Contemporary Bodhisattva Practice
<Reiyukai practice as a modern application of the
ideal Bodhisattva Practice into our ordinary daily lives>
Reiyukai's practice is not an easy one. It requires patience, strong will power, constant aspiration for wisdom, and, above all, comprehensive compassion for all beings. It is a process of achieving perfect compassion by overcoming and transcending the deep-rooted, self-centered forces which form and sustain our ego and which fuel our existence as individuals. The process includes feeling appreciation, compassion, and sincerity toward all beings and things, feeling a genuine desire for the enlightenment of others together with ourselves, and realizing those feelings in actions.
<Karmic Accounting>
Since our evolutionary beginnings, we have been accumulating self-centered actions by sacrificing other beings to maintain our own existence. Until we evolved into thinking (?) beings, there was not even the concept of altruistic actions. The entire karmic account of our existence as individuals is filled with the records of vast numbers of selfish actions. We could say that our karmic balance sheet lists numerous debits and very few credits. The strength of the self-centered forces generated by ego's desire to exist is relative to the gap between the debit and credit amounts on that karmic balance sheet, the greater the gap, the greater the forces of selfishness. This means that unless and until the gap is closed, the self-centered forces will never disappear. If the ultimate goal (i.e., buddhahood) is a state where all the self-centered energies are completely overcome and the boundary between "ego" and "others" is totally transcended (thereby truly realizing perfect universal compassion), the process of attaining that state must consist of efforts to close the aforementioned gap. In other words, to the extent that we have been accumulating selfish actions, we must equally accumulate altruistic actions until the karmic balance sheet is fully reconciled. This is the process of bodhisattva practice, which is said to be the only way to attain perfect buddhahood.
The importance of bodhisattva practice is mentioned throughout the entire history of Mahayana tradition. Unfortunately, however, most forms of Buddhist practice conceive of it only as an ideal. The main focus of practice is meditation, in all its various forms. It is understood that meditation is beneficial and effective in its function to awaken the mind and alter the state of consciousness. Yet it must be remembered that even if we sit alone in meditation for decades and experience the initial stage of enlightenment, our karmic balance sheet still will not be reconciled. That is because, while meditation can help develop the ability to think only unselfish thoughts, unselfish actions cannot be accumulated solely by sitting in meditation. One's state of consciousness may be altered through meditation, but consciousness is always pulled back by the forces of selfishness. Unless these self-centered forces are countered by the energy of altruistic actions, they will not be transcended, and thus one's level of consciousness cannot be fully raised to buddhahood.
In a sense we can say that in order to attain complete enlightenment, we must climb a mountain of karmic debt. Through meditation we can see the reality of the mountain and our position on it ie., we can see the amount of our karmic debt and how much we have yet to pay off. But we can't climb the mountain through meditation alone.
We can never get to a position to see or experience the supreme level of reality which is at the top of the mountain until we actually climb to that point by doing and accumulating the altruistic acts that will bring our karmic balance to zero. Sutras teach us that this is why Shakyamuni Buddha attained supreme enlightenment within six years, while others cannot attain the same state despite decades of similar meditation practice.
When Guatama Siddhartha was born, he was already at the final stage of reconciling his karmic balance sheet. He was at the top of Mt. Enlightenment, so to speak, due to the enormous quantity of altruistic actions which had been accumulated throughout his previous existences. Since he had attained the summit through his previous bodhisattva practice, what remained for him to do in his last life was to open his eyes i.e., awaken his mind and perceive the ultimate reality of that supreme level through his meditation.
So the question for us becomes: where will we be when we awaken our mind? Continuing the mountain analogy, if, through meditation, we awaken our mind while we are at the beginning of the ascent, we will clearly see ourselves at the mountain's base. Just continuing to imitate the Buddha's practice of meditation will not move us much closer to the summit. It would be like trying to spontaneously equal the feats of Olympic athletes without going through enormous amounts of strenuous training. So how do we go about reaching the top? How can we work more effectively to pay off our karmic debts and reconcile our karmic balance sheet?
<REIYUKAI>
Reiyukai was inaugurated in 1919 in Japan as the first movement dedicated to realizing the Mahayana ideal of making bodhisattva practice accessible for everyone. Although universal bodhisattva practice had always been a foundation and aim of the Mahayana tradition, up until the end of the 19th century, societal conditions were not conducive to attaining that goal especially in the Asian countries where Buddhism was an established part of the culture. The basic reason was that most of the people did not have the ability to read the Buddha's message for themselves. This limited their ability to grasp the full significance of Buddha's ideas and apply them to their own personal development. Only monks, educated and trained in Buddhist monasteries, could seriously undertake the practice of Buddha's teachings. But because most monasteries were isolated from general society, and because of the general illiteracy of the public, even the monks were unable to share Buddhist practice with the people. Monks, therefore, basically concentrated on their own efforts toward achieving enlightenment, and the seed of popular bodhisattva practice was not to take root in traditional Buddhist countries until the beginning of the 20th century.
A nationwide educational system was created in Japan toward the end of the 19th century. This was an important enabling factor for Reiyukai's upcoming venture to realize the ideal of universal bodhisattva practice. By the first quarter of the 20th century, the literacy rate in Japan had increased dramatically. Even so, established Buddhist organizations continued to maintain an inward focus on their individual forms of practice, and, although an opportunity was at hand, they took no initiatives to take the idea of bodhisattva practice to the people.
At that time, a young architect named Kakutaro Kubo had the historical insight that it was an opportune time to begin to implement the Mahayana ideal of popular bodhisattva practice in Japan and, ultimately, all over the world. It is perhaps interesting to note that Kubo was born in the same small village as Nichiren, one of the most prominent figures in the history of Japanese Buddhism. Nichiren's concept of merely chanting the title of the Lotus Sutra revolutionized Buddhism by creating a simple form of practice that anyone, literate or not, could do. Six hundred years after Nichiren's era, Kubo initiated the Reiyukai movement of contemporary bodhisattva practicea practicable way for everyone to raise their spiritual level to the ultimate goal of perfect compassion.
<The Fundamental Attitude>
In the commercial system, if a debt is owed to someone, it should be repaid to the same person. Similarly, where there are debits on our karmic balance sheet, the same "account" should be credited. Our altruistic actions to balance the statement should be mainly dedicated to those who were adversely affected by our previous selfish actions and to those who positively affected us and to whom we owe debts of gratitude. But, in reality, there is no need to find out who the individual beings actually are or were. In the karmic concept, we are all part of a network extending through time and space, and sooner or later we will once again encounter all beings with whom we have had prior contact, all those to whom we "owe" a karmic debt, and all those who similarly "owe" us.
In normal circumstances, if we are "victimized," we want to somehow take revenge on the "villain." The villain then becomes a victim, we turn into villains, and we can thus expect to have revenge exacted on us in return for our own "retaliation." From the karmic perspective, a momentum of negative karmic relations is established, and if the "victim-villain-victim" cycle continues, the negative momentum gains greater and greater force. To stop such negative momentum, and to really reconcile the balance sheet, we have to deal with each and every situation with a sincere attitude of compassion and understanding, trying to grasp the meaning of each incident. Thus, if we meet people who act negatively toward us or create negative situations for us, we can posit that they may previously have been "victims" of our selfish actions; thus, they are the ones whose suffering should be especially compensated for through a positive and altruistic attitude of atonement on our part in the present.
<The Lotus Sutra>
- Traveler's Aid for Bodhisattva Practice -
Karmic momentum is a force that affects most of us without our recognition. It influences us subconsciously, so our conscious efforts to control what we see happening to us are often inappropriate. In most cases, instead of driving the vehicle of karmic momentum, we are merely passive, unaware passengers. Therefore, we need something to help ourselves become aware of our situation, gain control over our own movement, and guide it in the proper direction. In Reiyukai, that "something" is the Lotus Sutra, one of the most renowned texts in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. The Lotus Sutra is regarded as containing the Buddha's most profound message. By nurturing subconscious understanding of his concept of dependent originationthe interconnectedness of all thingsthe Lotus Sutra is a highly effective tool to awaken our minds toward the development of comprehensive compassion through bodhisattva practice. In Reiyukai practice, we recite from the Lotus Sutra daily in order to: (1) develop the intuition to grasp the meaning of each incident in daily life, (2) gain enough positive subconscious encouragement to transcend negative karmic influences so that we can better understand ourselves and others and act more consciously and positively to reconcile our past self-centered actions, and, (3) develop compassion by making the focal point of our recitation the enlightenment and well-being of all beings we encounter within our karmic network.
In the actual karmic arena, the roles of victim, villain, benefactor, recipient, etc., are not so clearly defined. Each of us has our own unique karmic history; it is the basis of the uniqueness of each individual. We have compound relations with every being with whom we interact, and, over time, different aspects of the karmic relationship with a particular being will appear. Moreover, the history and the dynamics of such relationships vary with each being we meet. So there is no single common solution or quick and easy way to reconcile the balance sheets of all these different karmic accounts. We are dealing with repercussions from our past actions at the moment of each event in the present. While we cannot stop our karmic momentum in one stroke, through bodhisattva practice we can begin to exert some control over its direction by carefully observing our present situation and the people around us, and trying to understand the reason and meaning of each encounter. Since we are the ones who accumulated our past actions, we are the only ones who are responsible for them and who can mitigate them, and since each karmic history is unique, each individual process of reconciliation will be different.
If our ultimate aim is to approach the state of buddhahood the state of perfection of compassion and wisdomit is necessary for each of us to become aware of the debts that are reflected in the imbalances in our individual karmic account. In bodhisattva practice, finding our own areas of imbalance is more important than learning about universal truths or ideal philosophies. If we don't know about ourselves and our own situation, just studying about Buddha and his teachings is like having a map to the top of the mountain but not knowing our own location on the map. Moreover, the location of each person on the map is different. The value of the Lotus Sutra is that it does not focus on a fixed teaching as either a universal code of conduct or generalized truth. Rather, the role it plays is to help each individual find their actual starting point and proper path on the map for the journey to the top of the mountain, allowing travelers to discover significant information during the course of their individual climbing process. Since the path and process varies from person to person, so does the information each person obtains from use of the Lotus Sutra. Even for the same individual, daily recitation from the Lotus Sutra will stimulate ever-varying realizations because conditions and situations are changing from moment to moment. That is why daily recitation from the Lotus Sutra is one of the basic activities of Reiyukai practice.
<The Starting Point>
We are in the midst of a karmic network, a network of repercussions from our past actions and of beings with whom we have had prior contact. Intimate connections with people in the present, our family members, close friends, or people we have frequent contact with reflect similar contacts with them in the past. Through bodhisattva practice we try to become aware of our individual karmic history by observing how our past actions are reflected in our current relationships with people and things around us. In Reiyukai, the ideal of practice is acting to acknowledge our karmic debts to others be it appreciation for what we may have gained from others or atonement for what we may have caused others to suffer. The complete fulfillment of this altruistic ideal (known in Japanese as kuyo) encompasses all beings with whom we have karmic connections, and it functions in both the physical and spiritual realm. It begins with our daily effort to discover our karmic imbalances and reconcile them.
Because they are the people closest to us, the first focus for this effort is our family the first account in our karmic ledger. We inherit many qualities from our parents and ancestors. Biologically it is quite natural because we inherit their genes. However, from the karmic standpoint, the fact that we are born into a particular family and inherit their characteristics is not an accident. Karma says that, because of our own karmic history and momentum, we are brought together with people with similar karmic accounts. This means that no matter the family we are born into, and no matter the characteristics we may inherit, parents and ancestors cannot be held solely responsible. Our family quality is, in part, a reflection of our own karmic balance sheet, and this implies that by carefully reflecting on the situation and history of our family we can gain insight into some of our own karmic debts. Our family, in a sense, represents a kind of collective karmic account. In Reiyukai, a symbolic representation (known as sokaimyo in Japanese) of this collective family account is created for one's practice. It is written in Chinese characters and contains the names of both sides (husband and wife, or father and mother) of one's family. Recitation from the Lotus Sutra using this symbol is done as a catalyst to help awaken our mind to our karmic imbalances and gain insight into how to reconcile them.
In addition to the symbol that stands for our entire family, there is another symbolic representation created for individual beings in the sincere hope of reconciling our particular karmic relation with them. This symbol (known as homyo in Japanese) also consists of written Chinese characters signifying certain qualities of the individual, and it is also used as a focus in conjunction with recitation from the Lotus Sutra. It is an expression of compassion and appreciation for any beingliving, deceased, or in a condition of suffering and a wish for their spiritual advancement. It is commonly written for individual ancestors, but it can also be written for any being with which we have some connection in daily life, animals and plants included.
Recitation from the Lotus Sutra using these symbolic representations as focal points constitutes the spiritual keystone of Reiyukai's bodhisattva practice. It is a way of gaining a fuller understanding of our "self," it is a way to develop and strengthen our feelings of appreciation, compassion, and sincerity toward all beings and things, it is how we express our genuine desire for the enlightenment of others together with ourselves, and it is our first step in realizing those feelings in actions.
<Taking it to the Street>
Recitation from the Lotus Sutra, reflecting on our karmic network, serves to awaken our minds to our position on our aforementioned mountain of karmic debt and to reinforce our determination to continue our progress toward its summit. The next step is to physically care for the welfare or spiritual advancement of all beings with whom we have connections in daily life. This can be implemented through volunteer work, community service, civic-improvement activities, environmental restoration, the offering of a smile, creating more sincere communications within our family, etc.
Among the various activities in service of others, providing them a way to help themselves must also be considered, and perhaps it may be the most effective means to create long-term benefit. Reiyukai bodhisattva practice provides us with a way to look deeper into the meaning and cause of daily events so that we might change our karmic momentum to a more beneficial direction for ourselves and for others. By awakening in other people an understanding of this function of bodhisattva practice, we provide them with an effective tool for their own development. If those people, in turn, awaken understanding in others, momentum for positive change on a large scale can be created.
There is some irony in this, however, for if our relationship with someone is close enough for us to be able to inspire them to practice and to practice together with them, it implies that we share some strong karmic connections with them from the past. Thus, in the process of practicing with that person experiencing problems, transcending problems, experiencing mutual development we can expect to learn a lot of things about ourselves. Furthermore, through mutual practice recitation from the Lotus Sutra, focusing on awakening our minds to our karmic imbalances and the enlightenment and well-being of all beings and sharing the path of bodhisattva practice with others, we increase the way we share joys and sorrows with all beings around us. By continuing these efforts in life after life, the boundary between "self" and "others" will slowly disappear and "ego" will eventually be replaced by the infinite range of compassion. That is the ultimate goal of buddhahood, and it is the aim of Reiyukai's bodhisattva practice.
T.Hashiguchi
