Hi :-) Im not sure if this is the right video to leave this comment so my sincerest apologies if my question is out of context with this video or is simply inappropriate. But I find myself wondering then where does this leave the historical Buddha Siddharth Gotama in terms of having attained full enlightenment, if its not possible for a human being to do so? Im not expecting necessarily a definite answer to this..lol..because obviously there is no way of actually going back in time to find out just how much of the stories we know of him are fact and how much is just legend..or if you like..legend designed around the idea of a teaching device as you mention in this video. Nevertheless i do find myself wondering about this. One thing that does occur to me though..being one of things that does attract me to Shin Buddhism..that unless im very much mistaken that since Siddarth there does not seem to in over 2500 years anyone else that ive heard of who has actually attained that kind of enlightenment. Interesting eh? :-)
If I understand your question, the notion is that it has become harder and harder to "attain full enlightenment" through one's own power since we are so far distant from the time of the historical Buddha. (In Japanese Buddhism the era far distant from Sakyamuni is referred to as the age of Mappo.) While I suppose an orthodox Shin Buddhist view would be that no one can do so, most Buddhists would say that there have been others over the course of history, such as certain Zen masters, and perhaps there are even rare cases in the present time-frame. I believe that some traditions, such as Tibetan Buddhism, advocate practices that supposedly can lead to enlightenment in this life. I myself think that it is possible to get glimpses of an enlightened (non-dual) perspective, but as Shinran would say, our human greed, anger, and folly/ignorance (the three "poisons") are so deep-rooted that for anyone to maintain this insight and consistently actualize the bodhisattva path in all his/her activities without any ulterior self-serving motives on a consistent basis would be phenomenally rare. I hope this provides some clarification. -John
acalaacala Thank you very much for your reply. Yes that does answer my question. I certainly do agree that it is possible for us to get glimpses of this enlightenment. I think also that there has been people and that there are even certain people today who s actions on the world stage would certainly qualify as coming pretty close to buddha like attitudes in their compassion for peaceful solutions to world issues. I am still very new to Shin Buddhism and Shinran's writings in general..however I find myself agreeing that realistically attaining full enlightenment without relying on Other Power is either impossible or would take too many lifetimes to count. In regard to my question...it does occur to me also that according to the Lotus Sutra the historical Buddha had actually already attained full enlightenment many eons before his birth as Siddarth Gotama. Maybe in his case when he attained enlightenment here on Earth he was simply remembering who he really was :-)..just a thought. Once again, thank you for your reply - Jason Namo Amida Butsu
If you go to my playlist of videos describing my makeshift stupa, on the large boulder you will see that I have had inscribed the following quotation from the Lotus Sutra: "Repeatedly am I born in the world of the living." So, yes, while perhaps not literally true, I believe the idea that the Tathagata repeatedly comes into the world to save beings by teaching the Buddhadharma is true in mysterious ways we cannot conceive fully with our human mental capacities. That Tathagata is, as you suggest, the Other Power upon which we can rely.
There is a hint in much of Buddhism that the Buddha was something more than a man, supermundane, and so that tendency in some forms of East Asian Buddhism really comes out as prominent, especially in Shin Buddhism.
According to Nagarjuna, even emptiness is empty, and those who cling to emptiness are incurable ones. Being the former, true, then there's no Absolute. Infinity is at variance with absoluteness. Were Amida Buddha to enter Paranirvana, then He's not Absolute. Dharmakaya isn't the Absolute! According to Shakyamuni Buddha, all dharmas are evanescent, instantenously appearing and desappearing, selflessly. That's why Jacqueline Stone's definition talks about all phenomena in terms of at the same time, or simultaneously, appeareance and disappearance. No wonder, "dharma" also means "phenomenon". Nirvana as perfection implies appeasing at all our unquenched thirst for permanence, auto-selfishness, total "sukkha". Samsara's Axis consisting in ignorance, hate, and greed-lust (all together: absolute power), and being Nirvana an opposing correlative to Samsara, and viceversa, (otherwise, there non-dualism is ruled out); therefore, Enlightenment, Compassion, and Freedom being Nirvana's Axis, simultenously center and circunsference, it leaves us with conventionality as equal to Mastery of Skillful Means, letting free us from any constraint, either logical, ontological, or cosmological, physiological, psychological, etc. Samsara' Axis three consisting prime elements constrain the Wheel into everlasting cycling. They also pervade It, but don't let It be free from being that what it is: A permanent, selfish, unsatisfying existence, auto-fueling Itself as ignorant as such, hateful-hideous as such, and greedy-lustful as such, although blinding-disguising at the same time such a perverted suchness as, or into, "Ens Realissimum". QED.
Where it is said "there non-dualism" must be read "therefore non-dualism". "samultaneously", not "samulteneously" "circumference", not "circunsference" QED = "Quod est demostrandum"
what separates a person from his enlightenment is just simply put ignorance ... to say it is the nondual world may be true but in a sense it is also the dual world for without both expedient means wouldn't exist and this wouldn't be a full enlightenment that we are discussing ... as I see it, there is a perfect way of living and understanding; this might be called a person's enlightenment or the realm of nirvana ... and in a sense it manifests in each of us from time to time though never at the fullest surface layer or pinnacle of self understanding .... anything that points the way to this when it is not understood by an individual on some layer of consciousnesses is buddha nature ... everything in the world is of a dual nature in the sense that there is the drive towards and away from this "center" of an individual ... what is the reason for this dual nature? ... it is the root of ignorance where the fundamental question is asked/ created and resolved all at once ... it is the making of individuality and "seperateness" that causes all ignorance yet verily without this individuality there would be no life ... so the remedy simply is expedient means which weaves all individualities together to perfection as a whole ie the Buddhas enlightenment ... that as I see it is a fundamental goal of the lotus sutra ...
Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to share your perspective, John. I especially appreciated you bringing the focus back around to the primary message of the wonderful Lotus Sutra. -John
Hi :-) Im not sure if this is the right video to leave this comment so my sincerest apologies if my question is out of context with this video or is simply inappropriate. But I find myself wondering then where does this leave the historical Buddha Siddharth Gotama in terms of having attained full enlightenment, if its not possible for a human being to do so? Im not expecting necessarily a definite answer to this..lol..because obviously there is no way of actually going back in time to find out just how much of the stories we know of him are fact and how much is just legend..or if you like..legend designed around the idea of a teaching device as you mention in this video. Nevertheless i do find myself wondering about this. One thing that does occur to me though..being one of things that does attract me to Shin Buddhism..that unless im very much mistaken that since Siddarth there does not seem to in over 2500 years anyone else that ive heard of who has actually attained that kind of enlightenment. Interesting eh? :-)
If I understand your question, the notion is that it has become harder and harder to "attain full enlightenment" through one's own power since we are so far distant from the time of the historical Buddha. (In Japanese Buddhism the era far distant from Sakyamuni is referred to as the age of Mappo.) While I suppose an orthodox Shin Buddhist view would be that no one can do so, most Buddhists would say that there have been others over the course of history, such as certain Zen masters, and perhaps there are even rare cases in the present time-frame. I believe that some traditions, such as Tibetan Buddhism, advocate practices that supposedly can lead to enlightenment in this life. I myself think that it is possible to get glimpses of an enlightened (non-dual) perspective, but as Shinran would say, our human greed, anger, and folly/ignorance (the three "poisons") are so deep-rooted that for anyone to maintain this insight and consistently actualize the bodhisattva path in all his/her activities without any ulterior self-serving motives on a consistent basis would be phenomenally rare. I hope this provides some clarification. -John
acalaacala Thank you very much for your reply. Yes that does answer my question. I certainly do agree that it is possible for us to get glimpses of this enlightenment. I think also that there has been people and that there are even certain people today who s actions on the world stage would certainly qualify as coming pretty close to buddha like attitudes in their compassion for peaceful solutions to world issues.
I am still very new to Shin Buddhism and Shinran's writings in general..however I find myself agreeing that realistically attaining full enlightenment without relying on Other Power is either impossible or would take too many lifetimes to count. In regard to my question...it does occur to me also that according to the Lotus Sutra the historical Buddha had actually already attained full enlightenment many eons before his birth as Siddarth Gotama. Maybe in his case when he attained enlightenment here on Earth he was simply remembering who he really was :-)..just a thought. Once again, thank you for your reply - Jason
Namo Amida Butsu
If you go to my playlist of videos describing my makeshift stupa, on the large boulder you will see that I have had inscribed the following quotation from the Lotus Sutra: "Repeatedly am I born in the world of the living." So, yes, while perhaps not literally true, I believe the idea that the Tathagata repeatedly comes into the world to save beings by teaching the Buddhadharma is true in mysterious ways we cannot conceive fully with our human mental capacities. That Tathagata is, as you suggest, the Other Power upon which we can rely.
I will take a look at that :-)
There is a hint in much of Buddhism that the Buddha was something more than a man, supermundane, and so that tendency in some forms of East Asian Buddhism really comes out as prominent, especially in Shin Buddhism.
Omm.... :)
Yes! And for me, beyond all the verbiage, the simple expression of affirmation and gratitude is the nembutusu. Thank you Carolann. -John
According to Nagarjuna, even emptiness is empty, and those who cling to emptiness are incurable ones. Being the former, true, then there's no Absolute. Infinity is at variance with absoluteness. Were Amida Buddha to enter Paranirvana, then He's not Absolute. Dharmakaya isn't the Absolute! According to Shakyamuni Buddha, all dharmas are evanescent, instantenously appearing and desappearing, selflessly. That's why Jacqueline Stone's definition talks about all phenomena in terms of at the same time, or simultaneously, appeareance and disappearance. No wonder, "dharma" also means "phenomenon". Nirvana as perfection implies appeasing at all our unquenched thirst for permanence, auto-selfishness, total "sukkha". Samsara's Axis consisting in ignorance, hate, and greed-lust (all together: absolute power), and being Nirvana an opposing correlative to Samsara, and viceversa, (otherwise, there non-dualism is ruled out); therefore, Enlightenment, Compassion, and Freedom being Nirvana's Axis, simultenously center and circunsference, it leaves us with conventionality as equal to Mastery of Skillful Means, letting free us from any constraint, either logical, ontological, or cosmological, physiological, psychological, etc. Samsara' Axis three consisting prime elements constrain the Wheel into everlasting cycling. They also pervade It, but don't let It be free from being that what it is: A permanent, selfish, unsatisfying existence, auto-fueling Itself as ignorant as such, hateful-hideous as such, and greedy-lustful as such, although blinding-disguising at the same time such a perverted suchness as, or into, "Ens Realissimum". QED.
Where it is said "there non-dualism" must be read "therefore non-dualism".
"samultaneously", not "samulteneously"
"circumference", not "circunsference"
QED = "Quod est demostrandum"
Thank you for your informative elaboration on this most important teaching.
what separates a person from his enlightenment is just simply put ignorance ... to say it is the nondual world may be true but in a sense it is also the dual world for without both expedient means wouldn't exist and this wouldn't be a full enlightenment that we are discussing ... as I see it, there is a perfect way of living and understanding; this might be called a person's enlightenment or the realm of nirvana ... and in a sense it manifests in each of us from time to time though never at the fullest surface layer or pinnacle of self understanding .... anything that points the way to this when it is not understood by an individual on some layer of consciousnesses is buddha nature ... everything in the world is of a dual nature in the sense that there is the drive towards and away from this "center" of an individual ... what is the reason for this dual nature? ... it is the root of ignorance where the fundamental question is asked/ created and resolved all at once ... it is the making of individuality and "seperateness" that causes all ignorance yet verily without this individuality there would be no life ... so the remedy simply is expedient means which weaves all individualities together to perfection as a whole ie the Buddhas enlightenment ... that as I see it is a fundamental goal of the lotus sutra ...
Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to share your perspective, John. I especially appreciated you bringing the focus back around to the primary message of the wonderful Lotus Sutra. -John