Monthly Archives: April 2022

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – April 24, 2022

Just as a reflection is seen
In a clear mirror,
All things in the world will be reflected
On the pure body of this [person, that is, of this] Bodhisattva.
No one but he
Will be able to see all things clearly.

The Buddha declares these lines to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. When we encounter other beings in this world of conflict, we tend to filter our experience through our expectation. If it is a friend, we expect them to care about us and treat us well; an enemy, to harm us and treat us badly; a stranger, we compare them to other beings like them and expect them to be the same. When we use the Buddha Dharma to look for the complexity of all beings, and look for how we can bring out their ability to benefit and protect others, then we reflect back to them their true natures, rather than the clouds of their delusions.

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

LS32

Day 18

Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.

Day 18 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month repeated in gāthās proper practices and the proper things to approach, we consider proper practices and proper things a Bodhisattva should approach.

When he goes to a village to beg for food,
He should take a Bhikṣu with him.
If he cannot find a Bhikṣu [to take with him],
He should think of the Buddha with all his heart.

These are the proper practices he should perform
And the proper things he should approach.
He should expound the Dharma peacefully
Only after doing all this!

He should disregard the differences
Between the superior, mean, and inferior vehicles,
Between the things free from causality and those subject to it,
And between the real and the unreal.
He should not say:
“This is a man,” or “This is a woman.”
He should not obtain anything
Or know anything or see anything.
All these are the proper practices
That the Bodhisattva should perform.

Things are insubstantial.
They have no property.
They are not permanent.
They do not rise or perish.
This is the Dharma to be approached
By a man of wisdom.

Only perverted people say:
“All things exist,” or “Nothing exists,”
Or “All things are real,” or “Nothing is real,”
Or “All things are born,” or “Nothing is born.”

The Bodhisattva should live in a retired place,
And concentrate his mind.
He should be as peaceful
And as immovable as Mt. Sumeru.
Things have no property
Just as the sky has not.
They are not solid.
They are not born.
They do not appear or move or go.
They are permanently of one form.’
This truth is the proper thing
The Bodhisattva should approach.

A Bhikṣu who lives after my extinction
Will be free from timidity
If he performs these proper practices,
And approaches these proper things
As previously stated,
And then expounds this sūtra.

A Bodhisattva will be peaceful,
And free from timidity
If he stays in a quiet room
For some time,
Recollects the Dharma correctly,
Understands the Dharma
According to the meanings of it,
And then emerges
From his dhyāna-concentration,
And leads kings, princes,
Common people and brahmanas
By expounding this sūtra to them.

Mañjuśrī, all this is the first set of things
That the Bodhisattva should do
Before he expounds the Sūtra
Of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
In the world after [my extinction].

The Daily Dharma from March 7, 2022, offers this:

Only perverted people say:
“All things exist,” or “Nothing exists,”
Or “All things are real,” or “Nothing is real,”
Or “All things are born,” or “Nothing is born.”

The Buddha declares these verses in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. Hearing these descriptions can be confusing. We think that we have to choose from among these views, and that these are the only views possible. The Buddha shows us another way. When we think of things as either unchanging or nonexistent, we live in a world of either judgement or despair. The Buddha shows us how to value what exists as it is changing and not attach ourselves to our expectations of stability. It is only because we are changing, and the world is changing around us, that we have the potential to become enlightened.

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

800years, d8b, d21b, Blog

800 Years: 10 Realms

One of the hidden lessons of the Lotus Sutra is the 10 realms – the six realms of transmigration and the four higher realms of Śrāvaka, Pratyekabuddha, Bodhisattva and Buddha. We are first introduced to these by the light of the Buddha in Chapter 1 and in Chapter 4 we learn of the śrāvaka realm. As Nichiren writes in Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Venerable One:

“[I]t is stated in the Lotus Sūtra (chapter four, “Understanding by Faith”) that four great Śrāvakas such as Kāśyapa rejoiced in their understanding of the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra enabling śrāvakas to attain Buddhahood, and reported to the Buddha that they had been given invaluable jewels without asking for them. This represents the attainment of Buddhahood by the śrāvaka realm contained in our minds.

“Not only the śrāvaka but also Śākyamuni Buddha is within us. For, we encounter such a statement like this in the second chapter of the Lotus Sūtra: “It was My (Śākyamuni’s) original vow to let all beings become like Myself. My vow has now been fulfilled. I have helped them all enter the way of the Buddha.” Does this not mean, that Śākyamuni Buddha, who has attained Perfect Enlightenment, is our flesh and blood, and all the merits He has accumulated before and after attaining Buddhahood are our bones?”

Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 146

With the revelation of the Buddha’s immeasurable lifespan in Chapter 16, the reader of the Lotus Sutra is brought to the realization that we all possess Buddha nature. As Gene Reeves explains in Stories of the Lotus Sutra:

“While the term ‘buddha-nature’ is never used in the Dharma Flower Sutra, this is a good example of the use of the basic idea behind the concept that would be developed after the Dharma Flower Sutra was compiled. One way we can understand the term is as a kind of ‘power’ that makes it possible for any one of us to be a bodhisattva for someone else, a strength that makes it possible for us to share in doing the Buddha’s work of awakening all the living, a strength that makes it possible for us to go far beyond our normal expectations.

“Buddha-nature, the potential to become a buddha, is not something we have to earn; it is something that all of us have received naturally, something that cannot be destroyed or taken away from us. It is, as the parable in Chapter 4 teaches, our inheritance.”

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p104

As Reeves points out, “[T]here is no such thing as a ‘hopeless case.’ Everyone, without exception, has within himself or herself an inner strength, a great power, to flourish in some way.”

This is where faith grows. We are assured repeatedly that the hell we experience one day can be transformed into the heavenly realm, that we can gain great merit by being bodhisattvas helping others. With faith that we have no fixed nature, we gain unlimited freedom.

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Daily Dharma, d13b

Daily Dharma – April 23, 2022

The merits of the Buddha are beyond the expression of our words. Only the Buddha, only the World-Honored One, knows the wishes we have deep in our minds.

In Chapter Eight of the Lotus Sutra, Pūrṇa has these words in mind while looking at the face of the Buddha. The thoughts we have are mostly words, and the words are about the things we want. Words can help us make sense of the world around us, especially the words the Buddha uses to teach us. But words can also confuse us when we mistake our expectations for the reality of the world. When the Buddha calls us to become Bodhisattvas, to realize that our happiness is linked to that of all beings, his words open a part of our mind with which we are not familiar. He asks us to set aside the habits we have learned from this world of conflict and see his world in a new way.

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

LS32

Day 17

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Day 17 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered met the dragon king’s daughter, we consider Śāriputra’s challenge and the response of the dragon king’s daughter.

Thereupon Śāriputra said to the daughter of the dragon-king:

“You think that you will be able to attain unsurpassed enlightenment [and become a Buddha] before long. This is difficult to believe because the body of a woman is too defiled to be a recipient of the teachings of the Buddha. How can you attain unsurpassed Bodhi? The enlightenment of the Buddha is far off. It can be attained only by those who perform the [Bodhisattva] practices with strenuous efforts for innumerable kalpas. A woman has five impossibilities. She cannot become 1. the Brahman-Heavenly-King, 2. King Śakra, 3. King Mara, 4. a wheel-turning-holy-king, and 5. a Buddha. How can it be that you, being a woman, will become a Buddha, quickly [or not]?”

At that time the daughter of the dragon-king had a gem. The gem was worth one thousand million Sumeru-worlds. She offered it to the Buddha. The Buddha received it immediately. She asked both Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva and Venerable Śāriputra, “I offered a gem to the World-Honored One. Did he receive it quickly or not?”

Both of them answered, “Very quickly.”

She said, “Look at me with your supernatural powers! I will become a Buddha more quickly.”

The Daily Dharma from April 13, 2021, offers this:

She said, “Look at me with your supernatural powers! I will become a Buddha more quickly.”

These are the words of the young daughter of Dragon-King Sāgara in Chapter Twelve of the Lotus Sūtra. Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva knew that she was capable of becoming a Buddha, but none of the other Bodhisattvas or anyone else gathered to hear the Buddha teach believed that she could attain enlightenment. Before making this statement, she offered a priceless gem to the Buddha. In less time than it took for the Buddha to accept her offering, she herself became a Buddha before the eyes of all who doubted her. This story shows that all beings can become enlightened, male and female, young and old, human and non-human. When we lose our doubts about others’ enlightenment, we also lose our doubts about our own.

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

Blog

10,000+

wordpress dashboard showing total posts

The photo above is a screenshot of the admin dashboard for 500yojanas.org showing that I now have more than 10,000 posts and 70 pages on my website. Only 428 of those posts are original content. (Everything with a Blog tag.) My reprints of the Daily Dharma make up 2,622 of the total and my daily 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra entries account for 4,551 posts. The remainder is mostly the quotes I’ve set aside.

I purchased the domain 500yojanas.org on Aug. 22, 2015, and set upon this journey.   I’m looking forward to many more milestones in the weeks and years to come.

800years, Autumn Writings

800 Years: Faith Without Anger

Please develop your Faith with no anger, with great patience and with compassion, and continue to practice the way of the Bodhisattva. If your patience is running out, please chant Odaimoku, “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo” in your mind until you become calm. You may chant Odaimoku anytime and anywhere, whether you’re happy or sad, even angry or in pain. Odaimoku is the medicine to resuscitate your life.

Autumn Writings, p 39
Daily Dharma, WONS

Daily Dharma – April 22, 2022

As I contemplate my own life, I, Nichiren, have studied Buddhism ever since I was a child. Our life is uncertain, as exhaling one’s breath one moment does not guarantee drawing it the next; it is as transient as the dew before the wind and its end occurs suddenly to everyone, the wise and the ignorant, the aged and the young. I thought I should study the matter of the last moment of life first of all, before studying anything else.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Reply to My Lady, the Nun Myōhō (Myōhō-ama Gozen Gohenji). The Buddha taught that everything that comes together falls apart. Everything that is born must die. Then in the Lotus Sūtra he taught that he sees the world differently. For him living beings have neither birth nor death, they do not appear nor disappear. For each of us, the death of our bodies is certain. As Nichiren instructs, it is beneficial to meditate on this fact and not live in denial of our mortality. At the same time, when we see with the Buddha’s mind, we realize that our lives are not the end of the story. Time and life are abundant, but it it still important to waste neither.

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

d16b, b4today, Blog

The Difficulty of Studying the Lotus Sutra

It is difficult
To hear and receive this sūtra,
And ask the meanings of it
After my extinction.

Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures

In my more than 70 times reading the Lotus Sutra I’ve developed a firm faith that the sutra says what it means and means what it says. It was my pursuit of deepening my understanding that prompted me to enroll in Rissho Kosei-kai in North America’s (RKINA) advanced course on the Threefold Lotus Sutra.

I was attracted to this course because it promised a chapter-by-chapter review of the entire Threefold Lotus Sutra. I suppose it was my own naïveté that inspired me: I was looking for validation of my interpretation. I had failed to appreciate that the “advanced” course that Rissho Kosei-kai in North America offered was simply a retelling of founder Nikkyo Niwano’s interpretation of the Lotus Sutra as detailed in Buddhism for Today.

It was not until after last night’s discussion of Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures, that I realized I had failed to understand that Rissho Kosei-kai has a very specific interpretation of what the Lotus Sutra says, and that this is one way in which Rissho Kosei-kai separates itself from Nichiren Shu and other Nichiren sects.

For Rissho Kosei-kai, Chapter 11, which Nikkyo Niwano titles, Beholding the Precious Stupa, takes on the roll of an essential lesson necessary to understand the meaning of Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata.

Here’s how Nikkyo Niwano summarizes the chapter in Buddhism for Today:

First, we must explain the description of the Stupa of the Precious Seven springing from the earth. This Stupa symbolizes the buddha-nature that all people possess. Buddha-nature (the stupa) springing from the earth implies unexpectedly discovering one’s buddha-nature in oneself (the earth), which one had been predisposed to regard as impure. Hence the title of this chapter, “Beholding the Precious Stupa.”

In this Stupa is the Tathāgata Abundant Treasures, who symbolizes the absolute truth that was realized by the Tathāgata Śākyamuni. This truth never changes, and it has existed throughout the universe forever. The truth is revealed in the form of the various teachings of the Buddha, and it guides people everywhere. This is symbolized by the buddhas who have emanated from the Buddha and who are preaching the Law in worlds in all directions.

When the Tathāgata Abundant Treasures within the Precious Stupa shares half his throne with Śākyamuni Buddha, saying, “Śākyamuni Buddha! Take this seat!” Abundant Treasures testifies that all the teachings of the Tathāgata Śākyamuni are true. This testimony is delivered by truth itself. It may be difficult to understand the idea of the truth itself testifying to the truth, but in brief, this means that all that Śākyamuni Buddha has said is sure to come true eventually. To come true eventually is to testify that what the Buddha said is the truth. There can be no testimony more definite than this.

There is a deep meaning in the image of the Tathāgata Abundant Treasures as the truth and the Tathāgata Śākyamuni as its preacher sitting side by side cross-legged on the lion throne in the Stupa of the Precious Seven. This symbolizes the fact that were it not for a person who preaches the truth, ordinary people could not realize it, and that a preacher of the truth is as much to be honored as the truth itself.

Lastly, the great assembly reflected thus: “The Buddhas are sitting aloft and far away. Would that the Tathāgata by his transcendent powers might cause us together to take up our abode in the sky.” Then immediately Śākyamuni Buddha, by his transcendent powers, transferred the great assembly to the sky. This signifies that if people discover their buddha-nature in themselves, they will be able immediately to make their abode in the world of the buddhas.

Buddhism for Today, p147-148

This was not what I felt the chapter was saying, but, as the instructor in the class stressed last night, what’s actually said in the sutra isn’t necessarily what’s meant. Nikkyo Niwano prefaced his summary of Chapter 11, saying:

As already explained in the Introduction, the Lotus Sutra often represents abstract ideas in the form of concrete images in order to help people grasp them. This entire chapter is a case in point.

Buddhism for Today, p147

And he underscored this at the conclusion of his summary:

In this chapter, grasping the meaning of the text as a whole is more important than understanding the meaning of specific verses or words.

Buddhism for Today, p148

I see peril in this. First, it is unnecessary. The concept of a hidden Buddha nature was made explicit back in Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples, with the Parable of the Priceless Gem. And by completely eschewing the reason why the stupa suddenly appears, this interpretation robs the chapter of its literal meaning. As Śākyamuni explains in Chapter 11:

When [Many Treasures Buddha] was yet practicing the Way of Bodhisattvas, he made a great vow: “If anyone expounds a sūtra called the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in any of the worlds of the ten quarters after I become a Buddha and pass away, I will cause my stūpa-mausoleum to spring up before him so that I may be able to prove the truthfulness of the sūtra and say ‘excellent’ in praise of him because I wish to hear that sūtra [directly from him].”

This vow offers an important assurance on the value of the Lotus Sutra. As Nichiren observed:

[A] character of the Lotus Sutra is as valuable as two characters because it was attested by the two Buddhas, Śākyamuni and [Many Treasures]; it is as precious as numerous characters because it was verified by numerous Buddhas all over the universe.

As I continue to study the Lotus Sutra and sift through the perspective of Rissho Kosei-kai, I’m left to my own devices.

As Nichiren wrote repeatedly, “True practicers of Buddhism should not rely on what people say, but solely on the golden words of the Buddha.”

Surely, studying the Lotus Sutra in this Sahā World qualifies as one of the difficult acts enumerated by Śākyamuni while seated next to Many Treasures Buddha in the Stupa of Treasures .

LS32

Day 16

Day 16 concludes Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures, and completes the Fourth Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 16 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the Buddha’s plea for someone to step forward and protect and keep the Lotus Sutra, we consider the nine easy and six difficult practices.

It is not difficult
To expound all the other sūtras
As many as there are sands
In the River Ganges.

It is not difficult
To grasp Mt. Sumeru
And hurl it to a distance
Of countless Buddha-worlds.

It is not difficult to move [a world]
[Composed of] one thousand million Sumeru-worlds
With the tip of a toe
And hurl it to another world.

It is not difficult
To stand in the Highest Heaven
And expound innumerable other sūtras
To all living beings.

It is difficult
To expound this sūtra
In the evil world
After my extinction.

It is not difficult
To grasp the sky,
And wander about with it
From place to place.

It is difficult
To copy and keep this sūtra
Or cause others to copy it
After my extinction.

It is not difficult
To put the great earth
On the nail of a toe
And go up to the Heaven of Brahman.

It is difficult
To read this sūtra
Even for a while in the evil world
After my extinction.

It is not difficult
To shoulder a load of hay
And stay unburned in the fire
At the end of the kalpa [of destruction].

It is difficult
To keep this sūtra
And expound it to even one person
After my extinction.

It is not difficult
To keep the store
Of eighty-four thousand teachings
Expounded in the sūtras
Composed of the twelve elements,
And expound it to people,
And cause the hearers to obtain
The six supernatural powers.

It is difficult
To hear and receive this sūtra,
And ask the meanings of it
After my extinction.

It is not difficult
To expound the Dharma
To many thousands of billions of living beings
As many as there are sands
In the River Ganges
So that they may be able
To obtain the benefits:
Arhatship and the six supernatural powers.

It is difficult
To keep
This sūtra
After my extinction.

Since I attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha,
I have expounded many sūtras
In innumerable worlds.

This sūtra is
The most excellent.
To keep this sūtra
Is to keep me.

See The Difficulty of Studying the Lotus Sutra