Enlightenment is the ongoing engagement of seeking enlightenment. When we no longer engage ourselves in the activity of being enlightened, when we no longer seek enlightenment, then we are, in fact, no longer enlightened and have left the path. It may not look like regressing, especially at first, but the spiritual light dims, it becomes clouded and corrupted. Enlightenment becomes a disappointment but only because there is no longer enlightenment present. Complacency and enlightenment cannot coexist within the same spirit.
Physician's Good MedicineMonthly Archives: September 2017
Daily Dharma – Sept. 13, 2017
Now I will transmit [the Dharma] to you. Keep, read, recite and expound [this sūtra in which the Dharma is given], and cause all living beings to hear it and know it! Why is that? It is because I have great compassion. I do not begrudge anything. I am fearless. I wish to give the wisdom of the Buddha, the wisdom of the Tathāgata, the wisdom of the Self-Existing One, to all living beings.
The Buddha gives these instructions in Chapter Twenty-Two of the Lotus Sūtra. In this transmission, the Buddha bestows his highest teaching not just on those gathered 2500 years ago. He gives it to all of us who hear and keep his teaching today. When the Buddha revealed his true nature as existing through all time and space, he assured us that he is always teaching us, and that the Lotus Sūtra is the vehicle by which he comes to us. By giving us this teaching, he does not lose it. In the same way, when we benefit other beings, we should not be afraid of losing anything, other than our delusion and attachments.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 26
Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.
Having last month heard in gāthās the praise for keeper of this sutra, we conclude Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.
The Buddhas sat at the place of enlightenment,
And obtained the hidden core.
Anyone who keeps this sūtra will be able
To obtain the same before long.Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to expound
The meanings of the teachings,
And the names and words [of this sūtra].
Their eloquence will be as boundless
And as unhindered as the wind in the sky.Anyone who understands why the Buddhas expound [many] sūtras,
Who knows the position [of this sūtra in the series of sūtras],
And who expounds it after my extinction
According to its true meaning,
Will be able to eliminate the darkness
Of the living beings of the world where he walks about,
Just as the light of the sun and the moon
Eliminates all darkness.
He will be able to cause innumerable Bodhisattvas
To dwell finally in the One Vehicle.Therefore, the man of wisdom
Who hears the benefits of these merits
And who keeps this sūtra after my extinction,
Will be able to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha
Definitely and doubtlessly.
The Daily Dharma from April 16, 2016, offers this:
The Buddha sings these verses to Superior-Practice Bodhisattva (Jōgyo, Viśiṣṭacārītra) in Chapter Twenty-One of the Lotus Sūtra. Superior-Practice is the embodiment of the fourth vow of a Bodhisattva: The Buddha’s teachings are immeasurable; I vow to attain supreme enlightenment. It is through our determination to benefit all beings, and our confidence in the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, that we maintain our lives in this world of conflict. The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Daily Dharma – Sept. 12, 2017
Ajita! The good men or women who hear of my longevity of which I told you, and understand it by firm faith, will be able to see that I am expounding the Dharma on Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa, surrounded by great Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas. They also will be able to see that the ground of this Sahā-World is made of lapis lazuli, that the ground is even, that the eight roads are marked off by ropes of jāmbūnada gold, that the jeweled trees are standing in lines, and that the magnificent buildings are made of treasures.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Maitreya Bodhisattva, whom he calls Ajita – Invincible, in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sūtra. We can hear this explanation as a promise of some great otherworldly vision which will be revealed to us if our faith is strong enough. We can also hear it as a promise that we will learn to deny that all the terrible things in the world as as bad as we think. But when we remember the Buddha telling us, “I do not see the world as others do,” then we realize that our faith brings us to the Buddha’s own mind, where we can accept this frightening and dangerous world for what it is, and work to make it better for all beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 25
Day 25 covers all of Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, and opens Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.
Having last month witnessed the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas as many as the particles of dust of one thousand worlds vow to expound this sūtra, we see the World-Honored One display his great supernatural powers.
Thereupon the World-Honored One displayed his great supernatural powers in the presence of the multitude, which included not only the many hundreds of thousands of billions of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who had already lived in this Sahā-World [before the arrival of the Bodhisattvas from underground], headed by Mañjuśrī, but also bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, upāsikās, gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings. He stretched out his broad and long tongue upwards until the tip of it reached the World of Brahman. Then he emitted rays of light with an immeasurable variety of colors from his pores. The light illumined all the worlds of the ten quarters. The Buddhas who were sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees also stretched out their broad and long tongue and emitted innumerable rays of light. Śākyamuni Buddha and the Buddhas under the jeweled trees displayed these supernatural powers of theirs for one hundred thousand years. Then they pulled back their tongues, coughed at the same time, and snapped their fingers. These two sounds [of coughing and snapping] reverberated over the Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters, and the ground of those worlds quaked in the six ways. By the supernatural powers of the Buddhas, the living beings of those worlds, including gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, and mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings, saw the many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees in this Sahā-World. They also saw Śākyamuni Buddha sitting by the side of Many-Treasures Tathāgata on the lion-like seat in the stupa of treasures. They also saw that the many hundreds of thousands of billions of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas and the four kind of devotees were surrounding Śākyamuni Buddha respectfully. Having seen all this, they had the greatest joy that they had ever had.
Ryusho Jeffus Shonin‘s Lecture on the Lotus Sutra offers this:
When the bodhisattvas who appeared from beneath the ground made their vow to carry out their practice of the Lotus Sutra in the Saha World after the death of the Buddha, immediately the Buddha gave his assent and praised their vow. There is no place in the sutra where the Buddha gives such a dramatic indicator of his pleasure. The Buddha immediately showed his supernatural powers to all present at the ceremony that is still continuing. His powers were displayed to the worlds of the universe in the ten quarters. He stretched out his long broad tongue, and he also emitted rays of light in various colors from the pores of his skin. All of this is not only seen in the other worlds but allows those in this world to see into those other worlds. All of this causes the other Buddhas, the replica Buddhas, to do the same, as well as coughing and snapping their fingers together. The snapping of fingers and coughing are devices employed by the Buddha to gain attention to an important teaching. And all of the various supernatural phenomena mentioned at this point in the Lotus Sutra serve to further demonstrate the importance of the Buddha accepting the vow made by the Bodhisattvas from Beneath the Ground.Lecture on the Lotus Sutra
Innumerable Aeons of Work
Since I have attained Buddhahood, … I have constantly been preaching truths, And helping innumerable beings to maturity, Leading them in the Way of Buddhas; Thus, innumerable aeons have passed in this work. (Chapter XVI).
Nichiren, The Buddhist ProphetDaily Dharma – Sept. 11, 2017
Suppose bandits are surrounding you,
And attempting to kill you with swords.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
The bandits will become compassionate towards you.
The Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon, Kanzeon, Kuan Yin, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. When we allow this Bodhisattva, the embodiment of compassion, into our minds, we realize the value of the connections we have with all beings, even those who are so deluded that they want to harm us. When we ourselves embody compassion, we should not be surprised when it awakens the compassion that is at the core of our existence.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 24
Day 24 concludes Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma and closes the Sixth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month completed the eight hundred merits of the body, we repeat these in gāthās.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Anyone who keeps
This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Will be able to have his body purified like lapis lazuli.
All living beings will wish to see him.Just as a reflection is seen
In a clear mirror
All things in the world will be reflected
On the pure body of this [person, that is, of this]
Bodhisattva.
No one but he
Will be able to see all things clearly.The gods, men, asuras,
Hellish denizens,
Hungry spirits and animals,
That is, all living beings
Of the one thousand million Sumeru-world
Will be reflected on his body.The palaces of the gods in the heavens
Up to the Highest Heaven,
The Surrounding iron Mountains,
Mt. Meru, Mt. Maha-Meru,
And the great oceans also
Will be reflected on his body.The Buddhas, Śrāvakas, Bodhisattvas who are sons of the Buddhas
[That is, the saints] of whom some live a solitary life
While others are expounding the Dharma to the multitude,
Also will be reflected on his body.
The Daily Dharma from March 2, 2016, offers this:
Just as a reflection is seen
In a clear mirror,
All things in the world will be reflected
On the pure body of this [person, that is, of this] Bodhisattva.
No one but he
Will be able to see all things clearly.
The Buddha declares these lines to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. When we encounter other beings in this world of conflict, we tend to filter our experience through our expectation. If it is a friend, we expect them to care about us and treat us well; an enemy, to harm us and treat us badly; a stranger, we compare them to other beings like them and expect them to be the same. When we use the Buddha Dharma to look for the complexity of all beings, and look for how we can bring out their ability to benefit and protect others, then we reflect back to them their true natures, rather than the clouds of their delusions.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
A Spiritual Anchor
The faith of religion is based on the awe of religious mystery, and a reverence for the greatness of the founder’s teaching. Everyone can be honest and have a pure mind before the Buddha, just like a child, by opening their minds and allowing the teachings to become a spiritual anchor.
Spring WritingsDaily Dharma – Sept. 10, 2017
They will be able to recognize all the sounds and voices inside and outside the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, although they have not yet obtained heavenly ears. Even when they recognize all these various sounds and voices, their organ of hearing will not be destroyed.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. As we shed our delusions and see the world more for what it is, we begin to see and understand things not visible or comprehensible to those still mired in their suffering and attachment. Knowing the suffering we have left behind, we may be lured into abandoning this world and those in it. In this chapter, the Buddha shows that all of the sense organs we have in this life, sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and thought, all of these can be used either to increase our delusion or bring us towards awakening. The Buddha reached enlightenment in this world, and so do we.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com