There are six supernatural powers: see everything, hear everything, read the minds of others, go everywhere, know the previous lives of others and self, and finally to eliminate illusions. … Of these six, seeing, knowing previous lives, and eliminating illusions are the three major ones.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraMonthly Archives: November 2018
Daily Dharma – Nov. 23, 2018
Medicine-King! Although many laymen or monks will practice the Way of Bodhisattvas, they will not be able to practice it satisfactorily, know this, unless they see, hear, read, recite, copy or keep this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma or make offerings to it.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. For us to aspire to benefit all beings is rare and wonderful. However, without the guidance of the Buddha, our efforts to benefit others can degenerate into expectations of separate benefits for ourselves. In the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha explains the limitations of his previous teachings, assures us of our capacity for enlightenment and how he is always helping us, and gives examples of great Bodhisattvas whose experience we can apply to our own lives.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Subtlety of Empathy and Response
The Subtlety of Empathy and Response is analogized by Chih-i with water and the moon. Water does not rise, nor does the moon descend, and yet the moon in an instant is reflected in all bodies of water. The Buddha does not come, and living beings do not go. It is through the capacities of living beings (who possess the potential to attain Buddhahood) and the response of the Buddha (who exerts kindness and compassion) that two parties are connected. (Vol. 2, Page 93)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismDay 14
Day 14 covers all of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, and opens Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.
Having last time heard Śākyamuni’s prediction for two thousand Śrāvakas, we repeat in gāthās and conclude Chapter 9.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
I assure the future Buddhahood
Of these two thousand Śrāvakas
Who are now present before me.
They will become Buddhas in their future lives.They will make offerings to as many Buddhas
As the particles of dust as previously stated.
They will protect the store of the teachings of those Buddhas,
And attain perfect enlightenment.They will go to the worlds of the ten quarters.
Their [Buddha-]names will be the same.
They will sit at the place of enlightenment
And obtain unsurpassed wisdom at the same time.Their [Buddha-]names will be Treasure-Form.
[The adornment of] their worlds, [the number of] their disciples,
[The duration of the period of] their right teachings,
[And that of] the counterfeit of them will be the same.By their supernatural powers, they will save
The living beings of the worlds of the ten quarters.
Their fame will extend far and wide.
They will enter into Nirvana in the course of time.Thereupon the two thousand Śrāvakas, of whom some had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn, having heard the Buddha assure them of their future Buddhahood, danced with joy, and sang in a gāthā:
You, the World-Honored One, are the light of wisdom.
Hearing from you
That we are assured of our future Buddhahood,
We are as joyful as if we were sprinkled with nectar.
The Daily Dharma from April 18, 2018, offers this:
You, the World-Honored One, are the light of wisdom.
Hearing from you
That we are assured of our future Buddhahood,
We are as joyful as if we were sprinkled with nectar.
These verses are sung by two thousand of the Buddha’s disciples in Chapter Nine of the Lotus Sūtra. When these followers of the Buddha were told that they would become as enlightened as he was, then many others like them realized that they too had this capacity. The superiority of the Lotus Sūtra lies not in having better explanations of what the Buddha taught, or in some supernatural ability it has to change the world. The superiority of the Lotus Sūtra is its completeness. It leads all beings to the joy of enlightenment.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Understanding the Truth of Emptiness
Understanding the Truth of Emptiness can help us to overcome attachment and egotism. We overcome attachment when we recognize that nothing lasts forever in the same way. We overcome egotism when we recognize that nothing, including our own lives, can exist without the contribution and support of many other things. By awakening to the Truth of Emptiness we are able to develop freedom from selfish craving.
Lotus SeedsDaily Dharma – Nov. 22, 2018
Truly, truly good men! I am peaceful. I am in good health. The living beings are ready to be saved. They do not fatigue me because I already taught them in their consecutive previous existences, and also because they have already honored the past Buddhas respectfully and planted the roots of good.
The Buddha makes this proclamation to the leaders of the Bodhisattvas from Underground in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. These Bodhisattvas appeared when the Buddha asked who would teach the Lotus Sūtra after the Buddha’s death, and asked about the Buddha’s health and whether those he was teaching could keep what he provided for them. The Buddha assures us not only of the certainty of our future enlightenment, but that for us to receive his teaching, there was an earlier time, which we may have forgotten, when we met him. This awareness of our future and our past helps us to see our place in the world and maintain our determination to benefit all beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Absolute Subtlety
Absolute Subtlety is different from Relative Subtlety, for the former does not depend on the coarseness as its opposite counterpart. It is subtle within itself. The Absolute Subtlety is delineated by Chih-i in terms of the Four Teachings (Tripitaka, Common, Separate, and Perfect).
(l) The Absolute Subtlety with reference to the Tripitaka Teaching denotes negation of the Worldly Truth. By this negation, one is able to realize emptiness as the Absolute Truth. Chih-i remarks:
“If [one] enters the supreme truth, the Relative [Subtlety] at once becomes the Absolute [Subtlety].”
(2) The Absolute Subtlety with reference to the Common Teaching denotes realization of emptiness within the empirical world. This realization of emptiness designates fundamental identity of worldly phenomena and transcendental reality. Chih-i comments:
“[If one realizes that] the Absolute Truth is contained within phenomena, this is Absolute [Subtlety].”
(3) The Absolute Subtlety with reference to the Separate Teaching denotes realization of the Middle Way of the Separate Teaching. This means that the bodhisattva advances from the view of Emptiness to the view of the Provisional. By realizing that the phenomenal world is provisional in existence, the bodhisattva is not attached to Emptiness. Instead, he holds the view of no-emptiness and participates in worldly activity. Chih-i states:
“If [one] enters the Middle Way of the Separate Teaching, the Relative
[Subtlety] becomes the Absolute [Subtlety].”
(4) The Absolute Subtlety with reference to the Perfect Teaching denotes realization of the non-distinction of all dharmas. Since all dharmas are the Buddha-dharma, and there is nothing that is not included in the Buddha-dharma, the Perfect Teaching is Absolute Subtlety. Using the notion of either coarse or subtle to conceptualize the Buddha-dharma is invalid, because there is no distinction between relative and absolute subtlety at the quiescent state of Buddhahood. In the Buddha-realm, the subtlety or the absolute is just a name given to signify such an inconceivable state that is beyond language and conceptual thought and is ever quiescent. (Vol. 2, Page 91-92)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismDay 13
Day 13 covers all of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples.
Having last time heard Śākyamuni’s prediction for Pūrṇa’s future enlightenment, we repeat Śākyamuni’s prediction for Pūrṇa’s future enlightenment in gāthās.
Thereupon the Buddha, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Bhikṣus, listen to me attentively!
The Way practiced by my sons
Is beyond your comprehension
Because they learned how to employ expedients.Knowing that people wish to hear
The teachings of the Lesser Vehicle,
And that they are afraid of having the great wisdom,
[My sons, that is,] the Bodhisattvas transform themselves
Into Śrāvakas or cause-knowers,
And teach the people with innumerable expedients.Saying to the innumerable living beings, [for instance,]
“We are Śrāvakas.
We are far from the enlightenment of the Buddha,”
They save them, and cause them to attain [Śrāvakahood]
Even the lazy people who wish to hear the Lesser Vehicle
Will become Buddhas with this expedient in the course of time.My disciples are performing
The Bodhisattva practices secretly
Though they show themselves in the form of Śrāvakas.
They are purifying my world
Though they pretend to want little
And to shun birth-and-death.
In the presence of the people,
They pretend to have the three poisons and wrong views.
They save them with these expedients.
They change themselves into various forms.
If I speak of all their transformations,
The listeners will doubt me.Under hundreds of thousands of millions of past Buddhas,
This Pūrṇa practiced strenuously what he should do.
He expounded and protected
The teachings of those Buddhas.In order to obtain unsurpassed wisdom,
He became the most excellent disciple
Of those Buddhas.
He was learned and wise.
He expounded the Dharma without fear,
And made his listeners rejoice.
He was never tired
Of helping those Buddhas do their work.He obtained great supernatural powers
And the four kinds of unhindered eloquence.
Seeing who was clever, and who was dull,
He always expounded the Pure Dharma.He expounded the dharma of the Great Vehicle
To hundreds of thousands of millions of living beings,
And caused them to dwell in the Dharma
So that the worlds of those Buddhas might be purified.In the future also he will make offerings
To innumerable Buddhas, protect their right teachings,
Help them propagate their teachings,
And purify their worlds.He will always fearlessly expound the Dharma
With expedients.
He will save countless living beings
And cause them to have the knowledge of all things.He will make offerings to many Tathāgatas
And protect the treasure-store of the Dharma.
After that he will be able to become a Buddha
Called Dharma-Brightness.His world will be called Good-Purity.
It will be made of the seven treasures.
His kalpa will be called Treasure-Brightness.
There will be Bodhisattvas [in his world],
Many hundreds of millions in number.
They will have great supernatural powers.
They will be powerful and virtuous.
They will be seen throughout that world.Innumerable Śrāvakas will organize the Saṃgha.
They will have the three major supernatural powers,
The eight emancipations,
And the four kinds of unhindered eloquence.The living beings of that world will have no sexual desire.
They will be born without any medium.
They will be adorned with the marks [of the Buddha].
They will not think
Of any other food [than the two kinds of food]:
The delight in the Dharma, and the delight in dhyāna.
There will be neither women nor evil regions
In that world.Pūrṇa Bhikṣu will be able to obtain
All these merits,
And have his pure world
Inhabited by many sages and saints.
I have innumerable things to say of him.
I have told you only a few of them.
The Daily Dharma from Nov. 8, 2018, offers this:
My disciples are performing
The Bodhisattva practices secretly
Though they show themselves in the form of Śrāvakas.
They are purifying my world.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. The Śrāvakas are those who hear the teachings of the Buddha and put it into practice only for themselves. They are concerned with ending their own suffering and do not believe they have the capacity to reach the Buddha’s enlightenment. But because they can serve as an example to those who are also unsure about receiving this great wisdom, they can be an inspiration to make progress on the path. With the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha declares that all beings have the capacity for enlightenment, and reveals that all of our pursuits are for the sake of benefiting others. It is when we realize this directly and openly that we perform the Bodhisattva practice, the selfless effort of awakening the world.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
A Model for Buddhist Life
The Lotus Sutra was not simply stories and metaphors for Nichiren Shonin. It was a model for Buddhist life and a prophecy of what a Buddhist would experience in applying it’s teachings.
Awakening to the LotusDaily Dharma – Nov. 21, 2018
If you hear his name, and see him,
And think of him constantly,
You will be able to eliminate all sufferings.
The Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon, Kanzeon, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. World-Voice-Perceiver is the embodiment of compassion. The power of World-Voice-Perceiver is the power of compassion.World-Voice-Perceiver is also known as the one who brings fearlessness. When we can face up to the suffering in the world, both our own and that of others, we can see it for what it is. Then we are no longer afraid of suffering. What else is there to be afraid of?
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com