The Buddha From Babylon

by Harvey Kraft

  The Doctrine of Mutual Interpenetration explained the scope of Buddhahood in three ways:

  First, it meant that all Buddhas were emanations of the Ultimate Buddha, and, mutually, the Ultimate Buddha was a composite of all Buddhas. Because of the Doctrine of Mutual Interpenetration all the Buddhas shared a single source of Perfect Enlightenment, and, conversely, Perfect Enlightenment folded into every phenomena of Life. The Buddhas produced Buddha-worlds inside the Buddha-Universe, and simultaneously the entire Buddha-Universe was contained within each Buddha-world.

  Secondly, as all Buddhas shared the wisdom of Perfect Enlightenment, all Buddhas were universally endowed with the wisdom of Perfect Enlightenment. The wisdom of all the Buddhas together constituted the Perfect Enlightenment of the Ultimate Buddha.

  Thirdly, due to mutual interpenetration the Threefold Buddha-body encompassed every living being who ever lived. Conversely, every mortal being was endowed with the Threefold body. This interpenetrating identity included a transient individual manifestation, information defined by causes and effects a being produced across the many lifetimes of Transmigration, and a being's inseparable union with all other beings within the all-encompassing Universal-Mind.

  On the strength of this doctrine the vision of the Lotus Cosmology further declared that the essence of Perfect Enlightenment was endowed in every condition of Existence. This was possible because all momentary conditional expressions mutually interpenetrated one another. As a result, the universal imprint of Perfect Enlightenment could emerge from below the surface of Existence. Therefore, regardless of one's temporary state of being, Perfect Enlightenment was always immanent, poised to emerge when triggered.

  Consequently, hearing the "internal voice" of Perfect Enlightenment, mortals potentially could rediscover the original vow they originally made as Selfless Volunteers in front of the Buddha. The compassionate and tenacious Selfless Volunteers promised never to abandon the mortal world. Therefore, hidden deep within every being was the commitment to never rest until all beings "remembered" their original enlightened identity. As a Selfless Volunteer personified the driving force of life itself, in a human being this identity propelled the unconscious evolutionary aspiration for higher consciousness, ultimately leading to the resurrection of Perfect Enlightenment in the present time in one's present form.

  The presence of the Ultimate Buddha in the Lotus Cosmology revealed the universal endowment of Perfect Enlightenment in all, without exception. Because the Perfectly Endowed Reality, which "only a Buddha with another Buddha could fathom," was beyond the power of words to convey and very difficult for mortals to learn of, no less believe in, to enter it would require a faith-willingness. While faith is usually equated with confidence and trust in a transcendent reality, faith-willingness also includes the courage to explore unexplored territory. Buddhas knew that mere conceptual explanations invariably fell short of providing entry into Perfect Enlightenment, but trust in the Buddha would inspire courageous explorers to board the One Vehicle of Buddhahood that delivered the willing into the Buddha-land of the Lotus Cosmology.

  All people qualified for deliverance without prejudice, prerequisites, or requirements as to skills, conditions, or capacities. But the onus to enter and explore the Lotus Cosmology would be on them. Therefore, the effort required to awaken the True Self, was also on them.

  To prevent human beings from rejecting their endowment, an act that would distance them further from awakening the True Self, the Buddhas had to be careful not to teach it prematurely. On the other hand, a willing audience ready to receive this most difficult-to-believe Teachings would be able to liberate the True Self from its internal hiding place.

  According to the Lotus Cosmology, for one to directly board the One Vehicle of Buddhahood, one must enter the Perfectly Endowed Reality, embrace therein the Threefold Buddha-body, and trigger the resurrection of the original enlightened identity endowed within all life. In so doing one would discover the Ultimate Buddha in one's present body.

  However, such a scenario might seem as unbelievable and distant as a visit to a fantasy world. Given the high degree of difficulty in believing that individuals actually possessed such a power and destiny, and could achieve Perfect Enlightenment in the present moment, who would pay heed to the One Vehicle offered by the Buddha?

  What would motivate people to explore this faith-willing way?

  There were two possibilities for meeting this challenge. Either they already possessed the wisdom to do so, or they would act out of desperation.

  Knowing human beings as he did, the Buddha expected that only a small number might be wise enough to trust him in this regard. Those with wisdom, virtues, and courage could enter the unknown and therein access the True Self embedded deep within their Manifestation-body. Tapping the True Self would bring forth abundant treasures, the amazing blessings of spiritual illumination that included conscious awakening, bright joy, warm inner peace and harmony, healing forces, beautiful surroundings, the power of fulfillment, and a blissful appreciation for the gift of life.

  But most people were absorbed in the extremes of the mundane or the transcendent, either focused on satisfying their momentary desires or on achieving immortality in the afterlife. In the state of self-absorption few would be likely to "hear" the Buddha's invitation until their life became insufferable. Lost, ill, or in grief, the desperate eventually exhaust all other options and only then might seek medicine for what ails them.

  The goal of the Ultimate Buddha was to deliver Perfect Enlightenment to all mortal beings, both the wise and the desperate. Due to the spectacular degree of difficulty and length of cosmic time it may take to achieve enlightenment, he called upon the original Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas from Below the Surface of Existence to undertake this effort. Accepting their earnest pledge to be born in the future Age of Decaying Truth for the sake of awakening mortals, the Ultimate Buddha placed his hand upon their collective heads, and commissioned them to strive valiantly in their future mission:

  For incalculable eons I have invoked this rare, hard-to-believe Cosmology of Perfect Enlightenment. Now I entrust it to you . . . to share this cosmology and make its benefits known far and wide . . . Go forth to proclaim this Lotus Cosmology to others so that they may obtain the Buddha-wisdom.275

  Three times the resurrected multitude replied with confidence:

  We will accomplish all that the World-honored One has bequeathed to us. Be sure, World-honored One. Thy will be done.276

  The Selfless Volunteers freely chose to enter mortality as a selfless gesture. They were charged with triggering the resurrection of Perfect Enlightenment. When they would be born in the future, they would be able to use the three tools the Buddha bequeathed to mortals for entering the Perfectly Endowed Reality—embracing, abiding in, and keeping the Lotus Cosmology in mind. In addition, he offered five actions for actualizing Perfect Enlightenment in one's life by "inscribing, hearing, reading, reciting, and expounding its meaning."

  For the Selfless Volunteers from Below the Surface of Existence the challenge ahead called for self-sacrifice. They must allow themselves to be lost in the ocean of mortal dysfunction in hopes of rediscovering their secret identity. Birth behind the moral veil may entail taking casualties, but those who succeeded in resurrecting their True Self would be able to help others find the gate of liberation. It would take the fearless, tenacious, and spirited nature of the Selfless Volunteers to rise to the surface of Existence and to challenge their own human frailties.

  In terms of Cosmic Time, Sakamuni foresaw their arrival in the world in the latter part of the second kalpa of the current Universe, the Cosmic Eon of Evolution (Skt. Vi-varta-sthayi-kalpa). At one point during this eon, he predicted there would come the "Age of Decaying Truth," when sincerity and virtues will decay and the authentic power of spiritual vision will deteriorate or be lost. Believing that "God is Dead," humans will become desperate for salvation in an increasingly maddening world spinning out of control. During th
is dark period, the Lotus Cosmology will begin to inspire people to evolve to higher consciousness, and in due course they will accomplish a Golden Age of World Peace and Loving Kindness.

  He had proposed that all human beings (1) emerged from below the surface of Existence where they had been since before the beginning of time, (2) manifested in the Threefold Field of Form, Formlessness, and Desire that encompassed the Radiant Universe and Earth world, and (3) inherently possessed the hidden seed-gem of Buddhahood, which was invariably destined to be resurrected and transform the world into a Buddha-land.

  On this planet their combined efforts to awaken their original selves would bring about a Golden Age. This was the mission that the Ultimate Buddha had entrusted to the Selfless Volunteers. By transmigrating through the Field of Form in due course they would evolve into Buddhas.

  EVERLASTING OMNIPRESENCE

  Long ago seers declared that Heaven was the realm of immortal divinities. But, with the inception of civilization, powerful kings wielding brutal military might wanted to be assured that they too would become immortal in the afterlife. For those with an unbridled sense of superiority over others, immortality was a maniacal opiate. They wanted to be recognized as living gods. They believed that in the afterlife they would ascend to Heaven, from which they believed they had descended, and return to take their seats as immortal gods. The clergy usually cooperated in facilitating the wishes of the powerful.

  The pyramid-building Egyptians believed in physical reconstitution in the afterlife for the greats who managed to cross successfully into Heaven. But in the Sumerian/Akkad religion, immortality for humans was forbidden, reserved exclusively for the gods in Heaven; invariably that clergy was forced to recognize kings as demi-gods. In later myths this status bestowed upon them physical lifetimes of thousand-year longevity. The Greeks adopted a similar point of view for their mythological heroes, granting the offspring of a god/goddess and a mortal with long life but keeping them vulnerable.

  Most ancient imperious rulers believed that the gods in Heaven specially selected them to rule as living gods on Earth. They imagined that they would be greeted as gods when they returned triumphantly to Heaven. And to make sure that they would be appropriately recognized in Heaven, they wanted to leave an indelible mark by achieving historical immortality replete with glorious monuments, statuary in their honor, and hymns of their conquests. In time, the addiction to immortality spread among the wealthy classes who sought to gain the favor of entry into Heaven through donations and gifts to temples.

  Eventually the religious classes sought access to immortality through the achievement of piety, purity, or oneness with the thoughts of the divine. Finally, do-gooders and faithful believers were permitted to join the growing demand for immortality in the afterlife.

  But the Buddha rejected immortality, even for the gods. He declared all of Heaven's divine inhabitants to be mortal and claimed that humans were not receptacles for a soul. He replaced the vehicle of immortality, the Eternal Soul, with Karma and thus removed altogether the prospect of immortality as an option. Sakamuni replaced the immortal destination of Heaven with a Buddha-land, the enlightened Buddha-state reflecting the enlightenment of the mortal world, within and without, and its transformation into a paradise for one and all.

  Throughout the course of his Teachings prior to the Lotus Sutra, it appeared that Sakamuni repeatedly refused to address the issue of immortality. Perhaps just asking about it meant that the seeker failed to listen or understand the Buddha's Teachings. After all, earlier in his course Sakamuni Buddha had rejected Eternalism as a selfish pursuit aimed at "accomplishing-your-own-immortality-in-the-next-world."

  Did the introduction of the Ultimate Buddha contradict Sakamuni's clear effort to distance Buddhism from immortality?

  Immortality only existed as an idea relative to mortality.

  The Ultimate Buddha of the Perfectly Endowed Reality was neither immortal, nor mortal. In explaining the Buddha-body, as neither this nor that, Sakamuni had revealed that the Ultimate Buddha, the composite of all the Buddhas, was formless, timeless, and non-relative. His immanent- presence in the world was free of relative notions such as time or form. The Ultimate Buddha could not be immortal, because he was not a divine entity or an individual personality. Although his Threefold Buddha- body permeated every iota of Existence, he was neither a god, nor a Supreme God, nor any entity at all. The Ultimate Buddha existed neither within time, space or any relative dimension, nor anywhere outside it; neither was he of a physical form, or a spiritual one.

  The Ultimate Buddha was boundlessly omnipresent. He expressed the embodiment of Perfect Enlightenment, which permeated all forms, yet his presence was not confined to forms. Although the notion of omnipresence connoted an everlasting status, it was not limited by space or time, therefore it could not equate with immortality.

  In the Lotus Cosmology, he declared his omnipresence as follows:

  For an eternity of eons

  I am ever-present at Vulture Peak

  where my sacred domain is revealed,

  as well as omnipresent in every other domain—

  simultaneously here and everywhere at once.277

  The omnipresence of the Ultimate Buddha conveyed the view that Perfect Enlightenment was always deeply engaged in human experience in every way, whether apparent or not. The state of Buddhahood was never separate, never aloof. It was the foundation for the impelling force of life, always present under the surface of Existence, ever seeking the opportunity to manifest under the right circumstances.

  Omnipresence explained where all things came from, how they came to be, how everything connected and evolved. It suggested that everything that could manifest already existed in a potential state in the Threefold Field of Existence. Although this mind-boggling landscape was well beyond the scope of mortals to comprehend, the Ultimate Buddha's omnipresence meant that Perfect Enlightenment was imprinted in everything and everyone, without exception, making it possible for all beings to resurrect it in their present body.

  The visionary Buddha-land ceremony of the Lotus Cosmology offered a subtle, yet profound distinction between immortality and omnipresence, much as the parables of the Lotus Cosmology distinguished between salvation and deliverance. Immortality conjured an unchanging entity—superior to, separate from, and beyond mortality— whereas everlasting omnipresence reflected an inseparable, ever-changing, ever-present bond with mortality and endowed it with inspiration, access, connectedness, purpose, and the power for humans to evolve to their ultimate potential.

  THE ANTIDOTE

  The Ultimate Buddha drew an analogy comparing himself to a physician and a father determined to cure his innocent children of a poison that had gripped their minds. The children in his story represented pure innocence—the original state of humanity at creation, according to most religious stories.

  One day, the Physician-Father had gone out to attend to someone's health in another land. In his absence, his children opened his medicine cabinet and drank what they thought to be a magic elixir. Because this concoction had become old, its properties mutated, and the drink had turned into a poison that warped the mind. It caused them to forget their connection to the original True Self. As a result, the veil of mortality descended upon them and they fell to suffering from a pervasive madness beset by delusions. Under its mind-altering influence, the children believed that the drink they consumed made them invincible and immortal, and, as such, they believed they were free to indulge in any behavior they wished without worry of repercussions. As their indulgences grew, they soon developed an insatiable appetite for unrequited desires. It brought them nothing but madness.

  One day their father returned. When he saw them drowning in a multitude of delusions, afflictions, and sorrows, he quickly mixed an antidote of excellent flavor and fragrance made of the finest healing ingredients. Among the intoxicated children a few still possessed a vestige of conscious wisdom. Still able to differentiate reality from fantasy,
they quickly drank the antidote their father had mixed for them and were cured instantly. However, most of the others, having lost the ability to discern between what is beneficial or harmful, rejected the antidote, fearing that it was poisonous.

  Their resistance to it caused the Physician-Father to develop a counterintuitive strategy. He announced to them that he must leave again as he had patients requiring help in another land. After a goodly amount of time had passed following his departure, he sent a messenger to his bedeviled children announcing that their father had died.

  The shocking loss, and the realization that he was mortal, left them feeling abandoned and scared about their fate. Desperate and alone, grieving for their caring father, they deeply regretted that he would no longer be present to help them. Although they were still unable to discern the curative power of the antidote he had left behind, they recalled their father's love for them. With time their desperation deepened into a painful and remorseful state of mind. Finally, at their wits end, they cried out, "Father, why have you forsaken us?" Regretting that they doubted their father's advice while he was alive, they drank the antidote he left behind. Quickly its healing ingredients caused them to regain their lucid senses.

  From afar, using his omnipresent vision, the Father-Physician saw that they had taken the antidote he prescribed and headed back home. Shocked to see him again, as if he had been resurrected from the dead, his children rejoiced. They thanked him for using "his death" to motivate them to take the antidote.

  At the beginning of this story the "innocent children" were free of worries, living in their father's blissful, timeless Buddha-land. But, once they ingested the poison of mortality they lost their way. No longer conscious of their collective True Self, they were born into the bewildering Cosmos of Relativity. Because their birth had commenced with ignorance of their original identity, an illusory self filled this vacuum and grew into an increasingly absorbing madness.