Monthly Archives: October 2021

WONS

The Buddha Is Believed In Because of His Eternal Life

Regarding the idea that all sūtras preached before the last half (essential section) of the Lotus Sūtra are Hinayāna, even the 24 venerable masters who transmitted the dharma including such great commentators as Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu in India did not expound it for more than 1,500 years following the death of Śākyamuni Buddha, although they knew it. In China, it has been more than 1,000 years since Buddhism was introduced, but no one knew about it, except Grand Masters T’ien-t’ai and Miao-lê, who roughly talked about it. They, however, did not go so far as to reveal its truth. The same was true with Grand Master Dengyō of Japan.

Contemplating this, I, Nichiren, see this idea restated in the Nirvana Sūtra, “Jumyō” chapter: “Suppose someone denies the eternity of the Three Treasures (the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha), such a man will lose his three refuges in the purity of Buddhism and all the merit of upholding the precepts. He will never gain the rewards for practicing the three kinds of teachings for śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha and bodhisattvas.” This scriptural statement in the Nirvana Sūtra apparently expounds what is preached in “The Life Span of the Buddha” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra.

Following this statement, the Nirvana Sūtra cites a parable saying that as a tree is necessarily accompanied by its shadow, the Buddha is believed in because of His eternal life. The teaching of “The Life Span of the Buddha” chapter is likened to a tree, and pre-Lotus sūtras as well as the first half of the Lotus Sūtra are likened to the shadow of the tree.

Toki Nyūdō-dono Go-henji: Hongon Shukkai-shō, A response to Lay riest Lord Toki: Treatise on Overcoming Illusions of the Triple World by Provisional Teachins, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 277

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Oct. 29, 2021

There are thousands of fish eggs, but few become fish. Hundreds of mango blossoms bloom, but few become fruit. It is the same with human beings, because most people are turned aside by evil distractions. There is an army of warriors wearing armor, but few are able to fight bravely. Many people search for truth, but few attain Buddhahood.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Letter to Lord Matsuno. In Nichiren’s lifetime he saw many of his followers charmed by his teaching, but lacking the resolve to practice. This letter was one of many Nichiren used to encourage us not to waste our precious human life with frivolous pursuits, destructive actions, and selfish desires. It reminds us that we all carry the seed of Buddha nature, and to look for ways to nourish that seed.

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

LS32

Day 11

Day 11 continues Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City

Day 11 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City, we return to the top and consider the reaction of the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the east when Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.

The Buddha said to the bhikṣus:
“When Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, five hundred billion Buddha-worlds in each of the ten quarters quaked in the six ways, and all those worlds, including those intercepted from the brilliant rays of light of the sun and the moon by the neighboring worlds, were illumined [by great rays of light], and the living beings of those worlds were able to see each other for the first time. They said to each other, ‘How did you appear so suddenly?’ The palaces of the gods of those worlds, including the palace of Brahmans, also quaked in the six ways. The great rays of light which illumined all those worlds were brighter than the rays of light emitted by those gods.

“The palaces of the Brahman-heavenly[-kings] of the five hundred billion worlds in the east were illumined twice as brightly as ever. The Brahman-heavenly-kings [of those worlds] each thought, ‘My palace has never been illumined so brightly before. Why is that?’ They visited each other and discussed the reason. There was a great Brahman-heavenly-king called All-Saving among them. He said to the other Brahmans in gāthās:

Why are our palaces illumined
More brightly than ever?
Let us find [the place]
[From where this light has come].
Did a god of great virtue or a Buddha
Appear somewhere in the universe?
This great light illumines
The worlds of the ten quarters.

“Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion worlds went to the west, carrying flower-plates filled with heavenly flowers, in order to find [the place from where the light had come]. Their palaces also moved as they went. They [reached the Well-Composed World and] saw that Great­Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathāgata was sitting on the lion­like seat under the Bodhi-tree at the place of enlightenment, surrounded respectfully by gods, dragon-kings, gandharvas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings. They also saw that the sixteen princes were begging the Buddha to turn the wheel of the Dharma. Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly­kings worshipped the Buddha with their heads, walked around him a hundred thousand times, and strewed heavenly flowers to him. The strewn flowers were heaped up to the height of Mt. Sumeru. The Brahman-heavenly-kings offered flowers also to the ten-yojana-tall Bodhi-tree of the Buddha. Having offered flowers, they offered their palaces to the Buddha, saying, ‘We offer these palaces to you. Receive them and benefit us out of your compassion towards us!’ In the presence of the Buddha, they simultaneously praised him in gāthās with all their hearts:

You, the World-Honored One, are exceptional.
It is difficult to meet you.
You have innumerable merits.
You are saving all living beings.

As the great teacher of gods and men,
You are benefiting all living beings
Of the worlds of the ten quarters
Out of your compassion towards them.

We have come here from five hundred billion worlds.
We gave up the pleasure
Of deep dhyāna-concentration
Because we wished to make offerings to you.
Our palaces are beautifully adorned
Because we accumulated merits in our previous existence.
We offer [these palaces] to you.
Receive them out of your compassion towards us!

“Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly-kings, having praised the Buddha with these gāthās, said, ‘World-Honored One! Turn the wheel of the Dharma and save all living beings! Open the Way to Nirvāṇa!’ They simultaneously said in a gāthā with all their hearts:

Hero of the World,
Most Honorable Biped!
Expound the Dharma!
Save the suffering beings
By the power of your great compassion!

“Thereupon Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathāgata gave his tacit consent to their appeal.

The Daily Dharma from April 27, 2021, offers this:

Our palaces are beautifully adorned
Because we accumulated merits in our previous existence.
We offer [these palaces] to you.
Receive them out of your compassion towards us!

The Brahma-Heavenly-Kings of the East sing these verses in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sutra. In the story, they came to the world of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence-Buddha from their worlds of beauty and pleasure when that Buddha became enlightened. Their offering shows their understanding that while they can enjoy the results of the merits they have created, these results are meant to be shared with all beings. No matter how much or how little we have, being grateful for what we have, rather than being resentful for what we lack, is an expression of the Buddha’s wisdom.

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

Lecture on Lotus Sutra

Benefits and Sharing

Quote

In the story of King Wonderful-Adornment in Chapter 27, the two sons who vow to practice Buddhism and then vow to convert their father do so because they are able to manifest the benefits of their Buddhist practice. The truth of the teaching enables them to change their lives, giving them the joy of life and the capacity to turn around and save their father. Their faith and seeking spirit led them to Buddhism and their benefit enables them to share it.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

history

The Two Truths Theory

Already during the time of early Buddhism, people spoke of the dual structure of truth, namely, the mundane truth and the ultimate truth. Nāgārjuna, holding that “buddhas’ preaching relies on the two truths,” divided truth into the relative, conventional truth that comes into existence based on samvṛtisatya, the general linguistic practices of the world, and paramārthasatya, the absolute, ultimate truth that transcends these and is the object of non-discriminatory knowledge. He asserted that the former is for leading people to the latter. The ultimate truth is the Buddha’s awakened world of dependent origination which extinguishes these linguistic conceptual proliferations. In order to express it, one must rely upon worldly linguistic practices. Rather than placing weight on the ultimate truth, this two truths theory emphasizes the conventional truth: in order to express the world of awakening one must rely on the limited means of language. In other words, Nāgārjuna’s intention was to show that all existences in this conventional world are formed based on dependently arising relationships.

History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, p 46
WONS

Precious as a Drop of Ocean Water

A drop of ocean water is a delicacy that includes the five elements of flavor. Moreover, whereas a drop of river water is like an ordinary pill, a drop of ocean water is a panacea. In this regard “Namu Amida-butsu” is a drop of river water while “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō” is a drop of ocean water. The Amitābha Sūtra is a drop of minor river water while a character of the Lotus Sūtra is a drop of ocean water.

The sins of the late Lord Shichirōgorō accumulated during his life span of 16 years (in a family of warriors, whose duty is to kill living beings) are as minimal as a drop of a small river water while his faith in “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō,” though for a short while, is as precious as a drop of ocean water. Thus, there should be no doubt about the attainment of Buddhahood by the late Lord Shichirōgorō.

Ueno-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers II, Volume 7, Page 48

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Oct. 28, 2021

Now I will transmit [the Dharma] to you. Keep, read, recite and expound [this sūtra in which the Dharma is given], and cause all living beings to hear it and know it! Why is that? It is because I have great compassion. I do not begrudge anything. I am fearless. I wish to give the wisdom of the Buddha, the wisdom of the Tathāgata, the wisdom of the Self-Existing One, to all living beings.

The Buddha gives these instructions in Chapter Twenty-Two of the Lotus Sūtra. In this transmission, the Buddha bestows his highest teaching not just on those gathered 2500 years ago. He gives it to all of us who hear and keep his teaching today. When the Buddha revealed his true nature as existing through all time and space, he assured us that he is always teaching us, and that the Lotus Sūtra is the vehicle by which he comes to us. By giving us this teaching, he does not lose it. In the same way, when we benefit other beings, we should not be afraid of losing anything, other than our delusion and attachments.

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

LS32

Day 10

Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.

Day 10 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month conclude today’s portion of Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City, we return to the start of today’s portion of Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood and consider the prediction for Subhūti.

Thereupon the World-Honored One, having understood the wishes of the great disciples, said to the bhikṣus:
“In his future life, this Subhūti will see three hundred billion nayutas of Buddhas, make offerings to them, respect them, honor them, praise them, perform brahma practices, complete the Way of Bodhisattvas, and become a Buddha on the final stage of his physical existence. He will be called Beautiful-Form, 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 kalpa in which he will become that Buddha will be called Having-Treasures; and his world, Treasure-Born. The ground [of his world] will be even, made of crystal, adorned with jeweled trees, and devoid of mounds, pits, rubble, thorns and dirt. Jeweled flowers will cover the ground to purify it. The people of that world will live in buildings of wonderful treasures. His disciples in Śrāvakahood will be numberless, beyond calculation or comparison. The Bodhisattvas will be many thousands of billions of nayutas in number. The duration of the life of that Buddha will be twelve small kalpas. His right teachings will be preserved for twenty small kalpas. The counterfeit of his right teachings will be preserved also for twenty small kalpas. That Buddha will always stay in the sky, expound the Dharma to the multitude, and save innumerable Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas.

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

Bhikṣus!
Now I will tell you.
Listen to me
With one mind!

Subhūti, a disciple of mine,
Will be able
To become a Buddha
Called Beautiful-Form.

He will make offerings
To many billions of Buddhas, and practice
According to the practices of the Buddhas,
And finally attain great enlightenment.

On the final stage of his physical existence,
He will obtain the thirty-two physical marks,
And become as beautiful and as wonderful
As a mountain of treasures.

The world of that Buddha
Will be the purest.
Anyone will be happy to see it.
That Buddha will save
Innumerable living beings
Of that world.

Many Bodhisattvas
In the world of that Buddha
Will be clever.
They will turn
The irrevocable wheel of the Dharma,
And adorn that world.

The Śrāvakas in that world also
Will be countless.
They will have the six supernatural powers,
Including the three major supernatural powers.
They will have the eight emancipations.
They will be exceedingly powerful and virtuous.

The supernatural powers
Employed by that Buddha
For the expounding of the Dharma
Will be inconceivable.

As many gods and men
As there are sands in the River Ganges
Will join their hands together
And listen to the words of that Buddha.

The duration of the life of that Buddha
Will be twelve small kalpas.
His right teachings will be preserved
For twenty small kalpas.
The counterfeit of his right teachings
Also will be preserved for twenty small kalpas.

The Daily Dharma from May 22, 2021, offers this:

The supernatural powers
Employed by that Buddha
For the expounding of the Dharma
Will be inconceivable.

The Buddha sings this verse in Chapter Six of the Lotus Sūtra after predicting the future Buddhahood of his disciple Subhūti. Anything we do not understand can seem supernatural. Things we find common in our modern world would seem magical to those who lived in the Buddha’s time. It is only through our greater understanding that we can create our modern wonders. It should not then surprise us that with the Buddha’s mind, which he reminds us that we too can reach, the things we can accomplish will seem magical to those mired in delusion.

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

history

The Formation of Tathāgatagarbha Thought

Tathāgatagarbha thought holds that all sentient beings have the possibility of becoming a tathāgata. It is also called “buddha-nature” thought. It began in the Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra, which teaches that “all sentient beings are the womb of the tathāgata,” and was also preached in the Śrimālādevi Sūtra, [Queen] Śrimālā Sūtra, the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta Sūtra, Neither Increase Nor Decrease Sūtra, and Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, Great Nirvāṇa Sūtra. The tathāgatagarbha refers to the idea that sentient beings are held within the Tathāgata as fetuses and that they carry within themselves the Tathāgata as a fetus that is tathatā or suchness. This is said to be the cause of them becoming a tathāgata in the future. It is also seen as their innately pure mind, the basis of awakening that gives rise to bodhicitta, equal to the Dharma body of the Tathāgata, and unconditioned suchness.

History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, p 43
WONS

‘What Is Done by Night Appears by Day’

Generally speaking, when a man tries to distinguish himself in the world, even people who seem to be sages or saints envy him. How much more so ordinary people.

In ancient times, Wang Chao-chün, a consort of Emperor Wen Ti of Former Han, was so beautiful that 3,000 women in the imperial palace envied her, and it is said that innumerable queens of Indra envied Lady Kauśika, the former wife of Indra. In Japan, Prince Kaneakira, son of Emperor Daigo, was envied by Minister Fujiwara Saneyori of the Ono Palace; and Sugawara Michizane was exiled to Kyushu on a false charge made by Minister Fujiwara Tokihira.

Contemplate your own situation from the perspective of these examples. The residence of Lay Priest Lord Ema, your lord, was once vast but it is no longer so. As his young noblemen are many and retainers of long standing increase in number, just as fish become agitated when the water in a pond decreases and birds fight for a treetop when the autumn wind begins to blow, the jealousy among his men must be growing. And since you often acted against your lord and was given many slanderous reports, you were often forced to relinquish your fief. Despite all of this, according to your letter your fief was returned to you. This is wonderful indeed. This is what is meant by “What is done by night appears by day.” It is the reward for your sincere efforts in trying to bring your lord to the faith in the Lotus Sūtra.

Shijō Kingo-dono Gohenji, Response to Lord Shijō Kingo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 151