Two Buddhas, p101-102During the bleak Sado Island years, Nichiren grappled with the question of why, when the Lotus Sūtra promises “peace in this world,” he should have to undergo such ordeals. He also pondered other doubts, sometimes voiced by his followers: If he was indeed correctly practicing the Lotus Sūtra, why didn’t the benevolent deities who protect the buddha-dharma intervene to assist him? Why didn’t those who persecuted him meet with obvious karmic retribution?
Nichiren addressed these questions in a deeply introspective mode, for example, in his famous treatise Kaimoku shō (“Opening the Eyes,” 1272), one of his most important writings, written as a testament to his followers in the event of his death. Here he reflects that in prior lifetimes, he himself must have committed offenses against the Lotus Sūtra and its devotees and was now enduring his present trials to expiate such offenses, just as iron is cleansed of impurities when forged in a fire. In this context, Nichiren drew upon the six-fascicle Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, which states: “By the power of the merit gained by protecting the dharma, one receives lightened [karmic retribution for past offenses] in the present life.” In adopting this perspective, Nichiren claimed agency for his sufferings by representing them, not as a trial inflicted upon him by his enemies, but as an ordeal that he had deliberately chosen as an act of expiation. He also encouraged his followers by saying that the hardships they faced had in fact been predicted in the Lotus Sūtra itself, and thus confirmed the legitimacy of their practice and the certainty of their eventual buddhahood.
As for why their tormentors failed to experience obvious karmic retribution, Nichiren simply noted that when a person’s sins are so weighty as to condemn them after death to the Avici hell, there may be no sign of retribution in that individual’s present life. Alternatively, Nichiren maintained that because people had abandoned the Lotus Sūtra, the protective deities, no longer able to hear the true dharma, had abandoned their shrines and returned to the heavens; thus, they could not be counted on to safeguard Lotus devotees or to punish their persecutors. Yet his conclusion was a resolve that seeks no explanation for adversity and no guarantee of protection; it is a resolve to simply persevere, whatever may happen: “Let heaven forsake me. Let ordeals confront me. I will not begrudge bodily life. … Whatever trials I and my disciples may encounter, so long as we do not cherish doubts, we will naturally achieve buddhahood. Do not doubt because heaven does not extend its protection. Do not lament that you do not enjoy peace in this world.”
Nichiren’s conviction infused his life with immense meaning and enabled him to assert — in the midst of privation and danger — that he was “the richest man in all Japan today.” Nichiren taught his followers that while faith might result in this-worldly good fortune, more importantly, it revealed inner resources of joy and assurance, independent of outward circumstances, that would sustain them through trying times.
Monthly Archives: December 2019
The Emptiness of Śākyamuni
[I]n China the Buddha of the Lotus Sutra was traditionally understood as a representation of the eternal dharmakāya, his unimaginably long life span being seen as a metaphor for the “beginningless” truth realized by the Buddha. From this standpoint, the mythic images of Śākyamuni’s pores emitting light that pervades the universe and of his body splitting into innumerable forms that fill the ten directions are metaphorical representations of the pervasive and unchanging ultimate truth and its salvific function. When Śākyamuni of the Lotus Sutra is understood as the dharmakāya, and the dharmakāya or ultimate truth is identified as emptiness, the difference between the Lotus Sutra and the Prajn͂āpāramitā sutras appears to be one of style, not substance. As a representation of the dharmakāya, however, the concrete and dynamic image of the supramundane Śākyamuni may suggest a somewhat different conception of ultimate truth than that found in the Prajn͂āpāramitā sutras.
A Buddhist Kaleidoscope; Susan Mattis, Chih-i and the Subtle Dharma of the Lotus Sutra: Emptiness or Buddha-nature?, Page 245-246
Emphasis on the Teaching, Not the Teacher
In Chapter 10 there is another transition that takes place in the Lotus Sutra and that is the transition from an emphasis on the body of the Buddha to the teaching of the Buddha. In this chapter the Buddha tells his disciples that instead of enshrining his relics, the teaching of the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra should be what is contained within the stupa we revere. Here too in this great drama we should remember that because the teaching is true, the teacher is great. We devote ourselves to the Lotus Sutra and to the teacher of that sutra and through our devotion we bring it to life.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraRevelations of the Lotus Sūtra
Revealing the single path to Buddhahood in the Āgama sūtras, the Lotus Sūtra preaches in chapter two, “Expedients,” “I expounded various Hinayāna sūtras according to the capacities of all living beings. They are the entrance to the Mahāyāna teaching.” Revealing the single path to Buddhahood in the Flower Garland Sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra states in chapter 16, “The Life Span of the Buddha,” “The gods, men and asura in the world think that I, Śākyamuni Buddha, left the palace of the Śākyas, sat at the place of enlightenment not far from the City of Gayā, and attained Buddhahood. To tell the truth, however, it has been innumerable kalpa (aeons) since I attained Buddhahood.” In the case of the Wisdom Sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra states 18 types of voidness in chapter 14, “Peaceful Practices”—the voidness which is expounded in the Wisdom Sūtra is included in the Lotus Sūtra. In the case of the Sūtra of Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life, the Lotus Sūtra preaches the doctrine of reaching the Pure Land of Peace in chapter 23, “Anyone who hears this sūtra and acts according to its teaching will be reborn in this Pure Land upon death.” As for practicing virtuous deeds with distracted minds, the Lotus Sūtra reveals the single path by saying in chapter 2, “Expedients,” “Those who chanted just once ‘Namu Buddha’ without concentration in mind, have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha.” For all living beings, the Lotus Sūtra says in chapter 3, “A Parable,” “This triple world is My property. All living beings therein are My children.” For the non-Buddhist teachings and writings, the Lotus Sūtra says in chapter 19, “The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma,” “When they expound the scriptures of non-Buddhist schools, or give advice to the government, or teach the way to earn a livelihood, they will be able to be in accord with the right teachings of the Buddha.” Passages that describe the revelation of the single path to Buddhahood in the Tuṣita Heaven or of gods and men are too numerous to write them all down here.
Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-I, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 93
Daily Dharma – Dec. 18, 2019
Ajita! Any good man or woman who keeps, reads, or recites this sūtra after my extinction, also will be able to obtain these merits. Know this! He or she should be considered to have already reached the place of enlightenment, approached Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, and sat under the tree of enlightenment. Ajita! Erect a stūpa in the place where he or she sat, stood or walked! All gods and men should make offerings to that stūpa just as they do to the stūpa of a Buddha.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Maitreya (whom he calls Ajita – Invincible) in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sūtra. In this mysterious description, the Buddha seems to say that anyone who practices this Lotus Sūtra as it instructs is his equal, that this person deserves as much respect as the Buddha himself. In this world of conflict it is rare to even find this teaching, and even more rare to practice it. The Buddha encourages Bodhisattvas such as Maitreya and other protective deities to serve and care for those who bring the Buddha’s greatest wisdom to life. When we practice the Wonderful Dharma, it is as if the Buddha himself appears among us.
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Day 10
Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.
Having last month heard the prediction for Great Kātyāyana, we hear the prediction for Great Maudgalyāyana.
Thereupon the World-Honored One said again to the great multitude:
“Now I will tell you. This Great Maudgalyāyana will make various offerings to eight thousand Buddhas, respect them, and honor them. After the extinction of each of those Buddhas, he will erect a stūpa-mausoleum a thousand yojanas high, and five hundred yojanas wide and deep. He will make it of the seven treasures: gold, silver, lapis lazuli, shell, agate, pearl and ruby. He will offer flowers, necklaces, incense applicable to the skin, incense powder, incense to burn, canopies, banners and streamers to the stūpa-mausoleum. After that he will make the same offerings to two hundred billions of Buddhas. Then he will become a Buddha called Tamālapattra-candana-Fragrance, the Tathāgata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. The kalpa in which he will become that Buddha will be called Joyfulness; and his world, Mind-Happiness. The ground [of his world] will be even, made of crystal, adorned with jeweled trees, and purified with strewn flowers of pearls. Anyone will rejoice at seeing it. Innumerable gods, men, Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas will live there. The duration of the life of that Buddha will be twenty-four small kalpas. His right teachings will be preserved for forty small kalpas, and the counterfeit of his right teachings also will be preserved for forty small kalpas.”
One’s Own Practice Affects Others
Two Buddhas, p108-109In the original story, Maudgalyāyana cannot assist his mother with his own magical powers; he can only do so by the power of the dharma. The fact that she is saved when he offers a meal to the monastic assembly reflects the widely held idea that the transfer of merit to the deceased is most efficacious when ritually mediated by monastics, especially those earnest in practice and pure in their vows. … Nichiren presents an alternative explanation, showing how he adapted traditional Buddhist stories to his Lotus exclusivism:
The Urabon service began with the Venerable Maudgalyāyana’s attempts to save his mother, Shōdai-nyo, who on account of her miserliness and greed had fallen for five hundred lifetimes into the realm of hungry ghosts. But he could not make her become a buddha. The reason was because he himself did not yet practice the Lotus Sūtra, and so he could not lead even his own mother to buddhahood. But at the eight-year assembly on Vulture Peak, he embraced the Lotus Sūtra, chanted Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō, and became the Buddha Tamālapattracandanagandha [Tamālapattra Sandalwood Fragrance]. At that time, his mother became a Buddha too.
You also asked about offerings for hungry ghosts. The third fascile of the Lotus Sūtra says, ‘It is as though someone coming from a country suffering from famine were suddenly to find a great king’s feast spread before him.’ … When you make offerings for hungry ghosts, you should recite this passage from the sūtra and also chant Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō.
Claims that one person’s religious attainment would simultaneously benefit that individual’s family members, sometimes for seven generations in each direction, was common in Nichiren’s time. They express a confidence, grounded in Mahāyāna notions of interconnection, that one’s own practice affects others across time, space, and the boundaries of life and death. Nichiren here assimilates such ideas to the practice of chanting the daimoku, the title of the Lotus Sūtra.
Emptiness and the Buddha of the Lotus Sutra
The fundamental question regarding the Lotus Sutra’s vision of ultimate truth is its relation to the essential teaching of the Prajn͂āpāramitā sutra, the doctrine of emptiness (śūnyāta). While the sutra does not expound the principle of emptiness at great length, it refers to emptiness on several occasions, and many of its principles and teachings appear to presuppose the concept of emptiness. One of the most extensive direct references to it appears in chapter 5:
Those grasses and trees, shrubs and forests, and medicinal herbs do not know themselves whether their nature is superior, intermediate or inferior; but the Thus Come One knows this Dharma of a single mark and a single flavor, namely, the mark of deliverance, the mark of disenchantment, the mark of extinction, the mark of ultimate nirvāṇa of eternally quiescent nirvāṇa, finally reducing itself to Emptiness. (p. 103)
In this passage the sutra declares that despite their apparent diversity, the ultimate truth of all beings is the single mark of emptiness. Later, in chapter 10, the sutra further expounds that it is through the realization of this emptiness of the dharmas that one gains entrance into Buddhahood:
The room of the Thus Come One is the thought of great compassion toward all living beings. The cloak of the Thus Come One is the thought of tender forbearance and the bearing of insult with equanimity. The throne of the Thus Come One is the emptiness of all dharmas. It is only by dwelling securely among these that he or she can with unabating thought broadly preach this Scripture of the Dharma Blossom to the bodhisattvas and the fourfold assembly. (p. 180)
In addition to statements such as these directly referring to emptiness, passages which proclaim a singular ultimate truth of all dharmas or which deny any distinction between the phenomenal realm and ultimate truth may be viewed as expressions of this doctrine. Thus, a passage in chapter 2 which states that the “reality” of all aspects of all dharmas is their “suchness” (tathatā) appears to be a reference to the emptiness of the dharmas:
Concerning the prime, rare and hard-to-understand dharmas, which the Buddha has perfected, only a Buddha and a Buddha can exhaust their reality, namely, the suchness of the dharmas, the suchness of their marks, the suchness of their nature, the suchness of their substance, the suchness of their powers, the suchness of their functions, the suchness of their causes, the suchness of their conditions, the suchness of their effects, the suchness of their retributions, and the absolute identity of their beginning and end. (pp. 22-23)
In chapter 16 the Lotus Sutra asserts the identity of the world of samsara, the cycle of birth and death, and the realm of the Buddha, a central theme of the exposition of emptiness in the Prajn͂āpāramitā sutras. Using vivid language the Lotus Sutra explains that the transient phenomenal world, which to the unenlightened is a place of torment, is itself the “pure land” of the Buddha:
When the beings see the kalpa ending
And being consumed by a great fire,
This land of mine is perfectly safe,
Ever full of gods and men;
In it are gardens and groves, halls and towers,
Variously adorned with gems,
As well as jeweled trees with many blossoms and fruits, Wherein the beings play and amuse themselves;
My Pure Land is not destroyed,
Yet the multitude, seeing it consumed with flame,
Are worried, and fear the torment of pain;
The likes of these are everywhere. (p. 243)
Another motif of the Lotus Sutra that associates it with the tradition’s expositions of emptiness is the distinction made between the revelation of the Buddha Dharma in this sutra and the “expedient devices” the Buddha has previously used to lead practitioners to this truth. The Lotus Sutra is famous (or infamous) for denouncing the doctrines taught to the Śrāvakas (voice-hearers) as “expedient devices” intended only to prepare the practitioner to grasp the truth revealed in the sutra. In one passage, the “nirvāṇa” taught to the voice-hearers is repudiated explicitly on the grounds of the emptiness of all dharmas:
Though I preach nirvāṇa, This is no true extinction.
The dharmas from their very origin
Are themselves eternally characterized by the marks of quiet extinction. (p. 37)
The Six Worlds
The first six worlds – hell-dwellers, hungry ghosts, animals, fighting demons, humanity and heaven – are alike in that these states are driven by the Three Poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion to varying degrees. When in these states, we strive to make the world in which we live conform to our expectations and desires so that we can find security and lasting satisfaction. According to Buddhism, however, life is literally what we make of it. Despite our wishes, we will still only reap what we have sown. If we are kind and helpful to others, we will in turn discover that others are kind and helpful. If we mistreat others, we will find that others will mistreat us. This cycle is self-perpetuating: We are constantly making new causes based on our reactions to the effects of our previous causes in an effort to find a stable place of comfort and security. Unfortunately, there is no final resting place or lasting fulfillment within the Six Worlds because they are all in a constant state of changing and interacting with one another. One cannot even count on the heavenly states, because they are also impermanent and subject to change.
Lotus Seeds‘Three Kinds of Enemies of the Lotus Sūtra’
Exactly as the Buddha predicted, there are “three kinds of enemies of the Lotus Sūtra” all over Japan. Nevertheless, we don’t see any practicers of the Lotus Sūtra. Does this mean that the words of the Buddha have been proved untrue? Could this be? After all, who has been abused and despised by the ignorant people for the sake of the Lotus Sūtra? Which monk has been brought to the attention of court nobles and warriors in power? Which monk has often been exiled as predicted in the sūtra? No such man exists in Japan, except for Nichiren. However, as Nichiren has been abandoned by the gods, he probably is not a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. Then, who would be a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra to realize the Buddha’s prediction?
Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 98