The Prose & Verse of The Lotus Sutra

Chapter 2 - Ways & Means

 Text - Page 1

"At this time the World Honored One calmly and clearly arose from Samadhi and addressed Sariputra:"

“At this time” (Ni Ji) - this refers to the suitability of the time¹.

• Question:
  The Buddha was always in Samadhi - why is said that he arose from Samadhi (Ju Sanmai)?
• Answer:
  Since ancient times the Buddhas have taught of the time of this Sutra.
1. Directly after entering into The Samadhi of Limitless Meanings, they arise to teach The Lotus Sutra. Now, this Buddha does this as well. This expresses The Siddhanta of the World.
2. With compassion he arose from Samadhi, treading through this world for the sake of the Dharma. Neither entering into Samadhi nor arising from it were false when they increased the faith of his disciples. This expresses The Siddhanta of the Person.
3. With compassion he arose from Samadhi. The Buddha was serene and yet always illumined. Still he had to enter into Samadhi in order to teach the Dharma. The teaching would have been false if his mind had been distracted. This expresses The Therapeutic Siddhanta.
4. With compassion he arose from Samadhi. Upon entering into Samadhi he connected with the principle. His mind was calm and secure in the true spiritual aspect of reality. He arose from Samadhi in order to make others calm and secure in the true spiritual aspect of reality. This is The Siddhanta of the Highest Significance.
• With compassion he arose from Samadhi. Having secured these four things², it is said that he:
  “calmly and clearly arose” (An Jo Ni Ki)³

“Addressed Sariputra” (Go Sharihotsu):

This refers to the highest wisdom of the small vehicle. The Buddha wished to refute the small wisdom and reveal the great wisdom. He discarded the conventional understanding and opened up the cover of the box, as taught in ten parts in The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra⁴.  This is the reason for these words of the Sutra. The Discourse on the Lotus Sutra⁵ says:
“The Buddha entered into a very deep Samadhi, undisturbed and with true presence of mind. Observing reality as-it-is with wisdom, he arose from Samadhi and manifested the unshakeable power of mastery that is attained by The One That Has Come⁶.”
This is the correct meaning of this passage. The Siddhanta of the Highest Significance is beyond this world and cannot be disturbed. When the Four Siddhanta are unobstructed and without any hesitation there is ‘mastery’.

• The Cross-Legged Posture⁷:
1. Since ancient times, there have been as many Buddhas and disciples as there are sands along the Ganges that have exhaustively cultivated this spiritual practice.
2. And the cross-legged posture awakens one to an awareness of evil, produces a mind of reverence towards others, and enables one to enter into the deep spiritual realms. And does it not also please those in the spiritual realms of personality and heaven?
3. And it is not accepting and using of a worldly method, nor is it part of an external practice⁸. It is able to break the devil’s army of emotional desires and distress.
4. And it is able to produce the three paths of Bodhi⁹.
• I reason that this is the idea of the Four Siddhanta¹⁰.

• Question:
  Other Sutras speak of fixing one’s thoughts on that which is before one. Why is this?
• Answer:
  After turning away from attachment to forms and cognitive thinking as well as Life & Death and the realm of emotional distress¹¹, one observes the serene extinction of Nirvana that is before one. And in doing so one makes the four kinds of understanding¹²:

• Question:
  What is it that is before one’s face?
• Answer:
1. The ordinary person¹³ faces the desires that rise up and are able to produce pleasures, which are ultimately everywhere in the body. And of the nine places where waste flows from the body, seven are the orifices of the face¹⁴. In the observation of impurity, one focuses on the face to control desire.
2. And the six fields of consciousness¹⁵ are in the face. Even the highest spiritual conditions of the mind, expressing all that is virtuous and noble, are empty of self. Therefore one focuses on the face and its correspondence with emptiness.
3. And when one observes the face, one is able to distinguish each of the six different fields of consciousness. In making these distinctions, one focuses on the face.
4. And of the six parts of the body¹⁶, the head and the face are the most high, expressing the highest and most true spiritual aspect of reality that is in all things. Because it is the highest expression of reality, one focuses on the face.
• These four express the Four Doctrines¹⁷.

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Footnotes:

1. The suitability of the time: This is the time that Buddha reveals his highest teaching, explaining the provisional wisdom (in terms of the Three Siddhanta) and the real wisdom (in terms of the Siddhanta of the Highest Significance)

2. These four things: The Four Siddhanta (literally the four 'means of accomplishment') the four methods by which the Buddha conveys the Dharma to living beings. Briefly:
a. The Siddhanta of the World: Adapting the teaching of the Dharma to the limitless different wishes and desires of different living beings.
b. The Siddhanta of the Person: Bringing out the good spiritual roots or qualities of each individual - faith, diligence, presence of mind, mental concentration and spiritual insight
c. The Therapeutic Siddhanta: Confronting and healing the obstacles and flaws that prevent spiritual enlightenment
d. The Siddhanta of Highest Significance: Directly awakening spiritual enlightenment regardless of methodology - the purpose of the Buddha's work.

3. Calmly and clearly arose: Calmly - Serenity (S. Samatha) leads to mental concentration Clearly - Observation of the mind (S. Vipasyana) leads to spiritual insight

4. The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: (C. Fa-Hua Hsuan-I, J. Hokke Gengi) - Chih-I's explanation of the title of The Lotus Sutra, as written by Kuan-Ting

5. The Discourse on the Lotus Sutra: Attributed to Vasubandhu and translated into Chinese by Bodhiruci

6. The One That Has Come: (S. Tathagata) One of the ten honorific titles of the Buddha. The one that comes down to his world from the absolute spiritual reality (S. Bhuta-tathata) to teach and deliver living beings, and then returns to it when the work is done.

7. The Cross-Legged Posture: (S. Padmasana) Basic spiritual practice of Buddhism. The locked-legged posture helps to still the mind and the emotions and enables one to cultivate mental concentration and spiritual insight.

8. An external practice: A non-Buddhist practice. A practice that does not enable one to gain spiritual insight into the mind and its emancipation, but rather only focuses on externals, that is, the superficial and meaningless.

9. The three paths of Bodhi: The three vehicles of the spiritual path - the paths of spiritual discipleship, spiritual self-awakening, and the Bodhisattva

10. The Four Siddhanta:
a. Siddhanta of the World: Many have practiced it
b. Siddhanta of the Person: Awakens one to an awareness of evil, produces reverence (faith) & entry into spirituality
c. The Therapeutic Siddhanta: Not worldly or external, it breaks the grip of emotional desire & distress
d. The Siddhanta of the Highest Significance: Produces Bodhi (spiritual awakening)

11. Turn away from attachments to forms and cognitive thinking as well as Life & Death and the realm of emotional distress: Those things that, when one is attached to them, tend to produce illusion and prevent spiritual awakening.

12. The four kinds of understanding: The Four Doctrines - the four progressvely deeper understanding of spiritual truth.

13. The ordinary person: A reference to those confined to the six spiritual destinies in the realm of Life & Death

14. Seven are the orifices of the face: The mouth, the nostrils, the eyes & the ears

15. The six fields of consciousness: The consciousness of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, & thought, produced by the combination of the six sense faculties (the eyeas, ears, tongue, nose, skin & thinking mind) and the six sensations (sight, sounds, smell, taste, tuch & dharmas or elements of reality). Only the sense of touch extends throughout the whole body.

16. The six parts of the body: The four limbs, the torso, and the head. The face is where the duality of self-existence comes into its sharpest focus. The face is the clearest expression of the ego and one's self-image.

17. These four express The Four Doctrines: Observation of the face, and...
a. The Doctrine of the Three Baskets: Controlling desire through the observation of impurity
b. The General Doctrine: Observation of the emptiness of self
c. The Specific Doctrine: Observation of the purified fields of sensory consciousness.
d. The Total Doctrine: Observation of the true spiritual aspect of reality

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