Lecture on the Lotus SutraEventually as our practice matures and we have many experiences in faith overcoming obstacles and making changes at the core of our life, our faith becomes more unshakable and it becomes more difficult to become discouraged. I say more difficult but we should never become complacent, as it is always possible to become sidetracked or discouraged. In fact if we take our faith and practice for granted it is most certain to happen. But indeed, over time our doubts do decrease as we accumulate a variety of experiences in our faith and practice. It is our intention to eventually create the kind of firm foundation of faith and practice of the Dharma that removes all of our doubts.
Category Archives: 800years
800 Years: Astray in a Dark Alley
Now we live in a Latter Age. People are not saints, astray in a dark alley leading to hell, and are forgetting all about the direct route to Buddhahood. How sad it is that no one awakens them! What a pity it is that only false faith grows rampant!
Risshō Ankoku-ron, Treatise on Spreading Peace Throughout the Country by Establishing the True Dharma, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 122
800 Years: Faith, Practice and Magic
In re-reading Nikkyō Niwano’s Buddhism for Today as part of a 34-week Rissho Kosei-Kai in North America (RKINA) advance course on the Threefold Lotus Sutra, I was struck by his description of Śāriputra’s realization at the start of Chapter 3, A Parable:
Śāriputra felt ecstatic with joy when he realized that there was an open gate for him to enter into the real enlightenment of the Buddha the instant he regarded the buddhas’ tactful ways themselves as valuable.
Buddhism for Today, p53
This is understanding by faith. We realize that a gate has been left open for us and we need only enter. Practice is then essential if we are to advance. Nikkyō Niwano stresses that this is not magic or superstition:
When a religion decays, it is likely to be rejected by thinking people because it teaches that one can be reborn in paradise by merely uttering a magic formula. If that were all, it would not be so bad; but sometimes it preaches that no matter what evil one does, one can be saved and go to paradise if only one buys a certain talisman. The real salvation of the Buddha is not such an easy matter. We cannot be saved until we not only learn the Buddha’s teachings but also practice them and elevate ourselves to the stage of making others happy by means of them. The Buddha’s teachings can be clearly understood by anyone and are consonant with reason and common sense; they are not a matter of magic or superstition.
Buddhism for Today, p54-55
Nikkyō Niwano goes on to make a strong argument for why being reborn in a heavenly realm is not a panacea. But the effect of that argument for me is to underscore the role of the protective heavenly deities and their “magical” intervention. Nikkyō Niwano writes:
The “heavenly beings” are beings who live in paradise. They seem to have no trouble or anxiety and so apparently have no need to listen to the teachings of the Buddha, but in fact that is not the case. As already mentioned, because the ideal way of human life is always to advance, not even heavenly beings can feel true joy unless they listen to the still higher teaching of the Buddha. They cannot truly feel joy unless they constantly practice good for the sake of the people who live in the Sahā-world. This is a distinctive and profound feature of Buddhism. To suppose that one can be free from care forever and lead an idle life once one has gone to paradise is a naïve and shallow belief.
Buddhism for Today, p55
I feel “thinking people” can leave open the possibility that one benefit of our Buddhist practice can be the unseen “magical” help from the deities who vowed to protect the keeper of the Lotus Sutra. (See Are the Gods Gone?)
British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke famously said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Perhaps the same can be said of any sufficiently advanced Buddhist practice.
Table of Contents Next Essay
800 Years: Promises
Each time as I cycle through the 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra (which, of course, is actually 34 days with the addition the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings and the Contemplation of Universal Sage) I am struck by the promises offered to everyone. This is especially true in Chapter 2.
“Any Śrāvaka or Bodhisattva
Who hears even a gāthā
Of this sūtra which I am to expound
Will undoubtedly become a Buddha.”
I believe it is these promises that have made the Lotus Sutra so important in Asia and why it translates so well as it is introduced to new readers. How can we not have faith?
Yet, some people won’t accept.
“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.”
But there is so much to believe that is made explicit in the Lotus Sutra. These promises don’t require a lifetime to accomplish or the endurance of painful ascetic practices.
“Anyone who rejoices at hearing the Dharma
And utters even a single word in praise of it
Should be considered to have already made offerings
To the past, present, and future Buddhas.
Such a person is rarely seen,
More rarely than the udumbara-flower.”
With enough faith to believe in the promise of the Lotus Sutra we can advance along the path.
“The boys who by playing drew
A picture of the Buddha
With a piece of grass or wood,
Or with a brush,
Or with the back of their fingernails,
Became able to accumulate merits one by one.
Having great compassion towards others,
They attained the enlightenment of the Buddha,
Taught only Bodhisattvas,
And saved many living beings.“Those who, without concentrating their minds,
Offered nothing but a flower to the picture of the Buddha,
Became able to see
Innumerable Buddhas one after another.”
Faith is not magical. We must act just as the children who lost their right mind needed first to believe the medicine would taste good and then take the medicine. We are promised a reward and all we are asked to do is practice and study.
“Those who do not study the Dharma
Cannot understand it.
You have already realized
The fact that the Buddhas, the World-Teachers, employ expedients,
According to the capacities of all living beings.
Know that, when you remove your doubts,
And when you have great joy,
You will become Buddhas!”
This final promise of Chapter 2 is a fitting end. As Ryusho Jeffus wrote in his Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:
“Chapter II ends telling us that when we are able to overcome our hurdle of doubt and when joy wells up from within our lives, then we are able to become Buddhas. That is my wish for you as you read this writing on the Lotus Sutra. I wish for you to be able to experience the great joy of the Lotus Sutra.”
Table of Contents Next Essay
800 Years: Confirming Faith Yourself
Spring WritingsTransmitting faith is confirming your own faith by yourself, and continuing to practice makes your faith deeper. It is based entirely on “the way of the Bodhisattva,” which means you should be severe on yourself and gentle with others. For example, a grandfather might chant and pray every day with his grandchildren and take them to the temple on certain occasions. Those are actions that plant the seed of faith, and are the transmitting of faith. Even though children may not understand the meaning of each action, they receive a Buddha-nature and a peaceful mind unconsciously by copying their grandfather’s behavior. The Lotus Sutra, Chapter II says, “The children who made the stupa (tower) of the Buddha with heaps of sand while playing, were able to accumulate merits and attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.” If the grandfather takes a rest from his daily routine because he is tired, the children will also learn to take a rest due to personal reasons. However, if the grandfather always keeps the same routine, without taking a rest, then the children will learn patience, perseverance and the gratification which comes from effort.
800 Years: Only When We Believe
Introduction to the Lotus SutraIn this story [in Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata], the physician, the children’s father, is compared to the Buddha, and the children are like us, ordinary people. The father’s fictitious death is like the Buddha’s entrance into Nirvana. The children suffering from poison means that our life is afflicted by various worldly desires, the most basic of which are called the “three poisons” (greed, anger, and ignorance). We who writhe in agony but reject the Buddha’s eternal existence, are like delirious children. Only when he has left us, and we have found no other remedy, will we accept the remedy which he has left behind for us to take. And only after we have taken it in faith, does he reveal himself to us in his glorious reality.
We can comprehend this as a theory, or understand in our minds what is meant by the Eternal Buddha, but still not have faith in him. We can understand Buddhism, but still not realize its power. Only when we believe in him, can we actually see the Buddha.
800 Years: Joy
Introduction to the Lotus SutraIn the … chapter, “Variety of Merits,” the teaching called the Five Stages of the Future was presented. The five stages consisted of joyful acceptance of the Sutra, reading it and reciting it, passing it on to others, practicing the Six Perfections, and mastering the Six Perfections. The first of these was joy. In this chapter, [The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra] joy appears once again. It speaks about the joy which one experiences upon grasping for the first time the significance of the Sutra. That moment of joy is decisive for one’s faith, and has an immeasurable impact on all one’s future activities. This is the main point of this chapter.
800 Years: The Benefits of Understanding by Faith
Introduction to the Lotus SutraSakyamuni describes the great merit to be gained from taking the first step, “Understanding by Faith in a Single Moment’s Thought.” He says that the merits which Bodhisattvas gain by practicing the five perfections (Paramitas), which consist of generosity, morality, patience, effort, and meditation, are indeed great. However, when compared to the benefits of Understanding by Faith in a Single Moment’s Thought, all those merits are not equal to a hundredth, a thousandth, a hundred thousand myriadth of a koti of the merits for Understanding by Faith in a Single Moment’s Thought. These five perfections are the same as the well-known “Six Perfections,” minus the sixth and culminating one, the Perfection of Wisdom. To have faith in a single moment’s thought when hearing the Buddha’s deepest teaching, even if it is just a tiny bit, is an incomparably precious venture of the heart. Its merit is equal to that of the Perfection Of Wisdom (which it achieves at one stroke). It is equal to the wisdom of the Buddha.
800 Years: Daimoku and faith
I received your letter, in which you said that you used to chant one chapter of the Lotus Sūtra each day, taking twenty-eight days to finish chanting it once; and that recently, however, you chant only the “Previous Life of the Medicine-King Bodhisattva” chapter each day. Then you asked: “Should I chant each chapter each day as I used to?”
You may chant the whole twenty-eight chapters, one chapter, one paragraph, one sentence or even one character of the Lotus Sūtra a day. Or, you may chant the daimoku, “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō,” just once in a day or once in your whole life. Even if you may never chant the daimoku yourself, you may rejoice at hearing others chant it just once in your whole life. Or you may rejoice with others who rejoice at hearing a voice chanting the daimoku. The joy of the daimoku chanting transmitted 50 times this way from person to person, will grow weaker steadily until in the last fiftieth person it will be as uncertain as the mind of a two- or three-year-old baby or as unpredictable as a horse or a cow, which cannot tell the difference between head and tail. Nevertheless, the merit of such people is one hundred thousand billion times greater than that of those whose wisdom is as great as Śāriputra, Maudgalyāyana, Mañjuśrī, and Maitreya, but put faith in sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra and memorize them all.
This is explained in the chapter on the “Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sūtra” of the Lotus Sūtra as well as in the 60-volume works of Grand Masters T’ien-t’ai and Miao-lê. The Lotus Sūtra states also that even the Buddha cannot measure the merit of those who put faith in even one character or sentence of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha has boundless wisdom; He can measure the amount of rain that has continued to fall for one or two weeks in the whole universe. Nevertheless, He cannot measure the merit of those who chant just one character or phrase of the Lotus Sūtra. How can we, sinners and the ignorant, measure this merit?
Regardless, very few people believe in the Lotus Sūtra, which is worthy of such great merit.
Gassui Gasho, A Letter on Menstruation, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 22-24
800 Years: The Journey to the Other Shore
Today, March 20, 2022, is the Spring Equinox. Three days before today and three days after Nichiren Buddhist practitioners consider the Six Paramitas and assess how well they have approached each perfection. In the middle of this seven-day practice, Nichiren churches pay homage to ancestors and loved ones who have passed away.
This week is called Higan, which translates literally as arriving at the other shore. For purposes of my 800 Years of Faith project, I want to use this opportunity to consider how practice and study make it possible to advance once we have our initial moment of faith.
The essential nature of practice is well illustrated by Nikkyō Niwano’s discussion of Buddhist fundamentals in Buddhism for Today:
Buddhism for Today, p26-27“[Śākyamuni taught three truths]: ‘All things are impermanent’ (Shogyō mujō), ‘Nothing has an ego’ (Shohō muga), and ‘Nirvana is quiescence’ (nehan jakujō). These three great truths are also called the Seal of the Three Laws (sambō-in). They are so important that they are said to be the three fundamental principles of Buddhism.
“However, an ordinary person cannot easily realize these three great truths. In order to do so, it is necessary for him to practice them and endeavor to achieve them in his daily life: he must practice the bodhisattva way with his mind, his body, and his actions. This means that he must devote himself to the practice of the doctrines of the Eightfold Path (hasshō-dō) and the Six Perfections (roku-haramitsu).
The need for study is underscored by the common misinterpretation of “Nirvana is quiescence.” As Nikkyō Niwano explains:
Buddhism for Today, p32“[The law that nirvana is quiescence] has been misunderstood because of misconstruing the word “nirvana.” Many people think nirvana is synonymous with death. The words “Śākyamuni Buddha entered nirvana” are ordinarily used to refer to the death of the Buddha. For this reason the law “Nirvana is quiescence” has been understood to refer to a paradise like the Pure Land of Amitābha Buddha, which in Pure Land Buddhism is believed to be our ideal destination after death.
“The Sanskrit word nirvāṇa has the negative meaning of ‘extinction’ or ‘annihilation.’ Therefore this word also means the state in which one’s body dies or disappears. At the same time, nirvana means the state reached by extinguishing all illusions, and this is the sense in which it is used in the teachings of the Buddha. In the true sense of the word, nirvana means the state attained by completely destroying all illusions and of never being tempted by them in the future. Therefore the words ‘Śākyamuni Buddha entered nirvana’ mean not his death but the enlightenment attained by him.
“The law ‘Nirvana is quiescence’ teaches us that we can completely extinguish all the sufferings of human life and obtain peace and quietude when we destroy all illusions. How can we reach this state? The only way is to realize the two laws ‘All things are impermanent’ and ‘Nothing has an ego.’ ”
With practice and study, faith will surely grow.
Table of Contents Next Essay