Monthly Archives: June 2020

d4b, WONS

Practicing Solely the Lotus Sūtra

“Honestly” in the phrase of “honestly casting away the expedient” stated in the sūtra means that when a beginner practices the Lotus Sūtra, the beginner should be devoted to practicing solely the Lotus Sūtra, casting away all the other sūtras mentioned before; such is a really honest practicer. If, on the contrary, a beginner practices the various sūtras and the Lotus Sūtra simultaneously, just like highly trained bodhisattvas, this person would surely be regarded as a dishonest practicer. As the proverbs say: “A sage never served two rulers;” and “A virtuous wife does not remarry;” they describe the honest practicer.

Shimoyama Goshōsoku, The Shimoyama Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 69

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – June 15, 2020

The [perverted] people think:
“This world is in a great fire.
The end of the kalpa [of destruction] is coming.”
In reality this world of mine is peaceful.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Here he draws a stark contrast between how those caught in the web of delusion see the world and how things really are. The world is constantly changing. When we expect the world to be as we want it, rather than as it is, any change is frightening. We assume that the world is falling apart and will sweep us along in its demise. When we practice the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, we know that we and all beings will become enlightened. The change in the world is part of our practice. We know how it will turn out and there is no fear. Only peace.

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

Blog

Signs of the Times

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Held the first service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church since February. Zoom is great, but live is better.

LS32

Day 20

Day 20 completes Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, and concludes the Fifth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 20 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, we return to the top and the Buddha’s response to the question of the four great leaders of the Bodhisattvas from Underground.

Thereupon the World-Honored One said to them in the presence of the great multitude of Bodhisattvas:

“Truly, truly good men! I am peaceful. I am in good health. The living beings are ready to be saved. They do not fatigue me because I already taught them in their consecutive previous existences, and also because they have already honored the past Buddhas respectfully and planted the roots of good. As soon as they saw me and heard my teachings, they received my teachings by faith and entered into the wisdom of the Tathāgata, except those who had previously studied and practiced the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle. Now I am causing [the followers of the Lesser Vehicle] to hear this sūtra and to enter into the wisdom of the Buddha.”

Thereupon the [four] great Bodhisattvas sang in gāthās:

Excellent, excellent, Great Hero!
World-Honored One!
The living beings are ready to be saved
Because in their previous existence
They already asked the [past] Buddhas
About their profound wisdom,
And having heard about it, understood it by faith.
We rejoice at seeing you.

Thereupon the World-Honored One praised the leading great Bodhisattvas, saying, “Excellent, excellent, good men! [l am glad that] you rejoice at seeing me.”

The Daily Dharma from Nov. 4, 2019, offers this:

Truly, truly good men! I am peaceful. I am in good health. The living beings are ready to be saved. They do not fatigue me because I already taught them in their consecutive previous existences, and also because they have already honored the past Buddhas respectfully and planted the roots of good.

The Buddha makes this proclamation to the leaders of the Bodhisattvas from Underground in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. These Bodhisattvas appeared when the Buddha asked who would teach the Lotus Sūtra after the Buddha’s death, and asked about the Buddha’s health and whether those he was teaching could keep what he provided for them. The Buddha assures us not only of the certainty of our future enlightenment, but that for us to receive his teaching, there was an earlier time, which we may have forgotten, when we met him. This awareness of our future and our past helps us to see our place in the world and maintain our determination to benefit all beings.

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

Eyes

Misguided Laypeople

Quote

In the time when the Lotus Sūtra first appeared, the [lay] people might have been the supporters of the more conservative schools like the Sarvāstivādins. In Nichiren’s time, they would have been the followers of Hōnen’s exclusive nembutsu who did not believe it was possible to attain buddhahood in this world. These people would include the mob who burned down Nichiren’s hut at Matsubagayatsu, the steward Tōjō Kagenobu and his followers who ambushed Nichiren at Komatsubara, and the Hōjō regents who exiled Nichiren to Izu, attempted to have him executed at Tatsunokuchi, and who then exiled him to Sado Island. It is important to note that the ignorant laypeople are Buddhists. This is not about the persecutions that may come about at the hands of those belonging to other religions or ideologies.

The ignorant laypeople are a powerful enemy precisely because they are Buddhists who support wrong views and who help to oppress those teachers who uphold the Lotus Sūtra. Today, ignorant laypeople would be those who claim to be Buddhists but who do not actually know for themselves the teachings of the Buddha taught in the sūtras and who base their understanding on the views and opinions of their teachers, who themselves may not have a deep understanding of the teachings of the Buddha but who present their own ideas as Buddhism. These people then close their minds to any who try to point out what the sūtras actually teach and instead cling to what they have read in secondary sources or to teachings given by whatever charismatic teacher they have chosen to follow. Because of this, Buddhism in the modern world has all too often been associated with psychedelic drugs, nationalism, and exploitive authoritarian teachers who use their power for personal aggrandizement, financial gain, and even sexual predation.

The standards for ethical conduct and the criteria for what is or is not in keeping with the teachings set forth by the sūtras become obscured and lost when laypeople uncritically accept popular misconceptions and the biased teachings of charismatic authorities over what the Buddha taught. In this way, Buddhism is greatly misrepresented, its reputation tarnished, and its ability as a tradition to liberate people and lead them to buddhahood is greatly impeded.

Open Your Eyes, p503
Lotus Seeds

1,000 Worlds and Three Realms

Quote

The 1,000 worlds resulting from the multiplication of the one hundred worlds with the ten factors are made universal by the Three Realms. The Three Realms consist of the individual, who is composed of the Five Aggregates (form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness); the community of all beings, who are transmigrating through the Ten Worlds; and the land in which they all live. These Three Realms show that the one thousand worlds are present in and manifest themselves through all things without exception. That is, the possibilities that they point to are possessed by individuals, societies, and even non-human and inanimate phenomena.

Lotus Seeds

WONS

Virtue of the Chinese Character Myō

“Myō” means revival. For example, when a mother crane calls out to her dead child, “Shian,” the dead crane will come back to life. When a poisonous bird called chinchō enters the water, fish and clam will die from the bird’s poison, but the touch of a rhinoceros horn will bring them back to life. Similarly, when the Two Vehicles of śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha, (who were nearly dead because their seeds of Buddhahood were roasted in various sūtras,) icchantika, women and others who uphold the character “myō,” their dead seeds will be revived and they will all be resuscitated.

Hokke Daimoku Shō, Treatise on the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 46

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – June 14, 2020

Evil people in the future will doubt the One Vehicle
When they hear it from a Buddha.
They will not believe or receive it.
They will violate the Dharma, and fall into the evil regions.

The Buddha declares these verses in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. Nichiren wrote that while some people think hell is below the earth, it is really contained in our own bodies and minds. If we cannot believe or accept the Dharma the Buddha teaches us, then we are not seeing the world for what it is. We are creating worlds of our own separate from the Buddha’s world. We create worlds of greed, anger and ignorance, in which it is even more difficult to hear the Dharma. But even in these difficult worlds, the Buddha exists and works to benefit us. If we remember to look for him, he will show us the way out.

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

LS32

Day 19

Day 19 concludes Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and begins Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.

Day 19 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and what a Bodhisattva should do when the teachings are about to be destroyed, we consider the Parable of the Priceless Gem in the Top-Knot.

“Mañjuśrī! I will tell you a parable. Suppose a powerful wheel-turning-holy-king demanded surrender of the kings of smaller countries by threat of force. They did not obey his demand. He led soldiers, and went and suppressed them. He was very glad to see that some soldiers distinguished themselves in war. According to their merits, he gave them paddy fields, houses, villages, cities, garments or ornaments; or various treasures such as gold, silver, lapis lazuli, shell, agate, coral or amber; or elephants, horses, vehicles, menservants, maidservants or subjects. But he did not give a brilliant gem which he was keeping in his top-knot to anyone because the gem on the head of the king was the only one [in the world]. If he had given it to anyone, the followers of the king would have been much surprised.

“Mañjuśrī! I am like the king. I obtained the world of the Dharma by my powers of dhyāna-concentration and of wisdom, and became the king of the triple world. But the kings of the Maras did not assent to my demand for surrender to me. Therefore, my army led by generals, that is, by sages and saints, fought with them. I was glad to see that some distinguished themselves [in war]. In order to cause them to rejoice, I expounded many sūtras to the four kinds of devotees. I gave them the treasures of the Dharma such as dhyāna-concentrations, emancipations, the roots without āsravas, and the powers without āsravas, and also the city of Nirvana, telling them that they had already attained extinction. Although I led them [by giving these things to them) and caused them to rejoice, [ did not expound to them the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

“Mañjuśrī! When he saw a soldier of extraordinary merit, the wheel-turning-holy-king joyfully gave that soldier the unbelievably precious gem, which he had kept in his top-knot for a long time and had not given to anyone. I am like the king. I am the great king of the Dharma in the triple world. I expound the Dharma and teach all living beings. Because I see that my soldiers led by generals, that is, by sages and saints, have already obtained extraordinary merits in their fight with the Mara of the five aggregates, with the Mara of illusions, and with the Mara of death, and that they have already eliminated the three poisons, left the triple world, and destroyed the nets of the Maras, I now expound this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma with great joy. This sūtra leads all living beings to the knowledge of all things. I did not expound it before because, if I had done so, many people in the world would have hated it and few would have believed it.

See Worthy of the Jewel in His Topknot

stories, LS32, d19b

Worthy of the Jewel in His Topknot

In [the Parable of the Priceless Gem in the Top-Knot], we are told, the jewel kept in the king’s topknot represents the Dharma Flower Sutra. Here the symbolic meaning of “jewel” is quite different from that in the story in Chapter 8 of the “hidden jewel,” where the jewel symbolizes the potential that lies dormant within all living beings to become awakened. The main point here, once more, is to describe symbolically the relationship between earlier forms of Buddhism and the Mahayana, or Great Vehicle, and to explain why the Dharma Flower Sutra was not taught earlier. Here, the Dharma Flower Sutra is seen as the crowning achievement of the Buddha and Buddhism. The Buddha has given many gifts and treasures, many sutras, many practices, and so on, but there is one that stands above all the others – the Wonderful Dharma Flower Sutra.

It is important, however, to see here that the earlier or “lesser” rewards really are, first and foremost, rewards. There is no suggestion that the earlier teachings of the shravaka way are wrong or bad or even misleading. Just as in the very first parable in the Lotus Sutra, the parable of the burning house, it is by pursuing the three small vehicles that the children are led to the great vehicle; here too there is no hint of going from bad to good, or from wrong to right, or from false to true. It is the case that the Dharma Flower Sutra proclaims itself to be better in some sense than other sutras, but this is a relative difference. The holy wheel-rolling king rewarded his soldiers with all sorts of good and valuable things before deciding that one was worthy of the jewel in his topknot.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p180-181