Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p197I for the first time sat at the place of enlightenment[,]
[And attained enlightenment].
For three weeks afterwards,
I gazed on the tree,
Or walked about, thinking:
“The wisdom I obtained is
The most wonderful and excellent.
The living beings [of the six regions]
Are dull, attached to pleasures,
And blinded by stupidity.
How shall I save them?”The fact that for the first seven days [the Buddha] “beheld the
Tree,” means that he intended to express his desire to requite the favors [he had received]. That he “walked about” for the intermediate seven days means that as [the future Buddha], while walking around [in meditation], [he] perfected the Tao under the shady trees; these favors thereby must have been requited. For the final seven days, he meditated on how to ferry the multitudinous beings across [to the other shore]. [Then] the Brahmā king begged [the Buddha] to turn the Dharma [wheel]. Perceiving (or stimulated by) (kan) [this request] [the Buddha] gave him transformative instruction.
All posts by John Hughes
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for March 8, 2025
“Medicine-King, know this! Anyone who copies, keeps, reads and recites Myōhō Renge Kyō, makes offerings to Myōhō Renge Kyō, and expounds Myōhō Renge Kyō to others after my extinction, will be covered by my robe. He also will be protected by the present Buddhas of the other worlds. He will have the great power of truth, the power of vows, and the power of roots of good. Know this! He will live with me. I will pat him on the head.”
Tao-sheng: The Nature of Dharma
The Leading Teachers expound the Dharma with expedients
After realizing at the place of enlightenment:
“This is the abode of the Dharma and the position of the Dharma.
The reality of the world is permanently as it is.”This articulates what was said earlier, [namely, the passage] “know that the dharmas are ever without a nature of their own (svabhāva).” In this way, therefore, they came to “know that [the dharmas] are without a nature of their own.”
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for March 7, 2025
Some sons of mine are pure in heart, gentle and wise.
They have practiced the profound and wonderful teachings
Under innumerable Buddhas
[In their previous existence].
I will expound Myōhō Renge Kyō to them,
And assure them of their future Buddhahood, saying:
“You will attain the enlightenment of the Buddha
In your future lives.”Deep in their minds they are thinking of me,
And observing the pure precepts.
Therefore, they will be filled with joy
When they hear they will become Buddhas.
I know their minds.
Therefore, I will expound Myōhō Renge Kyō to them.
Tao-sheng: The Nondual Ultimate
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p196-197The Buddhas, the Most Honorable Bipeds,
Expound the One Vehicle because they know:
“All things are devoid of substantiality.
The seed of Buddhahood comes from dependent origination.”[This refers to] the doctrine of the [supreme or highest] emptiness suggesting that li is the nondual ultimate.
The Buddha provides the conditions (pratyaya) for li to arise. Now that li is not dual, how can it afford to be threefold? “For this reason they preach the One Vehicle.”
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for March 6, 2025
Brave-In-Giving Bodhisattva said to the Buddha:
“World-Honored One! I also will utter dhārānis in order to protect the person who reads, recites and keeps Myōhō Renge Kyō. If he keeps these dhārānis, this teacher of the Dharma will not have his weak points taken advantage of by any yakṣa, rākṣasa, pūtana, kṛtya, kumbhāṇḍa or hungry spirit.”
Tao-sheng: One Tiny Part of One Kind of Good Deed Accumulated
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p196Those who bowed to the image of the Buddha,
Or just joined their hands together towards it,
Or raised only one hand towards it,
Or bent their head a little towards it
And offered the bending to it,
Became able to see innumerable Buddhas one after another.What is shown in this and following paragraphs is that beings in the time of the past Buddhas planted the good seeds; one tiny part of one kind of good deed after another, they were all accumulated to perfect the Tao.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for March 5, 2025
Thereupon Medicine-King Bodhisattva-mahāsattva and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva-mahāsattva, together with their twenty-thousand attendants who were also Bodhisattvas, vowed to the Buddha:
“World-Honored One, do not worry! We will keep, read, recite and expound Myōhō Renge Kyō after your extinction. The living beings in the evil world after [your extinction] will have less roots of good, more arrogance, more greed for offerings of worldly things, and more roots of evil. It will be difficult to teach them because they will go away from emancipation. But we will patiently read, recite, keep, expound and copy Myōhō Renge Kyō, and make various offerings to Myōhō Renge Kyō. We will not spare even our lives [in doing all this].”
Myōhō Renge Kyō
Tao-sheng: Expedient Devices
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p196All those Great Saintly Masters
Who knew the deep desires
Of the gods, men, and other living beings
Of all the worlds,
Revealed the Highest Truth [Prime Meaning]
With various expedients.li is originally of the unspeakable [nature]. He has borrowed words to speak about it. They are called [expedient] devices (upāya). Again, the two vehicles are employed as [teaching] aids for transforming them (beings). They are called other [expedient] devices. The One Vehicle is so deep that it has to rely on them to be manifested. According to one theory, what was preached [by the Buddha] for forty-nine years belong to expedient devices. The subject of the present preaching, the Dharma Blossom (or Lotus), belongs to “other [expedient] devices.”
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for March 4, 2025
Just as Mt. Sumeru is the largest of all the mountains including Earth Mountains, Black Mountains, the Small Surrounding Iron Mountains, the Great Surrounding Iron Mountains, and the Ten Treasure Mountains, Myōhō Renge Kyō is above all the other sūtras.