The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p107We should not think that the Buddha is some kind of all-powerful god who can awaken all living beings by himself. The Buddha of the Dharma Flower Sutra, like all beings, lives interdependently with others. He needs his children, his bodhisattvas, to do his work in this world, working both for their own liberation and for the liberation of others.
Shinran, the great founder of the True Pure Land (Jodo Shin-shu) tradition of Japanese Buddhism, thought it important to say that human beings are utterly dependent on the “other-power” of the Buddha and can accomplish nothing good by their “own-power.” But in the Dharma Flower Sutra we cannot find this radically dualistic distinction between the power of the Buddha and the power of others. In this Sutra, the power in us, the buddha-nature in us, is always both our own power and the power of the Buddha embodied in us.
Monthly Archives: November 2020
Our Ultimate Goal
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p72The feeling of the shravakayana is that you cannot yourself become a Buddha, you cannot be equal to a Buddha, because the Buddha is too great, he is unique. Along with this belief was the feeling that you don’t need to become a Buddha, so there is no need to cultivate bodhichitta, the aspiration to attain Buddhahood, in order to help others. You have a lot of suffering and you want to stop your suffering, so you concern yourself only with your own safety and liberation. You are satisfied with a small path, a small nirvana.
Out of his compassion and love for us, the Buddha gave the small vehicle teaching of nirvana in the beginning. But after a time, our skillful guide tells us it is time to go farther on the path. Even though many of us may be satisfied to stay and enjoy the peace and bliss of individual nirvana, the Buddha reminds us of our ultimate goal: to arrive at the shore of freedom and well-being and then extend a hand to others so that they may cross over to liberation. From the path of the shravakayana we continue onto the bodhisattva path of the Mahayana and continue our journey to the end.
Gender in the Lotus Sutra
The Parable of the Skillful Physician and His Sick Children is about an excellent physician who has quite a few sons, up to 100 to be exact. It might seem strange to us today that of the 100 children they were all sons and not a one is mentioned as being a daughter. We have to remember this was written in a time when women were really not considered much when teaching was done. We do have in the Lotus Sutra some of the most dramatic and historically noteworthy breaking of conventions regarding women and Buddhism; still the sutra is not perfect in every way.
There are some who argue the sutra should be rewritten to be more gender equitable or neutral. I am opposed to this for the simple reason that the harsh truth is the sutra was not in fact written with a modern equality sensibility.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraA Donation of 90 Rice Cakes and 50 Japanese Yams
Thank you very much for your donation of 90 rice cakes and 50 Japanese yams which you took the trouble of sending from the Ueno District of Fuji County, Suruga Province, to me in a valley of Mt. Minobu in the Hakiri District of Kai Province through your messenger.
To begin with, wood is precious at the seashore while salt is treasured in the mountain. Water is valuable at the time of a drought and a lamplight is a treasure in the darkness. The husband is a fortune to his wife while the wife is the life of her husband. The king respects the subjects as his parents while the people value their food as the heavens.
Nevertheless, an epidemic has been rampant throughout Japan in the last few years, reducing the population in half. Moreover, as we are in the midst of a severe famine that began on the seventh month of last year, making it difficult for those who live far from where other people are or for a priest who has retreated into a mountain (like myself) to stay alive.
What is more, as I was born in a country of slanderers of the Lotus Sūtra, I have been persecuted as Never Despising Bodhisattva in the Latter Age of Degeneration after the passing of Powerful Voice King Buddha or Monk Virtue Consciousness after Kangi Zoyaku Buddha. Both the king and the people of this country detest me and treat me with contempt. My clothing is worn, and the supply of food is getting scarce. As a result, even a piece of padded cotton cloth is as precious to me as brocade. Even weed leaves taste as sweet to me as nectar.
Furthermore, the snow lies thick on the ground since the 11th month of last year, blocking the mountain path. Although a new year is here, nobody visits us except chattering birds. As the lonely days passed, I was expecting no visitors as I do not have any close friends, when 90 pieces of steamed rice cake arrived within the first three days of the New Year. They looked like the wonderful full moon, illuminating our minds with clarity and banishing the darkness of life and death.
Ueno-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers II, Volume 7, Page 29-30
Daily Dharma – Nov. 22, 2020
I, Nichiren, am the lone forerunner of the bodhisattvas who emerged from the earth. I may even be one of them. If I am counted as one of the bodhisattvas who emerged from the earth, my disciples and followers too are among the ranks of those bodhisattvas from the earth, are they not? The “Teacher of the Dharma” chapter states, “If someone expounds even a phrase of the Lotus Sūtra even to one person in secret, then you should know that such a person is my messenger, dispatched by Me and carries out My work.” This refers to none other than us.
Nichiren wrote this passage as part of his Treatise on All Phenomena as Ultimate Reality (Shohō Jissō-Shō), sent to the monk Sairen-Bō. He refers to Chapters Ten and Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. This passage reminds us of our position as followers of Nichiren, and fellow messengers of Śākyamuni Buddha.
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Day 10
Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.
Having last month begun a story that begins countless, limitless, inconceivable, asaṃkhya number of kalpas ago, we consider why Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha could not attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi for 10 small kalpas.
The Buddha said to the bhikṣus:
“The duration of the life of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha was five hundred and forty billion nayuta kalpas. [Before he attained Buddhahood,] he sat at the place of enlightenment and defeated the army of Mara. He wished to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, but could not because the Dharma of the Buddhas had not yet come into his mind. He sat cross-legged without moving his mind and body for one to ten small kalpas. During all that time the Dharma of the Buddhas did not come into his mind.
“[Before he sat at the place of enlightenment,] the Trāyastriṃs̒a Gods prepared him a lion-like seat a yojana high under the Bodhi tree so that he might be able to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi on that seat. When he sat on that seat, the Brahman-heavenly-kings rained heavenly flowers on the area extending a hundred yojanas in all directions from that seat. From time to time withered flowers were blown away by fragrant winds and new flowers were rained down. [The Brahman-heavenly-kings] continued this offering to him for fully ten small kalpas. [After he attained Buddhahood also,] they continued raining flowers until he passed away.
“[When he sat on that seat,] the four heavenly-kings beat heavenly drums, and the other gods made heavenly music and offered it to him. They continued these offerings also for fully ten small kalpas. [After he attained Buddhahood also,] they continued these offerings until he passed away.
“Bhikṣus! At the end of the period of ten small kalpas, the Dharma of the Buddhas came into the mind of Great-UniversalWisdom-Excellence Buddha. Now he attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.
See Buddha-Wisdom
Buddha-Wisdom
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p 239-240The Buddha, the text says, gives to living beings “buddha-wisdom, tathagata-wisdom, natural wisdom.” This phrase has sometimes been taken to refer to three different kinds of wisdom, but I think the three terms are intended to be equivalent, three different ways of saying “buddha-wisdom.” The fact that Tathagata, often translated as “Thus Come One,” is simply another of the ten epithets of the Buddha, would indicate that there is no difference between buddha-wisdom and tathagata-wisdom, and the logic of the phrase would suggest that if there is no difference between these two, there is no difference among the three; they are just three ways of talking about the same thing.
If this is correct, it means that buddha-wisdom, or at least the buddha-wisdom given to human beings, is a kind of natural wisdom. Natural wisdom is a kind of inherent wisdom, a wisdom that is not given from outside but arises naturally. Thus, we are being told here that in teaching Buddha Dharma we can rely on our own inherent wisdom. This is, of course, entirely consistent with the idea that we all have a buddha-nature, a capacity to be a buddha for others.
Such wisdom should not be understood, as terms such as “inherent” might suggest, as something independent of others. In the first place, it is not something we ourselves individually create. It is a gift to us, something we have all received. Second, just as having buddha-nature does not mean that we are already fully buddhas, having natural wisdom does not mean that our wisdom cannot or should not be developed and enhanced by knowledge. What it does mean is that we have a natural capacity to do this, a capacity to become better informed, more knowledgeable, wiser in dealing with others.
Our buddha-wisdom is like the inheritance of the poor son in the parable in Chapter 4 of the Dharma Flower Sutra and discussed in Chapter 7. Our inheritance is ours – it cannot be taken away from us. But it can be severely restricted in use, or it can be expanded greatly through experience and education.
The Peril in Worshiping the Buddha Instead of the Dharma
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p71The Buddha is our skillful guide, our teacher of the way. The Buddha gives us just one path, One Vehicle, to arrive at universal wisdom. But when we have gone only halfway we are already worn out. So the Buddha created a magical city – nirvana – the goal of the Hinayana path. Tasting the fruit of individual nirvana, we like it so much that we decide that it is quite enough for us and we do not want anything more.
Underlying this attitude is a kind of inferiority complex. We do not believe that we ourselves can become a Buddha because only such a great being as the Buddha could attain perfect wisdom. Mere humans are not capable of this. In terms of the historical dimension, the Buddha was a human being, like us. But after the Buddha’s parinirvana, people very much missed his presence, his personality. Even though he repeatedly warned his disciples, “Don’t take refuge in anyone, in any person – take refuge only in the Dharma and in yourselves,” the Buddha had been a refuge for the Sangha. So they began to envelop him in many layers of mysticism and made him into a deity to worship. They began to believe that the Buddha was unique, and he lost his status as a human being. The human dimension of the Buddha is more accessible to us than the deified Buddha that was created after his parinirvana.
The True Nature of Reality Itself
Myoho Renge Kyo, the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, is not simply a scripture or a kind of conceptual teaching. It represents the true nature of reality itself. While the title – Myoho Renge Kyo – is the name of the scripture, more importantly it refers to the ultimate reality, which is what the scripture is teaching. Myoho Renge Kyo is the unity of the life of Shakyamuni Buddha and the Wonderful Dharma, and the union of the Buddha’s awakening and our own Buddha-nature. By reciting the title, we are calling upon and bringing to mind the profound teaching, or Wonderful Dharma, of the Lotus Sutra. We recite the title because the Buddha-nature within us responds to its meaning and significance. In turn, the Odaimoku acts as a catalyst that brings out our awakening.
Lotus SeedsThe School of Buddhism Established by the Buddha Himself
As I contemplate this, the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra is the golden words of the Three Buddhas (the Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, and Buddhas in manifestation in all the worlds throughout the universe), the brightest jewel of the Lotus Sūtra that exceeds all sūtras, that have been preached, are being preached, and will be preached, and is supreme among all Buddhist scriptures. Therefore, it is preached in the Lotus Sūtra, “It is at the summit of all sūtras;” and “the Lotus Sūtra is the foremost.” Referring to the Lotus Sūtra as interpreted by Grand Master T’ien-t’ai, Grand Master Dengyō states in his Outstanding Principles of the Lotus Sūtra, “This is the school of Buddhism established by the Buddha Himself.”
Ōta Nyūdō-dono Gohenji, A Reply to Lay Priest Lord Ōta, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 36