The Buddha's Warning

Okay, maybe not the last one, but in the Kalama Sutra, Shakyamuni states: 

“Don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, "This contemplative is our teacher."  When you know for yourselves that, "These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness" — then you should enter & remain in them.”

The key point of the Kalama Sutra is to teach us that the source of any information, or even our own reasoning or contemplation, shouldn't be accepted at face value.  It is essential for us to distance ourselves from blind faith and to "know for ourselves" through actual practice and testing the claims of that knowledge or wisdom.  Once we have proved through our own investigation, research, action and results that this practice leads to a state of happiness for ourselves and society, then, and only then, should we adopt and pursue that practice.

Throughout his years of teaching, Shakyamuni taught many different sutras, continually updating the depth and breadth of his teachings in accordance with the growing capacity of his audience.  Finally, after 40 years, he taught the complete truth of the mystic law of the universe that he had awakened to under the Bodhi tree in his penultimate teaching - the Lotus Sutra.

Before he died, Shakyamuni taught one final sutra - the Nirvana Sutra - in which he confirmed that the Lotus Sutra contained his complete and all-encompassing philosophy - the king of all sutra - and that it would never be replaced by a future teaching.  He also issued a final warning to his disciples at that time, and for the future, to focus on the teaching itself and not to be led astray by the words of religious leaders, wise men, other people or one's own thoughts:

FOLLOW THE LAW NOT THE PERSON

  

Shakyamuni's Approval

In the Sahassavagga section of the Dhammapada,  Shakyamuni says:

“Better it is to live one day seeing the rise and fall of things than to live a hundred years without ever seeing the rise and fall of things.

… Better it is to live one day seeing the Supreme Truth than to live a hundred years without ever seeing the Supreme Truth”

This comes from one of Shakyamuni’s earlier teachings and while we know that Shakyamuni revealed his ultimate teaching in The Lotus Sutra, we can also see that this earlier teaching contains universal truths about awakening to the Mystic Law and the reality of all phenomena.

In fact from the teachings of the four noble truths and the eightfold path onwards, Shakyamuni was encouraging us to understand the causes of our suffering and teaching us a path to happiness. 

Since those early days, the Buddha taught many different teachings in relation to the time and capabilities of the hearers, and three key principles became established among future generations of buddhists which were judged to guarantee the authenticity of a doctrine as a Buddhist doctrine. 

These three criteria, also known as the three Dharma seals, were the concepts of impermanence, non-self and nirvana. 

1 IMPERMANENCE (EVERYTHING CHANGES)

Everything is in a constant state of change.  We are born.  We grow old.  We get sick.  We die.  Fruit ripens then spoils.  The movement of the sea erodes coastlines.  A movie star’s career rises or declines.  Fashions change.  Companies go bankrupt.  We fall in love.  We get married.  We grow apart.  We get divorced.  Empires rise and fall. 

Does this mean that impermanence has to be a source of suffering?  Not at all.  It may seem like a negative and pessimistic view of life, but it’s our failure to understand impermanence that causes us suffering.  Once we awaken to this universal truth we are encouraged in two ways.  Firstly, it  allows you to make the most of every moment during the good times.  This could be an opportunity to reconnect with a loved one you have lost touch with or to cherish the person right in front of you.  Secondly, if you are going through bad times, impermanence gives you hope that things will change for the better. 

Nichiren’s famous words of encouragement in his letter “Happiness in This World” are “Suffer what there is to suffer.  Enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life, and continue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, no matter what happens.  How could this be anything other than the boundless joy of the Law?  Strengthen your power of faith more than ever.”   (WND1, p681)

His advice isn’t just to go with the flow of life and to suffer and enjoy whatever life brings, but to “see” the impermance of all phenomena and wake up to the true reality of our suffering and joy.   Nichiren is teaching us to use our faith and practice to make the most of every moment of our life.

The Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh explains that “The Buddha implored us not just to talk about impermanence, but to use it as an instrument to help us penetrate deeply into reality and obtain liberating insight. … Without impermanence, life is not possible. How can we transform our suffering if things are not impermanent?  How can our daughter grow up into a beautiful young lady? How can the situation in the world improve?  We need impermanence for social justice and for hope.”

2 NON-SELF (AN ETERNITY OF NON-INDEPENDENCE)

The concept of non-self is based on the view that our present identity is not eternal, and even though we will be reborn with a new identity based on our eternal entity’s accumulated causes and effects, there is no eternal independent self that will continue life on another plane of existence, such as the Christian concept of heaven or hell. 

Also it’s impossible to live a life where we exist independently from others and our environment, and we are constantly influencing, and are influenced by, our environment and the people we come into contact with, both directly and indirectly (through TV, literature, blogs, etc.). 

3 NIRVANA (ETERNAL HAPPINESS)

When unenlightened our ignorance, greed and anger, and our inability to clearly understand IMPERMANENCE and NON-SELF, leads us to a life of suffering, but when we awaken to these realities that life, and even our own identity, are changeable and that everything is connected, we can achieve the highest state of calm and serenity – NIRVANA.

THE LOTUS SUTRA AND THE ONE DHARMA SEAL

The SGI Dictionary of Buddhism describes the THREE DHARMA SEALS  “ as standards to determine whether or not a sutra or a doctrine was valid”  and continues that within Chinese Mahayana Buddhism these three seals were seen as a concept of early Buddhism.  “It established instead the one Dharma seal, which was the principle of the ultimate reality, or the true aspect of all phenomena.  The Dharma seal of the ultimate reality is based on the Lotus Sutra, which sets forth this true aspect of all phenomena.”

2005 PEACE PROPOSAL

Every year since 1983 President Ikeda has written a Peace Proposal (see also For the Sake of Peace) with a Buddhist perspective on how to bring peace to society through committees, treaties and dialogue. 

  

In his 2005 Peace Proposal, ”Towards a New Era of Dialogue: Humanism  Explored”,  he summarised the Buddhist concept of these three Dharma seals:

“The impermanence of all phenomena (shogyo-mujo) explains that all things, events and experiences can be understood as an unbroken continuity of change and transformation.  Because everything changes, there is nothing that has a fixed, independent existence or substance (shoho-muga).  The enlightened state realized through the fully developed capacity to discern this reality is referred to as the tranquility of nirvana (nehan-jakujo).

This describes the initial awakening achieved by Shakyamuni when he realized that all things arise in the context of their interrelatedness;  this is a world woven of the rich threads of diversity, as all things exist in a web of interdependence, each serving as the cause or connection by which all other things come into being.”

(Daisaku Ikeda, 2005 Peace Proposal, p5)

Most Buddhist schools claim they are following Shakyamuni’s true intent through their own faith and practice of one or more of his teachings, so Shakyamuni also gave a warning of who to trust in the future…