Rishu Kyo

Ok Today I will try to write about a sutra called the Rishu Kyo and how I came to incorporate it in my daily considering I am a Zen priest and that this sutra is a part of the Shingon School which is actually esoteric in comparison with Zen which tends to be more based on realism.

I will not comment on the whole sutra itself but will concentrate on the second part of the sutra. Since for me this part has been the glue between my Zen lineage and the Mikkyo (Esoteric) practices that I learned in Japan. The reason why I say glue is for the following reason that by nature Zen and Mikkyo tend to not interact very well when being studied at the same time since fundamentally the goal is the same but the means are quite different. For me studying the Rishu Kyo has really bonded both and I do not feel any conflicts between both practices anymore. I hope that my short lecture will help readers and please make some comments.

The English translation that I have used for this lecture is by Miyata Taisen. Miyata Sensei has based his English translation on the comment Written by Dr. Shoun Toganoo in Japanese.

Here is a brief description of the sutra.

Sanskrit name: Prajna-paramita-naya Sutra
Japanese name: Hannya Rishu Kyo

Translator from Sanskrit to Chinese: Amogha Vajra (Ch. Pu-Kung 705-774) at the Ta-Hsing-Shan-Si temple in the Capital of the Tang Dynasty named Chang-an

So here is the text for the second part of the sutra.

PART 2 Way of Supreme Joy

At that time, the glorious one, the Lord Vairocana turned the Dharma here in making clear the principle that all Dharma’s/things are pure in their own being and mutually, harmoniously interrelated and interactive with each other.

“Enraptured and embraced in the heart of Buddha,
Received the grace of the compassion,
Enclosed in affection (interaction) of the great, profound love.
One who knows the purity of such true state of the self-nature (mutual interaction) is a Bodhisattva.

An arrow of the craving and eager affection shot,
Quickly reaches and touches the beloved one.
Tied with the threads of immaculate love,
Live in joy and win the mastery in will.
One who knows the purity of such state of rapture is a Bodhisattva.
Seeing the Buddha as He is,
Delighting in touch with the beloved one,
Enlarging the scope of love,
Gained in heraldic dignity (dignitary pride),
One who knows the purity of such state of enjoyment is a Bodhisattva.
Endowed with the Buddha’s wisdom,
Fulfilling the happiness of mind,
Illuminating the light of compassion,
Rejoice at the physical pleasure.
One who knows the purity of such state of fulfillment is a Bodhisattva.
The color to be seen is Buddha,
The sound to be heard is His voice,
The odor to be smelt is the fragrance of his Dharma,
The taste to be touched is His teaching.
One who knows the purity of such state of the sensory perception is a Bodhisattva.

And why? Because all Dharmas/beings/things are pure in their own being. It is because of the fact that it is the nature of all Dharmas to be mutually interrelated and interwoven with each other, that here is the purity of the perfection of wisdom. Wherever one awakes to his own original nature of the purity, there is a true way to enlightenment.

If Vajrapani has once heard this method/way of the perfection of wisdom which consummates the purity of all Dharmas in their own being, all the clouds of his accumulated and misdirected harmful actions, obstacles to reaching the Dojo/Place of enlightenment – which have been produced by wrong knowledge, defilements, being incapable of hearing the Dharma, and his past karma – Will be removed. And he will never fall again into the painful realm of rebirth. Whoever bears this method in mind, recites it, studies it, and performs it daily, even if he has committed serious crimes and sins, he will attain to the state of Samadhi (perpetual peace/harmony) in this very life by apprehending the sameness of all Dharmas, receive unlimited joy and happiness, and generate within his body the meritorious power of the everlasting, imperishable state of mind.

Thereupon, the lord Vajarapani Bodhisattva who has demonstrated spontaneously the true state (Abhi-Samaya) of enlightenment of all the Tathagatas, the best of all the noble assemblies/retinue, the conqueror of the triple realm, has achieved and is achieving the work/mission of all the Tathagatas benefiting all sentient beings.

In order to show again the importance of the way of great enjoyment – the principle of the perfection of wisdom – he demonstrated it smiling softly, forming the mudra of immovable confidence – that his forming the vajra fist in his left hand to place it to his left waist, raising the esoteric tool (five pronged vajra) with his right hand which signifies the original nature of enlightenment, and putting it to his chest.

Then he made the posture in confidence and uttered the heart mantra ‘’Hum’’ which reveals the significance of producing the vow of imperishable great enjoyment and providing its benefits to all living beings.

END OF PART 2

OK!!! So here we are after reading the second part of the Rishu Kyo. I am sure that there must be many mixed feelings after reading this part. The first being hey this stuff is great! It tells us to enjoy ourselves! The second being Wait a minute we are supposed to cut all those afflictions according to most Buddhist scriptures I have read. So finally what the heck is this Rishu Kyo about?

Well basically in Buddhism we are also told that it is also about using skillful means in order to liberate people from their afflictions. So in the case of the Rishu Kyo Vairocana Buddha when preaching is using the motivating power of passion in order to liberate and motivate sentient beings to practice the Dharma. So that being said we can say that after reading this part that most of our human actions that are usually to be negated in other sutras are to be cultivated in this one and perfected. I see no problem with this except the fact that to some readers taking this only at the first level this could be pushing them in the realm of excess of lust etc…

So to me what this chapter is representing is that all actions in everyday life are part of the dharma and can be used with the proper introspection to train ourselves and make full usage of our time in this realm in order to prefect our understanding and inclusion of all matter. Basically to see everything as one being entity.

Sadly I feel my explanation oversimplifies this sutra but I hope this will make readers curious about this lesser known sutra which is actually part of the daily practice of Shingon priests and also incorporates most of the Mikkyo concepts.

Thank you for reading.