When Buddha-Lite Won’t Do
Two days.
On Wednesday, one of the world’s great cities is alive with jubiliation.
On Thursday, it is alive with ANGUISH.
Like much (though not all) of the watching world, I stand in solidarity with all who are suffering from the London bombings today.
Watching the horror in London today, or the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11, or the unimaginable devastation of the recent tsunami…
Or the old clips of Hitler’s death camps, or the vision of Cambodia’s Killing Fields, or the current starvation in Dafur, or the thousands of bodies floating down the rivers of Rwanda…
Sooner or later something pierces the armor - the layers of ego-protection we all put on - understandably so - to keep the felt sense of suffering at bay.
But ultimately, we just can’t do it.
In this world…suffering IS.
That recognition is The Great Negative Epiphany. The young Prince Gotama had that recognition at age 26, for the very first time, when he left his handlers and his totally sanitized life - and stepped out into the world for the first time.
He saw it - and it hit him like a piece of bomb shrapnel in the head.
It sent him on the great quest - the quest to penetrate the mystery of suffering, and find the end of suffering. Many have gone on that quest - in our recorded history, both east and west.
But - in our recorded history - only HE has pierced the veil of mystery, and found the truth of suffering entirely - and the end of suffering at last.
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The truth of suffering Buddha found can be explained simply enough: it arises because of our attachments - our many and varied cravings and aversions.
Our cravings and aversions do not in themselves cause us to suffering. What causes us suffering is the reality of constant change - the impermanence of all phenomena.
When we don’t get the things we want (our cravings), we suffer. When we get the things we don’t want (our aversions), we suffer.
It’s that simple, and that profound.
When Gotama completed his quest - a seven year journey into the heart of our common darkness - he saw something else. Our suffering neither begins, nor ends, with this lifetime we are now living.
Now, as the Buddha - the fully enlightened one - he could look into his own history from life to life to life. He could see his destiny unfolding, from existence to existence - in a way a regular person who is not enlightened cannot.
It is truly difficult to think about these scores of people in London who have been blown to bits on Thursday after celebrating on Wednesday - and know that they will take birth yet again, somewhere in this world or perhaps in another - and be vulnerable to suffering again…and again…and again.
It is a truly difficult thing to live with this awareness that Buddha had…the awareness of the Great Negative Epiphany.
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Buddha talked deeply about this - the Great Negative Epiphany - in the many teachings he gave.
It is a big part of the Larger Pure Land Sutra, naturally enough. Why? Because Buddha was convinced this was CRITICAL INFORMATION to share with us, who are not enlightened yet.
Here is some of what the Buddha said:
The reality of birth-and-death is such that the sorrow of parting is mutually felt by all generations. A father cries over the death of his children; children cry over the death of their father. Brothers, sisters, husbands and wives mourn each other’s death.
According to the basic law of impermanence, whether death will occur in order of seniority or in the reverse is unpredictable. All things must pass. Nothing stays forever. Few believe this, even if someone teaches and exhorts them. And so the stream of birth-and-death continues everlastingly.
Because they are stupid and callous, such people do not accept the teachings of the Buddha; they lack forethought, and only wish to satisfy their own desires. They are deluded by their passionate attachments, unaware of the Way, misguided and trapped by anger and enmity, and intent on gaining wealth and gratifying their carnal desires like wolves. And so, unable to follow the Way, they are again subject to suffering in evil realms in an endless cycle of birth-and-death. How miserable and pitiable this is!
In the same family, when one of the parents, children, brothers, sisters, husband or wife dies, those surviving mourn over the loss, and their attachment to the deceased persists. Deep sorrow fills their hearts and, grief-stricken, they mournfully think of the departed.
Days pass and years go by, but their distress goes on. Even if someone teaches them the Way, their minds are not awakened. Brooding over fond memories of the dead, they cannot rid themselves of attachment.
Being ignorant, inert, and illusion-bound, they are unable to think deeply, to keep their self-composure, to practice the Way with diligence, and to dissociate themselves from worldly matters. As they wander here and there, they come to their end and die before entering on the Way. Then what can be done for them?
Because they are spiritually defiled, deeply troubled and confused, people indulge their passions. Hence, many are ignorant of the Way, and few realize it. Everyone is restlessly busy, having nothing upon which to rely.
Whether moral or corrupt, of high or low rank, rich or poor, noble or base, all are preoccupied with their own work. They entertain venomous thoughts, creating a widespread and dismal atmosphere of malevolence. Subversive activities are planned, contrary to the universal law and the wishes of the people.
Injustice and vice inevitably follow and are allowed to run their course unchecked until evil karma accumulates to the limit.
Before they expect their lives to end, people meet sudden death and fall into evil realms, where they will suffer excruciating torments for many lives. They will not be able to escape for many thousands of kotis of kalpas. How indescribably painful! How pitiable that is!
At moments like this, when we actually listen deeply because we have been shaken out of our egoic trance by a vision of horror such as we see today, the veil is ripped away.
Buddha-Lite won’t do.
Amida-Lite won’t do.
Shin-Lite won’t do.
Only the industrial strength dharma - the True Dharma - the True Teaching of Shakyamuni and Shinran for this terrible age of Dharma decline - can provide an answer to The Great Negative Epiphany.
Only when we see the horror of suffering deeply, profoundly, personally - as Gotama did - will we truly embrace the quest to find the end of suffering, at last.
This is a beginning - this thirst for liberation that will not be quenched - the desire for an end to endless lifetimes of birth and death in ignorance and delusion - the yearning for Buddhahood at last.
And only when we have broken our own hearts trying and failing, will we come to the place that Shinran finally came to after many years on the path - the place of recognizing our complete inability to fulfill our aspirations for liberation.
The terrible weight of Shakyamuni Buddha’s words - the words I just quoted above - must press into our conscious awareness, even as the weight of those words pressed into Honen’s…and Shinran’s…and Yuien’s…and Rennyo’s.
It’s not a happy experience…not a pretty experience…not a joyful experience. But it is a PREPARATORY experience - the experience that brings us to the end of our rope, at last.
At the end of our rope, we give up all our posturing, all our machinations, all our intellectualizing. We simply stand, like Shan-Tao’s stricken man, between the two raging rivers, seeing at last what Shakyamuni Buddha is really talking about.
Finally we understand the stakes…not just in this life…but in life, after life, after life.
Finally we are ready to hear Shakyamuni’s information - CRITICAL information - about a way that has been made for us who have no way whatsoever.
Now, at last, whether we are brand new to Buddhism, or have been mouthing the Nembutsu for 20 years, we are ready to listen deeply to the dharma.
Now we can drop the spiritual and intellectual pretension, and hear clearly as Shakyamuni tells us about the person and work of Amida Buddha.
Now, at last, we are ready for The Easy Path to Buddhahood.
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Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am one of those poor and pitiable fools Shakyamuni talks about. I’m a failure as a Buddhist. I can’t pretend to an equanimity that escapes me entirely.
My failure - both to be able to pay attention and to practice diligently - means that my karmic burden is impossibly big. That’s not false humility; it’s just the plain truth.
But an inextinguishable light has shined into my darkness. My karmic debt has been cancelled entirely, and the karmic merit of Amida, greatest of all the Buddha’s, has been ascribed to me - just as I am, simply because I have listened deeply and taken COMPLETE and UTTER refuge in the person and the work of Amida Buddha.
For that reason, at the end of this - my last miserable life as a non-buddha - I will be taken to another kind of world - a world I cannot even imagine - a world of utter bliss - a world without any kind of suffering at all.
In that world, I will be able to pay attention, and to practice, and to attain Buddhahood at last - in a way I simply cannot here and now.
And then, I will join countless other Buddhas in the Great Work - the work of moving effortlessly at the speed of thought through countless universes, to help countless poor and pitiable beings just like me to find liberation at last, Buddhahood at last, the end of suffering at last.
That’s the program.
Not my program…but Buddha’s program.
Not my dharma…but Shinran’s dharma.
Not my salvation…but the salvation of Amida Buddha - easy enough for a medieval Japanese village idiot to understand, and easy enough for a 21st Century over-educated New Jersey idiot to understand as well.
You don’t need a college education to get it. In fact, a college education will just slow you down, because it gives you the ILLUSION of knowledge when - as Buddha says plainly - you’re just as much of a village idiot as the next person.
In Shakyamuni Buddha’s words, above:
stupid…callous…ignorant…inert…illusion-bound
Compassionate talk…but tough talk - from the one man who knows what he’s talking about.
Plain talk for plain people - no fancy education required.
The Shin Ugly truth - the truth that let’s us listen deeply to the call of Amida Buddha, and find liberation at last.
When you finally get to the point where Buddha-Lite won’t do, you too will hear Amida Buddha’s call.
Listen deeply.
NamuAmidaButsu -
Paul R.