Of Devadatta and Shakyamuni Buddha

Apparently, the view of Devadatta I'd been exposed to is not one shared by all who call themselves Buddhists today. So, in an attempt to be respectful to those holding a different view, I invite you to connect to the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devadatta

The view I was taught depicts Devadatta as a villainous figure who, though a cousin of Shakyamuni, tried to kill him and had sought to take over the samgha as a successor to the Buddha. Assuming that view to be the truth, the fact that the Lotus Sutra reveals a prediction by the Buddha that Devadatta would someday himself become a Buddha is, to say the least, remarkable. This is revealed in Chapter 12 of the Lotus Sutra, which is entitled "Devadatta," part of which I'll now quote.

After this quote, I will explain why I highlighted certain words in yellow:

QUOTE*1:

At that time the Buddha [Shakyamuni] addressed the bodhisattvas, the heavenly and human beings, and the four kinds of believers, saying: "Immeasurable kalpas in the past, I sought the Lotus Sutra without ever flagging. During those many kalpas, I constantly appeared as the ruler of a kingdom who made a vow to seek unsurpassed enlightenment. His mind never wavered or turned aside…He did not begrudge even his own being and life. At that period the human life span was immeasurably long. But for the sake of the Law this king abandoned his kingdom and throne, delegated the government to the crown prince, sounded drums and sent out proclamations, seeking the Law in four directions and saying, 'Who can expound the Great Vehicle for me? To the end of my life I will be his provider and servant!'

"At that time there was a seer who came to the king and said, "I have the Great Vehicle text called the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law. If you will never disobey me, I will expound it for you.'

"When the king heard these words of the seer, he danced for joy. At once he accompanied the seer, providing him with whatever he needed, picking fruit, drawing water, gathering firewood, setting out meals, even offering his own body as a couch and seat, never stinting in body or mind. He served the seer in this manner for a thousand years, all for the sake of the Law, working diligently, acting as a provider and seeing to it that the seer lacked for nothing."

:UNQUOTE*1.

So there we have it. Devadatta taught the Lotus Sutra to Shakyamuni, when both were in previous incarnations. Apparently, that meant Devadatta had reached the stage of non-regression (according to the following quote):

QUOTE*2

You [Shariputra] must not recklessly transmit it [the Lotus Sutra]
wherever you happen to wander.
If there is someone who hears it [the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law],
responds with joy and gratefully accepts it,
you should know that that person
has reached the stage of non-regression.


:UNQUOTE*2.

Or did he reach that stage? Since Devadatta was a “seer,” he might have clairvoyantly picked up the Lotus Sutra without anyone actually having preached it to him. Therefore, he didn’t receive the benefit of a preached Lotus Sutra, so his understanding would have been shallow for that reason.

As Buddhists, we’re supposed to teach the Lotus to others to the best of our ability. It was in that spirit that Shakyamuni accepted Devadatta as a teacher. But he left after only 1,000 years of having received Devadatta’s instruction. Even though my first quote indicates, “At that period the human life span was immeasurably long” (which is far greater than 1,000 years, I dare say), Shakyamuni abandoned Devadatta as a teacher after sensing his “masters” infirm grasp of that sutra.

I would love to have been there when Shakyamuni gave his words of farewell to his teacher.

As a side note, I wonder if Devadatta was the first to have imparted the Lotus to Shakyamuni.

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Steven Searle, just another member of
the Virtual Samgha of the Lotus and
former candidate for US President (in 2008 & 2012)

 

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com

 

Footnotes:

QUOTE*1 - This quote is from the beginning of Chapter 12, on page 221, from the Burton Watson translation of The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras, as published and copyrighted by the Soka Gakkai in 2009.

QUOTE*2: Page 109 of the same source as QUOTE*1.