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Barnaby Lake, British Columbia

Fundamental Guideposts (1)

  Followers of Ancestral Well, however frequently or infrequently, will have taken note that the basic intention of the blog is to acquaint readers with the teachings of the Buddha in The Threefold Lotus Sutra (the Lotus Sutra), a Buddhist scripture of pivotal importance and one of the world’s great religious classics, representing the culmination of the Buddha’s ageless teaching of wisdom, compassion, and liberation.

  Recently, in the midst of “cry havoc” in the world, I ran across a notebook – “a book of meditation” written in this century. All ruminations therein accruing from a long period of study and “connection” with The Threefold Lotus Sutra through daily morning meditation. One might say, the notes taken from various writings resonating with the Lotus Sutra, add to a “tapestry of faith” in a fundamental belief in the sanctity of life and the possibility that one may reach a mental state of being no longer influenced by change or circumstances or things, consider all things equally, unmoved by whatever happens; abandonment of self-righteousness which causes us to lose the feeling of kinship with people; extinction of false discriminations between oneself and others—to feel the unity of oneself and all creatures in the universe, reaching out spontaneously to embrace them; attainment of Perfect Knowledge, the wisdom that unites the ability both to see the equality of things (emptiness/void in nature and form) and to discern the differences among things.

  These are some of the “promises” from “awakening to, reciting, copying, and keeping the Lotus Sutra—the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law.

  Please note, “fundamental guideposts” such as these are part of a larger whole – not intended as “memes” or “quotes” one can pull out of the drawer to make one feel better for a moment, a day . . . after which . . .?

  In Nikkyo Niwano’s Buddhism for Today: a modern interpretation of The Threefold Lotus Sutra, concludes with the following story:

  From the Sutra of a Hundred Parables:  “. . . Once there was a very stupid man. As he was parched with thirst, he roamed here and there looking for water. While walking about he luckily arrived at the Sindh River. For some reason, however, he just stood on the riverbank instead of drinking. A friend nearby wondered at his behavior and asked him, “Why don’t you drink the water in the river?” The man answered, “I am dying for a drink! But the river has so much water that I cannot possibly drink it all. So I am hesitating whether I should drink or not.”

  “I sincerely hope that no one will harbor such a foolish idea toward the teaching of The Threefold Lotus Sutra.”

from the notebook:

A goal to reach for (Lotus Sutra):

“Great! The Great Enlightened, the Great Holy Lord,
in him there is no defilement, no contamination, no attachment.
The trainer of gods and living beings, elephants and horses,
his moral breeze and virtuous fragrance deeply permeate all.
Serene is his wisdom, calm his emotion, and stable his prudence.
His thought is settled, his consciousness is extinct,
and thus his mind is quiet.
Long since, he removed false thoughts
and conquered all the laws of existence.

  (Lotus Sutra): Why is it called a bodhisattva-mahasattva’s sphere of action? – “if he abides in a state of patience, is gentle and agreeable, is neither hasty nor overbearing, and his mind is unperturbed . . . has no laws by which to act [not conceited or boastful about his/her good works] . . . sees all things in their reality [acts toward all people with the same compassion, never making a show of it], nor proceeds along the uninvited way.

Absolute truth, the true form of things – reality – that which makes all beings live . . . can take any form because the eternal original life-force/energy of the universe is the only real thing existing in the world.

to be continued . . .