Buddhism for Today, p252-253The human body is a material thing and is destined to change. Even in the case of such a great man as Śākyamuni Buddha, his body disappeared from this world when his life of eighty years ended. Our daily necessities, including money and other material things, are also material matters. All of them are impermanent and always changing. No one knows when they may disappear, even though he thinks they exist now. Social status and fame are also impermanent. However, if we purify our minds through religion, we can maintain a peaceful and happy mental state however much the outside world (the world of material things) changes.
Monthly Archives: June 2022
800 Years: Faith Is Not for You Alone
While Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples, doesn’t mention faith, it helps illustrate that faith is not for ourselves alone. We are directed to focus on the Mahayana and to avoid simply settling for what is close at hand.
In Chapter 8, the Arhats illustrate their understanding with the parable of a priceless gem sown into the garment of a poor man by his rich friend. The poor man, unaware of the priceless gift, satisfies himself with what little he can earn.
As Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya and the others explain:
“You, the Buddha, are like his friend. We thought that we had attained extinction when we attained Arhatship because we forgot that we had been taught to aspire for the knowledge of all things by you when you were a Bodhisattva just as the man who had difficulty in earning his livelihood satisfied himself with what little he had earned. You, the World-Honored One, saw that the aspiration for the knowledge of all things was still latent in our minds; therefore, you awakened us, saying, ‘Bhikṣus! What you had attained was not perfect extinction. I caused you to plant the good root of Buddhahood a long time ago. You have forgotten this; therefore, I expounded the teaching of Nirvāṇa as an expedient. You thought that you had attained true extinction when you attained the Nirvāṇa which I taught you as an expedient.’
“World-Honored One! Now we see that we are Bodhisattvas in reality, and that we are assured of our future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Therefore, we have the greatest joy that we have ever had.”
In Stories of the Lotus Sutra, Gene Reeves emphasizes how a bodhisattva should spend the treasure of the jewel left in the robe.
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p105“In this story, using the treasure clearly means using it to enjoy life. Life is difficult, but we are much freer, more able to appreciate, more able to cope with whatever difficulties life presents us if we have an appropriate attitude toward life and toward ourselves. Having a good attitude toward life, for the Dharma Flower Sutra, means seeing everything that comes to us as a gift, more especially as an opportunity, as what we call a ‘learning experience.’ Yes, life can be very difficult, but if we approach the troubles and difficulties that come our way as opportunities for learning, we will enjoy life more fully.
“In Mahayana Buddhism, the importance of helping others is often stressed. But we should know that even helping others is never merely helping others – it always contributes to our own enjoyment of life as well. The Dharma Flower Sutra encourages us to look for and cultivate the good both in ourselves and in others.”
When we realize we are bodhisattvas – when we understand that we cannot advance until we can bring all others along with us – we begin to understand the true treasure we have been given. Properly spent, the whole world can benefit.
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Daily Dharma – June 4, 2022
They will be able to know all the thoughts, deeds, and words, however meaningless, of the living beings of the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds each of which is composed of the six regions. Although they have not yet obtained the wisdom-without-āsravas, they will be able to have their minds purified as previously stated. Whatever they think, measure or say will be all true, and consistent not only with my teachings but also with the teachings that the past Buddhas have already expounded in their sūtras.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. Paradoxically, the process of clarifying our minds so that we can see things for what they are is not an intellectual exercise. The practice of the Wonderful Dharma is not based on learning complicated theories or arcane facts. It can be as simple as chanting Odaimoku sincerely, awakening our nature as Bodhisattvas, and working for the benefit of all beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Desires of the Five Sense Organs
Buddhism for Today, p239The desires of the five sense organs are innate and are not wrong in themselves, but they are harmful because illusions arise from being influenced by the pleasures of the senses. They are also dangerous because the urge to seek the Way is disturbed and sullied by them.
This is such an important point that Śākyamuni Buddha taught it on many occasions. It was for this reason that he gave up the practice of asceticism and drank the milk-gruel given to him by a village girl and that he preached the teaching of the Middle Path. The Buddha states clearly that man’s instincts are morally neutral (muki, literally meaning something existing before the decision of right or wrong, that is, something that we cannot call either good or bad). If our natural appetites and instincts were wrong, we should refrain entirely from eating and starve to death. We should become deaf in order to abandon the desires that come through our ears, and we should put our eyes out in order to deny the desires that come through the sense of vision. The Buddha nowhere preaches such extremes but teaches us that though instincts are not wrong in themselves, the fire of illusion that is produced by a burning attachment to them is not good. Our instincts are morally neutral, but it is not good for us to be greedily attached to them. If we misunderstand this point, we fall into the extreme of either asceticism or hedonism and thus violate the teaching of the Middle Path.
Day 25
Day 25 covers all of Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, and opens Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.
Having last month concluded Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, we open Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas and consider the declaration of the Bodhisattvas who had sprung up from underground.
Thereupon the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas as many as the particles of dust of one thousand worlds, who had sprung up from underground, joined their hands together towards the Buddha with all their hearts, looked up at his honorable face, and said to him:
“World-Honored One! After your extinction, we will expound this sūtra in the worlds of the Buddhas of your replicas and also in the place from which you will pass away. Why is that? It is because we also wish to obtain this true, pure and great Dharma, to keep, read, recite, expound and copy [this sūtra], and to make offerings to it.”
800 Years: A Practice of Faith, Respect, Devotion, Awareness and Gratitude
Odaimoku: The Significance Of Chanting Namu Myoho Renge KyoSince the practice of chanting the Odaimoku is so important, our attitude and the way we chant is vital. It is important to strive to chant the Odaimoku with a spirit of sincerely wishing to cultivate a practice of faith, respect, devotion, awareness and gratitude.
Daily Dharma – June 3, 2022
Anyone who understands why the Buddhas expound [many] sūtras,
Who knows the position [of this sūtra in the series of sūtras],
And who expounds it after my extinction
According to its true meaning,
Will be able to eliminate the darkness
Of the living beings of the world where he walks about,
Just as the light of the sun and the moon
Eliminates all darkness.
The Buddha sings these verses to Superior-Practice Bodhisattva (Jōgyo, Viśiṣṭacārītra) in Chapter Twenty-One of the Lotus Sūtra. The superiority of the Lotus Sūtra does not disparage the Buddha’s expedient teachings. The Lotus Sūtra leads all beings to enlightenment. Other teachings could only reach a limited audience. When we as Bodhisattvas who are determined to benefit all beings expound this highest expression of the Buddha’s wisdom, and do not limit ourselves to saving only a few, then we become the light that limits the darkness of ignorance, fear and violence in this world of conflict.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Wisdom, Compassion and Practice
Buddhism for Today, p214When we have true wisdom, we understand that all things in the world are related and interdependent (the law that nothing has an ego), and that if we alone are possessed of wisdom or we alone are right, the world as a whole will not become better. Therefore, when we see the many people who lack wisdom and therefore depart from the path of righteousness, we feel the urge to save them from such a situation. The spirit of compassion wells up in our hearts.
If we have the spirit of compassion, we cannot help showing it in our actions. We preach the Law to those who do not know it; we return those who have departed from the path of righteousness to its course; we have the wish to protect and instruct those who are assiduous in practicing the Law. When we can perfectly perform the three practices of wisdom, compassion, and practice, the teaching of the Buddha will be perfected in us and this world will become the Pure Land. The teaching of the Lotus Sutra has such a perfected organization. Here is the reason that we cannot grasp the true meaning of the sutra by reading only bits and pieces, skipping here and there.
Day 24
Day 24 concludes Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, and closes the Sixth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month considered the eight hundred merits of the nose, we repeat in gāthās the eight hundred merits of the nose.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Their nose will be purified.
They will be able to know
The smells of all things,
Be they good or bad.They will be able to recognize by smell
The sumanas-flowers and jātika-flowers;
Tamala[pattra] and candana;
Aloes and sappanwood;
Various flowers and fruits;
And all Jiving beings including men and women.Anyone who expounds the Dharma will be able to locate
All living beings from afar by smell.
He will be able to locate by smell
The wheel-turning-kings of great [countries],
The wheel-turning-kings of small [countries],
And their sons, ministers and attendants.He will be able to locate by smell
The wonderful treasures of personal ornaments,
The underground stores of treasures,
And the ladies of the wheel-turning-kings.He will be able to recognize persons
By smelling their ornaments or garments
Or by smelling their necklaces
Or by smelling the incense applied to their skin.Anyone who keeps
This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Will be able to know by smell
Whether the gods are walking, sitting, playing or performing wonders.Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to locate by smell, without moving about,
The flowers and fruits of trees,
And the oil taken from sumanas-flowers.He will be able to recognize by smell
The flowers of the candana-trees
Blooming in steep mountains,
And the living beings in those mountains.Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to locate by smell
The living beings in the Surrounding Iron Mountains,
In the oceans, and underground.He will be able to know by smell
Whether asuras and their daughters
And their attendants are fighting
Or playing with each other.He will be able to locate by smell
Lions, elephants, tigers,
Wolves, wild oxen and buffalos
In the wilderness and in steep places.He will be able to know by smell
Whether an unborn child is a boy or a girl,
Or a child of ambiguous sex,
Or the embryo of a nonhuman being.He will be able to know by smell
Whether a woman is an expectant mother,
Or whether she will give an easy birth
To a happy child or not.He will be able to know by smell
What a man or a woman is thinking of,
Or whether he or she is greedy, ignorant or angry,
Or whether he or she is doing good.He will be able to recognize by smell
The gold, silver, and other treasures
Deposited underground,
And the things enclosed in a copper box.He will be able to know by smell
The values of various necklaces,
And the deposits of their materials,
And also to locate the necklaces [when they are lost].He will be able to recognize by smell
The mandārava-flowers,
And the mañjūṣaka-flowers,
And the pārijātaka-trees in heaven.He will be able to know by smell
Whether a heavenly palace
Adorned with jeweled flowers
Is superior, mean or inferior.He will be able to recognize by smell
Gardens, forests, excellent palaces,
And the wonderful hall of the Dharma in heaven,
And other stately buildings where [the gods] enjoy themselves.He will be able to know by smell
Whether the gods are hearing the Dharma
Or satisfying their five desires,
Or coming, going, walking, sitting or reclining.He will be able to know by smell
Whether the goddesses, clad in the garments
Adorned with fragrant flowers,
Are playing as they are moving about.He will be able to know by smell
Who has reached the Heaven of Brahman,
Who has entered into dhyāna,
And who has come out of it.He will be able to know by smell
The person who has appeared for the first time in the Light-Sound Heaven
Or in the Universal-Pure Heaven or in the Highest Heaven,
And who has disappeared from there.Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to locate by smell
The bhikṣus who are sitting or walking about
In seeking the Dharma strenuously,
And the bhikṣus who are reading or reciting [this] sūtra
Or devoting themselves
To sitting in dhyāna
Under the trees of forests.He will be able to know by smell
The Bodhisattvas who are resolute in mind,
And who are sitting in dhyāna or reading [this] sūtra
Or reciting it or expounding it to others.He will be able to locate by smell
The World-Honored One who is expounding the Dharma
Out of his compassion
Towards all living beings who respect him.He will be able to know by smell
Those who rejoice at hearing [this] sūtra
From the Buddha,
And act according to the Dharma.Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to have these merits of the nose
Although he has not yet obtained the nose
Of the Bodhisattva [who attained] the
Dharma without āsravas.
The Daily Dharma from March 25, 2021, offers this:
He will be able to know by smell
What a man or a woman is thinking of,
Or whether he or she is greedy, ignorant or angry,
Or whether he or she is doing good.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. As Bodhisattvas we chose to come into this world, as frightening and dangerous as it is, to make things better for all beings. We do not lose any of the six senses we have, but learn to use them in ways that may seem impossible to others. Any of our senses can be deluded. When we remove our attachments and delusions, we see with the Buddha’s eye the world as it is.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
800 Years: Developing the Heart of the Buddha
Introduction to the Lotus SutraMental attitudes can be right or wrong; they can be noble or base. Faith that is formed through wrong mental attitudes is nothing more than superstition. Of course, there cannot be any errors in Sakyamuni’s teachings. But he expounded the law expediently in different ways according to our needs and abilities to understand. In [Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith], the son, who believes himself to be base and humble, is a representation of all living beings. The father (the Buddha) educated his son with expedients in an effort to raise his base mind and make it into a noble one. This superior, noble mind is what we call the heart of the Buddha. Under the guidance of our father (the Buddha), we are all enabled to develop the heart of the Buddha, which every one of us already possesses by nature.