Monthly Archives: November 2017

LS32

Day 21

Day 21 covers all of Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata.

Having last month heard Śākyamuni explain why he disappears, we learn about the pure land.

I can do all this by my supernatural powers.
I live on Mt. Sacred Eagle
And also in the other abodes
For asaṃkhya kalpas.

The [perverted] people think:
“This world is in a great fire.
The end of the kalpa [of destruction] is coming.”
In reality this world of mine is peaceful.
It is filled with gods and men.
The gardens, forests and stately buildings
Are adorned with various treasures;
The jeweled trees have many flowers and fruits;
The living beings are enjoying themselves;
And the gods are beating heavenly drums,
Making various kinds of music,
And raining mandārava-flowers on the great multitude and me.

[This] pure world of mine is indestructible.
But the [perverted] people think:
“It is full of sorrow, fear, and other sufferings.
It will soon burn away.”

Because of their evil karmas,
These sinful people will not be able
To hear even the names of the Three Treasures
During asaṃkhya kalpas.

To those who have accumulated merits,
And who are gentle and upright,
And who see me living here,
Expounding the Dharma,
I say:
“The duration of my life is immeasurable.”
To those who see me after a long time,
I say, “It is difficult to see a Buddha.”

See This Pure Land

LS32, d21b, LS Introduction

This Pure Land

[I]t is important that the Pure Land should not be thought of as some faraway place. It should be manifested right here. Ideas can be realized (made real) only by us, the people of this world. Here in the Lotus Sutra, it is taught that the Pure Land should be realized in this Saha-world. An important teaching of the Lotus Sutra is that “the World of Endurance is itself the Pure Land.”

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

The Buddhist Prophet

The Truth of the Everlasting Relationship

Quote

The full-opened eyes see the Truth of the everlasting relationship between ourselves and the eternal Buddhahood, in which the Buddha, as revealed in the chapter on the Eternal Life of the Tathagata, is the Lord ruling over all subjects, the Master leading his pupils to maturity, and the Father who gives birth to the children. We are, from all eternity, subjects of the Buddha, his disciples, and his children; being essentially like him through the eternal Truth. When seen in this light, every religion and ethical system, compared with Nichiren’s religion revealed in the Lotus, is one of the preliminary steps leading up to the ultimate truth. Yet men are blind or squinting and do not see the whole truth in its full light.

Nichiren, The Buddhist Prophet

qa-murano

Tolerance and Intolerance

Pieters (May 23, 1996)
Nichiren was intolerant towards the other Buddhists. Buddhists should be tolerant and gentle towards others. Why was Nichiren so intolerant?

Murano (June 6, 1996)
Nichiren was intolerant only towards the Buddhists who ignored the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha and slandered the Lotus Sutra in which the eternity of Sakyamuni Buddha is expounded. Very few worshiped the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha in the time of Nichiren. Even the adherents of the Tendai Sect worshiped the Buddhas other than Sakyamuni. Nichiren criticized the Tendai Sect of the day. Therefore, Nichiren was thought to be intolerant towards everybody. He was gentle towards the people who did not know of the Lotus Sutra. He kindly taught them with smiles and humor.

Questions and Answers on Nichiren Buddhism

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 10, 2017

Medicine-King! I will tell you.
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Is the most excellent sūtra
That I have ever expounded.

The Buddha sings these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. Our founder Nichiren explained that the superiority of the Lotus Sūtra lay not in its being more powerful than other Sūtras, but that it leads all beings, without exception, to the Buddha’s own enlightenment. Other teachings distinguish between those who can follow the Buddha Dharma and those who cannot. But this teaching assures everyone who hears it that they will become enlightened.

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

Books, Summer Writings

Summer Writings

Order on Amazon

From the Forward
It has been a wish of mine to publish these wonderful teachings of our lineage of Nichiren Shu Buddhism for a long time, in order to disseminate their wisdom throughout the world. They are very special to me, because they are from the many newsletters that I collected during my Buddhist education at the Toronto Nichiren Buddhist Temple under my teacher Kanto Tsukamoto Shonin, who was the head priest of that Temple for over 10 years. I carried this collection of newsletters with me when I moved from Buffalo to Seattle, waiting for the right opportunity and support to bring this project to fruition. So indeed, this is a happy event.

Tsukamoto Shonin’s teachings are wonderful, because he reveals to us a very simple but profound insight into our daily lives, through many stories and allegories. Through each story he shares his very personal and emotional experience of life, with an awareness which has allowed people, despite cultural and language differences, to relate with the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Buddhism. Tsukamoto Shonin became a Kaikyoshi early in Nichiren Shu’s activities outside Japan, in order spread the teachings of Nichiren Shu Buddhism across the ocean to English speaking people. This was at a very important time in our propagation efforts, and began the movement towards establishing Nichiren Shu Buddhism outside of Japanese ethnic communities.

With Gassho
Kanjin Cederman Shonin
Head Priest
Seattle Choeizan Enkyoji Nichiren Buddhist Temple

Contents

  • Gratitude
  • King of Hell, “Emma-san”
  • Matsubagayatsu Persecution
  • My Unexplainable Experience
  • Reasons for holding Memorial Services
  • View of Hell
  • “What is Karma?”
  • Urabon-e

 
Book List

LS32

Day 20

Day 20 completes Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, and concludes the Fifth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Having last month heard Maitreya repeat his questions in gāthās, we continue with the examples of young fathers and old sons and old sons and young fathers and conclude the chapter.

You attained enlightenment quite recently.
But you have done so many things.
Remove our doubts!
Explain all this as it is!

Suppose a man twenty-five years old
Points to grey-haired and wrinkle-faced men
A hundred years old,
And says, “They are my sons.”
Suppose old men point to a young man
And say, “He is our father.”
No one in the world will believe
That a father is younger than his sons.

You are like the father.
You attained enlightenment quite recently.
These Bodhisattvas are resolute in mind.
They are not timid.
They have practiced the Way of Bodhisattva
For the past innumerable kalpas.

They are good at answering difficult questions.
They are fearless and patient.
They are handsome, powerful and virtuous.
They are praised by the Buddhas
Of the worlds of the ten quarter .
They expound [the Dharma] clearly.

They did not wish to live among men.
They preferred dwelling in dhyana-concentration.
They lived in the sky below
In order to attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.

We do not doubt your words
Because we heard them direct from you.
Explain all this so that the living beings in the future
May be able to understand your words, Buddha!

Those who doubt this sūtra
And do not believe it
Will fall into the evil regions.
Explain all this to us now!

How did you teach these innumerable Bodhisattvas
In such a short time,
And cause them to aspire for enlightenment
And not falter in seeking enlightenment?

[Here ends] the Fifth Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

See One Chapter and Two Halves

LS32, d20b, d21b, d22b, LS Introduction

One Chapter and Two Halves

[T]he Lotus Sutra can be divided into two sections: the first half (Shakumon) and the second half Honmon). Nichiren concluded that the fundamental idea of the Lotus Sutra is manifested more clearly in the latter half than the first half, Furthermore, the central idea of the second half is elaborated in Chapter Sixteen, “The Duration of the Life of the Buddha.” The account in Chapter Sixteen is actually a continuation of the latter half of the previous chapter, “Bodhisattvas from Underground,” and is continued through the first half of the next Chapter, “The Variety of Merits.”

The three parts are closely enough related to form one single chain of thought. In his Kanjin-honzon-sho, Nichiren argues that the quintessence of the teachings of the Primal Mystery lies in this chain of three parts, which he specifically calls the “one chapter and two halves.” In addition, he declares that in our present Age of Degeneration, the teaching of the “one chapter and two halves” should be propagated in the abbreviated form of five Chinese characters, the title MYO-HO-REN-GE-KYO, meaning “The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.”

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Spring Writings

All the Wisdom and Compassion of the Buddha

Quote

Chanting Odaimoku, Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, is our primary practice. This is the essence of the Lotus Sutra and includes all the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha.

Nichiren Shonin said, “All the good deeds and virtues of the Buddha are manifested in the title of the Lotus Sutra, that is, in the five characters, Myo, Ho, Ren, Ge, and Kyo. However sinful we may be, we shall be naturally endowed with all the deeds and virtues of the Buddha, if we adhere to these five characters.”
– Kanjin Honzon-sho

Spring Writings

qa-murano

Pancasila (The Five Precepts)

Pieters (May 23, 1996)
Some say that Nichiren priests do not keep precepts; therefore, they cannot be called real Buddhists. What do you think of this?

Murano (June 6, 1996)
Very few of us are vegetarians. Vegetarianism is conceived in Japan differently from that in India. I visited India and saw that there were two kinds of restaurants: vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Vegetarianism in India allows the use of eggs and milk products while Japanese vegetarianism means food of plant origin only. There is a large Soto Zen temple called Sojiji in Yokohama. When the World Fellowship of Buddhists’ Conference was held in Tokyo in 1952, many Theravada bhikkhus put up at Sojiji and were treated with vegetarian dishes without eggs and milk products. Worse still, Theravada formalism prohibits taking food in the afternoon. They take their full day volume of food by noon. Japanese temples, however, do not have such a food supplying system. They complained of food shortage. A Theravada bhikkhu told me, “We are a pitiable minority.”

Abandoning celibacy is a trend of Japanese Buddhism, although some lamas and Korean priests marry. Some Japanese priests are celibates. Nipponzan Myohoji priests do not marry. Two Nichiren priests in Kamakura are celibates. The chief priest of Myogyoji at Baraki, Chibaken, does not marry. Some Japanese Zen priests are celibates. The late chief priest of Komyoji Temple of the Jodo Sect in Kamakura did not marry.

I think that the most interesting thing to the Buddhists outside Japan is that most of the Japanese priests are in laymen’s attire in their everyday life. Theravada bhikkhus, lamas and Chinese priests wear priestly robes for 24 hours a day. Some new religion Buddhist priests in Korea wear laymen’s attire, but all the other Korean priests are in priestly robes. On the contrary, most of the Japanese priests wear priestly robes only during ceremony. Many Japanese priests work outside temples in laymen’s appearance. They work as school teachers, city office clerks or business company employees. When working outside temples, priests do not mind being treated as laymen. One who has been initiated into priesthood should be called Reverend even before he is ordained, but it is suitable for him to be called Mister when he works outside his temple.

Questions and Answers on Nichiren Buddhism