An unsurpassed penetrating and perfect karma is rarely met with even in a hundred thousand million kaphas having it to see and listen to good evening again so when we were last together the jewel stupa was rising up into the air chapter 11 very dramatic and then the jewel stupa opens wait stupas are supposed to be for the deceased, and like, nope, there's a living Buddha inside the stupa.

[01:05]

Many treasures does come one, and he invites Shakyamuni to come up, sit next to him. Therefore, making a visual representation of only a Buddha and a Buddha can fathom the true nature of reality. And, there they are. They're up there, surrounded by what was it, 80,000 bodhisattvas? And a lot, a lot of bodhisattvas. And then we go to chapter 12. So chapter 12 is about Devadatta and the dragon girl. Do I sound a little loud? How's this? Is that better? Oh, good. It's fine. So this is yet another example of there are no exceptions to the prediction, the assurance of awakening in the future. So Devadatta is basically the arch-villain of the Pali Canon.

[02:10]

And do all of you know who Devadatta is? I'll tell you anyway. It's kind of... Yeah, I would say arch-villain, like you can think of your various arch-villains. So Devadatta was the Buddha's cousin and brother-in-law, because Devadatta's sister was the Buddha's wife. And Devadatta ordained with the Buddha very early on. A number of members of the family, of the Buddha's family, did ordain with him, including his cousin Ananda, and Mahapashapati didn't get ordained yet, went with him. And apparently he was a good monk initially, but then he got greedy for power. And he was filled with jealousy and ill will, and he became the Buddha's greatest enemy. One day, you know, the Buddha was often speaking to large assemblies, and one day David Atta approached him, and he asked to become the leader of the Sangha.

[03:14]

Unsurprisingly, the Buddha said no, and Devadatta vowed revenge and tried to kill the Buddha repeatedly. So first, Devadatta hired a man to kill the Buddha, who would then be killed by two other men, and those two men would then be killed by four other men, and finally those four other men would be killed by yet another eight men, I guess to cover the tracks or something. However, with the first man who approached the Buddha, the man became afraid and didn't kill the Buddha, so none of that happened. And then upon Holy Eagle Peak, Devadatta pushed an enormous stone down towards the Buddha, and a small piece of the rock broke off and cut the Buddha's foot and it bled. But he escaped serious harm. and then he set a rogue elephant called the Man-Killer on the Buddha.

[04:22]

By getting the elephant drunk, I mean, he already had the name Man-Killer, but then he got him drunk and just, yeah. And when the animal saw the Buddha, it charged, but the Buddha just stood there and he extended kindness and compassion toward the elephant and the elephant stopped in front of him and then he got down and threw dust from the road on top of the elephant's own head and the Buddha petted his trunk and calmed him and he said that after that he was always tame. So then Devadatta tried to split the Sangha into two factions. First he asked the Buddha to make the monks follow extremely ascetic practices, and 500 of the most zealous monks did become his followers, although I guess they eventually returned to the Buddha.

[05:33]

So to put this in perspective in the Vinaya, in early Buddhism, There are five truly heinous crimes. Injuring a Buddha, rock and stone hitting his foot, killing an arhat, creating schism in the Sangha, matricide and patricide. It doesn't even mention killing a Buddha. I think that was probably beyond even imagination that that would happen. But none of this is actually in the Lotus Sutra. The audience for the Lotus Sutra would have been quite aware of all of this. This is like really a bad guy, so we're going to have a prediction for him too, of course. I mean, of course from the logic of the Lotus Sutra, but I think that must have been really challenging. I mean, you can fill in the blank for who today they were handing out predictions for people.

[06:37]

They would say, well, this person also would get a prediction of future awakening. Everyone. But in the sutra, the Buddha says in the verse section, I remember a culpa of the past when I was the king of a country. Never coveting the pleasures of the five senses, I sought the great dharma announcing throughout the four quarters, I will become the servant of whoever possesses the great Dharma if he will expound it to me. So the king met the wise hermit Asita and became his servant for many years. And the Buddha said to the monks, the king of that time was me, and the hermit of that time is now the man Devadatta.

[07:38]

Because Devadatta was my good friend, I was able to perfect the six paramitas as well as benevolence, compassion, sympathetic joy, and impartiality, the Brahma Baharas. I attained perfect awakening and liberated living beings. All of this is due to the good friendship of Devadatta. So that's, yeah, yeah. And then, as usual, The Buddha makes predictions of Devadatta's future name and Buddha realm. And, yeah, I think one way of looking at this story is that, again, none of us are left out of future Buddhahood. But it's also, I think, encouragement to see the Buddha in everyone else, you know, to remember that that's true for everyone else too. So then, in the same chapter, Manjushri, seated on a thousand petal lotus flower as large as a carriage wheel, accompanied by Bodhisattva seated on a jeweled lotus flower, spontaneously emerged from the Dragon King Sagara's great palace under the sea, and they floated up in midair to divine Eagle Peak, descended from their lotus flowers.

[09:09]

I imagine this is like... you know, those cars and the Jetsons that just kind of floated everywhere. And they descended from Duncan, very smoothly, and bowed at the feet of the two Buddhas, Shakyamuni Buddha and the Buddha of Abundant Treasures. And then the countless bodhisattvas, sitting on jeweled lotus flowers, emerged from the sea, floated up to Divine Eagle Peak, and took up their places mid-air. So everyone was just kind of like, peacefully floating around. This also gave me a different sense of some of those really wild paintings or murals that you see that have so many figures in them and they're all just kind of stacked up. And I used to think, oh, maybe this was, you know, like medieval era perspective painting, you know, you just make it flat and stack everybody up. I thought maybe they're really visualizing them being lifted up into the air.

[10:10]

Maybe they're all up on the Divine Eagle Peak. And Manjushri says, here's the result of my teaching and transforming in the ocean. So even from the ocean, beings can be liberated. And I think this says that there's literally nowhere that the Buddha's wisdom and compassion doesn't penetrate. So Manjushri tells of the eight-year-old daughter. Eight-year-old daughter. of the Dragon King Sagara, so the Naga Princess, who has embraced all the innermost treasuries and the teachings of the Buddhas, entered deeply into Samadhi and fathomed all things. So Mantusri sings of her, basically sings her virtues, her wondrous qualities at length and says she aspired to awakening and became an Arhat in a single instant and gives assurance of her full awakening to Buddhahood. But there's one of the bodhisattvas, whose name is bodhisattva accumulation of wisdom, is having doubts about this.

[11:18]

He said, Shakyamuni Buddha even had to perform these difficult ascetic practices during infinite kaphas, accumulating merit, and only after that did he attain the way. So how can this girl in a single moment attain perfect awakening? So the dragon princess suddenly appears before the Buddha. And Shariputra says, this is all very hard to believe. How could the highest awakening be attained in the female body? So the princess presents a priceless pearl to the Buddha who immediately accepts it. She says, I offered my precious pearl and Buddha accepted it. Did it happen quickly? Yes. So she instantly transformed into a male and accomplished all the bodhisattva deeds went to the realm of pure and clean, sat on a jeweled lotus and attained perfect awakening, and universally proclaimed the Dharma to all living beings in the ten directions.

[12:21]

Innumerable beings of many types heard the Dharma, comprehended it, and became arhats. Innumerable beings also received assurance of their future perfect awakening. The entire assembly, including the doubters, were silenced and believed and accepted. Before that there was always the path, this long, arduous path, even the Bodhisattva path was very difficult and long and many lifetimes, many helps as long. And I don't know, but this may be one of the first references to sudden awakening. which later became, you know, big split between schools of sudden and gradual awakening. And in the Kunrujiva translation, she keeps her pronouns.

[13:27]

I find that interesting. She changes into a male body as a skillful means to demonstrate. It's no big deal. But continues, you know, what it describes what she does, where she goes, and how she's teaching. They keep calling her she and her. I just kind of find that pretty interesting, personally. Chapter 13. Oh, yes, yes, Joe. What do you all make in your experience of this sudden awakening of the princess? I'm thinking of what Suzuki Roshi said was like, no, whatever enlightenment experience you have, you still have all this karma. It's not going to go away like that. And so what I'm wondering is, and that sounds realistic to me, no matter what you experience, you still have all this history and conditioning and cause and effect in your life.

[14:34]

So how does that... How do you all see that in terms of this story? Yeah. Where the princess just sort of boom, gets it. Yeah. Well, I don't think the sutras are saying that it was like they all lived happily ever after and it was bomb bombs all the way. It just said she woke up just like that. The sutras are saying that it's like some kind of permanent thing, you know? And yeah, we all know that even speaking of Devadatta, you know, the Buddha allegedly, you know, woke up under the Bodhi tree. That's how the story goes, right? And then preached for 45 years. And during that time, he had a terrible time with Devadatta, you know? That's called karma. He also got sick.

[15:35]

The rock hit his foot. Ouch. You know, lots of things happened to the Buddha. So, yeah, nobody's exempt. Yeah. I think that sounded like the assembly's argument was like, yo, this is what Shakyamuni had to go through. How is this person able to not do that, you know? Yeah. you know, one of the three groups is the Pratika Buddhas, who wake up completely on their own. The difference here is that not only did she wake up, but she went on to preach. So she wasn't just like having it for herself. But I think, you know, your question also points to the, you know, it's the universal and the particular together. It's the absolute and the relative together. all this. It's not just the cosmic Buddha. It's also Shakyamuni with his back pain and his karma and all of us with our stuff who are also Buddha, which is hard to talk about, but sometimes maybe we can feel it somewhat.

[16:53]

I've noticed that The Lotus Sutra is very mythic. Yeah. You know, it's full of things like flying towers in the air and mythical beings and dragon girl. So it's telling a story. But the story it's telling is pretty significant. It's saying, don't get hung up. Don't be caught, as my teacher would say. Don't be caught. You know, you can let go and wake up like that. You know, that's what it means to me. Yeah. I guess that's what I was looking for. It's like, yeah, I don't, I'm not looking at this as a literal story, but as a, you know, like a story to, you know, what can you learn from it, you know? And that makes sense to me because it seems easy. The Lotus Sutra is like, oh, I get why they had whole schools devoted to this. Like you could just tease apart all these doctrines and get lost in that. And so that makes more sense of like, you know, don't get hung up on like, all these practices and don't get hung up on how you think things go.

[17:59]

That makes sense to me. Pretty soon, you're gonna get your head shaved. And in the script for the ceremony, Shuketogono says, when we realize our imperturbable way-seeking mind, Bodhi is right at hand, right there. It's never been elsewhere. This is what the sutra is saying to me. That's the message I get out. Thank you. Chapter 13 is called Perseverance or Encouragement to Hold Firm. It's mostly more of, and we can't get enough, of the Lotus Sutra saying how wonderful the Lotus Sutra is and how we should really, really make great efforts to uphold the Lotus Sutra. So it... is a dialogue between two of the Bodhisattvas, Medicine King, who plays a big part by Sajiraja, plays a big part in the Lovas Sutra, shows up over and over again, and another Bodhisattva called Great Joy in Teaching.

[19:07]

We met these two in chapters 10 and 11. And they pledged to preserve, recite, and teach the Lovas Sutra in the troubled time to come, which is now, obviously, is here. Two thousand other Bodhisattvas joined them in making this vow. The 500 who have received prophecies in Chapter 8, join in also. They also make this vow. Then, also the 8,000 who receive predictions in Chapter 9, do likewise. Some continuity here. Remember those bodhisattvas back in Chapter 8 and back in Chapter 9? They're here, and they're all joining together to make this vow, to uphold the Lotus Sutra, to read, recite, copy, and yeah. And the chapter itself is pretty short, but it's short and sweet because as I said in previous class, you know, this is where finally Buddha's mom, stepmom, Mahapajapati, and his wife, Yasodhara, received predictions of enlightenment.

[20:18]

They were already part of the Sangha. in you know the sutra saying uh yeah in a kind of uh yeah the nirmanakaya realm uh allegedly this sutra is being preached at vulture peak when the buddha is about 75. so pretty close to the end of his life uh supposed to be maybe his final teaching uh so for sure mahapajapati and Yasadara were already part of the order. They were nuns. The Buddha's aunt and foster mother, Mahabhijapti, along with 6,000 other nuns, stands up with her palms joined and gazes intently at the Buddha. The Buddha says to her, why are you anxiously staring at the Tathagata? Are you thinking that I have not given you your prediction of highest complete enlightenment?

[21:20]

Well, yeah. This is a significant turning point here, chapter 13, because now, finally, everyone, everyone that we met in chapter one, as at this point, received a prediction of enlightenment. So, on the one hand, for me, it really stinks that Mahapajapati and Yasudara are last. On the other hand, It's kind of a big deal because the misogyny was really strong at that time. The second-class citizenship of women in that society was a pretty big deal. And so it's also quite revolutionary that they're saying, yeah, actually everybody. Then, guess what? After that, billions of bodhisattvas join in making the same pledge to uphold the Lotus Sutra.

[22:26]

And then in the verse section, you know, there's prose sections and verse sections. In the verse section of chapter 13, there's some fun stuff about all the horrible things that followers, the ways that the followers of the Lotus Sutra will be persecuted in the future. It lists a lot of things, bad things that are likely to happen because they're so devout and really upholding the Lotus Sutra. Scholars say it probably is referring to the present. Because this was pretty radical at the time, it was hard for people to accept, especially the establishment. That is to say, the Buddhist establishment, which was pretty strong. at that time, you know, in India, there was, yeah, an academy, an establishment, you know, of nuns and monks who had a hard time accepting this.

[23:28]

And they probably did persecute people who were saying, oh yeah, you can be just like the dragon girl, enlightenment, just like that. What? You know, difficult to accept. So, yeah, anyway, it's a short chapter. Chapter 14 is called Peaceful and Agreeable Practices. And so Buddha's asked about how to practice, and he's basically describing a fairly standard set of Mahayana practices. He does lay out the four policies related to basically the deportment, conduct, and practices of the bodhisattva, mahasattvas, and they're all related to being like a good, upright, really pretty exemplary person, practitioner. It definitely has a strong monastic flavor, and there's a big emphasis on purity of mind and body in a variety of ways.

[24:31]

Saintly sort of feeling like almost too pure, like not down to earth. And reading this, I thought, Yeah, this feels like a particularly cultural expression of what was so valued, and it may not resonate so much today, but I think just imagining really, really, really good people and what they're doing. And this is where the sections on the derogatory language in the sutra we talked about in the first class are located. I also wanted to say that, you know, this is a really anti-heroic age, which is, I think, in the history of the world, fairly unusual, that, you know, there was Superman, you know, it was like a kind of all good fighting for the world and, you know, heroes were, literal flesh and blood heroes were really protected.

[25:41]

A lot of people didn't know that FDR couldn't walk while he was president and he was just really protected because people need heroes, you know, to elevate in that way. But now it's like we know everything about people and that whole heroism is kind of the image of the hero has really taken a big hit, I think maybe particularly since the Second World War. And now it's really the anti-hero, you know, the Marvel comics, anti-heroes. So it's, I think it's a little hard to imagine, like, how heroic in a genuinely positive way the Bodhisattvas were at the time of the Lotus Sutra. Just, you know, this amazing effort that they were making. So there's a parable, of course. Many of the chapters have them, and this is the parable of the jewel in the topknot.

[26:45]

Manjushri, suppose that a powerful wheel-rolling sage king intends to exert his might and authority to conquer other countries, but those lesser kings do not submit to his rule. Then the king calls up his army and goes to subdue them. The king is very pleased at how his soldiers distinguish themselves in battle. and bestows various precious rewards. It goes into the usual great description about what they all get. But only a single bright pearl, the crown jewel in his topknot, he gives to no one, because this one pearl may only grace the head of a king. So the king, of course, is the Buddha, Tathataka. By his powers of meditation and wisdom, he has taken possession of the kingdom of Dharma, also translated as truth, and is sovereign throughout the world. However, the Mara kings, the kings of delusion, are unwilling to submit, so that the Tatagas, the generals, the wise sages, do battle with them and bestow the riches of the Dharma, like meditations and emancipations and powers.

[27:59]

But still, the Buddha does not teach the jewel of all the Dharma, which is the Lotus Sutra. He does not give away that jewel in the top knot. He only teaches it when he is extremely pleased, which he evidently is now. So finally, Buddha is removing the jewel from his top knot, his shaved head, and is sharing it. This Dharma Flower Sutra is the foremost teaching of the Tathatagas and the most profound. It is the last to be given, and I now give it to you, like that powerful king at last giving away the bright pearl he guarded and kept it for such a long time. And I think this is another one of those instances where the Lotus Sutra is kind of explaining why we haven't heard this before. So it's giving some backstory, like some explanation. This was the last teaching, and it is the Buddhist teaching, and it's been given, but it hasn't been able to be shared before now.

[29:09]

Let's take a break. And we are halfway through the Lotus Sutra.

[32:35]

It is our intention to say something about every chapter. I wish us luck. It's universally some people, I mean, most people would say, you know, well, these are chapters that are important to pay attention to. It's not so much, you know. Chapter two, very important. And we have the great teacher Zhe Yi in China, centuries ago, was a, I don't know about founder, but a very, very important person of the Tiantai school in China, which is about the Lotus Sutra. And Jury was one of the most important commentators on the Lotus Sutra that ever lived. Of course, Tiantai School in China would go on to become Tendai School in Japan, which is the school of Buddhism that young Dogen ordained and practiced in.

[33:43]

It's completely steeped in the Lotus Sutra as a young monk, a Dogen. Jury, divided the Love Sutra into what he called the Trace Teaching, which is the first 14 chapters, and the Origin Teaching, which is the next 14 chapters. The Trace Teaching, he said, emphasizes the one vehicle, the Ekyāna, and the Origin Teaching, the immeasurable lifespan of the Buddha. And some people would say, like, oh, you know, The former is like the mundane, and the latter is the transmundane. The really good stuff. For me, it doesn't hold up so well. I don't quite see it, but for those that, oh yeah, and then that journey says the origin teaching, which we're about to get into, is like the moon shining in the sky, and the trace teaching is like a moon reflected in a lake.

[34:50]

Anyway, if you go along with this, then obviously chapter 15 is very significant because it's the beginning of the origin teaching. And chapter 15 is about the bodhisattvas rising up out of the earth. Now, if you're interested, a great contemporary Zen teacher and Ozan Roshi's best friend, Taigan Dan Layton, wrote a wonderful book. about chapter 15 and 16. And I highly recommend it. Visions of Awakening Space and Time by Taigan Dan Layton. It's a really good book. What happens in chapter 15 is that all the Bodhisattvas from chapter 13 that are still gathered around the Jewel Stupa, and a lot of these Bodhisattvas, they've come from other worlds. They've been invited by the two Buddhas to come and participate and join in to Sangha.

[35:53]

And they're all very moved and they offer to stick around and continue to uphold the Lotus Sutra in the evil age to come, which is now. But the Buddha politely informs them that there is no need, that there are plenty of Bodhisattvas here in the Saha world. Saha means endurance. That's this world. The world of endurance. That's the one we're living in. There's plenty of bodhisattvas. No need for you to stick around. And some implication that, well, you're coming from other world systems. You may not understand our world systems so well. You might not be the right bodhisattvas for us. So check it out. We have our own supply. And they're right here, ready to help under the earth. Then billions of golden bodhisattvas emerge from the earth and fly up to the Jewel Stupa and offer eulogies for 50 intermediate eons.

[36:59]

Although for the people there, it feels like just an afternoon. So this is more of messing around with space and time. And Taigen Roshi has a lot to say about this. But this is constantly going on in the Lotus Sutra. So I have to tell the story now of when I was a wee boy, just a little lad in Southwest Ohio. And there was a brood hatch of 17-year cicadas or 17-year locusts called. And I think these days, people can predict that. If anybody knew it was happening, I didn't hear about it. In my neighborhood, where I was living in suburban Dayton, Ohio, It was like, all of a sudden, they're everywhere. Where did they come from? You know, so I can imagine people having a similar reaction as I did, but I was just like, what?

[38:02]

Where are all these things coming from? And it felt like billions. They were just, they were everywhere. So when I read this story, it's such a vivid childhood memory. It must have been just like that. So, Maitreya, who we kind of feel like, of all the Bodhisattvas, you know, he's supposed to be the next Buddha. He should know what's going on, right? Just like in Chapter 1, he doesn't. He needs an explanation. He's baffled. And he asks Shakyamuni, and the Buddha explains that they've been living underground, studying the Lotus Sutra since immeasurable calculus ago. Immeasurable calculus. Now, some people have said that it might point to, you know, the Lotus Sutra, the teachings in it being very revolutionary and very counter to established Buddhism at the time.

[39:08]

It was an underground phenomenon, literally an underground thing. Also, could be that the people who were studying and compiling and teaching the Lotus Sutra weren't around in the mainstream so much and they were off in woods and elsewhere, you know, practicing. And then they would show up like, oh, where did these folks come from? I don't know. It's just speculation, of course. Maitreya is confused, naturally. Oh, yes? I was wondering about the, like, throughout the Lotus Sutra, there have been times where the Lotus Sutra is talking about the importance of reciting the Lotus Sutra. But we're not even at the end of the Lotus Sutra yet. Is this another way of how it's playing with space and time a little bit? Oh, that's very generous of you.

[40:11]

I think it's just, as so many people have pointed out, it's just the nature of the piece. I think there are other sutras that are self-referential, but nothing like the Lotus Sutra. And it's just the flavor of it. For me, I think it's utterly charming, actually. And it's effective too, because I find that I'm incapable of saying the sutra or the lotus. I always have to say, the Lotus Sutra. Just say the whole name. I had a feeling about it, which is just purely my own interpretation, my own sensibility, that it was like, the Lotus Sutra is not just words written down. The Lotus Sutra is all of this, and this is more just pointing at the real Lotus Sutra, which is, I mean, The literal translation is the dharma flower, in other words, the flowering of the dharma.

[41:16]

So the two Buddhas together manifesting the dharma is the Lotus Sutra. Dang! I don't know if that answered a lot. Thank you. Where's the Lotus Sutra? It's right here. Yeah. So anyway, as I was saying, Maitreya is very confused. How could this have happened? So we're coming back to the mundane. You know, the Nirmanakaya Chakyamuni Buddha. How could this have happened in the mere 40 years that Chakyamuni has been teaching on this earth? It makes no sense. It's like a 25-year-old man pointing to a 100-year-old man and saying, this is my son, Maitreya says. What's that about? It's perplexing. So in chapter 16, we get our answer. I think we should have some stirring music right now. Chapter 16. In Two Buddhists Seated Side by Side, the commentary by Lopez and Stone that they have recommended.

[42:23]

They say, in a sutra filled with fireworks, chapter 16 is the bombshell. But first, a word about Dogen. So, Taigen's book, Visions of Space and Time in the Lotus Sutra, is really about how Dogen uses the Lotus Sutra to talk about space and time. It really has so much to do with Chapter 15 about the Bodhisattvas emerging from the space under the ground and that relationship to Dogen. For Dogen, aspects of the environment are, like his relationship to the environment is that it's not just props or something to be endured or overcome or purified. And earth elements don't have, like in a lot of the koans, the earth elements have kind of

[43:34]

You know, the pebble that hits the bamboo and you wake up, but it's just like these natural things that happen. But in Dogen, they're often felt as very alive. Like this passage from ... Where did I put it? Okay, right there. From Bendowa. grasses and trees, fences and walls, demonstrate and exalt it for the sake of living beings. And in turn, living beings, both ordinary and sage, express and unfold it for the sake of grasses and trees, fences and walls. I'll read that again. Grasses and trees, fences and walls, demonstrate and exalt it for the sake of living beings. and in turn living beings, both ordinary and sage, express and unfold it for the sake of grasses and trees, fences and walls."

[44:41]

So there's this mutual beneficial relationship between things and the environment, the natural environment, and sentient beings and humans. And this isn't in Titan's book, but I thought of Kami, the Japanese term for like this earth or nature spirits. And my understanding of that is limited, but it's, Kami are like related to elements in the landscape or forces of nature. They're like specific to different kinds of things. And they're not like separate from nature. They kind of are nature or their nature is of nature. But I was thinking of, well, Titan says they're manifestations of the interconnecting energy of the universe. And they're mysterious, but they're not exactly hidden.

[45:46]

They're there, but we don't necessarily understand them. And I was thinking of the Miyazaki films that have all of these beings in them, like the soot sprites, you know, that are like... They have their own nature and their own beings, and the characters in the story are interacting with them, but not in kind of conventional ways, not in human ways, and they affect, they have impact, they have effect, and it's mutual. What just popped into my mind was You can play with your cat or a goldfish in the bowl, and you're having some kind of relationship, even though it's definitely not human-to-human, but it's relatedness. Yeah, so Dogen's relationship with the elements of nature has this very alive kind of quality.

[46:51]

Chapter 16. So cool. So, in Chapter 16, we don't waste time at all. Buddha gets right to the point. He says, you should believe and understand the sincere and true words of the Tathagata. Then he says it two more times. He's not playing. And he goes on to explain how it is that Bodhisattva is under the earth, He was their teacher. How is that possible when you've only been on this earth for 40 years? I mean, you've only been preaching for 40 years. He's about 75 years old in the Lotus Sutra. The Buddha says, and I'm a little inspired by our friend, Michael McCormick, when he was here, gave the dog. I love that he, let's talk about chapter 16, and he chanted it for us, right?

[47:55]

It is so good. So I'm going to read a little bit of chapter 16. In fact, my good children, immeasurable, boundless hundreds of thousands of millions of myriads of kalpas have already passed since I became Buddha. For instance, suppose someone were to take 500,000 million myriads of 3,000 great thousandfold worlds and grind them into the smallest possible particles. Travel eastward through 500,000,000,000 myriads of lands and drop one particle there. Then suppose he continued to travel eastward in this manner until he had finished dropping all of the particles. What do you think, my good children? Can you possibly imagine or calculate the number of worlds he had traveled through?" Maitreya Bodhisattva and all the others all said to the Buddha, World Honored One, the number of those worlds is immeasurable, boundless, beyond the scope of calculation. and beyond the reach of thought. Very important point.

[48:58]

Of all the Saravakas and Pratyeka Buddhas, with their undefiled wisdom, not one would be able to know or imagine the extent of such a number. Even for those of us who dwell in this stage of non-regression, it is incomprehensible. World-honored one, the number of such worlds would be infinite and boundless. Thereupon the Buddha said to all the great Bodhisattvas, Good children, I will now tell you about it in detail. Suppose that all of these worlds in which a particle had or had not been dropped were also reduced to particles, and that each particle represented one kalpa. The number of those kalpas would still be hundreds of thousands of millions of myriads of kalpas less, less than the time that has passed since I became Buddha. Ever since then, I have always existed here in this Sahab world, expounding the Dharma and teaching and transforming living beings. And I have also been guiding and benefiting living beings in hundreds of thousands of millions of myriads of lands and other worlds as well.

[50:01]

Space. Time. Just exploded. And the Buddha's been here all that time. Fun fact. If you believe in science, the physical universe Not this world, but the actual physical universe since the time of the Big Bang is only 13.79 billion years. So, they were way off. Unless... Unless... Buddha's been preaching for longer than the physical universe has existed. From before the Big Bang. I don't know. Food for thought. And the Buddha goes on to explain that he only appeared to pass into para-nirvana, i.e. death, as a skillful means to help to awaken us.

[51:05]

And then, naturally, there's a miracle. So this is the parable of the wise physician, which again features skillful means. So the reason it's a skillful means, it says, and the skillful meanings is regarding the Buddha appearing to pass into nirvana, appearing to die. If the Buddha abides long in the world, people with meager virtue will not cultivate their roots of goodness. Lowly and impoverished and greedily clinging to the five desires, they will become enmeshed in assumptions and wrong views. If they see the Tathataka as ever abiding and not passing away, They will then become complacent, self-indulgent, lazy, jaded, incapable of conceiving that he is difficult to encounter and unable to hold him in reverence. We often think, I'll go study with so-and-so or do this practice or read this book later because there's all this time.

[52:11]

This will still be around. And so the sutra is saying, in order to wake people up, I'm going to die. And then he tells the parable. And the parable is that there's a wise physician who is expert in compounding medicine and curing diseases. The physician has many children. It says maybe 10 or 20 or 100. You can fill in your current reference if you like. His work takes him away to a distant land. After he leaves, the children drink a poisonous medicine and they become delirious with pain and agony. The father comes home, all the children run to him, they say immediately that they have mistakenly drunk poison and please cure us and save our lives. So the father makes up this excellent, perfect, good-tasting medicine for the children and those who have not completely lost their senses due to the poison take medicine and they're cured immediately because they take the medicine.

[53:25]

But for those who the poison has really gone deep, they have lost their senses and are unwilling to take medicine even though they trust their father. The father pities them and he understands that the poison has distorted their vision, their thinking, and he devises a skillful means to get them to take the medicine. He tells them, I am now old and frail and I will die soon. I am leaving this good medicine here for you. Drink it, it will cure you. So he leaves again and sends back word that he has died. Yes, but this is terrible. The children are grief-stricken and they wish their father was with them and would cure them. And the intensity of their grief actually brings them to their senses. And they realize that the medicine is good and they take it and they're immediately cured of the poison's effect and the father returns home as soon as he hears of the children's recovery.

[54:33]

The Buddha is often referred to as the great doctor, the great healer, and the Four Noble Truths are in the form of kind of a standard medical or healing format of that time. The diagnosis, the cause or etiology, the prognosis, and the remedy or prescription being the Four Noble Truths, and of course we are the Buddha's children. And I thought, well, okay, so a while ago I read that the number of people who could actually follow their doctor's instructions, especially for lifestyle changes, or things like even taking heart medication or diet changes, is really low. Like in one study they did on people who were supposed to do things for their heart because they had a heart attack and they were told, if you don't do this, you will die.

[55:34]

one in seven could actually follow the instructions. So it's hard to change. It's hard to take the medicine, even when we know we need it. And I think part of what this study was pointing to is the mental blocks that we have about why we can't give up whatever it is, or why we can't do what we're supposed to do or let go of what we're supposed to. And, you know, how skillful means are taught in this book that features this study about how to overcome this. The book is called Immunity to Change, which I thought was really interesting. This is reference to how the Buddha is able to teach so many different types of people because the Buddha is so skilled in skillful needs. He knows how to meet each person, where they are, and to give them the medicine that's appropriate to them.

[56:35]

One last thing. The Buddha's eternal life is another way of talking about the nature of the Buddha's presence. And because of his compassion and his non-dual or non-separated nature, his relationship with all beings, like the Lotus Sutra, I think you could say that Buddha is a name for this kind of presence. It's not just about a person. So it appears to appear and disappear, but in fact, it's just appearance. So this business about the lifespan of the Tathagata, how it is that the Buddha, although apparently was born,

[57:47]

and left home and practiced in the mountains, woke up at the age of 35, and then ministry lasted 45 years, and he died of a foodborne illness, actually. All that happened, that's the historical Buddha, Shakti Munir. And then in the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha Shakyamuni is saying, well, actually, I've been around for incalculable eons, you know, basically forever. How is that possible? So I have a lot of fun. There's nothing like teaching a class or giving a Dharma talk to inspire you to study. He's just been like swimming in the Lotus Sutra a lot.

[58:51]

And I've really been enjoying Suzuki Roshi's Dharma talks about the Lotus Sutra. He actually gave several short series of talks about the Lotus Sutra. Possibly there's enough there to make another book. Like his brother Jerry just, well, I mean, it didn't just happen. He worked on that with Soto Roshi for a long time. That book is about to come out, you know, in the same vein as Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, and then Not Always So. What's the name of the new book? Becoming Yourself? Yes. Anyway, Jesus couldn't come here and talk about it. That's kind of great. I feel like, oh, and then, you know, Soto Roshi and Michael Wehner put together a book, Branching Streams for the Darkness, which is based on Suzuki Roshi's talks about Sandokai, the Harmony of Difference and Equality, which is a Zen poem that Suzuki Roshi really loved.

[59:59]

The thing is though, some of the time, reading his lectures, the transcripts of his Dharma talks, it felt a little bit to me like the actual Lotus Sutra that never gets around to teaching the Lotus Sutra. He has a lot to say and it's really interesting. Although he also kind of gets bogged down at some point, you know. He's talking about chapter one and he begins talking about each individual bodhisattva in chapter one. I'm like, oi, this is not, this is not going anywhere. But one thing he really wanted his students to know about is the Trikaya, the three bodies of Buddha. Because Suzuki Roshi says, the Lotus Sutra is preached by the Sambhogakaya Buddha. Now, we chant these every time we have breakfast or lunch in the Zendo, as part of our meal liturgy.

[61:07]

So that's it. That's the trikaya, the three bodies of Buddha. How to understand that is very difficult. Very, very difficult. Very hard to talk about. I'll take a stab at it anyway. So, usually, what people have the easiest time with is, well, the Nirmanakaya Buddha is the embodied Buddha, Shakyamuni. The one that was born and his mom died just a few days, poor little guy, poor little infant Buddha, or Siddhartha Gautama, I should say, You know, his mom, Queen Mayadevi, died, and it's really sad.

[62:10]

And then he was raised by a stepmom, Mata Japati. And, you know, married, Yasudara, had a kid, Rahula. You know, the whole story of the Buddha. It's been told many, many, many times. That's the Nirmala Kaya Buddha. So that's the embodied Buddha, physical manifestation. And then the Dharmakaya. is maybe Susan Roshi saying things as it is. The 39th chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra is entitled Entry into the Dharmakaya. Thomas clearly translates it as entry into the realm of reality. I like that. The Dharmakaya is just what is. It's, you could say maybe, undifferentiated consciousness.

[63:14]

Pure consciousness. That's not taking any form. Just what is before anything is. The pure Dharmakata. So, obviously very difficult to talk about. So, don't listen too carefully. Honestly. And then, The Sambhogakaya Buddha has been talked about as, Sambhogakaya means like enjoyment body or reward body. It is what precedes the Nirmanakaya. And it is, I've been like turning this and turning it. Maybe the Dharmakaya, is just pure potential. It's just potential. And the Sambhogakaya is like potential is made manifest, beginning to be made manifest, but not as some physical thing.

[64:26]

So, Cosmic Buddha, like Amitabha, or Yeah, go ahead. Help me out here. I was just going to ask, is this doctrine something that existed prior to the time of the literature sutra, or does it come out of it later? That's a real good question that I don't have the answer to. There's so many really mystical sutras happening about that time. it seems likely that these were all coming up. I mean, and they can't even date the, you know, but it feels like that energy that we're trying to talk about, people were aware of and trying to give, you know, form and words to, to be able to express. And yeah, there's probably a number of slightly different ideas that grew and changed.

[65:31]

Also, I cherry picked a few things from Suzuki Roshi that I would like to share with you. He says, this sutra was told by the Sambhogakaya Buddha with his wisdom to save all sentient beings. It verbally tells us what Dharma nature is, not with a substantial idea, but rather in a dramatic, figurative way. Right, we get that. So the true Buddha is the Sambhogakaya Buddha. And when the Sambhogakaya Buddha does some activity or is observed by someone, he may be the Nirmanakaya Buddha. Before the Nirmanakaya Buddha, there must be a Sambhogakaya Buddha. Before a Bodhisattva appears to save others, there must be a Sambhogakaya Buddha as the strong background of the Bodhisattva. So every Bodhisattva and Buddha And their activity of helping others comes from this source, from this origin of the Sambhogakaya Buddha.

[66:37]

And the Sambhogakaya Buddha is Truth itself. So we have Dharmakaya Buddha, Sambhogakaya Buddha and Nirmanakaya Buddha. His world is limitless. It includes the sun and stars and everything. So His virtue and wisdom are also limitless. He is the Omniscient One who knows everything as being within Himself. For him, there is nothing outside his being. That is the Sambhogakaya Buddha. When we understand reality in this way, our understanding includes everything. And the reality which includes everything, as an undeveloped reality, is the Dharmakaya Buddha itself. Dharma itself. Being itself. It's a lot. Did you kind of have a feeling for it, though? Just hearing it? Yeah. I think my response to you is that all this stuff was happening at the same time.

[67:41]

It's Mahayana Buddhism. Yeah. That's my take. Then I came across this gem. And I'm really curious to hear what you think of it. Because this really did it for me. I'm like, thank you, Suzuki Roshi. Our way of understanding things is exactly the same as our zazen. We say, just sit. What does this mean? When we say, just sit, it includes all the potential activity which we have. We remain in an inactive state, but we have potentiality. So in this sense, our practice includes everything. When we sit, we are just sitting. Each one of us is sitting, and each one of us is the Dharmakaya Buddha. But within ourselves, even though we are sitting, we take breaths, and our heart is beating.

[68:48]

So we are also the Sambhogakaya Buddha. Something's happening there. Like, this is me talking. You know, I could get that. I'm breathing. My heart is beating. It's not like nothing is going on. That would be the Dharmakaya Buddha alone. But as I'm sitting there, there is something happening. And my senses are at work. There's something happening, but I'm not doing anything. Strictly speaking, I'm not doing anything. We understand reality in this way. That helped me a lot. So, the Lotus Sutra is being preached by the eternal Sambhogakaya Buddha. Now, it's not like the New Manakaya Buddha was just a fake.

[69:51]

You know, he says it's a skillful means that he appeared to die. the Buddha that is preaching the Lotus Sutra. But actually, you know, they are the three bodies of Buddha, so they're all legit. Actually, you know, but we can't forget about the Sambhogakaya Buddha, which is in all of us. Yes. I'm going to push out time. So in this, in the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha is 75 and he's talking about dying but that was before he died right i know it's so much fun little peasants don't talk about um you know uh cervantes wrote the don quixote very very famous book and it was so popular he wrote a sequel

[70:56]

Don Quixote, part two. And in Don Quixote, part two, Don Quixote is, he and Sancho Panza are traveling, and they go into an inn, and they hear some of the people in the inn talking about this book, Don Quixote, and relating some of the adventures in Don Quixote. And Don Quixote says, No, it didn't happen like that at all. There was an unauthorized sequel that came out before Cervantes wrote a sequel. Someone cashed in, and so, yeah, in Cervantes' sequel, he's trying to refute this other guy. And so, if Cervantes could do it, why can't we? Or, like, you know, Christian iconography of the Virgin Mary holding up a cross. Wait a minute.

[72:02]

Because, yeah. We know where this is going. There's a question online. Digital hand up. Hello. This will be our only question because it's time. Last question. Last one. Yeah, okay. Go ahead. Is it Marley? It is Marley. Hello. Thank you for reading that section from Suzuki Raoshi. And it does make me think a lot about this three bodies question because I had... I guess academically, I had thought, oh, the Dharmakaya is the one you can't point to, the Sambhogakaya is the one you see in a vision, and the Nirmanokaya is the one that has to eat and walk around and things like this. But I love the way that Suzuki Roshi is almost saying, Sambhogakaya is also just this constant dynamic activity.

[73:06]

It's just the whole shebang. to sound all old-timey. And I'm really going to think about that. So, cool. Anyway, thank you. And Pauline, I was about to say the same thing about Don's Kyoto. Thank you. You know, I think... Like the Lotus Sutra, you know, it's mythic. It's not like these things were actually happening. But they're pointing to the universality of our awakened nature, basically. And just let it filter, you know, let it come inside. Just let it absorb. Like on Memorial Day, when we chant it together.

[74:13]

You know? We'll be chanting. There's no time to stop and think about it. You're just chanting it. And just letting it come into our bodies. And that's how to understand the open syndrome. Thank you very much. Kings are numberless. I vow to awaken with them. Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them. Buddha's ways unsurpassable, I vow to become it. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much.

[75:08]

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