New Modes of Cooperation
April 2008
Banner photo: Frank Krahmer/Getty Images
A Teaching Open to All People
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.
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.
