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800years, Universal Sage, Blog

800 Years: The Blossoming of Faith

Much of my discussion of faith and the Lotus Sutra this year has involved little more pulling quotes from books I’ve read and splicing them together with my observations. The goal has been to use the books I’ve studied in order to recall and relearn aspects of faith and practice. As I said at the start, “I have done this to perfume my own mind.”

Here’s an example. In all my times through the Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage I didn’t understand the symbolism until I read Nikkyō Niwano, Buddhism for Today:

“Another description reads: ‘On the trunk of the elephant there is a flower, and its stalk is the color of a red pearl. That golden flower is still a bud and has not yet blossomed.’ This symbolizes the state in which one’s faith is not perfect, like a flower bud, and in which one has not yet attained enlightenment. However, if one is aware of this state, further repents his sins, and pursues wholeheartedly the bodhisattva practice, he will be able to see the flower of faith instantly blossom and shine with a golden color.”

Buddhism for Today, p429

Looking at the text in this light allows real appreciation. The same is true for this quote about how our Buddha nature revealed by the Lotus Sutra is a gem cherished in the Contemplation of Universal Sage:

“Immediately after it is mined, a gemstone is covered with mud and does not display its true brilliance. It does not disclose its nature as an invaluable gem until the mud is washed off. Washing the mud from the gem is like the first stage of repentance. The surface of our buddha-nature is covered with various illusions acquired in the course of our daily lives. Through repentance we remove such illusions from our buddha-nature, just as water washes the mud from a precious stone.

“Repentance toward others is the first stage of repentance. We must pass through this stage, but as our faith deepens, eventually we come to repent all our sins directly toward the Buddha. We examine ourselves as being imperfect and mistaken, study the Buddha’s teachings more deeply, meditate on Buddhist doctrines, and elevate ourselves ever higher. This is the secret principle of repentance; this is true repentance.

“This second stage of repentance is the practice through which we constantly polish the gem of our buddha-nature. A gem does not reveal its brilliance even after the mud has been washed from it. Its surface is coated with mineral deposits, and it cannot display its intrinsic brilliance until polishing removes such impurities from its surface. The same thing can be said of our buddha-nature. The second stage of repentance is the practice by which we polish our buddha-nature.

Buddhism for Today, p423-424

I had lost sight of this image of polishing my buddha-nature and recalling it now during the course of this journey underscores why I took on this yearlong goal.

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800years, Universal Sage, Blog

800 Years: Contemplation of the Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva

As the late Rev. Ryusho Jeffus points out in his Lecture on the Lotus Sutra, “Nichiren teaches that faith comes from practice and study.” The three are the legs of the stool we sit upon before the Gohonzon. The Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva is a manual for putting our faith in the Lotus Sutra into practice.

At the start of the sutra, Ānanda, Mahākāśyapa and Maitreya address the Buddha:

“ ‘World-honored One! After you have passed away, O Tathāgata, how do living beings produce the bodhisattva mind, practice in accordance with the comprehensive sutras of the Great Vehicle, and, with right mindfulness, bring their thoughts into the realm of one reality? How do they avoid losing sight of the aspiration for ultimate enlightenment? Moreover, without cutting off worldly passions and without abandoning the five desires, how do they achieve purity of the sense faculties and eliminate accumulated impurities? Without giving up the five desires, how can they still become capable of seeing events and things free from encumbrance with the pure natural eyes received from their parents at birth?’

“The Buddha addressed Ānanda:

“ ‘Hear me clearly, and consider this well! In the past, on Mount Vulture Peak and at other places, the Tathāgata has already expounded the one genuine path from many perspectives. And now, at this place, for the benefit of all living beings in the future who wish to follow the Supreme Way that is the Great Vehicle—and who wish to learn and follow the practice of Universal Sage, I will now expound the method for that, which I have kept in mind.’ ”

What does this practice involve?

“[I]nternalize the Great Vehicle sutras, recite the Great Vehicle sutras, reflect on the Great Vehicle’s principle, be mindful of the Great Vehicle’s application, revere and render service to those who keep faith with the Great Vehicle, regard all people in the same manner as buddhas would regard them, and regard each living thing in the same manner as would a mother or father.”

We are told in the Sutra of the Contemplation of Universal Sage that this is the same practice that all Buddhas have performed:

“When our aspiration for enlightenment was awakened in the past, we all supremely endeavored to never lose sight of it, in the very same manner as you. These Great Vehicle sutras are the buddhas’ treasury, the essence of past, present, and future buddhas in all of the ten directions, and the seed from which the tathāgatas of the past, present, and future come forth.”

And through our study and practice and especially our faith we are rewarded:

“One who keeps faith with these sutras is an embodiment of a buddha and is one who does a buddha’s work. You should know that such a person is an ambassador of the buddhas, is clothed in the garments of the buddhas, the World-honored Ones, and is a true and genuine Dharma successor of the buddha tathāgatas.”

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Kern, d13b, Blog

Offering Clarity and Avoiding Errors

This is another in a series of weekly blog posts comparing and contrasting the Sanskrit and Chinese Lotus Sutra translations.

At the opening of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples, we have another example of the clarity of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra in comparison to H. Kern’s English translation of an 11th century Sanskrit Lotus Sutra.

Kern offers:

On hearing from the Lord that display of skillfulness and the instruction by means of mysterious speech; on hearing the announcement of the future destiny of the great Disciples, as well as the foregoing tale concerning ancient devotion and the leadership of the Lord, the venerable Pūrṇa, son of Maitrāyanī, was filled with wonder and amazement, thrilled with pure-heartedness, a feeling of delight and joy. He rose from his seat, full of delight and joy, full of great respect for the law, and while prostrating himself before the Lord’s feet, made within himself the following reflection: Wonderful, O Lord; wonderful, O Sugata; it is an extremely difficult thing that the Tathāgatas, &c., perform, the conforming to this world, composed of so many elements, and preaching the law to all creatures with many proofs of their skillfulness, and skillfully releasing them when attached to this or that. What could we do, O Lord, in such a case? None but the Tathāgata knows our inclination and our ancient course. Then, after saluting with his head the Lord’s feet, Pūrṇa went and stood apart, gazing up to the Lord with unmoved eyes and so showing his veneration.

Senchu Murano’s English translation of Kumārajīva presents the same scene in this way:

Thereupon Pūrṇa, the son of Maitrāyanī having heard from the Buddha the Dharma expounded with expedients by the wisdom [of the Buddha] according to the capacities of all living beings, and having heard that [the Buddha] had assured the great disciples of their future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, and also having heard of the previous life of the Buddha, and also having heard of the great, unhindered, supernatural powers of the Buddhas, had the greatest joy that he had ever had, became pure in heart, and felt like dancing [with joy]. He rose from his seat, came to the Buddha, and worshipped him at his feet with his head. Then he retired to one side of the place, looked up at the honorable face with unblenching eyes, and thought:
‘The World-Honored One is extraordinary. What he does is exceptional. He expounds the Dharma with expedients by his insight according to the various natures of all living beings of the world, and saves them from various attachments. The merits of the Buddha are beyond the expression of our words. Only the Buddha, only the World-Honored One, knows the wishes we have deep in our minds.’

The other English translations have comparable descriptions and Leon Hurvitz, who melded  Kumārajīva and a compilation of extant Sanskrit Lotus Sutras in his English translation, follows Kumārajīva and offers a note with the Sanskrit variation.

While lack of clarity in Kern’s translation can be considered in part a biproduct of his 19th century environment, one wonders what to make of additional information introduced by Kern in his translation.

In discussing Pūrṇa experience in past lives, Murano offers:

“Bhikṣus! Pūrṇa was the most excellent expounder of the Dharma under the seven Buddhas.

But Kern has Śākyamuni add a little extra explanation:

He was also, monks, the foremost among the preachers of the law under the seven Tathāgatas, the first of whom is Vipasyin and the seventh myself.

When I first read this I checked the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism authored by Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr., my go-to source of Buddhist minutiae.

Under the entry for Vipaśyin, the dictionary offers: “Sanskrit proper name of the sixth of the seven Buddhas of antiquity, not the first. But when you check the dictionary entry for Saptatathāgata, the seven buddhas of antiquity, you discover that Vipaśyin is the first of the six:

[Saptatathāgata] include Śākyamuni and the six buddhas who preceded him, i.e., Vipaśyin (P. Vipassin), Śikhin (P. Sikhī), Viśvabhū (P. Vessabhū), Krakucchanda (P. Kondañña), Kanakamuni (P. Konāgamana) and Kāśyapa (P. Kassapa).”

If you just Google “seven buddhas of antiquity” you find everyone agrees with Kern that Vipasyin was the first and Śākyamuni the seventh.

  1. Vipassī (lived ninety-one kalpas ago)
  2. Sikhī (lived thirty-one kalpas ago)
  3. Vessabhū (lived thirty-one kalpas ago in the same kalpa as Sikhī)
  4. Kakusandha (the first Buddha of the current bhadrakalpa)
  5. Koṇāgamana (the second Buddha of the current bhadrakalpa)
  6. Kassapa (the third Buddha of the current bhadrakalpa)
  7. Gautama (the fourth and present Buddha of the current bhadrakalpa)

I’m not a fan of Donald S. Lopez Jr. and this confusion over Vipaśyin’s place among the seven buddhas of antiquity makes me less likely to take as gospel anything I read in The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.

Next: Imagining Buddha Lands

800years, d32b, Blog

800 Years: Living in Faith

Universal Sage is famously late arriving to hear Śākyamuni preach. When he does arrive with “many hundreds of thousands of billions of Bodhisattvas” he asks the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! Tell me how the good men or women who live after your extinction will be able to obtain this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma!”

And Śākyamuni responds with four requirements:

“The good men or women will be able to obtain this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma after my extinction if they do the following four things: 1. secure the protection of the Buddhas, 2. plant the roots of virtue, 3. reach the stage of steadiness [in proceeding to enlightenment], and 4. resolve to save all living beings. The good men or women will be able to obtain this sūtra after my extinction if they do these four things.”

These four things that must be accomplished are examples of how we are led to turn our faith into action. This is how Gene Reeves explains it in The Stories from the Lotus Sutra:

“Three of these are matters of action, things we do or can do. At least to some extent we can choose to plant roots of virtue, choose to join those who are determined to be awakened, and choose to be determined to save all the living. The first of the four, on the other hand, is quite different. Being protected and kept in mind by buddhas is not something we can choose; rather, it is more like a gift. Faith, at least in one of its dimensions, is the trust and confidence that we are always under the care of buddhas.

“Being under the protection and care of buddhas does not mean that no harm can come to us. We should know that even with the protection of buddhas, the world is a dangerous place. Shakyamuni Buddha, we should remember, was harmed more than once during his teaching career and probably died from food poisoning. We can never entirely escape from a whole host of dangers, including disease, aging, crime, and war. What the Lotus Sutra teaches is not that we can be completely free from danger, but that no matter what dangers we have to face, there are resources, both in ourselves and in our communities, that make it possible for us to cope with such dangers. By having faith in the Buddha, doing good by helping others, genuinely aspiring to become more and more fully awakened through wise and compassionate practice, and by extending our compassion not only to our family and our friends but to all living beings, the dangers we face will recede into the background. They will not go away, but we will not be dominated by them.

“To have faith in the Buddha is to take refuge in the Buddha. It means that embodying the Buddha in our everyday lives is our highest good. This is to live in faith, to trust life itself.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p299-300
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800years, d32b, Blog

800 Years: Riding On A Six-Tusk White Elephant

In Chapter 28, Universal Sage promises the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! If anyone keeps this sūtra in the defiled world in the later five hundred years after your extinction, I will protect him so that he may be free from any trouble, that he may be peaceful, and that no one may take advantage of his weak points. Mara, his sons, his daughters, his subjects, his attendants, yakṣas, rākṣasas, kumbhāṇḍas, piśācakas, kṛtyas, pūtanas, vetādas or other living beings who trouble men shall not take advantage of his weak points. If anyone keeps, reads and recites this sūtra while he walks or stands, I will mount a kingly white elephant with six tusks, go to him together with great Bodhisattvas, show myself to him, make offerings to him, protect him, and comfort him, because I wish to make offerings to the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.”

The six-tusk white elephant has great symbolic meaning, as explained by Gene Reeves in The Stories of the Lotus Sutra:

“This can be understood to mean that taking the Sutra seriously gives one extraordinary strength or power. The elephant itself is often a symbol of strength or power, the whiteness of the elephant has been taken to symbolize purity, and the six tusks have been taken to represent both the six paramitas or transcendental bodhisattva practices and purification of the six senses. But if the elephant is taken to be a symbol of power, we should understand that this is not a power to do just anything. It is a power to practice the Dharma, strength to do the Buddha’s work in the world, power to be a universal sage

“Though the image does not come from this story [in Chapter 28] but from the much more involved visualization of the Sutra of Meditation on the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva, the elephant on which Universal Sage Bodhisattva rides is very often depicted as either walking on blossoming lotus flowers or wearing them like shoes. If the elephant is not standing, a lotus flower will be under the foot of Universal Sage. Such lotus blossoming should be understood, I believe, as an attempt to depict in a motionless picture or statue something that is actually very dynamic – the flowering of the Dharma.”

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p304-305

Here again we see how faith and practice are joined to bring about transformative change, both in ourselves and in others. We are not promised salvation by some divine being. We are offered an opportunity to walk a path. As Reeves says:

“It is significant that Universal Sage and his elephant come not to offer us a ride to some paradise above the masses of ordinary people but to bring the strength of an elephant for doing the Buddha’s work in the world, so that the Dharma can blossom in us, empowering us to be bodhisattvas for others, enabling us to see the Buddha in others and to experience the joy of seeing buddhas everywhere.”

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p305
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Kern, d10b, d11b, d12b, Blog

Different and yet Consistent

This is another in a series of weekly blog posts comparing and contrasting the Sanskrit and Chinese Lotus Sutra translations.

Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City, provides an excellent example of how the various translations of the Lotus Sutra differ while maintaining a consistent message.

For example, in calculating how long ago Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence lived, Senchu Murano’s English translation of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra states:

Do you think that any mathematician or any disciple of a mathematician could count the number of the worlds [he went through]?”

“No, we do not, World-Honored One!”

“Bhikṣus! Now all the worlds he went through, whether they were inked or not, were smashed into dust. The number of the kalpas which have elapsed since that Buddha passed away is many hundreds of thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas larger than the number of the particles of the dust thus produced. Yet I remember [the extinction of] that Buddha by my power of insight as vividly as if he had passed away today.”

H. Kern’s English translation of the 11th century Sanskrit Lotus Sutra offers instead:

Now, monks, what do you think of it, is it possible by calculation to find the end or limit of these worlds?

They answered: Certainly not, Lord; certainly not, Sugata.

The Lord said: On the contrary, monks, some arithmetician or master of arithmetic might, indeed, be able by calculation to find the end or limit of the worlds, both those where the atoms have been deposited and where they have not, but it is impossible by applying the rules of arithmetic to find the limit of those hundred thousands of myriads of Æons; so long, so inconceivable, so immense is the number of Æons which have elapsed since the expiration of that Lord, the Tathāgata Mahābhigñāgñānābhibhū. Yet, monks, I perfectly remember that Tathāgata who has been extinct for so long a time, as if he had reached extinction today or yesterday, because of my possessing the mighty knowledge and sight of the Tathāgata.

File this under the topic of clarity. Murano (and Kumārajīva) have the better description, although both reach the same end.

One aspect of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha’s quest for enlightenment is the length of time it requires.

Murano offers:

[Before he attained Buddhahood,] he sat at the place of enlightenment and defeated the army of Mara. He wished to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, but could not because the Dharma of the Buddhas had not yet come into his mind. He sat cross-legged without moving his mind and body for one to ten small kalpas. During all that time the Dharma of the Buddhas did not come into his mind.

I’ve often stumbled on this “one to ten small kalpa” time frame. Is this a range of possible durations or a progression?

Hurvitz’s translation makes clearer that Kumārajīva is talking about a progression:

In this way, from one minor kalpa up through ten minor kalpas he sat cross-legged, body and mind immobile; yet the buddha-dharmas still did not appear before him.

Kern, on the other hand, clarifies this from the start:

In the beginning when the Lord had not yet reached supreme, perfect enlightenment and had just occupied the summit of the terrace of enlightenment, he discomfited and defeated the whole host of Māra, after which he thought: I am to reach perfect enlightenment. But those laws (of perfect enlightenment) had not yet dawned upon him. He stayed on the terrace of enlightenment at the foot of the tree of enlightenment during one intermediate kalpa. He stayed there a second, a third intermediate kalpa, but did not yet attain supreme, perfect enlightenment. He remained a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, a seventh, an eighth, a ninth, a tenth intermediate kalpa on the terrace of enlightenment at the foot of the tree of enlightenment, continuing sitting cross-legged without in the meanwhile rising. He stayed, the mind motionless, the body unstirring and untrembling, but those laws had not yet dawned upon him.

Kern’s lengthier explanation trumps Kumārajīva’s condensed description.

Kern also gets points for describing the palaces of the Brahman-heavenly-kings, whom Kern calls Brahma-angels, as aerial cars.

While Murano offers:

“Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion worlds went to the west, carrying flower-plates filled with heavenly flowers, in order to find [the place from where the light had come]. Their palaces also moved as they went.

Kern says:

Thereupon, monks, the great Brahma-angels in the fifty hundred thousand myriads of koṭis of spheres mounted all together their own divine aerial cars, took with them divine bags, as large as Mount Sumeru, with celestial flowers, and went through the four quarters successively until they arrived at the western quarter, …

While Murano offers:

Having offered flowers, they offered their palaces to the Buddha, saying, ‘We offer these palaces to you. Receive them and benefit us out of your compassion towards us!’

Kern has:

After that they presented to the Lord their aerial cars (with the words): Accept, O Lord, these aerial cars out of compassion to us; use, O Sugata, those cars out of compassion to us.

Still there is some confusion at the end of the description of the reaction of the Brahman-heavenly-kings to the light produced by Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence’s enlightenment.

Murano has:

The great Brahman-[heavenly-]kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the southwest, west, northwest, north, northeast, and nadir also did the same. The great Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the zenith, who saw their palaces illumined more brightly than ever, also danced with joy. They wondered why [their palaces were so illumined]. They visited each other and discussed the reason, saying, ‘Why are our palaces illumined so brightly?’

Kern muddles this:

Repetition; the same occurred in the southwest, in the west, in the northwest, in the north, in the northeast, in the nadir.

Then, monks, the aerial cars of the Brahma angels in the nadir, in those fifty hundred thousand myriads of koṭis of spheres [&c., as above till to one another].

Kern is consistent, though. He has the Brahma-angels traveling from the nadir to the zenith.

As a final example of the differences between Kern’s Sanskrit translation and Kumārajīva’s Chinese version we consider the Parable of the Magic City.

Murano begins the prose telling of the parable with:

“I will tell you a parable. Once upon a time there was a dangerous, bad road five hundred yojanas long. It was so fearful that no men lived in the neighborhood. Now many people wished to pass through this road in order to reach a place of treasures. They were led by a man, clever, wise, and well informed of the conditions of the dangerous road. He took them along this dangerous road, but halfway the people got tired of walking. They said to him, ‘We are tired out. We are also afraid of the danger of this road. We cannot go a step farther. Our destination is still far off. We wish to go back.’

In Kern’s telling we get:

By way of example, monks, suppose there is some dense forest five hundred yojanas in extent which has been reached by a great company of men. They have a guide to lead them on their journey to the Isle of Jewels, which guide, being able, clever, sagacious, well acquainted with the difficult passages of the forest, is to bring the whole company out of the forest. Meanwhile that great troop of men, tired, weary, afraid, and anxious, say: ‘Verily, Master, guide, and leader, know that we are tired, weary, afraid, and anxious; let us return; this dense forest stretches so far.’

In gāthās Murano offers:

Suppose there was a bad and dangerous road.
Many wild animals lived in the neighborhood.
No man was there; no water nor grass there.
The road was so fearful.

Many tens of millions of people
Wished to pass through this dangerous road.
The road was very long.
It was five hundred yojanas long.

The people had a leader.
He had a good memory.
He was wise and resolute in mind.
He could save people from dangers.

Getting tired,
The people said to him:
“We are tired.
We wish to go back.”

Kern keeps to the forest:

92. It is as if there were a forest dreadful, terrific, barren, without a place of refuge or shelter, replete with wild beasts, deprived of water, frightful for persons of no experience.

93. (Suppose further that) many thousand men have come to the forest, that waste track of wilderness which is fully five hundred yojanas in extent.

94. And he who is to act as their guide through that rough and horrible forest is a rich man, thoughtful, intelligent, wise, well instructed, and undaunted.

95. And those beings, numbering many koṭis, feel tired, and say to the guide: We are tired, Master; we are not able to go on; we should like now to return.’

Again, the message is clear even if the details diverge. You can’t fail to recognize the Lotus Sutra.

Next: Offering Clarity and Avoiding Errors

800years, d32b, Blog

800 Years: Faith Is Nothing Without Practice

In the concluding chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Universal Sage Bodhisattva promises to appear before, protect, and encourage anyone who keeps and practices the Lotus Sutra, and he will have that person aspire to the Way to Buddhahood, as described in the The Introduction to the Lotus Sutra.

The emphasis in this chapter, as well as in the following Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva, is on the need to put the Lotus Sutra into practice. As Gene Reeves explains in The Stories of the Lotus Sutra:

“It is not enough to study and gain wisdom, not enough to feel compassion. One must also embrace the Sutra by embodying it in one’s life. Faith is not faith if it is only believed, or only felt; it must be lived. One must strive to become a buddha by being a bodhisattva for others, which means nothing more and nothing less than embodying Buddha Dharma by helping others in whatever ways are appropriate and in whatever ways one can. Among those ways is giving encouragement and strength to others, being Universal Sage Bodhisattva for them.”

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p309

But before we can be a Bodhisattva for others we must be one for ourselves. Thich Nhat Hanh explains in Peaceful Action, Open Heart that this starts when we bow before the Buddha.

“We often show our respect to the Buddha and bodhisattvas by bowing, but it is important to understand that this action is not a kind of propitiation, in which a devotee pays respect to a powerful divine being in order to gain favor. The Buddha does not need us to pay respect to him; it is we who benefit from this practice. When you pay respect to the Buddha, you begin to see the path. You start to walk in the direction of goodness. You know that you are a Buddha-to-be – you have the capacity to become enlightened, awakened. You recognize that you have the capacity to love, to accept, to feel joy and to bring joy to others.

“When you bow to the Buddha you are really acknowledging your own capacity for Buddhahood. In acknowledging the Buddha, you acknowledge the Buddha nature inherent within you. … When understood and practiced in this way, paying respect to the Buddha is not merely a devotional ritual but is also a wisdom practice.”

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p227-228

We need to manifest faith in ourselves and faith in others with our practice and when we accomplish that we can realize the Buddha’s promise:

“Anyone who keeps, reads and recites this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, memorizes it correctly, studies it, practices it, and copies it, should be considered to see me, and hear this sūtra from my mouth. He should be considered to be making offerings to me. He should be considered to be praised by me with the word ‘Excellent!’ He should be considered to be caressed by me on the head. He should be considered to be covered with my robe.”

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800years, d31b, Blog

800 Years: Family Dharma Drama

In the Lotus Sutra we are offered a number of stories of fathers and sons, but until we get to Chapter 27, no mothers. In fact, it’s only in the story of King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva that we have a family setting. Thich Nhat Hanh suggests in Peaceful Action, Open Heart that there was specific purpose in adding this chapter to the Lotus Sutra.

“In order to better understand [Chapter 27], we have to understand how Mahayana Buddhism became established as a viable religion in China. Chinese society was strongly influenced by the teachings of Confucianism, which especially upheld the importance of filial duty – the duty and reverence of children toward their parents and ancestors. This ideal has been one of the underpinnings of Chinese society and culture from the time of Confucius in the fifth century B.C.E. to the present day. … When followers of Confucianism condemned Buddhism as failing to practice filial piety, the practitioners had to prove the opposite, that in following the path of the Buddha they were also following the path of humanity and filial piety.”

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p225

And yet for Nichiren that filiality to parents could never override filiality to the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. As explained by Donald Lopez and Jacqueline Stone in Two Buddhas Seated Side by Side:

“Nichiren often cited [Chapter 27] to stress that, when faced with the choice between following one’s parents’ wishes or being faithful to the Lotus Sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra must take precedence. Such a stance flew in the face of common understandings of filial piety, an important cultural value of Nichiren’s time. A writing attributed to him, possibly authored by a close disciple with his approval, states:

‘King Śubhavyūha, the father of Vimalagarbha and Vimalanetra, adhered to heretical teachings and turned his back on the buddha-dharma. The two princes disobeyed their father’s orders and became disciples of the buddha Jaladharagaritaghoṣasusvaranakṣatrarājasaṃkusumitābhijn͂a, but in the end they were able to guide their father so that he became a buddha called Sālendrarāja. Are they to be called unfilial? A sūtra passage explains: “To renounce one’s obligations and enter the unconditioned is truly to repay those obligations.” Thus, we see that those who cast aside the bonds of love and indebtedness in this life and enter the true path of the buddha-dharma are persons who truly understand their obligations.’

“The logic here is that abandoning the Lotus Sūtra to satisfy one’s parents might please them in the short run, but by so doing, one severs both them and oneself from the sole path of liberation in the present age. Because such an act constitutes ‘slander of the dharma,’ it can only lead to suffering for all concerned in this and future lifetimes. By upholding faith in the Lotus Sūtra, however, one can realize buddhahood oneself and eventually lead one’s parents to do the same.

Two Buddhas, p252-253

Our faith in the Lotus Sutra and our practice of its teachings prompts our desire to save all sentient beings, starting with our parents.

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A Memorial Service for Caleb

Memorial Prayer, Nov. 23, 2022

Last known photo of Caleb Michael Bodine, born 11-1-1992 and died 11-23-2021

I respectfully dedicate the merits of chanting the Lotus Sutra and reciting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo in the presence of the Buddha, the Founder Nichiren Shonin, and the Three Treasures to the spirit of Caleb Bodine for whom I observe the second memorial service today.

May the sound of my recitation of the Lotus Sutra and Namu Myoho Renge Kyo permeate throughout the spiritual world! May the spirit of the deceased permeate throughout the spiritual world!

May the heart of my prayer permeate throughout the spiritual world!

May all my merits go to the deceased and increase the happiness of the deceased!

It is said in the Lotus Sutra, “Good men or women in the future who hear the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma with faithful respect caused by their pure minds, and have no doubts, will not fall into hell, region of hungry spirits, or the region of animals.

“They will be reborn before the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten directions.

“They will always hear this sutra at the places of their rebirth. Even when they are reborn among men or gods, they will be given wonderful pleasures.

“When they are reborn before the Buddhas, they will appear in lotus-flowers.”

May all sentient beings be blessed with these merits and may we all together attain Buddhahood!

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo

In addition to saying memorial prayers for Caleb morning and evening, I gathered warm clothing and delivered it to First Step Communities, an organization that creates interim housing and emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness. I plan to make this an annual part of my memorial service during what is otherwise a time of “thanksgiving.”

Kern, d9b, Blog

The Plight of the Famished

This is another in a series of weekly blog posts comparing and contrasting the Sanskrit and Chinese Lotus Sutra translations.

In Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, Great Maudgalyāyana, Subhūti and Mahā-Kātyāyana, having heard the prediction of future Buddhahood given to Mahā-Kāśyapa, explain how they would feel if they received a similar prediction. In both the English language translations of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra and H. Kern’s English language translation of a Nepalese Sanskrit document, a story is told of a man in a time of famine who finds himself before a great meal.

Senchu Murano offers this telling:

Suppose a man came
From a country suffering from famine.
Now he saw the meal of a great king.
He did not partake of it in doubts and fears.
After he was told to take it by the king,
He took it at once.
We are like that man.
We know the defects of the Lesser Vehicle.
But we do not know how to obtain
The unsurpassed wisdom of the Buddha.

Although we hear you say [to us],
“You will become Buddhas,”
We are still in doubts and fears about it,
Just as that man was about the meal.
If you assure us of our future Buddhahood,
We shall be happy and peaceful.

You, the Great Hero, the World-Honored One,
Wish to give peace to all the people of the world.
If you assure us of our future Buddhahood, we shall be
Like the man who was permitted to take the meal.

An entirely different greeting is presented by Kern:

12. (It is as if) a certain man, in time of famine, comes and gets good food, but to whom, when the food is already in his hands, they say that he should wait.

13. Similarly, it was with us, who after minding the lower vehicle, at the calamitous conjuncture of a bad time, were longing for Buddha-knowledge.

14. But the perfectly-enlightened great Seer has not yet favored us with a prediction (of our destiny), as if he would say: Do not eat the food that has been put into your hand.

15. Quite so, O hero, we were longing as we heard the exalted voice (and thought): Then shall we be at rest, when we shall have received a prediction.

16. Utter a prediction, O great hero, so benevolent and merciful! let there be an end of our feeling of poverty!

This is a striking difference. Kumārajīva has the great disciples hesitant to take the food, uncertain that it is available to them. They have heard they are qualified to become Buddhas, but they want to be reassured. Kern’s Sanskrit has the disciples denied the reward of the great vehicle. They remain outside the great vehicle until they receive an explicit prediction from the Buddha.

In Leon Hurvitz’s translation of the Lotus Sutra, he compared a composite Sanskrit Lotus Sutra with Kumārajīva’s Chinese translation and created a hybrid English translation. Where the Sanskrit and Kumārajīva disagreed substantially he put the Sanskrit version in the footnotes. See Kern’s Sanskrit and Hurvitz’s Sanskrit. Hurvitz’s translation of this section of Chapter 6 has the disciples awaiting the King’s permission to eat without comment on the difference in the Sanskrit. Since the Sanskrit he is referencing merges several extant documents into a single version, it is possible that the denial found in Kern’s earlier document was an outlier and that other Sanskrit documents take Kumārajīva’s position – the disciples are not denied the food but hesitant to take it.

Next: Different and Yet Consistent