All of these obstructions cloud the truth, lead to mistaken thoughts and actions, and prevent the realization of the ideal and thus are causes of suffering. To recognize suffering as suffering and see obstructions as obstructions calls for an understanding of the Buddhist religious ideal. The truths of suffering and its cause are based on the truth of the elimination of suffering. When the possibility of an end to suffering is glimpsed, the true nature of suffering and its causes become clear. Though they should be eliminated, suffering and its causes must be seen as aspects of reality, and the ideal of the elimination of suffering must be realized. Viewed in this way, suffering becomes the noble truth of suffering, and its cause the noble truth of the cause of suffering.Basic Buddhist Concepts
Monthly Archives: August 2018
Daily Dharma – Aug. 2, 2018
Anyone who expounds this sūtra to the four kinds of devotees,
Or reads or recites this sūtra in a retired place,
After doing these [three] virtuous things,
Will be able to see me.
The Buddha sings these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. While the Buddha was alive 2500 years ago, people traveled great distances and endure great hardships just to see him. Today, even though the man named Siddhartha Gautama is no longer in our world, we are assured that the ever-present Śākyamuni is always with us and leading us to his enlightenment. When we make the effort to keep, read, recite, copy and expound this Sūtra, it is as if we are traveling great distances and enduring great hardships.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 29
Day 29 covers all of Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.
Having last month heard how World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva eliminates suffering in gāthās, we conclude Chapter 25.
World-Voice-Perceiver will save
All living beings from misfortunes
And from innumerable sufferings of the world
By the wonderful power of his wisdom.He has these supernatural powers.
He employs various expedients with his wisdom.
In the ten quarters there is no ksetra
In which he does not appear at all.Hell, the region of hungry spirits, and the region of animals,
That is the [three) evil regions will be eliminated.
The sufferings of birth, old age, disease and death
Will gradually be eliminated.He sees the truth of all things and their purity.
He sees all things with his great wisdom.
He sees all things with loving-kindness and compassion.
Think of him constantly! Look up at him constantly!All darkness is dispelled by the light of his wisdom
As spotless and as pure as the light of the sun.
The light destroys the dangers of wind and fire,
And illumines the whole world brightly.His precepts out of his loving-kindness brace us up as thunderbolts.
His wishes out of his compassion are as wonderful as large clouds.
He pours the rain of the Dharma as sweet as nectar,
And extinguishes the fire of illusions.Suppose you are in a law-court for a suit,
Or on a battlefield, and are seized with fear.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
All your enemies will flee away.His wonderful voice [comes from] his perceiving the voice of the world.
It is like the voice of Brahman, like the sound of a tidal wave.
It excels all the other voices of the world.
Therefore, think of him constantly!Do not doubt him even at a moment’s thought!
The Pure Saint World-Voice-Perceiver is reliable
When you suffer, and when you are confronted
With the calamity of death.By all these merits, he sees
All living beings with his compassionate eyes.
The ocean of his accumulated merits is boundless.
Therefore, bow before him!Thereupon Earth-Holding Bodhisattva rose from his seat, proceeded to the Buddha, and said to him:
“World-Honored One! Those who hear of his supernatural powers by which he opened the universal gate without hindrance, and which are expounded in this chapter of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva, know this, will be able to obtain not a few merits.”
When the Buddha expounded this chapter of the Universal Gate, the eighty-four thousand living beings in the congregation began to aspire for the unparalleled Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.
Nichiren offers this perspective on Chapter 25:
The chapter “Bodhisattva Voice Perceiver” is also known as the chapter “Universal Gate.” Since the first half of this chapter tells of the merits of a person who pays homage to the Bodhisattva World Voice Perceiver (Avalokiteśvara), this chapter is named “Voice Perceiver.” It is also named “Universal Gate” since the latter half tells of the merits of a person who takes refuge with the Lotus Sutra which the Bodhisattva Voice Perceiver maintains.
Nichinyo Gozen Gohenji, A Response to My Lady Nichinyo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 4, Faith and Practice, Pages 133-134
Walking Our Path With The Buddha
We learn that we live with the Buddha and walk on the path of our life with the Buddha. By doing so, we are involved in the eternal life of the Buddha. Now, we as cause and the Buddha as effect no longer theoretically but realistically become one. It is perfectly attaining Buddhahood with cause and effect existing simultaneously; with true cause and effect; with Ichinen Sanzen of Ji; with one’s present body; and with receiving and upholding the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, it is not necessary for Odaimoku practitioners to achieve a certain stage (rank) or to practice for a long period of time, because one is directly involved in the Buddha’s life with one’s present body.
Buddha Seed: Understanding the OdaimokuDaily Dharma – Aug. 1, 2018
Having thought this, he said to his children as he had thought, ‘Come out quickly!’ He warned them with these good words out of his compassion towards them, but they were too much engrossed in playing to hear the words of their father. They were not frightened or afraid. They did not wish to come out. They did not know what a fire was, what a house was, and what they would lose. They ran about happily. They only glanced at their father occasionally.
This passage is part of the Parable of the Burning House, told by the Buddha in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. In this story, he compares us living in this world of conflict to children playing in a dangerous house. As the children in the story were too distracted by their games to hear their father’s warnings, we are often too distracted by the attachments of our world to hear the voice of the Buddha.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com