Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 3-4The question my life presses upon me, whether I face it directly or not, is “How shall I live?” “As what kind of person?” All of us face the task of constructing a life for ourselves, of shaping ourselves into certain kinds of people who will live lives of one kind or another, for better or worse. Some people undertake this task deliberately; they make choices in life in view of an image of the kind of person they would hope to become. From the early beginnings of their tradition, Buddhists have maintained that nothing is more important than developing the freedom implied in their activity of self-cultivation—of deliberately shaping the kind of life you will live. For Buddhists, this is the primary responsibility and opportunity that human beings have. It is, they claim, our singular freedom, a freedom available to no other beings in the universe. And although circumstances beyond anyone’s control will make very different possibilities available for different people, Buddhists have always recognized that the difference between those who assume the task of self-sculpting with imagination, integrity, and courage, and those who do not is enormous, constituting in Buddhism the difference between enlightened ways of being in the world and unenlightened ways. …
One sutra introduces the six perfections by having a disciple ask the Buddha: “How many bases for training are there for those seeking enlightenment?” The Buddha responds: “There are six: generosity, morality, tolerance, energy, meditation, and wisdom.”
This sutra claims that the six perfections are “bases for training.” This means that they constitute a series of practices or “trainings” that guide Buddhist practitioners toward the goal of enlightenment or awakening. These six “trainings” are the means or methods to that all-important end. But the perfections are much more than techniques. They are also the most fundamental dimensions of the goal of enlightenment. Enlightenment is defined in terms of these six qualities of human character; together they constitute the essential qualities of that ideal human state. The perfections, therefore, are the ideal, not just the means to it. Being generous, morally aware, tolerant, energetic, meditative, and wise is what it means for a Buddhist to be enlightened. If perfection in these six dimensions of human character is the goal, then enlightenment, understood in this Buddhist sense, would also be closely correlated to these particular practices. Recognizing this, one sutra says: “Enlightenment just is the path and the path is enlightenment. ” To be moving along the path of self-cultivation by developing the six perfections is the very meaning of “enlightenment.”
Category Archives: perfections
The Patient Immortal
I’ve been continuing my reading of Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s 14-volume commentary on the Lotus Sutra. Recently I completed Volume 10, which covers Chapters 15, 16 and 17. Don’t know yet what I’m going to do with all of the quotes I’ve been gathering. Below is a lesson on the pāramitā of patience. I considered saving this for next March’s Pāramitā Week, but decided to publish now instead. This quote concerns Maitreya’s description of the countless Bodhisattvas who have emerged from underground at the beginning of Chapter 15.
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v10, ch15, p99-105They are resolute in patience. Being patient isn’t easy. For some reason, people like to be praised but dislike being scolded. So it’s very difficult to cultivate patience. You may be patient once; you may even be patient twice; but by the third time, you won’t be able to take it. All of you who listen to the Buddhadharma here every day should be able to apply the Dharma that you’ve learned. When a challenging situation arises, you should be aware of it. If you’re aware, you won’t be affected by the situation. If you’re unaware, you’ll be affected by it. Not being aware of it means not recognizing it. Being aware of it means recognizing it. That’s why I say,
Everything is a test
To see what you will do.
If you don’t recognize what’s before you,
You’ll have to start anew.When a situation happens, whether it’s favorable or unfavorable, you should recognize it. It shouldn’t be that when you encounter a favorable situation, you feel that it’s as sweet as candy, or that when you experience an unfavorable situation, you feel that it’s as bitter as goldthread. If you feel that favorable circumstances are sweet and unfavorable ones are bitter, then you’re being affected by those states. If your mind remains unmoved in both favorable and unfavorable states, then you’ve got some skill.
What’s a favorable state? One such state would be when someone praises you. For example, suppose people praise your cultivation, saying, “He really cultivates. He works very hard. He practices vigorously day and night without rest.” When you hear them talk about how good you are, it’s as sweet as honey. Your heart rejoices; it’s a very pleasant and enjoyable sensation. Now suppose someone criticizes you: “He’s terrible! He’s lazy and doesn’t cultivate at all. He’s gluttonous and likes to sleep. He claims to be a cultivator, but he never cultivates.” You can’t bear to hear this. You may think, “How can he talk about me like that?” The feeling is as bitter as goldthread. Chinese goldthread rhizome, in case you don’t know, is the most bitter of Chinese medicinal herbs. However, as bitter as it is, it can rid your body of excessive heat. It’s an excellent medicinal herb, but it’s very bitter. However, you have to be patient and bear it.
You also have to consider where the state is coming from. For instance, when a cultivator, maybe a monastic, receives a sound scolding from his teacher, he may think, “I won’t argue, get angry, or talk back. I’ll just act as if nothing happened.” That doesn’t count as having patience. Why not? Because disciples are supposed to bear with their teacher anyway. It’s just not the same as cultivating patience. On the other hand, if as a teacher you can bear it when your disciples scold you, then you’ve really got some skill. If the more your disciples scold you, the happier you are, then you’ve got patience. If you’re scolded by a beggar and feel as though it didn’t even happen, then you’ve got some patience. But when a police officer scolds you, no matter how unreasonable he is or how unbearable it is, you still have to bear with it. For example, you’re out in the street looking around as if you want to steal something, and a policeman comes up and interrogates you: “Hey! What are you up to? Are you a thief? I’m going to search you.” You have to put up with it because the policeman has authority and you don’t. You have to do as you’re told. That doesn’t count as patience. It only counts as patience when you can gracefully endure being bullied or insulted by those with no authority over you.
At this point I’ve thought of a story that’s commonly told. Long ago, Śākyamuni Buddha and one of his disciples were walking down the road in a particularly desolate place. For several hundred miles, they hadn’t come across a single person. The disciple asked the Buddha, “Why aren’t there any people here?”
Śākyamuni Buddha sighed and said, “It’s a very painful story.”
“What happened? Please tell me,” said the disciple.
Śākyamuni Buddha then told about how, long ago, there lived an old, seasoned cultivator with tremendous virtue. This cultivator was cultivating patience and hadn’t gotten angry in over one hundred years. It just so happened that the king of the country had lost faith in his prime minister and had demoted him to commoner status even though he hadn’t done anything wrong. The prime minister, however, was attached to his former status and still desired to be a leader. So he thought, “What am I going to do? How can I get my position as prime minister back? Oh! I’ve got an old friend who practices patience. He’s an immortal who cultivates patience. He’ll know a way. I’ll go ask him.”
So he went to see his friend, the old cultivator. He told him that the king had demoted him from his position as prime minister and asked if the cultivator had any ideas as to how he could regain his position.
The patient immortal replied, “That’s very easy. You’re down on your luck right now, but you can take that inauspicious energy–the energy that’s brought about your downfall–and pass it on to me. Then you’ll be able to continue as prime minister.”
“How can I pass it on to you?” the prime minister asked.
“Take a clod of earth and throw it at my head; that’ll transfer your bad luck to me. Then you’ll be reappointed as prime minister.”
The former prime minister did as the cultivator advised. Sure enough, on the day that he returned, the king called for him and said, “Previously I removed you from your position as prime minister, but that was a mistake. Will you come back and serve as my prime minister again?” He was invited back, so he thought, “Oh, that cultivator is really capable! He can really make things happen.” And he thereupon resumed his post as prime minister.
After a while the king estranged one of his concubines. Having fallen out of the king’s favor, she was “banished to the cold palace,” meaning she wouldn’t have the opportunity to see the king anymore. This concubine thought, “The prime minister was previously dismissed, but now he’s regained his post. I wonder how he managed that. I’ll ask his advice.” So she called for the prime minister and asked, “How did you go about getting your position back?”
“It wasn’t my own doing,” he said. “I went to an old cultivator I know, and he told me that I had bad luck. He told me to transfer that energy to him and I’d be back in office. So I did, and here I am.”
“Do you think he would help me?” she asked.
“I’ll go ask him,” said the prime minister.
He told the story to the old cultivator, who said, “Fine, tell her to pour a bowl of water over my head. That way her bad luck will be transferred to me. Then the king will want her back again.”
The concubine followed these instructions to the letter, and sure enough, the king took her out of the “cold palace” and invited her back. The patient immortal’s method really worked!
Soon the country went to war, but every time its troops engaged in battle, they lost. The king asked the prime minister and concubine, “We’re losing every battle. What are we going to do?”
The prime minister said, “I know what we’ll do. I have an old friend who’s a patient immortal. He’s got some magical powers. I’ll go discuss the matter with him.”
Upon hearing of the situation, the patient immortal said, “I live in this country, so I should help out. The country is losing its battles. Very well, I’m going to transfer the country’s unlucky energy to me.” Then he said to the king, “It’ll take a whole bucket of water to contain the problems of the entire country. You have to use dirty water, as filthy as urine, to represent the country’s bad luck. Fill the bucket with stinking, dirty water and pour it over me.”
That left the old cultivator smelling pretty bad, but nonetheless, the king began to win all his battles and eventually won the war. During the celebration of his victory, the king praised the cultivator, saying, “That old cultivator has tremendous virtue.”
Once that announcement was made in the palace, the whole country knew about it. One person with ill luck would come, grab a clod of dirt, and throw it at the old cultivator. Another guy with bad luck would come and spit a mouthful of saliva on the old cultivator’s face, thinking, “He’s supposed to be patient and bear it, isn’t he? He should just let the spit dry, shouldn’t he?” Day after day, first ten people, then hundreds, then thousands, tens of thousands, and finally the entire populace converged on the patient immortal, bringing their inauspicious energy to him. The patient immortal simply couldn’t respond to them all properly, so up popped a false thought: “I can’t stand it! Why don’t all these people drop dead?” What do you think happened? They all did!
That was how great his spiritual powers were. As soon as he wished them dead, they all dropped dead on the spot. So now, for several hundred miles around, there weren’t any people in that area.
It’s not easy to be patient. However, although it’s not easy, we’re still going to cultivate it. Instead of calling it difficult, let’s think of it as easy. But whatever you do, don’t get angry and think, “I wish all these people would drop dead!”
These Bodhisattvas are “resolute in patience.” They aren’t the least bit casual about it. They are dignified and awe-inspiring. These Bodhisattvas have fine features, and each has an imposing presence. Praised by the Buddhas of the ten directions, / They excel at explaining the teachings in detail. They’re good at delineating and explaining all Dharmas.
The Bodhisattva Practice for Others
As a final follow up to Higan Week, I offer Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s discussion of Bodhisattva practice from his commentary on the Lotus Sutra.
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v7, 220-223Śākyamuni Buddha continued, “Medicine King, there are many people who, whether at home – upāsakās and upāsikās – or having renounced the home life – bhikṣus and bhikṣunīs – practice the Bodhisattva Path.” Both laypeople and monastics can practice the Bodhisattva Path.
What is the Bodhisattva Path? Benefiting others is practicing the Bodhisattva Path. What is the Bodhisattva Path? Benefiting not only oneself but also others is practicing the Bodhisattva Path. What is the Bodhisattva Path? Putting yourself aside to help others is practicing the Bodhisattva Path. It’s also giving advantage to others and taking disadvantage upon yourself. A person who practices the Bodhisattva Path is like water, which benefits all but never brags about its merit. All living creatures, whether they are born from wombs, eggs, moisture, or via metamorphosis, depend upon water for the sustenance of their lives. Without water, they can’t survive. But water itself doesn’t brag about its merit, saying, “I’ve helped you all so much. My merit is great indeed.” It doesn’t harbor this kind of thought. Those who practice the Bodhisattva Path should be the same way. Don’t think, “I’ve benefited living beings, so I have merit.” Lao Zi said,
The highest goodness is like water. Water benefits all yet does not contend. It goes to places people despise, and so it is close to the Path.
Water flows right into lowly places, places where nobody wants to live. To be like that is to practice the Bodhisattva Path.
When you practice the Bodhisattva Path, you must give credit to others and take the blame upon yourself. “But then I won’t get any credit,” you object. The more you give credit to others, the greater your merit becomes. On the surface you’re giving the credit away, but underneath, in the essence of things as they really are, the credit remains yours. People who don’t understand how to cultivate are always struggling to grab the spotlight, to be number one, and to make sure everyone knows who they are. People who have true understanding don’t seek recognition. It’s said that:
The deeds that are done for others to see are not truly good.
The deeds that are done fearing others will know are truly evil.Bodhisattvas don’t want people to know about their good deeds. Conversely, if they make mistakes, they don’t care if people find out. Practicing the Bodhisattva Path is benefiting oneself and others. As you benefit yourself, you should benefit others more, even when it’s at your own expense.
Practicing the Bodhisattva Path is practicing the six pāramitās and the myriad practices. The six pāramitās are giving, upholding precepts, patience, vigor, dhyāna, and wisdom (prajña). To practice giving is to give to others without asking them to give to you. You shouldn’t complain, “I’m one of the Three Jewels. Why doesn’t anybody make offerings to me?” Being a member of the Three Jewels, you’re supposed to give. Upholding precepts means that you hold them yourself; it doesn’t mean that you go around telling other people to hold them. Patience means that you are patient, not that you tell others to be patient. Vigor means the same: that you’re the one who is vigorous, not that you tell others to be vigorous while remaining lazy yourself. You shouldn’t think, “I’ve already become a Bodhisattva, so I don’t need to be vigorous. I’m a senior Bodhisattva and don’t need to be vigorous; I’ll just tell the junior Bodhisattvas to be vigorous.”
As for dhyāna, you must cultivate it yourself. You can’t pester people by saying, “Hey! Why can’t you achieve dhyāna?” Finally, you yourself must have prajña. You can’t tell others to cultivate it while failing to do so yourself.
The six pāramitās are not to be practiced for just one day. You must practice them every single day and never take a breather for even a second. Practicing the Bodhisattva Path means that you’re busy working all the time. Busy doing what? Teaching and transforming living beings. Living beings are drowning in the sea of suffering. Unless you push yourself a little, how are you ever going to be able to save them all? There’s no time for naps; there’s no time for false thinking. Both monastics and laypeople should practice the Bodhisattva Path.
The 10 Pāramitās of the Great Vehicle Bodhisattvas
As another follow up to Higan Week, I offer Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s explanation of the ten pāramitās of the Great Vehicle Bodhisattvas from his commentary on the Lotus Sutra.
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v8, p190-191I’ve explained the six perfections or six pāramitās practiced by the Bodhisattvas. What do Great Vehicle Bodhisattvas practice? They practice the ten perfections or the ten pāramitās.
7. The pāramitā of skillful means. Applying skillful means, you can turn the dust of the world into the Buddha’s work. Whatever a Buddha does is skillful means; what-ever Dharma he teaches is also skillful means. What are skillful means? Skillful means aren’t something that can be used forever. They’re provisional and temporary in nature. The Dharma-door of skillful means suits a par-ticular living being’s potential only at a given time.
8. The pāramitā of vows. You make vows to teach and rescue all living beings.
9. The pāramitā of powers. You need strength to realize this pāramitā.
10. The pāramitā of wisdom. This refers to provisional wisdom, the expedient wisdom used to teach and transform living beings.
Great Vehicle Bodhisattvas cultivate these ten pāramitās. Speaking of the six pāramitās and four infinite states of the mind, these ten pāramitās are already encompassed by the four infinite states of the mind. If I were to elaborate in detail, the endless elaborations could go on and on. Such explanations could go into infinite detail. For now, I can only give a general explanation.
Six Pāramitās and 10 Good Deeds
As another follow up to Higan Week, I offer Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s explanation of the the six pāramitās from the perspective of the ten good deeds from his commentary on the Lotus Sutra.
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v8, p135Let’s explain the six pāramitās from the perspective of the ten good deeds. No killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, and no false speech correspond to the pāramitā of giving. No divisive speech corresponds to the pāramitā of upholding precepts. No harsh speech corresponds to the pāramitā of patience. No frivolous speech corresponds to the paramita of vigor. No greed and no hatred correspond to the pāramitā of dhyāna. No wrong views corresponds to the paramita of prajña. The ten good deeds correspond to the six pāramitās in this way.
Vajra Sutra: Giving Six Paramitas
As a bonus following the conclusion of Higan, Paramita Week, I offer Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s discussion of how giving can encompasses all six pāramitās from his commentary on The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra
The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, p120-121Giving is the first of the six pāramitās. There are three kinds of giving: giving wealth, giving dharma, and giving fearlessness.
The gift of wealth is a gift to the living which does not transcend the present life.
The gift of dharma may take place when you meet a living being who is free of animosity and has no desire to harm you. Then you may speak dharma and cause him to awaken to the unconditioned. If you can also cause such a living being to leave behind all fear and trembling, you are practicing the pāramitā of holding precepts within the pāramitā of giving. Or you may encounter a living being who wants to harm you, and by speaking dharma you enable him to conquer his anger and hatred. If you can enable someone who displays enmity or resentment towards you or who wishes you harm to abandon aggression, you have used the pāramitā of patience to perfect your giving.
Perhaps you tirelessly benefit people and are not the least bit lazy in teaching and transforming living beings, and enjoy speaking dharma for whomever you see. To resolve that “Whatever Buddhadharma I know I will speak for others without regard for the acceptance or rejection of my teaching” is not to fear fatigue and suffering. That is to employ the pāramitā of vigor in practicing giving.
Perhaps your speaking of dharma is extremely well-organized. You never confuse summations, scramble lists, or muddle principles. In listing the pāramitās you are able to speak them in their proper sequence: giving, holding precepts, patience, vigor, dhyāna samadhi, and prajña. If in lecturing you encounter a reference to the Five Roots and Five Powers, as for example when they appear in the Amitabha Sutra, you are able to explain them correctly as:
Faith,
Vigor,
Mindfulness,
Samadhi,
Wisdom.Rather than confusing them and explaining them as the six dusts, such orderly correct speaking of dharma is an example of the use of the pāramitā of dhyāna samadhi in giving. If someone asks you a question and you become flustered and say, “Uhhh, I don’t know…” then your skill in dhyāna samadhi is wanting.
However, even those with samadhi need wisdom. Wisdom enhances the development of eloquence so that “left and right the source is revealed, the Way is clear and straightforward.” No matter how you speak, you reveal the essence of the principle, because your wisdom is unobstructed. That is, you use the paramita of prajña wisdom in your giving.
Thus the three aspects of giving, the giving of wealth, the giving of dharma, and the giving of fearlessness encompass the six pāramitās.
Considering the Six Pāramitās
Twice each year at the Spring and Winter Equinox Nichiren Buddhists are asked to “strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds. Have our words hurt anyone around us? Are our actions serving ourselves more than others? How can we be productive for the sake of society? Are our decisions creating a world of strife rather than peace? Does our lifestyle encroach upon the liberty or happiness of others? Are we aware of how our actions may adversely affect our environment – the soil, air, plants, insects, fish, birds, and animals? In sum, the basic question from a Buddhist point of view is whether or not we are following the right path.” (Higan brochure)
Specifically, Nichiren Buddhists are asked to reflect on the six pāramitās of Bodhisattva practice for three days before the equinox and for three days after.
This year for Higan week, which begins tomorrow, I’m going to post content taken from Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s commentary on the Lotus Sutra and specifically from Chapter 1, Introductory.
The subject of Bodhisattva Practices and the Six Pāramitās comes up after the Buddha emitted a ray of light from the white curls between his eyebrows, and illumined all the corners of eighteen thousand worlds in the east and prompting Maitreya Bodhisattva to ask what this omen meant.
Hsuan Hua’s commentary includes on outline of the Lotus Sutra created by Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655 CE).
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v2, pxxxvH5. Asking About Cultivation Of Bodhisattva Practices In Other Lands
- I1. Asking In General
- I2. Asking About The Six Pāramitās In Sequence
- J1. Question About Giving
- J2. Question About Upholding Precepts
- J3. Question About Patience
- J4. Question About Vigor
- J5. Question About Dhyāna
- J6. Question About Wisdom
- I3. Asking About The Six Pāramitās Out Of Sequence
- J1. Question About Dhyāna
- J2. Question About Vigor
- J3. Question About Upholding Precepts
- J4. Question About Patience
- J5. Question About Dhyāna
- J6. Question About Giving
- J7. Question About Wisdom
I’m going to post content from “Asking About The Six Pāramitās In Sequence” beginning tomorrow and “Asking About The Six Pāramitās Out Of Sequence” in September for the Fall Equinox.
Higan: Empty Meditation
Today is the sixth day of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:
For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.
Today we consider the perfection of meditation.
Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 207-208“Emptiness” is the meditation that yields freedom, whether this meditation is performed in Buddhist or non-Buddhist terms. If you do not understand how the choices you make are conditioned by your background and the context within which you face them, you will have very little freedom in relation to these conditioning factors. If you do not understand that your political views are largely a function of the particular influences that have been exerted on you from early life until now, you will have no way of seeing how other worldviews give justification to other views just as yours does for you, and therefore no way of even beginning to adjudicate between them except by naively assuming the truth of your own.
If you do not realize that what seems obvious to you seems that way because of structures built into your time and place and the particularities of your life, you will have very little room to imagine other ways to look at things that stretch the borders of your context and imagination. You will have no motive to wonder why what seems obvious to you does not seem obvious to others in other cultures or languages, and to wonder whether you might not be better off unconstrained by those particular boundaries of worldview. The extent to which you are limited by your setting is affected by the extent to which you understand such constraints both in general (anyone’s) and in particular (yours). The way you participate in your current given worldview shapes the extent to which you will be able to see alternatives to it and be able to reach out beyond it in freedom.
“Emptiness” and similar non-Buddhist meditations on the powers of interdependence and contextuality are among the most fruitful means of generating sufficient freedom to live a creative life. Reflexively aware, we are more and more able to see and act on alternatives that would never occur to us otherwise. In reflexive meditation, we come to embrace the finitude of all acts of thinking as a way to liberate us from dogmatism and certitude. Understanding the uncertainty that is constitutive of our human mode of being, we develop the flexibility of mind necessary to be honest with ourselves about our own point of view.
Higan: Energy of Desire
Today is fifth day of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:
For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.
Today we consider the perfection of energy.
Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 156Desire is the basis of motivation. It is the source of our energy. Without wanting something enough to motivate our will and energize our action, we are unlikely to pursue or get it. Imagine what it would be to eliminate all desire while still living a human life. Without desires we would be inactive and impotent. Lacking ambition, we would be without purposes and plans. Existing in so dispassionate a way that we desire nothing, we would be indifferent to any outcome; we would not care – about anything. Apathetic, that is, lacking pathos and passion, we would be devoid of feelings of any kind as well as the activities and spiritedness that follow from them. Although it is no doubt true that there have been a few aspirants who have understood the Buddha’s enlightenment to be a state of complete desirelessness, this is not the image of the compassionate and energized bodhisattva that we are likely to imagine and admire. A richer and more complete conception of Buddhist enlightenment encompasses and elevates desire rather than rejecting it.
Higan: Tolerance of Emptiness
Today is the third day of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:
For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.
Today we consider the perfection of patience.
Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 132Modern Western thought has produced something closely related to the realization of “emptiness” – “historical consciousness,” the consciousness or awareness that everything is immersed in history, that everything becomes what it is through the shaping powers of historical conditioning and change whenever constitutive conditions change. The ability and willingness to understand ourselves historically is similar to the ability to see the “empty” character of all things—that is, its relational and always changing character.
In this insight, we realize that everything is a product of history, of dependence and time, including ourselves. Through it, we understand that all human thinking is subject to future doubt and revision, no matter how certain we may be about our knowledge. The upshot of historical awareness is not that we cannot know the truth, but that doubt and openness are essential ingredients to any quest for understanding. Similarly, realizing that all human knowledge is “empty” or “historical” does not in any way amount to saying that knowledge is not valid, or that it is pointless. It is rather a profound look into both the dependent character of everything and the reality of ongoing change that pervades the entire cosmos.
Higan: The Emptiness of Morality
Today is the second day of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:
For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.
Today we consider perfection of discipline:
Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 63Like most of us, bodhisattvas at earlier levels of practice assume that things stand on their own and can therefore be grasped in isolation from other things. They take the language of things to validate a certain understanding of things and cannot at the outset think otherwise. But the practice of the perfections is meant to disrupt that understanding and to show how the depth of things is more truthfully disclosed through the “emptiness” of linguistic signs and their referents. …
The realization that all moral rules are “empty” works toward freeing the bodhisattva from an inappropriate attachment to them. Holding the rules in one’s mind without “clinging” to them, without “grasping” them dogmatically, yields a certain degree of latitude in their practice. The moral rules are understood as means, not ends, and when these means come into conflict with important ends, the bodhisattva learns to practice the rules flexibly.