Monthly Archives: June 2020

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – June 4, 2020

When he expounds or reads this sūtra, he should not point out the faults of other persons or sūtras. He should not despise other teachers of the Dharma. He should not speak of the good points or bad points or the merits or demerits of others. He should not mention Śrāvakas by name when he blames them. Nor should he do so when he praises them. He should not have hostile feelings against them or dislike them. He should have this peace of mind so that he may not act against the wishes of the hearers. When he is asked questions, he should not answer by the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle, but expound the Dharma only by the teachings of the Great Vehicle so that the questioners may be able to obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. For us who aspire to be Bodhisattvas in this world of conflict, this passage reminds us not to create more conflict in our efforts to benefit others. Rather we should work to remind them of their good qualities and demonstrate the respect we want to receive.

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

LS32

Day 9

Day 9 covers Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and introduces Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.

Day 9 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the Buddha’s insight into our capacities, appearances, entities and natures, we conclude the prose section of Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and begin the gāthās.

“Kāśyapa, and all of you present here! It is an extraordinarily rare thing to see that you have understood, believed and received the Dharma which I expounded variously according to the capacities of all living beings because it is difficult to understand the Dharma which the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, expound according to the capacities of all living beings.”

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

As the destroyer of the bonds of existence,
I, the King of the Dharma, have appeared in this world.
Since then I have expounded the Dharma variously
According to the desires of all living beings.

I am honorable, and my wisdom is profound.
Therefore, I have been reticent on this truth[,]
[That is, the reality of all things,] for a long time.
I did not make haste to expound it to all living beings.

If they had heard it [without expedients],
Men of ignorance would have had doubts,
And lost their way [to enlightenment] forever,
Though men of wisdom would have understood it by faith.

Therefore, Kāśyapa, I expounded [the Dharma]
With various expedients to all living beings
According to their capacities
In order to cause them to have the right view.

The Daily Dharma from March 2, 2020, offers this:

Kāśyapa, and all of you present here! It is an extraordinarily rare thing to see that you have understood, believed and received the Dharma which I expounded variously according to the capacities of all living beings because it is difficult to understand the Dharma which the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, expound according to the capacities of all living beings.

The Buddha makes this declaration to his disciple Kāśyapa and all those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Five of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha knows how hard it is to set aside our delusions and understand what he is teaching us. When the Buddha teaches with expedients, he lets us stay in the comfort of our own minds. With the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, he takes us into the unfamiliar areas of his own mind. Only when we gain confidence in the Buddha as our guide can we stay with this teaching and not regress to the contentment of our attachments.

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

Eyes

The Three Obstacles and Four Devils

Quote

Describing his early considerations as to whether he should risk remonstrating against slander of the Lotus Sūtra, Nichiren wrote, “If I spoke out, I realized, the three obstacles and four devils would overtake me.” (Hori 2002, p. 53; see also 106-107) The “three obstacles and four devils” (J. sanshō-shima) are described in the writings of Tiantai Zhiyi (538-597). The following passage is a good example of Nichiren’s citing of this teaching and his explanation of it:

Therefore, it is stated in the Great Calming and Contemplation, fascicle five, “As practice and understanding of ‘calming and contemplation’ progress, the three obstacles and four devils compete to interfere with the practitioner. … Do not follow them or fear them. When one follows them, one will fall into the evil realms; and if one is afraid of them, one will be unable to master the True Dharma.” This is exactly what I have experienced with my own body. Also, this should be a clear mirror for my disciples and followers to reflect upon. Please practice with reverence, thereby producing nourishment for the future practitioners of the Lotus Sūtra.

The “three obstacles” in this citation refer to defilements, evil karma, and painful retributions. The defilements are the obstacles arising from the three poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion; evil karma refers to the obstructions arising from wives and children; and the painful retributions are obstructions caused by the rulers of a country, parents, and others. Among the “four devils” that cause hindrances is the king of devils in the sixth heaven in the ream of desire. (Hori 2010, p.adapted)

The three obstacles and the four devils were Zhiyi’s way of cataloging all the various phenomena that can keep us from practicing Buddhism. The three obstacles consist of self-centered desires or defilements, the karma or unwholesome habits that arise from those defilements, and the painful consequences of such activity.

Open Your Eyes, p482
WONS

The Seed in ‘3,000 Existences Contained in One Thought’

Nonetheless, without the seed of Buddhahood established on the basis of the “3,000 existences contained in one thought” doctrine, attainment of Buddhahood by all sentient beings or the worship of wooden statues and portraits are empty names without reality.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 145

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – June 3, 2020

Those who come to this teacher of the Dharma
Will be able to complete the Way of Bodhisattvas quickly.
Those who follow him and study will be able to see
As many Buddhas as there are sands in the River Ganges.

The Buddha sings these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. By teacher of the Dharma, the Buddha means anyone who keeps, reads, recites, copies and expounds this Sūtra. As we continue on this Way, we learn to recognize the Buddha’s presence in every aspect of our experience. We learn to appreciate everything the Buddha does for us, and to show that gratitude to all those in whom we recognize the Buddha. Then we realize there is no shortage of teachers, no shortage of joy and no shortage of opportunities to benefit others.

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

LS32

Day 8

Day 8 concludes Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith, and closes the second volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 8 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the rewards the Śrāvakas received, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.

The Buddhas have
Great supernatural powers.
Their powers are rare, immeasurable,
Limitless and inconceivable.

The Buddhas are the Kings of the Dharma
They are free from āsravas, from cause and effect.
The Buddhas practice patience
In order to save inferior people.
They expound the Dharma according to the capacities
Of the ordinary people who are attached to forms.

The Buddhas expound the Dharma
In perfect freedom.
Knowing the various desires and dispositions
Of all living beings,
They expound the Dharma
With innumerable parables
And with innumerable similes
According to their capacities.

Some living beings planted the roots of good
In their previous existence.
Some of the roots have fully developed.
Seeing all this, the Buddhas understand
The capacities of all living beings,
And divide the teaching of the One Vehicle into three,
According to the capacities
Of all living beings.

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

See The Limits of Power; The Compassionate Challenge

stories, d7b, d8b, d12b

The Limits of Power; The Compassionate Challenge

The Buddha has come into the world of suffering and suffers with the living beings of this world. Like others, he participates in the creation of the world at every moment. He does so by being a teacher and medicine giver, not by being a kind of external, unilateral power. Above all, the Buddha is a teacher. And it is precisely in reference to his being a teacher that bodhisattvas are so frequently referred to in the Dharma Flower Sutra as children of the Buddha. Those whose lives are shaped by the teachings of the Buddha, by the Buddha Dharma, have been created as much by the Buddha’s words as by their biological parents. But, like normal parents, the Buddha does not have absolute power over his children. Like the father in the parable of the rich father and poor son in Chapter 4, the Buddha longs for his children to be ready to receive their inheritance from him, his great wealth of the Dharma.

The Buddha can be called the loving father of all, not because he has complete power over others, but precisely because he does not. Far from demanding that human beings be obedient to him, the Buddha challenges us to enter into and take up the way of the bodhisattva, a way to which we can be led but cannot be forced to enter. Like the poor son in Chapter 4, we may need encouragement in order to learn gradually to accept responsibility for the responsibilities we have inherited, for the buddhas’ business, or, like the weary travelers in Chapter 7, we may need a resting place, even an illusory one, in order to pursue the valuable treasure in our own lives, but finally it is we ourselves who have to be responsible.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p205-206
Eyes

Are the Gods Gone?

In Risshō Ankoku-ron, the traveler in the dialogue states, “As a result, sages and protective gods have abandoned our country, causing famine and epidemics to spread all over it.” (Hori 2003, p. 137) This statement became a source of great controversy within Nichiren Buddhism after Nichiren’s passing. According to this statement (as well as Nichiren’s later statements such as in the passages of Kaimoku-shō cited above), one can no longer appeal to the heavenly gods and benevolent deities because they have abandoned the country that slanders the Dharma. In other writings, however, Nichiren continues to appeal to the kami and other deities in his prayers. In the Kangyō Hachiman-shō, Nichiren identifies Hachiman as a manifestation in Japan of Śākyamuni Buddha and explicitly states that the kami are still available to those who uphold the Lotus Sūtra.

Now, the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman’s original substance, Śākyamuni Buddha, expounded the sole, true, Lotus Sūtra in India. As he manifested himself in Japan, he summarized the sūtra in two Chinese characters for honesty and vowed to live in the head of a wise man. If so, even if Hachiman burned his palace and ascended to heaven, whenever he finds a practitioner of the Lotus Sūtra in Japan, he will not fail to come down to reside where this practitioner is and protect him.

Later generations of Nichiren Buddhists would be divided by the question of whether Nichiren intended them to cease to venerate the kami because they were no longer available in a country that neglected and slandered the Lotus
Sūtra, or whether they could continue to have confidence in and pay respects to the kami at their shrines because they were still protectors of the Lotus Sūtra and those who uphold and practice it. Considering that Nichiren included Amaterasu, Hachiman, and other gods and supernatural beings on his calligraphic mandala, perhaps it can be said that Nichiren believed that practitioners of the Lotus Sūtra could still venerate and appeal to the kami and other guardian deities and spirits. If the guardian deities are not entirely absent but still watching out for the welfare of the practitioners of the Lotus Sūtra, the question remains for Nichiren: why have they not spared Nichiren from his many persecutions?

Open Your Eyes, p480-481
WONS

The Activities of a Man Depend on the Power of His Wife

An arrow flies by the strength of a bow and the clouds move by the power of a dragon. Likewise, the activities of a man depend on the power of his wife. Lord Toki’s visiting me here in the deep mountain of Minobu this time is solely due to your power, My Lady the Nun.

When we see smoke, we think of fire. When we see rain, we think of the dragon that causes it. Likewise, when we see a husband’s conduct, we can think of his wife who motivates him. When I recently saw your husband, Lord Toki, I felt as though I saw you in person.

Toki-ama Gozen Gosho, A Letter to My Lady, the Nun Toki, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 116

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – June 2, 2020

For example, in building a huge tower, a scaffold is assembled from many small pieces of wood set up ten or twenty feet high. Then, using this scaffold, the huge tower is built with lumber. Once the tower is completed, the scaffold is dismantled. The scaffold here represents all Buddhist scriptures other than the Lotus Sutra, and the Great Tower is the Lotus Sutra. This is what is meant by “discarding the expedient.” A pagoda is built by using a scaffold, but no one worships a scaffold without a pagoda.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Response to My Lady the Nun, Mother of Lord Ueno (Ueno-dono Haha-ama Gozen Gohenji). In this simile, Nichiren compares the Buddha’s expedient teachings to the Wonderful Dharma he provides in the Lotus Sūtra.

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