Life Span of the Thus Come One chapter

(Jpn.: Nyorai-juryo-hon)

Abbreviated as the "Life Span" chapter. The sixteenth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, in which Shakyamuni Buddha reveals that he originally attained enlightenment in the far distant past rather than in his present life in India as his listeners generally thought.

The chapter title "The Life Span of the Thus Come One" means the duration of Shakyamuni's life as a Buddha, that is, how much time has passed since he originally attained Buddhahood. T'ien-t'ai (538-597) of China ranks it as the key chapter of the essential teaching, or the latter fourteen chapters of the sutra.

The chapter opens with three exhortations and four entreaties, in which the Buddha three times admonishes the multitude to believe and understand his truthful words, and the assembly four times begs him to preach. Shakyamuni then says, "You must listen carefully and hear of the Thus Come One's secret and his transcendental powers." He proceeds to explain that, while all heavenly and human beings and asuras believe that he first attained enlightenment in his present lifetime under the bodhi tree, it has actually been an incalculable length of time since he attained enlightenment. He then offers a dramatic description of the magnitude of this immeasurably long period. He describes taking a vast number of worlds, grinding them to dust, and then traversing the universe, dropping a particle each time one passes an equally vast number of worlds. Having exhausted all the dust particles, one takes all the worlds traversed, whether they have received a dust particle or not, and grinds them to dust. Then Shakyamuni says: "Let one particle represent one kalpa. The time that has passed since I attained Buddhahood surpasses this by a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a million nayuta asamkhya kalpas."

Commentaries on this chapter refer to this cosmically immense period as "numberless major world system dust particle kalpas." In the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni thus refutes the view that he attained enlightenment for the first time in this life in India and reveals his original attainment of enlightenment in the remote past. T'ien-t'ai refers to this in The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra and The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra as "opening the near and revealing the distant," "casting off the transient and revealing the true," and "opening the transient and revealing the true." Here, "the transient" means Shakyamuni's transient status, and "the true" means his true identity. From his original attainment of Buddhahood, Shakyamuni declares, he has constantly been here in this saha world preaching the Law, appearing as many different Buddhas and using various means to save living beings. Though he says that he enters nirvana, he merely uses his death as a means to arouse in people the desire to seek a Buddha. He then illustrates this idea with the parable of the skilled physician and his sick children. In the parable, the children of a skilled physician have accidentally swallowed poison. Having lost their senses, they refuse the medicine their father offers them as an antidote. The father then goes off to a remote place and sends a message informing his children he has died. Shocked to their senses, the children take the medicine their father has left for them and are cured. The Buddha is compared to the father in this parable, living beings to the children who have drunk poison, and the Buddha's entry into nirvana to the father's report of his own death-an expedient means to arouse in people the aspiration for enlightenment. The chapter concludes with a verse section, which restates the important teachings of the preceding prose section.

In Profound Meaning, T'ien-t'ai interprets the "Life Span" chapter as revealing the three mystic principles of the true cause (the cause for Shakyamuni's original attainment of enlightenment), the true effect (his original enlightenment), and the true land (the place where the Buddha lives and teaches). He interprets the passage "Originally I practiced the bodhisattva way ... " as indicating the stage of non-regression, or the eleventh of the fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice, which he explained as the true cause that enabled Shakyamuni to attain Buddhahood. In answer to the question of what Shakyamuni practiced in order to reach the stage of non-regression, Nichiren (1222-1282) identified it as the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

(See also: Life Span of the Thus Come One chapter, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Original enlightenment

(Jpn.: hongaku)

1. A reference to the enlightenment Shakyamuni attained countless kalpas ago, as described in the "Life Span" (sixteenth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra.
2. Enlightenment or Buddhahood originally inherent in human life.

See: Life Span of the Thus Come One,  Inherent enlightenment

(See also: Original enlightenment, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Six stages of practice

(Jpn.: roku-soku)

Also, six identities. Six stages in the practice of the Lotus Sutra formulated by T'ien-t'ai (538-597) in Great Concentration and Insight. They are as follows:

(1)         The stage of being a Buddha in theory. At this stage one has not yet heard the correct teaching and is ignorant of Buddhism. Nevertheless, a single moment of life is in itself identical to the truth of the matrix of the Thus Come One; in other words, one is a potential Buddha.

(2)         The stage of hearing the name and words of the truth. At this stage through the spoken or written word one comes to an intellectual understanding that one has the Buddha nature and that all phenomena are manifestations of the Buddhist Law. This may take place through reading or hearing the words of the sutras.

(3)         The stage of perception and action. Here one perceives the truth of the Buddha nature within oneself through practice, the truth and the wisdom to perceive it are in accord with each other, and one's words match one's actions.

(4)         The stage of resemblance to enlightenment. At this stage, one eliminates the first two of the three categories of illusion and attains purification of the six sense organs. Having advanced this far, one's wisdom resembles that of a Buddha. In terms of the fifty-two stages of practice, this stage corresponds to the first ten stages, the ten stages of faith.

(5)         The stage of progressive awakening. This is the stage at which one eradicates all illusions except fundamental darkness and awakens progressively to the truth of one's Buddha nature. In terms of the fifty-two stages, it corresponds to the eleventh (the first stage of security) through the fifty-first (the stage of near-perfect enlightenment).

(6)         The stage of ultimate enlightenment, or the highest stage of practice. At this stage, one finally eliminates fundamental darkness and fully manifests the Buddha nature. This corresponds to the stage of perfect enlightenment, the last of the fifty-two stages.

T'ien-t'ai taught that all people at whatever stage of practice are equally endowed with the potential for Buddhahood. In this way he prevented his disciples from falling into the error of self-deprecation or becoming discouraged. On the other hand, possessing the Buddha nature is not the same as attaining Buddhahood. T'ien-t'ai therefore divided practice into six progressive stages to prevent his disciples from falling into the error of arrogance and relaxing their efforts. In Great Concentration and Insight, he states: "If one lacks faith, one will object that it pertains to the lofty realm of the sages, something far beyond the capacity of one's own wisdom to understand. If one lacks wisdom, one will become puffed up with arrogance and will claim to be the equal of the Buddha."

The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings gives Nichiren's (1222-1282) interpretation of the six stages of practice: "Speaking in terms of the six stages of practice, the Thus Come One in this 'Life Span' chapter is an ordinary mortal who is in the first stage, that of being a Buddha in theory. When one reverently accepts Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, one is in the next stage, that of hearing the name and words of the truth. That is, one has for the first time heard the daimoku. When, having heard the daimoku, one proceeds to put it into practice, this is the third stage, that of perception and action. In this stage, one perceives the object of devotion that embodies the three thousand realms in a single moment of life. When one succeeds in overcoming various illusions and obstacles, this is the fourth stage, that of resemblance to enlightenment. When one sets out to convert others, this is the fifth stage, that of progressive awakening. And when one comes at last to the realization that one is a Buddha eternally endowed with the three bodies, then one is a Buddha of the sixth and highest stage, that of ultimate enlightenment.

"Speaking of the chapter as a whole, the idea of gradually overcoming delusions is not the ultimate meaning of the 'Life Span' chapter. You should understand that the ultimate meaning of this chapter is that ordinary mortals, just as they are in their original state of being, are Buddhas.

"And if you ask what is the action or practice carried out by the Buddha eternally endowed with the three bodies, it is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo."

(See also: Six stages of practice, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Inclusion of the nine worlds in Buddhahood

(Jpn.: bukkai-soku-kukai or bukkai-shogu-no-kukai)

The principle that the nine worlds are inherent in Buddhahood. That is, the world of Buddhahood possesses the nine worlds, i.e., the world of hell, the world of hungry spirits, the world of animals, the world of asuras, the world of human beings, the world of heavenly beings, the world of voice-hearers, the world of cause-awakened ones, and the world of bodhisattvas. The nine worlds indicate realms or states of life that are tainted by illusions and suffering.

According to this principle, a Buddha does not eradicate the nine worlds even after attaining enlightenment, but retains and uses them to save the people. In other words, even when one has attained Buddhahood, the nine worlds continue to exist in one's life, as does the potential for suffering and illusions. This principle is derived from the Lotus Sutra, particularly the "Life Span" (sixteenth) chapter, and with the inclusion of Buddhahood in the nine worlds explains T'ien-t'ai's concept of the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds.

The "Life Span" chapter reads: "The scriptures expounded by the Thus Come One are all for the purpose of saving and emancipating living beings. Sometimes I speak of myself, sometimes of others; sometimes I present myself, sometimes others; sometimes I show my own actions, sometimes those of others. All that I preach is true and not false." T'ien-t'ai (538-597) interprets "myself " in the quotation as the Buddha's Dharma body and "others" as his manifested body. He says that, when the Buddha teaches directly from the standpoint of his enlightenment, he speaks of "myself " (Buddhahood), and when he teaches in accord with the people's capacity, he speaks of "others" (the nine worlds).

(See also: Inclusion of the nine worlds in Buddhahood, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

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