Monthly Archives: June 2020

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – June 19, 2020

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

LS32

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 concluded today’s portion of Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, we return to the top and the eight hundred merits of the nose.

“Furthermore, Constant-Endeavor! The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this sūtra, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the nose. With their pure noses, they will be able to recognize all the various things above, below, within and without the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds.
“Those who keep this sūtra will be able to recognize, without moving about, the scents of the sumanas-flowers, jātika-flowers, mallikā-flowers, campaka-flowers, pāṭala-flowers, red lotus flowers, blue lotus flowers, white lotus flowers, flower-trees and fruit-trees. They also will be able to recognize the scents of candana, aloes, tamālapattra and tagara, and the scents of tens of millions of kinds of mixed incense which are either powdered or made in lumps or made applicable to the skin. They also will be able to recognize the living beings including elephants, horses, cows, sheep, men, women, boys and girls by smell. They also will be able to recognize without fallacy grasses, trees, thickets and forests by smell, be the nearby or at a distance.

“Those who keep this sūtra also will be able to recognize the gods [and things] in heaven by smell while they are staying [in the world of men]. They will be able to recognize the scents of the pārijātaka-trees, kovidāra-trees, mandārava-flowers, mahā-mandārava-flowers, mañjūṣaka-flowers, mahā-mañjūṣaka-flowers [in heaven]; the powdered incense of candana and aloes, the scents of other flowers, and the mixture of these scents in heaven without fail. They will be able to recognize the gods by smell. They will be able to recognize from afar the scent that Śakra-Devānām-Indra gives forth when he satisfies his five desires and enjoys himself in his excellent palace, or when he expounds the Dharma to the Trāyastriṃs̒a Gods at the wonderful hall of the Dharma, or when he plays in the gardens. They also will be able to recognize by smell from afar the gods and goddesses of the other heavens, including the Heaven of Brahman and the Highest Heaven. They also will be able to recognize the incense burned by the gods in those heavens. They also will be able to locate the Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas by smelling their bodies from afar. Even when they recognize all this by smell, their organ of smell will not be destroyed or put out of order. If they wish, they will be able to tell others of the differences [of those scents] because they remember them without fallacy.”

The Introduction to the Lotus Sutra offers this discussion:

In the Lotus Sutra, we often see the sentence, “You should keep, read, recite, expound, and copy this Sutra.” These activities are called the Five Kinds of Practice for a Teacher of the Dharma. To keep the Sutra is to steadily accept and uphold the Lotus Sutra in one’s mind. To read the sutra means to peruse the Sutra and read it. To recite the Sutra means to recite it or portions of it by heart. To expound the Sutra means to interpret it and teach it to others. To copy the Sutra means to copy it by hand. Practitioners of the Lotus Sutra should undertake these five practices. They have two aspects: practice for one’s self and practice for others. [Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma] says that persons who endeavor to practice the Five Kinds of Practice will be rewarded with splendid merits of their six sense-organs of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. Sakyamuni explains this to a great Bodhisattva by the name of Constant-Endeavor.
Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

d25b, Eyes

Sins and Rewards

What, then, of the promises of protection and ease in the Lotus Sūtra? Does the fact that no one, no matter how virtuous, can escape hardship mean that these statements are false? Nichiren finds the answer in the teaching of Tiantai Zhiyi (538-597): “Our troubles and sufferings in this world are all due to our sins in our past lives, and rewards for our meritorious acts in this life will be received in our future lives.” (Hori 2002, p. 104) He finds it in the teaching of the Contemplation of the Mind Ground Sūtra (J. Shinjikan-gyō): “If you want to know the cause in the past, see the effect in the present. If you want to know the effect in the future, see the cause in the present.” (Murano 2000, p. 112) He also finds it in the Lotus Sūtra’s statement, “Thus he expiated his sin.” (Murano 1991, p. 289)

These teachings indicate that the abuse undergone by Never Despising Bodhisattva was a result of past misdeeds. Nichiren understands all this to mean that the hardships faced in this life are not because of, or in spite of, the good deeds one is currently doing. Rather, it is because past misdeeds are coming into fruition. In addition, one must have confidence that the good one is doing now will come to fruition in the future. Conversely, those who commit evil deeds will inevitably face the fruition of their actions in a future life. Severe misdeeds in particular will take time to come to fruition. In the meantime, according to the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, those who slander the Dharma will have nightmares that may cause them to reflect upon their conduct. The idea is that calamity does not come immediately, and that people will be given a chance to repent of their misdeeds. The promises of the Lotus Sūtra apply to those who have no past offenses to expiate and is a guarantee that upholding the Lotus Sūtra will sow the seeds of great benefit both for the present life and for the future, though they may not come to fruition immediately.

Blog

The Other Side of This Life

My mother died in 2003 and my father in 2009. At that time I was practicing with Soka Gakkai, which had no teaching regarding the spiritual world, the other side of this world through which we pass after death. As an SGI follower I offered generic prayers for the deceased but nothing more. My wife’s parents died in 2016 and 2018, and by then I was practicing with Nichiren Shu and the Sacramento Nichiren Budddhist Church. The experience as a Nichiren Shu follower was helpful, both for my wife and her loss and for my relationship with my deceased parents.

This topic comes up because a man I know is suffering through the pending death of his mother. He sees his practice for world peace as of little merit in this situation. But his daily practice and his prayers can be very beneficial.

In Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 56-57, Nichiren explains:

“As you read and recite the ‘jiga-ge’ verse, you produce 510 golden characters. Each of these characters transforms itself to be the sun, which in turn changes to Śākyamuni Buddha, who emits the rays of bright light shining through the earth, the three evil realms (hell, realm of hungry spirits and that of beasts), the Hell of Incessant Suffering, and to all the directions in the north, south, east, and west. They shine upward to the ‘Heaven of neither Thought nor Non-Thought’ at the top of the realm of non-form looking everywhere for the souls of the departed.”

I have found the Japanese idea of what happens after death comforting. The soul of the person (we are NOT going to discuss the fact that Ryuei McCormick would tell us we DON’T have souls) travels on a 49 day journey during which seven trials are held before magistrates.

At the start, the deceased must climb a mountain. The height of the mountain is determined by the deceased’s bad karma. This takes seven days. At the end of seven days the deceased must cross the Sanzu River, the river of three crossings. Those with sufficient good karma can cross the river on a bridge. Those with less good karma can cross on a shallow ford. Those with overwhelmingly bad karma must bob across, sinking to the bottom and then rising to the surface, repeating the process. The journey across the Sanzu River takes seven days.

At 14 days, the deceased stands before a magistrate to be judged on how much the person stole during his life. Egregious thieves are sent straight to hell while the others are allowed to pass onto the next trial.

At 21 days, the deceased are judged on their sins of lust, using a cat and a snake. As explained in Meido: The Japanese Underworld, “The cat is used to judge the souls of men; it bites at their penises, and the degree of the injury – from a slight scratch to completely severed – is used as a measure of one’s sexual sin. The snake is used to judge the souls of women; it is inserted into the woman, and the depth to which it can enter is used to determine the depth of her sin.” Again, the egregiously sinful are cast into hell and the remainder are allowed to pass onto the next test.

At 28 days, the deceased are judged on the number of lies they told. The lies are piled on a scale and the number of heavy stones it takes to balance the scale determines the weight of the deceased’s sins.The really heavy sinners are sent directly to hell, and the rest allowed to proceed to the next trial.

The trial on the 35th day is the last one in which memorial prayers can impact the outcome. During this trial, the deceased is shown a mirror on which the individual’s former life is reflected, with all of their sins and transgressions clearly laid out. A recommendation is made at this point on which of the six realms – hell, hungry spirits, animals, asuras, human or heaven – the deceased merits being reborn in.

On the 42nd day, a magistrate takes the weight of the deceased’s sins and the life reflected in the mirror to determine the location for the deceased rebirth.

It is on the 49th day that the fate of the deceased is sealed. The deceased enters a room with six gates. There are no markings on the gates or any indication where they lead.

As told by Ven. Kenjo Igarashi, “This judge in front of the six gates, will not guide this individual to the proper gate, but only instruct them to choose one. The individual will choose the gate based on what they may think is only instinct, yet this decision will also be guided by the actions that the individual took during their time on this earth.

“While it may seem as if we take little part in the deceased individual’s 49-day journey, this is not the case. One way we can assist them, is by chanting ‘Namu myo ho renge kyo,’ which as you know, is the name of the Buddha nature that we all possess. We chant this odaimoku throughout the 49 days to call upon the deceased individual’s Buddha nature. If you recall, the Buddha nature can be imagined as the inside of a seed, while the outer shell represents bad karma resulting primarily from previous actions. Whenever we chant the odaimoku, the Buddha nature slowly grows. While this is a slow process, the more we chant, the more the Buddha nature shows, until it finally appears by sprouting through the outer shell. If the Buddha nature does not appear at the end of the 49 days, the individual will not be able to reach Enlightenment.

“While death signifies the end of an individual’s time in this world, it does not mark the ultimate endpoint of their spirit. Please remember that your Buddhist practice can serve an important purpose in providing happiness for not only yourself, but also others, including the deceased.”

WONS

The Tale of Calligrapher Wu-lung and His Son, I-lung

Although the Japanese people today all appear to have faith in Buddhism, in ancient Japan when Buddhism had not yet been introduced, nobody knew of the Buddha nor of the dharma until Prince Shōtoku, an ardent believer in Buddhism, destroyed Mononobe Moriya, the anti-Buddhist leader. Even then there remained some who refused to believe in Buddhism. Likewise, in China people began to believe in Buddhism only when Mātaṅga from India came to China and defeated Taoists in a debate. Yet more people remained opposed to Buddhism.

In those days in China, there was a calligrapher named Wu-lung. He was very popular but refused to copy Buddhist scriptures no matter how many times it was requested. He called his son, I-lung, to his deathbed and said to him: “You were born to our family and succeeded your father in art. In order to continue to be my filial son after my death, you must never copy Buddhist scriptures, especially the Lotus Sūtra. This is because Lao-tzŭ, our true teacher, is the Heaven-Honored One. As there have never been two suns, there is no Heaven-Honored One beside Lao- tzŭ. That being said, the Buddha claims in the Lotus Sūtra that ‘I am the only one,’ thus neglecting Lao-tzŭ. This is most strange. If you should copy the Lotus Sūtra against my will, I will immediately become an evil spirit to kill you.” As soon as he finished saying this, Wu-lung’s tongue split into eight pieces, his head was cracked into seven, blood spilled from his eyes and nose and the five sense organs and he passed away. However, as I-lung could not tell right from wrong, he did not know the fact that his father showed a scary look and fell into the Avīci Hell due to the sin of slandering the True Dharma. Therefore, I-lung refused to copy the Buddhist sūtras, much less to recite them verbally.

As time passed, when the Ssu-ma family was on the throne, it was decided to hold a Buddhist ritual with a Buddhist sūtra copied by the best calligrapher in China, and I-lung was chosen as the copier. He was summoned to the court and was ordered to copy the sūtra, which he repeatedly declined. The court had no choice but to have someone else copy the sūtra, and the emperor was not pleased. As a result, I-lung was once again summoned and the Emperor said to him: “You have refused to copy the sūtra for me, claiming it was against the will of your father. This is an outrage, but I will pardon you if you copy just the title of each fascicle of the sūtra.” The emperor repeated this order three times, but I-lung refused to obey three times. His countenance overcome with anger, the Emperor declared: “Everything in heaven and earth is under my control. Then isn’t your father also my subordinate? You cannot ignore your public duty due to private matters. You are to copy at least the title of each fascicle in the sūtra. Otherwise you will be beheaded immediately, though it might be in the midst of a Buddhist ritual.”

Thus I-lung was forced to copy the titles of the sūtra, namely, from “The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, Fascicle One” to “The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, Fascicle Eight.” Returning home in the evening, I-lung lamented, “I was unable to disobey the Imperial order, and went against the will of my father by copying the Buddhist sūtra. Both the heavenly gods and terrestrial deities must be furious with me for being an unfilial son.” He then went to bed.

During the night he had a dream in which a great light appeared. While wondering whether or not it was the morning sunlight, a heavenly being accompanied by many attendants was standing in the garden, and there appeared 64 Buddhas in the sky above this heavenly being. Pressing the two palms of his hands together in gasshō, I-lung inquired, “What kind of heavenly being are you?” The heavenly being answered:

“I am your father Wu-lung. Due to my sin of slandering the Buddhist Dharma, my tongue split into eight pieces, my five sense organs bled, my head was broken into seven pieces, and I fell into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. I thought the torment at my death was unbearable indeed. Nevertheless, the pain in the Hell of Incessant Suffering was one hundred, one thousand, one hundred million times more severe. Even the pain a human being experiences when his nails are removed by a dull knife, his neck is sawed off, he is forced to walk on a charcoal fire, or crammed into thorns cannot compare to the torment in the Hell of Incessant Suffering. I tried in vain to inform my own son of this. One could not measure the regret I felt that I willed to you at my death not to copy the Buddhist sūtras. However, regret does not mend matters. It did not do any good no matter how much I regretted and blamed myself.

“Starting yesterday morning, however, the character myō at the beginning of the Lotus Sūtra came flying over the tripod kettle in the Hell of Incessant Suffering, transforming itself into the golden colored Śākyamuni Buddha equipped with the 32 marks of physical excellence and a peaceful face like the full moon. The Buddha preached in a resounding voice, ‘All the evil persons, as many as to fill the heaven and earth, will not fail to attain Buddhahood if only they hear the Lotus Sūtra once.’ Then heavy rain began to fall from those characters, extinguishing the blazes in the Hell of Incessant Suffering. As a result, King Yama, though strict as he is, bowed his head in respect, the guards of the hell stood still without their iron sticks, and the sinners all panicked wondering what was happening. Then came flying the character ‘hō,’ appearing just like the ‘myō.’ It was followed by the characters ‘ren,’ ‘ge,’ and ‘kyō.’ Altogether 64 characters thus came flying to become 64 bodies of the Buddha. The 64 Buddhas appearing in the Hell of Incessant Suffering seemed as though 64 suns and moons appeared in the heaven. Nectar rained from the heaven bathing the sinners in hell, who asked the Buddha the reason why this merry occurrence had taken place. The 64 Buddhas answered: “Our golden bodies did not come from the mountain of sandalwoods and treasures; they are the titles of the eight fascicles of the Lotus Sūtra, each consists of eight Chinese characters and therefore 64 in total, written by Ilung, son of Wu-lung, who is in the Hell of Incessant Suffering at present. The hand of I-lung is a part of the body begotten by Wu-lung, therefore, the characters written by I-lung are as though they were written by Wu-lung.’

“Upon hearing this the sinners in the Hell of Incessant Suffering lamented in vain: ‘We also have children, wives, followers in the Sahā World. Why do they not hold memorial services for us? Or, is it that even if they hold services, they don’t help us here because there is not enough merit of good acts?’ One or two days, one or two years, a half or one kalpa (aeon) have passed since we fell into this hell. I am now happy to encounter a ‘good friend,’ who will lead me out of hell while my fellow sinners are glad to follow me to go up to the Trāyastriṃsá Heaven led by you. Therefore, we came to worship you first of all.”

Upon listening to his late father’s account, I-lung was overjoyed to be able to see his father, whom he did not expect to meet again, and to worship the figures of Buddhas, though in a dream.

The 64 Buddhas then spoke to I-lung, “We do not serve any Buddha. As you are our patron, beginning today we will protect you as our parent, therefore please do not forget to help us. In the life hereafter, we will without fail come to lead you to the inner palace of the Tuṣita Heaven.” In response, I-lung respectfully vowed never to write the characters of non-Buddhist scriptures. It was similar to the vow made by Bodhisattva Vasubandhu who pledged not to read the Hinayāna sutras and Nichiren who vowed never to chant the nembutsu.

After awakening from his dream, I-lung spoke of his experience to the Emperor, who issued an edict: “This completes the Buddhist rite. Write it out in the form of a prayer.” Thus I-lung wrote as was ordered. Thereafter both China and Japan began to believe in the Lotus Sūtra. This is recorded in the Biography of the Lotus Sūtra in China, showing the merit of copying the Lotus Sūtra. The “Teacher of the Dharma” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra preaches the five ways of practicing the Lotus Sūtra: upholding, reading, reciting, explaining, and copying. Among them copying is ranked the lowest. How much more so, then, is the merit gained from reading and reciting the Lotus Sūtra. It is immeasurable.

Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 52-55

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – June 18, 2020

Of the people who put their faith in the Lotus Sutra 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 time 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. You have constantly sent me donations and asked me questions about the way of faith. Your faith is like water, is it not? How precious you are!

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Reply to Lord Ueno (Ueno-dono Gohenji). To those who stayed with Nichiren and this teaching, despite all difficulties, his gratitude was boundless. We too are capable of this gratitude, not just towards the Buddha and Nichiren, but towards all those who practice the Buddha Dharma with us, and, most importantly, towards those still caught up in the mesh of suffering.

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

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Day 23

Day 23 covers all of Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, and opens Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.

Day 23 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered benefits of encouraging others to hear the sūtra, we repeat in gāthās the merits of the fiftieth person who rejoices at hearing the Lotus sūtra.

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

Suppose a man rejoices at hearing this sūtra
Or at hearing even a gāthā of it
In a congregation,
And expounds it to a second person.

The second person expounds it to a third person.
In this way it is heard by a fiftieth person.
Now I will tell you of the merits
Of the fiftieth person.

Suppose there was a great almsgiver.
He continued giving alms
To innumerable living beings
For eighty years according to their wishes.

Those living beings became old and decrepit.
Their hair became grey; their faces, wrinkled;
And their teeth, fewer and deformed.
Seeing this, he thought:
“I will teach them because they will die before long.
I will cause them to obtain the fruit of enlightenment.”

Then he expounded the truth of Nirvana to them
As an expedient, saying:
“This world is as unstable
As a spray of water,
Or as a foam, or as a filament of air.
Hate it, and leave it quickly!”

Hearing this teaching, they attained Arhatship,
And obtained the six supernatural powers,
Including the three major supernatural powers,
And the eight emancipations.

The superiority of the merits of the fiftieth person
Who rejoices at hearing even a gāthā [of this sūtra]
To the merits of this [great almsgiver]
Cannot be explained by any parable or simile.

The merits of the [fiftieth] person
[Who hears this sūtra] are immeasurable.
Needless to say, so are the merits of the first person
Who rejoices at hearing it in the congregation.

See Putting the Buddha’s True Spirit to Practical Use

LS32, d23b, b4today

Putting the Buddha’s True Spirit to Practical Use

To attain arhatship, that is, to reach the mental stage of having avoided all defilements, is the pinnacle of the Hinayāna teaching. But if such a person isolates himself in the mountains, the merits attained by him stop at that stage. The Buddha’s teachings are very valuable, but their value cannot be displayed fully unless the person preaches them, elevating his hearers and giving them power and courage, and thus improving the whole world. So long as Buddhist monks are confined to their temples after their own enlightenment and devote themselves to performing funeral and memorial services, they do not put the Buddha’s true spirit to practical use.

Buddhism for Today, p290
d18b, d25b, Eyes

A Humble, Straightforward, and Respectful Practice

The teaching of the three kinds of enemies of the Lotus Sūtra is the sūtra’s way of warning us that if we present the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra we should not be surprised if we meet opposition from ignorant laypeople, corrupted clergy, and even respected teachers who are regarded as saints. We must not let this discourage us. Nor should we look for enemies or return abuse with abuse. From beginning to end we must treat all beings as future buddhas, whether they are presently acting as such or not. Another lesson we can take from this teaching is that we must be careful to not become one of the three kinds of enemies ourselves. We must not uncritically accept the teachings of others without checking things out for ourselves, like the ignorant laypeople.

We should not become arrogant and greedy like the evil monks, especially if we are put in a position of authority. We should not, like the false arhats, become self-righteous and pretend to be awakened when we are still tainted by greed, hatred, and delusion. Nor should we persecute others just because their opinions and views are different than our own, as the three kinds of enemies are said to do. Again, the humble, straightforward, and respectful practice of the Lotus Sūtra as exemplified by Never Despising Bodhisattva can serve as the model that will keep us from becoming one of the three kinds of enemies and enable us to deal in a firm but kind manner with them, should they confront us, so that we can eventually overcome all enmity and sow the seeds of buddhahood in their hearts.

Open Your Eyes, p509-510
d19b, WONS

Children Propagating Their Father’s Dharma

It is preached in the Lotus Sūtra, chapter 15 on “The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground”:

“There are bodhisattvas as many as the sand of 60,000 Ganges Rivers originally in this Sahā World, and each of them is accompanied by followers also numbering 60,000 times as many as the sands of the Ganges River. They will uphold, read, recite and expound this sūtra.”

When the Buddha had said these words, the earth of the one billion countries of the Sahā World all trembled and split open and out of them emerged simultaneously immeasurable thousands, ten thousands, millions of bodhisattvas. …

These bodhisattvas had four leaders. The first was Superior Practice, the second was Limitless Practice, the third was Pure Practice and the fourth was Steadily Established Practice. These four were the foremost leaders and guiding teachers of all in the group.”

Grand Master T’ien-t’ai interprets this scriptural statement in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “These bodhisattvas are My (the Buddha’s) disciples, who will spread My dharma;” and Grand Master Miao-lê comments on this in the Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “Śākyamuni Buddha is the father and bodhisattvas who emerged from underground are His children, so the children are going to propagate their father’s dharma;” while Tao-hsien explains this in his Supplement to the Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “Speaking of entrusting the dharma, this sūtra was entrusted only to the bodhisattvas who emerged from the earth. Why was this? Because it was the dharma attained by the Buddha in the eternal past, it was entrusted to those bodhisattvas guided by the Buddha in the eternal past.”

For these great bodhisattvas to deliver benefits to the people in the Latter Age of Degeneration is as easy as fish swimming in the water and birds flying in the sky. For those who were born in the evil world to meet these great bodhisattvas and have the seed of Buddhahood sown in them is like the spirit of water that faces the moon and pours out water or a peahen that becomes pregnant upon hearing the sounds of thunder. As T’ien-t’ai says of this in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra, “As all rivers pour into the sea, bodhisattvas are born drawn by karmic relations.”

Soya Nyūdō-dono-gari Gosho, A Letter to Lay Priest Lord Soya, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 162.