As human beings we have buddha-nature (the world of buddhahood) within us - but we also have the hell-nature, the hungry ghost nature, and so on. Now besides the buddha-nature all these other natures are a form of slipping away from that part of us that is most clear, in touch with reality, and therefore compassionate. We slip away from it due to a lifetime(s?) of habit, and injury, and misunderstanding, and laziness, and lack of confidence or faith in ourselves, in others, and in reality.
IF WE WERE REALLY ON THE BALL WE WOULD INHERIT THE DHARMA DIRECTLY FROM REALITY ITSELF - WE WOULDN'T NEED A "BUDDHA" OR A "SUTRA" OR ANY KIND OF PRACTICE AT ALL. We would just live non-dual selfless compassion at one with all things 24/7.
Do any of you reading this live that way? I don't. I need my reminders. I need my connections to other human beings to help keep me human, I need people to speak to and write to in order to maintain even my first language - English. As a human beings I feel the need to commemorate and celebrate my highest intutions and values - celebrating them in song and story and even devotional practices alone or with others. They say that a person thrown into solitary confinment for too long will eventually go mad. There are stories of childeren who have grown up in the wild away from people or were so abused and neglected and isolated that they didn't learn any human language. Many just died - and not just from exposure or starvation but from lack of connection. Other not able to be fully rehabiliated. The point is that human beings need human connections and we kid ourselves by thinking we can do without them - and that is just to maintain our humanity - at least in a healthy psychological sense.
So if we need a connection for the full expression and development of our humanity, I think that Buddhahood too is actually not something that just exists in a vacuum (though I suppose it exists in a Void or Sunyata but that is a Void that is no other than Form, Feeling, Perception, Volition and Consciousness).
In Nichiren Buddhism we say that buddhahood is inherited directly from the scrolls of the Lotus Sutra. This is metaphorical language of course. The meaning is that simply by reading or hearing or otherwise giving ear to the Lotus Sutra we open ourselves to the message that we can become buddha, that in fact buddhahood has no beginning or end. We get clued in to the fundamental truth of who and what we are - who and what everything is all about. Except for the Nirvana Sutra that reiterates its points using Buddha-nature rhetoric, there is no other scripture on this world that I know of that is as universal and unequivocal about the universality and immanence of budddhahood - in other words an timeless placeless selfless compassionate illuminated and liberated life.
Every other scripture cuts off some group of people or else puts forth some requirement for an intermediary of some sort - membership in a group, the services of a priesthood or high priest or pope, clinging to a particular savior, the need to performs some ritual or make some type of confession or subscribe to a particular ideology, or some tribal code or patriarchal village morality, or cling to a particular scripture as literal words of the divine (the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra in its own words repudiates its being a single book or scripture).
Of course this all sounds too good to be true - everything for nothing.
Even if it is as it sounds - isn't that worth getting together to celebrate and pass on as a heritage worth sharing? I think so.
But there is another twist to this - one that keeps this promise of the Lotus Sutra from becoming a matter of claiming some divine status and then doing whatever you want. The twist is this:
Buddha is as Buddha does.
Maybe "Buddha" and "Buddhahood" is or can be whatever we want it to be - maybe being a buddha can be about flaming others, slander, killing, stealing, promiscuity, lying, cheatings, destroying and burning. Maybe for some people that is "buddhahood" or at least it is enough to say "Buddha" and the rest doesn't matter.
But when I look at the legend of Shayamuni Buddha to see what Buddha is about I see that being "Buddha" is more than just an empty claim. The Buddha did have an ineffable awakeing experience, but he spent 50 years helping others have it as well, and founded an order of people to pass on those things that he found helpful if one wanted to share or have that experience. The Buddha lived a simple life and did not enrich himself. He established and lived in what he hoped would be a sustainable community. He made friends with the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless but he didn't curry favors with the former or exploint the latter. The Buddha endured pain but transcended suffering. The Buddha with his own hands washed the sick and put his on life on the line to restrain the violent. He sustained his life on offerings but renounced a life of private gain and lived to be a teacher and exemplar for others.
We may "inherit" our own true nature from being exposed to the message of the Lotus Sutra that points out this true nature to us - but what do we then do with this true nature? (Excuse the utilitarian dualism of this question) Do we then put it on our shelf to collect dust, a spiritual prize to show off, or do we attempt to live this nature by reaching out to others to gently share this message and celebrate it?
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
Michael,
Briefly I don't at all read the Dharma or live it like you have pronounced it. Before you jump all over me, I would like my time in court.
I don't see Buddha Nature as a world inside our body as something separate from the world of hell as you call it. I can see that in the world of hell is the world of Buddha and in the world of Buddha is the world of hell. Mixed in with those feelings are learning, anger, jealousy, etc. And in Anger are Buddha and hell and all the rest. Each life quality is special in itself because they each contain Buddha Nature.
That is why the Bodhisattvas were sent here in Mappo to spread the truth, the truth is the lifespan of the Buddha, not practice. It’s all there, but you have to read it carefully because we have a deluded mind that thinks we are not deluded but we are deluded. I am beyond fooling myself. I don’t look west for the sun to rise.
Buddha told everyone that in our time, the people are so awful; there is no practice strong enough to make an impact on their life. We cannot make a cause strong enough to make an impact. That was the Readers Digest version. You are smart, and if you are not going to fight me, you can in a heartbeat say I am 1000% correct. The Dharma is lost in the later day, but the Bodhisattvas are here with Buddha Nature, and were entrusted with the merits from the Buddha, now all we have to do is tell them. Not have them perform a worthless practice or join a sect. You can agree or disagree, but don’t aim a flamethrower at me.
When I reflect on Buddha Nature I dream Life and situations in my life. When I encounter a bad situation in my life I am able to think, in this bad situation is Buddhahood, when there is a situation of anger, I think in this situation of anger, there is Buddhahood. I can walk up to anyone, anywhere at any time and not worry because I am viewing the world, not me or them or you. When there was trauma and drama on FWP I wanted to bring out Buddha Nature and did my best, not leave it to rot. I do not believe in you can only change yourself. We change everything, is my attitude.
I did not come to this on my own; I had help from Vimalakīrti, Nargarjuna, Tendai, Saicho, Nichiren a Telephone Pole and millions of others. We all know that our emotions will react when certain outside stimulus occurs.
If an SGI member reads a poem by Daisaku they feel warm, if I hear music by Elvis I feel energized, you will feel love or rejection depending how your wife treats you, if Jon Petry reads my Blog he will go ballistic.
What if there were more feelings in your body than the ones you were aware of? They have never been expressed; they have never come to the surface and never will. They are foreign to human body or mind, nevertheless you have them. How then can something be there, and not be there?
If there is no dinger the bell cannot ring. You have to have Buddha Nature to be a Buddha. But until you are a Buddha, you won’t know that nature. Try explaining that to your pet dog or cat.
I am now leaving court, thanks.
Hope everyone is fine and healthy at home.
Bruce
"Maybe "Buddha" and "Buddhahood" is or can be whatever we want it to be - maybe being a buddha can be about flaming others, slander, killing, stealing, promiscuity, lying, cheating, destroying and burning. Maybe for some people that is "buddhahood"
There was definitely a time when I though I could be an enlightened arrogant sarcastic prick. I think the idea that we can be awake without practice is as silly as thinking we can be clean without bathing.
Most people wash their bodies; but do not give much thought to cleansing their minds. Some think that whatever emotion or desire arises in their mind must be fine, because, after all, they "really feel" it.
The first time I looked at a mandala Gohonzon and chanted Daimoku for 20 minutes, I saw myself from the outside looking in. I did not care that much for what I was seeing. Looking back, I was too hard on myself, and allowed the Gakkai to play on that and shame / guilt trip me.
I see many people now who value their Nichiren and Daimoku experience; but are looking elsewhere for cultivation of spiritual health. They look at Thich Nhat Hahn, self help, new age, or even Christianity.
For myself, I did not know how to use the practice to make myself a better person. Actually, Soka Gakkai discouraged approaching it that way. I had to quit daimoku and take up other chants and meditations for a while to get the Gakkai tapes {I am old so I have tapes, not CDs} out of my head.
I am no longer at all grateful to the Gakkai. I am not angry; because that is emotional ill health, and I refuse to give into the tug of that emotion. But I see no reason to be grateful for being spiritually manipulated and abused. I refused to accept that it was happening for years. The reason was it raised doubts in my mind about the effectiveness of the practice. Since Daimoku was great, Soka Gakkai must be great, and the problem had to be moi. Now I can see they were peeing on my shoes and offering me an umbrella.
I knew the practice worked. Well, guess what? Chanting Om Mani Padme Hum for 20 minutes works too. I now see it works in a more partial and superficial way than Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. However, it actually worked as well or better than the diluted Gakkai Daimoku I had done all those years. It actually aroused "Karuna" in my heart.
Right now, I am thinking the exclusive practice "stuff" was intended for people who were already practicing and had a foundation in the Dharma.
I have boiled it down that we are, or ought be trying be, trying to elicit four main virtues; which we already possess as seeds, but need to be nurtured and cultivated. These are the same for everyone. However, saying we already have them is like putting a slice of tomato seed on a sandwich.
Then, each of these four virtues has corresponding sets of general merits and specific skills; which have to be acquired. These are not going to be the same for everyone; not all have the same need, nor the same aptitude.
The key Nikaya teaching of these 'fours" is the four Vipallasa / viparyasa. Those cravings are what causes dukkha. Reversing that is the path of spiritual purification; cleaning up the citta {mind-heart}. Then, we gradually begin to lose the desire to flame others and those other things you mentioned. We regain our right mind. The way to reverse them is to practice.
Posted by: robin at August 19, 2008 12:01 AMDo we then put it on our shelf to collect dust, a spiritual prize to show off, or do we attempt to live this nature by reaching out to others to gently share this message and celebrate it?
I don't think we can keep it on a shelf or it will disintegrate. I think it's good to share it with others, but it comes with a caveat. We have to share this message with care, we can't show it smuggly or force it on people because we crave attention or are missing something in our own life and hope to be compensated. If we are true to our instincts and keep working to improve the things that our Buddha Nature has revealed than I think it will happen naturally. There is a song being played on TV right now in some commercial and the words are, "make someone happy, just make someone happy, one person happy, and even though it's just a silly song on TV that I keep hearing in my head I think there is value in it for me. Every instant I am alive I have a choice to try to raise a person up or bring somebody down and it doesn't mean I have to be phony or namby pamby, but I can try to be better and to keep myself open to any possibility of someone being receptive to my Buddha Nature and wanting to open up there own Buddha Nature to me.
What is the Lotus Sutra? When you read the Sutra, it can turn your deluded mind, into a Buddha mind. Have you seen a dog trying to be trained. They struggle with new ways. Our human mind wants to be wild and deluded, it does not want to have Buddha in our mind, so it ignores that we were taught by Buddha, it says, "So what i like to meditate", "you are violent why should I listen to you", "listen to the fake interview of sushi". What does that have to do with anything but say how jealous of a human being you are? And I don't care at all.
Buddha asked us to come to the Saha world and tell people that they have Buddha Nature. None of you can refute this, yet you talk in circles over and over, you whine and complain. And recruit more people into your groups that you can whine and complain with, but no one is getting healthy.
Is becoming a Priest on the list of things needed to being a Buddha? Is Writing on FWP? We have already practiced everything there is to have done with the Original Buddha Shakyamuni. If you don't believe it, why even bother doing what you are doing today?
Bruce
Posted by: Bruce Maltz at August 21, 2008 08:57 AMBruce,
Since you have it all figured out and have realized (or believe you have realized) all there is to know and that there is nothing to do, I have a question for you:
Why do you even come here to talk at us at all?
Why do you feel it necessary to say or do anything when its all been said and done?
Why do you even bother to get up in the morning?
Why do you even bother to exhale one breath and draw in another?
It seems to me that by your logic all activity is superfluous - so why do you bother doing anything at all? Why do you even continue to live from one moment to the next when there is absolutely nothing to be accomplished by it?
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
Well simply you deal with Buddhism as a religion and I live it as life. That is the difference in a nutshell. for me the Buddha is real, for you it is like God or something to worship. You need a practice, I need to live and tell people they have Buddha Nature and already practiced enough, you want to make up more things to waste their time, I say go out and tell people to stop wasting their time and experience your merits, we have the ancient Buddha in our mind.
For me, it is real, for you it is not.
I am not saying any of this condescending in nature to you, it is with the hope you catch on to the spirit of the expedient nature of practice and throw it away.
You have Buddha Nature, you don't need more practice, unless you want to practice to be a painter, a ballplayer, a dancer, you don't need practice to be a Buddha.
I certainly hope you can lift up your thoughts about me, I don't talk AT YOU. Never did.
I am tired, I hope my words are not to choppy.
Bruce
Hi Bruce,
You certainly are presumptuous. You have said many times that we misjudge you or that we do not know you. But here you are completely misjudging me and projecting all kinds of things on me.
You also didn't answer any of my questions.
I don't offer anybody a "practice" that they have to compulsively do as I don't do any compulsive practices myself either. I chant Odaimoku and the sutra because it is enjoyable to me, and it reminds me of what is important in life. But there are other ways to do this than by chanting in Sino-Japanese. I also enjoy doing it with others - and yes "Buddhism" as a body of teachings and practices is a skillful means of communicating and helping people to abide in and live the Wonderful Dharma. Even doing what you do - naysaying and sniping on the internet - is a practice and thus a skillful means.
As for Buddha being "god" uh no. Buddha is reality. Buddha is wisdom and compassion. Buddha is concrete buddhalike activity and relationships and expressions. Does one need to be religious to be awake to reality, wise and compassionate, and expressive of meritorious action in the world? Of course not. But do some people express these things in what could be called a religious idion. Of course. I happen to like the religious idion and I believe it is natural to human beings and has important social and psychological functions. All of this is how Buddha-nature expresses itself naturally. Can it become compulsive and abusive? Sure. But that is not the whole story - though some people seem to think it is.
Here is a suggestion for future communication - stop presuming that you know how others are thinking or feeling. Talk about how you think and feel and how others in general may seem to you. But this contstant accusatory mode and projecting of motives is not something that really conduces to dialogue.
Now here is what I think - In my life I have had very positive experiences with religion and religious people of many traditions and denominations. I have experienced people and communities who have lived more wholesome lives not in spite of their religions but because of the insights, values, and community that religion provided them. And I have been able to use my discernment to steer clear of the negative people and communities (and sub-communities).
But I know that many people have been abused, manipulated, and harmed for decades by the religions they grew up in, or by religions they fell into, or by religious people. And all too many times it seems to me that people approach religion with a naivete and lack of discernment that almost guarantees that they will be abused. And when they do wake up they are so disillusioned that they then see only the negative and become very cynical and even asocial. I see this as sad and unecessary, but inevitable in a culture like ours where religion (no matter of what kind) is usually approached on a very naive and childish level and there is no education in religion for the most part.
I was lucky to have grown up in a non-religious family (though spiritual in its own way) and I was raised to think for myself, to be discerning, and to look for loving-kindness no matter what the lables. And then I was educated by very liberal post-Vatican II Catholics who taught me about the beliefs, morals, and history of the Catholic Church (blemishes and all) and of religion in general. And I started learning about Zen Buddhism in high school long before I fell in with SGI. And I was only in SGI (NSA at the time) for only two years. So this makes me like a person from a wholly different planet or galaxy religiouswise than people who grew up in fundamentalist religions, or with no religion at all besides the existential void, or who spent decades as members in an abusive cult. I have a completely different perspective on religion that those who have had more negative and restricted experiences.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
"You have said many times that we misjudge you or that we do not know you. But here you are completely misjudging me and projecting all kinds of things on me."
I do not want to get into the past. But you don't understand that I am not dealing with religion, I am dealing life. I know that there is no practice on earth that can help any human to enlightenment. If you were a feral child you would not even understand the concept of belief or faith, but would still have Buddha Nature, now if you want to get into the nuts and bolts of what is Buddha Nature, that is something of value.
To say there are good and bad experiences of religion, that has no value. There were good and bad soldiers in Hitlers army, and good and bad cancer cells. There is always good and bad. That is the Burning house, illusions, that keep us trapped.
We are talking about the Buddha and Bodhisattva of the Earth, not good and bad. You asked me certain questions that are answered in the Lotus Sutra that is why I didn't answer them directly, but did answer them by telling you I live the sutra by believing I was taught by the ancient Buddha, and entrusted his merits. Hid under the Saha world (obviously not as a human) and then appeared as Bruce to make your life miserable (joke) to spread the Sutra.
I was in NSA for 7 years, but in the early days of Rock and Roll, it was way different, and not really a full 7, and chanted Nam Mu in the SGI, on my own, and had relationships with Ikeda, Williams, etc.. it was different than the members have now. I was not the usual member.
I never joined anything until I brought the Kempon to America in 1995, and then left the Kempon in 1999. That is it. I have never been part of any other Sect. I was friends with many people. But never in a Sect. Not even really in Kempon Hokke Shu, not really.
It is not about me or you. We are discussing ideas. You are taking everything personal. You have never taken any responsibility for anything you have ever said about me. Either you find that justified, or part of your nature, or it makes you feel better. I don't care, it is like dust in the wind, but I wonder if you have a conscious?
Off for a few days,
Bruce
Bruce,
I think we do understand what you are saying. We just disagree with it.
r
Posted by: robin at August 22, 2008 04:44 PMI too think we have innate Buddhahood. I do not take the symbolism of the Lotus Sutra literally. Buddha Nature is like a seed that must be cultivated.
The Eternal Buddha is a symbol for purified Consciousness. The 4 leaders of the BoE are symbols for purified form, sensations or feelings, mental perceptions, and mental formations.
These are all sort of buried in the soil of alaya consciousness. When we practice, they emerges from that earth.
r
Posted by: robin at August 22, 2008 04:54 PM