The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, p161-162Wishing to speak in greater detail, Sakyamuni Buddha said to Subhūti, “There is nothing higher than this dharma, and there is nothing lower.” Therefore it is called Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Although it is called the unsurpassed, proper and equal, right enlightenment, it is a dharma without a mark of self, of others, of living beings, or of a life. It is devoid of attachment to self, attachment to phenomena, and attachment to emptiness. You must cultivate wholesome practices and abstain from practicing unwholesome deeds. So it is said:
I vow to cut off all evil.
I vow to do all good.
I vow to save all living beings.If you cut off evil and cultivate good, your good roots will increase and grow. By cultivating good practices you naturally obtain unsurpassed, proper and equal, right enlightenment.
Monthly Archives: April 2025
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for April 10, 2025
Anyone who keeps, reads and recites Myōhō Renge Kyō [after your extinction], will be able to see me with such joy that he will make more efforts. Because he sees me, he will be able to obtain samadhis and a set of dhārāṇis. The set of dhārāṇis will be the dhārāṇis by which he can memorize repetitions of teachings, the dhārāṇis by which he can memorize hundreds of thousands of billions of repetitions of teachings, and the dhārāṇis by which he can understand the expediency of the voice of the Dharma.
Tao-sheng: The Great Munificence of the Buddha
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p213Śāriputra said: “No, World-Honored One! He saved his children from the fire and caused them to survive. [Even if he had not given them anything,] he should not have been accused of falsehood because the children should be considered to have already been given the toys [they had wished to have] when they survived. He saved them from the burning house with the expedient.
The reason why it is not false is explained here. [Even] if [the Buddha] from the beginning really wanted to give them the three vehicles, but did not give them, he would still not [be guilty of] falsehood. “For what reason is that so?” [The Buddha] “has enabled them to preserve wholly” the wisdom-“life.” Such munificence [shown by the Buddha] is very great, sufficient to make up for and neutralize what would otherwise be false. So, how can there be any falsehood?
Vajra Sutra: The Priceless Gem Within Your Clothing
The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, p159-160After the Buddha had said that living beings were not living beings and not not living beings, Subhūti asked, “In attaining the unsurpassed, proper and equal, right enlightenment, the one resultant dharma of Buddhahood, there is not even the slightest dharma to be attained. Therefore it is called Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.” That is merely a false name, nothing more. There is no actual substance which one can point to and say, “That is Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.” Why is there not even the smallest dharma which can be attained? The principle was discussed before: if you want to know if something is attainable, you first must know if it has been lost. If it was certain that Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi had been lost, then you could retrieve it. But basically you have not lost it. It is what you have always had your basic nature. “In your clothing is a priceless gem, do not further seek outside.” Do not go outside in search of anything. The priceless gem is within your clothing. Cut open your clothing and you will see it.
Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, the unsurpassed, proper and equal, right enlightenment, is a special name for the perfect, full Buddha-fruit. Your Buddha-fruit is certainly not something that can be attained from outside. That which is called Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi also does not come from outside. It is what you have always had: your inherent family treasure. The riches are within your own household. If you turn away and seek outside you will be abandoning what you have had all along. You will not find anything that way.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for April 9, 2025
A Bodhisattva will be peaceful,
And free from timidity
If he stays in a quiet room
For some time,
Recollects the Dharma correctly,
Understands the Dharma
According to the meanings of it,
And then emerges
From his dhyāna-concentration,
And leads kings, princes,
Common people and brahmanas
By expounding Myōhō Renge Kyō to them.Mañjuśrī, all this is the first set of things
That the Bodhisattva should do
Before he expounds Myōhō Renge Kyō
In the world after [my extinction].
Tao-sheng: Giving One Big Carriage
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p213Śāriputra! What do you think of this? Do you think that the rich man was guilty of falsehood when he gave his children the large carts of treasures?
This is the seventh segment. He promised earlier to give them three carriages; now he gives them one [big carriage]. What has turned out is contradictory to the earlier promise, making it look like a false [promise]. Thus, conversely, [the Buddha] asks Body-son [Śāriputra] indicating that it is not false.
Vajra Sutra: All Dharma Are Buddhadharmas
The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, p141-142Actually there is not the slightest dharma which can be attained. There is no dharma of unsurpassed, proper and equal, right enlightenment which the Buddha can attain. …
If you force it and say that the Tathagata attains something called Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, that Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi is neither true nor false. Being neither true nor false, it is the final meaning of the Middle Way; it is real mark prajña.
Therefore the Tathagata says that although there is no dharma which can be attained, yet all dharma are Buddhadharmas. There is nothing outside the Buddhadharma. Therefore all teachings are Buddhist. They do not go beyond the Buddha’s teaching, because the Buddha’s teaching contains all things. Buddhadharma is the totality of the dharma. Buddhism is the totality of all other teachings. All schools and teachings are born from within the Buddha’s teaching. Since they are all born from Buddhism, in the future they will again return to Buddhism. Therefore it is unnecessary to ask to what religion a person belongs. No matter what school, or sect, or teaching, or religion one believes none goes beyond Buddhism. The essential point is to have faith in something. Then although you may believe various teachings, switching back and forth from this one to that one, in the end you will certainly return to Buddhism. The Buddhadharma is that great. Although it says there is no dharma which can be attained, nonetheless there is not one dharma which is not the Buddhadharma. And since the Buddhadharma is ultimately unattainable, how could a single dharma be attained?
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for April 8, 2025
“Ajita! Anyone who goes to a monastery in order to hear Myōhō Renge Kyō and hears Myōhō Renge Kyō 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.
Tao-sheng: The Symbolism of the White Ox
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p212The cart was yoked with white bullocks. The color of the skin of the white bullocks was bright; their build, beautiful and stout; and their pace, regular. They could run as swift as [fleet like] the wind. The cart was guarded by many attendants. [This great rich man gave one of these carts to each of his children] [What is the reason?] because his wealth was so immeasurable that his various storehouses were full [of treasures].
The dustless purity of the Buddha’s six supernatural powers (abhijñā) is what a white ox symbolizes. [The Buddha] is utterly pure inside and outside: that is the implication of skin is pure white. li is wondrous and all encompassing: it is what his bodily form is lovely implies. There is nothing that it cannot break: [it has] “great muscular strength.” Moving forward toward the middle path is what its tread is even means. There is nothing that it cannot destroy or reach: it is “fleet like the wind.” Applying and propagating the teaching of the Greater [Vehicle] and entrance into [the cycle of] the five ways of existence (gatis) is the intended meaning of the yoke. The phrase that [this ox] has many attendants illustrates that those who attend to [the Buddha] who teaches practitioners are gathered [as many in number] as the trees in the woods. [The paragraph including] “What is the reason?” explains the reason why he intends to give [the doctrine] equally to them.
The Singing Monk
Note: This is another in the monthly excerpts from “Tales of the Lotus Sutra.”
Buddhism in Practice, p440The Buddhist monk Sengding. Nothing is known of his background, but he lived at Chanjing Monastery in Jiangyang and recited the Lotus Sūtra [as his regular practice]. He had a particular love of popular song, which he was at an utter loss to restrain. As a result, he was given to the habit of dissipating himself in the dusty and vulgar world [of Jiangyang nightlife] . However, whenever he did so, [his devotion was such that] divine youths would regularly manifest (gan) and come to his assistance.
Sometimes when he had passed out blind drunk, his dharma robe cast off [in a heap] from his body, [he would awaken to find that the robe had] spontaneously pleated and folded itself and that covers had been drawn over him, properly concealing his body. If his robe had become soiled with mud when he took it off, in the twinkle of an eye it was washed clean. As he picked it up to put it on, he would find it to be impregnated with a rare and pure fragrance that lingered for a long time [without fading]. On other occasions, the water [in the vessels for offering] automatically replenished itself. Or the floor [of his chamber] always appeared cleanly swept.
One time while Ding was drooling away in a drunken stupor, he awoke suddenly to find divine deva youths standing before him. His whole body was damp with saliva. He felt immediately humbled, and from then on he regarded observance of the precepts with the highest esteem. No one knows where or how he ended his days.