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.