The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, p177When the Vajra Sūtra tells you not to consider the Buddha as either sitting, lying, coming, or going, it is telling you not to make such distinctions. When you no longer make discriminations, your wisdom can appear. Your prajña will manifest in direct proportion to the degree you have cast out discriminations. In the minds of most people there are so many discriminations that they entirely fill the field of the eighth consciousness, which is basically pure, with filth and defilements. Once you are rid of all that garbage, your wisdom will appear.
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Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for April 12, 2025
Thereupon the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas as many as the particles of dust of one thousand worlds, who had sprung up from underground, joined their hands together towards the Buddha with all their hearts, looked up at his honorable face, and said to him:
“World-Honored One! After your extinction, we will expound Myōhō Renge Kyō in the worlds of the Buddhas of your replicas and also in the place from which you will pass away. Why is that? It is because we also wish to obtain this true, pure and great Dharma, to keep, read, recite, expound and copy Myōhō Renge Kyō, and to make offerings to Myōhō Renge Kyō.”
Tao-sheng: For the Purpose of Putting Forth the One Vehicle
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p213The Buddha said to Śāriputra: “So it is, so it is. It is just as you say. Śāriputra! The same can be said of me.
[The rest of the chapter up to the gāthās] following this sentence likewise can be divided into seven segments and it is conjoined by the preceding parable. The first four paragraphs deal directly with the internal meaning, so that they are conjoined by the preceding parable. The latter three paragraphs first speak of the parable externally, later to be conjoined by the internal sense. Why? The latter three first discuss the three carriages; next, the giving of a great carriage; and finally, the fact that it is not false. [The Buddha] set up this discourse for the purpose of putting forth the One Vehicle, of course. This intent regarding the One Vehicle is manifested in the latter three [paragraphs]. That is the reason why I have said that [the latter three] first speak of [the external], then conjoin it with [the internal sense]. The first four paragraphs are designed to complete the latter three and, therefore, are directly connected with the preceding parable.
Vajra Sutra: Recognizing the Buddha
The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, p168-169After having spoken the previous section of text, Śākyamuni Buddha realized people might have doubts and become attached to the mark of the Tathagata’s comings and goings. Therefore he said to Subhūti, “If someone were to say the Tathagata either comes or goes, either sits or lies down, that person would not understand the meaning of my teaching.” It seems as if the Tathagata, the Thus Come One, comes and goes but the coming and going is only illusory. Anyone who thinks he really comes or goes has failed to understand the principle the Buddha teaches. The Tathagata has no place from which he comes and no place to which he goes; therefore he is called the Thus Come One. That means the Buddha’s dharma body neither dwells nor does not dwell. It pervades all places. If it fills all places, from where could it come? Since it fills all places, to what place could it go? Therefore it is said not to dwell and not not to dwell.
If you understand the Buddhadharma, the mountains, rivers and great earth are all the Tathagata’s dharma body. If you do not understand, you see the Tathagata but do not recognize him. If you understand the Buddhadharma, you can recognize the Buddha without even having seen him, and once you recognize the Tathagata, it is very easy to rely on the dharma to cultivate. If you don’t recognize the Tathagata and do not even know what the Buddha is all about, how can you study the Buddha? To fail to recognize yet to proceed to study is called the blind leading the blind. If you are blind you may make a mistake and choose to follow someone who is also blind. Although your leader realizes that he himself is blind, he may want to be followed and so pretends he can see. The two of you then fumble along, running hither and yon, until eventually you both fall into the sea and are drowned. It is essential from the start to recognize the Buddhadharma and to understand how to cultivate. Then you can study.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for April 11, 2025
Never-Despising [Bodhisattva] met
Innumerable Buddhas after the end of his life.
He expounded Myōhō Renge Kyō,
And obtained innumerable merits,
He quickly attained the enlightenment of the Buddha
By these accumulated merits.
Tao-sheng: What They Have Gained
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p213World-Honored One! Even if he had not given them the smallest cart, he should not have been accused of falsehood because he thought at first, ‘I will cause them to get out with an expedient.’
And how much the more would it be true when [the elder] did not think of giving one big carriage in the beginning! The fact that now he has not given it is not contradictory to his earlier promise; how can it be false! How much the more would it be true when he gives them a great carriage! Thus what they have gained is great.
Vajra Sutra: A Dharma Without a Mark of Self, Others, Living Beings, or Life
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.
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.