Monthly Archives: March 2022

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Mar. 5, 2022

Universal-Sage! Anyone who keeps, reads and recites this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, memorizes it correctly, studies it, practices it, and copies it, should be considered to see me, and hear this sūtra from my mouth. He should be considered to be making offerings to me. He should be considered to be praised by me with the word ‘Excellent!’

The Buddha makes this declaration to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva (Fugen, Samantabhadra) in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sutra. He reminds us that when we study and practice the Lotus Sūtra, we see not only the Buddha, but all beings who have vowed to protect and encourage us in our practice. It is often difficult to see these beings and appreciate what they are doing for us, much more so to hear the encouragement they offer us in this world of conflict. This is why we must continue to dedicate our lives to offer benefit and encouragement to all beings, so that we can embody the spirit of these protective deities.

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

LS32

Day 2

Chapter 1, Introductory (Conclusion).

Day 2 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the ray of light illumining the worlds in the east, we meet Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva and hear the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.’

“At that time there was a Bodhisattva called Wonderful-Light. He had eight hundred disciples. Sun-Moon-Light Buddha emerged from his samādhi, and expounded the sūtra of the Great Vehicle to Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva and others without rising from his seat for sixty small kalpas. It was called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’ The hearers in the congregation also sat in the same place for sixty small kalpas, and their bodies and minds were motionless. They thought that they had heard the Buddha expounding the Dharma for only a mealtime. None of them felt tired in body or mind. Having completed the expounding of this sūtra at the end of the period of sixty small kalpas, Sun-Moon-Light Buddha said to the Brahmans, Maras, śramaṇas, brahmanas, gods, men, and asuras, ‘I shall enter into the Nirvāṇa-without-remainder at midnight tonight.’

“At that time there was a Bodhisattva called Virtue-Store. Sun­Moon-Light Buddha assured him of his future Buddhahood. The Buddha said to the bhikṣus, ‘This Virtue-Store Bodhisattva will become a Buddha immediately after me. He will be called Pure-Body, the Tathagata, the Arhat, the Samyak-sambuddha.’

“Having assured him of his future Buddhahood, the Buddha then entered into the Nirvāṇa-without-remainder at midnight.

See The Prelude

800years, Spring Writings

800 Years: Making Efforts with Faith

Nichiren Buddhism is called a “positive religion” because the Lotus Sutra instructs us to confront reality positively, and improve our lives by making efforts with faith. Generally, this world is spoken of negatively, and is called a degraded and disordered world. However, Nichiren Buddhism is different. Even though this world seems like it is degraded, and a world filled with deep desire, we are Buddha’s children. We all have Buddha’s nature, as a seed, waiting to become a Buddha and to construct an ideal world, the “Buddha’s world.” Unfortunately, it is difficult to recognize this nature by oneself, even if it is a part of our own mind.

Spring Writings

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Mar. 4, 2022

Needless to say, anyone who not only keeps this sūtra but also gives alms, observes the precepts, practices patience, makes endeavors, concentrates his mind, and seeks wisdom, will be able to obtain the most excellent and innumerable merits. His merits will be as limitless as the sky is in the east, west, south, north, the four intermediate quarters, the zenith, and the nadir. These innumerable merits of his will help him obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things.

The Buddha makes this declaration to Maitreya Bodhisattva in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sūtra. We often think of merits as bonus points we get for good deeds. Good karma we create to offset the bad karma that came from our less skillful actions. Another way of looking at merits is as a measure of clarity. The more merit we gain, the more we see things for what they are. When we offer our merits for the benefit of all beings, we resolve to use this clarity to enhance the lives of others.

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

LS32

Day 1

Day 1 covers the first half of Chapter 1, Introductory

Day 1 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the activity of the Bodhisattvas, we consider the practices of those seeking the enlightenment of the Buddha.

Mañjuśrī!
I see some kings coming to a Buddha,
And asking him about unsurpassed enlightenment.
They have renounced the world of pleasures,
Left their palaces,
Parted from their ministers and women,
And shaved their beard and hair.
They now wear monastic robes.

I also see some Bodhisattvas
Becoming bhikṣus,
Living alone in retired places,
And joyfully reciting sūtras.

I also see some Bodhisattvas
Zealously and courageously
Entering remote mountains, and pondering
The enlightenment of the Buddha.

I also see some of them having given up desires,
And living in retired places,
Entering deep into dhyāna-concentration,
And obtaining the five supernatural powers.

I also see some Bodhisattvas finding peace in dhyāna,
Joining their hands together [towards the Buddha],
And praising the King of the Dharma
With tens of millions of gāthās.

I also see some Bodhisattvas resolute in mind.
They have obtained profound wisdom
By questioning the Buddha.
And now they remember what they heard from him.

I also see some sons of the Buddha
Concentrating their minds, having wisdom,
Expounding the Dharma to the multitude
With innumerable parables and similes,
Expounding the Dharma with joy,
Teaching [other] Bodhisattvas,
Defeating the army of Mara,
And beating the drum of the Dharma.

I also see some Bodhisattvas
Being tranquil and peacefully calm,
Not delighting in being respected
By gods or dragons.

I also see some Bodhisattva
Living in forests, and emitting ray of light
In order to have the denizens in hell,
And cause them to enter the Way to Buddhahood.

I also see some sons of the Buddha
Walking about forests without sleeping
In order to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha.

I also see some of them
Observing the precepts with due deportment,
And keeping purity like that of gems,
In order to attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.

I also see some sons of the Buddha
Enduring abuse
Or blows with sticks
Inflicted by arrogant people
In order to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha.

I also see some Bodhisattvas
Giving up wanton pleasures,
Parting from foolish companions,
Approaching men of wisdom,

Controlling their minds from distraction,
And concentrating their minds in hills or forests
For thousands of billions of years
In order to attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.

I also see some Bodhisattvas
Offering delicious food and drink
And hundreds of kinds of medicines
To the Buddha and the Sangha.

Some offer garments and beautiful robes
Worth tens of millions
Or beyond monetary value
To the Buddha and the Sangha.

Some offer thousands of billions
Of jeweled houses made of candana
And wonderful bedding
To the Buddha and the Sangha.

Some offer pure gardens and forests
Abounding in flowers and fruits,
And furnished with rivers, springs,
and pools for bathing,
To the Buddha and the Saṃgha.

I see those Bodhisattvas
Making offerings of those wonderful things
Joyfully and untiringly
In order to attain unsurpassed enlightenment.

Some Bodhisattvas expound
The truth of tranquil extinction,
And with various expedients,
Teach innumerable living beings.

I also see some Bodhisattvas
Who attained the following truth:
“The nature of things is not dual.
It is [formless] like the sky.”

I also see some sons of the Buddha
Having no attachment in their minds.
They seek unsurpassed enlightenment
With this wonderful wisdom.

See Familiar and Unfamiliar Appearances

800years, d21b, LS Introduction

800 Years: Seeing the Real Figure of the Buddha

[W]e can see the real figure of the Buddha when we devote ourselves to him in faith. We can attain this faithful state when we devote both our body and our soul to the Buddha and become unselfish. In other words, we reach a state in which our hearts are completely honest and gentle, and we leave all our cares in the hands of the Buddha. A simple fervent feeling of entrusting one’s life to the Buddha is the essence of faith. In the words of [Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata], we “wish to see (him) with all our hearts, and at the cost of our lives.”

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Mar. 3, 2022

Now I will tell you
About my previous existence
And also about yours.
All of you, listen attentively!

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Six of the Lotus Sūtra. When the Buddha taught in India 2500 years ago, people took for granted that their lives continued from previous lives and would continue on into future lives. Whatever comforts we enjoy or calamities we endure in this life were thought to be caused by what we did in our former lifetimes. Our actions today were thought to determine what happens in our future lives. To our modern understanding this can sound mystical and unlikely. But if we understand that everything, including our joy and suffering, has causes and conditions, whether or not we realize these results immediately, we know that the result of creating benefit is benefit, and the result of creating harm is harm. When we hold the happiness of all beings to be as precious as our own, we would no more mistreat others than we would want them to mistreat us.

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

LS32, Innumerable

Another Innumerable Day Before Day 1

Having last month considered the powers of the bodhisattvas, we consider the attributes of the Buddha.

The monks known by name were Greatly Wise Śāriputra; Transcendent Maudgalyāyana; Lifelong Sage Subhūti; Mahākātyāyana; Pūrṇa, Son of Maitrāyaṇī; and Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya. Others like them were Supremely Perceptive Aniruddha; Upāli, Upholder of Behavioral Principles; Ānanda, the Attendant; Rāhula, Son of the Buddha; Upananda; Revata; Kapphiṇa; Vakkula; Acyuta; Svāgata; Mahākāśyapa, He of Constant Practice; Uruvilvākāśyapa; Gayākāśyapa; and Nadīkāśyapa. Such monks as these were twelve thousand in number; all of them were arhats, had ended the outflow of all desires, were unhindered by attachments, and had gained true emancipation.

There came a certain moment when the great-being bodhisattva Fully Composed—having recognized that all at the gathering had seated themselves with a settled mind—arose from where he sat, as did the eighty thousand great-being bodhisattvas within the assembly. They made their way to where the Buddha was, bowed their heads at his feet in homage, walked around him a hundred thousand times, and burned incense and scattered flowers.8 Heavenly flowers, heavenly incense and garments, garlands of celestial jewels, and priceless celestial treasures accumulated like clouds in the four directions and spiraled down from the sky as offerings to the Buddha. Celestial bowls and containers were filled to overflowing with hundreds of heavenly delicacies that were spontaneously fully satisfying by appearance and aroma. Celestial flags, celestial banners and canopies, and marvelous celestial amusements were arranged everywhere, and heavenly music was played for the Buddha’s enjoyment. Thereupon they went before the Buddha, knelt formally on one knee, placed their palms together, and, with one mind and one voice, spoke words of praise in verse:

Great One! Most Venerable Fully Awakened Master!
You are without stain, contamination, or attachment!
Nurturer of human and heavenly beings! Tamer of elephants and horses!
You infuse the fragrance of virtue into all things by means of the winds of the Way!
You are serene in wisdom, calm in emotion, composed in deep reflection,
And—volition extinguished, discriminations set aside—likewise tranquil in mind.
You have forever cast away delusive ideas, reflections, and thoughts—
No more to become entangled in all the facets of existence.
What you embody is not existing, and yet not nonexistent;
Is neither direct nor indirect cause; has no sense of self or other;
Is neither square nor round; is not brief or long;
Neither appears nor disappears; is without origination or cessation;
Is neither created nor self-arisen, nor is it produced;
Neither sits nor lies down; does not walk or stand; Neither moves nor turns; is not static or idle;
Neither advances nor retreats; is not imperiled or secure;
Neither is, nor is not; has no gain or loss;
Is neither here nor there; does not come or go;
Is neither blue nor yellow; is not red or white;
Is not crimson, is not purple or multicolored;
Comes forth from the perfection of behavioral principles, concentration, discernment, emancipation, and perspective that pertains to emancipation;
Rises from three kinds of transcendent knowledge, the six transcendent powers, and the avenues to enlightenment;9
Emanates from kindness, compassion, ten capabilities, and dauntlessness;
And emerges according to the good karmic actions of living beings.

See Innumerable Matters of Translation

LS32, Innumerable

Innumerable Matters of Translation

I’ve been waiting since Jan. 17 to get to this point in my monthly review of the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings so that I can discuss something I discovered in my reading for an online class I’m taking on the Lotus Sutra offered by Rissho Kōsei-kai in North America (RKINA).

As preparation for the class discussion on the first chapter of the sutra, I discovered a very significant difference in Rissho Kōsei-kai’s “modern” translation published in 2019 and the BDK English Tripiṭaka translation that I use in my monthly practice.

Here’s the Rissho Kōsei-kai translation of the gāthās describing the attributes of the Buddha and his manifestation:

“He has forever put an end to fantasies and delusional thoughts,
Having transcended all elements of experience,
His physical existence is neither being nor nothingness.
It has neither causes nor conditions and is neither itself nor something else.
It is neither square nor round, not short or long;
Neither appearing nor disappearing, not arising or perishing;
Neither created nor arisen, not made or produced;
Neither sitting nor lying, not walking or stopping;
Neither moving nor turning, not calm or quiet;
Neither advancing nor retreating, not in safety or danger;
Neither right nor wrong, having no gain or loss;
Neither this nor that, not coming or going;
Neither blue nor yellow, not red or white;
Neither crimson nor purple, and not any other color.
He is born of precepts, meditation, wisdom, emancipation, and perception.
He springs forth from the merits of samadhi, the six transcendent powers, and the practices that assist the Way.
He arises from compassion, the ten powers, and fearlessness.
And he comes forth as a result of his good karma as a living being.”

Note in that last line: “He comes forth as a result of his good karma as a living being.”

The BDK English Tripiṭaka translation renders that last line:

“And emerges according to the good karmic actions of living beings.”

In reading these verses I’ve always enjoyed this revelation that the Buddha, having removed himself from provisional existence, shows himself and makes himself available to us through his merits and powers because of “the good karmic actions of living beings.”

My good causes make it possible to see the Buddha in my life.

I have three additional translations of this sutra.

Gene Reeves says, “He emerges from / The good actions of living beings”

Burton Watson says, “emerging because of the good actions of living beings.”

And Rissho Kosei-Kai’s 1975 translation says, “He has come in response / To good karmas of living beings.”

This is not an insignificant difference. The Buddha’s reliance on the “good karmas of living beings” is an important lesson we should take to heart.

800years, d21b, Lotus Seeds

800 Years: Realizing Buddhahood Through Faith

Nichiren Shonin recognized that the eternal life of the Buddha was of crucial importance. Therefore, he taught that we do not need to be born into a pure land after death so that we can come into the presence of the Buddha and thereby awaken to the truth. According to Nichiren Shonin, the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra reveals that we are already in the pure land. We are already in the presence of the Buddha. We are able to directly realize Buddhahood through our faith, because it is already a part of our lives.

Lotus Seeds