Monthly Archives: August 2021

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Aug. 25, 2021

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.

The Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon, Kanzeon, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. World-Voice-Perceiver is the embodiment of compassion. When we make offerings to compassion, we show how much we value it. In this world of conflict, we are taught to value aggression and violence rather than compassion. Those who do not dominate others are judged as targets for domination. If we clear away the delusion of our self-importance, and see other beings as worthy of happiness just as we are, we find ways for everyone to benefit together.

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

LS32

Day 14

Day 14 covers all of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, and opens Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.

Day 14 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the question posed by the new Bodhisattvas, we consider Ānanda’s reaction

Having heard from the Buddha that he was assured of his future Buddhahood, and that his world would be adorned, Ānanda was able to fulfill his wish. He had the greatest joy that he had ever had. At that moment he recollected the store of the teachings of many thousands of billions of past Buddhas perfectly and without hindrance as if he had heard those teachings just now. He also recollected his original vow.

Thereupon Ānanda sang in gāthās:

You, the World-Honored One, are exceptional.
You reminded me of the teachings
Of innumerable Buddhas in the past
As if I had heard them today.

Having no doubts, I now dwell peacefully
In the enlightenment of the Buddha.
I will expediently become the attendant
Of future Buddhas, and protect their teachings.

See Ananda and the Lotus Sutra

The Buddhist Prophet

Nichiren: The Buddhist Prophet – Chapter 11

His ideas about illness and death

Chapter 11
Download Chapter 11

The prophet had nearly reached the sixty-first year of his age, and for some time his health had been impaired. “Since I retired to this place, I have never been out of these mountains. During these eight years, illness and age have brought me severe suffering, and both body and mind seem to be crumbling into ruin. Especially since last spring, my illness has progressed, and from autumn to winter my weakness has increased day by day. During these ten days, I have taken no food, and my suffering is aggravated by the severe cold in the midst of a huge snowfall. My body is like a piece of stone, and my chest is as cold as ice.” The words are from a letter to a lady who had sent him rice and rice-beer, thanking her for the comfort her drink had brought him. Even a strong man of almost superhuman will, like Nichiren, was unable to resist the disease, which was doubtless the result of constant strife and suffering through thirty years of his life. His mind was perhaps preoccupied by his illness, and we have only eleven letters from the ten months preceding his death; yet some of these letters are still in a vigorous strain, and he dwells much on the ideals of his mission, in contrast to the actual condition of the country. He was a prophet to the last moment.

A letter that he wrote to Lord Toki is interesting as embodying Nichiren’s thoughts on disease. Toki had written to the Master about a plague that was raging in the country, and, it seems, had asked his opinion. In reply, Nichiren explained that there were two causes of the plague, one bodily and the other mental, which were reciprocally related, and produced by the malicious devils, who seize every opportunity of attack. The devils are, however, Nichiren says, nothing but the radical vices existing in each one of us from eternity; because both goods and ills are, according to T’ien T’ai’s conception of existence, inherent in our own nature. Not only diseases, but all evils are only manifestations of the radical and innate vices, and there will be no cure until these vices have been extirpated. Then the question is, Why are the faithful believers of the Lotus of Truth attacked by ills or devils? For the solution of this problem Nichiren has recourse to the doctrine of “mutual participation” [Ichinen Sanzen]. Just as the bliss of enlightenment in a particular individual is imperfect unless this bliss is shared by all fellow beings, so ills may attack even the holders of the Truth, even the messenger of the Tathāgata, so long as there exists any vice in the world in any of his fellow beings. And the believers of the Lotus are perhaps more frequently attacked by ills because the devils, regarding the true Buddhists as their most formidable adversaries, aim particularly at their lives.

Such was Nichiren’s thought on illness in general. Applied to his own person, it was associated with his mission to establish the Holy See [Kaidan]. So long as the true Buddhism was taught only in theory, as was done by T’ien T’ai and Dengyō, the onset of the devils was not so violent as when the theory was translated into practice, as it was by Nichiren. This was the reason why he encountered so many perils as a result of his aggressive propaganda; they were to be explained in the same way as the illnesses which attacked him and his followers. In other words, the radical vices, and consequent ills, were aroused to rage by Nichiren’s propaganda, especially by his preparations for the establishment of the Holy See [Kaidan]. When this latter end should be completely achieved, there would be no more room for the vices to have their evil way. Seeing this, the devils run riot, for the purpose of staying the progress of the cause. Thus, Nichiren saw in the raging plague, and also in his own illness, a sign of the approaching fulfilment of his aim. “Does not the growing stubbornness of the resistance show the strength of the subjugating power? Why, then, should not the true Buddhist suffer, not only from illness but from perils of all sorts? Is not Nichiren’s life itself a living testimony to this truth?” Thus, he wrote in a letter dated the twenty-sixth day of the sixth month, 1282, which he meant to be his own sermon on illness and death, corresponding to Buddha’s sermon in the Book of the Great Decease [Nirvāṇa Sutra], “Our Lord Buddha revealed the Lotus of Truth on Vulture Peak, during eight years, in the last phase of his earthly life; then he left the Peak, and went northeastward to Kuśināgara, where he delivered the last sermon on the Great Decease, and manifested death.” This tradition occupied the mind of Nichiren, who had lived a life of sixty years in thorough-going conformity to, or emulation of, Buddha’s deeds and work.

Chapter 11
The Last Stage of Nichiren’s Life and His Death

His ideas about illness and death 131
His last moments and his legacy 133

NICHIREN: THE BUDDHIST PROPHET

Table of Contents

WONS

Why Maudgalyāyana Could Not Save His Suffering Mother

In the final analysis, the reason why Venerable Maudgalyāyana could not save his suffering mother was that he was a believer of Hinayāna Buddhism, observing the Hinayāna precepts. Accordingly it is preached in the Vimalakirti Sūtra that a man named Vimalakirti criticized Maudgalyāyana saying, “Anyone who gives offerings to you will fall into the three evil realms (hell, realm of hungry spirits, and that of beasts).” This scriptural statement means that those who revere and give offerings to Venerable Maudgalyāyana, upholder of the 250 precepts, will fall into the three evil realms. This should be heeded by not only Maudgalyāyana but also all śrāvaka disciples and upholders of the Hinayāna precepts in the Latter Age of Degeneration.

Compared to the Lotus Sūtra, the Vimalakirti Sūtra is like a retainer several scores of ranks below. After all it was because Venerable Maudgalyāyana had not become a Buddha. Without being a Buddha himself, how can he save even his own parents, not to speak of other people?

Nevertheless, coming to the Lotus Sūtra, which enjoins listeners to “abandon the expedient teachings,” Maudgalyāyana immediately cast away the 250 precepts of Hinayāna Buddhism and chanted “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō” to become a Buddha called Tamālapatracandana Fragrance. This is the very moment when his parents, too, became Buddhas. Therefore, it is stated in the Lotus Sūtra, “Our wishes have already been fulfilled, and desires of the multitude are also satisfied.” Maudgalyāyana’s body and mind are the legacy of his parents. When his body and mind became a Buddha, those of his parents also attained Buddhahood.

Urabon Gosho, On theUllambana Service, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 174

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Aug. 24, 2021

Although he was abused like this for many years, he did not get angry, He always said to them, ‘You will become Buddhas.’

The Buddha tells this story of Never-Despising Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty of the Lotus Sūtra. This Bodhisattva did not read or recite sutras. His practice was simply to tell all those whom he encountered, “I respect you deeply. I do not despise you.” Despite his pure intentions, the deluded minds of those who heard him caused them to be angry with him, beat him, and chase him away. While he did not stand fast and endure their abuse, he did not lose his respect for them. This is an example for us who aspire to practice the Wonderful Dharma to show us how we can learn to treat all beings.

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

LS32

Day 13

Day 13 covers all of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples.

Day 13 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month repeated in gāthās the prediction for Pūrṇa’s future Buddhahood, we consider the prediction for the twelve hundred arhats.

Thereupon the twelve hundred Arhats, who had already obtained freedom of mind, thought:

“We have never been so joyful before. How glad we shall be if we are assured of our future Buddhahood by the World-Honored One just as the other great disciples were!”

Seeing what they had in their minds, the Buddha said to Maha-Kāśyapa:

“Now I will assure these twelve hundred Arhats, who are present before me, of their future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi one after another. My great disciple Kauṇḍinya Bhikṣu, who is among them, will make offerings to six billion and two hundred thousand million Buddhas, and then become a Buddha called Universal-Brightness, 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. The others of the five hundred Arhats, including Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa, Gaya­Kāśyapa, Nadī-Kāśyapa, Kālodāyin, Udāyin, Aniruddha, Revata, Kapphina, Bakkula, Cunda, and Svāgata, also will attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, and become Buddhas also called Universal-Brightness.”

Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

Kauṇḍinya Bhikṣu will see
Innumerable Buddhas.
After asaṃkhya kalpas from now,
He will attain perfect enlightenment.

He will emit great rays of light [from his body].
He will have all supernatural powers.
His fame will spread over the worlds of the ten quarters.
Respected by all living beings,
He will expound unsurpassed enlightenment to them.
Therefore, he will be called Universal-Brightness.

His world will be pure.
The Bodhisattvas [of that world] will be brave.
They will go up to the tops of wonderful, tall buildings,
And then go out into the worlds of the ten quarters.
There they will make the best offerings
To the Buddhas of those worlds.

After making offerings, they will have great joy.
They will return to their home world in a moment.
They will be able to do all this
By their supernatural powers.

[Universal-Brightness] Buddha will live for sixty thousand kalpas.
His right teachings will be preserved twice as long as his life;
And the counterfeit of them, also twice as long as his right teachings.
When his teachings are eliminated, gods and men will be sad.

The five hundred bhikṣus
Will become Buddhas one after another.
They also will be called Universal-Brightness.
One who has become a Buddha will say to another:
“You will become a Buddha after my extinction.
[The living beings of] the world
To be saved by that Buddha
Will be like those whom I am teaching today.”

The beauty of the worlds [of those Buddhas],
And the supernatural powers [of those Buddhas],
And the number of the Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas [of those worlds],
And the number of kalpas of the lives [of those Buddhas],
Of their right teachings, and of the counterfeit of them,
Will be the same [as in the case of Kauṇḍinya].

Kāśyapa! Now you have heard of the future
Of the five hundred Arhats
Who have freedom of mind.
All the other Śrāvakas also will [become Buddhas].
Tell this to the Śrāvakas
Who are not present here!

See The Prediction for the 5,000 Arrogant Monks

The Buddhist Prophet

Nichiren: The Buddhist Prophet – Chapter 10, Part 8

The holy person and the holy place

cHAPTER 10
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Whatever might have been the effect of the victory on Nichiren’s mind, it is interesting to notice that one of his letters written not long after the event (dated the eleventh day of the ninth month), takes a high flight, and may be regarded as the crowning expression of his ideas about himself and the transfiguration of this world.

“This spot among the mountains is secluded from the worldly life, and there is no human habitation in the neighborhood – east, west, north, or south. I am now living in such a lonely hermitage; but in my bosom, in Nichiren’s fleshly body, is secretly deposited the great mystery which the Lord Śākyamuni revealed on Vulture Peak and has entrusted to me. Therefore, I know that my breast is the place where all Buddhas are immersed in contemplation; that they turn the Wheel of Truth upon my tongue; that my throat is giving birth to them; and that they are attaining the Supreme Enlightenment in my mouth. This place is the abode of such a man, who is mysteriously realizing the Lotus of Truth in his life; surely such a place is no less dignified than the Paradise of Vulture Peak. As the Truth is noble, so is the man who embodies it; as the man is noble, so is the place where he resides. We read in the chapter on the ‘Mysterious Power of the Tathāgata’ as follows:

” ‘Be it in a forest, or at the foot of a tree, or in a monastery, … on that spot erect a stupa dedicated to the Tathāgata. For such a spot is to be regarded as the place where all Tathāgatas have arrived at the Supreme Perfect Enlightenment; on that spot all Tathāgatas have turned the Wheel of Truth; on that spot all Tathāgatas have entered the Great Decease.’ Lo, whoever comes to this place will be purged of all sins and depravities which he has accumulated from eternity, and all his evil deeds will at once be transformed into merits and virtues.”


NICHIREN: THE BUDDHIST PROPHET

Table of Contents

d1b, WONS

The Essence of the One-Volume Lotus Sūtra

The five characters in Chinese “Myō, Hō, Ren, Ge, and Kyō” appearing above the sentence, “Thus have I heard” is the essence of the one-volume Lotus Sūtra in eight fascicles, the essence of all the sūtras, and the supreme and True Dharma for all Buddhas, bodhisattvas, men of the Two Vehicles (śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha), heavenly beings, human beings, asura demons, and dragon deities.

Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 50.

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Aug. 23, 2021

Anyone who rejoices at hearing the Dharma
And utters even a single word in praise of it
Should be considered to have already made offerings
To the past, present, and future Buddhas.
Such a person is rarely seen,
More rarely than the udumbara-flower.

The Buddha sings these verses to his disciple Śāriputra and all those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. It is natural to admire and respect those who make great sacrifices for the sake of improving the world, and who lead us to know what deserves those offerings. It is sometimes difficult to see the joy that comes from those efforts. In these verses the Buddha reminds us that even when our reaction to his Dharma is just a smile, or saying “Wonderful,” our admiration is a reminder of our own capacity for such great efforts.

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

Blog

The Start of the 49 Day Journey

20210822_service_web
In front of the statue of Nichiren is a memorial tablet created by Rev. Igarashi for Mark Washington

Today Rev. Igarashi held a memorial service for Mark Washington, the son of Renee Dennis, a member of the church. Mark died Aug. 20, 2021, of complications related to Covid-19.

Rather than attempt to paraphrase Rev. Igarashi’s special prayer and his sermon, I’ll just reprint an article published in the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church newsletter in May 2016.

The Significance of the 49-Day Journey After Death

Last November [2015] marked the 40-year anniversary since I first became an overseas minister. Since then, I have spent these past several months reflecting on my various experiences throughout my journey as a Buddhist priest in the United States. It led me to realize that while I have much more that I wish to tell to you about Buddhism, there are also many concepts that need further explanation. One example that comes to mind is the importance of the 49th day memorial service for the deceased, which is specific to Buddhist traditions. Its significance is often times downplayed or even forgotten, when compared to the notion of holding funeral services. I wish to elaborate on this topic by briefly taking you through the 49-day journey of the deceased.

When an individual passes away, it is said that 49 nails are hammered into their body and soul, restraining both the physical body and soul from moving. Every seven days, starting from the day of the individual’s passing, until the 49th day, we hold memorial services for the individual. Seven nails will be removed every seventh day, until all 49 of these nails are removed, to ultimately free the deceased’s soul. On the 49th day, there will be a trial or hearing held in front of the so-called ”judge”, who will be standing in front of six gates, bearing no signs. However, we all know that each of these gates leads the individual to six possible realms of existence. These include hell, those of hungry spirits, animals, ashura, humans, or the heavenly beings. Everyone wants to either return as a human being, or enter the realm of heavenly beings. This judge in front of the six gates, will not guide this individual to the proper gate, but only instruct them to choose one. The individual will choose the gate based on what they may think is only instinct, yet this decision will also be guided by the actions that the individual took during their time on this earth.

While it may seem as if we take little part in the deceased individual’s 49-day journey, this is not the case. One way we can assist them, is by chanting ”Namu myo ho renge kyo”, which as you know, is the name of the Buddha nature that we all possess. We chant this odaimoku throughout the 49 days to call upon the deceased individual’s Buddha nature. If you recall, the Buddha nature can be imagined as the inside of a seed, while the outer shell represents bad karma resulting primarily from previous actions. Whenever we chant the odaimoku, the Buddha nature slowly grows. While this is a slow process, the more we chant, the more the Buddha nature shows, until it finally appears by sprouting through the outer shell. If the Buddha nature does not appear at the end of the 49 days, the individual will not be able to reach Enlightenment.

While death signifies the end of an individual’s time in this world, it does not mark the ultimate endpoint of their spirit. Please remember that your Buddhist practice can serve an important purpose in providing happiness for not only yourself, but also others, including the deceased.

Ven. Kenjo lgarashi

20210822_Mark-Washington_Renee-Denis
Mark Washington and his mother, Renee Dennis, at Christmas, 2020