Monthly Archives: January 2021

WONS

The Seeds of the Lotus Sūtra

Suppose there is a common or a noble woman who conceived a child by the king, people who do not know who is the real father of the child may consider the child to be a son of a commoner or a nobleman. They will all realize, however, that the baby is a child of the king when the king himself declares the truth. By the same token, when the Lotus Sūtra informs you of those who are able to leave the triple world of birth and death or escape the cycle of the six realms and ascend the four realms through the pre-Lotus sūtras, it is all because the seeds of the Lotus Sūtra have been implanted within their lives throughout previous existences. Of the people who had planted the seed during their previous lives, those who are unresponsive and not able to attain nirvana through the pre-Lotus sūtras are able to attain enlightenment through the Lotus Sūtra during this lifetime. It is like a crown prince who was given birth by the queen but was raised by a wet nurse. The nurse is equivalent to the sūtras prior to the Lotus Sūtra.

Shōjō Daijō Fumbetsu-shō, The Differences between Hinayāna and Mahāyāna Teachings, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 197

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 22, 2021

You should promptly discard your false faith and take up the true and sole teaching of the Lotus Sutra at once. Then this triple world of the unenlightened will all become Buddha Lands. Will Buddha lands ever decay? All the worlds in the universe will become pure lands. Will Pure Lands ever be destroyed? When our country does not decay and the world is not destroyed, our bodies will be safe and our hearts tranquil. Believe these words and revere them!

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Spreading Peace through Right Practice (Risshō Ankoku-ron). We may believe that we can practice correctly only when the world becomes peaceful. As if so long as we are in this world of conflict, we would need to use force and aggression to create peace. Nichiren turns this idea upside down. He shows that only by our practicing respect towards all beings, and working for their benefit, can we create peace in this world.

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

LS32

Day 3

Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Day 3 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered what happened when Śākyamuni finally agrees to teach the dharma, we consider the one great purpose of the Buddha’s teaching.

“Śāriputra! The purpose of the various teachings that the Buddhas expound according to the capacities of all living beings is difficult to understand. I also expound various teachings with innumerable expedients, that is to say, with stories of previous lives, parables, similes and discourses. [The purpose of the various teachings of the Buddhas is difficult to understand] because the Dharma cannot be understood by reasoning. Only the Buddhas know the Dharma because the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds only for one great purpose.

“Śāriputra! What is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds? The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to open [the gate to] the insight of the Buddha, and to cause them to purify themselves. They appear in the worlds in order to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings. They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to obtain the insight of the Buddha. They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to enter the Way to the insight of the Buddha. Śāriputra! This is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas appear in the worlds.”

See The Four Meanings of ‘One Great Purpose’ of the Buddhas

Peaceful Action

All-Embracing Inclusiveness

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The Sanskrit word “kṣānti” is often translated as “forbearance,” or “endurance,” but this does not really convey the true meaning of this paramita. Forbearance implies that you have to suffer a little bit in order to be able to accept something. If we look at the Chinese character for “kṣānti,” in the lower part is the character for “heart,” and in the upper part there is a stroke that looks like a knife, something sharp that is a little bit difficult to handle. This is a graphic expression of its true root meaning, “all-embracing inclusiveness.” If our heart is large and open enough, we can accept the sharp thing and it will not bother us. Something that seems unpleasant or disturbing only feels that way when our heart is too small. When our heart is large enough, we can be very comfortable, we can embrace the sharp, difficult thing without injury. So kṣānti is a quality of being that does not bring suffering; in fact, it allows us to escape the kind of suffering we experience when our heart is too small. When our heart is big enough, we won’t suffer.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p256
Lecture on Lotus Sutra

The Awakening Process

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When we can respect someone as being equally a Buddha, even if unawakened, then we can relax and be joyful at being able to be in contact with that person, even if they do not practice. Then we are able to bring joy to them. That is when our Buddha can communicate with their Buddha. We are not really converting anyone; we are allowing an awakening process to begin. The length of time we may not know.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

WONS

Thoughtfulness in Sending Gifts

I am an ordinary man. If I do not wear clothing, I will feel the cold. If I do not eat anything, I will not be able to sustain my life. Just as a lamp that is not refilled with oil or a fire that receives no fuel, how can the flame of life stay alive without refueling? If the power from life should die out, my voice reciting the Lotus Sūtra will stop, and the grass in front of the window where I expound the Great Concentration and Insight will grow thick.

I cannot express how much I appreciated your thoughtfulness in sending gifts to me under these harsh conditions. It is said that a rabbit offered himself to a practicer of Buddhism, which moved Indra to put the rabbit on the moon. This is why we see a rabbit on the moon now. Likewise, as you, a woman, make an offering for the sake of the Lotus Sūtra in this Latter Age of Degeneration, the King of the Brahma Heaven will see your meritorious conduct in his heavenly eyes, Indra will press his hands together in homage to you, the terrestrial gods will be happy to support your legs and Śākyamuni Buddha will pat your head by stretching His hand from Mt. Sacred Eagle. Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō!

Matsuno-dono Nyōbō Gohenji, Reply to the Wife of Lord Matsuno, the Nun of Kubo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 72-73

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 21, 2021

I know who is practicing the Way and who is not.
Therefore I expound various teachings
To all living beings
According to their capacities.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Even though the Buddha knows when we have strayed from the way of compassion and wisdom that he has opened for us, he knows that the innate capacity we have for enlightenment remains unchanged. Therefore, he does not judge us, or give up in his efforts to lead us away from our delusions. When we maintain our determination to save all beings despite their delusions, we maintain this mind of the Buddha and nourish the seeds of our own enlightenment.

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

LS32

Day 2

Chapter 1, Introductory (Conclusion).

Day 2 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month met the eight sons of the last Sun-Moon-Light Buddha, we learn what happened after Sun-Moon-Light Buddha expounded Sūtra of Innumerable Teachings.

“Thereupon the last Sun-Moon-Light Buddha expounded a Sūtra of the Great Vehicle called the ‘Innumerable Teachings, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’ Having expounded this sūtra, he sat cross-legged [facing the east] in the midst of the great multitude, and entered into the samādhi for the purport of the innumerable teachings. His body and mind became motionless.

“Thereupon the gods rained mandarava-flowers, maha-­mandarava-flowers, manjusaka-flowers, and maha-manjusaka­flowers upon the Buddha and the great multitude. The world of the Buddha quaked in the six ways. The great multitude of the congregation, which included bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, upāsikās, gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men, nonhuman beings, the kings of small countries, and the wheel turning-holy kings, were astonished. They rejoiced, joined their hands together [towards the Buddha], and looked up at him with one mind.

‘Thereupon the Tathagata emitted a ray of light from the white curls between his eyebrows, and illumined all the corners of eighteen thousand Buddha-worlds in the east just as this Buddha is illumining the Buddha-worlds as we see now.

“Maitreya, know this! There were two thousand million Bodhisattvas in that congregation. They wished to hear the Dharma. They were astonished at seeing the Buddha-worlds illumined by this ray of light. They wished to know why the Buddha was emitting this ray of light.

See The Culture of the Buddha Dharma

stories, LS32

The Culture of the Buddha Dharma

[T]he Buddha Dharma is at once both cultural and transcultural. That is, it can be found in many languages and cultures and in that sense is “beyond” culture. Though we may not know exactly what he and his assistants translated from, Kumarajiva’s translation is a translation into Chinese in which the Dharma Flower Sutra is embodied, for the most part, in Chinese terms and ways of thinking. Similarly, Japanized versions take on, to some degree, characteristics of Japanese language and culture. I have translated the Chinese version into English. In doing this, I know very well that a great deal is lost, but I also believe that it is possible that something is gained, for by being rendered in additional languages and cultural contexts, the transcultural Dharma Flower Sutra once again, to some extent, finds embodiment and life.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p236
Peaceful Action

Ethical Guidelines for Living

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Shila, the second paramita, is the clear and simple guidelines for ethical behavior in our everyday life. “I vow to listen deeply, with compassion to your suffering.” That is shila. “I vow to speak to you with the language of loving kindness.” That is shila. “I vow to protect and preserve life.” That is shila. The Five Mindfulness Trainings, the basic precepts of Buddhism, are an essential foundation for the practice of the other paramitas. When you practice shila, when you display self-discipline and mindfulness in word and deed, you have a lot of credibility. Because there is harmony between your words and actions, people have trust and confidence in you, and with the support of that trust, you are able to bring about much good. In Plum Village, we present these trainings in a nonsectarian form, with no specifically Buddhist terminology, because we know that they have universal value. Elements of these ethical guidelines for living exist in every tradition. The wording may be different, but the essence is very much the same.

If we know how to apply the Five Mindfulness Trainings, individually, collectively, and internationally, then peace on Earth will become a reality. The trainings remind us to consume mindfully and refrain from doing things that can harm our body and mind. They help us refrain from harming others and from using the kind of language that causes disharmony and division and brings about suffering. The practice of shila helps secure the safety and wellbeing of ourselves and others, and it is a path to greater understanding and compassion.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p249-250