Monthly Archives: August 2018

LS32

Day 2

Day 2 completes Chapter 1, Introductory.

Having last month considered the consequences of Sun-Moon-Light Buddha’s decision to enter Nirvāṇa, we consider Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva’s role.

Wonderful-Light, the Teacher of the Dharma,
Kept the store of the Dharma of the Buddha, and expounded
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
For eighty small kalpas.

Led by Wonderful-Light, those eight princes resolved
To attain unsurpassed enlightenment.
[Wonderful-Light said to them:]
“You will be able to see countless Buddhas.”

Having made offerings to [countless] Buddhas,
Those princes followed them, practiced the Great Way,
And became Buddhas in succession.
Each of them assured another of his future Buddhahood.

The last God of Gods
Was called Burning-Light Buddha.
As the leader of seers,
He saved innumerable living beings.

There was a lazy man
Among the disciples
Of Wonderful-Light, the Teacher of the Dharma.
[The lazy man] was attached to fame and gain.

Always seeking fame and gain,
He often visited noble families.
He did not understand what he had recited,
Gave it up, and forgot it.
Because of this,
He was called Fame-Seeking.

But he [later] did many good karmas,
And became able to see innumerable Buddhas.
He made offerings to them,
Followed them, practiced the Great Way,
And performed the six paramitas.
Now he sees the Lion-Like One of the Sakyas.

He will become a Buddha
In his future life.
He will be called Maitreya.
He will save innumerable living beings.

The lazy man who lived after the extinction
Of [Sun-Moon-] Light Buddha was
No one but you.
Wonderful-Light, the Teacher of the Dharma, was I.

The Introduction to the Lotus Sutra offers this explanation of Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva’s role:

Sun-Moon-Light Buddha expounded the Lotus Sutra prior to entering nirvana, and then assured one of his disciples of his future Buddhahood. The same can be said about Sakyamuni. The Lotus Sutra is the written teachings of Sakyamuni that were expounded prior to his death. In them, he too assured disciples of their future Buddhahood.

Sun-Moon-Light Buddha assigned one of his followers, Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva, to preserve and spread his teachings after he was gone. Likewise, Sakyamuni assigned his followers the task of spreading his teachings in this world after he should enter nirvana. This theme will be developed later, beginning in Chapter Ten, “The Teacher of the Law,” and continuing for many chapters after.

Thus this chapter introduces ideas which serve as a prelude to or foreshadowing of the philosophy of the Lotus Sutra, presenting themes which will gradually unfold in the chapters which follow.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Summer Writings

Understanding Gratitude Religiously

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All Buddhist events are based on the idea of gratitude, including the week of O-Higan held twice a year. There are two meanings: One is to express thanks to our ancestors and to understand how important life is; the other is to obtain a peaceful mind through Buddhist practices. Expressing thanks to one’s ancestors means to understand gratitude religiously. As a result, we hold a service to pray for our ancestors, but sometimes in today’s busy society, we become lazy and forget to pray for them.

Nichiren Shonin said in one of his letters, “Although parents raised ten children with their love, the grownup children would not take care of their mother. Though all wives want to sleep with a warm husband, there is no wife who wants to keep her mother’s cold feet warm. Even if a person takes care of his parents well when they are alive, and after the parents passing he faithfully holds Memorial Services properly for three years, after another ten years no one takes care of his parents anymore.” (Gyobu Saemon-no-jo Nyobo Gohenji)

Summer Writings

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Aug. 6, 2018

World-Honored One! It is difficult for anyone in the world to believe this. It is as difficult as to believe a handsome, black-haired man twenty-five years old who points to men a hundred years old and says, ‘They are my sons,’ or as to believe men a hundred years old who point to a young man and say, ‘This is our father. He brought us up.’

Maitreya Bodhisattva explains his perplexity to the Buddha in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha has just revealed that all of the Bodhisattvas who have appeared from underground to continue teaching the Wonderful Dharma after the extinction of the Buddha have been taught by the Buddha in the time since he became enlightened. Maitreya realizes that his doubts are no different from the doubts of those gathered to hear the Buddha teach and asks the Buddha to explain. The Buddha says later that he sees the world differently than other living beings. But this does not mean that when our experience does not match what the Buddha teaches, we must keep silence and just accept what he tells us. It is only through sincere questioning that we find the Buddha’s mind and make it our own.

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

LS32

Day 1

Day 1 covers the first half of Chapter 1, Introductory

Having last month considered Maitreya Bodhisattva’s question in gāthās, we consider what Maitreya is seeing.

I see from this world
The living beings of the six regions
Extending down to the Avici Hell,
And up to the Highest Heaven

Of each of those worlds.
I see the region to which each living being is to go,
The good or evil karmas he is doing,
And the rewards or retributions he is going to have.

I also see the Buddhas,
The Saintly Masters, the Lion-like Ones,
Who are expounding
The most wonderful sūtra
With their pure and gentle voices,
And teaching
Many billions of Bodhisattvas.
The brahma voices of the Buddhas
Are deep and wonderful,
Causing people to wish to hear them.

I also see the Buddha of each of those worlds
Expounding his right teachings to all living beings
In order to cause them to attain enlightenment.

He explains his teachings
With stories of previous lives,
And with innumerable parables and similes.

To those who are confronted with sufferings,
And tired of old age, disease, and death,
The Buddha expounds the teaching of Nirvana,
And causes them to eliminate these sufferings.

To those who have merits,
Who have already made offerings to the past Buddhas,
And who are now seeking a more excellent teaching,
The Buddha expounds [the Way of] cause-knowers.

To the Buddha’s sons
Who are performing various practices,
And who are seeking unsurpassed wisdom,
The Buddha expounds the Pure Way.

The unique qualities of this Introductory Chapter are discussed in the Introduction to the Lotus Sutra:

[I]n most sutras, the Introductory and Propagation parts are short and sweet, serving merely structural functions to complete the whole. In contrast, the Lotus Sutra contains a detailed introduction in addition to a general preface. This detailed introduction, unique to the Lotus Sutra, presents teachings that foreshadow what will be expounded in the following chapters.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Profound, Blog

The Perfect Teaching

Beginnings of Buddhism bookcoverProfoundMeaningBookCoverToday I’ve begun publishing quotes from The Beginnings of Buddhism and additional quotes from The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism.

I have 90 quotes that I expect to publish from The Beginnings of Buddhism. In the past when I’ve finished a book, I’ve added all to the quotes to the website and scheduled one to be published per day until they run out. I don’t want to do that this time because of the nature of the topic. These quotes, while valuable in understanding the roots of early Buddhism, need to be kept in perspective of the Ultimate Truth revealed in the Lotus Sūtra.

From The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism:

With regard to the Four Teachings, Chih-i argues that the positions of the Tripiṭaka, the Common, and the Separate Teachings must be abandoned. This is because, once they have fulfilled their roles as tentative positions, i.e., after one has progressed from these three teachings to the Perfect Teaching, and attained the ultimate position of the Perfect Teaching, these tentative positions are no longer needed. Moreover, at the moment when these tentative positions hinder one’s attainment of the ultimate position on the path of religious practice, they must be abolished too.

Moving forward I expect to publish something from The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism each time I publish something from The Beginnings of Buddhism.  This will be more haphazard than my rigid daily schedule, but potentially more useful.

Profound

Arising and Abandoning

Quote

Arising and abandoning are the two aspects of evaluating various levels of religious attainment as positions that belong to the Four Teachings respectively. According to Chih-i, the positions that belong to the three teachings (Tripiṭaka, Common, and Separate) are coarse, seeing that the doors of these teachings are expedient means or contain expediency. This proposes that truth expounded by the Buddha in these teachings is relative, which functions to guide beings to eventually reach the Ultimate Truth. The positions of the Perfect Teaching are considered to be subtle, for the door of the Perfect Teaching directly reveals the Ultimate Truth without having to employ expedient means as the Relative Truth. Therefore, “arising of positions” (Wei-hsing) is to confirm the legitimacy of various positions regardless of whether they are coarse or subtle, from the viewpoint that all of them are beneficial in terms of suiting different abilities of sentient beings. On the other hand, the abandonment of these tentative positions (Wei-fei) is necessary for the arising of new positions. Attainment arises according to conditions. Along with the arising of new conditions, new positions are produced, with which old positions must be abandoned. With regard to the Four Teachings, Chih-i argues that the positions of the Tripiṭaka, the Common, and the Separate Teachings must be abandoned. This is because, once they have fulfilled their roles as tentative positions, i.e., after one has progressed from these three teachings to the Perfect Teaching, and attained the ultimate position of the Perfect Teaching, these tentative positions are no longer needed. Moreover, at the moment when these tentative positions hinder one’s attainment of the ultimate position on the path of religious practice, they must be abolished too. (Volume 1, Page 60)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


Profound, Books

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism

ProfoundMeaningBookCover
Available at Amazon
From the publisher’s book description:

This book makes an initial investigation into T’ien-t’ai Chih-i’s masterpiece The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra (Hsuan-i) in an endeavor to unravel his systematic approach to elaborating Buddhism and his Buddhist philosophy in religious salvation. This book is divided into two volumes. Volume one concentrates on the uniqueness of the Hsuan-i and Chih-i’s achievements in the Hsuan-i. As the embodiment of Chin-i’s own philosophy, the coherent and integrated nature of his text fully displays his perfect and harmonizing philosophy. Closely related to the first volume is the second volume of this book. In order to make the assessment of Chih-i’s system, thoughts and achievements comprehensible in the context of the Hsuan-i, volume two launches an unprecedented exploration of this gigantic text Hsuan-i, giving a delineation of the whole work by outlining, explaining and analyzing its complicated structure, its rich content, and its sophisticated theories. The textual study of this book brings into light a new perspective of understanding the depth of Chih-i’s philosophy, and contributes to the field of study of T’ien-t’ai Buddhism.

 
Book List

Books, beginning

The Beginnings of Buddhism

Available for purchase from NBIC.
From the Preface by Kōgen Mizuno:

In the eighteen chapters of this book, I give an account of basic Buddhism, centered on the life of Śākyamuni, the historical Buddha, and the primitive teachings of his time. The book is not an ordered, doctrinal presentation but a blend of what I have to say about the teachings and of material concerning the life of Śākyamuni taken from the oldest and most reliable sources. Though I did not intend to write a detailed biography, I have made use of the historical evidence considered most correct.

The oldest extant Buddhist classics – the Agama sutras and the Vinaya-pitaka – were not written as biographies of Śākyamuni and contain only a fragmentary exposition of his words, actions, teachings, and discussion. These works, which cover a period of more than forty years, deal less with the life of Śākyamuni than with correct revelations of his teachings and, although not compiled with the intention of producing scholarly, historically factual records, contain fairly detailed accounts of the first two or three years of activity after Śākyamuni attained enlightenment and of the events of the period of about a year surrounding his entrance into nirvana.

The writing of biographies of Śākyamuni did not begin until several centuries after his death. There are about ten kinds of such biographies, all of which show him as a superhuman being for whom nothing was impossible. They reveal his greatness but fail to give a picture of his true humanity and go too far in the effort to create a powerful impression.

Attempts on the part of later writers to make Śākyamuni seem supernatural led Western scholars to assume that he had never existed as an actual human being but was a fiction invented on the basis of ancient Indian sun myths. In order to obtain an impression of Śākyamuni as a living human being and to understand his true greatness, it is essential to rely on the unembellished accounts found in the oldest historical sources. Though fragmentary and incomplete, this material gives a clearer, more vital picture than accounts compiled in later periods.

A true picture of Śākyamuni and the religion he founded is of maximum importance today for the following reasons. Śākyamuni is ranked as one of the four great sages of the world, together with Socrates, Jesus Christ, and Confucius. Buddhism itself ranks with Islam and Christianity as one of the world’s three great religions. People of learning and culture in both the East and the West who attempt to interpret the issue impartially agree that, of the four great sages, Śākyamuni had the most harmonious and outstanding personality. Furthermore, cultural leaders throughout the world insist that, in terms of rationality and of inspiring peace and a spirit of generosity, either Buddhism or something similar to it is the ideal kind of religion for the future of all mankind.

 
Book List

beginning

The Starting Point of Buddhism

Quote

Because he had proved that neither meditation nor ascetic austerities enabled one to attain the ideal, Śākyamuni saw that no other method that existed at the time could lead to his goal. In reflecting on this, the prince developed three comparisons: transferring light ignited with a fire stick to waterlogged fresh wood, transferring light ignited with a fire stick to ordinary fresh wood, and igniting fire with a fire stick on dry wood. Waterlogged and fresh wood symbolize the heart saturated with desires and worldly attachments. Dry wood symbolizes a heart in which there is no longer desire or attachment to worldly things. The act of igniting fire by means of a fire stick represents diligent effort. The most assiduous effort in ascetic austerities cannot bring enlightenment to a heart saturated with desires and attachments, just as fire struck by means of the fire stick at the cost of great effort cannot be transferred to waterlogged or fresh wood. But since fire can be struck readily by diligent effort with the fire stick on dry wood, so a heart that has already been drained of desires and attachments by equally diligent spiritual effort can attain the ideal goal.

When he understood this, Śākyamuni saw that both meditation practice and ascetic austerities were mistaken. After recovering his physical strength, he prepared a seat with soft grass under an assattha, or bo, tree not far from the town of Gaya and, making a vow not to rise until he attained enlightenment, even if it meant death, sat in meditation.

In the first hours of the night of his enlightenment (the hours from six till ten), he attained wisdom about all past things. In the middle hours (from ten until two in the morning), he attained wisdom about all future things. Then in the final hours (from two until six in the morning), he was freed of all bondage and attained wisdom without illusion. He became a Buddha. And this was the starting point of Buddhism. (Page 26-27)

The Beginnings of Buddhism

Lecture on Lotus Sutra

The Cycle of Judgment and Intolerance

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We can easily be trapped in a cycle of judgment and intolerance and even prejudice. One of the easiest symptoms that surfaces which we can use to check in with ourselves is how easy do we justify our own correctness, and our own goodness and even use that as a measure of comparison. It’s just a thought.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra