Demythologizing The Dharma: by Ryuei Michael Mccormick
Demythologizing The Dharma: by Ryuei Michael Mccormick
the Dharma
by Ryuei Michael McCormick
This was a talk given at the
American Academy of Religions in Nov 2004.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, Ryuei
The fact is that the Buddha did teach rebirth in heavens, hells, and other
states. For instance in the Greater Discourse on the Lion’s Roar in the Middle
Length Discourses he enumerates five possible rebirths, “Sariputta, there are
these five destinations. What are the five? Hell, the animal realm, the realm of
ghosts, human beings, and gods.” (p. 169) Other discourses describe the
realm of the fighting demons as a sixth realm while others like this one include
the fighting demons within the god realm. All of these realms are viewed as
co-existing within what one might call the Mt. Sumeru cosmology. The Mt.
Sumeru cosmology is taken for granted in the sutras. In this mythic view the
world is composed of four continents with Mt. Sumeru at their center. Deep
beneath the surface are the realms of hell and the hungry ghosts, on the
continents are humans and animals and various nature spirits, in the oceans
are the fighting demons and the dragons, on the slopes and on the peak of
Mt. Sumeru are various gods and goddesses, and above Mt. Sumeru in
ascending order of excellence, refinement, and grandeur are even more
heavenly realms. Mahayana Buddhism posited a universe filled with such
world-systems as well as the pure lands of the various cosmic buddhas of the
ten directions.
In the Kanjin Honzon Sho, Nichiren goes to great length to explain the
significance of the doctrine of the 3,000 worlds in a single thought-moment
taught by the founder of the T’ien-t’ai school, Chih-i (528-597), in his magnum
opus the Great Concentration and Insight. Describing this doctrine in detail is
outside the scope of this paper, but the relevant point is that this doctrine
teaches that each of the ten worlds from hell to buddhahood contains the ten
worlds and these 100 worlds manifest in accord with ten factors of causal
relations. Ten worlds times ten worlds times ten factors is 1,000 aspects and
these are applied the three realms of (1) the five aggregates of a single entity,
(2) the community of sentient beings, and to (3) the environment. One now
has three thousand “worlds” that encompass the manifestation of all the states
from hell to buddhahood in terms of individuals, societies, and the insentient
environment. It was this doctrine that gave rise to the T’ien-t’ai claim that even
grasses and trees could attain enlightenment. Nichiren states: “Speaking of a
mind having ‘1,000 aspects contained in 100 realms,’ we consider sentient
beings only. When we talk about ‘3,000 existences contained in one thought,’
we consider both sentient as well as insentient beings.” (p. 130) I think this
shows that Nichiren did not consider the ten worlds as only applicable to
mental states, and furthermore he saw Chih-i’s doctrine of the 3,000 worlds in
a single thought-moment as revolutionary precisely because it did not confine
itself to the psychology of a single individual but pointed to the manifestation
of the ten worlds in social aggregates and in the environment of living beings
as well.
I think that this is an insight that we can still learn from. We can still
demythologize the ten worlds and do not have to accept that there is literally a
fiery hell filled with ox-headed demons beneath our feet or heavenly palaces
floating overhead. But at the same time we can acknowledge the insight that
we do create hells and heavens not just within ourselves but also in our social
arrangements and in the so-called objective world around us. In other words,
we are part of an interdependent system that takes in our minds, bodies other
people and living beings, and the earth itself. When we create an
infrastructure and the kind of wealth that allow us to fly all over the world in a
matter of hours or to communicate instantly with people all over the world via
the internet, isn’t this an example of heavenly blessings that are by no means
simply subjective? On the other hand, when famine claims the lives of
thousands due to civil wars or genocidal policies, is the hungry ghost world
still just a mythic symbol of a state of mind? It sounds trite to say that our
attitudes affect our relationships with others and that our civilization impacts
the environment for better or worse, but it is easy to forget this and to neglect
our responsibility for cultivating ourselves, bringing out the best in others, and
ensuring that our society’s impact on the environment and on other people is
wholesome and beneficial rather than callous and destructive. I hope that
American Buddhists will utilize these mythic Buddhist teachings, once
demythologized and not merely psychologized, as a helpful way of awakening
to the interconnections between individuals, society, and the environment.
Sources
Nanamoli, Bhikkhu and Bodhi, Bhikkhu, trans. The Middle Length Discourses
of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom
Publications, 1995.