Thanks for sharing this article I recently read that the Lotus Sutra was written by anonymous Buddhist monks . One never knows for sure. Something's are better left to faith
WHO DO YOU CONSIDER AS THE OTHER LEADING LIGHTS BEFORE THEM THAT knew that Shakyamuni preached the Lotus Sutra??? AND ARE PART OF THE LINEGE FROM LORD SHAKYA SIMILIAR AS THERE IS IN THE Bodhi dharma LINEGE
Please rephrase the question. Nan Yueh, Vasubhandu, and certainly Nagarjuna.
Stace: Hi Mark. Did you read his article on “How the Mahayana Began”? He points out that in the essay you provide the “Corruption” of the Pali texts. The same could be applied to the Mahayana. Can you tell how this is possible: Chapter 10: The Teacher of the Law – This chapter presents the five practices of the teachers of the Lotus Sutra. These practices are accepting and upholding, reading, chanting, explaining and writing the Sutra. The Sutra begins, “Thus I Have Heard”. Ananda, the Buddhas attendant recalling verbally, (orally) what the Buddha said. How and why would the Buddha then instruct the “hearers” of this sutra to READ and; WRITE it?
Mark: I just read it. I’m sure you are aware of one of the honorific titles of the Buddha, that of Omniscience. Gombrich disagrees with Rys David, whether “books” were mentioned in the canon. Let me say that it is probable that the Buddha who talked about the decline, not only of his teachings but of the capacities of individuals, would have realized that one day his words would be lost unless they were written down. Tientai and Nichiren taught that the Lotus Sutra was not ostensibly taught for the people of the Middle Day, let alone for the people of the Former Day. Why would anyone believe that such capable monks who could memorize thousands of lines of oral texts were incapable of keeping secret a teaching meant for a later time? These were highly disciplined men, unlike our present day politicians and heads of state who have successfully kept secrets [documents] for hundreds or even thousands of years. This is hardly an anomally but rather a misunderstanding of the greatness of the Buddha and his followers.
Stace: Other anomalies in the sutra are the use of the term Hinayana and Mahayana. In the Buddha’s time there was only the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. No distinction of any Yanas. How could these terms be uttered by the Buddha or his followers when they hadn’t yet been created and would have no meaning?
Mark: Nearly the entire Buddhist Canon is devoted to correcting wrong thought. It is only natural that the words “Hinayana” and “Mahayana” were inserted when these words came into being. They don’t change one iota the words, “superficial thought and its adherents” and “superior thought and its adherents”, of the Buddha. This argument that anything was added too, is not tenable.
Stace: You wrote, “By the way, what I was referring to in the original post is the contention of some that the “Nikayas” are the actual words of the Buddha while the Lotus Sutra is not.”
All he is talking about are “corruptions” of the pali. I don’t see him addressing the validity of the Lotus Sutra as the actual words of the Buddha. This is what I thought, read “How the Mahayana Began”. He doesn’t necessariy refute your position.
Mark: Not him, others. Gombrich, in many ways supports our position. That is why I cited him, even though his understanding of the mind of the Buddha and the nature of the Sangha is incomplete.
Stace: You state that my summation is in err that SGI is a legitimate form of Buddhism in accord with teachings of Nichiren. I am arguing that “Nichiren Buddhism” and any lineage born from his teaching is valid because of the arguments put forth in the article you present so long as the purpose is Liberation.
Mark: I am very sorry if anyone misconstrues that the import of citing this article in any way supports the validity of Ikedaism and Gakkaism. Of course, this was not my intent. You know Stace, I don’t consider SGI to be Buddhism even though it has borrowed extensively from Buddhism. No Buddha, no Buddhahood is my contention.
Stace: I base it off of this excerpt:
”These processes are not random (adhicca-samuppanna) but causally determined. Any empirical phenomenon is seen as a causal sequence, and that applies to the sāsana too. ‘One thing leads to another,’ as the English idiom has it. Whether or not we can see features common to the religion of Mr Richard Causton, the late leader of the UK branch of Soka Gakkai International,(we could add here Kempon Hokke or any other Nichiren based group) and that of Nāgārjuna, or of the Buddha himself, there is a train of human events which causally connects them. Buddhism is not an inert object: it is a chain of events.” PG.3
Mark: Devedatta and Shakyamuni were causally connected. That Gombrich fails to see this [that SGI is to Buddhism as Devedatta was to Shakyamuni] relates to his inability to know the mind of the Buddha.
Stace: Anyway, I do not think the article you presented puts forth the superiority of any teaching over the other but simply points out that there are things in the canon which were added and that this to be understood in an orally preserved teaching, but we can separate the wheat for the chaff and know what the buddha said.
Mark: How much harder is it to know what the Buddha meant and to know the reality of the Buddha?
Stace: I cannot, I mean physically cannot, force my brain to take most religious statement literally and therefor will never be a true believer. I love Dharma and Liberation wherever it be found, as there are so many flowers and scents to delight our senses I believe there are many pathways to liberation. I do not doubt the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren offer such a pathway but I will never believe that it is the only door.
Mark: According to the Lotus Sutra itself and Nichiren, it is the only pathway out of the burning house. Certainly, a living High Priest or mentor in the seat of the Law is not the pathway. The only living mentor in the seat of the Law is Shakyamuni Buddha.
"Modern editors of the Pali Canon, however, have generally contented themselves with trying to establish a textus receptus or ‘received text’. Let me explain. Most of our physical evidence for the Pali Canon is astonishingly recent, far more recent than our physical evidence for the western classical and biblical texts.
While talking of this, I want to take the opportunity to correct a mistake in something I published earlier this year. In Professor K. R. Norman’s splendid revision of Geiger’s Pali Grammar, published by the Pali Text Society (Geiger, 1994), I wrote an introduction called ‘What is Pali?’ (Gombrich, 1994a). In that I wrote (p. xxv) that a Kathmandu manuscript of c.800 A.D. is ‘the oldest substantial piece of written Pali to survive’ if we except the inscriptions from Devnimori and Ratnagiri, which differ somewhat in phonetics from standard Pali. This is wrong. One can quibble about what ‘substantial’ means; but it must surely include a set of twenty gold leaves found in the Khin Ba Gôn trove near Śrī Ketra, Burma, by Duroiselle in 1926-7. The leaves are inscribed with eight excerpts from the Pali Canon. Professor Harry Falk has now dated them, on paleographic grounds, to the second half of the fifth century A.D., which makes them by far the earliest physical evidence for the Pali canonical texts (Stargardt, 1995). -- Richard F. Gombrich
Therefore, according to this reliable information, the Sanskrit text of the Lotus Sutra is older than the Pali texts that the Hinayana Buddhists arrogantly claim to be the only authoritative texts of what the Buddha actually taught.
"It is now clear that none of the existing Buddhist collections of early Indian scriptures—not the Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, nor even the Gandhari—“can be privileged as the most authentic or original words of the Buddha.” -- Linda Heuman
"Only the Lotus Sutra represents the wonderful teaching preached directly from the golden mouth of Shakyamuni Buddha, who is perfectly endowed with the three bodies." -- Nichiren Daishonin
There are various teaching methods employed by the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra: simile; metaphor; parable [of which there are seven]; skillful or expedient means; logic; historical precedent; narration [current events and prior birth stories]; questions and answers; and most importantly, a direct exposition of his Enlightenment. When studying the Lotus Sutra one can reflect, "here the Buddha is speaking of his experience in a previous existence and here the Buddha is answering the question of Sariputra", etc. Are there worlds where the Buddha actually experienced parthenogenesis as the physiological method of reproducing the species or is it a metaphor or is it something else? Is the Treasure Tower a metaphor only? Bodhisattvas 500 feet tall on other worlds? Flying cars? Some things are fruitless to question or contemplate and the Buddha was silent.
Lastly the principle of Ichinen Sanzen is unsurpassed whether theoretical, the 3000 Realms in a Momentary Existence of Life of person, society, and environment simultaneously and the reality of Actual Ichinen Sanzen [the Daimoku and the Gohonzon]. Let me expound a bit more on the Lotus Sutra and other religious faiths:
Each person, society, and environment, even the Buddha's land has a defiled and pure aspect. When the pure aspect is manifest we speak in terms of Enlightenment. When the defiled aspect manifests, we speak of delusion. Were there not the inferior teachings to contrast with the Lotus Sutra there would be no way of ascertaining the truth. Likewise, were there no deluded teachers, we could never come to know the merits and virtues of Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren Daishonin, teachers without peer.
Generally, those who have faith in and practice the Lotus Sutra are Bodhisattvas of the Earth. Specifically, Nichiren Daishonin is the Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutra. Generally we are all Buddhas but specifically, from a deeper sense, Shakyamuni Buddha is the Original Eternal Buddha. From the deepest sense, we are the Three Bodied Tathagata of Original Enlightenment, Shakyamuni Buddha ourselves. Nichiren teaches that this most difficult to believe and most difficult to understand teaching should not be bandied about lightly. In our mundane thoughts and activities, it is best to think in terms of the general meaning, having gratitude for and giving praise to the Lotus Sutra [Law], Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni and Nichiren Daishonin. Similar reasonings can be given in the case of our relationship to the Law. Generally, everyone is a manifestation of the Mystic Law, even a dust mite. Specifically, Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren Daishonin are those who are one with the Mystic Law. There is a saying derived from the Infinite Meanings Sutra, the introduction to the Lotus Sutra: "Infinite meanings derive from the one Law." Equally, infinite phenomena derive from the one Law.
Even Nichiren Daishonin and the Buddha couldn't convert everyone. "To the best of our ability" while employing the strategy of the Lotus Sutra and the wisdom of the Buddha is the means outlined by the Buddha and Nichiren Daishonin to awaken the masses of beings. The Three Proofs, documentary, theoretical, and actual is what will capture other's attention. For example, in converting a Christian or Muslim, documentary proof is comparing and contrasting the Bible or Q'uran with the Lotus Sutra. Theoretical proof is pointing out the reasonableness and sound logic of such concepts as the Mutual Possession of the Ten Worlds and 3000 Realms in a Momentary Existence of Life [Ichinen Sanzen], and the functioning of the Law of Cause and effect. Proof of actual fact is the joy of practicing this teaching, overcoming our limitations and pointing out the hellish reality of a society based on Judeo-Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and even scientific rationalism.
I just received this email from a friend who influenced by Sri Aurobindo, I don't know if you are familiar with him but there are some striking similarities with Nichiren Buddhism I find that I don't find so much anywhere else;
The Aspects and the Totality
It is interesting to know the views of major religions the different aspects and standing points but also the many reasons of conflict and separation among them. That is why i wanted to share this; we know how the Semitic religions separate so much God from its creatures and creation, he is the Transcendent One in touch with its creation through His power and Knowledge and through the medium of His higher energies but he is not in his creation, with His very Being and Essence is not in the created Universe
While other view like that of Pantheist or Panspirits as the 'pagan' old European religions and also some eastern religions and some Buddhist schools of thought hold that the Conscious Reality (God) or True Being is totally immanent through all the universe, through all beings and objects and he is the very fabric or material also of the universe and nothing is beyond it.
This is the Pantheistic view the whole Universe is God or the Reality, its Consciousness and its form. There is the other more larger way of seeing that of the Panentheism that all is in God and all is God but God here not only permeates and is its ingredient but envelopes, contains and exceeds the Creation and thus is also above it, behind it ,beyond it and Transcendent to it.
In the first view of the Semitic religions God is outside creation and he created it from outside Itself from "nothing"? or from already pre-existing chaotic material energy which He ordered into worlds and beings; where this material energy came from if not from Conscious Being or God, if not from God is there any other source apart or outside God that it came from, otherwise since it could not have had a separate eternal self existence this whole idea is unexplained or not clearly explained and is absurd. ( jokingly one of Sri Aurobindo's close disciple said, yes out of nothing But GOD).
That is why in Vedas it is simply stated with very simple example. As a spider spins a web ( and pulls it back as well in its body) out of itself so the whole universal web came forth from God not as creation of something but as an emanation or manifestation of that which was already involved and included.
In Eastern Religions like Vedanta and most Buddhism ( although in some it is not as clearly expressed ) the Reality as Unchanging Reality or God has two aspects the Transcendent and Immanent. That which is Transcendentally Unchanged beyond Creation Self-Existent and that which is Unchanging -"Immanent" present in creation not only with its power and conscious knowledge and also through indirect agencies and higher energies ( like in the Semitic religions ) but fully present in Essence and Being as well as in power and knowledge and is involved in sanctioning and guiding and supporting the Individual and the Universal existence ( this may be likened to Buddha nature or Dharmakaya) .
Then there is the involved participating aspect of the Unchanging reality which doesn't itself evolve or change but puts a formation a power and creates a spiritual form around itself of multiple personalities through evolution gathering impressions from all its experiences and growing into a spiritual person chaitya purusha, ( or in Vaishnava language spiritual body ) or ( in Buddhist term Sambhogakaya nature ).
And so this way of perception harmonizes and includes all the Semitic Transcendent Monotheism the Pure Unchanging God beyond, the Pantheistic and Panbuddhistic Immanent God contained in everything and as everything, also the Panentheistic ( or all in God) as enveloping , permeating and containing Reality or God of the Universe, and the Integral perception which perceives the Divine as a fully Transcendent and fully Immanent simultaneously as Sri Aurobindo also perceives and simply states.
So any one concept taken by itself alone in isolation whether that of Transcendence without Pantheistic Immanence or Pantheistic Immanence without Transcendence is incomplete and thus incorrect.
Only an Integral and Total perception and acknowledgment of Truth can gives us the accurate and complete Realization.
I am attaching bellow a link very beautifully stated a subject about Emanationism which is liken to Panentheism ( not Pantheism ). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanationism
If I recall correctly, the great philosopher Plotinus was an Emanationist. I will have to re-read your post several times before commenting on it from the perspective of Nichiren's Lotus Sutra Buddhism.
"The sutras which came before the Lotus Sutra taught that all phenomena derive from one's mind. The mind is like the earth, and phenomena are like the plants growing in the earth. But the Lotus Sutra teaches that the mind is one with the earth and the earth is one with its plants. The provisional sutras say that a tranquil mind is like the moon and a pure heart is like a flower, but the Lotus Sutra states that the flower and moon are themselves heart and mind." (A Gift of Rice)
"Nothing is "projected". We are the earth, moon and plants." MRK RGW
The emanationist view many spiritual lines perceived that.
There seemed to be a big jump from the creation to Absolute Nirvana or withdrawal from the whole manifestation. But here is the misunderstanding.
In just few words according to Vedanta and other spiritual paths there is lower manifestation and a higher. The Higher manifestation is the one which contains all the True forms and Ideas in perfect harmony with each other and with Its Pure One Unchanging Being and that is Eternal.
The lower manifestation in our time and space has a secession and evolution and thus beginning and an end with manifestation and non manifestation with interruption; but the Higher Reality with its Higher manifestation is Eternally co-existent and everything here in material Universe proceeds and is supported by the Higher.
Everything in this material Universe is "Projected" from the Higher reality and Its Direct Manifestation.
In the Higher Reality of manifestation the subject and object are one.; Being and Becoming , Consciousness and its Manifestation are one.
Here in the lower plane of manifestation is separation and duality due to fundamental ignorance of our true being.
That is why it has been stated ( by Christians and Eastern religions and Plotinus as well ) that we are here to re-create and transform this
earth into Divine manifestation into the likeness of the Higher Reality.
This vedantic school of thought wants to evolve to be one with Brahmin by extinguishing karma of the individual aspect of alaya consciousness.
Then the whole process of devolution starts over again which means the atman becomes covered in more dense energies until it becomes mineral
And then from a mineral the atman that is covered in dense energies evolves to higher levels of being until it becomes Brahmin again and this goes on for all eternity
When we look at these belief systems we can save ourselves a lot of time if we know the end goal like Scientology for example
Ex scientologists said that they wouldn't of got into it if they knew about aliens etc that they learn about at the higher levels after they've blown a hundred grand or so
Hi Stavros, glad to hear from you at Eagle Peak sharing your views with Mark and others
How do you then explain the individual existence as in the Alaya consciousness throughout the 3 existences (the eternal past, present and future) because what I and Kumiko have so far been able to ascertain from Sri Aurobindo's teachings which is another form of interesting dogma, is that you want to totally identify with the eternal unchanging absolute by shedding the individual aspects of your present nature.
Once your have reached this goal of Brahman you will come back into manifestation as an inanimate object again until you evolve into an animate being with a higher consciousness and on you will go till you become Brahman again and eternally repeat this cycle over again endlessly
Hi Noel, you seem to dont like my phrase 'dogma ' but what else can that be than a dogmatic dogma; how many times we spoke how narrow these religions are like Islam and Christianity or even Hare Krishna movement. And now same statements about the Lotus Sutra; well they are all dogmatic. Something you of which you never liked and even now you somehow doubt this statement about the Lotus Sutra, that is why you mentioned your doubt about Lotus Sutra as being a later invention by the followers ( monks). But since Nichiren and Ziyi of Tian Tai accepted it you appear apparently happy with that answer. But as you know Tian tai was not that dogmatic and used other techniques of meditation of the Chan tradition.
You say that you and Kumiko what you get from Sri Aurobindo's writings is that the individual has to become Brahman again and do it all over again. Although i have send to you many times different teachings and writings you have not really paid attention to them and you got things bit wrong. It is True that the individual has to recover his True Being or Self but not to disappear into or withdraw from manifestation and merge into Brahman or some Absolute Nirvana without a dynamic manifested expression. In all true paths this is the essential requirement to find ones Soul ones True Spirit , True Self or Eternal Unchanging Nature. And on that different paths differs as to when you find it where will it take you. But i will not get into it , there are many paths and that is not relevant here; i will answer about the path i follow. As i already told you many times that to realize the True Unchanging Self is fundamental and indispensable. But that is not final and the next step or along with it is to Live in that True Consciousness and from there and through that change and transform the whole nature down to the very physical cells. a total transformation or transfiguration as the Christ envisaged. This is Sri Aurobindo's teaching not a withdrawal from manifestation into formless inactive Static Brahman Consciousness but Dynamic Divine Life by Transformation Trough our True Nature.
But you and Kumiko as you are presenting your teachings there is no clear order, no Universal plan for the earth and creation, one is simply tossed about or around by action and reaction by the mechanical law of Karma sometimes here and sometimes there,sometimes animal, sometimes plant, other time human being that is what you both have said. There is no direction that it is going somewhere there is no general direction and fulfillment for the earth and the creations and its beings. Even you went as far as to say ( especially Kumiko ) that even Buddhahood is not permanent and after full Enlightenment that Buddha too can fall and become again deluded. These are your words of both of you!
Also your statement that there are the same amount of individuals eternally , according to their karma they endlessly through different bodies and species the same amount of individuals going through these these different bodies eternally; and though one tries to improve ones life conditions you cannot be permanently free in permanent state of Buddhahood.
And since all the species exist simultaneously you can become again and be embodied in any species since the same amount only of entities exists without any new fresh involved beings entering the creation , since there is no individual beginning for any individuality, than naturally the lower species insects and the rest would have to be occupied by the same beings which pass through them before and evolve their consciousness and now again devolve to enter into those bodies one day to keep the continuation of those species. This is according to your understanding of the teaching of your Buddhism about the life of living beings in the Universe, Involution's and devolution's and revolutions sounds almost ridiculous to you but that is what you have said too only in a trapped universe way;
To summarize what you said from your understanding of your Buddhism there is no individual beginning and so there is no real new entry or involution in the created universe , but there is an eternal moving around and experiencing of the same eternal amount of individuals some evolving through life experience and some devolving without direction or higher plan of some culmination of permanent Buddhahood? But the question rises if there are not fresh souls or entities entering into the Universe than naturaly the lower forms of life would extinct or they would keep existing with the entites that do not evolve to higher forms and bodies of consciousness or these lower forms of life would be filled with an already existing same amount of entities who have devolved again in never ending cycles or there comes ( which you dont seem to accept that proposition as true ) an involution of the brand new completely "individuals" to occupy and ensoul the lower forms of life. Sx
Most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand Stavros
At that time the Buddha spoke once more to the bodhisattva mahasattva Medicine King, saying: “The sutras I have preached number immeasurable thousands, ten thousands, millions.
Among the sutras I have preached, now preach, and will preach, this Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.
Medicine King, this sutra is the storehouse of the secret crux of the buddhas. It must not be distributed or recklessly transmitted to others. It has been guarded by the buddhas, the world-honored ones, and from times past until now has never been openly expounded.
And since hatred and jealousy toward this sutra abound even when the thus come one is in the world, how much more will this be so after his passing? - The teacher of the Law chapter 10 Lotus Sutra
QUESTION: The “Teacher of the Law” chapter in the fourth volume of the Lotus Sutra reads, “[This Lotus Sutra is] the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.” What is the meaning of this passage?
Answer: More than two thousand years have passed since the Buddha expounded the Lotus Sutra in India. It took a little more than twelve hundred years before this sutra was introduced to China, and two hundred more years before it was brought from China to Japan. Since then, more than seven hundred years have already passed.
After the demise of the Buddha, there were only three persons who realized the true meaning of this passage of the Lotus Sutra. In India, Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna said in his Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom: “[The Lotus Sutra is] like a great physician who can change poison into medicine.”
This is the way he explained the meaning of the passage, “the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.” In China, the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai Chih-che interpreted it in the light of its context: “Among all those I [Shakyamuni Buddha] have preached, now preach, and will preach, this Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.”
And in Japan, the Great Teacher Dengyō elaborated on it as follows: “All the sutras of the first four periods preached in the past, the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra now being preached, and the Nirvana Sutra to be preached in the future are easy to believe and easy to understand.
This is because the Buddha taught these sutras in accordance with the capacity of his listeners. The Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and to understand because in it the Buddha directly revealed what he had attained.” - A Comparison of the Lotus and Other Sutras
Consciousness has no need of a clear individual “I” to dispose variously the centralising stress, - wherever the stress is put the “I” attaches itself to that, so that one thinks of oneself as a mental being or physical being or whatever it may be.
The consciousness in me can dispose its stress in this way or the other way - it may go down into the physical and work there in the physical nature keeping all the rest behind or above for the time or it may go up into the overhead level and stand above mind, life and body seeing them as instrumental lower forms of itself or not seeing them at all and merged in the free undifferentiated Self or it may throw itself into an active dynamic cosmic consciousness and identify with that or do any number of other things without resorting to the help of this much overrated and meddlesome fly on the wheel which you call the clear individual “I”.
The real “I” - if you want to use that word - is not “clear individual,” that is, a clear-cut limited separative ego, it is as wide as the universe and wider and can contain the universe in itself, but that is not the Ahankar, it is the Atman.
Consciousness is a fundamental thing, the fundamental thing in existence - it is the energy, the motion, the movement of consciousness that creates the universe and all that is in it - not only the macrocosm but the microcosm is nothing but consciousness arranging itself. For instance, when consciousness in its movement or rather a certain stress of movement forgets itself in the action it becomes an apparently “unconscious” energy; when it forgets itself in the form it becomes the electron, the atom, the material object. In reality it is still consciousness that works in the energy and determines the form and the evolution of form.
When it wants to liberate itself, slowly, evolutionarily, out of Matter, but still in the form, it emerges as life, as animal, as man and it can go on evolving itself still farther out of its involution and become something more than mere man. If you can grasp that, then it ought not to be difficult to see further that it can subjectively formulate itself as a physical, a vital, a mental, a psychic consciousness - all these are present in man, but as they are all mixed up together in the external consciousness with their real status behind in the inner being, one can only become fully aware of them by releasing the original limiting stress of the consciousness which makes us live in our external being and become awake and centred within in the inner being.
As the consciousness in us, by its external concentration or stress, has to put all these things behind - behind a wall or veil, it has to break down the wall or veil and get back in its stress into these inner parts of existence - that is what we call living within; then our external being seems to us something small and superficial, we are or can become aware of the large and rich and inexhaustible kingdom within.
So also consciousness in us has drawn a lid or covering or whatever one likes to call it between the lower planes of mind, life, body supported by the psychic and the higher planes which contain the spiritual kingdoms where the self is always free and limitless, and it can break or open the lid or covering and ascend there and become the Self free and wide and luminous or else bring down the influence, reflection, finally even the presence and power of the higher consciousness into the lower nature.
Now that is what consciousness is - it is not composed of parts, it is fundamental to being and itself formulates any parts it chooses to manifest - developing them from above downward by a progressive coming down from spiritual levels towards involution in Matter or formulating them in an upward working in the front by what we call evolution. If it chooses to work in you through the sense of ego, you think that it is the clear-cut individual “I” that does everything - if it begins to release itself from that limited working, you begin to expand your sense of “I” till it bursts into infinity and no longer exists or you shed it and flower into spiritual wideness.
Of course, this is not what is spoken of in modern materialistic thought as consciousness, because that thought is governed by science and sees consciousness only as a phenomenon that emerges out of inconscient Matter and consists of certain reactions of the system to outward things. But that is a phenomenon of consciousness, it is not consciousness itself, it is even only a very small part of the possible phenomenon of consciousness and can give no clue to Consciousness the Reality which is of the very essence of existence.
That is all at present. You will have to fix yourself in that - for it is fundamental - before it can be useful to go any further.
N. R. Malkani finds Aurobindo's theory of creation to be false, as the theory talks about experiences and visions which are beyond normal human experiences. He says the theory is an intellectual response to a difficult problem and that Aurobindo uses the trait of unpredictability in theorising and discussing things not based upon truth of existence.
Malkani says that awareness is already a reality and suggests there would be no need to examine the creative activity subjected to awareness.[72]
Wilber's interpretation of Aurobindo's philosophy rejects the notion of dividing reality as a different level of matter, life, mind, overmind, supermind proposed by Aurobindo in The Life Divine, and terms them as higher- or lower-nested holons and states that there is only a fourfold reality (a system of reality created by himself).[73]
Adi Da finds that Aurobindo's contributions were merely literary and cultural and had extended his political motivation into spirituality and human evolution [74]
Rajneesh (Osho) says that Aurobindo was a great scholar but was never realised; that his personal ego had made him indirectly claim that he went beyond Buddha; and that he is said to have believed himself to be enlightened due to increasing number of followers.
Mark Rogow says that "Nothing is "projected". We are the earth, moon and plants."
Nichiren says that "The Lotus Sutra explains that in the end secular matters are the entirety of Buddhism.
The sutras which came before the Lotus Sutra taught that all phenomena derive from one's mind.
The mind is like the earth, and phenomena are like the plants growing in the earth. But the Lotus Sutra teaches that the mind is one with the earth and the earth is one with its plants.
The provisional sutras say that a tranquil mind is like the moon and a pure heart is like a flower, but the Lotus Sutra states that the flower and moon are themselves heart and mind." (A Gift of Rice)
Before trying to defame Sri Aurobindo, at least the most logical and scientific way to do that would be by evidence from his direct writings; bringing his writings and teachings on the table so to speak for everyone to see exactly what they are and than thoroughly going through them so one can discern for ones self about them. Instead you quote some critics taking their opinion without publishing instead directly those teachings!
I have seen these comments by these critics long time ago I know about them; we have to look at life and how these teachings apply to life; he wasn't some theoretician or scholar that through reading and study he make some synthetic theory all what he said is from his direct experiences of the Truth; he experienced the Nirvanic state of the Unchanging Reality and also all the levels and grades of consciousness but one have to go through his writings and teachings of his personal testimony. He never said things like this he was greater then Buddha or he had great followers actually he didn't had great following Sai baba or many others may have more which that doesn't mean anything. ( by the way Osho Rajneesh life of corruption mind control end up him being deported from the States , and his talking about ego! )
Aurobindo's theory of creation to be false, as the theory talks about experiences and visions which are beyond normal human experiences..? What that suppose to mean is then every master and messengers false because they speak of realities beyond our limited senses?
The Different levels or layers or dimensions of realities of manifestations is not Sri Aurobindo's inventions these are realities which all Spiritual beings have experienced, Christ , Buddha, the Yogis and many others. ( the only if you like invention is the way he gives the name Overmind and Supermind to these highest manifestations which were realized and spoken by others as well using different terminology ).
Sri Aurobindo was in his early life involved in a political movement to free India from the British occupation and then he quit the politics when he had the experiences and Divine guidance in jail and moved to Pondichery south India where that area was under the French; he underwent many spiritual experiences ( which these people who are critics seem to have left out this important part of Sri Aurobino's life; he went though experience after experience which he speaks about his experiences in his writings and realizations which transformed him; it is not a philosophy or theory created by his mind some kind of a system-synthesis but a direct experience of an integral vision. But one have to study these things to know the truth then one can see if these critics hold true.
"Mystery can mean profoundness, but it also can mean darkness. In explaining the meaning of life: positions in society, happiness and sorrow, right and wrong, or gains and loses, some of these sages (like Confucious) state that these all arise from tai-chi, while other sages (like Lao-tzu) maintain that they are merely spontaneous. Though exquisite their philosophies may appear, they actually know nothing of life in the past or in the future. As they are in darkness their philosphies are mysterious. Knowing only the present, they insist that in this present world we have to protect ourselves and maintain peace in our country by establishing benevolence and righteousness to avoid bringing ruin upon our families and our country.
These wise and holy men are sages, but they are as ignorant of the past just as men can not see their backs, and they can not see into the future just as blind men dcan not see in the front. They merely maintain that if one manges his house well, performs filial devotion, and practices the Five Virtues (benevolence, righteousness, politeness, wisdom and fidelity) in this world, people will revere him, and his fame will spread so widely in the land that a wise king will invite him to be his minister or teacher, or even put him on the throne. Even heaven will come to defend and serve him! For instance, they say, King Wu of Chou had five elders who served him, and twenty eight constellations came to assist Emperor Kuang-wu of the later hanas his twenty eight generals.
Ignorant of the past and future, however, these sages can not help in the future lives of their parents, rulers, and teachers. Not knowing what they owe to them in the past, they can not be considered to be truly holy and wise. This is why Confucious said, "Truly wise and holy men do not exist in China, but in the land to the west, there is a man called Buddha. He is a true sage."
he also teaches about Brahmanism...
"Next, in Brahmanism of India, the three-eyed and eight armed god and goddess, Siva and Vishnu, are considered to be the compassionate parents and supreme lords of all the people. The Masters named Kapila, Uluka, and Usabha, who lived about 800 years before the time of Sakyamuni Buddha, are called the Three Hermits. The teachings of these Three Hermits, 60,000 in number, are entitled the Four Vedas. Thus at the ttime of Sakyamuni's birth, six powerful Brahmiin masters who had studied these Brahmin scriptures had become teachers of kings all over India. Their branch schools numbered in the 90's, each of which was dividedinto many sub branches. They all took pride in themselves, each claiming to be higher than the top of heaven(Hisoten), and sticking to their own rock-like contentions. Their teachings are incomparable more profound and exquisite than those of the Confucian masters. They see through not only two, three, or seven lives in the past and future but also 80,000 kalpa past and future.
Their teachings may be summed up in three categories: (1) Some maintain that all phenomena arise from causes, (2) while others claim that all phenomena are spontaneous without any relationship between cause and effect. (3) Still others insist that such relationship may or may not exist between cause and effect.
Among these Brahmin schools, better ones observe the Five Commandments or Ten Commandments, practice preliminary meditation, and work their way up inch by inch like a measuring worm to the summit of heaven (Hisoten). They take it for the world of Nirvana but as soon as they reach their heaven, they all plunge into the Three Evil Realms (hell, realm of hungry souls, and that of beasts) at the bottom. none remain in their heaven although they believe that those who reach Hisoten remain there forever enjoying complete freedom from the cycle of life and death.
Still they are less objectionable compared to other Brahmin schools, which stubbornly insist on following what they had inherited from their masters. Some of them bathe in the Ganges River three times a day in the midst of winter, while others pull out hairs, throw themselves against rocks, roast themselves in fire, burn their limbs and heads, or stay naked. They sacrifice a number of horses, burn grass and trees, or worship every tree, hoping to gain happpiness.
These evil teachings are numerous in number, and their teachers are revered as highly as Indra is by the gods and an emperor by his subjects. Nevertheless, followers of the 95 brahmin schools, whether they are beeter or worse, are unable to leave the cycle of birth and death. Those who follow better masters will fall into evil realms in two or three lives, while those who follow worse masters are bound to plunge there in the next life.
After all, the most important thing for Brahmanism is, like Confucianism, to prepare the way to Buddhism. This is why some Brahmans maintain that the Buddha will be born 1,000 years later, while others insist on 100 years later. It is said, therefore, in the Nirvana Sutra that what is written in all the Brahman scriptures is nothing but the teaching of the Buddha. Again, it is said in the Lotus Sutra that disciples of the Buddha sometimes pretend to be contaminated with the Three Poisons of greed, anger, and ignoranceor show the heretic viewdenying the law of cause and effectas an expedient means to save the people.
In the third place, Sakyamuni Buddha is the supreme leader and excellent eyes for all the people. He is the bridge that enables them to cross the river of evil passions; He is the skipper who guides them over the sea of live and death; and He is the fertile field in which they plant the seed of merits. The so-called Four Sages of Confucianism and Three hermits of Brahmanism, despite their worthy names, are actually unenlightened men unable to rid themselves of the Three Delusions (all delusions and evil passions). Although their names suggest they are wise men, in reality they are as ignorant as infants, who know nothing of the principle of cause and effect. How can we cross the sea of life and death aboard a ship steered by such men? How can we pass through the winding streets of the Six Realms of delusions and evil passions over to the world of Nirvana by means of a bridge constructed by such men? Our Sakyamuni has already crossed the sea of life and death for Arhats, not to speak of that for the unenlightened. He has already extinguished fundamental ignorance, not to speak of delusions and evil passions deriving from it.
Throughout his life ---- fifty years since attaining enlightenment at the age of thirty to His death at the age of eighty ---- Sakyamuni Buddha preached His holy teaching. Each of His writings and words represent the truth. Not a sentence or line does not ring true. Even sages and wise men of Confucianism and Brahmanism never spoke falsely in presenting their thoughts. They spoke the truth. How much more so with Sakyamuni Buddha, who was a man of truth since uncountable kalpa in the past? Therefore, what He preached during His life of fifty years is greater as a teaching of salvation when compared to Confucianism and Brahmanism. Ever since his attainment of Buddhahood till the eve of His death, He preached only the truth.
Considering the 80,000 teachings preached by the Buddha in various sutras for fifty years, however, we see differences among them, such as those between Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism, provisional and ultimate sutras, exoteric and esoteric teachings, general and rough expressions, genuine and expedient words, or true and false opinions.
The Lotus Sutra alone among them represents the true words of our Lord Sakyamuni Buddha and various Buddhas residing in the worlds throughout the universe in the past, present, and future. Sakyamuni Buddha declared that, although the scriptures preached during the first some forty years are as numerous as sands of the Ganges River, they did not reveal the truth, which would be explained in the Lotus Sutra during the following eight years. At the moment Taho Buddha emerged from the earth and attested it all to the truth. Then various Buddhas in manifestation (funjin) came crowding together from various worlds in the universe attesting it to be true and rejoicing by touching the Brahma with their long tongues. The meaning of these words in the Lotus Sutra is shiningly clear --- brighter than the sun in the blue sky, and the full moon at midnight. Look up and put your faith in it. Prostrate yourself before it and think hard about it."
Commentary:
In this section of the Opening of the Eyes, we first hear that the Eternal Buddha Sakyamuni has been preaching the truth since the infinite past.
Here, I only wish to discuss the last paragraph:
"The Lotus Sutra alone among them represents the true words of our Lord Sakyamuni Buddha and various Buddhas residing in the worlds throughout the universe in the past, present, and future. Sakyamuni Buddha declared that, although the scriptures preached during the first some forty years are as numerous as sands of the Ganges River, they did not reveal the truth, which would be explained in the Lotus Sutra during the following eight years. At the moment Taho Buddha emerged from the earth and attested it all to the truth. Then various Buddhas in manifestation (funjin) came crowding together from various worlds in the universe attesting it to be true and rejoicing by touching the Brahma with their long tongues. The meaning of these words in the Lotus Sutra is shiningly clear --- brighter than the sun in the blue sky, and the full moon at midnight. Look up and put your faith in it. Prostrate yourself before it and think hard about it."
How inconceivable is it that Taho Buddha and the Buddhas from thoughout the universe came from all over to testify to the validity of the Lotus Sutra! In the True Object of Worship St. Nichiren states:
"People can attain enlightenment in two ways: by meeting the Buddha and hearing the Lotus Sutra, or by believing in the sutra even though they do not meet the Buddha. Even before the advent of the Buddha, some Brahmans in India realized the correct view of life through the four Vedas. In China before the arrival of Buddhism, some realized the correct view through Taoism and Confucianism. Many bodhisattvas and ordinary people, endowed with keen faculties, perceived [even before they heard the Lotus Sutra] that Shakyamuni had planted the seeds of Buddhahood within them in the days of the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence or in the far more distant past [when he attained his original enlightenment]."
Coming from throughout the universe means that these men, animals and other beings (Arhats, Pratyekabuddha's and those in the other various realms of existence) had been reborn in India and obtained the Supreme Jewel [Enlightenment] by listening to Sakyamuni Buddha preach the Lotus Sutra. Believing in Myoho renge kyo (Lotus Sutra), we receive the exact same benefit as those disciples who heard the Lotus Sutra from the Buddha. It is not enough for the men and women in the latter age to hear the Lotus Sutra, they must be led to believe in the Lotus Sutra.
Interesting dogma the statements about the Lotus Sutra, but the Truth of Reality with its manifestations is and can be presented in different ways through different descriptions and the approach too to Truth in different ways through different means and methods; the way to Truth and the Truth itself is more plastic and fluid and not as rigid in its approach through one exclusive practice or one formulated structure like that of 14 worlds , or 7 worlds or 10 worlds and Three thousand realms. Although these are very helpful ( though they may be direct perceived truth ) they are mental formulated structures to help the mind to have an object of focus and some order of the Universe to contemplate on but it is not indispensable and not the only way of teaching and approach to the Reality. Sx
Yes Mark that is what other religious lines say as well that they possess the highest truth and the truest means to attain it and that apart from that there is no other way attaining that. And I don't need to mention which they are they are well known; but there are other religions who are more broad and don't claim exclusiveness that they only and no one else is possessing the Truest and Highest truth neither that there is one and only absolute exclusive practice and technique; There is only One way and that is getting rid of the ignorance which covers our true being and manifesting that truth in life. but there are many means and devices and techniques to do that; and the essential thing is aspiration for the Truth and that aspiration can awaken and grow through many different ways and means. The Truth is not narrow with one only way of approach and mental plan layout no matter how great ( they are always other ways of description ) it is not a rigid Communist Party but it is a Living Reality which everyone according to ones nature and tendencies approaches and establishes a living relation by following certain path and practice towards it which feels true and appealing to ones heart and mind; and that is why everyone is where one is ( and feels or believes that what one follows is the best ) and if one don't feel fully satisfied in ones mind and heart then one seeks something more agreeable. We are all on it on the journey of Self-finding and Enlightenment , no one and no group is an island in itself we all grow together some more faster than others; we have to see Globally the Muslims will not disappear , neither the Christians, neither the Hindus, nor everyone will become a Buddhist nor every Buddhist a Nichiren practitioner, Everyone through sincere practice will deepen, heighten and broaden ones consciousness and then integrate the universal teachings from all the major religions or in fact recognize and see the truth from wherever that comes and grow in Realization or in Buddhahood. Sx
The way to evaluate any phenomena, philosophy or religion is through the Three Proofs.
The first proof is documentary proof. The phenomena, philosophy or religion must exist through matter, energy and/or ideas. An example of a phenomena is a rock, an example of a philosophy is the Critique of Pure Reason by Emmanuel Kant, an example of a religion is the religion based on the Lotus Sutra. We know that these phenomena, philosophies and religions exists. It has been documentated that they exist.
Theoretical proof means that the phenomena, philosophy or religion can be evaluated by reasoning or scientific evidence. A rock has a certain weight, composition, structure etc. that can be measured. The Critique of Pure Reason can be evaluated through science and other philosophical works as to its classification(idealism), its structure(epistomology), its development etc.
Actual proof is the function of the rock, that it can be used in weights and measures, used to knock down an attacker, or ground up to become an abrasive. Reguarding religion and philosophy, actual proof is the measure that a philosophy or religion can change the individual or society.
The Chinese Gooseberry is a delectable fruit. It exists in the mid to southern latitudes. Its color varies from lime green to orange-yellow. It has a unique taste with hints of honey, ginger, cinnamon and coriander, strawberry and banana.
Can you imagine how it tastes? Let me give you some more information about this sublime fruit. It has 400 specialized enzymes that convert the nitrates, proteins and fats in the soil into various types of carbohydrates. The Chinese Goosebberry plant also uses photosynthesis to convert water and carbon dioxide into other sugars and carbohydrates that, thanks to this multitude of enzymes, are more varied and complex than in any other plant. The sugars and carbohdrates travel up and down the plants vascular system called the phloem and are concentrated in the fruit. The concentration of the various carbohydrates are 10.000% this and 12.567% that, 9.641% this and 49.210% that, and 1.879 % this… The Chinese Gooseberry is also chock full of phytonutrients and antioxidants like, flavins, tannins, lycopenes, Vit. A, C, and E. The Chinese Gooseberry tastes nothing like, rasberry, strawberry, blueberry, melon, apple, grapefruit, avocado, or the angostora bitter. These fruits too are composed principally of carbohydrates and are full of phytonutrients and vitamins but composed of vastly different types and in vastly different proportions. Can you now tell me how the Chinese Gooseberry tastes?
The Chinese Gooseberry is like the Lotus Sutra (Myoho renge kyo). It exists, this we know. We have abundant documentary proof of this. They both can be analyzed (see above for the Chinese Gooseberry). The Lotus Sutra contains the teachings of the Ten Worlds, Ten Factors, Three Realms, and 3000 Worlds in a Momentary Existence of Life. These teachings can be evaluated through science and through reason just as the gooseberry. Science and reason gives us a great deal of information as to the nature of the Chinese Gooseberry. Its form, it’s composition, its structure. However, as far as its taste, despite knowing all these things, our brains are too small to analyze all the data and experience the taste. Likewise, our brains are too small to analyze the data of 3000 Worlds in a Momentary Existence of Life to know exactly its ability to change the individual (become Buddha) and/or society (Buddha’s Land).
We must taste the Chinese Gooseberry, to know its taste (BTW, the Chinese Gooseberry is the Kiwi fruit). We can only taste the Lotus Sutra by chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo with one’s whole heart. We can only understand Nichiren Lotus Sutra Buddhism by practicing as the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren teach.
Definitely religion and spiritual life is not mere theory but practical experience and application; every major religion every path which uses a method or technique has to have faith and dedicate ones life and time sincerely to gain the direct experience; this is not unique to Nichiren's practice every practice IS like that but as i mention before because of our inclinations and tendencies some teachings and methods appeal to one more than others; i dont have objection about the Chanting of the Lotus Sutra rather my objection is to the extremity of its claim; any extreme claim any exclusive statement is obviously not true; ( like the one you mention that only through the lotus sutra and no other way one can attain Buddhahood ) if you look at the lives of deep practitioners and those who have great Realizations they are very broad and universal and can harmonize different teachings and see their value and place in the whole scheme of Reality. The Christians claim only through Jesus Christ is the Only Way; this is also what you claim and thats not right. We have to see the heart of the teachings, and the essential teachings are very same and on this sameness we will be built the universal religion of the future and through sincere practice purity and openness we will take on board all the teachings which hold true and integrate them into our realization making it truly vast and truly universal. Sx
THE RELIGION WHICH EMBRACES SCIENCE AND FAITH, THEISM, CHRISTIANITY, MOHAMMEDANISM AND BUDDHISM AND YET IS NON OF THESE, IS THAT TO WHICH THE WORLD-SPIRIT MOVES. SA.
"We have to see the heart of the teachings, and the essential teachings are very same and on this sameness we will be built the universal religion of the future and through sincere practice purity and openness we will take on board all the teachings which hold true and integrate them into our realization making it truly vast and truly universal."
The non dual aspect of all religions is what they all have in common
The dual aspect of all religions have similarities and differences
When we integrate them with something different it looses its original identity and potency
It is the differences that make the difference otherwise we would all be the same but that's just not how it is so we really have to understand the difference's and the similarities
If Sri Aurobindo's teachings is an unfinished work of creativity and is in the making, then incorporating some Nichiren's teachings into them will make it more universal is this what's being said here ?
You would have to dissect the teachings to make them harmonious with the other similar teachings. Otherwise It would be like using body parts for transplants which can be often rejected by the hosts body making them sick and die
Could we unknowingly be creating a Frankenstein religion or a universal religion that is truly vast and truly universal."
We would create oneness in harmonious variety, Harmonious oneness with varieties in Truth Consciousness and not varieties of conflict in dividing and ignorant consciousness. Sri Aurobindo's teachings are not an unfinished work of creativity but the actuality of this kind of universal religion and Integral Realization is gradually in its making and manifestation. When we talk of transformation it means in the Light of the Enlighten Consciousness so things which oppose, deform and obstruct that Divine Harmony would be rejected and changed; the differences will remain but only those that are harmonious and contribute to the well being and progress of all. All teachings will be brought to the highest light of our being and so the differences would not be conflicting but different aspects of true beauty, of true wisdom, of true love , of true right and true well being. These are all the qualities of out True nature and how they exactly will manifest that we will see. Sx
The opposite of good we call bad, the opposite of bad we call good. Hence we know that outside of the mind there is no good and there is no bad. What is apart from this good and this bad is called the unlabeled. The good, the bad, and the unlabelled—outside of these there is no mind, and outside of the mind there are no concepts.
Beyond all such distinctions expressed in words, beyond good and bad, pure and defiled, ordinary mortal and sage, heaven and earth, big and small, east and west, north and south, the four other directions between each of these and the directions of up and down, is that which transcends the reach of words, the place where the workings of the mind come to an end.
Words are what give expression to the distinctions that are thought of in the mind. Therefore, outside of the mind there are neither distinctions nor the absence of distinctions. Words echo the thoughts of the mind and find expression through the voice.
The ordinary mortal is confused about the nature of his own mind, and remains unenlightened. The Buddha is enlightened to that nature, and manifests it as what are called transcendental powers. Transcendental power means the power of the spirit to penetrate all phenomena without hindrance.
Such freely exercised transcendental powers are present in the minds of all sentient beings. Hence even foxes and raccoon dogs can exercise the respective transcendental powers that they possess, because their respective shares of awakening arise from the spirit of the mind.
From this single element of mind spring all the various lands and environmental conditions. The sacred teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime are devoted to explaining this principle. These are what is known as the storehouse of the eighty-four thousand teachings. All these are teachings encompassed within the single entity of an individual.
Hence the storehouse of the eighty-four thousand teachings represents a day-to-day record of one’s own existence. This storehouse of the eighty thousand teachings is embodied in and contained within one’s own mind. To use the mind to suppose that the Buddha or the Law or the pure land exist somewhere other than in one’s own self and to seek them elsewhere is a delusion.
Noel Panton has left a new comment on the post "Chanting as a Meditative Practice by Dharmajim":
Hi Stavros, glad to hear from you at Eagle Peak sharing your views with Mark and others
How do you then explain the individual existence as in the Alaya consciousness throughout the 3 existences (the eternal past, present and future) because what I and Kumiko have so far been able to ascertain from Sri Aurobindo's teachings which is another form of interesting dogma, is that you want to totally identify with the eternal unchanging absolute by shedding the individual aspects of your present nature.
Once your have reached this goal of Brahman you will come back into manifestation as an inanimate object again until you evolve into an animate being with a higher consciousness and on you will go till you become Brahman again and eternally repeat this cycle over again endlessly
Hi Noel, you seem to dont like my phrase 'dogma ' but what else can that be than a dogmatic dogma; how many times we spoke how narrow these religions are like Islam and Christianity or even Hare Krishna movement. And now same statements about the Lotus Sutra; well they are all dogmatic. Something you of which you never liked and even now you somehow doubt this statement about the Lotus Sutra, that is why you mentioned your doubt about Lotus Sutra as being a later invention by the followers ( monks). But since Nichiren and Ziyi of Tian Tai accepted it you appear apparently happy with that answer. But as you know Tian tai was not that dogmatic and used other techniques of meditation of the Chan tradition.
You say that you and Kumiko what you get from Sri Aurobindo's writings is that the individual has to become Brahman again and do it all over again. Although i have send to you many times different teachings and writings you have not really paid attention to them and you got things bit wrong. It is True that the individual has to recover his True Being or Self but not to disappear into or withdraw from manifestation and merge into Brahman or some Absolute Nirvana without a dynamic manifested expression. In all true paths this is the essential requirement to find ones Soul ones True Spirit , True Self or Eternal Unchanging Nature. And on that different paths differs as to when you find it where will it take you. But i will not get into it , there are many paths and that is not relevant here; i will answer about the path i follow. As i already told you many times that to realize the True Unchanging Self is fundamental and indispensable. But that is not final and the next step or along with it is to Live in that True Consciousness and from there and through that change and transform the whole nature down to the very physical cells. a total transformation or transfiguration as the Christ envisaged. This is Sri Aurobindo's teaching not a withdrawal from manifestation into formless inactive Static Brahman Consciousness but Dynamic Divine Life by Transformation Trough our True Nature.
But you and Kumiko as you are presenting your teachings there is no clear order, no Universal plan for the earth and creation, one is simply tossed about or around by action and reaction by the mechanical law of Karma sometimes here and sometimes there,sometimes animal, sometimes plant, other time human being that is what you both have said. There is no direction that it is going somewhere there is no general direction and fulfillment for the earth and the creations and its beings. Even you went as far as to say ( especially Kumiko ) that even Buddhahood is not permanent and after full Enlightenment that Buddha too can fall and become again deluded. These are your words of both of you!
Also your statement that there are the same amount of individuals eternally , according to their karma they endlessly through different bodies and species the same amount of individuals going through these these different bodies eternally; and though one tries to improve ones life conditions you cannot be permanently free in permanent state of Buddhahood.
And since all the species exist simultaneously you can become again and be embodied in any species since the same amount only of entities exists without any new fresh involved beings entering the creation , since there is no individual beginning for any individuality, than naturally the lower species insects and the rest would have to be occupied by the same beings which pass through them before and evolve their consciousness and now again devolve to enter into those bodies one day to keep the continuation of those species. This is according to your understanding of the teaching of your Buddhism about the life of living beings in the Universe, Involution's and devolution's and revolutions sounds almost ridiculous to you but that is what you have said too only in a trapped universe way;
To summarize what you said from your understanding of your Buddhism there is no individual beginning and so there is no real new entry or involution in the created universe , but there is an eternal moving around and experiencing of the same eternal amount of individuals some evolving through life experience and some devolving without direction or higher plan of some culmination of permanent Buddhahood? But the question rises if there are not fresh souls or entities entering into the Universe than naturaly the lower forms of life would extinct or they would keep existing with the entites that do not evolve to higher forms and bodies of consciousness or these lower forms of life would be filled with an already existing same amount of entities who have devolved again in never ending cycles or there comes ( which you dont seem to accept that proposition as true ) an involution of the brand new completely "individuals" to occupy and ensoul the lower forms of life. Sx
"Even you went as far as to say ( especially Kumiko ) that even Buddhahood is not permanent and after full Enlightenment that Buddha too can fall and become again deluded. These are your words of both of you!"
This recent link from eagle peak is relative to the meaning of Buddha which is not an easy one. There are plenty more references to this topic on this blog which is unique from other forms of Buddhism
Hi Noel, so you praising the Lotus Sutra as the Highest teachings alright then show some proof from references of those teachings and speak from your realization and understanding of them since you and Kumiko are more then 30yrs involved with them and should know them by heart; explain and show reference about the Buddha becoming deluded again and also about the subject which i have written to you ,you have disagreement on the subjects of involution and evolution that mean you have teachings and explanations more accurate and true so present them on what is stated on this subject below:
" To summarize what you said from your understanding of your Buddhism there is no individual beginning and so there is no real new entry or involution in the created universe , but there is an eternal moving around and experiencing of the same eternal amount of individuals some evolving through life experience and some devolving without direction or higher plan of some culmination of permanent Buddhahood? But the question rises if there are not fresh souls or entities entering into the Universe than naturally the lower forms of life would extinct or they would keep existing with the entities that do not evolve to higher forms and bodies of consciousness or these lower forms of life would be filled with an already existing same amount of entities who have devolved again in never ending cycles or there comes ( which you dont seem to accept that proposition as true ) an involution of the fresh new "individuals" to occupy and ensoul the lower forms of life. Sx
" To summarize what you said from your understanding of your Buddhism there is no individual beginning and so there is no real new entry or involution in the created universe , but there is an eternal moving around and experiencing of the same eternal amount of individuals some evolving through life experience and some devolving without direction or higher plan of some culmination of permanent Buddhahood?
But the question rises if there are not fresh souls or entities entering into the Universe than naturally the lower forms of life would extinct or they would keep existing with the entities that do not evolve to higher forms and bodies of consciousness or these lower forms of life would be filled with an already existing same amount of entities who have devolved again in never ending cycles or there comes ( which you dont seem to accept that proposition as true ) an involution of the fresh new "individuals" to occupy and ensoul the lower forms of life"
The function of life of the Buddha and the ordinary people are exactly the same. The 10 factors show that all life with no exception go through the 10 factors according to ones level of the 10 worlds WE ourselves are none other than Thus Come Ones of original enlightenment, who possess the three bodies within a single body. This is made clear in the passage in the Lotus Sutra that speaks of the ten factors of “appearance, nature, entity, power, influence, internal cause, relation, latent effect, manifest effect, and their consistency from beginning to end.”
First, with regard to appearance, this refers to the appearance manifested by the form and shape of our bodies. This corresponds to the manifested body of the Thus Come One. It also corresponds to emancipation and to the truth of temporary existence.
Next, with regard to nature, this refers to the nature of our minds. This corresponds to the reward body of the Thus Come One. It also corresponds to wisdom and to the truth of non-substantiality.
The third factor is entity, which is the entities of these lives of ours. It corresponds to the Dharma body of the Thus Come One. It also corresponds to the truth of the Middle Way, to the essential nature of phenomena, and to tranquil extinction.
These three factors constitute the Thus Come One of the three bodies. That these three factors represent the Thus Come One of the three bodies may seem to be an extraneous matter, but in fact it concerns these very lives of our own. One who understands this may be said to have grasped the meaning of the Lotus Sutra.
These three factors constitute the beginning, or basis, from which emerge the other seven factors, thus forming the ten factors. These ten factors are the basis of the hundred worlds, the thousand factors, and the three thousand realms. In this way a great number of doctrines are enunciated, which are known collectively as the eighty thousand teachings. But all of these come down to one single doctrine, that of the three truths. Outside of the doctrine of the three truths, there is no other doctrine.
The hundred worlds represent the truth of temporary existence, the thousand factors represent the truth of non-substantiality, and the three thousand realms represent the truth of the Middle Way. Non-substantiality, temporary existence, the Middle Way—these are the three truths. And although they are elaborated in numerous doctrines such as those pertaining to the hundred worlds, the thousand factors, or the three thousand realms, these are all simply the one doctrine of the three truths.
Thus the three truths expressed in the first three of the ten factors and the three truths expressed in the remaining seven factors are simply this one doctrine of the three truths. The first three factors and the remaining seven factors are the principle contained within our own lives and are simply one thing, wonderful beyond comprehension. Hence it is stated in the sutra that they are marked by complete consistency from beginning to end. This is what is meant by the words “consistency from beginning to end.”
The first three factors are the “beginning,” and the remaining seven factors are the “end.” These make up the ten factors, which constitute the three truths contained within our own lives.
These three truths may also be called the Thus Come One of the three bodies. Outside of our own minds and bodies, there does not exist the tiniest trace of anything pertaining either to good or evil. Therefore we know that we ourselves are in fact Thus Come Ones of original enlightenment, possessors of the three bodies within a single body.
To suppose that what has been described here is something quite removed from oneself is to be what is called an ordinary living being, to be in a state of delusion, to be an ordinary mortal. But to understand that this applies to oneself is to be what is called a Thus Come One, to be in a state of enlightenment, to be a sage, to be a person of wisdom.
Once one realizes this and can visualize it clearly, then one’s life, as it really is, manifests itself in one’s present existence as the Thus Come One of original enlightenment, and one achieves what is termed the attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form.
To offer an analogy, if in spring and summer one plows the field and plants it with seed, then in autumn and winter one may reap and store away the harvest, and all will proceed as one wishes it to. It may seem like a long wait from spring to autumn, and yet within the space of a single year one’s wishes will be fulfilled. And in like manner, it may seem a long time to wait in order to enter the state of enlightenment and manifest our Buddhahood. And yet such a manifestation may be accomplished within the space of a single lifetime, and we ourselves can become Buddhas who possess the three bodies within a single body.
Among those who follow the Buddha way, we may distinguish three degrees of capacity, namely, superior, middling, and inferior, though all alike succeed in manifesting the Buddha nature within a single lifetime.
Persons of superior capacity, as soon as they hear the teachings, become thoroughly enlightened and manifest the Buddha nature.
Persons of middling capacity may require perhaps a day, perhaps a month, or perhaps a year in order to manifest it.
Persons of inferior capacity seem to make little progress but to be stuck in one place. As they are certain, however, to reach enlightenment within a single lifetime, when they are on the point of death, just as all one’s dreams vanish when one returns to a waking state, so all the erroneous views and mistaken ideas they have up to now entertained with regard to the realm of birth and death and of delusion disappear without a trace, and they return to the waking state of original enlightenment and see the entire realm of phenomena as it really is. Then they realize that all this is the blissful land, the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light, and that they themselves, whom up to now they have looked on as mean and lowly, are in fact Thus Come Ones of original enlightenment, who possess the three bodies within a single body.
In the case of rice plants, there are three types, those that ripen early in autumn, those that ripen in a middling time, and those that ripen late, and yet all are ready to be harvested within a single year. In the same way, although persons fall into three different categories of superior, middling, and inferior, all alike, within the space of a single lifetime, can come to the realization that they themselves are identical and in no way at variance with all the Buddhas, the Thus Come Ones.
The entity of Myoho-renge-kyo in all its splendour—just what is this entity? If we hope to answer this, we must say that it is the eight-petaled white lotus that is the true nature of our own lives. Since this is so, then the essential nature of our lives is Myoho-renge-kyo. And once we have come to understand that Myoho-renge-kyo is not the name of a sutra but is the entity of our own lives, then we will see that our own lives are in fact the Lotus Sutra, and the Lotus Sutra is none other than the sacred word preached by the Buddha in order to make manifest the entities that are our lives. And seeing that, we will know that we ourselves are Thus Come Ones of original enlightenment, who possess the three bodies within a single body.
Once we have become enlightened to this, then all the delusions and mistaken habits of thought that we have entertained from the beginningless past until the present will be swept away like yesterday’s dreams and will vanish without a trace.
When we have faith such as this, then it is taught that one chanting of Namu-myoho-renge-kyo is equivalent to one recitation of the entire Lotus Sutra carried out just as the sutra prescribes and with the correct understanding of its meaning, that ten chantings are equivalent to ten recitations of the sutra, a hundred chantings are equivalent to a hundred recitations, a thousand chantings are equivalent to a thousand recitations, all carried out just as the sutra prescribes. And one who has such faith may be said to be a person who carries out religious practice just as the sutra prescribes. Namu-myoho-renge-kyo. - On the Ten Factors
The opposite of good we call bad, the opposite of bad we call good. Hence we know that outside of the mind there is no good and there is no bad.
What is apart from this good and this bad is called the unlabeled. The good, the bad, and the unlabelled—outside of these there is no mind, and outside of the mind there are no concepts.
Beyond all such distinctions expressed in words, beyond good and bad, pure and defiled, ordinary mortal and sage, heaven and earth, big and small, east and west, north and south, the four other directions between each of these and the directions of up and down, is that which transcends the reach of words, the place where the workings of the mind come to an end.
Words are what give expression to the distinctions that are thought of in the mind. Therefore, outside of the mind there are neither distinctions nor the absence of distinctions.
Words echo the thoughts of the mind and find expression through the voice.
The ordinary mortal is confused about the nature of his own mind, and remains unenlightened.
The Buddha is enlightened to that nature, and manifests it as what are called transcendental powers. Transcendental power means the power of the spirit to penetrate all phenomena without hindrance.
Such freely exercised transcendental powers are present in the minds of all sentient beings.
Hence even foxes and raccoon dogs can exercise the respective transcendental powers that they possess, because their respective shares of awakening arise from the spirit of the mind.
From this single element of mind spring all the various lands and environmental conditions. The sacred teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime are devoted to explaining this principle.
These are what is known as the storehouse of the eighty-four thousand teachings. All these are teachings encompassed within the single entity of an individual.
Hence the storehouse of the eighty-four thousand teachings represents a day-to-day record of one’s own existence. This storehouse of the eighty thousand teachings is embodied in and contained within one’s own mind.
To use the mind to suppose that the Buddha or the Law or the pure land exist somewhere other than in one’s own self and to seek them elsewhere is a delusion
When the mind encounters good or bad causes, it creates and puts forth the aspects of good and bad. As the Flower Garland Sutra says: “The mind is like a skilled painter, who creates various forms made up of the five components.
Thus of all the phenomena throughout the entire world, there is not a single one that is not created by the mind.
The Buddha is the same in nature as the mind, and living beings are the same in nature as the Buddha.
In the threefold world there is only this single mind. Outside of this mind there is no other phenomenon that exists.
The mind, the Buddha, and all living beings—these three are without distinction.” And the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra says: “From the single Law that is without marks, that is devoid of marks, are born immeasurable meanings.”
This single Law that is without marks, that is devoid of marks, is the mind that is present in each instant of thought in all living beings.
The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra comments on this: “It does not have the marks of impermanence characterized by birth and extinction and hence it is said to be ‘without marks.’ It is removed from the marks of the nirvana of remainder and the nirvana of no remainder expounded in the two vehicle teaching, and hence it is said to be ‘devoid of marks.’”
This mind that is beyond comprehension constitutes the core teaching of the sutras and treatises. And one who is awake to and understands this mind is called a Thus Come One.
Once one has waked to and understood this mind, then the Ten Worlds become one’s own self, one’s own mind, one’s own form, for the Thus Come One of original enlightenment becomes one’s own body and mind.
While one fails to understand this, one is in a state of ignorance.
Ignorance means to be without clear understanding.
One has not yet become clearly enlightened as to the nature of one’s own mind.
When one wakes to and understands this mind, this is called awakening to the essential nature of phenomena.
Thus ignorance and awakening are simply different names for this single mind.
Although there are two different words or terms used, there is only the one mind.
Therefore one must not cut off or do away with ignorance.
For if one cuts off the dreaming mind that is ignorance, then one will also lose the waking mind, the mind of enlightenment.
The whole point of the perfect teaching is to show that one must not cut off the tiniest bit of delusion.
For all phenomena that exist are manifestations of the Buddhist Law.-The Unanimous Declaration by the Buddhas
Hi Noel. Firstly lets get clear with each issue and treat separately so it becomes clear although they are all from one subject Life. What you have send me here is mainly mentioning our constitution of what we are composed. Even before Buddha Sakyamuni's birth in Nepal the Indian Vedic religion also knew this and described this that essential nature Brahman is within everyone and everything the same Reality. Everything is contained potentially in the Essential Mind and that is our True Unchanging Being which we all possess. That is already being known through out indian religions , even the more new religion of Suffism also knows that and also all the esoteric or inner meditative paths. So the difference is not in the essence or kind but of degree of manifestation of the potentialities of the Eternal Essential Being. This is the issue really of our discussion and the apparent or actual disagreement whichever it will, and that will be show further. Since there is only One Mind One Reality through everything , supporting everything , containing everything and manifesting everything that is our essential nature and being of all , nothing can exist outside or apart of this Reality. But that reality is through and through distributed and manifested differently and although high or low, great and small and all the dualities and pluralities of manifested contradiction have within them the same reality which is one in all. That is clear and that was never the issue of exchange. The issue is on the degree not in kind, there are species , forms and state of minds which manifest in different degrees this true nature of reality; and thus those are aware of that reality and live in that reality are called enlighten and those who don't know and live in that are called deluded and ignorant. This is very clear. But in all these verses which you have send me ( I will get to some other points from what you have send me but later separately )it just states our ontological position and its constituents and does not anywhere in the least how did this unfolded and came to be it just speaks from certain point where everything is but neither how did it came about and where is it heading. On the contrary it seems to state that one somehow to awake from ignorance to the essential nature of phenomena but then not do away with ignorance "The whole point of the perfect teaching is to show that one must not cut off the tiniest bit of delusion." But the very nature of true enlightenment replaces the ignorance and delusion which causes suffering . Buddha clearly stated, think , speak and act with a pure mind and happiness will follow you. Ignorance and delusion are caused by one not having clear awareness of understanding of ones true nature and the world. So what you have send me doesn't explain anything on the subject what was ask from you; it does indicate for one to awake to truth but keep the delusion, so how can you transform and improve the world?
"The whole point of the perfect teaching is to show that one must not cut off the tiniest bit of delusion."
Question: If the entity of all living beings is the Mystic Law in its entirety, then are all the actions and their results that are associated with the nine worlds, from the world of hell up to that of bodhisattvas, in effect entities of the Mystic Law?
Answer: The mystic principle that is the essential nature of phenomena possesses two aspects, the defiled aspect and the pure aspect. If the defiled aspect is operative, this is called delusion. If the pure aspect is operative, this is called enlightenment. Enlightenment constitutes the realm of Buddhahood. Delusion constitutes the realms of ordinary mortals.
These two aspects, the deluded and the enlightened, are indeed two different phenomena, and yet both are workings of the one principle, that is, the essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality. It is like a piece of crystal. If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water. The crystal is a single entity, but the effects it produces differ according to the circumstances.
The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is like this. The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is one, but if it encounters evil influences, it will manifest delusion, while if it encounters good influences, it will manifest enlightenment. Enlightenment means enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena, and delusion, ignorance of it.
It is like the case of a person who in a dream sees himself performing various good and evil actions. After he wakes up and considers the matter, he realizes that it was all a dream produced by his own mind. This mind of his corresponds to the single principle of the essential nature of phenomena, the true aspect of reality, while the good and evil that appeared in the dream correspond to enlightenment and delusion. When one becomes aware of this, it is clear that one should discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion, and take as one’s basis the awakening that is characterized by goodness and enlightenment.
The Complete and Final Teaching on Perfect Enlightenment Sutra declares, “The beginningless illusions and ignorance that beset all living beings are all produced by the perfectly enlightened mind of the Thus Come Ones.”
The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai in his Great Concentration and Insight states, “Ignorance or illusions are in themselves enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena. But due to the influence of delusions, enlightenment changes into ignorance.”
The Great Teacher Miao-lo comments on this as follows: “Enlightenment has no separate entity but completely depends upon ignorance; and ignorance has no separate entity but completely depends upon enlightenment.”
Ignorance is a state of delusion that must be cut off, whereas enlightenment is the state that one must manifest. How then can we say that they are a single entity? To resolve doubts on this point, one should have a clear grasp of the passages that have been quoted here. The example of the dream given in the ninety-fifth volume of The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom and the T’ien-t’ai school’s example of the piece of crystal cited above are very interesting illustrations.
Further proof of the truth that ignorance and enlightenment are one in essence is found in the passage in the Lotus Sutra that reads, “These phenomena are part of an abiding Law, [and] the characteristics of the world are constantly abiding.”
Great Perfection of Wisdom says, “Enlightenment and ignorance are not different things, not separate things. To understand this is what is called the Middle Way.”
There are many passages of proof asserting that the mystic principle of the true aspect of reality possesses two aspects, the defiled and the pure. But none can surpass the one in the Flower Garland Sutra that says, “The mind, the Buddha, and all living beings—these three things are without distinction,” or the passage in the Lotus Sutra that describes the true aspect of all phenomena.
The Great Teacher Nan-yüeh says, “The entity of the mind is endowed with two aspects, the defiled and the pure. However, it does not have two different forms but is single in nature and without distinction.”
And the example of the mirror that he gives truly presents a thorough explanation of the subject. For a more detailed understanding, one may also refer to his interpretations in The Mahayana Method of Concentration and Insight.
Another good explanation is given in the sixth volume of Miao-lo’s Annotations on “The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra,” in the passage that reads: “While the three thousand realms remain latent [in ordinary beings], they are all designated by the term ‘ignorance.’
But when the three thousand realms all manifest themselves as the result [of Buddhahood], then they are all designated by the term ‘eternal happiness.’
However, because the three thousand realms themselves remain unchanged, ignorance is essentially one with enlightenment. Since the three thousand realms all remain constant, they possess both entity and function.” This commentary makes the matter perfectly clear.
The Entity of the Mystic Law
Feel free to read the entire letter for a comprehensive outlook on this matter if you so wish
"Ignorance and delusion are caused by one not having clear awareness of understanding of ones true nature and the world"
The kalpa of decrease has its origin in the human mind. As the poisons of greed, anger and stupidity gradually intensify, the life span of human beings accordingly decreases and their stature diminishes
Now in this latter, evil age, great evil arises less from secular wrongdoing than with respect to the doctrines of the religious world.
Because people today are unaware of this and endeavor to cultivate roots of merit, the world declines all the more.
To give support to the priests of the Tendai, Shingon and other sects of today may outwardly appear to be an act of merit, but in reality it is a great evil surpassing even the five cardinal sins and the ten evil acts.
For this reason, if there should be a wise man in the world with wisdom like that of the Greatly Enlightened World-Honored One, who, so as to restore the world to order, meets with a wise ruler like King Sen'yo; and if together they put an end altogether to these acts of "goodness" and commit the great "evil" of censuring, banishing, cutting off alms to or even beheading those people of the eight sects who are thought to be men of wisdom, then the world will surely be pacified to some extent.
This is explained in the first volume of the Lotus Sutra where it says: "The true aspect of all phenomena can only be understood and shared between Buddhas." In the phrase "consistency from beginning to end," "beginning" indicates the root of evil and the root of good, while "end" indicates the out-come of evil and the outcome of good.
One who is thoroughly awakened to the nature of good and evil from their roots to their branches and leaves is called a Buddha.
T'ien-t'ai states, "Life at each moment is endowed with the Ten Worlds."
Chang-an states: "The Buddha regarded his doctrine as the ultimate reason [for his advent]. How could it ever be easy to understand?"
Miao-lo adds that "this is the ultimate revelation of the final and supreme truth."
The Lotus Sutra states: "[And whatever he preaches according to his understanding] will never contradict the truth." And T'ien-t'ai interprets this to mean that "no affairs of life or work are in any way different from the ultimate reality." A person of wisdom is not one who practices Buddhism apart from worldly affairs but, rather, one who thoroughly understands the principles by which the world may be governed - The Kalpa of Decrease
At that time the world-honored one calmly arose from his samadhi and addressed Shariputra, saying: “The wisdom of the buddhas is infinitely profound and immeasurable. The door to this wisdom is difficult to understand and difficult to enter. Not one of the voice-hearers or pratyekabuddhas is able to comprehend it.
“What is the reason for this? The buddhas have personally attended a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a million, a countless number of buddhas and have fully carried out an immeasurable number of buddhas’ ways and doctrines. They have exerted themselves bravely and vigorously, and their names are universally known. They have realized the Law that is profound and never known before, and preach it in accordance with what is appropriate, yet their intentions are difficult to understand.
“Shariputra, ever since I attained buddhahood I have through various causes and various similes widely expounded my teachings and have used countless expedient means to guide living beings and cause them to renounce their attachments. Why is this? Because the thus come ones are fully possessed of both expedient means and the paramita of wisdom.
“Shariputra, the wisdom of the thus come ones is expansive and profound. They have immeasurable [compassion], unlimited [eloquence], power, fearlessness, concentration, emancipation, and samadhis, and have deeply entered the boundless and awakened to the Law never before attained.
“Shariputra, the thus come ones know how to make various distinctions and to expound the teachings skillfully. Their words are soft and gentle and can delight the hearts of the assembly.
“Shariputra, to sum it up: the buddhas have fully realized the Law that is limitless, boundless, never attained before.
“But stop, Shariputra, I will say no more. Why? Because what the buddhas have achieved is the rarest and most difficult-to-understand Law.
The true aspect of all phenomena can only be understood and shared between buddhas.
This reality consists of the appearance, nature, entity, power, influence, internal cause, relation, latent effect, manifest effect, and their consistency from beginning to end.”- Expedient Means
Ten factors common to all life in any of the Ten Worlds.
They are listed in the “Expedient Means” (second) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, which reads: “The true aspect of all phenomena can only be understood and shared between Buddhas.
This reality consists of the appearance, nature, entity, power, influence, internal cause, relation, latent effect, manifest effect, and their consistency from beginning to end.”
This passage provides a theoretical basis for the principle of the replacement of the three vehicles with the one vehicle taught in the theoretical teaching (first half) of the Lotus Sutra. Since the ten factors are common to all life and phenomena, there can be no fundamental distinction between a Buddha and an ordinary person. On this basis, T’ien-t’ai (538–597) established the philosophical system of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, of which the principle of the ten factors is a component.
While the Ten Worlds express differences among phenomena, the ten factors describe the pattern of existence common to all phenomena.
For example, both the state of hell and the state of Buddhahood, different as they are, have the ten factors in common.
Briefly, the ten factors are as follows: (1) Appearance: attributes of things discernible from the outside, such as color, form, shape, and behaviour.
(2) Nature: the inherent disposition or quality of a thing or being that cannot be discerned from the outside. T’ien-t’ai characterizes it as unchanging and irreplaceable. The nature of fire, for instance, is unchanging and cannot be replaced by that of water. He also refers to the “true nature,” which he regards as the ultimate truth, or Buddha nature.
(3) Entity: the essence of life that permeates and integrates appearance and nature. These first three factors describe the reality of life itself.
The next six factors, from the fourth, power, through the ninth, manifest effect, explain the functions and workings of life.
(4) Power: life’s potential energy.
(5) Influence: the action or movement produced when life’s inherent power is activated.
(6) Internal cause: the cause latent in life that produces an effect of the same quality as itself, i.e., good, evil, or neutral.
(7) Relation: the relationship of indirect causes to the internal cause. Indirect causes are various conditions, both internal and external, that help the internal cause produce an effect.
(8) Latent effect: the effect produced in life when an internal cause is activated through its relationship with various conditions.
(9) Manifest effect: the tangible, perceivable result that emerges in time as an expression of a latent effect and therefore of an internal cause, again through its relationship with various conditions. Miao-lo (711–782) regarded the Buddhist law of causality described by the four factors from internal cause to manifest effect as the distinctive characteristic of the ten factors. It concerns the cause and effect for attaining Buddhahood.
(10) Consistency from beginning to end: the unifying factor among the ten factors. It indicates that all of the other nine factors from the beginning (appearance) to the end (manifest effect) are consistently and harmoniously interrelated. All nine factors thus consistently and harmoniously express the same condition of existence at any given moment.- SGI Dictionary
Hi Noel, many of the teachings below we have discussed before can we do our utmost to be really conscious what are we talking about from both sides so we dont need repeating our selves and also move on with things that are same or similar and become clear to both of us. Let us continue really consciously and honestly even if in the end we dont agree.
The three aspects of our being are the same in most great religions, our physical aspect, our psychological aspect and our Spiritual aspect. The Vedanta and yogic teachings state that there are 14 worlds not 10 as in Tian tai ( that really doesn't much matter ) because they include more lower and hellish worlds into the category and also more of the higher worlds like scientific and artistic planes of consciousness as distinct manifestations in the order of levels of states of consciousness.
Also they mention 11 and some 12 Consciousnessess or functions of Consciousnessess ( but that too doesn't really much matter there are also Kabbalah and other paths which have different number of the categories detailing and including more states of function and psychology ) I am mentioning this to you so we may be clear in our discussion that there are religions and paths that are aware of these things and this is not a perception and formed exclusive wisdom of Tiantai's or Nichiren Buddhism. So in that and their description they are more or less the same; i am reading and read several times the teachings which you have send me but i dont know if many practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism take time and interest to know about other paths ( since that will brings us together with richer understanding of each other and the way we view reality, since not all will become the other persons specific line of religion or spirituality ) and then they will see that these things are there and realize that spirituality or Truth is Universal and any one can tap into it , it is not exclusive possession and privilege of Tian Tai or Nichiren or of any labeled organization under the name Buddhism in general.
Also another thing the Vedanta mentions that of the different categories of manifestation of karma Praradha karma, apraradha karma, the karma that is latent, the karma that begins to manifest, the karma that have fully fructified and the karma one creates now as one goes and which will become latent to produce its fruits in the future.
According to many religions there are many dimensions in Buddhism too it is there although in Nichiren Buddhism no special attention is placed on that ( though Nichiren several times prayed and call upon beings and powers from supra physical realities ) Even Tian tai though he speaks of the interconnection of a single moment of the 3000 realms he is primarily stating of the physical or material universe creation; but the Vedantist and other religion they dont separate and deal only with the physical life of material universe but include all the planes of the whole Vast Manifested Cosmos and not just the material physical, but of the Subtle physical , the vital planes, the vital-mental planes ( or astral planes as they are popularly known ) then the high pure mental planes and the highest Supramental or Divine planes ) . I will send direct realizations and testimonies of some Spiritual personalities in my next mails about those planes which do interact and affect us but also they have their own distinct and to a great extent separate existence like our planet has or like the different nations from each other have or families or individuals have ; and there are always enlighten Buddhas or persons who have attained Buddhahood in different times and different lands; and at our resent times too they speak and teach through personal realization in different ways in the language of our modern times and if we expect only for them to come from certain organizations labelled officially as Buddhism we will miss them and won't recognize them because we want them and expect them to speak the same way even using the same words the same concepts in the same continuation of an old long established group; but the reality shows otherwise they have come and are coming and especially in the last 2 centuries there were quite a few!
Answer: The mystic principle that is the essential nature of phenomena possesses two aspects, the defiled aspect and the pure aspect. If the defiled aspect is operative, this is called delusion. If the pure aspect is operative, this is called enlightenment. Enlightenment constitutes the realm of Buddhahood. Delusion constitutes the realms of ordinary mortals.
The defiled aspect is the result of distancing ones self from ones true Nature; so the Essential nature casts a shadow a projection in its self and entering into it or manifesting through it by its involvement; if it is a luminous the nearest projection it manifests the eternal values and pure and true qualities ( Truth, Light, Harmony, Perfection , Purity, Knowledge, Joy, Wide Peace, Love, Freedom and Power ..etc..) of The True nature of Being if the projection went through further modification more distant from its central core of Pure or Amala Consciousness and its fine luminous projections then its consciousness and formations will manifest deluded and distorted aspect of ignorance. The Truth has its own forms of being.
These two aspects, the deluded and the enlightened, are indeed two different phenomena, and yet both are workings of the one principle, that is, the essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality. It is like a piece of crystal. If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water. The crystal is a single entity, but the effects it produces differ according to the circumstances.
This analogy is bit misleading when compared with the True Essential nature of Reality , because the crystal does not produces the sun neither the moon but the True Essence of Mind produces both through transformation of its Conscious force energy. Electricity would be more suitable analogy which through its different arrangement of function can create cool or hot elements though in itself electricity is neither cold nor hot but is beyond both. The True Nature of Mind involved itself through different energy layers of its own energy doing and thus apparently covers its original purity and conscious power though it is unchanged and essentially free. A deluded being has not realized his own true nature and look at everything from ignorant consciousness; the enlighten person has realized his true nature and lives in it and sees everything from it and through and there is no delusion in his mind. So whatever is placed upon the True Essential Nature of an enlighten person brings only enlightenment and not delusion; what is placed under ignorant nature brings only delusion or mixed truth.
The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is like this. The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is one, but if it encounters evil influences, it will manifest delusion, while if it encounters good influences, it will manifest enlightenment. Enlightenment means enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena, and delusion, ignorance of it.
Actually this too in one way is true , that the True Aspect or True Self which is One it will in its conditioned and ignorant state of its True Nature manifest delusion or gain enlightenment under different influences but a Realized being will not only be not influenced in different conditions but will influence and change the conditions by its presence such is the power of Enlightenment or Buddhahood.
It is like the case of a person who in a dream sees himself performing various good and evil actions. After he wakes up and considers the matter, he realizes that it was all a dream produced by his own mind. This mind of his corresponds to the single principle of the essential nature of phenomena, the true aspect of reality, while the good and evil that appeared in the dream correspond to enlightenment and delusion. When one becomes aware of this, it is clear that one should discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion, and take as one’s basis the awakening that is characterized by goodness and enlightenment.
, The Essential Nature the True Unchanging Aspect is Pure and anything in touch with that will manifest enlightenment; here it tells clearly one should discard ignorance which associated with evil and delusion and base oneself in Goodness and Enlightenment. Goodness, Truth are aspects of the True nature, that we have to cultivate and get rid off delusion and ignorance! Did you hear that Noel " Discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion!!"
The Complete and Final Teaching on Perfect Enlightenment Sutra declares, “The beginningless illusions and ignorance that beset all living beings are all produced by the perfectly enlightened mind of the Thus Come Ones.”
This one above is interesting; from all the evidence and my contemplation on this statement the Buddha many times stated that he had attain Buddhahood in many many previous births; and is keeping going no way back so what you have both stated of Buddha being deluded again it goes against the very nature of things, might as well the rivers run backwards. The is a general direction of course with falls and slips on the way but they are part of the growth and the long upward journey to self discovery. Something by the inherent true inner nature within is pushing us towards more progress, more expansion, more perfection always to become more what we at present are and manifest; this is the innate urge of the True nature. When one has completed the Uni he has no need to go to primary school again. So the beginningless ignorance since all is eternal is coming and going or involving and evolving it is begginingless as a general movement and existence for the operation of the Universe but in that general movement there is a specific individual journey with its individual karma and rebirth and so each step of progress moves to grater grades of form and consciousness and which his previous "roles" would be filled and occupied by other evolving individuals. We are all heading to Buddhahood or Self Realization and so there are naturally new individuals entering the material existence otherwise in due course of time we will all become Buddhas ( which has been said in all the scriptures that for that a human vehicle or form is needed, though there are some rare cases where the animals had direct association with enlighten beings and got liberation from lower nature but that is not clear about getting full Buddhahood ) and the lower forms or nonhuman forms of life will extinct.
Also the second part of the statement that “The beginningless illusions and ignorance that beset all living beings are all produced by the perfectly enlightened mind of the Thus Come Ones.” From all the evidence stated in other scriptures and in this one as well shows that the fully Awakened beings continue being Awakened in the future and so the illusions and ignorance are not created by these Awakened Buddha Beings who attained full Enlightenment and who's mission and purpose of wisdom and compassion is to dispel illusions and ignorance and not produce them; “Shariputra, the thus come ones know how to make various distinctions and to expound the teachings skillfully. Their words are soft and gentle and can delight the hearts of the assembly. The Perfectly Enlightenment Mind is the Ground of Being from which all comes and with which the Thus Come Ones are in oneness; It is unthinkable and it goes against the Very nature of compassion and enlightenment for those in Stage of Buddhahood or even a Boddhisatwa to use their Nirmanakaya and Sabhogakaya being to create illusions and ignorance in the world and for others; the very things through their very birth they came to dispel which is the ignorance and illusion in the world. So this statement can only be directed to the Original Ground Being, the Brahman , the Godhead of the Theistic paths which states also in the Bible this but many Christians overlook this " King James Bible "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. " Isaiah 45.7 . , Or from the Siva Siddhanta Tradition it is stated that Siva creates, maintains, destroys . reveals and conceals His 5 functions. And of course in the Vedanta teachings too the Divine manifest these two aspects. Ultimately it is The Ultimate Perfectly Enlighten Eternal Ground Reality which manifests and generates all the manifestations including the ignorance and the illusive appearance through a succession of unfoldedment.
The Great Teacher Miao-lo comments on this as follows: “Enlightenment has no separate entity but completely depends upon ignorance; and ignorance has no separate entity but completely depends upon enlightenment.”
Probably by now you may think of me as arrogant claiming understanding to comment on them; but from the different sources which I heard and contemplated and most importantly tested in life against life because that is the only way to do it; how can you know who speaks the truth who has the correct perception and realization; I believe there is only one way for one and that is to open and take it in dwell on it deeply everyday and test it, see it,, experience it in life and see if it holds true, only in life in living life not in ones mind just imaginary thinking one can see and know.
I feel though here is a great insight ( to these teachings you have send ) but as far as the philosophical and intellectual ability of description and expression of these truths they are not as good in conveying that as the western philosophers would have; and that is why the teachings appear hard to understand not because they are so profound but because they are disorderly and messy, badly presented , badly explained , badly expressed without logical clearly intelligible sequence!
The True Nature of Mind is Pure or Amala and thus is Self Luminous. If one is in touch with that one can see clearly as it is, one is enlighten; one perceives the ignorance wherever it is present but the ignorance itself doesn't make one enlighten. The ignorance doesn't reveal the enlighten mind , the enlighten mind reveals the Ignorance; but only the true nature of mind makes it enlighten and aware of its truth and of the delusion. If being consciously in ones true nature is Enlightenment then without ignorance one can still have enlightenment, whether the ignorance is present or not; ones ignorance may be removed but that doesn't mean elsewhere or around one there is no display of ignorance. One who is situated in ones True Nature is Enlighten whether there are elements and beings pure or impure , harmonious or disorderly, good or evil.
Further proof of the truth that ignorance and enlightenment are one in essence is found in the passage in the Lotus Sutra that reads, “These phenomena are part of an abiding Law, [and] the characteristics of the world are constantly abiding.”
They definitely come from the same essence since there is only one Essence . Ordinarily good and bad may both be from ego but the Good which comes from Enlighten Buddha is Supremely Divinely Good and that Goodness only can come when one has realized ones True Nature. Enlightenment comes from ones True Nature while ignorance from covering thus forgetfulness of ones True Nature. In Vedanta the direct qualities of True Nature are described as truth, light, love, peace, joy, wisdom, power, spacious freedom etc.. These are the direct qualities of the True Nature; ignorance , delusion and evils and the rest are not direct qualities of the True Mind by subsequent qualities of deformation from further manifestation more removed and distanced from the core or nearness of the True nature of Mind. ( that is why you will see in the links which I will send you about the realities or planes of existence and manifestations of direct and nearest to the True Essence of Being, they are full of wisdom , Goodness, unity , joy and harmony but we can manifest them here on earth too because the same True reality is in us and also we can open up to these higher realities of manifestation and actualize them here on earth in our life.) Thus it is true in one sense that pure land is a state of mind and not necessarily a world or planet or place but is equally true that when and where there are all the beings of Pure Mind then the place too, the land too the world too is Pure Land! and these are the Highest planes of manifestations existing right now as Pure Land places with Pure Mind beings and we have the same potential to manifest them here.
Great Perfection of Wisdom says, “Enlightenment and ignorance are not different things, not separate things. To understand this is what is called the Middle Way.”
This is already explained below that they are different, so the above statement is misleading and erroneous; ( here is another disability of clear intellectual rendering and capacity) the above statement was implied and expressed by the previous ones and that is that they want simply to point that both derive from the one same essence.
These two aspects, the deluded and the enlightened, are indeed two different phenomena, and yet both are workings of the one principle, that is, the essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality. That is why is stated above " Discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion!!" Otherwise what are we doing, why even having this discussions or why should we be doing any practice or study the scriptures and endeavor to awake and change? If they are the exactly the same thing then why not be as we already are why strive for change for improvement for Enlightenment?!
The Great Teacher Nan-yüeh says, “The entity of the mind is endowed with two aspects, the defiled and the pure. However, it does not have two different forms but is single in nature and without distinction.”
The entity of the mind itself is single and without distinction, but possesses an ability to manifest its very opposite.
" A person of wisdom is not one who practices Buddhism apart from worldly affairs but, rather, one who thoroughly understands the principles by which the world may be governed - The Kalpa of Decrease That is very right and thats how real transformation of ourselves and the world comes!
"The essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality. It is like a piece of crystal. If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water. The crystal is a single entity, but the effects it produces differ according to the circumstances." Nichiren
"This analogy is bit misleading when compared with the True Essential nature of Reality , because the crystal does not produces the sun neither the moon but the True Essence of Mind produces both through transformation of its Conscious force energy." Stavros
Stavros is being incoherent when saying that " because the crystal does not produces the sun neither the moon"
Nichiren said that "If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water."
There is a bird that has eyes so big that it drinks the dew that falls on its eyes in the same way that due would form at a crystal ball at night.
I'm not sure of the connection between the rays of moon light that is the reflection of sunlight and starlight that produces water from the crystal .
The moon is a major part of the working of the gravitational field that effects the ebb and flow of water the effect maybe amplified by crystal that captures light thus drawing in greater quantities of dew towards itself than other objects with a lesser gravitational pull and we all know what happens when the suns rays are directed through magnifying glass - fire
I'll trust in Nichirens teachings on the Entity of the Mystic Law because the analogy and misrepresentation of Nichirens words and teachings that Stavros makes is not making any sense as usual because he does not have the capacity since his cup is already full of partial truths and delusions that he is so attached to and cant let go of as it gives him a false sense of security that he thinks is real
And the reason why that he is suffering under this condition is because of this principle in which Nichiren says;
"The founders of the True Word teachings were warped to begin with. So how could their disciples and followers be upright?
Contamination at the source of a river will pollute its entire length. Because of this, the Land of the Sun has had a long, dark night, and the Sun Tree is now about to be blighted by an alien frost."
I will send few attachment that i mentioned before here is the first one, i believe you have read it but i am sending it again from Autobiography of a Yogi , open the chapter 43 " the Resurrection of Sri Yukteshvar" read the hold chapter there are many revelations. http://www.crystalclarity.com/yogananda/chap43.php
THE world has been created by a descent of consciousness; it maintains itself, it proceeds and develops through a series of descents. In fact, creation itself is a descent, the first and original one, the descent of the supreme Reality into Matter and as Matter. The supreme Reality – the fount and origin of things and even that which is beyond – although essentially something absolute, indescribable, ineffable, indeterminable, has been, for purposes of the human understanding, signalised as a triune entity of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss. That is to say, first of all, it is, it exists always and for ever – invariably, in unbroken continuity; secondly, it exists not unconsciously, but consciously, in and as full consciousness; thirdly, it exists in delight-through delight and for and as delight; it has no other reason for existence but the pleasure and joy of simply existing. This primal, this original truth or reality transcends creation and is beyond and antecedent to it. What then is creation, what is its nature and character? Strange to say, it is the very opposite of the primal reality. First of all, it is not really existent: its existence is only another name for non-existence, as, in its phenomenal constitution, it is variable, ephemeral, transient and fragmentary or even seems made, as it were, of the stuff of dream. Secondly, it is not conscious; on the contrary, it is unconsciousness. And lastly it is not delight; there is an original insensibility and much undelight, grief and sorrow. That is the actual physical creation; or so, at least, it appears to be. How is this paradox to be explained? What is the significance of this riddle? Descent is the master-key that unravels the mystery – that is to say, the descent of the delightful conscious existence as the material world. But why this descent at all? What was the necessity? What was the purpose? The why of a thing is always difficult, if not impossible, to gauge. But we shall try to understand the how of the phenomenon, and in so doing perhaps we may get at the why of it also. At present let us content ourselves by saying that such was His will – La sua voluntade – such was His wish – sa aicchat. For once perhaps instead of saying, "Let there be light", He (or something in Him) must have said, "Let there be darkness", and there was Darkness. But the point is, this darkness did not come all on a sudden but arrived gradually through a developing process – we do not refer to physical time here but something antecedent, something parallel to it in another dimension. Let us see how it all came about. The absolute in its triple or triune status (not in its supreme being but as we see it prior to manifestation) is in essence and principle an infinity and unity. Indeed, it is the infinite unity, and its fundamental character is a supreme and utter equality – samam brahma. It is then a status or statis, that is to say, a state of perfectly stable equilibrium in which there is no movement of difference or distinction, no ripple of high and low or ebb and flow, no mark of quantity or quality. It is a stilled sea of self-identity, a vast limitless or pure consciousness brooding in trance and immobility. And yet in the bosom of this ineffable and inviolable equality, in the very hush and lull there lies secreted an urge, a pressure, a possibility towards activity, variation and even an eventual inequality. For the presence and possibility of dynamism is posited by the very infinity of the Infinite, since without it, the Infinite would be incapable of motion, expression and fulfilment of its Force.
"three existences ［三世］ ( san-ze): Past existence, present existence, and future existence. Used to indicate all of time, from the eternal past, through the present, through the eternal future. In Buddhism, they are the three aspects of the eternity of life, linked inseparably by the law of cause and effect. In the sutras, expressions such as “the Buddhas of the three existences” and “the Buddhas of the three existences and ten directions” indicate all Buddhas throughout eternity and boundless space."
I think this concept is saying that there is no beginning or end. That everything is eternally coming in and out of existence and that there was no initial beginning to everything so there will be no final end
These Buddhas all have an individual Alaya Consciousness that possess a karmic thread that has no original beginning or end similarly to the created universe
The idea of creation that you have presented is vastly different
There is thus inherent in the vast inalienable equality of the absolute Reality, a Force which can bring out centres of pressure, nuclei of dynamism, nodes of modulation. It is precisely round these centres of precipitation that the original and basic unity crystallises itself and weaves a pattern of harmonious multiplicity. Consciousness, by self-pressure, – tapas taptvā – turns its even and undifferentiated pristine equanimity into ripples and swirls, eddies and vortices of delight, matrices of creative activity. Thus the One becomes Many by a process of self-concentration and self-limitation. At the very outset when and where the Many has come out into manifestation in the One here – also it must be remembered that we are using a temporal figure in respect of an extra-temporal fact – there and then is formed a characteristic range of reality which is a perfect equation of the one and the many: that is to say, the one in becoming many still remains the same immaculate one in and through the many, and likewise the many in spite of its manifoldness-and because of the special quality of the manifoldness-still continues to be the one in the uttermost degree. It is the world of fundamental realities. Sri Aurobindo names it the Supermind or Gnosis. It is something higher than but distantly akin to Plato's world of Ideas or Noumena (ideai, nooumena) or to what Plotinus calls the first divine emanation (nous). These archetypal realities are realities of the Spirit, Idea-forces, truth-energies, the root consciousness-forms, ŗta cit, in Vedic terminology. They are seed-truths, the original mother-truths in the Divine Consciousness. They comprise the fundamental essential many aspects and formulations of an infinite Infinity. At this stage these do not come into clash or conflict, for here each contains all and the All contains each one in absolute unity and essential identity. Each individual formation is united with and partakes of the nature of the one supreme Reality. Although difference is born here, separation is not yet come. Variety is there, but not discord, individuality is there, not egoism. This is the first step of Descent, the earliest one-not, we must remind ourselves again, historically but psychologically and logically-the descent of the Transcendent into the Cosmic as the vast and varied Supermind – citrah praketo ajanista vibhwā – of the Absolute into the relational manifestation as Vidyāsakti (Gnosis).
There was no individual karma at the beginning of this creation. It started from scratch during the descent unlike the Alaya consciousness that has no original beginning or final end
"While the image of a storehouse is helpful, a truer image may be that of a raging torrent of karmic energy. This energy is constantly moving through and shaping our lives and experience.
Our resultant thoughts and actions are then fed back into this karmic flow. The quality of the karmic flow is what makes each of us distinct beings--our unique selves. The flow of energy is constantly changing, but, like a river, it maintains an identity and consistency even through successive cycles of life and death.
It is this aspect of fluidity, this lack of fixity, that opens the possibility of transforming the content of the eighth consciousness. This is why karma, properly understood, is different from an unchanging or unavoidable destiny.
The next steps, farther down or away, arrive when the drive towards differentiation and multiplication gathers momentum becomes accentuated, and separation and isolation increase in degree and emphasis. The lines of individuation fall more and more apart from each other, tending to form closed circles, each confining more and more exclusively to itself, stressing its own particular and special value and function, in contradistinction to or even against other lines. Thus the descent or fall from the Supermind leads, in the first instance, to the creation or appearance of the Overmind. It is the level of consciousness where the perfect balance of the One and the Many is disturbed and the emphasis begins to be laid on the many. The source of incompatibility between the two just starts here as if Many is not – One and One is not Many. It is the beginning of Ignorance, Avidya, Maya. Still in the higher hemisphere of the Overmind, the sense of unity is yet maintained, although there is no longer the sense of absolute identity of the two; they are experienced as complementaries, both form a harmony, a harmony as of different and distinct but conjoint notes. The Many has come forward, yet the unity is also there supporting it-the unity is an immanent godhead, controlling the patent reality of the Many. It is in the lower hemisphere of the Overmind that unity is thrown into the background half-submerged, flickering, and the principle of multiplicity comes forward with all insistence. Division and rivalry are the characteristic marks of its organisation. Yet the unity does not disappear altogether, only it remains very much inactive, like a sleeping partner. It is not directly perceived and envisaged, not immediately felt but is evoked as reminiscence. The Supermind, then, is the first crystallisation of the Infinite into individual centres, in the Overmind these centres at the outset become more exclusively individualised and then jealously self-centred.
The next step of Descent is the Mind where the original unity and identity and harmony are disrupted to a yet greater degree, almost completely. The self-delimitation of consciousness – which is proper to the Supermind and even to the Overmind, at least in its higher domains – gives way to self-limitation, to intolerant egoism and solipsism. The consciousness withdraws from its high and wide sweep, narrows down to introvert orbits. The sense of unity in the mind is, at most, a thing of idealism and imagination; it is an abstract notion, a supposition and a deduction. Here we enter into the very arcana of Maya, the rightful possession of Ignorance. The individualities here have become totally isolated and independent and mutually conflicting lines of movement. Hence the natural incapacity of mind, as it is said, to comprehend more than one object simultaneously. The Supermind and, less absolutely, the Overmind have a global and integral outlook: they can take in each one in its purview all at once the total assemblage of things, they differentiate but do not divide-the Supermind not at all, the Over mind not categorically. The Mind has not this synthetic view, it proceeds analytically. It observes its object by division, taking the parts piecemeal, dismantling them, separating them, and attending to each one at a time. And when it observes it fixes itself on one point, withdrawing its attention from all the rest. If it bas to arrive at a synthesis, it can only do so by collating, aggregating and summing. Mental consciousness is thus narrowly one pointed: and in narrowing itself, being farther away from the source it becomes obscurer, more and more outward gazing (parāñci khāni) and superficial. The One Absolute in its downward march towards multiplicity, fragmentation and partiality loses also gradually its subtlety, its suppleness, its refinement, becomes more and more obtuse, crude, rigid and dense.
Between the Overmind and the Mind proper, varying according to the degree of immixture of the two, according to the degree of descent and of emergence of one and the other respectively, there are several levels of consciousness of which three main ones have been named and described by Sri Aurobindo. The first one nearest to the Overmind and the least contaminated by the Mind is pure Intuition; next, the intermediary one is called the Illumined Mind, and last comes the Higher Mind. They are all powers of the Overmind functioning in the Mind. The higher ranges are always more direct, intense, synthetic, dynamic than the lower ones where consciousness is slower, duller, more uncertain, more disintegrated. The lower the consciousness descends the more veiled it becomes, losing more and more the directness, the sureness, the intensity and force and the synthetic unity native to the highest ranges of our consciousness and being. A further descent into obscurity occurs when consciousness passes from Mind to Life. Darkness is almost visible here: there is a greater withdrawal on the part of each unit from its surrounding reality, a narrower concentration upon one's own separative existence-shades of the prison-house have gathered close around. The light, already dulled and faint in the mind, has become a lurid glare here. Passion has arisen and desire and hunger and battle and combat. Here also in the vital three ranges can be distinguished the lower becoming more and more turbid and turbulent and fierce or more and more self-centred and selfish. These levels can best be seen by their impact on our vital being and formations there. The first, the highest one, the meeting or confluence of the Mind and the Vital is the Heart, the centre of emotion, the knot of the external or instrumental vehicle, of the frontal consciousness, behind which is born and hides the true individualised consciousness, the psyche. The mid-region is the Higher Vital consisting of larger (egoistic) dynamisms, such as high ambition, great enterprise, heroic courage, capacity for work, adventure, masterfulness, also such movements as sweeping violences, mighty hungers, and intense arrogances. The physical seat of this movement is, as perhaps the Tantras would say, the domain ranging between the heart and the navel. Lower down ranges the Lower Vital which consists of small desires, petty hankerings, blind cravings-all urges and impulses that are more or less linked up with the body and move to gross physical satisfactions. But always the Consciousness is driving towards a yet greater disintegration and fragmentation, obscuration and condensation of self-oblivion. The last step in the process of transmutation or involution is Matter where consciousness has wiped itself out or buried itself within so completely and thoroughly that it has become in its outward form totally dark, dense, hard, pulverised into mutually exclusive grains. The supreme luminous Will of Consciousness in its gradual descent and self – obliteration finally ends in a rigid process of mere mechanised drive.
This is, so far then, the original and primal line of descent. It is the line down which the absolute Reality, the absolute Consciousness and the absolute Delight have turned into unreality and unconsciousness and un delight. But it is not all loss and debit. There is a credit side too. For it is only in this way, viz, by the manifestation of utter Ignorance, that the supreme Absolute has become concrete, the Formless has entered into form, the Bodiless has found a body: what was originally an indeterminate equal Infinity of pure conscious ness, has become determinate and dynamic in the individual multiplicity of corporeal consciousness. What is the sense in all that, what is the gain or upshot? We shall presently see. When consciousness has reached the farthest limit of its opposite, when it has reduced itself to absolutely unconscious and mechanical atoms of Matter, when the highest has descended into and become the lowest, then, by the very force of its downward drive, it has swung round and begun to mount up again. As it could not proceed farther on the downward gradient, having reached the extreme and ultimate limit of inconscience, consciousness had to turn round, as it were, by the very pressure of its inner impetus. First, then, there is a descent, a gradual involution, a veiling and closing up; next, an ascent, a gradual evolution, unfoldment and expression. We now see, however, that the last limit at the bottom – Matter – although appearing to be unconscious, is really not so: it is inconscient. That is to say, it holds consciousness secreted and involved within itself; it is, indeed, a special formulation of consciousness. It is the exclusive concentration of consciousness upon single points in itself: it is consciousness throwing itself out in scattered units and, by reason of separative identification with them and absorption into them, losing itself, forgetting itself in an absolute fixation of attention. The phenomenon is very similar to what happens when in the ordinary consciousness a worker, while doing a work, becomes so engrossed in it that he loses consciousness of himself, identifies himself with the work and in fact becomes the work, the visible resultant being a mechanical execution.
Now this imprisoned consciousness in Matter forces Matter to be conscious again when driven on the upward gradient. This tension creates a fire, as it were, in the heart of Matter, a mighty combustion and whorl in the core of things, of which the blazing sun is an image and a symbol. All this pressure and heat and concussion and explosion mean a mighty struggle in Matter to' give birth to that which is within. Consciousness that is latent must be made patent; it must reveal itself in Matter and through Matter, making Matter its vehicle and embodiment. This is the mystery of the birth of Life, the first sprouting of consciousness in Matter. Life is half-awakened consciousness, consciousness yet in a dream state. Its earliest and most rudimentary manifestation is embodied in the plant or vegetable world. The submerged consciousness strives to come still further up, to express itself to a greater degree and in a clearer mode, to become more free and plastic in its movements; hence the appearance of the animal as the next higher formulation. Here consciousness delivers itself as a psyche, a rudimentary one, no doubt, a being of feeling and sensation, and elementary mentality playing in a field of vitalised Matter. Even then it is not satisfied with itself, it asks for a still more free and clear articulation: it is not satisfied, for it has not yet found its own level. Hence after the animal, arrives man with a full-fledged Mind, with intelligence and self-consciousness and capacity for self-determination. Thus we see that evolution, the unfolding of consciousness follows exactly the line of its involution, only the other way round: the mounting consciousness re-ascends step by step the same gradient, retraces the same path along which it had descended. The descending steps are broadly speaking (I) Existence – Consciousness – Bliss, (2) Supermind and its secondary form Overmind, (3) Mind – (i) mind proper and (ii) the intermediary psyche, (4) Life, (5) Matter. The ascending consciousness starting from Matter rises into Life, passes on through Life and Psyche into Mind, driving towards the Supermind and Schchidananda. At the present stage of evolution, consciousness has arrived at the higher levels of Mind; it is now striving to cross it altogether and enter the Overmind and the Supermind. It will not rest content until it arrives at the organisation in and through the Supermind: for that is the drive and purpose of Nature in the next cycle of evolution.
Physical Science speaks of irreversibility and entropy in Nature's process. That is to say, it is stated that Nature is rushing down and running down: she is falling irrevocably from a higher to an ever lower potential of energy. The machine that Nature is, is driven by energy made available by a break-up of parts and particles constituting its substance. This katabolic process cannot be stopped or retraced; it can end only when the break-up ceases at dead equilibrium. You cannot lead the river up the channel to its source, it moves inevitably, unceasingly towards the sea in which it exhausts itself and finds its last repose and-extinction. But whatever physical Science may say, the science of the spirit declares emphatically that Nature's process is reversible, that a growing entropy can be checked and countermanded: in other words, Nature's downward current resulting in a continual loss of energy and a break-up of substance is not the only process of her activity. This aspect is more than counterbalanced by another one of upward drive and building up, of re-energisation and re-integration. Indeed, evolution, as we have explained it, is nothing but such a process of synthesis and new creation.
Evolution, which means the return movement of consciousness, consists, in its apparent and outward aspect, of two processes, or rather two parallel lines in a single process. First, there is the line of sublimation, that is to say, the lower purifies and modifies itself into the higher; the denser, the obscurer, the baser mode of consciousness is led into and becomes the finer, the clearer, the nobler mode. Thus it is that Matter rises into Life, Life into Psyche and Mind, Mind into Overmind and Supermind. Now this sublimation is not simply a process of refinement or elimination, something in the nature of our old Indian nivŗtti or pratyāhāra, or what Plotinus called epistrophe (a turning back, withdrawal or reabsorption): it includes and is attended by the process of integration also. That is to say, as the lower rises into the higher, the lower does not cease to exist thereby, it exists but lifted up into the higher, infused and modified by the higher. Thus when Matter yields Life, Matter is not destroyed: it means Life has appeared in Matter and exists in and through Matter and Matter thereby has attained a new mode and constitution, for it is no longer merely a bundle of chemical or mechanical reactions, it is instinct with life, it has become organic matter. Even so, when Lire arrives at Mind, it is not dissolved into Mind but both Life and Matter are taken up by the mental stuff, life becomes dynamic sentience and Matter is transformed into the grey substance of the brain. Matter thus has passed through a first transformation in Life and a second transformation in Mind; it awaits other transformations on other levels beyond Mind. Likewise, Life has passed through a first transformation in Mind and there are stages in this transformation. In the plant, Life is in its original pristine mode; in the animal, it has become sentient and centralised round a rudimentary desire-soul; in man, life-force is taken up by the higher mind and intelligence giving birth to idealism .and ambition, dynamisms of a forward-looking purposive will.
We have, till now, spoken of the evolution of consciousness as a movement of ascension, consisting of a double process of sublimation and integration. But ascension itself is only one line of a yet another larger double process. For along with the visible movement of ascent, there is a hidden movement of descent. The ascent represents the pressure from below, the force of buoyancy exerted by the involved and secreted consciousness. But the mere drive from below is not sufficient all by itself to bring out or establish the higher status. The higher status itself has to descend in order to be manifest. The urge from below is an aspiration, a yearning to move ever upward and forward; but the precise goal, the status to be arrived at is not given there. The more or less vague and groping surge from below is canalised, if assumes a definite figure and shape, assumes a local habitation and a name when the higher descends at the crucial moment, takes the lower at its peak-tide and fixes upon it its own norm and form. We have said that all the levels of consciousness have been created-loosened -out-by a first Descent; but in the line of the first Descent the only level that stands in front at the outset is Matter all the other levels are created no doubt but remain invisible in the background, behind the gross veil of Matter. Each status stands confined, as it were, to its own region and bides its time when each will be summoned to concretise itself in Matter. Thus Life was already there on the plane of Life even when it did not manifest itself in Matter, when mere Matter, dead Matter was the only apparent reality on the material plane. When Matter was stirred and churned sufficiently so .as to reach a certain tension and "saturation, when it was raised to a certain degree of maturity, as it were, then Life appeared: Life appeared, not because that was the inevitable and unavoidable result of the churning, but because Life descended from its own level to the level of Matter and took Matter up in its embrace. The churning, the development in Matter was only the occasion, the condition precedent. For, however much one may shake or churn Matter, whatever change one may create in it by a shuffling and reshuffling of its elements, one can never produce Life by that alone. A new and unforeseen factor makes its appearance, precisely because it comes from elsewhere. It is true all the planes are imbedded, submerged, involved in the complex of Matter; but, in point of fact, all planes are involved in every other plane. The appearance or manifestation of a new plane is certainly prepared, made ready to the last – the last but one – degree by the urge of the inner, the latent mode of consciousness that is to be; still the actualisation, the bursting forth happens only when the thing that has to manifest itself descends, the actual form and pattern can be imprinted and established by that alone. Thus, again, when Life attains a certain level of growth and maturity, a certain tension and orientation – a definite vector, so to say, in the mathematical language – when it has, for example, sufficiently organised itself as a vehicle of the psychic element of consciousness, then it buds forth into Mind, but only when the Mind has descended upon it and into it. As in the previous stage, here also Life cannot produce Mind, cannot develop into Mind by any amount of mechanical or chemical operations within itself, by any amount of permutation and combination or commutation and culture of its constituent elements, unless it is seized on by Mind itself. After the Mind, the next higher grade of consciousness shall come by the same method and process, viz,. first by an uplifting of the mental consciousness – a certain widening and deepening and katharsis of the mental consciousness – and then by a descent, gradual or sudden, of the level or levels that lie above it.
This, then, is the nature of creation and its process. First,. there is an Involution, a gradual foreshortening-a disintegration and concretisation, an exclusive concentration and self-oblivion of consciousness by which the various levels of diminishing consciousness are brought forth from the plenary light of the one supreme Spirit, all the levels down to the complete eclipse in the unconsciousness of the multiple and disintegrate Matter. Next, there is an Evolution, that is to say, embodiment in Matter of all these successive states,. appearing one by one from the down most to the topmost; Matter incarnates, all other states contribute to the incarnation and uphold it, the higher always transforming the lower in a new degree of consciousness. Creation, the universe in its activity, is thus not simply a meaningless play, a pointless fancy. It has a purpose, an end, a goal, a fulfilment, and it follows naturally a definite pattern of process. The goal is the concretisation, the materialisation (which includes, of course, vitalisation and mentalisation) of the Spirit and the spiritual values. It means the establishment of divine names and forms in terrestrial individuals leading a divine life, individually and collectively here below.
Chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo. you yourself are the Supreme Spirit. No other religion turns the common mortal into the Buddha since time without beginning. Only the religion of the Lotus Sutra reveals the majestic dignity of stav hatz and all human beings. One after another, realizing this dignity and the grave sin to kill a Buddha, there will be an end to war. You can talk all the theoreical talk in the world but how many millions have been killed with the Baghava-Gita and Vedas as their source?
The Vedas and Gita they advocate violence though there was a battle which had to be fought and was fought; when evil predominates physical means are necessary but this is in exceptional cases the general rule is kindness, lovingly and compassionately helping and growing. So as a general rule they dont advocate violence. Now there are always corrupted people using the teachings to their ends and this corruption was more or less through all religions. But certainly we are not talking about people like that we are talking about the teachings here and comparing the teachings in their given form and not how or who is abusing them.
You seem Mark to dont accept any other teachings or religious paths ( all other religions and teachings are theories and only in your religion is the Only True Truth taught) and that is very narrow of you and also fanatical and you contribute to disunity and intolerance of other approach and other forms of religious or spiritual paths.
Also you seem to be very ignorant and quite dishonest pointing to religious violences of other culture and religion ( as we know also Islam and Christianity tried to propagate and establish and defend their religious teachings from corruptions justifying their violences ) while your own religion advocates violence this is the Buddhist Jihad " Most people don't Know that the Buddha killed icchantika's in his previous lives and gained great merit for it!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icchantika Icchantika - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org Description. According to some Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, the icchantika is the most base and spiritually deluded of all types of being. The term implies being ...
This is from Nichiren's letter "On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land"
“Anyone who grasps this principle should know that it is of utmost importance to take thought for the existence to come. In the latter age of the Buddha Joy Increasing, the monk Realization of Virtue propagated the correct teaching. Countless monks who were guilty of violating the precepts deeply resented this votary and attacked him, but the ruler, King Possessor of Virtue, determined to protect the correct teaching, fought with these slanderers. In the end, he lost his life and was reborn in the land of the Buddha Akshobhya, where he became the foremost disciple of that Buddha. Similarly, King Sen’yo, because he honored theMahayana teachings and punished the slander of five hundred Brahmans, was able to reach the stage of non-regression. How reassuring, that those who respect the monks of the correct teaching and admonish those who are evil and in error receive such blessings as these!
“But if, in our present age, one were to practice shōju [rather than shakubuku], then without doubt that person would fall into the evil paths together with those who slander the correct teaching. The Great Teacher Nan-yüeh in his Four Peaceful Practices states, ‘If there should be a bodhisattva who protects evil persons and fails to chastise them . . . then, when his life comes to an end, he will fall into hell along with those evil persons.’
“The meaning of this passage is that, if a practitioner of Buddhism should fail to chastise evil persons who slander the Law but give himself up entirely to meditation and contemplation, not attempting to distinguish between correct and incorrect doctrines, or provisional and true teachings, but rather pretending to be a model of compassion, then such a person will fall into the evil paths along with the other doers of evil. Now a person who fails to correct the True Word, Nembutsu, Zen, and Precepts adherents who are slanderers of the correct teaching and instead pretends to be a model of compassion will meet just such a fate as this.” [A Sage and an Unenlightened Man}
The nature of killing varies, however. The offense of the person killed is either heavy or light. If one kills the person who has murdered one’s father, mother, sovereign, or teacher, although the offense remains the same, what would have been a grave offense probably becomes a light one instead. This is something our contemporary scholars are acquainted with. But even bodhisattvas with their great compassion, if they make offerings to the enemies of the Lotus Sutra, are certain to fall into the hell of incessant suffering. On the other hand, even those who commit the five cardinal sins, if they show animosity toward those enemies, will definitely be reborn in the human or heavenly world. KingSen’yo and King Possessor of Virtue, who had destroyed, respectively, five hundred and countless enemies of the Lotus Sutra, becameShakyamuni Buddha in this world. His disciples such as Mahākāshyapa,Ānanda, Shāriputra, Maudgalyāyana, and other countless followers were people who, at that time, were in the vanguard, defeating the enemy, orkilling them, injuring them, or rejoicing in the fight. The monk Realization of Virtue became Kāshyapa Buddha. He was a votary of the Lotus Sutra of great compassion who, at that time, urged King Possessor of Virtue to attack the enemies of the sutra as if they were the ones who had betrayed his father and mother in a previous lifetime.[On Recommending This Teaching to Your Lord and Avoiding the Offense of Complicity in Slander]
The host said: There is no doubt that I am the foolish one—I would never dare claim to be wise. However, I would just like to quote some passages from the scriptures and offer some brief thoughts. Concerning the means for insuring order in the nation, there are numerous passages in both Buddhist and non-Buddhist texts, and it would be difficult to cite them all here. Since taking up the study of Buddhism, however, I have frequently given thought to this matter, and it seems to me that restraining those who slander the Law and respecting the followers of the correct way will assure stability within the nation and peace in the world at large.
In the Nirvana Sutra, we read: “The Buddha said, ‘With the exception of one type of person, you may offer alms to all kinds of persons, and everyone will praise you.’
“Chunda said, ‘What do you mean when you speak of “one type of person”?’
“The Buddha replied, ‘I mean the type described in this sutra as violators of the precepts.’
“Chunda spoke again, saying, ‘I am afraid I still do not understand. May I ask you to explain further?’
“The Buddha addressed Chunda, saying, ‘By violators of the precepts, I mean the icchantika. In the case of all other types of persons, you may offer alms, everyone will praise you, and you will achieve great rewards.’
“Chunda spoke once more, asking, ‘What is the meaning of the termicchantika?’
“The Buddha said: ‘Chunda, suppose there should be monks or nuns, lay men or women who speak careless and evil words and slander the correct teaching, and that they should go on committing these grave acts without ever showing any inclination to reform or any sign of repentance in their hearts. Persons of this kind I would say are following the path of the icchantika.
“‘Again there may be those who commit the four grave offenses or are guilty of the five cardinal sins, and who, though aware that they are guilty of serious faults, from the beginning have no trace of fear or contrition in their hearts or, if they do, give no outward sign of it. When it comes to the correct teaching, they show no inclination to protect, treasure, and establish it over the ages, but rather speak of it with malice and contempt, their words replete with error. People of this kind too I would say are following the path of the icchantika. With the exception of this one group of people called icchantika, however, you may offer alms to all others, and everyone will praise you.’”
Elsewhere in the same sutra, the Buddha spoke in these words: “When I recall the past, I remember that I was the king of a great state in this continent of Jambudvīpa. My name was Sen’yo, and I loved and venerated the great vehicle scriptures. My heart was pure and good and had no trace of evil, jealousy, or stinginess. Good men, at that time I cherished the great vehicle teachings in my heart. When I heard the Brahmans slandering these correct and equal sutras, I put them to death on the spot. Good men, as a result of that action, I never thereafter fell into hell.”
In another passage it says, “In the past, when the Thus Come Onewas the ruler of a nation and practiced the way of the bodhisattva, he put to death a number of Brahmans.”
Again it says: “There are three degrees of killings: the lower, middle, and upper degrees. The lower degree constitutes the killing of any humble being, from an ant to any of the various kinds of animals. But the killing of any being that a bodhisattva has chosen to be born as [to help other living beings] is excluded. As a result of a killing of the lower degree, one will fall into the realms of hell, hungry spirits, and animals, and will suffer all the pains appropriate to a killing of the lower degree. Why should this be? Because even animals and other humble beings possess the roots of goodness, insignificant though those roots may be. That is why a person who kills such a being must suffer full retribution for his offense.
“Killing any person from an ordinary mortal to an anāgāmin constitutes what is termed the middle degree. As a consequence of such an act of killing, one will fall into the realms of hell, hungry spirits, and animals, and will suffer all the pains appropriate to a killing of the middle degree. The upper degree of killing refers to the killing of a parent, an arhat, a pratyekabuddha, or a bodhisattva who has reached the stage of non-retrogression. For such a crime one will fall into the greatAvīchi hell. Good men, if someone were to kill an icchantika, that killingwould not fall into any of the three categories just mentioned. Good men, the various Brahmans that I have said were put to death—all of them were in fact icchantikas.”
In the Benevolent Kings Sutra, we read: “The Buddha announced to King Prasenajit, ‘Thus I entrust the protection of my teachings to the ruler of the nation rather than to the monks and nuns. Why do I do so? Because they do not possess the kind of power and authority that the king has.’”
The Nirvana Sutra states: “Now I entrust the correct teaching, which is unexcelled, to the rulers, the ministers, the high officials, and the four kinds of Buddhists. If anyone should vilify the correct teaching, then the ministers and four kinds of Buddhists should reprimand him and bring him to order.”
It also states: “The Buddha replied: ‘[Bodhisattva] Kāshyapa, it is because I was a defender of the correct teaching that I have been able to attain this diamond-like body. . . . Good man, defenders of the correct teaching need not observe the five precepts or practice the rules of proper behavior. Rather they should carry knives and swords, bows and arrows, halberds and lances.’”
Again the Buddha said: “Even though there may be those who observe the five precepts, they do not deserve to be called practitioners of the great vehicle. But even if one does not observe the five precepts, if one defends the correct teaching, then one may be called a practitioner of the great vehicle. Defenders of the correct teaching ought to arm themselves with knives and swords, weapons and staves. Even though they carry swords and staves, I would call them men who observe the precepts.”
The Buddha likewise said: “Good man, in past ages in this very city of Kushinagara, a Buddha appeared whose name was the Thus Come OneJoy Increasing. After this Buddha passed away, the correct teaching that he had taught remained in the world for countless millions of years. Finally, only forty more years were left before the Buddhist teaching was due to come to an end.
“At that time there was a monk named Realization of Virtue who observed the precepts. There were many monks at this time who violated the precepts, and when they heard this monk preaching, they all conceived evil designs in their hearts and, arming themselves with swords and staves, approached this teacher of the Law.
“At this time the ruler of the kingdom was named Possessor of Virtue. He received reports of what was happening, and, in order to defend the teaching, he went at once to the place where the monk was preaching the Law and fought with all his might against the evil monks who broke the precepts. As a result, the monk who had been preaching was able to escape grievous injury. But the king received so many wounds from the knives and swords, halberds and lances, that there was not a spot on his body the size of a mustard seed that remained unharmed.
“At this time the monk Realization of Virtue praised the king, saying: ‘Splendid, splendid! You, O king, are now a true defender of the correct teaching. In ages to come, this body of yours will surely become a boundless vessel of the Law!’
“At that time, the king had already heard the teaching, and he felt great joy in his heart. Thereupon his life came to an end, and he was reborn in the land of the Buddha Akshobhya, where he became the Buddha’s principal disciple. Moreover, all the military leaders, citizens, and associates of the king who had fought beside him or had rejoiced in his effort were filled with an unflagging determination to achieve enlightenment, and when they died, all of them were reborn in the land of the Buddha Akshobhya.
“Later, the monk Realization of Virtue also died, and he too was reborn in the land of the Buddha Akshobhya, where he became second among the Buddha’s voice-hearer disciples. Thus, if the correct teaching is about to come to an end, this is the way one ought to support and defend it.
“Kāshyapa, the king who lived at that time was I myself, and the monk who preached was the Buddha Kāshyapa. Kāshyapa, those who defend the correct teaching enjoy this kind of boundless reward. As a consequence, I have been able to obtain the distinguished characteristics that I possess today, to adorn myself with them, and to put on theDharma body that can never be destroyed.”
Then the Buddha declared to Bodhisattva Kāshyapa: “For this reason, laymen believers and others who wish to defend the Law should arm themselves with swords and staves and protect it in this manner.
“Good man, in the age of impurity and evil after I have passed away, the nation will fall into devastation and disorder, men will plunder and steal from one another, and the common people will be reduced to starvation. Because of hunger, many men at that time will declare their determination to leave their families and become monks. Men such as these may be called shavepates. When this crowd of shavepates see anyone who is attempting to protect the correct teaching, they will chase after him and drive him away, or even kill him or do him injury. That is why I now give permission for monks who observe the precepts to associate with and keep company with white-robed laymen who bear swords and staves. Even though they carry swords and staves, I would call them men who observe the precepts. But although they may carry swords and staves, they should never use them to take life.”
The Lotus Sutra says: “If a person fails to have faith but instead slanders this sutra, immediately he will destroy all the seeds for becoming a Buddha in this world. . . . When his life comes to an end he will enter the Avīchi hell.”
The meaning of these passages from the sutras is perfectly clear. What need is there for me to add any further explanation? If we accept the words of the Lotus Sutra, then we must understand that slandering the Mahayana scriptures is more serious than committing the five cardinal sins countless times. Therefore, one who does so will be confined in the great citadel of the Avīchi hell and cannot hope for release for an immeasurable length of time. According to the Nirvana Sutra, even though you may give alms to a person who has committed the five cardinal sins, you must never give alms to a person who has slandered the Law. One who kills so much as an ant will invariably fall into the three evil paths, but one who helps eradicate slander of the Law will ascend to the state from which there can be no retrogression. Thus the passage tells us that the monk Realization of Virtue was reborn as the Buddha Kāshyapa, and that King Possessor of Virtue was reborn as the Buddha Shakyamuni. [On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land]
Its good of Mark to kindly provide you a platform to share and express your beliefs and interpretation of Nichiren Buddhism.
I haven't read all of what you have sent yet because I'm currently involved in the Opening of the Eyes study series that's happening on this blog at the moment in case you didn't notice
Have you had the time to read his commentaries on the Opening of the Eyes which is in Nichiren's mind is his last will and testament and one of his most important teachings. This is a good chance for you to acquire a deeper insight into Nichiren's mind
Kyotsu Hori's translation is from the Showa Tehon Collection of Gosho, directly from the original. It is the most faithful english translation of the Opening of the Eyes.
This commentary is based on the Kyotsu Hori's translation of the Opening of the Eyes.
I am writing this commentary to repay one ten millionth of a billionth the debt of gratitude I owe to the Three Bodied Tathagata, the Original Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni and Nichiren Daishonin, the True Votary of the Lotus Sutra.
I hope to dispell the doubts and misunderstandings that exist about the Three Bodied Tathagata and what it means to be His disciple. I am neither worthy or capable enough for the task but no one else is doing it and it should be done from the perspective of a true disciple and believer of the Buddha and Nichiren.
The commentaries by Nikken Abe and Daisiku Ikeda are woefully lacking in both substance and scholarship and their faiths are twisted. Fortunately, Nichiren is crystal clear and few added commentaries are needed: "Yes"; "Don't you see"; "This is what he said."; "I would like to point this out", etc. Nevertheless, I will defend what the Buddha Shakyamuni and Nichiren Daishonin have entrusted to me.
Nichiren Daishonin meant every word he wrote in this treatise. There are no secret teachings. In Nichiren Daishonin's mind, this was his last will and testament, written for his disciples living in the ten thousand years and more of the Latter Day.
"The Opening of the Eyes is one of the two most important works by Nichiren Daishonin. The other is The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind (The True Object of Worship).
The Opening of the Eyes explains the object of worship in terms of the Original Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni of the Juryo Chapter of the Lotus Sutra specifically, and we as votaries of the Lotus Sutra generally. The object of worship in terms of the Law (Dharma) is explained in the True Object of Worship.
The oneness of person (Buddha, the subject) and Law (object) is the Object of Worship.
From the standpoint of the practitioner, it is the fusion of person and Object of Worship (Kyochi Myogo) that leads to Buddhahood.
While a practitioner is chanting Namu Myoho renge Kyo to the Gohonzon, he or she is in the Realm of Buddha.
This can be understood by the Mutual Possession of the Ten Worlds and the oneness of person and the environment (Esho Funi).
It is not the scope of this commentary to fully illucidate this process.
Suffice it to say, the Object of Worship revealed by the Original Buddha Shakyamuni of the 16th Chapter of the Lotus Sutra and propagated by Nichiren Daishonin is the only environment of Buddha on Earth (Buddha's Land). When we enter the Buddha's Land, we naturally take on the characteristics of a Buddha.
The process is analogous to anger transforming into tranquility at a favorite beach.
Nichiren Daishonin wrote this treatise from his graveyard hut while in exile on Sado during the coldest month of february, 1272. He had to lick the frozen writing brush to soften it. Despite having no access to a library and the wind and snow penetrating the gaping holes in his hut, he completed this masterpiece.
The powers of his memory and concentration are incomprehensible. His compassion was limitless. This is my favorite writing of Nichiren Daishonin. Every time I read it I get choked up with emotion.
Kyotsu Hori first outlines the Opening of the Eyes as follows:
CONTENTS
PART I PROLOGUE
Chapter I Confucianism, Brahmanism, and Buddhism
Chapter II "3000 in One Thought," the Cardinal Doctrine of the Lotus Sutra
PART II MAIN DISCOURSE
Chapter III Obtaining Buddhahood by Men of the Two Vehicles
Chapter IV Eternal Life of the Buddha
Chapter V Nichiren a Practitioner of the Lotus Sutra
Chapter VI Protection by Arhats
Chapter VII Protection by Bodhisattvas
Chapter VIII Five Holy Proclamations
Chapter IX Three Kinds of Enemies of the Lotus Sutra
Chapter X Why is Nichiren being Persecuted
PART III EPILOGUE
Chapter XI Persuasive and Aggressive Means of Propagation
Please note, Kyotsu Hori translates "Obtaining" Buddhahood not "Attaining" Buddhahood.
In the Latter Day we obtain Buddhahood by virtue of the Original Eternal Buddha (Gohonzon), not by our power alone.
This fact is perfectly explained by the concept of the Four Powers [the power of the Law, the Buddha, faith, and practice] and the Buddhist principle of Dependent Origination."- Mark Rogow
We have so far spoken of two lines of descent. But in either case the descent was of a general and impersonal character. Consciousness was considered as a mere force, movement or quality. There is another aspect, however, in which the descent is of a particular and personal character and consciousness is not force or status only but conscious being or Person. The various movements or forces of consciousness that play in the various fields or levels of creation are not merely states or degrees and magnitudes, currents and streams of consciousness: they are also personalities with definite forms and figures-not physical indeed, yet very definite even when subtle and fluidic. Thus the supreme Reality, which is usually described as the perfect status of Existence – Consciousness – Bliss, is not merely a principle but a personality. It is the Supreme Person with his triune nature (Purushottama). It is the Divine as the supreme Knower and Doer or Creator and Lover. The creation in or from that status of consciousness is not simply a play or result of the force of consciousness, it is even more truly the embodiment of a conscious Will; it is the will of the Divine Father executed by the Divine Mother.
Now, as the Reality along with its consciousness, in the downward involutionary course towards materialisation, has been gradually disintegrating itself, multiplying itself, becoming more and more obscure and dense in separated and isolated. units, even so the Person too has been following a parallel course of disintegration and multiplication and obscuration and isolation. At the origin lies, as we have said, the Perfect Person, the Supreme Person, in his dual aspect of being and nature, appearing as the supreme purua and the supreme prakrti, our Father and our Mother in the highest heaven.
Now, as the Reality along with its consciousness, in the downward involutionary course towards materialisation, has been gradually disintegrating itself, multiplying itself, becoming more and more obscure and dense in separated and isolated. units, even so the Person too has been following a parallel course of disintegration and multiplication and obscuration and isolation. At the origin lies, as we have said, the Perfect Person, the Supreme Person, in his dual aspect of being and nature, appearing as the supreme purua and the supreme prakrti, our Father and our Mother in the highest heaven. Next is the domain of the Supermind with which the manifestation of the Divine starts. We have said it is the world of typal realities, of the first seed-realities, where the One and the Many are united and fused in each other, where the absolute unity of the Supreme maintains itself in undiminished magnitude and expresses and formulates itself perfectly in and through the original multiplicity. Here take birth the first personalities, absolute truth-forms of the Divine. Here are the highest gods, the direct formations of the Divine himself. Here are the Four Powers and Personalities of iswara whom Sri Aurobindo has named after the Vaishnava terminology: (i) Mahavira, embodying the Brahmin quality of Knowledge and Light and wide Consciousness, (ii) Balarama, embodying the Kshatriya quality of Force and intense dynamism, (iii) Pradyumna, embodying the quality of love and beauty – the Vaishya virtue of mutuality and harmony and solidarity, and (iv) Aniruddha, embodying the Sudra quality of competent service, of organisation and execution in detail. Coriesponding with these Four there are the other Four Powers and Personalities of the Divine Mother – íśwarií (i) Maheshwari, (ii) Mahakali, (iii) Mahalakshmi and (iv) Mahasaraswati. Next in the downward gradient comes the Overmind where the individualised powers and personalities of the Divine tend to become self-sufficient and self-regarding; their absolute unity is loosened and the lines of multiplicity begin to be more independent of each other, each aiming at a special fulfilment of its own. Still the veil that is being drawn over the unity is yet transparent which continues to be sufficiently dynamic. This is the abode of the gods, the true and high gods: it is these that the Vedic Rishis appear to have envisaged and sought after. The all gods (viśve devāh) were indeed acknowledged to be but different names and forms of one supreme godhead (devā) it is the one god, says Rishi Dirghatamas, who is called multifariously whether as Agni or Yama or Matariswan; it is the one god, again, who is described as having a thousand heads and a thousand feet. And yet they are separate entities, each has his own distinct and distinctive character and attribute, each demands a characteristic way of approach and worship. The tendency towards an exclusive stress is already at work on this level and it is the perception of this truth that lies behind the term henotheism used by European scholars to describe the Vedic Religion.
The next stage of devolution is the Mind proper. There or perhaps even before, on the lower reaches of the Overmind, the gods have become all quite separate,-self – centred, each bounded in his own particular sphere and horizon. The overmind gods – the true gods – are creators in a world of balanced or harmoniously held difference; they are powers that fashion each a special fulfilment, enhancing one another at the same time (parasparam bhāvayantah). Between the Overmind and the Mind there is a class of lesser gods-they have been called formateurs; they do not create in the strict sense of the term, they give form to what the anterior gods have created and projected. These form-makers that consolidate the encasement, fix definitely the image, have most probably been envisaged in the Indian dhyānamûrtis. But in the Mind the gods become still more fixed and rigid, "stereotyped"; the mental gods inspire exclusive systems, extreme and abstract generalisations, theories and principles and formulae that, even when they seek to force and englobe all in their cast-iron mould, can hardly understand or tolerate each other. Mind is the birth-place of absolute division and exclusivism – it is the "own home" of egoism. Egoism is that ignorant mode-a twist or knot of consciousness which cuts up the universal unity into disparate and antagonistic units: it creates isolated, mutually exclusive whorls in the harmonious rhythm and vast commonalty of the one consciousness or conscious existence. The Sankhya speaks of the principle of ego coming or appearing after the principle of vastness (mahat). The Vast is the region above the Mind, where the unitary consciousness is still intact; with the appearance of the Mind has also appeared an intolerant self-engrossed individualism that culminates, as its extreme and violent expression, in the asura – Asura, the mentalised vital being.
The Asura or the Titan stands where consciousness descends from the Mind into the Vital or Life – Force. He is the personification of ambition and authority and arrogance, he is the intolerant and absolute self-seeker – he is Daitya, the son of division. The Asura belongs to what we call the Higher Vital; but lower down in the Mid Vital, made wholly of unmixed life impulses, appear beings that are still less luminous, less controlled, more passionate, vehement and violent in their self-regarding appetite. They are the Rakshasas. If the Asura is perverse power, the Rakshasa is insatiate hunger. All the ancient legends about a principle-and a personality – of Denial and Ignorance, of an Everlasting Nay – refer to this fact of a descending consciousness, a Fall. The Vedantic māyā, spoken of sometimes as the Dark Mother, seems to be the personification of the lower Overmind, Jehovah and Satan of the Hebrews, Olympians and Titans of the Greeks, Ahriman and Ahura Mazda of old Iran, the sons of Diti and Aditi the Indian Puranas speak of, are powers and personalities of consciousness when it has descended entirely into the mind and the vital where the division is complete. These lower reaches have completely lost the unitary consciousness; still there are beings even here that have succeeded in maintaining it as a memory or an aspiration, although in a general way the living reality of the oneness is absent. It is significant that the term asura which came to mean in classical and mythological ages a + sura, not – god, the Titan, had originally a different connotation and etymology, asu + ra, one having force or strength, and was used as a general attribute of all the gods. The degradation in the sense of the word is a pointer to the spiritual Fall: Satan was once Lucifer, the bringer or bearer of light. We may mention in this connection that these beings of which we are speaking, dwelling in unseen worlds, are of two broad categories - (l) beings that are native to each plane and immutably confined and bound to that plane, and (2) those that extend their existence through many or all planes and assume on each plane the norm and form appropriate to . that plane. But this is a problem of individual destiny with which we are not concerned at present.
We were speaking of the descent into the Vital, the domain of dynamism, desire and hunger. The Vital is also the field of some strong creative Powers who follow, or are in secret contact with the line of unitary consciousness, who are open to influences from a deeper or higher or subtler consciousness. Along with the demons there is also a line of daimona, guardian angels, in the hierarchy of vital beings. Much of what is known as aesthetic or artistic creation derives its spirit from this sphere. Many of the gods of beauty and delight are denizens of this heaven. Gandharvas and Kinnaras are here, Dionysus and even Apollo perhaps (at least in their mythological aspect-in their occult reality they properly belong to the Overmind which is the own home of the gods), many of the angels, seraphs and cherubs dwell here. In fact, the mythological heaven for the most part can be located in this region. All this is comprised within what we term the Higher or the Middle Vital. In the lower vital, we have said, consciousness has become still more circumscribed, dark, ignorantly obstinate, disparately disintegrated. It is the seed-bed of lust and cruelty, of all that is small and petty and low and mean, all that is dirt and filth. It is here that we place the piśācas, djinns, ghouls and ghosts, and vampires, beings who possess the "possessed".
Further down in the scale where life-force touches Matter, where Life is about to precipitate as Matter, appear beings of a still lower order, of smaller dimensions and magnitudes – Imps, elfs, pixies, goblins, gnomes, fairies or dryads and naiads. There are even creatures or entities so close to Matter that they come into being and pass away with the building up and breaking of a definite pattern of material organisation. This individualisation of consciousness as beings or persons seems to disappear altogether when we enter the strictly material plane. There IS here only an agglomeration of uniform dead .particles. We have thus far followed the course of the break-up of Personality, from the original one supreme Person, through a continuous process of multiplication and disintegration, of parcellation and crystallisation into more and more small self-centred units, until we reach the final pulverisation as purely material physico-chemical atoms. Now with the reversal of consciousness, in its return movement, we have again a process of growth and building up of individuality and personality, with the awakening and ascension of consciousness from level to level on the physical plane and in the material embodiment,. there occurs too an evolution of the personal aspect of the reality.
We say that at the lowest level of involution, in Matter,. where consciousness has zero magnitude, there is no personality or individuality. It is all a mechanical play of clashing particles that constantly fly apart or come together according to the force or the resultant of forces that act upon them. An individuality means a bounded form as its basis of reaction and a form that tends to persist and grow by assimilation; it means. a centre of a definite manner and pattern of reaction. Individuality, in its literal sense, designates that which cannot be divided (in + dividus). Division is only another name for death for the particular entity. Even in the case of cell-division or self-division of some lower organisms, in the first instance the original living entity disappears and, secondly, the succeeding: entities, created by division, always re-form themselves again into integral wholes. A material particle, on the other hand, is. divisible ad infinitum. We have been able to divide even an atom (which means also that which cannot be divided) to such an extent as to reduce it to a mere charge of energy, nay, we have sublimated it to a geometrical point. Individualisation starts with the coming of life. It is a ganglion of life -force round which a particular system of action and reaction weaves itself. The characteristic of individuality is that each one is. unique, each relates itself to others and to the environment in its own way, each expresses itself, puts forth its energy,. receives impacts from outside in a manner that distinguishes. it from others. It is true this character of individuality is not very pronounced in the earlier or rudimentary forms of life. Still it is there: it grows and develops slowly along the ladder of evolution. Only in the higher animals it attains a clear and definite norm and form.
In man something else or something more happens. For man is not merely an individual, he is also a personality. He is the outcome of a twofold growth and revelation. He has outgrown the vital and climbed into Mind, and he has dived into the Heart and touched his inner soul, his true psychic centre. It is this soul that is the source of his personality.
The formulation or revelation of the Psyche marks another line of what we have been describing as the Descent of Consciousness. The phenomenon of individualisation has at its back the phenomenon of the growth of the Psyche. It is originally a spark or nucleus of consciousness thrown into Matter that starts growing and organising itself behind the veil, in and through the movements and activities of the apparent vehicle consisting of the triple nexus of Body (Matter) and Life and Mind. The extreme root of the psychic growth extends perhaps right into the body, consciousness of Matter, but its real physical basis and tenement is found only with the growth and formation of the physical heart. And yet the psychic individuality behind the animal organisation is very rudimentary. All that can be said is that it is there, in potentia, it exists, it is simple being: it has not started becoming. This is man's speciality: in him the psychic begins to be dynamic; to be organised and to organise, it is a psychic personality that he possesses. Now this flowering of the psychic personality is due to an especial Descent, the descent of a Person from another level of consciousness. That Person (or Superperson) is the jīvatman, the Individual Self, the central being of each individual formation. The Jivas are centres of multiplicity thrown up in the bosom of the infinite Consciousness: it is the supreme Consciousness eddying in unit formations to serve as the basis for the play of manifestation. They are not within the frame of manifestation (as the typal formations in the Supermind are), they are above or beyond or beside it and stand there eternally and invariably in and as part and parcel of the one supreme Reality – Sachchidananda. But the Jivatman from its own status casts its projection, representation, delegated formulation - "emanation," in the phraseology of the neo-Platonists – into the manifestation of the triple complex of mind, life and body, that is to say, into the human vehicle, and thus stands behind as the psychic personality or the soul. This soul, we have seen, is a developing, organising focus of consciousness growing from below and comes to its own in the human being: or we can put it the other way, that is to say, when it comes to its own, then the human being appears. And it has come to its own precisely by a descent of its own self from above, in the same manner as with the other descents already described. Now, this "coming to its own" means that it begins henceforth to exercise its royal power, its natural and inherent divine right, viz, of consciously and directly controlling and organising its terrestrial kingdom which is the body and life and mind. The exercise of conscious directive will, supported and illumined by a self-consciousness, I that occurs with the advent of the Mind is a function of the I Purusha, the self-conscious being, in the Mind; but this self-conscious being has been able to come up, manifest itself and be active, because of pressure of the underlying psychic personality that has formed here.
Thus we have three characteristics of the human personality accruing from the psychic consciousness that supports and inspires it: - (I) self-consciousness: an animal acts, feels and even knows, but man knows that he acts, knows that he feels, knows even that he knows. This phenomenon of consciousness turning round upon itself is the hallmark of the human being; (2) a conscious will holding together and harmonising, fashioning and integrating the whole external nature evolved till now; (3) a purposive drive, a deliberate and voluntary orientation towards a higher and ever higher status of individualisation and personalisation, - not only a horizontal movement seeking to embrace and organise the normal, the already attained level of consciousness, but also a vertical movement seeking to raise the level, attain altogether a new poise of higher organisation. These characters, it is true, are not clear and pronounced, do not lie in front, at the beginning of the human personality. The normal human person has his psyche very much behind; but it is still there as antaryāmin, as the secret Inner Controller. And whatever the vagaries of the outer instruments or their slavery to the mode of Ignorance, in and through all that, it is this Inner Guide that holds the reins and drives upward in the end.
Thus naturally there appear gradations of the human personality; as the consciousness in the human being rises higher and higher, the psychic centre organises a higher and higher – a richer, wider, deeper – personality. The first great conversion, the first turning of the human personality to a new mode of life and living, that is to say, living even externally according to the inner truth and reality, the first attempt at a conscious harmonisation of the psychic consciousness with its surface agents and vehicles is what is known as spiritual initiation. This may happen and it does happen even when man lives in his normal mental consciousness. But there is the possibility of growth and evolution and transformation of personality in higher and a higher spiritual degree through the upper reaches of the higher Mind, the varying degrees of the Overmind and finally the Supermind. These are the spheres, the fields, even the continents of the personality, but the stuff, the substance of the personality, the inner nucleus of consciousness-force is formed, first, by the flaming aspiration, the upward drive within the developing and increasing psychic being itself, and secondly, by the descent, to a greater and greater degree, of the original Being from which it emanated. The final coalescence of the fully and integrally developed psychic being with the supreme splendour of its very source, the Jivatman, occurs in the Supermind. When this happens the supramental personality becomes incarnate in the physical body: Matter in the material plane is transformed into a radiant substance made of pure consciousness, the human personality becomes a living form of the Divine. Thus the wheel comes full circle: creation returns to the point from which it started but with an added significance, a new fulfilment.
The mystery of rebirth in the evolution of the human personality is nothing but the mystery of the developing psyche. At first this psyche or soul is truly a being: "no bigger than the thumb" – it is the hardly audible "still small voice". The experiences of life – sweet or bitter, happy or unhappy, good or bad, howsoever they may appear to the outward eye and perception – all the dialectics of a terrestrial existence contribute to the growth and development of the psychic consciousness. Each span of life means a special degree or mode of growth necessitated by the inner demand and drive of the divine Individual seated within the heart. The whole end in view of this secret soul is to move always towards and be united again with its Oversoul, its original and high archetype in the Divine Consciousness: the entire course of its earthly evolution is chalked out and patterned by the exact need of its growth. Whatever happens in each particular life, all the currents of all the lives converge and coalesce, and serve the psychic consciousness to swell in volume and intensity and be one with the Divine Consciousness. Or, in a different imagery, one can say that the multifarious experiences of various lives are as fuel to the Inner Fire – this Psychic Agni which is just a spark or a thin tongue at the outset of the human evolutionary course; but with the addition of fuel from life to life this Fire flames up, indeed, becomes ultimately a conflagration that bums and purifies the entire outer vehicle and transforms it into radiant matter – a fit receptacle, incarnation of the supernal Light. The mounting Fire (the consciousness-energy secreted in the earth-bound heart of Matter) finally flares up, discloses itself in its full amplitude and calls and attracts into it the incandescent supramental Solar Sphere which is the type and pattern it has to embody and express. This is the marriage of Heaven and Earth, of which the mystics all over the earth in all ages spoke and sang – to which the Vedic Rishi refers when he declares:
Dyaur me pitā mātā prthivī iyam, (Heaven is my father and Earth my mother)
The supramentalisation of the personality which means the perfect divinisation of the personality is yet not the final end of Nature's march. Her path is endless, since she follows the trail of infinity. There are still higher modes of consciousness, or, if they cannot properly be called higher, other modes of consciousness that lie in waiting to be brought out and placed and established in the front of terrestrial evolution. Only, supramentalisation means the definite crossing over from Ignorance, from every trace and shadow of Ignorance, into the abiding and perennial Knowledge and Freedom. Thenceforward the course of Nature's evolution may be more of the kind of expression than ascension; for, beyond the Supermind it is very difficult to speak of a higher or lower order of consciousness. Everything thereafter is in the full perfect light - the difference comes in the mode or manner or stress of expression. However, that is a problem with which we are not immediately concerned.
We have spoken of four lines of Descent in the evolution and organisation of consciousness. There yet remains a fifth line. It is more occult. It is really the secret of secrets, the Supreme Secret. It is the descent of the Divine himself. The Divine, the supreme Person himself descends, not indirectly through emanations, projections, partial or lesser formulations, but directly in his own plenary self. He descends not as a disembodied force acting as a general movement, possessing, at the most, other objects and persons as its medium or instrument, but in an embodied form and in the fullness of his consciousness. The Indian word for Divine Incarnation, avatāra, literally means he who has descended. The Divine comes down himself as a terrestrial being, on this material plane of ours, in order to raise the terrestrial and material Nature to a new status in her evolutionary course – even so He incarnated as the Great Boar who, with his mighty tusk, lifted a solid mass of earth from out of the waters of the Deluge. It is his purpose to effect ascension of consciousness, a transmutation of being, to establish a truly New Order, a New Dharma, as it is termed – dharmasamsthāpanārthāya. On the human level, he appears as a human person – for two purposes. First of all, he shows, by example, how the ascension, the transmutation is to be effected, how a normal human being can rise from a lower status of consciousness to a higher one. The Divine is therefore known as the Lord of Yoga – for Yoga is the means and method by which one consciously uplifts oneself, unites oneself with the Higher Reality. The embodied Divine is the ideal and pattern: he shows the path, himself walks the path and man can follow, if he chooses. The Biblical conception of the Son of God – God made flesh – as the intermediary between the human and the Divine, declaring, "I am the Way and the Goal", expresses a very similar truth. The Divine takes a body for another – occult – reason also. It is this: Matter or terrestrial life cannot be changed – changed radically, that is to say, transformed – by the pure spiritual consciousness alone, lying above or within; also it is not sufficient to bring about only that much of change in terrestrial life which can be effected by the mere spiritual force acting in a general way. It looks as if the physical transformation which is what is meant by an ascension or emergence in the evolutionary gradient were possible only by a physical impact embodying and canalising the spiritual force: it is with his physical body that the Divine Incarnation seems to push and lift up physical Nature to a new and higher status.
The occult seers declare that we are today on the earth at such a crisis of evolution. Earth and Man and man's earthly life need to be radically transfigured. The trouble and turbulence, the chaos and confusion that are now overwhelming this earth, indicate the acute tension before the release, the détente of a NEW MANIFESTATION. The souls group themselves into natural types according to the fundamental mode of consciousness and its dynamism. And they form a hierarchy: they exist and function in an organisation, the type and pattern of which is the pyramid. At the apex is the One Supreme, at the base the infinity of individual and disparate souls, earthly sparks, that are emanations, derivations, scattered condensations, parts and parcels of that One Supreme. In between, from the top towards. the bottom, lie in a graded scale formations more and more specialised, particularised and concretised: as we rise we meet the larger, vaster more comprehensive forms of the same entities till we arrive at the typal and original, the source being. Thus we can view a soul along its line of emanation from the central source as a series of beings, the higher enclosing and encompassing the lower. Not only so, a higher entity can have several lower emanations and each of these again can emanate several others. The number of emanations multiply as one goes down and they decrease as one goes up. We can understand now what is meant when we speak of kindred souls. When there is an inexplicable natural affinity or similarity between two souls, it happens in such a case that the souls are emanations of the same Over-Soul. And it happens also sometimes that the guardian angel or daemon whom one may contact is none other than one's own Over-Soul. The term Over-Soul takes thus a literal and a profound significance.
We may illustrate here a little. At the apex of the pyramid of existence is the Divine, the Supreme Person, the Purushottama. Even there as He begins to lean and look dawn, He expresses himself at the very outset as the dual personality of Ishwara and Shakti (the Divine Father and the Divine Mother) – sa dvitiyam aicchat, as the Upanishad says. That is still the Divine in His highest transcendent status, paratpara. Next, this dual or biune or divalent reality shows itself or throws itself further out in a fourfold valency of the dynamic truth consciousness, creating and leading the cosmic evolution. The Four Aspects of Ishwara, forming the male or purusa line, are the great names: Mahavira, Balarama, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. And the corresponding four aspects of Ishwari form the other great quaternary: Maheshwari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati. They embody the four major attributes of the Divine in his relation to the created universe: Knowledge, Power, Love and skill in work. They also represent thus a divine fourfold order. The first embodies the Brahmin quality of large wisdom, wide comprehension, a vast consciousness; the second has the Kshatriya quality of force, dynamism, concentration and drive of energy; the third possesses the Vaishya quality of harmony, beauty, mutuality and the fourth has the Shudra quality of perfect execution, thoroughness in detailed working, order and arrangement. The higher Gods, like those, for example, envisaged in the Veda, may be considered each as an emanation of one or other of these Divine Aspects. They are dwellers of Swar or the Overmind. Varuna seems to be an emanation of Mahavira, a son of Maheshwari: for he is pre-eminently the god of the pure and vast consciousness who releases us from the triple bonds and shows us the winding way into the embrace of the infinite Mother. His associate, Mitra, is the lord of love and harmony, evidently an emanation of Pradyumna (or Mahalakshmi).
Other gods of the same category are Bhaga and Soma. The Balarama or Mahakali aspect is manifested in Aryaman: Rudra being another form of the same. And Mahasaraswati (or Aniruddha) must have given birth to and inspired the Ribhus, who are artisans of divinity. The Puranic trinity – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva – with lndra as the fourth member forms a parallel system embodying a similar conception. Another tradition gives the Four Supernals as (1) Light or Consciousness, (2) Truth or Knowledge, (3) Life and (4) Love. The tradition also says that the beings representing these four fundamental principles of creation were the first and earliest gods that emanated from the Supreme Divine, and that as they separated themselves from their source and from each other, each followed his own independent line of fulfilment, they lost their divinity and turned into their opposites – Light became obscurity, Consciousness unconsciousness or the inconscient, Truth became falsehood and Knowledge ignorance, Life became death and finally Love and Delight became suffering and hatred. These are the fallen angels, the Asuras that deny their divine essence and now rule the world. They have possessed mankind and are controlling earthly existence. They too have their emanations, forces and beings that are born out of them and serve them in their various degrees of power. Men talk and act inspired and impelled by these beings and when they do so, they lose their humanity and become worse than animals. But still the Pure Reality descends undeviated in its own line and man enshrines that within him, the undying fire that will clean him and bear him to the source from where he came. And there are luminous godheads that help him and wish themselves to participate in the terrestrial transformation. There is a pressure from above and there is an urge from below, between these two infinities all is ground and moulded and changed. Even the Lords of Denial will in the end change and learn to affirm, become again what they truly were and are.
First then there are the supreme divinities, aspects or own personalities of the Divine in his supreme status, the Super-mind; next come the first emanations, the true or pure gods in the Overmind. Thence or simultaneously there is the line of deformation, that of the false gods and godheads, the Asuras and Titans. These too extend in a series of emanations down to the subtle physical; except when they themselves incarnate on the earth in an earthly body. Man, the soul, we said, comes direct from the Divine and is thrown and almost stuck into the earth as a spark, as a point of luminous consciousness-force. This soul, as it develops, we find, belongs to one or other of the fundamental type of divine personality, it is a lineal descendant, as it were, of one of the quaternary and its growth means growing into the nature of that particular godhead and its fulfilment means. identification with that.
We may try to illustrate by examples, although it is a rather" dangerous game and may tend to put into a too rigid and' mathematical formula something that is living and variable. Still it will serve to give a clearer picture of the matter. Napoleon. evidently was a child of Mahakali; and Caesar seems to have been fashioned largely by the principle of. Maheshwari; while Christ or Chaitanya are clearly emanations in the line of Mahalakshmi. Constructive geniuses, on the other hand, like the great statesman Colbert, for example, or Louis XIV, Ie grand monarque, himself belong to a family (or gotra, as we' say in India) that originated from Mahasaraswati. Poets and artists again, although generally they belong to the clan of Mahalakshmi, can be regrouped according to the principle that predominates in each, the godhead that presides over the inspiration in each. The large breath in Homer and Valmiki, the high and noble style of their movement, the dignity and vastness that compose their consciousness affiliate them naturally to the Maheshwari line. A Dante, on the other hand, or a Byron has something in his matter and manner that make us think of the stamp of Mahakali. Virgil or Petrarch, Shelley or our Tagore seem to be emanations of Beauty, Harmony, Love – Mahalakshmi. And the perfect artisanship of Mahasaraswati has found its especial embodiment in Horace and Racine and our Kalidasa. Michael Angelo in his fury of inspirations seems to have been impelled by Mahakali, while Mahalakshmi sheds her genial favour upon Raphael and Titian; and the meticulous care and the detailed surety in a Tintoretto makes us think of Mahasaraswati's grace. Mahasaraswati too seems to have especially favoured Leonardo da Vinci, although a brooding presence of Maheshwari also seems to be intermixed there.
For it must be remembered that the human soul after all is not a simple and unilateral being, it is a little cosmos in itself. The soul is not merely a point or a single ray of light come down straight from its divine archetype or from the Divine himself, it is also a developing fire that increases and enriches itself through the multiple experiences of an evolutionary progression – it not only grows in height but extends in wideness also. Even though it may originally emanate from one principle and Personality, it takes in for its development and fulfilment influences and elements from the others also. Indeed, we know that the Four primal personalities of the Divine are not separate and distinct as they may appear to the human mind which cannot understand distinction without disparity. The Vedic gods themselves are so linked together, so interpenetrate one another that finally it is asserted that there is only one existence, only it is given many names. All the divine personalities are aspects of the Divine blended and fused together. Even so the human soul, being a replica of the Divine, cannot but be a complex of many personalities and often it may be difficult and even harmful to find and fix upon a dominant personality. The full flowering of the human soul, its perfect divinisation demands the realisation of a many-aspected personality, the very richness of the Divine within it.
"As i already told you many times that to realize the True Unchanging Self is fundamental and indispensable. But that is not final and the next step or along with it is to Live in that True Consciousness and from there and through that change and transform the whole nature down to the very physical cells. a total transformation or transfiguration as the Christ envisaged. This is Sri Aurobindo's teaching not a withdrawal from manifestation into formless inactive Static Brahman Consciousness but Dynamic Divine Life by Transformation Trough our True Nature"
Well if this is the case are you aspiring to be like Babaji??? because it sure sounds like you
Mahavatar Babaji, a Himalayan Mahayogi said to be about 1,800 years old, is the founder of kriya yoga.
The world first heard about him courtesy Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi. Today, many cults are growing around his enigmatic persona.
Mahavatar Babaji (whose feats have been reported by Paramahansa Yogananda in his Autobiography of a Yogi) is one such eternal master.
He is the man with the 1,800-year-old immortal body. He's also the founder of Kriya yoga, a discipline involving purification of the body-mind organism through breath control techniques to aid longevity and spiritual evolution.
'Mahavatar' means 'great incarnation'. He is also known as Mahakaya Babaji, the word 'Mahakaya' describing his immortal body.
Hi Noel, what Mahavatar Babaji achieved is a personal siddhi by certain practice he maintains youthfulness preventing the decay of the cells; there are many true who speak of him but as you read the book "the masters footsteps" there is mentioned by the Lahiri family that Mahavatar Babaji left his body in 1985-86 around that time; so people go on saying I mat babaji they even have some pictures of different people who claim to be Babaji ( I mean babaji really means a father from baba and the ji is a additional exmlaimation of respect ) evem at time when Lahiri Mahasaya was on earth people used to come to him telling him they saw babaji and that he told them to go and get kriya yoga from Lahiri, in which Lahiri always answerd to them why he didn't gave it to you? It has become all new spiritual culture everyone claiming to be connected with babaji. This is not the kind of perfection that Sri Aurobindo speaks of a kind of a perfection gain and maintained by some techniques he speaks of a new consciousness descending on earth and transforming our present mental and physical limitations; something that would be not a individual siddhi but a collective transformation. He sees and knows and speaks it better then me I will attach the link and you can open it because it is big to send it on this Blog. http://intyoga.online.fr/supram03.htm
Compare what you are saying to this latest post on Eagle Peak
"The exclusive faith and practice of the Lotus Sutra in Mappo is a narrow path with one door (Lotus Sutra Chapter 3). If one could become enlightened and create kosen-rufu through, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, the Soka Gakkai, the Pali Cannon, or the Three Vehicles, the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren would have taught the path wide with many doors. Those who assert otherwise are devils to be repudiated.
The reason the world is in the state it's in, a state of sadness, greed, anger, stupidity, impurity, and prejudice (rather than joy, equanimity, magnanimity, compassion, purity, and empathy), is precisely because of the establishment of mistaken beliefs and inferior teachings that leave the people prostrate on the ground. Unless and until the Lotus Sutra alone flourishes, we will never have a world based on the enlightened life of the Buddha and the Law of Namu myoho renge kyo.
This belief is fundamental to the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin and the forceful practices are the way to Establish the Right Law. Declaring that the Lotus Sutra alone leads to Supreme Enlightenment and all other teachings lead to hell, one is a disciple and believer of Nichiren Daishonin. It is self apparent to the disciples and believers of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin, those with clear minds and those keenly able to correctly observe the world, that it is Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, secular humanism, belief in the sanctity of science, and heretical provisional Buddhism which has brought us to the brink. The elimination of these diseased religions and philosophies will bring about the land of eternal quiescent light."
Thank you Noel for make in it at last clear about your Buddhism; there is no purpose of any discussion with you just like with any new born Christian or Isis or any extreme group; you have find your path good luck to you.
I am discontinuing any correspondence with you now that you have revealed the mind set of your extreme fanatical Buddhism ( which is not really a Buddhism ) now I see why you and Kumiko despite our discussions could never come to any agreement and harmony, it is only your Buddhism and Nothing and Nobody else, I got It, finally I got It!!
The Nirvana Sutra says: “Rely on the Law and not upon persons...Rely on wisdom and not on discriminative thinking.”
"To rely on the Law means to rely on the constantly abiding Law of the Lotus and Nirvana sutras.
Not relying on persons means not relying on persons(as in the case of Stavros who rely on Baba Ji, Lahiri Mahasay, Yogananda, Sri Aurobindo, that) do not themselves rely on the Lotus and Nirvana sutras.
Even though they may be Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, if they are Buddhas and bodhisattvas who do not rely on the Lotus and Nirvana sutras, they cannot serve as GOOD FRIENDS.
And how much more is this so if they are merely scholars, translators of the sacred texts, or ordinary teachers!
To rely on wisdom means to rely on the Buddha and not relying on discriminative thinking means that one does not rely on those who are on the level of near-perfect enlightenment or below."
Stavros relies on Baba Ji, Lahiri Mahasay, Yogananda, Sri Aurobindo and the other so called enlightened masters of provisional teachings and not the Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutra Nichiren Shonin and his master the Eternal Lord Shakyamuni Buddha Thus Come One
These so called enlightened ones are appear like mere fire fly's to the votaries of the Lotus Sutra that see the Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutra Nichiren Shonin and his master the Eternal Lord Shakyamuni Buddha Thus Come One as the sun.
How can these Provisional non Buddhist and Buddhist teachers help others cure their their Karmic disease when they cant heal themselves
This letter on Curing Karmic Disease is written by Nichiren for the good of all and especially those that are already puffed up with their own spiitual pride that has been derived from provisional Buddhist and non Buddhist teachings that blinds them to the wisdom of the Lotus Sutra
"I SEE from your letter that you have been stricken with a painful affliction. On the one hand, knowing that you are in agony grieves me, but on the other, I am delighted.
The Vimalakīrti Sutra states: “At that time the wealthy Vimalakīrti thought to himself, ‘I am ill, lying on my bed, [yet why does the World-Honored One, man of great compassion, not take pity on me]?’ . . . At that time the Buddha said to Manjushrī, ‘Go visit Vimalakīrti, and inquire after his illness.’”
The Nirvana Sutra says, “At that time the Thus Come One . . . assumed the appearance of one who is ill in body and lay on his right side like a sick man.”
The Lotus Sutra states, “[The Thus Come One is well and happy], with few ills and few worries.”
The eighth volume of Great Concentration and Insight states: “Vimalakīrti lay on his sickbed in Vaishālī, making his illness a pretext to promote the teachings . . . Through his death, the Thus Come One taught the eternity [of life], and through illness, the power [of Buddhism].”
It also says: “There are six causes of illness: (1) disharmony of the four elements; (2) improper eating or drinking; (3) inappropriate practice of seated meditation; (4) attack by demons; (5) the work of devils; and (6) the effects of karma.”
The Nirvana Sutra reads: “There are three types of people whose illness is extremely difficult to cure.
The first is those who slander the great vehicle;
the second, those who commit the five cardinal sins;
and the third, icchantikas, or persons of incorrigible disbelief.
These three categories of illness are the gravest in the world.”
It also states: “One who creates evil karma in this life . . . will surely suffer in hell. . . . But by making offerings to the three treasures, one avoids falling into hell and receives the retribution in this life, in the form of afflictions of the head, eye, or back.” cont...
Great Concentration and Insight states, “Even if one has committed grave offenses . . . the retribution can be lessened in this life. Thus, illness occurs when evil karma is about to be dissipated.”
In his Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna says: “Question: . . . [Answer]: If that is so, then none of the sutras, from the Flower Garland to the Wisdom sutras, is a secret teaching, but the Lotus Sutra is secret. . . . [The Lotus Sutra is] like a great physician who can change poison into medicine.”
T’ien-t’ai explained the quotation further, saying: “This can be likened to a skilled physician who can change poison into medicine. . . . That persons of the two vehicles were given the prophecy of their enlightenment in this sutra means that it can change poison into medicine. This is what Great Perfection of Wisdom means when it says, ‘The various sutras are not secret teachings; only the Lotus Sutra is secret.’”
Great Concentration and Insight says, “The Lotus Sutra can cure them [illnesses], which is why it is called myō, or wonderful.”
Miao-lo says, “Because it can cure what is thought to be incurable, it is called myō, or wonderful.”3
The Nirvana Sutra states: “King Ajātashatru of Rājagriha was wicked by nature . . . He killed his father, and thereafter, in a fit of remorse, he developed a high fever . . . Because of the fever from remorse, boils broke out over his entire body. They were foul and evil-smelling, so that none could come near. At that time his mother, Vaidehī, tried to help by applying various medicines, but this only made the boils worse; there appeared to be no hope of recovery.
The king said to his mother, ‘These boils have their origin in the mind; they do not arise from the four elements. Though people say that there is a physician who can cure them, that could not possibly be . . .’
Then the World-Honored One, the compassionate and merciful teacher, entered into the moon-loving meditation4 for the king’s sake. Upon entering meditation, he emitted a brilliant ray of light. This ray of clear coolness fell upon the body of the king, and instantly the boils were healed.”
The Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law, which is the great wisdom of equality, says in its seventh volume: “This sutra provides good medicine for the ills of the people of Jambudvīpa. If a person who has an illness is able to hear this sutra, then his illness will be wiped out and he will know neither old age nor death.”
In light of the above quotations, it would seem that your illness cannot have originated in anything other than the six causes of disease. I will set aside the first five causes for the moment.
Illnesses of the sixth, which result from karma, are the most difficult to cure. They vary in severity, and one cannot make any fixed pronouncements, but we know that the gravest illnesses result from the karma created by slandering the Lotus Sutra. Even Shen Nung, Huang Ti, Hua T’o, and Pien Ch’üeh threw up their hands,6 and Water Holder, Water Carrier,7 Jīvaka, and Vimalakīrti likewise kept silent. cont...
Such illnesses can only be cured by the good medicine of the one Buddha Shakyamuni’s Lotus Sutra, as that sutra itself explains.
The Nirvana Sutra, referring to the Lotus Sutra, states: “Even the offense of slandering this correct teaching [will be eradicated] if one repents and professes faith in the correct teaching. . . . No teaching other than this correct teaching can save or protect one. For this reason one should take faith in the correct teaching.”
The Great Teacher Ching-hsi said, “The Nirvana Sutra is itself pointing to the Lotus Sutra and saying that it is the ultimate.” He further said: “It is like the case of a person who falls to the ground, but who then pushes himself up from the ground and rises to his feet again. Thus, even though one may slander the correct teaching, one will eventually be saved from the evil paths.”
Bodhisattva Vasubandhu was originally a scholar of Hinayana Buddhism. In an effort to prevent Mahayana Buddhism from spreading throughout the five regions of India, he wrote five hundred treatises on Hinayana.
Later, however, he encountered Bodhisattva Asanga and abandoned his erroneous views on the spot. Facing Asanga, he said that, in order to eradicate this offense all at once, he wanted to cut out his own tongue. Asanga stopped him, saying, “Vasubandhu, use that tongue to praise Mahayana.” Vasubandhu immediately wrote five hundred Mahayana treatises in which he refuted Hinayana.
He also made a vow that, as long as he lived, he would never place the Hinayana teachings on his tongue. In this way he eradicated his past offense and was later reborn in the heaven where Bodhisattva Maitreya dwells.11
Bodhisattva Ashvaghosha, a native of eastern India, was thirteenth among the successors of the Buddha’s teachings. At one time Ashvaghosha had been a leader of Brahmanism. When he debated with the Buddhist monk Punyayashas over the validity of their respective teachings, however, he quickly realized the superiority of Buddhist teachings.
Ashvaghosha was prepared to behead himself in order to pay for his past offense, saying, “I have been my own worst enemy, leading myself to hell.” But Punyayashas admonished him, saying, “Ashvaghosha, do not behead yourself! Use that head and mouth to praise Mahayana.”
Ashvaghosha soon thereafter wrote The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, in which he refuted Brahmanism and Hinayana. This marked the beginning of the spread of Mahayana Buddhism in India.
The Great Teacher Chi-tsang of Chia-hsiang-ssu temple was among the most outstanding scholars in China. He was the founder of the Three Treatises school, and lived on Mount Hui-chi in Wu. Believing that none could equal him in knowledge, he raised the banner of his pride to its highest.
He challenged the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai to discuss the meaning of the passage that states, “Among the sutras I have preached, now preach, and will preach, [this Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand].”
In the debate Chi-tsang was soundly defeated and thereupon renounced his misguided beliefs. In order to expiate his serious offense of slander of the correct teaching and of those who upheld it, he gathered more than one hundred eminent scholars and begged the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai Chih-che to lecture to them. cont...
Chi-tsang used his body as a bridge for the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai to climb [onto the preaching platform], supporting T’ien-t’ai’s feet with his head. Moreover, he served T’ien-t’ai for seven years, cutting firewood and drawing water for him. He ceased giving lectures of his own, dispersed his followers, and in order to purge himself of his great conceit, refrained from reciting the Lotus Sutra.
After the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai’s death, Chi-tsang had an audience with the emperor of the Sui dynasty to pay his respects. As he was leaving, he clutched His Majesty’s knees and tearfully bade him farewell. Sometime later, Chi-tsang looked into an old mirror and, seeing his reflection, condemned himself for his past errors. All these many acts of penitence were done to eradicate his karmic disease.
The Lotus, the wonderful sutra of the single vehicle, is the golden words of the three kinds of Buddhas.
Likened to a bright jewel, it ranks highest among all the sutras that “I have preached, now preach, and will preach.”
There are passages in the Lotus Sutra that say, “Among the sutras, it [the Lotus Sutra] holds the highest place,” and “[Among those sutras] the Lotus is the foremost!”
The Great Teacher Dengyō said that [the Lotus school is] the school founded by the Buddha himself.
I have made a thorough study of the various True Word sutras, such as the Mahāvairochana, Diamond Crown, and Susiddhikara, but have found nothing written in them to compare with the above passages of the Lotus Sutra.
The claim [that these sutras are superior to the Lotus] appears to be no more than a prejudiced view held by Shan-wu-wei, Chin-kang-chih, Pu-k’ung, Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō. From this we realize that the true intent of the Buddhas Shakyamuni and Mahāvairochana lay just in the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra.
When the three great teachers Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō, the founders of the True Word teachings in Japan, went to China during the T’ang dynasty, they inherited from Hui-kuo and Fa-ch’üan the deceptions and delusions originally held by the three Tripitaka masters Shan-wu-wei, Chin-kang-chih, and Pu-k’ung.
When on returning to Japan they propagated the Lotus Sutra and the True Word teachings, they hid the brilliant moon of the Lotus Sutra, the supreme vehicle that surpasses all the other sutras of the past, present, and future, and showed the firefly glimmer of the True Word mandalas of the two realms. Not only that, but they slandered the Lotus Sutra, saying that it was a work of “childish theory” and belonged to “the region of darkness.” These comments, however, were like a dagger turned against those who made them. cont...
It is not the Lotus but the Mahāvairochana Sutra that is filled with childish theory and is in the region of darkness.
The founders of the True Word teachings were warped to begin with. So how could their disciples and followers be upright? Contamination at the source of a river will pollute its entire length. Because of this, the Land of the Sun has had a long, dark night, and the Sun Tree is now about to be blighted by an alien frost.
Although you were not in the mainstream of the True Word school, you were still a retainer of a patron of that teaching. You lived for many years in a house whose family was devoted to an erroneous doctrine, and month after month your mind was infected by the teachers of error.
Though huge mountains may crumble and the great seas dry up, this offense of yours will not easily pass away. However, because of the influence of karmic bonds and the compassion with which you are imbued in this lifetime, you met me, a priest of humble learning, when you least expected it, and determined to reform your ways.
Therefore, though at the moment your offense has brought on these boils from which you suffer, in the future you will be spared worse suffering.
King Ajātashatru suffered from severe boils because he committed the five cardinal sins and slandered the correct teaching. But his boils disappeared instantly when the light produced by the Buddha’s moon-loving meditation illuminated his body. And, though it had been predicted that the king had only twenty-one days left to live, his life span was extended by forty years. In deep appreciation, he earnestly requested one thousand arhats to record the golden words of the Buddha’s entire lifetime,18 thus spreading the Buddha’s teachings into the ages of the Former, Middle, and Latter Days of the Law.
Your boils have resulted from only one offense—slandering the correct teaching. The Mystic Law you now embrace surpasses the moon-loving meditation. How then could your boils possibly not be healed and your life span not extended?
If these words of mine prove untrue, you should shout: “The Buddha, the eye of the entire world, is a great liar, and the Lotus, the wonderful sutra of the single vehicle, is a scripture of clever flourishes.
The World-Honored One should give me proof if he cares about his good name. All the sages and worthies should come to protect me if they do not want to be false to their vows.”
A letter cannot convey all that one would like to say, and words cannot fully express what is in the heart. The rest will have to wait until the next time we meet.
Now, at this time of the Latter Day, Nichiren's Gosho is read:
"The founders of the Nichiren Shoshu teachings were warped to begin with. So how could their disciples and followers [SGI, Shoshinkai, Kenshokai] be upright? Contamination at the source of a river will pollute its entire length. Because of this, the Land of the Sun has had a long, dark night, and the Sun Tree is now about to be blighted by an alien frost."
Its a crying shame what they have done. This link demonstrates the striking parallel between environmental contamination and Spiritual contamination if we consider what world religions, spiritual paths, philosophies, nationalism, materialism, atheism, political parties etc. have created from contaminants that have been created at the source that we have been feeding off has polluted our entity and the environment is like a mirror image of that which is a reflection of who we are
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDIYs2jg0ZE
Think of the founders of NST as the miners and people and fish downstream as their disciples and followers SGI, Shoshinkai, Kenshokai.
We could say the same for all paths of spirituality that aren't in line with the Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutra Nichiren Shonin and the Original Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha Thus Come One that are an image of our true entity rather than a warped one of our true identity that the other fake past and wanabbee present deluded masters want us to believe in as they don't know any better themselves, the poor buggers that they are
Stavros is being incoherent when saying that " because the crystal does not produces the sun neither the moon"
Nichiren said that "If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water. This analogy is bit misleading when compared with the True Essential nature of Reality , because the crystal does not produces the sun neither the moon's rays nor the water but the True Essence of Mind produces all these through transformation of its Conscious force energy. Electricity would be more suitable analogy which through its different arrangement of function can create cool or hot elements though in itself electricity is neither cold nor hot but is beyond both. The True Nature of Mind involved itself through different energy layers of its own energy doing and thus apparently covers its original purity and conscious power though it is underlying as unchanged and essentially free. A deluded being has not realized his own true nature and looks at everything from ignorant consciousness; the enlighten person has realized his true nature and lives in it and sees everything from it and through it and there is no delusion in his mind. So whatever is placed upon the True Essential Nature of an enlighten person brings only enlightenment and not delusion; and also changes the illusion into enlightenment ;what is placed not directly upon the True Essential Nature but upon different layers or already deluded states of consciousnesses which cover the True consciousness brings only delusion or mixed truth. The analogy of crystal is not correct when applied to real life happenings because this example is of an object which is a medium but does not produces neither the fire or water; the fire which is produced by the sun in the from of rays passes though the crystal and the water which comes from the atmosphere gathers around the crystal, non is truly produced or originated by the crystal.
But the states of consciousness are produced from the True Essential Nature of Reality; what is in direct touch with true nature of reality produces enlightenment whether there are harmonious and pure or deluded and disharmonious conditions. Whatever is place on it brings enlightenment and not delusion. But on the other hand what is placed on the ignorant and deluded consciousness and not on the true essential nature brings only further ignorance and delusion. That was my point, if you have put the whole statement which i wrote and not taken a bit out of it and take it out of context commenting on it. I just wanted to make it clear what exactly i am talking about.
There you go, you said it again. There is definably a malfunction in your reasoning here; "the crystal does not produces the sun neither the moon's rays nor the water" these are not Nichiren's words and meaning
Nichiren said that "If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water."
You are the one that is being misleading here Stavros don't blame Nichiren for talking about something that you don't understand because it doesn't fit into your mindset.
I think your teachings have warped the way in which you see such a simple thing and prevents you seeing things for what they are which is a serious handicap to have.
Please stop and think carefully Stavros what you have said and then we may be able to go forward with an intelligible conversation and not this kind of mumbo-jumbo that you are carrying on with here.
I know English isn't your Native tongue but that is no excuse for not having common sense and insulting Nichiren's intelligence as you are in the habit of doing, lets be clear about that
This blog is dedicated to set free those under delusion through sharing the wisdom of the Lotus Sutra but we need to be open to it to let it work in our life.
It's helped me, the people around me, the environment where I live and work. Even though you may judge me as some kind of intolerant fanatic I find this Buddhism as all inclusive and not exclusive.
It is the other way around because it is the other faiths that exclude the profound teachings of Nichiren Buddhism. It takes a paradigm shift for some before they finally get it and that doesn't come easy if we are holding onto something that is diametrically opposed
You have a vast knowledge of spirituality in which you present partial truths that are universal to what all religions share on the surface and deeper levels right down to their core including even Nichiren Buddhism that you consider as exclusive but its open to all.
Its our choice what we choose just like a fully awakened person who has become a Buddha can choose desires that they know will lead them into delusion but know in eternity that they have the potential to revive themselves from hellish states of being, like what we are doing in this world
Produce meaning
cause (a particular result or situation) to happen or exist: Ordinary cause and effect and Great cause and effect (simultanety of cause and effect)
"no conventional drugs (teachings) had produced any significant change" to their infinite delusions only the Lotus Sutra can produce a clear mind free of delusion
Lotus Sutra, Nichiren's Teachings, Daimoku,Gohonzon give rise to · bring about · cause · occasion · generate · engender · lead to · result in · effect · induce · initiate · start · set off · contribute to · make for · be conducive to · foster · promote · provoke*precipitate · breed · spark off ·trigger· beget - ENLIGHTENMENT
The crystal doesn't produce fire neither water, they are produced by the sun and hydrogen + oxygen water.
You cannot compare that to True nature which produces its own energy and encloses itself in it in many layers the more identified with the dense layers the more it is experiencing limitation and delusion, the more is identified with its true unchanging pure nature the more it is conscious and enlighten.
Whatever is placed upon the enlighten nature produces enlightenment and not delusion; the Buddhas change delusion into enlightenment.
Also you speak of all inclusiveness, your Buddhism is not all inclusive, those who don't practice the same teachings as you and don't chant the same chant as you are your enemies this is what you and the verses which you send me stated; you have no love for others neither intention to help others or create a unified loving world, you only care to make others as you, to believe and follow exactly what you do; only if they are of the same group as you and practice nichiren Buddhism then you think you and the world will be at peace; how can you talk of inclusiveness since you wish all religion except Nichirn's have to disappear , how can you love others? since you are hostile and dislike and hate others from other faiths and religions?!
"The analogy of crystal is not correct when applied to real life happenings because this example is of an object which is a medium but does not produces neither the fire or water; the fire which is produced by the sun in the from of rays passes though the crystal and the water which comes from the atmosphere gathers around the crystal, non is truly produced or originated by the crystal."
Crystal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, give rise to · bring about · cause · occasion · generate · engender · lead to · result in · effect · induce · initiate · start · set off · contribute to · make for · be conducive to · foster · promote · provoke*precipitate · breed · spark off ·trigger· beget FIRE
FIRE and WATER is what is being produced not the CRYSTAL, SUN and DEW
The fire is produced through the medium of the crystal (magnifiying glass) from the sunlight passing through
Crystal placed in the moon’s rays, will give rise to · bring about · cause · occasion · generate · engender · lead to · result in · effect · induce · initiate · start · set off · contribute to · make for · be conducive to · foster · promote · provoke*precipitate · breed · spark off ·trigger· beget WATER
How can you compare this example of the crystal to True Nature of Mind? Here Nichiren is saying different things placed on it will produce different effect as far as the crystal is concerned it may be true I don't doubt his statement about the crystal ( I know as you mentioned too that udder sun yes the sun rays are concentrated and will turn into flame , I have done it and surely you have done it, about the moon rays or the moon itself producing or proper to say causing the enveloping of the crystal by dew I cant say I am open minded about it.) What you place in front of crystal it may have different effects but if you are to compare the crystal to true nature of mind that example doesn't stand because whatever you place upon it all will be Enlightenment , everything will be perceived the true way as it is; And here the True nature of mind is the mind of the thus Come One and so whatever is placed upon it cannot cause delusion on the contrary it dispels ignorance in others if they are receptive! Do you get what I am saying? we are talking about the true nature of mind, the delusion is produced upon the ordinary mind not the true nature of mind; the true nature of mind has to go through different states of consciousness and lose apparently its true state of being in lower and outer identification and thus seeing from ordinary mind; then from ordinary mind it gets deluded whatever falls upon it or if it is being in search for truth and is open and receptive it will get inspiration and partial enlightenments through enlighten association and will become gradually enlighten on the path to enlightenment ( to fully Enlightenment) But what is placed upon the True nature of Mind ( and one has to be situated in ones true nature of mind) it brings only enlightenment, whatever it is whether it is delusion, falsity ,wickedness it won't change one into a wicked and deluded being. Otherwise the Buddhas could not be able to change and transform delusion into enlightenment and poison into medicine if they would to be changed by their surroundings or of what is placed upon them.
FIRE and WATER is what is being produced not the CRYSTAL, SUN and DEW;? Crystal is a MEDIUM! You really don't understand what I am saying, Sun is fire, and dew is water. If you don't getting what I am saying its alright, leave it here.
I don't know if you have read the entirety of Nichiren"s letter The Entity of the Mystic Law from which have been Quoting but here is some background Knowledge
"The Entity of the Mystic Law explains the great benefit of having faith in the Gohonzon. When examined in terms of the concept of teaching, practice, and proof, this treatise corresponds to proof, while The Opening of the Eyes and The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind are related to teaching and practice, respectively.
“Teaching” means the Buddha’s teaching, and “practice” means the practice that accords exactly with the teaching. “Proof” means the merit resulting from the practice of the teaching.
Opening of the Eyes establishes a fivefold comparison, a system of comparative classification of all of Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings, and demonstrates the superiority of the Lotus Sutra over all the other sutras.
Ultimately it clarifies the supremacy of Namu-myoho-renge-kyo among all the Buddhist teachings, and accordingly it corresponds to “teaching.”
Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind states that embracing faith in the Gohonzon is in itself enlightenment.
Upholding the Mystic Law amounts to completing all the practices in which the Buddhas engaged and acquiring all the benefits and virtues that they obtained through these practices. Therefore, it corresponds to “practice.
"Entity of the Mystic Law corresponds to “proof,” because it reveals that by believing in the Mystic Law one can manifest oneself as the entity of Myoho-renge-kyo.
"What you place in front of crystal it may have different effects but if you are to compare the crystal to true nature of mind that example doesn't stand because whatever you place upon it all will be Enlightenment , everything will be perceived the true way as it is;
And here the True nature of mind is the mind of the thus Come One and so whatever is placed upon it cannot cause delusion on the contrary it dispels ignorance in others if they are receptive!
"The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai in his Great Concentration and Insight states, “Ignorance or illusions are in themselves enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena. But due to the influence of delusions, enlightenment changes into ignorance.”
The Great Teacher Miao-lo comments on this as follows: “Enlightenment has no separate entity but completely depends upon ignorance; and ignorance has no separate entity but completely depends upon enlightenment.”
Ignorance is a state of delusion that must be cut off, whereas enlightenment is the state that one must manifest. How then can we say that they are a single entity? To resolve doubts on this point, one should have a clear grasp of the passages that have been quoted here.
The example of the dream given in the ninety-fifth volume of The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom and the T’ien-t’ai school’s example of the piece of crystal cited above are very interesting illustrations.
Further proof of the truth that ignorance and enlightenment are one in essence is found in the passage in the Lotus Sutra that reads, “These phenomena are part of an abiding Law, [and] the characteristics of the world are constantly abiding.
Great Perfection of Wisdom says, “Enlightenment and ignorance are not different things, not separate things. To understand this is what is called the Middle Way.”
The common mortal of the ordinary mind is controlled by delusion while the Buddha of the true mind manifests enlightenment
The mystic principle that is the essential nature of phenomena possesses two aspects, the defiled aspect and the pure aspect. If the defiled aspect is operative, this is called delusion. If the pure aspect is operative, this is called enlightenment. Enlightenment constitutes the realm of Buddhahood. Delusion constitutes the realms of ordinary mortals.
These two aspects, the deluded and the enlightened, are indeed two different phenomena, and yet BOTH ARE WORKINGS of the one principle, that is, the essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality.
It is like a piece of crystal. If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water. The crystal is a single entity, but the effects it produces differ according to the circumstances.
The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is like this. The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is one, but if it encounters evil influences, it will manifest delusion, while if it encounters good influences, it will manifest enlightenment. Enlightenment means enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena, and delusion, ignorance of it.
Answer: The mystic principle that is the essential nature of phenomena possesses two aspects, the defiled aspect and the pure aspect. If the defiled aspect is operative, this is called delusion. If the pure aspect is operative, this is called enlightenment. Enlightenment constitutes the realm of Buddhahood. Delusion constitutes the realms of ordinary mortals.
The defiled aspect is the result of distancing ones self from ones true Nature; so the Essential nature casts a shadow a projection in its self and entering into it or manifesting through it by its involvement; if it is a luminous the nearest projection it manifests the eternal values and pure and true qualities ( Truth, Light, Harmony, Perfection , Purity, Knowledge, Joy, Wide Peace, Love, Freedom and Power ..etc..) of The True nature of Being if the projection went through further modification more distant from its central core of Pure or Amala Consciousness and its fine luminous projections then its consciousness and formations will manifest deluded and distorted aspect of ignorance. The Truth has its own forms of being.
These two aspects, the deluded and the enlightened, are indeed two different phenomena, and yet both are workings of the one principle, that is, the essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality. It is like a piece of crystal. If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water. The crystal is a single entity, but the effects it produces differ according to the circumstances.
This analogy is bit misleading when compared with the True Essential nature of Reality , because the crystal does not produces the sun neither the moon but the True Essence of Mind produces both through transformation of its Conscious force energy. Electricity would be more suitable analogy which through its different arrangement of function can create cool or hot elements though in itself electricity is neither cold nor hot but is beyond both. The True Nature of Mind involved itself through different energy layers of its own energy doing and thus apparently covers its original purity and conscious power though it is unchanged and essentially free. A deluded being has not realized his own true nature and look at everything from ignorant consciousness; the enlighten person has realized his true nature and lives in it and sees everything from it and through and there is no delusion in his mind. So whatever is placed upon the True Essential Nature of an enlighten person brings only enlightenment and not delusion; what is placed under ignorant nature brings only delusion or mixed truth.
The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is like this. The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is one, but if it encounters evil influences, it will manifest delusion, while if it encounters good influences, it will manifest enlightenment. Enlightenment means enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena, and delusion, ignorance of it.
Actually this too in one way is true , that the True Aspect or True Self which is One it will in its conditioned and ignorant state of its True Nature manifest delusion or gain enlightenment under different influences but a Realized being will not only be not influenced in different conditions but will influence and change the conditions by its presence such is the power of Enlightenment or Buddhahood.
It is like the case of a person who in a dream sees himself performing various good and evil actions. After he wakes up and considers the matter, he realizes that it was all a dream produced by his own mind. This mind of his corresponds to the single principle of the essential nature of phenomena, the true aspect of reality, while the good and evil that appeared in the dream correspond to enlightenment and delusion. When one becomes aware of this, it is clear that one should discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion, and take as one’s basis the awakening that is characterized by goodness and enlightenment.
, The Essential Nature the True Unchanging Aspect is Pure and anything in touch with that will manifest enlightenment; here it tells clearly one should discard ignorance which associated with evil and delusion and base oneself in Goodness and Enlightenment. Goodness, Truth are aspects of the True nature, that we have to cultivate and get rid off delusion and ignorance! Did you hear that Noel " Discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion!!"
The Great Teacher Miao-lo comments on this as follows: “Enlightenment has no separate entity but completely depends upon ignorance; and ignorance has no separate entity but completely depends upon enlightenment.”
Probably by now you may think of me as arrogant claiming understanding to comment on them; but from the different sources which I heard and contemplated and most importantly tested in life against life because that is the only way to do it; how can you know who speaks the truth who has the correct perception and realization; I believe there is only one way for one and that is to open and take it in dwell on it deeply everyday and test it, see it,, experience it in life and see if it holds true, only in life in living life not in ones mind just imaginary thinking one can see and know.
I feel though here is a great insight ( to these teachings you have send ) but as far as the philosophical and intellectual ability of description and expression of these truths they are not as good in conveying that as the western philosophers would have; and that is why the teachings appear hard to understand not because they are so profound but because they are disorderly and messy, badly presented , badly explained , badly expressed without logical clearly intelligible sequence!
The True Nature of Mind is Pure or Amala and thus is Self Luminous. If one is in touch with that one can see clearly as it is, one is enlighten; one perceives the ignorance wherever it is present but the ignorance itself doesn't make one enlighten. The ignorance doesn't reveal the enlighten mind , the enlighten mind reveals the Ignorance; but only the true nature of mind makes it enlighten and aware of its truth and of the delusion. If being consciously in ones true nature is Enlightenment then without ignorance one can still have enlightenment, whether the ignorance is present or not; ones ignorance may be removed but that doesn't mean elsewhere or around one there is no display of ignorance. One who is situated in ones True Nature is Enlighten whether there are elements and beings pure or impure , harmonious or disorderly, good or evil.
Great Perfection of Wisdom says, “Enlightenment and ignorance are not different things, not separate things. To understand this is what is called the Middle Way.”
This is already explained below that they are different, so the above statement is misleading and erroneous; ( here is another disability of clear intellectual rendering and capacity) the above statement was implied and expressed by the previous ones and that is that they want simply to point that both derive from the one same essence.
These two aspects, the deluded and the enlightened, are indeed two different phenomena, and yet both are workings of the one principle, that is, the essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality. That is why is stated above " Discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion!!" Otherwise what are we doing, why even having this discussions or why should we be doing any practice or study the scriptures and endeavor to awake and change? If they are the exactly the same thing then why not be as we already are why strive for change for improvement for Enlightenment?!
Lets not go around the, it is really simple and it boils down to this we as individuals have to awake to our true nature and transform our lives; every true religion would tell you that; and while we change there will be some other individuals entering and manifesting delusion; if change doesnt of course means everything is changed into to true nature and expression so the lower universal nature will have that aspect of delusion the show is going on but in that big show life there is inherently in us a nature that is perfect and there is potentiality and possibility of perfection in being and in manifestation of that perfection in life; so this should be our true endeavor, we all possess that truth within us our endeavor should be to manifest it instead to argue for superiority and exclusiveness. Unity , love , harmonious living as one that what we need , thats what we have to practice daily; every religion says that but who follows it; Love God Or the True Nature and follow its laws they have been revealed and we can know them and love your neighbor as thy self ; here this is a peace formula, we have to follow it it has been spoken through all the great religions, now we have to put them in practice!!
"The Essential Nature the True Unchanging Aspect is Pure and anything in touch with that will manifest enlightenment; here it tells clearly one should discard ignorance which associated with evil and delusion and base oneself in Goodness and Enlightenment. Goodness, Truth are aspects of the True nature, that we have to cultivate and get rid off delusion and ignorance! Did you hear that Noel " Discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion!!"
Our true entity includes everything and the Amala consciousness is but one of the many aspects of our true entity. Even the Amala carries potential for delusion, everything is integrated there are no exclusions and no exception nothing is 100% pure.
Good and evil exist as two but not two, one but not one all we can try to do is to transform the evil into good through transcending good and evil by drawing upon the enlightened properties of the Amala Consciousness.
Through developing our wisdom body we can draw wisdom from the Dharma body and then with our manifest body create harmony in our and others lives and become more like the Ancient, Primordial, Original, Eternal 3 bodied Tathagatta Thus Come One, Musa Sanjin Buddha That the original eternal Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren were one with
"If being consciously in ones true nature is Enlightenment then without ignorance one can still have enlightenment, whether the ignorance is present or not; ones ignorance may be removed but that doesn't mean elsewhere or around one there is no display of ignorance. One who is situated in ones True Nature is Enlighten whether there are elements and beings pure or impure , harmonious or disorderly, good or evil."
Our ignorance (fundamental darkness) can never be permanently removed from our Entity as without it we would not exist because it is an indispensable part of our make up and without it their could be no improvement. It always exists even as a latent potential even though we maybe fully enlightened
Our reward body can always falter it all depends on intention. It can happen to someone who has been Buddha for countless Kalpas, a few lifetimes or in years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds.
The Ancient, Primordial, Original, Eternal 3 bodied Tathagatta Thus Come One, Musa Sanjin Buddha that the Original Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren the Supreme votary of the Lotus Sutra and that some say that is equal and even greater than Shakyamuni in this age of Mappo were one with never falters
It is you who think like that because you see things and experience your self from your ordinary mind and not from your true being; a man with low consciousness whose habits are ignorant and harmful will get bad reaction and so for him disease, suffering, needs to be there for him to show him that the way he do things is not right with the laws of health and wellbeing. , he brakes the laws of nature; but a person who is more mature in consciousness he don't need to see ugliness to know and appreciate beauty, or diseases to maintain one self in health with right living and appreciate health , neither hate to know and be in love..these things are needed in the lower grades in the higher and highest consciousness they are unnecessary; That one will understand more clearly as one grows in consciousness and soul awakening.
We are already perfect in our being; Your True Self is perfect and thats who you Eternally are and will be, this is something still you did not conceived clearly yet; you take the deformation and delusion which covers your True Self as your self and identify with that and don't let it falsity go, although your Buddhism say let go of ignorance and delusion and be in your true nature of mind which causes enlightenment; that is not your Self they are all limited partial representations of your Self which change all the time, gradually to greater and greater conscious formations expressing more and more awareness and truth because the Self within is growing and coming forward in more conscious manifest expression, mounting higher and higher seeking to manifest more and more of its perfection; so there will come a time where it will awake fully from ignorance and will manifest the true inner Being and then the inner and outer will be the same and the growth which still will continue won't be any more through trial and error, groping in the darkness and shadows of ignorance, no more growing from ignorance to half lights but now from light to greater light from knowledge and not ignorance to greater knowledge. These are already happening cant you see; Pain , sufferings and all these are lessons of stages of our growth ( because of some ignorance of present and past karma ) but after certain amount of growth they are not needed no more, there may be other things more subtle to be dealt with and refined; delusion is not eternal condition attached to us without which we could not live and appreciate and know Truth and Enlightenment. Our True Nature and Self is Enlightenment. That why we do practice to overcome the untruth and situate ourselves permanently and live in Truth of what we are. That is very natural and not impossible to come because we are already that; it would be rather impossible and unnatural to not be able for eternity to Be who We Are and live that, after all the nature is maid or instrument and organ of the Master Self, and that's why we are here to regain our mastery and perfection which we already possess in Being and Spirit to also possess in dynamic life and nature, transforming it into the image of perfection regaining our eternal power and freedom in full wisdom of Enlightenment.
Our true entity includes everything and the Amala consciousness is but one of the many aspects of our true entity. Even the Amala carries potential for delusion, everything is integrated there are no exclusions and no exception nothing is 100% pure.
Here you are very wrong ; Amala is the True Entity and not an aspect of true entity! That is your Eternal True Self you are that Eternal Entity not an aspect!
Hologram is a formation of lights. We as different individuals we all have forms and are formed into different shapes and images physical or psychological' The Amala as the name states means Pure and is Unchanging and is One Homogeneous Conscious Substance, the Ever Same Unchanged Eternal Self, the hologram is a formation of projected and constructed energies which proceed from Amala or True Self and are displayed in the Amala or Self which contains them without changing or modifying the Amala or True Self what so ever; This the True Entity which is Amala or True Self and which doesn't change and modify into formations and thus cant be and is not a hologram.
"In the Gosho, “On the Ten Factors,” Nichiren Daishonin teaches that the three truths are the core of Buddhism. He states:
It is said that there are over eighty thousand Buddhist teachings. They are all contained in the law of the three truths, and no doctrine exists outside of the three truths.
Three Truths of Emptiness, Temporary Existence, and Middle Way
There are the three aspects representing the truth of the ultimate reality as expounded by Tiantai:
◾The truth of emptiness is the view that all existence is constantly changing and has no absolute, fixed substance.
◾The truth of temporary existence is the view that even though all existence has no immutable substance, it does exist temporarily through causal relations.
◾The truth of the middle way is the absolute truth in which the concepts of truths of emptiness and temporary existence are simultaneously both affirmed and denied. Thus, existence cannot be viewed solely through the truth of emptiness or the truth of temporary existence."
Yes the formations are temporary and empty of permanent fixed forms, that is evident these are in relation to manifestation but what about the Unchanging True Essence of our True Nature, the Amala which is Unchangeable the True Eternal Unchanging Being!
"In the Three Perfectly Endowed Teachings, the three truths of non-substantiality, temporary existence and the middle way are mutually infused, with each truth inclusive of the other two.
That is, it is explained that the truth of non-substantiality is natually the truth of both temporary existence and the middle way.
The truth of temporary existence is naturally the truth of both nonsubstantialty and the truth of the middle way.
Further, the truth of the middle way is naturally the truths of both non-substantiality and temporary existence.
The principle of the Three Perfectly Endowed Truths is called the Perfect Teaching (Engyo).
The Great Master T’ien-t’ai established the practice of the Three Observations in a Single Mind.Observing the Three Truths is known as the Three Observations.
The principle of clear perception derived from the Three Perceptions in a Single Mind, which perceives that the moment to moment mind of the common man is itself the Three Perfectly Endowed Truths, is the principle of ichinen sanzen (three thousand realms in a single mind)."
"The titles of the Āgama sutras, for instance, explain the ultimate principle of these sutras, which is that all things are impermanent. These titles are a hundred, thousand, and ten thousand times superior to the two characters meaning existence and nonexistence used in the titles of non-Buddhist scriptures.
Followers of all the ninety-five non-Buddhist schools, hearing the titles of the Āgama sutras, abandoned their erroneous views and converted to the truth of impermanence.
Those who hear the titles of the Wisdom sutras realize the three teachings that all things are non-substantial in themselves,1 that the Middle Way is independent of non-substantiality and temporary existence,2 and that it is inseparably united with them.
Those who hear the title of the Flower Garland Sutra perceive either of the last two of the above teachings.
Those who hear the titles of the Mahāvairochana Sutra as well as the Correct and Equal and the Wisdom sutras understand that all things, when analyzed, prove to be without substance,4 or that all things are non-substantial in themselves; that non-substantiality is independent of the Middle Way and temporary existence,5 or that it is inseparable from them;6 that the Middle Way is independent of non-substantiality and temporary existence, or that it is inseparably united with them.
However, those who listen to the titles of such provisional sutras are unable to realize the benefit of perfect enlightenment that arises from the teachings of the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, the hundred worlds and thousand factors, and three thousand realms.
The sutras other than the Lotus Sutra do not expound this ultimate doctrine, and so their followers are like ordinary persons at the stage of being a Buddha only in theory."
Further, the truth of the middle way is naturally the truths of both non-substantiality and temporary existence. Yes you already mentioned that before so the question is still unanswered; the formations are temporary and empty of permanent fixed form of existence, that is evident these are in relation to manifestation but what about the Unchanging True Essence of our True Nature, the Amala which is Unchangeable the True Eternal Unchanging Being!
"Yes the formations are temporary and empty of permanent fixed forms, that is evident these are in relation to manifestation but what about the Unchanging True Essence of our True Nature, the Amala which is Unchangeable the True Eternal Unchanging Being!"
Yes there is *THAT* intelligence that is eternally abiding inexhaustible life force that is ever present beyond and within creation but that still doesn't mean that the latent potential for delusion is not present. After all it is *THAT* intelligence that is the orchestrator, so one can never be to sure which adds to the suspense and mystery of it all.
Just hope we are on the right path but even though we may not, I believe in infinite compassion and not eternal damnation which gives great hope for future rebirths even though we may have to endure terrible sufferings for our offences to other life forms and true spiritual principles
I believe in sincerity Noel, as long one is sincere and honest and open for growth there is as no hell for such a one, even in difficulties such a one takes every opportunity for ones advantage to grow ; as Buddha once said too "everyplace is a proper place ( or opportunity ) for to practice the Dharma". I do not choose deliberately to go around and commit offences to other beings or the "true" spiritual principles; As i say one who is honest and open will profit from wherever comes a truth, it will hit one just like that and one will know; Of course there may be some things in spite of ones sincerity and honesty which may not be fully clear but that is not intentionally evil or willfully offensive but the inevitable situation when one is growing from ignorance to knowledge and truth. We are Essentially Perfect and Pure and so nothing ultimately can touch us and harm us for ever; for one who is honestly and consciously walking on the path everything is a conscious growth even the occasional slips till one becomes more clear about things and more stable and strong in that new light of consciousness; for another who is not consciously on the path one gets slaps and kicks by the nature till one wakes up and starts asking questions and willing to do something about it and change seeking solution. In the long run it is all good, we the Pure Spirit are having experiences till we grow fully conscious of our True Self and take possession and mastery of the rest of our whole nature. If we look honestly we will know if we are on the right path and do the right thing; it is something we may know when we look really calmly on our selves and around us..you just know something inside us is pointing to that and that is our True Self; some light from there comes and you just know; the True Being's nature is Goodness, Truth, Right < Harmony, Beauty, Light, deep peace , clarity and calm wide strength etc. And one knows and recognizes immediately these qualities as true when we are in touch with it and also all that is false, small, distorted, limited, disharmonious and untrue. I believe in your best moments you already know.
“The learned authorities in the world today suppose that there is no harm in mixing extraneous practices with the practice of the Lotus Sutra, and I, Nichiren, was once of that opinion myself. But the passage from the sutra [that I have just quoted] does not permit such a view.” (pg. 1014 & 1015)
“Therefore, the Great Teacher Chisho stated that, if one claims that there is no division of Mahayana and Hinayana among the sutras and no distinction of partial and perfect among revelations of the truth, and therefore accepts all the words of the various teachers, then the preachings of the Buddha will have been to no purpose.” (pg. 56)
“In a country where non-Buddhist teachings have already spread, one should use Buddhism to refute them. For example, the Buddha appeared in India and defeated the non-Buddhists; Kashyapa Matanga and Chu Fa-lan went to China and called the Taoists to task; Prince Jogu was born in the country of Japan and put Moriya to the sword.” (pg. 80)
“This passage from the Nirvana Sutra recounts the evil words that the various non-Buddhists spoke against Shakyamuni Buddha because he refuted the scriptures preached by their original teachers, the two deities and the three ascetics….In other words, persons who show no desire to hear or believe in the Lotus Sutra or who say that it does not match their capacity, though they may not actually slander it in so many words, are all to be regarded as persons of hatred and jealousy.” (pg. 206)
“Our own age is not unlike theirs. The Taoists Ch’u and Fei of China, and Moriya in Japan, by relying on the major and minor deities of their respective countries, became enemies of Shakyamuni Buddha.
“There is a difference between the Taoists and Moriya on the one hand and our contemporary priests on the other in that the former preferred gods to a Buddha while the latter have replaced one Buddha with another. However, they are alike in that they all abandoned Shakyamuni Buddha.” (pg. 838)
“But in ancient times, before the Buddhist teachings were introduced to this country, people knew nothing about either the Buddha or his teachings. It was only after the battle between Moriya and Prince Jogu that some people took faith in Buddhism, though others did not.
"The situation was similar in China. After Matanga had introduced Buddhism to China, he held a debate with the Taoists. When the Taoists were defeated in debate, then for the first time there were people who put their faith in Buddhism, though there were many more who did not.” (pg 514)
The 20,000,000 peaceful Buddhists who died at the hands of the violent Muslims and Rajput [Hindu] heretics in India and Kashmir during the Middle Ages would never have happened were they to have taken up the forceful practices of the Nirvana and Lotus Sutra. They were as ignorant as birds and beasts."
The Opening of the Eyes: Persuasive and Aggressive Means of Propagation PART 3 EPILOGUE Chapter XI with Commentary
I don't know where did you place these two comments but I will reply below as the sequence goes. There are different schools of thought on that; The Universe keeps going on as you say coming and going and if the are many universes some may go for a time to a restful state unmanifest others may be manifest fully , others may be just at early stages of manifestation while others on the decline; Some schools of thought on that say the whole thing gets unmanifested for sometime, others state the previous of partial dissolution and not the whole cosmic manifestation together. Some state that when it will manifest in the following cycle of manifestation it will be from the brand new scratch , ( because before the total annihilation everything will be resolved into spirit as unchanging substance and all the previous karma will be disolved) while others would say that everything that is dormant in that state will manifest again from where it left because of the past impression or store Alaya memory will come back and will manifest as a continuation ( little simple example but just like when the day finishes and everyone is dormant at sleep so the next day it will continue where it left previously ) of the previous universal cycle. So within the universal Alaya which is composed of individual Alayas those will come again into action to continue where they left from previous cycle and thus it is eternally coming and going, so I don't se where it is so vastly different as you say. Also check below the next comment and that is from Sri Aurobindo's writings which you posted.
"In the beginning, it is said, was the Eternal, the Infinite, the One. In the middle, it is said, is the finite, the transient, the Many. In the end, it is said, shall be the One, the Infinite, the Eternal. For when was the beginning? At no moment in Time, for the beginning is at every moment; the beginning always was, always is and always shall be. The divine beginning is before Time, in Time and beyond Time for ever. The Eternal, Infinite and One is an endless beginning. And where is the middle? There is no middle; for there is only the junction of the perpetual end and the eternal beginning; it is the sign of a creation which is new at every moment. The creation was for ever, is for ever, shall be for ever. The Eternal, Infinite and One is the magical middle-term of his own existence; it is he that is the beginningless and endless creation. And when is the end? There is no end. At no conceivable moment can there be a cessation. For all end of things is the beginning of new things which are still the same One in an ever developing and ever recurring figure. Nothing can be destroyed, for all is He who is forever. The Eternal, Infinite and One is the unimaginable end that is never closing upon new interminable vistas of his glory."
"The experience of human life on an earth is not now for the first time enacted. It has been conducted a million times before and the long drama will again a million times be repeated. In all that we do now, our dreams, our discoveries, our swift or difficult attainments, we profit subconsciously by the experience of innumerable precursors and our labour will be fecund in planets unknown to us and in worlds yet uncreated. The plan, the peripetia, the denouement differ continually, yet are always governed by the conventions of an eternal Art. God, Man, Nature are the three perpetual symbols. The idea of eternal recurrence affects with a shudder of alarm the mind entrenched in the minute, the hour, the years, the centuries, all the finite's unreal defences. But the strong soul conscious of its own immortal stuff and the inexhaustible ocean of its ever-flowing energies is seized by it with the thrill of an inconceivable rapture. It hears behind the thought the childlike laughter and ecstasy of the Infinite."
"Some state that when it will manifest in the following cycle of manifestation it will be from the brand new scratch , ( because before the total annihilation everything will be resolved into spirit as unchanging substance and all the previous karma will be dissolved)" THIS IS VASTLY DIFFERENT
"while others would say that everything that is dormant in that state will manifest again from where it left because of the past impression or store Alaya memory will come back and will manifest as a continuation ( little simple example but just like when the day finishes and everyone is dormant at sleep so the next day it will continue where it left previously ) of the previous universal cycle.
So within the universal Alaya which is composed of individual Alayas those will come again into action to continue where they left from previous cycle and thus it is eternally coming and going," - IS THIS WHAT YOU SAY?
"so I don't se where it is so vastly different as you say"
Its not vastly different now the way that you say it if this is what you believe, but the explanation in the first 2 posts is vastly different to what you sent on the Lines of Descent of Consciousness by ShriNolini Kant Gupta is vastly different to what you say
In what way Noel they are different ( the first yes it is different " that all the previous seeds of impressions will be dissolved at the end of Mahakalpa or great dissolution" and I don't hold that view ) , you may present the differences, so you may understand exactly what I am presenting and what I am saying, we have to understand each others minds; I think this is and has been a great obstacle in our communication.
Well this is good news, we have definitely cleared up what may be one of the greatest obstacles in our communication over the years in what your true mind presents here; OTHERS IN THIS CASE INCLUDES STAVROS AMONGST A MYRIAD OF ENLIGHTENED BEINGS who bow their heads in affirmation on this aspect of doctrine of faith of what we consider to be an indespensible universal truth
"others would say that everything that is dormant in that state will manifest again from where it left because of the past impression or store Alaya memory will come back and will manifest as a continuation ( little simple example but just like when the day finishes and everyone is dormant at sleep so the next day it will continue where it left previously ) of the previous universal cycle.
So within the universal Alaya which is composed of individual Alayas those will come again into action to continue where they left from previous cycle and thus it is eternally coming and going,"
If this is what you believe, then I believe we are on the same page as Shakyamuni, Nichiren and other enlightened beings of the eternal past, present and future that understand how this principle works throughout the eternity of life.
Those who have not yet grasped these concepts is because their capacity is limited or their cup is already too full to take in anything else
But there is much more; what we agree upon is very evident and that I already have told you many times that it is so; but there is more a little bit more "hidden" truth which is not really hidden if one observe carefully and intuitively and that is what should be the point of our discussion;
This is what you wrote " Its not vastly different now the way that you say it if this is what you believe, but the explanation in the first 2 posts is vastly different to what you sent on the Lines of Descent of Consciousness by ShriNolini Kant Gupta is vastly different to what you say" In what way they are different from what I said these two posts which I send?
"what we agree upon is very evident and that I already have told you many times that it is so;"
no this is the first time I and Kumiko have ever heard you speak of the Alaya Consciousness in the same way as us. You have always come across as saying:
"Some state that when it will manifest in the following cycle of manifestation it will be from the brand new scratch , ( because before the total annihilation everything will be resolved into spirit as unchanging substance and all the previous karma will be dissolved)"
I can remember because when you visited us talking about this I developed a massive headache over this issue and the creation of brand new beings that have no karmic imprint on their individual Alaya consciousness
And you couldn't accept that there could be a set amount of individual entity's in the multiverse that are eternally changing from a manifest to latent state in the sequence that birth and death are never ending cycles of eternal life and also the idea of a fallen Buddha all the way to hell and back again like a YOYO for all eternity which is a free choice that some of us choose because we let ourselves give into temptation.
I believe that if I'm an eternal being, I would of had to of been a fully realised Buddha in past lives otherwise what would I be doing here trying to cultivate my way back again home to Buddha land where we don't all necessarily live happily ever after if we so choose and that's why I'm here through my own fault
Its really about what we put our faith in and if we find that it is unreasonable and uncomfortable or reasonable and peaceful then it may or may not be for us even though it may be right or wrong.
It could be a universal truth or a Delusion of Grandeur that all enlightened beings of the 3 existences would bow their heads in affirmation or shake their heads in disbelief
Hi, "what we agree upon is very evident and that I already have told you many times that it is so;"
no this is the first time I and Kumiko have ever heard you speak of the Alaya Consciousness in the same way as us. You have always come across as saying:
"Some state that when it will manifest in the following cycle of manifestation it will be from the brand new scratch , ( because before the total annihilation everything will be resolved into spirit as unchanging substance and all the previous karma will be dissolved)"
I hope you be more consciousnesses and pay more attention in what is being said; i never said that above reference is what i believe, i always told you from day one when i met you that everything go through cycles even complete Mahapralaya or great dissolution which you had bit difficulty accepting the total temporary dissolution and we agreed that the Reality has two aspects the eternally unchanging and the eternally changing. Now you say i never mentioned about the Alaya that is not correct i mentioned many times this to both of you that it is caled in Vedanta Karana or Causal plane which helds all the imreesion in a seed from and causes the creation ( that is why is called causal ) Also recently didn't i said an email speaking of these things about the Unchanging eternal reality ( as the 9th Consciousness ) and the difference from the 8th consciousness, you didnt pay attention i will send it below again so you may now look at aging with more consciousness;
This is part of s previous mail which i have send you " According to the science ( spiritual science as well of course ) energy it groups and vibrates and creates forms physically visible then when the form breaks down it still exist in molecular or atomically as small particles or smaller as quantum energy; in the same way thoughts are also forms of energy more subtle of course but still formation of compound and group particles of energy. When the thought formations or mental-emotional forms breaks down they still exist in a code wave form like tv or radio vibrating in different frequencies; similarly all the vibrations of consciousness leave some kind of impressions which are constantly changeable composed and recomposed and changed; even though latent as memories of particles these still it has been stated by deep delving souls that they still vibrate very quietly ready to manifest more fully and actively when opportunity arise.
So the consciousness is there you agree without manifested forms but is not there when the forms have subsided into seed like form quietly vibrating. Both the manifested forms and the seedlike quietly vibrating forms are the action of vibrating consciousness-energy So you are saying that apart from Changeable Vibrating consciousness there is not an Unchanged Eternal Consciousness?
Another thing here you mention which is not true and i like to correct it by reminding you of what took place on the day you are talking about, since even there because of resistance you were both not fully attentively present; you say: I can remember because when you visited us talking about this I developed a massive headache over this issue and the creation of brand new beings that have no karmic imprint on their individual Alaya consciousness And you couldn't accept that there could be a set amount of individual entity's in the multiverse that are eternally changing from a manifest to latent state in the sequence that birth and death are never ending cycles of eternal life and also the idea of a fallen Buddha all the way to hell and back again like a YOYO for all eternity which is a free choice that some of us choose because we let ourselves give into temptation.
Yes your headache came because Kumiko and you were saying that not most but sometimes some Buddhas may fall again into ignorance of lower form and consciousness and so my question was if not all the Buddhas fall then who will fill the forms of the lower species , if there are the same amount of beings and most remain as Buddhas and our purpose is to become Enlighten Buddhas and everyone has that potential to manifest that and in course of time as we evolve the lower species will extinct; that you could not answer , Kumiko had no answer to that and wanted to stop the discussion on that subject and you got a headache. But the question remains unanswered by your Buddhism ; you both agree that our goal is to manifest our Buddha nature and this is what you wish for all beings and so where will they come from the beings to take forms in lower species of life if according to Kumiko only few will fall from their Buddha nature and there are no fresh new beings entering the manifestation? And secondly there is nowhere in the scriptures or sayings of any Buddha who has become deluded again, on the contrary it is being stated that the reward is permanent , the Buddha says many kalpas ages or births previously i have attained Buddhahod it is ongoing. Even in statements like these the merit is permanent like " One who kills so much as an ant will invariably fall into the three evil paths, but one who helps eradicate slander of the Law will ascend to the state from which there can be no RETROGRESSION!., this is from your scriptures! Even Christs says " and you will overcome as i have overcome and i will make you a pillar ( in the kingdom of God ) and you shall come out no more." Everything in this world is impermanent " do not gather riches where the moth or the rust or thief may enter but gather the spiritual riches for they are eternal" " heaven and earth will pass away but non of my word "the Truth" won't pass away." Every great master speaks of full enlightenment or great liberation as permanent in contrast to all external impermanent things. So on that even between you you disagree and also you making up things with your imaginations. I have shown you from few quotes that it is permanent and that no one and nowhere has been said of a fall of a Buddha or fully liberated being! You show me proof of statement to show otherwise!
There will always be temptation, "how the mighty have Fallen" we all fall sooner or latter and get back up again some tend to stay longer. So there will always be enough fallen temporary Buddha's to fill the lower species so you don't need to concern yourself too much about that. Treat the lower species with kindness as you would a fallen Buddha. Nichiren was a Vegan he respected all life forms.
It was only those who slandered the Law that he was firm with. The only eternal unchanging consciousness of who we are is known as the original eternal Shakyamuni Buddha 3 body Tathagata Thus come one. The historical Shakyamuni was one with the original eternal Musa Sanjin Buddha triple body of enlightenment
The 3 thousand realms in the eternal moment, mutual possession of the 10 worlds, 10 factors, 3 realms of existence flies in the face of conventional teachings and scriptures that you and the masses hold fast to and trust in
Their are obviously different standards that don't match up that are faith based and cannot be consoled. Just to see it for what it is and not try to turn it into something else is respecting its uniqueness rather than making it have to conform to some pre- existing concept. It's normal to agree to disagree over what is, its the way it is
Kumiko said that she never said once we become a Buddha that we will never fall down. She said that we are more likely to stay in the highest life condition longer than those in the lower higher life conditions but there is no guarantee for staying there forever since Buddha remains in other 9 worlds as a potential and each of those 9 have 10 worlds and goes on forever like holographic multidimensional universe
So now Kumiko is saying that all Buddhas eventually will become deluded and assume lower forms of life and that is why and how the lower forms of life arise. Even that way it is not possible if the higher or highest condition of Buddhahood is longer then the lower forms of life it won't be able to fill the amount of these lower beings who's life spend is very very much short. It is nonsensical any person who uses ones reason and logic even little looking into it will see that is not possible. But all these things you are saying to support your believes is your own imagination and assumption and till now you haven't been able to produce an EVIDENCE FROM THE SCRIPTURES to state that Sakyamuni Buddha has become deluded again or any other Human Buddha that has been fallen or chose to become deluded and entered into lower forms of life.
Since Sakyamuni preached something very temporary and your Nichiren may be by now a fly there is no use talking with you anymore on this subject , your spirituality has no value; be as you are dont strive for anything because you have to and will become again the lower forms of consciousness and life..why practice and aspire for something temporary just go with the flow!
The Eternal True Buddha is not just a human historical person, is not the human Buddha which will become the lower insect, The True Buddha Nature is not Essentially just a human or insect or plant It is That which has become everything and will continue to manifest multiplicity everything, not a human being , this is something which you confuse!
I have been refering to the Alaya consciousness or the Reward Body of an enlightened Buddha,this is what you confuse.
The Dharma Body is the governing intelligence that harmonises all phenomena
"Even that way it is not possible if the higher or highest condition of Buddhahood is longer then the lower forms of life it won't be able to fill the amount of these lower beings who's life spend is very very much short."
The Buddha's are not there in the higher life conditions long enough for this to happen. These lower life forms can exist as alatent potential until time is right for them to manifest.
Just be greatfull that we can improve our lives in this life, and that we will have a chance in future existences no matter how many times we fall to carry on, that's enough hope for me
Hi, "what we agree upon is very evident and that I already have told you many times that it is so;"
no this is the first time I and Kumiko have ever heard you speak of the Alaya Consciousness in the same way as us. You have always come across as saying:
"Some state that when it will manifest in the following cycle of manifestation it will be from the brand new scratch , ( because before the total annihilation everything will be resolved into spirit as unchanging substance and all the previous karma will be dissolved)"
I hope you be more consciousnesses and pay more attention in what is being said; i never said that above reference is what i believe, i always told you from day one when i met you that everything go through cycles even complete Mahapralaya or great dissolution which you had bit difficulty accepting the total temporary dissolution and we agreed that the Reality has two aspects the eternally unchanging and the eternally changing. Now you say i never mentioned about the Alaya that is not correct i mentioned many times this to both of you that it is caled in Vedanta Karana or Causal plane which helds all the imreesion in a seed from and causes the creation ( that is why is called causal ) Also recently didn't i said an email speaking of these things about the Unchanging eternal reality ( as the 9th Consciousness ) and the difference from the 8th consciousness, you didnt pay attention i will send it below again so you may now look at aging with more consciousness;
This is part of s previous mail which i have send you " According to the science ( spiritual science as well of course ) energy it groups and vibrates and creates forms physically visible then when the form breaks down it still exist in molecular or atomically as small particles or smaller as quantum energy; in the same way thoughts are also forms of energy more subtle of course but still formation of compound and group particles of energy. When the thought formations or mental-emotional forms breaks down they still exist in a code wave form like tv or radio vibrating in different frequencies; similarly all the vibrations of consciousness leave some kind of impressions which are constantly changeable composed and recomposed and changed; even though latent as memories of particles these still it has been stated by deep delving souls that they still vibrate very quietly ready to manifest more fully and actively when opportunity arise.
So the consciousness is there you agree without manifested forms but is not there when the forms have subsided into seed like form quietly vibrating. Both the manifested forms and the seedlike quietly vibrating forms are the action of vibrating consciousness-energy So you are saying that apart from Changeable Vibrating consciousness there is not an Unchanged Eternal Consciousness?
The Complete and Final Teaching on Perfect Enlightenment Sutra declares, “The beginningless illusions and ignorance that beset all living beings are all produced by the perfectly enlightened mind of the Thus Come Ones.”
This one above is interesting; from all the evidence and my contemplation on this statement the Buddha many times stated that he had attain Buddhahood in many many previous births; and is keeping going no way back so what you have both stated of Buddha being deluded again it goes against the very nature of things, might as well the rivers run backwards. The is a general direction of course with falls and slips on the way but they are part of the growth and the long upward journey to self discovery. Something by the inherent true inner nature within is pushing us towards more progress, more expansion, more perfection always to become more what we at present are and manifest; this is the innate urge of the True nature. When one has completed the Uni he has no need to go to primary school again. So the beginningless ignorance since all is eternal is coming and going or involving and evolving it is begginingless as a general movement and existence for the operation of the Universe but in that general movement there is a specific individual journey with its individual karma and rebirth and so each step of progress moves to grater grades of form and consciousness and which his previous "roles" would be filled and occupied by other evolving individuals. We are all heading to Buddhahood or Self Realization and so there are naturally new individuals entering the material existence otherwise in due course of time we will all become Buddhas ( which has been said in all the scriptures that for that a human vehicle or form is needed, though there are some rare cases where the animals had direct association with enlighten beings and got liberation from lower nature but that is not clear about getting full Buddhahood ) and the lower forms or nonhuman forms of life will extinct.
Also the second part of the statement that “The beginningless illusions and ignorance that beset all living beings are all produced by the perfectly enlightened mind of the Thus Come Ones.” From all the evidence stated in other scriptures and in this one as well shows that the fully Awakened beings continue being Awakened in the future and so the illusions and ignorance are not created by these Awakened Buddha Beings who attained full Enlightenment and who's mission and purpose of wisdom and compassion is to dispel illusions and ignorance and not produce them; “Shariputra, the thus come ones know how to make various distinctions and to expound the teachings skillfully. Their words are soft and gentle and can delight the hearts of the assembly. The Perfectly Enlightenment Mind is the Ground of Being from which all comes and with which the Thus Come Ones are in oneness; It is unthinkable and it goes against the Very nature of compassion and enlightenment for those in Stage of Buddhahood or even a Boddhisatwa to use their Nirmanakaya and Sabhogakaya being to create illusions and ignorance in the world and for others or to misuse their Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya attainment and choose to plunge again into delusion of ignorance to cause more burden on others and on themselves ; the very things through their very birth they came to dispel which is the ignorance and illusion in the world. So this statement can only be directed to the Original Ground Being, the Brahman , the Godhead of the Theistic paths which states also in the Bible this but many Christians overlook this " King James Bible "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. " Isaiah 45.7 . , Or from the Siva Siddhanta Tradition it is stated that Siva creates, maintains, destroys . reveals and conceals His 5 functions. And of course in the Vedanta teachings too the Divine manifest these two aspects. Ultimately it is The Ultimate Perfectly Enlighten Eternal Ground Reality which manifests and generates all the manifestations including the ignorance and the illusive appearance through a succession of unfoldedment.
I am making many mistakes in spelling, i am mostly sending these mails from work; is not that i am rushing but i get distracted now and then and they occur, my apologies for that.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this article
ReplyDeleteI recently read that the Lotus Sutra was written by anonymous Buddhist monks . One never knows for sure. Something's are better left to faith
Certainly, those who matter, Tientai, Dengyo, and Nichiren, knew that Shakyamuni preached the Lotus Sutra.
ReplyDeleteWHO DO YOU CONSIDER AS THE OTHER LEADING LIGHTS BEFORE THEM THAT knew that Shakyamuni preached the Lotus Sutra??? AND ARE PART OF THE LINEGE FROM LORD SHAKYA SIMILIAR AS THERE IS IN THE Bodhi dharma LINEGE
ReplyDeletePlease rephrase the question. Nan Yueh, Vasubhandu, and certainly Nagarjuna.
ReplyDeleteStace: Hi Mark. Did you read his article on “How the Mahayana Began”? He points out that in the essay you provide the “Corruption” of the Pali texts. The same could be applied to the Mahayana. Can you tell how this is possible: Chapter 10: The Teacher of the Law – This chapter presents the five practices of the teachers of the Lotus Sutra. These practices are accepting and upholding, reading, chanting, explaining and writing the Sutra. The Sutra begins, “Thus I Have Heard”. Ananda, the Buddhas attendant recalling verbally, (orally) what the Buddha said. How and why would the Buddha then instruct the “hearers” of this sutra to READ and; WRITE it?
Mark: I just read it. I’m sure you are aware of one of the honorific titles of the Buddha, that of Omniscience. Gombrich disagrees with Rys David, whether “books” were mentioned in the canon. Let me say that it is probable that the Buddha who talked about the decline, not only of his teachings but of the capacities of individuals, would have realized that one day his words would be lost unless they were written down. Tientai and Nichiren taught that the Lotus Sutra was not ostensibly taught for the people of the Middle Day, let alone for the people of the Former Day. Why would anyone believe that such capable monks who could memorize thousands of lines of oral texts were incapable of keeping secret a teaching meant for a later time? These were highly disciplined men, unlike our present day politicians and heads of state who have successfully kept secrets [documents] for hundreds or even thousands of years. This is hardly an anomally but rather a misunderstanding of the greatness of the Buddha and his followers.
Stace: Other anomalies in the sutra are the use of the term Hinayana and Mahayana. In the Buddha’s time there was only the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. No distinction of any Yanas. How could these terms be uttered by the Buddha or his followers when they hadn’t yet been created and would have no meaning?
Mark: Nearly the entire Buddhist Canon is devoted to correcting wrong thought. It is only natural that the words “Hinayana” and “Mahayana” were inserted when these words came into being. They don’t change one iota the words, “superficial thought and its adherents” and “superior thought and its adherents”, of the Buddha. This argument that anything was added too, is not tenable.
Stace: You wrote, “By the way, what I was referring to in the original post is the contention of some that the “Nikayas” are the actual words of the Buddha while the Lotus Sutra is not.”
All he is talking about are “corruptions” of the pali. I don’t see him addressing the validity of the Lotus Sutra as the actual words of the Buddha. This is what I thought, read “How the Mahayana Began”. He doesn’t necessariy refute your position.
Mark: Not him, others. Gombrich, in many ways supports our position. That is why I cited him, even though his understanding of the mind of the Buddha and the nature of the Sangha is incomplete.
cont...
Stace: You state that my summation is in err that SGI is a legitimate form of Buddhism in accord with teachings of Nichiren. I am arguing that “Nichiren Buddhism” and any lineage born from his teaching is valid because of the arguments put forth in the article you present so long as the purpose is Liberation.
ReplyDeleteMark: I am very sorry if anyone misconstrues that the import of citing this article in any way supports the validity of Ikedaism and Gakkaism. Of course, this was not my intent. You know Stace, I don’t consider SGI to be Buddhism even though it has borrowed extensively from Buddhism. No Buddha, no Buddhahood is my contention.
Stace: I base it off of this excerpt:
”These processes are not random (adhicca-samuppanna) but causally determined. Any empirical phenomenon is seen as a causal sequence, and that applies to the sāsana too. ‘One thing leads to another,’ as the English idiom has it. Whether or not we can see features common to the religion of Mr Richard Causton, the late leader of the UK branch of Soka Gakkai International,(we could add here Kempon Hokke or any other Nichiren based group) and that of Nāgārjuna, or of the Buddha himself, there is a train of human events which causally connects them. Buddhism is not an inert object: it is a chain of events.” PG.3
Mark: Devedatta and Shakyamuni were causally connected. That Gombrich fails to see this [that SGI is to Buddhism as Devedatta was to Shakyamuni] relates to his inability to know the mind of the Buddha.
Stace: Anyway, I do not think the article you presented puts forth the superiority of any teaching over the other but simply points out that there are things in the canon which were added and that this to be understood in an orally preserved teaching, but we can separate the wheat for the chaff and know what the buddha said.
Mark: How much harder is it to know what the Buddha meant and to know the reality of the Buddha?
Stace: I cannot, I mean physically cannot, force my brain to take most religious statement literally and therefor will never be a true believer. I love Dharma and Liberation wherever it be found, as there are so many flowers and scents to delight our senses I believe there are many pathways to liberation. I do not doubt the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren offer such a pathway but I will never believe that it is the only door.
Mark: According to the Lotus Sutra itself and Nichiren, it is the only pathway out of the burning house. Certainly, a living High Priest or mentor in the seat of the Law is not the pathway. The only living mentor in the seat of the Law is Shakyamuni Buddha.
"Modern editors of the Pali Canon, however, have generally contented themselves with trying to establish a textus receptus or ‘received text’. Let me explain. Most of our physical evidence for the Pali Canon is astonishingly recent, far more recent than our physical evidence for the western classical and biblical texts.
cont...
While talking of this, I want to take the opportunity to correct a mistake in something I published earlier this year. In Professor K. R. Norman’s splendid revision of Geiger’s Pali Grammar, published by the Pali Text Society (Geiger, 1994), I wrote an introduction called ‘What is Pali?’ (Gombrich, 1994a). In that I wrote (p. xxv) that a Kathmandu manuscript of c.800 A.D. is ‘the oldest substantial piece of written Pali to survive’ if we except the inscriptions from Devnimori and Ratnagiri, which differ somewhat in phonetics from standard Pali. This is wrong. One can quibble about what ‘substantial’ means; but it must surely include a set of twenty gold leaves found in the Khin Ba Gôn trove near Śrī Ketra, Burma, by Duroiselle in 1926-7. The leaves are inscribed with eight excerpts from the Pali Canon. Professor Harry Falk has now dated them, on paleographic grounds, to the second half of the fifth century A.D., which makes them by far the earliest physical evidence for the Pali canonical texts (Stargardt, 1995). -- Richard F. Gombrich
ReplyDeleteTherefore, according to this reliable information, the Sanskrit text of the Lotus Sutra is older than the Pali texts that the Hinayana Buddhists arrogantly claim to be the only authoritative texts of what the Buddha actually taught.
"It is now clear that none of the existing Buddhist collections of early Indian scriptures—not the Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, nor even the Gandhari—“can be privileged as the most authentic or original words of the Buddha.” -- Linda Heuman
"Only the Lotus Sutra represents the wonderful teaching preached directly from the golden mouth of Shakyamuni Buddha, who is perfectly endowed with the three bodies." -- Nichiren Daishonin
There are various teaching methods employed by the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra: simile; metaphor; parable [of which there are seven]; skillful or expedient means; logic; historical precedent; narration [current events and prior birth stories]; questions and answers; and most importantly, a direct exposition of his Enlightenment. When studying the Lotus Sutra one can reflect, "here the Buddha is speaking of his experience in a previous existence and here the Buddha is answering the question of Sariputra", etc. Are there worlds where the Buddha actually experienced parthenogenesis as the physiological method of reproducing the species or is it a metaphor or is it something else? Is the Treasure Tower a metaphor only? Bodhisattvas 500 feet tall on other worlds? Flying cars? Some things are fruitless to question or contemplate and the Buddha was silent.
Lastly the principle of Ichinen Sanzen is unsurpassed whether theoretical, the 3000 Realms in a Momentary Existence of Life of person, society, and environment simultaneously and the reality of Actual Ichinen Sanzen [the Daimoku and the Gohonzon]. Let me expound a bit more on the Lotus Sutra and other religious faiths:
cont...
ReplyDeleteEach person, society, and environment, even the Buddha's land has a defiled and pure aspect. When the pure aspect is manifest we speak in terms of Enlightenment. When the defiled aspect manifests, we speak of delusion. Were there not the inferior teachings to contrast with the Lotus Sutra there would be no way of ascertaining the truth. Likewise, were there no deluded teachers, we could never come to know the merits and virtues of Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren Daishonin, teachers without peer.
Generally, those who have faith in and practice the Lotus Sutra are Bodhisattvas of the Earth. Specifically, Nichiren Daishonin is the Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutra. Generally we are all Buddhas but specifically, from a deeper sense, Shakyamuni Buddha is the Original Eternal Buddha. From the deepest sense, we are the Three Bodied Tathagata of Original Enlightenment, Shakyamuni Buddha ourselves. Nichiren teaches that this most difficult to believe and most difficult to understand teaching should not be bandied about lightly. In our mundane thoughts and activities, it is best to think in terms of the general meaning, having gratitude for and giving praise to the Lotus Sutra [Law], Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni and Nichiren Daishonin. Similar reasonings can be given in the case of our relationship to the Law. Generally, everyone is a manifestation of the Mystic Law, even a dust mite. Specifically, Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren Daishonin are those who are one with the Mystic Law. There is a saying derived from the Infinite Meanings Sutra, the introduction to the Lotus Sutra: "Infinite meanings derive from the one Law." Equally, infinite phenomena derive from the one Law.
Even Nichiren Daishonin and the Buddha couldn't convert everyone. "To the best of our ability" while employing the strategy of the Lotus Sutra and the wisdom of the Buddha is the means outlined by the Buddha and Nichiren Daishonin to awaken the masses of beings. The Three Proofs, documentary, theoretical, and actual is what will capture other's attention. For example, in converting a Christian or Muslim, documentary proof is comparing and contrasting the Bible or Q'uran with the Lotus Sutra. Theoretical proof is pointing out the reasonableness and sound logic of such concepts as the Mutual Possession of the Ten Worlds and 3000 Realms in a Momentary Existence of Life [Ichinen Sanzen], and the functioning of the Law of Cause and effect. Proof of actual fact is the joy of practicing this teaching, overcoming our limitations and pointing out the hellish reality of a society based on Judeo-Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and even scientific rationalism.
Thanks Mark great answer
ReplyDeleteBest I could do. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI just received this email from a friend who influenced by Sri Aurobindo, I don't know if you are familiar with him but there are some striking similarities with Nichiren Buddhism I find that I don't find so much anywhere else;
ReplyDeleteThe Aspects and the Totality
It is interesting to know the views of major religions the different aspects and standing points but also the many reasons of conflict and separation among them. That is why i wanted to share this; we know how the Semitic religions separate so much God from its creatures and creation, he is the Transcendent One in touch with its creation through His power and Knowledge and through the medium of His higher energies but he is not in his creation, with His very Being and Essence is not in the created Universe
While other view like that of Pantheist or Panspirits as the 'pagan' old European religions and also some eastern religions and some Buddhist schools of thought hold that the Conscious Reality (God) or True Being is totally immanent through all the universe, through all beings and objects and he is the very fabric or material also of the universe and nothing is beyond it.
ReplyDeleteThis is the Pantheistic view the whole Universe is God or the Reality, its Consciousness and its form. There is the other more larger way of seeing that of the Panentheism that all is in God and all is God but God here not only permeates and is its ingredient but envelopes, contains and exceeds the Creation and thus is also above it, behind it ,beyond it and Transcendent to it.
In the first view of the Semitic religions God is outside creation and he created it from outside Itself from "nothing"? or from already pre-existing chaotic material energy which He ordered into worlds and beings; where this material energy came from if not from Conscious Being or God, if not from God is there any other source apart or outside God that it came from, otherwise since it could not have had a separate eternal self existence this whole idea is unexplained or not clearly explained and is absurd. ( jokingly one of Sri Aurobindo's close disciple said, yes out of nothing But GOD).
That is why in Vedas it is simply stated with very simple example. As a spider spins a web ( and pulls it back as well in its body) out of itself so the whole universal web came forth from God not as creation of something but as an emanation or manifestation of that which was already involved and included.
In Eastern Religions like Vedanta and most Buddhism ( although in some it is not as clearly expressed ) the Reality as Unchanging Reality or God has two aspects the Transcendent and Immanent. That which is Transcendentally Unchanged beyond Creation Self-Existent and that which is Unchanging -"Immanent" present in creation not only with its power and conscious knowledge and also through indirect agencies and higher energies ( like in the Semitic religions ) but fully present in Essence and Being as well as in power and knowledge and is involved in sanctioning and guiding and supporting the Individual and the Universal existence ( this may be likened to Buddha nature or Dharmakaya) .
Then there is the involved participating aspect of the Unchanging reality which doesn't itself evolve or change but puts a formation a power and creates a spiritual form around itself of multiple personalities through evolution gathering impressions from all its experiences and growing into a spiritual person chaitya purusha, ( or in Vaishnava language spiritual body ) or ( in Buddhist term Sambhogakaya nature ).
And so this way of perception harmonizes and includes all the Semitic Transcendent Monotheism the Pure Unchanging God beyond, the Pantheistic and Panbuddhistic Immanent God contained in everything and as everything, also the Panentheistic ( or all in God) as enveloping , permeating and containing Reality or God of the Universe, and the Integral perception which perceives the Divine as a fully Transcendent and fully Immanent simultaneously as Sri Aurobindo also perceives and simply states.
So any one concept taken by itself alone in isolation whether that of Transcendence without Pantheistic Immanence or Pantheistic Immanence without Transcendence is incomplete and thus incorrect.
Only an Integral and Total perception and acknowledgment of Truth can gives us the accurate and complete Realization.
I am attaching bellow a link very beautifully stated a subject about Emanationism which is liken to Panentheism ( not Pantheism ). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanationism
If I recall correctly, the great philosopher Plotinus was an Emanationist. I will have to re-read your post several times before commenting on it from the perspective of Nichiren's Lotus Sutra Buddhism.
ReplyDeleteThis is what Nichiren would have say to Plotinus
Delete"The sutras which came before the Lotus Sutra taught that all phenomena derive from one's mind. The mind is like the earth, and phenomena are like the plants growing in the earth. But the Lotus Sutra teaches that the mind is one with the earth and the earth is one with its plants. The provisional sutras say that a tranquil mind is like the moon and a pure heart is like a flower, but the Lotus Sutra states that the flower and moon are themselves heart and mind." (A Gift of Rice)
"Nothing is "projected". We are the earth, moon and plants." MRK RGW
That with be interesting to say the least
ReplyDeleteThere is more from where the last email came from
ReplyDeleteThe emanationist view many spiritual lines perceived that.
There seemed to be a big jump from the creation to Absolute Nirvana or withdrawal from the whole manifestation. But here is the misunderstanding.
In just few words according to Vedanta and other spiritual paths there is lower manifestation and a higher. The Higher manifestation is the one which contains all the True forms and Ideas in perfect harmony with each other and with Its Pure One Unchanging Being and that is Eternal.
The lower manifestation in our time and space has a secession and evolution and thus beginning and an end with manifestation and non manifestation with interruption; but the Higher Reality with its Higher manifestation is Eternally co-existent and everything here in material Universe proceeds and is supported by the Higher.
Everything in this material Universe is "Projected" from the Higher reality and Its Direct Manifestation.
In the Higher Reality of manifestation the subject and object are one.; Being and Becoming , Consciousness and its Manifestation are one.
Here in the lower plane of manifestation is separation and duality due to fundamental ignorance of our true being.
That is why it has been stated ( by Christians and Eastern religions and Plotinus as well ) that we are here to re-create and transform this
earth into Divine manifestation into the likeness of the Higher Reality.
This vedantic school of thought wants to evolve to be one with Brahmin by extinguishing karma of the individual aspect of alaya consciousness.
ReplyDeleteThen the whole process of devolution starts over again which means the atman becomes covered in more dense energies until it becomes mineral
And then from a mineral the atman that is covered in dense energies evolves to higher levels of being until it becomes Brahmin again and this goes on for all eternity
When we look at these belief systems we can save ourselves a lot of time if we know the end goal like Scientology for example
Ex scientologists said that they wouldn't of got into it if they knew about aliens etc that they learn about at the higher levels after they've blown a hundred grand or so
These statements are not Vedanta teachings , neither Sri Aurobindo's teachings non the way you presenting them.
DeleteHi Stavros, glad to hear from you at Eagle Peak sharing your views with Mark and others
DeleteHow do you then explain the individual existence as in the Alaya consciousness throughout the 3 existences (the eternal past, present and future) because what I and Kumiko have so far been able to ascertain from Sri Aurobindo's teachings which is another form of interesting dogma, is that you want to totally identify with the eternal unchanging absolute by shedding the individual aspects of your present nature.
Once your have reached this goal of Brahman you will come back into manifestation as an inanimate object again until you evolve into an animate being with a higher consciousness and on you will go till you become Brahman again and eternally repeat this cycle over again endlessly
Hi Noel, you seem to dont like my phrase 'dogma ' but what else can that be than a dogmatic dogma; how many times we spoke how narrow these religions are like Islam and Christianity or even Hare Krishna movement. And now same statements about the Lotus Sutra; well they are all dogmatic. Something you of which you never liked and even now you somehow doubt this statement about the Lotus Sutra, that is why you mentioned your doubt about Lotus Sutra as being a later invention by the followers ( monks).
DeleteBut since Nichiren and Ziyi of Tian Tai accepted it you appear apparently happy with that answer. But as you know Tian tai was not that dogmatic and used other techniques of meditation of the Chan tradition.
DeleteYou say that you and Kumiko what you get from Sri Aurobindo's writings is that the individual has to become Brahman again and do it all over again. Although i have send to you many times different teachings and writings you have not really paid attention to them and you got things bit wrong.
It is True that the individual has to recover his True Being or Self but not to disappear into or withdraw from manifestation and merge into Brahman or some Absolute Nirvana without a dynamic manifested expression. In all true paths this is the essential requirement to find ones Soul ones True Spirit , True Self or Eternal Unchanging Nature.
And on that different paths differs as to when you find it where will it take you. But i will not get into it , there are many paths and that is not relevant here; i will answer about the path i follow.
As i already told you many times that to realize the True Unchanging Self is fundamental and indispensable. But that is not final and the next step or along with it is to Live in that True Consciousness and from there and through that change and transform the whole nature down to the very physical cells. a total transformation or transfiguration as the Christ envisaged.
This is Sri Aurobindo's teaching not a withdrawal from manifestation into formless inactive Static Brahman Consciousness but Dynamic Divine Life by Transformation Trough our True Nature.
But you and Kumiko as you are presenting your teachings there is no clear order, no Universal plan for the earth and creation, one is simply tossed about or around by action and reaction by the mechanical law of Karma sometimes here and sometimes there,sometimes animal, sometimes plant, other time human being that is what you both have said. There is no direction that it is going somewhere there is no general direction and fulfillment for the earth and the creations and its beings.
DeleteEven you went as far as to say ( especially Kumiko ) that even Buddhahood is not permanent and after full Enlightenment that Buddha too can fall and become again deluded. These are your words of both of you!
Also your statement that there are the same amount of individuals eternally , according to their karma they endlessly through different bodies and species the same amount of individuals going through these these different bodies eternally; and though one tries to improve ones life conditions you cannot be permanently free in permanent state of Buddhahood.
DeleteAnd since all the species exist simultaneously you can become again and be embodied in any species since the same amount only of entities exists without any new fresh involved beings entering the creation , since there is no individual beginning for any individuality, than naturally the lower species insects and the rest would have to be occupied by the same beings which pass through them before and evolve their consciousness and now again devolve to enter into those bodies one day to keep the continuation of those species.
This is according to your understanding of the teaching of your Buddhism about the life of living beings in the Universe,
Involution's and devolution's and revolutions sounds almost ridiculous to you but that is what you have said too only in a trapped universe way;
To summarize what you said from your understanding of your Buddhism there is no individual beginning and so there is no real new entry or involution in the created universe , but there is an eternal moving around and experiencing of the same eternal amount of individuals some evolving through life experience and some devolving without direction or higher plan of some culmination of permanent Buddhahood?
DeleteBut the question rises if there are not fresh souls or entities entering into the Universe than naturaly the lower forms of life would extinct or they would keep existing with the entites that do not evolve to higher forms and bodies of consciousness or these lower forms of life would be filled with an already existing same amount of entities who have devolved again in never ending cycles or there comes ( which you dont seem to accept that proposition as true ) an involution of the brand new completely "individuals" to occupy and ensoul the lower forms of life. Sx
And by brand new i mean to say to the physical life and reality and to forms and species new to it for the first time.
DeleteMost difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand Stavros
DeleteAt that time the Buddha spoke once more to the bodhisattva mahasattva Medicine King, saying: “The sutras I have preached number immeasurable thousands, ten thousands, millions.
Among the sutras I have preached, now preach, and will preach, this Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.
Medicine King, this sutra is the storehouse of the secret crux of the buddhas. It must not be distributed or recklessly transmitted to others. It has been guarded by the buddhas, the world-honored ones, and from times past until now has never been openly expounded.
And since hatred and jealousy toward this sutra abound even when the thus come one is in the world, how much more will this be so after his passing? - The teacher of the Law chapter 10 Lotus Sutra
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/lsoc/Content/10#para-72
QUESTION: The “Teacher of the Law” chapter in the fourth volume of the Lotus Sutra reads, “[This Lotus Sutra is] the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.” What is the meaning of this passage?
Answer: More than two thousand years have passed since the Buddha expounded the Lotus Sutra in India. It took a little more than twelve hundred years before this sutra was introduced to China, and two hundred more years before it was brought from China to Japan. Since then, more than seven hundred years have already passed.
After the demise of the Buddha, there were only three persons who realized the true meaning of this passage of the Lotus Sutra. In India, Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna said in his Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom: “[The Lotus Sutra is] like a great physician who can change poison into medicine.”
This is the way he explained the meaning of the passage, “the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.” In China, the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai Chih-che interpreted it in the light of its context: “Among all those I [Shakyamuni Buddha] have preached, now preach, and will preach, this Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.”
And in Japan, the Great Teacher Dengyō elaborated on it as follows: “All the sutras of the first four periods preached in the past, the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra now being preached, and the Nirvana Sutra to be preached in the future are easy to believe and easy to understand.
This is because the Buddha taught these sutras in accordance with the capacity of his listeners. The Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and to understand because in it the Buddha directly revealed what he had attained.” - A Comparison of the Lotus and Other Sutras
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/148#para-5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Aurobindo
ReplyDeleteConsciousness has no need of a clear individual “I” to dispose variously the centralising stress, - wherever the stress is put the “I” attaches itself to that, so that one thinks of oneself as a mental being or physical being or whatever it may be.
The consciousness in me can dispose its stress in this way or the other way - it may go down into the physical and work there in the physical nature keeping all the rest behind or above for the time or it may go up into the overhead level and stand above mind, life and body seeing them as instrumental lower forms of itself or not seeing them at all and merged in the free undifferentiated Self or it may throw itself into an active dynamic cosmic consciousness and identify with that or do any number of other things without resorting to the help of this much overrated and meddlesome fly on the wheel which you call the clear individual “I”.
The real “I” - if you want to use that word - is not “clear individual,” that is, a clear-cut limited separative ego, it is as wide as the universe and wider and can contain the universe in itself, but that is not the Ahankar, it is the Atman.
Consciousness is a fundamental thing, the fundamental thing in existence - it is the energy, the motion, the movement of consciousness that creates the universe and all that is in it - not only the macrocosm but the microcosm is nothing but consciousness arranging itself. For instance, when consciousness in its movement or rather a certain stress of movement forgets itself in the action it becomes an apparently “unconscious” energy; when it forgets itself in the form it becomes the electron, the atom, the material object. In reality it is still consciousness that works in the energy and determines the form and the evolution of form.
When it wants to liberate itself, slowly, evolutionarily, out of Matter, but still in the form, it emerges as life, as animal, as man and it can go on evolving itself still farther out of its involution and become something more than mere man. If you can grasp that, then it ought not to be difficult to see further that it can subjectively formulate itself as a physical, a vital, a mental, a psychic consciousness - all these are present in man, but as they are all mixed up together in the external consciousness with their real status behind in the inner being, one can only become fully aware of them by releasing the original limiting stress of the consciousness which makes us live in our external being and become awake and centred within in the inner being.
As the consciousness in us, by its external concentration or stress, has to put all these things behind - behind a wall or veil, it has to break down the wall or veil and get back in its stress into these inner parts of existence - that is what we call living within; then our external being seems to us something small and superficial, we are or can become aware of the large and rich and inexhaustible kingdom within.
DeleteSo also consciousness in us has drawn a lid or covering or whatever one likes to call it between the lower planes of mind, life, body supported by the psychic and the higher planes which contain the spiritual kingdoms where the self is always free and limitless, and it can break or open the lid or covering and ascend there and become the Self free and wide and luminous or else bring down the influence, reflection, finally even the presence and power of the higher consciousness into the lower nature.
Now that is what consciousness is - it is not composed of parts, it is fundamental to being and itself formulates any parts it chooses to manifest - developing them from above downward by a progressive coming down from spiritual levels towards involution in Matter or formulating them in an upward working in the front by what we call evolution. If it chooses to work in you through the sense of ego, you think that it is the clear-cut individual “I” that does everything - if it begins to release itself from that limited working, you begin to expand your sense of “I” till it bursts into infinity and no longer exists or you shed it and flower into spiritual wideness.
Of course, this is not what is spoken of in modern materialistic thought as consciousness, because that thought is governed by science and sees consciousness only as a phenomenon that emerges out of inconscient Matter and consists of certain reactions of the system to outward things. But that is a phenomenon of consciousness, it is not consciousness itself, it is even only a very small part of the possible phenomenon of consciousness and can give no clue to Consciousness the Reality which is of the very essence of existence.
That is all at present. You will have to fix yourself in that - for it is fundamental - before it can be useful to go any further.
N. R. Malkani finds Aurobindo's theory of creation to be false, as the theory talks about experiences and visions which are beyond normal human experiences. He says the theory is an intellectual response to a difficult problem and that Aurobindo uses the trait of unpredictability in theorising and discussing things not based upon truth of existence.
DeleteMalkani says that awareness is already a reality and suggests there would be no need to examine the creative activity subjected to awareness.[72]
Wilber's interpretation of Aurobindo's philosophy rejects the notion of dividing reality as a different level of matter, life, mind, overmind, supermind proposed by Aurobindo in The Life Divine, and terms them as higher- or lower-nested holons and states that there is only a fourfold reality (a system of reality created by himself).[73]
Adi Da finds that Aurobindo's contributions were merely literary and cultural and had extended his political motivation into spirituality and human evolution [74]
Rajneesh (Osho) says that Aurobindo was a great scholar but was never realised; that his personal ego had made him indirectly claim that he went beyond Buddha; and that he is said to have believed himself to be enlightened due to increasing number of followers.
Mark Rogow says that "Nothing is "projected". We are the earth, moon and plants."
Nichiren says that "The Lotus Sutra explains that in the end secular matters are the entirety of Buddhism.
The sutras which came before the Lotus Sutra taught that all phenomena derive from one's mind.
The mind is like the earth, and phenomena are like the plants growing in the earth. But the Lotus Sutra teaches that the mind is one with the earth and the earth is one with its plants.
The provisional sutras say that a tranquil mind is like the moon and a pure heart is like a flower, but the Lotus Sutra states that the flower and moon are themselves heart and mind." (A Gift of Rice)
Before trying to defame Sri Aurobindo, at least the most logical and scientific way to do that would be by evidence from his direct writings; bringing his writings and teachings on the table so to speak for everyone to see exactly what they are and than thoroughly going through them so one can discern for ones self about them. Instead you quote some critics taking their opinion without publishing instead directly those teachings!
DeleteI have seen these comments by these critics long time ago I know about them; we have to look at life and how these teachings apply to life; he wasn't some theoretician or scholar that through reading and study he make some synthetic theory all what he said is from his direct experiences of the Truth; he experienced the Nirvanic state of the Unchanging Reality and also all the levels and grades of consciousness but one have to go through his writings and teachings of his personal testimony.
He never said things like this he was greater then Buddha or he had great followers actually he didn't had great following Sai baba or many others may have more which that doesn't mean anything. ( by the way Osho Rajneesh life of corruption mind control end up him being deported from the States , and his talking about ego! )
Aurobindo's theory of creation to be false, as the theory talks about experiences and visions which are beyond normal human experiences..? What that suppose to mean is then every master and messengers false because they speak of realities beyond our limited senses?
The Different levels or layers or dimensions of realities of manifestations is not Sri Aurobindo's inventions these are realities which all Spiritual beings have experienced, Christ , Buddha, the Yogis and many others. ( the only if you like invention is the way he gives the name Overmind and Supermind to these highest manifestations which were realized and spoken by others as well using different terminology ).
Sri Aurobindo was in his early life involved in a political movement to free India from the British occupation and then he quit the politics when he had the experiences and Divine guidance in jail and moved to Pondichery south India where that area was under the French; he underwent many spiritual experiences ( which these people who are critics seem to have left out this important part of Sri Aurobino's life; he went though experience after experience which he speaks about his experiences in his writings and realizations which transformed him; it is not a philosophy or theory created by his mind some kind of a system-synthesis but a direct experience of an integral vision. But one have to study these things to know the truth then one can see if these critics hold true.
Stav x
Nichiren teaches:
Delete"Mystery can mean profoundness, but it also can mean darkness. In explaining the meaning of life: positions in society, happiness and sorrow, right and wrong, or gains and loses, some of these sages (like Confucious) state that these all arise from tai-chi, while other sages (like Lao-tzu) maintain that they are merely spontaneous. Though exquisite their philosophies may appear, they actually know nothing of life in the past or in the future. As they are in darkness their philosphies are mysterious. Knowing only the present, they insist that in this present world we have to protect ourselves and maintain peace in our country by establishing benevolence and righteousness to avoid bringing ruin upon our families and our country.
These wise and holy men are sages, but they are as ignorant of the past just as men can not see their backs, and they can not see into the future just as blind men dcan not see in the front. They merely maintain that if one manges his house well, performs filial devotion, and practices the Five Virtues (benevolence, righteousness, politeness, wisdom and fidelity) in this world, people will revere him, and his fame will spread so widely in the land that a wise king will invite him to be his minister or teacher, or even put him on the throne. Even heaven will come to defend and serve him! For instance, they say, King Wu of Chou had five elders who served him, and twenty eight constellations came to assist Emperor Kuang-wu of the later hanas his twenty eight generals.
Ignorant of the past and future, however, these sages can not help in the future lives of their parents, rulers, and teachers. Not knowing what they owe to them in the past, they can not be considered to be truly holy and wise. This is why Confucious said, "Truly wise and holy men do not exist in China, but in the land to the west, there is a man called Buddha. He is a true sage."
he also teaches about Brahmanism...
"Next, in Brahmanism of India, the three-eyed and eight armed god and goddess, Siva and Vishnu, are considered to be the compassionate parents and supreme lords of all the people. The Masters named Kapila, Uluka, and Usabha, who lived about 800 years before the time of Sakyamuni Buddha, are called the Three Hermits. The teachings of these Three Hermits, 60,000 in number, are entitled the Four Vedas. Thus at the ttime of Sakyamuni's birth, six powerful Brahmiin masters who had studied these Brahmin scriptures had become teachers of kings all over India. Their branch schools numbered in the 90's, each of which was dividedinto many sub branches. They all took pride in themselves, each claiming to be higher than the top of heaven(Hisoten), and sticking to their own rock-like contentions. Their teachings are incomparable more profound and exquisite than those of the Confucian masters. They see through not only two, three, or seven lives in the past and future but also 80,000 kalpa past and future.
continued...
Their teachings may be summed up in three categories: (1) Some maintain that all phenomena arise from causes, (2) while others claim that all phenomena are spontaneous without any relationship between cause and effect. (3) Still others insist that such relationship may or may not exist between cause and effect.
DeleteAmong these Brahmin schools, better ones observe the Five Commandments or Ten Commandments, practice preliminary meditation, and work their way up inch by inch like a measuring worm to the summit of heaven (Hisoten). They take it for the world of Nirvana but as soon as they reach their heaven, they all plunge into the Three Evil Realms (hell, realm of hungry souls, and that of beasts) at the bottom. none remain in their heaven although they believe that those who reach Hisoten remain there forever enjoying complete freedom from the cycle of life and death.
Still they are less objectionable compared to other Brahmin schools, which stubbornly insist on following what they had inherited from their masters. Some of them bathe in the Ganges River three times a day in the midst of winter, while others pull out hairs, throw themselves against rocks, roast themselves in fire, burn their limbs and heads, or stay naked. They sacrifice a number of horses, burn grass and trees, or worship every tree, hoping to gain happpiness.
These evil teachings are numerous in number, and their teachers are revered as highly as Indra is by the gods and an emperor by his subjects. Nevertheless, followers of the 95 brahmin schools, whether they are beeter or worse, are unable to leave the cycle of birth and death. Those who follow better masters will fall into evil realms in two or three lives, while those who follow worse masters are bound to plunge there in the next life.
After all, the most important thing for Brahmanism is, like Confucianism, to prepare the way to Buddhism. This is why some Brahmans maintain that the Buddha will be born 1,000 years later, while others insist on 100 years later. It is said, therefore, in the Nirvana Sutra that what is written in all the Brahman scriptures is nothing but the teaching of the Buddha. Again, it is said in the Lotus Sutra that disciples of the Buddha sometimes pretend to be contaminated with the Three Poisons of greed, anger, and ignoranceor show the heretic viewdenying the law of cause and effectas an expedient means to save the people.
In the third place, Sakyamuni Buddha is the supreme leader and excellent eyes for all the people. He is the bridge that enables them to cross the river of evil passions; He is the skipper who guides them over the sea of live and death; and He is the fertile field in which they plant the seed of merits. The so-called Four Sages of Confucianism and Three hermits of Brahmanism, despite their worthy names, are actually unenlightened men unable to rid themselves of the Three Delusions (all delusions and evil passions). Although their names suggest they are wise men, in reality they are as ignorant as infants, who know nothing of the principle of cause and effect. How can we cross the sea of life and death aboard a ship steered by such men? How can we pass through the winding streets of the Six Realms of delusions and evil passions over to the world of Nirvana by means of a bridge constructed by such men? Our Sakyamuni has already crossed the sea of life and death for Arhats, not to speak of that for the unenlightened. He has already extinguished fundamental ignorance, not to speak of delusions and evil passions deriving from it.
cont...
Throughout his life ---- fifty years since attaining enlightenment at the age of thirty to His death at the age of eighty ---- Sakyamuni Buddha preached His holy teaching. Each of His writings and words represent the truth. Not a sentence or line does not ring true. Even sages and wise men of Confucianism and Brahmanism never spoke falsely in presenting their thoughts. They spoke the truth. How much more so with Sakyamuni Buddha, who was a man of truth since uncountable kalpa in the past? Therefore, what He preached during His life of fifty years is greater as a teaching of salvation when compared to Confucianism and Brahmanism. Ever since his attainment of Buddhahood till the eve of His death, He preached only the truth.
DeleteConsidering the 80,000 teachings preached by the Buddha in various sutras for fifty years, however, we see differences among them, such as those between Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism, provisional and ultimate sutras, exoteric and esoteric teachings, general and rough expressions, genuine and expedient words, or true and false opinions.
The Lotus Sutra alone among them represents the true words of our Lord Sakyamuni Buddha and various Buddhas residing in the worlds throughout the universe in the past, present, and future. Sakyamuni Buddha declared that, although the scriptures preached during the first some forty years are as numerous as sands of the Ganges River, they did not reveal the truth, which would be explained in the Lotus Sutra during the following eight years. At the moment Taho Buddha emerged from the earth and attested it all to the truth. Then various Buddhas in manifestation (funjin) came crowding together from various worlds in the universe attesting it to be true and rejoicing by touching the Brahma with their long tongues. The meaning of these words in the Lotus Sutra is shiningly clear --- brighter than the sun in the blue sky, and the full moon at midnight. Look up and put your faith in it. Prostrate yourself before it and think hard about it."
Commentary:
In this section of the Opening of the Eyes, we first hear that the Eternal Buddha Sakyamuni has been preaching the truth since the infinite past.
Here, I only wish to discuss the last paragraph:
"The Lotus Sutra alone among them represents the true words of our Lord Sakyamuni Buddha and various Buddhas residing in the worlds throughout the universe in the past, present, and future. Sakyamuni Buddha declared that, although the scriptures preached during the first some forty years are as numerous as sands of the Ganges River, they did not reveal the truth, which would be explained in the Lotus Sutra during the following eight years. At the moment Taho Buddha emerged from the earth and attested it all to the truth. Then various Buddhas in manifestation (funjin) came crowding together from various worlds in the universe attesting it to be true and rejoicing by touching the Brahma with their long tongues. The meaning of these words in the Lotus Sutra is shiningly clear --- brighter than the sun in the blue sky, and the full moon at midnight. Look up and put your faith in it. Prostrate yourself before it and think hard about it."
cont...
DeleteHow inconceivable is it that Taho Buddha and the Buddhas from thoughout the universe came from all over to testify to the validity of the Lotus Sutra! In the True Object of Worship St. Nichiren states:
"People can attain enlightenment in two ways: by meeting the Buddha and hearing the Lotus Sutra, or by believing in the sutra even though they do not meet the Buddha. Even before the advent of the Buddha, some Brahmans in India realized the correct view of life through the four Vedas. In China before the arrival of Buddhism, some realized the correct view through Taoism and Confucianism. Many bodhisattvas and ordinary people, endowed with keen faculties, perceived [even before they heard the Lotus Sutra] that Shakyamuni had planted the seeds of Buddhahood within them in the days of the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence or in the far more distant past [when he attained his original enlightenment]."
Coming from throughout the universe means that these men, animals and other beings (Arhats, Pratyekabuddha's and those in the other various realms of existence) had been reborn in India and obtained the Supreme Jewel [Enlightenment] by listening to Sakyamuni Buddha preach the Lotus Sutra. Believing in Myoho renge kyo (Lotus Sutra), we receive the exact same benefit as those disciples who heard the Lotus Sutra from the Buddha. It is not enough for the men and women in the latter age to hear the Lotus Sutra, they must be led to believe in the Lotus Sutra.
Interesting dogma the statements about the Lotus Sutra, but the Truth of Reality with its manifestations is and can be presented in different ways through different descriptions and the approach too to Truth in different ways through different means and methods; the way to Truth and the Truth itself is more plastic and fluid and not as rigid in its approach through one exclusive practice or one formulated structure like that of 14 worlds , or 7 worlds or 10 worlds and Three thousand realms. Although these are very helpful ( though they may be direct perceived truth ) they are mental formulated structures to help the mind to have an object of focus and some order of the Universe to contemplate on but it is not indispensable and not the only way of teaching and approach to the Reality. Sx
DeleteNamu Myoho renge kyo IS indispensable because there is no other way to attain Buddhahood.
DeleteNamu Myoho renge kyo IS indispensable because there is no other way to attain Buddhahood.
DeleteYes Mark that is what other religious lines say as well that they possess the highest truth and the truest means to attain it and that apart from that there is no other way attaining that.
DeleteAnd I don't need to mention which they are they are well known; but there are other religions who are more broad and don't claim exclusiveness that they only and no one else is possessing the Truest and Highest truth neither that there is one and only absolute exclusive practice and technique;
There is only One way and that is getting rid of the ignorance which covers our true being and manifesting that truth in life. but there are many means and devices and techniques to do that; and the essential thing is aspiration for the Truth and that aspiration can awaken and grow through many different ways and means.
The Truth is not narrow with one only way of approach and mental plan layout no matter how great ( they are always other ways of description ) it is not a rigid Communist Party but it is a Living Reality which everyone according to ones nature and tendencies approaches and establishes a living relation by following certain path and practice towards it which feels true and appealing to ones heart and mind; and that is why everyone is where one is ( and feels or believes that what one follows is the best ) and if one don't feel fully satisfied in ones mind and heart then one seeks something more agreeable.
We are all on it on the journey of Self-finding and Enlightenment , no one and no group is an island in itself we all grow together some more faster than others;
we have to see Globally the Muslims will not disappear , neither the Christians, neither the Hindus, nor everyone will become a Buddhist nor every Buddhist a Nichiren practitioner,
Everyone through sincere practice will deepen, heighten and broaden ones consciousness and then integrate the universal teachings from all the major religions or in fact recognize and see the truth from wherever that comes and grow in Realization or in Buddhahood. Sx
The way to evaluate any phenomena, philosophy or religion is through the Three Proofs.
DeleteThe first proof is documentary proof. The phenomena, philosophy or religion must exist through matter, energy and/or ideas. An example of a phenomena is a rock, an example of a philosophy is the Critique of Pure Reason by Emmanuel Kant, an example of a religion is the religion based on the Lotus Sutra. We know that these phenomena, philosophies and religions exists. It has been documentated that they exist.
Theoretical proof means that the phenomena, philosophy or religion can be evaluated by reasoning or scientific evidence. A rock has a certain weight, composition, structure etc. that can be measured. The Critique of Pure Reason can be evaluated through science and other philosophical works as to its classification(idealism), its structure(epistomology), its development etc.
Actual proof is the function of the rock, that it can be used in weights and measures, used to knock down an attacker, or ground up to become an abrasive. Reguarding religion and philosophy, actual proof is the measure that a philosophy or religion can change the individual or society.
The Chinese Gooseberry is a delectable fruit. It exists in the mid to southern latitudes. Its color varies from lime green to orange-yellow. It has a unique taste with hints of honey, ginger, cinnamon and coriander, strawberry and banana.
Can you imagine how it tastes? Let me give you some more information about this sublime fruit. It has 400 specialized enzymes that convert the nitrates, proteins and fats in the soil into various types of carbohydrates. The Chinese Goosebberry plant also uses photosynthesis to convert water and carbon dioxide into other sugars and carbohydrates that, thanks to this multitude of enzymes, are more varied and complex than in any other plant. The sugars and carbohdrates travel up and down the plants vascular system called the phloem and are concentrated in the fruit. The concentration of the various carbohydrates are 10.000% this and 12.567% that, 9.641% this and 49.210% that, and 1.879 % this… The Chinese Gooseberry is also chock full of phytonutrients and antioxidants like, flavins, tannins, lycopenes, Vit. A, C, and E. The Chinese Gooseberry tastes nothing like, rasberry, strawberry, blueberry, melon, apple, grapefruit, avocado, or the angostora bitter. These fruits too are composed principally of carbohydrates and are full of phytonutrients and vitamins but composed of vastly different types and in vastly different proportions. Can you now tell me how the Chinese Gooseberry tastes?
The Chinese Gooseberry is like the Lotus Sutra (Myoho renge kyo). It exists, this we know. We have abundant documentary proof of this. They both can be analyzed (see above for the Chinese Gooseberry). The Lotus Sutra contains the teachings of the Ten Worlds, Ten Factors, Three Realms, and 3000 Worlds in a Momentary Existence of Life. These teachings can be evaluated through science and through reason just as the gooseberry. Science and reason gives us a great deal of information as to the nature of the Chinese Gooseberry. Its form, it’s composition, its structure. However, as far as its taste, despite knowing all these things, our brains are too small to analyze all the data and experience the taste. Likewise, our brains are too small to analyze the data of 3000 Worlds in a Momentary Existence of Life to know exactly its ability to change the individual (become Buddha) and/or society (Buddha’s Land).
We must taste the Chinese Gooseberry, to know its taste (BTW, the Chinese Gooseberry is the Kiwi fruit). We can only taste the Lotus Sutra by chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo with one’s whole heart. We can only understand Nichiren Lotus Sutra Buddhism by practicing as the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren teach.
Definitely religion and spiritual life is not mere theory but practical experience and application; every major religion every path which uses a method or technique has to have faith and dedicate ones life and time sincerely to gain the direct experience; this is not unique to Nichiren's practice every practice IS like that but as i mention before because of our inclinations and tendencies some teachings and methods appeal to one more than others;
Deletei dont have objection about the Chanting of the Lotus Sutra rather my objection is to the extremity of its claim; any extreme claim any exclusive statement is obviously not true; ( like the one you mention that only through the lotus sutra and no other way one can attain Buddhahood ) if you look at the lives of deep practitioners and those who have great Realizations they are very broad and universal and can harmonize different teachings and see their value and place in the whole scheme of Reality.
The Christians claim only through Jesus Christ is the Only Way; this is also what you claim and thats not right.
We have to see the heart of the teachings, and the essential teachings are very same and on this sameness we will be built the universal religion of the future and through sincere practice purity and openness we will take on board all the teachings which hold true and integrate them into our realization making it truly vast and truly universal. Sx
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DeleteTHE RELIGION WHICH EMBRACES SCIENCE AND FAITH,
DeleteTHEISM, CHRISTIANITY, MOHAMMEDANISM AND BUDDHISM
AND YET IS NON OF THESE, IS THAT
TO WHICH THE WORLD-SPIRIT MOVES. SA.
"We have to see the heart of the teachings, and the essential teachings are very same and on this sameness we will be built the universal religion of the future and through sincere practice purity and openness we will take on board all the teachings which hold true and integrate them into our realization making it truly vast and truly universal."
DeleteThe non dual aspect of all religions is what they all have in common
The dual aspect of all religions have similarities and differences
When we integrate them with something different it looses its original identity and potency
It is the differences that make the difference otherwise we would all be the same but that's just not how it is so we really have to understand the difference's and the similarities
If Sri Aurobindo's teachings is an unfinished work of creativity and is in the making, then incorporating some Nichiren's teachings into them will make it more universal is this what's being said here ?
You would have to dissect the teachings to make them harmonious with the other similar teachings. Otherwise It would be like using body parts for transplants which can be often rejected by the hosts body making them sick and die
Could we unknowingly be creating a Frankenstein religion or a universal religion that is truly vast and truly universal."
We would create oneness in harmonious variety, Harmonious oneness with varieties in Truth Consciousness and not varieties of conflict in dividing and ignorant consciousness. Sri Aurobindo's teachings are not an unfinished work of creativity but the actuality of this kind of universal religion and Integral Realization is gradually in its making and manifestation. When we talk of transformation it means in the Light of the Enlighten Consciousness so things which oppose, deform and obstruct that Divine Harmony would be rejected and changed; the differences will remain but only those that are harmonious and contribute to the well being and progress of all.
DeleteAll teachings will be brought to the highest light of our being and so the differences would not be conflicting but different aspects of true beauty, of true wisdom, of true love , of true right and true well being. These are all the qualities of out True nature and how they exactly will manifest that we will see. Sx
The opposite of good we call bad, the opposite of bad we call good. Hence we know that outside of the mind there is no good and there is no bad. What is apart from this good and this bad is called the unlabeled. The good, the bad, and the unlabelled—outside of these there is no mind, and outside of the mind there are no concepts.
DeleteBeyond all such distinctions expressed in words, beyond good and bad, pure and defiled, ordinary mortal and sage, heaven and earth, big and small, east and west, north and south, the four other directions between each of these and the directions of up and down, is that which transcends the reach of words, the place where the workings of the mind come to an end.
Words are what give expression to the distinctions that are thought of in the mind. Therefore, outside of the mind there are neither distinctions nor the absence of distinctions. Words echo the thoughts of the mind and find expression through the voice.
The ordinary mortal is confused about the nature of his own mind, and remains unenlightened. The Buddha is enlightened to that nature, and manifests it as what are called transcendental powers. Transcendental power means the power of the spirit to penetrate all phenomena without hindrance.
Such freely exercised transcendental powers are present in the minds of all sentient beings. Hence even foxes and raccoon dogs can exercise the respective transcendental powers that they possess, because their respective shares of awakening arise from the spirit of the mind.
From this single element of mind spring all the various lands and environmental conditions. The sacred teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime are devoted to explaining this principle. These are what is known as the storehouse of the eighty-four thousand teachings. All these are teachings encompassed within the single entity of an individual.
Hence the storehouse of the eighty-four thousand teachings represents a day-to-day record of one’s own existence. This storehouse of the eighty thousand teachings is embodied in and contained within one’s own mind. To use the mind to suppose that the Buddha or the Law or the pure land exist somewhere other than in one’s own self and to seek them elsewhere is a delusion.
continued
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ReplyDeleteNoel Panton has left a new comment on the post "Chanting as a Meditative Practice by Dharmajim":
DeleteHi Stavros, glad to hear from you at Eagle Peak sharing your views with Mark and others
How do you then explain the individual existence as in the Alaya consciousness throughout the 3 existences (the eternal past, present and future) because what I and Kumiko have so far been able to ascertain from Sri Aurobindo's teachings which is another form of interesting dogma, is that you want to totally identify with the eternal unchanging absolute by shedding the individual aspects of your present nature.
Once your have reached this goal of Brahman you will come back into manifestation as an inanimate object again until you evolve into an animate being with a higher consciousness and on you will go till you become Brahman again and eternally repeat this cycle over again endlessly
Hi Noel, you seem to dont like my phrase 'dogma ' but what else can that be than a dogmatic dogma; how many times we spoke how narrow these religions are like Islam and Christianity or even Hare Krishna movement. And now same statements about the Lotus Sutra; well they are all dogmatic. Something you of which you never liked and even now you somehow doubt this statement about the Lotus Sutra, that is why you mentioned your doubt about Lotus Sutra as being a later invention by the followers ( monks).
DeleteBut since Nichiren and Ziyi of Tian Tai accepted it you appear apparently happy with that answer. But as you know Tian tai was not that dogmatic and used other techniques of meditation of the Chan tradition.
DeleteYou say that you and Kumiko what you get from Sri Aurobindo's writings is that the individual has to become Brahman again and do it all over again. Although i have send to you many times different teachings and writings you have not really paid attention to them and you got things bit wrong.
It is True that the individual has to recover his True Being or Self but not to disappear into or withdraw from manifestation and merge into Brahman or some Absolute Nirvana without a dynamic manifested expression. In all true paths this is the essential requirement to find ones Soul ones True Spirit , True Self or Eternal Unchanging Nature.
And on that different paths differs as to when you find it where will it take you. But i will not get into it , there are many paths and that is not relevant here; i will answer about the path i follow.
As i already told you many times that to realize the True Unchanging Self is fundamental and indispensable. But that is not final and the next step or along with it is to Live in that True Consciousness and from there and through that change and transform the whole nature down to the very physical cells. a total transformation or transfiguration as the Christ envisaged.
This is Sri Aurobindo's teaching not a withdrawal from manifestation into formless inactive Static Brahman Consciousness but Dynamic Divine Life by Transformation Trough our True Nature.
But you and Kumiko as you are presenting your teachings there is no clear order, no Universal plan for the earth and creation, one is simply tossed about or around by action and reaction by the mechanical law of Karma sometimes here and sometimes there,sometimes animal, sometimes plant, other time human being that is what you both have said. There is no direction that it is going somewhere there is no general direction and fulfillment for the earth and the creations and its beings.
DeleteEven you went as far as to say ( especially Kumiko ) that even Buddhahood is not permanent and after full Enlightenment that Buddha too can fall and become again deluded. These are your words of both of you!
DeleteAlso your statement that there are the same amount of individuals eternally , according to their karma they endlessly through different bodies and species the same amount of individuals going through these these different bodies eternally; and though one tries to improve ones life conditions you cannot be permanently free in permanent state of Buddhahood.
And since all the species exist simultaneously you can become again and be embodied in any species since the same amount only of entities exists without any new fresh involved beings entering the creation , since there is no individual beginning for any individuality, than naturally the lower species insects and the rest would have to be occupied by the same beings which pass through them before and evolve their consciousness and now again devolve to enter into those bodies one day to keep the continuation of those species.
This is according to your understanding of the teaching of your Buddhism about the life of living beings in the Universe,
Involution's and devolution's and revolutions sounds almost ridiculous to you but that is what you have said too only in a trapped universe way;
To summarize what you said from your understanding of your Buddhism there is no individual beginning and so there is no real new entry or involution in the created universe , but there is an eternal moving around and experiencing of the same eternal amount of individuals some evolving through life experience and some devolving without direction or higher plan of some culmination of permanent Buddhahood?
DeleteBut the question rises if there are not fresh souls or entities entering into the Universe than naturaly the lower forms of life would extinct or they would keep existing with the entites that do not evolve to higher forms and bodies of consciousness or these lower forms of life would be filled with an already existing same amount of entities who have devolved again in never ending cycles or there comes ( which you dont seem to accept that proposition as true ) an involution of the brand new completely "individuals" to occupy and ensoul the lower forms of life. Sx
And by brand new i mean to say to the physical life and reality and to forms and species new to it for the first time.
Delete"Even you went as far as to say ( especially Kumiko ) that even Buddhahood is not permanent and after full Enlightenment that Buddha too can fall and become again deluded. These are your words of both of you!"
DeleteThis recent link from eagle peak is relative to the meaning of Buddha which is not an easy one. There are plenty more references to this topic on this blog which is unique from other forms of Buddhism
http://markrogow.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/robin-becks-take-on-buddha-of-musa.html
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DeleteHi Noel, so you praising the Lotus Sutra as the Highest teachings alright then show some proof from references of those teachings and speak from your realization and understanding of them since you and Kumiko are more then 30yrs involved with them and should know them by heart; explain and show reference about the Buddha becoming deluded again and also about the subject which i have written to you ,you have disagreement on the subjects of involution and evolution that mean you have teachings and explanations more accurate and true so present them on what is stated on this subject below:
Delete" To summarize what you said from your understanding of your Buddhism there is no individual beginning and so there is no real new entry or involution in the created universe , but there is an eternal moving around and experiencing of the same eternal amount of individuals some evolving through life experience and some devolving without direction or higher plan of some culmination of permanent Buddhahood?
But the question rises if there are not fresh souls or entities entering into the Universe than naturally the lower forms of life would extinct or they would keep existing with the entities that do not evolve to higher forms and bodies of consciousness or these lower forms of life would be filled with an already existing same amount of entities who have devolved again in never ending cycles or there comes ( which you dont seem to accept that proposition as true ) an involution of the fresh new "individuals" to occupy and ensoul the lower forms of life. Sx
Consciousness : Devolution, Involution and Evolution Explained by Sri Aurobindo
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wolindia.com/2012/01/devolution-or-being-to-becoming-by-sri.html
COMPARE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_suchnesses
http://ichinensanzen.ca/ichinen-sanzen-part-1-a-brief-overview/
" To summarize what you said from your understanding of your Buddhism there is no individual beginning and so there is no real new entry or involution in the created universe , but there is an eternal moving around and experiencing of the same eternal amount of individuals some evolving through life experience and some devolving without direction or higher plan of some culmination of permanent Buddhahood?
ReplyDeleteBut the question rises if there are not fresh souls or entities entering into the Universe than naturally the lower forms of life would extinct or they would keep existing with the entities that do not evolve to higher forms and bodies of consciousness or these lower forms of life would be filled with an already existing same amount of entities who have devolved again in never ending cycles or there comes ( which you dont seem to accept that proposition as true ) an involution of the fresh new "individuals" to occupy and ensoul the lower forms of life"
The function of life of the Buddha and the ordinary people are exactly the same. The 10 factors show that all life with no exception go through the 10 factors according to ones level of the 10 worlds
WE ourselves are none other than Thus Come Ones of original enlightenment, who possess the three bodies within a single body. This is made clear in the passage in the Lotus Sutra that speaks of the ten factors of “appearance, nature, entity, power, influence, internal cause, relation, latent effect, manifest effect, and their consistency from beginning to end.”
First, with regard to appearance, this refers to the appearance manifested by the form and shape of our bodies. This corresponds to the manifested body of the Thus Come One. It also corresponds to emancipation and to the truth of temporary existence.
Next, with regard to nature, this refers to the nature of our minds. This corresponds to the reward body of the Thus Come One. It also corresponds to wisdom and to the truth of non-substantiality.
The third factor is entity, which is the entities of these lives of ours. It corresponds to the Dharma body of the Thus Come One. It also corresponds to the truth of the Middle Way, to the essential nature of phenomena, and to tranquil extinction.
These three factors constitute the Thus Come One of the three bodies. That these three factors represent the Thus Come One of the three bodies may seem to be an extraneous matter, but in fact it concerns these very lives of our own. One who understands this may be said to have grasped the meaning of the Lotus Sutra.
These three factors constitute the beginning, or basis, from which emerge the other seven factors, thus forming the ten factors. These ten factors are the basis of the hundred worlds, the thousand factors, and the three thousand realms. In this way a great number of doctrines are enunciated, which are known collectively as the eighty thousand teachings. But all of these come down to one single doctrine, that of the three truths. Outside of the doctrine of the three truths, there is no other doctrine.
The hundred worlds represent the truth of temporary existence, the thousand factors represent the truth of non-substantiality, and the three thousand realms represent the truth of the Middle Way. Non-substantiality, temporary existence, the Middle Way—these are the three truths. And although they are elaborated in numerous doctrines such as those pertaining to the hundred worlds, the thousand factors, or the three thousand realms, these are all simply the one doctrine of the three truths.
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Deletecontinued
ReplyDeleteThus the three truths expressed in the first three of the ten factors and the three truths expressed in the remaining seven factors are simply this one doctrine of the three truths. The first three factors and the remaining seven factors are the principle contained within our own lives and are simply one thing, wonderful beyond comprehension. Hence it is stated in the sutra that they are marked by complete consistency from beginning to end. This is what is meant by the words “consistency from beginning to end.”
The first three factors are the “beginning,” and the remaining seven factors are the “end.” These make up the ten factors, which constitute the three truths contained within our own lives.
These three truths may also be called the Thus Come One of the three bodies. Outside of our own minds and bodies, there does not exist the tiniest trace of anything pertaining either to good or evil. Therefore we know that we ourselves are in fact Thus Come Ones of original enlightenment, possessors of the three bodies within a single body.
To suppose that what has been described here is something quite removed from oneself is to be what is called an ordinary living being, to be in a state of delusion, to be an ordinary mortal. But to understand that this applies to oneself is to be what is called a Thus Come One, to be in a state of enlightenment, to be a sage, to be a person of wisdom.
Once one realizes this and can visualize it clearly, then one’s life, as it really is, manifests itself in one’s present existence as the Thus Come One of original enlightenment, and one achieves what is termed the attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form.
To offer an analogy, if in spring and summer one plows the field and plants it with seed, then in autumn and winter one may reap and store away the harvest, and all will proceed as one wishes it to. It may seem like a long wait from spring to autumn, and yet within the space of a single year one’s wishes will be fulfilled. And in like manner, it may seem a long time to wait in order to enter the state of enlightenment and manifest our Buddhahood. And yet such a manifestation may be accomplished within the space of a single lifetime, and we ourselves can become Buddhas who possess the three bodies within a single body.
Among those who follow the Buddha way, we may distinguish three degrees of capacity, namely, superior, middling, and inferior, though all alike succeed in manifesting the Buddha nature within a single lifetime.
continue
Persons of superior capacity, as soon as they hear the teachings, become thoroughly enlightened and manifest the Buddha nature.
DeletePersons of middling capacity may require perhaps a day, perhaps a month, or perhaps a year in order to manifest it.
Persons of inferior capacity seem to make little progress but to be stuck in one place. As they are certain, however, to reach enlightenment within a single lifetime, when they are on the point of death, just as all one’s dreams vanish when one returns to a waking state, so all the erroneous views and mistaken ideas they have up to now entertained with regard to the realm of birth and death and of delusion disappear without a trace, and they return to the waking state of original enlightenment and see the entire realm of phenomena as it really is. Then they realize that all this is the blissful land, the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light, and that they themselves, whom up to now they have looked on as mean and lowly, are in fact Thus Come Ones of original enlightenment, who possess the three bodies within a single body.
In the case of rice plants, there are three types, those that ripen early in autumn, those that ripen in a middling time, and those that ripen late, and yet all are ready to be harvested within a single year. In the same way, although persons fall into three different categories of superior, middling, and inferior, all alike, within the space of a single lifetime, can come to the realization that they themselves are identical and in no way at variance with all the Buddhas, the Thus Come Ones.
The entity of Myoho-renge-kyo in all its splendour—just what is this entity? If we hope to answer this, we must say that it is the eight-petaled white lotus that is the true nature of our own lives. Since this is so, then the essential nature of our lives is Myoho-renge-kyo. And once we have come to understand that Myoho-renge-kyo is not the name of a sutra but is the entity of our own lives, then we will see that our own lives are in fact the Lotus Sutra, and the Lotus Sutra is none other than the sacred word preached by the Buddha in order to make manifest the entities that are our lives. And seeing that, we will know that we ourselves are Thus Come Ones of original enlightenment, who possess the three bodies within a single body.
Once we have become enlightened to this, then all the delusions and mistaken habits of thought that we have entertained from the beginningless past until the present will be swept away like yesterday’s dreams and will vanish without a trace.
When we have faith such as this, then it is taught that one chanting of Namu-myoho-renge-kyo is equivalent to one recitation of the entire Lotus Sutra carried out just as the sutra prescribes and with the correct understanding of its meaning, that ten chantings are equivalent to ten recitations of the sutra, a hundred chantings are equivalent to a hundred recitations, a thousand chantings are equivalent to a thousand recitations, all carried out just as the sutra prescribes. And one who has such faith may be said to be a person who carries out religious practice just as the sutra prescribes. Namu-myoho-renge-kyo. - On the Ten Factors
ReplyDeleteThe opposite of good we call bad, the opposite of bad we call good. Hence we know that outside of the mind there is no good and there is no bad.
What is apart from this good and this bad is called the unlabeled. The good, the bad, and the unlabelled—outside of these there is no mind, and outside of the mind there are no concepts.
Beyond all such distinctions expressed in words, beyond good and bad, pure and defiled, ordinary mortal and sage, heaven and earth, big and small, east and west, north and south, the four other directions between each of these and the directions of up and down, is that which transcends the reach of words, the place where the workings of the mind come to an end.
Words are what give expression to the distinctions that are thought of in the mind. Therefore, outside of the mind there are neither distinctions nor the absence of distinctions.
Words echo the thoughts of the mind and find expression through the voice.
The ordinary mortal is confused about the nature of his own mind, and remains unenlightened.
The Buddha is enlightened to that nature, and manifests it as what are called transcendental powers. Transcendental power means the power of the spirit to penetrate all phenomena without hindrance.
Such freely exercised transcendental powers are present in the minds of all sentient beings.
Hence even foxes and raccoon dogs can exercise the respective transcendental powers that they possess, because their respective shares of awakening arise from the spirit of the mind.
From this single element of mind spring all the various lands and environmental conditions. The sacred teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime are devoted to explaining this principle.
These are what is known as the storehouse of the eighty-four thousand teachings. All these are teachings encompassed within the single entity of an individual.
Hence the storehouse of the eighty-four thousand teachings represents a day-to-day record of one’s own existence. This storehouse of the eighty thousand teachings is embodied in and contained within one’s own mind.
To use the mind to suppose that the Buddha or the Law or the pure land exist somewhere other than in one’s own self and to seek them elsewhere is a delusion
cont...
When the mind encounters good or bad causes, it creates and puts forth the aspects of good and bad. As the Flower Garland Sutra says: “The mind is like a skilled painter, who creates various forms made up of the five components.
DeleteThus of all the phenomena throughout the entire world, there is not a single one that is not created by the mind.
The Buddha is the same in nature as the mind, and living beings are the same in nature as the Buddha.
In the threefold world there is only this single mind. Outside of this mind there is no other phenomenon that exists.
The mind, the Buddha, and all living beings—these three are without distinction.” And the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra says: “From the single Law that is without marks, that is devoid of marks, are born immeasurable meanings.”
This single Law that is without marks, that is devoid of marks, is the mind that is present in each instant of thought in all living beings.
The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra comments on this: “It does not have the marks of impermanence characterized by birth and extinction and hence it is said to be ‘without marks.’ It is removed from the marks of the nirvana of remainder and the nirvana of no remainder expounded in the two vehicle teaching, and hence it is said to be ‘devoid of marks.’”
This mind that is beyond comprehension constitutes the core teaching of the sutras and treatises. And one who is awake to and understands this mind is called a Thus Come One.
Once one has waked to and understood this mind, then the Ten Worlds become one’s own self, one’s own mind, one’s own form, for the Thus Come One of original enlightenment becomes one’s own body and mind.
While one fails to understand this, one is in a state of ignorance.
Ignorance means to be without clear understanding.
One has not yet become clearly enlightened as to the nature of one’s own mind.
When one wakes to and understands this mind, this is called awakening to the essential nature of phenomena.
Thus ignorance and awakening are simply different names for this single mind.
Although there are two different words or terms used, there is only the one mind.
Therefore one must not cut off or do away with ignorance.
For if one cuts off the dreaming mind that is ignorance, then one will also lose the waking mind, the mind of enlightenment.
The whole point of the perfect teaching is to show that one must not cut off the tiniest bit of delusion.
For all phenomena that exist are manifestations of the Buddhist Law.-The Unanimous Declaration by the Buddhas
Hi Noel.
DeleteFirstly lets get clear with each issue and treat separately so it becomes clear although they are all from one subject Life.
What you have send me here is mainly mentioning our constitution of what we are composed. Even before Buddha Sakyamuni's birth in Nepal the Indian Vedic religion also knew this and described this that essential nature Brahman is within everyone and everything the same Reality. Everything is contained potentially in the Essential Mind and that is our True Unchanging Being which we all possess.
That is already being known through out indian religions , even the more new religion of Suffism also knows that and also all the esoteric or inner meditative paths.
So the difference is not in the essence or kind but of degree of manifestation of the potentialities of the Eternal Essential Being.
This is the issue really of our discussion and the apparent or actual disagreement whichever it will, and that will be show further.
Since there is only One Mind One Reality through everything , supporting everything , containing everything and manifesting everything that is our essential nature and being of all , nothing can exist outside or apart of this Reality.
But that reality is through and through distributed and manifested differently and although high or low, great and small and all the dualities and pluralities of manifested contradiction have within them the same reality which is one in all. That is clear and that was never the issue of exchange. The issue is on the degree not in kind, there are species , forms and state of minds which manifest in different degrees this true nature of reality; and thus those are aware of that reality and live in that reality are called enlighten and those who don't know and live in that are called deluded and ignorant. This is very clear. But in all these verses which you have send me ( I will get to some other points from what you have send me but later separately )it just states our ontological position and its constituents and does not anywhere in the least how did this unfolded and came to be it just speaks from certain point where everything is but neither how did it came about and where is it heading. On the contrary it seems to state that one somehow to awake from ignorance to the essential nature of phenomena but then not do away with ignorance "The whole point of the perfect teaching is to show that one must not cut off the tiniest bit of delusion." But the very nature of true enlightenment replaces the ignorance and delusion which causes suffering . Buddha clearly stated, think , speak and act with a pure mind and happiness will follow you. Ignorance and delusion are caused by one not having clear awareness of understanding of ones true nature and the world. So what you have send me doesn't explain anything on the subject what was ask from you; it does indicate for one to awake to truth but keep the delusion, so how can you transform and improve the world?
"The whole point of the perfect teaching is to show that one must not cut off the tiniest bit of delusion."
DeleteQuestion: If the entity of all living beings is the Mystic Law in its entirety, then are all the actions and their results that are associated with the nine worlds, from the world of hell up to that of bodhisattvas, in effect entities of the Mystic Law?
Answer: The mystic principle that is the essential nature of phenomena possesses two aspects, the defiled aspect and the pure aspect. If the defiled aspect is operative, this is called delusion. If the pure aspect is operative, this is called enlightenment. Enlightenment constitutes the realm of Buddhahood. Delusion constitutes the realms of ordinary mortals.
These two aspects, the deluded and the enlightened, are indeed two different phenomena, and yet both are workings of the one principle, that is, the essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality. It is like a piece of crystal. If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water. The crystal is a single entity, but the effects it produces differ according to the circumstances.
The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is like this. The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is one, but if it encounters evil influences, it will manifest delusion, while if it encounters good influences, it will manifest enlightenment. Enlightenment means enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena, and delusion, ignorance of it.
It is like the case of a person who in a dream sees himself performing various good and evil actions. After he wakes up and considers the matter, he realizes that it was all a dream produced by his own mind. This mind of his corresponds to the single principle of the essential nature of phenomena, the true aspect of reality, while the good and evil that appeared in the dream correspond to enlightenment and delusion. When one becomes aware of this, it is clear that one should discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion, and take as one’s basis the awakening that is characterized by goodness and enlightenment.
The Complete and Final Teaching on Perfect Enlightenment Sutra declares, “The beginningless illusions and ignorance that beset all living beings are all produced by the perfectly enlightened mind of the Thus Come Ones.”
The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai in his Great Concentration and Insight states, “Ignorance or illusions are in themselves enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena. But due to the influence of delusions, enlightenment changes into ignorance.”
The Great Teacher Miao-lo comments on this as follows: “Enlightenment has no separate entity but completely depends upon ignorance; and ignorance has no separate entity but completely depends upon enlightenment.”
cont...
Ignorance is a state of delusion that must be cut off, whereas enlightenment is the state that one must manifest. How then can we say that they are a single entity? To resolve doubts on this point, one should have a clear grasp of the passages that have been quoted here. The example of the dream given in the ninety-fifth volume of The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom and the T’ien-t’ai school’s example of the piece of crystal cited above are very interesting illustrations.
DeleteFurther proof of the truth that ignorance and enlightenment are one in essence is found in the passage in the Lotus Sutra that reads, “These phenomena are part of an abiding Law, [and] the characteristics of the world are constantly abiding.”
Great Perfection of Wisdom says, “Enlightenment and ignorance are not different things, not separate things. To understand this is what is called the Middle Way.”
There are many passages of proof asserting that the mystic principle of the true aspect of reality possesses two aspects, the defiled and the pure. But none can surpass the one in the Flower Garland Sutra that says, “The mind, the Buddha, and all living beings—these three things are without distinction,” or the passage in the Lotus Sutra that describes the true aspect of all phenomena.
The Great Teacher Nan-yüeh says, “The entity of the mind is endowed with two aspects, the defiled and the pure. However, it does not have two different forms but is single in nature and without distinction.”
And the example of the mirror that he gives truly presents a thorough explanation of the subject. For a more detailed understanding, one may also refer to his interpretations in The Mahayana Method of Concentration and Insight.
Another good explanation is given in the sixth volume of Miao-lo’s Annotations on “The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra,” in the passage that reads: “While the three thousand realms remain latent [in ordinary beings], they are all designated by the term ‘ignorance.’
But when the three thousand realms all manifest themselves as the result [of Buddhahood], then they are all designated by the term ‘eternal happiness.’
However, because the three thousand realms themselves remain unchanged, ignorance is essentially one with enlightenment. Since the three thousand realms all remain constant, they possess both entity and function.” This commentary makes the matter perfectly clear.
The Entity of the Mystic Law
Feel free to read the entire letter for a comprehensive outlook on this matter if you so wish
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/47#para-11
"Ignorance and delusion are caused by one not having clear awareness of understanding of ones true nature and the world"
ReplyDeleteThe kalpa of decrease has its origin in the human mind. As the poisons of greed, anger and stupidity gradually intensify, the life span of human beings accordingly decreases and their stature diminishes
Now in this latter, evil age, great evil arises less from secular wrongdoing than with respect to the doctrines of the religious world.
Because people today are unaware of this and endeavor to cultivate roots of merit, the world declines all the more.
To give support to the priests of the Tendai, Shingon and other sects of today may outwardly appear to be an act of merit, but in reality it is a great evil surpassing even the five cardinal sins and the ten evil acts.
For this reason, if there should be a wise man in the world with wisdom like that of the Greatly Enlightened World-Honored One, who, so as to restore the world to order, meets with a wise ruler like King Sen'yo; and if together they put an end altogether to these acts of "goodness" and commit the great "evil" of censuring, banishing, cutting off alms to or even beheading those people of the eight sects who are thought to be men of wisdom, then the world will surely be pacified to some extent.
This is explained in the first volume of the Lotus Sutra where it says: "The true aspect of all phenomena can only be understood and shared between Buddhas." In the phrase "consistency from beginning to end," "beginning" indicates the root of evil and the root of good, while "end" indicates the out-come of evil and the outcome of good.
One who is thoroughly awakened to the nature of good and evil from their roots to their branches and leaves is called a Buddha.
T'ien-t'ai states, "Life at each moment is endowed with the Ten Worlds."
Chang-an states: "The Buddha regarded his doctrine as the ultimate reason [for his advent]. How could it ever be easy to understand?"
Miao-lo adds that "this is the ultimate revelation of the final and supreme truth."
The Lotus Sutra states: "[And whatever he preaches according to his understanding] will never contradict the truth." And T'ien-t'ai interprets this to mean that "no affairs of life or work are in any way different from the ultimate reality." A person of wisdom is not one who practices Buddhism apart from worldly affairs but, rather, one who thoroughly understands the principles by which the world may be governed - The Kalpa of Decrease
http://nichiren.info/gosho/KalpaDecrease.htm
ReplyDeleteAt that time the world-honored one calmly arose from his samadhi and addressed Shariputra, saying: “The wisdom of the buddhas is infinitely profound and immeasurable. The door to this wisdom is difficult to understand and difficult to enter. Not one of the voice-hearers or pratyekabuddhas is able to comprehend it.
“What is the reason for this? The buddhas have personally attended a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a million, a countless number of buddhas and have fully carried out an immeasurable number of buddhas’ ways and doctrines. They have exerted themselves bravely and vigorously, and their names are universally known. They have realized the Law that is profound and never known before, and preach it in accordance with what is appropriate, yet their intentions are difficult to understand.
“Shariputra, ever since I attained buddhahood I have through various causes and various similes widely expounded my teachings and have used countless expedient means to guide living beings and cause them to renounce their attachments. Why is this? Because the thus come ones are fully possessed of both expedient means and the paramita of wisdom.
“Shariputra, the wisdom of the thus come ones is expansive and profound. They have immeasurable [compassion], unlimited [eloquence], power, fearlessness, concentration, emancipation, and samadhis, and have deeply entered the boundless and awakened to the Law never before attained.
“Shariputra, the thus come ones know how to make various distinctions and to expound the teachings skillfully. Their words are soft and gentle and can delight the hearts of the assembly.
“Shariputra, to sum it up: the buddhas have fully realized the Law that is limitless, boundless, never attained before.
“But stop, Shariputra, I will say no more. Why? Because what the buddhas have achieved is the rarest and most difficult-to-understand Law.
The true aspect of all phenomena can only be understood and shared between buddhas.
This reality consists of the appearance, nature, entity, power, influence, internal cause, relation, latent effect, manifest effect, and their consistency from beginning to end.”- Expedient Means
cont...
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DeleteTen factors common to all life in any of the Ten Worlds.
DeleteThey are listed in the “Expedient Means” (second) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, which reads: “The true aspect of all phenomena can only be understood and shared between Buddhas.
This reality consists of the appearance, nature, entity, power, influence, internal cause, relation, latent effect, manifest effect, and their consistency from beginning to end.”
This passage provides a theoretical basis for the principle of the replacement of the three vehicles with the one vehicle taught in the theoretical teaching (first half) of the Lotus Sutra. Since the ten factors are common to all life and phenomena, there can be no fundamental distinction between a Buddha and an ordinary person. On this basis, T’ien-t’ai (538–597) established the philosophical system of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, of which the principle of the ten factors is a component.
While the Ten Worlds express differences among phenomena, the ten factors describe the pattern of existence common to all phenomena.
For example, both the state of hell and the state of Buddhahood, different as they are, have the ten factors in common.
Briefly, the ten factors are as follows: (1) Appearance: attributes of things discernible from the outside, such as color, form, shape, and behaviour.
(2) Nature: the inherent disposition or quality of a thing or being that cannot be discerned from the outside. T’ien-t’ai characterizes it as unchanging and irreplaceable. The nature of fire, for instance, is unchanging and cannot be replaced by that of water. He also refers to the “true nature,” which he regards as the ultimate truth, or Buddha nature.
(3) Entity: the essence of life that permeates and integrates appearance and nature. These first three factors describe the reality of life itself.
The next six factors, from the fourth, power, through the ninth, manifest effect, explain the functions and workings of life.
(4) Power: life’s potential energy.
(5) Influence: the action or movement produced when life’s inherent power is activated.
(6) Internal cause: the cause latent in life that produces an effect of the same quality as itself, i.e., good, evil, or neutral.
(7) Relation: the relationship of indirect causes to the internal cause. Indirect causes are various conditions, both internal and external, that help the internal cause produce an effect.
(8) Latent effect: the effect produced in life when an internal cause is activated through its relationship with various conditions.
(9) Manifest effect: the tangible, perceivable result that emerges in time as an expression of a latent effect and therefore of an internal cause, again through its relationship with various conditions. Miao-lo (711–782) regarded the Buddhist law of causality described by the four factors from internal cause to manifest effect as the distinctive characteristic of the ten factors. It concerns the cause and effect for attaining Buddhahood.
(10) Consistency from beginning to end: the unifying factor among the ten factors. It indicates that all of the other nine factors from the beginning (appearance) to the end (manifest effect) are consistently and harmoniously interrelated. All nine factors thus consistently and harmoniously express the same condition of existence at any given moment.- SGI Dictionary
DeleteHi Noel, many of the teachings below we have discussed before can we do our utmost to be really conscious what are we talking about from both sides so we dont need repeating our selves and also move on with things that are same or similar and become clear to both of us. Let us continue really consciously and honestly even if in the end we dont agree.
The three aspects of our being are the same in most great religions, our physical aspect, our psychological aspect and our Spiritual aspect. The Vedanta and yogic teachings state that there are 14 worlds not 10 as in Tian tai ( that really doesn't much matter ) because they include more lower and hellish worlds into the category and also more of the higher worlds like scientific and artistic planes of consciousness as distinct manifestations in the order of levels of states of consciousness.
Also they mention 11 and some 12 Consciousnessess or functions of Consciousnessess ( but that too doesn't really much matter there are also Kabbalah and other paths which have different number of the categories detailing and including more states of function and psychology ) I am mentioning this to you so we may be clear in our discussion that there are religions and paths that are aware of these things and this is not a perception and formed exclusive wisdom of Tiantai's or Nichiren Buddhism.
So in that and their description they are more or less the same; i am reading and read several times the teachings which you have send me but i dont know if many practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism take time and interest to know about other paths ( since that will brings us together with richer understanding of each other and the way we view reality, since not all will become the other persons specific line of religion or spirituality ) and then they will see that these things are there and realize that spirituality or Truth is Universal and any one can tap into it , it is not exclusive possession and privilege of Tian Tai or Nichiren or of any labeled organization under the name Buddhism in general.
DeleteAlso another thing the Vedanta mentions that of the different categories of manifestation of karma Praradha karma, apraradha karma, the karma that is latent, the karma that begins to manifest, the karma that have fully fructified and the karma one creates now as one goes and which will become latent to produce its fruits in the future.
According to many religions there are many dimensions in Buddhism too it is there although in Nichiren Buddhism no special attention is placed on that ( though Nichiren several times prayed and call upon beings and powers from supra physical realities )
Even Tian tai though he speaks of the interconnection of a single moment of the 3000 realms he is primarily stating of the physical or material universe creation; but the Vedantist and other religion they dont separate and deal only with the physical life of material universe but include all the planes of the whole Vast Manifested Cosmos and not just the material physical, but of the Subtle physical , the vital planes, the vital-mental planes ( or astral planes as they are popularly known ) then the high pure mental planes and the highest Supramental or Divine planes ) .
I will send direct realizations and testimonies of some Spiritual personalities in my next mails about those planes which do interact and affect us but also they have their own distinct and to a great extent separate existence like our planet has or like the different nations from each other have or families or individuals have ; and there are always enlighten Buddhas or persons who have attained Buddhahood in different times and different lands;
and at our resent times too they speak and teach through personal realization in different ways in the language of our modern times and if we expect only for them to come from certain organizations labelled officially as Buddhism we will miss them and won't recognize them because we want them and expect them to speak the same way even using the same words the same concepts in the same continuation of an old long established group; but the reality shows otherwise they have come and are coming and especially in the last 2 centuries there were quite a few!
DeleteAnswer: The mystic principle that is the essential nature of phenomena possesses two aspects, the defiled aspect and the pure aspect. If the defiled aspect is operative, this is called delusion. If the pure aspect is operative, this is called enlightenment. Enlightenment constitutes the realm of Buddhahood. Delusion constitutes the realms of ordinary mortals.
The defiled aspect is the result of distancing ones self from ones true Nature; so the Essential nature casts a shadow a projection in its self and entering into it or manifesting through it by its involvement; if it is a luminous the nearest projection it manifests the eternal values and pure and true qualities ( Truth, Light, Harmony, Perfection , Purity, Knowledge, Joy, Wide Peace, Love, Freedom and Power ..etc..) of The True nature of Being if the projection went through further modification more distant from its central core of Pure or Amala Consciousness and its fine luminous projections then its consciousness and formations will manifest deluded and distorted aspect of ignorance. The Truth has its own forms of being.
These two aspects, the deluded and the enlightened, are indeed two different phenomena, and yet both are workings of the one principle, that is, the essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality. It is like a piece of crystal. If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water. The crystal is a single entity, but the effects it produces differ according to the circumstances.
This analogy is bit misleading when compared with the True Essential nature of Reality , because the crystal does not produces the sun neither the moon but the True Essence of Mind produces both through transformation of its Conscious force energy. Electricity would be more suitable analogy which through its different arrangement of function can create cool or hot elements though in itself electricity is neither cold nor hot but is beyond both.
The True Nature of Mind involved itself through different energy layers of its own energy doing and thus apparently covers its original purity and conscious power though it is unchanged and essentially free. A deluded being has not realized his own true nature and look at everything from ignorant consciousness; the enlighten person has realized his true nature and lives in it and sees everything from it and through and there is no delusion in his mind. So whatever is placed upon the True Essential Nature of an enlighten person brings only enlightenment and not delusion; what is placed under ignorant nature brings only delusion or mixed truth.
The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is like this. The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is one, but if it encounters evil influences, it will manifest delusion, while if it encounters good influences, it will manifest enlightenment. Enlightenment means enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena, and delusion, ignorance of it.
DeleteActually this too in one way is true , that the True Aspect or True Self which is One it will in its conditioned and ignorant state of its True Nature manifest delusion or gain enlightenment under different influences but a Realized being will not only be not influenced in different conditions but will influence and change the conditions by its presence such is the power of Enlightenment or Buddhahood.
It is like the case of a person who in a dream sees himself performing various good and evil actions. After he wakes up and considers the matter, he realizes that it was all a dream produced by his own mind. This mind of his corresponds to the single principle of the essential nature of phenomena, the true aspect of reality, while the good and evil that appeared in the dream correspond to enlightenment and delusion. When one becomes aware of this, it is clear that one should discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion, and take as one’s basis the awakening that is characterized by goodness and enlightenment.
, The Essential Nature the True Unchanging Aspect is Pure and anything in touch with that will manifest enlightenment; here it tells clearly one should discard ignorance which associated with evil and delusion and base oneself in Goodness and Enlightenment. Goodness, Truth are aspects of the True nature, that we have to cultivate and get rid off delusion and ignorance! Did you hear that Noel " Discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion!!"
DeleteThe Complete and Final Teaching on Perfect Enlightenment Sutra declares, “The beginningless illusions and ignorance that beset all living beings are all produced by the perfectly enlightened mind of the Thus Come Ones.”
This one above is interesting; from all the evidence and my contemplation on this statement the Buddha many times stated that he had attain Buddhahood in many many previous births; and is keeping going no way back so what you have both stated of Buddha being deluded again it goes against the very nature of things, might as well the rivers run backwards. The is a general direction of course with falls and slips on the way but they are part of the growth and the long upward journey to self discovery. Something by the inherent true inner nature within is pushing us towards more progress, more expansion, more perfection always to become more what we at present are and manifest; this is the innate urge of the True nature.
When one has completed the Uni he has no need to go to primary school again.
So the beginningless ignorance since all is eternal is coming and going or involving and evolving it is begginingless as a general movement and existence for the operation of the Universe but in that general movement there is a specific individual journey with its individual karma and rebirth and so each step of progress moves to grater grades of form and consciousness and which his previous "roles" would be filled and occupied by other evolving individuals.
We are all heading to Buddhahood or Self Realization and so there are naturally new individuals entering the material existence otherwise in due course of time we will all become Buddhas ( which has been said in all the scriptures that for that a human vehicle or form is needed, though there are some rare cases where the animals had direct association with enlighten beings and got liberation from lower nature but that is not clear about getting full Buddhahood ) and the lower forms or nonhuman forms of life will extinct.
Also the second part of the statement that “The beginningless illusions and ignorance that beset all living beings are all produced by the perfectly enlightened mind of the Thus Come Ones.”
From all the evidence stated in other scriptures and in this one as well shows that the fully Awakened beings continue being Awakened in the future and so the illusions and ignorance are not created by these Awakened Buddha Beings who attained full Enlightenment and who's mission and purpose of wisdom and compassion is to dispel illusions and ignorance and not produce them; “Shariputra, the thus come ones know how to make various distinctions and to expound the teachings skillfully. Their words are soft and gentle and can delight the hearts of the assembly. The Perfectly Enlightenment Mind is the Ground of Being from which all comes and with which the Thus Come Ones are in oneness; It is unthinkable and it goes against the Very nature of compassion and enlightenment for those in Stage of Buddhahood or even a Boddhisatwa to use their Nirmanakaya and Sabhogakaya being to create illusions and ignorance in the world and for others; the very things through their very birth they came to dispel which is the ignorance and illusion in the world.
So this statement can only be directed to the Original Ground Being, the Brahman , the Godhead of the Theistic paths which states also in the Bible this but many Christians overlook this " King James Bible
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. " Isaiah 45.7 . , Or from the Siva Siddhanta Tradition it is stated that Siva creates, maintains, destroys . reveals and conceals His 5 functions.
And of course in the Vedanta teachings too the Divine manifest these two aspects. Ultimately it is The Ultimate Perfectly Enlighten Eternal Ground Reality which manifests and generates all the manifestations including the ignorance and the illusive appearance through a succession of unfoldedment.
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DeleteThe Great Teacher Miao-lo comments on this as follows: “Enlightenment has no separate entity but completely depends upon ignorance; and ignorance has no separate entity but completely depends upon enlightenment.”
DeleteProbably by now you may think of me as arrogant claiming understanding to comment on them; but from the different sources which I heard and contemplated and most importantly tested in life against life because that is the only way to do it; how can you know who speaks the truth who has the correct perception and realization; I believe there is only one way for one and that is to open and take it in dwell on it deeply everyday and test it, see it,, experience it in life and see if it holds true, only in life in living life not in ones mind just imaginary thinking one can see and know.
I feel though here is a great insight ( to these teachings you have send ) but as far as the philosophical and intellectual ability of description and expression of these truths they are not as good in conveying that as the western philosophers would have; and that is why the teachings appear hard to understand not because they are so profound but because they are disorderly and messy, badly presented , badly explained , badly expressed without logical clearly intelligible sequence!
The True Nature of Mind is Pure or Amala and thus is Self Luminous. If one is in touch with that one can see clearly as it is, one is enlighten; one perceives the ignorance wherever it is present but the ignorance itself doesn't make one enlighten. The ignorance doesn't reveal the enlighten mind , the enlighten mind reveals the Ignorance; but only the true nature of mind makes it enlighten and aware of its truth and of the delusion.
If being consciously in ones true nature is Enlightenment then without ignorance one can still have enlightenment, whether the ignorance is present or not; ones ignorance may be removed but that doesn't mean elsewhere or around one there is no display of ignorance. One who is situated in ones True Nature is Enlighten whether there are elements and beings pure or impure , harmonious or disorderly, good or evil.
DeleteFurther proof of the truth that ignorance and enlightenment are one in essence is found in the passage in the Lotus Sutra that reads, “These phenomena are part of an abiding Law, [and] the characteristics of the world are constantly abiding.”
They definitely come from the same essence since there is only one Essence .
Ordinarily good and bad may both be from ego but the Good which comes from Enlighten Buddha is Supremely Divinely Good and that Goodness only can come when one has realized ones True Nature.
Enlightenment comes from ones True Nature while ignorance from covering thus forgetfulness of ones True Nature. In Vedanta the direct qualities of True Nature are described as truth, light, love, peace, joy, wisdom, power, spacious freedom etc.. These are the direct qualities of the True Nature;
ignorance , delusion and evils and the rest are not direct qualities of the True Mind by subsequent qualities of deformation from further manifestation more removed and distanced from the core or nearness of the True nature of Mind. ( that is why you will see in the links which I will send you about the realities or planes of existence and manifestations of direct and nearest to the True Essence of Being, they are full of wisdom , Goodness, unity , joy and harmony but we can manifest them here on earth too because the same True reality is in us and also we can open up to these higher realities of manifestation and actualize them here on earth in our life.)
Thus it is true in one sense that pure land is a state of mind and not necessarily a world or planet or place but is equally true that when and where there are all the beings of Pure Mind then the place too, the land too the world too is Pure Land! and these are the Highest planes of manifestations existing right now as Pure Land places with Pure Mind beings and we have the same potential to manifest them here.
DeleteGreat Perfection of Wisdom says, “Enlightenment and ignorance are not different things, not separate things. To understand this is what is called the Middle Way.”
This is already explained below that they are different, so the above statement is misleading and erroneous; ( here is another disability of clear intellectual rendering and capacity) the above statement was implied and expressed by the previous ones and that is that they want simply to point that both derive from the one same essence.
These two aspects, the deluded and the enlightened, are indeed two different phenomena, and yet both are workings of the one principle, that is, the essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality.
That is why is stated above
" Discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion!!" Otherwise what are we doing, why even having this discussions or why should we be doing any practice or study the scriptures and endeavor to awake and change? If they are the exactly the same thing then why not be as we already are why strive for change for improvement for Enlightenment?!
DeleteThe Great Teacher Nan-yüeh says, “The entity of the mind is endowed with two aspects, the defiled and the pure. However, it does not have two different forms but is single in nature and without distinction.”
The entity of the mind itself is single and without distinction, but possesses an ability to manifest its very opposite.
" A person of wisdom is not one who practices Buddhism apart from worldly affairs but, rather, one who thoroughly understands the principles by which the world may be governed - The Kalpa of Decrease That is very right and thats how real transformation of ourselves and the world comes!
"The essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality. It is like a piece of crystal. If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water. The crystal is a single entity, but the effects it produces differ according to the circumstances." Nichiren
Delete"This analogy is bit misleading when compared with the True Essential nature of Reality , because the crystal does not produces the sun neither the moon but the True Essence of Mind produces both through transformation of its Conscious force energy." Stavros
Stavros is being incoherent when saying that " because the crystal does not produces the sun neither the moon"
Nichiren said that "If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water."
There is a bird that has eyes so big that it drinks the dew that falls on its eyes in the same way that due would form at a crystal ball at night.
I'm not sure of the connection between the rays of moon light that is the reflection of sunlight and starlight that produces water from the crystal .
The moon is a major part of the working of the gravitational field that effects the ebb and flow of water the effect maybe amplified by crystal that captures light thus drawing in greater quantities of dew towards itself than other objects with a lesser gravitational pull and we all know what happens when the suns rays are directed through magnifying glass - fire
I'll trust in Nichirens teachings on the Entity of the Mystic Law because the analogy and misrepresentation of Nichirens words and teachings that Stavros makes is not making any sense as usual because he does not have the capacity since his cup is already full of partial truths and delusions that he is so attached to and cant let go of as it gives him a false sense of security that he thinks is real
And the reason why that he is suffering under this condition is because of this principle in which Nichiren says;
"The founders of the True Word teachings were warped to begin with. So how could their disciples and followers be upright?
Contamination at the source of a river will pollute its entire length. Because of this, the Land of the Sun has had a long, dark night, and the Sun Tree is now about to be blighted by an alien frost."
Causes AND conditions. SGI throws out conditions, the very Lotus Sutra that they profess to uphold.
DeleteI will send few attachment that i mentioned before here is the first one, i believe you have read it but i am sending it again from Autobiography of a Yogi , open the chapter 43 " the Resurrection of Sri Yukteshvar" read the hold chapter there are many revelations. http://www.crystalclarity.com/yogananda/chap43.php
ReplyDeleteHere is another one:
ReplyDeleteLines of Descent of Consciousness
Shri Nolini Kant Gupta
THE world has been created by a descent of consciousness; it maintains itself, it proceeds and develops through a series of descents. In fact, creation itself is a descent, the first and original one, the descent of the supreme Reality into Matter and as Matter. The supreme Reality – the fount and origin of things and even that which is beyond – although essentially something absolute, indescribable, ineffable, indeterminable, has been, for purposes of the human understanding, signalised as a triune entity of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss. That is to say, first of all, it is, it exists always and for ever – invariably, in unbroken continuity; secondly, it exists not unconsciously, but consciously, in and as full consciousness; thirdly, it exists in delight-through delight and for and as delight; it has no other reason for existence but the pleasure and joy of simply existing. This primal, this original truth or reality transcends creation and is beyond and antecedent to it. What then is creation, what is its nature and character? Strange to say, it is the very opposite of the primal reality. First of all, it is not really existent: its existence is only another name for non-existence, as, in its phenomenal constitution, it is variable, ephemeral, transient and fragmentary or even seems made, as it were, of the stuff of dream. Secondly, it is not conscious; on the contrary, it is unconsciousness. And lastly it is not delight; there is an original insensibility and much undelight, grief and sorrow. That is the actual physical creation; or so, at least, it appears to be. How is this paradox to be explained? What is the significance of this riddle?
Descent is the master-key that unravels the mystery – that is to say, the descent of the delightful conscious existence as the material world. But why this descent at all? What was the necessity? What was the purpose? The why of a thing is always difficult, if not impossible, to gauge. But we shall try to understand the how of the phenomenon, and in so doing perhaps we may get at the why of it also. At present let us content ourselves by saying that such was His will – La sua voluntade – such was His wish – sa aicchat. For once perhaps instead of saying, "Let there be light", He (or something in Him) must have said, "Let there be darkness", and there was Darkness.
But the point is, this darkness did not come all on a sudden but arrived gradually through a developing process – we do not refer to physical time here but something antecedent, something parallel to it in another dimension. Let us see how it all came about.
The absolute in its triple or triune status (not in its supreme being but as we see it prior to manifestation) is in essence and principle an infinity and unity. Indeed, it is the infinite unity, and its fundamental character is a supreme and utter equality – samam brahma. It is then a status or statis, that is to say, a state of perfectly stable equilibrium in which there is no movement of difference or distinction, no ripple of high and low or ebb and flow, no mark of quantity or quality. It is a stilled sea of self-identity, a vast limitless or pure consciousness brooding in trance and immobility. And yet in the bosom of this ineffable and inviolable equality, in the very hush and lull there lies secreted an urge, a pressure, a possibility towards activity, variation and even an eventual inequality. For the presence and possibility of dynamism is posited by the very infinity of the Infinite, since without it, the Infinite would be incapable of motion, expression and fulfilment of its Force.
"three existences ［三世］ ( san-ze): Past existence, present existence, and future existence. Used to indicate all of time, from the eternal past, through the present, through the eternal future. In Buddhism, they are the three aspects of the eternity of life, linked inseparably by the law of cause and effect. In the sutras, expressions such as “the Buddhas of the three existences” and “the Buddhas of the three existences and ten directions” indicate all Buddhas throughout eternity and boundless space."
DeleteI think this concept is saying that there is no beginning or end. That everything is eternally coming in and out of existence and that there was no initial beginning to everything so there will be no final end
These Buddhas all have an individual Alaya Consciousness that possess a karmic thread that has no original beginning or end similarly to the created universe
The idea of creation that you have presented is vastly different
There is thus inherent in the vast inalienable equality of the absolute Reality, a Force which can bring out centres of pressure, nuclei of dynamism, nodes of modulation. It is precisely round these centres of precipitation that the original and basic unity crystallises itself and weaves a pattern of harmonious multiplicity. Consciousness, by self-pressure, – tapas taptvā – turns its even and undifferentiated pristine equanimity into ripples and swirls, eddies and vortices of delight, matrices of creative activity. Thus the One becomes
ReplyDeleteMany by a process of self-concentration and self-limitation.
At the very outset when and where the Many has come out into manifestation in the One here – also it must be remembered that we are using a temporal figure in respect of an extra-temporal fact – there and then is formed a characteristic range of reality which is a perfect equation of the one and the many: that is to say, the one in becoming many still remains the same immaculate one in and through the many, and likewise the many in spite of its manifoldness-and because of the special quality of the manifoldness-still continues to be the one in the uttermost degree. It is the world of fundamental realities. Sri Aurobindo names it the Supermind or Gnosis. It is something higher than but distantly akin to Plato's world of Ideas or Noumena (ideai, nooumena) or to what Plotinus calls the first divine emanation (nous). These archetypal realities are realities of the Spirit, Idea-forces, truth-energies, the root consciousness-forms, ŗta cit, in Vedic terminology. They are seed-truths, the original mother-truths in the Divine Consciousness. They comprise the fundamental essential many aspects and formulations of an infinite Infinity. At this stage these do not come into clash or conflict, for here each contains all and the All contains each one in absolute unity and essential identity. Each individual formation is united with and partakes of the nature of the one supreme Reality. Although difference is born here, separation is not yet come. Variety is there, but not discord, individuality is there, not egoism. This is the first step of Descent, the earliest one-not, we must remind ourselves again, historically but psychologically and logically-the descent of the Transcendent into the Cosmic as the vast and varied Supermind – citrah praketo ajanista vibhwā – of the Absolute into the relational manifestation as Vidyāsakti (Gnosis).
There was no individual karma at the beginning of this creation. It started from scratch during the descent unlike the Alaya consciousness that has no original beginning or final end
Delete"While the image of a storehouse is helpful, a truer image may be that of a raging torrent of karmic energy. This energy is constantly moving through and shaping our lives and experience.
Our resultant thoughts and actions are then fed back into this karmic flow. The quality of the karmic flow is what makes each of us distinct beings--our unique selves. The flow of energy is constantly changing, but, like a river, it maintains an identity and consistency even through successive cycles of life and death.
It is this aspect of fluidity, this lack of fixity, that opens the possibility of transforming the content of the eighth consciousness. This is why karma, properly understood, is different from an unchanging or unavoidable destiny.
The next steps, farther down or away, arrive when the drive towards differentiation and multiplication gathers momentum becomes accentuated, and separation and isolation increase in degree and emphasis. The lines of individuation fall more and more apart from each other, tending to form closed circles, each confining more and more exclusively to itself, stressing its own particular and special value and function, in contradistinction to or even against other lines. Thus the descent or fall from the Supermind leads, in the first instance, to the creation or appearance of the Overmind. It is the level of consciousness where the perfect balance of the One and the Many is disturbed and the emphasis begins to be laid on the many. The source of incompatibility between the two just starts here as if Many is not – One and One is not Many. It is the beginning of Ignorance, Avidya, Maya. Still in the higher hemisphere of the Overmind, the sense of unity is yet maintained, although there is no longer the sense of absolute identity of the two; they are experienced as complementaries, both form a harmony, a harmony as of different and distinct but conjoint notes. The Many has come forward, yet the unity is also there supporting it-the unity is an immanent godhead, controlling the patent reality of the Many. It is in the lower hemisphere of the Overmind that unity is thrown into the background half-submerged, flickering, and the principle of multiplicity comes forward with all insistence. Division and rivalry are the characteristic marks of its organisation. Yet the unity does not disappear altogether, only it remains very much inactive, like a sleeping partner. It is not directly perceived and envisaged, not immediately felt but is evoked as reminiscence. The Supermind, then, is the first crystallisation of the Infinite into individual centres, in the Overmind these centres at the outset become more exclusively individualised and then jealously self-centred.
ReplyDeleteThe next step of Descent is the Mind where the original unity and identity and harmony are disrupted to a yet greater degree, almost completely. The self-delimitation of consciousness – which is proper to the Supermind and even to the Overmind, at least in its higher domains – gives way to self-limitation, to intolerant egoism and solipsism. The consciousness withdraws from its high and wide sweep, narrows down to introvert orbits. The sense of unity in the mind is, at most, a thing of idealism and imagination; it is an abstract notion, a supposition and a deduction. Here we enter into the very arcana of Maya, the rightful possession of Ignorance. The individualities here have become totally isolated and independent and mutually conflicting lines of movement. Hence the natural incapacity of mind, as it is said, to comprehend more than one object simultaneously. The Supermind and, less absolutely, the Overmind have a global and integral outlook: they can take in each one in its purview all at once the total assemblage of things, they differentiate but do not divide-the Supermind not at all, the Over mind not categorically. The Mind has not this synthetic view, it proceeds analytically. It observes its object by division, taking the parts piecemeal, dismantling them, separating them, and attending to each one at a time. And when it observes it fixes itself on one point, withdrawing its attention from all the rest. If it bas to arrive at a synthesis, it can only do so by collating, aggregating and summing. Mental consciousness is thus narrowly one pointed: and in narrowing itself, being farther away from the source it becomes obscurer, more and more outward gazing (parāñci khāni) and superficial. The One Absolute in its downward march towards multiplicity, fragmentation and partiality loses also gradually its subtlety, its suppleness, its refinement, becomes more and more obtuse, crude, rigid and dense.
ReplyDeleteBetween the Overmind and the Mind proper, varying according to the degree of immixture of the two, according to the degree of descent and of emergence of one and the other respectively, there are several levels of consciousness of which three main ones have been named and described by Sri Aurobindo. The first one nearest to the Overmind and the least contaminated by the Mind is pure Intuition; next, the intermediary one is called the Illumined Mind, and last comes the Higher Mind. They are all powers of the Overmind functioning in the Mind. The higher ranges are always more direct, intense, synthetic, dynamic than the lower ones where consciousness is slower, duller, more uncertain, more disintegrated. The lower the consciousness descends the more veiled it becomes, losing more and more the directness, the sureness, the intensity and force and the synthetic unity native to the highest ranges of our consciousness and being.
ReplyDeleteA further descent into obscurity occurs when consciousness passes from Mind to Life. Darkness is almost visible here: there is a greater withdrawal on the part of each unit from its surrounding reality, a narrower concentration upon one's own separative existence-shades of the prison-house have gathered close around. The light, already dulled and faint in the mind, has become a lurid glare here. Passion has arisen and desire and hunger and battle and combat.
Here also in the vital three ranges can be distinguished the lower becoming more and more turbid and turbulent and fierce or more and more self-centred and selfish. These levels can best be seen by their impact on our vital being and formations there. The first, the highest one, the meeting or confluence of the Mind and the Vital is the Heart, the centre of emotion, the knot of the external or instrumental vehicle, of the frontal consciousness, behind which is born and hides the true individualised consciousness, the psyche. The mid-region is the Higher Vital consisting of larger (egoistic) dynamisms, such as high ambition, great enterprise, heroic courage, capacity for work, adventure, masterfulness, also such movements as sweeping violences, mighty hungers, and intense arrogances. The physical seat of this movement is, as perhaps the Tantras would say, the domain ranging between the heart and the navel. Lower down ranges the Lower Vital which consists of small desires, petty hankerings, blind cravings-all urges and impulses that are more or less linked up with the body and move to gross physical satisfactions.
But always the Consciousness is driving towards a yet greater disintegration and fragmentation, obscuration and condensation of self-oblivion. The last step in the process of transmutation or involution is Matter where consciousness has wiped itself out or buried itself within so completely and thoroughly that it has become in its outward form totally dark, dense, hard, pulverised into mutually exclusive grains. The supreme luminous Will of Consciousness in its gradual descent and self – obliteration finally ends in a rigid process of mere mechanised drive.
This is, so far then, the original and primal line of descent. It is the line down which the absolute Reality, the absolute Consciousness and the absolute Delight have turned into unreality and unconsciousness and un delight. But it is not all loss and debit. There is a credit side too. For it is only in this way, viz, by the manifestation of utter Ignorance, that the supreme Absolute has become concrete, the Formless has entered into form, the Bodiless has found a body: what was originally an indeterminate equal Infinity of pure conscious ness, has become determinate and dynamic in the individual multiplicity of corporeal consciousness. What is the sense in all that, what is the gain or upshot? We shall presently see.
ReplyDeleteWhen consciousness has reached the farthest limit of its opposite, when it has reduced itself to absolutely unconscious and mechanical atoms of Matter, when the highest has descended into and become the lowest, then, by the very force of its downward drive, it has swung round and begun to mount up again. As it could not proceed farther on the downward gradient, having reached the extreme and ultimate limit of inconscience, consciousness had to turn round, as it were, by the very pressure of its inner impetus. First, then, there is a descent, a gradual involution, a veiling and closing up; next, an ascent, a gradual evolution, unfoldment and expression. We now see, however, that the last limit at the bottom – Matter – although appearing to be unconscious, is really not so: it is inconscient. That is to say, it holds consciousness secreted and involved within itself; it is, indeed, a special formulation of consciousness. It is the exclusive concentration of consciousness upon single points in itself: it is consciousness throwing itself out in scattered units and, by reason of separative identification with them and absorption into them, losing itself, forgetting itself in an absolute fixation of attention. The phenomenon is very similar to what happens when in the ordinary consciousness a worker, while doing a work, becomes so engrossed in it that he loses consciousness of himself, identifies himself with the work and in fact becomes the work, the visible resultant being a mechanical execution.
Now this imprisoned consciousness in Matter forces Matter to be conscious again when driven on the upward gradient. This tension creates a fire, as it were, in the heart of Matter, a mighty combustion and whorl in the core of things, of which the blazing sun is an image and a symbol. All this pressure and heat and concussion and explosion mean a mighty struggle in Matter to' give birth to that which is within. Consciousness that is latent must be made patent; it must reveal itself in Matter and through Matter, making Matter its vehicle and embodiment. This is the mystery of the birth of Life, the first sprouting of consciousness in Matter. Life is half-awakened consciousness, consciousness yet in a dream state. Its earliest and most rudimentary manifestation is embodied in the plant or vegetable world. The submerged consciousness strives to come still further up, to express itself to a greater degree and in a clearer mode, to become more free and plastic in its movements; hence the appearance of the animal as the next higher formulation. Here consciousness delivers itself as a psyche, a rudimentary one, no doubt, a being of feeling and sensation, and elementary mentality playing in a field of vitalised Matter. Even then it is not satisfied with itself, it asks for a still more free and clear articulation: it is not satisfied, for it has not yet found its own level. Hence after the animal, arrives man with a full-fledged Mind, with intelligence and self-consciousness and capacity for self-determination.
ReplyDeleteThus we see that evolution, the unfolding of consciousness follows exactly the line of its involution, only the other way round: the mounting consciousness re-ascends step by step the same gradient, retraces the same path along which it had descended. The descending steps are broadly speaking (I) Existence – Consciousness – Bliss, (2) Supermind and its secondary form Overmind, (3) Mind – (i) mind proper and (ii) the intermediary psyche, (4) Life, (5) Matter. The ascending consciousness starting from Matter rises into Life, passes on through Life and Psyche into Mind, driving towards the Supermind and Schchidananda. At the present stage of evolution, consciousness has arrived at the higher levels of Mind; it is now striving to cross it altogether and enter the Overmind and the Supermind. It will not rest content until it arrives at the organisation in and through the Supermind: for that is the drive and purpose of Nature in the next cycle of evolution.
Physical Science speaks of irreversibility and entropy in Nature's process. That is to say, it is stated that Nature is rushing down and running down: she is falling irrevocably from a higher to an ever lower potential of energy. The machine that Nature is, is driven by energy made available by a break-up of parts and particles constituting its substance. This katabolic process cannot be stopped or retraced; it can end only when the break-up ceases at dead equilibrium. You cannot lead the river up the channel to its source, it moves inevitably, unceasingly towards the sea in which it exhausts itself and finds its last repose and-extinction. But whatever physical Science may say, the science of the spirit declares emphatically that Nature's process is reversible, that a growing entropy can be checked and countermanded: in other words, Nature's downward current resulting in a continual loss of energy and a break-up of substance is not the only process of her activity. This aspect is more than counterbalanced by another one of upward drive and building up, of re-energisation and re-integration. Indeed, evolution, as we have explained it, is nothing but such a process of synthesis and new creation.
ReplyDeleteEvolution, which means the return movement of consciousness, consists, in its apparent and outward aspect, of two processes, or rather two parallel lines in a single process. First, there is the line of sublimation, that is to say, the lower purifies and modifies itself into the higher; the denser, the obscurer, the baser mode of consciousness is led into and becomes the finer, the clearer, the nobler mode. Thus it is that Matter rises into Life, Life into Psyche and Mind, Mind into Overmind and Supermind. Now this sublimation is not simply a process of refinement or elimination, something in the nature of our old Indian nivŗtti or pratyāhāra, or what Plotinus called epistrophe (a turning back, withdrawal or reabsorption): it includes and is attended by the process of integration also. That is to say, as the lower rises into the higher, the lower does not cease to exist thereby, it exists but lifted up into the higher, infused and modified by the higher. Thus when Matter yields Life, Matter is not destroyed: it means Life has appeared in Matter and exists in and through Matter and Matter thereby has attained a new mode and constitution, for it is no longer merely a bundle of chemical or mechanical reactions, it is instinct with life, it has become organic matter. Even so, when Lire arrives at Mind, it is not dissolved into Mind but both Life and Matter are taken up by the mental stuff, life becomes dynamic sentience and Matter is transformed into the grey substance of the brain. Matter thus has passed through a first transformation in Life and a second transformation in Mind; it awaits other transformations on other levels beyond Mind. Likewise, Life has passed through a first transformation in Mind and there are stages in this transformation. In the plant, Life is in its original pristine mode; in the animal, it has become sentient and centralised round a rudimentary desire-soul; in man, life-force is taken up by the higher mind and intelligence giving birth to idealism .and ambition, dynamisms of a forward-looking purposive will.
ReplyDeleteWe have, till now, spoken of the evolution of consciousness as a movement of ascension, consisting of a double process of sublimation and integration. But ascension itself is only one line of a yet another larger double process. For along with the visible movement of ascent, there is a hidden movement of descent. The ascent represents the pressure from below, the force of buoyancy exerted by the involved and secreted consciousness. But the mere drive from below is not sufficient all by itself to bring out or establish the higher status. The higher status itself has to descend in order to be manifest. The urge from below is an aspiration, a yearning to move ever upward and forward; but the precise goal, the status to be arrived at is not given there. The more or less vague and groping surge from below is canalised, if assumes a definite figure and shape, assumes a local habitation and a name when the higher descends at the crucial moment, takes the lower at its peak-tide and fixes upon it its own norm and form. We have said that all the levels of consciousness have been created-loosened -out-by a first Descent; but in the line of the first Descent the only level that stands in front at the outset is Matter all the other levels are created no doubt but remain invisible in the background, behind the gross veil of Matter. Each status stands confined, as it were, to its own region and bides its time when each will be summoned to concretise itself in Matter. Thus Life was already there on the plane of Life even when it did not manifest itself in Matter, when mere Matter, dead Matter was the only apparent reality on the material plane. When Matter was stirred and churned sufficiently so .as to reach a certain tension and "saturation, when it was raised to a certain degree of maturity, as it were, then Life appeared: Life appeared, not because that was the inevitable and unavoidable result of the churning, but because Life descended from its own level to the level of Matter and took Matter up in its embrace. The churning, the development in Matter was only the occasion, the condition precedent. For, however much one may shake or churn Matter, whatever change one may create in it by a shuffling and reshuffling of its elements, one can never produce Life by that alone. A new and unforeseen factor makes its appearance, precisely because it comes from elsewhere. It is true all the planes are imbedded, submerged, involved in the complex of Matter; but, in point of fact, all planes are involved in every other plane. The appearance or manifestation of a new plane is certainly prepared, made ready to the last – the last but one – degree by the urge of the inner, the latent mode of consciousness that is to be; still the actualisation, the bursting forth happens only when the thing that has to manifest itself descends, the actual form and pattern can be imprinted and established by that alone. Thus, again, when Life attains a certain level of growth and maturity, a certain tension and orientation – a definite vector, so to say, in the mathematical language – when it has, for example, sufficiently organised itself as a vehicle of the psychic element of consciousness, then it buds forth into Mind, but only when the Mind has descended upon it and into it. As in the previous stage, here also Life cannot produce Mind, cannot develop into Mind by any amount of mechanical or chemical operations within itself, by any amount of permutation and combination or commutation and culture of its constituent elements, unless it is seized on by Mind itself. After the Mind, the next higher grade of consciousness shall come by the same method and process, viz,. first by an uplifting of the mental consciousness – a certain widening and deepening and katharsis of the mental consciousness – and then by a descent, gradual or sudden, of the level or levels that lie above it.
ReplyDeleteThis, then, is the nature of creation and its process. First,. there is an Involution, a gradual foreshortening-a disintegration and concretisation, an exclusive concentration and self-oblivion of consciousness by which the various levels of diminishing consciousness are brought forth from the plenary light of the one supreme Spirit, all the levels down to the complete eclipse in the unconsciousness of the multiple and disintegrate Matter. Next, there is an Evolution, that is to say, embodiment in Matter of all these successive states,. appearing one by one from the down most to the topmost; Matter incarnates, all other states contribute to the incarnation and uphold it, the higher always transforming the lower in a new degree of consciousness.
ReplyDeleteCreation, the universe in its activity, is thus not simply a meaningless play, a pointless fancy. It has a purpose, an end, a goal, a fulfilment, and it follows naturally a definite pattern of process. The goal is the concretisation, the materialisation (which includes, of course, vitalisation and mentalisation) of the Spirit and the spiritual values. It means the establishment of divine names and forms in terrestrial individuals leading a divine life, individually and collectively here below.
Chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo. you yourself are the Supreme Spirit. No other religion turns the common mortal into the Buddha since time without beginning. Only the religion of the Lotus Sutra reveals the majestic dignity of stav hatz and all human beings. One after another, realizing this dignity and the grave sin to kill a Buddha, there will be an end to war. You can talk all the theoreical talk in the world but how many millions have been killed with the Baghava-Gita and Vedas as their source?
DeleteThe Vedas and Gita they advocate violence though there was a battle which had to be fought and was fought; when evil predominates physical means are necessary but this is in exceptional cases the general rule is kindness, lovingly and compassionately helping and growing. So as a general rule they dont advocate violence.
DeleteNow there are always corrupted people using the teachings to their ends and this corruption was more or less through all religions. But certainly we are not talking about people like that we are talking about the teachings here and comparing the teachings in their given form and not how or who is abusing them.
You seem Mark to dont accept any other teachings or religious paths ( all other religions and teachings are theories and only in your religion is the Only True Truth taught) and that is very narrow of you and also fanatical and you contribute to disunity and intolerance of other approach and other forms of religious or spiritual paths.
Also you seem to be very ignorant and quite dishonest pointing to religious violences of other culture and religion ( as we know also Islam and Christianity tried to propagate and establish and defend their religious teachings from corruptions justifying their violences ) while your own religion advocates violence this is the Buddhist Jihad "
Most people don't Know that the Buddha killed icchantika's in his previous lives and gained great merit for it!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icchantika
DeleteIcchantika - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org
Description. According to some Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, the icchantika is the most base and spiritually deluded of all types of being. The term implies being ...
This is from Nichiren's letter "On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land"
“Anyone who grasps this principle should know that it is of utmost importance to take thought for the existence to come. In the latter age of the Buddha Joy Increasing, the monk Realization of Virtue propagated the correct teaching. Countless monks who were guilty of violating the precepts deeply resented this votary and attacked him, but the ruler, King Possessor of Virtue, determined to protect the correct teaching, fought with these slanderers. In the end, he lost his life and was reborn in the land of the Buddha Akshobhya, where he became the foremost disciple of that Buddha. Similarly, King Sen’yo, because he honored theMahayana teachings and punished the slander of five hundred Brahmans, was able to reach the stage of non-regression. How reassuring, that those who respect the monks of the correct teaching and admonish those who are evil and in error receive such blessings as these!
“But if, in our present age, one were to practice shōju [rather than shakubuku], then without doubt that person would fall into the evil paths together with those who slander the correct teaching. The Great Teacher Nan-yüeh in his Four Peaceful Practices states, ‘If there should be a bodhisattva who protects evil persons and fails to chastise them . . . then, when his life comes to an end, he will fall into hell along with those evil persons.’
“The meaning of this passage is that, if a practitioner of Buddhism should fail to chastise evil persons who slander the Law but give himself up entirely to meditation and contemplation, not attempting to distinguish between correct and incorrect doctrines, or provisional and true teachings, but rather pretending to be a model of compassion, then such a person will fall into the evil paths along with the other doers of evil. Now a person who fails to correct the True Word, Nembutsu, Zen, and Precepts adherents who are slanderers of the correct teaching and instead pretends to be a model of compassion will meet just such a fate as this.” [A Sage and an Unenlightened Man}
The nature of killing varies, however. The offense of the person killed is either heavy or light. If one kills the person who has murdered one’s father, mother, sovereign, or teacher, although the offense remains the same, what would have been a grave offense probably becomes a light one instead. This is something our contemporary scholars are acquainted with. But even bodhisattvas with their great compassion, if they make offerings to the enemies of the Lotus Sutra, are certain to fall into the hell of incessant suffering. On the other hand, even those who commit the five cardinal sins, if they show animosity toward those enemies, will definitely be reborn in the human or heavenly world. KingSen’yo and King Possessor of Virtue, who had destroyed, respectively, five hundred and countless enemies of the Lotus Sutra, becameShakyamuni Buddha in this world. His disciples such as Mahākāshyapa,Ānanda, Shāriputra, Maudgalyāyana, and other countless followers were people who, at that time, were in the vanguard, defeating the enemy, orkilling them, injuring them, or rejoicing in the fight. The monk Realization of Virtue became Kāshyapa Buddha. He was a votary of the Lotus Sutra of great compassion who, at that time, urged King Possessor of Virtue to attack the enemies of the sutra as if they were the ones who had betrayed his father and mother in a previous lifetime.[On Recommending This Teaching to Your Lord and Avoiding the Offense of Complicity in Slander]
DeleteThe host said: There is no doubt that I am the foolish one—I would never dare claim to be wise. However, I would just like to quote some passages from the scriptures and offer some brief thoughts. Concerning the means for insuring order in the nation, there are numerous passages in both Buddhist and non-Buddhist texts, and it would be difficult to cite them all here. Since taking up the study of Buddhism, however, I have frequently given thought to this matter, and it seems to me that restraining those who slander the Law and respecting the followers of the correct way will assure stability within the nation and peace in the world at large.
In the Nirvana Sutra, we read: “The Buddha said, ‘With the exception of one type of person, you may offer alms to all kinds of persons, and everyone will praise you.’
Delete“Chunda said, ‘What do you mean when you speak of “one type of person”?’
“The Buddha replied, ‘I mean the type described in this sutra as violators of the precepts.’
“Chunda spoke again, saying, ‘I am afraid I still do not understand. May I ask you to explain further?’
“The Buddha addressed Chunda, saying, ‘By violators of the precepts, I mean the icchantika. In the case of all other types of persons, you may offer alms, everyone will praise you, and you will achieve great rewards.’
“Chunda spoke once more, asking, ‘What is the meaning of the termicchantika?’
“The Buddha said: ‘Chunda, suppose there should be monks or nuns, lay men or women who speak careless and evil words and slander the correct teaching, and that they should go on committing these grave acts without ever showing any inclination to reform or any sign of repentance in their hearts. Persons of this kind I would say are following the path of the icchantika.
Delete“‘Again there may be those who commit the four grave offenses or are guilty of the five cardinal sins, and who, though aware that they are guilty of serious faults, from the beginning have no trace of fear or contrition in their hearts or, if they do, give no outward sign of it. When it comes to the correct teaching, they show no inclination to protect, treasure, and establish it over the ages, but rather speak of it with malice and contempt, their words replete with error. People of this kind too I would say are following the path of the icchantika. With the exception of this one group of people called icchantika, however, you may offer alms to all others, and everyone will praise you.’”
Elsewhere in the same sutra, the Buddha spoke in these words: “When I recall the past, I remember that I was the king of a great state in this continent of Jambudvīpa. My name was Sen’yo, and I loved and venerated the great vehicle scriptures. My heart was pure and good and had no trace of evil, jealousy, or stinginess. Good men, at that time I cherished the great vehicle teachings in my heart. When I heard the Brahmans slandering these correct and equal sutras, I put them to death on the spot. Good men, as a result of that action, I never thereafter fell into hell.”
In another passage it says, “In the past, when the Thus Come Onewas the ruler of a nation and practiced the way of the bodhisattva, he put to death a number of Brahmans.”
Again it says: “There are three degrees of killings: the lower, middle, and upper degrees. The lower degree constitutes the killing of any humble being, from an ant to any of the various kinds of animals. But the killing of any being that a bodhisattva has chosen to be born as [to help other living beings] is excluded. As a result of a killing of the lower degree, one will fall into the realms of hell, hungry spirits, and animals, and will suffer all the pains appropriate to a killing of the lower degree. Why should this be? Because even animals and other humble beings possess the roots of goodness, insignificant though those roots may be. That is why a person who kills such a being must suffer full retribution for his offense.
“Killing any person from an ordinary mortal to an anāgāmin constitutes what is termed the middle degree. As a consequence of such an act of killing, one will fall into the realms of hell, hungry spirits, and animals, and will suffer all the pains appropriate to a killing of the middle degree. The upper degree of killing refers to the killing of a parent, an arhat, a pratyekabuddha, or a bodhisattva who has reached the stage of non-retrogression. For such a crime one will fall into the greatAvīchi hell. Good men, if someone were to kill an icchantika, that killingwould not fall into any of the three categories just mentioned. Good men, the various Brahmans that I have said were put to death—all of them were in fact icchantikas.”
DeleteIn the Benevolent Kings Sutra, we read: “The Buddha announced to King Prasenajit, ‘Thus I entrust the protection of my teachings to the ruler of the nation rather than to the monks and nuns. Why do I do so? Because they do not possess the kind of power and authority that the king has.’”
The Nirvana Sutra states: “Now I entrust the correct teaching, which is unexcelled, to the rulers, the ministers, the high officials, and the four kinds of Buddhists. If anyone should vilify the correct teaching, then the ministers and four kinds of Buddhists should reprimand him and bring him to order.”
It also states: “The Buddha replied: ‘[Bodhisattva] Kāshyapa, it is because I was a defender of the correct teaching that I have been able to attain this diamond-like body. . . . Good man, defenders of the correct teaching need not observe the five precepts or practice the rules of proper behavior. Rather they should carry knives and swords, bows and arrows, halberds and lances.’”
Again the Buddha said: “Even though there may be those who observe the five precepts, they do not deserve to be called practitioners of the great vehicle. But even if one does not observe the five precepts, if one defends the correct teaching, then one may be called a practitioner of the great vehicle. Defenders of the correct teaching ought to arm themselves with knives and swords, weapons and staves. Even though they carry swords and staves, I would call them men who observe the precepts.”
DeleteThe Buddha likewise said: “Good man, in past ages in this very city of Kushinagara, a Buddha appeared whose name was the Thus Come OneJoy Increasing. After this Buddha passed away, the correct teaching that he had taught remained in the world for countless millions of years. Finally, only forty more years were left before the Buddhist teaching was due to come to an end.
“At that time there was a monk named Realization of Virtue who observed the precepts. There were many monks at this time who violated the precepts, and when they heard this monk preaching, they all conceived evil designs in their hearts and, arming themselves with swords and staves, approached this teacher of the Law.
“At this time the ruler of the kingdom was named Possessor of Virtue. He received reports of what was happening, and, in order to defend the teaching, he went at once to the place where the monk was preaching the Law and fought with all his might against the evil monks who broke the precepts. As a result, the monk who had been preaching was able to escape grievous injury. But the king received so many wounds from the knives and swords, halberds and lances, that there was not a spot on his body the size of a mustard seed that remained unharmed.
Delete“At this time the monk Realization of Virtue praised the king, saying: ‘Splendid, splendid! You, O king, are now a true defender of the correct teaching. In ages to come, this body of yours will surely become a boundless vessel of the Law!’
“At that time, the king had already heard the teaching, and he felt great joy in his heart. Thereupon his life came to an end, and he was reborn in the land of the Buddha Akshobhya, where he became the Buddha’s principal disciple. Moreover, all the military leaders, citizens, and associates of the king who had fought beside him or had rejoiced in his effort were filled with an unflagging determination to achieve enlightenment, and when they died, all of them were reborn in the land of the Buddha Akshobhya.
“Later, the monk Realization of Virtue also died, and he too was reborn in the land of the Buddha Akshobhya, where he became second among the Buddha’s voice-hearer disciples. Thus, if the correct teaching is about to come to an end, this is the way one ought to support and defend it.
Delete“Kāshyapa, the king who lived at that time was I myself, and the monk who preached was the Buddha Kāshyapa. Kāshyapa, those who defend the correct teaching enjoy this kind of boundless reward. As a consequence, I have been able to obtain the distinguished characteristics that I possess today, to adorn myself with them, and to put on theDharma body that can never be destroyed.”
Then the Buddha declared to Bodhisattva Kāshyapa: “For this reason, laymen believers and others who wish to defend the Law should arm themselves with swords and staves and protect it in this manner.
“Good man, in the age of impurity and evil after I have passed away, the nation will fall into devastation and disorder, men will plunder and steal from one another, and the common people will be reduced to starvation. Because of hunger, many men at that time will declare their determination to leave their families and become monks. Men such as these may be called shavepates. When this crowd of shavepates see anyone who is attempting to protect the correct teaching, they will chase after him and drive him away, or even kill him or do him injury. That is why I now give permission for monks who observe the precepts to associate with and keep company with white-robed laymen who bear swords and staves. Even though they carry swords and staves, I would call them men who observe the precepts. But although they may carry swords and staves, they should never use them to take life.”
The Lotus Sutra says: “If a person fails to have faith but instead slanders this sutra, immediately he will destroy all the seeds for becoming a Buddha in this world. . . . When his life comes to an end he will enter the Avīchi hell.”
The meaning of these passages from the sutras is perfectly clear. What need is there for me to add any further explanation? If we accept the words of the Lotus Sutra, then we must understand that slandering the Mahayana scriptures is more serious than committing the five cardinal sins countless times. Therefore, one who does so will be confined in the great citadel of the Avīchi hell and cannot hope for release for an immeasurable length of time. According to the Nirvana Sutra, even though you may give alms to a person who has committed the five cardinal sins, you must never give alms to a person who has slandered the Law. One who kills so much as an ant will invariably fall into the three evil paths, but one who helps eradicate slander of the Law will ascend to the state from which there can be no retrogression. Thus the passage tells us that the monk Realization of Virtue was reborn as the Buddha Kāshyapa, and that King Possessor of Virtue was reborn as the Buddha Shakyamuni. [On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land]
DeleteThe second part i will send it later , so as to not be too much Sx
ReplyDeleteIts good of Mark to kindly provide you a platform to share and express your beliefs and interpretation of Nichiren Buddhism.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read all of what you have sent yet because I'm currently involved in the Opening of the Eyes study series that's happening on this blog at the moment in case you didn't notice
Have you had the time to read his commentaries on the Opening of the Eyes which is in Nichiren's mind is his last will and testament and one of his most important teachings. This is a good chance for you to acquire a deeper insight into Nichiren's mind
https://markrogow.blogspot.com.au/search?updated-max=2016-05-09T20:43:00-07:00&max-results=10
Kyotsu Hori's translation is from the Showa Tehon Collection of Gosho, directly from the original. It is the most faithful english translation of the Opening of the Eyes.
This commentary is based on the Kyotsu Hori's translation of the Opening of the Eyes.
I am writing this commentary to repay one ten millionth of a billionth the debt of gratitude I owe to the Three Bodied Tathagata, the Original Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni and Nichiren Daishonin, the True Votary of the Lotus Sutra.
I hope to dispell the doubts and misunderstandings that exist about the Three Bodied Tathagata and what it means to be His disciple. I am neither worthy or capable enough for the task but no one else is doing it and it should be done from the perspective of a true disciple and believer of the Buddha and Nichiren.
The commentaries by Nikken Abe and Daisiku Ikeda are woefully lacking in both substance and scholarship and their faiths are twisted. Fortunately, Nichiren is crystal clear and few added commentaries are needed: "Yes"; "Don't you see"; "This is what he said."; "I would like to point this out", etc. Nevertheless, I will defend what the Buddha Shakyamuni and Nichiren Daishonin have entrusted to me.
Nichiren Daishonin meant every word he wrote in this treatise. There are no secret teachings. In Nichiren Daishonin's mind, this was his last will and testament, written for his disciples living in the ten thousand years and more of the Latter Day.
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Delete"The Opening of the Eyes is one of the two most important works by Nichiren Daishonin. The other is The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind (The True Object of Worship).
The Opening of the Eyes explains the object of worship in terms of the Original Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni of the Juryo Chapter of the Lotus Sutra specifically, and we as votaries of the Lotus Sutra generally. The object of worship in terms of the Law (Dharma) is explained in the True Object of Worship.
The oneness of person (Buddha, the subject) and Law (object) is the Object of Worship.
From the standpoint of the practitioner, it is the fusion of person and Object of Worship (Kyochi Myogo) that leads to Buddhahood.
While a practitioner is chanting Namu Myoho renge Kyo to the Gohonzon, he or she is in the Realm of Buddha.
This can be understood by the Mutual Possession of the Ten Worlds and the oneness of person and the environment (Esho Funi).
It is not the scope of this commentary to fully illucidate this process.
Suffice it to say, the Object of Worship revealed by the Original Buddha Shakyamuni of the 16th Chapter of the Lotus Sutra and propagated by Nichiren Daishonin is the only environment of Buddha on Earth (Buddha's Land). When we enter the Buddha's Land, we naturally take on the characteristics of a Buddha.
The process is analogous to anger transforming into tranquility at a favorite beach.
Nichiren Daishonin wrote this treatise from his graveyard hut while in exile on Sado during the coldest month of february, 1272. He had to lick the frozen writing brush to soften it. Despite having no access to a library and the wind and snow penetrating the gaping holes in his hut, he completed this masterpiece.
The powers of his memory and concentration are incomprehensible. His compassion was limitless. This is my favorite writing of Nichiren Daishonin. Every time I read it I get choked up with emotion.
Kyotsu Hori first outlines the Opening of the Eyes as follows:
CONTENTS
PART I PROLOGUE
Chapter I Confucianism, Brahmanism, and Buddhism
Chapter II "3000 in One Thought," the Cardinal Doctrine of the Lotus Sutra
PART II MAIN DISCOURSE
Chapter III Obtaining Buddhahood by Men of the Two Vehicles
Chapter IV Eternal Life of the Buddha
Chapter V Nichiren a Practitioner of the Lotus Sutra
Chapter VI Protection by Arhats
Chapter VII Protection by Bodhisattvas
Chapter VIII Five Holy Proclamations
Chapter IX Three Kinds of Enemies of the Lotus Sutra
Chapter X Why is Nichiren being Persecuted
PART III EPILOGUE
Chapter XI Persuasive and Aggressive Means of Propagation
Please note, Kyotsu Hori translates "Obtaining" Buddhahood not "Attaining" Buddhahood.
In the Latter Day we obtain Buddhahood by virtue of the Original Eternal Buddha (Gohonzon), not by our power alone.
This fact is perfectly explained by the concept of the Four Powers [the power of the Law, the Buddha, faith, and practice] and the Buddhist principle of Dependent Origination."- Mark Rogow
Here is the second part:
ReplyDeleteWe have so far spoken of two lines of descent. But in either case the descent was of a general and impersonal character. Consciousness was considered as a mere force, movement or quality. There is another aspect, however, in which the descent is of a particular and personal character and consciousness is not force or status only but conscious being or Person.
The various movements or forces of consciousness that play in the various fields or levels of creation are not merely states or degrees and magnitudes, currents and streams of consciousness: they are also personalities with definite forms and figures-not physical indeed, yet very definite even when subtle and fluidic. Thus the supreme Reality, which is usually described as the perfect status of Existence – Consciousness – Bliss, is not merely a principle but a personality. It is the Supreme Person with his triune nature (Purushottama). It is the Divine as the supreme Knower and Doer or Creator and Lover. The creation in or from that status of consciousness is not simply a play or result of the force of consciousness, it is even more truly the embodiment of a conscious Will; it is the will of the Divine Father executed by the Divine Mother.
Now, as the Reality along with its consciousness, in the downward involutionary course towards materialisation, has been gradually disintegrating itself, multiplying itself, becoming more and more obscure and dense in separated and isolated. units, even so the Person too has been following a parallel course of disintegration and multiplication and obscuration and isolation. At the origin lies, as we have said, the Perfect Person, the Supreme Person, in his dual aspect of being and nature, appearing as the supreme purua and the supreme prakrti, our Father and our Mother in the highest heaven.
ReplyDeleteNow, as the Reality along with its consciousness, in the downward involutionary course towards materialisation, has been gradually disintegrating itself, multiplying itself, becoming more and more obscure and dense in separated and isolated. units, even so the Person too has been following a parallel course of disintegration and multiplication and obscuration and isolation. At the origin lies, as we have said, the Perfect Person, the Supreme Person, in his dual aspect of being and nature, appearing as the supreme purua and the supreme prakrti, our Father and our Mother in the highest heaven.
ReplyDeleteNext is the domain of the Supermind with which the manifestation of the Divine starts. We have said it is the world of typal realities, of the first seed-realities, where the One and the Many are united and fused in each other, where the absolute unity of the Supreme maintains itself in undiminished magnitude and expresses and formulates itself perfectly in and through the original multiplicity. Here take birth the first personalities, absolute truth-forms of the Divine. Here are the highest gods, the direct formations of the Divine himself. Here are the Four Powers and Personalities of iswara whom Sri Aurobindo has named after the Vaishnava terminology: (i) Mahavira, embodying the Brahmin quality of Knowledge and Light and wide Consciousness, (ii) Balarama, embodying the Kshatriya quality of Force and intense dynamism, (iii) Pradyumna, embodying the quality of love and beauty – the Vaishya virtue of mutuality and harmony and solidarity, and (iv) Aniruddha, embodying the Sudra quality of competent service, of organisation and execution in detail. Coriesponding with these Four there are the other Four Powers and Personalities of the Divine Mother – íśwarií (i) Maheshwari, (ii) Mahakali, (iii) Mahalakshmi and (iv) Mahasaraswati. Next in the downward gradient comes the Overmind where the individualised powers and personalities of the Divine tend to become self-sufficient and self-regarding; their absolute unity is loosened and the lines of multiplicity begin to be more independent of each other, each aiming at a special fulfilment of its own. Still the veil that is being drawn over the unity is yet transparent which continues to be sufficiently dynamic. This is the abode of the gods, the true and high gods: it is these that the Vedic Rishis appear to have envisaged and sought after. The all gods (viśve devāh) were indeed acknowledged to be but different names and forms of one supreme godhead (devā) it is the one god, says Rishi Dirghatamas, who is called multifariously whether as Agni or Yama or Matariswan; it is the one god, again, who is described as having a thousand heads and a thousand feet. And yet they are separate entities, each has his own distinct and distinctive character and attribute, each demands a characteristic way of approach and worship. The tendency towards an exclusive stress is already at work on this level and it is the perception of this truth that lies behind the term henotheism used by European scholars to describe the Vedic Religion.
The next stage of devolution is the Mind proper. There or perhaps even before, on the lower reaches of the Overmind, the gods have become all quite separate,-self – centred, each bounded in his own particular sphere and horizon. The overmind gods – the true gods – are creators in a world of balanced or harmoniously held difference; they are powers that fashion each a special fulfilment, enhancing one another at the same time (parasparam bhāvayantah). Between the Overmind and the Mind there is a class of lesser gods-they have been called formateurs; they do not create in the strict sense of the term, they give form to what the anterior gods have created and projected. These form-makers that consolidate the encasement, fix definitely the image, have most probably been envisaged in the Indian dhyānamûrtis. But in the Mind the gods become still more fixed and rigid, "stereotyped"; the mental gods inspire exclusive systems, extreme and abstract generalisations, theories and principles and formulae that, even when they seek to force and englobe all in their cast-iron mould, can hardly understand or tolerate each other.
ReplyDeleteMind is the birth-place of absolute division and exclusivism – it is the "own home" of egoism. Egoism is that ignorant mode-a twist or knot of consciousness which cuts up the universal unity into disparate and antagonistic units: it creates isolated, mutually exclusive whorls in the harmonious rhythm and vast commonalty of the one consciousness or conscious existence. The Sankhya speaks of the principle of ego coming or appearing after the principle of vastness (mahat). The Vast is the region above the Mind, where the unitary consciousness is still intact; with the appearance of the Mind has also appeared an intolerant self-engrossed individualism that culminates, as its extreme and violent expression, in the asura – Asura, the mentalised vital being.
The Asura or the Titan stands where consciousness descends from the Mind into the Vital or Life – Force. He is the personification of ambition and authority and arrogance, he is the intolerant and absolute self-seeker – he is Daitya, the son of division. The Asura belongs to what we call the Higher Vital; but lower down in the Mid Vital, made wholly of unmixed life impulses, appear beings that are still less luminous, less controlled, more passionate, vehement and violent in their self-regarding appetite. They are the Rakshasas. If the Asura is perverse power, the Rakshasa is insatiate hunger.
ReplyDeleteAll the ancient legends about a principle-and a personality – of Denial and Ignorance, of an Everlasting Nay – refer to this fact of a descending consciousness, a Fall. The Vedantic māyā, spoken of sometimes as the Dark Mother, seems to be the personification of the lower Overmind, Jehovah and Satan of the Hebrews, Olympians and Titans of the Greeks, Ahriman and Ahura Mazda of old Iran, the sons of Diti and Aditi the Indian Puranas speak of, are powers and personalities of consciousness when it has descended entirely into the mind and the vital where the division is complete. These lower reaches have completely lost the unitary consciousness; still there are beings even here that have succeeded in maintaining it as a memory or an aspiration, although in a general way the living reality of the oneness is absent. It is significant that the term asura which came to mean in classical and mythological ages a + sura, not – god, the Titan, had originally a different connotation and etymology, asu + ra, one having force or strength, and was used as a general attribute of all the gods. The degradation in the sense of the word is a pointer to the spiritual Fall: Satan was once Lucifer, the bringer or bearer of light. We may mention in this connection that these beings of which we are speaking, dwelling in unseen worlds, are of two broad categories - (l) beings that are native to each plane and immutably confined and bound to that plane, and (2) those that extend their existence through many or all planes and assume on each plane the norm and form appropriate to . that plane. But this is a problem of individual destiny with which we are not concerned at present.
We were speaking of the descent into the Vital, the domain of dynamism, desire and hunger. The Vital is also the field of some strong creative Powers who follow, or are in secret contact with the line of unitary consciousness, who are open to influences from a deeper or higher or subtler consciousness. Along with the demons there is also a line of daimona, guardian angels, in the hierarchy of vital beings. Much of what is known as aesthetic or artistic creation derives its spirit from this sphere. Many of the gods of beauty and delight are denizens of this heaven. Gandharvas and Kinnaras are here, Dionysus and even Apollo perhaps (at least in their mythological aspect-in their occult reality they properly belong to the Overmind which is the own home of the gods), many of the angels, seraphs and cherubs dwell here. In fact, the mythological heaven for the most part can be located in this region.
ReplyDeleteAll this is comprised within what we term the Higher or the Middle Vital. In the lower vital, we have said, consciousness has become still more circumscribed, dark, ignorantly obstinate, disparately disintegrated. It is the seed-bed of lust and cruelty, of all that is small and petty and low and mean, all that is dirt and filth. It is here that we place the piśācas, djinns, ghouls and ghosts, and vampires, beings who possess the "possessed".
Further down in the scale where life-force touches Matter, where Life is about to precipitate as Matter, appear beings of a still lower order, of smaller dimensions and magnitudes – Imps, elfs, pixies, goblins, gnomes, fairies or dryads and naiads. There are even creatures or entities so close to Matter that they come into being and pass away with the building up and breaking of a definite pattern of material organisation. This individualisation of consciousness as beings or persons seems to disappear altogether when we enter the strictly material plane. There IS here only an agglomeration of uniform dead .particles.
ReplyDeleteWe have thus far followed the course of the break-up of Personality, from the original one supreme Person, through a continuous process of multiplication and disintegration, of parcellation and crystallisation into more and more small self-centred units, until we reach the final pulverisation as purely material physico-chemical atoms. Now with the reversal of consciousness, in its return movement, we have again a process of growth and building up of individuality and personality, with the awakening and ascension of consciousness from level to level on the physical plane and in the material embodiment,. there occurs too an evolution of the personal aspect of the reality.
We say that at the lowest level of involution, in Matter,. where consciousness has zero magnitude, there is no personality or individuality. It is all a mechanical play of clashing particles that constantly fly apart or come together according to the force or the resultant of forces that act upon them. An individuality means a bounded form as its basis of reaction and a form that tends to persist and grow by assimilation; it means. a centre of a definite manner and pattern of reaction. Individuality, in its literal sense, designates that which cannot be divided (in + dividus). Division is only another name for death for the particular entity. Even in the case of cell-division or self-division of some lower organisms, in the first instance the original living entity disappears and, secondly, the succeeding: entities, created by division, always re-form themselves again into integral wholes. A material particle, on the other hand, is. divisible ad infinitum. We have been able to divide even an atom (which means also that which cannot be divided) to such an extent as to reduce it to a mere charge of energy, nay, we have sublimated it to a geometrical point. Individualisation starts with the coming of life. It is a ganglion of life -force round which a particular system of action and reaction weaves itself. The characteristic of individuality is that each one is. unique, each relates itself to others and to the environment in its own way, each expresses itself, puts forth its energy,. receives impacts from outside in a manner that distinguishes. it from others. It is true this character of individuality is not very pronounced in the earlier or rudimentary forms of life. Still it is there: it grows and develops slowly along the ladder of evolution. Only in the higher animals it attains a clear and definite norm and form.
ReplyDeleteIn man something else or something more happens. For man is not merely an individual, he is also a personality. He is the outcome of a twofold growth and revelation. He has outgrown the vital and climbed into Mind, and he has dived into the Heart and touched his inner soul, his true psychic centre. It is this soul that is the source of his personality.
ReplyDeleteThe formulation or revelation of the Psyche marks another line of what we have been describing as the Descent of Consciousness. The phenomenon of individualisation has at its back the phenomenon of the growth of the Psyche. It is originally a spark or nucleus of consciousness thrown into Matter that starts growing and organising itself behind the veil, in and through the movements and activities of the apparent vehicle consisting of the triple nexus of Body (Matter) and Life and Mind. The extreme root of the psychic growth extends perhaps right into the body, consciousness of Matter, but its real physical basis and tenement is found only with the growth and formation of the physical heart. And yet the psychic individuality behind the animal organisation is very rudimentary. All that can be said is that it is there, in potentia, it exists, it is simple being: it has not started becoming. This is man's speciality: in him the psychic begins to be dynamic; to be organised and to organise, it is a psychic personality that he possesses. Now this flowering of the psychic personality is due to an especial Descent, the descent of a Person from another level of consciousness. That Person (or Superperson) is the jīvatman, the Individual Self, the central being of each individual formation. The Jivas are centres of multiplicity thrown up in the bosom of the infinite Consciousness: it is the supreme Consciousness eddying in unit formations to serve as the basis for the play of manifestation. They are not within the frame of manifestation (as the typal formations in the Supermind are), they are above or beyond or beside it and stand there eternally and invariably in and as part and parcel of the one supreme Reality – Sachchidananda. But the Jivatman from its own status casts its projection, representation, delegated formulation - "emanation," in the phraseology of the neo-Platonists – into the manifestation of the triple complex of mind, life and body, that is to say, into the human vehicle, and thus stands behind as the psychic personality or the soul. This soul, we have seen, is a developing, organising focus of consciousness growing from below and comes to its own in the human being: or we can put it the other way, that is to say, when it comes to its own, then the human being appears. And it has come to its own precisely by a descent of its own self from above, in the same manner as with the other descents already described. Now, this "coming to its own" means that it begins henceforth to exercise its royal power, its natural and inherent divine right, viz, of consciously and directly controlling and organising its terrestrial kingdom which is the body and life and mind. The exercise of conscious directive will, supported and illumined by a self-consciousness, I that occurs with the advent of the Mind is a function of the I Purusha, the self-conscious being, in the Mind; but this self-conscious being has been able to come up, manifest itself and be active, because of pressure of the underlying psychic personality that has formed here.
ReplyDeleteThus we have three characteristics of the human personality accruing from the psychic consciousness that supports and inspires it: - (I) self-consciousness: an animal acts, feels and even knows, but man knows that he acts, knows that he feels, knows even that he knows. This phenomenon of consciousness turning round upon itself is the hallmark of the human being; (2) a conscious will holding together and harmonising, fashioning and integrating the whole external nature evolved till now; (3) a purposive drive, a deliberate and voluntary orientation towards a higher and ever higher status of individualisation and personalisation, - not only a horizontal movement seeking to embrace and organise the normal, the already attained level of consciousness, but also a vertical movement seeking to raise the level, attain altogether a new poise of higher organisation.
ReplyDeleteThese characters, it is true, are not clear and pronounced, do not lie in front, at the beginning of the human personality. The normal human person has his psyche very much behind; but it is still there as antaryāmin, as the secret Inner Controller. And whatever the vagaries of the outer instruments or their slavery to the mode of Ignorance, in and through all that, it is this Inner Guide that holds the reins and drives upward in the end.
Thus naturally there appear gradations of the human personality; as the consciousness in the human being rises higher and higher, the psychic centre organises a higher and higher – a richer, wider, deeper – personality. The first great conversion, the first turning of the human personality to a new mode of life and living, that is to say, living even externally according to the inner truth and reality, the first attempt at a conscious harmonisation of the psychic consciousness with its surface agents and vehicles is what is known as spiritual initiation. This may happen and it does happen even when man lives in his normal mental consciousness. But there is the possibility of growth and evolution and transformation of personality in higher and a higher spiritual degree through the upper reaches of the higher Mind, the varying degrees of the Overmind and finally the Supermind. These are the spheres, the fields, even the continents of the personality, but the stuff, the substance of the personality, the inner nucleus of consciousness-force is formed, first, by the flaming aspiration, the upward drive within the developing and increasing psychic being itself, and secondly, by the descent, to a greater and greater degree, of the original Being from which it emanated. The final coalescence of the fully and integrally developed psychic being with the supreme splendour of its very source, the Jivatman, occurs in the Supermind. When this happens the supramental personality becomes incarnate in the physical body: Matter in the material plane is transformed into a radiant substance made of pure consciousness, the human personality becomes a living form of the Divine. Thus the wheel comes full circle: creation returns to the point from which it started but with an added significance, a new fulfilment.
ReplyDeleteThe mystery of rebirth in the evolution of the human personality is nothing but the mystery of the developing psyche. At first this psyche or soul is truly a being: "no bigger than the thumb" – it is the hardly audible "still small voice". The experiences of life – sweet or bitter, happy or unhappy, good or bad, howsoever they may appear to the outward eye and perception – all the dialectics of a terrestrial existence contribute to the growth and development of the psychic consciousness. Each span of life means a special degree or mode of growth necessitated by the inner demand and drive of the divine Individual seated within the heart. The whole end in view of this secret soul is to move always towards and be united again with its Oversoul, its original and high archetype in the Divine Consciousness: the entire course of its earthly evolution is chalked out and patterned by the exact need of its growth. Whatever happens in each particular life, all the
ReplyDeletecurrents of all the lives converge and coalesce, and serve the psychic consciousness to swell in volume and intensity and be one with the Divine Consciousness. Or, in a different imagery, one can say that the multifarious experiences of various lives are as fuel to the Inner Fire – this Psychic Agni which is just a spark or a thin tongue at the outset of the human evolutionary course; but with the addition of fuel from life to life this Fire flames up, indeed, becomes ultimately a conflagration that bums and purifies the entire outer vehicle and transforms it into radiant matter – a fit receptacle, incarnation of the supernal Light. The mounting Fire (the consciousness-energy secreted in the earth-bound heart of Matter) finally flares up, discloses itself in its full amplitude and calls and attracts into it the incandescent supramental Solar Sphere which is the type and pattern it has to embody and express. This is the marriage of Heaven and Earth, of which the mystics all over the earth in all ages spoke and sang – to which the Vedic Rishi refers when he declares:
Dyaur me pitā mātā prthivī iyam,
ReplyDelete(Heaven is my father and Earth my mother)
The supramentalisation of the personality which means the perfect divinisation of the personality is yet not the final end of Nature's march. Her path is endless, since she follows the trail of infinity. There are still higher modes of consciousness, or, if they cannot properly be called higher, other modes of consciousness that lie in waiting to be brought out and placed and established in the front of terrestrial evolution. Only, supramentalisation means the definite crossing over from Ignorance, from every trace and shadow of Ignorance, into the abiding and perennial Knowledge and Freedom. Thenceforward the course of Nature's evolution may be more of the kind of expression than ascension; for, beyond the Supermind it is very difficult to speak of a higher or lower order of consciousness. Everything thereafter is in the full perfect light - the difference comes in the mode or manner or stress of expression. However, that is a problem with which we are not immediately concerned.
ReplyDeleteWe have spoken of four lines of Descent in the evolution and organisation of consciousness. There yet remains a fifth line. It is more occult. It is really the secret of secrets, the Supreme Secret. It is the descent of the Divine himself. The Divine, the supreme Person himself descends, not indirectly through emanations, projections, partial or lesser formulations, but directly in his own plenary self. He descends not as a disembodied force acting as a general movement, possessing, at the most, other objects and persons as its medium or instrument, but in an embodied form and in the fullness of his consciousness. The Indian word for Divine Incarnation, avatāra, literally means he who has descended. The Divine comes down himself as a terrestrial being, on this material plane of ours, in order to raise the terrestrial and material Nature to a new status in her evolutionary course – even so He incarnated as the Great Boar who, with his mighty tusk, lifted a solid mass of earth from out of the waters of the Deluge. It is his purpose to effect ascension of consciousness, a transmutation of being, to establish a truly New Order, a New Dharma, as it is termed – dharmasamsthāpanārthāya. On the human level, he appears as a human person – for two purposes. First of all, he shows, by example, how the ascension, the transmutation is to be effected, how a normal human being can rise from a lower status of consciousness to a higher one. The Divine is therefore known as the Lord of Yoga – for Yoga is the means and method by which one consciously uplifts oneself, unites oneself with the Higher Reality. The embodied Divine is the ideal and pattern: he shows the path, himself walks the path and man can follow, if he chooses. The Biblical conception of the Son of God – God made flesh – as the intermediary between the human and the Divine, declaring, "I am the Way and the Goal", expresses a very similar truth. The Divine takes a body for another – occult – reason also. It is this: Matter or terrestrial life cannot be changed – changed radically, that is to say, transformed – by the pure spiritual consciousness alone, lying above or within; also it is not sufficient to bring about only that much of change in terrestrial life which can be effected by the mere spiritual force acting in a general way. It looks as if the physical transformation which is what is meant by an ascension or emergence in the evolutionary gradient were possible only by a physical impact embodying and canalising the spiritual force: it is with his physical body that the Divine Incarnation seems to push and lift up physical Nature to a new and higher status.
The occult seers declare that we are today on the earth at such a crisis of evolution. Earth and Man and man's earthly life need to be radically transfigured. The trouble and turbulence, the chaos and confusion that are now overwhelming this earth, indicate the acute tension before the release, the détente of a NEW MANIFESTATION.
ReplyDeleteThe souls group themselves into natural types according to the fundamental mode of consciousness and its dynamism. And they form a hierarchy: they exist and function in an organisation, the type and pattern of which is the pyramid. At the apex is the One Supreme, at the base the infinity of individual and disparate souls, earthly sparks, that are emanations, derivations, scattered condensations, parts and parcels of that One Supreme. In between, from the top towards. the bottom, lie in a graded scale formations more and more specialised, particularised and concretised: as we rise we meet the larger, vaster more comprehensive forms of the same entities till we arrive at the typal and original, the source being. Thus we can view a soul along its line of emanation from the central source as a series of beings, the higher enclosing and encompassing the lower. Not only so, a higher entity can have several lower emanations and each of these again can emanate several others. The number of emanations multiply as one goes down and they decrease as one goes up. We can understand now what is meant when we speak of kindred souls. When there is an inexplicable natural affinity or similarity between two souls, it happens in such a case that the souls are emanations of the same Over-Soul. And it happens also sometimes that the guardian angel or daemon whom one may contact is none other than one's own Over-Soul. The term Over-Soul takes thus a literal and a profound significance.
We may illustrate here a little. At the apex of the pyramid of existence is the Divine, the Supreme Person, the Purushottama. Even there as He begins to lean and look dawn, He expresses himself at the very outset as the dual personality of Ishwara and Shakti (the Divine Father and the Divine Mother) – sa dvitiyam aicchat, as the Upanishad says. That is still the Divine in His highest transcendent status, paratpara. Next, this dual or biune or divalent reality shows itself or throws itself further out in a fourfold valency of the dynamic truth consciousness, creating and leading the cosmic evolution. The Four Aspects of Ishwara, forming the male or purusa line, are the great names: Mahavira, Balarama, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. And the corresponding four aspects of Ishwari form the other great quaternary: Maheshwari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati. They embody the four major attributes of the Divine in his relation to the created universe: Knowledge, Power, Love and skill in work. They also represent thus a divine fourfold order. The first embodies the Brahmin quality of large wisdom, wide comprehension, a vast consciousness; the second has the Kshatriya quality of force, dynamism, concentration and drive of energy; the third possesses the Vaishya quality of harmony, beauty, mutuality and the fourth has the Shudra quality of perfect execution, thoroughness in detailed working, order and arrangement.
ReplyDeleteThe higher Gods, like those, for example, envisaged in the Veda, may be considered each as an emanation of one or other of these Divine Aspects. They are dwellers of Swar or the Overmind. Varuna seems to be an emanation of Mahavira, a son of Maheshwari: for he is pre-eminently the god of the pure and vast consciousness who releases us from the triple bonds and shows us the winding way into the embrace of the infinite Mother. His associate, Mitra, is the lord of love and harmony, evidently an emanation of Pradyumna (or Mahalakshmi).
Other gods of the same category are Bhaga and Soma. The Balarama or Mahakali aspect is manifested in Aryaman: Rudra being another form of the same. And Mahasaraswati (or Aniruddha) must have given birth to and inspired the Ribhus, who are artisans of divinity. The Puranic trinity – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva – with lndra as the fourth member forms a parallel system embodying a similar conception.
ReplyDeleteAnother tradition gives the Four Supernals as (1) Light or Consciousness, (2) Truth or Knowledge, (3) Life and (4) Love. The tradition also says that the beings representing these four fundamental principles of creation were the first and earliest gods that emanated from the Supreme Divine, and that as they separated themselves from their source and from each other, each followed his own independent line of fulfilment, they lost their divinity and turned into their opposites – Light became obscurity, Consciousness unconsciousness or the inconscient, Truth became falsehood and Knowledge ignorance, Life became death and finally Love and Delight became suffering and hatred. These are the fallen angels, the Asuras that deny their divine essence and now rule the world. They have possessed mankind and are controlling earthly existence. They too have their emanations, forces and beings that are born out of them and serve them in their various degrees of power. Men talk and act inspired and impelled by these beings and when they do so, they lose their humanity and become worse than animals.
But still the Pure Reality descends undeviated in its own line and man enshrines that within him, the undying fire that will clean him and bear him to the source from where he came. And there are luminous godheads that help him and wish themselves to participate in the terrestrial transformation. There is a pressure from above and there is an urge from below, between these two infinities all is ground and moulded and changed. Even the Lords of Denial will in the end change and learn to affirm, become again what they truly were and are.
First then there are the supreme divinities, aspects or own personalities of the Divine in his supreme status, the Super-mind; next come the first emanations, the true or pure gods in the Overmind. Thence or simultaneously there is the line of deformation, that of the false gods and godheads, the Asuras and Titans. These too extend in a series of emanations down to the subtle physical; except when they themselves incarnate on the earth in an earthly body.
ReplyDeleteMan, the soul, we said, comes direct from the Divine and is thrown and almost stuck into the earth as a spark, as a point of luminous consciousness-force. This soul, as it develops, we find, belongs to one or other of the fundamental type of divine personality, it is a lineal descendant, as it were, of one of the quaternary and its growth means growing into the nature of that particular godhead and its fulfilment means. identification with that.
We may try to illustrate by examples, although it is a rather" dangerous game and may tend to put into a too rigid and' mathematical formula something that is living and variable. Still it will serve to give a clearer picture of the matter. Napoleon. evidently was a child of Mahakali; and Caesar seems to have been fashioned largely by the principle of. Maheshwari; while Christ or Chaitanya are clearly emanations in the line of Mahalakshmi. Constructive geniuses, on the other hand, like the great statesman Colbert, for example, or Louis XIV, Ie grand monarque, himself belong to a family (or gotra, as we' say in India) that originated from Mahasaraswati. Poets and artists again, although generally they belong to the clan of Mahalakshmi, can be regrouped according to the principle that predominates in each, the godhead that presides over the inspiration in each. The large breath in Homer and Valmiki, the high and noble style of their movement, the dignity and vastness that compose their consciousness affiliate them naturally to the Maheshwari line. A Dante, on the other hand, or a Byron has something in his matter and manner that make us think of the stamp of Mahakali. Virgil or Petrarch, Shelley or our Tagore seem to be emanations of Beauty, Harmony, Love – Mahalakshmi. And the perfect artisanship of Mahasaraswati has found its especial embodiment in Horace and Racine and our Kalidasa. Michael Angelo in his fury of inspirations seems to have been impelled by Mahakali, while Mahalakshmi sheds her genial favour upon Raphael and Titian; and the meticulous care and the detailed surety in a Tintoretto makes us think of Mahasaraswati's grace. Mahasaraswati too seems to have especially favoured Leonardo da Vinci, although a brooding presence of Maheshwari also seems to be intermixed there.
ReplyDeleteFor it must be remembered that the human soul after all is not a simple and unilateral being, it is a little cosmos in itself. The soul is not merely a point or a single ray of light come down straight from its divine archetype or from the Divine himself, it is also a developing fire that increases and enriches itself through the multiple experiences of an evolutionary progression – it not only grows in height but extends in wideness also. Even though it may originally emanate from one principle and Personality, it takes in for its development and fulfilment influences and elements from the others also. Indeed, we know that the Four primal personalities of the Divine are not separate and distinct as they may appear to the human mind which cannot understand distinction without disparity. The Vedic gods themselves are so linked together, so interpenetrate one another that finally it is asserted that there is only one existence, only it is given many names. All the divine personalities are aspects of the Divine blended and fused together. Even so the human soul, being a replica of the Divine, cannot but be a complex of many personalities and often it may be difficult and even harmful to find and fix upon a dominant personality. The full flowering of the human soul, its perfect divinisation demands the realisation of a many-aspected personality, the very richness of the Divine within it.
ReplyDelete"As i already told you many times that to realize the True Unchanging Self is fundamental and indispensable. But that is not final and the next step or along with it is to Live in that True Consciousness and from there and through that change and transform the whole nature down to the very physical cells. a total transformation or transfiguration as the Christ envisaged.
ReplyDeleteThis is Sri Aurobindo's teaching not a withdrawal from manifestation into formless inactive Static Brahman Consciousness but Dynamic Divine Life by Transformation Trough our True Nature"
Well if this is the case are you aspiring to be like Babaji??? because it sure sounds like you
Mahavatar Babaji, a Himalayan Mahayogi said to be about 1,800 years old, is the founder of kriya yoga.
The world first heard about him courtesy Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi. Today, many cults are growing around his enigmatic persona.
Mahavatar Babaji (whose feats have been reported by Paramahansa Yogananda in his Autobiography of a Yogi) is one such eternal master.
He is the man with the 1,800-year-old immortal body. He's also the founder of Kriya yoga, a discipline involving purification of the body-mind organism through breath control techniques to aid longevity and spiritual evolution.
'Mahavatar' means 'great incarnation'. He is also known as Mahakaya Babaji, the word 'Mahakaya' describing his immortal body.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=13&v=3Cxiy5-VD8w
Hi Noel, what Mahavatar Babaji achieved is a personal siddhi by certain practice he maintains youthfulness preventing the decay of the cells; there are many true who speak of him but as you read the book "the masters footsteps" there is mentioned by the Lahiri family that Mahavatar Babaji left his body in 1985-86 around that time; so people go on saying I mat babaji they even have some pictures of different people who claim to be Babaji ( I mean babaji really means a father from baba and the ji is a additional exmlaimation of respect ) evem at time when Lahiri Mahasaya was on earth people used to come to him telling him they saw babaji and that he told them to go and get kriya yoga from Lahiri, in which Lahiri always answerd to them why he didn't gave it to you? It has become all new spiritual culture everyone claiming to be connected with babaji. This is not the kind of perfection that Sri Aurobindo speaks of a kind of a perfection gain and maintained by some techniques he speaks of a new consciousness descending on earth and transforming our present mental and physical limitations; something that would be not a individual siddhi but a collective transformation. He sees and knows and speaks it better then me I will attach the link and you can open it because it is big to send it on this Blog.
Deletehttp://intyoga.online.fr/supram03.htm
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ReplyDeleteCompare what you are saying to this latest post on Eagle Peak
ReplyDelete"The exclusive faith and practice of the Lotus Sutra in Mappo is a narrow path with one door (Lotus Sutra Chapter 3). If one could become enlightened and create kosen-rufu through, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, the Soka Gakkai, the Pali Cannon, or the Three Vehicles, the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren would have taught the path wide with many doors. Those who assert otherwise are devils to be repudiated.
The reason the world is in the state it's in, a state of sadness, greed, anger, stupidity, impurity, and prejudice (rather than joy, equanimity, magnanimity, compassion, purity, and empathy), is precisely because of the establishment of mistaken beliefs and inferior teachings that leave the people prostrate on the ground. Unless and until the Lotus Sutra alone flourishes, we will never have a world based on the enlightened life of the Buddha and the Law of Namu myoho renge kyo.
This belief is fundamental to the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin and the forceful practices are the way to Establish the Right Law. Declaring that the Lotus Sutra alone leads to Supreme Enlightenment and all other teachings lead to hell, one is a disciple and believer of Nichiren Daishonin. It is self apparent to the disciples and believers of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin, those with clear minds and those keenly able to correctly observe the world, that it is Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, secular humanism, belief in the sanctity of science, and heretical provisional Buddhism which has brought us to the brink. The elimination of these diseased religions and philosophies will bring about the land of eternal quiescent light."
Thank you Noel for make in it at last clear about your Buddhism; there is no purpose of any discussion with you just like with any new born Christian or Isis or any extreme group; you have find your path good luck to you.
ReplyDeleteI am discontinuing any correspondence with you now that you have revealed the mind set of your extreme fanatical Buddhism ( which is not really a Buddhism ) now I see why you and Kumiko despite our discussions could never come to any agreement and harmony, it is only your Buddhism and Nothing and Nobody else, I got It, finally I got It!!
The Nirvana Sutra says: “Rely on the Law and not upon persons...Rely on wisdom and not on discriminative thinking.”
ReplyDelete"To rely on the Law means to rely on the constantly abiding Law of the Lotus and Nirvana sutras.
Not relying on persons means not relying on persons(as in the case of Stavros who rely on Baba Ji, Lahiri Mahasay, Yogananda, Sri Aurobindo, that) do not themselves rely on the Lotus and Nirvana sutras.
Even though they may be Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, if they are Buddhas and bodhisattvas who do not rely on the Lotus and Nirvana sutras, they cannot serve as GOOD FRIENDS.
And how much more is this so if they are merely scholars, translators of the sacred texts, or ordinary teachers!
To rely on wisdom means to rely on the Buddha and not relying on discriminative thinking means that one does not rely on those who are on the level of near-perfect enlightenment or below."
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DeleteStavros relies on Baba Ji, Lahiri Mahasay, Yogananda, Sri Aurobindo and the other so called enlightened masters of provisional teachings and not the Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutra Nichiren Shonin and his master the Eternal Lord Shakyamuni Buddha Thus Come One
ReplyDeleteThese so called enlightened ones are appear like mere fire fly's to the votaries of the Lotus Sutra that see the Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutra Nichiren Shonin and his master the Eternal Lord Shakyamuni Buddha Thus Come One as the sun.
How can these Provisional non Buddhist and Buddhist teachers help others cure their their Karmic disease when they cant heal themselves
This letter on Curing Karmic Disease is written by Nichiren for the good of all and especially those that are already puffed up with their own spiitual pride that has been derived from provisional Buddhist and non Buddhist teachings that blinds them to the wisdom of the Lotus Sutra
"I SEE from your letter that you have been stricken with a painful affliction. On the one hand, knowing that you are in agony grieves me, but on the other, I am delighted.
The Vimalakīrti Sutra states: “At that time the wealthy Vimalakīrti thought to himself, ‘I am ill, lying on my bed, [yet why does the World-Honored One, man of great compassion, not take pity on me]?’ . . . At that time the Buddha said to Manjushrī, ‘Go visit Vimalakīrti, and inquire after his illness.’”
The Nirvana Sutra says, “At that time the Thus Come One . . . assumed the appearance of one who is ill in body and lay on his right side like a sick man.”
The Lotus Sutra states, “[The Thus Come One is well and happy], with few ills and few worries.”
The eighth volume of Great Concentration and Insight states: “Vimalakīrti lay on his sickbed in Vaishālī, making his illness a pretext to promote the teachings . . . Through his death, the Thus Come One taught the eternity [of life], and through illness, the power [of Buddhism].”
It also says: “There are six causes of illness: (1) disharmony of the four elements; (2) improper eating or drinking; (3) inappropriate practice of seated meditation; (4) attack by demons; (5) the work of devils; and (6) the effects of karma.”
The Nirvana Sutra reads: “There are three types of people whose illness is extremely difficult to cure.
The first is those who slander the great vehicle;
the second, those who commit the five cardinal sins;
and the third, icchantikas, or persons of incorrigible disbelief.
These three categories of illness are the gravest in the world.”
It also states: “One who creates evil karma in this life . . . will surely suffer in hell. . . . But by making offerings to the three treasures, one avoids falling into hell and receives the retribution in this life, in the form of afflictions of the head, eye, or back.”
cont...
Great Concentration and Insight states, “Even if one has committed grave offenses . . . the retribution can be lessened in this life. Thus, illness occurs when evil karma is about to be dissipated.”
ReplyDeleteIn his Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna says: “Question: . . . [Answer]: If that is so, then none of the sutras, from the Flower Garland to the Wisdom sutras, is a secret teaching, but the Lotus Sutra is secret. . . . [The Lotus Sutra is] like a great physician who can change poison into medicine.”
T’ien-t’ai explained the quotation further, saying: “This can be likened to a skilled physician who can change poison into medicine. . . . That persons of the two vehicles were given the prophecy of their enlightenment in this sutra means that it can change poison into medicine. This is what Great Perfection of Wisdom means when it says, ‘The various sutras are not secret teachings; only the Lotus Sutra is secret.’”
Great Concentration and Insight says, “The Lotus Sutra can cure them [illnesses], which is why it is called myō, or wonderful.”
Miao-lo says, “Because it can cure what is thought to be incurable, it is called myō, or wonderful.”3
The Nirvana Sutra states: “King Ajātashatru of Rājagriha was wicked by nature . . . He killed his father, and thereafter, in a fit of remorse, he developed a high fever . . . Because of the fever from remorse, boils broke out over his entire body. They were foul and evil-smelling, so that none could come near. At that time his mother, Vaidehī, tried to help by applying various medicines, but this only made the boils worse; there appeared to be no hope of recovery.
The king said to his mother, ‘These boils have their origin in the mind; they do not arise from the four elements. Though people say that there is a physician who can cure them, that could not possibly be . . .’
Then the World-Honored One, the compassionate and merciful teacher, entered into the moon-loving meditation4 for the king’s sake. Upon entering meditation, he emitted a brilliant ray of light. This ray of clear coolness fell upon the body of the king, and instantly the boils were healed.”
The Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law, which is the great wisdom of equality, says in its seventh volume: “This sutra provides good medicine for the ills of the people of Jambudvīpa. If a person who has an illness is able to hear this sutra, then his illness will be wiped out and he will know neither old age nor death.”
In light of the above quotations, it would seem that your illness cannot have originated in anything other than the six causes of disease. I will set aside the first five causes for the moment.
Illnesses of the sixth, which result from karma, are the most difficult to cure. They vary in severity, and one cannot make any fixed pronouncements, but we know that the gravest illnesses result from the karma created by slandering the Lotus Sutra. Even Shen Nung, Huang Ti, Hua T’o, and Pien Ch’üeh threw up their hands,6 and Water Holder, Water Carrier,7 Jīvaka, and Vimalakīrti likewise kept silent.
cont...
Such illnesses can only be cured by the good medicine of the one Buddha Shakyamuni’s Lotus Sutra, as that sutra itself explains.
DeleteThe Nirvana Sutra, referring to the Lotus Sutra, states: “Even the offense of slandering this correct teaching [will be eradicated] if one repents and professes faith in the correct teaching. . . . No teaching other than this correct teaching can save or protect one. For this reason one should take faith in the correct teaching.”
The Great Teacher Ching-hsi said, “The Nirvana Sutra is itself pointing to the Lotus Sutra and saying that it is the ultimate.” He further said: “It is like the case of a person who falls to the ground, but who then pushes himself up from the ground and rises to his feet again. Thus, even though one may slander the correct teaching, one will eventually be saved from the evil paths.”
Bodhisattva Vasubandhu was originally a scholar of Hinayana Buddhism. In an effort to prevent Mahayana Buddhism from spreading throughout the five regions of India, he wrote five hundred treatises on Hinayana.
Later, however, he encountered Bodhisattva Asanga and abandoned his erroneous views on the spot. Facing Asanga, he said that, in order to eradicate this offense all at once, he wanted to cut out his own tongue. Asanga stopped him, saying, “Vasubandhu, use that tongue to praise Mahayana.” Vasubandhu immediately wrote five hundred Mahayana treatises in which he refuted Hinayana.
He also made a vow that, as long as he lived, he would never place the Hinayana teachings on his tongue. In this way he eradicated his past offense and was later reborn in the heaven where Bodhisattva Maitreya dwells.11
Bodhisattva Ashvaghosha, a native of eastern India, was thirteenth among the successors of the Buddha’s teachings. At one time Ashvaghosha had been a leader of Brahmanism. When he debated with the Buddhist monk Punyayashas over the validity of their respective teachings, however, he quickly realized the superiority of Buddhist teachings.
Ashvaghosha was prepared to behead himself in order to pay for his past offense, saying, “I have been my own worst enemy, leading myself to hell.” But Punyayashas admonished him, saying, “Ashvaghosha, do not behead yourself! Use that head and mouth to praise Mahayana.”
Ashvaghosha soon thereafter wrote The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, in which he refuted Brahmanism and Hinayana. This marked the beginning of the spread of Mahayana Buddhism in India.
The Great Teacher Chi-tsang of Chia-hsiang-ssu temple was among the most outstanding scholars in China. He was the founder of the Three Treatises school, and lived on Mount Hui-chi in Wu. Believing that none could equal him in knowledge, he raised the banner of his pride to its highest.
He challenged the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai to discuss the meaning of the passage that states, “Among the sutras I have preached, now preach, and will preach, [this Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand].”
In the debate Chi-tsang was soundly defeated and thereupon renounced his misguided beliefs. In order to expiate his serious offense of slander of the correct teaching and of those who upheld it, he gathered more than one hundred eminent scholars and begged the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai Chih-che to lecture to them.
cont...
Chi-tsang used his body as a bridge for the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai to climb [onto the preaching platform], supporting T’ien-t’ai’s feet with his head. Moreover, he served T’ien-t’ai for seven years, cutting firewood and drawing water for him. He ceased giving lectures of his own, dispersed his followers, and in order to purge himself of his great conceit, refrained from reciting the Lotus Sutra.
DeleteAfter the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai’s death, Chi-tsang had an audience with the emperor of the Sui dynasty to pay his respects. As he was leaving, he clutched His Majesty’s knees and tearfully bade him farewell. Sometime later, Chi-tsang looked into an old mirror and, seeing his reflection, condemned himself for his past errors. All these many acts of penitence were done to eradicate his karmic disease.
The Lotus, the wonderful sutra of the single vehicle, is the golden words of the three kinds of Buddhas.
Likened to a bright jewel, it ranks highest among all the sutras that “I have preached, now preach, and will preach.”
There are passages in the Lotus Sutra that say, “Among the sutras, it [the Lotus Sutra] holds the highest place,” and “[Among those sutras] the Lotus is the foremost!”
The Great Teacher Dengyō said that [the Lotus school is] the school founded by the Buddha himself.
I have made a thorough study of the various True Word sutras, such as the Mahāvairochana, Diamond Crown, and Susiddhikara, but have found nothing written in them to compare with the above passages of the Lotus Sutra.
The claim [that these sutras are superior to the Lotus] appears to be no more than a prejudiced view held by Shan-wu-wei, Chin-kang-chih, Pu-k’ung, Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō. From this we realize that the true intent of the Buddhas Shakyamuni and Mahāvairochana lay just in the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra.
When the three great teachers Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō, the founders of the True Word teachings in Japan, went to China during the T’ang dynasty, they inherited from Hui-kuo and Fa-ch’üan the deceptions and delusions originally held by the three Tripitaka masters Shan-wu-wei, Chin-kang-chih, and Pu-k’ung.
When on returning to Japan they propagated the Lotus Sutra and the True Word teachings, they hid the brilliant moon of the Lotus Sutra, the supreme vehicle that surpasses all the other sutras of the past, present, and future, and showed the firefly glimmer of the True Word mandalas of the two realms. Not only that, but they slandered the Lotus Sutra, saying that it was a work of “childish theory” and belonged to “the region of darkness.” These comments, however, were like a dagger turned against those who made them.
cont...
It is not the Lotus but the Mahāvairochana Sutra that is filled with childish theory and is in the region of darkness.
DeleteThe founders of the True Word teachings were warped to begin with. So how could their disciples and followers be upright? Contamination at the source of a river will pollute its entire length. Because of this, the Land of the Sun has had a long, dark night, and the Sun Tree is now about to be blighted by an alien frost.
Although you were not in the mainstream of the True Word school, you were still a retainer of a patron of that teaching. You lived for many years in a house whose family was devoted to an erroneous doctrine, and month after month your mind was infected by the teachers of error.
Though huge mountains may crumble and the great seas dry up, this offense of yours will not easily pass away. However, because of the influence of karmic bonds and the compassion with which you are imbued in this lifetime, you met me, a priest of humble learning, when you least expected it, and determined to reform your ways.
Therefore, though at the moment your offense has brought on these boils from which you suffer, in the future you will be spared worse suffering.
King Ajātashatru suffered from severe boils because he committed the five cardinal sins and slandered the correct teaching. But his boils disappeared instantly when the light produced by the Buddha’s moon-loving meditation illuminated his body. And, though it had been predicted that the king had only twenty-one days left to live, his life span was extended by forty years. In deep appreciation, he earnestly requested one thousand arhats to record the golden words of the Buddha’s entire lifetime,18 thus spreading the Buddha’s teachings into the ages of the Former, Middle, and Latter Days of the Law.
Your boils have resulted from only one offense—slandering the correct teaching. The Mystic Law you now embrace surpasses the moon-loving meditation. How then could your boils possibly not be healed and your life span not extended?
If these words of mine prove untrue, you should shout: “The Buddha, the eye of the entire world, is a great liar, and the Lotus, the wonderful sutra of the single vehicle, is a scripture of clever flourishes.
The World-Honored One should give me proof if he cares about his good name. All the sages and worthies should come to protect me if they do not want to be false to their vows.”
A letter cannot convey all that one would like to say, and words cannot fully express what is in the heart. The rest will have to wait until the next time we meet.
With my deep respect,
Nichiren
Now, at this time of the Latter Day, Nichiren's Gosho is read:
ReplyDelete"The founders of the Nichiren Shoshu teachings were warped to begin with. So how could their disciples and followers [SGI, Shoshinkai, Kenshokai] be upright? Contamination at the source of a river will pollute its entire length. Because of this, the Land of the Sun has had a long, dark night, and the Sun Tree is now about to be blighted by an alien frost."
Its a crying shame what they have done. This link demonstrates the striking parallel between environmental contamination and Spiritual contamination if we consider what world religions, spiritual paths, philosophies, nationalism, materialism, atheism, political parties etc. have created from contaminants that have been created at the source that we have been feeding off has polluted our entity and the environment is like a mirror image of that which is a reflection of who we are
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDIYs2jg0ZE
Think of the founders of NST as the miners and people and fish downstream as their disciples and followers SGI, Shoshinkai, Kenshokai.
We could say the same for all paths of spirituality that aren't in line with the Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutra Nichiren Shonin and the Original Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha Thus Come One that are an image of our true entity rather than a warped one of our true identity that the other fake past and wanabbee present deluded masters want us to believe in as they don't know any better themselves, the poor buggers that they are
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ReplyDeleteStavros is being incoherent when saying that " because the crystal does not produces the sun neither the moon"
DeleteNichiren said that "If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water.
This analogy is bit misleading when compared with the True Essential nature of Reality , because the crystal does not produces the sun neither the moon's rays nor the water but the True Essence of Mind produces all these through transformation of its Conscious force energy. Electricity would be more suitable analogy which through its different arrangement of function can create cool or hot elements though in itself electricity is neither cold nor hot but is beyond both.
The True Nature of Mind involved itself through different energy layers of its own energy doing and thus apparently covers its original purity and conscious power though it is underlying as unchanged and essentially free. A deluded being has not realized his own true nature and looks at everything from ignorant consciousness; the enlighten person has realized his true nature and lives in it and sees everything from it and through it and there is no delusion in his mind. So whatever is placed upon the True Essential Nature of an enlighten person brings only enlightenment and not delusion; and also changes the illusion into enlightenment ;what is placed not directly upon the True Essential Nature but upon different layers or already deluded states of consciousnesses which cover the True consciousness brings only delusion or mixed truth.
The analogy of crystal is not correct when applied to real life happenings because this example is of an object which is a medium but does not produces neither the fire or water; the fire which is produced by the sun in the from of rays passes though the crystal and the water which comes from the atmosphere gathers around the crystal, non is truly produced or originated by the crystal.
But the states of consciousness are produced from the True Essential Nature of Reality; what is in direct touch with true nature of reality produces enlightenment whether there are harmonious and pure or deluded and disharmonious conditions.
Whatever is place on it brings enlightenment and not delusion.
But on the other hand what is placed on the ignorant and deluded consciousness and not on the true essential nature brings only further ignorance and delusion.
That was my point, if you have put the whole statement which i wrote and not taken a bit out of it and take it out of context commenting on it. I just wanted to make it clear what exactly i am talking about.
There you go, you said it again. There is definably a malfunction in your reasoning here; "the crystal does not produces the sun neither the moon's rays nor the water" these are not Nichiren's words and meaning
DeleteNichiren said that "If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water."
You are the one that is being misleading here Stavros don't blame Nichiren for talking about something that you don't understand because it doesn't fit into your mindset.
I think your teachings have warped the way in which you see such a simple thing and prevents you seeing things for what they are which is a serious handicap to have.
Please stop and think carefully Stavros what you have said and then we may be able to go forward with an intelligible conversation and not this kind of mumbo-jumbo that you are carrying on with here.
I know English isn't your Native tongue but that is no excuse for not having common sense and insulting Nichiren's intelligence as you are in the habit of doing, lets be clear about that
This blog is dedicated to set free those under delusion through sharing the wisdom of the Lotus Sutra but we need to be open to it to let it work in our life.
It's helped me, the people around me, the environment where I live and work. Even though you may judge me as some kind of intolerant fanatic I find this Buddhism as all inclusive and not exclusive.
It is the other way around because it is the other faiths that exclude the profound teachings of Nichiren Buddhism. It takes a paradigm shift for some before they finally get it and that doesn't come easy if we are holding onto something that is diametrically opposed
You have a vast knowledge of spirituality in which you present partial truths that are universal to what all religions share on the surface and deeper levels right down to their core including even Nichiren Buddhism that you consider as exclusive but its open to all.
Its our choice what we choose just like a fully awakened person who has become a Buddha can choose desires that they know will lead them into delusion but know in eternity that they have the potential to revive themselves from hellish states of being, like what we are doing in this world
Produce meaning
cause (a particular result or situation) to happen or exist: Ordinary cause and effect and Great cause and effect (simultanety of cause and effect)
"no conventional drugs (teachings) had produced any significant change" to their infinite delusions only the Lotus Sutra can produce a clear mind free of delusion
Lotus Sutra, Nichiren's Teachings, Daimoku,Gohonzon give rise to · bring about · cause · occasion · generate ·
engender · lead to · result in · effect · induce · initiate · start · set off · contribute to · make for · be conducive to · foster · promote · provoke*precipitate · breed · spark off ·trigger· beget - ENLIGHTENMENT
The crystal doesn't produce fire neither water, they are produced by the sun and hydrogen + oxygen water.
DeleteYou cannot compare that to True nature which produces its own energy and encloses itself in it in many layers the more identified with the dense layers the more it is experiencing limitation and delusion, the more is identified with its true unchanging pure nature the more it is conscious and enlighten.
Whatever is placed upon the enlighten nature produces enlightenment and not delusion; the Buddhas change delusion into enlightenment.
Also you speak of all inclusiveness, your Buddhism is not all inclusive, those who don't practice the same teachings as you and don't chant the same chant as you are your enemies this is what you and the verses which you send me stated; you have no love for others neither intention to help others or create a unified loving world, you only care to make others as you, to believe and follow exactly what you do; only if they are of the same group as you and practice nichiren Buddhism then you think you and the world will be at peace; how can you talk of inclusiveness since you wish all religion except Nichirn's have to disappear , how can you love others? since you are hostile and dislike and hate others from other faiths and religions?!
Delete"The analogy of crystal is not correct when applied to real life happenings because this example is of an object which is a medium but does not produces neither the fire or water; the fire which is produced by the sun in the from of rays passes though the crystal and the water which comes from the atmosphere gathers around the crystal, non is truly produced or originated by the crystal."
DeleteCrystal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, give rise to · bring about · cause · occasion · generate · engender · lead to · result in · effect · induce · initiate · start · set off · contribute to · make for · be conducive to · foster · promote · provoke*precipitate · breed · spark off ·trigger· beget FIRE
FIRE and WATER is what is being produced not the CRYSTAL, SUN and DEW
The fire is produced through the medium of the crystal (magnifiying glass) from the sunlight passing through
Crystal placed in the moon’s rays, will
give rise to · bring about · cause · occasion · generate · engender · lead to · result in · effect · induce · initiate · start · set off · contribute to · make for · be conducive to · foster · promote · provoke*precipitate · breed · spark off ·trigger· beget WATER
How can you compare this example of the crystal to True Nature of Mind? Here Nichiren is saying different things placed on it will produce different effect as far as the crystal is concerned it may be true I don't doubt his statement about the crystal ( I know as you mentioned too that udder sun yes the sun rays are concentrated and will turn into flame , I have done it and surely you have done it, about the moon rays or the moon itself producing or proper to say causing the enveloping of the crystal by dew I cant say I am open minded about it.) What you place in front of crystal it may have different effects but if you are to compare the crystal to true nature of mind that example doesn't stand because whatever you place upon it all will be Enlightenment , everything will be perceived the true way as it is;
DeleteAnd here the True nature of mind is the mind of the thus Come One and so whatever is placed upon it cannot cause delusion on the contrary it dispels ignorance in others if they are receptive! Do you get what I am saying? we are talking about the true nature of mind, the delusion is produced upon the ordinary mind not the true nature of mind; the true nature of mind has to go through different states of consciousness and lose apparently its true state of being in lower and outer identification and thus seeing from ordinary mind; then from ordinary mind it gets deluded whatever falls upon it or if it is being in search for truth and is open and receptive it will get inspiration and partial enlightenments through enlighten association and will become gradually enlighten on the path to enlightenment ( to fully Enlightenment) But what is placed upon the True nature of Mind ( and one has to be situated in ones true nature of mind) it brings only enlightenment, whatever it is whether it is delusion, falsity ,wickedness it won't change one into a wicked and deluded being. Otherwise the Buddhas could not be able to change and transform delusion into enlightenment and poison into medicine if they would to be changed by their surroundings or of what is placed upon them.
FIRE and WATER is what is being produced not the CRYSTAL, SUN and DEW;?
DeleteCrystal is a MEDIUM!
You really don't understand what I am saying, Sun is fire, and dew is water. If you don't getting what I am saying its alright, leave it here.
I understand what you mean about the ordinary mind and the true mind. It makes good sense
Deletehttp://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/47
I don't know if you have read the entirety of Nichiren"s letter The Entity of the Mystic Law from which have been Quoting but here is some background Knowledge
"The Entity of the Mystic Law explains the great benefit of having faith in the Gohonzon. When examined in terms of the concept of teaching, practice, and proof, this treatise corresponds to proof, while The Opening of the Eyes and The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind are related to teaching and practice, respectively.
“Teaching” means the Buddha’s teaching, and “practice” means the practice that accords exactly with the teaching. “Proof” means the merit resulting from the practice of the teaching.
Opening of the Eyes establishes a fivefold comparison, a system of comparative classification of all of Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings, and demonstrates the superiority of the Lotus Sutra over all the other sutras.
Ultimately it clarifies the supremacy of Namu-myoho-renge-kyo among all the Buddhist teachings, and accordingly it corresponds to “teaching.”
Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind states that embracing faith in the Gohonzon is in itself enlightenment.
Upholding the Mystic Law amounts to completing all the practices in which the Buddhas engaged and acquiring all the benefits and virtues that they obtained through these practices.
Therefore, it corresponds to “practice.
"Entity of the Mystic Law corresponds to “proof,” because it reveals that by believing in the Mystic Law one can manifest oneself as the entity of Myoho-renge-kyo.
"What you place in front of crystal it may have different effects but if you are to compare the crystal to true nature of mind that example doesn't stand because whatever you place upon it all will be Enlightenment , everything will be perceived the true way as it is;
DeleteAnd here the True nature of mind is the mind of the thus Come One and so whatever is placed upon it cannot cause delusion on the contrary it dispels ignorance in others if they are receptive!
"The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai in his Great Concentration and Insight states, “Ignorance or illusions are in themselves enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena. But due to the influence of delusions, enlightenment changes into ignorance.”
The Great Teacher Miao-lo comments on this as follows: “Enlightenment has no separate entity but completely depends upon ignorance; and ignorance has no separate entity but completely depends upon enlightenment.”
Ignorance is a state of delusion that must be cut off, whereas enlightenment is the state that one must manifest. How then can we say that they are a single entity? To resolve doubts on this point, one should have a clear grasp of the passages that have been quoted here.
The example of the dream given in the ninety-fifth volume of The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom and the T’ien-t’ai school’s example of the piece of crystal cited above are very interesting illustrations.
Further proof of the truth that ignorance and enlightenment are one in essence is found in the passage in the Lotus Sutra that reads, “These phenomena are part of an abiding Law, [and] the characteristics of the world are constantly abiding.
Great Perfection of Wisdom says, “Enlightenment and ignorance are not different things, not separate things. To understand this is what is called the Middle Way.”
The common mortal of the ordinary mind is controlled by delusion while the Buddha of the true mind manifests enlightenment
DeleteThe mystic principle that is the essential nature of phenomena possesses two aspects, the defiled aspect and the pure aspect. If the defiled aspect is operative, this is called delusion. If the pure aspect is operative, this is called enlightenment. Enlightenment constitutes the realm of Buddhahood. Delusion constitutes the realms of ordinary mortals.
These two aspects, the deluded and the enlightened, are indeed two different phenomena, and yet BOTH ARE WORKINGS of the one principle, that is, the essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality.
It is like a piece of crystal. If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water. The crystal is a single entity, but the effects it produces differ according to the circumstances.
The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is like this. The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is one, but if it encounters evil influences, it will manifest delusion, while if it encounters good influences, it will manifest enlightenment. Enlightenment means enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena, and delusion, ignorance of it.
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ReplyDeleteAnswer: The mystic principle that is the essential nature of phenomena possesses two aspects, the defiled aspect and the pure aspect. If the defiled aspect is operative, this is called delusion. If the pure aspect is operative, this is called enlightenment. Enlightenment constitutes the realm of Buddhahood. Delusion constitutes the realms of ordinary mortals.
ReplyDeleteThe defiled aspect is the result of distancing ones self from ones true Nature; so the Essential nature casts a shadow a projection in its self and entering into it or manifesting through it by its involvement; if it is a luminous the nearest projection it manifests the eternal values and pure and true qualities ( Truth, Light, Harmony, Perfection , Purity, Knowledge, Joy, Wide Peace, Love, Freedom and Power ..etc..) of The True nature of Being if the projection went through further modification more distant from its central core of Pure or Amala Consciousness and its fine luminous projections then its consciousness and formations will manifest deluded and distorted aspect of ignorance. The Truth has its own forms of being.
These two aspects, the deluded and the enlightened, are indeed two different phenomena, and yet both are workings of the one principle, that is, the essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality. It is like a piece of crystal. If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water. The crystal is a single entity, but the effects it produces differ according to the circumstances.
DeleteThis analogy is bit misleading when compared with the True Essential nature of Reality , because the crystal does not produces the sun neither the moon but the True Essence of Mind produces both through transformation of its Conscious force energy. Electricity would be more suitable analogy which through its different arrangement of function can create cool or hot elements though in itself electricity is neither cold nor hot but is beyond both.
The True Nature of Mind involved itself through different energy layers of its own energy doing and thus apparently covers its original purity and conscious power though it is unchanged and essentially free. A deluded being has not realized his own true nature and look at everything from ignorant consciousness; the enlighten person has realized his true nature and lives in it and sees everything from it and through and there is no delusion in his mind. So whatever is placed upon the True Essential Nature of an enlighten person brings only enlightenment and not delusion; what is placed under ignorant nature brings only delusion or mixed truth.
The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is like this. The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is one, but if it encounters evil influences, it will manifest delusion, while if it encounters good influences, it will manifest enlightenment. Enlightenment means enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena, and delusion, ignorance of it.
DeleteActually this too in one way is true , that the True Aspect or True Self which is One it will in its conditioned and ignorant state of its True Nature manifest delusion or gain enlightenment under different influences but a Realized being will not only be not influenced in different conditions but will influence and change the conditions by its presence such is the power of Enlightenment or Buddhahood.
It is like the case of a person who in a dream sees himself performing various good and evil actions. After he wakes up and considers the matter, he realizes that it was all a dream produced by his own mind. This mind of his corresponds to the single principle of the essential nature of phenomena, the true aspect of reality, while the good and evil that appeared in the dream correspond to enlightenment and delusion. When one becomes aware of this, it is clear that one should discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion, and take as one’s basis the awakening that is characterized by goodness and enlightenment.
, The Essential Nature the True Unchanging Aspect is Pure and anything in touch with that will manifest enlightenment; here it tells clearly one should discard ignorance which associated with evil and delusion and base oneself in Goodness and Enlightenment. Goodness, Truth are aspects of the True nature, that we have to cultivate and get rid off delusion and ignorance! Did you hear that Noel " Discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion!!"
DeleteThe Great Teacher Miao-lo comments on this as follows: “Enlightenment has no separate entity but completely depends upon ignorance; and ignorance has no separate entity but completely depends upon enlightenment.”
Probably by now you may think of me as arrogant claiming understanding to comment on them; but from the different sources which I heard and contemplated and most importantly tested in life against life because that is the only way to do it; how can you know who speaks the truth who has the correct perception and realization; I believe there is only one way for one and that is to open and take it in dwell on it deeply everyday and test it, see it,, experience it in life and see if it holds true, only in life in living life not in ones mind just imaginary thinking one can see and know.
I feel though here is a great insight ( to these teachings you have send ) but as far as the philosophical and intellectual ability of description and expression of these truths they are not as good in conveying that as the western philosophers would have; and that is why the teachings appear hard to understand not because they are so profound but because they are disorderly and messy, badly presented , badly explained , badly expressed without logical clearly intelligible sequence!
The True Nature of Mind is Pure or Amala and thus is Self Luminous. If one is in touch with that one can see clearly as it is, one is enlighten; one perceives the ignorance wherever it is present but the ignorance itself doesn't make one enlighten. The ignorance doesn't reveal the enlighten mind , the enlighten mind reveals the Ignorance; but only the true nature of mind makes it enlighten and aware of its truth and of the delusion.
If being consciously in ones true nature is Enlightenment then without ignorance one can still have enlightenment, whether the ignorance is present or not; ones ignorance may be removed but that doesn't mean elsewhere or around one there is no display of ignorance. One who is situated in ones True Nature is Enlighten whether there are elements and beings pure or impure , harmonious or disorderly, good or evil.
DeleteGreat Perfection of Wisdom says, “Enlightenment and ignorance are not different things, not separate things. To understand this is what is called the Middle Way.”
This is already explained below that they are different, so the above statement is misleading and erroneous; ( here is another disability of clear intellectual rendering and capacity) the above statement was implied and expressed by the previous ones and that is that they want simply to point that both derive from the one same essence.
These two aspects, the deluded and the enlightened, are indeed two different phenomena, and yet both are workings of the one principle, that is, the essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality.
That is why is stated above
" Discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion!!" Otherwise what are we doing, why even having this discussions or why should we be doing any practice or study the scriptures and endeavor to awake and change? If they are the exactly the same thing then why not be as we already are why strive for change for improvement for Enlightenment?!
Lets not go around the, it is really simple and it boils down to this we as individuals have to awake to our true nature and transform our lives; every true religion would tell you that; and while we change there will be some other individuals entering and manifesting delusion; if change doesnt of course means everything is changed into to true nature and expression so the lower universal nature will have that aspect of delusion the show is going on but in that big show life there is inherently in us a nature that is perfect and there is potentiality and
Deletepossibility of perfection in being and in manifestation of that perfection in life; so this should be our true endeavor, we all possess that truth within us our endeavor should be to manifest it instead to argue for superiority and exclusiveness. Unity , love , harmonious living as one that what we need , thats what we have to practice daily; every religion says that but who follows it; Love God Or the True Nature and follow its laws they have been revealed and we can know them and love your neighbor as thy self ; here this is a peace formula, we have to follow it it has been spoken through all the great religions, now we have to put them in practice!!
"The Essential Nature the True Unchanging Aspect is Pure and anything in touch with that will manifest enlightenment; here it tells clearly one should discard ignorance which associated with evil and delusion and base oneself in Goodness and Enlightenment. Goodness, Truth are aspects of the True nature, that we have to cultivate and get rid off delusion and ignorance! Did you hear that Noel " Discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion!!"
DeleteOur true entity includes everything and the Amala consciousness is but one of the many aspects of our true entity. Even the Amala carries potential for delusion, everything is integrated there are no exclusions and no exception nothing is 100% pure.
Good and evil exist as two but not two, one but not one all we can try to do is to transform the evil into good through transcending good and evil by drawing upon the enlightened properties of the Amala Consciousness.
Through developing our wisdom body we can draw wisdom from the Dharma body and then with our manifest body create harmony in our and others lives and become more like the Ancient, Primordial, Original, Eternal 3 bodied Tathagatta Thus Come One, Musa Sanjin Buddha That the original eternal Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren were one with
"If being consciously in ones true nature is Enlightenment then without ignorance one can still have enlightenment, whether the ignorance is present or not; ones ignorance may be removed but that doesn't mean elsewhere or around one there is no display of ignorance. One who is situated in ones True Nature is Enlighten whether there are elements and beings pure or impure , harmonious or disorderly, good or evil."
DeleteOur ignorance (fundamental darkness) can never be permanently removed from our Entity as without it we would not exist because it is an indispensable part of our make up and without it their could be no improvement. It always exists even as a latent potential even though we maybe fully enlightened
Our reward body can always falter it all depends on intention. It can happen to someone who has been Buddha for countless Kalpas, a few lifetimes or in years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds.
The Ancient, Primordial, Original, Eternal 3 bodied Tathagatta Thus Come One, Musa Sanjin Buddha that the Original Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren the Supreme votary of the Lotus Sutra and that some say that is equal and even greater than Shakyamuni in this age of Mappo were one with never falters
It is you who think like that because you see things and experience your self from your ordinary mind and not from your true being; a man with low consciousness whose habits are ignorant and harmful will get bad reaction and so for him disease, suffering, needs to be there for him to show him that the way he do things is not right with the laws of health and wellbeing. , he brakes the laws of nature; but a person who is more mature in consciousness he don't need to see ugliness to know and appreciate beauty, or diseases to maintain one self in health with right living and appreciate health , neither hate to know and be in love..these things are needed in the lower grades in the higher and highest consciousness they are unnecessary;
DeleteThat one will understand more clearly as one grows in consciousness and soul awakening.
We are already perfect in our being;
Your True Self is perfect and thats who you Eternally are and will be, this is something still you did not conceived clearly yet; you take the deformation and delusion which covers your True Self as your self and identify with that and don't let it falsity go, although your Buddhism say let go of ignorance and delusion and be in your true nature of mind which causes enlightenment; that is not your Self they are all limited partial representations of your Self which change all the time,
gradually to greater and greater conscious formations expressing more and more awareness and truth because the Self within is growing and coming forward in more conscious manifest expression, mounting higher and higher seeking to manifest more and more of its perfection;
so there will come a time where it will awake fully from ignorance and will manifest the true inner Being and then the inner and outer will be the same and the growth which still will continue won't be any more through trial and error, groping in the darkness and shadows of ignorance, no more growing from ignorance to half lights but now from light to greater light from knowledge and not ignorance to greater knowledge.
These are already happening cant you see;
Pain , sufferings and all these are lessons of stages of our growth ( because of some ignorance of present and past karma ) but after certain amount of growth they are not needed no more, there may be other things more subtle to be dealt with and refined; delusion is not eternal condition attached to us without which we could not live and appreciate and know Truth and Enlightenment.
Our True Nature and Self is Enlightenment. That why we do practice to overcome the untruth and situate ourselves permanently and live in Truth of what we are.
That is very natural and not impossible to come because we are already that; it would be rather impossible and unnatural to not be able for eternity to Be who We Are and live that, after all the nature is maid or instrument and organ of the Master Self, and that's why we are here to regain our mastery and perfection which we already possess in Being and Spirit to also possess in dynamic life and nature, transforming it into the image of perfection regaining our eternal power and freedom in full wisdom of Enlightenment.
Our true entity includes everything and the Amala consciousness is but one of the many aspects of our true entity. Even the Amala carries potential for delusion, everything is integrated there are no exclusions and no exception nothing is 100% pure.
DeleteHere you are very wrong ; Amala is the True Entity and not an aspect of true entity! That is your Eternal True Self you are that Eternal Entity not an aspect!
I thinks we all like the hologram. The hologram is the entity of our true self
DeleteHologram is a formation of lights. We as different individuals we all have forms and are formed into different shapes and images physical or psychological' The Amala as the name states means Pure and is Unchanging and is One Homogeneous Conscious Substance, the Ever Same Unchanged Eternal Self, the hologram is a formation of projected and constructed energies which proceed from Amala or True Self and are displayed in the Amala or Self which contains them without changing or modifying the Amala or True Self what so ever;
DeleteThis the True Entity which is Amala or True Self and which doesn't change and modify into formations and thus cant be and is not a hologram.
"In the Gosho, “On the Ten Factors,” Nichiren Daishonin teaches that the three truths are the core of Buddhism. He states:
DeleteIt is said that there are over eighty thousand Buddhist teachings. They are all contained in the law of the three truths, and no doctrine exists outside of the three truths.
Three Truths of Emptiness, Temporary Existence, and Middle Way
There are the three aspects representing the truth of the ultimate reality as expounded by Tiantai:
◾The truth of emptiness is the view that all existence is constantly changing and has no absolute, fixed substance.
◾The truth of temporary existence is the view that even though all existence has no immutable substance, it does exist temporarily through causal relations.
◾The truth of the middle way is the absolute truth in which the concepts of truths of emptiness and temporary existence are simultaneously both affirmed and denied. Thus, existence cannot be viewed solely through the truth of emptiness or the truth of temporary existence."
Yes the formations are temporary and empty of permanent fixed forms, that is evident these are in relation to manifestation but what about the Unchanging True Essence of our True Nature, the Amala which is Unchangeable the True Eternal Unchanging Being!
Delete"In the Three Perfectly Endowed Teachings, the
Deletethree truths of non-substantiality, temporary existence and the middle way are mutually infused, with each truth inclusive of the
other two.
That is, it is explained that the truth of non-substantiality is natually the truth of both temporary existence and the middle way.
The truth of temporary existence is naturally the truth of both nonsubstantialty and the truth of the middle way.
Further, the truth of the middle way is naturally the truths of both non-substantiality and temporary existence.
The principle of the Three Perfectly Endowed Truths is called the Perfect Teaching (Engyo).
The Great Master T’ien-t’ai established the
practice of the Three Observations in a Single Mind.Observing the Three Truths is known as the Three Observations.
The principle of clear perception derived from the Three Perceptions in a Single Mind, which perceives that the moment to moment mind of the common man is itself the Three Perfectly Endowed Truths, is the principle of ichinen sanzen (three thousand realms in a single mind)."
"The titles of the Āgama sutras, for instance, explain the ultimate principle of these sutras, which is that all things are impermanent. These titles are a hundred, thousand, and ten thousand times superior to the two characters meaning existence and nonexistence used in the titles of non-Buddhist scriptures.
DeleteFollowers of all the ninety-five non-Buddhist schools, hearing the titles of the Āgama sutras, abandoned their erroneous views and converted to the truth of impermanence.
Those who hear the titles of the Wisdom sutras realize the three teachings that all things are non-substantial in themselves,1 that the Middle Way is independent of non-substantiality and temporary existence,2 and that it is inseparably united with them.
Those who hear the title of the Flower Garland Sutra perceive either of the last two of the above teachings.
Those who hear the titles of the Mahāvairochana Sutra as well as the Correct and Equal and the Wisdom sutras understand that all things, when analyzed, prove to be without substance,4 or that all things are non-substantial in themselves; that non-substantiality is independent of the Middle Way and temporary existence,5 or that it is inseparable from them;6 that the Middle Way is independent of non-substantiality and temporary existence, or that it is inseparably united with them.
However, those who listen to the titles of such provisional sutras are unable to realize the benefit of perfect enlightenment that arises from the teachings of the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, the hundred worlds and thousand factors, and three thousand realms.
The sutras other than the Lotus Sutra do not expound this ultimate doctrine, and so their followers are like ordinary persons at the stage of being a Buddha only in theory."
Further, the truth of the middle way is naturally the truths of both non-substantiality and temporary existence.
DeleteYes you already mentioned that before so the question is still unanswered; the formations are temporary and empty of permanent fixed form of existence, that is evident these are in relation to manifestation but what about the Unchanging True Essence of our True Nature, the Amala which is Unchangeable the True Eternal Unchanging Being!
"Yes the formations are temporary and empty of permanent fixed forms, that is evident these are in relation to manifestation but what about the Unchanging True Essence of our True Nature, the Amala which is Unchangeable the True Eternal Unchanging Being!"
DeleteYes there is *THAT* intelligence that is eternally abiding inexhaustible life force that is ever present beyond and within creation but that still doesn't mean that the latent potential for delusion is not present. After all it is *THAT* intelligence that is the orchestrator, so one can never be to sure which adds to the suspense and mystery of it all.
Just hope we are on the right path but even though we may not, I believe in infinite compassion and not eternal damnation which gives great hope for future rebirths even though we may have to endure terrible sufferings for our offences to other life forms and true spiritual principles
I believe in sincerity Noel, as long one is sincere and honest and open for growth there is as no hell for such a one, even in difficulties such a one takes every opportunity for ones advantage to grow ; as Buddha once said too "everyplace is a proper place ( or opportunity ) for to practice the Dharma".
DeleteI do not choose deliberately to go around and commit offences to other beings or the "true" spiritual principles; As i say one who is honest and open will profit from wherever comes a truth, it will hit one just like that and one will know; Of course there may be some things in spite of ones sincerity and honesty which may not be fully clear but that is not intentionally evil or willfully offensive but the inevitable situation when one is growing from ignorance to knowledge and truth.
We are Essentially Perfect and Pure and so nothing ultimately can touch us and harm us for ever; for one who is honestly and consciously walking on the path everything is a conscious growth even the occasional slips till one becomes more clear about things and more stable and strong in that new light of consciousness; for another who is not consciously on the path one gets slaps and kicks by the nature till one wakes up and starts asking questions and willing to do something about it and change seeking solution.
In the long run it is all good, we the Pure Spirit are having experiences till we grow fully conscious of our True Self and take possession and mastery of the rest of our whole nature.
If we look honestly we will know if we are on the right path and do the right thing; it is something we may know when we look really calmly on our selves and around us..you just know something inside us is pointing to that and that is our True Self; some light from there comes and you just know; the True Being's nature is Goodness, Truth, Right < Harmony, Beauty, Light, deep peace , clarity and calm wide strength etc.
And one knows and recognizes immediately these qualities as true when we are in touch with it and also all that is false, small, distorted, limited, disharmonious and untrue. I believe in your best moments you already know.
“The learned authorities in the world today suppose that there is no harm in mixing extraneous practices with the practice of the Lotus Sutra, and I, Nichiren, was once of that opinion myself. But the passage from the sutra [that I have just quoted] does not permit such a view.” (pg. 1014 & 1015)
ReplyDelete“Therefore, the Great Teacher Chisho stated that, if one claims that there is no division of Mahayana and Hinayana among the sutras and no distinction of partial and perfect among revelations of the truth, and therefore accepts all the words of the various teachers, then the preachings of the Buddha will have been to no purpose.” (pg. 56)
“In a country where non-Buddhist teachings have already spread, one should use Buddhism to refute them. For example, the Buddha appeared in India and defeated the non-Buddhists; Kashyapa Matanga and Chu Fa-lan went to China and called the Taoists to task; Prince Jogu was born in the country of Japan and put Moriya to the sword.” (pg. 80)
“This passage from the Nirvana Sutra recounts the evil words that the various non-Buddhists spoke against Shakyamuni Buddha because he refuted the scriptures preached by their original teachers, the two deities and the three ascetics….In other words, persons who show no desire to hear or believe in the Lotus Sutra or who say that it does not match their capacity, though they may not actually slander it in so many words, are all to be regarded as persons of hatred and jealousy.” (pg. 206)
“Our own age is not unlike theirs. The Taoists Ch’u and Fei of China, and Moriya in Japan, by relying on the major and minor deities of their respective countries, became enemies of Shakyamuni Buddha.
“There is a difference between the Taoists and Moriya on the one hand and our contemporary priests on the other in that the former preferred gods to a Buddha while the latter have replaced one Buddha with another. However, they are alike in that they all abandoned Shakyamuni Buddha.” (pg. 838)
“But in ancient times, before the Buddhist teachings were introduced to this country, people knew nothing about either the Buddha or his teachings. It was only after the battle between Moriya and Prince Jogu that some people took faith in Buddhism, though others did not.
"The situation was similar in China. After Matanga had introduced Buddhism to China, he held a debate with the Taoists. When the Taoists were defeated in debate, then for the first time there were people who put their faith in Buddhism, though there were many more who did not.” (pg 514)
The 20,000,000 peaceful Buddhists who died at the hands of the violent Muslims and Rajput [Hindu] heretics in India and Kashmir during the Middle Ages would never have happened were they to have taken up the forceful practices of the Nirvana and Lotus Sutra. They were as ignorant as birds and beasts."
The Opening of the Eyes: Persuasive and Aggressive Means of Propagation PART 3 EPILOGUE Chapter XI with Commentary
I don't know where did you place these two comments but I will reply below as the sequence goes.
DeleteThere are different schools of thought on that;
The Universe keeps going on as you say coming and going and if the are many universes some may go for a time to a restful state unmanifest others may be manifest fully , others may be just at early stages of manifestation while others on the decline; Some schools of thought on that say the whole thing gets unmanifested for sometime, others state the previous of partial dissolution and not the whole cosmic manifestation together.
Some state that when it will manifest in the following cycle of manifestation it will be from the brand new scratch , ( because before the total annihilation everything will be resolved into spirit as unchanging substance and all the previous karma will be disolved) while others would say that everything that is dormant in that state will manifest again from where it left because of the past impression or store Alaya memory will come back and will manifest as a continuation ( little simple example but just like when the day finishes and everyone is dormant at sleep so the next day it will continue where it left previously ) of the previous universal cycle.
So within the universal Alaya which is composed of individual Alayas those will come again into action to continue where they left from previous cycle and thus it is eternally coming and going,
so I don't se where it is so vastly different as you say. Also check below the next comment and that is from Sri Aurobindo's writings which you posted.
Delete"In the beginning, it is said, was the Eternal, the Infinite, the One. In the middle, it is said, is the finite, the transient, the Many. In the end, it is said, shall be the One, the Infinite, the Eternal. For when was the beginning? At no moment in Time, for the beginning is at every moment; the beginning always was, always is and always shall be. The divine beginning is before Time, in Time and beyond Time for ever. The Eternal, Infinite and One is an endless beginning. And where is the middle? There is no middle; for there is only the junction of the perpetual end and the eternal beginning; it is the sign of a creation which is new at every moment. The creation was for ever, is for ever, shall be for ever. The Eternal, Infinite and One is the magical middle-term of his own existence; it is he that is the beginningless and endless creation. And when is the end? There is no end. At no conceivable moment can there be a cessation. For all end of things is the beginning of new things which are still the same One in an ever developing and ever recurring figure. Nothing can be destroyed, for all is He who is forever. The Eternal, Infinite and One is the unimaginable end that is never closing upon new interminable vistas of his glory."
"The experience of human life on an earth is not now for the first time enacted. It has been conducted a million times before and the long drama will again a million times be repeated. In all that we do now, our dreams, our discoveries, our swift or difficult attainments, we profit subconsciously by the experience of innumerable precursors and our labour will be fecund in planets unknown to us and in worlds yet uncreated. The plan, the peripetia, the denouement differ continually, yet are always governed by the conventions of an eternal Art. God, Man, Nature are the three perpetual symbols. The idea of eternal recurrence affects with a shudder of alarm the mind entrenched in the minute, the hour, the years, the centuries, all the finite's unreal defences. But the strong soul conscious of its own immortal stuff and the inexhaustible ocean of its ever-flowing energies is seized by it with the thrill of an inconceivable rapture. It hears behind the thought the childlike laughter and ecstasy of the Infinite."
-Sri Aurobindo
"Some state that when it will manifest in the following cycle of manifestation it will be from the brand new scratch , ( because before the total annihilation everything will be resolved into spirit as unchanging substance and all the previous karma will be dissolved)" THIS IS VASTLY DIFFERENT
Delete"while others would say that everything that is dormant in that state will manifest again from where it left because of the past impression or store Alaya memory will come back and will manifest as a continuation ( little simple example but just like when the day finishes and everyone is dormant at sleep so the next day it will continue where it left previously ) of the previous universal cycle.
So within the universal Alaya which is composed of individual Alayas those will come again into action to continue where they left from previous cycle and thus it is eternally coming and going," - IS THIS WHAT YOU SAY?
"so I don't se where it is so vastly different as you say"
Its not vastly different now the way that you say it if this is what you believe, but the explanation in the first 2 posts is vastly different to what you sent on the Lines of Descent of Consciousness by ShriNolini Kant Gupta is vastly different to what you say
In what way Noel they are different ( the first yes it is different " that all the previous seeds of impressions will be dissolved at the end of Mahakalpa or great dissolution" and I don't hold that view ) , you may present the differences, so you may understand exactly what I am presenting and what I am saying, we have to understand each others minds; I think this is and has been a great obstacle in our communication.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWell this is good news, we have definitely cleared up what may be one of the greatest obstacles in our communication over the years in what your true mind presents here; OTHERS IN THIS CASE INCLUDES STAVROS AMONGST A MYRIAD OF ENLIGHTENED BEINGS who bow their heads in affirmation on this aspect of doctrine of faith of what we consider to be an indespensible universal truth
ReplyDelete"others would say that everything that is dormant in that state will manifest again from where it left because of the past impression or store Alaya memory will come back and will manifest as a continuation ( little simple example but just like when the day finishes and everyone is dormant at sleep so the next day it will continue where it left previously ) of the previous universal cycle.
So within the universal Alaya which is composed of individual Alayas those will come again into action to continue where they left from previous cycle and thus it is eternally coming and going,"
If this is what you believe, then I believe we are on the same page as Shakyamuni, Nichiren and other enlightened beings of the eternal past, present and future that understand how this principle works throughout the eternity of life.
Those who have not yet grasped these concepts is because their capacity is limited or their cup is already too full to take in anything else
But there is much more; what we agree upon is very evident and that I already have told you many times that it is so; but there is more a little bit more "hidden" truth which is not really hidden if one observe carefully and intuitively and that is what should be the point of our discussion;
ReplyDeleteThis is what you wrote " Its not vastly different now the way that you say it if this is what you believe, but the explanation in the first 2 posts is vastly different to what you sent on the Lines of Descent of Consciousness by ShriNolini Kant Gupta is vastly different to what you say"
In what way they are different from what I said these two posts which I send?
"what we agree upon is very evident and that I already have told you many times that it is so;"
ReplyDeleteno this is the first time I and Kumiko have ever heard you speak of the Alaya Consciousness in the same way as us. You have always come across as saying:
"Some state that when it will manifest in the following cycle of manifestation it will be from the brand new scratch , ( because before the total annihilation everything will be resolved into spirit as unchanging substance and all the previous karma will be dissolved)"
I can remember because when you visited us talking about this I developed a massive headache over this issue and the creation of brand new beings that have no karmic imprint on their individual Alaya consciousness
And you couldn't accept that there could be a set amount of individual entity's in the multiverse that are eternally changing from a manifest to latent state in the sequence that birth and death are never ending cycles of eternal life and also the idea of a fallen Buddha all the way to hell and back again like a YOYO for all eternity which is a free choice that some of us choose because we let ourselves give into temptation.
I believe that if I'm an eternal being, I would of had to of been a fully realised Buddha in past lives otherwise what would I be doing here trying to cultivate my way back again home to Buddha land where we don't all necessarily live happily ever after if we so choose and that's why I'm here through my own fault
Its really about what we put our faith in and if we find that it is unreasonable and uncomfortable or reasonable and peaceful then it may or may not be for us even though it may be right or wrong.
It could be a universal truth or a Delusion of Grandeur that all enlightened beings of the 3 existences would bow their heads in affirmation or shake their heads in disbelief
Hi,
ReplyDelete"what we agree upon is very evident and that I already have told you many times that it is so;"
no this is the first time I and Kumiko have ever heard you speak of the Alaya Consciousness in the same way as us. You have always come across as saying:
"Some state that when it will manifest in the following cycle of manifestation it will be from the brand new scratch , ( because before the total annihilation everything will be resolved into spirit as unchanging substance and all the previous karma will be dissolved)"
I hope you be more consciousnesses and pay more attention in what is being said; i never said that above reference is what i believe, i always told you from day one when i met you that everything go through cycles even complete Mahapralaya or great dissolution which you had bit difficulty accepting the total temporary dissolution and we agreed that the Reality has two aspects the eternally unchanging and the eternally changing.
Now you say i never mentioned about the Alaya that is not correct i mentioned many times this to both of you that it is caled in Vedanta Karana or Causal plane which helds all the imreesion in a seed from and causes the creation ( that is why is called causal ) Also recently didn't i said an email speaking of these things about the Unchanging eternal reality ( as the 9th Consciousness ) and the difference from the 8th consciousness, you didnt pay attention i will send it below again so you may now look at aging with more consciousness;
This is part of s previous mail which i have send you
" According to the science ( spiritual science as well of course ) energy it groups and vibrates and creates forms physically visible then when the form breaks down it still exist in molecular or atomically as small particles or smaller as quantum energy; in the same way thoughts are also forms of energy more subtle of course but still formation of compound and group particles of energy. When the thought formations or mental-emotional forms breaks down they still exist in a code wave form like tv or radio vibrating in different frequencies; similarly all the vibrations of consciousness leave some kind of impressions which are constantly changeable composed and recomposed and changed; even though latent as memories of particles these still it has been stated by deep delving souls that they still vibrate very quietly ready to manifest more fully and actively when opportunity arise.
So the consciousness is there you agree without manifested forms but is not there when the forms have subsided into seed like form quietly vibrating.
Both the manifested forms and the seedlike quietly vibrating forms are the action of vibrating consciousness-energy
So you are saying that apart from Changeable Vibrating consciousness there is not an Unchanged Eternal Consciousness?
No, 2 but 1, 1 but 2
DeleteAnother thing here you mention which is not true and i like to correct it by reminding you of what took place on the day you are talking about, since even there because of resistance you were both not fully attentively present; you say:
ReplyDeleteI can remember because when you visited us talking about this I developed a massive headache over this issue and the creation of brand new beings that have no karmic imprint on their individual Alaya consciousness
And you couldn't accept that there could be a set amount of individual entity's in the multiverse that are eternally changing from a manifest to latent state in the sequence that birth and death are never ending cycles of eternal life and also the idea of a fallen Buddha all the way to hell and back again like a YOYO for all eternity which is a free choice that some of us choose because we let ourselves give into temptation.
Yes your headache came because Kumiko and you were saying that not most but sometimes some Buddhas may fall again into ignorance of lower form and consciousness and so my question was if not all the Buddhas fall then who will fill the forms of the lower species , if there are the same amount of beings and most remain as Buddhas and our purpose is to become Enlighten Buddhas and everyone has that potential to manifest that and in course of time as we evolve the lower species will extinct;
that you could not answer , Kumiko had no answer to that and wanted to stop the discussion on that subject and you got a headache.
But the question remains unanswered by your Buddhism ; you both agree that our goal is to manifest our Buddha nature and this is what you wish for all beings and so where will they come from the beings to take forms in lower species of life if according to Kumiko only few will fall from their Buddha nature and there are no fresh new beings entering the manifestation?
And secondly there is nowhere in the scriptures or sayings of any Buddha who has become deluded again, on the contrary it is being stated that the reward is permanent , the Buddha says many kalpas ages or births previously i have attained Buddhahod it is ongoing. Even in statements like these the merit is permanent like " One who kills so much as an ant will invariably fall into the three evil paths, but one who helps eradicate slander of the Law will ascend to the state from which there can be no RETROGRESSION!., this is from your scriptures!
Even Christs says " and you will overcome as i have overcome and i will make you a pillar ( in the kingdom of God ) and you shall come out no more." Everything in this world is impermanent " do not gather riches where the moth or the rust or thief may enter but gather the spiritual riches for they are eternal" " heaven and earth will pass away but non of my word "the Truth" won't pass away." Every great master speaks of full enlightenment or great liberation as permanent in contrast to all external impermanent things.
So on that even between you you disagree and also you making up things with your imaginations. I have shown you from few quotes that it is permanent and that no one and nowhere has been said of a fall of a Buddha or fully liberated being!
You show me proof of statement to show otherwise!
There will always be temptation, "how the mighty have Fallen" we all fall sooner or latter and get back up again some tend to stay longer. So there will always be enough fallen temporary Buddha's to fill the lower species so you don't need to concern yourself too much about that. Treat the lower species with kindness as you would a fallen Buddha. Nichiren was a Vegan he respected all life forms.
DeleteIt was only those who slandered the Law that he was firm with. The only eternal unchanging consciousness of who we are is known as the original eternal Shakyamuni Buddha 3 body Tathagata Thus come one. The historical Shakyamuni was one with the original eternal Musa Sanjin Buddha triple body of enlightenment
The 3 thousand realms in the eternal moment, mutual possession of the 10 worlds, 10 factors, 3 realms of existence flies in the face of conventional teachings and scriptures that you and the masses hold fast to and trust in
Their are obviously different standards that don't match up that are faith based and cannot be consoled. Just to see it for what it is and not try to turn it into something else is respecting its uniqueness rather than making it have to conform to some pre- existing concept. It's normal to agree to disagree over what is, its the way it is
Kumiko said that she never said once we become a Buddha that we will never fall down. She said that we are more likely to stay in the highest life condition longer than those in the lower higher life conditions but there is no guarantee for staying there forever since Buddha remains in other 9 worlds as a potential and each of those 9 have 10 worlds and goes on forever like holographic multidimensional universe
So now Kumiko is saying that all Buddhas eventually will become deluded and assume lower forms of life and that is why and how the lower forms of life arise. Even that way it is not possible if the higher or highest condition of Buddhahood is longer then the lower forms of life it won't be able to fill the amount of these lower beings who's life spend is very very much short. It is nonsensical any person who uses ones reason and logic even little looking into it will see that is not possible.
DeleteBut all these things you are saying to support your believes is your own imagination and assumption and till now you haven't been able to produce an EVIDENCE FROM THE SCRIPTURES to state that Sakyamuni Buddha has become deluded again or any other Human Buddha that has been fallen or chose to become deluded and entered into lower forms of life.
Since Sakyamuni preached something very temporary and your Nichiren may be by now a fly there is no use talking with you anymore on this subject , your spirituality has no value; be as you are dont strive for anything because you have to and will become again the lower forms of consciousness and life..why practice and aspire for something temporary just go with the flow!
The Eternal True Buddha is not just a human historical person, is not the human Buddha which will become the lower insect, The True Buddha Nature is not Essentially just a human or insect or plant It is That which has become everything and will continue to manifest multiplicity everything, not a human being , this is something which you confuse!
I have been refering to the Alaya consciousness or the Reward Body of an enlightened Buddha,this is what you confuse.
DeleteThe Dharma Body is the governing intelligence that harmonises all phenomena
"Even that way it is not possible if the higher or highest condition of Buddhahood is longer then the lower forms of life it won't be able to fill the amount of these lower beings who's life spend is very very much short."
The Buddha's are not there in the higher life conditions long enough for this to happen. These lower life forms can exist as alatent potential until time is right for them to manifest.
Just be greatfull that we can improve our lives in this life, and that we will have a chance in future existences no matter how many times we fall to carry on, that's enough hope for me
Hi,
ReplyDelete"what we agree upon is very evident and that I already have told you many times that it is so;"
no this is the first time I and Kumiko have ever heard you speak of the Alaya Consciousness in the same way as us. You have always come across as saying:
"Some state that when it will manifest in the following cycle of manifestation it will be from the brand new scratch , ( because before the total annihilation everything will be resolved into spirit as unchanging substance and all the previous karma will be dissolved)"
I hope you be more consciousnesses and pay more attention in what is being said; i never said that above reference is what i believe, i always told you from day one when i met you that everything go through cycles even complete Mahapralaya or great dissolution which you had bit difficulty accepting the total temporary dissolution and we agreed that the Reality has two aspects the eternally unchanging and the eternally changing.
Now you say i never mentioned about the Alaya that is not correct i mentioned many times this to both of you that it is caled in Vedanta Karana or Causal plane which helds all the imreesion in a seed from and causes the creation ( that is why is called causal ) Also recently didn't i said an email speaking of these things about the Unchanging eternal reality ( as the 9th Consciousness ) and the difference from the 8th consciousness, you didnt pay attention i will send it below again so you may now look at aging with more consciousness;
This is part of s previous mail which i have send you
" According to the science ( spiritual science as well of course ) energy it groups and vibrates and creates forms physically visible then when the form breaks down it still exist in molecular or atomically as small particles or smaller as quantum energy; in the same way thoughts are also forms of energy more subtle of course but still formation of compound and group particles of energy. When the thought formations or mental-emotional forms breaks down they still exist in a code wave form like tv or radio vibrating in different frequencies; similarly all the vibrations of consciousness leave some kind of impressions which are constantly changeable composed and recomposed and changed; even though latent as memories of particles these still it has been stated by deep delving souls that they still vibrate very quietly ready to manifest more fully and actively when opportunity arise.
So the consciousness is there you agree without manifested forms but is not there when the forms have subsided into seed like form quietly vibrating.
Both the manifested forms and the seedlike quietly vibrating forms are the action of vibrating consciousness-energy
So you are saying that apart from Changeable Vibrating consciousness there is not an Unchanged Eternal Consciousness?
The Complete and Final Teaching on Perfect Enlightenment Sutra declares, “The beginningless illusions and ignorance that beset all living beings are all produced by the perfectly enlightened mind of the Thus Come Ones.”
ReplyDeleteThis one above is interesting; from all the evidence and my contemplation on this statement the Buddha many times stated that he had attain Buddhahood in many many previous births; and is keeping going no way back so what you have both stated of Buddha being deluded again it goes against the very nature of things, might as well the rivers run backwards. The is a general direction of course with falls and slips on the way but they are part of the growth and the long upward journey to self discovery. Something by the inherent true inner nature within is pushing us towards more progress, more expansion, more perfection always to become more what we at present are and manifest; this is the innate urge of the True nature.
When one has completed the Uni he has no need to go to primary school again.
So the beginningless ignorance since all is eternal is coming and going or involving and evolving it is begginingless as a general movement and existence for the operation of the Universe but in that general movement there is a specific individual journey with its individual karma and rebirth and so each step of progress moves to grater grades of form and consciousness and which his previous "roles" would be filled and occupied by other evolving individuals.
We are all heading to Buddhahood or Self Realization and so there are naturally new individuals entering the material existence otherwise in due course of time we will all become Buddhas ( which has been said in all the scriptures that for that a human vehicle or form is needed, though there are some rare cases where the animals had direct association with enlighten beings and got liberation from lower nature but that is not clear about getting full Buddhahood ) and the lower forms or nonhuman forms of life will extinct.
Also the second part of the statement that “The beginningless illusions and ignorance that beset all living beings are all produced by the perfectly enlightened mind of the Thus Come Ones.”
ReplyDeleteFrom all the evidence stated in other scriptures and in this one as well shows that the fully Awakened beings continue being Awakened in the future and so the illusions and ignorance are not created by these Awakened Buddha Beings who attained full Enlightenment and who's mission and purpose of wisdom and compassion is to dispel illusions and ignorance and not produce them; “Shariputra, the thus come ones know how to make various distinctions and to expound the teachings skillfully. Their words are soft and gentle and can delight the hearts of the assembly. The Perfectly Enlightenment Mind is the Ground of Being from which all comes and with which the Thus Come Ones are in oneness; It is unthinkable and it goes against the Very nature of compassion and enlightenment for those in Stage of Buddhahood or even a Boddhisatwa to use their Nirmanakaya and Sabhogakaya being to create illusions and ignorance in the world and for others or to misuse their Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya attainment and choose to plunge again into delusion of ignorance to cause more burden on others and on themselves ; the very things through their very birth they came to dispel which is the ignorance and illusion in the world.
So this statement can only be directed to the Original Ground Being, the Brahman , the Godhead of the Theistic paths which states also in the Bible this but many Christians overlook this " King James Bible
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. " Isaiah 45.7 . , Or from the Siva Siddhanta Tradition it is stated that Siva creates, maintains, destroys . reveals and conceals His 5 functions.
And of course in the Vedanta teachings too the Divine manifest these two aspects. Ultimately it is The Ultimate Perfectly Enlighten Eternal Ground Reality which manifests and generates all the manifestations including the ignorance and the illusive appearance through a succession of unfoldedment.
I am making many mistakes in spelling, i am mostly sending these mails from work; is not that i am rushing but i get distracted now and then and they occur, my apologies for that.
ReplyDeleteYou have a good job if you can write this, or was it on your lunch or tea break😊
ReplyDeleteYes it is good, and usually after 1-2pm is more quiet.
ReplyDelete