All posts by John Hughes

Higan: These Heroic Cultivators

Today is the fifth day of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:

For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.

The today we consider the Perfection of Energy. For this Spring Higan week I’m using Hsuan Hua‘s commentary on the Lotus Sutra in which he discusses Maitreya’s questions about what he sees in Chapter 1 after the Buddha illuminates 18,000 worlds in the east. (See this explanation.)

The Pāramitā of Vigor

These four lines praise the pāramitā of vigor. Maitreya said, “I also see Bodhisattvas / Advancing with heroic vigor, / Going far into the mountains / To contemplate the Buddha’s Path.” How vigorous are they? They study the Buddhadharma, foregoing meals and sleep. They are not like some people who go without eating but make up for it by sleeping more, thinking, “I haven’t eaten, so I can’t cultivate. I’ll sleep a little more instead.” When others are not sleeping, they are asleep. That is not heroic vigor. Those with heroic vigor will go without eating because they forget about food altogether. They do not deliberately refrain from eating to show others that they are cultivating. They simply forget about eating and sleeping; they forget about everything. What do they think of? They focus only on their cultivation and study of the Buddhadharma. These heroic cultivators often cultivate in remote mountains and valleys, investigating the principles of the Dharma there.

Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, pv2, p171-172

Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for March 21, 2025

“The Buddha assented to the appeal of the śramaṇeras, but it was twenty thousand kalpas afterwards that he expounded to the four kinds of devotees the sūtra of the Great Vehicle called Myōhō Renge Kyō, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’

“When the Buddha completed the expounding of Myōhō Renge Kyō, the sixteen śramaṇeras kept, recited and understood Myōhō Renge Kyō in order to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.

Lotus Sutra, Chapter 7

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Tao-sheng: Encouraging To Move Toward Speedy Enlightenment

All these teachings of the Buddhas are for the purpose of teaching Bodhisattvas. Śāriputra! Now I will explain this with a parable.

What the Buddha has said up to now is aimed at cutting off the doubts they harbor. Now he mentions those who have intelligence in order to get them to the [main] idea. Intelligence counters stupidity. It was said earlier that men of intelligence, when hearing parables, can have their minds awakened. By this statement, what was said before is further extended to encourage them to move toward a speedy enlightenment.

Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p205

Higan: The Practice of Bodhisattvas

Today is the Spring Equinox, the middle of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:

For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.

For this Spring Higan week I’m using Hsuan Hua‘s commentary on the Lotus Sutra in which he discusses Maitreya’s questions about what he sees in Chapter 1 after the Buddha illuminates 18,000 worlds in the east. (See this explanation.)

Maitreya Bodhisattva said, “I see in other lands / Bodhisattvas as many as Ganges’ sands, / Through various causes and conditions, / Seeking and cultivating the Buddha’s Path.” In our quest for the Buddha’s Path, we must do deeds that generate merit and virtue, and we must seek wisdom. Do not think you can attain Buddhahood easily. Look! These Bodhisattvas, numbering as many as the grains of sand in the Ganges, cultivated through various causes and conditions. What is meant by “various causes and conditions”? It means that these Bodhisattvas did many good deeds through which they accrued merit and virtue, cultivated many kinds of blessings and wisdom, and studied all the various Buddhadharmas. They did not seek the Buddha’s Path through just one kind of cause and condition.

Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, pv2, p260-261

Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for March 20, 2025

“Great-Power-Obtainer! What do you think of this? The Never-Despising Bodhisattva at that time was no one but myself. If I had not kept, read or recited Myōhō Renge Kyō or expounded Myōhō Renge Kyō to others in my previous existence, I should not have been able to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi so quickly. Because I kept, read and recited Myōhō Renge Kyō, and expounded Myōhō Renge Kyō to others under those past Buddhas, I attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi quickly.

Lotus Sutra, Chapter 20

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Tao-sheng: Casting Doubts

But [both the twelve hundred people and the two thousand people] are now quite perplexed because they have heard from you [the Dharma] which they had never heard before.

Formerly they lived on “three,” now they have to take “One.” Both are what the Sage has said, and so are contradictory to each other, Consequently they come to cast doubts on what they heard.

Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p204

Higan: The Patience of Bodhisattvas

Today is the third day of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:

For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.

The today we consider the Perfection of Patience. For this Spring Higan week I’m using Hsuan Hua‘s commentary on the Lotus Sutra in which he discusses Maitreya’s questions about what he sees in Chapter 1 after the Buddha illuminates 18,000 worlds in the east. (See this explanation.)

The following four lines of verse talk about the practice of patience. Sometimes I see Bodhisattvas / Becoming bhikṣus, / Living alone in quietude / And delighting in reciting sūtras. These monastics live alone in forests, valleys, or caves, where they may encounter malicious people or ferocious beasts. What does this have to do with patience? If spiteful people insult them or physically abuse them, the Bodhisattvas must endure it; if ferocious beasts bite them, they must also endure it and not be scared. They delight in reciting sūtras. According to the Vajra Sūtra, the merit gained from reciting the Vajra Sūtra is inconceivable.

Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, pv2, p270

Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for March 19, 2025

We did not know that we were your sons. Now we know that you do not grudge your wisdom to anyone. Although we were your sons then as we are now, we wished to hear only the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle. If we had aspired for the teaching of the Great Vehicle, you would have already expounded it to us. Now you expound only the One Vehicle in Myōhō Renge Kyō.

Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4

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Tao-sheng: Responding to Doubts

Thereupon Śāriputra said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One! Now my doubts are gone.

Insofar as one’s virtue is great, one’s concern [for others] is deep; when the Tao [one has achieved] is great, it extends to kingliness as well. Body-son, having already been inducted into the path of enlightenment, wants others with the same intention [to receive a prophecy] to share his profound understanding. Therefore. on behalf of twelve thousand people, he raises the question and addresses the Buddha. These voice hearers had no doubts before, but they harbor some now. They should be opened up and put forward first, and then explanations [responding to their doubts] can follow.

Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p204

Higan: The Acts of Kings

Today is the second day of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:

For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.

Today we consider the Perfection of Discipline. For this Spring Higan week I’m using Hsuan Hua‘s commentary on the Lotus Sutra in which he discusses Maitreya’s questions about what he sees in Chapter 1 after the Buddha illuminates 18,000 worlds in the east. (See this explanation.)

Maitreya continued, “Mañjuśrī, Bodhisattva Wonderful Virtue, I also see kings, not just one but many of them, traveling to Buddhalands.” Why did they go there? They wanted to visit the Buddhas for the sake of asking about the unsurpassed Path. Upon their request, the Buddhas taught them that everything in this world is unsatisfactory, empty, impermanent, and without intrinsic essence.

The poem “Moon over West River” says,

Wealth and honor are like a dream before dawn;
Success and fame are like a floating cloud;
Blood relations too are unreal,
For affection can turn into hatred.

Wealth and honor are as insubstantial as a dream at daybreak. Success and fame are like clouds drifting across the sky; they do not last. The current family relationships—the ties that bind father and son, elder and younger brothers, husband and wife—are also transitory. You may love someone and be very close to them, but as time goes by, love can turn into animosity.

Maitreya Bodhisattva continued, “They forsake their lands of pleasure, / Their palaces, ministers, and concubines, / Then shave their beards and hair / And clothe themselves in Dharma robes.” Having heard this teaching from the Buddhas, the kings, without further thought, gave away their lands and belongings, including their palaces made of treasures, their towers and pavilions made of agarwood and sandalwood, and their ministers and concubines. Why did they give them away? They gave them away so that they could become novices. As novices, they put on monastic robes. Their five-piece robes were called Dharma robes. …

Earlier verses talked about giving. The previous section describing kings entering monastic life represents the quest for the precepts. The kings arriving at the Buddhalands and requesting the precepts has to do with the pāramitā of precepts.

Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, pv2, p268-270