Just as Sakyamuni regards all living beings as his own children, so may each individual man do likewise. The Buddha and the people are, in fact, one and the same; there is neither difference nor distinction between them. In the Kegon Kyo it is said that the Mind, the Buddha, and the people are not different from each other, although they have different names and different appearances.
Doctrines of Nichiren (1893)Monthly Archives: January 2018
Changing Our Lives
Keep in mind that the practice of the Lotus Sutra is a difficult lifetime endeavor. Unlike hopping on a plane and knowing that the destination is just a matter of hours away, our journey on the Buddhist path is a lifetime endeavor if we are to reach our destination. Along the way we of course have obstacles, turbulence you might say, yet there are truly some victories as well. We can approach our practice as being good regardless of our immediate circumstance, because we know we are changing our lives, something that isn’t easy to accomplish.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1Husband and Wife
UENO DONO GOHENJI
A wife treasures her husband while he sacrifices his life for her.
(Background : January 3, 1279, 56 years old, at Minobu, Showa Teihon, p.1621)
SENNICHI AMA GOZEN GOHENJI
A husband is like a pillar of a house and his wife its beam. When the pillar falls, the beam collapses. Man is like legs and woman is like body. A bird’s body being the wife and its wings her husband, when the wings fail, the bird cannot fly. Likewise, you must feel that you have lost your own soul after the death of your husband.
(Background : July 2, 1280, 58 years old, at Minobu, Showa Teihon, p.1762)
Explanatory note
Nichiren Daishonin often sent letters to his followers who lost their loved ones. He taught them how to overcome their sadness through faith. These letters were always warm-hearted.
When Sennichi Ama lost her husband, Abutsubo, Nichiren sent her a long letter. The quotation above is a part of the letter which explains the important close relationship between husband and wife.
What is the ideal relationship between husband and wife? What is a good family? These questions have been answered in many ways throughout our history. However, all thinkers agree that the most essential factor is to strengthen the union of husband and wife as well as to fortify their families with respect and trust for each other.
Even though our family system and life style have been changed so much, the fundamental and affectionate relationship within a small circle of intimate associates like a family has not changed. Love and trust between a husband and his wife are the basis for all human relations, because the essence of the family is not only physical closeness but consciousness of joint interaction.
Our lives have become very comfortable through the development of science and technology, and at the same time, we live in an age when we are easily influenced by desire for instant gratification, which could often destroy a wonderful relationship in a family. Therefore, we must have strong will and determination not to fall to temptations around us. But if we do not have thoughts of mutual understanding and a spirit of compassion within our family life, it is difficult to have such a strong will and determination.
By affirming love and affection for each other, we cultivate the spirit of a strong will and determination from within.
Nichiren taught us that a harmonious family with the spirit of strong will and determination will be present when we live truthfully everyday by chanting “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo” with faith in the eternal Buddha.
Rev. Matsuda
Phrase A DayDaily Dharma – Jan. 22, 2018
With Nichiren’s boundless compassion, “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo” will be heard forever even beyond the ten-thousand year period of Degeneration. It has the merit of curing the blindness of all people, blocking the way to hell. This merit is superior to those of Dengyō in Japan, T’ien-t’ai in China, Nāgārjuna in India or Kāśyapa who was the Buddha’s disciple. Practice for a hundred years in the Pure Land is not worth the merit of chanting the daimoku for one day in this defiled world. Propagation of the daimoku in a two-thousand year period following the death of the Buddha is not worth as much as spreading the daimoku for even a short while in the Latter Age of Degeneration. This is not from my wisdom; it is solely due to the time in which I live.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Essay on Gratitude (Hōon-jō). In other writings, he explained that the superiority of the Lotus Sūtra is not in its power to change the world, but its power to lead all beings, without exception, to the same enlightenment the Buddha found. In this sūtra, the Buddha gives us a different idea of time, the world and our lives. All of these are truly boundless, and the Buddha is always here teaching us.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 29
Day 29 covers all of Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.
Having last month heard the benefit for those who call his name, we hear more benefits.
“Those who have much lust will be saved from lust if they constantly think of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and respect him. Those who have much anger will be saved from anger if they constantly think of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and respect him. Those who have much stupidity will be saved from stupidity if they constantly think of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and respect him. Endless-Intent! World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva has these great supernatural powers. He gives many benefits to all living beings. Therefore, they should constantly think of him.
“A woman who, wishing to have a boy, bows and makes offerings to World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva, will be able to give birth to a boy endowed with merits, virtues and wisdom. [A woman] who, wishing to have a girl, [does the same,] will be able to give birth to a beautiful girl who will be loved and respected by many people because of the roots of virtue which the [newly-born] girl planted in her previous existence. Endless-Intent! Because World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva has these powers, the merits of those who respect him and bow to him will not be fruitless. Therefore, all living beings should keep the name of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.
Showing Our Sincerity
[Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva,] says that if someone calls the name of this Bodhisattva, he or she will be able to avoid seven calamities. Such benefits, by which one can avoid calamities and obtain happiness, are called “benefits in this world.” The teachings of this chapter list many of them. However, to obtain such benefits, we must have pure hearts. The Buddha and the Bodhisattvas grant such benefits only to people who practice sincerely. The purpose of calling the name of World-Voice-Perceiver is really to show our sincerity to him. This is made clearer in the next lines, which mention basic virtues such as sincerity, patience, and wisdom.
Lustful persons will be relieved of lust if they think about Bodhisattva World-Voice-Perceiver. Angry people will calm down if they think about him and respect him. Perplexed people will acquire clarity of mind if they think of him and respect him (p. 317).
Lust, resentment, and stupidity are called the “three poisons” in Buddhism. They are sometimes translated as greed, anger, and ignorance. The seven calamities are material and physical sufferings of human nature, and the three poisons are mental sufferings. Material sufferings come upon us because the mental sufferings exist already as their bases. If our suffering minds are healed of the three poisons, we can expect material calamities to disappear, too.
Introduction to the Lotus SutraSunday in Rochester, NY
Attended the regular Sunday service at Shoeizan Enkyoji Buddhist Temple of Rochester. This is, I believe, the sixth different Nichiren Shu service I’ve attended. That counts online services performed by Ryusho Jeffus and Ryuoh Faulconer, Seattle, San Jose and, of course, Sacramento. All have been recognizable as belonging to Nichiren Shu and each possesses a different flavor, a different combination of spices.
Rochester is led by Shami Kanyu 観涌 Kroll, the founder and acting minister of 祥栄山円教寺 Shoeizan Enkyoji Buddhist Temple. The enthusiasm that Kanyu adds to the Daimoku during the service is the sort of spice that lifts the spirits of the diner (both person and place) and lingers afterward in a warm glow. The service in Rochester was also my first where Shomyo, the Nichiren Shu hymms, were sung by the whole congregation. This I enjoyed greatly. I also liked the Four Great Vows, in which Kanyu recited in Shindoku (or is it Japanese? I get confused) and the congregation responded in English.
I’m scheduled to be in the Rochester area through the end of January so I’ll have at least one more Sunday and perhaps a Tuesday or Thursday evening Shodaigyo practice as well.
Acedia
Acedia is a word we could use more often, although no one would have the foggiest idea what we’re saying. Having no interest or concern about one’s condition – in other words to be unable look at one’s problems and see the work that needs doing – is acedia. It is much easier to see the problems of others. It is easier to do that than to look at our personal issues and weaknesses.
Physician's Good MedicineFilial Piety
BO JIKYO Jl
You (Jonin Toki) brought your mother’s ashes to Minobu and placed it at the altar where the Buddha Sakyamuni, our original teacher, is enshrined. Prostrating yourself in front of the altar, holding your hands together in gassho, you paid homage to the Buddha. You have overcome your sorrow at your mother’s death and firmly believed your mother being saved by the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. Thus, you were released from your sorrow.
All of your body – your head, hands, legs, and mouth – are all inherited from your parents. This kinship between your parents and you is like the relationship between seed and fruit. Therefore, as your mother is saved, you are also saved by the teachings of the Lotus Sutra.
(Background : March 1276, 54 years old, at Minobu, Showa Teihon, p.1151)
Explanatory note
Blinging with them the ashes of their deceased par. ents, many followers from all over Japan came to Nichiren Daishonin on Mt. Minobu. It was because they wished their parents’ memorial services conducted by Nichiren himself, and have the ashes buried in the sacred grounds of Mt.Minobu, where Nichiren made his residence. Tokuro Moritsuna of Sado, for example, buried the ashes of his father, Abutsubo, after a service by Nichiren there.
Nichiren Daishonin’s words presented here were addressed to Jonin Toki. According to this letter, Lord Toki came to Minobu with the ashes of his deceased mother, and held a memorial service, buried the ashes, and went home. He felt so relieved upon completion of the burial that he left his personal belongings including his sutra book behind, prompting Nichiren to make a joke saying, “You are the most forgetful person in Japan.”
Nichiren was greatly moved by Jonin Toki’s devotion to his mother and explained to him that his mother’s attainment of Buddhahood and his own attainment, while still in the flesh, were one and the same.
The late mother of Jonin was a woman of strong faith who had looked up to Nichiren. She often sent him robes which she herself sewed. Nichiren knew well how grieved Jonin was to have lost his mother.
Each of us has to experience the same grief. We realize that our bodies are inherited from our parents. so are our souls. As Nichiren has often pointed out to us, the Lotus Sutra is the teaching of a lotus: when the lotus blooms, its pedestal is already prepared, and a seed is already in the flower. Likewise, when a parent receives salvation in the world of the Lotus Sutra and has attained Buddhahood, the child is also assured of his own attainment of Buddhahood while still in the flesh. The relationship between parents and children is like that of a seed and its fruit or a body and its shadow.
This indicates the oneness of parents and children, and symbolically shows that the salvation of the Lotus Sutra extends not only to one person but to the world as a whole encompassed by the Lotus Sutra, the world of oneness of self and others.
Let us all seek the salvation in the world of the Lotus Sutra, where our original teacher, the Buddha Sakyamuni is. It is attainable through our earnest faith and prayer for the attainment of Buddhahood for our parents and ances-
tors.
Rev. Ikuta
Phrase A DayDaily Dharma – Jan. 21, 2018
However, we now live in the Latter Age of Degeneration, when disputes and quarrels are rampant while the True Dharma is lost. There is nothing but evil lands where evil rulers, evil subjects and evil people reject the True Dharma, showing respect only to evil dharmas and evil teachers. Evil spirits take advantage of this, filling the lands with the so-called three calamities and seven disasters.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on the True Way of Practicing the Teaching of the Buddha (Nyosetsu Shugyō-shō). It can be hard for us to imagine how what we believe can change our society. We think we have to create a new political system, or put the right people in power, or acquire wealth before we can have peace. What would happen in a world where people believed their happiness was intertwined with that of others? What happens in a world where people believe their happiness has to come at the expense of others? Our beliefs are far more powerful than we realize. When we put our belief in the Buddha’s description of the world as it is, and see our place in it as Bodhisattvas who have chosen to be here to benefit others, the world changes before our eyes.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com