June, 2007
LIKE A PURE WHITE LOTUS
By Rev. Yushi Mukojima
There is a magnificent Japanese garden behind the Seabrook Buddhist Temple in New Jersey
where I used to work. The beautiful cherry blossoms and varieties of flowers which bloom in the
springtime and the brilliant leaves in autumn make the people there feel happy. Moreover, there is a
large pond in the middle of the garden with a beautiful lotus rising out of it. It is such a luxurious
space.
However a temple member told me that there used to be many statues of Buddha and lanterns
around the pond. One night some mischievous young neighbors stole into the garden and threw all
of them into the pond. What a pitiful story. When I heard this, I asked some members to help me
locate the items in the pond.
Eventually the water was drained from the pond so we could begin our search. The mud at the
bottom of the pond was deeper than I imagined it would be, so we had to struggle hard. Our task did
not turn out to be as easy as I had wished. However, after two days and with the Sangha members’
great help, we somehow found and removed all the lanterns and statues of Buddha which had been
buried in the mud. Especially because most of the members who helped were elderly, I really
appreciated everyone who handled this big job. Although this happened five years ago, whenever I
close my eyes, that beautiful Japanese garden still rises in my mind.
What I realized when we searched the pond was that the bottom from which the lotus bloomed
was even dirtier with mud than I had imagined. This was the lotus flower everyone knows grows in
mud and which I have mentioned in my Dharma talks many times. Nonetheless, when I saw the
bottom of the pond with my own eyes, I was profoundly surprised that the beautiful lotus flower
blooms in such dirty water. I was deeply impressed by the magnificence of the lotus flower.
The lotus flower appears in many Sutras. Above all, it is described in the “Meditation on the
Buddha of Infinite Life Sutra,” which Shin Buddhism values. In it Shakyamuni Buddha says, “If a
person who recites the Nembutsu is present, you should realize that this person is a very precious
person to be praised as a pure white lotus among people. Therefore, two attendant Bodhisattva of
Amida Buddha, Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta, make great friends for this person. Then,
the person will be reborn in Amida Buddha’s Pure Land, the home of all Buddhas, and will surely
attain Buddhahood.”
Shinran Shonin also praises the Nembutsu follower as a white lotus by saying in the Shoshin-Ge,
“All foolish beings, whether good or evil, when they hear and entrust to Amida’s universal Vow, are
praised by the Buddha as people of vast and excellent understanding. Such a person is called a
pure white lotus.”
As you all know, the lotus is the symbol of Buddhism. Many statues of Buddha and Bodhisattva
depict them standing or seated on a throne or dais in the shape of a lotus. And there is a saying in
the Amida Sutra, “In the lakes of the Pure Land, each blue, yellow, red, and white lotus flower
blooms beautifully just as it is, and they are most exquisite and purely fragrant.”
Do you know why the lotus symbolizes Buddhism?
The lotus cannot grow in a clear stream. It pushes its buds up out of the stagnant mud. The buds
grow, spreading large, green, wheel-like leaves among which the beautiful flower blooms with
elegance. It is not stained with a single speck of mud. Though rooted in muck, the flower blooms
beautifully without being dirty. It is also how we wish it. We Buddhists apply significance to the lotus
and make it a symbol of Buddhism.
As I mentioned, Shakyamuni Buddha praised a Nembutsu person, saying he was like a pure white
lotus.
There are some people who acknowledge one’s muddy state by saying, “I know I am a foolish
person. You don’t have to tell me that. Shinran Shonin also says, ‘Our mind of greed, anger,
ignorance will never end until our dying hour,’ so I know, it cannot be helped.” These people are like
flowers marked with mud.
Then there are some people who think that we cannot be enlightened unless we get rid of our
dirty mind; that we must not have a greedy, angry mind; and that if we don’t rid ourselves of our
“mud” (faults), the beautiful world will never open to us. Such people think that a lotus flower can
only bloom in a clear stream.
These two types of people represent “Elimination of Buddhism” and “Receiving of Buddhism.”
Elimination of Buddhism” means that we give up our evil passions to be enlightened. “Receiving of
Buddhism” means we accept our evil passions and depend upon Buddha entirely to be enlightened.
If we remove selfish desire, we cannot live. We cannot live unless we are rooted in the mud.
Shinran Shonin never said, “You should give up your selfish desire!” On the contrary, he said, “You
should accept everything as it is because you cannot get rid of it.” He teaches us the way to live,
even burdened with evil passions.
Our life and our desires are the very things that are symbolized by “lotus flower and mud.” Selfish
desire makes us dirty and so we try to get rid of it, and fall into this way of thinking. But when we
deeply observe the lotus, we realize that the mud is essential for its existence. It cannot bloom in
clear, spring water. It is a wonderful world where the lotus blooms beautifully only because of the
mud. So the mud which should be discarded becomes the mud which we must not discard.
The Nembutsu follower is just an ordinary person who lives with his desires. He has a deep
awareness that he lives in the mud but also realizes that he is neither drowning in mud nor stained
by it. Although our thoughts may at times be muddied, the lotus flower (Buddha’s great compassion)
takes root in our minds. This is the very “Receiving of Buddhism” which Shinran Shonin teaches.
A person who rejoices at the Buddha’s compassion is like the lotus in the mud. I sincerely hope
each one of us will see ourselves as a pure white lotus and live a fruitful life together with the
Nembutsu.
In Gassho,
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