Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!eagle!data.nas.nasa.gov!news
From: amdcad!tymix!ichinen!jdoskow@decwrl.dec.com (Jonathan Doskow)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Re: Meditation 2 ways: Different yet the Same
Keywords: Buddhism
Message-ID: <1990Nov27.004307.616@nas.nasa.gov>
Date: 27 Nov 90 00:43:07 GMT
References: <1990Nov16.020441.13897@nas.nasa.gov> <1990Nov8.012939.14684@nas.nasa.gov> <1990Nov18.195707.15515@nas.nasa.gov>
Sender: news@nas.nasa.gov
Organization: BT Tymnet, Inc. / San Jose, CA
Lines: 77
Approved: prabhu@amelia.nas.nasa.gov


In article <1990Nov18.195707.15515@nas.nasa.gov> hms@princeton.edu (Hsing-Mean Sha) writes:
>
>> One will never gain enlightenment through meditation. Shakyamuni Buddha
>> did!, you say. In the Lotus Sutra, when talking about the length of his
>> life, he said he had gained enlightenment many lifetimes age, in the 
>> distant past. Then he predicted that none of his teachings would lead
>> people to enlighenment 2000 years after he died. Meditation is not the
>> Buddhist practice in this day and age.
>
>I am a Chinese Buddhist. The most popular way I know for practicing 
>Mahayana Buddhism is so-called 'six Paramitas.'  (() is Chinese Mandarin
>prenounciation)
   ...
>5. Dhyana (Chan2 Din4) Meditation.
   ...
>Therefore, meditation is one of the important Buddhist practices.  
>
>I cannot remember the prediction you mentioned in Lotus Sutra.

The specific references about the 2000 years are found in the
Daishutsu (Sutra of the Great Assembly) Sutra.  In general, though, there
are many references throughtout the Lotus and other Sutras.  For
example, Chapter XIII (p 218 in Threefold Lotus Sutra, Kosei, Tokyo,
1975 - the famous "20 line verse of the Kanjii chapter" ) reads in
part

	"Be pleased to be without anxiety!
	After the Buddha's extinction,
	In the [last] dreadful evil age,
	We will proclaim abroad [this sutra].

"The Daishutsu Sutra predicts that this fifth period will be an "age of
conflict," when monks will disregard the precepts and feud constantly
among themselves, heretical views will prevail, and Shakyamuni's
Buddhism will be lost.

In contrast, the Lotus Sutra views [this time] when Shakyamuni's
teachings lose their power of redemption, as the time when the essence
of the Louts Sutra transferred to Bodhisattva Jogyo at the Ceremony in
the Air will be propogated ... and benefit mankind far into the future."
(p 224 in A Dictionary of Buddhist Terms and Concepts - NSIC, Tokyo, 1983)

In order to really understand Nichiren's Buddhism from a theoretical
point of view it is necessary to understand T'ien T'ai doctrine on which
it is based.  Founded by Chih-i (538-597,) T'ien T'ai organizes
Shakyamuni's teachings into catagories according to doctrines and
according to method of teachings.  So to simply say, Sutra x says y is
not sufficient.  It is necessary to understand where sutra x fits in.
There is some evidence, for example, of certain translations of Sutras
that say the women can never attain enlightenment, while others say they
can.  Which one is to be believed?  This subject is quite complex,
however, of T'ien T'ai, Kenneth Ch'en says (p 313, Buddhism in China, A
Historical Survey, Princeton, 1972)

"The T'ein-t'ai tenets have been generally regarded as among the finest
products of the Buddhist philosophical development in China.  They are
called the final and round doctrines of Buddhism - final because they
synthesize all the extreme and one-sided doctrines of the other schools,
and round because the school assures universal salvation by affirming
the presence of the Buddha-nature in all sentient beings and because it
employs all possible means to salvation."

>>             Respectfully,
>>   	         Keith Evans		kde@heawk1.gsfc.nasa.gov
>
>    Hsing-Mean Sha    in Princeton
>    hms@cs.princeton.edu


=============================================================================
The thing I like about moral absolutes is that there are so many to
        choose from.

Opinions expressed are those of the author.
	jdoskow@Tymnet.COM
============================================================================