The baby Buddha, one hand pointing to heaven and the other to earth, bathed to celebrate his birth, is said to have declared, “Between heaven and earth I only am honored.” This phrase derived from the Buddha Vipassi (Vipaśyn), the first of the legendary Seven Buddhas. The legend is to aggrandize the Buddhas’ achievements with unbelievable times, ages, etc. Though it is ascribed to the Buddha Gotama, the seventh in the legend, was from the Indian tradition of the Seven Sages. (Other legends mention Twenty Five or Twenty Eight Buddhas.)
“I only am honored” is translated differently in different scriptures, but the first Buddha’s statement in the Dhiga Nikaya is simply “I am valued.” This is not a megalomaniac claim of “I only am honored,” often misinterpreted as “I only am honored, and no others.” If we consider the Two Refuges of Self and Dharma in his historical last teaching before his death, it becomes clear that the self is the valued agent to practice the Dharma (truth/ethic). One’s own self and others’ selves are equally valued in witnessing the Dharma and practicing it.
He recommended that we “resort to the self, not others” and “resort to the Dharma, not humans.” We know that the former is what is meant by “I am valued,” and the latter must be noted at the same time, beyond human selves. It is clear that each and every person must first rely on one’s own self to test and verify truth, and act according to it ethically, not blindly following others’ sayings or beliefs, and then even one’s own views and values must be tested to see if they are universal and eternal truth beyond karma (the Triple Poisons, etc.), limited by time, space, etc.
It is said that those who see the Buddha see the Dharma, and those who see the Dharma see the Buddha. Each and every one must learn from the Buddha to know the Dharma and live closer to him and his Dharma – how he found and lived the Dharma (truth/ethic). Humans created civilization, thus the political, economic, social, and cultural systems, which may collide with individuals’ living in truth and ethic. Thus, we must reconsider, reform, renew, and restore the more original, universal, eternal truth/ethic into our present systems.
What happens if money, might, and matter rule over the world, going against our life, harmony, and heart, and much more against all living beings on earth – money, might, and matter controlling the life, harmony, and hearts of our politics, economy, society, and culture, much more that of all life forms, ecology, climate, life itself? This is exactly the present situation of the globe with mass extinction, pollution, abnormal phenomena, nuclear holocaust, etc. No one should allow untruth and unethical behaviors of any individual, community, or country. We need paradigm shifts in our world.
We are now facing the COVID-19 pandemic, with a surge of patients and deaths. There is an interesting case comparing Sweden and the other Nordic nations, where the former did not take any social measures, leaving everyone to take responsibility, and the latter taking social responsibility, regulating individuals. The former showed several times more cases than the latter, a hundred times more than Japan (now the second worst in Asia). This shows the necessity of meeting the Dharma, a greater truth/ethic than the self (individual, nation, etc.).
Gandhi said that the Ganges of rights takes its origin in the Himalaya of duties. Human rights are limited by region, age, species, etc., but must be reconsidered in wider, longer, universal perspectives and reformed for the benefit of the majority, all beings, eco systems, etc. This is why we need the paradigm shift from selfish karma to holy Dharma, from sinfulness (separated sickness) to holiness (wholly wholesomeness), from human rights to global ethic, from pyramidal civilization to life Indra-net culture, etc.
October 18, 2020 C.E. Dharma note
Note:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/28/europe/sweden-coronavirus-lockdown-strategy-intl/index.html
https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
誕生祝いで沐浴される、片手で天を指し他方の手で地を指した、幼子の仏陀は「天上天下唯我独尊」と述べたと言われています。この言葉は伝説的な七仏の最初のビパシ佛に由来します。伝説は仏陀の業績を、信じられない程の時間、年齢などで、偉大化するものです。それは、伝説の七番目の、ゴータマ佛に帰せられていますが、インドの伝統である七聖から来たものです（他の伝説では二十五や二十八佛があります。）
「唯我独尊」は別のお経では別様に訳されていますが、長阿含経での最初の仏陀の言述は単に「唯我尊」です。これは屡「唯我独りのみ尊く、他は然らず」と誤って解釈される様な「唯我独尊」の誇大妄想の主張ではありません。彼の死の前の最後の歴史的教えにある自と法の二洲を考えれば、我が法（真理・倫理）を実践する価値ある自己であることは明らかです。自分の自己と他者の自己は平等に法を覚証し実践するのです。
彼は「依自、不依他」、「依法、不依人」を勧めました。前者が「唯我尊」の意味するものであることが判り、人間の自己を越えた後者が同時に注意されなければなりません。誰でも皆先ず自己に依って、他人の言説や信仰に盲目的に従うのでなく、真実を試し確証をえて、それに従って倫理的に行動しなければなりませんが、その後に自分の見解や価値観が時間空間などによって制限された業（三毒など）を超えた普遍的で永遠の真理であるかを試さなければなりません。
「佛を見る者は法を見る、法を見る者は佛を見る」と言われています。誰でも皆法を知る為に―彼が法（真理・倫理）を如何に発見し生きたかについて―佛を知り佛と法に近く生きなければなりません。人間は文明を創り政治・経済・社会・文化組織を創りましたが、個人の真理・倫理の生き方と衝突するかも知れません。そういう訳で私達は自分達の現在の文明を再考し、改革し、改新し、もっと本来の普遍的で永遠な真理・倫理を持ち込まなければなりません。
もし金・力・物が、私達の命・和・心に反して世界を、まして地上の一切衆生を、支配したら―金・力・物が私達の政治・経済・社会・文化の命・和・心を、まして一切生命体・生態・寄稿・命そのものを支配したら、どうなるでしょうか？これが大量絶滅、汚染、異常現象、核ホロコーストなどを抱えた地球の現在の状況です。誰も如何なる個人・共同体・国家のものでも非真理・非倫理の行為を許してはなりません。私達は自分達の世界に枠組転換を必要としています。
ガンジーは権利のガンジスは義務のヒマーラヤにその淵源をもつと言いました。人権は地域・時代・種族などにより制限されていますが、より広く、長く、普遍的な視野から再考され多数、一切衆生、生態系などの利益の為に改革されなければなりません。これは私達が自己中心の業から聖なる法へ、罪（差別病患）から聖性（全体健全）へ、人権から地球倫理へ、金字塔文明から命帝網文化への枠組転換が必要な理由です。
2020共通年10月18日 法語
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The above pictures were taken and sent by Mr. Noriyuki Otsuka from Japan
上の写真は日本から大塚卿之さんが撮り送ってくれたものです。
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The above picture can be enlarged to see the details.
上の写真は詳細を見る為に拡大可能です。
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