Monthly Archives: May 2020

d3b, d4b, WONS

If Easy to Believe, the Sūtra Is Not the True Dharma

After all, those with capacity to understand and have full faith in Buddhism who had the luck of listening to Śākyamuni Buddha preach the Lotus Sūtra in India must have accumulated a great deal of merit in their past lives. Moreover, they were fortunate to have been assisted and guided by the Lord Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, who had come to attest to the truth of Śākyamuni’s words, various Buddhas in manifestation who had come from all over the universe, numerous bodhisattvas who had sprung up from underground, and such distinguished disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha as Mañjuśrī and Maitreya. Nevertheless, there were some who were not converted to the Lotus Sūtra. This is the reason why those self-conceited, as many as 5,000, moved out when the Buddha was about to start preaching (chapter 2, “Expedients”), and why some men and gods were transferred to other worlds (chapter 11, “The Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures”). It was so even while Śākyamuni Buddha was alive. How much more difficult is it to believe in the Lotus Sūtra in the Ages of the True Dharma and Semblance Dharma after the death of Śākyamuni Buddha, not to say in the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration? If you could easily believe in the sūtra, it would mean that the sūtra is not the True Dharma.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 134

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 2, 2020

Those who, without concentrating their minds,
Offered nothing but a flower to the picture of the Buddha,
Became able to see
Innumerable Buddhas one after another.

We can read these words of the Buddha from Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra as if we had to wait until another life to see Buddhas. But by making offerings to an image of the Buddha, by practicing respect towards a representation of the Buddha, we start to look for and recognize the Buddha in ourselves and in all of the beings who share the world with us. When we see this world of conflict and suffering as the Buddha’s Pure Land, then we see all beings as our enlightened teachers. We see innumerable Buddhas.

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

LS32

Day 10

Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.

Day 10 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the process needed for Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence to become that buddha, we meet the sixteens sons of the Buddha.

“Bhikṣus! At the end of the period of ten small kalpas, the Dharma of the Buddhas came into the mind of Great-Universal­Wisdom-Excellence Buddha. Now he attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Before he left home, he had sixteen sons. The first son was called Accumulated-Wisdom. Each of the sons had various playthings. When the sons heard that their father had attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, they gave up the playthings, left home, and came to that Buddha.

“[When they were leaving home,] their mothers saw them off, weeping. Not only the wheel-turning-holy-king, who was their grandfather, but also one hundred ministers and hundreds of thousands of billions of subjects surrounded and followed the princes, wishing to come to the place of enlightenment, to see Great­Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathāgata, to make offerings to that Buddha, respect him, honor him, and praise him.

“Having come [to that Buddha], the princes worshipped him at his feet with their heads, walked around him, joined their hands together towards him with all their hearts, looked up at the World­Honored One, and praised him in gāthās:

In order to save all living beings,
You, the World-Honored One,
Who have great powers and virtues,
[Made efforts] for many hundreds of millions of years.
Now you have become a Buddha.
You have finally fulfilled your vows. Congratulations!

You, the World-Honored One, are exceptional.
When you were sitting,
You were quiet and peaceful.
You did not move your body, hands or feet
For ten small kalpas.

Your mind was tranquil, not distracted.
You have finally obtained tranquil extinction.
You now dwell peacefully in the Dharma-without-āsravas.

Seeing that you have peacefully attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha,
We, too, have obtained benefits.
Congratulations! How glad we are!
All living beings are suffering.
Being blind, they have no leader.
They do not know how to stop suffering,
Or that they should seek emancipation.
In the long night fewer people go to heaven,
And more people go to the evil regions.
They go from darkness to darkness, and do not hear
Of the names of the Buddhas.

You are the Most Honorable One.
You have obtained the peaceful
Dharma-without-āsravas.
Not only we but also all gods and men
Will be able to obtain the greatest benefit.
Therefore, we bow and devote ourselves to you,
The Most Honorable One.

The Daily Dharma from March 1, 2020, offers this:

Seeing that you have peacefully attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha,
We, too, have obtained benefits.
Congratulations! How glad we are!

The children of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha sing these verses to their father in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. They realize that when one being reaches enlightenment, it is a benefit for all beings. In Chapter Ten, the Buddha teaches that many people will hate his Wonderful Dharma with jealousy during his lifetime, and many more will be jealous of it after his extinction. These people see the Buddha as different from themselves, and do not understand how they can become as enlightened as he is. They believe that for one person to gain, another must lose. The Buddha shows that all beings benefit from his teaching. Nothing is taken away from anyone.

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

Eyes

Ten Wonders of the Original Gate

Quote

As for the ten wonders of the Original Gate they involve the causes and effects of buddhahood from the perspective of the Eternal Buddha and are as follows:

  1. The Wonder of Original Cause: The Eternal Buddha’s practice of the bodhisattva path occurred in the incalculably remote past and thereby puts the previous wonders of knowledges, practices, and stages of the Trace Gate in a timeless perspective.
  2. The Wonder of Original Effect: Likewise the Eternal Buddha’s attainment of buddhahood occurred in the remote past, and thus the wonder of the threefold Dharma is put into this timeless perspective.
  3. The Wonder of the Original Land: Since the time of the Eternal Buddha’s attainment of buddhahood in the remote past he has remained in this world of Endurance (Skt. sahā) teaching sentient beings. This world is, therefore, the true Pure Land of Eternally Tranquil Light of the Eternal Buddha.
  4. The Wonder of Original Receptivity and Response: The wonder of receptivity and response is now shown to have begun in the remote past.
  5. The Wonder of Original Supernatural Powers: The wonder of the Eternal Buddha’s use of supernatural powers is now shown to have begun in the remote past.
  6. The Wonder of the Original Expounding of the Dharma: The wonder of the Eternal Buddha’s expounding of the Dharma is now shown to have begun in the remote past.
  7. The Wonder of Original Attendants: The wonder of the Eternal Buddha’s relationship with sentient beings and fostering of bodhisattvas is now shown to have begun in the remote past.
  8. The Wonder of the Original Nirvāṇa: This is the wonder of the Eternal Buddha’s actual abiding in nirvāṇa since the remote past, though he repeatedly displays the attainment of nirvāṇa with remainder (the extinction of greed, hatred, and delusion in life) and final nirvāṇa or nirvāṇa without remainder (physical extinction) in order to inspire sentient beings.
  9. The Wonder of the Original Lifespan: This is the wonder of the Eternal Buddha’s unborn and deathless lifespan, though he takes on various transient lives in the world in order to teach, guide, and inspire sentient beings.
  10. The Wonder of Original Benefits: The wonder of the Eternal Buddha’s merit and beneficial influence on sentient beings is now shown to have begun in the remote past.
Open Your Eyes, p143-145
WONS

Ice and Fire

Ice, before the sun rises, is as hard as gold. Fire, when there is no water, is as hot as iron in a furnace. However, hard ice can easily be melted by the sun in summer and fire can be extinguished by water. In the same fashion, although the esoterists appear to be noble and wise, they are like those who rely on the hardness of ice, without seeing the potential of the sun, or fire without considering water.

Oto Gozen Go-shōsoku, A Letter to Lady Oto, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 116

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 1 2020

Anyone who understands why the Buddhas expound [many] sūtras,
Who knows the position [of this sūtra in the series of sūtras],
And who expounds it after my extinction
According to its true meaning,
Will be able to eliminate the darkness
Of the living beings of the world where he walks about,
Just as the light of the sun and the moon
Eliminates all darkness.

The Buddha sings these verses to Superior-Practice Bodhisattva (Jōgyo, Viśiṣṭacārītra) in Chapter Twenty-One of the Lotus Sūtra. The superiority of the Lotus Sūtra does not disparage the Buddha’s expedient teachings. The Lotus Sūtra leads all beings to enlightenment. Other teachings could only reach a limited audience. When we as Bodhisattvas who are determined to benefit all beings expound this highest expression of the Buddha’s wisdom, and do not limit ourselves to saving only a few, then we become the light that limits the darkness of ignorance, fear and violence in this world of conflict.

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