According to your letter, epidemics have been widespread recently. They say that human beings have two kinds of sickness. First, our bodies get sick. Our bodies consist of the four elements: earth, water, fire and wind. As each of the four elements has 101 sicknesses, our bodies have a total of 404 sicknesses. These physical sicknesses do not necessarily depend on the Buddha to be cured. There is no physical sickness that cannot be cured by the medicine prepared by such famed physicians as Jisui, Rusui, Jivaka and P’ien-ch’üeh.
In the second place, our minds get sick in a vast number of ways. Beginning with the three poisons of greed, anger and stupidity, sickness in our minds totals as many as 84,000. Even the two heavenly beings and three hermits or the six non-Buddhist masters in India could not cure them, not to speak of the medicines administered by such sage rulers of ancient China as Shen-nung and the Yellow Emperor.
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
He was strenuous and resolute in mind.
He concentrated his mind,
And refrained from indolence
For many hundreds of millions of kalpas.
The Buddha sings these verses to Maitreya Bodhisattva in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sūtra. In this Chapter, the Buddha describes the benefits from practicing generosity, discipline, patience, perseverance, and in these verses, concentration. He then compares these benefits to those which come from understanding the ever-present nature of the Buddha, even for a time no longer than the time it takes to blink. The merits of the latter outshine the former as the sun in a clear sky outshines the stars. When we are assured of the Buddha’s constant presence, helping all of us to become enlightened, we find that we can accomplish far more than we thought possible.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Having last month considered Sun-Moon-Light Buddha’s expounding of the Lotus Sutra, we consider what became of the eight princes of Sun-Moon-Light Buddha.
Wonderful-Light, the Teacher of the Dharma,
Kept the store of the Dharma of the Buddha, and expounded
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
For eighty small kalpas.
Led by Wonderful-Light, those eight princes resolved
To attain unsurpassed enlightenment.
[Wonderful-Light said to them:]
“You will be able to see countless Buddhas.”
Having made offerings to [countless] Buddhas,
Those princes followed them, practiced the Great Way,
And became Buddhas in succession.
Each of them assured another of his future Buddhahood.
The last God of Gods
Was called Burning-Light Buddha.
As the leader of seers,
He saved innumerable living beings.
The mystical strain is stronger in the writings from the years of quiet meditation at Minobu than in the preceding period of storm and stress. The best example of this is an essay written in 1279, after four years of retirement. It is entitled, “The Testimony Common to all the Buddhas of the Three Ages.” We reproduce the essay in extract.
“It is said in the chapter on Tactfulness (chapter 2): ‘According to the model of teaching adopted by all the Buddhas of the three ages, I proclaim the truth which has no distinction (but is universal).’ ‘The truth without distinction’ means the perfect truth of the Sole Road [One Vehicle]. For, in everything, in grasses and trees, in mountains and streams, even in earth and dust, there are present the truths of existence of the ten realms of existence (hokkai, or dharma-dhātu) which participate in one another; while the Sole Road [One Vehicle] of the Lotus of the Perfect Truth, which is immanent in our own souls, pervades the paradises in the ten quarters and is everywhere present in its entirety. The fruits (of truth), both proper and subsidiary, are manifest in the excellence and grandeur and beauty of the paradises in the ten quarters. All these fruits are inherent in our own soul, and the soul is in reality identical with the Tathāgata of the primeval enlightenment (in his eternal entity), who is furnished with the three aspects of his personality (the threefold kāya). How can there be any other truth besides the soul (in this sense)? One and the same truth pervades the paradises in the ten quarters. This is the Sole Road [One Vehicle] and is therefore called ‘the truth without distinction.’ …
“The perfection of truth in the Buddha’s soul and the same perfection in our soul are one, and it is inherent in us, and to be realized by ourselves. Thus, there is no truth or existence besides the soul. What we know as our soul (its appearance), its nature (or essence), and its entity (or substance) – these three make up the three aspects of the Tathāgata’s personality, (united in) the Tathāgata of the primeval enlightenment.
“The [Lotus Sutra] teaches the manifestation (laḳṣaṇa), the essence (or nature, sva-rasa) and the substance (sva-bhava) of reality. The Tathāgata of the primeval enlightenment is furnished with these three categories of reality; his body, or substance, is the cosmos, or the realm of truth (dharma-dhātu), extending in ten directions; his essence, which is soul, is identical with the cosmos; and his manifestation in glories is manifest in the cosmos also. Therefore, our body is one with the body of the Tathāgata, furnished with the three aspects of the primeval enlightenment; it is omnipresent, because it is nothing but a manifestation of the sole Buddha, while all realities represent Buddha’s truths.
“The paradise means a perfect union of the three aspects, realized in the harmony between the existence and its stage, the existence being the proper fruit, and the stage the subsidiary. … The Paradise, or Land of Purity, is the realm of serene light, and is pure, exempt from all depravities; it exists in the soul of every being and is therefore called “The Spiritual Pedestal of the Lotus of the Perfect Truth.” …
“Then the store of truths (Buddha’s teachings), eighty-four thousand in the number of its gateways, is nothing but the record and diary of our own life. Everybody rears and embraces this store of truths in his own soul. Illusion occurs when we seek the Buddha, the Truth, and the Paradise outside of our own self. One who has realized this soul is called the Tathāgata. When this state is once attained, (we realize that) the cosmos in ten directions is our own body, our own soul, and our manifestation, because the Tathāgata is our own body and soul.
“Out of these three fundamental categories of reality spring the following seven and make up the ten which are the conditions of existence in the ten realms (dharma-dhātu). And the ten realms, surging out of the one soul, are revealed in the gateways of truth, eighty-four thousand in number. … Thus, the ten categories of existence are united and realized in the origin, and in the consummation. The origin lies in our ultimate being (as defined in the ten terms), and the consummation is embodied in the realization of Buddhahood. The beings are the original (cause and substratum), and the Buddhas are the consummation (result and fruit), because all Buddhas are manifested out of the souls of all beings. And yet the [Lotus Sutra] says:
‘Now the threefold realm of existence is my dominion,
And all beings therein are my children.’
“… This is because Buddha, the awakened, wakes us, who are dreaming the dreams of births and deaths. This awakening wisdom reaches us like the voice of parents calling their dreaming children. Therefore, Buddha says that we are his children. Think of this! Then Buddha is the Father and we the children, both in the origin and in the consummation, because the fundamental nature and the final destiny are one in the Father and the children. When we perceive, thus, that the soul is one in Buddha and in us, our dreams of births and deaths are broken, and the primeval enlightenment is restored in our awakening. This is the “attainment of Buddhahood in the present life.” …
“When Chuang-Ch’ou dreamt that he became a butterfly, there was none other than Chuang-Ch’ou, just as there was none besides himself when he awoke and knew that he was not a butterfly. When we consider ourselves to be mortals tormented by births and deaths, we are immersed in illusion and delusion, as Chuang became a butterfly in his dream. The original Chuang is restored when we realize that we are the Tathāgatas of the primeval enlightenment; this is the attainment of Buddhahood in the present life. … The soul, the Buddha, and existence, these three (– the spiritual essence of truths, the personal realization of truths, and the objective manifestation of truths –) are laid up in our own soul, beside which there is no reality. This is the enlightenment, Buddhahood. When the truth of the mutual participation [Ichinen Sanzen] between the one and the many, between the particular and the universal, is fully realized, we shall know that everything and all things are found in each existence in the present life. … All truths revealed during the lifetime of the Master are only truths existent in ourselves. Know this, and your own entity is revealed. …
“(All this is fully taught in the Lotus of Truth, and the way to grasp it is to adore the Sacred Title.) Thus, maintain harmony with the Buddhas of all times and live the life of the Lotus of Truth! Thereby you will attain the final enlightenment without impediment and know the relation between self-perfection and the enlightening of others.
“This is the testimony common to all Buddha; of the three ages; keep it as a precious mystery!”
As the will of the Buddha, no sūtra is superior to the Nirvana Sūtra. Seven kinds of people are enumerated in this sūtra. The first are people called icchantika, who are unable to get out of the ocean of life and death just as a huge rock thrown into the ocean. It is too heavy to float in the water and remains at the bottom of the sea forever; they are eternally drowned.
The second kind of people are those who are able to float in the water only momentarily. They have the power of floating in the water, but they cannot stay above the water because they have not learned how to keep floating. They are not icchantika but similar; they, too, are eternally drowned.
The third group of people are able to stay in the river of life and death without ever drowning. They are at the rank of śrāvaka such as Śāripūtra. The fourth are the people who learned how to float in the water but did not find the way out of the water. The fifth are those who can stay above the water to look around, but got scared, and quit.
The sixth kind of people are those who float in the water, are afraid of pirates in the distance as well as nearby, and decide to stay in a shallow place. The seventh group of people are those who have reached the other shore, where they enjoy great pleasure without fear. Those of the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh groups refer to pratyekabuddha and bodhisattvas.
Jōren-bō Gosho, A Letter to Jōren-bō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 168
Although the time is ripe for the Lotus Sutra to convert everyone, teachers who propagate it are ordinary teachers while their disciples are wicked and sickened by the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance. They avoid teachers who preach the True Dharma, befriending teachers who preach false Dharma. Is it not natural then that he who practices the Lotus Sutra, the true teaching of the Buddha, and his disciples and followers and lay followers are persecuted more severely than the three kinds of enemies?
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on the True Way of Practicing the Teaching of the Buddha (Nyosetsu Shugyō-shō). In our efforts to uphold and practice the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, we may be surprised to be the targets of anger or aggression from others, especially from others who also practice the Dharma with us. These difficulties will be opportunities for us to practice wisdom and nourish our compassion. We can learn to recognize others’ delusions within our own minds and remain focused on ridding ourselves of the three poisons, rather than attempting to change someone else’s behavior. In this way we become an example for how to live, and allow the Ever-Present Buddha Śākyamuni to work within our hearts.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Having last month considered the deities and other beings present in the congregation, we witness the reaction to the World-Honored One expounding the sūtra of the Great Vehicle called the “Innumerable Teachings.
King Ajatasatru, who was the son of Vaidehi, was also present with his hundreds of thousands of attendants. They each worshipped the feet of the Buddha, retired, and sat to one side.
Thereupon the four kinds of devotees, who were surrounding the World-Honored One, made offerings to him, respected him, honored him, and praised him. The World-Honored One expounded a sūtra of the Great Vehicle called the “Innumerable Teachings, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.” Having expounded this sūtra, the Buddha sat cross-legged [facing the east], and entered into the samadhi for the purport of the innumerable teachings. His body and mind became motionless.
Thereupon the gods rained mandārava-flowers, mahā-mandārava-flowers, mañjūṣaka-flowers, and mahā-mañjūṣaka-flowers upon the Buddha and the great multitude. The world of the Buddha quaked in the six ways. The great multitude of the congregation, which included bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, upāsikās, gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men, nonhuman beings, the kings of small countries, and the wheel-turning-holy-kings, were astonished. They rejoiced, joined their hands together [towards the Buddha], and looked up at him with one mind.
Today is the one year anniversary of the death of Ryusho Shonin. I held a personal memorial service for him this morning, offering him cookies and a piece of local artwork. Sweets and art – two things Ryusho always appreciated.
A formal memorial service will be held for Ryusho on Sunday, Aug. 15, starting at 10:30am Pacific time – 1:30pm Eastern; 6:30pm GMT (London); 7:30pm CET (Prague). The service will be held over Zoom. If you want to attend, you must register in advance.
Nichiren’s fervor never declined, but in his quiet life as a recluse his mind was occupied, perhaps exclusively, with enthusiasm for his ideal. His method was no longer confined to vehement warnings to the nation, and fiery attacks upon other Buddhists; he reflected calmly and examined again and again the meaning of the ideal Kingdom of Buddha as the basis of the Buddhist Catholic Church of which his proposed Holy See [Kaidan] should be the center. He was always firm in the conviction that the Holy See was to be established in Japan, the land where the savior of the Latter Days was destined to appear, and where he, the man, was actually born and was doing the savior’s work. Yet, on the other hand, his work was not merely for the sake of a small country, composed of many islands. Just as he recognized in his own life two aspects, the actual and mortal, on the one side, and the ideal and eternal, on the other, so he saw in Japan a similar twofold significance, one, the physically limited, and the other, to be realized through transformation according to his high ideal. In this latter sense, Japan meant for him the whole world. He said once:
“The great master Myōraku says in his commentary on the [Lotus Sutra], ‘The children benefit the world by propagating the Truth of the Father.’ The children means here the Saints-out-of-earth; “the Father” is the Lord Śākyamuni; ‘the world,’ Japan; ‘benefit’ means the attainment of Buddhahood; and ‘Truth,’ the Adoration of the Lotus of Truth. Even now, this is not otherwise because ‘the Father’ means Nichiren; ‘the children,’ Nichiren’s disciples and followers; ‘the world,’ Japan; ‘benefit,’ the life (of these men) laboring to perpetuate (the Truth) and hasten the attainment of Buddhahood; and ‘Truth’ means the Sacred Title handed down to us from Viśiṣṭacāritra.”
What he meant was this: Buddhahood, or Truth, is eternal. It can be, and ought to be, made a fact in our own life. Nichiren is the man sent to lead all to that life, and he is now assisted by his followers, who are, therefore, the Saints prophesied in the [Lotus Sutra]. The attainment of Buddhahood is not a matter of individuals or of the aggregate of individuals, it is the embodiment of the all-embracing communion of all beings in the organic unity of Buddhahood which is inherent in them all. This realization is the Kingdom of Buddha, the establishment of the Land of Treasures, as Nichiren had declared in his Risshō Ankoku Ron and explained on many occasions. Now this Kingdom of Buddha is, properly speaking, immanent in the soul of everyone, but it can only be realized in the spiritual and moral community of those who are united in the Adoration of the Lotus, and in the worship of the Supreme Being as revealed by Nichiren. This community has been organized by Nichiren and is growing in the fellowship of his followers. It is to be further extended among their countrymen, and finally to the whole world. The individual, the nation, the world, and the Kingdom of Buddha – these terms stand for different aspects of the one ideal. The Holy Catholic Church of Buddhism is to have the world, the whole cosmos, as its stage; while the cosmos is not to be conceived as a mere universe in space, but essentially exists in the heart of every true Buddhist. Buddha is the Father and Lord of the Kingdom, and his children should strive for the realization of the Kingdom both in their own lives and in the community of all beings.
Nichiren’s thinking always aimed, as we have seen, to unite two opposites, and to explain either by reference to the other. This method was applied to the relation between the particular and the universal, between the world and the individual, between human nature and Buddhahood. So also with the Kingdom of Buddha. It is individual and universal at the same time; either aspect is incomplete apart from the other; individual perfection is inconceivable without the basis of the universal truth, while the universal community cannot exist apart from the spiritual enlightenment of every individual. The Kingdom means the complete working out of the harmonious relation of these two aspects of perfection – Buddhahood. Thus, we see that Nichiren’s mind was occupied as much as ever with his own mission and actual life, while at the same time he was thinking no less earnestly on the coming Kingdom of Buddha. He believed himself to be the savior of the coming ages and was therefore concerned for the future of his religion; but the future was foreshadowed in his present life, and he saw a “Land of Treasures” even in his own hermitage.
“Behold, the kingdom of God [Buddha nature] is within you!” This was the creed of Nichiren also, witnessed by his life, confirmed by the [Lotus Sutra], and supported by his metaphysical speculation. When he concentrated his thought on his own calling, he was in communion with the saints in the Lotus; when he expressed anxiety about his country, yet with confidence in its destiny, he was a prophet and an ideal patriot; when he reflected on his tranquil life among the mountains, he was almost a lyric poet, glorifying his surroundings by his religious vision; he was a scholastic philosopher when he interpreted the truths of existence and the nature of the religious community; and he was a mystic in his vision of the future realization of Buddhahood in himself and in the Kingdom of Buddha. Enough has now been said about his conception of his mission, and we shall presently see how he idealized his abode at Minobu; but before taking up this poetic side of his character, let us examine a piece of his scholastic mysticism.
I have written doctrines important to me in this letter, so please read carefully and take the time to understand them well.
Have faith in the Great Mandala Gohonzon, the Most Venerable One in the entire world. Earnestly endeavor to strengthen your faith, so that you may be blessed with the protective powers of Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, and Buddhas in manifestation throughout the Universe. Strive to carry out the two ways of practice and learning. Without practice and learning Buddhism will cease to exist. Endeavor yourself and cause others to practice these two ways of practice and learning, which stem from faith. If possible, please spread even a word or phrase of the sūtra to others.
Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.
Shohō Jisso-shō, Treatise on All Phenomena as Ultimate Reality, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 79-80
