Monthly Archives: May 2020

Eyes

The Middle Way Between Self-Indulgence and Self-Denial

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The Middle Way as taught here by Śākyamuni Buddha is the Middle Way between self-indulgence and self-denial, both of which perpetuate the self-absorption that generates craving for worldly and otherworldly gain and is reinforced by deluded views. The Middle Way is in fact none other than the eightfold path that is the fourth of the four noble truths that the Buddha then proceeds to expound. Here is the first of the four:

“Now this, monks, is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.”

The first noble truth of suffering means that conditioned phenomena are incapable of providing real lasting happiness. This does not mean that there is no happiness at all, but it does mean that even when we do get what we hoped for the happiness never lasts. In terms of the six lower realms, the worlds of the hell-dwellers, hungry ghosts, animals, and fighting demons are full of pain, ceaseless torment, and strife. Human life is naturally subject to old age, sickness, and death as well as the other sufferings enumerated. Even those who make wholesome causes and find themselves in heavenly circumstances will find that eventually the causes and conditions that put them there will change and they will find themselves forced to take birth into a new situation. In the six lower realms happiness is rare and fleeting whereas painful circumstances are abundant and insecurity is pervasive.

Open Your Eyes, p165
d14b, WONS

Merits of Giving Alms to Practicer of the Lotus Sūtra

It is preached in the “Teacher of the Dharma” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 4: “Suppose a person in search of the Buddha Way comes before me with his hands pressed together in prayer before Me and praises Me for as long as a kalpa (aeon) with numerous verses. Such a person will gain innumerable blessings. A person who glorifies an upholder of this sūtra will gain even more blessings.” This scriptural statement means that the merit of giving alms to a less intelligent practicer of the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration who is about to die of starvation is superior to the merit of supporting the Lord Preacher Śākyamuni Buddha for the period of one kalpa.

Matsuno-dono Goshōsoku, Letter to Lord Matsuno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 66

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 6, 2020

Great-Eloquence! Now I will collect the Buddhas of my replicas who are now expounding the Dharma in the worlds of the ten quarters.

The Buddha makes this declaration to Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, a large tower has sprung up from underground. From inside, the voice of Many-Treasures Buddha proclaims the truth of the Lotus Sutra that Śākyamuni Buddha is teaching. Before the Buddha can open the door to this tower and allow the congregation to see this Buddha, Śākyamuni must summon all the other Buddhas in the other worlds throughout the universe. We often say of others, “They live in their own world.” We are surrounded by as many worlds as there are people in our lives. When we summon their Buddha-Nature using our Buddha-Nature, we open doors to treasures we can barely imagine

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

LS32

Day 14

Day 14 covers all of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, and opens Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.

Day 14 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the prediction for those who keep, read, recite, expound and copy even a phrase of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, we consider the benefit of praising the keeper of the sutra.

“Medicine-King! An evil man who speaks ill of me in my presence with evil intent for as long as a kalpa is not as sinful as the person who reproaches laymen or monks with even a single word of abuse for their reading and reciting the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

“Medicine-King! Anyone who reads and recites the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, know this, will be adorned just as I am. I will shoulder him. Wherever he may be, bow to him! Join your hands together towards him with all your heart, respect him, make offerings to him, honor him, and praise him! Offer him flowers, incense, necklaces, incense powder, incense applicable to the skin, incense to burn, canopies, banners, streamers, garments, food and various kinds of music! Make him the best offerings that you can obtain in the world of men! Strew the treasures of heaven to him! Offer him heaps of the treasures of heaven! Why is that? It is because, while he is expounding the Dharma with joy, if you hear it even for a moment, you will immediately be able to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.”

See Understanding Beyond Theory

LS32, d14b, b4today

Understanding Beyond Theory

We can understand the Lotus Sutra in theory, but this kind of understanding is liable to be shaken by any adverse change in our circumstances. The person who can truly understand and believe the sutra from the bottom of his heart is one who is spiritually sensitive to the teaching and who is ripe to bear the fruit of the accumulated karma of his former lives. For that reason, we must continually strive to grasp the teaching of the Lotus Sutra more deeply and must patiently receive and keep it regardless of whatever doubts we may have in our minds or whatever persecution and slander we may suffer from outsiders.

Buddhism for Today, p144
Eyes

Hinayāna vs. Mahāyāna

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I would like to clarify here what is meant by the term “Hinayāna.” The term means “Small Vehicle” whereas Mahāyāna means “Great Vehicle.” The Mahāyānists referred to those Buddhists who rejected the Mahāyāna sūtras as Hinayāna Buddhists. The so-called Hinayāna Buddhists believed that the Buddha’s teachings could only be found in a closed canonical collection called the Three Baskets (S. tripiṭaka) composed of the sūtras that are the Buddha’s discourses, the monastic rules and procedures (S. vinaya), and the “Higher Dharma” (S. abhidharma) treatises that systematized the teachings in the discourses. The southern recension of these discourses is called the Pāli canon, since it was recorded in the Pāli language. It is composed of five Nikāyas or “Collections.” The northern recension of these discourses was in Sanskrit. They were called the Āgamas or “Sources” and exist now in Chinese translation. Today the Theravādin schools of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka continue to uphold the Pāli canon as the only authoritative canonical collection of the Buddha’s teachings. The Sarvāstivādin and other northern schools that upheld the Āgama sūtras have long since disappeared in India. Because the term Hinayāna is a disparaging epithet and not the proper name of a school, it is best to use the term Theravāda and not Hinayāna when referring to the Buddhism of Southeast Asia. Calling the Āgama sūtras, their teachings, and the schools that rely upon them Hinayāna, as they are by East Asian Buddhists to this day, is problematic for a couple of reasons. The first is that, as Nichiren points out, those who study these teachings or who belong to these schools may have actually adopted Mahāyāna views. The second problem is that, according to Zhiyi, the teachings introduced in the Āgama sūtras can themselves express the perspective of the Mahāyāna if understood more deeply. Nevertheless, the term Hinayāna can be understood to refer to those teachings and schools that confine themselves to pre-Mahāyāna teachings, perspectives, and motivations, for that is how Nichiren uses the term in Kaimoku-shō.

Open Your Eyes, p163
Lotus Seeds

The Ten Factors: Consequences

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Of the Ten Factors, Consequences are the future results of our present actions. This simply refers to the perhaps unforeseen long-term effects of our present actions. It also refers to the eventual fruition, in one manner or another, of the karmic seeds that we have planted in the depths of our lives.

Lotus Seeds

WONS

Daigaku Seson

To begin with, our Lord Preacher Śākyamuni Buddha is called Daigaku Seson (Greatly Enlightened World-Honored One). The Chinese character son of “Seson” means takashi (high), and it also means kō (filial piety). As Śākyamuni Buddha is the most filial of all dutiful children, He is called the World-Honored One. Śākyamuni Buddha has a golden body, and is equipped with 32 marks of physical excellence. One of His 32 marks is that no one can see the top of His head. The Buddha is 16 feet tall, but when non-Buddhists with bamboo sticks tried to measure His height with a 16-foot long bamboo stick, it was in vain. Even King of Brahma Heaven cannot see the top of His head. This is such an inexplicable physical mark of the Buddha. Why is the Buddha equipped with such an excellent mark as this? It is because He is a great being who is foremost in filial piety.

Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 50-51

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 5, 2020

A bhikṣu who expounds this Sūtra
Of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
With patience
After my extinction,
Will be emancipated
From jealousy, anger, and other illusions,
That is to say, from all obstacles.

The Buddha sings these verses to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. We may realize that jealousy and anger are not desirable states, but only because what these states do to our moods. No matter how justified we may feel in our jealousy or anger, these are not pleasant states to be in or even to be around. The Buddha reminds us that the real problem with these states is that they keep us from seeing things as they are. Jealousy exaggerates the importance of what we want but do not have. Anger exaggerates the bad qualities of the targets of our anger. When we focus on this wonderful teaching, develop our patience, and remain determined to benefit all beings, we see things for what they are, and are liberated from illusions.

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

LS32

Day 13

Day 13 covers all of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples.

Day 13 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month repeated the Buddha’s prediction for Pūrṇa in gāthās, we consider the Buddha’s prediction for the twelve hundred Arhats.

Thereupon the twelve hundred Arhats, who had already obtained freedom of mind, thought:

“We have never been so joyful before. How glad we shall be if we are assured of our future Buddhahood by the World-Honored One just as the other great disciples were!”

Seeing what they had in their minds, the Buddha said to Maha-Kāśyapa:

“Now I will assure these twelve hundred Arhats, who are present before me, of their future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi one after another. My great disciple Kauṇḍinya Bhikṣu, who is among them, will make offerings to six billion and two hundred thousand million Buddhas, and then become a Buddha called Universal-Brightness, 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 others of the five hundred Arhats, including Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa, Gaya­Kāśyapa, Nadī-Kāśyapa, Kālodāyin, Udāyin, Aniruddha, Revata, Kapphina, Bakkula, Cunda, and Svāgata, also will attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, and become Buddhas also called Universal-Brightness.”

Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

Kauṇḍinya Bhikṣu will see
Innumerable Buddhas.
After asaṃkhya kalpas from now,
He will attain perfect enlightenment.

He will emit great rays of light [from his body].
He will have all supernatural powers.
His fame will spread over the worlds of the ten quarters.
Respected by all living beings,
He will expound unsurpassed enlightenment to them.
Therefore, he will be called Universal-Brightness.

His world will be pure.
The Bodhisattvas [of that world] will be brave.
They will go up to the tops of wonderful, tall buildings,
And then go out into the worlds of the ten quarters.
There they will make the best offerings
To the Buddhas of those worlds.

After making offerings, they will have great joy.
They will return to their home world in a moment.
They will be able to do all this
By their supernatural powers.

[Universal-Brightness] Buddha will live for sixty thousand kalpas.
His right teachings will be preserved twice as long as his life;
And the counterfeit of them, also twice as long as his right teachings.
When his teachings are eliminated, gods and men will be sad.

The five hundred bhikṣus
Will become Buddhas one after another.
They also will be called Universal-Brightness.
One who has become a Buddha will say to another:
“You will become a Buddha after my extinction.
[The living beings of] the world
To be saved by that Buddha
Will be like those whom I am teaching today.”

The beauty of the worlds [of those Buddhas],
And the supernatural powers [of those Buddhas],
And the number of the Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas [of those worlds],
And the number of kalpas of the lives [of those Buddhas],
Of their right teachings, and of the counterfeit of them,
Will be the same [as in the case of Kauṇḍinya].

Kāśyapa! Now you have heard of the future
Of the five hundred Arhats
Who have freedom of mind.
All the other Śrāvakas also will [become Buddhas].
Tell this to the Śrāvakas
Who are not present here!

See The Prediction for the 5,000 Arrogant Monks