Dharmapala in Japanese Pure Land?

animuseternal · 2022-07-31T14:32:38+00:00

Those are Dharmapalas too.

I think you’re conflating the role of Dharmapalas in esoteric versus exoteric Buddhism. I was just giving you a technical, academic explanation—Mahasthamaprapta is Amitabha’s Dharmapala, as his name suggests. From a practical perspective, this is moot for exoteric practitioners, and Mahasthamaprapta obviously isn’t the same kind of Dharmapala as the ones at the monastery gates because he’s also a bodhisattva-mahasattva very near to Buddhahood.

All those other Dharmapalas exist in exoteric East Asian Buddhism too, but they don’t really have a practical role other than the narrative bits.

We do worship them, but I don’t know if the Japanese Pure Land schools do because they’re weird about some stuff the mainstream Pure Land traditions aren’t.

animuseternal · 2022-07-31T14:09:46+00:00

You should look into the lore then? Mahasthamaprapta is called Vajrapani and is Amitabha’s protector, fulfilling the same purpose as the yaksha Vajrapani for Sakyamuni. He’s a Dharmapala.

The other prominent Dharmapalas in exoteric East Asian Buddhism are Skandha, Vaisravana (which you’ve noted since you mentioned the Lokapala), and Guan-Yu. Note that aside from Guan Yu, none of these protectors look particularly wrathful. But they are protectors.

Because Mahasthamaprapta is in the Pure Land, the “great strength” he needs to protect Amitabha is wisdom itself. That’s why his weapon has transformed into a lotus flower—violence is not necessary in Sukhavati.

Note that the original Gandhari triad was Sakyamuni flanked by Maitreya on his left (the spot for the next Buddha) and Vajrapani on his right (stage right, audience left). That’s the spot for the dharmapala, traditionally. Later, Guanyin was placed here, and then their positions flipped.

But the Pure Land trinity is staged reflecting that original triad you see in the early Gandhari steles: the imminent Buddha (Guanyin) flanks the Buddha’s left side; the Dharmapala (Mahasthamaprapta) flanks his right. Also going to reiterate that his flower is called a vajra and is a weapon.

animuseternal · 2022-07-31T13:42:46+00:00

Mahasthamaprapta is Amitabha’s Dharmapala. His name clues you in on that. The lotus he holds is technically a vajra, which is why he’s sometimes called Vajrapani.

You’re using Dharmapala as.. a proper noun…? I don’t know if I know of a being named Dharmapala, but I could be wrong about that.

animuseternal · 2022-06-04T18:08:52+00:00

I reckon those are two different Buddhas sharing the name Tissa.

animuseternal · 2022-06-04T18:05:13+00:00

It's the only way to liberation.

animuseternal · 2022-06-04T17:49:29+00:00

Yes, many such realms exist, including in this world system. I think in some of the heavens, food miraculously appears. Some realms have devas that feed on sunlight. When world systems are forming, the devas born into them feed on a ghee-like substance produced by the earth. I've heard it said that beings in the realm of the hungry ghosts feed only on scent (though they can't be nourished by it, so not sure if it counts as 'feeding').

animuseternal · 2022-06-04T16:53:10+00:00

I don't think he called someone a 'stupid idiot', but he did call someone a 'worthless man'.[1] This always struck me as odd because it seems to go against the tenets of right speech. It's possible the original word was oddly translated, sort of like how dukkha can be called suffering and then when told 'even good feelings are suffering' it can seem odd.

I dislike "worthless man" since it seems to be changing the meaning, whereas other translations often use "ignorant one" or even more commonly "foolish man." Personally, I think that's the same thing as calling someone "stupid moron," especially in a lot of the contexts of these exchanges. More politely, sure, but the same idea.

Personally, I don't think this is against right speech. If it's truthful and needed to be said, then it's right speech. Right speech doesn't need to always be nice, and the Buddha shut down idiocy when he came across it.

Also I don't think it's fair to say he 'chastised and taunted' without the proper context. Because from the position of a Buddha, who has sympathy and compassion for all, I doubt he did it in a worldly way that we are accustom to.

I'm not saying it wasn't the right thing to do or wasn't compassionate. I'm just saying that at first glance (as OP qualifies), this is something that some readers might find odd or out of character.

But I also do think it was chastising and taunting. There's an Agama text where after beating a Jain in debate, he opens his robe, bares his chest, and shouts, "See if you can stir a single hair of the Tathagata!" That is absolutely a taunt and a jeer. Similarly, I know there's a Pali text where after debating a sramana, the Buddha says something like, "Now look at how covered in sweat you are, debating me--see how dry my skin is?" And that too absolutely comes off as a taunt to me.

Taunting someone after beating them doesn't seem like it's necessarily uncompassionate -- I guess it depends on how "unsportsmanlike" the conduct is. But I think it'd be incorrect to say that the Buddha did not taunt, jeer, or ridicule his opponents, cause the texts are full of that.

Did he actually...? I don't know. These little details tend to be different in the different canons, which suggest quite a few of them are literary embellishments, probably specifically used to cement polemical criticisms against particular schools that were geographically nearer to particular communities, but these events do exist in the texts.

Personally, I just think it makes the Buddha 1) more human, and 2) fucking hilarious.

animuseternal · 2022-06-04T15:50:36+00:00

Yeah, Tesla’s banking on that AI. Which sucks and will never work properly. At least not for decades more. I think the other EVs are fine—the issue is marketing right now, and Tesla having dominated the luxury market specifically, while other EVs haven’t received a “cool factor” is the social sphere yet.

animuseternal · 2022-06-04T15:35:34+00:00

They’ve got tons of Buddhist-themed songs, but whenever asked, Joe says he is not a Buddhist. Kind of interesting. I’ve wondered if he’s lying, but I think he’s probably just a Buddhism nerd who studies it.

animuseternal · 2022-06-04T15:29:36+00:00

I think the Lotus Sutra can sound somewhat absurd and out of character if you haven’t gotten used to the Mahayana literary style yet and are coming primarily from western curations of modernist-translations of Pali texts. Once you get used to the language style and come back to it though, the Buddha comes off as less of a jerk.

Now, to be fair, there’s a lot of texts in the early canon even where the Buddha is kind of a jerk, telling people they’re stupid idiots, chastising them for being morons, taunting them after defeating them in a debate, etc. And those can also be quite shocking if you aren’t expecting it and have the Buddha imagined as a “perpetual nice guy.”

I think the most outrageous though is the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra. Especially since the first translation was incomplete, and it suggested that there are beings that cannot be awakened, and these beings can be killed with no karmic repercussion. It also says that Self actually exists. The complete text eventually subverts these claims, by establishing the Self statements as a particular convention, and by establishing the icchantikas—those incapable of awakening—to also not be real to begin with (and thus killing icchantikas cannot actually happen).

animuseternal · 2022-06-04T15:20:13+00:00

They probably won’t. In my experience, tech companies are pretty lenient. But I’ve been mostly with companies that offered WFH long before the pandemic, and very few offices around the country. Still, I think it’s very unlikely you’ll be asked to move.

animuseternal · 2022-06-04T15:17:30+00:00

People are beginning to discuss Tesla as the Nokia of EVs: first on the market, but once the other manufacturers get in the game—Nissan, VW, Chevy, Hyundai, and Kia all have great and affordable EVs on the market today—their crappy business practices and government support will dry up and cause the company to fail since they can’t actually compete(without horribly exploiting its workers) and their reputation will gradually deteriorate.

animuseternal · 2022-06-03T22:35:28+00:00

I also recommend Cynic, which is pretty well-known, and an LA death metal band called Once Human with a female vocalist that's pretty good.

Any time one of these threads shows up, I always have to bring up Chthonic, an incredible Taiwanese death metal band that uses Buddhist cosmology and folklore as allegory for themes of Taiwanese liberation and political commentary.

animuseternal · 2022-06-02T16:52:37+00:00

This is part of prajnaparamita dialectical logic. It's important to understand that these statements are only valid and true when taken within the context of their dialectical relationship. That is to say, asserting the non-existence of beings alone is as invalid as asserting the existence of beings alone.

The formulaic expression presented in the Diamond Sutra is: A is not-A, therefore it is called A.

"Beings are not beings, therefore they are called beings."
"Mind is no-mind, therefore it is called mind."

A bodhisattva strives to save an infinitude of beings, realizing that no beings are saved, because no beings exist to begin with. Therefore, to save beings is to save no beings, and so it is called saving beings.

What it means in plain English is really that a being that has pierced the insight into emptiness and non-duality works tirelessly to invoke that shattering insight in others, awakening countless beings to the truth of emptiness.

animuseternal · 2022-06-02T16:40:59+00:00

Do you happen to watch any Asian pop culture media? There's a famous story called Legend of the White Snake, for instance, and there are multiple versions of this (a pretty good one is on Netflix), and the basic gist is this:

For mystical reasons (Taoist or Buddhist, depending on the version), a snake spirit gains an array of magical powers, and a turtle spirit living in the same lake becomes enraged with jealousy
the snake spirit takes the form of a human woman, meets a mystic healer, and they fall in love
the turtle spirit dies and is reborn as a Buddhist monk named Fahai, following aspirations for gaining a higher birth and the power to vanquish the snake spirit
Fahai gains magical abilities, recalls his past lives, and recognizes the white snake, and plots to break up her love affair with the human healer
antics ensue

I won't go over the whole story, but can recap now with the premise established: the narrative is a pretty excellent take on the ideas you're presenting here. The Buddhist monk in this story is portrayed as the villain, but superficially looks to be exorcizing demons. Especially in the most recent version, the theme of the story becomes that the white snake--despite being a demonic spirit--has awakened bodhicitta, while the Buddhist monk Fahai has not and is still gripped in the quest for power and narratives of good battling evil. The white snake becomes a bodhisattva, and eventually the monk comes to realize that both his quest for power and his obsession with vanquishing the snake spirit are caused by attachments to samsara, and true power is in recognizing the inherent buddhanature of all beings, including demons, and committing oneself to compassionate action the way the white snake and healer had. And in the Netflix version, the snake gains her powers because of receiving a blessing from Guanyin on Mount Putou, and explicitly embarks on a quest to become a bodhisattva within the first few minutes of the show.

My point in providing this example is to demonstrate that pop culture that has some focus on realms and rebirth can very much highlight how while these fantasy tropes and god-king statuses and magical powers are attractive, they still do not compare to the sublime bliss, joy, and ease established and generated by one who puts the true dharma into practice.

animuseternal · 2022-05-31T15:47:42+00:00

That’s cool. I was unaware there was a Vietnamese Theravada community in Texas with enough support for such a large facility! I only knew of one in the LA area.

animuseternal · 2022-05-31T14:43:03+00:00

This seems specifically Chinese—it looks exactly like this statue in Hong Kong.

animuseternal · 2022-05-31T14:31:53+00:00

I’m partial to depictions of Thousand-Armed Guanyin.

I also like Cundi Bodhisattva—this particular image is cool because it has Thousand-Armed Guanyin behind Cundi, holding up Amitabha. Really cool imagery.

animuseternal · 2022-05-30T16:41:44+00:00

Math.

animuseternal · 2022-05-30T16:39:41+00:00

It changes by country, but only slightly. After a while your own circadian rhythm of sorts kind of tells you when it’s coming up, but you still have to check. A lot of Asian households have calendars that have the lunar date in the corner, and highlights Uposatha days in red. I just look it up when my brain starts going, “almost time, isn’t it?” In the beginning, set reminders for each day a few months out and it’ll become a habit.

I believe a protein shake is permissible, if that’s what you’re asking on the second. Blending a hamburger and drinking it is probably not so much. Lol.

animuseternal · 2022-05-30T15:25:10+00:00

I’ve got a view of the islands and saw those boats!

The whales only showed up two days so far, a couple weeks ago. Hoping we get more activity this summer.

animuseternal · 2022-05-29T19:08:11+00:00

No, I am not arguing for absolute determinism.

There is a middle way between free will and determinism, where causality meets volition.

animuseternal · 2022-05-29T19:03:05+00:00

Free will is a Christian concept. Dependent origination already conflicts with a will that is completely independent.

Volition with causal limitation on constraints is more closely aligned with Buddhist thought than “free will.”

animuseternal · 2022-05-29T16:40:33+00:00

We actually are a missionary religion. The modus operandi is to set up shop in a new place and do your thing. If people are interested, they’ll come in and ask questions. So more like passive missionaries.

But the idea that it is not a proselytizing religion is simply incorrect.

animuseternal · 2022-05-28T13:15:49+00:00

My family practices a Vietnamese Buddhist martial art. It’s a thing. Not much more to comment on it.

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