The Prose & Verse of The Lotus Sutra

Measuring the Life of The One That Has Come - Chapter 16

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In explaining The Chapter on Measuring the Life (Juryohon), we will first bring up some different understandings.

The Master Seng-Jui's Introduction1 said:
"A lifespan of limitless kalpas2 cannot sufficiently clarify the longevity of The One That Has Come3. The countless spiritual emanations of The One That Has Come4 cannot sufficiently describe the different embodiments. And so it is determined that the measure of this life is beyond all numbers and its spiritual emanations are beyond all differences. The chapter on The Bodhisattva Universal Virtue revealed that this life is not something that is attained and the chapter on Abundant Treasures clarified that it is not something that is extinguished."

The Master Tao-Lang5 said:
"This Sutra clarifies The Spiritual Body of The One That Has Come6. With the incarnation being inseparable from the absolute, it comes into existence and goes out of existence with unity of principle7. With the revelation of The One That Has Come Of Abundant Treasures it was clarified that the spiritual body is eternally abiding. With the chapter on Measuring the Life it was clarified that the life of The One That Has Come is of similar measure with the great void."

Hui-Kuan of the Tao Ch'ang Monastery8 said:
"At the beginning of the vehicle of enlightenment there is understanding of the three and returning to the one9. At the end of the vehicle of enlightenment there is the extinction of the reflections and the revelation of the pure spirit. In the extinction of its reflections there is ceasing of its manifestations, with the pure spirit being the source. And so the manifestations are impermanent but the source is permanent."

Another Commentator10 said:
"The countless rounds of birth and death are what is called Life. The cultivation of enlightenment to the limit of one's short life is called its Measure. The Spiritual Body is without any specific shape or duration, but the great person cultivates it step by step until there is the illumination of the ultimate. The Buddha did not just attain enlightenment just because of an event at Gaya11 or even a hundred years of service."

The Master Tao-Sheng12 said:
The physical body of the Buddha has been revealed in this world and so it exists, but it is without any definite shape. Having established that it is without any definite shape, how could it have any definite lifespan? And so the Buddha has impartially put forth a myriad different shapes, and the present and the past are identical. That which happened long ago was the same as that happening now, and that happening now is the same as that which happened long ago. There is no time that the life of the Buddha does not exist and there is no place that it does not abide. If there were a time that it did not exist, there would be a place it did not abide. This can be said of the lives of living beings, but not of the life of the Buddha. This explanation concerns the ultimately long life that was spoken of being at Gaya11. It was at Gaya, but attainment of enlightenment at Gaya itself did not remain. With the attainment of enightenment at Gaya no longer remaining, does this eternal life abide by itself? The eternal may disappear with the ephemeral like this, but the eternal abides within the ephemeral forever.

The ideas of previous ages as taught here explain the measureless life that is clarified in this chapter. Many worldly teachers have spoken of the measure of life. First it exceeded the number of sands that are along the Ganges, and later it was more than twice that number. In the end these numbers approached as close to the infinite as possible. And yet what has been clarified is only that which is impermanent. Those that have been confused have held that this chapter clarifies the measure of life, but that it measured something that was impermanent. How does one create an understanding of that which is eternal?

Now this question is answered. This chapter only measures the life of the spiritual path, which is neither with nor without measure. With it being like this, one person understands its impermanence and another understands its permanence. What fault is there in this?

It is like the kingfisher and the oyster that hold onto each other13.

My explanation of the vehicle is submitted complete with four understandings, which are:

  1. The reality is measured, and yet it is spoken of being without measure.
    The Amitabha Sutra14 is like this.
  2. The reality is without measure, and yet it is spoken of being measured.
    This is like this chapter and in The Sutra on the Bright Golden Light15.
  3. The reality is without measure and therefore it is spoken of being without measure.
    Like The Nirvana Sutra says:
    "Only between Buddhas is there the life that is without measure."
  4. The reality is measured and it is spoken of as being measured.
    This is like the eighty recitations of the Vinaya16.

The words of this chapter includes all these meanings. How could it be one of these and yet not the other three?

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Footnotes:

1. The Master Seng-Jui's Introduction: Disciple of Kumarajiva who assisted with the translations of The Lotus Sutra. He wrote a renowned introduction to The Lotus Sutra. Seng-Jui was recorded to have died in 436 CE.

2. Kalpas: Eons; A kalpa is said to be a very long period of time, variously described and measured; A complete cycle of time, such as that of the age of a civilization, an era, or a lifetime.

3. The One That Has Come: (S. Tathagata) One of the Ten Titles of the Buddha - This refers to the one that comes down to this world from the realm of the absolute spiritual reality to enlighten living beings and then reenters Nirvana, returning back to that absolute reality.

4. The spiritual emanations of The One That Has Come: Spiritual enlightenment (the Dharma) emanates from the Buddha and is received by other living beings of faith (the Sangha) who in turn become enlightened over time. These become the spiritual emanations (the manifestations) of the original Buddha (the source).

5. The Master Tao-Lang: Student in the lineage of Kumarajiva, Tao-Sheng, T'an Chi and the Three Treatises School. Residing at Ho-Hsi, Tao-Lang wrote a noted introduction to The Nirvana Sutra. He appears to have been born late in the fourth century and to have lived well into the fifth century CE.

6. The Spiritual Body of The One That Has Come: (S. Dharmakaya Tathagata) The Body or Life of Spiritual Truth, the ground of absolute reality. The embodiment of spirituality that is everywhere in all places, whether or not one is awakened to it.

7. Unity of principle: The unifying principle behind all phenomena. One of the 'four unities' that describe the Total or 'Perfect' Doctrine. The four unities:
Unity of Principle, which is revealed in the Ten Spiritual Realms
Unity of Doctrine, which is revealed in the Five Periods of Doctrine
Unity of Practice, which is revealed in the Observation of the Mind
Unity of Person, which is revealed in the Six Identities with Enlightenment

8. Hui-Kuan of the Tao Ch'ang Monastery: Along with Tao-Sheng, Seng-Chao and Seng-Jui, one of the leading disciples of Kumarajiva at Chang-An; later the head of the Tao-Ch'ang Monastery and a leading proponent of the gradual path of enlightenment - as opposed to the subitists, those that advocated 'sudden enlightenment', like Tao-Sheng (see below).

9. Understanding of the three and returning to the one: The essential teaching of the first half of The Lotus Sutra. Three is a metaphor for the provisional teachings and one is used to describe the real teaching. Hence there are the three vehicles, the three provisional doctrines, the three siddhanta, the three truths, etc., in contrast to the the one vehicle of enlightenment, the total doctrine, the siddhanta of the highest significance, the single mind, etc.

10. Another Commentator: Probably a reference to Liu Ch'iu who, according to Chi-Tsang's Profound Discourse on The Lotus Sutra (Fa-Hua Hsuan-Lun), wrote the Notes on the Lotus Sutra (C. Fa-Hua Chu) in which he assembled from the notes of various commentators including Seng-Chao, Kumarajiva and others (see Taisho 1720, 363C).

11. Event at Gaya: Gaya is the place in India where the Buddha Sakyamuni first attained enlightenment.

12. The Master Tao-Sheng: (360-434 CE) Studied with Hui-Yuan at Lu-Shan as well as with Kumarajiva at Chang-An. He wrote a Commentary on The Lotus Sutra (C. Miao-Fa Lien-Hua Ching Shu) in 432 CE from which this quote is an excerpt. Leading proponent of the subitists, those that advocated 'sudden enlightenment'. Also leading advocate of the principle that enlightenment is inherent in all living beings, even the most evil (Icchantikas), a position for which he received persecution in the Buddhist Sangha until the translation of The Mahaparinirvana Sutra in 418 CE, which validated his position.

13. The kingfisher and the oyster hold onto each other (and the fisherman gets the benefit): An ancient Chinese proverb describing the aspects of mutual dependence. The bird grabs the oyster with its talons and the oyster in turn shuts its shell tight gripping the bird (who then drops the oyster for the fisherman). This metaphor is used to describe the fact that whether people understand spirituality (the Dharma) through one of its aspects (i.e., permanence) or its opposite (impermanence), they may all be lead to the same spiritual awakening.

14. The Amitabha Sutra: There were three primary sutras on which the Amitabha cult were based. The Buddha Amitabha, the Buddha of the western direction, represents only one of the spiritual emanations of the Buddha. In the Pure Land practice of Buddhism, worship of this one Buddha is said to be a means to rebirth in the pure land of ultimate bliss. In other words, although one only focuses on one of the emanations of The One That Has Come, it serves as a door into the entire Wonderful Dharma.

15. The Sutra on the Bright Golden Light: (S. Suvarnabhasa Uttama Sutra) Translated into Chinese by Dharmaksema in the early fifth century CE, and definitively by I-Tsing in 705 CE. The second chapter of this Sutra is also called Measuring the Life of The One That Has Come, and it touches on the same general theme (the limitless lifespan of the Buddha) as described in chapter sixteen of The Lotus Sutra.

16. The Eighty Recitations: The original Vinaya, or code of disciplinary rules, was said to have been recited by Upali eighty times during the summer retreat of the first council. This became an established ritual practice. As such, it is a practice is of limited purpose and efficacy.

 

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