Monthly Archives: April 2019

Profound

Destroying the Three and Revealing the One

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Summarizing generally the ten functions with the Four Siddhāntas displays that each of the ten functions in the Traces contains the Four Siddhāntas. The case is scrutinized by Chih-i with an example of the function, “destroying the three and revealing the one.” Chih-i explains in what sense this function contains the meaning of the Four Siddhāntas.

  1. The Worldly Siddhānta is indicated by destroying attachment to the Three Vehicles and eradicating sickness, whereby one joyfully upholds the teaching of the Buddha concerning the One Buddha-vehicle.
  2. The Siddhānta for Each Person is indicated by destroying the Three Vehicles and following the One Buddha-vehicle, whereby one’s mind for enlightenment arises, and one’s understanding of truth as the wholesome dharma enhances.
  3. The Siddhānta of Counteraction is indicated by the Buddha’s teaching stating that being attached to the Three Vehicles is sickness, and by the Buddha’s explanation that striving for the One Buddha-vehicle is joy.
  4. The Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth is indicated by one’s gaining insight into the principle as the One Buddha-vehicle upon hearing the teaching in terms of destroying the Three Vehicles.
LS32

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 greeted the arrival of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, we learn what one needs to do to hear the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Day.

World-Honored One! Tell me how the good men or women who live after your extinction will be able to obtain this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma!”

The Buddha said to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva:

“The good men or women will be able to obtain this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma after my extinction if they do the following four things: 1. secure the protection of the Buddhas, 2. plant the roots of virtue, 3. reach the stage of steadiness [in proceeding to enlightenment], and 4. resolve to save all living beings. The good men or women will be able to obtain this sūtra after my extinction if they do these four things.”

The Daily Dharma from Nov. 8, 2018, offers this:

The Buddha said to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva: “The good men or women will be able to obtain this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma after my extinction if they do the following four things: (1) secure the protection of the Buddhas, (2) plant the roots of virtue, (3) reach the stage of steadiness [in proceeding to enlightenment], and (4) resolve to save all living beings. The good men or women will be able to obtain this sūtra after my extinction if they do these four things.”

For us who aspire to this difficult practice of the Wonderful Dharma, the Buddha gives this guide in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. For us to have even heard of this sūtra in this life we must have already done these four things. In order to maintain this practice, we need to use the Buddha’s protection for the benefit of all beings, not just for our benefit alone. We need to nourish the virtuous seeds we have already planted, remain steady and confident on the path to enlightenment, and sustain our determination to maintain our respect for everyone.

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

Lotus Path

Listening to Buddha Radio

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When it comes to your personal inner radio station, I wonder what you tune in to. Do you tune in to messages of failure, or tapes playing inside your head saying you can’t do something, or you’re not worthy? Do you have a station preset to uncertainty or doubt?

How easy it it for you to find the Buddha’s station? Let’s all sing songs of great praise and joy as we calmly overcome our troubles.

Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1

d14b, WONS

The Merit of Helping the Practicer of the Lotus Sūtra

Two boys named Tokushō and Mushō donated “rice cakes” made of sand to Śākyamuni Buddha, who was practicing “begging for alms.” Upon their death they were reborn as Emperor who governed one-third of the Jambudvīpa according to the Buddha Dharma. Bodhisattva Māṇava attained Buddhahood as merit for offering five stems of lotus flowers to Burning Light Buddha. He is none other than Śākyamuni Buddha.

It is preached in the “Teacher of the Dharma” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 4, “If a person who seeks the Buddha Dharma presses his palms together in My presence and extols Me with numerous verses of praise for as long as a kalpa (aeon), he will gain innumerable merits because of these praises of the Buddha. If he praises the upholder of this sūtra, his good fortune will be even greater.” This means that the merit of helping the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, who is given the cold shoulder by the people in the Latter Age of Degeneration, is greater than giving offerings to the Buddha for aeons.

If you are wondering who would have said such an outrageous thing, it was stated by our Lord Preacher Śākyamuni Buddha Himself. It is up to you whether or not to believe this.

Ueno-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers II, Volume 7, Page 3-4

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – April 17, 2019

Some children of mine are pure in heart, gentle and wise.
They have practiced the profound and wonderful teachings
Under innumerable Buddhas
[In their previous existence].
I will expound this sūtra of the Great Vehicle to them,
And assure them of their future Buddhahood, saying:
“You will attain the enlightenment of the Buddha
In your future lives.”

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. In the difficulties we face in this world of conflict and attachment, we can lose sight of our purpose to benefit all beings and try to avoid whatever is uncomfortable. When we hear the Buddha assure us of our inherent wisdom, and that our capacity to benefit others will continue to grow despite any obstacles we find, we learn to persevere through misfortunes, and increase our determination to lead all beings to enlightenment.

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

Profound

The One Buddha-Vehicle Embraces All Entities

The ten functions in the Traces are summarized by Chih-i specifically and generally. Summarizing specifically the ten functions with the Four Siddhāntas shows that the ten functions can be divided into four groups and each of these four groups of function corresponds to each of the Four Siddhāntas. …

In terms of the functions that can be summarized by the Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth, “abiding in the one and revealing the one,” and “abiding in neither the three nor the one and revealing the one” are said by Chih-i to correspond with the Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth. This is because these two functions reveal that truth concerns only the One Buddha-vehicle, and that the One Buddha-vehicle embraces all entities, with which there is no distinction between the Three Vehicles and the One Vehicle. Such a revelation of truth belongs to the Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth. (Vol. 2, Page 449-450)

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 begun the tale of a Buddha called Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom, we consider the reaction of Pure Eyes and Pure Store to hearing the Lotus Sūtra and their mother’s instruction.

“Thereupon that Buddha expounded the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, wishing to lead King Wonderful-Adornment also out of his compassion towards all living beings. The two sons, Pure-Store and Pure-Eyes, came to their mother, joined their ten fingers and palms together, and said, ‘Mother! Go to Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha! We also will go to attend on him, approach him, make offerings to him, and bow to him because he is expounding the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to all gods and men. Hear and receive [the sūtra]!’

“The mother said to them, ‘[Yes, I will. But] your father believes in heresy. He is deeply attached to the teachings of brahmanas. Go and tell him to allow us to go [to that Buddha]! ‘

“Pure-Store and Pure-Eyes joined their ten fingers and palms together, and said to their mother, ‘We were born in this family attached to wrong views although we are sons of the King of the Dharma.’

“The mother said to them, ‘Show some wonders to your father out of your compassion towards him! If he sees [the wonders], he will have his mind purified and allow us to go to that Buddha.’

The Daily Dharma from June 26, 2018, offers this:

The mother said to them, ‘Show some wonders to your father out of your compassion towards him! If he sees [the wonders], he will have his mind purified and allow us to go to that Buddha.’

These lines are from a story told by the Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. The two sons of King Wonderful-Adornment have asked their mother for permission to leave home and follow the Buddha Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom. The wonders in the story are beyond the capacity of human beings, but they show the King that another way of living is possible, and induce him to seek the teaching of that Buddha. Even if we cannot develop supernatural powers, there are wonders we can develop in our practice. We can learn the value of respecting all beings. We can control our desires and not be devastated by life’s tragedies. We can share “even a word or phrase,” as Nichiren put it, of the teaching and bring great benefit to others. In our normal lives, changed by our practice, we too can purify the minds of others.

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

WONS

Principal and Dependent Rewards

All the worlds throughout the universe, therefore, are the dependent reward while all living beings are the principal reward. The dependent reward is like the shadow of the principal reward. As there is no shadow without a substance, there is no dependent reward without the principal reward. However, the principal reward is also created by the dependent reward. We should know that the eyes are created by the east, the tongue by the south, the nose by the north, the body by the four directions, and the mind by the center. Accordingly, when the five sense organs of a living being are about to be destroyed, it is inevitable that the earth in four directions or in the center trembles. In other words, when a country is about to be destroyed, there will inevitably be such omens as the crumbling of mountains, death of plants, and the drying up of rivers.

Zuisō Gosho, Writing on Omens, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 121

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – April 16, 2019

Expound the Dharma, reveal the Dharma,
And cause us to obtain that wisdom!
If we attain Buddhahood,
Others also will do the same.

These verses are sung by the sixteen children of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha in a story told by the Buddha in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. When the children learned of their father becoming enlightened, they gave up their toys and preoccupations and begged that Buddha to teach them. With this declaration they showed their father that they were ready to receive his wisdom and set off on the path to their own enlightenment.

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

Profound

Catering to the Intellectual Capabilities of Living Beings

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I. The ten functions in the Traces are summarized by Chih-i specifically and generally. Summarizing specifically the ten functions with the Four Siddhāntas shows that the ten functions can be divided into four groups and each of these four groups of function corresponds to each of the Four Siddhāntas. …

In terms of the functions that can be summarized by the Worldly Siddhānta, “abiding in the three and revealing the one,” and “abiding in the one and employing the three” are said by Chih-i to correspond with the Worldly Siddhānta. This is because by abiding at the Three Vehicles and by employing the Three Vehicles, the Buddha caters to the intellectual capabilities of living beings. Complying with the needs of beings in teaching various vehicles belongs the Worldly Siddhānta. (Vol. 2, Page 449)

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