Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p 148The power of practice is illustrated by five entrances: l) the power from teaching, 2) the power from the practice of undertaking hardships, 3) the power from protecting living beings from difficulties, 4) the power from the excellence of merits, and 5) the power from protecting the Dharma.
- The power from teaching has three entrances to the Dharma that are shown in the chapter “Supernatural Powers”: [the buddhas] extend their long, broad tongues in order to cause [those present] to remember; [they] coughed [before] speaking the verses in order to cause [those present to listen, and after having made them listen they caused them not to abandon the true practice; [they] snapped their fingers to enlighten living beings and to cause those who were practicing the path to attain enlightenment.
- The power from the practice of undertaking hardships is illustrated in the chapter “Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja” [Medicine King]. The chapter “Bodhisattva Gadgadasvara” [Wonderful Voice] also illustrates the power from the practice of undertaking hardships [in regard to] giving guidance to living beings.
- The power from protecting living beings from difficulties is shown in the chapter “Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara” and the chapter “Magical Spells.”
- The power from the excellence of merits is shown in the chapter “King Śubhavyūha.” The two boys have such power through the roots of good merit [they had planted] in past lives.
- The power from protecting the Dharma is shown in the chapter “Bodhisattva Samantabhadra” and in later chapters.
Monthly Archives: October 2020
The Sūtra of Infinite Meaning
The Sūtra of Infinite Meaning states: “The Buddha has been preaching various teachings through expedient means in order to lead all the people to the True Dharma. For forty years or so till today – (three weeks for preaching the Flower Garland Sūtra, 12 years for the Āgama sūtras, 30 years for the Hōdō sūtras and the Wisdom Sūtra, totaling 42 years; the Treatise on the Dharma World, too, states 42 years) – the truth has not been revealed” (in chapter 2, “Preaching”). The sūtra also preaches: “By means of the pre-Lotus sūtras, one will never attain supreme Buddhahood no matter how long one practices his training. Why? Because the great direct way to enlightenment is not preached in those sūtras, hence one encounters many difficulties in walking in steep and dangerous ways” (chapter 3, “Ten Merits”). It further preaches, “There is no suffering in practicing the great direct way” (chapter 3, “Ten Merits”).
Ichidai Goji Keizu, Genealogical Chart of the Buddha’s Lifetime Teachings in Five Periods, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 242
Daily Dharma – Oct. 10, 2020
Having thought this, he said to his children as he had thought, ‘Come out quickly!’ He warned them with these good words out of his compassion towards them, but they were too much engrossed in playing to hear the words of their father. They were not frightened or afraid. They did not wish to come out. They did not know what a fire was, what a house was, and what they would lose. They ran about happily. They only glanced at their father occasionally.
This passage is part of the Parable of the Burning House, told by the Buddha in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. In this story, he compares us living in this world of conflict to children playing in a dangerous house. As the children in the story were too distracted by their games to hear their father’s warnings, we are often too distracted by the attachments of our world to hear the voice of the Buddha.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 1
Day 1 covers the first half of Chapter 1, Introductory
Having last month witnessed witness the Buddha emit a ray of light from the white curls between his eyebrows, we consider the reaction of Maitreya Bodhisattva.
Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva thought:
“The World-Honored One is now displaying a wonder [, that is, a good omen]. Why is he displaying this good omen? The Buddha, the World-Honored One, has entered into a samadhi. Whom shall I ask why he is displaying this inconceivable, rare thing? Who can answer my question?”
He thought again:
“This Mañjuśrī, the son of the King of the Dharma, has already met innumerable Buddhas and made offerings to them in his previous existence. He must have seen this rare thing before. Now I will ask him.”
At that time the bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, upāsikās, gods, dragons, and other supernatural beings thought, “Whom shall we ask why the Buddha is emitting this ray of light, that is, why he is displaying this wonder?”
At that time the congregation included the four kinds of devotees: bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās and upāsikās. They also included gods, dragons, and other supernatural beings. Maitreya Bodhisattva, wishing to have his doubts removed, and also understanding the minds of the congregation, asked Mañjuśrī:
“Why is the World-Honored One displaying this good omen, this wonder? Why is he emitting a great ray of light, illumining eighteen thousand worlds to the east, and causing us to see those beautifully-adorned worlds of the Buddhas?”
An Invitation and a Warning
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p25-26Creativity is a path to liberation, and imagination is a path to liberation. That is why the Dharma Flower Sutra invites us into a world of enchantment – to enable us to enter the path of liberation, a liberation that is always both for ourselves and for others. Notice, please, that this first chapter of the Lotus Sutra does not come to us as an order; it is an invitation to enter a new world and thereby take up a new life, but it is only an invitation.
But this invitation also carries a warning – enter this world and your life may be changed. It may be changed in ways you never expected. The Dharma Flower Sutra comes with a warning label. Instead of saying “Dangerous to your health,” it says, “Dangerous to your comfort.” The worst sin in the Lotus Sutra is complacency and the arrogance of thinking one has arrived and has no more to do. The Sutra challenges such comfort and comfortable ideas. Danger can be exciting. It can also be frightening. We do not know if we can make it. We do not know whether we even have the power to enter the path, the Buddha Way.
This is why, while the Dharma Flower Sutra begins with enchantment, it does not end there. It goes further to announce that each and every one of us has within us a great and marvelous power, later called “buddha-nature.” The term “buddha-nature” does not appear in the Lotus Sutra, probably because it had not yet been invented, but the idea that would later be called “buddha-nature” runs through these stories not as a mere thread, but as a central pillar – albeit a very flexible one.
Accepting and Upholding the name of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara
Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p 148-149[I]t is said, “He who accepts and upholds the name of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, and he who accepts and upholds the names of all the buddhas as numerous as the sands of sixty-two koṭis of Ganges Rivers, will each produce equal merit.” This has two meanings: 1) the power of faith and 2) complete knowledge.
The power of faith has two types: l) complete faith that one’s body is no different from the body of Avalokiteśvara, and 2) reverence felt toward Avalokiteśvara, so that one also believes one can completely attain such qualities as his.
Complete knowledge means the ability to be determined and to know the element of reality (dharmadhātu). “The element of reality” is referred to as the nature of reality (dharmatā). This “nature of reality” is referred to as the universal absolute body of all the buddhas and the bodhisattvas. “The universal body” is the true absolute body.
Bodhisattvas in the first stage are able to penetrate it. Therefore, one who accepts and upholds the names of all the buddhas as numerous as the sands of sixty-two koṭis of Ganges Rivers and one who accepts and upholds the name of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara will both produce merit without any difference.
Never-Despising Bodhisattva and Nichiren
Although the twenty-four characters of Never-Despising Bodhisattva differ in wording from the five characters that I, Nichiren, spread, they are the same in meaning. We both appeared in the world under the same conditions: he toward the end of the Age of the Semblance Dharma after the death of Powerful Voice King Buddha, and I at the beginning of the Latter Age after the death of Śākyamuni Buddha. Also, Never-Despising Bodhisattva and I, Nichiren, are at the same stage of progress in the practice of the Lotus Sūtra: he is in the initial “rejoicing upon hearing the Lotus Sūtra (sho-zuiki-hon)” rank in the five-stage practice (gohon), while I am an ordinary man in the second stage of the “notional understanding (myōji-soku)” in the six-stage practice (roku-soku).
Kembutsu Mirai-ki, Testimony to the Prediction of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 174-175
Daily Dharma – Oct. 9, 2020
Expound the Dharma, reveal the Dharma,
And cause us to obtain that wisdom!
If we attain Buddhahood,
Others also will do the same.
These verses are sung by the sixteen children of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha in a story told by the Buddha in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. When the children learned of their father becoming enlightened, they gave up their toys and preoccupations and begged that Buddha to teach them. With this declaration they showed their father that they were ready to receive his wisdom and set off on the path to their own enlightenment.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Another Innumerable Day Before Day 1
As promised last month, I present the first of the 10 Beneficial Effects of the Sutra of Innumerable Meaning:
The Buddha said: “O you of good intent! First, this sutra can enable a bodhisattva—whose mind has not yet produced it to generate the aspiration for enlightenment; can awaken a mind of compassion in one who lacks kindness and sympathy; can awaken in one who is fond of killing a mind of expansive mercy; can awaken in one in whom envy arises a mind of sympathetic joy; can awaken in one who is in bondage to desires a mind that can rise above them; can awaken in a selfish one a mind of consideration for others; can awaken in the mind of an arrogant one the attitude of proper behavior; can awaken in one who is quick to anger a mind that is given to forbearance; can awaken in one who becomes lazy in discipline a mind of appropriate endeavor; can awaken in one who has unceasing thoughts a mind directed toward tranquility; can awaken an insightful mind in one who is deluded and confused; can awaken in one who is not yet able to ferry others a mind to convey them to freedom; can awaken in one who commits the ten harmful acts a mind of the ten virtues; can inspire in the mind of one drawn to conditioned phenomena the intent to transcend cause and condition; can create in one who tends to withdraw from commitment a mind that is resolute; can awaken in one whose conduct is unrestrained a mind to exert self-control; and can awaken in one who has delusive worldly passions a mind to purge and be rid of them. O you of good intent! This is known as the inconceivable power of the first beneficial effect of this sutra.
I can think of no better summary of the goals of becoming a Buddhist.
The True Heart and Compassion of the Buddha’s salvation
Journey of the Path to Righteousness, p 1The Odaimoku we chant, take faith in, and practice in accordance with the teachings of Nichiren is the true heart and compassion of the Buddha’s salvation. This actualization of Myōhō Renge Kyō means to chant the Odaimoku with both the mind and the body as one.
So as all who live in this world would be able to walk the correct path shown to us by the Buddha, as well as to realize this world (in actuality) is a happy and peaceful place, Nichiren devoted his entire life to the propagation of the Lotus Sutra and to the Odaimoku. He strove for every one of us to walk this correct path shown to us by the Buddha who lived in this very world. It is therefore imperative to follow Nichiren’s guidance as a way of life to both cast the mind in a straightforward direction towards the Odaimoku and to also deepen our faith on a daily basis.