“Emptiness” is a central concept in Mahayana Buddhism, often associated with the perfection of wisdom. However, Emptiness is really just another way of talking about Dependent Origination. Whereas Dependent Origination focuses on the coming together of many causes and conditions to bring about a temporary thing or being, Emptiness, focuses on the absence of a self-contained or permanent person, place, or thing. In other words, nothing exists forever and nothing can exist on its own.
Lotus SeedsMonthly Archives: December 2017
Daily Dharma – Dec. 7, 2017
The mother said to them, ‘Show some wonders to your father out of your compassion towards him! If he sees [the wonders], he will have his mind purified and allow us to go to that Buddha.’
These lines are from a story told by the Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. The two sons of King Wonderful-Adornment have asked their mother for permission to leave home and follow the Buddha Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom. The wonders in the story are beyond the capacity of human beings, but they show the King that another way of living is possible, and induce him to seek the teaching of that Buddha. Even if we cannot develop supernatural powers, there are wonders we can develop in our practice. We can learn the value of respecting all beings. We can control our desires and not be devastated by life’s tragedies. We can share “even a word or phrase,” as Nichiren put it, of the teaching and bring great benefit to others. In our normal lives, changed by our practice, we too can purify the minds of others.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 15
Day 15 concludes Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, and opens Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures.
Having last month heard Great Eloquence Bodhisattava ask about the loud voice that came from within the Stupa, he hear the Buddha’s reply.
The Buddha said to him:
“The perfect body of a Tathāgata is in this stūpa of treasures. A long time ago there was a world called Treasure-Purity at the distance of many thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas of worlds to the east [of this world]. In that world lived a Buddha called Many-Treasures. When he was yet practicing the Way of Bodhisattvas, he made a great vow: ‘If anyone expounds a sūtra called the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in any of the worlds of the ten quarters after I become a Buddha and pass away, I will cause my stūpa-mausoleum to spring up before him so that 1 may be able to prove the truthfulness of the sūtra and say ‘excellent’ in praise of him because I wish to hear that sūtra [directly from him].”
“He attained enlightenment[, and became a Buddha]. When he was about to pass away, he said to the bhikṣus in the presence of the great multitude of gods and men, ‘If you wish to make offerings to my perfect body after my extinction, erect a great stūpa!’
“If anyone expounds the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in any of the worlds of the ten quarters, that Buddha, by his supernatural powers and by the power of his vow, will cause the stūpa of treasures enshrining his perfect body to spring up before the expounder of the sūtra. Then he will praise [the expounder of the sūtra], saying, ‘Excellent, excellent!’
“Great-Eloquence! Now Many-Treasures Tathāgata caused his stūpa to spring up from underground in order to hear the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma [directly from me]. Now he praised me, saying, ‘Excellent, excellent!’ ”
One Single Entity
Let us go back for a moment to the Stupa of Treasures. Ordinarily a Stupa is a mausoleum where the relics (ashes) of Sakyamuni are enshrined. Once Sakyamuni is extinct, living beings can worship him only in his relics. The Sutra says that Many-Treasures Buddha will appear whenever and wherever the Lotus Sutra is expounded. This means that the living Sakyamuni, represented by his relics, and the Lotus Sutra are united as one single entity.
Introduction to the Lotus SutraSix Perfections
A Bodhisattva practices the Six Perfections or pāramitās to obtain the goal of causing all beings to strive for Buddhahood. The Six Perfections are:
- Giving
- Observing Precepts
- Patience
- Striving
- Meditation
- Wisdom
The Eightfold Path
The Eightfold Path is a set of guidelines for our lives that help us develop understanding and compassion. Developing that kind of deeply compassionate life can help release us from suffering. The Eightfold Path is:
- Right Views
- Right Thought
- Right Speech
- Right Action
- Right Livelihood
- Right Effort
- Right Mindfulness
- Right Meditation
… So what exactly do we mean by “right?” It means that we should use our judgment based on the Buddha’s teachings and be mindful of these things when living with others in our society.
Awakening to the LotusDaily Dharma – Dec. 6, 2017
No matter what happens, abandoning the Lotus Sutra will cause us to be plunged into hell. I have made a vow. Even if someone says they will make me the ruler of Japan on the condition that I give up the Lotus Sutra and rely on the Sutra of Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life for my salvation in the next life, or even if someone threatens me saying he will execute my parents if I do not say “Namu Amida-butsu,” and no matter how many great difficulties fall upon me, I will not submit to them until a man of wisdom defeats me by reason. Other difficulties are like dust in the wind. I will never break my vow to become the pillar of Japan, to become the eyes of Japan, and become a great vessel for Japan.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Opening the Eyes (Kaimoku-shō). For Nichiren living in the 13th Century, the country of Japan was his world. For us in the 21st Century, the entire Earth is our world. From Nichiren’s determination to save Japan we have an example of what we need to do to save our Earth. From his experience through terrible ordeals and persecutions we realize that despite the comforts of our modern lives, we too have the capacity to uphold our faith in the Lotus Sūtra in any situation. We show our gratitude to the Buddha for his teaching and to Nichiren for his guidance in the respect we give to other beings and the efforts in our practice.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 14
Day 14 covers all of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, and opens Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.
Having last month heard the warning against disparaging those who uphold the Lotus Sūtra and learned adornments of those who practice, we repeat in gāthās.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
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!If you wish to obtain quickly the knowledge
Of the equality and differences of all things,
Keep this sūtra, and also make offerings
To the keeper of this sūtra!Anyone who keeps
The sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma,
Know this, has compassion towards all living beings
Because he is my messenger.
Anyone who keeps
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Should be considered to have given up his pure world and come here
Out of his compassion towards all living beings.Know that he can appear wherever he wishes!
He should be considered
To have appeared in this evil world
In order to expound the unsurpassed Dharma.Offer flowers and incense of heaven,
Jeweled garments of heaven,
And heaps of wonderful treasures of heaven
To the expounder of the Dharma!Join your hands together and bow
To the person who keeps this sūtra
In the evil world after my extinction,
Just as you do to me!Offer delicious food and drink,
And various garments to this son of mine,
And yearn to hear the Dharma [from him]
Even if for only a moment!
The Most Profound of All Sutras
Sakyamuni’s words about the teachers of the Dharma being “messengers of the Buddha” clearly state the significance of their roles. He now goes on to explain this matter in more detail:
I have expounded many sutras (in the past). I am now expounding this Sutra (in the present). I will also expound many more sutras (in the future). The total number of these sutras is countless. This Lotus Sutra is the most difficult of all of them to understand and believe. This Sutra is the store of the hidden core of all the Buddhas; it is the greatest sutra ever expounded. Because it is so difficult to understand, many people despise it even now during my lifetime. Needless to say, many other people will hate it all the more after my extinction
The Lotus Sutra is now declared to be the most profound of all the sutras. Because of its profundity, it is difficult for ordinary people to believe and understand. If after the Buddha’s extinction, the teachers of the Dharma expound this most profound of all sutras, they are sure to be misunderstood and resented. They may even be persecuted by jealous opponents (for preaching universal salvation and abolishing distinctions between religions). The Sutra will go on to state plainly that teachers of the Dharma can expect the worst from their future audiences.
Introduction to the Lotus Sutra500 Days of Practice
I wonder what you could accomplish in your life if you made a commitment from today for 500 days to practice on a regular consistent basis towards the achievement of some change in your life? Would you be able to travel the entire 500 days without giving up or abandoning or forgetting your goal and effort?
The Magic City: Studying the Lotus Sutra