[W]hen Hinayāna people are shackled by Hinayāna teachings and go against Mahāyāna principles or try to be equal to Mahāyāna countries although they do not intend to go against Mahāyāna Buddhism, they (Hinayāna Buddhists) and their countries will contract various sicknesses. When they try to cure their mental sickness by means of the teaching of Hinayāna Buddhism, they only intensify their troubles instead of curing them. Only practicers of Mahāyāna sūtras can cure them.
Likewise, when believers of provisional Mahāyāna sūtras … adhere to their biased opinions, insisting that their inferior faith equals or is even superior to the Lotus Sūtra, and when rulers of the land recognize them without discerning their prejudices, the 84,000 mental sicknesses such as the three poisons will be begotten. The harder they try to heal the sickness by means of their respective canonical sūtras, the worse their troubles will be. Even if they try to cure their troubles by the Lotus Sūtra, it will not work. It is not because the sūtra is not good enough but because the people who try to use it are prejudiced.
Toki Nyūdō-dono Go-henji: Chibyō-shō, A Response to Lay Priest Lord Toki: Treatise on Healing Sickness, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 252-253
Anyone who visits a monastery to hear
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
And rejoices at hearing it even for a moment,
Will be able to obtain the following merits.
The Buddha sings these verses to Maitreya (whom he calls Ajita – Invincible) in Chapter Eighteen of the Lotus Sutra. The joy we find in the Buddha’s highest teaching is different from what we experience when our desires are satisfied. It is a joy we can learn to find at the heart of everything we think, say and do. The merit that comes from this joy does not make us better than anyone else; it only allows to see the world as the Buddha does. Joy is not something that needs to be added to our lives. It is what we find remaining when we let go of our attachment and delusion.
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Day 32 covers Chapter 28, The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, closing the Eighth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month considered the arrival of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, we consider how the good men or women who live after your extinction will be able to obtain this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
[Universal-Sage Bodhisattva] worshiped [the feet of] Śākyamuni Buddha with his head, walked around the Buddha [from left] to right seven times and said to the Buddha:
“World-Honored One! I heard the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, which you expounded in this Sahā World, from a remote world in which lives Treasure-PowerVirtue-Superior-King Buddha. I came here with many hundreds of thousands of billions of Bodhisattvas in order to hear and receive [this Sūtra]. World-Honored One! Tell me how the good men or women who live after your extinction will be able to obtain this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma!”
The Buddha said to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva:
“The good men or women will be able to obtain this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma after my extinction if they do the following four things: 1. secure the protection of the Buddhas, 2. plant the roots of virtue, 3. reach the stage of steadiness [in proceeding to enlightenment], and 4. resolve to save all living beings. The good men or women will be able to obtain this sūtra after my extinction if they do these four things.”
In terms of the Dharma-body theory, the two versions of the Avataṃsaka-sūtra relate bodhisattva practice with Samantabhadra as the transformation body, while the Lotus Sutra emphasizes, rather, the role of the transformation body and links it to worldly benefits. In the Fa-hua i su (Commentary on the Lotus Sutra; T. 34:631b), Chi-ts’ang writes:
There are many teachings about Samantabhadra. Just as we can generalize Avalokiteśvara as the teaching of compassion, we can call Samantabhadra the all-pervasive [p’u-pien] teaching. P’u has two meanings. One is the p’u of the Dharma body, which reaches all places. The Dharma bodies of the buddhas of the three worlds [past, present, and future] are all the Dharma body of Samantabhadra. Thus the Avataṃsaka[-sūtra] says: “Samantabhadra is physically like empty space. He depends on suchness not on a buddha land.”
The second is the p’u of the transformation body. This body appears everywhere in the ten directions, manifesting according to need. The transformation bodies of the buddhas in the three worlds and the ten directions are all the transformation body of Samantabhadra, and they all function as Samantabhadra corresponding to the needs of living beings. The Ta-chih-tu lun says: “Samantabhadra does not speak of the place where he dwells. If he did he would have to say in all worlds.” This is proof.
Nichiren had in various ways inspired awe in the Hōjōs, and their own troubles caused them to think again of the exile who had spoken like a prophet, and whose predictions seemed to be having their fulfilment. The opinions of the authorities were divided, and Nichiren still had many implacable enemies, but the Commissioner Tokimune finally decided to recall Nichiren to Kamakura. It seems that an intimation of this outcome had been given by Tokimori in the message accompanying the swords. The edict for his release was issued on the fourteenth of the second month, and reached Sado in the following month, two weeks after the letter above quoted was written, on the eighth of the third month. Nichiren complied with the order, bade farewell to his followers in the island, and left his abode of two years and a half, as signs of spring were appearing after a long winter, on the thirteenth of the third month. His religious opponents made attempts on his life at several points on the way, but the guards furnished by the government protected him, and brought him in safety to Kamakura, where he arrived on the twenty-sixth of the third month, after a journey of two weeks.
It was a triumphal entry for Nichiren. Not only did his old disciples and followers rejoice over the fulfilment of their long-cherished hope, but the government circles seemed to listen to Nichiren, and to seek his advice about the measures to be taken in view of the threatened Mongol invasion. Ten days after the return, on the memorable eighth of the fourth month, Nichiren was invited to the Commissioner’s office. It now became the duty of Hei no Saemon, his bitter enemy, to communicate the goodwill of the Commissioner and to make advances to Nichiren. Let Nichiren himself tell the story:
“All of them received me courteously – something quite different from their former attitude. Some asked me questions about Amita Buddha, others about the Shingon mysteries, others again about Zen. Hei no Saemon himself put questions concerning the efficacy of the teachings current before the revelation of the Lotus. I replied to them all by citing the Scriptures. Hei no Saemon, on behalf of His Excellence, the Commissioner, asked me when the Mongols would come over. I answered that they were to be expected within this year, etc.”
Thus the officials showed some readiness to yield to Nichiren’s propaganda. He, on his part, did not fail to take the opportunity to renew his strong remonstrances and warnings. His attitude was as aggressive as before, and he showed no disposition to compromise. Nothing would do but that the nation as a whole should at once adopt his religion, while all other religions should be prohibited, and their leaders severely punished. He commented on the many wrongs done by the Hōjō government, not only to himself, but to the religion of Buddha and to the country. Nichiren retired from the palace, and the government was put in a serious dilemma, whether to comply with the demands of the intransigent prophet or to ignore him. Either course seemed to them not only unwise but impracticable. Finally, they adopted a compromise, and offered the prophet a great donation, together with high ecclesiastical rank and a public grant for his propaganda. Although the document embodying these proposals which is preserved by the Nichirenites is certainly not authentic, there is little doubt that the authorities wished to see Nichiren’s polemics subdued, and to have him join in the prayers for the repulse of the Mongol invaders. Naturally, the prophet would hear to no compromise, but persisted in his demands.
While the question of Nichiren’s propaganda was being discussed, the government gave fresh evidence that it had undergone no change of heart but put its confidence as before in the Shingon mysteries. It was a time of a long drought, and the authorities called on the other Buddhists to pray for rain, as was customary. Nichiren was very indignant. He saw in the offers made to him a deceptive bait, and in the measures taken for rain an open dishonor done to himself. He protested again and again, but the government always vacillated, while his opponents were renewing their accusations and intrigues. The sequel of the triumphal entry was an irreconcilable breach. Nichiren left Kamakura, on the twelfth of the fifth month, and, taking only a few disciples and retainers, set out for a place among the mountains on the west side of Fuji.
Chapter 8 Release and Retirement; Further Confirmation of his Faith
[D]uring the reign of Emperor Kammu, the fiftieth emperor, 800 years after the beginning of the Age of the Semblance Dharma, a monk called Saichō appeared, who was later known as Grand Master Dengyo. At first, he studied the six schools of Buddhism (Sanron, Hossō, Kegon, Kusha, Jōjitsu, and Ritsu) as well as Zen Buddhism from such masters as Bishop Gyōhyō. Meanwhile, he himself established the Kokushōji Temple (later renamed the Enryakuji Temple) on Mt. Hiei, where he checked basic sūtras and commentaries of the six schools against the interpretations by scholars of those schools. He found many discrepancies between interpretations of scholars and their basic sūtras and commentaries. Moreover, they produced so many false opinions that he felt that all those who believed in them would fall into the three evil realms (hell, realm of hungry souls, and that of beasts).
Besides, Saichō found that those scholars of the six schools each boastfully claimed mastery of the true teaching of the Lotus Sūtra without actually mastering it. He tormented himself thinking: “If I point this out, there will be disputes; if I keep silent, I will be going against the Buddha’s warning.” Fearful of the Buddha’s warning, he finally appealed to Emperor Kammu, who was astonished and ordered the scholars of the six schools to meet Saichō in debate. At the beginning their banner of self-pride waved as high as a mountain and their evil thoughts were more vicious than poisonous snakes. However, they finally had to surrender to Saichō in front of the Emperor, and the six schools and seven temples all became his disciples. It was just like the time those scholars from Northern and Southern China became the disciples of Grand Master T’ien-t’ai after being defeated in debate by him in front of the Emperor of Ch’ên.
While Grand Master T’ien-t’ai’s comparison of the Lotus to other sūtras was limited to the areas of meditation (jō) and wisdom (e), without covering the area of observing precepts (kai), Grand Master Dengyō refuted the specific granting of Hinayāna precepts and performed the ceremony for the specific granting of Mahāyāna precepts according to the Brahma-net Sūtra for eight monks of the six schools in Nara. In addition, Grand Master Dengyō established the “perfect and sudden” Lotus precept dais on Mt. Hiei for granting-the-precepts ceremony. Therefore, the “perfect and sudden” specific granting-the-precepts ceremony on Mt. Hiei was not only the first of its kind in Japan, but also the first ever held in India, China, and the world for over 1,800 years since Śākyamuni performed it on Mt. Sacred Eagle.
In this sense, Grand Master Dengyō’s accomplishments were greater than those of Nāgārjuna, Vasubandhu, T’ien-t’ai, and Miao-lê. Not a single monk of Japanese Buddhism today—including those of the Tōji Temple, the Onjōji Temple, the seven great temples at Nara, the eight schools of Buddhism, and those of the Pure Land, Zen, and Ritsu Schools—was opposed to this “perfect and sudden” precepts of Grand Master Dengyō. Though Buddhist monks in the entire land of China seemed to be disciples of T’ien-t’ai as far as perfect meditation and wisdom are concerned, since there was no platform for the “perfect and sudden” precept established in China, some Chinese monks may not have been disciples of T’ien-t’ai in this regard. In Japan, on the other hand, Buddhists monks who were not disciples of Grand Master Dengyō were either non-Buddhists or villains.
Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 202-203
You should remember that the secret doctrine to save the evil, the stupid, women, and those without Buddha-nature is not revealed in sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra. This is the very reason the Lotus Sūtra is superior to all other Buddhist scriptures.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Chanting the Great Title of the Lotus Sūtra (Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō). With so many proclaiming that their teaching is superior, it can be difficult to hear what Nichiren is telling us in this passage. Other teachings maintain that only some people can be saved. As a result, people who hear those teachings live in fear and uncertainty about their fate. The Lotus Sūtra proclaims that all who hear it will become enlightened, and that all who teach the Lotus Sūtra will create the conditions for others to be enlightened. Nichiren’s relentless determination to spread the Wonderful Dharma was not based on arrogance: merely wanting people to do as he said. It was based on compassion: the certainty that the Lotus Sūtra embodies the enlightenment of the Buddha and saves all beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Having last month learned of a Buddha called Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom, a king called Wonderful-Adornment and his wife and two sons, we consider the sons’ request of their mother.
“Thereupon that Buddha expounded the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, wishing to lead King Wonderful-Adornment also out of his compassion towards all living beings. 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. Hear and receive [the sūtra]!’
Transmigration due to karma is taught in the Upaniṣads and in the Abhidharma writings. If a bodhisattva who has practiced the bodhisattva way accepts rebirth as a buddha in a buddha-realm, his links with the beings of this present existence would be severed. Therefore, for the sake of the salvation of living beings, he determines, of himself, that he has to remain in the Sāha world. With the growth of the idea of the Bodhisattva Vow there came the understanding that the power of the vow enabled the bodhisattva to remain outside the force of karmic cause and effect and to select the place of his rebirth himself. This is termed “rebirth by vow” as opposed to “rebirth through karma.”
The new religious movement, with its roots in Buddhist and Indian intellectual history, eventually came to be known by the subjective appellation Mahayana, meaning the great, or superior, vehicle.
Nichiren’s attitude toward the government and the nation
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Ever since Nichiren was exiled, his followers, especially the warriors connected with the government, had been trying to have him recalled. Nichiren disapproved their plan and bade them abstain from agitation of that kind. His idea seems to have been that the perils and sufferings heaped upon him were necessary as a means of strengthening the evidence of his mission; it had ever been his conviction that the more faithful the propagator of the Truth was, the stronger would be the opposition and the more severe the persecution. Another reason, as we have seen before, was the idea of expiation; his sufferings, as he conceived it, were all to be endured as the necessary means of expiating the sins accumulated from all eternity by estrangement from the Lotus of Truth.
These subjective reasons for opposing efforts for his release were reinforced by an external consideration. All the steps taken by him up to that moment had for their end the conversion of the government and the nation to his faith. He had done everything he could to bring this about, and finally was sentenced to death. His return to the main island would be useless unless something new should happen to hasten the accomplishment of his ideals and ends. His release would be acceptable only in case the government authorities should repent of the measures they had taken toward him and be converted. “I shall never return, until they are willing to yield to my proposals.” Judged from several of his own utterances, this seems to have been his determination.
In this frame of mind, Nichiren was watching current events, and looking for the possible repentance of the government. What he especially desired was the fulfilment of his prophecies about approaching dangers from internal disturbances and foreign invasion. And, indeed, events seemed more and more to confirm these predictions. While Nichiren’s case was pending, a Mongol ship with one hundred men arrived, causing a panic, although it finally proved not to be a warship. In the following years, 1272 and 1273, Mongol envoys came repeatedly and urged a reply to the messages of the Khan, and the Japanese government was busily engaged in plans for defense, as well as in offering prayers to Shinto and Buddhist deities. Beside the danger from the Mongols, a serious struggle broke out between two Hōjō brothers, which ended in a fratricide. It was after this event that the government, as has been related above, ordered the governor of Sado to give Nichiren a better abode, and to take good care of the exile. Nichiren regarded these occurrences as signs of his success, and at the same time rejoiced in his sufferings as being evidence of his mission. About this time, also, an influential member of the Hōjōs, of the name Tokimori, began to revere Nichiren, and often sent him presents and comforting letters. Although Tokimori seems to have had the superstitious motive of securing Nichiren’s intercession with Buddha, and his prayers to avert the threatened invasion, yet he gave progressive evidence of sincere conversion to Nichiren’s religion. This was another sign of Nichiren’s triumph.
The Hōjōs were not unanimously hostile to Nichiren. Tokimori, the elder, not only showed his goodwill toward him, but finally sent a precious sword as a token of the conversion of his Samurai soul to the Lotus of Truth. Nichiren thanked him heartily for it and advised the convert further to solidify his faith. The letter reads:
“I, Nichiren, am perhaps the most intractable man in Japan. I warned you that all manner of disasters would take place, because you worshipped Amita, Dainichi, and those Buddhas whom you held dearer than your parents and more precious than your sovereign; and that you were destined, in this world, to ruin yourselves and cause the fall of the country, and in the future life, to sink to the nethermost hell. Because I gave these warnings incessantly, I am suffering from persecutions. I am suffering from the perils heaped upon me by my adversaries, three in kind, simply because I am the one who lives the life of the Lotus of Truth. That you have become a follower of such a man is something beyond common expectation; there must be some significance in the fact. Be strenuous in your faith and prepare yourself to partake in the communion of the Paradise of Vulture Peak!
“You have sent one sword, with its mate, as your offering … to the Lotus of Truth. The swords were, while in your hands, weapons of malice; now, being offered to Buddha, they are weapons of good. … These swords will serve as staves in your journey beyond. Know that the Lotus of Truth is the staff for all Buddhas on their way to enlightenment! Especially rely on me, Nichiren, as the staff and pillar! … The Sacred Title will be your guidance and support on the journey after death. The Buddhas Prabhūtaratna and Śākyamuni, as well as the four chief Bodhisattvas, will surely lead you by the hand. If I should be there before you, I, also, will not fail to welcome you. …
“I cannot say all I have to say in this letter. Put your faith in all the deities (the guardians of the Truth)! March indefatigably on in the way of faith and reach your final destiny! Tell your ladies also of all this! Sincerely in reverence.”
This letter is indeed significant as evincing Nichiren’s affection for a member of the Hōjōs, and as a sign that they were inclining more to him. It is dated the twenty-first of the second month, 1274, just when the sentence of release was on the way to Sado.
Chapter 8 Release and Retirement; Further Confirmation of his Faith
