The individual, as such, is neither real, in the commonly asserted sense of being a personally persistent entity, nor unreal, in the sense that it has no place in existence. It is unreal, be cause it is subject to constant change; but it is real, as a product of causation, as a manifestation of character accumulated by karma.
Nichiren, The Buddhist ProphetMonthly Archives: January 2017
Daily Dharma – Jan. 24, 2017
Therefore, anyone who has wisdom should copy this sūtra with all his heart, cause others to copy it, and also keep, read and recite it, memorize it correctly, and act according to it.
The Buddha declares this to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. It is important to remember that early in the sūtra, the Buddha explained that he teaches only Bodhisattvas, beings who exist for the benefit of all beings. Our practice of the Lotus Sūtra is not just for ourselves. When we use it to lead others to enlightenment, we create the cause for our own enlightenment.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 18
Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.
Having last month discussed the proper things to approach, it’s time for the gathas:
A Bodhisattva who wishes
To expound this sutra without fear
In the evil world
After [my extinction]
Should perform proper practices
And approach proper things.He should keep away
From kings, princes and ministers,
From other government officials,
From players of dangerous sports,
From candalas, from heretics,
And from aspirants for the teaching of Brahman.He should not approach arrogant people,
Or the scholars who are deeply attached
To the Three Stores of the Lesser Vehicle,
Or the bhiksus
Who violate the precepts,
Or self-appointed Arhats,
Or the bhiksunis
Who like to laugh playfully.He should not approach the upasikas
Who are attached to the five desires
Or who seek in their present life
The extiniction[-without-remainder].
When they come to him
With good intent
In order to hear
About the enlightenment of the Buddha,
He should expound the Dharma to them
Without fear,
But should not wish to receive
Anything from them.He should not approach
Or make friends with a widow
Or with an unmarried woman
Or with a eunuch.He should not approach
Slaughterers or cooks
Or those who kill for profit,
Such as hunters or fishermen.He should not approach
Butchers
Or procurers
Of prostitutes.He should not approach
Dangerous wrestlers
Or makers of various amusements
Or immoral women.He should not expound the Dharma
To a woman in an enclosed place.
When he expounds the Dharma to her,
He should not laugh playfully.When he goes to a village to beg for food,
He should take a bhiksu with him.
If he cannot find a bhiksu [to take with him],
He should think of the Buddha with all his heart.These are the proper practices he should perform
And the proper things he should approach.
He should expound the Dharma peacefully
Only after doing all this!
For purposes of reminder, I’ll stick something from Rev. Ryusho Jeffus‘ discussion of this topic in his Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:
By doing the peaceful practices we will create the kind of peaceful lives that further reflects and enhances our practice. It is sort of like an endless feedback loop that keeps replenishing and enhancing.
I imagine that some will say, yes, but Nichiren was pretty harsh with some of the people of his time, and shouldn’t we too carry out that same strict rhetoric as we engage with people who don’t believe in the Lotus Sutra? To this I say these are two different situations. For one thing, there are few of us today whose lives are threatened and for whom death is a constant possibility because of our practice. We live in a time when there are few actual obstacles to practicing our faith either privately or in society. It isn’t that this can’t happen, it is that it isn’t currently happening. In such a situation, even Nichiren stated that we should only use a much more strident approach when absolutely necessary.
When there is no obstacle to practice it is entirely possible to create a false obstacle by our behavior of obstinacy and belligerence. The kinds of obstacles created in those situations are false. I can be a jerk and have people around me treat me poorly, but I can’t claim it is because of my practice when I am not actually following the peaceful practices in a peaceful environment. In an environment that is not hostile we should practice in a non-hostile way. If the reverse becomes true then other measure might be called for.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra
The Ten Realms of True Happiness
Approaching enlightenment, changing your point of view and rejuvenating your ideas, means spiritually changing your values based on the Buddha’s teachings. Values that are easily dominated by delusion or worldly desires will lead to a life of constant troubles. However, a life that has no troubles at all can also be a potential trouble. When we think of a life of happiness based on the Mutual Possession of the Ten Realms, happiness includes unhappiness, emptiness, other emotions and even troubles. Also, within unhappiness, happiness, hope, and joy can exist, as well as other emotions. So, true happiness is a harmonized balance of both, based on another basic teaching of Buddhism, the teaching of the “Middle Way.”
Spring WritingsDaily Dharma – Jan. 23, 2017
Therefore, Śāriputra!
I expounded an expedient teaching
In order to eliminate their sufferings.
That was the teaching of Nirvāṇa.
The Nirvāṇa which I expounded to them
Was not true extinction.
All things are from the outset
In the state of tranquil extinction.
The Buddha provides this explanation to his disciple Śāriputra in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. In this part of the story, the Buddha has announced that everything he had taught up until then, including the teachings of suffering and Nirvāṇa, were merely preparation for his highest teaching: the realization of the same enlightenment he reached. With the teaching of Nirvāṇa, the Buddha helps us take responsibility for our own situation rather than relying on an external force to make us happy. One problem with Nirvāṇa is that we can believe that it is something we do not have now. When we extinguish the fires of our delusion, we see the world with the Buddha’s eyes. We see the world for what it is, right here and right now.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Noble Truths About Magic Cities
Attended services at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church. The Rev. Kenjo Igarashi‘s lecture covered the need to practice and study, along the way incorporating the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path with the Parable of the Magic City and the promise of acquiring the benefits of Sakyamuni Buddha, a veritable Treasure Mountain.
We also learned that photos of the early Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church will be featured at a California Museum exhibit entitled, Kokoro: The Story of Sacramento’s Lost Japantown. The exhibit runs from Feb. 12 to May 28, 2017. This year is the 75th Anniversary of FDR’s infamous Executive Order 9060.
Day 17
Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.
Having last month covered the gathas about the king who sought the Dharma and the seer whom he served to hear the Wonderful Dharma, we come to the big reveal:
The Buddha said to the bhiksus:
The king at that time was a previous life of myself. The seer at that time was a previous life of Devadatta. Devadatta was my teacher. He caused me to complete the six paramitas. He caused me to have loving-kindness, compassion, joy and impartiality. He caused me to have the thirty-two major marks and the eighty minor marks [of the Buddha]. He caused me to have my body purely gilt. He caused me to have the ten powers and the four kinds of fearlessness. He caused me to know the four ways to attract others. He caused me to have the eighteen properties and supernatural powers [of the Buddha]. He caused me to have the power of giving discourses. I attained perfect enlightenment and now save all living beings because Devadatta was my teacher.
The Daily Dharma from May 24, 2016, offers this:
The Buddha makes this declaration in Chapter Twelve of the Lotus Sūtra. Devadatta was a cousin of the Buddha who became jealous of the Buddha’s enlightenment. Several times he tried to kill the Buddha. He also caused a split in the Buddha’s Sangha, and convinced a young prince to kill his father and usurp the throne. Devadatta was so evil that he fell into Hell alive. Despite all this, the Buddha credits Devadatta with helping him become enlightened, and assures Devadatta personally that he will become enlightened. This shows us that even those beings who create great harm have Buddha nature. They may not deserve our admiration, but they at least deserve our respect. The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Hard Practice
One of the objections of Nichiren’s contemporaries was the Lotus Sutra was too difficult for people and so some other teaching should be presented. Nichiren’s response was that yes, it was hard; the Buddha said it would be hard; and that is all the more reason why it is the most appropriate teaching for the ages after the death of the Buddha. We should not be surprised that it is difficult to practice and teach the Lotus Sutra. Yet I have met many who are either forgetful of the message from the Buddha, or who did not believe him when he says it will be hard to practice the Lotus Sutra.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraDaily Dharma – Jan. 22, 2017
If you wish to dwell in the enlightenment of the Buddha,
And to obtain the self-originating wisdom,
Make offerings strenuously to the keeper
Of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma!
The Buddha sings these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva at the beginning of Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. This teaching does not mean that we who practice the Buddha Dharma should expect offerings because of our practice. Rather, it encourages us to appreciate all those who are seeking enlightenment, whether or not they are aware of their true nature as Bodhisattvas. It also means that innumerable beings are helping us reach enlightenment. We are never alone in this practice.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 16
Day 16 concludes Chapter 11, Beholding the Stupa of Treasures, and completes the Fourth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month covered the replicas of Sakyamuni Buddha dispatching representatives to greet Sakyamuni, we move on to the opening of the Stupa of Treasures.
Thereupon Sakyamuni Buddha, having seen that all the Buddhas of his replicas had already arrived and sat on the lion-like seats, and also having heard that they had told their attendants of their wish to see the stupa of treasures opened, rose from his seat, and went up to the sky. All the four kinds of devotees stood up, joined their hands together towards him, and looked up at him with all their hearts. Now he opened the door of the stupa of the seven treasures with the fingers of his right hand. The opening of the door made a sound as large as that of the removal of the bolt and lock of the gate of a great city. At that instant all the congregation saw ManyTreasures Tathagata sitting with his perfect and undestroyed body on the lion-like seat in the stupa of treasures as if he had been sitting in dhyana-concentration. They also heard him say:
Excellent, excellent! You, Sakyamuni Buddha, have joyfully expounded the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. I have come to hear this sutra [directly from you].
Having seen that the Buddha, who had passed away many thousands of billions of kalpas before, had said this, the four kinds of devotees praised him, saying, ‘We have never seen [such a Buddha as] you before.’ They strewed heaps of jeweled flowers of heaven to Many-Treasures Buddha and also to Sakyamuni Buddha.
Excellent, Excellent.