Monthly Archives: March 2018

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – March 12, 2018

World-Honored One! Explain all this so that we may be able to remove our doubts and that the good men in the future may have no doubts when they hear these words of yours!

The Bodhisattva Maitreya makes this request to the Buddha in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. There are several ways that the Buddha leads us to his enlightenment. One is by making us aware of the mysteries that abound in this world of conflict. The Lotus Sūtra promises in Chapter One that no question will be left unresolved. But unless we are aware of these questions, and these mysteries, then they cannot be explained. When we allow ourselves to wonder, to question, to become aware of the mystery of existence, and resist being ashamed of not knowing. then we are coming to understand 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

LS32

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 wishes of Ānanda and Rāhula, we hear Śākyamuni’s prediction for Ānanda.

Thereupon the Buddha said to Ānanda:

“In your future life you will become a Buddha called Mountain-Sea-Wisdom-Supernatural-Power-King, the Tathāgata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. You will attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi [and become that Buddha] after you make offerings to sixty-two hundred million Buddhas and protect the store of their teachings. That Buddha will teach twenty thousand billion Bodhisattvas, that is, as many Bodhisattvas as there are sands in the River Ganges, and cause them to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. The world [of that Buddha] will be called Always-Raising-Banner-Of-Victory. His world will be pure, and the ground of it will be made of lapis lazuli. The kalpa [in which you will become that Buddha] will be called Wonderful-Voice-Resounding-Everywhere. The duration of the life of that Buddha will be many thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas of kalpas. No one will be able to count the number of the kalpas. His right teachings will be preserved for twice as long as his life, and the counterfeit of his right teachings will be preserved for twice as long as his right teachings.

“Ānanda! Mountain-Sea-Wisdom-Supernatural-Power-King Buddha will be praised for his merits by many thousands of billions of Buddhas or Tathāgatas of the worlds of the ten quarters, that is, by as many Buddhas or Tathāgatas as there are sands in the River Ganges.”

See The Name of the Sutra

LS32, d1b, LS Introduction

The Name of the Sutra

[T]he Lotus Sutra was originally called Saddharma-pundarika-sutra in Sanskrit. Saddharma means the “wonderful Dharma,” and pundarika is rendered “lotus flower” by Kumarajiva. Sad means “righteousness” or “truth.” Dharma, the essential idea of Buddhism in various contexts, means in this case, “the law,” “the truth,” or “the teaching of the truth.” Therefore, literally Saddharma means “righteous teaching” or “righteous truth.”

You may wonder why we dare call this particular teaching “righteous” or “true” when we know that every single teaching of the Buddha is true. What does “righteous truth” imply? Because the Lotus Sutra reveals to us the principal and deepest teachings of the Buddha, people have tried to name it by expressing its special importance. Instead of saying, “the true truth,” Kumarajiva used the word myo, a word with an esoteric quality in Chinese meaning “noble richness” or “marvelous.” Therefore, he translated Saddharma as the “wonderful” or “marvelous” Dharma. Pundarika means “the lotus flower,” particularly the white lotus flower. We compare something wonderful and excellent with the lotus flower. So Saddharmapundarika represents “the righteous (wonderful) Dharma as marvelous as lotus flowers.” At the same time, the lotus flower symbolizes the most important Bodhisattva practices in Mahayana Buddhism. In Chapter Fifteen, “Bodhisattvas from Underground,” it says:

The Buddha’s children have studied the way of Bodhisattvas well. They are no more defiled by worldliness just as a lotus flower is not defiled by water.

The lovely lotus flower grows out of muddy water and is not defiled by it. In the same way, Bodhisattvas, persons who put the Buddha’s teachings into practice, can live in the midst of a world defiled by vice and corruption, and yet not be contaminated by it. They can teach and awaken other people while keeping their own minds pure. They can save others, however, only when they live with them here in this evil world.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Blog

The Cart and the Horse

Japanese Text of Lesson on Namu Myoho Renge Kyo

Attended the Sunday service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church. Following the Kaji Kito blessing and brief memorial service, Ven. Kenjo Igarashi gave a talk on the Odaimoku.

The photo above shows the prop Rev. Igarashi used to illustrate his lecture. The column on the far right says something along the lines of the thought of enlightenment in one’s mind followed by the fruits of a practice. The column second from the left reverses the idea putting the fruits before the thought of enlightenment.

As Rev. Igarashi explained, a person who seeks enlightenment and practices for himself and for others will see benefits in the way of protection from Śākyamuni and deities and perhaps happiness and good health.

But the reverse – chanting for prosperity or good health – will not bring enlightenment or prompt the protection of Śākyamuni or the various deities who help those who practice the Lotus Sūtra.

And immediately this sprang to mind:

Practicing in search of enlightenment combined with the goal of helping others to reach the other shore is one of those foundational differences between what I experienced while a member of Soka Gakkai and today as one who practices Nichiren Shu buddhism.

The benefits I’ve received from the horse pulling the cart far exceeds anything that came from years of trying to get the cart to move the horse.

WONS, 100 Days of Study

Day 11 of 100

All sūtras preached prior to the Lotus Sūtra state that bodhisattvas and ordinary people are able to attain Buddhahood, but never the people of the Two Vehicles. Thinking that they can become Buddhas while the people of the Two Vehicles cannot, wise bodhisattvas and ignorant people throughout the six realms felt happy. The people of the Two Vehicles plunged into grief and thought, “We should not have entered the Buddhist way.” Now in the Lotus Sūtra, they are guaranteed of attaining Buddhahood, so not only the people of the Two Vehicles, but also the people of the nine realms will all become Buddhas. Upon hearing this dharma, bodhisattvas realized their misunderstanding. As stated in the pre-Lotus sūtras, if the people of the Two Vehicles cannot attain Buddhahood, then the Four Great Vows cannot be accomplished. Consequently, bodhisattvas would also be unable to become Buddhas. When it was preached that people of the Two Vehicles were unable to attain Buddhahood, they should not have been left alone in sadness; bodhisattvas should have joined them in grief.

Shōjō Daijō Fumbetsu-shō, The Differences between Hinayana and Mahayana Teachings, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 194-195.

Having never studied other forms of Buddhism I’m always puzzled how followers of pre-Lotus sūtras even approach the Bodhisattva vows knowing that some sentient beings are excluded. What does “Sentient beings are innumerable; I vow to save them all” mean if Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas are excluded?

100 Days of Study

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – March 11, 2018

You, the World-Honored One, know
What all living beings have deep in their minds,
What teachings they are practicing,
And how much power of wisdom they have.

The children of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha proclaim this to their father in a story told by Śākyamuni Buddha in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. In our preoccupation with our pursuits in this world of conflict we are so focused on our schemes that we have forgotten the Buddha’s wisdom dormant in us all. With the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha leads us to an unfamiliar and even uncomfortable way of seeing the world. But it is only when we leave the false safety of our delusions that we can truly benefit ourselves and others.

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

LS32

Day 13

Day 13 covers all of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples.

Having last month heard the assurance of future Buddhahood for the twelve hundred Arhats, we repeat in gāthās.

Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

Kauṇḍinya Bhikṣu will see
Innumerable Buddhas.
After asaṃkhya kalpas from now,
He will attain perfect enlightenment.

He will emit great rays of light [from his body].
He will have all supernatural powers.
His fame will spread over the worlds of the ten quarters.
Respected by all living beings,
He will expound unsurpassed enlightenment to them.
Therefore, he will be called Universal-Brightness.

His world will be pure.
The Bodhisattvas [of that world] will be brave.
They will go up to the tops of wonderful, tall buildings,
And then go out into the worlds of the ten quarters.
There they will make the best offerings
To the Buddhas of those worlds.

After making offerings, they will have great joy.
They will return to their home world in a moment.
They will be able to do all this
By their supernatural powers.

[Universal-Brightness] Buddha will live for sixty thousand kalpas.
His right teachings will be preserved twice as long as his life;
And the counterfeit of them, also twice as long as his right teachings.
When his teachings are eliminated, gods and men will be sad.

The five hundred bhikṣus
Will become Buddhas one after another.
They also will be called Universal-Brightness.
One who has become a Buddha will say to another:
“You will become a Buddha after my extinction.
[The living beings of] the world
To be saved by that Buddha
Will be like those whom I am teaching today.”

The beauty of the worlds [of those Buddhas],
And the supernatural powers [of those Buddhas],
And the number of the Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas [of those worlds],
And the number of kalpas of the lives [of those Buddhas],
Of their right teachings, and of the counterfeit of them,
Will be the same [as in the case of Kauṇḍinya].

Kāśyapa! Now you have heard of the future
Of the five hundred Arhats
Who have freedom of mind.
All the other Śrāvakas also will [become Buddhas].
Tell this to the Śrāvakas
Who are not present here!

See Self-Centered Seekers

LS32, d9b, LS Introduction

Self-Centered Seekers

Although “hearers” and “private Buddhas” are earnest seekers, they have one critical shortcoming. In pursuing their aim for individual emancipation, they tend to become self-absorbed and neglect the needs of other people. This weakness is the main reason why their teachings are called the “Lesser Vehicle:” They carry the driver but no passengers. Some Mahayana sutras are extremely critical of them, saying that followers of the Lesser Vehicle cannot possibly attain Buddhahood; they are too self-centered. But the Lotus Sutra, as we shall see, opens the door to persons of all persuasions.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Lotus World

The True Nature of All Beings

Quote

[T]he Buddha explains that all beings are capable of attaining Buddhahood, without exception. The Buddha-nature is the true nature of all beings. In Buddha-nature there are no barriers due to race, class, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or even moral quality. The One Vehicle teaches that all people are capable of attaining Buddhahood; all of the previous teachings of the Buddha, separated into several “vehicles,” are skillful methods leading people to the One Vehicle.

Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the Gohonzon

WONS, 100 Days of Study

Day 10 of 100

Nevertheless, if there is a man after the death of the Buddha who breaks the attachment to the false doctrines of the “four tastes and three teachings” of the pre-Lotus sūtras and puts faith in the True Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, all the virtuous gods and numerous bodhisattvas who sprang up from underground will protect such a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. Under such protection, this practicer would be able to spread over the world the honzon revealed in the essential section and the five-word daimoku of “myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō,” the essence of the Lotus Sūtra.

He is just like Never-Despising Bodhisattva, who in the Age of the Semblance Dharma after the death of Powerful Voice King Buddha spread in the land of this Buddha the twenty-four character passage in the Lotus Sūtra (chapter twenty) saying: “I respect you deeply. I do not despise you. Why is it? It is because you all will practice the way of bodhisattvas and will be able to attain Buddhahood.” With such propagation, the Bodhisattva was severely persecuted by all the people in the land, who beat him with sticks and threw stones at him.

Kembustsu Mirai-ki, Testimony to the Prediction of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 174.

Considering this quote approximately 745 years later, one must affirm the accuracy of the prediction: This practicer would be able to [has] spread over the world the honzon revealed in the essential section and the five-word daimoku of “myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō,” the essence of the Lotus Sūtra.

I imagine Nichiren smiling at finding a man in Sacramento, California, writing about this in 2018.

100 Days of Study