Monthly Archives: July 2024

LS32

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.

Day 23 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, we consider the 800 merits of the eye.

With their pure eyes given by their parents, these good men or women will be able to see all the mountains, forests, rivers and oceans inside and outside the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, [each of which is composed of six regions] down to the Avici Hell and up to the Highest Heaven. They also will be able to see the living beings of those worlds, to know the karmas which those living beings are now doing and the region to which each of those living beings is destined to go by his karmas.”

Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

Listen! I will tell you of the merits
Of those who fearlessly expound
To the great multitude
This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

They will be able to obtain the excellent eyes
Adorned with eight hundred merits.
Their eyes will be pure
Because of this adornment.

With their eyes given by their parents,
They will be able to see Mt. Meru, Mt. Sumeru,
The Surrounding Iron Mountains,
And the other mountains,
And the forests, oceans and rivers
Inside and outside the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds.

They will be able to see the living beings
Of those worlds [each being composed of the six regions]
Down to the Avici Hell and up to the Highest Heaven.
Although they have not yet obtained heavenly eyes,
They will be able to see all this
With their natural eyes.

The Daily Dharma offers this:

They also will be able to see the living beings of those worlds, to know the karmas which those living beings are now doing and the region to which each of those living beings is destined to go by his karmas.

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 world of conflict and ignorance, we sometimes envy people who use force to get what they want. In this deluded state of mind, we believe that cruelty, violence and greed can make us happy. When we use the Buddha’s wisdom to see things for what we are, we realize the power that comes from patience, generosity, compassion and selflessness. We avoid the misery of self-importance, and find the peace that comes from being tied into this world rather than setting ourselves apart from it.

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

essentials

The Difference Between Dengyō Daishi and Nichiren

The difference of the tenets of Dengyō Daishi and Nichiren is seen in the treatment of the substance of the Lotus text. The Lotus doctrine assumes ten regions, ten thus-aspects and three realms. Dengyō Daishi lays importance on the principle of the realm of trace. The realm of trace treats only the nine regions, teaching the causal states of culture and therefore considering mind and thought as important factors of training, and finally attributing all the phenomenal worlds to the mere-ideation theory. The threefold view of one mind and the 3,000 worlds immanent in one thought-instant are taught minutely. According to the Nichiren School, the Tendai is too much inclined to the theoretical side of the Truth, thereby forgetting the practical side of it. Nichiren holds that the realm of origin teaches the effective state of enlightenment and the Buddha’s person is the center of Truth; the reality of the phenomenal worlds centers in the personality of the Buddha; and all aspirants should be guided to realize the Ideal-body of the Buddha.

The Lotus text reveals the original Buddha whose principle and practice are fully explained in the original portions of the text. What [Nichiren] holds important is the Buddha’s practice, not his principle. One who understands and practices the practical aspects of that Buddha is a devotee or realizer of the Lotus, just as the bodhisattva of supreme action (Viśiṣṭacāritra) is placed in the highest position in the text. The Buddhahood (perfect enlightenment) of such an adept will be immediate in this very body. The original Buddha was like the moon in the sky and all other Buddhas of the Wreath, of the Agama, of the Vaipulya (‘developed’), the Prajna (‘wisdom’), the Gold Light (Suvarnaprabhasa), the Sukhāvatī (Pure Land) and the Great Sun (Mahāvairocana) were all moons in various waters, and mere reflections of the one central moon. It is only a fool who would try to catch a reflected moon.

The Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy, p183
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – July 22, 2024

Anyone who keeps
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Should be considered to have given up his pure world and come here
Out of his compassion towards all living beings.

The Buddha declares these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. He reminds us that as Bodhisattvas, we are no longer concerned with getting into a paradise where all our desires are met. This also means that we were not sent into this world of conflict (Sahā) so that we could be tested to see whether we are worthy of getting into that paradise. Instead, we are Bodhisattvas, beings who through our great resolve to benefit all beings, have with great courage chosen to immerse ourselves in the misery of this world, because we know there is no other way to create benefit and lead all beings to the Buddha’s enlightenment.

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

LS32

Day 22

Day 22 covers all of Chapter 17, The Variety of Merits.

Day 22 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the reaction of the gods in heaven to the news of the Buddha’s longevity, we consider Maitreya’s reaction to the news of the Buddha’s longevity.

Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, joined his hands together towards the Buddha, and sang in gāthās:

You expounded a rare teaching.
I have never heard it before.
You have great powers.
The duration of your life is immeasurable.

Having heard from you that they were given
The various benefits of the Dharma,
The innumerable sons of yours
Were filled with joy.

Some of them reached the stage of irrevocability.
Some obtained dharanis, or eloquence without hindrance,
Or the all-holding formulas
For memorizing billions of repetitions of teachings.

Bodhisattvas as many as the particles of earth
Of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds obtained
The faculty of turning
The irrevocable wheel of the Dharma.

Bodhisattvas as many as the particles of earth
Of one million Sumeru-worlds obtained
The faculty of turning
The wheel of the pure Dharma.

Bodhisattvas as many as the particles of earth
Of one thousand Sumeru-worlds obtained
The faculty of attaining the enlightenment of the Buddha
After eight rebirths.

Bodhisattvas numbering four times or three times or twice
The number of the particles of earth of the four continents
Obtained the faculty of becoming Buddhas
After four, three or two rebirths respectfully.

Bodhisattvas as many as the particles of earth
Of the four continents obtained
The faculty of attaining the knowledge of all things
immediately after this life.

Having heard of your longevity,
They obtained these effects and rewards,
Pure, immeasurable, and without āsravas.
Having heard from you
Of the duration of your life,
Living beings as many as the particles of earth
Of eight Sumeru-worlds
Aspired for unsurpassed [enlightenment].

You expounded the teachings
Immeasurable and inconceivable,
And benefited living beings
As limitless as the sky.

The Daily Dharma offers this:

Having heard from you
Of the duration of your life,
Living beings as many as the particles of earth
Of eight Sumeru-worlds
Aspired for unsurpassed [enlightenment].

The Bodhisattva Maitreya sings these verses in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sutra. He describes the effect on all beings of the Buddha’s revealing his existence as the Ever-Present Śākyamuni. If we believed that the Buddha was just a man who lived 2500 years ago, we might think that we had to wait until another being became enlightened before we could follow them on the path to our own awakening. But with this understanding that the Buddha is always helping us, here and now, then we awaken our capacity to see things as they are and work confidently for the benefit of all beings.

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

essentials

The Personality of the Buddha

Just as the personality of Nichiren constitutes the Nichiren School, the essence of which is the Lotus formula ”Homage to the Lotus of Truth,” so it is the personality of the Buddha that constitutes the Lotus doctrine. The whole Lotus text may be a drama as Professor Kern imagined, but the Buddha is not only the hero in the play. The Buddha is also the organizer or proprietor of the drama. The Truth of the Lotus text is not an impersonal dead truth; it is the ideal, the Truth blooming, fragrant and bearing fruits as the lotus, the Truth active, the Truth embodied in the Buddha, the Truth-body, the Enlightenment itself, the Enlightened and Enlightenment and Enlightener all combined. So the real Buddha of the text is not that corporeal Buddha who got enlightened under the bodhi tree, preached for the first time at the Deer Park of Benares and entered Nirvana at the Sala grove of Kuśināgara at eighty-one years of age. He is the Buddha of immeasurable ages past, ever acting as the Enlightener. By enlightening all beings he exercises benevolence to all. Out of his mercy he teaches the doctrine of expediency. He is in reality the organizer of the drama, yet he himself acts as a hero in the play, leading all the dramatic personnel, even with some of the inferior characters who in time will be able to play a role. The three Vehicles, of course, as well as Devadatta the wicked and Naga the serpent maid, all come under the Buddha’s illumination. The world of illumination of the remote Buddha is called the ‘realm of origin’ and the world of illumination by the incarnate Buddha is called the ‘realm of trace.’ I used the word ‘realm’ but it does not mean a separate division or place. It simply indicates the ‘activity of the Buddha of original position’ or ‘that of the Buddha of trace-leaving manifestation. ‘Original position’ and ‘trace-manifestation’ are the problems long discussed in the Lotus schools and all center on the Buddha’s personality, a Buddhological question. When it is applied to the Lotus text, the question at the outset will be, “Which Buddha is revealing the Truth?”

The Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy, p181-182
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – July 21, 2024

Anyone who expounds this sūtra
Will be able to see me,
To see Many-Treasures Tathāgata,
And to see the Buddhas of my replicas.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. We can hear this teaching with an aspiration to see visions of Śākyamuni Buddha and other Buddhas. But we can also hear the Buddha’s promise that when we keep in mind his assurance that we and all beings have the capacity for enlightenment, we will see the world differently. We will start to interpret the actions of ourselves and others in a new light. We will see many more beings who are helping us to become enlightened, rather than beings who are frustrating our efforts at pursuing our selfish goals.

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

LS32

Day 21

Day 21 covers all of Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata.

Day 21 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the impact of the Buddha’s seemingly passing away, we consider the Buddha’s pure land.

The [perverted] people think:
“This world is in a great fire.
The end of the kalpa [of destruction] is coming.”
In reality this world of mine is peaceful.

It is filled with gods and men.
The gardens, forests and stately buildings
Are adorned with various treasures;
The jeweled trees have many flowers and fruits;
The living beings are enjoying themselves;
And the gods are beating heavenly drums,
Making various kinds of music,
And raining mandārava-flowers on the great multitude and me.

[This] pure world of mine is indestructible.
But the [perverted] people think:
“It is full of sorrow, fear, and other sufferings.
It will soon burn away.”

Because of their evil karmas,
These sinful people will not be able
To hear even the names of the Three Treasures
During asaṃkhya kalpas.

The Daily Dharma offers this:

The [perverted] people think:
“This world is in a great fire.
The end of the kalpa [of destruction] is coming.”
In reality this world of mine is peaceful.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Here he draws a stark contrast between how those caught in the web of delusion see the world and how things really are. The world is constantly changing. When we expect the world to be as we want it, rather than as it is, any change is frightening. We assume that the world is falling apart and will sweep us along in its demise. When we practice the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, we know that we and all beings will become enlightened. The change in the world is part of our practice. We know how it will turn out and there is no fear. Only peace.

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

essentials

Nichiren’s Lotus School

[Nichiren’s] study of ten years (1243-1253) on [Mount Hiei] convinced him that a revival of Tendai philosophy alone was the nearest approach to the Truth.

By Tendai philosophy Nichiren meant not what he found there at hand but what was taught by Dengyō Daishi himself. The original T’ien-T’ai of Chih-i was chiefly theoretical, whereas the Japanese Tendai of Dengyō Daishi was practical as well as theoretical. But after the two great masters, Jikaku and Chishō, the practical sides of Tendai were either mystic rituals or Amita faith; that seemed to them most important. The fundamental truth of the Lotus doctrine seemed to be laid aside as if it were a philosophical amusement. Nichiren could not accept this attitude and so returned in 1253 to his old monastery at Kiyozumi where he proclaimed his new doctrine that the Lotus alone could save the people of the depraved age, the essential formula being “Homage to the Text of the Lotus of the True Ideal.” It is Dharma-smriti (thought on Dharma) and not Buddha-smriti as was the Amita formula. Dharma is the ideal realized by the original Buddha. All beings are saved through homage to the Lotus of Truth, and this alone, he declared, is the true final message of the Buddha.

The Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy, p178-179
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – July 20, 2024

All of you, wise men!
Have no doubts about this!
Remove your doubts, have no more!
My words are true, not false.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. If we come to the Buddha, attached to our delusions and fearful of the potential for peace and joy we all have within us, it is easy to doubt what he says. We have been suffering a long time. Like the children playing in the burning house, we are so caught up in the drama and insanity of our world that we cannot imagine any other way to live. When the Buddha warns us of how dangerous it is to continue as we are, we are more certain of our familiar pain than of his enlightenment. When we trust the Buddha Dharma, and cultivate our potential to create unimaginable benefit in this world, then we realize the pettiness of the crises we create for ourselves. We awaken our curiosity and gratitude and learn to see this beautiful world

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

LS32

Day 20

Day 20 completes Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, and concludes the Fifth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 20 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered Maitreya’s plea for an explanation, we consider in gāthās Maitreya’s plea for an explanation.

Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

It is not long
Since you renounced the family of the Śākyas
And sat under the Bodhi-tree
Near Gaya.

These sons of yours are innumerable.
They have practiced
The way to Buddhahood for a long time.
They have supernatural powers and the power of wisdom.

They have studied the Way of Bodhisattvas well.
They are not defiled by worldliness
Just as the lotus-flower
Is not defiled by water.

They sprang up from underground,
And are now standing before you respectfully.
This is difficult to understand.
How can we believe this?

You attained enlightenment quite recently.
But you have done so many things.
Remove our doubts!
Explain all this as it is!

See Arising Out of the Dirt of Our Lives