Tag: Mahayana

What is the Lotus Sutra?

One of the most influential sacred texts in Buddhism is the Lotus Sutra.

The Lotus Sutra has had a tremendous influence on Buddhism as we know it today. Much of Buddhist culture as we know it either came from the Lotus Sutra, or was influenced by its ideas and teachings. Not everything, of course. But the influence is hard to ignore. If you know the Lotus Sutra, a lot of things about Buddhist culture make more sense.

A copy of the Lotus Sutra enshrined at a Vietnamese Buddhist temple. Taken at Ksitigarbha Temple in Lynnwood, WA in 2013.

Because the Lotus Sutra has been translated to many different cultures at different times, it has had many names:

Original languageTitleRomanization
SanskritSaddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtran/a
Chinese妙法蓮華經Miàofǎ Liánhuā Jīng
Vietnamese妙法蓮華經 (Han Nom)
Diệu Pháp Liên Hoa Kinh (modern)		n/a
Korean妙法蓮華經 (Hanja)
묘법연화경 (Hangeul)		Myobeop Yeonhwa gyeong
Japanese妙法蓮華経Myōhō Renge Kyō
Tibetanདམ་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོའི་མདོDamchö Pema Karpo’i do

The full title in English is the Sutra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma, but usually we just call it the “Lotus Sutra”. Similarly, in other languages, the full title of the Lotus Sutra is shortened as well. For example, in Japanese, Myōhō Renge Kyō is shortened to Hokekyō.

But I digress.

The Lotus Sutra is not short, and for new Buddhists it is not easy to read. Composed in India in the first century CE, it is divided into 28 chapters, so it reads like a full book. Many of these chapters have a prose section, then repeats itself in one or more verse sections.1

Like all Buddhist texts, or sutras, it presents its teachings in the form of a sermon by the historical founder of Buddhism, Shakyamuni Buddha (“Shakyamuni” for short). Could the Buddha have given such a long, long sermon all in the span of one sitting? Probably not. But that’s how Buddhist sutras are usually presented.

A mural of the Buddha, attended by Bodhisattvas, at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, China. Photo taken by user scchoong123. Artwork is ancient and anonymous., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Through the Buddha, the Lotus Sutra teaches many parables and similes to get its point across. Many of these parables took on a life of their own and frequently appear in Buddhist art or literature. Others are strange and obscure to modern readers. In fact, if you’re just reading the sutra for the first time, it really helps to have some kind of side-by-side guide to help make sense of it because if you tried to read it literally, you will get a headache. Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Opening the Heart of the Cosmos really helped me a lot.

For example, the chapter with the Sermon in the Sky, where a second Buddha named Prabhutaratna appears, and everyone flies up impossibly high to hear their sermon, and the Buddha projects himself across many worlds, is a difficult read. If you try to read at face-value, it reads like a fever dream.

A mural from the Yulin Grotto in China. See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
An altar revering the two buddhas, Shakyamuni and Prabhūtaratna, from the eleventh chapter of the Lotus Sutra, enshrined at a Vietnamese temple. Taken at Ksitigarbha Temple in Lynnwood, WA in 2013.

But the style of the Lotus Sutra isn’t to appeal to the head, it tries to appeal to the imagination. It is one thing to say that life is impermanent, it is another to describe the world as a great burning house, with people inside too distracted to notice. When the Buddha is shown projecting himself to countless worlds, it is just a colorful way of saying that the Dharma is everywhere, and there are countless buddhas across many worlds each preaching according to the environment. When the Buddha describes archetypal bodhisattvas in the later chapters, each one is meant to convey a different Buddhist virtue.

Deep stuff.

The Lotus Sutra was pretty radical for its time, and a core part of the larger Mayahana-Buddhist reform movement. The parable of the Dragon Princess, attaining enlightenment faster than any was obviously meant to blow the minds of the establishment, and challenge certain cultural prejudices about women, and so on.

A 12th century Japanese mural from the Heike Nokyo, depicting the Dragon Princess offering a jewel to the Buddha before transforming. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Similarly, the chapter where countless streams of “bodhisattvas of the earth” emerge from the ground was meant to show how we didn’t need to rely on elite gurus, but that everyone had the capacity for being a bodhisattva too, if they just had the confidence.

I’ve talked about the main themes of the Lotus Sutra in an older post, but I wanted to cover two really important ones.

First, the most important teaching of the Lotus Sutra is probably the “One Vehicle” (Ekayāna) teaching. Previously, the reform Mahayana, or “great vehicle” Buddhists, bickered with the traditional Buddhist establishment (called Hinayana, or “small vehicle”), and traded barbs witih one another. You can see this is in some of the really early sutras composed by Mahayana Buddhists.

But then the Lotus Sutra took a step back and looked at the big picture, and taught that it was all just Buddhism (e.g. “one vehicle”) anyway. There were many places to start, and ways to move forward, but in time they would all converge, and the quality of one buddha was no different than another. What worked for one person didn’t necessarily work for another. There was no use bickering, any effort great or small was worth it.

Second, the other major teaching of the Lotus Sutra is that the Buddha was far, far older than history would tell us. The sutra implies that the Buddha would appear in some time and place, restart the Buddhist community, grow old and die, but that was just trick to keep people getting attached to the Buddha. This seems pretty disingenuous.

But what the sutra is trying to tell us is that the Buddha just personifies the Dharma (the teachings), and that the Dharma is the Buddha. Since the Dharma, the principle of existence, has always been around, in the same way one can see the Buddha also being around in one form or another, even in the darkest of times. Where does one begin, and the other end? I think the Mahayana Buddhists who composed it wanted people to stop getting hung up on the physical/historical Buddha, avoid a “cult of the Buddha”, and focus on the Dharma.

As a side note, the Lotus Sutra frequently promotes itself. It says that anyone who sincerely hears the Lotus Sutra, and praises it gets all kinds of benefits. But is not the Lotus Sutra as the written text from 1st century India. Like the “eternal Buddha”, this is the Lotus Sutra as the ultimate teaching (e.g. the Dharma) in its unvarnished form.

Thus, the Lotus Sutra is in some ways a very strange text because it is so dense with metaphor, simile and parables to get things across. But when you look at all the artwork and culture influenced by it, you can see that it gets something right. Rather than appealing to intellect, it conveys its messages through more impactful means. It is one of those texts that you keep referring back to over the years because it stands out so much.

Speaking from experience, it helps not to read it from cover to cover. Instead, focus on one chapter, try to suss out the meaning. Some chapters are, in my experience, a little bland, others are really moving. Sometimes a chapter won’t make any sense, then years later you will have an “ah ha” moment and you see it in a new light.

Speaking from experience. 😏

P.S. I probably own 3-4 translations of the Lotus Sutra, the Gene Reeves translation is probably the easiest for beginners in my opinion, but I like them all in their own way.

1 Researchers believe that the verses actually came first, and then the authors composed narrative around them.

Inequality

Spock sitting in an orange room, facing right, his fingers steepled as he meditates on a problem.

This troubled planet is a place of the most violent contrasts. Those who receive the rewards are totally separated from those who shoulder the burdens. It is not a wise leadership….

Star Trek: The Original Series, “The Cloud Minders” (s3ep21)

The classic Star Trek episode, “The Cloud Minders”, is a fun episode late in the third season that explores a society that is separated into two social classes: the intellectual class living in the clouds and a working-class that lives below in the mines.

Years later, in the Japanese game Chrono Trigger, a similar theme was explored with a society that lived around 12,000 BC that had an elite intellectual class living in the clouds, and a worker class that lived in the icy wastes below.

It’s fascinating, if not somewhat disturbing to see real-life examples of this too. As much as I admire the Heian Period of Japanese culture, it’s not hard to see parallels: an elite literati that sits around and writes poetry all day, and a much larger illiterate peasant class that toils in the fields for their benefit. The inequality is disturbing.

Indeed, this pattern repeats over and over again in human history, regardless of time or place. There is even a political theory toward this end call the Iron Law of Oligarchy. Are we not also living under some form of oligarchy even today?

Further, the more that people “in the clouds” become cut off, the harder it is to develop empathy for those who toil, and easier to just blame them for their own predicament. This is the very antipathy of metta in Buddhism, the goodwill towards all beings, big or small, smart or foolish.

In some ways, the early Mahayana-Buddhist texts such as the Lotus Sutra or Three Pure Land Sutras1 were pretty revolutionary texts. The famous 12th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, and its story of the Dragon Princess deserves a look. In this story, the daughter of the Dragon King under the sea is introduced as a being of great wisdom despite only being 8 years old. The Buddha’s disciple Shariputra, representing the conservative faction of the Buddhist community scoffs at this:

At that time Shariputra said to the dragon girl, “You suppose that in this short time you have been able to attain the unsurpassed way. But this is difficult to believe. Why? Because a woman’s body is soiled and defiled, not a vessel for the Law [the Buddha-Dharma]. How could you attain the unsurpassed bodhi [awakening]? The road to Buddhahood is long and far-reaching. Only after one has spent immeasurable kalpas [eons] pursuing austerities, accumulating deeds, practicing all kinds of paramitas [self-perfections], can one finally achieve success. Moreover, a woman is subject to the five obstacles….”

Translation by Burton Watson: https://nichiren.info/buddhism/lotussutra/text/chap12.html

The Dragon King’s daughter rebuffs Shariputra’s criticism and wows them all:

At that time the members of the assembly all saw the dragon girl in the space of an instant change into a man and carry out all the practices of a bodhisattva, immediately proceeding to the Spotless World of the south, taking a seat on a jeweled lotus, and attaining impartial and correct enlightenment. With the thirty-two features and the eighty characteristics [signs of a Buddha], he expounded the wonderful Law for all living beings everywhere in the ten directions.

Translation by Burton Watson: https://nichiren.info/buddhism/lotussutra/text/chap12.html

The intended message here may seem a little strange to modern audiences. This was written for a patriarchal society in antiquity, but it’s clear the Lotus Sutra taught all beings, regardless of gender, age, or even human vs. non-human status, are equally capable of Buddhahood (full enlightenment) if given the chance. When they are not, society is stifled and suffers.

In the same way, when society maintains inequality for the sake of a few, or for the sake of tradition, it degrades society by robbing it of vitality and well-being for all.

Namo Amida Buddha

1 More on the Pure Land Buddhist path and its egalitarian approach.

The Journeys of Xuanzang, part one: Desert Monasteries

In the prologue, we introduced the Buddhist monk Xuan-zang and explored the world of Tang-dynasty China. Xuan-zang left this world behind, contravening imperial decree about leaving the country without a permit, to pursue Buddhist teachings in India.

However, once he left the Yumen Pass, he immediately ran into a major issue: the Gobi Desert.

The Gobi Desert, photo by Richard Mortel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The road from the Yuman Pass to the next stop, the oasis at Hami, was barren, dry, with extreme heat and cold, and not well marked. Xuan-zang, who had little experience with this kind of travel, at one point lost his waterskin, became lost, and collapsed due to exhaustion. It is said that the bodhisattva Guan-yin guided him in his darkest hour to Hami.

The Hami Oasis

A map of the first part of Xuanzang’s journey. I made this using Inkarnate (a great online map tool). Apologies for any geographical mistakes. Free for non-commercial use.

The town of Hāmì (哈密), also known as Kumul (قۇمۇل) in Uyghur, was populated by a Chinese military colony since the Sui Dynasty, but had been cut off from China during turbulent times. At Xuan-zang’s time, it pledged loyalty to the regional Turk rulers while still maintaining diplomatic relations with the new Tang Dynasty. Some months after Xuan-zang left, Great Tang’s expansion absorbed Hami into its empire.

Here in Hami, Xuan-zang stayed at a Buddhist monastery where three Chinese monks lived. They were overjoyed to see a fellow monk, and offered him lodging. Xuan-zang did not stay too long here, and moved onto the larger city of Turpan.

The King of Turpan

The “Flaming Mountains” near the city of Turpan on the Silk Road. Photo by es:User:Colegota, CC BY-SA 2.5 ES, via Wikimedia Commons

The city of Turpan (Uyghur: تۇرپان) also called Tǔlǔfān (吐鲁番) in Chinese was a prosperous city since ancient times, and changed hands often, but since antiquity had a large Chinese community, and considerable Chinese cultural influence, especially compared to cities further west.

The King of Turpan at this time was a devout Buddhist, and gave Xuan-zang a warm welcome upon his arrival, but also pressured him to stay rather than continue his journey. When Xuan-zang politely refused, the King of Turpan begged, cajoled, and threatened him. Xuan-zang was not allowed to leave, and he resorted to fasting to make his point. The king relented, and got Xuan-zang’s promise that he would stay for a month to preach to the people of Turpan, and would return later upon his return trip.

Once this agreement was reached, Xuan-zang stayed as promised. He used this time to explore the area, including the ancient city of Gāochāng (高昌), also known as Qocho, which was the former capital of a once-powerful kingdom, where he gave sermons to audiences there. Archeological excavations have show plenty of evidence of a vibrant Buddhist community at the time.

Remnants of a Buddhist stupa at Gaochang. Photo by Colegota, CC BY-SA 2.5 ES, via Wikimedia Commons

Xuan-zang also likely visted the nearby Bezeklik caves as well:

The Bezeklik Caves as seen from above. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Photo by T Chu, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Bezeklik caves are a massive grotto that served as a monastery for the local Buddhist monastic community. Many of the walls and ceilings were painted with frescoes of the Buddha, or other famous imagery, though in later generations, these were often defaced or damaged by locals for one reason or another (superstition, religious prohibition against human imagery, or simply raw materials).

A fresco of various buddhas. Notice that the faces have been scratched off. Photo by Colegota, CC BY-SA 2.5 ES, via Wikimedia Commons

Further, European archeologists looted the caves and brought many works of art back to Europe, only for them to be destroyed later in World War II. Thus, very little remains of the artwork now, but what does remain is simply spectacular, and a shining example of the fusion of cultures along the Silk Road at this time.

Bezeklik caves, Pranidhi scene 14, temple 9. Note the Sogdian men depicted in reverence of the Buddha. See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Two Buddhist monks, one Eurasian (possibly Sogdian or Tokharian), and one East Asian. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A Uyghur prince, photo by The original uploader was Kellerassel at German Wikipedia., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Once Xuan-zang’s month was completed, the King of Turpan made good on his word. He provided Xuan-zang with many goods, supplies and letters of introduction to the kings further along the road. He now traveled with a caravan toward the next city Yānqí (焉耆) known by many other names, including Karasahr (قاراشەھەر in Uyghur) or Agni from the old Tokharian name, but not before being robbed by bandits! Evidentially, the bandits had already killed and robbed an earlier caravan, and were content to be bribed by Xuan-zang’s party and left with no further violence.

Upon reaching the city of Yanqi/Karasahr/Agni, Xuan-zang was said to have received a warm welcome, and described a city with ten different monasteries, and with two thousand monks practicing Hinayana Buddhism.1 He did not have flattering things to say about the king of Yanqi though, and later in 643 when the king broke his allegiance with Great Tang, the emperor Taizong, whom we met in the prologue episode, steamrolled Yanqi’s army and took the king prisoner.

Xuan-zang for his part only stayed for one night and moved on toward the city of Kucha. Kucha is an important city in early Buddhist history, but as we’ll see in our next episode, it was caught in a game of political tug-of-war…

Until the next episode: the Western Turks!

1 The term Hinayana is a loaded term in Buddhism, and frequently misunderstood. It has also been used as a pejorative by Mahayana Buddhists too. Without getting lost in the weeds, think of “Hinayana” Buddhism as any pre-Mahayana Indian-Buddhist school. It is not the same as Theravada Buddhism (the other major branch of Buddhism) since both branches were geographically separate and had little interaction with one another.

Saicho: Founder of Tendai in Japan

June 4th is the yearly memorial service in Japan’s Tendai sect of Buddhism called Sangé-é (山家会) for its founder, Saichō (最澄, 767 – 822). I am writing this post a bit late this year, but I wanted to explore the life of Saicho a little bit and why he matters.

Saicho as depicted in a Heian-Period painting.

If you look at the history of Japanese Buddhism, Saicho doesn’t elicit much historical attention and discussion, even compared to contemporary rivals at the time like Kūkai, founder of Shingon-sect Buddhism. Yet, the sect he founded in Japan was overwhelmingly the largest and most influential for centuries (probably too much so), until it finally faded into the background in the late medieval period. This is why you rarely see mention of Saicho or Tendai these days: it’s far smaller now than it was in the past.

Also, to confuse matters further, Saicho is only the founder of the Japanese branch of Tendai. It was the Buddhist monk Zhi-yi (智顗, 538 – 597), who originally started the Tian-tai (天台) sect in China in the 7th century and it remains a very influential sect across many areas of mainland-Buddhist Asia (Korea, Vietnam, etc). Tian-tai in Japan (pronounced as Tendai) reveres Zhiyi as well.

Anyhow, Saicho was a monk at a time when Buddhism had already been established in Japan, primarily around the old capitol of Nara, yet was limited to a very tightly regulated number of schools and monks per school. Besides the Yogacara (Hossō) and Huayan (Kegon) schools, the rest are very obscure today. These schools had all been imported from Tang-Dynasty China, and represent “branch” schools to the mother temples there. The existing schools at that time were obligated to perform rituals on behalf of the Emperor to prevent calamities, cure diseases, bring prosperity to the nation and other political needs. In turn, the government allocated new acolyte monks every year, and allowed them to continue. However, beyond that, Buddhism had very little reach in the rest of Japanese society. This is very different than the bottom-up approach in China.

Mount Hiei today, photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Saicho was ordained as an official monk, but soon left and retreated to Mount Hiei where he underwent ascetic practices, rather than stay in the urban temple complexes. In time, he attracted other like-minded disciples, and a small, informal monastic community developed there on the mountain. Further, he carved an image of the Medicine Buddha, and later lit an oil lamp in reverence to the Buddha, praying that the light would never be extinguished. This lamp, the Fumetsu no Hōtō (不滅の法灯) was the subject of a previous post. By this point, the foundations of the temple of Enryakuji were laid.

Later, by a lucky coincidence, the capitol of Japan was moved away from Nara to Kyoto (back then Heian-kyō) in 795. Since Mount Hiei happened to be to the northeast of Kyoto, and since the northeast was considered an inauspicious direction in classic Chinese geomancy, the presence of a Buddhist temple there (namely Enryakuji) helped protect the new capital from negative influences. The Emperor, for his part, saw this new Buddhist sect has a counterbalance to the old guard sects in Nara. Thus, Saicho’s star quickly rose.

The Eastern Pagoda (Buddhist stupa), of Enryakuji Temple, 663highland, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Now with sponsorship from the new Imperial court, Saicho was dispatched to sail back to China in 804, gather more resources and help bring Buddhism to a wider audience. On the same diplomatic mission, another promising young monk named Kūkai was also dispatched. More on him later. Of the four ships that sailed out to sea, only 2 survived a storm at sea (Saicho and Kukai were each aboard one of the surviving ships).

Saicho’s had mixed success in China. He did not speak Chinese (he could only read it), but was able to get official permission from the Chinese government to travel to Mount Tiantai. There he stayed for 135 days. Saicho later received limited training in esoteric Buddhism, which was all the rage in Tang-Dynasty China (and Japan at this time). It wasn’t until the second generation of Tendai monks who went to China (Ennin for example) that esoteric training really developed in the Tendai sect in Japan. Saicho also copied many sutras and texts in order to provide fresh copies back in Japan (printing did not come until much later, despite flourishing in China).

Guoqing Temple (guó qīng sì, 国清寺) on Mount Tiantai, head of the Tiantai Order. Photo by Joshtinho, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Nonetheless, when Saicho returned to Japan 8 months later, he was feted for his accomplishments. He got to work using his newfound training, and his collection of sutras brought back from China to petition the Emperor to start a new sect derived from the Chinese Tiantai Buddhism he trained under. Saicho’s vision was slightly different than Tiantai Buddhism, particularly because he envisioned a purely “Mahayana” sect, not just a sect with Mahayana Buddhism on top of earlier Buddhist tradition. This meant different ordination platforms, different training, etc. It was a big controversy at the time, and the powerful Yogacara (Hossō in Japanese) school based in Nara really gave him grief over it.2

In Dr Paul Groner’s book on Saicho, he explains Saicho’s vision further:

In his works directed against Tokuitsu and the Hossō [Yogacara] School, Saichō argued that all people had the Buddha-nature [capacity for Enlightenment] and could attain Buddhahood. Receiving the Fan wang [Bodhisattva precepts] ordination and adhering to the precepts were religious practices open to anyone. Anyone could receive a Fan wang ordination and anyone who had been correctly ordained could in turn confer the Fan wang precepts on others….

Saichō envisaged a system in which Tendai monks would be trained for twelve years on Mount Hiei and then go to live in the princes in order to perform good works, to preach, and to confer Fan wang ordinations.

Page 179

Further, Saicho really took the idea of unifying different Buddhist practices and traditions into an “umbrella tradition” to a new level. It wasn’t enough that the Lotus Sutra was the highest teaching (per Tiantai tradition), he wanted to really absorb other practices and traditions toward that end, and diffuse them across the country in a religious community that blurred the traditional lines between monks and laity.

Saicho’s zeal, his rising status in the new Imperial court at Kyoto, and his fresh training gave him a lot of leeway, and the Emperor granted his request. Thus, Tendai Buddhism (the Japanese branch of Tiantai) was born. It has a deep connection with the mother sect in China, but Saicho also added some innovations to it as well.

Saicho’s star was soon eclipsed after the other monk from the same diplomatic mission, Kūkai, who returned some time later and brought an extensive training program in esoteric Buddhism (something Saicho had only a partial training of). Because esoteric Buddhism was all the rage (until the Purge of 845), Kukai’s training and religious material he imported outshone Saicho. Kukai and Saicho tried to maintain a cordial relationship, but Saicho wasn’t willing to train under Kukai, and Kukai kept poaching disciples of Saicho’s so the two groups became somewhat acrimonious over time.

Saicho proved throughout his life that he was dedicated to the Lotus Sutra and the Buddhist path. He was a sincere ascetic in his youth, rather than a “career monk” like many others of his time, and held himself to high standards. The fact that attracted like-minded people around him, shows that he “walked the talk” too. In China, he underwent many trainings, copied many sutras, and didn’t stop learning and improving. It should be noted that Kukai and Saicho were both pioneers for journeying to China to bring back more Buddhist teachings, rather than past schools that relied on foreign monks to make the journey to remote Japan.

If Saicho had any virtue, it was zeal.

If Saicho had any fault, it was that he was perhaps stubborn.

Personally, I like Saicho, flaws and all. Like, I would have loved to sit with him on those early days on Mount Hiei, swap practice tips, get his advice, etc. I really like his enthusiasm and positivity. Much like Honen centuries later, Saicho was bold and motivated by sincere conviction. The Tendai sect morphed into something that I don’t think he anticipated but personally I blame politics more than the founder.

But anyway, this is all just my opinion.

As for me, I did an extra long home service for Saicho this week in his honor.

1 Devout Buddhists in early Japanese history, such as Prince Shotoku, were devotees of the Lotus Sutra as well, but I don’t think there was any effort in those days to elevate it to the highest teachings, let alone make a new sect out of it. It was just there as part of the larger tradition.

2 Acrimony between Tendai and Hosso schools of Buddhism continued for centuries, starting with Saicho’s disagreements with one Tokuitsu of Hossō. Both sects frequently faced off during official Buddhist debates at the Imperial court as well.

A Pinch of Austerity

Anyone who’s ever followed a religious path, regardless of religion, will know that there’s usually some kind of rules, restrictions or prohibition about how to live one’s life. Some people approach this as “Eager Beavers” and dive head-first, others hate the idea of rules imposed on their own life and rebel. Others find some kind of middle-ground.

For Buddhism though, The Buddha treated the entire Buddhist path, from mundane newbie to fully-awakened buddha as nothing more than self-training. It’s something you have to take on yourself, following the Buddha’s advice (like a doctor telling you to eat more vegetables), and you’re responsible for your own efforts, pace, self-discipline, and so on.

Further, no matter what tradition, Buddhism is at heart a path of austerity. Because monks and nuns explicitly give up all worldly attachments to focus on the Buddhist path exclusively, this is seen as the ideal form of practice. However, even for lay followers, Buddhism encourages moderation and austerity as one can reasonably practice.

Another way of looking at it: anyone who pursues the Buddhist path is “living like a monk” to some degree.

But how does a lay person find the right balance?

In an old sutra of the Pali Canon, the Buddha used the example of a vīna (a kind of lute), but we can use modern examples such as a guitar, cello, and so on. If the strings are too tight, they will soon snap. If they are too loose, the music sounds terrible. Tuned just right, the instrument plays well.

I like to think of it as adding spice to a soup. If you add no spice, the soup is kind of bland, unremarkable. If you add too much, the flavor is ruined. A pinch of spice though really enhances the flavor.

In the same way, adding a pinch of austerity to one’s life is a safe, sustainable approach. The Five Precepts are a great start, but you can also add a small amount of Buddhist practice like meditation or chanting. Remember though, if you add too much at first, it will “ruin the soup”, so start small. If it’s not enough, add a bit more. If you can’t follow all Five Precepts, start with four, three, two or even one. Do not be taken in by self-doubt; start small, experiment, try something, evaluate later.

Just a pinch of austerity in one’s life can help a person gain self-respect, dignity, and a sense of stability. It’s not obvious at first, but speaking from almost 20 years of trial-and-error experience, it does pay off.

P.S. This is another draft I started writing before I had my medical emergency.

P.P.S. Featured image is some home-cooked nabé (鍋) soup my wife made. It’s basically just fish broth (dashi), vegetables, tofu and/or some sliced meat. Easy to make, flexible, and very hearty. I make a good vegetarian lentil soup too, and will probably share the recipe someday.

Chanting The Kannon Sutra

Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra is a popular devotional text in East Asian Buddhism. It is often referred to as the “Avalokiteśvara Sutra”, or kannongyō (観音経) in Japanese, or more formally the kanzeon bosatsu fumonbongé (観世音普門品偈, “Chapter on the Universal Gate of Kanzeon Bodhisattva”).

Despite the name, it is not a stand-alone text, but simply a famous chapter in the larger Lotus Sutra. This particular chapter is the main introduction to one of the most popular Bodhisattvas in Buddhism: Avalokitesvara (Kannon in Japanese, Guanyin in Chinese, etc.). The chapter describes the attributes of Kannon that are familiar to Buddhists, such as their vows to help all beings who call on them, their ability to take on various forms to teach people, and their unwavering compassion to lead all beings to Enlightenment.

A more Chinese-style image of Kannon (a.k.a. Guan-yin) in her more motherly form, photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

The chapter as a whole is long and would be difficult to chant, so the verse section, not the narrative section, is frequently used for liturgical purposes. The Lotus Sutra often describes things in narrative form, then summarizes again in verse form. However, even the verse section alone is longer than the Heart Sutra, or the Shiseige, so just chanting the verse section is a bit challenging. In my experience it takes about 5-7 minutes.

For this reason, medieval Buddhists in Japan also devised an even shorter version called the Ten-Verse Kannon Sutra.

The sutra is frequently recited in both Zen and Tendai liturgies, among others, but it is not well known to Westerner lay-Buddhists. I had difficulty finding an online copy I could use as a reference here, even in Japanese, due to its length.

However, ages ago, I picked up a sutra book at the famous Sensōji temple in Tokyo, and once I figured out what the Kannon Sutra was, I copied it character by character to an old version of the blog, but then lost it later when I changed blogs. Recently, I was able to recover the text (not easily) from the original HTML I wrote, and posted it back on here with minor edits.

I have also provided a PDF version here if you want to print it out and use at home.

Also, special thanks to this website for providing much needed reference information on pronunciation and Chinese characters. My original, recovered text had a few errors, embarrassingly.

Examples

I found a few examples on Youtube that you can follow along if you are learning to chant the Kannon Sutra as shown below.

From Eiheiji temple (one of two home temples of Soto Zen). Note that they chant this at a pretty fast pace.
This example from Zenshoji Temple, a Shingon-sect temple, in Niigata Prefecture, has line by line annotation. The chanting pace is slower and easier to follow.

These examples are very similar, other than slight differences in pacing and pronunciation of certain Chinese characters. For people who are learning to recite the sutra, just pick what works until you get the hang of it.

Translation

I decided not to post the translation side-by-side with the text, the way I do with the Heart Sutra and such. This is due to formatting reasons on the blog, plus also length of the text makes this more difficult. I may revise this later.

For now, I highly recommend checking out a modern translation here by the excellent Dr Burton Watson. In that translation, the verse section starts after the phrase “At that time Bodhisattva Inexhaustible Intent posed this question in verse form“. The Buddhist Text Translation Society also has an excellent translation of the verse section here.

Disclaimer and Legal Info

I hereby release this into the public domain. Please use it as you see fit, but if you attribute it to this site, greatly appreciated. Also, please bear in mind this is an amateur work, and should not be taken too seriously.

Dedication

I dedicate this effort to all sentient beings everywhere. May all beings be well, and may they all attain perfect peace.

Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu

The Kannon Sutra, verse section

(2025 edition, with minor typo fixes)

Preamble

Original ChineseJapanese Romanization
妙法蓮華經
観世音菩薩　
普門品偈		Myo ho ren ge kyo
kan ze on bo satsu
fu mon bon ge

Verse Section

Original ChineseJapanese Romanization
世尊妙相具
我今重問彼　
佛子何因縁
名為観世音		Se son myo so gu 
ga kon ju mon pi
bus-shi ga in nen
myo i kan ze on
具足妙相尊
偈答無盡意　
汝聴観音行
善応諸方所		gu soku myo so son
ge to mu jin ni
nyo cho kan on gyo
zen no sho ho jo
弘誓深如海
歴劫不思議　
侍多千億佛
発大清浄願		gu zei jin nyo kai
ryak-ko fu shi gi
ji ta sen noku butsu 
hotsu dai sho jo gan
我為汝略説
聞名及見身　
心念不空過
能滅諸有苦		ga i nyo ryaku setsu
mon myo gyu ken shin
shin nen fu ku ka
no metsu sho u ku
假使興害意
推落大火坑　
念彼観音力
火坑変成池		ke shi ko gai i
sui raku dai ka kyo
nen pi kan on riki
ka kyo hen jo ji
或漂流巨海
龍魚諸鬼難　
念彼観音力
波浪不能没		waku hyo ru go kai
ryu go sho ki nan
nen pi kan on riki
ha ro fu no motsu
或在須弥峰
為人所推堕　
念彼観音力
如日虚空住		waku zai shu mi bu
i nin sho sui da
nen pi kan on riki
nyo nichi ko ku ju
或被悪人逐
堕落金剛山　
念彼観音力
不能損一毛		waku bi aku nin jiku
da raku kon go sen
nen pi kan on riki
fu no son ichi mo
或値怨賊繞
各執刀加害　
念彼観音力
咸即起慈心		waku ji on zoku nyo
kaku shu to ka gai
nen pi kan on riki
gen soku ki ji shin
或遭王難苦
臨刑欲寿終　
念彼観音力
刀尋段段壊		waku so o nan ku
rin gyo yoku ju shu
nen pi kan on riki
to jin dan dan ne
或囚禁枷鎖
手足被杻械　
念彼観音力
釈然得解脱		waku ju kin ka sa
shu soku bi chu gai
nen pi kan on riki
shaku nen toku ge datsu
呪詛諸毒薬
所欲害身者　
念彼観音力
還著於本人		shu so sho doku yaku
sho yoku gai shin ja
nen pi kan on riki
gen jaku o hon nin
或遇悪羅刹
毒龍諸鬼等　
念彼観音力
時悉不敢害		waku gu aku ra setsu
doku ryu sho ki to
nen pi kan on riki
ji shitsu bu kan gai
若悪獣圍繞
利牙爪可怖　
念彼観音力
疾走無邊方		nyaku aku shu i nyo
ri ge so ka fu
nen pi kan on riki
jis-so mu hen bo
蚖蛇及蝮蠍
気毒煙火燃　
念彼観音力
尋聲自回去		gan ja gyu fuku katsu
ke doku en ka nen
nen pi kan on riki
jin sho ji e ko
雲雷鼓掣電
降雹澍大雨　
念彼観音力
応時得消散		un rai ku sei den
go baku ju dai u
nen pi kan on riki
o ji toku sho san
衆生被困厄
無量苦逼身　
観音妙智力
能救世間苦		shu jo bi kon yaku
mu ryo ku hitsu shin
kan on myo chi riki
no ku se ken ku
具足神通力
廣修智方便　
十方諸国土
無刹不現身		gu soku jin zu riki
ko shu chi ho ben
jip-po sho koku do
mu setsu fu gen shin
種種諸悪趣
地獄鬼畜生　
生老病死苦
以漸悉令滅		shu ju sho aku shu
ji goku ki chiku sho
sho ro byo shi ku
i zen shitsu ryo metsu
真観清浄観
廣大智慧観　
悲観及慈観
常願常瞻仰		shin kan sho jo kan
ko dai chi e kan
hi kan gyu ji kan
jo gan jo sen go
無垢清浄光
慧日破諸闇　
能伏災風火
普明照世間		mu ku sho jo ko
e nichi ha sho an
no buku sai fu ka
fu myo sho se ken
悲體戒雷震
慈意妙大雲　
澍甘露法雨
滅除煩悩燄		hi tai kai rai shin
ji i myo dai un
ju kan ro ho u
metsu jo bon no en
諍訟経官処
怖畏軍陣中　
念彼観音力
衆怨悉退散		jo ju kyo kan jo
fu i gun jin chu
nen pi kan on riki
shu on shitsu tai san
妙音観世音
梵音海潮音　
勝彼世間音
是故須常念		myo on kan ze on
bon on kai jo on
sho hi se ken on
ze ko shu jo nen
念念勿生疑
観世音浄聖　
於苦悩死厄
能為作依怙		nen nen motsu sho gi
kan ze on jo sho
o ku no shi yaku
no i sa e go
具一切功徳
慈眼視衆生　
福聚海無量
是故応頂礼		gu is-sai ku doku
ji gen ji shu jo
fuku ju kai mu ryo
ze ko o cho rai

Conclusion

Original ChineseRomanization
爾時持地菩
薩即從座起
前白佛言世
尊若有衆生		ni ji ji ji bo
sa soku ju za ki
zen byaku butsu gon se
son nyaku u shu jo
聞是観世音
菩薩品自在
之業普門示
現神通力者		mon ze kan ze on
bo sa bon ji zai
shi go fu mon ji
gen jin zu riki sha
當知是人功
徳不少佛説
是普門品時
衆中八萬四		to chi ze nin ku
doku fu sho bus-setsu
ze fu mon bon ji
shu ju hachi man shi
千衆生皆發
無等等阿耨
多羅三藐三
菩提心		sen shu jo kai hotsu
mu to do a noku
ta ra san myaku san
bo dai shin

In the coming weeks, I hope to post a couple more such chants from the Lotus Sutra, as they are popular both in Tendai and Nichiren communities in particular, and I am learning to chant these too.

P.S. Featured photo was taken by me at Zojoji temple in Tokyo, Japan, with an image of Kannon Bodhisattva wearing a crown that features an image of Amitabha Buddha.

My New Buddhism Book!

I did it, I finally finished it. For years I wanted to write a book about Buddhism, especially Mahayana Buddhism, and each time I struggled to get past a certain point and keep point.

Recently while cleaning out some files on the computer, I discovered that in early 2020, during the first months of the Pandemic, I had written a full draft of a book. I was surprised I had written a full draft, then subsequently forget, probably because the editing looked daunting at the time. Plus, I was starting a new hobby writing Dungeons and Dragons modules.

So, for the past month I have been fixing that draft, expanding some areas, adding photos and so on. The links below, available in PDF format and EPUB format, are the final result.

This book, The Mahayana Buddhism Field Manual, covers many aspects of Mahayana Buddhism, written for beginners in mind, including those who are rediscovering the religion of their birth. This book is dense, but covers as many aspects as possible, but also with a DIY (do it yourself) emphasis. Enjoy!

PDF Format
EPUB format

This book is free, so feel free to download it, distribute it, or share with someone interested in Buddhism, or maybe wants to learn more. If it helps others on the Buddhist path, great!

Thank you, and enjoy!

The Living Message of the Lotus Sutra

Hi folks, as Ohigan season has arrived once more, I revisited an old post I made ages ago in a past incarnation1 of this blog, now updated and expanded from the original. So old it’s new again! 😄

A long time ago, while walking to work one day, I got to thinking about a certain, Buddhist text, called the Lotus Sutra, or hokkekyō (法華経) in Japanese. The Lotus Sutra is probably the most important Buddhist text in all of Mahayana Buddhism, that is Buddhism across east Asia including China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and so on. The Lotus Sutra is so important that it pretty much defines what Mahayana Buddhism is. Even though the Lotus Sutra is nearly 2,000 years old, composed in waves starting in the 1st century CE, it is still actively studied, chanted, and revered by countless Buddhists.

A Sanskrit manuscript of the Lotus Sutra composed in South Turkestan Brahmi script, courtesy of Wikipedia

In spite of its importance, the Lotus Sutra is a tough sutra to read, especially for new Buddhists who aren’t used to “sutra language” and style. An old Buddhist friend of mine described it as the “prologue without a story”. At other times, its powerful imagery and use of (sometimes) convoluted parables can bewilder, confuse or turn some people off.2

But that particular day, I got to thinking what the entire sutra means, given its length, and how this applies to life now. Once you get used to its archaic style and language,3 I believe it is still very relevant today to Buddhists and non-Buddhists because it introduces many ideas that have since become a part of mainstream Buddhism tradition:

  • In spite of the various schools, practices and regional/cultural differences, there is only one Buddhism, and all of them are included. (chapter 2)
  • No effort is wasted. If kids offer a pile of sand to the Buddha, or a person says “Hail Buddha” even once, they are on the Buddhist path and will someday reach Enlightenment. (chapter 2)
  • There is only one truth, but each person understands it as best they can. (chapter 5)
  • In true Buddhism, there is no discrimination between men and women, young and old. All can attain Buddhahood if they have the noble intention of doing so. (chapter 6, 8, 9, 10).
  • Also intention, not form or background, is what matters. (chapter 12’s story of the Dragon Princess)
  • The Buddhist lifestyle is one of peace, goodwill, and wholesome restraint. A person should refrain from criticizing other people’s beliefs, nor withhold teachings either when asked. (chapter 14)
  • Anyone who upholds these truths can be a “Bodhisattva of the Earth”, a guardian of the Buddhist teachings. (chapter 15).
  • The Buddha is more than just a physical/historical person. In other words the Dharma embodies the Buddha, the Buddha embodies the Dharma. (chapter 16)
  • Delighting in the truth, in the Dharma, changes one for the better (ch. 18)
  • The epitome of Buddhist character is patience (ch. 20), commitment (ch. 23), humility (ch. 24) and compassion (ch. 25)
  • Friends and good companions are important on the Buddhist path. (ch. 27)
  • Never give up. (ch. 28)

All of these teachings can be found scattered here and there in earlier Buddhist texts, but the Lotus Sutra functions as a kind of “reboot” or “capstone” text that synthesizes all these ideas and presents them in a more cohesive narrative.

So, happy and peaceful Ohigan to readers, party on Wayne, and Nam-myoho Renge Kyo!

1 See what I did there? Huh? Huh? I’ll see myself out.

2 The first time I read it, it made little sense, and I put it down and forgot about it for years. Later, I found Thich Nhat Hanh’s excellent commentaries on the Lotus Sutra, titled Opening the Heart of the Cosmos. Reading that side-by-side with a copy of the Lotus Sutra helped me appreciate it a lot more.

3 To be fair, the Lotus is roughly contemporaneous to the New Testament, and both have to be read through translations, and the quality of the translations can vary. However, by comparison the New Testament is significantly shorter than the Lotus Sutra, and is mostly in the form of letters by Paul, while the Lotus Sutra is a series of sermons by the Buddha, heavy with symbolism and parable. Based on my limited (not to mention biased) personal experience I find the New Testament more approachable at first (Revelations notwithstanding), but I find the Lotus Sutra more profound. Since they were both composed at very different parts of the world, with different cultures, and religions traditions, it’s probably not a fair comparison. Still, having grown up in US going to Sunday School every week, that’s my thoughts on the two texts.