I read the Lotus Sutra. I didn't understand it.

[Mitka]

Recently I've been reading some of the Mahayana sutras that have historically informed our practice. I really enjoyed the Vimalakirti Suutra and the Platform Sutra, and of course, the Heart Sutra is unsurpassed (which is something a lot of the sutras claim).

Then I came to the Lotus Sutra, the sutra some Buddhists call "the king of the sutras". There are even schools of practice, like Nichiren Buddhism, that are based entirely on chanting the Lotus Sutra.

I found the Lotus Sutra confusing. Buddhas and bodhisattvas hanging out in the air, dead Buddhas coming out of floating stupas, Shakyamuni Buddha shooting rays of light out of the tuft of hair between his eyebrows, and of course the frequent mention of kopis of kalpas of innumerable grains in the Ganges river. There was so much going on and it was all so fantastical and strange that I found it all bewildering and derived little benefit or understanding from reading the sutra.

Right now I'm not sure why people hold the Lotus Sutra in such high regard.

Anybody have any idea of what is going on here?

Gassho,

Mitka
SAT

[Jundo]

Recently I've been reading some of the Mahayana sutras that have historically informed our practice. I really enjoyed the Vimalakirti Suutra and the Platform Sutra, and of course, the Heart Sutra is unsurpassed (which is something a lot of the sutras claim).

Then I came to the Lotus Sutra, the sutra some Buddhists call "the king of the sutras". There are even schools of practice, like Nichiren Buddhism, that are based entirely on chanting the Lotus Sutra.

I found the Lotus Sutra confusing. Buddhas and bodhisattvas hanging out in the air, dead Buddhas coming out of floating stupas, Shakyamuni Buddha shooting rays of light out of the tuft of hair between his eyebrows, and of course the frequent mention of kopis of kalpas of innumerable grains in the Ganges river. There was so much going on and it was all so fantastical and strange that I found it all bewildering and derived little benefit or understanding from reading the sutra.

Right now I'm not sure why people hold the Lotus Sutra in such high regard.

Anybody have any idea of what is going on here?

Gassho,

Mitka
SAT

Hi Mitka,

Allegories and parables and symbols all wrapped up in a score of dreamlike settings and wild psychedelic imagery, created by a collection of religiously inspired authors (probably a bunch of folks who added and rewrote and wrote again over many centuries). Modern folks who like "Lord of the Rings" and "Flaming Lips" or "Pink Floyd" concerts or the head scratching ending to 2001: A Space Odyssey or had a dream or smoked a little weed or like Salvador Dali should not have much trouble with it, because it was the "special effects" of its day with a bit of Alice through the Looking Glass and William Burroughs tossed in.

Yippee!

One weird thing about the book is that it is about its own preaching, and how wonderful it is, as if I made a film that was mostly about people watching the completed version of the film itself which consists of people in the film saying how wonderful the film about making the film about watching the film is! Remember the scene from the Being John Malkovich movie in which everyone is John Malkovich ... the book is kinda like that about Being Buddha ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Fuxkinhug

But amid all that there are some very very important allegories and teachings that have important messages, such as:

- The Buddha died in India but, in another sense, since the Buddha and the whole universe is beyond time, the Buddha is timeless. Kannon too.

- The parable of the poor man who doesn't realize he has a jewel ("Buddha Nature") sewn in his coat the whole time.

- The lessons on "skillful means" (that the Buddha taught different lessons to different people with different needs, and even various kinds of "holy half truths" ) to get good people out of the burning house of ignorance, but it is really all one vehicle. The fathers in the stories who entice their children out of a burning house with promises of toys, or to take their medicine by adding sugar when sick, represent this.

- The prediction that (a lot of Sutras do this) if you just copy or read or recite or have trust in the Sutra its power will be yours, like some magic protective jewel.

Dogen loved the images in the Lotus Sutra and the messages woven all through about how amazing is the world and Buddha and enlightenment that, in Shobogenzo, he would regularly take the already wild and twisty images of the Lotus Sutra and even more wild up and twist em around like what Picasso might do if he was redoing an Andy Warhol painting while watching Twin Peaks. Taigen Leighton has an excellent short book and some online essays about this that I recommend highly to anyone trying to understand Dogen ...

https://www.amazon.com/Visions-Awakening-Space-Time-D%C5%8Dgen-ebook/dp/B005BP2FUW/ref=sr_1_10?qid=1553975276&refinements=p_27%3ATaigen+Dan+Leighton&s=digital-text&sr=1-10&text=Taigen+Dan+Leighton

https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/Dogen-s-Appropriation-of-Lotus-Sutra-Ground-and-Space.pdf

Like many of the Mahayana Sutras, it is also quite ahead of its time in this day and age when we do realize that the universe is vast, with galaxies as plentiful as the number of sands of the Ganges and perhaps a "multi-verse" of universes upon universes! Here is one of its descriptions of the vastness of time and space which is really not so hard to understand. It is just the traditional story of the Buddha on steroids, trying to make the point that Buddha is actually not bound by space and time and is in every atom or instant of time, all wrapped up with characters right out of the bar scene in Star Wars ...

Then the Bhagavat [Buddha] ...addressed them, saying: “Listen carefully to the Tathāgata’s [Buddha's] secret and transcendent powers. The devas [gods], humans, and asuras [fighting spirits] in all the worlds all think that the present Buddha, Śākyamuni, left the palace of the Śākyas, sat on the terrace of enlightenment not far from the city of Gayā, and attained highest, complete enlightenment. However, O sons of a virtuous family, immeasurable, limitless, hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas [incredible measures of eras of time] have passed since I actually attained buddhahood. “Suppose there were a man who ground five hundreds of thousands myriads of koṭis of nayutas of incalculable great manifold cosmos into particles. While passing through five hundred thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas of incalculable lands to the east, he dropped just a single particle; and in this way he continued to drop the particles as he went toward the east, until they were all gone. “O sons of a virtuous family! What do you think about this? Can all of these worlds be calculated or not? Can one imagine all of these worlds, calculate, and know their number or not?”

Bodhisattva Maitreya and the others together addressed the Buddha, saying: “O Bhagavat! These worlds are immeasurable, limitless, incalculable, and beyond our powers of conception. Even all the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas [basically, armchair Buddhists and followers of the early Buddhist traditions], with their knowledge free from corruption, are not able to comprehend them, or know their number. Although we abide in the stage of nonretrogression we cannot understand it. O Bhagavat! Such worlds as these are incalculable and limitless.”

Then the Buddha addressed the assembly of the great bodhisattvas, saying: “O sons of a virtuous family! I will now explain it clearly to you. Suppose all these worlds, whether or not a particle was left in them, were reduced to particles, and each particle represented a kalpa [an era of billions and billions of years]. The period of time since I became a buddha would exceed this by hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas of incalculable kalpas. Since then I have constantly been residing in the sahā world [this ordinary world], teaching the Dharma and inspiring sentient beings. I have also been leading and benefiting sentient beings in incalculable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas of other worlds. “O sons of a virtuous family! During this interim I explained about the Buddha Dīpaṃkara and others [earlier Buddhas before me]. Furthermore, I also said that they had entered parinirvāṇa [final nirvana at my death]. I have explained such things through skillful means [i.e., I did not really mean it literally that I died]. “O sons of a virtuous family! If any sentient being comes to me, I perceive the dullness or sharpness of his faith and other faculties with my buddhaeye. According to the way I should bring them to the path, I, myself, proclaim different names and lifespans in various places. In each case I have also clearly stated that I would enter parinirvāṇa. Through various skillful means I have explained subtle teachings and have made the sentient beings rejoice ...

Golly!

Gassho, J

STLah

Flaming Lips (the Lotus Sutra has more polite lyrics) ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3owN81tjac

[Jakuden]

Thank you Jundo! And thanks for a good question Mitka! I wish I had asked this when I was first reading the Lotus Sutra, because your answer would have helped a lot. Eventually after hearing enough references and explanations in Dharma talks and books, I pretty much gathered most of what you said about the parables and fantastical imagery, but for a long time I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. Even the parables seemed kind of lame to me at first (sorry) until I realized how relevant they really are, like the "skillful means of teaching" message.

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH

[Junkyo]

Hi Mitka,

Allegories and parables and symbols all wrapped up in a score of dreamlike settings and wild psychedelic imagery, created by a collection of religiously inspired authors (probably a bunch of folks who added and rewrote and wrote again over many centuries). Modern folks who like "Lord of the Rings" and "Flaming Lips" or "Pink Floyd" concerts or the head scratching ending to 2001: A Space Odyssey or had a dream or smoked a little weed or like Salvador Dali should not have much trouble with it, because it was the "special effects" of its day with a bit of Alice through the Looking Glass and William Burroughs tossed in.

Yippee!

One weird thing about the book is that it is about its own preaching, and how wonderful it is, as if I made a film that was mostly about people watching the completed version of the film itself which consists of people in the film saying how wonderful the film about making the film about watching the film is! [emoji14] Remember the scene from the Being John Malkovich movie in which everyone is John Malkovich ... the book is kinda like that about Being Buddha ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Fuxkinhug

But amid all that there are some very very important allegories and teachings that have important messages, such as:

- The Buddha died in India but, in another sense, since the Buddha and the whole universe is beyond time, the Buddha is timeless. Kannon too.

- The parable of the poor man who doesn't realize he has a jewel ("Buddha Nature") sewn in his coat the whole time.

- The lessons on "skillful means" (that the Buddha taught different lessons to different people with different needs, and even various kinds of "holy half truths" ) to get good people out of the burning house of ignorance, but it is really all one vehicle. The fathers in the stories who entice their children out of a burning house with promises of toys, or to take their medicine by adding sugar when sick, represent this.

- The prediction that (a lot of Sutras do this) if you just copy or read or recite or have trust in the Sutra its power will be yours, like some magic protective jewel.

Dogen loved the images in the Lotus Sutra and the messages woven all through about how amazing is the world and Buddha and enlightenment that, in Shobogenzo, he would regularly take the already wild and twisty images of the Lotus Sutra and even more wild up and twist em around like what Picasso might do if he was redoing an Andy Warhol painting while watching Twin Peaks. Taigen Leighton has an excellent short book and some online essays about this that I recommend highly to anyone trying to understand Dogen ...

https://www.amazon.com/Visions-Awakening-Space-Time-D%C5%8Dgen-ebook/dp/B005BP2FUW/ref=sr_1_10?qid=1553975276&refinements=p_27%3ATaigen+Dan+Leighton&s=digital-text&sr=1-10&text=Taigen+Dan+Leighton

https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/Dogen-s-Appropriation-of-Lotus-Sutra-Ground-and-Space.pdf

Like many of the Mahayana Sutras, it is also quite ahead of its time in this day and age when we do realize that the universe is vast, with galaxies as plentiful as the number of sands of the Ganges and perhaps a "multi-verse" of universes upon universes! Here is one of its descriptions of the vastness of time and space which is really not so hard to understand. It is just the traditional story of the Buddha on steroids, trying to make the point that Buddha is actually not bound by space and time and is in every atom or instant of time, all wrapped up with characters right out of the bar scene in Star Wars ...



Golly!

Gassho, J

STLah

Flaming Lips (the Lotus Sutra has more polite lyrics) ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3owN81tjac

Thank you for your teaching Jundo!

I have not spent much time on the lotus sutra, but now I will!

Gassho,

Junkyo
SAT

Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk

[Jundo]

I will give you an example of what Dogen did with the Lotus from my book, "The Zen Master's Dance" (to be published by Wisdom Publications in the Summer of 2020) ...

==============

Like [John] Coltrane working from the standard songbook, Dogen was working from the “classics,” the basic Buddhist and Mahayana Zen teachings, and rarely left them far behind despite all his creative expression. Dogen’s jazz was not the chaos and cacophony of anarchic free jazz, and he did not throw away the standard Mahayana “songbook” or the basic structure of music theory. Dogen, master of “word jazz” and expresser of the Wordless in words (he believed that a well-chosen phrase could hold Truths of both sound and silence), would take off bending and re-enlivening those old dusty tunes in ways felt in the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, yet he never forgot the fundamental tune he was playing.

Dogen, for example, frequently wilded and re-wilded passages from the already fantastically wild “Lotus Sutra” into something even more wild-tastical! In one such example, he worked from a famous scene of that Sutra in which a stupa (a traditional pavilion or tower containing the ashes or other relics and treasures of a Buddha or other great Ancestor), in this case thousands of kilometers tall, appears from the ground and rests in the air. Buddha Shakyamuni sees that another Buddha (named Abundant Treasures) is sitting inside, and the two Buddhas share a seat within the tower and preach together. All this is depicted in the Sutra as occurring in the sky over Vulture Peak, the sacred site in India said to be where the Lotus Sutra was being preached (a preaching of the Sutra that amazingly includes, in a logical loop, this very scene of the Sutra being preached). It is already a pretty wild vision before Dogen even sets to work on it. The Lotus Sutra describes the sacred happening like this:

At that time, before the Buddha, a Stupa of the Seven Treasures [gold, silver, pearl, etc.], five hundred yojanas in height, and two hundred and fifty yojanas in length and breadth, sprang out from the earth and abode in the sky… When that Buddha [Abundant Treasures] was practicing the Bodhisattva way in the past, he had made a great vow: “After I have realized [the state of] Buddha and died, if in the lands of the ten directions there is any place where the Lotus Sutra is preached, my Stupa shall spring up and appear before that place so that I may hear the Sutra.”

In a Shobogenzo essay called Hokke-Ten-Hokke (“The Flower of Dharma Turns the Flower of Dharma”), Dogen takes this scene, flips it around, stirs it up, and brings it home to his fans. The expression “turning the flower of Dharma” can mean a Buddha’s preaching of the Dharma, the Buddhist Truth, and it also can mean that the whole beautiful universe is like a flower turning. At the end, the reference to “non-thinking” (hi-shiryo) is the same one that Dogen often employs to describe the state of mind in Zazen which is “thinking-not-thinking” that is “non-thinking”:

[Dogen says:] There is turning the Flower of Dharma in the presence “before the Buddha” of a “Treasure Stupa,” whose “height is five hundred yojanas.” There is turning the Flower of Dharma in the “Buddha sitting inside the Stupa,” whose extent is “two hundred and fifty yojanas.” There is turning the Flower of Dharma in springing out from the earth and abiding in the earth, [in which state] mind is without restriction and matter is without restriction. There is turning the Flower of Dharma in springing out from the sky and abiding in the earth, which is restricted by the eyes and restricted by the body. Vulture Peak exists inside the Stupa, and the Treasure Stupa exists on Vulture Peak. The Treasure Stupa is a Treasure Stupa in space, and space makes space for the Treasure Stupa. The eternal Buddha inside the Stupa takes his seat alongside the Buddha of Vulture Peak, and the Buddha of Vulture Peak experiences the state of experience as the Buddha inside the stupa. When the Buddha of Vulture Peak enters the state of experience inside the Stupa, while object and subject on Vulture Peak [remain] just as they are, he enters into the turning of the Flower of Dharma. […] “Inside the stupa,” “before the Buddha,” “the Treasure Stupa,” and “space” are not of Vulture Peak; they are not of the world of Dharma; they are not a halfway stage; and they are not of the whole world. Nor are they concerned with only a “concrete place in the Dharma.” They are simply “non-thinking.” (based upon the Nishijima-Cross translation)

The sacred, all so thoroughly interconnected and inter-flowing, every bit pouring in and out of every bit, is the turning of the flower of the Buddha’s teaching, the whole universe turning, sometimes experienced in the world of restrictions and sometimes unrestricted, which is all the “non-thinking” of Zazen!

Dig it!



Gassho, J

STLah

[Kokuu]

Hi Mitka

I get you. The Lotus Sutra is one of the most Mahayana of Mahayana sutras. I first read it over a decade ago and, like Jakuden, didn't like it. I revisted it last year after reading a few commentaries and listening to some talks and now I get it more. For me, The Lotus Sutra takes us out of our ordinary way of thinking and instead points to worlds within worlds and time expanding to fill the universe where there are buddhas and buddhas and buddhas. We do not have to be limited to normal earthly concepts of time and space. Awakening is everywhere and every time.

Jundo's recommendation of Dan Leighton's 'Visions and Awakening Time and Space' was definitely useful as was Gene Reeves' 'Stories of the Lotus Sutra'.

Norman Fischer has a bunch of talks on The Lotus Sutra as Everyday Zen:

http://everydayzen.org/study-guide/mahayana-sutras/

I have learned that some sutras are relatively straightforward to read and others I need help with and to return to again and again. The Lotus Sutra is definitely one of the latter.

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-

[Risho]

Jundo

I cannot wait for your book! I love your diggin’ on Dogen

Gassho

Risho
-st/lah

[Shokai]

If memory serves, The Nichiren folks Hold the Lotus Sutra extra sacred since they claim it is the first and only occurrence in the Sutras where Buddha tells us that all sentient beings are Buddhas.

gassho, Shokai
stlah

[Heiso]

I'm looking forward to reading if nothing more to give more context to my reading of Dogen (as suggested by Jundo) - I'm quite comfortable with trippy and out there, shame it will take a month to be delivered.

Gassho,

Neil

ST

[Mitka]

Thank you Jundo and everyone for your explanations. And thanks again to Jundo and Kokuu specifically for linking to those resources. Still making my through the Leighton piece, which is academic and needs close reading, but what I have gathered so far is 1) that there are depths in the Lotus sutra that a worth trying to plumb (and that I completely missed during my initial reading) and 2) the sutra seems to be ultimately about the "flowering" of the Dharma in our own lives (since we are the bodhisattvas that "spring" from the ground), which fits what you said in your book excerpt Jundo (I really love your writing style btw) and also Dogen's title Hokke-Ten-Hokke. "Flowering" is an image I can get on board with and brings the sutra into an allegorical framework useful for my understanding. If there are flowers, there must be seeds, and I guess in this sutra, these seeds would be the Buddha nature, which is why it focuses so much on the eternal. It certainly is refreshing to be reminded that our basic nature is Buddha.

I do still have some hangups about the sutra however.

1. The sutra praises itself-a lot. Not only that it purports to be the Buddha's ultimate teaching (maybe to the exclusion of other teachings? Or maybe I'm just reading that into the sutra). To be honest, it sounds kind of arrogant (that was initial reaction). It promises great benefit if you respect it and promulgate it, and horrible suffering if you disrespect it. I just don't know what to make of this. As you said, Jundo, it treats itself as a magical talisman. I have a hard time getting on board with that. I've chanted "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo" before. It didn't feel any different than "Om Mani Padme Hum" or any mantras for that matter. So unsure how much value this emphasis is to practice.

2. The parables about "expedient means" are beautiful, but they are all related to the difference between the Mahayana school and the Theravada school, so to me, these parables only have doctrinal interest. I'm unsure what relevance they have to pragmatic things like zazen.

3. I'm guessing the "eternal Buddha" thing is related to the idea of the Buddha nature, because otherwise I'm unsure how much use it is. Sure it is a neat idea, but the Buddha hasn't appeared to me yet in my living room to expound the Dharma (I wish he would ). Also unsure why this is considered skillful means, does it mean that Buddha died so that he could be present whenever an earnest seeker studies the dharma?

Gassho,

Mitka
SAT

[Jundo]

I do still have some hangups about the sutra however.

1. The sutra praises itself-a lot. Not only that it purports to be the Buddha's ultimate teaching (maybe to the exclusion of other teachings? Or maybe I'm just reading that into the sutra). To be honest, it sounds kind of arrogant (that was initial reaction). It promises great benefit if you respect it and promulgate it, and horrible suffering if you disrespect it. I just don't know what to make of this. As you said, Jundo, it treats itself as a magical talisman. I have a hard time getting on board with that. I've chanted "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo" before. It didn't feel any different than "Om Mani Padme Hum" or any mantras for that matter. So unsure how much value this emphasis is to practice.

This is common in many many Mahayana Sutras, simply a way for the authors and devotees of the Sutra to encourage its spread. Perhaps it is the old "chain letter" trick of promising amazing rewards to all who pass it on to 20 friends (but alas to those who who fail to do so.) Here are some typical lines from the Lotus:

"“Those who recite and preserve this sutra, who explain it for others ... hear this sutra, move others to listen to it, preserve it, move others to preserve it, copy it, or move others to copy it; and pay homage to the sutra by offering flowers, incense, necklaces, flags, banners, canopies, lamps of scented oil, and ghee! The merit of these people will be immeasurable and limitless. They will be able to achieve omniscience ..."

By the way, "omniscience" can be interpreted as just knowledge of how the world is in its reality here there and everywhere, not that you can predict tomorrow's lottery numbers.

2. The parables about "expedient means" are beautiful, but they are all related to the difference between the Mahayana school and the Theravada school, so to me, these parables only have doctrinal interest. I'm unsure what relevance they have to pragmatic things like zazen.

That is basically right, the meaning of the Burning House parable and the like was later interpreted to mean any message or means that gets the message across in the way that people need. The latter is how the meaning of Upaya/expedient means is usually used today.

3. I'm guessing the "eternal Buddha" thing is related to the idea of the Buddha nature, because otherwise I'm unsure how much use it is. Sure it is a neat idea, but the Buddha hasn't appeared to me yet in my living room to expound the Dharma (I wish he would ).

Oh, look at your living room more closely, the chairs and space, and the "living" that happens in it, and the loving family that gathers there. All is expounding the Dharma. What are you expecting? Don't you see that the giant Stupa is rising from the ground and hovering over your coffee table? Really.

Also unsure why this is considered skillful means, does it mean that Buddha died so that he could be present whenever an earnest seeker studies the dharma?

Well, like the Christians when their guy died, the Buddhists wanted to explain how Buddha is really still here and present.

However, we Buddhists believe that there is an aspect to the universe beyond death (birth too) sickness, time and aging and all the ups and downs as Buddha Nature/Emptiness/Big "B" Buddha. This is what one tastes when all opposites drop away in Zazen. So, from such perspective, the Buddha in india did not really grow old, get sick, face all the ups and downs of life or die (also you, me and your Uncle George, but the Buddha knew this while you me and George might not).

There is my attempt to expound the Lotus and have it resonate with you, pure Upaya for which i will garner omniscience for sure!

Gassho, J

STLah

[Kokuu]

1. The sutra praises itself-a lot. Not only that it purports to be the Buddha's ultimate teaching (maybe to the exclusion of other teachings? Or maybe I'm just reading that into the sutra). To be honest, it sounds kind of arrogant (that was initial reaction). It promises great benefit if you respect it and promulgate it, and horrible suffering if you disrespect it. I just don't know what to make of this. As you said, Jundo, it treats itself as a magical talisman. I have a hard time getting on board with that.

Hi Mitka

As Jundo says, this is very common in Mahayana sutras. The merits gained in reading, copying and spreading the sutra is often compared to the (more limited) merits of giving offerings to the buddhas and bodhisattvas.

I have heard it suggested that at times monks would focus their attention on making offerings to gain merit rather than sitting or studying sutras. Placing the emphasis on studying and promulgating the teachers was, as for Jundo's chain leter example, a skillful means to get monks to study these teachings and pass them on to others rather than making offerings.

It can indeed make these sutras sound rather self-referential and self-important but I think is best understood in that kind of context - an encouragement to study and practice.

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-

[Byrne]

The only way any story can be meaningful to us is if we see the story of our own lives reflected back at us. Our culture has a tendency to treat spiritual documents like legal documents. When we do that the poetry of the texts gets reduced to semantic arguments and IMHO whatever is true and real within the stories gets distorted and too often overlooked.

The Lotus Sutra begins with the Buddha telling all those who are bothered by this teaching to leave. And many do. From there we should open ourselves up to how these narratives reflect our own practice.

The description of Upaya (skillful means) in many Sutras (not just the lotus) as it travels through space and time along the Bodhisattva path is often quite beautiful and poetic. Breaking down the concepts with hard logic alone does a disservice to the concept. Somewhere in between intellectual understanding and feeling is probably more appropriate.

The Sutras and the Sutras contain events that are even more fantastical and hard to believe than the Bible. And yet Buddhism attracts so many hardline atheists and self proclaimed rationalists. The old texts are the voices of the Sangha going back a long long time. It is part of the dialogue we all engage in as Buddhists. Buddhism is for everyone. The rational and superstitious alike. We are all equal in the eyes of the Buddha.

If we truly take refuge in the triple gem we owe it ourselves to approach these texts with an open mind. Temporarily putting aside our bias, pride, and certainty. Soak in the information. Talk to our teachers about our doubts, concerns, and potential misunderstandings. From there let your heart decide.

Gassho

Sat Today

[Kokuu]

Hi Mitka, all

Just to note that there has recently been a talk on the Lotus Sutra at Upaya Zen Center and the fact it is part one suggests there will be more in the series:

https://www.upaya.org/2019/04/byrnes-quennell-stories-lotus-sutra-1/

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-

[Jakuden]

The only way any story can be meaningful to us is if we see the story of our own lives reflected back at us. Our culture has a tendency to treat spiritual documents like legal documents. When we do that the poetry of the texts gets reduced to semantic arguments and IMHO whatever is true and real within the stories gets distorted and too often overlooked.

The Lotus Sutra begins with the Buddha telling all those who are bothered by this teaching to leave. And many do. From there we should open ourselves up to how these narratives reflect our own practice.

The description of Upaya (skillful means) in many Sutras (not just the lotus) as it travels through space and time along the Bodhisattva path is often quite beautiful and poetic. Breaking down the concepts with hard logic alone does a disservice to the concept. Somewhere in between intellectual understanding and feeling is probably more appropriate.

The Sutras and the Sutras contain events that are even more fantastical and hard to believe than the Bible. And yet Buddhism attracts so many hardline atheists and self proclaimed rationalists. The old texts are the voices of the Sangha going back a long long time. It is part of the dialogue we all engage in as Buddhists. Buddhism is for everyone. The rational and superstitious alike. We are all equal in the eyes of the Buddha.

If we truly take refuge in the triple gem we owe it ourselves to approach these texts with an open mind. Temporarily putting aside our bias, pride, and certainty. Soak in the information. Talk to our teachers about our doubts, concerns, and potential misunderstandings. From there let your heart decide.

Gassho

Sat Today

Wow that just says it so perfectly Byrne, deep bows!

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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