Junyoze (Buddhism Ten Factors of Life) (十如是)
Junyoze (Buddhism Ten Factors of Life) is the principle of causality which is expounded in the Chapter of Expedient Means of "the Lotus Sutra".
Ju (ten factors) refers to a form, nature, embodiment, potency, function, a primary cause, a secondary cause, effect, recompense, and complete fundamental whole. Nyoze means thusness. Junyoze is also called junyo or shoho-jisso (true aspect of all phenomena).
The junyoze is seen only in the Lotus Sutra translated by Kumaraju, not in the other translations or the original Sanskrit text.
The junyoze is an important doctrine, believed to give origin to form "ichinen sanzen (the three thousand realms contained in one mind)" which is later called the fundamental Tendai doctrine.
Summary
Junyoze refers to a form (appearance), nature (essence), embodiment (entity), potency (power), function (action), a primary cause (direct cause), a secondary cause (condition or indirect connection), effect (result of a primary cause), recompense (retribution or indirect result of a secondary cause), and complete fundamental whole (ultimate equality in nine factors from the form to the recompense). Furthermore, the true nature of the universe, that is, what the real truth of existence should be, is understood by these ten factors. Put simply, it means the ten ways of existence which are shared by all living beings.
Zhiyi, the Tendai Daishi (a great master of Tendai sect), interpreted each of junyoze (Buddhism Ten Factors of Life) in three different ways; the first, second, and the third meaning of a form (the first factor) is as follows: every form is equal; every form is different; every form is in the middle; Zhiyi applied these three ways of interpretation to each of junyoze; thus as for the ninth factor, 'recompense,' the first, second, and the third meaning is as follows: every recompense is equal, every recompense is different, every recompense is in the middle; and he expounded these three aspects of each one of the ten factors as the three truths of the empty, contingent, and middle; for this reason, these three ways of interpretation are called santen dokumon (literally 'the meaning changes three times as one reads the text').
Text of the Lotus Sutra (excerpt)
The text translated by Kumaraju says:
What the Buddha has achieved is the foremost, rare, and hard-to-understand dharma, and all dharmas can only be understood and shared by Buddhas. That is to say, this reality consists of a form, nature, embodiment, potency, function, a primary cause, a secondary cause, effect, recompense, and complete fundamental whole. This is called junyoze.
Translation from the original text
The Sanskrit text was translated into Japanese as follows:
The Buddha will enlighten you about the teachings of Buddha. The Buddha knows an individual event, and only the Buddha can expound all the phenomena and only the Buddha knows them correctly. It means what they are, how they are, like what they are, and of what characteristics and of nature they are. Only the Buddha knows what they are, how they are, like what they are, and of what characteristics and of nature they are. Only the Buddha is an absolute witness of these phenomena.
Translation in Chinese apart from Kumaraju is as follows. "What dharmas, what kind of dharmas, what resemblance of dharmas, what characteristic of dharmas, what essence of dharmas."
(According to the Treatise on the Lotus Sutra, it is called five dharmas.)
Free-translation theory
Consequently, the junyoze is not seen in the Sanskrit original, and not found in "Sho Hokke-kyo (the Lotus Sutra)" by Fahua ZHU, "Tenbon Myoren Hokke-kyo (the Lotus Sutra)" by Jnana-gupta and Dharmagupta, or "Hokkeron (the Treatise on the Lotus Sutra)" by Seshin. It is found only in the Lotus Sutra (Myohorenge-kyo) translated by Kumaraju.
A similar text is found in "the Volume 32 of Daichidoron (the Commentary on the Great Wisdom Sutra). Next, each dharma has nine factors. 1. It has entity. 2. Each one has its own dharma. Ears and nose consist of four elements, but only eyes are capable of seeing things and nose is incapable of doing so. Fire has heat by nature and is incapable of moistening things. 3. All the universe has its own power. Fire has the power to burn and water has the power to moisten. 4. All the universe has its own primary cause. 5. All the universe has its own secondary cause. 6. All the universe has its own effect. 7. All the universe has its own nature. 8. All the universe has its own hindrance. 9. All the universe has its own expedient means to open a way through. All the universe is substantial and has all the nine factors at its onset.
The volume 24 of the "Daichidoron" also says:
Buddha knows various natures and forms of all living things; that is, Buddha knows that if you follow your interests, you will place much emphasis on such things you are interested in disproportionately. You will respect like this. You will have such faith. You will have such avarice. You will have such karma. You will have such blind volition. You will have such earthly desires. You will have such manners. You will have such mental concentration. You will have such deportment. You will have such knowledge. You will have such views. You will speculate like this.
Therefore, it is assumed that Kumaraju converted the nine factors of the universe such as "the embodiment, the dharma (function), the potency, the primary cause, the secondary cause, the effect (result and recompense), the nature, the hindrance (form) and expedient means to open a way through (complete fundamental whole)" into the junyoze.
In other words, it has been commonly viewed that junyoze (Buddhism Ten Factors of Life) in the Chapter of Expedient Means of "the Lotus Sutra" is a free translation by Kumaraju or dogma.
However, some says that this free translation or dogma was made to get the most out of the Lotus Sutra or make best use of it, not made by his selfish interpretation.
In particular, each school of the Nichiren sects which succeeded the Tendai doctrine has studied the junyoze from every angle because they use jukkaigogu (mutual containment of the ten realms) and ichinen sanzen (the three thousand realms contained in one mind) as the fundamental doctrine of the Buddhism based on the Junyoze. Some people say that even if junyoze is free translation, it has strength which lacks in the original Sanskrit or other Lotus Sutra and that the brilliance of Kumaraju is impressive.
However, some argue against this view that the ichinen sanzen was a doctrine derived from the junyoze, and was originated from free translation or dogma.
They also say that although the ichinen sanzen is treated as an important doctrine of the Tendai sect, it is only mentioned once by Zhiyi in his Makashikan (Mahayana Practice of Cessation and Contemplation) vol. 5; notwithstanding, Tannen called it 'utmost and fundamental.'