Having fun with the variety of lamps on the desks in our hotel rooms. (See Portage, Indiana)
The Light of the Dharma
Monthly Archives: October 2018
Ultimate Truth of All Dharmas
Extended interpretation of the Dharma of Sentient Beings (Kuangming Chung-sheng-fa)
The Dharma of Sentient Beings is addressed in two aspects: Fa-shu (numerical categories of the Dharma of Sentient Beings), and Fa-hsiang (characteristics of the Dharma of Sentient Beings).
Numerical categories of the Dharma of Sentient Beings (Fa-shu)
This aspect introduces the Ten Suchnesses (Shihju-shih) and the Ten Dharma-realms (Shih-fa-chieh) as the numerical categories of the Dharma of Sentient Beings. According to Chih-i, the phrases of the Ten Suchnesses are derived from the Lotus Sūtra, and these Ten Suchnesses can describe the characteristics of reality. Chih-i terms the Ten Suchnesses as the “Ultimate Truth of all dharmas” (Chu-fa Shih-hsiang). They are: “suchness of appearance” (Ju-shih-hsiang), “suchness of nature” (Ju-shih-hsing), “suchness of substance” (Ju-shiht ‘i), “suchness of power” (Ju-shih-li), “suchness of function” (Ju-shihtso), “suchness of causes” (Ju-shih-yin), “suchness of conditions” (Jushih-yüan), “suchness of effects” (Ju-shih-kuo), “suchness of retributions” (Ju-shih-pao), and “beginning-and-end-ultimately-alike of its suchness” (Ju-shih Pen-mo Chiu-ching Teng). To sustain his argument that the Ten Suchnesses are the Ultimate Truth of all dharmas, Chih-i declares that the Ten Suchnesses contain three meanings in terms of the Threefold Truth (Emptiness, the Provisional Existence, and the Middle Way), when they are read in three different ways. Inasmuch as the Threefold Truth is the comprehensive view of reality and constitutes the Ultimate Truth of the Middle Way, the Ten Suchnesses that contain the meaning of the Threefold Truth can be certainly taken to characterize the Ultimate Truth. (Vol. 2, Page 71)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismAltruistic Ideals
Put to use in everyday life, the Eightfold Path can enhance health, keep people on the proper moral and ethical road, increase efficiency at work, establish a correct view of the world and humankind, and cultivate wisdom. But Mahayana Buddhism rejected sole reliance on the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path as insufficient for its goal, which is to work diligently not only for personal enlightenment but also for the improvement of one’s fellow human beings and all society. Though Mahayana followers recognized the value of the Hinayana truths and principles of action for self-improvement, they decried the absence of altruistic ideals. In the stead of the solitary arhat, they adopted the ideal of the bodhisattva, whose first consideration is the benefit and happiness of other beings. The Eightfold Path, which cannot serve as a complete teaching for bodhisattvas, was replaced with the Six Perfections as the model for religious action.
Basic Buddhist Concepts
Daily Dharma – Oct. 31, 2018
Thereupon Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha said to Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva: “Do not despise that world! Do not consider it to be inferior [to our world]! Good Man! The Sahā-World is not even. It is full of mud, stones, mountains and impurities. The Buddha [of that world] is short in stature. So are the Bodhisattvas [of that world]. You are forty-two thousand yojanas tall. I am six million and eight hundred thousand yojanas tall. You are the most handsome. You have thousands of millions of marks of merits, and your light is wonderful. Do not despise that world when you go there! Do not consider that the Buddha and Bodhisattvas of that world are inferior [to us]! Do not consider that that world is inferior [to ours]!”
In Chapter Twenty-Four of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha sends a light from his forehead to the world in which Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva lives. When that Bodhisattva saw this light from Śākyamuni Buddha, he asked permission from the Buddha he was attending to visit our world of conflict. The instruction he receives from his Buddha reminds us that no matter what advantages we have gained from our practice of the Buddha Dharma, these do not make us any better or worse than those we are determined to benefit.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Dharma of Sentient Beings
[I]n order to elaborate the Dharma of Sentient Beings, Chih-i brings forth the concept of the Ten Dharma-realms (hell-dwellers, hungry ghosts, animals, asuras, humans, heavenly beings, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and Buddhas), as sentient beings are what constitute the Ten Dharma-realms. The first nine realms are said by Chih-i to belong to the Relative Truth, and the Buddha-realm to the Ultimate Truth. Each of the ten realms is characterized by the Ten Suchnesses (appearance, nature, substance, power, function, causes, conditions, effects, retributions, and beginning and end ultimately-alike). Whereas the Ten Suchnesses are regarded by Chih-i as the general characteristics of the Ten Dharma-realms, the Ten Suchnesses are viewed as the Ultimate Truth of all dharmas. Hence, the Ten Suchnesses are the characteristics of the Ultimate Truth. Seeing that the Ultimate Truth is possessed by the Ten Dharma-realms that consist of the Relative and Ultimate, this Ultimate Truth embraces both the Relative and the Ultimate. Chih-i’s interpretation of the Dharma of Sentient Beings aims at associating it with the Dharma of Buddha, for the latter concerns the Buddha’s knowledge of the Relative and the Ultimate, with which the Buddha is able to conceive the Ultimate Truth that embraces the whole Dharma-realm. The Dharma of Mind, on the other hand, as Chih-i’s category of approaching the Ultimate Truth of Buddhahood includes the former two types of the Dharma. This is to say that the Ten Dharmarealms that are characterized by the Ten Suchnesses as the Ultimate Truth of dharmas are contained in one’s mind. One’s mind that embraces the whole universe is based on Chih-i’s view that the Buddha-nature is possessed by all sentient beings. Since the Buddha-nature is inherent in all beings, contemplating one’s mind is the ultimate approach to attain Buddhahood. To Chih-i, if the Buddha-nature is considered to be the invisible state of Buddhahood, the realization of Buddhahood is only the matter of manifesting this Buddha-nature, i.e., one’s enlightenment is the visible state of Buddhahood. Therefore, the Dharma of Mind introduces the practical approach in terms of mind contemplation, through which Buddhahood can be realized. (Vol.2, Page 70)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismCarrying Out the Buddha’s Activities
We get involved in the Buddha’s life by devoting ourselves to participating in the Buddha’s activities. We can carry out the Buddha’s activities by using our bodies to carry out His work. This is attaining Buddhahood in one’s present form or Sokushin Jōbutsu. It is essentially attaining Buddhahood by receiving the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra and expressing the teachings through one’s body. This means to believe in the Lotus Sūtra, to respect the Buddha, to chant the Odaimoku, and to realize oneself to be a messenger of the Buddha; and thus, work to help Him.
Buddha Seed: Understanding the OdaimokuTraveling Service
Performed a quiet morning service while the wife slept. We are traveling from Churchville, NY, to Sacramento. We spent the first night in Portage, Indiana. Today we’re traveling to Lincoln, Nebraska.
Les Miserable Indiana sunset
Daily Dharma – Oct. 30, 2018
Universal-Sage! If you see anyone who keeps, reads and recites the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in the later five hundred years after my extinction, you should think, ‘Before long he will go to the place of enlightenment, defeat Māra and his followers, attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, turn the wheel of the Dharma, beat the drum of the Dharma, blow the conch-shell horn of the Dharma, send the rain of the Dharma, and sit on the lion-like seat of the Dharma in the midst of the great multitude of gods and men.’
The Buddha gives this instruction to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva (Fugen, Samantabhadra) in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. Nichiren explained that the later five hundred years mentioned in this passage is the time in which we are living today. The Buddha is therefore talking about all of us who practice the Wonderful Dharma. When we can grow our capacity to respect each other as we respect the Buddha, it inspires the respect at the core of all beings, and transforms this world.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Dharma Mind
[T]he subtlety of the Dharma of Mind is indicated from several scriptural citations, such as:
“With one’s mind cultivated and absorbed, one contemplates that all dharmas neither move nor regress.”
“The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings—these three are without distinction.”
“Destroying the atomic objects in the mind is transcendent to all the scrolls of Scripture in the Grand Chiliocosm.”
Basically, the category Dharma of Mind conveys the practical way of conceiving all dharmas. Since all dharmas are contained in one’s mind, Chih-i affirms that Buddhahood can be attained through contemplating one’s mind. (Vol. 2, Page 69)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismThe Nature of the Kaidan
If we repeat the Daimoku, and rigorously purify our thoughts, our bad appetites and passions will disappear of themselves, and we shall become inspired with the pure and lofty ethics of our Sect. In walking or resting, standing or lying, speaking or keeping silence, acting or refraining from action – in all these situations we may attain to the mysterious deliverance; birth, old age, disease and death will disappear of themselves; fears, sorrows, pains and troubles vanish away forever, leaving nothing behind them but eternity, purity, enlightenment and peace. Thus we find ourselves in the Paradise of Buddhas, living in the Land of Glorious Light. Therefore the [Lotus Sutra] says, “We ought to know that this place is the Kaidan.” In other words, any place whatever, where we practise the doctrines of the [Lotus Sutra], is fit to be a Kaidan. And if it is fit to be a Kaidan it is in habited by all the Buddhas. Such is the nature of the Kaidan as taught by our Sect.
Doctrines of Nichiren (1893)