To: K-list
Recieved: 2000/03/02 06:56
Subject: [K-list] Lotus Sutra revisited.
From: Magne Aga
On 2000/03/02 06:56, Magne Aga posted thus to the K-list:
From: "Magne Aga" <magneagaATnospammonet.no>
Excerpts from a private E-post(s):
+ + +
When I wrote that Buddhahood was *inherent* in all people, I wasn't actually
refering to Nichiren, but to the Tendai school of China. I also must specify
that I do not belong to any spesific school; I'm rather looking at different
schools as attempts to present the Truth from different viewpoints. In
Spiritual matters, we often meet statements which seemingly contradicts each
others, because the mystical experience - ANY mystical experience -
transcendence the dualism of our everyday consciousness.
In Visudhimagga, Buddha states:
"Excactly, Subhuti, I did not attain ANYTHING through my complete and fully
enlightment; and it's therefore I call it complete and fully enlightment".
In a Zen-poem, we read:
Beyond teaching; separated from tradition.
Not based on words and letters.
Points directly on the human mind.
Looks into one's own nature, and attains Buddhahood.
(Hui-k'o)
And further:
The perfect way is not difficult,
except that it avoids choices.
(Hsin-hsin Ming)
The four Truths which Buddha summarized to his disciples after his awakening
beneath the Bodhi-three, can - in my own words, be expressed this way:
(1) Everything is suffering
(2) The cause of the suffering is our covetous nature
(3) There exist a Nirvana, the end of suffering
(4) There's a way, preached by Buddha, leading to Nirvana
If Nirvana means the same as Yoga, such as it's defined in Yoga Sutras:
citta-vritta-norodha, "The cease of our thoughts movements in (evil)
circles", we can say that our Buddhahood, our immortal Dharmakaya, is an
inherent part of our innermost beeing. But - because of our delusions in
maya, name and form - the thoughts of our mortal beeing becomes a Veil
hiding our True Divine Nature.
Satori, Bodhi, the Great awakening of Illumination, therefore becomes a
matter of redisovering our innermost nature as an inherent part of the
Divine.
But our ego, entrapped in these veil of names, forms and maya, cannot attain
these realization alone, by itself. We need means, that is, meditation.
Since Buddhahood is potensial, if you like to say it these way, in all and
everyone, it is the death of the ego in order to be oneself as one never was
before the awakening. But since the ego doesn't exist in Nirvana, *we* (as
ego's) can not attain it ! Hence the paradoxes, which are only paradoxes in
our language, which is yet another trap of name and forms - the ingredients
of maya. As is stated by Buddha in Visudhimagga:
Only the suffering exists; but no one suffers.
Only the deeds exist; but no doer.
Nirvana is; not no one seeks it.
The Way is; but no one walks on it.
However, my primary interest was to pay attention to Dharmaraksa's
translation of the Lotus sutra in order to identify the *missionary
language* of Buddhism, from Central Asia into China.
Northwest of Kashmir, in Gandhara, they spoke a language which could easily
be misunderstood by foreigners. It was an indo-aric language, but not
sanscrit, and several words was almost identical with sanscrit-words, but
with another semantics. Secondly, Dharmaraksa was a *Yuezhi* - belonging to
a people which are not fully identified even today, and he spoke a Khotanese
dialect which could easily be misunderstood by Nie Chengyan, which wrote the
Lotus sutra in Chinese letters from the spoken words of Dharmaraksa on
September the 15th, 286 AD.
One example is the word meditation, dhyana in sancrit. In a
Kharushthi-manuscript from Niya, "dhyana" is written as "jana": "te jana
parami gate", "they attain mastership in meditation". In other cases, "j"
became "jnjj" and "dhy" became "jh", so that it sometimes became confused
with "jnana" (knowledge) and even "jana" (people) and "dana" (to give). It's
probable that *mahayana* (Great Vehicle) was a misunderstanding of
*mahajnana* (Great Knowledge).
Furthermore, "j" was sometimes pronounced "z". In a seal-insciption from
Taxila, we find the word "mahajana" instead of "mahadhana", that is, the "j"
in Kharushthi - which actually was pronounced "z" - was confused with "d"
(pronounced dh). In Early Medieval Chinese, the word was pronounced "dzian"
and "dzyan", and in later developments it became "ch'an" and "Zen".
In addition, when Dharmaraksa held speaches and lectures on the Lotus Sutra
on the monastry of the White Horse (Bama si) and the monastry of Oxan on
October and November 290 AD, respectively, the manuscript was written down
again, these time by Kang Nalu, another foreigner who spoke a Sogdian
language. Days and Nights, Dharmaraksa held lectures at the monastries in
Luoyang, after a long journey eastwards, and people were enraptured, carried
away by enthusiasm. He was obviously a talented speaker and orator,
attracting to the masses.
So, we had an original manuscript which Dharmaraksa held in his hands. It
was not written in sanscrit, but probably Kharushthi, with it's 252
different characters which expressed different combinations of vowels and
consonants. Many consonants was unvoiced, and could easily be misunderstood
when Dharamaraksa delivered it oraly, together with the fact that
Dharmaraksa spoke a Khotanese dialect influenced by Tocharian, and the
second rewriting in Luoyang by a person speaking Sogdian.
This caused some errors in the translation, and my aim was to show that
these misinterpretations was neither due to *scamped work* nor that he was
less authorative than Kumarajiva, but the fundamental language-problems he
faced in such an early meeting between Indian and Chinese culture. My second
aim was to show that his original source text was older and more authentic
than Kumarajiva's.
(not speaking on behalf of neither Soka Gakkai nor those rejecting Soka
Gakkai)
BLESSINGS FROM NORWAY
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