The Buddhist state of nirvana is not the absence of all things but the absence of the mistaken desires and actions that are the causes of suffering. In the state of nirvana, true and ideal activity continues in an even more vigorous fashion. Nirvana is to be found in the world of transmigration, though unbound by its fetters.
Basic Buddhist ConceptsMonthly Archives: July 2018
Daily Dharma – July 23, 2018
I am always thinking:
“How shall I cause all living beings
To enter into the unsurpassed Way
And quickly become Buddhas?”
The Buddha sings these verses at the end of Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. In this chapter he revealed his existence as the Buddha who lives throughout time and space rather than in the limited human body in which we recognize him. When we realize that all the moments of our lives, all the joys and grief we face, all the people and other beings we encounter are in truth the Buddha leading us towards his own enlightenment, we see the Buddha in his true form, and we see the world for what it is.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 19
Day 19 concludes Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and begins Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.
Having last month heard the Parable of the Priceless Gem in the Top Knot, we consider the reason for expounding the Lotus Sūtra lastly.
“Mañjuśrī! This Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma is the most excellent and profound teaching of all the Tathāgatas. Therefore, I expound it lastly just as the powerful king gave the brilliant gem lastly, the one which he had kept [in his topknot) for a long time.
“Mañjuśrī! This Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma is the treasury of the hidden core of the Buddhas, of the Tathāgatas. It is superior to all the other sūtras. I kept it [in secret] and refrained from expounding it for the long night. Now I expound it to you today for the first time.”
Nothing needs to be added to this declaration.
Awakening to the Doctrine of Ichinen Sanzen
Attaining Buddhahood means to awaken to the doctrine of Ichinen Sanzen and obtain an unlimited-life. We have lost that ability; but we can participate in the Buddha’s activities as a part of His life when we chant the Odaimoku. This is the way for us to attain Buddhahood in Mappō.
Buddha Seed: Understanding the OdaimokuDaily Dharma – July 22, 2018
Anyone, be he a Śrāvaka or a Pratyekabuddha or a Bodhisattva, who believes this sūtra expounded by these sixteen Bodhisattvas, keeps it, and does not slander it, will be able to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, that is, the wisdom of the Tathāgata.
The Buddha makes this promise to all those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. This promise is for all of us who practice the Buddha Dharma. When we live firmly assured that the Buddha’s unsurpassed enlightenment is available to us even within all the suffering in this world of conflict, then we have the clarity to 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
Day 18
Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.
Having last month considered the third set of peaceful practices, we repeat in gāthās and conclude today’s portion of Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Anyone who wishes to expound this sūtra
Should give up jealousy, anger, arrogance,
Flattery, deception and dishonesty.
He should always be upright.He should not despise others,
Or have fruitless disputes about the teachings.
He should not perplex others by saying to them:
“You will not be able to attain Buddhahood.”Any son of mine who expounds the Dharma
Should be gentle, patient and compassionate
Towards all living beings.
He should not be lazy.In the worlds of the ten quarters,
The great Bodhisattvas are practicing the Way
Out of their compassion towards all living beings.
He should respect them as his great teachers.He should respect the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones,
As his unsurpassed fathers.
He should give up arrogance
So that he may expound the Dharma without hindrance.This is the third set of peaceful practices.
A man of wisdom should perform all this.
Anyone who performs these peaceful practices
Will be respected by innumerable living beings.
The Daily Dharma from June 18, 2018, offers this:
Anyone who wishes to expound this sūtra
Should give up jealousy, anger, arrogance,
Flattery, deception and dishonesty.
He should always be upright.
The Buddha sings these verses to Mañjuśrī in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. The way we live our lives can either reinforce our delusions or help us gain more clarity about how things really are. In these verses, the Buddha advises against these actions not because he will think less of us when we do them, but because when we find ourselves behaving these ways it is because we are not seeing things for what they are.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Entering the Region of Buddhas
If a believer in the teachings of our sect, sitting in front of the Mandala, recognises the identity of his own body with the real state of the Ten Worlds – if he annihilates in his consciousness all distinction between his own self and all others; if he frees himself from the passions of love and hatred – it is then certain that he will be able to exercise complete control over pleasure, cheerfulness, anger, sorrow and so forth whenever they arise, and to act justly and impartially to all with whom he may come in contact. His person will have already partly entered the region of Buddhas, even in this present life. How, then, can he doubt that he will attain to complete Buddhahood in the hereafter? Therefore Nichiren says, “The doctrines of our sect stand far above those of the other eight sects. They teach us that we can become Buddhas immediately. If one only sees that the mind, the Buddha, and all living beings are one and all embodied in his own thought, and are not to be found elsewhere, he can certainly attain to enlightenment in his earthly life however low his intellect may be. And if the man of low intellect can do so, how much more a man of higher intellectual status? He, surely, need stand in no doubt about the matter. A fortiori, then, must this be the case with those whose intellects are of the highest order of all. Since the doctrines taught by Sakyamuni all his life long are those which take the nature of a living being as the basis on which they stand, anyone who understands his own nature is called a Buddha, while those unable to do so are justly termed ‘the vulgar.’ ”
Doctrines of Nichiren (1893)The Unity Presented in the Lotus Sutra
Prior to the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha taught many different teachings for a variety of people, teachings well suited to the capacities and natures of those he taught. With the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, though, we have the advent of the unification of all those individual teachings into one specific complete teaching that goes beyond the ending point of the parts of the whole. Our challenge, as contemporary practitioners of Buddhism, is to learn from the prior teachings, but do so from the point of the unity presented in the Lotus Sutra.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1Daily Dharma – July 21, 2018
No, no, I will not say any more.
My teaching is wonderful and inconceivable.
If arrogant people hear me,
They will not respect or believe me.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. This was his response the first time Śāriputra asked to receive the Buddha’s highest teaching. The Buddha knew we must be prepared for his wisdom. We must discern clearly the difference between what we know and what we do not know. Because all things are impermanent, the truths we cling to may no longer apply. The ignorance and confusion at the root of our suffering will disappear as we set aside what is no longer true and gain wisdom.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 17
Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.
Having last month learned Devadatta’s future and the future of those who receive this chapter, we consider Mañjuśrī and his efforts in the palace of Dragon-King Sagara.
At that time Many-Treasures, the World-Honored One, who had come from the nadir,’ was accompanied by a Bodhisattva called Accumulated-Wisdom. The Bodhisattva said to Many-Treasures Buddha, “Shall we go back to our home world?”
Śākyamuni Buddha said to Accumulated-Wisdom:
“Good man, wait for a while! A Bodhisattva called Mañjuśrī is coming. See him, talk about the Wonderful Dharma with him, and then go back to your home world!”
Thereupon Mañjuśrī came sitting on a one-thousand-petaled lotus-flower as large as the wheel of a chariot. He was accompanied by other Bodhisattvas who were also sitting on jeweled lotus-flowers. Mañjuśrī had sprung up from the palace of Dragon-King Sagara in the great ocean, gone up to the sky[, and traveled through the sky towards Mt. Sacred Eagle]. Having reached Mt. Sacred Eagle, he descended from the lotus flower, came to the two World-Honored Ones,” and worshipped their feet with his head. Having completed the worship, he came to Accumulated-Wisdom, exchanged greetings with him, retired and sat to one side.
Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva asked Mañjuśrī, “You went to the palace of the dragon-king. How many living beings did you lead into the Way to Bodhi there?”
Mañjuśrī answered, “Their number is immeasurable, incalculable, inexplicable, unthinkable. Wait for a while! You will be able to see them.”
No sooner had he said this than innumerable Bodhisattvas, who were sitting on jeweled lotus-flowers, sprang up from the sea, came to Mt. Sacred Eagle, went up to the sky, and stayed there. All these Bodhisattvas had been led [into the Way to Bodhi] by Mañjuśrī. They had already performed the Bodhisattva practices. [Up in the sky] they [began to] expound the six pāramitās. Some of them were formerly Śrāvakas. When they were Śrāvakas, they expounded the Śrāvaka practices in the sky. Now they were acting according to the truth of the Void of the Great Vehicle.
Mañjuśrī said to Accumulated-Wisdom, “Now you see the living beings whom I taught in the sea.”