Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p177“Sun-Moon-Light Buddha emerged from his samādhi, and expounded the sūtra of the Great Vehicle to Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva and others without rising from his seat for sixty small kalpas.”
What he preached at this particular time he was going to continue preaching for sixty kalpas. How can this be true? This time span is used [merely] to express the utmost respect for the Dharma.
All posts by John Hughes
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for Feb. 4, 2025
Just as the sea is larger than the rivers, Myōhō Renge Kyō is more profound than any of the other sūtras expounded by the Tathāgatas.
The Wonderful Dharma Lotus Sūtra
Beginning today I’m using a new translation of the Lotus Sūtra for my daily practice.
The Wonderful Dharma Lotus Sūtra was published in 2020 by the Buddhist Text Translation Society. The sūtra itself is volume 15 of a commentary on the Lotus Sūtra given by Hsuan Hua in San Francisco in a series of almost daily lectures between November 1968 and November 1970.
This elegant softcover edition, which was printed in Taiwan, has a gatefold cover. The front gatefold offers:
The Wonderful Dharma Lotus Sūtra (Sanskrit: Saddharma-puṇḍarīka Sūtra) presents the One Buddha Vehicle as Śākyamuni Buddha’s ultimate teaching and a unifying path that embraces and reconciles the variety of Buddhist doctrines as well as the provisional teachings of the Three Vehicles. Provisional and ultimate are shown to be nondual, and their nonduality epitomizes “the essence of things as they really are.” The sūtra also emphasizes that the potential for awakening is ever-present in sentient beings and declares that all of them will one day realize Buddhahood. Famous for its parables, the Lotus Sūtra demonstrates the countless skillful means (upāya) that Buddhas use to lead living beings to liberation.
The Buddhist Text Translation Society, the Dharma Realm Buddhist University and the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association hold the copyright for this translation.
The back cover gatefold offers this on the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association:
The Dharma Realm Buddhist Association (formerly the Sino-American Buddhist Association) was founded in 1959 by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua in the hopes of making the Buddha’s genuine teachings available throughout the world. To this end, it is committed to the translation and propagation of the Buddhist canon, the promotion of ethical and moral education, and the benefit of all living beings. For more information, please visit www.drba.org.
The back cover gatefold also offers this brief biography for Hsuan Hua:
Even as a child, the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua was a diligent cultivator, bowing to the Buddhas, his parents, and many other beings first thing in the morning and last thing at night. When his mother died, he sat by her grave for three years as an observance of filial respect. After that he left the home life under Venerable Master Changzhi and later received the transmission of the Weiyang Chan lineage from Venerable Master Hsu Yun (Xuyun), becoming its ninth patriarch. He went to Hong Kong in 1949 to propagate the Dharma there, and in 1962 brought the Buddha’s teaching to America, where he established the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, the Buddhist Text Translation Society, the International Translation Institute, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and many branch monasteries, and various educational institutes including Dharma Realm Buddhist University, Developing Virtue Secondary School, and Instilling Goodness Elementary School.
It is worth noting that while Hsuan Hua was a patriarch of the Weiyang Chan lineage, he did not limit himself strictly to chan teachings.
In Buddhism: A Brief Introduction, a book “Based on the Compassionate Teachings of the Venerable Tripitaka master Hsuan Huan,” Chan is described as having four distinguishing characteristics:
- It is not established by words,
- It is a special transmission outside the teachings,
- It directly points to the human mind,
- Through it, one sees one’s own nature and becomes a Buddha.
Chan is transmitted directly from one mind to another mind. Its teaching simply directs the individual to see one’s own inherent, true mind, referred to as “seeing the nature and returning to the source.” That is, the enlightened teacher, profoundly aware of the mind of his student, certifies that the student’s mind is indeed truly “awakened”. This is a direct certification, mind to mind, that can only be done by a Sage.
Buddhism: A Brief Introduction, p89-90
However, the Buddhism that Hsuan Hua brought to America was much more. His Buddhism incorporates the Vinaya School of the Theravada tradition, the “Secret School” – esoteric teaching of mantras – and what is described as “The Teaching (Scholastic) School.”
As explained in Buddhism: A Brief Introduction:
The Chan School exclusively investigates Chan (Dhyana or Zen) meditation. The Teaching School emphasizes scholastic inquiry, exegesis, lecturing sūtras and interpreting and expounding Dharma. The Vinaya School focuses on questions of ethics and cultivating moral self-discipline. Vinaya students strive to be “awesome, majestic, and pure in Vinaya, great models for the three realms of existence”. Then there is the Secret School. “Secret” means “no mutual knowing”. And finally, the Pure Land School teaches the exclusive mindfulness and recitation of “Na Mo A Mi To Fo” (‘Homage to Amitabha Buddha’) the “Vast Six Character Name”.
Some people say that Chan School is the highest of the five. Others claim that the Teaching School, or the Vinaya School, is highest. Cultivators of the Secret School say “The Secret School is supreme.” Practitioners of the Pure Land Dharma-door say, “The Pure Land Dharma door is first, it is superior.” Actually, all Dharmas are equal; there is no high or low. “Highest” is everyone’s own personal opinion; whatever school you like, you claim to be the highest.
Buddhism: A Brief Introduction, p117-118
For my purposes as a follower of Nichiren and his view of the primacy of the Lotus Sūtra and the efficacy of chanting the Daimoku, my favorite is, of course, the Teaching School. It is this aspect of Hsuan Hua’s Buddhism that has brought about this new translation of the sūtra and fourteen volumes of commentary of the The Wonderful Dharma Lotus Sūtra.
Tao-sheng: The 800 Disciples of Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p176“At that time there was a Bodhisattva called Wonderful-Light. He had eight hundred disciples.”
The eight hundred disciples are featured to indicate that it is not only now that Maitreya has sought advice from Mañjuśrī, but that in the past he also received instruction [from him] as his pupil. Now he has again become the one who inquires [about the portents]: he is bound to obtain enlightenment [this time].
The ‘Cloudy and Obscure’ Tale of a Past Life
Note: This is another in the monthly excerpts from “Tales of the Lotus Sutra.”
Buddhism in Practice, p437-438There was a certain monk–his name has been forgotten–who lived in a monastery in the eastern section of Qin commandery. [In residence at the monastery] was a young novice who could recite the Lotus Sūtra with extraordinary fluency, except for the fact that whenever he reached the two words, “cloudy and obscure” (ai-dai), in the “Medicinal Herbs” chapter, he would forget them no sooner than he was taught them. This must have happened well over a thousand times. Finally his master scolded him bitterly, saying, “You are able to learn to recite the entire sutra perfectly [from memory]. How is it that you can’t muster the concentration to memorize these two words?!”
That night the master dreamt of a Buddhist monk, who told him: “You should not blame this novice. In his previous life he lived in a village on the east side of this monastery, where he had the form of a laywoman. Basically she devoted herself to reciting the single scripture of the Lotus Sūtra. But at that time, silverfish had eaten away the two characters “cloudy and obscure” in the “Medicinal Herbs” chapter of the household copy of the Lotus. Thus the two characters were originally missing from the sūtra. [As a result], when in this present life the novice monk tries to learn the words anew, he cannot do it. The surname [of the family] is such and such, and this copy of the sūtra may still be found there. If you don’t believe my tale, you can go and verify it for yourself.”
The very next day the master went to the village and sought out the household. After introducing himself he said to the head of the family, “Do you have a special place for making offerings?” The man replied, “We do.” “What scriptures do you keep there?” he asked. To which the man replied, “We have a single copy of the Lotus Sūtra.” The master sent him to fetch it so that he might have a look. Sure enough, the two characters were missing from the “Medicinal Herbs” chapter. [The head of the house] went on to relate, “This is the scripture that the deceased spouse of our elder son kept devotedly while she was alive. Since she passed away it has been seventeen years now.”
As it turned out, the dates corresponded perfectly with the month and year of the novice’s gestation. No one knows where and when he died.
For comparison, see Priest Ezō of the Daigoji Temple
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for Feb. 3, 2025
If anyone keeps, reads, recites, expounds and copies even a gāthā of Myōhō Renge Kyō, and respects a copy of Myōhō Renge Kyō just as he respects me, and offers flowers, incense, necklaces, incense powder, incense applicable to the skin, incense to burn, canopies, banners, streamers, garments and music to it, or just joins his hands together respectfully towards it, Medicine-King, know this, he should be considered to have appeared in the world of men out of his compassion towards all living beings, although he already made offerings to ten billion Buddhas and fulfilled his great vow under those Buddhas in a previous existence.
Tao-sheng: Sun-Moon-Light Buddha’s Expounding Innumerable Teachings Sūtra
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p176“Thereupon the last Sun-Moon-Light Buddha expounded a Sūtra of the Great Vehicle called the ‘Innumerable Teachings, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’ “
This is cited now in order to corroborate that the present portents are identical with [those in the past].
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for Feb. 2, 2025
Expound Myōhō Renge Kyō to those
Who are not angry
But upright, gentle,
Compassionate
Towards all others,
And respectful to the Buddhas!
Tao-sheng: The Importance of the Eight Sons
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p176He had eight sons born to him before he renounced the world.
The reason why the eight sons appear is twofold. First, to prove what Mañjuśrī says about what happened in the remote past, namely, that he was none other than the master of Torch Burner (Dīpaṃkara), [that is, Fine Luster (Varaprabha)], and that Torch Burner was in turn the master of Śākyamuni. As such, there cannot be anything false in what Mañjuśrī has said. Second, speaking in reverse, [it suggests that] one’s longevity [makes one] gradually open up one’s eyes.
Reciting the Lotus Sutra in Shindoku
Today I began my monthlong recitation of the Lotus Sutra in shindoku. In my morning service, I play the recording for the chapter found here on my phone and follow along in the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of Greater New England’s Myoho Renge Kyo Romanized.
For the 10 previous years, I recited a portion of the Lotus Sutra in the morning and then read aloud the same section of the sutra in English in the evening. That was my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra practice. This year I decided to recite an entire chapter of the sutra in shindoku each day for the 28 days of February.
I will continue my 45-day cycle of reading aloud the Lotus Sutra in English in the evening.