Not only do the instructions include all of the ritual preparation, but it also includes stroke-by-stroke diagrams for each character of the Daimoku.
This is a far cry from the last time I tried this. Rev. Ryusho Jeffus offered shakyo tracing during his 2nd Annual Urban Dharma Retreat in August 2016. However, Ryusho didn’t offer the stroke order or the purification setup.
I hope to make this a regular addition to my practice.
Day 31 covers Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva.
Thereupon the Buddha said to the great multitude:
“Innumerable, inconceivable, asaṃkhya kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom, the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the Samyak-sambuddha. His world was called Light-Adornment; the kalpa in which he lived, Gladly-Seen. Under that Buddha lived a king called Wonderful-Adornment. His wife was called Pure-Virtue. They had two sons, Pure-Store and Pure-Eyes by name. The two sons had great supernatural powers, merits, virtues and wisdom. A long time ago, they had already practiced the Way which Bodhisattva should practice. They had already practiced the dana-pāramitā, the sita-pāramitā, the kṣānti-pāramitā, the vīrya-pāramitā, the dhyāna-pāramitā, the prajña-pāramitā, and the pāramitā of expediency. They also had already obtained the four states of mind towards all living beings:] compassion, loving-kindness, joy and impartiality. They also had already practiced the thirty-seven ways to enlightenment. They had done all this perfectly and clearly. They also had already obtained the samādhis of Bodhisattvas: that is, the samādhi for purity, the samādhi for the sun and the stars, the samādhi for pure light, the samādhi for pure form, the samādhi for pure brightness, the samādhi for permanent adornment, and the samādhi for the great treasury of powers and virtues. They had already practiced all these samādhis.
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p292-293Just as Buddhism breaks with conventional traditions, the Dharma Flower Sutra sometimes breaks from Buddhist traditions. Almost everywhere they are mentioned, including in other parts of the Lotus Sutra, there are six special bodhisattva practices, often called “perfections” from the Sanskrit term paramita, because they are practices through which bodhisattvas should try to perfect or improve themselves.
Though they have been translated in other ways, the usual six are: generosity in giving; morality, sometimes understood as following commandments or precepts; patiently enduring hardship; perseverance or devotion to one’s goals; meditation or meditative concentration; and wisdom. To these six a seventh is added in this chapter – the practice of skillful means.
On the one hand, it is appropriate that the practice of skillful means is added to the normal bodhisattva practices. Among other things, it makes clear that the use of skillful means is not, as some have said, something that can be done only by a buddha – but indeed by any Dharma teacher. Here it is made abundantly clear that use of skillful means is a practice of all who follow the bodhisattva path.
As you teach or share Buddha Dharma, you may want to devise your own list of bodhisattva practices. I once gave a talk about the eleven practices of the Lotus Sutra. If I were doing that talk again today, I would have to make it a list of twelve. The point is that the Lotus Sutra encourages us to adapt the Dharma and our ways of teaching it creatively, in accord with what is most likely to be useful in our own place and time.
If Japan ever produced a prophet or a religious man of prophetic zeal, Nichiren was the man. He stands almost a unique figure in the history of Buddhism, not alone because of his persistence through hardship and persecution, but for his unshaken conviction that he himself was the messenger of Buddha, and his confidence in the future of his religion and country. Not only one of the most learned men of his time, but most earnest in his prophetic aspirations, he was a strong man, of combative temperament, an eloquent speaker, a powerful writer, and a man of tender heart. He was born in 1222, the son of a fisherman, and died in 1282, a saint and prophet.
His time was a most significant epoch in the history of Japan, in political and social, religious and moral aspects. New energies were at work on every side, and new inspirations were the need of the time. Nichiren passed his life of sixty years in combating the prejudices of the age and in giving warnings to the authorities and the people, not only in religious matters but in state affairs. His personality was partly a product of his time, but he lived both in the past and in the future, being convinced of his predestined message and aspiring for future realization of his ideals.
NICHIREN: THE BUDDHIST PROPHET
The bond of the “triple obedience” for women (obedience to her parents while a juvenile, to her husband when married, and to her children in old age) has already been dissolved in this life for you. The “five hindrances” of women (being prevented from becoming the King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, the King of devils, a Wheel Turning Noble King or a Buddha), have been dispelled for you. The moon in your mind shines without shadows. Your body has been completely cleansed of dirt and filth. You have become a Buddha with your present body. How noble you are!
Kōnichi-ama Gohenji, A Reply to Nun Kōnichi, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers II, Volume 7, Page 152
Expound it to clever people
Who have profound wisdom,
Who hear much,
Who remember well,
And who seek
The enlightenment of the Buddha!
The Buddha sings these verses to all those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. Much of this teaching is about how we see things as opposed to how certain we are of what we see. When we believe that those whom we wish to benefit are stupid, lazy and incompetent, then it surely will be difficult to help them. But when we realize the Buddha nature within all beings, then we can see them as wise and compassionate despite the obstacles they face.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 30 covers all of Chapter 26, Dhāraṇīs
Thereupon Medicine-King Bodhisattva said to the Buddha,
“World-Honored One! Now I will give dhārāni spells to the expounder of the Dharma’ in order to protect him.”
Then he uttered spells:
“Ani (1), mani (2), manei (3), mamanei (4), shirei (5), sharitei (6), shamya (7), shabi-tai (8), sentei (9), mokutei (10), mokutabi (11), shabi (12), aishabi (13), sōbi (14), shabi (15), shaei (16), ashaei (17), agini (18), sentei (19), shabi (20), darani (21 ), arokya-basai-ha habi-shani (22), neibitei (23), abentarancibitei (24), atantahareishudai(25), ukurei (26), mukurei (27), ararei (28), hararei (29), shukyashi (30), asammasambi (31), botsudabikirijittei (32), darumaharishitei (33), sōgyanekkushanei (34), bashabashashudai(35), mantara (36), manta ashayata (37), urntaurota (38), kyōsharya(39), ashara (40), ashay taya (41), abaro (42), amanyanataya (43).”
[He said to the Buddha:]
“World-Honored One! These dhārānis, these divine spells, have already been uttered by six thousand and two hundred million Buddhas, that is, as many Buddhas as there are sands in the River Ganges. Those who attack and abuse this teacher of the Dharma should be considered to have attacked and abused those Buddhas.”
Thereupon Śākyamuni Buddha praised Medicine-King Bodhisattva, saying:
“Excellent, excellent, Medicine-King! You uttered these dhārānis in order to protect this teacher of the Dharma out of your compassion towards him. You will be able to give many benefits to all living beings.”
The Daily Dharma from June 27, 2020, offers this:
Thereupon Medicine-King Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One! Now I will give dhāraṇī-spells to the expounder of the Dharma in order to protect him.”
This promise to the Buddha from Medicine-King Bodhisattva comes in Chapter Twenty-Six of the Lotus Sutra. The dhāraṇīs are given in a language that nobody understands any more. But this does not reduce their effectiveness. In the second chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha declared that his wisdom cannot be reached by understanding alone. There is another, nonverbal aspect of his teaching that we must comprehend. The dhāraṇīs not only give us reassurance that beings we cannot comprehend are helping us to become enlightened, they also remind us to look for the unspoken teachings that are part of the Buddha Dharma.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Though T’ien T’ai distinguishes the ten kinds of existence, he emphasizes the interchangeability of their natures and the interdependence of their existence. Take, for instance, the case of Buddha. Although he is above all others, he has in no wise lost the character of the others, or he could not arouse in himself compassion for others. Even in him, the nature of the extremely vicious is still inherent, the only difference between his nature and that of others being that in him the inferior qualities are subdued, and not allowed to work. Similarly, with all others, even in the beings in the hells, Buddhahood, and humanity, and other capacities are still extant, though latent. Viewed in this way, the ten realms of existence and their respective natures are interchangeable and communicable. This point is formulated as the theory of the “mutual participation ” of all existences [Ichinen Sanzen]; and since all ten are present, whether actually or potentially, in each of the ten, the interrelations among them are hundredfold, that is, ten times ten.
To develop and explain the doctrine of the “mutual participation” [Ichinen Sanzen], T’ien T’ai formulated the conditions of existence in any realm in the ten categories of being. The classification is taken from the Lotus Sutra, in which these categories are adored as the key to Buddha’s insight into the world. They are: 1. Essence; 2. attribute; 3. manifestation or mark; 4. potency; 5. function; 6. first cause; 7. secondary cause; 8. effect; 9. retribution; and 10. the consummate unity of all nine. We can easily see that these categories are nothing but an extension and amplification of the original tenet of causality (paticca-samppāda [dependent origination]).
By causality we usually understand today the necessary connection existing between an antecedent and its consequent. But the Buddhist conception of causality is more flexible and is applied to the same kind of necessary link, to any relation of interaction, interdependence, correlation, or co-ordination, founded on an intrinsic necessity. The necessity may be a link existing between the beings or phenomena, or between the thing and the knowledge of it, or vice versa. In this respect, the Buddhist idea of causation covers the same ground as the ratio efficiens [productive reason], as formulated in Scholastic philosophy. Although all these relations may finally be reduced to the terms of antecedent and consequent, the Buddhist would not confine the causal relation within the idea of time relation.
This is a consequence of the conception that all existences are correlated by the virtue of the same dharmatā [nature of a thing], and that therefore the relations existing among them are mutual, both in reality and in thought. The cause, in the usual sense of the word, conditions the consequence, but the consequence no less conditions the cause, though the mode of conditioning differs. A cause without its consequence is nonsense, and, at least so far, the former is conditioned by the latter. In this way, the application of causality was extended, and the formula of causality, cited above in the original wording by Buddha, may be applied to the ten categories, as the mutual relations conditioning one the other. Take, for instance, the categories of “essence,” “attribute,” and “mark.” Because there is an essence, its attributes manifest themselves; because there are attributes, we know that there is the essence; because there are attributes, the marks appear; because there are marks, the attributes are discernible, etc. In this way the mutual dependence of the categories is established, and applied to the existence of every being, which is made up of a certain configuration and concatenation of the conditions, and in which the conditions of the categories are necessarily present.
It may make the position of T’ien T’ai clearer to speak, in this connection, of a division of Buddhist thought about the idea of causality. The question was whether causality should be understood as a serial causation or as a relation of mutual dependence, and the difference between the two conceptions involved the difference between a static and a dynamic view of the world.
The one school, which took the serial view of causality, traced, forward and backward, the evolution of the phenomenal world out of the primeval entity, and the involution of the former into the latter. The other school emphasized the interrelation and coordination of things, almost without regard to the questions of origin and final destiny. The latter was T’ien T’ai’s position and is known by the name “Reality-View,” in contradistinction to the “Origination-View” or “Emanation Theory,” of the other. Whatever the difference may signify, and whatever the original teaching of Buddha may have been, the “Origination View” always inclined to take the derivative phenomena more or less as illusions; while the “Reality-View” devoted its attention to a close examination of existences as they are and inclined to justify every being as a necessary phenomenon in the world of mutual interdependence. The former aims at reabsorption of the individual minds into the primeval Mind, while the latter sees in the full presentation of facts and relations the consummate realization of universal enlightenment. Thus, almost contrary to our expectation, the philosophy of the “Origination View” is static, while the “Reality-View” tends to be dynamic. The theory of “mutual participation” [Ichinen Sanzen] was a result of T’ien T’ai’s conception of causality in terms of correlation and coordination.
Another group of categories, to explain life in group (dhātu [the ultimate constituents of a whole]) is threefold: the stage on which a certain group of beings play their role and manifest their nature; the constituents which supply materials and components to the stage; and the individuals making up the realm.
Now all of these kinds of being, and the categories of existence, are essential to the consideration of reality, of the true nature of any being. The Middle Path view consists in taking up all these conditions of being, and in summing them up in one term, that is, “Reality” – the reality as it is, as it is conditioned, as it is grounded, and as it ought to be. Thus, in this view of reality is expressed the conception of Dharma as the consummation of the various views held by different schools, and as the final unification of the manifold aspects implied in the term Dharma. In fine, the T’ien T’ai Buddhist conception of reality consists in harmoniously uniting all aspects of existence, and in realizing the working of the many-sided Dharma, even in one being; even in one particle of dust, as the followers of T’ien T’ai are fond of saying.
To recapitulate, T’ien T’ai had examined the manifold views of reality, and found justification in each of them; and his ambition was to unify them, by looking at every particular existence as if it were an adequate representative of the whole cosmos (dharma dhātu). His conception of reality is equivalent to seeing everything sub specie aeternitatis [in a universal perspective], but his aeternitas [the divine personification of eternity] differed greatly from that of Spinoza in being not monistic, but “according to the three thousand aspects” [Ichinen Sanzen] – ten realms to each of ten, this hundred in the ten categories of existence, and this thousand multiplied by the three categories of group existence.
Again and again I say to you, “I am afraid you will forego your faith this time.” I say this because I feel sorry that you, who had an aspiration for the Lotus Sūtra until quite recently, will instead fall into the evil realms. If by chance, be it one out of one hundred or even one out of one thousand, you wish to follow the faith preached by me, Nichiren, declare to your father, “Although by right I should follow you because you are my father, if you become an enemy of the Lotus Sūtra, I will abandon you and side with my elder brother, because following you would make me an unfilial son. If you are abandoned by my elder brother, please consider that you and my elder brother will go to the same hell.” You have nothing to fear. The reason why we have faith in the Lotus Sūtra ever since the eternal past without attaining Buddhahood is this (retreat in faith).
Hyōesakan-dono Gohenji, Answer to Lord Ikegami Munenaga, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 93
The Buddhas joyfully display
Their immeasurable, supernatural powers
Because [the Bodhisattvas from underground]
[Vow to] keep this sūtra after my extinction.
The Buddha sings these verses to Superior-Practice Bodhisattva (Jōgyo, Viśiṣṭacārītra) in Chapter Twenty-One of the Lotus Sūtra. Superior-Practice is the leader of the Bodhisattvas who came up from underground in Chapter Fifteen when the Buddha asked who would continue to keep and practice this sūtra after his physical extinction in this world. Nichiren saw himself as the embodiment of Superior-Practice, and all of us who are determined to lead all beings to enlightenment through this Wonderful Dharma as embodiments of the Bodhisattvas who came up from underground. The powers of the Buddhas only seem supernatural to those who are mired in delusion and ignorance. They are nothing more than turning the poison of anger into the medicine of energy; the poison of isolation into the medicine of compassion; the poison of attachment into the medicine of wisdom.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
