Shakyamuni's Shakubuku Style

In one of my previous posts “The Teacher of the Law” I looked at the various stages of the Buddha’s teachings and how he chose to break down the true aspect of all phenomena into smaller stages to fulfil his vow “to make all persons equal to [him], without any distinction between us” (The Lotus Sutra & Its Opening and Closing Sutras (2000), p70).  Over the last few posts I’ve looked at some of these earlier practices, but this time we continue with Shakyamuni’s journey and how he introduced this path to enlightenment to his first followers.  These early teachings (including the Pali Canon) are part of the Agama Period which Shakyamuni taught for 12 years and formed the basis of the Therevadan and Vinaya schools of Buddhism.

After becoming enlightened and thinking through how he could teach this wisdom to others, Shakyamuni returned to Varanasi and Deer Park to reveal the first stage of the Mystic Law to the five ascetics that he had practiced with before.	Æ	When we awaken to the wonder of the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra, we want to share this joy and knowledge with the people around us that we know, such as our friends, family, classmates, etc.
At first, they weren’t very excited to see him and doubted his enlightenment because he had previously turned his back on these austere practices.	Æ	The people we talk to may not initially be interested in what we have to say and may even be disparaging of our faith.
But when they noticed his confident attitude and his demeanour, they realised that there was something different about their old friend and wanted to know what his secret was.	Æ	Often it’s our attitude and behaviour as Buddhists, especially how we react when facing sickness, challenges and negativity in our lives, which make people want to know more about our practice.
Hearing these early teachings, they decided to become followers of Shakyamuni and the Buddhist Order was born.  Shakyamuni’s first disciples is thought to have been Ajnata Kaudinya.	Æ	The people we introduce to Nichiren Buddhism may initially show an interest and decide to come along to a discussion meeting, but after a period of study and practice they may decide to join our Buddhist Order – the SGI.

Chain Reaction

In addition to the topics already covered (Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, Five Precepts, etc.)  another one of the early Buddhist teachings was the twelve-linked chain of causation, and Shakyamuni is thought to have taught this twelve step program to explain the causal relationship between ignorance and the sufferings of aging and death.

Shakyamuni introduces these twelve links in the Assutava Sutra :

"When this exists, that comes to be. With the arising of this, that arises." 

These twelve links are:

(1)  ignorance, which results in
(2)  action, which causes
(3)  consciousness or the function to discern, which causes
(4)  name and form (or spiritual and material objects of discernment) which consist of 
(5)  the six sense organs, which interpret
(6)  contact , which arouses
(7)  sensation (visual, aural, intellectual, etc.), which leads to
(8)  desire (or cravings for sights, sounds, smells, ideas, etc.) which precedes
(9)  attachment, which causes
(10) existence (a karmic force of becoming), which manifests in
(11)  birth (a new status/position, a born again identity, etc.) which begins the process of 
(12) aging and death.

These twelve links can be viewed pessimistically as "the way things are" and that we are doomed to a perpetual existence stuck in this cycle of suffering, or it can be interpreted optimistically, reasoning that through wisdom, ignorance (the source of our delusion) can be eliminated freeing us from this chain of suffering and leading to Shakyamuni's initial teachings on nirvana.  Returning to the Assutava Sutra:

"When this does not exist, that does not come to be. With the cessation of this, that ceases."

The Great Commentary on the Abhidharma, a text of the Sarvāstivāda school, views the twelve-linked chain of causation as operating over the three existences of life, such that "aging and death" in this life are the results of causes formed in a previous life:

1	IGNORANCE	CAUSES CREATED IN THE PAST
2	ACTION
3	CONSCIOUSNESS	EFFECTS MANIFESTED IN THE PRESENT
4	NAME AND FORM
5	SIX SENSE ORGANS
6	CONTACT
7	SENSATION
8	DESIRE	CAUSES CREATED IN THE PRESENT
9	ATTACHMENT
10	EXISTENCE
11	BIRTH	EFFECTS MANIFESTED IN THE FUTURE
12	AGING AND DEATH

From a Nichiren Buddhist perspective, we can see that the cause of all our suffering is ignorance, and especially ignorance of the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra, and therefore, the only way to break this chain and achieve our own emancipation is through our faith in the Lotus Sutra and our practice of Nichiren Buddhism.  In the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni also reveals for the first time, the rarest and most-difficult-to-understand Law, the true entity of all phenomena ...

The Story So Far ...

Between August and October last year I started a series of posts on the history of Shakyamuni's awakening and early teachings.  So far there have been four posts on this journey, including his life up to sitting under the Bodhi tree, his encounters with Mara, his enlightenment and his decision to teach others about the Law.  There have also been four posts on his early teachings, including the four noble truths, the eightfold path and the five precepts.