[One Thousand Characters a Day] The Lotus Sutra for Humanities Readers <1> - The Doctor Called Buddha

Editor's NoteThe Lotus Sutra offers insight into the Buddha who continuously practices the bodhisattva path?guiding people in the world and purifying their minds. Furthermore, through the bodhisattva path, it reveals what kind of beings we are, holding the potential of Buddhahood ourselves. The original Sanskrit title of this sutra can be interpreted as "The Sutra of the True Law Like a White Lotus," meaning it is an outstanding teaching among the Buddha’s many sermons, like a white lotus flower. This article introduces why the Lotus Sutra was created in the distant past, what story it tells, and what life lessons that story offers to us living over 2,500 years later, through The Lotus Sutra for Humanities Readers written by Professor Ha Young-su of Geumgang University’s Department of Buddhist Humanities. Word count: 909.

The Buddha is often likened to a doctor who cures the illness of afflictions that people carry. Although we cannot know how many types of diseases exist in the world, as times change and medicine advances, the number of diseases increases and the treatments diversify.

In Buddhism, there is the term "108 defilements." This means that there are many kinds of afflictions that cause us suffering and distress. Moreover, to express the suffering of sentient beings, not only the term "defilements" is used but also various other terms.

Thus, the defilements counted in Buddhism come in many types, and the terms used to describe them are diverse. This shows that our tendencies, abilities, situations, and environments are all different, and therefore the Buddha’s teachings had to be varied as well.

These teachings of the Buddha are often called the "Eighty-Four Thousand Dharma Teachings." "Eighty-Four Thousand" is a figurative expression meaning that countless teachings were given. These eighty-four thousand teachings can be seen as the Buddha’s tailored prescriptions considering the diversity of sentient beings.

The metaphor of illness and prescription carries an important implication. Although prescriptions vary depending on the type and symptoms of the illness, the purpose of treatment is one: the restoration of health. The Buddha’s teachings are the same. Although countless teachings have been passed down in the Buddhist tradition, all of them aim to remove afflictions, develop wisdom, and reach ultimate freedom and happiness.

Explaining this metaphor of curing illness in the terms of the Lotus Sutra, the teachings given by the Buddha according to the situation of sentient beings are called "expedient means," and the ultimate purpose of using these expedient means is called "truth." We can expect that while expedient means are diverse, the truth is one. This is similar to a great teacher who teaches in various ways suited to the abilities of disciples, but whose teaching purpose remains the same.

- Ha Young-su, The Lotus Sutra for Humanities Readers, Bulgwang Publishing, 16,000 KRW