Monthly Archives: March 2023

LS32

Day 31

Day 31 covers Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva.

Day 31 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month concluded Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva, we return to the top and consider a king called Wonderful-Adornment and his wife and two sons.

Thereupon the Buddha said to the great multitude:
“Innumerable, inconceivable, asaṃkhya kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom, the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the Samyak-sambuddha. His world was called Light-Adornment; the kalpa in which he lived, Gladly-Seen. Under that Buddha lived a king called Wonderful-Adornment. His wife was called Pure-Virtue. They had two sons, Pure-Store and Pure-Eyes by name. The two sons had great supernatural powers, merits, virtues and wisdom. A long time ago, they had already practiced the Way which Bodhisattva should practice. They had already practiced the dana-pāramitā, the sita-pāramitā, the kṣānti-pāramitā, the vīrya-pāramitā, the dhyāna-pāramitā, the prajña-pāramitā, and the pāramitā of expediency. They also had already obtained the four states of mind towards all living beings:] compassion, loving-kindness, joy and impartiality. They also had already practiced the thirty-seven ways to enlightenment. They had done all this perfectly and clearly. They also had already obtained the samādhis of Bodhisattvas: that is, the samādhi for purity, the samādhi for the sun and the stars, the samādhi for pure light, the samādhi for pure form, the samādhi for pure brightness, the samādhi for permanent adornment, and the samādhi for the great treasury of powers and virtues. They had already practiced all these samādhis.

The Daily Dharma from Sept. 17, 2022, offers this:

They also had already obtained [the four states of mind towards all living beings:] compassion, loving-kindness, joy and impartiality.

The Buddha gives this description in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sutra of two boys who had been the previous lives of Medicine-King and Medicine-Superior Bodhisattvas. These four states of mind are those which allow to see the world for what it is and bring true benefit for all beings. Any living being is capable of them. Their opposites: cruelty, indifference, misery and prejudice, are never what we aspire to, even though we find ourselves in them far too often. But even these states can be used as an indication that we are not seeing things for what they are, and lead us back to a true curiosity and appreciation for what we have.

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

Tendai Lotus

Objects and Views

Q: What is mindfulness concerning four objects and four warped views?

A: Mindfulness concerning four objects refers to that concerning the body, sensation, mind, and dharmas. The four warped views are those of permanence, pleasure, selfhood, and purity.

Q: What is the purpose of contemplation that involves mindfulness of these four objects?

A: To contemplate the impurity of the body, the lack of pleasure in sensations, the transiency of the mind, and the non-substantiality of dharmas.

Q: Why are the warped views identified as those of permanence, pleasure, selfhood, and purity?

A: It is because ordinary people cling to permanence, pleasure, selfhood, and purity with regard to the impure and so forth.
Q: Are the four objects of which one is mindful and the five aggregates the same or different?

A: The terms are different, but the meaning is the same.

Q: What do you mean [when you say] that their meaning is the same?

A: The body corresponds to the aggregate of form. Sensations correspond to the aggregate of sensation. The mind corresponds to the aggregate of consciousness. Dharmas correspond to the two aggregates of conceptions and volitional activities.

Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 18-19
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – March 8, 2023

A singing bird in a cage attracts uncaged birds, and the sight of these uncaged birds will make the caged bird want to be free. LIkewise the chanting of Odaimoku will bring out the Buddha-nature within ourselves. The Buddha-nature of the gods Bonten and Taishaku will be called by the chanting and protect the chanter. The Buddha-nature of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will be pleased to be called. For attaining Buddhahood quickly, one must lay down the banner of arrogance, cast away the club of prejudice and chant, “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.”

Nichiren write this in his Treatise on Attaining Enlightenment through Faith in the Lotus Sūtra (Hokke Shoshin Jōbutsu Shō). While we whose faith is in the Lotus Sūtra are assured that we and all other beings will become Buddhas, we often wonder when that will happen. The Lotus Sūtra describes time in terms of uncountable kalpas, and each kalpa itself is an unimaginable amount of time. There is no shortage of time, or of lives into which we can be born to benefit other beings. But by practicing Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, we continue on our path to enlightenment, rather than being diverted into delusion.

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

LS32

Day 30

Day 30 covers all of Chapter 26, Dhāraṇīs

Day 30 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered Brave-In-Giving Bodhisattva’s Dhāraṇīs, we consider the Dhāraṇīs offered by Vaiśravaṇa Heavenly-King.

Thereupon Vaiśravaṇa Heavenly-King, the Protector of the World, said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One! I also will utter dhārānis in order to protect this teacher of the Dharma out of my compassion towards all living beings.”

Then he uttered spells, “Ari (1), nari (2), tonari (3), anaro (4), nabi (5), kunabi (6).”

[He said to the Buddha:]

“World-Honored One! I will protect this teacher of the Dharma with these divine spells. I also will protect the person who keeps this sūtra so that he may have no trouble within a hundred yojanas’ distance [from here].”

See ‘No Decline Nor Harm Within an Area of 100 Yojana’

Tendai Lotus, Blog

Compare and Contrast Tendai Teachings and Nichiren Doctrine

According to a news item today teachers and students are embracing ChatGPT, the AI platform which has gained attention for its detailed responses and articulate answers across many domains of knowledge.

Recently Microsoft began offering access to an AI-powered chat feature in its search engine Bing. The new chat feature is powered by a next-generation version of OpenAI’s large language model, making it “more powerful than ChatGPT,” according to Microsoft.

So I asked for and received access to the new Bing AI-powered chat feature and asked Bing:

Compare and Contrast Tendai Teachings and Nichiren Doctrine

bing chat resultsSearching for. tendai teachings
Searching for. nichiren doctrine
Generating answers for you…

Tendai and Nichiren are two schools of Buddhism that originated in Japan. They both share some common teachings, such as:

  • The Lotus Sutra is the supreme scripture that reveals the ultimate truth of Buddhism
  • All sentient beings have the potential to attain Buddhahood in this lifetime
  • Meditation, precepts and esoteric practices are part of the Buddhist path;

However, they also have some differences, such as:

  • Tendai accepts other sutras and teachings as valid and complementary to the Lotus Sutra, while Nichiren rejects all other forms of Buddhism as false and inferior
  • Tendai regards Shakyamuni Buddha as the original Buddha who taught the Lotus Sutra, while Nichiren regards himself as the messenger of the Buddha who appeared to propagate the true teaching of Buddhism
  • Tendai chants various mantras and sutra passages as part of its practice, while Nichiren chants only Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to a mandala called the Gohonzon as its sole practice

This is hardly acceptable.

Tendai was brought to Japan from China; it did not originate in Japan.

Among the shared common teachings, it is erroneous to suggest that Nichiren’s doctrine shares the Tendai focus on meditation, precepts and esoteric practices.

While it may be literally true that “Nichiren rejects all other forms of Buddhism as false and inferior,” such a harsh declaration obscures the compassionate reasoning behind Nichiren’s teaching on the superiority of the Lotus Sutra.

As for Shakyamuni’s position, Nichiren doctrine agrees with Tendai that Shakyamuni is the “original Buddha.” And no one disputes that Shakyamuni taught the Lotus Sutra. As for Nichiren’s role as a messenger of the Buddha, for Nichiren Shu that has nothing to do with the teaching that Shakyamuni is the original Buddha. Of course, Nichiren Shoshu and Soka Gakkai consider Nichiren the Original Buddha, but that’s not what’s been proposed by Bing.

The fact that the Daimoku is written as Nam-myoho-renge-kyo gives away the source of this. No academic discussion of Nichiren’s teaching (outside Nichiren Shoshu and Soka Gakkai) would fail to spell the Daimoku Namu myoho renqe kyo.

But it turns out you don’t get just one answer if you ask the same question. I did this search several times and one time — just one — I got this response:

Bing chat resultsSearching for: tendai teachings and nichiren doctrine
Generating answers for you…

Hello, this is Bing. I can help you compare and contrast Tendai teachings and Nichiren doctrine.

Tendai is a school of Buddhism that originated in China and was introduced to Japan by Saicho in the 9th century. It holds a comprehensive view of Buddhist doctrine and practice, incorporating elements from various schools such as Pure Land, Zen, True Word and Esoteric Buddhism . Tendai emphasizes the unification of the three truths (emptiness, conventional existence and the middle way), the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life (ichinen sanzen), and the Lotus Sutra as the supreme teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha.

Nichiren was a Japanese Tendai priest who lived in the 13th century. He studied all schools of Japanese Buddhism but came to believe that only the Lotus Sutra contained the complete and perfect teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha He also believed that the Buddha’s teachings had entered a time of degeneration (mappo) and that chanting the title of the Lotus Sutra (namu myoho renge kyo) was the only way to attain enlightenment and save oneself and others from disasters. He criticized other schools for deviating from the true teaching and faced persecution from both secular and religious authorities.

Some similarities between Tendai teachings and Nichiren doctrine are:

  • Both are based on T’ien-t’ai’s systematization of Buddhist teachings according to their depth, completeness and suitability for different capacities of people.
  • Both regard the Lotus Sutra as the highest expression of Shakyamuni Buddha’s wisdom
  • Both uphold ichinen sanzen as a core principle to explain how all phenomena are interrelated and how one can manifest Buddhahood in this lifetime

Some differences between Tendai teachings and Nichiren doctrine are:

  • Tendai is more eclectic and inclusive than Nichiren, accepting various methods of practice such as meditation, chanting Amitabha’s name, esoteric rituals etc.
  • Nichiren is more exclusive and radical than Tendai, rejecting any other sutras or practices than chanting namu myoho renqe kyo as invalid or even harmful.
  • Tendai is more academic and philosophical than Nichiren, focusing on doctrinal analysis and interpretation.
  • Nichiren is more practical and prophetic than Tendai, emphasizing direct experience and social action.

While there’s much to quibble with here, I would be thrilled if Bing gave that answer every time. Unfortunately, the majority of the results comparing and contrasting the Tendai and Nichiren schools were less than accurate for my taste. Still, it’s amazing that we’ve reached this point. I remember the early web and before that the text-only bulletin boards used to share information. You could not have imagined this back then.

Tendai Lotus

The Śrāvaka Teaching

Q: Why are they called Śrāvakas, or “voice-hearers”?

A: They hear the Buddha’s voice as he teaches; therefore they are called voice-hearers.

Q: There are many types of teachings taught by the Buddha’s voice. Which verbal teaching do they hear?

A: They hear the exposition of the teaching of the principle of the Four Noble Truths as arising and perishing.

Q: Which delusions are severed by hearing this verbal teaching?

A: The delusions of false views and attitudes are severed.

Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 17
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – March 7, 2023

Only you know that I [am qualified to] attain Bodhi
Because I heard [the Dharma].
I will expound the teachings of the Great Vehicle
And save all living beings from suffering.

These verses are sung to the Buddha by the eight-year-old daughter of the dragon-king Sāgara in Chapter Twelve of the Lotus Sūtra. She appeared before the congregation when called by the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī from whom she had been taught the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra. Most of those gathered did not believe that such a young creature, much less a female, could reach the same enlightenment as the Buddha. But then before their eyes, she made all the transformations necessary and began to teach the Wonderful Dharma herself.

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

LS32

Day 29

Day 29 covers all of Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.

Day 29 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered more ways in which World-Voice-Perceiver will save all living beings, we conclude Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.

His precepts out of his loving-kindness brace us up as thunderbolts.
His wishes out of his compassion are as wonderful as large clouds.
He pours the rain of the Dharma as sweet as nectar,
And extinguishes the fire of illusions.

Suppose you are in a law-court for a suit,
Or on a battlefield, and are seized with fear.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
All your enemies will flee away.

His wonderful voice [comes from] his perceiving the voice of the world.
It is like the voice of Brahman, like the sound of a tidal wave.
It excels all the other voices of the world.
Therefore, think of him constantly!

Do not doubt him even at a moment’s thought!
The Pure Saint World-Voice-Perceiver is reliable
When you suffer, and when you are confronted
With the calamity of death.

By all these merits, he sees
All living beings with his compassionate eyes.
The ocean of his accumulated merits is boundless.
Therefore, bow before him!

Thereupon Earth-Holding Bodhisattva rose from his seat, proceeded to the Buddha, and said to him:

“World-Honored One! Those who hear of his supernatural powers by which he opened the universal gate without hindrance, and which are expounded in this chapter of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva, know this, will be able to obtain not a few merits.”

When the Buddha expounded this chapter of the Universal Gate, the eighty-four thousand living beings in the congregation began to aspire for the unparalleled Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.

The Daily Dharma from Nov. 26, 2022, offers this:

His precepts out of his loving-kindness brace us up as thunderbolts.
His wishes out of his compassion are as wonderful as large clouds.
He pours the rain of the Dharma as sweet as nectar,
And extinguishes the fire of illusions.

The Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon, Kanzeon, Kuan Yin, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. This Bodhisattva is the embodiment of compassion. As we cultivate our own nature as Bodhisattvas, we find that the only thing that separates us from the happiness of others is our attachment and delusion. When we allow our compassion to grow, we come to see 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

Kern, d22b, Blog

Piety and Merits

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

Interesting differences emerge when comparing H. Kern’s Chapter 16, Of Piety, and the English translations of Chapter 17, The Variety of Merits, from Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra.

Senchu Murano offers this:

“Ajita! The good men or women who hear of my longevity of which I told you, and understand it by firm faith, will be able to see that I am expounding the Dharma on Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa, surrounded by great Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas. They also will be able to see that the ground of this Sahā-World is made of lapis lazuli, that the ground is even, that the eight roads are marked off by ropes of Jambunada gold, that the jeweled trees are standing in lines, and that the magnificent buildings are made of treasures. They also will be able to see that the Bodhisattvas are living in those buildings. They will be able to see all this because, know this, they have already understood [my longevity] by firm faith.”

Kern, on the other hand, sets up this understanding as a test. Those who see all of this pass the test.

And, Agita, as a test whether that young man or young lady of good family who hears this exposition of the duration of the Tathāgata’s life most decidedly believes in it may be deemed the following. They will behold me teaching the law here on the Gṛdhrakūṭa, surrounded by a host of Bodhisattvas, attended by a host of Bodhisattvas, in the center of the congregation of disciples. They will behold here my Buddha-field in the Sahā-world, consisting of lapis lazuli and forming a level plain; forming a checkered board of eight compartments with gold threads; set off with jewel trees. They will behold the towers that the Bodhisattvas use as their abodes. By this test, Agita, one may know if a young man or young lady of good family has a most decided belief.

Immediately following this Murano has:

Furthermore, the good men or women who do not speak ill of this sūtra but rejoice at hearing it after my extinction, should be considered, know this, to have already understood my longevity by firm faith. It is needless to say this of those who [not only rejoice at hearing this sūtra but also] read, recite and keep it. They also should be considered to be carrying me on their heads.

Kern has a comparable sentence:

Moreover, Agita, I declare that a young man of good family who, after the complete extinction of the Tathāgata, shall not reject, but joyfully accept this Dharmaparyāya when hearing it, that such a young man of good family also is earnest in his belief; far more one who keeps it in memory or reads it.

But then he adds this detail:

He who after collecting this Dharmaparyāya into a volume carries it on his shoulder carries the Tathāgata on his shoulder.

All of the other English translations of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra agree with Murano and lack Kern’s details. (See the earlier post, Shouldering the Buddha.)

Finally, Kern’s penchant for superfluous detail clouds his story. In this example, Murano’s translation from Kumārajīva contains more words than Kern but is more concise.

Murano offers:

Ajita! They need not build a stupa or a monastery in my honor, or make the four kinds of offerings’ to the Saṃgha because those who keep, read and recite this sūtra should be considered to have already built a stupa or a monastery or made offerings to the Saṃgha. They should be considered to have already erected a stupa of the seven treasures tall enough to reach the Heaven of Brahman, the upper part of the stupa being the smaller. They should be considered to have already equipped the stupa with streamers, canopies and jeweled bells, and enshrined my śarīras therein. They also should be considered to have already offered flowers, incense, necklaces, incense powder, incense applicable to the skin, incense to burn, drums, music, reed pipes, flutes, harps, various kinds of dances, and songs of praise sung with wonderful voices [to the stupa ] continuously for many thousands of billions of kalpas.

Kern offers:

Such a young man or young lady of good family, Agita, need make no Stūpas for me, nor monasteries; need not give to the congregation of monks medicaments for the worship of my relics Stūpas of seven precious substances reaching up to the Brahma-world in height, and with a circumference in proportion, with the umbrellas thereto belonging, with triumphal streamers, with tinkling bells and baskets; has shown manifold marks of respect to those Stūpas of relics with diverse celestial and earthly flowers, incense, perfumed garlands, ointments, powder, cloth, umbrellas, banners, flags, triumphal streamers, by various sweet, pleasant, clear-sounding tymbals and drums, by the tune, noise, sounds of musical instruments and castanets, by songs, nautch and dancing of different kinds, of many, innumerable kinds; has done those acts of worship during many, innumerable thousands of koṭis of Æons.

Next: A Very Complete Organ of Manhood

Tendai Lotus

Tripiṭaka vs. Mahāyāna

Q: What reality does this Tripiṭaka Teaching clarify?

A: It clarifies the reality of the Four Noble Truths as the actual arising and perishing of conditioned co-arising.

Q: For whose sake is this taught?

A: It is taught as correct for those of the Hinayāna and as marginal for instructing the Bodhisattvas.

Q: The Buddha first exposed [the doctrine of] the three vehicles within the Tripiṭaka Teaching. The Mahāyāna is the supreme teaching. Why is not the Mahāyāna presented as correct and the Hinayāna as marginal?

A: At the Deer Park the Buddha first preached the sermon on the Four Noble Truths. Five men, Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya and so forth, perceived the truth and realized the Path, and eighty thousand divine beings attained pure insight into the truth. However, since this was the attainment of the Hinayāna Path, there was not yet any attainment of the Mahāyāna. So the Hinayāna was taught as correct and the Mahāyāna as marginal.

Q: Who are the Hinayānist, and who are the Mahāyānists?

A: The Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas are the Hinayānists. The Bodhisattvas are the Mahāyānists.

Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 16-17