They also will be able to locate the Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas by smelling their bodies from afar. Even when they recognize all this by smell, their organ of smell will not be destroyed or put out of order. If they wish, they will be able to tell others of the differences [of those scents] because they remember them without fallacy.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. Our sense of smell is often unconscious. We associate smells with places, experiences or even people that we like or dislike. These smells can even cause an emotional reaction by causing us to relive a situation associated with that smell. In the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha teaches that our everyday experiences are no different from enlightenment, that his great wisdom is not about how to escape from this world. It is about how to use the senses and abilities with which we are blessed in ways we cannot imagine.

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They felt lonely and helpless because they thought that they were parentless and shelterless. Their constant sadness finally caused them to recover their right minds. They realized that the medicine had a good color, smell and taste. They took it and were completely cured of the poison.

The Buddha explains his parable of the wise physician in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, the physician’s children take poison by mistake. Some refuse the antidote provided by their father until he leaves home and sends word back that he has died. The children realized that they had to accept what their father had left for them, rather than continuing to refuse his cure. In the Lotus Sūtra the Buddha stops adapting to our minds and brings us into his mind. It is only when we use our suffering to increase our determination to reach enlightenment, rather than as an indicator of our shortcomings, can we recover our right minds and realize what the Buddha teaches.

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I now expound this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma with great joy. This sūtra leads all living beings to the knowledge of all things. I did not expound it before because, if I had done so, many people in the world would have hated it and few would have believed it.

The Buddha makes this declaration to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra. It can be difficult to imagine anyone hating the Buddha’s teachings. We sometimes notice that the true opposite of affection and devotion is not enmity and distrust. It is indifference. When we hear the Buddha’s teaching and do not make it part of our lives, it is because we are so attached to our peculiar ignorance and misery that we are afraid to live any other way. The Buddha shows us that it is possible to exist in harmony with the world rather than in conflict. It is only when we practice his teachings that we can believe them.

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Anyone who rejoices at hearing this sūtra,
And who receives it respectfully,
Know this, has already reached
The stage of not-returning.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. The state of non-returning means having the certainty of reaching enlightenment. As Bodhisattvas, when we go into any realm, whether higher or lower, it is to benefit the beings there. It is easy to become discouraged by the difficulties we face in this world of conflict, and to forget that we are not alone in our efforts to help others. When we return to the joy of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha reminds us of who we are, what we are doing, and where we are going, no matter what obstacles we may find.

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Accordingly, the prayer said by the practicer of the Lotus Sutra will inevitably be fulfilled just as a sound is echoed, just as a shadow follows the body, the moon reflects upon the clear water, a water nymph invites the water, a magnet attracts iron, amber eliminates dust, and a clear mirror reflects the color of everything.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Prayers (Kitō-shō). When we are truly practicing this Wonderful Dharma, our desires and prayers are for the benefit of all beings, rather than expressions of our self-absorbed attachment and delusion. When we see things for what they are, then we are in harmony with all beings, and will find them helping us and themselves to reach what we all truly desire.

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Having heard from you
Of the duration of your life,
Living beings as many as the particles of earth
Of eight Sumeru-worlds
Aspired for unsurpassed [enlightenment].

The Bodhisattva Maitreya sings these verses in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sutra. He describes the effect on all beings of the Buddha’s revealing his existence as the Ever-Present Śākyamuni. If we believed that the Buddha was just a man who lived 2500 years ago, we might think that we had to wait until another being became enlightened before we could follow them on the path to our own awakening. But with this understanding that the Buddha is always helping us, here and now, then we awaken our capacity to see things as they are and work confidently for the benefit of all beings.

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Now I will tell you
About my previous existence
And also about yours.
All of you, listen attentively!

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Six of the Lotus Sūtra. When the Buddha taught in India 2500 years ago, people took for granted that their lives continued from previous lives and would continue on into future lives. Whatever comforts we enjoy or calamities we endure in this life were thought to be caused by what we did in our former lifetimes. Our actions today were thought to determine what happens in our future lives. To our modern understanding this can sound mystical and unlikely. But if we understand that everything, including our joy and suffering, has causes and conditions, whether or not we realize these results immediately, we know that the result of creating benefit is benefit, and the result of creating harm is harm. When we hold the happiness of all beings to be as precious as our own, we would no more mistreat others than we would want them to mistreat us.

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Hearing this truth

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The Buddha’s disciple Śāriputra makes this proclamation to the Buddha in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha had just explained that everything he taught before the Lotus Sūtra was not his true enlightenment; it was preparation for receiving his highest teaching. Śāriputra, the wisest of the Buddha’s disciples, understood immediately that he would be able to do far more than end his own suffering. He would eventually become a Buddha himself. Those gathered were also overjoyed, knowing that Śākyamuni was not the only Buddha they would meet. This ties together the Buddha’s insight that when we are assured of our enlightenment, we are able to meet innumerable enlightened beings.

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As I contemplate my own life, I, Nichiren, have studied Buddhism ever since I was a child. Our life is uncertain, as exhaling one’s breath one moment does not guarantee drawing it the next; it is as transient as the dew before the wind and its end occurs suddenly to everyone, the wise and the ignorant, the aged and the young. I thought I should study the matter of the last moment of life first of all, before studying anything else.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Reply to My Lady, the Nun Myōgō (Myōhō-ama Gozen Gohenji). The Buddha taught that everything that comes together falls apart. Everything that is born must die. Then in the Lotus Sūtra he taught that he sees the world differently. For him living beings have neither birth nor death, they do not appear nor disappear. For each of us, the death of our bodies is certain. As Nichiren instructs, it is beneficial to meditate on this fact and not live in denial of our mortality. At the same time, when we see with the Buddha’s mind, we realize that our lives are not the end of the story. Time and life are abundant, but it it still important to waste neither.

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Great-Power-Obtainer, know this! This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma benefits Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, and causes them to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Therefore, they should keep, read, recite, expound and copy this sūtra after my extinction.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Great-Power-Obtainer Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty of the Lotus Sūtra. In several places in the sūtra, the Buddha asked who would continue to teach this Wonderful Dharma after his extinction and lead all beings to Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi: perfect unsurpassed enlightenment. When he revealed his Ever-Present Existence in Chapter Sixteen, he assured all those receiving his words that his life is not limited to that of the physical body he inhabited. In truth he is leading all beings throughout all time and space to his wisdom, and this Lotus Sūtra he has given us is the embodiment of that wisdom.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com