Monthly Archives: August 2020

d21b, WONS

‘Having Taken Poison’

“The Life Span of the Buddha” chapter says: “Having taken poison, some had lost their senses while others had not. … Seeing this excellent medicine with color and scent both good, those who had not lost their senses took it and recovered from their illness.” This refers to those who received the seed of Buddhahood in the eternal past as preached in “The Life Span of the Buddha,” those who had the opportunity to establish a connection with Buddhist dharma at the time of Great Universal Wisdom Buddha as revealed in the seventh chapter on “The Parable of a Magic City”, and all those bodhisattvas, Two Vehicles (śrāvakas and pratyekabuddha), men and gods who received the teaching of the Buddha in the pre-Lotus sūtras as well as the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra attain Buddhahood in the preaching of the essential section. It is said in the same chapter:

“The remainder who had lost their senses were happy to see their father come back and requested him to cure their illness, but they refused to take the medicine their father offered them. Why did they not take it? It was because they had been affected by poison, causing them to lose their senses and think this excellent medicine, in both color and scent, not good at all. … ‘Now I have to devise an expedient means so that they may take this medicine,’ thought the father. ‘Now I will leave this excellent medicine here with you. You should take it without worrying about its effectiveness,’ instructed the father to his children and he again went abroad. Then he sent a messenger back to his children, telling them that their father had passed away.”

The seventeenth chapter, “Variety of the Merits,” in the essential section of the Lotus Sūtra states, “In the evil age of the latter dharma…,” indicating that the teaching was for the Latter Age of Degeneration.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 156

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Aug. 18, 2020

World-Honored One! Now we see that we are Bodhisattvas in reality, and that we are assured of our future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Therefore, we have the greatest joy that we have ever had.

Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya and the others gathered to hear the Buddha teach make this declaration in Chapter Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. He and the others thought that their existence was merely to hear and preserve what the Buddha taught them, and to transmit it to others. They believed they were incapable of becoming as enlightened as the Buddha, because the Buddha’s earlier teachings had only led them so far. With the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha reminds all of us of our decision to come to this world of conflict to benefit all beings. He awakens us to our capacity to see the world with his eyes and experience the joy of reality.

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

LS32

Day 16

Day 16 concludes Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures, and completes the Fourth Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 16 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month witnessed Śākyamuni sharing seat with Many Treasures and raising the congregation into the air, we repeat in gāthās the story of the Saintly Master, the World-Honored One, Who had passed away a long time ago.

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

The Saintly Master, the World-Honored One,
Who had passed away a long time ago,
Came riding in the stūpa of treasures
To hear the Dharma [directly from me].
Could anyone who sees him
Not make efforts to hear the Dharma?

It is innumerable kalpas
Since he passed away.
He wished to hear the Dharma at any place
Because the Dharma is difficult to meet.

His original vow was this:
“After I pass away,
I will go to any place
To hear the Dharma.”

The Buddhas of my replicas
As innumerable
As there are sands in the River Ganges
Also came here
From their wonderful worlds,
Parting from their disciples,
And giving up the offerings made to them
By gods, men and dragons,
ln order to hear the Dharma,
See Many-Treasures Tathāgata,
Who passed away [a long time ago],
And have the Dharma preserved forever.

I removed innumerable living beings from many worlds,
And purified those worlds
By my supernatural powers
In order to seat those Buddhas.

Those Buddhas came under the jeweled trees.
The trees are adorned with those Buddhas
Just as a pond of pure water is adorned
With lotus flowers.

There are lion-like seats
Under the jeweled trees.
Those Buddhas sat on the seats.
The worlds are adorned
With the light of those Buddhas as bright
As a great torch in the darkness of night.

Wonderful fragrance is sent forth
From the bodies of those Buddhas
To the worlds of the ten quarters.
The living beings of those worlds
Smell the fragrance joyfully,
Just as the branches of a tree bend before a strong wind.
Those Buddhas employ these expedients
In order to have the Dharma preserved forever.

See The Reality and Togetherness of Being Both One and Many

stories, LS32, d15b, d16b

The Reality and Togetherness of Being Both One and Many

We are to understand that the number of Buddhas throughout the universe is incredibly large, and that all of them are, in some sense, subordinate to Shakyamuni Buddha. Thus, Shakyamuni Buddha, as well as being the Buddha of this world, in which suffering has to be endured and can be, is also a universal buddha – a buddha who is somehow present everywhere in time and space.

The exact meaning of the Chinese term used for these many buddhas is not very clear. They can be said to be “representatives,” or perhaps “duplicates” or “replicas” of Shakyamuni, but I think that they can best be understood as embodiments of Shakyamuni. Certainly, they are not, as some would have it, mere “emanations.” The complex point is that they are both independently real apart from Shakyamuni Buddha and in some sense subordinate to him. Put abstractly, we have here one of several images in the Dharma Flower Sutra in which the reality and togetherness of being both one and many is affirmed: here are both the one central reality of Shakyamuni, somehow represented throughout vast reaches of space, and the reality of many buddhas, each with their own lands and their own attendant bodhisattvas. Nowhere in the Sutra is it suggested that these buddhas and their lands are in anyway unreal. Other worlds are less important – to us in our daily lives – than is our own world, but that does not mean that they are any less real than our world.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p141-142
dhammapada

Losing Everything

Quote

Someone once asked the Buddha skeptically, “What have you gained through meditation?”

The Buddha replied, “Nothing at all.”

“Then, Blessed One, what good is it?”

“Let me tell you what I lost through meditation: sickness, anger, depression, insecurity, the burden of old age, the fear of death. That is the good of meditation, which leads to nirvana.”

Dhammapada, p79
Blog

Service d’aurevoir à Ryusho Kansho Jeffus Shonin

ryusho-buddhistname

20200816_RyushoMemorialService-cover
PDF copy

Yesterday I posted about Ryusho Kansho Jeffus Shonin’s memorial services. I had wanted to include the program from the sangha memorial but had misplaced my copy. Davie Endo Byden-Oakes has sent me another copy and so I have an opportunity to include it now.

Davie opened with these prepared remarks:

Hello everyone and thank you for your presence on this special day.

To say goodbye to Ryusho Kansho Jeffus Shonin who accompanied many of us on the steep path of the Dharma so that a sweet rain of ambrosia soothes our respective karmas and helps us taste the flavour of the Sutra of the Lotus.

Because of his discretion many of us did not know that he was among the first non-Japanese practitioners of Nichiren Shu to be ordained Shami and then Priest. This is how Ryusho was, modest and following in the footsteps of our founder the great Bodhisattva Nichiren Shonin and the eternal Buddha Shakyamuni.

Thank you and goodbye Sesnei Ryusho Kansho Jeffus Shonin.

As with all of Ryusho’s recent services, it was held in both English and French, with Alice and sometimes Béatrice tasked with helping translate English to French for those attendees who cannot speak both.

Hocine offered a French translation of Davie’s introduction and then the service began using the Ryusho’s sangha Dharma book.

Invocation – English Alice
Invocation – French Hocine

Verses for Opening the Sutra – English John
Verses for Opening the Sutra – French Béatrice

Lotus Sutra Chapter 2 – Shindoku Neil
Lotus Sutra Chapter 16 – Shindoku John

Nichiren’s Words – English Neil
Letter to Niike
“How swiftly the days pass! It makes us realize how few are the
years we have left. Friends enjoy the cherry blossoms together
on spring mornings, and then they are gone, carried away like
the blossoms by the winds of impermanence, leaving nothing
but their names. Although the blossoms have scattered, the
cherry trees will bloom again with the coming of the spring, but
when will those people be reborn?”

Nichiren’s Words – French Alice
Lettre à Nikko
Avec quelle rapidité les jours s’enfuient-ils ! En les voyant ainsi
passer, nous comprenons la brièveté des années qu’il nous reste
à vivre. Les amis avec qui, par les matinées de printemps, nous
goûtions la joie d’admirer les cerisiers en fleur, ne sont plus. Les
vents de l’impermanence les ont emportés, comme des pétales,
ne laissant derrière eux que leurs noms. Même si les pétales des
fleurs se sont éparpillées, les cerisiers refleuriront au printemps
prochain, mais quand renaîtront ces êtres qui ne sont plus?

Odaimoku Chanting Davie
(Please offer incense while chanting)
Namu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo
南無妙法蓮華経

Difficulty of Retaining the Sutra – English Vittoria
Difficulty of Retaining the Sutra – French Juan

Prayer Davie
Four Great Vows – Shindoku Hocine
Final Words
Anyone present would like to say a few words?

WONS

Vows in the ‘Jōei Code’

[In the sixth month of the 3rd year of the Kenji era (1277), Nichiren Shōnin wrote a letter of explanation in place of Inaba-bō Nichiei, a disciple of Nichiren, and submitted it to Nichiei’s father, Shimoyama Hyōgo Gorō Mitsumoto.]

As we all know, the rulers of Japan are able to do anything they wish. In a lawsuit, the rulers should call both sides to a meeting in order to listen to what each will say to the other to come to a judgement. Why is it when that only in the case of Nichiren Shōnin, they did not hold such a meeting in which he would be allowed to meet in debate against the masters of the other sects before being sentenced to such a serious punishment? This is nothing but a breach in proper conduct!

Even if Nichiren Shōnin were a felon, such illegal treatment would throw the administration of our country into chaos, with peace lost. Looking at the “Jōei Code,” we find fifty-one articles and a written pledge at the end. The first and second articles concern the religions of Shinto and Buddhism. The authorities tried to behead Nichiren Shōnin, who upholds the Lotus Sūtra, the most substantial sūtra of all Shinto and Buddhist scriptures, without allowing him to meet in debate with the monks who slandered him, trusting only in their false accusations. Thus, there might have been many other occurrences in which the shogunate broke their vows in the “Jōei Code,” but the greatest blunder was the one committed against Nichiren Shōnin. Were they inadvertently destroying themselves as well as our country because of their intense hatred of Nichiren Shōnin?

In ancient China, Duke Ai of Lu is believed to have said that the worst kind of forgetfulness was one who moved house but forgot to take one’s wife! To this, Confucius is credited with saying that some even forget who they are, such as the rulers of a country who err in governing. Were the rulers of Japan unaware of this? Even if they were, they cannot escape from their serious crime of being formidable enemies of the Lotus Sūtra.

Shimoyama Goshōsoku, The Shimoyama Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 85

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Aug. 17, 2020

The Buddhas of my replicas
As innumerable
As there are sands in the River Ganges
Also came here
From their wonderful worlds,
Parting from their disciples,
And giving up the offerings made to them
By gods, men and dragons,
In order to hear the Dharma,
See Many-Treasures Tathāgata,
Who passed away [a long time ago],
And have the Dharma preserved forever.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddhas of his replicas inhabit countless other worlds in the universe, and enjoy the status and benefit of being enlightened in those worlds. Despite the honor they receive in those worlds, they happily come to hear the Buddha teach the Wonderful Dharma. As our pleasures seem small compared to those of a Buddha, so a Buddha’s pleasures seem small compared to the Wonderful Dharma.

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

Blog

Honoring Ryusho

Yesterday afternoon I attended the formal service for Ryusho Kansho Jeffus Shonin. I say “the formal service” because his sangha, the people who practiced with him via Zoom, held their own service today. I think Ryushho would have been impressed by the showing at the “formal service” but he would have been very happy with his sangha’s tribute.


My wife and I both attended the formal service, which was held at 4 pm our time. Whoever decided the time certainly didn’t take Ryusho’s sangha into consideration. The majority are in England and Europe, putting the service at midnight or 1 am.

It was nice to see the American Nichiren Shu priests take part – Ryuoh Faulkconer, Kanjin Cederman, Shinkyo Warner, Myokei Caine-Barrett, Ryuei McCormick and Shoda Kanai. Several shami attended along with at least one foreign priest, Ervinna Myoufu from Jakarta.

The number of attendees fluctuated between 46 and 50, including Ryusho’s brother, Tim, and his niece, Beth. We even had an unwanted Zoom-bomber interrupt the service.

2020-08-16_sangha

But the real people who missed Ryusho showed up Sunday morning to pay tribute to their sensei. Led by Davie Endo Byden-Oakes, the sangha members from the United States, England, Portugal, France and Czech Republic held a fitting memorial service. Each component of the service was divided among the attendess, just as Ryusho had divided the services he held.

See Service d’aurevoir à Ryusho Kansho Jeffus Shonin

LS32

Day 15

Day 15 concludes Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, and opens Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures.

Day 15 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, we witness the arrival of the Stupa of Treasures.

Thereupon a stupa of the seven treasures sprang up from underground and hung in the sky before the Buddha. The stupa was five hundred yojanas high and two hundred and fifty yojanas wide and deep. lt was adorned with various treasures. It was furnished with five thousand railings and ten million chambers. It was adorned with innumerable banners and streamers, from which jeweled necklaces and billions of jeweled bells were hanging down. The fragrance of tamalapattra and candana was sent forth from the four sides of the stupa to all the corners of the world. Many canopies, adorned with streamers, and made of the seven treasures-gold, silver, lapis lazuli, shell, agate, pearl and ruby were hanging in the sky [one upon another from the top of the stupa] up to the [heaven of the] palaces of the four heavenly-kings. The thirty-three gods offered a rain of heavenly mandārava-flowers to the stupa of treasures. Thousands of billions of living beings, including the other gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings, also offered flowers, incense, necklaces, streamers, canopies and music to the stupa of treasures, venerated the stupa, honored it, and praised it.

Thereupon a loud voice of praise was heard from within the stupa of treasures:

“Excellent, excellent! You, Śākyamuni, the World-Honored One, have expounded to this great multitude the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Teaching of Equality, the Great Wisdom, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas. So it is, so it is. What you, Śākyamuni, the World-Honored One, have expounded is all true.”

Thereupon the four kinds of devotees [in the congregation], having seen the great stupa of treasures hanging in the sky, and having heard the voice from within the stupa, had delight in the Dharma, but wondered why these unprecedented things had happened. They rose from their seats, joined their hands together [towards the stupa] respectfully, retired, and stood to one side.

Thereupon a Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas called Great-Eloquence, having noticed that the gods, men and asuras of the world had doubts, said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One! Why did this stupa of treasures spring up from underground? Why was that voice heard from within [the stupa]?”

See Springing From Within Ourselves