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November
2002
Feature
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Sakyamuni expressed with great, unshakable assurance to Upaka, his
full confidence in his true religious experience. Living in accordance
with Thusness,
the Buddha’s desires
were exhausted, and he was released from the
samsaric
cycle of birth-and-death. A
transcendental quality is thus ascribed to Sakyamuni’s Enlightenment.
Besides a sense of eternal life and absolute independence, Sakyamuni
had a sense of Buddhist homage: "Since I became enlightened by myself,
I have no teacher. Therefore, I must show respect to the Dharma
itself, and to all the previous Buddhas who have realized the Dharma."
[Sakyamuni is considered to be the seventh Buddha — six past
patriarchs are said to have preceded him. One of Asoka’s rock edicts
describes a prior Buddha.] The Buddha entreated us to "Take refuge in
the Dharma, nothing else." In the
Nirvana Sutra,
he insinuates regarding
individual, independent subjecthood
(atman)
as a refuge. This "atman" was affirmed by the Buddha, and not denied
as usually supposed. There are thus two types of usage for the term
atman, one that
sometimes denied, and another that sometimes affirmed. Independent
subjecthood, however, does not connote "selfish ego." In the awakening
experience of Sakyamuni, the idea of independent subjecthood and
"piety" were not contradictory, but integrated.
The idea of Amida Buddha is derived from concentration on
Sakyamuni’s realization of devotion toward the Dharma and past
Buddhas. After his death, two schools of interpretation developed. The
conservative (ecclesiastic) group wished to maintain dogma. The
sravaka
("listener") directed his respect
toward the Buddha’s personality and the Buddhist or-der. The liberal,
progressive idealists wished to develop Sakyamuni’s spirit. The
pratyeka-buddha,
with his emphasis on transcendence of the Buddha’s wisdom, was
"independently-awakened." These two inclinations reflected the two
different virtues of Buddha’s personality.
Universal wisdom, however, should be a synthesis of these two
aspects, thus unifying them. Mahayana Buddhism arose against
Schismatic Buddhism, which neglected societal considerations.
Initially, the Buddha’s followers: (1) Worshipped their Teacher’s
relics; (2) Showed respect for his teaching; and (3) Expressed simple
yearning after their Teacher’s noble personality. The first two items
relate to the (fictional)
Jataka Tales,
and
Avadana Stories
(historical legend), which
emphasize the
paramitas as practiced
by previous Buddhas. This idealization of Sakyamuni’s personality —
the praise of a great man’s virtuous deeds — increased for three
centuries after his death and eventually became an idolization
(neglecting Buddha’s real intentions as a human being). The Buddha’s
followers, therefore, lost self-criticism, which is the starting point
of true wisdom.
The time between 100 BCE and 100 CE is known as the period of
Proto-Mahayana Buddhism, in which severe moralistic attitude
prevailed. Clarification was made that (1) Sakyamuni was a
historical
Buddha as a human being, and (2)
He, himself, held in his mind the perfectly ideal image of "Buddha,"
which he attempted to embody by himself. Sakyamuni was a moral,
sentient being and not an idealized Buddha. Therefore, he related to
the Dharma and other Buddhas as the objects of
his
respect. From this qualification,
it is natural to assume that Amida is the Buddha to whom Sakyamuni
himself showed devotion (as indicated in the
Larger Sukhavati-vyuha
Sutra).
Sakyamuni Buddha’s confidence was in the eternity of life. The
Dharma found in the experience of his enlightenment, as an abstract
substance, made Sakyamuni immortal
(amata).
Dharma is the transcendental existence, itself, which enables
immortality. Sakyamuni’s entrusting, therefore, was in paying homage
to the Dharma itself. It gave him his independent subjectivity. In
this respect, Sakyamuni’s experience was akin to that of Shinran’s:
Amida is the personified Buddha as a symbolical expression of
naturalness (jinen
honi) itself. In his
Gutokusho,
Shinran Shonin refers to (1) entrusting oneself to Amida’s Primal Vow,
as meaning dying in the preceding moment and "entering the Truly
Assured Group (shojoju),
and (2) the abrupt obtaining of birth in the Pure Land, as meaning
Birth immediately following death, the "instantaneous assurance into
the Rightly Established State
(nyu hitsujo)".
As such, one is as a "Bodhisattva, assured of certain Birth." Birth by
Instantaneous Attainment
(soku toku Ojo)
meant that one was abiding in the State of Non-Retrogression
(ju futaiten).
Since entrusting by Nembutsu alone is in accord with the Eighteenth
Vow, one may attain Birth irrespective of whether it is during one’s
life or after death
(futaishitsu Ojo).
When spiritual death in this life occurs, one abides in the State of
Non-Retrogression. Shan-tao (613-681) also made this assertion: the
heart of the person of True Entrusting Mind already and always resides
in the Buddha Land. Following this theme, Shinran developed his
interpretation of Birth in regards to physical death.
Shinran Shonin interpreted birth in the Pure Land in two ways:
Death in a spiritual sense, and death in its corporal meaning, i.e.
the conquest (transcendence) of death — "Deathlessness," through the
experience of Jodo Shinshu True Entrusting Mind. The
myokonin
("wonderfully excellent person")
Saichi said, "Let us appreciate our death, it is not death.
Namo Amida Butsu"
["My funeral service has been taken up by Amida Buddha. My corpse, die
if you want to die; I don’t die with you."]
Dogen Zenji, the famous Zen teacher, also discussed spiritual
death. He stated that "To study Buddhism is to study one’s own self.
To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be
enlightened by the 10,000
dharmas.
To be enlightened by 10,000
dharmas
is to become free of one’s body
and mind, and those of others." There is no Buddhism outside myself,
yet, to forget the self is to become enlightened to the Dharma. As
Dogen mentioned, throwing away body and mind, we put ourselves in
Buddha’s house. The Buddha works toward us, naturally. Dharma,
Buddha’s dynamic power, is the common element of all Buddhism. The
accomplishment of enlightenment, is being enlightened by Dharma
(Buddha) Power. Immortality, independence and absolute subjectivity
are obtained with spiritual death. Dogen had said that abandoning the
"small self," one finds his "Great Self" at the time of enlightenment.
Similarly, Shinran Shonin wrote that, "Since I have heard Amida’s
Calling Voice, how can I reside in this
samsaric
world? My mind is established in
the Buddha Land of his Great Vow, and is now residing in the Pure
Land."
To be concluded next month...
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