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800 Years: Taking the Good Medicine

Not since the 1918 influenza pandemic has the entire population of the Earth been at peril, and yet when physicians of great skill created a vaccine that promised to significantly reduce the death toll of COVID-19, people refused to take the medicine.

In the Lotus Sutra we have been left a medicine for the ills of the world. We are not forced to take it. As Nikkyō Niwano says in Buddhism for Today:

“The Buddha never tries to force open our mouths and cram his excellent medicine down our throats. It is a sacred task for us to take it in our hands and put it into our mouths ourselves. The Buddha uses various means so tactfully that we quickly feel inclined to do so.”

Buddhism for Today, p248

With or without mandates, we are asked to have faith and take the medicine. As Gene Reeves explains in Stories of the Lotus Sutra:

“The medicine prepared for and given to the children is not really medicine at all for them until they actually take it. A medicine that is not taken, no matter how well prepared and no matter how good the intentions of the physician, is not effective, not skillful, not yet really medicine.

“The same is true of the Buddha Dharma. It has to be taken or embraced by somebody, has to become real spiritual nourishment for someone, in order to be effective. Again, this is why in the Dharma Flower Sutra teaching is always a two-way relationship. Dharma is not the Dharma until it is received and embraced by someone.”

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p202

Unfortunately, some of us have lost our right minds. As Nichiren writes in A Letter to the Ikegami Brothers:

“The reason why such śrāvaka disciples as Śāripūtra and Maudgalyāyana were in the Hell of Incessant Suffering for as long as 3,000 or 500 (million) dust-particle kalpa was not because they committed the crime of ten evil acts, five rebellious sins, or eight rebellious sins such as treason. It was simply because they met “evil friends,” abandoned the faith in the Lotus Sūtra, and moved to the faith in the expedient teachings. Grand Master T’ien-t’ai explains this in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 6, “Upon meeting an ‘evil friend,’ people lose their right mind.” The right mind refers to the mind of putting faith in the Lotus Sūtra, and losing the right mind means abandoning the faith in the Lotus Sūtra and putting faith in other sūtras. Therefore, it is preached in the Lotus Sūtra, “The Life Span of the Buddha” chapter, “No matter how effective a medicine is, such a person will never take it.” This is explained by Grand Master T’ien-ta’i in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 6, “A person who has lost his right mind will not take a good medicine, no matter how effective it is, choosing instead to roam about the street of life and death, and run away to foreign countries.”

Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 75


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800 Years: Recognizing This Pure Land

In the Lotus Sutra many teachings emerge, but none has a deeper impact on our faith than the teaching that this world of suffering is indeed the Buddha’s Pure Land.

Nichiren explains in his Treatise on Protecting the Nation:

“QUESTION: Which “Pure Land” should practicers of the Lotus Sūtra pray to be reborn in?

“ANSWER: It is stated in the sixteenth chapter on “The Life Span of the Buddha,” the essence of the Lotus Sūtra consisting of 28 chapters, “I will always stay in this Sahā World;” “I reside here always;” and “This world of Mine is at peace.” According to these statements, the Eternal True Buddha, the origin of all Buddhas in manifestation, is always in this Sahā World. Then why should we wish to be anywhere other than this Sahā World? You should know that there is no Pure Land other than the very place where the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra resides. Why should we concern ourselves seeking a Pure Land in any other place?

Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Pages 67-68

This is the dividing line between the provisional teachings and the essential. As Nichiren says in his A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Venerable One:

“[W]hen the Eternal Buddha was revealed in the essential section of the Lotus Sūtra, this world of endurance (Sahā World) became the Eternal Pure Land, indestructible even by the three calamities of conflagration, flooding, and strong winds, which are said to destroy the world. It transcends the four periods of cosmic change: the kalpa of construction, continuance, destruction, and emptiness. Śākyamuni Buddha, the Lord-preacher of this Pure Land, has never died in the past, nor will He be born in the future. He exists forever throughout the past, present, and future. All those who receive His guidance are one with this Eternal Buddha. It is because each of our minds is equipped with the “3,000 modes of existence” and the “three factors,” namely, all living beings, the land in which they live, and the five elements of living beings (matter, perception, conception, volition and consciousness).

“This truth was not made clear in the first fourteen chapters of the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra. Perhaps it was because the time was not ripe at this stage of preaching the Lotus Sūtra; and capacity of comprehension on the part of the listeners was not yet sufficient.”

Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 148

Only with faith can we imagine this. As the Introduction to the Lotus Sutra explains:

“[W]e find ourselves in a hostile environment, where the forces of nature seek only to destroy us. We see grief, pain, and fear everywhere we look. To us, this is the ‘real world.’ Because of our corrupted hearts, this world, which should be a paradise, is utter defilement. It is this world, however, which our Buddha-nature can transfigure and realize in all its original glory.”

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

With faith and practice, the world is transformed.


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The Third Memorial

Memorial section
For each memorial I create a prayer sheet to read. After the evening service I place the sheet of paper with material to be sent to Rev. Shoda Kanai in Las Vegas to be ritually burned.

Memorial Prayer, Aug. 11, 2022

Ryusho Jeffus
Ryusho Jeffus Shonin
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 Ryusho Jeffus Shonin for whom I observe the third 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

The Arhats Present at the Beginning

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


H. Kern and Senchu Murano – and by extension the 11th century Nepalese Sanskrit Lotus Sutra and Kumārajīva’s fifth century Chinese Lotus Sutra – agree on the first arhat in the list of those present at the start of the Lotus Sutra – Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya. (See this table.) Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya was one of the five ascetics who heard the first sermon by the newly enlightened Śākyamuni. Unlike Murano, Kern’s list of arhats has all five ascetics at the top.

From the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism:

Pañcavargika: In Sanskrit, the “group of five”; the five ascetics who practiced austerities with the bodhisattva prior to his enlightenment and to whom the Buddha preached his first sermon after his enlightenment, thus becoming the Buddha’s first disciples. They are Ājñātakauṇḍinya (or Kauṇḍinya), Aśvajit, Vāṣpa, Mahānāman, and Bhadrika. According to the Pāli account … , [Ājñātakauṇḍinya] had been present as one of the eight brāhmaṇas who attended the infant’s naming ceremony, during which the prophesy was made that the prince would one day become either a wheel-turning monarch … or a buddha. The other four ascetics were sons of four of the other brāhmaṇas in attendance at the naming ceremony. When the prince gave up his practice of austerities and accepted a meal, the five ascetics abandoned him in disgust. After his enlightenment, the Buddha surveyed the world with his divine eye … and surmised that, of all people then alive, these five ascetics were most likely to understand the profundity of his message. When he first approached them, they refused to recognize him, but the power of his charisma was such that they felt compelled to show him the honor due a teacher. He preached to them two important discourses, the Dhammacakkappavaitanasutta [The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of the Dharma Sutta], in which he explained the Four Noble Truths … , and the Anattalakkhaṇasutta … , in which he explained the doctrine of nonself… . Upon hearing and comprehending the first sermon, the five ascetics attained the dhammacakku … or the “dhamma eye,” an attainment equated in the Pali canon with that of the stream-enterer … . The five then requested to be accepted as the Buddha’s disciples and were ordained as the first Buddhist monks. … Upon hearing the second sermon, the five were completely freed of the contaminants … , becoming thereby arahants (arhat) freed from the prospect of any further rebirth. With this experience, there were then six arahants in the world, including the Buddha.

Another addition by Kern that’s not present in Murano or other English translations based on Kumārajīva’s Chinese translation is the venerable Bharadvaja. The name means “One Who Carries a Banner” or “Son of the One Who Carries a Banner.” He is counted among the “sixteen arhats,” or ṣoḍaśasthavira.

From the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism:

In Sanskrit, “the sixteen elders” (most commonly known in the East Asian tradition as the “sixteen arhats”); a group of sixteen venerated arhat … disciples of the Buddha whom the Buddha orders to forgo nirvāṇa and to continue to dwell in this world in order to preserve the Buddhist teachings until the coming of the future buddha, Maitreya. Each of these arhats is assigned an (often mythical) residence and a retinue of disciples. With Maitreya’s advent, they will gather the relics of the current buddha Śākyamuni and erect one last stūpa to hold them, after which they will finally pass into parinirvāṇa. …

The standard roster of arhats now recognized in the East Asian tradition, in their typical order, are

  1. Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja;
  2. Kanakavatsa;
  3. Kanaka Bhāradvāja;
  4. Subinda [Alt. Suvinda];
  5. Bakkula [Alt. Bākula, Nakulal];
  6. Bhadra;
  7. Kālika [Alt. Karīkal;
  8. Vajraputra;
  9. Jīvaka;
  10. Panthaka;
  11. Rāhula,
  12. Nāgasena;
  13. Aṅgaja;
  14. Vanavāsin;
  15. Ajita;
  16. Cūḍapanthaka.

Next: Where is Upali?

800 Years: Believing the Buddha’s true words

In Senchu Murano’s translation of the Lotus Sutra, Chapter 16 begins:

“Thereupon the Buddha said to the great multitude including Bodhisattvas and others, ‘Good men! Understand my sincere and infallible words by faith!’ ”

In considering the meaning of “Understand my sincere and infallible words by faith,” it is useful to see how other translators have rendered the Buddha’s words.

Hendrik Kern, working from an 11th century Sanskrit original in 1884, rendered the Buddha’s words opening the chapter of The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata:

“Trust me, young men of good family, believe in the Tathāgata speaking a veracious word.”

In Risshō Kōsei Kai’s 1975 translation, working from the same Chinese translation as Murano used, we get:

“Believe and discern, all you good sons, the veracious word of the Tathāgata.”

Risshō Kōsei Kai’s 2019 undated translation offers:

“Good children, you should believe and understand the sincere and true words of the Tathagata.”

And so “Understand … by faith” can be seen to mean “Trust” and “believe” or “Believe and discern.” “Trust” and “believe” require faith. “Discern” is the process with which we come to understand. What we are not being told is to have unquestioning faith.

As explained in the Introduction to the Lotus Sutra:

“There is a Japanese saying that ‘even the head of a sardine seems blessed if you have faith in it.’ This is not what we mean by faith. We can maintain a belief that is inspired by the experience of something beyond our ordinary capacities. We can evaluate it by means of our intellect and reason and form our own mental attitudes.”

As Nikkyō Niwano observes in Buddhism for Today:

“The Buddha’s saying ‘Believe and discern it’ instead of commanding ‘Believe it’ has an important meaning. Śākyamuni Buddha never forced his ideas upon his disciples or other people. He preached the truth as it was and exhorted his listeners, saying, ‘You, too, behold it.’ He led them on the way of the truth and coaxed them, saying, ‘You, too, come to me.’ His exhortation to ‘behold the truth’ instead of saying only ‘Believe it’ is a very important point. This short phrase of the Buddha speaks for the character of his teachings. His words ‘Behold it’ are equivalent to the ‘scientific spirit’ in today’s parlance. The Buddha shows in these few words that if anyone thoroughly views the truth, studies it, and discerns it, he will surely be able to accept it to his satisfaction.

“His words ‘You, too, come to me’ include the same important idea. They mean: ‘Come to me and practice the Law as much as I do. Then you are sure to understand the value of the Law.’ The Buddha could never have uttered these words unless he had absolute confidence in the Law and the Way.

“Because Śākyamuni Buddha was a reasonable person, he did not say even to his leading disciples, ‘Believe the truth,’ but said, ‘Believe and discern it,’ that is, ‘Believe it after understanding it.’ ”

Buddhism for Today, p211-212

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800 Years: The Sky Below This Sahā-World

In considering the lessons of Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, we normally start with something like this from Rev. Ryusho JeffusLecture on the Lotus Sutra:

“We each may think we are rather ordinary people, not capable of great things. Yet our ordinariness is in fact a disguise for our true self, Bodhisattvas from beneath the ground, the disciples of the Buddha from the infinite past, and beings perfectly endowed with Buddhahood.”

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

For those new in faith, that may be challenging. Still more difficult is the idea of a place in the sky below this world. I’ve facetiously suggested the sky above Melbourne, Australia, but the question is worth serious consideration. In Stories of the Lotus Sutra, Gene Reeves addresses the ambiguity of the hiding place:

“Exactly what is meant by the empty space below the earth is unclear. … The dramatic effect of the story is dependent on the existence of these bodhisattvas being unknown to all but Shakyamuni, so they have to be hidden somewhere. But it is also important for the thrust of the story that they not be from some other world, or even from one of the heavens or purgatories associated with this world. In other words, both for the sake of the story and for the sake of the central message of the Dharma Flower Sutra, it is important that these bodhisattvas be both hidden and somehow of this world. Thus the Buddha says, ‘They are my children, living in this world…’ .”

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p189

Nikkyō Niwano has an interesting alternative take in Buddhism for Today:

“That these bodhisattvas [from Underground] did not originally dwell in the earth but that they, who were in the infinite space below the sahā-world, came out of the earth and rose into the sky has a deep meaning. These bodhisattvas were people who had been freed from illusion in their previous lives by means of the Buddha’s teachings. For this reason, they had been dwelling in infinite space. But hearing the Buddha declare that he would entrust the instruction of the sahā-world to them, they entered into the earth, namely, this sahā-world, experiencing suffering there, and practiced religious disciplines so zealously as to attain the mental state of bodhisattvas. Therefore, they rose into the sky again after coming out of the earth. Though the bodhisattvas had been free from illusion in their previous lives, they voluntarily passed through various sufferings and worries in sahā-world for the purpose of saving the people here, endeavored earnestly to become enlightened, and preached the teaching to others. As mentioned before, this is a very important process; without completing such an endeavor, they could not truly acquire the divine power to save the people in the sahā-world.”

Buddhism for Today, p179

Ordinary people or extraordinary beings, we have a job. As Ryusho Jeffus says in his Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:

“At the heart of Buddhism is making great effort at practicing and changing our lives, something that does not happen without concerted continued effort.”

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra


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Retreat!

Mini-Retreat-Agenda
Click to view

Looking forward to this weekend’s mini-retreat!

Retreat Speakers

Rev. Myokei Lindsa Caine-Barrett (Bishop @NONA)
Myokei Caine-Barrett is the first woman and the first Westerner to hold the position of bishop in the Nichiren Order of North America. She is the Chief Priest of the Myoken-ji Temple in Houston, Texas. Bishop Myokei is an active prison ministry chaplain and with the VA system as a hospice chaplain.
Rev. Ryuei Michael McCormick (Head Minister @Shingan-Ji Temple)
Ryuei Michael McCormick is a Buddhist priest of the Nichiren Shu, a Mahayana Buddhist lineage established in Japan by Nichiren Daishonin in 1253. Ryuei began practicing Nichiren Buddhism in 1986. In 1997 he became a disciple of Bishop Ryusho Matsuda of the Nichiren Order of North America. After a four year apprenticeship as a novice, Ryuei received full ordination at Kuonji Temple on Mt. Minobu in 2001. He is currently serving as head minister to the San Francisco Bay Area Nichiren Sangha Shingan-ji Temple. Ryuei is the author of Open Your Eyes: A Nichiren Buddhist View of Awakening, Lotus in a Sea of Flames, and co-author of Sacred Services of the Lotus Sutra: Nichiren Shu. He has also served as an assistant editor of the Nichiren Shu News.
Rev. Shoda Douglas Kanai (Head Minister @Kannon-Ji Temple)
Rev. Shoda Douglas Kanai is currently the Head Priest of Nichiren Buddhist Kannon Temple of Nevada, in Las Vegas. We are an overseas branch temple of Nichiren Shu, which is one of the main sects of Buddhism in Japan. Most recently, he spent three and a half years studying and practicing at a remote mountain-side temple in northern Osaka Prefecture. During this time, he completed two separate 100-day ascetic training sessions (Aryagyo) which involved chanting the sutras, ritual water purification with cold water, eating two meals and only sleeping two and a half hours per day. He is currently trying to make Buddhism easier to understand for the English-speaking audience.
Rev. Ryuoh Faulconer (Head Minister @Kosen-Ji Temple)
Rev. Ryuoh Faulconer is the head minister at the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of Greater New England. started his journey with Nichiren Shu with the Portland Temple where he was a memeber for over eight years when he took vows (Tokudo) to become a minister in the future on January 26th, 1997 with his master Rev. Ryuken Akahoshi. He compleated Shingyo Dojo training and was ordained as a Nichiren Buddhist Minister on May 19th, 2001. He served as the 13th resident minister for the Portland Temple for a time before transfering to the Boston area in January of 2007. Faulconer Shonin is an iconographer, artist, book-maker, and is passionate about making service manner and other study materials avalible in English. He also has extensive experiance working in human services; he has most recently worked as a group faclitator in a drug and alchohol treatment center and is currently working as a hospice chaplain.
Rev. Shinkyo Will Warner (Head Minister @Kentucky Sangha)
Rev. Shinkyo Warner, along with Rev. Ryuei McCormick and Rev. Ryuoh Falconer, was one of the first three non-Japanese speaking Americans to be ordained as Nichiren Shu priests in 2001. For the next ten years or so, he edited the third edition of Bishop Senchu Murano’s translation of the Lotus Sutra, released in 2012. He was then asked by the Nichiren Shu Overseas Propagation Promotion Association (NOPPA) to edit the final seventh volume of Rev. Kyotsu Hori’s compilation of English translations of the Writings of Nichiren Shonin (WONS). He is currently on another project for NOPPA, editing revisions of the other six volumes of WONS, and plans to produce a single electronic version of all seven volumes.
Shami Ryoen Elizabeth Drewillo (Shami @Kosen-ji Temple)
Ryoen started attending the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha in Haverhill, MA in February 2012 and took Jukai with their master Rev. Ryuoh Faulconer in April of that same year. Shortly thereafter, they started working toward training as a lay leader with the sangha. After attending a study tour trip to Mt. Minobu, Ryoen decided to ask to take vows to become a minister in the future. They took Tokudo in July of 2015 and Docho in August of 2016; two steps toward full ordination. In addition to their duties at the temple; Ryoen works full time as a Licenced Independant Clinical social worker in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and operates a private practice. Their primary clinical focus is on working with trauma and/or addiction issues within the LGBTQ community. They live with their Master, his husband Neil, and the four family dogs and enjoys crochet and other crafting projects as a hobby.
Shami Ryumon Chad Grohman (Shami @Myoken-ji Temple)
Ryumon Grohman is a student of Bishop Myokei Caine Barrett, Myoken-Ji Temple, Houston, Texas. He has been a shami (novice priest) in the Nichren Shu tradition since 2014. Ryumon also studies mindfulness meditation with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach and attends herbal school at Heartstone Center for Earth Essentials. In addition to spiritual and plant studies, Ruymon is an illustration professor at Rochester Institute of Technology and continues to work as a freelancer. He currently lives in Lockport, New York with his wife and family.
Shami Ryugan Mark Herrick (Shami @Shingan-ji Temple)
Mark took refuge in Nichiren Buddhism in 1975. In February 2020 he was ordained as a novice priest in the Nichiren Shu Lineage of Buddhism by his master Rev. Ryuei McCormick. Rev. Ryuei McCormick bestowed upon him the Dharma name “Ryugan,” which means Dragon Vow. Ryugan chose a second Dharma English name of White Lotus to bridge the two cultures of East and West. Ryugan hosts weekly guiding chanting meditation classes at his local community center. He has been married for 40 years and has one son. He spent 38 years in high tech and 25 years as a volunteer police officer and search and rescue K9 handler before retiring in 2019 to concentrate on his priest training and helping Rev. McCormick found the Nichiren Shu Shingan-ji (True Vow) Temple based in Oakland, CA.

THERE’S STILL TIME TO REGISTER

Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva’s 16 Samādhis

In Chapter 24 of the Lotus Sutra we are introduced to a bodhisattva. Rissho Kosei-kai’s 1975 translation calls this bodhisattva Wonder Sound, Leon Hurvitz names him Fine Sound and Senchu Murano calls him Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva. We are told that this bodhisattva has accumulated more samādhis than there are sands in the River Ganges. Of all those samādhis, 16 are listed at the opening of the chapter in the Rissho Kosei-kai and Hurvitz translations, but only 14 are listed in Murano’s translation.

1975 Rissho Kosei-kai 2012 Murano Third Edition 2009 Hurvitz Revised Edition
the contemplation of the wonderful banner sign, the samadhi as wonderful as the banner of a general, the samādhi of the Fine Standard (dhvajāgrakeyūrasamādhilabdhaḥ),
the contemplation of the Law-Flower, the samādhi of the Dharma Blossom (saddharmapuṇḍarīka),
the contemplation of pure virtue, the samādhi of Pure Excellence (vimaladatta),
the contemplation of the Constellation King’s sport, the samadhi for the traveling of the king of the stars, the samādhi of the Sport of the King of Constellations (Nakṣhatrarājavikrīḍita),
the contemplation of causelessness, the samadhi for freedom from causality, the samādhi of No Objects (anilambha),
the contemplation of the knowledge seal, the samadhi for the seal of wisdom, the samādhi of the Seal of Knowledge (jñānamudrā),
the contemplation of interpreting the utterances of all beings, the samadhi by which one could understand the words of all living beings, the samādhi that Enables One to Understand the Speech of All Living Beings (sarvarutakaśalya),
the contemplation of collection of all merits, the samadhi by which one could collect all merits, the samādhi that Collects All Merits (sarvapuṇyasamuccaya),
the contemplation of purity, the samadhi for purity, the Pure samādhi (prasādavatī),
the contemplation of supernatural sport, the samadhi for exhibiting supernatural powers, the samādhi of the Play of Magical Powers (ṛddhivikrīḍita),
the contemplation of wisdom torch, the samadhi for the torch of wisdom, the samādhi of the Lamp of Knowledge (jñānolkā),
the contemplation of the king of adornment, the samadhi for the Adornment-King, the samādhi of the King of Adornments (vyūharāja),
the contemplation of pure luster, the samadhi for pure light, the samādhi of Pure Glow (vimalaprabhāsa),
the contemplation of the pure treasury, the samadhi for pure store, the samādhi of the Pure Womb (vimalagarbha),
the contemplation of the unique, the samadhi for special teachings, the Unshared samādhi (apkṛtsna),
the contemplation of sun revolution; the samadhi for the revolution of the sun. the samādhi that Turns to the Sun (sūryāvarta)

I discovered this discrepancy when I was reviewing Nikkyō Niwano’s discussion of Chapter 24 for the Rissho Kosei-kai in North America (RKINA) advanced course on the Threefold Lotus Sutra that I’ve been attending this year. You can see what prompted this in my essay on Lesson 28.

Since each of these translations is based on Kumārajīva’s Chinese translation, they should all agree. And when I checked my other English translations of Kumārajīva’s translation I found they all agreed. Only Murano’s Third Edition lacked the second and third samādhis. Even H. Kern’s 1884 translation from the 11th century Nepalese Sanskrit document lists 16 samādhis.

At the time, I did not possess a copy of the first or second editions of Murano’s translation, but I did know the email address for Rev. Shinkyo Warner, the editor of the Third Edition. I contacted Rev. Shinkyo Warner and he responded that apparently the two samādhis, which are present in the second edition, were inadvertently dropped during the editing for the third edition.

A few days later I was at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church meeting with workmen who were estimating the cost of repairs needed to Rev. Igarashi’s home, and I asked Rev. Igarashi if he had a copy of the second edition of Murano’s translation. Later, after the workmen had departed, Rev. Igarashi presented me with copies of both the second and the first editions of Murano’s translation. The second edition was autographed by Senchu Murano. Apparently, when the second edition came out in 1991, Murano signed a bunch of the books and shipped them to Rev. Igarashi, who at the time had been the head priest of the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church for just two years. He still has several of these autographed books.

First and Second Editions of Murano's Translation
Senchu Murano's autograph

Missing from the third edition are the samādhi for the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma and the samādhi for pure virtue. I’ve restored those to my online edition. Rev. Shinkyo Warner says the third edition is no longer pre-printed and therefore the text can be easily updated. I passed on to him a number of other small typos I’ve noticed during my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra practice. I have no idea when the “print-on-demand” text will be updated to restore the missing samādhis. On July 1, 2023, Rev. Shinkyo Warner emailed me to announced he had released an update to the printed version of the third edition of Bishop Murano’s translation of the Lotus Sutra. “This includes the corrections you found along with several others,” he said. “I’m still working on the ePub version.”

800 Years: The Historical and the Ultimate

Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, is the pivot point from which the Lotus Sutra turns from lessons of the historical Buddha, to the revelation of the eternal nature of Śākyamuni and the lessons we are to take into our daily lives.

Thich Nhat Hanh offers a wonderful description of this in Peaceful Action, Open Heart:

“In the Upper Hamlet of Plum Village where I live there is an area where wild daffodils manifest in late February. When we first arrived on the land to begin building Plum Village, we were not aware that there were so many beautiful daffodils, hundreds of thousands of them, waiting there to manifest in early spring. We had only a historical perception of the land; we had not yet seen its ultimate dimension. … You can’t see the Dharma realm (dharmadhatu), until it manifests to you. If you’re too attached to your perception of the historical dimension of reality, you may not be able to see the ultimate dimension manifest. When you know how to look deeply into the historical dimension, you touch the ultimate dimension.”

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p108

Both the historical and the ultimate dimension exist simultaneously. Nikkyō Niwano illustrates the historical aspect in Buddhism for Today:

“Buddhism differs distinctively from other religions. Though all have fine teachings, there is no clear evidence of another case in which the founder of a religion attained his own supreme enlightenment and established his own religion. …

“Unlike these religions, the teaching of Buddhism is the truth that Lord Sakyamuni, who was born as a human being like all of us and experienced human suffering and worry, aspired to enlightenment, practiced ascetic disciplines, and attained enlightenment after six years of spiritual effort. The process through which he attained his enlightenment can be clearly seen. … [B]ecause this teaching is one that sprang up out of the earth (actual life), we who actually live in this world can follow it. Chapter 15 makes this point emphatically.”

Buddhism for Today, p177-178

Ryusho Jeffus offers the ultimate dimension in his Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:

“As we gather our thoughts and purify our altar then we sit down to celebrate the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, to hear once again the beautiful teaching of the Buddha telling us of the ever-existing nature of Buddhahood and of the enlightenment of our own lives, we are engaging in a celebration. It is as if we are going before the Eternal Buddha and asking him not so much what we can get for ourselves but knowing our own lives are secure because of our practice we can focus on the beauty and truth of the message contained in the Lotus Sutra. We are not supplicants going before some great dispenser of benefit. No, we are the golden-hued erect Bodhisattvas who emerge from the ground and bow to the Buddha and fulfill our vow of teaching and practicing the Lotus Sutra in this age in which we live.”


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800 Years: Rising from the Dirty Pond

When we are considering the lessons of Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, it is best to begin by taking to heart the advice offered by the Buddha. We should “concentrate your minds, wear the armor of endeavors, and be resolute” but most important:

“Arouse your power of faith,
And do good patiently!
You will be able to hear the Dharma
That you have never heard before.”

When Maitreya Bodhisattva looked upon the vast cloud of many thousands of billions of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who sprang up from underground simultaneously, he didn’t recognize any of them. However, he was able to observe the qualities of these bodhisattvas clearly:

“They have studied the Way of Bodhisattvas well.
They are not defiled by worldliness
Just as the lotus-flower
Is not defiled by water.”

We, too, can live in the mundane world without being defiled by it. In fact, it is essential that followers of the Lotus Sutra do just that. As the Introduction to the Lotus Sutra says:

“The lovely lotus flower grows out of muddy water and is not defiled by it. In the same way, Bodhisattvas, persons who put the Buddha’s teachings into practice, can live in the midst of a world defiled by vice and corruption, and yet not be contaminated by it. They can teach and awaken other people while keeping their own minds pure. They can save others, however, only when they live with them here in this evil world.”

Or as Nikkyō Niwano suggests in Buddhism for Today:

“These words represent the ideal way of life that the Buddha teaches us in the Lotus Sutra. We should not withdraw from society but should lead beautiful and pure lives within society. The ideal of the Lotus Sutra consists in making all society pure and beautiful. The title Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law expresses this ideal.”

Buddhism for Today, p183

This is the great task that followers of the Lotus Sutra are expected to take up. Our goal is not a private benefit confined to ourselves and our immediate family. To be true followers of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma we must act the part. We do not wish to escape from this world. Instead, we seek to purify it, to do the work of the Eternal Śākyamuni. In his Lecture on the Lotus Sutra, Ryusho Jeffus offers this clear explanation of what such a life entails:

“When we choose to live our lives with the firm belief that we are the most qualified to become Buddhas, that we don’t need anything else other than our faith in the Lotus Sutra to qualify us, and when we devout ourselves to practice with faith, and when we strive to save others, then we will actually manifest the characteristics of those Bodhisattvas who arose from beneath the ground. We cannot just call ourselves that and end the day. We actually have to do the things required to fulfill our vows as those Bodhisattvas.”

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra


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