Monthly Archives: January 2021

WONS

The Fifth 500-Year Period

The fifth 500-year period, the period of destruction of the pure dharma referred to in the Sūtra of the Great Assembly, is without doubt today. After the destruction of the pure dharma, however, the great pure dharma of “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō,” the gist of the Lotus Sūtra, should spread widely among all the people and subjects of 80,000 kings of 80,000 lands in the world, just as today in Japan people all recite the name of the Buddha of Infinite Life. This has been decided by the Buddha, so we must make it a reality.

Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 193

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 18, 2021

Now you have awakened us, saying:
“What you attained was not true extinction.
When you have the unsurpassed wisdom of the Buddha,
You will attain true extinction.”

Five hundred of the Buddha’s monks give this explanation in Chapter Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. These monks believed that by extinguishing their desires and ending their suffering, they would reach the wisdom of the Buddha. They had not yet heard the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra in which the Buddha reveals his wisdom and the path to attain it. This is the path of the Bodhisattva: beings who resolve to work for the enlightenment of all beings and not just end their own suffering. We may start on the path towards enlightenment by wanting to be happy. Then as we progress, we find our happiness entwined with that of all beings.

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

LS32, Universal Sage

Between Day 32 and Day 1: Perils of the Sense Faculty of Hearing

Going through each of the senses and their karmic consequences – the sense faculty of sight, the sense faculty of hearing, the sense faculty of smell, the sense faculty of speech and the sense faculty of the body and mind – we continue with sense faculty of hearing.

The practitioner, having seen the stupa of Many-Treasures Buddha, must then turn again to Universal Sage Bodhisattva, place his or her palms together, pay homage, and say:

“Great Teacher, teach me the way of self-amendment for my faults!”

Universal Sage will respond, saying:

“Throughout many kalpas, the function of your sense faculty of hearing has caused you to chase after and follow external sounds. When you hear wonderful sounds, your mind develops infatuation and attachment. When you hear unwholesome sounds, one hundred and eight kinds of delusive worldly passions arise to do you harm. Adverse conditions are the consequences reaped from such a dysfunctional ear, and your constant hearing of unwholesome sounds gives rise to numerous complications. Because you hear things contrary to reality, you fall into bitter conditions, or into faraway realms where there are wrong views and where the Dharma is not heard.

“You now internalize and keep faith with the Great Vehicle – the treasury of an ocean of beneficial effects. You see the buddhas in the ten directions by reason of this cause! The stupa of Many-Treasures Buddha appears to you as proof! Accordingly, you must express your errors and faults yourself, and amend yourself of impurities!”

Then, having heard these words, the practitioner must again place palms together, cast his or her body upon the ground, and speak thus:

“Fully Enlightened World-honored One! Manifest and bear witness for me that the comprehensive sutras are the core of mercy and compassion! May you commune with me and hear my words!

“Throughout many kalpas – up to my existence at this point – my sense faculty of hearing has caused me to become deluded and to become attached to the sounds I hear, just as glue adheres to straw. The poisons of delusive worldly passions are stirred up whenever I hear unwholesome sounds, and I become deluded and attached to them unceasingly everywhere. Being around these hollow sounds exhausts my mental functions, and I fall into the three unwholesome realms. My awareness of this is now awakened for the first time. I face the World-honored One to make acknowledgement and amend myself!”

See The Everyday Actions of Teachers of the Dharma

stories, LS32

The Everyday Actions of Teachers of the Dharma

We should … recognize that each preacher or teacher of the Dharma must be so in his or her own smaller world, be it a university, a business, a playground, a home, or whatever. There are buddhas in temples to inspire us, but what the Dharma demands of us is that it be shared, taught, and embodied everywhere, that is, wherever we are.

In other words, from the perspective of the Dharma Flower Sutra what is most important is not finally the miraculous actions of the gods and heavenly bodhisattvas and buddhas, but the everyday actions of the people of this world.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p35
LS32, d5b, d6b, Blog

Abiding in the One and Employing the Three

This was written in advance of the Jan. 17, 2021, meeting of the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is discussing Chapter 3 of the Lotus Sutra this week. This post extends last month’s discussion of Does the Buddha Only Teach Bodhisattvas?

In Chapter 3, the Buddha explicitly states that Śāriputra will become a Buddha in a distant future.

Śāriputra! Although the world in which he appears will not be an evil one, that Buddha will expound the teaching of the Three Vehicles according to his original vow.

This has always bothered me. Back in March 2019 in my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra post, I wrote:

This prediction of Śāriputra’s future world is one of the great mysteries to me. After more than 40 times reading the Lotus Sūtra, I simply cannot fathom why Śāriputra, as the Buddha Flower-Light, will teach the Three Vehicles. None of the other predictions of future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas includes this detail.

Today, nearing completion of my 59th trip through the Lotus Sutra, I have a new appreciation of what I believe is being taught here.

In Chapter 3, Śāriputra explains that he considered himself a śrāvaka and the teaching he had received before as something different from what Bodhisattvas were given. After hearing in Chapter 2 that the Buddha teaches only Bodhisattvas and that the division of the Buddha’s teachings into different vehicles is actually an expedient teaching device, Śāriputra now understood his error.

I always saw you praising the Bodhisattvas.
Therefore, I thought this over day and night.
Now hearing from you,
I understand that you expound the Dharma
According to the capacities of all living beings.
You lead all living beings
To the place of enlightenment
By the Dharma-without-āsravas, difficult to understand.

The misunderstanding – the thought that he was taught a lesser teaching – is Śāriputra’s. Thinking there are three separate vehicles mistakes what Śākyamuni did, what other Buddhas are doing and what Śāriputra will do when he becomes a Buddha.

Śākyamuni’s original vow is discussed toward the end of Chapter 2, Expedients.

I thought:
“If I extol only the Buddha-Vehicle,
The living beings [of the six regions] will not believe it
Because they are too much enmeshed in sufferings to think of it.
If they do not believe but violate the Dharma,
They will fall into the three evil regions.
I would rather enter into Nirvana quickly
Than expound the Dharma to them.”

But, thinking of the past Buddhas who employed expedients,
I changed my mind and thought:
“I will expound the Dharma which I attained
By dividing it into the Three Vehicles.”

So too will Shariputra.

Chih-i offers this explanation in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra:

Chu-i Yung-san (Abiding in the one and employing the three) is the function related to the Subtlety of Benefits. This is spoken of by Chih-i in terms of the Buddha’s original vow. The Buddha vowed to expound the Three Vehicles in the mundane world. This original vow of the Buddha denotes “abiding in the one,” and expounding the Three Vehicles denotes “employing the three.” (Vol. 2, Page 446)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism

Later in the same book we learn:

In terms of the functions that can be summarized by the Worldly Siddhānta, “abiding in the three and revealing the one,” and “abiding in the one and employing the three” are said by Chih-i to correspond with the Worldly Siddhānta. This is because by abiding at the Three Vehicles and by employing the Three Vehicles, the Buddha caters to the intellectual capabilities of living beings. Complying with the needs of beings in teaching various vehicles belongs the Worldly Siddhānta. (Vol. 2, Page 449)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism

Śāriputra, like all Buddhas, will abide in the one and employ the three.

Peaceful Action

The Door of the Six Paramitas

Quote

In one of the chants recited by monks and nuns during the morning service there is the expression, “opening the door of action.” This refers to entering the dimension of action through the practice of the Six Paramitas. The Six Paramitas are called the doors of action because this practice is the basis of the bodhisattva path. Not only Sadaparibhuta, Avalokiteśvara, Samantabhadra, and the other great bodhisattvas we’ve met in the pages of the Lotus Sutra, but also you, I, and every one of us can be Buddha’s disciple and friend and serve as a bodhisattva to help bring peace, joy, and stability to the world.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p239
WONS

The Importance of the First Bodhisattva Vow

To say the truth, if attaining enlightenment by the people of Two Vehicles had not been revealed, then all beings in the nine realms would never be able to become Buddhas. The essence of the Lotus Sūtra, as a reasonable dharma, is that each sentient being in the ten realms contains the ten realms within itself. For example, each person is composed of the four elements of earth, water, heat and air. If one of these elements is missing, there will be no human being. It is true that not only human beings but also all other beings and non-beings such as grasses, plants and dust particles throughout the ten realms each possesses the ten realms. If the beings in the realms of Two Vehicles are not able to become Buddhas, then none of the eight realms can become Buddhas either. This is like nine siblings whose parents are still alive. If two of the nine are determined to be inferior, the other seven will also be considered inferior. The Buddha and the Lotus Sūtra are like parents and the people in the nine realms are like their real children. Therefore, if the people of the Two Vehicles of śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha will never be able to attain Buddhahood, how then could the bodhisattvas and six other ordinary children become Buddhas? There is no doubt about this because Śākyamuni Buddha preaches in the Lotus Sūtra, “This triple world is My domain, in which all living beings are My children. There are many sufferings in this world…, and only I can save all beings.”

All bodhisattvas make the Four Great Vows. If a bodhisattva does not accomplish the first vow, how can he attain the fourth?

Shōjō Daijō Fumbetsu-shō, The Differences between Hinayāna and Mahāyāna Teachings, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 194

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 17, 2021

When they expound the scriptures of non-Buddhist schools, or give advice to the government, or teach the way to earn a livelihood, they will be able to be in accord with the right teachings of the Buddha.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. In this chapter, the Buddha shows that our practice of this Wonderful Dharma is not separate from our existence in this world. The purpose of the Buddha’s wisdom is not to escape to a better life, but to see our lives for what they are, and to use that clarity for the benefit of all beings.

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

LS32

Day 32

Day 32 covers Chapter 28, The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, closing the Eighth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 32 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month greeted the arrival of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, we consider the protection promised by Universal-Sage Bodhisattva.

Thereupon Universal-Sage Bodhisattva said to the Buddha:
“World-Honored One! If anyone keeps this sūtra in the defiled world in the later five hundred years after [your extinction], I will protect him so that he may be free from any trouble, that he may be peaceful, and that no one may take advantage [of his weak points]. Mara, his sons, his daughters, his subjects, his attendants, yakṣas, rākṣasas, kumbhāṇḍas, piśācakas, kṛtyas, pūtanas, vetādas or other living beings who trouble men shall not take advantage [of his weak points]. If anyone keeps, reads and recites this sūtra while he walks or stands, I will mount a kingly white elephant with six tusks, go to him together with great Bodhisattvas, show myself to rum, make offerings to him, protect him, and comfort him, because I wish to make offerings to the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. If he sits and thinks over this sūtra, I also will mount a kingly white elephant and appear before him. If he forgets a phrase or a gāthā of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, I will remind him of it, and read and recite it with him so that he may be able to understand it. Anyone who keeps, reads and recites the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma [after your extinction], will be able to see me with such joy that he will make more efforts. Because he sees me, he will be able to obtain samadhis and a set of dhārāṇis. The set of dhārāṇis will be the dhārāṇis by which he can memorize repetitions of teachings, the dhārāṇis by which he can memorize hundreds of thousands of billions of repetitions of teachings, and the dhārāṇis by which he can understand the expediency of the voice of the Dharma.

See The Work Ahead

stories, LS32, d21b

The Work Ahead

[F]or the Dharma Flower Sutra one of the worst failings of human beings is an arrogance that leads to supposing that one has arrived at the truth and has no more to do. Anyone who truly wants to fulfill the Lotus Sutra and become a bodhisattva or buddha for others always has more to do. Followers of the Sutra refer to Shakyamuni Buddha as “Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni.” Some might misunderstand this appellation as meaning that the Buddha has arrived at his goal, is finished or perfect, and has no more to do. But in Chapter 16, which is entitled “Lifetime of the Tathagata” and is about the extremely long life of the Buddha, the Buddha says that he has been practicing the bodhisattva way, that is, helping others, for a fantastically long time – and that he is not yet finished. In other words, the long life of the Buddha, rather than being an indication that he has arrived at some static nirvana, indicates nearly the opposite – that he still has a lot of work to do. It follows, of course, that if the Buddha still has a lot of work to do, so do we. And, for that, we have to remain determined to be awakened.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p302