Monthly Archives: May 2018

LS32

Day 5

Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month heard the prediction of future Buddhahood for Śāriputra, we repeat the prediction in gāthās.

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

Śāriputra! In your future life you will become
A Buddha, an Honorable One of Universal Wisdom,
Called Flower-Light,
And save innumerable living beings.

You will make offerings to innumerable Buddhas.
You will perform the Bodhisattva practices.
You will obtain the ten powers and the other merits,
And attain unsurpassed enlightenment.

The kalpa [of that Buddha] will come
after innumerable kalpas from now.
It will be called Great-Treasure-Adornment.
The world [of that Buddha] will be called Free-From-Taint.
It will be pure and undefiled.
Its ground will be made of lapis lazuli.
Its roads will be marked off by ropes of gold.
Its trees of the various colors of the seven treasures
Will always bear flowers and fruit.

The Bodhisattvas of that world
Will always be resolute in mind.
They will have already obtained
The supernatural powers and the paramitas.
They will have already studied the Way of Bodhisattvas
Under innumerable Buddhas.
Those great people will be taught
By the Flower-Light Buddha.

That Buddha will appear in his world at first as a prince.
The prince will give up his princeship and worldly fame.
He will renounce the world at the end of his life as a layman,
And attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.

The duration of the life of Flower-Light Buddha
Will be twelve small kalpas.
The duration of the life of the people of his world
Will be eight small kalpas.

After the extinction of that Buddha,
His right teachings will be preserved
For thirty-two small kalpas.
All living beings will be saved [by his right teachings].

After the end of the period of his right teachings,
The counterfeit of them will last for thirty-two [small kalpas].
His śarīras will be distributed far and wide.
Gods and men will make offerings to them.

These will be the deeds
Of Flower-Light Buddha.
That Honorable Biped will be
The most excellent one without a parallel.
You will be he.
Rejoice!

See Temporary Manifestations of the Eternal Buddha

LS32, d15b, d21b, d27b, LS Introduction

Temporary Manifestations of the Eternal Buddha

In Buddhism, people worship not only Sakyamuni Buddha but also other Buddhas, such as Amitayus (in the west) and Aksobhya (in the east). Such Buddhas have different names and attributes, and different life spans, long or short. The longest existing one is thought to have lived for several tens of kalpas. At any rate, they are all limited entities, because all of them eventually entered into Nirvana. The main point of the Lotus Sutra is that all Buddhas, by whatever names they may use, are temporary manifestations of the eternal, infinite, and immortal Sakyamuni Buddha. He transforms himself into other Buddhas when necessary to redeem and guide people, who understand him in various ways according to their particular times, places, and levels of culture.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Awakening to the Lotus

The Pilgrimage to Mount Sacred Eagle

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Most Buddhists do not believe that everything about us ceases to exist upon our death. Death is the starting point of a new journey. Nichiren Shonin taught that death is a pilgrimage to Mount Sacred Eagle – an encounter with the Eternal Buddha and with Nichiren Shonin.

Awakening to the Lotus

WONS, 100 Days of Study

Day 66 of 100

As for your wife’s prayers, although she does not doubt the sūtra, I am afraid her faith in the Lotus Sūtra has not been strong enough. I have often come across people who think their faith matches what is preached in the sūtra, though this is not the case in reality. You, too, must be aware of this.

The mind of a woman can be harder to grasp than the wind in the sky. The reason why your wife’s prayers have not been answered can be likened to a strong bow with a weak bowstring or a sharp sword drawn by a coward. It is not due to the lack of power on the part of the Lotus Sūtra.

Ōshajō-ji, Town of Rājagṛha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 128

Having abandoned a practice that turned the Lotus Sūtra into a cheap wish-fulfilling gem, I admit that I struggle when the three hindrances and four devils arise.

As a postscript I’ll add Nichiren’s suggestion of where Shijō Kingo’s wife falls short:

Though your wife believes in the Lotus Sūtra, I am sure she does not feel as strongly about the enemies of the sūtra as much as she would about as a prostitute who seduces her husband.

100 Days of Study

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 5, 2018

She said, “Look at me with your supernatural powers! I will become a Buddha more quickly.”

These are the words of the young daughter of Dragon-King Sāgara in Chapter Twelve of the Lotus Sūtra. Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva knew that she was capable of becoming a Buddha, but none of the other Bodhisattvas or anyone else gathered to hear the Buddha teach believed that she could attain enlightenment. Before making this statement, she offered a priceless gem to the Buddha. In less time than it took for the Buddha to accept her offering, she herself became a Buddha before the eyes of all who doubted her. This story shows that all beings can become enlightened, male and female, young and old, human and non-human. When we lose our doubts about others’ enlightenment, we also lose our doubts about our own.

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

LS32, WONS

Day 4

Day 4 finishes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Having last month learned the power of the Great Vehicle, we learn how Buddhas lead all Living beings with expedient teachings.

There is only one teaching, that is, the One Vehicle
In the Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters.
There is not a second or a third vehicle
Except when the Buddhas teach expediently.

The Buddhas lead all Living beings
By tentative names [of vehicles]
In order to expound their wisdom.
They appear in the worlds
Only for the One Vehicle.

Only this is true; the other two are not.
The Buddhas do not save living beings by the Lesser Vehicle.
They dwell in the Great Vehicle.
The Dharma they attained is adorned
With the power of concentration of mind
And with the power of wisdom.
They save all living beings by the Dharma.

I attained unsurpassed enlightenment,
The Great Vehicle, the Truth of Equality.
If I lead even a single man
By the Lesser Vehicle,
I shall be accused of stinginess.
It is not good at all to do this.

I do not deceive
Those who believe me and rely on me.
I am not greedy or jealous
Because I have eliminated all evils.
Therefore, in the worlds of the ten quarters,
I am fearless.

I am adorned with the physical marks of a Buddha.
I am illumining the world with my light.
To the countless living beings who honor me, I will expound
The seal of the truth, that is, the reality of all things.

And considering expedients, I offer this from Nichiren’s writings:

As I contemplate the Buddhist scriptures, it is stated in the Sūtra of the Golden Splendor (translated by Dharma-Kema), “The Sun Deity and Moon Deity regain their vigor upon hearing this sūtra.” The Sūtra of the Golden Splendor (translated by I-ching) states, “It is due to the power of this sūtra that the sun and moon revolve around the four continents.” That is to say, it is the power of the Buddhist Dharma that causes the sun and moon to circle the four continents. Those two versions of the Sūtra of the Golden Splendor are expedients to the Lotus Sūtra. Compared to the Lotus Sūtra they are like milk against “clarified butter” or gold against a “treasure-gem.” If even the taste of such inferior sūtras can make the sun and moon revolve around the four continents, how much more so can the daigo taste of the Lotus Sūtra accomplish? Therefore, the Sun Deity attended the preaching of the “Introduction” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra as Fukō Tenji (Universal Fragrance), and was granted future Buddhahood as the Kaji Nyorai in the “Teacher of the Dharma” chapter.

Shijō Kingo Shakabutsu Kuyō, Opening the Eyes Service of Shijō Kingo’s Statue of Śākyamuni Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 133-134

Basics

Buddhism’s End in India

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By turning away from the people, the Buddhist establishments deprived themselves of wide popular support and made themselves especially vulnerable to the destructive raids of the Muslims. The Buddhist faith was gone; only monasteries and monks remained. When these were wiped out, Buddhism ceased to exist in India. The obliteration was complete by the year 1200.

Basic Buddhist Concepts

WONS, 100 Days of Study

Day 65 of 100

To begin with, the strange phenomena in the sky and the natural calamities on the earth startle the eyes and ears of the people and rattle their minds. Śākyamuni Buddha has caused the five or six kinds of omens to occur. Among the six omens, the trembling of the earth indicates that the earth trembled in six different ways. Interpreting the earth trembling in six ways, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai states in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 3:

The east is blue in color, and it controls the liver, which in turn controls the eyes. The west is white in color, and it controls the lungs, which in turn control the nose. Therefore, saying that the east was raised and the west was lowered means the rise of the merit of the eyes and the decrease in the worldly passions of the nose. In contrast, saying that the west was raised and the east was lowered means that the merit of the nose appears while the evil passions of the eyes decrease. Likewise, the rise and fall of the south and north and those of the center and the four directions mean either the appearance of merit or the decrease of evil passions in the ears and the tongue and in the mind and body respectively.

Grand Master Miao-lé explains the above in his Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “As the eyes and nose represent the east and west, the ears and tongue logically represent the south and north. The center is the mind and the four directions represent the body. The body is equipped with the four sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, and tongue) and the mind reacts to them all. Therefore, it is said that the body and mind rise and fall alternately.”

Zuisō Gosho, Writing on Omens, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 121

Trembling in the six ways represents riding a teeter-totter on which the paired senses – eyes and nose, ears and tongue, mind and body – either gain merit or decrease evil passions. Another of the foundational lessons I find so intriguing.

100 Days of Study

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 4, 2018

Even if one should read 80,000 holy scriptures, set up stupas as numerous as the number of dust-particles of the great earth, observe the Mahayana and Hinayana precepts, and love all the people in all the worlds throughout the universe just as one’s sole child, one cannot dissipate the sin of slandering the Lotus Sutra. It is solely due to the sin of slandering the Lotus Sutra that we are unable to attain Buddhahood throughout the past, present and future lives and continue to suffer in the lower six realms.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Śubhākarasiṃha (Zemmui-shō). It is difficult to understand what Nichiren means by “slandering the Lotus Sutra.” Many wise people have debated this term over many years. We know that it prevents us from seeing things as they are and becoming enlightened, but it is as hard to tell whether we are slandering the Sutra as it is to see our own delusions. When we deny the possibility of enlightenment, either for ourselves or others, when we ignore the teaching provided by the Lotus Sutra and rely on our power over others, or when we remain preoccupied with our own suffering, these are surely ways that we slander the Sutra and stray from the path to Enlightenment.

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

LS32

Day 3

Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Having last month learned the profound and wonderful Dharma is known only to the Buddhas, we consider the reaction from the Śrāvakas and the four kinds of devotees.

The great multitude at that time included Śrāvakas. [They also included] Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya, and other Arhats, twelve hundred altogether, who had already eliminated āsravas. [They also included] the bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, and upāsikās, [that is, the four kinds of devotees] who had already aspired for Śrāvakahood or Pratyekabuddhahood. All of them thought:

“Why does the World-Honored One extol so enthusiastically the power of the Buddhas to employ expedients? Why does he say that the Dharma attained by him is profound and difficult to understand, and that the true purpose of his teachings is too difficult for Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas to know? He expounded to us the teaching of emancipation. We obtained this teaching and reached Nirvāṇa. We do not know why he says all this.”

Thereupon Śāriputra, seeing the doubts of the four kinds of devotees, and also because he, himself, did not understand [why the Buddha had said this], said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! Why do you extol so enthusiastically [what you call] the highest [Truth, and the power of the Buddhas to employ) expedients? [Why do you extol) the Dharma which [you say] is profound, wonderful, and difficult to understand? I have never heard you say all this before. The four kinds of devotees also have the same doubts. World-Honored One! Explain all this! Why do you extol so enthusiastically the Dharma which [you say] is profound, wonderful, and difficult to understand?”

See “As Such”