Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p229-230When I bow and touch the Earth, I feel deep respect and deep love. I feel very grateful for all those bodhisattvas surrounding me who follow the example of Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, Samantabhadra, and all the other great bodhisattvas. Looking at the practice of bowing from the outside, we might get the impression that it is a simple devotional ritual or that it is like praying to a god. This is not true. While it is an expression of our respect and admiration for the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, bowing is not merely a practice of devotion. Breathing mindfully and bowing down to touch the Earth, we are in deep connection with the bodhisattvas and with the qualities they represent. Done in this spirit, bowing is actually a practice of meditation. We get in touch with understanding, compassion, and great action, and see all living beings as the object of our awareness and love. So in showing respect to these great bodhisattvas, we are also demonstrating our commitment to practice the bodhisattva path and cultivate the energy of understanding, love, and compassion within ourselves.
Monthly Archives: January 2021
What About Myself Do I Need to Change?
We do not know all of our past causes. We can only be certain of the life we live today. If we think of someone as only evil and of someone as being only a hindrance to our practice then we may very well miss an opportunity to grow and to repay our debts to others. If we set up a dynamic of the other person needing to be fixed, then we place ourselves above them and from that point we fail to see what in our own lives could be changed.
Instead of practicing Buddhism so that we can change everyone else to be the way we want them, we would be better served in saying, “What about myself do I need to change so that I can appreciate the other person as both a Buddha and someone who can teach me how to be a better person?” Viewing others as deficient only serves to foster disharmony and will not help to change our life.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraLife of Nichiren in Paintings
The photos used in the header for this website come from a booklet Pictorial life of Nichiren Shonin. You can view this booklet online here. Another copy of this booklet, which includes an explanation of the artwork technique, is available online here including a downloadable PDF copy of the booklet.
Daily Dharma – Jan. 16, 2021
You, the World-Honored One, are our leader.
You give peace to gods and men.
Hearing that you assured us of our future Buddhahood,
We are relieved and satisfied.
These verses are sung by Maha-Prajāpatī Bhikṣuṇī, Yaśodharā Bhikṣuṇī, and their attendants in Chapter Thirteen of the Lotus Sūtra. In our lives we have many desires, some of which we may not recognize. We believe that when these desires are met, only then can we be happy and peaceful. At the foundation of these desires is the desire for liberation. These women recognize that with this desire, just knowing that it will be fulfilled is enough to bring joy.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Basic Nichiren Shu Service v.2.0
It occurred to be recently that my basic Nichiren Shu service guide that I created in August 2019 was missing several components and when I went to update it today I discovered that it was missing half of the prayer. (face palm emoji)
I have fixed the prayer and I’ve also added the Memorial Prayer that is included in the back of the Liturgy of Nichiren Shu booklet.
What I originally remembered missing was the readings from the Lotus Sutra. These short excerpts follow the recitation of Chapter 2 and Chapter 16, Hoben Pon and Ji Ga Ge. When I do this service, this is where I read that day’s portion of the Lotus Sutra. I completely forgot about the excerpts in the booklet. Those have now been added.
I have also included additional excerpts from Nichiren Shōnin’s writings. I should point out that the version of Shōho Jissō Shō I have been using is not the one in the booklet, but the version that’s in the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of Greater New England’s Myoho Renge Kyo Romanized, which I use in the morning. All but one of the excerpts also appear in the A Phrase A Day booklet, where they include commentary by the priest who translated the excerpt.
Day 31
Day 31 covers Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva.
Having last month considered what happened when the two sons asks their mother to go hear Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha, we consider what the two sons did to inspire their father to understand the Dharma by faith.
“Thereupon the two sons went up to the sky seven times as high as the tala-tree, and displayed various wonders because they were thinking of their father. They walked, stood, sat, and reclined in the sky. Then they issued water from the upper parts of their bodies, and fire from the lower parts. Then they issued water from the lower parts of their bodies, and fire from the upper parts. Then they became giants large enough to fill the sky, became dwarfs, and became giant again. Then they disappeared from the sky and suddenly appeared on the earth. Then they dived into the earth just as into water, and stepped on the surface of water just as on the earth. [Then they went up to the sky and stayed there.] By displaying these various wonders, they purified the mind of their father, that is, of the king, and caused him to understand the Dharma by faith.
“Seeing [these wonders displayed by] the supernatural powers of his sons, the father had the greatest joy that he had ever had. He joined his hands together towards his sons [staying in the sky], and said, ‘Who is your teacher? Whose disciples are you?’
“The two sons said, ‘Great King! Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha, who is now sitting on the seat of the Dharma under the Bodhi-tree of the seven treasures, is expounding the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to all the gods and men of the world. He is our teacher. We are his disciples.
“The father said to them, ‘I also wish to see your teacher. I will go with you.’
The King and His Two Sons
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p286-287So the King’s beliefs are different, perhaps even more “orthodox” than those of the sons, who have decided to follow the Buddha of that time. What should the sons do in such a case? Here they are urged by their mother to continue to respect and honor their father.
Buddhism does not reject family life as such. And yet, by setting up an alternative, celibate, monastic institution, traditional Buddhism did have and continues to have a problematic relation to families. But the Lotus Sutra says little about monastic rules and life as such, emphasizing the importance of life in the world being dedicated to the work, especially to the teaching work, of the Buddha. Thus, we can understand this story as saying that it is good if a whole family can devote itself to the Buddha Way.
Paying Respect to the Buddha
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p227-228We often show our respect to the Buddha and bodhisattvas by bowing, but it is important to understand that this action is not a kind of propitiation, in which a devotee pays respect to a powerful divine being in order to gain favor. The Buddha does not need us to pay respect to him; it is we who benefit from this practice. When you pay respect to the Buddha, you begin to see the path. You start to walk in the direction of goodness. You know that you are a Buddha-to-be – you have the capacity to become enlightened, awakened. You recognize that you have the capacity to love, to accept, to feel joy and to bring joy to others.
When you bow to the Buddha you are really acknowledging your own capacity for Buddhahood. In acknowledging the Buddha, you acknowledge the Buddha nature inherent within you. This practice can help release you from a negative self-image that keeps you from realizing your true nature. If you don’t have this kind of confidence, you will not be able to progress very far on the path. When understood and practiced in this way, paying respect to the Buddha is not merely a devotional ritual but is also a wisdom practice.
Devadatta
Devadatta was a grandson of King Siṃhahanu, a son of King Dropodana who was an uncle of Śākyamuni Buddha, and an elder brother of Venerable Ānanda. His mother was a daughter of Suprabuddha. As a member of the Wheel-turning Noble King’s clan, Devadatta was a man of distinguished background in the continent of Jambudvīpa. Prior to entering the Buddhist Order, he lost to Prince Siddhārtha for the hand of Princess Yaśodharā and was possessed with the idea that Siddhārtha was his sworn enemy. After entering the priesthood, moreover, he was rebuked by the Buddha before a crowd of human and heavenly beings, “You are a fool who eats the saliva of other people.” Moreover, he greatly valued fame and satisfying desires and felt envious of the Buddha being regarded with such respect by people. Thus Devadatta practiced the five ways, pretending to be more venerable than the Buddha; branded the wheel of 1,000 spokes (one of the Buddha’s 32 physical characteristics) on the sole of his foot; collected fireflies to pretend that he, like the Buddha, had a white curl between the eyebrows; preached all the Buddhist teachings, said to be 60,000 or 80,000 in number, as if they all are his own; established a precept dais on Mt. Gayāśīrṣa to induce many disciples of the Buddha; and attempted to inject poison into the Buddha’s foot through his own toenail. Moreover, he beat Nun Utpalavarṇā to death, and threw a large stone causing the Buddha’s foot to bleed.
Thus, he committed the three rebellious sins (causing the Buddha’s body to bleed, causing disunity in the Buddhist order, and killing an arhat), and in the end gathered all the evils in all of India and caused harm to the Buddha and His disciples and donors. King Bimbisāra, the primary supporter of the Buddha, sent 500 vehicles filled with donations daily to the Buddha. Envious of this, Devadatta seduced Crown Prince Ajātaśatru to imprison the father king and finally crucified him with seven-foot-long nails. Because of such grave sins as these, Devadatta finally fell into the Hell of Incessant Suffering through the hole in the ground of the northern gate of the town of Rājagṛha. All the people in the whole world without exception witnessed this event, believing that Devadatta would never be able to come out of this hell even after having spent incalculable number of aeons (kalpa as many as the number of dust-particles of the great earth) there. Nevertheless, he was made to become the Heavenly King Buddha in the Lotus Sūtra. This is indeed inexplicable yet precious. If Devadatta does not become a Buddha, the numerous evil people who were induced by him to enter into the evil comradeship would never be able to escape the torment of the Hell of Incessant Suffering. It is solely due to the great favor of the Lotus Sūtra that all of Devadatta’s evil comrades too, are allowed to be Buddhas. Devadatta and his numerous followers, accordingly, will stay in the residences of those who practice the Lotus Sūtra. Thus, I feel we can count on them.
Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 64-65
Daily Dharma – Jan. 15, 2021
Only I know his secret practices.
He shows himself
To all living beings
In the form of my eldest son.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Nine of the Lotus Sūtra, speaking of Rāhula, the son born to him and his wife Yaśodharā before he left his life as a crown prince to seek enlightenment. In his highest teaching, the Buddha reminds us of our vows as Bodhisattvas to come into this world of conflict to benefit all beings. In the preoccupations that come with this life, we can forget these vows; they become a secret even to us. When we hear this Sūtra, we are reminded that we are the dear children of the Dharma, and that enlightenment is our rightful inheritance.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com