Orange County Buddhist Church
Orange County Buddhist Church
In this article, I would like to address the question of religious process in
Buddhism. Is there such a process in Buddhism? How does one get enlightened?
Why should one pursue enlightenment? Or, even more basic, questions like, why
should I study Buddhism? What does Buddhism have to offer me? Are there steps
or is there a process to understanding Buddhism? How do I know if I am
progressing along the path? How can I measure my progress? Such questions are
basic and common to any person who has sought the teachings and the path of
enlightenment. Let me attempt to outline what I consider the three stages on
the path to enlightenment.
1. Initial Stage
The initial stage is to take the first steps on the path
to enlightenment. Like any other path of a beginner, whether it is in sports or
learning an art like piano or dance, the first stage is awkward and frustrating,
but also exciting because everything is new. The initiate enters the world of
Buddhism and religion with many questions and curiosities. Initially, the
beginner looks at Buddhism as a very goal-oriented religion. How do I get
enlightened? What will enlightenment or Buddhism do for me? How long will it
take?
In this country, the martial arts like karate have really
taken off in popularity. People of all ages have taken some kind of martial art
it seems nowadays. Initially, the beginner always asks, “How long will it take
to get my black belt?” At first, we are more intrigued by the goal, than the
process to get to the goal. We want to become a black belt. We want to become
an accomplished pianist. We want to become enlightened. How long will it take?
Rev. Kusada at IBS once told us a story about a young
apprentice who was learning a martial art. The novice asked the master on the
first day of training how long it would take him to get his black belt. The
master said, “If you train really hard it will take maybe ten years.” The
novice then said, “Ten years is a long time. What if I practiced five hours a
day, seven days a week? Then how long will it take me to get my black belt?”
The Sensei responded, “If you think that way, it will take
you twenty years to get your black belt.”
The novice said, “Twice as long? How can that be? What if I
practice ten hours a day seven days a week? Then how long will it take?”
The Sensei then responded, “If you think that way, you will
never attain the rank of black belt.”
The Sensei was trying to break down the goal-oriented
thinking of the novice. Practice is not a means to a goal. The goal is the
practice, the training. The Sensei was trying to say to the student to practice
as if it will take your whole life, and to forget about the goal, the reward,
the black belt.
Initially, we are all like the novice learning a martial
art. We wonder how long it will take and ask what is enlightenment,
rather than begin the path to enlightenment.
In the initial stage, we think more materialistically about
life and religion. A certain amount of effort should produce a certain amount
of benefit. We hope and expect Buddhism to make us happier, to make us better
human beings, to give us peace of mind, to help us in our married life, our
family life, even maybe to improve our health or cure our cancer. These
concerns and expectations are not totally false or out of line. They are the
thoughts of one in the initial stage. As we will see, as we progress further
along the path, our materialistic concerns religiously will change.
There has to be some kind of benefit to us and to our lives
in this initial stage or else we would never go on to the second stage or step.
If there is no benefit, no value that we see to Buddhism in our life, then why
pursue it? Why put all the effort into the study and search for enlightenment
if we see no value, no meaning, no benefit in our life? Buddhism does not
negate such value or meaning, but attempts to point to something deeper and
truer than those initial values and benefits of religion.
2. Secondary Stage
After entering the path and having gone through the
initial stage of materially measuring the value, benefit, and meaning of
Buddhism, one begins the second stage on the path to enlightenment. In the
second stage, one struggles with listening to and learning the Dharma. There
is both joy from learning and understanding fundamental teachings of Buddhism,
but there is also doubt and questioning in other areas. One day you feel like
you have learned so much, and then on other days you feel as if you don’t know
or understand a single thing.
What grows during this stage is the desire to listen and
learn. An appetite for the Dharma is enhanced and books and lectures are
devoured almost ravenously. However, although there is much that is learned and
digested, there is also a gap that grows between intellectually understanding in
your head, and truly knowing or understanding in your heart. Words like
compassion, or the Nembutsu, have meaning to you in your head, but do not
resonate in your heart.
While progress is being made on the path, you don’t feel like
you are making progress. It is so bad, in fact, that you even consider giving it
all up. After years of study and dedication, you feel like you haven’t gotten
anywhere at all. At the point where you feel the furthest away from
understanding, you are actually quite close.
3. Final Stage
In the final stage there is no thought of practicer,
practice, and goal. The goal, the person, and the practice have become one.
Just like an artist who paints, but credits the inspiration of the painting to
something beyond himself, so too does the person in the final stage live in
oneness with the truth of the Dharma itself. There is a naturalness, a flow of
life that is similar to that of artists and musicians. An accomplished musician
might say that rather than playing the piano, “the music plays me.” A dancer
does not dance, but is the dance.
Last week I heard our speaker at the ministers seminar, Prof.
Daishun Uyema from Ryukoku University, talk about master Japanese landscapers.
He said that such landscapers will sit and meditate in front of the rocks to be
placed in a garden, and the rock tells the landscaper where it wants to go. In
that manner the landscaper finds the most beautiful and natural location for
rocks in a Japanese garden.
In the final stage, there is no questioning how long will it
take, why should I practice, what benefit will it have. The ultimate meaning of
practice and benefit are understood. The Dharma and life are one reality.
There is nothing to gain, and nothing to lose.
Shinran Shonin experienced these three stages of
enlightenment, and he calls it sangantennyu, or turning through the three
vows. There are three vows from the Larger Sutra that symbolize, or represent
each stage. The initial stage is the 19th vow that expresses doing
various “practices” to get enlightened. Shinran did this for 20 years on Mt.
Hiei. The secondary stage is represented by the 20th vow that
expresses a mixed practice of Nembutsu and other practices. The final stage is
represented by the 18th vow that expresses true Nembutsu, where
Namuamidabutsu is not something that you say, but you become
Namumaidabutsu.
(To be continued.)
Gassho, Rev. Marvin Harada.
