Sunday service at Shoeizan Enkyoji Buddhist Temple of Rochester
This morning I attended the 10am service at Shoeizan Enkyoji Buddhist Temple of Rochester. I was particularly interested in attending after learning that long-time Shami Kanyu Kroll had “retired,” leaving the sangha without a minister. But members of the sangha have stepped up and Sunday’s shindoku service was excellent. Shami Kroll’s decade of instruction clearly paid benefits in preparing the lay learders.
Sunday online service at Kannon Temple in Las Vegas
Then, in the afternoon, I was able to Zoom-in to the Nichiren Buddhist Kannon Temple of Nevada’s kito blessing service. The three-hour time difference worked in my favor. Since I missed the monthly purification ceremony in Sacramento, it was nice to be able to attend Rev. Shoda Kanai’s service.
Letchworth State Park, New York
Even managed to finish off the day with a trip to Letchworth State Park on the Genesee River. After touring the park and taking in the lush fall colors, I had an excellent dinner at Caroline’s in the Glen Irish Inn and returned to Rochester.
Having last month considered the fourth of the 10 beneficial effects of this sutra, we consider the fifth of the 10 beneficial effects of this sutra.
“O you of good intent! Fifth, this sutra’s unimaginable power for beneficial effect is this: Whether during or after the lifetime of a buddha, if there are men and women of good intent who accept, keep faith with, internalize, recite, and make records of this profound, peerless, all-ferrying Infinite Meanings Sutra, even though such people may be caught up in delusive worldly passions and are not yet able to rise above common daily affairs, they will nevertheless be able to manifest a great dynamic of enlightenment—lengthening one day into one hundred kalpas, and abbreviating one hundred kalpas into one day—thereby inspiring other living beings to become joyful and trusting. O you of good intent! These men and women of good intent will be just like a nāga’s child that, at the age of only seven days, is able to gather up the clouds and produce rain. O you of good intent! This is known as the inconceivable power of the fifth beneficial effect of this sutra.
To enter the room of the Tathāgata means to have great compassion.
To wear his robe means to be gentle and patient.
To sit on his seat means to see the voidness of all things.
Expound the Dharma only after you do these [three] things!
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. Our compassion leads us to engage with the world and benefit others. Cultivating our gentle and patient nature lets us live the peace everyone wants and show them how to obtain it. To see the voidness of things does not mean acting as if they don’t exist. We presume that things that do not exist forever do not exist at all. A wisp of smoke. A fleeting smile. The Buddha teaches that there is nothing permanent and self-existing. Only what is interdependent and changing truly exists.Only that which is connected with everything else truly exists.Nothing hinders us. Nothing opposes us. When we see the harmony in our changing existence, then we see the Buddha Dharma.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
