The Poetry of Buddhism

Posted on January 16, 2021 by Ron Pavellas

On November 2 of last year, I wrote about my interest in reading the Records of the Transmission of the Lamp. It has to do with the “transmission” of the essential teachings (Dharma) of Buddhism from one teacher (“patriarch”) to the next in a line of succession beginning with Siddhartha Gautama (also known as Buddha Shakyamuni), starting in India and thence into China.

Buddhism is observed by a half-billion people in the world:

Religion by Country 2020

Seated Buddha: Sarnath Museum , Sarnath, India

Christianity – 2.38 billion
Islam – 1.91 billion
Hinduism – 1.16 billion
Buddhism – 507 million
Folk Religions – 430 million
Other – 61 million
Unaffiliated – 1.19 billion

Buddhism is more of a ‘way’ than a religion. There have been many buddhas. The Buddha who is referred to most often, Buddha Shakyamuni, was not and is not a god. He is an ‘enlightened one’ who showed others how also to become enlightened. Any and each of us can become a buddha or, more precisely, realize the buddha within.

This Way has passed down to Shakyamuni’s successor patriarchs (masters, teachers), by tradition, with a gatha (four-line poem) in a formal transmission shortly before the master’s death or retirement.

Gathas of the Patriarchs, upon transmitting the Dharma to their Successors
(Death dates, where noted, are according to Japanese sources)

Shakyamuni/Gautama Buddha

Dharma’s original Dharma is no-dharma
The Dharma of no-dharma is also a dharma
When no-dharma is being transmitted
How could this Dharma of dharmas be a Dharma?

1st successor: Mahakasyapa, died 905 BCE

Each thing’s original Dharma
Is neither a Dharma, nor a non-dharma
How could there be a Dharma or a non-dharma
In any dharma?

2nd Ananda

Originally handed down is the Dharma
Having been handed down it is called no-dharma
Everyone must awaken it to themselves
Having awoken to it nothing is not Dharma

3rd Sanakavasa, died 805 BCE

Wheel of Dharma
jing-reed.deviantart.com

It is neither a dharma or a heart
For neither heart nor dharmas exist
When talking of heart and dharma
This Dharma is not the heart or the dharma

4th Upagupta, died 760 BCE

Heart is Heart from the very beginning
Yet the Original Heart is not an existent dharma
Where Dharma is, there is Original Heart
Yet it is neither a heart nor an original dharma

5th Dhirtaka

Penetrating the Dharma of the Original Heart
There is neither Dharma nor no-dharma
Awakened is the same as not-yet awakened
For there is neither the Heart nor Dharma

6th Micchaka

There is no Heart, nothing to be obtained
Talk of obtained cannot be called Dharma
Understanding Heart as no-heart
Is beginning to understand the Heart of the Heart-Dharma

Forest Buddha, mindfuldiscipline.blogspot.com

7th Vasumitra, died 588 BCE

The Heart is like the realm of empty space
Revealing the quality of empty dharmas
When emptiness is experienced
There are no dharmas, neither good nor bad

8th Buddhanandi, died 533 BCE

Emptiness is without inside or outside
The Heart of the Dharma is also like this
If emptiness is understood
This permeates the principle of true Suchness

9th Buddhamitra, died 495 BCE

The True Principle originally has no name
Yet words can clarify the True Principle
On coming to the True Real Dharma
It is neither a true, nor a false one

10th Parshva, died 417 BCE

The true essence is naturally true
Being true it is said to have principle;
Real understanding of this is the True Dharma
There is no going, also no abiding

11th Punyayashas, died 401-376? BCE

Delusion and awakening are light darkness and light
Light and dark are not mutually exclusive
Now, handing over the Dharma of darkness and light
It is neither one nor is it two

12th Ashvagosha, died 332 BCE

Hidden and revealed in the Great Dharma
Awakening and ignorance are originally not-two
Now, passing on the awakened understanding of the Dharma
It is not something to take or leave

13th Kapimala, died 274 BCE

Neither a concealed nor a revealed Dharma
It expounds the region of True Reality
Awakened to this Dharma concealed and revealed
It is neither foolish nor wise

Nagarjuna and Aryadeva as Two Great Indian Buddhist Scholastics

14th Nagarjuna, died 212 BCE

To clarify the Dharma, concealed and revealed
Just the principle of liberation is spoken of
But if the Heart does not get caught up in Dharma
Then neither joy nor anger exists

15th,  Aryadeva 157 BCE

To the person actually receiving Dharma-transmission
It is spoken of as the principle of emancipation
Yet in the Dharma there is really nothing to testify to
For it is without beginning and without end

16th Rahulata, died 113 BCE

In the Dharma truly nothing is to be witnessed
It cannot be grasped or laid aside
Dharma is not a form existent or non-existent
So, how could inside and outside arise then?

17th Sanghanandi, died 74 BCE

The heart-ground is originally birthless
The causal ground arises from relative causes
Relative cause and seed do not impede each other
The flower and fruit also respond thus

18th Gayasata, died 13 BCE

There is the seed and there is the heart-ground
Primary and secondary causes can bring forth the fruit
In the secondary cause there is no obstruction
It is born ever again yet it is unborn

In Chiangmai, Thailand, 2014

19th Kumarata, died 23 CE

The True Nature is supreme, originally birthless
As it is said to one who seeks—
That since there is nothing to acquire in the Dharma
Why cherish certainties one way or another?

20th Jayata, died 74 CE

To be in union with the Unborn through one word
Is to be united with the nature of the Dharma realm
If one can be liberated like this
Penetration of Relative and Absolute is complete

21st Vasubandhu, died 125? CE

Bubbles and shadows are both without obstructions
So how could there not be awakening?
The penetration of dharmas goes through their middle
There is no present, there is no past

22nd Manorhita, died 167? CE

The heart flows with the cycles of the ten-thousand things
These cycles are truly mysterious
Follow the flow and know,
The True Nature is without joy or sorrow

Buddha’s Lesson on Forgiveness
brewminate.com

23rd Haklena

One Dharma is all dharmas
All dharmas are units of a single Dharma
My body is neither existent nor non-existent
Why divide into so many stupas?

24th Aryasimha

When speaking truly about knowing-awareness
The Knowing-awareness is all Heart
Since it is heart that is Knowing-awareness,
Knowing-awareness is the present moment.

25th Basiasita, died 325 CE

The sage talks of knowing awareness
In the world it is neither right nor wrong
As I realize the True Nature now
It is neither a path nor a principle

26th Punyamitra

The True Nature is the treasury of the Heart-ground
It has neither head nor tail
Affinity is a condition for the transformation of things
For convenience it is called wisdom

27th Prajnatara, died 457 CE

In Heart-ground are all seeds
Due to phenomena principle also arises
Fruit ripened is Bodhi completed
The flower opens and worlds arise

Bodhidharma
realizedone.com

28th Indian Patriarch
1st Chinese Patriarch, Bodhidharma

I originally came to this land
To transmit the Dharma and save deluded beings
To be a flower that unfolds five petals*
From which a fruit will ripen naturally

*The future five schools (houses) of Chan/Zen Buddhism

2nd Chinese Patriarch Hui-kho, died 592 CE

In the beginning because there was ground
A flower was planted then bloomed
If in the future there is no ground
Where will the flowers come from?

3rd Seng-ts’an, died 606 CE

Flower seeds need to have ground
From the ground is how flowers grow
But if a seed lacks the nature to grow
Even in the ground it won’t grow

4th Tao-sin, died 651 CE

Flower seeds have the nature to grow
They grow when they’re planted in the ground
But if karmic causes don’t come together
Nothing at all will grow

5th Hung-jin, died 673 CE

A sentient being plants a seed
An insentient flower blooms
Without sentient beings or seeds
The mind would be a barren ground

Hui-Neng
dabase.org

6th Hui-neng, died 713 CE

The ground of the mind contains living seeds
When the Dharma rains flowers grow
Once you find a flower’s living seeds
The fruit of enlightenment follows

Toward the end of his life Hui-neng left his followers with a verse called The Liberation of Seeing the Real Buddha in Your Nature:

The pure nature of suchness in the real buddha
The three poisons[1] of falsehood are the real mara (demon)
People who see falsely have a mara in their house
People who see truly have a Buddha as their guest.

When the Three Poisons of Falsehood appear in your nature
The king of all maras makes himself at home
When true views drive the Poisons from your mind
The mara becomes a buddha, a real one not a false one.

The transformation, realization, and the dharma body
All three bodies[2] are basically one
If you search inside you this is what you’ll find
The cause of enlightenment that leads to Buddhahood.

From the transformation body your pure nature rises
Your pure nature dwells in the transformation body
And leads you down the path of truth
Where future perfection has no limit.

— (verse omitted)

If the direct teaching makes sense to you in this life
You will understand before you is a buddha
If you try to find a buddha through your practice
I wonder where you’ll find on that’s real.

If you can find something real inside yourself
This something real is the cause of buddhahood
Don’t look for a buddha outside what is real
All those who go in search for one are fools.

This direct teaching came here from the West (India)
But liberating others is up to you to practice
I urge you students of the Way today
Don’t act so depressed when you hear this.

Here is an interpretation of this verse and commentary from The Platform Sutra, Translation and Commentary by Red Pine:

See your nature and become a buddha. Where else are we going to find a buddha? Bodhidharma put it this way: “Beyond this mind you’ll never find another buddha. To search for enlightenment or nirvana beyond this mind is impossible. The reality of your own self-nature, not something that is a cause or an effect, this is what is meant by the mind. Your mind is nirvana. You might think you can find a buddha or enlightenment somewhere beyond the mind, but such a place doesn’t exist.”[3]

[1] Delusion, greed, anger

[2] Body of realization (future and perfect body), body of manifestation (transformation body), body of reality (dharmakaya)

[3] From the Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma, p.9

NB: Translations of the gathas from Indian patriarchs are from volume 1 of Records of the Transmission of the Lamp. Translations of the gathas from Chinese patriarchs including Bodhidharma are from Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma.

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The Century of Africa

Posted on January 10, 2021 by Ron Pavellas

During the remaining 80 years of this century Africa’s population will more than triple to around 4.3 billion. (Source: United Nations, Population Division)

Also from the above:
– Asia’s population will remain relatively constant at around 4.5 billion.
– The Americas will grow relatively slightly and Europe will decrease relatively slightly in population.
– Together, Africa and Asia in 2100 will contain over 80% of the world’s population.
– In 2100 the world will contain almost 11 Billion people.

Here are 12 of the 54 countries in Africa which will, in year 2100, have populations of at least 100 millions, which in the aggregate will contain 2/3  of the population:
It boggles my mind that these countries may achieve such populations between now and 80 years hence. Assuming the United Nations will find that their projections are substantially correct, I wonder about the ability of these countries, even with imports from other continents, to continue to feed the people. I wonder about the effects on the environment, the availability of potable water, effective sewerage and refuse disposal, and so forth.

The projected population increases, for all 54 countries, range from near zero to almost 600%. Exactly half (27) of the countries will at least double in population:
For comparison, the United States grew, in the 80 years from 1920 to 2000, from around 106 Million to over 291 Million, an increase of 175%. However, the 48 contiguous USA states are much larger than any African country, the three largest being, in order, Algeria (30% of the area of the 48 U.S. states), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (29%), and Sudan (23%)– going down to number 14 in this list to Nigeria, which has an area 11% of that of the 48 US states. And, Nigeria is expected to have 733 Million people by year 2100.

So, again, if these population projections will prove to be substantially correct, African nations will need help to build their infrastructure and to develop better governance.

About better governance

Eight years ago I wrote an article: What Went Wrong with Africa? after attending a colloquium at The Swedish Institute of International Affairs.  Professor Roel van der Veen of the University of Amsterdam told us that…

… when current African countries gained their independence from European colonial powers the existing elites were purged or they left the country. A new elite replaced them which are different from the elites of developing countries. These are local chiefs and other leaders from the local level, not all of whom had similar interests, other than to retain local power. This makes the state a fragile entity because these elites do not have the concept of a state foremost in their interests.

To satisfy the elites the government subsidizes their basic needs, especially food. The state government, as a monopsony,  buys the agricultural produce from the farmers at below world-market prices and sells it to the elites at a profit, but still at below world market prices. Over time, the farmers are discouraged and some number of them migrates in one of two directions: toward the city, or toward more remote areas to return to subsistence farming. Thus, the agricultural base of the nation-state is reduced and, concomitantly, its wealth.

Mohammed Ibrahim

Enter Mohammed “Mo” Ibrahim , a Sudanese-British billionaire businessman. He worked for several telecommunications companies, before founding Celtel, which when sold had over 24 million mobile phone subscribers in 14 African countries. After selling Celtel in 2005 for $3.4 billion, he set up the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to encourage better governance in Africa, as well as creating the Mo Ibrahim Index, to evaluate nations’ performance. In 2007 he initiated the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, which awards a $5 million initial payment, and a $200,000 annual payment for life to African heads of state who deliver security, health, education and economic development to their constituents and democratically transfer power to their successors. Ibrahim has pledged to give at least half of his wealth to charity by joining The Giving Pledge.

The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership is awarded to a former Executive Head of State or Government by an independent Prize Committee composed of eminent figures, including two Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. The Prize recognises and celebrates African leaders who have developed their countries, lifted people out of poverty and paved the way for sustainable and equitable prosperity, and highlights exceptional role models for the continent. With a $5 million initial payment, plus $200,000 a year for life, the Prize is believed to be the world’s largest. (Wikipedia)

In 2007 the inaugural Prize was awarded to former president Joaquim Chissano  of Mozambique, for “his role in leading Mozambique from conflict to peace and democracy.

In 2008 Festus Mogae, former leader of Botswana, won the Prize. “President Mogae’s outstanding leadership has ensured Botswana’s continued stability and prosperity in the face of an HIV/AIDS pandemic, which threatened the future of his country and people.”

In 2009 the Prize Committee did not select a winner. The controversial decision came following the consideration of “credible candidates” and was interpreted by many as a laudable act in establishing a standard of credibility for the Prize.

In 2010 the Prize Committee decided not to award the prize.

In 2011 the Prize was awarded to Pedro Pires, former president of Cape Verde.

In 2014 the Prize was awarded to Hifikepunye Pohamba, former president of Namibia,: “During the decade of  (his) Presidency, Namibia’s reputation has been cemented as a well-governed, stable and inclusive democracy with strong media freedom and respect for human rights.

In 2017 the Prize was awarded to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former president of Liberia: “In very difficult circumstances, she helped guide her nation towards a peaceful and democratic future, paving the way for her successor to follow.”

As one can see, there have been five awards in the 13 years of this prize, to date through 2019 (leaving time, still, for a prize to be possibly awarded for year 2020).

Therefore, I reiterate: African nations, especially in light of their enormous population increases over the next 80 years, need help with their governance, which will be necessary to lead toward more effective development of their infrastructure.

Enter China
On May 4, 2019, Panos Mourdoukoutas wrote for Forbes.com: What China Wants From Africa? Everything.

China wants everything from Africa: its strategic location, its oil, its rare earth metals, and its fish, leaving African nations indebted to Beijing. In its long history, Africa has served the global ambitions of many foreigners. Foreigners have reached out to Africa as missionaries, financiers, and infrastructure builders. They have promised to place the continent on the globalization map and help its people grow out of poverty. But they ended up grabbing Africa’s riches, colonizing one nation after another, and letting their people steep in poverty. That may end up being the case again, with China’s recent infrastructure investment projects in the continent.

On the surface, these projects seem to serve the quest of African nations to build a sound infrastructure. But on closer examination, they serve China’s ambitions to write the rules of the next stage of globalization.  China wants to use Africa as a location to secure maritime roads that facilitate Chinese exports, as evidenced by Beijing’s large military presence in Djibouti.

Then there are Africa’s resources, oil, rare earth metals, and fish. “As a South African, I’ve seen China’s activities on the continent up close,” says Ted Bauman, Senior Research Analyst at Banyan Hill Publishing. “It’s clear that China’s primary goal with foreign investment is geopolitical, not economic. The most consequential investments are undertaken by state owned companies, not by Chinese private capital. They tend to focus on infrastructure like highways, ports and dams, and on public networks like the electrical grid.” (My emphasis)

That’s something many African countries desperately need in their bid to develop their economies. The trouble is that “these investments help to bind countries to China politically, and through debt obligations,” explains Bauman. “It creates a form of leverage that China can use to force these countries to support Chinese ambitions globally. In some cases, such as the Angolan oil sector or Congolese rare earth mining, Chinese investment helps to lock-in supply relationships with essential commodities.”

It seems clear that China (and to a lesser degree, Brazil and Russia, not discussed here) has seen into this future and has taken action on its own behalf well before other nations (esp. EU and USA) have effectively engaged with Africa for their economic and strategic interests.

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