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One Vehicle of Many Means

Having added the “missing” portion of the Lotus Sūtra’s Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, I’m continuing my Office Lens housecleaning with quotes I saved from Gene Reeves’ Translator’s Introduction to his 2008 translation of the The Lotus Sutra.

Today’s quote ties nicely to the Buddha’s statement in Simile of the Clay Pots: “O Kāśyapa, there are not three vehicles. There are only beings of severally different modes of conduct, and for that reason three vehicles are designated.”

While the three ways [Pratyekabuddhas, Śrāvakas and Bodhisattvas] can be understood as two, they can also be understood as representative of many ways. “Ever since I became a buddha,” Shakyamuni says at the beginning of chapter 2, “I have used a variety of causal explanations and a variety of parables to teach and preach, and countless skillful means to lead living beings.” The reason the Dharma is so difficult to understand and accept is that a great many teaching devices have been used, among them both the metaphor of the three vehicles and the reality underlying the metaphor, the three different approaches themselves. What makes everything clear, says the Buddha, is an understanding of the one vehicle of many skillful means now being revealed.

While the Lotus Sutra rejects the extreme of pure diversity and the consequent danger of nihilism through use of the one vehicle as the unity in purpose of the many skillful means, it also clearly rejects the opposite extreme of complete unity in which diversity disappears or is relegated to mere illusion. Here diversity is not lamented but regarded as a necessary consequence of the fact that living beings and their situations are diverse. And it is celebrated as the way in which a diversity of people can share the Dharma. Even when the sutra describes a future paradise, it includes shravakas as well as bodhisattvas; the diversity of approaches never disappears. In this sense, as in many others, this sutra teaches a “middle way,” here a middle way between utter diversity and sheer unity.

The infinite variety of ways of teaching have the one purpose of leading all living beings to pursue the goal of becoming a buddha, a goal that everyone without exception can reach, though the time may be very long and the way far from smooth or easy. (Reeves, p12-13)

The Parable of the Blind Man

This post continues the “missing” portion of Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs. This is from Leon Hurvitz’s Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, which was published in 2009. I used this version of the Lotus Sutra for two cycles through my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra starting on April 18, 2019.

When this had been said, the long-lived Kāśyapa said to the Blessed One: “But if, O Blessed One, the beings who have extricated themselves from the triple sphere are of assorted predispositions, is their nirvāṇa one, or two, or three?”

The Blessed One said: “Nirvāṇa, you see, Kāśyapa, comes from an understanding of the sameness of all dharmas. And it is one, not two and not three. For this reason, you see, Kāśyapa, I will fashion a parable for you. By a single parable men of discernment understand the meaning of what is said.

“Suppose, O Kāśyapa, that there is a man born blind. He speaks as follows: ‘There are no sightly or unsightly shapes, nor are there any viewers of sightly or unsightly shapes. There are no sun and moon, there are no stars, there are no planets, nor are there any viewers of planets.’

“Then other men speak as follows in the presence of that congenitally blind man: ‘There are sightly and unsightly shapes, there are viewers of sightly and unsightly shapes, there are sun and moon, there are stars, there are planets, there are viewers of planets.’ But the man born blind does not believe those men, nor does he accept what they say.

“Now there is a certain physician, who knows all ailments. He sees that man born blind. The following occurs to him: ‘This man has fallen victim to an ailment thanks to a former evil deed. Whatever ailments arise, they are all of four kinds: rheumatic, bilious, phlegmatic, or due to a derangement of the humors.’ Then the physician thinks again and again of a means to put an end to that ailment. The following occurs to him: ‘Whatever drugs are current, with them this ailment cannot be treated. But on the Snowy King of Mountains there are four herbs. Which four? The first is named The One Possessed of All Colors, Flavors, and States of Being [?] (sarvavarṇarasasthānānugatā); the second is named The One That Brings Release from All Ailments; the third is named One That Destroys All Poisons; the fourth is named The One That Confers Happiness on Those Standing in the Right Place: these four herbs.’ Then the physician, showing compassion for that man born blind, thinks of a device by means of which he is able to go to the Snowy King of Mountains and, having gone, ascend it, then descend it, and also search through it thoroughly. Searching in this way, he finds the four herbs. And, having found them, he gives the blind man one chewed with his teeth, one he gives him pounded, one he gives him cooked in a mixture with other things, one he gives him mixed with other things raw, one he gives him after piercing his body with a lancet, one he gives him after burning it in fire, one he gives him mixed with a variety of things, including even such things as food, drink, and the like.

“Then that man born blind, through the application of those devices, regains his sight. Having regained his sight, he sees externally and internally, far and near, the light of the sun and the moon, the stars, the planets, and all shapes. And he speaks as follows: ‘Oh, what a fool I was in not believing those who spoke to me earlier, in not accepting what they said! I now see everything. I am released from blindness! I have regained my sight! There is now no one superior to me.’

“Then at that time there are seers endowed with the five kinds of superknowledge, skilled in the heavenly eye, in the heavenly ear, in the knowledge of the thoughts of others, in the knowledge consisting of recollection of former states of being, in supernatural power, and in the achievement of deliverance. They address that man as follows: ‘Sir, you have merely regained your sight, but you do not know anything. Whence comes your arrogance? For you have no wisdom, and you are not learned.’ They speak to him in this way: ‘When you, Sir, seated in your inner house, neither see nor know other forms outside, nor which beings are well disposed to you, nor which ill disposed; and when you cannot discern, or understand, or hear the sound of a man standing five leagues away and talking, or of a drum, or of a conch shell, or the like; and when you cannot go more than a league without lifting your feet; and when you were born and grew in your mother’s womb, and remember none of these acts: in what sense are you wise? And how can you say, “I see everything!”? Very well, Sir! Take darkness for light and light for darkness, if that is what you wish!’

“Then that man addresses those seers as follows: ‘By resort to what device, by doing what good deed, may I acquire such wisdom, by your favor acquire these qualities?’

“Then those seers tell the man the following: ‘If you wish them, live in the forest; or think of the dharma, seated in mountain caves! And your defilements are to be forsaken. In that way, endowed with pure qualities, you shall acquire the various kinds of superknowledge.’

“Then that man, having received that meaning, goes forth. Dwelling in the forest, his mind concentrated on a single object, and forsaking his worldly cravings, he gains the five kinds of superknowledge. And, having acquired the various kinds of superknowledge, he thinks: ‘Whatever other deed I might have done formerly, no good quality ever accrued to me because of it. Now I go wherever I think to go, whereas formerly I was a person of slight wisdom and slight experience, a blind man.'[?] pūrvaṃcāham alpaprajño ‘lpapratisaṃvedi andhabhūto ‘smy āsīt)

“This parable has been fashioned thus, O Kāśyapa, in order to set forth the following meaning; this, moreover, is the point to be seen in it: by those ‘born blind,’ O Kāśyapa, are meant the beings dwelling in the round of the six destinies, who do not know the true dharma and who augment the darkness of their own impurities. For they are blind with ignorance, and, being blind with ignorance, heap up predispositions (saṃskāra) and, going back to predispositions, name and form, and so on until this whole great mass of suffering has taken shape. In this way the beings, blinded by ignorance, stand in the round of transmigration. But the Thus Gone One, having himself escaped the triple sphere, generates compassion, showing compassion as would a father for a dear and only son; and as he leaves the triple sphere he beholds the beings tumbling about in the round of transmigration. Nor are they aware of an exit from the round. Then the Blessed One sees them with the eye of wisdom. And, seeing them, he knows: ‘These beings, having formerly done some good, are of slight hatred and of strong lust, or of slight lust and of strong hatred, some wise, some mature in purity, some of wrong views.’ To these beings the Thus Gone One, through his skill in devising expedients, demonstrates the three vehicles. Thereupon, as did those seers with the five kinds of superknowledge and the pure vision, so, too, the bodhisattvas intuit with the intuition of unexcelled and proper enlightenment, producing thoughts of enlightened intuition and accepting [the doctrine of] unproduced dharmas.

“Therein, just as that great physician was, so is the Thus Gone One to be viewed. Just as was that congenitally blind man, so are the beings, blinded by delusion, to be viewed. Just as were wind, bile, and phlegm, so are lust, hatred, and delusion, as well as the products of the sixty-two views, to be regarded. As were the four herbs, so is the gateway to nirvāṇa, that of the empty, the signless, and the wishless, to be viewed. Whenever medicines are applied, then are the ailments assuaged. In the same way, by realizing the entries into deliverance of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, do the beings suppress ignorance. From the suppression of ignorance comes the suppression of predispositions, and so on until the suppression of this whole great mass of suffering is achieved. And in this way the thought of the practitioner stands neither in good nor in evil.

“As the blind man who regained his vision was viewed, so should be the person in the vehicle of the auditor or of the individually enlightened. He severs the bonds of the defilements of the round of transmigration. Released from the bond of defilement, he is freed from the triple sphere with its six destinies. In this way the person in the vehicle of the auditor knows and voices the following: ‘There are no more dharmas to be intuited! I have attained extinction!’

“Then, indeed, the Thus Gone One demonstrates the dharma to him: ‘Since you have not attained to all the dharmas, whence comes your extinction?’ The Blessed One encourages him toward enlightened intuition. The thought of enlightened intuition having been excited within him, he neither stands in the round of transmigration nor attains to extinction. Having understood, he sees the world of the triple sphere in its ten directions as empty, a fabrication, a mock creation, a dream, a mirage, an echo. He sees all dharmas as unoriginated, unsuppressed, unbound, unreleased, not dark, not bright. Whoever sees the profound dharmas in this way, he, with nonvision, sees the whole triple sphere as full, assigned as an abode to a variety of beings.”[?]

Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, p103-107

And in gāthās:

Out of ignorance of the wheel of transmigration they do not understand the blessed rest.
However, he who understands the dharmas as empty, as devoid of self,
He understands in its very essence the intuition of the fully enlightened Blessed Ones.
The individually victorious is so called because of his middle position in wisdom,
While the auditor is so called because he lacks knowledge of emptiness.
The perfectly enlightened, however, is so called because of his understanding of all dharmas;
Thanks to it, and by resort to hundreds of means, he constantly demonstrates the dharma to the beings.

For, just as a certain man, born blind and thus of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets
Having no vision, might say, “There are no shapes at all!”;
And as, a great physician, taking pity on that congenitally blind man
And going across, up, and down the Snowy Range,
Might take herbs from the mountain, The One Possessed of All Colors, Flavors, and States of Being
And other such, four in all, and put them to use;
As, chewing one with his teeth, pounding another, then yet another,
Inserting them into a limb on the point of a needle, he might apply them to the man born blind;
And as the latter, regaining his sight, might see the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets,
And this might occur to him: “Formerly, I uttered that out of ignorance!”

Just so do the beings, greatly ignorant and congenitally blind, wander about,
Trapped in woe by their ignorance of the wheel of conditioned production;
Just so, in a world deluded by ignorance, has the supreme all-knower,
The Thus Gone One, the great physician, arisen, he of compassionate nature.

A teacher skilled in means, he demonstrates the true dharma,
He demonstrates the buddha’s unexcelled enlightened intuition to those in the supreme vehicle.
The Leader reveals the middle [intuition] to the one of middle wisdom,
While to the one who fears transmigration he describes yet another enlightened intuition.
To the discerning auditor, [who has] escaped from the triple sphere,
The following occurs: “I have attained spotless, auspicious extinction!”
Thereupon, it is to them that I declare: “This is not the thing called extinction,
Rather from the understanding of all dharmas is immortal extinction attained!”

Just as the great seers, evincing compassion for him,
Say to him, “You are a fool! Do not think, ‘I am wise.’
When you are within your house,
You cannot know what happens outside with your slight intelligence.
What is to be known without, whether done or not done, he who is within
To this day does not know. Whence can you know it, O you of slight intelligence?
Whatever sound may be produced about five leagues from here,
That you are unable to hear, to say nothing of one from far off!
Which men are ill disposed to you, which ones well disposed,
These it is impossible for you to know. Whence comes your overweening pride?
When but one league is to be walked, there can be no walking without a beaten track.
Whatever happened in your mother’s womb has been forgotten by you, every bit of it.
He who has the five kinds of superknowledge, he is called ‘all-knowing,’ Yet you, ignorant as you are from delusion, say, ‘I am all-knowing!’

If you seek all-knowledge, you should achieve superknowledge.
Think on this achievement as a forest-dweller.
You shall gain pure dharma and, through it, the various kinds of superknowledge”;
And just as he, grasping the meaning and going, quite collected, to the forest, reflects,
Then, having gained the five kinds of superknowledge, is in no great time endowed with superior qualities:
Just so are all the auditors possessed of the notion that they have attained extinction,
And then the victorious one tells such persons that this is mere repose, not blessed rest.

It is an expedient device of the buddhas that they speak in this manner,
For, apart from all-knowledge, there is no extinction. Undertake it!
The infinite knowledge of the three periods, and the six pure perfections,
And emptiness and the signless, and that devoid of plans,
And the thought of enlightened intuition, and what other dharmas lead to extinction,
Dharmas both with outflows and without, tranquil, all resembling open space,
The four kinds of brahman conduct, and what has been much bruited as methods of attraction:
For the guidance of the beings these have been proclaimed by the supreme seers.
And he who discerns the dharmas as similar in nature to dreams and illusions,
As being as devoid of a core as a bunch of plantains, as being similar to an echo,
And he who knows that that, too, without exception, is the nature of the triple sphere,
And who discerns the Blessed Rest as being neither bound nor free,
And by whom all dharmas, being the same, and being devoid of a variety of appearances and natures,
Are not looked to, nor is any dharma perceived,
He, in his great wisdom, sees the whole dharma body,
For there is no triad of vehicles, but only the one vehicle.

“All dharmas are the same, all the same, ever quite the same.”
Knowing this, one understands auspicious and immortal extinction.

Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, p108-110

The Simile of the Clay Pots

Today and tomorrow I’m going to add the “missing” portion of Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs. This is found in Leon Hurvitz’s Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, which was published in 2009. I used this version of the Lotus Sutra for two cycles through my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra starting on April 18, 2019.

Hurvitz translated both Kumārajīva’s version and a surviving Sanskrit version. This material was found in the Sanskrit but not included in Kumārajīva’s version.

“Again, O Kāśyapa, the Thus Gone One, in his guidance of the beings, is equitable, not inequitable. O Kāśyapa, just as the light of the sun and the moon illuminates the whole world, both him who does well and him who does ill, both him who stands high and him who stands low, the good-smelling and the bad-smelling, just as that light falls everywhere equally, not unequally, in just that way, O Kāśyapa, does the light of the thought of the knowledge of the all-knowing, of the Thus Gone Ones, the worthy ones, the properly and fully enlightened ones, the demonstration of the true dharma, function equally among all beings in the five destinies according to their predispositions, be they persons of the great vehicle, persons of the vehicle of the individually enlightened, or persons of the vehicle of the auditors. Nor in the light of the knowledge of the Thus Gone One is there either deficiency or superfluity, for the light conduces to knowledge in accord with merit. O Kāśyapa, there are not three vehicles. There are only beings of severally different modes of conduct, and for that reason three vehicles are designated.”

When this had been said, the long-lived Mahākāśyapa said to the Blessed One: “If, O Blessed One, there are not three vehicles, what is the reason for the present designation of auditors, individually enlightened, and bodhisattvas?”

When this had been said, the Blessed One said to the long-lived Mahākāśyapa: “It is just as the potter. O Kāśyapa, makes pots with the same clay. Among them, some become pots for sugar lumps, some pots for clarified butter, some pots for curds or milk, while some become pots for inferior and filthy things; and just as there is no difference in the clay, but rather a supposed difference in the pots based solely on the things put into them, in just this way, O Kāśyapa, is there this one and only one vehicle, to wit, the buddha vehicle. There exists neither a second nor a third vehicle.”

Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, p103

And in gāthās:

As the light of the sun and the moon falls alike on all men,
The virtuous as well as the evil, and as in their glow there is no deficiency [for some] or fullness [for others],
So the glow of the Thus Gone One’s wisdom, as equitable as the sun and the moon,
Guides all beings, being neither deficient nor yet excessive.

As a potter may be making clay pots, the pieces of clay being quite the same,
Yet there take shape in his hand containers of sugar, milk, clarified butter, and water,
Some for filth, while yet others take shape as containers of curds;
As that potter takes one clay, making pots of it;
And as, whatever thing is put into it, by that thing the pot is designated:
So to match the distinction among the beings, because of the difference in their inclinations, the Thus Gone Ones
Tell of a difference in vehicles, whereas the buddha vehicle is the true one.

Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, p107

T. Murray

Tomas Murray Service Booklet

Attended a service today for Thomas Hamilton Murray. Just T for those who claimed him as a friend. This was a combination funeral and 49 Day Memorial service. He died on June 10 at the age of 75.

Mr. Murray became a member of the Sacramento Nichiren Budddhist Church about a year after I did. He had been practicing Nichiren Buddhism since the 1970s with Nichiren Shoshu of America. After the 1991 split between Nichiren Shoshu and Soka Gakkai, he stayed with the temple, attending services at Nichiren Shoshu Myoshinji Temple in Pinole. Mr. Murray discovered Nichiren Shu from the church website. He was very happy to have joined Nichiren Shu, with its focus on the Eternal Śākyamuni Buddha and the Great Bodhisattva Nichiren Shōnin.

As a Nichiren Shoshu practitioner he had made something like 19 trips to Taisekiji in Japan. But he had never been to Minobu. In February, he convinced Rev. Igarashi that his Sacramento, Chicago and Long Beach parishioners would love to travel to Minobu, where Nichiren lived in the latter years and where his ashes are buried. A date for the trip was set and then the pandemic cancelled everything.

At the service today, Rev. Igarashi said Thomas finally made it to Mt. Minobu. Nichiren will greet him on his way to the Pure Land of Mt. Grdhrakūta to join the constantly abiding Śākyamuni Buddha.

20200729_murray_crowd
The two men at left streamed the service on Zoom for those who could not attend.

The Bodhisattva Archetype

This follows yesterday’s quote from Faces of Compassion: Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes and Their Modern Expression.

In fully employing the bodhisattva figures as archetypes, we must also realize the tentative, artificial nature of archetypes. The archetypal aspects of the bodhisattva figures are helpful as patterns. We can feel a sense of what it might mean to behave and function as a bodhisattva ourselves by examining the fearless insight and eloquence of Mañjuśrī, the luminous helpful activity of Samantabhadra, the unmediated, unconditional generosity of Avalokiteśvara, the faithful witness of Jizō, the patience and loving concern of Maitreya, the clever, illuminating displays of Vimalakirti, and the selfless decision and determination of Siddhārtha Gautama. However, all of their kindness and efforts are only manifest and real when we see the bodhisattva figures not as theoretical or mythological, but as actualities expressed in our world.

Beyond all the archetypal patterns, the life of the bodhisattva is in ordinary, everyday activity. In simple acts of kindness and gestures of cheerfulness, bodhisattvas are functioning everywhere, not as special, saintly beings, but in helpful ways we may barely recognize. The bodhisattvas are not glorified, exotic, unnatural beings, but simply our own best qualities in full flower.

Defeating Māra’s Ambitions

This continues my Office Lens housecleaning and follows my quotes from The Vimalakīrti Sutra here and here.

Today’s quote comes from page 279 of Faces of Compassion: Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes and Their Modern Expression.

Another bodhisattva named Jagatīṃdhara tells of being approached by Māra, the evil tempter spirit, in disguise as Shakra, king of the Indian gods, and accompanied by twelve thousand heavenly maidens. Māra offers the maidens as servants to Jagatīṃdhara, who hastily refuses the offering as unfitting, since he is a monk bodhisattva, vowed to celibacy. Vimalakirti abruptly shows up and reveals to Jagatīṃdhara that this is not Shakra but Māra tempting him. Vimalakirti thereupon requests the maidens for himself from Māra, who is intimidated by the layman and his power. Vimalakirti takes and educates these daughters of gods, leading them to arouse the thought of universal enlightenment and develop bodhisattva qualities. When Māra later demands their return, Vimalakirti complies only after instructing the maidens on how to sustain their illumination and spread it, even after they return to Māra’s palace.

The Fragrant Dharma

This follows yesterday’s post, The Bodhisattva’s Illness.

The Vimalakirti Sutra contains a fascinating description of a world in which everything is composed of fragrances (Page 112-115).

At that time Shariputra thought to himself, “It is almost noon. What are all these bodhisattvas going to eat?”

Then Vimalakirti, knowing what was in his mind, said, “The Buddha preached the eight emancipations. You, sir, should undertake to practice them. Why be distracted by thoughts of eating when you are listening to the Law? If you want something to eat, wait a moment. I will see that you get the sort of food you have never had before! ”

Vimalakirti then entered samadhi and, employing his transcendental powers, showed the great assembly a country called Many Fragrances, situated in a region high above, beyond Buddha lands as numerous as the sands of forty-two Ganges. The Buddha named Fragrance Accumulated was at that time present there. The fragrance of his country was finer than the fragrance of all the human and heavenly realms of the Buddha lands of the ten directions. In this land there was not even the term voice-hearer or pratyekabuddha, but only great bodhisattvas, pure and clean, for whom the Buddha preached the Law. All the inhabitants of his world built their halls and towers out of fragrances, strolled the fragrant ground, and had gardens all made of fragrances. The fragrant aroma of their food wafted to immeasurable worlds in the ten directions. At this time the Buddha and the various bodhisattvas were just sitting down together to eat. Heavenly offspring, all named Fragrant Garland, all with their minds set on attaining anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, were serving the meal to the Buddha an the bodhisattvas.

Among the great assembly [gathered at Vimalakirti’s house,] there were none who could not see these things with their own eyes.

Then Vimalakirti addressed the bodhisattvas, saying, “Sirs, who among you can bring us some of that Buddha’s food ?”

Out of deference to Manjushri’s authority and supernatural powers, however, all of them remained silent.

[Addressing Manjushri,] Vimalakirti said, “Sir, a great assembly such as this – this is shameful, is it not?”

Manjushri replied, “As the Buddha has told us, never despise those who have yet to learn.”

Thereupon Vimalakirti, without rising from his seat but in the presence of the whole gathering, conjured up a phantom bodhisattva whose auspicious features, shining brightness, authority and virtue were so superior that they outshone the entire group. Then he announced to this bodhisattva, “You must go to the region high above, beyond Buddha lands numerous as the sands of forty-two Ganges, where there is a country called Many Fragrances. The Buddha, named Fragrance Accumulated, is just now sitting down with his bodhisattvas to a meal. When you arrive in his presence, speak as I instruct you, saying, ‘Vimalakirti bows his head before the feet of the World-Honored One with immeasurable reverence and begs to inquire if in your daily activities your illnesses are few, your worries are few. Does your strength suffice you? He desires to obtain the leftovers from this meal of the World-Honored One so he may carry out the Buddha’s work by dispensing them in the saha world, enabling those who delight in a lesser doctrine to be broadened by the great way, and also to cause the Thus Come One’s fame to be heard on all sides.’ ”

At that time this conjured bodhisattva in the presence of the gathering ascended to the region high above. Everyone in the entire assembly could see him as he departed, and as he arrived in the world called Many Fragrances and made his obeisance at the feet of the Buddha there. And they could hear him say, ‘Vimalakirti bows his head before the feet of the WorldHonored One with immeasurable reverence and begs to inquire if in your daily activities your illnesses are few, your worries are few. Does your strength suffice you? He desires to obtain the leftovers from this meal of the World-Honored One so he may carry out the Buddha’s work by dispensing them in the saha world, ensuring that those who delight in a lesser doctrine will be broadened by the great way, and also that the Thus Come One’s fame may be heard on all sides.”

When the great men [of the country Many Fragrances] saw this conjured bodhisattva, they sighed at seeing what they had never seen before, and said, “Where has this superior being come from? The saha world – where is that? What is this thing he calls a ‘lesser doctrine?’ ”

When they had put these questions to their Buddha, the
Buddha announced to them, “In the lower region, beyond Buddha lands as numerous as the sands of forty-two Ganges, there is a world called saha. The Buddha named Shakyamuni is at present manifesting himself in that evil world of the five impurities in order to expound the teachings of the Way to living beings who delight in a lesser doctrine. He has a bodhisattva named Vimalakirti who dwells in the emancipation Beyond Comprehension and preaches the Law for the other bodhisattvas. He has purposely dispatched this phantom being to come and extol my name and praise this land, so that thereby he may bring increased benefits to those bodhisattvas.”

The bodhisattvas said, “How can this man conjure up a phantom such as this? Does he possess such strength of virtue, such fearlessness, such transcendental powers?”

The Buddha replied, “His powers are great indeed! He dispatches phantoms in all the ten directions to carry out the Buddha’s work and bring enrichment to living beings.”

Then the Thus Come One Fragrance Accumulated took a bowl of many fragrances, filled it with fragrant rice, and gave it to the phantom bodhisattva.

The provisional nature of The Vimalakirti Sutra is underscored by this denigration of voice-hearers or pratyekabuddhas. As is explained in the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra:

For Chih-i, the … differentiation of the coarse and the subtle is for the purpose of reaching non-distinction, since the intention of the Buddha is for universal salvation. Ultimately speaking, the coarseness and the subtlety are all merged in the Lotus Sūtra, for the Buddha made decisive and clear that all of them are dissolved in the subtlety (Chüeh-liao Jumiao). Regardless of whether they are viewed as coarse or subtle, and or neither coarse nor subtle, they all contain the ultimate intention of the Buddha in leading beings to attain Buddhahood. (Vol. 2, Page 105)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


Or as Nichiren writes:

As all Mahāyāna sūtras except one do not preach on the basis of the “revealing the truth and merging all the provisional” doctrine, neither the doctrine of obtaining Buddhahood for the Two Vehicles nor that of attainment of Buddhahood by Śākyamuni Buddha in the eternal past is preached in them. The Lotus Sūtra on the other hand, is expounded on the basis of the “revealing the truth and merging all the provisional” doctrine, thus both doctrines of attaining Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles and the attainment of Buddhahood by Śākyamuni Buddha in the eternal past are revealed in it.

Ken Hōbō-shō, A Clarificaton of Slandering the True Dharma, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 133.

One other link between the Vimalakirti and Lotus sutras is this warning given following the above discussion of the saha world:

At that time the nine million bodhisattvas all spoke out in unison, saying, “We wish to visit that saha world and offer alms to Shakyamuni Buddha. And we also wish to see Vimalakirti and the many other bodhisattvas.”

“You may go,” said the Buddha. “But draw in your bodily fragrances so that you will not cause living beings to be deluded or beguiled by them. And you should put aside your real form so that the persons in that country who are striving to become bodhisattvas will not feel intimidated or ashamed. And you must not look on that land with disdain or contempt or rouse thoughts that obstruct progress. Why? Because all the lands in the ten directions are as empty as the sky. It is just that, since the Buddhas wish to convert those who delight in a lesser doctrine, they do not reveal the full purity of the land.”

Compare that with Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha’s admonition to Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva in Chapter 24:

“Do not despise that world! Do not consider it to be inferior [to our world]! Good Man! The Sahā-World is not even. It is full of mud, stones, mountains’ and impurities. The Buddha [of that world] is short in stature! So are the Bodhisattvas [of that world]. You are forty-two thousand yojanas tall. I am six million an eight hundred thousand yojanas tall. You are the most handsome. You have thousands of millions of marks of merits, and your light is wonderful. Do not despise that world when you go there! Do not consider that the Buddha and Bodhisattvas of that world are inferior [to us]! Do not consider that that world is inferior [to ours]!”

Outdoor Service

California recently prohibited all indoor religious services and so the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church set up outside in a grassy area between the Social Hall and the Temple.

Three 20 by 10 feet canopies were erected on Saturday. These canopies are normally used during the Summer Food Festival.


Rev. Igarashi stands at podium next to makeshift altar. The podium originally belonged to the San Francisco Nichiren Buddhist Church, where Rev. Igarashi worked before moving to Sacramento in 1989. The Mandala Gohonzon was presented to Rev. Igarashi after the completion of his third Aragyo session, the 100-day ascetic practice. Rev. Igarashi has completed five of the Aragyo sessions.


Rev. Igarashi at the altar.


Rev. Igarashi chats with masked, socially-distant parishioners under the canopies.

A group of masked-parishioners chat after the service.

Having the service outside was workable, but it was quite warm at times – could have used a litttle more breeze – and the traffic on the nearby street made Rev. Igarashi’s Dharma talk difficult to hear at times.

The Bodhisattva’s Illness

Recently I completed reading The Vimalakirti Sutra as translated by Burton Watson. I was reading this as part of Rev. Ryuei McCormick’s Buddhist Study Program. This also plays into reading I’ve been doing on T’ien-t’ai’s teaching and, in particular, how it constrasts with the Madhyamika.

As with all of my quotes here, the purpose is to file these away for future reference. I’ve never been famous for my retention of what I read, and at 68 years of age I’m not getting any better.

Today’s quote is about illness, from pages 64-66.

INQUIRING ABOUT THE ILLNESS

At that time the Buddha said to Manjushri, “You must go visit Vimalakirti and inquire about his illness.”

Manjushri replied to the Buddha, “World-Honored One, that eminent man is very difficult to confront. He is profoundly enlightened in the true nature of reality and skilled at preaching the essentials of the Law. His eloquence never falters, his wisdom is free of impediments. He understands all the rules of bodhisattva conduct, and nothing in the secret storehouse of the Buddhas is beyond his grasp. He has overcome the host of devils and disports himself with transcendental powers. In wisdom and expedient means he has mastered all there is to know. Nevertheless, in obedience to the Buddha’s august command, I will go visit him and inquire about his illness.” …

“Layman, this illness of yours – can you endure it? Is the treatment perhaps not making it worse rather than better? The World-Honored One countless times has made solicitous inquiries concerning you. Layman, what is the cause of this illness? Has it been with you long? And how can it be cured?”

Vimalakirti replied, “This illness of mine is born of ignorance and feelings of attachment. Because all living beings are sick, therefore I am sick. If all living beings are relieved of sickness, then my sickness will be mended. Why? Because the bodhisattva for the sake of living beings enters the realm of birth and death, and because he is in the realm of birth and death he suffers illness. If living beings can gain release from illness, then the bodhisattva will no longer be ill.

“It is like the case of a rich man who has only one child. If the child falls ill, then the father and mother too will be ill, but if the child’s illness is cured, the father and mother too will be cured. The bodhisattva is like this, for he loves living beings as though they were his children. If living beings are sick, the bodhisattva will be sick, but if living beings are cured, the bodhisattva too will be cured. You ask what cause this illness arises from – the illness of the bodhisattva arises from his great compassion.”

This certainly resonates with this day of COVID-19.

Prayers for Rev. Ryusho Jeffus

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With Rev. Ryusho Jeffus in hospital, Davie Byden-Oakes took over from England to offer a Sunday service.

Members of Rev. Ryusho Jeffus’ online Sangha gathered today to hold a service and offer prayers for Ryusho, who has been in hospital since Friday. Ryusho communicated with my wife to say his news from the doctors “was not good” and that he was receiving palliative care at the Syracuse VA Medical Center for extreme pain and difficulty breathing. Nothing has been heard since. Davie Byden-Oakes, who led Sunday’s service from England, said he had received a brief note from Ryusho saying he was in hospital and receiving palliative care.

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Attendees of Myoshoji online service led by Davie Byden-Oakes in England