Stories of the Lotus Sutra - Chapter 2: Stories of the Lotus Sutra

[Bion]

New week, new chapter of our book! Welcome to the Stories of the Lotus Sutra! Reves continues to explain the purpose of words, language, and the enchantment and magic contained in this Sutra. He also explains a bit about the structure of it, and if you've participated in our first Zoom discussion, you'll remember we talked a bit about how this whole text was assembled.

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Lotus New.jpg Reading assignment: Chapter 2: Stories of the Lotus Sutra

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As previously, let's read this chapter slowly and notice what about it might be new to us. Is there something in the commentary that resonates, lingers, or troubles you? If so, let it, and spend some time reflecting on it. You can use the suggested questions on the Study Page to guide your reflections, or you can come up with your own.

I was so glad to see you take me up on the exercise I suggested, so let’s keep it going. In your reflections, please include answers to two simple questions that I’d love for you to share with the rest of us: “What is one thing I’ve learned from this?” and “What is one question I would ask about this?”

Take your time with the reading and with posting your reflections, and feel free to interact with what others are sharing.

Enjoy the reading, and I can't wait to read your thoughts.

Our next Book Club Meeting is on Saturday, the 14th. You can still catch up with the previous meeting! Just follow the link at the top of the Study Page.

With metta and in gassho
sat lah

[Hosui]

Apologies for running long — I was stirred

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Who’d have thought: we’re being given a chance to tour the shop-floor of bodhisattvahood with the Lotus Sutra as our guide; hot tickets indeed! In being invited to look beyond the propositional and allegorical content of the Sutras’ stories and extravagant hyperbole, we have the fortunate option of exploring the strangeness and insane diversity of not only our world but the fathomless worlds of numberless sentient beings. Reeves is reminding us that we have a chance to trust even the Sutras’ ambiguous words and descriptions, and bracket what we call the comfortable and familiar ‘concrete’ (a favourite term of Reeves) realities in favour of imagined realities.

In my case, and as an example, despite our tradition’s distrust and complicated relationship with brainy philosophy, even with the Prajnaparamita’s freedom from any determinate conception, one aspect of Reeves’ ’invitation’ for me is to use my training & imagination to translate into philosophical terms the Sutra’s conceptual opposing of appearance with reality — for the sake of creating a path to ‘liberation’ of course; not idle intellectualising — in the following way.

For me, what’s emerging from studying Reeves and the Sutra is the revelation that I’ve not known my past as clearly as I thought I had; I was wrong or clueless in this and my past lives; foolishly I hadn’t known I was already a bodhisattva! The Sutra now has my attention. In our collective process of reading the Lotus Sutra we’re now asked to reclaim that bodhisattvahood. The form of our present life is one of the infinite forms bodhisattvas take to instruct and liberate numberless sentient beings, a conclusion that’s just one of the consequences of having already taken the bodhisattva vow; to mingle and liberate as we’re intending to do, if a little uncertainly. We shouldn’t be surprised then to be in the form we currently are, however we find ourselves, as our original intent was in agreeing to transform into an infinite variety of forms, if only we’d remembered we’d signed up to this. No wonder it takes ages!

For instance, there are so many perspectives required of us as bodhisattvas to transform into, as a consequence of our vows, that it’s impossible to close them off or know them all. The real Buddha then, the real nature of things, is always in the liberating task of back-and-forth within each of these infinite forms, a process which has no end given how sentient beings are numberless. This give-and-take of liberation in these forms is not only endless but ambiguous, since by the nature of standard Buddhist notions of interdependence we can never pin down all the forms or interactions; there are always more ‘conditions’ that determine all existing forms: our current finite form, or unambiguous state, is only due to our drastic narrowing of our view of the world, in contrast to this now vaguely imaginable vastness of forms the Sutra has begun to open our minds to. Besides, when I’m told in the Sutra by the Buddha that I’ll become a Buddha in the future, it doesn’t take too much imagination for me to look back from that future position of being a Buddha to see their pre-Buddhahood (Jataka-style) as my life as it is right now; for that future Buddha to say, “look at this sentient being right here in this Treeleaf Book Club; this was me in a previous life!” pointing directly at me (and you). This is Buddha recognising Buddha, and a manner in which I can realise my Buddhahood in this and every instant.

Surely, one of the transformations we need to make as bodhisattvas is into the state of Buddhahood itself, if we’ve understood the Sutra’s claim of universal buddha-nature correctly? It would seem that Buddhahood in the Lotus Sutra is not the transcending of all those states we’ve vowed to transform into — like we can skip all those pesky moves — in order to quickly save all sentient beings, but instead the skilful means of using (of seeing and experiencing) all of those interconnected states as expressions of Buddhahood. Based on this, it’s easy to see why Dogen, channelling the Lotus Sutra, talks of every moment of experience being the ultimate reality of all things, since “only a buddha and a buddha can thoroughly master it” (in the Tanahashi Shobogenzo; Yui Butsu Yo Butsu), or as Reeves translation has it, “only among buddhas can the true character of all things be fathomed” (LS p.76).

Thus far in this wonderful ‘Beyond Words and Letters Book Club’ I take the Lotus Sutra as saying that the interaction of Buddhas and ourselves, in the context of the Sutra at least, is what it means to be the real Buddha. And I’m keen to continue exploring this beyond the context of the Sutra.

What I’ve learned: I must stop assuming a hierarchy between conventional and ultimate Truth.
What question would I ask?: As per the Sandokai, “How can I remain within the source while being a particular individual?”

Gassho
Hosui
sat/lah today

[Seiraku]

I appreciate that this chapter is having me take a closer look at storytelling as a way to learn and experience something imagined. It makes sense, I think stories have their own internal logic that makes it easy to grasp characters and what they’re doing. Perhaps that’s why our internal story of our own character can be so strong too. Or in the other direction, maybe stories are powerful because of our self-narrative.

I also read some of the Lotus Sutra in preparation for this book and noticed how a lot of stories are told twice - the main narration and then the speaker retells it in verse. My question is more of wondering if Mr. Reeves will go into that, since some stories are a little different in the verse retelling.

Gassho,
Seiraku
satlah

[Tenryu]

Reading this chapter, I stayed with how Reeves speaks about words. They are limited and unreliable, yet still necessary. Words cannot fully express the concrete world, and no writer can control what they will evoke in a reader. And yet, stories are told. There is a kind of trust in that.

He points out that the figures in the Lotus Sutra do not resolve their problems by turning to doctrine. They do not look for ready-made answers. They respond within the situation itself, trying something new. Reading this, I noticed how often I look for ideas that might settle things for me or bring a sense of completion. His way of pointing to these stories turns my attention back to how I meet situations myself.

When he returned to the image of the bodhisattvas emerging from beneath the earth, the image felt freshly grounded: not bodhisattvas arriving from elsewhere, not descending from above, but appearing from right here. Imagination, responsibility, and care are not added to practice. They are already part of this world.

After finishing the chapter, there was nothing to conclude. I simply noticed a small shift in how I stayed with the words, and then with what was already present.

Gasshō,
Tenryū
sat today & lah

[Bion]

I appreciate that this chapter is having me take a closer look at storytelling as a way to learn and experience something imagined. It makes sense, I think stories have their own internal logic that makes it easy to grasp characters and what they’re doing. Perhaps that’s why our internal story of our own character can be so strong too. Or in the other direction, maybe stories are powerful because of our self-narrative.

I also read some of the Lotus Sutra in preparation for this book and noticed how a lot of stories are told twice - the main narration and then the speaker retells it in verse. My question is more of wondering if Mr. Reeves will go into that, since some stories are a little different in the verse retelling.

Gassho,
Seiraku
satlah

The authors did their best to emmulate other sutras, keeping the repetitions. Initially, as far as I've learned, repetitions inside the the text were key to correctly remembering the whole sutra. In the canons, things repeat often, and whole passages appear verbatim in many many different sutras.

Gassho
sat lah

[Dainei]

So . . . chapter 2. Perhaps using my imagination will be necessary after all and I'm willing to suspend my disbelief that indulging in the skandha of Mental Fabrications without clinging to it will be useful as I actually get into the text. I'm ready to actually read the Lotus Sutra now . . .

Gassho
Dainei
Sat

[MikeH]

The central topic of this chapter is also the most appealing and challenging one for me: the teaching of skillful means. I come from religious and philosophical backgrounds that emphasize one God, one Church, one Truth, one Logic, one narrow, difficult path... So it's both relieving but unsettling to let all those singulars go. At first I worried that the skillful means were forms of deception, like "noble lies" to get the right outcome. I wouldn't like that, if it were the case. But then I read in the second chapter of the Lotus Sutra:

Someone having faith in, taking refuge in, the Buddha
Will know that the Tathagata will never deceive

I found Reeves' interpretation of skillful means as "invitations to creative wisdom" helpful. Not deceptions, but invitations. Not lies, but creative wisdom. Invitation is the overwhelming feeling I had while reading the second chapter of Reeves, but also passages like this from the second chapter of the Sutra itself:

There are those who worship by prostrating themselves,
Some merely by putting their palms together,
Others only by raising a hand,
And others by a slight nod of the head.
All of these,
Honoring images in various ways
Will progressively see countless buddhas,
Fulfill the unexcelled way themselves...

Not a bad set of lines to sum up Trealeaf too, in my experience.

gassho
satlah,
Mike

[Bion]

There are those who worship by prostrating themselves,
Some merely by putting their palms together,
Others only by raising a hand,
And others by a slight nod of the head.
All of these,
Honoring images in various ways
Will progressively see countless buddhas,
Fulfill the unexcelled way themselves...

Not a bad set of lines to sum up Trealeaf too, in my experience.

gassho
satlah,
Mike

Precisely the observation I made back when I read the Lotus Sutra. I highlited this to emphasize the same, with, of course, the huge difference that this was about actual veneration of text and figures, which had become quite a thing in some of the Mahayana communities.

Gassho
sat lah

[Shinsoku]

Hello all,

Reading Chapter 2 of Stories of the Lotus Sutra, what keeps landing for me is how insistently the sutra refuses to give us formulas. The stories—burning houses, estranged sons, hidden treasures—aren’t asking for belief in miracles so much as participation in imagination. Again and again, problems are not solved by quoting a sutra or following a rulebook, but by creative, compassionate responses to real situations. No one pulls out a text to fix what’s in front of them. That struck me, especially as a Soto practitioner, because we place such emphasis on zazen and sutra study—yet awakening in the stories, and even in Zen lore, rarely happens on the cushion or in the act of reading. Hakuin reads the sutra, puts it away, and wakes up to a cricket. Insight arrives in life, not apart from it. Skillful means don’t come from the sutras so much as they come alive through us.

What really stays with me, though, is the warning label the authors point out: dangerous to your comfort. The Lotus Sutra treats complacency—not suffering—as the real danger. The belief that we’ve “arrived,” that there’s nothing left to do, is named as the deepest arrogance. That’s unsettling, especially when so much of my own anxiety revolves around wanting things to be settled—finances stable, parenting complete, life safely checked off. I catch myself rushing toward some imagined moment of relief, as if enlightenment were the end of effort rather than the full entry into it. And yet, there’s something strangely relieving in this challenge. If there is always more to do—not as burden, but as engagement—then life doesn’t need to resolve itself into a finished product. The sutra’s enchantment, its imagination, seems less about escape and more about liberation from fatalism, habit, and the fantasy of arrival. Maybe the path isn’t about getting somewhere comfortable at all, but about staying awake, creative, and responsive—right here, in the middle of things.

I look forward to reading the posts from this week and our discussion this weekend!

Gassho,
Shinsoku
ST/LAH

[Bion]

That struck me, especially as a Soto practitioner, because we place such emphasis on zazen and sutra study—yet awakening in the stories, and even in Zen lore, rarely happens on the cushion or in the act of reading. Hakuin reads the sutra, puts it away, and wakes up to a cricket. Insight arrives in life, not apart from it. Skillful means don’t come from the sutras so much as they come alive through us.

Gassho,
Shinsoku
ST/LAH

That reminds me of Bodhidharma realizing that the Chinese were entirely stuck in books, and him deciding to teach the sutras with his own being. This is probably the hardest for all of us to do, realize that the sutras merely point to a lived reality, but they don't contain it. We verify the teachings with our very lives. Great observation, Shin!

gassho
sat lah

[Chikyou]

The emphasis here on stories and the power of words has again grabbed my attention. It truly makes me feel as though the words I am reading in the Lotus Sutra are something incredibly sacred, and also that they are pure art. Reading it is like exploring a museum of beautiful and fantastical paintings. The messages that they contain will not be rendered plain - even if I think that on the surface their message is obvious, that is perhaps the very arrogance that the Sutra warns against. It’s a story to be lived, breathed, experienced, and lessons learned that cannot be put into words.

And I am enchanted. As I read the sutra, I find myself looking at things in a new way, and facing things that make me uneasy (and subsequently, asking myself WHY they make me uneasy), and the images live rent free in my head for a good while after I read the words.

Gassho,
SatLah,
Chikyō

[Tairin]

Hi All,

The thing that caught my eye in this chapter was the emphasis on imagination and creativity. As I said in our previous chapter, I am naturally predisposed towards a world of imagination. I also value creativity highly. I grew up in an artistic community (painters, sculptors , poets, musicians). I am a musician myself and my focus is on creating my own music. I tend to play in environments where improvisation, spontaneity, and unscripted music is the norm. Reeves touches on the imagination/creativity axis throughout the chapter and quotes like this really resonated.

... in a great many of the stories in the Lotus Sutra, especially in those that are used to demonstrate proactive of skillful means, it is important to recognize that what is bring demanded of the reader is not obedience to any formula or code or book, not even to the Lotus Sutra, but imaginative and creative approaches to concrete problems.

These stories all involve finding creative solutions to quite ordinary problems

Creativity requires imagination, the ability to see possibilities where others see only what is.

... creativity is not always successful..... The possibility of failure is always a part of any creative effort, requiring additional creativity

... creativity involves being free from karma, from fate due to past actions

Creativity is a path to liberation, and imagination is a path to liberation

I feel I could have quoted all of this section

Imagination and creativity involve thinking on your feet and dealing with what is right in front of you. It involves spontaneity. I think it is a skill we can all develop through practice.

Certainly imagination/creativity has played a bit part in how my parents raised me and I'd like to think I passed this on to my son as well.


Tairin
sat today and lah

[Tairin]

That reminds me of Bodhidharma realizing that the Chinese were entirely stuck in books, and him deciding to teach the sutras with his own being. This is probably the hardest for all of us to do, realize that the sutras merely point to a lived reality, but they don't contain it. We verify the teachings with our very lives. Great observation, Shin!

Buddhism interested me almost as soon as I discovered that there was such a thing back in my early teens. I read about it extensively but it left me mystified. It wasn't until I started actually practicing it about 15 years ago that things started to click. Like learning how to swim only by reading a how to. At some point you have to get in the water.


Tairin
sat today and lah

[Bion]

Gentle nudge to all participants in the book club (and those who might be on the fence about joining).. Tomorrow, Saturday, we meet again for our Zoom Book Club discussion! Pull out your notes, bring your reflections and complaints, and let's talk! Check the Study Page for details

Gassho
sat lah

[Chiko]

Friends,

I will be boarding a plane during this week’s discussion, and unable to participate in the normal sense, but i will be with you in my heart.

One point I found interesting that I hope is discussed: Manjushri’s explanation that the Lotus Sutra was expounded by Buddhas in the past. I think it nicely frames the Dharma as universal and timeless, or perhaps broadens our sense of time…necessary for settling in to these stories.

With bows,
Chiko
st lag