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The recognition of kindness is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we do not throw away good roots. 三歸是法明門、淨三惡道故. This week we look at recognition of kindness, and next week it’s repayment of kindness. These two gates are related. We’ve got three elements to talk about in this gate: kindness, the recognition of kindness, and connection with good roots. Metta, or the perfection of loving kindness, is one of the ten perfections in the Pali canon. The list looks different in the Mahayana tradition, but still includes loving-kindness: giving, morality, renunciation, wisdom, diligence, patience, truthfulness, determination, loving-kindness, and equanimity. As a side note, kindness is subtly different from compassion. Compassion is entering into someone else’s suffering and feeling with that person. As bodhisatvas, we want to liberate all beings because we feel their pain. Kindness is wishing happiness and wellbeing for others. As bodhisattvas, we show benevolence to all beings without any thought of reward or gain for ourselves. This isn’t the first time we’ve considered a gate related to kindness. When we were talking about the bramaviharas or four divine abodes, the one covered by Gate 14 was benevolence or loving-kindness: Benevolence is gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] good roots prevail in all the situations of life. Buddha says loving-kindness reverses anger and greed, but that this will take some time because anger and ill-will are pretty deep-seated. The three poisons are basic to our delusion. Even when we aspire to kindness, have trouble sustaining it. We get it intellectually, we know what we want to do, but gosh, we keep falling off the wagon. There’s an dismaying element of limitlessness associated with kindness. Buddha says we have to have loving-kindness for all beings, not just our friends and people we like. In the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, Buddha says we haven’t reached great or limitless loving-kindness until we experience it equally for everyone: If one does not feel anger even towards a single being and prays to give bliss to such a being, this is loving-kindness. It’s easy to experience for ourselves and our loved ones, and harder for strangers and impossible for people we hate! In the sutra, Buddha says we are really practicing loving-kindness when we don’t see wrongs and anger doesn’t arise. We stop seeing what others do as personal affronts to ourselves or attacks on our egos. If we don’t take stuff personally, we don’t get angry. Both Gate 14 and this gate associate kindness and roots: 14) Benevolence is gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] good roots prevail in all the situations of life. [28] Recognition of kindness is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we do not throw away good roots. I’m guessing these are connected to the line in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra that says, If any person asks about the root of any aspect of good, say that it is lovingkindness. All the wholesomeness in the world is based on kindness. Whatever good is happening is because of wishing happiness and wellbeing for others. For bodhisattvas, kindness can intersect with compassion; we’re wishing wellbeing for others and that means wanting them to be able to liberate themselves from suffering. For the bodhisattva, wishing others well is not hoping their cravings for diamond rings and cherry pie are fulfilled. It’s wishing they have wisdom, compassion and insight so they can cut through delusion and wholesome circumstances can arise. This is how we talked about kindness back at Gate 14. This week’s gate says we have to recognize kindness so we don’t throw away those good roots. We have to know what kindness is in ourselves and others so that the unfolding of that kindness can come to fruition. Recognizing and acknowledging debts of kindness is a critically important aspect of Asian culture. It’s not so important in Indian Buddhism, but started to become important when Buddhism arrived in China and then Japan. Confucianism was already there in China, and one of the central virtues was filial piety. That meant that children had to take care of their parents as they got older and after they died. They also had obligations to social superiors and to the state. In a Confucian society, everyone had duties to everyone else: parents and children, bosses and employees, older or higher rank to younger or lower rank. It started in the home and reached outward to larger and larger rings of social groups, and all behavior was determined by mutual obligations. It was the source of the culture’s ethical system. Every day one lived, one accumulated more debts of gratitude. Then Buddhism arrived and encouraged people to leave home, cut family ties and join the sangha. This was a big problem. If a son becomes a monk, who takes care of the parents? If your family had a trade or business that had been going on for generations, who was going to carry that on and continue to improve and expand those activities? Who carries out all the social obligations, one of which was to have children who would continue to keep society going? There was also a sense that everyone owed his identity to the family or business or social group that had been created by previous generations. Your worth wasn’t based on your personal achievements or accomplishments, but on the reputation of your group. You were able to function in the world because of your parents’ wealth or social class, or because you had been appointed to a particular job. You were indebted to others for your sense of self. Thus there was a real conflict: Buddhism looked to the Chinese like an irresponsible foreign religion because the sangha cut ties with society. The general belief was that if individual households were run properly, then ultimately the state would be run properly. Peace and prosperity for the entire country rested on the condition of the family household. Buddhist practitioners started to emphasize teachings on debts of gratitude. They said that it wasn’t that monks were abandoning their responsibilities, but that their practice was for the liberation and wellbeing of all beings, including their parents and the emperor. They also generated merit that they dedicated to dead relatives and ancestors. They were taking care of their social obligations, but in a different way. As Buddhism continued to develop in East Asia, some additional teachings arose that helped to resolve the conflict. One was that because of interconnectedness, all beings have been our parents at one time or another. Our practice is to liberate all beings, and if all beings have been our parents, then we recognize that we owe all beings a debt of kindness. Dogen wrote a poem that said, Those fellows who stray around in delusion here and there, within the six realms, are actually my fathers and my mothers. Those fellows who stray around in delusion here and there are us—everyday people who get caught up in our stuff and pulled around by our desires and our suffering. Because of that, we wander continuously around the six realms of samsara. Dogen says that all average normal people are actually his fathers and mothers, and maybe this felt really important to him because he lost both his parents when he was a young child. In the Bonmokyo or Brahma Net Sutra, which is one of our source texts for the precepts, it says that if we don’t recognize our debt of kindness to our parents, we break a minor precept: A disciple of the Buddha should have a mind of compassion and cultivate the practice of liberating sentient beings. He must reflect thus: throughout the eons of time, all male sentient beings have been my father, all female sentient beings my mother . . . On the day his father, mother, and siblings die, he should invite Dharma Masters to explain the Bodhisattva sutras and precepts. This will generate merits and virtues and help the deceased either to achieve rebirth in the Pure Lands and meet the buddhas or to secure rebirth in the human or celestial realms. If instead, a disciple fails to do so, he commits a secondary offense. This is a reference to what still happens today at a funeral or memorial for a layperson. Among other things, we chant the Shushogi, a compilation of Dogen’s teachings that includes how and why we should receive the precepts, and at the end, officiant gives a few minutes’ dharma talk. All that is based on this precept and the teaching that we owe our parents for their blessings even after they die. Dogen says that we should treat all beings the way we treat our parents, and that’s the basis of our bodhisattva work. He says that laypeople respect and care for their parents while they are alive and hold services for them after their death, but: Monks abandon their debt of gratitude and enter the realm of non-doing (mui). Within the family of non-doing, the manner [of paying off the debt of gratitude] should not be limited to one particular person. Considering that we have debts of gratitude to all living beings just as we do to our own fathers and mothers, we must transmit all the merits of our good deeds throughout the dharma-world. We don’t limit [the dedication] specifically to our own parents in this lifetime. This is the way we do not go against the Way of non-doing. Depending on place and time and what sutra you’re reading, Buddhism says we owe a debt of kindness or debt of gratitude to four benefactors. There are various lists of who or what these are, including parents, all sentient beings, rulers, Three Treasures; mother, father, Buddha, teacher; and, in the first list I ever learned, parents, teachers, leaders and homeland. We recite the list in the formal meal chant when we make a food offering. First this is for the Three Treasures, next for the four benefactors, finally for the beings in the six realms; may all be equally nourished. As an aside, last week we talked about the three devotions, which was about taking refuge in the three treasures. We said that this idea of taking refuge goes back to India before Buddha. and that originally it meant declaring allegiance to a powerful person, like a patron. You did what the patron told you to do in exchange for receiving protection from various dangers. In the early years of the Buddha’s teaching career, his new followers adopted this custom and express their allegiance to the three treasures in a similar way. It’s easy to see how the three treasures were included in these later teachings about debts of kindness in cultures that operated based on mutual responsibility. People in medieval Asia were used to having lords, masters or patrons. You were expected to be loyal, and in return you received protection. It makes sense that the three treasures or your Buddhist teacher took on a similar role. Anyway, the point is that we say that we’re indebted to four benefactors because we can’t exist without the support of other things and people. Everything is dependent on causes and conditions. This is why we keep hearing about no-separation. Nothing exists on its own; it arose from something else, and it’s interconnected. Recognition of kindness is another way of saying recognition of interconnectedness. There was a Japanese monk called Suzuki Shosan who lived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. He had an interesting, eclectic Buddhist life after being a samurai warrior. He practiced in various Buddhist traditions, was a close friend of a Soto Zen monk, and established about 30 Soto Zen temples, but was ordained in another tradition. He developed his own style of practice unlike Soto Zen. Much of his written teaching is about how everyone owes a debt of gratitude to each of the four classes of society—samurai, artisans, farmers and merchants—and also how engaging in each of these occupations repays one’s debt to Buddha. The one Buddha, the Tathagata originally awakened, benefits the world by dividing himself into countless millions of parts. Without blacksmiths, carpenters, and all the other artisans, the needs of the world would never be satisfied. Without samurais, the world would not be governed. Without farmers, it would not be fed, and without merchants, nothing in the world would circulate freely. Any other occupation, as soon as it appears, begins to serve the world. There are men who have discussed of Heaven and Earth, there is the man who invented written language, and also the man who invented medicine, having differentiated five principal organs. Although these achievements that have emerged in great multitude, exist for the benefit of the world, they are nothing but the manifestations of the grace of one Buddha in action. Again we see the recognition of kindness as a recognition of interconnectedness. There are individuals that are both receiving support from others and providing support through their daily activity, and there is also one unified reality or the Buddha way within which the individuals and their activities function, and that makes that functioning possible. There’s one unified reality within which causes and conditions enable the arising of individuals and what they do. We’re indebted to the universe for our birth in this form, and simply living our lives and carrying out our functions is a means of repayment. When we look broadly at how causes and conditions and gratitude work, we get to see how things we didn’t really want in our lives actually sometimes turn out to be helpful. Recognizing that we were suffering brought us to practice. Social distancing during the pandemic resulted in Sanshin increasing its virtual programming ability more quickly than we planned. Maybe you just took a wrong turn on your way somewhere and discovered a beautiful view or a shop you never would have seen otherwise. Somehow the dharma, or the functioning of the universe, resulted in something good through no intention of our own. We can’t take credit for that; it’s not a reward for the small self. It’s a gift from the universe. Now, what are we going to do with it? We need to be on the lookout for kindness so we don’t throw away the good roots. Out of the kindness of others or the support of the universe, something good and wholesome happens. Recognizing that interconnection with all beings is both an opportunity to see clearly how things actually work and an expression of our understanding. Next week we’ll talk about repaying all the kindness we receive from the universe. We need to close the loop. Questions for reflection and discussion:
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About the text The Ippyakuhachi Homyomon, or 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination, appears as the 11th fascicle of the 12 fascicle version of Dogen Zenji’s Shobogenzo. Dogen didn't compile the list himself; it's mostly a long quote from another text called the Sutra of Collected Past Deeds of the Buddha. Dogen wrote a final paragraph recommending that we investigate these gates thoroughly. Hoko has been talking about the gates one by one since 2016. She provides material here that can be used by weekly dharma discussion groups as well as for individual study. The 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination
[1] Right belief [2] Pure mind [3] Delight [4] Love and cheerfulness The three forms of behavior [5] Right conduct of the actions of the body [6] Pure conduct of the actions of the mouth [7] Pure conduct of the actions of the mind The six kinds of mindfulness [8] Mindfulness of Buddha [9] Mindfulness of Dharma [10] Mindfulness of Sangha [11] Mindfulness of generosity [12] Mindfulness of precepts [13] Mindfulness of the heavens The four Brahmaviharas [14] Benevolence [15] Compassion [16] Joy [17] Abandonment The four dharma seals [18] Reflection on inconstancy [19] Reflection on suffering [20] Reflection on there being no self [21] Reflection on stillness [22] Repentance [23] Humility [24] Veracity [25] Truth [26] Dharma conduct [27] The Three Devotions [28] Recognition of kindness [29] Repayment of kindness [30] No self-deception [31] To work for living beings [32] To work for the Dharma [33] Awareness of time [34] Inhibition of self-conceit [35] The nonarising of ill-will [36] Being without hindrances [37] Belief and understanding [38] Reflection on impurity [39] Not to quarrel [40] Not being foolish [41] Enjoyment of the meaning of the Dharma [42] Love of Dharma illumination [43] Pursuit of abundant knowledge [44] Right means [45] Knowledge of names and forms [46] The view to expiate causes [47] The mind without enmity and intimacy [48] Hidden expedient means [49] Equality of all elements [50] The sense organs [51] Realization of nonappearance The elements of bodhi: The four abodes of mindfulness [52] The body as an abode of mindfulness [53] Feeling as an abode of mindfulness [54] Mind as an abode of mindfulness [55] The Dharma as an abode of mindfulness [56] The four right exertions [57] The four bases of mystical power The five faculties [58] The faculty of belief [59] The faculty of effort [60] The faculty of mindfulness [61] The faculty of balance [62] The faculty of wisdom The five powers [63] The power of belief [64] The power of effort [65] The power of mindfulness [66] The power of balance [67] The power of wisdom [68] Mindfulness, as a part of the state of truth [69] Examination of Dharma, as a part of the state of truth [70] Effort, as a part of the state of truth [71] Enjoyment, as a part of the state of truth [72] Entrustment as a part of the state of truth [73] The balanced state, as a part of the state of truth [74] Abandonment, as a part of the state of truth The Eightfold Path [75] Right view [76] Right discrimination [77] Right speech [78] Right action [79] Right livelihood [80] Right practice [81] Right mindfulness [82] Right balanced state [83] The bodhi-mind [84] Reliance [85] Right belief [86] Development The six paramitas [87] The dāna pāramitā [88] The precepts pāramitā [89] The forbearance pāramitā. [90] The diligence pāramitā [91] The dhyāna pāramitā [92] The wisdom pāramitā [93] Expedient means [94] The four elements of sociability [95] To teach and guide living beings [96] Acceptance of the right Dharma [97] Accretion of happiness [98] The practice of the balanced state of dhyāna [99] Stillness [100] The wisdom view [101] Entry into the state of unrestricted speech [102] Entry into all conduct [103] Accomplishment of the state of dhāraṇī [104] Attainment of the state of unrestricted speech [105] Endurance of obedient following [106] Attainment of realization of the Dharma of nonappearance [107] The state beyond regressing and straying [108] The wisdom that leads us from one state to another state and, somehow, one more: [109] The state in which water is sprinkled on the head Archives
December 2024
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