Roshi continued with Chapter 11 of the Lotus Sutra.

Chapter 11 starts with a contradictory pair of statements: those who live by the Lotus Sutra will find that their pain and suffering are relieved, however the Lotus Sutra may also cause more pain and suffering. It’s an interesting question: how can something that eases our pain and suffering actually cause us more pain and suffering? We will look at that question another time.

At this point in Chapter 11, there was a great rumbling, and everyone looked to see what was happening. The ground opened up, and a massive structure started to rise out of it. It kept growing.

The structure was 500 yojanas tall and and 250 yojanas wide. A yojana is an old unit of measure, making the structure something like 4000 miles tall and 2000 miles wide.

The structure was covered in jewels. (Chapter 11 is called The Many-Jeweled Tower).

The structure was in the style of a stupa. A stupa is a devotional dedication tower, whose purpose is generally to hold relics. 

The idea goes like this: when a normal person dies, and is cremated, the remains from the cremation are usually some ashes and shards of bone, which are given to the family and kept in a special urn. But when a Buddha dies, sometimes what remains instead are a bunch of jewels. And these jewels, these precious items, are distributed to all the stupas, to be kept there.

So in the middle of this magical assembly, this great, bejeweled stupa rose. And once it arose, a big, booming voice came out, saying “You have heard the authentic Lotus Sutra. And I am here to verify: This is the truth, and there is no truth greater than this.” 

Who is this voice? What is this tower? The Lotus Sutra gives no explanation, but contemporaries of the Lotus Sutra would have had an understanding of this mythology.

They would have understood that the tower is from the Many-Jeweled Buddha, Prabhutaratna, who was a great Buddha and predecessor of Shakyamuni. Prabhutaratna, on his passing, said whenever the authentic Lotus Sutra will be chanted, he will return. 

And this was his return.

The assembly wanted to know, is that the Great Buddha inside? They asked Shakyamuni if he could open the stupa. Yes, said Shakyamuni, but only if all my emanations are present. The boddhisatvas said, well, that would be cool too, do that!

So he lifted his hand, and magically all of Shakyamuni’s emanations throughout space and time appeared visible to everyone. Thousands and thousands of these emanations, from all time periods. 

Shakyamuni then shot out, from his brow, a red light, which went to all the emanations in their respective times and places. The emanations, called by the light, left their sanghas and came back. And so all these tens of thousands of Buddhas arrived at the stupa, and took their seats on bejeweled thrones, floating in the air.

Shakyamuni then took his right hand, and opened up the stupa. (The right hand is the clean hand, the hand that gives offerings.)

And there, inside, was Prabhutaratna, sitting on his cushion. 

The emanations had a joyful reunion with Prabhutaratna. Shakyamuni sat on a cushion next to him. The assembly watched, blown away, but also somewhat discontent, as the stupa was so tall they had no clear view. So Shakyamuni floated them all up. 

The scene at this point is a core image in Buddhism. When you see images of the Lotus Sutra, you will often see this image of the stupa with the Buddhas next to each other. This is also the source of the expression “the Buddha and the Buddha.” The next 10 chapters of the Lotus Sutra take place in this setting. It’s important.

But, isn’t this all … bogus?

What is a stupa? A stupa is where you keep the relics of a person’s past. How can that person who passed be in a stupa with his own relics?

We’re taught in Buddhism that there’s a Buddha for all ages. But there’s no time machine. This isn’t the Marvel universe. Each Buddha gets their own time. But here we have tens of thousands of Shakyamuni’s emanations, appearing at the same time. You can’t do that.

All these Buddhas, who shouldn’t be in the same time and place, having tea. 

How can this be anything but a scam, a lie?

Roshi noted here that he has studied the Lotus Sutra for decades, and never been a fan. 

But, what if it’s not a lie, or a scam? 

Roshi asked, “Why is it that I’ve been so disappointed with this, for so many years? Because I have studied all of these other wisdom traditions that have given me guidance and insight into how to become liberated from my ego, how to become evolved and enlightened.”

And that’s why we all gather. We are all looking for that. But when we have that expecatation, and apply it in a scenario where it’s not applicable, who’s lying to who?

The thing that brings us to the cushion, and keeps us there, is in fact our ego. We want our lives to be better. The great irony is that when we  practice really hard, we realize that our ego is what’s causing all our attachments and anger. We must get over ourselves so we can be better. 

We come to the Lotus Sutra expecting great insight, and chapter after chapter, there is nothing there. There is no insight. There is no guidance. It’s all smoke.

And now this scene, with no wisdom teaching, with its current and previous lives, its relics, and giant towers? 

“Then it occured to me,” said Roshi, “Oh, wait a second. My disappointment and my frustration and anger, has nothing to do with the Lotus Sutra. It has to do with what I’m bringing to the Lotus Sutra.

I have an expectation based on decades and decades of studying all these other things, that this thing is going to give me something even deeper, better than all those other things. And not once in all these decades, have I actually read the Lotus Sutra.

I’ve been looking for something. I’ve been studying it. I never just looked at it for what it is.

What would that do to our lives? If we just saw reality for what it is, reality. Without any filters.”

How much of our frustration and anxiety is false expectations?

“What’s wrong with you? I came to this football game to play. I brought my very best tennis racket!”

“I made this really delicious pudding today. This is the best pudding I’ve ever made. And I’m eating it with my very best knife. What’s wrong with you? This is my best knife. And I keep cutting myself and I can’t eat.”

What if we came to the football game and saw how the game is played and played it? What if we saw the pudding for what it was and ate it? What if we read the Lotus Sutra for what it is?

“Now I know it’s about,“ said Roshi. 

“It makes total sense now. It’s not about wisdom and liberty. 

It’s about a Buddha and a Buddha. 

It’s about transmission. 

It’s about sharing. It’s about giving.

It’s about going from one generation to the next generation, to the next generation. 

That’s at the heart of it. There’s all these other beautiful teachings in it.”

We are vessels, to have love passed through us to someone else. That’s all. 

Life is not unfair, this is the reality of who we are. Throw out all expectations. It’s simply about giving.

In all the parables we have been studying, there is a common theme: Buddha to a Buddha, person to person, human contact. Using our life to share something. It’s not about us, the more we make it about us, the more frustrated and angry we will be.

That’s why the Lotus Sutra has been such an important part of Buddhist history for so long. This was Roshi’s revelation, he said, and now he can feel more relaxed about it.

He thanked the sangha and its energy to help get him to that point.