Real Life with Ryuei

Very nice metaphors. Consider them purloined by me.

I always thought (well let's get serious, not always) of Bodhisattas as Buddhas who made a cause to return as a function that serves as a means to help those in the burning house get out by placing themselves in with them; something to overcome which somehow gets you out of the burning house. In that sense it's a betrayal of trust which leads to enlightenment. But there is a simultaneous cause and effect which occurs between the Bodhisattva, who is conjured to appear, and those he vowed to help.

I had a TV director who had a phrase for a show that was going down regardless of what he did; rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Thanks for posting this, well said. I'm interested in your thoughts regarding mutual possession? Thanks

What would you consider my golden earth-washing daimoku? Mere fantasy visualization, I suppose....

Byrd in LA

Responses:

To Joe:

Actually, I see the provisional bodhisattvas as those whose aim is to become buddhas for the sake of others. It was this perspective I was trying to express above.

But the Bodhisattvas of the Earth are different. As the original disciples of the Original Buddha who teaches that buddhahood has no beginning or end, the Bodhisattvas of the Earth are engaged in the world not in order to become buddhas but precisely because they realize at heart that buddhahood is here and now.

To Poi:

My understanding of the mutual possession of the ten worlds is that each world contains the world lower than it as an acknolwedged or unacknowledged contribution to its total experience. So for instance, a heaven-dweller has hell as part of itself but relates to it as "those poor people" or "Better them than me" (though perhaps that's more of a fighting demon perspective). Thomas Aquinas actually taught that one of the rewards of the just in heaven would be to survey those in hell getting their just deserts. Bodhisattvas and Buddhas, however, would contain the world of hell through their compassionate non-dual embrace, acceptance, understanding, and kindness. So Bodhisattva Jizo specifically enters the hells to guide people out.

The higher worlds are contained in the lower worlds as possibilities or aspirations - though some of the lower worlds might reject or refuse to acknowledge them as real possibilities. They might only relate to the higher worlds through the lens of envy or despair or cynical dismissal.

But the bottom line is that they all involve and mutually implicate one another in my understanding.

To Byrd:

I think the golden earth-washing Odaimoku is similar in terms of intention and affect to the cultivation of the boundless states of mind (loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity). So at the very least it can lead to the heaven of Brahma in the heavens of the realm of form. But golden earth-washing Odaimoku might also be seen as an expression of bodhicitta and so of the world of bodhisattva vows and intention.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei

Could you expand on the difference between provisional Bodhisattvas and Bodhisattvas of the Earth.

Hi Joe,

I compare and contrast the provisional Bodhisattvas and the Bodhisattvas of the Earth in Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the Gohonzon. The original online version of that material is still available (unrevised and unillustrated). Here are the two relevant pages:

http://www.nichirenscoffeehouse.net/ShuteiMandala/4bodhisattvas.html

http://www.nichirenscoffeehouse.net/ShuteiMandala/bodhisattvas.html

In short, the provisional bodhisattvas point the way to the gradual accumulation of merit until one is ready to attain buddhahood. Maitreya Bodhisattva, for instance, is a bodhisattva on the way to buddhahood. They are perpetually "not there yet." Though some sutras do make is seem as though bodhisattvas like Manjushri or Samantabhadra or even Avalokitesvara are buddhas in all but name, but who nevertheless continue to teach and model the way of gradual practice in order to perfect generosity, self-discipline, patience, effort, concentration, and wisdom.

The Bodhisattvas of the Earth, on the other hand, only appear in chapter 15-22 and they seem to be even grander than the celestial bodhisattvas. Nichiren discusses them at length in Kaimoku Sho. They seem to be a whole other way of being bodhisattvas - bodhisattvas who know buddhahood is not lost in the past or gained in the future but always right now - if we let it be. For them, practice is enlightenment and not something attained later. They model the way of the unity of cause and effect - aspiration and awakening are one with them. There's not much more I can really add to this except wordiness - but check out Nichiren's Kaimoku Sho and Kanjin Honzon Sho and other gosho addressing them.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei

Thanks. I'll re-read those once again with yet another mindset. Love having a reason to jump in again.

Question: Would anyone who acquires or demonstrate those qualities you described of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth become one? Including a provisional Bodhisattva? The reason I ask is because of the way the Bodhisattvas of the Earth are sometimes presented as the chosen ones, like the Jewish people are God's chosen ones. Also the arrogant Bodhisattvas which left the gathering...were they provisional or of the earth? I have always thought of myself as containing both qualities which was dependent upon my life condition; two actions such as chanting to the Gohonzon for something as opposed to chanting without that duality.

"Thanks. I'll re-read those once again with yet another mindset. Love having a reason to jump in again."

I have a tendency to sound flip because, let's face it, I am. What I meant was that I think it's pretty karmically cool that you say, "hey check these out" not knowing that since Nov. I've been studying those two for two specific reasons. I was reading the Kaimoku Sho about overcoming doubt, which is what Nichiren says it's about, and spends most of this letter on it. Specifically betrayal. But you know well that everytime you read it something else reveals itself.

Hi Joe,

Actually the 5,000 who left the assembly were not bodhisattvas but monks, nuns, and householders (of both genders). That happens in chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra.

In Shoho Jisso Sho, Nichiren states that anyone who chants Namu Myoho Renge Kyo must either be a Bodhisattva of the Earth, or a member of their entourages (see chapter 15 of the Lotus Sutra). On the other hand, Nichiren also states in another gosho (I forget the name of it right now) that there are those who praise the sutra with their lips but slander it with their hearts. So we should have confidence but not presumption.

Yes, I think it is very possible to switch back and forth from having the mindset and activities of a provisional bodhisattva to those of a Bodhisattva of the Earth. I think all the characters in the Lotus Sutra are a part of us - and Nichiren certainly seems to indicate this in Kanjin Honzon Sho. The Lotus Sutra may be a cosmic drama but it is also an internal drama in my view. It is both/and.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei