The Tree of Enlightenment
An Introduction to the Major Traditions of Buddhism
by Peter Della Santina
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Part Two
The Mahayana
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Chapter Fifteen
The Lotus Sutra
The period between the Second Council and the first century B.C.E. saw
the growth of Mahayana literature in India and the emergence of a number of
important texts. The first to appear were transitional works like the Lalitavistara and
Mahavastu, which belong to derivative schools of the Mahasanghikas and describe the career of
the Buddha in exalted, supra mundane terms. These were followed by more than a
hundred definitive Mahayana sutras, like the former, composed in Sanskrit and
hybrid
Sanskrit.
Most of these sutras are quite extensive; examples include the Lotus
Sutra, the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in eight thousand lines, the Samadhiraja Sutra, and the
Lankavatara Sutra.. They make liberal use of parables and examples and put forward
the major themes of the Mahayana tradition in a discursive, didactic way. These ideas
were supported some time later by the systematic arguments found in the commentarial or
exegetical literature, known as shastras, composed by outstanding figures like Nagarjuna,
Asanga, and Vasubandhu.
Among the many Mahayana sutras now available to us, I will devote this
and the next two chapters to three that exemplify important themes and phases in the
development of Mahayana Buddhism: (1) the Lotus Sutra (Saddharmapundarika Sutra), (2)
the Heart Sutra (Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra), and (3) the Lankavatara Sutra.
In many ways, the Lotus is the foundation sutra of the Mahayana
tradition. It has great influence in the Mahayana Buddhist world, not only in India but also in
China and Japan, where it is the favorite text of the T'ien-t'ai and Nichiren schools.
Moreover, insofar as it expounds the way of great compassion, the Lotus Sutra represents the
essence of the Mahayana tradition's fundamental orientation, which is great
compassion.
Let us examine a number of themes in the Lotus Sutra that I
feel are
particularly important for an understanding of the Mahayana tradition. Let us look
first at what the sutra has to say about the Buddha. In Chapter 14, I mentioned a number
of suggestions found in the Theravada canon that point to the supramundane and
transcendental nature of the Buddha. This theme is elaborated on in formative, transitional
texts like the Mahavastu and Lalitavistara. In the Lotus Sutra, the supramundane,
eternal, and ever- active nature of the Buddha is explained very clearly and in
considerable detail. The message is that the form of the Buddha Shakyamuni perceived
by people
in the sixth century B.C.E. was simply an apparition of the transcendental Buddha
projected for the purpose of enlightening sentient beings. Although the world perceived
the birth of Siddhartha among the Shakya clan, the event of his great renunciation,
the years of his struggle for enlightenment, his attainment of enlightenment under the
bodhi tree, his forty-five years of teaching, and his passing away into extinction at
the age of eighty, all this was in fact merely a show for the purpose of enlightening
sentient
beings.
The case for this idea is advanced in the Lotus Sutra with the
help of
the parable of the physician that appears in chapter sixteen of the text. In this parable,
a well-qualified and famous physician who has been away from home for a long time returns to
find that his sons have taken poison and are seriously ill. He sets about preparing
an excellent remedy for them according to his knowledge of medicine. Some of his sons
immediately take the medicine he offers and are cured of their illness.
Other sons, however, although they have looked forward to
their
father's return and assistance, are now unwilling to take the medicine he offers because
they are already too deeply affected by the poison. They fail to appreciate the excellent
properties of the medicine and continue in their grave illness. Seeing this, their father
devises a way to induce them to be cured: he tells them that he is already advanced in
years, that the time of his death is near, and that he must again travel to another country.
He then leaves and has a message sent back to his sons telling them that he has died.
Moved by the news of their father's death--and desperate now that there will be no one to
look after them and cure them--they take the medicine and are cured. Hearing of their
recovery, the father returns and is happily reunited with his sons.
Through this parable, we are given to understand that the
Buddha's
appearance in the world is like the return of the physician who has journeyed to a
neighboring country. Upon his return, he finds that his sons, the people of the world, have
ingested the poison of greed, anger, and delusion and are distressed, ill, and suffering.
He devises a cure for their suffering, which is the Dharma, the path to liberation. Although
some of the people of the world follow the path and achieve liberation, there are others
who are too deeply afflicted by the poison of greed, anger, and delusion and who
therefore
refuse to follow the path which is good in the beginning, middle, and end. As a result,
a device has to be employed to induce and encourage them to take the medicine, follow the
path, and achieve liberation. That device is the apparent extinction of the
Buddha--his entry into final nirvana. According to this parable, therefore, the historical
Buddha never really lived and never really died, but was simply one of the many appearances
of the supramundane, transcendental Buddha.
The sutra reinforces this point in chapter eleven, through the
appearance of an earlier Buddha, the Buddha Prabhutaratna, who had become a Tathagata, or
enlightened one, eons before. While Shakyamuni is engaged in preaching the Lotus Sutra
(as described in that sutra itself), Prabhutaratna appears to the assembled
multitude,
who see him within a jeweled stupa, his body perfectly formed. This is another indication
not only that the Buddha Shakyamuni has not yet entered into final extinction, but also
that the Buddhas who preceded him did not do so.
According to the Lotus Sutra, then, Buddhas possess a
supramundane and
transcendental, indefinite nature; they also respond and cater to the needs of sentient
beings according to their individual abilities. In chapter five of the sutra, the Buddha
uses the similes of rain and of light to illustrate this point. He says that, just as
rain falls
on all vegetation--trees, shrubs, medicinal herbs, and grasses--without discrimination, and each
according to its nature and capacity takes nourishment from the rain, so the Buddhas,
through their appearance in the world and their teachings, nourish all sentient
beings, each according to his or her individual ability--whether great, like the tall trees;
middling, like smaller trees and shrubs; or low, like the grasses. Just as each plant benefits from
rain according to its capacity, so every sentient being benefits from
the appearance of the
Buddha according to his or her capacity. And just as the light of the sun and moon falls
equally on hills, valleys, and plains, illuminating each according to its position and in
its own way and time, so the Buddha's presence sheds light on all sentient
beings--be
they high, middling, or low--according to their individual positions and
capacities. It is in this sense that the infinite, supramundane Buddha appears in countless forms to
benefit sentient beings: in the form of an Arhat, a Bodhisattva, a friend of
virtue, and
even in the form of an ordinary, unenlightened sentient being.
We know that it is difficult to know the ultimate nature of
reality,
the truth: the way things really are is not amenable to words. This is why the Buddha
remained silent when he was asked whether the world is infinite or finite, both or neither,
and whether the Tathagata exists or does not exist after death, or both or neither.
The
ultimate nature of reality has to be realized by oneself. This is reflected in the
distinction between the Dharma that one becomes acquainted with indirectly, through the help of
others, and the Dharma that one realizes for oneself. But this realization of the truth
does not come easily. It has to be achieved by oneself, and it has to be the result
of a direct, inner realization. Thus, motivated by great compassion, the Buddhas appear in
the world to teach and help sentient beings achieve this realization of the ultimate
nature of reality by stages. They do this through skillful means, according to
the
capacities and inclinations of sentient beings.
This idea regarding the differing capacities and inclinations of
sentient beings is not peculiar to the Mahayana tradition. In the Theravada canon, also, the
Buddha likens the varying capacities of living beings to the different positions of
lotuses in a pond--some are submerged, others are partly submerged, and still others are free
of the water and blossoming in the clear air and sunlight. Similarly, living beings are
of inferior, middling, and superior capacity. The Theravada tradition also includes the idea
of the Buddha's skillful means, as exemplified in different ways of teaching, such as
directly and indirectly. This idea is reflected, too, in the distinction between
the
conventional and the ultimate truth. This notion of skillful means is developed and refined
in the Mahayana tradition and is an extremely important theme of the Lotus Sutra.
Because the ultimate nature of reality is difficult to realize, and
because sentient beings differ in their capacities and inclinations, the Buddhas resorted to
skillful means to lead each and every sentient being to the ultimate goal of enlightenment,
according to his or her own way and inclination. Therefore, the Lotus Sutra explains that
the vehicle of the Bodhisattvas, the vehicle of the Pratyekabuddhas (or 'private
Buddhas'), and the vehicle of the disciples are nothing more than skillful means calculated to
suit the differing capacities and inclinations of sentient beings.
Chapter three of the Lotus Sutra uses a compelling parable to
explain
the nature of skillful means. The story it tells is this: Suppose there is a rich man
who inhabits an old house and who has a number of children. One day the house suddenly
catches on fire. The father, seeing that it will soon be engulfed in flames, calls to
his children to come out, but they are absorbed in their play and do not heed his
words.
Being familiar with the inclinations of his children, the father thinks of a skillful device to
induce them to leave the house. Knowing they are fond of toys, he calls to them to come out
at once because he has brought them all different kinds of toy carts. The children
abandon their play and rush out to get the carts. Once they are safely away from the burning
house, the father gives each and everyone of them only the most excellent cart, the
vehicle of the Buddhas.
It is easy to see that in this parable the house is the world, the
fire
is the fire of the afflictions, the father is the Buddha, and the children are the people
of the world. The toy carts are the vehicles of the Bodhisattvas, Pratyekabuddhas, and
disciples. Elsewhere in the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha explains that he taught the
Hinayana path for those who believe in the existence of the world, and the
Mahayana for
those whose merit is well matured. To have taught only the Hinayana would have been
miserly, yet had he taught only the Mahayana, many would have despaired of achieving the
goal of enlightenment and not entered the path at all. Thus the Hinayana and
Mahayana are expedient devices for the people of the world, designed to suit their
different capacities and inclinations.
The Buddha also says in the sutra that Arhats like Shariputra
and
Rahula will all eventually attain Buddhahood. He then likens the nirvana of the Arhats
to an illusory city conjured up by a wise guide who is leading a party of travelers to a
vast treasure. On the way, the travelers grow weary and tired. They despair of reaching their
goal, so the guide conjures up the appearance of a city that has all the amenities needed
for them to rest and recover their strength. Thereafter, they will be able to continue their
journey until they eventually reach the treasure. In this parable the guide is the
Buddha,
the travelers are the people of the world, and the illusory city is the nirvana of the
Arhats.
The message of skillful means is further explained in the Lotus
Sutra
by other parables and similes. For example, in chapter four there is the parable of a son
who has been parted from his father at a young age and who spends the better part of
his life in poverty and suffering, ignorant of his origins. His father, longing to see his
son again and hand down his vast inheritance to him, is grieved by his inability to locate
him. One day, the son happens to come to his father's house. Seeing the splendor of the
household and the respect the servants have for the master of the house, he becomes
conscious of his inferiority and attempts to flee, but his father recognizes him and
sends men to bring him back. Unable to recognize his father in return, the son is terrified
and protests his innocence. Seeing the situation, the father tells his men to let him
go.
Some time later, the father sends his men, dressed in poor
apparel, to
offer his son the work of sweeping out dung in the cow sheds of the household. His son
accepts this menial task and works for some time. Gradually, the father increases
his wages. All the while, the son is unaware that the master is in fact his own father,
and the father refrains from revealing it so as not to upset or frighten him. Eventually the
son is elevated to the position of foreman. Only when he has thus broadened his vision and
aspirations does his father reveal to him his origins and hand over to him his inheritance.
At that point the son realizes his nobility and is overjoyed by his achievement.
In the same way, the Lotus Sutra says that we are all sons of
the
Buddha and will all achieve the inheritance of Buddhahood. But because our ambitions and
aspirations are paltry, the Buddha has set us disciplines whereby we will gradually
develop and expand our vision until we realize our true nature and kinship and are ready
to accept this inheritance of Buddhahood.
The central theme of the Lotus Sutra is the working of skillful
means
out of great compassion. Out of great compassion, the Buddhas appear in the world.
Out of great compassion, they exercise their skillful means in countless ways,
through countless forms, devices, practices, and vehicles. All these are calculated to
suit the varying capacities and inclinations of sentient beings so that each one can, in
his or her own way and time, aspire to and achieve full and perfect enlightenment, the
enlightenment of the Buddha. It is because of this message--with its universality,
optimism,
and encouragement for all--that the Mahayana tradition has been able to win
such phenomenal popularity not only in India but also in Central and East
Asia.
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Contents
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01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11
| 12 | 13
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41
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Layout: Nhi Tuong
Update : 11-05-2002
