Other schools of Buddhism often focus on the parables and other teachings of the theoretical section in the hope that, through their own practice, they will see for themselves the truth expressed in the Original Gate. In Nichiren Buddhism, the Original Gate is held to be primary because our practice is based on our faith in the active presence of the Buddha in the form of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. Through upholding the Lotus Sutra by chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, we become one with the Eternal Buddha. The difference lies in whether we rely upon the future possibility of attaining Buddhahood taught in the theoretical section, or upon our present ability to actually attain Buddhahood through faith in the Eternal Buddha, as taught in the essential section.
Lotus SeedsMonthly Archives: August 2018
Daily Dharma – Aug. 24, 2018
World-Honored One, know this!
Evil bhikṣus in the defiled world will not know
The teachings that you expounded with expedients
According to the capacities of all living beings.
In Chapter Thirteen of the Lotus Sūtra, innumerable Bodhisattvas sing these verses before the Buddha from whom they had come to hear the Wonderful Dharma. They realized that due to their attachment and delusions, beings in this world would see us who keep and practice the Lotus Sūtra as the source of their unhappiness. When we uphold the Buddha’s teaching, and know the true purpose of that teaching, we can see even those beings who cause great harm as opportunities for all of us to become enlightened rather than enemies that we must destroy.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Chih-i’s Profound Comparison
The comparison between the Lotus Sūtra and the other sūtras from various perspectives can be seen throughout the Hsüan-I (Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra). This is Chih-i’s endeavor to demonstrate that the Lotus Sūtra is superior to all other sūtras. In the meantime, this comparison provides legitimacy for Chih-i’s own choice of selecting the Lotus Sūtra as the doctrinal foundation for his system of thought. The superiority of the Lotus Sūtra is derived from its reconciling nature of acknowledging the validity of all doctrines that are embraced by the One Vehicle of Buddhahood. The establishment of this superiority in turn sustains Chih-i ‘s own system of thought as perfect and harmonizing. Thus, this technique of comparison exemplifies Chih-i’s perfect harmonization philosophy in terms of its nature of reconciliation and all-embracing nature. (Page 88-89)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismThe Law of Causation
The law of cause and effect pertains to the operations of all phenomena in the universe—not just to good and evil. It is taught in relation to what is called the Law of Causation, but there is a difference between the two. The law of cause and effect deals with the individual in terms of a temporal chain extending from past into present and then into the future. The Law of Causation, however, deals not merely with the individual but also with spatial and temporal relations among individuals and everything in their environment: family, local society, school, regional society, national society, international society, the natural environment, politics, economy, culture, spiritual fields, natural phenomena, and so on. An accurate interpretation of the world and of human life, this law is extremely extensive. It is the basis on which Buddhism teaches the impossibility of true happiness for an individual without development in the direction of happiness for all the other people in that individual’s environment. (Page 96)
The Beginnings of BuddhismDay 19
Day 19 concludes Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and begins Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.
Having last month considered the reasons for expounding the Lotus Sūtra lastly, we repeat in gāthās guidelines for expounding this Sūtra.
Be patient, and compassionate
Towards all living beings,
And then expound this sūtra
Praised by the Buddhas!Anyone who keeps this sūtra
In the latter days after my extinction
Should have compassion towards laymen and monks
And towards those who are not Bodhisattvas.
He should think:
‘They do not hear this sūtra.
They do not believe it.
This is their great fault.
When I attain the enlightenment of the Buddha,
I will expound the Dharma to them
With expedients
And cause them to dwell in it.’
The Daily Dharma from Jan. 18, 2018, offers this:
Anyone who keeps this sūtra
In the latter days after my extinction
Should have compassion towards laymen and monks
And towards those who are not Bodhisattvas.
He should think:
‘They do not hear this sūtra.
They do not believe it.
This is their great fault.
When I attain the enlightenment of the Buddha,
I will expound the Dharma to them
With expedients
And cause them to dwell in it.’
The Buddha sings these verses to Mañjuśrī in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra. In our zeal to help other beings, we may create expectations of how they will receive our efforts, or how they will change themselves after hearing the Buddha Dharma. We may even blame them for not improving as quickly as we might want. These verses remind us that there is no shortage of time available for our efforts to benefit others.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
A Glorious Pure Land
Since the Original Buddha is eternal, this world, where the Buddha lives, is also eternal. It can never be destroyed. However, ordinary people, deluded by worldly desires and unable to see with the eyes of the Buddha, think that this world is a defiled land, one which will burn away in the future. We see grief, pain and fear wherever we look. To us this is the “real world.” But our Buddha-nature can be realized in this defiled world. To enlightened eyes, the real world is revealed as a glorious Pure Land where all beings can attain Buddhahood.
Awakening to the LotusDaily Dharma – Aug. 23, 2018
Needless to say, boundless will be the merits
Of the person who hears this sūtra with all his heart,
And expounds its meanings,
And acts according to its teachings.
The Buddha sings these verses to Maitreya (whom he calls Ajita – Invincible) in Chapter Eighteen of the Lotus Sutra. The merits we gain through our study and practice of the Lotus Sūtra do not make us better than any of the other beings with whom we share this world. Merits accumulate when we strip away our delusions and see the world for what it is. We sometimes focus on what we can do to change the world, thinking that merely changing how we look at the world will have little effect. It is only when we see things for what they are that we can act effectively. Otherwise we are merely reinforcing the delusions of ourselves and others.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Substance of the Lotus Sūtra
For the section “Substance,” Chih-i compares various conceptions of the Ultimate Truth. The Ultimate Truth for beings in the realms of desire, form, and formlessness signifies that these three realms are different. The Two Vehicles perceive the Ultimate Truth as the suchness of emptiness. The bodhisattvas take both difference (provisional existence) and suchness (emptiness) as the Ultimate Truth. For the Buddha, the Ultimate Truth means neither suchness nor difference. The Ultimate Truth realized by the Buddha is thus taken as the correct substance. In Chih-i ‘s view, only the Lotus Sūtra enjoys the privilege of possessing the correct substance. Although the Ultimate Truth is also confirmed by Chih-i to be the substance of all other sūtras (seeing that the Ultimate Truth is the underlying principle), the substance they possess is not perfect. This is because other sūtras expound either the Relative Truth or the Ultimate Truth by means of expediency, and thus they cannot be regarded as fully possessing the correct substance, but only the one-sided substance (referring to emptiness as the Absolute Truth that is represented by the Tripitaka Teaching) or the correct substance with one-sidedness (referring to the Common Teaching that reveals the Ultimate Truth as the substance of dharmas, but its view concerns the one-sided emptiness). Only the substance of the Lotus Sūtra can function to embrace all entities, with which only the one Ultimate Truth is expounded without any expediency, viz. the Relative Truth and the Ultimate Truth are identified with each other in forming an integrated reality of all aspects. (Page 86)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismThe Inflexible Law of Cause and Effect
Before dealing with the Four Noble Truths, Buddhism teaches the everyday common-sense law that a good cause produces a good effect, a bad cause a bad effect; and both kinds of causes, suitable rewards and retributions. Even small acts of good and small acts of evil unrelated to other acts of good and evil do not disappear without a trace. Instead, each is stored up to form the intellect, personality, customary behavior, and physical makeup of the individual committing them. They become part of the personality, which they daily alter in the direction of good or bad. Acts of good and evil are intimately related to the individual’s happiness and fate. All human beings must understand that everything in this world is related according to the inflexible law of cause and effect. (Page 95)
The Beginnings of BuddhismDay 18
Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.
Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, we return to today’s portion of Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and the vow of the eighty billion nayuta Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas.
Thereupon the World-Honored One looked at the eighty billion nayuta Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas. These Bodhisattvas had already reached the stage of avaivartika, turned the irrevocable wheel of the Dharma, and obtained dhārāṇis. They rose from their seats, came to the Buddha, joined their hands together [towards him] with all their hearts, and thought, “If the World-Honored One commands us to keep and expound this sūtra, we will expound the Dharma just as the Buddha teaches.”
They also thought, “The Buddha keeps silence.’ He does not command us. What shall we do?”
In order to follow the wish of the Buddha respectfully, and also to fulfill their original vow, they vowed to the Buddha with a loud voice like the roar of a lion:
“World-Honored One! After your extinction, we will go to any place [not only of this Sahā-World but also] of the worlds of the ten quarters, as often as required, and cause all living beings to copy, keep, read and recite this sūtra, to expound the meanings of it, to act according to the Dharma, and to memorize this sūtra correctly. We shall be able to do all this only by your powers. World-Honored One! Protect us from afar even when you are in another world!”
My postscript a year ago still rings true: Imagine being a great Bodhisattva who has “already reached the stage of avaivartika, turned the irrevocable wheel of the Dharma, and obtained dhārāṇis” and still being unsure, waiting for some acknowledgment, some direction, and yet even with these doubts pushing ahead. With a roar like a lion!