Tokuitsu

Tokuitsu 徳一 (n.d.)

   Also known as Tokuichi. A priest of the [[Dharma Characteristics school] (Hosso) Hosso school in Japan during the late eighth and early ninth centuries. He is well known for his dispute with Dengyo, the founder of the Japanese Tendai school, concerning Dengyo's espousal of the one vehicle teaching over the three vehicle teaching, which Tokuitsu upheld. Tokuitsu studied the teachings of the Dharma Characteristics school under Shuen at Kofuku-ji temple in Nara and is said to have lived either at Kofuku-ji or Todai-ji temple. Thereafter he moved to Aizu in Oshu, in northeastern Japan. According to one account, his desire to leave behind all worldly attachments and concentrate on practice in a remote location prompted this move. Another account has it that he was a son of Fujiwara no Nakamaro, a courtier who led an unsuccessful revolt in 764, and was therefore forced to flee the capital of Nara. In the early ninth century, Tokuitsu wrote On the Buddha Nature, The Mirror on the Meaning of the Middle and the Extreme, and other works, in which he asserted that the one vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sutra is a provisional doctrine and that the three vehicle teaching is the Buddha's true teaching. Dengyocountered that the one vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sutra is the true teaching and that the three vehicle teachings are merely expedient means to instruct the people and lead them to the one vehicle. Their debate continued until Dengyo's death. Tokuitsu is credited with founding many temples in northeastern Japan, including Chuzen-ji on Mount Tsukuba and Enichi-ji in Aizu, where he died.