The Way of Jodo Shinshu

Koso Wasan 3

'Our teacher, Bodhisattva Nagarjuna,
Expounding the supreme teaching of Mahayana,
Attained the Stage of Joy,'
And fervently encouraged the Nembutsu.

On Joy

In the essays on the Jodo Wasan, we have already discussed pramudita, the Stage of Joy. This is the 41st rung on the ladder which characterises a bodhisattva's career and the first of the 'Ten Stages' (Sk. bhumi), representing the aspirant's entry into the final course which takes one to the eventual attainment of a Buddha's full awakening. It is equivalent to sotapanna (Pali) in Theravada Buddhism. In the Pure Land tradition the awakening of faith (shinjin, Sk. shraddha/prasada) is similar in effect and leads to the same result as pramudita. Shinran Shonin and his predecessors speak of the awakening of faith as bringing with it a sense of joy. In the Pure Land Way it is not necessarily lasting and its occurrence does not in itself signify the moment of the awakening of faith, which is so fleeting as to be impossible to grasp. In any case it cannot be apprehended by an unenlightened mind.

Shinran attributes Nagarjuna's entry into the Stage of Joy to the practice of the Nembutsu. In chapter nine of the Dasha Bhumi, Nagarjuna sets out the idea that faith is a possible alternative to the rigorous practice which most bodhisattvas must undertake, although he does not seem very enamoured of the idea. He was no doubt simply reiterating conceptions which already existed in both the Hinayana and Mahayana texts. Two notable examples, which I know from translations of the Pali cannon, are in the 'Chapter on the Fours' and the 'Discussions with King Milinda'. In the former Shakyamuni says that 'he who has faith (Pali: ppasada) of the highest shall have birth of the highest, and he who has faith of the Tathagata shall have birth of Tathagata' ... and so on. In the second passage Nagasena tells King Milinda (a king of the Greek kingdom of Gandhara) that faith is like a boat which can carry the aspirant across the stream to the 'other shore' of Nirvana.

The idea that faith is able to carry an aspirant to eventual Nirvana is based on a fundamental principle of the Buddha Dharma - no soul or ego (Sk. anatman). It is awakened in conjunction with the realisation of this 'sign' of truth (Sk. lakshana) at the first stage - both srotapanna (Hinayana) and pramudita (Mahayana) - when both faith and awareness of anatman become fixed. This awareness also lies behind the arising of joy because it signifies the experience of being released from the most weighty of hindrances, the illusion of self.

 

The world of religion today seems to be singularly devoid of a sense of joy. Instead various religious traditions seem to be engaged in an orgy of gutter-sniping - endlessly hurling vituperative insults and bombs at each other. Religious organisations seem to be populated by the denizens of hell. This of course is the public face of religion - the one that the mass media, in particular, want us to see. There is, in fact, still much joy to be found in many religious traditions and I believe that in all cases it is associated in one way or another with the abandonment of self. Although this abandonment may be perverse in the context - when, for example, it is associated with religions which tout an outcome of the spiritual life which is seen as a source of personal gain - I think it is, nevertheless, a genuine fact of religious experience. It is, strictly speaking, mystical and is not a common feature of most world religions. Especially is this the case for those which are based on adherence to tradition; that is, revelation that is 'handed down' and not regained for each individual in each generation, although capable of being understood by reason. This is perhaps why joy may be unfamliar to those who come from such a mainstream, traditional religious environment.

Some evangelical Christian sects - especially the so-called Pentecostal sects - are mystical, and their adherents experience joy as part of their religious practice. In both Judaism (kabbala) and Islam (sufism) there are also mystical traditions which know joy and, of course, Hinduism accepts mysticism within its ranks. In the larger Christian context many mystics - people who have a direct, personal experience of the divine - have flourished; but they have often been regarded with suspicion. A good example of this was the often vicious official persecution of hesychasm within the Byzantine church. Worse still was the total annihilation, in the only successful Crusade, of the entire Cathar culture - a mystical 'gnostic' religion in Languedoc that had become mainstream between the tenth and twelfth centuries. Official Islam, too, has often persecuted mystical sects, and suppressed joy.

Where the Dharma differs from the majority of world religions is that mysticism - by which I mean direct personal religious experience - is de rigeur; a normal part of the process of spiritual development. Buddhism actively encourages a personal and lucid encounter with reality but is inveterately apophatic, working by way of denial, throughout. The quintessential manifestation of this tendency is certainly to be found in Nagarjuna's Madhyamika teaching. Even so, as soon as one considers oneself to have attained a certain stage of development or spiritual realisation, the Buddha Dharma cautions us to beware of our addiction to our own cherished delusions.

The joy which accompanies pramudita and faith in the Buddha Dharma is no quiescent, passive thing. It inspires one to 'leap and dance with joy' and its effect is to afford a limpid mind and a gentle demeanour, along with a sense of ease of living. Needless to say, both Shinran Shonin and his disciples lamented that such rejoicing had abandoned them. Yet, this loss or abandonment by joy is not seen as undermining the awakening of faith. Why is this so? Does Jodo Shinshu discourage the traditionally mystical emphasis of the Dharma?

My answer to this is that it does not. Instead, like all healthy spiritual paths, it encourages us to 'come back to earth' - to return again to the inner reality of our own being; that we are, nevertheless, 'ordinary beings, filled with blind passions'. This is a deeply important part of the Dharma and began when Shakyamuni withrew from the, literal, 'enjoyment' of his Enlightenment and returned to the humdrum of everyday life to share his discovery with those of us who are in need of it.

So too for us. We who are tempted to think that any joy we may have experienced - even though it is so intense as to make us want to 'leap with joy' - is a condition, which we can own or hang on to, should remember that all attachment is an obstacle to truth and our eventual, final release from samsara.

- March 16, 2003.

Expression of joy: A Shaolin monk 'flying'