Day 32

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 how the good men or women who live after the Buddha’s extinction will be able to obtain this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, we consider the promise of protection by Universal-Sage Bodhisattva.

Thereupon Universal-Sage Bodhisattva said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! If anyone keeps this sūtra in the defiled world in the later five hundred years after [your extinction], I will protect him so that he may be free from any trouble, that he may be peaceful, and that no one may take advantage [of his weak points]. Mara, his sons, his daughters, his subjects, his attendants, yakṣas, rākṣasas, kumbhāṇḍas, piśācakas, kṛtyas, pūtanas, vetādas or other living beings who trouble men shall not take advantage [of his weak points]. If anyone keeps, reads and recites this sūtra while he walks or stands, I will mount a kingly white elephant with six tusks, go to him together with great Bodhisattvas, show myself to rum, make offerings to him, protect him, and comfort him, because I wish to make offerings to the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. If he sits and thinks over this sūtra, I also will mount a kingly white elephant and appear before him. If he forgets a phrase or a gāthā of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, I will remind him of it, and read and recite it with him so that he may be able to understand it. Anyone who keeps, reads and recites the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma [after your extinction], will be able to see me with such joy that he will make more efforts. Because he sees me, he will be able to obtain samadhis and a set of dhārāṇis. The set of dhārāṇis will be the dhārāṇis by which he can memorize repetitions of teachings, the dhārāṇis by which he can memorize hundreds of thousands of billions of repetitions of teachings, and the dhārāṇis by which he can understand the expediency of the voice of the Dharma.

See Doing the Work of the Buddha with the Strength of an Elephant

Wisdom: Skill in Means

The ability to question, to see the effect of our language on our minds, is considered part of what Mahayana Buddhists called “skill-in-means” (upāya). Skill in handling the means through which awakening might occur is essential to the practice of the bodhisattva. This skill is closely linked to the perfection of wisdom. One sutra says: “But the skill in means of the bodhisattvas should be known as having come forth from the perfection of wisdom.” Another says: “The bodhisattva should train himself in the skill in means contained in this perfection of wisdom.” Skill comes forth from wisdom and skill is contained in wisdom; developing one is simultaneously cultivating the other. One cannot be skillful without a profound realization of the “emptiness” of all things, and one cannot realize the “emptiness” of all things without the development of “skill-in-means.” The link between them is so tight that the Vimalakirti Sūtra says: “Wisdom not integrated with skillful means is bondage, but wisdom integrated with skillful means is liberation. Skillful means not integrated with wisdom is bondage, but skillful means integrated with wisdom is liberation.”

Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 226

The Lotus Sūtra Is Like an Ocean

QUESTION: Is there any difference between those who chant “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō” (I put my faith in the Lotus Sūtra) and those who chant “Namu Daihōkōbutsu Kegongyō” (I put my faith in the Flower Garland Sūtra) without knowing the spirit of those sūtras? Is there any difference in merit between them?

ANSWER: There is a difference. A small river can take in water from dew, drops of water, wells, and creeks, but not from large rivers. A large river can take in water from dew and smaller rivers but not from an ocean. The Āgama sūtras are like a small river which can receive water from dew, drops of water, wells, and creeks. The Hōdō sūtras, the Amitābha Sūtra, the Great Sun Buddha Sūtra, and the Flower Garland Sūtra are like a large river, which can take in water from smaller rivers. The Lotus Sūtra is like an ocean, which can receive all kinds of water such as dew, drops of water, wells, creeks, small rivers, large rivers, and rain.

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

Daily Dharma – Sept. 11, 2021

To those who have accumulated merits,
And who are gentle and upright,
And who see me living here,
Expounding the Dharma,
I say:
“The duration of my life is immeasurable.”

The Buddha declares these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. This chapter is where the Buddha reveals for the first time his ever-present nature. He became enlightened in the remotest past, and will continue teaching all beings far into the future. There is a view that to see a Buddha in our time requires a supernatural way of seeing, even a personal vision or a revelation not available to ordinary people. What the Buddha teaches here is that he is always visible to anyone, anywhere. It is when we look for him to teach us and are compassionate and disciplined in our desires that he appears to us.

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

Day 31

Day 31 covers Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva.

Having last month considered the sons’ request of their mother, we consider the mother’s instruction to her sons.

“The mother said to them, ‘[Yes, I will. But] your father believes in heresy. He is deeply attached to the teachings of brahmanas. Go and tell him to allow us to go [to that Buddha]! ‘

“Pure-Store and Pure-Eyes joined their ten fingers and palms together, and said to their mother, ‘We were born in this family attached to wrong views although we are sons of the King of the Dharma.’

“The mother said to them, ‘Show some wonders to your father out of your compassion towards him! If he sees [the wonders], he will have his mind purified and allow us to go to that Buddha.’

The Daily Dharma from Aug. 4, 2020, offers this:

The mother said to them, ‘Show some wonders to your father out of your compassion towards him! If he sees [the wonders], he will have his mind purified and allow us to go to that Buddha.’

These lines are from a story told by the Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. The two sons of King Wonderful-Adornment have asked their mother for permission to leave home and follow the Buddha Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom. The wonders in the story are beyond the capacity of human beings, but they show the King that another way of living is possible, and induce him to seek the teaching of that Buddha. Even if we cannot develop supernatural powers, there are wonders we can develop in our practice. We can learn the value of respecting all beings. We can control our desires and not be devastated by life’s tragedies. We can share “even a word or phrase,” as Nichiren put it, of the teaching and bring great benefit to others. In our normal lives, changed by our practice, we too can purify the minds of others.

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

Meditation: I Am Empty

There is a reflexive dimension that is engaged whenever Buddhists take meditations on the concept of “emptiness” far enough to encompass the subjectivity of the thinker. This has long been important in the history of Buddhism, but now constitutes a significant contribution to the history of human consciousness. Here is a summary of how the “emptiness” of all things encompasses the “self” in such a way that we can get a glimpse of “the one who is right now reading this.” Recall that “emptiness” can be handily defined in terms of three basic Buddhist principles – impermanence, dependent arising, and no-self. Things are “empty” of their “own being” insofar as they are always subject to change and insofar as the change they undergo is caused and conditioned by change in other things upon which they depend. All things lack a “self,” therefore – a permanent, self-caused identity that always makes them exactly what they are.

Meditation on this universal predicate – that all things are empty – eventually attains a reflexive dimension when it returns to encompass the one who predicates “emptiness” – you or me as subjects. What would it mean to understand through prolonged meditation that “I” am “empty?”

Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 205

The Honzon for the Practicer of the Lotus Sūtra

The Lotus Sūtra Wisdom of Insight Manual by Tripiṭaka Master Amoghavajra is based on the “Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures” chapter [of the Lotus Sūtra], and it regards Śākyamuni Buddha and the Buddha of Many Treasures of the Lotus Sūtra as the honzon, but this idea is not the true intention of the Lotus Sūtra. The daimoku (sacred title) of the Lotus Sūtra is the honzon of Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures and the Buddhas of the worlds throughout the universe. This daimoku should be the honzon for the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra.

Honzon Mondō Shō, Questions and Answers on the Honzon, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 260

Daily Dharma – Sept. 10, 2021

Accordingly, the prayer said by the practicer of the Lotus Sutra will inevitably be fulfilled just as a sound is echoed, just as a shadow follows the body, the moon reflects upon the clear water, a water nymph invites the water, a magnet attracts iron, amber eliminates dust, and a clear mirror reflects the color of everything.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Prayers (Kitō-shō). When we are truly practicing this Wonderful Dharma, our desires and prayers are for the benefit of all beings, rather than expressions of our self-absorbed attachment and delusion. When we see things for what they are, then we are in harmony with all beings, and will find them helping us and themselves to reach what we all truly desire.

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

Day 30

Day 30 covers all of Chapter 26, Dhāraṇīs

Having last month considered Brave-In-Giving Bodhisattva’s dhāraṇīs, we consider Vaiśravaṇa Heavenly-King’s dhāraṇīs.

Thereupon Vaiśravaṇa Heavenly-King, the Protector of the World, said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One! I also will utter dhārānis in order to protect this teacher of the Dharma out of my compassion towards all living beings.”

Then he uttered spells, “Ari (1), nari (2), tonari (3), anaro (4), nabi (5), kunabi (6).”

[He said to the Buddha:]

“World-Honored One! I will protect this teacher of the Dharma with these divine spells. I also will protect the person who keeps this sūtra so that he may have no trouble within a hundred yojanas’ distance [from here].”

See Mystic Syllables

Energy: Passionate and Joyful

We know from the history of religions – as well as the history of Buddhism – that varieties of spirituality range from the passionate to the dispassionate. The most common caricature of Buddhism emphasizes the dispassionate side – the image of reclusive monks in meditative, nonviolent serenity. But there are many exceptions to that pattern, from Tantric passion to the emotional ecstasies of devotional of Pure Land Buddhism to Vietnamese, Tibetan, or Burmese monks in political rebellion. There is no good reason to narrow this range of salutary emotions by recommending that a contemporary account of the six perfections would best entail one specific form of emotional life. It is not difficult to imagine enlightened bodhisattvas at both extremes of the range of emotions as well as in the middle. But it is clear enough that, however conceived, emotions are an important part of life and that the attempt to delete them altogether is as mistaken as any effort to get out of the life you have been given. Both insight and active striving are integrally connected to human passion.

Once we realize this point, there is no reason to conceive of enlightening practice as devoid of enjoyment – the experience of joy in the midst of daily activities. There is no point in maintaining a traditionally dour caricature of enlightenment. Can we imagine an enlightened life in which the practitioner does not enjoy the practices in which he or she is engaged? A practice in which he or she forever struggles against the grain of emotional inclinations? Can we imagine an ideal life that is devoid of joy and ecstatic release? It is unlikely that we can or will. Recognizing that desire and emotion are essential components of life, it will become obvious that striving for their perfection rather than their eradication is the wiser and more comprehensive image of enlightenment.

Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 158-160