Dharma Talk by Dr.Reeves - The Good News

"The Good News"
April 07, 2002

The following is an abbreviated version of that talk.

Last Sunday was Easter Sunday, the most important holiday for Christians. Easter tells us that the coming of Christ is good news. In the early days of Christianity, when it spread around the Mediterranean area, Christianity was indeed good news for people who were in slavery, people who were poor, people who were sick, and so on. That good news grew out the experience of the apostle Paul. He had been persecuting Christians. He hated the followers of Jesus. But one day walking on a road, he was grasped suddenly by a powerful insight which changed his life from hatred to love. He realized then that anyone's life could be changed. He though that one of the most important things that could happen to a human being was to have their life transformed into a way of love or compassion. He called this "resurrection." Resurrection, for him, meant for one's life to radically transformed from darkness or death to life and love. This is the Christian good news, brought to the sick, the enslaved and the poor. Shakyamuni was born with a different cultural background, one that included what we call "caste," a social system based on the religious texts of India. Saying that all that we normally see and think is mere illusion, it depreciated this world and the lives of human beings. Everything should be accepted, it said, just as it is. In this system every part of one's life was destined. One could not do anything to improve one's lot in this life. If we are born the child of a slave, one must always be a slave. If we are born as a woman, whose role in those days was to serve, we had to live as a slave. If lucky, a woman might be born as a man the next time, but for now she should accept her servitude.

This was the kind of world in which Shakyamuni was born. After his enlightenment, he started the Buddhist Sangha, a community in which people could opt out of the traditional life and become a monk or nun and serve the Dharma. They could change their lives by leaving their traditional lives behind to follow the Buddha. The Buddha went through an experience of awakening under the bodhi-tree, the tree of awakening. Though no one can know what the content of the experience was exactly, according to his teachings it is assumed that it was a very profound and deep insight into "causation." It means that there are reasons for the way of all things are. Nothing happens for no reason. If we want to understand present circumstance, whether it is social or personal, we have to understand the causes. But it is terribly important to realize that if we are results of the past, we are also causes of the future. What Shakyamuni had begun to offer people was this kind of alternative, a monastic way of life that eliminated hereditary caste, the four stages of life, the guru system, religious sacrifice, etc..

Probably Shakyamuni did not concern himself with changing the whole society. He basically offered people an opportunity to change their lives by leaving the world behind and joining the Sangha. It was, however, not so long before people began to realize that the Buddha's teachings, the dharma, had profound social implications. Gradually, in the years following the death of Shakyamuni, who had died as an ordinary human being, the Buddhist tradition began to adapt to new circumstances. Some began to think that the teachings of Shakyamuni included a profound concern for society. This movement which took shape gradually over centuries, called itself the "Mahayana," the Great Vehicle.

Among the Mahayana sutras, perhaps the most important is the Lotus Sutra, the full title of which is, "the Sutra of the Flowering of the Wonderful Dharma."

One of the ways in which the Mahayana defined itself was by stressing the importance of the world, and of working in the world by helping others. Where some earlier Buddhists had stressed the importance of the individual experience of awakening, the Mahayana says: "That is good, even wonderful, but not enough. You need to practice awakening. Implement it in your daily life, by following the bodhisattva way of helping others, in the world."

Meditation, reciting (even "Namu Myoho Renge Kyo"), studying (even the Lotus Sutra), copying and all those things thought of as Buddhist practices, are important, but they are not enough. In the Mahayana tradition, we have to bring the Buddha and the dharma into our bodies, and make them live through our own hands and feet. Our mind and mental life are very important. Our heart or will and emotional life are very important. But so is our body. This is the teaching of the Mahayana. This is the teaching of the bodhisattva way, the way of being in the world, and the way of helping others as the way of becoming a Buddha.

It is not only for those who call themselves bodhisattvas, however. In the Lotus Sutra. shravakas (traditional monks), beggars and even Shakyamuni Buddha are bodhisattvas. Shakyamuni is described as one who has practiced the bodhisattva way for countless years, and is not finished yet. The central message of the Lotus Sutra is that all of us are also bodhisattvas, whether we know it or not.

Dr. Reeves explained the meaning of being a bodhisattva by discussing the three parables found in Chapters 4, 8 and 12 of the Lotus Sutra.

Chapter 8, the story of "the gem in the hem"

A poor man, one day, visited his good friend who was rich. The poor man became drunk and fell asleep.
The friend, later having to leave to take care of his business, put a priceless jewel inside the robe of his sleeping
friend and left. After a while the man woke up and went to another place, where he had great difficulty earning
enough for food and clothing. Eventually he happened to meet the rich friend again, who scolded him, and
explained that he had given him the jewel so that he would not have to struggle so much. Then he told his poor
friend to use the hidden jewel to buy whatever he wanted so that he would no longer be poor.

The Buddha is like that rich friend. He reminds us of roots which were planted long ago. The poor man, satisfied with what little he had already attained, does not realize that he is in reality a bodhisattva who will attain supreme awakening. This story means that no matter how poor we are in spirit, we too can be rich. In fact we are already rich, but we just don't know it. We have riches inside of us that we need to discover. We have riches deep inside of us that cannot be taken away from us.

Chapter 4, the story of "the poor son and rich father"

There was a man who as a boy had run away from his father and lived a life of desperate poverty, moving from place to place in search of menial work. Meanwhile his father, who had become extremely rich and powerful, searched everywhere in vain for the lost son. One day the son accidentally came to the town where the father lived. There he saw his father in the distance but did not recognize him, and fled in fear of such great wealth and power. The father, secretly longing for him for many decades and wanting to give his wealth to his son, recognized the man immediately and sent a servant after him. When the servant caught up with him, the son, fearing that he would be forced to work or even be killed, pleaded that he had done no wrong, fainted and fell to the ground. Seeing this, the father told the servant to douse him with cold water to bring him to, tell him he can go wherever he likes, and then leave him alone. The son then went to another village to seek food and clothing. Later, the father secretly sent two servants to go to the son and offer to hire him to work with them at double-pay shoveling dung. To this, the son agreed. Later, seeing how poorly the son looked, the father, disguised as a lowly worker, went to the son, praised his work and promised him better wages and treatment to continue to work for him and assume greater responsibilities, explaining that as he was old he wanted to treat the man as a son. The poor man was pleased, and continued to shovel dung for another twenty years, gradually becoming more confident and more trusted by the father. Eventually the rich man became ill. Knowing he would die soon, he asked the poor man to take charge of his various properties and businesses. As the time of death grew near, the father called together various officials and all of his relatives and friends and servants and revealed to them that the poor man was in fact his son and would inherit all of his wealth. Thus, enormous wealth came to the poor man quite unexpectedly and he was very amazed.

The meaning of this story is that we too can be responsible and wealthy human beings whether male or female, whether rich or poor or whatever the conditions of our lives are. Most important is to notice that the son who was eventually replaced his father, who represents the Buddha, is ourselves. We too can be Buddha. This is our inheritance.

Chapter 12, the story of "the dragon princess"

A bodhisattva called Accumulated Wisdom asked Manjushri Bodhisattva whether he knew of anyone who had followed the Sutra so strenuously that he was qualified to become a Buddha instantly. And Manjushri replied, "Yes, the clever eight-year-old daughter of the Dragon-King. She has entered deeply into meditation, has understood everything, is eloquent and compassionate, etc. She is capable of becoming a Buddha instantly."Accumulated Wisdom, recalling that Shakyamuni had devoted much time and effort to achieving awakening, expressed doubt that this girl could do so instantly. Then the girl came to Shakyamuni and praised him, expressing the thought that she was qualified to attain awakening because she had heard the dharma and preached the Mahayana and saved all from suffering.Then Shariputra spoke to her, expressing conventional belief: "It is impossible to believe that you could soon achieve awakening; the body of a woman is too filthy even to receive the dharma! Only those who have practiced strenuously over many eons can become truly enlightened." Taking a jewel she had with her, the girl offered it to the Buddha, and he received it immediately. Then she asked Shariputra and Accumulated Wisdom whether the Buddha had received the gem quickly or not, to which both of them responded, "Very quickly." And she said, "Watch me with your divine powers and I will become a Buddha even more quickly!" Thereupon the whole congregation saw her suddenly change into a man, do the bodhisattva practices, go to the pure world in the South, sit on a jeweled lotus flower, attain supreme awakening, acquire the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks of a Buddha, and begin teaching the Dharma.

From this story, we can understand that we too can be a Buddha whether young or old, rich or poor, healthy or sick, male of female, even whether we are good or bad. The teaching of the Lotus Sutra is that every single human being has within them the wonderful, magical capacity to enter the bodhisattva path, becoming a Buddha.

Rev. Reeves concluded his talk by saying: "This is the good news which the Lotus Sutra brings us."

"You too can be rich, enriched by the Dharma, you too can be proud, responsible, and successful in what you undertake, you too can be a bodhisattva by being helpful to others, and you too can be a Buddha.” Inside of us, the Buddha is already there, waiting to be let out.

And that is one important meaning of the legend of the Buddha being born from the side of his mother--being born as a little adult, as a Buddha before he became a Buddha under the bodhi-tree. That story expresses the idea that there was a little Buddha in Queen Maya. So, too, there is a Buddha in each of us, waiting to be born.