Monthly Archives: November 2022

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 concluded today’s portion of Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, we return to Chapter 12, Devadatta, and consider when the Buddha was a king seeking the Dharma in his previous existence.

Thereupon the Buddha said to the Bodhisattvas, gods, men and the four kinds of devotees:
“When I was a Bodhisattva] in my previous existence, I sought the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma for innumerable kalpas without indolence. I became a king [and continued to be so] for many kalpas. [Although I was a king,] I made a vow to attain unsurpassed Bodhi. I never faltered in seeking it. I practiced alms-giving in order to complete the six pāramitās. I never grudged elephants, horses, the seven treasures, countries, cities, wives, children, menservants, maidservants or attendants. I did not spare my head, eyes, marrow, brain, flesh, hands or feet. I did not spare even my life.

“In those days the lives of the people of the world were immeasurably long. [One day] I abdicated from the throne in order to seek the Dharma[, but retained the title of king]. I entrusted the crown prince with the administration of my country. l beat a drum and sought the Dharma in all directions, saying with a loud voice, ‘Who will expound the Great Vehicle to me? If there is anyone, I will make offerings to him, and run errands for him for the rest of my life.’

“Thereupon a seer came to [me, who was] the king. He said, ‘I have a sūtra of the Great Vehicle called the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. If you are not disobedient to me, I will expound this sūtra to you.’

“Having heard this, I danced with joy, and immediately became his servant. I offered him anything he wanted. I collected fruits, drew water, gathered firewood, and prepared meals for him. I even allowed my body to be his seat. I never felt tired in body and mind. I served him for a thousand years. In order to hear the Dharma from him, I served him so strenuously that I did not cause him to be short of anything.”

See ‘Jōzon Myōhōko, Shinjin Mukeken’

800years, Blog

800 Years: Faith and the Protective Deities

Yesterday, Nov. 11, is the day traditionally set aside to mark what’s called the Komasubara Persecution of Nichiren. Here’s the official explanation:

“After returning from exile at Izu in 1264, Nichiren Shonin visited his home village in Awa Province to see his sick mother. After she recovered, Kudo Yoshitaka, the Lord of Amatsu, invited Nichiren Shonin to his residence. On their way in the evening of November 11, Nichiren Shonin and his retainers were attacked by Tojo Kagenobu and his followers at Komatsubara. Nichiren Shonin was injured on his forehead, and his disciple, Kyoninbo and Lord Yoshitaka were killed. A cotton hat is put on Nichiren Shonin’s statue from November 11 through Spring Higan (toward the end of March) or Rikkyo Kaishu-e Service commemoration the establishment of Nichiren Buddhism (April 28) to heal the injury on his forehead.”

After last year’s Komasubara Persecution service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church, Rev. Kenjo Igarashi offered a sermon on faith and Dharma power and the protective deities. Here’s some of what he offered.

First, Rev. Igarashi explained that Nichiren Shonin survived being injured in the ambush at Komatsubara because he had strong Lotus Sutra faith. That faith, said Rev. Igarashi, caused the Lotus Sutra deities to offer their protection.

Rev. Igarashi offered a tale of his time caring for Nichiren followers in Brazil. One of these members was the owner of a large appliance store. The owner had been abducted from outside the store and taken to a remote location 100 miles away. The kidnappers took everything he had on him, even his clothes. He was left with only his underwear. Later, his store was broken into and all of the computers and televisions were stolen. The store owner asked Rev. Igarashi to pray for him and his shop, and Rev. Igarashi performed a purification ceremony for the man and gave him an amulet. The next time he went to Brazil the store owner asked him to pray for him and his store again. Afterward, the store owner and his wife invited Rev. Igarashi to dinner. During the dinner, the store owner wrote two Chinese characters on a napkin and gave the napkin to Rev. Igarashi. The store owner, who was Korean, did not speak English or Japanese and normally communicated through his wife, who knew a little Japanese. The characters on the napkin were Dharma and power. The store owner was commenting on the strength of Rev. Igarashi’s Dharma power. But Rev. Igarashi reminded the store owner that he had the strength of his faith, and that faith in the Lotus Sutra attracted the protection of the deities and the Buddha’s benefit.

Dharma power comes from faith in the Lotus Sutra, Rev. Igarashi stressed. If you don’t have strong faith you can’t get Dharma power, the deities’ power, the deities’ protection. When one has strong faith the deities offer their protection and the Buddha gives his benefits. That’s why, explained Rev. Igarashi, it is very important to strengthen your faith.

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Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 12, 2022

The Buddha said to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva: “Good man! In a certain world, World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva takes the shape of a Buddha and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Buddha. He takes the shape of a Pratyekabuddha and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Pratyekabuddha. He takes the shape of a Śrāvaka and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Śrāvaka.

The Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon, Kanzeon, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. Like all Bodhisattvas, World-Voice-Perceiver can adapt his appearance to whatever we need to remove our delusions. In one way, this is a guide for us, reminding us that as Bodhisattvas ourselves, we can learn to adapt our approaches to others so that we can benefit them. In another way, it helps us to realize that more beings than we realize are helping us with our practice.

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

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 in gāthās the story of the Stūpa of Treasures and the Many Treasures Tathāgata, we consider who will protect this sutra.

(The Buddha said to the great multitude.)
Who will protect
And keep this sūtra,
And read and recite it
After my extinction?
Make a vow before me to do this!

Many-Treasures Buddha,
Who had passed away a long time ago,
Made a loud voice like the roar of a lion
According to his great vow.

Many-Treasures Tathāgata and I
And the Buddhas of my replicas,
Who have assembled here,
Wish to know who will do [all this].

My sons!
Who will protect the Dharma?
Make a great vow
To preserve the Dharma forever!

Anyone who protects this sūtra
Should be considered
To have already made offerings
To Many-Treasures and to me.

Many-Treasures Buddha vowed to go
About the worlds of the ten quarters,
Riding in the stūpa of treasures,
In order to hear this sūtra [directly from the expounder].

Anyone [who protects this sūtra] also
Should be considered to have already made offerings
To the Buddhas of my replicas, who have come here
And adorned the worlds with their light.

Anyone who expounds this sūtra
Will be able to see me,
To see Many-Treasures Tathāgata,
And to see the Buddhas of my replicas.

The Daily Dharma from Sept. 1, 2022, offers this:

Anyone who protects this sūtra
Should be considered
To have already made offerings
To Many-Treasures and to me.

The Buddha makes this declaration to all those assembled to hear him teach the Dharma in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, Many-Treasures Buddha has just appeared to confirm the truth of the sūtra, and the Buddha has asked who will protect and preserve this sūtra after his extinction. By considering anyone who defends the meaning of the Lotus Sūtra to be one who has been personally present before these Buddhas, the Buddha invites us to consider not just our previous lives, but our current lives. We repay these Buddhas for this wonderful teaching by bringing it to life ourselves. As Nichiren wrote, “even if only a word or phrase, spread it to others.”

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

800years, PhraseADay

800 Years: Practicing Our Faith in Our Home and Work

SHOKYO TO HOKEKYO TONO NAN-I NO KOTO

Since the Buddha dharma is not understood correctly and is not believed righteously, the worldly law becomes disorderly. The Buddha dharma is like a body while the worldly law is like its shadow. When the body bends, its shadow also bends.

(Background : May 26, 1280, 58 years old, at Minobu, Showa Teihon, p.1752)

DANNOTSU BO GOHENJI

To serve your master (in your work) is to practice the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. The sutra says that worldly politics and economy are not against its ultimate reality.

(Background : April 11, 1278, 56 years old, at Minobu, Showa Teihon, p.1493)

Explanatory note

An old Chinese book says that a wise man predicted destruction of his country because its people did not bother to comb their hair, and his prediction became true.

There is a Japanese saying, “Eyes are the windows of one’s mind.” The slightest movement of our eyes shows what we are thinking. Our thoughts are expressed in our attitudes, which become social movements.

Such matters are taught in Buddhism. But people generally think that Buddhism concerns individual’s inner self only. Nichiren Daishonin clarified this matter. Merely holding hands in gassho and reciting the sutra are not the practice of faith in Nichiren Buddhism. But faith must appear in our daily works.

We, Nichiren Buddhists, keep the teaching of “Rissho Ankoku,” that is, to establish the righteousness of the Buddha’s teaching is to secure the nation. We must understand that the social movement is the reflection of the people’s religion. We must remember that Nichiren Daishonin advised Kingo Shijo to stay on his work when Kingo wanted to quit his work for the sake of devotion to his faith. We must keep Nichiren’s advice in our minds and practice our faith in our home and work.

Rev. Kanai

Phrase A Day

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 11, 2022

World-Honored One! The bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās or upāsikās who seek, keep, read, recite and copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in the defiled world in the later five hundred years after [your extinction], if they wish to study and practice this sūtra, should concentrate their minds [on study and practice] strenuously for three weeks. When they complete [the study and practice of] three weeks, I will mount a white elephant with six tusks, and appear before them with my body which all living beings wish to see, together with innumerable Bodhisattvas surrounding me.

Universal-Sage Bodhisattva (Fugen, Samantabhadra) makes this declaration to the Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. Nichiren interprets “the later five hundred years” as the time in which we live today. Universal sage describes the ways in which we can practice this Sūtra. To seek it is to find it in all aspects of our lives. To keep it is to rely on its teachings and have confidence in its ability to lead us to the Buddha’s wisdom. To read and recite it is to continue to remind ourselves and others of the details of the teachings. To copy it is to make it available to others. The merits we gain through these practices allow us to see the world for what it is and be part of making it better for everyone.

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

LS32

Day 15

Day 15 concludes Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, and opens Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures.

Day 15 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the stupa erected where this sutra exists, we consider the thirsty man on a plateau.

“Medicine-King! Suppose a man on a plateau felt thirsty and sought water. He dug a hole in order to get water. As long as he saw the dug-out lumps of earth were dry, he knew that water was still far off. He went on digging, and then found the dug-out lumps of earth wet. When he finally found mud, he was convinced that water was near. In the same manner, know this, the Bodhisattvas who have not yet heard, understood or practised this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, are still far from Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. [The Bodhisattvas] who hear, understand, think over and practice this sūtra, will approach Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Why is that? It is because Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi which all the Bodhisattvas [should attain] is expounded only in this sūtra. This sūtra opens the gate of expedients and reveals the seal of the truth. The store of this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma is sound and deep. No one can reach its core. Now I show it to the Bodhisattvas in order to teach them and cause them to attain [Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi].

“Medicine-King! The Bodhisattvas who, having been surprised at hearing this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, doubt and fear it, know this, are beginners in Bodhisattvahood. The Śrāvakas who, having been surprised at hearing this sūtra, doubt and fear it, know this, are men of arrogance.

See Digging for Water

800years, WONS, original

800 Years: Merits Spontaneously Accessed by Faith

The practices carried out by the Buddha throughout his countless lifetimes (causes) and the resulting virtues of his enlightenment (effects) are contained in the daimoku and spontaneously accessed by the practitioner in the act of chanting. We can see this idea developing in a personal letter that Nichiren wrote the year before the Kanjin honzon shō:

This jewel of [the character] myō contains the merit of the Tathāgata Śākyamuni’s Pāramitā of giving (danbaramitsu), when in the past he fed his body to a starving tigress or [gave his life] to ransom a dove; the merit of his Pāramitā of keeping precepts, when, as King Śrutasoma, he would not tell a lie; the merit gained as the ascetic Forbearance, when he entrusted his person to King Kali; the merit gained when he was Prince Donor, the ascetic Shōjari, [etc.] He placed the merit of all his six perfections (rokudo) within the character myō. Thus, even though we persons of the evil, last age have not cultivated a single good, he confers upon us the merit of perfectly fulfilling the countless practices of the six perfections. This is the meaning [of the passage], “Now this threefold world / is all my domain. / The beings in it / are all my children.” We ordinary worldlings, fettered [by defilements], at once have merit equal to that of Śākyamuni, master of teachings, for we receive the entirety of his merit. The sūtra states, “[At the start I made a vow / to make all living beings] / equal to me, without any difference.” This passage means that those who take faith in the Lotus Sūtra are equal to Śākyamuni Commoners [i.e., the heirs chosen to succeed the emperors Yao and Shun] immediately achieved royal status. Just as commoners became kings in their present body, so ordinary worldlings can immediately become Buddhas. This is what is meant by the heart of [the doctrine of] three thousand realms in one thought-moment.

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism


Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 10, 2022

I see the [perverted] people sinking
In an ocean of suffering.
Therefore, I disappear from their eyes
And cause them to admire me.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. With the story of the wise physician in this chapter, the Buddha explains how he disappears from our view even though he is always present to us. The children in the story would not accept the remedy their father prepared for them to counteract the poison they had taken. Some of them hoped for another remedy, some believed the remedy would be worse than the poison. It was not until the father left and told them he would not return that the children realized the value of what they already had. When we take the Buddha for granted, as the children in the story took their father for granted, and ignore the path he has laid out for us, we lose sight of the Buddha. It is only when we realize we are lost that we look for a guide. When we bring the Buddha’s teachings to life, we find him everywhere.

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

LS32

Day 14

Day 14 covers all of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, and opens Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.

Day 14 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month conclude today’s portion of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, we turn to Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, and consider the promise given to those who rejoice at hearing the Lotus Sutra.

Thereupon the World-Honored One said to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in the presence of the eighty thousand great men:

“Medicine-King! Do you see the innumerable gods, dragon­kings, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men, and nonhuman beings, and [the four kinds of devotees:] bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, and upāsikās, and those who are seeking Śrāvakahood or Pratyekabuddhahood or the enlightenment of the Buddha in this great multitude? If in my presence any of them rejoices, even on a moment’s thought, at hearing even a gāthā or a phrase of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, I will assure him of his future Buddhahood, saying to him, ‘You will be able to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.’ ”

The Buddha said to Medicine-King:

“If after my extinction anyone rejoices, even on a moment’s thought, at hearing even a gāthā or a phrase of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, I also will assure him of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. If anyone keeps, reads, recites, expounds and copies even a gāthā of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, and respects a copy of this sūtra just as he respects me, and offers flowers, incense, necklaces, incense powder, incense applicable to the skin, incense to burn, canopies, banners, streamers, garments and music to it, or just joins his hands together respectfully towards it, Medicine-King, know this, he should be considered to have appeared in the world of men out of his compassion towards all living beings, although he already made offerings to ten billion Buddhas and fulfilled his great vow under those Buddhas in a previous existence.

The Daily Dharma from Nov. 12, 2021, offers this:

If after my extinction anyone rejoices, even on a moment’s thought, at hearing even a gāthā or a phrase of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, I also will assure him of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.

The Buddha declares these lines to Medicine-King Bodhisattva at the beginning of Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. Other teachings had described beings becoming enlightened after making exorbitant offerings or strenuous practices over many lifetimes. In the teaching of the Wonderful Dharma, a single moment of joy at hearing the Dharma is enough to assure us that we will become enlightened.

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