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Master Shinran’s view of the characters in the Contemplation Sutra
As we
have seen in the last chapter, Master Rennyo considered that “Shakyamuni used the five grave offenses in which Vaidehi, Devadatta, and
Ajatasatru were involved, as compassionate means to cause women and those who
have committed the five grave offenses in the last Dharma age to aspire to
birth in the Land of Serene Sustenance (the Pure Land of Amida); He assured us
that even such people would unfailingly attain birth in the Land of Serene
Sustenance if they took refuge in the inconceivable Primal Vow. This you should
know.”
Master Shinran already went even further than Rennyo
in this matter and considered that all the events presented in the Contemplation Sutra were a play by enlightened actors to create the proper
conditions for the teaching on Amida Buddha in its implicit and explicit aspect
to appear in our world. In chapter I of his Kyogyoshinsho, he said,
“I reflect within myself: The universal Vow difficult
to fathom is indeed a great vessel bearing us across the ocean difficult to
cross. The unhindered Light is the sun of wisdom dispersing the darkness of our
ignorance. Thus it is that, when conditions for the teaching of birth in the
Pure Land had matured, Devadatta provoked Ajatasatru to commit grave crimes.
And when the opportunity arose for explaining the pure act by which Birth (in
the Pure Land) is settled, Shakyamuni led Vaidehi to select the land of peace.
In their selfless love, these incarnated ones - Devadatta, Ajatasatru, Vaidehi
- all aspired to save the multitudes of beings from pain and affliction,
and in His compassion, Shakyamuni, the great hero, sought indeed to bless those
committing the five grave offenses, those slandering the Dharma, and those
lacking the seed of Buddhahood. We know, therefore, that the auspicious Name
embodying the perfectly fulfilled supreme virtues is true wisdom that
transforms our evil into virtue, and that the diamond-like shinjin so difficult
to accept is true reality that sweeps away doubt and brings us to attainment of
Enlightenment”.
He also explained in the Hymns of the Pure Land (On
the Contemplation Sutra),
“Amida and Sakyamuni, employing compassionate means,
And Ananda, Maudgalyayana, Purna, Vaidehi,
Devadatta, King Ajatasatru, Bimbisara,
Jivaka,
Candraprabha,
Varsakara, and others –
All of them great sages –
By various means, brought the most foolish and
lowest
Of evil people to enter the Vow
That does not neglect people of grave offenses and transgressions.
Of evil people to enter the Vow
That does not neglect people of grave offenses and transgressions.
Since conditions for the Pure Land teaching had
matured,
Shakyamuni and Vaidehi, manifesting compassionate means,
Led the minister Varsakara to bear witness
And King Ajatasatru to commit grave offenses.
Let us overturn the three minds of self-power, whether
meditative or nonmeditative,
Which vary with each practicer;
Let us aspire to enter into shinjin (faith)
That arises from Amida’s benefiting of others.
Shinjin: the true and real shinjin of the Primal Vow.”
This interpretation by Shinran may seem shocking for
many, so I don’t think my readers will easily accept it, and there is
absolutely NO problem if they don’t, especially because it’s not important for
their birth in the Pure Land where they go only through a simple faith in Amida.
However, such things are very common in Mahayana and
Vajrayana vehicles of Buddhism. For example, in the Lotus Sutra that was taught
by Shakyamuni at the same time with the Contemplation Sutra, He discloses the
deep truth that the whole story about Him leaving the royal palace of the Sakya
clan followed by the attainment of perfect Enlightenment was just a play,
because He actually became a Buddha many kalpas ago (check the footnote to read
the respective passage)! So,
to play various roles, appearing in disguise and pretending to be unenlightened
is something that Buddhas and Enlightened Bodhisattvas do all the time in many
samsaric universes for the sake of guiding sentient beings and for creating the
best conditions for certain teachings to appear in the world. I explain this in detail in section two of my Commentary on the Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life (Larger Sutra), so please also refer to that book.
Just to give you another example – the King Anala, who
was a Bodhisattva in disguise, admitted in the Gandavyuha Sutra (final part of
the Avatamsaka Sutra) that He sometimes manifests illusory evil people who
experience the effect of their bad karma to help existing samsaric beings to
avoid evil and aspire for Enlightenment,
“Noble one, I have attained the Bodhisattva liberation
called the attainment of illusions. Noble one, most of the inhabitants of
my kingdom kill, steal, practice sexual misconduct, lie, slander, abuse,
indulge in idle talk, are avaricious, are malicious, hold false views, commit
bad actions, and are fierce, aggressive, and cruel, and they maintain a
behavior consisting of all kinds of bad actions. There is no other way to
instruct them to turn away, to desist, from that sinful behavior.
Noble one, in order to guide, ripen, control, and
benefit these beings, motivated by great compassion I manifest the illusory
images of executioners, through which I execute the illusory images of the
condemned. I make the illusions of those who punish and execute in various
ways the illusions of those who have followed a path of bad actions. I also
emanate those who experience the unendurable sufferings of having their feet,
hands, noses, ears, limbs, smaller parts, and heads cut off. When the
beings who live in my realm see that, they become distressed, afraid, and
terrified. After that, they are careful to avoid committing bad actions.
Noble one, when in that way I have used that method
and see that these beings are distressed, terrified, and alarmed, I then turn
them away from the path of the ten bad actions, cause them to possess the
path of the ten good actions, and establish them in the path to
omniscience, which is the ultimate attainment of joy and happiness and the
cessation of all suffering.”
However, in manifesting under the appearance of evil
beings Buddhas and Bodhisattvas do not actually harm anybody, as it is also the
case with the Contemplation Sutra where all those involved, including the
characters who apparently hurt each other, were Enlightened beings in disguise,
and thus, beyond illusion and suffering. Bodhisattva King Anala explained,
“Noble one, I do not cause harm to any being with my
body, speech, or mind. “Noble one, I would wander in the most extreme suffering
of the Avici hell, but I would not even once have arisen in my mind
the wish to cause harm to even the smallest being, a minute insect seen on the
tip of a blade of grass, existing in the realm of stupidity, which is rebirth
as an animal, let alone to a human being in my realm, who has the ability to
develop the path of good actions.
Noble one, I do not generate the qualities of a bad
action in my dreams, let alone deliberately.”
So, the opinion of Shinran that all the characters in
the Contemplation Sutra, including Devadata, Ajatasatru, Bimbisara and Vaidehi,
were enlightened beings in disguise setting up a play to create the proper
conditions for the teaching on Amida Buddha to be promoted in the world did not
appear out of thin air but was rooted in the Mahayana teaching.
No matter if you, the reader of these lines, are able
or not to have such a vision of the characters in the Contemplation Sutra, you
should accept its explicit and implicit meaning as explained in our lineage and
in this book.
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