The Lotus Sutra's Most Important Passage EXPLAINED
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- Опубліковано 6 сер 2022
- Students of the Lotus Sutra, here is the great news! Understanding this one passage of the sutra will clarify core messages of the Lotus Sutra's middle way.
📖 The text I am using in the video: "The Threefold Lotus Sutra" amzn.to/3Qjv3b1 (Translated by Shinozaki, Ziporyn, and Earhart)
💻 Join my Lotus Sutra Lab discussion: Send an email for a zoom link to rkchicago@rkchi.org
📕 Recommended Reading: Nikkyo Niwano's "A Buddhist Approach To Peace": amzn.to/3KmeEyJ
🙏 Find your local Buddhist Rissho Kosei-kai sangha here: rk-world.org/local-dharma-cen...
Buddhist Learning Resource I recommend: Subscribing RKINA's Newsletter www.buddhistcenter-rkina.org/...
□ Follow me on Instagram: / kyohei.mikawa
#BuddhistSpirituality
Links to more learning about:
-Chapter 2 Skillful Means ua-cam.com/video/b7sRIHnDyXs/v-deo.html
-After I Was Hurt - How To Deal With Criticism In Buddhist Ways ua-cam.com/video/cq9qklv1ZCU/v-deo.html
-Chapter 1 on "Fame Seeker" ua-cam.com/video/dQ7IjreCaaM/v-deo.html
-@MeadvilleLombard Theological School meadville.edu
As a new buddhist thank you for the wisdom sir
Welcome to the world of Buddhism!
nam myoho renge kyo. Thank you for posting this astute discussion of the one vehicle. As for the homework assignment,,, When he says "We are now true shravakas" its an acknowledgement that they heard and understood the message of the one vehicle. Now understanding that they are also bohdisattvas, they will teach others. Also I'd emphasize true here, in that they've heard the true voice and true message of the one Buhdda conciousness.
I am glad you are paying attention to a key passage in the sutra! Thank you for reaching that far in the video. Yes, I think you are right about the acknowledgement. In other words, following a path of bodhisattva is not based on a blind faith (being far from unreflectedly believing that merely praying for divine or chanting a certain mantra will generate a miracle to save people).
Regarding your comment on the "one voice and true message," I think this "one" and "true" are different from what is ordinarily conceived as "one" that is always put in contrast to "many", or "true" vs "wrong." This "one" (of one-vehicle) is true in a sense that it no longer creates an opposition to itself, or an opposition between "one" and "many", "true" and "wrong", "one truth" and "many other wrong truths", and "good" and "evil". In other words, this is the truth of oneness of "one" and "many" and is absolute in a sense of both 1) no longer depending on the presence of what opposes to itself and 2) making all views including what appears to be "wrong" as "true" just as Shakyamuni sees that all sravakas are bodhisattvas including those don't look like bodhisattvas.
You can know more about this logic in Brook Ziporyn's "Emptiness and Omnipresence" where he discusses the analogy of "ambiguous O" that explains how Tiantai tradition took "emptiness" to mean "ambiguity", "unlimited openness to otherness", or "moretoitivity." Good luck on your study!
As your Lotus Sutra student at Meadville Lombard Theological School, I greatly appreciate this video and others you have made. All your hard work in teaching us here on UA-cam is helping me become a better bodhisattva and to write my term paper. Thank you for your service. I have high gratitude and respect for you.
If you don't have 27 minutes then here's what the video is about: The verse mentioned is from Chapter Two of The Lotus Sutra, called "Skillful Means." In this chapter, the Buddha explains the concept of the One Vehicle and emphasizes that all beings have the potential to attain enlightenment.
The verse "there is nothing other than the One Vehicle Dharma" means that there is only one universal truth or path to enlightenment. The Buddha taught various teachings throughout his life, tailored to the capacities and dispositions of his audience. However, in essence, all those teachings point to the same ultimate truth, which is the realization of our inherent Buddha nature and the path to enlightenment.
The One Vehicle is the teaching that encompasses all beings and provides a means for everyone to attain liberation. It is a metaphorical representation of the ultimate truth that transcends all divisions and distinctions. This teaching implies that all beings, regardless of their background, abilities, or differences, have the potential to achieve enlightenment.
The next part of the verse says, "There is neither a second or a third." This emphasizes that there are no other separate vehicles or paths to enlightenment. It rejects the notion that there are multiple exclusive paths that lead to liberation. The Buddha taught that all beings can follow the One Vehicle to attain enlightenment, and there is no need for any other distinct teachings or vehicles.
This verse is significant because it promotes the idea of inclusivity and equality in the path to enlightenment. It teaches that every individual has the capacity to realize their inherent Buddha nature and attain liberation. It recognizes the unity of all beings and highlights the universality of the teachings in The Lotus Sutra.
Thank you for saving me another 30 minutes of valuable time. The Lotus Flower symbolizes awareness which exist in the middle and in spite of all those ego thoughts our mind creates blinding us to our true nature which is hidden in the depth of the lotus sutra. Simply stop running with thoughts and observe just being or singing or chanting 😊
Thank you for explaining this wonderful sutra in understandable English. My deep respect. Please continue your good work benefits of the many.
Nammu Myoho Renge Kyo 🙏
Very informative. Thank you eternally ❤❤❤
Excellent!
Happy or sad is the man who truly understand ❤🙏❤ nobody home
Great ,wonderful explanation
Namo Buddhay ☸️🙏💙
From the land of Buddha 🇮🇳🙏
Thank you for sharing this video. A good insight into the Lotus Sutra. Namu Myoho Renge Kyo ❤
My pleasure!
I needed this explanation. I recently finished reading the Lotus Sutra to the end and this passage makes a lot more sense to me now.
So happy to hear that! Congratulations to you, spectatorsatori!
ひょっとしたらきょうへい君かい平岡の伊藤です。お父さんと一緒に教会に行ってた。間違いだったらご免なさい😂
@@user-zq5el5dt3u伊藤さん、お父さまですか。御無沙汰しております！はい、恭平です。お元気ですか？先月、日本に帰ってまいりました。
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Thankyou
You are welcome. Thank you for taking the time to check out this important content that you cannot find anywhere else on UA-cam.
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Thank you :)
You're welcome, Regina. Thanks for checking out.
I like the information a lot but the person talks so fast. Because there are new concepts I need to listen and if it is too fast I miss a lot.
Mahayana/Bodhisattva could be described as the understanding that there is only this moment to moment relationship that counts - not the accumulation of merit for some future achievement.
Oh, good point. Not the accumulation of merits for something else. You're right that we're getting out of a purpose driven teleological structure here in the Lotus Sutra. That's how we make a great contribution to world spirituality today.
Good insight into the entire Lotus sutra. In Soka Gakkai, only recite the daimoku and gongyo of chapters 2 and 16 of the Lotus sutra. As a Buddhist lay practitioner, can one gain enlightenment by reciting ch 2 and 16 of the Lotus sutra? Is Nichiren Daishonin a Buddha of the latter day?
I think what's more important than focusing on how to attain enlightenment is to ponder upon the question: what if you have come from enlightenment which was already achieved?
I will return... someday. .......When the music is conductive to understanding, a crash course... it is
religions,traditions,orders,sects,are many,the temporary goals are different for each one,same for the entities you will meet,the world/dimension you will travel and the next body you will get if you don't get to Liberation,but ultimate objective is the same which is realize what we really are God in religious terms,Source,Presence,Awarness,Consciousness,Buddha Nature,Christ Consciousness,the Void,Emptiness,etc.. all seemingly different words but all point to the same "thing" which is not even a thing and it's all the names i already wrote,but the names are not It they just point toward It,this is crucial to understand,like for example a finger that point to the moon it's not the moon itself,many many blessings brothers and sisters,may we all realize what is Real (God,Source,Buddha Nature,Consciousness etcc..) and be free from suffering,om shanti shanti om ,we are 1 this one is 0,here witht this last one very short sentence all and more is said, (think about even computer what they are to their core is a string of zeros and ones)🙏
Cheers to your well-said phrase: "point to the same "thing" which is not even a thing"! The truth, which is inconceivable, is never "thingifyable."
@@AwakenYourInnerBuddha you said it better my friend,you expressed in a very clear and precise way too,straight to the point 🙏 that's why the highest teaching from the most illuminated master it's his/her silence,but who is ready for It ??? Whoo Whoo Whoo Whoo Whoo the great horned one calls 🦉🔱🧿
Good explanation of the sutra.However, how does one awaken to ones own transformation to embrace none exclusivity?.
nam myo ho renge kyo☺️
Which book is the lotus sutra apart of? I have my Dhammapada and a few others like the Anguttara Nikaya, Digha Nikaya, and my favorite is the Kusita-Arambhavatthu Sutta, the layman and overcoming laziness. Where the dharma Chakra is utilized by the eight fold path overcoming the 4 noble truths sukkah.
Am not familiar with as regarding them as sutras, only suttas which I solidarity use the verses of the dhammapada, but as for the diamond sutra, the heart sutra and now the lotus sutras among many others, where can we find them? Are they separate books, are they written along side or by Gautama Buddha?
Very good stuff I love from Buddhism, always keep a Buddhist prayer wheel to tap into the dharma with mantraing out various suttas like the thousands, evil, the flower, the wise, the fool, the king elephant and others. They are so comforting in intervals of distress and erring, which brings me back to the stream of my life.
Thank you friend.
Namaste 🙏
Shalom 🙏
As-salamu alaykum 🙏
Peace be with you 🙏
Lotus Sutra is one of the Mahayana Sutra. But in terms of it's philosophical aspect, we can also see that the Lotus Sutra is a colorful restatement of the wisdom of the early Buddhist scriptures.
❤🎉
Great contenent, very well explained and presented, thanks you very much for sharing this knowledge.
However i would like to say that the background muisc doesn't really fit.. as well as the "are you ready 3-2-1" are things that could be cut off. That is only my impresion, no judgment attached, just a persoal feedback. I Hope to see this chanell grow and the Dharma to be spreaded to all santient beeings 🙏
You're welcome. Thanks for checking this out and leaving valuable feedback. I will take your thoughts into consideration.
Ekameva Adviteeyam
There is no mentioned for human revolution in order to feel/understand and experienced ones intrinsic treasure of the heart to practice the Lotus Sutra.Buddhism is for living.
The Music wss really distracting....
Thanks for your important feedback, which led to my recent videos without music. Thanks for your support.
Lets apply in our daily life when you encounter people who belittle you, sway your opinion, look down on you or cheat you for their own personal gain. How do you believe in their buddha nature?
Excellent. Daily application is highly important. That's what I am learning from my Buddhist movement called Rissho Kosei-kai.
One important thing to have in mind is that any seemingly selfish act is an expression of compassion that is direct toward oneself. Selfishness is compassion in this limited extent. Once you see that in others, you start to see suffering in the other. Your recognition of their suffering or of your own leads you to become more compassionate. Selfishness is self-compassion. That's what buddhas and bodhisattvas are seeing.
so how does this relate to emptiness and No Self?
Excellent question. In brief, the Lotus Sutra version of "no-self" and "emptiness" is focused on those of perspectives. It's talking about perspective no-self and emptiness. Once that sinks in in your mind, then the next step is to understand that the meaning of Emptiness becomes Omnifullness in the Lotus Sutra. You can also say that as Omnipresence. I suggest that you get a copy of Brook Ziporyn's "Emptiness and Omnipresence."
Why music in the background as it obfuscates your talking
Thanks for your feedback.
Great video and information - just a suggestion the music is distracting and takes away from what you are trying explain.
Thanks for the tip!
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo
Who is you? Who is everyone? How do we stop "I" am a Buddha?
Excellent question. You are inquiring how figures in the stories of the Lotus Sutra who do all sorts of things can be any "self" or any "one" from the standpoint of Buddhist concept of "no-self", "emptiness", "dependent origination." You are saying, "How can no-selves act in any ways? Aren't they just empty?" There are two important steps to answer this important question you raised:
Step 1: Emptiness is NOT nothingness. To be nothing is still too much of something. If you need a reference, please consider reading Tamura Yoshiro's Intro to the Lotus Sutra p.29-36 amzn.to/3rJY9WA
Step 2: One amazing way to answer your question based on a good understanding of Step 1 to consider this question from the viewpoint of Chinese Tiantai commentary to the Lotus Sutra. In early Buddhism, we had "no-self." In Mahayana, "no-self" starts to apply to all dharmas and becomes "emptiness." In the Lotus Sutra and Mahayana Parinirvana Sutra via Tiantai, "emptiness" is interpreted as "omnipresence." When you have a good grasp of this conceptual shift from emptiness to omnipresence, from negation to affirmation, then you will see that the figures in the Lotus Sutra are showing us how actors (bodhisattvas) of "no-self" would look like. We are persons who are compassionate "no-self"! If you are looking for a book to start about this, I highly recommend that you consider looking into my teacher Brook Ziporyn's "Emptiness and Omnipresence" amzn.to/3OfBfy7 Read each page slowly and enjoy as if you mindfully taste a gourmet dinner course. Ziporyn is the best "chef" in that sense.
Further to your last message to me: the statement is “emptiness is NOT nothingness” But isn’t that the same as saying “emptiness IS somethingness”? What is that somethingness? Isn’t emptiness, empty?
You're right. As long as we're using any linguistic expressions to talk about emptiness, we are caught up by the issue you raised in your latest comment. Yes, it's important to be aware that emptiness itself is empty. Emptiness is inconceivable. I find that Dan Arnold's "Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief" has informative discussions about this topic in the context of Indian Madhyamaka school of Buddhism.
it's crazy how incredible real history is,so amazing beyond our mind in the west can't even think about,it's sad how there with the school system we have killed all that is not in accord with that particular frame of understanding (which come on is very reductive and i would say even autistic)
Music is distracting. Please avoid music.
Okay, thanks for your feedback.
lab coat !! lol
Glad you caught it! After I changed the channel name to "The Lotus Sutra Lab", I got this lab coat. But I always don't when in these videos I should wear it. If I wear it in all videos, that may look too much. But by wearing it, I can create an atmosphere that shows the viewers that this channel takes Buddhism to be an ever-growing tradition rather than an already completed and fixed sets of beliefs and practices. I don't know. Perhaps wearing it at the intro of many future videos? Any suggestions are welcome! Thanks for stopping by 🙏
I am concerned about taking spiritual advice from someone who didn't read the manual for that microphone.
The music creates a distraction from content you are sharing
Okay, thanks for your feedback.
I'm listening through the lotus sutra right now.. and... There is so much stuff repeated... Apparently useless stuff repeated so damn much...
I was expecting 11 hours of wisdom and lessons and insight into being a better person and Buddhist.
99% of it is "and he received a prediction, that he would live so many kalpas and helps so many innumerable conscious beings and then become a Buddha, and describing the world of a Buddha a thousand times.
A world made of lapis lazuli, and completely flat, while interesting, doesn't sound great to me. I like mountains!
I'm 9 hours in only there's only been 3 twenty minute sections of actual lessons in it...
Thanks for your comment. If all the repetitions are eliminated, the Lotus Sutra may be 1/3 of the original length. You are rasing an important point here.
i did not like the music, bad fit with the sutra! disturbing for the focused mind
Mahayana as a whole is a false path, the lotus sutra is even more so to an extreme
Did anyone tell you you talk too much
This is a fake Sutta
Bro you have to learn more cuz the great thinker philosophers tathagat samyak sambuddha had eighty thousand line of sutra