On Paths toward Awakening

(5)

Nikkyo Niwano, Rissho Kosei-kai

and “Buddhism for Today”

reading the english translation of The Threefold Lotus Sutra for the first time in 1982, a thrilling experience, toting the book with me everywhere – on a bus coughing its way to work in downtown Los Angeles. The sutra opens with “Thus have I heard” (“I” most likely the Buddha’s cousin, Ananda, born the night of Siddhartha’s enlightenment who followed the Buddha for years and is said to have memorized all his preaching); swept into a world full of extraordinary beings, disciples, bodhisattvas, and other worldly beings listening to the Buddha’s preaching. Awesome, to say the least. 

  Some thirty-five years later on my birthday, 2017, discovering Thich Nhat Hahn’s “Buddhahood in Three Dimensions” this inspiring experience of first reading, `extolled in this celebrated Zen master’s words  taking its place here as the most recent event in the long path toward awakening.

  ”Chapter 1 of the Lotus Sutra takes us to Vulture Peak, near the city of Rajagriha in the kingdom of Magadha (present-day northeast India), where the Buddha has gathered with a large assembly of disciples, including Kashyapa, Shariputra, Maudgalyayana and Ananda, as well thousands of bhikshus and bhikshunis, including the Buddha’s aunt, Mahaprajapati and his former wife, Yashodhara. In addition, there are tens of thousands of great bodhisattvas in attendance, among them Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, Bhaisajyaraja (Medicine King) and Maitreya. Also present are many thousands of gods, including Indra and the kings of the nagas, kinnaras, ghandharvas, asuras and garudas. The ruler of Magadha, King Ajatashatru, and his royal family and retinue are also in attendance. This vast multitude of many different kinds of beings is present in the assembly when the Buddha is about to deliver the Lotus Sutra.

  “This not only sets the stage for the delivery of the sutra in the historical dimension, but also reveals the ultimate dimension. The vast numbers of shravakas and bodhisattvas, the presence of gods and mythical beings, give us our first taste of the ultimate dimension and show us that the opportunity to hear the Lotus Sutra delivered by the Buddha is something very special, a great occurrence not to be missed.” / / /

  These words explicitly and profoundly validated all the years studying the Lotus Sutra and attempting to practice its teachings; and in a certain way describe my own experience of first reading. On one occasion, probably when I returned to West Hollywood from New York and its N.S.A. “rebellion,” a former member of N.S.A. noticed I was reading The Threefold Lotus Sutra and suggested if I really wanted to understand the sutra, I should read Nikkyo Niwano’s “Buddhism for Today, a Modern Interpretation of the Threefold Lotus Sutra.” At the time I was recording the complete Threefold on cassette tape.

  Discovering Rissho Kosei-kai and one of its co-founders turned out to become a giant leap forward. The few years I was a member of this Buddhist lay organization in Los Angeles, participating with our American, English-language group, chanting something from each chapter of the sutra in English--indeed memorable, as perhaps some notes for Niwano’s writings will make clear:

formation and propagation of the Lotus Sutra – Notes from Niwano’s “Buddhism for Today”: “No widespread writing system in India in Shakyamuni’s time. . . sermons memorized and spread by word of mouth: people had powers of memory beyond our imagining, and people’s lives less complicated. . . it is almost certain that they [great disciples of the Buddha] did not mishear Shakyamuni’s sermons. . .

  “Frequent conferences held often after death of Buddha.” [Mahayana sutras begin often with the phrase: “Thus have I heard.”] / / /

  In the west we have similar traditions: legends, histories, stories origi­nating from oral transmission passed down from generation to generation, most notably by the wandering blind poet Homer reciting Trojan War Epics—the Iliad and Odyssey; The Song of Roland, 11^th Century Chanson de Geste ascribed to the Norman troubadours Théroulde, or Turoldus, which tells the death of Roland and stories related to Charlemagne.

Continuing notes from nikkyo niwano’s buddhism for today: “There is no sutra that is not holy. Teachings have been recorded in Agama, Prajñaparamita, and Amitabha sutras, and many others. But only in the Lotus Sutra was the fundamental spirit of all Shakyamuni’s teachings during his active life clearly expressed for the first time . . . important spirit of all his teachings has been unified and described in easily understood terms; essentials of Buddhism’s very core of Shakyamuni’s teachings explained exhaustively in simple, yet powerful words.

  “After the Buddha’s death, a gulf opened between monks and lay devotees before either group was aware of it . . . This continually widening gap came about because some monks attached much more importance to the formalities of keeping the precepts than to the fundamental spirit of why the precepts should be kept.

  “The Lotus Sutra appeared under circumstances of a clash between the new and old (Hinayana and Mahayana). Mahayana (great vehicle) stresses that in Buddhism there is only one vehicle to be followed equally by all people, and that the ultimate object of Shakyamuni’s teachings is to bring all people to this vehicle [ultimately to self-attained enlightenment, compassionate mindfulness, and Perfect Enlightenment as the Buddha himself attained].”

discovering hui-neng, “enlightenment here and now” – Two years as a member of Rissho Kosei-kai at their center in East Los Angeles, creating the newsletter, “Sands of the Ganges” – reciting the Lotus Sutra in English with fellow-members, participating in what is called the hoza, a kind of group therapy session, a truly rewarding experience. The head guy, the Japanese minister, was married to an American woman which had prompted the recent recruitment of Americans. Some of the Japanese members of Rissho Kosei-kai also joined our English chanting group.

  By the autumn of 1993, I had left Rissho Kosei-kai and moved from West Hollywood to San Clemente.  It must be noted here that the teachings of Rissho Kosei evolve from The Threefold Lotus Sutra and the writings of Nikkyo Niwano, still on the shelf today and frequently referred to, and his devotion to this sutra. The practice of Rissho Kosei-kai today is defined as “Ekayana” or the One Buddha Vehicle—The Lotus Sutra.

  Therefore, significant to note here the universality and openness of Rissho Kosei-kai which always has explored other disciplines—including classes in Zen meditation; and in their publication, “Dharma World.” It was in this publication, at the time of practicing with Rissho Kosei-kai, that I discovered a noteworthy article, July 1982 Vol. 9, written by George Pracy Pugh, committee member of the Buddhist Society of N.S.W., Australia, Hui-neng’s Enlightenment – Here and Now, richly rewarding. Certain passages memorized; for example:

   . . . In this enlightened awareness, we can all see the marvelous wonder of our universe, blemishes and all, and find our home and comfort in a cosmos that is magically a part of us, and us a part of it. This interpenetration of the individual in the universe is what the Buddha’s teachings are all about. This is their scope and majesty.