Having begun last month with the explanation of the practice of the great Bodhisattvas, I want to conclude the great-being bodhisattvas wondrous power to do beneficial works.
These are the true companions of good influence for all living beings. These are bountiful spheres of kindness for all living beings. These are the spontaneous teachers of all living beings. These are centers of joyful tranquility, places of deliverance, shelters for protection, and great havens of reliability for all living beings. As such, they serve everywhere as extraordinary guides who are of benefit to all—capable of acting as eyes for those who do not see, as ears for those who do not hear, as a nose for those with no sense of smell, as a tongue for those who do not speak. They are able to make deficient faculties become whole, and to turn contrariness, unbalance, frenzy, and confusion into complete right mindfulness. They are the shipmasters and great captains that ferry living beings across the river of birth and death, landing them on nirvana ‘s shore. They are the greatest physicians and master doctors who distinguish the aspects of illnesses, know well the properties of medicines, offer remedies appropriate to an affliction, and have beings trustingly take them. They are directors and master directors who never lose control—like tamers of elephants or horses who are capable of training without fail. They are like valiant lions whose unconquerable majesty invites respect from all other beasts. Comfortably progressing in all bodhisattva practices of perfection, steadfast and immovable in the Tathāgata realm, serenely abiding in the strength of their resolve, and refining buddha lands far and wide, they will realize and achieve the full dynamic of ultimate enlightenment before long. All such great-being bodhisattvas possess this kind of wondrous power to do beneficial works.
For me, Buddhism is bodhisattva practice. As the translators note in their introduction:
While the Lotus Sutra is never mentioned by name in this text, the Infinite Meanings Sutra, like the Lotus, is a strong proponent of the concept of bodhisattva practice. In his discourse in the sutra, the Buddha emphasizes that leading others to the Way is a prime factor in attaining ultimate enlightenment, and that the teaching of the sutra itself is infinite in its meanings because it relates to the unlimited desires of living beings.
I have not read past the Author’s Introduction for Two Buddhas Seated Side by Side. I’m looking forward to reading this chapter-by-chapter introduction to the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren’s interpretation as part of my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra.
Two Buddhas is written by Jacqueline I. Stone, Emeriti Faculty in the Department of Religion at Princeton University, and Donald S. Lopez Jr., the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies in the University of Michigan’s Department of Asian Languages and Cultures.
Lopez, however, is more of a mystery to me. His academic focus is Tibetan Buddhism, and his University of Michigan biography does not mention the Lotus Sutra. Lopez’s lack of specialization in the Lotus Sutra is underscored by his book The Lotus Sutra A Biography, which I read back in February.
Maybe when I finish Two Buddhas I will better appreciate why Lopez gets top billing here. For now, I want to revisit his Biography of the Lotus Sutra and address two points that cause me to be wary of his influence in Two Buddhas.
First, his opening introduction to Biography:
It must have been the spring of 1972. I was in my sophomore year at the University of Virginia. A friend told me that his roommate had invited a Buddhist teacher to come over from Richmond to give a talk at their apartment in town. I decided to go along. I knew nothing about Buddhism. I was taking a course on Hinduism at the time and understood that Buddhism was somehow like Hinduism. In those days, people still used phrases such as “Oriental philosophy” and “Eastern mysticism” to subsume the various religious traditions of Asia in a single category. When I arrived at my friend’s apartment that night, I was surprised to find that the Buddhist teacher was a white guy, a distinctively unhip white guy. He looked like Matt Foley, the motivational speaker played by Chris Farley on Saturday Night Live. He was dressed in a plaid sport coat, with a white shirt and narrow tie. He wore glasses, and he had short, thinning hair, greased back. He was relatively tall, heavyset, probably in his early fifties. A short Japanese woman was with him, apparently his wife. He gave a brief talk, which I cannot remember. I noticed that in the corner of the room, there was a wooden cabinet sitting on a coffee table. It was about two feet tall. He opened two little doors, and there was a small statue of the Buddha inside. To my amazement, the man got down on his knees, joined his palms together, and started chanting something. We were all supposed to chant along with him. I did not know what it meant or even what language it was.
Later, tea and cookies were served. A guy walked up to me; he was probably in his mid-twenties, someone who had come over from Richmond. He was dressed in the standard uniform of the day, a blue work shirt and bell-bottom jeans. He started telling me about the wonders of chanting. He said, “I was walking down the street the other day, chanting to myself. I happened to look down at the sidewalk, and—I don’t know whether you’re into this, man—I found an ounce of hash.” (Only years later did I learn that Chapter Five of the Lotus Sūtra is called “Medicinal Herbs.”)
The white guy in the sport coat was the first Buddhist I ever met. I guess I was expecting something more exotic, perhaps a shaved head and long robes. I didn’t know that a Buddhist could look like Willy Loman, carrying in his cases a cabinet with a Buddha inside. I now know that the incomprehensible words that he was chanting were Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, Japanese for “Homage to the Lotus Sūtra.” Millions of Americans would hear Tina Turner chant the phrase on Larry King Live on February 21, 1997.
Lopez is about six months younger than me, according to his university biography. In the Spring of 1972, I was floating in the Gulf of Tonkin aboard the USS Midway, working 7 at night to 7 in the morning in maintenance administration for an F-4 fighter squadron. We both had to decide what to do about the Vietnam War draft. I admit that’s more a curiosity and not germane, but for me it’s a filter that colors my view of what he says.
Anyway, Lopez makes clear he believes he was at a meeting of Nichiren followers, most likely an early Nichiren Shoshu of America propagation effort long before the days of an independent Soka Gakkai International. I make this assumption because, as far as I know, no one else was propagating the teachings of Nichiren in such a way at that time in America.
But if this was a Nichiren Shoshu – or any other Nichiren sect – meeting, that wooden cabinet on a coffee table would not have contained a “small statue of the Buddha inside.” Nichiren Shoshu does not allow any statues, even ones of Nichiren, on altars and certainly not in home shrines. For Nichiren Shu, a solitary Buddha is not an object of worship because it is important to ensure that people understand that this treasure is the eternal Śākyamuni as revealed in the 16th Chapter of the Lotus Sutra. Two Buddhas seated side by side with the Daimoku between is one example of how Śākyamuni can be represented in temples and home shrines. Is this “small Buddha” a case of Lopez’s Tibetan studies bleeding into the dim recollection of a meeting during his sophomore year at the University of Virginia?
Beyond that, Lopez’s use of the tale of the guy who found some hash on the sidewalk and took it as a reward for his practice of chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō underscores everything wrong with the Nichiren Shoshu/Soka Gakkai focus on using the Daimoku as a wish-granting gem. Lopez’s reference to Chapter 5 of the Lotus Sutra, “Medicinal Herbs,” in this context is an unwanted effort at humor.
My other complaint with Lopez’s Biography of the Lotus Sutra was his use of a tale he said came from the Dainihonkoku hokekyōkenki. He retells this story:
In one story, a monk memorizes the first twenty-five chapters of the Lotus but, despite repeated efforts, is unable to memorize the final three. He eventually learns in a dream that in a previous life he had been a grasshopper who perched in a temple room where a monk was reciting the sūtra. After reciting the first seven scrolls of the sūtra (which contain the first twenty-five chapters), the monk rested before beginning the final roll. He leaned against the wall and inadvertently killed the grasshopper. The grasshopper was reborn as a human as a result of the merit he received from hearing the first twenty-five chapters of the Lotus. When he became a monk, however, he was unable to memorize the final three chapters because he, as the grasshopper, had died before he heard them. (Page 79-80)
I want to thank Lopez for mentioning this book. I purchased the English translation of the Miraculous Tales of the Lotus Sutra from Ancient Japan and used its tales of the Lotus Sutra in my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra practice. I was so impressed with the tale of the monk who in a past life was a grasshopper that I purchased a framed photo of a grasshopper on a lotus flower.
But there is no story of a monk who was a grasshopper in a past life anywhere in the Dainihonkoku hokekyōkenki translation. I purchased Nihon ryōiki, which contains a collection of stories gathered by a monk named Kyōkai, thinking perhaps the earlier stories included the grasshopper monk. Still no story.
In the end, I’m wary of Lopez’s influence on Two Buddhas Seated Side by Side, but I’m excited about the opportunity to use this book in my daily practice.
For someone who only reads English, the value of this opportunity to read, recite and study the Lotus Sutra cannot be explained by any calculation, parable or simile.
In my 46th and 47th cycles through the Lotus Sutra, I’m setting aside Gene Reeves translation, and picking up the BDK English Tripitaka translation of The Infinite Meanings Sutra, the Lotus Sutra and The Sutra Expounded by the Buddha on Practice of the Way through Contemplation of the Bodhisattva All-embracing Goodness.
I’m using this translation of these sutras because that’s the translation favored in Two Buddhas Seated Side by Side by Donald S. Lopez Jr. and Jacqueline I. Stone.
The Authors’ Introduction, explains the choice of texts:
All quotations from the Lotus Sūtra are taken from the translation done by Tsugunari Kubo and Akira Yuyama. See The Lotus Sūtra, rev. 2nd ed., trans. by Tsugunari Kubo and Akira Yuyama, BDK English Tripitaka Series (Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2007). For the reader’s convenience, we have provided in-text page references to this translation after each quotation. Please note that the pagination of the printed version of the text (used here) differs from the pagination of the version presently available online.
Kubo and Yuyama based their translation on the celebrated Chinese version of the sūtra produced by the Central Asian scholar-monk Kumārajīva in 406. In several places, however, they chose not to follow traditional Sino-Japanese interpretation but have instead consulted the Sanskrit and, in a few instances, the Tibetan versions of the Lotus (see their “Translators’ Introduction,” xiv). One way in which their English version departs from Kumārajīva’s Chinese lies in the handling of proper names. Where Kumārajīva translated many names of figures appearing in the Lotus Sūtra, Kubo and Yuyama give them in the original Sanskrit. We have followed suit, not to give primacy to the Sanskrit text, but for consistency with the Kubo-Yuyama translation. However, some of the longer Sanskrit names can prove daunting to readers unfamiliar with that language. We have accordingly provided in parentheses with the first occurrence of such names the English rendering given by Leon Hurvitz in his translation of the Lotus Sūtra: Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma (the Lotus Sūtra), published by Columbia University Press (1976; rev. 2009), or a translation of our own.
The opening and closing sutras are included in the BDK English Tripitaka Tiantai Lotus Texts, which also includes The Commentary on the Lotus Sutra by Vasubandhu and A Guide to the Tiantai Fourfold Teachings by the Buddhist Monk Ghegwan. A PDF copy of the book is available here.
An essential companion to a timeless spiritual classic
The Lotus Sūtra is among the most venerated scriptures of Buddhism. Composed in India some two millennia ago, it affirms the potential for all beings to attain supreme enlightenment. Donald Lopez and Jacqueline Stone provide an essential reading companion to this inspiring yet enigmatic masterpiece, explaining how it was understood by its compilers in India and, centuries later in medieval Japan, by one of its most influential proponents.
In this illuminating chapter-by-chapter guide, Lopez and Stone show how the sūtra’s anonymous authors skillfully reframed the mainstream Buddhist tradition in light of a new vision of the path and the person of the Buddha himself, and examine how the sūtra’s metaphors, parables, and other literary devices worked to legitimate that vision. They go on to explore how the Lotus was interpreted by the Japanese Buddhist master Nichiren (1222–1282), whose inspired reading of the book helped to redefine modern Buddhism. In doing so, Lopez and Stone demonstrate how readers of sacred works continually reinterpret them in light of their own unique circumstances.
An invaluable guide to an incomparable spiritual classic, this book unlocks the teachings of the Lotus for modern readers while providing insights into the central importance of commentary as the vehicle by which ancient writings are given contemporary meaning.
Saichō believed that Japanese Buddhism was at a crucial point in its history. The Buddha’s ultimate teaching, the One-vehicle doctrine of the Lotus Sūtra had just been recognized by the Japanese court with the allocation of Tendai yearly ordinands by Emperor Kanmu. If this teaching was to flourish it had to be further encouraged. The Fan wang precepts played a key part in Saichō’s defense of the Tendai School. Second, Japanese Buddhism had traditionally been patronized by the court, and in turn, had performed ceremonies to protect the nation and court. Saichō redefined Nara state Buddhism by establishing the autonomy of the Tendai School and increasing the number of people to whom Buddhism appealed. The Fan wang precepts played a significant role in Saichō’s efforts to reform church-state relations.
[P]reaching the sixteenth chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha declared, “All the gods, men, and asura demons believe that this Śākyamuni Buddha was the one who had left the palace of the Śākya clan and sat in meditation under the bodhi tree not far from the town of Gayā and attained perfect enlightenment.” This declaration in the Lotus Sūtra represents what all the great bodhisattvas had in mind while listening to the sūtras starting with the Flower Garland at the Hall of Enlightenment to the fourteenth “Peaceful Practices” chapter of the Lotus. “To speak the truth, good men,” continued the Buddha, “it has been countless aeons (numerous hundreds, ten thousands, 100 millions, nayuta of kalpa) since I obtained Buddhahood.”
Thus with one stroke He denied as untrue all His previous statements such as “obtaining the first enlightenment” said three times in the Flower Garland Sūtra, “the first enlightenment” in the Āgama sūtras, “the first meditation under the bodhi tree” in the Vimalakirti Sūtra, “sixteen years after the first enlightenment” in the Sūtra of the Great Assembly, “I once sat in meditation at the place of practice in Buddhagayā” in the Great Sun Buddha Sūtra, “for twenty-nine years since His enlightenment” in the Sūtra of the Benevolent King, “I once meditated under the bodhi tree in the place of enlightenment for six years” stated in the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning, and “At first I sat at the place of enlightenment, gazed on the tree, and walked about it meditating” in the “Expedients” (second) chapter of the Lotus Sūtra.
Thus it was revealed that Śākyamuni had long been the Buddha since the eternal past, and it became clear that various Buddhas were all manifestations (funjin) of Śākyamuni Buddha. In the pre-Lotus sūtras, as well as in the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra, various Buddhas and Śākyamuni Buddha were on the same level, each practiced Buddhism on their own. Therefore, those who considered various Buddhas to be their Most Venerable One did not worship Śākyamuni. Now, however, as Śākyamuni proved to be the Eternal Buddha, those Buddhas on the lotus petals in the Flower Garland Sūtra, or Buddhas in the Hōdō sūtras, Wisdom and Great Sun Buddha Sūtras all became subordinates of Śākyamuni Buddha.
Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 74
I see that all living beings are burned by the fires of birth, old age, disease, death, grief, sorrow, suffering and lamentation. They undergo various sufferings because they have the five desires and the desire for gain…Notwithstanding all this, however, they are playing joyfully. They are not conscious of the sufferings. They are not frightened at the sufferings or afraid of them. They do not dislike them or try to get rid of them. They are running about this burning house of the triple world, and do not mind even when they undergo great sufferings.
The Buddha offers this explanation to his disciple Śāriputra in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. He compares his teaching of suffering and Nirvāṇa to a father luring his children from a dangerous house with a promise of better toys. The children were so preoccupied with their own entertainment that they could not hear their father’s warning. In this triple world of beautiful forms, fascinating ideas and consuming desires, it is easy to stay with our childish games and ignore the Buddha’s teaching. Our maturity as Bodhisattvas comes when we set these aside for the benefit of all beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Having competed my 45th cycle through the Lotus Sutra, it is again time to consider The Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva. Today, it is appropriate to show how, early on, the link between this sutra and the Lotus Sutra is maintained.
The Buddha said to Ananda: “Listen carefully! Listen carefully!
Consider what I am about to say and remember it well! Long ago, on Holy Eagle Peak and in other places, the Tathagata has already thoroughly explained the way of one truth. But now in this place, for all living beings and others in the future who want to practice the unsurpassable Dharma of the Great Vehicle, and for those who want to learn the practice of Universal Sage and to follow the practice of Universal Sage, I will now teach this method of contemplation. For all those who are able to see Universal Sage, as well as for those who do not see him, I will now explain in detail how to eliminate evils.(Reeves, p401-402)
The Kan-fugen-bosatsu-gyobo-kyo (“The Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal-Sage”) was also translated later than the Lotus Sutra and not by Kumarajiva. It was apparently intended to be a continuation of the last chapter of the Lotus Sutra. This sutra carries Jojakko or “Eternally Tranquil Light” as the name of the world of Sakyamuni Buddha. We say that the world of Sakyamuni Buddha is called Jakko-jodo (“the Pure World of Tranquil Light”). The word Jakko is given only in this sutra, and in no other sutras. The setup of this triple sutra: The Muryogikyo as the opening sutra, the Myoho-renge-kyo, and the Kan-fugen-gyo as the closing sutra, had been established long before the time of Nichiren. Nichiren sometimes called them Hokekyo Jikkan or the “Ten Volumes of the Lotus Sutra”, but he usually used the expression: Hokekyo Ichibu Hachikan Niju Happon, which means “The Lotus Sutra, One Book, Eight Volumes, Twenty-eight Chapters.” We usually put the eight volumes of the Lotus Sutra in front of the statue of Nichiren. (Page 23-24)
When we begin our daily practice we are advised to clean our practice space. We should approach that just as the Buddha did when the congregation asked to see Many Treasures Buddha. We have approached our altar, our chance to sit before the great honzon presented to us in the Lotus Sutra, which Nichiren identified. We should prepare our space of worship the way the Buddha purified all the worlds. As we go about preparing our space we should call back our distracted thoughts, those emanations of ourselves. Put aside the need to check the cell phone, put aside the worry of email, and schedules, plans and schemes. Focus your mind completely on the one great event of being in the presence of the two Buddhas seated side by side, in the presence of the Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni.
Saichō was one of the first Buddhist monks in Japan to argue that certain of his teachings were better suited to the period of the decline of Buddhism than those of his opponents. He did not, however, use the advent of mappō as the primary factor in justifying his reforms as did some monks in the late Heian and Kamakura periods. For example, Saichō never argued that the Fan wang precepts should replace the Ssu fen lü precepts precisely because it was the Period of the End of the Dharma (mappō).
