Monthly Archives: November 2020

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 17, 2020

All this while Śākyamuni Buddha sat in silence. The four kinds of devotees also kept silence for the fifty small kalpas. By his supernatural powers, however, the Buddha caused the great multitude to think that they kept silence for only half a day.

We find this description of the Buddha and his congregation in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Innumerable Bodhisattvas have sprung up from underground and come to pay their respects to the Buddha. This passage shows that in our suffering and attachment, we have a different concept of time than the Buddha. The kalpas the Lotus Sūtra uses to measure time are unimaginably long periods. When a stone a mile on each side is worn down to a pebble by a celestial being flying past it every thousand years and brushing it with her veil, a kalpa expires. When we see the world on this scale of time, rather than the limited years we have in our lives, it opens us up to the Buddha’s wisdom.

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

LS32

Day 5

Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Day 5 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 3, A Parable, we begin again with Śāriputra’s reaction to the Dharma he had never heard before.

Thereupon Śāriputra, who felt like dancing with joy, stood up, joined his hands together, looked up at the honorable face, and said to the Buddha:
“Hearing this truthful voice of yours, I feel like dancing [with joy]. I have never felt like this before. Why is that? We [Śrāvakas and the Bodhisattvas] heard this Dharma before. [At that time] we saw that the Bodhisattvas were assured of their future Buddhahood, but not that we were. We deeply regretted that we were not given the immeasurable insight of the Tathāgata.

“World-Honored One! I sat alone under a tree or walked about mountains and forests, thinking, ‘We [and the Bodhisattvas] entered the same world of the Dharma. Why does the Tathāgata save us only by the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle?’

“Now I understand that the fault was on our side, not on yours, because if we had waited for your expounding of the Way to Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, we would have been saved by the Great Vehicle. When we heard your first teaching, we did not know that that teaching was an expedient one expounded according to our capacities. Therefore, we believed and received that teaching at once, thought it over, and attained the enlightenment [to be attained by that teaching].

“World-Honored One! I reproached myself day and night [after I saw that the Bodhisattvas were assured of their future Buddhahood]. Now I have heard from you the Dharma that I had never heard before. I have removed all my doubts. I am now calm and peaceful in body and mind. Today I have realized that I am your son, that I was born from your mouth, that I was born in [the world of] the Dharma, and that I have obtained the Dharma of the Buddha.”

See Children of the Buddha

stories, LS32, d5b

Children of the Buddha

Let’s look further at each of the three things that Shariputra realized:
He is a child of the Buddha. Here, and throughout the Dharma Flower Sutra, the primary meaning of “child of the Buddha” is “bodhisattva.” Here, Shariputra realizes that while being a shravaka, he is also a bodhisattva, actually more deeply and profoundly a bodhisattva. But being a child of the Buddha has other implications as well.

What Shariputra originally set out to find was an understanding of the world in which death is not the end of everything – that is, a world in which everything comes to nothing. In other words, he sought meaning in life, he wanted his own life to be meaningful, to amount to something more than death.

Basically, he found two things. First, he found that nothing can separate us from what Christians call the love of God and Buddhists the compassion of the Buddha. The Dharma Flower Sutra teaches repeatedly that the Buddha is all around us, nearer than we think. He is the father of us all, the Compassionate One. The second important meaning of this metaphor is that we owe our lives not only to our biological parents and ancestors, but even more to the process, the Dharma, by which we live and are sustained. Chinese and Japanese Buddhism place enormous stress on the importance of biological ancestors, but in the teaching that we are all children of the Buddha, we should realize that biology is only one of the ways in which we inherit from the past. What we learn from our teachers – usually to be sure in the first instance from our mothers or primary caretakers, but also from a whole company of teachers, including those we encounter in books – has an enormous impact on shaping who and what we are. And those of us who are significantly drawn to the Buddha Dharma will be especially aware of our indebtedness both to the Buddha and to the tradition that has made his Dharma available to us. In an important sense, we ourselves are children of the Buddha.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p61-62
Peaceful Action

True Nirvana

Quote

The teachings of the shravakayana – the Four Noble Truths, and so on – were taught to help people free themselves from delusion and get some relief from their suffering. The fruit of this path, nirvana, literally means “to extinguish,” just as one blows out a candle flame. The idea was that you would leave the burning house of samsara once and for all, never to be reborn. But leaving behind one’s delusions and thinking of nirvana as extinction are not yet the authentic liberation. It is the first part of liberation, but it is not the whole picture. The idea of nirvana as extinction is a teaching that uses skillful means to bring people into the path of practice.

The Mahayana proposed an understanding of nirvana, which is not separate from our existence in the world. True nirvana is possible in the here and now when we are able to get in touch with the ultimate dimension of reality. Just as a wave does not have to die in order to live in its ultimate dimension of water, we do not have to “extinguish” ourselves in order to reach nirvana. When we get in touch with our true nature, our ultimate dimension, we are freed from fears of existence and nonexistence. We know that “samsara” and “nirvana” are just distinctions in the realm of the historical dimension, and no such distinction exists in the ultimate dimension. As bodhisattvas, assured of Buddhahood, we ride joyfully on the waves of birth and death, abiding fearlessly in samsara to help guide others to liberation.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p52
WONS

Due to the Great Favor of the Lotus Sūtra

All bodhisattvas and ordinary beings tried in vain for incalculable kalpa (aeons) to attain Buddhahood by practicing the sūtras preached by the Buddha during the 40 years before the Lotus Sūtra. They became Buddhas instantly, however, by practicing the Lotus Sūtra and now exist in all the worlds throughout the universe. These Buddhas with the 32 marks of physical excellence and 80 minor marks of physical excellence are looked upon by those in the nine realms as if they are stars revolving around the moon, Mt. Sumeru is surrounded by eight mountains, the sun is looked upon by the people in the four continents, or the Wheel-turning Noble King is revered by the whole nation. Is not this solely due to the great favor of the Lotus Sūtra?

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

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 16, 2020

The Indian lizard kṛkalāsa eats in the wind; it won’t grow if there is no wind. A fish lives in the water, and a bird makes a nest in the tree. Likewise, Buddhas live in the Lotus Sutra. As the moon’s reflection resides in the water, Buddhas reside in the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, you must remember that where there is no Lotus Sutra, there are no Buddhas.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Response to My Lady the Nun, Mother of Lord Ueno (Ueno-dono Haha-ama Gozen Gohenji). We may take for granted our opportunity to find and practice the Lotus Sūtra in this lifetime. In Nichiren’s writings, and in the Lotus Sūtra itself, we are reminded of the great benefit we have created and the great hardships we have already endured to allow us to find this Wonderful Dharma and have the opportunity to practice it. When we try to rely on the transitory aspects of our lives, we are surely disappointed. It is only when we keep and practice this Sūtra that we find the Buddha leading us to our true birthright, the enlightenment he knows we and all beings can reach.

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

LS32

Day 4

Day 4 concludes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 4 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered what the Buddha thought upon seeing people of no wisdom, we consider how all Buddhas utilize expedients to teach the dharma.

I expounded the teaching of the Three Vehicles
Only as an expedient.
All the other World-Honored Ones also
Expound the teaching of the One Vehicle [with expedients].

The great multitude present here
Shall remove their doubts.
The Buddhas do not speak differently.
There is only one vehicle, not a second.

The number of the Buddhas who passed away
During the past innumerable kalpas was
Hundreds of thousands of billions,
Uncountable.

All those World-Honored Ones expounded
The truth of the reality of all things
With various stories of previous lives, parables and similes,
That is to say, with innumerable expedients.

All those World-Honored Ones expounded
The teaching of the One Vehicle,
And led innumerable living beings [with expedients]
Into the Way to Buddhahood.

All those Great Saintly Masters
Who knew the deep desires
Of the gods, men, and other living beings
Of all the worlds,
Revealed the Highest Truth
With various expedients.

See The Meaning of Dharma

stories, LS32, d4b

The Meaning of Dharma

While it can mean other things such as “way” or “method,” there are four chief ways in which “dharma” is used in Buddhism:

  1. things—all the objects of experience that we can see, feel, hear, and touch, often translated as “phenomenon”;
  2. the Buddha’s teaching, a use which is often extended to include Buddhist teachings and practices generally, and thus can mean Buddhism itself;
  3. the truth that is taught in the Buddha’s teachings, especially the highest truth disclosed in the awakening of the Buddha; and
  4. the reality that the truth reveals, that which enables and sustains all things in accord with interdependence.
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p31
Peaceful Action, d3b, d4b

The Father of All

The Sutra tells us that the Buddha says to himself, “I am the Father of the beings; I must rescue them from their woes and troubles and give them the joy of incalculable and limitless Buddha wisdom.” The word “Father” here is a symbol of the Buddha’s love and concern for his children, all living beings. A father will use any means to rescue his children from a dangerous situation. That is how the Buddha feels about us. He sees how we are attached to our games, living in an illusion, and because of this we are not able to see the danger of our situation. So out of his love for his children, all living beings, he uses various methods to lead them out of suffering.

A disciple of the Buddha is the spiritual child of the Buddha. Our parents brought us into the world; they give us our physical body. When we come to the practice, we are reborn into our spiritual life, thanks to the Buddha. In the sutras it is said that the disciple is “born from the mouth of the Buddha.” From the mouth of the Buddha comes the sound of the true teachings, and from the true teachings comes our spiritual life. This beautiful image of the Buddha as the spiritual father of all beings is a symbol of his great love. The idea of “father” here symbolizes only a heart of love that is able to embrace all beings. It is not about authority or domination. The father does not fly into a rage, he does not punish us and send us away. His only function is to love. And because the father loves his children, he uses many different ways – skillful means – to save beings from danger. The verses say:

Even though the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones,
Resort to expedient devices,
The living beings whom they convert
Are all bodhisattvas.

All the Buddhas throughout space and time, not just Shakyamuni Buddha, use these skillful means to help bring living beings out of the burning house. The Buddha’s original teachings – the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the Three Dharma Seals, and dependent co-arising – contained the idea of the essential Buddha nature of all beings, their capacity for Buddhahood, in fact, their assurance of Buddhahood. Once living beings are able to enter the One Vehicle, they are all bodhisattvas. These two ideas in this chapter of the Lotus Sutra are very important.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p50-51
WONS

The Merits of the Daimoku

Here, I would like to elucidate the merits of the daimoku, the title of the Lotus Sūtra, for saving those who only chant it from the three evil realms. It is stated in the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 5, chapter 14, “Peaceful Practices”: “Mañjuśrī, this Lotus Sūtra is so difficult to encounter that its name has never been heard in innumerable countries.” The sūtra also preaches in the eighth fascicle, chapter 26, “Mystic Phrases”: “You will gain incalculable good fortune by simply protecting those who believe in chanting the title of the Lotus Sūtra.” Again, in the “Devadatta” chapter, chapter 12 of the Lotus Sūtra, it is stated: “Upon listening to the ‘Devadatta’ chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, those who believe in it wholeheartedly with a pure mind will not fall into hell and realms of hungry spirits and beasts.” The chapter on the “Myōji-kudoku (merit of the title)” of the Nirvana Sūtra asserts: “There is no reason for the virtuous people, men or women, hearing the title of this sūtra, to fall into evil realms.” The Nirvana Sūtra is specially cited here because it was preached to amplify the merits of the Lotus Sūtra.

Shugo Kokka-ron, Treatise on Protecting the Nation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 65