Monthly Archives: November 2020

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 21, 2020

Anyone who reads this sūtra
Will be free from grief,
Sorrow, disease or pain.
His complexion will be fair.
He will not be poor,
Humble or ugly.
All living beings
Will wish to see him
Just as they wish to see sages and saints.
Celestial pages will serve him.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra. When we cultivate the mind of the Buddha, and bring his teachings to life, we help other beings find true happiness. This is different from our normal pattern of attempting to manipulate what others think about us through bribery, threats, and other forms of coercion. When we help others find their minds, they realize that they share our true mind of joy and peace.

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

LS32

Day 9

Day 9 covers Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and introduces Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.

Day 9 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the comparison of plants to those who follow the Buddha’s teaching, we complete Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs.

I now expediently reveal the Dharma with this simile.
I expound one truth with various discourses.
This simile is only one of the expedients
Employed by my wisdom,
Just as a drop of sea water is
Part of the great ocean.

Though I water all living beings of the world
With the same rain of the Dharma,
They practice the teachings
Of the same taste differently
According to their capacities,
Just as the herbs and trees
In thickets and forests
Grew gradually according to their species.

The Buddhas always expound
The teachings of the same taste
In order to cause all living beings of the world
To understand the Dharma.
Those who practice the teachings continuously
Will obtain [ various fruits of] enlightenment.

Both the Śrāvakas and the cause-knowers,
Who live in mountains or forests,
Who have reached the final stage
of their physical existence,
And who have attained enlightenment by hearing the Dharma,
May be likened to the herbs
Which have already grown up.

The Bodhisattvas
Who resolve to seek wisdom,
Who understand the triple world,
And who seek the most excellent vehicle,
May be likened to the short trees
Which have already grown up.

Those who practice dhyāna,
Who have supernatural powers,
Who have great joy
When they hear that all things are insubstantial,
And who save all living beings
By emitting innumerable rays of light,
May be likened to the tall trees
Which have already grown up.

As previously stated, Kāśyapa, I expound the Dharma
And lead human flowers
[To the fruits of Buddhahood]
Just as the large cloud waters all flowers
By a rain of the same taste
And causes them to bear their fruits.

Kāśyapa, know this!
I reveal the enlightenment of the Buddha
With various stories of previous lives,
With various parables and similes,
That is, with various expedients.
All the other Buddhas do the same.

Now I will tell you [, Śrāvakas,]
The most important truth.
You, Śrāvakas,
Have not yet attained [true] extinction.
What you are now practicing is
The Way of Bodhisattvas.
Study and practice it continuously,
And you will become Buddhas.

See The Universality of the Dharma Flower Sutra

stories, LS32, d9b

The Universality of the Dharma Flower Sutra

In the missing half of [Chapter 5], there are two additional similes: a simile of light and one of clay and pottery. According to the first, just as the light of the sun and the moon illuminates the whole world – those living beings who do good and those who do ill, the tall and the short, things that smell good and things that smell foul – so too the light of the Buddha’s wisdom shines equally on all the living according to their capacities. Though it is received by each according to what it deserves, the light itself has no deficiency or excess. It is the same everywhere. According to the second simile, the simile of the clay and pottery, just as a potter makes different kinds of pots from the same clay – pots for sugar, for butter, for milk, and even for some filthy things – they are all made of the same clay, just as there is only one Buddha Vehicle.

It is worth noting in passing that in both of these similes there is an obvious inclusion of bad or unpleasant things. This is one of the ways in which the Dharma Flower Sutra expresses universality, the idea that there are no exceptions, no one is left out of the Dharma. Everything is affected by Buddha Dharma. One Vehicle is for all living beings.

Whereas the parable of the burning house can lead us to believe that the One Vehicle replaces the three vehicles just as the one cart seems to replace the three carts, here we can understand the Sutra’s intention to be inclusive of all beings. The many living beings, whether good, bad, both, or neither, are all nourished by the same rain, by the same Buddha Dharma.

It is also important to recognize that the kind of universalism affirmed in the Dharma Flower Sutra does not in any way diminish the reality and importance of particular things. The fact that the pots are made of one clay does not make the pots any less real. Similarly, that many beings of various kinds are illuminated by one light affirms both the oneness of the light and the many-ness of the living beings. Thus the universalism of the Dharma Flower Sutra is at the same time a pluralism, an affirmation of the reality and importance both of unity and of variety.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p79-80
Peaceful Action, d9b

The Taste of Liberation

Living beings cannot see into their own true nature right away, but the Buddha can. The Tathagata looks deeply into different beings, their forms, their essence, and their innate dispositions, and so is able to offer the Dharma in the way that is most beneficial to them. Seeing that one kind of disciple will best be able to follow a particular path of practice, the Buddha opens that Dharma gate. Mahayana sutras often mention “84,000 Dharma doors,” which is a way of saying that there are an infinite number of teachings and methods by which living beings may be liberated.

The Dharma is described as being “of a single flavor.” Just as the rain has one function, one effect – to nourish all the different species of plants and cause them to grow – the different teachings offered by the Tathagata as skillful means have but one taste – the taste of liberation and universal wisdom that delivers all beings to the realm of peace and joy.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p66
WONS

The Power of the Lotus Sūtra

The Lotus School … is based on the most truthful words of all teachings of the Buddha. Not only does the Lotus Sūtra consist of true words but also provisional sūtras preached by the Buddha during His lifetime, upon flowing into the great ocean of the Lotus Sūtra, are all converted to the sūtra of the true words by the power of the Lotus Sūtra. Let alone the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra. This is like the power of face powder which makes lacquer as white as snow or Mt. Sumeru, which makes the color of the various birds approaching it all golden. Likewise, those who uphold the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra can change the black (evil) karma, which they committed in this life or during the numerous kalpa (aeons) in the past, into white (good) great karma, not to speak of the meritorious good acts performed in the past since the eternal past, which will all be changed to golden-colored.

Myōhō-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Reply to My Lady, the Nun Myōhō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 142

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 20, 2020

The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the eye, twelve hundred merits of the ear, eight hundred merits of the nose, twelve hundred merits of the tongue, eight hundred merits of the body, and twelve hundred merits of the mind.

The Buddha gives this teaching in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra. This is another reminder that the practice of the Wonderful Dharma does not take us out of the world of conflict we live in. Instead, it helps us to use the senses we have, in ways we did not think were possible, to see the world for what it is. Merits in this sense are not status symbols. They are an indication of clarity, of our faculties not being impeded by anything that blocks their capacity.

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

LS32

Day 8

Day 8 concludes Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith, and closes the second volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 8 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered consider the rich man in gāthās, we consider the poor son in gāthās.

At that time the poor son
Wandered from village to village,
From country to country,
Seeking food and clothing.
Sometimes he got what he wanted,
At other times he could not.
Getting thinner from hunger,
He had scabs and itches on his skin.
Wandering from one place to another,
He came to the city of his father.
Employed at places from day to day,
He came to the house of his father.

At that time the rich man was sitting
On the lion-like seat
Under the great awning of treasures
Inside the gate of the house.
Many attendants were surrounding him.
Many people were on his guard.

Some of his attendants were counting
Gold, silver, and other treasures.
Some were keeping accounts;
Others, writing notes and bills.

Seeing his father noble and honorable,
The poor son thought:
“Is he a king,
Or someone like a king?”

Frightened and scared,
He wondered:
“Why did I come here?”
He thought:
“If I stay here any longer,
I shall be forced to work.”

Having thought this, he ran away.
He asked someone
For the way to a village of the poor
In order to get a job.

From his lion-like seat,
The rich man saw the poor son in the distance,
And recognized him as his son.
But he did not tell this to the others.

He immediately dispatched a messenger
To chase, catch, and bring him back.
The poor son cried out with fright,
And fell to the ground in agony, thinking:
“He caught me. I shall be killed.
What use was it coming here
For food and clothing?”

The rich man thought:
“He is ignorant, narrow-minded, and mean.
If I tell him that I am his father,
He will not believe me.”

See Basic Lessons

stories, LS32, d7b, d8b

Basic Lessons

One of the basic lessons of the Lotus Sutra is that one can find in every situation that there is something to be learned. Sometimes an unpleasant situation or task can be understood as being a present given to us by the Buddha, an opportunity for learning and growth, just as the son in this story received from his father the present of shoveling dung. We can learn from just about any situation, even from very unpleasant ones, if we approach it with a right attitude.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p72
Peaceful Action, d9b

The Dharma Is Universal

In [Chapter 5] the Buddha uses the example of medicinal herbs. Throughout the worlds there are innumerable valleys, fields, and gardens that contain countless species of plants. Every species has its own name and character, its own life cycle, its specific strengths and properties. None is exactly like another. Living beings are the same. They are of many different types. The sphere of activities of one person is like this; the social circumstance of another person is like that. Living beings are thus like the innumerable kinds of plants that grow in different environments.

One day the clouds came and covered the entire cosmos, and rain fell on all the species of plants. Some plants were very small with slim branches, some were very large with broad leaves, and some were neither small nor large. There were so many species, so many types of plants, yet they all benefited fully from the rain, each according to its own needs and capacity.

The teachings of the Buddha are like this. The rain of the Dharma falls not just on one class or type of human being. Whether they are shravakas, pratyekabuddhas, or bodhisattvas, monastics or laypeople, nobles or peasants, workers or warriors, male or female, child, youth, adult, or elder – all beings benefit from the Tathagata’s teachings. The Dharma is universal and has the capacity to serve all kinds of people, not just one social class, one nation, or one kind of understanding.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p65-66
WONS

The Sūtra Revealing the Whole Truth

I have made a vow to study all the Buddhist sūtras completely at once just as Grand Master T’ien-t’ai had compared the superiority of all the sūtras, by relying on the scriptures of the sūtras alone as his guide.

Thus determined, I read through all the scriptures of Buddhism, finding that the Nirvana Sūtra states: “Depend on the dharma, not on people.” The dharma means all the sūtras preached by the Buddha; and people refers to all except the Buddha, that is, such bodhisattvas as Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī as well as the various masters of the schools mentioned above. It also states: “Depend on the sūtra revealing the whole truth, not on the sūtras which do not reveal the whole truth.” The sūtras revealing the whole truth correspond to the Lotus Sūtra.

Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 4.