Monthly Archives: April 2020

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 concluded today’s portion of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, we return to Chapter 20 and meet Powerful-Voice-King Buddha.

Thereupon the Buddha said to Great-Power-Obtainer Bodhisattva-mahāsattva:
“Know this! Anyone who speaks ill of or abuses or slanders the bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās or upāsikās who keep the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will incur the retributions previously stated. Anyone [who keeps this sūtra] will be able to have his eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind purified, that is to say, to obtain the merits as stated in the previous chapter.

“Great-Power-Obtainer! Innumerable, limitless, inconceivable, asaṃkhya kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Powerful-Voice-King, 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 lived was called Free-From-Decay; and his world, Great-Achievement. Powerful-Voice-King Buddha expounded the Dharma to the gods, men and asuras of his world. To those who were seeking Śrāvakahood, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the four truths, saved them from birth, old age, disease and death, and caused them to attain Nirvana. To those who were seeking Pratyekabuddhahood, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the twelve causes. To the Bodhisattvas who were seeking Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the six paramitas, and caused them to obtain the wisdom of the Buddha.

“Great-Power-Obtainer! The duration of the life of Powerful-Voice-King Buddha was forty billion nayuta kalpas, that is, as many kalpas as there are sands in the River Ganges. His right teachings were preserved for as many kalpas as the particles of dust of the Jambudvipa. The counterfeit of his right teachings was preserved for as many kalpas as the particles of dust of the four continents. The Buddha benefited all living being and then passed away. After [the two ages:] the age of his right teaching and the age of their counterfeit, there appeared in that world another Buddha also called Powerful-Voice-King, 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. After him, the Buddhas of the same name appeared one after another, two billion altogether.

The Introduction to the Lotus Sutra offers this on ages of the Buddha’s teachings:

The terms, “Age of Right Teachings” and “Age of Counterfeit Teachings,” express the Buddhist view of history. It is believed that for a while after a Buddha has entered Nirvana, people will remember his teachings correctly, put them into practice, and attain enlightenment. However, as time passes, those teachings will become mere academic formalities. People will know about them and be able to discuss them, but they will no longer practice them diligently and attain enlightenment. This second period is called the Age of Counterfeit Teachings. Finally, the teachings will decay altogether. People will neither practice them, understand them, nor attain enlightenment. This is the Age of Degeneration, when Buddhism declines and finally fades away. It is believed by most scholars that the first and second periods last for a thousand years each. The Age of Degeneration can drag on for as long as 10,000 years. In any case, Never-Despising Bodhisattva lived during the second of these three periods, an Age of Counterfeit Teachings.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

d16b, WONS, Eyes

Nichiren and the Precepts

It is clear that Nichiren was no longer advocating even the Mahāyāna precepts of the Brahmā’s Net Sūtra. He believed that the practice of revering the true spirit of the Lotus Sūtra by invoking its title transcended any precept codes or particular Buddhist practices or lifestyles inherited from the past as those were all just provisional methods based on provisional teachings that were no longer efficacious. The following statements of his in other writings also express his view that faith in the Lotus Sūtra is what leads to buddhahood and not the observance of precepts:

Speaking of Ajātaśatru and Devadatta: “I am convinced that ordinary people in the Latter Age of Degeneration commit sins more or less. Whether or not such a man can reach Buddhahood depends not on how serious his sin is but whether or not he believes in the Lotus Sūtra. (Hori 2002, p. 188)

It is preached in the Lotus Sūtra, the “Appearance of the Stūpa of Treasures” chapter, ‘Upholding this sūtra is what is called observing the precepts.’ (Hori 2004, p. 214)

Open Your Eyes, p467-468
WONS

Mutually Possessed Characteristics of the Ten Realms

QUESTION: Does the passage in the Flower Garland Sūtra that states there is no difference among mind, Buddha, and people attest to the truth of the Mutually Possessed Characteristics of the Ten Realms (Each of the ten realms mutually contains characteristics of the other nine)?

ANSWER: Following this passage in the Flower Garland Sūtra it is preached that the Great Medicine King Tree cannot grow in two places: śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha. According to this, it is clear that the attainment of Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles is not allowed in the Flower Garland Sūtra. The Flower Garland Sūtra appears to express the doctrine of Mutually Possessed Characteristics of the Ten Realms. However, since this sūtra does not actually preach the attainment of Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles, it does not allow the Mutually Possessed Characteristics of the Ten Realms. Moreover, the content of the pre-Lotus sūtras should be evaluated according to the Lotus Sūtra, which states that those who have mastered Hinayāna Buddhism are excluded from attaining Buddhahood. Therefore, it is clear that the Flower Garland Sūtra tells bodhisattvas that there is no attainment of Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles. The same is true with sūtras of the Hōdō period and the Wisdom Sūtra.

Nijō Sabutsu Ji, Obtaining Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 226-227

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – April 12, 2020

How did you teach these innumerable Bodhisattvas
In such a short time,
And cause them to aspire for enlightenment
And not falter in seeking enlightenment?

Maitreya Bodhisattva sings these verses to the Buddha in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Despite the Buddha’s explanation that he personally taught all of the Bodhisattvas who appear in Chapter Fifteen, Maitreya and others are still confused by what the Buddha has told them. Since they have faith that whatever the Buddha teaches is for their benefit, they persist with their sincere questioning, assured that the Buddha is leading them to enlightenment. While faith is an important part of our practice, recognizing our own confusion, and using questions to resolve that confusion are equally important. The Buddha does not ask for blind obedience. He knows we cannot find peace until we bring our whole being to his practice.

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 considered the eight hundred merits of the body, we consider the 1200 merits of the mind.

“Furthermore, Constant-Endeavor! The good men or women who keep, read, recite expound or copy this sūtra after my extinction, will be able to obtain twelve hundred merits of the mind. When they hear even a gāthā or a phrase [of this sūtra] with their pure minds, they will be able to understand the innumerable meanings [of this sūtra]. When they understand the meanings [of this sūtra] and expound even a phrase or a gāthā [of this sūtra] for a month, four months, or a year, their teachings will be consistent with the meanings [of this sūtra], and not against the reality of all things. 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. 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.”

See Lapsing into Complacency and Conceit

LS32, d24b

Lapsing into Complacency and Conceit

[T]he major theme of the Buddha’s preaching in [Chapter 19] includes two points. The first is the Buddha’s encouragement to man to devote himself to his practice because if he practices the Lotus Sutra wholeheartedly he can improve both mentally and physically. The second is the Buddha’s admonition that because a true believer in the Lotus Sutra must fulfill the important duty of spreading the Buddha’s teachings, he should naturally possess the power to discern all things. That a person has not yet attained such a mental state is proof of the inadequacy of his personal practice. Therefore he must constantly examine himself so as not to lapse into complacency and conceit.

Buddhism for Today, p303
Eyes

Awakening to the Unconditioned True Nature of Life

In all of these sixty-two cases of wrong views, the Buddha traces the view back to some felt experience that leads to attachment and eventually to suffering. Some of the views are based on present material experience, some on a meditative absorption or attainment, some are based on the recovery of past-life memories through meditation, and some are based on metaphysical speculations using logic and reasoning. What they all have in common is that the holders of these views have taken hold of something (a concept, a felt material experience, a meditative state) as proof of a particular view about life. The Buddha, however, is not trying to set up a conceptual scheme or metaphysical system to be an object of clinging. He is not trying to establish some partial experience as representative of some greater whole. Rather, the Buddha is trying to show that true freedom from suffering can only occur when one no longer clings to passing experiences or even conceptual constructs. By not clinging, one escapes the net of views and instead awakens to the Net of Brahmā that is the Supreme Net of the interdependent nature of reality that is selfless and free of suffering. …

Though the particularities of these sixty-two views and even the particulars of the Buddha’s criticisms might strike us as odd, irrelevant, or unscientific, the main point the Buddha makes is one that I believe is still valid. If we wish to become free of the entanglement of speculative views, we need to stop trying to pin down the nature of the big picture based on transient experiences or finite points of view. Instead, we need to look directly at the causal nature of experience itself and how it arises and passes away based on causes and conditions. Looking ever more deeply into the causal and interdependent nature of conditioned phenomena is what brings about insight into the futility of selfish attachment. Without selfish attachment there can be an awakening to the unconditioned life of selfless compassion that is buddhahood. Of course, this too may sound like a view that one can make into an object of attachment or aversion, but the Buddha did not intend for it to be a conceptual doctrine. Rather, he was recommending that we let go of speculative views about conditioned phenomena and put his teachings into practice so that we can awaken to the unconditioned true nature of life for ourselves.
Open Your Eyes, p18-21

WONS

Worshiping Wooden Icons and Portraits

QUESTION: If even insentient beings possess “ten aspects, does it mean that even grass and trees possess senses so that they can obtain Buddhahood just like sentient beings?

ANSWER: This is difficult to comprehend and difficult to believe in. In fact, T’ien-t’ai is hard to understand and hard to believe in two aspects: one is his theology, and the other his spiritual contemplation. What is difficult in his theology are the seemingly contradictory statements found in Buddhist scriptures preceding the Lotus Sūtra and in the Lotus Sūtra itself, which were preached by one person, the Buddha. The pre-Lotus sūtras hold that the two groups of Hinayāna sages called śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha (Two Vehicles) and icchantika (those without the Buddha-nature) will never reach Buddhahood, and that Lord Śākyamuni achieved Buddhahood for the first time in this life.

However, the Lotus Sūtra, both essential (hommon) and theoretical (shakumon) sections, denies this, stating that even the Two Vehicles and icchantika can become Buddhas in the future and that the Lord Śākyamuni is in fact the Eternal Buddha. Thus one Buddha claimed two views, as far apart as fire and water. How could anyone believe in Him? This is the most difficult doctrine to understand and to put faith in.

The second difficulty in the T’ien-t’ai doctrine is his spiritual contemplation regarding his doctrine of “1,000 aspects contained in 100 realms” and “3,000 existences contained in one thought.” It is founded on the concept of “ten aspects,” maintaining that insentient beings such as grass, trees, and land possess ten aspects, that is to say, even insentient beings have mind as well as body. This is hard to believe. However, worshiping wooden icons and portraits as honzon has been allowed in Buddhism as well as other religions. This is acceptable only through the T’ien-t’ai doctrine. Unless grass and trees possess both matter and spirit and the principle of cause and effect, it does not make sense at all to worship wooden icons and portraits.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 130-131

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – April 11, 2020

When I saw that some people of little virtue and of much defilement were seeking the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle, I told them, ‘I renounced my family when I was young, and attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi [forty and odd years ago].’ In reality I became the Buddha in the remotest past as I previously stated. I told them so as an expedient to teach them, to lead them into the Way to Buddhahood.

In Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha gives this explanation of a parable he tells in Chapter Three. In that story, the foolish children of a wise man were playing in a burning house. The man tried to warn his children of the dangers of the house, but the children were so preoccupied with their games they would not leave. Only when the man promised them better toys outside would the children leave the house. The words used by the wise man were meant to get the children out of the house, even though the toys did not exist. These words were necessary to motivate the children to set aside their delusions. They were not meant to be taken literally. We learn from this explanation how the Buddha uses words, and why we formerly needed his expedient teachings.

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

LS32

Day 23

Day 23 covers all of Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, and opens Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.

Day 23 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month asked the benefits of those who rejoice at hearing the sūtra, we consider just how great those benefits are.

“Suppose the Jambudvipa was filled with wonderful treasures such as gold, silver, lapis lazuli, shell, agate, coral and amber; elephant-carts and horse-carts; and palaces and stately buildings made of the even treasures. Suppose a man who was seeking merits gave all those pleasing things [filling the Jambudvipa] to the living beings of four hundred billion asaṃkhya worlds according to their wishes. A world consists of the six regions. The living beings [of the six regions] are of one or another of the four kinds of births: oviparous, viviparous, from moisture, or without any medium. Some of them have form while others do not. Some have desire while others do not. Some have no feet while other have two feet or four or more. Having continued giving those alms to them for eighty years, this great almsgiver thought, ‘I gave those pleasing things to them according to their wishes. Now they are old and decrepit. They are more than eighty years old. Their hair is grey; and their face , wrinkled. They will die before long. I will lead them by the Dharma of the Buddha.’

“Then he collected them. He propagated the Dharma to them, led them by the Dharma, showed them the Dharma, taught them, benefited them, and caused them to rejoice. He caused them to attain in a moment the enlightenment of the Srota-āpanna, of the Sakrdāgāmin, of the Anāgāmin or of the Arhat, eliminate all āsravas, practice deep dhyāna-concentration without hindrance, and obtain the eight emancipations. What do you think of this? Do you think that the merits obtained by this great alms giver were many or not?”

Maitreya said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! I think that his merits were many, immeasurable and limitless. His merits were already immeasurable when he gave all those pleasing things to them. Needless to say, so were his merits when he caused them to attain Arhatship.”

The Buddha said to Maitreya:

“Now I will tell you clearly. The merits of the person who gave all those pleasing things to the living beings of the six regions of four hundred billion asaṃkhya worlds, and caused them to attain Arhatship are less than the merit of the fiftieth person who rejoices at hearing even a gāthā of this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. The merits of the former person are less than a hundredth or a thousandth of the merits of the latter person, or less than the merits of the latter person divided by a hundred thousand billion. [The superiority of the merits of the latter person to those of the former person] cannot be explained by any calculation, parable or simile.

“Ajita! The merits of the fiftieth person who rejoices at hearing this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma are immeasurable, limitless, asaṃkhya. Needless to say, so are the merits of the first person who rejoices at hearing [this sūtra] in the congregation. His merits are immeasurable, limitless, asaṃkhya and incomparable.

See Practicing for Oneself and Others