Topic for Hoza Discussion
Discussion:
Background and Setting - Week 1
Rest of the chapter - Week 2
Ten Suchnesses – Week 3
Chapter 2
Skillful Means
Topic for Hoza Discussion
Discussion:
Background and Setting - Week 1
Chapter 2
Skillful Means
Setting and Background
Week One
The Audience
Together
they
Represent
the
Bodhisattva
way
Maitreya represents
compassion
Manjushri represents
wisdom
Skillful Means
Title of this chapter in Japanese is
“Hoben” or Skillful Means
Buddha taught the truth for 40 years,
now it is time to reveal the one great
Truth – everyone can become a
buddha because everyone possesses
Buddha-Nature
Skillful Means
• Buddha has one goal – to reveal the
buddha-knowledge to all living beings
so they may obtain liberation from
suffering.
• Emphasizes the use of “countless
skillful means” appropriate to each
individual capacity.
Skillful Means
• This chapter teaches that skillful
means not only leads to Truth, they
are the Truth. Skillful means are part
of the process that leads to the
wisdom of the Buddha.
• Question: What exactly does “skillful
means” mean? Describe it in your
own words.
Buddha-Nature
• In your own words describe Buddha-nature.
• What is it and how do we know that we have
it?
• How is it displayed?
• Why do we care if we have it?
• What does it mean for us in the cycles of life?
• Give an example of when you noticed your
own buddha-nature shining through.
Wisdom
• The wisdom of the buddhas is that all things in
the universe are different, each having its own
personality, appearance, and behaviors – AND
– at the same time, all things are interrelated,
constantly changing, and are part of the same
universal life energy.
Real Liberation
• We know that each encounter offers us an
opportunity to evaluate and choose a course
of action in harmony with
the Dharma.
• We use the wisdom we have
gained to make the right
choices to grow spiritually.
As we grow, we help others
to grow.
• This is real liberation.
QUESTIONS
We use the wisdom we have gained to make
the right choices to grow spiritually.
• Can you give us an example when you
made a specific choice that led to obvious
growth on your spiritual path?
Topic for Hoza Discussion
Discussion:
Text of the Excerpt - Week 2
Chapter 2
Skillful Means
Week Two, continuing story
At that time, the World –honored One,
rising from samadhi, addressed
Shariputra:
Who was Shariputra?
Founder of the Abhidharma
tradition
Chapter 2 Skillful Means
The wisdom of the buddha is
infinite and very profound.
The gateway to their wisdom is
difficult to enter and difficult to
understand
Chapter 2 Skillful Means
-beyond the comprehension of
shravakas and even
pratyekabuddhas
Who were they?
Chapter 2 Skillful Means
The Tathagata is replete with skillful
means and the paramita of
knowledge and insight
Chapter 2 Skillful Means
The knowledge and insight of the
Tathagata is broad, great, profound,
and far-reaching
Infinite past
to the infinite
future
Chapter 2 Skillful Means
With infinite and
unhindered
powers,
fearlessness,
meditation,
emancipation,
and samadhi
Questions
• How comfortable are you as a teacher?
• What is your practice of chanting and/or
meditation?
• How do you use the teachings to guide
yourself in times of stress and trouble?
Chapter 2 Skillful Means
Explain the
teachings
skillfully, use
gentle words,
and bring joy
to the hearts of
all.
Questions
• Question: How do you typically respond
when someone is trying to teach you
something?
• How about when you did not ask for
guidance but someone decides you need
it, how do you respond?
Buddha-Nature
Only a buddha
together with
a buddha can
fathom the
ultimate
reality of all
things.
Questions
• What do you understand the term
Buddha-Nature to mean?
• Do you really believe that you and
everyone else has Buddha –Nature?
• What are the signs of your BuddhaNature?
Topic for Hoza Discussion
Discussion:
Ten Suchnesses- Week 3
Chapter 2
Skillful Means
Week 3
Ten Suchnesses
Such an appearance, such a nature, such a
substance, such a potency, such a function,
such a cause, such a condition, such an
effect, such a recompense, and yet in every
case such an ultimate integration of them
all.
Ten Suchnesses
“That is to say: all things have such an
appearance, such a nature, such a
substance, such a potency, such a function,
such a cause, such a condition, such an
effect, such a recompense, and yet in every
case such an ultimate integration of then
all.”
Chapter 2 Skillful Means
Reality of All Existence
The Chinese character referring to suchnesses has
many meanings
1. the sense of "in this way," "in that manner";
2. the sense of "faith";
3. the sense of "just as something is," or natural
aspect;
4. the sense of the Ten Suchnesses themselves.
Actually, all these senses are at work together
when we speak of the Ten Suchnesses.
Such a Form
-The existence of all things invariably has
form – phenomenon
• Six senses
• the attributes of everything that is
discernible, such as color, shape,
or behavior.
Such a Nature
• The character of an individual
• The inherent disposition or quality of a
person or thing that cannot be
discerned from the outward
appearance.
Such an Embodiment
• The substance of life that permeates as
well as integrates both appearance and
nature
• The thing itself
• The first three suchnesses describe the
reality of life itself. The next six suchnesses,
from the fourth through the ninth, explain
the functions and workings of life.
Such a Potency
• Life's potential energy.
Such a Function
• The activity produced when life's
inherent power or potential energy is
activated.
Such a Cause
• Internal cause (Primary Cause): the potential
cause in life that produces an effect of the same
quality as itself, i.e., good, evil, or neutral.
• Nothing in the universe is an isolated existence
having not relation to the other. All things have
complicated connections with one another.
They are interdependent and through their
interaction cause various phenomena. A cause
that produces such phenomena is called a
“primary cause.”
Such a Condition
• Even when there exists a cause, it does not
produce its effect until it comes into
contact with some occasion or condition.
• The relationship of secondary cause,
indirect causes to the internal cause.
Secondary causes are various conditions,
both internal and external, that help the
internal cause produce an effect.
Such an Effect
• When a primary cause meets with a
secondary cause, a phenomenon or
effect is produced
• the dormant effect produced in life
when an internal cause is activated
through its related conditions.
Such a Recompense
• Trace or residue from the
phenomenon produced by the effect
• the tangible, perceivable effect that
emerges in time as an expression of a
dormant effect and therefore of a
potential cause, again through its
related conditions.
Reality of All Existence
Such a complete fundamental whole.
• The previous 9 Suchnesses occur incessantly in
society and in the universe as a whole. They are
interconnected in a complex manner that most of
the time we cannot discern what is the cause and
what is the effect.
• The Suchnesses always operate according to the
law of the universal truth, and no one, no thing,
and no function can depart from the law.
Reality of All Existence
Such a complete fundamental whole.
• Everything functions according to the Law of the
Ten suchnesses, from form to recompense,
namely , from beginning to end.
• This is the meaning of “such a complete
fundamental whole.”
• The fact that all things, including man, and their
relations with one another are formed by this law
is called the Reality of All Existence
HOMEWORK - Reality of All Existence
Complete Fundamental Whole
Form
(Phenomenon)
Nature
(Character)
Embodiment
Potency
Function
Primary Cause
(Ability)
(Activity)
(Direct Cause)
(Entity)
Secondary Cause
Effect
(Occasion or
Condition)
(Effect)
Question: Which of the steps changes your behavior and
ultimately your life?
1. What was the situation caused you problems?
2. What did you first see or hear and how did you interpret it?
3. How could you have seen/heard it differently?
4. What different outcome would have occurred?