Monthly Archives: September 2022

800years, WONS

800 Years: Examples for Those Who Have Faith

A wise man named Confucius of China is said to have thought over what he intended to say nine times before he uttered a word. It is also said that Tan, the Duke of Chou, interrupted washing his hair, or having a meal, three times in order to see visitors without keeping them waiting. How much more you who have faith in Buddhism should take these examples to heart! Otherwise you will regret it later. Please do not bear a grudge against me. This is the teaching of the Buddha. The essence of Buddhism is the Lotus Sūtra, and the gist of practicing the Lotus Sūtra is shown in the “Never-Despising Bodhisattva” chapter. Contemplate why the Never-Despising Bodhisattva stood on the street to bow to passersby. The true purpose of Śākyamuni Buddha appearing in this world was to teach us how to behave ourselves on a daily basis. Consider this well. The wise are called human beings while the foolish are beasts.

Sushun Tennō Gosho, The ‘Emperor Sushun’ Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 124

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Sept. 27, 2022

World-Honored One! I have never seen anyone like you before. Your teachings have these inconceivable, wonderful merits. The practices performed according to your teachings and precepts are peaceful and pleasant. From today on, I will not act according to my own mind. I will not have wrong views, arrogance, anger or any other evil thought.

King Wonderful-Adornment makes this declaration to Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. The king had been led to this Buddha by his sons, who showed him the wonders they learned from their practice of the Buddha Dharma. With his mind purified by hearing the Buddha’s teachings, he makes this aspiration to behave differently. Whether or not he can keep this aspiration, he shows his realization that hearing the teachings is not enough. Practicing them means changing our minds and how we live.

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

LS32

Day 4

Day 4 concludes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 4 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the difficulty in hearing the Dharma, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Śāriputra, other Śrāvakas, and Bodhisattvas!
Know this!
This Wonderful Dharma is
The hidden core of the Buddhas.

The living beings
In the evil world of the five defilements
Are attached to many desires.
They do not seek the enlightenment of the Buddha.

Evil people in the future will doubt the One Vehicle
When they hear it from a Buddha.
They will not believe or receive it.
They will violate the Dharma, and fall into the evil regions.

Extol the teaching of the One Vehicle
In the presence of those who are modest,
Who are pure in heart,
And who are seeking enlightenment of the Buddha!

Śāriputra [and others], know this!
As a rule, the Buddhas expound the Dharma
With billions of expedients as stated above,
According to the capacities of all living beings.

Those who do not study the Dharma
Cannot understand it.
You have already realized
The fact that the Buddhas, the World-Teachers, employ expedients,
According to the capacities of all living beings.
Know that, when you remove your doubts,
And when you have great joy,
You will become Buddhas!

[Here ends] the First Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

See The Great Joy of the Lotus Sutra

Kern, LS32, d3b, Blog

The Problem with Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas

This is another in a series of weekly blog posts comparing and contrasting the Sanskrit and Chinese Lotus Sutra translations.

Many of the differences between H. Kern’s translation of the 11th century Nepalese Sanskrit Lotus Sutra and Kumārajīva’s fifth century Chinese translation of the Sanskrit Lotus Sutra are subtle. For example, just prior to the start of the final gāthās of Chapter 2, the Buddha cautions those who claim to be Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas. As Senchu Murano translates:

“Śāriputra! Some disciples of mine, who think that they are Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas, will not be my disciples or Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas if they do not hear or know that the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, teach only Bodhisattvas.

“Śāriputra! Some bhikṣus and bhikṣunīs do not seek Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi because they think that they have already attained Arhatship, that they have already reached the final stage of their physical existence, and that the Nirvāṇa attained by them is the final one. Know this! They are arrogant because it cannot be that the bhikṣus who attained Arhatship do not believe the Dharma. Some bhikṣus who live in a period in which no Buddha lives after my extinction may not believe the Dharma after they attain Arhatship because in that period it will be difficult to meet a person who keeps, reads, and recites this sūtra, and understands the meanings of it. They will be able to understand the Dharma when they meet another Buddha.”

The question of whether the Buddha teaches only Bodhisattvas has been addressed before. The question I want to consider today is why Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas are being criticized. Kern’s translation is much clearer:

“Now, Śāriputra, such disciples, Arhats, or Pratyekabuddhas who do not hear they are actually being called to the Buddha-vehicle by the Tathāgata, who do not perceive, nor heed it, those, Śāriputra, should not be acknowledged as disciples of the Tathāgata, nor as Arhats, nor as Pratyekabuddhas.

“Again, Śāriputra, if there be some monk or nun pretending to Arhatship without an earnest vow to reach supreme, perfect enlightenment and saying, ‘I am standing too high for the Buddha-vehicle, I am in my last appearance in the body before complete Nirvāṇa,’ then, Śāriputra, consider such a one to be conceited. For, Śāriputra, it is unfit, it is improper that a monk, a faultless Arhat, should not believe in the law which he hears from the Tathāgata in his presence. I leave out of question when the Tathāgata shall have reached complete Nirvāṇa; for at that period, that time, Śāriputra, when the Tathāgata shall be wholly extinct, there shall be none who either knows by heart or preaches such Sūtras as this. It will be under other Tathāgatas, &c., that they are to be freed from doubts.”

We are told repeatedly in Chapter 2 that there is only One Vehicle. And, as Kern underscores, that vehicle is the Buddha Vehicle, the one necessary to reach supreme, perfect enlightenment. If you are not on that path riding in that vehicle, you haven’t been paying attention.

It is important to emphasize that in Kern’s translation we are dealing with people who heard “from the Tathāgata in his presence” and still didn’t understand.

The problem for those who were not privileged to hear directly from the Buddha are far bleaker in Kern’s translation: “[W]hen the Tathāgata shall be wholly extinct, there shall be none who either knows by heart or preaches such Sūtras as this.”

Translators of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra found this warning watered down:

Murano: “[I]n that period it will be difficult to meet a person who keeps, reads, and recites this sūtra, and understands the meanings of it.”

Reeves: “[I]t will be difficult to find people who can receive, embrace, read, recite, and understand a sutra such as this.”

The modern Rissho Kosei-Kai translation: “[I]t is difficult to find anyone who will receive, embrace, read, and recite such a teaching as this and understand its meaning.”

Yes, it would literally be difficult to understand the Lotus Sutra when there is “none who either knows by heart or preaches such Sūtras as this.” But difficult is not impossible. Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra subtly offers a sliver of hope for everyone living after the extinction of the Buddha.

Next: Kumārajīva’s Value

800years, WONS

800 Years: The Spirit of the Single Moment of Understanding by Faith

QUESTION: In the Latter Age of Degeneration, what should a beginning practitioner refrain from practicing?

ANSWER: Beginners should refrain from giving alms, observing the precepts, and the rest of the first five bodhisattva practices and for the present should instead take up the practice of Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō which is the spirit of the single moment of understanding by faith and the stage of rejoicing. This is the true intention of the Lotus Sūtra!

Shishin Gohon-shō, The Four Depths of Faith and Five Stages of Practice, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 104

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Sept. 26, 2022

They will expound the Dharma
Already taught by the past Buddhas.
Therefore, they will be fearless
Before the multitude.

The Buddha declares these lines to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. By understanding fear, and demonstrating our fearlessness in this world of conflict, we can inspire and bring courage to other beings. One form of fear arises when we believe that we are in a situation that we cannot handle. This is simply a form of arrogance: believing that something is true when in reality we do not know that it is true. When the Buddha assures us who practice this Wonderful Dharma of the certainty of our future enlightenment, we then know how things will turn out. No matter what difficulties we find ourselves in, there are always more choices available to us. Often outcomes that seem horrible at the time can bring us more wisdom and compassion.

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

LS32

Day 3

Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Day 3 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the Ten Suchnesses, we consider in gāthās how the wisdom of the Buddhas is immeasurable.

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

The [ wisdom of the] World-Heroes is immeasurable.
None of the living beings in the world,
Including gods and men,
Knows the [ wisdom of the] Buddhas.

No one can measure the powers, fearlessness,
Emancipations, samādhis,
And other properties of the [present] Buddhas,
Because they, in their previous existence,
Followed innumerable Buddhas
And practiced the teachings of those Buddhas.

The profound and wonderful Dharma
Is difficult to see and difficult to understand.
I practiced the teachings of the [past] Buddhas
For many hundreds of millions of kalpas,
And became a Buddha at the place of enlightenment.
I have already attained the Dharma.

I know the various effects, rewards and retributions,
Natures and appearances of all things:
The Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters
Also know all this.

The Dharma cannot be shown.
It is inexplicable by words.
No one can understand it
Except the Buddhas
And the Bodhisattvas
Who are strong in the power of faith.

See 800 Years: Entering the Gate

Higan, perfections

Six Perfections: The Character of Wisdom

This is the final day of Paramita Week

Eschewing emphasis on afterlife as a primary concern, Buddhists have carefully examined the character of human existence, the complex human setting of desire, suffering, impermanence, relativity, and uncertainty, which is exactly the sense we have about the life-world in which we live. Wisdom is needed precisely because we do not know timeless truths, because we do not have direct access to a metaphysical order underwriting the world in which we live.

Understanding this as our situation in life, we acknowledge human finitude, the fact of always being immersed in the world in some particular time and place, and experience the reality around us from that specifically shaped and contoured point of view. To be useful for us, therefore, wisdom must be the capacity not to reach outside of our finitude to a permanent order beyond this transitory one but rather to work effectively within it. Although it is tempting to envision a truly wise person as altogether exempt from ambiguity and limited vision, as earlier traditions have done, that would be a state of omniscience, not wisdom. Accepting finitude as the starting point for these meditations, we begin to contemplate wisdom not as the end of uncertainty but rather as a capacity to face uncertain and ambiguous situations with integrity, composure, and reflective insight. Wisdom, therefore, will need to be reconceived as a quality of character that prepares us to function with fine-tuned ethical sensibility in changing contexts of extensive complexity and nuance, while still acknowledging fallibility.

Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 232
800years, d18b, d19b, d25b, Blog

800 Years: Requirements for Propagating the Lotus Sutra

Chapter 20 and the tale of Bodhisattva Never-Despising raises again the issue raised in the Peaceful Practices Chapter of how one who has faith in the Lotus Sutra should approach those who hold opposing views. For Nichiren, the answer was clear:

“Now, two ways of propagation, the persuasive and aggressive, are incompatible with each other just as water and fire are. The fire dislikes the water, and the water hates the fire. Those who prefer the persuasive tend to laugh at those who practice the aggressive and vice versa. So, when the land is full of evil and ignorant people, the persuasive means should take precedence as preached in the ‘Peaceful Practices’ (14th) chapter of the Lotus Sūtra. However, when there are many cunning slanderers of the True Dharma, the aggressive means should take precedence as preached in the ‘Never-Despising Bodhisattva’ (20th) chapter.

“It is the same as using cold water when it is hot and fire when it is cold. Plants and trees are followers of the sun, so they dislike the cold moon. Bodies of water are followers of the moon, so they lose their true nature when it is hot. As there are lands of evil men as well as those of slanderers of the True Dharma in this Latter Age of Degeneration, there should be both aggressive and persuasive means of spreading the True Dharma. Therefore, we have to know whether Japan today is a land of evil men or that of slanderers in order to decide which of the two ways we should use.

Kaimoku-shō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 111

But, as I mentioned in discussing Chapter 14, today we do not face “cunning slanderers of the True Dharma.” It can be said that behaving as if we face “cunning slanderers” ignores the real message offered by Never-Despising Bodhisattva.

In The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, Gene Reeves offers this prespective:

Teachers of the Lotus Sutra often say that it teaches the bodhisattva way of helping others. Unfortunately, this is sometimes understood to mean intruding where one is not wanted, interfering with the lives of others, in order to ‘do good.’ But the story of Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva may lead us to see that doing good for others begins with respecting them, seeing the buddha in them. If we sincerely look for the potential in someone else to be a buddha, rather than criticizing or complaining about negative factors, we will be encouraged by the positive things that we surely will find. And furthermore, by looking for the good in others, we can come to have a more positive attitude ourselves and thus move along our own bodhisattva path.

In earlier chapters of the Lotus Sutra, it is the Buddha who is able to see the potential to become a buddha in others. But here it becomes very clear that seeing the buddha or the buddha-potential in others is something we all should practice, both for the good of others and for our own good.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p216-216
Table of Contents Next Essay
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Sept. 25, 2022

The Buddha will remove
Any doubt of those who seek
The teaching of the Three Vehicles.
No question will be left unresolved.

Mañjuśrī declares these verses at the end of Chapter One of the Lotus Sūtra. They remind us how important questions are to what the Buddha teaches. Questions come up throughout the book, and they lead to many important aspects of this Wonderful Dharma. It is important for us to ask questions respectfully whenever we hear a teaching, knowing that we will find an answer.

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