[Nichiren’s] disciples went into temples and monasteries where their adversaries were preaching or giving lectures and entered into hot debates with them, crying: “Be converted to the right faith, or convince me and I will surrender to your standpoint.” In this respect the Nichirenites revived the method of the Indian fighter Arya-deva, and like him offered even their own lives if defeated in the debate. This fierce side of the “repressive propaganda” was, however, supplemented by the “persuasive way” of meek admonition and kind counsel.
History of Japanese ReligionMonthly Archives: February 2019
The True Mahāyāna Teaching Of The Lotus Sūtra
Śākyamuni Buddha’s last words state that it is not non-Buddhist religions but Buddhists themselves that will destroy Buddhism, just as an insect living inside the body of a lion will eat up its flesh. In fact, some Buddhists destroy Mahāyāna teachings through Hinayana teachings while others extinguish the true Mahāyāna teachings by the provisional Mahāyāna teachings. These people, however, cannot exterminate the true Mahāyāna teaching of the Lotus Sūtra just as non-Buddhist religions cannot destroy Buddhism.
Hōmon Mōsaru-beki-yō no Koto, The Way to Refute the Evil Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Desciples, Volume 5, Page 150
Daily Dharma – Feb. 15, 2019
Enemies find it difficult to attack when two people are together. Therefore, do not keep your brothers at a distance even for a brief period, regardless of what faults they may have; always be close to them. Whenever you get angry, it is clearly written on your face. Please remember that at no time do gods or deities protect those who are short tempered. It is true that you are destined to become a Buddha, but isn’t it regrettable for you to get hurt, pleasing your enemy and causing us grief?
Nichiren wrote this passage in his “Emperor Shushun” Letter (Sushun Tennō Gosho) addressed to his disciple Shijō Kingo. Nichiren knew the temperament of this Samurai warrior, and gave him detailed instructions for how to navigate the political hazards he faced. No matter how vindictive his Lord Ema became, Nichiren reminded him to persist in leading Ema by the Buddha Dharma and to rely on those who kept the Lotus Sūtra with him. As a result, Kingo outlived both Ema and Nichiren himself and is well known as one of Nichiren’s first followers.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Demolishing the Trace Teachings
Nichiren elaborates (see earlier) in the following passage:
“When one arrives at the origin teaching, because [the view that the Buddha] first attained enlightenment [in this lifetime] is demolished, the fruits of the four teachings are demolished. The fruits of the four teachings being demolished, their causes are also demolished. The causes and effects of the ten realms of the pre-Lotus Sūtra and trace teachings being demolished, the cause and effect of the ten realms of the origin teaching are revealed. This is precisely the doctrine of original cause (hon ‘in) and original effect (honga). The nine realms are inherent in the beginningless Buddha realm; the Buddha realm inheres in the beginningless nine realms. This represents the true mutual inclusion of the ten realms, the hundred realms and thousand suchnesses, and the three thousand realms in one thought-moment.”
To unpack the rather technical language of this passage, the “four teachings” here represent those other than the Lotus Sūtra. Their “effects” refers to the attainment of Buddhahood, or to the Buddhas, represented in these teachings, and their “causes,” to the practices for attaining Buddhahood, or to those still in the stages of practice. In terms of the ten dharma realms, “cause” represents the nine realms, and “effect,” the Buddha realm. “Demolishing” the causes and effects of the pre-Lotus Sūtra teachings and the trace teaching of the Lotus Sūtra means to demolish linear views of practice and attainment, in which efforts are first made and then Buddhahood is realized as a later consequence. The origin teaching specifically, the “Fathoming the Lifespan” chapter with its revelation of the Buddha’s original enlightenment is here seen as opening a perspective in which cause (nine realms) and effect (Buddhahood) are present simultaneously. It is passages such as this that led Tamura Yoshirō to assert that Nichiren maintained the notion of original enlightenment in the depths of his mature thought. (Page 264-265)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismThe Gushing Spring
With regard to sūtra that means gushing spring (flan-Yungch ‘üan), Chih-i explains that the meaning “gushing spring” is a figure of speech, indicating that the meanings stemming from the teaching of the Four Siddhāntas are endless, and what flows out of the Buddha-dharma is inexhaustible. The gushing spring in terms of teaching refers to measureless meanings that flow out of one sentence in the Worldly Siddhānta. The gushing spring in terms of practice refers to measureless practices arouse by hearing the teaching of the Siddhānta for Each Person, and the teaching of the Siddhānta of Counteraction. These practices can lead one to enter the realm of wholesomeness and the Eightfold Correct Path. The gushing spring in terms of the doctrine refers to the one, by hearing the Supreme Truth, is able to understand that the principle is like empty space. The dharma as empty space cannot be conceptualized and permeates everywhere.
Chih-i adds that when these three aspects are scrutinized as the Dharmadoor, the teaching as the gushing spring refers to the eloquence of the dharma without obstruction; the practice as the gushing spring refers to the eloquence of phrases without obstruction; the doctrine as the gushing spring refers to the eloquence of the doctrine without obstruction. (Vol. 2, Page 392)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismDay 2
Chapter 1, Introductory (Conclusion).
Having last month considered the teaching of the last Sun-Moon-Light Buddha, we consider Sun-Moon-Light Buddha’s preaching of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.
“Maitreya, know this! There were two thousand million Bodhisattvas in that congregation. They wished to hear the Dharma. They were astonished at seeing the Buddha-worlds illumined by this ray of light. They wished to know why the Buddha was emitting this ray of light.
“At that time there was a Bodhisattva called Wonderful-Light. He had eight hundred disciples. Sun-Moon-Light Buddha emerged from his samādhi, and expounded the sūtra of the Great Vehicle to Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva and others without rising from his seat for sixty small kalpas. It was called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’ The hearers in the congregation also sat in the same place for sixty small kalpas, and their bodies and minds were motionless. They thought that they had heard the Buddha expounding the Dharma for only a mealtime. None of them felt tired in body or mind. Having completed the expounding of this sūtra at the end of the period of sixty small kalpas, Sun-Moon-Light Buddha said to the Brahmans, Maras, śramaṇas, brahmanas, gods, men, and asuras, ‘I shall enter into the Nirvāṇa-without-remainder at midnight tonight.’
In Nichiren’s writings he explains that the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra took place in three assemblies over the last eight years of the Buddha’s teaching. From that we have today 28 chapters in eight volumes.
Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī and the Venerable Ānanda used the daimoku of Myōhō Renge Kyō to indicate the entirety of the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra in three assemblies over the period of the last eight years of the Buddha’s teaching; and to indicate that this is what they meant the sutra begins with the words “Thus have I heard.”
Source
What would a teaching that required sixty small kalpas look like? Myōhō Renge Kyō, of course.
Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō
Three Categories Of People Who Slander Lotus Sūtra
Of the three categories of people [who slander the Lotus Sūtra], the first group of lay people who slander is easier to bear than the abusive words of the second group of crafty monks. The second group of monks is easier to bear than the third group of pretentious high priests living in great monasteries. These three categories consist of monks who are attached to provisional sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra in the world today, monks attached solely to the Zen meditation believing in the false concept that Buddhahood preached in sūtras and commentaries cannot be expressed by words or letters, and lay people who support such monks. They do not understand the difference between the provisional sūtras preached by the Buddha during the pre-Lotus period of 40 years or so and the True Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, they do not realize the difference in meaning between such phrases in the pre-Lotus provisional Sūtras as “no difference among the mind, a Buddha, and the people;” “mind as a Buddha;” and “will be reborn in the Pure Land to the West,” and similar-sounding phrases in the Lotus Sūtra like “all phenomena as ultimate reality;” and “will be reborn in the World of Happiness of the Buddha of Infinite Life.” Or, upon seeing such passages in various sūtras as “The truth lies beyond language,” and “It is found where the mind is extinguished,” they will embrace an evil thought that the holy scriptures of the Buddha do not reveal His true Enlightenment. As a result, devils get hold of these three categories of people, mislead the people in the Latter Age of Degeneration, and even destroy the country. Therefore, it is stated in the “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “In the evil world in the muddy kalpa, there will be many things to fear. Evil demons will take possession of people and cause them to slander and insult the practicers of the Lotus Sūtra. (…) Evil monks in the defiled world will not know the expedient dharmas preached by the Buddha as a means of guiding the people.” These scriptural passages mean that monks in this world of corruption and defilement do not know the teaching they embrace is the teaching the Buddha preached as an expedient means to guide the people, and thus they do not know the difference between the expedient and true teachings. When a person appears who knows the difference, they will abuse and persecute him. According to these passages, this is solely because they do not realize that evil demons have taken possession of them. Thus, what the people in the Latter Age of Degeneration should be afraid of are not swords and sticks, tigers and wolves, or the ten evil acts and the five rebellious sins but these monks who wear Buddhist robes and pretend to be high priests without knowing the teaching and those people who regard monks of provisional teachings as venerable and hate the practicers of the True Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra.
Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō, Treastise on Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 10-11
Daily Dharma – Feb. 14, 2019
If you wish to obtain quickly the knowledge
Of the equality and differences of all things,
Keep this sūtra, and also make offerings
To the keeper of this sūtra!
The Buddha sings these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva at the beginning of Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. When we see things for what they are, how they are similar and how they are different, we see them with the eyes of the Buddha. This Wonderful Dharma in the Lotus Sūtra is the Buddha showing us how to open our eyes to the joys and wonders that exist in this world of conflict and suffering. When we find something valuable, we offer it our time, our thoughts and our devotion. By making offerings to this Wonderful Dharma, and to all those who keep it, our eyes open even more to the truth of our lives.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Nichiren’s Shift of Textual Grounding for Ichinen Sanzen
In a letter to a follower Nichiren wrote:
“There are two methods of contemplating the three thousand realms in one thought-moment. One is that of principle (ri), and the other that of actuality (ji). In the time of T’ien-t’ai [Chih-i] and Dengyo [Saichō], that of principle was appropriate. Now is the time for that of actuality. Because this [form of] contemplation is superior, the great ordeals [attending its propagation] are also more severe. One [i.e., that of principle] is ichinen sanzen of the trace teaching (shakumon), while the other is ichinen sanzen of the origin teaching (honmon). They differ, differ vastly, like heaven and earth.”
“Now” is of course the Final Dharma age: Nichiren’s “three thousand realms in one thought-moment” represents teaching and practice expressly for the time of Mappō. But what exactly is the “vast difference” he claims between his teaching of ichinen sanzen and that of the earlier T’ient’ai/Tendai masters?
First of all, the passage just cited alludes to a difference in textual locus. … Chih-i derived the concept of the three thousand realms in one thought-moment from the trace teaching or first fourteen chapters of the Lotus Sūtra; it represents his attempt to conceptualize the “true aspect of the dharmas” (shohō jissō) referred to in the “Skillful Means” chapter. For Nichiren, however, this doctrine “is found only in the origin teaching of the Lotus Sūtra, hidden in the depths of the text of the ‘Fathoming the Lifespan’ chapter.” This shift of textual grounding for the ichinen sanzen doctrine is related to the larger context of medieval Tendai thought, which … saw the latter part of the sūtra as superior to the former in its revelation of nonlinear, original enlightenment. (Page 264)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismTying Teaching, Practice and Doctrine Together
With regard to sūtra that means garlands being tied together (flan Chieh-man), Chih-i elucidates that to tie teaching, practice and doctrine together is like garlands being tied together to prevent them from scattering. The Four Siddhāntas function to tie up either teaching, or practice, or doctrine, which accomplish the three wheels of the Buddha respectively (for Chih-i regards the verbal turning wheel as indicating teaching, body-wheel as indicating practice, and the wheel of knowing the mind of others as indicating doctrine). (Vol. 2, Page 392)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism