This book is being written not at the direct suggestion of my Sensei, Kanjin Cederman Shonin, rather it springs from a conversation with him. On the second day of this new year, 2018, he and I had a long, two hour conversation. During that conversation he asked me what I wanted to challenge myself with this year. How did I wish to grow and expand my life through the Lotus Sutra.
We talked about my disappointment and frustration over the state of our society in the US and further of societies all over the world. I’ve always been to one degree or another actively engaged in social issues. From my time in college when I had the freedom to act on issues that mattered to me, such as the war in Vietnam and race. Protesting the war and the confederate flag being flown over the campus student union were two issues that earned me a visit to the dean of the college’s office. They also earned me a special file.
Equality for LGBTQI folks was also important especially with regard to the care and treatment for those with AIDS in the early 80s and further into this century with marriage rights.
The accomplishments of the time were meager, not nearly enough, and yet a good start. It seemed the future would be better and that a good foundation had been laid for future generations to build upon, if only they would. Now though that future looks dim, and uncertain. This troubles me.
With the current administration and presidency in the US under Trump so many positive efforts have been rolled back or being threatened. It isn’t only him, it is the climate in which this has become possible, so I can’t and do not wish to lay all the blame on him. He is after all a product of the environment of society and there is no place else to put the blame except on us, on myself.
I feel, and this I shared with Sensei, that this year will see me being more active in politics and social issues. In other words my feet will be on the street.
His challenge to me at this point was what is my weakness as I consider this for my future.
I had to be honest, and admit my greatest fear and weakness. I get angry. I try to contain it, I try to manage it, I try to hide it and in fact go far in the opposite direction in order to not be angry. Yet at the root I am angry.
I’ve always told myself and others that anger is not healthy. In fact it is one of the lower realms of the 10 Worlds in Ichinen Sanzen Theory, 3000 conditions of mind in a single moment of existence. Anger is the fire that consumes. One image that always comes to mind is the protest of the 60s when military recruitment centers were broken into and blood was poured over all the records. Another is the change in the nature of the protests against the war turning more violent, such as the Weathermen.
I remember a lunch time conversation I had several years ago with a Lutheran pastor and we talked about anger. Her response, not unlike many and not unlike I’ve often thought of myself, was what about righteous indignation. Again, I’ve come back to how dangerous that fire can be to control. Another aspect of where I believe the fallacy of the argument lies and that is righteous depends upon someone or something being unrighteous. This is merely animality disguised and justified by deciding that you and your cause is better than another. There needs to be something else.
There are of course universal needs of shelter, safety, and sustenance, those rise above the argument of righteous, at least in my mind. They are things that every entity, whether human or sentient or not, seeks out. Here is the conundrum though, they also cause harm to some other thing, they cause destruction, they do this and yet they are required. To do no harm is not possible, to do the least harm and the greatest good is.
Sensei reminded me of the definition of jihi, roughly translated as Buddhist mercy as being comprised of the character for compassion or empathy with the character for action. We talked about how the modern or rather the current definition of empathy and compassion and sympathy have evolved and what they are now understood to mean especially in a clinical context.
Sympathy is roughly feeling sorry for someone, without too much involvement and sometimes with a certain dose of judgement though not always. Compassion is acknowledging the suffering, engaging in an emotional response, and perhaps an effort to solve the problem even if no request has been made. Empathy is being present with the problem of others, being emotionally connected, being present, and listening to what the other person may or may not need from you. It is a fine line and fluid but this may give you a little better picture. Suppose someone is in a dark cavern, sympathy is seeing it and moving on, compassion is sticking your head in and saying man it’s dark in there, compassion is going into the cavern and being with the person and witnessing their situation. They may not want a light, they may not want a ladder out, they may simply want someone to be with them. It can be scary to be compassionate, it is also important.
So the question becomes where in the Lotus Sutra can we find a model for me to follow as I try to navigate both the internal nature to try to alleviate suffering and the causes of suffering and my weakness towards anger. Anger is not something that should be ignored and it isn’t possible to rid myself of it. If I could rid myself of anger then I could never become enlightened for to do so would remove the possibility of Enlightenment possessing the realm of all the other nine realms including anger. Yet Anger can not be where I reside or operate from because it would deny the Buddha realms enlightened illumination. How do I proceed?
When I teach 10 Worlds Theory I like to do so not simply as a theory of mapping the mind or self. Rather I teach that it is a road map. If one is in a lower realm of suffering and wishes to end the suffering and leave the Four Lower realms then we can look to the 10 Worlds and seek out a possible alternative. The easiest and fastest way to lift yourself from any of the Four Lower Realms is going to the realm of Humans or Humanity. It is in this realm where one begins to be connected to the reality that there are others in the world who also are suffering, you are not alone. You may or may not at first have any concern over helping them but to acknowledge there is suffering in other can cause a huge movement in your own feelings about your situation. There is more potential though within us, for now and at first it is enough to simply be human again. I’ll explain more as I go along and also I’ll write about the various images that are used to depict the lower realms as they can offer us the ability to understand the truth of Buddhism not simply from a Western mind but from an Eastern perspective as well. The words used are frequently incomplete, the images bring us closer.
In the Lotus Sutra there is Chapter XXV, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva. And the study of this chapter I will share with you. You may not have the same weakness as I and so your perspective and needs may be different. If however you do share a small bit of my weakness then perhaps together we might grow and be better able to lead others away from suffering and towards their enlightenment as true emissaries of the Buddha based upon the truth of the Lotus Sutra.
