Mentor-Disciple Origins: Shakyamuni

Siddhartha Gautama

In the Lotus Sutra, after Shakyamuni has repeatedly explained that there is only one vehicle and that the wisdom of the buddhas is difficult to understand and difficult to enter, we come to the Ceremony in the Air.  A treasure tower arises from the ground and we meet Many Treasures Buddha who confirms that what Shakamuni is saying is true.  Everyone wonders who will spread this teaching far and wide, and while various groups within the assembly offer to propagate it, it’s only when the ground opens up and the Bodhisattvas of the Earth (Shakyamuni’s students from previous lifetimes) appear that we see the true disciples of the mentor Shakyamuni. 

In the March 2007 “Art of Living” magazine, Barbara Cahill explains that “Shakyamuni himself established the way forward in the ceremony in the air when he passed the baton of propagation to Bodhisattva Superior Practices and to the Bodhisattvas of the Earth.  At that point he made it clear that practice to, and reverence for, the idealised image of a remote and superior Buddha must be replaced by the understanding that the cause for Buddhahood exists in every life.” (p37)

Throughout Shakyamuni’s life, Shariputra and others saw themselves as the disciples of the Buddha, but after the Buddha’s death, rather than propagate the Lotus Sutra, many of them returned to the earlier teachings or started to revere Shakyamuni as a God.   Akemi Baynes explains “When his followers lost the spirit of the oneness of mentor and disciple, Shakyamuni became merely an object of worship, a godlike being, rather than a model of what an enlightened person can achieve.”  (Art of Living, September 2007, p30-31)

So as well as the confusion among the various teachings, there is also confusion among the various disciples.  This is why it is essential that the disciples of Buddhism, of Shakyamuni and of Nichiren Daishonin, study and understand the heart of their teachings, their practice and their intent.  Disciples who fail to do this will stray from the path of the mentor’s teachings and run the risk of continuing to spread outdated teachings and  ineffective practices, while at the same time causing confusion and hindering, rather than promoting, the spread of Buddhism, especially the Buddhism of the Lotus Sutra.

In a dialogue on the Lotus Sutra between President Ikeda, and the Soka Gakkai Study Department chief and vice chiefs (published as “The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra: Vol. IV”), they discuss India’s first prime minister’s opinion on why Buddhism died out In India:

Ikeda: [Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister] once discussed the question of why Buddhism died out in India with the French author Andre Malraux.   … At one point in their conversation, Nehru remarked: "The genius of the Buddha has to do with the fact that he is a man. The originator of one of the most profound systems of thought in the history of humanity, an inflexible spirit and the most noble compassion. " … After Shakyamuni's death, however, as Nehru deftly observed, "He became deified, he merged with that multitude, which closed round him," in effect, eclipsing his human side. [Andre Malraux, Anti-memoirs, trans. Terence Kilmartin (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968), p. 228.]

Saito: … The problem is that as soon as Shakyamuni was deified, the path he had revealed for human beings to attain enlightenment disappeared.

Ikeda: Yes. Fundamentally, Buddhism is a teaching about how to live, a teaching transmitted from mentor to disciple. … But if the Buddha as the mentor ceases to be a human being and becomes a "god," then, practically speaking, the path of mentor and disciple cannot exist. …

Saito: In Hinayana Buddhism, which emerged relatively early after Shakyamuni's death, the people gradually viewed Shakyamuni as a deity. Consequently they felt  it was enough if they could just strive to attain the enlightenment of persons of learning, or voice-hearers (i.e., the stage of arhat).  In Mahayana Buddhism, other than the Lotus Sutra, which was systematized at a later time as a countermovement to Hinayana, a large number of Buddhas are introduced besides Shakyamuni Buddha. These include, for example, Amida, Mahavairochana and Vairochana. But there is an unbridgeable gap between these Buddhas and actual people. They are presented largely as beings to whom people can entrust their hopes for salvation; not as potential mentors.  Thus, the path of mentor and disciple exists neither in the Hinayana nor in the provisional Mahayana teachings.

Ikeda: When "Shakyamuni the human being" was forgotten, Buddhism ceased to be a teaching about how to live the best possible life. The path of mentor and disciple disappeared.  Consequently, Buddhism declined and became authoritarian.

Saito:  When followers fail to continue along the same path as the mentor, the very life of Buddhism is extinguished. One cannot fail to be impressed by Nehru's wisdom in discerning that Buddhism died out in India when Shakyamuni ceased to be viewed as a human being.”  

(Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra: Vol. IV p30 – 33)

Saito: Because direct contact with the Buddha was impossible, in time the concept of the "great Buddha" took on a kind of life of its own. People thought that Shakyamuni alone had attained the Buddha's enlightenment, and that it was far beyond them to ever become Buddhas themselves.

Endo: The enlightenment toward which they strove was the highest enlightenment of voice-hearers - the stage of arhat. The state of the Buddha was seen as unattainable.

Suda: In the meantime, the precepts gradually grew in complexity. Also, to maintain the order, the monks created an air of mystery around their temples, going so far as to expound teachings arrogating authority to themselves.  At the same time, they placed the Buddha on a pedestal rending him inaccessible to ordinary people.

Ikeda: Still, things weren't quite as bad as they could have been as long as Shakyamuni's direct disciples were around. The first compilation of sutras is said to have taken place about a century after Shakyamuni's death. By then Shakyamuni's deification may have already been fairly well advanced. …

Saito: The Sanskrit term that, in the Chinese Buddhist canon, is translated as "World-Honored One" is bhagavat, an ancient Indian literary term. This was apparently an appellation that disciples used in addressing a teacher. But as Shakyamuni's deification became solidified, people came to refer to him instead as the "supreme deity" or as the "god of gods."

Amidha Buddha

Suda: When we come to Mahayana Buddhism, we find an emphasis on a personal Buddha as a "savior" figure who leads people to enlightenment. …  The problem is that as a result of this Mahayana Buddhist movement, people came to make light of Shakyamuni, the originator of Buddhism. Instead, they revered imaginary Buddhas [such as Amida, Vairochana and Mahavairochana] as "gods." Ultimately, this closed off the path whereby people could discover the "Law at one with the Buddha" within their own lives.

Endo: Moreover, the teaching of such Buddhas, rather than encouraging people to place importance on their own inherent strength, only reinforced the tendency to depend on the Buddha's compassion for salvation. The Pure Land or Nembutsu school of Buddhism, in which people seek salvation through the benevolence of Amida Buddha, is a case in point.

Ikeda: In short, both the Hinayana and Mahayana teachings completely deviate from the spirit of Shakyamuni’s teaching to make the Law and the self our foundation. … The Lotus Sutra’s spirit  is to resist the dehumanization of religion and religion's tendency to become divorced from reality but instead to steadfastly redirect religion to focus on the human being.

Suda: I recall the Daishonin's declaration in "On Practicing the Buddha's Teachings" that he has "[launched] the battle between the provisional and the true teachings" and "the battle goes on even today" (WND1, p392).   The true legacy of Buddhism can be found only within unceasing spiritual struggle.

Saito: The Daishonin constantly proclaimed: "Return to Shakyamuni!" …

Endo: He condemns as utterly confused those who try to do away with the actual person Shakyamuni while making much of imaginary Buddhas of uncertain origins. …

Ikeda: That suggests just how strong the tendency of religion is to depart from the human being. And when that happens, religion becomes little more than a means for controlling people.

(Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra: Vol. IV p44 – 48)

During this conversation, study department chief, Katsuji Saito also explains “[A]fter Shakyamuni's death the Law necessarily becomes fundamental. That is inevitable. The only way to attain Buddhahood is to have a direct connection with the Law and, in effect, make the Law one's mentor.”  (Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra: Vol. IV p43)

And in “Buddhism Day by Day”, Daisaku Ikeda writes, “The highest offering to the Buddha is not to worship something reminiscent of the Buddha.  Rather, it is to inherit the Buddha’s spirit.  In other words, the highest offering lies in struggling to manifest, as one’s own way of life, even a part of the spirit of the Buddha, who upheld the philosophy that everyone is a Buddha and tirelessly strove to save all from suffering.”  (p297)