Bodhisattvas of the Earth

Bodhisattvas of the Earth (Jpn jiyu-no-bosatsu, 地涌の菩薩), also sometimes referred to as Bodhisattvas from the Underground, "Bodhisattvas Taught by the Original Buddha,"[1] or "earth bodhisattvas",[note 1][3][4] are the infinite number of bodhisattvas who, in the 15th ("Emerging from the Earth") chapter of the Lotus Sutra, emerged from a fissure in the ground.[5] This pivotal story of the Lotus Sutra[6] takes place during the "Ceremony in the Air" which had commenced in the 11th ("Emergence of the Treasure Tower") chapter. Later, in the 21st ("Supernatural Powers") chapter, Shakyamuni passes on to them the responsibility for saving the suffering people in the feared future era of the Latter Day of the Law.[7]

Description

In the 15th ("Emerging from the Earth") chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the vast number of bodhisattvas from other realms who had appeared to hear Shakyamuni preach in the "Ceremony in the Air" hoped to receive the Buddha's permission to be the ones to propagate the Dharma in the perilous era to come.[8][note 2] To their great chagrin, Shakyamuni refused their request, deferring this honor to unnamed bodhisattvas who already existed in the empty space underneath the sahā-world [tr: "world of endurance of suffering, any world of transmigration"[11]]. Right after he made this statement the earth shook and a mighty fissure appeared. Dramatically, and in a single instant, bodhisattvas whose numbers are described in the sutra as "immeasurable, boundless, beyond anything that can be known through calculation, simile or parable" arose from tbe earth.[12] All of them are "golden in hue, with the thirty-two features [of the Buddha] and an immeasurable brightness."[13]

These bodhisattvas had four leaders and guiding teachers: Superior Practices (the leader of the four), Boundless Practices, Pure Practices, and Firmly Established Practices.[7][14] The four leaders have been interpreted to represent the four bodhisattva vows as practiced by the Mahayana traditions of China, Japan, and Korea[15] and are said to represent the four characteristics of Nirvana or Buddhahood as taught in the Lotus Sutra: true self, eternity, purity, and joy.[16]

Interpretations

According to Tao Sheng (ca. 360–434), the splitting of the earth and the welling forth of the bodhisattvas is indicative that "living beings inherently possess an endowment for enlightenment, and it cannot remain concealed; they are bound to break the earth of defilements and emerge to safeguard the Dharma.” [17]

The allegory of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth in the 15th-21st chapters of the Lotus Sutra has affected the outlooks and practices of numerous Buddhist schools.[18] Although interpretations vary school by school, Thich Nhat Hanh provides a generalized reference: by rejecting the entreaties of bodhisattvas from other realms of the universe to propagate the Lotus Sutra after his death and by summoning countless bodhisattvas from under the earth, the Buddha affirms that he is from the world and the people of the world can rise to be its caretakers. In addition, he thus affirms the infinite universality of his life and the lives of all beings.[19]

The welling forth of innumerable bodhisattvas from the earth has also been used as a metaphor for the emergence of a grassroots Buddhist movement.[20] The metaphor of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth is also being used in secular and ecumenical writing.[21]

Interpretation in Nichiren Buddhism

Whereas Nichiren Buddhists regard the first fourteen chapters as the transient or theoretical "Imprinted Gate," the "Emerging from the Earth" chapter (ch 15) is regarded as the opening of the Lotus Sutra's essential teachings (chapters 14-28), or the "Original Gate."[22][23] The emergence of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth thus holds great significance. According to Kyōtsū Hori, "they are also called honge no bosatsu meaning bodhisattvas guided by the Original Buddha in the eternal past."[24] Nichiren (1222–1282) self-identified himself as Bodhisattva Superior Practices,[25] in several of his writings such as "The Opening of the Eyes." He claimed to qualify for this designation as the one who first grasped and taught the Mystic Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in the Latter Day.[26]

The four leaders of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth are represented on the top row of the Gohonzon, the calligraphic mandala inscribed by Nichiren, flanking the characters for Shakyamuni and Taho (Many Treasures) Buddhas.[27]

In his letter "The True Aspect of All Phenomena," Nichiren clearly stated that followers of his who spread and promote his teachings are fellow Bodhisattvas of the Earth: "There should be no discrimination among those who propagate the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo in the Latter Day of the Law, be they men or women. Were they not Bodhisattvas of the Earth, they could not chant the daimoku. At first only Nichiren chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, but then two, three, and a hundred followed, chanting and teaching others. Propagation will unfold this way in the future as well. Does this not signify 'emerging from the earth'?"[28]

The importance of the appearance of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth is underscored in most Nichiren schools: Soka Gakkai,[29] Nichiren Shū, and Nichiren Shoshu.[30] The differing interpretations of how the Bodhisattvas of the Earth correspond to contemporary people are described below:

Nichiren Shu

Nichiren Shu states that its members aspire to the status of Bodhisattvas of the Earth.[3][31]

Soka Gakkai

The Soka Gakkai holds that all people who propagate the ideals of the Lotus Sutra are Bodhisattvas of the Earth.[note 3] This realization is traced back to Josei Toda's vision while imprisoned during World War II under the charge of lèse-majesté in which he recognized himself as one of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth.[33] Daisaku Ikeda, the third president of the Soka Gakkai International, often describes Soka Gakkai members as the present-day Bodhisattvas of the Earth.[34]

Nichiren Shoshu

Nichiren Shoshu refers to its believers as "associates of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth" or as "followers of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth."[35][36][37]

Interpretation in Lotus Sutra Schools

According to the Risshō Kōsei Kai, the appearance of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth represent a shift from teachings of theory in the first half of the Lotus Sutra to teachings about conduct and human action, teachings that are applicable to life today.[note 4] Reeves suggests that the massive emergence of the Bodhisattvas from the Earth, born from the ground of daily life, is an ongoing process, not a one-time story.[note 5]

Nikkyo Niwano describes a humanistic tone to the ways the emerging bodhisattvas greet the Buddha, inquiring about his health and the receptions of people to his teachings. The implication is that the Buddha, as a religion founder, is not a godhead or the recipient of a divine revelation. Rather, his enlightenment stemmed from his own personal efforts.[note 6]

Interpretation in the Sōtō Zen School

Dōgen, the founder of the Japanese Sōtō Zen school, made more references to the Lotus Sutra in his commentaries than any other sutras. His commentaries focused primarily on the 15th (Emerging from the Earth) and 16th (Life Span) Chapters of the Lotus Sutra. Dōgen made numerous speculations about the significance of the bodhisattvas who emerged from the underground.[41]

As conceived by Dōgen, the stories of the underground bodhisattvas and the Buddha's inconceivable life-span serve as a fundamental shift in the development of East Asian Mahayana understanding of Buddhahood, an immediate attainment based on fundamental awakening rather than an achievement based on lifetimes of arduous practice.[42] This can be conceived as "Shortening the Path"[43] or a transition from a "progress philosophy" to a "leap philosophy."[44]

Notes

  1. ↑ Jaffe: "welling-up-out-of-the-earth bodhisattvas"[2]
  2. ↑ Chapter 15 in Kumarajivas translation corresponds to chapter 14 ("Issuing of Bodhisattvas from the Gaps of the Earth") in the extant Sanskrit versions.[9][10]
  3. ↑ Daisaku Ikeda states: "All those who spread Buddhism in the defiled world of the Latter Day of the Law are, without exception, Bodhisattvas of the Earth. This day and age, SGI members match the description of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth perfectly."[32]
  4. ↑ Nikkyō Niwano: "The first half of the Lotus Sutra was given over largely to the teaching of reason and truth, the teaching of wisdom. But upon completion of that half of the sutra, we had the abrupt appearance of a countless throng of bodhisattvas who were doers. Any teaching without application in practice, in conduct, is nothing. It must move on to the stage of action. True bodhisattvas are the doers who apply their knowledge of the true aspect of all reality, the statement of which truth is the theme of the first half of the Lotus Sutra. They are the doers who, in their compassionate conduct, exemplify the truth of the buddha-nature identity: the kind of persons who make the teaching of the Buddha meaningful in this world. Since this so precisely applies to us who are alive today, it is important to take the message to heart."[38]
  5. ↑ Reeves: "The text says that the four groups, the monks and nuns, laymen and laywomen, could see these bodhisattvas "by the divine powers of the Buddha." This is another way of referring to the human imagination, to the power that we all have to transcend everyday life, the power to see the buddha in others."[39]
  6. ↑ Reeves: "In this respect, Buddhism...is quite different from most, perhaps all, other religions."[40]

References

  1. ↑ Chitkara, M. G. (2002). Bodhisattva and selflessness. New Delhi: APH Publ. Corp. p. 469. ISBN 9788176481939.
  2. ↑ Jaffe, P. D. (1986). Rising from the Lotus: Two bodhisattvas from the Lotus Sutra as a psychodynamic paradigm for Nichiren, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 13 (1), 85
  3. 1 2 Nakamura, Jun-ichi. "Nichiren Shonin and Those Who Uphold the Odaimoku Are All Bodhisattvas from Underground". Perhimpunan Buddhis Nichiren Shu Indonesia. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  4. ↑ Leighton, Taigen, Dan (2013). "Where the Buddha Lives Now". Dharma World 40 (3): 18–21.
  5. ↑ Watson (Tr), Burton (2009). The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. p. 253. ISBN 9784412014091.
  6. ↑ Leighton, Taigen Dan (2007). Visions of awakening space and time Dōgen and the Lotus sutra. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 4. ISBN 9780195320930.
  7. 1 2 The English Buddhist Dictionary Committee (2009). The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 9788120833340.
  8. ↑ Murano, Senchu (1967). "An Outline of the Lotus Sūtra". Contemporary Religions in Japan 8 (1): 50–51.
  9. ↑ Pye, Michael (2003). Skilful Means - A concept in Mahayana Buddhism. Routledge. p. 173. ISBN 0203503791.
  10. ↑ Kern, Hendrik. Saddharma Pundarîka or the Lotus of the True Law. Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXI, Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 281–297.
  11. ↑ Soothill, W.E.; Hodous, Lewis (1937). A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms. London: Trübner. p. 369.
  12. ↑ Watson, Burton, trans. (2009). The Lotus sutra and its opening and closing sutras. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. p. 253. ISBN 978-4-412-01409-1.
  13. ↑ Watson (2009), p. 252
  14. ↑ Murano, Senchu (1967). "An Outline of the Lotus Sūtra". Contemporary Religions in Japan 8 (1): 51.
  15. ↑ Niwano, Nikkyo (1975). Buddhism for today: a modern interpretation of the threefold lotus sutra (1st English ed.). New York: Weatherhill. ISBN 9780834801479. 1. Shujo muhen seigan-do. However innumerable living beings are, I vow to save them. (Steadfast Conduct)
  16. ↑ Morgan, Diane (2004). The Buddhist experience in America (1. publ. ed.). Westport, Conn. [u.a.]: Greenwood Press. p. 121. ISBN 9780313324918.
  17. ↑ Kim, Young-ho (1990). Tao-sheng's commentary on the Lotus Sūtra : a study and translation. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 290. ISBN 0791402274.
  18. ↑ Leighton, Taigen Dan (2008). Vision of Awakening Space and Time Dogen and the Lotus Sutra. Oxford: Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 41–47. ISBN 9780199724277.
  19. ↑ Hanh, Thich Nhat (2009). Peaceful action, open heart : lessons from the Lotus Sutra. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press. p. 63. ISBN 9781888375930.
  20. ↑ Moon, Susan (2004). Not turning away : the practice of engaged Buddhism (1st ed.). Boston: Shambhala. p. 160. ISBN 9781590301036.
  21. ↑ LaChance, Albert J. (2006). The architecture of the soul : a unitive model of the human person. Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books. pp. 210–211. ISBN 1556436025. We urgently need Bodhisattvas of the Earth from every creed--Jews, Christians, Moslems, Wiccans, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, humanists, whatever. We must become primates of Earth, mammals of earth....The path of the Bodhisattva of the Earth starts where you are.
  22. ↑ Tanabe, George J. Jr.; Tanabe, Willa Jane (1989). The Lotus Sutra in Japanese culture (Repr. ed.). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 40. ISBN 9780824811983.
  23. ↑ McCormick, Ryuei Michael. "Who's Who on the Gohonzon". nichirenscoffeehouse.net.
  24. ↑ Hori, Kyōtsū (2003). Writings of Nichiren Shōnin. Doctrine 1. Tokyo: Nichiren Shū Overseas Propagation Promotion Association ; distributed by University of Hawai'i Press. p. 285. ISBN 0824827333.
  25. ↑ Jaffe, P. D. (1986). Rising from the Lotus: Two bodhisattvas from the Lotus Sutra as a psychodynamic paradigm for Nichiren, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 13 (1), 85-86
  26. ↑ Leighton, Taigen Dan (2008). Vision of Awakening Space and Time Dogen and the Lotus Sutra. Oxford: Oxford University Press, USA. p. 54. ISBN 9780199724277.
  27. ↑ "Honzon". Nichiren-Shu.org. Nichiren-shu. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  28. ↑ Nichiren Daishonin, Soka Gakkai International (ed) (1999). The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol-1, p. 385.
  29. ↑ Ikeda, Daisaku (2009). The heritage of the ultimate law of life. Santa Monica, Calif.: World Tribune Press. pp. 29, 32. ISBN 9781938252280.
  30. ↑ "Bodisattvas of the Earth". Nichiren Shoshu Temple. NST. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  31. ↑ "First International Lay Retreat ‘Determined to Be Bodhisattvas of the Earth’" (PDF). Nichiren Shu News. Published by the Head Office of Nichiren-shu Buddhism & NOPPA. Dec 1, 2009.
  32. ↑ Ikeda, Daisaku (2001). The Heart of the Lotus Sutra: The Mahayana Classic from Theory to Practice. Middleway Press. p. 133. ISBN 0967469759.
  33. ↑ Prohl, Inken; Nelson, John K. (2012). Handbook of contemporary Japanese religions. Leiden: Brill. pp. 284–285. ISBN 9789004234369.
  34. ↑ Daisaku Ikeda, The Heart of the Lotus Sutra. (2014). Middleway Press. pp. 133, 169, 337
  35. ↑ Shogu, Kimura. "Upholding Faith and Practice with a Solid Vow". Nichiren Shoshu Myoshinji Temple. Nichiren Shoshu Temple. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  36. ↑ "Bodhisattvas of the Earth". Nichiren Shoshu Temple. Nichiren Shoshu Temple. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  37. ↑ Shonin, Nichinyo. News Sept_13.pdf "Guidance from Sixty-eighth High Priest Nichinyo Shonin: On the Occasion of the June Kosen-rufu Shodai Ceremony June 2, 2013" Check |url= value (help) (PDF). Nichiren Shoshu Temple of New York. Nichiren Shoshu Temple of New York. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  38. ↑ Niwano, Nikkyō (1982). A guide to the Threefold Lotus Sutra (2. print. ed.). Tokyo: Kosei Publ. Co. ISBN 978-4333010257.
  39. ↑ Reeves, Gene (2010). The stories of the Lotus sutra. Boston: Wisdom Publications. p. 195. ISBN 0861716469.
  40. ↑ Reeves, Gene (2010). The stories of the Lotus sutra. Boston: Wisdom Publications. p. 193. ISBN 0861716469.
  41. ↑ Leighton, Taigen Dan (2005), "Dogen's Appropriation of Lotus Sutra Ground and Space", Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 32 (1): 85–105
  42. ↑ Leighton 2005, pp. 85–105
  43. ↑ Groner, Paul (1992). Shortening the Path: Early Tendai Interpretations of the Realization of Buddhahood with This Very Body. In Buswell, Robert; Gimello, Robert (eds), Paths to Liberation: The Mårga and Its Transformation in Buddhist Thought. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. pp. 439–474.
  44. ↑ Potter, Karl (April 1964). "The Naturalistic Principle of Karma". Philosophy East & West (University of Hawaii Press) 14: 43.

Bibliography

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