Chapter Four
When we hear a Dharma talk or study a sutra, our only job is to remain open. It's not about comparing it to our own ideas, accepting it and saying it's correct. Nor is it incorrect. In either case, we learn nothing. If we read or listen with an open mind and an open heart, "the rain of the Dharma will penetrate the soil of our consciences."
The gentle spring rain permeates the soil of my soul.
A seed that has lain deeply in the earth for many years
just smiles.
Dont' work too hard. Be like the earth. When the rain comes, the earth only has to open herself up to the rain. Let the rain of the Dharma come in and penetrate the seeds that are buried in your consciousness. Your teacher cannot give you the truth; the truth is already in you. Open yourself - body, mind and heart - so that his teachings will penetrate your own seeds of understanding and enlightenment. If you let his words enter you, the soil and the seeds will do the rest.
The Three Streams:
- Source Buddhism - includes all the teachings the Buddha gave during his lifetime. 140 years after his Great Passing Away the Sangha* divided into two schools.
- Many-Schools Buddhism
- Mahayana Buddhism
For 400 years during and after the Buddha's lifetime, his teachings were only passed on verbally. After that, monks in Sri Lanka began writing on palm leaves. One monk only memorised the whole canon. This makes us a little uneasy knowing that an arrogant monk may not have been the best one to pass on the teachings of the Buddha.
Even during his lifetime there were those such as the monk who did not understand the Buddha's teachings and passed them on incorrectly. Many did not understand the deepest meanings, and some forgot or changed words before they were written down. Before the Buddha attained full realisation of the Path, he tried different methods to suppress his mind, and they did not work.
"I thought, Why don't I grit my teeth, press my tongue
against my palate, and use my mind to repress my mind?
Then, as a wrestler might take hold of the head or the
shoulders of someone weaker, and in order to restrain
him, he has to hold him down constantly without letting
go for a moment, so I gritted my teeth, pressed my tongue
against my palate, and used my mind to suppress my mind.
As I did this, I was bathed in sweat. Although I was not
lacking in strength, although I maintained mindfulness and
did not fall from mindfullness, my body and my mind were
not at peace. I was exhausted. This caused other feelings of
pain to arise in me besides the pain associated with the
austerities, and I was not able to tame my mind."
The Buddha was telling us not to practice in this way. Yet another passage was later inserted into other discourses to convey exactly the opposite meaning.
Often we need to study lots of discourses and compare them to understand the true teachings of the Buddha.
Like stringing precious gems together to make a necklace. We see each sutra* in light of the whole body of the teachings. By the time the discourses were written down, there were 18 or 20 schools, and each had it's own recension. These schools did not tear the teachings apart, but were threads of a single garment. Two still exist today: Tamrashatiya and Sarvastivada canons. By comparing these, we can see which teachings preceded Buddhism's dividing into schools.
Mahayana Buddhism arose in the 1st or 2nd century BCE after the Buddha's passing. The Dharma became the exclusive domain of monks and nuns and laypeople were limited to supporting the ordained Sangha with food, shelter, clothing and medicines. The ideal of the Mahayanists was that of the bodhisattva*, who taught and practised for the benefit of all.
The three streams complement each other. It was impossible for Source Buddhism to remember everything. Like all traditions, Buddhism needs to renew itself regularly in order to stay alive and grow.
A sutra or a Dharma talk is not insight in and of itself. If you use a map to get somewhere, once you get there, you can put the map away and enjoy your destination. If you spend all your time with the map, you will miss the reality. The Buddha said many times, "My teaching is like a finger pointing to the moon. Do not mistake the finger for the moon."
Sutras are essential guides for our own intelligence and the help of a teacherand a Sangha to understand the true meaning and put it into practice. After reading a sutra or any spirtitual text, we should feel lighter, not heavier. Buddhist teachings are meant to awaken our true self, not merely to add to our storehouse of knowledge.
Sometimes, the Buddha refused to answer a question posed to him. For example, "Is there a self?" and the Buddha did not say anything. The man persisted, "Do you mean there is not self?" The Buddha still said nothing. Finally the man left. Buddha's assistant said, "Lord, you always teach that there is no self. Why did you not say so?"
The Buddha said that he did not reply because the man was looking for a theory, not a way to remove obstacles." Archeologists repair broken statues by specialising in studying the art of that time. We must do the same. If we have an overall view of the teachings of the Buddha, whe a peice is missing or has been added, we have to recognise it and repair the damage.
*bodhisattva: is the embodiment of bodhichitta -- the compassionate wish to realize enlightenment for all beings, not just oneself.
There are bodhisattvas who are
transcendent beings of art and sacred texts, and there are bodhisattvas who are ordinary human beings. Bodhisattvas vow to remain in the world until all beings are enlightened and may enter
Nirvana together.
For Mahayana Buddhists, a bodhisattva is the ideal of practice. In many schools of Mahayana, clergy and laypeople alike take the
Bodhisattva Vows. There are many
variations and translations of the vows; this is just one:
Beings are numberless; I vow to liberate them.
Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them.
Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to enter them.
The Buddha Way is unobtainable; I vow to obtain it.
*Sangha: Buddhist monastic order, traditionally composed of four groups: monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. The sangha is a part—together with the Buddha and the dharma (teaching)—of the Threefold Refuge, a basic creed of Buddhism.
*Sutra: The name sutra (Sanskrit for "thread") in Buddhism originally was given only to the sermons of the historical Buddha. The sutras were recited from memory by the Buddha's disciple Anandaat the First Buddhist Council. From Ananda's memory they were collected in the part of theTripitaka called the Sutra-pitaka.
The Mahayana Sutras, however, were most likely written no earlier than five centuries after the death of the Buddha, possibly later, which would seem to make them unlikely candidates for the title.
Even so, they were written in the style of the original sutras as if Ananda had recited them. Those later sutras considered essential texts by at least some Mahayana schools are included in what is called the Northern or Mahayana Canon of sutras.
To confuse matters further, there are some texts that are called sutras but are not. An example of this is the "Platform Sutra," which contains the biography and discourses of the 7th century Ch'an master Hui Neng. The work is one of the treasures of Ch'an and Zen literature. It is generally and cheerfully agreed that the Platform Sutra is not, in fact, a sutra, but it is called a sutra nonetheless.
Chrissy Newburywhat are they?
Dan Hettmannsperger IIIThis is a very good question my student.<<Puts on Sensei hat.
