Put simply, dependent origination means that all phenomena arise as the result of conditions and cease when those conditions change. The Buddha taught the general theory of dependent origination as follows: “When this exists, that comes to be; with the arising of this, that arises. When this does not exist, that does not come to be; with the cessation of this, that ceases.” (Bodhi 2000, p. 575) So there-are-no static isolated entities in existence. Everything arises and ceases depending on causes and conditions that arise due to yet other causes and conditions. There is no ultimate ground or primordial cause, but a network of causes and conditions. This undercuts the view of a metaphysical selfhood, fixed entity, or substance underlying the constant change that is life.
Open Your Eyes, p176Monthly Archives: May 2020
Lotus Sūtra Enables All Living Beings to Become Buddhas
There are two kinds of classic works on filial piety: the Classic of Filial Piety written by a non-Buddhist sage called Confucius of China and the Buddhist work on filial piety entitled the Lotus Sūtra. Although they differ in that one is a Buddhist sūtra and another is a non-Buddhist classic, what they preach is fundamentally the same.
For what purpose did Śākyamuni Buddha strive to attain Buddhahood for an incalculably long period of time known as the dust-particle kalpa (aeons)? It was for no other reason than filial piety. However, as all the living beings in the world of delusion are the Buddha’s parents, unless they all attain Buddhahood, He cannot claim to have fulfilled His filial duties. The Buddha, therefore, did not attain Buddhahood Himself. However, the Lotus Sūtra expounds the secret dharma enabling all living beings to attain Buddhahood. That is to say, it reveals the truth of attaining Buddhahood by all living beings in the ten realms through leading one person in the realm of hell, one person in the realm of hungry spirits, or just one person in each of the nine realms to Buddhahood. It is just as when we cut a bamboo joint, other joints are cut at the same time. Or it is like the shichō strategy in the game of go, where the death of one “stone” coincides with the death of many. It is the same with the truth of the Lotus Sūtra. As metal can cut trees and grass, and water has the virtue of extinguishing all fires, the Lotus Sūtra is equipped with the virtue of enabling all living beings to become Buddhas.
Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 51
Daily Dharma – May 12, 2020
Upon seeing such passages in various sutras as “The truth lies beyond language,” and “It is found where the mind is extinguished,” they will embrace an evil thought that the holy scriptures of the Buddha do not reveal his true Enlightenment. As a result, devils get hold of these three categories of people in the Latter Age of Degeneration, and even destroy the country.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Chanting the Great Title of the Lotus Sūtra (Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō). He reminds us that even though words are limited, we must not cast out the Buddha’s true teaching as unable to lead us to enlightenment. We can revere the Buddha Dharma without making it into a dogma. When we ignore completely what the Buddha left for us, what remains is our own selfish desires and confusion. When the individuals in a society are focused only on their own personal benefit, how can that society survive?
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 20
Day 20 completes Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, and concludes the Fifth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month considered the handsome, black-haired man twenty-five years who says men 100 years old are his children, we repeat in gāthās and conclude today’s portion of Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.
Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
It is not long
Since you renounced the family of the Śākyas
And sat under the Bodhi-tree
Near Gaya.These sons of yours are innumerable.
They have practiced
The way to Buddhahood for a long time.
They have supernatural powers and the power of wisdom.They have studied the Way of Bodhisattvas well.
They are not defiled by worldliness
Just as the lotus-flower
Is not defiled by water.They sprang up from underground,
And are now standing before you respectfully.
This is difficult to understand.
How can we believe this?You attained enlightenment quite recently.
But you have done so many things.
Remove our doubts!
Explain all this as it is!Suppose a man twenty-five years old
Points to grey-haired and wrinkle-faced men
A hundred years old,
And says, “They are my sons.”
Suppose old men point to a young man
And say, “He is our father.”
No one in the world will believe
That a father is younger than his sons.You are like the father.
You attained enlightenment quite recently.
These Bodhisattvas are resolute in mind.
They are not timid.
They have practiced the Way of Bodhisattva
For the past innumerable kalpas.They are good at answering difficult questions.
They are fearless and patient.
They are handsome, powerful and virtuous.
They are praised by the Buddhas
Of the worlds of the ten quarter .
They expound [the Dharma] clearly.They did not wish to live among men.
They preferred dwelling in dhyana-concentration.
They lived in the sky below
In order to attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.We do not doubt your words
Because we heard them direct from you.
Explain all this so that the living beings in the future
May be able to understand your words, Buddha!Those who doubt this sūtra
And do not believe it
Will fall into the evil regions.
Explain all this to us now!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?[Here ends] the Fifth Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
The Ideal Way of Life
Buddhism for Today, p183In the verses spoken by the Bodhisattva Maitreya occur the following words:
“They have ably learned the bodhisattva-way,
And are as untainted with worldly things
As the lotus flower in the water.”These words represent the ideal way of life that the Buddha teaches us in the Lotus Sutra. We should not withdraw from society but should lead beautiful and pure lives within society. The ideal of the Lotus Sutra consists in making all society pure and beautiful. The title Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law expresses this ideal.
The Trouble with Interfaith Truth
Gene Reeves’ The Stories of the Lotus Sutra was published by Risshō Kōsei Kai in 2010 as a companion to Reeves’ updated translation of the threefold Lotus Sutra. This is the second Kōsei kai book I’ve read that brings up the concept that all religions share a common, inter-faith truth. As Reeves puts it:
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p81[W]ithout the nourishment of the Dharma [as revealed in the Simile of the Herbs] we would dry up and die. But this Dharma that nourishes all is not something to be found only in the Buddhist religion. It is universal. It is everywhere. The Dharma can be found even in the ordinary food that we eat and the water we drink, making it possible for us to live.
Or this conflating of Jesus and Krishna with the Eternal Buddha:
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p71[E]ven when we think we cannot see him, the Buddha can be found right next to us. The Buddha may not even go by the name of a buddha. Sometimes perhaps he goes by the name of Christ, or Krishna, or even Jane. Belonging to a Buddhist temple or organization is not, in itself, the Buddha Way, nor is it the only way to enter or follow the Buddha Way. The “universal gate” is many gates, many more than you or I could possibly know in a lifetime.
Reeves comes at this whole issue of inter-faith Dharma from a number of directions.
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p51One of the important insights to be gained from the teaching of skillful means is that many things that are not the whole truth are nevertheless important truths. Just as we should seek the potential to be a buddha in ourselves even though we are far from perfect, we should seek the truth, even the hidden truths, in what others say, in their words and in their stories.
“Others” includes of course other religions and their followers. Followers of the Dharma Flower Sutra can be glad when they encounter people of other faiths who have found carriages appropriate for themselves. The Sutra teaches that there are many successful ways, some, no doubt, beyond our imagination.
Or this:
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p70Apart from the Buddha and blind to the Buddha Dharma, we are like someone wandering around, destitute, impoverished, without purpose, miserable. In a sense, this is the destiny of those who do not, in some way, follow the Buddha Way. This does not mean, however, that one has to be a Buddhist in the ordinary sense. To follow the Buddha is to put one’s trust in and devote oneself to the happiness of others and the life of the whole. It is to share in a kind of common human faith that life is meaningful, a faith that finds expression in a variety of religious and other forms.
I struggle with this concept that the One Buddha Vehicle includes Christian chariots along with the Śrāvakayāna sheep cart and Pratyekabuddha deer cart and Bodhisattva bullock cart.
Stretching the One Buddha Vehicle to cover all of the Buddha’s teachings is, for me, the essence of the Lotus Sutra. I view the Lotus Sutra as the blueprint that allows the practicer to gather from all of the building materials (other sutras) what is needed to create a hall within which one can practice the Buddha way. The Lotus Sutra is the ocean into which all streams have flowed. But I’m unable – or perhaps just unwilling – to stretch it further to include all religions.
These ideas troubled me and it occurred to be that someone who had a statue of a Roman Catholic saint eye-opened for his Buddhist altar might be able to share some insight. I sent this as an email to Ryuei McCormick.
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra
From the Introduction to Gene Reeves’ 2010 book published by Rissho Kosei-kai:
Be forwarned! This book might transform you into the kind of Buddhist who loves the Lotus Sutra and therefore deeply cares about this world. It is a commentary on the stories of the Lotus Sutra, a sutra that more than any other has been both loved and reviled. Though intended to be a companion volume to my translation of the Lotus Sutra, this does not mean that it cannot be read without the translation at hand. I think everything in this book can be understood on its own. Still, one’s understanding of the Dharma Flower Sutra will be greatly enhanced by reading the translation – or better yet by reading a Chinese version! …
During most of my adult life I have been both a teacher and a preacher, roles which I understand to be different, though, of course, teaching can be included within preaching and sometimes a little preaching may show up in a teacher. And that is what this book does, at least that is what I hope it does. I hope it will inspire at least some readers not only to understand the Lotus Sutra better but also to embrace it, at least some part of its core teaching. I hope some will be moved by it to improve their lives in some significant way. But where it has seemed relevant to do so, I have included factual information both about the text and about the subjects of the stories in the text.
I hope it will shed some light on and even open up the profound meaning of that text – which is normally known in East Asia as the Dharma Flower Sutra. (In this book I will use “Lotus Sutra” and “Dharma Flower Sutra” interchangeably.) Though any text, including the Dharma Flower Sutra, can be interpreted and understood in various ways, I believe that this text is first of all a religious text, intended primarily not to settle some dispute among monks in ancient India, or to expound philosophical doctrines, but rather to influence the lives of its hearers or readers in highly significant ways. In an important way, we might say that the text wants to teach and transform you! For that purpose to be fulfilled or even appreciated widely, it is important that the meaning and thrust of the Sutra be readily available to ordinary English-language readers. This attempt to interpret the Lotus Sutra in plain words is an attempt to have its rich meanings and significance available to a wider and widening audience.
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p1-3
See this blog post: The Trouble with Interfaith Truth
Book Quotes
Threefold Training
The noble eightfold path has also been restated as the threefold training, consisting of morality, concentration, and wisdom. Morality pertains to the ethical demands of right speech, right action and right livelihood. Specifically, the practice of morality can refer to the five precepts taken by laypeople, the ten virtuous precepts (i.e. the ten good acts), the ten precepts for novices, or even the full monastic precepts taken by monks and nuns. Concentration refers to the cultivation of the mind covered by right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. Wisdom refers to the acquisition of right view and right intention. The Buddha taught that when morality, concentration, and wisdom are cultivated together, one is able to shake loose the bonds of craving and ignorance and attain the liberation of nirvāṇa.
More specifically, the practice of the eightfold path or the threefold training leads to four fruitions of the holy life. These four fruitions are referred to as “paths” when one first enters such a state and “fruits” when one realizes the benefits from the path attained. Specifically, the benefits of the four fruitions refers to our progressive liberation from ten fetters which keep us trapped in the ordinary life of birth and death and all the suffering, fear and anxiety which makes up that life.
Open Your Eyes, p172Faith Like Fire and Faith Like Water
Of the people who put faith in the Lotus Sūtra today, some have faith like fire while others have it like water. Those who have faith like fire refer to those who become enthusiastic upon listening to the preaching but their passion cools down as times goes by, and eventually forget the teaching. On the other hand, those whose faith is like water mean those whose faith is like a ceaselessly flowing water, namely those who retain their faith without retreating.
Ueno-dono Gohenji, A Reply to Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 126
Daily Dharma – May 11, 2020
Those who believe in the Lotus Sutra are like the winter season, for many hardships come incessantly. Winter is surely followed by spring. We have never heard nor seen that winter returned to fall. We have never heard that the believers in the Lotus Sutra go back to ordinary people. The Lotus Sutra says, “All people who listen to this sutra will attain Buddhahood.”
Nichren wrote this in a letter to one of the lay women who followed his teachings, Myoichi Ama. Knowing the hardships Nichiren faced in his life helps us understand his great fearlessness and determination to spread the Wonderful Dharma. One of the most difficult things about hardship is that it can seem like it will never end. Nichiren reminds us that hardships do end, and that we who practice the Lotus Sutra are assured of our future enlightenment. The example of Nichiren’s life also shows us that as Bodhisattvas, we can use our hardships to lead other beings to enlightenment.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com