Religions for Peace Japan

First World Assembly in Kyoto, 

 
   Sixth World Assembly in Rome Japan, 1970 and Riva del Garda, Italy, 1994 Religions for Peace was established in 1970 as an international nongovernmental organization. It obtained general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 1999. As an international network of religious communities encompassing over ninety countries, the Religions for Peace family engages in conflict resolution, humanitarian assistance, and other peace-building activities through dialogue and coop- eration across religions. Second World Assembly in Religions for Peace Japan was established in 1972 as a commit- Seventh World Assembly in Leuven, Belgium, 1974 tee for the international issues supported by Japanese Association Amman, Jordan, 1999 of Religious Organizations. Since then it has served as the national chapter of Religions for Peace.  1. Calling on religious communities to deeply reflect on their practices, address any that are exclusionary in nature, and engage in dialogue with one another in the spirit of toler- ance and understanding. Third World Assembly in 2. Facilitating multireligious collaboration in making peace Eighth World Assembly in Princeton, the United States, 1979 initiatives. Kyoto, Japan, 2006 3.Working with peace organizations in all sectors and coun- tries to address global issues. 4. Implementing religiously based peace education and aware- ness-raising activities.  ! Religions for Peace Japan promotes activities under the slogan: “Caring for Our Common Future: Advancing Shared Well-Being,” which include cooperating and collaborating with Religions for Fourth World Assembly in Ninth World Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, 1984 Peace and Religions for Peace Asia; participating in the Non- Vienna, Austria, 2013 Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference; cooperating and collaborating with both international and local faith-based organ- izations; and building networks with various sectors (politics, economics, academics, culture, media, and so forth). Religions for Peace Japan also promotes various programs related to peace education that include hosting peace research seminars and peace university symposiums.

Fifth World Assembly in The fiftieth anniversary ceremony of Religions for Peace Japan Tenth World Assembly in Melbourne, Australia, 1989 will be held in November in Kyoto. Lindau, Germany, 2019

Religions for Peace Japan Different Faith, Common Action Fumon Media Center 3rd Floor, 2-7-1 Wada, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 166-8531 E-mail: [email protected] SPRING 2021, VOL. 48

FEATURES: What Is Prayer?

2 Prayer in Rissho Kosei-kai and the Power of the Sangha Dharma World presents Buddhism by Takanori Kumano as a practical living religion and 3 Contemplating Prayer promotes interreligious dialogue by David R. Loy for world peace. It espouses views 6 A Shin Buddhist Perspective that emphasize the dignity of life, on Prayer: Petitionary Prayers seeks to rediscover our inner nature and bring our lives more in accord and Prayers for Buddhist Photo: Gaynor Sekimori with it, and investigates causes of Awakening human suff ering. It tries to show by Kenneth K. Tanaka how religious principles help solve 10 Th e Christian Meaning of problems in daily life and how the Prayer as Intercession least application of such principles by Juan Masiá has wholesome eff ects on the world around us. It seeks to demonstrate 14 Revisiting “Homage to Hell, the truths that are fundamental to all Great Bodhisattva” Today religions, truths on which all people by Masaki Matsubara can act. 18 Prayer in Shugendo by Gaynor Sekimori Publisher: Keiichi Akagawa 22 Prayer as Action: Buddhist Priests During COVID-19 in Japan Director: Naoki Taketani by Levi McLaughlin Senior Editor: Kazumasa Osaka 26 Editor: Katsuyuki Kikuchi What Is Prayer? by Tomoshi Okuda Editorial Advisors: Dominick Scarangello, Miriam 29 Zen Prayer? Maybe, Maybe Not Levering, Michio T. Shinozaki by Pamela D. Winfi eld Copy Editors: DeAnna Satre, Stephen Comee, 32 Catherine Szolga Prayer in Rissho Kosei-kai by Dominick Scarangello Editorial Staff : Kensuke Osada, Mariko Kawamoto 39 People Who Bring Joy to Others Subscription Staff : Kazuyo Okazaki by Nichiko Niwano Layout and Design: Abinitio Design 40 Th e Th ree Pillars of the Lotus Sutra by Nikkyo Niwano

Cover: THE THREEFOLD LOTUS SUTRA: A MODERN COMMENTARY Photos: Shutterstock.com Photoshop work by Abinitio Design 43 Th e Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law Chapter 28: Encouragement of the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue (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 © 2021 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

Prayer in Rissho Kosei-kai and the Power of the Sangha by Takanori Kumano

Takanori Kumano is director of the Prayer is a wish, an expression of love and hope for a Dharma Dissemination Department of change for the better in the situation in which we and others Rissho Kosei-kai in Tokyo. ¿QGRXUVHOYHV

It is hardly any exaggeration to say that when our sangha friends fi nd themselves More than a prayer or a wish, this our life is bound together by prayer. We hard-pressed, we join our hearts and pray was a rigorous vow of self-refl ection pray whether or not we have a faith. together. I wonder how many people have as well as an off ering to the gods and And at the same time, our lives are sup- been heartened and given courage by the the buddhas. Th is was a prayer off ered ported by prayer. sincere prayers of the sangha. Prayer is by a person of religion, full of love for When we are born, our parents and powerful, certainly not unreliable. humanity. It was not as if any single prob- family pray that all will go well. As we In his book Cultivating the Buddhist lem caused by the pandemic is some- grow, they pray for our healthy devel- Heart, President Nichiko Niwano writes: one else’s but one that concerns us all. opment: when we start to crawl, they “For Buddhists, prayer is the same as It was as if all prayers and wishes had pray for us to stand up, and when we what is called a vow, and both are at the become a single thought that echoed stand up, they pray for us to walk. As core of our being” ([Kosei Publishing, throughout the three thousand realms. we grow older, they pray that we will be 2008], 93). We are believers, and as such can’t successful in our exams, and when we On April 1, 2020, at 10 p.m., make vaccines or provide cures. But we become adults we pray for things such President-designate Kosho Niwano can refl ect on our daily lives, feeling that as our job, our marriage, and the birth off ered a prayer for the whole world the world is connected to us, and pray that of our children. When we become ill, from Rissho Kosei-kai’s headquarters in we might be able to fulfi ll the Buddha’s our family prays that operations and Tokyo. In response to the spread of the wishes. Prayer leads to action. I hope treatment will be successful and that we coronavirus, the International Council that if there is someone close to us who will be able to overcome our many tri- of Religions for Peace, broadcasting live is suff ering, we will be able to listen to als. At the end, they pray for the repose on social media, connected people of what they have to say and give them the of our souls. religion from diff erent countries to orga- courage to live together with us through Prayer is a wish, an expression of nize the Interfaith Moment of Hope and the many hardships of life. ≥ love and hope for a change for the bet- Solidarity in the Time of COVID-19. ter in the situation in which we and oth- Aft er reciting the daimoku three ers fi nd ourselves. We can say it is life’s times, President-designate Niwano activity itself as, both praying and being recited the words of the prayer: “When prayed for, we try to live through the we have to cancel plans to go out with many painful moments of life together. friends, may we have compassion for How we perceive the power of prayer those who have to work outside the may vary. As I did when I was young, home to make ends meet. When we many probably feel that prayer is unre- are stressed staying at home all day, Some nine hundred delegates and guests of liable and that prayer alone solves noth- may we remember those who have no the Tenth World Assembly of Religions for Peace, which was held on August 19–23, ing. However, the sincere prayers of a safe place to stay. When our country 2019, in Lindau, Germany, took part in an person of faith are beautiful and pow- is ruled by fear, may our bright smiles interreligious and spiritual ceremony at the erful. In Rissho Kosei-kai, for example, be like lights shining in the darkness.” island town’s Luitpold Park on August 20.

2 Dharma World Spring 2021 FEATURES

Contemplating Prayer by David R. Loy

David R. Loy is a professor, a writer, Although theistic prayer is often petitionary (“God, please do and a Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen WKLV´ LQDZD\WKDWDVVXPHV*RGLVVHSDUDWHIURPXVLV tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism. there another way to understand prayer? Aren’t there other +HLVDSUROL¿FDXWKRUZKRVHHVVD\V ways to pray? and books have been translated into many languages. He teaches nationally and internationally on What Is the Role of bowed to are both, by nature, empty.” various topics, focusing primarily on Prayer in Buddhism? Th e one who prays and the one who is the encounter between Buddhism and prayed to are also both empty, accord- modernity and what each can learn In order to understand the role of prayer ing to Buddhist teachings. from the other. See www.davidloy.org. in Buddhism, we must fi rst understand So a dualistic way of understand- what prayer is. A common defi nition ing prayer seems incompatible with (and simplistic) version of one religion is that prayer is a form of communica- Buddhism, but is there another way to with a more sophisticated (theological tion between humans and some higher understand the “higher power” that is or philosophical) version of another reli- power—which naturally leads to a fur- prayed to? Larry Dossey, a physician gion (as one’s own is usually perceived). ther question: what is a higher power? who has researched and written about Th e result supposedly reveals that the lat- Abrahamic religions such as Judaism, the eff ectiveness of prayer, understands ter is superior to the former, but in fact Christianity, and Islam believe that an prayer in a slightly diff erent way: “Prayer such comparisons are unfair and mis- omnipotent, all-loving God created is communication with the Absolute.” leading. When we remember that both everything. Although this God created Th e concept of an Absolute (the ulti- Buddhism and Christianity are complex us, God has an existence separate from mate, unrestricted, perfect—literally, and diverse traditions, with a great vari- us, so we can appeal to such a God and “the Unconditioned”) is more compatible ety of teachings and practices adapted ask for something. with Buddhism because it does not dis- to the needs of diff erent types of believ- From a Buddhist perspective, how- tinguish between a personal creator God ers at diff erent stages in their spiritual ever, such an understanding is dualistic and a more impersonal ultimate reality development, then the various meanings and delusive. What Th ich Nhat Hanh (for example, nirvana, or the Pure Land). and roles of prayer can become clearer. says about bowing also applies to pray- Th at leaves open the possibility of a more Th e types of Buddhism that have ing: “A prostration based on the percep- nearly nondual relationship between spread beyond Asia and become popu- tion that Buddha has a separate self from those who pray and that which they pray lar in the globalized modern world usually your own, and that you have a self sepa- to. And it also creates a bridge—a rela- emphasize some form of meditation—for rate from the Buddha, can only be called tionship—between prayer and the med- example, zazen in Zen—while overlook- superstition.” When we bow or pray to itation practices that Buddhist teachings ing or minimizing the role of devotional an image of the Buddha or a bodhisattva, more oft en emphasize. practices that work more directly with the we should remember that such physi- Although theistic prayer is oft en peti- emotions than with the conceptualizing cal objects or mental visualizations are tionary (“God, please do this . . .”) in a intellect. In its original Asian homelands, only symbols that point to something way that assumes God is separate from however, buddhas and celestial bodhi- beyond themselves—to something that us, is there another way to understand sattvas have long been important objects cannot actually be depicted, because prayer? Aren’t there other ways to pray? A of devotion, and this is especially true “the one who bows and the one who is common mistake is to compare a popular for Pure Land Buddhism, which oft en

Dharma World Spring 2021 3 emphasizes recitation of a buddha’s or Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk, involves letting go not only of desire bodhisattva’s name (e.g., Om Amitofo) mystic, and writer who was once asked, but also of all thoughts. In her book in ways that can lead to salvation via “How do you pray?” He replied: “I pray by The Heart of Centering Prayer, Cynthia rebirth in Amida’s Pure Land. In Tibetan breathing.” This can mean many different Bourgeault describes the process: Buddhism a comparable practice, recit- things, but none of them involves peti- ing Om mani padme hum, which is the tioning God to do something. Instead, it Resist no thought mantra of Avalokiteshvara (in Japan, invites comparison with the wide variety Retain no thought Kannon), is probably the most popular of Buddhist meditative techniques that React to no thought Buddhist activity. In both cases, repeti- involve focusing on the breath in one Return ever so gently to the sacred tion of the sacred phrase can eventually way or another. When Larry Dossey was word take on a life of its own, operating less asked why he prayed, he quoted a Chinese as a way to gain salvation (the means to saying: “A bird does not sing because it’s It is difficult to distinguish such some other goal) and more as a self-suf- looking for an answer. It sings because it prayer from the zazen that I learned and ficient, hence self-transformative, devo- has a song. When I pray, I’m just singing practiced as a Zen student. Moreover, tional exercise. my song.” The thirteenth-century Zen although the language is obviously An even better example of overlap- master Eihei Dogen said something sim- very different from the terminology of ping spiritual functions is Tibetan deity ilar about zazen: it is not the means to Mahayana Buddhism, the fruit of devo- practice. At the beginning, yogis visu- something else, such as enlightenment, tion to the Centering Prayer, as explained alize and pray to a deity who is usually but a natural manifestation of our inher- here by Bourgeault, has deep resonance sitting or standing in front of them. ent buddha nature. with the goal of Zen meditation: (The Sanskrit term usually translated as In contrast to Western Christianity, “prayer,” pranidhana [or pranidhi], lit- which has emphasized accepting Jesus As I see it, the purpose of Centering erally means “to set something down in Christ as one’s savior, Eastern Orthodox Prayer is to deepen your relationship front.”) Such deities are understood to Christianity has long advocated that we with God (and at the same time your embody perfection, in contrast to one’s ourselves should become Christlike—in own deepest self) in that bandwidth own faults and character flaws. At this other words, the focus is more on one’s of formless, objectless awareness that stage the practice seems dualistic, but own personal transformation. What is is the foundation of nondual con- the deeper goal is to visualize oneself as known as the Jesus Prayer (or, more sciousness. There you discover that the deity, experiencing its perfection as simply, The Prayer) suggests comparison you, God, and the world “out there” the inherent purity of one’s own bud- with the Pure Land and Tibetan are not separate entities, but flow dha nature. In the final stage, one allows practices mentioned above: believers together seamlessly in an unbreak- the visualized form of the deity to dis- are encouraged to recite “Lord Jesus able dynamism of self-giving love, solve into emptiness, and one’s mind Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” which is the true nature of reality rests in its own nature. So this practice Again, the content of the prayer seems and the ground of everything. begins dualistically and then becomes dualistic, but the function of simply nondual, but at the conclusion “form repeating it, over and over again, can The Only Prayer is emptiness.” We could say that in the be self-transformative in a way similar We Need? process, prayer, too, transmutes from to the effects of Buddhist meditation. a focus on something external to one- The point of such contemplative prayer If the only prayer you ever say is “thank self into a meditation that leads to real- is not simply to know Christ or to love you,” that is enough. izing something about one’s own true Christ but to “empty” oneself (kenosis) as — Meister Eckhart nature. Such prayer is not about asking Christ did (Philippians 2:7) and thereby for something but a practice that, as follow the example of the disciple Paul: According to the Dalai Lama, “the roots occurs in other types of Buddhist med- “I have been crucified with Christ and of all goodness lie in the appreciation itation, involves self-transformation. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” of gratitude,” but it has taken me a long It is no coincidence, I think, that the (Galatians 2:20). time to appreciate the importance of that same spectrum of prayer/contemplative Recently another type of Christian appreciation. Of course it is good to be practices can also be found in the main contemplative prayer has become grateful, so what is the point of empha- Abrahamic traditions. Given the limita- popular in the West, usually known sizing something so obvious? Eventually tions on the length of this article, I will as Centering Prayer. In contrast to all I realized something that had not been focus on Christianity, beginning with types of petitionary prayer, this practice obvious before, at least to me: gratitude

4 Dharma World Spring 2021 is not just something you feel, or not, important because we live in a culture beings. That this concern arises spon- but another transformative spiritual that does not encourage us to be grate- taneously—nondually—does not make practice. “The day I acquired the habit ful. In fact, we are encouraged—more it any less of a commitment. of consciously pronouncing the words than that, we are conditioned by adver- The connection with gratitude ‘thank you,’ I felt I had gained posses- tising—not to be grateful: consumerism may not be obvious, but it is deep: sion of a magic wand capable of trans- requires some dissatisfaction, because if the self-transformation that genuine forming everything” (Omraam Mikhael people are happy with what they have, gratitude fosters naturally wants to Aivanhov). Especially oneself. then they are less concerned about get- express itself as a generosity of spirit, The Roman orator Cicero declared ting more. But why is more and more a less self-centered way of living in the that gratitude is not only the greatest always better if it can never be enough? world. Read together, the two prayers virtue but the parent of all the others. “If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s that follow remind us that the ripened The Christian mystic Meister Eckhart got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what fruit of both prayer and meditation can said it best: to cultivate gratitude is the he’s going to get” (Frank A. Clark). be much the same: the basic orienta- best way to pray. The English word gratitude derives tion and meaning of one’s life changes. In the Metta Sutta in the Pali Canon, from the Latin gratis, meaning “for the Buddha recommends metta prac- thanks,” in the sense of “for nothing Lord, make me an instrument of tice. In one popular version, the prac- else in return, without recompense.” your peace, titioner radiates metta (“may all beings We still use the term gratis in English Where there is hatred, let me sow be safe and happy”) in all directions, today, meaning that something is given love; starting with oneself—“may I be secure freely or free of charge. Insofar as we are Where there is injury, pardon; and happy”—and afterward extends the thankful, we participate in a gift econ- Where there is doubt, faith; focus to include family and friends, fol- omy (sharing what we have) rather than Where there is despair, hope; lowed by acquaintances, then people the exchange economy (when we pay Where there is darkness, light; we dislike, and finally all beings in the for what we receive). Exchange empha- Where there is sadness, joy. universe. As Buddhist teachers like to sizes our separateness: transaction con- O Divine Master, point out, the one who benefits most cluded, we go our own ways. Gratitude Grant that I may not so much seek from this practice is the person who reinforces our connectedness: appreci- to be consoled, as to console; does it, because it purifies our motiva- ation binds us together. To be understood, as to understand; tions and therefore our ways of relat- The Benedictine monk David Steindl- To be loved, as to love. ing to other people. Rast sums up why gratitude is the best For it is in giving that we receive. Something similar happens with grat- prayer: “We are not grateful because It is in pardoning that we are itude practice. As Sarah Ban Breathnach we are happy, we are happy because we pardoned, expresses it, “Gratitude bestows rever- are grateful.” And it is in dying that we are born ence, allowing us to encounter everyday to Eternal Life. epiphanies, those transcendent moments Two Bodhisattva (attributed to Saint Francis) of awe that change forever how we expe- Prayers rience life (is it abundant or is it lack- May I become at all times, both now ing?) and the world (is it friendly or is In conclusion, I offer two favorite and forever it hostile?).” There are two aspects to prayers—which are in fact the same A protector for those without gratitude: appreciation of something, prayer, I think, despite the fact that the protection and thankfulness directed to its source first one appeals to God, whereas the A guide for those who have lost or cause. As we habitually reflect on all second is more a vow to oneself. More their way the things we can be grateful for, the two important than that difference is that A ship for those with oceans to cross merge and become a facet of our charac- both are expressions of what might be A bridge for those with rivers to cross ter. Psychological studies have confirmed called highest intention. Thomas Keating, A sanctuary for those in danger that depressives improve when they end one of the founders of Centering Prayer, A lamp for those without light each day by writing down things they emphasized that “Centering Prayer is A place of refuge for those who lack are grateful for that happened that day. done not with attention but with inten- shelter In such exercises means and ends, the tion.” We are reminded of bodhicitta, And a servant to all in need. practice and its fruit, become the same the wish to attain enlightenment, moti- (Shantideva, A Guide to the thing. This way of praying is all the more vated by great compassion for all sentient Bodhisattva’s Way of Life) ≥

Dharma World Spring 2021 5 FEATURES

A Shin Buddhist Perspective on Prayer: Petitionary Prayers and Prayers for Buddhist Awakening by Kenneth K. Tanaka

the societal and existential types of dif- ,QWKLVUHDOPRIVDূVƗUD WKHF\FOHRIELUWKVDQGGHDWKV  fi culty in order to deal with the suff er- ZHDUHXQDEOHWRHOLPLQDWHDOOWKHGLI¿FXOWLHVRIOLIHRQWKH ing (du˕kha) they caused. KRUL]RQWDOOHYHOVRDVWRJHWWKLQJVWRJRRXUZD\6RZKDWLV Today in Buddhist Asia, many peo- FDOOHGIRULVWRFXOWLYDWHWKHYHUWLFDOSDWK ple visit the temples to carry out peti- tionary prayers to deal with both types of diffi culty, societal and existential. Preface spread out in space as well as extending Some pray for good health for them- back in time. And these things that hap- selves, a cure for their loved one’s ill- Because prayer is such a personal mat- pen to us can be what we like, dislike, ness, and a speedy recovery from the ter, I feel more comfortable sharing my or are indiff erent to (akin to feelings, or pandemic. Others go to calm their anxi- personal thoughts on what prayer means vedanā, as found in the early Buddhist eties by praying, for example, for success to me as it unfolds in my life. So for this teaching of the fi ve skandhas, or aggre- in college entrance exams, realization essay, I shall not be doing an academic gates). And when they are what we dis- of a romantic relationship, or victory discussion on what prayer might mean like, we call them diffi culties. in their next athletic match. in general for humankind or engage in Th ese diffi culties include economic Critics may belittle these petition- a comparative analysis of prayer involv- recessions, natural disasters, wars, and ary prayers as deviating from the origi- ing other religions. pandemics such as Covid-19, which nal intent of Buddhism, but I am more I would like to defi ne “prayer” as “a has wreaked havoc on the entire world sympathetic. Life is truly a bumpy road. mental act of seeking within oneself or since early 2020 and continues into Dreadfully diffi cult things happen to us asking some higher power for an aim this year. Th ey constitute diffi culties that are oft en no fault of our own. As of to be fulfi lled.” Hence, “prayer” implies that are societal in nature. Further, on the end of 2020, about 84 million peo- a lack and, thus, a yearning to fi ll that this horizontal level, there is another ple worldwide had been infected by the lack. And in this context, prayers can be type of diffi culty that is existential in coronavirus, 1.8 million had died from categorized into two types: (1) petition- nature, which includes birth, aging, the pandemic, and billions of people ary prayers and (2) prayers for Buddhist illness, and death. It is these diffi cul- had been severely impacted by the loss awakening. Th ese operate on the hori- ties that the original teachings of the of jobs, the reduction of their income, zontal and vertical levels, respectively Buddha were most concerned with. and damage to their physical or men- (see illustration below). However, as Buddhism evolved into tal health. a world religion, it responded to both On a personal note, as I write this Two Types of Prayer essay, my family is facing a situation where a family member who is only in Petitionary prayers are carried out on her early thirties is undergoing treat- the horizontal level, which represents ment for a life-threatening illness. Just the objective real world in which we this week we received very disappointing live. It includes that part of our lives news that the treatment is not working that involve our family, school, work, and she will have to undergo another community, country, and so on. On this round. Th is entails chemotherapy, loss level, things happen to us because of of hair, and nearly a month of hospi- innumerable causes and conditions that talization. And there is no guarantee of

6 Dharma World Spring 2021 Dr. Kenneth Tanaka has pursued advanced education at several universities in Japan and the United States, as well as serving as a resident Shin priest for three years and teaching at the XQLYHUVLW\OHYHOIRUWKLUW\¿YH\HDUV+HLVWKHUHFLSLHQWRIWKHWZHQW\VHYHQWK1DNDPXUD+DMLPH (DVWHUQ6WXG\3UL]HDZDUGHGWRVFKRODUVZKRGLVWLQJXLVKWKHPVHOYHVLQWKH¿HOGRI,QGLDQDQG Buddhist studies. Dr. Tanaka has written numerous books on Buddhism, his most recent being Jewels: An Introduction to American Buddhism, which is aimed at the younger generation as well DVIRUWKH³\RXQJDWKHDUW´,WVSGIYHUVLRQFDQEHGRZQORDGHGIUHHRIFKDUJHDWKWWSVZZZ EGNDPHULFDRUJERRNMHZHOVLQWURGXFWLRQEXGGKLVP\RXWKVFRXWVDQG\RXQJKHDUW

recovery because the donor blood for encounter. In one of the prefectures far the next transplant, just as in the first from Tokyo, I met a priest of another treatment, is merely a half match and Buddhist school whose temple was thriv- not a full match. The entire family is ing. The temple had hired seven priests to doing all it can to support her, and she conduct services, with the primary aim seems optimistic. Nevertheless, at this of seeking worldly benefits. I knew that stage there is nothing that I personally this prefecture had a large percentage of can do except pray. And as I do, I am Shin Buddhist followers, so I asked the fully aware that I am engaged in a peti- priest, “There are many Shin Buddhists tionary prayer. in your area, aren’t there?” I was imply- ing that because there were so many Shin Buddhist View of Shin Buddhists, the need for a secu- Petitionary Prayer lar-benefit-oriented service would be very low. But the priest’s answer caught In Shin Buddhism (also known as Jōdo me by surprise. He replied, “Yes, there Shinshū), the orthodox doctrine rejects are. And that’s why the demand for our any act of petitionary prayer, following services is strong. So we are thankful!” the clear statements made by Shinran The priest explained that because the Alamy / PPS Photo: (1173–1263), the founder of the school. Shin priests and temples do not pro- A portrait of Shinran. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk. Kamakura period (1185– Today, at the large Shin temples in Kyoto, vide such services for their members, 1333). Nara National Museum. Important you will not find any sales of the amu- many Shin Buddhists come to his tem- Cultural Property. lets, paper fortune slips, or good-luck ple to seek them. So he had, in essence, charms that you often see at temples far less competition. This tells us that Shin priest: What benefits do you of other Buddhist schools or at Shinto even some members of Shin Buddhist hope to get from a blessing? shrines. Also, no services are conducted families seek to have petitionary prayers Stephen: I want nothing bad to to pray for protection from malevolent done to deal with the societal and exis- happen to my brand-new car. spirits or for enhancing the chances of tential anxieties experienced in the hor- Shin priest: We don’t normally worldly benefits. In fact, the Shin orga- izontal dimension of their lives. do blessings, since they go against nizations have clearly articulated their I will share another anecdote, this our teachings, but if you really insist, strong opposition to any involvement one from a Shin temple in California, I shall do it as a pastoral service to in secular benefits and what they con- US. Stephen was not a member of the give you peace of mind. sider superstitious activities. They have temple but had attended bazaars and A few weeks later, Stephen placed this doctrine at the center of their basketball games at the temple and thus returns, really upset, to tell the priest self-identity as Shin Buddhists. This may knew the priest there. Stephen came that the car was stolen. surprise many readers, given the image to seek a blessing to be done. The fol- Stephen: Reverend, my car was of Shin Buddhism as being devotional lowing is the gist of their conversation. stolen yesterday! I feel that your in nature for the commoners, and sim- blessing didn’t work. ilar to popular religion. Stephen: Reverend, I’d like to Shin priest: I’m very sorry to To confirm this, I’d like to share an request that you do a blessing for hear that, but that blessing doesn’t interesting and somewhat humorous my brand-new car. work for stolen cars; it works only

Dharma World Spring 2021 7 for preventing the car from getting into an accident.

This episode illustrates the preva- lence among many people to turn to religion to ward off potential difficulties on the horizontal level. However, in my understanding, Buddhism—or any reli- gion for that matter—cannot fully con- trol societal and existential difficulties. Yes, it is true that our efforts can influ- ence some things, such as the quality of our human relationship with others, but they pale in comparison with mat- ters that are beyond our control. Thus, what is important in Buddhism is not Photo: Ben Weller / AFLO / Photo: Ben Weller what happens to us but how we expe- People tie omikuji, paper fortune slips, at Kawasaki Daishi, a Shingon Buddhist temple in rience life. So in this case, religion can- Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, on January 3, 2016. not prevent the car from being stolen or even from getting in an accident, “Difficulties are inevitable, but suffer- of her child. She goes to the Buddha for but Buddhism can help us deal better, ing is optional.” help and is encouraged to fetch a hand- mentally and spiritually, with the diffi- ful of mustard seeds from a house that culties that do come our way. Prayers for Buddhist had never experienced death. Kisagotamī Hence, Shin teachings are concerned Awakening finds that all the households had mus- with the second type of prayer, which I tard seeds but had also experienced am calling prayers for Buddhist awaken- This fundamental Buddhist position that death in the family. No household had ing. This is concerned with the vertical difficulties are inevitable is symbolized escaped death. As the sun began to set, dimension, which helps us cultivate a in the famous story “Kisagotamī and Kisagotamī awakens to the truth that mind that responds with less suffering the Mustard Seed.” Kisagotamī was the death is universal and no family could to events on the horizontal level. This mother of a young child who suddenly escape it. is reflected in the now popular saying, died. She is unable to accept the death Here the Buddha does not intervene to carry out a miracle to bring the child back to life. Instead, what did he do? He led the young mother to realize and awaken to the truth of impermanence. The story concludes with Kisagotamī becoming a nun as Buddha’s disciple; this meant that she had acted on her prayer for Buddhist awakening. And her prayer was eventually answered, for the story goes on to tell us that she realized full awakening as a highly accomplished nun. She had fulfilled the ultimate aim of all Buddhists, awakening. The fundamental Buddhist position symbolized by the Kisagotamī story is also in keeping with the position of Shin Buddhism, which aims to be fully com- Photo: AP Photo: AP / AFLO A Buddhist priest offers New Year’s prayer service for the traffic safety of vehicles at Kawasaki mitted to the vertical dimension and Daishi, on January 1, 2015. More than two thousand vehicles come for the ceremony on motivated by prayers for awakening. January 1 each year. This fulfills my definition of prayer as

8 Dharma World Spring 2021 a mental act of seeking oneself. Hence, compassion, which is represented by peace of awakening. This line is rooted what I am calling prayers for Buddhist Amida, the buddha of immeasurable in the realization that one cannot be awakening can be understood to be compassion. truly happy if others are not also spir- comparable to the Mahayana ideal of It is noteworthy that this compas- itually happy, in the same way that we raising the aspiration for awakening sion is expressed here as love, a term cannot feel fully safe from the corona- (bodhicitta). that Americans find great affinity with. virus until others in the community, the I believe the term “love” has contrib- nation, and the world have also over- Golden Chain uted to the enormous popularity of the come it. Golden Chain for a hundred years. The In this regard, I wish to share the Golden statement also emphasizes the impor- In Conclusion Chain, which Shin Buddhists in the tance of the strong sense of social or United States often recite at their temple spiritual responsibility, in keeping with In the end, the Buddhist aim is that services. It is uniquely American and, the bodhisattva ideal of caring for oth- everyone engage in prayers for Buddhist interestingly, is not known in Japan. That ers as one vows to do one’s part to sus- awakening as expressed, for example, is because it was composed in Hawaii tain this golden chain of interconnection in the Golden Chain. However, many in the 1920s. Its composer was not a by keeping one’s link bright and strong. in the world, even many Buddhists, are priest from Japan but an American priest, “I will be kind and gentle to every also engaged in petitionary prayers. I Reverend Dorothy Hunt. This Golden living thing and protect all who are personally do not look down on that Chain is probably the most popular weaker than myself.” Here one pledges act or feel that they are not being true and well known among the aspirational to treat not only humans but also all Buddhists. I, too, understand how life is statements of American Shin Buddhists, living beings with respect, including so hard at times and how unfair it can especially among the younger genera- animals, birds, insects, and fish. There feel. I, too, at times want to pray in a tion. It goes as follows: is no mention of the “right” of humans petitionary fashion, as I do in the case to rule over other creatures; rather, of our family member encountering a I am a link in Amida’s Golden humans are to coexist with them. And life-threatening illness. Oh, how I wish Chain of love that stretches around in so doing, one vows to go to the aid that there were a buddha or a bodhi- the world. I will keep my link bright of those in need, whether humans or sattva or heavenly beings that could and strong. I will be kind and gentle other creatures. grant our petitionary prayers! On the to every living thing and protect all The next sentence addresses the three other hand, I have no appetite for sec- who are weaker than myself. actions: “I will think pure and beautiful ular benefits such as Stephen’s brand- I will think pure and beautiful thoughts, say pure and beautiful words, new car; the car may be dear to Stephen, thoughts, say pure and beautiful and do pure and beautiful deeds, know- but it is nowhere comparable to a life of words, and do pure and beautiful ing that on what I do now depends not a young adult as she fights for survival. deeds, knowing that on what I do only my happiness or unhappiness but Further, in my view, in this realm of now depends not only my happiness that of others.” In Buddhism the worth sa˳sāra (the cycle of births and deaths) or unhappiness but that of others. of a person is determined not by birth we are unable to eliminate all the diffi- May every link in Amida’s Golden or one’s class but by one’s deeds. So our culties of life on the horizontal level so Chain of love become bright and spiritual happiness depends on how we as to get things to go our way. So what strong, and may we all attain per- act and see the world and is not deter- is called for is to cultivate the vertical fect peace. mined by predestination or by chance path. In so doing, even if we find our- or by divine beings. We have the abil- selves engaging in petitionary prayers I would like to briefly explain each ity to determine our happiness through for such cases as the grave illness of segment: the three actions of what we think, how our loved ones, the truth that we come “I am a link in Amida’s Golden Chain we speak, and how we act. to realize through the vertical dimen- of love that stretches around the world. “May every link in Amida’s Golden sion will enable us to withstand and I will keep my link bright and strong.” Chain of love become bright and strong, override any outcome on the horizon- This segment tells us that each of us and may we all attain perfect peace.” The tal level. Thus, let us continue practice is part of a set of interconnected rela- Golden Chain concludes with concern and actualize the prayers for Buddhist tionships that encompasses the whole or prayer for the welfare of all others, awakening so as to live a life of greater world and beyond. And the very nature wishing that all beings reach the ultimate gratitude, deeper meaning, and richer of this interconnectedness is boundless Buddhist goal of attaining the perfect inner peace! ≥

Dharma World Spring 2021 9 FEATURES The Christian Meaning of Prayer as Intercession by Juan Masiá

who was waiting for a delicate brain One aspect of the Christian prayer of intercession [is] the surgery. Th e prediction of succeeding request for divine favor on behalf of another, for instance, in saving his life was less than 50 per- cent. Even if the operation succeeded, DVNLQJIRUUHFRYHU\RIWKHKHDOWKRIDVLFNSHUVRQ serious side eff ects might put his life in danger. Aft er telling me the informa- tion he had received from the doctors, In this short essay I am going to deal so on (Catechism, paragraph 2644– he said: “I need to pray that I make a with one aspect of the Christian prayer 2649, page 564). full recovery aft er the operation, but I of intercession: the request for divine Within this context of Christian am afraid that my faith is weak and I favor on behalf of another, for instance, teaching, I ask myself, What is the mean- do not deserve a miracle. I want you to asking for recovery of the health of a ing and effi cacy of the way of praying pray for a miracle on behalf of me. You sick person. Th e question I put to myself that is usually called intercession? are a good friend and you are a reli- is, How should I pray or what should I gious person. I am sure that God will ask for when I pray on behalf of another Should We Ask for listen to your prayer. Promise me that person who has requested that I pray a Miracle? you are going to pray for me.” for him or her? “Sure, I said, I am going to pray for The traditional defi nition of prayer Th e fi rst time I ever heard the Japanese you.” Th en I added—half joking, half in the Catechism of the Catholic Church word go-riyaku (divine favor, or ben- serious—“To pray for only one mir- contains two points, namely, adoration efi t from the gods) I was wondering acle is not enough, we must pray for and request; to put it another way, bless- whether the conversation was about two miracles.” ing and petition. “Prayer is the raising religion or about magic. It was in the “What do you mean?” he said, of one’s mind and heart to God or the context of a conversation in which peo- amazed. requesting of good things from God” ple talked about the advantage of prac- “Well, you have been informed that (Libreria Editrice Vaticana [Geoffrey ticing a particular religion rather than there are two possibilities aft er the oper- Chapman, 1994], paragraph 2559, page another. Someone would say, “Th ere ation: fi rst, that your pathology may be 544). The Church expresses its faith is more go-riyaku in my religion.” As cured if the treatment succeeds; second, when reciting the credo (the profes- I was checking my pocket dictionary if your illness is incurable, no treatment sion of faith), when celebrating it in for the meaning of go-riyaku (bene- will succeed. In the fi rst case, you will the sacraments (the liturgical rites), fi t, divine favor, divine grace), some- need a strong faith to believe that there and when putting it into practice in one asked me (perhaps joking), “What is within you the power to be cured if daily life (morality). The whole sec- about your Christian religion? Do you you cooperate with the treatment, that tion of the Catechism about prayer in get much go-riyaku?” I had a diffi cult is to say, by making use of your will to the Christian life is centered on the time trying to explain that I cannot agree live. In the second case, you will need Holy Spirit, who instructs the Church with such an egocentric view of prayer. much faith, too, so that you may be able in the life of prayer, inspiring several But it was in a more dramatic cir- to accept the fi nal outcome. Th erefore we expressions of the same basic forms of cumstance that I was confronted with must pray in both cases for the increas- prayer: blessing or adoration, thanks- the meaning and effi cacy of the prayer ing of your faith.” giving, praise, petition of favors, inter- of intercession. In that instance, I went Th en he smiled and said: “I see; in cessions, asking for forgiveness, and to the hospital to see a very close friend both cases we need a miracle. But it is

10 Dharma World Spring 2021 Juan Masiá, SJ, was previously a Professor of Christian Ethics and the History of Philosophical Anthropology in the Faculty of Theology at Sophia University, Tokyo, where he is now a Professor Emeritus. +HDOVRVHUYHVDVDVSHFLDOIHOORZRIWKH3HDFH5HVHDUFK,QVWLWXWH DI¿OLDWHGZLWK5HOLJLRQVIRU3HDFH-DSDQ

Two weeks later I went to meet him The same traditional story is related at his house. He had been taken home in the Gospel according to Luke but because there was nothing more the with a small change in the last sentence. doctors could do for him at the hospi- Quoting Luke 11:13: “If you then, evil as tal. He was being given palliative care you are, know how to give your children while the end of his life was approach- what is good, how much more will the ing. He made an effort to talk and said: heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to “We have been putting ourselves in the those who ask for it.” (italics mine) It is hands of God, and . . . well . . . God must meaningful that instead of saying: “God have chosen the second case, what you will give good things,” Luke writes: “the called the second miracle. . . . Yes, quite heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit a miracle, indeed, for I am at peace now. to those who ask him.” (italics mine) Is that not unbelievable?” In the Christian tradition of spiri- Both his wife and I were at his bed- tuality, when we pray asking a benefit side, the three of us holding hands while from God, we usually add a conditional saying the prayer to entrust the dying clause: “if it is according to the will of person to the hands of God: “Father, in God.” In a prayer of intercession for the your hands I put my spirit.” recovery of health of a sick person, we might say, for instance: “May this per- 7KH(I¿FDF\RID son receive the grace of recovery, if it Prayer of Intercession is going to be for the greater glory of God and for his or her spiritual good.” Photo: Bridgeman Images / PPS Both the Gospel of Matthew and the But if the benefit we are praying A depiction of the Christian Holy Spirit as Gospel of Luke have transmitted a story for is the gift of the Holy Spirit, we do a dove from the illuminated manuscript Munich-Montserrat Book of Hours by that emphasizes the importance and the not need to add any conditional clause. Simon Bening (c.1483–1561). Private efficacy of prayer. Matthew writes: “Ask, There is no doubt at all that the gift of collection. and it will be given to you. Everyone who the Spirit is good for that person and asks receives; everyone who searches that it is for the glory of God. The ful- going to be more difficult for the omni- finds; everyone who knocks will have fillment of the promise of God—“ask potent God [smiling again] to perform the door opened. Is there anyone among and you will receive”—is absolutely and the miracle if the case is the second one.” you who would hand his son a stone unconditionally certain. Then he seemed to be puzzled and when he asked for bread? Or would remained silent, but after a while he hand him a snake when he asked for a How and What Jesus said: “All right, pray for me and for the fish? If you, then, evil as you are, know Taught about Prayer increasing of my faith in both cases.” how to give your children what is good, We shook hands and I promised how much more will your Father in Jesus taught his disciples to pray united him that I was going to keep praying for heaven give good things to those who in community. “If two of you on earth him and for the increasing of the faith ask for them?” (Matt. 7:7–11; this and agree to ask anything at all, it will be that makes him able to put his life in all following Bible citations are from granted to you by my Father in heaven. the hands of the merciful God. the New Jerusalem Bible). For where two or three meet in my

Dharma World Spring 2021 11 To Pray according to and justice, of sanctity and grace, of the Holy Spirit mercy and love. “Man’s vocation to eternal life does not suppress but The apostle Paul taught the faithful to actually reinforces his duty to put pray according to the Spirit of God, into action in this world the ener- who prays from within us: “All who gies and means received from the are guided by the Spirit of God are Creator to serve justice and peace” sons of God; for what you received (Catechism, paragraph 2820, page was not the spirit of slavery to bring 599). you back into fear; you received the spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry 3. “Thy will be done on earth, as it out: Abba, Father! The Spirit himself is in heaven” joins with our spirit to bear witness With this petition the faithful pray that we are children of God” (Rom. that the Holy Spirit will heal our 8:14). “The Spirit too comes to help wounds of heart and body and help us in our weakness, for, when we do us put our lives in the hands of God not know how to pray properly, then in all circumstances of suffering or the Spirit personally makes our peti- joy, darkness or light, failure or suc-

Photo: Mary Evans / PPS tions for us in groans that cannot be cess. “We ask our Father to unite our This painting depicts Saint Paul assuring put into words” (Rom. 8:26). will to his Son’s, in order to fulfill his crew and passengers that they will not be These words of the apostle Paul give [God’s] will, his plan of salvation for drowned when they are caught in a storm us a key to understanding the prayer the life of the world. We are radically on the way to Rome, from religious biblical illustrations by William H. Margetson (1861– entrusted by Jesus to his disciples and to incapable of this, but united with 1940). Printed in 1906. understanding the efficacy of its seven Jesus and with the power of his Holy petitions, which could be developed Spirit, we can surrender our will to name, I am there among them” (Matt. as follows: him and decide to choose what his 18:19–20). son has always chosen: to do what is Jesus also taught his disciples to pray 1. “Hallowed be thy name” pleasing to the Father” (Catechism, alone in silence: “Go to your private With this petition the faithful pray paragraph 2825, page 600). room, shut yourself in, and so pray to that the Holy Spirit will help them to your Father who is in that secret place, address God as a merciful Father and 4. “Give us this day our daily bread” and your Father who sees all that is done Mother, Fountain of Life—Abba!— With this petition the faithful pray in secret will reward you” (Matt. 6:6). to whom they can give thanks for that the Holy Spirit, Spirit of life And Jesus taught his disciples the their life always and everywhere. and love, will enable us to share our prayer “the Lord’s Prayer” or “the Our Asking the Father that his name be bread with one another. Through this Father,” which contains seven petitions recognized as holy is an expression sharing, our way of living becomes as follows: of thanksgiving for his glory and a blessing for each other and giv- mercy. “This petition embodies all ing life to one another. We ask the “Our Father in heaven, the others. Like the six petitions that Spirit to give us strength of body and May your name be held holy, follow, it is fulfilled by the prayer of mind and to give us the eucharis- your kingdom come, Christ” (Catechism, paragraph 2813, tic gift: the body and life of Christ. your will be done, page 597). on earth as in heaven. 5. “And forgive us our trespasses, Give us today 2. “Thy kingdom come” as we forgive those who trespass Our daily bread. With this petition the faithful pray against us” And forgive us our debts, that the Holy Spirit will help them With this petition the faithful pray as we have forgiven those who are become aware of the coming of the that the Holy Spirit, Spirit of mercy in debt to us. Kingdom of God into the world and and love, will make them able to And do not put us to the test answer the call to cooperate with the forgive one another, even to forgive But save us from the Evil One.” building of the new world according the unforgivable, because they have (Matt. 6:9–13) to the plan of God: a world of peace first been forgiven, in the way Jesus

12 Dharma World Spring 2021 has been compared with the circulatory system of the blood through the mys- tical body of Christ that is the Church. When we pray for each other and when we pray for the departed and they pray for us, a flood of grace and blessing of God keeps permeating our intercom- munication. We bless God and we bless each other when we pray for each other. “Bless” is a verb that can be used in dif- ferent directions: God blesses us from above, we bless God from below, and we bless each other. To bless God is to respond to the blessing of God with thanksgiving. To bless each other is to communicate the divine gift. In the litur- Photo: Album / PPS Photo: gical rites for the dead, we pray for their Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by Jan van Eyck (before 1390 or 1395–1441), detail of the Ghent Altarpiece, Cathedral of Saint Bavo of Ghent, Belgium. This panel represents paintings eternal rest in the life of God. But we depicting one of the main themes of the Christian sacred art, “Communion of Saints.” pray not only for them but with them, asking them to pray to God on behalf loved and forgave: “It is impossi- temptations, which lead to sin and of us. This circulation of the grace and ble to keep the commandment by death” (Catechism, paragraph 2846– blessing of the Holy Spirit has been tra- imitating the divine model from 2847, page 606). ditionally called the communion of holy outside: there has to be a vital par- things, the communion of saints (com- ticipation, coming from the depths 7. “But deliver us from evil” munio sanctorum). Paul starts his letter to of the heart, in the holiness and the With this petition the faithful pray the Church at Ephesus with these words, mercy and the love of God. Unless that the Holy Spirit, Spirit of Truth, which are a résumé of Christian life as we receive the Spirit of Love and are will enlighten them so as to be free a communion of blessings: “Blessed be strengthened by him, we cannot love from all egocentric powers that God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and forgive in the way he loved and spread death, sin, and lack of com- who has blessed us with all the spiritual forgave. Only the Spirit by whom we passion in the world. They pray blessings of heaven in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). live can make ours the same mind that the Holy Spirit will give them In this way, intercession is a prayer that was in Christ Jesus” (Catechism, strength and hope to overcome the of petition that leads us to pray as Jesus paragraph 2842, page 604). evil of the world. They are encour- did. He is the one intercessor with God aged by the words of Jesus in his the Father on behalf of all persons. His 6. “And lead us not into temptation” prayer before his death: “Father, I Spirit himself is the one who intercedes With this petition the faithful pray am not asking you to take them out for us according to the will of God and that the Spirit of Light will help of the world, but I ask you to pro- “makes our petitions for us in groans that them to realize their situation when tect them from the evil one” (John cannot be put into words” (Rom. 8:26). they are lost in darkness and to 17:15). “This petition touches each Christian intercession participates in the find the way to an ongoing con- of us personally, but it is always we intercession of Christ as an expression version and return to the center, who pray, in communion with the of the communion of saints. The first to the origin and end of their life whole Church, for the deliverance of Christian communities lived this form in God, the Fountain of life. “We the whole human family” (Catechism, of fellowship intensely (Catechism, para- are asking God not to allow us to paragraph 2850, page 607). graph 2634–2636, page 561). Paul writes take the way that leads to sin and from prison to the Church at Philippi: death . . . ; this petition implores the Prayer of Intercession “It is my prayer that your love for one Spirit of discernment and strength. and Blessing another may grow more and more with The Holy Spirit makes us discern the knowledge and complete under- between trials, which are necessary The flood of grace and blessing of God as standing that will help you to come to for growth of the inner person, and an answer to the prayer of intercession true discernment” (Phil. 1:9). ≥

Dharma World Spring 2021 13 FEATURES

Revisiting “Homage to Hell, the Great Bodhisattva” Today by Masaki Matsubara

quickly as one can turn over one’s +HOOGRHVQRWH[LVWVRPHZKHUHLQDGLIIHUHQWGLPHQVLRQWKDW hand?” ZHIDOOLQWRDIWHUGHDWKEXWUDWKHUKHOOLVQRWIDUIURPXVLW Th e priest replied: “Th at’s why the LVEDVHGLQRXURZQPLQGV Buddha spent three endless kalpas to achieve Nirvana for the sake of indolent sentient beings and why Japanese Zen master Hakuin Ekaku jokingly: “Th e priest is not his ordi- he preached that for the courageous (1686–1769) introduces a fascinating nary self. His words don’t sound among sentient beings, Buddhahood story in his short missive “Letter to a Sick the way they usually do when he is may be attained in one instant of Monk Living Far Away” (遠方ノ病僧ニ贈 scolding us. Just listen to him moan thought. In the past I suff ered pains リシ書 ), which is included in his writing and groan!” of illness that were diffi cult to bear, Oradegama [遠羅天佂], published in 1749, Th e priest laughed too: “Watch and gradually these shadowy affl ic- one of the well-known treatises on his out, young acolytes! Th ree days ago tions themselves stirred fears of the teaching and practice. Th e story refers my groans sounded as though I were pains of my next rebirth, and I wept to a Shingon Buddhist priest who was suff ering the torments of the Hell of all night with regret for my actions in very sick but who overcame his sickness Wailing. Today my groans are the my present life. But then I changed through a meditative practice. It relates: mysterious sounds of the Supreme my outlook, entered into the con- Dharma. If you mock me you will templation of the non-duality [of Desperately ill of typhoid fever, he suff er the punishments of those who myself and] Birushana (Vairocana) lay in bed groaning all day and night. slander the True Law.” Buddha. I shut my eyes and clamped Hearing his moans, one impertinent Th e young monk then asked: my teeth and continued my contem- fellow among his disciples remarked “Can one attain Buddhahood as plation. A marvelous thing indeed! My pains disappeared as though they had been scraped and washed away. My body, which had been prostrate in pain, appeared as the Treasure Seal of the Yoga Mystery. Unknowingly I attained the True Form of the Diamond indestructi- ble. Th is groaning voice became one with the Great Dhāranī of the Th ree Mysteries. Th e bed on which I lay became the original great ground [of Enlightenment] of Birushana Buddha. Th e great mandala of the thousand qualities of the hundred worlds shone majestically before my eyes. What joy I experienced! I

Photo: Alamy / PPS Photo: realized my cherished desire where An image of the Vairocana Buddha that is housed in the Great Buddha Hall of Todaiji in Nara. beings, sentient and non-sentient,

14 Dharma World Spring 2021 Masaki Matsubara earned a Ph.D. in Asian Religions from Cornell University. He taught at the Department of Religious Studies at UC Berkeley and was the BDK Fellow at the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford University. He is now a Visiting Scholar in the East Asia Program at Cornell and also a Visiting Lecture at the Contemplative Studies at Brown University. Moreover, he serves as a Visiting 3URIHVVRUDW,QWHUIDFXOW\,QLWLDWLYHLQ,QIRUPDWLRQ6WXGLHVDWWKH8QLYHUVLW\RI7RN\R +HLVFXUUHQWO\WKHDEERWRIWKH=HQWHPSOH%XWVXPRMLLQ&KLED3UHIHFWXUH-DSDQ

achieve the Way simultaneously; practices reciting the Buddha’s name and attaining the Great Matter of the where trees, grass, and lands all attain (nembutsu). On the one hand, if the Buddha’s Law. This is the main reason to Buddhahood.” . . . Later, because koan practitioner is not extremely ded- various buddhas have appeared in this of his experiences, the priest was icated and if his determination is not world. In other words, all these prac- able to achieve unsurpassed accom- firm, even if he has been practicing for tices are ultimately just paths toward plishments in Buddhism. (Philip ten or twenty years, he will gain no ben- seeing into your own nature (見性; here- Yampolsky, trans., The Zen Master efit whatsoever. On the other hand, if after,kenshō ), which can be understood Hakuin: Selected Writings [Columbia the nembutsu practitioner has made as enlightenment, and consequently, University Press, 1971], 78–79) efforts at reciting without ceasing with seeing the Way (見道, kendō). Simply firm determination and intense devo- put, the goal is more important than Taking an example even from a dif- tion, he will gain the benefit of samādhi, the means, and Hakuin asserts the pri- ferent Buddhist tradition, Hakuin tries achieve the wisdom of the Buddha mary importance of the kenshō expe- to preserve this story in the Zen tradi- (仏智, bucchi), and attain salvation in rience over anything else. tion because he has something to say to the very place he stands, just as in the In Hakuin’s understanding, this idea other generations and to people in dif- story the Shingon priest experienced of kenshō (and thereby seeing the Way) ferent contexts. What do we really know during a shorter period of practice. is not some otherworldly experience. about this story? How do we under- Therefore, Hakuin teaches, “Whether As the story tells, ultimate devotion stand this story? For the purpose of you sit in meditation, recite the sutras, brings us to realize the point that the this article, I will focus on two aspects intone the dhāranī, or call the Buddha’s wisdom of the Buddha becomes pres- of it. One is the idea of one instant of name, if you devote all your efforts to ent in the very place we are standing, thought that the Shingon priest contin- what you are doing and attain to the and so, too, does salvation. Hakuin, in ued to practice. The other is the idea of ultimate, you will kick down the dark another writing, titled Letter in Answer meditative practice as a means to the cave of ignorance, . . . and attain to the to the Question: Which Is Superior, the enlightenment experience the priest understanding of the Great Matter [of Koan or the Nembutsu? (念仏ト公案ト優 finally attained. the Buddha’s Law (仏法の大事 buppō no 劣如何ノ問イニ答フル書), says, Regarding the former point, the daiji)]” (Yampolsky, The Zen Master “[Pure land practitioners] believe idea refers to an instant or moment of Hakuin, 126). He asserts that there is only that the Buddha is in the Western conscious awareness that emphasizes a ultimately no difference among these as a Land and are unaware that the Western single-minded practice with exclusive, means of practice so long as the attitude Land is the basis of their own minds. high concentration. The story shows the is right; whether results appear swiftly They are convinced that through the importance of this meditative practice as or slowly depends only on how scrupu- power of the recitation of the Buddha’s a method of engaging with what Hakuin lously practitioners apply themselves. name they will somehow leap through calls the ultimate devotion, which he Here it is important to clarify space and after they are dead be reborn says should be shared not only in the Hakuin’s point of view that practicing in the Western Land. But although they Zen tradition but also in other Buddhist koans; reciting the Buddha’s name, spend their whole lives in painful strug- traditions. To have a better understand- dhāranī, or sutras; and contemplating gle, they will not be able to achieve their ing of this argument, let’s imagine that the unification with the Buddha are vow to be reborn there” (Yampolsky, there are two practitioners from differ- not themselves the goals of Buddhism The Zen Master Hakuin, 128). ent schools: one who practices the koan but simply the means of leading to the He then teaches what a true practi- of Chao-chou’s Mu and another who opening up of the wisdom of the Buddha tioner of the Pure Land should do: “He

Dharma World Spring 2021 15 The Great Matter appears suddenly before Bodhisattva.” Since April 2020 this phrase him and his salvation is determined. Such has been not just a work of calligraphy a man can be called one who has truly but my primary prayer. Wednesday, seen into his own nature” (ibid., 129). April 8, 2020, was Buddha’s Birthday. It To have a better understanding of had been twelve days since I started to this statement, the Lotus Sutra says that self-quarantine in Manhattan, living in all existence and phenomena represent a building with health care workers who the manifestations of truth and real- were infected with Covid-19. I started to ity. This is the teaching ofshohō jissō self-quarantine when I found out they (諸法実相), which is also expressed as had tested positive just the week before. “the ultimate reality of all things.” For Even so, there were many areas that we Hakuin, if you are not able to see into had to share: the building’s entrance door; your own nature, you are missing the stairs; storages areas for necessary, basic opportunity to respond to this teach- items for living; and the laundry room, ing. Therefore, he says, “If you wish to where my shower was located. The only attain the Buddha Way, you must first good thing was that I had my own sep- see into your own nature” (ibid., 36). arate toilet and kitchen I didn’t need to Once we have the eye for seeing into share with my housemates. our own nature, then we realize that, At the time, New York State was the as expressed in Hakuin’s sutra The Song epicenter of the American coronavirus of Zazen (坐禅和讃), “sentient beings are outbreak and was hit hardest by the fundamentally all Buddhas” and that pandemic. Over the following week, it “This very place is the Lotus Land of reached a tragic milestone on April 10 Purity, This very body is the Body of when the state alone had more coro- the Buddha” (Daily Sutra [Zen Studies navirus cases than in any other coun- Society, 1998], 113–15). try in the world, and soon after that As the story shows, the Shingon the United States had the highest death priest who became ill and suffered from toll in the world on April 12, recording pain just like “the torments of the Hell more than two thousand deaths in a sin- of Wailing” realized that salvation was gle day. Every day, the media delivered in his very body and his very place. news about the relentless spread of the Realizing the idea of the ultimate real- virus, with uncertainty about when it ity of all things is, I argue, the eye of would end, and showed rows of refriger- kenshō, or the eyes that see a thing as ator trucks set up on city streets outside it is, that transforms a negative state hospitals to accommodate the overflow into a positive one. In other words, of bodies of the deceased. The circum- these two states are actually two sides stances of the pandemic made it seem of the same coin. Therefore, salvation as if contracting the virus meant death. lies in this very understanding of the Every day was terrifying to me. Every kenshō experience. Salvation is here day was survival for me. and now. This priest recognized that Because my housemates had the his experience of the torments of the virus, I put on my mask and gloves Photo: Shigyo Sosyu Collection Hell of Wailing was transformed into when I needed to go to the toilet and Hakuin’s calligraphy scroll Namu jigoku daibosatsu, “Homage to Hell, the Great his enlightenment experience through kitchen and when I went to pick up food Bodhisattva.” the intensity of his meditative practice. deliveries because I had to pass through This is exactly what Hakuin means by shared spaces. Because I have asthma, I does not contemplate birth, he does not his famous calligraphy Homage to Hell, took extra precautions, including cut- contemplate death; his mind does not fal- the Great Bodhisattva (南無地獄大菩薩, ting down the number of orders of meals ter or fall into error. Reciting the name namu jigoku daibosatsu). and groceries. I made my life as sim- of the Buddha constantly, he has reached Let me explain my understanding of ple as I could. What I needed was just the state where the mind is undisturbed. the saying “Homage to Hell, the Great enough to eat and wear. I didn’t need any

16 Dharma World Spring 2021 extra or luxurious items or food, and I was not even interested in having those items. I reduced my use of the shower because of its problematic location, and I waited for at least three hours after the other residents had used the laun- dry machines before I took a shower. I usually took showers around two or three in the morning because this was the safest time to use that room. In the end, I did not go outside for a total of thirty-three days, until I had an anti- body test on April 29 and the test was negative. I can say that it was almost a complete quarantine. The coronavirus outbreak is the most terrifying experience in my life. Every single day, day by day, I had Photo: REUTERS / AFLO Photo: REUTERS / to survive by myself. Because of my An ambulance drives across a nearly empty East 42nd Street in Manhattan during the outbreak self-quarantine, talking to my daugh- of the coronavirus disease in New York City, on April 13, 2020. ters via Messenger was the only time I could soothe my mind. Nevertheless, If hell is based in my own mind, the point of the hospitalization rate. That because there were reports of scary way to escape hell is to survive in hell. afternoon it rained hard, but it seemed cases of children with the virus, I was It was with this realization that I came to me it was somehow comfortable and always worried about my daughters’ to understand completely the mean- refreshing, as if the rains were washing health. Throughout the day the sound ing of Hakuin’s words “homage to hell, the virus away. At that time a soft, warm of ambulance sirens was always blar- the great bodhisattva.” Again, the way breeze carried the gentle, fresh smells of ing. One night when I went to the bath- to escape hell is to survive in hell, and raindrops and green leaves. I felt as if it room, I could see the glowing neon this keen realization brought me to the were the first time I had ever seen the lights of an ambulance reflected in the clear understanding that the ultimate, rain as it truly is. It is in the moment, windows. I returned to my room and eternal truth is manifested in phenom- I realized, that salvation is always here thought that maybe tomorrow it would ena—the idea of the ultimate reality of and now, and always with me. be my turn to go. This thought was all things—while finding happiness in This pandemic has taught us that we always in my mind every day during which one finds happiness and gratitude must be flexible and prepared to adjust. the pandemic in New York City, given in every thing and in every moment. It has drastically changed our sense of my living conditions. This thought was Through my experience of recit- the value of life, time, lifestyle, posses- also always with me when I invoked ing prayer, I realized that Zen is living. sions—basically everything. In light of the prayer Homage to Hell, the Great Zen is life. Living is Zen. It is import- this awareness, the crisis has been a good Bodhisattva almost ceaselessly every ant to live through each moment given opportunity for practice to cultivate the day. It was while invoking this prayer to us, and this is the secret of what it experiences of seeing things as they are. that I had a keen realization that there means to live by Zen. This awareness Our efforts to do so, even though most was hope as long as I lived and also that makes me realize that we are always liv- of the time it is not easy to accept our time was the most important thing out ing in impermanence, ichigo ichie, or realities, reveal the very fact of the ulti- of all things. I became keenly aware one moment, one meeting, and en, or mate reality of all things. The rain I saw that hell does not exist somewhere causality. With Zen, every morning is was a very beautiful one, even in the in a different dimension that we fall a good morning, every day a fine day, midst of the extreme difficulties and chal- into after death but, rather, that hell is no matter how rainy it is, no matter lenges under the pandemic in New York not far from us: it is based in our own how stormy it is, and no matter how in April 2020. What saved me? The prayer minds—I am in hell now. The gov- hellish it is. On April 19 the governor “Homage to Hell, the Great Bodhisattva.” ernor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, very cautiously said at his news brief- This prayer made me realize that salva- said that we have gone through hell. ing that New York had passed the high tion is here and now. ≥

Dharma World Spring 2021 17 FEATURES

Prayer in Shugendo by Gaynor Sekimori

and practices associated with sacred 3HUKDSVWKHHDVLHVWZD\WRXQGHUVWDQGWKHPHDQLQJRISUD\HU mountains. Almost as far back as the LQ6KXJHQGRLVWRGHSHUVRQDOL]HLWVVXEMHFW7RRIIHUVXWUDVDW written record exist, we have descrip- DVDFUHGVLWHRUNQHHOEHIRUHDPDWHULDOUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRIWKH tions of pilgrims and ascetics practicing VDFUHGVXFKDVDVWDWXHLVWRLQVHUWRQHVHOIE\WKHVHPHDQV in mountain fastnesses, but Shugendo LQWRWKHOLIHIRUFHRIWKHXQLYHUVHLWVHOI as a coherent institution dates from the medieval period, around the four- teenth century. It took shape through People who travel around May to Dressed mainly in white, they wear a the esoteric Buddhist sects Tendai and September in places known for their small black cap on the forehead, a bro- Shingon, and its ritual forms therefore sacred mountains, such as the Shonai caded and tasselled sash around their have much in common with the prac- region of Yamagata prefecture or sites neck, and a deerskin over their lower tices of esoteric Buddhism. However, in the Kii Mountains that are on the back. Th ey will probably be chanting the it also has practices that are unique in UNESCO World Heritage list, may well Heart Sutra, their heads bowed and their the way they give form to communica- hear echoing through the valleys the hands in the prayer position, but they tion with the sacred. sound of the conch shell or see fi gures are not regular Buddhist priests. (photo Such communication is, of course, standing before statues, trees, or some 1) Th ey are yamabushi, “those who lie prayer. To those brought up in the other sacred feature, whose appear- down in the mountains,” adherents of Judaeo-Christian tradition, the mean- ance sets them apart from the everyday. Shugendo, the name given to beliefs ing of prayer seems very simple: ask- ing for God’s blessings. Christian prayer was what I had done as a child, kneeling beside my bed, sending a let- ter addressed to God. But what hap- pens when the prayer does not have a defi ned subject, as in Buddhism? Of course there is personal devotion to Amida or Kannon, for instance, but in a group setting, to whom are the sutras we chant addressed? Who is it we ask to extend the blessings of the recitation to all living beings? When I fi rst came to practice Buddhism, initially through Soto Zen and later through Shugendo, the word “prayer” seemed like a misno- mer for describing what I was experienc- ing when reciting sutras or prostrating myself before a statue or standing in reverence before some ancient tree or

Photo: Gaynor Sekimori stone. I could bow to a statue of Monju Photo 1: Haguro yamabushi at a sacred spring. Kanomiya, Yamagata prefecture. in the Zendo, directing my attention

18 Dharma World Spring 2021 Gaynor Sekimori has been both a practitioner and researcher of Shugendo since 1992. She received her doctorate from the University of Cambridge in 2000 and was managing editor of the International Journal of Asian StudiesDQGDPHPEHURIWKH,QVWLWXWHRI2ULHQWDO&XOWXUHDWWKH University of Tokyo from 2001 to 2007. She is a Research Associate in the Centre for the Study RI-DSDQHVH5HOLJLRQVDWWKH6FKRRORI2ULHQWDODQG$IULFDQ6WXGLHV8QLYHUVLW\RI/RQGRQDQGLV currently working on a history of the beliefs and practices associated with the Three Mountains of Dewa (Dewa Sanzan) in Yamagata prefecture.

and the words of the supplication I was of a benign divinity and raises questions with Haguro Shugendo: Mount Chokai, making to an enlightened being whom I about the relation of prayer to magic. But Mount Yudono, and Mount Gassan. At hoped to emulate, just as at the beginning kito can also be thought of as the mov- each place they recite the Sanjo Shakujo: of the Autumn Peak retreat at Mount ing of the sacred dimension within the Haguro in Yamagata prefecture, I would self that has been revealed by practice I take hold of my staff place my trust in the founder, Shoken and ritual. Nevertheless, there is ample And make this vow for the benefit Daibosatsu. But is that prayer? evidence in the historical record of the of all living beings: Perhaps the easiest way to under- misuse of kito for personal power or To organize great gatherings stand the meaning of prayer in Shugendo profit by unscrupulous people. To show forth the true way is to depersonalize its subject. To offer The principal ascetic practices of And venerate the Three Treasures. sutras at a sacred site or kneel before a Shugendo revolve around “entry into Showing forth a pure mind, I ven- material representation of the sacred, the mountain” (mineiri). Today these erate the Three Treasures. such as a statue, is to insert oneself by practices generally last about a week and Praying for a pure mind, I venerate these means into the life force of the involve either a continuous movement the Three Treasures. universe itself. This is symbolized by from one sacred site to another along I venerate the Three Treasures so the Triple Refuge of Buddhism, the rec- a set route, as in the Yoshino-Kumano that all may meet the Buddha and itation of which precedes all Buddhist pilgrimage called okugake or seclusion instantly awaken to enlightenment. services. Such actions become a self-di- within one site with periodic pilgrim- I give honor, reverence, and offer- rected prayer to attain buddhahood (or ages to sacred sites, such as the Autumn ings to the vast realm of mountain as Zen would term it, enlightenment) Peak retreat at Mount Haguro. I would deities, reverence and offerings here and now in this very existence and now like to center my discussion on the for the protection of the Dharma. in this very body. Prayer encompasses latter, with which I have been associ- In your mercy, protect all beings. aspiration, determination, and dedi- ated since 1994. The central theme of the cation and is predicated on total sub- Haguro Autumn Peak retreat is death This well demonstrates prayer as a vow mission of the self to the greater life of and rebirth, and its rituals and practices to the Three Treasures as personified in which we are all a part. In this sense, symbolize both ascent through the ten the protector deities of the mountains. all practice becomes prayer. realms from the hells to buddhahood Pilgrimage to sacred mountains has Shugendo shares a further aspect of and the descent of the kami (deities) to long been associated with the purifi- prayer with the esoteric sects, what is this world. It begins when yamabushi cation of the six sense organs (rok- called kito, which has a common pur- process into the depths of the mountain kon shojo) and this is at the core of the pose with prayers of supplication, peti- to the temple of Kotakuji, where they twice-nightly recitation built around tion, and intercession in Christianity, will remain for the next week. On the the Lotus Repentance Liturgy. The lit- particularly the prayers of intention in way they revere a number of sacred sites: urgy was developed within the Tendai Catholicism and Anglicanism. Unlike Mine no Yakushi, a former temple, now school and centers on the confession Christianity, though, kito is considered to a shrine; the shrine of Hakusan Gongen; and repentance of sins emanating from be the product of powers gained through the pagoda at the foot of Mount Haguro; the six sense organs as a way to attain the ascetic practice of the individual rit- and the former founder’s hall at its sum- enlightenment. This view was inherited ualist, which could be interpreted as the mit, now called Hachiko Shrine. On the by Haguro Shugendo when it adopted manipulation of the divine. This is very way they also venerate from afar the the liturgy sometime in the seventeenth different from asking for the intercession three mountains most closely associated century. The recitation, which takes more

Dharma World Spring 2021 19 than two hours, includes the Amida Sutra, the Hymn to Amida and other verses and formulas that are common to Tendai Buddhism, such as the Hymn to Original Enlightenment, the Verse of the Tathagatas, and Homage to the Relics of the Buddhas. It concludes with the mantras of a wide range of Buddhist divinities and the treasured names asso- ciated with Haguro: Amaterasu, the three mountains, divinities associated with particular places on the mountain, and the protector deities of the moun- tain and of the whole of Japan. The ambiguity regarding the sub- ject of this confession and repentance is evident in the words of an early nine- Photo: Gaynor Sekimori teenth-century Haguro practitioner Photo 2: Nikko yamabushi performing the goma ritual. Sannoin, Kanuma, Tochigi prefecture. called Gien. his Pure Land. Practice needs a focus of bodily organs are tranquil, we are one This mountain-entry practice is devotion, such as Amida Buddha, and with the kami of heaven and earth. the practice for attaining buddha- through such veneration we are enabled Because we are one with the kami of hood with one’s present body. The to open ourselves to the deepest truth. heaven and earth, we are one with substance of the Buddha Way is A second liturgy specific to Haguro all things. Because we are one with to realize what is the mind and to is performed during the Autumn Peak. It all things, all that we hope will come understand the way of things. What combines the well-known verse Rokkon about. This is the supreme teaching is the mind? It is the truth without shojo oharae (Purification of the six of the buddhas and the kami who beginning or end, the basis from sense organs) with the Hymn to the give us their protection. which come the six elements. From Three Mountains (Sanyama shukugon), the Buddha to common mortals, which lay emphasis on the kami and Here the kami and buddhas are not every existence is formed from the buddhas of the mountains that are the some separate other but are in them- six elements. The Autumn Peak is heart of Shugendo. The Oharae reads: selves our pure mind. We pray to them the sacred place where the defile- for protection but ultimately know they ments of the six sense organs are The kami and buddhas dwell within are within us. repented. Lay practitioners will be our own minds, and we should do The Hymn to the Three Mountains able to avoid the evils and diseases nothing to harm our pure minds. extols the various landmarks in the of this world and attain the peaceful Therefore, though the eyes see impu- area as manifestations of the Buddhist Pure Land of the other world. One rity, the mind does not; though the teachings. should deeply venerate the Amida ears hear impurity, the mind does Buddha enshrined [on the moun- not; though the nose smells impu- On the peak of Gassan the mist of tain] by chanting his name for the rity, the mind does not; though the ignorance that subdues the power to great benefit of this world. mouth voices impurity, the mind encourage good and eliminate evil is does not; though the body experi- dispersed by the purification of the Gien states that enlightenment/bud- ences impurity, the mind does not; six sense organs, and the dew of bud- dhahood is attained through the mind, though the consciousness is aware dha nature drips on the treetops of the source of all things, which, however, of impurity, the mind is not. In this the wonderful law of the one vehi- may be defiled by the erroneous work- condition, the mind is completely cle. Gassan’s shadow penetrates to ings of the sense organs. Repentance is pure. . . . Our sense organs are orig- the depths of Arasawa, burnishing to open the mind to the original and inally pure. Because they are pure, the jewel of buddha nature within, eternal truth, which he expresses for the kami of the bodily organs are and the stream of Arasawa fills the the layperson in terms of Amida and tranquil. Because the kami of the pond of the eight merits. The sacred

20 Dharma World Spring 2021 rock of Yudonosan emits a golden parishes annually and performed kito well-known example of such a ritual is light illuminating the Pure Lands (prayers) to drive away sickness and performed annually at Takaosan, near in the ten directions, and the wind bring good fortune, the efficacy of which Tokyo, but most Shugendo groups incor- of the high mountains is the music was believed to be directly related to porate them into their seasonal rituals. of nature. the powers they had acquired through Often taking place as the culmination mountain practice. Kito as supplicatory of a seasonal retreat, they can also be This well illustrates how Shugendo incor- ritual prayer is practiced not only in considered a form of genkurabe, since porated Buddhist ideas into the land- Shugendo but throughout the esoteric the yamabushi walk barefoot over hot scape over which yamabushi walked sects. One example that is very close to coals. A bonfire of latticed logs covered and prayed. the prayer of intention in Christianity is with greenery is erected inside a sacred “Shugendo” literally means “the way the sengan shingyo, the recitation of the area demarked by saplings, and after a (do) of cultivating (shu) power (gen).” Heart Sutra one thousand times for a spe- number of ritual acts to expel malign “Gen” is usually understood as some kind cific request, such as cure of an illness, forces, such as shooting arrows in the of transcendent power, and in the past business prosperity, or exam success. four directions, the fire is lit. The pre- yamabushi were required to demonstrate This is a ritual common in Tendai and siding divinity is usually Fudo. Sticks the noumenal power they had achieved Shingon, but during the Haguro Autumn containing the prayer requests are depos- through their practice (genriki) in some Peak its performance by yamabushi in ited in the flames, and the talismans, form of physical contest. This was called the midst of their training suggests a which will later be distributed, are passed genkurabe (comparing gen). The mod- special efficacy due to the accumula- through the smoke to purify them and ern Shoreisai (the former Winter Peak) tion of gen. imbue them with the power of the rit- at Haguro preserves this in two rituals: The most common form of kito ual. Once the fire has died down, the a jumping contest between yamabushi prayer today is the goma ritual. Here coals and logs are spread out and the representing crows and a number of wooden sticks with intentions written yamabushi cross them. competitions between the two prin- on them are burned over a fire while Prayer in Shugendo derives from a cipal figures of the festival, for exam- a ritual liturgy is recited. Virtually all shared Buddhist doctrinal base. However, ple, who can kindle the new fire first or Tendai and Shingon temple halls con- Shugendo’s emphasis on the sacred whose team can pull huge straw torches tain goma altars, and Shugendo is no mountain as the particular site for the the fastest. exception. (photo 2) However, the out- purification of the mind through ascetic Traditionally yamabushi served door saito goma rituals that Shugendo and ritual training, and on the efficacy groups of parishioners in various areas performs are unique to it, and gener- of prayer deriving from that practice, around the country. They toured their ally involve fire walking. (photo 3) A gives it its distinctive features. ≥ Photo: Gaynor Sekimori Photo 3: The fire-walking ritual performed by yamabushi at Takaosan.

Dharma World Spring 2021 21 FEATURES Prayer as Action: Buddhist Priests During COVID-19 in Japan by Levi McLaughlin

of action. Action as proactive refl ec- 3UD\HULVQRWDQLVRODEOHHOHPHQWSUD\HULVIROGHGLQWR tion, action as reworking rituals and DODUJHUIUDPHZRUNRIGHYRWLRQDQGWKDWGHYRWLRQLVEHVW community engagements to new set- XQGHUVWRRGLQWHUPVRIDFWLRQ tings, and action as aid provision. Th eir corona-era initiatives can perhaps best be called prayer as action. Prayer in the Th e encroaching one-year anniver- From early spring 2020, almost all Pandemic sary of a once-in-a-century pandemic of Japan’s Buddhists exercised jishuku, was certainly a time to consider prayer. or “self-restraint.” With the exception Shortly aft er the turn of the new year From the middle of January 2021, I con- of social welfare outreach, clergy can- in 2021, Japan faced another upsurge tacted Buddhist priests in Japan that I celed almost all in-person gatherings and in coronavirus infections. Th is marked have been communicating with since moved many of their regular services the third wave of COVID-19 the coun- early in the COVID-19 outbreak to ask online. Th e few services still held at tem- try had endured since the fi rst Japanese them about how they were refl ecting on ples were severely limited by strict social cases were confi rmed in February 2020. their year of pandemic practice. I sought distancing measures. Death-related ritu- Th is latest wave threatened Japan’s global their insights into how they positioned als, which comprise a large percentage of reputation as a nation that had escaped prayer in the context of their other activ- temple events, were mostly restricted to the worst the pandemic had to off er and ities, and I wanted to know if they had a scant number of family members. Th is undermined its status as an alternative devised specifi c pandemic prayer strate- necessitated wrenching workarounds, model against which to compare global gies. It quickly became obvious that for such as priests streaming funerals to outliers, such as the United States and the these temple-based Buddhist activists, bereaved loved ones through their por- United Kingdom. In mid-January 2021, prayer is not an isolable element. Th ey table phones. Because temple income Japan’s hospital capacities were strained made clear that prayer is folded into a depends to a great extent on donations and worrisome reports about rising num- larger framework of devotion, and that from parishioners in exchange for ritual bers of infections and deaths fi lled broad- devotion is best understood in terms services, many priests face dire fi nancial cast news and social media feeds. Vaccine approval remained delayed, with distri- bution stymied by restrictions imposed by the country’s restrictive medical sys- tem. Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide and Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko nonethe- less stubbornly insisted that the Olympic Games would proceed that summer, even as fears escalated about new and potent mutant viral strains that had been detected in Japan. Th e urge to repel dangerous incursions clashed with mandates to Photo: Zuma Press / AFLO Photo: Zuma Press / welcome the world to Tokyo and rein- Stores close their doors in response to the state of emergency declared by the Japanese vigorate Japan’s devastated economy by government at Nakamise Shopping Street in the Asakusa area in Tokyo, amid the coronavirus restarting trade and tourism. (COVID-19) pandemic, on May 3, 2020.

22 Dharma World Spring 2021 Levi McLaughlin is Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy and 5HOLJLRXV6WXGLHV1RUWK&DUROLQD6WDWH8QLYHUVLW\+HLVFRDXWKRURI.ǀPHLWǀ Politics and Religion in Japan ,($6%HUNHOH\ DQGDXWKRURISoka Gakkai’s Human Revolution: The Rise of a Mimetic Nation in Modern Japan (University of Hawai`i Press, 2019).

straits; the comparatively few temples that attract tourists have also been dev- astated by a catastrophic drop in visi- tor numbers. In spite of these daunting chal- lenges, the priests I introduce here did not express wholly negative reac- tions to the pandemic. COVID-19 has afforded opportunities. It has given Japan’s Buddhist activists a chance to reflect conscientiously on karmic cau- Photo: Science Source / PPS sality and human responsibility in order In the wake of the Great Kantō earthquake of September 1, 1923, many of the Japanese people to identify root causes of systemic prej- falsely attributed the fires that raged after the quake to the actions of Korean residents. udices. It has granted Buddhist clergy opportunities to identify parishioner the current catastrophe to disasters of disaster, as with the Great Kantō needs and expand their engagements the past century. Notably, the Reverend earthquake of September 1, 1923, beyond temple-based interactions. And connected responses to the 2020 coro- and also after the earthquake in it has served as a call to put compas- navirus outbreak to the racist rhetoric the Tōhoku region ten years before sion to work by coming to the aid of and attacks on ethnic minorities in the that, false rumors circulated. Even those in dire need, be they longstand- wake of earthquake disasters in Japan in as people understood logically that ing parishioners or marginalized out- the twentieth century. She picked up on earthquakes are caused by natural siders. These priests invite us to think of telling details in COVID-19 coverage processes that trigger cataclysm, prayer primarily in terms of devotional to highlight incipient injustices within their sense of loss and a mindset acts in the interest of others. Japanese society: that places blame on other people’s sins led them to falsely attribute the 3UD\HUDV5HÀHFWLRQ “Coronavirus infections are out fires that raged after the quakes to of control. Within this situation, a the actions of Korean residents. After Throughout the pandemic, I received particular Japanese principle takes that, Japanese people prejudicially lengthy and thought-provoking missives shape. This isgen’in kyūmei, or ‘trac- attacked Asians of all sorts, physi- from Reverend Asahikawa (“Reverend ing a cause back to its origin.’ The cally and spiritually (Japanese con- Asahikawa” is a pseudonym). She is head Buddha taught that origins cannot be sciousness of themselves as Asian priest of a Shingon temple in Wakayama attributed to other people; it is only is weak). Prefecture, in a community that is down through karma that we can under- “These deep-rooted racial prej- the mountain from her sect’s headquar- stand causes. udices have lingered. From about ters atop Mount Kōya. In response to “Yesterday (January 17) was the two weeks ago [early January], a my request that she reflect on a year of memorial anniversary of the 1995 curious phenomenon began to take pandemic practice, Reverend Asahikawa Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake shape. Television and radio broad- sent me a characteristically magiste- disaster. As I think back to the time casts started including the phrase rial essay. In it, she treated the ongoing of that earthquake, I recall anguish- ‘in 2019, the first coronavirus infec- waves of infections as a chance to link ing devastation. During the Hanshin tion in Japan was confirmed in a

Dharma World Spring 2021 23 Yokohama man with Chinese cit- Reverend is a priest of some renown; he and I think this is a positive devel- izenship.’ In about 30 percent of publishes regularly in Buddhist periodi- opment, thanks to Corona. the news bulletins on coronavirus cals and daily newspapers, has authored “However, I don’t think the need infections, this kind of wording was numerous books, and had a busy sched- for face-to-face meetings will change. evident. Genomic analysis of the ule delivering talks across Japan. That There will be people for whom face- virus confirmed that the first wave is, until COVID-19. to-face is good, for those who are of infections in Japan (from January Reverend Ōmori (“Reverend Ōmori” older or for whom the net-based to March 2020) revealed character- is a pseudonym) is a prominent example environment is difficult. In fact, for istics of the Wuhan coronavirus that of a priest who has successfully trans- services I’ve held at my temple in the spread throughout Asia. This original ferred activities from in-person to online countryside, I thought at first that viral stock, however, was depleted engagement. He noted that the popularity only about ten people would come, in Japan by April 16. After that, the of rituals remained in question; clearly, the but fifty will take part on the day. European mutant variant replaced it, full sensory experience of praying with This is more than attended before even as ‘this infection originated in priests in a temple cannot be replaced the start of the pandemic. When I Wuhan’ went into operation.” by a Zoom call. However, he expressed ask, the attendees confirm that their enthusiasm about ways dharma talks, chances to meet up with other peo- Reverend Asahikawa made clear that one-to-one counseling, and other forms ple have diminished and they have the way to confront structural inequities of teaching might develop through new grown lonely. is to cultivate Buddhist understanding. forms of engagement, thanks to transfor- “Up to now, I’ve only been able By deftly fusing careful attention to sci- mations occasioned by Covid conditions. to meet those who attended my lec- entific data with analysis of reportage, His work remains one of planting kar- tures when I traveled to see them, she pointed to a racist pattern that is trig- mic seeds, but the pandemic has meant but now, thankfully, I’m able to speak gered when Japan faces disastrous con- moving his planting to new soil: with many people across Japan all at ditions. Her reflection certainly speaks once. Also, previously many of my beyond Japanese specifics: 2020 has been “From now, the decision to carry presentations were at temples, but a year of pronounced xenophobia, a year out services in person or online, or I’ve been speaking more at com- of violence and bigotry, most obviously in to perform them in hybrid fashion, panies and for local governments. the United States but also in other places. will be tough going, I think. I have to Recently I gave an online presenta- By pointing out how we must attribute point out that I have received almost tion for a major corporation. There’s causes to the karmic seeds planted by no requests for online ritual services. a feeling that Buddhism offers latent our actions, Reverend Asahikawa laid The requests have been for dharma potential. There’s a renewed reali- a path away from retreat into chauvin- talks. Before the coronavirus, I was zation that Buddhism is useful, no ism. The pandemic is an opportunity to giving about one hundred lectures matter the person who practices it take stock of where we place blame. She per year across the country. At first and no matter the time. called on us to break with the impulse to these were all completely canceled. “From now, the Buddhist world, stoke fear of the other and instead reform However, from August 2020 I began and I, will have to adapt flexibly, but our actions through compassion as the receiving invitations for online lec- the important thing is that even if means to transcend calamity. tures, and as a result I have become people are separated physically, our very busy once again. work must be to shorten the divides Prayer as Adaptation “In this era of the coronavirus, between people’s hearts.” every priest is groping for solutions Reverend Asahikawa was not alone to how best to transmit Buddhist Ōmori offers us a heartening take on in discerning the pandemic’s positive tradition. The number of priests the pandemic experience. He may, how- potential. Reverend Ōmori, a True Pure who are delivering dharma talks ever, represent a minority of Buddhist Land (Jōdo Shinshū) Buddhist priest via YouTube is going up quite a bit, clergy who possess the technological based at a temple in rural Yamaguchi and there are diverse examples of an savvy, resources, and energy to adapt Prefecture, the southernmost end of increasing number of net-based con- their activities to new platforms and Japan’s main island Honshū, devoted sultation services as well. There’s a pivot Buddhist teachings toward new most of a recent message to reflections realization that we cannot continue audiences. We may start to see a gen- on how his schedule of rituals and lec- doing things in the same ways that erational gap in the post-Covid era, a tures was affected by the shutdown. The we have been doing them up to now, divide between older generations and

24 Dharma World Spring 2021 a new constituency of priests who can make the transition to hybrid delivery of the dharma and presentation modes that suit online and in-person corporate and governmental settings. It remains to be seen how many clergy will be able, or willing, to undertake this shift.

Prayer as Action

Though they were forced to adapt their efforts to new safety protocols, Buddhist activists continued to make significant contributions to social welfare. The pan- demic shutdown erected major obstacles to aid provision, against which provid- ers persevered to give supplies and solace to the homeless and other marginalized AFLO Photo: REUTERS / Vietnamese volunteers prepare packages of food and protective masks for Vietnamese people in populations. A prominent example of need and living in Japan at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo, which has been turned into a shelter Buddhist efforts in this regard is the One for young Vietnamese workers in Tokyo. Photo taken on May 2, 2020. Spoonful Association (Hitosaji no Kai), an outreach initiative begun in 2009 at the of the care packages they provided the Association’s efforts to help them find Pure Land (Jōdoshū) temple Eishōin in ojisan, or “uncles,” the affectionate term housing with explanations for Japanese Asakusa, a neighborhood in Tokyo near used by Reverend Yoshimizu and his readers about Vietnamese Buddhism Ueno Park and the historical prostitu- helpers for the homeless population in and accounts of his ecumenical engage- tion zone Yoshiwara. The temple’s head the streets around his temple, almost all ments with these fellow Mahāyāna prac- priest, Reverend Yoshimizu Gakugen, of whom were elderly and male. That is, titioners, such as celebrations of the mobilizes volunteers that include parish- until conditions changed with COVID-19. lunar new year and other key events ioners, priests from his own sect and Japan’s religious aid providers afford in the Vietnamese Buddhist calendar. others, and other religion-affiliated par- us an alternative history of Japan’s expe- Reverend Yoshimizu and his One ticipants to prepare meals and cloth- rience with COVID-19. It is a history Spoonful outreach can perhaps best be ing for the homeless and impoverished in which the country’s most precari- characterized as putting into practice (Because Reverend Yoshimizu and the ous residents are main characters. In what Reverend Asahikawa cautioned One Spoonful Association appear in his frequently updated blog, Reverend that we must all do: treat calamity as an numerous media reports, I do not ano- Yoshimizu noted a rise in homeless num- opportunity to move beyond the impulse nymize him or his organization here). bers from early 2020 onward, and how to fear the unfamiliar and instead reach They see to funeral arrangements for peo- this increase included a new popula- out to offer help. Instead of retreating ple without means, host a food pantry tion: displaced men and women from into isolation, we must channel devotion for children (many from single-parent Southeast Asia. He described how his toward karmic transformation. Action households), and reach out to migrant temple aided recent immigrants, mostly can be a form of prayer. Prayer as action populations, among other services. From from Vietnam, who were forced from requires a willingness to adapt to daunt- late February 2020, One Spoonful cau- their accommodations when the busi- ing circumstances, as Reverend Ōmori’s tioned its volunteers not to linger too nesses where they worked were forced to account tells us. It requires challenging long with each homeless person in order close by the pandemic lockdown. From introspection about deep-seated struc- to protect the aid recipients, and them- that time onward, the Reverend under- tural biases, as Reverend Asahikawa selves, against possible infection and took comprehensive efforts not only to identified. And it requires a willingness also required those who distributed food see to the needs of the Vietnamese work- to take action, even in the most diffi- and supplies to wear masks and goggles. ers but also to forge sustained ties with cult of times, as Reverend Yoshimizu The temple was flooded by hundreds of Vietnamese Buddhist clergy and tem- shows us. Prayer as action lets us greet masks carefully handcrafted by volun- ples. His reports combine descriptions changing circumstances as opportuni- teers, which clergy distributed as part of meals for displaced workers and his ties to cultivate a better future. ≥

Dharma World Spring 2021 25 FEATURES

What Is Prayer? by Tomoshi Okuda

Among the Ten Commandments of 3UD\HULVQRWDKXPDQDFWLWLVWKHDFWRIDGHLW\,WEHJLQV Moses that appear in the Old Testament not with praying to God but with being prayed for by*RG,WLV may be found these words: “You shall WKLVUHYHUVDOWKDWOLHVDWWKHKHDUWRISUD\HU not make for yourself a carved image.” Th is is typically regarded as prohibiting idolatry and may be perceived as mak- )XO¿OOPHQWRI Unfortunately, our prayers are not ing the arrogant monotheistic claim Petitions: The necessarily fulfi lled no matter how fer- that “our god is the one true god and Answered Prayer vently we might pray. Vulnerable in our all others are fakes.” Th e key words to suffering, we begin to entertain doubts note here, however, are “for yourself.” Being a pastor, prayer forms a part of my when told that such and such a god is Humans have a tendency to create gods everyday life. Th ere are generally con- more effective. That is why some peo- for themselves, and it is these that are sidered to be three kinds of prayer in ple become attracted by cults and wan- the fakes or idols. But gods that grant Christianity: prayers of gratitude, prayers der from one religion to another out of our requests are no more than slaves of of request, and prayers of intercession. self-interest. For the most part, though, humans. Instead, prayer should allow While prayers are oft en thought of as what they will fi nd is that things con- us ultimately to ascertain the will of a requests for something, in Christianity sequently just go from bad to worse. deity in the process of our making a an emphasis is placed on prayers of inter- You can tell whether a religion can request to that deity. Th is may some- cession; in other words, on prayers for be trusted by looking at its attitude to times transcend and run counter to our other people. prayer. Does it use prayer as a tool of own wishes. Shortly before his cruci- Th at at least is the theory. In prac- self-actualization, or does it see prayer fi xion, Jesus prayed, “may this cup be tice, however, people inevitably pray as an opportunity to discover the will of taken from me.” So even Jesus prayed for themselves when they are beset by a deity? The question, in other words, to escape the cross. However, this wish sickness, disasters, and other hardships is who or what is the subject of fulfi ll- was not granted, which is why he fi nally in life. Religion might in such instances ment of a petition: is it the self or is it prayed, “not my will but yours be done.” be criticized for being rooted in self-in- some transcendent being? It is under- He prayed for God’s will to be done, terest. However, praying out of self-in- standable that people seek out and pray which is the crucial point about prayer. terest is not in itself a bad thing, as God to the god that suits them, but whether There is a well-known poem of would prefer that our honest thoughts that is the right thing to do is another unknown authorship called A Creed emerge in prayer. matter. for Th ose Who Have Suff ered. It can be found on a wall at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, and it illustrates what it means for a prayer to be fulfi lled.

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve; I was made weak, that I might learn Photo: Alamy / PPS Photo: Part of the All Souls Deuteronomy, containing the oldest extant copy of the Decalogue. humbly to obey. Discovered in 1952 in a cave at Qumran, near the Dead Sea, it dates to the early Herodian I asked for health, that I might do period between 30 and 1 BCE. greater things;

26 Dharma World Spring 2021 7RPRVKL2NXGDLVFKDLUPDQRIWKHQRQSUR¿WRUJDQL]DWLRQ+RXERNXDQGKDVEHHQDPLQLVWHU RI+LJDVKL\DKDWD&KULVW&KXUFKLQ)XNXRND3UHIHFWXUH-DSDQVLQFH2NXGDEHJDQ KHOSLQJWKHKRPHOHVVZKLOHDVWXGHQWDQGODWHUVHUYHGDVFKLHIH[HFXWLYHRI¿FHUDQG FKDLUPDQRIWKH.LWD.\XVKX+RPHOHVV6XSSRUW2UJDQL]DWLRQLQ)XNXRND1RZFDOOHG Houboku, this organization has helped more than 3,500 homeless people (as of March 2020) to lead independent lives again.

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things. I asked for riches, that I might be happy; I was given poverty, that I might be wise. I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men; I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life; I was given life, that I might enjoy Photo: Raghu Rai / Magnum Photos / AFLO Photo: Raghu Rai / Magnum Photos all things. Mother Teresa during her prayers at the Missionary of the Pure Heart in Calcutta (Kolkata). I got nothing I asked for, but everything I had hoped for. much” (Tomoshi Okuda, “Nigeokureta” the things that cannot be changed, Almost despite myself, my unspo- bansōsha [An escort runner who was Courage to change the things ken prayers were answered; “left behind”] [Honnotane Press, 2020], which should be changed, I am, among all men, most richly 168). For Wakamatsu, prayer is a rec- and the Wisdom to distinguish blessed. ognition of weakness. Prayer is there- the one from the other. fore deepened by a realization of one’s Recognition of own personal weakness. Living one day at a time, Weakness: The If recognizing our weakness is where Enjoying one moment at a time, prayer begins, then there is something Accepting hardship as a pathway Serenity Prayer fundamentally contradictory about pray- to peace, The essayist and Tokyo Institute of ing to become stronger and richer. Prayer Taking, as Jesus did, Technology professor Eisuke Wakamatsu as a recognition of weakness means This sinful world as it is, has written as follows about prayer: “I accepting that the reality in which we Not as I would have it, believe that prayer is the most passion- find our poor selves is not what we can Trusting that You will make all things ate act that a person can perform in change as we would like it to be. Such right, this world. A prayer is not a request. prayer liberates us from egoism. When If I surrender to Your will, A request may convey our wishes or we pray to become stronger and richer, So that I may be reasonably happy desires to God, but a prayer involves we are moving in the direct opposition in this life, listening to a transcendent, silent voice. to what prayer is, in essence, all about. And supremely happy with You for- Prayer takes as its starting point a rec- At this point, I would like to intro- ever in the next. ognition of our weakness. Engaging in duce a prayer by the American theol- Amen. prayer more deeply means reflecting ogist Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971). upon our own weakness. People who What impresses many people about believe they are strong and take an ‘I’m God, give us grace to accept with this prayer is its honest acceptance of the all right’ attitude probably don’t pray serenity self as living in a reality that cannot be

Dharma World Spring 2021 27 changed and its desire for the grace to told Peter, however, that “the cock will but rescue us from the evil one. accept what cannot be changed rather not crow this day, until you have denied For the kingdom and the power and than the strength to change it. It also three times that you know me” (ibid., the glory are yours forever. does not call for the elimination of hard- 22:34). That is what happened, and it Amen. ships but, rather, sees them as a path- is shortly before it did that Jesus spoke (Ibid., Matthew 6:9–13) way to peace and trust in God’s plan. the above words to Peter. The blessings bestowed by the prayer “I have prayed for you that your own The title “Lord’s Prayer” is normally stem from the recognition of weakness faith may not fail.” The words had barely considered to signify the prayer that observable here. been spoken before Peter had disowned Jesus taught to his disciples, but is that Jesus three times, and Peter recalled them really so? In Japanese the words haha Already Prayed For: in despair. Unable to find the words no inori (a mother’s prayer) signify a The Lord’s Prayer even to pray, the realization that he had prayer said by a mother for her child. It been prayed for brought him to his feet is not a prayer taught by a mother to a Wakamatsu says that prayer is the act of again. The words had been uttered in the child. The words “a mother’s prayer was listening to the “transcendent voice” of a past tense—“I have prayed for you”— answered” likewise remind us of how deity and listening to that being’s wishes. signifying that Peter had already been fervently a mother prayed for her child. Mother Teresa put it this way: “The first prayed for. Jesus, that is to say, God, had The child is the one who was prayed for requirement for prayer is silence. People already prayed for such a frail human and who receives the prayer’s blessings. of prayer are people of silence” (José Luis being as Peter. The same may be said in the case of the González-Balado, ed., Mother Teresa: In The most famous prayer in Lord’s Prayer. It is a fact that Jesus has My Own Words [Liguori Publication, Christianity is the Lord’s Prayer, and already prayed for us, and it is when we 1997], 8). She went on to say, “Prayer the following words are familiar even realize this that we discover the profun- is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself to many who are not Christians. dity of prayer. in the hands of God, at his disposition, There are times in life when we find and listening to his voice in the depth Our Father in heaven, it impossible to pray, perhaps because of our hearts” (ibid., 9). Mother Teresa hallowed be your name. the hurt is too great or because we have says that silence is needed in order to your kingdom come. just experienced some catastrophe. That enter into prayer. This is simply because your will be done, is what befell Peter. But we should still prayer is “listening to his voice in the on earth as it is in heaven. not be afraid or anxious. Everything depth of our hearts.” Give us this day our daily bread. will be all right because we have already We used to think that prayer was And forgive us our debts, been prayed for. What our deity is tell- what people did to request something as we also have forgiven our debtors. ing us is, “When you feel better, it will from a deity. On the Internet, too, prayer And do not bring us to the time of be your turn to lend courage to those is defined as “to entreat a deity” and trial, who are unable to pray.” ≥ “to sincerely hope.” At heart, however, prayer is deeper. This is because it is not a human act; it is the act of a deity. It begins not with praying to God but with being prayed for by God. It is this reversal that lies at the heart of prayer. On the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus told Simon Peter, the most senior of his disciples, “but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32 [New Revised Standard Version]). When Jesus informed his disciples that he would be crucified, Peter alone insisted

that he would never disown him, even Alamy / PPS Photo: if it meant having to die for him. Jesus The Denial of Saint Peter(1610) by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610).

28 Dharma World Spring 2021 FEATURES

Zen Prayer? Maybe, Maybe Not E\3DPHOD':LQ¿HOG

3DPHOD':LQ¿HOGLV3URIHVVRURI 7KHUHLVDFHUWDLQLQWHUQDOLURQ\WRWKH=HQWUDGLWLRQWKDW Buddhist Studies at Elon University WHFKQLFDOO\HVFKHZVODQJXDJHDQGDQ\IRUPRISUD\HUWRD LQ1RUWK&DUROLQD6KHLVWKHDXWKRU higher power yet in actual practice delights in language and of the award-winning Icons and broadly prays for individual and collective well-being in the Iconoclasm in Japanese Buddhism: .njNDLDQG'ǀJHQRQWKH$UWRI IRUPRINLWǀSUD\HUV Enlightenment 2[IRUG8QLYHUVLW\ Press, 2013) and the co-editor (with Prayer in the Zen Th eoretically speaking, the Zen tra- Steven Heine) of Zen and Material Culture 2[IRUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV Context dition does not recognize any divine power above or beyond the human 2017). She has reciprocated grants Depending on the defi nition used, it can realm. In contradistinction to other from the American Academy of be said that prayer does, and yet does sects of Buddhism that, for example, rec- Religion (AAR) and the Association of not, exist within the Zen tradition. Zen ognize and celebrate the salvifi c compas- Asian Studies (AAS) by serving as the practitioners do not pray to a god or gods sion of Amida Buddha’s “other power” President of the Society for the Study in the traditional sense, but they do pray (tariki), Zen practitioners do not pray of Japanese Religions (SSJR) and for individual boons and collective ben- to a heavenly Buddha god to swoop Co-chair of the Arts, Literature and efi ts in the form of kitō prayers, as many down and escort them to be reborn in Religion Unit at the AAR. other Buddhist sects do. In addition, a postmortem existence as a buddha if prayer is defi ned in a more general- (hotoke) in the Pure Land of Bliss and do display Buddhas and bodhisattvas as ized, expansive sense that encompasses Repose (Jpn., Jodō, Skt., Sukhāvati). models and reminders of human poten- forms of contemplative practice, then one Rather, Zen emphasizes the importance tial, but Zen is a nontheistic tradition that could conceivably speak of Zen prayer, of self power (jiriki) to achieve awak- technically eschews any higher power but the tradition’s own terms “medita- ening right here and now. populating a metaphysical realm dis- tion,” or simply “zazen,” should be used Unlike the fundamentally vertical tinct from our own. For example, when instead. As a result, whether prayer is cosmological gap between heaven and asked “What is Buddha?”, Zen master defi ned in either a narrow or a broad earth in other traditions, the cosmol- Tozan (Chn., Dongshan Liangjie, 洞山 sense, its applicability to the Zen con- ogy of Zen is radically horizontal, with 良价, 807–69) responded that Buddha is text is still an equivocating yes and no Buddha nature squarely located in and the “three pounds of fl ax!” that he was in both cases. as the material realm. Consequently, no then using to make a Buddhist robe. one can enlighten you; only you can His meaning? Buddha is always right Narrow Defi nition of Prayer enlighten yourself. No scriptures, doc- before your eyes. You just have to wake If prayer is traditionally defi ned as “a trines, devotional acts, or prayers to up to see it. form of communication between humans self-constructed higher beings exter- Without a higher power per se, in and higher powers” (Carl Olsen, Religious nal to you can enlighten you. At least Zen there can be no form of commu- Studies: Th e Key Concepts [Routledge in terms of its own rhetoric, Zen prides nication between humans and this pre- Press, 2010], 188), and if one were to ask itself on not relying on words or letters sumed metaphysical realm. Because there if this kind of prayer exists within the but on directly pointing to the mind, see- is no cosmological gap between us and Zen tradition, then the answer would be ing into one’s true nature, and becom- the gods, there can be no reverential theoretically no but institutionally yes. ing a buddha. Of course, Zen temples supplication or worshipful propitiation

Dharma World Spring 2021 29 through prayerful language. Zen in fact also recite them for lay penitents who earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear melt- deemphasizes language, at least in its commission them for specific boons. down). They may purchase protective more theoretical moments. As I have Learning how to recite kitō for indi- amulets (omamori) and perhaps even argued elsewhere, vidual and collective well-being in both stay in temple lodgings when available. life and death is a critical aspect of all Just as with almost every other Buddhist [In Zen,] the object itself is always Zen training, for such prayers provide temple in Japan, the economic viability primary. One’s first encounter with a significant source of income for most of the Zen temple depends on prayer the sensate forms of the real world ordained Zen priests today. However, offerings and on how well it can pro- naturally precedes and necessarily these prayers are not directed to any mote its niche-brand identity within informs all subsequent words and personified supernatural deity, bud- the larger prayer economy of competing concepts about it. Physical entities dha, or bodhisattva but, rather, vaguely religious institutions. From a theoret- constitute a sort of prelinguistic, non- invoke all the karmic causes and con- ical standpoint, a narrow definition of essentialized substance semantics ditions that may come together to pro- prayer does not really apply to the Zen that exist prior to human-invented mote general health and well-being. context; but from a pragmatic, institu- words and concepts, and these arbi- As a result, there is a certain internal tional perspective, Zen prayer definitely trary sounds and intangible ideas are irony to the Zen tradition that technically does exist and is indeed crucial to the but secondary representations of the eschews language and any form of prayer sect’s economic survival. thing itself in the mouth and mind to a higher power yet in actual practice of the beholder. Stripping away such delights in language and broadly prays Broad Definition of Prayer secondary accretions and returning for individual and collective well-being The narrow definition of prayer there- to the baseline grasp of suchness is in the form of kitō prayers. This dou- fore does—and does not—apply to Zen. the definition of awakening” (Pamela ble standard may create a certain cogni- Likewise, a broader definition of prayer D. Winfield and Steven Heine, eds., tive dissonance for those who struggle both might—or might not—apply to Zen and Material Culture [Oxford to reconcile the old “pure Zen” ideals the Zen context. A more functional and University Press, 2017], 39). of D. T. Suzuki with the explicitly rit- expansive explanation of the term may ualistic, smells-and-bells form of con- more fully characterize prayer as a ritual At the same time, however, it temporary Zen Buddhist prayers, but act and “a network of symbols related must be recognized that Zen’s rheto- as Tim Graf explains, to sense experiences, moods, emotions, ric of immediacy, to borrow Bernard and values . . .” that reinforces one’s iden- Faure’s titular phrase, is mostly the- Zazen (meditation) and kitō (prayer) tity and membership in a community oretical (The Rhetoric of Immediacy are interactive and complementary (Olsen, Religious Studies, 188–190). If [Princeton University Press, 1994]). aspects of Zen monastic training. . . . this expanded definition were applied In actual practice, Zen greatly values Zazen became the best-known Zen to zazen in particular, and if one were linguistic wordplay, blistering repar- practice in the modern world, [but] asked if this form of prayer exists in the tee, poetic and calligraphic expression, Sōtō Zen Buddhist prayer rituals Zen tradition, then the answer would and the mysterious power of invoca- for this-worldly benefits are hardly be technically “maybe” but critically tion. These are all the result of Zen’s ever observed anywhere else but at “no.” Zazen might fulfill the criteria of cross-pollination with Sino-Japanese Japanese prayer monasteries (“Brands Olsen’s definition above, but this defi- literati culture, Pure Land devotional- of Zen: Kitō jiin in Contemporary nition is problematic in and of itself. ism, and esoteric Mantrayāna at vari- Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhism” [Ph.D. One may conceivably perceive the ous points in its long pan-Asian history. Dissertation (unpublished manu- discipline of zazen seated meditation This has produced Zen’s voluminous script), University of Heidelberg, as a form of ritualized, daily prayer literary record and rich repertoire of 2017], 6). insofar as it evokes the experience of prayers called kitō that set intentions, awakening and provides the basis for express gratitude, appease spirits, and Graf indicates that these Zen prayer community identity. Olsen’s “network of generally ensure this-worldly benefits temples (kitō jiin) are popular sites of symbols” that are designed to facilitate (genze riyaku). Zen monks, for exam- religious tourism, civic engagement, the “experiences, moods, emotions, and ple, recite daily prayers in the train- and brand marketing. For example, values” of Zen would certainly include ing monasteries before eating, bathing, penitents may travel to a specific Zen all the material, visual, and embod- and all other quotidian activities that temple and offer prayers for the vic- ied cultures of the zendō. The visible are opportunities for practice, and they tims of 3/11 (Japan’s triple disaster of identity markers of the practitioners’

30 Dharma World Spring 2021 robes and shaved heads symbolize the slotting the Buddhist practice of zazen term kitō (prayers, blessings) for this- value of Buddhist renunciation as well seated meditation into the Western worldly benefits, and the verbinoru (to as the unbroken lineage of mind-to- European category of prayer is reduc- pray) has been used to address Shintō mind transmission stretching back to tionistic and politically incorrect, as it kami ever since its first mention in the Sakyamuni Buddha himself. The mon- does a certain colonizing violence to the Kojiki (712 CE), but the methods, aims, itor’s compassion stick (called the kyō- Zen tradition on its own terms. and goals of zazen significantly differ saku staff in Sōtō Zen, keisaku staff in The theological category of “prayer,” from these kinds of prayers. Rinzai Zen) whacks unfocused med- like the invented category of “religion” Olsen’s vaguely worded broad rede- itators back into alertness, symboliz- itself, is a foreign, historically contingent finition of prayer’s traditional sense ing the Zen values of compassion and Western European construct that does itself attempts to generalize and uni- the use of expedient means to elicit not fit zazen well at all. Jason Ananda versalize this culturally specific cat- the experience of awakening. The erect Josephson-Storm has already written egory to the point where it becomes cross-legged posture of the lotus posi- about this socially-constructed nature essentially meaningless. It subtly grafts tion itself, with hands folded and eyelids of “religion” at length in his critically-ac- the deity-directed model onto indig- lowered, also evokes a mood of calm claimed monograph, The Invention of enous forms of religious praxis and concentration that is said to embody Religion in Japan [University of Chicago glosses over important epistemologi- and manifest the buddha dharma in Press, 2012]. In addition, Michael Marra cal and soteriological differences. All its very form. A sculpted image of the has written about a similar phenom- forms of contemplative practice are sword-wielding Manjuśri in the zendō enon in the field of art history, when not the same; meditating on the mu reminds meditators to cut away their turn-of-the-century scholars attempted kōan or focusing one’s attention on the delusions through insight (Jpn., kan; to universalize fundamentally Euro- breath is not the same as devotional Skt., vipassana), while the bodhisattva’s American ideals of “aesthetics” (see recitations of the Hail Mary or rec- lion mount reminds them to tame their Michael F. Marra, “The Creation of ollection of the ninety-nine names of wild passions through calm meditation the Vocabulary of Aesthetics in Meiji Allah, for example. Likewise, the sote- (Jpn., shi; Skt., śamatha). The zabu- Japan” in Since Meiji: Perspectives in the riological aims of zazen seated med- ton mat and zafu meditation cushion Visual Arts of Japan 1868–2000 , ed. J. itation are not the same as those of become symbolic of the universe itself; Thomas Rimer [University of Hawaii monotheistic prayer. Although both when one sits, the four-cornered mat Press, 2016], 193–211). can be said to generally evoke expe- becomes one’s entire world. Infinite time The concept of prayer (like the con- riences, the experience of emptiness is also telescoped into set time peri- cept of aesthetics) presents itself as a (satori) is not the same as the experi- ods within the zendō; it is measured universal given, but these pretensions ence of divine union with God or being out by the burning incense stick and to universality are only the logical fal- saved by accepting Jesus Christ as one’s by the bells and wooden clappers that lacy of Euro-American hubris. The very Lord and Savior. This kind of thinking signal the start and end of each med- concept of prayer is founded on the pre- smacks of the all-too-familiar yet out- itation period. Taken altogether, the supposition that since Christians pray dated claim that all paths ultimately materia liturgica of ritual objects, visual to a universal God, all prayer in the lead to the same summit and that dif- displays, bodily dispositions, fragrant world must therefore also be universal ferent forms of prayer (in the broader smells, percussive soundscapes, dark- as well. It asserts that all religions must sense) somehow ultimately meet up ened interiors, and fellow ascetics fac- have some form of prayer; prayer must to accomplish the same ends (Stephen ing the wall (in the Sōtō tradition) or exist within all traditions; prayer itself Prothero, God Is Not One: The Eight Rival away from it (in the Rinzai tradition) must be as universal as the concepts Religions That Run the World [Harper all conspire to create a distinctly solemn of God and religion are. We know that One, 2011]). This is patently false: it is and earnest microcosmic environment this presupposition is fundamentally evident that zazen seated meditation that could well be described as prayer- unfounded and that in nineteenth-cen- for self-and-other awakening differs ful. Anyone entering the zendō at this tury Japan, for example, a Japanese word greatly from shamanic trance for com- time would automatically know not to literally had to be invented to translate munication with ancestors, which in disturb the practitioners and instead to this completely new and foreign con- turn differs from spirit possession for respectfully honor the interior work cept of religion: shūkyō, made up of the psychophysical healing and/or drug- of the meditators’ religious training. kanji compound for “sect” and “teach- enhanced visions for community bonding. At the same time, however, from ing.” As described previously, premodern a critical metacognitive perspective, Japanese ritual specialists did have the continued on page 38

Dharma World Spring 2021 31 RISSHO KOSEI-KAI BUDDHISM

Prayer in Rissho Kosei-kai by Dominick Scarangello

or a way of life. Some scientists In Rissho Kosei-kai, prayer is an aspiration, an expression have described it as “the most sci- RIWKHIXQGDPHQWDOYRZRI0DKƗ\ƗQD%XGGKLVWERGKLVDWWYDV ence-friendly religion.” It dispenses WRKHOSOLEHUDWHDOOEHLQJV$YRZLVQRWVLPSO\DKRSHWKDW with the concept of God, upholds UHPDLQVORFNHGZLWKLQRXUKHDUWVLWLVDOVRDSURPLVH/LNHDOO direct observation, understands SURPLVHVDYRZLVVRPHWKLQJWKDWZHDVSLUHWRE\ZRUNLQJWR things in terms of cause and eff ect, DFFRPSOLVKZKDWZHKDYHSOHGJHGWRGR maintains that everything constantly changes, and says that there is no essential self or soul. Th e religious Today people of faith are coming together writing that “the ultimate essence of parts of Buddhism are supposed as perhaps never before to pray for the religion is revealed by the simplest act to be extraneous and not too diffi - earliest possible end to the novel coro- of religion—prayer” (Feuerbach 2008, cult to remove. Once you get rid of navirus pandemic and for the repose of 82). This is the approach I will take in them you can see that Buddhism at the millions of lives that have been lost. this piece, calling attention to essen- its core is really a psychology based Th is includes Rissho Kosei-kai, an inter- tial aspects of the Buddhism of Rissho on meditation. Buddhist meditation national lay Buddhist movement with Kosei-kai by exploring its understand- isn’t like prayer or other kinds of reli- members throughout the world. Th e ing and practice of prayer. gious contemplation or ritual; it’s an pandemic has presented a great chal- However, I’m guessing that some applied mind science. Th ese are the lenge to religious groups, forcing them readers may question the very notion reasons people give for thinking that to substantially change the patterns of of Buddhist prayer. Today Buddhism is Buddhism isn’t really a religion, or their lives of faith. But even if people of oft en treated as a kind of outlier among that if it is, it’s diff erent from and faith cannot meet in the ways they did religions, described as a philosophy, a superior to other religions. (Ibid.) before the onset of the pandemic, they science of the mind, or simply a way continue to pray. In light of our pres- of life because it is said to lack many Notice that Th ompson specifi cally ent circumstances and the theme of this of the features we commonly associate mentions prayer as one of the religious issue of Dharma World, in this piece I with religion. Th is stance, which dis- practices that is negated or extricated. I will explore prayer in the Buddhism of tances Buddhism from other faiths, is am of the fi rm opinion that Buddhists Rissho Kosei-kai. a hallmark of Buddhist modernism—a indeed engage in practices that can be general trend of thought originating in considered prayer, and this is something Is There Buddhist various revitalization movements that they share with people of other faiths. Prayer? sought to defend Buddhism facing the At the same time, Buddhist prayer is challenge of European culture, thought, uttered within its wider system of prac- For me the topic of prayer brings and technology. Evan Th ompson calls tices and beliefs, predicated on its own to mind the philosopher Ludwig this view of Buddhism “Buddhist excep- unique understanding of how the uni- Feuerbach’s insightful observations tionalism” (Th ompson 2019, 24): verse functions. But this is the same as in the chapter he devoted to prayer any other religion; none is more unique in his influential work The Essence of Th ere is a popular idea that Buddhism than the others. Christianity. Feuerbach suggests that is inherently rational and scientifi c. Before we go any further, I should we can know the human phenome- People say that Buddhism isn’t so off er a defi nition of prayer, for which I non of religion by focusing on prayer, much a religion as it is a philosophy will return to Feuerbach.

32 Dharma World Spring 2021 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, %HUNHOH\ ± 3UHVHQWO\KHLVWKH,QWHUQDWLRQDO$GYLVRUWR5LVVKR.RVHLNDL DQGFRRUGLQDWRURIWKH,QWHUQDWLRQDO/RWXV6XWUD6HPLQDU

In prayer, man [sic] addresses God I would like to highlight two practices Buddhist tradition is its purifying mit- with the word of intimate affection— in Rissho Kosei-kai that I think qualify igation of karmic obstructions, which Thou; he thus declares articulately as prayer. First, practitioners in Rissho is a very prominent idea in Mahāyāna that God is his alter ego; he confesses Kosei-kai do voice their deepest wishes to Buddhism, but it is also indicated by to God, as the being nearest to him, the Buddha, whether these be for them- admonitions to confess a fault as a fault his most secret thoughts, his deepest selves or others. This is calledkigan , usu- in the Pali Nikāyas, some of the earli- wishes, which otherwise he shrinks ally translated into English as “prayer.” est Buddhist texts (Hiraoka 1991, 512). from uttering. (Feuerbach 2008, 83) Kigan is a compound made up of two In Rissho Kosei-kai there are two forms words, ki (祈), which means “to pray,” of repentance. The first is to recognize I will add more from Feuerbach later, and gan (願), which can mean “prayer,” one’s shortcomings in the presence of but for now this will suffice. In prayer, as in a request, hope, or desire, as well others, such as fellow practitioners in Feuerbach tells us, human beings face as a vow, or “to vow,” and to resolve to Dharma-circle discussion groups, and an aspect of themselves in the divine, do something. Prayer may be offered for the second is to perform repentance draw close to it, express contrition for various reasons, first and foremost world with the Buddha as one’s witness. It is their wrongs to it, and also speak their peace and the awakening of all people, this latter practice of repentance that I inner musings, especially the things but also more personal concerns such discuss in this essay. to which they deeply aspire. While his as recovery from illness, to purify and definition’s use of “God” is not applica- bless a residence or a vehicle, success in Who Is Addressed in ble to Buddhism, I suspect that many an endeavor, and so forth. However, in Prayer? people would also point to much of these trying times of the novel corona- the remainder of Feuerbach’s defini- virus pandemic, the prayer for the earli- Whereas in Islam, Judaism, or tion, asking, “Do Buddhists address the est possible conclusion to the pandemic Christianity, prayer is offered to God buddhas and bodhisattvas with words is of course the most fervent in Rissho or perhaps Mary, the mother of Christ, of affection? Do Buddhists confess to Kosei-kai, as in faiths the world over. or other saints in the Catholic and the buddhas and bodhisattvas?” I have A second activity we can find in Orthodox traditions, prayers in Rissho chosen Feuerbach’s definition from his Rissho Kosei-kai that I think accords Kosei-kai are offered primarily to the study of Christianity because, in addi- with Feuerbach’s description of prayer Eternal Original Buddha revealed in tion to it’s insightfulness, it can also is a form of confession (Jpn., sange, 懴 chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra. We can point us toward lesser-known aspects of 悔) that is translated as “repentance” think of the Original Buddha as the per- Buddhist practice that are obscured by or “acknowledgment and remorse,” as sonification of the ultimate truth that the discourse of Buddhist exceptional- rendered in the new translation of the permeates all things in the universe ism but very important in Rissho Kosei- Threefold Lotus Sutra. Repentance and and guides the arising and development kai. It will also allow us to think about rites of contrition have a long history in of everything. In prayer, the Original Buddhism comparatively and discover East Asian Buddhism and are a salient Buddha is invoked (Jpn., kanjō, 勧請), points of intersection with other faiths. feature of the tradition of the Lotus Sutra that is, petitioned to be present, but not because it is the primary subject of the only the Original Buddha. Other bud- Varieties of Prayer in Sutra of the Method for Contemplating dhas and bodhisattvas that appear in Rissho Kosei-kai the Bodhisattva Universal Sage, the clos- the Lotus Sutra, including Manjuśri, ing text of the Threefold Lotus Sutra. Universal Sage (Skt., Samantabhadra), Keeping Feuerbach’s definition in mind, The importance of confession in the and Maitreya, are also invoked, as well

Dharma World Spring 2021 33 as great practitioners within the lineage prayer with the entreaty “We earnestly of asking the Buddha to remain in the of Lotus Sutra Buddhism, such as the pray that with the help of divine guid- world and teach, which has its origins Japanese monk Nichiren (1222–82) and ance and protection, all living beings in the traditional story that following the various guardian deities and spir- may awaken to their buddha nature and Shakyamuni’s enlightenment under the its (Jpn., shugojin, 守護神/; shoten zen- world peace may be achieved” (ibid., bodhi tree, the god Brahma petitioned jin, 諸天善神) who protect Buddhism 87). In the case of prayer for specific him to refrain from entering nirvana and its practitioners. The invocation purposes, such as recovery from dis- and instead to remain in the world and is an entreaty to a kind of sacred cos- ease, and especially at this time of the teach living beings the truth to which mos of the faith. novel coronavirus epidemic, practi- he had awakened. In both daily sutra It may be surprising that the invo- tioners ask that the Buddha and beings recitation and special prayers, invok- cation includes deities or spirits. While invoked extend their hands of compas- ing the personas in the sacred cosmos Buddhism does not posit an absolute, sion to human beings. In the case of of the Lotus Sutra reaffirms one’s eager- almighty creator deity who exists exter- repentance, a more private, less cere- ness and openness to learn from all situ- nal to time and space, outside the cycle monial form of communication with ations and all people one meets as good of birth and death (samsara), it does rec- the Buddha, Rev. Nikkyo Niwano, the spiritual friends who are guides on the ognize the existence of mighty celestial founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, teaches Buddha Way. beings possessing what we would think that acknowledgment and remorse is Seen from this perspective, the per- of a supernatural power. According to “acknowledging our shortcomings and sonas of the sacred cosmology are highly Buddhism these heavenly deities are, expressing remorse for them directly symbolic, and we can even think of them just like human beings, finite existences to the Buddha,” accompanied by the as archetypes. As Taigen Daniel Leighton who are born into this world and even- acts of “revering and paying homage explains with regard to bodhisattvas, all tually pass away. They are different from to Shakyamuni Buddha and the bud- “have their own psychological approach human beings only in a relative sense. dhas throughout the universe” (Niwano and strategy toward practice and their Some are believed to live many eons, 1989, 692). own function as spiritual resources” sometimes so long that they forget their (Leighton 1998, 3). Let’s consider the own mortality. Stories of the Buddha Prayer as Realizing three bodhisattvas invoked in Rissho teaching and interacting with heavenly Our Awakened Kosei-kai prayer: Manjuśri, Universal beings are common even in the earli- Sage, and Maitreya. In Rissho Kosei- est layers of Buddhist literature, with Alter Egos kai’s understanding of the Lotus Sutra, many of them pledging to protect the As entreaties for aid from the buddhas, Manjuśri is the archetype of wisdom, Buddha and his followers so that the bodhisattvas, and even heavenly beings and Maitreya of compassion. When Dharma prospers in the world. Buddhist- and spirits that populate Rissho Kosei- Manjuśri speaks in the Lotus Sutra, protecting deities that one often encoun- kai’s sacred cosmology, prayer demon- the subject is wisdom, and the times ters in Buddhism include South Asian strates a recognition that powerful when Maitreya becomes the interloc- gods such as Indra (Jpn., Taishakuten) beings can indeed help human beings. utor the topic is compassion. Universal and Sarasvatī (Jpn., Benzaiten), as well However, for practitioners of Lotus Sutra Sage appears in the sutra’s final chap- as various indigenous or hybridized dei- Buddhism, all events and encounters in ter to show how to bring both wisdom ties. In Japan Dharma protectors include life are aspects, faces, or the workings of and compassion together in the prac- gongen (literally, “provisional manifes- ultimate truth—the Original Buddha— tical application of Buddhist teachings tations”), who are thought to be avatars and if properly grasped and accepted in praxis. In Buddhism the Buddha is of particular buddhas or bodhisattvas. as such, they nurture and guide people an ultimate example of human perfec- toward buddhahood. In this light, the tion, and bodhisattvas serve as models What Is Requested? supplication of prayer establishes a view for specific virtues, manifesting what we, of the entire universe and all within it as at our very best, can be. In this way, the The Rissho Kosei-kai invocation of this manifestations of the great teacher, the Buddha and the other personas that are sacred cosmos concludes with a request Buddha. Daily repetition of these peti- invoked in prayer are, in Feuerbach’s for these personas to bear witness to tions is essential to renewing this way terms, our alter egos. the practitioner with the words “May of looking at the world with a heart of Acknowledgment and remorse is you all be present among us and know humility, gratitude, and inquisitiveness. also a way of interacting with the bud- our deep devotion” (Rissho Kosei-kai The most basic meaning of the term dhas and bodhisattvas as alter egos, but 2019, 21), and it is common to conclude “invocation” in Buddhism is the act in a comparative way, by using them as

34 Dharma World Spring 2021 a mirror to reflect oneself and expose one’s own shortcomings, and to pro- vide a standard for self-reflection. The more one focuses on the Buddha as an exemplar of what one can and should be, the greater the awareness of one’s own shortcomings becomes. This remorse- fulness in turn stirs a greater yearning for the Buddha. Expressing remorse to the Buddha is not the same as receiving forgiveness from the Buddha, however. The Buddha does not punish people, nor would his forgiveness open anyone’s eyes to the truth. According to Buddhism’s principle of cause and effect, when peo- ple’s actions are unskillful and harmful A statue of the Bodhisattva Regarder of the Sounds of the World holding a stem of a those actions result in suffering, but if blossoming lotus flower in her left hand. Located in the Fumon Area of the Rissho Kosei-kai people’s actions are skillful and benefi- headquarters’ complex in Tokyo. cial those actions can spur them toward liberation. Performing acknowledgment floods; to safeguard people from malev- Niwano surmises that when the sutra and remorse breaks down the impedi- olent beings; protect them from attack encourages calling out the name of, ments of unwholesome habitual ener- by swords and sticks; rescue them from invoking the name of, keeping in mind gies that lead to unskillful and harmful misjustice and cruel punishments; and and revering, and calling to mind the actions, and it also polishes one’s buddha so forth. The verse portion of the chapter bodhisattva, it is telling us to be mind- nature, the embryonic buddha within also says that the bodhisattva helps peo- ful of the Sound Regarder by making that sees its fullest expression in the ple eliminate the influence of the fun- her vow our own and emulating her Buddha outside oneself. damental afflictive emotions that cause teachings by applying them practi- our deluded existence—the three poisons cally in our lives. He writes of the great Emulating the of greed, anger, and ignorance—mani- bodhisattvas as follows: Bodhisattvas festing herself in the various forms that people need to meet in order to attain Striving to ease the sufferings and When it comes to the topic of prayer and liberation. The powers of the Sound confusion of living beings is cer- the Lotus Sutra, prayer to the Bodhisattva Regarder explained in the chapter have tainly one form of the relief bodhi- Regarder of the Sounds of the World contributed to the widespread popular- sattvas provide, but there is another, (Chn., guanyin; Jpn., kannon) immedi- ity of this bodhisattva throughout Asia far more important work they per- ately comes to mind. Sometimes called and to the tradition of invoking the name form: acting as the Buddha’s emis- the Bodhisattva of Mercy, the liberat- of the bodhisattva as a form of prayer saries by transmitting his teachings ing activities of the Sound Regarder are to eliminate suffering and misfortune. and demonstrating how to lead the described in the twenty-fifth chapter However, when it comes to this life of faith. This is the true task of of the sutra, which became so popu- chapter, Rev. Nikkyo Niwano poses bodhisattvas: guiding us to libera- lar in East Asia that it circulated inde- an interesting question. On the face tion through their good example. pendently as the Sound Regarder Sutra of it, the Buddha’s teaching here seems (Niwano 1989, 626–27) (Jpn., Kannongyō, 観音経). In this chap- out of sync with the general message ter Shakyamuni Buddha responds to of the Lotus Sutra. If all we have to do While not denying that the Sound an enquiry about the reason for the is invoke the Sound Regarder’s name Regarder brings people aid and comfort, bodhisattva’s name by describing how in order to attain liberation, wouldn’t Rev. Niwano emphasizes that even the she compassionately watches over liv- this negate the Buddha’s teachings up great bodhisattvas such as the Sound ing beings in our world and responds to this point in the sutra, which called Regarder help people first and fore- to their cries of suffering and distress. us to dedicate ourselves to bodhisattva most by showing them what to aspire The Sound Regarder is said to help peo- practice for both ourselves and others? to and how to realize those vows. When ple encircled by fires or inundated by Pondering this apparent contradiction, people revere and are mindful of the

Dharma World Spring 2021 35 Sound Regarder, their hearts open to her Prayer: The Oneness It is here that we discover a major dis- transformative influence. Rev. Niwano of Vows and the Effort tinction between Feuerbach’s under- explains this as a resonance or sympa- standing of prayer and prayer in Rissho thetic response from the bodhisattva to Realize Them Kosei-kai’s Buddhism. Like many peo- that allows people to get on the same Rissho Kosei-kai’s interpretation of the ple today, Feuerbach thought prayer to wavelength with the bodhisattva. role of the Bodhisattva Regarder of the be quietist and passive, an act of with- Sounds of the World and other great drawing from the world. In contrast to “Resonate” in this case means to bodhisattvas leads us to what I think can those who pray, he held that the person spontaneously attain the same state be described as Rissho Kosei-kai’s basic engaged in the world “does not pray: he of mind as Bodhisattva Regarder of understanding of prayer. Prayer is two- only works; he transforms his attain- the Sounds of the World. The phrase fold, consisting of a vow, or aspiration, able wishes into objects of real activity” “sympathetic response” is often used and the perseverance to fulfill that vow. (Feuerbach 2008, 83). I think prayer can to characterize this sort of phenome- indeed be a resigning, quietest exercise, non. If we call to mind the Regarder The Vow but as we have seen, in Rissho Kosei-kai, of the Sounds of the World, ponder- As Rissho Kosei-kai President Nichiko prayer is an aspiration, an expression ing all her qualities, we can make her Niwano explains in a recent article, of the fundamental vow of Mahāyāna mind our own. (Ibid., 638) “Prayer corresponds to the aspiration Buddhist bodhisattvas to help liberate in Buddhism that all people be liber- all beings. A vow is not simply a hope Perhaps the best way to envision ated, which arises from the most pro- that remains locked within our hearts, the communication between the Sound found depths of life [itself]. By realizing it is also a promise. Like all promises, Regarder and practitioners is to liken this fundamental aspiration that every- a vow is something that we aspire to by it to the harmony that is achieved with one possesses, and also by sharing it, working to accomplish what we have a tuning fork when tuning a musical people naturally become as one, affirm pledged to do. Absent the perseverance to instrument. The bodhisattva can guide one another, cooperate, and take steps make it come true, a vow becomes really us, but it is our responsibility to do toward a harmonious world” (Niwano nothing more than an empty promise. the spiritual work of modulating our 2020, 5). It follows that sincere prayer is some- hearts to her frequency. We can think Prayer in Buddhism is a nondualis- thing aspired to through action in the of attuning to the proper frequency as tic phenomenon, that is, it transcends world in order to bring into existence making the Sound Regarder’s vow our the differences of self and other because our heartfelt wishes. Aspiration within own; the resulting resonant vibration people are really not separate from one the heart and working in the world are would then be the natural manifes- another; our lives are inextricably con- not opposites, they are inseparable. tation of the efforts required to fulfill nected with each other and everything This is Rev. Nikkyo Niwano’s under- the vow. Furthermore, the harmoni- else on earth. standing of prayer that Rissho Kosei-kai ous sound issued forth can be under- preserves today. Because the aspira- stood as the practitioners’ wholesome Originally, in prayer there is no dis- tions of prayers are the outgrowth of the influence on their surroundings. This tinction between oneself and others, bodhisattva’s great vow, they cannot but is how the Buddha’s liberating power the noble spirit of yearning for the accompany dedicated efforts to realize reaches the world. happiness of all people, and devot- it. Rev. Niwano made this clear when ing oneself to it, far and away tran- speaking of prayer for world peace, per- scending the selfish aspirations [for haps the most pressing prayer of Rissho oneself]. (Ibid.) Kosei-kai members and of people of faith throughout the world. As President Niwano describes, it is this compassionate aspiration of prayer, We human beings simultaneously from the depths of the heart, that mani- inhabit the world of the mind and fests as Rissho Kosei-kai members’ prac- the manifest world of form. So, if we tice in their homes, the wider society, leave this world of form as it is, no and even on the global level. matter how hard we pray for peace and how much we try to move toward Enacting Prayer: Translating Vows into it, I have to call it an incomplete Action effort. (Niwano 1979, 89)

36 Dharma World Spring 2021 Rev. Niwano’s framing here is import- buddhas and bodhisattvas are archetypes truth that reconciles all viewpoints. In ant, and we should not pass it over. He that we should accept into our hearts the words of the Lotus Sutra, this is dis- reminds us that we live in a world of mind and manifest in our actions, praying by torted thinking that makes “such dis- and form. In the Lotus Sutra Buddhist confirming our aspirations and then tinctions as, / All things are existing or tradition, the mind and the body, that endeavoring to realize them, does this nonexisting, / Real or unreal, / Or pro- is to say, the psyche and material reality, mean that instead of the buddhas and duced or unproduced” (Rissho Kosei- are interrelated components of a total- bodhisattvas helping us, we are actu- kai 2019, 248). ity that mutually influence one another. ally just helping ourselves? I would also like to mention a teach- Thus, not only is prayer that fails to trans- Rissho Kosei-kai’s understanding ing in East Asian Buddhism that can late into action ultimately ineffective, it is of prayer opens up space for a sym- enable us to harmonize the notion of not true prayer. Prayer must arise in the bolic grasp of the sacred cosmos of the buddhas, bodhisattvas, and spir- mind and manifest in the body through the Lotus Sutra and prayer. But view- its aiding us with the necessity of our actions that seek to transform the world ing the buddhas and bodhisattvas as own efforts. In the Lotus Sutra we find in order to realize the aspiration of prayer. archetypes and models does not have many instances of the term “to be kept We can also think of prayer and action as to negate their existence nor the real- in mind” to speak of how the buddhas two aspects of a total phenomenon that ity of their assistance. As theologian protect practitioners of Buddhism reinforce and give birth to one another. James W. Fowler proposed, beyond an (Chn., hunian, 護念; Skt., parigraha or Prayer generates action and action gen- interpretive and analogical religiosity adhi̝̓hita). Historically, the notion of erates prayer. As Rev. Niwano elabo- there is another that is “postcritical,” the protection of the Buddha was also rated in one of his Dharma talks, “True that is “aware of the organic and inter- translated into Chinese using a com- prayer is not prayer alone. Prayer comes connected character of things” that pound of the two characters “apply” and true precisely because it is accompanied “distrusts the separation of symbol and “uphold” (Chn., jiachi; Jpn., kaji, 加持), by earnest action. Pray by acting, act by symbolized, sensing that when we neu- which led to the following understand- praying” (Niwano 2000, 82). tralize the initiative of the symbolic, ing of the protection of the Buddha: So far, I have been considering prayer we make a pale idol of any meaning the Buddha will apply his protection of as aspiration and action for others or we honor” (Fowler 1981, 187). In other blessing upon us, but it is our responsi- for society, but I also think this self- words, there is a spirituality that can bility to uphold the Buddha’s blessing. reinforcing cycle of vows and action is step back and avail itself of the insights This is done by practicing spiritual disci- similarly at work in the more private of symbolic analysis but return in order plines that make us a suitable vessel for prayer of repentance. Acknowledgment to enter into communication with the accepting this application of the Buddha’s and remorse that is not accompanied buddhas, bodhisattvas, and spirits of power. Receiving the protection of the by any efforts to correct one’s faults and the sacred cosmos as subjects. In a pre- Buddhas is a collaboration, transcend- shortcomings cannot be considered true vious article discussing the anthropo- ing complete reliance on either ourselves repentance. If one sincerely feels regret morphization of the Eternal Original or the Buddha, and living beings can- for the wrongs and shortcomings that Buddha, I explored the transformative not neglect their part. one confesses to the Buddha, one cannot potential of doing just this (Scarangello Last, I would like to turn to part of help but be moved to action. This is why 2019, 33–35). Feuerbach’s definition of prayer that it is said in Rissho Kosei-kai that remorse Both modes of spirituality nurture I have yet to touch on, that in prayer must be translated into spiritual practice. and elevate us, but they are not exclu- one “addresses God with the word of “Reflect and correct” is how one Rissho sive, and one can move between both as intimate affection—Thou” (Feuerbach Kosei-kai minister describes the practice one’s practice and progress on the path 2008, 83). This is probably the part of in readily understood terms. Having the dictate. As readers also probably know, Feuerbach’s description that readers are courage to change oneself is the vow of the “existence” is a category that Mahāyāna most resistant to applying to Buddhism. prayer of repentance; the personal work Buddhism problematizes. Seizing on It may strike readers as totally unrelated, and discipline needed to change oneself either existence or nonexistence as abso- even antithetical to the attainment of is the action of the prayer of repentance. lute or as mutually exclusive is unneces- gnosis that is the essence of liberation sary and only brings one into the error and awakening in Buddhism. However, Conclusion of reifying and clinging to one perspec- I think the kind of intimate affection tive. A single perspective can never be and a sense of oneness conveyed by There is an obvious question that I anything more than a localized and con- the word “Thou” are strong distin- must consider before concluding. If the ventional truth, not the holistic ultimate guishing elements of Nikkyo Niwano’s

Dharma World Spring 2021 37 religiosity and reflect the humanistic In this quote, Rev. Niwano is allud- Niwano, Nikkyo. 1979. Niwano Nikkyō Buddhism of the Lotus Sutra. ing to one of the most famous passages hōwa senshū. Vol. 6. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing. Rev. Niwano often spoke of awak- of the Lotus Sutra, which says that in ———. 1989. Hokekyo no atarashii kai- ening to the original oneness of living order to see the Buddha one must “cher- shaku. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing. beings and the Buddha as “becoming ish and long” for the Buddha, “looking ———. 2000. Kaiso zuikan. Vol. 1. Tokyo: conscious of always being together up to him with a thirsting heart” (Rissho Kosei Publishing. with the Buddha” (Niwano 1989, 433). Kosei-kai 2019, 281). In Sanskrit recen- Rissho Kosei-kai International, ed. 2019. He described this in terms of physi- sions of the sutra, this word “thirst- Kyoten Sutra Readings: Extracts from cal expressions of tenderness, such as ing” is t̋̓˷ā (or related terms), which the Threefold Lotus Sutra. Tokyo: Rissho Kosei-kai International. “awareness of the Buddha’s embrace” can also mean the craving or desire Scarangello, Dominick. 2019. “Given the (ibid.). Other ways he put this were for existence or sense experience, as Gift of Life and Sustained by the “to race straightaway into the arms of in the eighth of the twelve causes and Buddha.” Dharma World 46: 24–36. our true parent, the Buddha” (ibid., conditions (twelve limbs of dependent Thompson, Evan. 2019. Why I Am Not a 146), “to be held firmly in the com- origination). This exemplifies how the Buddhist. New Haven: Yale University passionate arms of the Buddha” (ibid., teaching of the Lotus Sutra does not Press. 638), and to “feel the warm caress of reject or suppress human emotions but the Buddha’s hands of compassion” makes use of them as the very means (ibid., 361). These are not romantic of awakening. continued from page 31 metaphors but allusions to the affec- In Rev. Niwano’s words, to “cherish Zen Prayer? Maybe, Maybe Not tion of the parent-child relationship. and long” for the Buddha, “looking up Inspired by the stories and parables of to him with a thirsting heart” means All these ritual acts may indeed evoke the Lotus Sutra, which often use par- “to adore and yearn for the Buddha experiences, moods, emotions, and ent-child relationships to describe the in the same way that a thirsty person values that reinforce membership in a unity of the Buddha and living beings, searches continually for water” (Niwano community, but then again, so do fra- Rev. Niwano regularly portrays the 1989, 413). Expressing this adoration ternity-house hazing rituals. Should Buddha as our father. Feuerbach also and yearning by speaking within one’s they all be classified together as forms saw the metaphor of the parent-child heart words of intimate affection to the of prayer? Obviously not. In this sense, relationship at work in prayer, express- Buddha is a distinctive facet of Rev. to extend the metaphor, rather than ing the oneness of the supplicant and Nikkyo Niwano’s religiosity that many imagining that all paths somehow lead the hearer, as “father” is the most “inti- practitioners at Rissho Kosei-kai have to the same summit, we should instead mate epithet” because it “is the expres- inherited and practice today. ≥ envision many paths leading to many sion of the closest, the most intense summits. To reduce the varied contours identity” (Feuerbach 2008, 85). The References of the world’s expansive religious land- intimate affection of the parent-child scape to a one-size-fits-all catch-all cat- relationship is also a powerful moti- Feuerbach, Ludwig. 2008. The Essence egory of prayer—even and especially vating factor in repentance. of Christianity. Walnut, CA: MSAC in its broader universalizing sense— Philosophy Group. lacks imagination and actually flattens The reason we perform acknowl- Fowler, James W. 1981. Stages of the view. edgment and remorse is not that we Faith: The Psychology of Human Zazen seated meditation, there- fear the Buddha. We do this prac- Development and the Quest for fore, should not be subsumed under Meaning. New York: Harper & Row. tice to bring joy to him and bask the category of prayer. Rather, distinct Hiraoka, Satoshi. 1991. “The Idea of in the words of praise we receive Confession in the Divyāvadāna.” terms for distinct forms of contempla- from the Buddha, whom we “cher- Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies tive practice should be maintained. ish and long for,” and to whom we 40, no. 1:507–12. To be clear, this is not a case for the are always “looking up with thirsting Leighton, Taigen Daniel. 1998. exceptionalism of zazen seated med- hearts.” The intent of the Buddha and Bodhisattva Archetypes: Classic Guides itation—just a call for the apprecia- to Awakening and Their Modern the practitioners’ yearning for the tion of difference and variety. In this Expression. New York: Penguin Buddha imbue the expression “The Arkana. sense, there can be no such thing as Zen buddhas, the tathagatas, are your Niwano, Nichiko. 2020. “Chūshin no prayer. Just zazen. Just seated medita- compassionate fathers.” (Niwano negai ha hitotsu.” Yakushin 58, no. 12 tion. Or as Zen master Dōgen (1200– 1989, 722) (December): 4–5. 53) advised, “Just sit.” ≥

38 Dharma World Spring 2021 REFLECTIONS

People Who Bring Joy to Others by Nichiko Niwano

A wondrous power that transcends and have grown close to them, they have 1LFKLNR1LZDQRLVSUHVLGHQWRI human knowledge is often referred to been born anew while living the same Rissho Kosei-kai and an honorary as a “transcendent power,” which we life. Indeed, sometimes we can only use president of Religions for Peace. usually think of as a special ability that the word “amazing” to respond to these He also serves as an advisor to we ourselves cannot attain. changes of heart—they show us that our 6KLQVKXUHQ )HGHUDWLRQRI1HZ It’s no wonder that we think this, minds are capable of anything. 5HOLJLRXV2UJDQL]DWLRQVRI-DSDQ  since Buddhist scripture states that This is also proven by the ruthless incredible abilities like “being able to murderer Angulimala, who, through known as the creator of the Anpanman see all things in every realm” and “emit- the care and guidance of Shakyamuni, series, wrote in his book Mo hitotsu ting brilliant light from every pore of the became one of Shakyamuni’s foremost no Anpanman monogatari [Another body that illuminates the world” are due disciples. So, transcendent power is also story of Anpanman] that “the great- to transcendent powers. I do not think, sincerity in the part of the mind that est / joy / is bringing others / joy.” He however, that Shakyamuni expounded thinks of other people, and the power elaborated on this by saying that peo- anything that we ourselves cannot do. released through that part as it functions. ple are happiest when they make others In that case, what is the meaning of the happy, that the greatest pleasure in life “transcendent powers” referred to in Happiness Is Bringing is to please people, and that he became the scripture? Joy to Others a manga artist because he wanted to In my understanding, the greatest give his all to making people happy. transcendent power of human beings is Once when I was talking about transcen- When I read this, I felt that this man that we have minds. In other words, the dent powers, someone said, “Kosei-kai was a bodhisattva who brought peo- human mind is a transcendent power. is full of people who demonstrate tran- ple joy through his manga and, at the Because we have minds, we under- scendent power through their sincer- same time, taught us that if we’re dedi- stand the feelings of other people—we ity,” and I certainly believe that is true. cated to a way of life that makes others can understand what they are seeking. This is because, according to chapter 21 happy, we can all become bodhisattvas Because we have minds, we are able to of the Lotus Sutra (“The Transcendent right where we are. comprehend the truth revealed to us Powers of the Tathagata”), transcendent Even someone who is bedridden by Shakyamuni. powers are used to bring people joy. can bring joy to others by smiling and Founder Niwano said, “If you get To quote from that chapter, the bud- offering words of gratitude—this, too, wisdom, in the true sense, through the dhas, “in order to bring joy to living is a transcendent power and the work Mahayana teachings, that’s the same as beings, / Demonstrate their immeasur- of a bodhisattva. gaining transcendent power.” What he able transcendent powers.” Therefore, As the final verse of chapter 21 states, meant is that instead of assuming that it is important to interact with others people who share the Dharma in this transcendent power is some extraordinary cheerfully, kindly, and warmly, and to way “cause countless bodhisattvas / To ability, we should say that the everyday make every effort to care for them. If at last abide in the One Vehicle.” We functioning of the mind exerts a power you bring them even a little joy by put- are, each and every one of us, build- that can be called transcendent when ting into practice your consideration for ing a world in which everyone can live it’s used to show consideration for oth- them, it is none other than the demon- together in harmony. I hope that Rissho ers. For example, many Rissho Kosei-kai stration of your transcendent power. Kosei-kai will always be full of people members say that thanks to the support of Incidentally, manga artist Takashi who, at all times, with heartfelt sincer- friends who know the Buddha’s teachings Yanase (1919–2013), who was best ity, are happy to make others happy. ≥

Dharma World Spring 2021 39 FOUNDER’S MEMOIRS

The Three Pillars of the Lotus Sutra by Nikkyo Niwano

,Q0DUFKDQDXWRELRJUDSK\E\5HY1LNN\R1LZDQR ± WKHIRXQGHURI5LVVKR.RVHL kai, was published in Japanese under the title Kono michi: Ichibutsujo no sekai o mezashite 7KH SDWKWKDWZHKDYHZDONHG$VSLULQJWRWKHZRUOGRIWKH2QH%XGGKD9HKLFOH 7KHERRNLVDOLYHO\ DFFRXQWRIWKHOLIHRI)RXQGHU1LZDQRDVDOHDGHURIDJOREDO%XGGKLVWPRYHPHQWDQGDSLRQHHU RILQWHUUHOLJLRXVFRRSHUDWLRQZKRGHGLFDWHGKLPVHOIWROLEHUDWLQJDOOSHRSOHIURPVXIIHULQJZLWK ¿UPIDLWKLQWKH/RWXV6XWUDDharma WorldZLOOFRQWLQXHWRSXEOLVKH[FHUSWVIURPWKHERRNLQ LQVWDOOPHQWV

Professor Shuyu Kanaoka of Toyo take it upon ourselves to do so, moving whatever the diffi culties, if they do University in Tokyo said this about the spirit into action, then we also have to their best.” spirit of the Lotus Sutra: “Th e Lotus bring in others. Th is again is not some- The life span of the Tathagata is Sutra is regarded widely throughout thing that someone elsewhere will do immeasurable, and every one of us is the world as a scripture possessing a but something that we ourselves must supported to live within that great eter- spirit of reconciliation toward others. bring to fruition, in this place, in this nal life. Th is is its fi rst pillar. Th e most impor- society, in this world.” tant, yet most diffi cult, way of thinking The Lotus Sutra is a scripture of about a religion is to know the nobility action, giving us a sense of mission. of one’s own religion as well as that of Th is is typifi ed by the verse in chapter others. Religious cooperation becomes 13, “Encouragement to Hold Firm”: “We a possibility when people join forces in will not love body and life but only care the belief that religions with diff erent for the supreme Way.” beliefs from their own are ultimately “The third pillar of the Lotus Sutra in accord.” combines the other two, which in them- Th is is, in other words, the spirit selves are apparently opposites. This of the One Vehicle —that all religions is the spirit that seeks to realize both spring from the same source. Th is is within the stream of eternal time. If because the Lotus Sutra is a scripture we are attached to just what we see in of reconciliation. front of us, we will become impatient Professor Kanaoka continued. “Th e and refute any opposing position and second pillar of the Lotus Sutra is the so fall into the error of trying to force pervasive sense of mission, which might a surrender. Buddhism teaches both at fi rst glance seem directly opposite effort (virya) and patience (ksanti). the fi rst pillar, reconciliation. If reli- Effort is to strive, not wasting even a gious cooperation is a single possibil- moment for what you have to do. Lotus ity, there are many bottlenecks on the Sutra practitioners are neither impa- Founder Nikkyo Niwano’s fi rst portrait, road to achieving it. Who will open the tient nor negligent but have a sense of taken in 1920 at a photo studio in way? If we merely say ‘someone will do great security in that they have been Tokamachi, the nearest town from his it,’ it will never get done. However, if we promised the protection of the Buddha, birthplace, Suganuma, in Niigata Prefecture.

40 Dharma World Spring 2021 1LNN\R1LZDQRWKHIRXQGHURI5LVVKR.RVHLNDLZDVDQKRQRUDU\ president of Religions for Peace and honorary chairman of Shinshuren )HGHUDWLRQRI1HZ5HOLJLRXV2UJDQL]DWLRQVRI-DSDQ DWWKHWLPHRIKLV GHDWKLQ2FWREHU+HZDVDZDUGHGWKH7HPSOHWRQ3UL]HIRU Progress in Religion.

People often say, “You must have number of people, some of whom felt with the Lotus Sutra, and the founding gone through a lot of difficulties to get that this would be a good time to col- of Rissho Kosei-kai, and then the early where you are today.” When I look back lect together my memories and orga- period of the organization when many over my life, I don’t think I have had any nize them into an autobiography. people witnessed the wondrous power specially great hardship. It is not a mat- Indeed, my previous autobiography, of the Dharma and joined in the organi- ter of where the gods and the buddhas Lifetime Beginner, which related the first zation. I ended the autobiography there. are but of their workings. I believe that half of my life, had come out in 1984. It This was what might be called a pre- when we work to benefit others, there started with my life in Suganuma, where I cursory period for Rissho Kosei-kai. It the gods and the buddhas appear to work was born and brought up, and continued was only later that it went on to seri- with us. This is how I have led my life. through to my decision to make a new ously develop its training as an orga- start after the loss of Myoko Naganuma nization based on the Lotus Sutra and My Feelings about (1889–1957), my companion in reli- extend its activities both at home and This Autobiography gious practice and cofounder of Rissho abroad. All this came about through Kosei-kai. In it I described my resolve the working of the gods and the bud- In November 1995 I turned ninety. I to go to Tokyo, my meeting with Mr. dhas. While accepting the working as it received congratulations from a large Sukenobu Arai in 1935 and my encounter is, Rissho Kosei-kai members made the

Founder Nikkyo Niwano addresses an assembly of local members in the Utsunomiya area, Tochigi Prefecture, during his Dharma guidance tour in February 1958.

Dharma World Spring 2021 41 1994, he appointed his eldest daughter, Mitsuyo, as president-designate of Rissho Kosei-kai, with the Buddhist name Kosho, based on the organization’s constitution. Kosei-kai leading members had urged him to do this early on, but remember- ing his own experience, Nichiko did not agree. Then I happened to be advised of scholars outside Rissho Kosei-kai who had looked closely at the history of tradi- tional Buddhist organizations. “The run-up should be as long as possible. This ensures stability for the organization,” I was told. I confirmed the nomination for the third president, believing this would serve to deepen Kosho’s own under- standing and that it was in accordance with the wishes of members. I grew up learning many things from my grandfather, and Kosho was always by my side from the time she was born. I never said anything that sounded like a Founder Nikkyo Niwano poses together with President Nichiko Niwano (right) and President- designate Kosho Niwano (left) on July 15, 1994 in the Horin-kaku Guest Hall of the Rissho sermon to her, but I am sure she learned Kosei-kai headquarters’ complex in Tokyo. from me, in her own way, how I lived my daily life, and absorbed it. I hope that greatest efforts to walk the path shown of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, she will be able to broaden her perspec- to them by the gods and the buddhas and equanimity. tive as much as possible in the period simply, honestly, and sincerely. That has Gradually local people came to before she becomes president and learn been the history of Rissho Kosei-kai. acknowledge the activities of members the importance of serving others. Ven. Etai Yamada, the head of the and cooperate with them. Furthermore, As I found myself with less pres- Tendai Buddhist denomination, said people of religion from around the world sure, both spiritually and officially, I to me, “Mr. Niwano, all the members combined their efforts with ours. set down as a single volume the var- come to you because you are sincere.” Perhaps Rissho Kosei-kai’s ongoing ious things I had written and spoken It is not that I alone am sincere. It course would be better documented by about, as well as the records of our var- is the sincerity of all the members that the records of the bodhisattva practices ious activities. makes Rissho Kosei-kai as it is today. I of members, the work of local leaders What kind of activities has Rissho believe sincerity is everything. who have promoted the Brighter Society Kosei-kai developed since the begin- It is not that we are those who stud- Movement, and the records of the activ- ning of the Age of the Manifestation of ied Buddhism as a specialty at univer- ities of religious people who have com- the Truth in 1958? What were the hopes sity or those who confined themselves mended Religions for Peace. Therefore, that lay behind the birth and growth on a mountain to do religious training. it could be presumptuous of me to bring of the Brighter Society Movement and It is that we are lay Buddhists, and that these things together in my own auto- Religions for Peace? There is a tendency is why we devote ourselves to guiding biography, but I decided to compile to consider such activities to be like a members, visiting from one place to them on behalf of all those involved in skyrocket, here today and gone tomor- another conducting devotional ser- order to highlight the thinking behind row, or as mere bragging, but for me all vices for those who are suffering, shar- the various activities and the process by these activities are no more or less than ing right view with those in trouble, which they were carried out. It seemed the straight road that is the practice of and encouraging those who are dis- appropriate to do so. the Lotus Sutra. This is something I heartened. We thus didn’t spare time In 1991 I passed the presidency of want the next generation to know. even for rest to put into practice the Rissho Kosei-kai to Nichiko Niwano as brahma viharas, the four infinite virtues our second president. On November 17, To be continued

42 Dharma World Spring 2021 THE THREEFOLD LOTUS SUTRA: A MODERN COMMENTARY

The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law

Chapter 28

Encouragement of the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue (2) 7KLVLVWKHWKLQVWDOOPHQWRIDGHWDLOHGFRPPHQWDU\RQWKH7KUHHIROG/RWXV6XWUD E\WKHIRXQGHURI5LVVKR.RVHLNDL5HY1LNN\R1LZDQR

TEXT Wherever such a one walks or stands, reading of the other animals and rouses awe in them. Therefore, it and reciting this sutra, I will at once mount the six-tusked can roam freely on the plain. Like the lion, the Truth gov- white elephant king and with a host of great bodhisattvas erns all things in the universe and is itself under the con- go to that place and, showing myself, will serve and pro- trol of nothing else. It cannot be moved. The Truth is, so tect [him], comforting his mind, also thereby serving the to speak, the king of the universe, and it appears freely in Dharma Flower Sutra. all phenomena of the cosmos.

COMMENTARY I will at once mount the six-tusked Thoroughgoing actual practice. By contrast, the elephant white elephant king. This contrasts with the Bodhisattva represents “actual practice.” Wherever this animal with its Manjushri, who rides a lion. gigantic body forges ahead, nothing can obstruct its prog- The lion is the symbol of the Truth (the Wonderful ress. If there is a great tree in its path, the elephant knocks Dharma). The lion, called the king of the beasts, has control it down. When it finds a rock in its way, the elephant rolls it

Dharma World Spring 2021 43 aside. When it fords a stream or pond, it walks steadily on completely the Six Paramitas, with a pure mind that seeks the bottom. Therefore, the elephant is the symbol of thor- no reward, just like the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue, who ough practice with a firm foundation. rides the white elephant with six tusks. Moreover, the elephant on which the Bodhisattva Universal This in itself is the appearance of Universal Virtue. Virtue rides is pure white. This pure whiteness signifies that the bodhisattva’s practices for the benefit of self and others TEXT If such a one forgets [be it but] a single phrase or are entirely for the liberation of all living beings and are verse of the Dharma Flower Sutra, I will teach it to him, pure, with not the slightest element of self and seeking no read and recite it with him, and again cause him to master it. reward of any kind. The six tusks symbolize the teaching of the Six Paramitas, COMMENTARY The words “If such a one forgets [be it or Perfections. This teaching, needless to say, is the teach- but] a single phrase or verse of the Dharma Flower Sutra, I ing that shows us the six models of the bodhisattva prac- will teach it to him” should be understood as meaning that tice, that is, the actual practice of benefitting both oneself if one cannot grasp the true meaning of the teaching despite and others. much thought, he or she must first think of its practice, and In this way, the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue is a practi- as a result will be sure to arrive at the true meaning. tioner of and also a protector and guardian of the Dharma As repeated many times, since the Lotus Sutra is the who sweeps away any obstacle to him. It is entirely appro- teaching of the actual practice, if we forget its practice and priate that he appears riding a white elephant with six tusks. only try to go deep into the mountain of its profound doc- • Also thereby serving the Dharma Flower Sutra. It is for trine, it often happens that we lose our way. This is because the sake of serving the Dharma Flower Sutra and being we will become bewildered by its subtlety and profundity, if grateful for its teachings that he protects one who receives we consider it from the theoretical viewpoint alone. and keeps the sutra. This is certainly deep in meaning. In At such a time, if we pause calmly and recall again that other words, it means protecting the person who reads and the Lotus Sutra is after all the teaching of the practice for recites the Dharma Flower Sutra for the sake of caring for liberating ourselves, others, and the world, then the mist the sutra, being grateful for its teachings being preached, before our eyes will immediately clear and the broad path and helping to disseminate them, rather than for the sake will open up before us. of protecting such individuals themselves. Hence the next words follow quite naturally. Some people think self-righteously that they must have divine protection because they are practitioners of TEXT Thereupon he who receives and keeps, reads and the Lotus Sutra. This is mere conceit, for however one recites the Dharma Flower Sutra on seeing me will greatly may practice the Dharma in form, unless one truly prac- rejoice and renew his zeal. tices the teachings, there is neither divine protection nor merit. This line is considered an admonition against indi- COMMENTARY On seeing me. This means nothing vidualistic arrogance. other than recalling to mind the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue, the leader and exemplar of the actual practice of TEXT Wherever such a one sits, pondering this sutra, I the Wonderful Dharma. When one recalls the bodhisattva, will at once again mount the white elephant king and show the great path of actual practice of the teachings will open myself to him. up before one’s eyes, so one will obtain great joy and new courage, thus becoming ever more assiduous. COMMENTARY To sit quietly, pondering the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, is the practice of meditation, one of the TEXT Through seeing me, he will thereupon acquire the Six Paramitas. Whenever anyone practices meditation, the contemplation and dharanis named the dharani of revolu- Bodhisattva Universal Virtue mounts the white elephant tion, the dharani of hundreds of thousands of myriads of and shows himself to that person. kotis of revolutions, and the dharani of skill in Dharma- This means that because the Lotus Sutra is a teaching sounds; such dharanis as these will he acquire. of actual practice, if one concentrates one’s thoughts on the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, those thoughts will naturally COMMENTARY The dharani of revolution. This is the settle in actual practice. This being the case, one cannot power of virtue with such nature of dissemination that the help remembering the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue, who strength to promote all good and stop all evil revolves end- is the leader and exemplary model of actual practice. Then lessly, one after another. one will of one’s own accord become determined to practice • The dharani of hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis

44 Dharma World Spring 2021 of revolutions. This is the strong power of virtue that pro- a practice becomes a spiritual habit. Suppose that a person vides hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of peo- continually thinks for a period of three weeks, “I myself and ple with the strength to promote all good and stop all evil. others are all caused to live by the Buddha.” For a while, that • The dharani of skill in Dharma-sounds. This is the strong person will have formed the habit of immediately thinking power of virtue that renders the strength to preach the word on every occasion, “Wait a minute. They and I are caused of Truth (Dharma-sounds) freely in expressions suited for to live by the Buddha.” other people and to promote good and stop evil. The strength and persistence of such a habit differ accord- ing to how earnestly and how long we have persevered. If TEXT “World-honored One! If in the latter age, in the we absent-mindedly think of something for a mere hour last five hundred years of the corrupt and evil age, the bhik- and allow our attention to be distracted, our thinking will shus, bhikshunis, upasakas, and upasikas, seekers, receivers never become a habit. If we try to continue thinking deeply and keepers, readers and reciters, or copiers desire to put of only one thing for a day, such a spiritual tendency may in practice this Dharma Flower Sutra, they must with sin- continue for several days. From the standpoint of forming gle mind devote themselves to it for three times seven days. religious habits, it is certainly a quite profoundly meaning- ful custom that believers in Christianity go to church once COMMENTARY a week—on Sunday. Forming spiritual habits If we devote ourselves single-mindedly to one object We do not have to take literally the figure of three times for three weeks, a spiritual habit thus cultivated will last at seven days, but we should occasionally devote ourselves least a half year. Should we repeat this several times, the to religious discipline for a set period of time. Just as ath- habit may last an entire lifetime. This is the significance of letes in various sports who seriously desire to improve their the various practices in the Buddhist disciplines. abilities participate in training camps for certain periods An outstanding believer may unexpectedly receive a of time, it is necessary for a person who seriously aims at great revelation deep within his or her mind while doing practicing the Way of the Buddha to do the same. these various practices, but that is only of secondary impor- In today’s busy world, lay people find it difficult to con- tance. The primary significance lies in the cultivation of a fine themselves in a mountain temple or retreat to perform superior spiritual habit. religious disciplines for a certain period, but the benefits of Those who are too busy to set aside a specific period doing so are always worthwhile. Precisely because the world of time should try to be deeply devoted to the teachings of is so busy, it is even more important to do this. the Buddha for even an hour a day as often as possible. The Those who are unable to do this should take one day— results of doing this will be inestimable. say, on a Sunday—and on that day try to forget all worldly We should understand that this is what is meant by the affairs, positively devote themselves to the study of the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue advocating this three-week teachings, contemplation, reciting or copying the sutras, devotion. or talking with fellow believers about the Dharma. Why is this necessary? Because just as repeated deeds TEXT After the three times seven days are fulfilled, I become a habit, we can form spiritual habits; repeated will mount the six-tusked white elephant and, together deep pondering or earnest thinking will become a habit with countless bodhisattvas surrounding me, appear before of mind before we know it. Let us suppose that we hear those people in the form all the living delight to see, and someone report, “Students marched through the streets in preach to them, revealing, instructing, benefiting, and a demonstration.” rejoicing them. Even though they do not know the reason for the demon- stration, some people will disapprove and think, “Ah, they’re COMMENTARY The purified mind and religious exalta- at it again.” On the other hand, others may be glad and think, tion that we feel after devoting ourselves to religious disci- “Great! Something must be up.” An educator will immedi- plines are certainly like the feeling of seeing the Bodhisattva ately become concerned about the situation of university Universal Virtue appear mounted on the white elephant. education. A stock-broker will immediately think of the potential influence on stock prices. That such responses TEXT Moreover, I will give them dharanis, and obtaining are so different is due to the variance in people’s spiritual these dharanis, no human or nonhuman being can injure habits. Spiritual habits have just such remarkable functions. them, nor any woman beguile them. I myself also will ever When we try to forget worldly affairs for a fixed period protect them. Be pleased, World-honored One, to permit of time and concentrate our mind on a single object, such me to announce these dharani spells.”

Dharma World Spring 2021 45 COMMENTARY The words “nonhuman being” in our • [2] Tandaha-dai. This means exempting self. Removing modern age may refer to such things as money, material the punishment cane of the small self. [dandapati] things, and fame. • [3] Tanda-hate. This is to remove the punishment cane If these things are sought rightly and used for the right of the self as a tactful means. Dr. Tsukamoto identifies it as purpose, they never become an obstacle to faith, and they “means of revolving the self.” [dandavarte] will never destroy the mind of walking the Buddha Way. • [4] Tanda-kushare. This is translated as “peace.” Dr. But an excessive desire for them is apt to disturb one’s mind. Tsukamoto identifies it as “Oh, she who is well skilled with The expression “nor any woman beguile them” here the rod [punishment cane]!” He also identifies it as “prac- reflects the male standpoint, but the converse expression ticing forgiveness through respect.” (dandakushale) applies from a female standpoint. The expression simply • [5] Tanda-shudare. This means being extremely pliable— indicates the opposite sex. in terms of mind and heart. A mind which does not put Conjugal love between man and wife is, of course, a forth self, but obediently follows truth. Dr. Tsukamoto iden- foundation in forming the individual family and thus an tifies it as “Oh, she who holds well the rod!” dandasudhare( ) important factor in the structure of human society as a • [6] Shudare. This means being very flexible—in terms of whole. However, people have a tendency to become attached actions. The attitude of one who regularly yields to others to such love and to become selfish in their affections. They and listens to what others have to say. (sudhare) are apt to forget the much larger love they should have for • [7] Shudara-hachi. There are numerous interpretations all human beings. Others often abandon themselves to sex- of this, but it seems that the translation of “smooth” seems ual love and perform various dishonest acts. to be appropriate. Dr. Tsukamoto identifies it as “Oh, she Therefore, whatever the case may be, we must recall the prac- who holds well!” [sudharapati] tice of the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue. If we do so, our daily • [8] Boddaha-senne. This means regarding the Buddha. lives, which tend to become defiled by greed, will become pure (buddhapashyane) like the white elephant and moreover we will come to possess • [9] Saruba-darani-abatani. This means rotating all dhara- an imposing power of actual practice like that of the elephant. nis. Extending one after another the various powers of cul- Our minds, which are liable to be bewildered over the tivating good and preventing evil. [sarvadharani avartane] opposite sex and to be drowned in the river of shallow affec- • [10] Saruba-basha-abatani. This means not revolving all tion, will be devoted to a deep human love, and like the white opinions. This should be taken as “consistency of speech elephant, which treads firmly upon the stable river bottom, and action.” Dr. Tsukamoto identifies it as “Oh, she who we will be able to pass steadfastly through life. turns all the teachings!” [sarvabhashyartane] • [11] Shu-abatani. Everything spins round. Preaching TEXT Then in the presence of the Buddha he uttered a goes round and round, hence the teachings are transmit- spell, saying:* ted from one to another so that many people are instructed. Dr. Tsukamoto identifies it as “Oh, she who turns well!” “[1] Atan-dai [2] tandaha-dai [3] tanda-hate [4] tan- [su-avartane] da-kushare [5] tanda-shudare [6] shudare [7] shuda- • [12] So-gyaha-bishani-. This means that the samgha is ra-hachi [8] boddaha-senne [9] saruba-darani-abatani consumed, but this is interpreted as meaning overcoming [10] saruba-basha-abatani [11] shu-abatani [12] so-gya- the crisis of the samgha becoming extinct or imposing such ha-bishani- [13] so-gyane-kyadani [14] aso-gi [15] so-gya- a trial. Dr. Tsukamoto identifies it as “Oh, she who destroys ha-gyadai [16] tere-ada-sogya-torya-arate-harate [17] the Samgha!” [samghaparikshani] saruba-so-gya-sammaji-kyarandai [18] saruba-daru- • [13] So-gyane-kyadani. This is to destroy the faults of ma-shu-hari-sette [19] saruba-satta-ruda-kyo-sharya- the samgha. Removing the bad factors in the samgha. ato-gya-dai [20] shin-nabikiri-daite.” [samghanirghatani] • [14] Aso-gi. This means “innumerable.” asamge[ ] COMMENTARY As we noted in the previous chapter, • [15] So-gyaha-gyadai. This means eliminating the attach- “Dharanis,” dharani spells consist of impenetrable, pro- ment to the samgha. Even in religious groups, which in the found, mysterious meanings so that at best the following beginning are formed out of a purity of feeling, there comes should be considered as tentative translations. a time when the small self (ego) or attachment to the group springs up. Dr. Tsukamoto identifies it as “Oh, she who is • [1] Atan-dai. This means non-self. Taking away the pun- apart from phenomena!” [samgapagate] ishment cane (the cane used to administer punishment on • [16] Tere-ada-sogya-torya-arate-harate. This means that the humans) of selfish views. (adande) number of the three temporal worlds of the past, present, and

46 Dharma World Spring 2021 future is equal, that is, infinite. tri-adhvasamgatulyaprapte[ ] numberless countless buddhas, and that their heads will be • [17] Saruba-so-gya-sammaji-kyarandai. This means that caressed by the hands of the tathagatas. the entire samgha surpasses conditioned things (phenom- ena) brought about by the contact of causes and conditions. COMMENTARY There are three invaluable phrases here. “Conditioned things” refers to the view of things swayed The first of the three is “these are doing the works of Universal by phenomena. Therefore, surpassing conditioned things Virtue.” Those who receive and keep the teachings of the means to attain the way of seeing things that is not swayed Lotus Sutra, read and recite them, rightly remember them, by phenomena. [sarvasamgasamatikrante] comprehend them, and practice them as preached are doing • [18] Saruba-daruma-shu-hari-sette. This means learning exactly the same works as those of the Bodhisattva Universal all teachings. [sarvadharmasuparikshite] Virtue. In other words, they become Universal Virtue. • [19] Saruba-satta-ruda-kyo-sharya-ato-gya-dai. This How wonderful it is to be able to have such an awareness! means awakening to the voices of all living beings, in This is a stage of great confidence that none but a religious other words, perceiving the voiceless voice as to what believer can obtain. all sentient beings suffer from and what they wish for. The second is “have deeply planted good roots under [sarvasatvarutakaushalyanugate] numberless countless buddhas.” In this way, those of us who • [20] Shin-nabikiri-daite. This means that the lion plays, have been able to receive and keep the Lotus Sutra have in in other words, being unrestricted, there is nothing to be the course of past lives under the various buddhas accu- afraid of. Dr. Tsukamoto identifies it as “Oh, she who frol- mulated practices of religious disciplines and planted good ics as a lion!” (sim[h]avikridite) roots. Considering this, we are able to have even greater confidence. We can have the awareness that we ourselves TEXT “World-honored One! If there be any bodhi- are children of the Buddha, regardless of what our posi- sattvas who hear these dharanis, they shall be aware of tion or occupation is in the present world. This is also truly the supernatural power of Universal Virtue. If while the remarkable. We can from this time forth proudly stride Dharma Flower Sutra proceeds on its course through down the path of life. Jambudvipa there be those who receive and keep it, let The third phrase is “their heads will be caressed by the them reflect thus: ‘This is all due to the majestic power hands of the tathagatas.” Interpreted from the standpoint of of Universal Virtue.’ Japanese customs, being caressed by the hands of the bud- dhas means to be praised by them. This interpretation is to COMMENTARY Who hear these dharanis. In the English a large degree acceptable. Interpreted from the standpoint translation of the Sanskrit text, we find “whose organ of of Indian customs, it means being trusted by the buddhas. hearing is struck by these talismanic words” for the phrase, This is also truly something to be grateful for. Whichever which should be interpreted as being heard as a voice from the case, to be praised and trusted by the buddhas is an above. In other words, it is to become aware, accepting that unsurpassable joy, a wonderful state of religious exaltation. spirit as a revelation. This is precisely why the words “super- It would be desirable to remember these phrases rightly natural powers of Universal Virtue” come to life. so that we will always be able to repeat them from memory. • If while the Dharma Flower Sutra proceeds on its course through Jambudvipa there be those who receive and keep it, TEXT If they only copy it, these when their life is ended let them reflect thus: ‘This is all due to the majestic power of will be born in the Trayastrimsha Heaven; on which occa- Universal Virtue.’ The Bodhisattva Universal Virtue is the sion eighty-four thousand nymphs, performing all kinds bodhisattva of actual practice. Hence, he is entrusted with of music, will come to welcome them, and they, wearing the great task of having the teachings of the Lotus Sutra seven-jeweled crowns, will joy and delight among those be practiced throughout Jambudvipa (the saha-world). beautiful nymphs; Therefore, when a person receives and keeps the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, that person must become aware that it COMMENTARY Though this is not the realm of reli- is because the divine powers of the Bodhisattva Universal gious exaltation, suffering is removed from their minds and Virtue have extended to him or her. they are able to lead happy, pleasant lives. Trayastrimsa, while it is a heaven, is still within the tri- TEXT If any receive and keep, read and recite, rightly ple world. It is the second of the six heavens in the realm remember it, comprehend its meaning, and practice it as of desire, so it is a realm of pleasure still founded in desire. preached, let it be known that these are doing the works of While it is a comfortable world in comparison with the Universal Virtue and have deeply planted good roots under saha-world, there is still the chance that one may go astray

Dharma World Spring 2021 47 (wisdom), the Bodhisattva Maitreya (compassion), and the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue (practice). Because the Bodhisattva Maitreya represents the compassion of the Buddha, this bodhisattva is regarded as the successor to or representative acting on behalf of the Tathagata Shakyamuni. This bodhisa ttva has the mission of liberating this saha-world and is called “the bodhisattva who is in the position to be a buddha next to Shakyamuni.” Therefore, Maitreya lives in Tushita Heaven (in the

3KRWR'H$JRVWLQL3LFWXUH/LEUDU\336 realm of desire within the The Paradise of Maitreya, Bodhisattva of the Future. Basalt bas relief from the Shotorak monastery, triple world), waiting for the Kapisha region, Afghanistan. First–second centuries. time when he will come down to this saha-world as a bud- and fall again into a lower realm of existence. When we dha. In a sense, he can be said to be the highest bodhisattva. think about the world, comparing this with our own pres- Because he is such an honorable bodhisattva, being ent daily life, it is of great interest. able to go straight to the Bodhisattva Maitreya represents that those who perform religious disciplines will become TEXT how much more those who receive and keep, read the kind of people who continue the practice of compas- and recite, rightly remember it, comprehend its meaning, sion in the saha-world, and feel the greatest worth of life and practice it as preached! If there be any who receive and the greatest joy in continuing to do so. and keep, read and recite it, and comprehend its mean- * Thesedharanis have been given in the Japanese reading and have ing, when their life is ended the hands of a thousand bud- been numbered to facilitate a smoother reading as numbered in the dhas will be proffered, that they fear not, neither fall into original Chinese translation. The original Sanskrit words for thedha- any evil destiny, [but] go straight to Maitreya Bodhisattva rani spells invoked in this chapter cannot be specified because there is in Tushita Heaven. no extant version of the Sanskrit text that the translator Kumarajiva used as a basis for translation, which also makes it difficult to clarify the original meanings of these words. In his book Source Elements COMMENTARY We may either interpret this literally of the Lotus Sutra: Buddhist Integration of Religion, Thought, and or take it as symbolizing that through faith the spiritual Culture (Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Co., 2007, pp. 403–6), Dr. Keisho state will become stable. In other words, we may take the Tsukamoto gives the equivalent Indic readings closest in pronuncia- passage in the literal sense that innumerable buddhas will tion to Kumarajiva’s found in Sanskrit manuscripts, and when there extend their hands to us so that in our last moments we are discrepancies in the pronunciation of equivalent Indic forms, the will experience no fear of death and will not fall into evil presumed Prakrit form has been appropriated. The Sanskrit words are put in parentheses, and those presumed to be Prakrit are in brackets. ways. Or we may take it as saying that when we encounter He also gives meanings conjectured from the originals. These mean- some major incident on the path of life, if we believe firmly ings are inserted when necessary. in the great mercy and great compassion of the Buddha, we will not be afraid nor will we fall upon a wrong path. To be continued Going straight to the Bodhisattva Maitreya means that believers will possess compassionate minds like In this series, passages in the TEXT sections are quoted the Bodhisattva Maitreya and will be assiduous in their from The Threefold Lotus Sutra, Tokyo: Kosei Publishing bodhisattva practice daily. The three bodhisattvas who Company, 1975, with slight revisions. The diacritical marks represent three important points in the teachings of the Lotus originally used for several Sanskrit terms in the TEXT sec- Sutra have already been mentioned: the Bodhisattva Manjusri tions are omitted here for easier reading.

48 Dharma World Spring 2021 The Lotus Sutra has been one of the foremost scrip- The Threefold Lotus Sutra: A Modern Translation tures of Mahayana Buddhism since the appear- for Contemporary Readers is the first 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 Threefold Lotus Sutra has thoroughly spread ful to the original text and following the standard throughout East Asian civilization. definitions of key Buddhist terminology, this inno- vative Threefold Lotus Sutra breaks new ground by employing more inclusive language to reflect present-day concepts of equality and human dig- nity in an increasingly diversified 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

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