Monthly Archives: November 2020

LS32

Day 1

Day 1 covers the first half of Chapter 1, Introductory

Day 1 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the reaction of Maitreya Bodhisattva to the worlds revealed by the light emitted by the Buddha, we repeat his reaction in gāthās.

Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva, wishing to repeat what he had said, asked him in gāthās:

Mañjuśrī!
Why is the Leading Teacher
Emitting a great ray of light
From the white curl between his eyebrows?

[The gods] rained mandārava-flowers
And mañjūṣaka-flowers.
A breeze carrying the fragrance of candana
Is delighting the multitude.

Because of this, the ground has become
Beautiful and pure;
And this world quaked
In the six ways.

The four kinds of devotees
Are joyful.
They are happier than ever
In body and mind.

The light from [the white curls]
Between the eyebrows of the Buddha illumines
Eighteen thousand worlds to the east.
Those worlds look golden-colored.

I see from this world
The living beings of the six regions
Extending down to the Avici Hell,
And up to the Highest Heaven

Of each of those worlds.
I see the region to which each living being is to go,
The good or evil karmas he is doing,
And the rewards or retributions he is going to have.

See Heavenly Flowers

stories, LS32, d1b

Heavenly Flowers

That heavenly flowers rain both on the Buddha and on the whole assembly is very important. It means that it is not only beautiful and rewarding to preach the Dharma; it is also beautiful and rewarding to hear it. It is, in other words, one of the ways in which there is equality among all of those in the congregation, including the Buddha. This shows that there should be no sharp distinction between teachers and learners. While many forms of Buddhism have adopted a kind of system in which some are authorized to be permanent teachers and others to be students, the Dharma Flower Sutra teaches that we should all be both teachers and learners. Nonetheless there will be times when some are in special positions as teachers or as learners – but this should always be understood as temporary and relative. All can and need to be teachers, and all can and need to be learners.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p33-34
Peaceful Action

Transmitting Spiritual Energy

Quote

All living beings are able to become a Buddha, but they all become a Buddha in a different way, and each Buddha teaches in a different way. A wise teacher, when he or she looks at their disciples, is able to see which path each disciple will follow in the future and the realization they will attain, and with this knowledge the teacher can help their disciples have more confidence and follow the right path. Giving a prediction is a transmission of spiritual energy from teacher to disciple.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p47
Lecture on Lotus Sutra

The Teachings of the Lotus Sutra

Quote

The idea held by some sects that Nichiren was the teacher of Shakyamuni in some remote past is nothing Nichiren ever claimed. That suggestion only obscures the Eternal Buddha and the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. It is also an attempt to elevate some Nichiren denominations by their claim that somehow they practice a True Buddhism that stands above the Lotus Sutra. It is only by discouraging their followers from actually studying the Lotus Sutra and by offering convoluted explanations that make no logical sense and fly in the face of Nichiren’s own teaching that these denominations seek to elevate their standing.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

WONS

Saved From Hell Through the Help of the True Dharma

Referring to the Lotus Sūtra, it is stated in the Sūtra on the Great Extinction, “Suppose someone commits the sin of slandering the True Dharma. If this person repents, returns to the True Dharma and embraces it again, the sin of slandering the True Dharma will disappear. However, a return to the True Dharma must be made because no other sūtra except this True Dharma can absolve one from the sin of slandering the True Dharma.” Interpreting this, Grand Master Miao-lê states in his Annotations to the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “The Nirvana Sūtra calls the Lotus Sūtra the supreme True Dharma,” and “Just as a person who fell on the earth will stand up again with the support of the earth, a person who slandered the True Dharma can be saved from hell through the help of the True Dharma.”

Ōta Nyūdō-dono Gohenji, A Reply to Lay Priest Lord Ōta, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 34-35

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 12, 2020

Muddy water has no mind but it still catches the moon’s reflection and naturally becomes lucid. Plants and trees catch the rain in order to blossom, but can we say they do this deliberately? The five characters of Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo are not the text of the sutra nor a mere explanation; rather they are the sole intent of the whole sutra. Beginners may practice this without knowing the heart (of the Lotus Sutra), but their practice will naturally harmonize with its intention.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on The Four Depths of Faith and Five Stages of Practice (Shishin Gohon-Shō). This is another way of saying that we do not need to rely on our own skills or wisdom to practice the Buddha Dharma. Whether we are brilliant or slow, focused or distracted, calm or agitated, when we rely on the Ever-Present Buddha, we are in harmony with the world.

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

LS32, WONS, Innumerable

Another Innumerable Day Before Day 1

Having last month considered the first of the 10 Beneficial Effects of the Sutra of Innumerable Meaning, we consider the second beneficial effect:

“O you of good intent! Second, this sutra’s unimaginable power for beneficial effect is this: If there are living beings who obtain this sutra—whether a section of it, whether a verse of it, or whether a phrase—and thus become able to perceive millions upon millions of meanings, even though uncountable numbers of kalpas may pass they will not be able to elucidate the teaching they have acquired and kept. Why is this so? It is because the meanings of this teaching are unlimited. O you of good intent! This sutra can be likened to a single seed from which a thousand million seeds result. And each of these seeds, in turn, also results in a thousand million in number. In this way, the production of seeds is limitless in measure. So it is also with this sutra—it is a single teaching that gives rise to a hundred thousand meanings, and each one of these, in turn, produces a thousand million in number. In this way, meanings are produced to an unlimited and boundless extent. Thus is this sutra named Infinite Meanings. O you of good intent! This is known as the inconceivable power of the second beneficial effect of this sutra.

I am reminded of Nichiren and the progress from his first declaration of Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō:

At first only I, Nichiren, started chanting the daimoku, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, but then two, three, then one hundred people, gradually began chanting it. This will continue in the future. Isn’t this what emerging from the earth means? When an innumerable number of people emerge from the earth and this Wonderful Dharma spreads extensively, there will be no mistake, just as a shooting arrow never misses the earth, Japan will be filled with people chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. You should therefore establish your fame as the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra and devote your life to it.

Shohō Jisso-shō, Treatise on All Phenomena as Ultimate Reality, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 78

A single seed from which a thousand million seeds result.

Peaceful Action

The Seven Chapters of Clear Exposition

Quote

[C]hapter 3 through Chapter 9 are called “the seven chapters of clear exposition,” and they serve to further clarify skillful means. At the very end of Chapter Two, the Buddha says in verse,

All of you, knowing now
That the Buddhas, the Teachers of the Ages,
In accord with what is peculiarly appropriate have recourse to expedient devices,
Need have no more doubts or uncertainties.
Your hearts shall give rise to great joy,
Since you know that you yourselves shall become Buddhas.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p45
Lotus Seeds

Our Heartfelt Wish and Firm Faith

Quote

The recitation of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo is the verbal expression of our heartfelt wish to attain Buddhahood. It is also a statement of our firm faith that Buddhahood is the true nature of our lives, which can be realized anew in every moment. In avowing these ideas, we plant the seed of awakening within our lives and within the lives of others. The more we nourish this seed through our practice, the more our life will manifest the qualities of a buddha.

Lotus Seeds

WONS

Studying the Matter of the Last Moment of Life

As I contemplate my own life, I, Nichiren, have studied Buddhism ever since I was a child. Our life is uncertain, as exhaling one’s breath one moment does not guarantee drawing it the next; it is as transient as dew before the wind and its end occurs suddenly to everyone, the wise and the ignorant, the aged and the young. I thought I should study the matter of the last moment of life first of all, before studying anything else. In this endeavor I collected commentaries and interpretations of the holy teachings of the Buddha written by commentators and Buddhist masters. Using them as a spotless mirror, I collated all their thoughts upon death and after death, I found no discrepancy.

Myōhō-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Reply to My Lady, the Nun Myōhō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 141