The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p262-263In a way, the interdependent character of this world is also shown in the greetings that Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva brings to Shakyauni Buddha: “World-honored one,” he says:
Are your ailments and troubles few? Is your daily life and practice going smoothly? Are the four elements in you in harmony? Are the affairs of the world tolerable? Are living beings easy to save? Are they not excessively greedy, angry, foolish, jealous, and arrogant? Are they not lacking in proper regard for their parents? Are they not disrespectful to novice monks? Do they not have wrong views and inadequate goodness? Are their five emotions not out of control? (LS 366)
Here we can clearly see that the same Buddha who can illuminate the entire universe, the same Buddha whose land this is, the same Buddha who provides us with infinite opportunities to experience joy in service to the Dharma, this same Buddha is far from all-powerful or utterly independent in the fashion of both Indian and Western gods. This is a buddha who is supremely interdependent, one who both serves all others and at the same time is dependent on all others. This Buddha needs bodhisattvas, and needs ordinary human beings to be bodhisattvas in order to accomplish the Buddha’s work of saving all the living.
That is why Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva can take on the form of a buddha. He can become the Buddha for anyone who needs saving grace to come to them in the form of a buddha.
Monthly Archives: February 2021
Classifying Reality Into Ten Categories
Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 130-131Chih-i expands on Hui-ssu’s classification of reality into the three categories of sentient beings, Buddha, and mind. He points out that reality is classified in various ways and numbers. For example, many texts describe reality in terms of its oneness. Some texts refer to reality in terms of the two categories of name and visible form. Others, … classify reality into three dharmas. These numerical listings could continue indefinitely, up to the infinite variety of phenomena. For the category of sentient beings, Chih-i borrows a section from the second chapter of the Lotus Sūtra (T. 9, 5cl 1-13) which he interprets as classifying reality into ten categories. These are the “Ten Suchlike Characteristics” which characterize all dharmas, which are defined by Chih-i as follows:
- “Suchlike appearance”: that which has its point of reference externally.
- “Suchlike nature”: that which has its point of reference internally.
- “Suchlike essence”: that which intrinsically belongs to one’s self.
- “Suchlike power”: the power to influence.
- “Suchlike activity”: that which constructs.
- “Suchlike causes”: repetitive causes.
- “Suchlike conditions”: auxiliary causes.
- “Suchlike results”: repetitive results.
- “Suchlike retributions”: retributive effects.
- “Suchlike beginning and end ultimately the same”: “beginning” refers to the first suchlike of appearances, “end” refers to the ninth suchlike of retribution, and “ultimately the same” means that they are integrated and share the same reality.
The fact that these phrases each have three characters makes it easy to interpret them in the threefold truth pattern. Chih-i claims that each of these phrases has “three readings” which follow the threefold truth pattern of emptiness, conventional existence, and the Middle Path. First, if one emphasizes the first character “suchness”, this refers to the emptiness of all things, since the suchness of all dharmas is their lack of substantial Being. Second, if one emphasizes the various characteristics such as the appearances, nature, essence, and so forth, this refers to the conventional existence of all dharmas. Third, if one emphasizes the second character of “likeness”, this refers to the “middleness” of all dharmas – that they are simultaneously empty yet conventionally existent.
Commemorating the 800th Anniversary of Nichiren Shonin’s Birth
Live Stream of service
February 16, 20211, marks the 800th anniversary of Nichiren Shonin’s birth. Nichiren Shu is celebrating this special day with an online 800th Anniversary Grand Ceremony at Kominatosan Tanjoji Temple.
Schedule
10:30 am: First Bell (Preparation)
10:40 am Second Bell (Congregation Entrance)
10:50 am Drum (Priest Entrance)
That’s 5:30pm Pacific tonight, Feb. 15.
Most of the announcements for this ceremony are understandable in Japanese. The main webpage for the event is at nichiren.or.jp/800houyou/. Of course, Google offers on-the-fly translation into English but you need to understand that not everything Google says is necessarily accurate.
Take this translation of the outline of the memorial service:
Nichiren is said to have been born in the second month of the year on the day after the Parinirvāṇa of Śākyamuni. In the modern calendar that makes his birthday Feb. 16, 1222. The reason this year is the 800th birthday and not 2022, is because you count the day of his birth as the first celebration. return
Repaying Our Mother’s Favors
I, Nichiren, was born as a human being, which is difficult to achieve, and also encountered Buddhism, which is difficult to encounter. And among all the Buddha’s teachings, I was able to come across the Lotus Sūtra. When I think of my good fortune, I realize that I owe a debt of gratitude to my parents, the rulers of the country, and to all the people. Concerning the debt of gratitude we owe to our parents, a compassionate father is like the heaven and a compassionate mother is like the earth. Although it is difficult to distinguish the debt of gratitude between the two, it would be especially difficult to repay the favors of our mothers. Were we to try to repay them by following non-Buddhist writings such as the writings of Three Emperors and Five Rulers of Ancient China and the Classic of Filial Piety of Confucianism, our efforts would help them in this present life but not in future lives. In other words we could support their physical well-being but not save their souls.
Regarding the writings of Buddhism, in the five to seven thousand fascicles of Hinayāna and Mahāyāna sūtras, it is nearly impossible for women to attain Buddhahood; therefore, the favors of our compassionate mothers cannot be repaid. Hinayāna sūtras in particular do not allow women to attain Buddhahood at all, and while some Mahāyāna sūtras may seem to allow for women the attainment of Buddhahood or reaching the Buddha land, but they are but the Buddha’s expedient words without substance. Realizing that only the Lotus Sūtra expounds the attainment of Buddhahood for women and therefore is the true sūtra through which we can repay our mother’s favors, I am encouraging all women to chant the title (daimoku) of this sūtra in order for them to repay their mothers’ favors.
Sennichi-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Reply to My Lady Nun Sennichi, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 147-148
Daily Dharma – Feb. 15, 2021
I am grateful to have been born a human with this precious body due to accumulated causes and conditions in my past existences. According to the sutra, I must have encountered and given offerings to ten trillion Buddhas in the past. Even though I did not place my faith exclusively in the Lotus Sutra, thus slandering the Dharma and being born poor and lowly in this life as a result, my merit of giving offerings to the Buddhas was so great that I was born as a believer of the Lotus Sutra.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on the Testimony of the Lotus Sutra (Hokke Shōmyō-shō) addressed to Nanjō Tokimitsu. Unlike most of those who practiced the Buddha Dharma in his time, Nichiren did not belong to the higher classes of royalty or warriors. He saw clearly the suffering of common people and vowed to end it. He realized that the superiority of the Lotus Sūtra does not lie in its power to bring rain or change history. The power of this sūtra lies in its determination to save all beings, rich or poor, noble or common, deluded or wise. Nichiren’s offering to the Buddha was to spread this Wonderful Dharma. To benefit the Buddha is to benefit all beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 27
Day 27 concludes Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.
Having last month considered the merits of anyone who hears this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.
“Anyone who rejoices at hearing this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva and praises [this chapter], saying, ‘Excellent,’ will be able to emit the fragrance of the blue lotus flower from his mouth and the fragrance of the candana of Mt. Ox-Head from his pores, and obtain these merits in his present life.
“Therefore, Star-King-Flower! I will transmit this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva to you. Propagate this chapter throughout the Jambudvipa in the later five hundred years after my extinction lest it should be lost, and lest Mara the Evil One, the followers of Mara, gods, dragons, yakṣas, and kumbha]das should take advantage [of the weak points of the people of the Jambudvipa].
“Star-King-Flower! Protect this sūtra by your supernatural powers! Why is that? It is because this sūtra is a good medicine for the diseases of the people of the Jambudvipa. The patient who hears this sūtra will be cured of his disease at once. He will not grow old or die.
“Star-King-Flower! Strew blue lotus flowers and a bowlful of powdered incense to the person who keep this sūtra when you see him! After strewing these things [to him], you should think, ‘Before long he will collect grass [for his seat], sit at the place of enlightenment, and defeat the army of Mara. He will blow the conch-shell horn of the Dharma, beat the drum of the great Dharma, and save all living beings from the ocean of old age, disease and death.’
“In this way, those who seek the enlightenment of the Buddha should respect the keeper of this sūtra whenever they see him.”
When the Buddha expounded this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva, eighty-four thousand Bodhisattvas obtained the dharanis by which they could understand the words of all living beings. Many-Treasures Tathāgata in the stupa of treasures praised Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva, saying:
“Excellent, excellent, Star-King-Flower! You obtained inconceivable merits. You asked this question to Śākyamuni Buddha, and benefited innumerable living beings.”
The Daily Dharma from Jan. 12, 2021, offers this:
Therefore, Star-King-Flower! I will transmit this Chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva to you. Propagate this chapter throughout the Jambudvīpa in the later five hundred years after my extinction lest it should be lost, and lest Māra the Evil One, the followers of Māra, gods, dragons, yakṣas, and kumbhāṇḍas should take advantage [of the weak points of the people of the Jambudvīpa].
The Buddha gives this explanation to Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Three of the Lotus Sūtra. The Jambudvīpa is the name the Buddha gives to this world of conflict and attachment in which we live. Nichiren interprets “the later five hundred years” as the time in which we are living today. The story of Medicine-King Bodhisattva is one of a being who does not spare any part of his life to benefit others. This Bodhisattva is confident that he will become enlightened, and that whatever happens to his physical body, he will always be reborn in worlds where he has the chance to benefit others and lead them by the wisdom of the Buddha. This chapter, and all those towards the end of the Lotus Sūtra, give us examples of how to bring the teachings of the Buddha to life.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Buddha’s Nirvana & Nichiren’s Birthday
This weekend marked the Parinirvāṇa of Śākyamuni and the 800th birthday of Nichiren. In the sangha meeting the focus was on the Śākyamuni’s Parinirvāṇa. In Las Vegas, Rev. Shoda Kanai held a combined service. A combined service is what Rev. Kenjo Igarashi has planned for the end of February at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church.
I was particularly taken by Rev. Shoda Kanai’s prayer and asked for a copy. Here it is:
PRAYER BUDDHA’S NIRVANA & BIRTHDAY OF NICHIREN DAIBOSATSU
With reverence on this day to our Original Lord Teacher Śākyamuni Buddha, our great benefactor, who entered into Parinirvana, we also humbly conduct this ceremony to extol the 800th anniversary of our Founder’s birthday. We extend our heartfelt joy and praise by adorning this place before them and make offerings of incense, flowers, lights, tea and foods.
The Buddha expounded various teachings since the time of showing his attainment of awakening. He saves those of us who live in the ten-thousand-year age of Degeneration and who have not yet been given any root of good in our previous existences, by leaving us the seed of Buddhahood as a good medicine. His grace is beyond our comprehension. Now we have performed this service to commemorate his Parinirvana, wishing to requite a part of his favors that are as high as mountains and as vast as oceans.
May we accomplish the Buddha’s intention that all sentient beings be led to awakening so that the Saha World can be transformed into the Pure Land of Tranquil Light. The Lotus Sutra says, “In order to save the perverted people, I expediently show my Nirvana to them. In reality I shall never pass away. I always live here and expound the Dharma.” “I am leaving this good medicine here…” “I am always thinking: ‘How shall I cause all living beings to enter into the unsurpassed way and quickly become Buddhas?’” May the Buddha accept our deep gratitude to him out of his great compassion towards us.
Then the Buddha transmitted the essence of the Lotus Sutra and ordered that I be propagated in the Latter Age of the Dharma. It was roughly two thousand years later, that on February 16, 1222, the child of the bodhisattvas was born in the province of Awa in the country of Japan. That was our founder Nichiren Daibosatsu. He was innately endowed with the fulfilled merit of an original disciple of the Original Śākyamuni Buddha; however, to all appearances he was an ordinary person who engaged in strenuous practice. He accepted the transmission from the Eternal Buddha with deep reverence and established the wondrous school to sow the seed of the Wonderful Dharma. Out of his superior compassion he patiently endured many hardships as he taught using the contrary method of presenting the final teaching first and the strict way of breaking and subduing delusions. It is like looking up to a ray of light amidst the darkness of the defiled world. How can we adequately praise the incalculable favor of his teaching? That is why we hold this ceremony of joyful praise here so that we may repay but a drop of the ocean of his favors as a token of our gratitude to him.
The disciples of the Original Śākyamuni Buddha are described in Ch. 15, “They are not defiled by worldliness just as lotus flowers are not defiled by water.” The Buddha says in Ch. 21, “Anyone who…expounds this sutra after my extinction…will be able to eliminate the darkness of the living beings of the world where he walks about, just as the light of the sun and moon eliminates all darkness.”
May the merits we have accumulated by this offering be distributed among all living beings and may we and all other living beings attain the enlightenment of the Buddhas. May all the Dharma realms equally benefit.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo
The Classification of All Reality Into Three Subjective Categories
Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 129-130Chih-i begins his detailed discussion of “dharma” by examining the classification of “dharma” into three categories: sentient beings, Buddha, and mind. These three dharmas, based on a verse in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra [Flower Garland Sūtra], are a classification of all reality into three subjective categories. “Mind” refers to the perceiver of objects (reserving for now the judgement as to the status – real, illusory, imaginary, or not – of these objects) and the subject which needs to be perfected in order to attain enlightenment. “Sentient beings” refers to the diversity of realms which the subject experiences, from that of hell to Buddhahood. “Buddha” refers to the subject perfected, the realm of enlightenment in which reality is correctly perceived. Thus these three dharmas are not separate and independent entities, but interpenetrating and integrated. All sentient beings have a mind which, depending on various causes and conditions, has the potential to experience any and all realms from hell to Buddhahood.
When Great Monks Are Haunted by a Devil’s Spirit
It is said in the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 7 (chapter 23), “It will spread throughout the world in the fifth 500-year period after the death of the Buddha lest it should be lost.” It means that the Lotus Sūtra will spread in the period after the destruction of the pure dharma predicted in the Sūtra of the Great Assembly. The Lotus Sūtra also makes such references as : “those who uphold it in the evil world during the Latter Age of Degeneration” (fascicle 6: chapter 17); “at the time when the dharma is about to disappear in the future latter age” (fascicle 5: chapter 14): “even during the time of the Buddha much hatred and jealousy is raised against this Sūtra; how much more after His death!” (fascicle 4: chapter 10); and “much hate exists toward this Sūtra in the world, making it difficult to uphold it” (fascicle 5: chapter 14). Speaking of the fifth 500-year period after the death of the Buddha, namely, the period of increasing disagreements and quarrels, the Lotus Sūtra in its seventh fascicle (chapter 23) declares: “Devils, devils’ subjects, dragons, yakṣa demons, and kumbhāṇḍa devils will be trying to take advantage.” It is stated in the Sūtra of the Great Assembly: “Disputes and quarrels will arise within Buddhism itself.” And in the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 5 (chapter 13): “Monks in the evil world will be cunning, flattering, and arrogant;” “some monks will live in monasteries and appear to be practicing the true ways;” and “devils will enter the bodies of those monks and cause them to abuse those who uphold the True Dharma.”
These citations meant to say that a large number of great monks will be haunted by a devil’s spirit all over the country in the fifth 500-year period. Suppose a wise man appears then. Those high priests haunted by a devil’s spirit would induce the king and his ministers and populace into speaking ill of him, abusing him, beating him with sticks or pieces of wood, throwing stones or tiles at him, and banishing or even executing him. Then Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures and Buddhas in all the worlds in ten directions would order the great bodhisattvas appearing from underground, who in turn would order the King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, the sun, the moon, and the Four Heavenly Kings to inflict strange phenomena in the sky and natural calamities on earth. If those kings do not heed the divine punishments, their neighboring countries would be ordered to chastise those evil kings and monks, resulting in the most terrible war the world has ever had.
Then all the people in the world living under the sun and moon, desirous of the welfare of their countries or of themselves, would pray in vain to all Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Finally, believing in the poor monk whom they have hated, an incalculable number of high priests, 80,000 great kings, and all the people would bow low with their heads touching the ground and holding their hands together in reverence, reciting “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.” It would be just as when the Buddha revealed the eighth of His ten supernatural powers in the “Divine Powers of the Buddha” of the (21st) chapter of the Lotus Sūtra that all the people without exception in all the worlds throughout the universe faced this Sahā World, resoundingly reciting in unison “Homage to Śākyamuni Buddha! Homage to Śākyamuni Buddha! Homage to the Lotus Sūtra! Homage to the Lotus Sūtra!”
Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 193-194
Daily Dharma – Feb. 14, 2021
The two sons, Pure-Store and Pure-Eyes, came to their mother, joined their ten fingers and palms together, and said, ‘Mother! Go to Cloud Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha! We also will go to attend on him, approach him, make offerings to him, and bow to him because he is expounding the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to all gods and men.
The Buddha tells the story of King Wonderful-Adornment in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. The two sons chose to be born at a time when Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha was alive and led their parents to follow that Buddha and learn the Wonderful Dharma from him. They overcame their father’s attachment to wrong views, not by arguing against those views, but by demonstrating the wonders that come from the Buddha’s great teaching. This shows how when we as Bodhisattvas live this difficult teaching we lead others to it.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com