Monthly Archives: September 2020

LS32

Day 4

Day 4 concludes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 4 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month learned of the Buddha’s immeasurable power to employ expedients, we learn there is only one teaching.

There is only one teaching, that is, the One Vehicle
In the Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters.
There is not a second or a third vehicle
Except when the Buddhas teach expediently.

The Buddhas lead all Living beings
By tentative names [of vehicles]
In order to expound their wisdom.
They appear in the worlds
Only for the One Vehicle.

Only this is true; the other two are not.
The Buddhas do not save living beings by the Lesser Vehicle.
They dwell in the Great Vehicle.
The Dharma they attained is adorned
With the power of concentration of mind
And with the power of wisdom.
They save all living beings by the Dharma.

I attained unsurpassed enlightenment,
The Great Vehicle, the Truth of Equality.
If I lead even a single man
By the Lesser Vehicle,
I shall be accused of stinginess.
It is not good at all to do this.

I do not deceive
Those who believe me and rely on me.
I am not greedy or jealous
Because I have eliminated all evils.
Therefore, in the worlds of the ten quarters,
I am fearless.

I am adorned with the physical marks of a Buddha.
I am illumining the world with my light.
To the countless living beings who honor me, I will expound
The seal of the truth, that is, the reality of all things.

Know this, Śāriputra!
I once vowed that I would cause
All living beings to become
Exactly as I am.

That old vow of mine
Has now been fulfilled.
I lead all living beings
Into the Way to Buddhahood.

The Daily Dharma from Aug. 11, 2020, offers this:

Know this, Śāriputra!
I once vowed that I would cause
All living beings to become
Exactly as I am.

That old vow of mine
Has now been fulfilled.
I lead all living beings
Into the Way to Buddhahood.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. Earlier in the chapter he explained that all the teachings he used before the Lotus Sūtra were mere expedients, intended to use our desire for happiness to bring us out of our suffering and onto the path of enlightenment. The expedient teachings were tailored to the ignorant and deluded minds of those who heard them, but had not yet revealed the true wisdom and compassion of the Buddha. Now that we have met this Wonderful Dharma, we are assured of our enlightenment and that of all beings. We learn to see innumerable Buddhas in limitless worlds through unimaginable time, and our own true selves at the heart of reality.

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

Vasubandhu, d3b

Four Types of Merit of the Tathāgatas

It says in the Lotus Sutra, “Why is this, Śāriputra? Because all the buddhas, the tathāgatas, are accomplished in explaining that which has its own cause.” Since the tathāgatas have accomplished four types of merit they are able to emancipate living beings. What are these four?

  1. The accomplishment of being established. Just as it says in the Lotus Sutra, “The tathāgatas have perfected various expedient means, [various insights, various interpretations, and various explanations].” [The perfection of] “various expedient means” indicates [a tathāgata’s] descent from Tusita Heaven until he reveals his entrance into [final] nirvana.
  2. The accomplishment of teaching that converts [living beings]. Just as it says in the Lotus Sutra, “various insights…” [The perfection of] “various insights” shows [the tathāgatas can reveal] the causes of defilement and purity.
  3. The accomplishment of distinctions. Just as it says in the Lotus Sutra, “various interpretations…” [The perfection of] “various interpretations” means that he is able to achieve results by how he preaches in accordance with the Dharma.
  4. The accomplishment of teaching. Just as it says in the Lotus Sutra, “various explanations…” [The perfection of] “various explanations” means [the tathāgatas] use the four analytical knowledges to teach [the Dharma] through whichever names, words, or letters [are required] according to whatever capacity a living being has to accept it.
Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p 123
d25b, WONS

The Gist of Practicing the Lotus Sūtra

A wise man named Confucius of China is said to have thought over what he intended to say nine times before he uttered a word. It is also said that Tan, the Duke of Chou, interrupted washing his hair, or having a meal, three times in order to see visitors without keeping them waiting. How much more you who have faith in Buddhism should take these examples to heart! Otherwise you will regret it later. Please do not bear a grudge against me. This is the teaching of the Buddha. The essence of Buddhism is the Lotus Sūtra, and the gist of practicing the Lotus Sūtra is shown in the “Never-Despising Bodhisattva” chapter. Contemplate why the Never-Despising Bodhisattva stood on the street to bow to passersby. The true purpose of Śākyamuni Buddha appearing in this world was to teach us how to behave ourselves on a daily basis. Consider this well. The wise are called human beings while the foolish are beasts.

Sushun Tennō Gosho, The ‘Emperor Sushun’ Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 124

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Sept. 8, 2020

The Buddhas seldom appear in the worlds.
It is difficult to meet them.
Even when they do appear in the worlds,
They seldom expound the Dharma.

The Buddha proclaims these verses in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. Later in the Sūtra he explains that in reality he became enlightened far in the past and will continue to lead all beings to enlightenment far into the future. The reason the Buddhas appear so rarely is not because they conceal themselves. It is because we do not recognize them for what they are. We cannot see the air we breathe, but it is crucial for our lives. Because of this we often take it for granted, unless we are so afflicted, or the air is so poisoned that we cannot breathe. Then we are aware of it. Likewise, the Buddha Dharma is available to us all the time.

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

LS32

Day 3

Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Day 3 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month learned the expediency of the teaching of the Three Vehicles, we consider the reaction of the Śrāvakas and the Arhats.

The great multitude at that time included Śrāvakas. [They also included] Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya, and other Arhats, twelve hundred altogether, who had already eliminated āsravas. [They also included] the bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, and upāsikās, [that is, the four kinds of devotees] who had already aspired for Śrāvakahood or Pratyekabuddhahood. All of them thought:

“Why does the World-Honored One extol so enthusiastically the power of the Buddhas to employ expedients? Why does he say that the Dharma attained by him is profound and difficult to understand, and that the true purpose of his teachings is too difficult for Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas to know? He expounded to us the teaching of emancipation. We obtained this teaching and reached Nirvāṇa. We do not know why he says all this.”

Thereupon Śāriputra, seeing the doubts of the four kinds of devotees, and also because he, himself, did not understand [why the Buddha had said this], said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! Why do you extol so enthusiastically [what you call] the highest [Truth, and the power of the Buddhas to employ) expedients? [Why do you extol) the Dharma which [you say] is profound, wonderful, and difficult to understand? I have never heard you say all this before. The four kinds of devotees also have the same doubts. World-Honored One! Explain all this! Why do you extol so enthusiastically the Dharma which [you say] is profound, wonderful, and difficult to understand?”

Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1 offers this on the followers’ puzzlement:

Previous to teaching the Lotus Sutra the Buddha taught expedients to lead people to the ultimate teaching of the Lotus Sutra. In many ways it was as if he were leading the blind to the train station so they could then find the way to the true complete teachings contained in the Lotus Sutra. But we need to remember that the train station is not the destination, the expedients are not the sum of the Buddha’s teachings.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1

Vasubandhu, d3b

Two Kinds of Profundity

[The Tathāgata says] “The wisdom of all the buddhas is profound and vast,” causing those in the great assembly to feel respect and openly want to hear what the Tathāgata teaches. It should be known that two kinds of profundity are included in the meaning of the word “profound.” What are these two? 1) The profundity of realization that is expressed as “the wisdom of all the buddhas is profound and vast” and 2) the profundity of the scripture that is expressed as “the gateway to their wisdom is profound and vast.” “Profundity” is the generic characteristic for the former and the individual characteristic for the latter.

The profundity of realization has five types: l) the profundity of the meaning means the profundity that is based on a certain meaning, 2) the profundity of the essence of true reality, 3) the profundity of inner realization, 4) the profundity of the basis, and 5) the profundity of the unsurpassable. What is “profound” is great enlightenment. “Great enlightenment” means the highest, complete enlightenment realized by the tathāgatas. Why is it profound? It is profound because “none of the disciples or self-enlightened buddhas are capable of knowing it.” “Wisdom” means all-encompassing omniscience. Just as it says in the Lotus Sutra:

The wisdom of all the buddhas is profound and vast. The gateway to their wisdom is difficult to ascertain, difficult to apprehend, difficult to know, difficult to understand, and difficult to enter. None of the disciples or self-enlightened buddhas are capable of knowing it.

Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p 119-120
WONS

The Lord Who Preaches Here Is the Eternal Buddha

[F]ourteen chapters in the essential section can be regarded as one sūtra with three parts: the preface, the main discourse, and the epilogue. The first half of the fifteenth chapter, “Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground,” is the prologue. The second half of the fifteenth chapter, the sixteenth chapter, “The Life Span of the Buddha,” and the first half of the following chapter, the “Variety of Merits,” (a chapter and two-halves in all) make up the main discourse. The remainder constitutes the epilogue.

The Lord who preaches here is the Eternal Buddha, not Śākyamuni Buddha who attained Buddhahood for the first time in this world under the bodhi tree in Buddhagayā. Accordingly, what is preached here differs from what was preached previously as clearly as heaven and earth. That is to say, it is revealed here that all living beings in the ten realms as well as the world in which they live manifest themselves to be eternal. It comes close to revealing the truth of the “3,000 existences contained in one thought,” with only an extremely thin bamboo film separating them.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 151-152

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Sept. 7, 2020

The Buddhas expound the teaching of the Three Vehicles
Only as an expedient.
There is only the One Buddha-Vehicle.
The two [vehicles] were taught only as resting places.

The Buddha declares these verses in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra after telling the parable of the Magic City. The parable is his explanation of why expedient teachings are necessary, and why we must eventually set them aside to attain the enlightenment that is our true nature.

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

LS32

Day 2

Chapter 1, Introductory (Conclusion).

Day 2 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the reaction of the four kinds of devotees of the world of Sun-Moon-Light Buddha, we conclude Chapter 1, Introductory.

Wonderful-Light, the Teacher of the Dharma,
Kept the store of the Dharma of the Buddha, and expounded
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
For eighty small kalpas.

Led by Wonderful-Light, those eight princes resolved
To attain unsurpassed enlightenment.
[Wonderful-Light said to them:]
“You will be able to see countless Buddhas.”

Having made offerings to [countless] Buddhas,
Those princes followed them, practiced the Great Way,
And became Buddhas in succession.
Each of them assured another of his future Buddhahood.

The last God of Gods
Was called Burning-Light Buddha.
As the leader of seers,
He saved innumerable living beings.

There was a lazy man
Among the disciples
Of Wonderful-Light, the Teacher of the Dharma.
[The lazy man] was attached to fame and gain.

Always seeking fame and gain,
He often visited noble families.
He did not understand what he had recited,
Gave it up, and forgot it.
Because of this,
He was called Fame-Seeking.

But he [later] did many good karmas,
And became able to see innumerable Buddhas.
He made offerings to them,
Followed them, practiced the Great Way,
And performed the six paramitas.
Now he sees the Lion-Like One of the Sakyas.

He will become a Buddha
In his future life.
He will be called Maitreya.
He will save innumerable living beings.

The lazy man who lived after the extinction
Of [Sun-Moon-] Light Buddha was
No one but you.
Wonderful-Light, the Teacher of the Dharma, was I.

The ray of light of [Sun-Moon-] Light Buddha,
That is, the good omen, was the same as what I see now.
Judging from this, the present Buddha also will expound
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

The good omen I see now is like that of old.
This is an expedient employed by the Buddhas.
The present Buddha is also emitting a ray of light
In order to reveal the truth of the reality [of all things].

[Mañjuśrī said to the multitude:]

All of you, know this, join your hands together,
And wait with one mind!
The Buddha will send the rain of the Dharma
And satisfy those who seek enlightenment.

The Buddha will remove
Any doubt of those who seek
The teaching of the Three Vehicles.
No question will be left unresolved.

See Warning: Life Changing Events Ahead

stories, LS32, d2b

Warning: Life Changing Events Ahead

The chapter ends in this way:

The time has come for people to understand.
With your palms together, wait single-mindedly!
The Buddha will pour the rain of the Dharma
To satisfy those who seek the Way.

If those who seek after the three vehicles
Have any doubts or regrets,
The Buddha will remove them
So that none whatever remain. (LS 74)

In effect, the first chapter is a warning – a warning that you are entering an imaginative territory, a world that can change your life, and that such a change in you can be significant for the entire cosmos. The world of the imagination can be a frightening and even dangerous place, precisely because it invites us into a world that is new and unfamiliar and therefore difficult to understand.

It may place demands on us by assuring us that we can be and do much more than we ever believed possible – yet if we respond to it in joy, our entry into this transformative world can be very rewarding.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p 37-38