Monthly Archives: March 2018

LS32, d15b, LS Introduction

Gratitude In Persecution

On May 12, 1261, the Japanese military government arrested Nichiren, who was forty years old at the time. His arrest was followed by exile to Ito on the Izu Peninsula. During his exile, he wrote his essay, “Four Debts of Gratitude,” in which he says:

In the Age of Degeneration of the Buddha’s teachings, anyone who believes so much as a word or a phrase of the Lotus Sutra is destined to be envied and hated. That is why the Lotus Sutra says, “Many people begrudge [the sutra] even in my lifetime. Needless to say, more people will do so after my extinction.” When I [Nichiren] first read this phrase, I doubted it. But now my experience has convinced me that the Buddha’s words are true. … Although I do not eat meat or fish, and have never harmed a living thing, and although I do not go about with a wife and child, I am treated as a criminal monk, just because I am propagating the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. … But when I realize that I am suffering persecutions by demons who have entered the bodies of my tormentors, just because I believe in the Lotus Sutra and follow its teachings, exactly as the Sutra expounds [in Chapter Thirteen, “Encouragement for Keeping the Sutra”], then I feel joy beyond words. I rejoice because I have found that even a man of low birth [such as Il, one who is ignorant and uneducated, was forecast in the Lotus Sutra some two thousand years ago. The Buddha predicted that such a person [as I] “will suffer religious persecutions.”

Here Nichiren expresses his pleasure at seeing his own experience vindicating the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. For example, Chapter Ten predicts, “If you expound the Sutra after the Buddha’s extinction, many people will begrudge it,” and Chapter Thirteen foretells, “Three kinds of devils will enter the bodies of monks and cause them to persecute the teachers of the Dharma.” Such adversities actually befell Nichiren, as the words of the Sutra had foretold. So Nichiren accepted his misfortunes as living proofs of the words of the Sutra.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Spring Writings

The Example of the Lotus Flower

Quote

“Ren” is lotus and “Ge” is flower, and “Renge” means lotus flower. The Lotus Sutra is named after the lotus flower because the lotus and lotus flower have unique natures that are suitable to symbolize the teaching of the Sutra. The lotus grows in muddy ponds and blooms beautiful white flowers, but the flower is never defiled with a muddy color; it always remains white. Even though the pond becomes muddier, the lotus flowers become a purer white. This symbolizes human struggle, and the salvation of the Lotus Sutra. The muddy pond represents a degenerated human society. A pure white flower represents enlightenment. Although this world is corrupt and deeply defiled, as long as you hold the Lotus Sutra, you will never be corrupted, but achieve a calm state of enlightenment, and together we will be able to transform this world into an ideal pure land.

Spring Writings

WONS, 100 Days of Study

Day 29 of 100

Tenth Dialogue: The manners of practicing the Lotus Sūtra

QUESTION 10: What should a believer of the Lotus Sūtra regard as the Honzon (the Most Venerable One)? How should one perform the Buddhist rites and practice daily training?

ANSWER 10: First of all, the Honzon could be eight fascicles, one fascicle, one chapter or the title alone of the Lotus Sūtra. This is preached in the “Teacher of the Dharma” and “Divine Powers of the Buddhas” chapters. Those who can afford to may have the portraits or wooden statues of Śākyamuni Buddha and the Buddha of Many Treasures made and placed on both sides of the Lotus Sutra. Those who can further afford to may make the portraits or wooden statues of various Buddhas all over the universe or Universal Sage Bodhisattva. As for the manner of performing the rites, standing or sitting practices must be observed in front of the Honzon. Outside the hall of practice, however, one is free to choose any of the four modes of acts: walking, standing, sitting and lying down. Next, regarding the daily practices, the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra should be chanted, “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. ” If possible, a verse or phrase of the Lotus Sūtra should respectfully be read. As an auxiliary practice one may say a prayer to Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, the numerous Buddhas throughout the universe, various bodhisattvas, Two Vehicles, Heavenly Kings, dragon gods, the eight kinds of gods and demi-gods who protect Buddhism as one wishes. Since we have many ignorant people today, the “3,000 existences contained in one thought” doctrine may be difficult to contemplate from the beginning. Nevertheless, those who wish to study it are encouraged to do so from the start.

Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō, Treatise on Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 19

The Introduction says this letter was written in 1260 at about the time of Risshō ankoku-ron. That makes it about 15 years earlier than yesterday’s listing of honzons. “Written during the early years of Nichiren’s propagation,” the Introduction explains, “this treatise shows the subtle differences in expression from the writings of the Sado and Minobu periods in regard to doctrines and chanting the daimoku.”

100 Days of Study

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – March 29, 2018

Star-King-Flower! This sūtra saves all living beings. This sūtra saves them from all sufferings, and gives them great benefits. All living beings will be able to fulfill their wishes by this sūtra just as a man who reaches a pond of fresh water when he is thirsty, just as a man who gets fire when he suffers from cold.

The Buddha gives this description of the merits of the Lotus Sūtra to Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Three of the Lotus Sūtra. The comparison of our bodily desires to our desire for enlightenment shows the kind of joy we can expect when we realize what this teaching can accomplish. Anyone whose thirst is quenched is sure to become thirsty again, now matter how pleasant it is to drink. The Buddha Dharma fulfills a thirst of which we may not even be aware. We are certain that things in this world of conflict will bring us joy. When we realize they can only bring us pleasure, and know the difference between joy and pleasure, we become aware of our true wishes and what this sūtra does for us.

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

LS32

Day 31

Day 31 covers Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva.

Having last month heard King Wonderful-Adornment praise Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha, we conclude Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva.

The Buddha said to the great multitude:

“What do you think of this? King Wonderful-Adornment was no one but Flower-Virtue Bodhisattva of today. Queen Pure-Virtue was no one but the Light-Adornment-Appearance Bodhisattva who is now before me. She appeared in that world out of her compassion towards King Wonderful-Adornment and his attendants. The two sons were Medicine-King Bodhisattva and Medicine-Superior Bodhisattva of today. Medicine-King Bodhisattva and Medicine-Superior Bodhisattva have already obtained those great merits. Because they planted the roots of virtue under many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas [in their previous existence], they obtained those inconceivable merits. All gods and men in the world should bow to those who know the names of these two Bodhisattvas.”

When the Buddha expounded this chapter of King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva, eighty-four thousand people released themselves from the dust and dirt of illusions, and had their eyes purified enough to see all teachings.

See The Great Purposes of the Lotus Sutra

LS32, d21b, LS Introduction

The Great Purposes of the Lotus Sutra

To cause all people to attain Buddhahood; to direct them all to the one Buddha-world; and to establish Paradise in this actual world of ours, so that absolute individual peace of mind and absolute peace of society are realized. These are the great purposes of the teachings of the Lotus Sutra.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Lecture on Lotus Sutra

Illusion and Reality

Quote

I think the parable of the Magic City is fascinating because it presents us with the opportunity to examine the concept of illusions. The Magic City was an illusion for the travelers, a necessary illusion, which when its value had been realized it ceased to exist. So in that case it becomes substantial and then ceases to exist. When we think about what we learn later in Chapter XVI about the Buddha not really dying and not really leaving the world we have the illusion being the thing we no longer see. Hopefully that makes some sense. Let me state it again: The Buddha not being in this world is the illusion, the reality is that he is always present; Buddhahood is always present, though it seems to have disappeared, so the absence is the illusion.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

WONS, 100 Days of Study

Day 28 of 100

Concisely speaking, the honzon (Most Venerable Ones) of Buddhist sects are as follows:

  • The three Hinayana sects of Kusha (Chü-she), Jōjitsu (Ch’êng-shih, Establishment of Truth) and Ritsu (Lü, Precept) regard Śākyamuni Buddha appearing in this world in the capacity of the Inferior Accommodative Body as the Most Venerable One.
  • The honzon of the Flower Garland Sect is Vairocana Buddha in the Reward Body.
  • The Hossō (Dharma Characteristics) Sect regards Śākyamuni Buddha in the Superior Accommodative Body as the honzon.
  • The Sanron (Three Discourses) Sect also worships Śākyamuni in the Superior Accommodative Body.
  • The Shingon (True Word) Sect’s honzon is the Great Sun Buddha, whose Dharma Body resides in the Matrix-store Realm Mandala and Reward Body in the Diamond Realm Mandala.
  • Amitābha (the Buddha of Infinite Life), the Most Venerable One of the Jōdo (Pure Land) Sect, is a Buddha in the Reward Body according to Shantao but in the Accommodative Body according to T’ien-t’ai. The Accommodative Body can be divided into two – inferior and superior. …
  • The honzon of the Tendai (T’ien-t’ai) Sect is Śākyamuni Buddha, who had actually practiced the Bodhisattva way and attained Buddhahood in the eternal past. The Buddhas such as Vairocana Buddha, Lord Preacher of the Flower Garland School, and the Great Sun Buddha, Lord Preacher of the True Word School, are retainers of this Eternal Śākyamuni Buddha.

Ichidai Goji Keizu, Genealogical Chart of the Buddha’s Lifetime Teachings in Five Periods, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 249-250

There are five accepted honzons in Nichiren Shu:

  1. A statue of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha.
  2. A statue of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha flanked by the four leaders of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth.
  3. Paired statues of Shakyamuni Buddha and Many Treasures Tathagata flanking the Stupa of Treasures inscribed with the words “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.” This is the depiction used most often in the main halls of temples. The phrase Namu Myoho Renge Kyo is the Odaimoku or “Honored Title” of the Lotus Sutra.
  4. An inscription of the Odaimoku alone.
  5. The Great Mandala depicting the Odaimoku illuminating the Ten Worlds. Nichiren made many such mandalas; 128 of them are still extant. Among them, the Nichiren Shu has chosen the Shutei Mandala that Nichiren made in 1280 and had at his deathbed as the one that it officially bestows upon members. The Great Mandala is the most popular form of the gohonzon for enshrinement in the home.

Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the Gohonzon

Senchu Murano offers an excellent discussion on this subject in his Questions and Answers on Nichiren Buddhism

You can buy a Buddha-statue and worship it as that of the Eternal Sakyamuni. But how can you tell others that the statue is that of the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha? Something must be done to characterize it. Nichiren always carried a small statue of the Buddha with him, and worshiped it. He sometimes advised others to make a set of five statues: the Buddha and the four leading Bodhisattvas to characterize the Etemal Sakyamuni Buddha. But to understand the meaning of this set of statues needs an elaborate study of the Lotus Sutra. Various Buddhist sects are busy arranging the statues of Buddhas and other Buddhist deities on the altar according to the tenets of the sects. A Buddha accompanied by Avalokitesvara and Samantabhadra is Amitabha Buddha. A Buddha attended by Surya and Candra is Bhaisajyaguru Buddha. A Buddha attended by the four Bodhisattvas is what Buddha? This is a topic of quiz: Who am I? Scholastic complicacies weakened Japanese Buddhism.

People are clever. They just call Buddhas and Buddhist deities “Nonosama” invariably and collectively, and chant the Nembutsu in front of any temple, disregarding the sect difference. What is more interesting to note is that no sect except Nichiren rejects the Nembutsu-chanting before their temples. They make flattering excuses. Tendai identifies the Buddha of Chapter XVI of the Lotus Sutra with Amitabha Buddha although such an identification is not mentioned in the sutra. Shingon enlists Sakyamuni Buddha in the four Buddhas under Mahavairocana. Zen sects do not care at all, saying that freedom is Zen.

Nichiren finally gave up idolizing the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha. Instead, he ideographically described the World of the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha as his residence, and recommended it for worship. To worship the world of the Buddha means to worship the Buddha in his right position. The “Imperial Palace” alludes to the Emperor. The “White House” stands for the President. This description of the World of the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha is called Gohonzon or the Great Mandala.

The fundamental idea of the Great Mandala was revealed in his Kanjin-honzon-sho, which he wrote three months before the description of the Great Mandala. It runs:

There is a Stupa of treasures in the sky above the Saha World of the Original Teacher. In the Stupa of Treasures is enshrined [the core of the sutra, that is, the five characters:] Myoho Renge Kyo. By either side of the Myoho Renge Kyo sit Sakyamuni Buddha and Prabhutaratna Buddha. Sakyamuni, the World-honored One, is accompanied by the Four Bodhisattvas headed by Visistacaritra. The four Bodhisattvas: Manjusri, Maitreya, [Samantabhadra and Bhaisajyaraja] sit on lower seats as the attendants on Sakyamuni Buddha. All the other Bodhisattvas, major or minor, who are either the disciples of the Historical Sakyamuni or the Bodhisattvas having come from other worlds, look up at the Buddha just as the subjects of a king sit on the ground and look up at nobles and dignitaries beside the throne. The Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters sit on the ground to show that they are emanations of Sakyamuni Buddha and that their worlds are manifestations of the world of Sakyamuni Buddha.

Here we see that the Daimoku, Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, is made visible, and that the visible Daimoku is used as the symbol of the World of the Etemal Sakyamuni Buddha. A symbol represents a thing. A national emblem is the symbol of a country. It represents anything and everything of the country. Without the Olympic flag, the games cannot be called Olympic. The army of the Emperor Gokogon was defeated, but the Emperor was saved because he had his Royal Standard.

When the Daimoku, which is the name of the Dharma by itself, is used as the symbol of the World of the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha, it represents not only the Dharma but also the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha and his Samgha residing in that world. In other words, the Daimoku as the symbol represents the Three Treasures of the Lotus Sutra.

The adoption of the Daimoku as the symbol was a great success because it can never be mistaken for the Nembutsu, and because Sakyamuni Buddha mentioned therein can never be mistaken for any other Buddha than the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha.

And with that I close out the third book of Nichiren’s writings.

100 Days of Study

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – March 28, 2018

Let us go even to the end of one thousand billion worlds,
And find the place from where this light has come.
A Buddha may have appeared somewhere in the universe
In order to save the suffering beings.

These verses are sung by the Brahma King Great Compassion in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. He invites his fellow Brahma Kings, creators of entire worlds, to leave the luxury of their palaces to find a Buddha who is leading all beings to enlightenment. They value the Buddha’s words more than anything that they have created for themselves, and know how rare it is to encounter an enlightened being. These kings give us an example of how we can learn to treasure the Buddha Dharma.

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

LS32

Day 30

Day 30 covers all of Chapter 26, Dhāraṇīs

Having last month heard Medicine-King Bodhisattva ask about the merits given to the good men or women who keep, read, recite, understand or copy the Lotus Sūtra, we hear Medicine-King Bodhisattva dhāraṇīs.

Thereupon Medicine-King Bodhisattva said to the Buddha,

“World-Honored One! Now I will give dhārāni-spells to the expounder of the Dharma’ in order to protect him.”

Then he uttered spells:

“Ani (1), mani (2), manei (3), mamanei (4), shirei (5), sharitei (6), shamya (7), shabi-tai (8), sentei (9), mokutei (10), mokutabi (11), shabi (12), aishabi (13), sōbi (14), shabi (15), shaei (16), ashaei (17), agini (18), sentei (19), shabi (20), darani (21 ), arokya-basai-ha habi-shani (22), neibitei (23), abentarancibitei (24), atantahareishudai(25), ukurei (26), mukurei (27), ararei (28), hararei (29), shukyashi (30), asammasambi (31), botsudabikirijittei (32), darumaharishitei (33), sōgyanekkushanei (34), bashabashashudai(35), mantara (36), manta ashayata (37), urntaurota (38), kyōsharya(39), ashara (40), ashay taya (41), abaro (42), amanyanataya (43).”

[He said to the Buddha:]

“World-Honored One! These dhārānis, these divine spells, have already been uttered by six thousand and two hundred million Buddhas, that is, as many Buddhas as there are sands in the River Ganges. Those who attack and abuse this teacher of the Dharma should be considered to have attacked and abused those Buddhas.”

Thereupon Śākyamuni Buddha praised Medicine-King Bodhisattva, saying:

“Excellent, excellent, Medicine-King! You uttered these dhārānis in order to protect this teacher of the Dharma out of your compassion towards him. You will be able to give many benefits to all living beings.”

See Buddhas One and All