Here at Art of Dharma, our main concern is feeding your thirst for dharma, and stimulating the necessary questioning and thinking processes that lead to deeper understanding. That being said, we’ll be featuring articles all the time that deal with more serious and scholarly subject matter than your run of the mill blog post!

The Lotus Sutra

First thing’s first, a practicing buddhist (the practice portion of this is key) is striving to be a professionally happy person.
To understand this fully, a few concepts must be mastered and understood. Firstly, Karma is in fact, the “spiritual currency” which is accrued in relation to ones actions, speech and thought. The real idea behind karma is an intrinsic tie between your happiness and that of others. Not only does good karma allow one to have a fortunate rebirth; the more karma one has which is good allows the practitioner to see and realize concepts, ideas and truths relative to the dharma which become increasingly more intense and deep as study and life progress (ultimately this allows one to experience and directly view Śūnyatā (emptiness, which is a bit different than potentiality) directly, which is a necessary step in the direction of attaining Buddhahood. In this life, a buddhist strives to create the karmic effects which will lead to higher consciousness in this life and others. All buddhist life is viewed in terms of this cause and effect.

That being said, in order to be a happy buddhist (since thats the only real kind there is, as that is the main goal of this spiritual practice) one must constantly and tirelessly seek to follow the bodhisattva vow to help alleviate innumerable sentient beings from their suffering (and if one cannot help, to at least do no harm.) The intrinsic tie between happiness and the end to human suffering is a cornerstone of Buddhism as a whole and especially the Mahayana tradition. The way to happiness for one’s self is through the altruistic and selfless compassion for others which is the prime focus of the Mahayana school of thought. Furthermore, we see in texts such as the Lotus Sutra the idea that practice even on the smallest level of devotion leads one eventually to Buddhahood. Perhaps the greatest legacy of the Mahayana tradition is its cry for accessibility of teachings and doctrine. The Pure Land school of thought for example focuses heavily on the repetition of the names of the Buddha and leaves hope for all practitioners that there is in fact a way for everyone to follow the noble eightfold path and free themselves from the scourge of samsara. Buddhism, in the Mahayana tradition especially addresses then the topic of human suffering through showing the numerous and various ways one can relieve their own suffering through striving to eliminate that of others.

The Lotus Sutra’s second chapter in fact, is seen by many, and even says in its text that this doctrine of the greater vehicle is the highest evolution of the dharma. In fact in another chapter it is said that this text was written then sealed away for 500 years after the death of Master Gotama because the world at the time was not ready to hear what it had to expound. There is , it seems a fixation on the part of buddhist doctrine, to demand from its adherents a decidedly strict form of practice. All things in Buddhism are not given or bestowed, rather they are attained. That is to say, Buddhism gives a clear directive to its followers through its many texts, and the words of the Buddha himself also call all who profess to take refuge in the Buddha and Dharma to be better than they are and earn every bit of spiritual headway themselves. Karma is earned, and shaped through conscious action, the goal of the buddhist practitioner is to become extraordinarily adept at directing the focus and intent of this action. Being a buddha is being infinitely intimate with every aspect of the present moment, all things and beings around you, and keenly sensing the desires, needs and suffering of others. Buddhism is not for those who need constant and ever-present coaching because it realizes (as a philosophy) that to truly affect ones life, changes and beliefs absolutely must come from within. The reality of the world around you is truly a result of the world within you, and the goal of Buddhism is train one self to address happiness and human suffering in the same thought. Because one’s happiness is directly tied to the amount of effort and devotion they put into training the mind to function as an organ of infinite compassion towards others, it kills both of these birds with one stone. To eliminate sadness, eliminate the sadness of others, to cultivate your own happiness, cultivate that of others. While it seems fairly simple, Buddhist texts provide an almost incalculable variety of examples for this.

When its all said and done, texts such as the Lotus Sutra shed a lot of light on the Mahayana tradition and its altruistically centered and egalitarian center. All religions and spiritual practices seek to explain why we are here, and what our purpose is, however a deep look into the heartwood of these texts provides insight into a system of beliefs and practices which ultimately leave the destiny of the practitioner in his own hands. In the Abrahamic traditions, there is a tendency for those practicing those faiths to become complacent, with their fates in the hands of a higher authority, or with absolution coming from a power on high as opposed to coming as result of intense study and focus. Buddhism asks a lot of its practitioners, because it constantly requires self-reflection and actualization. There is nobody to blame or scapegoat other than one’s self, and with that in mind, I am inclined to think that Buddhism is probably the philosophy which was first to truly allow a very customizable experience for those wishing to better themselves and the world around them. The way in which Buddhism tackles problems of happiness (or unhappiness) and human suffering is unique in that puts all of the power and possibility into the hands of those who practice it. In being so adaptable Buddhism is easy to relate, understand, and follow, at the same time as being infinitely complex and deeply transformative. A person who truly practices buddhist teachings and implements them, is surely able to address both the question of human suffering and happiness, and how removing the suffering of others, makes one happy in its truest form.