Monthly Archives: May 2021

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 30, 2021

I always expound the Dharma.
I do nothing else.
I am not tired of expounding the Dharma
While I go or come or sit or stand.
I expound the Dharma to all living beings
Just as the rain waters all the earth.

The Buddha makes this declaration in Chapter Five of the Lotus Sūtra. It is normal for us humans to become worn out, frustrated or annoyed as we try to benefit others. Often, other people do not want our help, or when they take our help, they do not progress as fast as we want them to. Sometimes there are only a few people we want to help, and may actually wish harm on those we blame for our problems. The Buddha gives us a different example. He gets his energy from creating benefit. It does not drain him. He sees that all beings want to improve themselves, no matter how perversely they may go about it. He knows that all beings are worthy of receiving the Buddha Dharma.

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

LS32

Day 29

Day 29 covers all of Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.

Day 29 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the merits of those who keep the name of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva, we learn how World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva goes about this Sahā-World.

Endless-Intent Bodhisattva said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! How does World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva go about this Sahā-World? How does he expound the Dharma to the living beings? What expedients does he employ?”

The Buddha said to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva:

“Good man! In a certain world, World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva takes the shape of a Buddha and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Buddha. He takes the shape of a Pratyekabuddha and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Pratyekabuddha. He takes the shape of a Śrāvaka and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Śrāvaka. He takes the shape of King Brahman and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by King Brahman. He takes the shape of King Śakra and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by King Śakra. He takes the shape of Freedom God and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by Freedom God. He takes the shape of Great-Freedom God and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by Great-Freedom God. He takes the shape of a great general in heaven and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a great general in heaven. He takes the shape of Vaiśravaṇa and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by Vaiśravaṇa. He takes the shape of the king of a small country and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by the king of a small country. He takes the shape of a rich man and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a rich man. He takes the shape of a householder and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a householder. He takes the shape of a prime minister and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a prime minister. He takes the shape of a brahmana and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a brāhmana. He takes the shape of a bhikṣu, a bhikṣunī, an upāsakā or an upāsikā and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a bhikṣu, a bhikṣunī, an upāsakā or an upāsikā. He takes the shape of a wife and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by the wife of a rich man, of a householder, of a prime minister, or of a brāhmana. He takes the shape of a boy or a girl and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a boy or a girl. He takes the shape of a god, a dragon, a yakṣa, a gandharva, an asura, a garuda, a kiṃnara, a mahoraga, a human being or a nonhuman being and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by one or another of these living beings. He takes the shape of Vajra-Holding God and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by Vajra-Holding God.

“Endless-Intent! This World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva does these meritorious deeds. He takes various shapes, walks about many worlds, and saves the living beings [of those worlds]. Make offerings to World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva with all your hearts! This World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva-mahāsattva gives fearlessness [to those who are] in fearful emergencies. Therefore, he is called the ‘Giver of Fearlessness’ in this Sahā-World.”

See World-Voice-Perceiver’s 33 Transformations

MizunoSutras, Blog

Enough To Ruin Oneself

Kōgen Mizuno’s “Buddhist Sutras: Origin, Development, Transmission” has some fascinating details about what scholars know about the origins and distribution of the various Buddhist sutras, but it had little that I felt needed to be set aside for future use. Besides yesterday’s quote about four interpretations of the word “buddha” offered by Chih-i, the only other item I set aside was this piece of advice I found on page 47:

In order to introduce Buddhism to the Chinese, basic Buddhist teachings were excerpted from various sutras and compiled as the forty-two entries in [the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters], which imparts easily assimilated knowledge of Buddhism and its moral teachings. …

“The Buddha said, ‘If the evil man would criticize the wise man, that is as a man who spits looking up at heaven. His spit does not defile heaven, but his own body instead. That is [also] as a man who throws rubbish at the windward man. The rubbish does not defile him, but the thrower himself instead. You should not criticize the wise man. Your own faults are certainly enough to ruin yourself.’ “

Yes, indeed, my own faults are certainly enough to ruin me.

Foundations

The True Meaning and Purpose of All Expedient Means

[O]ther Sūtras clarify the nine [suchlike characteristics of] nature, appearances [and so forth], but do not go so far as to expound that the nature, appearances [and so forth] of the Buddha are [characterized as] an integrated reality simultaneously empty of substantial Being yet conventionally existent. It is this Lotus Sūtra which reveals [the true meaning and purpose of] all expedient means and leads all to attain and enter [the one final goal of Buddhahood]. In their discussion of [suchlike] appearances, nature [and so forth], they do not mention “integrated reality as simultaneously empty yet conventionally existent.” The Tathāgata emphatically praises this Lotus Sūtra as the most supreme, because this meaning is implicit here.

Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 194-195
WONS

The Devastation Awaiting a World in Decline

First of all, let me state what is most important to you. During the 2,000-year period after the passing of Śākyamuni Buddha, in the Age of the True Dharma and that of the Semblance Dharma, the power of the Buddhist Dharma was vibrant, sages and wise men continued to appear in the world one after another, and the Buddhas and heavenly beings continued to protect human beings. In the Latter Age of Degeneration, however, people have become greedy thus fighting never ceases between a lord and subordinates, parents and children, and among siblings. How much more so is this the case among those who are not related! Therefore, heaven has abandoned such a country and as a result the “three calamities and seven disasters” have overtaken the land and not just one, but two, three, four, five, six and as many as seven suns appear at the same time. Plants wither and die, large and small rivers dry up, the earth catches fire like charcoal, the ocean becomes like boiling oil, and in the end a blaze will start in the Hell of Incessant Suffering, burning everything down including the Brahma Heaven above. This is the devastation that awaits a world in decline.

Hyōesakan-dono Gohenji, Answer to Lord Ikegami Munenaga, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 91-92

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 29, 2021

You skillfully expound the Dharma with various parables and similes,
And with various stories of previous lives.
Now my mind is as peaceful as the sea.
Hearing you, I have removed the mesh of doubts.

Śāriputra, the wisest of the Buddha’s disciples, sings these verses in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. After the Buddha announced in Chapter Two that he had not revealed his highest wisdom, that everything he had taught before then was preparation, Śāriputra was the first to understand what the Buddha meant. The parables, similes and other parts of the Lotus Sūtra help us to understand how to read them, and how to make them real in our lives. When we find the true purpose of what the Buddha is teaching us, our mind and the world become peaceful together.

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

LS32

Day 28

Day 28 covers all of Chapter 24, Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, and concludes the Seventh Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 28 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month learned about Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva’s transformations, we consider the samadhi employed by Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva.

Thereupon Flower-Virtue Bodhisattva said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! This Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva planted deeply the roots of good. World-Honored One! What is the name of the samadhi by which he can transform himself into various living beings and appear in various places to save all living beings?”

The Buddha said to Flower-Virtue Bodhisattva:

“Good man! This is called the ‘samadhi by which one can transform oneself into any other living being.’ Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva entered into this samadhi and benefited innumerable living beings as previously stated.”

See Bodhisattvas Who Meet the Needs of Sentient Beings

MizunoSutras, Blog, Books

Serendipity or Divine Intervention?

Can one be a Buddhist who believes in protective deities and still enjoy moments of serendipity? I pick up one book and it leads me to another and that book talks about something I’m currently posting on this website. Coincidence?

When I was reading Daniel Montgomery’s Fire in the Lotus I enjoyed his summary of the life of Kumārajīva and posted it here. Montgomery noted that he picked up the story from Kōgen Mizuno’s “Buddhist Sutras: Origin, Development, Transmission.”

“Buddhist Sutras: Origin, Development, Transmission” was adapted by Mizuno in 1982 from a series of articles originally published in Kōsei, a monthly magazine of Risshō Kōsei-kai. In finding this book, I realized I had found the perfect companion for Keisho Tsukomoto’s “Source Elements of the Lotus Sutra: Buddhist Integraton of Religion, Thought, and Culture,” which Rev. Ryuei McCormick recommended. The two Risshō Kōsei-kai books will provide an excellent foundation upon which I can build my understanding of the Lotus Sutra.

Anyway, back to serendipity. I am currently publishing quotes from Paul L. Swanson’s “Foundations of T’ien-T’ai Philosophy: The Flowering of the Two Truths Theory in Chinese Buddhism,” which includes a 96 page English translation of a portion of the first chapter of Chih-i’s Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra.

This is very esoteric stuff. I admit that Swanson’s footnotes are essential reading.

Take for instance Does the Buddha experience retribution?, a three paragraph quote from Chih-i that requires eight footnotes from Swanson.

While personally enjoying this esoteric material, I’ve been feeling a tad guilty about whether this might put off others who won’t see the value. Then the other day I came across this quote in Mizuno’s “Buddhist Sutras”:

In his Miao-fa lien-hua-ching wen-chü (Textual Commentary on the Lotus Sutra), Chih-i examined individual words and phrases of the Lotus Sutra from four points of view and further developed his thoughts in thirteen minutely considered facets. For instance, a Chinese ideogram meaning “buddha” is analyzed thoroughly from thirteen different perspectives. Such a study is invaluable from a scholar’s point of view because it encompasses all Chinese views on the Buddha current at that time; however, in terms of practical value, Chih-i’s commentary is so copious in its detail that it simply compounds any confusion that the average person might have been troubled with before consulting it.
In general, the following four interpretations of the word “buddha” offered by Chih-i seem to be most germane for the nonspecialist curious about the theoretical and practical meanings of the word.

  1. The Buddha is one’s focus of devotion in the true sense. He is the savior who delivers human beings from their sufferings and fulfills their desires and is also the figurative parent and lord of humankind. Thus one should offer prayer and reverence to him with an attitude of total dedication and of obedience to his teaching. (This is regarded as the “first-step” view of the Buddha.)
  2. When considering the essence of the Buddha objectively, the discriminating person thinks of his Law (that is, of the universal, logical truth of the universe), of justice and benevolence as the basic ideal virtues of humankind, and of selfless compassion as the means of saving all sentient beings.
  3. Since the second interpretation alone is not sufficient to sustain a living faith, it must be merged with the first. Thus the third interpretation unites the abstract theory of the first with the concrete practice implied by the second.
  4. When one has at last arrived at a state of profound faith, one has attained unity with the Buddha and is always embraced by him even if one’s awareness of the Buddha is not perfect (that is to say, not in complete accord with the union of theory and practice set forth above in the third interpretation). In this fourth interpretation one has already achieved buddhahood and sees the buddhanature in all the objects and beings one encounters and venerates all those objects and beings as buddhas. It is at this point that the buddha-land, or paradise, becomes a reality rather than an ideal or goal.

Although the T’ien-t’ai sect enjoyed a very highly developed intellectual and philosophical appreciation of Buddhism as a religion, unlike the Hua-yen sect [Flower Garland], for example, it also embraced a thoroughly pragmatic, down-to-earth practice of the religion that enabled it to survive while the completely academically oriented schools perished.

A timely message about the need for practice to leaven study.

Serendipity of simple coincidence or the intervention of the protective deities?

Foundations

Understanding All Appearances

[T]he four evil destinies manifest only evil [pain] and are not able to manifest any good [pleasure]. The appearance of men and gods manifests goodness [pleasure] and does not manifest evil [pain]. Those of the two vehicles manifest only undefilement, and do not manifest [deluded] pleasure or pain. The appearance of the Buddhas contains and manifests all appearances. If one understands of appearance of the Buddha, one would completely understand all appearances. Therefore the suchness of the Buddha is most supreme.

Therefore it is written in the Hsien shêng chi226 that “those dwelling in hell can perceive only hell and cannot know about the other superior destinies. Those who dwell in heaven know both heaven and the other inferior destinies and their characteristics, but are not called ones with correct universal knowledge”227

Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 193
226
The identity of this text is not known, but it is believed to be an Abhidharma text. In the Fa hua hsüan i shih ch’ien [Annotations on “The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra] Chan-jan says that the content is the same as the AbhidharmakoSabhäsya, but this may be referring merely to this one passage. The Shakusen kögi makes reference to both the “old” translation of the AbhidhamakoSabhäya by Paramärtha and the “new” translation by Hsüan-tsang, but obviously Chih-i could not have seen Hsüan-tsang’s translation. (see Bukkyö taikei I: 605—606) The following quote is similar in content to a passage in Paramärtha’s translation of the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya. return
227
Samyaksaṃbuddha. The Taishō text has (“named”), but the Bukkyō taikei edition uses the character (“clarify, perceive”), which would change this phrase to mean “they do not perceive correct universal wisdom (or knowledge).” return
d12b, WONS

Śāriputra’s Failure

The Buddha’s disciple Śāriputra endeavored to become a Buddha for sixty kalpa fervently practicing the ways of the bodhisattva. Nonetheless, unable to withstand its tribulations, he gave it up to pursue that of the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha.

As is written in “The Parable of a Magic City” (chapter 7 of the Lotus Sūtra), those who had established a relationship to the Great Universal Wisdom Buddha for a period of three thousand dust-particle kalpa, and those who had received the seed of Buddhahood from the Eternal Buddha for five hundred (million) dust-particle kalpa sank into the disillusionment of life and death. Although they had practiced the way of the Lotus, the King of Devils in the Sixth Heaven infiltrated the sovereign and those around him, so as to trouble and aggravate them, leading them to abandon their practices, and forever remain in the cycle of the six realms of delusion (hell, hungry souls, beast, asura, men, gods).

Ueno-dono Gohenji, A Reply to Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 163