Monthly Archives: May 2020

WONS

No Doubt Evil People Can Attain Buddhahood

The pre-Lotus sūtras preach that Devadatta will never be able to attain Buddhahood. If this is true, the Lotus Sūtra is a great lie. If the Lotus Sūtra that allows Devadatta to become a Buddha, is true, the various pre-Lotus sūtras are, in turn, considered committing the sin of telling a lie. The Lotus Sūtra guarantees Devadatta to be Heavenly King Buddha although he committed not only the three rebellious sins but also innumerable other serious crimes. There is, thus, no doubt that evil people who committed one or two rebellious sins can attain Buddhahood. It is just as when the earth is turned over, the vegetation growing there is also turned over, and a man who is able to break a solid stone can easily cut off the soft grass. That is why this sūtra is called “myō (wonderful).”

Hokke Daimoku Shō, Treatise on the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 42-43

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma for May 17, 2020

If they hear the Dharma, some will attain enlightenment;
Others will be reborn in heaven.
The living beings in the evil regions will decrease;
And those who do good patiently will increase.

The Brahma-Heavenly-Kings of the Southwest sing these verses to Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. They are imploring that Buddha to share his highest teaching with them, and demonstrating that they are ready to receive it. Those living in evil regions are in great difficulty, because they do not know how to keep from reinforcing their delusions and truly benefit themselves. When a Buddha appears to show all beings the world as it is, he helps us to shed our delusions. But we must still come to him and show through our respect for him that we are ready for his teaching.

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

Blog

Understanding Shakyamuni’s Gift

Mt. Minobu
Mt. Minobu

Before Covid-19 reshaped the world, Ven. Kenjo Igarashi of the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church had planned a pilgrimage to Mt. Minobu and some other sites important in Nichiren Shu Buddhism. I was very excited about the opportunity and devastated when the pandemic put an end the plans.

I only hope that when I finally have the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to Mt. Minobu I have an experience as eye-opening as the experience Rev. Ryuei McCormick describes in his May 16 post, Pilgrimage to Mt. Minobu.

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 met Powerful-Voice-King Buddha, we meet Never-Despising Bodhisattva.

“There lived arrogant bhikṣus in the age of the counterfeit of the right teachings of the first Powerful-Voice-King Tathāgata, that is, after the end of the age of his right teachings which had come immediately after his extinction. [Those arrogant bhikṣus] were powerful. At that time there lived a Bodhisattva called Never-Despising. He took the form of a bhikṣu.

“Great-Power-Obtainer! Why was this bhikṣu called Never-Despising? It was because, every time he saw bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās or upāsikās, he bowed to them and praised them, saying, ‘I respect you deeply. I do not despise you. Why is that? It is because you will be able to practice the Way of Bodhisattvas and become Buddhas.’

“He did not read or recite sūtras. He only bowed to the four kinds of devotees. When he saw them in the distance, he went to them on purpose, bowed to them, and praised them, saying, ‘I do not despise you because you can become Buddhas.’

“Some of the four kinds of devotees had impure minds. They got angry, spoke ill of him and abused him, saying, ‘Where did this ignorant bhikṣu come from? He says that he does not despise us and assures us that we will become Buddhas. We do not need such a false assurance of our future Buddhahood.’ Although he was abused like this for many years, he did not get angry. He always said to them, ‘You will become Buddhas.’

“When he said this, people would strike him with a stick, a piece of wood, a piece of tile or a stone. He would run away to a distance, and say in a loud voice from afar, ‘I do not despise you. You will become Buddhas.’ Because he always said this, he was called Never-Despising by the arrogant bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās and upāsikās.

See The Literary Merits of Chapter 20

LS32, d25b, b4today

The Literary Merits of Chapter 20

Having read this far, readers will notice that [Chapter 20, The Bodhisattva Never Despise] is very different from the previous chapters of the Lotus Sutra. The chapters so far have presented us with scenes of many lands as that are beautiful and dreamlike but quite unlike this world, as well as dreadful scenes of hell. Most personages, including the buddhas, have been introduced as superhuman and ideal beings. But this chapter is strongly characterized by the human touch. The setting of the Bodhisattva Never Despise makes us think of an ordinary town today, although no description of any particular place is given. The characters appearing in the story are ordinary people such as may be met with anywhere. The words “bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, and upāsikās” do not necessarily mean Buddhist monks, nuns, and lay devotees, but include people of all kinds and classes: foppish minor officials, raffish young men, middle-aged merchants posing as seasoned men of mature judgment, good-natured but strong-willed women; mingling with such people, we also imagine learned priests who boast of having a complete knowledge of Buddhism, middle-aged monks who are proud of keeping the precepts, and old priests who come to town to beg for alms but do not preach any sermons, only standing silently on a street corner with an aloof and superior air. The Bodhisattva Never Despise conjures up the image of a young monk who has the air of an earnest, serious-minded man with something unusual and refined about him.

All the chapters of the Lotus Sutra can be said to be literary in style; but chapter 20 comes closest to the feeling of modern literature. It gives us a strong sense of humanity and of things familiar to us. This is quite natural because it states vividly how, by practicing only the virtue of paying respect to others, an ordinary man realizes his faith and finally attains the perfection of his character.

Buddhism for Today, p308-309
Eyes

The Bodhisattva’s Career

The bodhisattva’s career begins with the arousal of the “awakening mind” (S. bodhicitta), the initial aspiration to attain perfect and complete awakening and save all sentient beings. The bodhisattva’s determination is currently expressed in East Asian Buddhism by the four great vows from the Bodhisattva Practice Jeweled Necklace Sūtra (probably composed in China in the late fifth century) that were popularized by Zhiyi (538-597), the founder of the Tiantai school. The four great vows are the general vows that all bodhisattva’s take, though some bodhisattvas in the sütras are credited with more specific vows. These four great vows are as follows:

Sentient beings are innumerable:
I vow to save them all.

Our defilements are inexhaustible:
I vow to quench them all.

The Buddha’s teachings are immeasurable:
I vow to know them all.

The Way of the Buddha is unexcelled:
I vow to attain the Path Sublime.

In order to fulfill these vows the bodhisattvas must transcend the insight and spiritual maturity of the two vehicles: “And if a bodhisattva is unable even to realize the level of a śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha, how much less can he know perfect and complete awakening!” (adapted from Conze 1984, p. 105) Though the bodhisattvas’ training encompasses that of the two vehicles, the bodhisattvas must beware of grasping at the concepts the two vehicles use to analyze reality (like the four noble truths, the five aggregates, or the twelve links of the chain of dependent origination) as though they were actual things, nor should they fall into the individualized nirvāṇa of the two vehicles. Instead they must develop skillful means (S. upāya) and the six perfections (S. pāramitā) in order to attain buddhahood for the sake of all beings. Skillful means is essentially the same things as the perfection of wisdom. “But what is this skillful means of a bodhisattva? It is just this perfection of wisdom.” (adapted from Conze 1995, p. 250) The perfection of wisdom is the insight that all phenomena (called dharmas in Buddhism) are empty of an unchanging independent selfhood or essence and therefore there is ultimately nothing to grasp and nothing to reject. “The non-appropriation and the non-abandonment of all dharmas, that is perfect wisdom.” (Conze 1984, p. 102) This insight is the origin, guide, and culmination of the other five perfections: generosity, morality, patience, energy, and meditation. Under the direction of the perfection of wisdom the development and application of the other five perfections become skillful means for the sake of all beings rather than for the sake of gaining worldly benefit or the attainment of the Hinayāna nirvāṇa that abandons the six worlds.

Open Your Eyes, p194-195
Lecture on Lotus Sutra

The Most Fundamental Cause

Quote

Chanting Odaimoku begins by praising and expressing our appreciation to the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren understood that when we develop a mind of gratitude, praise, and devotion to the very teaching of the Lotus Sutra itself, we are creating the most fundamental cause possible to actualizing all the benefits contained in the Lotus Sutra. This is what the Buddha tells us in Chapter II as well as many other places in the Lotus Sutra.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

WONS

Reading the Lotus Sūtra Is Equivalent to Reading All Scriptures

It is therefore impossible to know the meanings of various sūtras of Śākyamuni Buddha preached during His lifetime no matter how many times we read them without the Lotus Sūtra. Without knowing this, a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra who reads the Lotus Sūtra does not really read it. It is a mistake to insist that the pre-Lotus sūtras of the profound teaching do not reveal the meaning of those on the shallow teaching, and that the sūtras of the shallow teaching do not contain the profound teaching. The Lotus Sūtra reveals in every word the meanings of all the pre-Lotus sūtras as well as the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, reading a word of the Lotus Sūtra is equivalent to reading all of the Buddhist scriptures. Not to read the Lotus Sūtra at all means not to read the scriptures of Buddhism. Attaining Buddhahood, therefore, is difficult in the land where there is not the Lotus Sūtra but various other sūtras. The way to read all Buddhist scriptures after the Buddha’s death such as the Flower Garland Sūtra or the Sūtra of Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life, then, should be to read them together with the Lotus Sūtra that reveals the meaning of each sūtra. All other sūtras should be read in the same manner.

Nijō Sabutsu Ji, Obtaining Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 229

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 16, 2020

Now I will tell you
About my previous existence
And also about yours.
All of you, listen attentively!

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Six of the Lotus Sūtra. When the Buddha taught in India 2500 years ago, people took for granted that their lives continued from previous lives and would continue on into future lives. Whatever comforts we enjoy or calamities we endure in this life were thought to be caused by what we did in our former lifetimes. Our actions today were thought to determine what happens in our future lives. To our modern understanding this can sound mystical and unlikely. But if we understand that everything, including our joy and suffering, has causes and conditions, whether or not we realize these results immediately, we know that the result of creating benefit is benefit, and the result of creating harm is harm. When we hold the happiness of all beings to be as precious as our own, we would no more mistreat others than we would want them to mistreat us.

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

LS32, WONS

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 consider the 1200 merits of the mind, we repeat those merits in gāthās and conclude today’s portion of Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.

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

Their minds will become pure, clear, keen and undefiled.
They will be able to recognize with their wonderful minds
The superior, mean and inferior teachings.
When they hear even a gāthā [of this sūtra],
They will be able to understand
The innumerable meanings of [this sūtra].

When they expound [this sūtra]
In good order according to the Dharma
For a month, four month or a year,
They will be able to understand at once
The thoughts of gods, dragons, men, yakṣas, demigods,
And of all the other living beings
Inside and outside this world
Composed of the six regions
Because they keep
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

They also will be able to hear and keep
The Dharma expounded to all living beings
By the innumerable Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters
Who are adorned with the marks of one hundred merits.

When they think over the innumerable meanings [of this sūtra],
And endlessly repeat the expounding of those meanings,
They will not forget or mistake the beginnings and ends [of quotations]
Because they keep the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

They will see the reality of all things.
Knowing the position [of this sūtra in the series of sūtras],
And the names and words [of this sūtra], according to the meanings of it,
They will expound [this sūtra] as they understand it.

They will expound the Dharma
Already taught by the past Buddhas.
Therefore, they will be fearless
Before the multitude.

Anyone who keeps the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Will have his mind purified as previously stated.
Although he has not yet obtained the [wisdom-]without-āsravas,
He will be able to obtain [these merits of the mind].

When he keeps this sūtra,
He will be able to reach a rare stage.
He will be joyfully loved and respected
By all living beings.

He will be able to expound the Dharma
With tens of millions of skillful words
Because he keeps
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

[Here ends] the Sixth Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Nichiren offers this about these merits in his Response to a Follower letter:

Please remember that the service to your lord itself is practicing the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra. Interpreting the scriptural statement in the Lotus Sūtra (“The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma” chapter), Grand Master T’ien-t’ai, therefore, states in his Great Concentration and Insight, “All the activities and daily work of the people in the secular world do not contradict the truth preached by the Buddha.” Please contemplate the spirit of this scriptural statement again and again.

Dannotsu Bō Gohenji, Response to a Follower, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 131