Monthly Archives: January 2019

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 18, 2019

If anyone keeps, reads and recites this sūtra while he walks or stands, I will mount a kingly white elephant with six tusks, go to him together with great Bodhisattvas, show myself to him, make offerings to him, protect him, and comfort him, because I wish to make offerings to the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Universal-Sage Bodhisattva (Fugen, Samantabhadra) makes this vow to the Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sutra. Out of his gratitude for the teaching of the Wonderful Dharma, Universal Sage promises to encourage anyone who may be struggling in their practice of the Buddha Dharma. This is a reminder of how no matter what obstacles or difficulties we may encounter, great beings are helping us and we are in harmony with things as they truly are.

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

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Four Categories of Transmission

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The four broad categories of transmission … may be said to encapsulate the entire T’ien-t’ai/Tendai system of doctrine and meditation, reinterpreted from a hongaku perspective. They deal, from four different perspectives, with the same concept: the total and perfect identity of the single thought-moment with the cosmos or dharma realm, a reality cognized as empty, conventionally existing, and both simultaneously. This reality is held to be the essence of Chih-i’s inner enlightenment, the deepest meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, and the truth to be accessed by the practitioner. (Page 184)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism


Profound

The Different Types of the Buddha’s Teaching

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Different types of the Buddha’s teaching are associated with the capabilities of living beings. Yüan refers to the conditions with regard to living beings. This is to say that the different teachings of the Buddha are the outcome of the Buddha addressing various capabilities of sentient beings. Chih-i delineates:

“Yüan refers to the dharma of causes and conditions in the Ten Dharmarealms that form living beings. All these living beings possess the root and the nature of the Ten Dharma-realms.”

Therefore, in order to deal with different situations, the Buddha has to teach them in a manner suitable to their conditions. The mature ones get the response from the Buddha earlier. The Buddha knows whether or not beings are mature, and he responds to them accordingly. Of those who are not mature, the Buddha does not abandon them completely. Instead, he limits his teachings to the human and heavenly vehicle (Chihtsuo Jen-tien-sh’eng Shuo), which does not belong to any of the twelve divisions of scripture. To the mature ones, such as the one with the faculties of the Lesser Vehicle, the Buddha’s teaching can be classified into twelve, or nine, or eleven types. To the beings that have the potentiality of becoming bodhisattva, the Buddha bestows the teaching in twelve divisions. In general, Chih-i emphasizes that the dharma in twelve divisions is the result of the Tathāgata’s teaching as corresponding to four kinds of situations, leading to the formation of the Fourfold Teaching. (Vol. 2, Page 284)

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


LS32

Day 6

Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable

Day 6 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the reasoning behind Śākyamuni’s decision to distribute the store of the Dharma, we consider why the rich man gave the largest carts to his children.

“Śāriputra! The rich man persuaded his children to come out at first by promising them the gifts of the three kinds of carts. But the carts which he gave them later were the largest and most comfortable carts adorned with treasures. In spite of this, the rich man was not accused of falsehood. Neither am I. I led all living beings at first with the teaching of the Three Vehicles. Now I will save them by the Great Vehicle only. Why is that? It is because, if I had given them the teaching of the Great Vehicle at first directly from my store of the Dharma in which my immeasurable wisdom, powers and fearlessness are housed, they would not have received all of the Dharma. Śāriputra! Therefore, know this! The Buddhas divide the One Buddha-Vehicle into three by their power to employ expedients.”

Lotus Path offers this on the meaning of “expedients“:

Previous to teaching the Lotus Sutra the Buddha taught expedients to lead people to the ultimate teaching of the Lotus Sutra. In many ways it was as if he were leading the blind to the train station so they could then find the way to the true complete teachings contained in the Lotus Sutra. But we need to remember that the train station is not the destination, the expedients are not the sum of the Buddha’s teachings.

Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1

Lotus Path

Achieving Release from Suffering

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By chanting Odaimoku, reciting and studying the Lotus Sutra we can achieve release from suffering. As we change our lives we also begin to change our environment. Further as we change those things, we provide examples to our friends and relatives, we show them how it is possible to also become happy. Again, we do this not by avoiding negative events in our lives, but by facing them head on, by enduring the lesson, so to speak, and learning what causes suffering and what causes happiness. Day by day, we persevere and we strive. It may seem insurmountable in the moment of experience but as we look back we can definitely see changes taking place.

Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1

WONS

Five Hinderances and Three Bonds

You were born on a small island in Japan, far from India, the native land of Śākyamuni Buddha; and you were born a female bound by the “five hinderances”* and “three bonds.”** Nevertheless you firmly put faith in the Lotus Sūtra, which is hard to uphold. It is indeed great, beyond expression.

* Five hinderances: women are thought unable to become the Brahma Heavenly King, Indra, king of devils, Wheel-turning Noble King, and Buddha.

** Three bonds: women are supposed to obey the father at home, the husband when married, and the children when widowed.

Gassui Gasho, A Letter on Menstruation, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 26

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 17, 2019

Anything which tastes good, bad, delicious, distasteful, bitter or astringent, will become as delicious as the nectar of heaven and not distasteful when it is put on their tongues.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. In our habitual pursuit of pleasure, we often forget that what is pleasant to some people is irritating to others. This is most obvious with food. Flavors that some find delicious others find disgusting. When we understand that the things in the world are not the cause of our happiness or misery, and that our minds affect how we perceive the world, we find more joy and wonder than we thought possible, and no longer depend on this capricious existence for our happiness.

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

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Three Kinds of Lotus Sūtra

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In the Ichijō shō and similar texts, “Lotus Sūtra” is taken in its ultimate sense to refer not to a scriptural text, but to the perfectly interpenetrating dharma realm in its totality, and the “five profound principles” are interpreted as attributes of the dharma realm. For example, its “name” is conventional truth (saṃvṛti-satya, zokutai), its “essence” is the principle of the true aspect, and so forth. This transmission draws on Saichō’s concept of the “three kinds of Lotus Sūtra” (sanshu Hokke), … which it explains in this fashion: the “fundamental Lotus Sūtra” indicates the primordial origin, prior to the advent and preaching of the Buddha; the various teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime, Hinayāna and Mahāyāna, true and provisional, are the “hidden and secret Lotus Sūtra”; and the Lotus Sūtra that represents the fifth period in the Buddha’s preaching life and integrates all earlier teachings is the “explicitly preached Lotus Sūtra.” Thus all truth, whether prior to words or formally articulated, and of whatever sūtra, is subsumed within “the Lotus Sūtra.” (Page 183)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism


Profound

Preparing the Buddha’s Audiences

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What is involved in saving beings is not only the metamorphoses of the Buddha’s own body in identifying with the body and mind of sentient beings, but also the transformation of his own land in identifying with the lands where beings live. Chih-i announces that the supra-mundane powers the Buddha applies are either coarse or subtle in the other three teachings (Tripiṭaka, Common and Separate) except for the ones in the Perfect Teaching in the Lotus Sūtra that are subtle only. The expedient powers the Buddha applies for the beings in the nine Dharma-realms are coarse, except for the ones that are for the beings in the Buddha Dharma-realm; whether pure or filthy, wide or narrow, all the latter powers are subtle, since they are the real and true spiritual powers.

The above is the description of the Subtlety of Supra-mundane Powers. The Buddha’s use of supra-mundane powers is the second step in teaching and transforming others. This is because the Buddha’s teaching is so profound that only supra-mundane powers can shock and awaken beings and can be the means of preparing audiences and enabling them to hear and accept the teaching. (Vol. 2, Page 278)

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


LS32

Day 5

Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Day 5 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month heard why Śāriputra felt like dancing with joy, we repeat in gāthās.

Thereupon Śāriputra, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

Hearing this truthful voice,
I have the greatest joy
That I have ever had.
I have removed all the mesh of doubts.

You have taught us the Great Vehicle without a break from of old.
Your voice is rare to hear.
It dispels the sufferings of all living beings.
I once eliminated āsravas.
Hearing this voice of yours,
I have now removed all sorrows.

I walked about mountains and valleys,
Or sat under a tree in a forest, thinking this over.
I reproached myself with a deep sigh:
“Why was I deceived?
We also are sons of the Buddha
[Just as the Bodhisattvas are].
We entered the same [ world]
[Of the] Dharma-without-āsravas.
But we shall not be able to expound
Unsurpassed enlightenment in the future.
We are in the same [ world of the] Dharma.
But we shall not be given
The golden body with the thirty-two marks,
The ten powers, and the emancipations [of the Buddha].
We are deprived of the hope
To have the eighty wonderful marks,
The eighteen unique properties
And the other merits [of the Buddha].”

[Sitting] in the midst of the great multitude,
You benefited all living beings.
Your fame extended over the worlds of the ten quarters.
When I was walking alone,
I saw all this, and thought:
“I am not given this benefit. I have been deceived.”

I thought this over day and night,
And wished to ask you,
“Am I disqualified
[From having this benefit] or not?”

I always saw you praising the Bodhisattvas.
Therefore, I thought this over day and night.
Now hearing from you,
I understand that you expound the Dharma
According to the capacities of all living beings.
You lead all living beings
To the place of enlightenment
By the Dharma-without-āsravas, difficult to understand.

I once was attached to wrong views,
And became a teacher of the aspirants for the teaching of Brahman.
You expounded to me the teaching of Nirvāṇa,
And removed my wrong views because you understood me.
I gave up all those wrong views,
And attained the truth that nothing is substantial.

At that time I thought
That I had attained extinction.’
But now I know
That the extinction I attained is not the true one.
When I become a Buddha in the future,
I shall be adorned with the thirty-two marks,
And respected
By gods, men, yakṣas, and dragons.
Only then I shall be able to say
That I have eliminated all [illusions].

The Introduction to the Lotus Sūtra offers this about feeling like dancing:

Sariputra, who felt like dancing with joy stood up, pressed his palms together, looked up at the honorable face, and said to the Buddha, “Hearing this truthful voice of yours, I feel like dancing with joy. I have never felt like this before” (p. 51).

Why was he so delighted? He explains that previously, as one of the “hearers,” he had been satisfied with his accomplishments, but couldn’t help feeling that he was still missing something. Now at last he understood what had been bothering him, and realized that he was truly a child of the Buddha.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra