Monthly Archives: February 2021

LS32

Day 26

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Day 26 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month concluded Chapter 22, Transmission, we begin Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva, and consider why Medicine-King Bodhisattva walk about this Sahā-World.

Thereupon Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! Why does Medicine-King Bodhisattva walk about this Sahā-World? World-Honored One! This Medicine-King Bodhisattva will have to practice hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of austerities in this world. World-Honored One! Tell me why! Not only the gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings but also the Bodhisattvas who have come from the other worlds’ and the Śrāvakas present here will be glad to hear the reason.”

Thereupon the Buddha said to Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva:

“Innumerable kalpas ago, that is, as many kalpas as there are sands in the River Ganges ago, there lived a Buddha called Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue, the Tathāgata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. He was accompanied by eight thousand million great Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas and also by great Śrāvakas numbering seventy-two times as many as there are sands in the River Ganges. The duration of his life was forty-two thousand kalpas. So were the durations of the lives of the Bodhisattvas. His world was devoid of women, hellish denizens, hungry spirits, animals and asuras. There was no calamity in his world. The ground of his world was as even as the palm of the hand. It was made of lapis lazuli, adorned with jeweled trees, and covered with a jeweled awning from which the streamers of jeweled flowers were hanging down. Jeweled vases and incense-burners were seen everywhere in that world. There was a platform of the seven treasures at the distance of a bowshot from each of the jeweled trees under which the Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas were sitting. On each of the platforms of treasures, myriads of millions of gods were making heavenly music, singing songs of praise of the Buddha, and offering the music and songs to the Buddha.

See Medicine-King’s samadhi

Foundations

The Causes for Attaining Buddhahood

The causes for attaining Buddhahood should be understood in three ways. First, each of the ten dharma realms from hell to Buddha contain the other nine realms. All possible realms of experience are more or less present in each facet of experience. Those of us who are predominantly human can, depending on our past and present actions, experience the realm of hell or heaven. Second, the first nine dharma realms from hell to bodhisattvahood are integrated with that of Buddhahood. All things possess the potential for Buddhahood and, given the right conditions, can attain perfect enlightenment. Third, the ten dharma realms are all simultaneously empty of substantial Being yet conventionally existent, thus partaking in the threefold truth of reality. These three categories also are three different ways of saying the same thing: that reality is one yet many, threefold yet a unity, neither completely different nor wholly the same. Thus reality, dharma, is best described by the term “subtle.”

The result of Buddhahood is also understood in three ways. First, the essence of reality, or Buddhahood, pervades the entire universe. Buddhahood is not a separate realm detached from our world of experience, but an integral and fundamental part of it. Second, the Buddha did not first attain enlightenment around two thousand years ago under a tree in India, but attained Buddhahood in the incalculable past, or for eternity. Third, the Buddha always has, is, and always will manifest himself in various forms for the benefit of teaching sentient beings and leading them to enlightenment.

It is the Lotus Sūtra which clarifies the meaning of “dharma” in these six ways, therefore it is worthy of the title “subtle.” The other Sūtras, classified by Chih-i according the scheme of the five flavors are subtle in some parts and crude in others, except for the Hinayāna Teachings, which are only crude, and the Lotus Sūtra, which is only subtle.

In terms of “contemplating the mind,” the correct and subtle way is to contemplate the mind as including all other minds and that of the Buddha, not as being detached and separate from other minds. Second, one should contemplate one’s mind as being equal to that of the Buddha. Third, one should contemplate one’s mind and the mind of other sentient beings and the Buddha as being simultaneously empty of substantial being yet conventionally existent.

The “six identities,” a T’ien-t’ai interpretation of the interpenetration and identity of the fifty-two stages leading to Buddhahood should be understood in the same way, that one dharma interpenetrates and contains all other dharmas and stages of attainment.

Finally, this is all summarized in terms of the “four categories of oneness.” The interpenetration of all dharmas is the content of the “oneness of reality.” The unity of the Five Flavors is the content of the “oneness of teaching.” The integrated nature of the mind and of all minds, the subject and object of contemplation, is the content of the “oneness of practice.” The interpenetration and unity of all the levels of attainment as taught in the concept of the Six Identities is the content of the “oneness of persons.”

Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 128-129
WONS

The Children of Śākyamuni Buddha Since the Eternal Past

Considered from the point of view of the second half of the Lotus Sūtra, hommon or essential teachings, we are the real children of Śākyamuni Buddha since the eternal past, 500 dust-particle kalpa ago. However, we attach ourselves to worldly affairs and lose sight of the Lotus Sūtra, stick to old Hinayāna and provisional Mahāyāna Buddhism and discard the Lotus Sūtra, adhere to the first half of the Lotus Sūtra (shakumon) and forget about the second half (hommon), expect too much from the sūtras which will be preached and abandon the Lotus Sūtra, or are thinking only of the Pure Lands in other worlds in the universe or the Buddha of Infinite Life’s Pure Land of Bliss. Confused by evil monks of seven or eight schools of Buddhism, we have abandoned the Lotus Sūtra and have been unable to see Śākyamuni Buddha with three virtues for as long as 500 dust-particle kalpa. The 22nd fascicle of the Nirvana Sūtra preaches, “An evil elephant hurts only our body, but an evil teacher or friend destroys both our body and heart.” Grand Master T’ien-t’ai says, “If we keep improper company, we may lose the true purpose, falling into evil realms.”

Gochū Shujō Gosho, People in the World Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 203

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 13, 2021

They felt lonely and helpless because they thought that they were parentless and shelterless. Their constant sadness finally caused them to recover their right minds. They realized that the medicine had a good color, smell and taste. They took it and were completely cured of the poison.

The Buddha explains his parable of the wise physician in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, the physician’s children take poison by mistake. Some refuse the antidote provided by their father until he leaves home and sends word back that he has died. The children realized that they had to accept what their father had left for them, rather than continuing to refuse his cure. In the Lotus Sūtra the Buddha stops adapting to our minds and brings us into his mind. It is only when we use our suffering to increase our determination to reach enlightenment, rather than as an indicator of our shortcomings, can we recover our right minds and realize what the Buddha teaches.

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

LS32

Day 25

Day 25 covers all of Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, and opens Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.

Day 25 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month met the Buddha Powerful-Voice-King, we meet a bhikṣu called Never-Despising.

“There lived arrogant bhikṣus in the age of the counterfeit of the right teachings of the first Powerful-Voice-King Tathāgata, that is, after the end of the age of his right teachings which had come immediately after his extinction. [Those arrogant bhikṣus] were powerful. At that time there lived a Bodhisattva called Never-Despising. He took the form of a bhikṣu.

“Great-Power-Obtainer! Why was this bhikṣu called Never-Despising? It was because, every time he saw bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās or upāsikās, he bowed to them and praised them, saying, ‘I respect you deeply. I do not despise you. Why is that? It is because you will be able to practice the Way of Bodhisattvas and become Buddhas.’

“He did not read or recite sūtras. He only bowed to the four kinds of devotees. When he saw them in the distance, he went to them on purpose, bowed to them, and praised them, saying, ‘I do not despise you because you can become Buddhas.’

“Some of the four kinds of devotees had impure minds. They got angry, spoke ill of him and abused him, saying, ‘Where did this ignorant bhikṣu come from? He says that he does not despise us and assures us that we will become Buddhas. We do not need such a false assurance of our future Buddhahood.’ Although he was abused like this for many years, he did not get angry. He always said to them, ‘You will become Buddhas.’

See The Importance of Embodying the Dharma

stories, LS32, d25b

The Importance of Embodying the Dharma

Over and over again in the Dharma Flower Sutra we are encouraged to “receive, embrace, read, recite, copy, teach, and practice” the Dharma Flower Sutra. Thus, the fact that Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva did not read or recite sutras is quite interesting. I think it is an expression of the general idea in the Dharma Flower Sutra that, while various practices are very important, what is even more important is how one lives one’s life in relation to others. The references to bodhisattvas who do not follow normal monastic practices, including reading and recitation of sutras, but still become fully awakened buddhas indicates that putting the Dharma into one’s daily life by respecting others, and in this way embodying the Dharma, is more important than formal practices such as reading and recitation.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p216-217
Foundations

Chih-I’s Interpretation of ‘Subtle’

Chih-i begins his discussion of the title of the Lotus Sūtra by pointing out features that are shared with other Sūtras and which are unique to the Lotus Sūtra in terms of teaching, practice, and reality.

As for teaching, the Sūtras contain various teachings because people have varying capacities to understand and live in differing conditions. However, the basic intent of the Buddha’s teaching is one. According to the Lotus Sūtra, the ultimate intent and purpose of the Buddha’s teaching is the attainment of Buddhahood by all sentient beings. The teachings also have in common the fact that they were all taught by the same Buddha.

As for practice, there is a great variety of practices taught in the Sūtras, since there are many types of people who have different needs with regard to the method of practice. However, as it says in the Lotus Sūtra, the goal of practice is ultimately one: Buddhahood.

As for reality, there are many ways to describe “reality,” and Chih-i illustrates this with quotes from the [Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom] and the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. However, the reality which is described in various inadequate verbal terms is one and non-dual. As Chih-i says, “Various terms name one ultimate [reality]. Only one ultimate [reality] is given many names.” What does Chih-i mean by saying that “reality is One”? He does not mean that reality is a nondescript, monochromic entity with indistinguishable features, but that its underlying essence or nature is that of lacking an eternal, unchanging, substantial Being.

Here is where the threefold truth can be applied to illustrate the spontaneous unity and diversity of reality, that it is “one yet many, many yet one.” Reality is one in that all is lacking in substantial Being; its nature is that of emptiness. However, this emptiness is not a complete nothingness but consists of the conventional existence of things which arise and perish interdependently according to causes and conditions. These aspects of emptiness and conventional existence are not contradictory opposites, but are synonymous and integrated. In T’ien t’ai terminology this is called the “Middle Path.” Thus all of reality is empty–it is one. All of reality has conventional existence–it is many. Reality is simultaneously empty and conventionally existent–it is the Middle Path. This threefold truth is implicit in the unity and diversity of the Buddha’s teaching, Buddhist practice, and reality itself.

Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 124-125
WONS

The Vows of All the Deities to Protect Practicers

In the past as well as today, kings and their subjects as well as all the people who despised the practicers of the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration seem to be safe at first, but they will perish in the end without exception. The same can be said regarding me, Nichiren. In the beginning, it appeared that there were no signs of protection for me, but now, after 27 years of propagation, all the deities such as the King of Brahma Heaven, Indra, Sun Deity, Moon Deity, and the Four Heavenly Kings who made the vow to protect the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, now realize that if they do not keep their vows, they will fall into the Avīci Hell. Therefore, they have begun to protect me.

Shōnin Gonan Ji, Persecution Befalling Nichiren Shōnin, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 119

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 12, 2021

How good it is to see a Buddha,
To see the Honorable Saint who saves the world!
He saves all living beings
From the prison of the triple world.

The Brahma Heavenly-Kings of the Zenith sing these verses in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. They gave up their kingdoms, their subjects and their homes to travel across innumerable worlds to hear the Wonderful Dharma. They inspire our devotion by showing how important this teaching is to them. For us who know of the Ever-Present Buddha Śākyamuni, we recognize that the Buddha exists everywhere, even in our triple world of form, formlessness and desire. When let go of the delusions that imprison us, and recognize this Buddha in our midst, we find ourselves in the Buddha’s pure land.

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

LS32

Day 24

Day 24 concludes Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, and closes the Sixth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 24 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month concluded Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, we begin again with the eight hundred merits of the nose.

“Furthermore, Constant-Endeavor! The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this sūtra, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the nose. With their pure noses, they will be able to recognize all the various things above, below, within and without the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds.
“Those who keep this sūtra will be able to recognize, without moving about, the scents of the sumanas-flowers, jātika-flowers, mallikā-flowers, campaka-flowers, pāṭala-flowers, red lotus flowers, blue lotus flowers, white lotus flowers, flower-trees and fruit-trees. They also will be able to recognize the scents of candana, aloes, tamālapattra and tagara, and the scents of tens of millions of kinds of mixed incense which are either powdered or made in lumps or made applicable to the skin. They also will be able to recognize the living beings including elephants, horses, cows, sheep, men, women, boys and girls by smell. They also will be able to recognize without fallacy grasses, trees, thickets and forests by smell, be the nearby or at a distance.

“Those who keep this sūtra also will be able to recognize the gods [and things] in heaven by smell while they are staying [in the world of men]. They will be able to recognize the scents of the pārijātaka-trees, kovidāra-trees, mandārava-flowers, mahā-mandārava-flowers, mañjūṣaka-flowers, mahā-mañjūṣaka-flowers [in heaven]; the powdered incense of candana and aloes, the scents of other flowers, and the mixture of these scents in heaven without fail. They will be able to recognize the gods by smell. They will be able to recognize from afar the scent that Śakra-Devānām-Indra gives forth when he satisfies his five desires and enjoys himself in his excellent palace, or when he expounds the Dharma to the Trāyastriṃs̒a Gods at the wonderful hall of the Dharma, or when he plays in the gardens. They also will be able to recognize by smell from afar the gods and goddesses of the other heavens, including the Heaven of Brahman and the Highest Heaven. They also will be able to recognize the incense burned by the gods in those heavens. They also will be able to locate the Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas by smelling their bodies from afar. Even when they recognize all this by smell, their organ of smell will not be destroyed or put out of order. If they wish, they will be able to tell others of the differences [of those scents] because they remember them without fallacy.”

The Daily Dharma from Jan. 20, 2021, offers this:

They also will be able to locate the Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas by smelling their bodies from afar. Even when they recognize all this by smell, their organ of smell will not be destroyed or put out of order. If they wish, they will be able to tell others of the differences [of those scents] because they remember them without fallacy.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. Our sense of smell is often unconscious. We associate smells with places, experiences or even people that we like or dislike. These smells can even cause an emotional reaction by causing us to relive a situation associated with that smell. In the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha teaches that our everyday experiences are no different from enlightenment, that his great wisdom is not about how to escape from this world. It is about how to use the senses and abilities with which we are blessed in ways we cannot imagine.

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