Daisetsu Suzuki Buddhists' ideal
I've learned the difference between the earlier Buddhists(Hinayanists) and the later Buddhists(Mahayanists). I've realised Buddhists' ideal through Mr.Daisetsu Suzuki. I'd like to introduce you to his lecture on Zen philosophy at Wellesley College, March10,1958.
Earlier Buddhists confined their salvation to the individual; they did not extend that teaching of salvation to others. If they were saved, themselves, that was enough. If they save themselves, others also are to save themselves, by themselves, not asking others to help them.
Buddha taught something to that effect: "Do not believe in me; do not believe my teaching. You hear, listen to my talk, and test it by yourself. Appeal to your own experience. And if you find it true, accept it. Don't believe in me just because I have a little more experience than you. Don't believe what I say to you for that reason. Believe in yourself!" That is altogether personal verification, just the opposite of scientific verification. In the end, it comes to yourself. You cannot rely on others. I was switched away.
The earlier Buddhists confined salvation to themselves. Nobody could help others. We have to help ourselves. But Mahayanists, the later Buddhists, thought that was not final. We have what we call sympathy or compassion. That is not just the compound word. I like to divide them into two -- sym-pathy or com-passion. We have feelings in common. So to save oneself we have to save others. We can never save just ourselves. By helping others, I may be able to save myself. My salvation and others' salvation are so intimately involved, connected together, that we can never save ourselves just by ourselves. We must always be saved together. Not simultaneously-- universal salvation may go on 'til the end of time, the end of eternity, if there is such a thing. If there is no end of time, we have to go on saving each other, saving others and oneself. There will be no end.
Mahayanists appeal to the common feeling we all have, not only human beings. This salvation was to be extended to so-called inanimate beings, non-sentient beings. So, universal salvation did not mean just human beings, but animals-- dogs and cats, horses, lions, tigers, snakes, centipedes, scorpions-- they are all to be saved. Not only that , but mountains, trees we see outside, and the rocks, earth, rivers, all those things were to be saved. This universal salvation was not to be confined to just human beings. It was to be extended over all existences, because Mahayana Buddhists conceived that we are not alone, not only among human beings, but with other beings as well.
Mahayanists' ideal person was the one whose loving arms will hold everything: men, women, birds, animals, earth, water and so on . That was called a bodhisattva. Mahayana Buddhists' ideal was to realize bodhisattvahood. (Bodhisattava = Bosatsu in Japanese)
Daisetsu Suzuki 鈴木大拙 1870-1966
Japanese author, English-language translator, professor of Zen practice and Buddhist philosophy.He went on a lecture tour of American universities in 1951, and taught at Columbia University from 1952-57.
