China Expat is a cultural and literary forum for expatriates interested in China and has been published by Asia Briefing Ltd since 2001. The sites resident China culture writers have included such expatriate luminaries as 
The Dragon Sutras
-by Ernie Diaz
Not for nothing, but how many words does Jesus speak in the Bible? Those O.T. stories about slaying Philistines with ass jawbones are all timeless, as cautionary tales, but the Western Buddha is the essence, no? In all His words pre-crucifixion, we do not err in calling him the Western Buddha, so close his message to the Eastern.
However, the Eastern was decidedly more gabby. He had a dozen new disciples per day, once word got out someone had finally conquered samsara and was shining in the light of truth. While Jesus used parables as seeds to grow bean stalks to the ineffable, Sakyamuni embraced the didactic approach to enlightenment. Endless pages, divided into sublime themes – diamond, flower, lotus – called sutras, left a written tradition that would serve as the basis for East Asian scholarship as fundamental as the Bible did the West’s.
Tibet always has been and always will be a part of China, but just to make sure the Tibetans were cool with that, Chinese kings employed every means to forge solidarity. Those wars with Tibetan kingdoms Amdo and Kham for control of the Qinghai plateau were costly, after all. Tibetan Buddhism worked better than whiskey at turning rivals into co-dependent neighbors, and with the Mongols on board, China was free to kick back and drift into a whirlpool of internecine strife.
Surely that’s the most cynical context behind the Kangxi emperor’s commissioning of the Dragon Sutras, a Tibetan translation of all the Buddha’s spoken wisdom. But politics has always been a cynical business, and the books were intended to help unite Tibetan and Mongol both under the Manchu’s Eight Banners. In another sense, though, it was a regal gesture of respect, an honor worthy of a deity, the job Kangxi’s crew did. Gutenberg Schmutenberg. True-gold ink on velvet-weight paper dyed cobalt blue. Fifty thousand leaves in 108 cases, with 756 Buddhas adorning front and back boards.
Later, Kangxi’s grandson Qianlong commissioned a Manchu version. The lucky lama who had the Forbidden City access and got to read either edition in its entirety, showered blessings on his spirit-brothers for seven generations. So hopefully, some of you with us thus far are thinking, “Hey man, like, isn’t it about the words, and not the packaging?” Indeed, verily.
The Fifth Awakening: Stupidity and ignorance are the cause of death and rebirth. Bodhisattvas apply themselves and deeply appreciate study and erudition, constantly striving to expand their wisdom and refine their eloquence. Nothing brings them greater joy than teaching and transforming living beings.
A spiritual, ancient basis for the Tiger Mom and Wolf Father doctrines. “Caught in the wheel of samsara? You’re not studying hard enough, stupid!” But the idea of salvation through endless pedagogy fired the soul of the Chinese scholastic tradition.
Buddha then spoke to Ananda and Vaidehi: ‘Those who wish, by means of their serene thoughts, to be born in the western land, should first meditate on an image of the Buddha, who is sixteen cubits high, seated on a lotus-flower in the water of the lake. As it was stated before, the real body and its measurement are unlimited, incomprehensible to the ordinary mind.
Apparently, the Chinese desire for babies with foreign visas stretches much farther back than commonly thought. This passage also shows that visualization, role modeling, and other self-help concepts are non-sectarian versions of the Buddha’s explicit instructions for reaching ultimate success, freedom from our ego problems. Guess all those oversize Buddha statues are there for a reason.
People who have hatred, upon hearing the Sutra, should give up their hatred; and those who are stupid should stop being stupid. The principles discussed in the Sutra are designed to correct our faults and bad habits. Don’t think, “All I, as an ordinary person, can do is listen to the Sutra. I could never aspire to the states of a sage.” To think that way is to throw yourself away, to separate yourself from the sages.
Ooh, a call to action, much more serious than a chain letter. For this prompting doesn’t just dangle a carrot of riches or romance. It calls for inner change, of the kind no one sane can argue against. Who wants to hold on to his hatred? Who doesn’t want to stop being stupid? We none of us have any excuses, because we all have the po-tential to be sages. Sigh. Coming soon – WWBD bracelets.
Moreover, Manjusri, if there are sentient beings who harbor stinginess, greed, and jealousy who praise them- selves and disparage others, they will fall into the three evil destinies for countless thousands of years where they will undergo intense suffering. After undergoing intense suffering, at the end of their lives they will be born in the world as oxen, horses, camels, and donkeys that are constantly beaten, afflicted by thirst and hunger, and made to carry heavy burdens along the roads. Or they may be reborn among lowly people, as slaves or servants who are always ordered around by others and who never for a moment feel at ease.
Uh oh, and there are consequences for not playing ball. No remorse for that mangy nag hauling the watermelon cart down a Chinese city thoroughfare; it’s the reincarnation of a greedy, vain bugger. Rebirth as a beast of burden or slave doesn’t seem as bad as eternal hellfire and pitchforks in the rear, but is scarier for its relative plausibility. That energy has to go somewhere when you slough the mortal coil, and how can it go somewhere good if you’ve been so bad? Those who would find out from the Dragon Sutras must make a pilgrimage to the National Palace Museum, in Taipei, which has also always been a part of China.
Related posts:
- RC Andrews and the Dragon Bones
- The True Meaning of the Dragon Boat Festival
- The Dragon Raises Its Head
- Huanglong – The Yellow Dragon
- The Imperial Order of the Double Dragon
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