Monthly Archives: February 2020

WONS

Insufficient Faith

QUESTION: Is there a definitive statement proving that the bodhisattvas do not attain Buddhahood if the Two Vehicles do not attain it?

ANSWER: It is stated in the thirty-sixth fascicle of the Nirvana Sūtra: “A person who believes that people possess the Buddha-nature but that not necessarily all the people have it is called a man of insufficient faith.” If this is true, bodhisattvas in various pre-Lotus sūtras are all icchantika (a man without faith and virtue and without the possibility of attaining Buddhahood). These sūtras do not acknowledge the attainment of Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles as well as by the bodhisattvas. In this sense, as long as the attaining of Buddhahood by the Vehicles is not acknowledged, attaining Buddhahood by the bodhisattvas is not possible in the pre-Lotus sūtras preached during the first forty years or so.

Nizen Nijō Bosatsu Fu-sabutsu Ji, Never-Attaining Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles and Bodhisattvas in the Pre-Lotus Sūtras, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 220

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 9, 2020

Anything which tastes good, bad, delicious, distasteful, bitter or astringent, will become as delicious as the nectar of heaven and not distasteful when it is put on their tongues.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. In our habitual pursuit of pleasure, we often forget that what is pleasant to some people is irritating to others. This is most obvious with food. Flavors that some find delicious others find disgusting. When we understand that the things in the world are not the cause of our happiness or misery, and that our minds affect how we perceive the world, we find more joy and wonder than we thought possible, and no longer depend on this capricious existence for our happiness.

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

LS32

Day 29

Day 29 covers all of Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.

Day 29 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month witnessed Endless-Intent Bodhisattva’s gift to World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva, we consider in gāthās World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva supernatural powers.

[The Buddha said to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva,] “Endless-Intent! World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva goes about the Sahā-World, employing these supernatural powers without hindrance.”

Thereupon Endless-lntent Bodhisattva asked the Buddha in gāthās:

World-Honored One with the wonderful marks
I ask you about this again.
Why is the son of the Buddha
Called World-Voice-Perceiver?

The Honorable One with the wonderful marks answered Endless-Intent in gāthās:

Listen! World-Voice-Perceiver practiced
According to the conditions of the places [of salvation].
His vow to save [people] is as deep as the sea.
You cannot fathom it even for kalpas.

On many hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhas
He attended and made a great and pure vow.
I will tell you about his vow in brief.
If you hear his name, and see him,
And think of him constantly,
You will be able to eliminate all sufferings.

Suppose you are thrown into a large pit of fire
By someone who has an intention of killing you.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver
The pit of fire will change into a pond of water.

Suppose you are in a ship drifting on a great ocean
Where dragons, fish and devils are rampant.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
The ship will not b sunk by the waves.

Suppose you are pushed
Off the top of Mt. Sumeru by someone.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
You will be able to stay in the air like the sun.

Suppose you are chased by an evil man,
And pushed off [the top of] a mountain made of diamond.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
You will not lose even a hair.

Suppose bandits are surrounding you,
And attempting to kill you with swords.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
The bandits will become compassionate t wards you.

Suppose you are sentenced to death,
And the sword is drawn to behead you.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
The sword will suddenly break asunder.

Suppose you are bound up
In pillories, chains, manacles or fetters.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
You will be released from them.

Suppose someone curses you to death,
Or attempts to kill you by various poisons.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
Death will be brought to that person, instead.

Suppose you meet rākṣasas
Or poisonous dragons or other devils.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
They will not kill you.

Suppose you are surrounded by wild animals
Which have sharp, fearful tusks and claws.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver
They will flee away to distant places.

Suppose you meet lizards, snakes, vipers or scorpions
Emitting poisonous vapor like flames.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
They will go away as you call his name.

Suppose clouds arise, lightning flashes, thunder peals,
Hail falls, and a heavy rains comes down.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
The thunderstorm will stop at once.

See The Supernatural Powers of This Bodhisattva equal the Power of the Law

LS32, d29b, b4today

The Supernatural Powers of This Bodhisattva equal the Power of the Law

[W]e are very wrong in our judgment if we interpret the form of salvation superficially. For example, it is stated in chapter 25, “The All-Sidedness of the Bodhisattva Regarder of the Cries of the World,” that anyone who keeps in mind the Bodhisattva Regarder of the Cries of the World will be delivered from various sufferings. If we interpret this statement literally, it seems to mean that we do not have to work hard at practicing the Buddha’s teachings; but with such an attitude, none of the teachings of the Lotus Sutra will bear fruit. Anyone can easily understand that in the last six chapters the Buddha cannot have been so illogical and contradictory as to deny fundamentally all of the teachings preached up through chapter 22. It is surprising to find that for centuries many people have put a shallow interpretation on something that should be so easily understood and have turned to an easy, lazy faith that they thought would allow them to become free of suffering merely by keeping in mind the Bodhisattva Regarder of the Cries of the World.

When we read chapter 25 carefully and in depth, we understand that the supernatural powers of this bodhisattva are essentially identical with the power of the Law preached by the Tathāgata Sakyamuni. We also realize that we must depend spiritually upon the Law to the last, but that in cultivating and practicing it we should take the model of the Bodhisattva Regarder of the Cries of the World as our immediate goal. It is most regrettable that misunderstanding and simplistic interpretations of Buddhist sutras have sunk deeply into the minds of the general public over a period of many centuries, vitiating the true spirit of Buddhism. It is earnestly hoped that readers of this book will not make the same mistake.

Buddhism for Today, p351
d4b, 2buddhas

Gaining Entry to the Path

Other passages in the Lotus Sūtra describe the hardships of the bodhisattva path. But [in the last half of Chapter 2] we learn that gaining entry to the path is remarkably easy. The Buddha begins by making the standard claim that those who perform the six perfections (pāramitās) of giving, ethics, patience, effort, concentration, and wisdom — the so-called bodhisattva deeds — will attain the path of the buddhas. This is familiar doctrine in both the mainstream and Mahāyāna traditions. But then, in one of the most moving passages in the sūtra, he promises the same attainment for those who perform the far easier act of merely paying homage to stūpas. Even little children “who have drawn a buddha image with a blade of grass or a twig, brush or fingernail, such people, having gradually accumulated merit and perfected great compassion, have certainly attained the path of the buddhas.” The same is true for those who pay homage by making music or even make a low-pitched sound with their voice. “Those who, even with distracted minds have offered a single flower to a painted image will in due time see innumerable buddhas. Or those who have done obeisance to images, or merely pressed their palms together, or raised a single hand, or nodded their heads, will in due time see immeasurable buddhas.” For a tradition that by this time had already developed an architectonics of enlightenment notable for both its precision and its complexity, such declarations are revolutionary.

Two Buddhas, p61
WONS

The Time for Aggressive of Persuasive Propagation

Grand Master Chang-an says in his Annotations on the Nirvana Sūtra, fascicle 8, that whether we should adopt the aggressive means of propagation or the persuasive means must be decided according to the condition of the time, and therefore, we cannot say either one way or the other. Grand Master T’ien-t’ai says of this in the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 8: “It all depends on the time. Sometimes resort to the aggressive means, other times use the persuasive means.” For instance, we cannot harvest rice by cultivating rice paddies and planting rice seeds at the end of autumn.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 112

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 8, 2020

This sūtra is
The most excellent.
To keep this sūtra
Is to keep me.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. We may believe that before we can practice we need to find a Buddha or another enlightened being alive in our world to guide us. These verses remind us of the ever-present Buddha Śākaymuni who was revealed in the Lotus Sūtra. Whether or not we see him as another human in our presence, he is always guiding us to enlightenment. The Buddha also reminds us that by living as he has shown us in the Lotus Sūtra, as Bodhisattvas who exist for the benefit of all beings, we show our respect for him and bring his wisdom to life.

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

LS32

Day 28

Day 28 covers all of Chapter 24, Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, and concludes the Seventh Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 28 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month concluded Chapter 24, we return to the top and witness what happened when the Buddha illumined one hundred and eight billion nayuta Buddha-worlds in the eastern realm.

Thereupon Śākyamuni Buddha [faced the east and] emitted rays of light from the fleshy tuft on his head, that is, from one of the marks of a great man, and also from the white curls between his eyebrows. The light illumined one hundred and eight billion nayuta Buddha-worlds, that is, as many worlds in the east as there are sands in the River Ganges. There was a world called [All-] Pure-Light-Adornment [in the east] beyond those worlds. In that world was a Buddha called Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom, 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. He expounded the Dharma to a great multitude of innumerable Bodhisattvas who were surrounding him respectfully. The ray of light, which was emitted from the white curls [between the eyebrows] of Śākyamuni Buddha, also illumined that world.

At that time there was a Bodhisattva called Wonderful-Voice in the All-Pure-Light-Adornment World. He had already planted roots of virtue a long time ago. He had already made offerings to many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas, and attended on them. He had already obtained profound wisdom. He had already obtained hundreds of thousands of billions of great samadhis, that is, as many great samadhis as there are sands in the River Ganges, such as the samadhi as wonderful as the banner of a general, the samadhi for the traveling of the king of the stars, the samadhi for freedom from causality, the samadhi for the seal of wisdom, the samadhi by which one could understand the words of all living beings, the samadhi by which one could collect all merits, the samadhi for purity, the samadhi for exhibiting supernatural powers, the samadhi for the torch of wisdom, the samadhi for the Adornment-King, the samadhi for pure light, the samadhi for pure store, the samadhi for special teachings, and the samadhi for the revolution of the sun.

See Illumining the Symbol of Buddha-Wisdom

LS32, d28b, b4today

Illumining the Symbol of Buddha-Wisdom

The ray of light emitted from the white hair-circle between the eyebrows of Sakyamuni Buddha shone throughout the domain of the buddhas. This means that although the Original Buddha exists everywhere, living beings can first know of his existence only through the teachings of Sakyantuni. The ray of light from the white hair-circle of Sakyamuni Buddha is the symbol of his Buddha-wisdom, which has revealed the universal truth. This fact has been expressed continually since chapter 1 of the Lotus Sutra, but it is especially important for us to be reawakened to its significance in this chapter. That is why the story begins with the mention of the Buddha’s emitting from the white hair-circle a ray of light that shines throughout the domain of the buddhas. Unless we realize the significance of this, we are liable to have only a shallow understanding of the story or, worse, to misunderstand it altogether.

Buddhism for Today, p367-368
d3b, WONS, 2buddhas

Revealing the Possibility of Buddhahood for All

This second chapter of the Lotus Sūtra represents the Buddha as declaring, “I will now definitely expound the truth” and “having openly set aside skillful means, I will teach only the highest path.” These statements, together with the passage from the Lotus Sūtra’s introductory scripture, Sūtra of Immeasurable Meanings — “For more than forty years I have expounded the dharma in all manner of ways through adeptness in skillful means, but the core truth has still not been revealed” — constituted for Nichiren significant proof that the Lotus Sūtra superseded all prior, provisional teachings. They were, he said, like a great wind scattering dark clouds, the full moon appearing in the heavens, or the orb of the sun blazing in the blue sky, revealing the possibility of buddhahood for all.

Two Buddhas, p72