Monthly Archives: August 2016

LS32

Day 19

Day 19 concludes Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and begins Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.

Having covered the third set of peaceful practices yesterday, I’m going to finish with the fourth set of peaceful practices today.

Again, Manjusri! A Bodhisattva-mahasattva who keeps this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in the latter days after [my extinction] when the teachings are about to be destroyed, should have great loving-kindness towards laymen and monks, and great compassion towards those who are not Bodhisattvas. He should think: ‘They do not know that the Tathagata expounded expedient teachings according to the capacities of all living beings. They do not hear, know or notice it, or ask a question about it or believe or understand it. Although they do not ask a question about this sutra, or believe or understand it, I will lead them and cause them, wherever they may be, to understand the Dharma by my supernatural powers and by the power of my wisdom when I attain Anuttara-samyak-sarpbodhi.’

“Manjusri! A Bodhisattva-mahasattva who performs this fourth set of [peaceful] practices after my extinction, will be able to expound the Dharma flawlessly. Bhikss, bhiksunis, upasakas, upasikas, kings, princes, ministers, common people, brahmanas and householders will make offerings to him, honor him, respect him, and praise him. The gods in the sky will always serve him in order to hear the Dharma from him. When someone comes to his abode located in a village, in a city, in a retired place or in a forest, and wishes to ask him a question, the gods will protect him day and night for the sake of the Dharma so that the hearer may rejoice because this sutra was, is, and will be protected by the supernatural powers of the past, present and future Buddhas.

In discussing this fourth set of peaceful practices, the Daily Dharma of May 19, 2016, says:

The Buddha gives this explanation to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Until we reach enlightenment, we may not be able to reach all beings. Rather than blaming them for not having the capacity to learn from us, or blaming ourselves for not being skillful enough to reach them, the Buddha reminds us to be patient and realize there is no hurry to being free from our delusions.

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

Next month it will be time to discuss the difficulty in hearing this sutra and Parable of the Priceless Gem in the Top-Knot.

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Aug. 17, 2016

Have faith in the Great Mandala Gohonzon, the Most Venerable One in the entire world. Earnestly endeavor to strengthen your faith, so that you may be blessed with the protective powers of Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of many treasures, and Buddhas in manifestation throughout the Universe. Strive to carry out the two ways of practice and learning. Without practice and learning Buddhism will cease to exist. Endeavor yourself and cause others to take up these two ways of practice and learning, which stem from faith. If possible, please spread even a word or phrase of the sutra to others.

Nichiren wrote this as part of his letter to monk Sairen-bō about the nature of reality (Shohō-Jissō Shō). One way of reading this passage is that as we develop our faith in the Great Mandala Gohonzon, the Buddhas will provide more protection for us. Another way to read it is that as our faith develops, so does the power we have to protect others, free them from suffering and help them to awaken their Buddha nature. Either way, Nichiren shows us the practical results of our faith.

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

LS32

Day 18

Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.

Last month, I discussed the proper things a Bodhisattva should know, which leaves me this month with the third set of peaceful practices.

A Bodhisattva-mahasattva who wishes to keep, read and recite this sutra in the latter days after [my extinction] when the teachings are about to be destroyed, should not nurse jealousy against others, or flatter or deceive them. He should not despise those who study the Way to Buddhahood in any way. He should not speak ill of them or try to point out their faults. Some bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas or upasikas will seek Sravakahood or Pratyekabuddhahood or the Way of Bodhisattvas. He should not disturb or perplex them by saying to them, ‘You are far from enlightenment. You cannot obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things because you are licentious and lazy in seeking enlightenment.’ He should not have fruitless disputes or quarrels about the teachings with others. He should have great compassion towards all living beings. He should look upon all the Tathagatas as his loving fathers, and upon all the Bodhisattvas as his great teachers. He should bow to all the great Bodhisattvas of the worlds of the ten quarters respectfully and from the bottom of his heart. He should expound the Dharma to all living beings without partiality. He should be obedient to the Dharma. He should not add anything to the Dharma or take away anything from the Dharma. He should not expound more teachings to those who love the Dharma more [than others do].

And in gathas:

Anyone who wishes to expound this sutra
Should give up jealousy, anger, arrogance,
Flattery, deception and dishonesty.
He should always be upright.

He should not despise others,
Or have fruitless disputes about the teachings.
He should not perplex others by saying to them:
“You will not be able to attain Buddhahood.”

Any son of mine who expounds the Dharma
Should be gentle, patient and compassionate
Towards all living beings.
He should not be lazy.

In the worlds of the ten quarters,
The great Bodhisattvas are practicing the Way
Out of their compassion towards all living beings.
He should respect them as his great teachers.

He should respect the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, As his unsurpassed fathers.
He should give up arrogance
So that he may expound the Dharma without hindrance.

This is the third set of peaceful practices.
A man of wisdom should perform all this.
Anyone who performs these peaceful practices
Will be respected by innumerable living beings.

In a discussion of Peaceful vs. Hostile Practices, Rev. Ryusho Jeffus writes in his Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:

By doing the peaceful practices we will create the kind of peaceful lives that further reflects and enhances our practice. It is sort of like an endless feedback loop that keeps replenishing and enhancing.

I imagine that some will say, yes, but Nichiren was pretty harsh with some of the people of his time, and shouldn’t we too carry out that same strict rhetoric as we engage with people who don’t believe in the Lotus Sutra? To this I say these are two different situations. For one thing, there are few of us today whose lives are threatened and for whom death is a constant possibility because of our practice. We live in a time when there are few actual obstacles to practicing our faith either privately or in society. It isn’t that this can’t happen, it is that it isn’t currently happening. In such a situation, even Nichiren stated that we should only use a much more strident approach when absolutely necessary.

When there is no obstacle to practice it is entirely possible to create a false obstacle by our behavior of obstinacy and belligerence. The kinds of obstacles created in those situations are false. I can be a jerk and have people around me treat me poorly, but I can’t claim it is because of my practice when I am not actually following the peaceful practices in a peaceful environment. In an environment that is not hostile we should practice in a non-hostile way. If the reverse becomes true then other measure might be called for.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Aug. 16, 2016

There is a daughter of Dragon-King Sāgara [among those whom I taught]. She is eight years old. She is clever. She knows the karmas of all living beings. She obtained dhāraṇīs. She keeps all the treasury of the profound and hidden core expounded by the Buddhas. She entered deep into dhyāna-concentration, and understood all teachings. She aspired for Bodhi in a kṣana, and reached the stage of irrevocability. She is eloquent without hindrance. She is compassionate towards all living beings just as a mother is towards her babe. She obtained all merits. Her thoughts and words are wonderful and great. She is compassionate, humble, gentle and graceful. She [has already been qualified to] attain Bodhi[, and to become a Buddha quickly].

The Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī gives this description in Chapter Twelve of the Lotus Sūtra. This is his response to the question of whether any of the beings in the sea whom he taught will become a Buddha quickly. Those hearing his answer did not expect that a woman, much less a girl, much less a nonhuman being such as a dragon could reach the same enlightenment as the Buddha. Mañjuśrī’s response shows that all beings have within us the capability of developing the qualities that allow us to see things as they are and benefit all beings.

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

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Day 17

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Last month I discussed the “problems” with this chapter, but it serves an important purpose.

In this chapter, Sakyamuni illustrates how his teaching is beyond commonly held beliefs.

The story of the evil Devadatta as a teacher of Sakyamuni in a previous life and a Buddha in a future life illustrates that everyone is a Buddha.

Rev. Ryusho Jeffus offers this comment on the Devadatta lesson:

This passage, from the Devadatta Chapter tells how the Buddha served Devadatta in a previous life so that he could be taught the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra. When I think about the truth of the Buddha being present in all beings as taught by Never-Despising Bodhisattva I can’t help but think that we can begin to really understand the teaching of the Lotus Sutra when we serve other beings, when we can help them as the Buddha did seeking the Dharma from Devadatta.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1

And then there is the example of the 8-year-old daughter of the dragon king. She overcame both the commonly held belief that enlightenment requires ages of practices and the belief that a female could not become a Buddha, no matter how long she practiced.

Here’s how the 1983 Doctrines of Nichiren described this:

It is not difficult for any one to become a Bodhisattva, or even a Buddha. Women, too, may succeed, in spite of the exceptional difficulty which popular Buddhist teaching attributes to the female sex in such a quest. Why, even a female dragon is said to have attained to Buddhahood; and if that is true, why not a female human bing? Devadatta became a Buddha in spite of his infernal character. Why, then, not another man?
Doctrines of Nichiren (1893)

And so I embrace the Buddha’s prediction:

Good men or women in the future who hear this chapter of Devadatta of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma with faithful respect caused by their pure minds, and have no doubts [about this chapter], will not fall into hell or the region of hungry spirits or the region of animals. They will be reborn before the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters. They will always hear this sutra at the places of their rebirth. Even when they are reborn among men or gods, they will be given wonderful pleasures. When they are reborn before the Buddhas, they will appear in lotus-flowers.

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Aug. 15, 2016

Ajita! Any good man or woman who keeps, reads, or recites this sūtra after my extinction, also will be able to obtain these merits. Know this! He or she should be considered to have already reached the place of enlightenment, approached Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, and sat under the tree of enlightenment. Ajita! Erect a stūpa in the place where he or she sat, stood or walked! All gods and men should make offerings to that stūpa just as they do to the stūpa of a Buddha.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Maitreya (whom he calls Ajita – Invincible) in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sūtra. In this mysterious description, the Buddha seems to say that anyone who practices this Lotus Sūtra as it instructs is his equal, that this person deserves as much respect as the Buddha himself. In this world of conflict it is rare to even find this teaching, and even more rare to practice it. The Buddha encourages Bodhisattvas such as Maitreya and other protective deities to serve and care for those who bring the Buddha’s greatest wisdom to life. When we practice the Wonderful Dharma, it is as if the Buddha himself appears among us.

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

LS32

Day 16

Day 16 concludes Chapter 11, Beholding the Stupa of Treasures, and completes the Fourth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Last month concerned the shift that takes place in this chapter when Sakyamuni asks who will expound the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in this Saha-World?

This time through I get to enjoy one of my favorite parts of the Lotus Sutra, the listing of easy and difficult tasks.

Good men! Think this over clearly!
It is difficult
[To expound this sutra].
Make a great vow to do this!

It is not difficult
To expound all the other Sutras
As many as there are sands
In the River Ganges.

It is not difficult
To grasp Mt. Sumeru
And hurl it to a distance
Of countless Buddha-worlds.

It is not difficult to move [a world]
[Composed of] one thousand million Sumeru-worlds
With the tip of a toe
And hurl it to another world.

It is not difficult
To stand in the Highest Heaven
And expound inmumerable other sutras
To all living beings.

It is difficult
To expound this sutra
In the evil world
After my extinction.

It is not difficult
To grasp the sky,
And wander about with it
From place to place.

It is difficult
To copy and keep this sutra
Or cause others to copy it
After my extinction.

It is not difficult
To put the great earth
On the nail of a toe
And go up to the Heaven of Brahman.

It is difficult
To read this sutra
Even for a while in the evil world
After my extinction.

It is not difficult
To shoulder a load of hay
And stay unburned in the fire
At the end of the kalpa [of destruction].

It is difficult
To keep this sutra
And expound it to even one person
After my extinction.

It is not difficult
To keep the store
Of eighty-four thousand teachings
Expounded in the sutras
Composed of the twelve elements,
And expound it to people,
And cause the hearers to obtain
The six supernatural powers.

It is difficult
To hear and receive this sutra,
And ask the meanings of it
After my extinction.

It is not difficult
To expound the Dharma
To many thousands of billions of living beings
As many as there are sands
In the River Ganges
So that they may be able
To obtain the benefits:
Arhatship and the six supernatural powers.

It is difficult
To keep
This sutra
After my extinction.

And while I would like to grasp the sky and wander about with it from place to place, I instead hear and receive this sutra and ask the meanings of it.

Blog

Matsubagayatsu Persecution Service

Matsubagayatsu Persecution service
Matsubagayatsu Persecution service

So personally I had a bad day. For the past few services I’ve been trying to learn the basics of using the uchiwa daiko, a traditional fan drum, during the service when everyone is chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.

It’s not really complicated. Pause on the namu and then strike the drum on myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo. Pause on the namu and then strike the drum on myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo. Pause on the namu and then strike the drum on myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo. Rinse and repeat. Then at the end, after the bell is rung, you strike the drum for every character – na-mu-myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo.

So today I was sitting between the two women who regularly use the drums and I swear it sounded like they were striking the drum on Na, pausing on mu and myo, and striking the drum on ho-ren-ge-kyo. I was completely flummoxed.

No idea what my problem was.

Each time I’ve sat in the front with the uchiwa daiko ladies, Ven. Kenjo Igarashi has offered his own experiences with the drum. The first time we learned What A Young Monk Did For Summer Vacation and this time he recalled his experiences as a young priest in San Francisco in the mid-1970s.

The San Francisco Nichiren Shu services were held in a small apartment belonging to one of the members. Rev. Igarashi lived in the apartment.

When there were no services he had no other responsibilities. He tried to do his personal services in the morning, noon and evening but soon learned that the walls of the apartment were just too thin. His neighbors would pound on his door, yelling at him to knock it off.

Unable to practice at home, he took to the streets of downtown San Francisco, loudly chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo as he pounded on his uchiwa daiko. He wasn’t soliciting donations, the way he had during his trip from Minobu to Tokyo. He was just spreading the Daimoku.

In Japan, he said, people would understand what he was doing. In San Francisco, not so much. He said he was scared at times. On one occasion a woman came up to him and waved her index finger in his face and shouted “There is only ONE God.” Rev. Igarashi, a firm believer in many deities, found this behavior odd. He also discovered that a restaurant wouldn’t serve him because it was owned by Soka Gakkai members.

Not exactly the persecutions of Nichiren, which was the subject of the day’s services. The Matsubagayatsu Persecution recounts the attack that followed shortly after Nichiren submitted his famous Rissho Ankoku-ron. Nichiren’s efforts to promote reform aroused the resentment of the Buddhist establishment and members of the shogunate. On the night of Aug. 27, 1260, an angry mob burned down Nichiren’s hut in Kamakura. A protective deity in the form of a white monkey warned Nichiren of the danger and led him to safety.

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Aug. 14, 2016

He should respect the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones,
As his unsurpassed fathers.
He should give up arrogance
So that he may expound the Dharma without hindrance.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. By arrogance, the Buddha means not only acting as if we know what we do not, but any fixed understanding of the world and the beings in it. This opening of our minds allows us to be receptive to the innumerable ways the Buddhas are teaching us, and to learn to see the world for what it is. This receptivity also allows us to see the Buddha nature in all beings, no matter how deluded they are and how much harm they create. Respect is what allows us to fully hear and be present for what the world has to offer us.

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

LS32

Day 15

Day 15 concludes Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, and opens Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures.

Last month focused on the opening of Chapter 11 and the significance of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Beyond the promise that “Anyone who copies, keeps, reads and recites this sutra, makes offerings to it, and expounds it to others after my extinction, will be covered by my robe,” Sakyamuni explains that he is the Lotus Sutra:

Medicine-King! Erect a stupa of the seven treasures in any place where this sutra is expounded, read, recited or copied, or in any place where a copy of this sutra exists! The stupa should be tall, spacious and adorned. You need not enshrine my sariras in the stupa. Why not? It is because it will contain my perfect body. Offer flowers, incense, necklaces, canopies, banners, streamers, music and songs of praise to the stupa! Respect the stupa, honor it, and praise it! Anyone who, after seeing the stupa, bows to it, and makes offerings to it, know this, will approach Anuttara­-samyak-sambodhi.

Underlining that a stupa housing the Lotus Sutra contains the Buddha’s perfect body.

The Daily Dharma of Jan. 1, 2016, discusses this point:

Medicine-King! Erect a stūpa of the seven treasures in any place where this sūtra is expounded, read, recited or copied, or in any place where a copy of this sūtra exists! The stūpa should be tall, spacious and adorned. You need not enshrine my śarīras in the stūpa. Why not? It is because it will contain my perfect body.

The Buddha declares these lines to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. In ancient India, stūpas were tombs built as memorials to those who had enjoyed a superior position in their lives. After the Buddha died, small relics of his body were distributed so that many great stūpas could be built to his memory. Even today all over Asia, stūpas hold the physical remains of the Buddha. In this chapter, the Buddha reminds us that when we have the Lotus Sūtra with us, it is as good as having the Buddha himself.

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