Monthly Archives: November 2020

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 conclude today’s portion of Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures, we return to today’s portion of Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma and consider the merits of the Lotus Sutra.

Thereupon the Buddha said again to Medicine-King Bodhisattva mahāsattvas:
“I have expounded many sūtras. I am now expounding this sūtra. I also will expound many sūtras in the future. The total number of the sūtras will amount to many thousands of billions. This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.

“Medicine-King! This sūtra is the store of the hidden core of all the Buddhas. Do not give it to others carelessly! It is protected by the Buddhas, by the World-Honored Ones. It has not been expounded explicitly. Many people hate it with jealousy even in my lifetime. Needless to say, more people will do so after my extinction.

“Medicine-King, know this! Anyone who copies, keeps, reads and recites this sūtra, makes offerings to it, and expounds it to others after my extinction, will be covered by my robe. He also will be protected by the present Buddhas of the other worlds. He will have the great power of truth, the power of vows, and the power of roots of good. Know this! He will live with me. I will pat him on the head.

See Practices of the Lotus Sutra

stories, LS32, d15b

Practices of the Lotus Sutra

Some traditions maintain that there are five kinds of Lotus Sutra practices taught here: receiving and embracing (or upholding) the Sutra, reading it, reciting (or chanting) it, explaining it (by teaching or preaching), and copying it.

“Receiving and embracing” involves really hearing and following the Sutra, giving yourself to it, so to speak. It is not merely a matter of hearing with one’s ears and mind, but also with one’s body. That is, it is a matter of making the Sutra a truly significant part of one’s life by embodying its teachings in one’s actions in everyday life.

By reading the Sutra, whether alone or with others, aloud or to oneself, and by reciting or chanting the Sutra, the teachings are likely to become more deeply rooted in our minds and hearts. The Sutra does not seem to support, however, the idea that mindlessly reciting the text has any value.

Reciting sutras once meant reciting them from memory. Memorizing sutras was once an extremely important responsibility of monks. For centuries it was the only way they had to store them, as writing had not yet been invented in India. Even after the invention of writing, without printing presses, copies of a sutra written on bark and such, especially copies of a sutra as long as the Lotus Sutra, must have been relatively rare.

Explaining the Sutra to others is good not only for learners, but also for teachers. All good teachers know that, in the process of teaching, they almost always learn at least as much as their students. Even now – after decades of teaching the Dharma Flower Sutra – I still always feel that in a classroom we are all learners and that I am being blessed with the greatest learning of all.

Copying a sutra originally meant, until relatively recently, writing it out by hand. With such a large quantity of sutras, this was a very important practice, the principal way of storing sutras for subsequent use. With written copies there could be much less reliance on memorized versions. But while copying Chinese characters by brush can be a pleasant meditative exercise involving concentration, I’m not at all sure that such copying is so important today. What is important is looking at every character or word in the text, not quickly skipping over parts that are boring or difficult. Translating also, I believe, can well serve the purpose of concentrating one’s focus on each part of the text. Such practice, too, can be beneficial both to the reader and to the translator.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p128-130
Peaceful Action, d14b

In Training

The terms “in training” and “those who no longer train” have to be understood here in a special way, not in the conventional way we might understand those who study or those who do not study in the world. Those in training (learners) have not yet mastered the practice, while those who no longer train (adepts) have. Yet even those who have much more to learn, who have just set out on the path, are predicted to become a Buddha, just as adepts, arhats, and great disciples have been. This prophecy reflects the great inclusiveness of the Lotus Sutra’s teaching. No one is left out; the white ox cart of the One Vehicle is spacious enough to carry everyone to Buddhahood. And in the next chapter, we will see how this spirit of inclusiveness was expanded even more by later additions to the Sutra.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p79
WONS

Depend Upon the Sūtras the Buddha Expounded

[A letter of explanation written by Nichiren Shōnin on behalf of Shijō Yorimoto on the 25th of the sixth month in the third year of the Kenji Period (1277) and submitted to the lord of the Ema Family.]

“Master Shan-tao of the Pure Land Sect in China said that ten out of ten or 100 out of 100 of those who practice the nembutsu will be able to be reborn in the Pure Land through the power of the original vow of Amitābha Buddha, but not even one out of one thousand persons who practice the holy way gate such as the Lotus Sūtra will be able to attain Buddhahood. Priest Hōnen of the Pure Land Sect in Japan urged his followers to abandon, close, set aside, and cast away the Lotus Sūtra, the holy way gate, calling the practicers of the holy way gate a school of bandits. Zen Sect insists that Śākyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment is transmitted to practicers only through the mind (special transmission without scriptures or preachings) and therefore sūtras are needless.

“The Buddha Śākyamuni, however, states in the Lotus Sūtra: ‘I will reveal the Truth after an extensive period of preaching.’ The Buddha of Many Treasures also verified that ‘The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma is entirely true,’ and the Buddhas manifested in the worlds throughout the universe also testify to the truth of the Lotus Sūtra. Which should we believe between the two: Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures and the Buddhas manifested in the worlds throughout the universe who prove the truth of the Lotus Sūtra, or Grand Master Kōbō of Japan who says that the Lotus Sūtra is a sūtra of no merit? Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, and the Buddhas manifested in the worlds throughout the universe preach that all without exception will attain Buddhahood through the Lotus Sūtra, but Master Shan-tao and Priest Hōnen said that no one could attain Buddhahood through the Lotus Sūtra, which we should abandon, close, set aside, and cast away. The teachings of Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, and the Buddhas in manifestation and those uttered by Master Shan-tao and Priest Hōnen are as different as fire and water or clouds and mud. Which should we put faith in? Which should we discard? …

To this question put forth by Sammi-kō, Ryūzō-bō replied: “How can I have any doubts about such senior masters as Shan-tao and Hōnen? The only thing that ordinary monks like myself can do is to pay respect and venerate them.”

Then, Sammi-kō asked again: “Such an answer does not sound like your teaching. Although everybody respects their senior masters or men of virtue, it is willed in the Nirvana Sūtra, preached last by the Buddha, ‘Rely on the dharma, not on masters.’ This means that since masters may have made mistakes, one should depend upon the sūtras the Buddha expounded.

Yorimoto Shinjō, Yorimoto’s Letter of Explanation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 101-102

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 26, 2020

Anything which tastes good, bad, delicious, distasteful, bitter or astringent, will become as delicious as the nectar of heaven and not distasteful when it is put on their tongues.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. In our habitual pursuit of pleasure, we often forget that what is pleasant to some people is irritating to others. This is most obvious with food. Flavors that some find delicious others find disgusting. When we understand that the things in the world are not the cause of our happiness or misery, and that our minds affect how we perceive the world, we find more joy and wonder than we thought possible, and no longer depend on this capricious existence for our happiness.

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

LS32

Day 14

Day 14 covers all of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, and opens Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.

Day 14 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the Buddha’s prediction for his son, Rāhula, we conclude Chapter 9 with the prediction for the two thousand Śrāvakas, of whom some had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn.

Thereupon the World-Honored One saw the two thousand Śrāvakas, of whom some had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn. They were gentle, quiet and pure. They looked up at the Buddha with all their hearts.

The Buddha said to Ānanda, “Do you see these two thousand Śrāvakas, of whom some have something more to learn while others have nothing more to learn?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Ānanda! These people will make offerings to as many Buddhas, as many Tathāgatas, as the particles of dust of fifty worlds. They will respect those Buddhas, honor them, and protect the store of their teachings. They will finally go to the worlds of the ten quarters and become Buddhas at the same time. They will be equally called Treasure-Form, the Tathāgata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. They will live for a kalpa. They will be the same in regard to the adornments of their worlds, the number of the Śrāvakas and Bodhisattvas of their worlds, the duration of the preservation of their right teachings, and the duration of the preservation of the counterfeit of their right teachings.”

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

I assure the future Buddhahood
Of these two thousand Śrāvakas
Who are now present before me.
They will become Buddhas in their future lives.

They will make offerings to as many Buddhas
As the particles of dust as previously stated.
They will protect the store of the teachings of those Buddhas,
And attain perfect enlightenment.

They will go to the worlds of the ten quarters.
Their [Buddha-]names will be the same.
They will sit at the place of enlightenment
And obtain unsurpassed wisdom at the same time.

Their [Buddha-]names will be Treasure-Form.
[The adornment of] their worlds, [the number of] their disciples,
[The duration of the period of] their right teachings,
[And that of] the counterfeit of them will be the same.

By their supernatural powers, they will save
The living beings of the worlds of the ten quarters.
Their fame will extend far and wide.
They will enter into Nirvana in the course of time.

Thereupon the two thousand Śrāvakas, of whom some had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn, having heard the Buddha assure them of their future Buddhahood, danced with joy, and sang in a gāthā:

You, the World-Honored One, are the light of wisdom.
Hearing from you
That we are assured of our future Buddhahood,
We are as joyful as if we were sprinkled with nectar.

See Our Potential to Become a Buddha

stories, LS32, d8b, d13b, d14b

Our Potential to Become a Buddha

While the term “buddha-nature” is never used in the Dharma Flower Sutra, this is a good example of the use of the basic idea behind the concept that would be developed after the Dharma Flower Sutra was compiled. One way we can understand the term is as a kind of “power” that makes it possible for any one of us to be a bodhisattva for someone else, a strength that makes it possible for us to share in doing the Buddha’s work of awakening all the living, a strength that makes it possible for us to go far beyond our normal expectations.

Buddha-nature, the potential to become a buddha, is not something we have to earn; it is something that all of us have received naturally, something that cannot be destroyed or taken away from us. It is, as the parable in Chapter 4 teaches, our inheritance; it is ours by virtue of our very existence. This is why we are taught in [Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples] that our treasure is very close.

Our buddha-nature is, in one sense, part of the basis of our very existence. Nothing could be closer. On the other hand, unless we learn to make use of this ability and put it into practice in our daily lives, the goal of realizing it, of becoming a buddha, remains very distant. In light of these two views, gaining the treasure is a matter of more fully understanding and realizing something that was always within us. While our treasure is very close, that full realization and appropriation of it always remains very distant.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p104
Peaceful Action, d13b

Kaundinya

After Buddha had predicted Purna’s Buddhahood, 1,200 arhats in the assembly thought, “Now the bhikshu Purna has received the prophecy of his Buddhahood. If the Buddha would predict Buddhahood for all his other disciples, we would be overjoyed.” The Buddha was able to know the thoughts in the minds of those in the assembly, and so he predicted Buddhahood for his disciple Kaundinya and 500 other arhats. Kaundinya represents the most senior disciples of the Buddha. He was the eldest of the five ascetics who had practiced with Siddhartha before his attainment of Buddhahood, and who had abandoned him when, near death, Siddhartha had given up ascetic practice, bathed and took food, and sat under the bodhi tree. After he had attained enlightenment and became the Buddha, he went looking for these five ascetics in order to teach them what he had learned. Though they had rejected him, these five men were so struck by the Buddha’s radiant and serene appearance that they agreed to listen to what he had to say. Thus, they heard the Buddha’s first Dharma talk on the Four Noble Truths, in the Deer Park at Sarnath, and became the first members of the Buddha’s Sangha.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p77
WONS

The Words of Lotus Sūtra Are Very Spirit of the Buddha

The Buddha attained Buddhahood by understanding this Lotus Sūtra. If He does not preach the sūtra for other people, He will commit the mistake of destroying the seed of Buddhahood. Therefore, Śākyamuni Buddha appeared in this world to expound the Lotus Sūtra. Then the King of Devils in the Sixth Heaven, who is said to be the manifestation of fundamental ignorance, entered the bodies of all sentient beings, made them bear a grudge against the Buddha, and tried to interfere with His attempt.

King Virūḍhaka murdered 500 members of the Śākya Clan; Aṅgulimāla chased after the Buddha; Devadatta injured the Buddha with a huge rock; and Chinchāmānavika strapped a bowl to her belly and spread a rumor that the Buddha made her pregnant. After a Brahman king decreed that anyone who let the Buddha enter the walled city would be fined 500 taels, the people in the city erected barriers of thorny roses on streets, threw feces into wells, blocked the gates with spikes, and poisoned food. These were all caused by the King of Devils who hated the Buddha. The murder of Nun Utpalavarṇā, who was a disciple of the Buddha, the killing of Maudgalyāyana by non-Buddhists with bamboo sticks and burying the murdered body of Kālodāyin in horse dung were also caused by hatred of the Buddha on the part of the King of Devils.

Śākyamuni Buddha, however, was able to escape all kinds of persecutions and began preaching the Lotus Sūtra on a mountain called Mt. Sacred Eagle northeast of Rājagṛha in Central India. The Buddha was then 72 years old and it was the forty-second year since He began expounding the Dharma. After preaching the sūtra for eight years He passed away at the age of 80 at midnight on the 15th day of the second month by the Hiraṇyavati River at Kuśinagara in East India. Nevertheless, as He made it clear that His enlightenment was preached in the Lotus Sūtra, the words of the Lotus Sūtra are thus the very spirit of the Buddha. As each word of the sūtra represents the Buddha’s spirit, Śākyamuni Buddha will protect those who practice this sūtra as if they were His own eyes. He will accompany and protect them as a shadow follows the body. Why shouldn’t their prayers be answered?

Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 60-61

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 25, 2020

Tears keep falling when I think of the current unbearable hardships, but I cannot stop tears of joy when I think of obtaining Buddhahood in the future. Birds and insects chirp without shedding tears. I, Nichiren, do not cry, but tears keep falling. These tears are shed not for worldly matters, but solely for the sake of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore they should be called tears of nectar.

Nichiren wrote this as part of his letter to monk Sairen-bō in his Treatise on All Phenomena as Ultimate Reality (Shohō-Jissō Shō). For the sake of the Lotus Sūtra, Nichiren endured two harsh exiles, his house being burnt down, ambushes by soldiers with swords, being placed on the execution mat himself, and the persecution of his followers. Despite all these obstacles, he held true to the Buddha’s teaching in the face of all opposition. Most of us who practice the Lotus Sūtra today have lives of relative comfort. It is wonderful that we have Nichiren’s example. He was a human being just like us, and we too are capable of his faith and determination.

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