Peaceful Action

Stretching the Truth to Pull Meaning Out of the Lotus Sutra

In Peaceful Action, Open Heart, Thich Nhat Hanh describes the lessons of the appearance of the Stupa of Treasures:

When all his transformation bodies had arrived, the Buddha simply spread his hands and the door of the jeweled Stupa opened. Just like that, you arrive at the ultimate dimension from the historical dimension. The door is open. All the transformation Buddhas, the bodhisattvas, and the heavenly beings hovering in the space above Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa could see inside the Stupa very clearly. These beings were able to touch the ultimate dimension very easily, because they were no longer caught in outer appearances or dualistic concepts. But all the shravakas down below on the mountain itself could not yet see in. These disciples had only just begun to taste the flavor of the Mahayana, and the work of freeing themselves from attachment to the outer signs and appearances of reality had not yet been realized. They were still caught in ideas of existence and nonexistence, one and many, coming and going, and these dualistic concepts were a kind of glue that held them close to the surface of the Earth.

So once again the fourfold assembly appealed to their teacher, “Can you raise us up so that we can see inside the stupa?” Using his supernatural power Shakyamuni lifted everyone up to the level where they could look directly into the Stupa and see the ultimate Buddha, Prabhutaratna. “Lifting everyone up” here means helping them free themselves of attachment to the outer signs of reality. When we read accounts of miraculous events in Mahayana sutras, we need to be able to look past the mere words and fantastic images in order to receive the true message.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p102-103

Several points here need to be addressed. The Lotus Sutra does not say, as Thich Nhat Hanh suggests, that transformation Buddhas, the bodhisattvas, and the heavenly beings are hovering in the sky at the time the door to the stupa is opened. In fact, the transformation Buddhas are clearly seated on lion thrones under jeweled trees of the expanded, purified Buddha land. And the idea that Many Treasures is the “ultimate Buddha” flies in the face of Chapter 16 and the revelation of the eternal life of Śākyamuni.

Here’s the relevant portion from Hurvitz:

At that time Śākyamunibuddha, seeing that the buddhas who were emanations body had all arrived, and seeing how each, seated on a lion throne, was hearing that the buddhas together wished to open the jeweled stūpa, straightway rose from his seat and rested in midair. All the four assemblies, rising with palms joined, single-mindedly beheld the Buddha. Thereupon with his right finger Śākyamunibuddha opened the door of the seven-jeweled stūpa, which made a great sound as of a bar being pushed aside to open the gate of a walled city. At that very moment all the assembled multitude saw the Thus Come One Many Jewels in the jeweled stūpa, seated on a lion throne, his body whole and undecayed, as if [he were] entered into dhyāna concentration. They also heard his words: “Excellent! Excellent, O Śākyamunibuddha! Happily have you preached this Scripture of the Dharma Blossom. It is to listen to this scripture that I have come here.”

At that time, the four assemblies, seeing a buddha passed into extinction for incalculable thousands of myriads of millions of kalpas speaking such words as these, sighed in admiration at something that had never been before, and scattered clusters of divine jeweled flowers over the buddha Many Jewels and Śākyamunibuddha. The buddha Many Jewels, in his jeweled stūpa, then gave half his seat to Śākyamunibuddha, speaking these words: “O Śākyamunibuddha, will you take this seat?” At that very moment Śākyamunibuddha, entering that stūpa, sat on half that seat, his legs crossed.

At that time, the great multitude, seeing the two Thus Come Ones in the seven-jeweled stūpa on the lion throne, seated with legs crossed, all thought: “The buddhas sit high up and far off. We wish that the Thus Come One, with his power of supernatural penetration, would enable the lot of us together to dwell in open space.” At that very moment Śākyamunibuddha, with his power of supernatural penetration, touched the great multitudes, so that they were all in open space, and with a great voice proclaimed universally to the fourfold assembly: “Who can broadly preach the Scripture of the Blossom of the Fine Dharma in this Sahā Land? Now is the very time!

Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, p171

Thich Nhat Hanh continues his telling of what happened in the stupa:

Then Prabhūtaratna smiled and said, “Shakyamuni, it’s wonderful that you are now teaching the Lotus Sutra.” He made room on his lion throne and invited Shakyamuni to come and sit with him. This is a very beautiful and poetic way of revealing the teaching. The ultimate Buddha and the historical Buddha sit together and become one. When we know how to read the Sutra in this way we can understand its deeper meaning. Imagine the ultimate Buddha Prabhūtaratna sitting there, inviting the historical Buddha Shakyamuni into his jeweled stupa. The two Buddhas sitting there—are they one Buddha or different Buddhas?

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p103

To consider Many Treasures the “ultimate” Buddha just doesn’t work for me. Of course going in the opposite direction is equally absurd. I’m reminded of Senchu Murano’s interpretation of the events later in the stupa when the Buddha reveals is eternal lifespan in Chapter 16:

Seeing all this, Prabhutaratna was shocked. He felt ashamed of his ignorance of the fact that the Buddha sitting next to him was his Original Buddha. He tried to change the seats, but Sakyamuni checked him, saying, “You are now the State Guest of the World-State of the Eternal Sakyamuni. You are now representing all the Buddhas of the past, present and future.” Prabhutaratna understood Sakyamuni, and remained at his seat, motionless.

Later in the book, when discussing Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva, Thich Nhat Hanh again elaborates beyond the actual text:

Seen with Joy by All Living Beings progressed well in his spiritual practice and was able to realize the freedom and insight of the ultimate dimension and attain the “samadhi that displays all manner of physical bodies.” He no longer identified his physical body as himself and could manifest various emanation bodies in order to help many kinds of people – if he needed to manifest as a child he became a child, if he needed to become a woman he took female form. If he needed to be a businessman, he could manifest as a businessman. He always appeared in the most appropriate form for the situation, which allowed him to bring about a feeling of joy for the people he encountered. He was not caught by the idea that the body is a fixed, permanent self. He was able to manifest himself in many transformation bodies, just as the Buddha and Avalokiteśvara do, in order to help various kinds of living beings.

Unlike Avalokiteśvara in Chapter 25 and Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva is Chapter 24, there is no mention in Chapter 27 that Seen with Joy by All Living Beings [Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings] Bodhisattva actually demonstrated his ability gained when he “obtained the samadhi that displays all manner of physical bodies.” For Thich Nhat Hanh, however, gaining this ability makes it possible for Seen with Joy by All Living Beings to end his life in a fiery tribute to the Dharma, something all other commentators I have read have avoided suggesting.

On the other hand, I enjoy Thich Nhat Hanh’s assertion that we all have transformation bodies:

If we look deeply into ourselves, we see that, like Shakyamuni, we also have many transformation bodies that are always active everywhere in the cosmos. At this very moment I am in my home country, helping the young monastics and laypeople. I am present in the form of books and tapes that have been brought into Vietnam so that people there can enjoy the teaching and practice. Right now I am in Vietnam, in England, in the United States, and in many other places, because my teaching has been able to go far and wide. My transformation bodies have even gone into prison to help inmates learn the art of mindfulness and the practice of walking and sitting meditation. When you have the eyes of signlessness and are not caught by mere appearance, you will be able to recognize me in my transformation bodies, in many other forms and places. All of us have many transformation bodies: our actions, our contributions, our very way of being penetrates the entire cosmos.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p104

Thich Nhat Hanh works very hard to pull his meaning out of the words of the Lotus Sutra, but that effort too often requires distorting the actual meaning of this teaching.