Category Archives: Blog

LS32, d2b, Blog

Mistaken Facts

Yesterday I brazenly said Gene Reeves had misstated the facts when he said the Buddha Sun and Moon Light was a prince before he became a buddha. I said, no, he was a king before he became that buddha. My “facts” were taken from the Murano translation of the Lotus Sutra.

I confess that I don’t put a lot of time into my daily 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra posts. Just coming up with something appropriate to say each day, month after month, year after year, is success enough.

So today while doing morning Gonyo it occurred to be that it really – really – was unlikely that Reeves had made such a mistake. So I checked all of my English translations of Kumārajīva’s Chinese translation of the Lotus Sutra.

The BDK translation has “The Last Buddha fathered eight princes before he renounced household life.”

The SGI translation by Burton Watson has “The last Buddha, when he had not yet left family life, had eight princely sons.”

Leon Hurvitz’s Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma has “Before that last buddha left his household, he had eight princely sons.”

The 1975 Risshō Kōsei Kai translation has “Before the last of these Buddhas left home, he had eight royal sons: …”

The 2019 Risshō Kōsei Kai translation has “At the time that the last of these buddhas renounced home life, he had eight royal sons: …”

So unlike Murano – “The last Sun-Moon-Light Buddha was once a king. He had eight sons born to him before he renounced the world” – none of the translations specify that the last buddha was a king before leaving household life.

On the other hand, Reeves’ translation – “Before the last of these buddhas had left his home, he had eight royal sons – doesn’t specify that the last buddha was a prince before leaving household life.

I suppose it gets down to the question of whether the father of princes is always a king or whether Śākyamuni’s son, Rāhula, was a prince. Murano says kings father princes; Reeves calls Rāhula a prince.

Whatever answer wins out, my initial suggestion that Reeves had his facts wrong was clearly in error.

See Matters of Interpretation

Blog

Buddhist Statue Appreciation Day

*** We will show our appreciation to our Buddhist statues along with celebrating Sakyamuni’s attainment of Enlightenment. Please have your statues ready on hand and I will bless via your screen. ***

Bodhi day blessing
Rev. Shoda Kanai holds ceremony marking Śākyamuni’s enlightenment under the bodhi tree.
Today I attended the Nichiren Buddhist Kannon Temple of Nevada online service celebrating the enlightenment of Śākyamuni (traditionally marked on Dec. 8) and Rev. Shoda Kanai’s special blessing for Buddhist statues on home altars.

In Sacramento, Rev. Kenjo Igarashi incorporates a mass-blessing of home altars during the service held after midnight on January 1. While I brought my statues in to Rev. Igarashi to be blessed years ago, in Sacramento we don’t bring the statues in again each year and so I jumped at the opportunity to have Rev. Kanai’s blessing.

Nichiren watching ceremony
For the blessing ceremony I set my Nichiren statue on boxes on my laptop so that he could participate in the Zoom session.
20201213-zoom-nichiren-me
This is what we looked like to Rev. Kanai and the others on the Zoom session.
Here are some of the statues others were getting blessed in the service.
d1b, d2b, Blog

Three Truths About 10 Worlds

This was written in advance of Sunday’s meeting of the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area. Having whined at an earlier meeting that discussion of the Lotus Sutra didn’t include enough actual discussion of the Lotus Sutra, it was decided to allow attendees more opportunity to contribute. In the future, Mark Herrick will provide his overview of that month’s chapter on the first Sunday and the third Sunday will be given over to the “favorite” verses of attendees. Today’s service, an unusual fifth Sunday service was a dry run. Here’s a video of today’s discussion.

In Chapter 1, Introductory, the stage is set for the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. While I normally focus on the this stage as a whole, elements of this staging invite closer inspection. Consider the ray of light emitted by Śākyamuni from the white curls between his eyebrows, illuminating all the corners of eighteen thousand worlds in the east. That light reaches down to the Avchi Hell of each world, and up to the Akanistha Heaven of each world.

The congregation can see from this world the living beings of the six regions of those worlds.

Mañjuśrī recalls seeing the same good omen from a Buddha called Sun-Moon-Light. That Tathagata emitted a ray of light from the white curls between his eyebrows, and illumined all the corners of eighteen thousand Buddha-worlds in the east just as Śākyamuni did.

Consider for a moment that we don’t normally see this simultaneous nature of the 10 worlds. We see our provisional existence but not how each world interpenetrates the other. In our provisional existence we imagine nine realms separate from us, nine doors leading to a different place and within each of those nine doors. Interconnected, but not interpenetrating.

With the light of the Buddha’s wisdom, the simultaneous existence of the 10 worlds is revealed in the same way that the light of our Sun passing through a prism reveals the rainbow of colors inside.

These are not two truths — a separate 10 worlds or an interpenetrating existence; a provisional reality or emptiness — but one truth, the Middle Way.

As explained in Lotus Seeds:

The Truth of the Middle Way is the teaching that Emptiness and Provisionality are different ways of pointing out that the reality of anything, including our own lives, transcends the categories of existence and non-existence.
Lotus Seeds

Blog

AI and Buddhism

20201108_Leo-feedlyI’m a great fan of Feedly, an RSS news reader that allows me to monitor hundreds of websites. I was a Google Reader fan before Feedly and I don’t remember what before that. I just can’t imagine life without some form of automation to scrape together the news from each website I monitor.

As an early adopter of Feedly, I’ve been able to acquire “Pro” level features at minimal expense. (The Pro+ features normally cost $12 a month. They are currently discounted to $8.25 a month for the first year.)

One of those Pro+ features is Leo, a personal AI Research Assistant who helps identify items of specific interest.

At the moment I have Leo identifying any article about the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren or T’ien-t’ai or about my former employer McClatchy Newspapers (watching for bankruptcy’s impact on my pension) or Christian Pulisic, the US National Soccer Team player currently with ChelseaFC.

But Leo, being intelligent, is always trying to learn while it reads along with me. Periodically an article in my news feed will include a question from Leo asking whether he was right about the topic of the item.

Today’s quote from the Writings of Nichiren Shonin entitled “The Three Venerables” is a case in point.

Leo looked at this:

In this sūtra it is said: “Now this Sahā World is all My domain, where all the people are My children. However, this world is full of various sufferings, and it is I, Śākyamuni Buddha, alone who can save them.” To those against the Lotus Sūtra, it preaches: “Those who do not listen to the Buddha when He taught and tried to persuade them that they are slanderers of the dharmas will all fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering without fail.”

and Leo concluded this must be about “Global Health.”  Or at least Leo felt 80 percent certain the topic was Global Health. Leo asked me whether he was correct.

While I can see how the world population falling into the Hell of Incessant Suffering without fail could be considered a Global Health issue, I told Leo, “Sorry, no it’s not.” I can only guess what people searching for “# Global Health” issues thought about this quote.

20201108_Feedly_Leo
Screenshot of Feedly.com listing
Blog

Dhārāṇi Resources

In the past couple of weeks I’ve come upon various recordings of priests chanting dhārāṇis and finally sat down and crafted a page where you can practice reciting the dhārāṇis contained in Chapter 26 and also enjoy some variations, including a return to a jazz interpretation I first noticed in 2017.

Here’s a link to the new page:

Dharani Jinshu

Blog

Divine Intervention

20201105_angels

This morning I posted the above image on my Instagram feed with the caption: Count Every Vote!  (This was prompted by this story.)

After posting on Instagram, I felt a little guilty about poking fun at people who believe they have an army of angels ready to intervene in the machinations of a presidential campaign. After all, I’m the guy who sits in front of an altar twice a day and prays to countless deities.

2020 New Year altar

This election week I even paid special attention to the Seven Happy Gods in hopes of influencing the election.

Monday is Bishamon, the Heavenly King of the North who protects against evil. His specific attribute is Dignity.

On Election Day, Tuesday, is Ebisu the god of fishing, shipping and commerce. His specific attribute is Honesty.

On Wednesday is Benten, the god of arts and knowledge. By this day I’m wondering how this is going to fit since her specific attribute is Joy. I wasn’t feeling much joy.

But today was Jurōjin, the god of wisdom and longevity, whose specific attribute is wisdom and I felt better. Stay calm.

Tomorrow will be Fukurokuju, the god of happiness, wealth and longevity, whose specific attribute is longevity. After President Trump’s Thursday night press conference claiming fraud is costing him the election, I’ll wish for a little less longevity for the counting.

But Saturday I expect to be great. Hotei is the god of happiness and abundance and his specific attribute is happiness. I’m expecting abundant votes for Biden in Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

And finally by Sunday, Daikoku, the god of wealth and prosperity will reign, and his specific attribute – fortune – will be on the minds of all as we consider the strength of our democracy and power of each vote.

Blog

Silver Lining to Terrible Year

There is very, very little that you can say about 2020 that is not depressing, beginning with the loss of Ryusho Shonin. But in this world of COVID-19 and all that the pandemic has turned upside down, the expansion of the online Sangha of Nichiren Shu followers is at silver lining worth cherishing.

This morning I relished the extra hour of sleep delivered with the end of Daylight Savings and then did morning Gonyo. After my morning tea and news update (I am, after all, a retired newspaper editor) I joined Rev. Shoda Kanai and 10 others for the Nichiren Buddhist Kannon Temple of Nevada kito blessing service.

20201101-las-vegas-purification
Rev. Shoda Kanai

Not certain how efficacious a Zoom purification ceremony is, but I enjoy the intent.

After another tea break and an online game of Go (I won), I joined Rev. Ryuei McCormick and Shami Ryugan Herrick and the Nichiren Shu Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area. More than 20 people from around the world were on the call.

20201101_origin_myoho-renge-kyo

This slide from Shami Herrick’s presentation offers an Origin Story of the Daimoku:

When the Buddha realized Awakening he praised the Saddharma or Wonderful Dharma and Brahma came and congratulated him saying that this was what all Buddhas did. This is “Namu Myoho.” Brahma said to him, “Great Master, you must teach the people so they too may be Free.” The Buddha looked across the world and saw all the many beings, great and small, strong and weak, smart and dull and observed that they are all like beautiful Lotus Flowers growing in the muddy pond in various states of blooming. And so the Buddha agreed to teach – this is “Renge Kyo.” He vowed, I will teach this Wonderful Dharma, the Way Things Are, the Path to Freedom from Suffering. This shall be known as the Teaching of the Blossoming Lotuses of the Wonderful Dharma.

Dharma Talk Video

Now it’s time to do my evening service and 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra blog post and retire to an evening of leisure.

Blog

Protective Blessings and Flower Portents

20201025_truck-blessing
Before today’s Oeshiki Service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church my son, Richard, and his girlfriend, Alexis, had Rev. Kenjo Igarashi bless Richard’s new truck. This is the second vehicle Rev. Igarashi has protected for Richard. The protective boundary prayer is marked by water, saki, salt and rice. Alexis wants to have her brother get his car protected next.

20201025_ren-shou-ou-shiInside, the church was decorated with blossoming cherry trees for the Oeshiki Service, the memorial service marking the passing of Nichiren on Oct. 13, 1282.  Rev. Igarashi explained that Nichiren’s life can be summarized by the four characters of Ren Shou Ou Shi. Ren – Lotus – recalls the Lotus Flowers that bloomed on Feb. 16, 1222, when Nichiren was born. Ou – Cherry – recalls the unseasonable cherry blossoms that bloomed at the temple when Nichiren died.  Rev. Igarashi also explained that Oeshiki is a celebration, a happy recognition of the benefits bestowed on us by Nichiren’s efforts to spread the teaching of the Lotus Sutra.

 

Peaceful Action, Blog, Books

Peaceful Action, Open Heart: Lessons from the Lotus Sutra

peaceful-action-open-heart-bookcoverFrom Amazon:

Peaceful Action, Open Heart shines 60 years of study and practice upon one of the crowning scriptures of the path of the Buddha, and is destined to be known as one of the most significant writings by Thich Nhat Hanh.

The Lotus Sutra is one of the most revered of Mahayana sacred texts and is sometimes called “the king of sutras.” Despite this fact, there are very few commentaries in English available today. Thich Nhat Hanh explores the Sutra’s main theme – that everyone has the capacity to become a Buddha, and that Buddha-nature is inherent in everything – but he also uniquely emphasizes the sutra’s insight that Buddha-nature is the basis for peaceful action. Since we all will one day become a Buddha, he says, we can use mindfulness practices right now to understand and find solutions to current world challenges. In his interpretation of the sutra, he suggests that if the practices, views, and insights of the Lotus Sutra would find application not only by individuals but also by nations, it would offer concrete solutions to transform individual suffering and the global challenges facing the world today.

Stamped with his signature depth of vision, lucidity, and clarity, Thich Nhat Hanh’s insights based on the wisdom of the Lotus Sutra invoke a wide range of contemporary topics and concerns, such as the Palestinian-Israeli war, the threat of terrorism, and the degradation of our environment. In proposing radical new ways of finding peaceful solutions to universal, contemporary conflicts, he not only challenges the U.N to change from an organization to a real organism working for peace and harmony in the world, but also encourages all branches of all governments to act as Sangha. In so doing, he demonstrates the practical and direct applicability of this sacred text to today’s concerns.

This book has been re-released with a new title. The earlier hardcover edition was entitled Opening the Heart of the Cosmos.

One must assume that the publisher offered the third paragraph for purposes of expanding the potential reach of the book. While the environment is an important aspect of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching, the suggestion that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the United Nations are significant topics is unfounded, at least in the 2008 edition published under the title, Peaceful Action, Open Heart.”

I was introduced to this book in July, 2020, when Ryuei Shonin announced the creation of an Amazon Wish List for his Lotus Sutra Study program. This is the first book by Thich Nhat Hanh that I’ve read. And as with Nikkyō Niwano’s commentary on the Lotus Sutra, I feel a need to distance myself from some of the interpretations of Thich Nhat Hanh.

Here is an example from Thich Nhat Hanh’s discussion of the Buddha’s prediction for Shariputra in Chapter 3, A Parable:

Hearing this the Buddha said, “Shariputra, in past lives you studied and practiced with me, and I taught you the bodhisattva way. But in this lifetime you forgot it and, following the path of the shravaka, believed you had reached the final goal of your practice, nirvana. Now, through teaching this Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, I am able to reestablish you on the bodhisattva path. In the future you will become the Buddha Flower Glow (Padmaprabha) in a Buddha Land called Free of Defilements (Viraja). You will do as I do, and teach the three vehicles to guide living beings, and finally you will also teach the One Vehicle, just as I am teaching now.”

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p46-47

Thich Nhat Hanh book’s endnotes indicate that he is using Leon Hurvitz’s translation of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma for his English language quotes, but in this instance Thich Nhat Hanh has not only grossly paraphrased but also fabricated new text.

Here’s the relevant portion from Hurvitz:

“Flower Glow, the Thus Come One, shall furthermore by resort to the three vehicles teach and convert the beings. Śāriputra, though the time of that buddha’s emergence shall not be an evil age, by reason of his former vow he shall preach the dharma of the three vehicles.”

Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, p51

Few things in the Lotus Sutra are more puzzling to me than the prediction that Śāriputra will teach the Three Vehicles even though the kalpa in which he becomes that Buddha “will not be an evil age.” If only the Buddha, as Thich Nhat Hanh erroneously inserts, had added, “finally you will also teach the One Vehicle, just as I am teaching now.” But the Buddha doesn’t say Śāriputra will ever teach the One Vehicle or the Lotus Sutra.

Before I start posting quotes here from the book I’ll be posting several articles concerning problems of one sort or another that I have with Thich Nhat Hanh interpretation.

Having said that, I should underline my overall satisfaction and favorable opinion of “Peaceful Action, Open Heart: Lessons from the Lotus Sutra.”

I fully endorse this from the Introduction:

This book shows how the teachings of the Sutra can help us realize the practices of mindfulness, compassion, and love for the well-being of our family, our community, our society, and the world.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p8

And this beautiful poem by Thich Nhat Hanh:

Reciting the Lotus Sutra

At night as I recite the Lotus Sutra
The sound moves the galaxies
The Earth below wakes up
In her lap suddenly flowers appear

At night as I recite the Lotus Sutra
A jeweled Stupa appears resplendent.
All over the sky bodhisattvas are seen
And Buddha’s hand is in mine.

—Thich Nhat Hanh

Book Quotes

Book List

Foundations, Blog

Experiencing The Interpenetrating Ten Worlds

I am currently processing quotes I have saved from “Foundations of T’ien-T’ai Philosophy: The Flowering of the Two Truths Theory In Chinese Buddhism” by Paul L. Swanson. I won’t be posting these until late January, 2021, after I finishing posting quotes from Peaceful Action, Open Heart: Lessons from the Lotus Sutra by Thich Nhat Hanh, which I’ll start tomorrow. Since one of the T’ien-T’ai Philosophy quotes pertains a recent blog post, I figured I should get it in now while it is still relevant.

So, back on Oct. 6 I discussed by idea of how to envision the “four realms of holy ones” – Śrāvaka, Pratyekabuddha, Bodhisattva and Buddha – that Nichiren said “are hidden from our eyes.”

Here’s my summary:

  • Śrāvakas: When we hear the Dharma and study Buddhisms we are in the realm of Śrāvakas.
  • Pratyekabuddhas: When we put into practice for ourselves what we have learned we enter the realm of Pratyekabuddhas.
  • Bodhisattvas: When we seek to help all others to gain what we have gained from learning about Buddhism and putting it into practice, then we enter the realm of Bodhisattvas.
  • Buddhas: This is the realm we enter when we chant Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, merging what we have learned and what we practice while seeking to have all others join this path.

Since I was discouraged from putting too much emphasis on this idea, I found this quote from Swanson’s book very interesting:

Chih-i divided the realms of existence into ten interpenetrating realms or destinies: hell, preta, beast, asura, man, gods, śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, bodhisattva, and buddha. These are not ten separate distinct worlds, but rather experiences or states of existence in one reality.

It may be more accurate to refer to these ten “destinies” as ten states of experience: hellish, to be full of insatiable appetite, brutish, combative, human, divine, ‘śrāvaka-like, pratyekabuddha-like, bodhisattva-like, and buddha-like. When one suffers the inevitable results of his or her misdeeds, one experiences the realm of hell. When one blindly follows sensual desires in a futile attempt to satisfy fleshly appetites, one experiences the realm of the preta. When one blindly follows one’s passions, one experiences the realm of beasts. When one fights with one’s fellow human being, one experiences the combative realm of the asura. When one joyfully listens to the music of Bach, one can experience the delightful realm of the gods. When one hears the teaching of the Buddha, one experiences the realm of the śrāvaka. When one performs an altruistic deed, one experiences the realm of the bodhisattva. When one has an insight into the true nature of reality, one experiences the realm of the Buddha. Chih-i’s claim that these realms are “interpenetrating” or “mutually inclusive” means that each sentient being experiences them all in accordance with its actions.

Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 6