Important Matters, p 71In every instance when a weakness appears in either faith, practice, or study the key to making things right again is to examine these three legs and then strengthen them. Buddhism rest upon this tripod of faith, practice, and study. … [A] tripod with it’s three legs is able to provide a level surface on any terrain no matter how bumpy or rocky. It would seem that four legs would be better, and sort of obvious one leg or two not good enough. But in fact three legs is the most stable configuration for achieving stability.
Monthly Archives: February 2023
Four Stages of Dharma
The Dharma, more than anything else, can give life to beings, raise them and make them grow and prosper. Therefore, in terms of spiritual weight, a person is light while the Dharma is heavy. Grand Master Miao-lê explains this in his Annotation on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 10: “Parents bring up children and protect them through four stages: birth, rearing, growth and prosperity. Likewise, in Buddhism, the aspiration for Buddhahood is awakened by the Dharma (birth). This aspiration grows when one follows the Dharma from birth through the nurturing stage (rearing) until one attains Buddhahood (growth). As a Buddha, one can appear in the Dharma worlds throughout the universe to spread the teaching of the Buddha (prosperity). These four stages differ from one another, but they are all based on the Dharma.”
Hōkyō Hōjū Ji, The Dharma Is More Precious Than Treasures, Wooden Statues or Portraits, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 95
Daily Dharma – Feb. 14, 2023
The great multitude, having seen the two Tathāgatas sitting cross-legged on the lion-like seat in the stūpa of the seven treasures, thought, “The seat of the Buddhas is too high. Tathāgata! Raise us up by your supernatural powers so that we may be able to be with you in the sky!”
This description comes from Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. Many-Treasures Buddha has arrived where the Buddha was teaching so that he could endorse this Wonderful Dharma. He invited the Buddha to join him in an enormous stūpa tower hanging in the sky. When the Buddha raises up those gathered to hear him teach, he puts them all on the same level as himself and all the other Buddhas. He shows them that they too have the capacity to hear his teachings and put them into practice. Nichiren depicted this “ceremony in the air” in the Omandala Gohonzon and advised us to use this as the focus of our practice. When we put ourselves into this great multitude we listen for the Buddha teaching and realize the benefit we create in this world.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 8
Day 8 concludes Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith, and closes the second volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month considered how the Buddha is like the father in the parable, we conclude Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.
Today we are not what we were then.
We have obtained
What we did not expect
To obtain
Just as the poor son obtained
The innumerable treasures.World-Honored One!
We have attained enlightenment, perfect fruit.
We have secured pure eyes
With which we can see the Dharma-without-āsravas.We observed the pure precepts of the Buddha
In the long night.
Today we have obtained the effects and rewards
[Of our observance of the precepts].
We performed the brahma practices for long
According to the teachings of the King of the Dharma.
Now we have obtained the great fruit
Of the unsurpassed Dharma-without-āsravas.We are Śrāvakas in this sense of the word.
We will cause all living beings
To hear the voice telling
Of the enlightenment of the Buddha.We are Arhats
In the true sense of the word.
All gods and men,
All Maras and Brahmans
In the worlds
Should make offerings to us.You, the World-Honored One, are the great benefactor.
By doing this rare thing,
You taught and benefited us
Out of your compassion towards us.No one will be able to repay your favors
Even if he tries to do so
For many hundreds of millions of kalpas.
No one will be able to repay your favors
Even if he bows to you respectfully,
And offers you his hands, feet or anything else.No one will be able to repay your favors
Even if he carries you on his head or shoulders
And respects you from the bottom of his heart
For as many kalpas
As there are sands in the River Ganges,
Or even if he offers you
Delicious food, innumerable garments of treasures,
Many beddings, and various medicines,
Or even if he erects a stupa-mausoleum
Made of the cow-head candana,
And adorns it with treasures,
Or even if he covers the ground
With garments of treasures
And offers them to the Buddha
For as many kalpas
As there are sands in the River Ganges.The Buddhas have
Great supernatural powers.
Their powers are rare, immeasurable,
Limitless and inconceivable.The Buddhas are the Kings of the Dharma
They are free from āsravas, from cause and effect.
The Buddhas practice patience
In order to save inferior people.
They expound the Dharma according to the capacities
Of the ordinary people who are attached to forms.The Buddhas expound the Dharma
In perfect freedom.
Knowing the various desires and dispositions
Of all living beings,
They expound the Dharma
With innumerable parables
And with innumerable similes
According to their capacities.Some living beings planted the roots of good
In their previous existence.
Some of the roots have fully developed.
Seeing all this, the Buddhas understand
The capacities of all living beings,
And divide the teaching of the One Vehicle into three,
According to the capacities
Of all living beings.[Here ends] the Second Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
The Daily Dharma from Dec. 7, 2022, offers this:
Today we are not what we were then.
We have obtained
What we did not expect
To obtain
Just as the poor son obtained
The innumerable treasures.
Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana, all disciples of the Buddha, speak these lines in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra as they explain their story of the wayward son. They compare the father’s treasure house in the story to the Buddha’s enlightenment. Until they had been led by the Buddha’s expedient teachings, they could not even imagine themselves as enlightened, any more than the wayward son in the story could imagine the contents of his father’s treasure house.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Message Beyond the Details
This is another in a series of weekly blog posts comparing and contrasting the Sanskrit and Chinese Lotus Sutra translations.
Beyond the question of whether the chapter seeks to help ordinary bodhisattvas, there are only minor differences between H. Kern’s Peaceful Life chapter and the English translations of Kumārajīva’s Peaceful Practices chapter.
For example, at the conclusion of the first section of gāthās, Kern has:
24. Let the sage first, for some time, coerce his thoughts, exercise meditation with complete absorption, and correctly perform all that is required for attaining spiritual insight, and then, after rising (from his pious meditation), preach with unquailing mind.
25. The kings of this earth and the princes who listen to the law protect him. Others also, both laymen (or burghers) and Brahmans, will be found together in his congregation.
Senchu Murano’s translation of Kumārajīva’s Chinese has similar language:
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.
But Murano concludes this section of gāthās with:
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].
All of the English translations of Kumārajīva’s Chinese offer this summary graph at the conclusion of these gāthās. For example, Gene Reeves offers:
Mañjuśrī, this is called the first teaching
In which bodhisattvas should dwell at peace,
Enabling the, in future generations,
To teach the Dharma Flower Sutra.
In the prose section immediately following these gāthās, Kern has:
Further, Mañjuśrī, the Bodhisattva Mahāsattva who, after the complete extinction of the Tathāgata at the end of time, the last period, the last five hundred years, when the true law is in a state of decay, is going to propound this Dharmaparyāya, must be in a peaceful state (of mind) and then preach the law, whether he knows it by heart or has it in a book. In his sermon he will not be too prone to carping at others, not blame other preaching friars, not speak scandal nor propagate scandal.
All of the English translations of Kumārajīva’s Chinese skip this point of “whether he knows it by heart or has it in a book.” In Murano’s translation, we get:
“Second, Mañjuśrī! A Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who wishes to expound this sūtra in the age of the decline of the teachings after my extinction should perform the following peaceful practices. When he expounds or reads this sūtra, he should not point out the faults of other persons or sūtras.
In comparing the translations, Kern’s translation often has additional details.
Here’s how Murano’s translation of Kumārajīva’s Chinese begins the second section of gāthās:
The Bodhisattva should wish
To make all living beings peaceful,
And then expound the Dharma to them.
He should make a seat in a pure place,
Apply ointment to his skin,
Wash dirt and dust off himself,
Wear a new and undefiled robe,
Clean himself within and without,
Sit on the seat of the Dharma peacefully,
And then expound the Dharma in answer to questions.
Kern renders this same scene with much more detail:
26. The wise man is always at ease, and in that state he preaches the law, seated on an elevated pulpit which has been prepared for him on a clean and pretty spot.
27. He puts on a clean, nice, red robe, dyed with good colors, and a black woolen garment and a long undergarment;
28. Having duly washed his feet and rubbed his head and face with smooth ointments, he ascends the pulpit, which is provided with a footbank and covered with pieces of fine cloth of various sorts and sits down.
29. When he is thus seated on the preacher’s pulpit and all who have gathered round him are attentive, he proceeds to deliver many discourses, pleasing by variety, before monks and nuns,
Again, as pointed out repeatedly in this comparison of Kern’s translation of an 11th century Sanskrit document and Kumārajīva’s fifth century Chinese version of the Lotus Sutra, the details may be different but the message remains the same.
Next: Ether and the Sky
The Value of Sincerity and Joy
Important Matters, p 70In the Lotus Sutra the Buddha praises the children who draw images of the Buddha in the sand with sticks and says the merit of their offering is as great as the offerings of precious jewels. What matters most is doing something, doing it joyfully, and doing it with sincerity. From the eyes of mere common mortals the offering of a sand image of the Buddha does not appear to be as great as the offering of gold statues. From the perspective of Buddhism, the sand images could be more valuable due to sincerity and joy.
Choosing the Eighth Day for a Happy Gathering
To begin with, the eighth day is the holy day, the birthday of Śākyamuni Buddha, who is your father. Thirty-two inexplicable phenomena appeared on that day. In the first place, all the plants blossomed and bore fruits. In the second place, various treasures gushed forth from the earth. Thirdly, water sprang out of the fields without rainfall. Fourthly, it became as bright as day during the night. In the fifth place, no voice of sorrow was heard throughout the entire world, and so on. Thus, they were all lucky omens. Since that day until now, for 2,230 years or so, it has been customary for us to choose the eighth day for a happy gathering.
Shijō Kingo-dono Gohenji, Response to Lord Shijō Kingo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 154
Daily Dharma – Feb. 13, 2023
The Buddhas expound the Dharma
In perfect freedom.
Knowing the various desires and dispositions
Of all living beings,
They expound the Dharma
With innumerable parables
And with innumerable similes
According to their capacities.
These verses are sung by Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. They show the realization by the Buddha’s disciples of why the Buddha uses different teachings for different people. For us who do not know the various desires and dispositions of all living beings, the Buddha gives this Lotus Sūtra, When we put this teaching into practice, and use it to benefit all beings, it is as if we are teaching from the Buddha’s own mind.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 7
Day 7 concludes Chapter 3, A Parable, and begins Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.
Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 3, A Parable, we return to the top and consider why the Buddha expounded expedient teachings and how he revealed the One Vehicle.
This triple world
Is my property.
All living beings therein
Are my children.
There are many sufferings
In this world.
Only I can save
[All living beings].I told this to all living beings.
But they did not believe me
Because they were too much attached
To desires and defilements.Therefore, I expediently expounded to them
The teaching of the Three Vehicles,
And caused them to know
The sufferings of the triple world.
I opened, showed, and expounded
The Way out of the world.Those children who were resolute in mind
Were able to obtain
The six supernatural powers
Including the three major supernatural powers,
And to become cause-knowers
Or never-faltering Bodhisattvas.Śāriputra!
With this parable I expounded
The teaching of the One Buddha-Vehicle
To all living beings.
All of you will be able to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha
If you believe and receive
These words of mine.This vehicle is
The purest and most wonderful.
This is unsurpassed by any other vehicle
In all the worlds.
This vehicle is approved with joy by the Buddhas.
All living beings should extol it.
They should make offerings to it,
And bow to it.The powers, emancipations,
dhyāna-concentrations, wisdom,
And all the other merits [of the Buddhas],
Many hundreds of thousands of millions in number,
Are loaded in this vehicle.I will cause all my children
To ride in this vehicle
And to enjoy themselves
Day and night for kalpas.The Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas
Will be able to go immediately
To the place of enlightenment
If they ride in this jeweled vehicle.Therefore, even if you try to find another vehicle
Throughout the worlds of the ten quarters,
You will not be able to find any other one
Except those given by the Buddhas expediently.
Experiencing Your Namu and the Myoho Renge Kyo of Your Life
Miao-lé says:
“Since ignorance and defilements are themselves identical with enlightenment, there is no origin of suffering to be eradicated. Since the two extreme views are the Middle Way and false views are the right view, there is no path to be cultivated. Since samsara is identical with Nirvana, there is no cessation to be achieved.”
Further, Miao-lé says,
“A single, unalloyed reality is all there is, – no entities whatever exist outside of it.”
Shutei Hoyo Shiki, page 399
There is the Myoho Renge Kyo and there is us, but it is a mutuality. There really is no way to write it or express it. The best we can do is what Nichiren realized with Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. Remember, Ananda begins his recollection of the Sutra with “Thus have I heard.” He is saying Myoho Renge Kyo is what I heard and what follows is the explanation. When we live Namu, we are not simply manifesting the words of the 28 chapters. We are in fact unifying in body, mind, and spirit our fundamental Dharma reality and revealing the Myoho Renge Kyo. In a way Myoho Renge Kyo is who we are, and everything we live and do is like the explanation of the Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.
For those who doubt their ability to teach others the Lotus Sutra, or who think they are not skillful enough to explain the Lotus Sutra to others, fear not. You are Myoho Renge Kyo. All you need do is let people experience your Namu and the Myoho Renge Kyo of your life. Your words are not nearly as important as your life. Never doubt yourself and don’t underestimate the power of your actions.
“You should know that there are 3,000 worlds in one thought moment within this body and land. So when [the Buddha] attained the Way, this true principle found in all bodies and all thought moments was able to spread throughout the Dharma realm. ” Miao-lé
Shutei Hoyo Shiki, page 400
Important Matters, p 66-67