Monthly Archives: September 2016

LS32

Day 3

Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Each morning I read the corresponding section of the Lotus Sutra in Shindoku using the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of Greater New England’s Myoho Renge Kyo Romanized. Ryuoh Faulconer explains, “Shindoku reading is sometimes referred to as a faith reading. The practice of reading in Shindoku allows the reader to touch their innate Buddha Nature that we each posses.”

While “faith reading” this morning, I was taken aback by my inability to recall more than the first part of this day’s reading, the portion used in the daily practice that includes the 10 suchnesses.

So this afternoon I remind myself of the need for faith, Śāriputra and the others’ confusion upon hearing this and the One Great Purpose of the Buddhas:

“Śāriputra! What is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds? The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to open [the gate to] the insight of the Buddha, and to cause them to purify themselves. They appear in the worlds in order to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings. They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to obtain the insight of the Buddha. They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to enter the Way to the insight of the Buddha. Śāriputra! This is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas appear in the worlds.”

Blog

2016 Fall Food Sale

Click on this image to pre-order your Sacramento Nichiren Church Fall Food Sale items
Click on this image to pre-order your Sacramento Nichiren Church Fall Food Sale items

Packages of food last year ready to be distributed
Packages of food ready to be distributed last fall

The Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church is taking orders now for its annual Fall Food Sale. Unlike the June Bazaar, which sold food on a first-come, first-served basis and ran out of popular items such as the barbecued teriyaki chicken halves, this is a presale event. All orders placed before Oct. 1 will be guaranteed for pickup on Oct. 8 between 11am and 2pm.

This year’s menu has Barasushi ($4.50 ea), Bento ($10 ea), Curry Rice ($5.50 ea), Spam Musubi ($4 ea), Teriyaki Beef Sandwich ($5 ea), Teriyaki Chicken ($7 ea) and Udon ($5 ea).

Orders can be placed online and paid securely with a credit card or you can download and print out a form and send that form and your check to the church office. It’s important to place orders as early as possible to guarantee your order can be filled on Oct. 8.

Order Now

The Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church holds three fund-raisers during the year in order to raise money for operating expenses. This is a vital effort considering the many areas where the money is needed right now. The roofs on the main building and the community center are more than 20 years old. (The roof on the priest’s home and the carpark were replaced earlier this year.) The exterior paint has peeled off the eaves of the main roof. If you can’t attend the Fall Food Sale but would like to make a donation click here.

Books, Lotus World

Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the Gohonzon

This book is available for purchase at Nichiren-Shu.org

The Nichiren Buddhist International Center bookstore

The meaning of the characters on the Gohonzon of Nichiren Buddhism can be confusing even to those who read Japanese. The interested practitioner could study the symbolic Buddhas, bodhisattvas, demons, dragons, kings and other beings represented by the thirteenth century Buddhist teacher Nichiren Shonin on his calligraphic Mandala. However, before Lotus World he would have needed a small library of books to find all of the characters represented.

Finally, the Nichiren Buddhist Temple of San Jose has published a book that will allow everyone with an interest in Buddhism to find all of their answers in one slim volume. Lotus World provides the reader with all of the detail one might desire, from the story of the characters to how they are represented in art. There is even useful section describing the overall world-view necessary to understand the hierarchy of beings.
Price: $15.00 (With a pictorial Mandala)

Wander about an interactive map of the Shutei Mandala and the Illustrated Mandala created from excerpts to Lotus World.

Shutei MandalaIllustrated Shutei Mandala

Book Quotes

 
Book List

Lecture on Lotus Sutra

Our Commitment to Ourselves and to the Dharma

Quote

In discussing the Six Paramitas and five precepts, I think the important thing is what kind of commitment you make to yourself and to the Dharma. Are you true to your commitment and can you be honest about your failings. This isn’t a game to impress others by putting on false appearances; it is about our own path to enlightenment and our ability to lead others to the Dharma. If we say we are going to do something then we should strive really hard to do just that, admit our failure and strive harder the next time to succeed. The better able we are to follow the precepts the better able we will to model the life of the Buddha and attain enlightenment and enable other to do so too.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Sept. 2, 2016

We were satisfied with the elimination
Of illusions within ourselves.
What we accomplished was that elimination.
We did nothing more.

These verses are sung by Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. They use the parable of the wayward son in this chapter to describe their own realization that the Buddha had not held any teaching back from them. Instead, the Buddha earlier allowed them to remain in the satisfaction of ending their own suffering. But before they can continue their progress towards the Buddha’s own enlightenment, they must give up their preoccupation with suffering, as the boy in the parable had to give up his idea of himself as a lowly hired worker, rather than the heir to his father’s treasure.

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

LS32

Day 2

Day 2 completes Chapter 1, Introductory.

Last month, I focused on the rarity of seeing this light – 20,000 Buddhas all preached the dharma, but only the last offered the light of his own wisdom. Today, I want to dwell on what Manjushri recalls having seen in the worlds illumined by the light of that long-ago Buddha.

This ray of light illumined
Eighteen thousand Buddha-worlds in the east.
It showed the region
To which each living being was to go by his karmas.

The worlds of the Buddha were
Adorned with many treasures,
And given the colors of lapis lazuli and crystal.
I saw all this by the light of the Buddha.

I also saw the gods, men, dragons, yaksas, gandharvas, and kimnaras of those worlds.
Each of them made offerings
To the Buddha by whom he was taught.

I also saw the Tathagatas of those worlds
Who had attained enlightenment by themselves.
The color of their bodies was as beautiful
And as wonderful as that of the golden mountains,
Or as that of a golden image
Put in a shrine of pure lapis lazuli.

Those World-Honored Ones explained to the great multitudes
The meaning of the profound teaching.
There were innumerable Sravakas
In the worlds of those Buddhas.
All those great multitudes were seen
By the light of the Buddha.

The bhiksus were living in mountains and forests.
They made endeavors,
And observed the pure precepts
As carefully as one keeps brilliant gems.

As many Bodhisattvas
As there are sands in the River Ganges
Performed almsgiving, patience, and other practices.
I saw all this by the light of the Buddha.

I also saw some Bodhisattvas
Who entered deep into dhyana-concentrations,
And became tranquil and motionless in body and mind,
In order to attain unsurpassed enlightenment.

I also saw some Bodhisattvas,
Who realized the tranquil extinction of all things,
And expounded the Dharma to [the people of] their worlds in order to attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.

The light illumines the present and past and foretells the future. A great teaching is coming this way.

Books, Odaimoku

Odaimoku: The Significance Of Chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo

Odaimoku bookcover
This book is available for purchase on Amazon

From Amazon

The Odaimoku, which literally means “the title,” is used in Japanese Buddhism in reference to the repeated recitation of a Buddhist mantra. The Odaimoku of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo is derived from the title of the Lotus Sutra which over a millennium, continues to have great influence throughout all of Japanese Buddhism. The Lotus Sutra has also been an inspiration to great Buddhist thinkers and Masters in China, Tibet, Korea and Japan since ancient times, and was a subject of profound interest and research by the 13th Century Buddhist Master, Nichiren Shonin. This ingenious teacher not only wrote exhaustively about the Lotus Sutra, but actively promoted the recitation of both the Sutra and its title, the Odaimoku.

The Odaimoku is today, therefore, the essential mantra of Nichiren Shu Buddhist faith and practice. This book examines the meaning of each single word composing the Odaimoku, so that one might have a deeper understanding of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo and its implications on one’s life, cultivation of Buddhist practice and enlightenment. It is divided into the following four chapters for easy comprehension:

  1. Introduction to the Lotus Sutra and Odaimoku
  2. The Meaning of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo
  3. Why do we chant the Odaimoku?
  4. How we chant the Odaimoku?

From the book dedication:

May the merit accumulated in the creation of this work adorn the pure land of Buddha, repay the profound debts of gratitude owed to the Three Treasures, our parents, teachers, and all those senior and more experienced, as well as help those who are suffering or in need. May all who see, read or hear this work bring forth their Bodhisattva heart, walk along the Path of the Buddha and obtain the blessed enlightenment of the Tathagata.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo

Book Quotes

 
Book List

Lecture on Lotus Sutra

Honestly Adhering to Precepts

Quote

The Six Paramitas are 1. Giving – Dana; 2. Discipline – Five Precepts; 3. Patience; 4. Effort; 5. Meditation; and 6. Wisdom. … There are many precepts given in Buddhism depending upon whether you are a lay practitioner or a priest and whether you are a female or male. However, what we will focus on are the first five, which apply to all.

The Five Precepts are, not to take life, not to take what is not yours, not to engage in sexual misconduct, not to tell an untruth, and not to use intoxicants. …

I like to point out that whenever we equivocate or try to make excuses or bend the rules, then we are ignoring an inability to be honest with ourselves. I personally don’t care one way or another how strictly a person adheres to these rules; after all it is not up to me to judge. But what does concern me is whenever someone tries to dance around the point, rather than being honest with oneself and others.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Sept. 1, 2016

The Buddha possesses 32 marks of physical excellence, all of which belong to the category of matter. The Brahma’s voice, pure and immaculate voice of the Buddha, however is invisible. Therefore it is impossible for us to depict it in pictures or statues.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, Wooden Statues or Portraits (Mokue Nizō Kaigen no Koto). The statues, portraits and other images of the Buddha and other protective deities which we use in our practice are not meant to be idols. They are living examples of the perfections to which we aspire and from which we draw strength. The ceremony in which we “Open the Eyes” of an Omandala or anything else we use in our practice reminds us that everything around us has life. When we hear the Buddha’s voice from them, leading us to enlightenment, then we learn how to improve the world for ourselves and all beings.

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