Our practice includes the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the Twelve-Link Chain of Causation, the Six Paramitas, and it is all contained in the Lotus Sutra and the Odaimoku of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. When we strive to live according to the fundamental truths of Buddhism and follow the teachings in the Lotus Sutra by chanting the sutra and the Odaimoku, we create a life that manifests our inherent Buddha potential and allows us to live a life of indestructible happiness.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraMonthly Archives: September 2016
Daily Dharma – Sept. 8, 2016
Always seeking fame and gain,
He often visited noble families.
He did not understand what he had recited,
Gave it up, and forgot it.
Because of this,
He was called Fame-Seeking. But he [later] did many good karmas,
And became able to see innumerable Buddhas.
Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva sings these verses in Chapter One of the Lotus Sūtra. They are part of a story he tells about Fame-Seeking Bodhisattva (Gumyō, Yaśaskāma). This shows that each of the innumerable Bodhisattvas who are helping us to become enlightened use different ways of reaching people. Even those enmeshed in the suffering of self-importance, who use this Wonderful Dharma to make themselves seem superior to others, simply because they are leading others to this teaching, they too are creating boundless merit.
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.
For the past couple of months – here and here, for example – I’ve been fixated on the fact the “faith” is not present in the chapter Understanding by Faith. But there are other points here.
I can relate to old guys thinking that what they’ve been doing is fine. – “A day’s pay” – but even more I relate to the concept of a son who does not know he has a father, let alone the treasure that is his inheritance, and the compassion that a father would have for a lost son.
The poor son, having wandered from town to town, from country to country, from village to village, came to the city where his father was living. The father had been thinking of him for more than fifty years since he had lost him, but never told others [that he had a missing son]. He was alone, pining for his son.
And…
The rich man gave him a name and called him son. The poor son was glad to be treated kindly, but still thought that he was a humble employee. Therefore, the rich man had him clear dirt for twenty years. After that the father and son trusted each other. Now the son felt no hesitation in entering the house of his father, but still lodged in his old place.
Yes, Understanding by Faith, is the answer.
Listening to Our Buddha-Voice
Of the Six Paramitas – Giving – Dana; Discipline – Five Precepts; Patience; Effort; Meditation; and Wisdom – Wisdom is the manifestation of the supreme wisdom of the Buddha that already lies deep in ourself, which through our practice we bring to the surface.
When I give basic instruction on meditation I talk about wisdom having a soft underdeveloped voice. Because we are so busy and distracted with our thoughts that voice of wisdom is hard to hear and frequently is shouted down or drowned out. Yet, deep down in the core of our being we have great potential for wisdom, our Buddha-voice.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraDaily Dharma – Sept. 7, 2016
What do you think of this? Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva was no one but Medicine-King Bodhisattva of today. He gave up his body in this way, offered it [to the Buddha], and repeated this offering many hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of times [in his previous existence]. [He knows that he can practice any austerity in this Sahā-World. Therefore, he does not mind walking about this world.]
The Buddha gives this explanation to Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Three of the Lotus Sūtra. The story of the previous life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva shows us the capacities we have already developed and are not aware of. When we see ourselves as choosing to come into this world of conflict to benefit all beings, rather than stuck where we do not want to be and just making the best of it, then it is much easier to let go of our delusions.
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.
As I cycle through each day one topic at a time I get to return to the “fun” things. And the Buddha as a vehicle salesman is tops in fun when juxtaposed with our modern consumer economy.
This vehicle is
The purest and most wonderful.
This is unsurpassed by any other vehicle
In all the worlds.
This vehicle is approved with joy by the Buddhas. All living beings should extol it.
They should make offerings to it,14
And bow to it.The powers, emancipations,
dhyana-concentrations, wisdom,
And all the other merits [of the Buddhas],
Many hundreds of thousands of millions in number,
Are loaded in this vehicle.I will cause all my children
To ride in this vehicle
And to enjoy themselves
Day and night for kalpas.The Bodhisattvas and Sravakas
Will be able to go immediately
To the place of enlightenment
If they ride in this jeweled vehicle.Therefore, even if you try to find another vehicle
Throughout the worlds of the ten quarters,
You will not be able to find any other one
Except those given by the Buddhas expediently.
As a child I loved weekend drives with the family. Happy am I to be able “to ride in this vehicle and to enjoy [myself] day and night for kalpas.”
The Buddhological Trinity
The universal Buddhahood is called Dharma-kaya, or “Truth-body,” while the personal Buddha is Nirmana-kaya, or “Condescension-body”; and these two, together with another, the Sambhoga-kaya, or “Bliss-body,” the spiritual manifestation of Buddhahood, make up the Buddhological Trinity.
Nichiren, The Buddhist ProphetMeditation
Of the Six Paramitas – Giving – Dana; Discipline – Five Precepts; Patience; Effort; Meditation; and Wisdom – Meditation is a loose translation of Dhyana. It could also be considered single-minded concentration. Our usual state of mind is fleeting. First we have one thought and the next moment we are thinking yet something else, and all of this while supposedly we are engaged in some activity. This is perhaps one reason why people think they enjoy or function better if they are multitasking. What multitasking has done however is make it easier to live distracted lives and avoid concentration.
When we lead distracted lives we miss out on things and we tend to make more mistakes either in performance or judgment. Buddhism teaches us to push against the easy things in our lives. Focusing the mind, concentrating on a single task or thought is hard and takes practice; perhaps this is why some people prefer not doing it. The mind when it is focused and concentrated is capable of accomplishing many great things.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraDaily Dharma – Sept. 6, 2016
Did a god of great virtue or a Buddha
Appear somewhere in the universe?
This great light illumines
The worlds of the ten quarters.
The Brahma Heavenly Kings of the East sing these verses as part of a story the Buddha tells in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. Long ago there was another Buddha named Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence. When he became enlightened, the entire universe was illuminated. Beings who had never seen each other could recognize each other clearly. We can see this story as a metaphor for what happens when the Buddha’s wisdom comes into our lives. We leave the darkness of our ego attachment and come into the light of the world as it is.
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
Last month, I discussed the people, especially the young, “playing joyfully” unaware of the burning house.
The Parable of the Burning House
The dilemma:
[I thought, ‘] I am the father of the world. I eliminated fear, despondency, grief, ignorance and darkness. I obtained immeasurable insight, powers and fearlessness. I have great supernatural powers, the power of wisdom, the paramita of expedients, the paramita of wisdom, great compassion, and great loving-kindness. I am not tired of seeking good things or of benefiting all living beings. I have appeared in the triple world, which can be likened to the rotten and burning house, in order to save all living beings from the fires of birth, old age, disease, death, grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation, stupidity, darkness, and the three poisons, to teach all living beings, and to cause them to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. I see that all living beings are burned by the fires of birth, old age, disease, death, grief, sorrow, suffering and lamentation. They undergo various sufferings because they have the five desires and the desire for gain. Because they have attachments and pursuits, they have many sufferings in their present existence, and will suffer in hell or in the world of animals or in the world of hungry spirits in their future lives. Even when they are reborn in heaven or in the world of humans, they will still have many sufferings such as poverty or parting from their beloved ones or meeting with those whom they hate. Notwithstanding all this, however, they are playing joyfully. They are not conscious of the sufferings. 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.[‘]
Sariputra! Seeing all this, I [also] thought, ‘I am the father of all living beings. I will eliminate their sufferings, give them the pleasure of the immeasurable wisdom of the Buddha, and cause them to enjoy it.’
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?’