by Harvey Kraft
Unaware that the Law of Cause and Effect reflected like a mirror, the afflicted could not understand that whatever they willed or perpetrated on one another, they willed or perpetrated upon themselves. Many had fallen into the four lower conditions of Samsara: chaos, hunger, anger, and fear. Even though they possessed human bodies, they began to act out, like violent hellions, hungry ghosts, or raging monsters, and either they were hunted like animals or they did the hunting.
The innocent children still blessed with a vestige of wisdom took the cure. But most were unwilling to drink the antidote, believing in the delusion that they would become immortal in the afterlife if they refrained. But as their state of grief continued to deepen they became hopelessly desperate and alone. The "death of their father" had forced them to recognize that they were doomed. Only then would the truly desperate embrace the cure their father left behind, and as soon as they drank it, they reawakened the True Self.
This analogy introduced two kinds of drinks: one a poison, the other an elixir. Furthermore, it presented a dilemma: which was which? The first drink appeared to be the Elixir of Immortality, but in actuality it caused the children to become intoxicated with mortal engrossments. In their state of delusion they thought the antidote of Perfect Enlightenment to be a poisonous potion, but it was actually the sobering cure.
In this story the disciples of the Buddha who attended the Lotus Cosmology represented the few innocents still wise enough to discern and drink the antidote the Buddha left behind. By drinking it they resurrected the original True Self and saw the wonder of life, as it really is, an instant cure to the madness of morality and immortality. The children refusing it were trapped in the cycle of mortal suffering and the illusions of immortality.
In the Rig Veda the bull-faced Lord of the Moon, Indra, drank the Nectar of the Gods (Skt. Amrtatva) to give him immortality and boost his power. During the bonfire rituals of the Vedic Rishi they commonly drank Soma, the so-called Elixir of Immortality (Skt. Amrita), to access euphoric states. Similarly, at Zoroastrian fire rituals clerics consumed Haoma, their version of the Elixir of Immortality (Per. Ameridata). This psychoactive, mushroom-based, golden-hued milk was used to enter trance states that induced in the drinker the sense of being immortal, which they believed would extend their life and open the gates to Heaven.
In Sakamuni Buddha's view, they were drinking a poisonous concoction that caused hallucinations. While those who drank it believed it to be an eye-opening elixir that transported them to the immortal plane, the Buddha regarded immortality to be an illusion that undermined the ability of mortal beings to restore the True Self.
But the antidote-elixir he offered through this parable in the Lotus Sutra was not actually a drink. It was the Lotus Cosmology itself, which when "consumed" would restore people to their originally endowed Perfect Enlightenment.
Just as the children in the parable discovered that their father had "returned from the dead" although he had not died, the antidote could return mortals to Perfect Enlightenment, although they had never left it. Whether one had the thirst for the antidote endowed in the Lotus Sutra or drank it out of desperation did not matter. Consuming the antidote was a metaphor for attending the assembly of the Lotus Cosmology.All those present in the Perfectly Endowed Reality to be found within themselves, whether due to wisdom or desperation, could resurrect the omnipresent True Self of Perfect Enlightenment.
The Ultimate Buddha embodied the True Self in his threefold aspect as the cosmic Buddha-father of all beings, the transmigrating Buddha-son who was a student turned teacher of human beings, and the extinct Buddha- ghost, the source of bountiful treasures.
This trinity declared that when the True Self emerged in human beings they would obtain these three kinds of leadership qualities for the sake of all human beings:
Parent – The loving and protective compassion of a nurturing parent
Teacher – The facility to learn and then teach the enlightened way
Sovereign – The generosity of a wealthy king sharing his blessings-field, land of life everlasting, and the fountainhead of light illuminating the six senses and sensations278 (Skt. Sadayatana) with pure, indestructibly joyful, boundless, and supreme enlightenment.
This Teaching was the first ever to offer universal deliverance, without exception, and without judgment, to both the wise and the desperate. As the interfaith Magi Order had wished, it addressed the need for all humanity to embrace a non-denominational Universal Truth. This antidote was designed to connect humanity with the omnipresence of Perfect Enlightenment, which like a loving parent and compassionate healer and not as a judge or an immortal Creator, would allow the world of mortals to evolve into a paradise for all.
This revelation also reformed Buddhism by upgrading it from a religion designed for skilled sages to a mainstream Wisdom Teaching available to all. In doing so, its focus shifted from curbing the psychological and social challenges of the Individual-Mind to awakening the Universal-Mind in all mortal beings. The Lotus Cosmology revealed a higher consciousness that replaced the need for talent to reach it with a willing-faith to embrace it.
By repeatedly boarding the One Vehicle of Buddhahood for the Buddha- land of the True Self, a seeker could penetrate the realm of extraordinary potentials, revelations, systems, fields, laws, and information underlying Existence.
The Ultimate Buddha declared:
I behold all creatures drowning in the sea of suffering . . . They are repeatedly filled with grief, horror and distress . . . But those who perform virtuous deeds With a gentle and upright nature they see that I exist here now Expounding the ever-present cosmology . . .279
Virtuous people, described as those with an "upright bearing," were those able to express their natural joy, kindness and goodwill. Harboring good-natured values and good intentions indicated the presence of wisdom and showed that an individual was aware enough to understand deeper meanings and appreciate caring connections. They had stable minds capable of modifying instinctual behaviors by thinking twice before reacting to circumstances. Such people displayed their wisdom by doing virtuous deeds.
While moral standards were for the most part defined by the avoidance of sin, wisdom was synonymous with the active application of goodness. Wisdom was not simply the equivalent of knowledge, but like knowledge, it could be improved with practice. In this context, goodness was not merely a moral gauge. As goodness grew in wisdom, a person's insights developed into discernment, awareness transformed into charitable compassion, good will into helpfulness and healing, and behaviors acquired a gentle regard for others.
People devoted to "virtuous deeds" possessed an unconscious tether with the True Self, characterized by the ability to put the wisdom of goodness into practice. Their spiritual beliefs came to be connected with personal accountability and the desire to grow through self-transformation. However, as virtues came in varying degrees, even the virtuous were not immune from suffering. While great virtue brought great merits into one's life, even those people showing only a glimmer of goodness could benefit. Even a little bit of "virtue" indicated that one carried within them the torch to light the way to the True Self.
But when drowning in the "sea of suffering," many human beings were fearful, troubled, and unable to discern whether others were really out to help them, trick them, or do them harm. Behind the mortal veil, most human beings repeatedly found ways to suffer. Often frustrated by bewildering outcomes, they eventually would reach a point of frustration or desperation. Bemoaning their lot, many cried out to the Heavens for help.
Sakamuni introduced the idea that deliverance was available to all, both the wise and desperate, but it would be up to them to manifest it. The Buddha called upon human beings to be self-reliant, self-transforming, and to aspire to overcome suffering. Hearing the call of the desperate for help, he offered to save them from madness with his antidote, but without their knowledge delivered them to resurrect the luminous, healing power of the True Self.
NE
VER RESTING
According to Sakamuni's past life visions of distant Buddha-lands, when Buddhas completed their mission in the world, after teaching the Lotus Sutra, they would pass into the state of extinction and retire from Transmigration. When Buddhas died, their followers built tower-temples to preserve their legacies for future generations. But as the Doctrine of Mutual Interpenetration revealed, the omnipresence of a Buddha continued through his Teachings of the Buddha-Dharma enshrined in his Tower- Temple, a metaphor for the blessings endowed within all living beings. Although the Manifestation-body of a Buddha departed into extinction, the Threefold Buddha-body of All Buddhas would remain present in all the bodies of those who resurrected the ubiquitous True Self.
And yet, if the body of an extinct Buddha was gone forever, how could the appearance of Buddha Bountiful Treasures be explained?
When he reappeared in the Perfectly Endowed Reality, his body was made of stored information representing the wisdom of all Buddhas. Only his former physical body became extinct. When Sakamuni's disciples saw his phantom presence, they realized that extinction was relevant only in the context of the Cosmos of Relativity.
The Ultimate Buddha also raised the issue of extinction. During the story of the Buddha as the Physician-Father, his children received a message declaring his death. But once they took the antidote, he returned, as if from the dead. Only then did they learn that the news of his death was an expedient means designed to awaken the living to higher consciousness.
Therefore the Declarer of the Truth, though he does not in reality become extinct, announces [his] extinction. The method of all Perfectly Enlightened Declarers of Truth (Buddha-Tathagata) is always like this, in order to awaken all the living. This [nonextinction] is altogether real and not false.280
These examples illustrated that extinction was a necessary strategy that living Buddhas used to prevent mortals from taking their presence for granted. Extinction in death, on the other hand, was used to make sure that Buddhas are not thought of as immortals to prevent people from regarding them as deities. Consequently a Buddha must declare his physical extinction for the good of his disciples, although, as the Ultimate Buddha showed, he is never apart from mortal beings:
Although I announce that my extinction is impending, I do not actually enter extinction . . . the Declarer of Truth speaks of extinction, although he never enters it, as he is ever-present to save living beings.281
Throughout Transmigration, as the resurrection of the Selfless Volunteers showed, death was not extinction. But behind the veil of mortality, human beings feared death, and as a result were drawn to the Elixir of Immortality. The Ultimate Buddha, Declarer of Truth of Life Everlasting, cautioned that this belief was an illusion, because death was an illusion. Rather, he sought to help human beings evolve to the state Buddhahood, wherein they would recognize in themselves the Threefold Buddha-body as their own.
I, ever knowing all beings, including
Those who walk, and those who do not walk, in the Buddha Way,
According to the various upright principles of salvation
Expounded in every cosmology of the Buddha,
I, forever keep this single thought in my mind:
How shall I cause all the living to enter the Supreme Way
and speedily acquire their Buddha-bodies?282
In this triumphant, climatic passage the Ultimate Buddha announced his ultimate purpose: to guide all mortals, whether they are Buddhists or not, whether they are wise or desperate—as he had promised he would from beginningless time. He would deliver them into the Perfectly Endowed Reality wherein they would resurrect Perfect Enlightenment— a state equal to his own. He hoped to do so as quickly as possible, in order to spare them any unnecessary suffering, and so that they could begin to help others do the same.
Nevertheless, as few mortals would ever meet a Buddha-like Sakamuni in the ordinary course of their lives, they have no other way to see themselves but as vulnerable mortals. Like the poor laborer in the Parable of the Hidden Gem, they suffer great hardships, although all the while a fabulous treasure resides next to their heart.
As it would be most difficult for any person to conceive in his or her mind that the Ultimate Buddha was always present, and that, because of this, they shared in his enlightened identity, the Lotus Cosmology had been gifted to them to help them resurrect the True Self.
If any good son or good daughter hearing of my [everlasting] presence, believes and discerns it in his inmost heart, such a one will see the Buddha always on Mount Vulture Peak surrounded by a host of great Bodhisattvas and Arhats, as he preached the [Lotus] Cosmology . . .
If [such a one] pays homage to the sutra, receives and keeps, reads and recites, preaches it to others, emulates it or causes others to emulate it . . . his merit will be most excellent. just as space is infinite and boundless in the Ten Directions, so also the merit of this person will be infinite and boundless, and he/she will speedily reach perfect knowledge.283
The Buddhas, knowing the power of the antidote to restore the True Self perfectly endowed to human beings, sought to speedily "cause all the living" to rediscover their ultimate identity. In his oral dissertation of the Lotus Sutra, Siddhartha Gautama completed the Teachings designed for that purpose.
In elucidating his four-tiered cosmology he had shown: (1) the emergence of the star-studded Universe, (2) the evolutionary journey of Transmigration, (3) the mortal world-system as the place of relativity, and (4) in his final vision he unexpectedly led his disciples into the land of Buddhahood.
The Lotus Cosmology was designed to open the universal gate of liberation for people seeking to discover the True Self. Entering the Perfectly Endowed Reality of Life Everlasting would cause them to share in the true identity of all Buddhas. To answer why the One Vehicle of Buddhahood was available to everyone, Sakamuni channeled the Ultimate Buddha to explain that the supreme essence of Existence interpenetrated every phenomenon.
As space cannot find a limit in any direction, so too
Those who can keep this sutra are able to behold me everywhere . . .
Keepers of this sutra shall know and without end delightedly expound
The innumerable meanings emanating from all phenomena,
Including all of their terms and expressions.284
This passage indicates that the True Self reflected the Buddha- Dharma within, and that the Buddha could be seen in every thing that had meaning. When "keepers of this sutra" expound its meanings "delightedly" without end, they illuminate every expression of life, regardless of conditions that come and go. As every meaningful action becomes a distinctive expression of the Buddha, venerating, reading, reciting, expounding, or emulating the Lotus Cosmology causes Buddhahood to be illuminated.
The Declarer of Truth perceives the "True Aspect of Existence" exactly as it is. There is no ebb or flow of birth and death, and there is no existing in this world, and later entering the afterlife. What exists is neither substantial nor empty, neither single and absolute nor separate and diverse. Nor is Existence what it appears to be in the eyes of people perceiving it as a continuum through past, present and future. Such things the Declarer of Truth sees clearly and without error.285
In expounding herein on the "True Aspect of Existence," the Ultimate Buddha reflected back on Sakamuni's premise that human beings would need to evolve, if they were ever to see Existence as it truly was. Because ordinary beings were capable of an endless variety of illusions, the Declarer of Truth of Life Everlasting could never rest until they could see what he saw.
Having assured the audience that extinction was simply not an option, given all the work still to be done, before his departure the Ultimate Buddha vowed to never rest until Perfect Enlightenment had blossomed, without exception, throughout the Universe.
All who entered, now abided in, or will enter the Lotus Cosmology throughout the past, present, and future would cause illuminating joy to all Existence.
The ceremony in the Perfectl
y Endowed Reality of Life Everlasting formed a lotus of cosmic proportion. The Treasure Tower symbolized the lotus stalk. The temple atop it, like a seedpod, hosted the two Buddhas representing the seeds of enlightened manifestation and wisdom. The countless Buddhas extending out into a myriad Buddha-worlds and the Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas in the sky were like lotus blossom petals representing the effect and reward of Perfect Enlightenment. The roots of the lotus were the Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas from below ground representing all mortal beings destined to rediscover their original True Self. Their arising was like nourishment flowing from the roots up to the blossom, and the luminosity from the Buddhas above flowed down into the root of mortal beings.
The illumination of the Lotus in the Sky ceremony, the timeless, boundless home of Buddhahood, brightened all the worlds and all conditions of Existence in every direction.
All the attendees exuded a Buddha's luminous joy:
They smiled brightly with their heart, without any reason for it.
Conceived of thoughts for beautifying the world.
Dreamed up various ways to express their creativity.
Did good deeds without seeking rewards.
Achieved peace and clarity in their lives and communities.
Sought to heal the sick.
Exuded the demeanors of grace, dignity, courage, wisdom, forbearance, compassion, inspiration, and gratitude.
These expressions were but a few of the blessings stored in the Treasure Tower of the True Self.
From the moment he became the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, as a teacher-storyteller-visionary, communicated his wisdom through various sutras. Each of these gates of liberation led to blessings-fields designed for the sake of human beings. In his relentless effort to inspire humans beings he used various themes, concepts, mythic visions, illustrations, practices, and characters:
