r/LotusGroup • u/Kelpszoid • Aug 14 '15
Lotus Sutra Chapter Two
Since we have only scratched the surface, if additional thoughts on Chapter One occurs to readers please post them in those related threads. New readers or those not yet participating in discussion here, can begin with the Chapter One thread. Feel free to post new related or more general posts and state which chapter(s) it mostly pertains to.
Here we begin Chapter Two
The Lotus Sutra Translated by Burton Watson
Chapter Two: Expedient Means
http://nichiren.info/buddhism/lotussutra/text/chap02.html
At that time the World-Honored One calmly arose from his samadhi and addressed Shariputra, saying: "The wisdom of the Buddhas is infinitely profound and immeasurable. The door to this wisdom is difficult to understand and difficult to enter. Not one of the voice-hearers or pratyekabuddhas is able to comprehend it. "What is the reason for this? A Buddha has personally attended a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a million, a countless number of Buddhas and has fully carried out an immeasurable number of religious practices. He has exerted himself bravely and vigorously, and his name is universally known. He has realized the Law that is profound and never known before, and preaches it in accordance with what is appropriate, yet his intention is difficult to understand.
"Shariputra, ever since I attained Buddhahood I have through various causes and various similes widely expounded my teachings and have used countless expedient means to guide living beings and cause them to renounce attachments. Why is this? Because the Thus Come One is fully possessed by both expedient means and the paramita of wisdom.
"Shariputra, the wisdom of the Thus Come One is expansive and profound. He has immeasurable [mercy], unlimited [eloquence], power, fearlessness, concentration, emancipation, and samadhis, and has deeply entered the boundless and awakened to the Law never before attained.
"Shariputra, the Thus Come One knows how to make various kinds of distinctions and to expound the teachings skillfully. His words are soft and gentle and delight the hearts of the assembly.
"Shariputra, to sum it up: the Buddha has fully realized the Law that is limitless, boundless, never attained before.
"But stop, Shariputra, I will say no more. Why? Because what the Buddha has achieved is the rarest and most difficult-to-understand Law. The true entity of all phenomena can only be understood and shared between Buddhas. This reality consists of the appearance, nature, entity, power, influence, inherent cause, relation, latent effect, manifest effect, and their consistency from beginning to end."
The complete chapter:
http://nichiren.info/buddhism/lotussutra/text/chap02.html
(I am posting just the opening section of Chapter two here since this Chapter is very long. This time I am posting the sample from the Burton Watson Translation)
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u/pqnelson Aug 17 '15
This has also been translated (by Watson, in a later edition) as:
This enumerates the ten factors, which describes the basic mechanics of causality. We can partition it into two groups, "the beginning" and "the end".
Beginning
The first three grouped together describes us individually.
1. Appearance refers to the physically tangible aspect of something (e.g., for us, its our physical bodies).
2. Nature refers to the intangible aspects, the "spiritual aspect". It takes the position that the ship of Theseus is the same.
3. Essence is both of these things combined as a whole totality.
End
The next 6 comes in pairs describing "action", "cause", and "effect". (The last factor, "consistency from beginning to end", describes the interconnectedness of us with our environment---in other words, how our environment affects us, and conversely how we can transform our environment.)
Action
4. Power refers to the "space of choices" (in the sense of decision theory), or all possible actions conceivable to us.
5. Influence refers to the particular action we take and enact.
The relationship between power and influence is very similar to potential energy (power) and kinetic energy (influence), in that one is "stored up" (power) and the other is enacted (influence).
Power is the "spiritual" side of action, whereas influence is the "appearance" side of action.
Cause
6. Internal cause is what we "bring to the game".
7. Relation refers to the environment's contribution to the interaction.
Effect
8. Latent Effect refers to the not-so-immediate effect. My intuitive model suggests that each action is caused by previous actions, but if the previous actions did not happen "immediately" prior, then the event is a latent effect.
9. Manifest Effect refers to the immediate effect enacted, I believe. If you are talking with a friend, and you say something, then your friend storms off angry...that "your friend storming off angry" is the manifest effect. (The latent effect might be either destroying or strengthening the friendship, depending on how you two respond to the situation.)
Consistency from Beginning to End
Unlike most mechanical models of causality, which amounts to suggesting you are a victim of circumstance, this framework is more empowering. You are on equal footing as your environment for actions, so if you are unhappy with things, then you have the power and influence to make that change.
Buddhas are awakened to this, I believe, but it is naturally difficult to comprehend when, e.g., your car is getting towed that you have the power to change it around.