Mahayana Buddhism

"Mahayana is a living faith. We cannot ignore the significance of Mahayanism." --Suzuki

The Buddhist thinker and teacher, Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, wrote a volume about the Mahayana which is titled, Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism. This book first appeared in English translation in 1907; a later edition was produced from that translation in 1963, and still later, another edition was rendered from the same translation in 1977. In this article, I use the 1963 volume.

It was the desire of master Suzuki to make clear to practitioners of other Buddhist denominations, and other non Buddhist faiths the meaning and significance of Mahayana practice. In the introduction to this volume, Alan Watts writes:

"Mahayana Buddhism is the very basis of both classical and contemporary Buddhism. Unlike Hinayana, in which the accent is on individual salvation, Mahayana stresses social compassion. Intellectually, it is more understandable than its intuitive offshoot, Zen. Mahayana represents one of the great systems of perceptions on the nature of man and his relation to the world. It is concerned with human suffering, and offers a remarkable set of insights on how one ought to live and by what principles."

Suzuki writes to answer some basic, and some more complex questions about Mahayana. Note in a number of instances, Suzuki engages the reader into an understanding of the topic through the use of another, more familiar, western belief in Salvation, the way of the Christ. While some may not have carefully considered it, Buddhism is indeed a salvific practice. It desires to free the self from suffering and to aid others to the same salvation, or liberation in Nirvana.

Mahayana, What is it? This basic question starts the inquiry Suzuki wishes to make. He makes many statements:

* Religion is the innermost voice of the human heart...
* Within Buddhism there exists diverse schools of thought...
* The human heart is not an intellectual crystal...
* Mahayana is the great vehicle of Salvation...
* It is more liberal, more progressive, metaphysical, speculative...
* Mahayana, as Suzuki defines it is, "the highest principle, or being, or knowledge, in which the universal and all beings are manifest, and through which they can attain final salvation...
* Mahayana was first used by the "progressive party"...
* Mahayana originated about the time of Christ...
* Asvaghosa, an Indian philosopher, was the first Mahayana expounder...
* Hinayana was a term given to others by the Mahayana sect...
* Mahayana is a boundless ocean in which all forms of thought and faith can find a congenial and welcoming home...
* Its earliest writings exist in the Pali language...
* Mahayana is a living faith...

NOTE: This article first appeared here in summer 2009

Imaging the Kingdom of Heaven

"When you enter into my Kingdom." --Bible, Matthew Chapter 18

Many write, speak and think of the "kingdom of heaven" as a concrete afterlife place; they believe that the Christ's teaching was geared to the how and why of getting there. In doing so, many miss the perhaps most obvious and subtle of points. Jesus, the Christ was a Jew and the Jews of the time did not espouse a concept of heaven as a place. Their spirituality called for good works performed on earth, and earth as the kingdom of heaven. Indeed it is the place where the Bible describes the Garden of Eden.

Must we work on earth so as to ascend to a place called heaven? No, suggests author Thomas Moore, in his book, Writing in the Sand: Jesus and the Soul of the Gospels. Moore writes of the kingdom of heaven as the center of the gospels intention, and of Jesus' teaching. He writes, "it is woven into all the stories and teachings."
Your response to those teachings, or lack of it directly corresponds to your understanding about living the kingdom. In reading the bible stories one learns that Jesus' view was that the kingdom "is at hand," that we are surrounded by it. This is to say that the Kingdom of Heaven is on earth, in keeping with the beliefs of Judaism.

In Judeo-Christian belief, what we learn about the kingdom through our life experiences, is what we then share and live in both a mystical and everyday way through our actions, and behaviors as well as our prayer. The Kingdom in this view is in you. "When you enter into my kingdom" is a strong message to all who consider the Christ message. It does not suggest if or maybe; it suggests when and it suggests life. We all learn lessons of love and pain; there is bitterness and joy in all lives. We seek our meaning in life, and we share our fruits with others.

If one does otherwise and expresses a tendency to zealotry, "not just about religion but about everything in life, he is easily thrown into deep confusion and depression... there was hope for them when they could laugh at the contradictions in their lives," writes Moore. He explains that when we doggedly hang onto our usual ideas and images of our self and our lives, passionate to find ways of making sense of it all, some do forget that life is complex, subtle; our spirituality needs to reflect that. Otherwise we may find our self in a very brittle position, neurotic and pained.

Many do not appreciate the extreme, radical nature of the Christ's call. It's a call to be more than to believe, and that's hard to do, especially in the modern world. The potential believers do not image it, they do not see who Jesus stood for or why he stood at all. These are radical questions that millenia has grappled with. The mystery of Jesus is the equal mystery of the kingdom. In Jesus' world, the kingdom is on earth, it is living, breathing, real, the now. It calls for all, demands all, gives all and forgives. In Jesus' kingdom Moore writes, there is " a place of bliss and idealistic values. The Gospels suggest it is more important to enter that kingdom than to [simply] live a good life."