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The
Lotus Sutra is a Mahayana Buddhist text whose teachings form
the foundation of Nichiren Buddhism. This article is the
first in a series of excerpts of SGI President Daisaku
Ikeda's six-volume work, The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra,
which explores the significance of this ancient text to our
contemporary lives.
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A
Teaching Open to All People |
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[©Seikyo
Shimbun |
Some one or two hundred years
after the appearance of Buddhism in India, we are told, a
Greek ambassador of the king of Syria visited India and was
astonished at what he observed there. "A surprising thing
about India," he exclaimed, "is that there are women
philosophers who debate openly with men, propounding the
most difficult arguments!"
Dr. Hajime Nakamura, the renowned Japanese Buddhologist from
whose work I cite this episode, goes on to say, "The
appearance of an order of nuns [in Buddhism] was an
astonishing development in world religious history. . .
Buddhism was the first religion to produce such an order."
Shakyamuni’s inclusion of women, whose status in ancient
India was nearly as low as slaves, in the religious order he
founded was thus a revolutionary act. The teachings of
Buddhism were in fact expounded for the happiness of all
people; there is no discrimination based on sex, priestly or
lay status, race, scholastic achievement, social position,
power or wealth. Buddhism exists to enable those who are
discriminated against and oppressed, those who have
experienced the bitterest sufferings, to attain supreme
happiness. This is the true power of Buddhism, and the
wisdom of the Lotus Sutra.
The Lotus Sutra itself is a scripture that is open to all
people. It has remained alive over the centuries precisely
because those who embraced and propagated it went among the
people to expound its teachings.
The Lotus Sutra teaches that the "one great reason" why
Buddhas appear in the world is to enable all living beings
to attain Buddhahood. Shakyamuni stated, "At the start I
pledged to make all people perfectly equal to me, without
any distinction between us." The Lotus Sutra teaches that
all equally possess the potential to attain Buddhahood, and
that all have the ability to savor the state of absolute
happiness. It is worth noting that Shakyamuni’s
determination to make Buddhahood available to all people is
revealed by the language in which he chose to preach the
Buddhist teachings, namely, a Magadha dialect that was the
everyday language of the common people.
Mahayana Buddhism does not set forth a complicated list of
rules of behavior or discipline that people are expected to
follow. It respects the freedom and autonomy of the
individual. But when we examine the teachings of Mahayana
Buddhism, we see that they present an extremely demanding
model of leadership.
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[©Iropa/Dreamtime.com] |
The Lotus Sutra, the pinnacle of Mahayana Buddhism, harshly
criticizes corrupt and degenerate religious leaders and
priests. We must realize that religion is always in danger
of growing apart from the people when its leaders forget to
reflect carefully on their own behavior and come to look
upon themselves as authorities.
There is a general tendency to accept the premise that
Buddhism distinguishes between priests and lay followers.
But this distinction clearly has no substantive basis in the
teachings of Buddhism. Thus the Japanese Buddhologist Kyosei
Hayashima writes: "As far as the formation of the sangha
(Buddhist order) is concerned, the division of the Buddha’s
followers into priests and laity, both of which aimed for an
identical ultimate goal, was no more than a reflection of
the social structure of the time in which the Buddha lived."
Today information and education are available to all members
of society. Therefore, I think we should consider the
distinction between professional clerics and lay followers,
not as one of essence but of function; not as one of rank
but of roles.
Only those who struggle daily with the realities of life in
the secular world can understand others who face those same
struggles. The inevitable tendency, if religion is to make a
serious attempt to open itself to the people, is to move
away from an organization centered around a privileged class
to one in which ordinary people are central.
Religion in the 21st century must provide people with the
wisdom to think and decide wisely for themselves how to live
their lives.
The wisdom of the Lotus Sutra is a wisdom that improves
society and brings happiness to the people. Unless it
accomplishes those things, it is not true Buddhist wisdom.
On a broader level, I think we can say that all wisdom that
improves the lot of the people, and that contributes to
their happiness, is the wisdom of the Lotus Sutra.
What can each of us, as an ordinary human being, do for
others, for society? Religion for the people--religion in
the 21st century--must be an inexhaustible source of such
awareness and the energy to put it into action.
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