Monthly Archives: May 2021

LS32

Day 3

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

Day 3 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered how the Buddhas craft their message to our desires, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 2, Expedients.

“Śāriputra! The Buddhas appear in the evil worlds in which there are the five defilements. The worlds are defiled by the decay of the kalpa, by illusions, by the deterioration of the living beings, by wrong views, and by the shortening of lives. Śāriputra! When a kalpa is in decay, the living beings [in that kalpa] are so full of illusions, so greedy, and so jealous that they plant many roots of evil. Therefore, the Buddhas divide the One Buddha-Vehicle into three as an expedient.

“Śāriputra! Some disciples of mine, who think that they are Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas, will not be my disciples or Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas if they do not hear or know that the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, teach only Bodhisattvas.

“Śāriputra! Some bhikṣus and bhikṣunīs do not seek Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi because they think that they have already attained Arhatship, that they have already reached the final stage of their physical existence, and that the Nirvāṇa attained by them is the final one. Know this! They are arrogant because it cannot be that the bhikṣus who attained Arhatship do not believe the Dharma. Some bhikṣus who live in a period in which no Buddha lives after my extinction may not believe the Dharma after they attain Arhatship because in that period it will be difficult to meet a person who keeps, reads, and recites this sūtra, and understands the meanings of it. They will be able to understand the Dharma when they meet another Buddha.

“Śāriputra and all of you present here! Understand the Dharma by faith with all your hearts! There is no vehicle other than the One Buddha-Vehicle.”

The Daily Dharma for April 22, 2020, offers this:

Śāriputra! Some disciples of mine, who think that they are Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas, will not be my disciples or Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas if they do not hear or know that the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, teach only Bodhisattvas.

The Buddha makes this declaration to his disciple Śāriputra in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sutra. When the Buddha says he only teaches Bodhisattvas, he does not mean that he excludes anyone from his teaching. It is only when we realize and develop our capacities as Bodhisattvas, beings who exist to benefit all beings, rather than being preoccupied with our own suffering, can we hear, practice and appreciate the Buddha Dharma.

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

Foundations

The Question of Advancement in the Tripiṭaka Teachings

Question: Why is there no advancement from the Tripiṭaka Teachings?

Answer: In the Tripiṭaka teachings [the two truths are understood as] non-identical within this world. The Hinayānist attains enlightenment and is “an arhat who has destroyed his fundamental impurities” [and thus believes he has no higher goal to attain].572 Therefore I do not discuss advancement [for those of the Tripiṭaka Teachingl.573 The other six are Mahāyāna teachings. If one wishes to advance, one must learn to leave the past [accomplishments] behind. Therefore I teach [the doctrine of] “advancement.”

Question: If there is no advancement [to a higher level for those of the Tripiṭaka Teaching], is there no encounter, with the final truth and ultimate enlightenment]?

Answer: The meaning of advancement is different from the meaning of “encounter.” When one has not yet encountered [the ultimate teaching as revealed in the Lotus Sūtra], there is no discussion of advancement [to the more profound Distinct or Perfect Teachings].

Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 244-245
572
This phrase is from the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra where Mahākāśyapa expounds on the disadvantages of being a śrāvaka. Boin, Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra, 179, translates the context as follows: “It would be better to become guilty of the five acts of immediate fruition [ānantarya] than to be like us holy ones (arhat) who are completely delivered [atyantavimukta]. And why? Because those who become guilty of the five ānantarya still have the power to destroy these ānantarya, to produce the thought of enlightenment and gradually attain all the Buddha dharmas. While we, arhats, who have destroyed our impurities [kṣīṇāsrava], will never be capable of it.” return
573
In other words, since arhatship is the highest goal in the Tripitaka Teaching, and they believe that there is no higher attainment, there is no sense in talking of “advancing” from the Tripiṭaka Teaching to the Mahāyāna levels of the Shared, Distinct, or Perfect Teaching. Nevertheless the problem remains that since, according to the Lotus Sūtra and a fundamental issue for Chih-i, everyone has the Buddha-nature and is destined for eventual Buddhahood, so there must be some sort of advancement even for those who have attained the “complete extinction” of arhatship in the Tripiṭaka teaching. return
WONS

The Shogunal Regent at Kamakura

The Shogunal Regent at Kamakura punished me twice. Publicly the second punishment was an exile, but actually he tried to behead me in secret. I was taken to the execution ground of Tatsunokuchi at midnight on the 12th day of the 9th month. Strangely, a shining ball like a moon came flying from Enoshima Island over to the head of the executioner. He was too scared to kill me. The confusion lasted for a while, so the execution did not take place that night. He might have tried to kill me in Sado, but the civil war broke out in Kamakura as I had predicted. A messenger came and my execution was cancelled. In the end I was pardoned. I am now living in this mountain.

Myōhō Bikuni Go-henji, A Reply to Nun Myōhō, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 206-208

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 3, 2021

Universal-Sage! Anyone who keeps, reads and recites this sūtra [in the later five hundred years] after [my extinction], will not be attached to clothing, bedding, food or drink, or any other thing for living. What he wishes will not remain unfulfilled. He will be able to obtain the rewards of his merits in his present life.

The Buddha makes this promise to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. When we who are living in this latter age of Degeneration keep and practice this Sūtra, we change the focus of our own existence. We lose our dependence on the things we thought we needed to make us happy, and thus learn to appreciate them for what they are. We set aside our fear of losing these things and gain the courage to handle situations we previously thought were impossible. We stop focusing on what we need to live and find gratitude for what sustains our lives.

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 considered the story of the Fame Seeking disciple, we repeat in gāthās Mañjuśrī’s recollection of a similar great omen.

Thereupon Mañjuśrī, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās in the midst of the great multitude:

According to my memory,
innumerable, countless kalpas ago,
There lived a Buddha, a Man of the Highest Honor,
Called Sun-Moon-Light.

That World-Honored One expounded the Dharma,
And caused innumerable living beings
And many hundreds of millions of Bodhisattvas
To enter the Way to the wisdom of the Buddha.

Seeing the Great Saint
Who had renounced the world,
The eight sons born to him when he was a king
Followed him, and performed brahma practices.

The Buddha expounded
To the great multitude
A sūtra of the Great Vehicle
Called the ‘Innumerable Teachings.’

Having expounded this sūtra, the Buddha sat cross-legged
On the seat of the Dharma [facing the east],
And entered into the samādhi
For the purport of the innumerable teachings.

The gods rained mandarava-flowers.
Heavenly drums sounded by themselves.
The gods, dragons, and other supernatural beings
Made offerings to the Man of the Highest Honor.

The worlds of the Buddhas quaked much.
The Buddha emitted a ray of light
From between his eyebrows,
And showed things rarely to be seen.

See Glimpsing the ‘Infinite Absolute Buddha’

Foundations

The Seven Types of Two Truths

The seven types of two truths are as follows:

First, “real existence” is the mundane, “the extinction of real existence” is the real.

Second, “illusory existence” is the mundane, and “identifying this illusory existence as empty [of substantial Being]” is the real.

Third, “illusory existence” is the mundane, and “identifying illusory existence as both empty and non-empty” is the real.

Fourth, “illusory existence” is the mundane, and “the identity of illusory existence with emptiness and non-emptiness, that all dharmas are empty and non-empty,” is the real.

Fifth, “illusory existence and the identity of illusory existence with emptiness” is all called the mundane, and “neither existence nor emptiness” is the real.

Sixth, “illusory existence and the identity of illusory existence with emptiness” is all called the mundane, and “neither existence nor emptiness, that all reality is included in “neither existence nor emptiness,” is the real.

Seventh, “illusory existence and the identity of illusory existence with emptiness” is the mundane, and that “reality includes existence, includes emptiness, and includes neither existence nor emptiness,” is the real.

Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 239
WONS

Never Make Offerings to Those Who Slander the Lotus Sūtra

During the thousand years of the Age of the True Dharma following the Buddha’s extinction, many people observe the precepts and few break them. During the next thousand years of the Age of the Semblance Dharma, which follows the Age of the True Dharma, many violate the precepts and a few people do not accept any precepts. During the ten thousand years of the Latter Age of Degeneration, there are a few violators of the precepts, but many people do not accept any precepts. During the Age of the True Dharma, you should disregard those who violate the precepts or do not accept any and make offerings to observers of the precepts. During the Age of the Semblance Dharma, disregard those who do not accept any precepts and make offerings to the violators of the precepts. During the Latter Age of Degeneration, revere those who do not accept any precepts and make offerings to them as if they were Buddhas.

Across the three ages, however, we should never make offerings to those who slander the Lotus Sūtra regardless of whether they observe the precepts, violate them or disregard them. If we make offerings to slanderers of the Lotus Sūtra, three disasters and seven calamities will befall the country and people will certainly fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. A practicer of the Lotus Sūtra criticizing provisional sūtras is like a ruler admonishing his retainers, a parent admonishing his children, or a teacher admonishing his disciples. A practicer of provisional sūtras criticizing the Lotus Sūtra, on the contrary, is like a retainer punishing his lord, a child punishing his parent, or a disciple punishing his master.

Kyō Ki Ji Koku Shō, Treatise on the Teaching, Capacity, Time and Country, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 98-99

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 2, 2021

The Buddha said to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva: “Good man! If many hundreds of thousands of billions of living beings hear [the name of] World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and call his name with all their hearts when they are under various sufferings, World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva will immediately perceive their voices, and cause them to emancipate themselves [from the sufferings].”

The Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kuan-Yin, Kannon, Kanzeon, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. World-Voice-Perceiver is the embodiment of compassion, a living manifestation of the desire that all beings be happy and free from suffering. By calling the name of this Bodhisattva, we awaken the compassion within ourselves. We become this Bodhisattva and remove our fear of suffering. With this awakening we can be fully present for those in this world of conflict who are suffering and liberate ourselves from the delusion and isolation of our own suffering.

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

LS32

Day 1

Day 1 covers the first half of Chapter 1, Introductory

Day 1 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the bodhisattvas’s offerings to the śarīras of a Buddha, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 1, Introductory.

The supernatural powers of the Buddha
And his wisdom are rare.
He is illumining innumerable worlds
By emitting a pure ray of light.
We were astonished
At seeing [those worlds].

Mañjuśrī, Son of the Buddha!
Remove our doubts!
The four kinds of devotees
Are looking up with joy at you and me,
Wishing to know why this ray of light is emitted
By the World-Honored One.

Son of the Buddha, answer me!
Remove our doubts and cause us to rejoice!
For what purpose is the Buddha
Emitting this ray of light?

Does he wish to expound the Wonderful Dharma
Which he attained when he was sitting
At the place of enlightenment?
Does he wish to assure us of our future Buddhahood?

He shows us the worlds of the Buddhas
Adorned with many treasures.
We can see the Buddhas of those worlds.
This cannot be for some insignificant reason.

Mañjuśrī, know this!
The four kinds of devotees and the dragons
Are looking at you, thinking:
“What is he going to say?”

See Why the Great Assembly Relied on Mañjuśrī

Foundations

The Blind Man and the Whiteness of Milk

Briefly, there are three differences [in the kind of preaching undertaken by the Buddha] called “in accordance with the feelings” [of the listener] ; “in accordance with the feelings [of the listener] and the wisdom” [of the Buddha] ; and “in accordance with the wisdom” [of the Buddha.]533

The preaching in accordance with the feelings [or capacities of sentient beings] refers to [the teaching of the Buddha which takes into account] the fact that the feelings and natures [of sentient beings] are not the same, so the explanation which is taught in accordance with the feelings is different [for each person]. As it is clarified in the Abhidharma-mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra, there are immeasurable varieties of the dharma supreme in the world [laukikāgra-dharmāh].534

It is the same for the real ultimate truth. How much more so for the others. It is like a blind man following his feelings when presented with many different [analogies for the whiteness of] milk.

The blind man, hearing various explanations, argues about the color white. Do they not all refer to [the whiteness of] milk? All the masters have failed to understand this meaning. They each are attached to a certain text, and present their own opinions and argue. They each deny each other’s [opinions], believing one and not believing another. What vigorous bickering! They do not know which side is correct.

Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 237
533
This is an expansion of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra division of the Buddha’s teachings into that in accordance with the minds of others and that given in accordance with his own mind. return
534
See Abhidharma-mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra, T. 28, 9b—17a. return