Buddhist spectrum
Japanese Mahayana and
Theravada Buddhism:
A comparative view
Professor DILEEP CHANDRALAL
After the Buddha’s passing away, the message of the Buddha spread
throughout India and further across neighbouring countries. One
mainstream of this dissemination flowed to Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand,
Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries.
The Buddhism transmitted to these countries, later known as Southern
Buddhism, followed the tenets and rituals of the early Buddhist
teachings developed in India. Another trajectory extended through
Central Asia to China, Korea and Japan, and the teachings embraced by
them evolved and changed to suit the physical, mental and cultural
environments of the region and were called Northern Buddhism.
Buddhism is considered to be first brought to China about one
thousand years after the death of the Buddha. It came to Japan in 6th
century first from China and then from Korea. Loosing sight of the fact
that Gotama Buddha was the original founder of Buddhism, Buddhist
scholars followed new philosophical pursuits and established new
schools, without following the true practice expounded by him, and
instead admiring the powers of imaginary Buddhas. They called their
Buddhism Mahayana (Great Vehicle), and looked down on the orthodox
lineage of Buddhism, contemptuously labeling it Hinayana (Lesser
Vehicle). According to the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, people
aspiring to enter Nirvana after death simply attempt to escape from
daily life and society rather than living with it.
This essay attempts to draw a brief sketch of the evolution of
Buddhism in Japan in a way that will show how it deviated gradually from
the original Buddhism, acquiring the shape of so-called Great Vehicle.
The informed opinion emerging through the discussion is that Japanese
Buddhist thinkers had to conceptualize a broad, popular path for the
common mass to achieve human liberation without departing from the
mundane society and earthly desires.
How Buddhism transformed
In Japan Buddhism became the spiritual basis of the nation. Prince
Shotoku officially recognized and utilized the Lotus Sutra and other
Mahayana teachings for protecting and unifying the country. The year
2010 witnessed the 1,300th anniversary of the relocation of the ancient
capital to Nara, then known as Heijokyo, where Todaiji, Eastern Great
Temple, is located. Todaiji’s Great Buddha Hall (Daibutsuden) houses the
world's largest bronze statue of Buddha known in Japanese as Daibutsu
(Great Buddha). The Nara period (701-784AD) is very important in the
Japanese history because it was the first time the nation came under the
rule of law.
Around that time, however, Japan suffered from a series of disasters,
including drought, famine, epidemics and a major earthquake. Since
people had to steal from one another to survive, there was a marked
increase in crimes.
Not only commoners but also some members of the emperor’s family and
some high-ranking officials died from deceases. The nation suffered a
great setback while the capital became desolate. Emperor Shomu
(701-756AD) decided to shift his administration’s governing philosophy
from Confucianism to Buddhism because Confucianism states that natural
disasters occur to punish poor rulers. The emperor turned especially to
the teachings of the Kegon School, which was one of the six Buddhist
schools in Nara, to serve as the basis of government.
After experiencing a chain of troubles such as natural disasters and
crimes, Emperor Shomu issued an edict in 741 to promote the construction
of provincial temples throughout the nation to save the souls of both
dead and living people. Todaiji (then known as Kinshosenji) was
appointed as the provincial temple of Yamato Province and the head of
all the provincial temples.
Whereas the temples outside the capital had Shakyamuni Buddha as the
principal image, Todaiji, the capital’s temple, should have Birushana or
Rushan (Vairochana) Buddha built as the principal image because it was
the main object of veneration of Kegon School,.
Thus the emperor decided that the image of the so-called Great Buddha
should embody Vairochana (Great Sun Buddha) to secure the protection and
well-being of the nation. The ritual and ceremony of consecrating the
new Buddha statue was held in 752AD.
The ritual of drawing pupils in the Buddha’s eyes to give the statue
life was administered by an Indian priest. A silk cord was tied to the
brush and held by the emperor, empress and other participants so that
they could share the joy of the event, the meritorious deed, Punyakarma.
Under the system of government known as Taiho Ritsuryo in the Nara
Period, which was modeled after the legal system of the Tang dynasty of
China, Buddhism was heavily regulated by the state through the Sogo,
Office of Priestly Affairs).
During this time, Todaiji temple served as the central administrative
temple for the provincial temples as well as for all the Buddhist
schools in Japan at the time.
Japanese Buddhism during this time maintained the lineage of the
Vinaya, and all officially licensed monks had to take their ordination
under the Vinaya at Todaiji. During this period, the place of Buddhism
in the nation and its practices and rituals can be viewed as somewhat
similar to the ways followed in South and Southeast Asian countries.
Later, Buddhism transformed from a state religion to a sect-based
religion. Various new schools and sects rose in succession. During the
Heian period (794-1185AD) the Tendai sect, the Shingo sect and Jodo
(Pure Land) sect were established.
The Jodo sect advocated that one can easily go to the Pure Land after
death by reciting the name of Amida (Amitabha) Buddha in a practice
called ‘Nembutsu’ in Japanese. During the Kamakura period (1185-1333AD)
Jodo and Zen sects became very popular among the Japanese people, and
Japanese Buddhism not only deviated from the Indian ways of thinking but
also went beyond the framework of Chinese Buddhism.?
According to the original teachings of The Buddha, known as Theravada
doctrine, the only way we can end suffering is to extinguish the burning
flame of desire.
To achieve this end, we are taught to identify ourselves with the
state of nothingness. However, the followers of Mahayana Buddhism
believe that the Buddha, towards the end of his life, preached the Lotus
Sutra in which he discouraged people from taking this tiresome path and
that suggested that they could enter the eternal happy world without
extinguishing desires.
According to this teaching, one would be reborn in a heavenly
paradise which is in the eastern or western part of the universe, after
one’s death, or may turn the world one inhabits into an eternally
peaceful land within the present life itself.
Salvation through faith
In Japan, they seem to believe that although Shakyamuni Buddha
realized and described the basic truth of life, later another Buddha
named Nichiren appeared in this world to reveal the ultimate truth of
life. Nichiren was born to a fisherman’s family in Japan in 1222 and
learned and mastered all the basic teachings of Buddhism in Kyoto and
Nara, the two traditional centers of Buddhism in Japan.
Nichiren is believed by them as one of the Bodhisattvas who
manifested on this earth to propagate the ultimate reality of life.
Nichi signifies the sun and Ren means lotus. Thus Nichiren is often
paired with the Lotus Sutra.
According to the Lotus sutta, people can attain enlightenment by
believing in the teachings of the sutra. It is Nichiren who developed
this doctrine further to help people attain Buddhahood easily. He taught
that if one believes beyond doubt that the essence of the Lotus sutra
exists within oneself, it brings the supreme bliss. This state equals
the attainment of Buddhahood. First we should understand the difference
between the fundamentals of the Lotus sutra and its later developments.
While the Lotus sutra states that belief is a means to attain
enlightenment, Nichiren Buddhism emphasizes that belief is in itself
enlightenment. Nichiren became Buddha by understanding the ultimate
reality of life and revealing it in the form of a formula called Nam-myoho-renge-kyo
which includes the essence of the Lotus sutra.
According to the teachings of Nichiren Buddha, we can attain
Buddhahood by chanting daimoku (prayer) or the invocation of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
This kind of enlightenment is completely different from the teachings of
Theravada Buddhism which expound the balance between faith and wisdom as
well as that of wisdom and practice. Theravada Buddhism tells us that
just to chant ‘I believe’, to convince oneself to believe or to accept
without seeing clearly will not bring real understanding or spiritual
enlightenment. Theravada Buddhism’s emphasis is on knowing,
understanding and resolving doubt, not on blind faith or belief. Only a
person who sees things clearly, not a person who believes beyond doubt,
understands the Truth, the Four Noble Truths, namely suffering, the
arising of suffering, the cessation of suffering and the path to the
cessation of suffering.
In contrast, Mahayana Buddhism advocates that chanting or strong
faith in the Lotus sutra can be in itself enlightenment. Let us look at
the formula Nam-myoho-renge-kyo that is believed as the way to awaken
one’s Buddha nature. Namu or nam which derives from Sanskrit Namas (Pali
Namo) means devotion, or the perfect fusion with the eternal truth. They
believe that by fusing one’s own life with the ultimate truth one can
draw infinite energy and penetrating wisdom. The ultimate truth is
expressed as myoho-renge-kyo which comes from the Chinese translation of
the Lotus sutra (Sanskrit: Saddharmapundarika-sutra). Although myoho
literally means the Mystic Law, it denotes the unchanging, eternal truth
of changeable phenomena. Renge means lotus flower; the significance of
it is twofold. By blooming and seeding itself at the same time, the
lotus can signify the simultaneous occurrence of Cause and Effect. The
lotus, on the other hand, which grows through the mud and rises up from
the defilements, symbolizes the path to the purity from all mundane
impurities. Finally, kyo means sutra or the teaching of a Buddha.
The Lotus sutra proposes that there are three yanas or paths leading
to the enlightenment: Shravaka (men of Learning), Pratyekabuddha (men of
Realization), and Bodhisattva (men of Aspiring, to-be-Buddha). The three
vehicles of Learning, Realization and Bodhisattva set forth in earlier
sutras were superseded by the single vehicle of Buddhahood later. As
most Mahayana followers believe, Shakyamuni Buddha encouraged his
disciples to become Bodhisattvas and to postpone their entry into
nirvana so that they could help others. Shakyamuni Buddha clearly
pronounced that the sole purpose of his presence in this world is to
help all people to realize their innate Buddha nature and attain
Buddhahood. Thus the all three vehicles should be oriented towards the
supreme vehicle of Buddhahood. The function of the vehicle of
Bodhisattva is the closest to the supreme vehicle in which one is
compelled to feel sympathy and act in compassion toward unhappy people.
The Lotus sutra also states that the supreme wisdom is beyond the
reach of reason and analysis. Mahayana Buddhist thinkers maintain that
Theravada (or Hinayana, as they call it) Buddhism puts too much emphasis
on reason and analysis. They tend to see the knowledge through analysis
including doubting, resolving doubts and reasoning as a limitation of
Theravada Buddhism and that this level of wisdom is possessed by
Shravaka (men of Learning), and Pratyekabuddha (men of Realization). The
supreme wisdom cannot be attained through analytic reasoning but only
through faith. With faith one can gain infinite energy, open the inner
palace of life and understand the universal truth. The result is the
state of Bodhisattva or Buddha.
Mahayana Buddhism, however, does not advocate blind faith or blind
obedience, they argue. Believing is the acceptance of a truth, not
obeying a person. The object of faith is the universal law or the Mystic
Law. Buddhism rejects faith in an individual being. Man’s place being
supreme, there is no higher being, divine or prophetic, that can pass
judgment over his/her destiny. Theravada Buddhism maintains that every
man has within himself the potentiality of becoming a Buddha, if he
endeavours towards that purpose. Mahayana Buddhism goes beyond and says
that by bringing forth this inherent Buddha nature, all people can
become Buddhas without discarding their present identities. That is, by
chanting daimoku with faith or fusing our lives with the supreme wisdom
embodied in nam-myoho-renge-kyo we all can attain Buddhahood. Although
the early Mahayana sutras accepted that the practices leading to
enlightenment should extend over a period of countless kalpas (aeons),
Nichiren Buddhism reformed this time-consuming process into a simple
prayer with a short formula in which you submerge single-minded faith
and attain Buddhahood within this lifetime.
The concept of Bodhisattva
The concept of Bodhisattva has a prominent place in the Mahayana
Buddhism. Originally, the term Bodhisattva referred to a person who is
aspiring to become Buddha, as mentioned before. Later it acquired the
meaning that a person who can attain Buddhahood may delay it and act as
a universal savior for the world. This latter concept was promoted by
Mahayana thinkers, differentiating it from the Theravada concept of
Arahat. Though the Arahat is also an enlightened one, this status is
considered by Mahayana adherents as inferior, criticizing it as a
selfishly attained enlightenment. According to Mahayana tradition, one
can attain enlightenment or delay it while remaining in the mundane life
and enjoying secular pleasures. The Bodhisattva in Mahayana traditions
is an embodiment of compassion, benevolence and readiness to serve
others rather than attempting solitarily to attain individual salvation.
There is a special kind of Bodhisattvas who use their special skills
to bring happiness to society. They are followers of provisional Buddhas.
The concept of a provisional Buddha does not appear in the Theravada
Buddhist teaching. Mahayana Buddhism asserts that the Buddha has many
aspects and forms in which to appear according to the age and the place.
There are cases in which the Buddha appears in some of these aspects or
forms, not fully. In such a case he is called a provisional Buddha. The
followers of a provisional Buddha are non-earthly Boshisattvas with
special skills. The non-earthly Boshisattvas try to help people by
inspiring them with wisdom, courage and other virtues. They are not
entrusted with the mission of teaching and propagating what the Buddha
taught, but may use their special skills for the benevolence of society.
For example, Bodhisattva Monju (Manjushri) represents wisdom, Miroku (Maithreya)
saves the world of the future, Kannon (Avalokiteshvara) signifies
compassion, Fugen (Samanthabhadra) brings power of knowledge, Yakujo (Bhaishajyaraja)
embodies the purifying power of sun and power of medicine.
Manjushri is shown by scholars as the oldest and most significant
Bodhisattva in Mahayana literature. He is first referred to in early
Mahayana texts such as the Prajnaparamita Sutra and along with this
association has come to be the embodiment of prajna (ultimate wisdom).
Ironically, a nuclear power plant constructed in 1994 and located in
Fukui Prefecture has been named after Manjushri, (Monju the Japanese
Buddhist deity of Wisdom). Another nuclear test reactor located in Fukui
Prefecture, though currently shut down and awaiting decommissioning, has
been named after another Bodhisattva, Fugen.
Concluding remarks
I have briefly described here the development of Japanese Buddhism
and some of its basic tenets. This is no place for a comprehensive
description of Japanese Buddhism including the differences of its
various sects and Japanese religious attitudes in general. We have seen
that Japanese Buddhism developed by incorporating many Indian and
Chinese concepts and adapting them to suit Japanese needs and tastes.
This reflects a remarkable tendency of Japanese culture, namely the
eagerness to adopt foreign things and to blend them with native styles
happily.
To understand the Japanese Buddhism in a wider context, it might be
useful to turn to the theory of Wallace (1956). Anthony Wallace proposed
to see Japanese religion as consisting of a tri-polar structure. The
three poles are: native religion, universalistic religion and nativistic
religion. The native religion, as inherited from ancient times, follows
the rituals and beliefs of multiple deities such as the gods of local
mountains and rice fields, the gods of water and fire and souls of
ancestors. A universalistic religion applies its principles universally,
without being restricted to local boundaries. In Japan, Buddhism and
Confucianism that have come from abroad represent this type of religion.
The Japanese nativistic religion, mainly represented by Shinto, is based
on indigenous beliefs and inextricably involved with ethnic and
nationalistic thoughts. Japanese Buddhism is an admixture of these
tri-polar system as well as Indian thoughts, including Hinduism, Tibetan
thoughts and Chinese thoughts. Kannon Bodhisattva, for example, is often
paired with Amaterasu, the supreme Shinto Sun Goddess. Kannon’s feminine
forms in Japan seem to be highly compatible with Japanese religious
sensibilities. It is not rare to see many giant Kannon statues erected
in many provinces to pray for world peace and to honour war veterans.
Finally, taking rather a sympathetic view, one can imagine how Japanese
Buddhist thinkers gallantly tackled the task of propagating Buddhism in
Japan with the strong conviction that for Buddhism to take hold in this
country, it should be encapsulated in an earthly and worldly framework.
As Buddhism has evolved, it has focused on more what people can do to
help each other. Buddhism has been a beneficent force in Japan
throughout the history. Moreover, in a country often affected by natural
disasters such as large-scale earth-quakes and tsunamis when the
destruction and suffering brought by them is inexplicable and
unanswerable, it is only natural that the experiences of endless
devastation become faith-provoking rather than thought-provoking.
Reference
Kirimura, Yasuji. Fundamentals of Buddhism, Nichiren Shoshu
International Center, Tokyo, 1984.
Mason, R.H.P. & J.G. Caiger. A History of Japan, Charles E. Tuttle
Company, Tokyo, 1972.
Wallace, Anthony. “Revitalization Movements”, American Anthropologist
58: 264-281.
Walpola, Rahula. What the Buddha taught, Gordon Fraser, London, 1978.
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/bodhisattva.shtml
The writer has obtained a PhD in Linguistics from Kobe University,
Japan and is Professor of Language and Communication at Okinawa
University.
Who will feed the mice?
AJAHN AMARO
The following is based on a talk given
by Ajahn Amaro on March 29, 2003, at Abhayagiri Monastery, Redwood
Valley, California.
“The early teachers” is a term for mother and father. “The early
deities” is a term for mother and father. “Those worthy of worship” is a
term for mother and father. And why? Parents are of great help to their
children, they bring them up, feed them and show them the world.
- Anguttara Nikaya 4.63
This is probably the last Saturday night talk that I’ll be giving for
quite a while. As the resident community is aware, but visitors probably
are not, I received news from my sister in England that our mother is
extremely ill, and the signs are that she won’t live for more than a few
months. So I plan to be flying to England in a week.
The Buddha once said that if you were to carry your parents around
with you for their whole lives—your father on one shoulder and your
mother on the other— even to the point where they are losing their
faculties and their excrement is running down your back, this would not
repay your debt of gratitude to them. But you could repay the debt if
your parents were not virtuous and you established them in virtue; if
they weren’t wise and you established them in wisdom; if they were
stingy and you established them in generosity; if they had no faith in
the spiritual path and you led them to it.
- Anguttara Nikaya 2.32
One day many years ago, I spoke of this teaching very
matter-of-factly with my mother, assuming that she would be as impressed
as I was with how highly the Buddha praised the role that parents play
in one’s life. And, as she almost invariably did anytime I tried to
spout some spiritual statement, she responded, “What utter balls!” She
was very good at keeping me level, as I can get somewhat airy-fairy at
times. Her point, though, was that it isn’t a one-way process.
She said, “Why do you talk about it in terms of being in debt? What
could be more wonderful and satisfying than bringing children into the
world and watching them grow? It isn’t like a job that you need to be
paid for.” I was really impressed by that.
For obvious reasons, I’ve been reflecting a lot recently on my
mother’s influence on my life, and the thought arose that, until I met
the Dhamma when I was twenty one, she was the main—if not the only—
source of my being able to see that which was noble, worthy, and good in
the world. I didn’t grow up in a religious household— England is a very
nonreligious country— but both my parents were very good people,
especially my mother.
She really embodies unselfishness, kindness, and generosity—and a
tremendous harmlessness toward all living beings; she is physically
unable to hurt any creature. When I wonder where I got the inspiring
influences or the inclinations toward that which is good and wholesome
and useful, I realize that they came almost entirely from her.
After my mother’s father died, she told me that she’d received much
of her guidance and direction from him. She deeply respected her
inheritance of his gentleness, self-effacement, and benevolence toward
all things, and she passed on those qualities. That was really my main
spiritual influence before I went to Thailand: anything that kept me
operating somewhere in the neighborhood of balanced human behavior was
thanks to her. So I’ve developed a great feeling of gladness and
gratitude toward her that I was fortunate enough to receive this.
Another realization that has become clearer as I’ve been meeting
people and teaching over the years is that those who’ve come from broken
homes, or who have had very unstable family situations, assume that life
is unsteady and unpredictable; they often have a deep sense of
insecurity. I remember being struck during my first few years of meeting
and living with such people, and there are a great many in this world,
that I never would have conceived of the experiences they’d had, let
alone had them myself. Even though my parents had plenty of faults and
our lives were not easy, an astonishing stability and reliability had
been present, particularly on my mother’s part.
(My father was often kept busy, first with the farm and then
travelling with his work, and besides, I think it was Robert Bly who
defined the Industrial Age father as “that which sits in the living room
and rustles the newspaper.”)
I’ve begun to reflect on the sense of security that arises from this
intuition that life has a reliable basis. In stable families, parents
impart this. If one doesn’t have it, then one has to find it later on in
other ways. For a child, the parents are a kind of substitute for the
Dhamma, that basis upon which everything rests and around which
everything revolves.
I didn’t always get on with my parents. But they never argued in
front of us and they were always there, establishing a continuity of
presence and support. And thinking about that, I’ve seen that they
reflected the qualities of Dhamma that are so crucial: Dhammaniyamata—the
orderliness or regularity or patterned-ness of the Dhamma; and
Dhammatthitata—the stability of the Dhamma.
In a way, that’s the job or role that parents have, the archetype
they embody: being stable, the rock that things rest upon— and
exhibiting that quality of regularity, orderliness, or predictability as
the principle that can be relied on and that we can be guided by.
Incidentally, I was the only son and the youngest child, so I can
also see the downside of having an ever-present, totally loving mother:
you might actually believe that you are the center of the universe! I
suspect I can also attribute, can also “blame,” a certain amount of my
narcissistic tendencies, an over-inflated view of myself, on my
always-caring mother.
My parents tried very hard to look after us, but we lived on a small
farm and had gone bankrupt when I was about six.
After we sold the farm my father eked out a living as a small-time
reporter for a dog magazine, and even though my sisters and I were sent
to private schools, we were only able to attend them thanks to
scholarships and my mother’s parents shelling out whatever fees had to
be paid.
When I was about twelve, some of my mother’s extraordinary qualities
became apparent to me in a very powerful way. I was a growing lad who
had a cooked breakfast every morning before going off to school and
would come back in the late afternoon and then eat cream doughnuts for
tea and an hour later scarf down huge amounts of food at supper.
I was turning into a burly youth. And every afternoon my mother
waited in her car at the bus stop at the end of the lane, a mile away
from our home. One day I got off the bus and she wasn’t there. I
thought, “That’s strange.”And I walked—I thought maybe she was a bit
late—and walked and walked but she didn’t appear.
To be continued
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