Sometimes our life as we lead it becomes an unspoken witness to the validity of the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. Just as Many Treasures Buddha said, “So it is, so it is,” our unspoken actions are that declaration of “so it is, so it is.” Of course if our actions are contrary to the Lotus Sutra, then even if we affirm the doctrinal correctness or even doctrinal superiority of the Lotus Sutra we will be lacking the function in our life of Many Treasures Buddha.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraMonthly Archives: July 2016
Daily Dharma – July 10, 2016
Those who come to this teacher of the Dharma
Will be able to complete the Way of Bodhisattvas quickly.
Those who follow him and study will be able to see
As many Buddhas as there are sands in the River Ganges.
The Buddha sings these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. By teacher of the Dharma, the Buddha means anyone who keeps, reads, recites, copies and expounds this Sūtra. As we continue on this Way, we learn to recognize the Buddha’s presence in every aspect of our experience. We learn to appreciate everything the Buddha does for us, and to show that gratitude to all those in whom we recognize the Buddha. Then we realize there is no shortage of teachers, no shortage of joy and no shortage of opportunities to benefit others.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 12
Day 12 concludes Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City, and completes the Third Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
After two days of preparatory work, we finally get to the Parable of the Magic City. By the end of this parable we understand:
The Buddhas expound the teaching of the Three Vehicles
Only as an expedient.
There is only the One Buddha-Vehicle.
The two [vehicles] were taught only as resting places.Now I will tell you the truth.
What you attained is not [true] extinction.
Make great efforts in order to obtain
The Buddha’s knowledge of all things.
When you obtain the knowledge of all things
And the ten powers of the Buddha,
And the thirty-two physical marks,
You will be able to say that you attained true extinction.
The Buddhas, the Leaders, expound the teaching of Nirvana
In order to give a rest [to all living beings].
When they see them having already had a rest,
They lead them to the wisdom of the Buddha.
On the road to a place of treasures.
Daily Dharma – July 9, 2016
No matter what happens, abandoning the Lotus Sutra will cause us to be plunged into hell. I have made a vow. Even if someone says they will make me the ruler of Japan on the condition that I give up the Lotus Sutra and rely on the Sutra of Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life for my salvation in the next life, or even if someone threatens me saying he will execute my parents if I do not say “Namu Amida-butsu,” and no matter how many great difficulties fall upon me, I will not submit to them until a man of wisdom defeats me by reason. Other difficulties are like dust in the wind. I will never break my vow to become the pillar of Japan, to become the eyes of Japan, and become a great vessel for Japan.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Opening the Eyes (Kaimoku-shō). For Nichiren living in the 13th Century, the country of Japan was his world. For us in the 21st Century, the entire Earth is our world. From Nichiren’s determination to save Japan we have an example of what we need to do to save our Earth. From his experience through terrible ordeals and persecutions we realize that despite the comforts of our modern lives, we too have the capacity to uphold our faith in the Lotus Sūtra in any situation. We show our gratitude to the Buddha for his teaching and to Nichiren for his guidance in the respect we give to other beings and the efforts in our practice.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 11
Day 11 continues Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City
My self-imposed single-topic limit works well some days and not so well others. Day 11 is all about the reaction of the Brahman-Heavenly-Kings of the 500 billion worlds in each of the 10 directions, all of whom fill up plates of flowers and tow along their palaces as they search out the source of the light that has suddenly illumined their palaces more brightly than ever before.
Finding a single point to stress beyond that general theme leaves me pointing out, as I did last month, how one Brahman-Heavenly-King addressed Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha as “Saintly Master, God of Gods!” instead of the more traditional “Most Honorable of Gods and Men.”
But in the nine previous times through this section of the Lotus Sutra I’ve never focused directly on what the great Brahman-heavenly-king called Sikhin said when he offered his palaces to the Buddha:
Our palaces are beautifully adorned
With your light.
We offer them to you.
Receive them out of your compassion towards us!May the merits we have accumulated by this offering
Be distributed among all living beings,
And may we and all other living beings
Attain the enlightenment of the Buddha!
This concept of distributing merits to others is an essential Bodhisattva practice. The book Awakening to the Lotus offers this:
This Buddha had sixteen sons, who upon hearing of their father’s enlightenment, renounced their positions and joined him as disciples. They along with all of the heavenly kings asked that Buddha to expound the Dharma and bring peace to all suffering beings. They said, “May the merits we have accumulated by this offering be distributed among all living beings, may we and all living beings together attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.” This teaches the core of the Great Vehicle, that enlightenment is not individual but universal salvation.
Awakening to the Lotus
Daily Dharma – July 8, 2016
The Bodhisattva-mahāsattva also should know the following truth. All things are insubstantial. They are as they are. Things are not perverted. They do not move. They do not go. They do not turn. They have nothing substantial just as the sky has not. They are inexplicable. They are not born. They do not appear. They do not rise. They are nameless. They are formless. They have no property. They are immeasurable and limitless. They have no obstacle or hindrance. He should see all this. Things can exist only by dependent origination. Only perverted people say, ‘Things are permanent and pleasant.’ This truth is the second thing he should approach.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Mañjuśrī in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. The Buddha does not see the world as we do. This section explains how changing our view changes the world. When we no longer see beings with power to overwhelm us, and see beings in whom delusions have been created, we see our abilities to cut the root of those delusions and benefit them. These passages are what make the Lotus Sutra difficult to believe and understand, since they go against our habits of manipulating the world to become happy. As we learn to work with our minds, then we truly change the world.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 10
Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.
Having last month discussed the the assurance of future Buddhahood given by Sakyamuni to Subhuti, Great Katyayana, Great Maudgalyayana, I get to start over with Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City.
At the conclusion of Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, the Buddha sets the stage for what is to come next:
Now I will tell you
About my previous existence
And also about yours.
All of you, listen attentively!
Chapter 7 opens with a description of a “countless, limitless, inconceivable, asamkhya number of
kalpas ago” when a Buddha called Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence lived. But more important than the distance backward in time is this:
Yet I remember [the extinction of] that Buddha by my power of insight as vividly as if he had passed away today.”
And in gathas:
I remember the extinction of that Buddha
As vividly as if he had passed away just now,
By my unhindered wisdom; I also remember
The Sravakas and Bodhisattvas who lived [with him].Bhiksus, know this!
My wisdom is pure, wonderful,
Free from asravas and from hindrance.
I know those who lived innumerable kalpas ago.
Rereading this again and again I’m still excited about the promise that I’m to learn about the Buddha’s previous existence and mine with details as fresh as if it all occurred today.
Daily Dharma – July 7, 2016
They will expound the Dharma
Already taught by the past Buddhas.
Therefore, they will be fearless
Before the multitude.
The Buddha declares these lines to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. By understanding fear, and demonstrating our fearlessness in this world of conflict, we can inspire and bring courage to other beings. One form of fear arises when we believe that we are in a situation that we cannot handle. This is simply a form of arrogance: believing that something is true when in reality we do not know that it is true. When the Buddha assures us who practice this Wonderful Dharma of the certainty of our future enlightenment, we then know how things will turn out. No matter what difficulties we find ourselves in, there are always more choices available to us. Often outcomes that seem horrible at the time can bring us more wisdom and compassion.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 9
Day 9 covers Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and introduces Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.
Yesterday the “men living the life of wisdom” offered their understanding of how it was that they didn’t appreciate the expedients taught by the Buddha with the Parable of the Rich Man and His Poor Son.
Today, the Buddha offers the Simile of the Herbs to illustrate why it is that the fruits of the rain of the Dharma are different.
Kasyapa, know this! I, the Tathagata, am like the cloud. I appeared in this world just as the large cloud rose. I expounded the Dharma to gods, men and asuras of the world with a loud voice just as the large cloud covered all the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds. I said to the great multitude, ‘I am the Tathagata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. I will cause all living beings to cross [the ocean of birth and death] if they have not yet done so. I will cause them to emancipate themselves [from suffering] if they have not yet done so. I will cause them to have peace of mind if they have not yet done so. I will cause them to attain Nirvana if they have not yet done so. I know their present lives as they are, and also their future lives as they will be. I know all. I see all. I know the Way. I have opened the Way. I will expound the Way. Gods, men and asuras! Come and hear the Dharma!’
Thereupon many thousands of billions of people came to hear the Dharma from me. Having seen them, I knew which were clever, which were dull, which were diligent, and which were lazy. Therefore, I expounded to them an innumerable variety of teachings according to their capacities in order to cause them to rejoice and receive benefits with pleasure. Having heard these teachings, they became peaceful in their present lives. In their future lives, they will have rebirths in good places, enjoy pleasures by practicing the Way, and hear these teachings again. After hearing these teachings again, they will emancipate themselves from all hindrances, practice the teachings according to their capacities, and finally enter the Way, just as the grasses and trees in the thickets and forests, which were watered by the rain from the same large cloud, grew differently according to their species.
Daily Dharma – July 6, 2016
To see a Buddha is as difficult
As to see an udumbara[-flower].
To avert a misfortune is also difficult.
These verses are sung by two sons of a king in a story told by the Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, the boys have heard the Dharma from a previous Buddha and are asking permission from their parents to leave home and follow that Buddha. The legend of the udumbara flower is that it only blooms every 3000 years. Meeting a Buddha is not to be taken for granted. However, it is still important to remember the ties of our families. Rather than leaving in secret from their home, the sons’ asking permission from their parents creates more benefits. The King and Queen accompany their sons and learn the Wonderful Dharma. As Bodhisattvas it is important to use our relationships wisely as we lead all beings to enlightenment.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com