Monthly Archives: March 2019

WONS

Three Learnings

The Common teaching is the beginning of the Mahāyāna teaching, and it preaches the Three Learnings: to observe the Buddhist precepts, to concentrate on meditation, and to gain wisdom. What is mainly taught in this teaching does not go beyond the Six Realms of the triple world. However, a few bodhisattvas with superior capacities may perceive the teachings beyond the Six Realms of the triple world by hearing the principle of the Common teaching. The śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha and bodhisattvas all learn the same teaching and eliminate the delusions in view and thought. In addition, some śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha may enter the state of turning the body to ashes and annihilating consciousness while others do not.

Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-I, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 73

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – March 17, 2019

His precepts out of his loving-kindness brace us up as thunderbolts.
His wishes out of his compassion are as wonderful as large clouds.
He pours the rain of the Dharma as sweet as nectar,
And extinguishes the fire of illusions.

The Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon, Kanzeon, Kuan Yin, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. This Bodhisattva is the embodiment of compassion. As we cultivate our own nature as Bodhisattvas, we find that the only thing that separates us from the happiness of others is our attachment and delusion. When we allow our compassion to grow, we come to see the world as it is.

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

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All Inclusiveness

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As we have seen, the five characters of the daimoku are said to contain all teachings and to encompass all phenomena. They also contain the merit of all the good practices of the Buddhas, such as the six Pāramitās, and the virtues of enlightenment in which they result. However, this is not the only sense in which the daimoku is claimed to be all-inclusive. By the logic of the single-practice position, being by definition the only practice a true devotee should uphold, the daimoku is also said to produce all possible benefits. Nichiren’s teaching assimilates to the daimoku all the goods that religion in medieval Japan was thought to provide. In his various writings, faith in the Lotus is said to offer the realization of Buddhahood in this body, healing and other worldly benefits, protection of the nation, repentance or expiation of sin (sange), and birth after death in a pure land. Similarly, Nichiren’s idea of the Buddha of the Lotus Sūtra encompasses all conceptions of the Buddha that were current in his day. Śākyamuni is “our blood and flesh,” “our bones and marrow.” But at the same time he is ruler of the world, compassionate parent, and wise teacher to all beings. Nichiren’s use of hongaku ideas is also assimilated to this polemic of the all-inclusiveness of the Lotus Sūtra. The Lotus is presented as the only sūtra to reveal that the enlightened state of the Buddha and the nine realms of deluded beings are mutually encompassing and originally inherent; this is what makes the Lotus uniquely true and superior. (Page 296)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism


Profound

The Coarse or Subtle Gist

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Chih-i emphasizes the superiority of the cause and effect that is stated in the Lotus Sūtra compared with that stated in other sūtras. The coarse or subtle gist is determined in terms of whether or not all Śrāvakas and bodhisattvas can enter one perfect cause of Buddhahood, and simultaneously attain realization as the ultimate effect of Buddhahood. The Lotus Sūtra is considered by Chih-i as subtle, since its cause is perfect and its effect is ultimate, which contains no expedience. Nevertheless, in view of all coarse or subtle causes and effects that can lead one to attain Buddhahood, all of them are subtle. The realization of such an absolute subtlety is through opening the coarseness and revealing the subtlety, by which all the coarse causes and effects in other sūtras are dissolved, and become subtle. (Vol. 2, Page 440)

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


LS32, WONS

Day 32

Day 32 covers Chapter 28, The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, closing the Eighth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 32 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month concluded Chapter 28, The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, we begin again with the arrival of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, who was famous for his virtues and supernatural powers without hindrance.

Thereupon Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, who was famous for his virtues and supernatural powers without hindrance, came from a world [in the distance of many worlds] to the east [of this Sahā-World]. He was accompanied by innumerable, uncountable great Bodhisattvas. All the worlds quaked as he passed through. [The gods] rained down jeweled lotus-flowers, and made many hundreds of thousands of billions of kinds of music. He was also surrounded by a great multitude of innumerable gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings. They reached Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa of the Sahā-World by their virtues and supernatural powers. [Universal-Sage Bodhisattva] worshiped [the feet of] Śākyamuni Buddha with his head, walked around the Buddha [from left] to right seven times and said to the Buddha:
“World-Honored One! I heard the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, which you expounded in this Sahā World, from a remote world in which lives Treasure-Power­Virtue-Superior-King Buddha. I came here with many hundreds of thousands of billions of Bodhisattvas in order to hear and receive [this Sūtra].

Nichiren discusses this chapter in his letter Response to My Lady Nichinyo:

The chapter “Encouragement of Universal Sage Bodhisattva” says that among many disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha, Kāśyapa and Ānanda waited on Him. They were like ministers attending both sides of a king. But this was the Buddha preaching sūtras of the Lesser Vehicle. Among many bodhisattvas, the Bodhiattva Universal Sage and the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī attended Śākyamuni Buddha, the Lord Teacher, like two ministers attending both sides of a king. During the last eight years of the life of Śākyamuni Buddha, in which He expounded the Lotus Sūtra, so many Buddhas and bodhisattvas, more than dust particles on the earth, gathered from ten quarters in the universe. But strangely, Bodhisattva Universal Sage, one of the attendants of Śākyamuni Buddha, was not found there.

However, when Śākyamuni Buddha was about to finish His preaching by expounding the chapter “Wonderful Adornment King,” Bodhisattva Universal Sage came late from the land of the Jeweled Dignity and Virtue Purity King Buddha, performing hundreds of thousands of pieces of music and accompanied by a countless number of eight kinds of gods and demi-gods. Concerned about the reaction of the Buddha toward his late arrival, the bodhisattva turned pale and obligingly vowed to protect the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration. Śākyamuni Buddha was pleased and told that it was his obligation to spread the Lotus Sūtra in the whole world. Śākyamuni Buddha thus praised Bodhisattva Universal Sage more cordially than his superiors.

Nichinyo Gozen Gohenji, Response to My Lady Nichinyo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 137-138

WONS

Leading People To The Lotus Sūtra

According to the second chapter on the “Expedients” of the Lotus Sūtra, Buddhas in the past, present and future are to preach provisional teachings first in order to lead people to the Lotus Sūtra, which is to be preached last. Accordingly, the order of preaching or the method of propagation are the same among Buddhas; it should thoroughly be similar to that of the Lotus Sūtra. This is why the teaching of the twentieth chapter on the “Never-Despising Bodhisattva” of the Lotus Sūtra preached in the days of Powerful Voice King Buddha is expounded by the present Śākyamuni Buddha in the thirteenth chapter on the “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra.” Likewise, the teaching of the present Śākyamuni Buddha in the 13th chapter will be preached in the days of future Buddhas as the 20th chapter expounded in the past, Buddhas demonstrating the example of propagating the True Dharma. Never-Despising Bodhisattva, mentioned in the 20th chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, gave guidance to the devotees as well as the slanderers without discrimination. He was sometimes struck with swords and sticks, or pieces of tiles and pebbles were thrown at him. When this chapter, “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra,” is preached in the future and respected as the chapter on “Never-Despising Bodhisattva” in the past, Nichiren will be looked up as the exemplary propagator of the True Dharma: Never-Despising Bodhisattva in the past.

Teradomari Gosho, A Letter from Teradomari, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 13

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – March 16, 2019

Rivers come together to form an ocean. Particles of dust accumulate to become Mt. Sumeru. When I, Nichiren, began having faith in the Lotus Sutra, it was like a drop of water or a particle of dust in Japan. However, when the sutra is chanted and transmitted to two, three, ten, a million and a billion people, it will grow to be a Mt. Sumeru of perfect enlightenment or the great ocean of Nirvāṇa. There is no way other than this to reach Buddhahood.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his essay on Selecting the Right Time (Senji-shō). In our quest for enlightenment, we may become discouraged by the enormity of our task. When we sweep away one delusion, another appears. When we benefit one being, the needs of millions more become clear. Nichiren reminds us persevering though these difficulties and strengthening our faith in the Buddha’s wisdom are more important than any outcome we seek.

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

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The Single Condition

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[I]n Nichiren’s thought, enlightenment, or salvation, depends not on multiple factors but on one condition only—faith in the Lotus Sūtra, which is inseparable from the chanting of the daimoku. Anyone who chants the daimoku, man or woman, cleric or lay person, foolish or wise, realizes enlightenment. Correspondingly, there is but one single error or evil that can obstruct this enlightenment: “slander of the Dharma,” or willful disbelief in the sūtra. To discard the Lotus Sūtra, Nichiren writes, “exceeds even the sin of killing one’s parents a thousand or ten thousand times, or of shedding the blood of the Buddhas in the ten directions.” The modality of Nichiren’s doctrine on this point appears at first absolutely either/or: “Disbelief is the cause of the icchantika and of slander of the Dharma, while faith is the cause of wisdom (prajn͂ā) and corresponds to the stage of verbal identity.” So powerful is faith in the Lotus that no worldly evil can ever counteract it and pull the practitioner down into the evil paths. Conversely, slander of the Lotus Sūtra is so great an evil that no accumulation of worldly good deeds can ever offset it or save one who commits it from the Avīci Hell. On a deeper level, however, the dichotomy is dissolved, for even to slander the Lotus Sūtra is to form a connection with it. Thus in Nichiren’s view, even if one’s practice of shakubuku should arouse the enmity of others and cause them to slander the Lotus Sūtra, because it nonetheless allows them to form a “reverse connection” with the sūtra, that is far preferable to their having no connection at all. Once the retribution of their slander is expiated, they will, by virtue of that connection, encounter the sūtra again and attain Buddhahood. (Page 295-296)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism


Profound

The Unique Cause and Effect of the Lotus Sūtra

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Chih-i addresses the cause and effect that are stated in all sūtras, which can be similar or different from that of the Lotus Sūtra. However, Chih-i stresses that the cause and effect of the Origin stated in the Lotus Sūtra is unique. In terms of the cause and effect in the door of the Traces, in other sūtras, the gist can either refer to the cause, or the effect, or the combination of both cause and effect. Chih-i explains that the reason the gist is different in various sūtras is because different sūtras are expounded for different listeners. In terms of the cause and effect in the door of the Origin, it is unique as it is only expounded in the Lotus Sūtra. Its uniqueness differentiates itself from other sūtras, in view of the fact that the cause and effect in other sūtras is relative and belongs to the door of the Traces. This indicates that the gist of the Lotus Sūtra that refers to the cause and effect of the Origin is not contained in other sūtras. (Vol. 2, Page 440)

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


LS32

Day 31

Day 31 covers Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva.

Day 31 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month concluded Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva, we begin again innumerable, inconceivable, asaṃkhya kalpas ago, in the realm of a Buddha called Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom.

Thereupon the Buddha said to the great multitude:
“Innumerable, inconceivable, asaṃkhya kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom, the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the Samyak-sambuddha. His world was called Light-Adornment; the kalpa in which he lived, Gladly-Seen. Under that Buddha lived a king called Wonderful-Adornment. His wife was called Pure-Virtue. They had two sons, Pure-Store and Pure-Eyes by name. The two sons had great supernatural powers, merits, virtues and wisdom. A long time ago, they had already practiced the Way which Bodhisattva should practice. They had already practiced the dana-pāramitā, the sita-pāramitā, the kṣānti-pāramitā, the vīrya-pāramitā, the dhyāna-pāramitā, the prajña-pāramitā, and the pāramitā of expediency. They also had already obtained the four states of mind towards all living beings:] compassion, loving-kindness, joy and impartiality. They also had already practiced the thirty-seven ways to enlightenment. They had done all this perfectly and clearly. They also had already obtained the samādhis of Bodhisattvas: that is, the samādhi for purity, the samādhi for the sun and the stars, the samādhi for pure light, the samādhi for pure form, the samādhi for pure brightness, the samādhi for permanent adornment, and the samādhi for the great treasury of powers and virtues. They had already practiced all these samādhis.

Nichiren uses this tale in discussing the plight of two Ikegami brothers, who were pitted against each other by their father in an effort to prompt them to abandon the Lotus Sūtra.

As you and your elder brother were born in the Latter Age of Degeneration in an outlying country and have faith in the Lotus Sūtra, I was sure that demons would possess the nation’s ruler or your parents and persecute you. But as I expected, despite your father disowning you repeatedly, you two brothers held onto your faith. Are you the reincarnation of Princes Pure Store and Pure Eyes, who led their father King Wonderful Adornment? Or is this through the discretion of Bodhisattva Medicine King and Bodhisattva Superior Practice [sic]? Your father’s disinheritance was revoked in the end and you were able to carry through with filial piety as before. Are you not filial sons in the truest sense of the word? I am sure the various heavenly beings are pleased, and the ten female rākṣasa demons, protectors of the Lotus Sūtra, accept your aspiration. Moreover, there is something heartfelt about you. When my doctrine spreads as widely as predicted in the Lotus Sūtra, I hope to share the joy with you.

Kōshi Gosho, A Letter to Filial Sons, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 103-104

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