REFLECTIONS

Shining Our Light on Others by Nichiko Niwano

Making the self our light and walking the Way does not mean Nichiko Niwano is president of Rissho Kosei-kai and an honorary being independent and conceited. It means that we shine the president of Religions for Peace. lamp of the Dharma amid every karmic connection and shine He also serves as special advisor its light on others. to Shinshuren (Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan). Th e Great Sacred Hall in Tokyo, the continue to illuminate all corners of principal training center for Rissho the world, we lead lives full of purpose other people and let them rejoice, our Kosei-kai members, was inaugurated in accord with the Way. practice of donation is clearly one and fi ft y-one years ago, on May 15, 1964. the same as shining our light on others. Since then, an eternal light has shone Donation Is Central Th ere is an old saying, “A candle uses from the rooft op tower. Th at light sym- to Life itself up in giving light to people.” One bolizes the bright lamp of the Dharma, merit of donation is that by doing our Shakyamuni’s teachings shining on the Shakyamuni set the example for shin- best for other people, our ego melts away hearts and minds of people who are suf- ing our light on others. However, rather from us. With our deeds we make oth- fering (“Make the Dharma your light”) than shining as an individual, he shone ers happy, and at such times our bod- and also the lighting of one’s own lamp, in the universe as burning star, giving ies shine a light equal to the light shone that is, everyone being able to walk the light like the sun, and since then has by Shakyamuni. In other words, we are Way by their own light (“Make the self always shined the light of his teach- shining forth on others a precious light. your light”). Most importantly, there ings on countless people. Since we are Of course, it is diffi cult to do this are no exceptions among us, since all unceasingly bathed in the light of the constantly. However, an example of people can be their own shining light Dharma, we become aware of the sanc- doing it regularly is participating in and walk the Way. tity of our own lives. How, then, can we the Donate-a-Meal Movement, one of In this vast universe, each and every shine the light of the Buddha’s teach- Rissho Kosei-kai’s peace activities, in one of us is an irreplaceable, precious ings on other people? which we forgo a meal several times existence. People who see themselves this I think undertaking our every task a month and donate the money saved. way also see that other people are the seriously, whether at work or at our Th is gives us a taste of selfl essness same and their lives are equally worthy. Dharma center, thereby making oth- and is an important practice for us as we Our human goodness compels us ers happy, is the best way to shine our lead our lives with the heart and mind of to tell others about the happiness we light on others. donation. Or, like the Zen priest Ryokan ourselves have found, and those who We study and practice the Buddha’s (1758–1831), who aimed to use words have discovered their own worth surely teachings as lay bodhisattvas. Th e Six of aff ection, our being mindful in look- cannot help sharing the joy that comes Perfections of our bodhisattva prac- ing for the good in people and prais- from revering humanity as they see it tice begin with donation. Th erefore, ing them for it is no less than a form refl ected in their hearts and minds. the practice of donation is central to of donation that shines light on others. Making the self our light and walk- our lives. Th ose who donate with their When we have this perspective, the ing the Way does not mean being inde- bodies make physical donations. Th ose eternal light atop the Great Sacred Hall pendent and conceited. It means that who donate with their hearts and minds symbolizes what lies deep in our hearts. we shine the lamp of the Dharma amid make spiritual donations. Th ose who Even if we shine only a single ray of every karmic connection and shine its donate assets make material donations. light, I hope it will always shine forth to light on others. As living beings who Since all of these kinds of donation help brighten and warm our surroundings. ≥

Dharma World April–June 2015 1 APR.–JUNE 2015 VOL. 42

FEATURES: Religion’s Contributions to Society

1 Shining Our Light on Others by Nichiko Niwano Dharma World presents Buddhism 3 Active Faith and Contributing as a practical living religion and to Society promotes interreligious dialogue by Hiroyuki Nasu for world peace. It espouses views that emphasize the dignity of life, seeks to rediscover our inner nature 4 Faith-Based Organizations’ and bring our lives more in accord Contributions to Society, with it, and investigates causes of Past and Present human suff ering. It tries to show by Kenji Ishii how religious principles help solve 8 Th e Role of the American problems in daily life and how the Muslim Community least application of such principles in a Pluralist Setting has wholesome eff ects on the world around us. It seeks to demonstrate by Sayyid M. Syeed truths that are fundamental to all 12 How Altruism Can Solve religions, truths on which all people Religious Confl ict can act. by Rey-Sheng Her 15 Religious Altruism and Its Contribution to Society Publisher: Hirofumi Mizuno by Keishin Inaba Director: Kazumasa Murase Senior Editor: Kazumasa Osaka 18 North American Buddhist Support for Same-Sex Marriage: Editor: Katsuyuki Kikuchi An Example of Compassion in Action Editorial Advisors: by Jeff Wilson Miriam Levering, Gene Reeves, 21 A Faith Th at Does Not Work for Justice Is Dead Yoshiaki Sanada, by Vicente Bonet Dominick Scarangello, Michio T. Shinozaki Copy Editors: 25 Th e Lotus Sutra from Below William Feuillan, Gary Hoiby, by Gene Reeves DeAnna Satre, Catherine Szolga 33 Th e First World Conference of Religions for Peace in Kyoto Editorial Staff : by Nikkyo Niwano Ryuichi Kaneko, Satoe Izawa Subscription Staff : Kazuyo Okazaki 39 Th e Prism of the Lotus Sutra (8) Layout and Design: Abinitio Design by Atsushi Kanazawa

Cover: THE THREEFOLD LOTUS SUTRA: A MODERN COMMENTARY Photoshop work by Abinitio Design 41 Th e Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law Chapter 24: Th e Bodhisattva Wonder Sound (1)

Dharma World is published quarterly by Kosei Publishing Company, 2-7-1 Wada, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 166-8535. E-mail: [email protected]. Copyright © 2015 by Kosei Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Printed in Japan by Komiyama Printing Company. Change of Address: Please provide both old and new addresses. Six weeks’ advance notice is requested. Requests for permission to reprint all or part of any article in this issue must be made in writing to the editor of Dharma World. FEATURES Active Faith and Contributing to Society by Hiroyuki Nasu

Amid the chaos and suffering in Japan that devastated parts of northeastern Hiroyuki Nasu is head of the Social that followed World War II, even the Japan on March 11, 2011, with the mass Ministry Group of Rissho Kosei-kai sick were unable to obtain proper health media frequently showing Buddhist in Tokyo. care, prompting Rissho Kosei-kai to priests performing funeral services for establish Kosei General Hospital in the dead and comforting the survivors. 1952. The organization has since con- The director-general for recon- earthquake, Japanese media provided a tinued to broaden its contributions to struction policy at the Reconstruction constant window on the misery at the society to meet changing social needs. Agency of the Japanese Government, scene. No one who saw those images For example, it established schools and Mr. Masakatsu Okamoto, told a reli- could not have been moved to want to centers of research and launched the gious gathering in 2014 that religion do something, anything, to help. Many Brighter Society Movement. All these was necessary for the bereaved to set about giving and volunteering as a activities are based on the organiza- recover from feelings of loss. He said result. Knowing about other people’s tion’s founding spirit of liberating peo- this at the Roundtable Conference of suffering cultivates a spirit of compas- ple from suffering and restoring the Religionists on Reconstruction, held sion that leads to the first proactive, world in accordance with the true by Religions for Peace Japan in Sendai, voluntary steps. This applies equally spirit of Buddhism as epitomized in Miyagi Prefecture. Mr. Okamoto had and exactly to our own daily lives as the Lotus Sutra. been involved for three years in rebuild- we live out our faith. There can be a The organization’s founder, Rev. ing quake-stricken areas. He argued tendency to consider the living out of Nikkyo Niwano, would often quote that it was important to reflect on the faith and contributing to society to be Saicho, the founder of the Tendai failure of government to work effec- two separate things, but they are in fact denomination of Japanese Buddhism, tively with people of faith owing to an essentially the same. who said that “just as a net of only one overly literal concern with the consti- An important challenge for Rissho mesh is of no use in capturing a bird, tutional separation of religion and the Kosei-kai in its future contributions so too is a single sect insufficient to state. He said this issue should be dis- to society will be to enable members save all people.” Interreligious coop- cussed more fully in the mass media. to begin acting more spontaneously eration has thus been a basic tenet of Japan is now at the stage of evolving than ever. The most important thing, Rissho Kosei-kai’s approach to its cam- from a growth society into a mature in all of this, will be the organization’s paigning for peace and contributions society. In a society of growing diver- founding spirit. The founder devoted to society. Informed by this thinking, sification and individualization, the his life to trying to liberate all people— it has sought to contribute to society individual’s independence and spon- believers and nonbelievers—from suf- in partnership with people of all faiths taneity is to be valued above all else. fering, and to restoring the world in in Japan and around the world in pur- Just before he died the Buddha said, the spirit of the Lotus Sutra. Following suit of human happiness and peace in “Make yourself your light, make the the founder’s example, we should seek society. Dharma your light.” For Japanese indi- to deepen our faith and serve as a light In Japan, however, public awareness viduals to do this, they must learn to to illuminate the world through our of religion’s contributions to society think more independently and live own voluntary actions. Although it has been low, and many people have more autonomously. will take time, little by little our efforts been indifferent to those contributions. Human independence depends on will gain proper public recognition. I That appears to have changed since knowing current realities and their believe this is how people of faith can the massive earthquake and tsunami background. Following the 2011 make society truly happy. ≥

Dharma World April–June 2015 3 FEATURES

Faith-Based Organizations’ Contributions to Society, Past and Present by Kenji Ishii

greater now than in 1995 among schol- Whether the activities of faith-based organizations acting as ars of religion, as illustrated by the fact public-interest groups evolve to become more public serving that one-third of the papers presented in character, or else sink into the egoism of organizational activity, will serve as an important indicator for gauging the the Japanese Association for Religious future of Japanese culture. Studies in September 2012 concerned the relief of disaster victims. Evidently,

It is already four years since the massive member organizations in the February earthquake and tsunami struck north- 2012 issue of its bulletin, Nisshūren is widespread, strong academic interest eastern Japan, on March 11, 2011, and tsūshin. Among other such organiza- in the subject. A special issue of Shūkyō the shock of that day’s events to the peo- tions, Re ligions for Peace Japan reports kenkyū, an academic journal of reli- ple of Japan has, for good or ill, faded regularly in its own bulletin on the activ- gious studies, published that September with the passage of time. ities and relief being provided. on the theme “Disasters and Religion,” People of faith and faith-based orga- People of faith and faith-based orga- contained eleven papers. Although the nizations have provided much greater nizations are not the only ones concerned contributors’ academic interests in some sustained and organized relief to the about the issues surrounding the rela- cases were not directly related to the victims of the 2011 disaster than was tionship between disaster victims and question of disaster relief, clearly they given to the victims of the Great Hanshin religion. Interest is also incomparably all considered the issue worth exploring Earthquake of 1995. However, the reports and other information published by Some academics are also begin- these organizations on the status and ning to emerge from the ivory tower development of their activities can only to become more closely involved in relief hint at the time, resources, and num- activities. Examples include moves to ber of people involved in their plan- actively treat faith-based organizations’ ning and implementation. relief activities as social capital (see, Vastly more information is available for example, Yoshihide Sakurai and now than in 1995 on these activities. Keishin Inaba, eds., Shūkyō to sōsharu Some faith-based organizations publish kyapitaru [Religion and social capital], pamphlets, while many others provide 4 vols. [Akashi Shoten, 2012–13]), ini- news on their activities, past and cur- tiatives to play a liaising and coordi- nating role among people of faith and Association of Religious Organizations fa ith-based organizations (such as the (made up of the Federation of Sectarian Japan Religion Coordinating Project for Shinto, the Japan Buddhist Federation, Disaster Relief, headed by the religious the Japan Confederation of Christian studies specialist Susumu Shimazono), Churches, the Association of Shinto and the development of training pro- Shrines, and the Federation of New grams (such as the Interfaith Chaplains Religious Organizations of Japan) Training Program, being organized by scholars at Tohoku University).

4 Dharma World April–June 2015 Kenji Ishii is Dean of and Professor in the Faculty of Shinto Studies at Kokugakuin University in Tokyo. He specializes in religious studies and the sociology of religion. He is the author of many books on Japanese religion, including Ginza no kamigami: Toshi ni tokekomu shūkyō (The gods in Ginza: Religions integrated into the cities) and Sengo no shakai hendō to jinja Shintō (Japan’s postwar social changes and shrine Shinto).

Faith-Based Social the modernization of Japanese society use, and benefit from many more of their Work’s Long History in areas such as women’s education and activities in our everyday lives, includ- the campaign to abolish the system of ing their involvement in the cleanup of The active engagement of people of faith licensed prostitution. local streets and railway stations, their and faith-based organizations in society As Shinto has endured as a mani- provision of educational services rang- has come to be known in Japan in recent festation of traditional Japanese culture ing all the way from preschool to uni- years as “social contribution activity.” primarily in the maintenance of local versity, their operation of hospitals, and Generally speaking, the initiatives by communities, it tends to be regarded their service as prison chaplains and people of faith to help the socially vulner- as having had a weaker presence in in other roles for which only people of able within the context of the wide-rang- organized social work. However, this faith are equipped. ing ties that exist between religions and evaluation has mainly been due to con- society have been considered through temporary conventions and patterns of Public Awareness the lens of social work. Such faith-based social work, and Shinto may be regarded of and Attitudes service is nothing new, and records are as having made its own contribution to be found of the pioneering work by through its diverse ties with the gen- toward Faith-Based four institutions (Kyōden’in, Seyakuin, eral population. After World War II Organizations’ Hiden’in, and Ryōbyōin) founded by the Association of Shinto Shrines was Activities Prince Shōtoku (574–622) to deliver formed, and since then many Shinto various forms of relief, and the bridge- priests have been closely involved in These contributions to social services building and irrigation work initiated community welfare services in such and society by faith-based organiza- by the Buddhist priest Gyōki (668–749). capacities as volunteer chaplains in pris- tions undoubtedly lead many Japanese, Later examples include reconstruction ons and other facilities and district wel- including me, to recognize and appre- of the Mannōike reservoir on Shikoku, fare commissioners. ciate their activities. The aftermath of undertaken by the monk and scholar The new religions that arose out of the March 2011 earthquake and tsu- Kūkai (774–835); well digging by another mass society during Japan’s moderniza- nami no doubt reminded us of the many monk, Kūya (903–972), in the Heian tion are also actively engaged in areas roles they play. period (794–1185); and philanthropic such as campaigning for peace, over- Considered objectively, however, less activity pursued by the founders of reli- seas aid, and so on. The year 2014 was than 30 percent of the Japanese popu- gious sects based on close ties with the the thirtieth year of Rissho Kosei-kai’s lation professes to having a faith, and common people in the Kamakura period involvement in the Japan Blankets for only around one in ten has any religious (1185–1333). These activities continued Africa Campaign, through which it has affiliation. With ties to traditional reli- into and throughout the early-modern sent almost four million blankets to gion waning and attitudes toward new and modern periods. Africa. This is a prime example of the religious groups as critical as ever, it Christianity’s major role in the realms kind of sustained, charitable activity behooves us to assess what ordinary of education and health care since the that only organizations can perform. Japanese really know and think about Meiji period (1868–1912) is well known, For reasons of space, we can exam- faith-based organizations’ contribu- and many of today’s universities and hos- ine here only a fraction of the kinds of tions to society. pitals in Japan were founded on Christian activities engaged in by people of faith The Niwano Peace Foundation in principles. Christians played a partic- and faith-based organizations in Japan. April 2012 conducted its second sur- ularly pioneering role in the course of Suffice it to say, however, that we see, vey on how the Japanese public views

Dharma World April–June 2015 5 religious organizations’ contribution to Figure 1: Awareness of social contributions by faith-based society. The purpose of these surveys is organizations to shed light on the public’s awareness of and attitudes toward social contribu- 01020304050 tions by faith-based organizations. The second survey included questions on relief activities in the immediate after- math of the 2011 disaster. Below I use the findings of this survey to explore how ordinary Japanese regard the activities of faith-based organizations.* First, regarding awareness of faith- based organizations’ social contribu- tions, about one in three (34.8 percent) respondents was aware of the organiza- tions’ involvement in running schools, hospitals, and similar institutions. Figure 1 shows the percentage of responses regarding specific forms of such activ- ity. Awareness was highest for “opera- tion of primary, secondary, and tertiary educational institutions,” at 33.3 per- cent. The most common response, by 43.3 percent of the respondents, was respondents were most aware of were services by Shinto priests” (12.3 percent). “aware of none.” “use of shrines, temples, and buildings of Together, therefore, funeral and memo- The most common response con- faith-based organizations as evacuation rial services were cited by almost 40 per- cerning the social contributions of faith- sites” (29.7 percent). Next came “perfor- cent of the respondents. “Distribution based organizations, by 24.1 percent, mance of funeral and memorial services of rice and other emergency supplies” was “did not know faith-based organi- for the dead by Buddhist priests” (26.9 was cited by 22.9 percent. None of the zations engage in such social activities.” percent) and “performance of memorial other activities were known to more than Next came “as for what faith-based orga- nizations do, I don’t care either way” (23.1 percent). Overall, therefore, the Figure 2: Awareness of the forms of relief activity undertaken by attitude was one of indifference. While faith-based organizations after the March 11, 2011, disaster there were hardly any negative responses, 01020304050 only about 20 percent were “very praise- worthy activities, and I want faith-based organizations to be even more active.” Although the survey was carried out a year after the 2011 calamity, aware- ness of and attitudes toward faith-based organizations’ social contributions were virtually unchanged from the previ- ous survey in 2008. The same applies to the responses obtained in northeast- ern Japan, which bore the brunt of the disaster. Regarding the questions about the 2011 catastrophe (figure 2), the forms of relief activity undertaken by faith-based organizations after the disaster that the

6 Dharma World April–June 2015 20 percent of the respondents, and few The form of activity considered best providing disaster relief in Sendai—at knew about “people of faith counseling undertaken by faith-based organiza- a February 11 symposium held by the displaced persons in evacuation centers tions after a major disaster was pro- International Institute for the Study of and temporary housing” (12.4 percent) viding “evacuation sites and collection Religions. He said the public regarded or “people of faith praying for [disaster points for relief supplies,” cited by 45.2 religion as a private matter and that areas’] recovery” (11.7 percent). percent of the respondents, followed by relief activities such as faith-based care The fact that nearly one in two “storage and distribution of relief sup- were not welcomed in disaster areas. responded “aware of none” or “don’t plies after a disaster” (31.3 percent) (fig- know” indicates that faith-based orga- ure 3). Neither of these forms of relief Future of Faith-based nizations’ relief activities after the 2011 is directly related to religious activity. Organizations as catastrophe are not necessarily well Concerning the choices that did known. relate directly to religious activity, Public Interest Groups When those who said that they were “performance of funeral and memo- A report of Japan’s Central Research aware of faith-based organizations’ vari- rial services for the dead” was selected Services written by Yōji Inaba con- ous relief activities were asked how they by almost three in ten of the respon- cludes the following from a compari- had learned of them, by far the larg- dents (28.4 percent). “Active visitation son of three surveys conducted in 2003, est proportion answered from “tele- of victims by people of faith to provide 2010, and 2013: “In just ten years, peer vision” (81.8 percent). The next most counseling,” “establishment of counsel- ties that until now had been taken for common response was from “newspa- ing services,” and “praying for [disas- granted have grown weak and peer trust pers” (51.9 percent), illustrating that ter areas’] recovery,” however, garnered is also disappearing. However, group since the disaster we have obtained infor- only around 20 percent each. engagement is being strengthened to mation on faith-based organizations’ Put simply, ordinary relief activities compensate for this, and general trust, relief activities primarily through these are considered acceptable, but anything representing tolerance and altruism in two media. In other words, these orga- that might be interpreted as proselytiz- society as a whole, is just about being nizations’ activities would have been ing (except memorial and funeral ser- maintained.” The social-related capi- unknown without the media reports, vices) tends to be rejected. tal described by Inaba consists of the so the reporting attitudes of the media I was struck by a talk given by Rev. trust, mutual norms (or, more techni- have had a substantial impact on pub- Naoya Kawakami, senior pastor of the cally, reciprocity), and networks through lic awareness of the relief activities of Sendai Citizen Church of the United which actions affect third parties other faith-based organizations. Church of Christ in Japan—which is than the participants themselves (Chūō Chōsa-hō [Central Research Services report], no. 684 [November 3, 2014]). Figure 3: The form of activity considered best undertaken by faith- As familiar ties break down, trust in based organizations after a major disaster tolerance and altruism in society as a

01020304050 whole is somehow maintained. Whether the activities of faith-based organiza- tions acting as public-interest groups evolve to become more public serving in character, or else sink into the ego- ism of organizational activity, will serve as an important indicator for gauging the future of Japanese culture. ≥

*Details of 2012 survey Respondents: Nation­wide sample of 4,000 males and females aged 20 or over Sampling method: Stratified three-stage random sampling Survey method: Individual interviews by investigators Survey period: May 10–19, 2012 Valid responses: 1,232 (30.8 percent) Survey entity: Central Research Services, Inc.

Dharma World April–June 2015 7 FEATURES The Role of the American Muslim Community in a Pluralist Setting by Sayyid M. Syeed

a Dream” speech, leading a march on The fi rst time that Muslim students abroad saw a new Washington, DC. Usually, in America reality of a pluralist democracy was in America, where they and around the world, when people think were treated as equals and their practice of religion was of Martin Luther King Jr. and his march encouraged. and the whole civil rights movement in America, they think of 1963 as the water- During the middle of the last century, was in America, where they were treated shed year for the beginning of a more many Muslim countries were becoming as equals and their practice of religion racially inclusive society in America. independent of European colonial occu- was encouraged. So it was very much But the fact is that it was also the year pation. Th eir fi rst priority was therefore a new experience for Muslims as well when America became more inclusive in to send their students to America for as the host society. terms of welcoming a new religion, which advanced studies in science, technol- Th is was the environment in which is Islam. So our growth, our develop- ogy, and education. In the 1960s there the Muslim Students Association of the ment, started in 1963 in terms of having a were about a quarter million Muslim United States and Canada was born, in well-coordinated community develop- students at American universities. Th is 1963 (the organization celebrated its fi f- ment, building communities of peace was a new thing for America, to have tieth anniversary in 2013). Later, I also from state to state, from city to city in that many Muslims at American uni- came to America, as a student from America. But the whole project was an versities and to have that many Muslims Kashmir, to do my PhD. I became active interfaith eff ort, working together with in America observing their religious with the Muslim Students Association, our Christian and Jewish neighbors and practices, such as congregational Friday and aft er a few years I became its pres- their organizations in adding this new prayers and Ramadan fasting. Th ere ident, in the late 1970s. While I was faith to American diversity. were hardly a few dozen Islamic cen- president of the organization, which Long before 9/11, Muslim-Christian ters at that time. Today there are more had already done so much good work dialogues and partnerships had fl our- than two to three thousand of them, all in America, I thought it was a historic ished at the local as well as national level. built in the last fi ft y years. In the absence opportunity to have a modern-day ISNA had worked with the National of their own Islamic centers, it was the Islamic community organization at par Council of Churches (NCC) and devel- Christian churches that opened their with Christian and Jewish communi- oped a close relationship. Th e two orga- doors for Muslims to pray and hold ties. Th is would be our gift to America nizations cooperated like twins, one the other religious events. and a gift to the Muslim world. For the umbrella organization of thousands of Being in America was a new experi- fi rst time Muslims would be proud to mainline Protestant Christian churches, ence for Muslims also, because our ear- observe a Muslim community fl our- and the other the umbrella organiza- lier generations, under occupation, had ishing in a pluralist democracy, and tion of hundreds of Muslim mosques. been sent mainly to Europe. Th e Indo- that would be a gift that the Muslim Similarly, ISNA and the National Pakistanis and Malaysians used to go to world would recognize with pride. So Conference of Catholic Bishops had London for higher studies, Algerians and we transformed this students’ organi- vibrant cooperation at both the national Moroccans to France. But the relations zation into the Islamic Society of North and local grassroots levels. I had person- between the host society and the incom- America (ISNA). ally been invited to speak to the confer- ing students was quite unequal. Th e fi rst It is important to note that this orga- ence of Catholic bishops and the NCC time that Muslim students abroad saw nization began in 1963—the year Martin executive board. We had invited Catholic a new reality of a pluralist democracy Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have leaders and the secretary-general of the

8 Dharma World April–June 2015 Sayyid M. Syeed is the National Director of the Islamic Society of North for Interfaith and Community Alliances in Washington, DC. From 1994 to 2006 he was Secretary-

throughout North America. He was also one of the founders of The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences and served as editor and then editor-in-chief (1984–94). In recognition of his contribution to interreligious understanding and harmony, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by the Graduate Theological Foundation in South Bend, Indiana, on May 4, 2001.

NCC to address our national conven- tions and our regional conferences, draw- ing appreciation and applause from the audiences at the ISNA and Christian conferences. This relationship became much stronger and more visible after the 9/11 tragedy. What was missing in this whole land- scape of formal interfaith dialogues was the presence of Jewish organizations. Our members, American Muslims, were interacting with Jewish individuals as colleagues, teachers, neighbors, and reli- gious leaders, but a formal interaction on an organizational level was conspic- uous by its absence. We had a few awk- ward experiences in this relationship. Our local interfaith committee in Chicago had routinely invited an official from a national Jewish organization along with a long list of Christian leaders to address taking our picture and jumped at the would be able to venture into a for- one of our national events in Chicago. photographer and stopped him from mal dialogue with ISNA. It took a few The response was painfully upsetting for taking our picture. He shouted at him intensive meetings with their leaders in our local leaders. The Jewish official con- that he would lose his job if his picture Washington, DC, and New York. It was veyed his deep resentment and suspicion with me went out to his organization. very clear that we were as religiously of the host organization and declined to Upon inquiry, I found he was from one committed to opening the dialogue with address the event. of the national Jewish organizations, and people of the Jewish faith as we were with I was invited to give a keynote address there was real fear of being seen social- people of the Christian faith. We had at the annual conference of Religions izing with Muslim leaders. made statements formally saying that for Peace (www.religionsforpeace.org) This was a serious challenge to our we were against terrorism in the name in Chicago in December 2005. At the ability to engage with the Jewish com- of Islam and deplored senseless acts of end of the presentation, members of the munity as a formal partner for breaking suicide bombers killing innocent civil- audience came and shook hands with me, down these barriers of mutual suspicion. ians. Our passionate advocacy for peace hugged me, and expressed their heartfelt I started to approach the largest single in the Middle East and a respectable res- respect and appreciation. While some denomination, the Union for Reform olution of the Palestinian problem was were hugging me cheerfully, others were Judaism (URJ). We had worked with equally matched by our counterparts taking pictures and trying to capture the their leaders in other settings. We had from the URJ. They realized that we joyful moments of interfaith celebration known one another in advancing the were genuinely seeking to build bridges of love and happiness. But one audience efforts for peace in the Middle East. It of understanding with the Jewish com- member hugging me saw another person was very natural to see whether they munity in America. This was critical in

Dharma World April–June 2015 9 view of the deteriorating conditions in the Middle East. We could build trust and goodwill and ultimately use these to address the injustices committed in the Middle East. Either we could do nothing and be confronted with the same ten- sions and mutual hatred being imported into the United States from overseas, or we could open up our communities to each other and promote mutual respect, understanding, and partnership. We were pleased to see that our meet- ings and discussions on both sides were having the right effect. It was clear that they had been thinking along the same lines. Since this was the summer of 2007 approached by various other Jewish was the same time that in New York City and our annual convention was drawing organizations assuring us that they were the Ground Zero mosque project was close, we offered to invite the president equally interested in having formal orga- under attack. There were people who of the URJ to address our convention. nizational partnerships. We have since resented the building of the Ground We were pleased to see that our lead- then collaborated with many of them in Zero mosque in New York. That was ers very much welcomed this idea. We various partnerships and joint projects. also the time when Muslims had prob- were impressed to see that Rabbi Eric We brought imams and rabbis together lems building an Islamic Community Yoffie, then president of the URJ, was condemning Islamophobia and anti- Center in the South, in Murfreesboro, ready to venture for this breakthrough. Semitism and have established a twin- Tennessee. There was a wave of anti- It was in this context that Rabbi Yoffie ning program between synagogues and Muslim sentiment in America. That was invited to address our convention mosques to promote a better under- was also the time I was getting letters in Chicago. His speech was delivered at standing of each other’s traditions and of support and sympathy from Catholic, the inaugural session of the ISNA con- beliefs. We took delegations of imams Protestant, and Jewish leaders con- vention. Despite the misgivings of many, to the Holocaust sites in Poland and demning the anti-Muslim rhetoric. the audience was very respectful, and he Germany to see for themselves the Nazi They were assuring us that these hate- received a standing ovation. The coming crimes against a minority community as mongers did not represent Christianity together of thirty to forty thousand mod- an example of what the Qur’an tells us or Judaism. Finally, these faith orga- erate American Muslims for the ISNA regarding how humans who are created nizations, our partners, decided that convention has always been news, but to be the best of creation can become they would come to Washington, DC, the address of Rabbi Yoffie made inter- demented if not guided by higher prin- and hold a summit of religious leaders national news. It was a historic event. ciples of faith (Qur’an 95:5). on August 7, 2010, where they would We reciprocated this gesture of These activities have opened doors articulate their rejection of anti-Mus- friendship when the URJ invited us to for a better understanding and created lim sentiment that was growing quite address their biennial convention in an atmosphere of respect and trust. The loud and intense. San Diego that same year in December. hope is that this atmosphere will grow On September 7, 2010, a summit Dr. Ingrid Mattson, the ISNA presi- stronger and stronger as the challenges of Christian and Jewish religious lead- dent, delivered her speech to an audi- are growing more and more difficult. ers was held in Washington, DC, and ence of Jews listening respectfully to a It was in 2010 that we thought our at their major press conference at the Muslim woman addressing their con- honeymoon in America was going to National Press Building, these lead- vention for the first time. The extraordi- end. There was a wave of Islamophobia ers denounced anti-Muslim bigotry. nary hospitality, love, and attention that and anti-Muslim sentiment. This was But they did something more than our three-member delegation received represented very loudly by a pastor in that. They created a campaign called at the conference was overwhelming. Florida threatening to burn a Qur’an, Shoulder to Shoulder: Standing with These two historic speeches were fol- and unfortunately dozens of Muslims American Muslims; Upholding American lowed later with many projects and pro- were killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan Values. And you know what American grams of interfaith dialogue. We were in protesting against this hateful act. That values they were talking about. They

10 Dharma World April–June 2015 said that they could not allow hatemon- turn on the television and hear that a successfully impacted the policies of the gers to attack the Muslim community church has been burned in Pakistan or US government against use of torture in in America, because an attack on one that something of this nature has hap- interrogations. All of our faith groups religion was an attack on all religions. pened anywhere in the world, it becomes shared the belief that torture is a moral They said that those who indulge in a part of our Islamic responsibility to issue and should be dealt with as such. bigotry against a religious community come forward and see what we can do We believe the power of faith trans- would be destroying the most cher- together to avert further such incidents. lated into action in partnership with ished asset of American society, which is That is exactly what we have been doing. others is the greatest gift to humankind respect for diversity. They raised about a America’s Muslim community has and we should continue to engage with quarter million dollars to run this cam- become a strong voice against mis- others in our journey to seek peace and paign. They advertised the position of a use of Islam as an ideology to justify justice for ourselves, for our human fam- director for Shoulder to Shoulder (www extremism and violence. We are work- ily, and for the beautiful planet that our .shouldertoshouldercampaign.org) and ing with Religions for Peace, our part- Creator has entrusted us with. ≥ appointed a professionally trained and ner from other faiths, to play a role in highly motivated Mennonite Christian various regions to mobilize Muslim Bibliography woman as the coordinator of this move- thinkers, scholars, and activists who American Baptist Quarterly 28 (Spring ment. We in the Islamic Society of North share our vision of a pluralist society 2009). Papers presented at the First America host Shoulder to Shoulder in and the role of Islam in reinforcing it. ISNA–American Baptist Church our office on Capitol Hill, but it is steered We are strengthened in this resolve by Conference held at Newton-Andover and funded by Christian and Jewish our interfaith partners in the United Baptist Seminary, Boston 2009. Children of Abraham. A joint publication organizations and leaders. States and around the world. of ISNA and URJ in 2009. http://www This campaign has shown impres- Our advocacy against racism, vio- .isna .net/uploads/1/5/7/4/15744382 sive results. This organization has now lence, poverty, and other moral issues /children_of_abraham.pdf. devoted four years of work to oppos- has helped us to discover new allies Islamic Horizons. A bimonthly magazine ing Islamophobia in America. One may from other faith groups as well. We have of ISNA. http://www.issuu.com /isnacreative/docs/ih_jul-aug_12. have seen that in 2010 anti-Muslim rhet- joined Hindus, Buddhists, Bahá’ís, and Muslim Perspectives on Religious Freedom. oric was about to become acceptable to others in our campaigns for religious http://www.islamandbelief.net. the mainstream. But this alliance of faith freedom and against forced conversions Muslim World vol. 104, issue 4 (October leaders has made sure that anti-Mus- and discrimination. We have found valu- 2014). Papers presented at a series lim sentiment is no longer a respect- able allies in the Buddhist community of conferences jointly sponsored by able discourse. for human rights and religious free- ISNA, Jewish Theological Seminary, and Hartford Seminary. Available One can imagine what it means to live dom in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. We online at http://onlinelibrary.wiley in an environment where major represen- have a common cause with them against .com/doi/10.1111/muwo.12061. tatives of Islamic, Christian, and Jewish the weaponization of nuclear technol- Religious Initiative on Nuclear Weapons religions, organizations, and institutions ogy. We are particularly proud of put- Danger. http://www.isna.net/uploads are participating together in creating an ting together the National Religious /1/5/7/4/15744382/nuclear_weapons _danger_statement.pdf. environment of mutual respect and reli- Campaign Against Torture (www.nrcat Revelation, Catholic and Muslim gious freedom. It means that when we .org), a multifaith advocacy group that Perspectives, cosponsored by US Conference of Catholic Bishops and ISNA, Washington, DC, 2005. http:// www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings /ecumenical-and-interreligious /interreligious/islam/upload /Revelation-Catholic-and-Muslim -Perspectives.pdf. Sharing the Well: A Resource Guide for Muslim-Jewish Engagement. Papers presented by scholars at a series of conferences cosponsored by ISNA, Jewish Theological Seminary, and Hartford Seminary. http://www.isna .net/sharing-the-well-a-resource -guide-for-jewish-muslim-engagement.

Dharma World April–June 2015 11 FEATURES

How Altruism Can Solve Religious Confl ict by Rey-Sheng Her

thousands of local people and inspire The spirit of Tzu Chi is one example that supports the idea them to go out into their communities that altruistic voluntarism is stronger than religious belief. . . . to help the poor, the sick, and victims of Altruistic activities and experiences have resulted in mutual HIV/AIDS. In Manila, the Philippines, acceptance and understanding between different religions more than ten thousand devout Catholics and lessened the confl ict between them. who were aid recipients during the fl ood- ing of September 2009 have joined Tzu Chi as volunteers. In Haiti, hundreds of Th e tension between diff erent religions religious philosophies and practices Tzu Chi volunteers are Catholics who is one of the major crises of modern reshape the traditional face of mono- survived the 2010 earthquake (Yungli society. During the last half century, theism and provide hope for reducing Tseng, Colin Legerton, and Peter Chu, the number of fundamentalist move- tensions among religions? Will it reveal “Hope, Commitment, and Love: Th ree ments of all religions has tripled world- the decline of friction between tradi- Schools for the Sisters of Saint Anne,” wide. Bruce Hoff man, the author of tional religions or merely create new Tzu Chi Quarterly 20 [Fall 2013]: 31). Inside Terrorism, observed that there forms of tension among them? Tzu Chi’s mission is to inspire people to has been a virtual explosion of identi- devote themselves to their community; fi able religious terrorist groups—from The Altruism That it is not to convert them to Buddhism. none in 1968 to the level today, when Goes beyond Many volunteers today are devout nearly a quarter of all terrorist groups Christians who see Tzu Chi’s message active across the world are predomi- Religious Beliefs as being in harmony with their own nantly motivated by religious beliefs. My investigation of altruism will focus faith. “We are doing God’s work,” said Hoff man says, “Religion may not trigger on the operational model of the Tzu Chi Zulu Tzu Chi volunteer Gladys Ngema, the confl ict alone but serves as a legiti- Foundation (Tzu Chi means “compassion a devout Protestant: “Master Cheng mizing force conveyed by a sacred text relief”), the largest Buddhist-based char- Yen has great love. Jesus and Buddha or imparted via clerical authority claim- ity organization in the ethnic Chinese are the same” (Rey-Sheng Her, “Th e ing to speak for the divine” ([Columbia world. It runs charitable operations in Innumerable Meaning of Sutra and the University Press, 1998], 89). eighty-eight countries, with ten million Philosophy and Practices of Tzu Chi,” On the one hand, conflicts are members and two million volunteers, Journal of Dharma Seals [2012]: 1). increasingly pervasive, but on the other including large numbers of Christians A Zulu Catholic priest from South hand, scholars like Peter Clarke from and Muslims. By providing emergency Africa has just become a commissioner Oxford argue that the boundary between relief and long-term support to people in of Tzu Chi; he is still a priest but is also diff erent religions has diminished in all countries like Haiti, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, committed to the Buddhist principles regions. In his speech “Why the World South Africa, Myanmar, and China, Tzu of Tzu Chi. He now teaches Tzu Chi’s Needs Tzu Chi,” given in 2012 at the Tzu Chi has been able to enlist local volun- precepts and practices in his church. Chi Foundation’s Jingshe in Hualien, teers who have committed themselves In Indonesia, Imam Habib Saggaf, Taiwan, Clarke stated that in Brazil and to the foundation but also hold religious who established a Muslim school with Europe there are increasing numbers beliefs other than Buddhism. more than ten thousand students who of people who identify themselves as In South Africa, Tzu Chi has reached are orphans or come from poor fam- Buddhist-Catholic or Catholic-Buddhist. out beyond the ethnic Chinese com- ilies, has accepted support from Tzu Will this gradual mixing of diff erent munity to introduce its philosophy to Chi for many years. Now the school

12 Dharma World April–June 2015 Rey-Sheng Her is Spokesman and Director of Cultural Humanity Development of the Tzu Chi Foundation, Associate Professor in the Institute of Religion and Humanity at Tzu Chi University, and a PhD candidate of the Philosophy Department of Peking University. He is the author of The Philosophy and Practices of Buddhist Tzu Chi and The Moment of Inspiration and is the producer of the documentary The Great Love as a Running Water, which won a best documentary Emmy Award.

teaches the students not only the pre- and experiences have resulted in mutual Buddha’s teaching, has been unlimited cepts of the Qur’an but also precepts acceptance and understanding between human desire and greed. Eliminating from the book Still Thought Aphorisms by different religions and lessened the con- greed and desire will create the wisdom Dharma master Cheng Yen. Thousands flict between them. to reach eternal happiness. Giving with of Habib’s students join Tzu Chi as vol- My investigation aims to understand selfless love can be the pivotal practice unteers to support their community. the key philosophies and practices that for the volunteers for reaching a state Habib also hangs a picture of Ven. Cheng Tzu Chi has brought to its Christian and of calmness and happiness. Yen along with one of Qur’anic scrip- Muslim members and that also inspire Third, in Tzu Chi, the volunteers’ ture in his office and all the school’s them to perform altruistic activities in safety is the first priority for emergency sixty classrooms. Nonetheless, Habib their own communities. relief work. It is a prerequisite to ensure and his students maintain their belief What are the concepts of voluntarism that when volunteers go to the scene of in Islam (Musu Shu, The Enlightenment of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation a natural disaster, their safety is guar- of Great Love: A Case Study of Tzu Chi’s that are compatible with the doctrines anteed. For Master Cheng Yen, all lives Charity in Jakarta [Tzu Chi University of Christianity and Islam held by Zulu are equal, as she said in establishing Press], 121). members and Indonesian Muslims? the first bone marrow bank for ethnic These phenomena are evidence for Chinese. She will not sacrifice a healthy the research of Peter Clarke, who sug- The Ideal of Altruism person to save a patient. Only when we gests that “the New Religion Movements Provided by Tzu Chi are assured that the donors themselves and a new kind of holistic, inner-directed are safe is it reasonable to save some- spirituality have introduced a new cog- Altruism, defined as selfless love or giv- one who is endangered. If the givers nitive religious style, which appears in ing with gratitude, has to provide free- themselves risk danger, people will be a growing number of those who do not dom and individuality to recipients. One unwilling to participate in altruistic vol- attend church. This is a style that places criterion that Tzu Chi practices is to sup- untary relief work—and more victims the emphasis on experience, not on faith. port the recipients and inspire their love will be neglected. One can, thus, be spiritual or religious so that in due course they will be self- Fourth, providers of altruistic activi- without faith” (New Religions in Global supporting like the Indonesia Muslim ties have to know, objectively, the needs Perspective: A Study of Religious Change school or support others in need, as Tzu of recipients in order to provide the in the Modern World [Routledge, 2006], Chi has done in South Africa. However, appropriate help. Otherwise, even if 308). The Tzu Chi case indicates that this further development and devotion the giver has the motive to be altruis- volunteers committed to their origi- should be self-driven, self-motivated, tic, the result may be harmful or inap- nal beliefs can accept Tzu Chi’s doc- and without pressure or external force. propriate for the recipient; this does not trines; actually, they say that Tzu Chi Second, altruism does not intend to meet the definition of altruism. has strengthened their beliefs. disadvantage the practitioner; on the Fifth, it is very important not to force The spirit of Tzu Chi is one exam- contrary, it proves that givers benefit volunteers to support the needy, no mat- ple that supports the idea that altruistic from their giving. The key factor is that ter how important the missions are. Tzu voluntarism is stronger than religious the giver does not seek benefit in return. Chi highly respects the autonomy of belief. Thus traditional beliefs, which The motivation has to be purely altru- volunteers and gives them the discre- people use to differentiate themselves istic so that the result can be positive tion to determine any mission in which from pagans, may no longer confine Tzu for both the recipient and the giver. The they wish to be involved. Dharma mas- Chi members. These altruistic activities root of life’s suffering, according to the ter Cheng Yen has earned the greatest

Dharma World April–June 2015 13 respect from Tzu Chi volunteers. When As I described in The Philosophy and Virudhaka was touched and called off she believes that a matter is very impor- Practice of Tzu Chi, the first step was to the confrontation. The Buddha saved tant, she explains it clearly and uses love clean up garbage from about six miles the day. and insight to inspire volunteers rather of the river and move out all of those However, the Kapila kingdom was than giving them instructions to fol- who lived on its banks. Then the vol- not able to escape destruction as a nation low. Altruism has to be completely self- unteers built Da Ai (Great Love) houses in later years. The third time Virudhaka driven, and individuals always have the as brand-new homes for the villagers returned, the Buddha saw that karmic freedom to choose when to give, how ([Lee-Shu Publishing, 2008], 194–95). consequences must be accepted, and to give, what to give, and whether to Tzu Chi volunteers also built schools he did not resist. The Buddha did not give at all. in the community, offering the best detach himself from the sufferings of Sixth, altruism always comes with opportunity for education to the next war, but he did not use resistance to discipline. Participants in these altruistic generation. In addition, there is a per- confront threats. activities are subject to mandatory rules manent free clinic and a factory in the In the process of losing his home- that aim to preserve the honor and cred- community, providing the residents land, the Buddha said, “Detach a mem- ibility of the organization and its mem- with medical care and stable jobs. Tzu ber for a family; detach a family for a bership. These rules, such as no drugs, Chi volunteers also built a multipur- village; detach a village for a nation; and gambling, or consumption of alcohol, are pose house of worship for all religions. detach oneself for a lifetime.” According considered critical for volunteers. The This is Master Cheng Yen’s ultimate to Dharma master Yin-shun, this meant rules may also benefit recipients, but it goal of altruism, to employ selfless love “To detach a lifetime ‘for oneself’” is to can be difficult to encourage recipients to the people who used to be hostile to liberate oneself for the realization of to obey them. Thus communication and us. Through this, we are able to achieve truth. This kind of ‘for oneself’ is for the explanation of this altruistic behavior to the resolution of conflicts and build people, to free yourself from the bond- the recipients is necessary. If the givers harmony between religions, races, and age of self to be able to become involved can provide better communication and nationalities. with humanity” (Buddha in the Earthly explanation, their behavior is closer to World [Chen-Win Publishing, 1971], altruistic. Conversely, the more compul- A Buddhist Concept 313). Since the Buddha sought to free sory the methods and attitudes of the in a World of Conflict himself from violence, he could not take givers toward the recipients, the more part in violence. Upon Virudhaka’s third they depart from the ideal of altruism. Tzu Chi’s philosophy of selfless love is return, the Buddha thought that pro- Seventh, the ultimate and most dif- based on the teachings of the Buddha, tecting his kingdom would simply pro- ficult altruism is to respond to hatred which advocate neither violence nor long human savagery, . . . violence and with love. There was violence through- conflict in any human interaction. In that by acceding to his clan’s karma he out Indonesia in 1998. Many ethnic fact, the Buddha was born in a time could avoid contributing to bad karma. Chinese were killed by Indonesian of war, when his own kingdom was This is the ultimate peace and abso- mobs, and many local Chinese either being attacked by outside forces. The lute nonviolence of the Buddha’s teach- fled or went into hiding. Master Cheng Buddha did not use force or arms to ing. Dharma master Cheng Yen shares Yen asked Tzu Chi volunteers who were help save the Kapila kingdom, which the same philosophy as the Buddha. standing by to stay where they were and he was supposed to inherit. Instead, he In her mind, there should be neither started to think about how to use this sat serenely on the spot where a large conflict nor violence at any time nor opportunity to give back to the local invading army of the king of Kosala, under any circumstance. Her three ulti- Indonesian community. Her compas- Virudhaka, was to pass on its way into mate loves have been defined as love all, sion and wisdom influenced the vol- his kingdom. The Buddha deliberately lead others to love, and, finally, respond unteers. During the upheavals of the sat under a lone, dead tree. Virudhaka to hatred with love. Through practical 1998 riots, volunteers donated mate- went to see him, wondering why he altruistic activities, religious groups rials and medicines to more than one had chosen to sit under a bare tree. work together to help others, reduce hundred thousand people in Jakarta. The Buddha explained, “The shade inequality in society, and avoid debat- In 2002, with the help of local entre- of one’s kin is superior to that of out- ing their essential faith in one God and preneurs as volunteers who offered siders.” Virudhaka understood this to the perplexity of reincarnation. This their own effort and resources, Tzu mean that the Buddha felt himself to may contribute to ending the contin- Chi started a charity and a free clinic be under the protection of the Sakya uous conflicts between religions in our near the filthy Angke River in Jakarta. clan even in this exposed circumstance. society. ≥

14 Dharma World April–June 2015 FEATURES Religious Altruism and Its Contribution to Society by Keishin Inaba

Keishin Inaba is an Associate Only when activities are publicly performed will the practical Professor in the Graduate School of effects of social contributions by people of faith elicit Human Sciences at Osaka University. society’s sympathy. And only when the logic of altruism is He received his PhD in the sociology communicated to the world in a way that transcends the of religion from the University of boundaries of each religion will it create bridging social London and is the author of several capital that can link people. English and Japanese books on religion and altruism. He chairs the board of a Japanese-language Major disasters are occurring with great include charity, which has its origins in digital journal on religion and social frequency all over the world. At the Christianity. Charity comes from the contributions and is one of the same time, people are coming together Latin caritas, a translation of the Greek organizers of the Japan Religion to solve common problems, giving rise word agape, which in Christianity indi- Coordinating Project for Disaster to a new solidarity. Even as the individ- cates the love of God and love for one’s Relief. ualization of society progresses, there neighbor. Specifi cally, in the teachings are people who do not feel it is a mat- of Jesus, charity to the poor is consid- Since the principal teachings of ter of self-sacrifi ce to help others or act ered the most straightforward expres- Japan’s Shrine Shinto do not include altruistically. On refl ection, we realize sion of love for one’s neighbor. It is making charitable contributions to that religions, throughout their long his- exemplifi ed by the parable of the Good individuals, Shrine Shinto has seldom tory, have always taken a strong interest Samaritan, who reached out to help a been the subject of research on reli- in helping people when bad things hap- traveler who had fallen by the wayside gious altruism and its contribution to pen. All religions teach altruism, con- aft er being beaten and robbed (Luke society. However, if we take a histori- sideration for others, and the value of 10:25–37). In religious terms, charity cal perspective, immediately aft er the acting according to these virtues. means good deeds and acts of good- Second World War the Shinto priest- In recent years, research on altruism will inspired by compassion that help hood did become involved in society, has been fl ourishing in various academic the poor and unfortunate. setting up nursery schools and serving fi elds. In 2009 the American Sociological Not only Christianity but Judaism, in positions of responsibility for social Association set up a specialist study Islam, Buddhism, and many other reli- welfare: as chaplains, juvenile proba- group, the Altruism, Morality, and Social gions teach that charity is noble behavior tion offi cers, district welfare commis- Solidarity Section. In the fi eld of reli- or a duty of believers. Charity is related sioners, and so on. Also, more recently, gious altruism, the subjects of study to the practice of giving some of one’s more Japanese are voicing their appre- now include a movement that puts into assets as alms to the poor. Th is is where ciation of Shinto and Shinto cultural practice faith-based action to contrib- the concept of mutual aid or altruism expressions, symbolized by the bene- ute to society. comes in. Th e holy canon of Judaism fi ts accorded by village shrines as loca- teaches that charitable acts are performed tions of groves of large trees. Aspects of in God’s honor. Giving alms (zakat in Belief in a certain religion means that Religious Altruism Arabic) is also one of the Five Pillars of believers’ value systems and worldviews Islam, and Islamic countries have wel- are built up around that religion. Th e Altruism is taught by Buddhism and all fare systems (waqf in Arabic) for the religion’s teachings on altruism will also other religions. Words related to altruism public good. regulate how believers live, nurturing a

Dharma World April–June 2015 15 spirit of altruism. Scholars in the West have pointed out that religion makes people altruistic. In Japan it has also been found that religious belief encour- ages participation in volunteer work.

Religion as Social Capital I have defined religions’ contribution to society as “the contributions of religious believers and religious groups, as well as of religious cultural assets and con- cepts, to solving problems in society’s various domains and to maintaining and enhancing the quality of people’s lives” (Ritashugi to shūkyō [Altruism and reli- gion], [Koubundou, 2011]). This also of providing a public forum for nurtur- of Science, titled “Action Research on defines religion as social capital; that ing a spirit of thoughtfulness. Regional Disaster Prevention Using is, religious social capital is the peace Religious Facilities as Regional Resources.” of mind and community bonds linking Cooperation of Local This study aimed to clarify the existence people that arise from religious culture, Governments and of disaster assistance agreements between spaces, and concepts. Appreciation of municipal governments and religious religion as social capital is high in the Religious Facilities facilities on a national basis. A survey of West. Religions and houses of worship during Disasters 1,916 municipal governments was carried can link people to form the foundation out in July 2014. It included wards of cit- of a community. A major change has recently arisen in ies designated under the Local Autonomy A problem arises at this point. The Japanese society with respect to the Law as having a population greater than faith and worldview that accompany relationship between religion and gov- five hundred thousand. Replies were religious belief form a backbone for the ernment, which involves a form of coop- received from 1,184 municipalities (a volunteer spirit found in all religions. In eration that transcends the concept of response rate of 62 percent). addition, this kind of shared faith and separation of religion and the state. After Of these, 95 municipalities had disas- worldview also lend significant psy- the massive earthquake and tsunami that ter relief agreements with religious facil- chological support to volunteers work- struck northeastern Japan on March 11, ities (involving 399 religious facilities, ing together. The behavior created by 2011, many people were evacuated to of which 272 were designated as official members’ shared religious worldview, religious facilities—temples, shrines, and evacuation shelters), while 208 munici- however, can in itself seem to close off churches—that were not officially des- palities did not have agreements but in people who do not share that particu- ignated as evacuation shelters. The ele- fact were cooperating with religious facil- lar religion’s worldview. This is called mentary school gymnasiums that were ities (involving 2,002 religious facilities bonding social capital. designated as shelters had hard wooden of which 1,831 were designated as official At the same time, it cannot be denied floors that took a physical toll on evacuees evacuation shelters). Of the 399 religious that the social contributions of a religion there. Many people were more comfort- facilities in municipalities with disaster and the volunteer activities of its believers able on the tatami-mat floors of temples. relief agreements, 167 had entered into can transcend religion, engender social Religious buildings in rural areas often these agreements after the March 2011 sympathy, and communicate the logic of function as social capital and in this case disaster (mostly in 2013 and 2014). altruism to the world. This constitutes were appreciated as evacuation shelters There were 871 municipalities that bridging social capital, which encom- during the disaster. answered that they were not considering passes both the function of undertak- I was the principal investigator disaster relief agreements with religious ing and performing the practical tasks of of a study funded by Grants-in-Aid facilities. The reason given for this by the making a social contribution as a religious for Scientific Research, supported by highest number of these municipalities group or as a believer and the function the Japan Society for the Promotion (155) was “a lack of religious facilities

16 Dharma World April–June 2015 with a suitable structure to accommo- date evacuees and an appropriate location for an evacuation facility.” The next most common reason was that “existing evac- uation facilities can already accommo- date the estimated number of evacuees” (139 municipalities). Some municipali- ties (19) were not considering it because “local neighborhood associations and voluntary organizations for disaster pre- vention are building cooperative rela- tionships with religious facilities.” Only 5 municipalities were not planning such agreements “due to considerations of sep- aration of religion and the state.” The Japanese constitution’s Article 20 on the principle of separation of reli- footed the bill for emergency electric- when activities are publicly performed gion and the state reads, “Freedom of ity generators and a stock of emergency will the practical effects of social contri- religion is guaranteed to all. No religious supplies for the temple. butions by people of faith elicit society’s organization shall receive any privileges Our survey showed that disas- sympathy. And only when the logic of from the State, nor exercise any politi- ter-relief agreements are in fact being altruism is communicated to the world cal authority. No person shall be com- entered into by municipalities and in a way that transcends the boundar- pelled to take part in any religious act, religious facilities and that movement ies of each religion will it create bridg- celebration, rite or practice. The State toward cooperation in disaster situa- ing social capital that can link people. and its organs shall refrain from reli- tions is under way. Amendments have Most of the religious facilities that gious education or any other religious been made to the Basic Act on Disaster functioned as emergency evacuation activity.” Article 89 on prohibited use of Control Measures, and since April 2014 shelters and organizing hubs after the public funds reads, “No public money all municipalities have been required to March 2011 earthquake and tsunami had or other property shall be expended or renew existing or adopt new evacuation always been open to the local commu- appropriated for the use, benefit or main- shelter designations. As municipali- nities. They showed their ability to work tenance of any religious institution or ties also adopt local disaster prevention with the community during a disaster in association, or for any charitable, edu- plans, and as local residents take up the the same way they worked with it during cational or benevolent enterprises not task of disaster prevention in their own festivals and other events throughout under the control of public authority.” communities, many residents will take the year, cooperating with local neigh- Some people pointed to possible into consideration the existence of their borhood associations, NPOs, the Boy contraventions of these laws, but in local temples, shrines, and churches. I Scouts, and other socially active groups. fact some municipalities did provide think we can expect cooperation among Working together in ordinary times is or decided to provide funds to religious municipalities, local residents, and reli- important. facilities that they designated as evac- gious facilities to spread in the future. Japan is sometimes called a nonreli- uation shelters or temporary mortuar- gious country, but in fact there are over ies. Takekoma Shrine in Iwanuma City, Religious Facilities 180,000 official religious entities in Japan, Miyagi Prefecture, was designated as an That Are Open and religious believers and groups are official evacuation shelter, and a memo- now making contributions to society. randum of understanding was adopted to Local Communities In contrast to the strong, independent, to allow the city to bear the resulting In case of a natural disaster or any of the self-reliant individuality and doctrine costs to the shrine during a disaster other problems society faces, religions of economic supremacy thrust upon us aftermath. Tokyo’s Taitō Ward has des- that teach altruism can offer help in the by modern society, religious altruism ignated Sensōji temple, a popular tour- form of a concrete social contribution. can offer alternative values and ways ist attraction in the ward, as a shelter However, religious altruism performed by of life. As contributors to society and for people unable to travel home after a closed, tightly bonded group will have public spaces that benefit society, reli- a disaster, and the ward government only a weak ripple effect on society. Only gions can still be important socially. ≥

Dharma World April–June 2015 17 FEATURES North American Buddhist Support for Same-Sex Marriage: An Example of Compassion in Action by Jeff Wilson

most popular fi gures in Asia are those There is a venerable religious tradition that provided sanction who are specifi cally associated with com- for same-sex marriages long before they were legally passionate care for humankind, such as recognized. That tradition is Buddhism. Kannon Bodhisattva (Avalokiteśvara); Amida Buddha (Amitābha, whose infi - In 2013 the United States government of attachment and suff ering. Monks and nite life span is said to symbolize uni- granted recognition to same-sex cou- nuns—the exemplars of Buddhism—are versal compassion); and of course ples, not only providing benefi ts already supposed to be celibate, and even house- Shakyamuni Buddha, the central fi g- available to opposite-sex couples but also holders are admonished to moderate ure of Buddhism. As for the Buddhist affi rming their relationships as loving their desires. Buddhism has never had a clergy that I spoke with, they were moved and human. Th irty-fi ve states have since strong opinion on homosexuality, espe- to conduct marriage rites for same-sex extended such recognition to same-sex cially when compared with some other, couples because they could perceive the marriages, meaning that the majority less-tolerant major traditions. But it has suff ering that denying such affi rmation of Americans now live in places where generally been categorized as unskill- would entail, especially in the face of same-sex marriage is fully recognized. ful or even aberrant in Asian societies the frequent intolerance and hatred that Th e struggle to achieve this legal recog- heavily steeped in Buddhism. homosexual men and women live with nition has been long and diffi cult, and Given these facts, why were on a regular basis. is not yet complete. Many factors have Buddhists in North America conduct- Th e fi rst such ceremonies I uncov- contributed to the process, including ing same-sex marriages decades before ered occurred in the 1970s, when gays religion. Th e North American media the fi rst legal rights were won? Th is is had few protections and homosexuality typically depict religion as a conser- the question that I asked myself as I set was still defi ned as a pathology by the vative, prejudiced force that has ham- out to research the previously undoc- American Psychological Association. pered the quest for equal rights. Th ere umented history of Buddhist same- No religious organization had declared is some truth to that perspective, but sex marriage in the United States and support for same-sex marriage, and it is not the whole truth. In fact, there Canada. What I found is a venerable religious tradition that was that there were mul- provided sanction for same-sex mar- tiple contributing factors, riages long before they were legally rec- but there was one that ognized. Th at tradition is Buddhism. stood out above the oth- For some, this early Buddhist sup- ers. Th e answer would port for same-sex marriage might seem appear to lie primar- counterintuitive. Aft er all, Buddhism has ily with another major been relatively uninvolved in marriage aspect of Buddhism: practices in Asia—even today there are compassion. Buddhists many Buddhist traditions that do not con- are exhorted not only duct or solemnize weddings, leaving such to cultivate but also to matters to other religious groups or the practice compassion, and civil authorities. Furthermore, Buddhism buddhas are said to com- has oft en regarded sexuality with some bine perfect wisdom with suspicion, since it is a common source perfect compassion. Th e

18 Dharma World April–June 2015 Jeff Wilson is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and East Asian Studies at Renison University College, an affiliate of the University of aterloo,W Ontario, Canada. He earned his PhD in religious studies at the University of North Carolina. He specializes in Buddhism in North America and is the author of many publications on such topics as abortion rituals in Western Buddhism and Buddhist pluralism in the United States.

same-sex couples seeking to have a min- a more compassionate and tolerant atti- much better than it once was, these com- ister conduct a wedding service had vir- tude. Their assumption was correct, as munities carry memories of the discrim- tually no options. Many Buddhist clergy MacDonald conducted the ceremony ination they faced in earlier generations cited these conditions as the most impor- for them in 1977. and are often determined not to exhibit tant in their decision-making process. Since those early ceremonies, similar prejudices themselves. Regardless of whether they were fully Buddhist temples in North America have There is a further reason for Jodo comfortable with same-sex sexuality gone on to conduct many other same-sex Shinshu to be so tolerant in its attitude themselves, each recognized that many marriages. Most of these have been per- toward homosexuality and same-sex of those who came to them were suffer- formed by ministers in the Jodo Shinshu marriage. This form of Buddhism focuses ing and that refusal to carry out wedding denomination of Pure Land Buddhism, on liberation through the compassion- services would increase their suffering. such as Ogui and MacDonald. There ate grace of Amida Buddha, who is said In other words, the issue for them was are a number of reasons that this group to embrace all beings regardless of their not “Are the actions of these men and has been at the forefront of the same- good or bad actions. For modern-day women moral or immoral?” but “What sex-marriage issue. First, Jodo Shinshu Buddhists, this tends to suggest that there response would be the most compas- established most of the early Buddhist is no possible basis for discrimination sionate toward these men and women temples in North America and thus has toward socially maligned groups. For in their situation?” Such a thought pro- the longest institutional Buddhist his- instance, in his popular book Ocean: An cess was deeply rooted in the Buddhist tory in Canada and the United States. Introduction to Jodo-Shinshu Buddhism in attitudes and orientations toward how That translates into significant num- America, Dr. Kenneth Tanaka discusses to treat others that such leaders had bers of practitioners and a relatively homosexuality in the following terms: developed over their years of service established and respected place in the “No doctrinal grounds exist for a judg- in the Dharma. Canadian and American religious land- mental attitude by others. All beings are The first such ceremonies that I scape. These temples have been conduct- equally embraced by Amida Buddha, the uncovered were conducted by Koshin ing marriages for more than a century symbol of understanding and caring.” Ogui at the Buddhist Church of San and their communities have few wor- Historically, Jodo Shinshu practitioners Francisco in the early 1970s. This is ries about sexuality in general. It helps in Japan sometimes displayed the same the oldest Buddhist temple in North that Jodo Shinshu was started as a mar- cultural prejudices as other Japanese, America, established in 1899, and it is ried order of ministers—even the thir- but at the same time the tradition has located not far from the heart of San teenth-century Japanese founding monk, been relatively open to marginalized Francisco’s famous gay neighborhood. Shinran, was married. Furthermore, as classes, such as women and outcastes. When couples from the temple who an early example of Asian-American And the example of Amida Buddha has happened to be gay asked Ogui to con- organizations, the Jodo Shinshu temples always been available to inspire greater duct wedding ceremonies for them, and their members faced religious and inclusivity, as happened when gay and he readily agreed. Meanwhile, Joren racial prejudice in the late nineteenth lesbian issues began to enter the North MacDonald of the Seabrook Buddhist and first half of the twentieth century, American consciousness. Temple in New Jersey was approached even to the point of forced internment in Since the 1970s, more than a dozen by a lesbian couple from outside the Canadian and American concentration additional Jodo Shinshu ministers have community. They knew that Christian camps during the Pacific war. Thus while performed same-sex marriages in North churches would refuse to marry them, the situation for Buddhists and persons America, and other forms of Japanese and so they looked to the Buddhists for of Japanese descent in North America is Buddhism have also begun to offer such

Dharma World April–June 2015 19 approval, and even active campaign- how to live mindfully with an aware- ing for gay rights. Buddhist organiza- ness of universal compassion which tions in the United States have gone embraces and uplifts each and every on the record a number of times with person; and WHEREAS, in order their support for equal marriage rights to truly realize universal compas- for same-sex couples. For example, the sion, we need to cultivate a profound matter has been debated publicly in sense of responsibility for the welfare Hawaii a number of times. In 1995, of all beings; and WHEREAS, the Diana Paw U of the Hawaii Association Buddhist ideal of universal compas- of International Buddhists told a gov- sion does not discriminate between ernment commission: good and evil, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight. . . . NOW, ceremonies in Canada and the United The Buddhist teachings [empha- THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, States. For example, priests at the San size] compassion, lovingkindness that the Honpa Hongwanji Mission Francisco Zen Center, the Zen Center known as metta, and tolerance. Rev. of Hawaii, a Shin Buddhist organi- of Los Angeles, and Zen Mountain Yoshiaki Fujitani, an ex-bishop of zation, affirms that same-gender Monastery (in New York State) have con- Jodo Shinshu Honpa Hongwanji, couples should have access to equal ducted same-sex weddings. Since 1995 the largest Buddhist congregation rights and quality of life as conferred members of Soka Gakkai International– in Hawaii, said to me vis-a-vis this by legally recognized marriage. USA have been allowed to bless same- subject at hand, “Amida Buddha sex marriages. And in a few instances, in his infinite compassion accepts What is the outcome of all of this non-Japanese types of Buddhism, such all of us as we are.” I would like to activity? In looking at the example of as Tibetan and Theravada, have also call upon this commission, and the same-sex marriage in North America, performed or blessed such marriages. State Legislature, to show the same we can discern some of the ways that Much of the ministerial support compassion, empathy, and aloha to Buddhism impacts the societies in for same-sex marriage has been on a those of a different sexual orienta- which it is practiced. First there are case-by-case, monk-by-monk basis. An tion, just as we do to those differ- the practical benefits conferred upon individual minister or monk would be ent from ourselves because of color, the participants of these ceremonies. approached by someone who wanted the ethnic race, gender, or religion. I Men and women who have their wed- ceremony, and then the monk or minis- respectfully urge you to confer on dings performed by a Buddhist minister, ter would decide whether he or she felt them the full rights and privileges despite the ongoing prejudice of soci- all right about conducting it. Because of humanhood, on par with those ety, are told that they are valued, that they were private ceremonies, Buddhist accorded heterosexual marriages. their relationships are legitimate, and support for LGBT rights was not neces- that religion has a place for them that sarily known by the wider community. In 2004 the Ministers’ Association recognizes their commitments to one There have, however, been some very of the Buddhist Churches of America another. Ministers who perform such public occasions. In 2008 Rev. William issued a proclamation that they opposed ceremonies can find their own unex- Briones of the Nishi Hongwanji Los any governmental ban on same-sex mar- amined biases challenged and reformed Angeles Betsuin officiated at the wed- riage. When the issue was once again and gain a deeper sense for the role of ding of Star Trek star George Takei to in the public eye in 2009, the Buddhist compassion in serving the buddha- his longtime partner, Brad Altman. The Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii dharma. When ministers perform pub- gala wedding was a major media event, issued a widely publicized statement lically noticed ceremonies, they help with US senators and Hollywood celeb- that affirmed the support of the doz- to affirm the right of all people to par- rities in attendance. This past summer, ens of member temples in the organi- ticipate in our societies. And when Rev. Christina Yanko of the Toronto zation. The statement opened with no Buddhist organizations petition the Buddhist Temple helped co-officiate a fewer than three assertions stressing the government, march in Pride parades, mass same-sex wedding of 115 couples role of compassion in the group’s deci- and talk to the media about Buddhist as part of World Pride 2014. sion to support LGBT rights: inclusivity based on the value of com- In recent decades, North American passion, they help to transform soci- Buddhist support for same-sex marriage WHEREAS, the Dharma (univer- ety into a place where everyone can be has advanced to the level of institutional sal teachings) provides guidance on valued and cared for. ≥

20 Dharma World April–June 2015 FEATURES A Faith That Does Not Work for Justice Is Dead by Vicente Bonet

Rev. Vicente Bonet, SJ, came to I am convinced . . . that we, the members of different faiths, Japan from his native Spain in 1960. can collaborate in our actions for a better, more human world He was a Professor of Philosophical and learn, at the same time, from each other’s beliefs. Anthropology, Human Rights, and Social Doctrine at Sophia University, Luis Espinal taught me Latin and Greek a coup d’état a few months later, and Tokyo until 2007, where he is now a literature in my fi rst two years of uni- for whom Espinal was an obstacle that Professor Emeritus. In 2007–12 he versity studies in Spain. Th is was in the had to be removed. taught social problems and Christian 1950s. Aft er he studied theology and It was not only Espinal that was killed humanism at Caritas Junior College, became a Jesuit priest, Espinal did jour- nor only in Bolivia that some people Yokohama. He is the representative nalism and audiovisual studies in Italy. were eliminated by dictators. Two days of the Association for Solidarity with In 1968 he decided to go to Bolivia, aft er Espinal’s assassination, it was in El People of Cambodia (http://www where he experienced terrible dicta- Salvador that Oscar Arnulfo Romero, .camboren.org/) and is a staff member torships with absolute military power, archbishop of San Salvador, was assassi- of the Tokyo Jesuit Social Center extreme repression, mass media con- nated while celebrating Mass in the small (http://www.jesuitsocialcenter-tokyo trol, and so on. Many people were sent chapel of the cancer hospital where he .com/). to jail and killed. Others disappeared or was living. He had been speaking out were exiled. In a word, there were con- very forcefully against the continuous stant violations of human rights. gross violations of human rights and Since he had acquired Bolivian on behalf of the poor and the victims nationality in 1970, and because of his of repression. previous studies, he regularly wrote in Th at was not the end, because the several journals, spoke on the radio and thirst for power chooses any means to on television, taught about social com- keep and strengthen that power. Also munications at the university, and so in El Salvador, a few years later, in on. In all of his activities he constantly November 1989, six Jesuit priests were attacked the root of all the problems: murdered. Five of them were university a corrupt system that had no respect teachers and the other was active in voca- for life, human dignity, political free- tional schools for the poor. “Something dom, or freedom of opinion. He was in terrible has happened” is the expression prison and lost some of his jobs, but in some people used to describe what took spite of all the dangers, he continued place that night of November 28. Why to cry out: “No more deaths, no more were they murdered and by whom? Th ey destruction.” had been accused of being communists On the night of March 21, 1980, and Marxists; they had been called anti- aft er being tortured for several hours, patriotic and even atheists. Espinal was killed. It was reported that But the only thing they had done, his assassination was masterminded by as university professors, was to analyze Luis Arce Gómez, a man linked to the the social situation of their country, to narcotics traffi c, who took power with criticize what they thought politically

Dharma World April–June 2015 21 mistaken and morally reprehensible. They brought out the causes behind the poverty and the murders of many inno- cent civilians. Since they were telling the truth, they were killed by the mili- tary, who did not want the truth to be known. And as these assassins did not want to leave any witnesses, they also killed the Jesuits’ housekeeper and her fifteen-year-old daughter. These are only a few examples. Many other Catholic priests, nuns, and layper- sons have been killed both during the same period of time and after that. There are also members of other Christian churches, Buddhists, and followers of from boat to boat, made to work twenty- slavery was not abolished by law until other religions that have been perse- hour shifts, beaten, tortured, and even the nineteenth century. But now we cuted, sent to prison, and even killed, made to suffer execution-style killings. have it again—and slaves in great not only in Central and South America, Coltan (short for columbite-tanta- numbers. On December 2, 2014, the but also in many other countries. What lite) is a mineral used in our cell phones, UN-designated International Day for all of them have in common is their fight laptops, and other electronic devices. It the Abolition of Slavery, the present for the poor and the victims of injustice is found in major quantities in the east- pope, together with eleven delegates of and their love for the people suffering, ern part of the Democratic Republic other religions—Buddhism,­­ Hinduism, for the truth, and for justice. of Congo. Children there are made to Judaism, the Orthodox Church, Islam, work for the extraction of the mineral. and the Anglican Church—signed a All Had Started Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa, a writer joint declaration against modern slavery. Many Years Before and journalist who has been inquiring But slavery is just one of the many about the situation of the workers there, social evils denounced and fought against The 2014 “Global Slavery Index” is the clearly states that for every kilogram by the successive popes of the Catholic latest report released by the Walk Free of coltan obtained, at least two chil- Church. In 1891, Leo XIII wrote what Foundation, an antislavery NGO based dren die because of their harsh work- is called the first “social encyclical.” An in Australia. It tells us that an estimated ing conditions. encyclical is a letter that the pope sends 35.8 million people are now trapped Bartolomé de las Casas was one of to the bishops of the Roman Catholic in forced servitude or by ownership the first European settlers in Central and Church about matters related to faith of some kind. Even in Japan there are South America in the sixteenth century. and/or ethics. Though encyclicals were more than 237,000 people in such a sit- He was given a large tract of land and traditionally written for the faithful of uation, according to the data the foun- became a slave owner. But a few years the Catholic Church, since the second dation has collected. later, having witnessed the many atroci- half of the last century most of the social The news about the accidents in sev- ties committed by the Spaniards against encyclicals have also been addressed to eral garment factories in Bangladesh the natives, he experienced a change of all persons of goodwill. That first social must still be fresh in the memories of heart and started fighting for the rights encyclical dealt with and denounced the many people. The fire that killed 112 of the natives. hard situation of workers at the time. workers in 2012 or the eight-story build- The popes of the Catholic Church, Since Leo XIII, almost every pope ing that collapsed in 2013, taking the starting with Paul III in 1537, con- has written about what he considered lives of 1,138 workers and leaving more demned slavery and even threatened the most pressing social problems of his than 1,000 with long-lasting injuries, with excommunication—the strongest time. We now have documents against brought to light the harsh, slave-like punishment given by the church—any- war; the proliferation of and trade in conditions of Bangladesh garment work- body who treated people as slaves. Urban weapons, especially nuclear weap- ers, mainly young women. VIII in 1639, Benedict XIV in 1741, ons; hunger and poverty in the world, We have heard also of prawn har- and Gregory XVI in 1833, all continued although enough food is being produced vests in Thailand, where people are sold writing against slavery. Nevertheless, for all to have what they need; and the

22 Dharma World April–June 2015 relatively few people who are becom- ing richer and richer. There are other documents defending human rights for everybody—men and women, old people and children; proclaiming the sacredness of life and the dignity of every human person; and opposing the death pen- alty, torture, and whatever degrades any human being. An economy not based on and for the needs of the people but cen- tered on greed, exploitation of others, and consumerism has been denounced repeatedly (see Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church [Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2004]). show you my faith by my actions.” (JSC), another NGO, working there for But unfortunately, we have to admit . . . So then, as the body without and with the poorest people and the vic- that even many of us, members of the the spirit is dead, also faith with- tims of land mines and explosive rem- Catholic Church, have not read these out actions is dead. (James 2:14–26) nants of war. They collaborate also with documents, though they have been trans- the Jesuit Refugee Service Cambodia lated into most of the languages of the I am convinced that this is equally (JRSC), actively promoting peace and world, and we are not living and acting true for a Buddhist, a Christian, a the legal banning of land mines, cluster according to what they tell us to do if Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu, or a member bombs, and nuclear weapons. we really want to be Christians. These of any other religious faith—because It all began in 1980. During the Pol documents are so little known that this faith is not just a set of beliefs, individual Pot regime (1975–79), many thousands social philosophy has been called, iron- prayer, meditation, good feelings, peace of Cambodians fled across the border ically, the church’s “best-kept secret.” of mind, and so on. All of these are nec- into Thailand. A few were granted ref- essary in order to act for and with the ugee status and went to other coun- Faith without Actions persons that suffer because their rights tries. But the majority had to remain in Is Dead are violated, they are exploited and/or Thailand, as displaced persons with no ignored, and they are excluded from a refugee rights, in overcrowded camps James, one of the disciples of Jesus, who really human society. And I am con- where life was precarious and desperate. calls himself a servant of God and of vinced also that we, the members of A few Jesuit fathers, two or three sis- the Lord Jesus Christ, wrote: different faiths, can collaborate in our ters, and many volunteers began their actions for a better, more human world, activities there, listening to the stories My friends, what good is it for one and learn, at the same time, from each of people; connecting them to loved of you to say that you have faith if other’s beliefs. ones; and providing care, social work, your actions do not prove it? Can health services, and support for their that faith save you? Suppose there are An Example of Actions education. brothers or sisters who need clothes Inspired by Faith In November 1980, Fr. Pedro Arrupe, and don’t have enough to eat. What the superior general of the Society of good is there in your saying to them, and Interreligious Jesus at the time, founded the Jesuit “God bless you. Keep warm and eat Cooperation Refugee Service (JRS) in Rome, trying to well”—if you don’t give them the respond to the plight of the people escap- necessities of life? So it is with faith; Every year I go to Cambodia with a group ing from war in Vietnam, Cambodia, and if it is alone and includes no actions, of about ten different persons from Japan. Laos. This was intended to be a tempo- then it is dead. Eleven years ago we started Camboren rary response to an emergency. But the But someone will say, “One per- (short for the Japanese name mean- fact is that its activities not only con- son has faith, another has actions.” ing Association for Solidarity with the tinue today but have had to be increased My answer is, “Show me how anyone People of Cambodia), a small NGO, to more and more and expanded to many can have faith without actions. I will collaborate with Jesuit Service Cambodia other countries.

Dharma World April–June 2015 23 After the civil war, people began the most disadvantaged, they help them The Wheel of Peace to return to Cambodia. But they had regain their human rights and dignity, nothing. No place to live, no housing, improve their welfare, and establish just The Metta Karuna Reflection Centre no work. There were no schools for human relations within society. is an interfaith center in Siem Reap their children. And there were many For that purpose they have a vari- (Cambodia) run by the JSC and the persons with disabilities, victims of war ety of programs to respond to people’s JRSC. There you can find a mural and land mines (it is reported that the different needs. These programs can depicting the Dharma wheel pushed percentage of the Cambodian popula- be put together under the following by Buddhist monks, peace-loving men tion with disabilities is the highest in four headings: and women, people in wheelchairs, the world). farmers, Catholic priests and nuns, In 1989, after a process of discern- • Rural development support. This and also soldiers. ment, the JRS team decided to split in includes aid for the construction They push it to promote nonvio- two. One team was to serve the people of very simple houses for extremely lence, peace, and reconciliation. It is in need inside Cambodia, while the poor families and for families with the adapted logo of the Dhammayietra other would continue serving refugees in one or more members with disabili- Center for Peace and Nonviolence, in camps in other countries. Later on, the ties; loans for farming, the so-called Phnom Penh, and a symbol of interfaith JRS set up the Jesuit Service Cambodia cow bank; and so on. collaboration. You can find there the (JSC) to serve the poor, and the Jesuit • Assistance for education. This includes face of Ven. Maha Ghosananda together Refugee Service Cambodia to work assistance in building small primary with the faces of some members of the especially for refugees returning to schools for villages that have none, JSC and the JRSC. Cambodia. small scholarships for children of I want to finish this article with Ven. The JSC is a team of women and very poor families, secondhand bicy- Ghosananda’s prayer for peace: men, including Cambodians and people cles for students who live very far of other nationalities; Catholic priests, away from the nearest school, and The suffering of Cambodia sisters, and laypeople; and Buddhists so on. has been deep. and Christians, all working together • Support for people with disabilities. From this suffering comes with the same aims and vision. They Banteay Prieb (Center of the Dove) Great Compassion. want to be of help in building up a soci- is a vocational school for people with Great Compassion makes ety in which the four Buddhist ideals of disabilities. Wheelchairs are also a Peaceful Heart. metta (loving-kindness), karuna (com- produced there, to be given to the A Peaceful Heart makes passion), mudita (altruistic or sympa- poor that need them. a Peaceful Person. thetic joy), and upekkha (equanimity) • Health-related assistance. The poor- A Peaceful Person makes will bring peace, justice, equality, and est people need assistance to go to a Peaceful Family. the fullness of life for all the people. By the hospital and during their stay A Peaceful Family makes being with the people and working with there when they are sick. a Peaceful Community. A Peaceful Community makes a Peaceful Nation. A Peaceful Nation makes a Peaceful World. May all beings live in Happiness and Peace.

And with the following words from the Gospel according to Matthew:

Happy are those who are humble Happy are those who are merciful to others Happy are the pure in heart Happy are those who work for peace. ≥

24 Dharma World April–June 2015 ESSAY

The Lotus Sutra from Below by Gene Reeves

Gene Reeves has researched and To see the Lotus Sutra from below is to see it not so much as lectured on the Lotus Sutra worldwide a protection for the nation and those who most benefi t from for more than a quarter century. He social stability as it is to see it as at least partially subversive, was a visiting professor at Peking from a perspective that would advocate dramatic change University and a professor at Renmin in society and inevitable overturn of powerful elites, both University of China in Beijing until secular and monastic. retiring in 2012, and he serves as an international advisor to Rissho Kosei-kai. His recent works include I do not know what Emperor Shomu including the Lotus Sutra, are seen from The Lotus Sutra and The Stories of had in mind by the “country” when in the perspective of the elite of society, the Lotus Sutra (Wisdom Publications, the eighth century he ordered that in typically from the perspectives of highly 2008 and 2010). every division of his realm temples— placed scholar monks, who were usually a kokubunji for monks and a kokubun- supported by political and social elites. action signifi cantly related to mental niji for nuns—should be constructed Th at is to see the Lotus Sutra from above. processes. But still, there is, I think, and there the Lotus Sutra recited every To see the Lotus Sutra from below is to a diff erence between compassion as a day for the protection of the country. see it not so much as a protection for meditative practice and compassion Th e fact that he wanted these temples the nation and those who most bene- embodied in doing good. spread throughout his realm may indi- fi t from social stability as it is to see it The Lotus Sutra has been called cate that he had all the people in mind. as at least partially subversive, from a both the “king of sutras” and “noth- Th is is possible but unlikely. What is perspective that would advocate dra- ing but snake oil.” No other Buddhist more likely is that he had in mind the matic change in society and inevitable text, I think, has been evaluated in such aristocrats and nobility and was at most overturn of powerful elites, both sec- extremely divergent ways. Th ough these dimly aware of the existence of the farm- ular and monastic. views may be extreme, many diff erent ers, fi shermen, and hunters who made While the distinction I am trying to perspectives on the Lotus Sutra are pos- up the vast majority of the people of make here between the above and the sible. Th e fact that diff erent, in some Japan. Emperor Shomu lived a very priv- below is largely social and economic, cases radically diff erent, perspectives ileged life at considerable social if not a physiological distinction is also at exist—and have for centuries—is evi- physical distance from the poor of that play, one between mind and body. Th is dence enough for this. I believe, though, time. Probably he saw the Lotus Sutra is not the place to develop such a the- that many perspectives on and interpre- as a tool for protecting the privileged sis, but I want to point here to the fact tations of this sutra are not only possi- elite, for maintaining their status. Th us that elite Buddhism is typically con- ble but also useful and to some degree he would have seen the Lotus Sutra from cerned with what happens in and to correct. a perspective above—both from above the mind, while Buddhism from below So I am not claiming that seeing the the masses of common people and from is more concerned about what we do Lotus Sutra from below is the only cor- above the sutra itself. with our bodies, with acts more than rect, or only legitimate, way of view- The thesis of this article in brief with thoughts or ideas. Of course mind ing this sutra. Let us remember that is that one important perspective on and body are not as easily separated as the Lotus Sutra has been closely asso- the Lotus Sutra is to see it from below. this seems to suggest. In my view, every ciated, as a kind of prelude to it, with Typically, Buddhism and its texts, thought is tinged with emotion, every the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings. It

Dharma World April–June 2015 25 invites, in other words, a variety of inter- often, but not always, with reference to It is noteworthy, I think, that such pretations. And that, from my point of the Lotus Sutra. The use of these terms, groups were sometimes associated with view, only confirms the wonderful rich- especially for lay Buddhists who recited devotion to the Eternal Venerable Mother ness of this text. the name of Amida Buddha (Jpn., nem- (Ch., Wushenglaomu), as in China, and This does not, I think, mean that butsu) in groups, can be traced back to not only in China, strong women, includ- all perspectives and interpretations the early Tang dynasty, that is, to the late ing Guanyin and the Queen Mother of are equally valid or useful. I think, for sixth century or so. But there is also evi- the West, were often perceived by elites example, that attempts to see the sutra dence of a similar group, though it did as threatening to the existing order, in as nothing more than empty praise of not rely on the nembutsu, on Mount Lu which women were generally regarded as itself or as nothing more than a rhe- as early as 402. Later, groups using these inferior to men and incapable of effective, torical gambit in a debate between two rubrics were often associated with more heaven-pleasing leadership. That such different Buddhist camps are badly mis- rebellious Maitreya movements that groups may sometimes even have been placed. To understand the sutra in these would be banned, but not eliminated, nongendered might be indicated by the ways, I believe, is to miss what is valu- during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). fact that they were referred to as “men able in this text. Thus there are, I think, As is often the case with the history and women who mix indiscriminately.” bad interpretations. But countering or of uneducated, illiterate groups, almost We do not, and probably cannot, trying to refute such interpretations is all of what we know of these groups is know to what extent such groups were not my purpose here. learned from what was written about influenced by the Lotus Sutra. It’s quite Here I merely want to claim that one them by educated elites who despised possible that the “lotus” in “lotus teach- important way of seeing or understand- them. It is reasonably clear that Chinese ings” is not at all a reference to the Lotus ing the Lotus Sutra is to see it from below. elites often both despised and feared Sutra but only to the lotus plant and There are only three main sections. white lotus teachings groups. Thus they flower. Still, it is not difficult to imag- First I want to claim that this perspec- were referred to as “people who eat veg- ine that people were influenced directly tive is not a new one, that as a histori- etables and serve devils,” a stereotyp- or indirectly by the Lotus Sutra and its cal matter the Lotus Sutra has probably ical phrase perhaps first used in 1121 teachings, seeing it from below. long been seen from below. Here I want as a direct result of unrest and a local Another, probably socially more to briefly discuss events in three differ- uprising in Taizhou. Of course, various important, area of largely undiscussed ent cultures and times: pre-Republican religious groups were vegetarian, but Lotus Sutra influence in China is to be China, nineteenth-century Japan, and such a reference is most often used for found in Guanyin devotion. Elsewhere contemporary America. Second, I will lay Buddhists. And while “devils” can I have tried to show how devotion to ask you to think about some of the sto- refer to any number of “false” gods, it Guanyin in post-tenth-century China ries in the Lotus Sutra, stories that tend was often used by Confucian elites to gave rise to three transformations of to support a subversive understand- mean Buddhist bodhisattvas and bud- Guanyin Bodhisattva: a transforma- ing of the sutra. Third, I will return to dhas, especially when perceived to be at tion from being entirely male to being history with a brief discussion of the the center of popular devotional groups. both male and female; a transforma- Japanese poet, storyteller, and devo- Against the assumption of many tion from being a bodhisattva among tee of the Lotus Sutra Kenji Miyazawa. scholars that such groups were generally many bodhisattvas to being a buddha violent and rebellious, ter Haar argues as well as a bodhisattva; and a transfor- On the Ground that they were often entirely peaceful. mation from being “on high” to being But this should not detract from the the epitome of embodied compassion, On the Ground in China fact that serious rebellions did arise especially in places where compassion is As my ability to read the Chinese lan- under the banner of lotus teachings most needed, that is, in the lowly, dirty guage is very poor, I am very indebted and that even when they were peace- places of this world. All of these impor- to Barend ter Haar’s book The White ful, such groups were perceived from tant transformations, found in popu- Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious on high as dangerous and potentially lar devotion to Guanyin and as well History (University of Hawai’i Press, rebellious. Thus they were called peo- in countless, largely ignored, Chinese 1999). According to ter Haar, an enor- ple who “gather at night and disperse at Buddhist texts devoted to Guanyin, and mous variety of teachings and ideas over dawn.” This widely used epithet points to given graphic description in East Asian several centuries of Chinese history are the fact that subversive activities often Buddhist art, can be supported by what associated with the rubrics of “white were, and still are, conducted semise- is written in chapter 25, the “Universal lotus society” or “white lotus teachings,” cretly, under cover of darkness. Gateway” chapter, of the Lotus Sutra, a

26 Dharma World April–June 2015 text that often circulated separately as to peasant upris- the Guanyin Sutra. ings and riots. In While it would be very difficult to at least one case, in prove this as historical fact, I believe nineteenth-century that Guanyin devotion transformed or Nagoya, these pil- moved Buddhism as a whole from obses- grimages became a sion with texts and mental wisdom to kind of social reform being a religion and practice of com- movement, with the passion. I am not at all suggesting that popular dance and pursuit of Buddhist wisdom has been slogan of “Why not?” or should be abandoned. Compassion This was started by a that is not wise may not be truly com- rumor that talismans passionate. But I do want to suggest that from Ise Shrine had the Buddhisms most Buddhists follow fallen from heaven. today are considerably more compas- Men and women, sion oriented than the earliest forms of young and old, Buddhism—largely as a consequence went kind of crazy of the growth of Guanyin devotion in with joy, dancing East Asia. wildly in the streets While devotion and compassion can of the city. This move- be practiced by anyone, at any level of ment spread rapidly society, I think they are not readily real- over much of Japan, ized through study of texts or develop- down to Osaka and Kyoto and up to Edo to the Lotus Sutra itself. I do not know ment of complex theories of mind. They (Tokyo) and even Fukushima. how common it was in China or India, may not have been primary for most elite This was a time of enormous social- but in Japan the Lotus Sutra has inspired monks and highly literate laypeople in political change, when the Tokugawa devotion and reverence to itself. Today East Asia. But devotion and compas- shogunate was being replaced by the chanting the odaimoku, or praise of the sion are at the heart of the Buddhism restoration of the emperor. It is said that title of the Lotus Sutra, can be an act of from below of nuns and of laypeople. the faction that overthrew the shogu- mere ritual practice; it can be a magical Too often, I think, such popular forms nate supported the “Why not?” frenzy. way to exorcise demons or gain rewards; of Buddhism are ignored or dismissed Political changes gave rise among com- it can be an important intellectual exer- by elite Buddhists, including Buddhist mon people to expectations of social ref- cise; it can be a musical performance; it scholars, who regard them as no more ormation as well. In joy, people danced can be a kind of meditative reminder of than embarrassing popular religion, in the streets, sometimes day and night, the teachings of the entire sutra; it can as expressions of ignorant and super- wore clothing of the opposite sex, and be many things. But most often it is an stitious people. generally went wild with excitement. act of devotion, an expression of some Stirred up by chants of “Why not, why deep feeling, even of love, for the Lotus On the Ground in Japan not?” they would sometimes force their Sutra. In Japanese history such devo- In his Introduction to the Lotus Sutra way into the homes of wealthy landlords tion has found expression in countless (Wisdom Publications, 2014), Yoshiro or merchants, taking money and other ways, in humble acts of piety, in magi- Tamura discusses Lotus Sutra–inspired things while yelling “Why not, why not, cal uses of the sutra to cure the sick or pilgrimages of thanksgiving to Ise Shrine why not take this?” bring material benefits to the poor, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth cen- It’s not possible to say that such upris- in exquisite art forms. turies that made it possible for people ings were inspired only by the Lotus Such expressions of devotion to to express their frustrations with life at Sutra, as there were multiple causes the Lotus Sutra have not always come that time and provide some relief from at play. But inspiration by the Lotus from below in a socioeconomic sense. the hardships of peasant life in pre-Meiji Sutra, especially as it was interpreted Magnificent art, after all, often depended Japan (before 1868). by Nichiren-related groups, played a for its production and preservation on Sometimes these pilgrimages big part in some of them. wealthy patrons, including wealthy tem- transformed themselves into explicit Were I equipped to do so, here there ples and monks. But very ordinary, typ- resistance movements and gave rise should be some discussion of devotion ically illiterate people, often regarded

Dharma World April–June 2015 27 America. Far from my being an expert on Soka Gakkai, most of what I know about it is from what I have read or from rumors spread in Japan. But I have observed in a few gatherings in the United States that SGI is extremely diverse in race and socioeconomic class—in sharp contrast with every other religious group I have experi- as ignorant, have found comfort and no idea, of course, what these men in enced except for a few Roman Catholic even the Buddha’s awakening in such women’s clothes, and perhaps a little churches. At a Soka Gakkai funeral ser- devotion. drunk, thought they were doing, but vice I recently attended, there was a In recent years, I have had the plea- aware of it or not, they were clearly giv- rainbow of people of African, Indian, sure of participating in various Oeshiki ing expression to the idea that gender East Asian, Latino, and European ori- celebrations in Tokyo. Oeshiki parades is largely a social construction and, by gins or ancestry. And while there surely are usually associated with temples of the implication, to the idea that what is were doctors and lawyers and teach- Nichiren sect or newer Nichiren-related socially constructed can change or be ers among them, the majority of those groups, such as Rissho Kosei-kai, though changed. Though this is highly specu- present were lower-class people, people often with participation by secular groups lative, it may be no accident that this we used to call “working class” but who as well. Though celebrated on or around festival with important social impli- now are more often unemployed or at the anniversary of the death of Nichiren, cations is held at a Kishimojin tem- best marginally employed. They were, in these parades are joyous occasions, with ple. Kishimojin, who appears in the other words, people who would see the dancing to special music, much use of Lotus Sutra and therefore has a num- Lotus Sutra from a perspective below. drums and other musical instruments, ber of temples in Japan, is, after all, a highly decorated floats, and highly sym- very powerful woman. In the Text bolic twirling of matoi (Japanese fire- Here there is not space enough to of the Lotus Sutra fighters’ standards) and bobbing mando go into anything like a history of the (portable lighted pagodas). Though highly formation of the Japanese Buddhist so- I suppose that most people reading this emotional in some ways, at places such called new religions that grew up in the magazine are already familiar with the as the Nichiren sect’s Ikegami Honmonji twentieth century. Almost all of the text of the Lotus Sutra. So I will not retell or Rissho Kosei-kai these festive parades Buddhist “new religions” are signifi- here the stories to which I would like to are relatively well controlled and quite cantly related to the Lotus Sutra. There refer, but merely remind you of them sober. But at the Oeshiki festival cul- are exceptions, but very few—actually and try to show their significance for minating at the Kishimojin temple in only one that I know of. And most have the thesis I am presenting here. Zoshigaya, an older tradition persists. been heavily involved in social reform, Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva There we find the same basic symbolic such as the Brighter Society Movement, elements but in more primitive or sim- and the current movement to bring an Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva, proba- ple forms. Beer drinking and drunken end to the use of nuclear energy world- bly found only in chapter 21 of the Lotus revelry are also part of the sometimes wide. By now, I suppose the vast major- Sutra, is a much earlier embodiment of chaotic festivity reminiscent of the wild ity of Rissho Kosei-kai members are Shakyamuni Buddha who goes around frenzy of the nineteenth-century pilgrim- solid mid­dle-class folks. But that was bowing to everyone he meets, telling them ages of thanksgiving. To my knowledge, not always the case. In its early days, in that he would never disrespect them or there have been no surveys of the social its days of rapid growth, it was a work- put them down, because they have the class level of participants in Oeshiki fes- ing-class movement, but one that took potential of becoming a buddha. This tivals. But I can tell you that the one in seriously the commission to be con- bodhisattva is a monk but one who does Zoshigaya has a definite feeling of being cerned about the welfare of all people not devote himself to reading or recit- from below. Even the Kishimojin tem- and the peace of the entire world. It was ing sutras but simply to going around ple itself is quite modest, both in size a movement that saw the Lotus Sutra bowing to people, be they monk or nun, and in decor. from below. layman or laywoman, praising them for And this is the only place in Tokyo Finally, I want to mention Soka practicing the bodhisattva way and tell- where I have seen cross-dressing. I have Gakkai International (SGI) in North ing them that they will become buddhas.

28 Dharma World April–June 2015 The point of this story is surely that having been persuaded by his sons to day is especially important to women, we should always respect others and see do so, relinquishes his throne and takes including ordained women, who tend in them the potential to become bud- his whole extended family to follow to see things from below. dhas. But there is also a strong sugges- the Buddha. Dharma Teachers tion here that what is most important There are, I think, at least two impor- is not so much how one treats sutras tant, at least slightly subversive elements More or less in the middle of the Lotus but how one treats other people. This, in this story. First is the queen, the wife Sutra and not well integrated with the mind you, is in a text that elsewhere and mother. In the Lotus Sutra there rest of it is a chapter proclaiming the strongly advocates embracing, copy- are several stories involving fathers and importance of teachers of dharma. ing, studying, reciting, teaching, and sons or, as in the parable of the burning This chapter, the tenth, “Teachers so forth, the Lotus Sutra. Even in this house, fathers and children. But nowhere of the Dharma,” perhaps more clearly very chapter, Shakyamuni Buddha says in any of these stories is there a mother. than any other, insists on the equality of that he was able to become awakened Yet here, toward the end of the Lotus women and men, which itself requires quickly only because he received and Sutra, is a story in which the mother a kind of view from below. But what embraced, read and recited the Lotus is at the center of the story, as the glue is more interesting about this chapter Sutra. But what is more important, this that holds the family together. It is to for the purposes of this article is that it text suggests, is being respectful toward her that the sons go to complain about authorizes a new category of Buddhist others, even all others. This point of view, their father and express their desire to leader, that of dharma teacher, a cate- I suggest, is a perspective from below, follow the Buddha, and it is she who gory that has very little if any regard for one that emphasizes simple practice insists that they must gain their father’s the hierarchies prominent elsewhere in rather than complex doctrine, ritual, assent to go anywhere. In this story the the sutra of shravaka, pratyekabuddha, or practice. Perhaps that is why even mother is a queen, so hardly a model bodhisattva, and buddha, and of monk, now this bodhisattva is especially pop- of low status, but she is a woman in a nun, layman, and laywoman. ular with laypeople. story in which the king has an entire What’s especially important here, I harem to serve him. This story invites think, is that anyone can be a dharma Fame Seeker us to see things, at least in part, from a teacher, even without credentials. Already in chapter 1 of the Lotus Sutra woman’s perspective. Religious organizations, including we find an earlier embodiment of The second element in this story Buddhist organizations, seem to love Maitreya who, while he read and even to which I wish to point is much more hierarchies and the gates and hurdles memorized many sutras, gained lit- explicitly central to the story. It is the fact that signify—or more often permit or tle from them and forgot almost all of that the father is taught by his sons and prevent—advancement from one level to what he had read. Called “Fame Seeker,” in the end calls them his good friends. the next. The “Teachers of the Dharma” he was always seeking fame and mate- Such good friends, the Buddha says, chapter has none of that, whether inten- rial gain. Yet this man, we are told, by whether they be sons or daughters, are a tionally or not I do not know. doing good works, by helping others, great blessing. By planting roots of good- The chapter begins with the Buddha was able to see countless buddhas and ness, that is, by doing good, they will looking out over a vast variety of living himself become the Buddha Maitreya. enjoy good friends in life after life and beings, including not only people who Here, too, different lessons might be be able to do the Buddha’s work, teach- aspire to become shravakas or bodhi- taken from this story. But surely it is in ing the dharma and enriching others, sattvas but also gods, dragon kings, part a lesson about what is most impor- bringing them joy and enabling them to satyrs, centaurs, asuras, griffins, chi- tant—helping others. We are not told attain supreme awakening. Again, what meras, and pythons. In other words, a whether this man is a monk or a layman, is stressed here is not studying or recit- great variety of both human and non- but it is clear that he is a bodhi­sattva, ing sutras, not analyzing doctrines, not human beings. And the Buddha says one who follows the way of helping oth- meditation or ritual practice, not fol- to Medicine King Bodhisattva that he ers, doing good, as the text says. lowing precepts, but simply doing good. assures all such living beings that if This emphasis on doing good, some- they hear even a single verse of the King Wonderfully Adorned times termed doing the good of all, is Lotus Sutra and respond with joy even Near the end of the Lotus Sutra, in the one of the things in the Lotus Sutra for a single moment, they will become next-to-last chapter, we can find the that may have helped give rise to the supremely awakened. If anyone asks story of King Wonderfully Adorned, a Buddhism of compassion that arose in you, Medicine King, the Buddha con- story about a non-Buddhist king who, China, a form of Buddhism that to this tinues, who will become buddhas in the

Dharma World April–June 2015 29 future, you should show them these here calling on the name means, or at This story is nearly as much about people. They certainly will become least can mean, taking the name seri- two men, a leading shravaka and a bodhi­ buddhas in ages to come. ously by embodying it in one’s own life, sattva, as it is about the dragon girl. Moreover such people should be hon- that is by regarding, taking seriously, Manjushri Bodhisattva has been asked ored as if they were tathagatas, for in the cries and suffering of others. Rather whether in all of his extensive travels reality they are all already bodhi­sattvas then being a mere magical act, it can be he has found anyone capable of quickly who have given up living in a pure land an act of deepest religious devotion, a becoming an awakened buddha. His and chosen to be born in this world out devotion that is especially attentive to response is that he has, the young but of sympathy for other living beings! those in trouble. already highly accomplished daughter of This “Teachers of the Dharma” chap- In this way, devotion to Guanyin, a dragon king, where Manjushri has just ter is sometimes embodied in Rissho expressed in calling the name, is devo- been visiting. This girl, he tells the two Kosei-kai’s practice of hoza, dharma sit- tion to others, especially compassion men to their astonishment, is capable ting, in which people help each other for others who are especially in need. of becoming a buddha quickly. Neither apply the Buddhist teachings to prob- I learned this, by the way, from a clerk of these men expresses any qualms at lems of everyday life without regard to in a gift shop in a very important nuns’ all about the girl’s being an animal or a rank or gender or social standing. In temple in Hong Kong. dragon. What Shariputra, the shravaka, hoza, all are learners and all are teachers. The second feature of chapter 25, is concerned about is the fact that this often portrayed on temple walls in China, person is female, since a woman’s body, Guanyin/Kannon is the many forms that Guanyin can he says, is too filthy even to receive the I know that Guanyin belongs to Pure take on, from that of a buddha to that dharma, never mind be awakened by Land traditions at least as much as she of an ordinary woman to that of a god, it. Accumulated Wisdom Bodhisattva, belongs to Lotus Sutra traditions. I also in order to save those who are in need on the other hand, is concerned only know that Tiantai Buddhist teachers of someone in such a form. The point, about the claim that she is capable of in China and, at least until the time of of course, though again not explicit in becoming awakened quickly, especially Nichiren, Tendai teachers in Japan prac- the text, is that anyone at all can appear since it took Shakyamuni a long time ticed and advocated Pure Land teach- to us as Guanyin. This is related to the to become an awakened one. ings and practices. So I do not want to prevalent idea that Guanyin is compas- We need not be concerned here about claim that the rise of Guanyin devo- sion embodied, and anyone can embody the issue of speed, but the gender of the tion, which is so central to a perspective compassion, thus embodying Guanyin. girl is relevant. Some complain, as well from below, is simply due to influence This can have very important impli- they should, about the fact that in this of the Lotus Sutra. But I also think it is cations for what it means to be a bud- story, as in many others, in the process far from trivial that all of the elements dha, but it has long been taken to be of becoming a buddha the girl’s body of the rise of Guanyin devotion can be a teaching about what it means to be is transformed into that of a man. But based on the twenty-fifth chapter of the a Buddhist. And here, at least, to be a this is to miss the way in which this Lotus Sutra. Buddhist is to be compassionate toward story is obviously intended and has been In fact, that chapter, which was and those who are poor or oppressed or ill received in East Asian Buddhist his- is circulated and recited separately from or otherwise pushed to the bottom, to tory—as assurance from the Buddha the Lotus Sutra, sometimes even today is a place below. that women are capable of becoming taken to be the Lotus Sutra. Its title is “The fully awakened buddhas. The Dragon Princess Universal Gateway of the Bodhisattva But there is another interesting fea- Regarder of the Cries of the World.” Other I suppose we might make something ture of this story. After the Buddha has translations are possible, of course, but of the fact that the central figure in the accepted a gift from the girl, she turns what is being highlighted in the title is the story of the Dragon Princess in chap- to the two men in the story and asks if sense that Guanyin makes Buddhadharma ter 12, “Devadatta,” is obviously non- the Buddha has accepted the gift quickly available to anyone. human. Not only that, this girl lives at or not. And when they respond that he The text itself has two main parts. the bottom of the sea. What could be has accepted it quickly, she tells them In the first, a variety of calamities are lower than that? But that is not what to watch with their spiritual eyes and named, from which one can be rescued this story is about, nor is it the way in they will see her become a buddha even by calling on the name of Guanyin. The which this character has been received more quickly. Then the two men, along text does not say so explicitly, but I think and treated in history, where this dragon with others present, do indeed see the a case can be made for thinking that girl is almost always portrayed as human. girl become a buddha sitting on a lotus

30 Dharma World April–June 2015 flower, teaching the dharma to living importance of social location beings everywhere. The two men saw for gaining understanding and believed. of the suffering of others. In other words, these two men of It can be said that many highest rank, the leading shravaka and a of these stories are intended leading bodhisattva, were instructed by to show or illustrate the cen- this girl and learned from her, advanc- tral theme of the Lotus Sutra, ing their own way along the path. What that anyone can become a she showed them was a kind of seeing buddha. That would, I think, from below, bringing them down, so to be correct. But it does not speak, from their elevated positions to negate the fact that these see the potential to become a buddha stories, and indeed the idea in a little girl. that anyone can become a buddha itself, also give support to the Probably in part to separate him- The Poor Son idea that the potential to become a bud- self and his life from his father and The poor son found in chapter 4 is not dha is to be found at every level of soci- his father’s way of life, Miyazawa went prodigal at all, but he is poor. We are ety, including the bottom level. This, through a phase in which he left a teach- told that he goes around from place to so to speak, egalitarian stance of the ing job that he enjoyed enormously in place trying to eke out a living in any way Lotus Sutra is, in effect, a perspective order to try to be a “real peasant.” He he can. In contrast with his rich father, from below, a perspective found espe- left the family’s big house and moved he is extremely poor. But his material cially, but not only, in people who suffer into their second, much smaller home, poverty is not the point of the parable; indignities of racial or class or gender in which he had tried unsuccessfully it’s his mental poverty, his extreme lack discrimination. to nurture his younger sister back to of self-confidence; in other words, his health. There he set up a society to edu- Kenji Miyazawa, Failed Peasant complete lack of awareness of his own cate farmers called the Rasu Earthmen potential to become a buddha. We turn now to Kenji Miyazawa, who Society, but what he meant by “Rasu” We might be tempted to think that perhaps more than any other modern was never explained. “We are all farm- the father is at the opposite extreme of figure sought to embody in his own ers,” he declared. self-confidence. And we are told that he life the ideal of the bodhisattva that he But Kenji was identified from the out- is a very successful businessman who found in the Lotus Sutra. His kindness set as the first son of a wealthy family, has accumulated great wealth. But the led people to call him “Kenji Bosatsu,” and the thought police of the day made only thing we learn of his psychological or Kenji Bodhisattva. overt moves to look into Kenji’s activi- condition is that for a long time he has Miyazawa was born and lived most ties as potentially socialist and danger- been suffering from longing for his lost of his life in the rural area of what is now ous. The Rasu Earthmen Society stopped son. And in this story he longs for his Iwate Prefecture of Japan, an area not functioning and soon ceased to exist. son not so much because he wants to only extremely poor but also extremely Kenji cultivated land. He had to be with him as because he needs some- prone to natural disaster, including fre- clear a plot of sandy land atop a cliff. one to receive his inheritance and take quent floods and occasional earthquakes Even though he was a walker and a good over his business. and tsunamis, but especially drought, mountain climber, he wasn’t fit for that Understanding well the son’s impov- crop failure, and famine. Miyazawa kind of labor and tired easily. He tried erished psychological condition, the witnessed poverty and great suffer- to live like a regular peasant, insisting father very gradually encourages him ing every day, but he was born into a on subsistence food, rejecting, for exam- to take greater and greater responsibil- family in which both his father and ple, the box lunches his mother made ity, both for the father’s business and for his grandfather were wealthy. Even his and brought to him. He mainly ate veg- himself. This very rich father, in other mother was from a wealthy family. As etables he had grown himself. In his words, is somehow able to see things a child Kenji was greatly embarrassed kitchen, for tableware there were only from below, from the perspective of by witnessing extremely poor peas- two rice bowls and a set of chopsticks. the poor son. This is put more dramat- ants come into his father’s pawnshop Kenji’s life as a peasant was full of ically in a part where the father dresses to try to sell the last of their meager incongruities. The flowers in his gar- as a poor man and joins the son shovel- belongings in order to buy food for den were grown from seeds he ordered ing dung. It’s a great metaphor for the their starving children. from the Yokohama branch of Sutton &

Dharma World April–June 2015 31 Sons of England, an extravagance. With being is endowed with buddha-nature a powerful and powerfully poetic affir- friends, he held concerts of Western clas- and is capable of becoming a buddha. mation of what he felt deeply from sical music, himself playing the organ or This led to a decision not to eat “bod- a young age. Like Buddhism gener- the cello, both expensive instruments. ies of living things.” His feeling about ally, the Lotus Sutra does not advo- He loved rubber boots, when no peas- eating “bodies of living things” was so cate pure self-sacrifice for the sake of ant then wore such expensive things. strong he felt guilty eating vegetables. others but does teach that the way to According to students, Kenji always When he was about to graduate from supreme awakening, to embodying the wore socks. When the heels became agricultural college, he wrote in a letter: Buddha in one’s own life, to gradually holes, he wore them upside down with “Namu Myoho Renge-kyo, Namu Myoho becoming a buddha, lies in helping the holes up, but not a single peasant in Renge-kyo! I sincerely offer myself in others, especially through teaching the Tohoku region in those days wore service to the Sutra of the Lotus Flower Buddhadharma. That Miyazawa largely socks at all. Even in the middle of win- of the Wonderful Dharma, the founda- abandoned family wealth and privi- ter they usually went barefoot. tion of the greatest happiness for all. lege—as the Buddha is said to have left Sometimes Kenji went into town When I chant ‘Namu Myoho Renge- the comforts of his father’s castle—in to sell vegetables grown in his garden, kyo’ just once, the world and I are envel- order to try to find ways to effectively loading them on the kind of cart you oped in a wondrous light.” Chanting this help the rural poor of Iwate not only pull behind you. Of course, as the son odaimoku, he imagined his spirit soar- is completely consistent with being a of a distinguished family, he could not ing in boundless space, as on a railroad practitioner of the Lotus Sutra but is go about loudly calling out his wares through the Milky Way, where he was to embody it. in order to sell them. He simply pulled filled with joy in the great cosmos, and To embody the Lotus Sutra, I believe, his cart, smiling. So most of his pro- from which, having a round-trip ticket, is to try to see the world from below. duce would end up unsold. Then this he returned to Earth, having acquired It is, like Kenji Miyazawa, to try, how- would-be peasant would give away his strength and courage to endure a life ever ineptly, to be a peasant even while vegetables to anyone. of suffering. not a peasant, thus, at least in part, to Kenji’s family were devoted followers For Nichiren Buddhists the odaimoku see the Lotus Sutra itself from a lowly of Jodo Shinshu, or Pure Land Buddhism. is a kind of sacred mantra, one that works perspective. But, perhaps ironically, His conversion to the Lotus Sutra and on the human spirit, elevating the human to see the Lotus Sutra from below is Nichiren Buddhism started when, still spirit by enabling one to identify with the to see the enormous potential in the in his teens, he became “extraordinarily affirmations of the whole Lotus Sutra. weak and the poor of this world to be moved” by the just-published Chinese- Since it represents and embodies the teachers and bodhisattvas for ourselves, Japanese edition of the Lotus Sutra found sutra, it provides a connection, a passage thus giving us the wonderful opportu- in his father’s library. He soon became as it were, between earth and heaven, nity to see countless buddhas every- interested in the Kokuchukai, founded between earthly and cosmic perspec- where. ≥ by the charismatic follower of the Lotus tives, between fact and fantasy, between Sutra Chigaku Tanaka. This Kokuchukai science and imagination. References in the 1920s and 1930s was an ultra- In the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni’s Reeves, Gene. A Buddhist Kaleidoscope: Essays on the Lotus Sutra. Tokyo: nationalist religious body. Tanaka pro- world and paradise is this world. For Kosei Publishing Company, 2002. claimed its duty to achieve “a spiritual Miyazawa, this intimate association of ———. The Lotus Sutra. Boston: Wisdom unity” throughout the world, with “Japan Shakyamuni Buddha with this world in Publications, 2008. as the Imperial Headquarters.” In 1920 which suffering has to be endured, and ———. Stories of the Lotus Sutra. Boston: Miyazawa joined the Kokuchukai, and can be, means that to whatever extent Wisdom Publications, 2010. in January of 1921, seized by a revela- we honor or respect the Buddha, we Sato, Hiroaki. Miyazawa Kenji. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. tion, he left his home, went to Tokyo, must also honor and respect his home, Tamura, Yoshiro. Introduction to the Lotus and tried to work at the Kokuchukai as which is also our world. Sutra. Boston: Wisdom Publications, a resident member. When he joined the Miyazawa would have understood 2014. Kokuchukai, a copy of Nichiren’s man- this intuitively and immediately, as he ter Haar, B. J. White Lotus Teachings in dala was sent to him, which he mounted was devoted to working to improve the Chinese Religious History. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1999. and installed in his home in a special world, not only but especially for the Yü, Chün-Fang. Kuan-yin: The Chinese ceremony. poor. I suspect that his devotion to the Transformation of Avalokiteśvara. Kenji was grasped by the central idea poor did not come entirely from the N.Y.: Columbia University Press, of the Lotus Sutra that every sentient Lotus Sutra. But in the sutra he found 2001.

32 Dharma World April–June 2015 FOUNDER’S MEMOIRS

The First World Conference of Religions for Peace in Kyoto by Nikkyo Niwano

Nikkyo Niwano, the founder of Rissho In March 1999 an autobiography by Rev. Nikkyo Niwano Kosei-kai, was an honorary president (1906–99), the founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, was published of Religions for Peace and honorary in Japanese under the title Kono michi: Ichibutsujo no sekai chairman of Shinshuren (Federation o mezashite (The path that we have walked: Aspiring to the of New Religious Organizations of world of the One Buddha Vehicle). The book is a lively account Japan) at the time of his death in of the life of Founder Niwano as a leader of an international October 1999. He was awarded the lay Buddhist association and a pioneer of interreligious 1979 Templeton Prize for Progress in cooperation who dedicated himself to liberating all people from Religion. suffering with fi rm faith in the Lotus Sutra. Dharma World will continue to publish excerpts from the book in installments. of the Philosophy of Right, noted that “if states disagree and their particular wills cannot be harmonized, the matter can For a long time I thought about how pointless to think you can discuss things only be settled by war.” men and women of religion from around with some of the other religions.” I lis- Th is perhaps refl ects the general idea the world would sit around one table tened quietly to all these warnings. at the time that war is a normal event to discuss seriously, and with confi - Why is it that human beings have within human societies, that hostilities dence in one another, what we must do fought over and over again throughout will occur whenever people take up arms. to achieve peace. A lot has happened history? Th omas Hobbes, the English Th e words of Carl von Clausewitz, the from the time when what had been no philosopher and political theorist, wrote, Prussian general and military theorist, more than a vague idea fi rst arose and “Th e state of men without civil society are well known: “War is merely the con- now, when it has blossomed into the (which state may be called the state of tinuation of politics by other means.” World Conference of Religions for Peace. nature) is the state of war of all against As these quotations suggest, war I received a lot of welcome advice all,” and he went so far as to say that used to be thought of as a completely but also a certain amount of criticism as “force and fraud are in war the two car- natural human activity. Victory in war well. For example, some said, “Niwano’s dinal virtues.” Hegel too, in his Elements increased national wealth and amply plans for the world conference show covered its own costs. Times are dif- how ignorant he is of world religions ferent now, with the advent of nuclear as they actually are and of the cultures weapons, and when even conventional underlying them. Th ose plans are no weapons have ever-greater killing power. more than a pipe dream.” Others com- War, for whatever reason, is a crime that mented, “It’s political power that makes is utterly unforgivable. things move in the world, not religion. Already twenty-fi ve hundred years Just getting people of religion together ago, Shakyamuni said in the Stories from isn’t going to make a diff erence.” Some the Words of Truth Sutra, “Discard the scholars cautioned me to my face, say- swords, the bows and the arrows from ing, “However much you talk with the your mind.” Even so, people are still Christian representatives, all they will obsessed with making weapons, though do is tell you that you’re a pagan and today they are nuclear missiles rather try to convert you. And it’s even more than bows and arrows. In view of this

Dharma World April–June 2015 33 situation, people of religion can no lon- religions—Buddhism, Christianity, every continent should be included. In ger wonder if a peace conference among Shinto, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, addition to religionists, experts on the themselves is a possibility—it is now a Sikhism, Jainism, Confucianism, and issues we were to discuss were invited necessity. Zoroastrianism—arrived at the hall. They as consultants or observers. My determination to hold such a con- came from countries of the free world, The delegates thus chosen num- ference gradually turned into a mission. such as the United States, the United bered 132 from fifteen countries in I also felt uneasy that religions them- Kingdom, France, Switzerland, the Asia; 37 from Canada and the United selves would be rejected not only by Netherlands, and West Germany; from States; 5 from Uruguay, Argentina, society but by the gods and buddhas, as countries in the communist bloc, such as and Brazil; 35 from thirteen European long as they built walls between them- the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, countries; 8 from Kenya, South Africa, selves and acted like enemies, although Romania, Bulgaria, and Mongolia; and Ethiopia, Liberia, and Senegal; and 2 they are supposed to give people peace from developing nations such as India, from Australia. Invitations were sent of mind and a feeling of security. Pakistan, Indonesia, Kenya, Ethiopia, to religious leaders in China and North A proverb says good can come out of Uruguay, and Brazil. And they came too Vietnam, right down to just before the evil. If the birth of nuclear weapons helps from war-torn South Vietnam, the focus conference opened, but in the end none people realize the stupidity of war and of the world’s attention, and from Israel. came. The delegates represented 70 per- understand the misery it causes so that Representatives from all the world’s cent of the world’s population, in terms they think seriously about ways to cre- religions were meeting together in one of the populations of the participat- ate peace, then it has yielded something place, cutting across national borders ing countries. The conference was the great indeed. Otherwise, the spirits of and sectarian differences, united in their first in history attended by people of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, hope to bring about world peace. The religion from around the whole world. whose burned bodies drew the world’s first World Assembly of Religions for Archbishop Hélder Pessoa Câmara from attention to the horrors of the atomic Peace turned out to have far wider geo- Brazil even went so far as to say that bomb, will indeed never rest in peace. graphical scope and a far more substan- such a gathering was “truly a modern Still, conflicts rage unceasingly tial content than we had first conceived. miracle.” around the world. Surely now the human In scale, it certainly went beyond the As the loud, clear sound of a bell race, already on this earth for a million wildest dreams, not only of the Japanese reverberated through the conference years, has to be painfully aware of the real participants, but also of the delegates center, packed with representatives importance, and the necessity, of peace. from abroad. of all the different religions wearing Although we have only ever known war We received messages from Pope their formal dress, the curtain rose on as a means of existence, now, with the Paul VI; U Thant, secretary-general of the first World Assembly of the World twenty-first century imminent, we have the United Nations; and Lester Pearson, Conference of Religions for Peace. Rev. begun to realize that we must cooper- the former prime minister of Canada Shinko Kishi, the head of the Pure Land ate to live, and study ways of doing so. and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize sect of Japanese Buddhism, opened the A world conference of religionists in 1957; as well as from many other proceedings with a Buddhist prayer. was one such way. world leaders. The eyes of the world, not only of people of religion, were on Committing to Peace A Miracle the conference. To have the Kyoto conference live up Rev. Kosho Otani, head of the Hongwanji It was October 16, 1970. More than three to its designation “World Conference of school of Shin Buddhism, then mounted hundred men and women of religion Religions for Peace,” its executive com- the podium and gave the opening address from thirty-nine nations were meet- mittee had chosen delegates according to as the honorary president of the con- ing together at the Kyoto International the following criteria: The number of del- ference and as a representative of the Conference Center near the Takaragaike egates from each religion—Christianity, host nation. He said: Pond. They included 219 delegates from Buddhism, Shinto, Hinduism, Islam, the world’s religions, as well as guests, Judaism, Sikhism, and so on—should Japan was the first country in the consultants, observers, and staff mem- be in proportion to the number of its world to suffer from atomic bomb- bers. It was the opening day of the first adherents. They should be leaders with ing. It is also a country with a paci- World Assembly of Religions for Peace, significant influence within their own fist constitution that rejects the use the culmination of a great deal of effort. sect or organization. Religionists from of aggressive military force. These One by one the leaders of the major as many countries as possible and from two facts persuade me that this is a

34 Dharma World April–June 2015 very appropriate place to hold such a significant conference as this. Science contributes to both peace and destruction. It does not, though, determine peace, however much progress it makes, for this is some- thing that only we human beings can do. Finding the road to world peace will be brought about through our determination and commitment. The real results of this conference will be seen in the way people of reli- gion around the world set to work The atomic bombs dropped on Though there had already been a large to achieve world peace. Hiroshima and Nagasaki have taught number of conferences where people of us all that we will not survive if we keep religion spoke about peace, most speak- The first World Assembly of on looking on things in the old way. Japan ers tended to begin and end simply by Religions for Peace was sponsored is the first country in history to have talking about peace from a spiritual point jointly by an executive committee of experienced the unimaginable destruc- of view and offered no useful opinions interested leaders of the world’s major tive power of nuclear weapons. But now about the actual obstacles to peace. religions and by the Japan Religions nuclear weapons are a million times more Of course, peace for all the world’s League. Organization of the confer- destructive. If total war should break out, people will not be possible unless each ence was entrusted to the league’s the earth itself would be destroyed, and and every person has inner peace. But International Affairs Committee. As no one at all would remain alive. Friend that alone is not enough to achieve peace. the latter committee’s chairman, I and foe alike would share the same fate The question that the world conference addressed the conference as follows: as the whole world. thrust before us was this: How much The Vietnam War has clearly revealed strength do people of religion have to Our religions have the shared pur- a confrontation between East and West alter the realities that stand in the way pose of bringing people salvation and created a situation like a tinderbox of peace? and happiness. Rather than antag- waiting to explode. As President Kennedy It was American religious leaders onizing one another because our said, “Every man, woman and child lives who had encouraged Japanese religious beliefs are different, we must work under a nuclear sword of Damocles, circles to get involved in a conference, together to contribute to the cause hanging by the slenderest of threads, such as the first World Assembly of of world peace. I hope this confer- capable of being cut at any moment by Religions for Peace, that was seeking ence will offer us the opportunity to accident or miscalculation or by mad- practical steps to peace. True libera- discuss seriously, as people of reli- ness. The weapons of war must be abol- tion from suffering requires both inner gion, what it is we can and must do. ished before they abolish us.” and outer peace, but there was division As we discussed our plans for Following the plenary session, among religious people, particularly this conference, we built trust and attended by all, the delegates joined one Christians, in Europe and America over friendship among ourselves and of three study groups to discuss disar- which should take precedence. Some increased our cooperation. In so mament, development, or human rights. belonged to a gospel movement that doing, we have gone beyond the These were the major issues being tackled advocated spiritual peace and others to barriers of religion that separate us. by UN experts and members of global a social movement that wanted to bring This proves that it is possible for peace movements. We chose them not about actual social reform. us to join forces as people of reli- only because they are important prob- At that time there was a growing gion to work out, by focusing on lems that must be solved at an interna- confrontation between the commu- what we must do, ways to contrib- tional level but also because we believed nist bloc and the free world, between ute to the happiness of all people. that they could not be resolved with- the principles of socialism, advocated I believe that the efforts that have out the kind of discernment that comes by the Soviet Union, and democracy, gone into making this conference from a love of humankind that goes advocated by the United States. On the a reality are identical to those that beyond national interests and belongs pretext of providing aid to developing will bring about world peace. to a deeper spiritual dimension. countries where internal conflicts were

Dharma World April–June 2015 35 preventing economic independence, I chaired the plenary session on the According to the UN “White Paper both countries had actually prolonged second day, during which world religious on Nuclear Weapons” of the time, there conflicts until they had turned into civil leaders mounted the rostrum to give key- were stockpiles of about 3,200 megatons wars. This had happened in Asia and note speeches before the whole assembly. of nuclear weapons around the world. Africa, the Middle East, and Central I was then telling myself, “Disarmament, This was the equivalent of 3.2 billion and South America. The Vietnam War development, and human rights—the tons of TNT, the strongest of the con- was a typical example. subjects of the three study groups to be ventional explosives. This means that The central issue for the American held following this session—are none there was one ton of explosive for every participants in the conference, begin- other than peace, growth, and justice; person then alive. ning with the president of the Unitarian inverted, they become war, poverty, and Dr. Yukawa added: Universalist Association, Dr. Dana oppression. In this sense, the themes Greeley, and the Unitarian social activ- we chose were very timely, consider- Even so, ideas from the past that ist Dr. Homer Jack, was that despite ing the state of the world.” there is such a thing as a just war still the heavy cost and bitter experience One by one, some of the wisest peo- persist. Wars are taking place at the of the Second World War, the world ple of the time spoke to us, including Dr. moment, and protagonists on both seemed once again to be heading toward Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, president of sides try to justify their actions, say- another world war. People of religion the International Court of Justice in The ing what they do is right. Their first from all over the world must take joint Hague and sixteenth president of the UN reason is based on their belief that responsibility for the trend. Dr. Greeley General Assembly; Dr. Hideki Yukawa, a their own value system is superior said, “However much we speak of love, scientist of world renown and recipient to any others. Their second reason true peace will remain no more than of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physics; Dr. R. is that they have a legitimate right to a pipe dream unless we have a con- J. Zwi Werblowsky, professor of compar- defend themselves against aggression crete program to support disarmament, ative religion at the Hebrew University, by another country in order to pre- development, aid, and liberation from Jerusalem; and Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, serve their own country and people. discrimination and oppression, which secretary-general of the World Council The third is liberation from colonial are the very foundations of peace. But of Churches (WCC). exploitation. While we have to rec- however much we build systems and Dr. Yukawa’s keynote address was ognize these reasons and the situa- structures for this purpose, they will titled “The Creation of a World with- tions surrounding them, we will in not have any true vitality without the out Arms.” He spoke quietly but with the future have to submit wars of all love that binds the minds of people conviction: kinds to peace negotiations. together in trust. We believe it is the role of people of religion to bring love Before the advent of nuclear weapons, Professor Werblowsky spoke coura- and action together.” ideas like pacifism, nonviolence, and geously, not averting his gaze from the With already two years’ hard work nonresistance, which rejected war in mistakes made by people of religion in behind us to make this conference a general, were regarded as unrealis- the past. Even now, he said, religions reality, we were more than ever deter- tic. The majority view, ranging from may stand in the way of social progress mined to get to grips with this diffi- a passive affirmation that war was not in various ways. He spoke of the prob- cult problem. desirable but sometimes unavoidable, lems that had arisen in Vietnam and to active agreement that of course we the Middle East and about the future A Strong Opinion should take part in just wars, was that role of people of religion. war had to be sanctioned according Dr. Blake’s address about devel- The Catholic archbishop of New Delhi, to circumstances. However, now that opment was equally impressive. His Angelo Fernandes, who presided over the the Soviet Union and the United States ideas, backed by his experience as WCC conference, said in his opening address: possess enough nuclear weapons to secretary-general, were powerful and “War doesn’t begin with a declaration destroy humankind many times over, persuasive. of hostilities but with the building up and with the great amount of harm These keynote speeches provided of arms. The voice of religion authori- that growing numbers of chemical material for delegates’ debate in the study tatively denies the assertion that mili- and biological weapons can cause, groups that followed. There they spoke tary buildup discourages people from and in a situation that could easily frankly of the problems besetting their war and brings about peace. Love alone turn into nuclear war, we cannot con- own countries and societies and enthu- makes peace possible.” done even a just war. siastically discussed as specifically as

36 Dharma World April–June 2015 possible how they work and what they can do as people of religion to com- bat them.

Impassioned Discussion and Warm Handshakes in the study group on disarmament. people into obedience and so the result is that it supports injustice.” It was only natural that where reli- countries. is taught me how impor- “To me, as a person of religion, non- tant it is to seek and have such meet- violence is a fundamental principle, but thinking and feeling. And over and above ings in advance behind the scenes at if we turn a blind eye to human suf- an international conference, over and fering from violence, where does that More than a few people had mis- above what happens on center stage. leave the teaching ‘Love thy neighbor’?” givings that such a meeting of people We call such an approach nemawashi “In our country, nonviolence is tan- of religion could possibly discuss con- (a necessary prearrangement) in refer- crete issues like disarmament, devel- ence to prior consensus building, and to survive as a human being?” opment, and human rights, and they some of the overseas delegates also A Buddhist representative from thought the whole concept ill-advised. came to use that Japanese word at our South Vietnam replied to these views: “Communication will be completely next meetings. impossible,” they said. In Vietnam, people have already been - The Historic Kyoto cussions we held a working commit- Declaration years, but it hasn’t brought about any tee meeting. Members reported slipups resolution. Buddhists in Vietnam are in the running of the conference, and Passionate discussions also continued in - we discussed any immediate measures the study groups on development and ing, prayers, and protests against vio- human rights. Few of the Japanese reli- - gionists had had any practical experi- movement is centered on religious ion in the study groups, arising from ence dealing directly with actual issues organizations banding together and like politics, economics, and the social the same, amid the frank exchanges of system. However, taking advantage of are people who say that nonviolence the many opportunities for prepara- doesn’t produce results. But this is not breaks and around the dining table, there tory study and hearing the reports of because nonviolence is impotent but were also smiles and warm handshakes. the representatives from various coun- because the Vietnam War is no lon- Everyone agreed: the conference tries, they came to a new awareness of ger a problem for Vietnam alone. I was a success. the multiplicity and seriousness of the would ask people around the world I was deeply impressed by the way issues that obstructed world peace. to lend their strength to our move- the American religionists organized Alongside the three study groups, a ment of nonviolence. special committee dealing with Vietnam people from Japanese religious circles was set up as a matter of urgency within Never before had there been a con- too who demonstrated a strength in no the group studying disarmament. In war- ference where people of religion from way inferior. torn South Vietnam, the antiwar move- the free world and the socialist countries When I had a chance to talk with ment was continuing. Religious leaders had sat around the same table and dis- religionists from communist coun- from around the world were moved by tries a er we joyously shook hands, the appeals of the Vietnamese represen- they agreed with me on a personal - level, but they wanted me to under- tant chief priest of An Quang Pagoda for Peace to be a success. stand how things were in their own

Dharma World April–June 2015 37 There was a fear that the committee be long and winding, but I might become uncontrollable because believe that this road, and of the different political stances taken this road alone, is the true by the countries of the delegates, but we road to peace. had to overcome this and worked hard Even if for the moment we to find common ground as people of can’t see any visible results, we religion. We determined on a specific must still take that first step, course of action, making three resolu- or even half step. However tions that called for the immediate and barren the land, unless we unconditional withdrawal of the US sow seeds, no shoots will rise. forces from South Vietnam, for China Deep in the earth, the seed and the Soviet Union to stop supplying will eventually sprout, flower, weapons to North Vietnam, and for a and give forth its fruit. We ceasefire-monitoring group to be set up. must never lose the convic- We made no distinction between day tion that each step we take and night for the six days of the confer- toward building a peaceful ence and on the final day adopted the world brings our goal one Kyoto Declaration, which says: step nearer and that a hun- dred paces forward mean a It is not religion that has failed the hundred paces toward peace. cause of peace, but religious people. to become a moving force guiding the This betrayal of religion can and must Rejoicing in Success world to peace. be corrected. We live or die together. Archbishop Fernandes of India gave If we can drift toward destruction On October 23, 1970, two days after the the first report. He was followed by Dr. together, surely we can work together close of the conference, ninety-four of Greeley and Metropolitan Philaret of in our struggle for peace. We have the foreign delegates as well as thirty- Kiev. Their powerful reports made a seen the fundamental unity of the three Japanese delegates were invited deep impression on members. human family. We are convinced to a gathering in Fumon Hall in Tokyo Metropolitan Philaret stated that that religions, in spite of historical to pray for world peace, in conjunction poverty around the world is caused by differences, must now seek to unite with a meeting to report on the confer- the unequal distribution of wealth. He all men in those endeavors which ence. The hall had been completed that said that since planet Earth’s wealth make for true peace. April and could seat five thousand peo- belongs to all people, we should use ple. Rissho Kosei-kai members filled our wisdom to develop and distribute it The declaration was a truly his- Fumon Hall and the Great Sacred Hall more equally. To do so, all countries must toric document, in its vow by men and to pray for world peace, and altogether cease military preparations: this is the women of religion from around the twenty-five thousand people took part. gateway to global peace and prosperity. world to accept joint responsibility for The form of Fumon Hall, with its Many of the foreign guests spoke to the achievement of world peace. two circles joined in one, symbolizes me of their impressions. Further, this was not to be a one- the Three Seals of the Dharma, the fun- One said, “It was wonderful to see off event. Strong voices had been raised damental teaching of Buddhism. They young people, children, and old peo- among delegates for more such confer- are the truths that all things are imper- ple from Rissho Kosei-kai all coming ences, and so new officers were elected manent, all things are devoid of a sepa- together to pray for world peace. And to prepare for the next one. I was asked rate self (all things are interrelated), and seeing so many women actively work- to be a vice president. nirvana is quiescence (perfect harmony ing for peace filled me with a sense of Human relations begin with an between the first two truths). the power of religion.” encounter. Only with encounters can On that day Fumon Hall welcomed Another said, “The enormous energy discussions begin. Only from discus- men and women of religion from around of Rissho Kosei-kai made me feel I was sions can mutual understanding, trust, the world who had vowed to rededicate able to see a modern living religion. We and friendship emerge. Only through themselves to the cause of peace for all will never forget how deeply moved we bonds of trust and friendship can we humankind. Each Rissho Kosei-kai mem- have been.” hope to cooperate fully. The road may ber in both halls also deeply resolved To be continued

38 Dharma World April–June 2015 Atsushi Kanazawa is a Professor in The Prism the Faculty of Buddhism at Komazawa University, Tokyo. He specializes in of the Lotus Sutra (8) the Indian philosophy of language and by Atsushi Kanazawa the history of Indian philosophy and culture.

The Red Lotus

The “lotus” of the title of the Lotus Sutra is the puṇḍarīka, or white lotus, but in the Lotus Sutra not all lotuses are white. In fact, in the Lotus Sutra the word puṇḍarīka appears almost only in con- nection with the sutra’s title. Apart from a reference in the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings to the puṇḍarīka among vari- ous flowers that rain down from heaven, the only literal use of puṇḍarīka as the name of a flower occurs in chapter 19, “The Merits of the Preacher,” in the section dealing with the ability of the preacher to discern all kinds of smells, including the fragrances of red, blue, and white lotus flowers. Since these refer- ences are to Indian lotuses, non-Indian readers might not have known whether they were actually lotuses or similar- looking water lilies, and they may not have cared. This seems plausible when considering that the original Sanskrit text of the above passage about the fra- grances of lotus flowers mentions the “Springing Up out of the Earth,” where his disciples, will in a future age become name of another kind of lotus, omitted, it says, “These sons of the Buddha . . . the Tathāgata Flower Light, correspond- however, from Kumārajīva’s Chinese are as untainted with worldly things as ing to the Sanskrit padmaprabha, or translation. the lotus flower in the water.” Here the “he who has the radiance of a red lotus Aside from the blue lotus, the padma, Sanskrit equivalent of “lotus flower” is flower.” In the Sutra of Meditation on or red lotus, distinguished from the not puṇḍarīka, or white lotus, but padma, the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue, it is white lotus, is what we are concerned or red lotus. In references in chapter 12, stated more directly in connection with with here. This is the lotus mentioned “Devadatta,” to “Mañjuśrī, sitting on a the elephant on which the bodhisattva most frequently in the Lotus Sutra. An thousand-petal lotus flower as large as Universal Virtue (Samantabhadra) is important quality of lotuses in general a carriage wheel, with the bodhisattvas mounted that “on the elephant’s trunk, is that though they grow in muddy who accompanied him also sitting on having the color of a red lotus flower, water, their flowers bloom untainted jeweled lotus flowers,” the lotus flow- there is a transformed buddha who emits by it, inspiring a famous analogy lik- ers are again red. Likewise, in chapter a ray from his eyebrows.” ening the Buddha to a lotus flower. 3, “A Parable,” Shakyamuni predicts that In view of the examples above, This analogy is found in chapter 15, Śāriputra, foremost in wisdom among some scholars surmise that the word

Dharma World April–June 2015 39 puṇḍarīka, or white lotus, was used only in connection with Shakyamuni and was differentiated from the padma, or red lotus, which was associated with all manner of other buddhas and bodhi- sattvas. ≥

Mount Sumeru

Mount Sumeru, also known as Mount Meru, is, among Japanese Buddhists, an all-too-famous mountain. Its name was rendered in Chinese as “Wondrous High Mountain,” and in Buddhist cos- mology in ancient India it was the high mountain at the center of the world. A world with Mount Sumeru at its cen- ter is called a Sumeru world. Buddhist cosmology describes Mount Sumeru as eighty thousand yojanas high, but just how high might this be? It rises out of the sea and is said to be surrounded by eight concentric mountain ranges alter- nating with seven concentric other seas. Between the seventh and the outermost range of mountains is a vast ocean with four continents in the cardinal directions. The southern continent of Jambudvīpa is believed to be inhabited by Indians and other ordinary human beings. The sun, moon, and stars all orbit Mount Sumeru, and on its summit is the realm upon him. The flowers they strewed another region of numberless buddha- of Indra. The four heavenly kings live [rose] like Mount Sumeru.” This is no lands, neither would that be hard.” This on a terrace halfway down the moun- doubt an exaggeration, but to glorify is, it has to be said, an astonishing state- tain. For human beings it is thus a leg- the Buddha, the gods are said to have ment, for it is saying that it would not endary mountain that they will never be scattered celestial flowers equal in mass be difficult to pick up Mount Sumeru able to see with their own eyes and that to Mount Sumeru. and hurl it to another realm. “But if one, they can only imagine. For this reason Also, chapter 14, “A Happy Life,” says, after the Buddha’s extinction, in the it is sometimes regarded as a fictitious, “Let [the bodhisattva] abide in seclu- midst of an evil world is able to preach imaginary mountain, and various scrip- sion, cultivate and control his mind, this sutra, this indeed is hard.” In other tures containing the teachings of the and be as firmly fixed and immovable words, it is more difficult to preach the all-knowing Buddha frequently men- as Mount Sumeru.” Here a buddha’s Lotus Sutra skillfully in an evil world tion it in a variety of analogies. unmoving, steadfast mind is likened after the Buddha’s death. The intended It naturally figures quite often in to Mount Sumeru. meaning should be clear. ≥ the Lotus Sutra too. Chapter 7, “The Chapter 11, “Beholding the Precious Parable of the Magic City,” repeatedly Stupa,” states that in the buddha-land describes how “all the Brahma heav- there are no mountains like Mount Note: All excerpts from the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings, the Lotus Sutra, and enly kings bowed to the ground before Sumeru, the king of mountains, and the Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva the Buddha, made procession around that the ground is “even and smooth.” Universal Virtue are from The Threefold him hundreds and thousands of times, In the same chapter we also read: “If Lotus Sutra [Kosei Publishing Company, and then strewed the celestial flowers one took up Sumeru and hurled it to 1975], with slight revisions.

40 Dharma World April–June 2015 THE THREEFOLD LOTUS SUTRA: A MODERN COMMENTARY

The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law

Chapter 24 The Bodhisattva Wonder Sound (1) This is the 120th installment of a detailed commentary on the Threefold Lotus Sutra by the founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, Rev. Nikkyo Niwano.

INTRODUCTION This chapter relates the story of the • Sign of a great man. This refers to a feature peculiar to a Bodhisattva Wonder Sound, who came from an ideal world great person (a buddha). (See the September/October 1992 to the actual world, the saha world. Important points in the issue of Dharma World.) story will be explained as needed, so let us immediately • White hair-circle sign. Images of the Tathagata have a white proceed with the story. spot on the forehead, which is a swirl of hair. It is called the “circle of white hair” and is the first of the thirty-two TEXT Then Shakyamuni Buddha emitted a ray of light primary marks of a buddha. We read in various sutras that from the protuberance [on his cranium], the sign of a great this mark on a buddha emits a great ray of light. man, and emitted a ray of light from the white hair-circle The ray of light from Shakyamuni Buddha shone through- sign between his eyebrows, everywhere illuminating east- out the innumerable eastern domains of heaven, meaning ward a hundred and eight myriad kotis of nayutas of bud- that the Eternal Buddha is everywhere and that all living dha worlds, equal to the sands of the Ganges. beings can come to know of his existence only through his teachings. The ray of light from the circle of white hair COMMENTARY Protuberance. The Buddha’s head has what symbolizes his Buddha wisdom, by which he has revealed looks like a bump on top, on which there is a tuft of hair. the universal truth.

Dharma World April–June 2015 41 The same scene is also described in chapter 1 of the • Contemplation of the Dharma Flower. This state signifies Lotus Sutra, “Introductory,” but it is especially important deep belief in the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, practicing for us to be reminded of its significance by this chapter. them oneself, without any distraction. This contemplation That is why the chapter begins with the mention of the ray can represent all of the sixteen contemplations enumer- of light that shines throughout the worlds of the buddhas. ated here. A close analysis and explanation of the remain- ing fifteen will show that they are based on contemplation TEXT Beyond those numbers [of worlds] is a world named of the Dharma Flower. Adorned with Pure Radiance. In that domain there is a bud- • Contemplation of pure virtue. This is the state of mind in dha styled King Wisdom of the Pure Flower Constellation which one possesses pure virtue without being conscious Tathagata, Worthy of Worship, All Wise, Perfectly Enlightened of it. People who enter this contemplation are not arrogant in Conduct, Well Departed, Understander of the World, or selfish, and their speech and conduct naturally influence Peerless Leader, Controller, Teacher of Gods and Men, those around them for the better. Buddha, World-honored One. Revered and surrounded • Contemplation of the Constellation King’s freedom. by a great host of incalculable and countless bodhisattvas, “Constellation” means that which has existed from the he preached the Dharma to them. The ray of light from the infinite past. “King” here means flourishing. This contem- white hair-circle of Shakyamuni Buddha shone through- plation means voluntary, constant concentration on one’s out their domain. aspiration to becoming a buddha or great bodhisattva who At that time in the domain Adorned With All Pure possesses excellent virtues from former lives and the power Radiance there was a bodhisattva whose name was Wonder to lead others freely by means of these virtues. It also means Sound, who for long had cultivated many roots of virtue, an unshakable determination to achieve that purpose. paid homage to and courted innumerable hundred thou- • Contemplation of causelessness. This is complete devo- sand myriad kotis of buddhas, and perfectly acquired pro- tion to liberating everyone, both the people we know and found wisdom. He had attained the contemplation of the do not know. wonderful banner sign, the contemplation of the Dharma • Contemplation of the knowledge seal. This is constant Flower, the contemplation of pure virtue, the contempla- awareness in which we wish for the deep wisdom to bene- tion of the Constellation King’s freedom, the contempla- fit the people around us. tion of causelessness, the contemplation of the knowledge • Contemplation of interpreting the utterances of all beings. seal, the contemplation of interpreting the utterances of all This means concentrating on everything people say to beings, the contemplation of collection of all merits, the understand it fully and adapting one’s way of teaching to contemplation of purity, the contemplation of supernatu- each individual. ral freedom, the contemplation of the torch of wisdom, the • Contemplation of collection of all merits. This means con- contemplation of the king of adornment, the contemplation centration on the idea that the merits of all the teachings of pure luster, the contemplation of the pure treasury, the result in one aim: buddhahood for oneself and everyone else. contemplation of the unique, and the contemplation of the • Contemplation of purity. This means the state of concen- sun’s revolutions: such hundreds of thousands of myriads tration on retaining a pure heart by ridding one’s mind of of kotis of great contemplations as these had he acquired, all defilements. equal to the sands of the Ganges. • Contemplation of supernatural freedom. This means the state of being consistent in keeping one’s mind free from COMMENTARY Cultivated many roots of virtue. This all of one’s circumstances. means that he did many good deeds. Doing good deeds • Contemplation of the torch of wisdom. This is a state of cultivates one’s virtues. spiritual concentration in which one shines the light of one’s • Contemplation. There are many types of contemplation wisdom on everyone around one like a torch. mentioned here, so please reread the section where we • Contemplation of the king of adornment. “Adornment” in discussed the meaning of contemplation (See the July– this case means majestic ornamentation, and here it spe- September 2014 issue of Dharma World). cifically means to adorn oneself with virtues. “King” here • Contemplation of the wonderful banner sign. The wonder- means “in great measure.” Hence this means concentrat- ful banner is an extremely beautiful banner that serves as ing on the aspiration to become one who cultivates virtues the ensign of a general’s headquarters. Hence, the contem- that naturally influence other people. plation of the wonderful banner sign means firm, unshak- • Contemplation of pure luster. This means concentration able belief that the Lotus Sutra is the core, the central force, on single-minded devotion to purifying society through of all the Buddhist teachings. illumination with light from the body.

42 Dharma World April–June 2015 • Contemplation of the pure treasury. “Treasury” ordinar- Constellation addressed the Bodhisattva Wonder Sound: ily means a collection of valuable things. In this passage of “Do not look lightly on that domain or conceive a low the sutra, it means a state of concentration for purifying opinion of it. Good son! That saha world with its high and the “treasury” of one’s heart. low [places] is uneven and full of earth, stones, hills, and • Contemplation of the unique. “Unique” here means the filth; the body of the Buddha is short and small, and all unique, or unequalled, Buddha. So this means being fully the bodhisattvas are small of stature, whereas your body is committed to the attainment of buddhahood. forty-two thousand yojanas [high] and my body six mil- • Contemplation of the sun’s revolutions. This means con- lion, eight hundred thousand yojanas. Your body is of the centration in order to understand the higher teachings, with finest order, [blessed with] hundreds of thousands of myr- which to bless the lives of all things, just as the life-giving iads of felicities, and of a wonderful brightness. Therefore sun shines on all things on earth. on going there do not look lightly on that domain, nor con- • Great contemplations. All things considered, contempla- ceive a low opinion of the Buddha, nor of the bodhisattva, tion means concentrating the mind on a single object and nor of [their] country.” entering directly into a state of awakening to the reality of that ideal. There are lower and higher states of contempla- COMMENTARY The differences in size described above tion than those just mentioned. The higher states are called point out the gap that exists between the ideal and actuality. “the great contemplations.” The domain where the Buddha King Wisdom of the Whether we are involved in work, study, sports, or even Pure Flower Constellation dwells is an ideal world in the recreation, it is important to immerse ourselves in it and far eastern heavens. For this reason the land is flat, made enter a state of contemplation, even if it is a lesser degree of something like lapis lazuli, and of a beautiful brightness. of contemplation, because that is precisely what allows us The bodies of the buddha and bodhisattvas in that domain to live fulfilling lives. Needless to say, this is even more true are extraordinarily large and shine with the color of gold. of the great contemplations of religion. If we say for the moment that one yojana is equivalent to On the contrary, if one works half-heartedly, allows one- one kilometer, then the Buddha King Wisdom of the Pure self to become distracted from one’s studies or is unable to Flower Constellation is 6.8 million kilometers tall and even become absorbed in recreation, one’s life will be unfulfilled. the Bodhisattva Wonder Sound is 42,000 kilometers tall. Contemplation is very important for us in our daily That is a metaphorical way of saying that the ideal world lives, too. transcends the limits of the real world (actuality). People who perfect themselves in the real world are holier than TEXT No sooner had the ray from Shakyamuni Buddha any heavenly being, even though they may be physically shone upon him than he said to the Buddha King Wisdom small and not stand out. Nothing is more sacred than the of the Pure Flower Constellation: “World-honored One! supreme enlightenment attained by the Buddha in the real I should go to visit the saha world to salute, approach, world, where evils prevail and obstructions are incessantly and pay homage to Shakyamuni Buddha, as well as to see thrown up by Mara and the Mara people. The Buddha King the Bodhisattva Manjushri, son of the Dharma king; the Wisdom of the Pure Flower Constellation preached this Bodhisattva Medicine King; the Bodhisattva Courageous earnestly to the Bodhisattva Wonder Sound. Giver; the Bodhisattva Star Constellation King Flower; the Bodhisattva Mind for Higher Deeds; the Bodhisattva King TEXT The Bodhisattva Wonder Sound replied to that bud- of Adornment; and the Bodhisattva Medicine Lord.” dha: “World-honored One! That I now go to visit the saha world is all due to the Tathagata’s power, the Tathagata’s magic COMMENTARY The Bodhisattva Wonder Sound was an play, and the Tathagata’s adornment of merit and wisdom.” extremely outstanding bodhisattva who had achieved the various contemplations listed above, so when his body was COMMENTARY Magic play. This term means the divine illuminated by Shakyamuni Buddha’s radiance, Wonder power of being able to travel anywhere freely. Sound recognized immediately that Shakyamuni possessed • The Tathagata’s adornment of merit and wisdom. This great virtue, and Wonder Sound must have felt strongly phrase is somewhat obscure, but it means the Tathagata’s drawn to him. Furthermore, Wonder Sound must have great merits, supreme wisdom, and great dignity. been eager also to meet the many bodhisattvas who were Shakyamuni’s distinguished disciples. TEXT Thereupon the Bodhisattva Wonder Sound, without rising from his seat and without stirring his body, entered TEXT Then the Buddha King Wisdom of the Pure Flower into contemplation. By the power of his contemplation,

Dharma World April–June 2015 43 on Mount Gridhrakuta, not far distant from the Dharma COMMENTARY Shall display to you the sign. To be precise, seat, there appeared in transformation eighty-four thou- this means that by the transcendent power of the Tathagata sand precious lotus flowers with stalks of jambunada gold, Abundant Treasures, the Bodhisattva Wonder Sound, who leaves of white silver, stamens of diamonds, and cups of until now has been an ideal, willl be revealed in a visible, kimshuka gems. concrete form. The Tathagata Abundant Treasures does not proclaim COMMENTARY Kimshuka gems. These are probably the teachings himself, but Shakyamuni Buddha says this rubies, red like the flowers of the kimshuka tree of India. because this buddha performs the priceless role of always testifiying to the truth of the Lotus Sutra, which other tatha- TEXT Thereupon Manjushri, son of the Dharma king, gatas preach. seeing those lotus flowers, said to the Buddha: “World- honored One! For what reason does this auspicious sign TEXT Instantly the Buddha Abundant Treasures addressed first appear? There are some thousands and myriads of lotus that bodhisattva: “Come, good son! Manjushri, son of the flowers with stalks of jambunada gold, leaves of white silver, Dharma king, wishes to see you.” stamens of diamonds, and with cups of kimshuka gems.” Thereupon the Bodhisattva Wonder Sound disappeared Then Shakyamuni Buddha informed Manjushri: “It is the from that domain and started out along with his eighty- Bodhisattva-Mahasattva Wonder Sound who desires to come four thousand bodhisattvas. The countries through which from the domain of the Buddha King Wisdom of the Pure they passed were shaken in the six [different] ways, lotus Flower Constellation, with his company of eighty-four thou- flowers of the precious seven rained everywhere, and hun- sand bodhisattvas, to this saha world in order to pay homage dreds of thousands of heavenly instruments resounded of to, draw nigh to, and salute me, and who also desires to pay themselves. homage to and hear the Dharma Flower Sutra.” Manjushri said to the Buddha: “World-honored One! What roots of COMMENTARY Hundreds of thousands of heavenly instru- goodness has that bodhisattva planted, what merits has he ments resounded of themselves. The instruments played cultivated, that he should be able to have such great tran- themselves. scendent power? What contemplation does he practice? Be The glorious manifestations that appear as the Bodhisattva pleased to tell us the name of this contemplation; we also Wonder Sound travels from that domain Adorned with desire diligently to practice it, [for] by practicing this con- Pure Radiance to this saha world suggest a beautiful paint- templation, we may be able to see that bodhi­sattva—his ing, which symbolizes very well the grandeur and majesty color, form, and size, his dignity and behavior. Be pleased, of an ideal. World-honored One, by [thy] transcendent power, to let us see the coming of that bodhisattva.” TEXT That bodhisattva’s eyes were like broad big leaves of the blue lotus. His august countenance surpassed the com- COMMENTARY To see that bodhisattva—his color, form, bined [glory] of hundreds of thousands of myriads of moons. and size, his dignity and behavior. Color and form refer to his physical body. Seeing people’s “size” includes noticing COMMENTARY The portrayal has a certain Indian fla- whether they are large or small, and ancient Indians, as vor to it, but it is possible to imagine the decency of that explained earlier, thought eminent people must be phys- bodhisattva’s handsome countenance. ically large. So they thought large people must be noble. But actually they wanted to meet people of noble charac- TEXT His body was of pure gold color, adorned with infi- ter, whether they were physically big or small. nite hundreds of thousands of meritorious [signs]; he was “Dignity” refers to signs of virtue in a person’s face and of glowing majesty, radiant and shining, marked with the bearing. “Behavior” refers to deportment. In other words, perfect signs, and of a body strong as Narayana’s. character is manifested in people’s appearance and deport- ment, in every movement of their body. For that reason COMMENTARY Adorned with infinite hundreds of thou- Manjushri Bodhisattva wants personal contact with the sands of meritorious [signs]. The inestimable merits which dignified figure of the Bodhisattva Wonder Sound. the Bodhisattva Wonder Sound has accumulated until this time adorn his body beautifully. TEXT Thereupon Shakyamuni Buddha told Manjushri: We can easily understand this, because when we see “The Tathagata Abundant Treasures, so long extinct, shall a person of great virtue, one who has accumulated good display to you the sign.” deeds, that goodness comes through and appears on his

44 Dharma World April–June 2015 inexpressibly wonderful face. On the contrary, however handsome a man may be or however beautiful a woman may appear, if their intentions and deeds are evil or impure, it will show in their facial features. Fine clothes and makeup cannot conceal one’s true char- acter, so we should bear this in mind and cultivate virtue and do good deeds. • He was of glowing majesty, radiant and shining. “Majesty” means that he has the kind of character that wins the respect of those who meet him. “Glowing” means a fiery radiance. His body seems to radiate virtue, and its appearance is “radiant and shining.” • Marked with the perfect signs. The Bodhisattva Wonder Sound is well endowed with good features on his face and body. We have noted on many occasions that the Buddha possesses all of the thirty-two primary marks. • Narayana. He is, so to speak, a strong man of the heavenly realm. In sculptures and such he is depicted as extremely robust and well built.

TEXT Entering a seven-jeweled tower, he mounted the sky seven tala trees above the earth and, worshipped and surrounded by a host of bodhisattvas, came to Mount Gridhrakuta in this saha world. Arrived, he alighted from his seven-jeweled tower and, taking a necklace worth hundreds of thousands, went to Shakyamuni Buddha, at whose feet he made obeisance and to whom he presented the necklace, saying to the Buddha: “World-honored One! The Buddha King Wisdom of the Pure Flower Constellation inquires after the World-honored One:

COMMENTARY Inquires after. This means paying respects. The bodhisattva who descends from an ideal world to this world worships and greets reverently the Buddha of this world. This act strongly suggests how precious it is to manifest the ideal in reality, as explained before. ancient Greece and India that all things were composed of the four elements: earth, air, water, and fire. Their right bal- TEXT ‘Hast thou few ailments and few worries? Art thou ance signified health. getting on at ease and in comfort? Are thy four [compo- In extension, the human body came to be called “the nent] parts in harmony? Are thy worldly affairs tolerable? four parts.” In this instance he inquires into the Buddha’s health by asking whether these four elements are in balance. COMMENTARY This inquiry is extremely polite and infi- nitely considerate. TEXT Are thy living beings easy to save? Are they not • Few ailments and few worries. The word “few” may be overcovetous, angry, foolish, envious, arrogant; understood as “no” or “none.” Asking whether he has few ailments or worries means rather that he undoubtedly has COMMENTARY Are thy living livings easy to save? In none. direct translation, are they easy or difficult to instruct? In • Getting on at ease and in comfort. This means that the other words, he is inquiring whether the living beings of the Buddha is graceful in the way he stands and sits. In other saha world have superior capacity and obey the teachings. words, the body is healthy and feels light. • Arrogant. The original words in the Chinese text are writ- • Four [component] parts in harmony. It was believed in ten with two characters. The first means stinginess not only

Dharma World April–June 2015 45 with possessions, but also in sharing knowledge, such as in TEXT World-honored One! Are thy living beings able to job training, and guiding others to happiness. The second overcome the Mara enemies? Does the Tathagata Abundant means arrogance. Arrogant people think they are better than Treasures, so long extinct, [still] abide in the Stupa of the other people. Some people who are stingy and arrogant want Precious Seven and come to listen to the Dharma?’ to hinder others’ success. When the Bodhisattva Wonder Sound mentions jealousy and stinginess (and arrogance), COMMENTARY Mara enemies. This means those who in addition to the three poisons of overcovetousness, anger, intend to harm others. and foolishness, he clearly shows his understanding of ordi- • Does the Tathagata Abundant Treasures . . . come to lis- nary people. Is it not true that people today are cursed by ten to the Dharma? Although this takes the form of a ques- the five poisons of overcovetousness (greed), anger, fool- tion, it is a declaration of confidence that when Shakyamuni ishness, jealousy, and stinginess (and arrogance). Buddha preaches the Lotus Sutra, the Tathagata Abundant Treasures also comes to listen. It is an indirect expression TEXT not unfilial to parents or irreverent to shramanas; of consolation for the toil of preaching the Dharma in the not having perverted views or being of evil mind, unre- saha world. strained in their five passions? TEXT [King Wisdom] also inquires of the Tathagata COMMENTARY Now he turns to a subject that must Abundant Treasures: ‘Art thou at ease and of few worries? surely make us recognize something of modern people. Wilt thou be content to remain long?’ World-honored One! We • Unfilial to parents. It is a natural human feeling to think now would see the body of the Buddha Abundant Treasures. of one’s parents and to treat them considerately. However, Be pleased, World-honored One, to show and let us see him.” until the 1950s in Japan there was strong social pressure on young people to obey their parents, and today’s youth seem COMMENTARY Wilt thou be content to remain long? The to have rebelled against that, no longer feeling the need to Tathagata Abundant Treasures is a buddha who entered extinc- honor their parents. I believe this a temporary symptom tion an infinitely long time ago. He vows to appear together of a transitional period. with the jeweled stupa to bear witness to its truth when- A mind which has swung to the right will always react ever the Wonderful Dharma (the Lotus Sutra) is preached by swinging to the left, and this pendulum motion will con- and always holds himself in readiness within the stupa. tinue back and forth until it stops to the center. Since it is Therefore he expresses the feeling that “indeed it must be natural to honor one’s parents, I believe Japanese young a hardship” in these words. people will do that again. The expression “World-honored One” is addressed to • Irreverent to shramanas. On the surface this means not Shakyamuni Buddha, not the Tathagata Abundant Treasures. respecting people of faith who have renounced the world, Ancient scriptures were not so neatly logically ordered as but in the end it means indifference to all religion. This really lines of thought are now, so we may not be able to make strikes home as speaking of modern humanity. out what is going on if we are not careful. • Having perverted views or being of evil mind. Perverted views means wicked opinions and mistaken thinking. Being of evil TEXT Then said Shakyamuni Buddha to the Buddha mind means not recognizing evil as evil and accepting it as Abundant Treasures: “This Bodhisattva Wonder Sound entirely natural. Does this not fit the present world perfectly? desires to see you.” Instantly the Buddha Abundant Treasures • Unrestrained in their five passions. The five passions are the addressed Wonder Sound: “Excellent, excellent, that you have desires to please the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, been able to come here to pay homage to Shakyamuni Buddha, and touch. Because these five desires are instinctual, they to hear the Dharma Flower Sutra, and to see Manjushri in themselves are not good or bad. However, a sign of good and the others.” character is keeping those desires from becoming immod- erate. This is the meaning of restraining the five passions. COMMENTARY To pay homage to Shakyamuni Buddha, Some people consider it only human to give in to desires. to hear the Dharma Flower Sutra, and to see Manjushri and This is outrageous. People should consider how they relate the others. The Tathagata Abundant Treasures, who bore to one another. We are unworthy human beings unless we witness to the Wonderful Dharma, praises the Bodhisattva are reasonable enough to control our own desires, consid- Wonder Sound for coming to this saha world to carry out ering the balance between ourselves and others, and soci- three things: to pay homage to Shakyamuni Buddha in vari- ety as a whole. Let us quickly dispel the misconception that ous ways because of his benevolence in preaching the Lotus there is no need for restraint. Sutra (the Wonderful Dharma); to hear the teachings of the

46 Dharma World April–June 2015 Lotus Sutra; and to meet and emulate the virtuous bodhi­ Such being the case, it becomes possible when one is sattvas who practice the teachings. These words of praise about to commence an action to decide first in the mind show how significant each of these three is. It need hardly “oh, this won’t do” and give up or decide “this is the best be mentioned that since a great bodhisattva from an ideal way” and launch forth into action. world does this, we ourselves should be all the more con- It is precisely because people became able to make deci- stant in paying homage to the Buddha, hearing the teach- sions about what is right and wrong and to form decisions ings of the Lotus Sutra, and following good examples of based on values that they became truly human. We can practicing the teachings. therefore say that words made human beings what they are. The appearance of the Tathagata Abundant Treasures is I am sure we have discussed this before, but when we not in the original text, but it is naturally implied. think of something, we formulate it in words in our minds. Without words, we can think of nothing. It is not too much TEXT Thereupon the Bodhisattva Flower Virtue said to say that words are so important that they can encourage to the Buddha: “World-honored One! This Bodhisattva people or ruin them. Wonder Sound—what roots of goodness has he planted, When we consider deeply why the Bodhisattva Wonder what merits has he cultivated, that he possesses such tran- Sound was called by that name, we realize that the name scendent powers?” The Buddha answered the Bodhisattva of this bodhisattva, Wonder Sound, must mean “words of Flower Virtue: “In the past there was a buddha named King truth.” In Dharmaraksha’s Chinese translation of the Lotus of Cloud Thundering Tathagata, Arhat, Samyaksambuddha, Sutra, Cheng-fa-hua-ching, we find the bodhisattva’s name whose domain was named Display of All Worlds and whose means “the Bodhisattva Wondrous Roar.” We surmise that kalpa named Joyful Sight. The Bodhisattva Wonder Sound, Dharmaraksha expressed in his translation the “bodhi­sattva for twelve thousand years, with a hundred thousand kinds of who makes the wondrous roar of a lion.” music, paid homage to the Buddha King of Cloud Thundering However beautiful music is, the Buddha is not delighted and offered up eighty-four thousand vessels of the pre- by people’s merely paying homage to him with it. Preaching cious seven. Being rewarded for this reason, he has now the Dharma (a lion’s roar) in words of truth suits the mind been born in the domain of the Buddha King Wisdom of of the Buddha. the Pure Flower Constellation and possesses such tran- Considering this, we can understand the phrase “offered up scendent powers. eighty-four thousand vessels of the precious seven.” However many beautiful vessels one offered to the Buddha, he would COMMENTARY Making music is a way to honor the not be pleased. In Buddhism, as you know, the number Buddha’s virtues. However, in this case, the reference to “eighty-four thousand” refers to the teachings expounded music should not be taken literally, but understood to mean by the Buddha. The phrase “offered up eighty-four thou- words of praise. sand vessels of the precious seven” therefore means that the Buddhism places great importance on words. Smiles and Bodhisattva Wonder Sound expounded the Buddha’s teach- kind words are also regarded as important in leading peo- ings to many people in return for the Buddha’s blessing. ple to the Buddha Way. In fact, in esoteric Buddhism there • King of Cloud Thundering Tathagata, Arhat, Samyaksam­ is the Shingon (True Word), or Chen-yen, sect which holds buddha. An easier-to-understand form of the epithet is that secret and mystical words can counteract any evil or “King of Cloud Thundering Tathagata, Worthy of Worship, misfortunes. In chapter 26 of the Lotus Sutra, “Dharanis,” A l l Wi s e .” formulas of mystic syllables are believed to have this same mystic power. TEXT Flower Virtue! What is your opinion? The Bodhisattva The same can be found in Christianity. The Gospel of Wonder Sound who at that time paid homage to the Buddha John opens with the words “In the beginning was the Word, King of Cloud Thundering with music and offerings of pre- and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” cious vessels—was it some other person? It was indeed the Modern science also points out that once human beings present Bodhisattva-Mahasattva Wonder Sound. Flower began to use words, their brains came to full-scale develop- Virtue! This Bodhisattva Wonder Sound had before paid ment. That is, when humans learned to use words, which homage to and been close to innumerable buddhas, for are the vocalization of meanings, a distinction was made long had cultivated roots of virtues, and had met hun- between thoughts, emotions, and actions, and the pure dreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of nayutas of bud- function of thinking with the brain was born. In the vocab- dhas, [numerous] as the sands of the Ganges. Flower Virtue! ulary of today’s brain physiology, there was new develop- You merely see here [one] body of the Bodhisattva Wonder ment of the cerebral cortex. Sound. But this bodhisattva appears in many kinds of bodies

Dharma World April–June 2015 47 • Divine general. This is a great general who protects the Buddha Dharma in the heavenly domain. • Vaishravana. This was originally a Brahman deity and is one of the so-called four heavenly kings who guard and protect the teachings of the Buddha. • Citizen. This refers to the head of a household at the mid- dle level of society. In contrast with all those practitioners who have renounced the world, this indicates a layperson. • Minister. This refers to a government minister. • Brahman. Brahmans are the highest caste. They take their names from the deity from whose mouth they believe they sprang forth. They engage in religious affairs, scholarship, and education, and have nothing to do with the secular affairs of industry or politics. • A god, dragon, yaksha, grandharva, asura, garuda, kim- nara, mahoraga. These have appeared frequently (Refer to the November/December 1991 issue of Dharma World). The Buddha mentions thirty-four kinds of bodies in which the Bodhisattva Wonder Sound freely appears and preaches the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. This is quite important. The Bodhisattva Wonder Sound lives in an ideal world and incarnates the teachings of the Lotus Sutra in an ideal form. Yet he is not merely someone who exists only in the faraway eastern domain Adorned with All Pure Radiance, but he appears in the saha world as every human being who endeavors to exemplify the ideals of the Lotus Sutra. All around us there are innumerable Bodhisattvas Wonder Sound. Although they may not have esteemed positions and may be quite poor, whoever preaches the ideals of the Lotus Sutra in words of truth and liberates people may be called a “transformed-body” of the Bodhisattva Wonder Sound. Those of us who exemplify the ideals of the Lotus Sutra are transformed-bodies of the bodhisattva. everywhere preaching this sutra to the living. Sometimes One must not think of the transformed-body as some- he appears as Brahma, or appears as Shakra, or appears as thing mystical and far from reality. If we seek our origin, Ishvara, or appears as Maheshvara, or appears as a divine we are all children of the Eternal Original Buddha. If we general, or appears as the divine king Vaishravana, or appears consider the unlimited freedom of the bodhi­sattva’s man- as a holy wheel-rolling king, or appears as one of the ordi- ifestations, we realize that every one of us may become a nary kings, or appears as an elder, or appears as a citizen, or transformed-body of some significance. If we preach the appears as a minister, or appears as a Brahman, or appears ideals of the Lotus Sutra in words of truth, surely we too as a bhikshu, bhikshuni, upasaka, or upasika, or appears as are transformed-bodies of the Bodhisattva Wonder Sound. the wife of an elder or a citizen, or appears as the wife of a minister, or appears as the wife of a Brahman, or appears To be continued as a youth or maiden, or appears as a god, dragon, yak- sha, gandharva, asura, garuda, kimnara, mahoraga, man, In this series, passages in the TEXT sections are quoted or nonhuman being, and so on, and preaches this sutra. from The Threefold Lotus Sutra, Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Company, 1975, with slight revisions. The diacritical marks COMMENTARY Maheshvara. This was originally a Brahman originally used for several Sanskrit terms in the TEXT sec- deity, the supreme god of creation. tions are omitted here for easier reading.

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