Lotus Sutra Chapter 2 Tactfulness:
I strongly advise you to read this chapter yourself. I believe the Lotus Sutra can speak personally to you .However I would like to share how this chapter has affected my life through the revelations I obtained through it.
It starts off actually with the announcement that it will be difficult to understand and how people of learning and partial enlightenment, such as those with scientific and occult knowledge, are not able to understand it. This might put the reader off but only Bodhisattvas (compassionate beings) can comprehend it or, at least, be open to attempt to understand it. Scholars and intellectuals have great difficulty understanding it because what passes as intelligence (for them) is merely book learning, having a good memory, or having mastered skills such as composing music, surgery, or engineering. Those of partial enlightenment (pratyekabuddhas), modern day scientists, engineers, composers, and artists and those who have been able to discover certain mysteries of nature, still, are unable to completely comprehend the workings of mind. Others have learned to harness electricity through the observation of natural forces. Occult knowledge also entails that which is hidden.
It is difficult to believe that only Bodhisattvas could halfway understand what the Buddha was about to expound. Thinking deeply about it, I began to understand the qualities of someone truly in Bodhisattva state: One who is not solely concerned with their own life and experiences; they who have expanded their thinking to imagine themselves in someone else's shoes; and those who have experienced sufferings to the extent of understanding what others have gone through (to feel what another human being is experiencing). Many New age philosophies call it "love" but this is a misused term since love often manifests through selfish need. A better word is compassion. A Bodhisattva comes about from understanding that we are all interconnected and no one is an island unto themselves. We are affected by what goes on in the world regardless if we register it or not . Compassion or the Bodhisattva state can not be faked so you would have to develop this state before you can ever hope to be open up to the power of Buddhanature. This is a safe guard so that it can never be abused. Scientific and occult power, on the other hand, can be abused because they rarely develop the higher states of being.
Wisdom is very different from learning and accumulating facts alone. Wisdom as well as compassion is indispensable. It is being able to learn from the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra and applying to one's life and others. Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra stresses that only Buddhas with other Buddhas can understand each other. It is not only a subjective understanding but an objective understanding as well. One way I can understand what the Buddha is saying is if I do not know a strange language I need to have faith in the teacher in order to learn it and this would be done in small steps such as learning words and then small sentences.This Chapter of the Lotus Sutra is called Tactfulness because it explains that the whole truth can not be revealed until the preparation is laid down. This is not dissimilar to learning the alphabet, simple words and then sentences. Of course, there has to be others who thoroughly know the language, such as Tientai, and Nichiren, otherwise you would be looked upon as a nutcase mumbling strange sounds.
Then the Buddha showed deep concern. He is reluctant to go on, knowing that there will be those present who would not listen. This helped me a lot in trying to convince people of what I understood and wanted to communicate it. I believe the Buddha was showing us how we should act towards those who do not want to listen. He did not make them stay when 5000 monks got up and walked out. We cannot force people to believe and it would be false anyway as they would falsely claim that they were being threatened .The Buddha had respect for people’s free will. Nor did he shout after them, "you silly fools." However he did say when they were gone that they were very arrogant and it was best that they left the assembly if they did not want to listen. His ability to let them go did not come from indifference but because of a full understanding and knowledge that at some further date they would be able to be more open to the truth. This is elaborated in other chapters of the Lotus Sutra.
Then we come to the ten suchnesses (ten factors). This is a summing up of how the law works in all life, both insentient and sentient.This was elaborated in the T’ien-t’ai school in China. T'ien-t'ai eventually explained ichinen sanzen or the 3000 worlds in one moment of life. The appearance and nature of the subject can be seen but certain other aspects can not be seen, for example, "entity", "power", and "influence". Also, not readily observed are "internal cause" and "effect" and the "manifest cause" and "effect". This is another way of saying that every entity has karma due to past causes and it will only manifest when conditions are right. This is another way of explaining how certain people will not listen as they fail to have the inherent cause to listen.
I know this to be true since I was educated by nuns in a convent. I remember having suddenly realized that I had lived before but I did not know at that time the name of it . It was only later I learned that it was reincarnation. Also when the nuns talked about Heaven and Hell I thought to myself they are not places they are states of life. I had no idea where these ideas came from as I was very young and my family did not speak of such things. They just sent me there for what they thought would be a good education.
This got me thinking about consciousness and what it is really. Many scientists would say it is in the brain and produced by the brain. But is it? I have read about people who were pronounced clinically dead but were able to observe what was going on outside their body. I have met people personally who have told me of similar experiences. So what is consciousness ? I think it is made up of our memories and beliefs that continue outside of apparent life and death. These can not be measured by any so called scans but they have a reality of their own.
When I was very young I was able to paint and draw like the masters. The nuns said I had a gift from God. At the time I had no reason not to believe them. However, through certain circumstances and difficulties, I began to lose my ability to paint and draw. I was only able to get it back when I went through a crises of faith and realized that I had made causes in a previous lives to be able to paint and draw. Then it returned as I discovered it was in my own hands, not god's. However that was not the full understanding I needed as I lost my volition to produce art. I thought what use is it and went in a different direction for my career .It was only after I practiced and studied the Lotus Sutra carefully and this Chapter in particular that I discovered a new found urge to produce art again.
This chapter speaks of any cause you make towards the Lotus Sutra, no matter how small, will lead you towards enlightenment. It explains that works of art and music, if it is to honor the Buddha and the law, will not only bring merit to one's self but to those who commission it for the same purpose. It suddenly hit me, I have found a true reason to produce works of art .Of course you can paint and draw or create for other reasons but the Buddha was giving a formula to be able to achieve a way to communicate your reverence in a material manifestation and to share it with others.
Much art these days is produced for financial reasons and I believe it has deteriorated because of that. I do not believe because it has deteriorated merely because it is not realistic. Art it is art if someone produces something because they have created it as a form of communication. But has it the power to touch lives and improve them? I believe the Buddha was showing us the true power art can have. This helped me to really want to produce something to the best of my ability. Similarly with music that has been inspired by the true teachings.
I know without a doubt that I would not have been able to come to this conclusion if it were not for the Lotus Sutra and to be able to bring back my inspiration to create and hopefully surpass my past abilities.
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