Monthly Archives: November 2018

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 28, 2018

Mañjuśrī! A Bodhisattva-mahāsattva who performs this third set of peaceful practices in the latter days after [my extinction] when the teachings are about to be destroyed, will be able to expound the Dharma without disturbance. He will be able to have good friends when he reads and recites this sūtra. A great multitude will come to him, hear and receive this sūtra from him, keep it after hearing it, recite it after keeping it, expound it after reciting it, copy it or cause others to copy it after expounding it, make offerings to the copy of this sūtra, honor it, respect it, and praise it.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. The third set of practices involves not despising those who practice the Wonderful Dharma in any way, or hindering their practice by telling them that they are lazy and can never become enlightened. Such treatment goes against the true nature we all share, and can only create conflict.

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

Profound

The Ultimate Intention of the Buddha

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For Chih-i, the … differentiation of the coarse and the subtle is for the purpose of reaching non-distinction, since the intention of the Buddha is for universal salvation. Ultimately speaking, the coarseness and the subtlety are all merged in the Lotus Sūtra, for the Buddha made decisive and clear that all of them are dissolved in the subtlety (Chüeh-liao Jumiao). Regardless of whether they are viewed as coarse or subtle, and or neither coarse nor subtle, they all contain the ultimate intention of the Buddha in leading beings to attain Buddhahood. (Vol. 2, Page 105)

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


LS32

Day 19

Day 19 concludes Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and begins Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.

Day 19 Full Text

Having last time considered the Parable of the Parable of the Priceless Gem in the Top-Knot, we consider the power of the Lotus Sūtra.

This is the most honorable sūtra.
It is superior to all the other sūtras.
I kept it [in secret]
And refrained from expounding it.
Now is the time to do so.
Therefore, I expound it to you now.

Anyone who seeks
The enlightenment of the Buddha
And wishes to expound this sūtra
In peaceful ways after my extinction,
Should practice
These four sets of things.

Anyone who reads this sūtra
Will be free from grief,
Sorrow, disease or pain.
His complexion will be fair.
He will not be poor,
Humble or ugly.

All living beings
Will wish to see him
Just as they wish to see sages and saints.
Celestial pages will serve him.

He will not be struck with swords or sticks.
He will not be poisoned.
If anyone speaks ill of him,
The speaker’s mouth will be shut.
He will be able to go anywhere
As fearless as the lion king.
The light of his wisdom will be
As bright as that of the sun.

The Daily Dharma from Aug. 6, 2017, offers this:

Anyone who reads this sūtra
Will be free from grief,
Sorrow, disease or pain.
His complexion will be fair.
He will not be poor,
Humble or ugly.
All living beings
Will wish to see him
Just as they wish to see sages and saints.
Celestial pages will serve him.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra. When we cultivate the mind of the Buddha, and bring his teachings to life, we help other beings find true happiness. This is different from our normal pattern of attempting to manipulate what others think about us through bribery, threats, and other forms of coercion. When we help others find their minds, they realize that they share our true mind of joy and peace.

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

History of Japanese Religion

The ‘Five Theses’

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Abandoned and alone in his place of exile and surrounded by dangers, Nichiren reviewed his past life and found in the scripture more encouraging assurance of his own mission and deeper inspiration. The result of this calm reflection and ardent aspiration he formulated in the “five theses” of his mission. They were: First, as to the doctrine promulgated, his religion was based upon the unique authority of the Lotus, the consummation of all teachings of Buddha. Second, as to the capacity of those to be taught, mankind of that degenerate age of the Latter Days could be trained only by Buddha’s teaching in its simplest expression, not by any complicated system. Third, as to the time, his time was the age of the Latter Law, in which the Lotus alone would remain efficient for the salvation of all. Fourth, as to the country of its promulgation, Japan was the land where true Buddhism was destined to prevail; whence it should be propagated throughout the world. Fifth, as to the successive rise and fall of systems, other forms of Buddhism had done their missions and the way had been prepared by the old masters for the acceptance of the Perfect Truth. All these five conditions seemed to Nichiren to be in process of fulfilment by his activity, and the dangers he was encountering assured him more and more of his high mission. Thus three years’ life in exile only added fire to his ardour.

History of Japanese Religion

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 27, 2018

The children who had not lost their right minds saw that this good medicine had a good color and smell, took it at once, and were cured completely. But the children who had already lost their right minds did not consent to take the medicine given to them, although they rejoiced at seeing their father come home and asked him to cure them, because they were so perverted that they did not believe that this medicine having a good color and smell had a good taste.

In Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha tells a parable of a wise physician who prepares medicine for his children who have accidentally poisoned themselves. He compares the children to us whose minds are poisoned by the delusions of greed, anger and ignorance. He also compares himself to the wise father and the medicine to the Lotus Sūtra that he has left for us. Until the children took the medicine and tasted it for themselves, they could not be cured of the poison. Until we make this practice of the Wonderful Dharma an active part of our lives, we cannot be cured of our delusions.

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

Blog

The Purpose of a Buddhist Practice

When I joined Nichiren Shoshu in 1989 I was given The Liturgy of Nichiren Shoshu booklet. Each day that I practiced I recited the silent prayer:

I pray to erase my negative karma created by my own past causes and to fulfill my wishes in this life and in the future.

And it was this focus on “my wishes” that eventually caused me to stumble and re-evaluate exactly what I thought was the purpose of a Buddhist Practice.

Recently I took up The Bodhicaryāvatāra, Śāntideva’s Guide to the Buddhist Path to Awakening. In the introduction by Kate Crosby and Andrew Skilton is an explanation of Mahāyāna Buddhism from the Bodhipathapradīpa (Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment) by Atiśa (982-1054). Atiśa’s explanation underscores just how superficial is a practice focused on “my wishes.”

Atiśa speaks of three ‘scopes,’ three aspirations which one might have when engaging in spiritual practice. The first and lowest aspiration is that of a person whose goal is purely within the realm of unenlightenment — religion for wealth, fame, or even a favorable future rebirth. This aspiration — if they were honest the aspiration of so many people — is not particularly Buddhist, although at least in its higher concern with future rebirths it is somewhat better than having no spiritual aspiration whatsoever. …

According to Atiśa the second and middling aspiration is that of one who turns his or her back on all concern with future pleasures and future rebirths (with their invariable attendant sufferings) and aims for freedom. The hallmark of this aspiration is renunciation, and the goal is enlightenment, understood as freedom from suffering and rebirth. …

In following this second middling scope the practitioner can attain freedom from rebirth, enlightenment. Such a person is called an arhat, a Worthy One. The goal is held to be a difficult one requiring intensive practice and great insight which will fuel the letting go, the deep renunciation which leads to freedom. Perhaps this was the main concern of serious Buddhist practitioners in the immediate centuries after the death of the Buddha. Yet from the Mahāyāna perspective, no matter how many of their fellows follow it, this is not the highest goal and its aspiration is not the supreme aspiration. There is something higher than simply attaining enlightenment, the state of an arhat, and that is the state of a Buddha himself. What characterizes a Buddha, the Mahāyāna urges, is not just great insight, supreme wisdom, but his (or sometimes her) immense compassion as well. Compassion for others is missing in the description of the second scope which leads to the enlightenment of the arhat. Atiśa adds that those of the third and highest scope wish in every way — even by means of their own sufferings — for the complete destruction of all the sufferings of others. In fact, so long as someone else is suffering the Mahāyāna practitioner cannot attain peace. Superior to the arhat is the bodhisattva, one who vows to attain perfect Buddhahood, the perfection of insight and compassion, for the benefit of all.

No, I’m not suggesting switching to Tibetan Buddhism. I believe that knowing the foundations of Buddhism is essential to knowing the Lotus Sūtra. As Nichiren wrote in Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-i, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 81:

The reason for my commentaries on the Four Teachings (Tripitaka, Common, Distinct, and Perfect) and the Four Periods (Flower Garland, Agama, Expanded, and Wisdom) is to help others learn what the Lotus Sūtra is. For one cannot correctly understand the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra without learning the pre-Lotus Sūtras, although one may study the pre-Lotus Sūtras without learning about other Sūtras.

In support of this, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai stated in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, “When attempting to spread various sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra, the essential part of the teaching will not be lost even if a doctrinal analysis of all the teachings of the Buddha is not rendered. When attempting to spread the Lotus Sūtra, however, the essence of the teaching may be lost if a doctrinal analysis is not made.” It is preached in the Lotus Sūtra (chapter 2, “Expedients”), “Although the Buddhas expound various teachings, it is for the purpose of leading the people into the world of the One Buddha Vehicle.” “Various teachings” here refer to all the pre-Lotus Sūtras. “For the purpose of leading the people into the world of the One Buddha Vehicle” means to expound all the scriptures of Buddhism to reveal the Lotus Sūtra.

Profound

An Integrated Reality

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The feature of both explainable and unexplainable is related to the length of function. On the one hand, the length of function refers to the Buddha’s soteriological activity of saving beings, beginning from an incalculable past in the Origin until the more recent event of teaching the Lotus Sūtra in the Traces. On the other hand, for different capacities of beings, the Buddha expounds either the truth that can be conceptually understood, i.e., explainable, or the truth that is beyond conceptualization, i.e., unexplainable. The feature of neither explainable nor unexplainable denotes the inconceivability of the four truths, since the Ultimate Truth they contain cannot be conceptually conceived. In view of the inadequacy of language and of conceptual thoughts in conceiving the Ultimate Truth, the four truths cannot be defined by terms such as superior or vast, long or short, and sameness or difference. This is an integrated reality that everything is without difference and is subtle. (Vol. 2, Page 105)

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


LS32

Day 18

Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.

Day 18 Full Text

Having last time repeated the vow of the eighty billion nayuta Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas in gāthās, we conclude Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

There will be many dreadful things
In the evil world of the kalpa of defilements.
Devils will enter the bodies [of those bhikṣus]
And cause them to abuse and insult us.

We will wear the armor of endurance
Because we respect and believe you.
We will endure all these difficulties
In order to expound this sūtra.

We will not spare even our lives.
We treasure only unsurpassed enlightenment.
We will protect and keep the Dharma in the future
If you transmit it to us.

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.

They will speak ill of us,
Or frown at us,
Or drive us out of our monasteries
From time to time.
But we will endure all these evils
Because we are thinking of your command.

When we hear of a person who seeks the Dharma
In any village or city,
We will visit him and expound the Dharma [to him]
If you transmit it to us.

Because we are your messengers,
We are fearless before multitudes.
We will expound the Dharma.
Buddha, do not worry.

We vow all this to you
And also to the Buddhas who have come
From the worlds of the ten quarters.
Buddha, know what we have in our minds!

The Daily Dharma from Nov. 12, 2018, offers this:

We will wear the armor of endurance
Because we respect and believe you.
We will endure all these difficulties
In order to expound this sūtra.

Medicine-King Bodhisattva and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva, along with their attendants, declare these verses to the Buddha in Chapter Thirteen of the Lotus Sutra. The Buddha had asked previously who would teach the Lotus Sūtra after the Buddha’s death. These Bodhisattvas declare their aspirations to maintain their practice of the Buddha Dharma in the face of unimaginable difficulties. We may believe that this practice will lead to permanent comfort and pleasure. But knowing that we are in a world that is constantly changing, we realize that any difficulty is temporary, and that the way to a beneficial outcome may only go through difficulties. This knowledge and faith in the Buddha’s teachings increases our capacity to be a beneficial force in this world of conflict.

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

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 26, 2018

Tears keep falling when I think of the current unbearable hardships, but I cannot stop tears of joy when I think of obtaining Buddhahood in the future. Birds and insects chirp without shedding tears. I, Nichiren, do not cry, but tears keep falling. These tears are shed not for worldly matters, but solely for the sake of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore they should be called tears of nectar.

Nichiren wrote this as part of his letter to monk Sairen-bō in his Treatise on All Phenomena as Ultimate Reality (Shohō-Jissō Shō). For the sake of the Lotus Sūtra, Nichiren endured two harsh exiles, his house being burnt down, ambushes by soldiers with swords, being placed on the execution mat himself, and the persecution of his followers. Despite all these obstacles, he held true to the Buddha’s teaching in the face of all opposition. Most of us who practice the Lotus Sūtra today have lives of relative comfort. It is wonderful that we have Nichiren’s example. He was a human being just like us, and we too are capable of his faith and determination.

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

Profound

The Real Intention of the Buddha

Quote

While affirming the superiority of the Perfect Teaching, Chih-i does not mean to reject the other three teachings, as he regards all Buddhist doctrines whether coarse or subtle to be the teaching of the Buddha. His goal of judging the coarse or subtle is to resolve differences among the Four Teachings. This is because only when all of the Four Teachings are affirmed to be valid, can all beings with various types of faculties be embraced by the teaching of the Buddha. Chih-i’s conclusion is that the Ultimate Truth includes both coarseness and subtlety. In an absolute sense of opening the coarseness (e.g. relative) and revealing the subtlety (e.g. ultimate) and leading all sentient beings to attain universal liberation of Buddhahood, coarseness is subtlety. This is because each of the three teachings (Tripitaka, Common, and Separate) is an indispensable step towards the attainment of Buddhahood. However, Chih-i asserts that this absolute sense of integrating the coarse and the subtle (i.e., the three teachings are equally subtle as the Perfect Teaching) only becomes transparent in the Lotus Sūtra, in which the real intention of the Buddha for universal salvation is directly conveyed. Although the coarseness is expedient means that serves to reveal the subtlety, from the former is relative and the latter is ultimate, the equal importance of the relative and the ultimate for Chih-i lies in the fact that only by relying on the relative, can the ultimate be displayed. Meanwhile, only by aiming at the ultimate, can the relative be considered as valid. (Vol. 2, Page 101-102)

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