Two Buddhas, p93The “five periods” and other schemas of this kind represent remarkable achievements as efforts to systematize the Buddhist teachings into a coherent whole. However, text-critical scholarship has now made clear that they cannot be accepted as historically accurate. The Buddhist sūtras were compiled over a long period, and the Mahāyāna sūtras in particular were produced over several centuries, well after Śākyamuni’s passing. Nonetheless, it is vital to understand that for Nichiren and his Tendai forebears and contemporaries, the division of the teachings into “five periods” was, in fact, historical reality, a faithful account of how Śākyamuni Buddha had taught, and indeed, of how all buddhas proceed.
Monthly Archives: January 2020
Wonderful Merits of the ‘Wheel-Turning Noble King’
In the first place, the “Wheel-turning Noble King” is the foremost among humans. When this king appears in the world, a huge tree called uḍumbara grows in the ocean, blossoms and bears fruits as an omen. There are four kinds of “Noble King” based on the different qualities of the wheel. When the “Golden-wheel King” appears, peace prevails throughout the Four Continents, the earth is as soft as cotton, the ocean is as sweet as nectar, and the seven treasures grow like plants and trees on golden mountains. This king can travel around the world in a moment as various heavenly beings protect him and demons come to serve him while the dragon king sends down rain when appropriate. Even lowly people can travel around the whole world in a moment by following this king. These wonderful merits of the “Wheel-turning Noble King” are all rewards for having practiced the “ten good acts” in the past lives.
Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 45-46
Daily Dharma – Jan. 28, 2020
To enter the room of the Tathāgata means to have great compassion.
To wear his robe means to be gentle and patient.
To sit on his seat means to see the voidness of all things.
Expound the Dharma only after you do these [three] things!
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. Our compassion leads us to engage with the world and benefit others. Cultivating our gentle and patient nature lets us live the peace everyone wants and show them how to obtain it. To see the voidness of things does not mean acting as if they don’t exist. We presume that things that do not exist forever do not exist at all. A wisp of smoke. A fleeting smile. The Buddha teaches that there is nothing permanent and self-existing. Only what is interdependent and changing truly exists.Only that which is connected with everything else truly exists.Nothing hinders us. Nothing opposes us. When we see the harmony in our changing existence, then we see the Buddha Dharma.
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 heard Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva greet Mañjuśrī and Mañjuśrī tell of the skills of the dragon king’s daughter, we hear Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva’s doubts and meet the dragon king’s daughter.
Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva said:
“As far as I know, [when he was a Bodhisattva,] Śākyamuni Buddha sought Bodhi, that is, enlightenment incessantly for innumerable kalpas. He accumulated merits by practicing austerities. Even the smallest part, even the part as large as a poppy-seed of this world-this world being composed of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds-is not outside the places where the Bodhisattva made efforts to save all living beings at the cost of his life. It was after doing all this that he attained Bodhi, that is, enlightenment. I do not believe that this girl will be able to attain perfect enlightenment[, that is, to become a Buddha] in a moment.”
No sooner had he said this than the daughter of the dragon king came to [Śākyamuni] Buddha. She worshipped [his feet] with her head, retired, stood to one side, and praised him with gāthās:
You know the sins and merits
Of all living beings.
You illumine the worlds of the ten quarters.
Your wonderful, pure and sacred body
Is adorned with the thirty-two major marks
And with the eighty minor marks.Gods and men are looking up at you.
Dragons also respect you.
None of the living beings
Sees you without adoration.Only you know that I [am qualified to] attain Bodhi
Because I heard [the Dharma].
I will expound the teachings of the Great Vehicle
And save all living beings from suffering.
The Modern Perspective on the Dragon King’s Daughter
Buddhism for Today, p159Women of today may feel dissatisfied that the dragon’s daughter was suddenly transformed into a male and then became a buddha. Such an expression was used merely because of the idea of women in ancient India. The sudden transformation of a woman into a male means nothing but the transcendence of the difference between male and female. Sakyamuni Buddha asserted that animals, birds, worms, plants, and trees, as well as human beings, possess the buddha-nature. How could he then discriminate between men and women? It is impossible. Observed with the Buddha’s eyes, all living beings are equal. We must never misunderstand this.
Incorporating the Provisional in the One Vehicle
Two Buddhas, p72-73Zhiyi had taught that the Lotus Sūtra has the function of “opening and integrating” (J. kaie) the three vehicles within the one vehicle. … Nichiren understood this as opening the nine realms to reveal the buddha realm. But what did it mean in terms of practice? Nichiren’s contemporaries often freely combined copying and reciting the Lotus Sūtra with nenbutsu chanting, esoteric rituals, and other modes of Buddhist devotion. For many Tendai scholars of the day, the distinction between true and provisional teachings did not mean renouncing practices other than the Lotus Sūtra. It would indeed be a mistake, they said, to recite other sūtras or chant the names of the various buddhas and bodhisattvas thinking that these represented separate truths. But the one vehicle of the Lotus Sūtra integrates all other teachings within itself, just as the great ocean gathers all rivers. Therefore, they claimed, any practice — whether esoteric ritual performance, sūtra copying, or nenbutsu recitation — in effect becomes the practice of the Lotus Sūtra when carried out with this understanding. Others, however, disagreed, and none more vocally than Nichiren. To argue his point, he inverted the “rivers and ocean” metaphor. Once integrated into the Lotus Sūtra, he said, the nenbutsu, esoteric rites, and other practices lose their identity as independent practices, just as the many rivers emptying into the ocean assume the same salty flavor and lose their original names. Precisely because provisional teachings are integrated into the all encompassing principle of the one vehicle, they are no longer to be practiced as independent forms. At the same time, however, Nichiren insisted that the daimoku contains all truth and blessings within itself. Because the daimoku is all-encompassing, chanting it would confer all the benefits that the religious practices of his day were thought to produce: this-worldly benefits such as protection and healing, assurance for the afterlife, and buddhahood itself. His aim was not to eradicate the spectrum of religious interpretations, but to undercut their basis in other traditions and assimilate them to the Lotus Sūtra alone.
Equality of Physical and Spiritual
When it comes to the Ten Suchnesses, which we recite daily as we conclude our recitation of Chapter II, the most important idea is that there is no disconnect from any aspect of our physical life or our spiritual life and that in all things there is equality. Buddhism and enlightenment are not something that manifests in only one aspect of our life.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraFailing to Understand with Faith
It is stated in the Expenses and Food for Bodhisattva Way by Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna: “The World Honored One expounds the five rebellious sins, sinners of which are destined to fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. … If someone does not understand with faith the profound dharma and harbors an evil opinion regarding it, the sin of this person, compared to the one who commits the five rebellious sins, is many times, even hundreds of times heavier.”
Toki-dono Gosho, A Letter to Lord Toki, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 116-117
Daily Dharma – Jan. 27, 2020
The Lotus Sutra is called “Zui-jii,” namely it expounds the true mind of the Buddha. Since the Buddha’s mind is so great, even if one does not understand the profound meaning of the sutra, one can gain innumerable merits by just reading it. Just as mugwort among hemp plants grows straight and a snake in a tube straightens itself, if one becomes friendly with good people, one’s mind, behavior and words become naturally gentle. LIkewise, the Buddha thinks that those who believe in the Lotus Sutra become naturally virtuous.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his treatise The Sutra Preached in Accordance to [the Buddha’s] Own Mind (Zui-jii Gosho). In this passage, he makes clear what the Buddha meant by abandoning expedient teachings, and that the Lotus Sutra contains the Buddha’s highest teaching.
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 compared difficult and easy tasks, we conclude the comparison of easy and difficult tasks.
It is not difficult
To grasp the sky,
And wander about with it
From place to place.It is difficult
To copy and keep this sūtra
Or cause others to copy it
After my extinction.It is not difficult
To put the great earth
On the nail of a toe
And go up to the Heaven of Brahman.It is difficult
To read this sūtra
Even for a while in the evil world
After my extinction.It is not difficult
To shoulder a load of hay
And stay unburned in the fire
At the end of the kalpa [of destruction].It is difficult
To keep this sūtra
And expound it to even one person
After my extinction.It is not difficult
To keep the store
Of eighty-four thousand teachings
Expounded in the sūtras
Composed of the twelve elements,
And expound it to people,
And cause the hearers to obtain
The six supernatural powers.It is difficult
To hear and receive this sūtra,
And ask the meanings of it
After my extinction.It is not difficult
To expound the Dharma
To many thousands of billions of living beings
As many as there are sands
In the River Ganges
So that they may be able
To obtain the benefits:
Arhatship and the six supernatural powers.It is difficult
To keep
This sūtra
After my extinction.