In general, the law of cause and effect explains how all phenomena appear and disappear as a result of actions and their consequences. Everything that exists, from people to planets to subatomic particles to states of mind, are the effects of previous causes and will in turn generate the causes that will bring about future effects. When we become aware of this process, we realize that nothing exists independently of its causes and conditions, and that nothing possesses any kind of permanent existence. Everything exists as a momentary and mutually supportive element in the dynamic process of cause and effect. This also means that when we try to grasp onto anything within this process, it invariably slips away and fails to provide us with the lasting satisfaction and security that we are seeking.
Lotus SeedsMonthly Archives: October 2016
Daily Dharma – Oct. 13, 2016
He will see only wonderful things in his dream.
He will dream:
‘Surrounded by bhikṣus,
The Tathāgatas are sitting
On the lion-like seats,
And expounding the Dharma.’
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra, speaking of those who keep and practice the Wonderful Dharma. Dreams for many of us can be frightening places. They can be where we relive bad situations in our past or develop fantastic scenarios for disasters in the future. When we accept our nature as Bodhisattvas, and live assured of our future enlightenment, we find that even the thoughts over which we have no control begin to harmonize with the world around us. When we learn to recognize the Buddha in our everyday lives, our old traumas become vehicles for compassion.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 11
Day 11 continues Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City
This middle section of Chapter 7 is all about the light emitted when Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.
More than 12 times through this section my appreciation grows. Light as a metaphor for wisdom and freedom from illusion occurs throughout the Lotus Sutra. Perhaps at some future time I’ll devote each month to a different recurring concept. Beyond the light of a Buddha, I’m fascinated by the children who teach adults.
For today, I imagine what it would be light to find the world suddenly illumined with the light of a Buddha.
When Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, five hundred billion Buddha-worlds in each of the ten quarters quaked in the six ways, and all those worlds, including those intercepted from the brilliant rays of light of the sun and the moon by the neighboring worlds, were illumined [by great rays of light], and the living beings of those worlds were able to see each other for the first time. They said to each other, ‘How did you appear so suddenly?’ The palaces of the gods of those worlds, including the palace of Brahmans, also quaked in the six ways. The great rays of light which illumined all those worlds were brighter than the rays of light emitted by those gods.
Let there be light.
Daily Dharma – Oct. 12, 2016
In this profound sūtra
The teachings for the Śrāvakas are criticized.
Those who hear
That this sūtra is the king of all the sūtras,
And think over this sūtra clearly after hearing it,
Know this, will approach the wisdom of the Buddha.
The Buddha sings these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. He has already declared that the sūtra he is teaching is the closest to his own wisdom, that it is different from anything he has taught before, and that it is the teaching for Bodhisattvas. The expedient teachings he gave to Śrāvakas before this sūtra were limited because they did not show the way to enlightenment for all beings. As we keep this sūtra in our minds, and learn to recognize it in our daily lives, we not only approach our own enlightenment, we lead all beings to enjoy the Buddha’s wisdom.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 10
Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.
The first half of today’s reading involves promises of future Buddhahood for “the great disciples.” In the past, when I’ve focused on this section, I’ve puzzled over why it is that Subhuti, Great Katyayana and Great Maudgalyayana must spend billions of lifetimes serving Buddhas before they finally attain enlightenment.
After all, it is common to read encouragement like this:
[T]he Lotus Sutra opens the seed of Buddhahood or potential enlightenment that each and everyone of us possess, and with the continued chanting of the Odaimoku, it gives that seed the nourishment it needs to sprout, grow and mature into a real living Buddha, transforming lives into that of an enlightened being, blessed with all the same wonderful and varied qualities, virtues and merits that Shakyamuni Buddha himself attained.
Odaimoku: The Significance Of Chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo
Recently, however, I’ve come to look at this from a different perspective. I suppose I could call it the Bodhisattva perspective.
Sakyamuni says to Subhuti:
In his future life, this Subhuti will see three hundred billion nayutas of Buddhas, make offerings to them, respect them, honor them, praise them, perform brahma practices, complete the Way of Bodhisattvas, and become a Buddha on the final stage of his physical existence.
Underline complete the Way of Bodhisattvas and become a Buddha on the final stage of his physical existence.
Again, for Great Katyayana:
On the final stage of his physical existence,
He will obtain the wisdom of the Buddha
And attain perfect enlightenment.
And Great Maudgalyayana:
He will finally complete
The Way of Bodhisattvas,
And become a Buddha
Called Tamala [ pattralcandana-Fragrance In a world called
Mind-Happiness.
Each day, morning and evening, I recite The Four Great Vows, beginning with the greatest vow:
Sentient begins are innumberable: I vow to save them all.
In the book Lotus Seeds, Rev. Ryuei Michael McCormick explains:
A bodhisattva is a person who has reached a high level of spiritual maturity and has realized that his or her awakening depends upon the awakening of others. Seeing the suffering of others, a bodhisattva works to assist them to free themselves from suffering and then attain awakening. This intention is expressed in the “Four Bodhisattva Vows.”
Lotus Seeds
When I first heard the Four Great Vows I immediately saw the Catch-22: I can’t become a Buddha until I’ve saved everyone else.
And yet it was only recently that I saw the billions of lifetimes of service from Subhuti, Great Katyayana and Great Maudgalyayana as fulfillment of that Bodhisattva vow to save all sentient beings.
Let me help you onto the boat before I join you on this trip to the other side of the river.
Nourishing the Seed of Buddhahood
[T]he Lotus Sutra opens the seed of Buddhahood or potential enlightenment that each and everyone of us possess, and with the continued chanting of the Odaimoku, it gives that seed the nourishment it needs to sprout, grow and mature into a real living Buddha, transforming lives into that of an enlightened being, blessed with all the same wonderful and varied qualities, virtues and merits that Shakyamuni Buddha himself attained.
Odaimoku: The Significance Of Chanting Namu Myoho Renge KyoDaily Dharma – Oct. 11, 2016
Have faith in the great Mandala Gohonzon, the most superlative in the world. Endeavor! Endeavor to strengthen your faith, so that you may be blessed with the protective powers of all Buddhas.
Nichiren wrote this as part of his letter to monk Sairen-bō in his Treatise on All Phenomena as Ultimate Reality (Shohō-Jissō Shō). One way of reading this passage is that as we develop our faith in the Omandala 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
Day 9
Day 9 covers Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and introduces Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.
Last month covered how those who hear the Dharma will reach various stages according to their capacities. This month we have examples of this differentiation.
Those who live among gods and men,
Or those who live with a wheel-turning-holy-king,
Or with King Sakra or with King Brahman,
May be likened to the small herbs.Those who know the Dharma-without-asravas,
Who attained Nirvana,
And who obtained the six supernatural powers,
Including the three major supernatural powers,
May be likened to the middle herbs.
So may those who live alone in mountains or forests,
Who practice dhyana-concentrations,
And who attained the enlightenment of cause-knowers.Those who seek the stage of the World-Honored One,
Who practice endeavors and concentration of mind,
And who wish to become Buddhas,
May be likened to the large herbs.My sons [, that is, the Bodhisattvas]
Who seek
The enlightenment of the Buddha exclusively,
Who believe that they will become Buddhas definitely,
And who have compassion towards others,
May be likened to the short trees.The Bodhisattvas
Who turn the irrevocable wheel of the Dharma
By their supernatural powers,
And who save many thousands of myriads
Of millions of living beings,
May be likened to the tall trees.Although my teachings are of the same content to anyone
Just as the rain is of the same taste,
The hearers receive my teachings differently
According to their capacities
Just as the plants receive
Different amounts of the rain water.
It always inspires me to know that “Those who live among gods and men,/Or those who live with a wheel-turning-holy-king,/Or with King Sakra or with King Brahman,/May be likened to the small herbs.” Me and the gods on the same level. And, of course, I’m just as inspired by the larger plants.
All from the teachings of the same content.
Daily Dharma – Oct. 10, 2016
Thereupon Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha said to King Wonderful-Adornment, ‘So it is, so it is. It is just as you say. The good men or women who plant the roots of good will obtain teachers in their successive lives. The teachers will do the work of the Buddha, show the Way [to them], teach them, benefit them, cause them to rejoice, and cause them to enter into the Way to Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi (Perfect Enlightenment). Great King, know this! A teacher is a great cause [of your enlightenment] because he leads you, and causes you to see a Buddha and aspire for Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.
These lines are part of a story told by the Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha uses this story to remind us of how much benefit we get from our teachers. When we see the world with the eyes of the Buddha, and know that he is always thinking of how to lead us, we can find innumerable teachers, and know to show our gratitude to them.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Seven Buddhas
Today’s Sunday service was a nice change from the days of work leading up to and during the annual Fall Food Sale. Everyone had aches and pains.
We had three new people attending. One was a former SGI/Nichiren Shoshu practitioner trading up to Nichiren Shu. She had a friend with her.
And in the very back we had a guy who told me he was “checking out” the service when I greeted him. After the service I wanted to talk with him about his experience but by the time I finished collecting the uchiwa daikos from the ladies in the front and walked to the back where the traditional fan drums are kept, the guy was gone.
The church really needs a brochure for people who wander in. While much of today’s service was in English, the recitation of the portions of the Lotus Sutra and the Odaimoku were not.
The Ven. Kenjo Igarasha offered something of an overview for the guests. One part stuck with me.
Each character of the Odaimoku, he said, is a separate Buddha. Na Mu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo. Seven Buddhas. Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. Seven more. Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. Seven more. And seven more. And seven more. And pretty soon we’re talking some serious numbers. I imagined building layers and layers of protective Buddhas as I chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. As many as the sands of the River Ganges.