Buddhism and Language: The Lotus Sutra

by Gene Reeves

Broadly speaking, I think there are at least two reasons behind the Lotus Sutra's positive view of language, behind its admonition to have faith in and seek to understand the truthful words of the Buddha: its positive view of nearly everything, and its teaching of skillful means.

I don't know that this has been true in all times and places, but in general, it seems to me, Buddhism has been highly ambivalent about language, about words, whether written or spoken. Very often sutras and their written words have been objects of religious devotion, representing a very positive view of language. Perhaps the Chan/Zen tradition has been most consistent in using language to denigrate language, using a lot of words to disparage words. Many Zen Buddhists have spoken of a dharma transmission that exists apart from, and even in contrast to, written sutras. But negative views of language can also be found almost everywhere in Buddhism, including in the Lotus Sutra.

The Vimalakirti Sutra

This ambivalence is rather stark in the Vimalakirti Sutra. On the one hand, we find "The wise are not attached to letters, and therefore they have no fear" (quotations from the Vimalakirti Sutra are taken from the translation of Kumarajiva's Chinese version [[[Taisho]], vol. 14, no. 475] by John R. McRae in The Sutra of Queen Srimala of the Lion's Roar and the Vimalakirti Sutra [[[Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research]], 2004], p. 90, Taisho 540c; Taisho references are also provided for convenience). In this sutra there is the famous scene in which Manjushri Bodhisattva tells Vimalakirti that he should explain how a bodhisattva enters the gate of nonduality. In response Vimalakirti remains silent, saying nothing at all. And Manjushri responds, "Excellent, excellent! Not to even have words or speech is the true entrance into the Dharma gate of nonduality" (ibid., p. 159, Taisho 553c). This has been widely interpreted as advocating a transcendence of language or words.

On the other hand, in the same sutra we find the following:

The goddess said, "Speech and words are entirely the characteristics of emancipation. Why? "Emancipation is neither internal, nor external, nor intermediate. Words are also neither internal, nor external, nor intermediate. Therefore, Shariputra, the explanation of emancipation does not transcend words. Why? "All dharmas have the characteristic of emancipation." (Ibid., p. 128, Taisho 548a)

In other words, there can be no teaching or preaching of liberation or emancipation apart from words. The idea of a language beyond language, the idea of a kind of superlanguage that transcends ordinary language, is not exclusive to Zen or to Buddhism. Richard Kearney, an Irish American Roman Catholic philosopher, wrote recently that to truly understand another religion, we must seek "at the root of each religion, a silent, speechless openness to a Word which surpasses us. If it is true that all religions involve a special acoustic of obedience to a Word beyond our finite language, this may lead to a modest ability to listen to Otherness." And even within Zen traditions we can find very positive views of language. Dogen, the great thirteenth-century early Zen master and founder of the Soto school of Japanese Buddhism, wrote, "All buddhas and patriarchs are able to voice the Way"; that is, to express the truth of the Buddhist path in words.

Nichiren

In contrast to Zen traditions of skepticism about the efficacy of language, traditions based on the Lotus Sutra have been generally positive about language. Perhaps the most positive view of language, and not only of the words of the Lotus Sutra, is found in Nichiren. Of Buddhist sutras in general he once wrote that "each word and phrase is true; not a single passage or verse is false." Nichiren explained this very positive view of language in a brief essay on ceremonies for the dedication of new Buddhist images called "Opening the Eyes of Wooden or Painted Images." He wrote:

The written words of the Lotus Sutra express in visible and non-coextensive form the Buddha's pure and far-reaching voice, which is itself invisible and coextensive. They therefore express the two physical aspects of color and form. The Buddha's pure and far-reaching voice, which once vanished, has reappeared in the visible form of written words to benefit the people. (The Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 4 [NISC, 1986], p. 31) According to Nichiren, when not intending to deceive,

a person gives voice to what he truly has in mind. Thus his thoughts are expressed in his voice. The mind represents the spiritual aspect, and the voice, the physical aspect. The spiritual aspect manifests itself in the physical. A person can know another mind by listening to his voice. This is because the physical aspect reveals the spiritual aspect. The physical and the spiritual, which are one in essence, manifest themselves as two distinct aspects; thus the Buddha's mind found expression in the written words of the Lotus Sutra. These written words are the Buddha's mind in a different form. Therefore those who read the Lotus Sutra must not regard it as consisting of mere written words, for those words are in themselves the Buddha's mind. (Ibid., p. 32) Nichiren held a nondual view of mind and speech, a view that he inherited from the Chinese Tiantai master Zhiyi. The contemporary Nichiren scholar Zencho Kitagawa writes:

In Nichiren's view, the words of the sutras were not merely characters written in black ink but the Buddha's pure voice, taking form as the written words of teachings that work to save living beings. This understanding affirms the statement of the Tiantai master Zhiyi (538-597) in his Fahua xuanyi (Profound meaning of the Lotus Sutra), "The voice does the Buddha's work; this is called kyo ? or sutra" (T 33.681c). Nichiren quotes this passage from Zhiyi in his Ichidai shogyo taii . . . (The cardinal meaning of the Buddha's lifetime teachings) in interpreting the character kyo (sutra) of the Lotus Sutra's title. ("The Words of the Lotus Sutra in Nichiren's Thought," Japanese Journal of Religious Studies: The Lotus Sutra in Japan, 41:1 [2014]: 29)

The Buddha in the Text

In Rissho Kosei-kai's Great Sacred Hall, the central image and object of devotion, the Gohonzon, is a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha surrounded in the nimbus with images of Abundant Treasures Buddha in his treasure stupa and the four leading bodhisattvas of chapter 15 of the Lotus Sutra. Inside that statue is a set of scrolls with the entire Lotus Sutra hand-copied by Founder Niwano. Thus the Lotus Sutra is in the Buddha, yet almost everything that Rissho Kosei-kai knows about Shakyamuni Buddha is from the Lotus Sutra. In other words, Shakyamuni Buddha is in the Lotus Sutra. This involves a version of the Tendai idea of interpenetration. The ideas of the sutra in the Buddha and the Buddha in the sutra are not in conflict; they mutually support each other.

Thus many generations of Lotus Sutra followers have understood that the sutra is the Buddha or at least fully represents the Buddha, the Buddha actually embodied in a text, in words. When this happens, and it is by no means exclusive to the Lotus Sutra, the text itself becomes an object of religious devotion, for the text embodies the Buddha, or at least the Buddha for us, for those who can see and encounter the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra. Potentially, it is the Buddha for anyone.

The Lotus Sutra

The Lotus Sutra does not have much to say directly about language. There are passages in it suggesting limitations of language. For example:

This Dharma is indescribable. Words must fall silent. Among other kinds of living beings, None can understand it, Except the bodhisattvas, Whose faith is strong and firm. (Gene Reeves, trans., The Lotus Sutra [[[Wisdom Publications]], 2008], pp. 76-77) But such passages are not common, and even in this case, the claim that bodhisattvas, at least those whose faith is strong and firm, can understand the dharma is hardly negative.

There are also passages expressing a generally positive view of language: "Shariputra, all of you should believe, understand, and embrace the words of the Buddha with all your hearts, for in the words of the buddhas, the tathagatas, there is nothing empty or false" (ibid., p. 85).

Similarly:

Only because they trust the Buddha's words, Can any of the shravakas Follow this Sutra- Not because they have any wisdom of their own. (Ibid., p. 131)

Chapter 16 begins:

At that time the Buddha said to the bodhisattvas and to all the great assembly, "Have faith in and understand, all you good sons, the truthful words of the Tathagata." Again he said to the great assembly, "Have faith in and understand the truthful words of the Tathagata." And yet again he said to the great assembly, "Have faith in and understand the truthful words of the Tathagata." (Ibid., p. 291) Broadly speaking, I think there are at least two reasons behind the Lotus Sutra's positive view of language, behind its admonition to have faith in and seek to understand the truthful words of the Buddha: its positive view of nearly everything, and its teaching of skillful means.

Buddhist Positiveness

The Argentinian Buddhist scholars and translators of Buddhist texts (including the Sanskrit Lotus Sutra) Fernando Tola and Carmen Dragonetti recently published a book on the Lotus Sutra called Buddhist Positiveness (Motilal Banarsidass, 2009). While I am not entirely happy with the very rarely used English term positiveness, I think that the idea behind this use of the term is quite appropriate.

The Lotus Sutra is positive or affirmative about almost everything it discusses. Shravakas are not merely backward or wrong, they are to become buddhas. While Devadatta, apart from the Lotus Sutra, is generally known as an epitome of evil, in the sutra nothing at all is said of his being evil. Instead we are told that he was once a teacher for the Buddha and will himself become a buddha in the future.

All stories in the Lotus Sutra end on a positive note: children saved from their burning house ride off in magnificent carriages; pilgrims completely discouraged by the very long road recover and resume their journey after experiencing a magically conjured city; a poor son inherits his rich father's wealth; children stricken by poison recover after hearing of their father's death; the entire family of a non-Buddhist king happily joins the following of their buddha; and so on.

Perhaps most important, despite its lack of interest in metaphysical issues or speculation about ultimate matters, the Lotus Sutra affirms the reality of the things of the everyday world, implicitly rejecting transcendental notions of ultimate reality. The Lotus Sutra, in other words, is positive about this saha world and nearly everything in it. Even the idea of this being the saha world, a world in which suffering has to be endured, is transformed in the Lotus Sutra view of it to a world in which suffering can be endured with good effect. In the Lotus Sutra, suffering is more an opportunity than a liability.

The Lotus Sutra is so positive about things that one is tempted to say that it is positive about everything. But, in fact, it is not positive about those who disparage followers of the Lotus Sutra. Probably they, too, can become buddhas, but not without a good bit of overcoming the effects of bad karma. Still, such negative judgments are relatively rare in the Lotus Sutra.

The sutra's generally positive view of our world and nearly everything in it naturally leads to a positive view of language. But behind this positive view of the world and language is another idea that is never articulated directly in the Lotus Sutra but runs through it from beginning to end - the idea of buddha-nature.

Buddha-Nature

Buddha-nature narrowly interpreted affirms the potential of every living being, especially of human beings, to become buddhas. But it also has a broader meaning, in which something positive, indeed something of the Buddha himself, can be found in anything at all.

Skillful Means

Since the tranquilly extinct character of all things Cannot be put into words, I used the power of skillful means, To teach the five ascetics. This is called "turning the Dharma wheel." Then I made distinctions Using such words as "nirvana," As well as "arhat," "dharma," and "sangha." (Ibid., p. 99)

In the Lotus Sutra, words are, or at least can be, skillful means for teaching Buddha-dharma.

But we should not understand this to mean that words are mere skillful means. Though Western scholars are inclined to make much use of the term mere skillful means, such an idea is nowhere to be found in the Lotus Sutra itself. This is at least in part because scholars are well aware of the two-truth theory attributed to Nagarjuna, according to which there are inferior truths that are provisional, expedient, and partial, while above them there is ultimate truth, which is final and complete. But the authors and compilers of the Lotus Sutra did not read Nagarjuna, who lived later, and were completely unaware of this two-truth theory.

Accordingly, for the Lotus Sutra, skillful means are never, ever "mere" skillful means. On the contrary, in the sutra they are the means by which the Buddha, or his stand-in, saves people. They are always wonderful.

Thus we can conclude that the central theme of the Lotus Sutra, the idea that everything has a potential to become a buddha, leads to a generally affirmative, positive approach to whatever we encounter in life. Though language is very inadequate for fully expressing our ideas, inspirations, feelings, passions - even our sensations - language provides an opening, a skillful means both for understanding the Buddha's words as found in the sutras and for understanding the world around us, including the minds of our neighbors.

Thus we are encouraged by the Lotus Sutra to delight in language; to become fluent in the use of language, especially in teaching Buddha-dharma; and to be grateful to those who have used language to teach us and lead us to the teachings of the Buddha.

Gene Reeves has done research and lectured on the Lotus Sutra worldwide for more than a quarter century. He was a visiting professor at the University of Peking and a professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing until retiring in 2012, and he serves as an international advisor to Rissho Kosei-kai. His recent works include The Lotus Sutra and The Stories of the Lotus Sutra (Wisdom Publications, 2008 and 2010).

Source

https://rk-world.org/dharmaworld/dw_2014octdec_buddhism-and-language-the-lotus-sutra.aspx