What is Buddhism? Applications 8 - The Buddha is not the creator of the universe, nor is he the great life of the universe.
I previously introduced an analogy about waves. This analogy was meant to simplify the narrative but contained elements that could lead to significant misunderstandings from a Buddhist perspective. Suppose a wave in the ocean becomes aware that it is a wave. By becoming aware that it is a wave, it comes to regard many other waves as its rivals, and it spends all its time competing with them for survival. In other words, a delusion arises that it and others are in competition with each other. This delusion is the cause of all suffering. However, when it realizes that it is not just a wave, but the entire ocean, the delusion of self/other conflict disappears, and it experiences a sense of oneness with the entire ocean.
However, what could be
misleading was that the real self that finally arrived was the ocean itself,
the “great ocean. The reason is that, although a metaphor, the actual ocean is
a real thing, an object of perception.
As explained in the doctrine
of the Twelve Dependent Originations, phenomena such as "sensation,"
"consciousness," etc., all lack inherent existence and are not based
on any concrete entity. In Buddhism, everything is considered to be a product
of delusion, and this delusion perpetuates itself by generating further
delusions, rather than misunderstanding some inherently existing reality. Upon
realizing the true nature of things and eliminating fundamental ignorance, all
subsequent fabrications are believed to completely dissipate.
However, the “recognition
subject” that remains after all delusions have disappeared is, of course, not
identical with any object of perception. This is an important premise of
Buddhist teaching. Therefore, it is a contradiction to the basic premise of
Buddhism to identify the “recognition subject,” which has reached the state of
perfect middle way, with the object of perception, such as the ocean, the
world, the universe, or cosmic life.
In other words, the state of
transcendence, in which the recognition subject does not identify itself with
any object of perception, is called the state of the Middle Way. Therefore,
when the recognition subject identifies itself with some concrete existence, it
can no longer be said to be in the state of the Middle Way.
This is why we cannot
identify the Buddha, who has reached the perfect state of the Middle Way, with
any other concrete existence.
Nevertheless, as time went
by, the idea that everyone has the potential to become a Buddha came to be
interpreted in a pantheistic way, and the theory that everyone is a manifestation
of the Buddha himself, but is simply unaware of it, emerged. In other words,
the concept that originally meant the possibility of becoming a Buddha came to
be thought of as the result of the Buddha himself being a great life with
substance as the main body of the universe, and all beings, including people,
being manifestations of that cosmic great life.
There is a fundamental
difference between respecting all living beings as equal to the Buddha and
regarding all beings as (literal) manifestations of the Buddha. While
respecting all living beings as equal to the Buddha is extremely important and
an essential perspective for a bodhisattva, to regard all living beings as
literal manifestations of the Buddha is to say that the entire delusional world
was created by the Buddha.
To begin with, the Buddha is
not the Creator. The Buddha is a being who transcends the world of delusion,
but who, as a tathagata, continues to help suffering sentient beings to awaken
and escape from the world of delusion.
In the Buddhist worldview,
there is no creator of this delusional world or great life in the universe.
This is because the world of delusion is a world chosen and determined by our
own consciousness from among the myriad of coexisting possibilities.
Moreover, likening the Buddha
to life itself confounds the essence of both life and the Buddha. The essence
of life lies in metabolism, which includes utilizing other beings for the
survival of individuals and the collective "species." The source of
human selfishness seems to be a trait inherent in life. Life is destined to
sacrifice others in order to maintain its own survival. No matter how much we
wish for the happiness of others, the essence of life is to try to survive only
for ourselves, even if it means taking their lives.
Fundamentally, such
fatalistic selfishness of life has its source in the delusion of separation of
self and others, but by continuing to strive to give priority to the happiness
of others, we can gradually weaken the influence of selfishness in life and,
more essentially, in the separation of self and others.
Ultimately, by transcending
such delusions of self-preservation, one can reach a sense of oneness with all
beings and approach the enlightenment of the Buddha.
As mentioned above, the
Buddha leads us out of a world of struggle and suffering to a world without
conflict and sorrow.
Therefore, comparing the
Buddha to the cosmic life itself, which created this world, is like comparing a
fireman to an arsonist.
Exposing the merciless nature
of life activities and presenting it starkly, Kenji Miyazawa (a gifted Japanese
writer of children's stories and devotee of the Lotus Sutra) brilliantly
depicted the essence of Buddhist thought in his masterpieces. Among them is a
short story called The Nighthawk Star. The main character, the
"nighthawk," has a heart of compassion for others, but must kill and
eat them to survive. The story goes that he is so distressed by this
fundamental contradiction that he eventually transcends his existence as a
living being to stop eating others, flying into the distant sky to become a
star in the night sky.
In this sense, Kenji Miyazawa
is one of the few individuals among contemporary Buddhists who truly understood
the thought of the Buddha.
As already mentioned,
considering the basic premise of Buddhism that the world is a choice made by
each individual mind, it is no exaggeration to say that the idea that everything
in the world is a manifestation of the Buddha is not a Buddhist concept at all.
Moreover, there are countless
options for the world that each one of us can perceive, and at each moment,
each one of us chooses one world out of countless possibilities based on our
own mental state and memories of past actions. Thus, not all humans share the
same future or past.
The
world chosen by a selfish and hostile person will be a world of conflict and
strife, and may even lead to the extinction of the human race.
Conversely, the world chosen
by those who consistently wish for and act for the well-being of others may be
a world of peace and harmony, where people cooperate with one another toward
enlightenment.
In
Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra, there is an expression, “Even when sentient
beings see that the time of the end of the world has come and everything will
be burned up, I see this world at peace and filled with heavenly deities and
human beings. This means that even if many people think that the end of the
world is coming and everything will burn up, the world as the Buddha sees it
will continue to be peaceful and filled with pure-hearted living beings.
This does not mean that the
world in which the Buddha resides is a separate world from this world, but
rather that the world seen by those who are delusional and the world seen by
those who have a mind like the Buddha are two parallel worlds that are superimposed
on each other.
In other words, the peaceful
world as seen by the Buddha and the world in which humanity is destroyed by a
great fire are both possible choices, and until each person's mind actually
chooses and determines the choice, they are parallel worlds that coexist.
Therefore, whatever the world
may be, we should never forget that it is not a world created by the Buddha,
but a world chosen by our own mind.
#KenjiMiyazawa #NighthawkStar
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