FEATURES the Buddhahood of Plants and Trees

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JULY–DEC. 2018, VOL. 45 FEATURES The Buddhahood of Plants and Trees: The Environment and Buddha-Nature 2 On Interbeing and Learning to Respect Everything Beyond Dharma World presents Buddhism the Self as a practical living religion and by Hiroshi Munehiro Niwano promotes interreligious dialogue 3 Th e Buddhahood of Plants for world peace. It espouses views and the Japanese View of that emphasize the dignity of life, Nature seeks to rediscover our inner nature by Fumihiko Sueki and bring our lives more in accord with it, and investigates causes of 6 Does a Dewdrop Teach human suff ering. It tries to show Dharma? Zen Perspectives on how religious principles help solve the Teachings of the Insentient problems in daily life and how the by Kenneth Kraft least application of such principles 10 Th e Buddhahood of All has wholesome eff ects on the world Insentient Beings around us. It seeks to demonstrate by Brook Ziporyn truths that are fundamental to all religions, truths on which all people 13 A Prayer for “Plants and Trees, can act. Countries and Lands, All Become Buddhas” Publisher: Koichi Saito by Shinsui Okada Director: Naoki Taketani 16 How Do We Respect the Buddha-Nature of Nature? Senior Editor: Kazumasa Osaka by David R. Loy Editor: Katsuyuki Kikuchi 20 Flowers of Sentience, Roots of Consciousness: Editorial Advisors: Th e Buddhahood of Plants in the Nō Th eater Miriam Levering, Gene Reeves, by M. Cody Poulton Dominick Scarangello,

Michio T. Shinozaki Copy Editors: 24 Diversity Builds Unity DeAnna Satre, Stephen Comee, Th e Th irty-Fift h Niwano Peace Prize Acceptance Address Catherine Szolga by Fadi Daou Subscription Staﬀ : Kazuyo Okazaki 28 Buddha-Nature (1) Layout and Design: Abinitio Design Revering Buddha-Nature by Dominick Scarangello Cover: 37 Living Joyfully Photos: Shutterstock.com by Nichiko Niwano Photoshop work by Abinitio Design 38 Eastern Initiative and Western Response by Nikkyo Niwano

THE THREEFOLD LOTUS SUTRA: A MODERN COMMENTARY 46 Th e Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law Chapter 26: Dharanis (2)

Dharma World is published semiannually by Rissho Kosei-kai International, Fumon Media Center 3F, 2-7-1 Wada, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 166-8537. E-mail: [email protected]. Copyright © 2018 by Rissho Kosei-kai International. 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

On Interbeing and Learning to Respect Everything Beyond the Self by Hiroshi Munehiro Niwano

Hiroshi Munehiro Niwano is president Human beings capable of attaining buddhahood coexist of Rissho Kosei-kai’s Gakurin interdependently with “everything beyond the self.” In Seminary and chairperson of the other words, it is through their interbeing with the universe Niwano Peace Foundation, both in and this planet—with the air, water, and earth of the global Tokyo. environment and with the fauna and ﬂ ora that inhabit it—that they experience and sustain life.

“It is diffi cult to be born human; diffi - In the same work, Saji goes on to together in prayerful and respect- cult is the life of mortals,” says one of observe that all matter circulates and is ful salutation and saying, “I would the verses in the collection of sayings of interrelated, and that “all things exist in never disrespect you, as all of you will the Buddha known as the Dhammapada. balance with their opposites.” On our become buddhas.” This signifi es that Th is verse not only reminds us how rare own planet, therefore, we and every- all humans are precious beings who it is to be born human; it also teaches thing around us exist in balance as part have the potential to attain buddha- us how precious life is and how grate- of the great cycle that is the earth (ibid., hood. As humans, it is important that ful we should be, as beings who will 54). Regarding the question of where we we fi rst realize this. one day inevitably die, for our lives in should draw the dividing line between As Saji argues on the basis of our the here and now. ourselves and what exists beyond us, scientifi c knowledge of the universe, According to the theoretical phys- Saji states that we should “go beyond however, even such precious human icist Haruo Saji, our study of the uni- conceiving of ourselves as the physical beings capable of attaining buddhahood verse tells us that “all the matter from body inside our skin to consider also the coexist interdependently with “every- which [humans, animals, and plants] are entire environment that surrounds us thing beyond the self.” In other words, made . . . consists of ‘fragments’ of stars as constitutive of ourselves,” so that we it is through their interbeing with the scattered into space when they die in a can recognize that “what makes me me universe and this planet—with the air, supernova explosion” (Karada wa hoshi is everything beyond the self.” Humans water, and earth of the global environ- kara dekite iru [Bodies are made from actually “inter-be”—that is to say, they ment and with the fauna and fl ora that stars], Shunjusha, 2007, 131). Th us we interdependently coexist—with the inhabit it—that they experience and are all composed of “fragments” of the other in the universe and, more con- sustain life. universe, and when our lives come to cretely, in the environment that is the But these precious humans continue an end, all the matter from which we earth, and it is “everything beyond the to destroy the global environment that are made turns back into tiny particles self” that gives humans life and sus- sustains and coexists interdependently and returns eventually to outer space. tains their existence (ibid., 22–23). In with them. Th at is why it is now time for Human existence is, in other words, this respect, research on the universe us to open our own eyes and to show “one fl eeting moment in the cycle of leads to the same conclusions as those constant respect, in the spirit of the matter during the immeasurable uni- taught by Buddhism. Bodhisattva Never Disrespectful, for verse’s evolution” for well over ten billion The Bodhisattva Never Disrespectful “everything beyond the self” that gives years (ibid., 53). Th is makes us realize (Sadāparibhūta Bodhisattva), who us life and makes possible our existence just how extraordinary our receipt of appears in the Lotus Sutra, greeted all as precious beings who have the poten- the gift of life here and now is. whom he met by bringing his hands tial to attain buddhahood. ≥

2 Dharma World July–December 2018 FEATURES

The Buddhahood of Plants and the Japanese View of Nature by Fumihiko Sueki

Fumihiko Sueki, PhD, is a professor According to [Annen], there was not . . . a clear distinction emeritus of the University of Tokyo, between sentient and nonsentient: at the root of the mind the Graduate University for Advanced of the generality of sentient beings is the heart-mind (Skt., Studies, and the International hṛdaya) held in common with trees and grasses, and it is this Research Center for Japanese hṛdaya that attains buddhahood. Studies. His research focuses mainly on reconstruction of the intellectual history of Buddhism in Japan from The Buddhist and nonsentient beings became an impor- ancient to modern times. He is the author and editor of a number Japanese Attitudes tant subject for debate. Since China had not previously had any concept of of books, mainly on Japanese toward Nature sentient beings, no strict distinction Buddhism and the history of Japanese was made between sentient and non- philosophy and religion. Buddhist doctrine refers to entities sentient, which was why the question possessing mind (Skt., citta) as sen- of nonsentient buddhahood was taken actions, seen typically in Confucianism. tient beings (Skt., sattva) and consid- up. Th eJingangbi lun (Diamond Scalpel Th e Japanese did not view human beings ers them to undergo rebirth through Treatise) of the sixth Tiantai patriarch, in any special way as did the Chinese. the six realms of existence (hells, hun- Zhanran (711–82), confronted the issue Furthermore, they tended to look on gry spirits, animals, asuras, human directly and asserted that nonsentient nature in terms of plants. Th e land of beings, heavenly beings). It is because beings could attain buddhahood. Th is Japan was called the “middle land of they possess mind that they give rise to did not, however, mean that they could the reed beds” (ashihara no nakatsu the defi lements, accumulating the neg- aspire to enlightenment, practice, and kuni), its landscape being described as ative karma that is the cause of rebirth. achieve buddhahood of themselves. a swamp where reeds grew. Th e fecun- Th e purpose of Buddhism therefore is to Rather, when a sentient being attains dity of plants symbolized the evolution release beings from the suff ering asso- buddhahood, the whole environment of the world. According to the Nihon ciated with rebirth, a condition called becomes the Buddha’s realm. A sentient shoki (Chronicle of Japan, eighth cen- liberation (Skt., vimokśa) and nirvana. being’s subjective existence (Jpn., shōhō) tury), before Ninigi, grandson of the sun Mahayana calls it the attainment of bud- arises from past karmic eff ects and this goddess Amaterasu, descended from the dhahood (Jpn., jōbutsu). Th ere also exist causes the realm of the environment heavenly plain, the land of Japan was nonsentient beings (Skt., asattva). Since (Jpn., ehō) to arise. Environment is thus where “the standing trees, and even the they do not possess mind, they do not dependent on subjective existence, and single blade of grass, uttered words.” undergo the cycle of rebirth and so can- therefore, when a sentient being attains Th is is thought to represent the disor- not attain liberation, nirvana, or bud- enlightenment, so do nonsentient beings. dered state of nature that existed before dhahood. In principle, therefore, plants, What is important here is that sentient the land was civilized. Humankind was like inorganic substances not possessing beings attain enlightenment through referred to as people grass (hitogusa); “mind,” are not understood to undergo their own practice, whereas nonsentient in other words, the mass of people was rebirth. It is therefore impossible to dis- beings can only do so as the environ- understood through the model of grasses cuss their attainment of buddhahood. ment of sentient beings. Th is was a solu- and trees. However, when Buddhism entered tion consonant with Chinese ideas that In Japan, therefore, nature was China, the potential for buddhahood of placed signifi cance on a person’s own thought of in terms of plants, and people

Dharma World July–December 2018 3 were thought to be close to them. Japan’s to enlightenment, practice, and view of nature is often described as ani- attain buddhahood, could non- mism, but this is not necessarily appro- sentient beings like plants do the priate. Not all natural phenomena were same. The Chinese priests made regarded as spiritual entities, nor were their replies, according to the they objects of veneration. Deities (kami) Diamond Scalpel Treatise, say- resided in the depths of nature, manifesting that the attainment of bud- ing themselves in natural objects serving dhahood by nonsentient beings as receptacles (yorishiro). For example, was contingent upon that of sen- at Ōmiwa Shrine in Nara Prefecture, tient beings. Mount Miwa is described as the body The thinking underlying the (shintai) of its kami. Originally, though, questions posed by the Japanese the mountain was regarded as sacred priests in the Tōketsu was fur- because it was the place to which the ther developed by the Tendai kami descended: it was not itself the priest Annen (841–?) in his kami. The buddhahood of grasses and Shinjō sōmoku jōbutsu shiki trees came to be a concern precisely (Private notes on discussions because human beings and plants were of the attainment of buddhahood by the Japanese idea that human beings thought of as being of the same quality. grasses and trees), compiled between and plants were of the same quality. Whereas in China tiles and stones were 869 and 885. There he criticized the Annen abandoned the Shiki before presented as representative of nonsen- answers from the Chinese side, saying he reached his final conclusion about tient existence, in Japan it was grasses “The intention of the question from how this happens, though he seems and trees. Japan was to ask whether grasses and to have been inclined toward esoteric trees individually aspire to enlighten- Buddhism in his search for a solution Developments in ment, practice, and attain buddhahood. to the problem. He went on to develop the Doctrine of the The response of the reverend master his theory in an esoteric way in a later does not answer this question.” Annen work of the year 885, Bodaishingishō Buddhahood of Plants held that grasses and trees individually (Discussion on the meaning of bodhi aspire to enlightenment, practice, and citta), but that is not to say he neces With this Japanese view of nature as attain buddhahood, and he attempted sarily followed the same line of argument background, the doctrine of the bud- to prove this in the Shiki. According to that he had used in the earlier work. (I dhahood of plants (sōmoku jōbutsu) him, there was not such a clear distinc- will discuss this point further below.) unique to Japanese Buddhism devel- tion between sentient and nonsentient: The debate whether insentient beings oped. The earliest stage can be traced at the root of the mind of the general- aspire to enlightenment, practice, and to the ninth century. The Tiantai teach- ity of sentient beings is the heart-mind attain buddhahood through their own ings that Saichō had brought to Japan (Skt., hṛdaya) held in common with agency was brought to a conclusion in were complex in their thought, and the trees and grasses, and it is this hṛdaya the possibly eleventh-century Sōmoku Japanese were not immediately able that attains buddhahood. hosshin shugyō jōbutsu ki (Discourse to understand them fully. Scholar- Annen refers in the Shiki to the exis- on the aspiration to enlightenment, monks therefore sent their questions tence of disputes in Japanese Tendai practice, and the attainment of bud- about points of uncertainty in the doc- concerning whether or not grasses and dhahood by grasses and trees), a work trine in writing with monks who were trees aspire to enlightenment, practice, of Original Enlightenment (Jpn., hon going to study in China and awaited and attain buddhahood through their gaku shisō) teaching that is ascribed to the replies of Chinese Tiantai masters. own agency. He himself stood firmly on Ryōgen (912–85). Here it is said that This correspondence was collected in the side of the affirmative. Yet what does the very coming into existence, abiding, the Tōketsu (Tang decisions), several of it mean that plants practice and realize changing, and perishing of grasses and which are extant to this day. An impor- enlightenment in the same way as sen- trees is nothing other than their aspira- tant theme among the questions sent was tient beings? This idea seems strange tion, practice, and nirvana. Here natu- the issue of the buddhahood of plants. from a common-sense standpoint. Why ral change is seen to be the form of the What the Japanese priests wanted to did Annen hold to this view? It appears Buddha in itself; the phenomenal world know was, if sentient beings can aspire that in doing so he was a successor to is the Buddha realm. The Sanjūshika

4 Dharma World July–December 2018 no kotogaki (Thirty-four-item report), followed from the Shiki to Original is nothing that should be abandoned a representative work associated with Enlightenment. To understand this dif- or denied. Everything is conditioned Original Enlightenment, goes further, ference we should look at the idea of Suchness itself, the one Truth. saying that grasses and trees do not in Suchness (Skt., tathatā; Jpn., shinnyo) Since, according to this understand- fact attain buddhahood. “The ten realms as it appeared in the Bodaishingishō and ing of conditioned Suchness, nonsen- of this world are eternal without any another of Annen’s works, Shingonshū tient as well as sentient beings are what change at all, grasses and trees are eter- kyōjigi (The meaning of teaching and Suchness changes, there is no reason to nal, sentient beings are eternal, and the time in the True Word school), also differentiate between them. Rather, they five aggregates are eternal.” In other known as Kyōji mondō (Dialogues in should be regarded as of the same qual- words, plants are eternal as they are and teaching and time). Suchness is a word ity. Therefore, if sentient beings are able there is no need for them to change or meaning “Truth.” It expresses the truth to attain buddhahood, so too must non- practice to attain buddhahood. of this world of Emptiness (Skt., śūnya; sentient beings like grasses and trees. It The idea that nature in itself was Jpn., kū) and is used as a synonym for is on this point that the buddhahood of the realm of the Buddha was to exert concepts like Dharma realm (Skt., dhar plants as discussed in the Bodaishingishō a great influence on Japanese medie- madhātu), Dharma body (dharmakāya), both continues the argument of the Shiki val culture. Not making efforts to seek and Dharma nature (dharmatā). The and provides an answer. enlightenment, and indeed abandon- Awakening of Faith (Chn., Dasheng qixin There is, however, a concern here ing such artificial efforts, while setting lun; Jpn., Daijō kishin ron) says that that this solution represents a ret- up the ideal of a return to nature, had the Suchness mind has two gates or rogression regarding the theory put an effect not only on religion but also modes, the quiescent gate of Suchness forward in the Shiki that grasses and on the whole spectrum from literature (mind is itself Suchness, seen from the trees aspire to enlightenment, practice, and art to the tea ceremony and flower Buddha’s point of view) and the dynamic and attain buddhahood through their arranging, thus creating one of the bases gate of saṃsāra (the workings of the own agency. If human beings as well as of Japanese culture. On the other hand, mind of sentient beings, seen in terms plants are part of the one conditioned simply abandoning human effort and of birth-death). Chinese interpreta- Suchness, their attainment of buddha- trusting to nature does not suffice when tions of Suchness added two further hood through their individual aspira- it comes to productive activities like agri- aspects: Suchness as an unchanging tion and practice weakens, absorbed culture. During the Edo period (1603– principle (Jpn., fuhen shinnyo) and as into a unified principle of Suchness. 1868) such ideas about reliance on nature conditioned Suchness (Jpn., zuien shin This, however, is not so. Conditioned were criticized. For example, Ninomiya nyo). Suchness as an unchanging princi- Suchness is seen not only as the single Sontoku (1787–1856), concerned with ple is ultimate Truth and is close to the principle that integrates all things but rebuilding rural villages after drought, “quiescent gate of Suchness,” which sees as the principle that expands in diverse while making a distinction between the this world as Truth itself. Conditioned forms. All the diverse existences of the “principles of heaven,” which underlay Suchness, on the other hand, mani- phenomenal realm are therefore recog- the workings of nature, and the “way of fests various phenomena according to nized and positively evaluated for their humankind,” which was human action, the conditions in this world and is the very differences. Grasses and trees have cautioned against veering to one side motive force behind sentient beings’ their own value as grasses and trees, or the other and spoke of the necessity search for enlightenment. and there is no reason at all for them of the partnership of both. Today we Annen took the idea of conditioned to be assimilated with human beings. need to reconsider such rational, prag- Suchness a step further, saying not only Conditioned Suchness may be called matic thought. that it underlay the workings of the world the principle that brings out both unity but that the world itself was the activ- and diversity. Plants and Human ity of conditioned Suchness. This means Annen’s theory is not easy to under- Beings: Diversity and that this world in itself is the realm of stand, but it is important in that it Suchness and the realm of the Buddha. searches for a theoretical base for the Unity Deluded beings, too, rise out of condi- buddhahood of plants, not just a shal- As mentioned above, Annen again took tioned Suchness, and this being so, are low reason. A viewpoint that focuses on up the question of the buddhahood of able to seek enlightenment. This is a both the unity and the diversity of the plants in his Bodaishingishō, but his radical understanding. Since not only world, on difference as well as sameness, argument moved in a slightly differ- plants but all that we encounter in our is one that has a great deal to teach us ent direction from the course it had daily life is conditioned Suchness, there today. ≥

Dharma World July–December 2018 5 FEATURES

Does a Dewdrop Teach Dharma? Zen Perspectives on the Teachings of the Insentient by Kenneth Kraft

Th e irony of the poem’s last line is that Can “ecological awakening” stretch to accommodate a Su Shi did succeed, extravagantly, in spiritual meaning along the lines of Buddhism’s “teachings of memorializing his experience. the insentient”? Without both kinds of awakening, will future What is the nature of conscious- generations ﬁ nd the moon in a dewdrop? ness? It is one of Buddhism’s peren- nial questions. Human consciousness is the starting point, but the inquiry Valley sounds are the long, broad Dharma. Restated unpoetically: natural soon widens to include a reversal of tongue. phenomena such as streams are capable the terms: What is the consciousness Mountain colors are not other than of expressing the highest truth. of nature? Originally, the category of the unconditioned body. Mountain colors are not other than sentient beings—those endowed with Eighty-four thousand verses are the unconditioned body. Th e poet moves feeling or consciousness—included heard through the night. from sound to sight, affi rming that animals but not plants. In East Asia, What can I say about this in the mountains likewise manifest Dharma. the preferred term, “all living beings,” future? “Th e unconditioned body” can be the included plants. Some teachers went fur- Buddha’s body, the Dharma’s body, or ther, asserting that nonsentient things Th is poem is almost a thousand years any signifi er of ultimate reality. In the such as rocks not only have buddha- old. It was presented to a Chinese Zen original Chinese, this line takes the form nature, they teach the highest truth. Th is master by a follower, Su Shi, who went on of a rhetorical question with a double claim was compressed into a four-char- to become one of China’s greatest poets. negative: “Are not the mountain col- acter phrase: “the Dharma teachings of In Zen these four lines are considered ors the unconditioned body?” Forced the insentient” (Chn., wuching shuofa; to be Su’s enlightenment verse. In addi- to choose between a faithful render- Jpn., mujō seppō; 無情説法). In English tion to being a poet, Su Shi (1037–1101) ing and a poetic one, most translators translation, teaching and teachings are was a statesman, an essayist, a painter, reluctantly sacrifi ce the poetry. used interchangeably. and a calligrapher. He practiced Zen Eightyfour thousand verses are heard This theme was pursued enthusias- as a layperson, not a monk, receiving through the night. “Eighty-four thou- tically in Chinese Zen. An early mas- instruction from Donglin Changcong, a sand” means “infi nite.” Th is line is more ter, Nanyang Huizhong (d. 775), gets leading master. In China, Su is still hon- intimate than the fi rst two, recounting credit for the phrase itself. Dongshan ored as one of “the four greats” in sev- a wakeful night that became a night of Liangjie’s intense struggle to get to the eral fi elds, including cooking. awakening. Th e poet’s whereabouts (for bottom of the matter precipitated a Let’s take a look at the poem, using example, indoors or outdoors) are left sudden realization. One master was the above translation by Kazuaki to the reader’s imagination. addressing his students when he heard Tanahashi (Treasury of the True Dharma What can I say about this in the a swallow sing. He stopped to listen. Eye: Zen Master Dōgen’s Shōbō Genzō future? Almost simultaneously with Then he said, “This is the profound [Shambhala, 2012], 86). the experience, he senses that it is dharma of real form. It skillfully con- Valley sounds are the long, broad unsharable. How will I ever commu- veys the essence of the true teach- tongue. “Valley sounds” are the sounds nicate this? Who will believe me, much ing” (John Daido Loori and Kazuaki of a stream. less understand? Language is inherently Tanahashi, The True Dharma Eye: Zen “Long, broad tongue” refers to the dualistic (no “this” without a “that”), lim- Master Dōgen’s Three Hundred Kōans Buddha and his teachings, known as the ited in its ability to express nonduality. [Shambhala, 2009], 330–31).

6 Dharma World July–December 2018 Kenneth Kraft is professor emeritus of Buddhist studies at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He received his PhD from Princeton University, in East Asian studies. Kraft’s principal interests are Zen’s transmission from China to Japan, Buddhism’s encounter with the West, and socially engaged Buddhism. He is the author and editor of seven books, including Dharma Rain: Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism (2000) and, most recently, Zen Traces: Exploring American Zen with Twain and Thoreau (2018).

The structure of Su poem may sound like a bit of a stretch Shi’s poem, four lines of (indeed, Su’s realization was occasion- seven characters each, ally questioned by later commentators), reflects a refined literary yet the practice was widely accepted. tradition. Su thought In Japan, any remaining doubts were seriously about the rela- put to rest when the Zen master Dōgen tion between poetry Kigen (1200–1253) commented rever- and Zen, concluding ently and incisively on the poem. Here that meditation helped are two lines from another Su poem: practitioners write better verses. A good poem Why can’t I tell the true shape of should be like the whit- Mount Lu? est snow, he said, “at Because I myself am in the mountain. once so pure it’s star- (Burton Watson, trans., Selected Poems tling” (Richard John of Su Tung-p’o [Copper Canyon Press, Lynn, “The Sudden and 1994], 108) the Gradual in Chinese Poetry Criticism,” Mount Lu, in present-day Jiangxi in Sudden a n d Province in central China, is where Su Gradual: Approaches met his teacher. “The true shape” sug- to Enlightenment in gests that something out of the ordinary Chinese Thought, ed. is at stake. Being “in” (or on) a moun- Peter N. Gregory tain does not necessarily prevent one [University of Hawaii from seeing it, so a literal reading has Press, 1987], 385). limited impact. Rather, Su is using the When a poet such as Su mountain as a metaphor for mind, in expresses intimacy with which consciousness and the cosmos nature, it is often hard are two faces of one reality. It can be to draw a line between known from the inside but not from the writer’s experience, the outside. the poetic conventions Historians remind us that labels like of the day, and prevail- “Buddhism” and “Zen” are umbrella ing Buddhist doctrines. terms, convenient but simplified. And Enlightenment religions remind us that historical verses are a unique time—itself a concept—can be tran- Zen genre. The best are scended in various ways. With a bow fresh, insightful, joyous. to both perspectives, we now make a Judging the depth of a culture-defying, millennial leap from person’s awakening on eleventh-century China to twenty-first- the basis of a four-line century America. Are there meaningful

Dharma World July–December 2018 7 continuities between Zen then and Zen it or not, it is always taking place. now? (Ibid., 201) John Daido Loori (1931–2009) was a pioneer in Zen’s transmission to North Here “the teaching of the insentient” America. In the early 1970s he became becomes a window into awakened con- a student of the Japanese Zen master sciousness. The same can be said of Su Taizan Maezumi in Los Angeles. In 1980 Shi’s verse. Loori founded a practice center in New Loori admired Su’s verse and com- York’s Catskill Mountains, naming it Zen mented on it periodically. Parsing Su’s Mountain Monastery. (In American Zen, line “Eighty-four thousand verses are monasteries are not limited to monks.) heard through the night,” Loori says, “Somehow our monastery ended up “The songs don’t just say om. They sing on a mountain with two rivers cross- the eighty-four thousand hymns, the ing in front,” he later explained. “Partly eighty-four thousand gathas, the teach- because of this location, we called our ings, the sermon of rock and water” order the Mountains and Rivers Order” (“River Seeing River,” 147). He honors (“River Seeing River,” in Dharma Rain: Su’s poem by playing off it: Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism, ed. Stephanie Kaza and Kenneth Kraft Seeing sounds, the valley streams [Shambhala, 2000], 142). Eventually expound the dharma. he took the title Roshi: Zen master or Hearing forms, the mountain’s body teacher. Today Zen Mountain Monastery covers heaven and earth. phenomenal universe, and on the is led by a new generation, with satellite (True Dharma Eye, 352) tip of each blade of grass is a dew- groups in the United States and abroad. drop. The light of the moon is a met- Loori embraced the idea that ultimate This adheres to response-poem conven- aphor for enlightenment, realization, reality can be accessed through nature. tions, creatively incorporating key ele- so each drop is not illuminated by “Mountains, rivers, and the great earth ments of the original. Here, the Buddha’s the moon but actually contains the are ceaselessly manifesting the teach- tongue becomes “expound the dharma,” moon. But more than just a meta- ings, yet they are not heard with the while the Buddha and a mountain are phor, this is actually so. If you look at ear or seen with the eye. They can only conflated as “the mountain’s body.” He a dewdrop in the light of the moon, be perceived with the whole body and accentuates nonduality by transpos- you’ll see the moon in the dewdrop. mind,” he wrote (True Dharma Eye, 22). ing the activity of the senses—sounds And if there are ten thousand dew- Elaborating, he uses time-honored Zen are seen, forms are heard. This kind of drops, all of them equally contain language to point to the inexpressible: knowing is bone deep, beyond what can and reflect the moon (The Art of be apprehended through the senses or Just Sitting: Essential Writings on the The ten thousand things are nei- the intellect. There may also be a touch Zen Practice of Shikantaza, ed. John ther sentient nor insentient; the of playfulness in Loori’s remix of Su Shi. Daido Loori [Wisdom, 2002], 133). self is neither sentient nor insen- Zen pushes “oneness with nature” tient. Therefore, the teaching of the to uncommon depths. Nature experi- Loori uses his own intimacy with nature insentient cannot be perceived by ences catalyze Zen experiences; Zen to reinforce the traditional metaphor. the senses. This teaching is heard experiences catalyze nature experiences. For him there is no substitute for actual before there is a body and after mind Metaphors are again pressed into ser- closeness to actual nature. is forgotten. It was heard before our vice. A classic Zen poem says, in part: Zen Mountain Monastery seeks to parents were born and before the implement these principles on many lev- Buddha appeared. It is not a mat- On the tips of ten thousand grasses, els, from mindful consumption to protec- ter of ordinary consciousness. How, each and every dewdrop contains tion of local ecosystems. Environmental then, can it be heard? When body the light of the moon. themes—for example, “the challenges and mind have fallen away, in the we face in living with the realities of cli- stillness that follows, the teaching is Loori comments: mate change”—are woven into the train- intimately manifested in great pro- “The tips of ten thousand grasses” ing. For centuries, the meditation hall fusion. Whether we are aware of refers to the myriad forms, the whole has been the locus of intensive retreats,

8 Dharma World July–December 2018 optimized for sustained self-inquiry. Can insentient distinction is debatable from serious endeavor. The bodhisattva vow to a Zen retreat be conducted in a natural several perspectives. Zen Mountain save all beings, a hallmark of Mahayana setting? Zen Mountain Monastery’s wil- Monastery’s canoe retreat used “the Buddhism, acquires new dimensions in derness retreat for women transposes teachings of the wild,” which is more a time of environmental crisis. several elements at once: vivid and alluring. Does it inadvertently For Su Shi and John Daido Loori, devalue aspects of nature that lack the mujō seppō was a way of talking about This is a week-long canoe, med- appeal of wilderness? “The teachings of awakening. Awakening is hard to itation, and art retreat in the nature” is accurate enough, but already squeeze into language anyhow; the Adirondacks. We’ll head into beau- carries a number of well-established difficulties are compounded if the avail- tiful backcountry waters, ready to meanings. “Teachings of the earth” has able vocabulary is thin. Su’s proxim- open ourselves to the teachings of other connotations—contemporary, ity to the sound of a stream gave him the wild. With experienced pad- homey, perhaps mythical—yet it carries license to suggest that he awakened in dling guides co-leading this retreat, a whiff of New Age trendiness. Would nature. At the same time, he awakened we’ll spend time learning the prac- “teachings of the earth” accord with Su to nature, in the sense that it was the tical skills of canoe strokes, rescues, Shi’s experience? (A plain question, not first time he experienced nature this and environmental awareness, as a rhetorical one.) way. Awakened as nature also works— well as taking time to let our senses Arne Naess, a founder of the deep he saw that he and nature were not two. open to the treasures all around us. ecology movement, coined the term One last combination: self-realization Daily paddling will be integrated “ecological self” to describe “the is often experienced as nature awak- with Zen meditation and art prac- self that extends further and further ening to itself. tice. (Mountains and Rivers Order, beyond the separate ego and includes The phrase “awakened ecological Programs, fall 2017) more and more of the phenomenal consciousness” is accurate and com- world” (Joanna Macy, World as Lover, prehensive, though long. “Ecological “Open ourselves to the teachings of the World as Self [Parallax Press, 1991], awakening” shows promise. In a secu- wild”? Mujō seppō paddles on. 191). That interpretation of “ecological lar sense, it implies the recognition that Though the forms of expression self” is close in spirit to “the teachings many forms of life are undeniably imper- change, enlightenment has been the of the insentient,” though Buddhists iled. Can “ecological awakening” stretch axis mundi of Buddhism for more than are generally wary of expressions that to accommodate a spiritual meaning twenty-five hundred years. When Su Shi conjure up a self. Environmentally active along the lines of Buddhism’s “teach- wanted to say that nature played a cru- Buddhists and environmental activists ings of the insentient”? Without both cial role in his awakening, he relied on influenced by Buddhism have been called kinds of awakening, will future gener- the linguistic and cultural resources of “ecosattvas,” a lighthearted term for a ations find the moon in a dewdrop? ≥ his time and place. Today, in very different circumstances, the possible per- mutations of enlightenment and nature are still being explored. Emergent fields generate emergent vocabularies; words can be useful tools despite their inade- quacies. Ideally, new terms are accurate, accessible, flexible, evocative, and free of unwanted cultural baggage. (Neologisms take a while to get used to. Compare the coinages spawned by the Internet, beginning with Internet.) Buddhism’s encounter with ecology may one day yield a versatile lexicon that reflects a range of experiences and insights. For starters, “the teaching(s) of the insentient” is due for inspection. “Insentient” is an unfamiliar, techni- cal-sounding word, and the sentient/

Dharma World July–December 2018 9 FEATURES

The Buddhahood of All Insentient Beings by Brook Ziporyn

No lifeless universe has ever been discovered. Among all the universes The life of each thing, the lifelessness of each thing, the that have been discovered so far, there many lives of each thing, the many deadnesses of each is not even one that is devoid of life. I thing, the inﬁ nite simultaneous alternate lives of each thing, challenge you or anyone to show me the inﬁ nite simultaneous alternate deaths of each thing: that even one particle of matter, or even one is buddhahood. moment of time, from a universe without life. So far, no lifeless universe has been dis- non-life-producing universe, considering At this point we have merely been covered. Th at is, the occurrence of mat- that universe as a whole. For no non- speaking empirically about what has so ter without the occurrence of life is, life-producing universe has yet been far been discovered. Th ere are very few judging by the available empirical evi- discovered. Likewise, there is no lifeless things that we can know with absolute dence viewed globally, something that matter in any period of time that is not certainty without relying on empiri- does not happen. In every case that mat- part of at least one sequence of time that cal contingency. But in fact this is one ter has been there in any universe, life produces life. thing we can know with absolute cer- has occurred—eventually. All matter that has ever been discov- tainty: no universe will ever be discov I do not mean that there has never ered has existed only in a universe that ered devoid of life. been a time, a single snapshot moment also contains life, and all lifeless times We can know this for two reasons. or a billion such moments, during which were part of this sequence of time we Th e fi rst is perhaps relatively trivial, there was only matter but no life. Nor are now in, the total sequence of time although some philosophers attach great do I mean that there is no part of the that produced this life. signifi cance to it. It is that the act of “dis- universe in which, considered in isola- covering” itself requires a living being. tion from all other parts, there is only Ipso facto, wherever any discovering lifelessness. “In every case that mat- is done, life is also present. Th erefore ter has been there in any universe, life no universe devoid of life can ever be has occurred” is true even if there are discovered. immense periods of time, considered Th e second reason has to do with in isolation, and immense swaths of how we defi ne universe. Th is is the hid- space, considered in isolation, where den premise of the claims I am making there is no life. here: it is because we understand the Th e crux of the problem, however, idea of “universe” in a certain way that lies in those three words, “considered in we can claim, with absolute certainty, isolation.” Everything depends on how that there is no lifeless universe. If the we divide things up, where our defi ni- universe is taken in its broadest mean- tion of “one thing” begins and ends. ing, which is also its most commonsen- For what I mean when I say that sical meaning, it means “all that exists.” “matter without life has never existed” All that exists certainly includes this is that, scientifi cally speaking, there planet, this solar system, this period of has never appeared even one particle time. Th e universe in this broadest sense of any kind of matter found in any is what includes any more-narrowly

10 Dharma World July–December 2018 Brook Ziporyn, PhD, is a professor of Chinese Religion, Philosophy, and Comparative Thought in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. His published books include Emptiness and Omnipresence: The Lotus Sutra and Tiantai Buddhism (Indiana University Press, 2016). He is currently working on a cross-cultural inquiry into the themes of death, time, and perception, as well as an exposition of atheism as a form of religious and mystical experience.

construed universes—for example, all “my skin and my fingernails” has life. If living or unliving. Nor is it a potential alternate universes. If we call the sum me and that rock are separate, then my to attain buddhahood in the future. It is total of all possible universes “the uni- body has life and the rock has no life. not a soul, not an atman, not an essence, verse,” then it is obvious that there is no Mahāyāna Buddhism, particularly not a divine spark, not the Kingdom of universe but this one, and since this one that developed in the Madhyamaka Heaven “within you.” Rather, buddha- contains life, no universe can be dis- school and further elaborated in Tiantai nature is simply the space-like all-per- covered that is devoid of life. Whatever Buddhism, holds that the separation vasiveness that is revealed when we no might be discovered is by definition part of “inside and outside” is impossible longer think of inside or outside, when of this totality that includes our lives. to sustain in any nonambiguous way. we eliminate the idea that any given thing All of the above is true even if life These schools generally develop this is inside or outside any other thing, in exists only once, for a few million years, idea logically by use of reductio ad absur either a concrete or an abstract sense. on one small planet. Even if there was dum arguments that try to demonstrate Speaking of the failed exclusion of a no life for billions of years—and in most that any way of drawing common-sense stone from all things, we could say “all of the universe there never has been dividing lines to define one object in things have stone nature.” Speaking of and never will be life—even if the phe- distinction to another end up being the failed exclusion of the quality of bud- nomenon “life” is a peculiar flash that self-contradictory. dhahood—that is, of eternal realization occurs only on planet Earth between The Mahāyāna Parinirvāṇa Sūtra of the eternity of each impermanent the Hadean Eon 4,500 million years ago is not a part of this methodological thing, and the concomitant compassion, until 2018 CE, and never arises anywhere approach. It claims instead that all wisdom, and bliss of that realization— ever again, it is still true that there is no sentient beings have something it calls we say, “all things have buddha-nature.” universe devoid of life and that there buddha-nature. But it also says this bud- Since space has no inside or outside, can never be any universe devoid of life. dha-nature is “like space,” specifically every entity in space, every physical And yet people often contemplate like space in that it “is neither inside being, is not outside space. We cannot those vast billions of years and expanses nor outside”—or more profoundly, it put space on one side and the thing of space and speak of “lifeless matter.” itself has no inside or outside. that occupies space on the other side, This makes sense only if we divide the It is for this reason that the Chinese considering them two distinct entities. world in a certain way. That is, it is only Tiantai Buddhist writer Jingxi Zhanran Two distinct entities cannot occupy because we are in the habit of dividing (711–82), combining these two the same place. If space and the object self and other, or mind and its objects, approaches, amended that sutra’s claim occupying it were two distinct objects, or—to put it most generally—inside and that all sentient beings have buddha- then they would be two distinct enti- outside, that it is possible to speak of nature, arguing instead that even insen- ties that could not coexist in the same lifeless matter. Only if any one part of tient beings have buddha-nature, and place. To be an object in a space is pre- the universe is thought of as an entity that buddha-nature must by all means cisely to coexist in the same place as truly separate from all other parts can not be said to be “within” sentient beings. that space. So the claim about space anything be lifeless. The key question is If it were within sentient beings only, it returns, in Zhanran’s handling of it, to how much of the universe do we con- would be restricted to sentient beings. the Madhyamaka position that no thing sider to be “one thing.” Where do we So Zhanran does not allow the idea can have a clear line dividing it from draw the line that divides inside from that buddha-nature is a kind of divine the outside, from other things or spaces outside? If “me and that rock” are one essence or kernel within living beings. that are not it. Not only does space itself thing, that one thing has life, just as Nor is it some kernel within each being, have no inside or outside, the rock, too,

Dharma World July–December 2018 11 has no inside or outside. My body, these two are synonymous. It is in too, has no inside or outside. its very lifelessness that the pebble That brings us back to the universe displays its buddha-nature, that it and its life. My life may be observed reveals the depth dimension of my to last for only sixty or seventy years, own being. It does not have to be in one small spot on the surface of painted over or supplemented with one small planet. But if my life has no some additional thing called life or inside or outside, there is no place in buddhahood. the universe that is an entity outside We must be careful not to equate my small life. No universe has ever the conception of the buddhahood of been discovered without my life in plants and trees, or stones and shards, it. No universe can ever be discov- with pre-Buddhist animism—the ered without my life in it. belief that there is a separate indi- I can therefore say that all sen- vidual spirit dwelling within each of tient beings, and all insentient beings, these items. There is no spirit other have Brook Ziporyn nature. than the item itself, and these items The same is true of the Buddha themselves, too, are not separate. We Shakyamuni, or any other buddha, or must not imagine a life where there any moment of experience of a bud- is no life—no life is already life, but dha, however brief, experienced any- only insofar as it maintains its sta- where or anywhen. Therefore I can tus as no life. say that all sentient beings, and all Wherever there is a thing, there insentient beings, have buddha-nature. 5. the vitalist idea that buddha-nature is space. Wherever there is space, it is Life has no outside: therefore, the pervades the universe as an objective inseparable from whatever thing is in universe as an inseparable whole is not life force, rendering “life” more real and it, and the space that is copresent with lifeless. But life also has no inside; it has fundamental than “lifelessness.” any thing is inseparable from the space no essence that is divisible from lifeless- Indeed, Zhanran rejects even the that is copresent with every other thing. ness. So we can also say lifelessness has idea that we, or other things, merely There is no universe without this peb- no outside. There is no universe that is “have” buddha-nature. One is still dis- ble, nor can there ever be. There is no devoid of lifelessness. Hence we must tinct from what one “has.” Instead, we universe without the dullness, inertness, not construe the claim that insentient are, in our entirety, buddha-nature. stupidity, lifelessness of this pebble, nor beings have buddha-nature to mean, We are to see each stone and each can there ever be. To deny the dullness, one-sidedly, that life is ultimate, that life shard, each scent and each sight, each inertness, stupidity, lifelessness of this is deeper than nonlife, that the universe stalk and stick and plant and seed, as pebble is to deny the universe and to is actually one big life. It is one big life, the Middle Way itself, as space-like, deny the pebble’s buddha-nature. We but it is also one big lifelessness. And pervading all things even though it is need not seek the life within the peb- as much as all things are alive as me, I itself nothing (space has no attributes) ble, its hidden vitality. Its lifelessness is myself am dead as all things. and neither includes nor excludes any- vital enough—for it is our own life and So the claim that all insentient beings thing. Indeed, we can say that the peb- all other lives that crash against that also have buddha-nature, historically ble is me and I am the pebble, but not lifelessness, neither within nor without deriving from Jingxi Zhanran, is a way because both of us are really me, and it. Our lives belong to that pebble not of rejecting the following ideas: not because both of us are really the because it has some life separate from 1. that buddha-nature is within us, pebble. Nor should we say that both our lives but, rather, precisely because any more than it is without us; of us are some third thing that is nei- it does not. 2. that buddha-nature is an essence ther me nor pebble. The pebble is the The life of each thing, the lifeless- of purity or buddha-likeness within us; ambiguity of me-or-pebble, and I am ness of each thing, the many lives of 3. that buddha-nature is the nature the ambiguity of pebble-or-me. Life each thing, the many deadnesses of each of consciousness; is the ambiguity of life-or-death, and thing, the infinite simultaneous alternate 4. that buddha-nature is the capac- death is also the ambiguity of death- lives of each thing, the infinite simul- ity or potential to attain buddhahood or-life. The universe is indeed one big taneous alternate deaths of each thing: in the future; and life, but it is also one big death—and that is buddhahood. ≥

12 Dharma World July–December 2018 FEATURES

A Prayer for “Plants and Trees, Countries and Lands, All Become Buddhas” by Shinsui Okada

Shinsui (Mamiko) Okada, a professor “Plants and trees, countries and lands, all become buddhas” emerita at the University of Hyogo, is not a question of whether or not plants, trees, countries, earned a Dr.Phil. at the University of and lands attain buddhahood; rather, it is ﬁ rst and foremost a Bonn, Germany. She is an ordained prayer for the repose of the wounded and dead in nature. Nichiren-shū priest and a member of the Science Council of Japan. She was also one of the organizers A Philosophy of Plants Are Plants and Trees of the Japan Religion Coordinating Nonsentient? Project for Disaster Relief, which was The philosopher Tomonobu Imamichi organized after the Great East Japan (1922–2012) pointed out that most Mahayana Buddhism in general does Earthquake of 2011. Japanese family crests are based on not consider trees and plants to be capa- plant designs, indicating that, compared ble of sensation and, with the excep- kankyō, 6: Rekishi to kikō [Lecture with cultures that employ dragons and tion of the Lotus and Śūraṅgama sutras, series, 6, Civilization and the environ- eagles, or lions and tigers in their her- does not hesitate to place them on a par ment: History and climate] [Asakura aldry, Japanese cultural patterns show with tiles and stones. For example, the Shoten, 1995 (revised edition, 2008)], a strong tendency toward adaptability Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra (Sutra of the Great 1–11). Th e Mahayana sutras, with their and harmony. Plants survive not as Accumulation of Treasures) says, “Plants prohibition of meat eating, were com- individuals but by species adaptation. and trees, tiles and stones, like shad- piled at this time. Why this prohibition This means that they grow where their ows, are not sentient” (Mahāratnakūṭa was added to the small simple meals seed randomly falls, existing within a Sūtra, 78, Discourse to Pūrṇa, 17.2.4). demanded by asceticism can thus be pattern of dramatic change as their Why is this so? explained in ecoreligious terms. In all branches and leaves grow. Imamichi Th e geographer Yutaka Sakaguchi probability, the acceptance of ascetic wrote, “In the very workings of their reports that recent research has shown behavior in relation to food and the rejec- life, plants are a reiteration of elegant that from the middle of the third century tion of meat by religious practitioners beauty as they bud, bloom, fall, prolif- to around the sixth or erate, fruit, and change color, all within seventh century the an intense yet inconspicuous struggle world experienced for life” (Tōyō no bigaku [Aesthetics severe climate change of the East], TBS Britannica, 1980). in the form of cool- Plants take root in that space where ing, drier conditions their seed falls and form a community (see “Kako ichiman with other plants. They maintain har- sanzennen no kikō mony with their surroundings and con- no henka to jinrui tinually transform themselves, adapting no rekishi” [Climate to changes in their environment. As change and the his- Imamichi stated, the workings of their tory of human beings life are inconspicuous, but there is no during the past thir- doubt a severity of struggle to survive teen thousand years], and flourish. Kōza, bunmei to

Dharma World July–December 2018 13 and the societies that supported them the sound of the water in the val- landscape benign. Since nature appears derived from severe and long-term leys. . . . Thus the willow being green to be benevolent to us, it is easy for us food shortages. At such a time, rather and the flowers being red, the col- to feel as one with it” (Nihonjin no shi than rearing pigs and other animals on ors and scents of the plants and the yui hōhō [The way of thinking of the plant food and then eating their meat, trees, are in themselves the realm of Japanese people], Shunjūsha, 1989, many more human lives could be sus- buddhahood. (Yōkyoku-shū, ge [A 2012. First published by Misuzu Shobō, tained by a considerably lesser volume collection of nō texts, vol. 2], Nihon 1949). When Nakamura wrote this, Japan by eating vegetable foodstuffs directly. koten bungaku taikei [A compen- did not experience great earthquakes, “Hence, in order to keep both monks dium of Japanese classical literature], and its climatic conditions were sta- and lay followers free from what was vol. 41 [Iwanami Shoten, 1963], 38) ble. From the end of the twentieth cen- deemed unnecessary inconvenience tury, however, nature has not been so and qualms, the sentience of plants was, Similarly, the play Teika (The jasmine benevolent. A number of large earth- by and large, ignored [in the precept vine) says: quakes reaching the maximum of 7 against the taking of life]” (Lambert on the Japan Meteorological Agency Schmithausen, Buddhism and Nature: Drenched by the rain that is the one- scale have occurred: the Great Hanshin The Lecture Delivered on the Occasion of ness of the flavor of the Dharma, all Awaji Earthquake (1995), the Chūetsu the EXPO 1990 [International Institute are rehydrated and plants and the earthquake (2004), the Great East Japan for Buddhist Studies, 1991], 7). land have the opportunity to attain Earthquake (2011), and the Kumamoto buddhahood. (Ibid., 52) earthquakes (2016). In addition, there Plants and has been disastrous flooding in Niigata, the Lotus Sutra The phrase “plants and trees, coun- Fukui, and Toyooka in Hyōgo (2004), in tries and lands, all become buddhas” Sayō-chō in Hyōgo (2009), in Hiroshima Chapter 5 of the Lotus Sutra, “The resonates throughout the world of nō (2014), and in North Kantō (2015); and Parable of the Herbs,” likens the teach- theater. As the phrase appears as the also volcanic eruptions on Miyakejima ings of the Buddha benefiting all beings “words of the Buddha” in many texts, (2000), Sakurajima (2013), Ontake equally to the rain that falls on all trees, including the plays Nue (Monster Nue) (2014), Kuchinoerabujima (2015), and shrubs, herbs, and grasses, enabling and Saigyō zakura (Saigyō and the cherry Kusatsu Shiranesan (2018). Water has them to grow and blossom, produc- tree), it should be found in the words inundated the land, fires have broken ing fruits. This chapter was to have an of the sutras; but it has not in fact been out on mountainsides, and the earth important influence on the Chinese discovered in any volume of the extant has trembled. Tiantai and Japanese Tendai schools of canon (Shōson Miyamoto, “‘Sōmoku A similar series of enormous earth- Buddhism. Whereas the Chinese Huayan kokudo shikkai jōbutsu’ no busshō-ron quakes is recorded in the Nihon sandai school held that plants are not sentient teki igi to sono sakusha” [The authorship jitsuroku (The true history of the three and cannot achieve enlightenment, in and significance of the phrase “Plants and reigns of Japan), an official history com- commentaries such as Fazang’s (643– trees, countries and lands, all become piled in 901: the Jōgan tsunami (869), 712) Huayanjing tanxuanji (Records of buddhas” as a theory of the buddha- often compared to the Great East Japan the search for the profundities of the nature], Journal of Indian and Buddhist Earthquake; the Great Izumo earthquake Avataṃsaka Sūtra), Tiantai scholars Studies 9, no. 2 [1961]: 262–91). (880); and the Tōnankai earthquake advocated plants’ capability of attain- The Great East Japan Earthquake of (887) (vols. 16, 38, and 50, respectively). ing buddhahood. This must have been 2011, in which a massive tsunami devas- When we look back over the past, we because of the image presented in “The tated the coastal areas of Tohoku, added see that the reason the Japanese do not Parable of the Herbs.” a new understanding of what was meant act contrary to nature but draw close In Japan this understanding was by this beautiful phrase, which is said to it and consider themselves part of it adopted into the scripts for nō plays. to have been born in Japan. is not in fact because the Japanese cli- One script contains these lines: mate is mild and the landscape benign. A Magnificent The European and North American cli- Appearing in “The Parable of the and Cruel Land mate certainly cannot be called mild, Herbs,” plants, trees, and the land, but it is not something with which peo- sentient and nonsentient beings, The scholar of Indology and Buddhology ple are unable to contend. It is possible are the real aspect of all things— Hajime Nakamura (1911–99) wrote, to survive in it by using intelligence to the storm on the mountain peaks, “In Japan the climate is genial, and the improve the environment. In the case

14 Dharma World July–December 2018 attain buddhahood; rather it is first and www.bukkyo-kikaku.com/archive/bk foremost a prayer for the repose of the _tusin_no25.htm). wounded and dead in nature. These provide an important base A text exists that shows that such when thinking of the phrase “plants and an understanding is in no way baseless. trees, countries and lands, all become It is in the Shinjō sōmoku jōbutsu shiki buddhas” as a prayer. (Private notes on discussions of the For those of us who have experienced attainment of buddhahood by plants over and over again the roaring of the and trees), written by the Tendai priest sea and the collapse of mountainsides, Annen (841–?) between 869 and 885?, witnessed the destruction of pine groves that we find the first mention of the by the force of tsunamis, and seen the phrase “plants and trees, countries and sweeping away of villages into the sea, lands, all become buddhas” (Mitsuaki this allows us to think of nature as all of Japan, however, nature can at times Hanano, “Sanjūshika no kotogaki no the more precious. be rigorous and cruel, and its power can senja to shisō ni tsuite (3)” [Thoughts be overwhelming, far beyond people’s on the compiler and ideas of the Thirty- Conclusion ability to withstand. Those who expe- four item report (3)], Journal of Oriental rienced the tsunami in 2011 could only Studies 15, no. 2 [1976]: 127–56). The In the Shinnyokan (The contemplation of say there was nothing they could do, that year 869, when the Shinjō sōmoku absolute reality) attributed to the Tendai their strength was negligible before it. jōbutsu shiki began to be written, was priest Genshin (Eshin Sōzu, 942–1017), the year in which the Jōgan tsunami we find the following words: Words of Prayer took place. Kōkan Sasaki (1930–), a leading Because plants and trees, tiles and In India, the earth is considered to anthropologist of religion, cited a pho- stones, mountains and rivers, the be typical of that which is solid and tograph of a Buddhist priest he had seen great earth, the ocean, and the sky firm, and the word acala, which means in a publication—standing alone on a are all, without exception, embodi- “immovable,” is used to express “moun- shore reduced to rubble by the tsunami, ments of shinnyo (absolute reality), tain.” The earth in Japan, by contrast, is facing the sea, his hands held in prayer— they are none other than buddhas. turbulent, and mountains spew forth fire as an example of a prayer for the bud- sufficient to change their shape, while dhahood of plants and lands. Sasaki The capability of becoming a buddha (the at the time of the 2011 earthquake, the points out that Japan’s smooth accep- buddha-nature) extends beyond human- sea rose to a height of 40 meters (130 tance of teachings such as the buddha- kind to plants and trees, tiles and stones, feet), drowning the land and racing up hood of plants and lands was because mountains and rivers, the sea, and the nearby hills. the Japanese possessed a view of nature sky. Everything is within the network of During the Jōgan tsunami of 869, that was accommodating to such teach- life. There, plants do not move from the the sea roared, “its sound like thun- ings. Characteristic of this ease of accep- space in which they grow but, changing der” (Nihon sandai jitsuroku). Japan’s tance was a religio-cultural tendency their form over and over again in a com- mountains and rivers, and the whole to perceive kami (divine beings) in the munity with others, live in harmony with land, are not immovable but are, rather, workings of nature. He indicates that the their surroundings in the same soil. Now animate beings. People witnessing the Japanese tend to regard nature as having is the time for us to learn from them, movements of the earth and the roar- both a rough aspect of kami (aramitama) not just thinking of changing the envi- ing of the seas must have prayed that and a calm aspect of kami (nigitama), ronment for our own convenience, but the “plants and trees, countries and and that there are many examples of a respecting both the plants and the land lands” be calmed and that the “plants tatarigami (a malevolent and violent as we attempt to reform ourselves so that and trees” that had lost their lives amid kami) being converted into a benign we can live in harmony with our envi- the desolate landscape left by the reced- deity through the worship and prayer ronment. ≥ ing tsunami, and the land itself, might of the people (“Daishinsai go no Nihon rest in peace. The phrase “plants and shūkyōron ni tsuite” [Religious ideas in For a related work, see Mamiko Okada, trees, countries and lands, all become Japan about the catastrophe caused by “Environmental Issues and Buddhism’s buddhas” is not a question of whether the earthquake], Bukkyō Kikaku Tsūshin, Potential,” Dharma World, July– or not plants, trees, countries, and lands no. 25 [September 11, 2011], https:// September (2008), 26–30.

Dharma World July–December 2018 15 FEATURES How Do We Respect the Buddha-Nature of Nature? by David R. Loy

inside buildings with screened win- We desecrate the natural world when we relate to it only as dows, which insulate us from insects, an instrumental means to some other goal (such as economic the hot sun, and chilling winds. Th ere growth). We resacralize it when we realize and respect its own are many advantages to this, of course, buddha-nature. but is something signifi cant also lost? Although we normally relate to nature in a utilitarian way, the natu- Before, nature had a life and spirit including cutting off limbs, picking fl ow- ral world is an interdependent com- of its own. Th e trees, skies, and rivers, or even plucking green leaves. One munity of living beings that invites us ers were living spirits. Now we are wonders what he would say about our into a diff erent kind of relationship. only concerned with how they can casual destruction of whole ecosystems Th e implication is that withdrawing serve us. today. —Phra Paisal Visalo We may also wonder about the larger pattern: According to traditional biographies, why religious founders Gautama Buddha had a special rela- so oft en experience their tionship with trees. He was born among spiritual transformation by trees in Lumbini Grove, when his mother leaving human society and went into premature labor. As a child, going into the wilderness while sitting under a tree and watch- by themselves. Following ing his father plow a fi eld as part of a his baptism, Jesus went religious ceremony, he naturally fell into the desert, where he into a meditative trance. Later, when fasted for forty days and he left home on his spiritual quest, he nights. Mohammed’s went into the forest, where he stud- revelations occurred ied with two teachers, later engaged in when he retreated into a ascetic practices, and then meditated by cave, where the archangel himself under a tree, where he awak- Gabriel appeared to him. ened. Aft erward he continued to spend Th eKhaggavisana Sutta most of his time outdoors, oft en teach- (Rhinoceros Horn Sutra), ing under trees and eventually dying one of the earliest in the between two trees. Pali canon, encourages Unsurprisingly, the Buddha oft en monks to wander alone expressed his appreciation of trees and in the forest, like a rhi- other plants. According to one story in noceros. Milarepa lived the Vinaya monastic code, a tree spirit and practiced in a cave by appeared to him and complained that himself for many years, as a monk had chopped down its tree. In did many Tibetan yogis response, the Buddha prohibited monas- aft er him. Today, in con- tics from damaging trees or bushes, trast, most of us meditate

16 Dharma World July–December 2018 David R. Loy is a professor, writer, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism. He is a prolific author whose essays and books have been translated into many languages. He teaches nationally and internationally on various topics, focusing primarily on the encounter between Buddhism and modernity and what each can learn from the other. See www.davidloy.org.

into it, especially by oneself, can disrupt Why are we so alienated from the Enlightenment philosopher, disagreed: our usual ways of seeing and open us natural world, which is not just our home property is not an inalienable right but a up to an alternative experience. Does but also our mother? One of the pillars social construct that founded the social that also point to why we enjoy being of the worldview we collectively take for order. “The first man, having enclosed a in nature so much? We find it healing, granted today is a principle that the eco- piece of ground, to whom it occurred to even when we don’t understand why logical crisis exposes as problematic. It say this is mine, and found people suf- or how, but clearly it has something to is a social construct that, like money, ficiently simple to believe him, was the do with the fact that the natural world is essential and, like money, has devel- true founder of civil society” (Discourse offers us a temporary escape from our oped in ways that need to be revaluated on Inequality). instrumentalized lives. and reconstructed. Although these two views of prop- Because meaning for us today has erty are different, they share something become a function of words, we usu- Property more important. Both perspectives are ally miss the meaning of everything concerned only about the rights of the else. “For most cultures throughout The basic problem with property—par- owner and have nothing to say about history—including our own in prelit- ticularly land—is that in belonging to the rights of the owned—because prop- erate times—the entire world used to someone else (or something else, such as erty, of course, has none. A more non- speak. Anthropologists call this ani- a corporation), it is reduced to a means dualist Buddhist approach, however, mism, the most pervasive worldview in for the ends of the owner. Despite being suggests a different perspective. human history. Animistic cultures lis- indispensable to civilization as we know According to the Pali canon, the ten to the natural world. For them, birds it, our modern concept of private prop- Buddha did not critique the concept have something to say. So do worms, erty is not something natural to human of private property. When merchants wolves, and waterfalls” (Christopher society in the way that, for example, lan- asked him for advice, he emphasized how Manes, A Language Older than Words). guage and material tools are. Hunting one gains wealth and how one should Perhaps they have not ceased to speak, and gathering societies that do not grow use it. Accumulating wealth for its own but we are no longer able to hear what their food have a very different rela- sake was condemned in favor of gen- they are saying. tionship to the land they live on and erosity—which may have something What does this imply about the rela- the other creatures they live with. The to do with the fact that the monastic tionship between human civilization fact that all conceptions of property community was dependent on lay sup- and the biosphere that supports it? are culturally and historically condi- port. The Lion’s Roar Sutra tells a story Today, of course, that relationship is tioned reminds us that property is not about a kingdom that collapses when more strained than it was in the time inherently sacrosanct. Our social agree- the ruler does not give property to those of Gautama Buddha. Two hundred ments about property can be changed— who are impoverished. The moral is not years ago little more than 3 percent and today perhaps need to be changed, that poverty-induced crime should be of the world’s population lived in cit- as part of our response to burgeoning punished severely, or that poor people ies; today well over half of us live in social and ecological crises. are responsible for their own poverty urban areas. According to ecopsychol- In his Second Treatise the English and should work harder, but that gov- ogists, many urbanites suffer not only political philosopher John Locke argued ernments have a responsibility to help from various types of overcrowding that governments are instituted to secure people provide for their basic needs. and pollution but also from “nature people’s rights to “life, liberty, and prop- Of course, there was also another deficit syndrome.” erty.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the French side to the Buddha’s teachings, which

Dharma World July–December 2018 17 emphasized nonattachment to material goods and promoted the value of having fewer wants. Monastics, for example, should be content with the four requi- sites: enough food to alleviate hunger and maintain health, enough clothes to be modest and protect the body, enough shelter to focus on mental cultivation, and enough medical care to cure and prevent basic illnesses. Personal possessions were limited to three robes, a begging bowl, a razor, a needle, a water strainer, and a cord around the waist. This de-emphasis on personal property is consistent with Buddhist teachings about the self. The word property derives from the Latin proprius “one’s own.” There is no property—whether ter- ritory or movable possessions—unless there is someone to own it. The concept onslaught of our species, however, this Renaissance there has been progres- is inherently dualistic: the owner objecti- social agreement about property needs sive emphasis on religious freedom (the fies, in effect, that which is owned. Then to be rethought. Instead of focusing Reformation), political freedom (start- what does property mean for a tradition only on what is of short-term benefit to ing with the English, American, and that is devoted to realizing there can be one species, what about the well-being French revolutions), economic freedom no real owner, because there is no self? of the planet? Is there another alterna- (class struggle), colonial freedom (inde- Yet property is obviously a neces- tive besides relating to “it” (we’re talking pendence movements), racial freedom sary social construct. Why? That brings about Mother Earth here!) as something (antislavery campaigns and civil rights us back to the basic Buddhist concern: for humans to exploit? movements), and more recently, gender alleviating dukkha (suffering) in the This is not an appeal for socialism, and sexual freedom (women’s rights, gay broadest sense. From a Buddhist per- in which the state owns everything, in and transgender rights, and so forth). spective, property is a useful social con- effect, on behalf of all of its citizens. There is, however, another way to struct insofar as it reduces dukkha but From an ecological perspective, that usu- describe this historical development. problematic when it increases dukkha. ally amounts to a collective version of Almost all of those freedom movements Needless to say, such a perspective is the same owner/owned, subject/object can be understood as struggles to over- quite different from the prevalent view dualism. I’m talking about a new liber- come hierarchical exploitation, which that largely determines how our civili- ation movement. are forms of means-ends duality. Slavery, zation relates to the earth today. for example, has been called social death So the issue isn’t whether I own my The Next Liberation because the life of a slave is completely toothbrush or similar personal items. Movement? subordinated to the interests of the mas- The question is whether wealthy peo- ter. Patriarchy subordinated women to ple and corporations should be free to Sooner or later, we will have to real- men in much the same way, exploiting own as much property as they want, and ize that the earth has rights, too, to them for domestic work, sexual plea- whether they should be able to utilize live without pollution. sure, and producing children. Rulers that property (especially land) in any —Bolivian president Evo Morales and the people they oppress, colonialists way they want—including ways that and the colonized, robber barons and damage the earth. Today the bottom The development of Western civiliza- workers: they are all versions of ineq- line, with few exceptions, is “hands off” tion—now globalized—has often been uitable relationships, which were ratio- if they earned their money legally and understood in terms of increasing free- nalized as natural and therefore proper. bought the property legally. It’s theirs, so dom. According to the historian Lord In all of these cases, freedom means not they can do more or less whatever they Acton, the growth of freedom has been being a means to someone else’s ends. want with it. If the earth is to survive the the central theme of history. Since the Democracy entails, in principle, that

18 Dharma World July–December 2018 no one’s personhood is defined by Urewera Act. Among other things, their subservience to what some- personhood means that lawsuits to one else wants them to do. protect the land can be brought on What is the next step in this behalf of the land itself, without the historical progression? Well, what need to show harm to any human. means-ends subordination remains Jacinta Ruru of the University of the greatest problem today, now that Otago called the new law “undoubt- our extraordinary technological pow- edly legally revolutionary.” In 2017 ers have transformed the earth and the Whanganui River, the third all of its creatures into a collection of longest in New Zealand, was also resources to be extracted and con- granted personhood. sumed in whatever ways we humans Also last year, a high court in decide? India declared the Ganges and If this instrumentalist view of Yamuna Rivers to be legal persons. the natural world is at the heart Later it extended this designation of our ecological predicament, to their tributaries, including gla- perhaps the next development in ciers, rivers, streams, rivulets, lakes, overcoming hierarchical means-ends air, meadows, dales, jungles, for- relationships is to appreciate that the ests, wetlands, grasslands, springs, planet and its magnificent web of life and waterfalls. Citing the new sta- are much more than just a resource tus of the Whanganui River in New for the benefit of one species. Instead Zealand, the judges ruled that the of dismissing such a possibility as two rivers and their tributaries are an unlikely collective self-sacrifice, this rights, so environmental laws have “legal and living entities having the sta- freedom movement can be based on the focused only on regulating exploitation. tus of a living person with all corre- opposite realization: that the ecological Recently, however, the inherent rights of sponding rights, duties and liabilities.” crisis demonstrates that our own well- the natural world have been recognized The Indian ruling was in direct being ultimately cannot be distinguished in Ecuador, New Zealand, and India, response to increasing pollution of the from the well-being of the whole. meaning that cases can be brought up Ganges and Yamuna, which are consid- According to the ecotheologian on behalf of nature itself. ered sacred by most Hindus. If present Thomas Berry, the universe is not a In accordance with the traditional legal regimes of property rights are not collection of objects but a commu- worldview of Quechua peoples in the working to protect threatened ecosys- nity of subjects. Our own biosphere Andes, Ecuador in 2008 passed a new tems, it is acknowledged that new ways is a resplendent example of that com- constitution legally enshrining the of thinking and acting may be necessary. munity. Humans are not the ultimate rights of nature. According to Article Although granting personhood to end, the goal of the evolutionary pro- 71: “Nature, or Pachamama, where life is some special places is an important step cess, because no species is—or better, created and reproduced, has the right for in the right direction, that by itself will because every species is. Today we need its existence to be integrally respected as not save the earth’s biosphere from the to think seriously about what it would well as the right of the maintenance and ecological crisis that now challenges mean to live on the earth in such a way. regeneration of its vital cycles, structures, civilization as we know it. Yet it points Of course, given entrenched eco- functions and evolutionary processes. to a change in our collective under- nomic and political realities, any social Every person, community, people or standing of our relationship with the movement in that direction would be an nationality can demand from the pub- earth. Wendell Berry’s poem “How to idealistic fantasy. Except that it’s already lic authority that these rights of nature Be a Poet” says “There are no unsacred happening. are fulfilled.” places; / there are only sacred places / In New Zealand, what used to be and desecrated places.” We desecrate “I Am the River and the the Te Urewera National Park on the the natural world when we relate to it River Is Me” North Island was granted personhood only as an instrumental means to some in 2014 and is now a legal entity with “all other goal (such as economic growth). According to traditional jurisprudence, the rights, powers, duties and liabilities We resacralize it when we realize and nature is property without any legal of a legal person,” according to the Te respect its own buddha-nature. ≥

Dharma World July–December 2018 19 FEATURES

Flowers of Sentience, Roots of Consciousness: The Buddhahood of Plants in the Nō Theater by M. Cody Poulton

drama? Can a play about anything so Both Shinto and Buddhism acknowledge that sentience passive as a plant make for good the- can exist across a broad spectrum of life, from the simplest ater? If the sum eff ect of such a play organic structures to supernatural entities that, though is no more than to enshrine in art the invisible, may direct our lives in ways we still don’t glories of nature, where is the drama in understand. that? Th e majority of plays concerning this theme are now generally grouped as “woman plays,” belonging to a cat- It has always pleased me to exalt peoples around the world. As unique as egory of plays that are the most lyrical plants in the scale of organised they are, human beings do not occupy but also the most static, the least “dra- beings. any God-given, privileged place in this matic” in a Western sense, in the nō Charles Darwin, Autobiography scheme. Th e word animism is brought repertoire. Like women, but far more (qtd. in Sacks 2017, 4–5) out to explain much of this, though the so, the fl owers and trees of the nō are term itself is vaguely used. frequently portrayed as pretty objects For over thirty years I have been encoun- I began to realize that a radically that do not act except in the sense that tering a motif or set of motifs in Japanese diff erent metaphysical construct of the they are catalysts for an event or, bet- culture that is, outside of folklore and the world gives rise to a distinctive poetics ter yet, a mood. children’s story, virtually unheard of in and dramaturgy, and that typical Euro- The woman plays of the nō the- European literature. Japanese literature American critical tools fail to adequately ater lack many of those very elements and theater are rife with stories in which interpret even Japanese discursive texts, that are the sine qua non of modern the protagonists are not human but are, to say nothing of many of their great- drama: the delineation of human char- rather, plants, trees, animals, or super- est works of poetry, fi ction, and drama. acters and their social and psychologi- natural beings. For many Westerners, Consider, for example, a category of cal confl icts. Such plays—for example, such tales seem indicative of some kind nō plays in which the shite, the “doer” about an encounter between a tranquil of arrested development in the Japanese or protagonist, is a fl ower, plant, or tree. nature and a Buddhist priest who has psyche, as if their culture had failed to As many as forty plays refer to the idea abandoned the world—must surely be become modern or, worse, “grow up.” of sōmoku jōbutsu, or the buddhahood counted among the least dramatic of all. When I ask my Japanese colleagues of plants. Th e phrase is part of a lon- Very little actually happens in a play like about this, most see no problem at all: ger verse, Kakitsubata, except in the sense that the both Shinto and Buddhism acknowl- plot, such as it is, becomes an occasion edge that sentience can exist across a When one buddha attains the Way for great poetry. broad spectrum of life, from the simplest and contemplates the realm of There are obvious limits to our organic structures to supernatural enti- the Law, understanding of the inner life of the ties that, though invisible, may direct our Th e grasses and trees and land will plant world. Even were we to subscribe lives in ways we still don’t understand. all become buddha. to the idea that plants can indeed feel— Arguably, the Japanese themselves feel (Ichibutsu jōdō kangen hōkai sōmoku that they have emotions, even souls— a kinship with these other entities to a kokudo shikkai jōbutsu.) these attributes are surely not the same degree that many people in Europe or as ours. Th is philosophical problem was North America do not, though such a Can the natural (that is to say, non- raised by Wittgenstein (1958, 223) in his sensibility is common among indigenous human) world be a suitable subject for famous saying, “If a lion could speak, we

20 Dharma World July–December 2018 Mark Cody Poulton, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Pacific and Asian Studies at the University of Victoria in Canada. His recent research has focused on Japanese theater and drama. He has also been active as a translator of kabuki and modern Japanese fiction and drama, for both publication and live stage productions in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, and Japan.

could not understand him.” The subjec- thinking advanced by Jane Bennett, is ground.” Paper birch and Douglas fir tive quality of any consciousness—what a useful tool to imagine ourselves into exchange carbon, nitrogen, phospho- Thomas Nagel (1974) called qualia— the nonhuman world: rus, and water through their root sys- cannot be explained. Empathy can allow tems, but they don’t share with western us an intuition of the consciousness of If a green materialism requires of us red cedar. The birch sends more car- another, but this is far easier among a more refined sensitivity to the out- bon to the fir than the fir to the birch creatures of the same species, to say side-that-is-inside-too, then maybe in summer, but in the fall the exchange nothing of people of the same family a bit of anthropomorphizing will is reversed. Hundreds of miles of fun- or place. We can understand much by prove valuable. Maybe it is worth gus mycelium interact with their root observation of the other, even of bats running the risks associated with systems, exchanging information and or bluebells, but we can only be cer- anthropomorphizing (superstition, nutrients. “Mother trees” recognize their tain of their behavior (if it is possible the divinization of nature, roman- own children and “hub trees” hold the to consider the life of a flower in such ticism) because it, oddly enough, system together. Through such a com- terms); their subjective experience of works against anthropocentrism: a munication and exchange of resources, the world can, at best, only be inferred. chord is struck between person and forests increase their overall resilience To make such inferences, we tend to thing, and I am no longer above or in a way that monoculture tree farms project our own thoughts and feelings outside a nonhuman “environment.” cannot. upon nature. In European poetics, this Too often the philosophical rejection Similarly, Canadian medical bio- amounts to a personification of nature, of anthropomorphism is bound up chemist and botanist Diana Beresford- which is typically dismissed as a pathetic with a hubristic demand that only Kroeger (2010, 2016) views trees as fallacy. The point is that plants do not humans and God can bear any traces complex chemical factories. She is feel as we do, and it is simply sentimen- of creative agency. (2010, 120) the author of several books on forest tal of us to think otherwise. But this poetic fallacy is precisely the premise Current research of a number of nō plays. I am increas- by a number of bota- ingly of the opinion that such motifs nists and biologists is are not false at all but, rather, express providing insight into insights into the workings of nature that the complex lives of nonetheless require a certain degree of plants and trees. In a anthropomorphism in order for us as much-watched TED human beings to make intelligible what talk (to date, over 2.6 is essentially nonhuman in nature. Even million views), Suzanne in Western poetics, the apostrophe, a Simard (2016), pro- device whereby the poet addresses a fessor of forest ecol- third party, someone or something—a ogy at the University famous example is Keats’s “Ode on a of British Columbia, Grecian Urn”—indicates how inanimate explains that forests objects may be personified (cf. Johnson behave like complex 2010). Here what is called new materi- organisms, “sharing alism, or green materialism, a way of information below

Dharma World July–December 2018 21 medicine that have inspired the docu- their master; sensitivity to poetic slights from plants and trees” (1974, 227). Thus, mentary Call of the Forest: The Forgotten wakes the plum, cherry, and maple from in this scheme we are still not entirely Wisdom of Trees (2016). And like Qing their natural slumber to supernatural removed from an anthropocentric view Li (2016) of Nippon Medical School in epiphanies in Ume, Sumizome-zakura, of nature, but nature has nonetheless Tokyo, Beresford-Kroeger has studied Mutsura, and Saigyō-zakura. But the assumed an important role in facilitat- how trees release camphor compounds, bathos of a happy pine or a weeping ing the salvation of humanity. and limonene and other essential oils, cherry is no more interesting or accept- That plants are “insentient and within addition to oxygen, that improve our able in the nō than it would be in Western out feelings” is a stock phrase in these physical and mental well-being. poetry. A good nō play is far more sub- plays, but these expressions inevita- In What a Plant Knows, Daniel tle and complex than that. The person- bly appear in a grammatical form that Chamowitz writes that “plants are capa- ification of plants can, in fact, work to at once negates the idea. For example: ble of registering sights, sounds, tactile great dramatic advantage as well as be signals, and much more. Plants ‘know’ an occasion to show off a good deal of Though plants and trees, they say, what to do and they ‘remember’” (qtd. dexterity with Buddhist ideas. have no feelings . . . in Sacks 2017, 69). The scare quotes Neither Buddhism nor the aesthetic Sōmoku kokoro nashi to mōsedomo here indicate that we must anthropo- sense of the nō accepts at face value the (Kakitsubata) morphize their physical processes in notion that plants have emotions. Early order to understand them in the form of Buddhism resisted the notion that the Who says that flowers and leaves, thoughts, using chemical reactions rather botanical world could be sentient not in all their various forms, have than neurons. In his posthumously pub- only because nature in itself was a man- no feelings? lished River of Consciousness, the cele- ifestation of maya (illusion) but also Kayō samazama no sugata o kokoro brated neurologist Oliver Sacks remarks: because the question of personal salva- nashi to ta ga iu (Mutsura) tion was regarded as a fundamentally It is fascinating to think of Darwin, human one. This doctrinal debate on Though you say you are truly a plant Romanes, and other biologists of the buddhahood of plants nevertheless without feelings . . . their time searching for “mind,” hinted at a much more pressing concern Geniya kokoro naki sōmoku nari to “mental processes,” “intelligence,” regarding human salvation. Religious mōsedomo (Oimatsu) even “consciousness” in primitive beliefs held by men and women obvi- animals like jellyfish, and even in ously concern the working out of their The pines of Takasago and Suminoe protozoa. A few decades later radical own salvation, and nonhuman life is are insentient, yet . . . behaviorism would come to dom- incorporated into those beliefs only to Takasago Suminoe no matsu wa hijō inate the scene, denying reality to the extent that it is relevant to matters no mono da ni mo (Takasago) what was not objectively demon- of human faith. In discussing the philo- strable, denying in particular any sophical implications of this belief in For all the talk about the insentience processes between stimulus and medieval Japan, William Lafleur (1973, of the botanical world, the point, of response, deeming these irrelevant 1974) notes a shift from human to nat- course, is that plants are indeed sen- or at least beyond the reach of sci- ural salvific models. Human nature and tient, certainly sensible enough to feel entific study. (2017, 70) society were fundamentally flawed and when they are being slighted. These therefore in need of salvation; yet, in plays pit rather “humane” (if not actually Nowadays, Western science and phi- being so completely itself, the natural human) flowers and trees against, typ- losophy seem poised to accept some of world was already perfected and thus was ically, priests who have tried their best the more mystical claims of Japanese and an earthly manifestation of buddhahood. to slough off the attributes of human- other indigenous worldviews. Whether The actual salvation of other species was ity. And one of the highest attributes plants achieve buddhahood or a more less important than the extent to which of humanity for the courtly culture Shintoistic apotheosis, what is crucial to nature itself can furnish humans with that the nō theater emulated was an the nō plays is that these plants demon- the means of salvation. For as Lafleur elegant sensibility. strate a kind of sensitivity and loyalty points out, “the discussion that began Within a natural setting, priest that is essentially a human ideal, if not with the question of the possibility of encounters plant; they exchange words, always a human quality. Love binds the salvation for plants and trees eventu- a wonder in itself; finally, through this twin pines of Takasago to each other, ally led to the position that there was medium of human language, they grow and the pine and the plum of Oimatsu to a salvation for man which was derived together in sympathy.

22 Dharma World July–December 2018 That the source for this language is to be found in nature is most beauti- fully expressed in Takasago:

Nothing, neither sentient nor insentient, (Ujō hijō no) goes without voice, (sono koe mina) nor does not give that voice to song. (uta ni moruru koto nashi.) The grasses and trees, the soil and sand, (Sōmoku dosha) even the wind’s voice and the rush- ing water, (fūsei suion made) all things, (banbutsu no) are filled with spirit. (komoru kokoro ari.) The spring groves (Haru no hayashi no) that rustle in the eastern breeze, (tōfū ni ugoki) or the autumn insects (aki no mushi) crying in the northern dew— (no hokuro ni naku mo) botanical metaphors suggest a kind of Johnson, Barbara. 2010. Persons and are not all of these too (mina waka faith or ontology in which humanity Things. Cambridge, MA: Harvard no) and nature indeed coexist in a contin- University Press. Lafleur, William. 1973. “Saigyō and the very embodiment of our poetry? uum. Nō may personify nature, but by the Buddhist Value of Nature, Part (sugata narazu ya.) the same token it naturalizes language, I.” History of Religions 13, no. 2 giving voice to the insentient. The plots (November), 93–128. This passage reflects a system of of nō plays are often a literal working out ———. 1974. “Saigyō and the Buddhist poetics that goes back at least to Ki of this idea, in which such a metaphor Value of Nature, Part II.” History of no Tsurayuki’s famous preface in the is translated into the shite’s metamor- Religions 14, no. 1 (April), 227–48. Kokinshū (ca. 905 CE), where is it said phosis from lowly plant to the verita- Li, Qing. 2016. “Forest Bathing in Japan.” not only that the human heart is a seed ble embodiment of song itself. In this In Green Exercise: Linking Nature, giving birth to countless leaves of words way, the verbal is embodied: through Health, and Well-Being, edited by Jo Barton, Rachel Bragg, Carly Wood, but also that all life gives voice in poetry. a miracle of poetic and dramatic tran- and Jules Pretty. (London and New Elsewhere in Takasago we are told that substantiation, the word is made flower, York: Routledge), 79–88. ≥ “the leaves of words are drops of dew that if not flesh. Nagel, Thomas. “What Is It Like to Be a turn into seeds that illuminate the heart” Bat?” Philosophical Review 83, no. 4: (koto no ha no tsuyu no tama kokoro o 435–50. migaku tane to narite). Seeds, leaves, References Poulton, M. Cody. 1997. “The Language of Flowers in the Nō Theatre.” Japan and flowers are linked to human feeling (Unless otherwise noted, all translations and expression in such a way that these are by this author.) Review 8, 39–55. become keywords in Japanese poetics. Bennett, Jane. 2010. Vibrant Matter: A Sacks, Oliver. 2017. The River of All nature gives voice in song, while Political Ecology of Things. Durham: Consciousness. New York: Knopf. the poet gives expression to the seeds Duke University Press. Simard, Suzanne. 2016. TED Talk, “How Trees Talk to Each Other.” of the “myriad leaves of words”: thus Beresford-Kroeger, Diana. 2010. Arboretum Borealis: A Lifeline of https://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne are the movements of both the human the Planet. Ann Arbor: Michigan _simard_how_trees_talk_to_each spirit and natural phenomena linked University Press. _other (accessed March 11, 2018). to each other. With Ki no Tsurayuki’s ———. 2016. The Call of the Forest. Wittgenstein, Ludwig. 1958. Philosophical preface to the Kokinshū and with many calloftheforest.ca (accessed March 11, Investigations. Oxford: Basil of the nō texts, one senses that these 2018). Blackwell.

Dharma World July–December 2018 23 NIWANO PEACE PRIZE

Diversity Builds Unity The Thirty-Fifth Niwano Peace Prize Acceptance Address by Fadi Daou

The Niwano Peace Foundation awarded the thirty-ﬁ fth Niwano Peace Prize to the Adyan Foundation in Lebanon in recognition of its continued service to global peace building, notably its development of a program for children and educators offering guidance to peace and reconciliation for those affected by war in Syria. The award ceremony took place on May 9, 2018, at the International House of Japan, Tokyo. The recipient’s address follows.

Honorable Audience, Brothers and deep invisible bonds that exist between of us works for peace separately, and in Sisters: you and us and every peacemaker on diff erent ways and contexts, yet by doing this earth. We indeed are all companions this, we collectively serve and nourish A strong feeling of global communion in the same journey of peace, which is the unique soul of our humanity and inhabits me while I stand here before the future of our human family. Th us, build its common future. you to receive on behalf of the Adyan with my colleagues, I came to Japan With these feelings of communion Foundation and its community the thir- from the small country of Lebanon, and and solidarity, I would like to thank the ty-fi ft h Niwano Peace Prize. Peace can- from the far and wounded Middle East, Niwano Peace Foundation; the chair not be divided. Peace is one, and it is to thank you for identifying with and of its board of directors, Dr. Hiroshi the way of uniting our divided lives and off ering to strangers like us the deep M. Niwano; and the members of the humanity. By choosing the Adyan as the bonds of brotherhood and solidarity. Niwano Peace Prize International winner of the Niwano Peace Prize, you Th erefore, we consider ourselves not a Selection Committee for their trust in not only honor the mission and the work mere name added to the long honor- the Adyan Foundation, recognizing that of the Adyan Foundation in strengthen- able list of recipients of the prestigious its mission and work signifi cantly con- ing coexistence in diverse societies, and Niwano Peace Prize but a new brother/ tribute to furthering the cause of world in promoting reconciliation and spiri- sister entering this beautiful global fam- peace through interreligious coopera- tual solidarity, but you also recognize the ily of peacemakers. Although each one tion. We are honored and humbled by this recognition. As Nelson Mandela one day said: “A person does not become a freedom fi ghter in the hope of win- ning awards,” we also consider that our work for peace and unity, despite all challenges and dangers we encounter, is our duty and the source of meaning of our humanity. By receiving the prize, we don’t hide our pride, but we also and mainly experience the responsibility to continue this mission, with its daily and simple details, to ensure that the light of humanity won’t vanish from any heart and that the hearts’ communion will bring the sunshine of peace.

24 Dharma World July–December 2018 Fadi Daou is the chairperson and CEO of the Adyan Foundation, a Catholic priest in the Maronite church, and a professor of fundamental theology and geopolitics of religions. He holds a PhD in theology and a pre-PhD in political philosophy (University of Strasbourg, France). After serving as the director of the High Institute for Religious Sciences in Beirut, he is now a visiting professor in many universities in Europe and in the Arab World. He has written a few books and studies, the most recent being Divine Hospitality: A Christian-Muslim Conversation (with Nayla Tabbara, Berlin, 2017).

extremists are those who see the world according to their sole image and refuse to see truth, beauty, and reality outside their ideological realm. Today our world is indeed sick of different forms of extremism: religious, ethnic, cultural, ecological, nationalistic, and ideological. When diversity is denied, people become the enemy of life, including their own. The whole world is still experiencing the shock of the atrocities recently committed by Daesh (ISIS) in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and elsewhere in the world. It’s a deep wound in the soul of our humanity when we witness the killing of people and the destruction of churches, temples, and mosques, as - well as archeological and cultural her- itage, in the name of God. It’s also a Inspired by the example of the are diversity, solidarity, and human dig- betrayal of the human soul when cul- founder and first president of the lay nity. Yet, unfortunately, peace is not a tural differences, or economic privi- Buddhist organization Rissho Kosei-kai, peaceful journey. Rather, it is a daily leges, are used as an argument to close Nikkyo Niwano, we do believe with you struggle, facing deviations from these the doors in front of refugees and to that “peace is not merely an absence of values and healing humanity from its exclude and discriminate against eth- conflict among nations but a dynamic sicknesses. I would like to mention three nic or religious minorities, or to abuse harmony in the inner lives of people, as of these challenges and share with you vulnerable people. well as in our communities, nations, and how together we are called to face them We are today called more than ever the world.” Hence peace is not an activ- while building peace and unity. to become “global citizens,” in the sense ity reserved to some experts. Peace is of holding a shared responsibility toward the responsibility of every human being, Dear Brothers and Sisters: each other and toward the environment. and especially of every believer. Peace But we cannot be global, in the meaning is a life journey that we approach in the First, where there is no diversity, there of encompassing and embracing human Adyan through our slogan “Diversity is no peace. Instead there are domina- and environmental causes, if we are not Builds Unity.” This slogan reflects the tion, discrimination, exclusion, and inclusive. This is why we at the Adyan foundation’s spirit, which ensures that oppression. Those who want to build Foundation developed the concept of only by recognizing and enabling diver- peace without recognizing diversity fin- “inclusive citizenship” to contribute to sity can we build authentic and sustain- ish by creating unfair and hegemonic healing the world from extremism, sec- able unity and honor human dignity. situations that generate suffering and tarianism, and populism. It’s a cultural, Therefore the three core values that violence. One of the biggest threats to educational, and political approach of hold, in our view, this peace journey the world today is extremism. In fact, enabling diversity to build unity.

Dharma World July–December 2018 25 from formal and apologetic debates to a common commitment based on what we named “Religious Social Responsibility.” It is important that dialogue constitute a platform for mutual understanding, for helping in overcoming stereotypes and prejudices, and for bridge building and cross-communal relations. However, it’s even more important today, for the credibility of religions themselves, that interreligious dialogue become a platform for common commitment to uphold together the just causes of humanity. Religious social responsibility pushes believers from different backgrounds to serve together to defend the rights and dignity of persons in need, and to work as partners for peace and reconciliation. Believers cannot seek peace and good The late pope Saint John Paul II, for- behind the clouds of injustice and vio- only for themselves or their own com- mer head of the Catholic Church, saw lence. And the clouds never last. munity. Religions hold a universal mis- in the Lebanese experience of coexis- Second, because peace is a strug- sion, and so they have to demonstrate tence a model for the world when he gle for justice and common good, it that what they promise is not exclusive. said, “Lebanon is more than a coun- can’t coexist with this second world’s When our global and even local chal- try, it’s a message of freedom and an sickness, which is indifference. We lenges are common, why do we need to example of pluralism for East and West.” are fortunate to live in an era in which insist on working separately, and some- Others advocate for Lebanon to become great achievements have been accom- times in competition? Humanity and a world center for dialogue between cul- plished for humanity. It’s impressive to human vulnerability are not and should tures and religions. Thus, I receive this see the scientific, medical, and tech- not be the field for interreligious com- Peace Prize not only on behalf of the nological progress of the last century. petition. Human vulnerability is and Adyan but also on behalf of Lebanon, It’s even amazing to notice how much should always be the opportunity for so that the country regains confidence we are currently connected through all persons, and especially believers, in its internal and global civilizational the revolution of social communica- to join their compassionate efforts to mission, where coexistence is the beau- tion. Yet we all know how much our serve and love their brothers and sis- tiful synonym of peace. world is still suffering from wars, con- ters in humanity. I know that compas- Despite all current wars and conflicts, starvation, exploitation, and so sion is an essential value in Buddhism flicts in the Middle East, we are glad to on. It seems that we can be simultane- as well as in other Asiatic spiritualties. share with you that the younger gener- ously globally connected through sat- Similarly, in the Islamic tradition, it is ation in the multicultural and multireli- ellite and Internet, exposed to global clearly said in a hadith for the Prophet gious Arab countries is eager to embrace information, and still be extremely iso- Mohamed that the closer to God is the diversity and be agents for coexistence lated within our own bubble. Hence, best servant for mankind, regardless of and inclusive citizenship. More than we very much lack awareness of our its religion. In Jesus’s teachings as well, twenty-three million of them used our interconnectedness and our respon- it is made clear that the way to love and online Media Platform for Pluralism, sibility toward each other. For some serve God is to render service to vul- called “Taadudiya,” in its first year, and people, even religion can be used as a nerable humans. hundreds of trainers in Lebanon and segregating bubble that isolates them As a response to the dramatic situ- twelve other Arab countries are spread- in a peaceful mind-set and, unfortu- ation of the Syrian population affected ing the values of citizenship and coexis- nately, nourishes a kind of spiritual by this terrible lasting war, the Adyan tence among tens of thousands in their egoism and irresponsible indifference. gathered experts and religious leaders societies. With these youth, we firmly Since its foundation, the Adyan has from different Christian and Muslim believe that the sun of peace is just here worked to move interreligious dialogue denominations and invited them to join

26 Dharma World July–December 2018 We need nowadays this type of hero to save our world and humanity: dis- armed people who can stop conflicts and overcome discrimination by the only force of faith: love and determination.

Honorable Audience, Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Peace is one of the names of God in many religions. Thus, we do believe that peace is both our legacy and our future, and therefore we can’t escape our mission of peace building. A former winner of the Niwano Peace Prize, the theologian Hans Kung, stated that there won’t be world peace if there is no peace between religions. I think that today we can reverse the statement and say there won’t be religions if we don’t their efforts with ours to offer to the Allow me to share with you one have world peace. I mean that as well displaced population, and especially meaningful story and powerful exam- as religions and interreligious collab- to the youngest generation, education ple of interreligious collaboration in oration being a major path for peace, for peace and resilience, and to protect protecting human dignity. Sameh and peace itself is also the path for authentic them from the risk of radicalization. Hanaa are a Christian Copt man and religious belief and interreligious rela- We are thereby trying to prepare the a Muslim woman from Upper Egypt. tions. Religions will lose their force and Syrian children to become the future They both live in a rural and poor area credibility if they continue to be instru- peacemakers instead of becoming the where social and religious discrimina- mentalized to legitimize conflicts and fuel for an endless war. tion is a source of recurrent conflicts hatred, or if they are unable to recog- Rather than using religious teaching between their respective communities. nize and embrace their own diversity, for the justification of any type of ego- Within such a conflictual framework, to come together in solidarity, to serve istic or sectarian domination or segre- the “other” is usually dehumanized and and honor human dignity. gation, especially in times of conflict, demonized to justify hatred and vio- The award we are receiving from you Religious Social Responsibility helps lence against them. Sameh and Hanaa today, with immense gratitude, will be believers from different communities refused to fall into this antagonism and our daily reminder that despite all sac- to live empathetically beyond sectar- decided to stand together against this rifices, we shall work to make sure that ian borders. In brief, this reminds us situation that is generating victims and nobody loses hope in peace, so they that religion is made for human beings injustice. They both and together had don’t lose faith in religion and even in and not the opposite. Therefore, the the courage to go against the current, humanity. Since 2006, from the early work for humanity is the most authen- creating a shared program of peace edu- beginning of the Adyan Foundation, tic reflection of the heavenly message cation activities for the youth from both we have been working for this mission. of any religion. Christian and Muslim communities. Starting from today, we will continue Third, our humanity is also sick from They were totally unknown until we serving this vision, with a new reality, discrimination that is against the funda- learned about them, and we produced that we will move forward being aware mental dignity of every human being. a short movie to promote their story of the presence on our road of beauti- Like peace, human dignity is also indi- two months ago. More than two mil- ful partners, brothers and sisters, repre- visible. Therefore, nowadays the stron- lion Egyptians saw their story. They sented by the global community of the gest heroes are those who stand against became models for refusing discrim- Niwano Peace Foundation. Peace is the the current, sometimes of their own peo- ination, and they recently received in only victory worth fighting for, and we ple, to fight discrimination and ensure Egypt, their country, the National Award are glad and proud to work hard to win respect and human dignity for all. for Coexistence. this battle together. ≥

Dharma World July–December 2018 27 RISSHO KOSEI-KAI BUDDHISM

Buddha-Nature (1) Revering Buddha-Nature by Dominick Scarangello

obeisances to other people as future Revering another’s buddha-nature develops one’s own buddhas. Unfortunately, Sōō’s respon- innate “buddhaness” by drawing attention to and revealing the buddha-nature in others, making them aware of their the daily task of going into the moun- own intrinsic human dignity and their ability to realize their tains to harvest anise-tree leaves for full potential. hall, prevented him from dedicating himself solely to the reverence of other version of this retreat, and also completed people’s buddha-nature. According to millions of buddhas is given as a additional ascetic practices to gain the tradition, however, Sōō’s daily forays condition for attaining buddha- title of Great Ācārya. Having achieved into the mountain became the origin hood. We might think that this is a the humanly impossible, they are some- of today’s marathon-monk practice, in long shot for us. But we have been times referred to as living buddhas. which ascetic monks revere the shrines given a concrete example to follow— Hagiographic sources tell us that of Buddhist deities and places where Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva’s the founder of this practice, the Tendai Japanese divinities abide in the moun- practice of bowing in reverence to monk Sōō (831–918), was motivated others. Never Disrespectful revered to seek enlightenment when as a nov- monk’s true object of reverence is the each and every person he met, treat- ice monk he studied the part of the buddha-nature of the natural world. ing even those who were violent or Lotus Sutra that tells the story of Never abused him as buddhas. Disrespectful Bodhisattva. Sōō set his Bodhisattva is an archetype of respect for Nikkyō Niwano, Kaiso zuikan heart on emulating Never Disrespectful’s the inherent dignity of sentient beings. 10, 108–9 way of practice, walking about making As told in chapter 20 of the Lotus Sutra,

Emulating Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva

The Quest of the Monk Sōō to Practice Revering Buddha-Nature the iconic images of Japanese Buddhism, monks walk excruciating mountain cir- cuits on Mount Hiei near Kyoto and Mount Kinpu in Nara Prefecture for a summer retreat of one hundred days. A handful in the postwar period have per-

28 July–December 2018 Dominick Scarangello, PhD, specializes in early-modern and modern Japanese religions. He has taught at the University of Virginia and was the Postdoctoral Scholar in Japanese Buddhism at the Center for Japanese Studies, University of California, Berkeley (2013–14). Currently, he is an international advisor to Rissho Kosei-kai.

one time in the past there was a monk who did not practice by chanting sutras but instead went around making obeisance to every person he met, telling them, “I would never dare to disrespect you, because surely you are all to become buddhas!” As the reader can probably anticipate, the Lotus Sutra tells us that Never Disrespectful was oftentimes rid- iculed, even physically attacked, but he bore it all patiently and through this practice not only purified his mind and body but also transformed the hearts and minds of the people around him. The Lotus Sutra tells us that performing this practice leads to quickly attaining the Buddha Way. of mountain asceticism (Shugendō), as making them aware of their own intrin- well as the custom of making hundreds sic human dignity and their ability to Revering Buddha-Nature or thousands of consecutive prostra- realize their full potential. In terms of in Rissho Kosei-kai: Putting tions to buddhas or bodhisattvas. It goes specific ritual practices at Rissho Kosei- the Focus on People without saying that Never Disrespectful kai Dharma centers, this translates into Although Sōō became an eminent Bodhisattva is also an exemplar for mem- the religious discipline of “standing rev- monk in his own right, it is said that bers of Rissho Kosei-kai. erence” (ritsurei) performed by greet- his fame and responsibilities pre- I think one of the most interesting ers at the entrances, who, as Sōō sought vented him from doing what he most aspects of Rissho Kosei-kai practice is to do in antiquity, embody the arche- wanted: following the example of Never that whereas the immediate object of rev- type of Never Disrespectful by respect- Disrespectful Bodhisattva. Even today, erence in the practices described above fully bowing to everyone who comes many Buddhists are inspired to under- is nature, or a Buddhist deity, Rissho to the center. take Never Disrespectful’s “practicing Kosei-kai returns the focus to reverence Before we look at revering buddha- only reverence” (tangyō raihai) because of the buddha-nature of other people, nature in Rissho Kosei-kai in greater they believe that it encapsulates the ethos making it an intensely social and inter- detail, we must first definebuddha - of the Lotus Sutra within a single prac- subjective practice. Members of Rissho nature. Readers should be aware that tice. Reverence is a simple act, but as Kosei-kai emulate Never Disrespectful given the diversity of Buddhist traditions the sutra explains, it holds incredible Bodhisattva by endeavoring to revere and the large number of texts that treat power to transform oneself and oth- other people’s buddha-nature in their buddha-nature, our examination will ers to quickly achieve buddhahood. daily lives. Revering another’s buddha- invariably only scratch the surface. We In addition to marathon-monk prac- nature develops one’s own innate “bud- must also take a short detour in order to tice, Never Disrespectful is said to be dhaness” by drawing attention to and explore the controversy of whether bud- the inspiration for the related practice revealing the buddha-nature in others, dha-nature appears in the Lotus Sutra.

Dharma World July–December 2018 29 We will then be ready to explore rever- buddha-dhātu to mean “the elementary The buddha-nature teaching brought ing buddha-nature in Rissho Kosei-kai, component of the Buddha” or the a message of great hope and encourage- first looking at how revering buddha- “essential nature of the Buddha,” which ment but also posed several questions to nature is practiced in daily life through facilitates the attainment of buddhahood. Buddhists. Is buddha-nature something one’s relationships with other people, and The highly influential Nirvana Sūtra that is immanent, needing only to be then delving into how Rissho Kosei-kai asserts that all sentient beings possess discovered and uncovered? Does disin- members follow the example of Never buddha-nature and also associates terring buddha-nature require arduous Disrespectful by performing stand- buddha-nature with the One Vehicle practice, or is it only a matter of realizing reverence—greeting people at the teaching of universal buddhahood. ing that people are already buddhas but entrances to Rissho Kosei-kai Dharma Buddhist sutras and commentaries simply don’t know it? Or must buddha- centers with a deep and reverent bow. treat buddha-nature as a synonym of sev- nature be nourished and developed in eral other terms, such as tathāgata-gar order to be brought to fruition, as two Buddha-Nature bha, which was understood variously of the similes in the Tathāgatagarbha in a Nutshell as the “matrix,” “storehouse,” “womb,” Sūtra could be taken to suggest? How “element,” or “seed” of the Tathāgata, could the idea of an inherent buddha- Just what exactly is buddha-nature? as well as buddha-gotra, the “lineage nature be reconciled with core Buddhist Answering this question from the of the Buddha,” and buddha-kula, the teachings of nonself, impermanence, standpoint of the historical study of “family of the Buddha,” among others. causation, and emptiness? Even today, Buddhism is no simple task—numerous Buddha-nature is also identified with several Japanese scholars argue that the studies have been written on the sub- the concept of the original purity or way buddha-nature is often understood ject, yet so much work remains to be luminosity of the mind. These terms runs afoul of causation and other bed- done. Buddha-nature has also been con- facilitate different allegorical ways to rock Buddhist principles (see Hubbard tested within Buddhism, and remains so depict the capacity of sentient beings and Swanson, 1997). Buddhism is a reli- today. Various sutras and commentar- to become buddhas, and consequently, gion of great diversity, so it is natural ies describe buddha-nature differently, they open avenues for doctrinally devel- that the various traditions have answered and this has contributed to sectarian oping the concept of buddha-nature in these questions in differing ways. variations in understanding buddha- various directions. One conclusion many Buddhists nature. There are even contemporary According to Michael Zimmerman reached was that while similes like those scholars who hold that buddha-nature is (2002, 34), the Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra, above are powerful soteriological tools, un-Buddhist. Having given these cave- the earliest sutra explicitly devoted to the we should not overly reify buddha-nature ats, I can say that the most common and notion of a buddha-nature, teaches that into a “thing” but instead understand it simplest definition of buddha-nature is the tathāgata-garbha is a tathāgata (bud- as the flip side of the emptiness of things. “the capacity of people to become buddha) contained within sentient beings All phenomena are “empty” because dhas.” Buddha-nature is also explained but hidden by defilement. This unseen they are constantly changing (the truth in contemporary humanistic terms as buddha is endowed with the qualities of impermanence) insubstantial entities the inherent dignity of human life, or of the Buddha, such as buddha insight made to exist and sustained through a the creative human potential that indi- (tathāgata-jñāna-darśana), which, com- myriad of causes and conditions (the viduals possess to develop and actual- plete in themselves, need only to be truth of nonself). While “impermanence” ize themselves. manifested. The Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra or “nonself” may sound like life-negat- Our English word buddha-nature illustrates this using nine similes that a ing, pessimistic concepts, Buddhism is derived from the Chinese foxing, nonspecialist in India would have easily argues that it is precisely because of which is most commonly thought to understood. Some of the most memora- impermanence and nonself that we are have been a translation of the Sanskrit ble similes of the matrix of the tathāgata not forever stuck in our present iden- term buddha-dhātu. The word dhātu within ordinary sentient beings include tities as the people we are today and can mean a fundamental component fully formed buddha icons sitting on the that given the right causes and condi- or building block, such as the elements calyx of yet-to-blossom lotus flowers, tions (that is, religious discipline), we of earth, water, fire, and wind, which a gold nugget encased in excrement, a can improve ourselves, even so far as to were thought of as the basic components statue of a buddha wrapped in rags, a become buddhas. Thus “buddha-nature” of all reality. It could also refer to the seed of a great tree, and the child of a can be thought of as a way of expressing remains of something, such as a physical wheel-turning king in the womb of a the inherent dynamism of emptiness— relic of the Buddha. We can understand woman of low-class origins. of impermanence and nonself—with

30 Dharma World July–December 2018 affirmative language in order to grasp of which can be seen as partial causes buddha-nature does not appear in the it as a cause of buddhahood and har- of buddhahood. First, buddha-nature Lotus Sutra. In purely philological terms, binger of all the merits and virtues of a as the primary cause: a basic transfor- this critique is accurate. Although the buddha. This conclusion is implied by a mative potential common to all phe- Lotus Sutra’s depictions of the One passage of the Nirvana Sūtra in which nomena, which Rev. Niwano identified Vehicle appear to use word imagery Shakyamuni Buddha teaches that bud- with suchness. Second, buddha-nature and allegory to infer universal buddha-nature is dependent origination. as conditions: the practice of spiritual dha-nature as a correlate or synonym Another interpretation was to iden- disciplines that take advantage of this of the One Vehicle, the Chinese word tify buddha-nature with suchness (Skt., transformative potential and develop for buddha-nature (foxing) does not tathatā), the ineffable nature of real- it. Third, buddha-nature as realization: appear in either Dharmarakṣa’s (286 CE) ity, the only thing that truly “exists.” the wisdom that can become aware of nor Kumārajīva’s (406 CE) translations. Suchness is sometimes described as buddha-nature as the primary cause. Some related or similar terms can be being like the “water” of an ocean of all When these three aspects reinforce found in the text, most famously seeds that exists, with concrete forms and liv- one another in a virtuous cycle, people of buddhahood (Chn., fozhong), which ing beings such as ourselves being the transform in the direction of buddha- appears only in Kumārajīva’s transla- waves that travel through the water, hood. Without the original potential, tion. Generally speaking, fozhong was a always changing, mutually interacting, the primary cause, there could be no translation of buddha-vaṃśa. Vaṃśa can and never remaining the same. Suchness self-transformation, but this potency carry the meaning of a pedigree, lineage, is said to come into view when one tran- can be uncovered and polished only descent, or clan, similar to gotra and kula, scends conceptualization or subject- because of conditions—the practices of and so on the face of it, Kumārajīva’s object dualism, or alternatively, when spiritual discipline. Practice also assists translation would seem to contain a one’s way of seeing the world brings realization—the wisdom that discovers reference to buddha-nature. However, together the two perspectives of things the original potential, which becomes we are reasonably sure now that the as existing, that is, their distinctiveness, the person’s deepening awareness of Sanskrit behind this term was actu- and of all things as empty, their same- buddha-nature. The increasing clarity ally not the usual word buddha-vaṃśa ness or equality. Because suchness is the with which one can see buddha-nature but instead two different terms: dhar nature of all phenomena (Skt., dhar in turn motivates the continuation and ma-netrī, often translated as “Dharma matā; Chn., faxing), it is shared by the intensification of spiritual discipline, eye,” and buddha-netrī, usually trans- Buddha and sentient beings, and non- and so on. The cycle can begin from any lated as “Buddha way” or “guidance of sentient existence as well. This is why point because of the interrelationship the Buddha.” The most common terms some Buddhists have maintained that among these three aspects of buddha- associated with the idea of an inherent even nonsentient things have buddha- nature. By the same token, neglecting buddhaness, including gotra, kula, and nature. Buddha-nature-as-suchness may any one of these, such as failure to prac- vaṃśa, do not appear in extant Sanskrit also be identified with Buddha as ulti- tice assiduously, can diminish the others. manuscripts of the Lotus Sutra (Fujii mate truth, or dharma-kāya, which some These three aspects of buddha-nature 1996, 343). buddha-nature texts tell us is inseparable work together as an integrated whole, However, the authoritative basis for from all phenomena. These texts tell us and their interdependence shows that the traditional understanding of the that when dharma-kāya is sullied with buddha-nature is not a thing but essen- Lotus Sutra as a buddha-nature teach- defilement or delusion, it appears as sen- tially action, as Sally King (1991, 150) ing is the highly influential Commentary tient beings, but when freed from such describes, based upon what is initially on the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, obstructions, it manifests as a buddha. a promise (the primary cause), a prom- attributed to the fourth-century Indian Like many in the Lotus Sutra tradi- ise that must be manifested, she writes, scholar-monk Vasubandhu. This text tion, Rev. Nikkyō Niwano subscribed to in our mental and physical acts. interprets several of the sutra’s para- the teaching of threefold buddha-nature bles and allegories of the One Vehicle (Chn., sanzhong foxing; Jpn., sanshu Buddha-Nature in using the concept of buddha-nature. busshō). This understanding avoids rei- the Lotus Sutra The earliest extant framing of Never fying buddha-nature by incorporating Disrespectful Bodhisattva’s practice of causation and emphasizing the contin- Before we consider the place of bud- obeisance as revering universal buddha- gency of practice. It sees buddha-nature dha-nature in Rissho Kosei-kai prac- nature appears in this text’s section on as a mutual coproduction of three types tice, we must also address the commonly assurances of buddhahood. This is one of interdependent functioning, each heard assertion that the teaching of of several passages that came to have

Dharma World July–December 2018 31 buddha-seeds arise interdepen-

One Vehicle. Lotus Sutra, chap. 2

the path to buddha insight is nothing other than day in and day out

buddha-nature to reveal our own buddha-nature. is is truly the meaning of the sutra’s line that says:

Nikkyō Niwano, Bodai no me wo okosashimu, 168 important roles in the doctrinal sys- implicitly in the text. As Ueki and Zuiei tems of influential Lotus Sutra votaries Itō (1985, 352) before him pointed out, - such as the Chinese exegete monks Zhiyi the Lotus Sutra locates many of the qual- cept of buddha-nature in intellectu- (538–97) and Jizang (549–623). Jizang, ities that are associated with buddha- ally challenging ways, but at heart the in particular, makes an argument that nature/tathāgata-garbha within ordinary purpose of the teaching is soteriologi- is still compelling today when he takes unenlightened living beings, such as the on the issue of the missing buddha- aforementioned buddha insight (tathā attain buddhahood and increase their nature in Fahua xuanlun, one of sev- gata-jñāna-darśana). The teaching of eral commentaries he authored on the buddha-nature that appears in later that even as ordinary unenlightened Lotus Sutra. Jizang writes that although sutras can be thought of as a develop- beings they already have a buddhaness the word buddha-nature is not found in ment of what was already implied in the Lotus Sutra, Vasubandhu identified the Lotus Sutra. Zimmerman (1999, Disrespectful Bodhisattva provides an seven passages revealing the presence of 166) observes that whereas the Lotus example of how to put this abstract prin- buddha-nature in the text, and for that Sutra declares that all sentient beings can ciple of universal buddhahood into con- reason, the Lotus Sutra’s One Vehicle is become buddhas, the Tathāgatagarbha crete practice. Taking their cues from arguably a synonym for buddha-nature. Sūtra explains how all sentient beings can Vasubandhu, who explained that Never Jizang also pillories those who would become buddhas. There is reason to think Disrespectful revered others because all quibble over semantics. “Words can that Kumārajīva translated buddha-netrī sentient beings possess buddha-nature, be different but essentially the same in as “seeds of buddhahood” precisely to East Asian Buddhist traditions, includ- meaning,” he writes, and chides doubters, reveal the Lotus Sutra’s “implicit teaching Rissho Kosei-kai, understand Never continuing: “those of shallow knowledge ing of buddha-nature” to Chinese read- Disrespectful’s practice as the act of are confused by the words and lose the ers of the text (Fujii 1996, 343). Instead revering buddha-nature. Rissho Kosei- truth of those words. Because they hear of thinking of Kumārajīva’s choice as a kai also understands the Lotus Sutra to different words they think the truth of mistranslation, then, we could see it as be telling us that revering buddha-nature those words differ, and so they say that his attempt to prioritize the truth of the is something that is done between peo- the ‘One Vehicle’ of the Lotus Sutra is text as he understood it over and above ple, in other words, that revering bud- not buddha-nature” (Okuno 2002, 58). a literal interpretation. dha-nature is an intersubjective practice. Echoing Jizang, contemporary Many Rissho Kosei-kai members asso- Japanese scholar Masatoshi Ueki (2012, Revering Buddha- ciate Never Disrespectful’s spiritual dis- 317) also concludes that while the term Nature: Intersubjective cipline with the sutra’s counsel that “the buddha -nature does not appear in the buddha-seeds arise interdependently,” Lotus Sutra, the general notion of the Practice meaning that buddha-nature is discov- equivalence of the Buddha and sen- e buddhas, the most hon- ered and developed through encounters tient beings as having the capacity ored of people, know that noth- between people. For lay Buddhists in for attaining buddhahood is present ing exists independently, and that particular, the most accessible practice is

32 Dharma World July–December 2018 daily life itself, and for Rissho Kosei-kai it entails availing oneself of one’s interactions with others to make the buddha seeds of both self and other arise interdependently, developing our own buddha-nature by “revealing the buddha-nature of others,” manifesting it by revering it (busshō wo ogamidasu). But why should this be so? Let’s answer this by beginning from the basic Buddhist tenet of nonself. This Buddhist teaching tells us that nothing exists independently, that nobody - lives solely through their own power. Instead, all living beings come into existence through dependence upon a myriad of things, and because of this all of us are interdependent and sustain all that I say is true and not empty” revealing the other person’s bud- one another. We are, in Rissho Kosei- (Reeves 2008, 293). Because the other is dha-nature. This is what it means to kai’s language, “given the gift of life.” It the Buddha looking back at us, it leads make the best of your encounters. would be impossible for any one of us us to continually ask ourselves, “What Nikkyō Niwano, to make it through a single day with- is the Buddha teaching me through this Bodai no me wo okosashimu, 162 out the contribution of innumerable experience?” “What is the message of others, and this goes not only for our the Buddha coming to me through the One account of revering the buddha- bodies but for our minds as well. We other person?” Grasping buddha-nature nature of others in daily life goes some- cannot even retain our own sanity if we means that all of our interactions are thing like this: Imagine that someone’s are isolated from other people for too “true and not empty” in that they all buddha-nature is a hidden inner light, long. This is the truth of our existence. have something to teach us. “under a bushel,” to use a Biblical idiom. The same can be said for achieving lib- When we interact with others, we search eration and attaining enlightenment. for expressions of their buddha-nature, Because our lives are so inseparably Developing our Own seeking out their abilities, good points, bound up with others, there can be no Buddha-Nature excellent qualities, and other potentials true liberation of self that does not also for praise. We can think of these aspects include the liberation of others. Put in and Manifesting of a person’s personality or behavior as simple terms, we cannot find happiness the Buddha-Nature evidence of their veiled buddha-nature, if everyone around us is still unhappy. It of Others in visible through small openings, like goes without saying, then, that we can’t Everyday Life light escaping through cracks in a wall. truly realize and develop our own bud- When we spot these traces that enable dha-nature without seeing the buddha- us to discover an opening exposing the nature of others. “Making the most of your encoun- light within, we should keep encourag- Universal buddha-nature is also a call ters” means renewing your hearts ing the other person and nurture those to respect and revere others because they and minds through the conditions qualities, which is a way of enlarging also have the Buddha woven into their of every encounter, which is also those cracks, widening them until they very existence. Ultimately, when we face becoming a “good condition” for become windows through which the light another person, it is always the Buddha the other person. When it comes of the person’s buddha-nature shines looking back at us. As Shakyamuni to specifics, first make every person forth to illuminate themselves and the Buddha explains in chapter16 of the you encounter important, exerting people around them (Rissho Kosei-kai Lotus Sutra, “Sometimes I appear as your very best for them. As Never 1963, 364). myself, sometimes as someone else; Disrespectful Bodhisattva, press your To be honest, sometimes these sometimes I appear in my own actions, palms together in reverence towards sources of the light within another sometimes in the actions of others; but every single person that you meet,

Dharma World July–December 2018 33 be someone who rubs you the wrong to be positive about. However, revering the person’s buddha-nature necessi- tates this work on our part. It demands that we change how we look at others, working to see the positive in them, the best in them, instead of getting stuck us most conspicuously. In other words, working to revere the buddha-nature of others makes us more buddha-like, - enhancing our own buddha-nature. Rev. Niwano taught that “the Buddha is hidden behind people who grind you you continue to repeat it again and are fully embodied states. When pre- with angry faces and nasty remarks, again, it becomes ingrained as a habit. sented with an angry face, for example, Before one realizes, it becomes “real.” we do not have to recall or remember our whetstone sharpens a knife” (Niwano Nikkyō Niwano, Kaiso zuikan own emotional experience in order to 7, 247 comprehend the other person’s emotion. should put ourselves in danger or sim- As the philosopher Maurice Merleau- ply allow ourselves to be abused. As Rev. One of the concrete practices of reli- Ponty (2002, 214) notes, “the gesture Niwano pointed out, when people threw gious discipline in Rissho Kosei-kai does not make me think of anger, it is rocks and sticks at Never Disrespectful that occurs between people is the role - Bodhisattva, he responded by retreat- of greeter at Rissho Kosei-kai Dharma tions led Merleau-Ponty to assert that ing a safe distance, but from there he centers. Literally called “standing rev- emotions are ways of acting toward and continued his practice of reverence. erence” in Japanese, this practice entails perceiving the world. With regard to - standing at the entrance to the Dharma the bodily postures and actions of rit- vide us the opportunity to really prac- center and greeting people by placing ual, Nick Crossley (1996, 43) points out tice the “three tracks” by which we can one’s palms together in reverence and that ritual avails itself of this embod- become emissaries of the Tathāgata and bowing. Standing in reverence is liter- iedness of emotion. Ritualized bodily spread his teaching: compassion, hav- ally inspired by the example of Never action invokes particular emotional ing gentle patience, and viewing the Disrespectful Bodhisattva: revering states, making ritual, in essence, a form world around us impartially by see- people’s buddha-nature by making an of practical psychology. obeisance to them as future buddhas. For many people, ritual strikes them are precisely the qualities that Never Placing one’s palms together and as fabrication—empty ritual—unless Disrespectful Bodhisattva embodies, bowing is enacting reverence by low- it is preceded by the appropriate feel- and revering the buddha-nature of oth- ering one’s body in the vertical register ing or mindset, which they think rit- with respect to others and precariously ual should work to express. However, these qualities in ourselves. exposing one’s head. Not only does it ritual practice can be thought of as a signal or represent deference, it is def- kind of play, an “acting as-if ” (Sharf Revering Buddha- erence itself, and in this sense form and 2005, 256), which we can think of as Nature as the Basis for meaning are one. To think reverently is to act reverently. Try, for example, to social roles and states of mind through Practices of Religious make an angry face while pressing the make-believe. Even if we do not “feel” Discipline: “Standing palms together in reverence. It is quite the emotional state in the beginning, Reverence” just like children who learn emotions between one posture—one mindset— and attitudes through play, over time the Nobody can do [standing rev- or the other because these two bodily outward display can become spontane- erence] “for real” from the very actions are mutually incompatible states ous and natural. Repeated acting as-if of consciousness. Emotions do not exist in religious ritual can lead to perma- simply within an inner mental realm but nent transformation precisely because

34 D July–December 2018 thinking and acting are not distinct things (Wright 2008, 13). Standing reverence is intersubjective in several ways. When we interact with another person our perceptions, and therefore our bodies, intertwine. To quote Merleau-Ponty (2002, 412) again, our bodies “together comprise a system, so my body and the other’s are one whole, two sides of the same phe- nomenon.” We can think of the interaction of the greeter and the greeted - at Rissho Kosei-kai Dharma centers as akin to a dialogue in which the states of their hearts and minds are cocreated: self-awareness of how one appears to The Experience of Standing the participants transform each other’s the other, at which point one sees one- in Reverence momentary consciousnesses by eliciting self ‘from the outside.’” Although we do thoughts and emotions from each other, not lose our primordial orientation, being Testimonies of the experience of practic- thus constituting each other through ing standing reverence help to illustrate the interaction. Merleau-Ponty (2002, our perspective to that of the other per- the transformative power of revering 413) writes of dialogue that “we have others. One Rissho Kosei-kai member - - writes of the introspection that prac- tors for each other in consummate reci- ness can draw from us the image that we ticing standing reverence as a greeter procity. Our perspectives merge into one desire to show to others, or that we feel brought about in him: another, and we co-exist through a com- we should project, which, if we accept mon world.” When bowing to another, that embodied actions are also mind I hadn’t even realized it, but for one we draw that person’s attention to their states, means that the gaze of others can reason or another I haven’t been able own preciousness, their inherent human facilitate our experience of those partic- to sincerely show respect to others, ular states of consciousness that the gaze so it feels to me like the Buddha has given me this practice of bowing to help them feel better about themselves, be a positive experience in our everyday each and every member who comes boost their mood by putting a smile lives, if we are in a situation where we to the Dharma center. I feel like the on their face, or, for example, prompt - Buddha has done this so that I will be able to lower my head with humil- on whether they are living up to that ity to greet those in my family, at level of respect. As one whole, more- of self-alienation. In a form of spiritual work, and in the neighborhood. over, the person receiving the greeting discipline like standing reverence, how- When I stand up straight in front and bow can, through their reactions, ever, this functioning of the mind-body of the gate with my palms pressed in turn elicit similar emotional states together in reverence and with a in the initiator of the encounter—the smile on my face, I greet people by person reveals the buddha-nature of the to play, but it provides us a way of try- energetically saying “good morning” greeter who bowed to them. ing out mind states that we can eventu- in all sincerity in the hope that I can ally incorporate into our psyches. Just as open the hearts of the members who extremely powerful because it makes us primary socialization happens between come to the Dharma center in var- conscious that we are presenting ourselves people, the practices of a religious path, ious states of mind. (Rissho Kosei- for another. As the anthropologist Alfred kai 1983, 110) Gell writes (1998, 120), “mutual looking highly intersubjective, and this should is a basic mechanism for intersubjectiv- be particularly true of spiritual disci- In this short re ection we see ity because to look into another’s eyes is plines associated with the bodhisattva how practicing standing reverence as not just to see the other, but to see the way—the path of helping ourselves by a greeter can stimulate a realization other seeing you. Eye-contact prompts helping others. of one’s own failings and become an

Dharma World July–December 2018 35 impetus to bring one’s heart and actions can feel the warmth of others, sense edited by Hōyō Watanabe, 325–53. into harmony. Also, the speaker dem- their goodness, and become deeply Kyoto: Heirakuji Shoten. King, Sallie B. 1991. Buddha Nature. onstrates the desire to elevate the mood aware of their inherent human dig- Albany: State University of New York of others through a spirited greeting nity. I think that these experiences can Press. that is sincere, opening the heart of develop into a faith in buddha-nature Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. 2002. the other person. that, in the face of the “rock throwers,” Phenomenology of Perception. I can concur with the writer, hav- can sustain the compassion, patience, Translated by Colin Smith. New York: Routledge. ing also participated in the practice of and impartiality to discover the bud- Niwano, Nikkyō. 1997a. Kaiso zuikan. standing reverence as a greeter. The dha-nature of even the people who are Vol. 7. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing. Dharma center leader told us that we hostile toward us. ———. 1997b. Kaiso zuikan. Vol. 8. Tokyo: should greet people “so that they feel Another reason that revering others’ Kosei Publishing. glad that they had come to the Dharma buddha-nature is so powerful, especially ———. 1997c. Kaiso zuikan. Vol. 10. center this morning.” This made me through practicing standing reverence, Tokyo: Kosei Publishing. ———. 2018. Bodai no me wo okosashimu especially conscious of my posture and is that by emulating Never Disrespectful [Germinating the seed of enlighten- facial expressions in order to have an Bodhisattva we insert ourselves into ment]. [Heisei hōwashū 1]. Tokyo: effect on others. We could say this was his narrative within the Lotus Sutra, Kosei Publishing. a performance of sorts, even manipu- making his story our own. We incor- Okuno, Mitsuyoshi. 2002. Busshō shisō lative, perhaps only a second-order sin- porate the qualities Never Disrespectful no tenkai: Kichizō wo chūshin to cerity—a sincere desire to be sincere. epitomizes into ourselves by making shita hokkeron juyōshi. Tokyo: Daizō Shuppan. But the feeling became real as it elic- him present in the world today. Form Reeves, Gene. 2008. The Lotus Sutra: ited truly warm and friendly responses and content become one—we become A Contemporary Translation of a from the people to whom I was bow- Never Disrespectful. As Thich Nhat Buddhist Classic. Boston: Wisdom. ing, and I found it increasingly easier to Hanh (2008, 151) put it so poetically, Rissho Kosei-kai. 1963. Shitai no hōmon bow without a sense that the movement “We can be in touch with his action no igi to katsuyō. Vol. 2. Tokyo: Rissho was in any way artificial—my reverence and aspiration at any moment. . . . He Kosei-kai. ———. 1983. Shinkō seikatsu nyūmon. felt more real to me, as it was perceived is reborn in us right that very moment. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing. as real by those whom I greeted. Both We get in touch with the great faith and Sharf, Robert H. 2005. “Ritual.” In Critical times I have practiced standing rever- insight that everyone is a Buddha, the Terms for the Study of Buddhism, ence as a greeter, I walked away from insight that is the very marrow of the edited by Donald S. Lopez Jr., 245–70. the experience feeling that I had some- Lotus Sutra.” ≥ Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Thich, Nhat Hanh. 2008. Peaceful Action, how reconfirmed for myself the good- Open Heart: Lessons from the Lotus ness and human dignity of others. References Sutra. Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press. Ueki, Masatoshi. 2012. Shisō to shite no Conclusion: Being Crossley, Nick. 1996. Intersubjectivity: The hokekyō. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. Fabric of Social Becoming. London: Wright, Dale S. 2008. “Rethinking Ritual Never Disrespectful Sage. Practice in Zen Buddhism.” In Zen Bodhisattva Fujii, Kyōkō. 1996. “Myōhō renge Ritual: Studies of Zen Buddhist Theory kyō ni okeru busshu.” In Suguro in Practice, edited by Steven Heine It is doubtful that the monk Sōō had Shinjō hakushi koki kinen ronbun and Dale S. Wright, 3–21. London: the kind of ideal circumstances for shū [Collection of papers com- Oxford University Press. revering others’ buddha-nature that memorating the seventieth birthday Zimmerman, Michael. 1999. “The Rissho Kosei-kai members benefit from of Dr. Shinjō Suguro], edited by Tathāgatagarbhasūtra: Its Basic at their local Dharma center. Revering Suguro Shinjō Hakushi Koki Kinen Structure and Relation to the Ronbunshū Kankōkai. Tokyo: Lotus Sūtra.” Annual Report of the people’s buddha-nature in everyday life Sankibō. International Research Institute is not always easy—we all run into peo- Gell, Alfred. 1998. Art and Agency: An for Advanced Buddhology at Soka ple who throw rocks at us, metaphor- Anthropological Theory. New York: University for the Academic Year 1998. ically if not literally. Greeting people Oxford University Press. ———. 2002. A Buddha Within: by undertaking standing reverence at Hubbard, Jamie, and Paul L. Swanson, The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra; The Earliest Exposition of the Buddha- the Dharma center is a well-designed eds. 1997. Pruning the Bodhi Tree: The Storm over Critical Buddhism. Nature Teaching in India. Tokyo: practice that provides an opportunity Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. International Research Institute to revere others’ buddha-nature in a Itō, Zuiei. 1985. “Hokekyō no busshōron” for Advanced Buddhology, Soka reassuring environment where they In Hokekyō no buddaron to shujōron, University.

36 Dharma World July–December 2018 REFLECTIONS

Living Joyfully by Nichiko Niwano

In late January–early February of this year, merely accepting things humbly like this Nichiko Niwano is president of Japan had a series of very large snow- makes you feel as if you have thrown off Rissho Kosei-kai and an honorary storms that blanketed the whole country. the cold and the sleepiness for yourself president of Religions for Peace. The snow fell during the time of Rissho and for the people around you? He also serves as an advisor to Kosei-kai’s annual observances, mid- I think that the difference is whether Shinshuren (Federation of New winter religious training (kanshugyo), or not you are seeing things with right Religious Organizations of Japan). in which members gather at the Great view. Sacred Hall in Tokyo or at local Dharma never grateful for the fact that my heart centers in the predawn darkness to recite The Middle Way was beating. However, that is not some- the Threefold Lotus Sutra during the cold- Is Important thing to take for granted.” When I heard est time of the year. There were many this, I felt as if I were being taught anew members who were unable to make it We may be apt to think that the right what right view really means. to their Dharma centers. There was so view of Buddhism’s Eightfold Path is Without your willing it to do so, your much snow that it caused delays in the something we cannot easily have or heart goes on beating, without resting. Tokyo transit system. At the time of the that is attainable only by enlightened When that man looked directly at this snowfall, someone made the following persons, because we feel overwhelmed natural providence, his refreshed feel- comment at the Great Sacred Hall. by the weight of the word “right.” Some ings erased the anxiety of illness. That “Why does it have to snow like this, people might immediately reply that he felt completely at ease could be per- just when I am going to the trouble of “seeing things from right view” means ceived from his expression. I was taught practicing midwinter religious training?” “doing the impossible,” but, as with the anew that if we see, from the perspec- Of course, it may be natural for peo- example of the snowy day, seeing the tive of right view, the fact that we are ple to grumble because the snow makes workings of the natural world for what alive here and now, then even sickness it difficult for them to leave home early they are is the right view, isn’t it. can become the object of our gratitude. in the morning and get to their Dharma Right view also means seeing things To see things in the light of the truths centers by car, bus, or train. by accepting whatever happens in a of this world—All things are imperma- On the other hand, someone else broadminded way—including what nent; All things are devoid of separate said, “I am glad that, thanks to the snow, dissatisfies you or makes you angry self; All phenomena are characterized I have been able to perform the midwin- when you see it with a wrong view or by suffering—indicates right view, the ter religious training in the truest sense!” biased view, in other words, self-cen- first component of the Eightfold Path, The question that I want to ask all of tered views—and, as a result, it puts your which teaches us the true way to elimi- you is this: Which person’s viewpoint do feelings at ease. It is certainly quite dif- nate suffering. This is the basis, and we you think represents the more enjoyable ficult to fully grasp such matters as the could also call this the entirety, of liv- way of life? I think that the second person Buddha’s wisdom and the real aspect of ing in accordance with the teachings will be declared the winner. The second all things, but a way of seeing things of the Buddha. person did not say anything particu- (wisdom) like the example of the snowy Since Buddhism teaches us a way of larly difficult. What is wonderful about day must be already at work, naturally, life, namely the Middle Way, which is the second point of view is this ability in the course of our daily lives. neither suffering from overindulgence in to see the changes in the natural world Recently, a man who was released pleasure nor being restrained by ascet- with humble eyes and accept them, just from the hospital after heart surgery icism or abstinence, our religious prac- the way they are. Why is it, though, that calmly said that, “Up until now, I was tice should therefore not be difficult. ≥

Dharma World July–December 2018 37 FOUNDER’S MEMOIRS

Eastern Initiative and Western Response by Nikkyo Niwano

In March 1999 an autobiography by Rev. Nikkyo Niwano (1906–99), the founder of Rissho Kosei- kai, was published in Japanese under the title Kono michi: Ichibutsujo no sekai o mezashite (The path that we have walked: Aspiring to the world of the One Buddha Vehicle). The book is a lively account of the life of Founder Niwano as a leader of a global Buddhist movement and a pioneer of interreligious cooperation who dedicated himself to liberating all people from suffering with ﬁ rm faith in the Lotus Sutra. Dharma World will continue to publish excerpts from the book in installments.

Affi liation with IARF Christ’s teachings as an ethic for human- held monthly study groups to discuss kind. Th is closely resembles what Rissho interreligious cooperation, which I took I would like to mention here the Kosei-kai is trying to do. part in, being in agreement with Dr. International Association for Religious In the beginning, IARF was called Imaoka’s way of thinking. Freedom (IARF), another great organi- the International Council of Unitarian On reflection, I learned a lot from zation that, like Religions for Peace, is and Other Liberal Religious Th inkers Dr. Imaoka. He would say, “There is working for interreligious cooperation. and Workers. It was renamed the no contradiction in saying that I am In one way it could be called the parent International Association for Liberal a Christian but at the same time a of Religions for Peace. My connection Christianity and Religious Freedom Buddhist and a Shintoist. Of course, with it began when we were preparing in 1930, refl ecting the core presence religions are different one from the to hold the First World Assembly in of European and American Christians. other, but they also complement each Kyoto, which was held in 1970. Th e present name dates from 1969, the other.” He once said that Shakyamuni’s IARF is the world’s oldest inter- year Rissho Kosei-kai joined. last words to his disciples, “Make your- faith organization and was set up under Th e decision to affi liate Rissho self the light, make the Dharma your Unitarian leadership in Boston in 1900 Kosei-kai with the IARF in 1969 came light,” may have expressed the Buddha’s to work for dialogue and cooperation through my close friendship with Dr. hope that his disciples would go beyond among religions. Its fi rst congress was Dana McLean Greeley, who became him after his death. Dr. Imaoka said held in London the following year. IARF president that same year, and repeatedly that no world religion had Delegates confi rmed their resolve to through the encouragement of Dr. a monopoly on religious truth and overcome religious prejudice and dog- Shinichiro Imaoka, a Unitarian min- that no one religion could be said to matism and to seek interfaith dialogue ister and former head of the Japan Free have realized the ultimate religious with liberal, genuine, creative, and uni- Religious Association, whom I revered as truth. It was for this very reason that versal religions. Congresses were held a father. Dr. Imaoka had been a student all religions needed to work together every three years aft er that. of Professor Masaharu Anesaki, who had more. His words benefi ted me greatly Unitarians are concerned that established religious studies at the Tokyo as a follower of the Lotus Sutra, which Christianity has gradually become for- Imperial University. During his time at expounds the Mahayana spirit. malistic over the centuries, so that the Harvard University, Dr. Imaoka came As more and more non-Chris- true spirit of Jesus Christ is in danger into close contact with Unitarianism tian members joined the International of being lost. Th eir creed encourages and was one of the founders of the Japan Association for Liberal Christianity and the belief, practice, and propagation of Free Religious Association in 1948. He Religious Freedom, there was a growing

38 Dharma World July–December 2018 Nikkyo Niwano, the founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, was an honorary president of Religions for Peace and honorary chairman of Shinshuren (Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan) at the time of his death in October 1999. He was awarded the 1979 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.

opinion among progressives within the Six Perfections, translating them as the Shakyamuni said that though the organization that it should be renamed “six roads to happiness.” truth is one, and there is no other, the International Association for Religious At the twenty-fourth congress, in the philosophers of different schools Freedom. There was strong opposition to Netherlands in 1981, I, a Buddhist from proclaim their own truths and deni- this, however, among European members. East Asia, was unanimously elected the grate those of others. Ideology is no This was probably natural, given the fact twentieth-fifth president of the IARF. more than a means to give life to the that European religion virtually meant Perhaps Western members felt that it was ultimate truth that is far beyond. Christianity. Nevertheless, in 1969, the important to look more to the East. I was Seeing only one aspect of the truth same year Rissho Kosei-kai became a not sure that I could perform sufficiently and thinking it is the whole takes member, the name was changed, omit- such an important office as the president you further away from the truth and ting any reference to Christianity. This of the IARF, with its long history and gives rise to disputation. Shakyamuni reflected the aims of the IARF to seek dia- traditions. However, I was very much taught how to see the whole by rid- logue and cooperation with non-Chris- aware how serious Western religionists ding yourself of such attachment. tian religious people. It was perhaps the were about wanting to learn about reli- Throughout the Lotus Sutra we con- most momentous event in the associa- gions in Japan, especially Buddhism. I sistently find the idea that we must tion’s seventy-year history. determined that I would do all I could take hold of the truth as a whole. I was elected a trustee of the IARF to help them do so. at that time. My appointment was rec- The great British historian Arnold People of religion in Japan, partic- ommended on the grounds of my being Toynbee once wrote to me something to ularly we Buddhists, have been given a the founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, which the effect that in the twenty-first century, teaching that provides the answer that had grown to three million members the Eastern wisdom of Buddhism and the world is now earnestly seeking. I in thirty years, and of my strong com- Confucianism would take center stage acutely felt that here was my mission mitment to interreligious cooperation. in saving humanity. What the modern as a Buddhist. world most greatly needs is a mainstay During my term as president, Tokyo The Twenty-Fifth on which to build the human commu- was chosen to hold the twenty-fifth IARF President of the IARF nity so all can get along together and live congress. It was the first time in the long happy lives. Professor Emeritus Hajime history of the IARF that the congress I attended the IARF congress for the Nakamura of the University of Tokyo was would be held in Asia. first time in Boston, in 1969. It was the convinced that Buddhism best pointed twentieth such congress. Christian inter- in this direction. Professor Nakamura, Growing Interest est in Buddhism was very great, and I a world authority on Indian philosophy, in the East was subsequently invited to speak at the Buddhist studies, and comparative phi- congresses held in Montreal (1975) and losophy, said the following in conver- More than eight hundred people of reli- Oxford (1978) about how Rissho Kosei- sation with me: gion from twenty-two countries assem- kai members put Shakyamuni’s teach- bled in Fumon Hall at Rissho Kosei-kai’s ings into practice in their daily lives, Ideological confrontation still runs Tokyo headquarters on July 27, 1984, and about the actual running of hoza deep in the modern world. Though for the opening of the twenty-fifth IARF sessions. I worked hard to give Western there are grounds for the various congress. Besides Fumon Hall, the Great religionists a correct understanding of ideas advocated, they are causing Sacred Hall and the Horin-kaku Guest Buddhism, and gave a speech about the confusion throughout the world. Hall were used as venues.

Dharma World July–December 2018 39 literally the embryo of a buddha. All people possess this seed, and it is brought to full bloom by practicing the way of the bodhisattva. Con ict prevails because people have forgotten this potential in the hearts of all, and because people of religion have failed in their eorts

to rely passively on the love and mercy of God and the Buddha; we must actively practice those virtues ourselves. is age when the Law seems almost lost is an oppor- tune time to remove the dust of the ages that has collected on religions and to reawaken people to the true nature of religious salvation.

The theme of the Tokyo congress that Rissho Kosei-kai had taken up res- A feature of the IARF congresses is was “Religious Path to Peace: Eastern idence in the district of Sachsenhausen that religious scholars and theologians Initiative and Western Response.” This and that although Frankfurt has many take part of their own free will as indi- was the first time that peace had been Japanese companies and banks, restau- - taken up as the main theme for a con- rants, and travel agencies, Rissho Kosei- tion, but at the core are individuals who gress. The subtheme, “Eastern Initiative kai, as a lay Buddhist organization, was hold to the idea of religious freedom. and Western Response,” had been set in of a completely different dimension, the hope that a reevaluation of Eastern and the article commented that “now promoting interreligious dialogue at a thought and religion by Western reli- Japan has come even closer to us.” I think grassroots level and deepening indi- gionists might provide a breakthrough this may be an example of the extent to vidual faith through it. We tried in the in the current global impasse. which interest in Japanese spiritual cul- Tokyo congress to widen this into coop- Rudyard Kipling, the English nov- ture has grown. This was also evident eration and dialogue among religious elist, wrote in “The Ballad of East and in the fact that more than four hundred people for the sake of world peace. West,” “East is East, and West is West, people, mainly Christians, came from Rev. Diether Gehrmann, the general and never the twain shall meet,” but abroad to attend the Tokyo congress. secretary of the IARF, visited Japan many today’s world is in the process of becom- At the opening ceremony, I addressed times from his base in Frankfurt to assist ing a “one-day zone.” Certainly there the delegates as the president of the in the preparations for the congress. is a trend among Western intellectu- IARF: Seeing how Japanese religion was an als to seek in the wisdom of the East a active force rooted in people’s lives, del- way to overcome the crisis confront- The humanity to acknowledge that egates from Western Europe were par- ing humankind as they reflected that all human beings have a limited Western ways of thinking were at the existence is the most important its motive power was located, especially root of all the problems facing the world requisite for being fully human. because church attendance in Europe today—the nuclear threat, the depletion In the absence of such humanity, had been falling over the last half cen- of resources, human rights abuses, and God is also absent—indeed, dead. the growing gap between rich and poor. Buddhism terms such an age one Initiative” to show delegates Japanese For instance, when Rissho Kosei-kai in which the true Law has been religion as it is, and prepared a vari- opened its liaison office in Frankfurt in largely forgotten and defines it ety of programs. One was a “learning West Germany, the headline of an arti- as one of conflict. . . . Buddhism experience” aimed at foreign partic- cle about it in the Offenbach-Post was teaches that all have the poten- ipants. Visits to temples and shrines, “Japan Is Not Thinking Just of Export tial to attain buddhahood. This is and to centers associated with organi- Business.” The article opened by saying termed in Sanskrit tathagata-garbha,

40 Dharma World July–December 2018 arranged before the congress convened, Rev. Gehrmann summed up the out- and abuses of human rights were rife. and delegates were able to take part come of the Tokyo congress in the letter in actual religious activities there. For found in other developing countries. example, they followed the mountain most successful Congress in the history It was predicted that the Fourth World circuit pilgrimage route at the Buddhist of the IARF. In particular the exchanges Assembly of Religions for Peace would temple Enryakuji on Mount Hiei, Shiga between people went far beyond my address these issues directly, forcing the Prefecture, and did meditation there. expectations. Everyone always drew participants to ask themselves what peo- At the Tsubaki Grand Shrine in Mie us into their circle, whether it was in ple of religion can do. Prefecture, they stood under a water- - More than four hundred religionists its, in the Japanese festival, or in the from sixty countries met in the Kenyatta at Ittoen in Kyoto they learned about opening and closing ceremonies. I am International Conference Centre for the grateful that we could join hands as fel- hoza sessions at a local Rissho Kosei- low members.” conference so far in terms of the number of both delegates and countries repre- very successful, deepening the under- The Fourth World sented. More than half the delegates were standing of Japanese religion and cul- Assembly of Religions from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. ture among foreign participants through - exposure to such rituals and practices. for Peace ple of religion have come face-to-face Less than two weeks a er the IARF including the pre- and post-congress own countries, and of their search for a programs, from July 23 to August 10, Assembly of Religions for Peace opened forum to speak about what is happening. using Rissho Kosei-kai facilities such as in Nairobi, Kenya, on August 23, 1984. I felt keenly that many gathered there the Great Sacred Hall and Fumon Hall. were looking to Religions for Peace as Rissho Kosei-kai members who were a place where they could express their involved with the running of the con- in Europe and the third in the United hopes for peace and engage in dialogue gress were thrilled to have the opportu- with like-minded people. nity to live side by side with the foreign participants. Meeting religious leaders Africa is described as a place that “When spiderwebs unite they can tie face-to-face further deepened their con- up a lion.” People are much stronger viction in their own faith and gave them Twenty-seven of the world’s poorest thir- than spiders. If people of religion work a personal sense of the importance of ty-six countries are to be found there, together, they should be able to bring interreligious cooperation. and poverty, famine, refugee problems, their combined strength into full play.

Dharma World July–December 2018 41 about the actuality of apartheid and the a very high standard of living, while hardship. African religionists told us, mission of people of religion. He said that more than twenty million black peo- “Christian missionaries came and said, in South Africa, apartheid deprived people live in poverty.” ‘Close your eyes and pray,’ and so we did. ple of their human rights, and as many Bishop Tutu and the religionists from However, when we opened them again, as three million people had been forc- South Africa announced that they would we had been robbed of everything.” ibly evicted from their homes. “South go without lunch on the second day of e main theme of the Nairobi Africa produces enough food to export, the conference and donate the money conference was “Religions for Human yet black people have been forced into thus saved to the peace movement in Dignity and World Peace.” Bishop starvation by government policy, and South Africa. Hearing this, virtually all Desmond Tutu, the general secretary they cannot return to the places where the conference participants donated not of the South African Council of Churches they were born. Blacks are less free now only the lunch money but additional and a leader in the movement against than they were in colonial times. Less money from their own pockets. Two racial discrimination, spoke strongly Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Saichiro Uesugi, secretary-general of the Buraku Liberation League, spoke about the Buraku discrimination issue in Japan in the commission “Human Dignity, Social Justice, and the Development of the Whole Person,” describing the league’s history and present situation to religionists from around the world. Religions for Peace Japan invited him to participate in, and speak at, the conference as a fraternal participant. Francis Cardinal Arinze, president of the Vatican Secretariat for Non- Christians (which was later renamed

Dialogue), attended the conference as a

42 July–December 2018 formally represented at the conference, though we had asked for a Vatican representative from the time of the First World Assembly in Kyoto. Many Catholic cardinals and archbishops had taken part in the world assemblies, but this - cially recognized them. Now Religions for Peace had become a forum for global interreligious dialogue in fact as well as in name. Pope John Paul II expressed a deep prayer in the message that he sent to the conference: “May fellow religion- the way toward even closer cooperation and create the basis for true peace among people and nations, spreading justice and equality among all people.” a million people had died from hunger. Relief food supplies began to be The Japan “Blankets for Africa” Campaign in Leuven, Belgium, Religions for Peace of the world. However, six million vic- One outcome of the Nairobi conference Japan promoted the Donate-a-Meal tims who had escaped from the disaster was the creation of Religions for Peace’s Movement among all of its constitu- area with little more than the clothes on interfaith initiatives, one of which was ent organizations. At that time, Rissho their backs were facing a crisis situation a project to aid African refugees and Kosei-kai raised a total of twelve bil- because of the severe cold at night, when drought victims, with a budget of four lion Japanese yen to assist developing temperatures plummeted to around hundred thousand US dollars. Religions countries through donating a meal and for Peace Japan promised to raise half through street collections for UNICEF, Fahrenheit). One million of them were of this amount. innocent children. Religionists who had come to Nairobi a-Meal Fund for Peace alone gave aid At the beginning of December, Mr. for the conference had seen with their James P. Grant, the executive director of countries in one year. UNICEF, launched an emergency appeal. and hunger and had heard their pleas I think that the most important aim Two million blankets were required, of the Donate-a-Meal Movement was and Japan was asked to provide half palpable. Hospitals were necessary and that by going without a meal in a well- that number. In response, the Japanese wells needed to be dug, and for that we fed country like Japan, members are Foreign Ministry and four nongovern- required the knowledge of experts from ment organizations, including the Japan of honest poverty but to have the expe- Red Cross and the Japan International had to raise money. I had proposed that - Volunteer Center, set up a liaison com- Japan should take on that responsibil- ple in the developing countries as their mittee for African famine relief. Rissho ity, and so the aid project came about. own, and becoming aware of their wish Exactly the same thing happened to help them, even if only in a small way. over the country collected 1.75 million - blankets that were shipped to disas- - Nairobi conference, Rissho Kosei-kai ter-stricken areas in Africa. est endeavor on the part of people of as an organization began a campaign religion, but it gradually grew as sym- to send blankets to Africa. It had been pathetic people joined in increasing reported that the drought in the north- refers to Africans who live unaware of numbers. What was important was that ern part of Ethiopia had spread to the the rich natural resources under their people bravely became involved with east and south and that already half feet, or perhaps to the fact that even if

Dharma World July–December 2018 43 commander in chief of the Japanese Kwantung Army to protect vested interests of Japan in Manchuria. From the very beginning of his reign [the Showa era: December 1926–January 1989], the emperor was faced with the challenges of the military running away from his control and then becoming increasingly

the Great Depression.

followed by crisis. Japan moved closer

the Mukden Incident of 1931 and then with the Sino-Japanese War of 1937. In

the terms of Japan’s surrender. Under they do know about them, they allow chair of the board of trustees, to sign the terms of the new constitution, the themselves to be plundered by other the condolence book at the palace. On emperor became the symbol of national nations because of lack of technolog- my way back, I realized that the tumul- unity, and as the representative of a ical skill. tuous Showa era was now over, the era peaceful nation, he played a large role And what is our attitude to this? during which the emperor and the peo- in building international goodwill. Don’t we tend to forget to share what It saddens me to think of what the we have, as we fall into a poverty of feel- Suddenly I remembered August 15, 1945, the day the war ended. Members had and cooperation of the Japanese people gathered at Rissho Kosei-kai in such in postwar reconstruction were made and in an orderly manner to receive the great numbers that not everyone could possible by the emperor’s single-minded blankets donated in the Blankets for enter the building. At that time there concern over the national welfare. He Africa Campaign surely teaches us to were some thousand members who had accomplished the feat of turning “Showa be ashamed of such an attitude. - at war” into “Showa at peace.” tened together in tears to the emper- Emperor Hirohito was succeeded by Death of the Emperor or’s announcement, which was aired on his son Akihito, and the new era name Heisei was decreed by the cabinet. A sutra recitation before the main altar. reported the death of Emperor Hirohito. For some reason, I was now remem- everywhere) was taken from two sen- He had been ailing since the previous bering this as clearly as if it had been tences appearing in two Chinese classics autumn, and an increasing number of yesterday. Existing value systems col- that imply that if peace exists within, bulletins had been issued from that time lapsed with the war’s end, and there was then it can also be constructed without. forward, drawing people to gather at the much unease about what would happen Peace in Sanskrit is śānti, the peace front of the imperial palace in Tokyo, next. I clearly recall that my conviction that does not depend on strength. Like praying for his recovery. By the end of the importance of walking the way the English word, it implies tranquillity of the year his condition was critical, of the bodhisattva became even stron- and ease. Here the underlying idea is that and people were glad and saddened in ger at that time. it is only when peace is built in people’s turns according to the daily bulletins. Emperor Hirohito, Japan’s 124th hearts that we will have a truly peace- He died on the morning of January 7, emperor, had been born in 1901 and ful society and a truly peaceful world. the day the New Year decorations are ascended the throne at the age of twen- taken down, aged eighty-seven. - The Melbourne emony at Kyoto in 1928, the Huanggutun Conference together, and we decided to announce a - six-day mourning period. I went imme- sination of the Chinese warlord Zhang I le for Australia on January 17, 1989, diately with Rev. Motoyuki Naganuma, Zuolin, which had been plotted by the soon a er the six days of mourning for

44 D July–December 2018 the Showa emperor. e Fih World It seemed as though at last tensions Assembly of Religions for Peace was Summer before the spring— held at Monash University in the sub- Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Don’t accept what does not stand urbs of Melbourne for six days start- Treaty (INF) had been agreed between to reason, ing January 22. Its theme was “Building the United States and the Soviet Union in What is unnatural. Peace through Trust: e Role of 1987, and people had begun to hope that Religion.” At the opening ceremony, both countries would reduce their inter- If we truly want peace, we must attended by six hundred representa- continental ballistic missiles. I continued: tives from eighty-two countries, I spoke in our hearts, plucking away the weeds about the Buddhist teaching that “noth- It would be no exaggeration to say that could damage it, and then plow- ing has an ego”: that the world has come to recognize that nuclear weapons have made Buddhist teachings term all of those total war impossible. It is a thing of come about. relationships that allow mutual the past now to assert that prosper- support and survival “causal con- there were four commissions and eight ditions.” When I look toward you needs, or that economic problems subgroups discussing ways that would now, it seems as if there is nothing can be resolved through war. People - but air between us. However, what have instead begun to realize that sions covered the themes of disarma- cannot be seen are the causal con- ment, human rights, development and ditions, the relationships, between is to build a world of harmony in the environment, and peace education, us all, religious comrades working which all people help and support and sought mutual understanding on together to bring about peace in the one another. ways of resolving these issues. e Melbourne Declaration, which a result of them we are here together We must not lament that people are was adopted unanimously, stated “We today. I give thanks to God and the are sustained by a spiritual trust: our Buddha for extending to us such to our appointed mission of peace, giv- belief in the creative forces within the conditions. Standing together on ing our whole in working toward it. universe by which we are given life, a shared foundation, I believe we In closing my opening speech to the - conference, I quoted from a poem by we perceive truth, by which we live cussion on the theme of the con- Kotaro Takamura, who died in 1956: in hope.” ference, “Building Peace through To be continued

Dharma World July–December 2018 45 THE THREEFOLD LOTUS SUTRA: A MODERN COMMENTARY

The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law

Chapter 26

Dharanis (2) This is the 130th installment of a detailed commentary on the Threefold Lotus Sutra by the founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, Rev. Nikkyo Niwano.

TEXT “World-honored One! These supernatural dharani nor rakshasas, nor putanas, nor krityas, nor kumbhandas, spells have been spoken by buddhas numerous as the sands nor hungry ghosts, nor others spying for their shortcom- of sixty-two kotis of Ganges rivers. If anyone does violence ings can find a chance.” to the teacher of this Dharma, then he will have done violence to these buddhas.” COMMENTARY Yakshas. These are a variety of fright- ening demons that reside on earth or in the air and are COMMENTARY Supernatural dharani spells. This term, held to torment humans. It was said that there were some dharani, means “mystic syllables” that have the power to who converted to Buddhism and became followers of the encourage all good and restrain all evil (Jpn., soji shingon), Divine King Vaishravana. as explained in the second of the five kinds of untranslat- • Rakshasas. These are a variety of demons that inflict harm able words. on human beings through violence. • Putanas. These are a variety of hungry spirits. They emit TEXT Then Shakyamuni Buddha extolled the Medicine a horrible smell, so they are called putrid demons. King Bodhisattva, saying: “Good, good, O Medicine King! • Krityas. These are demons held to devour human corpses. Because you are compassionate and protect these teach- • Kumbhandas. These are small demons of monstrous ers of the Dharma, you have pronounced these dharanis, appearance, which also appeared in chapter 3, “A Parable.” which will abundantly benefit the living.” They are said to drink the lifeblood and eat the living flesh Thereupon the Bodhisattva Courageous Giver spoke to of animals. In chapter 3, they were treated as symbolic of the Buddha, saying: “World-honored One! I, too, for the swallowing mistaken religious precepts. protection of these who read and recite, receive and keep the • Hungry ghosts. These are a variety of demons held to Dharma Flower Sutra, will deliver dharanis. If these teach- ceaselessly suffer from hunger and thirst. They are those ers of the Dharma possess these dharanis, neither yakshas, who were born into the realm of hungry spirits, one of the

46 Dharma World July–December 2018 three evil paths, as a result of the evil karma accumulated keeping up with the trend in the world. Dr. Tsukamoto iden- in a previous life, particularly out of a greedy nature. They tifies it as “Oh, they who dance!” [nrityani] are pathetic demons that symbolize human greed. • [13] Nerichi-hachi. Not gathering. “Gathering” here means • Neither . . . nor others spying for their shortcomings can a meaningless gathering, as of the rabble or a disorderly find a chance. “Shortcomings” refers to weaknesses, faults, crowd, where people come together in large numbers with and defects. These words indicate those who, with the evil no principles or advocacy. In other words, there should be intent of entrapping and persecuting a person of religion no gathering without meaning. Dr. Tsukamoto identifies it (a teacher of the Dharma) and obstructing the person’s disas “Oh, she who wishes to dance!” [nrityavati] semination of the Dharma, seek out some shortcoming or some weakness in that person. They seek to take advan- TEXT “World-honored One! These supernatural dharani tage, find fault with the person, and launch arguments. As spells have been spoken by buddhas numerous as the sands compared here to a variety of demons, this is a quite inhu- of the Ganges, and all approved. If anyone does violence man, contemptible manner that one often finds in society. to the teachers of this Dharma, he will have done violence However, whoever bears the Truth (the Wonderful to these buddhas.” Dharma) and believes and preaches in accordance with that Truth, despite having personally some trivial weakness and COMMENTARY Approved. To experience a profound joy shortcomings, will not in the end be vanquished by mali- from the bottom of one’s heart in regard to something. cious powers. The strength and righteousness of the Truth will not permit the malicious any chance to take advantage. TEXT Thereupon the Divine King Vaishravana, protector of the world, spoke to the Buddha, saying: “World- TEXT Then, in the presence of the Buddha, he delivered honored One! I, too, in compassion for the living and for the following spell*: the protection of these teachers of the Dharma, will deliver these dharanis .” “[1] Zare [2] maka-zare [3] ukki [4] mokki [5] are [6] ara- hate [7] nerete [8] nereta-hate [9] ichini [10] ichini [11] COMMENTARY Divine King Vaishravana. In Brahmanism, shichini [12] nere-chini [13] nerichi-hachi.” Vaishravana is under the jurisdiction of Indra, who over- sees and protects human beings and is one of the four heav- COMMENTARY [1] Zare. Radiance; light and flame, as enly kings, and is also held to be the protector of the north. a literal translation from Chinese. [jvale] Later incorporated into Buddhism as its guardian deity, he • [2] Maka-zare. Great radiance; great light and flame. is also known as “Much-Hearing Heavenly King.” [mahajvale] • [3] Ukki [4] Mokki. Ukki: Light, which symbolizes wis- TEXT Whereupon he delivered the following spell: dom. Dr. Tsukamoto identifies this as “Oh, bright flame!” (ukke). Mokki: All that spreads the light; to extend the light “[1] Ari [2] nari [3] tonari [4] anaro [5] nabi [6] kunabi.” of wisdom endlessly. Dr. Tsukamoto identifies this as “Oh, my bright flame!” (mukke). According to Dr. Tsukamoto, COMMENTARY [1] Ari. Abundant possessions; having the m in mukke is identified as a Sandhi-consonant (ukke- all the power or strength. [atte] m-ukke) and together the two phrases mean “Oh, numbers • [2] Nari. Arranging for play. Dr. Giei Honda translates of bright flames!” this as “Oh, dancer!” in his book, Hokekyō-ron (Treatise on • [5] Are. Favorable attainment. [ade] the Lotus Sutra [Tokyo: Kobun-do, 1944], p. 160). [natte] • [6] Ara-hate. Affluence. [adavati] • [3] Tonari. Without play. Dr. Honda translates this as • [7] Nerete. Joy, delight, or rejoicing. [nritte] “Oh, one who dances in praise” (tunatte) (ibid., pp. 160– • [8] Nereta-hate. A manner to do things joyfully and will- 61). [nunatte] ingly. [nritavati] • [4] Anaro. Boundlessness. It is also said to be the name • [9] Ichini. Settling of an existence; the long-range con- of a god of fire. [anade] tinuation of the state of something. [ittini] • [5] Nabi. One who is without riches; a pauper; also the • [10] Ichini. Establishing order. [vittini] name of a god of song. [nadi] • [11] Shichini. Residing permanently; to stay perpetually • [6] Kunabi. A term of irony meaning: “Why do I never in a certain state of mind. [cittini] grow wealthy?” One view holds that this is the name of an • [12] Nere-chini. Not uniting. This is interpreted as neither unsightly god of song; another holds that it is the name carelessly courting the inclinations of others nor thoughtlessly of a goddess that is sure to make everyone rich. [kunadi]

Dharma World July–December 2018 47 TEXT “World-honored One! By these supernatural spells TEXT “World-honored One! These supernatural dharani I will protect the teachers of the Dharma. I will also myself spells have been spoken by forty-two kotis of buddhas. If protect those who keep this sutra, so that no corroding care anyone does violence to these teachers of the Dharma, he shall [come] within a hundred yojanas .” will have done violence to these buddhas.” Thereupon there were female rakshasas, the first named COMMENTARY While protecting with the extraordi- Lamba, the second named Vilamba, the third named Crooked nary power of supernatural spells, he will also protect them Teeth, the fourth named Flowery Teeth, the fifth named himself directly, bringing happiness. Black Teeth, the sixth named Many Tresses, the seventh • Corroding care. When fortune fades, various apprehen- named Insatiable, the eighth named Necklace Holder, the sions and obstacles spring forth. ninth named Kunti, and the tenth named Spirit Snatcher.

TEXT Thereupon the Divine King Domain Holder, who COMMENTARY Of all the names of these ten female rak- was present in this congregation, with a host of thousands shasas, Lamba, Vilamba, and Kunti are transliterations of of myriads of kotis of nayutas of gandharvas reverently Sanskrit and the others are thought to be translations of the encompassing him, went before the Buddha, and folding meanings of their names. This is common in translation of his hands said to the Buddha: “World-honored One! I, too, the scriptures as in the following. Among the names of the with supernatural dharani spells, will protect those who Tathagata, for example, we find Shakyamuni (translitera- keep the Dharma Flower Sutra.” tion) and Abundant Treasures (translated meaning), and among the bodhisattvas we find Maitreya (transliteration) COMMENTARY Divine King Domain Holder. Domain and Never Despise (translated meaning). Holder (Skt., Dhritarashtra) is also one of the four heavenly • Lamba. A female rakshasa who wanders around the world. kings and is held to be the protector of the east. • Vilamba. A female rakshasa who rambles through the world. • Gandharvas. These have appeared repeatedly in this sutra. • Crooked Teeth. (Skt., Kutadanti). They are celestial spirits who serve Indra as musicians. • Flowery Teeth. (Skt., Pushpadanti). • Black Teeth. (Skt., Makutadanti). TEXT Whereupon he delivered the following spell: • Many Tresses. (Skt., Keshini). • Insatiable. (Skt., Acala). A female rakshasa who is nei- “[1] Akyane [2] kyane [3] kuri [4] kendari [5] sendari [6] ther weary of anything nor satisfied. matogi [7] joguri [8] buro-shani [9] acchi.” • Necklace Holder. (Skt., Maladhari). • Kunti. Kunti is the leader of the ten female rakshasas. COMMENTARY [1] Akyane. This means “innumera- The Chinese word kao employed for Kun is said to be the ble.” (agane) voice summoning back the spirit of the deceased from the • [2] Kyane. A distinguished goddess of fortune with the top of the roof. head of an elephant and the body of a human being. Dr. • Spirit Snatcher. (Skt., Sarvasattvojohari). A demoness who Tsukamoto identifies it as “Oh, she who is many! Oh, divine sucks out the vitality from all living things. group!” (gane) • [3] Kuri. A Himalayan goddess who radiates white light. Dr. * These dharanis have been given in Japanese reading and have been Tsukamoto identifies it as “Oh, she who is radiant!” (gauri) numbered to facilitate a smoother reading. The original Sanskrit words for the following dharani spells cannot be specified because there is • [4] Kendari. A goddess known as Incense Holder. Dr. no extant version of the Sanskrit text that the translator Kumarajiva Tsukamoto identifies “Incense Holder” as an epithet of the used as a basis for translation, which also makes it difficult to clarify Naga king. (gandhari) the original meanings of these words. In his book Source Elements • [5] Sendari. A goddess of illuminating the darkness. Dr. of the Lotus Sutra: Buddhist Integration of Religion, Thought, and Tsukamoto identifies it as “Oh, candala woman!” (candali) Culture (Tokyo: Kosei Publishing, 2007, pp. 394–403), Dr. Keisho • [6] Matogi. The goddess of Matanga, a kind of Candala. Tsukamoto gives the equivalent Indic readings closest in pronunciation to Kumarajiva’s found in Sanskrit manuscripts, and when there (matangi) are discrepancies in the pronunciation of equivalent Indic forms, the • [7] Joguri. A giant goddess bringing misfortune (or of a presumed Prakrit form has been appropriated. The Sanskrit words are fierce temper, like poison). Dr. Tsukamoto identifies it as put in parentheses, and those presumed to be Prakrit are in brackets. “Oh, Janguli [female deity]!” (janguli) He also gives meanings conjectured from the originals. The mean- • [8] Buro-shani. Preaching according to order. [vrusali] ings are inserted when necessary. • [9] Acchi. That which is most excellent; Truth. Dr. Tsukamoto identifies it as “Oh, she who is evil!” [agasti] To be continued

48 Dharma World July–December 2018 Rissho Kosei-kai A Global Buddhist Movement

Participants in the fourth World Sangha Assembly held at Rissho Kosei-kai’s headquarters in Tokyo in May 2016.

Rissho Kosei-kai is a global Buddhist movement of people who strive to apply the teachings of the Threefold Lotus Sutra, one of the foremost Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, in their daily lives and contribute to world peace. It was founded in Tokyo in 1938 by Nikkyo Niwano (1906–1999) and Myoko Naganuma (1889–1957). It now has some 1.15 million member households worldwide. Members actively share the Dharma widely and engage in peace activities both locally and internationally in cooperation with people from many walks of life, both religious and non-religious. Hoza (Dharma circle) during a training seminar for US leaders at the Rissho Kosei-kai has 238 Dharma centers in Japan and Oklahoma Dharma Center. 65 branches in 20 counties and regions overseas. For further information, please visit our website.

Leaders from Dharma centers across Japan participate in hoza at the headquarters.

Rissho Kosei-kai 2-11-1 Wada, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 166-8537, Japan Sutra recitation during a training seminar for Mongolian associate Tel: +81-3-5341-1124 Fax: +81-3-5341-1224 Dharma teachers. Website: www.rk-world.org/ E-mail: [email protected]