Stories from the Lotus Sutra
Those of you who read posts at Ancestral Well will
perceive, it's hoped, that no attempt is made to "define" Buddhism or
"what Buddhism is" This would be presumptuous. I am not a
"teacher" but I'm dedicated to passing along what I've learned from
so many teachers, and most particularly from the Lotus Sutra itself and those
who have revealed so much to me about the sutra. There's a tendency it seems to
me in some corners of the "Buddhist world" to stand outside the deep,
profound teachings of the Buddha. And there are aberrations in some places.
This has little to do with me, of course, but I must say, the teachings of the
Buddha fundamentally are about life, and living life, today, in this world,
with peace of mind.
One cannot begin to approach the "merits"
accrued from the teachings unless one has compassion for all living beings, and
a reverence for life itself. There are many paths one can take to throw light
on the Buddha's teachings and how they can transform our way of thinking and
living. One such "path" is "suffering" which motivated
Shakyamuni Buddha to begin his teaching, or "preaching" if you prefer,
overcoming suffering (not, "suffering through suffering" please note,
Another is the matter of jealousy. When I read long
discussions about "jealousy" and how to overcome it, I go right by
them, for several years ago a passage in the sutra suddenly had meaning . . .
"makes those who awaken to this sutra who are jealous, raise the mind of
joy." Overcoming jealousy is as simple as that. So, the "Stories from
the Lotus Sutra" will continue for a time. Thanks for listening. The
Buddha's teachings are at once quite simple and yet deeply profound and
"inconceivable" and in the Lotus Sutra all becomes clear.
Stories from the Lotus Sutra
(first entry)
Celebration
humankind,
born from earth and sea on a planet formed from an exploding star in a galaxy
called the milky way, emerged late in the earth’s four-to-five billion
year history as a result of the same conditions which in the beginning, created
the universe. The Buddha’s teachings propose that this remarkable, even
mystical chain of cause and effect, was inevitable and necessary.
Progressing from the beginning of the universe to
the formation of planet earth, to the dawn of human beings five to six million
years ago, thus did the flow of time lead to the birth of us all, and in the 6th
Century before the Christian Era, the birth of Prince Siddhartha who became at
the moment of his enlightenment, Shakyamuni Buddha, “the enlightened one of the
Shakya clan,” the Buddha who sees beyond the universe, beyond space and time,
perceiving that his birth as a human being emerges out of limitless, eternal
incarnations, a continuity shared with all humanity.
In the moment of his enlightenment, the Buddha is
awakened to the profound interconnection of all living things. He perceives
that all-pervading energy, a universal life-force, is the cause of all existence,
imbedded in all laws. He teaches the profound Law of the Void, itself source of
the Great Perfection and that all living things are equal in the fundamental
value of their existence, caused to live by the great life-force of the
universe with a will to live and brought into being by virtue of karmic
necessity, evolving creatively with planet earth. He appears in the world to
teach the way to overcome suffering.
He has awakened to a profound truth that has existed
from the infinite past, even before he appeared in this world. His fundamental
desire in teaching this “final profound truth” is that all living beings will
discover it for themselves.
After his enlightenment, the Buddha (his family name
is Gautama—thus, “Gautama Buddha”) would not retire to a mountaintop nor
separate himself from others, but rather set out to teach the Laws of
Existence—Dharma, as it’s called in
Sanskrit, the path to follow to overcome suffering and attain enlightenment. He
did not flinch from penetrating all of life’s mysteries, imparting a way of
living which would motivate human beings to discover joy, universal compassion;
to celebrate life in this lifetime, encouraging those who followed him—and
those who did not—to celebrate the Law, the Dharma—the
“laws of existence” he teaches—to attain the Buddha-way along with him.
Just before Shakyamuni, the one historical Buddha’s
extinction, his cousin, Ananda, said to have been born the night of the
Buddha’s enlightenment and who has followed the Buddha during his forty years
of teaching, asks him, “After you’re gone, World-honored One, what should we depend
upon for our salvation?” The Buddha answers: “Make yourself the light, make the
law your light, and know that I will ever exist in this world, though under
different names, the great-life force of the universe which causes everything
to live.”
