best thing I’ve read in ages
Sunday 13 July 2008 | 2 cookies in the jar
And yes I know I have posted like three times today. But I’m…I’m…I think I’m bored! Holy crap, I didn’t know I could even still GET bored. Is life with the Brujo really that entertaining? I’ve chain-read all day, one book after another, like potato chips; and though I have not yet eaten Häagen-Dazs straight from the carton, I feel that overall this is Not a Good Sign for my old age.
So the following comes from chapter 20 of the Lotus Sutra. I especially love how Never Disparaging always bravely runs away and then hollers his protestations of respect from a safe distance (which telling detail is relayed so matter-of-factly, like something out of Malory or Chrétien de Troyes). Cf. the Sponsor’s idea that finding the right distance from certain people is crucial when it comes to loving them well—a distance which may sometimes include state lines. I could not love thee half so well, loved I not my own sanity more.
After the original awesome Sound King Thus Come One had passed into extinction, and after his Correct Law had also passed away, in the period of his Counterfeit Law, monks of overbearing arrogance exercised great authority and power. At this time there was a bodhisattva monk named Never Disparaging. Now, Gainer of Great Authority, for what reason was he named Never Disparaging? This monk, whatever persons he happened to meet, whether monks, nuns, laymen or laywomen, would bow in obeisance to all of them and speak words of praise, saying, “I have profound reverence for you, I would never dare treat you with disparaging and arrogance. Why? Because you are all practicing the bodhisattva way and are certain to attain Buddhahood.”
This monk did not devote his time to reading or reciting the scriptures, but simply went about bowing to people. And if he happened to see any of the four kinds of believers far off in the distance, he would purposely go to where they were, bow to them and speak words of praise, saying, “I would never dare disparage you, because you are all certain to attain Buddhahood!”
Among the four kinds of believers there were the those who gave way to anger, their minds lacking in purity, and they spoke ill of him and cursed him, saying, “This ignorant monk—where does he come from, presuming to declare that he does not disparage us and bestowing on us a prediction that we will attain Buddhahood? We have no use for such vain and irresponsible predictions!”
Many years passed in this way, during which this monk was constantly subjected to curses and abuse. He did not give way to anger, however, but each time spoke the same words, “You are certain to attain Buddhahood.” When he spoke in this manner, some among the group would take sticks of wood or tiles and stones and beat and pelt him. But even as he ran away and took up his stance at a distance, he continued to call out in a loud voice, “I would never dare disparage you, for you are all certain to attain Buddhahood!” And because he always spoke these words, the overbearing arrogant monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen gave him the name Never Disparaging.
When this monk was on the point of death, he heard up in the sky fully twenty thousand, ten thousand, a million verses of the Lotus Sutra that had been previously preached by the Buddha Awesome Sound King, and he was able to accept and uphold them all. Immediately he gained the kind of purity of vision and purity of the faculties of the ear, nose, tongue, body and mind that have been described above. Having gained this purity of the six faculties, his life span was increased by two hundred ten million nayutas of years, and he went about widely preaching the Lotus Sutra for people.
What would be the modern Western equivalent of this—what words of honor and respect could we imagine using with everyone we encountered?
(Being fully prepared, of course, to have them find us unbearably condescending and pretentious, and throw shit at us with venomous zeal.)
2 cookies in the jar
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I worry I fall on the wrong side of the story with a mind lacking in purity that gives way to anger, having been tempted to throw zealously when wished ‘a blessed day’ or being told someone was praying for me when I didn’t particularly want their prayers.
Puzzling over words of honor and respect in the age of umbrage and concluding we are all too good at being offended…. Call me ma’am, don’t call me ma’am, you lose either way.
I keep thinking of the Douglas Adams character whose life’s mission was to insult all beings in the universe. But surely he could have an inverse, a counterpart saying “You ARE deserving of love.”
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Editorial intrusion: Yeah, I’d be pretty tempted to chuck some debris myself, I’m sure. What I like about the story is that, despite its heavy-handed criticism of the impure ones, it encourages a covert appreciation of just how irritating dude could obviously be. In, as you say, the Age of Umbrage, which apparently started right around the earthly departure of the Sound King Thus Come One (with his freaky moniker!).
Am I Mr. Lewis or Mr. Patrick? I got into a debate like this with another parent who insisted that I be called Mr. Patrick by her children. Honestly there are those few adults who will forever be Mr. Peterson and Mrs. Jorgenson in my own vocabulary, such are our roles established in my youth. Frankly, for myself, I don’t like either choice, and loath titles as a general rule. Let’s see…a Western equivalent? How about “Hello.” A simple greeting acknowledges the existence of another, and as we refine our own ability to set our prejudices aside we open the opportunity to experience whatever response we are given, regardless of its content (or that they would even greet us back), and so give honor to their spirit.
“Let, then, the motive for action be in the action itself, and not in the event. Do not be incited to actions by the hope of their reward, nor let thy life be spent in inaction. Firmly persisting, in Yoga, perform thy duty, […] and laying aside all desire for any benefit to thyself from action, make the event equal, whether it be success or failure.” —Bhagavad Gita
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Editor: Of course, rank philistine that I am, I know this passage best from whatever translation Salinger quotes in F&Z, the bit ending: “….and ever give way to laziness, either.” It’s so sweet, like Lord Krishna’s shaking his finger fussily at you and telling you you’d better eat your spinach.
As for appropriate teacherly forms of address…I insist that my students address me as “Oh Buddha Awesome Sound King.”