The other day, I was driving around in my car and I happened to be listening to Otis Redding's "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" and it occured to me as I was listening to the lyrics that this song is all about the practice of "just sitting." So I thought I would share the thoughts and associations that came into my mind while hearing this song:
>Sitting in the morning sun
>I'll be sitting when the evening comes
This is the practice of just sitting from morning til evening, from birth to death, in every moment of our life. "Just sitting" even when we are not just sitting. Being upright and present in the midst of it all - sunrise to sunset, birth to death, womb to tomb and back to womb again...
>Watching the ships roll in
>And I watch 'em roll away again
Things come and go, both our thoughts and feelings, sensations and conception, cars and trucks and singing birds and radios and everything pass by as we just sit and become our meditation. As the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Sutta instructs - we just become aware of the body and bodily states both internal and external as they arise and vanish, and the same for internal and external feelings, mental states, and all phenomena. That is to say awareness embraces all things just as they are without judgement or clinging or preconception. Upright presence springs from them and takes them in and lets them go: an everflowing wave of "clear awareness in the tranquility of no-thought." (gassho to Garma C.C. Chang for that definition of silent illumination).
>[Refrain]
>Sitting on the dock of the bay
The world of birth and death is often referred to in the sutras as "this shore" whereas nirvana is "the other shore." Here Zen Master Otis is sitting on the very edge of "this shore." But is he longing for the "other shore" or is he pining for a lost love on this shore? Or is he just sitting there? The answer is coming right up.
>Watching the tide roll away
The tide is the rising and falling tide of all phenomena. Ideas, emotions, relationships, gain and loss, fame and infamy, birth and death - all are passing and all come about and pass in accord with changing conditions. Sometimes a rising tide lifts us up into heaven, sometimes it sinks and we are cast down into hell. To just watch this and see it for what it is - that is being awake and that is the starting point of objectless compassion.
>I'm just sitting on the dock of the bay
>Wasting time
And there it is. Just sitting with no purpose. He is not trying to lose the world of birth and death or cross to the other shore of liberation. There is nothing to lose and nothing to gain and in letting things be as they are this shore and the next become just a dock on the bay where one can waste time just sitting. In that upright presence and from out of that upright presence all things will be accomplished.
>I left my home in Georgia
>Headed for the 'Frisco bay
In Buddhism the Pure Land is often spoken of as the Western Pure Land of Bliss of Amitabha Buddha - whose name means Infinite Light and Infinite Life. The West has often symbolized the world after death, the transcendent goal of spiritual practice, the final resting place because it is where the sun sets and escapes our conscious and finite daylight awareness which is so involved in activity, work, pay, and gain. The sun dies each day sinking into the West and so we too will die and enter the other world, and if we learn to be fully awake we may allow our finite self-centered mind to set and thereby make way for the illumination that has no boundaries - an infinite light and infinite life of the unconditioned that has no birth or death, no rising or setting. Here Zen Master Otis crosses from the East to the West and comes to the limit. How will he pass that limit?
>'Cause I had nothin to live for
>And look like nothing's gonna come my way
This can be tricky. Someone who is at the end of their rope might say this but it is not awakening, just despair or apathy. But it can also be the Lion's Roar of someone truly awake and fully present, and overflowing with selfless compassion and bliss bestowing hands. Such an awakened one has nothing more to gain, nothing to cling to, and no longer seeks for anything outside the complete unfolding of the living moment. Every breath, every drop of water, every sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and even passing thought or feeling or daydream of the mind just as it is become gratuitous and completely fulfilled and self-liberating as it moves on to the next fulfillment. This gratuitousness even takes in the pain of loss, death, cruelty, misunderstanding and countless tragedies large and small just as it does the great triumphs, the small unassuming joys of life, and the many innocuities. Sometimes compassion is called for, sometimes sympathic joy, and throughout a mind full of loving-kindness, at rest in and balanced because there is nothing to gain and nothing to lose and no need for division into this or that, self or other, now or then. Just this unborn deathless immensity - in this case an immensity of rotting wood, sea-salt, a chill winter wind, perhaps the sealion's roar, and the company of passing tourists and tour boats.
>So I'm just...
>[Refrain]
As above but deepening even further and becoming more and more what it is.
>Look like nothing's gonna change
>Everything still remains the same
When one is caught up in birth and death, things never stop moving. Our children get older, our gray or silver hairs begin to appear, crows feet appear, our favorite shoes fall apart on us, relationships grow, strengthen and deepn or wither on the vine, our favortie t.v. shows are canceled. It's all happening and we can't grasp any of it and make it hold still. And then we awaken to the ungraspeable nature of it all and suddenly the bottom falls out of the bucket and we become aware of the unconditioned nature of conditionedness and contingency. Right under our nose the Deathless was hiding in and through the things of birth and death. Now the dock is in Shanghai! Zen Master Otis has crossed over without moving a muscle. He has arrived where there is no arriving or departing and can greet the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha as an old friend.
>I can't do what ten people tell me to do
>So I guess I'll remain the same
Buddhists sometimes speak of the ten worlds - hells, hungry ghosts, animals, fighting demons, humanity, heavens, disciples of the Buddha, privately awakened ones, bodhisattvas and buddhas. All these worlds have their voices and spokespeople around us and in our heads and hearts. They all have something to say, some way for us to change or get it right or undo something. We look to the ten worlds and run from some and long for others. Tempted by these voices of hell-dwellers telling us to despair and that there is nothing more than suffering or oblivion, hungry ghosts telling us that all will be well if only..., animals telling us to watch out for our territory and grab each meal as we can, fighting demons telling us to look out for number one, humans telling us to be more reaosonable and responsible, heavenly angels telling us we have got it made and to give ourselves a pat on the back, disciples telling us to pay heed to the teachings, privately awakened ones telling us that none of this matters, bodhisattvas telling us to reach out and give our all, buddhas telling us to snap out of it because there is nothing really wrong with us. But in the end, all these voices have to go. They and we become phantoms if we chase after them. Better to just sit on the dock of the bay and waste time.
>Sittin here resting my bones
>And this loneliness won't leave me alone
Just sitting at one with no other. Is this a lonely and confused Blues singer running from his problems or is it Zen Master Otis telling us that there is no self or other when one just sits and that all things have come together seamlessly in the midst of seabreeze, sealions, aching bones, dampness, laughing children, and hungry seagulls?
>It's two thousand miles I roamed
>Just to make this dock my home
At home within one's own skinbag. The Buddhist monks were originally "homeleavers" in a literal and metaphorical sense. They had given up their homes, their position in society, their families, their duties, their wealth (if they had any to speak of), and any status they may have had. In return, the whole world became their home as their practice allowed them to see that this world of Endurance is also the Pure Land of Tranquil Light. A mythic image to be sure, but the reality allowed a king to laugh in joy when he escaped the bonds of palace burdens and treachery for the cool liberation he had found beneath the shade of a tree where he sat and slept and ate leftovers while clad in cast off rags. Today we have homeless who should be housed and cared for and housed who are locked out of the joy of homelessness. Zen Master Otis has found out how to be at home no matter where he goes. If only he had found out before wasting his time on such a long trip.
>Now, I'm just...
>[Refrain]
And again "just this, just this, just this..." The dock of the bay has taken in everything without even a slight change and Zen Master Otis is still sitting there waiting for us to join him wherever and whenever we are.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
From a footnote to the translation of the Blue Cliff Record by Thomas and J.C. Cleary:
[There is] "a story of a man who saw a running rabbit happen to collide with a tree stump and die; the man took the rabbit for food, and, thinking to obtain another rabbit; he foolishly stood by the stump, waiting for it to 'catch' another rabbit for him. This is used to describe those who cling to words or images, thinking them to be a source of enlightenment." (p. 52)
I had heard that story before, but I particularly like this presentation of it. All too often in religion, people have an eye-opening experience due to hearing just the right phrase at the right time. Augustine reports hearing the words, "take it up and read" and then he picked up the Bible which was in front of him and read just the right passage to cause him to abandon his selfish ways and give himself over to God. A Buddhist monk despairing of understanding the Dharma retires to the mountains and awakens upon hearing the sound of a stone he had swept from his path hitting the bamboo. There are many cases like this wherein something significant touches off a deep inner change. All too often the people this happens to then universalize their experience and come to believe that only the thing which touched them can touch others in the same way, or that if it touched them in such a way it must touch others in the same way. Even more often, those inspired by the experience of a spiritual predecessor than become determined to awaken or be saved in the very same way. "What other way could there be?" they figure. If they do not awaken or do not feel saved, then it must be because they hadn't really duplicated the experience correctly. They lacked faith, or didn't get the word right (maybe it should be Namu rather than Nam?) or didn't have the right theological belief system in place before undertaking whatever method or nonmethod has been proscribed. In other words, the ingredients, whether internal beliefs or faith or external words and signs weren't all right. Back to the drawing board.
Perhaps all of this is just sitting by the stump. Waiting for the rabbit, waiting for Godot, waiting for something but missing out in any case on our right moment. And what is that right moment? Will it be hearing just the correct interpretating? Subscribing to the right doctrine? Getting just the right magico-mystical incantation right?
Perhaps the right thing will be whatever it is that kicks us awake and presents us to ourselves and the life we are living? It may be a word or sign from the past, or it may not. Even if it is something handed down from the past, we will have to make it ours - a brand new stump, a brand new rabbit. Hopefully, if and when it happens, we will know enough not to then spend the rest of our lives at that stump, whiling away the years eating an ever gamier rabbit. Hopefully we will not try to entice others to sit with and believe that we have the only rabbit in the forest.
Maybe this is my stump and my rabbit, but I somehow suspect that genuine awakening is a fresh pot of rabbit stew every moment, caught in innumerable ways as the moment allows.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo means Happy Hunting!
Ryuei
Recently my Dharma-friend CopyKatz asked me:
>>
Do you feel we can affect reality or influence the environment by chanting or
by setting our intention on doing so?
Many of the Nichiren Buddhists I know practice to "elevate their life
condition" and achieve their dreams and desires. This is quite different from
chanting or meditating to let go and be present.
I have been struggling to figure out which of these two approaches is the
"correct" way to practice. This is the issue behind my question about chanting vs meditation. I'm not really wondering about the act of either one. I'm asking
about the motivation behind each.
I'm boggled.
>>
Since this is a question I have been pondering myself for some time, I asked CopyKatz if I could post my response here on my blog and was given the ok. Thanks CopyKatz both for your question and for allowing me to share my response with others here. So here it is:
As with chanting there are many different motivations behind silent meditation. You can sit for health reasons or to experience altered states of consciousness or for other reasons that have nothing to do with being present and awake in the moment. I recall a story wherein Francis Xavier (the first Jesuit missionary to Japan in the 16th century) was visiting a Zen monastery and he asked his friend the abbot of the monastery why the monks there were sitting motionless and silent. The Zen abbot told Francis Xavier that the monks were thinking about how many donations they would get, or when they would be able to visit home again, or thinking about relationships with secret lovers and so on. Though the journal this comes from didn't say (or the excerpt I was reading didn't include it) I hope the abbot went on to tell the Jesuit what the monks were supposed to be doing in zazen as opposed to what they were probably actually doing.
Anyway, let me share with you something I found illuminating concerning differences in motivation as well as the efficaciousness and possible consequences of such things as chanting for benefits.
Before I became a Nichiren Shu member, but after I had left Soka Gakkai, I became involved in Western ceremonial magick. One book that was immensely helpful to me was Donald Michael Kraig's book Modern Magick. In that book he presented the following defintions of white, grey, and black magick (which he was cribbing from Crowley and Dion Fortune):
"White Magick is the science and art of causing change in conformity with will, using means not currently understood by traditional Western science, for the purpose of obtaining the Knowledge and Conversation of your Holy Guardian Angel"
"Grey Magick is the science and art of causing change in conformity with will, using means not currently understood by traditional Western science, for the purpose of causing either physical or non-physical good to yourself or others, and is done either consciously or unconsciously.
"Black Magick is the science and art of causing change in conformity with will, using means not currently understood by traditional Western science, for the purpose of causing either physical or non-physical harm to yourself or others, and is done either consciously or unconsciously."
Now for some explanation of what Kraig was talking about: the Holy Guardian Angel is the ceremonial magickal metaphor for what we call Buddha Nature, though personified as an entity. Perhaps it could also be understood as a Sambhogakaya or Bliss Body Buddha. But at any rate the Knowledge and Conversation of One's Holy Guardian Angel is supposed to be the functional equivalent of insight into our true nature.
Kraig discusses whether the change we are trying to bring about in accordance with our will is merely a psychological inner change that allows us to see opportunities or options that we had previously missed or whether an actual objective change in the world is brought about. He finally declares it a moot point, since the change happens regardless of whether it was brought about by an actual objective event or just a shift in our point of view. In terms of some schools of Buddhism all experience is consciously determined anyway so we would perhaps agree that it is a moot point.
Kraig sees the use of magickal rituals (of which chanting a mantra to a mandala while in the classical posture of the anjali mudra is definately a type) as a conscious magickal act. But when we dwell on destuctive self-fulfilling prophecies or otherwise use our intentions and imagination to will something into being perhaps without really thinking clearly about the outcome of our wishes or obsessions than we are unconsciously setting up a wholesome or unwholesome cause. Buddhism also teaches that karma is defined as intentional actions (whether done mindfully or or out of heedlessness or ignorance) and is not just a matter of conscious ritual intention (in fact this is what distinguished the Buddha's teachings on karma from primitive Brahmanism). When I was studying with Starhawk, she taught me something that was very illuminating about this - she pointed out that if you do a ritual for prosperity but spend the rest of the day bemoaning how impoverished you are, then you have effectively undercut the efficacy of the ritual by swamping it with conscious or unconscious negativity. So the lesson is that it is better for all our magickal or karmic actions to be wholesome, mindful, and consciously planned rather than heedless and based on ignorance of our own motives and carelessness as to possible outcomes.
The next thing to note is that Kraig defines only a spiritual goal as White Magick. In Buddhist terms only acts or rituals with the motivation of bodhicitta (the aspiration to attain enlightenment for oneself and others) is qualified to be a truly pure act or ritual. Anything else is grey in that it is tainted with a self-serving motivation. That does not make it bad, necessarily, but it does mean that it keeps us preoccupied with considerations tied in with what the Buddha called the eight winds. The glossary in the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin says this of the eight winds: "Eight conditions that prevent people from advancing along the right path to enlightenment. They are: prosperity, decline, disgrace, honor, praise, censure, suffering, and pleasure. People are often swayed either by their attachment to prosperity, honor, praise, and pleasure, or by their aversion to decline, disgrace, censure, and suffering." Kraig also points out that sometimes a ritual that is just meant to have a good effect for ourselves or someone else may have unintended consequences that are harmful to ourselves or others. So grey magick can accidently become black magick in his understanding. In other words, good intentions sometimes have unforeseen bad consequences. He gives the example of wishing for money, and then finding out that a relative has died and left us money in their will. Regardless of the veracity of magick, we will likely be left wondering if our intention for personal gain somehow harmed our relative. Kraig's recommendations is to use the Tarot or I Ching or some other form of divination to be clear about one's motives and the possible consequences of a ritual. In Buddhist terms, ritual action or not, we should be mindful and reflect on our motivations (in other words chant about them) before commiting ourselves to a course of action or before putting our energy into chanting for a set outcome. And of course there is always this: be careful of what you ask for, you may get it.
Now leaving Kraig's understanding of Magick aside for a moment, I have observed that chanting for something often sets into motion what I call the Fantasy Island Syndrome. In other words, you may get what you want only to discover that it isn't what you thought it would be and that there are more important values at stake. Or perhaps you get something other than what you intended and discover that it is better than what you were hoping for and a greater cause of personal growth. In fact, because the Odaimoku is inherently an expression of bodhicitta I think this Fantasy Island Syndrome offsets the possibility of Odaimoku bringing about any truly harmful effects for ourselves and others, but that doesn't absolve us of being mindful, freeing ourselves of the influence of the eight winds, or of cultivating bodhicitta.
But finally, as I have written in my article on Chanting and Desire at Ryuei.net I think we need to present ourselves to the Gohonzon when we chant just as we are - and that includes all the issues, desires, concerns, hopes, fears, and dreams in our life. We should chant about these things so that they can be illuminated by the Odaimoku just as on the Gohonzon representatives of all ten realms are embraced and illuminated by Odaimoku. I think we should chant about these things and then let them go, chant about family and friends (and even strangers and enemies) who are having difficulties or facing challenges in their lives and then let it go entrusting all to the Gohonzon (i.e. the awakened true nature of life). Then when we have gotten all that off our chests we should just chant and abide in the boundless light and life of the Odaimoku illuminating and letting go anything which arises.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
I was just having some thoughts about the Gohonzon that I would like
to share. To begin with, as always, I must emphasize that "gohonzon"
is not a proper pronoun. It is a word that means "honored focus of
devotion" and refers to ultimate reality as envisioned by each
school of Japanese Buddhism and secondarily to the concrete images
(whether statues, paintings, mandalas, and so on) enshrined in
temples and homes. So Amitabha Buddha is the gohonzon of the Pure
Land school. Statues of Manjushri Bodhisattva are the gohonzon
enshrined in most zendos (meditation halls).
In Kanjin Honzon Sho, Nichiren is not introducing the concept of a gohonzon but rather defining what he believes the gohonzon or focus of devotion for Buddhists should be in his time and place to accord with our particular causes and condtions. He then produced a calligraphic mandala in order to depict that which now is often referred to as the Gohonzon.
But really, ulitmate reality is something that is always present to
us whether we are aware of it or not. So the question should not be -
how can I acquire a paper scroll or an appropriate statue
arrangement so that I can be awake (Buddhahood means awakening to
reality)? Rather, we should ask how we can simply be awake in each
moment. The sutras use various skillful methods to shake us out of
our self-absorption, fears, hopes, daydreams, projections and
preoccupations so that we can directly encounter the true nature of
life - in other words ultimate reality, the Gohonzon. Sometimes
logic is used (esp. in the Pali Canon), sometimes methods are
presented for us to try so that we see directly for ourselves (like
the four foundations of mindfulness), sometimes seeming paradoxes
are used (as in the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras which asserts the
formula A is not A, therefore it is A), sometimes poetry and mythic
imagery is used (as in the Ceremony in the Air in the Lotus Sutra)
to convey to us the wonder, openess, and freedom of the true nature
of reality. These skillful methods are all fingers pointing at the
moon (itself a metaphor from the Surangama Sutra). However, the
trick is that ultimate reality encompasses everything, including
those things which point to it. The finger is the moon as long as one does not become obsessed with it. The moon is itself a pointer as long as one is not blinded by it.
I will refrain from going into the history and meaning of the the
Gohonzon. But I will simply say that the Ceremony in the Air is
clearly a mythical event but one that is pointing us to the all
encompassing presence of buddhahood (i.e. awakening) in our lives
right here and now. And the mandalas (or corresponding statue
arrangements) we use are pointing us to that mythic event in its
calligraphic depiction. So we have a calligraphic pointer to a
mythic event which points us to a concept of what ultimate reality
is like and how we can awaken to it which in turn points us
(hopefully) to the existential reality of that awakening. Don't
ignore these pointers, but don't get fixated on them either.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo is itself a pointer and an expression of that
which it is pointing to. It is saying that devotion to the Wonderful
Truth blossoming in each moment is the point of all the teachings,
of all expression in fact. There is of course a verbal component to
the main practice of Nichiren Buddhism, but this verbal component is
meant to carry along also a bodily, mental, and heartfelt posture of
trust, confidence, dedication, and even a joyful approach to things
as they are and not just as we fear or hope they are or will be or
have been. Right after the Buddha awoke and made his decision to
teach he considered who he could give thanks to as his teacher. He
realized that the Wonderful Dharma itself had been his teacher and
gave praise to the Wonderful Dharma which he then spent the rest of
his life praising, sharing, and living in accord with. So expressing
our devotion to the Wonderful Dharma is not merely the act of
someone seeking awakening, but is itself an awakening act. In that
awakening act we come face to face with the real Gohonzon.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
Somebody suggested to me today that it is our "seeking and
pursuit" and the "desire to escape" that is preventing people from
overcoming suffering. I could not agree more.
When I reflect on this, here is what I come up with - the first
noble truth is that life is suffering and the second noble truth is
that suffering is caused by desire. So it seems to me to be missing
the point of Buddhism to continually reinforce the desire to be free
from suffering when in fact enlightenment is about just facing
suffering and letting go of the desire that makes it suffering. But
of course then we desire to end that desire. What then?
Here is where practice-realization comes in. We just sit upright in
the midst of this suffering, this desire, this confusion, and
frustration. We just see it for what it is and in coming back
to "just sitting" or "just chanting" again and again we take a step
back from constantly investing in thoughts of "why can't it be
better?" or "how can I make it better?" Bascially through our
practice we give it all a rest and gradually learn to just accept
and be in the midst of it. I have found that when I do this, things
become more workable, but this can't be deliberate. It must just
develop into workableness on its own as a side effect of just being
with the practice.
When we sit or chant with no ulterior motive other than to abide in
the moment - that is the very beginning of being present and awake
to whatever arises within ourselves or in others or all around us.
That presence and wakefulness takes in our hopes, fears,
frustrations, and suffering but is not any of those. And that
wakefulness and non-judging acceptance and uprightness in the midst
of it all is itself the workings of buddha-nature. It is realized,
developed, and grows through such practice.
And there is where the rest of the transcendent qualities of our
lives begin to come in. As we just abide in the practice we must
be generous with ourselves and our situation in order to
sit still with it all, we must discipline ourselves to sit
with it all, we must be patient to sit with it all, we must
make the effort to just sit with it all, we must bring our minds
continually back to just sitting with it all, and we must allow the wisdom of
just sitting with it all to emerge from just sitting with it all.
When I sit down in front of the Gohonzon (or rather in sitting
in the midst of the Gohonzon) and put the Wonderful Dharma into
practice - the practice anchors me in this moment and gives me a
focus so that I can let go of all interpretations, judgements, and
schemes and just be present and awake. The practice, mysteriously,
is itself a function of the enlightenment or awakening we believe we are striving
for but which is right in our midsts all the time.
My apologies if none of this made sense, it is a result of my reflections over the past weekend on my own practice and some of things brought up at my Faithful Fools practice meeting and on another internet forum.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
Since it is on my mind, le't look at the four admonitions of Nichiren. These are four statements that Nichiren does say in various places (though I am not sure he says them all in one place in an authentic writing). Anyway, they are:
1. Zen is the school of heavenly devils.
2. Pure Land actually leads to the Avichi Hell.
3. Shingon is the worm in the lion's belly.
4. Ritsu followers are traitors to the nation.
Now why would Nichiren attack the other schools like this and what use is it to say such things. Here is what I think he was getting at and what we can take from it:
1. Many so-called Zen people of Nichiren's time (particularly the followers of Dainichi Nyonin and some of the Chinese masters being patronized by the shogunate) were indeed arrogant and felt that their insight had made them the equal of the Buddha and so they felt they could dispense with the sutras and the Buddhist tradition itself. This is why Nichiren saw them as heavenly devils. This attitude that we can dispense with the wisdom of the past or that we can become ultimate authorities in and of ourselves is dangerous to ourselves and others who buy into it.
2. Nichiren saw the Pure Land movement (particularly the followers of Honen) as also dispensing with the sutras and the Buddhist tradition in favor of a practice and teaching that focused (at least as far as Honen and his followers were concerned) exclusively on the saving power of an Other and rebirth in the pure land after death. They effectively gave up on themselves and this world, and that is what Nichiren saw as a hellish existence which would only cause more suffering.
3. Shingon (and Nichiren was especially angry at Jikaku for making the Tendai school Shingon in all but name) is a very esoteric form of Buddhism that requires money, privalege, and time to put into practice. It was a religion for aristocrats and full time monks with aristocratic patrons. Much of it was little more than magick for worldly benefits (and some of that would be called black magick in our society such as the curses the Retired Emperor Gotoba tried to use on his political opponents). Nichiren felt that this kind of Buddhism was crowding out and displacing the more universal and compassionate true meaning of Buddhism and also debilitating the nation. In the end, the money that went to patronizing the Shingon school did contribute to the financial collapse of the Kamakuran Shogunate.
4. The Ritsu school or rather Ritsu revival movement was connected to Shingon in Nichiren's time. Its proponents believed that there was a kind of magickal efficacy or benefit to taking the monastic precepts. But ethics, especially the precepts which are more like monastic guidelines, alone do not bring about enlightenment or compassionate living. Especially when it is a rigid formalistic adherence to a code that is from another time and culture. Perhaps this is why Nichiren saw the Ritsu movement as betraying the nation - it was turning away from the actual needs of the present moment.
But Nichiren's blanket condemnation misses some of the good points of these schoos. And here is what I think is missed:
1. The Zen of people like Dogen, or Hakuin, or before them Pai-chang, Hui-neng and many others was not an arrogant iconoclasm. Many of the things Nichiren criticized have also been criticized by the classical Zen Masters themselves. This authentic Zen is not something that dismisses the sutras but rather attempts to bring them to life and to help people get the point of the sutras and to realize and live that point in our present lives. The word "Zen" originally came from the word for "meditation" but in the Zen tradition it represents the unity of wisdom and method, the living of life in a way that embodies not just the perfection of meditation but also perfect wisdom, generosity, self-restraint, patience, and vigor. It is to live life as a meditation on Buddha Dharma. This is what we all need to do.
2. Not all Pure Land traditions throw away the rest of Buddhism. Honen and his followers were unique and extreme in this regard. Furthermore, not all those who chant Nembutsu see it as indicating the saving power of an Other or a way of securing a better life after this one. Many of those in China, Korea, Vietnam, and even some in Japan chant the name of Amitabha with the understanding that Amitabha is a symbol of our true original nature, and the Pure Land is the land transformed by this realization - it could be here and now. It can only be here and now. In China, Korea, and Vietnam, and in some schools of Japanese Zen, Nembutsu actually became incorporated into the Zen way of understanding that all the sutras are pointing to our present reality in this moment. All symbols are analogies, and all analogies break down, and the Pure Land myth and practice does have a tendency to point away from ourselves and to another better life, but even there it is also an antidote for those who are too full of themselves or who are so filled with despair that they need some consolation until they can regain a sense of peace and composure.
3. Shingon and other esoteric traditions do make one good point - that one must go beyond doctrines and tenet systems and actually try to embody the body, word, and mind of the Buddha in oneself. To do this, the tantric traditions try to appeal to and utilize human imagination and all the seneses. This is a good thing, and in many ways Nichiren crafted a practice that is a streamlined way of doing what many tantric practices do. So even Nichiren did not really discard tantric principles (like sokushin jobutsu) or methods (like using a mudra, a mantra, and a mandala). Today, tantric practices like the regulation of bodily temperature in tummo have been shown to have a real effect on the body-mind. These tantric practices and methods are effective and beneficial and should not be ignorantly written off. At the same time, they are not necessarily enlightenment and the tantric teachers themselves will admit that they are all just skillful means for bringing out a capacity for awakened living that is already there and does not need tantric props to function or even necessarily to be realized. I would agree that the tantras should not be set over the Lotus Sutra, but I also think that their is much we can learn from these traditions (and not necessarily from the tantric parts of the tradition - for instance the lojong aphorisms of mind training could be applicable to any practice).
4. I think that one of the things that has caused Buddhism in Japan to become so secular and weak is the lack of any real monastic tradition and the discarding of the precepts. While I do not think the precepts are monastic living is absolutely necessary for the attainment of enlightenment, I think that a monastic core is very important for the Buddhist tradition as it provides for a group of people who are able and willing to live the Dharma 24/7 and who are free of all responsibilities and worldly amibitions except to serve the Sangha, live like the Buddha, and study and teach and practice and enable others to practice the Dharma. Furthermore, I think East Asian Buddhism (esp. Japanese) has become entirely too antinomian - ignoring the moral and ethical teachings and examples of Buddhism. These need to be recovered. I think it is a healthy sign that various Buddhist groups in North America after the debacles in the 80s with the moral failings of their teachers have set upon a course of seriously studying and learning to utilize the precepts in appropriate ways and settings. Thich Nhat Hanh's revised monastic precepts is a great thing in my opinion - it is connected to tradition, but revised to meet current needs, open to further adaptation, and above all practical and humanistic and a good guide for creating a viable monastic community.
So I believe that 21st century global Buddhism should avoid becoming heavenly devils, pilgrims to hell, worms, or traitors. But at the same time we can learn to realize the teachings in terms of our own lives, view the uplifting myths and symbols of Buddhism in a positive way, utilize our bodies and imaginations in a whole body-mind effort, and live in a way that is in accord with good causes, refrains from bad causes, and builds up viable Dharmic communities.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei