄行], Firmly Established Practices [Supratishthitacharitra / Anryugyo 安立], Boundless Practices [Anantacharitra / Muhengyo 無辺], and Superior Practices [Vishishtacharitra Jogyo 上行]. The other is the external, general transmission to the various provisional Bodshisattvas such as Samantabhadra [Fugen 普賢], Medicine King [Bhaishajyaraja / Yakuo 薬王] or Wondrous Sound [Gadgadasvara Myo'on 妙音], Manjushiri [文殊師利], and Avalokitesvara [Kan'non 観世音] or Maitreya [Miroku 弥勒].

The Four Leaders of the Bodhisattvas from Underground are said to personify the four innate or unconditioned virtues that are mentioned in the Mahayana Nirvana Sutra. These are purity, bliss, constancy, and the higher or authentic self, which is selfless. These innate virtues might be compared with natural talents or aptitudes, Even though these are innate, they do not emerge from underground on their own. Without Buddhist practice we either tend toward affected merits; which can become difficult or painful austerities. Or else we might descend back into amorality or even immorality, stress or suffering, delusion or clinging to temporary phenomena, and selfishness. Chanting meditation as taught by Nichiren, which includes kito 祈祷 and kanjin 観心, arouses our innate purity, bliss, boundless insight into eternity, and authentic selflessness.

My subjective understanding is that the provisional Bodhisattvas can be taken as archetypal personifications of various virtues, merits, or desirable qualities. Moreover, they can be understood as responses to deal with the discomforts caused by the four marks of conditioned existence; which are impurity or defilement, dukkha [stress, suffering, dissatisfaction], impermanence, and the ego or false sense of self [anatta]. For example, I take Samantabhadra to represent moral & ethical discipline, a response to moral impurity. Medicine King is healing, a response to stress; Monju personifies discernment, subjective understanding, and knowledge -- responses to being deluded by the transience of phenomena; and Maitreya symbolizes loving kindness, while Kan'non embodies compassion -- responses to selfishness or a self centered existence.

The provisional virtues might compared with learned or acquired skills. While certainly good and desirable, one of the problems with them is that they tend to be affected and limited. Conforming to moral codes; or suppressing greed, lust, sloth and similar desires; only makes them worse. The healing and fine arts only provide temporary relief from suffering and stress. Acquiring knowledge is ultimately useless for relieving suffering and stress, if our conception is still limited to transient phenomena. Affected loving kindness and compassion are in reality 'do gooding' and pity; which are tinged or tainted with feelings of superiority and contempt, and tend to create co-dependent relationships. Moreover, it is possible to become attached to acquired merits and mistake them for the source Dharma and higher awakening.

This is why the Source Gate [honmon 本門] is primary, and the Trace Gate [迹門]] is secondary. By the way, I suspect that the East Asian concept of hon 本 is similar to in meaning to the Sanskrit terms adhi [origin, primary] and abhi [higher]. At any rate, once we begin to awaken to the source, or our inherent virtues, then, unless the process is interrupted, we should naturally wish to cultivate acquired merits. Moreover, once linked with inherent virtue, the acquired virtues are spontaneous, joyful, and sincere; they are no longer forced, oppressive, or affected.

• Asuddha [impurity, defilement] = Pure Practices = Innate Purity [parishuddhi] = Subha [beauty] = Ethics and Morality [Sila]
  
• Dukkha [suffering, stress, unsatisfactoriness] = Firmly Established Practices = Bliss [sukha] = Patience, Healing, Art & Culture
  
• Anicca [temporary phenomena] = Boundless Practices = Constancy[nicca/nitya] = Discernment [prajna / e], Subjective Wisdom [jnana / chi ], and Hard Knowledge [vidya / myo ] = Tattva [reality]
• Anatta [not self] = Superior Practices = Higher Self [atman] = Satya [truth]