Jodo Shu Buddhism Japan’s First Independent Pure Land Denomination

Th e Jodo Shu Research Institute was founded in 1989 in Minato Ward, Tokyo, by unifying the three research organizations of the Jodo Shu Buddhist denomination, which had been operating separately. Th ey had been concentrating on religious doctrines, dissemination activities, and rituals and ceremonies. Japan was at that time becoming an information-driven society in the increasingly globalized world, and the aging of the country’s population was advancing. Under those situations where things and events were changing in various ways, the Jodo Shu Buddhist denomination combined the three fi elds of research in order to propagate the teachings of Jodo Shu Buddhism while responding to those changes. Th e changes in society will bring challenges that no one has ever experienced. Th e research activities of the Institute are not limited to simply promoting basic studies on the denomination’s doctrine, dissemination, and rituals, but should also actively become involved in studying various issues arising from the present-day society as its research projects. For instance, at the beginning of its foundation, when the issue of transplanting organs from brain-dead individuals was being debated, the Institute began to tackle the issue from the perspective of how medical treatment should be related to religion. Th e Institute is composed of some twenty-fi ve researchers. For each research project, a study team is set up, which can call, as needed, collaborators from the outside to discuss the project. It is required that each team present the fruits of its study in a period of two years. Th e Institute dealt with fi ft een research projects during the fi scal year of 2018–2019. Th ey included multilingual translation of the texts used for the Jodo Shu Buddhist rituals and ceremonies, and translation of the literary works by Honen Shonin, the founder of the Jodo Shu Buddhist denomination. In addition, as the Institute is recently required to study how the Jodo Shu Buddhist denomination should cope with the government’s policies, it has been playing an increasing role as a think tank for Buddhist denominations.

Th e Jodo Shu Research Institute Meisho Kaikan 4th Floor, 4-7-4 Shiba Koen, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0011 Tel: 81-3-5472-6571 Fax: 81-3-3438-4033 SPRING 2020, VOL. 47

FEATURES: Violence in Buddhism

2 Nonviolence and the Attainment of Peace in Dharma World presents Buddhism Buddhism as a practical living religion and by Masashi Hashimoto promotes interreligious dialogue 3 Violence in Buddhism—with an for world peace. It espouses views Emphasis on Early Buddhism that emphasize the dignity of life, by Elizabeth J. Harris seeks to rediscover our inner nature and bring our lives more in accord 7 Buddhism and Violence in Photo: AFP / AFLO with it, and investigates causes of Deep-South Th ailand human suff ering. It tries to show by Pinit Ratanakul how religious principles help solve 11 Can We Aim for the Future with problems in daily life and how the Others? Toward Bodhisattva least application of such principles Ethics has wholesome eff ects on the world by Fumihiko Sueki around us. It seeks to demonstrate truths that are fundamental to all 14 Buddhists and Violence in religions, truths on which all people Myanmar: A Confl icted can act. Situation by Leo D. Lefebure Publisher: Koichi Saito Director: Naoki Taketani 18 All Causes Are Good Causes: Th e Liberating Power of Holistic Senior Editor: Kazumasa Osaka Causality in the Lotus Sutra Editor: Katsuyuki Kikuchi by Dominick Scarangello Editorial Advisors: 26 Rissho Kosei-kai’s Approach to the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons Dominick Scarangello, Miriam Levering, Michio T. Shinozaki by Kosho Niwano Copy Editors: 31 No Regrets DeAnna Satre, Stephen Comee, by Nikkyo Niwano Catherine Szolga 34 Illuminating One Another in Dialogue: Editorial Staff : Interreligious Perspectives through the Prism of the Lotus Sutra Kensuke Osada, Mariko Kawamoto by Paride Stortini Subscription Staff : Kazuyo Okazaki 41 Making Off erings to “Buddhas” Layout and Design: Abinitio Design by Nichiko Niwano

THE THREEFOLD LOTUS SUTRA: A MODERN COMMENTARY Cover: Photos: Shutterstock.com 42 Th e Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law Photoshop work by Abinitio Design Chapter 27: Th e Story of King Resplendent (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 © 2020 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

Nonviolence and the Attainment of Peace in Buddhism by Masashi Hashimoto

Masashi Hashimoto is the director of Lay Mahayana Buddhists are not the same as the lay the Chuo Academic Research Institute believers of early Buddhism. . . . Making our aspiration for of Rissho Kosei-kai in Tokyo. enlightenment manifest, we must make every effort to bring FƗWXGGLVD DERXWSHDFHLQWKH6D۸JKDRIWKH)RXU'LUHFWLRQV VDূJKD), that is, the world in which we live. structure between the ordained and the lay, and the Sa˳gha laid emphasis on diff erent ways of character building I have been asked by the editors of translated into Chinese, this word was according to their diff erences. Dharma World to write the foreword rendered into compounds such as jimie While the Buddha taught the ethic to this issue, with its theme “Violence (Jpn., jakumetsu), literally “tranquil and of a general, common nonviolence, in Buddhism.” However, Buddhist doc- extinguished,” and jijing (Jpn., jakujō), he also showed ordained Buddhists trine and “violence” (hi˳sā) are not con- “quiescence,” both of which refer to the seeking liberation the way to not cepts that can be discussed together. Th e ideal inner realm that Buddhists aspire committing evil deeds. But as his- decision of the editors to take up the to. However, śānti was originally used tory demonstrates in respect to lay theme of violence was probably related in Buddhism to refer to the attainment believers, there were limitations to in part to their concern over the violent of peace within the early Sa˳gha, the the spiritual influence of even the expulsion of the Rohingya people at the community of those who had left sec- Buddha, for he was unable to pre- hands of the Myanmar military aft er ular life. vent the massacre of the Śākyans by 2016, fuelled by a Buddhist nationalism Th e purpose of the Sa˳gha was to the advancing armies of King Viʽū- that has turned into a political ideol- preserve an ideal environment where ʽabha. ogy. those who had attained spiritual We lay Mahayana Buddhists are not While there are texts demonstrating liberation, as well as those who were the same as the lay believers of early the universal truth of Buddhism, such yet to attain enlightenment and were Buddhism. Unlike Sectarian Buddhism, as the Dhammapada (verse 130), that still striving for liberation, could live which attributed enlightenment only to say we should not kill, simply enumer- together in accordance with the Buddha’s the Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, ating such texts containing the Buddha’s teachings. Th us it was also known as Mahayana Buddhism tells us that anyone teachings over time and place will not samagga-sa˳gha (harmonious Sa˳gha). at all can become a buddha. Th is means suffi ce to demonstrate that Buddhism Should disputes arise in the Sa˳gha, a that not only the ordained but also we is a teaching of nonviolence (ahi˳sā). kind of criminal procedure code called lay Buddhists must aspire to perfect- I believe that the most urgent task the Samathakkhandhaka was brought ing ourselves. Making our aspiration for all Buddhists, including me, is to into play to resolve the confl ict and for enlightenment manifest, we must question again our own attitude toward return the Sa˳gha to its ideal of peace. make every eff ort to bring about peace the issue of violence and to sharpen our Buddhist monks and nuns, who in the Sa˳gha of the Four Directions awareness of ourselves as Buddhists pro- were forbidden to cook for themselves, (cātuddisa-sa˳gha), that is, the world fessing nonviolence. depended on gaining the trust of lay in which we live. Today when we talk about the believers in order to be able to continue Herein lies the reason that it is the Buddhist idea of peace, we oft en begin their religious training, receiving off er- task of each and every Buddhist to think by using the Sanskrit word śānti (Pali, ings of left overs by begging. Th is inev- carefully about their attitude toward the santi). When Buddhist texts were itably led to the development of a dual issue of violence. ≥

2 Dharma World Spring 2020 FEATURES Violence in Buddhism—with an Emphasis on Early Buddhism by Elizabeth J. Harris

Elizabeth J. Harris is Honorary Senior Buddhists appeal to two strands within Buddhist text and Research Fellow at the Edward tradition to either oppose or justify the use of violence. The Cadbury Centre for the Public ¿UVWVWUDQGLVWKHPRUDOLQMXQFWLRQWKDWYLROHQFHVKRXOGQHYHU Understanding of Religion, University be met by violence. The second is that defensive violence is of Birmingham, with a specialism in necessary in exceptional circumstances, for example, if there 7KHUDYƗGD%XGGKLVPDQG%XGGKLVW is a threat to the nation or to Buddhism. Christian relationships. She is former president of the European Network of Buddhist-Christian Studies and is Introduction: In the south, government forces were currently an international adviser to An Illustration from fi ghting the militant Sinhala youth group the Society for Buddhist-Christian Sri Lanka the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP— Studies. Her recent books include People’s Liberation Front), who sought Buddhism for a Violent World: A In 1988 I attended a conference on peace to overthrow the government and estab- &KULVWLDQ5HÀHFWLRQ (2010, 2012) at an infl uential Buddhist monastery in lish a far-left political system. Th e main and 5HOLJLRQ6SDFHDQG&RQÀLFWLQ Colombo, Sri Lanka. Two wars were speaker at the conference was a Buddhist 6UL/DQND&RORQLDODQG3RVWFRORQLDO being fought in Sri Lanka at the time. monk from Th ailand who argued that Contexts (2018). In the north and east of the country, from a Buddhist perspective, violence the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) should always be met with nonviolence. Buddhist monks who were present dis- was fi ghting the Tamil militant group, He argued that nonviolence was the agreed with him. Th e chief monk of the the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam middle way between passive indiff er- monastery, for instance, stated forcefully (LTTE), who sought a separate state in ence and violent aggression, and named that he had come to the conclusion that the Tamil-majority areas of the country. three ways of promoting it: counter- although nonviolence was desirable, it ing negative stereo- was not always possible. Another stated types of the “other,” that Buddhism neither favored violence holding nonviolent nor opposed violence. Th e conversation demonstrations, became quite heated. Th e chief monk’s and challenging last word, however, was that he did not those who were believe that the path of nonviolence attracted to mil- would work in Sri Lanka. His implica- itary options. He tion was that the threats from the mil- spoke with enthu- itancy of the LTTE and the JVP were siasm about non- too great.1 violent Buddhists Armed confl ict in Sri Lanka ended in during the 2009 with the military defeat of the LTTE Vietnam War and and the death of thousands of civilians. challenged those From 1988 to 2009, a large number of

Photo: Alamy / PPS Photo: present not to hate Buddhists supported the army, believing A damaged building riddled with shot by machine-gun fi re during the “enemy.” Some that nonviolence would not lead to the the period of Sri Lankan civil war, in Jaff na, Sri Lanka. of the Sri Lankan end of “terrorism.” Repeatedly, on my

Dharma World Spring 2020 3 visits to Sri Lanka in that period, I heard “no longer an authentic expression of the karmic fruit of hatred can only be people say, “We know that Buddhists the Buddhadharma.” 3 More recently, more violence, more hatred, and more should be nonviolent, but these are Myanmar has been in the international suffering. The second verse embodies unusual times. The very existence of spotlight because of the violence used by an ethic of empathy. We should not kill Buddhism in Sri Lanka is under threat the country’s largely Buddhist military or engage in violent acts because we from terrorists. So the state must use vio- forces against the Rohingya Muslims in understand that all living beings are like lence to defend us.” Some used Pali texts Rakhine State, formerly Arakan. Internal us. They seek happiness and undergo to support their stance. For instance, a criticism of this military action from immense pain when they are victims of Sinhala Buddhist, Sarath Weerasekera, Buddhists in the country has been low. violence. Buddhist ethics, in addition, wrote an article for the national press in In contrast to these examples of never separates self and other. Action October 2000 in which he appealed to Buddhist militancy, the Dalai Lama has that benefits others is also good for us the strand in the Pali texts that records gained much support in the West for his and leads us closer to liberation or the the Buddha’s conversations with the nonviolent stance toward China, even realization of our Buddha nature. Violent rulers of the kingdoms of Kosala and though China has systematically sought acts, on the other hand, will draw us Magadha. For instance, he wrote: to undermine and eliminate Tibetan further away from liberation. autonomy and identity. Among Tibetans The second strand or approach King Kosol once approached the themselves, however, he has received suggests that there is a pragmatic, Buddha and complained that his sol- criticism from those who would like context-dependent element of moral diers join the Order [the Buddha’s to have seen more vigorous, even vio- thinking in Buddhism that recognizes monastic order], which had resulted lent, defense of Tibet’s unique Buddhist the need for armed forces and, by exten- in the depletion of the army. Buddha identity. sion, the use of defensive violence in an immediately incorporated the rule These examples demonstrate that imperfect world. When I first studied in the formula of ordination that the contemporary Buddhists appeal to two Buddhism in Sri Lanka in the 1980s, candidate must not be in the army strands within Buddhist text and tra- this intrigued me. I wanted to know and, if so, must get the consent of dition to either oppose or justify the for myself whether there was anything the King to enter the Order.2 use of violence. The first strand is the in the Pali texts that could justify the moral injunction that violence should support for a military solution to the Others who knew the Pali texts never be met by violence. The second ethnic conflict that I saw around me. cited the Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Sutta is that defensive violence is necessary Consequently, my master’s degree dis- in the Dīgha Nikāya of the Sutta Pi̝aka, in exceptional circumstances, for exam- sertation in Buddhist Studies in 1988 which recounts the narrative of a king ple, if there is a threat to the nation or was Violence and Disruption in Society: A who does not listen to the advice of his to Buddhism. Study of the Early Buddhist Texts5. What spiritual advisers, which includes giving The first strand or approach is sup- impressed me as I did my research was protection according to the Dharma to ported by numerous texts. The follow- the wealth of violence-informed imag- the armed forces (Dīgha Nikāya iii 61). ing verses from the Pali Dhammapada ery in the Pali texts and the extent to have almost become iconic in Buddhism: which war and violence were mentioned, Two Approaches even while Buddhism promoted nonvio- to Buddhism and For never here lence. Here were texts, I concluded, that Do hatreds cease by hatred. knew the political realities of statecraft. Violence By freedom from hatred they cease. They were not purely philosophical or Buddhist support for state-sanctioned This is a perennial truth. (v. 5) concerned solely with a transcendent violence has not been limited to Sri realm but were utterly realistic about Lanka. It is a global phenomenon. In All beings tremble at the rod; the human condition and the violence the middle of the twentieth century, for All are afraid of death. inherent within it. instance, Japanese Zen Buddhists sup- Seeing their likeness to yourself, At one level, warfare was present in ported the expansionary policies of the You should neither kill nor cause to metaphor and simile. For example, the Japanese state in the Asia-Pacific war. kill. (v. 129)4 Pali Dhammapada also contains verse: Brian Victoria has labeled this “soldier Zen” and has argued that this so “griev- The first of these verses appeals to the By day, the sun shines; ously violated Buddhism’s fundamental principle of karma. We should not com- By night, the moon gleams; tenets” that Rinzai and Sōtō Zen were mit violent acts driven by hatred, because In his armour, the warrior shines;

4 Dharma World Spring 2020 Meditating, the Brahmin shines; personal position on this, drawing on But ever, night and day, several decades of reflection. I consider The Buddha shines with radiance. nonviolence to be a moral absolute in (v. 387) Buddhism. The damage that violence does to human communities and the Here the redactors of the text see no environment, its self-perpetuating problem with the radiance of the Buddha nature, and its karmic consequences being compared to the radiance of a war- means that there is no doctrinal justi- rior in armor. At another level, when fication for violence in the teachings of the Buddha talked with kings, he is the Buddha. At the same time, however, recorded as using illustrations from the empirical realism within Buddhism warfare, appealing to the experience means that violence and warfare inevi- Photo: Alamy / PPS Photo: of the ruler rather than condemning tably appear in both Buddhist texts and King Pasenadi of Kosala on a Royal Tour. it. For instance, when King Pasenadi tradition. They appear particularly in From Hutchinson’s Story of the Nations. asked the Buddha about the fruits of references to the pragmatic, conven- Anonymous. giving gifts, the Buddha replied: tional decisions that states are forced to make in a greed-filled world and in Most significantly, however, I see in What is given to one who is vir- descriptions of the consequences of the Buddhist texts a continual challenge tuous, great king, is of great fruit, human greed. Buddhist texts and tra- to those who would justify violence by not so what is given to an immoral ditions, in fact, teach that violence is to appealing to the greed-filled nature of person. Now then, great king, I will be expected in our world simply because the world. A higher and nobler way is question you about the same point. humans have not eradicated their greed, always pointed toward. For instance, Answer as you see fit. . . . Suppose hatred, and delusion. some of the most graphic descrip- you are at war and a battle is about Let me illustrate this position with tions of war in the Pali texts come in to take place. Then a khattiya [from words that I wrote some years ago about the Mahādukkhakkhandha Sutta in the the warrior caste] would arrive, one the way in which Buddhism has helped Majjhima Nikāya of the Sutta Pi̝aka, but who is untrained, unskilful, unprac- me understand violence through what I these are placed in the context of the tised, inexperienced, timid, petrified, have termed its empirical realism: dangers inherent in craving for sensual frightened, quick to flee. Would you gratification, status, wealth, and power: employ that man, would you have Buddhism says that our world is any use for that man?6 imperfect because it is permeated Again, with sensual pleasures as the with greed and hatred, rooted in cause . . . men take swords and shields It is not surprising that some ignorance. The potential for vio- and buckle on bows and quivers, and Buddhists have taken the use of illus- lence is very much part of this. . . . they charge into battle massed in trations such as these and texts such as If we accept this—I certainly do— double array with arrows and spears the Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Sutta to argue then the arising of violence should flying and swords flashing; and there that violence and war are sometimes nec- not surprise us. Buddhism does not they are wounded by arrows and essary to defend the state or the nation have the problem that some theistic spears, and their heads are cut off from external threats. They were cer- traditions have: “Why does a God by swords, whereby they incur death tainly used by Buddhists in Sri Lanka of love allow this violence to hap- and deadly suffering.8 during the ethnic war to argue for their pen?” . . . I must hasten to say that right to defend themselves against LTTE I am not speaking of an acceptance In the same discourse, when love of suicide bombs, even if this meant that of violence in the sense of becom- the sensual results in theft and adultery, innocent Tamils would be killed, tor- ing hardened to it or opting out of vivid pictures of the torture methods tured, or displaced from their homes. conflict transformation, but of an used to punish offenders are given. A understanding that violence is to king’s right to punish those who com- A Personal Position be expected in a world where only mit crimes is not questioned. A nobler a few, relatively speaking, have ears way is nevertheless present in this and Can these two approaches be recon- to hear the radical message of the other discourses: a society in which ciled? In the last part of this article, Buddha, or indeed the non-violent people do not need to steal or commit I will attempt to summarize my own message of other religions.7 adultery because they are morally aware

Dharma World Spring 2020 5 action. However, the nobler way that is held out involves addressing con- flict and violence through alternative methods. One of these is to identify and address the root causes of violence— both the causes that lie in our minds and those that lie in unjust structures and practices in society. ≥ Notes 1. I also used this illustration in my

Photo: REUTERS / AFLO / Photo: REUTERS book Buddhism for a Violent World: A Thousands of Tamil demonstrators gather at Queens Park in Toronto on May 13, 2009, to Christian Reflection (Epworth, 2010), pp. protest the conflicts between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil 105–106. Eelam. 2. Sarath Weerasekera, “Buddhist Stand on War and Its Relevance to the Present Conflict,” Island 20 (October and are not forced to steal by poverty happened in the south. The key to 2000). See also Elizabeth J. Harris, or oppression. the solution is rooted in this basic “Buddhism and the Justification of War: The same challenge is present in the question. We must tackle the causes.10 A Case Study from Sri Lanka,” in Just following Dhammapada verse: War in Comparative Perspective, ed. Paul This monk did not see Sri Lanka’s eth- Robinson (Ashgate, 2003), pp. 93–108; here, p. 96. The version of the story that Though you might conquer in battle nic war as caused by “terrorism” but Weerasekera refers to appears in the A thousand times a thousand men, rather by the discrimination and injus- Mahavagga I 40. You’re the greatest battle-winner tices experienced by the Tamil people 3. Brian Daizen Victoria, “A If you conquer just one—yourself. in the years leading up to the conflict, Buddhological Critique of ‘Soldier Zen’ (v. 103)9 particularly by the young. So he pointed in Wartime Japan,” in Buddhist Warfare, to the teaching on causality enshrined ed. Michael K. Jerryson and Mark Juergensmeyer (Oxford University Press, Working on the defilements in the mind in the Four Noble Truths and asserted 2010), pp. 105–30. is here praised above victory in war. One that if the causes of violence could be 4. Valerie J. Roebuck, trans., The method of reducing violent tendencies identified and tackled, then violence Dhammapada (Penguin, 2010), pp. 3, 28. according to the Buddha’s teachings is may cease or at least be lessened. 5. Published in revised form mental culture, namely forms of medi- as Elizabeth J. Harris, Violence and tation, chanting, and introspection that Disruption in Society: A Study of the Early &RQFOXGLQJ7KRXJKWV Buddhist Texts (Buddhist Publication help pluck out defilements such as greed Society, 1994). and conceit. There are many more. In this article I have argued that within 6. Sa˳yutta Nikāya I 220, in The In the mid-1990s, I interviewed some Buddhist text and tradition there is Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Buddhist monastics who were active in evidence to support two positions: an New Translation of the Sa˳yutta Nikāya, peace movements in Sri Lanka. I will ethic of absolute nonviolence, and the Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans. (Wisdom, 2000), always remember one particular monk use of defensive violence by the state. p. 190. who had lived in the north of the country Buddhists in the modern world are 7. Elizabeth J. Harris, “What Can Buddhism Offer a Violent World?”, among the Tamil community. He did not appealing to both positions, which Interreligious Insight 4, no. 1 (January support an armed response to the mili- means that Buddhists have been and 2006), pp. 54–62; here, p. 55. tancy of the LTTE but appealed to some- continue to be implicated in violence. 8. Mahādukkhakkhandha Sutta, thing that lies at the heart of Buddhist A closer examination of text and tradi- Majjhima Nikāya i 83–90, Bhikkhu doctrine: analysis of cause. He said this: tion, however, reveals that nonviolence Ñā˷amoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans., is a moral absolute in Buddhism. The in The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the The solutions are crystal clear in realism of the Buddhist worldview rec- Majjhima Nikāya (Wisdom, 1995), p. 181. Buddhism. The first step is to ask ognizes that violence is to be expected 9. Roebuck, Dhammapada, p. 22. what caused the war in the north in a world that is shot through with 10. See Elizabeth J. Harris, What and east. Why did the young peo- greed, hatred, and delusion, and that Buddhists Believe (Oneworld, 1998), p. ple take up arms? The same thing rulers might opt for defensive armed 113.

6 Dharma World Spring 2020 FEATURES Buddhism and Violence LQ'HHS6RXWK7KDLODQG by Pinit Ratanakul

Dr. Pinit Ratanakul was founding dean The Buddha did not teach us to submit to evil force, but of the College of Religious Studies he discouraged the use of violent means to deal with this at Mahidol University, Thailand. He negative force, whether inside or outside ourselves. is currently the secretary of the civil organization Council of Thailand Inter- Religious Relations. He has published Only love and nonviolence can end hatred the assimilation policy pursued by Th ai widely on bioethics and intercultural and violence governments to integrate them into Th ai dialogue from Buddhist perspectives. society, making them Th ai. Th ese histor- Th e deep south of Th ailand has been ical and cultural roots have been used plagued by insurgent violence since by separatist movements as grounds for As government offi cials—the civilian 2004. According to government sta- their fi ghts against the Th ai government and the military—are mostly Buddhists tistics from 2004 to 2019, the violence to reestablish the independent state of from other provinces, to avoid blow- has already resulted in 7,139 dead and Pattani. To achieve this goal, violence ing on the fi re of violence, the king 13,776 injured, with a total of 20,711 has been used to challenge Th ai author- urged them to do their duties whole- violent incidents. ity and to scare the Muslims who do heartedly and selfl essly to bring peace not want to join the movements nor and prosperity back to the south. To The Lotus and the be sympathizers. attain the goal, the king advised them Crescent in the Deep Before the eruption of insurgent vio- to win the hearts of local people, fi rst, lence in 1990, the Buddhist minority and by understanding Muslim culture, lan- South the Muslim majority coexisted consid- guage, customs, and manners and act- Th e “deep south” refers to the three erably peacefully, with some confl icts ing accordingly and tolerantly; second, southernmost provinces of Th ailand: and tensions arising from the lack of by reaching the people with goodwill Yala, Narathiwat, and Pattani. In these understanding between them. It was and friendship, gaining their trust and provinces, out of the total population of owing to the goodwill of religious leaders friendship by humility, sincerity, and 1,424,700, 85 percent are Muslims and from both sides that the intercommu- gentleness and treating them as equal 14 percent are Buddhists. Historically nal misunderstanding was not esca- human beings with rights and dignity; the three border provinces were parts lated into violence. and third, by devising social and eco- of the independent Malay Sultanate of nomic development projects boosting Pattani, a former vassal of the Th ai king- Royal Benevolence their economic condition and render- dom, which was annexed to the kingdom As a means of stopping insurgent vio- ing justice to everyone. People’s loy- in 1909 by King Chulalongkorn (King lence, the late Buddhist king Bhumibol alty, economy, and justice are the keys Rama V). In these provinces Muslims built his palace in Narathiwat and used to stopping insurgency. are ethnic Malay with a strong sense it as the operating site for his social of ethnic identity. Th ey speak a Malay and economic development projects Compassion and dialect and have customs and manners to raise the quality of life of the deep- Insurgency similar to those in the Malay culture. south Muslims through education, It was the government of General Prem It is their cultural pride and lack of a vocational training, and environmen- Tinsulanonda, the sixteenth prime min- sense of belonging to the Th ai state that tal improvement, and to boost the econ- ister, that adequately dealt with the seces- leads the deep-south Muslims to resist omy of the region. sion confl icts. With more sensitivity to

Dharma World Spring 2020 7 traders, and monks and novices. All believe in the law of karma and the power of merit making. They fear the bad kar- mic effects of transgressing the first pre- cept of the abstention from taking life, i.e., brevity of life (untimely death), ill health, misfortune, and rebirth in hell, and try to keep the precept according to life conditions and their abilities. In their understanding, killing animals for food, and killing humans for defend-

Photo: REUTERS / AFLO / Photo: REUTERS ing oneself, another person, the nation, The Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra prays during a Buddhist ceremony of presentingand Buddhism, is morally justified and robes to monks at Khao Kong temple in Narathiwat Province, southern Thailand, on November 7, 2005. More than a thousand people have died in clashes and revenge killings sincereligiously acceptable. With such belief, January 2004 in the country’s Muslim majority provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, and Yala. soldiers are willing to do their duties of keeping law and order and protecting Muslim culture and with concentration Thaksin Shinawatra, the twenty-third people’s lives. When this involves kill- on social and economic development in prime minister, made war on drugs and ing an enemy, they do not feel guilty, the deep south, the government made used harsh measures and illegal means which usually follows wrongdoing, for efforts to steer the deep south to eco- in suppressing drug traffic and insur- they regard themselves as defenders of nomic progress. gency regardless of Islamic culture and people’s lives and not as aggressors or The development policy was comple- human rights. This led to questionable assailants. mented by the leniency of the govern- treatment of Muslim suspects, mostly While soldiers are armed for self-pro- ment toward the insurgents. The grant youth, and in 2004 it resulted in 108 tection, some civilian Buddhists have of amnesty enabled the rebels to par- dead in Pattani, with 30 killed in the also undergone shooting practice. Some ticipate in social and political reform famous Krue Se Mosque, where they have resorted to the power of good karma through the democratic system. The had taken refuge, and with 86 dead in and merit making. Some have turned violence was contained and stopped. Tak Bai, Narathiwat, with 7 dead on to the magical power of Buddhist amu- However, the struggle for ethnic iden- the site, 79 dead from suffocation in lets, which they carry or wear around tity, autonomy, and secession remained crowded and stuffy military lorries on their necks to protect themselves against like waves under calm water. the five-hour drive to a military camp. danger of all kinds. Some have tattooed Morally, amnesty represents com- Since that time the renewed insur- their bodies with Buddhist sacred formu- passion as forgiveness in political form. gent violence has been aggravated by the las to make them invulnerable, strong, It provides the wrongdoers an oppor- increased killing of innocent people by and powerful in the midst of danger. tunity to redeem themselves by doing brutal means such as shooting, decap- Regarding killing, in Buddhist good for others and society. Among itation, car bombs, and arson. From morality, intention defines karma and insurgents were those who joined sepa- 2004 to 2019 the estimated number of determines the karmic effects on the ratist movements because of economic people killed was 7,139, including gov- perpetrator. Accordingly, if in a struggle hardship and the malfeasance of the ernment officials, civilian and military against a hostile person one happens to authorities; they were under the delusion personnel, and innocent Buddhist and kill that person unintentionally, the act that violence could be justified morally Muslim residents such as teachers and of killing is accidental and thus yields no and religiously. As they were not assail- traders. These people died for nothing karmic consequences. All other kinds of ants by nature, with supporting factors else than trying to go on with their lives killing are karmic deeds, including pur- they were able to make use of the best and work. All live in fear and anxiety, as posely killing for self-defense, “mercy within themselves to do good for oth- violence can erupt at any time. killing,” “painless killing,” or “killing ers and society. by necessity” when all alternatives are Responses from the exhausted. Renewed Insurgent Buddhist Minority However, the karmic result of kill- Violence The laity. The Buddhist minority in the ing humans varies, depending on many After four decades of peace, insurgent deep south consists of government offi- factors, such as the nature and inten- violence flared up again in 2004 when cials, civilian and military personnel, sity of intention and the qualities of a

8 Dharma World Spring 2020 person killed. In this sense, the karmic effects of killing a holy person are more severe than killing an ordinary person. Similarly, killing a seriously defective infant has less karmic effects than kill- ing a normal baby. Likewise, the gravity of killing for self-defense and killing in doing one’s duty has less karmic effects on the perpetrator than killing with hatred and anger.

The Peace-Loving Monk. For Buddhist monks, observation of the precepts is Photo: AP / AFLO Police inspect the scene of a shooting at a security checkpoint in Yala Province, Thailand, on central to the moral and spiritual devel- November 6, 2019. opment of the imperfect self to perfec- tion. While believing in the importance the best response is patience and self-re- Of course, the Buddha did not teach and significance of the five precepts in straint, avoiding involvement in the us to submit to evil force, but he discour- the lives of lay Buddhists, the deep-south karmic action of killing, and letting the aged the use of violent means to deal monks realize that life in the stricken impersonal law of karma take its course. with this negative force, whether inside provinces is most insecure and vulnera- or outside ourselves. This is evident in ble, making it difficult for Buddhists to The Militant Monk. In 2018 there was the teaching against extreme asceticism observe the first precept faithfully. The a militant monk among deep-south in moral and spiritual development, and monks are sympathetic to the laypeo- monks who reacted strongly to the in the practice of loving-kindness med- ple’s use of Buddhist amulets for pro- increased senseless killing of the help- itation to cultivate love in the heart and tection against danger but remind them less Buddhist monks. Out of frustration radiate it outward from the self to oth- of the great benefit they would get from and anger, in his posted hate speeches ers, including both friends and foes. taking refuge in the Buddha, his teach- the monk called on Buddhists to unite ing, and his noble disciples. Living a life against insurgent violence, while threat- Impacts of Insurgent Violence. While according to Buddhist teaching is a way ening harsh retaliation against the the militant monk could not provoke of real self-protection against negative Muslim insurgents and sympathiz- the Buddhists into reacting violently to forces, within and without. ers. This raised many questions among the killing of their fellows, the killing of Following the Buddha’s teaching the Buddhists, such as, Does Buddhism innocent monks by the insurgents scared that only love and nonviolence can end encourage passivity and victimization? and forced some monks and laypeople hatred and violence (Dhammapada 5), Did the Buddha teach self-surrender into moving out of the unsafe areas. The the monks advise the Buddhists, who to the force of evil? Did the Buddha majority of Buddhists go on living there have hostile feelings toward the insur- teach us to do nothing to protect our- and continue friendships with Muslim gents, to restrain animosity and eradicate selves, our families, our property, and friends. In the light of warm relation- it by cultivating love and compassion the nation? Is threatening the would-be ships with these Muslims, the remaining in its place. assailant with retaliation to prevent Buddhists regard Islam as a religion of As it is normal for us to hold a grudge him from attacking us acceptable in peace and love, like Buddhism, but it is and to retaliate against our enemy, the Buddhism? unscrupulously used by the insurgents Buddhist teaching against retaliation, The militant monk’s repeated hate to legitimize their aggression and vio- revenge, and violence seems impracti- speech worried the state and ecclesias- lence. Similarly, the average nonindoc- cal in the real world with its “eye for an tical authorities, who feared it would trinated Muslims do not regard cultural eye” ethos. But looking at it deeply, the escalate the secession conflict into con- and religious differences between them teaching conforms to reality. It does not frontation between the Muslim majority and Buddhists as the cause of hostility. matter whether the enemy who inflicted and the Buddhist minority in the deep They do not find it difficult to coexist suffering is punished or killed, because south. Without support from the pub- with the Buddhists who are friendly ultimately he is punished by the bad lic and senior monks, he later moved and flexible. effects of his evil karma. Therefore, in to a temple in Bangkok and eventually The relationship between Buddhists dealing with violence and aggression, stopped his militant activities. and Muslims is either unconstructive

Dharma World Spring 2020 9 dealing with difficulties and dispelling fear and anxiety and other destructive emotions such as anger, frustration, dis- heartedness, and sadness. Lay Buddhists provide the monks with food and serve as temple security guards. With the monks as their spiritual refuge, lay Buddhists can live in hard times with courage and

Photo: AFP Photo: AFP / AFLO confidence. This picture taken on November 21, 2019, shows Muslim students of the Attarkia Islamiah We have to appreciate the courage Institute from Narathiwat Province, singing during a rehearsal in Bangkok, ahead of their and strong will of the Buddhist monks performance for Pope Francis at Chulalongkorn University. Young Muslim singers from the country’s conflict-plagued south gather for choir practice. Pope Francis himself was in Bangkokand laypeople who remain in the troubled as part of his Asian tour. deep south despite increased violence in order to keep the lotus in the land of the or the opposite, depending on the atti- In hard times when life is threat- crescent. Symbolically, Buddhist pres- tudes of both sides toward each other. ened by insurgent violence, the monks ence in the Muslim-dominated south- In some locations the relationship is become a spiritual refuge for fright- ern provinces is a passive resistance characterized by mere coexistence, in ened and disheartened Buddhists. With to violence, like standing firmly in the which each side minds their own busi- knowledge of Buddhist teachings, the river against a strong current. ness and does not want to interfere with monks comfort them, strengthen their The insurgents and their sympathiz- the another. In some few areas, the rela- spirits, encourage them to live mindfully, ers are small in number and do not rep- tionship is friendly and constructive. help them to regain self-confidence, and resent the Muslim majority in the deep Buddhists and Muslims join hands to do enable them to deal with fear and anx- south. The present government’s efforts social work such as healing the innocent iety, and strains and stresses. to deal with social and economic fac- victims of insurgent violence, mostly In addition to these duties, some tors that have fermented and sustained Muslim widows and orphans, helping monks try to establish closer relation- violence, the recent formation of peace them in the process of recovery from ships with the Muslim communities near groups by Buddhists and Muslims of grief and disheartedness, and aiding the temples. The monks’ efforts repre- goodwill to restore peace to the deep them in finding peace within themselves. sent the goodwill of the Buddhist com- south, and the ongoing peace talks When brought together, Buddhist and munities in reaching out to the Muslim between state authorities and represen- Muslim victims, mostly women, develop communities to gain their friendship tatives of the insurgent groups encour- emphatic understanding of the suffering and to involve them in joining hands age the deep-south residents to have of one another and foster fellow feeling to kindle the light of peace in the vio- hope beyond fear. The most challenging by sharing their sorrows, suffering, and lent deep south. This is not reaching task of Buddhist and Muslim leaders in hostile feelings toward the perpetrator for the stars, as there may be people of the deep south is to motivate their fol- and perform common rituals of for- goodwill in one or more or all Muslim lowers to faithfully practice the teach- giveness. This small-scale cooperative communities, and the Buddhists them- ing of love and human brotherhood in work between Buddhists and Muslims selves are friendly, gentle, flexible, and their respective religions and to culti- is a silver lining in the dark cloud over tolerant. vate peace in their hearts. As the human the deep south. heart is normally defiled by destructive Conclusion emotions like greed, hatred, and ill will, Roles of Buddhist Monks. The relation- motivating people to replace these neg- ship between Buddhist monks and lay- The deep-south Buddhists have been ative emotions with empathetic love is people is reciprocal. Laypeople provide searching for peace and struggling to the most difficult task. But it needs to the monks with food and material sup- cope with prevailing insurgent violence be done to create genuine peace in the port. The monks reciprocate by serv- without breaking the first precept against deep south and in the world. Without ing as “fields of merit,” teaching the killing. Increased violence has brought spiritual development, other kinds of Dharma, assisting laypeople in accu- lay Buddhists closer to monks. In hard development—social, economic, and mulating merit, performing religious times, amid life’s turmoil, the monks political—become new grounds for fur- rituals, and counseling the laypeople on apply their Dharma knowledge in helping ther conflicts and violence. Only reli- various issues of life’s problems. laypeople on various matters, including gion can change the heart. ≥

10 Dharma World Spring 2020 FEATURES

Can We Aim for the Future with Others? Toward Bodhisattva Ethics by Fumihiko Sueki

Fumihiko Sueki, PhD, is a professor Bodhisattva . . . practice is characterized not only by the emeritus of the University of Tokyo, SXUVXLWRIVHOIHQOLJKWHQPHQW EHQH¿WLQJWKHVHOI EXWDOVR the Graduate University for Advanced by the furthering of others’ interests and the attainment of Studies, and the International HQOLJKWHQPHQWZLWKRWKHUV EHQH¿WLQJRWKHUV  Research Center for Japanese Studies. His research focuses mainly on reconstruction of the intellectual ,V$EVWDLQLQJIURP for the future fell by the wayside. Is it history of Buddhism in Japan from +DUPLQJ/LYLQJ7KLQJV then possible for us to regain some form ancient to modern times. He is Effective? of order founded on hope and ideals? the author and editor of a number It was in this vacuum of hope and of books, mainly on Japanese Confronted by the horrors of confl ict ideals that religion emerged as a seri- Buddhism and the history of Japanese in the wake of World War II, people ous problem. During the Cold War, the philosophy and religion. all over the world pledged to forsake clash was simply between the economic war and prayed for world peace. It was systems of socialism and capitalism. fundamentalists of religions includ- against this backdrop that the United Aft er the Cold War ended, however, ing Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and Nations was formed and its members, religion emerged as a major cause of Hinduism fanned hatred and confl ict. including the emerging nations of Asia confl ict. Hardliners, extremists, and Even adherents of the seemingly tol- and Africa, engaged in serious discus- erant religion of Buddhism have been sions with the aim of achieving peace. guilty of persecuting the Rohingya peo- Th e Constitution of UNESCO declares ple in Myanmar. that “since wars begin in the minds of What then of Buddhism in Japan? men, it is in the minds of men that the Brian Victoria’s Zen at War documented defences of peace must be constructed.” how the old Buddhist masters who advo- Th e end of World War II was followed, cated peace following World War II had however, by the commencement of the been proponents of militarism during Cold War, and the world split into two the war, sending shockwaves around camps. Nations such as Germany and the world. Zen was not alone in this. Korea were divided and compatriots trag- Practically all sects of Buddhism sup- ically took up arms against one another, ported Japanese militarism and made as during the Korean War. Th e Cold War major contributions to the war eff ort. at last drew to a close near the end of In retrospect, it may be observed that the twentieth century. However, this did Buddhist temples had fi elded large com- not usher in peace. Instead, the world batants since the days of the soldier became fragmented as individual coun- Photo: Bridgeman Images / PPS monks and the Ikkō-ikki uprising (the tries vied with one another in pursuit of Th is painting depicts an image of soldier revolt against feudal lords by rebellious monks. From a manuscript telling the story of their own interests. All that remained or autonomous groups of people, backed the soldier monk Musashibo Benkei (d. 1189), was a state of chaos in which nations which was compiled in Benkei Monogatari by the power of the Jōdo Shinshū sect acted solely on their own immediate (Th e tale of Benkei). Originally published in of Buddhism, that were formed in sev- behalf, and ideals, thoughts, and hopes the early Edo period (c.1640–80). eral regions of Japan) in the Muromachi

Dharma World Spring 2020 11 and Warring States (Sengoku) periods accordance with the contracts entered. inherent evil. However, although evil is in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. People act on their emotions, and they present in the nature of buddhas, bud- The first precept of Buddhism, of by turns assimilate and are repelled dhas do not actually commit evil acts. course, calls for abstention from the by others. For example, when base- Because evil is inherent in buddhas, they taking of life. This prohibits the killing ball fans support their team as one, can sympathize with and have a liber- of any living creature, not just humans. the individual “I” is easily subsumed ating effect on the beings in hells. On This precept is common to all the reli- into the “we.” The individual self is not the other hand, as the nature of bud- gions of India and is practiced most divided from others by a fixed bound- dhas is also present in hells, the beings strictly in Jainism. Great importance is ary. Sometimes the boundary collapses in hells also contain within themselves attached to this precept in Buddhism and the self assimilates itself with oth- the potential for liberation. Naturally the as well, and it has permeated Japanese ers, while at other times the boundary ten realms are not hard and fast. What society. Many tales tell of people who grows more impenetrable and antago- this means is that the human mind is fall into evil ways after wantonly harm- nistic toward others. Relations between not a single entity but, rather, some- ing living creatures, and people have the “I” and the “Other” are thus fluid. thing that contains diverse elements, absorbed these tales. That is why the When assimilation and antagonism both good and evil. The same person eating of meat was prohibited and peo- occur on the broader, political stage, can thus become a good person or an ple who hunted were often despised. they lead to conflict between nations evil person depending on which aspects The precept to refrain from killing and between faith groups. come to the surface. Whether a person has thus had some effect. However, it Is it possible to theorize how the self will be good or evil is therefore not cast has proven to be less effective as a prin- both fluidly assimilates and becomes in stone. ciple for rejecting war and calling for antagonistic toward others? Buddhism This doctrine of the mutual inclu- peace. Today, with hatred and war on is essentially selfless in outlook and sion of the ten realms sheds light on the rise, it can no longer simply be said rejects the idea of the permanent and the multilayeredness of the individual that people all over the world seek peace substantive self. In this it adopts a fun- human mind and explains how people and friendship. Why has such enmity damentally different position from that relate to others. I am completely dif- arisen? And if peace and friendship are of Western philosophical thought. This ferent from other people, and I cannot still to be sought, according to what has led to the development of various know what they are thinking or how principles should they be pursued? The theories concerning the nature of the they will behave. I must live and inter- first necessary step is to recognize that self. I would therefore like to focus at act with these incomprehensible oth- rather than being wholly good, people this point on the Tiantai (Jpn., Tendai) ers. However, despite being mutually are spiritually complex beings who have theory of the mutual inclusion of the incomprehensible, we both empathize both good and evil aspects. ten realms from the point of view of the with and are repulsed by one another. multilayeredness of the mind and rela- Why does this occur? It occurs because, The Mutual Inclusion tions with others. as our minds contain the ten realms, of the Ten Realms: The According to Tiantai Buddhism, all the elements of these realms pull and ten realms are contained in the momen- repulse one another. When the elements Multilayeredness and tary thought of living things. The ten of my hells and the elements of anoth- Fluidity of the Mind realms consist of the six worldly realms er’s hells pull each other, this can give In conventional Western philosophi- of delusion and transmigration and the rise to a greater evil. Conversely, when cal thought, the individual is autono- four sagely realms of enlightenment. the elements of my bodhisattva state mous and free from others’ interference. The six worldly realms are hells, hun- and the elements of another person’s Social-contract theory holds that mod- gry spirits, beasts, asuras, human beings, bodhisattva state pull each other, the ern society is formed on the basis of and heavens, and the four sagely realms world of the bodhisattvas can become contracts entered into between auton- are śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhi- a reality. And when the elements of the omous individuals. When we look at sattvas, and buddhas. In other words, asura realm meet, war may break out how people actually behave in soci- every realm from hells to buddhas is between the two. ety, however, we find that they are not contained in the momentary thought of The doctrine of the mutual inclu- really completely autonomous. People living things. Thus the mind of hells is sion of the ten realms thus explains the do not necessarily engage in encoun- inherent even in buddhas. As this means relationship between me and others ters and interactions rationally, and that evil is intrinsic to the nature of bud- from the point of view of the multilay- they do not always behave exactly in dhas, this is known as the doctrine of eredness and fluidity of the mind. My

12 Dharma World Spring 2020 mind is multilayered and does disciples of the Buddha) had not necessarily obey my will. It is actually practiced as bodhi- impossible to say when evil ele- sattvas under the Buddha for ments may gush forth. For this many lives previously but had very reason, I must look into my forgotten this. They are there- mind and proceed in a direction fore urged to have an aware- that takes me toward the good ness of being bodhisattvas. The and prevents the evil elements Buddha predicts that these from surfacing. That is where a śrāvakas will attain buddha- Buddhist-based ethics has a nec- hood in the distant future. essary role to play. This means that they will not achieve buddhahood in this Bodhisattva life, but by going through the (WKLFV$LPLQJIRU cycle of transmigration a num- ber of times, their bodhisattva the Future with practice will continue into the Others distant future. Taking the śrā- vakas as one example, the Lotus The highest of the ten realms Sutra reveals that in fact all is the state of buddhas, and the living things, and not just śrā- elements of buddhas also reside vakas, are bodhisattvas who within our minds. According to have similarly practiced under the doctrine of the attainment of the Buddha in past lives long the mental state of the Buddha / PPS Photo: HIP ago. The essence of Buddhist A Group of Monks and Bodhisattvas. Fragment of a mural while one is still alive (sokushin painting that decorated the cloister of a Buddhist temple in teaching encapsulated in the jōbutsu), it is also possible for Yanqi Hui Autonomous County, Xinjiang, China. Property of Lotus Sutra could thus be for- us to attain buddhahood in this the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. mulated as “all living things world. The Zen doctrine of sud- are bodhisattvas.” Engagement den enlightenment posits the same. If it is also possible that “all living things are with others can also take the form of we accept the position that “this very beings of the realm of hells.” This being engagement as beings of the asura mind itself is buddha” (sokushin zebutsu), the case, why is it that bodhisattvahood realm and as beings of the realm of then we are in ourselves buddhas. Such is made the fundamental principle? hells. However, Mahayana Buddhism’s an interpretation is possible. However, The term “bodhisattva” was origi- basic orientation toward practice is evi- if it is supposed that I am in myself a nally used to describe the former incar- dent in its adoption of bodhisattvas as its buddha and my actions are all bud- nation of the Buddha. Its practice is bedrock. The aim of bodhisattva prac- dha actions, then there is no longer any characterized not only by the pursuit tice is to draw out others’ buddha-na- potential for further practical develop- of self-enlightenment (benefiting the ture so that such practice is further ment. Thus this position leads simply to self) but also by the furthering of others’ broadened as bodhisattvas reverber- an affirmation of the status quo. interests and the attainment of enlight- ate with one another. What many Mahayana sutras pro- enment with others (benefiting others). This is naturally not something that pound is not such an affirmation but, In Mahayana Buddhism, anyone who can be easily practiced, which is why it rather, action as a bodhisattva, with practices as a bodhisattva acquires the is a process that will continue through- the goal of attaining buddhahood in potential to attain buddhahood. Practice out future lives as well as in this life. the future. A fundamental principle of in this stream of Buddhism places par- World peace will not be achieved right early Mahayana scriptures such as the ticular emphasis on benefiting others. A now. However, persevering practice will Lotus Sutra is that “all sentient beings key point to bear in mind here is that, undoubtedly bear fruit at some point. If are bodhisattvas” (Sueki, “All Sentient unlike ordinary social ethics, the process peace will not be achieved in this life, Beings Are Bodhisattvas,” Dharma World is not completed solely in this life. The then such practice just needs to be con- 43 [July–September, 2016]). Conversely, Lotus Sutra teaches that the disciples tinued in future lives. We must not give the implication of the doctrine of the mentioned in the sutra who are satisfied up pursuit of this ideal even if we are mutual inclusion of the ten realms is that with enlightenment as śrāvakas (direct weak and can achieve very little now. ≥

Dharma World Spring 2020 13 FEATURES

Buddhists and Violence in Myanmar: $&RQÀLFWHG6LWXDWLRQ by Leo D. Lefebure

principles of just-war theory is fraught While striving to live by the ideals of Shakyamuni, Buddhists with danger because in situations of LQSRVLWLRQVRIJRYHUQLQJDXWKRULW\KDYHORQJMXVWL¿HGWKHXVH tension, anxiety and fear can rapidly of violence on the grounds of proper governance and self- escalate violent actions in the name defense. Buddhists . . . have developed principles to clarify of protection. To make matters worse, in what circumstances violence, even though tragic, may be perpetrators of violence oft en deny the MXVWL¿HGRUQHFHVVDU\ full humanity of their adversaries in the confl ict. Some of the most brutal forms of violence may not be physical; In the Dhammapada, Shakyamuni friendly, with loving thoughts and no some ways of relating to others can be Buddha inspired his disciples as well secret malice.’” extremely cruel and damaging without as the followers of many other reli- While striving to live by the ideals being physically coercive. Th e histori- gious paths by teaching that “enmities of Shakyamuni, Buddhists in positions cal record tells us that Buddhists, like are never appeased by enmity. Th ey of governing authority have long justi- followers of other religious paths, have are appeased by peace. Th is is an eter- fi ed the use of violence on the grounds in some situations violated their ideals nal law” (verse 5). Maha Ghosananda, of proper governance and self-defense. and have used violent means in pursuit the revered Patriarch of Cambodian Buddhists, like followers of most other of aggressive goals. Buddhism, drew out the implications of religious traditions, have developed Th e international community has Shakyamuni’s teaching: “When we are principles to clarify in what circum- recently expressed deep concern over wronged, we must set aside all resent- stances violence, even though tragic, atrocities committed by the military ment and say, ‘My mind will not be dis- may be justifi ed or necessary to pro- in Myanmar against ethnic and reli- turbed. Not one angry word will escape tect the innocent in a world troubled gious minorities, including the Muslims from my lips: I will remain kind and by aggression. However, applying the in Rakhine State commonly known as Rohingya. News reports charge that Buddhists in the military forces of Myanmar committed atrocities against the minority groups, burning homes, killing and raping civilians, and driv- ing people out of their homes into exile. Approximately one million Rohingya fl ed into neighboring Bangladesh, which does not have adequate resources to care for them. Th is creates an ongoing humani- tarian emergency situation that has no adequate resolution in the foreseeable future. For the most part the govern- Photo: AFP Photo: AFP / AFLO ment of Myanmar does not recognize A Bangladeshi man helps Rohingya Muslim refugees to disembark from a boat on the Bangladeshi shoreline of the Naf River on September 30, 2017. More than two thousand the Rohingya community as citizens, Rohingya have massed along Myanmar’s coast aft er trekking from inland villages in Rakhine claiming that they are recent undoc- State to join the refugee exodus to Bangladesh. umented migrants from Bangladesh.

14 Dharma World Spring 2020 Leo D. Lefebure is the Matteo Ricci, SJ, Professor of Theology at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He is the author of numerous works, including 7UXHDQG+RO\&KULVWLDQ6FULSWXUHDQG2WKHU5HOLJLRQV. He is also the coauthor with Peter Feldmeier of The Path of Wisdom: A Christian Commentary on the Dhammapada. He is the president of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies and a trustee emeritus of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions.

other conflicts continue to cause great misery for certain populations.

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Religious and ethnic identities intertwine in the history of Myanmar/Burma, and the current situation has emerged from an earlier long history of conflict. The dominant ethnic group in Myanmar is the majority Bamar (also known as Burman) community, most of whom are Buddhist. Most Christians, Muslims, Photo: Alamy / PPS Alamy Photo: Hindus, and Baha’is in Myanmar come Detail of the fresco painting on the wall of the interior passage of the Sulamani Temple in from ethnic groups other than the Pago, Myanmar. The temple was built in 1183 by King Narapatisithu (1138–1211) of the Pagan Dynasty. The king encouraged further reforms of Burmese Buddhism. The majority of the Bamars. Traditionally kings from the Buddhist monks realigned themselves with the Mahavihara school of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. Bamar or Mon Buddhist communi- ties ruled the valley of the Irrawaddy In March 2017 the United Nations On November 11, 2019, The River, which forms the central area of Human Rights Council established the Gambia filed an official lawsuit at the present-day Myanmar. In the eleventh Independent International Fact-Finding International Court of Justice in The century, King Aniruddha established a Mission to investigate the accusations in Hague on behalf of the fifty-seven-na- Buddhist kingdom and is usually con- the international news media. This mis- tion Organisation of Islamic Cooperation sidered the first historical monarch sion issued a report in September 2018 against Myanmar, alleging genocide of Burma, even though his father and alleging atrocities against the minority during the atrocities committed against grandfather had already begun the pro- communities in the Rakhine, Kachin, and the Rohingya in 2017. The lawsuit cess and enjoyed a close relationship Shan states in Myanmar. When the mis- seeks trial and punishment for senior with the Buddhist community. The rela- sion issued its final report in September Myanmar government and military lead- tionship between the Buddhist king and 2019, it charged Myanmar military per- ers, the cessation of all acts of genocide, the sangha, or monastic community, sonnel with having committed geno- and reparations for the victims. Most was crucial to the traditional identity cidal offenses that forced approximately of the leaders in the government and of Burma, and Buddhists viewed the 740,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to military of Myanmar are Buddhist. In magnificent capital city Pagan as the Bangladesh in 2017. The mission pre- addition to the conflict involving the symbolic center of the universe. This sented evidence and proposed to the Rohingya Muslims, there have long been heritage continues to influence Bamar Independent Investigative Mechanism clashes between the armed forces of Buddhists today. While the Bamar and for Myanmar that the perpetrators be Myanmar and minority ethnic commu- the Mon communities were traditional tried at the International Criminal Court nities including Christians, such as the rivals, there was no history of implacable for genocidal crimes against Rohingya Karen, the Kachin, and the Shan. While animosity between them; a Mon mili- and other ethnic minority communi- the plight of the Rohingya has attracted tary figure could serve a Bamar mon- ties in Myanmar. the most international attention, the arch and vice versa.

Dharma World Spring 2020 15 alienated the Burman other ethnic minorities, such as the Buddhists. They had Kachin Independence Army, who are earlier been the dom- largely Baptist Christians. inant power in the In 2012 some Myanmar Buddhists whole central part organized the nationalist 969 Movement, of Burma; now they which seeks to protect Bamar Buddhists were subordinate not from Muslims who are accused of ter- only to the British, rorism. In 2013 there were several who were very few in violent riots of Buddhists in various number, but to Hindu places in Myanmar against Muslims and Muslim civil ser- who were accused of various forms of Portrait of young Burmese leaders for independence led by General vants. Resentments misconduct. In 2014 some Buddhists Aung San. They constituted the embryo of the modern Burmese built up among the organized the Ma Ba Tha movement army called the Burmese Independent Army, which was formed to Bamar Buddhists (Patriotic Association of Myanmar), fight for independence from Britain. Photo taken in c. 1939. who had been dis- the Committee for the Protection of placed from leader- Race and Religion, which also seeks The minority ethnic groups that ship in society. In the twentieth century, to defend the Bamar Buddhist identity inhabit the eastern, northern, and west- Bamar Buddhists became leaders in the of Myanmar. This movement has been ern border areas of present-day Myanmar independence movement and in the strongly anti-Muslim and can also be were generally independent of Bamar or independent state of Burma. critical of all followers of religions other Mon rule; many of these communities than Buddhism. Aggressive Buddhist were never ruled by the historic Bamar Current Context nationalists in Myanmar protest vigor- or Mon Buddhist monarchy. The state of ously against any non-Buddhists using Rakhine, in the western part of the coun- The government of Myanmar counts 135 traditional Buddhist terms. The situation try near Bangladesh, is separated from different ethnic communities in the coun- is complex, as some other Buddhists have the Irrawaddy River Valley by hills and try. Dwelling in the hilly and mountainous strongly criticized these movements, and mountains and was traditionally inde- areas near the borders with Bangladesh, some within the Ma Ba Tha movement pendent of the Bamar or Mon Buddhist India, China, and Thailand, the ethnic have advocated for religious tolerance. monarchs. The Bamar Buddhist king minority groups speak many different Christians in Myanmar repeatedly accuse Bodawpaya conquered this area in 1784 languages and often follow various reli- the government and military leaders of and tried to subdue the people, accom- gious traditions other than Buddhism. systematically favoring Buddhists over plishing this only with difficulty. Almost all the Christians and Muslims other religious communities. During the course of the nine- in Myanmar today come from these eth- Regarding the situation in Rakhine teenth century, the British gradually nic groups. Many are Baptist, related to State, many Buddhists in Myanmar view conquered not only the central area the American Baptist Church; some are Muslims as a military and demographic of Burma along the Irrawaddy River, Methodist; some are Roman Catholic. threat to the identity of the nation; even the traditional homeland of the Bamar In the postcolonial context, some the use of the name Rohingya is extremely people, but also the areas along what Buddhists in Myanmar developed aggres- controversial, since many Buddhists are today the borders with Bangladesh, sive forms of religious nationalism hostile accuse Muslims in Rakhine State of India, China, and Thailand. The British to Muslims and Christians in the coun- being recent undocumented migrants included Burma in colonial India until try. Some Buddhists in Myanmar today from Bangladesh. The government gen- 1937, and they brought in Hindu and view Muslims as an existential threat erally denies the citizenship of Muslims Muslim Indians whom they had already to the Buddhist Bamar identity of the in Rakhine State. Many Buddhists in trained to be civil servants to adminis- nation, and some have performed and Myanmar also suspect international ter the British Empire. The British ruled justified violent actions against ethnic involvement by jihadist organizations by dividing populations, and they were minority groups in the name of protect- in the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army often perceived as allied with the ethnic ing Buddhism. While the international (ARSA). Numerous Christians as well as minorities more than with the Bamar community has paid the most atten- Buddhists believe that Islamic militants majority. Many people from the ethnic tion to the conflict with the Rohingya are receiving international training in minorities became Christian and found Muslims, there are multiple conflicts Saudi Arabia or Pakistan or elsewhere favor with the British; this development underway, often with Christians from and are coming to fight in Myanmar.

16 Dharma World Spring 2020 Such beliefs tend to be used to justify the those who have taken ref- government troops’ actions toward the uge in the Buddha, the Muslims in Rakhine State. After Muslims Dharma, and the Sangha fled, government troops often burned are full human beings; their villages, and the government then thus they advise King paved over some of them and built new Dutthagamani to cast buildings. When BBC reporters have away care from his heart. asked the people in the new installa- Sitagu presented tions about the earlier residences there, this account of the tra- they have professed to be ignorant of ditional chronicle to any prior dwellings there. Myanmar’s Buddhist Photo: AP Photo: AP / AFLO Scholars have proposed various inter- military leaders, allow- Myanmar Buddhist devotees listen to a speech of Ashin Nyanissara, pretations for the intertwining of reli- ing them to draw the known as Sitagu Sayadaw, one of the most influential monks, gious and national political identities in conclusion that their during a ceremony of the legislative victory on “Race and Religious Myanmar, including Buddhist nation- killing of Rohingya Protection Laws,” organized by the Ma Ba Tha movement, the Committee for the Protection of Race and Religion, at Thuwunna alist movements. Some scholars argue Muslims does not cause indoor stadium on October 4, 2015, in Yangon, Myanmar. that Buddhism is being instrumentalized a great deal of negative for political purposes. Some claim that karma because Muslims have not taken Charles Bo, the Archbishop of Yangon; nationalism is the overriding issue of refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and Al Haj U Aye Lwin, the chief conve- concern, with religion serving to sacral- the Sangha and do not practice the five ner of the Islamic Centre of Myanmar; ize the political realm. Meanwhile, other precepts; thus Muslims are not accounted U Myint Swe, the president of Ratana scholars maintain that Buddhist reli- to be full human beings. Since many Metta Organization and of Religions for gion is an autonomous factor and pol- Buddhists in Myanmar believe that Peace–Myanmar; Bishop Gunnar Stalsett, itics is being religionized, so that the Muslims threaten Buddhism, a num- bishop emeritus of Oslo, Norway; Rev. state becomes a means to realize sacred ber of them conclude that the duty to Joseph Maung Win, the head of the office objectives. protect Buddhism authorizes the aggres- of Yangon Archdiocesan Commission sive actions against the Muslims who for Ecumenism and Interfaith and the 6LWDJX6D\DGDZ were in Rakhine State. Other Buddhists secretary general of Religions for Peace– have demurred. Myanmar; and Rev. Kyoichi Sugino of In 2017 Sitagu Sayadaw, one of the most Rissho Kosei-kai and Religions for Peace. prominent Buddhist monastic leaders 5HOLJLRQVIRU3HDFH In May 2018 Religions for Peace orga- in Myanmar, delivered an address to the nized a letter from Buddhist, Christian, military leaders of Myanmar based on Religions for Peace brings together Muslim, and Hindu leaders, including the traditional Sri Lankan chronicle the Buddhists and followers of other reli- members of the multireligious delega- Mahavamsa, from the fifth century CE. gious paths to seek a constructive path tion, to the people of Myanmar in search The chronicle describes the aftermath of forward after so much violence and suf- of peace: “A Multi-religious Vision of a great battle where the Buddhist king fering. In May 2018 Religions for Peace Peace and Development in Myanmar: A Dutthagamani defeats and slays huge organized a visit by a multireligious del- Letter to the Peoples of Myanmar.” The numbers of opponents. The monarch egation to Rakhine State. The delega- authors stress the need to reach across intends to defend Buddhism and pro- tion visited sites in the north of Rakhine religious and communal boundaries tect the Dharma, which he believes justi- State, where the atrocities occurred in to establish solidarity in overcoming fies the use of violence. Nonetheless, after August 2017. They saw the scenes of conflict and building trust and har- the fighting has ended, he worries about massacres and the destroyed Muslim mony for the future. In November 2018 the negative karma that he has acquired. villages, as well as refugee camps, and Religions for Peace convened the High- Eight Arahants miraculously fly through they met with some of the refugees from Level Multi-Religious Peace Delegation the air to visit him and reassure him that various groups. Members of the delega- in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, to discuss he has not slain millions of human beings; tion emphasized the need to reject the a path toward national reconciliation. he has slain only one and a half, as only climate of fear and suspicion and build While the challenges of the situation one had taken the three refuges, and the trust and interreligious and intercommu- remain extremely grave, the efforts of other had taken on the five Buddhist pre- nal harmony. Participants in this delega- Religions for Peace and other interre- cepts. According to the Arahants, only tion included Roman Catholic cardinal ligious partners continue. ≥

Dharma World Spring 2020 17 5,66+2.26(,.$,%8''+,60

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Causation: Good Causes Lead to 7KH'KDUPDRIWKH/RWXV6XWUDLVOLNHDFLUFOH²QRPDWWHU Good Results, Bad Causes where you start, and whichever direction you take, you Lead to Bad Results always end up at the same place: liberation. The teaching of WKH/RWXV6XWUDLVWKH3HUIHFWDQG$OO(QFRPSDVVLQJ'KDUPD Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings about causality are indispensable to attaining liberation from the fundamental prob- lem facing humankind: du˕kha, which Introduction is commonly translated as “suff ering” another community or is understood but is closer in meaning to “unsatis- Buddhism is a diverse religion that has in radically diff erent ways. factoriness” or “dis-ease.” Th e path to taken many distinct forms as it has devel- In this piece I highlight an under- liberating ourselves from this ever-pres- oped through time and space, adapting standing based on the Lotus Sutra that is ent sense of dissatisfaction that leads us to various cultures in South, Southeast, profoundly liberating but could confuse to constant discontentment is to elim- and Northeast Asia, and over the last many because it sometimes strikes peo- inate its cause: unquenchable desire. century, Europe and the Americas. Many ple as incompatible with basic Buddhist Th is desire, in turn, is conditioned by people today have a hard time grasp- teachings on causation. Th is is the seem- our fundamental ignorance—the fail- ing the diversity of Buddhism, however. ingly illogical assertion that all causes are ure to see things the way they really For example, I have talked to people good causes. On the face of it, this appears are, the inclination to ignore the real- who are under the impression that all to run counter to a fundamental Buddhist ity that all things are impermanent and Buddhists throughout the world belong understanding of causation that forms nonself, the nonrecognition of the truth to a single catholic religious organiza- the basis of Buddhist ethics and prac- of interdependence: that nothing exists tion, and I have even been asked on tices: that bad causes lead to bad results based entirely on its own power but several occasions whether His Holiness and good causes lead to good results. In comes into existence and is sustained the Dalai Lama is the Buddhist equiva- this issue’s column I will look at how the in dependence upon other things. Th e lent of the pope of the Roman Catholic “all causes are good causes” notion of Buddha’s account of how to end the con- Church. Th is may sound naive, but the causation based on the Lotus Sutra does stant sense of dis-ease that haunts liv- diversity of Buddhism is even tricky not confl ict with basic Buddhist teach- ing beings is also based upon causation: for practicing Buddhists to navigate. ings of causation, but instead includes if we remove the causes of du˕kha, it Buddhists may take it for granted that them within a holistic view of causation in will cease of its own accord. No mat- other Buddhists cultivate the same prac- which nirvana and samsara and delusion ter which way we slice it, causation is tices or hold the same beliefs as they, and and the mind of enlightenment are not central to Buddhism. so it is not uncommon for Buddhists to unrelated dualistic entities but instead are Shakyamuni Buddha’s most basic fi nd themselves perplexed by the prac- inseparable from each other. Th e under- explanation, repeated in many sutras, tices or teachings of other Buddhist standing that all causes are good causes is as follows: “When this exists, that groups. Th ey might also be surprised opens a profoundly liberating perspec- comes to be; with the arising of this, when they discover that what they think tive on the world in which all experiences that arises; with the cessation of this, of as a typical Buddhist teaching or prac- are opportunities for enlightenment and that ceases” (Bodhi 2000, 552). The tice is unknown to a Buddhist from nothing is in vain. objection may be raised that causation

18 Dharma World Spring 2020 Dominick Scarangello obtained his PhD from the University of Virginia, in 2012. His interests include Lotus Sutra Buddhism in East Asia, Japanese religions, and religion and modernity. Dr. Scarangello has taught at the University of Virginia and was the Postdoctoral Scholar in Japanese Buddhism at the University of California, Berkeley (2013–14). Presently, he is the International Advisor to Rissho-Kosei-kai, and coordinator of the International Lotus Sutra Seminar.

is a complex phenomenon, that in real- stubbornly slamming our head against a lessen our suffering and the suffering ity things come into existence based brick wall: the wall will never fall, and we of those around us through our own on multiple causes and conditions that only end up hurting ourselves. Actions, behavior by creating good causes and can never all be known, which is to including mental actions (thought), avoiding the formation of bad causes. say that things are overdetermined. that contradict immovable universal Buddhism does have numerous intri- truths such as impermanence, inter- All Causes Are Good cate analyses that take the complexi- dependence (nonself), and the princi- Causes? ties of causation into account, however, ple of causation itself are as ineffective and a far more intricate description is as banging one’s head against a brick In Rissho Kosei-kai Dharma centers one found in the Buddha’s enumeration of wall, and are sure to bring us the bad often hears that Rev. Nikkyo Niwano, causation as a sequence of twelve steps, result of suffering. On the other hand, the founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, taught known as the twelve causes and con- actions in accord with these immutable that all one’s experiences in life are for ditions or twelve links of dependent truths lead to the good result of lessen- the purpose of liberation and lead one origination. But despite its simplicity, ing or removing suffering, and what’s toward enlightenment. In her book The the Buddha’s explanation in the pas- more, they develop our character and Buddha in Everyone’s Heart, Rissho sage above is useful because it is easy benefit those around us. The path of Kosei-kai’s Rev. Kosho Niwano writes to understand while at the same time practice, most obviously the precepts— how the founder of Rissho Kosei-kai capturing the essential principle of the the Buddha’s ethical guidelines for the took a step beyond the basic Buddhist teaching. The Buddha also maintains Sangha—but also all the spiritual dis- teaching of causation to understand all that causation is not something he cre- ciplines of Buddhist practice, all work causes as good causes. ated, nor is it a principle that he him- according to these truths to bring about self thought up. Causation is the way good results. This is Buddhism in a nut- Having encountered the Lotus Sutra, the cosmos works; as universal law, it shell, stated succinctly in the well-known he [the Founder] took an extra step, is the same everywhere and at all times, Precept of the Seven Buddhas: based on basic Buddhist teaching, whether a buddha is in the world or and chose to see such good causes To refrain from doing any manner not. Buddhas like Shakyamuni merely and good effects and to recognize of evil, rediscover this truth and once again the people one meets every day as To respectfully perform all variet- proclaim it to living beings. good causes or good conditions. That ies of good, One of the fundamental aspects of is how the theory of causes leading To carry out the purification of one’s the workings of causation is that good to effects should be applied with the mind— causes produce good results and bad wisdom of the Lotus Sutra. This is It is this which constitutes the teach- causes produce bad results. This is the the view of dependent origination ing of all Buddhas. foundation of Buddhist ethics and all taught in the Lotus Sutra capable Dharmamitra 2009, 31 forms of spiritual discipline. “Bad” here, of liberating everyone 100 percent. sometimes rendered “unwholesome” or Buddhist practices, including ethics, (Niwano 2013, 33–34) literally translated from the Asian lan- are not upkept merely in obedience to guages as “evil,” signifies actions that the Buddha for obedience’s sake, nor are When we first hear it, Rev. Nikkyo invite the result of suffering because they they compulsory because the Buddha Niwano’s counsel to see all causes as go against the truth of the way things are. is some kind of judge of humankind, good causes may strike us as contradict- We can think of bad actions as akin to but in the promise that we ourselves can ing the principle at the very heart of the

Dharma World Spring 2020 19 law of causation upon which Buddhist causation in which even bad causes can honored, and extolled” (ibid., 209), and morality and spiritual disciplines rest: lead to the ultimate good result: liber- the Buddha instructs: “You should pay good causes beckon good results, and ation. This chapter tells the story of a homage to the upholders of this sutra bad causes call bad results. The taking specific Dharma teacher, Bodhisattva / With the most splendid of all things of all causes as good causes might even Never Unworthy of Respect, who is rid- there are / To see, hear, smell, taste, and seem a dangerous antinomian asser- iculed and abused for bowing in obei- touch” (ibid., 211). Dharma teachers are tion. But in my view this Lotus Sutra sance to everyone he meets as people worthy of such honors and deserving notion of causality does not refute basic who are already buddhas in the future. of protection because they are emissar- Buddhist teachings about causality but The text itself links these two chap- ies of the Buddha, carrying what is the includes them while at the same time ters when in the beginning of chapter 20 ultimate teaching that fulfills the inten- transcending them to achieve a pow- Shakyamuni Buddha prompts the liv- tion of the Buddha, the sutra that con- erfully liberating teaching. ing beings in the assembly to remember tains within itself the “entire body of In the Lotus Sutra the Buddha makes what he had taught earlier in chapter 10 the Tathagata” (ibid., 212). this paradox easily understandable by about the merits of revering the Dharma Extolling Dharma teachers and teaching it through stories. A good teacher and the sufferings that people revering them in these ways are good, way to get a sense of how the Lotus would incur if they disrespected and wholesome actions that bring bound- Sutra’s holistic Dharma of causation abused the Dharma teacher: less merits for living beings. both includes and transcends basic Buddhist causation is to look at two At that time, the Buddha addressed People seeking the Buddha Way closely related chapters of the Lotus Sutra the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva Great Come before me with palms placed that describe the activities of Dharma Power Attained, saying, “You should together teachers of the sutra. now know that speaking ill of, mock- And praise me with countless verses, ing, or slandering the monks, nuns, They will acquire infinite merits Lotus Sutra laymen, and laywomen keeping this Through such extolling of the Chapter 10 Shows Bad Dharma Flower Sutra incurs heavy Buddha. Causes Invite Bad Results; consequences, as earlier described, Yet those who praise the upholders Chapter 20 Reveals Bad and that the merits it bestows are of this sutra the cleansing and purification of Will enjoy merits that are greater Causes Lead to Good the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, by far. (Ibid., 211) Results and mind, as previously mentioned. The Lotus Sutra contains several chap- (Rissho Kosei-kai 2019, 321) Conversely, the Buddha cautions that ters that provide depictions of Dharma disrespecting and abusing the Dharma teachers—bodhisattvas who uphold and “As earlier described” here refers to teacher is a bad cause that leads to the disseminate the teachings of the sutra. chapter 10, “Teachers of the Dharma.” bad result of great suffering: The two I will discuss here are chapter 10, In this chapter the Buddha explains that “Teachers of the Dharma,” and chapter the Dharma teacher is always worthy If, throughout the duration of a kalpa, 20, “The Bodhisattva Never Unworthy of respect equal to a tathagata. About People constantly rail against the of Respect.” Chapter 10 is based on the those who uphold the sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha basic notion of causation: bad causes Buddha says, “All the world will admire With angry looks and unwholesome → bad results and good causes → good and revere them. They are worthy of minds, results. In chapter 10 the Buddha teaches offerings equal to those of the tathaga- The consequences they incur will be the approach that Dharma teachers must tas” (ibid., 208). He also says of Dharma harsh beyond all measure. take toward practice, describing both teachers that “everywhere they go, they Yet speaking ill, even momentarily, the great extent to which the Dharma are to be paid homage” (ibid., 209) Of those who read, recite, and teachers of the Lotus Sutra are wor- and “You should revere with palms embrace thy of the respect due a buddha and placed together / Those who are able This Dharma Flower Sutra the negative karmic consequences of to embrace this sutra, / Paying them the Is a far more serious offense. persecuting a teacher of the Dharma. same homage as the World-Honored (Ibid., 210–11). Chapter 20 affirms the basic notion of One” (ibid., 210). The Dharma teacher causation but reveals it to be the initial is to be “wholeheartedly revered with Living beings’ response to the workings of a holistic phenomenon of palms placed together, paid homage to, Dharma and those who bring the

20 Dharma World Spring 2020 Dharma to them works along the lines you unworthy of respect, / For you are help us, represented here by the Dharma of the notion of causation we saw above: practicing the Way / And will all become teacher of the Lotus Sutra, and this only good causes—that is, embracing and buddhas” (ibid., 326) he tells them all. increases and lengthens our isolation. respecting the truth of the Buddha and But in this chapter, the Dharma teacher, This is why those in this chapter who those who transmit it—invite good the Bodhisattva Never Unworthy of abuse Never Unworthy “never encounter results, and with time these bring lib- Respect, is always disrespected, reviled, a buddha” or “hear the teaching.” This eration and, in the long run, the ulti- and abused. The people who receive his is indeed “bad causes → bad results.” mate goal of buddhahood. obeisances respond with ridicule and But here in chapter 20 this is not the Reviling or harming the Dharma verbal abuse and even with projectiles end of the story. Their encounter with teacher is a bad action that beckons the and blows: “People struck him with Bodhisattva Never Unworthy of Respect, bad results of extraordinarily heavy kar- staves and sticks or pelted him with which initially causes great suffering mic retribution, not because the Buddha shards and stones,” Shakyamuni Buddha (bad causes → bad results) ultimately punishes these people, but because their recounts (ibid., 323). Thus, through much leads to liberation for these people. As actions arise from unwholesome minds. of the story the people treat Bodhisattva the Buddha explains, “The four groups “Unwholesome minds” indicates ways Never Unworthy of Respect as being of that era, / Who were attached to their of thinking and looking at the world never worthy of respect, the exact oppo- own views of the teachings, / Heard that are not in accord with truth, which site of the Buddha’s instructions in chap- Never Unworthy of Respect say, / ‘You motivate actions that run counter to ter 10. will all become buddhas.’ / For this rea- truth, thus inviting suffering. Suffering This, of course, is the bad action of son, / They encountered countless bud- arises not only because harming another abusing the Dharma teacher, which, as dhas” (ibid., 326–27), and in time they is a self-centered action that ignores Shakyamuni Buddha explains in chapter are able to abide in the Buddha Way. the interdependence of self and other 10, will invite the bad result of extremely After the suffering of their karmic retri- but also because people who obstruct heavy consequences. This does indeed bution was complete, they again encoun- those who work for peace and the bet- happen, in accord with the principle tered Bodhisattva Never Unworthy of terment of our world ultimately lose that bad actions invite bad results. As Respect, who led them to enlightenment. the chance to improve their own lives a result of their bad actions these peo- Their encounter with the bodhisattva, and circumstances. ple “could never encounter a buddha, the catalyst of immediate suffering for Now let us turn to chapter 20, “The never hear a teaching of the Dharma, them, also cements the bond with him Bodhisattva Never Unworthy of Respect.” and never see a sangha for two hundred that leads to their next encounter, which This chapter teaches the view of depen- million kalpas. They underwent great facilitates their liberation. dent origination taught in the Lotus torment and anguish in Avici Hell for a We should also note that the same is Sutra: “capable of liberating everyone thousand kalpas” (ibid., 324–25). Here, true for the Bodhisattva Never Unworthy 100 percent.” Here, in contrast to the we should note that in Buddhism the of Respect, as what we would normally Buddha’s explanation in chapter 10, hells can be understood both cosmo- take as a bad experience ends up becom- we are surprised to find that those who logically and as states of ego-mind. We ing the cause of good results. The rid- perform the bad action of reviling and can think of this instance of Avici hell as icule and abuse that Never Unworthy abusing the Dharma teacher eventually a hate-filled heart that brings extreme receives at the hands of these people attain the good result of liberation! As emotional and spiritual suffering not becomes the cause for his physical and readers may know, this chapter tells the just to the object of that hatred but to spiritual purification, allowing him to story of Bodhisattva Never Unworthy of the haters themselves. Such feelings attain the Buddha Way: Respect, perhaps better known by the of extreme enmity make us incapable English translation “Never Disrespectful.” of opening our hearts to the wise and The Bodhisattva Never Unworthy Never Unworthy of Respect “reads the compassionate teachings of Buddhism, of Respect sutra with his body,” conveying the cen- or any religious teaching for that mat- Could endure it gracefully. tral message of the sutra—reverence for ter, and we are instead drawn to vio- Having cleared away all past offenses, the buddha-nature of all living beings, lence and brutality. We shun nurturing When he was able to hear this sutra that is, paying homage to all as the bud- communities like the Sangha, and in As his lifetime neared its end, dhas they have already become in the an effort to satisfy our feelings of aver- His six sense faculties were purified. future—by placing his hands together sion and our desire to punish or harm, Through this transcendent power, in reverence and paying homage to all we strike out at that or those we detest. His lifetime was extended. people he meets. “I could never find We also tend to abuse those who try to (Ibid., 326)

Dharma World Spring 2020 21 The Bodhisattva endured revulsion Buddhist notion of causation. The actions At the near frontier, there was a [fam- and abuse for the remainder of his life, of the arrogant people who abuse Never ily of] skilled diviners whose horse but the ultimate result is positive: he Unworthy in this chapter lead to two suddenly became lost out among achieves the relatively high stage of results: an immediate provisional result the Hu [people]. Everyone consoled the bodhisattva path at which one’s and an ultimate long-term result. Indeed, them. The father said, “This will senses, including the mind, are puri- as the Buddha taught in chapter 10, quickly turn to good fortune!” After fied, which is also a state associated their actions initially produce suffering. several months, the horse returned with nonregression (Skt., avaivartika), This is an example of bad, or unwhole- with a fine Hu steed. Everyone con- meaning that one will no longer lose some, actions producing unwholesome gratulated them. The father said, ground on the path and never again results. But their unwholesome actions “This will quickly turn to calamity!” fall into unwholesome states of mind are also the first steps on their path to The household was [now] replete or existence, in essence an assurance liberation. The negative karmic affinity with good horses; the son loved to of attaining buddhahood. of their unwholesome actions links to ride, [but] he fell and broke his leg. an additional, wholesome result over Everyone consoled them. The father The Lotus Sutra’s the long term. It connected them to the said, “This will quickly turn to good Dharma of Causation: Bodhisattva, and the experience of suf- fortune!” After one year, the Hu peo- fering acted as a warning sign, the pro- ple entered the frontier in force; the ,QFOXGLQJDQG verbial canary in the coal mine, telling able and strong all stretched their 7UDQVFHQGLQJWKH'KDUPD them that something was wrong with bowstrings and fought. Among the of Causation in Basic their ways of thinking and acting that was people of the near frontier, nine out Buddhism hurting them, and this ensured that when of ten died. It was only because of The main point we should take away they encountered the Never Unworthy lameness that father and son pro- from this is that all of the characters in again they listened to his words. Even tected each other. Thus, chapter 20 ultimately attain good results our negative emotions and behaviors from bad causes or negative experiences can be causes of the good result of lib- good fortune becoming calamity, that initially manifested as suffering. eration from suffering. As I will discuss calamity becoming good fortune; Thus, while it is true that just like the below, by squarely facing and struggling their transformations are limitless, Buddha teaches in chapter 10—positive to understand our bad actions and the so profound they cannot be fath- responses to the Dharma of the Lotus mindsets behind them, we can find the omed. (Major et al 2010, 729) Sutra lead to positive results—we learn keys to our liberation. This working of unexpectedly that the opposite is also causality in the Lotus Sutra, “all causes This parable is often read to mean true: negative responses to the Dharma are good causes,” is a powerful liber- that we should withhold our judgments of the Lotus Sutra can also produce pos- ating teaching for we flawed human about events in our lives because we can itive results in the course of time. When beings struggling to make our way in never know their long-term meaning it comes to the teaching of the Lotus an imperfect world. or consequences. But for our purposes Sutra, positive karmic affinity (Jpn., it is important to understand the rea- shōen, 正縁) with the teaching works But How Is This So? son this is so. Each event is a fact in the to liberate, but negative karmic affinity life of the frontier family, which may at (Jpn., gyakuen, 逆縁) can also produce I can predict that many readers remain the time it occurs engender suffering, positive results, and negative reactions unconvinced, as this notion of all causes but it’s meaning and how it is taken is to the teaching that initially manifest as good causes is so counterintuitive and a function of its contextualization. The suffering produce positive results, with seemingly incompatible with the nor- significance of each of the events is not the liberation working in reverse order mative Buddhist teachings on causation determined on its own but vis-à-vis the (Jpn., gyakke 逆化). with which we are most familiar. It may other events. The meaning of each suc- I would reiterate that liberation work- even strike some as a form of wishful or cessive event changes when it is recon- ing in reverse order does not cancel out magical thinking. To explain the work- textualized by the event that follows. This the law that bad causes produce bad ings of “all causes are good causes,” allow is why good fortune becomes calamity results. As Rev. Kosho Niwano says, me to begin with the famous parable and calamity becomes good fortune. the Lotus Sutra Dharma of causation is of the horse from the Chinese classic Each event in the story can be either based on the basic Buddhist notion of Huainanzi, which may be familiar to calamity or good fortune, each contains causation. It does not negate the basic many of you. within it the potentiality to be both. It

22 Dharma World Spring 2020 is the contextualization that determines or first class rather than coach, prefer- that the flip side of the negative emo- whether the various events take on the ring an airplane to a train, and a train to tions that motivated our destructive or significance of calamity or good fortune. a bus. But even the Greyhound gets us hurtful behavior is an unfulfilled posi- The father is indeed wise, but as time pro- to where we want to go, and the tedious tive wish for ourselves and others. For gresses forward, there would be no end to and protracted bus trip, with all of its example, behind the parent’s frustra- the recontextualizations of these events transfers, detours, and frustrating traf- tion with the child may be the fear that because time itself is unbound: “their fic jams, is indispensable if the destina- the son or daughter will suffer because transformations are limitless.” As the arc tion is worthy. Is there no destination of the consequences of not getting a of the story moves into the future, the worthier than buddhahood? When the good education. The parent’s anger is meaning of prior events changes retroac- destination is buddhahood, each and the deluded “heads” to the wholesome tively, over and over again, into infinity. every step we take is a cause for bud- “tails” of compassionate love. Consequently, in the case of this story dhahood, and thus all “good causes.” Many forms of Mahāyāna Buddhism we can never determine a fixed, final This recontextualization applies teach that the three poisons of anger, meaning for any event. not only to others’ actions toward us greed, and ignorance are not separate I think we have the beginnings of but even to our own actions that cause from their wholesome opposites—lov- an understanding of the Lotus Sutra’s us to suffer. Our bad conduct, if we ing compassion, generosity, and wis- notion of causality, but we aren’t quite acknowledge and analyze it, becomes dom—but are more like two frequencies there yet. The parable of the horse in the fuel for our enlightenment, provid- of the same electrical current or two Huainanzi is open-ended, as the story, ing opportunities for us to become wiser states of the same substance, like water like time, has no terminus. The earlier and more compassionate people. An and ice. If this sounds absurd to you, events are continually being recontex- example I often use is the parent who take a moment to reflect on how easily tualized by succeeding events. But the is emotionally or physically abusive to spurned or unrequited love turns into Lotus Sutra’s One Vehicle provides a tele- their child who is failing at school. The hatred, or think of the times you have ology, that is to say, an end point or goal parent who curses or strikes his or her seen two good friends become embroiled toward which things progress, which is child is creating suffering for both of in a dispute and end up archenemies. the attainment of buddhahood by all them, no doubt. In terms of basic cau- With the faith that we and others are living beings. According to the Lotus sality, the parent might investigate the future buddhas—the good result—we Sutra, becoming a buddha is the goal estranged relationship with the child must find the seeds of our future selves that contextualizes all that happens in and realize that it is the bad result of (buddha-nature) within the unwhole- our lives. Shakyamuni Buddha tells the their own behavior toward the child. some feelings and emotions that plague assembly that his vow long ago was to The suffering of being unable to be close our minds. Zhiyi (538–97), the great make every person a buddha, equal to to his or her child and have a loving Chinese Lotus Sutra exegete who was himself, and that this vow has been ful- relationship makes the parent aware of enormously influential on the reception filled because every person’s attainment their actions, and the opportunity this and understanding of the Lotus Sutra in of buddhahood is certain. Universal provides is an example of how a bad East Asia, likened the wholesomeness buddhahood means that everything situation can point the way toward lib- within the unwholesome to the fuel or that happens in our lives, the experi- eration from suffering and bring one potentiality for fire within something ences that bring us joy as well as those closer to the enlightenment of a bud- like a piece of bamboo (Ziporyn 2000, that bring us sorrow, are all points on dha. From this perspective, a person’s 242). That wholesomeness is not nor- our trajectory toward becoming bud- bad actions can become good causes. mally visible to us, but if we can find dhas, and as such, each is a step for- But while this level of awareness it and ignite it, activated wholesome- ward on the journey to buddhahood. may allow us to control our behav- ness can burn away the unwholesome- As when people take a long trip to a ior and prevent or lessen the suffering ness. Practicing “all causes are good far-off destination, each leg of the jour- we create for ourselves and others, to causes” entails taking our negative, ney may be variously comfortable or get at the root of the issue we need to bad behaviors, learning from them to uncomfortable, convenient or inconve- turn our attention to the mind behind change our behavior, and more pro- nient, inspiring or boring, even depress- bad actions we perform. We must ana- foundly, looking deeply within them to ing and painful, but each is one of the lyze the unwholesome mindsets out of find the goodness that is concomitant causes of their arrival at their destina- which our actions stem on the faith that with them, thereby affirming our own tion. On a cross-country trip, most of within these bad causes we can find the buddha-nature, coming to believe in it us would rather fly direct, in business good. We may be surprised to discover and uncovering and igniting it so that

Dharma World Spring 2020 23 these wholesome bodhisattva motiva- pattern themselves on a great master. How is it possible to say yes to life tions outshine their deluded Siamese This means practicing the actions that in spite of all that? How, to pose the twins.* perfect the bodhisattva: being generous, question differently, can life retain its following the Buddha’s ethical guide- potential meaning in spite of its tragic 0DNLQJWKH&KRLFH lines, endeavoring to be patient, assid- aspects? After all, “saying yes to life in to See All Causes as uously applying oneself, calming one’s spite of everything,” to use the phrase mind through meditation, and studying in which the title of a German book Good Causes to enhance one’s wisdom. And as Rissho of mine is couched, presupposes that Obviously, recontextualizing all the expe- Kosei-kai founder Nikkyo Niwano taught, life is potentially meaningful under riences of our lives as good causes for “We have to tell ourselves ‘I am a child any conditions, even those which our attainment of liberation from suffer- of the Buddha’ until we are wholeheart- are most miserable. And this in turn ing, and ultimate buddhahood, requires edly convinced of it” (Niwano 2020, 1). presupposes the human capacity to that we take a leap of faith. In the Lotus This is the same as repeatedly telling our- creatively turn life’s negative aspects Sutra the Buddha repeatedly tells his dis- selves “all causes are good causes.” The into something positive or construc- ciples of the difficulty of understand- desire that motivates our perseverance tive. In other words, what matters is ing the sutra’s teaching. Among all the in these practices is itself our faith, even to make the best of any given situa- Buddha’s sutras, “the most difficult to though we may not realize it, and even- tion. (Ibid., 139–40) believe and hardest to understand is this tually something magical happens: our Dharma Flower Sutra” (Rissho Kosei-kai, leap of faith is affirmed when we truly Frankl’s appeal for us to use our suf- 211). “To hear this sutra is a rare thing, realize for the first time the precious les- fering for creative purposes reminds me / And to believe and accept it is rarer sons that an unpleasant experience taught of how one Rissho Kosei-kai reverend I still” (ibid, 214). Thus, even Shariputra, us, or how we grew through our strug- know speaks of the Fukushima nuclear the Buddha’s wisest disciple, is capable gle to deal with a person whom we con- power plant that tragically melted down, of “entering the sutra” only through tinually butted heads with, or when we contaminating the surrounding areas faith. As Rev. Kosho Niwano writes of discover within the negative emotions and horribly impacting the residents’ the founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, “The of our bad actions wholesome motiva- lives and health. A native of Fukushima Founder . . . chose to see such good tions that reveal our own buddha-nature. prefecture, this reverend often refers to causes and good effects and to recog- A recurring question is how can hor- the power plant as the “great bodhisattva nize the people one meets every day as rible, senseless tragedies of the kind that Fukushima.” Some people are confused good cause or good conditions” (Niwano we can’t even wrap our minds around or flabbergasted when he says this, but for 2013, 33–34). This choice requires tak- ever be good causes? This is admittedly him, this way of talking about the site is ing it on faith that liberation and bud- a sensitive issue, as we should never pre- part of his choice to take the disaster as dhahood lie in our future. tend to fully grasp others’ experiences a challenge, not only to minister to peo- What if I don’t have that faith?, you of such suffering or arrogantly tell a vic- ple’s suffering, but as a teaching moment may ask. If you wish you had that faith, tim of those kinds of suffering what they to sound the alarm about the dangers of however, you already have it, in embry- should feel. But modern psychology nuclear power—even its so-called peace- onic form. In this case, taking all causes as proposes that survival requires making ful uses—to inspire people to save the good causes is like working on the para- meaning of such seemingly meaningless future of humankind not only by elimi- doxical Zen koan. You don’t see the solu- and malevolent suffering. According to nating nuclear weapons but also by safe- tion at first, and you struggle with doubt psychologist and concentration camp sur- guarding the environment by abolishing in the hope that you will see it. This wish vivor Victor Frankl, the primary motiva- nuclear power altogether. For me, this to solve the riddle is your faith. Then tional force for human beings is the will is a powerful example of the faith that one day it is revealed to you. To see all to meaning, including making mean- enables someone to take all causes as causes as good causes is essentially to see ing of suffering. “If there is a meaning good causes, even the suffering of what buddha-nature in yourself and in others in life at all, then there must be a mean- people would normally see as a senseless and that the events of daily life are the ing in suffering. Suffering is an ineradi- tragedy. While always a source of great workings of the Buddha’s liberation. But cable part of life, even as fate and death. personal sadness, these tragedies cease it takes work to open one’s eyes. First, to Without suffering and death human life to be only misfortunes and can take on attain a glimpse of buddha-nature requires cannot be complete” (Frankl 1992, 76). additional significance by becoming the emulating the Buddha, as a child learns Frankl called finding meaning in suffer- impetus for helping others and chang- by imitating adults or how apprentices ing “tragic optimism”: ing the world to make it a better place.

24 Dharma World Spring 2020 7KH+ROLVWLF$OO buddha-nature is seeing the Buddha in Major, John S. et al. 2010. The Huainanzi: all things. When you think about it, this A Guide to the Theory and Practice (PEUDFLQJ'KDUPD of Government in Early Han China. is seeing the terminus, our destination, Columbia University Press. The Dharma of the Lotus Sutra is like a in every step of the journey. As Zhiyi Niwano, Kosho. 2013. The Buddha in circle—no matter where you start, and tells us, “One should know that which Everyone’s Heart. Kosei Publishing. whichever direction you take, you always comes before and that which comes Niwano, Nikkyo. “Awareness of Oneself end up at the same place: liberation. later are present within one another” as a Child of the Buddha.” Living the The teaching of the Lotus Sutra is the (Fahua xuanyi [The profound meaning Lotus 172 (January 2020). Previously perfect and all-encompassing Dharma. of the Lotus Sutra], in Taishō shinshū published in Kaiso zuikan, vol. 9 When we practice according to the basic daizōkyō [The Buddhist canon, Taishō (Kosei Publishing, 1997), 208–9. Rissho Kosei-kai, ed. 2019. The Threefold fundamental principles of causation, as period new edition], vol. 33, 694b). Like Lotus Sutra: A Modern Translation Shakyamuni Buddha explains in chap- the lotus flower, the cause (the flower) for Contemporary Readers. Kosei ter 10 of the Lotus Sutra, those good and the result (the fruit of the lotus cup Publishing. causes bring good results, and we can and its seeds) are uniquely present at Ziporyn, Brook A. 2000. Evil and/ be liberated from suffering and attain the very same time. Thus, we don’t have or/as the Good: Omnicentrism, many merits, build our good roots and to wait until the end of the journey to Intersubjectivity, and Value Paradox move forward toward buddhahood. experience the world as the world of the in Tiantai Buddhist Thought. Harvard But as the ordinary people we are, we Buddha. As Shakyamuni Buddha pro- University Press. _____. 2019. Introduction to The Threefold fail at this . . . we fail a lot. Even so, as claims in chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra: Lotus Sutra: A Modern Translation Shakyamuni Buddha shows in chapter “Of those who hear the Dharma, / None for Contemporary Readers. Kosei 20, our own unwholesome actions that will fail to become a buddha” (Rissho Publishing. make us suffer, as well as the unpleas- Kosei-kai 2019, 77), when we have faith, ant, negative things we encounter in life, we live in our world as the world of the and even our descent into the hells—the Buddha, seeing the Buddha in others caustic mindsets of intense hatred—can and the workings of liberation in the be causes for our liberation and eventual events of daily life. This is the convic- buddhahood. We have only to accept tion that the Buddha is always with us, this and practice accordingly. In this and this is true liberation. ≥ world, filled as it is with suffering that we cannot avoid, primary among them * For an extended discussion of recontextualiza- aging, sickness, and death, but also sep- tion in the Lotus Sutra, see Ziporyn 2019, xxv–liii; aration from what we love, the inability and Ziporyn 2000, especially 112–198. to flee what we dislike, and the disap- pointment of not attaining our goals, Reference List the principle that all causes are good Bodhi, Bhikkhu. 2000. The Connected causes is powerful liberating medicine. Discourses of the Buddha: A But like Rev. Nikkyo Niwano, the Translation of the Sa˳yutta Nikāya. founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, we have Wisdom Publications. to take the extra step and choose to see Dharmamitra, Bhikshu. 2009. The all causes as good causes. This requires Essentials of Buddhist Meditation: a leap of faith—to see the terminus of The Essentials for Practicing Calming- and-Insight & Dhyāna Meditation. buddhahood at the end of our jour- Kalavinka Press. ney. But doing this does not make for Fahua xuanyi [The profound meaning an otherworldly religiosity. We don’t of the Lotus Sutra]. In vol. 33, Taishō have to wait until we cross over to attain shinshū daizōkyō [The Buddhist liberation. Seeing the terminus is the canon, Taishō period new edition], Agostini / PPS Photo: De same as having faith that all causes are ed. Junjirō Takakusu and Kaigyoku This is an image of Tamonten, who protects Watanabe, 681–814. Tokyo: Issai kyō good causes, and this is nothing other the northern quarter as a member of the kankōkai, 1924–32. Shitenno, four heavenly kings. The deity is than perceiving the essence of ourselves, Frankl, Viktor E. 1992. Man’s Search called Bishamonten in its own right. The of those around us, and even of our for Meaning: An Introduction to image of this deity has a hōtō, one-storied environment as buddha-nature. Seeing Logotherapy. 4th ed. Beacon Press. pagoda, in its hand. Thirteenth century.

Dharma World Spring 2020 25 SPEECH 5LVVKR.RVHLNDL¶V$SSURDFK to the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons by Kosho Niwano

States, little by little the facts became The following article by Rissho Kosei-kai’s president- clearer about nuclear destruction and the designate Kosho Niwano is based on the speech the fate of the hibakusha—the atom bomb author made during the 2019 Sophia Symposium “Peace, survivors. Th en in March 1954 came the 'HQXFOHDUL]DWLRQDQGWKH)XWXUHRI2XU6RFLHW\$5HOLJLRXV incident of the Daigo Fukuryū Maru, a $FDGHPLF'LDORJXH´ZKLFKZDVKHOGRQ0D\DW Japanese fi shing boat that got caught up Sophia University in Tokyo. in the US hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll. Th is was the catalyst for the anti- nuclear movement that started with the Dr. Susumu Shimazono, currently the founder of our organization, Nikkyo women of Suginami Ward, Tokyo, and professor of the Graduate School of Niwano, as a vice-chairman of the spread to the national level. In the world Applied Religious Studies at Sophia eighteen-member Peace Delegation of of Japanese religion, the Federation of University, asked me to speak about Religious Leaders for Banning Nuclear New Religious Organizations of Japan, Rissho Kosei-kai’s approach to the aboli- Weapons, visited France, West Germany, known in Japan as Shinshuren, adopted tion of nuclear weapons. I want to express the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, a resolution against nuclear weapons my heartfelt gratitude for being given the Vatican, the United States, and other and nuclear testing. Th e Association this opportunity. Western countries. of Shinto Shrines, the Japan Buddhist Rissho Kosei-kai fi rst became Following the conclusion of the 1951 Federation, the Japan Confederation involved in the nuclear disarmament Treaty of San Francisco between Japan of Christian Churches, the Sectarian movement in September 1963, when and the Allied Powers led by the United Shinto Federation, and the Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan— the fi ve member organizations forming the Japanese Association of Religious Organizations—issued a proclamation calling for the prohibition of atomic and hydrogen bomb tests. However, in the fi rst half of the 1960s, nuclear arms test- ing continued at an accelerated pace. Because of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union reached a fever pitch, just one step away from nuclear war. With international criticism mount- ing against such a dangerous situation, in August 1963 the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union managed to sign the Partial Test Ban Treaty. Th is treaty, while conditional, Th e Peace Delegation of Religious Leaders for Banning Nuclear Weapons before their was seen as a breakthrough in limiting departure from Haneda Airport, Tokyo, on September 14, 1963. nuclear development during the Cold

26 Dharma World Spring 2020 Kosho Niwano, president-designate of Rissho Kosei-kai, devotes herself to sharing the teachings of the Lotus Sutra with Rissho Kosei- kai members both in Japan and overseas. She actively engages in international interreligious dialogue and cooperation, serving as co-moderator of Religions for Peace International and as a member of the Board of Directors of the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue.

been delivering the message of nuclear from countries around the world, includ- disarmament around the world since ing the United States and India, culmi- 1963. Unfortunately, Soviet premier nating in the First World Conference Nikita Khrushchev and American presi- on Religion and Peace (WCRP), which dent John F. Kennedy were not receptive was convened in Kyoto in 1970 with the to a delegation with the stated objective theme “Disarmament, Development, and of abolishing nuclear weapons, and the Human Rights.” (The World Conference delegation was unable to realize meet- on Religion and Peace is today known

3KRWR6FLHQFH6RXUFH336 ings with those two leaders. as Religions for Peace [RfP], but here I Operation Castle was a United States series The experience of taking action as will call it by its original name, WCRP.) of high-yield nuclear tests at the Bikini Atoll, a member of this delegation of reli- Regarding the theme, Founder Niwano beginning in March 1954. The fallout affected nearly islands, including inhabitants and US gious leaders from Japan, a country said, “We cannot say that just because soldiers stationed there, as well as a Japanese that suffered atomic bombings, steeled there is no war, we are in a state of peace. fishing boat, the Daigo Fukuryū Maru. the determination of Founder Niwano When the sufferings of poverty, fam- to continue, thereafter, to “constantly ine, and the oppression of basic human War. However, there were still many make every effort to cooperate with freedoms have been eradicated from unresolved issues, since China, France, other religions” for the sake of nuclear the earth, then for the first time peace and other countries were not signato- disarmament and peace activism. Since will come to humanity—it is from this ries to the treaty. then, our approach at Rissho Kosei-kai perspective that this World Conference The Peace Delegation of Religious to the abolition of nuclear weapons has decided upon its theme of Disarmament, Leaders for Banning Nuclear Weapons been not to act alone but always on the Development, and Human Rights.” So conducted a tour of Europe and the firm foundation of interreligious cooper- even at that time, disarmament was a United States the month following the ation. At Rissho Kosei-kai, this position central theme. signing of the Partial Test Ban Treaty. has not changed; it is the same today. “Positive peace” was discussed in The delegation’s Peace Proposal, call- Rissho Kosei-kai’s relationship with the Sophia Symposium, and I think that ing for the complete abolition of the the Society of Jesus—the parent organ- concept was already being explored at production, preservation, and use of ization of Sophia University—and the the time of the first WCRP. As indicated nuclear weapons and an end to nuclear Vatican began when Founder Niwano in the explanation of the concept for testing, was hand delivered to Pope Paul was called as the only Buddhist observer the symposium, religion itself is some- VI and UN secretary-general U Thant, to the Second Vatican Council in 1965. times seen as an obstacle to peace. In as well as to religious leaders from many In a private audience, Pope Paul VI told the 1970 WCRP conference, religious countries, at that time. More than five Founder Niwano that for the sake of leaders were focusing directly on the decades later, in 2017, the complete abo- peace, “it is important for people of reli- real problems to which their eyes had lition of the production, stockpiling, and gion not to cling to factions or denomi- not turned before that time—the con- use of nuclear weapons and an end to nations but to recognize each other and flicts in different parts of the world, nuclear testing was sought by members pray for each other.” These words forti- poverty, and discrimination—and were of the United Nations with the adop- fied Founder Niwano’s determination doing some soul searching regarding tion of the Treaty on the Prohibition to promote interreligious cooperation, their own responsibility in realizing of Nuclear Weapons; at that point, and thereafter he held repeated prepa- world peace. There is a passage in the Japanese religious leaders had already ratory meetings with religious leaders Kyoto Declaration of the First World

Dharma World Spring 2020 27 cooperative networks” are what we are striving to establish. At the first SSOD, Founder Niwano appealed to political leaders, including Cold War–era US president Jimmy Carter and Soviet chairman Leonid Brezhnev, to change their minds regarding total disarmament, urging them: “Instead of taking risks with arms, please take major risks for peace and disarmament.” At the second SSOD, Founder Niwano said, “In the face of the horrific death and destruction that nuclear war would bring, any notion of justice or injustice will be blown to pieces. There will be no winners or losers in a war in which no one is left alive, a war that will not even allow for innocent bystanders. Nuclear war would be a sacrilegious violation of the sanctity of life and nothing more.” At the third SSOD, he stated: “Instead of world security being enforced by a balance of fear, it must be grounded in a new value system.” In all three of these addresses, Founder Niwano stressed the importance of national security systems based on trust building, not military force and armaments, and therefore he On June 12, 1978, Founder Nikkyo Niwano addresses as an honorary chair of the WCRP the rejected the theory of nuclear deterrence first UN Special Session on Disarmament held in New York, urging the world’s leaders to work for general and complete disarmament. that was the major element support- ing the continued existence of nuclear Assembly that says as much: “As men with peace and peacemaking, to be the weapons. and women of religion, we confess in servants of peace.” Essentially, nuclear deterrence is humility and penitence that we have Three times during the Cold War— a strategy of threat and intimidation very often betrayed our religious ide- in 1978, 1982, and 1988—the United that emerged from distrust and doubt als and our commitment to peace. It Nations General Assembly convened about the Other. As we can see from is not religion that has failed the cause a Special Session on Disarmament the North Korean issue, nuclear deter- of peace, but religious people. This (SSOD). Founder Niwano addressed rence fuels relationships that increase betrayal of religion can and must be all three of these special sessions. At mutual distrust, and in fact, it is a pol- corrected.” the first of these UN assemblies on dis- icy of deterrence that heightens the risk This “humility and penitence” armament, he made his address as an that nuclear weapons will be used. The expressed by religious leaders regarding honorary chair of the WCRP; at the sec- message “Instead of taking risks with war was the dynamic force propelling the ond, as president of the International arms, please take major risks for peace founders of WCRP and thereafter became Association for Religious Freedom and disarmament” is a religious mes- the spirit supporting its programs. At (IARF); and the third time, in recog- sage appealing to people to change their the same time, the Kyoto Declaration nition of our activities up to that time, as way of thinking, and, at the same time, stated that “because of these convictions president of Rissho Kosei-kai. All three it becomes the starting point for a the- that we hold in common, we believe that of Founder Niwano’s addresses reflected ory that, in reality, transcends nuclear a special charge has been given to all the growing recognition of the value deterrence. The religious leaders who are men and women of religion to be con- of international interreligious cooper- proposing this new starting point appeal cerned with all their hearts and minds ative networks. These “interreligious to every country around the world, join

28 Dharma World Spring 2020 never thought of denuclearization as an isolated problem. He said that we should think about it in terms of its rela- tion to other issues, and at the UN he repeatedly proposed that “funds freed up by disarmament should be reallo- cated to providing assistance to develop- ing nations.” The Vatican’s International Symposium “Prospects for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons and for Integral Disarmament” in November 2017 also stated: “All things are interrelated. All people are interrelated. Together we can abolish nuclear weapons, invest in the shared development of humanity, and build peace.” The UN’s SDGs also note Members of the Peace Mission organized by Rissho Kosei-kai in June 1982 on the occasion of the SSOD-II appeal in New York for disarmament and the abolition of nuclear weapons. that “there can be no sustainable devel- opment without peace and no peace hands with people in every field, and donation, had gone without several meals without sustainable development,” so seek a reexamination of the theory of every month and donated the money there is growing awareness that disar- nuclear deterrence, the single largest intended for those meals to the Donate- mament, peace, and development are obstacle to realizing denuclearization. a-Meal Fund for Peace. interrelated. I think it is important that this reexam- The Donate-a-Meal Movement is at Grounded in the interrelatedness ination is grounded in atom bomb sur- present working with the UN’s World of disarmament, peace, and develop- vivors’ accounts of the effects of atomic Food Programme to implement the ment, in 2010 the Global Interfaith exposure as well as in scientific pro- Myanmar school meals project. It is Youth Network of the WCRP launched jections. Despite the adoption of the also undertaking a nurses’ training proj- its ARMS DOWN! Campaign for Shared Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear ect together with the United Nations Security. The goal of this campaign was Weapons in 2017, I think it is extremely Relief and Works Agency for Palestine to abolish nuclear weapons and reduce important that we continue to pursue Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), conventional arms in order to reduce this reexamination, as at present there while also collaborating with UNICEF. global military spending by 10 percent, is an extremely high risk in every part Through these programs, the Donate-a- which would provide funds needed to of the world, including northeast Asia, Meal Movement is contributing to the reach the UN’s Millennium Development of an unintentional or accidental use of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Goals. The campaign collected twen- nuclear weapons, nuclear accidents, the (SDGs). All of the members of Rissho ty-one million signatures in 140 coun- theft of nuclear weapons, or a terrorist Kosei-kai took part in the petition drive tries over the course of ten months. In attack using them. and actually went without meals so that Japan, the Youth Department of Rissho At SSOD-II, Rissho Kosei-kai deliv- hunger could be experienced directly, Kosei-kai worked together with young ered to the UN General Assembly a peti- and then the money was donated. We do people of other faiths—including other tion appealing for the abolition of nuclear so because we believe that the pain and Buddhist groups, Shinto, Christianity, weapons, with thirty-seven million sig- suffering felt by someone here on planet and Islam—and collected more than natures that we had collected work- Earth is not something experienced by ten million of those signatures. ing in conjunction with the member some far-away Other. Accepting even a In Japan, where many people feel organizations of the Federation of New small part of that suffering as our own very little concern for, or connection Religious Organizations of Japan, and provides us with the opportunity to to, the Other and are disinterested in we presented the UN Secretariat with deepen our own faith, and at the same politics, it was no easy feat to collect ten donations totaling $1 million collected time—whether children and students million signatures on a petition calling for the Global Disarmament Campaign. or adults—we can fulfill our own duty for the abolition of nuclear weapons The donated funds came from individ- toward peace education. and disarmament. These young people ual members of Rissho Kosei-kai who, In Buddhism all things are intercon- stood on street corners on hot days and with hearts full of empathy, prayer, and nected, and therefore, Founder Niwano cold days, and on occasion endured the

Dharma World Spring 2020 29 address, one elderly man approached me and other groups are working together, saying that he had been a junior high promoting programs of denucleariza- school student in the final years of World tion, and continuing to get nations to War II, when enemy bombers flew air ratify treaties abolishing nuclear weap- raids over Japan’s main islands. He him- ons. However, I hope that in the future, self had experienced fleeing through while we continue to make steadfast the flames of one such air raid. When efforts to address these issues, we reli- he gazed across the burned-out land- gious leaders will also face the prob- scape, he suddenly felt anger rising up lem of the human mind—that is, the within. It was not anger at the enemy seeds of violence and war in our own nation or even at the warplanes. It was minds—and increase our efforts to fos- anger at adults—why do grown-ups do ter inner peace. such things, why do grown-ups allow The evidence that this matters so such things to happen? much is that since the 1980s, nuclear Countries that depend on nuclear warheads have been reduced because two deterrence for their national security political leaders, Mikhail Gorbachev of 3KRWR6FLHQFH6RXUFH336 A mushroom cloud over Hiroshima. The think that nuclear weapons are a neces- the Soviet Union and Ronald Reagan of United States B-29 bomber Enola Gay sary evil, but I think they are an absolute the United States, made up their minds dropped the atomic bomb on August 6, evil. When we hear the words “nuclear to do so. In a similar way, the final deci- 1945. Photo taken by scientific observers bomb,” what comes to mind are the sion to use nuclear weapons—to “push aboard the B-29 bomber Great Artiste, which participated in both the bombings of photos of the mushroom clouds over the button”—rests with a single human Hiroshima and Nagasaki as an observation Hiroshima and Nagasaki, such as those mind. aircraft. taken minutes after the Enola Gay and The progress of peace activities Bockscar, B-29 bombers, dropped the by religious leaders has been slow scorn of strangers. Elementary school bombs. However, what really ought to and might, at times, seem ineffectual. students came home disappointed after come to mind is the panorama of the However, such problems that have no their teachers informed them that they lives of the hundreds of thousands of immediate solutions are, I believe, the could not collect signatures for a peti- people who, under those two mush- ones that religious leaders should be tion at school. Shop owners turned them room clouds, experienced a hell of suf- taking on because we believe in shared away, saying that such a petition would fering, misery, and despair. Although values that transcend national and indi- not help their business. However, there I know it is beyond what we can imag- vidual interests. were also teachers who personally signed ine, nevertheless we must try to envi- Finally, I would like to add some- the petition and many others who gave sion what took place under the atomic thing to a comment from Mr. Akira them encouragement. One by one, these mushroom clouds. Kawasaki, a member of the International people’s caring added up to ten million As Founder Niwano said, Steering Group of ICAN and an official signatures. “Disarmament, no matter how com- representative of the NGO Peace Boat. The experiences of participating in plex and technological an issue, boils After the Treaty on the Prohibition of the ARMS DOWN! petition drive and down to a matter of the human mind Nuclear Weapons was adopted, WCRP the Donate-a-Meal Movement deep- and a moral decision.” The preamble of secretary-general William Vendley and ened young people’s awareness not as the UNESCO Constitution also con- ICAN executive director Beatrice Fihn observers but as those feeling the effects tains the famous words, “That since wrote a jointly signed letter addressed of poverty and the nuclear threat. wars begin in the minds of men, it is to the world’s religious leaders. A copy In August 2019 WCRP convened its in the minds of men that the defenses of that letter was sent to religious lead- Tenth World Assembly in Germany, with of peace must be constructed.” ers around the world, including organi- the theme “Caring for Our Common All conflict and violence begins in zations belonging to the WCRP. Future.” More than ninety member the human mind, and therefore it is It is crucial that every country rat- nations of the WCRP helped prepare the human mind that brought forth ify this resolution—the 2017 Treaty on for this assembly. In Japan we did our nuclear weapons. At present, the WCRP the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. part by hosting a symposium at Osaka Japan as well as the World Council of Although our work may seem to go Cathedral in March. I had the honor of the WCRP, the International Campaign slowly, I truly believe that we will con- delivering the keynote address. After my to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), tinue to make progress. ≥

30 Dharma World Spring 2020 FOUNDER’S MEMOIRS

1R5HJUHWV by Nikkyo Niwano

Nikkyo Niwano, the founder of Rissho In March 1999 an autobiography by Rev. Nikkyo Niwano Kosei-kai, was an honorary president ± WKHIRXQGHURI5LVVKR.RVHLNDLZDVSXEOLVKHG of Religions for Peace and honorary in Japanese under the title Kono michi: Ichibutsujo no sekai chairman of Shinshuren (Federation o mezashite 7KHSDWKWKDWZHKDYHZDONHG$VSLULQJWRWKH of New Religious Organizations of ZRUOGRIWKH2QH%XGGKD9HKLFOH 7KHERRNLVDOLYHO\DFFRXQW Japan) at the time of his death in RIWKHOLIHRI)RXQGHU1LZDQRDVDOHDGHURIDJOREDO%XGGKLVW October 1999. He was awarded the movement and a pioneer of interreligious cooperation who 1979 Templeton Prize for Progress in dedicated himself to liberating all people from suffering with Religion. ¿UPIDLWKLQWKH/RWXV6XWUDDharma World will continue to publish excerpts from the book in installments. so, we enable them to discover what is the true teaching of the truth. Th is is the application of skillful means. Th e most important practice for Rissho the large number of Mahayana sutras “Skillful means equals the truth,” so Kosei-kai members is to lead others to that have come down to us. we enable people to understand the truth liberation through the teachings of the A world of wonder opens before us through skillful means. When compas- Lotus Sutra. Th rough their practice, once we abandon the self and muster sion arises in us and we ask ourselves they make those teachings part of them- every bit of our strength for the sake how we can liberate a person, we must selves, walking together along the Way of others. We will gain a new and joy- use all our strength to help that person to buddhahood. Th is practice involves ful realm like nothing we have expe- overcome the suff ering confronting him connecting people with the Dharma or rienced before. It is by tasting this joy or her. It is here that the power of skill- mentoring members or other kinds of that we are able to take true refuge in ful means comes into play. Th ere is no voluntary activity. Buddhism. Without being willing to division between skillful means and the Th e Lotus Sutra teaches us that it is in take refuge, we can never achieve true truth in practice. this world of the six realms of existence happiness, even if we have a belief. Th e Mahavairocana Sutra says: “Make that we should practice the bodhisattva I have continued throughout my life the aspiration for realizing enlightenment way. We must not attempt to escape from to believe that as each one of us is thus the cause; make great compassion your this world of the six realms because we changed, recognizing a true way of lib- foundation; and make skillful means the hate it. We are able to undertake bodhi- eration, so our society, our country, and ultimate end.” In other words, every- satttva practice, which is practice to ben- the whole world will be transformed. thing is skillful means. Looking back efi t others, because of the buddha-nature All the same, even though we guide over Rissho Kosei-kai’s history, there was that lies deep within us, and we can people to the Buddha Way by sharing never a time when we said we no longer burnish our buddha-nature through with them the truth of the Lotus Sutra needed skillful means, even during the bodhisattva practice. Because we do and the great law of the universe, that periods of the “Age of the Manifestation of this, we are all the more able to apply does not mean they will be able to under- the Truth (1958–77)” and the “Age of the ourselves to our practice. Th us there stand it immediately. What people are Unlimited Manifestation of Compassion is an inseparable relationship between interested in fi rst and foremost is them- (1978–97).” We ourselves change as a buddha-nature and bodhisattva prac- selves, and so they ask how to resolve result of our practice and thereby bring tice. It is not too much to say that this the problems that are perplexing them. others to change, and by doing so we is the one point held in common by all By teaching them specifi cally how to do can change the whole of society. Rissho

Dharma World Spring 2020 31 Kosei-kai believes that we can bring true liberation to as many people as possible through our efforts. I said to my son Nichiko at the time of his Inheritance of the Lamp of the Dharma, “To have a large membership or to take pride in imposing buildings does not mean an organization is flour- ishing. What is truly important is to plant faith in the heart of each and every member. What is most important is that you value the individual person President Nichiko Niwano attended the gathering of members held on July 18, 1992, as part of in whatever kind of activity you pro- the tour called shinseki mawari at the Tsuchiura Civic Hall, Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture. mote and bring him or her true liber- ation. Whether or not you have many a total distance of sixty thousand kilo- was deeply rooted. When my second members, whether your various activ- meters over eighty days. son, Kinjiro, was in high school, he ities prosper or not, it comes down to had a fight with Nichiko. When I rep- this in the end. ‘To do our best in bring- My Wife, Naoko rimanded him, he suddenly grappled ing one person to liberation’ is Rissho with me. I have a vague memory of that. Kosei-kai’s founding spirit.” There was probably no one more joy- According to Kinjiro, he sprang at me Someone, but I forget who, told me ful than my wife, Naoko, when Nichiko with all his strength but was thrown that Dr. Ichiro Kobayashi (1876–1944), decided to inherit the Lamp of the and held down. He still remembered a famous scholar of the Lotus Sutra, said Dharma of Rissho Kosei-kai and become what I said to him afterward. that a religion will fall into ruin either the second president. “I don’t want you to be a special per- through corruption or through aridity. I cannot be said to have been a good son, or ask you to do any special religious Corruption is when a religious organ- father to my children. I was probably training. It’s enough if you lead your life ization thinks only about its own pros- not a good husband to my wife, either. as an ordinary person. However, since perity, using the suffering and desires of However, like me, other officials of Rissho we all make a living doing the Buddha’s its followers for its own ends. Aridity is Kosei-kai at the time of its foundation work, you must realize what this means. when leaders make no attempt to under- made a sacrifice of their families to a You must be careful about your behav- stand the suffering and desires of society greater or lesser extent and closed their ior. You should properly make offering at large and fall into self-complacency. eyes to the family circle as they worked at the morning and evening services at We should keep this in mind. tirelessly for the organization. least. If you don’t know how to do it, It was my intention that after pass- I have referred to this a number copy me. If you are not able to under- ing over the presidency to Nichiko I of times already, but as far as my wife stand and accept what I’m saying to you would leave everything in his hands. was concerned, I was the master of the and you can’t do as I ask, I will cut my This gave me no worry. I thought he household and her husband, and was ties with you.” understood that. responsible for the family’s well-be- At that time Kinjiro cried from vex- Just before going on his first tour to ing. On the other hand, as president of ation, but later he told me that he was meet members as the second president, Rissho Kosei-kai I had the mission of happy to feel his father’s body warmth Nichiko declared: “Members are all like teaching the Lotus Sutra to all people when he tackled me. relatives and the same family. So I wish everywhere. The Buddha abandoned At some point my wife told the chil- to devote myself with diligence, keep- his country and his wife and child to dren, “What your father told me has all ing in mind ‘many in body but one in give his life to the Way. I cannot com- happened as he said. You must listen spirit.’” In February 1992 he began the pare myself to the Buddha, but I could carefully to what he tells you.” Kinjiro, tour, which he called shinseki mawari not have fulfilled even part of my mis- too, came to work at the Rissho Kosei- (visiting relatives), starting from the sion if I had not abandoned my job, my kai headquarters. He was trained by Great Sacred Hall at the organization’s home, and the affection of my family. senior members and took on a vari- Tokyo headquarters complex. The tour It seemed that in my children’s minds ety of tasks. covered 130 sites, including Dharma cen- the thought that they were made to live My third son, Hiroshi, was only ters in Japan and overseas. He traveled apart from their father for thirteen years a baby when I sent the family to the

32 Dharma World Spring 2020 country, and so the thirteen years’ sep- aration probably didn’t make much impression on him. After he left uni- versity, he spent several years training at a Rissho Kosei-kai Dharma center in Fukushima Prefecture. Since he did not want any special treatment from members because he was the found- er’s son, he took the name Nakajima from the head of the Dharma center. Every morning he began his training by chopping wood and cleaning the toi- Founder Niwano leads the evening chanting of the sutra together with his wife, Naoko, and lets. Hiroshi, too, later came to work at their family members. the headquarters as head of the Youth Division, among other roles. the other family members who had but whenever the opportunity arose Recently the children spoke these hastened to her side. She nodded, a she invited guests, and greatly enjoyed words: “Talking of Father, what he says smile on her face, and took my hand. making them welcome. and what he acts are the same thing, The following day she drew her last so we cannot find any weakness.” “If he breath in her sleep, without suffer- She was the Founder’s wife for six- decides to have one cup of sake before ing any pain, while being watched by ty-four years. She continued to sup- going to bed, he will have only one cup.” family members around her. She was port him constantly from behind “Even if he drinks, in the morning he eighty-five. We had been together as the scenes and worked hard to raise gets up even more punctually than a married couple for sixty-four years. us children. She was a mother who the clock.” “It doesn’t matter if it’s hot The funeral was held with the sec- taught us from her own example the or cold.” “He may have got back from ond president as the chief mourner. It nobility of living the teachings with abroad late last night, yet even if you was attended by forty-eight thousand all our might. We her children will think he’ll sleep a little later than usual people from many different areas of continue as one to value what she in the morning, he gets up as usual and life—religion, government, and busi- has left behind. recites the sutra.” “It’s impossible to ness, among others—who had come emulate him.” to mourn her passing. Shortly before her death, my wife My wife used to get out of bed every Nichiko spoke with deep feeling. spent her days, from morning till night, morning at 4:00 a.m. and, before any- “My mother had the habit of saying, repeatedly speaking words of thanks. one else got up, offer water at the fam- ‘The Threefold Lotus Sutra is my trea- She carried out admirably the unavoid- ily altar and recite the sutra alone. At sure. I am so grateful to that.’ However able responsibilities of accepting birth, the time everyone recited it before the difficult things were, she was never apart aging, illness, and death and departed family altar in the morning service, she from the Threefold Lotus Sutra, and this world for another, farewelled by joined again. adverse circumstances acted as a spring many people at the funeral. She came to speak to me such words to deepen her faith. She worked faith- I have heard that in death the face of as: “Should I just keep thinking only of fully and taught us about the splen- a mother who has raised good children other persons?” She would also say, “It’s dor of living according to the Dharma is truly peaceful. It was so with my wife. easy to become a devil but not at all easy by making herself an example. ‘Being I think Cofounder Myoko Sensei and a to become a buddha.” I wondered if she meek and honest is the best way for a whole host of people came out to meet may have had an experience of coming person to live,’ she would always say. her when she entered the other world. close to the mind of a buddha. I think my mother was a person who She must have been indeed satisfied to She left this world on April 13, lived according to those words.” Nichiko see her children follow the path of their 1994. She had been receiving treat- went on to say: father. I would like to take the opportu- ment in a hospital since early February nity here to thank people on behalf of for complications from a cold. Her con- She was lively by nature and didn’t my wife for their kindness, both public dition worsened suddenly on April like mawkishness. She was always a and private, to her during her life. 12. Miraculously, she regained con- warm and bright presence in our fam- sciousness, and she thanked me and ily. She preferred a simple lifestyle, To be continued

Dharma World Spring 2020 33 SEMINAR REPORT

,OOXPLQDWLQJ2QH$QRWKHULQ'LDORJXH ,QWHUUHOLJLRXV3HUVSHFWLYHVWKURXJKWKH3ULVPRIWKH/RWXV6XWUD by Paride Stortini

that images and statues play in them. This is a report on the International Lotus Sutra Seminar held At the Suginami Dharma Center they -XQH±DWWKHKHDGTXDUWHUVRI5LVVKR.RVHLNDLLQ took part in a Rissho Kosei-kai gath- Tokyo. ering and were actively involved in the Dharma circles, where they could learn fi rsthand how members of Rissho Kosei- Introduction kai live social and everyday aspects of of Buddhism from an interfaith perspec- Lotus Sutra practice. Every year the International Lotus Sutra tive has historically been dominated Th e seminar opened with a moment Seminar provides a unique venue for by Buddhist-Christian dialogue, this of silence and remembrance dedicated an international cohort of scholars in seminar provided rich diversity, giv- to Gene Reeves, the Buddhist scholar diff erent disciplines and areas to share ing signifi cant space to presentations who was coordinator of the seminar for their current research on the Lotus Sutra on the Lotus Sutra and Islam, the Lotus many years and who passed away a few and to promote the spread of knowledge and Judaism, and the sutra’s reception weeks before this year’s meeting. What about it. Th e format of the seminar, with in modern European culture. Th ese follows is a summary of the presenta- each participant also commenting on papers enriched the conversation, open- tions and of the discussions aft erward. one of the other presentations and with ing up new venues for research in this plenty of time for questions and discus- fi eld. For example, the presentations ³:D\VRI%HLQJ5HOLJLRXV sion, allows for a lively and reciprocally on Islam suggested how the presence in the Lotus Sutra: enriching conversation, which adds a of a Muslim minority in Japan or of 7KHPHVIRU,QWHUUHOLJLRXV genuinely human encounter to the aca- Buddhism in Muslim-majority coun- 5HÀHFWLRQDQG'LDORJXH´ demic experience. In previous seminars, tries can provide new insights for the Ruben Habito, Southern Methodist the fact that the presenters come from intercultural refl ection on the Lotus University, University Park, Texas a multiplicity of backgrounds gener- Sutra, especially by rethinking ideas ated rich discussion on the place of the of community and family. Th e reading Dr. Habito’s presentation analyzed the Lotus Sutra in intercultural and inter- of the Lotus Sutra in a Jewish context Lotus Sutra, its doctrines, and its prac- faith dialogue. But this year, this was instead opened a discussion on the emo- tices through the fourfold framework the primary focal point, as the presen- tional response to images contained in elaborated by the scholar of compara- tations centered on “illuminating one the text and on the kind of audiences, tive religion Frederick Streng and built another in dialogue: interreligious per- universal or exclusive, the sutra and on this analysis to suggest how each of spectives through the prism of the Lotus Jewish scriptures conceive for them- the four points can be fruitfully used Sutra.” Th e presenters proposed a vari- selves. In addition to the presentations, for a comparison with Christianity and ety of ways in which the Lotus Sutra can the seminar included visits to two tem- for a constructive project of interfaith inform interreligious dialogue, rang- ples and to Rissho Kosei-kai’s Suginami dialogue. Th e view of the human con- ing from theological and philosophical Dharma Center. At the Tendai temple dition that emerges from the stories arguments to literary analysis, histori- Fudōson in Meguro, and at the nearby contained in the sutra, characterized cal reception, and contemporary prac- Gohyaku Rakanji, seminar participants by suff ering but also by the idea of sal- tice. Th e limits and problems of these experienced the variety of contempo- vation through being children of the approaches were discussed in the ques- rary Buddhist practices in Japan and Buddha, echoes, for Dr. Habito, exis- tion-and-answer time. While the study were particularly fascinated by the role tentialist conceptions of Genesis and

34 Dharma World Spring 2020 Paride Stortini is a PhD candidate in History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School, with a BA in Asian Studies from the University of Venice and a joint-degree MA in Religious Studies from the Universities of Venice and Padua, Italy. He is currently developing research projects on the reception of Sanskrit and Indology in modern Japanese Buddhism, and on the Silk Road in the Buddhist imagination of post-WWII Japan.

person—in Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism, and with notions of good or bad incli- nations in Judaism. Dr. Habito’s closing remarks pointed out how the differ- ences that emerged from the discussion can be suggestive of further construc- tive reflection.

³$0XVOLP¶V5HÀHFWLRQVRQ DUƯNDۂۼthe 6DGGKDUPD3X 6njWUDWKH/RWXV6XWUD´ The participants examine the theme, “Illuminating One Another in Dialogue: Interreligious Imtiyaz Yusuf, International Institute of Perspectives through the Prism of the Lotus Sutra,” during the four-day seminar in a facility ofIslamic Thought and Civilisation (ISTAC- Rissho Kosei-kai in Tokyo. IIUM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia more broadly of Christianity. The non- Tanaka and Kenji Miyazawa. Dr. Habito Dr. Imtiyaz Yusuf’s paper expanded duality of ultimate reality expressed by stressed that the religious view con- the discussion on Buddhist-Muslim the idea of the immeasurable life span tained in the Lotus Sutra has a deep dialogue, which all participants recog- of the Buddha, further elaborated by transformative impact at both the indi- nized as of primary importance not only Tiantai master Zhiyi, can be compared vidual and social levels, as the devotee because of widespread Islamophobic to the way Christian mystical traditions is encouraged to turn this world into prejudice but also because of the cohab- talk about coincidence of opposites. the Dharma world. This specific fourth itation of large Buddhist and Muslim Devotional practices centered on the element of the Streng-based analysis of populations in Southeast Asia, where Dr. Lotus Sutra, such as Nichiren’s chant- the Lotus Sutra becomes in Dr. Habito’s Yusuf is based. In his presentation, Dr. ing of its title, which help in translating presentation a key for interfaith dia- Yusuf placed his own comparative read- the complex doctrines and cosmologies logue, as members of other religions ing of the Lotus Sutra and the Qur’an of the sutra into everyday practices of can be inspired by the social engage- against the background of the intel- salvation, were likewise compared with ment of Lotus Sutra devotees and reflect lectual encounter between Islam and devotional aspects of Christian tradi- on how they translated their own reli- Buddhism. After introducing his expe- tions, such as devotion to the Virgin gious views into everyday practice and rience with and interest in Buddhism, Mary and the contemplative tradition commitment to transform the world. Dr. Dr. Yusuf traced the history of Buddhist- of Hesychasm, whose recitative medi- Habito’s presentation spurred a lively Muslim encounter, focusing particularly tation recalls for Dr. Habito the namu debate, which centered especially on on a number of Muslim intellectuals myōhō renge kyō. Finally, Dr. Habito the existential suffering generated by and poets who studied and appreci- analyzed the way in which these ideas the three poisons, on the limits of per- ated Buddhism. This survey also prob- and practices based on the Lotus Sutra sonal agency, and on the active salv- lematized the more limited scope of have historically been translated into ific role of the Lotus Sutra. The other knowledge of Buddhism present today action in this world, quoting as exam- participants discussed these ideas in among Muslim scholars, which is based ples the way devotion to the sutra influ- comparison with Augustine’s concept on the legacy of colonial-period orien- enced thinkers as different as Chigaku of sin, with the idea of akunin—evil talist perspectives and does not facilitate

Dharma World Spring 2020 35 a constructive engagement. Moving “The Lotus Sutra and the secular in the Muslim context; and the then toward the comparative part of Qur’an: Similarities and lack of suicide in Muslim societies that his presentation, Dr. Yusuf recognized 'LIIHUHQFHV´ Dr. Mizutani connects with the social how the encounter between Islam and Makoto Mizutani, Arabic Islamic Institute, impact of Qur’anic ideas. It is particu- Buddhism is made difficult on the con- Tokyo larly this last topic, the impact of reli- ceptual level by the nontheistic nature gious views on suicide in the Japanese of Buddhism. However, he proposed The discussion on the Buddhist-Muslim and other societies, that dominated the an analogical and parallel approach encounter was expanded, after Dr. discussion after Dr. Mizutani’s presen- to resolve this issue, aiming not for a Yusuf’s presentation, by Dr. Makoto tation. On the one hand, the present- hybrid of the two religions but for a Mizutani, who enriched the discus- ers provided more cultural and social hermeneutical expansion of horizons. sion with both methodological reflec- background to explain the high rate Dr. Yusuf offered a practical example of tions on and concrete application of the of suicides in Japan, and on the other this approach in his comparison of pas- comparative method with respect to the they compared this issue with religious sages and concepts in the Lotus Sutra Qur’an and the Lotus Sutra. In intro- ideas from other contexts, such as the and the Qur’an. The centrality of these ducing his contribution, Dr. Mizutani Christian condemnation of suicide. two texts themselves, and of the figures built on the previous debate concern- The discussion turned the presence of of the Buddha and Muhammad in the ing analogy and its problems in com- a Muslim minority in Japan—despite life of their devotees, suggests a poten- paring religious ideas. He associated this being limited in quantitative terms— tial point of encounter. Further elements problem with the question of seman- into a resource for the Japanese to reflect discussed were an analogy between the tics and differences in meaning when on the strong sense of community and concept of upāya in the sutra and the we use terms from different cultural and cohesion that a religion like Islam can concept of sunnah (the model of the religious backgrounds, a problem that provide, giving tools to respond to the Prophet for the Muslim), as well as a is heightened in the Buddhist-Muslim problem of social disintegration and parallel between the concept of proph- dialogue, as it often uses a vocabulary high suicide rates. This religious and ecy in Islam and the role of the Buddha built on Christian terms. Translation cultural contact was interpreted as a as carrier of a message of salvation. Dr. itself becomes a vehicle of reflection and further constructive way to avoid the Yusuf’s conclusion stressed again the of religious comparison. Dr. Mizutani’s “Galapagos effect” of isolation by expos- pressing need for Buddhist-Muslim paper started with a comparison of the ing Japanese society to new ideas. interfaith dialogue in the context of inductive and deductive ways of reaching Southeast Asia, for example, where such the absolute in the Qur’an and the Lotus “Transformation a relation has recently been at the center Sutra, pointing out, among other things, or Rediscovery? of violence and persecution. The ana- the centrality of reciting Allah’s names 6RWHULRORJLFDODQG logical method proposed by Dr. Yusuf in Islam and the practice of chanting the &RVPRORJLFDO7KHPHVLQ was at the center of the participants’ title of the Lotus Sutra in Buddhism. Dr. the Lotus Sutra and the subsequent discussion. While the risk Mizutani also expanded the discussion 3KLORNDOLF7UDGLWLRQ´ of undervaluing important differences on Buddhism from the context of the Thomas Cattoi, Jesuit School of Theology was pointed out, some other present- Lotus tradition, including references to at Santa Clara University, California ers proposed a conception of analogy as Jōdo Shinshū and Zen Buddhism that including differences rather than erasing also present parallels with concepts in Dr. Thomas Cattoi’s presentation offered them, while others saw in analogy just the Qur’an, such as the stages of intu- an example of comparison between a point of departure to develop further ition leading to the absolute. After sur- Buddhist and Christian ideas that built discussion, as Dr. Yusuf’s presentation veying a number of comparable ideas on similarities but kept the differences itself has shown. In addition to offer- in the two sacred texts, such as the one- visible. The paper also pointed out the ing a non-Christian point of reference ness of truth, human natural disposi- importance of expanding the compar- for the dialogue with Buddhism, Dr. tions, and justice, Dr. Mizutani also ison of doctrinal concepts to see how Yusuf’s presentation started an essen- pointed out a series of important dif- they affect the spiritual life of the devo- tial debate on methodological problems ferences, centering on the impossibility tee. Its main purpose was to show how in approaching interfaith dialogue. For for a Muslim to conceive merging with forms of spirituality based on ontolog- example, the issue of the value and use the absolute; the omnipresence of legal ical and anthropological views in the of analogy resurfaced multiple times in terms in the Qur’an, which reflects the Lotus Sutra find closer echoes in the the seminar. lack of separation between sacred and early Christian Evagrian tradition, and

36 Dharma World Spring 2020 to any effort to arrive at interreligious understanding—that Dr. Kristin Largen’s presentation raised for the seminar. In her presentation, Dr. Largen built on an analysis of the Lotus Sutra and inter- faith dialogue by theologian Schubert Ogden in order to propose that a repre- sentative interpretation of the claims of validity in each religious tradition can allow for a space of dialogue that avoids exclusivism, inclusivism, and indifferent pluralism. Rather than looking at the Lotus Sutra’s attitude toward different International Lotus Sutra Seminar participants pose at the main entrance of the Nikkyo paths to truth as an example of inclu- Niwano Memorial Museum at Rissho Kosei-kai Tokyo headquarters’ complex. sivism, in which different views are sub- sumed within an ultimate and superior before that in the Hellenistic thinker has led to more flexibility toward and truth, Dr. Largen built on Ogden’s read- Origen, rather than in what became inclusion of heterodox positions, the his- ing of the Lotus Sutra’s message as rep- the orthodox tradition, established tory of internal schisms and controver- resentative of truth in order to inform a in the fifth century by the Council of sies on heresy within Buddhist traditions, constructive dialogue among religions, Chalcedon. More specifically, the Christ including the Lotus Sutra–based Tendai avoiding both relativism and the denial of the Evagrian tradition becomes a mir- and Nichiren sects, was also recognized. of the other. According to this interpre- ror for the devotee to return to the orig- On this point, Dr. Munehiro Niwano tation, the Lotus Sutra points to an ulti- inal communion of intellects with God interpreted Nikkyō Niwano’s view of mate truth that it only represents and in a way that, according to Dr. Cattoi, the One Vehicle in the Lotus Sutra as does not define once and for all, allow- resonates with the conception of the turning Nichiren’s exclusivism into a ing other religious traditions to conceive Buddha contained in the Lotus Sutra as more inclusive approach toward differ- themselves in the same way as formally the ultimate reality to which all beings ent traditions. As a concluding remark valid but not encompassing the ulti- are invited to recognize themselves as regarding a potential constructive use mate truth. Dr. Largen then provided a identical. By contrast, Dr. Cattoi noted, of Evagrian spirituality for interfaith close reading of the text to identify ele- Chalcedonian doctrine retained the dis- dialogue, Dr. Cattoi mentioned the ris- ments in support of her interpretation. tinction between the human and the ing interest in it in scholarship but also She finds them in the expansive setting divine in the final achievement of sal- noted how this interest has not neces- of the first chapter, where the teaching vation. While pointing to potential par- sarily informed a positive engagement is defined as without time and space. allels, the presentation also recognized with it in the Orthodox Church, or its The concept ofupāya also allows for differences, such as between Origen’s application in interreligious dialogue. a representative interpretation of the view of time and the one contained in message of the Lotus, which becomes the Lotus Sutra. Dr. Cattoi also offered “The Representative Truth itself a form of skillful means pointing a historical reflection on how the pres- and the Decisive Validity to the ultimate truth without exhaust- ence of a central authority to establish of the Lotus Sutra in an ing it in itself. Finally, stories such as orthodoxy in early Christianity has not ,QWHUUHOLJLRXV3HUVSHFWLYH´ the three carts and the burning house, allowed for the same degree of inclusiv- Kristin Johnston Largen, United Lutheran the father and his estranged son, the ity as is found in Mahāyāna Buddhism, Seminary, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Buddha as rainfall for everyone, and ultimately explaining the accusations of the multiplicity of the characters them- heresy against the Evagrian tradition. Shall we include at the table of interfaith selves lent support to her interpreta- This observation sparked a lively dis- dialogue those who exclude the valid- tion. After suggesting how the Gospel cussion among the presenters, who dis- ity of other religions? Are the religious of John can provide a venue to reinter- cussed approaches to normativity and people involved in dialogue secretly just pret Christ’s message as representative orthodoxy in Buddhism and Christianity. trying to include the diversity of the of truth in a similar way as the Lotus While pointing out how the lack of a other into their own tradition? These Sutra’s, Dr. Largen closed with a ques- strong central institution in Buddhism are some of the questions—essential tion concerning how best to reinterpret

Dharma World Spring 2020 37 Nichiren’s ostensibly exclusivist read- II. Dr. Niwano introduced the spiri- embracing it. However, this reflection ing of the Lotus to foster interfaith dia- tuality of this movement, showing the on the message of the Lotus Sutra as one logue. While the questions raised by this parallels with Rissho Kosei-kai. The of embracing suffering stirred a debate paper did not find a simple solution in Focolare conception of faith in God among the participants on the limits the following discussion, Bodhisattva as love that can be found in all beings that such an accepting attitude can have, Never Disparaging was proposed as a supports a spirituality of joy and unity, for example in how it could make sense model for recognizing one’s own faults which then gets put into practice by, for of extreme historical cases of imposed as well as facing the inevitable difficul- example, sharing with and helping the suffering such as the genocide of the ties implied in encountering the other. disadvantaged. Following the impact Jewish people under the Nazi regime. of the Second Vatican Council’s call for ³:D\VWR,QWHUUHOLJLRXV dialogue, the Focolare movement has “Contexts of Reception: 'LDORJXH7KH7HDFKLQJ increasingly seen interreligious encoun- The Lotus Sutra in of the Lotus Sutra and the ters as essential to the search for spirit- 1LQHWHHQWK&HQWXU\ Spirituality of the Focolare ual unity. And this is the basis for the Europe, and What They 0RYHPHQW´ encounter with Rissho Kosei-kai, which 2YHUORRNHG´ has been fostered primarily through Hiroshi Munehiro Niwano, Rissho Kosei- J. Jeffrey Franklin, the University of kai Gakurin Seminary, Tokyo youth exchanges. Dr. Niwano also sug- Colorado Denver gested a parallel between the central- Dr. Munehiro Niwano’s presentation ity of the model of Jesus Forsaken in Dr. Jeffrey Franklin enriched the provided the seminar with a practical Focolare spirituality and Bodhisattva conversation of the seminar with example of interfaith dialogue between Never Disparaging. Contributing to this questions suggested by a historical the Catholic Focolare movement and observation with a translation in prac- analysis of the reception of the Lotus Rissho Kosei-kai based on parallel spir- tice, Dr. Scarangello pointed out how Sutra in the West. By shedding light on itualities of love and joy. Dr. Niwano the dialogue with the Focolare move- how nineteenth- and early twentieth- also offered his own experience as a stu- ment might have helped Rissho Kosei- century scholars projected ideas and dent of theology at Pontifical Gregorian kai to define in more practical terms expectations on their conception of University in Rome and at the training facilities of the Focolare movement as moments of inspirational and challeng- ing religious encounter. In his article, Dr. Niwano started with an analysis of the paternal figure of the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra, where the Buddha’s love for all human beings and their longing for his presence become essential condi- tions for enlightenment. This concept finds translation in the spiritual practice of Rissho Kosei-kai members, who are invited to emulate Bodhisattva Never Disparaging’s attitude of deep respect toward all other beings. The presenta- Each scholar summarizes his or her presentation before the others discuss it. tion then built on Nikkyō and Nichikō Niwano’s views of joy arising from faith the spirituality of suffering. The subse- Buddhism, this paper showed that in the Buddha and of the reverential quent discussion saw the participants some of those biases are still present nature of all human beings signified expanding the reflection on inclusion among scholars and, further, that by Never Disparaging as the basis for and engaging particularly the experien- these biases raise essential questions the practice of interreligious dialogue tial and emotional aspects of religious regarding religious encounter, since they in Rissho Kosei-kai. This has been par- encounter. They suggested how the Lotus affect whether we consider a text or a ticularly developed together with the Sutra has turned the conception of suf- tradition to be authentic or somehow Catholic Focolare movement, founded fering in Buddhism from one based on less than authentic as a result of cross- by Chiara Lubich during World War its solution through nirvana to one of cultural transmission and translation.

38 Dharma World Spring 2020 His presentation divided the history ³&ORXGV6SHDNLQJ talking about how the devotees use the of the reception of the Lotus Sutra in DQG:RUGV&KDQWLQJ text in their daily lives and transmit its Western scholarship into two phases. &RPSDULQJ3DWWHUQVRI message. This is explained using tempo- The first was dominated by the search Vision and Piety in the ral and spatial metaphors: the vertical for the historical Buddha and was Lotus Sutra and in the transmission of revelation and its hor- aimed at reconstructing the moral and +HEUHZ%LEOH´ izontal spread. In the vertical dimen- philosophical content of the earliest sion, Dr. Niculescu includes both the Mira Niculescu, École des hautes études texts, disregarding the later traditions. reception of revelation from above and en sciences sociales, Paris The second phase saw an increasing the normative aspect that compels the appreciation of Mahāyāna when Western Dr. Mira Niculescu’s presentation devotee to transmit the legacy of the scholars realized that it offered a fertile expanded the conversation on interfaith message to the following generations. context for comparison and dialogue dialogue and the Lotus Sutra, leading it The horizontal dimension, by contrast, with Christianity; some scholars went so to a venue that is recently gaining more includes patterns of approaching the far as to advance hypotheses of mutual scholarly attention: Jewish-Buddhist rela- text in everyday life, such as repetition derivation between the two religions. tions. She proposed a comparative read- of the name and prayers. Despite pro- Dr. Franklin suggested that this turn ing of the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) posing a parallel reading, Dr. Niculescu might actually have been encouraged and the Lotus Sutra based on dialogical concluded by drawing attention to the by a closer engagement with the Lotus hermeneutics as developed by Martin contrast between the exclusive, commu- Sutra. After the historical analysis, Dr. Buber and Emmanuel Levinas—that is, nity-focused concept of audience in the Franklin first pointed out a number by attending to the encounter between Hebrew Bible and the universalist and of instances of misunderstanding the reader and the sacred text rather open reception implied in the Lotus in the early reception of the Lotus than focusing on doctrinal concepts. Sutra. This final point spurred discus- Sutra in the West; then he outlined Dr. Niculescu centered her analysis of sion among the presenters on the prob- his constructive proposal for interfaith this encounter on revelation and piety: lem of inclusive and exclusive attitudes encounter. He suggested that the Lotus the first, as in Mircea Eliade’s compar- implicit in sacred texts and how inter- Sutra contains a view of eternity that ative scholarship, was intended as a faith dialogue can engage with them. In need not be considered contradictory manifestation of the sacred described addition, Dr. Niculescu’s attentive and to the historical record of the life of through stories and imagery in the scrip- insightful reading of the affective ele- the Buddha. In Dr. Franklin’s reading, tures; the second was the normative ments of the texts prompted discussion the narratives of the Lotus Sutra can attitude of the worshipper toward the of the emotional aspect of longing in the be seen as collapsing historicity such text, such as its recitation and transmis- devotee’s encounter with a sacred text. that moments of crisis in the history of sion. Concerning the manifestations of Buddhism—for example, the death of the the ultimate reality in these texts, Dr. “The Lotus Sutra and historical Buddha, internal schisms in Niculescu pointed to parallel images, Christian Wisdom: the sangha, and the threat of persecution such as the use of the colors blue and Mutual Illumination in from outside—are figuratively healed gold when the Buddha and God appear, ,QWHUUHOLJLRXV'LDORJXH´ within the text. In addition, Dr. Franklin which also find expression in ritual gar- Leo D. Lefebure, Georgetown University, argued that the Lotus Sutra be seen as ments. Anticipating the metaphor of illu- Washington D.C. authentic by showing how the text’s long mination in the following presentation history, from its earliest moments to by Dr. Lefebure, she also connected the Dr. Leo Lefebure’s use of an interreli- its global spread, can be considered an rays of light emanating from the Buddha gious hermeneutic to show the similar- application of the concept of skillful and from Moses at the moment in which ities between the Lotus Sutra and the means, therefore demonstrating the they are delivering messages. The com- biblical wisdom tradition provided the coherence and consistency of the parative reading also included a func- presenters with a potential methodolog- text. In the following discussion, the tional analysis of the earthquakes and ical map for interfaith dialogue, which problem of authenticity of a text in the other natural phenomena associated represented an ideal introduction to the light of historical-critical analysis, and with revelation, which Dr. Niculescu concluding reflections of the seminar. In of a religious tradition in the encounter interpreted as a call for the reader to his paper, Dr. Lefebure emphasized that with different religions and cultures, wake up. The pedagogical use of met- the centrality of a search for wisdom, encouraged a lively debate among the aphors and images in the text also pro- rather than specific doctrinal points that participants. vided a bridge in the presentation to inevitably reveal deep differences, can

Dharma World Spring 2020 39 shared their thoughts and suggestions about future topics. The ideas expressed echoed some of the points around which there had been previous debate. For example, reading the Lotus Sutra in a comparative frame with other religious texts encouraged people involved in the forefront of interfaith dialogue to reflect on the central issues of inclusion and exclusion that a sacred text or its his- torical interpretations generate. Two key terms that have inspired many of On June 14, after the day’s session, the participants and staff members of Rissho Kosei-kai the participants to greater investiga- visit Ten’on-zan Gohyaku Rakanji in Meguro Ward, Tokyo. They pose for a commemorative tion for their application in interreli- photo together with the head priest Rev. Takuro Sayama. The temple, whose name means “five hundred arhats,” was originally founded in 1695 as one of the Ōbaku Shū temples in Japan, a gious encounter were “revelation” and Zen school of Japanese Buddhism. “wisdom”: the first seemed appropri- ate in the hermeneutics of the mes- help build a bridge between Buddhism However, Dr. Lefebure warned against sages of texts such as the Lotus Sutra, and Christianity. While moving between the history of ambiguous interpreta- the Qur’an, or the Bible, while the sec- references to the biblical wisdom tradi- tions that the concept of union in wis- ond offered a paradigm for spiritual tion and to stories contained in the Lotus dom can imply. He particularly referred encounter without denying import- Sutra, Dr. Lefebure did not ignore the to how such a view was co-opted by the ant differences. All participants were long history of exclusivist hermeneu- Christian emperors of late antiquity for pleased with the active participation tics these traditions have had. In light their imperialist projects and also by of scholars of Islam and Judaism, and of this, he argued, the first of the three the twentieth-century Japanese thinker it was suggested that Buddhism, as it steps in the path to wisdom acquires a Chigaku Tanaka for “Lotus nationalism.” emerged in the seminar, could effec- particular preparatory function toward Nikkyō Niwano’s rejection of this view tively become a point of reference in the actual encounter: the recognition of of the Lotus Sutra in favor of one of the dialogue between Christianity, one’s own ignorance. In addition to find- dialogue further testifies to the impor- Judaism, and Islam. Finally, the prac- ing this step in the Christian tradition, tance of hermeneutics of the text. In con- tical dimension of interpersonal con- which includes the Socratic admission of cluding his presentation, Dr. Lefebure tact, as exemplified particularly by Dr. ignorance, as well as in the many warn- offered a concrete example of how the Munehiro Niwano’s presentation of ings against arrogance contained in the wisdom tradition might be applied in the youth exchange between Rissho Lotus Sutra, Dr. Lefebure built on the today’s world: if we awaken to our folly Kosei-kai and the Focolare movement, Jesuit theologian Bernard Lonergan’s by acknowledging the worsening envi- was highlighted as vital to interreli- concept of “systemic blindness,” showing ronmental crisis, then we might come to gious encounter. In light of this, the how an unconscious refusal of insights union by caring for our planet together. coming together at the seminar was can block the process of intellectual and During the following discussion, all the interpreted as an embodiment of dia- spiritual development. Accepting with presenters envisioned ways to apply Dr. logue, which encouraged the partici- honesty these fallacies opens the way to Lefebure’s model to the practice of inter- pants to decenter themselves in order the second moment in the path to wis- faith dialogue and suggested further to meet the other, which itself is a basis dom: the illumination. This is described examples of the wisdom model, specifi- for a reciprocally enriching encoun- by Dr. Lefebure as an unexpected and cally Bodhisattva Never Disparaging and ter. This interpretation also took the sudden gift that deeply transforms the the teacher of wisdom met by Moses in Rissho Kosei-kai staff who worked for person who receives it. Such a transfor- the Qur’an. the seminar as an example of decen- mative gift is expressed with metaphors tering through service and active par- of light in both traditions of wisdom, &RQFOXGLQJ5HPDUNV ticipation in the dialogic encounter. hence the name of this step. Once the The presentations at this seminar will insight of illumination is accepted, the In the final discussion session of the sem- appear soon as articles in the Buddhist- third step leads toward union, which is inar, moderated by the coordinator, Dr. Christian Studies journal, published by the final moment for interfaith dialogue. Dominick Scarangello, the participants the University of Hawai‘i Press. ≥

40 Dharma World Spring 2020 REFLECTIONS

0DNLQJ2IIHULQJVWR³%XGGKDV´ by Nichiko Niwano

In chapter 6 of the Lotus Sutra, “Giving in contact with on his travels to share Nichiko Niwano is president of Assurance of Buddhahood,” Shakyamuni the Truth. Rissho Kosei-kai and an honorary tells his disciples that they will also Therefore, when we emulate president of Religions for Peace. become buddhas, and he repeatedly gives Shakyamuni and accept that each and He also serves as an advisor to them each the assurance of buddhahood. every person we encounter in our daily Shinshuren (Federation of New For each of his disciples, he explains in lives is a “buddha,” then these lines of Religious Organizations of Japan). particular detail the importance of mak- scripture almost become a task for our ing offerings to and revering buddhas. daily practice, don’t they? honoring, and extolling” them is hardly For us, hearing that these disciples something strange, but rather some- will make offerings to three hundred The Basis of thing quite ordinary. thousand million or eight thousand mil- 0DNLQJ2IIHULQJV,V What then, in concrete terms, should lion buddhas—numbers so large we can we do? The most important thing in hardly calculate them—may make us Consideration for making offerings that express our sincere think this is a tale from another world. Others gratitude to the Buddha is putting the The text says this will happen “in future Speaking of seeing the people before teachings into practice. Through prac- lifetimes,” which must mean after one our eyes as “buddhas,” Linji Yixuan (d. tice, we fully realize that the teaching is lives and dies repeatedly, and although 867), founder of the Linji school of Chan the Truth. We go through each day with we can understand this to be a magnif- Buddhism (known as the Rinzai school a mind of compassion like Shakyamuni’s. icent figurative expression particular to of Zen Buddhism in Japan), said the fol- In simple words, we hope that people’s India, it is impossible to think that we lowing to his fellow practitioners: “If you sufferings and concerns will decrease ourselves could do such a thing. let go of the mind that seeks the Buddha and their joys will increase, and we show We often call people who have outwardly, you are already a buddha. our consideration for them. attained buddhahood, like Shakyamuni Therefore, all of you now before my very Doing so is an offering to the “bud- did, “buddha” or “honorable buddha” eyes who are hearing me expound the dhas” before our very eyes and, by exten- (and in Japan, people who are deceased Dharma are none other than buddhas.” sion, an offering full of reverence and are called hotoke, meaning “buddha”). If you realize that you yourself are gratitude toward Shakyamuni, the This means that our model of “buddha” intrinsically a buddha with a pure heart, Buddha, who—through his accumu- is Shakyamuni, which is one reason why then you are a buddha and so is the per- lation of practice and diligence—revealed we have difficulty understanding such son before your very eyes. This is no the Truth to us. In this way, we become an expression as “eight thousand million different than believing and accepting human beings overflowing with consid- buddhas,” which indicates the existence that “everyone you encounter, without eration for others, which in turn leads of an enormous number of buddhas. exception, is a buddha.” to our coming closer to buddhahood. However, we can see this scripture I often hear that although people can Each and every one of us is like a in a completely different light when we readily put their hands together rever- piece of fabric—a wonderful piece of read it from the viewpoint that, as a ently before the dead, they can hardly fabric that has the qualities of becoming human being, the historical Shakyamuni do so before the living. But because peo- a buddha. When this fabric is backed accepted as “buddhas” all of the peo- ple who have died and people who are with the lining that is our practice of ple he encountered prior to his awaken- living are all “buddhas,” the practice compassion—our consideration for oth- ing, the people from whom he received of making offerings to people before ers—it forms the most splendid robe: the teaching, and the people he came our eyes with the feeling of “revering, that of a “buddha.” ≥

Dharma World Spring 2020 41 THE THREEFOLD LOTUS SUTRA: A MODERN COMMENTARY

The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law

Chapter 27

7KH6WRU\RI.LQJ5HVSOHQGHQW (2) This is the 133rd installment of a detailed commentary on the Threefold Lotus Sutra by the founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, Rev. Nikkyo Niwano.

TEXT “Then the two sons, desiring again to announce Since the beginning of history, the Tathagata Shakyamuni their wish, said to their mother in verse: is the only one to have appeared in this world. It is said that ‘Be pleased, mother, to release us / To leave home and following his entering extinction it will be 5,670,000,000 become shramanas. / Very hard it is to meet the buddhas, years before the Bodhisattva Maitreya finally becomes the / And we would be followers of a buddha. / As the blos- next buddha and appears in this world, so this period is som of the udumbara, / Even harder is it to meet a buddha, one in which no buddha lives in this world. That is why it / And hard it is to escape from hardships. / Be pleased to is so difficult to meet a buddha. permit us to leave home.’ Of course, the Buddha Thunder Voice Constellation King of Wisdom is the buddha in this story. It is impor tant COMMENTARY This is a truly aspirational request, and that the reader does not confuse the four types of buddhas: one whose words are certainly logical and persuasive. The the Buddhas of the Past, like this buddha of the past world entreaty is youth-like and brimming with youthful passion. about whom Shakyamuni preaches that they were in past • Shramanas. This Sanskrit word is a general term for those worlds; the Buddha who actually appeared in this saha- who renounce the world, shave their head, put on shabby world; buddhas such as the Tathagata Abundant Treasures clothing, commit no evil, prepare themselves in mind and and the Tathagata Amitabha who symbolize universal Truth body to strive for goodness, and practice to earnestly seek and the power of salvation; and the Eternal Original Buddha enlightenment. who is neither arising nor perishing. • Very hard it is to meet the buddhas. The Eternal Original • Udumbara. This Sanskrit word stands for a kind of fig-bear- Buddha is always omnipresent, but it is not easy to meet ing tree. Because the blossom blooms inside a pouch, it can- the Buddha who has appeared as a human being in this not be seen from the outside. Therefore it has been employed saha-world. here as symbolizing something which is rarely seen.

42 Dharma World Spring 2020 TEXT “Then the mother spoke, saying: ‘I grant you per- COMMENTARY The two royal sons were earnest about mission to leave home; and why? Because a buddha is hard guiding their father and mother to the Buddha Dharma. to meet.’ Their wholehearted aspiration had not only a great impact on their parents, but also on the people surrounding them. COMMENTARY It seems as if the permission is being granted uncompromisingly, but with the addition of the rea- TEXT The Bodhisattva Pure-Eyed had for a long time son, “Because a buddha is hard to meet,” one can detect the been thorough in Dharma Flower contemplation. The mother’s reluctance to part from her dear sons. Bodhisattva Pure Treasury had for infinite hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of kalpas been thorough in TEXT “On this the two sons said to their parents: ‘Good, the contemplation of freedom from evil paths, [which] father and mother! We beg that you will now go to the sought to lead all the living away from all evil states of Buddha Thunder Voice Constellation King of Wisdom, existence. The queen of that king had attained the contem- approach [him], and pay him homage. Wherefore? Because plation of assemblage of buddhas and was able to know a buddha is as hard to meet as an udumbara flower, or as the secret resources of buddhas. the one-eyed tortoise meeting the hole in the floating log. But we, richly blessed through a former lot, have met the COMMENTARY The Dharma Flower contemplation. Buddha Dharma in this life. Therefore, father and mother, This is the condition where one deeply believes the teach- listen to us and let us go forth from home. Wherefore? ings of the Lotus Sutra, practices them with the physical [Because] buddhas are hard to meet and the occasion is body, and has mastered them so completely that the mind also hard to encounter.’ is not distracted. • The contemplation of freedom from evil paths. The evil paths, COMMENTARY As the one-eyed tortoise meeting the or evil realms of existence, are the worlds of mean-spirit- hole in the floating log. Although it is hard enough for a edness such as hells, asuras (demons), hungry spirits, and one-eyed tortoise to even find a log floating on the great animals. Accordingly, this is the condition in which one’s ocean, it would be even harder for the tortoise to find the spirit is settled in a stable and clean state of mind, “away small hole in the log, stick its neck inside, and take a rest. from all evil states of existence.” In Japanese plays and narrative storytelling, we find a • The contemplation of assemblage of buddhas. This is the samurai who has travelled throughout the land in search state of contemplation in which one can entirely compre- of an enemy upon whom he seeks revenge. When he finally hend the gathering of the buddhas, that is, the entirety of finds his enemy, the lines he speaks often mention how he the teachings. has searched “like a blind tortoise for a floating log, or like • The secret resources of buddhas. This means the teachings someone trying to find the udumbara flower in bloom.” Such in the minds of the buddhas which are difficult to express. lines come from this particular passage of the Lotus Sutra. The “secret resources” are not something that the buddhas This is just one example of how deeply the Lotus Sutra has are concealing, but the Truth (the Wonderful Dharma) penetrated to the heart of Japanese culture and the daily which is so profound and subtle that it is utterly impossi- life of the Japanese people. ble to express in spoken words or writings. “Secret,” in this However, this is merely limited to the surface of the sense, is a synonym for “esoteric” as in esoteric Buddhism culture, and there is cause for concern that the spirit of (Ch., Mijiao). the Lotus Sutra is continually being lost. It is to be hoped Accordingly, the queen attained the spiritual state, or that the spirit of the Lotus Sutra, which has been transmit- capacity, of being able to understand everything, both the ted continuously since Prince Shotoku (574–622), can be teachings as manifested in the sutra and the teachings in revived within the mind of every Japanese. the minds of the buddhas. I do not believe that doing this is very difficult. For a thousand and several hundred years, the spirit of the Lotus TEXT Thus did the two sons with tact wisely convert their Sutra has been the flesh and blood of the Japanese peo- father, bringing his mind to believe, discern, and delight in ple. Therefore, if given the opportunity, it is certain to be the Buddha Dharma. restored and begin to function again full of life. “Thereupon King Resplendent accompanied by his min- isters and retinue, Queen Pure Virtue accompanied by her TEXT “At that juncture all the eighty-four thousand court fine court ladies and retinue, and the two sons of that king, ladies of King Resplendent became capable of receiving and accompanied by forty-two thousand people, at once set keeping this Dharma Flower Sutra. out together to visit the buddha. Arriving and prostrating

Dharma World Spring 2020 43 themselves at his feet, they made procession around the • Dignified. This refers to “good, correct order and majes- buddha three times and then withdrew to one side. tically beautiful.” • Extraordinary. This means “not merely unusual or with- COMMENTARY They made procession around the buddha out parallel, but precious beyond expression.” three times. This refers to an act showing admiration for the • Coloring. This refers to the substance, physical body, and meritorious virtue of the buddha; this involves going clock- form that appear as phenomena. wise around either a buddha or a stupa three times, stop- ping each time one passes the front and worshipping. For TEXT “Then the Buddha Thunder Voice Constellation this reason, in India at the stupas that still remain today, it King of Wisdom addressed the four groups, saying: ‘You see is always possible to go around them on the outside. this King Resplendent standing before me with folded hands? This king, having become a bhikshu within my rule, and TEXT “Then that buddha preached to the king, show- being zealous in observing the laws which aid the Buddha ing, teaching, profiting, and rejoicing, so that the king was Way, shall become a buddha entitled Shalendra Tree King, greatly delighted. whose domain will be named Great Luster, and his kalpa named Great High King. This Buddha Shalendra Tree King COMMENTARY Showing, teaching, profiting, and rejoic- will have countless bodhisattvas and countless shravakas, and ing. “Showing” means to give an outline of the teaching. his domain will be level and straight. Such will be his merits.’ On the basis of this preparation for understanding, the preacher then proceeds to “teaching” in order to expound COMMENTARY You see this King Resplendent standing more deeply the meaning of the teaching. When perceiv- before me with folded hands? The question is not whether the ing that the listener has almost understood the content of disciples can see him, but how they should look upon him. the teaching, the preacher next proceeds to either preach- Implied of course is that they can surely see the invaluable ing the benefits that can be obtained from actual practice or figure of this king who has devoted himself to the teach- letting the listener actually practice the teaching and expe- ing of the buddha. rience those benefits. This is “profiting.” When the listener has done this, that person will have felt the joy that comes TEXT “The king at once turned over his domain to his from maintaining the teaching and will have discovered a younger brother; the king together with his queen, two purpose in life. This is called “rejoicing.” sons, and retinue forsook his home and followed the Way This “showing, teaching, profiting, and rejoicing” can, under the rule of [that] buddha. in other words, be taken as the basic and logical order for leading a person to the teachings of the Buddha. COMMENTARY Immersed in the bliss that comes from living in accordance with the teachings, the king lost all TEXT “Then King Resplendent and his queen unloosed desire to return to his palace. from their necks the necklaces of pearls worth hundreds and thousands, and threw them upon the buddha, and in TEXT Having forsaken his home, for eighty-four the sky were transformed into a four-columned jeweled thousand years the king was ever diligent and zealous tower; on the tower was a large jeweled couch spread with in observing the Wonderful Dharma Flower Sutra, and hundreds of thousands of myriads of celestial coverings, after these [years] passed, attained the contemplation of on which was the buddha sitting cross-legged, emitting a adorned-with-all-pure-merits. great [ray of] light. COMMENTARY The contemplation of adorned-with-all- COMMENTARY Sitting cross-legged. This is the posture pure-merits. “Pure merits” means that the merit of saving of seated meditation in which the left foot is placed on the others is pure. Therefore, this is the mental state of acting right thigh and the right foot is placed on the left thigh. to lead, guide, and save others without seeking reward but merely for the joy of doing it. When this happens, the per- TEXT Whereupon King Resplendent reflected thus: ‘Rare, son achieves a state of exultation in the Buddha Dharma, dignified, extraordinary is the buddha’s body, perfect in its being exquisitely adorned with the joy of pure merit, called supreme, refined coloring!’ “the contemplation of adorned-with-all-pure-merits.”

COMMENTARY Rare. This means to be “uncommon, TEXT “Whereupon he arose in the sky to a height of seldom seen, and therefore to be much appreciated.” seven tala trees and said to that buddha: ‘World-honored

44 Dharma World Spring 2020 One! My two sons have already done a buddha deed by a rather shallow, pat logic that relies only on the phenome- their supernatural transformations, changing my heretical nal aspects of matters. There is without doubt some invisi- mind, establishing me in the Buddha Dharma, and caus- ble thread of cause and condition that connects these two. ing me to see the World-honored One. These two sons are It is even more true that extraordinary cause and con- my good friends, for out of a desire to develop the roots of dition brings us together as parent and child, brother and goodness [planted] in my former lives and to benefit me, sister, as close friends, and as colleagues at work, and above they came and were born in my home.’ all, as good friends, who lead us in spiritual ways and guide us toward the perfection of our character. This is what is COMMENTARY He arose in the sky to a height of seven called great cause and condition. tala trees. The tala, as mentioned earlier, is a kind of palm When we think of this, we can deeply understand the tree. That achieving the contemplation of adorned-with-all- Buddha’s teaching that we should never neglect our parents, pure-merits is an extremely elevated state is shown here in siblings, relatives, friends, masters, pupils, and colleagues, the image of rising in the sky. that is, people we are in close contact with, and moreover, This king’s extremely elevated state is that of having achieved those of the same faith. putting all of his heart and mind into the condition of “emp- tiness.” In other words, it is the state in which he has truly TEXT Great king! Do you see these two sons? These two taken as his own the worldview that all things are equal. It is sons have already paid homage to buddhas sixty-five [times] out of this state of mind that there comes the open-minded the hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of nayutas of way of seeing his children as good friends and good guides. the sands of the Ganges, waiting upon and revering them; This important section is one of the most central of this and among those buddhas received and kept the Dharma chapter. Some very important teachings are contained in Flower Sutra, having compassion for the living with their this short passage, so please read it with deep appreciation. false views, and establishing them in right views.’ “King Resplendent thereupon descended from the sky TEXT “Thereupon the Buddha Thunder Voice Constellation and said to the buddha: ‘World-honored One! Rare indeed King of Wisdom addressed King Resplendent, saying: ‘So is [the sight of] the Tathagata; by his merits and wisdom it is, so it is, it is as you say. Any good son or good daugh- the protuberance on his head shines brilliantly; his eyes are ter, by planting roots of goodness, will in every generation wide [open] and deep blue; the tuft between his eyebrows is obtain good friends, who will be able to do buddha deeds, white as the pearly moon; his teeth are white, even, close, and showing, teaching, profiting, and rejoicing in him, and ever shining; his lips are red and beautiful as bimba fruit.’ causing him to enter into Perfect Enlightenment. Know, great king! A good friend is the great cause and condition COMMENTARY King Resplendent descends from the whereby [men] are converted and led to see the buddha sky and stands upon the earth. This motion signifies a com- and aroused to Perfect Enlightenment. plete change from ideals back to reality. It is important to see the aspect of equality of the true nature of all things in COMMENTARY this world, but one cannot discern the true aspect of things All is due to cause and condition. We really must think unless one is also quite conscious of the aspect of distinc- carefully about cause and condition. There is a proverb that tion that appears in phenomena. says that even the touching of the sleeves of two passersby King Resplendent has until this point looked upon his through a chance meeting is due to the karma of a previous own sons as “good friends” and “good guides” from his life. We pass by one another with no intention whatsoever, standpoint of the view of equality. Now he returns to the and on this earth there are almost five billion people; the aspect of distinction, praising the rarity and sublimity of planet is so huge that we are unable to walk the whole of it the buddha. in an entire lifetime, even if we wanted to. We cannot pos- The buddha said that by virtue of the king’s two sons’ accu- itively say that it is just a chance occurrence that only two mulation of practices in their former lives, the king aspired human beings among those five billion come across each for enlightenment. Then the king replies that although that other at a point on this vast planet. may be true, the ultimate cause of their accumulation of One person, as the result of the accumulation of innu- good karma was the power of the buddha. We must notice merable acts committed to date, has as a matter of course that such a spirit fills these words of praise. come to that particular spot. The other person passes that • The tuft between his eyebrows. It was also mentioned point as a consequence of having to be there, too. To explain in chapter 1, “Introductory,” that the Buddha has a circle their inevitable meeting as a mere accidental concurrence is of white hair between his eyebrows from which he sends

Dharma World Spring 2020 45 forth a ray of light. This is one of the distinguishing phys- At the conclusion of a past-lifetime story about King ical features, well known as the thirty-two primary marks Resplendent’s family, the Tathagata Shakyamuni says the of the Buddha. following. [For further reference, see the September/October 1992 issue, the May/June 1996 issue, and the July/August 1996 TEXT [Shakyamuni] Buddha [then] said to the great assem- issue of Dharma World.] bly: “What is your opinion? This King Resplendent—could • Bimba fruit. The fruit of thebimba tree has such a beau- he be any other person? He is indeed the present Bodhisattva tiful red color that it is likened to the color of ideal lips. Flower Virtue. That Queen Pure Virtue is the Bodhisattva Shining Splendor now in the presence of the Buddha, who TEXT Then, when King Resplendent had extolled that out of compassion for King Resplendent and his people was buddha’s so many merits, countless hundreds of thousands born amongst them. These two sons are the present Medicine of myriads of kotis of them, with all his mind, he folded King Bodhisattva and Medicine Lord Bodhisattva. his hands before the Tathagata and again addressed that buddha, saying: ‘Unprecedented is the World-honored COMMENTARY The Bodhisattva Shining Splendor now One. The Tathagata’s teaching is perfect in its inconceiv- in the presence of the Buddha. In Sanskrit this bodhisatt- able and wonderful merits. The moral precepts that he va’s name is Vairocana-rashmi-pratimandita-dhvaja-raja. promulgates are comforting and quickening. From this day onward I will not again follow my own mind, nor TEXT Those Bodhisattvas Medicine King and Medicine beget false views, nor a haughty, angry, or any other sin- Lord, having perfected such great merits, under countless ful mind.’ Having uttered these words, he did reverence hundred thousand myriad kotis of buddhas, planted vir- to the buddha and went forth.” tuous roots and perfectly attained qualities of goodness beyond conception. If there be anyone who is acquainted COMMENTARY Next he praises and expresses his heart- with the names of these two bodhisattvas, gods and men felt gratitude for the excellence of the buddha’s teachings. in all the world will pay him homage.” • The moral precepts which he promulgates are comforting While the Buddha preached this chapter, “The Story of and quickening. These words are very important. The teach- King Resplendent,” the eighty-four thousand people departed ings of the Buddha are in no way rigid or formal. Nor in from impurity and separated themselves from uncleanli- practicing them does one experience any mental anguish. ness, and acquired pure Dharma-eye in regard to all things. This is because the teachings conform to the essential nature of human beings. COMMENTARY Departed from impurity and separated The reason one may feel them punctilious or feel themselves from uncleanliness. Remaining aloof from impu- pain because of them is due to illusion. It is because of rity and withdrawing from uncleanliness mean the state of the conflict that occurs between our mind of illusion mind that is entirely without the impurities of defilement and the correct teachings. Therefore, if one experiences and the uncleanliness of sin and evil. constraint and anguish, this is proof that illusions still • Acquired pure Dharma-eye in regard to all things. All exist, and one has to defeat those constraints and pangs things referred to here indicate everthing that exists in the through practice. The real significance of religious prac- universe. “Dharma-eye” is one of the so-called five types tice is therein. of vision (see the May/June 2002 issue of Dharma World), As one does this, one will gradually awaken to enlight- meaning the ability to intuitively penetrate and touch the enment and come to feel no resistance at all toward observ- depths of all existences with all one’s physical and men- ing and practicing the teachings of the Buddha. Not only tal forces. that, but one will inevitably come to feel grateful. This is When defilements are completely removed and the the meaning of “The moral precepts which he promulgates mind has become perfectly clear, it can take in vividly are comforting and quickening.” It is a state that is truly to the life that is in everything, whether a plant or a tree, a be welcomed. stone, or some earth. Great poets and painters are in one • From this day onward I will not again follow my own mind. sense rich in such receptivity, so their works touch the Following one’s own mind here means following the mind human heart. of illusion. It is the mind, or mental function, of ordinary In one sense artistic and in another sense religious, the people. It goes without saying that one must obediently fol- pinnacle of this way of seeing things is having what is called low the correct activity of the mind that springs forth from “Dharma-eye.” Thus the pure, perfectly clear condition of the depths of religious faith. that way of seeing is called “pure Dharma-eye.”

46 Dharma World Spring 2020 With this the chapter comes to a close, so let us con- the teachings, however repeatedly we explain to them their sider the important messages of this story. content and however much our explanations may satisfy them intellectually, it will not lead to any practical result The meaning of miracles. First, we must ponder the true unless we change our attitudes in our daily life. meaning of the two sons’ showing their father many kinds We can spout fine words to outsiders, but within our of miracles (supernatural deeds). This does not mean that families we reveal our true selves. The true importance of they were enabled by means of the Buddha’s teachings to the family is that it is a place where one can relax unen- display supernatural deeds, nor that they stimulated their cumbered by pretentiousness and where one can refresh father’s curiosity by showing him such deeds. Their per- spiritually, so it is difficult to maintain pretensions and forming various supernatural deeds means that they com- affectations. When our family members see us acting con- pletely changed both their character and their actions in trary to what we say, they will say, “The teaching may be daily life by studying and believing the Buddha Dharma. good, but it couldn’t be that good if you believe it and still Their showing such deeds to their father means that by act like that.” their deeds they proved to him the true value of the Buddha It would seem to be easy for us to lead the members Dharma and led him to be inspired to the aspiration for of our family to the Buddha’s teachings, but in reality it Perfect Enlightenment. is most difficult. We find it especially difficult in cases where a son leads his father to the teachings or a wife Living by the example is the best way to lead others. When leads her husband. we attempt to lead others to the teachings of the Buddha, A father or a husband holds authority of a kind in the none will follow us only through hearing us praise the family. Unlike a young and naive son, who has little expe- teachings. We must graphically present to them the reason rience in worldly affairs or life’s hardships, older men have that the Buddha’s teachings are worshipful. Therefore, it is gained experience in the ways of the world, have a strong important for us to explain the content of the teachings. sense of self, and stubbornly hold to their own view of life Further, to others’ satisfaction we must elucidate the teach- depending on their experience. Because of their sense of ings according to their level of understanding—sometimes authority and their fixed ideas, even if they feel the teach- simply, sometimes theoretically, sometimes by using pop- ings to be basically good, they cannot bring themselves to ular parables, and sometimes in light of modern science. believe in them, much less act upon them. But the quickest and simplest way to lead others to Although nothing of King Resplendent’s character was the Buddha Dharma is to justify the teachings by our own presented in the story, he may be considered a model of demonstration of them. Our first consideration is to show the typical father. others living evidence that we have changed in this way since believing in the Buddha Dharma and practicing it. Passionately idealistic youths and the wisdom of their There is no more powerful or direct way of leading others. mother. The two royal sons filled with idealism merely To those whom we seldom see or with whom we have regretted that their father had different ideas and embraced a limited time together, however, we cannot show such a different faith, but then their wise mother entered the living evidence unless we have decisive evidence, such as situation. recovery from a disease, a favorable change in our circum- Their mother never told her sons to reason with their stances, a brightening in our expression, or how we have father directly, because she foresaw that such attempts become so kind to others that they hardly recognize us. It would produce the opposite of the desired result. Nor did is this kind of instantly recognizable change that inspires she attempt to intercede between her husband and sons. the admiration of others. This is because she did not think it permissible, with her On the other hand, members of our families living moderate attitude, to act as an intermediary in the serious, together can sense clearly even little changes in our every- spiritual matter of faith. day actions and attitudes—our speech and attitude toward Instead the wise mother suggested that her sons show our parents, brothers, sisters, and those outside our fami- their father concrete evidence of the results of their prac- lies. If we change through believing in the Buddha’s teach- tice of their faith. Actually, they revealed to their father the ings, they will notice a great change in us. Such evidence wonderfulness of the teachings in all aspects of life. will certainly influence each member of the family. Father with a flexible mind. King Resplendent was a good Leading members of the family. To put it the other way father. Although on the surface he appeared to have firmly around, in leading and guiding members of our family to established notions, underneath he had a mind that was

Dharma World Spring 2020 47 receptive and flexible. As a consequence, when he saw the consider, as a matter of reality, the great extent to which the evidence shown by his sons, he recognized it with good grace. right faith of a leader affects the people serving under him. Faith is basically an individual matter and is apt to What it means to be surprised. Surprise is evidence become impure when it interferes with authority and, con- of flexibility of mind. It was the Japanese novelist and versely, when political affairs interfere with it. Faith ought poet Doppo Kunikida (1871–1908) who expressed this to be something that arises from one’s inmost thoughts, when he wrote that he always wanted to be surprised by and any kind of power or influence on it should not be nature. Such flexibility is characteristic of a mind that imposed externally. is growing. It is greatly significant and noble that King However, we cannot conclude that the great influ- Resplendent was frankly surprised on seeing the mirac- ence that the faith of a leader has on people is neces- ulous acts of his sons. sarily the result of some kind of authority or power. Most fathers, shown such impressive evidence, would Some may think that people in subordinate positions criticize it on one pretext or another and try to trip up would follow the faith of their leader in order to flat- the son over some trivial point, dependent on their estab- ter their superior, or from obsequiousness. But this is a lished notions. Moreover, they would certainly not aban- disingenuous way of thinking. It is quite natural that if don ideas and beliefs that they had embraced so firmly a man is a leader who is really respected and trusted by in the past. Although they might actually be inwardly others, his actions will naturally exert great influence impressed by what they have been shown, they would upon many people. hesitate to admit it, feeling that to do so would dimin- All people are equal before the Buddha Way. As disci- ish their prestige. ples of the Buddha, a commoner is equal to a great king. The attitude of King Resplendent is admirable indeed. In terms of potential influence, however, a commoner’s He did not cling to his authority and was not concerned aspiration for enlightenment cannot be compared to that about his position, but more than anything else revered of a great king. Therefore the Buddha Thunder Voice the truth and revered those who transmitted the truth. Constellation King of Wisdom was absolutely delighted That is why he called his two sons his good friends. King with King Resplendent’s aspiration for enlightenment Resplendent, who as king had no equal in power and as and immediately gave a prediction to him about his a father had absolute authority in the family, had such future attainment of Perfect Enlightenment. a frank and open mind that he was able to call his sons Whether male or female, an exceptional leader who has good friends. We cannot help admiring his attitude of a large following should embrace the correct faith. But it venerating only the truth. should not be forced upon subordinates. If the leader can deal fairly with them in the workplace, with the virtue and Renouncing the world in the aspect of mind. Thus the dignity and vigor of correct faith, his fine personality will problem of faith within the family of the king was resolved surely have a positive influence, just as the scent of per- in a satisfactory way. All the members of the king’s fam- fume smells good to everyone, and naturally penetrates ily joined the correct faith of Buddhism and entered into into everything in the vicinity. religious lives with joy and religious exaltation. His was This chapter thus touches upon many important matters an ideal family. (or challenges) that we must consider seriously in actual life. Still, doubts are bound to arise as to whether a fam- We should take the various characters as models, appreci- ily will collapse if its members renounce the world. The ating the attitudes of the king’s family members in accor- act of King Resplendent, his wife, his two sons, and the dance with their positions. The attitude of King Resplendent others renouncing the world symbolizes that they were is an example of that which a person engaged in politics emancipated from defilements by the Buddha Dharma. or national leadership should take toward the Truth (the In other words, “renouncing the world” was a matter Wonderful Dharma); the deeds of the two royal sons, Pure of mind rather than the actual entering of the priest- Treasury and Pure-Eyed, show how children may open their hood. This chapter is a valuable teaching for lay believ- parent’s eyes to faith (this also applies to a wife’s opening ers, so if this is misunderstood, the entire chapter will her husband’s eyes to faith); and Queen Pure Virtue is a be misconstrued. model of the attitude a mother ought to take in mediat- ing between progressive sons and a conservative father in The faith of leaders. Another important point of this chap- regard to the Truth. ter is that the faith of King Resplendent influenced his minis- ters, retinue, and the people of his country. We must seriously To be continued

48 Dharma World Spring 2020 A Sublime Buddhist Classic Newly Translated for Today’s World

Th e Lotus Sutra has been one of the foremost scrip- Th e Th reefold Lotus Sutra: A Modern Translation tures of Mahayana Buddhism since the appear- for Contemporary Readers is the fi rst English ver- ance of its superb translation into Chinese by sion of this religious classic tailored to the essen- Kumarajiva in 406 CE. Over the ensuing centu- tial Buddhist practice of daily sutra recitation. In ries, this centerpiece of the three sutras composing addition to providing an accurate translation faith- the Th reefold Lotus Sutra has thoroughly spread ful to the original text and following the standard throughout East Asian civilization. defi nitions of key Buddhist terminology, this inno- vative Th reefold Lotus Sutra breaks new ground by employing more inclusive language to refl ect present-day concepts of equality and human dig- nity in an increasingly diversifi ed world.

Translated by Michio Shinozaki, Brook A. Ziporyn, and David C. Earhart

526 pp., 5.5 x 8.5 in., Glossary ISBN: 978-4-333-00692-2 25.00 USD for paperback 17.39 USD for eBook

Rissho Kosei-kai International Fumon Media Center 2-7-1 Wada, Suginami-ku Tokyo 166-8537, Japan E-mail: [email protected] Rissho Kosei-kai International Fumon Media Center 3F, 2-7-1 Wada, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 166-8537, Japan Tel: +81-3-5341-1124 Fax: +81-3-5341-1224 Website: www.rk-world.org/ E-mail: [email protected]