Category Archives: Blog

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The Life of Buddha

Example card with Thai painting and information on reverse

In 1957 the United States Information Service published a book entitled “The Life of Buddha” that used Thai Temple paintings to tell the story. Some time later, the Asia Buddhist Friendship Association, a Nichiren Shu organization, published sets of 5×7 cards with the paintings on one side and information on the back. I found an envelope of cards 8-1 to 8-8 at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church Sunday school classroom.

Each card contains a Thai Temple painting. On the back of the card is a list of Famous Buddhist Sites. (Same sites on all cards). Each card has a different ‘Buddha’s saying’ quote and information about that card’s Thai painting. The inside cover of the envelope contains a short biography of the Buddha.

I have re-created the package on the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church’s page of Nichiren Shu brochures. A PDF copy of the package is also available.

View re-created package of 5×7 cards
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The Fantasy of the Lotus Sutra

Cover_Gohonzon_Senchu_Murano-1
Read this booklet
In cleaning out the old Sunday school classroom at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church I’ve obtained a number of brochures and booklets from the late 1980s and 1990s. I’ve been adding these to the church website since they are no longer in print.

Today I added Senchu Murano’s 36-page booklet entitled The Gohonzon, which was published in 1997 by the Nichiren Shu Overseas Propagation Promotion Association. (Read it here.)

Murano, who is the principal translator for the Nichiren Shu version of the Lotus Sutra harbors some theories that I take issue with. For example, in this booklet he says:

Sakyamuni Buddha became the Buddha in the remotest past. There was no Buddha before him. He was the first Buddha, the Original Buddha. All the other Buddhas in the past, present and future are his emanations.

In The Gohonzon booklet, Murano offers an abbreviated summary of the teaching of the Lotus Sutra that he entitles:

The Fantasy of the Lotus Sutra

The Pure World of the Original and Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha is a fantasy of the Lotus Sutra. A fantasy may not be real, but it sometimes portrays the truth more eloquently than reality. That is why Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Miyazawa Kenji’s Milky Way Railroad Train At Night is immortal.

The fantastic narration of the Lotus Sutra begins with the story of Prabhutaratna (Many-Treasures, Taho) Buddha, as follows:

There lived a Buddha called Taho many kalpas ago in a world called Treasure-Pure, which was located far to the east of the Saha World. Taho Buddha knew the Wonderful Dharma, but did not expound it by himself because he thought that the Wonderful Dharma should be expounded by a Buddha who would emanate from himself as many Replica-Buddhas as there are worlds in the universe, dispatch them to those worlds, and then expound the Wonderful Dharma in a sutra called the Lotus Sutra. Taho Buddha decided to wait for the advent of such a Buddha, and to approve the truthfulness of the Lotus Sutra expounded by that Buddha.

Taho Buddha requested his disciples to build a stupa, and to put his body in it after he passes away. His disciples made a stupa as they were instructed. After his Parinirvana, they positioned his body into a sitting posture of meditation, put it in the stupa, and shut the door.

A Buddha can see, hear, speak, and even move after his Parinirvana. The only thing a past Buddha cannot do is to expound the Dharma. Be must be satisfied with hearing the Dharma expounded by a present Buddha.

Taho Buddha had been watching all the corners of the universe for many kalpas until he finally found a Buddha doing what He had wished to see. He saw Sakyamuni Buddha of the Saha World, which was located far to the west of his world, issue many replicas from himself, dispatch them to all the worlds of the universe, and then expound the Lotus Sutra. Having rejoiced at seeing all this, Taho Buddha prepared himself for the journey to the Saha World. He made his stupa move. It flew through the skies over many worlds, and reached the sky below the Saha World. Then the stupa rose, passed the Saha World from underneath, and floated in the sky above Mt. Sacred Eagle. Taho Buddha turned the stupa toward Sakyamuni, and praised him from within the stupa.

The congregation was astonished to see all this. Representing the congregation, Daigyosetsu Bodhisattva asked Sakyamuni, “Who is in the stupa?” Sakyamuni answered, “Taho Buddha is there.” Daigyosetsu begged Sakyamuni to open the door of the stupa so that all the congregation could see the newly arrived Buddha. But Sakyamuni refused his appeal, saying that Taho Buddha would never allow anyone to open the door of his stupa unless an expounder of the Lotus Sutra collects his Replica-Buddhas from the worlds of the ten quarters. Daigyosetsu begged Sakyamuni to collect them.

Sakyamuni Buddha consented to his appeal. He issued a ray of light from his forehead as a sign to call them forth. Acknowledging this light, the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters returned to their home world, and assembled on Mt. Sacred Eagle. With this Sakyamuni Buddha hovered, and opened the door of the stupa. Taho Buddha moved to the left to make some space for Sakyamuni to sit, and asked him to join him. Sakyamuni entered the stupa and sat on the right of Taho Buddha.

Seeing the two Buddhas sitting side by side in the stupa hanging in the sky, the congregation wished to be near the two Buddhas. Reading the minds of the congregation, Sakyamuni raised them up to the sky below the stupa.

Thereupon Sakyamuni Buddha announced that he would transmit the Lotus Sutra to someone. Hearing this, many Bodhisattvas begged Sakyamuni to transmit it to them. But he refused their appeal, saying, “I meant to say that I would transmit this sutra to someone other than you. You are not needed. I have chosen the ones to whom I will transmit this sutra.”

When he said this, innumerable Bodhisattvas sprang up from the four corners of the Saha World. The four army-like divisions of Bodhisattvas were headed by one or another of the Four Bodhisattvas: Visistacaritra (Jogyo), Anantacaritra (Muhengyo ), Visuddhacaritra (Jogyo) and Spratisthitacaritra (Anryugyo). All the Bodhisattvas from underground rose to the sky, and greeted Sakyamuni Buddha with the disciple-to-master courtesy, saying, “We are very glad to see you again. Are you in good health?” Sakyamuni said to them, “I am very glad .to see that you rejoice at seeing me again.”

The congregation was surprised to see the newcomers from underground greeting Sakyamuni as respectfully and as courteously as if they were the disciples of Sakyamuni Buddha.

Representing the congregation, Maitreya Bodhisattva asked Sakyamuni, saying, “Who are they? We have never seen them before. They must have hidden themselves underground a very long time ago. You are younger than they because it is only forty and some years ago that you became the Buddha. But these elders greet you as respectfully and as courteously as if they were your disciples. This is strange. It is difficult to believe that a handsome, black-haired man of twenty-five years can point to men a hundred years old, and say, ‘They are my sons.’ Who are the newcomers?” Sakyamuni Buddha said to Maireya Bodhisattva, “You think that I left the palace of the Sakyas, sat at the place of enlightenment, and became the Buddha forty and some years ago. You are mistaken. I became the Buddha in the remotest past. These Bodhisattvas from underground are my disciples whom I taught in the remotest past.”

After saying this, Sakyamuni Buddha transmitted the Lotus Sutra to the Bodhisattvas headed by Visistacaritra. Then he descended from the stupa to the ground. All the people who were in the sky also descended. Sakyamuni Buddha put his right hand on the heads of the Bodhisattvas, and said, “Now I will transmit the Lotus Sutra to all of you. Propagate it with all your hearts.”

Sakyamuni Buddha turned toward the stupa in the sky, and said, “May the Buddhas be where they wish to be. May the stupa be where it was.”

Here ends the fantasy of the Lotus Sutra.

I prefer the actual book to this fantasy.

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Nichiren Shu Brochure from 1991

nichiren-shu-1991-cover

Recently I found a stack of old brochures at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church. The 28-page 6 inch by 8 inch brochure was produced by Nichiren Order of North America in 1991.

You can read the brochure on the church website here.

I enjoyed this description of the Odaimoku:

According to Nichiren Shonin, the Odaimoku is not a mere representation of Buddha’s Truths. Rather it is the embodiment of Buddha’s Truths when the formula is uttered with a firm belief of the truths contained in the Lotus Sutra and with full acceptance of Buddha as the Saviour.

It also includes this handy list of “Holy Days”:

The Buddha’s Nirvana Day, February 15
After 45 years of preaching, Śākyamuni Buddha entered into Nirvana, perfect tranquility, at the age of 80 in Kusinagara.
Nichiren Shonin’s Birthday, February 16
Nichiren Shon-in was born on February 16, 1222, at Kominato, Chiba.
Sakyamuni Buddha’s Birthday, Apri1 8
Sakyamuni Buddha was born in Lumbini, on April 8, 565 B.C., as a pricce of the Sakya Clan.
Proclamation of the establishment of a new order, April, 28 ·
Nichiren Shonin declared he would establish his faith in the Lotus Sutra at Seichoji Temple in his home town, Kominato on April 28, 1253.
Exile to Izu Peninsula, May 12
In 1260 Nichiren Shōnin presented his work, the “Rissho Ankoku Ron” and admonished the government against believing wrong teachings. On May 12, 1261, he was exiled to Jzu Yeniosula because of his admonition.
Matsubagayatsu ‘ Persecution August 27
The presentation of the “Risshō Ankoku-ron” caused rioters to attack Nichiren Shōnin and they set fire to his hermitage at Matsubagayatsu on Aug. 27, 1260.
Tatsunokuchi Persecution, September J2
In 1271 the government was displeased by Nichiren Shōnin’s propagating acts and he was arrested and exiled to Sado Island. On September 12, on the way to Sado, he was about to be executed at Tatsunokuchi, but his life was saved by a mysterious light from the sky.
Sado Exile, October 10
After Nichiren Shōnin escaped execution at Tatsunokuchi, he was exiled to Sado Island on October 10, 1271. He was there for three years.
Oeshiki, October 13
On the way from Mt. Minobu to Hitachi Spa to cure his illness, Nichiren Shōnin ended his 60 years of eventful life at Ikegami, Tokyo, on October 13, 1282.
Komatsubara Persecution, November 11
Nichiren Shōnin and his disciples were attacked by the lord Kagenobu Tojo, and his conspirators on a path in the forest of Komastubara in Tojo’s territory on November 11, 1264. Nichiren Shōnin was injured on his head and one of his disciples and one follower were killed.

Download PDF copy of this brochure

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Why We Chant Ten Suchnesses Three Times

By Rev. Ryuei McCormick
Nichiren Shu News, Aug. 1, 2019

A common practice of Nichiren Buddhism is a triple repetition of a portion of the opening prose section of Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra, but not many know why we do this. In English, this passage reads “…that is all phenomena in regard to their appearances as such, their natures as such, their entities as such, their powers as such, their activities as such, their causes as such, their conditions as such, their effects as such, their recompenses as such, and their equality as such despite these differences.” This is the list of the “ten suchnesses” or aspects of phenomena (dharmas in Sanskrit) that comprise reality.

The three repetitions are actually a recognition of three ways of reading the ten suchnesses in accordance with the threefold truth taught by Tiantai Zhiyi (538-597). The threefold truth consists of: (1) the truth of emptiness, meaning that all phenomena are empty of a permanent unchanging or independent self-nature; (2) the truth of provisionality, meaning that nevertheless they do have a provisional existence on the basis of the interdependent flow of causes and conditions; and (3) the truth of the middle way, meaning that things are simultaneously empty and provisionally existent. All three truths of the threefold truth imply one another. Because things have no self-nature, they have a provisional existence, and vice versa. Both emptiness and provisionality express the middle way of empty yet provisionally existent. This is a very subtle and complex teaching which is at the heart of Tiantai Buddhism and was also held in great esteem by Nichiren Shonin.

In the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra, the Great Master Tiantai points out that by rearranging the Chinese characters of each of the ten phrases, one can read them so that one part or another of the threefold truth is emphasized. The first way is to emphasize the suchness of each of the ten. Because suchness is a synonym for emptiness this is a recognition of the truth of emptiness. For instance, to read “such their appearance is” (ze-so-nyo); The second way is to emphasize the distinct character of each of the ten as a recognition of the truth of provisionality. For instance, to read, “their appearances as such” (nyo-ze-so); The third way is to emphasize the copula “as,” representing the truth of the middle way. For instance, to read “as such their appearance” (so-nyo-ze;).

This doesn’t work as well in English as in classical Chinese, and we don’t actually rearrange the characters in our own practice. Nevertheless, the triple repetition is a way of recognizing that each of the ten suchnesses should be understood in terms of the threefold truth of emptiness, provisionality, and the middle way.

Source

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A Catechism for Sunday School

Recently I was helping clear out the classroom at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church and came across a stack of books entitled The Buddha and His Teaching by Ernest K. Shinkaku Hunt. The book was published by Aoyama Shoin Inc., Tokyo, in April 1962. These were used as textbooks for the church’s Sunday School.

This is not a text specific to Nichiren Buddhism but rather a generic teaching. To that end, the book finishes with:

A Catechism for Sunday School

1. Of what religion are you?
I am a Buddhist.
2. What is Buddhism?
Buddhism is the Teaching of the Buddha Sakyamuni.
3. What does the word Buddha mean?
The word Buddha means “The Enlightened One.”
4. When did the Buddha Sakyamuni live?
About two thousands five hundred years ago.
5. Where was he born?
He was born in India, in Lumbini’s garden.
6. When was he born?
623 BCE
7.What was his family name?
His family name was Gotama and his given name, Siddhartha.
8.Who were his parents?
King Sudhodana and Queen Maya.
9. What did the wise hermit Asita say about him when he was born?
The wise hermit Asita said, “Truly this child will become either a king of kings or a Buddha.”
10. What did the king do to try and stop the prince from becoming a Buddha and why?
The king built beautiful palaces and gardens for the prince and tried to keep all knowledge of old age, sickness, and death from him. The king wanted him to become a great king.
11. Did this plan of the king succeed?
No, when the prince passed along the street of the city he met an old man, a sick man, and the funeral of a dead man.
12. What did the prince think when he became aware of these things?
“How can I save all men from suffering and sorrow.”
13. What did the prince decide to do?
To leave his home to go out in search of the Truth.
14. Was it hard for him to leave his home?
Yes, because he had a wife and dear little boy.
15. How old was he when he left his home?
Twenty Nine years.

16. Where did he go after leaving his home?
To the forest, to visit wise hermits and learn from them.
17. Was he satisfied with their teaching?
No, he was not, and practiced himself a severe asceticism.
18. How long did he continue to practice asceticism?
For nearly six years till he almost died of weakness and pain.
19. Did he find the Truth?
No, he realized that asceticism was not the right way to find the truth.
20. What did he decide to do then?
He stopped his practice of asceticism, and left the forest.
21. What did he do then?

He sat under the Bodhi Tree, and decided never to leave there until he attained to Enlightenment.

22. Did he succeed this time?
Yes, while sitting under the Bodhi Tree he suddenly saw the face of Truth and the reason for sorrow, and the way to a better life. He became a Buddha.
23. How can we express the teaching of the Buddha in a few words?
The teaching of the Buddha leads us from suffering, through love, to peace.
24. Why do we mention suffering first?
Because suffering is the fundamental fact in nature and life.
25. Why do we bring love next?
Because love shows us the way from suffering to peace.
26. Why do we mention peace last?
Because peace is our goal or last aim.
27. What did he teach in his first sermon?
He taught the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path.
28. What are the Four Noble Truths?
  1. That life as we live it, is full of ill-faring (suffering and sorrow)
  2. That there is a cause for this ill-faring.
  3. That this ill-faring may be alleviated.
  4. The way by which this may be done and finally brought to an end.
29. What does the statement “Life is full of suffering” mean?
It means that life is full of discord, jealousy and angry contention.
30. What is the cause of this suffering?
Ignorance, desire, thinking of ourselves apart from other forms of life.
31. Can this suffering be cured?
Yes, this may be done by following the way the Buddha taught.
32. What is the name of that way?
The name of the way is the Eightfold Path.
33. What is the Eight-fold Path?
The Eight-fold Path consists of eight rules. They are Right Understanding, Right Purpose, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Endeavor, Right Thought, and Right Meditation.
34. What do we mean by Right Understanding?
Right Understanding means that we should try to learn and understand the Teaching of our Buddha Sakyamuni.
35. What do we mean by Right Purpose?
Right Purpose means that we should try always to do what is right.
36. What do we mean by Right Speech?
Right Speech means that we should be Truthful and kind in all we say.
37. What do we mean by Right Conduct?
Right Conduct means that we should behave ourselves at all times.
38. What do we mean by Right Livelihood?
Right Livelihood means that we should earn our living in a way which will not harm anyone.
39. What do we mean by Right Endeavor?
Right Endeavor means that we should try constantly to become better.
40. What do we mean by Right Thought?
Right Thought means that we should cherish our thoughts because our words and our actions arise from our thoughts.
41. What do we mean by Right Meditation?
Right Meditation means that we should think often of the Buddha and repeat His Name.
42. What is Karma?
Karma means that what we sow we shall reap. If we live in the way the Buddha shows us, we shall reap happiness. If not, we shall reap unhappiness.
43. What are the Three Guides which a Buddhist should take refuge in?
The Buddha, The Dharma, and The Sangha. The Buddha is the great teacher. The Dharma is the teaching. The Sangha is the brotherhood.
44. What are the Three Signs of Buddhism?
Change (Anicca), Suffering (Dukkha) and None-self (Anatta) are called “Three Signs.”
45. What are the Five Precepts?
  1. The precept to abstain from taking life unnecessarily.
  2. The precept to abstain from taking things not given.
  3. The precept to abstain from immoral actions.
  4. The precept to abstain from false speech.
  5. The precept to abstain from intoxicating liquors and drugs.
46. What does the lotus stand for?
The lotus is a symbol of purity.
47. How about images of the Buddha?
Images of the Buddha remind us of our gentle Lord with His sweet smile, and are a silent sermon, teaching us to become like our Buddha—gentle, compassionate and loving-kind.
48. How did The Buddha Sakyamuni console his disciples just before his death?
He said “His spirit would still be with them and lead them to peace and happiness.”
Blog, Books, Practice Guide

35-Day Practice Guide for Beginners

A French translation of this book is available here.

I first published my links to Ryusho Jeffus’ Lotus Sutra Practice Guide: 35-Day Practice Outline back in November 2017. Ever since then I have wanted to update this page to include the required reading material. Now it is possible to read each day’s selection from the Lotus Sutra and then jump to Ryusho Jeffus’ website to read the day’s lesson.

Lotus Sutra Practice Guide bookcover
This book is available for purchase on Amazon

From Amazon:

35-Day Practice Outline; Introduction to the Lotus Sutra and beginning practice. This 35-Day guide presents an organized introduction to the study of the Lotus Sutra, the sutra revered by Nichiren Buddhists all over the world. Using this book along with a translation of the sutra the practitioner will gain an overview of the entire Lotus Sutra as well as a systematic approach to beginning to practice Nichiren Buddhism. This guide is not intended as an in depth study of the Lotus Sutra, but as a way to begin to establish a greater relationship with one of the most highly respected of the Buddha’s teachings. It is recommended that this serve as a companion book to your own Lotus Sutra translation book.

Each day has a reading assignment followed by a lesson from Rev. Ryusho Jeffus. Below I’ve gathered the reading material and provided a link to the lesson. The page numbers are for the Third Edition of Senchu Murano’s The Lotus Sutra.

Begin by reading the Introduction

 
Once you have finished this, you might find The Basic Nichiren Shu Service useful.

Book Quotes

Book List

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Does the Eternal Buddha’s Teaching Lose Its Potency?

I’ve been corresponding with a new Nichiren Shu follower who comes from a Pure Land tradition. In the course of explaining Nichiren’s objection to the nenbutsu I realized a question I had: Why do those who believe in the Lotus Sutra accept the concept that the Eternal Buddha Śākyamuni’s teaching progresses through three stages — Age of True Dharma, Age of Semblance Dharma and finally the Latter Age of the Dharma, mappō? Other Buddhas, yes. These stages are cited in the Lotus Sutra. But the Eternal Śākyamuni’s teaching?

The arrival of mappō was Honen’s rationalization for abandoning Śākyamuni for Amida. Nichiren countered this. As Jacqueline Stone in her Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism writes:

[The concept of human capacity], often invoked in the context of mappō discourse, refers to innate receptivity or capacity for achieving salvation through a particular teaching. “Capacity” forms an element central to the exclusive nenbutsu teaching of Honen, who argued that the superiority of a teaching depends not on its depth of philosophical content but on whether or not people can actually practice it; hence he maintained that the nenbutsu, readily accessible even to those of limited capacity who predominate in this evil age, is superior. For Nichiren, as for Hōnen, “capacity” was to be understood in universal terms; being advocates of exclusive practices, neither man focused on individual differences in receptivity but maintained that all persons can be saved through a single teaching. However, Nichiren did not base his argument for the superiority of the Lotus Sūtra solely on ease of practice. The Lotus Sūtra is the seed of Buddhahood; that is, encountering the Lotus Sūtra is the condition that enables salvation. Nichiren described the people of the Final Dharma age as “not yet having good [roots]” (honmi uzen), that is, without prior connection to the Lotus Sūtra that would ensure their enlightenment. Thus, persons of this age should, he said, all be instructed in the Lotus Sūtra; whether they accept it or slander it, they will in either case receive the seed of Buddhahood and eventually become Buddhas. Nichiren vehemently rejected the position of exclusive nenbutsu adherents, that the Lotus should be set aside as too profound for the benighted people of the Final Dharma age. He maintained, with Chan-jan, that “the more true the teaching, the lower the stage [of the practitioners it can bring to enlightenment].” It was in part to stress the ability of the Lotus to save even the lowly and sinful that Nichiren would refer to himself, later in life, as “the son of lowly people” and born of a caṇḍāla family.” (Page 253)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism


What I’m puzzling over is why Nichiren – and especially followers of the Lotus Sutra today – didn’t reject the idea of mappō and instead suggest the whole concept was a skillful device used by the Buddha before the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. Without the question of mappō, we can focus instead on “the more true the teaching, the lower the stage [of the practitioners it can bring to enlightenment]” and the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra.

That essential teaching is found in Chapter 16 after Śākyamuni reveals that he was enlightened in a past so distant that it cannot be counted and will continue for a period twice that:

All this time I have been living in this Sahā-World, and teaching [the living beings of this world] by expounding the Dharma to them. I also have been leading and benefiting the living beings of one hundred thousand billion nayuta asaṃkhya worlds outside this world.

“Good men! During this time I gave various names to myself, for instance, the Burning-Light Buddha. I also said, ‘That Buddha entered into Nirvāṇa.’ I did all these things only as expedients.

“Good men! When some people came to me, I saw the strength of the power of their faith and of the other faculties of theirs with the eyes of the Buddha. Then I named myself differently, and told them of the duration of my life differently, according to their capacities. l also said to them, ‘I shall enter into Nirvāṇa.’ I expounded the Wonderful Dharma with these various expedients, and caused the living beings to rejoice.

“Good men! When I saw that some people of little virtue and of much defilement were seeking the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle, I told them, ‘I renounced my family when I was young, and attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi [forty and odd years ago].’ In reality I became the Buddha in the remotest past as I previously stated. I told them this as an expedient to teach them, to lead them into the Way to Buddhahood.

“Good men! All the sūtras that I expounded [hitherto] were for the purpose of saving all living beings. I told the stories of my previous lives [in some sūtras,] and the stories of the previous lives of other Buddhas [in other sūtras]. I showed my replicas [in some sūtras,] and my transformations [in other sūtras]. I described my deeds [in some sūtras,] and the deeds of others [in other sūtras]. All that I say is true, not false, because I see the triple world as it is. I see that the triple world is the world in which the living beings have neither birth nor death, that is to say, do not appear or disappear, that it is the world in which I do not appear or from which l do not disappear, that it is not real or unreal, and that it is not as it seems or as it does not seem. I do not see the triple world in the same way as [the living beings of] the triple world do. I see all this clearly and infallibly. The living beings are various in their natures, desires, deeds, thoughts and opinions. Therefore, I expounded the dharma with various stories of previous lives, with various parables, similes and discourses, in order to cause all living beings to plant the roots of good. I have never stopped doing what I should do. As I said before, it is very long since I became the Buddha. The duration of my life is innumerable, asaṃkhya kalpas. I am always here. I shall never pass away.

And again in gāthās:

[This] pure world of mine is indestructible.
But the [perverted] people think:
“It is full of sorrow, fear, and other sufferings.
It will soon burn away.”

Because of their evil karmas,
These sinful people will not be able
To hear even the names of the Three Treasures
During asaṃkhya kalpas.

To those who have accumulated merits,
And who are gentle and upright,
And who see me living here,
Expounding the Dharma,
I say:
“The duration of my life is immeasurable.”
To those who see me after a long time,
I say, “It is difficult to see a Buddha.”

I can do all this by the power of my wisdom.
The light of my wisdom knows no bound.
The duration of my life is innumerable kalpas.
I obtained this longevity by ages of practices.

All of you, wise men!
Have no doubts about this!
Remove your doubts, have no more!
My words are true, not false.

The physician, who sent a man expediently
To tell his perverted sons
Of the death of their father in order to cure them,
Was not accused of falsehood although he was still alive.

In the same manner, I am the father of the world.
I am saving all living beings from suffering.
Because they are perverted,
I say that I pass away even though I shall not.
If they always see me,
They will become arrogant and licentious,
And cling to the five desires
So much that they will fall into the evil regions.

I know who is practicing the Way and who is not.
Therefore I expound various teachings
To all living beings
According to their capacities.

I am always thinking:
“How shall I cause all living beings
To enter into the unsurpassed Way
And quickly become Buddhas?”

In this essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra, all talk of stages of the Buddha’s teaching are revealed to be nothing but skillful means used to cause all living beings to plant the roots of good. To suggest otherwise negates or at the very least diminishes the Eternal Buddha’s teaching in the Lotus Sutra.

WONS, Blog

Daimoku Similes

During my recent hour-long walking meditations, I’ve been pondering how to describe the role of the Daimoku in Buddhist practice. Similes – comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid – seem the best bet.

Consider The Simile of the Magnifying Glass

IFTE-NB-001787
Lighting a fire with a magnifying glass

Let’s set the stage with some background from Nichiren’s letters:

The first thousand years following the Buddha’s extinction are called the Age of the True Dharma. During this period, many people kept the precepts and some attained Buddhahood. The next thousand years are called the Age of the Semblance Dharma. During this period, many people broke the precepts, and only a few attained Buddhahood. After the Age of the Semblance Dharma comes the Latter Age of Degeneration. This period is filled with people who neither keep nor break the precepts, but the country is filled with people who have no precepts.

Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō-dono Gosho, A Letter to Lord Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 140.

Source

In the Latter Age of Degeneration, the pre-Lotus sūtras and the teaching of the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra, which were suitable in the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma, no longer enabled the people to shed delusions of life and death and attain Buddhahood.

Sandai Hiho Honjo-ji, The Transmission of the Three Great Secret Dharmas, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 288

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In the Latter Age of Degeneration beginning 2,000 years after the passing of the Buddha, the Hinayāna and Mahāyāna sutras given to Kāśyapa, Ānanda, Mañjuśrī, Maitreya, Medicine King, Avalokiteśvara and others were no longer useful as medicine for living beings. It is because they were no longer effective as cures for the severe ailments of living beings. While the Buddha considered what to do about this, Superior Practice Bodhisattva emerged from the earth. The Buddha then ordered the bodhisattva to give the five characters of Myō, Hō, Ren, Ge, and Kyō to all living beings throughout the Jambudvīpa.

Takahashi Nyūdō-dono Gohenji, A Response to Lay Priest Lord Takahashi, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 74-75

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So today, more than 700 years later, we are well into the Latter Age of Degeneration, when the Buddha’s teachings have lost their vitality. It is much like the sun in winter in Upstate New York.

During the spring and summer and into the fall, the sun nourishes us with its warmth. But once winter settles in, that warmth is nowhere to be found. The same sun is there in the cloudless afternoon sky, but the temperature is 17 degrees Fahrenheit or even less.

In this endless winter of diminished warmth in the Latter Age of Degeneration, the Daimoku acts like a magnifying glass, focusing the Dharma rays to a single point. That focused energy is enough to set fire to karmic encumbrances or to burn away delusions.

The daimoku has two meanings: the daimoku which was practiced during the Ages of the True Dharma and Semblance Dharma, and that which is practiced in the Latter Age of Degeneration. During the Age of the True Dharma, Bodhisattvas Vasubandhu and Nāgārjuna chanted the daimoku solely for the sake of their own practice. During the Age of the Semblance Dharma, Grand Masters Nanyüeh and T’ien-t’ai chanted only the daimoku, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō; they, too, chanted it for their own practices, not to guide other people. Their daimoku was a practice for attaining enlightenment based on the teaching of the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra. The daimoku which I, Nichiren, recite today in the Latter Age of Degeneration is the daimoku of Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, which, unlike that of the previous ages, is not merely the practice for personal enlightenment but it is the practice also for benefitting others. This five-character daimoku is not just a title of the Lotus Sūtra; it contains the five profound meanings of the name, entity, quality, function and teaching.

Sandai Hiho Honjo-ji, The Transmission of the Three Great Secret Dharmas, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 289-290

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A Novel About the Buddha’s Wife

Yasodhara_bookcoverLast week, I traveled to Red Wing, Minnesota, to attend the wedding of my brother’s oldest daughter. I took along “Yasodhara: A Novel About the Buddha’s Wife,” which has been gathering dust on my to-be-read pile of books. It was only later that I realized this was not a random decision.

The publisher, Speaking Tiger Books, offers this summary:

A long time ago, in a far-off kingdom, a boy and a girl, born on the same day, were destined to be together–and then painfully wrenched apart. The boy was Siddhattha, heir to the Sakya kingdom and the future Buddha; the girl was the beautiful and precocious Yasodhara, his friend who became his loving wife.

In this exquisitely crafted narrative, we encounter Yasodhara as a fiercely independent, passionate and resilient individual. We witness her joys and sorrows, her expectations and frustrations, her fairy-tale wedding, and her overwhelming devastation at the departure of her beloved.

It is through her eyes that we witness Siddhattha’s slow transformation, from a sheltered prince to a deeply sensitive young man. On the way, we see how the gods watch over the future Buddha from the clouds, how the king and his ministers try to keep the suffering of the world from him and how he eventually renounces the throne, his wife and newly-born son to seek enlightenment.

Resurrecting a forgotten woman from the origin stories of the Buddha, Vanessa R. Sasson combines the spirit of fiction and the fabulism of Indian mythology with impeccable scholarship, to tell the evocative and deeply moving story of an extraordinary life.

Vanessa R. Sasson
Vanessa R. Sasson
The author, Vanessa R. Sasson, is a professor of Religious Studies in the Liberal and Creative Arts and Humanities Department at Marianopolis College, Quebec. She is also a Research Fellow for the International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice at the University of the Free State in South Africa, as well as Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Religious Studies of McGill University, Montreal.

In the author’s introduction, she explains the book in this way:

Yasodhara, the Buddha’s wife, is not the focus of most early Buddhist hagiographies. The literature preserves fragments of her life, but the focus is (unsurprisingly) usually on her husband. In this book, I have tried to bring together some of these early fragments into the shape of a modern novel, to tell her story from her perspective (as I imagine it). As the writing process unfolded, however, I came to appreciate how much information we are missing. The literature is genuinely scant where she is concerned— particularly regarding her youth. She is a key player during a few moments in the Buddha’s life, but otherwise, we know little about her. We know she produced their one and only son, that she was left behind when he made his Great Departure, and that when he returned to the palace seven years later, he took his son back to the forest with him. The Jatakas (past-life stories) refer to her in a number of accounts, suggesting that Yasodhara and the Buddha had been connected for lifetimes, but we do not know much more than that. Indeed, Yasodhara is so marginalized in some cases that she does not even receive a name. She is known simply as Rahulamata—Rahula’s mother. …

The story I have told here is, therefore, a story inspired by later hagiographies. It is not historical fiction, but perhaps what can be more appropriately labelled “hagiographical fiction” (if such a label existed). This book is my attempt at recreating a hagiography, inspired by hagiographies that belong to an earlier time.

The novel stands alone well by itself, “a story inspired by later hagiographies.” But for me the joy was reading each chapter with the notes that detail the sources of her inspiration.

Returning to the topic of my trip, it wasn’t until near the end of the book that I realized why I was drawn to this tale. It was at the point in the story when Siddhattha, now the Buddha, returns to the Sakya palace. Yasodhara, who has felt abandoned by her husband and wears widow’s clothes, must now confront the loss of her 7-year-old son Rahula.

My parents divorced in 1960 when I was 9 years old and my brother 7. My mother threatened to kill herself if my father followed through with his attempt to gain custody. My brother and I lived with my mother and rarely saw our father once he moved away with his new wife. My mother never remarried. Later in life, I blind-sided my first wife with a divorce request because I was, as an acquaintance described it, “feeling my generations” – the male equivalent of the ticking biological clock. I could really relate to the tale of Yasodhara.

This weekend I watched as a lovely young couple married. They lived together for 10 years before exchanging vows. That’s longer than my parents’ marriage and longer than my first marriage. May they have a long and happy life as husband and wife.

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Long Past the Expiration Date

Yesterday’s post asking whether Chih-i believed in the Western paradise of Amitābha and hoped to reach it after his death begged the question: What does it matter?

Nichiren considered himself a follower of Chih-i. And it’s Nichiren’s focus on Chih-i that gives the question whatever importance it may have. Personally, I believe the suggestion Chih-i believed in the Western paradise of Amitābha was a fabrication of later followers.

First, the rise of Pure Land Buddhism coincided with the fear that Śākyamuni’s teachings were entering the age of the decline of the Dharma, mappō, when their efficacy would be lost. But Chih-i did not live during the age of mappō. He clearly still felt the Lotus Sutra was the Śākyamuni’s ultimate teaching and still very much worth practicing.

That was very different by Nichiren’s time.

“A Buddhist Kaleidoscope: Essays on the Lotus Sutra,” edited by Gene Reeves and published in 2002 by Kōsei Publishing includes an essay by Jacqueline I. Stone entitled “When Disobedience Is Filial and Resistance Is Loyal: The Lotus Sutra and Social Obligations in the Medieval Nichiren Tradition. In it she offers this observation about Nichiren’s dispute with then-current Tendai teaching.

Nichiren’s Tendai contemporaries, too, held the Lotus Sutra to be all inclusive, but generally took this to mean that, properly understood, any practice, such as chanting Amida Buddha’s name or invoking the Bodhisattva Kannon, could be considered practice of the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren decried this interpretation as a confusion of the true and the provisional and rejected all other, “pre-Lotus Sutra” teachings as no longer suited to the present time of mappō. Like medicine that stands too long on the shelf and becomes poisonous, these other teachings and the practices based upon them were, in his view, not only soteriologically useless but positively harmful. For Nichiren, to willfully set aside or ignore the Lotus in favor of other, “lesser” teachings amounted to “slander of the Dharma” and would pull the practitioner down into the lower realms of rebirth.

Today this idea that all practices are the Lotus Sutra practice is still around and just as misguided. They put expiration dates on medicines for a reason. They should not be ignored.

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