Call me Queequeg

In the 16^th Chapter of the Lotus Sutra, we find the scene where the Buddha reveals his life span to the Assembly.

“In all the worlds, gods, men, and asuras all say that the present Sakyamunibuddha left the palace of the Sakya clan and at a place not far removed from the city of Gaya, seated on the platform of the path, attained anuttarasamyaksambodhi. And yet, O good men, since in fact I achieved buddhahood it has been incalculable, limitless hundreds of thousands of myriads of millions of nayutas of kalpas. For example, one might imagine that in the five hundred thousand myriad millions of nayutas of asamkhyeyas of thousand-millionfold worlds there is a man who pounds them all to atoms, and then, only after passing eastward over five hundred thousand myriads of millions of nayutas of asamkhyeyas of realms, deposits one atom, in this way in his eastward movement exhausting all these atoms. Good men! In your thinking, how would it be? Could these world spheres be conceived and counted? Could one know their number, or could one not?”

Nayuta – A very large number. Sometimes defined as ten-million, in other sources, one billion.

Asamkhyeya – Another very large number – 10⁵¹ or 10⁵⁹.

Kalpa – Variously – (1) the time it takes to erode a stone cube 3600 meters (forty ri) per side, or 7 km (yojana) per side, if one were to wipe the stone with a cloth once every 100 years; (2) the time it takes to empty a town 3600² meters or 7² km, filled with mustard seeds, if one were to remove one seed every 100 years; (3) 16 million years.

The bodhisattva Maitreya and the others together addressed the Buddha, saying, “O World-Honred One! These world spheres are incalculable, limitless, such a number cannot know nor the power of thought reach. No voice hearer or pratyekabuddha, with the aid of his knowledge without outflows, can think on or know their limit or their number. We, too, dwelling as we do on the soil of the avaivartya [point of nonbacklsliding], cannot arrive at anything where this matter is concerned. O World-Honored One! So incalculable and limitless are these world-spheres!”

At that time, the Buddha declared to the great multitude of bodhisattvas, “Good men! Now I will declare it to you plainly. If these world spheres, whether an atom was deposited in them or not, were all reduced to atoms, and if each atom were a kalpa, the time since my achievement of buddhahood would exceed even this. For a hundred thousand myriads of millions of nayutas of asemkhyeyakalpas I have been constantly dwelling in this Saha world sphere, preaching the dharma, teaching and converting; also elsewhere, in a hundred thousand myriads of millions of nayutas of asamkhyeyas of realms [I have been] guiding and benefiting the beings.”

Hurvitz, Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, p. 219-20.

This teaching is the heart of the Lotus Sutra. In plain, reasonably logical words, the passage sets forth a logical formula to describe a number that at once one can intuit as theoretically conceivable and yet realize is in practicality, utterly inconceivable.

Other elaborations of Buddhist thought I think point to a similar problem. Nagarjuna’s Madhyamika I think gets at this phenomena through the analytical process of Sunyata.  Zhiyi also through the Three Truths and 3000 realms in a single moment of thought.

***

I’ve been fascinated by some BBC documentaries I’ve found on youtube lately. They generally concern the subjects of mathematics and physics. I’ve been particularly struck by the conclusions being drawn that ultimately, everything is founded on indeterminacy – how rules of mathematical logic, drawn to their full implications point to the failure of logic. In respects, what theorists have found, and experimentalists have confirmed, is that indeterminacy is an integral aspect of the world around us. What is even more interesting to me is that one of the solutions proposed for this unavoidable indeterminacy is intuition. Something about intuition reminds me of Adhimukti (Jp. shinge (信解) En. Belief and Understanding) – a trusting disposition – the means urged by the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra to penetrate the problem of his life span.

The following are links to some great programs that show how the problems of infinity and indeterminacy are conceived in modern scientific discourse and their implications in quantum physics. While I can’t say that the phenomena described as the Buddha’s lifespan corresponds to the same phenomena observed by modern mathematicians and physicists, I also can’t avoid the conclusion that there is something in these presentations that resonates with my meditative explorations on the Buddha’s life span.

Dangerous Knowledge

The Illusion of Reality

Everything and Nothing: Everything

Everything and Nothing: Nothing

The following is a non-exhaustive bibliography of monographs and articles on T’ien-T’ai and Tendai Buddhism in English.  I’ll try to keep adding.

Tientai Bibliography

Bruno Petzold
Tendai Buddhism
http://books.google.com/books?id=s9QKAAAAYAAJ&lr=

Leon Hurvitz
Chih-i (538-597): an introduction to the life and ideas of a Chinese Buddhist monk
http://books.google.com/books?id=WEQvAAAAYAAJ

Brook Ziporyn
Being and ambiguity: philosophical experiments with Tiantai Buddhism
http://books.google.com/books?id=h_zm_dBAXB0C

Evil and/or/as the good: omnicentrism, intersubjectivity and value paradox in Tiantai Buddhist thought
http://books.google.com/books?id=l5F-XaNCoBsC

Bhikshu Dharmamitra
The Essentials of Buddhist Meditation
http://books.google.com/books?id=sh1cPgAACAAJ

The Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime
http://books.google.com/books?id=0aNQPgAACAAJ

Michael R. Saso
Zen is for everyone: the Xiao zhi guan text by Zhi Yi
http://books.google.com/books?id=DCjePQAACAAJ

Neal Arvid Donner, Daniel B. Stevenson, Zhiyi
The great calming and contemplation: a study and annotated translation of the first chapter of Chih-i’s Mo-ho chih-kuan
http://books.google.com/books?id=y9IKAAAAYAAJ&lr=

David W. Chappell
Tʻien-tʻai Buddhism: an outline of The fourfold teachings
http://books.google.com/books?id=HcwKAAAAYAAJ

Thomas Cleary
Stopping and seeing: a comprehensive course in Buddhist meditation
http://books.google.com/books?id=u8gKAAAAYAAJ

Paul Loren Swanson
Foundations of Tʻien-Tʻai philosophy: the flowering of the two truths theory in Chinese Buddhism
http://books.google.com/books?id=UpEkAQAAIAAJ

The Great Cessation-and-Contemplation (Mo Ho Chih Kuan / MakaShikan)
http://www.kosei-shuppan.co.jp/english/text/books/bindex2.html
(EXCELLENT annotated translation of the first 6 Chapters)

Link to Swanson’s page at Nanzan with links to selections from his translation
of Makashikan as well as drafts of parts of Chapter 7 and other articles.
http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/staff/pswanson/mhck/mhck.html

Haiyan Shen
The profound meaning of the Lotus sutra: T̕ ien-t̕ai philosophy of Buddhism
http://books.google.com/books?id=UFfYAAAAMAAJ

Linda L. Penkower
T’ien-t’ai during the T’ang dynasty: Chan-jan and the sinification of Buddhism
http://books.google.com/books?id=VCwRAQAAIAAJ&lr=

Peter N. Gregory
Traditions of meditation in Chinese Buddhism
http://books.google.com/books?id=GwPy3fMhuF4C&lr=

Sudden and Gradual: Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought
http://books.google.com/books?id=JAsCVEGGR-oC&lr=

Japanese Tendai

Robert Rhodes
The Candle of the Latter Dharma
https://www.bdkamerica.org/p_bookinfo.aspx?bookid=45&languageid=1

Paul Swanson
The Collected Teachings of the Tendai Lotus School
https://www.bdkamerica.org/default.aspx?mpid=30&productid=34&languageid=1

Paul Groner
Saicho: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School
http://books.google.com/books?id=xhbv9sQpTgIC&lr=

This is something I put together just for fun.  You will need to download Google Earth.  Google Earth Tour of Nichiren’s Life

As a Nichiren Buddhist, how should one behave before the Gohonzon?

One ought to behave as though one were in the presence of the Buddha and in attendance at the Ceremony in the Air.

Presence of the Buddha

Buddhism is a tradition of learning and wisdom which finds its inception in the teachings of the Buddha. Legend holds that the insight at the heart of the Buddha’s teaching was realized one night while he sat in meditation below the Bodhi tree near the city of Gaya. However, if we really consider the matter, Buddhism actually started several weeks later when the Buddha first taught his awakening to the Five Ascetics. Buddhism only has substance as something that is transmitted.  For Buddhists, one’s learning and practice always refers back to the Buddha and his instruction and we look to the Buddha as our teacher. Unfortunately, he passed into extinction 2600 years ago. In the ensuing centuries, our spiritual forbears employed various strategies to invoke his presence, and many of these are embodied in the Gohonzon (object of veneration) established by Nichiren.

Traces of the Buddha

When the Buddha passed away, he left behind certain “traces” – his teachings and bodily remains. According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta in the Digha Nikaya which recounts the Buddhas last months and his passing, the former were entrusted to the sangha while the latter were entrusted to the lay-followers. These traces of the Buddha, along with four places associated with important events in the Buddha’s life, were taught by the Buddha to have power to bring benefit.

Places

The Mahaparinibbana Sutta relates an exchange between the Buddha and Ananda, his attendant, in the months before the Buddha’s parinirvana. Ananda asked the Buddha what people should do to fulfill their desire to see the Buddha after his passing. The Buddha replied:

‘Ananda, there are four places the sight of which should arouse emotion in the faithful. Which are they? “Here the Tathagata was born” is the first. “Here the Tathagata attained supreme enlightenment” is the second. “Here the Tathagata set in motion the Wheel of Dhamma” is the third. “Here the Tathagata attained the Nibbana-element without remainder” is the fourth. And, the faithful monks and nuns, male and female lay-followers will visit those places. And any who die while making pilgrimage to these shrines with a devout heart will, at the breaking-up of the body after death, be reborn in a heavenly world.

The Long Discourses of the Buddha; A Translation of the Digha Nikaya. Trans. Maurice Walshe.  Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995.  263-4.

The four places are Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Sarnath, and Kusinagar. To this day, Buddhists make pilgrimages to these sites.

Stupa at Sarnath, India. A sketch by the author.

We can perhaps intuitively understand how a place could invoke the Buddha’s presence. For instance, when visiting a site such as Bodhgaya, we can look at the ground and imagine that just as we are walking there, so once did the Buddha; just as the Buddha lived, we live; just as the Buddha attained enlightenment, so we ourselves strive. By seeing the places where he once tread, though he is not physically present any longer, we can imagine that we are experiencing something of what he experienced, and perhaps thereby find inspiration to follow in his footsteps.

Relics

Similarly, the Buddha suggested that his remains, housed in stupas, could serve a similar function for followers after his passing, stating, ‘And whoever lays wreaths or puts sweet perfumes and colours there with a devout heart, will reap benefit and happiness for a long time.’ Explaining further, the Buddha stated:

‘Ananda, there are four persons worthy of a stupa. Who are they? A Tathagata, Arahant, fully-enlightened Buddha is one, a Pacceka Buddha is one, a disciple of the Tathagata is one, and a wheel-turning monarch is one. And why is each of these worthy of a stupa? Because, Ananda, at the thought: “This is the stupa of a Tathagata, of a Pacceka Buddha, of a disciple of the Tathagata, of a wheel-turning monarch”, people’s hearts are made peaceful, and then, at the breaking-up of the body after death they go to a good destiny and rearise in a heavenly world. That is the reason, and those are the four who are worthy of a stupa.’

Walshe. 264-5.

Great Stupa at Bodhnath, Kathmandu, Nepal.

When the Buddha died, his remains were entrusted to the laity as he instructed.  After cremating the Buddha’s body and dividing the sarira (relics) among themselves, they returned to their respective regions where they interred the sarira in stupas – large mounds of earth and brick.  Just as places associated with the Buddha could invoke his presence, so could the sites of these stupas.  An advantage of the relics, however, is their portability, dispersing the sites at which the Buddha could be located.

Teachings

For the Sangha, the Buddha taught that his teachings could invoke his presence.

And the Lord said to Ananda: “Ananda, it may be that you will think: ‘The Teacher’s instruction has ceased, now we have no teacher!’ It should not be seen like this, Ananda, for what I have taught and explained to you as Dhamma and discipline will, at my passing, be your teacher.”

Walshe. 269-70.

In a sense, the Buddha’s teachings are traces of the Buddha similar to the places of significance in the Buddha’s life and his relics.  Where places and relics, however are material traces, the teachings are traces left in the minds of his disciples. Just as the distribution of relics could multiply places the Buddha’s presence could be invoked, the teachings were even more expansive, causing the Buddha to appear anywhere a practitioner evoked the Dharma.

Although the instructions of the Buddha recorded in texts such as the Mahaparinibbana Sutta indicate distinctions as to how the sangha and laity could invoke his presence after his passing, it seems naive to assume that the distinctions between the practices of the two groups were so clearly differentiated. First, the distinction between the two communities is less pronounced than one might at first presume. After all, the sangha relied on the laity for alms, as well as the replenishment of its ranks, while the laity relied on the sangha for spiritual guidance. In this symbiotic relationship, the sangha and laity were always really one single spiritual community. In terms of practice, even during the Buddha’s time, lay persons practiced his teachings and could attain the most advanced spiritual states while some of his renunciate disciples engaged in practices that seem closer to Buddha veneration than the contemplative practices we might otherwise associate with the sangha. Taken collectively, the traces left for the sangha and laity provide complimentary means to invoke the Buddha – the places and relics recalled his physical presence, while his teachings recalled his mind.

Images of the Buddha

It is not clear when the tradition of depicting the Buddha in image and sculpture began. The earliest examples are murals from one of the oldest caves at Ajanta which dates from the second century, B.C. The earliest stone examples come from Buddhist centers of worship and learning such as Sanchi and Bharut dating to the first century B.C. We can speculate that earlier art in perishable media were created, but evidence of these have yet to be discovered.

Aniconic

Relief depicting the Buddha's escape, Sanchi. Dehejia, Discourse in Early Buddhist Art, p. 16.

The most striking feature of the earliest artistic representations of the Buddha is actually his absence in anthropomorphic form. Instead, he is suggested by his conspicuous absence or by symbols. For instance, in a relief at the Sanchi stupa portraying the Buddha’s departure from his palace, the Buddha is suggested by a riderless horse carried by gods. The Buddha’s presence is confirmed by a parasol suspended over the horse’s saddle. In contrast, the horse returning to the palace walks on the ground without the parasol above it.

Buddha's Conception. Dehejia, p. __.

Other means of representing the Buddha through symbols include a white, six-tusked elephant suggesting his conception; his mother holding a lotus flower suggesting his birth; an empty throne beneath a bodhi tree suggesting his enlightenment; a wheel suggesting his preaching; and, a stupa to represent his passing. Another common aniconic motif was the sculpture of the Buddha’s footprints.

These aniconic conventions were apparently in keeping with contemporary Vedic norms against the anthropomorphic representation of bhagavan, or holy ones, those beings believed to bear a divine nature. According to what we might call “orthodox” Buddhist theory, the Buddha is not divine. However, he seems to have been accorded some other-worldly character by many for which he was venerated in a manner similar to the Jain saints and the forces of nature worshiped according to the Vedas. As such, it has been speculated that Buddhist devotees followed the contemporary conventions in their depictions of the Buddha in art, holding that such beings are beyond description and portrayal.  Krishan, Yuvraj, The Buddha image: Its Origin and Development.  New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. 1-19.

Empty Throne, Dehejia p. 17.

 

Wheel, Dehejia p. 98.

Iconic

The first statue of the Buddha is said to have been made in his lifetime. According to legend, when the Buddha traveled to the Trayastrimsa Heaven for three months to teach the Dharma to his mother, King Udayana regretted not seeing him. The King commissioned an artist who was miraculously transported to the Heaven to observe the Buddha and, on his return, carved a statue out of sandalwood. The statue was then placed in the Buddha’s seat in the vihara (abode/lecture hall). The statue was said to have been so accurate that when the Buddha returned, the statue became animated and to have stood up to greet the Buddha. In response, the Buddha said to the statue, “Return to your seat. After my nirvana, you will serve as a model to the four categories of followers.” Some counts of the story have King Prasenajit commissioning the work. In any event, King Prasenajit figures into the story later as he was said to have commissioned the second statue of the Buddha, a replica of the first.

Buddha from Ghandara, Dehejia p. 190.

More than likely, the accounts of King Udayana and King Prasenajit are apocryphal explanations to explain Buddha images that were already accepted as objects of veneration. Images of the Buddha in anthropomorphic form did not appear until several centuries after the Buddha’s passing, namely until Buddhism’s encounter with the Indo-Greco Ghandaran culture. It seems the mixing of the Greek tradition of representing the divine in anthropomorphic form and Buddhism initiated the iconic phase of Buddhist art. The legend, however, highlights the apparent need to justify images of the Buddha by claiming that they were fashioned by artists who had actually seen the Buddha, a connection which would establish a direct trace to the Buddha. As is the tendency of sacred qualities, we can imagine how they permeated out from the specific images claimed to have been made in the Buddha’s life time, into copies of those images, and so on into all images of the Buddha which properly represented his qualities. Whether this was the case or whether the legend emerged a posteriori, in time, images of the Buddha could be used to invoke the Buddha’s presence as powerfully as any sacred place or relic, perhaps even more effectively.

The major branches of Buddhism we recognize today are the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Each has its canon, some of which is common to all traditions, although on close examination we often find that common texts are recorded or interpreted uniquely. This is the case within the branches, and even where the texts are the same, the interpretations of one sub-branch are often at odds with others. These conflicts are dealt with in a number of ways which are beyond the subject of this essay. The point is that the Buddha Dharma is incredibly diverse, and this is reflected in the objects of veneration.

We see that the first phase of Buddhist art remained aniconic in keeping with the norms of the broader Vedic culture within which Buddhism emerged and developed. However, as iconic representations of the Buddha displaced the aniconic in popularity, rather than simply discard the symbolic tradition, we find the lexicon of symbols expanded and evolved toward an alternative application. With the proliferation of teachings and interpretations of Buddha Dharma, we can imagine sects developing a need for Buddha images that invoke their particular teachings to serve as objects of veneration, ritual and contemplative practice. While all Buddha’s might have thirty-two distinguishing characteristics, their dress, poses, gestures, etc. would be significant to identify them as well as convey distinct meaning.

Six Archetypes of Avalokitesvara / Kannon, Enlightenment Embodied, Japan Society, p. 56.

However it might have come about, Buddhist artists developed a complex system of iconography to distinguish one Buddha from the next. Iconography of anatomy, poses, hand gestures and the ritual implements they held, as well as surrounding imagery of buildings, thrones, mounts and/or dais, attendants and retinues, were developed to express particular ideas and narratives. Some of the iconography was commonly known (for instance, the thirty-two features of the Buddha) while others were guarded secrets revealed only to the initiated. To those familiar with an image and the underlying teachings, an image could be read like a text, taking the object out of the two or three dimensional form and into the realm of lived experience in the nature of the dialectic relationship between teacher (Buddha) and disciple (practitioner). In this manner, the Buddha’s physical traces and the traces of his teachings could come together into a single object.  For example, see the six images of Kannon above.  These all represent a single bodhisattva, but he/she is described differently in various sources, and as such, images reflecting different forms and exhibiting different iconography correspond to these various forms of Kannon.

Texts as the Buddha

A copy of the Lotus Sutra in which each character is seated on a lotus throne.

We saw earlier how the Buddha had instructed members of the sangha to look to the dharma as their teacher. When these teachings were committed to writing, what had previously only been a trace left in the mind of the practitioner now had a physical form as well, and it appears that veneration of the texts followed. Moreover, not only were the scrolls of the texts themselves equated with the Buddha, each character also came to be viewed as individual buddhas.

In the Preachers of the Dharma chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha explains how to identify those who will attain buddhahood. He describes their practices which include revering the scrolls of the sutra.

A copy of the Lotus Sutra where each character is beside a Buddha image.

“[I]f a good man or good woman shall receive and keep, read and recite, explain, or copy in writing a single phrase of the Scripture of the Dharma Blossom, or otherwise and in a a variety of ways make offerings to the scriptural roll with flower perfume, necklaces, powdered incense, perfumed paste, burned incense, silk banners and canopies, garments, or music, or join palms in reverent worship, that person is to be looked up to and exalted by all the worlds, showered with offerings fit for a Thus Come One. Let it be known that that person is a great bodhisattva who, having achieved anuttarasamyaksambodhi, taken pity on the living beings, and vowed to be reborn here, is preaching the Scripture of the Blossom of the fine Dharma with breadth and discrimination. How much the more may this be said of one who, receiving and keeping this scripture in its entirety, makes sundry offering to it!”

Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma; The Lotus Sutra. Trans. Leon Hurvitz. New York: Columbia University 2009. 160.

A copy of the Lotus Sutra with each character housed in a Stupa image.

In this passage we find reverence of the text equated with other practices such as reading and reciting.

Further on, we find this idea elaborated to suggest that the practice of the Lotus Sutra itself is comparable to the Buddha’s body.

“Wherever [the Lotus Sutra] may be preached, or read, or recited, or written, or whatever place a roll of this scripture may occupy, in all those places one is to erect a stupa of the seven jewels, building it high and wide with impressive decoration. There is no need even to lodge sarira in it. What is the reason? Within it there is already a whole body of the Thus Come One.”

Hurvitz. 163.

Here, not only is the act of revering the Sutra indicative of one who will attain enlightenment, but the practices of that person are likened to the Buddha, worthy of reverence and erection of stupas in such places. Now we see the Buddha not only as an external object, but the practice of the teaching is associated with the presence of the Buddha.

Another passage in the chapter entitled Supernatural Powers of the Thus Come One we find the following:

“In any land, if there is anyone who accepts and keeps, reads and revites, interprets and copies, and, as he preaches, so practices it, whether in a place where scriptural rolls are lodged, or in a garden, or in a grove, or at the foot of a tree, or in a samgha cell, or in the home of a white-clad layman, or in a palace, or on mountains, or in valleys or in open fields, there in every case, is to be erected a stupa, to which offerings are to be made. What is the reason? Be it known that that place is a platform of the path; that the buddhas there have achieved anuttarasamyaksambodhi; that the buddhas there have turned the dharma wheel; that the buddhas there have achieved parinirvana.”

Hurvitz.  265.

Here the Sutra equates the places of practice of ordinary practitioners with places of reverence in the Buddha’s life – Bodhgaya, Sarnath, and Kusinagar. The practice of the Lotus Sutra is further confirmed as a means to invoke the presence of the Buddha.

We can find further evidence of the text serving as the body of the Buddha in the practices of Zhiyi, the founder of the T’ient’ai/Tendai school of Buddhism which centers on the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. In Fa-Hua San-Mei Ch’an I (Confessional Samadhi of the Lotus Sutra), Zhiyi described the place of practice (“Bodhimandala”) one should establish within which to carry out confessional practices based on the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. He writes:

“In a suitably quiet and secluded place, one prepares and adorns a special room to be the place for the Bodhimandala. In a special place one is seated at a proper distance from the Bodhimandala. In the Bodhimandala, placed well like a high throne, one places a single copy of the Lotus Sutra. It is not necessary to place any other images, sarira [relics], or other Sutras with it. One only enshrines the Lotus Sutra. One may place banners, canopies, and various other offerings around it.”

Zhiyi. Confessional Samadhi of the Lotus Sutra. Trans. Peter Johnson. http://www.tientai.net/lit/hksmsg/HKSMSGtextD1&2.htm

In the passages that follow, Zhiyi explains how one invokes the Three Jewels into the Bodhimandala, ie. invite the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, to attend in the Bodhimandala, thereby animating the place of practice and populating it with the Buddhas and other beings who appear in the Lotus Sutra during the Ceremony in the Air.

Nichiren explained how objects such as painted images and sculptures could serve as objects of veneration in a letter called, “Opening the Eyes of Wooden and Painted Images”. Thirty-one features of the Buddha can be depicted, but one feature, the Pure and Far-reaching voice of the Buddha cannot. This feature has both physical and spiritual aspects – the actual voice being physical (though it cannot be depicted in an image) and the mind that is given voice to is spiritual. Nichiren explains how the Pure and Far-reaching Voice is invoked.

“When the Lotus Sutra is placed before an image possessing thirty-one features, the image never fails to become the Buddha of the pure and perfect teaching…Because the Lotus Sutra manifests the Buddha’s spiritual aspect, when one embodies that spiritual aspect in a wooden or painted image possessing thirty-one features, the image in its entirety becomes the living Buddha.”

Nichiren. The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin. Trans. Gosho Translation Committee. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai 1999. 85.

Later, Nichiren introduced a mandala as an object of worship of the Lotus Sutra. This mandala combined the ideas of the scroll of the sutra as well as its distillation to its title. In On Reciting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra Nichiren wrote:

“Question: For persons who place their faith in the Lotus Sutra, what is the proper object of devotion, and what rules are to be followed in acts of worship and daily religious practice?

Answer: First, with reagard to the object of devotion, one should inscribe the eight volumes of the Lotus Sutra, or one volume, or one chapter, or simply the daimoku of the stura, and make that the object of devotion as is indicated in the Preachers of the Dharma and Supernatural Powers of the Thus Come One chapters of the sutra. And those persons who are able to do so further should write out the names of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni and the Buddha Many Treasures, or fashion images of them, and place these on the left and right of the Lotus Sutra. And if they are further able to do so, they should fashion images or write out the names of the Buddhas of the ten directions and the bodhisattva Universal Worthy and others.

A for the rules to be followed in worship, one should always either sit or stand when in the presence of the object of devotion. Once one leaves the place of worship, however, one is free to walk, stand still, sit, or lie down as one wishes.

As a daily religious practice, one should recite the daimoku. Those persons who are able to do so should further recite a verse or a phrase of the Lotus Sutra. As a supplementary practice, in one wishes, one may offer praise for Shakyamuni Buddha, Many Treasures Buddha, or the Buddhas of the ten directions, for all the various bodhisattvas or persons of the two vehicles, the heavenly beings, the dragon deities, or the eight kinds of nonhuman beings. Since we live in an age when there are many uninformed people, there is no need for believers to attempt at once to practice the meditation on the three thousand realms in a single moment of life, though if there are persons who wish to do so, they should learn how to practice this type of meditation and carry it out.”

Nichiren. The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Vol. II. Trans. Gosho Translation Committee. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai 2006. 228.

Nichiren later refined the object of worship, honing in specifically on certain sections of the sutra as the appropriate as an object of devotion and veneration. In Kanjin no Honzon Sho Nichiren wrote:

“The true object of devotion is described as follows:

The treasure tower sits in the air above the saha world [of] the Buddha of the essential teaching; Myoho-renge-kyo appears in the center of the tower with the Buddhas Shakyamuni and Many Treasures seated to the right and left, and flanking them, the four bodhisattvas, followers of Shakyamuni, led by Superior Practices. Manjushri, Maitreya, and the other bodhisattvas, who are all followers of the four bodhisattvas, are seated below. All the other major and minor bodhisattvas, whether they are disciples of the Buddha in his transient status or of the Buddhas of the other worlds, are like commoners kneeling on the ground in the presence of nobles and high-ranking court officials. The Buddhas who gathered from the other worlds in the ten directions al remain on the ground, showing that they are only temporary manifestations of the eternal Buddha and their lands are transient, not eternal and unchanging.”

Nichiren. The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin. Trans. Gosho Translation Committee. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai 1999. 366-7.

When we sit before the Gohonzon and practice, we are before the Buddha, attending the ceremony in the air. As such, we should always conduct ourselves in front of the Gohonzon as if before the Buddha.

Notes from a Dharma Talk I gave in memory of my grandmother on the twenty-third anniversary of her passing on November 11, 2010.

Today, I wanted to give a dharma talk in memory of my grandmother, Sadako Ozawa, who passed away twenty-three years ago today.  According to Buddhist custom, we conduct memorial services at certain intervals to send merit to the deceased for their happiness, which for a Buddhist means being able to practice Buddhism.  So, I dedicate any merit I generate through this talk to my grandmother, that she has encountered the Buddha Dharma and is able to practice it.  Any demerits, I take upon myself.

Sadako Ozawa had a tumultuous life.  She was born in 1914 but her mother died when she was young and so she grew up as a step child of her father’s second wife.  She also saw the destruction of Tokyo, twice, in her life.  When she was around 9, she lived through the Great Kanto Earthquake that killed 100,000 to 140,000 people and left many more homeless.  She also survived the firebombing of Tokyo that killed at least 100,000, injured as many as a million people, and left millions homeless.  After the war, her family struggled financially, but she managed through a dogged resourcefulness to turn a doll making hobby into a business that brought her some fame.  Throughout her life she sought a spiritual path that would bring peace and happiness to her life, but always found the teachings lacking and unable to deliver what she sought.  I remember her telling me about chanting daimoku to foxes, for instance.  In the 1950’s she was introduced to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin and finally found the path she had been looking for.  Her faith was unshakeable and utterly sincere.  I remember waking late at night while visiting her to see her chanting daimoku quietly by candle light long after she had fed, bathed and put everyone to bed.  She introduced my mother to Nichiren Buddhism, and that faith has been passed to me and my siblings, as well as the countless people my mother has nurtured and encouraged in Buddhist practice.

I have had the fortune to be born into a Buddhist family because of my grandmother’s faith, so I thought it would be appropriate to talk about faith.

The Shishin Gohon Sho, On the Four Stages of Faith and Five Stages of Practice, is identified by Nikko Shonin as one of the Ten Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin.  The thirteen page original manuscript is preserved at Nakayama Hokkekyoji and is designated by the Japanese government as an important cultural property.  It is believed that the letter, addressed to Toki Jonin, was written on March 23, 1277, when Nichiren was 56 years old.

Critical concepts in the Shishin Gohon Sho

Four Stages of Faith Shishin (四信)

From The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra by Zhiyi

Derived from Chapter 17 of the Lotus Sutra, Distinctions in Benefits

Applies during the lifetime of the Buddha

Quotations from Watson, Burton, Trans., The Lotus Sutra, (Columbia University Press: New York 1993) pp. 233-244.

1.  To believe in and understand the sutra even for a moment

“Ajita, if there are living beings who, on hearing that the life span of the Buddha is of such long duration, are able to believe and understand it even for a moment, the benefits they gain thereby will be without limit or measure. Suppose there are good men or good women who, for the sake of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, over a period of eight hundred thousand million nayutas of kalpas practice the five paramitas – the paramitas of dana, shila, kshanti, virya and dhyana, the paramita of prajna being omitted – the benefits they obtain will not measure up to even a hundredth part, a thousandth part, a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, millionth part of the benefits mentioned previously. Indeed, it is beyond the power of calculation, simile or parable to convey the comparison. For good men who have gained such benefits as those to fall back without reaching the goal of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi is utterly unimaginable.”

2. To generally understand the import of the words of the sutra

“Furthermore, Ajita, if there is someone who, hearing of the long duration of the Buddha’s life span, can understand the import of such words, the benefits that such a person acquires will be without limit or measure, able to awaken in him the unsurpassed wisdom of the Thus Come One.”

3. To expound the teaching of the sutra widely for others

“How much more so, then, if far and wide a person listens to this sutra or causes others to listen to it, embraces it himself or causes others to embrace it, copies it himself or causes others to copy it, or presents flowers, incense, necklaces, streamers, banners, silken canopies, fragrant oil or lamps of butter oil as offerings tho the sutra rolls. The benefits of such a person will be immeasurable, boundless, able to inspire in him the wisdom that embraces all species.”

4. To realize with deep faith the truth expounded by the Buddha

“Ajita, if good men and good women, hearing me describe the great length of my life span, in the depths of the mind believe and understand, then they will see the Buddha constantly abiding on Mount Gridhakuta, the the great bodhisattvas and multitude of voice hearers surrounding him, preaching the Law. They will also see this saha world, its fround of lapis lazuli level and well ordered, the Jambunada gold bordering its eight highways, the rows of jeweled trees, the terraces, towers and observatories all made of jewels, and all the multitude of bodhisattvas who live in their midst.  If there are those who are able to see such things, you should know that it is a mark of their deep faith and understanding.”

Five Stages of Practice Gohon (五品)

From The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra by Zhiyi

Derived from Chapter 17 of the Lotus Sutra, Distinctions in Benefits

Applies after the Buddha’s passing:

1. To rejoice on hearing the Lotus Sutra

“Again, if after the Thus Come One has entered extinction there are those who hear this sutra and do not slander or speak ill of it but feel joy in their hearts, you should know that this is a sign that they have already shown deep faith and understanding.”

2. To read and recite the Lotus Sutra

“How much more in the case of persons who read, recite and embrace this sutra! Such persons are in effect receiving the Thus Come One on the crown of their heads.”

“Ajita, these good men and good women need not for my sake erect towers and temples or build monks quarters or make the four kinds of offerings to the community of monks. Why? Because these good men and good women, in receiving, embracing, reading and reciting this sutra, have already erected towers, constructed monks quarters, and given alms to the community of monks. It should be considered that they have erected towers adorned with the seven treasures for the relics of the Buddha, broad at the base and tapering at the top, reaching to the Brahma heaven, hung with banners, canopies, and a multitude of jeweled bells, with flowers, incense, necklaces, powdered incense, paste incense, incense for burning, many kinds of drums, musical instruments, pipes, harps, and various types of dances and diversions, and with wonderful voices that sing and intone hymns of praise.  It is as though they have already offered alms for immeasurable thousands, ten thousands, millions of kalpas.”

3. To expound the Lotus Sutra to others

“Ajita, if after I have entered extinction there are those who hear this sutra and can accept and uphold it, copy it themselves or cause others to copy it, then it may be considered that they have already erected monks quarters, or used red sandalwood to construct thirty-two halls, as tall as eight tala trees, lofty, spacious and beautifully adorned to accommodate hundreds and thousands of monks.  Hardens groves, pools, lakes, exercise grounds, caves for meditation, clothing, food, drink, beds, matting, medicines, and all kinds of utensils for comfort fill them, and these monks quarters and halls number in the hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions, and indeed are immeasurable in number.  All these are presented before me as alms for and the community of monks.”

4. To embrace the Lotus Sutra and practice the six paramitas

“So I say, if after the Thus Come One enters extinction there are those who accept, uphold, read and recite this sutra or preach it to others, who copy it themselves or cause others to copy it, or who offer alms to the sutra scrolls, then they need not erect towers or temples or build monks quarters or offer alms to the community of monks.  And how much more is this true of those who are able to embrace this sutra and at the same time dispense alms, keep the precepts, practice forbearance, and display diligence, single-mindedness and wisdom! Their virtue will be uppermost, immeasurable and boundless, as the open sky, east west, north and south, in the four intermediate directions and up and down, is immeasurable and boundless.  The blessings of such persons will be as immeasureable and boundless as this and such persons will quickly attain the wisdom that embraces all species.”

5. To perfect one’s practice of the six paramitas

“If a person reads, recites, accepts and upholds this sutra or preaches it to others; if he copies it himself or causes others to copy it; and if he can erect towers, build monks quarters, offer alms and praise to the community of sravakas; if he can hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of modes of praise to praise the merits of the bodhisattvas; and if for the sake of others he employs various causes and conditions and accords with principle in explaining and preaching this Lotus Sutra; and if he can observe the precepts with purity, keep company with those who are gentle and peaceful, be forbearing and without anger, firm in intent and thought, constantly prizing the practice of sitting in meditation, attaining various states of profound meditation, diligent and courageous, mastering all the good doctrines, keen in faculties and wisdom, good at answering difficult questions – Ajita, if after I have entered extinction there are good men and good women who accept, uphold, read and recite this sutra and have good merits such as these, yhou should know that they have already proceeded to the place of practice and are drawing near to anuttara-samyak-sambodhi as they sit beneath the tree of the way. Ajita, wherever the good men and good women sit or stand or circle about in exercise, there on should erect a tower, and all heavenly and human beings should offer alms to it as they would the tower of the Buddha.”

Six Stages of Enlightenment (Six Identities) (六即)

From Great Cessation and Insight by Zhiyi

Swanson, Paul L., Trans., Cessation and Insight (Kosei Publishing: Tokyo 2004) pp. 71-74:

[Next,] manifesting the positive in terms of [the levels of attainment of] the Six Identities: are these “positive” with regard to the beginner, or are they “positive” with regard to one at a later [advanced stage of attainment]?

Answer: As [it says in] the Ta chih tu lun concerning a burning torch, “It is neither at the beginning nor separate from the beginning; neither at the end nor separate from the end.” If one is endowed with both wisdom and faith, then upon hearing that a single thought-moment is identical with the positive [aspects that are conducive to bodhicitta], faith will keep one from denigrating [what one does not understand], and wisdom will keep one from being apprehensive [about one’s inability to attain enlightenment]. [In this case,] both the beginning and later [stages] are positive. If one does not have faith, then [one despairs that] the exalted levels of the sage are not part of one’s own wisdom, and if one does not have wisdom, one becomes arrogant and thinks that one is already equal to a Buddha. [In this case,] both the beginning and the later are negative [and not conducive to attaining bodhicitta].

For these reasons one should know the Six Identities:

1. Identity in principle (of reality)

2. Verbal identity

3. Identity in contemplative practice

4. Identity in resemblance

5. Identity in partial realization

6. Ultimate identity

These six [levels of] identity begin with [the stages of] the ordinary ignorant person and end with [the stage of] the Noble One [=Buddha].

Since one begins at [the stage of] the ordinary person, one can purge doubt and fear, and since one ends at [the stage of] the Noble One, one can purge arrogance.

1. Identity in Principle.

Identity in principle means that one single thought-moment is identical with the principle of the tathagata-garbha. It is identical with emptiness because of its suchness (tatha), identical with conventional existence because of its function as a treasure-house (garbha) [in appearing in the world in various forms], and identical with the Middle because of its [participation in the] principle [of reality]. The three wisdoms are included in a single thought, though this is beyond conceptual understanding. As explained above, threefold truth is one truth, though neither three nor one; each and every color and scent is endowed with all of reality (sarvadharma). Every single thought is also like this. This is called “identity in principle” which is positive [and conducive to right] bodhicitta.

Also, this “identity in principle” is indivisible with calming-and-contemplation. [That each moment of thought is] indivisible with quiescence is called “calming,” and [that each moment of thought is] indivisible with luminosity is called “contemplation.”

2. Verbal Identity.

Even though there is already identity in principle, this may not be known in your daily life. If you have not heard of the threefold truth, and are completely unaware of the Buddha Dharma, you are like cattle or sheep whose eyes do not comprehend the [eight] directions. When you hear of the one true bodhi-wisdom as explained above— whether from a teacher or from [reading] the scripture scrolls)—attain penetrating understanding within [the limits of] words, and know that all dharmas are the Buddha Dharma, this is bodhi[citta] as indivisible with words.

This is also called “verbal cessation-and-contemplation.” If you rush from place to place in search of [the truth] when you have not yet heard [these teachings], and then hear them, and the mind striving upward finally finds rest—this is called “cessation” [at the verbal level]. To have faith in [a verbal and conceptual understanding of] Dharma-nature and not [yet] have faith in the variety [of wider implications] is called contemplation or insight [at the verbal level].

3. Identity in Contemplative Practice.

Identity in contemplative practice means that if you merely hear the verbal and oral explanation [of the Buddha Dharma], you are like an insect chewing on wood and accidentally making letters. That insect does not know whether [the marks it is making] are letters or not letters.

If you do not have penetrating understanding, how can you have bodhi-wisdom? It is imperative that your mental insight is clear and full, so that there is a correspondence between the principle [of reality] and your wisdom, that your actions are in accordance with your words, and that your words are in accordance with your actions.

The Kušalamula says, “[There are those] who speak much but do not practice; I do not rely on words, but practice bodhi solely in the mind.” When mind and mouth are in correspondence with each other, this is the bodhi[citta] of contemplative practice.

Four verses of the Ta chih tu lun evaluate being endowed with wisdom through hearing [the Dharma]. This [endowment of wisdom] is comparable to when the eye gains [illumination from] the sun, things are illumined fully and without distortion. Contemplative practice is also like this. You do not stop your mental contemplation even though you have not yet fathomed the principle [of reality]. This [practice] is like the simile in the Šurangama Samadhi Sutra of shooting arrows at a target. This is called the bodhi[citta] of contemplative practice.

This is also called the “cessation-and-contemplation of contemplative practice.” To constantly produce these thoughts is called “contemplation” [at the level of contemplative practice], and to suspend other thoughts is called “cessation” [at the level of contemplative practice].

4. Identity in Resemblance.

Positive bodhi[citta] [at the level] of identity in resemblance means that your contemplation becomes increasingly clear and your cessation becomes increasingly quiescent, as one learns archery and hits the target more accurately. This [improvement] is called contemplative wisdom that [increasingly] resembles [that of the Buddha]. [As it says in the Lotus Sðtra, at this level of your understanding,] all the worldly occupations that sustain life are in no way contradictory [to the practice of the Buddha Dharma], and your thoughts and conceptions are all what have already been expounded in the sutras by previous Buddhas. It is as explained [in the Lotus Sutra] concerning the purification of the six senses. [At this level] “cessation” is the perfect overcoming of ignorance, and “contemplation” resembles the meaning of the Middle Path.

5. Identity in Partial Realization.

Identity in partial realization means that by the power of the contemplation [achieved at the previous level] of resemblance, you enter the stage of the copper wheel. [At this level] first you destroy ignorance and perceive Buddha-nature, opening the storehouse of treasures and manifesting true thusness. This is called the bodhi[citta] [of the stages] of abodes. Eventually you reach [the stage of] “(almost) equivalent to awakening”, as ignorance becomes minute and weak, and wisdom in turn grows prominent. This [progress] is like [the lunar cycle where] from the first day to the fourteenth day the disk of the moon [gradually] becomes round and perfect as the dark area [gradually] disappears. If you wish to attain enlightenment with the body of a Buddha, then you pass through the eight highlights for attaining the path; if you are to attain the path with the body of one of the other nine destinies, you appear in various incarnations [as a bodhisattva, such as Avalokitešvara] in the “Gateway to Everywhere” chapter [of the Lotus Sutra], as explained extensively in the sutras.

This is called bodhi[citta] [at the level] of Partial Realization. It is also called “partial realization of cessation-and-contemplation,” and “partial realization of wisdom and severence [of passions].”

6. Ultimate Identity.

Bodhi[citta] [at the level of] ultimate identity means [advancing] one more step from [the level of] “[almost] equivalent to awakening” to enter subtle (sublime) awakening, where the light of wisdom is perfect and complete and does not need to increase any more. This is called the fruit which is bodhi-wisdom. Nothing more is severed at the time of mahaparinirvana. This is called the fruit of fruits. A person [at the stage of] “equivalent to awakening” does not pass [to this fruit]; only a Buddha is able to pass. There is no path to expound beyond [the last letter in the Siddham alphabet]. Therefore this is called “ultimate bodhi,” and is also called “ultimate cessation and contemplation.”

Nichiren is quoted in the The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings interpreting the of the Six Identities Watson, Burton, Trans. The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings (Soka Gakkai: Tokyo 2004):

Speaking in terms of the six stages of practice, the Thus Come One in this ['Life Span'] chapter is an ordinary mortal who is in the first stage, that of being a Buddha in theory. When one reverently accepts Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, one is in the next stage, that of hearing the name and words of the truth. That is, one has for the first time heard the daimoku. When, having heard the daimoku, one proceeds to put it into practice, this is the third stage, that of perception and action. In this stage, one perceives the object of devotion that embodies the three thousand realms in a single moment of life. When one succeeds in overcoming various illusions and obstacles, this is the fourth stage, that of resemblance to enlightenment. When one sets out to convert others, this is the fifth stage, that of progressive awakening. And when one comes at last to the realization that one is a Buddha eternally endowed with the three bodies, then one is a Buddha of the sixth and highest stage, that of ultimate enlightenment.

The Fiftieth Person to hear the Dharma

From Chapter Eighteen of the Lotus Sutra, Responding with Joy, Lotus Sutra, pp. 246-7.

At that time the Buddha said to the bodhisattva and mahasattva Maitreya: “Ajita, after the Thus Come One has entered extinction, suppose there are monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen, or other persons of wisdom, whether old or young, who, hearing this sutra, respond with joy and, leaving the Dharma assembly, go to some other place, perhaps a monks quarters, a spot that is deserted and quiet, a city, a community, a settlement or village, and there in accordance with what they have heard they put forth effort in preaching and expounding for the sake of their parents and relatives, their good friends and acquaintances.  These persons, after hearing, respond with joy and they too set about spreading the teachings.  One person, having heard, responds with joy and spreads the teachings, and the teachings in this way continue to be handed along from one to another until they reach a fiftieth person.

“Ajita, the benefits received by this fiftieth good man or good woman who responds with joy I will now describe to you – you must listen carefully.  Imagine all the beings in the six paths of existence of four hundred ten thousand million asamkhya worlds, all the four kind of living beings, those born from the egg, those born from the womb, those born from dampness, and those born by transformation, those with form, those without form, those with thought, those without thought, those without legs, those with two legs, four legs, or many legs.  And imagine that, among all this vast number of living beings, a person should come who is seeking blessings and, responding to their various desires, dispenses objects of amusement and play things to all these living beings.  Each one of these living beings is given hold, silver, lapis lazuli, seashell, agate, coral, amber, and other wonderful and precious gems, as well as elephants, horses, carriages, and palaces and towers made of the seven treasures, enough to fill a whole Jambudvipa.  This great dispenser of charity, having handed out gifts in this manner for a full eighty years, then thinks himself: I have already doled out objects of amusement and playthings to these living beings, responding to their various desires.  But these living beings are now all old and decrepit, their years over eighty, their hair white, their faces wrinkled, and before long they will die.  Now I should employ the Law of the Buddha to instruct and guide them.

“Immediately he gathers all the living beings together and propagates the Law among them, teaching, benefiting and delighting them.  In one moment all are able to attain the way of the srota-apanna, the way of the sakridagamin, the way of the anagamin, and the way of the arhat, to exhaust all outflows and enter deeply into meditation.  All attain freedom and become endowed with the eight emancipations.  Now what is your opinion?  Are the benefits gained by this great dispenser of charity many or not?”

Maitreya said to the Buddha:  “World-Honored One, this man’s benefits are very many indeed, immeasurable and boundless.  Even if this dispenser of charity had merely given all those playthings to living beings, his benefits would still be immeasurable.  And how much more so when he has enabled them to attain the fruits of arhatship!”

The Buddha said to Maitreya: “I will now state the matter clearly for you.  This man gave all these objects of amusement to the living beings in the six paths of existence of four hundred ten thousand million asamkhya worlds and also made it possible for them to attain the fruits of arhatship.  But the benefits that he gains do not match the benefits of the fiftieth person who hears just one verse of the Lotus Sutra and responds with joy.  They are not equal to hundredth, one thousandth, one part in a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, a million.  Indeed it is beyond the power of calculation, simile or parable to express the comparison.

“Ajita, the benefits gained by even the fiftieth person who hears the Lotus Sutra as it is handed along to him and responds with joy are immeasurable, boundless asamkhyas in number.  How much greater then are those of the very first person in the assembly who, on hearing this sutra, responds with joy!  His blessings are greater by an immeasurable, boundless asamkhya number, ad are in fact icomparable.

The Gosho opens with the proposition that those who wish to practice the Lotus Sutra should devote themselves to the Three Types of Learning, Three Types of Learning should be pursued: Shila (precepts), Dhyana/Samadhi (meditation) and Prajna (wisdom). Nichiren equates the First Stage of Faith, the First Stage of Practice, the Fiftieth Person to hear the Lotus Sutra and the Second Identity. Examining the passages from which Zhiyi derived the Four Stages of Faith and Five Stages of Practice, Nichiren concludes that at the initial stages, one is not required to take up either Shila or Dhyana/Samadhi, leaving only Prajna.  However, since people of the Latter Day lack wisdom, he concludes, based on Zhiyi and Zhangan, people at the initial stages are only required to take up faith.

What then is Faith?

In the context of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren’s Gosho, we have in mind a specific term, shinge (信解), which has been variously translated as Belief and Understanding, Faith and Understanding, Faithful Understanding, Faith through Understanding, Understanding through Faith, etc.  Shinge corresponds with Sanskrit term Adhimukti, which is understood to refer to a disposition of trust or faith.  Chapter Four of the Lotus Sutra in Kumarajiva’s translation is titled “shinge” though that term does not actually appear in the chapter.

The Chapter portrays Mahakashyapa describing the sense of joy he and the other arhats feel upon hearing from the Buddha the prophecy that Shariputra would attain Buddhahood.  This is in contrast to the previous view that Shariputra was an Arhat who would enter parinirvana upon his passing.  To convey their feelings at hearing that they would proceed to Buddhahood, Mahakashyapa tells a parable of a wealthy father and destitute son.  In summary, the father recognizes his son wandering the streets, and has a messenger retrieve the young man.   Seeing that his son is terrified at being summoned, he tells the messenger to let the man go and instead offer him a menial job as a day laborer.  In time, the father promotes the young man who grows in confidence and comfort at living and working in the father’s estate.  Finally, the father summons all of his acquaintances and identifies the young man as his son.  The son, having been raised up to be confident and comfortable on his father’s estate, is pleased and accepting of his newly revealed identity.

Mahakashyapa states:

“World-Honored One, this old man with his great riches is none other than the Thus Come One, and we are all like the Buddha’s sons.  But because of the three sufferings, World-Honored One, in the midst of birth and death we undergo burning anxieties, delusions, and ignorance, delighting in and clinging to lesser doctrines.  But today the World-Honored One causes us to ponder carefully, to cast aside doctrines, the filth of frivolous debate.

“We were diligent and exerted ourselves in this matter until we had attained nirvana, which is like one day’s wages.  And once we had attained it, our hearts were filled with great joy and we considered that this was enough.  At once we said to ourselves, ‘Because we have been diligent and exerted ourselves with regard to the Buddhist Law, we have gained this breadth of wealth of understanding.’

“But the Wolrd-Honored One, knowing from past times how our minds cling to unworthy desires and delight in lesser doctrines, pardoned us and let us be, not trying to explain to us by saying, ‘You will come to possess the insight of the Thus Come One, you portion of the store of treasures!’  Instead the World-Honored One employed the power of expedient means, preaching to us the wisdom of the Thus Come One in such a way that we might heed the Buddha and attain nirvana, which is one day’s wages.  And because we considered this to be a great gain, we had no wish to pursue the Great Vehicle.

“In addition, though we expounded and set forth the Buddha Wisdom for the sake of the bodhisattvas, we ourselves did not aspire to attain it.  Why do I say this?  Because the Buddha, knowing that our minds delight in lesser doctrines, employed the power of expedient means to preach in a way that was appropriate for us.  So we did not know what we were in truth the sons of the Buddha.  But now at last we know it.

“With regard to the Buddha wisdom, the World-Honored One is never begrudging.  Why do I say this?  From times past we have in truth been the sons of the Buddha, but we delighted in nothing but lesser doctrines.  If we had had the kind of mind that delighted in great ones, then the Buddha would have preached the Law of the Great Vehicle for us.

“Now in this sutra the Buddha expounds only the one vehicle.  And in the past, when in the presence of the bodhisattvas he disparaged the voice-hearers as those who delight in a lesser doctrine, the Buddha was in fact employing the Great Vehicle to teach and convert us.  Therefore we say that, though originally we had no mind to covet or seek such a thing, now the great treasure of the Dharma King has come to us of its own accord.  It is something that the sons of the Buddha have a right to acquire, and now they have acquired all of it.”

Faith and understanding is then the disposition of the son who is confident that he will inherit his father’s  wealth, even as the inheritance has not been perfected.  Similarly, a practitioner ought to proceed in their practice with the confidence that their activities will lead to enlightenment.  Moreover, when obstacles appear, faith should guide one past the pitfalls of doubt.

Zhiyi discusses the importance of faith in another text, the so called Smaller Cessation and Insight.  Zhiyi; Bhikshu Dharmamitra, Trans., The Essentials of Buddhist Meditation: The Essentials for Practicing the Calming and Insight & Dhyana Meditation (Kalavinka Press: Seattle 2008) pp. 71-73.

[E]liminating the hindrance of doubt.  Because doubt covers over the mind, one is unable to develop faith in any dharma.  Because one has no mind of faith, one encounters the Buddha’s Dharma in vain and gains nothing from it.  This is analogous to a man’s entering into a mountain of jewels.  If he has no hands, he is unable to acquire anything at all.

This being the case, the faults of doubt are extremely numerous.  Still, they need not necessarily obstruct the acquisition of meditative absorption.  Now, as for those sorts of doubt which may directly obstruct meditative absorption, they are of three types:

The first is where one doubts oneself and thus thinks to himself, “All of my faculties are all dim and dull.  The defilement from my previous offenses is deep and severe.  Could it be that I’m not the man for this?”  If one indulges in creating these doubts, then the dharma of meditative absorption will never be able to manifest.  If one desires to cultivate meditative absorption, one must not slight oneself, for it is difficult to fathom the extent of one’s roots of goodness planted in former times.

The second type of doubt is that wherein one doubts one’s own guru, thinking, “If his deportment and appearance are such as this, he must not have any realization of the Path.  How then could he be able to teach me?”  If one develops such doubting arrogance, then it constitutes an obstruction to meditative absorption.

A method for one wishing to be rid of this [hindrance] is mentioned in the Mahayana Treatise: “This is comparable to when gold is encased in a smelly leather pouch.”  Because one wishes to possess the gold, one can’t just pitch out the smelly pouch.  The practitioner’s situation may be just like this.  Although the guru may not be immaculate, still, one should look upon him as one would look upon the Buddha.

The third type of doubt is that wherein one doubts the Dharma.  Worldly people are usually attached to their own ideas and thus are not able to immediately believe the Dharma which they have received, thus accepting it and cultivating it with a respectful mind.  If the mind becomes hesitant, then, even though one has immediate exposure to the Dharma, it makes no imprint on the mind.  Why is this the case?  It is because doubt hinders it.  The concept is as described in a verse:

It’s just as when a person stands at a fork in the road
And is so deluded by doubt that he goes nowhere at all.
In relation to [fathoming] the true character of dharmas,
Doubt functions in precisely the very same way.

Because one has doubts, one doesn’t diligently seek
[Realization of] the true character of dharmas.
View-filled doubts arise from delusion.
Among all of the ills, they are the very worst.

As for good versus unwholesome dharmas,
[The dharmas of] birth-and-death and nirvana,
And dharmas which are definitely genuine and truly valid,
One must not indulge any doubts about them.

If you cherish the delusion of doubt,
The King of Death’s hell messengers will tie you up.
Just as when a lion pounces on a deer,
You’ll be unable then to achieve liberation.

Although whilst living in the world, one may have one’s doubts,
One should still happily accord with wholesome dharmas,
Just as when one contemplates a fork in the road,
One should follow that path which is most beneficial.

In the Dharma of the Buddha, it is through faith that one gains entry.  If one has no faith, then, although in the presence of the Buddha’s Dharma, he will finally gain nothing whatsoever from it.  Based on all sorts of reasons such as these, one realizes the faults inhering in doubtfulness.  Thus one should urgently strive to eliminate it.

So then by the term faith, what is meant is this disposition that we are assured of attaining Buddhahood.  We are neither intimidated by the pursuit of the goal, nor do we presume to have already attained the goal.  It is a sense of confidence that we are coming along.  It is a matter of having the disposition that following the Buddhist path will lead to enlightenment.

Nichiren identified the Daimoku as an expression of this teaching of faith in the Lotus Sutra and its recitation as its practice.  In chanting Daimoku with the attitude of faith, we enter the path and perfect the Buddha’s enlightenment taught in the Lotus Sutra.

Compare the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali Canon on the nature of the stage of Stream-Enterer and the Lotus Sutra on the subject of what Chih-i called the “First Stage of Faith”.  Both stress the importance of faith, though the objects differ.

In the Mahaparinibanna, the Buddha explains the benefit of having trust and belief in the Three Jewels.  At this point in the narrative, Ananda keeps asking the Buddha about the fate of people who have died.

‘Ananda, it is not remarkable that that which has come to be as a man should die.  But that you should come to the Tathagata to ask the fate of each of those who have died, that is a weariness to him.  Therefore, Ananda, I will teach you a way of knowing Dhamma, called the Mirror of Dhamma, whereby the Ariyan disciple, if he so wishes, can discern of himself: “I have destroyed hell, animal-rebirth, the realm of ghosts, all downfall, evil fates and sorry states.  I am a Stream-Winner, incapable of falling into states of woe, certain of attaining Nibbana.

‘And what is this mirror of Dhamma by which he can know this?  Here, Ananda, this Ariyan disciple is possessed of unwavering confidence in the Buddha, thus: “This Blessed Lord is an Arahant, a fully-enlightened Buddha, endowed with wisdom and conduct, the Well-Farer, Knower of the worlds, incomparable Trainer of men to be tamed, Teacher of gods and humans, enlightened and blessed.”  He is possessed of unwaivering faith in the Dhamma thus, “Well-proclaimed by the Lord is the Dhamma, visible here and now, timeless, inviting inspection, leading onward, to be comprehended by the wise each one for himself.”  He is possessed of unwavering confidence in the Sangha, thus: “Well-directed is the Sangha of the Lord’s disciples, of upright conduct, on the right path, on the perfect path; that is to say the four pairs of persons, the eight kinds of humans.  The Sangha of the Lord’s disciples is worthy of offerings, worthy of hospitality, worthy of gifts, worthy of veneration, an unsurpassed field of merit in the world.  And he is possessed of morality dear to the Nobles Ones, unbroken, without defect, unspotted, without inconsistency, liberating, uncorrupted, and conducive to concentration.

Walshe, Maurice, trans. “Mahaparinibanna Sutta”, The Long Discourse of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya,  (Somerville: Wisdom Publications 1995) p. 241.

In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha explains his immeasurable life-span, and then explains the benefits of believing the teaching.

“O Ajita! Whatever living beings, hearing that the Buddha’s life span is as long as this, can produce as much as a single moment of faith and understanding shall gain merit that shall have no limit, no measure.  A good man or good woman for anuttarasamyaksambodhi’s sake throughout eighty myriads of millions of nayutas of kalpas may practice the five paramitas, to wit, danaparamita, silaparamita, ksantiparamita, viryaparamita, and dhyanaparamita, all except prajnaparamita, but if one compares his or her merit with the former, it does not come to the hundredth part, not to the thousandth, nor the hundred-thousand-myriad-millionth, nor for that matter can it be known by resort to count or even to parable.  That good man or good woman having this sort of merit should recede from anuttarasamyaksambodhi is simply not possible.

Hurvitz, Leon, Trans. Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma (New York: Columbia University Press 2009) p. 229.

While the object of faith is different in these two passages, it is clearly explained that a mind of faith in the Buddha’s teaching is the condition that guarantees enlightenment.  From the Tendai-Lotus perspective, the difference is one of depth rather than ultimate teaching – the teaching on the Buddha’s life-span is the fundamental teaching on which the Three Jewels stand, and the former is inclusive of the latter.  The types of enlightenment achieved through the practices is accordingly one of more or less profundity, with enlightenment of the essential teaching of the Lotus being the greatest without peer.

Faith is an uncomfortable commitment for many contemporary people, particularly those educated in the secular Western tradition.  In general, those who have taken up Dharma in the West are a sort of spiritual refugee from Judeo-Christian spirituality for whom faith means belief in an all powerful deity, and for Christians, his manifestation as Jesus.  Having escaped what they perceive as the irrationality of their religious heritage, they seek the rational and experience-limited aspects of the Buddha’s teachings and conveniently ignore anything that reminds them of their past.  And yet in the Mahaparinibanna, Lotus and many other Sutras, the critical nature of faith in the Dharma is stressed as a prerequisite to enlightenment.  It is the presence and function of faith in the religious lives of practitioners that probably most distinguishes Western and Asian Buddhists.

In the West, particularly in the schools ascribing a high degree of Truth to the Scientific method, faith is understood as a shortcoming, an error in thought and judgment serves no purpose in discovering reality.  In traditional Buddhism, faith is understood as the first step toward understanding reality.

In Chih-I’s Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra, the Samadhi of Self-Hood is recommended for Bodhisattvas of the Separate Teaching as the practice to overcome the ignorance of the Formless Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-perception.  I came upon this in The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: T’ien-t’ai Philosophy of Buddhism, Shen, Haiyan (New Delhi: D.K. Publishers Distributors (P) Ltd. 2005) pp. 190, 196.

In the Theravada path, the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception is the subtlest state within the Three-fold World.  In the Potthapada Sutta, The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya, Walshe, Maurice, trans. (Sommerville: Wisdom Publications 1995) pp. 162-3, the Buddha described the meditation in the Heaven of Perception nor Non-perception:

[F]rom the moment when a monk has gained this controlled perception (Sphere of No-Thingness), he proceeds from stage to stage till he reaches the limit of perception.  When he sehas reached the limit of perception, it occurs to him: ‘Mental activity is worse for me, lack of mental activity is better.  If I were to think and imagine, these perceptions [that I have attained] would cease, and coarser perceptions would arise in me.  Suppose I were not to think or imagine?”  So he neither thinks nor imagines.  And then, in him, just these perceptions arise, but other, coarser perceptions do not arise.  He attains cessation.

The Tientai view of the Tripitaka teachings, the Hinayana, is that practitioners, Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas, seek cessation the cessation of arising in the Three-fold World.  They do so by through practices that bring an end to delusions and ignorance of the Three-fold World.  These practices lead one through the twenty-five existences (see table below) until the reach the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception and then Nirvana with and then without remainder.  (Bodhisattvas of the Shared Mahayana teachings aspire to the same Nirvana though their path is different.)  Buddhahood in the Hinayana (and Shared Mahayana) means attainment of the Sixteen Foot Nirmanakaya.

The view that the Hinayana leads to an end of rebirth because it leads to a complete exhaustion of delusion is refuted from the perspective of the Lotus and other Mahayana Sutras.  For instance, the Srimala, Paul, Diana, trans.  The Sutra of Queen Srimala of the Lion’s Roar (Berkely: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research 2003) http://www.numatacenter.com/digital/dBET_Srimala_Vimalakirti_2004.pdf, has the following passage:

Because their (Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas) errors and defilements have been eliminated, it is said that ‘their actions have been completed,’ actions which the common people, gods, and seven kinds of educated people are incapable of performing. Because arhats and pratyekabuddhas cannot be reborn since their defilements are eliminated, it is said that ‘they are not reborn.’ When it is said that ‘they are not reborn,’ this is not because they have eliminated all defilements nor exhausted all births. Why? Because there are defilements that cannot be eliminated by arhats and pratyekabuddhas.

The teachings of the Buddha in the Potthapada Sutta are incomplete from the perspective of the Separate and Perfect Mahayana Teachings because these assert that there is a further defilement, a Fundamental Darkness, that afflicts us at a level beyond the grasp of Arhat and Pratyekabuddha.

For Bodhisattvas of the Separate teachings, the karma production leading to births in the Three-fold World are brought under control in the Ten Abodes (eleventh to twentieth stages of the fifty-two stages of Bodhisattva practice) and then eliminated at the first Bhumi (forty-first stage) through the practice of the Twenty-five Samadhi (see table below).  From the first Bhumi to the Near-Perfect, the Bodhisattvas eliminate degrees of Fundamental Darkness until they complete the task and attain Perfect Enlightenment.  For the Bodhisattva of the Separate Teaching, however, Buddhahood means attainment of the Sambhogakaya Buddha.

In the Perfect teaching, the production of Karma is brought under control at the fourth stage of Faith, and eliminated at the First Abode.  The Bodhisattva of the Perfect Enlightenment then proceeds through the remaining 42 stages of the Bodhisattva (eleventh through fifty-second) eliminating degrees of Fundamental Enlightenment.  The final achievement of a practitioner of the Perfect teaching is the supreme enlightenment of the Three Bodied Buddha possessed of Purity, Constancy, Bliss and True Self.

On these practices Chih-I stated in Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra:

[If one is able to] enter this stage [First Bhumi], one embraces twenty-five kinds of Samadhi in order to demolish twenty five kinds of existence, and to reveal the self nature [of sentient beings] in twenty five kinds of existence.  The self-nature is real nature, and the real nature is the Buddha-nature.

-Shen, trans. p. 183

It seems these practices enable Bodhisattvas to fulfill their vow of saving beings in all realms of the Three-fold World.  It is not clear from Shen’s outline, but this may be alluding to the supernatural powers of advanced Bodhisattvas (and Buddhas) to appear in any realm in any form to carry out Expedient Means.

Chih-I also states:

“[If] twenty-five kinds of existence are demolished, then there is no more affliction, and this is the virtue of purity.  [If] twenty-five kinds of existence are demolished, then there is no longer suffering as the effect, and this is the virtue of constancy.  Attaining twenty-five kinds of Samadhi is bliss.  Perceiving self-nature [of sentient beings] in twenty-five kinds of existence is selfhood.  Therefore, [through demolishing twenty-five kinds of existence,] these four virtuous qualities become clearly present.

-Shen, trans. p. 183

Though these Twenty-Five Samadhi are assigned to the first Bhumi, the fruit of the practice seems to be the same as Perfect Enlightenment.  I am at a loss except to appeal to Chih-I’s teaching on the infinite distinctions drawn in the name of Expedient Means to describe the same underlying reality.

The Srimala Sutra is the source of teachings on Fundamental Ignorance in the T’ien-t’ai tradition.

O Lord, such is the power of the stage of ignorance! The power of the stage of ignorance is much greater than the other stages represented by the fourth stage of desire for existence.  The power of the stage of ignorance is like that of the wicked Evil One (Māra), whose form, power, longevity, and retainers are both superior to and more powerful than the heaven where the gods control the enjoyments created by others. Its power is far superior to that of the other stages of defilement represented by the fourth stage of desire for existence. This basis for the active defilements, more numerous than the sands of the Ganges River, causes the four kinds of defilements to continue for a long time. The arhats’ and pratyekabuddhas’ wisdom cannot eliminate it. Only the Tathāgata’s enlightenment-wisdom can eliminate it. Yes, O Lord, the stage of ignorance is extremely powerful!

-Paul, trans.

Though the Srimala Sutra does not specifically identify the fruits of overcoming Fundamental Darkness as the attributes of Purity, Constancy, Bliss and True-self, Chih-I does.  It follows then that a Bodhisattva of the Separate (and Perfect) Teaching would proceed beyond the twenty-fifth Samadhi.

Trying to make sense of this, it seems that in order to not slip into the illusory cessation that lies beyond the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-perception, the Samadhi of Selfhood is recommended.  In some interpretations, to attain the cessation of the Hinayana places one in the disadvantaged position of not being able to be born again and thus continue practice.  In order to avoid this, Samadhi on a self makes sense.

Shen’s outline does not elaborate on what the Selfhood Samadhi is.  She writes only this:

Samadhi of Selfhood destroys the Heaven of Neither Conception nor Non-conception.  This is because there is still some slight defilement and ignorance hindering one’s attainment of sovereignty in this heaven.  By destroying the last bit of defilement and ignorance, one attains the real self (Chen-wo) that reveals the Buddha-nature, the temporal self (Sui-su-wo) that is for the purpose of transforming others, and the self of constant bliss (Ch’ang-lo-wo), i.e., nirvana.

-Shen, 190.

She doe not elaborate any further nor indicate where the formulation of the stages and the ameliorative samadhi are derived from.  The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra: Last and most impressive teachings of the Buddha about Reality and the True Self, Page, Tony, ed., Yamamoto, Kosho, trans. (Lepine Publishings 2008) http://nirvanasutra.net/.

Then, the World-Honoured One praised all the bhiksus and said: “It is good, it is good, that you practise the selflessness meditation.” Then all bhiksus said to the Buddhha: “We not only practise the selflessness meditation, but even other meditations, to wit, all those on Suffering, the non-Eternal, and Selflessness. O World-Honoured One! When intoxicated, the mind spins round, and all mountains, rivers, castles, palaces, the sun, moon and stars appear to spin round too. O World-Honoured One! Any person who does not practise the meditation of the non-Eternal and Selflessness cannot be called a sage. Due to indolence, one repeats birth and death. O World-Honoured One! Because of this, we all practise such meditations.”

Then the Buddha said to all the bhiksus: “Hear me well, hear me well! Now, you mention the case of an intoxicated person. This refers to knowledge, but not the signification. What do I mean by signification? The intoxicated person sees the sun and moon, which do not move, but he thinks they do. The same is the case with beings. As all illusion and ignorance overhang [the mind], the mind turns upside down and takes Self for non-Self, Eternal for non-Eternal, Purity as non-Pure, and Bliss as sorrow. Overhung by illusion, this thought arises. Though this though arises, the meaning is not gained [realised]. This is as in the case of the intoxicated person who takes what does not move as moving. The Self’ signifies the Buddha; ‘the Eternal’ signifies the Dharmakaya; ‘Bliss’ signifies Nirvana, and ‘the Pure’ signifies Dharma. Bhiksus, why is it said that one who has the idea of a Self is arrogant and haughty, traversing round Samsara? Bhiksus, although you might say, ‘We also cultivate impermanence, suffering, and non-Self, these three kinds of cultivation have no real value/ meaning. I shall now explain the excellent three ways of cultivating Dharma. To think of suffering as Bliss and to think of Bliss as suffering, is perverse Dharma; to think of the impermanent as the Eternal and to think of the Eternal as impermanent is perverse Dharma; to think of the non-Self [anatman]as the Self [atman] and to think of the Self [atman] as non-Self [anatman] is perverse Dharma; to think of the impure as the Pure and to think of the Pure as impure is perverse Dharma. Whoever has these four kinds of perversion, that person does not know the correct cultivation of dharmas. Bhiksus, you give rise to the idea of Bliss with regard to phenomena associated with suffering; the idea of Eternity with regard to phenomena associated with impermanence; the idea of the Self with regard to phenomena without Self; and the idea of Purity with regard to phenomena that are impure. Both the mundane and also the supramundane have the Eternal, Bliss, the Self, and Purity. Mundane teachings [dharmas] have letters and are without meaning [referents]; the Supramundane [teachings] have letters and meaning. Why? Because mundane people have these four perversions, they are unacquainted with the [true] meaning/ referents. Why? Having these perverse ideas, their minds and vision are distorted. Through these three perversions, mundane people see suffering in Bliss, impermanence in the Eternal, non-Self in the Self, and impurity in the Pure. These are called perversions/ inversions. Because of these perversions/ inversions, mundane people know the letters but not the meaning [referents]. What is the meaning/referent? Non-Self is Samsara, the Self is the Tathagata; impermanence is the sravakas and pratyekabuddhas, the Eternal is the Tathagata’s Dharmakaya; suffering is all tirthikas, Bliss is Nirvana; the impure is all compounded [samskrta] dharmas , the Pure is the true Dharma that the Buddha and Bodhisattvas have. This is called non-perversion/ non-inversion. By not being inverted [in one's views], one will know [both] the letter and the meaning. If one desires to be freed from the four perverse/ inverted [views - catur-viparita-drsti], one should know the Eternal, Blissful, the Self and the Pure in this manner.”

Inconclusive.