Category Archives: d2b

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Three Truths About 10 Worlds

This was written in advance of Sunday’s meeting of the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area. Having whined at an earlier meeting that discussion of the Lotus Sutra didn’t include enough actual discussion of the Lotus Sutra, it was decided to allow attendees more opportunity to contribute. In the future, Mark Herrick will provide his overview of that month’s chapter on the first Sunday and the third Sunday will be given over to the “favorite” verses of attendees. Today’s service, an unusual fifth Sunday service was a dry run. Here’s a video of today’s discussion.

In Chapter 1, Introductory, the stage is set for the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. While I normally focus on the this stage as a whole, elements of this staging invite closer inspection. Consider the ray of light emitted by Śākyamuni from the white curls between his eyebrows, illuminating all the corners of eighteen thousand worlds in the east. That light reaches down to the Avchi Hell of each world, and up to the Akanistha Heaven of each world.

The congregation can see from this world the living beings of the six regions of those worlds.

Mañjuśrī recalls seeing the same good omen from a Buddha called Sun-Moon-Light. That Tathagata emitted a ray of light from the white curls between his eyebrows, and illumined all the corners of eighteen thousand Buddha-worlds in the east just as Śākyamuni did.

Consider for a moment that we don’t normally see this simultaneous nature of the 10 worlds. We see our provisional existence but not how each world interpenetrates the other. In our provisional existence we imagine nine realms separate from us, nine doors leading to a different place and within each of those nine doors. Interconnected, but not interpenetrating.

With the light of the Buddha’s wisdom, the simultaneous existence of the 10 worlds is revealed in the same way that the light of our Sun passing through a prism reveals the rainbow of colors inside.

These are not two truths — a separate 10 worlds or an interpenetrating existence; a provisional reality or emptiness — but one truth, the Middle Way.

As explained in Lotus Seeds:

The Truth of the Middle Way is the teaching that Emptiness and Provisionality are different ways of pointing out that the reality of anything, including our own lives, transcends the categories of existence and non-existence.
Lotus Seeds

Peaceful Action, d1b, d2b

The Wave and the Water

The intention of [the Lotus Sutra’s] introductory chapter is to prepare the audience psychologically and spiritually to receive a very important teaching, the Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Wonderful Dharma. In order to understand the great import of this teaching, the assembly that has gathered in this historical dimension must be introduced to the ultimate dimension. In the past, in another cosmic realm, Buddha Sun and Moon Glow had also given the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. So the miraculous events that are happening today are only a repetition of something that has already occurred in another dimension of reality, the ultimate dimension that is unbounded by our ordinary perceptions of time and space.

As far as the historical dimension is concerned, Shakyamuni is the Buddha who is giving the Dharma talk today in this saha world. From this perspective, the historical Buddha gave teachings for forty years, and then only at the end of his life did he give the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. But in terms of the ultimate dimension, Buddha Shakyamuni and Buddha Sun and Moon Glow are one and the same. In the ultimate dimension, never for a moment has the Buddha ceased to deliver the Lotus Sutra.

So this introductory chapter opens two doors. The first door is that of history, the events we experience and what we can see and know in our own lifetimes. The second door is that of ultimate reality, which goes beyond time and space. Everything, all phenomena, participate in these two dimensions. When we look at a wave on the surface of the ocean, we can see the form of the wave and we locate the wave in space and time. Space and time are not two separate entities; space is made of time and time is made of space. Looking at a wave from the perspective of the historical dimension, it seems to have a beginning and an end, a birth and a death. A wave can be high or low, a wave can be long or short – many qualities can be ascribed to the wave. The notions of “birth” and “death,” “high” or “low,” “beginning” and “ending,” “coming” and “going,” “being” or “nonbeing” – all of these can be applied to a wave in the historical dimension.

We, too, are subject to these notions. When we look in terms of the historical dimension we see that we are subject to being and nonbeing. We are born, but later on we will die. We have a beginning and an end. We have come from somewhere, and we will go somewhere. That is the historical dimension. All of us belong to this dimension. Shakyamuni Buddha also has a historical dimension – he was a human being who was born in Kapilavastu and died in Kushinagara, and during his lifetime of eighty years he taught the Dharma.

At the same time, all beings and things also belong to the ultimate dimension, the dimension of reality that is not subject to notions of space and time, birth and death, coming and going. A wave is a wave, but at the same time it is water. The wave does not have to die in order to become water; it is already water right in the present moment. We don’t speak of water in terms of being or nonbeing, coming and going – water is always water. To talk about a wave, we need these notions: the wave arises and passes away; it comes from somewhere or has gone somewhere; the wave has a beginning and an end; it is high or low, more or less beautiful than other waves; the wave is subject to birth and death. None of these distinctions can be applied to the wave in its ultimate dimension as water. In fact, you cannot separate the wave from its ultimate dimension.

Even though we are used to seeing everything in terms of the historical dimension, we can touch the ultimate dimension. So our practice is to become like a wave – while living the life of a wave in the historical dimension, we realize that we are also water and live the life of water. That is the essence of the practice. Because if you know your true nature of no coming, no going; no being, no nonbeing; no birth, no death, then you will have no fear and can dwell in the ultimate dimension, nirvana, right here and now. You don’t have to die in order to reach nirvana. When you dwell in your true nature, you are already dwelling in nirvana. We have our historical dimension, but we also have our ultimate dimension, just as the Buddha does.

In this introductory chapter, the Lotus Sutra reveals to us these two dimensions. The Buddha Shakyamuni is none other than the Buddha Sun and Moon Glow – and all the other cosmic Buddhas that have appeared in various forms to teach the Dharma from beginningless time.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p31-33
stories, LS32, d1b, d2b

Episodes in a Great Story

As we have it now, the first twenty-two chapters of the Sutra, except for Chapter 12, constitute a single story, a story about a time when the Buddha was at the place called Holy Eagle Peak and preached the Dharma Flower Sutra. In other words, about 85 percent of the Sutra falls within a single story.

Thus while there are many stories in the Lotus Sutra, many of them are actually episodes within a larger story that begins with Chapter 1 as a kind of introduction and continues through Chapter 22, which provides a natural end for the Sutra, as well as to the story that begins in the first chapter. Chapter 12 is inserted in order to emphasize the universality of the buddha-nature, and Chapters 23 through 28 are added, for the most part, as illustrations of bodhisattva practice.

20

stories, LS32, d2b

Warning: Life Changing Events Ahead

The chapter ends in this way:

The time has come for people to understand.
With your palms together, wait single-mindedly!
The Buddha will pour the rain of the Dharma
To satisfy those who seek the Way.

If those who seek after the three vehicles
Have any doubts or regrets,
The Buddha will remove them
So that none whatever remain. (LS 74)

In effect, the first chapter is a warning – a warning that you are entering an imaginative territory, a world that can change your life, and that such a change in you can be significant for the entire cosmos. The world of the imagination can be a frightening and even dangerous place, precisely because it invites us into a world that is new and unfamiliar and therefore difficult to understand.

It may place demands on us by assuring us that we can be and do much more than we ever believed possible – yet if we respond to it in joy, our entry into this transformative world can be very rewarding.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p 37-38
Vasubandhu, d2b

The Accomplishment of the Conditions for the Buddha’s Great Intention

Eight statements illustrate the accomplishment of the conditions for the Buddha’s great intention. The meaning of these eight statements should be known. What are they?

  1. [The Tathāgata] wanted to expound the great Dharma.
  2. He wanted to rain down the rain of the great Dharma.
  3. He wanted to beat the drum of the great Dharma.
  4. He wanted to raise the banner of the great Dharma.
  5. He wanted to light the torch of the great Dharma.
  6. He wanted to blow the conch of the great Dharma.
  7. He wanted the drum of the great Dharma to incessantly beat.
  8. He wanted to teach the great Dharma.

These eight statements show that the Tathāgata wanted to teach the great Dharma. Why are these called the eight great intentions? It is because they eliminate the doubts of skeptics, and also because they cause those who have already eliminated their doubts to nourish and fully develop their knowledge body. The Buddha teaches two subtle realms to those with fully developed faculties: The subtle realm of the disciples and the subtle realm of the bodhisattvas.

The two statements referring to the drum of the great Dharma show that it can be heard even at a distance. To enter a subtle realm is to advance to a higher pure truth; to have already advanced to the unsurpassed pure truth is to advance to omniscience and attain direct perception; to have [already] advanced to omniscience and attained direct perception is to establish the meaning of the words and passages for all the Dharma. To have established the meaning of the words and passages is to enter the inexpressible knowledge of realization and to see the wheel of the Dharma in motion.

Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p 109-110
Vasubandhu, d1b, d2b

Why the Great Assembly Relied on Mañjuśrī

Now why did the Buddha, the Blessed One, manifest this miraculous sign? He did so to explain the great Dharma; he manifested a great sign to explain the reason; he manifested a great sign to teach the Lotus Sutra. The Tathāgata manifested a great marvel in order to explain the words and passages of the incomprehensible meaning of the true Dharma (saddharma) that he had attained.

There are two explanations [for why the great assembly] esteemed and relied on Mañjuśrī. What are these two? 1) Because [Mañjuśrī] had [previously] witnessed these states (dharmas), and 2) because he was removed from the causes and conditions [that affected the great assembly] and had accomplished these states (dharmas) within his mind.

A variety of marvels were revealed in order to show various events. It should be well known that the marks of the events were [the marks of] origination, decay, subsistence, and impermanence. Since Mañjuśrī was able to recall these events, and since he had accomplished his task and the cause and the result were complete, he witnessed these states (dharmas).

There are two tasks that he had accomplished: 1) the accomplishment of merits and 2) the accomplishment of wisdom. “That the cause was complete” means he had accomplished omniscience. There is also another type of cause referred to as the condition. “That the condition was complete” means that the various signs had occurred. “That the result was complete” means that Mañjuśrī would explain the true Dharma (saddharma) [to the assembly]. It should be known that various different buddha lands were revealed in order to show the various differences and distinctions in those lands. “Pure land” means the dwelling place of living beings that have no defilements. Just as it says in the Lotus Sutra,

[The Buddha’s ray of light] illuminated all the eighteen thousand worlds in the east . . . and rendered visible the splendor of all those buddha worlds.

“The tathāgatas were foremost” since all the bodhisattvas and others take refuge in them, and since the tathāgatas are the ones who have attained self-mastery among those in the great assemblies of the [buddha] lands, just as it says in the Lotus Sutra, “And all the buddhas abiding in those lands were seen…”

Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p 107-108
stories, LS32, d1b, d2b

Sharing the Dharma

In this story, the Buddha says he intends “to teach the great Dharma, to send down the rain of the great Dharma, to blow the conch of the great Dharma, to beat the drum of the great Dharma, and to explain the meaning of the great Dharma.”

This represents an interesting mix of emotional and intellectual practices. … Dharma rain … is a symbol of equality among the living, in that all the living equally receive the Dharma without discrimination or distinction.

The meaning of the conch and the drum is not so obvious. Almost certainly they are instruments used to lead an army in battle, to inspire and motivate soldiers to move forward. Similarly, those who receive the Dharma Flower Sutra in their hearts are not merely comforted by it; they are motivated to practice it passionately and to share it with others. Buddhism is in this sense a missionary religion. Here in Chapter 1 of the Lotus Sutra we can see that the Dharma is intended for all the living and that those who share it should enthusiastically share it with others. We can also think of the sound of the conch as representing the beauty of the Dharma, while the sound of the drums represents the power of the Dharma.

It is important to notice, also, that even enthusiastic teaching is to be accompanied by explanation of the Dharma. This suggests that we should not attempt to make only emotional appeals on behalf of the Dharma or treat it only as an object of faith. It is equally important that the Dharma be understood. What is both embraced and understood will have a more lasting value than what is embraced merely on an emotional basis. This is probably truer now than it was when the Sutra was composed. Today people are trained to think scientifically, rationally, and critically. For the Dharma Flower Sutra to be accepted by modern people, it has to be carefully taught and explained, and even criticized, in terms that people can understand.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p32-33
stories, LS32, d2b

The True Nature of Things

There are two versions of the story, one in prose, the other in verse. Except for the fact that the verse version gives much more detail about what can be seen by the Buddha’s beam of light, the two versions are basically the same. Yet there are some interesting small differences. For example, in the prose version Manjushri Bodhisattva explains that the purpose of the beam of light is to announce that the Dharma Flower Sutra is about to be taught, while at the end of the verse version he says that its purpose is “to help reveal the principle of the true nature of all things.”

This phrase, “the true nature of all things,” has been variously translated and interpreted. There are two major possibilities: One is that it is an affirmation of the reality of the everyday world of concrete realities, as opposed to views that understand this world to be a product of our minds or an illusion. The other possibility is that it is a claim that the Buddha’s teachings reveal the nature of all things, namely, that all things are interrelated and interdependent, ultimately empty of independent nature. The fact that a kind of equivalence of announcing the teaching of the Dharma Flower Sutra and revealing the principle of the true nature of things suggest this latter interpretation. That is: the Dharma Flower Sutra itself reveals the true nature of things.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p45-46
stories, LS32, d1b, d2b

An Ultimately Real World

The stories in the Dharma Flower Sutra, or at least many of them, are so fantastic, so imaginative, so unlike anything we have experienced, that they cannot possibly be taken for history or descriptions of factual matters, or stories about actual historical events. The reader of the Dharma Flower Sutra knows from the very first chapter that he or she has entered an imaginary world quite different from what we ordinarily perceive. And if the stories are successful, the reader will come to understand that he or she is empowered to perform miracles by them.

That this setting is in the actual world, on earth, is very important for the Lotus Sutra. In it there is explicit rejection of forms of idealism – exemplified for instance by Platonism – in which actual things are only poor reflections of some other, ideal reality. In Buddhism, idealism sometimes takes the form of a “two-truth theory” according to which there is a conventional world of appearance or phenomena and an absolute world of reality or truth. For the Dharma Flower Sutra, however, this world, the world of things, is an ultimately real world. This is the world in which Shakyamuni Buddha lives, both historically and in the present. This is the world in which countless bodhisattvas emerge from below to indicate the importance of bodhisattvas of this world taking care of this world. This is the world to which buddhas and bodhisattvas from all over the universe come to witness the teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha. This is the world in which all human beings are offered a special opportunity to be bodhisattvas and practice the Buddha Way, the way by which we too can be buddhas, buddhas right here on earth in the midst of the world’s suffering, including our own.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p12-13
stories, LS32, d2b

Buddha of All Worlds and the Sutra of All Time

Manjushri Bodhisattva’s story about Sun and Moon Light Buddha indicates not only that the Buddha is the Buddha of all worlds, but also that the Dharma Flower Sutra itself is not something devised a few centuries ago. It too is in all time, at least in the sense that it teaches timeless truths. Thus the books we have called “The Lotus Sutra” and the like, whether in Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese, French, or English, are at best representations or exhibits of the Sutra itself. Such pages of text, on wood or palm leaf or paper, are embodiments of the Sutra. This does not mean, however, that the Lotus Sutra itself is in any way more real than the concrete embodiments. Rather, it is only in such concrete embodiments – not only in printed texts, but also in recitation, in teaching, and in practicing it – that the Sutra lives.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p42