Here are some photos from this weekend’s 2nd Annual Urban Dharma Retreat.
Below is dharma talk following the Sunday service at Myosho-ji, Wonderful Voice Buddhist Temple, Charlotte, NC.
Monthly Archives: August 2016
Daily Dharma – Aug. 8, 2016
To enter the room of the Tathāgata means to have great compassion.
To wear his robe means to be gentle and patient.
To sit on his seat means to see the voidness of all things.
Expound the Dharma only after you do these [three] things!
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. Our compassion leads us to engage with the world and benefit others. Cultivating our gentle and patient nature lets us live the peace everyone wants and show them how to obtain it. To see the voidness of things does not mean acting as if they don’t exist. We presume that things that do not exist forever do not exist at all. A wisp of smoke. A fleeting smile. The Buddha teaches that there is nothing permanent and self-existing. Only what is interdependent and changing truly exists. Only that which is connected with everything else truly exists. Nothing hinders us. Nothing opposes us. When we see the harmony in our changing existence, then we see the Buddha Dharma.
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 concluded with:
The Buddhas expound the Dharma
In perfect freedom.
Knowing the various desires and dispositions
Of all living beings,
They expound the Dharma
With innumerable parables
And with innumerable similes
According to their capacities.
And in the Simile of the Herbs, Sakyamuni clarifies that there is only one Dharma:
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!’
And while the Buddha “expounded to them an innumerable variety of teachings according to their capacities in order to cause them to rejoice and receive benefits with pleasure” it was all one content:
The various teachings I expound are of the same content, of the same taste. Those who emancipate themselves [from the bonds of existence,] from illusions, and from birth and death, will finally obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things. But those who hear or keep my teachings or read or recite the sutras in which my teachings are expounded, or act according to my teachings, do not know the merits that they will be able to obtain by these practices. Why is that? It is because only I know their capacities, appearances, entities and natures. Only I know what teachings they have in memory, what teachings they have in mind, what teachings they practice, how they memorize the teachings, how they think of the teachings, how they practice the teachings, for what purpose they memorize the teachings, for what purpose they think of the teachings, for what purpose they practice the teachings, and for what purpose they keep what teachings. Only I see clearly and without hindrance that they are at various stages [of enlightenment]. I know this, but they do not know just as the trees and grasses including herbs in the thickets and forests do not know whether they are superior or middle or inferior. My teachings are of the same content, of the same taste. Those who emancipate themselves [from the bonds of existence,] from illusions, and from birth and death, will finally attain Nirvana, that is, eternal tranquility or extinction. They will be able to return to the state of the Void.
The World of Anger
This post is in part a response to the discussion about anger during this weekend’s Urban Retreat and at the Sunday service at Myosho-ji, Wonderful Voice Budhdist Temple, in Charlotte, NC.
Recently I came across a book originally published in 1893. According to the introduction it is the first translation into English of the foundational doctrines of Nichiren. The introduction describes this as the “Englishing” of a lecture series first given by the Most Learned and Virtuous Archbishop Nissatsu Arai, at the temple of Ikegami.
This book, THE DOCTRINES OF NICHIREN WITH A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE (1893), is short. It is also free from Google Play or you can download a PDF copy here.
The late Archbishop of Ikegami’s focus is significantly different than the focus you see in the writings of native English writers who, in effect, offer a double “Englishing” of Nichiren’s teachings and his interpretation of the Lotus Sutra.
This is not meant to anger those who have rendered the Japanese experience into something an American could begin to contemplate. I have nothing but deep and sincere appreciation for their efforts.
I know, you are waiting for the “But…” but I don’t want to frame this discussion in that manner.
First, this is my post. I’m offering something from my self-discussion that I hope might be of use in your self-discussion.
Self-discussion is my name for the self-exploration that I see as the ideal of this Buddhist practice.
The principal difference between the late Archbishop of Ikegami’s focus and the Western interpretation is illustrated in this quote:
This world, so full of evils as to appear like a fiery furnace in the eyes of the vulgar, is perceived by the Buddha to be a peaceful and happy realm inhabited by beings of high spiritual order. What is the truth of it? Is the world pure and full of pleasures, or foul and full of pains? The solution will be this or that according to the confusion or the enlightenment of each in dividual mind. The world seen by the Buddha and the world seen by the multitude are not two, but one. When enlightenment is attained to, all worlds are found to be equally glorious and splendid. The first and greatest mission of Sakyamuni in this world is to help the multitude to unfold and develop their Buddha-intellect, and cleanse and purify their nature. When they are once able to unfold this Buddha-intellect of theirs, they will perceive the real nature of this world of evils, that is, the glory of that eternal reality which underlies the world of outward sense. Hence, to proclaim the identity of the evil or phenomenal world with the glorious underlying reality, or noumenon; to point out the way to Buddhahood; to open the path of salvation; above all, to convince the people that one and all of them may become Buddhas, here and now—this is the mission of the sect of Nichiren.
This focus on unfolding and developing our Buddha-intellect, and cleansing and purifying our nature offers an avenue for self-discussion.
The fact that I get angry is my failure — my “vulgar” nature.
I can go through any number of intellectual exercises to illustrate how someone else cannot make me angry. Clearly, only I allow myself — my vulgar nature — to let me wander into the world of anger. And, as Ryusho Shonin said during the discussion after today’s service at Myosho-ji, only I can find enlightenment. No one can do that to me just as no one can make me angry.
Each moment we are offered the opportunity to choose between the confusion or the enlightenment.
Daily Dharma – Aug. 7, 2016
This is indeed inexplicable yet precious. If Devadatta does not become a Buddha, the numerous evil people who were induced by him to enter into his evil comradeship would never be able to escape the torment of the Hell of Incessant Suffering. It is solely due to the great favor of the Lotus Sutra that all of Devadatta’s comrades, too, are allowed to be Buddhas.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Prayers (Kitō-shō). Devadatta was a cousin of the Buddha who was jealous of the Buddha’s accomplishments. He tried to set those who followed the Buddha against each other, and even tried several times to kill the Buddha. In the Lotus Sūtra, even Devadatta is assured of becoming a Buddha, opening the path of enlightenment even to those as perverse and deluded as him. When we learn to see even those who cause great harm as being capable of becoming enlightened, then it changes not only how we treat them, but how we see the world.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 8
Day 8 concludes Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith, and closes the second volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
In yesterday’s reading of Chapter 3, A Parable, Sakyamuni said:
Even you, Sariputra,
Have understood this sutra
Only by faith.
Needless to say,
The other Sravakas cannot do otherwise.
They will be able to follow this sutra
Only because they believe my words,
Not because they have wisdom.
And it is not by accident that the next day we reach Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith, and those very same Sravakas and their Parable of the Rich Man and His Poor Son.
Last month, I focused on the fact that the word “faith” does not appear in the chapter outside the title.
This time through I see even less evidence of faith. The Rich Man had to raise up the “base and mean” son, giving him more and more responsibility, calling him “son” and treating him as a son. And yet, when the day finally comes for the Rich Man to give his treasures to his son:
He thought, ‘I never dreamed of having this store of treasures myself. It has come to me unexpectedly.’
But the effort was still successful:
Today we are not what we were then.
We have obtained
What we did not expect
Today we are not what we were then.
We have obtained
What we did not expect
To obtain
Just as the poor son obtained
The innumerable treasures.World-Honored One!
We have attained enlightenment, perfect fruit.
We have secured pure eyes
With which we can see the Dharma-without-asravas.We observed the pure precepts of the Buddha
In the long night.
Today we have obtained the effects and rewards
[Of our observance of the precepts].
We performed the brahrna practices for long
According to the teachings of the King of the Dharma.
Now we have obtained the great fruit
Of the unsurpassed Dharma-without-asravas.We are Sravakas in this sense of the word.
We will cause all living beings
To hear the voice telling
Of the enlightenment of the Buddha.We are Arhats
In the true sense of the word.
All gods and men,
All Maras and Brahmans
In the worlds
Should make offerings to us.You, the World-Honored One, are the great benefactor.
By doing this rare thing,
You taught and benefited us
Out of your compassion towards us.
The Bottom Line:
The Buddhas expound the Dharma
In perfect freedom.
Knowing the various desires and dispositions
Of all living beings,
They expound the Dharma
With innumerable parables
And with innumerable similes
According to their capacities.Some living beings planted the roots of good
In their previous existence.
Some of the roots have fully developed.
Seeing all this, the Buddhas understand
The capacities of all living beings,
And divide the teaching of the One Vehicle into three,
According to the capacities
Of all living beings.
Daily Dharma – Aug. 6, 2016
You, the World-Honored One, are our leader.
You give peace to gods and men.
Hearing that you assured us of our future Buddhahood,
We are relieved and satisfied.
These verses are sung by Maha-Prajāpatī Bhikṣuṇī, Yaśodharā Bhikṣuṇī, and their attendants in Chapter Thirteen of the Lotus Sūtra. In our lives we have many desires, some of which we may not recognize. We believe that when these desires are met, only then can we be happy and peaceful. At the foundation of these desires is the desire for liberation. These women recognize that with this desire, just knowing that it will be fulfilled is enough to bring joy.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 7
Day 7 concludes Chapter 3, A Parable, and begins Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.
I have already left
The burning house of the triple world.
I am tranquil and peaceful
In a bower in a forest.This triple world
Is my property.
All living beings therein
Are my children.There are many sufferings
In this world.
Only I can save
[All living beings].I told this to all living beings.
But they did not believe me
Because they were too much attached
To desires and defilements.Therefore, I expediently expounded to them
The teaching of the Three Vehicles,
And caused them to know
The sufferings of the triple world.
I opened, showed, and expounded
The Way out of the world.Those children who were resolute in mind
Were able to obtain
The six supernatural powers
Including the three major supernatural powers,
And to become cause-knowers
Or never-faltering Bodhisattvas.Sariputra!
With this parable I expounded
The teaching of the One Buddha-Vehicle
To all living beings.
All of you will be able to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha
If you believe and receive
These words of mine.
Believed and received!
Daily Dharma – Aug. 5, 2016
They will see the reality of all things.
Knowing the position [of this sūtra in the series of sūtras],
And the names and words [of this sūtra], according to the meanings of it,
They will expound [this sūtra] as they understand it.
The Buddha sings these verses to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. In our practice of the Wonderful Dharma, we may be able to enjoy the circumstances of being able to spend lots of time studying the Lotus Sūtra and the guidance given by our leader in this age of degeneration, Nichiren Shonin. But even if we do not have that luxury of time, as long as we remember how the Lotus Sūtra uses expedients to lead all beings to enlightenment, that the goal of this sūtra is not just to end suffering, we can teach it using our own capacities, however limited those may be. Each word of the sūtra is an embodiment of the Buddha. When we share these words with others, we share the Buddha.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 6
Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable
Each time through this part of the Lotus Sutra I’m reminded of those people, especially the young, “playing joyfully”:
They are not frightened at the sufferings or afraid of them. They do not dislike them or try to get rid of them. They are running about this burning house of the triple world, and do not mind even when they undergo great sufferings.
How do you reach them and awaken them? How do you cause them to act?
Sariputra! I also thought, ‘If I extol my insight, powers, and fearlessness in the presence of those living beings only by my supernatural powers and by the power of my wisdom, that is to say, without any expedient, they will not be saved because they have not yet been saved from birth, old age, disease, death, grief, sorrow, suffering and lamentation, but are burning up in the burning house of the triple world. How can they understand the wisdom of the Buddha?’
What toys could catch the attention of the children today? Perhaps a Pokemon stop outside the walls of the burning house, safe from the dangers inside.