Buddha nature of insentient beings? How?

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nichiren-123
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Buddha nature of insentient beings? How?

Post by nichiren-123 »

Been reading 'object of devotion for observing the mind'. Which asserts that insentient beings (trees, rocks, plants) all have buddha nature. I haven't read the whole thing yet but I think the argument is that the gohonzon (an insentient object) is a manifestation of buddhahood.

This all seems bonkers to me. However, I'm an open minded person so I'd appreciate if we could have a talk to argue why this is so?
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tkp67
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Re: Buddha nature of insentient beings? How?

Post by tkp67 »

In order to evaluate the 10 realms in insentient beings one should understand the 10 realms as they manifest in sentient beings.
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Minobu
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Re: Buddha nature of insentient beings? How?

Post by Minobu »

nichiren-123 wrote: Sat Mar 28, 2020 2:23 pm Been reading 'object of devotion for observing the mind'. Which asserts that insentient beings (trees, rocks, plants) all have buddha nature. I haven't read the whole thing yet but I think the argument is that the gohonzon (an insentient object) is a manifestation of buddhahood.

This all seems bonkers to me. However, I'm an open minded person so I'd appreciate if we could have a talk to argue why this is so?
more like a collection of beings on their way to or protecting those that wish and yearn for Buddhahood.

edit.

Through faith and understanding you get to know what is going down whilst you chant WITH Gohonzon ..

But the cool deal is with Daimoku and reciting the Lotus sutra in part, it actually happens regardless of faith...you do the whole set up alter enshrine Gohonzon and daily chant thing....it happens
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Minobu
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Re: Buddha nature of insentient beings? How?

Post by Minobu »

nichiren-123 wrote: Sat Mar 28, 2020 2:23 pm Which asserts that insentient beings (trees, rocks, plants) all have buddha nature.
You gotta dig what they interpreted as Buddha nature...life around them had cycles and they studied those cycles and then the earth gave so much to life and then Sunyata...

right now on the planet every human is born with an ability to take to technology it seems ...Studies show they know the DNA responsible for the part of the brain that is used with modern technology .

all human DNA is accelerating this portion of the brain...it's friggin the earth doing that....evolution...why?

so we created science, now we need to be smarter in science to save ourselves from science...science being a good thing cause it is linked to our DNA...in a manner...

so like i see Buddha Nature in all that...


edit.

So like the earth and it's ability ...one sec....you do realize everything is from the earth...your brain , your emotions, your everything and everything is from the earth...my doctor argued it's all actually star stuff...

i see the Buddha Nature in the earth...
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tkp67
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Re: Buddha nature of insentient beings? How?

Post by tkp67 »

One way to understand it is simply this.

Does a bee have a emotional grasping self that exists in conjunction with the nature of a bee as an animal or does the bee simple display the nature of a be without a deluded sense of self?
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kusulu
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Re: Buddha nature of insentient beings? How?

Post by kusulu »

It is a way of expressing that everything there is, deep down at the core is "empty" e.g. does not possess and essence or self-nature independent of the thing itself, and don't confuse our limited understanding of things with inherent characteristic. Everything is Buddha Nature at it's core, but Buddha Nature is also everything. Buddha Nature does not exist as a discreet quality independent of things. What is interesting is that insentient/sentient duality is also negated here. I'm not into Nichiren, but thats how (for the time being) look at this. Good Question.
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Queequeg
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Re: Buddha nature of insentient beings? How?

Post by Queequeg »

Basically, it comes out of the teaching that the Buddha's pure land is not something separate from the environment we dwell in. For instance, in the Vimalakirti sutra, Shariputra asks why the Saha world, Shakyamuni's pure land, is marked by suffering.
At that time Śāriputra was influenced by the Buddha’s numinous charisma to have this thought: “If the bodhisattva’s buddha land is pure according to the purity of the bodhisattva’s mind, then when our World-honored One was a bodhisattva his mind must have been pure. Nevertheless, this buddha land is so impure!”

The Buddha knew what he was thinking and asked him, “What do you think? Although the blind do not see them, can the sun and moon be anything but pure?”

[Śāriputra] answered, “No, World-honored One! This is the fault of the blind, not that of the sun and moon.”

[The Buddha said], “Śāriputra, it is through the transgressions of sentient beings that they do not see the purity of the Tathāgata’s (i.e., my) buddha land. This is not the Tathāgata’s fault! Śāri putra, this land of mine is pure, but you do not see it.”

At that time Conch Crest Brahmā King said to Śāriputra, “Do not think thus, saying that this buddha land is not pure. Why? I have witnessed the purity of Śākyamuni’s buddha land. It is like the heavenly palace of Īśvara.”

Śāriputra said, “As I observe this land, it is hills and hollows, brambles and gravel, and rocks and mountains—all filled with defilements.”

Conch Crest Brahmā King said, “Sir, your mind has (i.e., perceives) high and low because you are not relying on buddha wisdom. Hence you perceive this land as impure. Śāriputra, the bodhisattva is universally same [in attitude] regarding all sentient beings. The purity of his profound mind relies on buddha wisdom and therefore is able to perceive the purity of this buddha land.”

At this the Buddha pointed to the earth with his toe, and instantly the trimegachiliocosm was as if ornamented with a hundred thousand jewels. It was like the Jewel Ornamentation land, with all its immeasurable merits, of Jewel Ornament Buddha. The entire great assembly exclaimed at this unprecedented event, and they all saw themselves sitting on many-jeweled lotus flowers.

The Buddha told Śāriputra, “You should now observe the purity of this buddha land.”

Śāriputra said, “So it is, World-honored One. Originally I did not see it; originally I did not hear it. Now the purity of the Buddha’s country is entirely apparent.”

The Buddha said to Śāriputra, “My buddha country is always pure, like this. It is only so as to save inferior persons here that I manifest it as a defiled and impure land. It is like the many-jeweled eating utensils used in common by the gods, the food in which is of different colors depending on their merits. Just so, Śāriputra, if a person’s mind is pure he sees the merits and ornaments
of this land.”
And in the Lotus:
Although my Pure Land never decays,
The sentient beings see it as ravaged by fire
And torn with anxiety and distress;
They believe it is filled with these things.
Because of their misdeeds
These erring sentient beings do not hear
The name of the Three Treasures
For incalculable kalpas.
But all who cultivate merit,
And are receptive and honest,
Will see me residing here,
Expounding the Dharma.
Why is this significant? There are a host of reasons, but specifically with regard to images of Buddha - these objects are not mere symbols of the Buddha, but when the eyes are opened, they actually are the Buddha. They could not be Buddha if they did not have Buddhanature. They could not have the effect of leading us to awakening if they did not possess this aspect.

We have to be careful and not go so far as to conceptualize Buddhanature as something substantive either in ourselves or in things. It is not a thing. Its a way to understand how things really are. We have a tendency to conceptualize Buddhanature in ourselves as some... animated quality. While it can be said to be dynamic, it is not actually animated itself, but rather is a confluence of causes and conditions - like all things, albeit referring to the real nature. It can be illuminating to consider that something that we might conceptualize as lacking the quickening we attribute to living things likewise has this Buddhanature quality. It can shed light and have a tempering effect on what we think of as Buddhanature in ourselves.
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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