Stone: Seeking Enlightenment in the Last Age, p53-54 of Part 2Nichiren consistently opposed any suggestion that enlightenment or ultimate truth or the Buddha land lies anywhere apart from oneself in the present moment. “There are not two lands, pure or impure in themselves,” he remarked. “The difference lies solely in the good or evil in our minds.” In this way, he saw the individual as fully responsible for his own enlightenment, a view that heavily influenced his position on another of the standard mappō issues—the question of ease versus difficulty of practice.
The daimoku, like the nembutsu, requires neither profound doctrinal understanding nor the institution of monastic life nor even the ability to read. Nichiren himself acknowledged the virtue of its extreme simplicity, which rendered it accessible to all people. However, unlike Hōnen, he rarely argued the authenticity of the daimoku on the basis of its ease of practice. Rather, looking beyond mere mechanical simplicity, he defined the practice of the daimoku as “diffcult.”
Here Nichiren applied to the daimoku the words of the Saddharma Puṇḍarīka, which describes itself as the teaching that is “the hardest to believe, the hardest to understand.” Nichiren analyzed this difficulty in several ways. First. he said, there is doctrinal difficulty; because the daimoku encompasses all truth within itself, it is infinitely profound and therefore “difficult to understand.” Second, he stressed the difficulty of propagation, which in the Final Dharma age invariably entails hardships and misunderstandings. The Lotus Sutra itself enumerates the persecutions that will befall its votaries in the “evil age”—prophecies borne out with almost uncanny accuracy in the lives of Nichiren and his disciples. Third, he warned against the difficulty of sustaining faith, for one’s deluded mind will attempt to thwart him in various ways as he advances in practice. Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, Nichiren emphasized the extreme difficulty of believing in one’s own Buddha nature. He wrote, “To believe that Buddhahood exists within Humanity (ninkai) is the most difficult thing of all.”
Monthly Archives: February 2024
Daily Dharma – Feb. 6, 2024
Those who read the Lotus Sutra, therefore, should not regard it as consisting of merely written words. The words are the mind of the Buddha.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, Wooden Statues or Portraits (Mokue Nizō Kaigen no Koto). Here he reminds us of how words affect each of us differently, and even the same person is affected differently in different parts of their life. If we become dogmatically fixed on a single meaning of the Buddha’s highest teaching, and do not continue to indulge our curiosity about the Buddha’s mind, we miss the point.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 25
Day 25 covers all of Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, and opens Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.
Having last month considered the Buddha’s reaction to the announcement by the Bodhisattvas from underground, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.
At that time the gods in the skies [of the worlds of the ten quarters] said loudly:
“There is a world called Sahā beyond a distance of many hundreds of thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas of worlds. In that world lives a Buddha called Śākyamuni. He is now expounding to Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas a sūtra of the Great Vehicle, called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’ Rejoice from the bottom of your hearts! Bow and make offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha!”
Having heard their voice from the skies, the living beings of those worlds joined their hands together towards the Sahā World, and said, “Namah Sakyamunaye Buddhaya, namah Sakyamunaye Buddhaya.” Then they strewed various flowers, various kinds of incense, various necklaces, streamers, canopies, personal ornaments, treasures, and other wonderful things to the Sahā-World from afar.
The strewn things came from the worlds of the ten quarters like gathering clouds and changed into a jeweled awning over the Sahā-World. The awning extended over the Buddhas staying in this world. At that time the worlds of the ten quarters became passable through each other without hindrance as if they had been a single Buddha-world.
The Last Age: Medicine Standing Too Long Upon the Shelf
Stone: Seeking Enlightenment in the Last Age, p52-53 of Part 2What did, in Nichiren’s estimation, make mappō a dark and evil era was stubborn adherence to provisional teachings no longer suited to the time or the people’s capacity. These fragmentary revelations of truth had been able to trigger full awakening in the people of the True and Counterfeit Dharma ages, who had cultivated the requisite capacity through their past practice. However, like medicine standing too long upon the shelf which loses its potency and turns poisonous, by the Final Dharma age, far from leading to enlightenment, these incomplete doctrines served only to compound people’s illusions and evil karma. Convinced of the essential non-duality of the individual and his objective world, Nichiren saw the disasters and upheavals of his age as an outward expression of widespread delusion arising from faith in these inferior teachings. He asserted that if people would instead embrace the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, awakening to their own Buddha nature, then the present world, just as it is, would become the Buddha land.
Daily Dharma – Feb. 5, 2024
Mind is called the spiritual aspect while voice is the physical aspect. Therefore the spiritual aspect reveals the physical aspect. But it is also possible to perceive the mind by listening to the voice. In this case, the physical aspect (voice) reveals the spiritual aspect (mind)
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, Wooden Statues or Portraits (Mokue Nizō Kaigen no Koto). This is one of the many instructions Nichiren gives us for how to read the Lotus Sūtra and find the wisdom of the Buddha within it. It is easy to understand how the intentions we have in our minds guide our words and actions. By cultivating the intention to benefit all beings, rather than just focusing on making ourselves happy, we mold our speech and actions to accord with that intention. Finding the mind behind the voice is more difficult. When we look for the Buddha speaking to us in all situations, especially those which are demanding, we bring ourselves closer to the Buddha’s own mind. We bring our speech and actions into harmony with 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
Day 24
Day 24 concludes Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, and closes the Sixth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month considered the eight hundred merits of the nose, we consider the twelve hundred merits of the tongue.
“Furthermore, Constant-Endeavor! The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this sūtra, will be able to obtain twelve hundred merits of the tongue. Anything which tastes good, bad, delicious, distasteful, bitter or astringent, will become as delicious as the nectar of heaven and not distasteful when it is put on their tongues. When they expound the Dharma to the great multitude with their tongues, they will be able to raise deep and wonderful voices, to cause their voices to reach the hearts of the great multitude so that the great multitude may be joyful and cheerful. Hearing their speeches given in good order by their deep and wonderful voices, Śakra, Brahman, and the other gods and goddesses will come and listen to them. In order to hear the Dharma, dragons, dragons’ daughters, gandharvas, gandharvas’ daughters, asuras, asuras’ daughters, garuḍas, garuḍas’ daughters, kiṃnaras, kiṃnaras’ daughters, mahoragas, and mahoragas’ daughters also will come to them, respect them, and make offerings to them. Bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, and upāsikās; and kings, princes, ministers, and their attendants [also will come and hear the Dharma]. The wheel-turning[holy-]kings of small [countries], and the wheel-turning-[holy-]kings of great [countries, each of whom has the] seven treasures and one thousand children, also will come with their [treasures, children and] internal and external retinues, riding in their [movable] palaces, and hear the Dharma. These [good men or women, that is,] Bodhisattvas will expound the Dharma so well that the brahmanas, householders, and people of their country will, throughout their lives, attend on them, and make offering to them. The Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas also will wish to them. [These good men or women] will expound the Dharma in the places which the Buddhas will face. They will keep all the teaching of the Buddhas and raise deep and wonderful voices of the Dharma.”
The Daily Dharma offers this:
Anything which tastes good, bad, delicious, distasteful, bitter or astringent, will become as delicious as the nectar of heaven and not distasteful when it is put on their tongues.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. In our habitual pursuit of pleasure, we often forget that what is pleasant to some people is irritating to others. This is most obvious with food. Flavors that some find delicious others find disgusting. When we understand that the things in the world are not the cause of our happiness or misery, and that our minds affect how we perceive the world, we find more joy and wonder than we thought possible, and no longer depend on this capricious existence for our happiness.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Last Age: Sowing, Maturing and Harvesting in a Single Moment
Stone: Seeking Enlightenment in the Last Age, p51-52 of Part 2In Nichiren’s teaching, the entire process of sowing, maturing and harvesting concludes in the moment of chanting the daimoku, the act by which one “simultaneously makes the cause and receives the effect of Buddhahood.” Or, if enlightenment is viewed as a process, one reaps the harvest of emancipation within this single lifetime. Those born in the True and Counterfeit Dharma ages, Nichiren taught, could attain Buddhahood through traditional disciplines, but these in general demanded practice spanning many cycles of birth and death. On the other hand, those born in the time of mappo cannot attain Buddhahood through such disciplines, but by chanting Namu-myōhōrengekyō-kyō, they can become Buddhas in this very lifetime.
Thus for Nichiren, birth in the Final Dharma age is ultimately a matter for rejoicing. “What joy to have been born in mappō, and to have shared in the propagation [of the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra)!” he exclaims. “To be a common mortal seeking the Way in this Final Dharma age is better than being a mighty ruler during the two thousand years of the True and Counterfeit Dharma ages. Rather than be abbot of the Tendai sect, it is better to be a leper who chants Namu- myōhō-rengekyō-kyō.” And, “I rejoice at whatever good fortune enabled me to be born in the fifth five-hundred years. When one compares the rewards of living in the three different periods, it is clear that mine surpass not only those of Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu but those of T’ien-t’ai (Chih-i) and Dengyō.” Similar expressions of joy and gratitude abound in his writings, contrasting sharply with the gloom of conventional mappō thought. For Nichiren, mappō was defined not in terms of its depravity, but in terms of the relationship between the people and the Dharma. From one perspective, he taught that the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra is the correct practice for people in the Final Dharma age, but more fundamentally, he held the Final Dharma age to be significant because that is the time when the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra—the seed for the direct attainment of Buddhahood—shall spread.
Daily Dharma – Feb. 4, 2024
Star-King-Flower! Strew blue lotus flowers and a bowlful of powdered incense to the person who keeps this sūtra when you see him! After strewing these things [to him], you should think, ‘Before long he will collect grass [for his seat], sit at the place of enlightenment, and defeat the army of Māra. He will blow the conch-shell horn of the Dharma, beat the drum of the great Dharma, and save all living beings from the ocean of old age, disease and death.’
The Buddha gives this explanation to Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Three of the Lotus Sūtra. Māra is the deity who creates confusion and delusion in the world. His army consists of those who reinforce these delusions and reward those who share them. Such rewards do not benefit those who receive them. They only serve to produce fear and attachment which creates misery in the world. With our practice of this Lotus Sūtra, we learn to recognize delusion for what it is, and reject the superficial benefits that come with it.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 23
Day 23 covers all of Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, and opens Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.
Having last month compared the merits of the great almsgiver to the merit of the fiftieth person who rejoices at hearing even a gāthā of this Sūtra, we consider merits of those who lead others to hear the Lotus Sutra.
“Furthermore, Ajita! Anyone who goes to a monastery in order to hear this sūtra and hears it even for a moment while he is sitting or standing, in his next life will be able to go up to the palace of heaven, riding in a beautiful and wonderful elephant-cart or horse-cart or in a palanquin of wonderful treasure by his merits. Anyone who, while sitting in the place of the expounding of the Dharma, persuades another per on to it down or shares his seat with him to hear [the Dharma] when he sees him coming to the place, in his next life by his merits, will be able to obtain the seal of King Sakra, of the Brahman Heavenly-King or of a wheel-turning-holy-king.
“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, yell w, 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. He will be able to see the Buddhas, hear the Dharma from them, and receive their teachings by faith throughout his future existences.
“Ajita, look! The merits of the person who causes even a single man to go and hear the Dharma are so many. It is needless to speak of the merits of the person who hears [this sūtra] with all his heart, reads it, recites it, expounds it to the great multitude, and acts according to its teachings.
The Daily Dharma offers this:
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 causes him to hear it even for a moment, in his next life by his merits, will be able to live with the Bodhisattvas who obtain dhāraṇīs.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Maitreya (whom he calls Ajita – Invincible) in Chapter Eighteen of the Lotus Sutra. The dhāraṇīs are promises made by Bodhisattvas to protect those who keep and practice the Lotus Sūtra. They are included in the sūtra so that we can use them to remind these Bodhisattvas, and ourselves, of the protection we enjoy from our practice. This protection is not just meant for us. It is for all beings. When we share the teaching of the Wonderful Dharma with others, we help them become aware of their potential to become enlightened.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Reading the Lotus Sutra with Embedded Annotations
One of my New Year’s goals for 2024 is to divide the text of the 28 chapters of the Lotus Sutra into 365 roughly equal portions and provide a commentary taken from the Daily Dharma or from the many quotes from books I’ve posted here. If successful, I’ll publish these daily in 2025.
To that end, I’ve embedded more than 2100 links in the text of the Lotus Sutra. This has become The Lotus Sutra with Annotations. (The text of the Lotus Sutra without annotations is still available.)
The The Lotus Sutra with Annotations replaces my separate commentary divided among the 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra practice. If nothing else, this will immediately speed my daily 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra posts.
Some trivia about this links:
When you compare each of the eight fascicles, Fascicle Five – Chapter 12, Devadatta; Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra; Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices; and Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground – has the most links, 332; followed by Fascicle Four – Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples; 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; Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma; Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures – with 319 links.
Among individual chapters, Chapter 2, Expedients has the most links, with 178, followed by Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata, with 125 links. The fewest links are found in Chapter 26, Dhāraṇīs, with 29 links, followed by Chapter 24, Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, with 38 links.
The most commented upon topic is “They had lived in the sky below this Sahā-World,” which has 32 links. The next most linked section is the decision of the rich man to give his sons who escaped the burning house the large carts, with 29 links.