Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p256The Sanskrit word “kṣānti” is often translated as “forbearance,” or “endurance,” but this does not really convey the true meaning of this paramita. Forbearance implies that you have to suffer a little bit in order to be able to accept something. If we look at the Chinese character for “kṣānti,” in the lower part is the character for “heart,” and in the upper part there is a stroke that looks like a knife, something sharp that is a little bit difficult to handle. This is a graphic expression of its true root meaning, “all-embracing inclusiveness.” If our heart is large and open enough, we can accept the sharp thing and it will not bother us. Something that seems unpleasant or disturbing only feels that way when our heart is too small. When our heart is large enough, we can be very comfortable, we can embrace the sharp, difficult thing without injury. So kṣānti is a quality of being that does not bring suffering; in fact, it allows us to escape the kind of suffering we experience when our heart is too small. When our heart is big enough, we won’t suffer.
Category Archives: Peaceful Action
Ethical Guidelines for Living
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p249-250Shila, the second paramita, is the clear and simple guidelines for ethical behavior in our everyday life. “I vow to listen deeply, with compassion to your suffering.” That is shila. “I vow to speak to you with the language of loving kindness.” That is shila. “I vow to protect and preserve life.” That is shila. The Five Mindfulness Trainings, the basic precepts of Buddhism, are an essential foundation for the practice of the other paramitas. When you practice shila, when you display self-discipline and mindfulness in word and deed, you have a lot of credibility. Because there is harmony between your words and actions, people have trust and confidence in you, and with the support of that trust, you are able to bring about much good. In Plum Village, we present these trainings in a nonsectarian form, with no specifically Buddhist terminology, because we know that they have universal value. Elements of these ethical guidelines for living exist in every tradition. The wording may be different, but the essence is very much the same.
If we know how to apply the Five Mindfulness Trainings, individually, collectively, and internationally, then peace on Earth will become a reality. The trainings remind us to consume mindfully and refrain from doing things that can harm our body and mind. They help us refrain from harming others and from using the kind of language that causes disharmony and division and brings about suffering. The practice of shila helps secure the safety and wellbeing of ourselves and others, and it is a path to greater understanding and compassion.
The More You Give, The More You Receive
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p243-244Giving (dana) is an essential bodhisattva practice. In Chapter Twenty on Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, the Universal Gate, we learned about the four skillful means of a bodhisattva. The first of these is the practice of making offerings. There are three kinds of offering. The first is giving material goods. The second is giving the gift of the Dharma, the practice that liberates us from suffering. The third and ultimate offering of the bodhisattva is the gift of non-fear. We have to understand giving in this light. Dana paramita, the perfection of giving, has nothing to do with material wealth. It has to do with generosity and openness, our capacity to embrace others with our compassion and love. With that spirit, we quite naturally want to give everything we can to help them. So we can see right away that dana paramita intersects with the practice of kṣānti, inclusiveness, and it also has the element of prajn͂ā, wisdom, because it is through our understanding of interbeing that generosity and compassion arise. When we truly see ourselves as others and others as ourselves, we naturally want to do everything we can to secure their happiness and well-being, because we know that it is also our own well-being and happiness.
There’s a kind of vegetable in Vietnam called he (prounounced “hey”). It belongs to the onion family and looks like a scallion, and it is very good in soup. The more you cut the plants at the base the more they grow. If you don’t cut them, they won’t grow very much, but if you cut them often, right at the base of the stalk, they grow bigger and bigger. This is also true of the practice of dana. If you give and continue to give, you become richer and richer all the time, richer in terms of happiness and well-being. This may seem strange, but it is always true. The more you give away the things that you value – not just material things but also gifts of time and energy – the greater your store of riches. How is this possible? When you try to hoard things you may end up losing them, but everything you give to help others always remains with you as the foundation of your well-being.
Six Doors of Action
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p239-240The Sanskrit term “paramita” is usually translated in English as “perfection,” but in Chinese Buddhist literature it is always rendered in a character that translates literally as “crossing to the other shore.” The Six Paramitas are very concrete means for us to cross over the sea of suffering to the shore of freedom from craving, anger, envy, despair, and delusion. Through cultivating and perfecting these six ways of being, we can reach the other shore very quickly – it may take only a few seconds for us to cross over the river of suffering and arrive on the shore of well-being. We may have thought that it would take many years of practice in order to get free of the afflictions, but if we know how to cultivate and manifest these six qualities we can cross over right here and now.
The first paramita, the first door of action, is dana, giving and generosity. The second door of action is shila, the precepts, mindfulness trainings, and guidelines for ethical behavior. The third door is kṣānti, all-embracing inclusiveness. The fourth door of action is vīrya, diligence, energy, effort, and steadfastness in the practice. The fifth is dhyana, meditation, the practice of stopping and calming and looking deeply. And the sixth is prajn͂ā, wisdom and understanding.
We have already seen these qualities manifested in the bodhisattvas of the Lotus Sutra. Never Despising Bodhisattva and Pūrṇa exemplify the perfection of inclusiveness. Mañjuśrī is an example of complete realization of great wisdom. Earth Store Bodhisattva’s vow not to rest until all living beings are delivered from the hells of suffering is an example of the perfection of diligence.
All of the great bodhisattvas manifest the qualities of the Six Paramitas in various ways, and each of these six doors of action exists in interdependence with the others. In any one of these six qualities, you can see the other five. This is the approach that we should always take when we study and practice Buddhism, because the very foundation of Buddhist wisdom is interbeing – the one contains the all.
The Door of the Six Paramitas
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p239In one of the chants recited by monks and nuns during the morning service there is the expression, “opening the door of action.” This refers to entering the dimension of action through the practice of the Six Paramitas. The Six Paramitas are called the doors of action because this practice is the basis of the bodhisattva path. Not only Sadaparibhuta, Avalokiteśvara, Samantabhadra, and the other great bodhisattvas we’ve met in the pages of the Lotus Sutra, but also you, I, and every one of us can be Buddha’s disciple and friend and serve as a bodhisattva to help bring peace, joy, and stability to the world.
Bowing as Meditation
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p229-230When I bow and touch the Earth, I feel deep respect and deep love. I feel very grateful for all those bodhisattvas surrounding me who follow the example of Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, Samantabhadra, and all the other great bodhisattvas. Looking at the practice of bowing from the outside, we might get the impression that it is a simple devotional ritual or that it is like praying to a god. This is not true. While it is an expression of our respect and admiration for the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, bowing is not merely a practice of devotion. Breathing mindfully and bowing down to touch the Earth, we are in deep connection with the bodhisattvas and with the qualities they represent. Done in this spirit, bowing is actually a practice of meditation. We get in touch with understanding, compassion, and great action, and see all living beings as the object of our awareness and love. So in showing respect to these great bodhisattvas, we are also demonstrating our commitment to practice the bodhisattva path and cultivate the energy of understanding, love, and compassion within ourselves.
Paying Respect to the Buddha
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p227-228We often show our respect to the Buddha and bodhisattvas by bowing, but it is important to understand that this action is not a kind of propitiation, in which a devotee pays respect to a powerful divine being in order to gain favor. The Buddha does not need us to pay respect to him; it is we who benefit from this practice. When you pay respect to the Buddha, you begin to see the path. You start to walk in the direction of goodness. You know that you are a Buddha-to-be – you have the capacity to become enlightened, awakened. You recognize that you have the capacity to love, to accept, to feel joy and to bring joy to others.
When you bow to the Buddha you are really acknowledging your own capacity for Buddhahood. In acknowledging the Buddha, you acknowledge the Buddha nature inherent within you. This practice can help release you from a negative self-image that keeps you from realizing your true nature. If you don’t have this kind of confidence, you will not be able to progress very far on the path. When understood and practiced in this way, paying respect to the Buddha is not merely a devotional ritual but is also a wisdom practice.
Practicing Filial Piety
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p225In order to better understand [Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva], we have to understand how Mahayana Buddhism became established as a viable religion in China. Chinese society was strongly influenced by the teachings of Confucianism, which especially upheld the importance of filial duty – the duty and reverence of children toward their parents and ancestors. This ideal has been one of the underpinnings of Chinese society and culture from the time of Confucius in the fifth century B.C.E. to the present day Given this cultural context, we can see that the Buddhist ideal of renunciation – leaving one’s home and family to become a monk or nun, a seeker of truth – would have been difficult to accept.
Someone who is practicing always has the capacity to return home in order to liberate their family from suffering. No one practices just for himself or herself alone. When followers of Confucianism condemned Buddhism as failing to practice filial piety, the practitioners had to prove the opposite, that in following the path of the Buddha they were also following the path of humanity and filial piety. In the story of bodhisattva Quan Am of the Southern Seas (written in Vietnamese Nom script), we have the following verse:
The suchness of the Buddha’s path is very wonderful, our heart is loyal with filial piety and the first thought we have is to look after humanity.
Filial piety is our aim to be able to liberate from suffering those who are close to us. Our humanity is our aim, to be able to rescue all living beings from drifting and sinking in the ocean of suffering.
The Lesson of Chapter 27
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p223-225Chapter 27 of the Lotus Sutra, “The Former Affairs of the King Fine Adornment,” was one of the chapters added later to the Sutra. It tells of a king named Shubhavyuha (Fine Adornment), who was the previous life of Flower Virtue, one of the bodhisattvas in the Lotus Sutra assembly. Two other bodhisattvas in the assembly, Medicine King and Superior Medicine, were the sons of King Fine Adornment in their previous lives. Through their practice and understanding of the Lotus Sutra, which they heard taught by the Buddha of that place and time, they were able to lead their father to the path of the Buddhadharma. Also present is the bodhisattva Marks of Adornment, who in a former life was called Pure Virtue, and was the wife of King Fine Adornment and the mother of his two sons.
The Buddha introduces these bodhisattvas and speaks of their past lives to convey to the Sangha that the practice of the Lotus Sutra can lead to effects beyond compare, and this has the effect of increasing and ensuring the assembly’s confidence and faith in the practice. This chapter shows us that we have the capacity to take our practice into our families and communities in order to help them become liberated from suffering. We do not practice for ourselves alone but also in order to help others – this is the way of the bodhisattva that is extolled in the Lotus Sutra.
When we enter the bodhisattva path, it is natural that parents and immediate family members are the first objects of our practice. We can see this in the example of Shakyamuni Buddha himself, who soon after his enlightenment taught the Dharma to his aunt Mahāprajāpatī, his former wife, Yasodhara, his son, Rāhula, and his father, Śuddhodana. …
The presence of bodhisattvas like Medicine King, Superior Medicine, and Flower Virtue in the Lotus Sutra show us that the practice of the path of liberation has the capacity not only to liberate us but also to bring others out of suffering – beginning with our parents and siblings, our immediate family, and ultimately extending to all beings.
The Dhārāṇis Bridge
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p217The chapter on dharanis in the Lotus Sutra serves to remind us that the Buddhas and bodhisattvas are always present with us whenever we wholeheartedly hear and practice the teachings. They are always producing energy to support us in our practice. The dharanis act as a kind of bridge, a conduit of communication, a way of holding fast to the Buddhas and bodhisattvas and receiving the support of their great spiritual energy.