Speaking of the Paramita of Effort, whatever our faults may be, we did not acquire those faults overnight. We must expect to need to exert as much effort to change as we actually exerted to create those faults. In my case it has taken over 60 years to create the kind of person I am, good points and bad points. If I want to change something bad about myself, then I will need to strive equally as hard to create new good to replace it. Perhaps it will take less time, but only if I exert concentrated effort. An overgrown garden where weeds have taken over didn’t become that way overnight, and will not suddenly and magically revert back to a weed free and orderly state merely because we wish it to be so, but only by continued attention to its defects and nurturing of its perfections.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraMonthly Archives: September 2016
Daily Dharma – Sept. 5, 2016
Anyone who believes and receives this sūtra
Should be considered
To have already seen the past Buddhas,
Respected them, made offerings to them,
And heard the Dharma from them
In his previous existence.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. Whatever view we may have of our past lives, we can agree that it is difficult to remember what happened in them. In these verses the Buddha reminds us that our joy in hearing his teaching in this life indicates that we have already heard and practiced what he taught, no matter how difficult it may seem to us now. This also means that by believing and receiving the Lotus Sūtra we are respecting and making offerings to all Buddhas.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 5
Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable
Last month I discussed Sariputra’s feeling of betrayal and the Buddha’s explanation that Sariputra forgot his original vow and the many, many lifetimes of teachings that passed before.
This has puzzled me for some time. The Buddha tells Sariputra:
In order to cause you to remember the Way you practiced under your original vow, I now expound to the Sravakas this sutra of the Great Vehicle called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’
Underscore remember the Way you practiced under your original vow.
Then, in explaining the world where Sariputra will be a Buddha called Flower-Light, the Buddha says:
“Sariputra! Although the world in which he appears will not be an evil one, that Buddha will expound the teaching of the Three Vehicles according to his original vow.
Again according to his original vlow. Why the “Three Vehicles” when his world is not only free of evil but filled with Bodhisattvas:
The kalpa in which he appears will be called Great-Treasure-Adornment. Why will it be called Great-Treasure-Adornment? It is because in that world Bodhisattvas will be regarded as great treasures. The number of the Bodhisattvas [in that world] will be countless, inconceivable, beyond any mathematical calculation, beyond inference by any parable or simile. No one will know the number except the Buddha who has the power of wisdom. When those Bodhisattvas wish to go somewhere, jeweled flowers will receive their feet and carry them. Those Bodhisattvas will not have just begun to aspire for enlightenment. A long time before that they will have already planted the roots of virtue, performed the brahma practices under many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas, received the praises of the Buddhas, studied the wisdom of the Buddhas, obtained great supernatural powers, and understood all the teachings of the Buddhas. They will be upright, honest, and resolute in mind. The world of that Buddha will be filled with such Bodhisattvas.
Something to consider.
Practicing in the Age of Mappo
I keep telling myself: Self, ask the priest if his sermon can be recorded. And for some reason I never find the right opportunity. Instead I try to recap what I learned, knowing full well that at best I have only a partial understanding.
Following today’s Kaji Kito service, Ven. Kenjo Irgarashi discussed the importance the Lotus Sutra in this age of Mappo, the Latter Day of Degeneration in which we live today.
The characters on the left say, loosely, the Lotus Sutra benefits all sentient beings. And by all he means all. While the plan of salvation in other religions is designed solely for human beings, not for animals, in Nichiren Buddhism everyone benefits from contact with the Lotus Sutra including those pets who hear the Odaimoku. I have one cat who joins me each morning for gonyo. She’s definitely going to enjoy a better life next time around.
The characters on the right say, loosely again, the Lotus Sutra is the only salvation in the age of Mappo.
And, finally, the center characters retell Nichiren’s lesson that in the age of Mappo few will believe in the Lotus Sutra. As the Daily Dharma from Aug. 22, 2016, explained: “In this world of conflict, it can seem like very few people are practicing the Buddha Dharma with us. Nichiren compared those beings alive in this world of conflict to the amount of soil in the whole earth, while those who keep and practice the Lotus Sūtra are like the dirt under a fingernail.”
Rev. Igarashi reminded everyone that it is the rope of the Daimoku he discussed at the last service that we can use to rescue ourselves in this Age of Mappo.
Effort
By some accounts the Six Paramitas came about as a Mahayana response to an overemphasis on development of self by only adhering to the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-Fold Path, which are primarily focused on self.
Of the Six Paramitas – Giving – Dana; Discipline – Five Precepts; Patience; Effort; Meditation; and Wisdom – effort is viewed slightly different than Effort as one of the Eight-Fold Path. Here, Effort is our effort on behalf of others and our effort in our practice. Effort is also sometimes translated as Striving.
What kind of effort should we make is of course a legitimate question, and the answer can simply be stated as effort to bring good and prevent harm. Effort is also the activity of doing the entire Six Paramitas, as it takes both physical and mental effort to live up to and follow these six guidelines.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraDaily Dharma – Sept. 4, 2016
I see the [perverted] people sinking
In an ocean of suffering.
Therefore, I disappear from their eyes
And cause them to admire me.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. With the story of the wise physician in this chapter, the Buddha explains how he disappears from our view even though he is always present to us. The children in the story would not accept the remedy their father prepared for them to counteract the poison they had taken. Some of them hoped for another remedy, some believed the remedy would be worse than the poison. It was not until the father left and told them he would not return that the children realized the value of what they already had. When we take the Buddha for granted, as the children in the story took their father for granted, and ignore the path he has laid out for us, we lose sight of the Buddha. It is only when we realize we are lost that we look for a guide. When we bring the Buddha’s teachings to life, we find him everywhere.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 4
Day 4 finishes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sutra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Yesterday, I bemoaned my inability to recall the content of a chapter even after reading it more than 12 times. And today I’m reminded that my willingness to admit my shortcomings and my efforts to improve set me apart from the arrogant bhiksus and bhiksunis who walked out on the Buddha’s explanation of why he uses expedients.
Some bhiksus and bhiksunis
Were arrogant.
Some upasakas were self-conceited.
Some upasikas were unfaithful.
Those four kinds of devotees
Were five thousand in number.They could not see their own faults.
They could not observe all the precepts.
They were reluctant to heal their own wounds.
Those people of little wisdom are gone.
They were the dregs of this congregation.
They were driven away by my powers and virtues.They had too few merits and virtues
To receive the Dharma.
Now there are only sincere people here.
All twigs and leaves are gone.
And later…
Sariputra, know this!
Men of dull capacity and of little wisdom cannot believe the Dharma.
Those who are attached to the appearances of things are arrogant.
They cannot believe it, either.I am now joyful and fearless.
I have laid aside all expedient teachings.
I will expound only unsurpassed enlightenment
To Bodhisattvas.
The Bodhisattvas who hear the Dharma
Will be able to remove the mesh of doubts.
The twelve hundred Arhats also
Will become Buddhas
No doubts here.
Lotus Seeds: The Essence of Nichiren Shu Buddhism
From the NBIC websiteAlmost 2500 years ago, the Buddha taught a way to relieve the suffering of all beings in the universe. In the thirteenth century, a Japanese monk named Nichiren proposed a reform of Buddhism to make the Buddha’s teaching and enlightenment once again accessible to all mankind without discrimination. His efforts led to the founding of the Nichiren Shu School of Buddhism.
This book makes the Buddha’s and Nichiren’s teachings accessible for us today. Lotus Seeds fills the gap of information for those seeking an English-language explanation of the foundation and essential teachings of Nichiren Shu.
Find out how to apply the principles of Nichiren Shu within your own life and join the practitioners of this unique form of Buddhism worldwide on making the world a better place. Plant Lotus Seeds in your life today.
Book Quotes
Patience Without Judgement
Of the Six Paramitas – Giving – Dana; Discipline – Five Precepts; Patience; Effort; Meditation; and Wisdom – the third paramita or perfection is patience, that elusive trait, which I have difficulty in giving to others and in giving to myself. As I was thinking about this it occurred to me that it is different than being tolerant, at least as I see it. Let me give an example to see if you can follow my thinking. If I tolerate something that someone is doing then I am ‘granting’ them or ‘giving’ them my permission to not do it correct. However, if I am patient with what they are doing I accept whatever they are doing as a gift from them. Does that make sense? In a way, one is something that I am giving and the other is accepting from them. I may be muddying the waters even more here, so let me try again. If, for example someone is moving slowly, I may tolerate it and in so doing I might say nothing externally but internally I am judging his or her actions as being slow. If I am patient with what they are doing, I accept it from them with no judgment, no thoughts of just getting through the ordeal, no condescending attitude, no ifs ands or buts.
With patience I am better able to see the value of what the other person is doing. I am better able to value the other person. And I am less likely to make judgments of superiority or inferiority.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraDaily Dharma – Sept. 3, 2016
Flower-Virtue! This Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva protects all living beings in this Sahā-World. He transforms himself into one or another of these various living beings in this Sahā-World and expounds this sūtra to all living beings without reducing his supernatural powers, [his power of] transformation, and his wisdom.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Flower-Virtue Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Four of the Lotus Sūtra. Like many of the Bodhisattvas, Wonderful-Voice takes on the form of countless beings to reach those whom he has vowed to lead to enlightenment. For those who can be reached by a teacher, he becomes a teacher. For those who can be reached by a child, he becomes a child. For those who can be reached by a stranger, he becomes a stranger. Understanding the innumerable forms the Bodhisattvas take on to help us, we can ask: Who in this world of conflict and suffering is not a Bodhisattva? From whom can we not learn how to see things for what they are?
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com