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].
All posts by John Hughes
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.
Vajra Sutra: No Dharma to Attain
The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, p140There actually is no dharma in the fruit position of the unsurpassed, proper and equal, right enlightenment which can be attained.
Why?
You personally cultivate and personally certify to the position. It is not obtained from outside, because basically you already have it. It is not that you become involved in external conditions or rely on external strength. The conditions and the strength are within you. You cultivate and you can attain. Of course to say you attain is just a manner of speaking, because basically you never lost anything in the first place so it is not possible for you to attain anything. Since it was that way for Śākyamuni Buddha, Burning Lamp Buddha gave him a prediction and a special name.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for April 7, 2025
If you wish to dwell in the enlightenment of the Buddha,
And to obtain the self-originating wisdom,
Make offerings strenuously to the keeper
Of Myōhō Renge Kyō!
Tao-sheng: The Wonderous Li of the Great Vehicle
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p212The cart was tall [high], wide and deep, adorned with many treasures [multitude of jewels], surrounded by railings [posts], and having bells hanging on the four sides. [Parasols and] a canopy adorned with rare treasures was fixed on the top of it. Garlands of flowers, tied with jeweled ropes, were hanging from the canopy. In the cart were quilts spread one on another, and a red [vermillion] pillow.
The statement that the carriages are adorned with a “multitude of jewels” is designed to demonstrate the wondrous li of the Greater Vehicle, which encompasses every kind of goodness that exists. With regard to “high and wide,” li surpasses empirical calculation: it is “high”; [it] fills up and covers the illimitable[wu-chi]: it is “wide.” Concerning “a multitude of jewels,” eighty-four thousand pāramitās in total are signified by a multitude of jewels. A multitude of jewels [surrounded by] posts and handrails analogize dhārāṇis. Little bells suspended on four sides symbolize four kinds of [unhindered] eloquent speech. Parasols and canopies symbolize compassion (karunā). Miscellaneous jewels refer to the jewels of the seven riches. Jeweled cords are comparable to the great vows (mahāpraṇidhāna); they connect [being] with all the goodness and wondrous fruits. Flowered tassels refer to the flowers of the seven enlightenment [factors]. Heaps of carpets decorated with strips of cloth refer to various kinds of meditation. Vermillion-colored cushions symbolize various meritorious virtues, and cushions [symbolize] mutual support.
Vajra Sutra: The King of Kalinga
The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, p114-118Long before in a former life, Śākyamuni Buddha had been a young cultivator practicing in the mountains about thirty miles from the capital city where the King of Kalinga held court. One day the king decided to go hunting and called together a party of soldiers, ministers, and officials to accompany him. To complete the party he summoned the most beautiful concubines in the palace. Actually he could not bear to part with his women for even the duration of a hunting trip. He found them a most pleasant pastime.
The hunting grounds on the mountain were very large, and the King of Kalinga immediately set out in pursuit of big game, leaving the timid women behind to entertain themselves. As the women strolled around on the mountain, they happened upon the young bhikṣu who was only eighteen or nineteen years old and quite handsome, despite the fact that his hair had grown long and his clothes were tattered. When they first spied him they thought he was a kind of weird creature or a man-eating beast, and they panicked. “Look,” they gasped, clutching one another, “there’s a wild animal that looks like a man!”
“I am not a wild animal, I am a cultivator of the Way,” the young man assured them.
When the concubines heard that the creature could talk their curiosity was aroused, and they edged closer to speak with him.
“What does it mean to ‘cultivate the Way’?” they asked, for they had never been outside the confines of the palace, and so had never heard of such a thing. The young cultivator spoke dharma for them. Seeing what they had never seen before, and hearing what they had never heard before, soon they were enthralled and forgot everything even who and where they were.
Meanwhile the King of Kalinga returned from his expedition to discover that his palace concubines had wandered away. He set out to find them. Eventually he caught sight of them gathered around the strange-looking man. The king, bent on discovering who the man was and what he was doing with the concubines, crept silently towards them like a spy on a secret mission. When he got close he paused, listened to the young cultivator speaking dharma, and realized that the concubines were so enraptured they had not noticed the arrival of their king. Whereupon the King of Kalinga cleared his throat and challenged the young man, “What are you doing here?”
“I am cultivating the Way,” replied the bhikṣu.
“Have you attained the fruit of Arhatship in your cultivation?” asked the king.
“No.” said the young cultivator, “I have not certified to Arhatship.”
“Have you attained the third stage?” continued the king.
“No,” said the bhikṣu, “I have not certified to the third fruit.”
“I have heard there are people who live in the mountains and by eating a certain kind of fruit they attain immortality, but they still are not free of greed and desire. They still have lust in their minds. You are so young and you haven’t certified to any of the fruits of the Way. Do you give rise to thoughts of lust?” asked the king.
“I have not cut it off,” replied the bhikṣu.
With that reply the King of Kalinga became enraged. “If you haven’t cut off lust, then when you see my… these women… you see them like this… how can you be patient with the lust which arises in your mind?” he challenged.
“Although I have not cut off lust, I do not give rise to lustful thoughts. In my cultivation I contemplate the nine kinds of impurities.”
“Ha!” spit back the king, “you cultivate the contemplation of impurities. You are a cheat! What proof do I have that you do not lust after my women? What proof that you can bear your thoughts of lust?”
“I bear them,” replied the bhikṣu. “I can bear anything.”
“Oh you can, can you? Well, we shall see about that. First I will cut off your ear.” The king unsheathed his glistening sword, took hold of the bhikṣu’s ear, and lopped it off. By that time the ministers and officials had gathered around to see what had caused such commotion. They looked at the young cultivator who appeared totally unmoved and without pain, and they pleaded with the king, “Great King, do not take your sword to him. He is a great master. He must be a Bodhisattva. You must not take your sword to him.”
“How do you know he is a Bodhisattva? How do you know?” demanded their king, bristling with jealousy.
“Look at him,” said the officials, “you cut off his ear and he did nothing. He has not even flushed. He just sits there as if nothing had happened.”
“How do you know that he feels as if nothing had happened? I wager in his mind he hates me. I shall try him out again.” He positioned his sword and neatly sliced off the bhikṣu’s nose. “Are you angry?”
“I am not angry,” replied the bhikṣu.
“You aren’t? It is more likely that you are a liar as well as a cheat. Perhaps you can cheat these women, but you can’t cheat me. I shall cut off your hand and see what you do. Can you bear it?” his voice shook as he brought down the sword again.
“It is all the same to me,” said the bhikṣu.
“All right, if it is all the same, then I shall cut off your other hand,” which he did, saying with barely controlled rage, “still not angry? Are you enraged yet?”
“No, I am not enraged,” said the bhikṣu.
“I don’t believe you. Nobody could stand to have both hands cut off and not get angry. You are certainly a freak,” he said as he cut off one of the bhikṣu’s legs. “Still not angry?”
The king chopped away at the other leg. “Angry?” he nearly screamed once more.
The maimed bhikṣu continued to sit as before, although now both his ears, his nose, both his hands and both legs were totally severed from his body. “I am not angry,” he said once again.
But by then the Four Great Heaven Kings were angry and cursing the king. They sent down a rain of hail stones the size of dumplings. The hail beat down so violently that a section of the mountain near the party fell away and went roaring down the slopes. The king froze with fear upon realizing his mistake. He knelt before the earless, noseless, handless, legless bhikṣu and begged forgiveness. “I was wrong, I was wrong,” he cried in terror. “Heaven is punishing me. Do not be angry, please do not be angry.”
“I have not become angry,” said the bhikṣu.
“That is not true,” cried the panic-stricken king. “If you are not angry, why is heaven punishing me?” He still thought the bhikṣu had called down a curse on him.
“I can prove that I have not become angry,” said the bhikṣu. “If I have, then the extremities of my body will not mend. But if I have not become angry, then my hands, legs, ears, and nose will grow hack the way they were.” No sooner had he finished speaking then his legs, hands, ears, and nose perfectly rejoined the trunk of his body. When he was whole again the bhikṣu made a solemn dedication to the king, “Upon realizing Buddhahood I will take you across first.”
Later when the young cultivator was reborn as a young prince who realized the Way and became Śākyamuni Buddha, he first went to the Deer Park to take across the former king of Kalinga, the Venerable Ājñātakauṇḍinya.
After hearing that account, some people may say, “I think I shall find a bhikṣu who practices patience in the mountains and cut off his ears, nose, hands, and legs. Then he will make the vow to take me across when he first realizes Buddhahood.” That plan would be fine if you were assured of meeting a cultivator with a compassionate, patient mind like Śākyamuni Buddha’s. However, if the cultivator gave rise to one thought of anger while you were slicing away at him, then you would fall into the unintermittent hells. So you had better think twice before attempting that method. Besides, you are not a king. If you were a king you might manage it.
Śākyamuni Buddha referred to his encounter with the King of Kalinga at that point in order to remind Subhūti that he understood the paramita of patience. “When the King of Kalinga dismembered my body, I had no mark of self, no mark of others, no mark of living beings and no mark of a life.”