Anyone who rejoices at hearing the Dharma
And utters even a single word in praise of it
Should be considered to have already made offerings
To the past, present, and future Buddhas.
Such a person is rarely seen,
More rarely than the udumbara-flower.
The Buddha sings these verses to his disciple Śāriputra and all those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. It is natural to admire and respect those who make great sacrifices for the sake of improving the world, and who lead us to know what deserves those offerings. It is sometimes difficult to see the joy that comes from those efforts. In these verses the Buddha reminds us that even when our reaction to his Dharma is just a smile, or saying “Wonderful,” our admiration is a reminder of our own capacity for such great efforts.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 4 finishes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sutra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month covered why expedients were necessary, we come to the truth of the reality of all things.
The Buddhas’ sons who complete the practice of the Way
Will become Buddhas in their future lives.
I expounded the teaching of the Three Vehicles
Only as an expedient.
All the other World-Honored Ones also
Expound the teaching of the One Vehicle [with expedients].
The great multitude present here
Shall remove their doubts.
The Buddhas do not speak differently.
There is only one vehicle, not a second.
The number of the Buddhas who passed away
During the past innumerable kalpas was
Hundreds of thousands of billions,
Uncountable.
All those World-Honored Ones expounded
The truth of the reality of all things
With various stories of previous lives, parables and similes,
That is to say, with innumerable expedients.
All those World-Honored Ones expounded
The teaching of the One Vehicle,
And led innumerable living beings [with expedients]
Into the Way to Buddhahood.
All those Great Saintly Masters
Who knew the deep desires
Of the gods, men, and other living beings
Of all the worlds,
Revealed the Highest Truth
With various expedients.
In browsing my quotes looking for something to say on this point, I wandered off into something else I’ve been thinking about: Why we chant. That brought me to this quote from Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1:
There is a story told of Nichiren on his way to his second exile, his trip to Sado Island. It is said that the water was so rough that all those on board the boat feared for their lives. According to the story, Nichiren took one of the oars and with the blade wrote the Odaimoku onto the surface of the water in order to calm the sea.
Whether or not you believe this happened exactly as it is told, there is certain documentary support for believing that he actually did attempt to do this. Still, the fact of the matter is that Nichiren placed all of his faith in the power of the Lotus Sutra. We too can cast the Odaimoku upon the ocean of our suffering, and with our practice we can calm the waters. We can change ourselves so that we can safely and confidently navigate the rough seas in which we may find ourselves. Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1
And this plays into news I learned yesterday that the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art is making high-resolution digital copies of works in its collection of 441,175 items available online. Among that offering is Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s (1797–1861) woodblock print “A Vision of Prayer on the Waves”
A Vision of Prayer on the Waves by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861)
The Eightfold Path is often taught in terms of the “Threefold Training,” consisting of precepts, meditation, and wisdom.
Precepts refer to the ethical demand of right speech , right action, and right livelihood. Right effort is sometimes included in this category, as well. There are five precepts at the heart of Buddhist morality. These are: not killing, not stealing, not engaging in sexual misconduct, not lying, and not using intoxicants that cloud the mind. Through ethical living, we refrain from making bad causes and take responsibility for developing a life of integrity and confidence.
Meditation refers to mental discipline and refinement, covering right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. By training the mind, we are able to sharpen and strengthen our ability to maintain a peaceful mind and see things as they are, not simply as we wish them to be.
Wisdom refers to the development of right views and right intentions. This means that we are able to see the true nature of reality just as the Buddha sees it.
The Buddha taught that we are able to free ourselves from craving and ignorance and attain awakening when precepts, meditation, and wisdom are developed together.
The Buddhas expound the Dharma
In perfect freedom.
Knowing the various desires and dispositions
Of all living beings,
They expound the Dharma
With innumerable parables
And with innumerable similes
According to their capacities.
These verses are sung by Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. They show the realization by the Buddha’s disciples of why the Buddha uses different teachings for different people. For us who do not know the various desires and dispositions of all living beings, the Buddha gives this Lotus Sūtra. When we put this teaching into practice, and use it to benefit all beings, it is as if we are teaching from the Buddha’s own mind.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Devotion to the Lotus Sutra is manifested in the five practices of upholding, reading, reciting, explaining, and copying the text of the Lotus Sutra.
I’ve participated in Shakyo practice, the ritual copying of the Lotus Sutra, during which I traced the letters of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.
That practice seems so shallow compared to this tale from Readings of the Lotus Sutra, a collection of essays edited by Stephen F. Teiser and Jacqueline I. Stone.
The tale of the seventh-century nun Miaozhi, as recounted in Huixiang’s Accounts of the Propagation of the Lotus Sutra, provides a vivid example of the effort that might go into [ritually copying the sutra].
To produce the pulp used in making the paper for her sutra, Miaozhi planted saplings in the nearby hills, which she nurtured daily with perfumed water. Once the trees had matured, she constructed a hut from mud mixed with fragrant water, where she had a craftsman boil and press the bark into paper, ensuring all the while that he observed the proper protocols to purify both himself and the materials. With the paper in hand, she built yet another chamber for copying the sutra, again with utmost attention to ritual purity. Having finally located a skilled calligrapher who was willing to uphold her ritual specifications, Miaozhi first had the man fast for a period of forty-nine days, after which he finally began to inscribe the text. Each time he entered the sanctuary to copy the Sutra, he was required to bathe and don a purified robe. Miaozhi knelt in adoration beside him as he wrote, incense burner in hand and right knee to the ground. When the scribe withdrew at the end of the day, she remained in the chamber to offer incense and ritually circumambulate the work in progress. The task finally completed, Miaozhi created splendid accoutrements for the manuscript, including ten sets of specially constructed robes that were to be worn (after bathing) by persons who came to pay obeisance to the sutra.
Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.
Having last month covered the gathas concerning the unknown wisdom of the Buddhas, we witness the confusion sown by the Buddha’s revelations.
The great multitude at that time included Sravakas. [They also included] Ajnata-Kaundinya, and other Arhats, twelve hundred altogether, who had already eliminated asravas. [They also included] the bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas, and upasikas, [that is, the four kinds of devotees] who had already aspired for Sravakahood or Pratyekabuddhahood. All of them thought:
Why does the World-Honored One extol so enthusiastically the power of the Buddhas to employ expedients? Why does he say that the Dharma attained by him is profound and difficult to understand, and that the true purpose of his teachings is too difficult for Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas to know? He expounded to us the teaching of emancipation. We obtained this teaching and reached Nirvana. We do not know why he says all this.
I’ll continue next month with Sariputra’s request for an explanation. For now, I want to insert this wonderful explanation of “expedients” from Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1:
Previous to teaching the Lotus Sutra the Buddha taught expedients to lead people to the ultimate teaching of the Lotus Sutra. In many ways it was as if he were leading the blind to the train station so they could then find the way to the true complete teachings contained in the Lotus Sutra. But we need to remember that the train station is not the destination, the expedients are not the sum of the Buddha’s teachings. Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1
All living beings are either noble or humble. They are either handsome or ugly. They are destined to be reborn either in a better region or in a worse region. All of them will be reflected on the pure bodies [of the good men or women].
The Buddha makes this declaration to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. Much of what we see in the world is a projection of our own biases and ignorance. We see things for what we want them to be rather than what they are. We classify the people in our lives as friends, enemies or strangers not because of their inherent qualities, but because of how they treat us. When we act for the benefit of others rather than our own gratification, we are showing them their true qualities. We let them see themselves for what they are.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Having last month considered what Manjusri saw in a previous life a long, long time ago, we come to the story of a Bodhisattva who was called Fame Seeking.
One of the eight hundred disciples [of Wonderful-Light] was called FameSeeking. He was attached to gain. He read and recited many sutras, but did not understand them. He forgot many parts of those sutras. Therefore, he was called Fame-Seeking. But he [later] planted the roots of good, and became able to see many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas. He made offerings to them, respected them, honored them, and praised them.
Maitreya, know this! Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva at that time was no one but myself; and Fame-Seeking Bodhisattva, no one but you. This good omen we see now is not different from what I saw at that time. Therefore, l think that the Tathagata of today also will expound the sutra of the Great Vehicle called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’
It never fails to amaze me to hear that the next Buddha of the Saha World, Maitreya. was once a slacker more interested self-interest than in his Buddhist practice. There’s hope for me yet. Planting roots of good; looking forward to seeing many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas.
The syllable Ho of Myoho is the translation of the Sanskrit word “Dharma” and is written with the Chinese character that expresses the concept of “law.” In the ancient teachings of the Hindu Vedas and Upanishads that all came before the advent of the Buddha, Dharma is defined as a religious duty in the life of every person. According to these pre-Buddhist traditions, through the observance of one’s religious duty or Dharma, life throughout the universe is maintained and can continue to flourish.
If a person born a commoner states that he is equal to a samurai, he is bound to be punished. If he states that he is equal to or superior to the king, it is not only he himself but also his parents, wife, and children who are bound to be punished. If those who believe that some other sutra is the same as or superior to the Lotus Sutra according to what they believe without knowing the comparative superiority of the sutras, they are happy because their sutras are being praised. However, it will be a crime of slandering the True Dharma, for which priests and their disciples, as well as their lay followers, will all go to hell as speedily as a flying arrow. On the contrary, to say that the Lotus Sutra is superior to all other sutras is no crime at all. Instead it will be an act of great merit because it is so stated in the sutras.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Response to My Lady the Nun, Mother of Lord Ueno (Ueno-dono Haha-ama Gozen Gohenji). In other writings, Nichiren explains that the superiority of the Lotus Sutra is not due to some inherent magical power it has to get us what we want. The superiority of the Lotus Sutra comes from its embodiment of the Buddha’s highest teaching, the revelation of his Ever-Present existence, and the ability of the Lotus Sūtra to lead all beings to enlightenment.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
