I’ve written previously, on my blog as well as in my book Lecture on the Lotus Sutra, about the hidden practice of Rahula. Being the son of the Buddha must have been very difficult. Anytime a person follows in the footsteps of someone who has achieved success there is always the comparison people will make of the two and the different efforts and ways of being. Imagine being the son of the Buddha and then practicing your father’s teachings.
You’re never anybody else except the son of the Buddha. To a much smaller, though no less demeaning, degree women have been in this role for eons. They are most always the ‘wife of…’ and rarely simply themselves. Of course it happens in reverse as well.
I had not really ever heard the term Preacher’s Kid, or PK, before I began my training as a chaplain. It is the same sort of thing. PKs are frequently into trouble of one sort or another. It stands to reason though when you think about it. They really have no identity if they are good children because that is what they are expected to be as children of the preacher. It is only by being bad that they can be viewed as a unique individual.
Of course this isn’t skillful action, that’s hardly the point or even considered.
Rahula, the son of the Buddha you might could say has it ever worse. In Chapter IX the prediction given to him is that for many lifetimes to come he will always be the son of a Buddha and will always practice under them. You could almost expect that if he had been a bad person he might have to repeat the whole son of the Buddha thing a time or two until he got it right. Here he is, he got it right, he did what he was supposed to and still he got shafted with being the son of the Buddha for lifetimes to come.
Yet what is missed is the truth of the hidden practice and the path to enlightenment it reveals. It isn’t necessary for us to be anything other than ourselves. We don’t need to become famous or achieve any fame in order to become enlightened. No one may know us or know anything about our practice, yet our enlightenment is assured.
For this piece I chose the image of windows because while windows can be a portal to view the outside, say from inside a home or building, they also obscure what is within. Windows may even look dilapidated and run down, yet just on the other side may be a most delightful environment. Also widows can be draped with many sorts of things and so can be almost anything we wish them to be and can take us almost anywhere we wish them to show.
This piece is done on page 183 from the Threefold Lotus Sutra translated by Kato et. al. published by Weatherhill/Kosei. This piece is 9″ x 6″, mixed media, acrylic pain, leaf from linden tree the same as the type of tree the Buddha sat under when he attained enlightenment.
