Lotus Sutra Study Questions 13

With Chapter 13, we have reached the midpoint of the Lotus Sutra.  After hearing the teachings of the Ekayana and the potential for awakening of all beings, those assembled to hear the sutra promise the Buddha to put the teachings into practice:

Because we are your messengers,
We are fearless before multitudes.
We will expound the Dharma.
Buddha, do not worry!

(Murano trans., p. 208-209).

As we will see in later chapters, particular instructions on how to practice this teaching follow from this vow.  For now, it is worthwhile to reflect on the power of making a firm commitment to doing something honorable, even if you might not know exactly what that entails or what the consequences may be.

Just what are the Buddha's disciples committing to here?  What is the nature of that commitment?

Contemplation: Practice is required

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

The conscious mind is dark and depressed; it has wandered from the right path and does not improve.  The nature of the mind is to be noisy and cluttered, and it rejects the jeweled vehicle instead of accepting it.  This is due to the dominance of cravings which obstruct the sun of wisdom like a dark cloud, and the prevalence of the cycle of birth and death, which causes the boat of contemplation to sink in the sea of suffering.  Thus the three wisdoms are hidden of themselves, and the three virtuous qualities are not manifest because of this.  Therefore practice is required.

Gishin, The Collected Teaching of the Tendai Lotus School, p. 119

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 12

Historians have shown that Chapter Twelve of the Lotus Sutra is a later addition to the text; it was not in Kumarajiva's translation from the Sanskrit to the Chinese (this was done around the year 400 CE).  It is noteworthy in part because it seems to come in out of nowhere, disrupting the flow of the narrative, and differs from the previous chapters stylistically.

The content of the chapter is in keeping with the rest of the sutra, however.  The all-beings-can-become-Buddhas theme is reiterated with the example of a girl who, through the purity of her practice, becomes fully realized in an instant. 

What does this mean in terms of practice?

Contemplation: The Torch of Wisdom

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

The four types of regulating and rectifying bring about the illumination of perfect quiescence in one life.  The five categories of preparatory practices train one's uncontrolled physical, verbal, and mental actions.  Though one experiences craving, one nevertheless can gain enlightenment concerning bodhi-wisdom.  By contemplating [the cycle of] birth and death one is awakened to Nirvana.  One crosses over this realm of delusion on the raft of practice, and thus completes this doctrine.  Where else can one seek the torch of wisdom [that illuminates] this dark room?

Gishin, The Collected Teachings of the Tendai Lotus School,   p. 105

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 11

...and then, something totally unexpected happens:

Thereupon a stupa of the seven treasures sprang up from underground and hung in the sky before the Buddha.  The stupa was five hundred yojanas high and two hundred and fifty yojanas wide and deep.  It was adorned with various treasures.  It was furnished with five thousand railings and ten million chambers.  It was adorned with innumerable banners and streamers, from which jeweled necklaces and billions of jeweled bells were hanging down.  The fragrance of tamalapattra and candana was sent forth from the four sides of the stupa to all the corners of the world...  (page 181)

A stupa is a kind of reliquary, sometimes called a pagoda in east Asia or a chorten in Tibetan.   Its purpose is to house the remains of an enlightened being.  This particular stupa emerges from the earth in the middle of the Buddha's discourse, and hovers in the sky before the assembly, miraculously.  A loud voice is heard from within the stupa:

"Excellent, excellent!  You, Sakyamuni, the World-Honoured One, have expounded to this great multitude the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Teaching of Equality, the Great Wisdom, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.  So it is, so it is.  What you, Sakyamuni, the World-Honoured One, have expounded, is all true" (page 181).

 Within this stupa is an ancient Buddha called Ancient Treasures, from a time immeasurably past and a world system that does not even exist any longer.  The two Buddhas--Sakyamuni in our time, Ancient Treasures from so long ago--sit together in the stupa, as one.  They are clearly of one mind; they are harmonious in their conduct.

After this, Buddha Sakyamuni manifests other miracles and expresses the importance of understanding what is going on in this sutra and explaining it to others.  What is going on here?   How you explain this?

Now would be a good time to consider the role of surprises and the miraculous in this Sutra.  What purpose do these interruptions serve?

What is the significance of this meeting of contemporary enlightened activity and ancient enlightened activity?  Is there any gap between them?  What does this tell us of the relations among past, present, and future? 

Contemplation: The Bonds of Suffering are Severed Forever

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

Reality is unchanging and inherently has no marks of coming or going.  The nature of phenomena is to conform to habitual tendencies and function in the realm of distinctions.  Therefore Twelve-Fold Conditioned Co-Arising revolves and creates karma, and the causes and results of the three ways [of craving, karma, and suffering] alternate without rest.  If one is deluded concerning this reality, this inflames the cycle of birth and death.  If one understands this meaning, the bonds of suffering are severed forever. 

Gishin, The Collected Teachings of the Tendai Lotus School, p. 75

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 10

In Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha explains how one should teach the Lotus Sutra.  Here is one particularly relevant passage:

How should the good men or women who live after my extinction expound this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to the four kinds of devotees when they wish to?  They should enter the room of the Tathagata, wear the robe of the Tathagata, sit on the seat of the Tathagata, and then expound this sutra to the four kinds of devotees.  To enter the room of the Tathagata means to have great compassion toward all living beings.  To wear the robe of the Tathagata means to be gentle and patient.  To sit on the seat of the Tathagata means to see the voidness of all things.  They should do these [three] things and then without indolence expound this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to Bodhisattvas and the four kinds of devotees.

 Lotus Sutra, trans. Senchu Murano, p. 177

As the text progresses, look for other instances where both the literal meaning of a passage and its metaphoric meaning (as in the room, robe, and seat of the Buddha this time) offer insights into practice.  What does the Buddha expect of someone who would attempt to expound this text?

From what you have read so far in this sutra, can you infer what the Buddha might expect of someone who is interested in learning the Dharma?

Contemplation: One Great Purpose

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

All Buddhas appear in the world for one great purpose.  Though distinctions are made as to the three vehicles, ultimately [they all] rely on the One Vehicle.  Therefore Sakyamuni descended to this world to be born in the royal palace, left home, and attained the Path according to his capability.  He preached many different sermons; some were at first direct and later gradual, some were at first gradual and later direct, but all were taught as inducements to the Lotus Sutra.

 Gishin,   The Collected Teachings of the Tendai Lotus School,  p. 49