Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”

“THE LOTUS SŪTRA AND ITS ‘BODIES’: PHYSICAL BODIES, SPIRITUAL BODIES, BODIES OF KNOWLEDGESUSAN DEGNANCAITLIN GRANEYRYAN McCANNCHARLES McCRACKENJOHN M. THOMPSONCHRISTOPHER NEWPORT UNIVERSITY

Discussions of “the body” have become increasingly prominent in academic circles in re-cent years. This is particularly the case in the Humanities – a rather ironic point since the intensely textual focus we typically find in History, Literature, Philosophy and the like – seem at first blush to be as disembodied as could be. But of course, things are rarely as they seem. Certainly those of us who focus on the cultures and traditions of Asia know that “the body” in its various dimensions is a major concern of texts and practices across a wide range of Asian societies.

In this paper we look at closely at the Lotus Sūtra (Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra, Miaofa lianhua jing), one of the most popular Buddhist texts and one that has had a decisive in-fluence on various Asian cultures. Famous for its supposedly “innumerable meanings,” the Lotus is a major source of important teachings in the Mahayana branch of Buddhism, and has long been a focus of intense devotion for thousands of Buddhists. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Lotus is a powerful catalyst for critical and creative reflection on ambi-guities surrounding the concept of “the body.” This paper originated in a university class on the Lotus, gradually taking further shape as a panel at the 2014 Virginia Humanities Conference in which each of us presented on aspects of the Lotus from our respective ar-eas of interest and expertise (economics, leadership studies, gender theory etc.). After much further discussion, we agreed that combining our various pieces into one large arti-cle would be a good way to highlight the multidimensional nature of the Lotus and its re-lationship to notions of “the body,” and hopefully generate further interest among other scholars. In what follows, we discuss several ways that the Lotus as a Buddhist text both illuminates and problematizes what “the body” is. We believe that such examination can not only open up various dimensions of the text itself, but can also contribute to our greater understanding of the Humanities and its Bodies.

Body and bodies – different notions

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”Dealing with concepts of “body” in the study of a text such as the Lotus, which developed pri-marily in socio-cultural contexts vastly different from those in which most contemporary schol-ars find themselves, poses a host of problems. While we cannot hope to resolve these issues here, we should at least explicitly note a few of them. The first concerns language. The Lotus is a Buddhist text and, simply put, while Buddhism does not have an official sacred language (un-like, say, Judaism or Islam), its origins and early development within ancient India means that terms and concepts from Indic languages (e.g. Sanskrit, Pali) have had, and continue to have, overwhelming influence on the religion as a whole. Perhaps not surprisingly for those of us who work with different languages, it is difficult a single definitive equivalent for the English term “body” in Buddhism’s vast technical vocabulary. Sanskrit terms commonly translated as “body” include kāya (“collection”), deha (“physical body” or “shape/form”), āśraya (“support”), śarīra (“that which perishes,” especially used for physical traces or relics of sacred persons), or rūpa (“form,” “matter,” even “color”). None of these, however, exactly capture what “body” typically means, and some are considerably more restrictive. In general, though, most scholars use kāya for “body,” as it tends to reflect a technical philosophical view (“patterned heap of material ele-ments”) that more or less corresponds to a contemporary scientific understanding of “body” as a material entity.

Aside from these linguistic issues, however, we need to acknowledge the fact that there is no single, coherent Pan-Buddhist view of the body, let alone within the text of the Lotus. Cer-tainly in some Buddhist texts and practices typically geared towards monastics, we find a strong negative view of the body as a focal point for samsaric existence. In fact, in some respects we can find a quasi-dualistic view of the human body in Buddhist tradition, since in Buddhist cos-mology, it is consciousness (rather than the body) that is reborn. Thus for many Buddhists attain-ing nirvana often seems to involve an almost Manichean rejection of the body in order to escape the material realm.1 And most certainly, physical bodies in all their fragility and vulnerability truly were often a major source of human misery in premodern societies.2

Even so, though, we must tread carefully here. To cite just one example, Buddhist texts analyzing the human person into its constituent elements (e.g. the various dharmas such as the five skandhas) are in fact just elaborating on what the term kāya means: the “body” is a collec-tion of different processes, uniting both the physical and the psychological. Indeed, as one scholar observes, “the Buddha saw the human being as a psychophysical entity (namarupa) . . . he pointed out the interdependence of mind and the physical personality.”3 There is no denigra-tion of human bodily being here. In this sense, then, texts distinguishing the various factors that make up the human body are essentially exercises in the analysis of what is actually the case rather than evaluative declarations that the physical body in itself is abhorrent.

Interestingly, it seems that analytic texts presenting negative views of the body also tend to focus on female bodies as especially problematic, either as sources of temptation or figures of

1 Steven Collins, “The body in Theravada Buddhist Monasticism,” in Religion and the Body, ed. Sarah Coakley (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 188.2 Paul Williams, “Some Mahayana Buddhist perspective on the body,” in Religion and the Body, ed. Sarah Coakley (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 208.3 Wimal Dissanayake, “Self and Body in Theravada Buddhism: A Topological Analysis of the Dhammapada.” In Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice, eds. Thomas P. Kasulis, Roger T. Ames, and Wimal Dissanayake (New York: SUNY Press, 1993), 124.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”disgust because of their intimate connection to birth and death. Some of the most famous of these come from early canonical sources depicting Siddhartha’s vows to leave his palace and dedicate himself to spiritual pursuits. One well known passage, for instance, relates the prince’s parting view of the various women from his harem in their sleep:

One lay leaning on against the side of a window, her slender body bent like a bow…

Her beautiful necklace dangling . . .

Another, with loose and disorderly hair, lay like the figure of a woman trampled by an elephant, her ornaments and garments having slipped from her back, her necklace scattered.

And another, of great natural beauty and poise, was shamelessly exposed in an immodest position, snoring out loud, with her limbs tossed about.

Another, with her ornaments and garlands falling off and garments unfastened, lay unconscious like a corpse, with her eyes fixed and their whites showing.

Another with well-developed legs lay as if sprawling in intoxication, exposing what should have been hidden, her mouth gaping wide and slobbering, her graceful-ness gone and her body contorted . . .

Seeing this. . . the prince was disgusted. “Such is the real nature of women in the world of the living – impure and loathsome, but deceived by dress and ornaments, man is stirred to passion for them.”4

Is this truly “the real nature of women”? Why such a negative reaction to the carnal di-mensions of these women? Undoubtedly there are several reasons why might this be the case. To begin with, it is helpful to keep in mind that these sorts of texts were almost invariably com-posed in and addressed to male monastic communities, and thus aim to counteract the powerful forces of sexual desire that play such a large role in binding bhikkus to the cycle of samsara. In addition, such texts also reflect the misogyny and pollution/purity views pervading traditional In-dian (and Buddhist) cultures, as well as the androcentric nature of most ancient Buddhist texts. Certainly, we find traces of these views at various places within the Lotus, notably in descrip-tions of various “Pure Lands” wherein there will be “no women.”5 The matter of gender and bod-ies in the Lotus is quite complicated, and we will return to it later in this paper.

On the other hand, we also find evidence of more positive views of the body in Bud-dhism. Again, we can see such views clearly with the legends of Sakyamuni, particularly his past life stories (jatakas) in which he demonstrates great virtues of generosity, compassion, self-sacri-fice, all of which help karmically build the body he will have as a Buddha. It is also a standard trope in Buddhism for followers to express joy at attaining a precious human rebirth – the impli-cation being that attaining a human body is (comparatively speaking) a good thing in that it af-

4 Quoted in Susan Murcott, The First Buddhist Women: Translations and Commentary on the Therigatha (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1991), 23. 5 Gene Reeves, trans., The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic (Boston: Wisdom Publi-cations, 2008), 209.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”fords the opportunity for spiritual advancement. Furthermore, overtime (particularly in East Asia), certain types of bodily training involving artistic disciplines (calligraphy, “martial arts” such as archery or gong fu) as means of spiritual development become increasingly important components of the Buddhist path. As John Strong observes, Buddhahood is a karmic achieve-ment accomplished and expressed somatically as well as mentally.6

Vajrayana (the “thunderbolt vehicle”) tradition seems especially inclined towards a more positive understanding of the body than we often see in early monastic texts, as it typically cen-ters on ritual training and performance including meditation and visualization. A defining char-acteristic of Vajrayana is working to transform body, speech and mind in order to “become Bud-dha in this very body.” Interestingly, the Lotus also has many passages promoting a similarly positive view of the human body, and in fact, even promises various bodily rewards (e.g. divine powers of hearing, sight, smell etc.) for particularly passionate devotees.7

All told, then, there really is no monolithic Buddhist view of the human body, and even the Lotus contains different, even contradictory views. While there are obviously texts and prac-tices that denigrate and devalue the body in spiritual life, the Buddha also rejected extreme aus-terity and encouraged a mindful cultivation of his followers’ bodily being. Anne Klein even maintains that “much of Buddhist practice can be understood as a way of consciously seeking a more spacious way of experiencing our embodiment.”8 Perhaps the best conclusion we can draw is that in Buddhism, the human body is highly ambiguous but vitally important. The human body is the central locus of practice and awakening, and hence not to be taken lightly. This is why the Dharma lays out a “middle way” between ascetic denial and hedonistic luxury – a notion that seems to hold for the Lotus as well.

Thus far we have primarily focused on the more or less corporeal (physical, material) no-tion of “body,” and yet, we find an even bigger problem in the fact that we also speak of body in other senses, as in a “body of knowledge.” What exactly is this? In common parlance, the phrase concerns an aggregate of facts and concepts of particular significance as well as methods of study in a particular field. To cite that great fountain of truth Wikipedia (always a bit dubious from a traditional scholarly perspective):

Body of Knowledge (BOK or BoK) is a term used to represent the complete set of concepts, terms and activities that make up a professional domain, as de-fined by the relevant learned society or professional association.

While the term body of knowledge is also used to describe the document that de-fines that knowledge – the body of knowledge itself is more than simply a collec-tion of terms; a professional reading list; a library; a website or a collection of websites; a description of professional functions; or even a collection of informa-tion. It is the accepted ontology for a specific domain.9

6 John S. Strong, The Buddha: A Short Biography (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2001), 31. 7 See, for example, Chapter 19, “The Blessings of the Dharma Teacher;” Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 321-335.8 Anne C. Klein, “Grounding and Opening,” In Being Bodies: Buddhist Women on the Paradox of Embodiment, eds. Lenore Friedman and Susan Moon (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1997), 141.9 “Body of Knowledge,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_of_Knowledge.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”Investopedia (another source, also a bit dubious in terms of scholarly reliability but perhaps preferable for its more obvious commercial and financial nature) gives this definition:

The core teachings, skills and research in a field or industry. The body of knowl-edge (BOK) often forms the foundation for the curriculum of most professional programs or designations. It is the essential competencies mastered by members, to receive accreditation before applying these principles in practice. Mastery of the body of knowledge is generally demonstrated by passing rigorous examina-tions at single or multiple levels.10

This more metaphoric sense of “body” brings with it an even larger host of problems but for our purposes it is enough to note that a “body of knowledge” in this sense implies a technical approach to the world in which reality is divided into specific spheres/domains which are then to be dominated (defined, measured, and catalogued) and administered by experts. As Francis Ba-con famously notes in Meditationes Sacrae, “Knowledge is power.”11 And yet we so rarely ask the obvious question: what exactly should we do with such power? Does this necessarily mean that to know something is to subjugate towards some other end of our own devising?

This technical notion of a “body of knowledge” opens up new avenues for reflection. Obviously, familiarity with the Lotus forms part of the “body of knowledge” that makes up the academic fields of Buddhist and/or Asian Studies (and to which discussions such as this essay also belong). Furthermore, familiarity with at least certain aspects of the Lotus (e.g. parables such as the “Burning House,” the dharanis in chapter twenty-six, visualization practices outlined in chapter twenty-eight, etc.) no doubt also constituted the basic “body of knowledge” required by ordained clergy to carry out their ministerial functions, be they performing funerary services for local laity, giving regular “Dharma talks,” conducting special ceremonies at certain festivals, and the like. Moreover, a number of scholar-monks who focused much of their work on the Lo-tus (e.g. the great figures of the Tiantai/Tendai schools such as Zhiyi, Saicho et al) necessarily also had to develop knowledge of a vast body of extra-canonical textual material related to the Lotus and even composed their own treatises and commentaries.12 Indeed, to a large degree this work continues in the more academic efforts of contemporary groups devoted to the study and propagation of the teachings of the Lotus such as Sōka Gakkai and Rishō Kōseikai.13 Thus, even from this very cursory analysis, it’s fairly clear that the Lotus itself draws upon and has be-come an important of, and in fact is a rather large and influential “body of knowledge” in Ma-hayana tradition, particularly throughout East Asia.

10 “Body of Knowledge,” http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/body-of-knowledge.asp11 John Bartlett, Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919. Available online at http://www.bartleby.com/100/139.39.html.12 As one of the great intellectual schools of East Asian Buddhism and one of the few that explicitly regards the Lo-tus as the fullest expression of the Dharma, Tiantai and/or Tendai (Chinese/Japanese for “Heavenly Terrace,” the name of its original monastic headquarters located on the slopes of Mount Tiantai south of the Yangzi) has exerted a tremendous influence on Chinese and Japanese philosophy. For a brief overview of its beginnings, see Kenneth Ch’en, Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1964), 303-313. 13 Both Sōka Gakkai (“Value Creation Society”) and Risshō Kōseikai (“Society for the Establishment of Right-eousness and Friendly Relations”) are modern Buddhist movements devoted to the Lotus that began as Japanese yet (particularly in the case of the former) have become international organizations. Both also sponsor international scholarly conferences and publish popular and scholarly journals and books on the Lotus.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”

And yet despite such notions of the Lotus as comprising and/or being part of a “body of knowledge,” might the Lotus also resist being turned into a mere “body of knowledge?” This is a complicated question. If a “body of knowledge” is a collection of basic ideas and concepts, as well as a set of skills one develops to achieve certain ends (including the social acknowledge-ment of one’s expertise through a recognized process of certification), then the Lotus (and its at-tendant institutionalized bodies – monasteries and temples, universities etc.) certainly fits. And yet, there does seem to be more going on with the Lotus. It is, after all, a sacred text, a sutra from the lips of Sakyamuni, the Buddha of our cosmic epoch. As such, it supposedly outlines a path to awakening, an ultimate transformation that transcends this more conventional, samsaric dimension. If we truly wish to take the Lotus seriously as an articulation of Dharma, then we must also accept the possibility that it ultimately is not a “body of knowledge.” Would it per-haps, then, be a manifestation of the great limitless and formless Dharmakāya, the “body of Dharma” itself?

Such reflections on these diverse notions of “body” in relation to the Lotus are by no means exhaustive. No doubt there are many other bodily dimensions to the Lotus, dimensions more numerous than all the grains of sands along the shores of Ganges. Is it even possible to enumerate these clearly, and distinguish them one from the other? And if we were able to do such, would we be reborn in a wondrous Lotus land and attain a true Lotus body? We should likely not pretend to know the answers to such questions, but we need to keep them in mind if we are to get a deep understanding of the Lotus and its bodies.

Economics and Buddhism – What The Lotus can teach usAt first blush it may seem that Economics, the academic study of economic systems and

forces of exchange, has very little to do with Buddhism, the Lotus Sūtra, or even notions of “body,” particularly as they pertain to the latter. And yet, as the Lotus reminds us, things are rarely as they initially seem. As most people know, Economics is a science – the “dismal sci-ence” – and most certainly it comprises a “body of knowledge” in the technical sense touched upon above. But it is more than this. Economics also concerns the complex nexus of activities and relationships that have direct bearing on the welfare of a community, indeed all communities of all beings. Hence is ripe for analysis in relation to Buddhism and, in fact, the great sinologist Jacques Gernet has written a highly detailed historical analysis of the economic role of Bud-dhism in medieval Chinese society.14 However, does not focus his sights on the Lotus per se nor does he ask questions about the “body/bodies.” This might be a good opportunity to do so.

When we look at the Economy as a whole, we see a body: many diverse parts all working together to achieve a common end. And what affects one part of the body affects all the other parts, in ways that can seem unrelated. A decrease in real estate development in China causes a lower price of steel worldwide, and a spike in unemployment in Pittsburgh. A tariff in America intended to protect domestic industry forces other states to reciprocate and raise their taxes on trade, helping cause the Great Depression. The ripples of one action can span the lake of time. To cite just one example, the Gas Crisis of 1973, when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to not sell oil to America after we supplied Is-

14 Jacques Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society: An Economic History from the Fifth to the Tenth Centuries, trans. Franciscus Verellen (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995).

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”rael with arms during the Yom Kippur War, incentivized the American people and government to invest in research to find new sources of energy.15 That search has resulted today in hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius, as well as the completely electric line of cars from Tesla Motors, a company that announced its first time ending a quarter in the black in 2013, forty years after the Gas Crisis that helped cause the demand for transportation with alternate fuel.

When we look closely at the Economy, we see that, however loosely, we all share a con-nection. This essay was written and edited on various computers (Apple, Dell, etc.), thanks to the work of not only well-paid software engineers and other computer scientists in the Silicon Valley, but also thanks to the low-wage workers in China. Those wages were ostensibly set by the free market, where Apple and other software companies have a high demand for talented in-dividuals with high education in the computer sciences, something in low supply. This imbal-ance between a high demand and a low supply supposedly caused Apple et al to pay high wages and provide good conditions to its workers, as it competed for the best and brightest members of the workforce.

Meanwhile in China, factory managers for Foxconn, a Chinese company specializing in the production of electronics, saw that their jobs were in high demand, so high that there were not enough jobs to go around. Because there were so many people willing to work a Foxconn job, because they wanted to be able to send money home to families or wanted a pay schedule more stable than offered in the agriculture industry, Foxconn did not have to utilize high, com-petitive wages or offer good working conditions to attract employees. So, in a Foxconn owned factory in Shenzhen, the resulting combination of stressful work environment, high hours, and low pay, led to abusive practices, widespread worker discontent, and a horrific spike in worker suicides. In Shenzhen, Foxconn responded by putting nets up to prevent workers from jumping off the building, while also making other changes to the way it managed its workforce. The total number of individuals who worked for Foxconn and killed themselves is 17, while Foxconn em-ploys a million individuals.16

According to a well-known saying, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Attributed to various people, from American humorist Mark Twain, 19th century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, to “Free Market Fundamentalist” Milton Friedman, this saying points to a harsh and cutting truth. We can use statistics to try to make us feel better but the fact remains that by buying electronic devices such as Macs and iPhones, we support a system that has led some people in the system to suicide. When someone (say, a college student in the U.S.) purchases a product, that person not only purchases the rights to consume the good and service, but in a way, she also (at least indirectly) condones the methods that were used in the production of the product. That’s why those of us who think carefully about such matters rightly conclude that it is immoral to buy the skin of an endangered species, purchase the fruit of child labor, or buy drugs that come from the violent gangs of Mexico.

So, consumer and producer decisions in the market are not only affected by prices, taxes, and the dance of supply and demand, but also morality. Is it right or wrong to make a certain

15 For an overview, see “Oil Embargo, 1973-1974.” Available at http://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/oil-embargo.16 For details on Foxconn and the Shenzhen plant, see “Riots, Suicides and other Issues in Foxconn’s iPhone Facto-ries.” Available at http://www.cnet.com/news/riots-suicides-and-other-issues-in-foxconns-iphone-factories/

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”purchase? And, what is the relationship between moral standing and willingness to purchase? If something is wrong but saves me money, how much money will I be willing to forgo to make the moral choice? If something is right but doing the right thing incurs a cost to me, is there a cost too high where I will not do the right thing?

Questions like these are where Philosophy and Religion offer some help to the field of Economics. We can, for instance, combine these fields of inquiry to reach new insights. For ex-ample, we can analyze the Buddha of the Lotus through the lens of economics. This is not so far-fetched an approach because Economics and Buddhism both rely on the same basic assump-tion that human beings are rational, and want to maximize pleasure while minimizing pain. In Economics, we try to maximize benefits while minimizing costs. In Buddhism, we try to maxi-mize joy and minimize suffering. So it is possible to see the Buddhist monk as making an eco-nomic decision in his prayer. When he spins his next dharma wheel, or perambulates his next stupa, he is deciding that the benefit of that offering is worth the costs of that same offering, be-cause his sacrifice in this life will lead to a proportionate amount of joy in the next.

Going further in using the lens of Economic theory, we can see how the Buddha of the Lotus acts as a monopolist. In order to be considered a monopoly, the firm or individual must be acting in a market with significant barriers to entry of suppliers, and selling a good that cannot be substituted for, and of course, there can only be the one supplier. There are significant barriers to becoming a supplier of Dharma wisdom, and even higher barriers to becoming a Buddha. Though Sakyamuni says in the Lotus Sūtra that there are an infinite number of Buddhas, it is still almost impossible to reach that level of enlightenment, and the typical person cannot expect to reach that point over the course of their lifetime, or, as Buddhism teaches, several lifetimes. In this sense, we can say that the Buddha of the Lotus teaches a type of exclusivity: the only way to reach Nirvana is through the Dharma path. There are no substitutes to the teaching of the Bud-dha, and he teaches the one Dharma.

One of the most intriguing parables in the Lotus occurs in Chapter four and involves a prodigal son. Much like the more famous version in the book of Matthew from the Christian Bible, this parable is a deceptively simple story that becomes progressively more complicated the more we examine it.17 The story originates with four monks trying to explain their joy upon hearing the teachings of the Buddha by using a parable. A poor man lives with only his child. As the child grows up, he decides to leave his father and pursue his own wealth. During the ab-sence of his son, the father enjoys massive economic success. As the old man approaches death, he speaks about his wish to leave his wealth to his long lost child. One day, as the son (now a man), wanders from household to household looking for work, he stumbles upon a group of Brahmin, members of the priest class, honoring his father. The son, embarrassed and afraid that if he stays in his father’s domain he will be pressed into forced labor, a fear that may initially strike the reader as unwarranted, tries to leave only to pressed into labor just as he had feared. The father, seeing the son for the first time in years, tells his guards to release the man, who then leaves to look for work elsewhere.

Now, the story does not end there, because it would be too depressing. As the story con-tinues, we learn that the father sends two of his employees to find his long lost son, and offer him a job removing dung at twice the normal wage. The son accepts the job, of course, and then,

17 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 142-146.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”when the son shows up to work the next day, the father works by his side, wearing coarse cloth-ing without any symbols of his authority. The son somehow does not recognize the father he recognized literally yesterday. This son is offered a permanent job, and he and his father work together for twenty years, with the father’s identity still remaining unknown to the son through-out this time.

Eventually, the father becomes sick, and entrusts his wealth to his son, to keep his fi-nances in order yet still does not reveal his identity. The son proves to be adept at managing the finances of his father. As the disease of the father progresses, he gathers his son, along with members of the local community, to announce that he has found his son, and that he shall trans-fer all his wealth to his newfound son. The son is filled with joy, the father is filled with joy, ev-erybody is filled with joy. They all live happily ever after (except the father of course).

There are many reasons why this is such a popular tale. To begin with, it lends itself rather easily for comparison/contrast with the prodigal son story of the Bible. In addition, it is a sweet story about fathers and sons. It talks about how if you work hard consistently over time, you will be rewarded. It also puts the rewards of Tathagata wisdom in pecuniary terms. The parable is meant to signify how the wisdom of the Buddha is available to all. The son leaves his father yet returns seemingly without any conscious decision, symbolizing how one cannot find fulfillment outside the innate wisdom of the Buddha. The wealth in its fullness was always available to the child, even when he was unaware of it. However, because of his decrepit status, the son only accepted the wealth he felt he deserved. Gradually, however, he gains confidence so that he is prepared to accept the father’s wealth as his birthright when his father reveals the son’s true identity.

What’s even more fascinating, however, is the way that this parable is analyzed within the Lotus itself, along with the fact that the parable is even analyzed in the first place. Those people who have actually read the Bible (versus many who claim “to live their lives by it”) know that Jesus rarely analyzes his parables after delivering them, but here in the Lotus, the same four monks who tell the parable also deliver the meaning of the parable. They say that it shows how the Buddha accepts his followers as they are, saying “The World-Honored One, knowing from past experience that we were attached to low desires and delighted in lesser teachings, let us go our own way.”18 The Buddha recognizes that not all of his followers are prepared to master the fullness of the teaching. So he allows them access to a lesser, diluted Dharma, yet this teachings is still part of the Ultimate Truth. As the four monks go on to say, “The Buddha, knowing that we delighted in lesser teachings, used his power of skillful means to teach us according to what was appropriate for us.”19

Using this parable, we could say that the Buddha determines the Dharma that is appropri-ate for the recipients by using a price system. The more that the followers were willing to sacri-fice for their understanding, the more understanding they would receive. Imagine if the Dharma were like any other good, say, a bicycle. When you enter the market for a bicycle, you are given options of bikes of every quality, but you are discriminated against through price. You of course want the highest quality bike, but you can only get that bike if you are willing to pay the highest price. At the end of the day, you end with the quality of your maximum willingness to pay. This 18 Ibid., 146.19 Ibid.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”is how the Buddha of the Lotus Sūtra acts with the Dharma. The greatest, highest quality Dharma, is only rewarded to the highest payers, the followers who perambulate the most stupas, burn the most offerings, turn the most Dharma wheels, and in other terms will accept the most costs for that next unit of Dharma, will receive it.

It all seems so simple: in religion, you get the peace of mind you pay for. The Buddha of the Lotus Sūtra is a free market monopolist. But is a truly Buddhist Economy all about maxi-mizing individual spiritual profit? Certainly we should not leave our discussion at this without addressing the some of the larger influence that Buddhism has had on Economics, particularly when it comes to individual and collective benefits. There is an influential economist named E. F. Schumacher, a former Rhodes Scholar who sadly passed away a number of years ago. He wrote one of the most interesting economic works of the 20th century with the insightful title, Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. This book has made quite a splash in pro-gressive circles, especially among those who number among the ranks of “Socially Engaged Buddhism,” and in fact came out in a special 25th anniversary expanded edition that includes up-dates and additional commentary by various other authors.20 In this book, Schumacher writes that the purpose of the economy, in the Buddhist sense, is not to maximize wealth, but welfare. There are some ways that idea is incongruent with modern economics. Economics measures quality of life by consumption per capita. Economics sees life as a Malthusian struggle for re-sources where money grants greater access to things that are needed equally, such as quality health-care. In the current world economy, resources are distributed not by need, but by wealth. This inevitably means that health-care outcomes are unequal; them that gots the bucks are by and large healthier than the have-nots. Economics truly is dismal, but it is dismal because it sees the world as it is, not as we want it to be. The world is imperfect, but it is how the world is, and is hard to change any part of the economy without having the negative, unintended impacts of that decision overcoming the positive.

Needless to say, Schumacher disagrees with some of these basic assumptions. As he de-scribes it, a Buddhist Economist does not see consumption as prosperity, but sees utility as some-thing that can be maximized with minimal consumption. Schumacher extends this concept to natural resources, saying that instead of consuming whichever fuel is the most cost efficient, the Buddhist economist must also consider the long-term costs of his decisions, and use renewable-energy sources whenever possible. Schumacher says, in his own words, that “to organize work in such a manner that it becomes meaningless, boring, stultifying, or nerve-racking for the worker would be little short of criminal.”21

A smart man whom some of us hold in high esteem, Chris Hedges, said something quite insightful recently: "Our educated elite, wallowing in self-righteousness, wasted its time in the boutique activism of political correctness, inclusiveness, or multiculturalism as tens of millions of workers lost their jobs."22 Hedges’ rather prophetic words are rooted in his Christian theologi-cal perspective, but his ideas are certainly not narrowly sectarian nor are they necessarily “reli-gious” in any strong sense. The economy is not perfect, neither is the world, neither is any gov-

20 E. F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: 25th Anniversary Edition: Economics As if People Mattered: 25 Years Later . . . With Commentaries (Point Roberts, WA: Hartley & Marks Publishers, Inc., 1999).21 Ibid., 82.22 Chris Hedges, “Is America ‘Yearning for Fascism’?”, Global Research, April 11, 2010; available at http://www.-globalresearch.ca/is-america-yearning-for-fascism/18596

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”ernment. Maybe it would be better for all involved if Schumacher’s ideas of Buddhist Econom-ics informed governmental and international policy, particularly among the wealthier developed nations who wield the reins of power at the IMF and the World Bank, two august and powerful international “bodies” from whose ranks most of the owners and CEO’s of international corpora-tions originate. Perhaps it would be even better if we were to burn them into our own conscience in order to keep them in mind when making economic decisions. There are parts of the current world economy that are not good (perhaps increasingly so for an increasing number of people); there are parts of Schumacher’s Buddhist economics that are also not good, although to be fair very few (if any) of his recommendations have been put into widespread practice. Perhaps it is best to walk the Middle Path between the two, or at the very least bring them into serious dia-logue. What would such an effort be like?

Most students of economic theory study economics so that one day we can influence the economy. But the fact of the matter is that students (even lowly undergrads) already influence the economy because they (and really all people) are part of the economy. Whenever we make a choice to buy or sell, we are the economy. Everything affects everything, just as the Buddha teaches, just as the Lotus reminds us. We can, with our purchases, make decisions that improve our world. Perhaps we can even, through the power of wise choices, shift the entire world econ-omy to a more just and equitable system. Based on the body of ethical teachings and practices advocated in the Lotus, we should probably give it a shot.

Parables and Path ProgressionReligious texts are often defined not by literal interpretation but through the metaphorical and hidden dimensions. The Lotus Sūtra is one of these texts, seeking to engage with the reader on a metaphysical plane. Philosopher Joan Stambaugh asserts that the Lotus is a complex text stating, “If the mind is deluded, the Lotus Sutra turns us. If the mind is enlightened, we turn the Lotus Sutra…”23 Instead of being read, the text seeks to promote a transformation in the reader. Essen-tially, the purpose of the work is to bring the reader towards enlightenment through each chapter. Notably, with each successive chapter the assembled audience progresses in their understanding of Dharma. In order to illustrate this point, the text typically uses parables to emphasize impor-tant lessons. Each parable contains several components (description to advance the plot, a spiri-tual message, the speakers themselves, etc.) The Lotus Sūtra depicts a path of spiritual progres-sion laid out through the evolution of the parables – it is thus a body of teachings that progres-sively instructs its readers along the path to Buddhahood.

In order to adequately understand the scripture one must first unpack the basic hermeneu-tical assumptions that inform the concept “scripture.” From a usual western perspective, reading sacred texts is a primarily analytical and linear process in which the reader presumes that the text has a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end.24 Additionally, Miriam Levering, a scholar of Chinese religions, relates that, “Westerners tend to believe scripture should offer sacred story or moral instructions-at the very least, content should matter.”25 However, taking a more nuanced approach to scripture invariably takes us beyond the merely literal level, revealing an increas-

23 Joan Stambaugh, Impermanence Is Buddha-nature (Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 1990), 27.

24 David Jasper, A Short Introduction to Hermeneutics (Louisville, KY: Westminister John Knox Press, 2004), 23.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”ingly deeper and ever more fascinating metaphorical complexity. New dimensions of meaning emerge as readers come to understand a sacred text in different ways. This is, indeed, the very heart of hermeneutics, an endeavor that “is about ‘interpretation’ or even ‘translation,’ and espe-cially the interpretation of sacred texts…” 26 Such hermeneutic analysis is useful in penetrating and unfolding the often elusive and highly ambiguous dimensions of the Lotus; a reader is re-quired not to grasp the actual plot details so much as ascertain the messages that are contained within the text.

Additionally, any interpreter must be able to differentiate pieces from the story that refer to the literal meaning versus the aspects that refer to a spiritual meaning. The reader must satisfy this in order to understand and obtain a higher level of Dharma or “Truth”. Dharma is described by Reeves when the Buddha states, “The Dharma of mine is of nine kinds. I adapt it to living be-ings when I teach them, Keeping entry into the Great Vehicle as the basic aim. That is why I teach this sutra.”27 In this instance, the Buddha relates that the purpose of the Lotus is to elevate one’s dharma path. From this and the message of the text one can surmise that there are two parts expressed: The idea that the actions in the story are used to advance the actual events and that the actions of the story are used to advance the reader along the path to a fuller grasp of Dharma. Nikkyo Niwano, a scholar and devotee of the Lotus, relates that this path is progressive and that, “…the lesson must begin with easy things.”28 Through these means, the reader is supposed to un-derstand both aspects in order to obtain a higher degree of enlightenment.

Despite this, it may be difficult to fully determine what constitutes a statement that relates to the actual explanation versus one that matches with the ultimate meaning. Essentially, there are parts of the parable that correlate with the literal story, which seeks to describe or advance the plot. This is much different than the aspects that correlate to the ultimate message of the para-ble. The main way to overcome this is to relate aspects of the story with teachings in the previous chapters. For example, some readers might be confused with the “Burning House Parable” since the representative of the Buddha coaxes the children out with chariots. In this parable, the elder notices his children playing within a burning house. He tries to call to them in order to get them to leave but they continue on with their activities. In order to solve this issue, he promises deer, goat, and ox carriages. The children quickly leave the house only to find that the carriages were even better than they expected, pulled by a pure white ox.29 Some readers might have several qualms with the material promises and gifts within this particular story. However, these chariots do not represent material rewards for the faithful but are rather symbols of the way to get the readers to transcend Samsara. Niwano supports this stating, “The children are no other than our-selves, ordinary people, while the dilapidated house is our plain human society, and the fire is our physical and mental desire.”30 Notably, previous parts of the text have described how enlight-enment transcends the more tangible items (wealth) and other worldly goals. In fact, in some sec-

25 Miriam Levering, “Introduction,” in Rethinking Scripture: Essays from a Comparative Perspective. (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1989), 7.26 Jasper, 7.27 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 87.28 Nikkyo Niwano, A Guide to the Threefold Lotus Sutra, trans. Eugene Langston (Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Co., 1981), 103. 29 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 113-114.30 Niwano, 46.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”tions of the Lotus we even see the Buddha noting with approval followers who sacrifice material goods to show their great generosity towards others as well as their dedication to the truth of Dharma.31 Therefore, one can conclude that the meaning behind the chariots is not the material benefits they bring to their recipient but the deeper, symbolic meaning (as vehicles for venturing beyond the immediate realm of samsara). This is the true message that lies beyond the literal level.

In order to bring the audience to a higher understanding of Dharma, the Buddha often employs “skillful means.” Skillful means is an extremely important yet decidedly ambiguous concept that is a core tenet of the Lotus. Asaf Federman, a scholar of Buddhist philosophy, gives a brief definition of this concept: “Skillful means is usually used by scholars and Buddhists to de-note the following simple idea: the Buddha skillfully adapted his teaching to the level of his au-dience.”32 Skillful means can be viewed as a bit manipulative, as the Buddha coaxing the reader or the figure in the story to advance themselves on the dharma path through apparent trickery. In one specific example, the Buddha welcomes the Tathagata “Many Treasures,” a figure who re-sides within a stupa that has emerged miraculously from the ground.33 To the reader both Sakya-muni and “Many Treasures” seem to be separate beings, and are even depicted as separate indi-viduals the Lotus. Instead, according to Niwano this Tathagata is the embodiment of full truth: “Had the Buddha used such a term as truth itself, or perfect truth, his hearers at the time, ordinary people, would not have understood his meaning, and so he gave it the human seeming form of a tathagata.”34 The Buddha seemingly “lies” because his followers are not ready to learn the exact meaning of the apparition of this Tathagata. Yet Sakyamuni then symbolically indicates that he is actually on the same spiritual level as the “Many Treasures” by entering the great stupa and sitting beside him. Through this action, the Buddha, being the interpreter of the truth, is in actual-ity part of the Tathagata himself.35 The two are in fact One Essential Buddha. Thus, skillful means creates an apparent duality in which the Buddha can tell a lie and the truth at the same time and be correct in both instances.

Parables particularly are vehicles in which the Buddha utilizes skillful means. Through-out the Lotus there are many stories told by Sakyamuni and various bodhisattvas. The parables themselves are skillful means because they help humans understand complex ideas. This is evi-dent in all cultures because folk tales, novels, and stories generally all seek to express some type higher message. The Buddha refers to the power of parables explicitly stating that, “With a vari-ety of explanations, Parables and other kinds of expression, Through the power of skillful means He causes all to rejoice.”36 Interestingly, the Buddha joins both skillful means and the usage of parables within the same statement, making a clear connection between them; using parables is therefore an example of skillful means.

31 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 59.32 Asaf Federman, “Literal Means and Hidden Meanings: A New Analysis of Skillful Means,” Philosophy East and West, 59.2 (2009): 125-141.

33 Niwano, 84.34 Ibid., 82.35 Ibid., 85.36 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 86.

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There are several aspects of skillful means however, that are troublesome. Skillful means is not easily definable; although often referred to in the Lotus, it is not always easy to locate within the text. Federman addresses this issue by suggesting that the Buddhist doctrine of skill-ful means was introduced, “because it solved a well-known religious problem: how to suggest a significant doctrinal change without appearing completely heretical.”37 In light of this harmoniz-ing intention, it becomes extremely difficult to pinpoint the exact passages in the Lotus that con-tain examples of skillful means. Perhaps the best solution is to only utilize portions of the text where there is a very obvious connection to what skillful means is. Additionally, one can surmise that since the Buddha did refer to skillful means and parables in the same instance, there is a con-nection between both. For instance, at one point in The Lotus the Buddha states, “…let me once again make this meaning still more clear through a parable, for intelligent people can understand through parables.”38 One can conclude that this is an instance of the Buddha utilizing skillful means because this is a way in which the Buddha seeks to lead the reader to a higher dharma path through his teaching of parables. In such a case, then, the Lotus becomes a body of instruc-tions on how to attain Buddhahood.

Skillful means are connected to parables because they are a means by which the Buddha can relate his difficult concepts to the audience. In one particular instance, the Buddha relates in the “Parable of the Fantastic Castle-City” how the Dharma can work. This story illustrates the us-age of skillful means because the Buddha introduces the story by stating, “You should know, monks, that with skillful means the Tathagata reaches deeply into the nature of living beings.”39 The story involves travelers who are weary from their journey and are treated to a magical city conjured up by their leader. This city allows the followers to rest, and then continue on their way. Sakyamuni goes on to relate that the guide in question is the Buddha and that the city is a means in which the travelers proceed onwards to true Buddhahood.40 Essentially, the city is a temporary stop on the road to full awakening. The story is a clear example of skillful means because it in-volves an apparent lie, the temporary magic city, to illustrate a point.

Relating to the progression theory, the parable exhibits some aspects that correspond to dharma enlightenment. More significantly, though, this story is the fourth of the seven parables in the Lotus and that the object is for the main character to make sure the followers do not fall back.41 Seemingly, this could be related to how the Buddha seeks to prevent the followers from “falling back” or regressing on their dharma pathway. In addition to this, the Buddha invokes skillful means by relating that the guide crafted a fake magical city to renew hope in the follow-ers. Although the city is “fake,” the hope that it instills is real.

As we read through the Lotus it gradually becomes clear that each parable expresses dif-ferent lessons, and that each lesson seems to be hinting at dharma progression. This idea of a dharma evolution is expressed within the parable of “The Burning House,” a passage which we have already looked at. In this very first parable, the Lotus Sūtra seeks to define “why” and “what” the Buddha seeks to accomplish with his followers. This is clearly outlined in the para-

37 Federman, 125-141.38 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 112.39 Ibid., 198.40 Ibid., 199.41 Niwano, 64.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”ble’s message, as the Buddha wants his followers to flee samsara and embrace the path to en-lightenment, stating, “Just apply yourselves and make the effort!”42 The parable itself involves a father calling his children to leave a burning house in order to obtain three distinct chariots. However, when they come out they receive only one ox carriage that was even grander than the originals promised. This parable is highly symbolic. According to John Schroeder, a scholar of Buddhist thought, “In traditional Mahayana Buddhism, the fire represents human ignorance, the burning house represents delusion, and the ‘bare ground’ outside the house signifies liberation.”43 In addition to this, the parable is also a means in which the Buddha proclaims the significance of the one vehicle of Buddhism, symbolized by the ox carriage. Sakyamuni even declares that this story is an instance of the Buddha utilizing skillful means, “There is no falsehood in teaching three vehicles first, to attract living beings, and afterward using just the Great Vehicle to save them.”44 Evidently, the chariots originally offered were the three vehicles and that the chariot they received was the one vehicle.

The “Burning House” parable illustrates that the Buddha clearly wants to teach and en-gage the readers by helping them understand the journey of attaining enlightenment. Sakyamuni goes into great detail about the story, explaining each aspect of the parable to his audience. Moreover, this parable actually introduces some key themes (skillful means, the three vehicles versus the one vehicle etc.) that the Lotus takes up later one. Interestingly, the “Burning House” is also the most famous parable in the entire Lotus Sūtra, perhaps because it handily summarizes the major teachings in a relatively simple way – something we might expect from the text’s first parable. However, these tales become increasingly complex as the text goes along.

We can get a sense of this progression in complexity from the first parable when we turn to the “Dharma Rain” story (often called “The Parable of the Plants”) in chapter five. This para-ble focuses on teaching the reader what Dharma is and how it functions. The focal point of this particular story expresses how the various people of the world resemble different plants that process rain (Dharma) differently. Sakyamuni relates that the Buddha acts as the clouds “watering” humanity with the Dharma rain and making them grow taller.45 The concepts relate to how humanity is different in dharma progression and how one must strive to absorb more dharma. As David W. Chappell observes, “The Dharma is responsive to our needs, but is flexible and not limited to one form.”46 These ideals are different and more ambiguous than what we find in the “Burning House,” illustrating that there is an elevation in complexity.

The text of the Lotus also presents parables in two ways, story and verse. Story is through a narrator, who is either a member of the audience or the Buddha. The verse is the story restated, generally longer and often different in certain details. These differences can vary from minor de-

42 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 116.43 John W. Schroeder, “Truth, Deception, and Skillful Means in the Lotus Sutra.” Asian Philosophy, 21(1) (2011): 35-52. Retrieved from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.read.cnu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=b2e78cdb-3b81-4d37-96bb-3760883b05e4%40sessionmgr15&hid=19.

44 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 118.45 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 168.46 David W. Chappell, “Organic Truth: Personal Reflection on the Lotus Sutra.” In Gene Reeves, ed. A Buddhist Kaleidoscope: Essays on the Lotus Sutra (Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Co,. 2002), 56.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”tails being added to several portions that were omitted in the story. Multiple conclusions can be made from this style. First, from a strictly historical perspective is very likely that the verse ver-sions came first because they contain a wide variety of details that typically are not present in the story. Second, the verses clearly have a more oral dimension, most Buddhist texts began as oral rather than written. Finally, in the written Lotus, the verse version reemphasizes the importance of the parable by trying to make the reader understand the meaning behind it.

These ideas are best illustrated in the parable of the “Gem in the Topknot,” found in chapter fourteen. Essentially, the story describes a king who rewards his soldiers for their actions but does not give them the jewel that lies in his topknot. Only when a soldier has truly distin-guished himself from his comrades does the king give him the jewel. This jewel represents the ultimate truth.47 However, the verse version of this parable expands considerably on the prose version of the story. For instance, according to the prose version, only soldiers who distinguish themselves receive a jewel. This is elaborated in the verse version of the parable:

But only for the brave and strong

Who have done difficult things,

Does the king take from his topknot

The bright jewel and present it to him.48

As these lines state, the recipient of the jewel is one who is brave, strong, and has done difficult things, shedding light on what Sakyamuni means when he states that they were soldiers who “distinguished themselves”. Besides giving more detail as to what qualities the figure has, the verse version reiterates the same idea that it must be an individual who is able to distinguish themselves in the field of battle. Therefore, in the final authorized version of the Lotus as we now have it, the verses serve as a restatement and an elaboration on the Buddha’s ideas.

Although it is likely that the parables represent progression in the Lotus, there are some points of conflict. In later chapters especially there seems to be a switch between Bodhisattvas and Buddhists in focus. Unfortunately, this may seriously question whether or not there is a sense of progression in the scripture. However, one could refute this point by stating that several of the later chapters were likely to have been added on the text, and that progression is not a lin-ear path. In the context of Protestant bias, one might think that having Bodhisattvas being the fo-cus in the later chapters’ disproves this theory. The Lotus refutes the logic that progression is strictly linear because of the possibility of “falling back”. Essentially, this means that one who moves forward in Dharma could lose that advancement and revert to a lower level. Therefore, the scripture might be relating that the higher one is, the harder it is to reach Buddhahood.

This clearly explains why the swapping between both bodhisattvas and Buddhas is evi-dent since there is a greater struggle between achieving the highest form of enlightenment. Addi-tionally, the latter chapters were likely added to the scripture afterwards and do not correlate to the entire message of the work. If this is the case, then focus should be related to the text. Chap-ter twenty-six, for example, seems to be focused on ritual because the vast majority of the pas-

47 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 272.48 Ibid., 273.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”sage focuses on incantations (dharanis).49 It also seems as though the Lotus is separated into dif-ferent portions according to Wing-Tsit Chan, a well-known historian of Chinese thought, “…the first fourteen chapters deal with manifestations of the ‘realm of traces’ while the last fourteen deal with reality or ‘the realm of origin’.”50 Although there seems to be some support for the Lo-tus as we have it now as not being a text representative of Dharma progression, the original text is likely hinting at a spiritual advancement within the reader.

The Lotus Sūtra seeks to enlighten the reader and promote a higher dharma path in en-lightenment and Buddhahood. The text itself constantly refers to an amalgam of characters that change with each chapter. The purpose of this action is to show that each new chapter helps to promote a greater level of the dharma and further advance the individual. Additionally, the para-bles themselves seek to promote a higher understanding. Stories typically convey a high reso-nance with individuals and the parables serve as a way in which the Buddha can teach the com-plex beliefs of the Dharma in a more concise manner. There are several means in which the nar-rator of the story tells the story, typically to advance the actual plot and to relate to the deeper meaning of the tale. Through these means, the Buddha attempts to bring the suffering individual away from the tangible world of samsara and into the intangible Dharma. What this comes down to is that the Lotus seeks nothing less than to transform the bodies of its audience, individ-ually and corporately taking them into the body of Buddha.

The Lotus and Leadership Studies As we have already seen, it is fascinating not only to examine how the Lotus deals with

bodies and even constitutes a “body” itself (a “body of teachings”) but also how this text looks when we apply other bodies of knowledge to it. One especially appropriate discipline is “Lead-ership Studies,” a growing academic field. Not only does Leadership Studies comprise a new and increasingly important body of knowledge, its focus (the phenomenon of leadership) is unique in how it in itself aims at addressing and managing various human bodies.

Leadership is a vital component of human culture. Through studying Leadership, we be-come able to make more educated, intentional decisions and to put such decisions into practice. Leaders are storytellers they embody and achieve effectiveness through the telling of their sto-ries. Leaders’ stories relate what is feared, dreamed about, and struggled against; these stories are representations of the culture. Studying characters from their stories is one way of studying lead-ership; religious scripture is one example of a lens of doing so. Few leaders create completely new stories therefore we learn from the stories of the past as examples for tomorrow. The “earli-est reflections on leadership occur in the sacred texts of the world’s religious traditions.” 51 Scrip-ture depicts a culture’s heroes, those entrusted with power and are responsible for the implemen-tation of social missions. The Lotus is a prime example of this phenomenon, as it demonstrates how the Buddha’s leadership has been documented and preserved. The Lotus Sutra is the “most

49 Ibid., 381.50 Wing-tsit Chan, “The Lotus Sutra” in Eastern Canons: Approaches to the Asian Classics, Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, eds., (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990), 225.51 R. A. Couto, “Sacred Texts,” in Encyclopedia of Leadership, ed. G. Goethals, G. Sorenson, & J. M. Burns, Vol. 1 (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2004), , 1369.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”important scripture of Mahayana Buddhism… if out of the several hundred Mahayana sutras one were to choose only one as the most representative and most meaningful, most students would select the Lotus.” 52 The impact of this text is far reaching. Thus, when we examine the Lotus through the lens of Leadership Studies, the Buddha appears as a transformational leader, “morally uplift(ing) (his followers) to be leaders themselves.”53

The Lotus Sūtra is basically a sermon delivered on Holy Eagle Mount that purports to be one of the final public appearances of Sakyamuni, the historical Buddha. Because of this the Lo-tus reveals the path to enlightenment and has become over time one of the most influential and important Buddhist texts, revealing the “infinite possibilities open to human beings” and teaching the manifestation of the “great life-force of the universe.”54 In this sense, Sakyamuni gives “prac-tical advice” and instruction for concrete followership.

What does it mean to say that the Buddha exemplifies “transformational leadership?” Transformational leadership, in the words of theorist James McGregor Burns, “appeals to the moral values of followers in an attempt to raise their consciousness about ethical issues and to mobilize their energy and resources to reform institutions.”55 Burns distinguishes transforma-tional from transactional leadership in that the former appeals to moral values and elevated con-sciousness whereas the latter is a simple exchange of goods or services. Yet, the two are not mu-tually exclusive. Followers of transformational leaders are motivated to go beyond the minimum of what is expected of them, spurred by their admiration and loyalty. A leader such as the Bud-dha motivates his followers by making them aware of important tasks, inducing them to tran-scend their own self-interest, and activating higher-order needs.56

A transformational leader’s behavior can be organized into four categories: idealized in-fluence, inspirational motivation, individual consideration, and intellectual stimulation. Idealized influence arouses strong follower emotions and identification with the leader. The communica-tion and application of the vision are considered inspirational motivation. Individualized consid-eration is behavior which provides the followers with “support, encouragement, and coaching.”57 The fourth aspect is intellectual stimulation, making the followers aware of the problems and changing their perspective on the issue.

The Buddha’s idealized influence can be recognized in the Lotus through the followers’ reactions and their strong emotional response. In fact, the transformational leader acts as a role model for the followers who trust and admire him.58 Sakyamuni Buddha’s dedication and self-sacrificing behavior which occurred is historically evident. The strong follower emotions and identifications are the clearest examples of Sakyamuni idealized influence. The Lotus begins im-

52 Chan, 220.53 B. J. Avolio, “Transformational and Transactional Leadership,” in Encyclopedia of Leadership, ed. G. Goethals, G. Sorenson, & J. M. Burns, Vol. 1 (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2004), 1558-1565.54 Niwano, 33.55 G. Yukl, Leadership in Organization. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2010), 261.56 Ibid.57 Ibid., 276.58 C. E. Johnson, Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership Casting Light or Shadow (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2012).

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”mediately after the completion of the Sūtra of Limitless Meanings; the Buddha is in a deep state of meditation and the surrounding crowd in entranced in deep admiration. Numerous monks, nuns, lay people, deities, demons, and other creatures from all corners of the world are gathered in gratitude, kneeling with their hands together as they gaze upon the Buddha. As Niwano notes, “the universe itself expressed admiration and joy.”59

A transformational leader provides inspirational motivation, typically by transmitting an appealing vision to the followers through the focusing of symbolic effort. The Lotus Sūtra as a whole is the manifestation of Buddha’s vision depicted through his lessons and clarified through his parables. Throughout the Lotus, Buddha continues to warn his followers about a time that will come upon his extinction. Soon he will leave the bodhisattvas and they will be solely re-sponsible for preaching the Dharma. However, the Lotus’ presents a rather different view of the Buddha’s extinction in chapter sixteen, “The Lifetime of the Tathagata,” with the parable of the physician wherein the Buddha reveals that his True Essence (Buddhahood itself) is eternal.

In this parable, a physician leaves his home for a short time. While he is gone, his chil-dren drink poisons from his shop and become dangerously ill, with some becoming delirious los-ing their minds. When their father returns, the children beg him to make them well. The physi-cian produces the antidote, but only the children who are sane take the medication. The children who have lost their minds claim the medication will be vile and will not drink. To solve this problem, the physician leaves again and the children are told that he has died. In their grief, they are shocked to their senses. Those who had gone mad recover their minds and take the medica-tion. At this point, the physician returns alive; it turns out that the story of his death was a way to get the truly deluded children to finally take the medicine and thus become cured.60

Buddha in this parable is represented by the physician/father (protector and provider) and children all of humanity. Similar to the parable, Buddha has previously told humanity that he will die as his True Essence is eternal. In this parable, the physician claims that he did not de-ceive his children because he was using skillful means and his actions were conducted with the best interest of his children in mind. Buddha uses this same argument to justify his different teachings about extinction. One of the reasons the Buddha originally told his bodhisattvas that he would become extinct is because it would make his followers self-sufficient. By being always be present, the bodhisattvas came to rely on the Buddha to pick them up when they fall. Without the Buddha, followers must learn to rely on themselves and the body of Dharma that he has taught. If people take personal ownership and responsibility for their faith, their faith becomes an inte-gral part of who they are, a state that they can only reach if Buddha becomes extinct. The Bud-dha knows that if he remains, the bodhisattvas will never spiritually mature and achieve full Bud-dhahood. Thus, the Buddha is a true inspirational motivator and an enthusiastic optimist, arous-ing his followers’ spirits and spurring them on to further achievements.

A transformational leader provides support, encouragement, coaching his followers along -- this is the concept of individual consideration. Transformational mentors thereby foster per-sonal development, promote educational opportunities, and create a healthy environment for growth. Similar to intellectual stimulation these effective behaviors are tailored to the individual.

59 Niwano, 3160 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 289-299.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”The Buddha exhibits this type of behavior continually throughout the Lotus, but “The Parable of the Plants,” again, is the best example. The true merit of the Buddha is exhibited by how all of humanity is receptive to his message and how he tailors the same message to all followers. As Niwano observes, “The Buddha rightly sees the place and the state in which every man is and the shape of his spiritual being” all alike are thirsty for the moisture and the rain falls everywhere on earth evenly abundant and wet.61 Yet even so, each plant blooms and grows accordingly to its own nature, in this same way salvation takes on various forms since the Buddha’s followers are at different stages in their respective faith journeys. Nevertheless, the basic teaching is the same:

All are moistened by the rainAnd abundantly enriched.The dry ground is soaked,And both herbs and trees flourish.

By the same water that Comes from that cloud,Plants, trees, thickets, and forests,According to their need receive moisture. . .

The moisture they receive is the same, Enabling each to flourish.

The Buddha is like this,He appears in the world,Like a great cloudUniversally covering all things.62

The Buddha’s individual consideration is further epitomized in another passage we have already discussed: the Parable of the Fantastic Castle-City. In this parable, the leader is guiding a band of men on a difficult journey. He persistently urges them not to give up. Out of his own strength, he produces a phantom city for his men to receive their necessary rest. Once the men are well rested and rejuvenated the temporary town disappears. This vision was an encourage-ment the people needed for them to reach their destination. Niwano says, “The long hard road here is the journey of our lives, and on this journey we encounter all sorts of hardships and pain. We all strive to overcome these, but things seldom go as we want and many of us in the ordinary course of things give up.”63 The Buddha, like the leader in the parable, encourages his followers, pushing them to improve themselves and achieve their highest potential. The Buddha uses skill-ful means to adapt the lesson to individual followers; it is because of this personal mentorship which allows more people to further advance spiritually.

Finally, we see myriad ways that the Buddha’s intellectually stimulates his followers in the Lotus. Through innovation and creativity the leader is able to reframe the followers’ assump-

61 Niwano, 59.62 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 163.63 Niwano, 65.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”tions by creating new solutions and approaches to old problems. As we have already noted, in the Lotus Sūtra the Buddha uses skillful means to influence and increase the awareness of his fol-lowers because the wisdom of the Buddha is profound and complicated (it is an awakening to the ultimate truth of the universe) and most people cannot fully understand it. Skillful means are var-ious ways of teaching to suit the capacities of the followers; the lesson is altered to be suitable to the situation and person receiving it. As the Buddha explicitly says, “through an innumerable va-riety of skillful means, casual explanations, parables, and other kinds of expressions these Bud-dhas preach the dharma for the sake of living beings. All these teachings are for the sake of the one Buddha vehicle so that all living things, having heard the dharma from a Buddha, might eventually gain complete wisdom.”64 Gene Reeves in a later article re-translates this term as “ap-propriate means,” since the lesson is “appropriate” in relation to the listener.65

One could argue about anyone’s capacity that to know which means to use is truly “skillful” but Reeves’ revised translation is punningly appropriate. Perhaps the best analogy for the Buddha’s power of pitching his message to the proper level of his audience can be found in “The Parable of the Plants,” (a.k.a the “Dharma rain” story discussed above). All plants on earth are different, from small herbs to great oak trees, yet the same rain waters them all and each takes what it needs. The rain represents Dharma and the plants all of humanity. The Dharma rain reaches all plants according to their needs the word of the Lotus reaches all followers according to their means intellectually stimulating them.

Transformational leadership has a strong ethical component. Transformational leaders generally seek to elevate followers to a higher consciousness of “liberty, justice, equality, peace, and humanitarianism.”66 Not surprisingly, these are often the ideals proclaimed by the world’s great religions. As one scholar notes, “these values mobilize and energize followers to create an agenda for action and appeal to larger audiences.”67 In transformational leadership there is an obligation to the group to treat others within the organization with respect, following duty or de-ontological ethical approaches centered on the group rather than specific individuals. In regards to ethical choices, a transformation leader strives to communicate a clear and engaging vision, explain attainment of that vision, be optimistically confident in oneself and one’s followers, use dramatic symbols to articulate key values and ideas, and lead by an example.68

It is important for a transformational leader to articulate a clear and appealing vision, for this promotes commitment to the cause. Often the success of leadership depends on the success of the leader’s communication, because of this it is necessary for followers to understand the pur-pose, priorities, and objectives of an organization. The Buddha takes every opportunity to verify his visions through distinct and divergent means of communication. One of the most successful means of communication involves meeting with people directly – which is, in fact, the Buddha’s preferred method of communication; historically, the Buddha gave most of his teachings in large gatherings just like what we see in the Lotus on Holy Eagle Peak. Furthermore Yukl outlines

64 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 84.65 Gene Reeves, “Appropriate Means as the Ethics of the Lotus Sutra,” in A Buddhist kaleidoscope: Essays on the Lotus Sutra, ed. Gene Reeves (Tokyo: Kosei Publishing, 2002), 379-392.66 Yukl, 418.67 Johnson, 190.68 Ibid.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”ways that a leader can communicate effectively, stating that “ideological aspects of a vision can be communicated more clearly and persuasively with colorful emotional language that includes vivid imagery, metaphors, anecdotes, stories, symbols, and slogans.”69 As we have already seen, the Lotus is renowned for its vivid imagery and hyperbolic rhetoric, and these literary features are a chief reason for the sūtra’s continued influence on world cultures.

For a vision to be appealing, leaders must promote it as feasible. The followers on Holy Eagle Peak receive a powerful firsthand demonstration of the feasibility of the attaining of Bud-dhahood in chapter twelve. In this chapter at the very heart of the sūtra we are introduced to the daughter of Sagara, the dragon king, a precocious eight year old who despite her youth and gen-der, undergoes a nearly instantaneous transformation into a male bodhisattva and quickly attains full enlightenment.70 Her example is most telling: a follower seemingly very far from enlighten-ment (female, nonhuman, a child), because of the inspiration of Buddha and her commitment to the cause, is promoted to the highest level. She represents the graspable possibility of nirvana; she is the symbol of the achievable future for all followers of Buddha.

A leader must act confidently and optimistically for the sake of his followers. Showing conviction in the face of temptation and setbacks allows for attainment of the vision. This point goes beyond a leader’s words to his actions. The Buddha himself does this by exhibiting full confidence in the potential of all sentient beings to awaken. As Siddhartha Gupta, he abandoned his settled life and livelihood for the cause of overcoming the trials and tribulations of samsara. His confidence (sraddha in Sanskrit) in his ability to attain nirvana became his only motivator.

For the success of the operation a leader must also express confidence in his followers. This requires setting high expectations and encouraging everyone involved in the process, espe-cially when the task is difficult. Achieving Buddhahood is an incredibly difficult task, as the Buddha explicitly states. Often he does so through using skillful means such as symbols and parables as we have seen. Undoubtedly the most famous instance (and one that we have also ex-amined earlier) of this in the Lotus is the parable of the Burning House. One aspect of the para-ble that is often overlooked is the fact that the doorway necessary to pass through to achieve sal-vation and to escape the burning fire is very small, yet the children do succeed in passing through thanks to the proper motivation provided by their father.71 The path to achieving enlightenment is small and narrow but nevertheless, the followers can traverse it. Even though the journey is diffi-cult, the Buddha constantly encourages all, and in the fifth chapter of the Lotus predicts the at-tainment of Buddhahood for thousands of the bodhisattvas present.72 Clearly, the Buddha repeat-edly expresses his confidence in his followers.

The use of dramatic symbols and visible actions are important for the follower to witness and participate in, in order to increase the effectiveness of personal ties and commitments to the Lotus and its teachings. A follower is more likely to defend an important personal value. The dramatic repetition of verse and fables in the Lotus, a prominent feature of the text, cements val-ues and followers ideological beliefs of the leader. Furthermore, at various places in the text, the

69 Yukl, 289.70 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 251-253.71 Ibid., 113-114.72 Ibid., 168.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”Buddha instructs his followers in the recitation and the memorization, copying, and incantation of the sūtra.73 These are all direct examples how the Buddhist faith as expressed in the Lotus in-corporates dramatic symbols and dramatic, bodily actions. To this day, Buddhists around the world devote their lives to the practices recommended in the Lotus, prostrating around stupas or worshiping relics to glorify the Buddha.

Finally, a transformational leader leads by example. Often, this requires that the leader model behaviors that are unpleasant, dangerous, unconventional, or controversial. The Buddha is an example of this because he acts with compassion to elevate others to a higher plane. Bod-hisattvas, devout followers of Buddha who are actively seeking to attain Buddhahood for the sake of others, also lead by example. There are various bodhisattvas in the Lotus who are held up as great examples for the faithful (Never Disrespectful, Medicine King, Wonderful Voice, etc.) but the most popular is Guanyin, “Regarder of the Cries of the World.” Much of chapter 25 of the Lotus consists of the Buddha’s abundant praise for this Great Being’s limitless compassion and seemingly tireless actions to save anyone who is suffering, be it from natural, supernatural, or human threats.74 This bodhisattva serves as the supreme example of selfless compassion that all the Buddha’s followers should emulate.

The Buddha can also be considered an authentic leader. Authentic leaders are motivated by altruism and marked with integrity. The leader regards the followers as the ends themselves and not the means; the leaders’ actions are motivated solely to benefit the followers.75 This theme spans across various religions, most of which profess to seek the betterment of humanity. An ex-ample of this is the end goal of Buddhism, which is for followers to reach a state of enlighten-ment and thus become liberated from the sufferings of life in samsara. Bodhisattvas, however, remain in samara to help others achieve enlightenment. They act altruistically, without the moti-vations of desire, the root of all suffering.

Leadership scholars often include charismatic personality traits as a requirement of trans-formational leadership, yet there is some debate as to whether one can be charismatic and not transformational. While there is an overlap between these notions, they can be mutually exclu-sive. Originally based on the theoretical work of Max Weber, the concept of charismatic leader-ship derives from followers attributing various types of power to their leader. According to theo-rists, attributing charismatic qualities to a leader “is jointly determined by the leader’s behavior, expertise, and aspects of the situation.”76 Charisma is more likely attributed to people who advo-cate a vision far from the status quo, act in unconventional ways to achieve this vision, make self-sacrifices and take personal risks, are confident about their proposals, and inspire their fol-lowers with emotional appeals.77

This highlights the defining difference between leadership theories. Charismatic leader-ship is dependent on the personal identification of the leader; charisma is largely due to followers perceiving their leader as extraordinary, thus encouraging followers to depend on the leader. By

73 See, for example, Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 269 ff.74 Ibid., 372-379.75 Johnson, 200.76 Yukl, 262.77 Ibid.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”and large, a charismatic leader is concerned with fostering an image of confidence. In contrast, while a transformational leader may have charismatic personal characteristics, a true transforma-tional leader aims to empower her followers, thereby making them less dependent. Buddha’s use of extinction as a form of skillful means, as previously explained, is a direct example of this. The Buddha’s goal was to make the bodhisattvas’ as self-sufficient as possible. While the Buddha may have charismatic and magnetizing traits, the qualities and roles of a transformational leader are much more accurate in defining his authentic character.

As noted earlier in this paper, the earliest “reflections of leadership occur in the sacred texts of the world’s religious traditions.”78 These examples in religious texts’ are tested by time, passing from generation to generation; the examples cover a wide variety topics and characters. From the perspectives of these legendary religious leaders, followers are ends within themselves not the means to those ends. Other concepts and models of leadership have been founded upon this moral component and examples are derived from religious texts including: spiritual, authen-tic, and most notably known servant leadership.

Servant leadership centers on Jesus Christ as the leading example. In 1977, Robert Greenleaf established the concept of servant leadership, asserting that the “primary responsibility of the leaders” is to serve their followers through behaviors of cultivation, protection, and em-powerment.79 The leader must stand for what is good and right. The values emphasized in servant leadership include integrity, altruism, humility, empathy, healing, personal growth, fairness and justice, and finally empowerment.80 Ironically, although Greenleaf uses Christ as his primary ex-ample of servant leadership, he based his concepts upon Herman Hesse’s novel Journey to the East, a work deeply influenced by Buddhist teachings. Like Jesus Christ, who gave his suffering body to be broken for the world (“hoc est corpus meum”) and lives on in the corporate body of the Church, Buddha is a servant leader who embraced his precious human body to forge a path to Awakening which he then outlined in a body of teachings (Dharma) that live on in the corporate body of the sangha.

Religious leaders serve as excellent leadership examples because for the faithful, they are pure examples of correct behavior. Unlike later political or economic leaders, leaders depicted in sacred texts exemplify the moral aspects and relational elements of leadership. This is the funda-mental attribute of good leadership. By asking more of followers and pushing them further, a leader can have a tremendous impact on the world. It is evident that the transformational leaders depicted in the world’s sacred texts have had significant impact on our civilization. A society should capitalize on the use of religious leaders as ideals because of the clarity and purity they provide as examples. We could say that it is this moral component which distinguishes leader-ship from mere management, and therefore we should rightly evaluate our leaders according to this moral component of transformational leadership. Applying the great body of knowledge and theory known as Leadership Studies helps us see important aspects of the Lotus. As we have ob-served, leadership entails addressing, cajoling and managing bodies in accordance with certain ideals towards the achievement of desired ends. And indeed, the text of the Lotus is itself a vast body of teachings and examples of powerful and transformative leadership.78 Couto, 1369.79 Yukl, 419.80 Ibid.

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Even more intriguing, however, is the way that these teachings on leadership are grounded on notions relating to our bodies. Much of the Lotus’s power comes from its visceral and graphic imagery derived from and drawing on decidedly bodily experiences: torrential rains on a forested mountain slope, a cherished home inhabited by one’s family threatened by devour-ing flames, a father’s beloved sons deathly ill from accidental poisoning, etc. The Lotus, too, gives specific recommendations of bodily practices (recitation and copying of scripture, joyful worship at venerable stone monuments) for the faithful and explicitly upholds moral and spiritual exemplars (Guanyin, Sakyamuni himself) who are depicted as veritable embodiments of univer-sal human values. Applying aspects of Leadership Studies to the Lotus truly leads to deeper in-sights into the Dharma as well as its relationships to various notions of “the body.”

Gendered Bodies – Is the Lotus inclusive or not?The place of gender in the way the Lotus discusses bodies (an idea we discuss above)

warrants further examination, particularly in how it may dovetail with the doctrine of skillful means. The fact that the human body is gendered (however this notion of gender has been de-bated and argued throughout history) is a defining feature of human life, and continues to influ-ence our views of bodies as psycho-socio-biological entities. Perhaps it is not surprising that the Buddha, a great and skillful teacher as portrayed in the Lotus, provides insightful guidance for dealing with this difficult yet compelling topic. After all, wouldn’t we expect as much from someone who repeatedly reminds us of his own use of ‘skillful means’?

Many scholars have pointed out that much of Buddhist tradition privileges male bodies, and this assertion is difficult to deny given the historical and archaeological evidence. But would the teachings proclaimed by the Buddha in the Lotus merely recapitulate traditional sexism and misogyny? Certainly these are attitudes that foster narrow views of reality and they have often contributed to the oppression of many people. If the Buddha preaches universal liberation, an ideal that by definition is as inclusive as possible, then can his message in the Lotus truly be one marked by unreflective bias? When we deeply engage with the Lotus we find something quite different. Misunderstandings of skillful means and (especially how it intersects with) gender have led to an interpretation of the Lotus as exclusivist text when in fact it is actually an inclusive text, which promotes a message that anyone can (and should) aspire to attain enlightenment. The key to avoid such misunderstanding of skillful means is to understand the cultural context from which the Lotus Sutra originated. When properly understood in their sociocultural and historical context, skillful means and gender combine as a sort of ‘skillful means of gender,’ which, like all other instances of skillful means, is a necessary tool for reaching enlightenment.

As we note in several places above, in its most basic sense, skillful means refers to the concept that the Dharma (or perhaps ‘truth’ in any context) should be taught to the audience so that the teaching(s) are tailored to those who are present for them. Asaf Federman defines skill-ful means as “denot[ing] the following simple idea: the Buddha skillfully adapted his teaching to

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”the level of his audience.”81 However, pace Federman, the concept of skillful means is actually much more complex and nuanced than this. In fact, there is an important sociocultural/historical dimension to the concept of skillful means within Mahayana Buddhism.

As mentioned above, the Lotus Sutra is a Mahayana text. Mahayana is a major branch of Buddhism, and roughly translates to “one vehicle” or “great vehicle.” It is the second oldest of the three main Buddhist traditions, and often refers to earlier Buddhist tradition as Hinayana, or “small vehicle.” According to Federman, “[Skillful means] is aimed, eventually, at convincing those at whom it was directed at a new religious path (yana) was greater than the old one…it ex-plains how the old doctrine was at the same time not entirely true and not entirely false.”82 This raises an inherent question on whether skillful means (as a historical construct) was used to sepa-rate various religious traditions, or to try to bring the various religious traditions together.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a contemporary Vietnamese Buddhist monk and activist, argues in his book Peaceful Heart, Open Action: Lessons from the Lotus Sutra that “The Lotus Sutra appeared during this crucial period in the development of the Mahayana, and it represented a beautiful rec-onciliation between the early tradition of the shravakas and the bodhisattva path, the expansive inclusive vehicle of the Mahayana.”83 This suggests that the Lotus has had an inclusive dimen-sion from the time of its composition. In the early stages of Buddhism, there were many differ-ent practices and paths. Scholars have argued that ‘skillful means’ in the Lotus Sūtra was a method for the earlier religious traditions to make sense of their differing traditions, and how they could all be correct. The Lotus provided answers to complicated questions concerning mul-tiple ways of understanding the Dharma. Federman states, “On top of these teachings, all simi-les, parables, sutras, logical expositions, the teaching of nirvana, the end of suffering, and even the life and death of the Buddha were – according to the Lotus Sutra – skillful means used by the Buddha for the sake of attracting those to the buddhayana.”84 This idea that one can use many different means in order to reach the one truth/ true understanding emphasizes “the great insight of the Mahayana: [that] everyone can become a Buddha.”85

Another misunderstanding of skillful means concerns the differences between the types of practitioners. In the second chapter of the Lotus, the Buddha makes a point of saying that the pratyekabuddhas and shravakas will never be able to understand his teachings; and that only bod-hisattvas will fully comprehend this sutra. Pratyekabuddhas are “lone Buddhas”, people who reach (a certain level of) enlightenment on their own, without the help of teachers or guides. Shravakas, on the other hand, are those who hear the words of the Buddha and subsequently put

81 See note #32 above.82 Federman, 125.83 Thich Nhat Hanh, Peaceful Heart, Open Action: Lessons from the Lotus Sutra, paperback ed. (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2009), 17.84 Federman, 130.85 Hanh, 16.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”forth their best to reach enlightenment. This claim that pratyekabuddhas and shravakas could never fully understand the Buddha’s teachings was a revolutionary statement, as previously these two paths were said to lead to the ultimate understanding.86

It is, of course, easy to see this view as exclusivist: only one group is accepted, while the other two are left out. The important distinction between pratyekabuddhas, shravakas and bod-hisattvas is that the former two do not desire to help others. This desire to benefit all beings is central to the bodhisattva path, and what the Buddha claims all beings will come to understand. In fact, in the Lotus, Sakyamuni Buddha says (directly and through parables) that all practition-ers are on the bodhisattva path (even if they don’t know it), and that from his perspective, all are thus “buddhas-to-be” (i.e. bodhisattvas) and equally capable of Awakening:

I look upon all things

Without exception, as equal.

I have no interest anywhere in favoring one over another,

Or in cherishing one and hating another.

I have no greed or attachments

And am always impartial.

At all times and for all,

I teach the Dharma equally.87

Here the Buddha is telling everyone (regardless of gender, class, or divine status) that it is possi-ble to become enlightened, even suggesting that the Dharma transcends such constructs.

Federman touches on another key point in his article: that teachings are practical guide-lines that we should not cling to, because they are not in and of themselves the truth. Rather, teachings are transient and situational, often changing according to time and place. For instance, in several parables within the Lotus, the Buddha lies, or is deceitful yet these distortions turn out to be beneficial for those who hear them. An example of this that we have already discussed comes in chapter seven of the Lotus where the Buddha tells the “Parable of the Fantastic Castle-City,” in which the leader of a caravan conjures up a miraculous city to serve as a resting point

86 Federman, 129.87 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 164-165.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”for those who have grown weary on a long journey, only to make the whole thing disappear once everyone is rested.88 In one sense, we can see Buddha as making a historical statement here, claiming that his previous teachings were only ‘resting points’ on the path to the great Dharma. This idea directly addresses the concept that the teachings for shravakas and pratyekabuddhas were not the full truth but were “taught for the benefit of beings with strong attachments and lit-tle wisdom.”89 In this way, they acted as ‘resting points’ for those along their path towards Dharma. However, the ultimate goal for all beings is to reach full Buddhahood.

However, Federman’s point about teachings also hints at something more subtle: that at-tachment to Dharma and teachings (even teachings outlined in the text of the Lotus itself) can create obstacles. This is especially true when dealing with skillful means. All teachings, in this sense, must be understood as methods which can help us to awaken but they should not be mis-taken for the real truth. In Federman’s own words, “[T]he Lotus Sutra is aware of its being a text – it does not pretend to serve as a transparent medium that reflects truth as it is.”90

Gender

In the light of this more nuanced understanding of skillful means, we are in a better posi-tion to look at how the text deals with the notion of gender, particularly within its cultural and historic context. With ‘skillful means’ present, we must always think of the audience with which this information was being shared, as there is a continual presumption that the Buddha’s teach-ing(s) could and should change depending upon those who are present for it.

The Lotus Sūtra has been criticized by scholars as a misogynistic text. Although skillful means has been discussed at length here, it is necessary to address the concept of gender directly (as it is one of the more controversial issues of the Lotus). Most of the characters in the text are male, and there seem to be very specific (and detailed) requirements for the few female charac-ters. This raises a question on whether the presence of a difference between the two sexes means that one of them must be preferable over the other. Do distinctions and differences between gen-ders that we find in the text mean that men are “better” than women? Perhaps it is unfair to as-sume that simply because of a difference between the male and female characters, and their re-spective requirements, there is any discrimination at play. In fact, the Lotus teaches that both women and ‘evil beings’ can attain enlightenment. Thus, this sūtra actually acts as a sort of buf-fer – utilizing skillful means to present this idea that all true followers of the Dharma are, in fact, bodhisattvas. In point of fact, the Lotus is an inclusive text which utilizes skillful means against a cultural backdrop in order to help all beings achieve true enlightenment.

88 Ibid., 197-199.89 Federman, 130.90 Ibid., 130-131.

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We can see this point most clearly by examining one of the most important passages of the sūtra. For the first twelve chapters of the Lotus, most the major characters mentioned are male. However, at the end of the twelfth chapter, women begin to play a bigger role. The first major female character to be introduced in the Lotus is the daughter of the dragon king Sagara.91 After suddenly appearing at the Buddha’s teaching, and prostrating in front of him, she decides to become awakened as quickly as possible. Interestingly, while she is praising the Buddha, she proclaims that “I will reveal the teaching of the Great Vehicle/ To save living beings from suffer-ing.”92 However, Shariputra, one of the Buddha’s chief monks, along with several other members of the audience are taken aback, and inform her that she cannot become a Buddha because she is female. They refer to the impurities of the female form, including the inability to become a ‘king’ or have the body of a Buddha. In response she offers a jewel to the Buddha (perhaps sym-bolic of her innate Buddha nature) and announces that she will become a Buddha quickly. At that point the text says, “Then the entire congregation saw the dragon girl instantly transformed into a male, take up bodhisattva practice, and immediately go to the world named Spotless…where…she attained impartial, proper awakening.”93 It is important to note that after her transfor-mation, she is described as having “the thirty-two characteristics and eighty different attractive features” which are only used to describe Buddhas.94

Although it is clear in this passage that a female character attains enlightenment, scholars debate its meaning. This is because of one factor: the dragon girl changes into a male form be-fore becoming Buddha. Here, however, it is essential to distinguish between the ultimate and the relative realities. From the perspective of ultimate truth (full Buddhahood), gender is unimpor-tant, while at the relative level (the realm of distinctions and differences, as well as suffering), gender is of vital concern. Thus while we should not (and in fact cannot) ignore gender, neither can we consider it an insurmountable barrier to the attainment of awakening.

In her article, “Social Responsibility, Sex Change, and Salvation: Gender Justice in the Lotus Sutra,” Lucinda Joy Peach, a feminist scholar of Buddhism, highlights this rather paradoxi-cal situation, saying that:

The specific gender images in the Lotus Sutra convey a somewhat inconsistent

portrayal of women: they are apparently capable of full Enlightenment, but are

more closely tied to samsara than are men; they are present at the Buddha’s

91 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 251.92 Ibid., 252.93 Ibid., 253.94 Ibid.

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teachings initially, yet are often absent, invisible, or ignored later. They are

worthy of being instructed in the dharma by bodhisattvas, but are at the same

time dangerous sources of sexual temptation.95

Interestingly, Peach goes on to argue that the dragon girl’s “sudden awakening” to Bud-dhahood requires a transformation from female to male. Without this transformation to a male body, she would have been hindered from reaching full enlightenment. This interpretation en-courages us to understand Buddhism (or at least the Lotus) as being biased against women, sug-gesting that women cannot attain enlightenment due to the nature of their female forms. How-ever, the text itself does not say that this transformation was required, only that it occurred. Again, it is important to keep the context in mind. The dragon girl changes into a man right after Shariputra has said that she cannot attain awakening because her female form effectively bars her from attaining certain high spiritual states: “[T]he body of a woman is filthy and impure, not a vessel for the Dharma.”96 Yet, as if in direct defiance to this assertion, the dragon girl immedi-ately becomes male and attains full Buddhahood far swifter than any other character in the Lotus.

Niwano explains that this passage was revolutionary in its original context. It was widely accepted among ancient Indians that women were inherently inferior, with impure (perhaps even evil) bodies. Yet this passage affirms the idea the Buddha-nature is present in all beings, regard-less of sex or gender. In fact, Niwano claims that the dragon girl’s sex change is a sort of skillful means to help the congregation come to a fuller understanding: “By the dramatic expression of having the girl change into a man and become a Buddha, the congregation, in whom the idea of looking down on women was fixed, was greatly impressed and made to grasp the meaning.”97 In fact, as Nancy Schuster, another scholar of Buddhism, points out, we can read the story of the dragon girl as undermining “the old notion that a woman’s body disqualifies her from Buddha-hood…for here is a Buddha-to-be (the Dragon-princess) who was born female.”98

Moreover, when we look at this passage in this perspective, we can see that it is not the dragon king’s daughter who is being challenged but rather the notions of those fixated followers who told her she could not. Thus the Lotus says that after the dragon girl has become a complete Buddha, the entire assembly was filled with joy and myriads of beings advanced far along the path to awakening. The chapter then concludes simply: “Accumulated Wisdom Bodhisattva and

95 Lucinda Joy Peach, “Social Responsibility, Sex Change, and Salvation: Gender Justice in the Lotus Sutra,” in A Buddhist kaleidoscope: Essays on the Lotus Sutra, ed. Gene Reeves (Tokyo: Kosei Publishing, 2002), 55.96 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 253.97 Niwano, 93.98 Nancy Schuster, “Changing the Female Body: Wise Women and the Bodhisattva Career in Some Maharatnaku-tasutras,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 4.1 (1981), 43.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”Shariputra and the whole congregation silently believed and accepted this.”99 The dragon girl ex-presses from the beginning what it is that she plans to do, and she goes through with it. It is not her notions which are being questioned so much as prevailing cultural notions of gender inequal-ities (represented by Shariputra). For this reason, her sex change can be seen as a method of skillful means designed to help the audience come to see past their prejudices around gender and perhaps glimpse the ultimate truth beyond such distinctions. Shariputra, though, is too focused on her female form to see that the dragon girl’s Buddha-nature transcends gender. In fact this transformation may in a sense equate the genders, putting them on par (otherwise the dragon girl could not move between them so easily). With this understanding, it becomes easy to see that she transforms into a man in order to show the audience that she could just as easily be a man as a woman, thus countering the idea that women are somehow incapable of enlightenment.

Women become important again in the thirteenth chapter of the Lotus. Up to this point, the Buddha has assured many of his (male) followers that they will eventually become Buddhas, and he has gone to great lengths to give details on their Buddha realms. At this point, six thou-sand nuns come forward, hoping to hear of their eventual Buddhahood. In response, the Buddha says, “Gautami [the woman who raised the Buddha after his mother died], I have already an-nounced that all shravakas are generally assured.”100 Here Buddha makes no distinction between female and male shravakas. By saying that all the shravakas are already assured of becoming Buddhas, the Buddha implies that spiritually speaking, the genders are equal, otherwise he would have made the distinction between the male and female shravakas’ potential for awakening. The fact that he didn’t suggests that he sees gender as irrelevant to one’s true Buddha-nature (al-though it may be relevant to one’s relative reality). This also explains why the Buddha refers to certain Buddha-worlds as having “no women,”101 since these realms reside outside of samsara as well. Such comments do not denigrate women so much as reinforce the teaching about the irrel-evance of gender differentiation on the ultimate level.

Towards the very end of the Lotus we find further indications that gender ultimately poses no real problem in attaining Buddhahood, specifically in the example of the Queen of Pure Virtue in the twenty-seventh chapter. The story in which she appears focuses on the two sons (one of whom turns out to be the bodhisattva Medicine King, a major figure in the Lotus), and their desire to hear the teachings of the Buddha. What is interesting about this passage is that it is the mother of the two boys who is the devout Buddhist, and ultimately gives them permission to go to receive the teachings of the Lotus.102 Thich Nhat Hanh makes the point that the Lotus Sutra had to prove that it supported ideas of filial piety within Chinese society.103 Although this may be one of the main reasons for the inclusion of this chapter within the sūtra, it is still critical that a major figure here is the mother. In fact, she is mentioned at the end of this section: “The

99 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 253.100 Ibid., 236.101 As, for example, in the Buddha’s description of the Buddha-land over which his disciple Purna will preside upon his future attainment of Buddhahood. See Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 209. 102 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 387-388.103 Hanh, 17.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”Queen of Pure Virtue is the Bodhisattva Marks of Shining Adornment who is now in the pres-ence of the Buddha. Out of mercy for King Wonderfully Adorned and his people, she was born among them.”104 The fact that this is a female bodhisattva directly challenges Peach’s notion that women cannot become true Buddhas, or bodhisattvas. As we have seen, Peach suggests that the dragon girl had to become a male before she could to take up bodhisattva practice. However, here we have an instance of a female Bodhisattva motivating her family to embrace the true Dharma. This undermines the idea that within the Lotus women are somehow less important than men.

Thus, we can see that so far as the Lotus is concerned gender, at least from the ultimate perspective, is irrelevant. Gender distinctions made within the Lotus pertain to a relative under-standing of reality, and such relative distinctions of gender need not equate to biases. Niwano says that “Men and women have inborn differences – bodily shape, role in reproduction, distinc-tive nature, and strengths and weakness in the way they work.”105 Acknowledging differences be-tween the genders does not necessarily suggest bias. Whether or not there is a positive or nega-tive bias must be determined through careful understanding and analysis of the differences. Within the Lotus, there seems to be little negative bias towards women, and what bias there is can largely be attributed to skillful means.

In the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha constantly refers to the idea that teachings have to res-onate with the people who are receiving them – and that it is the duty of a teacher to help bring this about. It is for this reason that the Buddha makes a distinction between ultimate and relative realities: Ultimate reality defies full understanding for those who still exist within the relative. So, oftentimes the Buddha had to teach in a relative sense. This “relative” teaching mechanism is largely what the Buddha is referring to when he talks about skillful means. Ancient Indian culture and people would never have accepted men and women as entirely equal. Had the Bud-dha tried to explain the lack of any ultimate notion of sex/gender, it would have been too difficult for his followers at the time to understand. However, he gives hints of this idea by using skillful means to help unravel the truth of the ultimate, true nature of reality: that there is no difference between the Buddha nature (or true nature) of a man or a woman.

Skillful means as presented in the Lotus Sūtra requires that we take into account the cul-tural and historical atmosphere of the time. It dances around the idea that words are never quite enough to reach or teach full truth. With this in mind, it becomes even more difficult to try to understand Buddhist texts (at least those with skillful means evidently present) from a strictly lit-eral perspective. When looking at controversial topics such as gender within the Lotus, we need to think of them in terms of skillful means. ‘Skillful means of gender’ means that to understand gender within the Lotus, we should take into account the audience and time period in which it was being taught. When we do this, we can see that the Lotus Sūtra is not a misogynistic text,

104 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 392.105 Niwano, 93.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”but rather one which presents women with hope. They, like all sentient beings, can attain perfect awakening just as they are.

Concluding Reflections on the Lotus and its BodiesAs perhaps the most influential text in all of Buddhism, the Lotus Sutra can be daunting.

The Lotus is so rich and its “innumerable meanings” so varied and have been the foci of so many commentaries and interpretations, that we might understandably balk at approaching it with the aim of finding something new. Isn’t it a bit naïve to examine the Lotus for what it may (and may not) reveal about the “body,” especially when we reflect on the maddening complexity surround-ing this term? So many different bodies, so many different senses of the term “body” -- is there anything at all enlightening (or even coherent) that we can say here?

The Lotus opens with a truly mind-blowing scene: Sakyamuni Buddha seated on Holy Eagle Peak as myriads of monks, nuns, arhats, bodhisattvas, laymen and women, kings and queens, gods, dragons, and all manner of fantastic creatures assemble to hear him preach the Wondrous Dharma. After making proper obeisance, the entire assembly gazes upon the World-Honored One in rapture. The text then says:

From the tuft of white hair between his eyebrows, one of his characteristic features, the Buddha emitted a beam of light, illuminating eighteen thousand worldsin the east, so that there was nowhere that it did not reach, down to the lowest purgatory and up to Akan-ishtha, the highest heaven.

In those worlds, all the living beings in the six states could be seen. Like-wise the bud-dhas existing at present in those lands could be seen, and the sutra teachings those bud-dhas were preaching could be heard. Monk and nuns, laymen and laywomen . . . could also be seen. Further, one could see bodhisattvas, the great ones, walking the bodhisattva way . . . Likewise buddhas who had entered complete nirvana could be seen. And one could see there stupas made of the seven precious materials, stupas that had been built to hold the remains of these buddhas after they had entered complete nirvana.106

This is an almost unimaginable display of innumerable bodies of creatures from across the uni-verse -- the true Buddha sangha, and this vast assemblage sets the stage for what is to follow.

The closing scene, however, is quite different. There we are suddenly introduced to Samantabhadra, “Universal Sage Bodhisattva,” who together with his vast retinue traverses myri-ads of world systems to arrive at Holy Eagle Peak. This mysterious late-comer greets and ex-plains that from afar he heard the Buddha preaching the Lotus and has come “to hear and receive it,” going on to ask the Buddha explain how future faithful followers will be able to obtain its teachings after Sakyamuni’s passing. As the chapter progresses, Sakyamuni essentially hands off this great body of Lotus teachings to this eager upstart, entrusting it to him and placing it and all future devotees under his protection.107 And once again, a fabulous body figures so strongly here, as Samantabhadra promises that future devotees who dedicate themselves diligently to upholding

106 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 55.107 Ibid., 393 ff.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”all the various practices recommended in the Lotus (read, recite, copy, study, etc.), will be graced by a vision of him in full glory, teaching the Lotus Dharma to them face to face: “I will mount the white elephant with six tusks and, with countless bodhisattvas surrounding me, appear before those people in a form that all the living delight to see, and teach the Dharma for them, demon-strating and teaching it, enriching them, and giving them joy.”108 The text even promises great benefits for devotion to Lotus, and details penalties incurred by those who defame the sutra or its devotees. Most of these penalties are bodily ills (leprosy, missing teeth, deformed features, stinking and filthy disease etc.)109 Clearly, bodies of various forms frame the Lotus as a text, and the text presents itself in quite bodily terms. These facts tells us a great deal about how the Lotus presents itself regarding certain notions of “body”: the Lotus is a complex body of teachings the comes to us via the bodies of Buddha and his followers, and it asks us to embody its messages. We do well to keep this in mind.

Interesting things occur when we approach the Lotus with certain bodies of knowledge that inform different scholarly disciplines. Thus, for instance, applying Economic theories about the exchange of goods and services in our world help us to see the Lotus in terms of diverse con-nections and relationships between various bodies, all in the service of a larger, seemingly uni-versal bodily system. Perhaps such insights can help guide us as we take part in these economic exchanges.

The Lotus is most obviously a religious text that has long informed and shaped how many people make their way in the world. It is rhetorically powerful, filled with striking and often dis-turbing imagery (often very bodily oriented) and compelling stories. The Lotus is not a simple mass of words but an enticing literary body, subtly but irresistibly pushing us to act, to transform and take on the characteristics of the figures in its lines – to become, in short, Buddha. This is a difficult process that draws on our own mind, spirit, and body.

The Buddha as the teacher in the Lotus is a leader of humanity, one who exemplifies and embodies traits that encourage us in our own transformation. Drawing on the concepts and theo-ries of Leadership Studies (yet another complex and intriguing body of knowledge) brings these points into startling clarity. The Lotus itself is a leader.

Most certainly much of the power that the Lotus wields comes from how it addresses our immediate, concretely embodied situation: samsaric existence. Many of the forces powering this murky mess of life-and-death concern sex as an innately bodily process and the myriad ways we interpret and conceptualize it, most often through diverse notions of “gender.” “Gender” truly is divisive yet compelling, even as it perpetually puzzles and confuses us. Perhaps “gender” is the ultimate and most intimate duality. The Lotus does not shy away from “gender” so much as play with it to push us beyond simple biological “givens” and sociological constructs. In so doing, the Lotus does not categorically denigrate females (or males for that matter) nor does it promote an abstract idealized nirvana. Rather, the Lotus wants us all to embody Buddhahood.

Traditionally, the Lotus is said to be among the last of Sakyamuni Buddha’s sermons, summing up his earlier teachings but presenting them in new, more purposeful light. Sticking with this traditional view, it is interesting to note what the Buddha does and says in his actual last

108 Ibid., 394.109 Reeves, The Lotus Sutra, 398.

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Virginia Review of Asian StudiesVolume 16 (2014): 131-166Thompson, Degnan, Graney, McCann, McCracken: Lotus “Bodies”teaching before his worldly demise, preserved in the famous Parinirvāṇa Sūtra. The final scene in the most elaborate version of this text remains powerful, even after all these centuries, particu-larly in light of what we have seen with the Lotus. Here the Buddha, after explaining how his disciples are to treat his earthly remains, reminds them that henceforth the Dharma will be their teacher, and even specifies that certain places associated with his life should become places of pilgrimage for the laity. The text continues,

Then the Blessed One took off his outer robe and said: ‘Monks, gaze now upon the body of the Tathāgata! Examine the body of the Tathāgata! For the sight of a completely enlightened Buddha is as rare an event as the blossoming of the uduṃbara tree. And, monks, do not break into lamentations after I am gone, for all karmically constituted things are subject to passing away.’ Those were the last words of the Buddha. [ . . .]110

In his last earthly moments, the Buddha tells us to contemplate his enlightened bodily being – a final admonition that turns us lose to take up the body of Dharma presented to us, and we should rightly note that this taking up is to be done with our own bodies. It is difficult to forge a path here, but the way reveals itself in the words of Dharma. And perhaps nowhere is this more evi-dent than in the Lotus Sūtra itself.

110 From the Parinirvāṇa Sūtra. Quoted in John S. Strong, The Experience of Buddhism: Sources and Interpreta-tions, 2nd ed. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson, 2002), 37.

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