We are first introduced to Buddhism, or we seek it out on our own, and we decide that we too would like to become enlightened. We may approach the problem in any number of different ways. It has been my experience that those people who make a determination to do something specific each day are the happiest. In Nichiren Shu, we suggest that every day we recite a portion of the Lotus Sutra and chant Odaimoku. The idea is that this gives a person some specific, attainable goal. The result is that over time, with the accumulation of these small daily goals, a person finds that their life situation changes. The transformation, the objective of enlightenment, is reached gradually and yet every step along the way is enlightenment.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1Monthly Archives: September 2019
Stages of Practice
Because in a later section, when speaking of the fourth stage of practice the suÌtra says, “Needless to say, anyone who not only keeps this suÌtra but also gives alms, observes the precepts, practices patience, makes endeavors, concentrates his mind, and seeks wisdom, will be able to obtain the most excellent and innumerable merits.” This passage from the suÌtra makes it clear that people in the first, second, and third stages of practice should refrain giving alms, observing the precepts, and the rest of the first five bodhisattva practices until they arrive at the fourth stage of practice and then they are allowed to begin practicing them. Therefore, if they are only allowed to practice them at this stage, we know that they should refrain from practicing them in the first stage.
Shishin Gohon-shoÌ, The Four Depths of Faith and Five Stages of Practice, Writings of Nichiren ShoÌnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 104
Daily Dharma – Sept. 14, 2019
Expound it to clever people
Who have profound wisdom,
Who hear much,
Who remember well,
And who seek
The enlightenment of the Buddha!
The Buddha sings these verses to all those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Three of the Lotus SÅ«tra. Much of this teaching is about how we see things as opposed to how certain we are of what we see. When we believe that those whom we wish to benefit are stupid, lazy and incompetent, then it surely will be difficult to help them. But when we realize the Buddha nature within all beings, then we can see them as wise and compassionate despite the obstacles they face.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 17
Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.
Having last month met the seer who agrees to teach the Dharma to the king, we learn of Devadatta’s role in a past life as the Buddha’s teacher.
The Buddha said to the bhiká¹£us:
âThe king at that time was a previous life of myself. The seer at that time was a previous life of Devadatta. Devadatta was my teacher. He caused me to complete the six pÄramitÄs. He caused me to have loving-kindness, compassion, joy and impartiality. He caused me to have the thirty-two major marks and the eighty minor marks [of the Buddha]. He caused me to have my body purely gilt. He caused me to have the ten powers and the four kinds of fearlessness. He caused me to know the four ways to attract others. He caused me to have the eighteen properties and supernatural powers [of the Buddha]. He caused me to have the power of giving discourses. I attained perfect enlightenment and now save all living beings because Devadatta was my teacher.â
The Daily Dharma from May 12, 2019, offers this:
I attained perfect enlightenment and now save all living beings because Devadatta was my teacher.
The Buddha makes this declaration in Chapter Twelve of the Lotus SÅ«tra. Devadatta was a cousin of the Buddha who became jealous of the Buddhaâs enlightenment. Several times he tried to kill the Buddha. He also caused a split in the Buddhaâs Sangha, and convinced a young prince to kill his father and usurp the throne. Devadatta was so evil that he fell into Hell alive. Despite all this, the Buddha credits Devadatta with helping him become enlightened, and assures Devadatta personally that he will become enlightened. This shows us that even those beings who create great harm have Buddha nature. They may not deserve our admiration, but they at least deserve our respect.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
SaichoÌ’s Rejection of the HinayaÌna Precepts
According to the Eizan Daishiden, SaichoÌ had decided to abandon the Ssufen lÃŒ precepts by 818. In late spring of that year SaichoÌ assembled the teachers and students on Mount Hiei and declared:
I have researched the origins of the Perfect School of the Lotus SÅ«tra. (The Dharma) was preached, studied, and understood in the mountains: first on Vulture’s Peak, next on Ta-su, and finally on T’ien-t’ai. Students of my (Tendai) school should, therefore, practice and study in the mountains during the first part of their studies. They should do this for the sake of the nation and its people, in order to benefit sentient beings, and so that the Buddha’s teaching will flourish. By living in the mountains they shall escape from the criticisms of the mundane world, and the Buddha’s teaching will surely grow and prosper.
From now on we will not follow ÅrÄvaka ways. We will turn away forever from HinayaÌna (strictures on maintaining) dignity. I vow that I will henceforth abandon the two-hundred fifty (HinayaÌna) precepts.
The great teachers of Nan-yÃŒeh and T’ien-t’ai both heard the Lotus SÅ«tra preached and received the three-fold bodhisattva precepts on Vulture’s Peak. Since then, these precepts have been transmitted from teacher to teacher. Chih-i conferred them on Kuan-ting. Kuan-ting conferred them on Chih-wei. Chih-wei conferred them on HsÃŒan-lang. HsÃŒan-lang conferred them on Chan-jan. Chan-jan conferred them on Tao-sui. Tao-sui conferred them on SaichoÌ and then on Gishin.
I have read the Buddha’s teachings. I know that there are (strictures on) dignity for both the bosatsusoÌ (bodhisattva monk) and the bosatsu (the lay bodhisattva), and that there are pure MahaÌyaÌna and pure HinayaÌna (teachings). Now, the students of my school shall study MahaÌyaÌna precepts, meditation, and wisdom. They shall abandon inferior HinayaÌna practices forever.
SaichoÌ: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School, p114-115The Buddha’s Pure and Immaculate Voice
Yesterday I wrote about Senchu Murano’s penchant for inserting his twist on tales from the Lotus Sutra (“Questions and Fantasy Answers“). I also posted that article on the Nichiren Shu Group on Facebook and asked if anyone could offer a defense for the use of “fantasy” stories in place of actual Lotus Sutra verses in teaching Nichiren Buddhism.
Judging from the comments I received, my original post failed to make clear my point. Let me try again.
In Nichiren’s Treatise on Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, Wooden Statues or Portraits (Writings of Nichiren ShoÌnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 91), he writes:
The written words of the Lotus Sutra express in a visible and tangible form the Brahmaâs voice of the Buddha, which is invisible and intangible, so that we can see and read them with our eyes. The Buddhaâs pure and immaculate voice, which had disappeared, is resuscitated in the form of written characters for the benefit of humankind.
Shinkyo Warner, in his Daily Dharma post on this quote, says:
Living in this world, 2500 years after the Buddha ÅÄkyamuni walked the Earth, it is difficult to hear his voice leading us to enlightenment and encouraging us to let go of our attachments. In the Lotus SÌÅ«tra we have an instrument for creating the Buddhaâs voice in our own time. This is his highest teaching. It brings all beings to liberation, whether they are clever or dull, stupid or wise, focused or distracted. It reminds us of our true nature as Bodhisattvas who chose this life out of our determination to benefit all beings. It shows us how to transform the poison of suffering into the medicine of compassion, and the poison of ignorance into the medicine of wisdom.
When Senchu Murano inserts his words and ideas into his “fantasy” about the Lotus Sutra, what do we hear?
In Murano’s 1997 booklet, The Gohonzon, he tells this tale about the Buddha Many Treasures (Prabhutaratna, Taho):
The fantastic narration of the Lotus Sutra begins with the story of Prabhutaratna (Many-Treasures, Taho) Buddha, as follows:
There lived a Buddha called Taho many kalpas ago in a world called Treasure-Pure, which was located far to the east of the Saha World. Taho Buddha knew the Wonderful Dharma, but did not expound it by himself because he thought that the Wonderful Dharma should be expounded by a Buddha who would emanate from himself as many Replica-Buddhas as there are worlds in the universe, dispatch them to those worlds, and then expound the Wonderful Dharma in a sutra called the Lotus Sutra. Taho Buddha decided to wait for the advent of such a Buddha, and to approve the truthfulness of the Lotus Sutra expounded by that Buddha.
In Murano’s 1998 booklet, Questions and Answers on Nichiren Buddhism, he suggests this is how Chapter 11 starts:
Sakyamuni Buddha did what he had never done before at the beginning of Chapter XI of the Lotus Sutra. He produced innumerable Replica Buddhas of his own from himself, told them to expound what he was going to expound from that moment, and dispatched them to the worlds of the ten quarters: the four quarters, the four intermediate quarters, zenith, and nadir. After he saw them having reached their assigned worlds, Sakyamuni Buddha expounded the teaching of the One Vehicle, that is the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Obedient to their Original Buddha, his Replica-Buddhas expounded the same teaching throughout the universe and as a result the universal validity of the Wonderful Dharma was revealed.
The stupa of the seven treasures sprang up from underground and hung in the sky before the Buddha at the opening of Chapter 11. There is no discussion of emanations of ÅÄkyamuni until the congregation asks ÅÄkyamuni to open the stupa. As for whether other Buddhas can create emanations, that is clearly the case in The Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva, which is the concluding portion of the Threefold Lotus Sutra. (See this post.)
If the tale of the Stupa of Treasures, as Murano says, is where “the fantastic narration of the Lotus Sutra begins,” then what of the earlier 10 chapters?
In Chapter 11, ÅÄkyamuni explains to the congregation what has happened:
âThe perfect body of a TathÄgata is in this stÅ«pa of treasures. A long time ago there was a world called Treasure-Purity at the distance of many thousands of billions of asaá¹khyas of worlds to the east [of this world]. In that world lived a Buddha called Many-Treasures. When he was yet practicing the Way of Bodhisattvas, he made a great vow: âIf anyone expounds a sÅ«tra called the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in any of the worlds of the ten quarters after I become a Buddha and pass away, I will cause my stÅ«pa-mausoleum to spring up before him so that I may be able to prove the truthfulness of the sÅ«tra and say âexcellentâ in praise of him because I wish to hear that sÅ«tra [directly from him].â
âHe attained enlightenment[, and became a Buddha]. When he was about to pass away, he said to the bhiká¹£us in the presence of the great multitude of gods and men, âIf you wish to make offerings to my perfect body after my extinction, erect a great stÅ«pa!â
âIf anyone expounds the SÅ«tra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in any of the worlds of the ten quarters, that Buddha, by his supernatural powers and by the power of his vow, will cause the stÅ«pa of treasures enshrining his perfect body to spring up before the expounder of the sÅ«tra. Then he will praise [the expounder of the sÅ«tra], saying, âExcellent, excellent!â
âGreat-Eloquence! Now Many-Treasures TathÄgata caused his stÅ«pa to spring up from underground in order to hear the SÅ«tra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma [directly from me]. Now he praised me, saying, âExcellent, excellent!â â
Senchu Murano’s words are pure fabrication, a whole cloth that muffles the Buddhaâs pure and immaculate voice.
How does one defend such an act, especially when the book was written in English for an audience that knew little if any of the teachings of the Lotus Sutra?
Perils in the Latter Age of Degeneration
The first thousand years following the Buddha’s extinction are called the Age of the True Dharma. During this period, many people kept the precepts and some attained Buddhahood. The next thousand years are called the Age of the Semblance Dharma. During this period, many people broke the precepts, and only a few attained Buddhahood. After the Age of the Semblance Dharma comes the Latter Age of Degeneration. This period is filled with people who neither keep nor break the precepts, but the country is filled with people who have no precepts.
Moreover, we live in a defiled and chaotic world. In the pure world, people abandon evil things and take on the right things, just as a bent tree is straightened with a straight rope. The five defilements (of the age, evil passions, people, views and life) began to increase in the Ages of the True and Semblance Dharmas, becoming furious and chaotic in the Latter Age of Degeneration. It is like when a strong wind creates big waves and they hit, not only the shore, but also each other. Defilement of views did not cause much trouble in the Ages of the True and Semblance Dharmas, but in the Latter Age of Degeneration, a few evil teachings spread, causing the destruction of the True Dharma; as a result there seems to be more people who fall into the evil realms due to their wrong beliefs than people who fall into evil paths due to worldly crimes.
NanjoÌ HyoÌe ShichiroÌ-dono Gosho, A Letter to Lord NanjoÌ HyoÌe ShichiroÌ, Writings of Nichiren ShoÌnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 140.
Daily Dharma – Sept. 13, 2019
The written words of the Lotus Sutra express in a visible and tangible form the Brahmaâs voice of the Buddha, which is invisible and intangible, so that we can see and read them with our eyes. The Buddhaâs pure and immaculate voice, which had disappeared, is resuscitated in the form of written characters for the benefit of humankind.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, Wooden Statues or Portraits (Mokue NizÅ Kaigen no Koto). Living in this world, 2500 years after the Buddha ÅÄkyamuni walked the Earth, it is difficult to hear his voice leading us to enlightenment and encouraging us to let go of our attachments. In the Lotus SÌÅ«tra we have an instrument for creating the Buddhaâs voice in our own time. This is his highest teaching. It brings all beings to liberation, whether they are clever or dull, stupid or wise, focused or distracted. It reminds us of our true nature as Bodhisattvas who chose this life out of our determination to benefit all beings. It shows us how to transform the poison of suffering into the medicine of compassion, and the poison of ignorance into the medicine of wisdom.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 16
Day 16 concludes Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures, and completes the Fourth Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month witnessed ÅÄkyamuni opening the door to the Stupa of Treasures, we witness him taking a seat in the stupa and then raising the congregation into the air so they can see better.
Having seen that the Buddha, who had passed away many thousands of billions of kalpas before, had said this, the four kinds of devotees praised him, saying, âWe have never seen [such a Buddha as] you before.â They strewed heaps of jeweled flowers of heaven to Many-Treasures Buddha and also to ÅÄkyamuni Buddha.
Thereupon Many-Treasures Buddha in the stÅ«pa of treasures offered a half of his seat to ÅÄkyamuni Buddha, saying, âÅÄkyamuni Buddha, sit here!â
ÅÄkyamuni Buddha entered the stÅ«pa and sat on the half-seat with his legs crossed. The great multitude, having seen the two TathÄgatas sitting cross-legged on the lion-like seat in the stÅ«pa of the seven treasures, thought, âThe seat of the Buddhas is too high. TathÄgata! Raise us up by your supernatural powers so that we may be able to be with you in the sky!â
Thereupon ÅÄkyamuni Buddha raised them up to the sky by his supernatural powers, and said to the four kinds of devotees with in a loud voice:
âWho will expound the SÅ«tra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in this Saha-World? Now is the time to do this. I shall enter into Nirvana before long. I wish to transmit this SÅ«tra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to someone so that this sÅ«tra may be preserved.â
The Daily Dharma from Dec. 20, 2018, offers this:
âWho will expound the SÅ«tra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in this SahÄ-World? Now is the time to do this. I shall enter into NirvÄá¹a before long. I wish to transmit this SÅ«tra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to someone so that this sÅ«tra may be preserved.â
The Buddha asks this of those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus SÅ«tra. If there had been no one among those listening who was able to expound the SÅ«tra, he would not have asked this question. Our ability to benefit others with the Buddha Dharma is not based on our eloquence, our intelligence or our position in life. It is based only on our faith in the Buddhaâs teachings and our determination to benefit others. When we read, recite, and copy the Lotus SÅ«tra, the Buddha is transmitting it to us. We preserve the SÅ«tra through our practice.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Questions and Fantasy Answers
This is the second booklet by Senchu Murano from the late 1990s that I’ve uploaded to the church website. It was curious to see that both include “fantasy” text inserted by Murano into discussion of the Lotus Sutra. I commented earlier about his Gohonzon booklet in which he has an entire section entitled The Fantasy of the Lotus Sutra.
In this booklet, Murano goes to great lengths to expand the story of the Buddha Many Treasures (Prabhutaratna, Taho) in a discussion prompted by a request to “Please explain the Dai Mandala Gohonzon.”
Murano replies:
Sakyamuni Buddha did what he had never done before at the beginning of Chapter XI of the Lotus Sutra. He produced innumerable Replica Buddhas of his own from himself, told them to expound what he was going to expound from that moment, and dispatched them to the worlds of the ten quarters: the four quarters, the four intermediate quarters, zenith, and nadir. After he saw them having reached their assigned worlds, Sakyamuni Buddha expounded the teaching of the One Vehicle, that is the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Obedient to their Original Buddha, his Replica-Buddhas expounded the same teaching throughout the universe and as a result the universal validity of the Wonderful Dharma was revealed.
Prabhutaratna (Taho), a past Buddha of a world located far to the east, rejoiced at seeing all this. You should bear in mind that a past Buddha, who had already entered Parinirvana, can see, hear, speak, and let his Stupa move at his will. When Prabhutaratna entered Parinirvana, his disciples enshrined him in his stupa, and shut the door of the stupa. Since then Prabhutaratna had been sitting in meditation in his Stupa with no disciple attendants. He had wished to expound the Wonderful Dharma by himself during his lifetime, but refrained from it because he thought that the Wonderful Dharma should be expounded by a Buddha whose emanations be the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters to show the universal validity of the Dharma. Prabhutaratna himself had not such Replica Buddhas, so he had waited for the advent of such a Buddha for so long a time.
Overjoyed with Sakyamuni’s expounding the Wonderful Dharma, Prabhutaratna caused his Stupa to travel westwards through the skies of innumerable worlds. The Stupa reached the sky below the Saha-world, passed the world from underneath, and stayed in the sky just above Mt. Sacred Eagle, where Sakyamuni Buddha was expounding the Wonderful Dharma.
He continues with the Buddha emitting a light and calling home all of his emanations and opening the stupa and taking a seat offered by Many Treasures Buddha. Murano adds that Many Treasures Buddha gave Sakyamuni the lesser seat, believing that he was older than Sakyamuni.
Murano continues his version of events after the congregation is raised level with the two Buddhas in the stupa:
Thereupon Sakyamuni addressed the congregation that his Parinirvana day was drawing near, and that he was going to transmit the Wonderful Dharma to someone. Hearing this, many Bodhisattvas appealed to him for the transmission. Sakyamuni refused their appeal, however, saying that there were proper persons for that. And he issued rays of light from himself as a sign of call-up.
All of a sudden the earth quaked and cracked, and innumerable Bodhisattvas came from underground. To the astonishment of the congregation, those Bodhisattvas exchanged greetings with Sakyamuni Buddha. How strange! The congregation had never heard of them.
Sakyamuni addressed the congregation, “I am older than any other Buddhas. All the Buddhas of the past, present and future are my emanations. Those Bodhisattvas who have arrived from underground are my disciples.” Here it is revealed that the One Vehicle, that is the Wonderful Dharma, is universally valid not only spatially but also temporally.
Seeing all this, Prabhutaratna was shocked. He felt ashamed of his ignorance of the fact that the Buddha sitting next to him was his Original Buddha. He tried to change the seats, but Sakyamuni checked him, saying, “You are now the State Guest of the World-State of the Eternal Sakyamuni. You are now representing all the Buddhas of the past, present and future.” Prabhutaratna understood Sakyamuni, and remained at his seat, motionless.
I am sincerely puzzled as to why Murano insists on inserting his “fantasy” into these booklets. How does this advance understanding of the Lotus Sutra, especially in countries outside Japan with very limited contact with the Lotus Sutra?