[FN#165] For a detailed explanation of Buddha-nature, see the chapter entitled Buddha-nature in Sho-bo-gen-zo.

[FN#166] Mahaparinirvana-sutra may be said to have been written for the purpose of stating this idea.

9.  The Parable of the Robber Kih.[FN#167]

Chwang Tsz (So-shi) remarks in a humorous way to the following effect:  “The followers of the great robber and murderer Kih asked him saying:  ’Has the robber also any moral principles in his proceedings?’ He replied:  ’What profession is there which has not its principles?  That the robber comes to the conclusion without mistake that there are valuable deposits in an apartment shows his wisdom; that he is the first to enter it shows his bravery; that he makes an equal division of the plunder shows his justice; that he never betrays the fellow-robbers shows his faithfulness; and that he is generous to the followers shows his benevolence.  Without all these five qualities no one in the world has ever attained to become a great robber.’” The parable clearly shows us Buddha-nature of the robber and murderer expresses itself as wisdom, bravery, justice, faithfulness, and benevolence in his society, and that if he did the same outside it, he would not be a great robber but a great sage.

[FN#167] The parable is told for the purpose of undervaluing Confucian doctrine, but the author thereby accidentally touches human nature.  We do not quote it here with the same purpose as the author’s.

10.  Wang Yang Ming (O-yo-mei) and a Thief.

One evening when Wang was giving a lecture to a number of students on his famous doctrine that all human beings are endowed with Conscience,[FN#168] a thief broke into the house and hid himself in the darkest corner.  Then Wang declared aloud that every human being is born with Conscience, and that even the thief who had got into the house had Conscience just as the sages of old.  The burglar, overhearing these remarks, came out to ask the forgiveness of the master; since there was no way of escape for him, and he was half-naked, he crouched behind the students.  Wang’s willing forgiveness and cordial treatment encouraged the man to ask the question how the teacher could know such a poor wretch as he was endowed with Conscience as the sages of old.  Wang replied:  “It is your Conscience that makes you ashamed of your nakedness.  You yourself are a sage, if you abstain from everything that will put shame on you.”  We firmly believe that Wang is perfectly right in telling the thief that he was not different in nature from the sages of old.  It is no exaggeration.  It is a saving truth.  It is also a most effective way of saving men out of darkness of sin.  Any thief ceases to be a thief the moment he believes in his own Conscience, or Buddha-nature.  You can never correct criminals by your severe reproach or punishment.  You can save them only through your sympathy and love, by which you call forth their inborn Buddha-nature.  Nothing can produce more pernicious effects on criminals than to treat them as if they were a different sort of people and confirm them in their conviction that they are bad-natured.  We greatly regret that even in a civilized society authorities neglecting this saving truth are driving to perdition those criminals under their care, whom it is their duty to save.