Monthly Archives: March 2023

LS32

Day 3

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

Day 3 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the Buddha’s hesitance to preach the Dharma, we consider what happened when the Buddha agreed to preach the Dharma.

Thereupon the World-Honored One said to him:

“You asked me three times with enthusiasm. How can I leave the Dharma unexpounded? Listen to me attentively, and think over my words! Now I will expound [the Dharma] to you.”

When he had said this, five thousand people among the bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, and upāsikās of this congregation rose from their seats, bowed to the Buddha, and retired because they were so sinful and arrogant that they thought that they had already obtained what they had not yet, and that they had already understood what they had not yet. Because of these faults, they did not stay. The World-Honored One kept silence and did not check them.

Thereupon the World-Honored One said to Śāriputra:

“Now this congregation has been cleared of twigs and leaves, only sincere people being left. Śāriputra! Those arrogant people may go. Now listen to me attentively! I will expound [the Dharma] to you.”

Śāriputra said, “Certainly, World-Honored One! I wish to hear you.”

The Buddha said to him:

“The Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, expound this Wonderful Dharma as rarely as the udumbara-flower blooms. Śāriputra! Believe what I am going to say! My words are not false.

“Śāriputra! The purpose of the various teachings that the Buddhas expound according to the capacities of all living beings is difficult to understand. I also expound various teachings with innumerable expedients, that is to say, with stories of previous lives, parables, similes and discourses. [The purpose of the various teachings of the Buddhas is difficult to understand] because the Dharma cannot be understood by reasoning. Only the Buddhas know the Dharma because the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds only for one great purpose.

“Śāriputra! What is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds? The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to open [the gate to] the insight of the Buddha, and to cause them to purify themselves. They appear in the worlds in order to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings. They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to obtain the insight of the Buddha. They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to enter the Way to the insight of the Buddha. Śāriputra! This is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas appear in the worlds.”

The Buddha said to Śāriputra:

“The Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, teach only Bodhisattvas. All they do is for one purpose, that is, to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings, to cause them to obtain the insight of the Buddha.

The Daily Dharma from Feb. 7, 2023, offers this:

The Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, teach only Bodhisattvas. All they do is for one purpose, that is, to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings, to cause them to obtain the insight of the Buddha.

The Buddha speaks these words in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sutra. Here he emphasizes the importance of practice for reaching enlightenment. We may think that just hearing what the Buddha teaches is enough to reach his insight of seeing things for what they are. We also need to be actively engaged with the world, doing our best, making mistakes, and confident that we can continue to learn how to make things better. This is no different from the mistaken belief that one can learn how to cook by merely reading recipes. Only by going in the kitchen and making something can one gain the insight of whoever came up with the recipe.

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

Tendai Lotus

The Perfect Teaching

Q: Why is this called “Perfect”?

A: “Perfect” means “not one-sided.” It is different from the two previous Teachings in that it is direct in its explanation of subtle reality. It is different from the graded and differentiated Teachings in that its teachings are perfectly integrated and unobstructed. Also, its teaching, reality, wisdom, severance, practice, levels, causes, and results are perfect; therefore it is called the Perfect Teaching.

Q: What do you mean by “direct in its explanation of subtle reality,” and “perfectly integrated and unobstructed”?

A: [In the Perfect Teaching] from the beginning one contemplates true reality, and objects are perceived as identical with the Middle; [one sees] that there is not one color or odor that is not the Middle Path. One knows directly the true reality of the perfectly integrated threefold truth. From beginning to end, there is no Buddha-dharma that is not truly real.

Q: What reality is clarified in this Teaching?

A: It clarifies the truth of the Middle Path, which is beyond conceptual understanding.

Q: For whose sake is it explained?

A: It is explained for the sake of those with the sharpest faculties.

Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 37
LS32

Daily Dharma – March 14, 2023

Always seeking fame and gain,
He often visited noble families.
He did not understand what he had recited,
Gave it up, and forgot it.
Because of this,
He was called Fame-Seeking. But he [later] did many good karmas,
And became able to see innumerable Buddhas.

Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva sings these verses in Chapter One of the Lotus Sūtra. They are part of a story he tells about Fame-Seeking Bodhisattva (Gumyō, Yaśaskāma). This shows that each of the innumerable Bodhisattvas who are helping us to become enlightened use different ways of reaching people. Even those enmeshed in the suffering of self-importance, who use this Wonderful Dharma to make themselves seem superior to others, simply because they are leading others to this teaching, they too are creating boundless merit.

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

LS32

Day 2

Chapter 1, Introductory (Conclusion)

Day 2 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered what happened after Sun-­Moon-Light Buddha entered Nirvāṇa-without-remainder, we repeat in gāthās what Mañjuśrī saw in a previous life.

Thereupon Mañjuśrī, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās in the midst of the great multitude:

According to my memory,
innumerable, countless kalpas ago,
There lived a Buddha, a Man of the Highest Honor,
Called Sun-Moon-Light.

That World-Honored One expounded the Dharma,
And caused innumerable living beings
And many hundreds of millions of Bodhisattvas
To enter the Way to the wisdom of the Buddha.

Seeing the Great Saint
Who had renounced the world,
The eight sons born to him when he was a king
Followed him, and performed brahma practices.

The Buddha expounded
To the great multitude
A sūtra of the Great Vehicle
Called the ‘Innumerable Teachings.’

Having expounded this sūtra, the Buddha sat cross-legged
On the seat of the Dharma [facing the east],
And entered into the samādhi
For the purport of the innumerable teachings.

The gods rained mandarava-flowers.
Heavenly drums sounded by themselves.
The gods, dragons, and other supernatural beings
Made offerings to the Man of the Highest Honor.

The worlds of the Buddhas quaked much.
The Buddha emitted a ray of light
From between his eyebrows,
And showed things rarely to be seen.

This ray of light illumined
Eighteen thousand Buddha-worlds in the east.
It showed the region
To which each living being was to go by his karmas.

The worlds of the Buddha were
Adorned with many treasures,
And given the colors of lapis lazuli and crystal.
I saw all this by the light of the Buddha.

See Why the Great Assembly Relied on Mañjuśrī

Kern, d22b, d23b, Blog

A Very Complete Organ of Manhood

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

As I move through the Lotus Sutra, comparing Senchu Murano’s English translation of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra with H. Kern’s English translation of an 11th century Nepalese Sanskrit document, I am coming to enjoy the places where Murano attempted to bring clarity to the sutra.

In many cases these are simple parenthetical insertions into the text. As an example, take the events of Chapter 17, The Variety of Merits, or as Kern has it, Chapter 16, Of Piety. After the Buddha declares the merits obtained by learning of the duration of the Tathāgata’s lifetime, mandārava-flowers and mahā-mandārava-flowers rain on the assembly.

Kern offers:

No sooner had the Lord given this exposition determining the duration and periods of the law, than there fell from the upper sky a great rain of Mandārava and great Mandārava flowers that covered and overwhelmed all the hundred thousand myriads of koṭis of Buddhas who were seated on their thrones at the foot of the jewel trees in hundred thousands of myriads of koṭis of worlds.

Murano’s version clarifies:

When the Buddha said that these Bodhisattva-mahāsattva had obtained the great benefits of the Dharma, [the gods] in heaven rained mandārava-flowers and mahā-mandārava-flowers on the many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees.

None of the other translators of Kumārajīva Chinese Lotus Sutra felt a need to clarify who was raining these flowers on the congregation. They don’t even specify that they are falling from heaven. The flowers just fell from the sky.

Later in the same paragraph Murano has “[The gods]” raining thousands of heavenly garments. No one else feels a need to say who is dropping this stuff, although all agree that “heavenly garments” are falling.

Kern has “Double pieces of fine heavenly cloth fell down by hundreds and thousands from the upper sky.”

On the other side of this discussion is an example of a little censorship for modern modesty sake. The questionable content appears in Kern’s Chapter 17, Indication of the Meritoriousness of Joyful Acceptance where we are told of the benefits to be received when one invites another to hear the Lotus Sutra.

And, Agita, if someone, a young man of good family or a young lady, says to another person: Come, friend, and hear the Dharmaparyāya of the Lotus of the True Law, and if that other person owing to that exhortation is persuaded to listen, were it but a single moment, then the former will by virtue of that root of goodness, consisting in that exhortation, obtain the advantage of a connection with Bodhisattvas who have acquired Dhārāṇi. He will become the reverse of dull, will get keen faculties, and have wisdom; in the course of a hundred thousand existences he will never have a fetid mouth, nor an offensive one; he will have no diseases of the tongue, nor of the mouth; he will have no black teeth, no unequal, no yellow, no ill ranged, no broken teeth, no teeth fallen out; his lips will not be pendulous, not turned inward, not gaping, not mutilated, not loathsome; his nose will not be flat, nor wry; his face will not be long, nor wry, nor unpleasant. On the contrary, Agita, his tongue, teeth, and lips will be delicate and well shaped; his nose long; his face perfectly round; the eyebrows well-shaped; the forehead well-formed. He will receive a very complete organ of manhood.

Murano renders the same section in Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, in this way:

“Ajita! Anyone who[, while he is staying outside the place of the expounding of the Dharma,] says to another person, ‘Let us go and hear the sūtra called the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma which is being expounded [in that place],’ and cause him to hear it even for a moment, in his next life by his merit , will be able to live with the Bodhisattvas who obtain dharanis. He will be clever and wise. He will not be dumb throughout thousands of millions of his future existences. His breath will not be foul. He will have no disease of the tongue or the mouth. His teeth will not be defiled, black, yellow, few, fallen out, uneven or crooked. His lips will not be pendulous, shrunk, chapped, cracked, broken, distorted, thick, large, yellow-black or loathsome. His nose will not be flat or awry. His face will not be black, long, distorted or displeasing. His lips, tongue and teeth will be well-shaped; his nose, long, high and straight. His face will be full; his eyebrows, thick and long; and his forehead, broad and even. In a word, he will have all the good features of a man.

The BDK English Tripiṭaka translation has:

They will thus have a perfect human countenance.

Burton Watson offers:

[H]e will be endowed with all the features proper to a human being.

Gene Reeves offers:

They will have all the features proper to a human being.

Risshō Kōsei-kai’s 1975 translation has:

His sign of manhood will be perfect.

While the Modern Risshō Kōsei-kai translation, ever concerned with gender equity, has:

They will possess all the most perfect physical features of a human being.

Leon Hurvitz, who used both Kumārajīva’s Chinese translation and a Sanskrit compilation of the Lotus Sutra, stays the closest to Kern:

[H]is male member perfect.

Next: The Uniform Scent of the Lotus Sutra

Tendai Lotus

The Distinct Teaching

Q: Why is this called “Distinct”?

A: “Distinct” is a term meaning “not common.”

Q: What is meant by “not common”?

A: This teaching is explained apart from those of the two vehicles, therefore it is called the Distinct Teaching. Also, its [interpretation of] teaching, reality, wisdom, severance, practice, levels, causes, and results are distinct from [those of] the previous two Teachings and distinct from the last teaching of perfect integration. Therefore it is called “Distinct.”

Q: What principle [of reality] is clarified in this Teaching?

A: It clarifies the principle of the Four Noble Truths as immeasurable.

Q: For whom is it taught?

A: Only to transform Bodhisattvas, and not to lead those of the two vehicles across.

Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 33-34
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – March 13, 2023

Expound it to clever people
Who have profound wisdom,
Who hear much,
Who remember well,
And who seek
The enlightenment of the Buddha!

The Buddha sings these verses to all those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. Much of this teaching is about how we see things as opposed to how certain we are of what we see. When we believe that those whom we wish to benefit are stupid, lazy and incompetent, then it surely will be difficult to help them. But when we realize the Buddha nature within all beings, then we can see them as wise and compassionate despite the obstacles they face.

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

Blog

Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī

Samantabhadra Mañjuśrī
Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī flank Nichiren

For some time I’ve wanted to add a physical reminder of the Lotus Sutra to my altar. Yes, the Gohonzon Mandala and the Stupa with the Daimoku between Two Buddhas represent the Ceremony in the Sky from the Lotus Sutra. But I wanted to anchor all that to the ground.

Sunday, Rev. Igarashi eye-opened statues of Samantabhadra (Universal Sage) and Mañjuśrī for me to add to my altar. For me, this works on several levels.

At the very simplest level, Mañjuśrī represents the first chapter of the Lotus Sutra and Samantabhadra represents the final chapter.

But Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī are also present on the Mandala Gohonzon.  Samantabhadra is to the left of the Daimoku and Mañjuśrī  to the right in the second row. They appear directly beneath Śākyamuni and Many Treasures Buddha in the top row.

When placed on either side of Nichiren they represent the division of the Lotus Sutra between the Shakumon – the Trace Gate of the first 14 chapters – and the Honmon – the Original Gate of the final 14 chapters. Nichiren represents the Honge Bosatsu – the Buddha’s original disciples who rose from out of the earth – and Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī represent the disciples of the historical Śākyamuni. Nichiren represents the Bodhisattvas from Underground who are tasked with propagating the Lotus Sutra in Chapter 21; Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī represent the Bodhisattvas who are tasked with propagating the Lotus Sutra in Chapter 22.

In Nikkyō Niwano’s autobiography Lifetime Beginner, he describes a stairway leading to the lobby of the main auditorium at the Rissho Kosei-kai headquarters in Japan:

At the head of the stairs are three large lacquer paintings. The picture to the viewer’s right is of the Bodhisattva Manjushri riding on the back of a lion. This picture serves to remind the viewer of the need to abandon ordinary wisdom and to clad ourselves in the wisdom of Manjushri, which is based on the elemental meaning of Buddhism. The picture to the viewer’s left shows the Bodhisattva Maitreya riding a white ox. This picture is included to remind the viewer that, like this bodhisattva of compassion, we must abandon selfishness and strife and cultivate a merciful heart. The picture in the middle is of the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue, who is riding a white elephant with six tusks. The tusks represent the six sense organs—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. The white elephant symbolizes immense strength applied to the purification of the six senses. … Briefly, the message of the three pictures is this: first, understand the essence of the Buddha’s Law by means of superior wisdom; second, effect a spiritual revolution on the basis of Buddhist articles of faith; third, carry out religious disciplines at all costs for the sake of the perfection of the character.

Lifetime Beginner, p206

Substitue Nichiren for Maitreya and all of that applies to these statues on my alter.

My altar

LS32

Day 1

Day 1 covers the first half of Chapter 1, Introductory

Day 1 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the offerings of the Bodhisattvas, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 1, Introductory.

I also see some sons of the Buddha
Adorning the world of the Buddha
With as many stupa-mausoleums
As there are sands in the River Ganges.

Those stupas of treasures are
Lofty and wonderful.
They are five thousand yojanas high,
And two thousand yojanas wide and deep.

Each of the stupa-mausoleums has
One thousand pairs of banners and streamers.
It also has curtains adorned with gems.
It also has jeweled bells ringing.

Gods, dragons, men, and nonhuman beings
Constantly offer incense, flowers, and music
[To the stupa-mausoleums].

Mañjuśrī!
Those sons of the Buddha
Adorn the stupa-mausoleums
And offer the adornments
To the śarīras [of the Buddha].

The worlds [of the Buddha] naturally become
As wonderful and as beautiful
As the [flowers] of the kingly tree
In full bloom on the top of Mt. Sumeru.
The multitude of this congregation and I
Can see the various wonderful things
Of those worlds
By the ray of light of the Buddha [of this world].

The supernatural powers of the Buddha
And his wisdom are rare.
He is illumining innumerable worlds
By emitting a pure ray of light.
We were astonished
At seeing [those worlds].

Mañjuśrī, Son of the Buddha!
Remove our doubts!
The four kinds of devotees
Are looking up with joy at you and me,
Wishing to know why this ray of light is emitted
By the World-Honored One.

Son of the Buddha, answer me!
Remove our doubts and cause us to rejoice!
For what purpose is the Buddha
Emitting this ray of light?

Does he wish to expound the Wonderful Dharma
Which he attained when he was sitting
At the place of enlightenment?
Does he wish to assure us of our future Buddhahood?

He shows us the worlds of the Buddhas
Adorned with many treasures.
We can see the Buddhas of those worlds.
This cannot be for some insignificant reason.

Mañjuśrī, know this!
The four kinds of devotees and the dragons
Are looking at you, thinking:
“What is he going to say?”

See What It Means To Be A Reader of the Dharma Flower Sutra

Tendai Lotus

The Shared Teaching (not Common)

Q: What is the meaning of that called “Shared”?

A: Shared means “the same.”
Q: Why is it said to be the same?

A: It is called Shared because those of the three vehicles [Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and Bodhisattvas] all accept the same [content].

Q: If those of the three vehicles accept the same, then is it Mahāyāna or Hinayāna?

A: It is actually meant for the Bodhisattvas but also shared on the side with those of the two vehicles. Therefore it is introductory Mahāyāna.

Q: How many types are there of this Shared Teaching?

A: There are many meanings, which can be summarized in eight parts: teaching, reality, wisdom, severance, practice, levels, causes, and results. All of these are shared by those of the three vehicles.

Q: For what reason do you say that these teachings, and so forth through results, are shared?

A: (1) The teachings are shared because those of the three vehicles accept the same teaching concerning the emptiness of that which is conditionally co-arisen. (2) Reality is shared because they share the same one-sided view concerning reality. (3) Wisdom is shared because they are the same in attaining the wisdom [of the emptiness] of all things [so that they are] skillful in saving [sentient beings]. (4) Severance is shared because their severance of the delusions of this triple world is the same. (5) Practice is shared because the practice for [attaining] non-defilement is the same. (6) The levels [of attainment] are shared because the stages from “parched wisdom” to the stage of Buddhahood are all the same. (7) Causes are shared because the nine non-obstructions are the same. (8) Results are shared because the results of the nine liberations and two types of Nirvāṇa are the same.

Q: There are eight meanings to the term “Shared.” Why is one singled out and called “Shared Teaching”?

A: Without the Shared Teaching one cannot know the shared [perception of] reality, and so forth, and one cannot attain the shared results.

Q: Those of the three vehicles all accept these teachings. Why is it not called “Common Teaching”?

A: If it were called “Common,” it would include only the attainment of the closer [Hinayāna] extreme of the two vehicles, and not the further extreme [of the Mahāyāna]. If we use the term “shared,” then this is convenient for both, and it includes the near [Hinayāna Tripiṭaka Teaching] and far [Mahāyāna Distinct and Perfect Teachings].

Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 29-30