Monthly Archives: February 2020

d25b, WONS

Never-Despising Bodhisattva’s Hurry to Preach the Lotus Sūtra

The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 10, says, “A question was asked why Never-Despising Bodhisattva was in such a hurry in preaching the Lotus Sūtra while the Buddha had not expounded it for 42 years after appearing in the world. It was answered that the Buddha preached the Hinayāna teaching first for the people who had possessed the seed of Buddhahood by listening to the Lotus Sūtra in the past life, whereas Never-Despising Bodhisattva sowed the seed of Buddhahood by preaching the true Mahāyanā teaching of the Lotus Sūtra for the people who had never heard of the sūtra in the past life.”

This interpretation by Grand Master T’ien-t’ai means that as we look at the past of those who listened to the pre-Lotus sūtras such as the Flower Garland Sūtra preached at the place of Enlightenment, the Āgama sūtras preached in the Deer Park, the Sūtra of the Great Assembly preached at the Daihōbō, and the Wisdom Sūtra preached by the White Heron Pond, including both the Hinayāna and Mahāyanā and provisional and true teachings as well as the four doctrinal teachings and the eight teachings (the four doctrinal teachings plus the four methods of teaching), they had received the pure and perfect seed of Buddhahood in the eternal past at the time of the Eternal Buddha and the Great Universal Wisdom Buddha. Nevertheless, because of their sin of slandering the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra, they have been unable to attain Enlightenment wandering instead around in the world of darkness for as long as “500 (million) dust-particle kalpa” and “3,000 dust-particle kalpa.” However, the seed they had received grew gradually until finally the time had come for them to hear the Lotus Sūtra on Mt. Sacred Eagle and to become aware of the gem (Buddhahood) given by the Buddha in the past. For 40 years or so till the Lotus Sūtra was preached, the Buddha preached the Hinayāna and provisional sūtras to them in order to prepare their capacity to understand as the Buddha thought that even those who had established a relationship with the Lotus Sūtra in a past life might speak ill of it for a variety of reasons.

Soya Nyūdō-dono-gari Gosho, A Letter to Lay Priest Lord Soya, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 149-150.

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 13, 2020

Ajita! The good men or women who hear of my longevity of which I told you, and understand it by firm faith, will be able to see that I am expounding the Dharma on Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa, surrounded by great Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas. They also will be able to see that the ground of this Sahā-World is made of lapis lazuli, that the ground is even, that the eight roads are marked off by ropes of jāmbūnada gold, that the jeweled trees are standing in lines, and that the magnificent buildings are made of treasures.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Maitreya Bodhisattva, whom he calls Ajita – Invincible, in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sūtra. We can hear this explanation as a promise of some great otherworldly vision which will be revealed to us if our faith is strong enough. We can also hear it as a promise that we will learn to deny that all the terrible things in the world as as bad as we think. But when we remember the Buddha telling us, “I do not see the world as others do,” then we realize that our faith brings us to the Buddha’s own mind, where we can accept this frightening and dangerous world for what it is, and work to make it better for all beings.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

LS32, Universal Sage

Between Day 32 and Day 1: The Meaning of the Great Vehicle

So this morning as I was reading the Sutra of How to Practice Meditation on Bodhisattva Universal Worth (Burton Watson’s translation), I was struck by this instruction:

After the practitioner has made this vow, then at six times in the day and night he should pay obeisance to the buddhas of the ten directions, practice the method of repentance, read the great vehicle sutra, recite the great vehicle sutra, ponder the meaning of the great vehicle, keep in mind the concerns of the great vehicle, and reverently offer alms to those who uphold the great vehicle.

For a brief moment — the time it takes to complete one sentence and then move on to the next — I flashed on the question: What does it mean to ponder “the meaning of the great vehicle, keep in mind the concerns of the great vehicle”?

And in the next sentence was my answer:

He should view all people with the thought that they are buddhas, and all living beings with the thought that they are his father and mother.

Never despising. Always respectful.

See Washing Away Muddy Illusions Covering Our Invaluable Gem

A note about translations

In the Burton Watson translation of this sutra, it says on page 383:

Then Universal Worthy will speak once more: ‘Over a period of many kalpas, because of the organ of your ear you have chased about after external sounds. When you heard some wonderful sound, your mind was roused to delusion and attachment, and when you heard an evil sound, your mind gave way to eight hundred varieties of earthly desires that plagued you.

This puzzled me because I knew that in the new Threefold Lotus Sutra translated by Shinozaki, Ziporyn and Earhart for Kosei Publishing the number of earthly desires was the expected 108.

When you heard beautiful sounds, you produced delusive attachments to them. And when you heard dreadful sounds, you gave rise to one hundred and eight kinds of delusions that inflict damage and harm.

Did characters for eight and 100 get transposed?

I found the answer in a footnote added to the BDK English Tripitaka translation by Kubo and Logan:

We chose to follow the phrasing of the Yuan and Ming editions, as indicated in note 3 in the Taishō text, which give the number as one hundred and eight rather than the number eight hundred that appears in the source text.

LS32, Universal Sage, b4today

Washing Away Muddy Illusions Covering Our Invaluable Gem

Through the Lotus Sutra, we have become able to understand that all people have the buddha-nature equally. Through this sutra we are awakened to the fact that all of us possess the invaluable gem of the buddha-nature. In fact, the Lotus Sutra can be said to be the teaching of the disclosing of our buddha-nature.

Immediately after it is mined, a gemstone is covered with mud and does not display its true brilliance. It does not disclose its nature as an invaluable gem until the mud is washed off. Washing the mud from the gem is like the first stage of repentance. The surface of our buddha-nature is covered with various illusions acquired in the course of our daily lives. Through repentance we remove such illusions from our buddha-nature, just as water washes the mud from a precious stone.

Repentance toward others is the first stage of repentance. We must pass through this stage, but as our faith deepens, eventually we come to repent all our sins directly toward the Buddha. We examine ourselves as being imperfect and mistaken, study the Buddha’s teachings more deeply, meditate on Buddhist doctrines, and elevate ourselves ever higher. This is the secret principle of repentance; this is true repentance.

This second stage of repentance is the practice through which we constantly polish the gem of our buddha-nature. A gem does not reveal its brilliance even after the mud has been washed from it. Its surface is coated with mineral deposits, and it cannot display its intrinsic brilliance until polishing removes such impurities from its surface. The same thing can be said of our buddha-nature. The second stage of repentance is the practice by which we polish our buddha-nature.

As stated in chapter 20 of the Lotus Sutra, “The Bodhisattva Never Despise,” in order to disclose the buddha-nature of others it is important for us to revere it, that is, to pay respect to everyone. We must have a much stricter attitude toward ourselves. We must constantly cleanse and polish our buddha-nature. We feel pain when we pour cold water on our body and scrub vigorously with a wet towel in order to cleanse it. When we dare to cleanse and polish our buddha-nature despite pain, it begins to emit a brilliant light.

The Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue teaches concretely and thoroughly the meaning and practice of the second stage of repentance. Let us now proceed to the sutra itself.

Buddhism for Today, p423-424
d7b, WONS, 2buddhas

Grieving Deeply Over Slandering

Like his contemporaries, Nichiren embraced the idea that human beings are an integral part of the cosmos, and their actions affect both society and the natural world. He attributed the disasters confronting Japan during his lifetime — famine, epidemics, earthquakes, and the Mongol threat — to this fundamental error of “disparaging the Lotus Sutra.” Rejection of the sutra, in his eyes, would destroy the country in this life; in the future, it would condemn its people to countless rebirths in the Avici hell. The horrific sufferings described in the verse section of [Chapter 3] were for him not mere rhetorical hyperbole but an actual account, coming from the Buddha’s own mouth, of the fate that awaited the great majority of his contemporaries, something that grieved him deeply.

Two Buddhas, p85
WONS

Those Who Destroy Buddhism

Some people might wonder what is good about accusing those followers of the Pure Land and Zen Buddhism, making enemies of them. In response, I will cite the Nirvana Sūtra: “Suppose there is a virtuous monk who does not accuse anyone of harming Buddhism, does not try to purge or punish him. You should know that such a monk is an enemy of Buddhism. In case the monk accuses such a man, purges, and punishes him, such a monk is a disciple of the Buddha who truly follows Him.”

Grand Master Chang-an explains this in his Annotations on the
Nirvana Sūtra:

“Those who destroy Buddhism are those within Buddhism working against Buddhism. Those heartless people who keep friendly relationships with such evil doers by overlooking their sins are their enemies. Those who are kind enough to try to correct them are the upholders of the True Dharma and true disciples of the Buddha. To prevent a friend from committing evil is really a friendly act. Therefore, one who accuses those of harming Buddhism is the Buddha’s disciple; and one who does not purge evil doers is an enemy of Buddhism.”

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 113

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 12, 2020

All that I say is true, not false, because I see the triple world as it is. I see that the triple world is the world in which the living beings have neither birth nor death, that is to say, do not appear or disappear, that it is the world in which I do not appear or from which I do not disappear, that it is not real or unreal, and that it is not as it seems or as it does not seem. I do not see the triple world in the same way as [the living beings of] the triple world do. I see all this clearly and infallibly.

The Buddha makes this revelation in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, he has just explained that although beings see him as a man who became enlightened after growing up as a crown prince, in reality he has been enlightened since an unimaginable amount of time in the past, and will continue to lead all beings to enlightenment for twice that period of time into the future. As we learn to see the historical Śākyamuni Buddha as the ever-present Śākyamuni Buddha, our vision of the world changes too.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

LS32

Day 32

Day 32 covers Chapter 28, The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, closing the Eighth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 32 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month heard the Buddha answer how the good men or women will be able to obtain this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, we consider Universal-Sage Bodhisattva’s vow to protect those who practice the Lotus Sūtra.

“World-Honored One! The bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās or upāsikās who seek, keep, read, recite and copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in the defiled world in the later five hundred years after [your extinction], if they wish to study and practice this sūtra, should concentrate their minds [on study and practice] strenuously for three weeks. When they complete [the study and practice of] three weeks, I will mount a white elephant with six tusks, and appear before them with my body which all living beings wish to see, together with innumerable Bodhisattvas surrounding me. I will expound the Dharma to them, show them the Way, teach them, benefit them, and cause them to rejoice. I also will give them dhārāṇi spells. If they obtain these dhārāṇis, they will not be killed by nonhuman beings or captivated by women. Also I myself will always protect them. World-Honored One! Allow me to utter these dhārāṇis spells!”

Thereupon he uttered spells before the Buddha:

“Atandai (1), tandahatai (2), tandahatei (3), tandakusharei (4), tandashudarei (5), shudarei (6), shudarahachi (7), botsudahasennei (8), sarubadarani-abatani (9), sarubabasha-abataru (10), hu­abatani (11), sōgyahabishani (12), sōgyaneku-kyadani (13), asogi (14), sōgyahagyadai. (15), teirei-ada-sōgyatorya-aratei-haratei (16), sarubasogya-sammaji-kyarandai (17), sarubadaruma­shuharisettei (18), saru-basatta-rodakyōsharya-atogyadai (19), shin-abikiridaitei (20).”

See Wisdom and Practice

LS32, d32b, b4today

Wisdom and Practice

The Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī represents the Buddha’s wisdom, while the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue typifies the Buddha’s practice. These two bodhisattvas are regarded as a pair: the wisdom represented by Mañjuśrī symbolizes one’s realization of the truth and the practice typified by Universal Virtue one’s practice of the truth.

We have already studied the realization of the truth in the Law of Appearance. In the assembly of the Buddha’s preaching of this Law, the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī was the representative of the Buddha’s disciples. We learned the entity of the truth in the “one chapter and two halves” — the latter half of chapter 15, all of chapter 16, and the first half of chapter 17. In this assembly, the Bodhisattva Maitreya represented the disciples. We were taught the practice of the truth through the example of the practices of various bodhisattvas in the latter half of chapter 17 and the following chapters, which are defined as the concluding part of the Law of Origin. Finally, the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue appears in the last chapter of the Lotus Sutra. There is a deep significance to his appearance at this particular point.

Buddhism for Today, p405
WONS, 2buddhas

Understanding Dharma Slander

Quote

Nichiren’s understanding of dharma slander included not only verbal disparagement, as the term suggests, but the mental act of rejection or disbelief. As he declared, “To be born in a country where the Lotus Sūtra has spread and neither to have faith in it nor practice it, is disparaging the dharma.” In other words, one could be guilty of “disparaging the dharma” without malign intent, even without knowledge that one was doing so, simply by following a teacher who had set the Lotus aside in favor of lesser, provisional teachings. Nichiren initially leveled, this charge against Hōnen’s followers but later expanded it to include both Shingon and Tendai adepts who subordinated the Lotus Sūtra to the esoteric teachings; practitioners of Zen, who emphasized its “wordless transmission” over the Buddhist scriptures in general; as well as movements to revitalize precept observance, which based themselves on precepts grounded in provisional teachings.

Two Buddhas, p85