What is Enlightenment and why does the Lotus Sutra have the monopoly on it?

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bcol01
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What is Enlightenment and why does the Lotus Sutra have the monopoly on it?

Post by bcol01 »

Very interested to see your perspectives on this.
In his writing, Hokkemongu (Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra), The Great Master Nichiren said, “If the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra wholeheartedly devote their life to the Lotus Sutra and practice according to its golden words, it is certainly needless to say that not only in the next life, but also in this lifetime they will overcome severe difficulty, prolong their life, receive the great, good fortune of unsurpassed enlightenment, and accomplish the great vow of the widespread, propagation of True Buddhism.”
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Queequeg
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Re: What is Enlightenment and why does the Lotus Sutra have the monopoly on it?

Post by Queequeg »

First, some assumptions in this question have to be unpacked, particularly, What is the Lotus Sutra?

The Lotus Sutra is conventionally the text titled Saddharmapundarikasutra, or, as translated by Kumarajiva into Chinese, 妙法蓮華経, pronounced myohorengekyo in Japanese. However, the particular text is not the actual Lotus Sutra. There are several versions of this text - working backwards - there are several Chinese translations, and it appears that they are based on different Sanskrit sources. There are several Sanskrit versions. It is said, there are longer versions, and shorter versions. We are told the Lotus sermon has been delivered by many Buddhas in many lands. The Lotus we have opens with the Buddha emitting a light from the tuft of hair between his eyes and illuminating the lands in the Eastern direction. When Manjusri is asked what this means, he explains, the last time he saw this sign, countless eons ago, in a different land, the buddha there then delivered the Lotus sermon. The Lotus later relates the actual ritual around the delivery of the Lotus sermon wherein the Tathagata Prabhutaratna appears in his stupa and the buddhas of the ten directions are assembled, and only then is the Lotus sermon actually delivered. But the text doesn't actually convey the authentic teaching - only suggests its delivery. Hence we understand that the actual teaching is something that is both embodied/referred to in and transcends the actual text. To put it coarsely, the Lotus Sutra is the Buddha him/her/itself.

When you understand it this way, then its obvious why the Lotus Sutra is the universal gate to bodhi - because its the Buddha. What other gate could there possibly be? The Buddha is the gate to Bodhi.

All the other sutras are likewise the Buddha, but as the Lotus Sutra text explains, prior to the delivery of the Lotus sermon, the Buddha did not fully and completely reveal his/her/its body (and by body we are talking about the Trikaya). In the other sutras, the Buddha prepared people to see his/her/its body, or revealed parts of it and only intimated at the rest, or obscured it by mixing it with provisional teachings. The Lotus sermon refers to the unadorned body of the Buddha, and its only by exposure to the complete, unadorned body of the Buddha that one can truly enter the path of Buddhahood, the real Mahayana (Mahayana), or alternatively, the Ekayana (Universal Vehicle). Even if understanding of the body does not arise, one must start by being exposed to full blown bodhi.

There is no other way.

All the other teachings are supports or unique refinements offered for those of particular needs and circumstances to perfect their own bodhi.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Grigoris
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Re: What is Enlightenment and why does the Lotus Sutra have the monopoly on it?

Post by Grigoris »

Topic cleaned and unlocked.

Please stay on-topic and respect the doctrines of the sub-forum you are posting in.
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"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
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Temicco
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Re: What is Enlightenment and why does the Lotus Sutra have the monopoly on it?

Post by Temicco »

Queequeg wrote: Tue Jan 08, 2019 6:12 pm The Lotus later relates the actual ritual around the delivery of the Lotus sermon wherein the Tathagata Prabhutaratna appears in his stupa and the buddhas of the ten directions are assembled, and only then is the Lotus sermon actually delivered. But the text doesn't actually convey the authentic teaching - only suggests its delivery. Hence we understand that the actual teaching is something that is both embodied/referred to in and transcends the actual text. To put it coarsely, the Lotus Sutra is the Buddha him/her/itself.
What is the connection here? I don't see how the view that "the Lotus Sutra is the Buddha him/her/itself" is derived.
"Deliberate upon that which does not deliberate."
-Yaoshan Weiyan (tr. chintokkong)

若覓真不動。動上有不動。
"Search for what it really is to be unmoving in what does not move amid movement."
-Huineng (tr. Mark Crosbie)

ཚེ་འདི་ལ་ཞེན་ན་ཆོས་པ་མིན། །
འཁོར་བ་ལ་ཞེན་ན་ངེས་འབྱུང་མིན། །
བདག་དོན་ལ་ཞེན་ན་བྱང་སེམས་མིན། །
འཛིན་པ་བྱུང་ན་ལྟ་བ་མིན། །
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Queequeg
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Re: What is Enlightenment and why does the Lotus Sutra have the monopoly on it?

Post by Queequeg »

Temicco wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 1:38 pm
Queequeg wrote: Tue Jan 08, 2019 6:12 pm The Lotus later relates the actual ritual around the delivery of the Lotus sermon wherein the Tathagata Prabhutaratna appears in his stupa and the buddhas of the ten directions are assembled, and only then is the Lotus sermon actually delivered. But the text doesn't actually convey the authentic teaching - only suggests its delivery. Hence we understand that the actual teaching is something that is both embodied/referred to in and transcends the actual text. To put it coarsely, the Lotus Sutra is the Buddha him/her/itself.
What is the connection here? I don't see how the view that "the Lotus Sutra is the Buddha him/her/itself" is derived.
Its actually an old idea in Buddhism...

"He who sees Dhamma, Vakkali, sees me; he who sees me sees Dhamma. Truly seeing Dhamma, one sees me; seeing me one sees Dhamma."
Vakkali Sutta

I guess the assertion that people would find controversial is that the Lotus presents the Buddha in full without upaya.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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