The Sutra of Queen Śrimālā of the Lion’s Roar, p52If there are living beings who believe in the Buddha’s words, they will have thoughts of permanence, of happiness, of self, and of purity. These are not contrary views but are correct views. Why? The Dharma body of the Tathāgata is the perfection of permanence, the perfection of happiness, the perfection of the substantial self, and the perfection of purity. Those who see the Dharma body of the Buddha in this way are said to see correctly. Those who see correctly are the true sons and daughters of the Buddha. They arise from the Buddha’s words, from the True Dharma, and from conversion to the Dharma, attaining the remaining benefits of the Dharma.
Monthly Archives: September 2024
Daily Dharma – Sept. 12, 2024
They will see the reality of all things.
Knowing the position [of this sūtra in the series of sūtras],
And the names and words [of this sūtra], according to the meanings of it,
They will expound [this sūtra] as they understand it.
The Buddha sings these verses to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. In our practice of the Wonderful Dharma, we may be able to enjoy the circumstances of being able to spend lots of time studying the Lotus Sūtra and the guidance given by our leader in this age of degeneration, Nichiren Shonin. But even if we do not have that luxury of time, as long as we remember how the Lotus Sūtra uses expedients to lead all beings to enlightenment, that the goal of this sūtra is not just to end suffering, we can teach it using our own capacities, however limited those may be. Each word of the sūtra is an embodiment of the Buddha. When we share these words with others, we share the Buddha.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 6
Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable
Having last month considered in gāthās the dangers of the burning house and the rich man’s pleas to save his children, we consider in gāthās the expedient the rich man used to get his children out of the burning house.
The rich man
Thought:
“They are ignorant.
My anxiety deepens
There is nothing pleasant
In this house.
But they are engrossed
In playing.
They do not listen to me.
They will be burned to death.”At the time
He thought of an expedient.
He said to them:
“I have many kinds of toys.
They are beautiful carts
Made of wonderful treasures.
They are sheep-carts, deer-carts,
And large bullock-carts.
They are outside the gate.
Come out!
I made those carts
For you.
Play with them
As you like!”Hearing of the carts from him,
They ran out,
Striving to be first,
And reached an open place.
They were now free
From the sufferings.Seeing them come out
Of the burning house
To the safe crossroad,
He sat on the lion-like seat,
And said to others with joy:
“I am happy.
These children are difficult to bring up.
They are young and ignorant.
They entered the dangerous house.
In that house were
Many poisonous vermin
And many dangerous mountain spirits.
Raging flames of big fires rose
From the four sides of the house
At the same time.
But my children were
Engrossed in playing.
Now I saved them
From the dangers.
Therefore, I am happy.”
Conditioned and Unconditioned Noble Truths
The Buddhist Feminine Ideal, p123The introduction of two kinds of noble truths indicates that the elimination of defilement by the three vehicles is only partial. Consequently, their spiritual realization is only Nirvāṇa with remainder. Their understanding of the noble truths is only conditioned, and not the ultimate wisdom of the unconditioned, which belongs only to the Buddha.
Among the conditioned and unconditioned noble truths, only one truth is the supreme truth, viz. the one unconditioned noble truth of the extinction of suffering, all other truths being implied and serving as means to comprehending the unconditioned. The extinction of suffering is identical with the elimination of beginningless ignorance, the last distinct characteristic which differentiates the mind of the Buddha from that of living beings.
Daily Dharma – Sept. 11, 2024
If you see what we have deep in our minds,
And assure us of our future Buddhahood,
We shall feel as cool and as refreshed
As if we were sprinkled with nectar.
Maudgalyāyana, Subhūti and Mahā-Kātyāyana sing these verses to the Buddha in Chapter Six of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha knows that our habits of thought and behavior have developed over many lifetimes. We cannot clear them away by ourselves. In the Lotus Sūtra, he assures many of his disciples personally of the certainty of their enlightenment. He shows that this universe has innumerable Buddhas, and tells all of us who hear this teaching that we too should be certain of our enlightenment. When we take the Buddha’s voice to heart, and release the grip we have on our fears, and open ourselves to the joy within ourselves and the world.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 5
Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable
Having last month considered Śāriputra’s future in gāthās, we consider the reaction of the great multitude to Śāriputra’s future Buddhahood.
At that time the great multitude included bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās and upāsikās, that is, the four kinds of devotees; and gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras and mahoragas. When they saw that Śāriputra was assured of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi by the Buddha, they danced with great joy. They took off their garments and offered them to the Buddha. Śakra-Devanam-Indra, the Brahman Heavenly-King, and innumerable other gods also offered their wonderful heavenly garments and the heavenly flowers of mandāravas and mahā-mandāravas to the Buddha. The heavenly garments, which had been released from the hands of the gods, whirled in the sky. The gods simultaneously made many thousands of millions of kinds of music in the sky, and caused many heavenly flowers to rain down.
They said, “The Buddha turned the first wheel of the Dharma at Varanasi a long time ago. Now he turns the wheel of the unsurpassed and greatest Dharma.”
Thereupon the gods, wishing to repeat what they had said, sang in gāthās:
The Buddha turned the wheel of the teaching of the Four Truths
At Varanasi a long time ago.
He taught that all things are composed of the five aggregates
And that they are subject to rise and extinction.Now he turns the wheel of the Dharma,
The most wonderful, unsurpassed, and greatest.
The Dharma is profound.
Few believe it.
So far we have heard
Many teachings of the World-Honored One.
But we have never heard
Such a profound, wonderful, and excellent teaching as this.
We are very glad to hear this
From the World-Honored One.Śāriputra, a man of great wisdom,
Was assured of his future Buddhahood.
We also shall be able
To become Buddhas,
And to receive
The highest and unsurpassed honor in the world.The Buddha expounds his enlightenment, difficult to understand,
With expedients according to the capacities of all living beings.
We obtained merits by the good karmas which we did
In this life of ours and in our previous existence.
We also obtained merits by seeing the Buddha.
May we attain the enlightenment of the Buddha by these merits!
Śrimālā: The One Noble Truth; The One Refuge
The Sutra of Queen Śrimālā of the Lion’s Roar, p47-48“O Lord, among these four noble truths, three are impermanent and one is permanent. Why? Because three of the [four] noble truths are conditioned. What is ‘conditioned’ is impermanent and what is ‘impermanent’ is false and deceptive in nature. What is ‘false and deceptive in nature’ is not true, is impermanent, and is not a refuge. Therefore, the [three] noble truths, namely, ‘there is suffering,’ ‘there is the source of suffering,’ and ‘there is the path,’ are not the supreme truth for they are neither permanent nor a refuge.”
“The one noble truth, namely, ‘the extinction of suffering,’ is separate from the conditioned. What is ‘separate from the conditioned’ is permanent. What is ‘permanent’ is not false and deceptive in nature. What is ‘not false and deceptive in nature’ is true, permanent, and a refuge. Therefore, the noble truth of the extinction [of suffering] is the supreme truth.”
Daily Dharma – Sept. 10, 2024
He will see only wonderful things in his dream.
He will dream:
‘Surrounded by bhikṣus,
The Tathāgatas are sitting
On the lion-like seats,
And expounding the Dharma.’
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra, speaking of those who keep and practice the Wonderful Dharma. Dreams for many of us can be frightening places. They can be where we relive bad situations in our past or develop fantastic scenarios for disasters in the future. When we accept our nature as Bodhisattvas, and live assured of our future enlightenment, we find that even the thoughts over which we have no control begin to harmonize with the world around us. When we learn to recognize the Buddha in our everyday lives, our old traumas become vehicles for compassion.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 4
Day 4 concludes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month considered why the Buddha decided to divide the One Vehicle into three, we consider
Śāriputra, know this!
Hearing the deep, pure, and wonderful voices
Of the Lion-Like Saints,
I joyfully called out, “Namo Buddhaya!”
I thought:
“I appeared in the defiled world.
Just like the other Buddhas,
I will expound the Dharma
According to the capacities of all living beings.”
Having thought this, I went to Varanasi,
And expounded the Dharma to the five bhikṣus
With expedients
Because the state of tranquil extinction of all things
Is inexplicable by words.
That was my first turning
Of the wheel of the Dharma.
Thus the words: Nirvana, Arhat, Dharma,
and Sangha
Came into existence.I said to them:
“For the past innumerable kalpas
I have been extolling the teaching of Nirvana
In order to eliminate the sufferings of birth and death.”Śāriputra, know this!
Then I saw many sons of mine,
Thousands of billions in number,
Seeking the enlightenment of the Buddha.
They came to me respectfully.
They had already heard
Expedient teachings
From the past Buddhas.I thought:
“I appeared in this world
In order to expound my wisdom.
Now is the time to do this.”Śāriputra, know this!
Men of dull capacity and of little wisdom cannot believe the Dharma.
Those who are attached to the appearances of things are arrogant.
They cannot believe it, either.I am now joyful and fearless.
I have laid aside all expedient teachings.
I will expound only unsurpassed enlightenment
To Bodhisattvas.The Bodhisattvas who hear the Dharma
Will be able to remove the mesh of doubts.
The twelve hundred Arhats also
Will become Buddhas.
The Daily Dharma offers this:
I am now joyful and fearless.
I have laid aside all expedient teachings.
I will expound only unsurpassed enlightenment
To Bodhisattvas.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. When the Buddha says he only teaches Bodhisattvas, he does not mean that he holds his highest teaching back from anybody. For us to be able to hear what the Buddha teaches, we must awaken our image of ourselves as Bodhisattvas who chose to come into this world of conflict and delusion. If we try to use the Buddha’s teaching to gratify our own delusions, we will only create more suffering. It is only when we set aside our habits of fear and doubt that we can gain wisdom through practicing the Wonderful Dharma.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Śrimālā: The Ultimate Refuge
The Sutra of Queen Śrimālā of the Lion’s Roar, p36-37“The Dharma is the path of the One Vehicle. The sangha is the assembly of the three vehicles. These two refuges are not the ultimate refuge. They are called ‘the partial refuge.’ Why? The Dharma of the path of the One Vehicle attains the absolute Dharma body. Furthermore, there can be no Dharma body other than that of the One Vehicle.
“The assembly of the three vehicles (the sangha), being afraid, seeks refuge in the Tathāgata. Those students who go out to practice turn toward supreme, complete enlightenment. Therefore, these two refuges are not the ultimate refuge but are limited refuges.
“If there are living beings who are subdued by the Tathāgata, they will seek refuge in the Tathāgata, attain the permeation of the Dharma, and will have faith and happiness, seeking refuge in the Dharma and Sangha. These two refuges, [however,] are not two refuges, for they seek refuge in the Tathāgata. Seeking refuge in the supreme truth is seeking refuge in the Tathāgata.
“The supreme truth of these two refuges is the ultimate refuge, the Tathāgata. Why? Because the Tathāgata is not different from the two refuges. The Tathāgata is identical with the three refuges. Why? Because of the path of the One Vehicle. The Tathāgata, who has perfected the four states of fearlessness, is the one who teaches with the lion’s roar. The Tathāgata, according to individual dispositions, teaches through skillful means. This is the Mahayana and not the three vehicles. The three vehicles enter the One Vehicle. The One Vehicle is the supreme vehicle.”