Emperor Aśoka governed most of the Jambudvīpa around which the sun in the sky revolves. In the past when he was a five-year-old boy named Tokushō, he donated a rice cake made of sand. The merit of this donation caused him to be reborn in this world as a great ruler. It was not due to a special ambition of Tokushō, whose donation was a part of child’s play. Nevertheless, he was able to gain such a great reward due to the holiness of the Buddha.
This applies much more so for you who offered a donation to the Lotus Sūtra, which is far more exalted than the Buddha to whom Emperor Aśoka donated a rice cake. The difference between the two is like a star against the moon or a light against the sun. Thus your blessing is much greater than that of Emperor Aśoka.
Kubo-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Response to My Lady, the Nun of Kubo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 91-92
Knowing that people wish to hear
The teachings of the Lesser Vehicle,
And that they are afraid of having the great wisdom,
[My sons, that is,] the Bodhisattvas transform themselves
Into Śrāvakas or cause-knowers,
And teach the people with innumerable expedients.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Eight of the Lotus S̄ūtra. Our fear of the Buddha’s wisdom comes from the attachment we have to our delusions. At some level we know that we are suffering, but we believe that anything different from how we live now will be worse. There are times when someone who seems to share our delusions can help us move away from them. But then as an actor becomes so absorbed in a role that he forgets his real life, those who choose a life in this world of conflict can forget their existence as Bodhisattvas who have vowed to benefit all beings. This Wonderful Dharma reminds us of this vow and helps us appreciate those who are still bound by delusion and what we can learn from them.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Having last month heard Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva ask the Buddha how an ordinary Bodhisattva should go about preaching the Lotus Sutra, we consider the proper practices the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should perform.
“Mañjuśrī! What are the proper practices the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should perform? He should be patient, mild and meek. He should not be rash, timorous, or attached to anything. He should see things as they are. He should not be attached to his nonattachment to anything. Nor should he be attached to his seeing thing as they are. These are the proper practices the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should perform.
“What are the proper things the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should approach? He should not approach kings, princes, ministers or other government directors. He should not approach heretics, aspirants for the teaching of Brahman, Nirgraṇṭhas, writer of worldly literature, writers of non-Buddhist songs of praise, Lokāyatas or Anti-Lokāyatas. He should not approach players of dangerous sports such as boxers or wrestlers. He should not approach naṭas or other various amusement-makers. He should not approach caṇḍālas, boar-keepers, shepherds, poulterers, dog-keepers, hunters, fishermen, or other people who do evils for their livelihood. When they come to him, he should expound the Dharma to them, but should not wish [to receive anything from them]. He should not approach those who seek Śrāvakahood, be they bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās or upāsikās. He should not exchange greeting with them. He should not stay with them in the same monastery, promenade or lecture-hall. When they come to him, he should expound the Dharma to them according to their capacities, but should not wish [to receive anything from them]. Mañjuśrī! The Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should not expound the Dharma to a woman with a desire for her. He should not wish to look at her. When he enters the house of others, he should not talk with a little girl, an unmarried woman or a widow. He should not approach or make friend with anyone of the five kinds of eunuchs. He should not enter the house of others alone. lf he must enter it alone for some rea on, he should think of the Buddha with all his heart. When he expounds the Dharma to a woman, he should not laugh with his teeth visible to her. He should not expose his breast to her. He should not be friendly with her even for the purpose of expounding the Dharma to her. Needless to say, he should not be so for other purposes. He should not wish to keep young disciples, śramaṇeras or children. He should not wish to have the same teacher with them.
“He should always make it a pleasure to sit in dhyāna. He should live in a retired place and concentrate his mind. Mañjuśrī! [A retired place] is the first thing he should approach.
“The Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas also should know the following truth. All things are insubstantial. They are as they are. Things are not perverted. They do not move. They do not go. They do not turn. They have nothing substantial just as the sky has not. They are inexplicable. They are not born. They do not appear. They do not rise. They are nameless. They are formless. They have no property. They are immeasurable and limitless. They have no obstacle or hindrance. He should see all this. Things can exist only by dependent origination. Only perverted people say, ‘Things are permanent and pleasant.’ This truth is the second thing he should approach.”
I knew Thich Quang Duc [, the first monk to immolate himself in the 1960s to protest Vietnam’s anti-Buddhist laws,] personally. As a young monk I practiced with him in a Sangha in central Vietnam, and for a time I stayed at his temple near Saigon. In 1963, I was in New York teaching at Columbia University, and I learned of his death from an article and picture in the New York Times. Many people asked me, “Isn’t such an act a violation of the Buddhist precept of not killing?” So I wrote Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. a letter explaining that the monk’s act was not suicide. A suicidal person is someone who is so overwhelmed by despair that they don’t want to live anymore. I knew that Thich Quang Duc loved life and wished only for his friends and all living beings to be able to live in peace.
When Jesus died on the cross he did so for the sake of human beings. His sacrifice was not made out of despair but out of the wish to help, out of his great love for humankind. That is exactly what motivated Thich Quang Duc. He acted not out of despair but from hope and love. He was free enough to offer his body in order to transmit the message to the world that the Vietnamese people were suffering, that we needed help. Because of his great compassion, he was able to sit very still as the flames engulfed him, in perfect samadhi, perfect concentration.
Such an act is a very profound offering. is being offered? The manifestation in action of our bodhicitta, our aspiration to practice wholeheartedly and realize enlightenment in order to help bring all living beings to the shore of liberation. The Sutra tells us that after Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings had attained the “samadhi that displays all manner of physical bodies,” he felt overjoyed and made many kinds of offerings to the Buddha to show his great gratitude and devotion for having received the teachings. But, the Sutra says, “After he had made this offering, he arose from samadhi and thought to himself, ‘Though by resort to supernatural power I made an offering to the Buddha, it is not as if I had made an offering of my own body.’ ”
This doctrine of “five kinds of eyes” and “three bodies of a Buddha” cannot be found anywhere except in the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai states in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 9, “A Buddha has been equipped with the ‘three bodies’ always throughout the past, present, and future existences, but the Buddha concealed it in various sūtras except the Lotus Sūtra.” In this interpretation, “various sūtras” refer to not only the Flower Garland Sūtra, the Hōdō sūtras, and the Wisdom Sūtra but also all the sūtras except the Lotus Sūtra. “The Buddha concealed it” means Lord Śākyamuni Buddha did not expound it anywhere except in the “Lifespan of the Buddha” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, the opening the eyes service for a Buddhist portrait or statue must be performed with the Lotus Sūtra by the Tendai (T’ien-t’ai) School of Buddhism.
Shijō Kingo Shakabutsu Kuyō-ji, Opening the Eyes Service of Shijō Kingo’s Statue of Śākyamuni, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 131-132
The Śrāvakas will have already eliminated āsravas,
And reached the final stage of their physical existence.
They will become sons of the King of the Dharma.
Their number also will be beyond calculation.
Even those who have heavenly eyes
Will not be able to count them.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Six of the Lotus Sūtra. The Śrāvakas are those who want only to eliminate their delusions and end their suffering. They do not yet realize that the Buddha leads them to become Bodhisattvas and work for the benefit of all beings. They do not believe they can reach the Buddha’s own wisdom. The Buddha assures even these beings that in the course of time, as they realize their true nature, they too will become enlightened.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Having last month considered Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva’s question about Mañjuśrī’s efforts to teach the dharma, we consider Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva’s objection that a dragon girl can become a Buddha quickly and meet the dragon girl.
Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva said:
“As far as I know, [when he was a Bodhisattva,] Śākyamuni Buddha sought Bodhi, that is, enlightenment incessantly for innumerable kalpas. He accumulated merits by practicing austerities. Even the smallest part, even the part as large as a poppy-seed of this world-this world being composed of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds-is not outside the places where the Bodhisattva made efforts to save all living beings at the cost of his life. It was after doing all this that he attained Bodhi, that is, enlightenment. I do not believe that this girl will be able to attain perfect enlightenment[, that is, to become a Buddha] in a moment.”
No sooner had he said this than the daughter of the dragon king came to [Śākyamuni] Buddha. She worshipped [his feet] with her head, retired, stood to one side, and praised him with gāthās:
You know the sins and merits
Of all living beings.
You illumine the worlds of the ten quarters.
Your wonderful, pure and sacred body
Is adorned with the thirty-two major marks
And with the eighty minor marks.
Gods and men are looking up at you.
Dragons also respect you.
None of the living beings
Sees you without adoration.
Only you know that I [am qualified to] attain Bodhi
Because I heard [the Dharma].
I will expound the teachings of the Great Vehicle
And save all living beings from suffering.
Today much, if not all, of the world is gradually undergoing something of a transformation with respect to what people think about gender. Women insist on equality with men, resulting in some quite remarkable changes in social structures and cultural habits in much of the world. The story of the dragon princess can be used to support the ideal of equality between men and women, as that was its obvious purpose, at least with respect to the ability to become fully awakened.
That the story retains what we see as an incorrect assumption that buddhas are always male can be used as an occasion for us to challenge our own assumptions about gender and gender roles. It is easy for us to recognize that the assumption in the Sutra that buddhas must be male is both unnecessary and undesirable, but it is not as easy to see our own unchallenged assumptions about the nature and appropriate roles of men and women. We might even think that the assumption found in this Lotus Sutra story comes to us a gif from the Buddha – is an opportunity for us to become more awakened, especially with respect to gender issues.
I started attending Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church services in January 2015. Every New Year after that – 2016 through 2020 – I attended the services held to usher out the old year – Joya (End of Year) Service – and bring in the new – Shinnen (New Year) Service. At the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church these are held on either side of midnight. At the stroke of midnight, the church bell is rung 108 times to purge church members’ 108 earthly desires .
That familiar ritual was another of the many things taken away by COVID-19.
Rev. Shoda Kanai holds his end of year service in the morning since Las Vegas at midnight is party central and not a place you want to be driving around after midnight. I’m not particularly fond of driving home from the Sacramento church after midnight but at least all of the major roads are open.
Yesterday morning I attended Rev. Shoda Kanai’s end of year service, which included the ringing of his temple bell.
I was fascinated with the 108 division of the worldly desires offered by Rev. Shoda Kanai.
The six senses each have three subdivisions – pleasant, painful, neutral or like, dislike, indifference – making 18 desires.
Those 18 kinds have two categories – pure, unpure or internal, external – making 36 desires.
The 36 have three other categories – past, present, future – which brings us to the 108 total.
This morning I celebrated the New Year by burning special incense that displays Namu Myoho Renge Kyo Minobu San after it burns.
The incense is available online but the shipping from Singapore is exorbitant. I’m down to my last four sticks of this and looking for resupply.
After my morning service I set my laptop computer up next to my altar and attended Rev. Shoda Kanai’s New Year Purification Ceremony.
Next Sunday I’ll be back in Las Vegas (virtually) for Rev. Shoda Kanai’s monthly purification service which he holds the first Sunday of each month throughout the year.
Zoom is not IRL, but it helps. I’m looking forward to getting my vaccination and the eventual end of this COVID-19 nightmare.
When the bodhisattva realized his capacity to appear in all different kinds of emanation bodies, his feeling of love for and gratitude to his teacher grew even stronger. So out of his great love and gratitude, and with the profound insight into his ultimate nature, he was able to relinquish his body very easily. The Sutra tells us that as an offering to the Buddha and to display his insight that the body is not a permanent, unchanging self, he poured fragrant oil on himself and allowed himself to be burned by fire. This is a quite radical demonstration of his freedom and insight, one that was made out of a very deep love.
