Monthly Archives: November 2019

LS32

Day 25

Day 25 covers all of Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, and opens Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.

Day 25 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered what became of Never-Despising Bodhisattva, we learn who was Never-Despising Bodhisattva in the past.

“Great-Power-Obtainer! What do you think of this? The Never-Despising Bodhisattva at that time was no one but myself. If I had not kept, read or recited this sūtra or expounded it to others in my previous existence, I should not have been able to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi so quickly. Because I kept, read and recited this sūtra, and expounded it to others under those past Buddhas, I attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi quickly.

“Great-Power-Obtainer! The four kinds of devotees: the bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, and upāsikās at that time failed to meet the Buddha, hear the Dharma, and see the Saṃgha for twenty thousand million kalpas because they abused me with anger. They suffered much in the Avici Hell for one thousand kalpas. Having expiated their sin in this way, they met [me, who was] Never-Despising Bodhisattva again, and were led into the Way to Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.

“Great-Power-Obtainer! What do you think of this? The four kinds of devotees who always abused [me, who was] that Bodhisattva at that time are now present here in this congregation in the persons of the five hundred Bodhisattvas including Bhadrapala, the five hundred bhikṣunīs including Lion-Moon, and the five hundred upāsakās including Thinking-Of-Buddha. Now they do not falter in seeking Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.

“Great-Power-Obtainer, know this! This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma benefits Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, and causes them to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Therefore, they should keep, read, recite, expound and copy this sūtra after my extinction.”

See Innate Buddha Nature

LS32, d25b, 2buddhas

Innate Buddha Nature

[T]he Lotus Sūtra itself does not contain the words “buddha nature,” a concept developed in later Mahāyāna sūtras, such as the Nirvāṇa Sūtra. For that reason, some early Chinese exegetes argued that the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, and not the Lotus, represented the Buddha’s highest teaching. In contrast, the “three great masters of the Sui dynasty” – Huiyuan, Zhiyi, and Jizang – drew on the Sadāparibhūta chapter to argue that the idea of innate buddha nature is fully present in the Lotus Sūtra, even though that specific phrase does not occur there.

Two Buddhas, p207-208
Kaleidoscope

The Only Reason Buddhas Come into the World

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In the first chapter heavenly flowers fall on both the Buddha and his listeners, indicating the equality of both. That idea is extended in chapter 3 with the idea that the Buddha preaches only to bodhisattvas. The point is that to preach the Dharma is to be a bodhisattva — and to hear the Dharma is to be, to that degree, a bodhisattva. This is because really hearing is to take it into one’s life, thus to practice it, thus to be a bodhisattva. Thus, it can be said that the buddhas come into the world only to transform people into bodhisattvas.
A Buddhist Kaleidoscope; Gene Reeves, The Lotus Sutra as Radically World-affirming, Page 192

d16b, Lecture on Lotus Sutra

Participating in the Grand Drama

Every day we look around us and we see our worlds our lives as being perhaps small and full of suffering or troubles. Yet the image that is presented to us in the ceremony in the air is an expansive one and one of great beauty. Just as the seating of the two Buddhas side by side presents us with a view of the eternity of time, the image of the joined worlds is one of infinite space. So now we have an expansive time element and an expansive space element all in one moment.

When we place ourselves in front of the Honzon as presented in the Lotus Sutra in these chapters we place ourselves outside of our present time and our present space. Again this allows us the opportunity to view our current condition in this life as really one of great reward. How many people everyday participate in such a grand drama?

It is not easy for us to see this as we live out our lives and experience our day-to-day problems. Yet this is the invitation that the Buddha makes to us – to realize that we are not merely some lonely person chanting Odaimoku and practicing the Lotus Sutra, but that we are actually participants in a drama unlike anything that can be contained by either space or time.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

WONS

Donors to the Upholder of the Lotus Sūtra

The Sūtra of Transmission of the Buddhist Teaching relates the story of how a boy who had donated a rice cake made of sand to the Buddha in the past was reborn a hundred years later as the ruler governing one-fourth of the Jambudvīpa. This story refers to Emperor Aśoka. It is stated in the Lotus Sūtra, “The Teacher of the Dharma” chapter, that if we compare the merit received through making various offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha for as long as one kalpa (aeon) with that of helping a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra for a short while in the Latter Age of Degeneration, the merit of helping a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra is superior. Grand Master Miao-lê explains this in his Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “Donors to the upholder of the Lotus Sūtra are superior to those who make donations to the Buddha with the ten epithets.” Therefore, the merit of your donation to me is superior to the merit of making a donation to the Buddha. Accordingly, there is no doubt that you will attain Buddhahood.

Takahashī-dono Gohenji, A Reply to Lord Takahashi, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 82-83

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 28, 2019

They will be able to know all the thoughts, deeds, and words, however meaningless, of the living beings of the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds each of which is composed of the six regions. Although they have not yet obtained the wisdom-without-āsravas, they will be able to have their minds purified as previously stated. Whatever they think, measure or say will be all true, and consistent not only with my teachings but also with the teachings that the past Buddhas have already expounded in their sūtras.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. Paradoxically, the process of clarifying our minds so that we can see things for what they are is not an intellectual exercise. The practice of the Wonderful Dharma is not based on learning complicated theories or arcane facts. It can be as simple as chanting Odaimoku sincerely, awakening our nature as Bodhisattvas, and working 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

LS32

Day 24

Day 24 concludes Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, and closes the Sixth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 24 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, in gāthās, we return to the eight hundred merits of the nose.

“Furthermore, Constant-Endeavor! The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this sūtra, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the nose. With their pure noses, they will be able to recognize all the various things above, below, within and without the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds.
“Those who keep this sūtra will be able to recognize, without moving about, the scents of the sumanas-flowers, jātika-flowers, mallikā-flowers, campaka-flowers, pāṭala-flowers, red lotus flowers, blue lotus flowers, white lotus flowers, flower-trees and fruit-trees. They also will be able to recognize the scents of candana, aloes, tamālapattra and tagara, and the scents of tens of millions of kinds of mixed incense which are either powdered or made in lumps or made applicable to the skin. They also will be able to recognize the living beings including elephants, horses, cows, sheep, men, women, boys and girls by smell. They also will be able to recognize without fallacy grasses, trees, thickets and forests by smell, be the nearby or at a distance.

“Those who keep this sūtra also will be able to recognize the gods [and things] in heaven by smell while they are staying [in the world of men]. They will be able to recognize the scents of the pārijātaka-trees, kovidāra-trees, mandārava-flowers, mahā-mandārava-flowers, mañjūṣaka-flowers, mahā-mañjūṣaka-flowers [in heaven]; the powdered incense of candana and aloes, the scents of other flowers, and the mixture of these scents in heaven without fail. They will be able to recognize the gods by smell. They will be able to recognize from afar the scent that Śakra-Devānām-Indra gives forth when he satisfies his five desires and enjoys himself in his excellent palace, or when he expounds the Dharma to the Trāyastriṃs̒a Gods at the wonderful hall of the Dharma, or when he plays in the gardens. They also will be able to recognize by smell from afar the gods and goddesses of the other heavens, including the Heaven of Brahman and the Highest Heaven. They also will be able to recognize the incense burned by the gods in those heavens. They also will be able to locate the Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas by smelling their bodies from afar. Even when they recognize all this by smell, their organ of smell will not be destroyed or put out of order. If they wish, they will be able to tell others of the differences [of those scents] because they remember them without fallacy.”

See The Arena of Practice

LS32, d24b, 2buddhas

The Arena of Practice

In referring … to the passage on the purification of the mind indicated in the “Benefits Obtained” chapter, Nichiren writes that “the true path lies in the realities of this world.” Like Zhiyi, he denied any notion of a two-tiered hierarchy between the realm of deluded beings and the realm of the Buddha’s enlightenment: one entails the experience of suffering, and the other, the experience of inner stability and joy, but the distinction between them lies solely in whether or not one embraces the Lotus Sūtra. Elsewhere, … Nichiren draws on the mutual inclusion of mind and all phenomena to assert that our own actions are what make this world a hell or a buddha land. Here, however, he draws a slightly different inference: there is no buddha-dharma to be achieved apart from one’s everyday reality. One’s ordinary affairs, whatever they maybe, form the arena of practice, and by faith in the Lotus Sūtra, one can bring to bear the wisdom and compassion of the dharma to negotiate all worldly matters.

Two Buddhas, p205
Kaleidoscope

Appropriate Devices

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Sometimes the Buddha has to use appropriate devices in order to lead others to realize their potential. But this does not mean that any trick will do. The Buddha’s devices are always appropriate – i.e., designed for the benefit of the recipient. The father thought about what would be appropriate for these particular children in this particular situation.

Even the very fancy cart which the father gives to the children is, after all, only a cart, a vehicle. All teachings and practices should be understood as devices, as possible ways of helping people. They should never be taken as final truths. But the fact that they can be and are used to save people means that they are very important truths, that is, sufficient to save people.

Thus in the Lotus Sutra, teaching is not teaching, or at least it is not
Dharma teaching, unless someone is taught.
A Buddhist Kaleidoscope; Gene Reeves, The Lotus Sutra as Radically World-affirming, Page 192

Lotus Seeds

The Ten Worlds: Bodhisattvas

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Of the Four Higher Worlds – voice­hearers, privately awakened ones, bodhisattvas, and buddhas – the world of bodhisattvas is the world viewed as the world of compassionate endeavor, specifically the cultivation of the Six Perfections. Those who view the world in this way are not seeking to flee the world of birth and death, but stay within it in order to assist and teach others.

Lotus Seeds