February 17 2019
RESPONSE: The Buddha was a man born in Nepal by the name of Siddhartha Gautama (Shakyamuni Gotama) who lived 2500 years ago. Buddhism does not have a creator God. There is a non-duality or “oneness of living beings and Buddhas,” i.e. not two different things but are essential one, where the mind, the Buddha, and all living beings are without distinction. “Living beings” here indicates life in its unenlightened form, or beings who are afflicted with delusion. Though both practices follow in the Mahayana tradition, the above Buddhist, Thich Nhat Hanh practices Buddhism from the perspective of the Zen School; whereas, I practice Nichiren Buddhism from the perspective of the Lotus School. However, the espoused goal by all Buddhist schools is to achieve Buddhahood, i.e. to become an Enlightened Being. So, to practice Buddhism is to cultivate enlightenment, to attain wisdom; and although, there are many paths to achieve this goal, they all involve severing ties with greed, anger, and delusion and perfecting the qualities of one’s mind. The teachings of Shakyamuni, the original Buddha correspond to the provisional and theoretical teachings set forth in accordance with the people’s capacity, as a means to lead them to the true teaching of the Lotus Sutra, in which the Buddha directly reveals his enlightenment, i.e. the essential teachings, or “Life Span” (sixteenth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, as the provisional teachings reveal only partial aspects of the truth, while the essential and true teachings expound the truth in entirety. The Zen School of provisional teachings explain that enlightenment is to be gained not through doctrinal studies, but rather through direct perception of one’s mind through the practice of meditation. From this point of view, the supreme enlightenment of the Buddha has been transmitted without words throughout the ages from mind to mind via the lineage of its patriarchs. On the other hand, the Lotus School of the true and essential teachings reveal the true aspect of all phenomena, indicating that, though different, all living beings, the Buddha included, are manifestations of the ultimate reality. The sutra reads, “The Buddhas . . . wish to open the door of Buddha wisdom to all living beings . . . to induce living beings to enter the path of Buddha wisdom,” because Buddha wisdom is inherent in all living beings, i.e., all living beings are potential Buddhas. Nichiren, the true Buddha, as applied to him traditionally by those in the lineage of his disciple Nikkō, revealed that Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, being the title of the Lotus Sutra, represents the essence of the Lotus School teaching. He embodied these teachings in a mandala called the Gohonzon and taught that chanting the phrase (daimoku) with faith in the Gohonzon is the practice that enables all people in the present age, the Latter Day of the Law, to attain Buddhahood. Nichiren taught people to chant it and share it with others so that all can attain Buddhahood in this lifetime in their present form. The principle of Three Thousand Realms in a Single Moment (ichinen sanzen) is representative of the daimoku. You could agree with Thich Nhat Hanh that “There’s a misconception that Buddhism is a religion, and that you worship a Buddha. Buddhism is a practice, like yoga. You can be a Christian and practice Buddhism. I met a Catholic priest who lives in a Buddhist monastery in France. He told me that Buddhism makes him a better Christian. I love that.” I once felt that way, as well, until “casting off the transient and revealing the true,” so to speak. It’s my hope this explanation serves to explain how Buddhism is not a religion, i.e. the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods; and how a theoretical provisional teaching, such as Zen can present Buddhahood to the Christian priest living in the French monastery as a potential in his life. At the absolute level, everything is a product of our mind, i.e. the inherent nature of reality is a product of the mind and does not exist outside the mind; and when one gets to this place, Buddhism views primary objects of belief and devotion as Buddhist thought, functioning to support and protect the Buddha, the Law, or Buddhist teachings, and practitioners. In other words, gods become inherent functions of nature and society that protect those who uphold the Law. What this means; that the object of devotion in terms of the Person and the object of devotion in terms of the Law are one in their essence. The Law is inseparable from the Person, and vice versa. The object of devotion in terms of the Law is the physical embodiment, as a mandala (the Gohonzon), of the eternal and intrinsic Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo (Law of Causality). The law of causality is implicit in the logic and structure of daily life and the environment. When a particular a system of faith and worship with widely held but unjustified belief in “supernatural causation” i.e. where the belief is unable to be understood or accounted for by scientific understanding of the laws of nature but which believers nevertheless argue exist and leads to certain consequences of an action or event, such as what you would find with apocalyptic messianic eschatology, or leads to a practice based on such a belief, that practice is in fact, a superstition. When a living being is incapable of doubting or correcting this false belief, is an indication that their life is in an unenlightened form, and they are beings who are afflicted with delusion. Response to: “Is this really true? I always believed it was a religion. So, would that make Buddha a teacher? Was he a real person at one point?” — Anonymous