Contemplation: Rejoice in Virtue

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your object of contemplation:

With joy I celebrate
The virtue that relieves all beings
From the sorrows of the states of loss,
And places those who languish in the realms of bliss.

And I rejoice in virtue that creates the cause
Of gaining the enlightened state,
And celebrate the freedom won
By living beings from the round of pain.

And in the buddhahood of the protectors I delight
And in the stages of the buddhas' offspring.

Santideva, The Way of the Bodhisattva, p. 49

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 22

Chapter 22 of the Lotus Sutra is very brief.  In it, Buddha Shakyamuni entrusts or transmits (depending on the translation) the teachings to the assembly.  He is asking them to "keep, read, recite, and expound" the teachings presented in this Sutra.  Following this, many of the supernatural elements that so prominently feature in the second half of the sutra are sent away from sight, including the Buddha Ancient Treasures.

Practically speaking, what does it mean to keep and expound or uphold this teaching?  In terms of practice or conduct in everyday life, what is the Buddha asking for?  What kind of practice is outlined in this Sutra, as you understand it? 

Programming Notice

I will be away from the keyboard for the next week.  This means the contemplation and Lotus Sutra series are both on hiatus until I return, and I will be slow in responding to email.  I look forward to seeing you on my return.

Contemplation: The Bodhisattva who is Ill, 4

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your object of contemplation:

[The bodhisattva] is not bound by the conditions of his birth, and hence he is able to preach the [Dharma] for living beings and liberate them from their bonds.  As the Buddha has said, if one is in bonds himself, to suppose he can free others from their bonds is hardly reasonable.  But if one is himself free of bonds, it is perfectly reasonable to assume he can free the bonds of others.  Therefore the bodhisattva must not conjure up bonds for himself.

Vimalakirti Sutra, p. 70

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 21

Chapter 21 of the Lotus Sutra describes the miraculous supernatural activities of the Buddhas.  These are capacities that exceed the ordinary, repetitive, and mundane expectations and limits we experience in everyday samsaric life.  Of interest in this chapter is the relationship between this extraordinary Buddha-capacity and the opportunities for Buddhist practice that present themselves in this life.

The first kind of supernatural activity of the Buddhas is described here (all quotations from the Murano translation of the Lotus Sutra):

[The Buddha] stretched out his long and broad tongue upwards until the tip of it reached the World of Brahman.  Then he emitted rays of light with an immeasurable variety of colours from his pores.  The light illumined all the worlds of the ten quarters.  The Buddhas who were sitting on the lion-like seats under the jewelled trees also stretched out their broad and long tongues and emitted innumerable rays of light.  Sakyamuni Buddha and the Buddhas under the jewelled trees displayed these  supernatural powers of theirs for one hundred thousand years.  Then they pulled back their tongues, coughed at the same time, and snapped their fingers.  These two sounds [of coughing and snapping] reverberated over the Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters, and the ground of those worlds quaked in the six ways. (pp. 292-293)

I have been taught that the long, broad tongue of the Buddha represents the teachings of the Buddha s represented in the sutras and commentaries:  a deep and extensive canon of material, far-reaching.  Reflect on the light and sounds and unnaturally flexible duration of time described in this passage.  What might the different elements here mean if understood as symbolic language?  What is this passage attempting to communicate in its imagery?

The second kind of supernatural activity of the Buddhas is a bit more subtle.

all the teachings of the Tathagata, all the unhindered, supernatural powers of the Tathagata, and all the profound achievements of the Tathagata are revealed and expounded explicitly in this sutra (p. 294).

Review what you have learned so far in this sutra.  What are the most important achievements and capacities of the Buddha as presented in this sutra?  Just what teaching is the Buddha asking his disciples to follow, and how is he instructing them to practice here?  This chapter may offer a helpful point of departure in reflecting on this.

Contemplation: The Bodhisattva who is Ill, 3

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your object of contemplation:

"This ailing bodhisattva should also think to himself: 'This illness of mine has no reality, no existence, and the illnesses of other beings likewise have no reality and no existence."

Vimalakirti Sutra, Watson translation, p. 70

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 20

Lotus Sutra chapter 20 tells the story of a bodhisattva called Never Despising (a previous incarnation of Buddha Shakyamuni).  This bodhisattva's life describes a helpful and profound practice that benefits oneself and others.  I encourage everyone to work with this practice.  Here is the gist of it:

Bodhisattva Never Despising responded internally to anyone he met in the same way, regardless of whether they agreed with him or treated him unkindly:

"I do not despise you
Because you will practice the Way
And become Buddhas."

Lotus Sutra, p. 289, Murano translation.

What does this mean?  It means that in all situations, Never Despising refused to give up on anyone as worthless, valueless, or hopeless.  He refused to assume anyone was, in the last analysis, his enemy, or some source of evil.  Instead, he recognized in everyone without exception their capacity for awakening, a capacity he himself was cultivating.  Put differently, he understood the spiritual unity of all life, and made it his practice to recognize this in everyone.

How is this helpful?  Well, for starters:

Those who were attached to [wrong] views
Were led into the Way
To the enlightenment of the Buddha
By this Bodhisattva.

Lotus Sutra, p. 290

Through this practice, Never Despising helped those around him transform hatred and ignorance into wisdom. 

This week's study question is rhetorical:  are you willing to give this practice a try?