As I contemplate my own life, I, Nichiren, have studied Buddhism ever since I was a child. Our life is uncertain, as exhaling one’s breath one moment does not guarantee drawing it the next; it is as transient as the dew before the wind and its end occurs suddenly to everyone, the wise and the ignorant, the aged and the young. I thought I should study the matter of the last moment of life first of all, before studying anything else.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Reply to My Lady, the Nun Myōhō (Myōhō-ama Gozen Gohenji). The Buddha taught that everything that comes together falls apart. Everything that is born must die. Then in the Lotus Sūtra he taught that he sees the world differently. For him living beings have neither birth nor death, they do not appear nor disappear. For each of us, the death of our bodies is certain. As Nichiren instructs, it is beneficial to meditate on this fact and not live in denial of our mortality. At the same time, when we see with the Buddha’s mind, we realize that our lives are not the end of the story. Time and life are abundant, but it it still important to waste neither.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

Medicine-King! This sūtra is the store of the hidden core of all the Buddhas. Do not give it to others carelessly! It is protected by the Buddhas, by the World-Honored Ones. It has not been expounded explicitly. Many people hate it with jealousy even in my lifetime. Needless to say, more people will do so after my extinction.

The Buddha makes this declaration to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. For us who recognize how the Buddha’s teaching transforms our lives and the world, it can be hard to imagine that anyone would reject it. However, there are beings who are so filled with fear and delusion that they mistake the Buddha’s good medicine for poison. While we are committed to leading all beings to enlightenment, we realize that we are not alone in our efforts. The protective deities and the Buddha himself are always working to benefit all beings. In our current capacities, we may not be able to reach everybody immediately. We should not let this discourage us. The least we can do is hope in our hearts for the happiness of all beings, even if they are not accessible to us.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

Today we are not what we were then.
We have obtained
What we did not expect
To obtain
Just as the poor son obtained
The innumerable treasures.

Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana, all disciples of the Buddha, speak these lines in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra as they explain their story of the wayward son. They compare the father’s treasure house in the story to the Buddha’s enlightenment. Until they had been led by the Buddha’s expedient teachings, they could not even imagine themselves as enlightened, any more than the wayward son in the story could imagine the contents of his father’s treasure house.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

World-Honored One! It is by my supernatural powers, know this, that a Bodhisattva can hear these dhāraṇīs. Anyone who keeps the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma [while it is] propagated in the Jambudvīpa, should think, ‘I can keep [this sūtra] only by the supernatural powers of Universal-Sage.’

Universal-Sage Bodhisattva (Fugen, Samantabhadra) makes this declaration to the Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. The supernatural powers of this Bodhisattva are beyond the perception of our human senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell and thought. When we hear thunder, we know something causes it whether or not we understand that cause. In the same way, when we are practicing this Wonderful Dharma, we know it is because of the great help we receive from innumerable beings, even if we do not understand the powers they use to reach us.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

Anyone who keeps
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Should be considered to have given up his pure world and come here
Out of his compassion towards all living beings.

The Buddha declares these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. He reminds us that as Bodhisattvas, we are no longer concerned with getting into a paradise where all our desires are met. This also means that we were not sent into this world of conflict (Sahā) so that we could be tested to see whether we are worthy of getting into that paradise. Instead, we are Bodhisattvas, beings who through our great resolve to benefit all beings, have with great courage chosen to immerse ourselves in the misery of this world, because we know there is no other way to create benefit and lead all beings to the Buddha’s enlightenment.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

Did a god of great virtue or a Buddha
Appear somewhere in the universe?
This great light illumines
The worlds of the ten quarters.

The Brahma Heavenly Kings of the East sing these verses as part of a story the Buddha tells in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. Long ago there was another Buddha named Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence. When he became enlightened, the entire universe was illuminated. Beings who had never seen each other could recognize each other clearly. We can see this story as a metaphor for what happens when the Buddha’s wisdom comes into our lives. We leave the darkness of our ego attachment and come into the light of the world as it is.

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The Buddhas joyfully display
Their immeasurable, supernatural powers
Because [the Bodhisattvas from underground]
[Vow to] keep this sūtra after my extinction.

The Buddha sings these verses to Superior-Practice Bodhisattva (Jōgyo, Viśiṣṭacārītra) in Chapter Twenty-One of the Lotus Sūtra. Superior-Practice is the leader of the Bodhisattvas who came up from underground in Chapter Fifteen when the Buddha asked who would continue to keep and practice this sūtra after his physical extinction in this world. Nichiren saw himself as the embodiment of Superior-Practice, and all of us who are determined to lead all beings to enlightenment through this Wonderful Dharma as embodiments of the Bodhisattvas who came up from underground. The powers of the Buddhas only seem supernatural to those who are mired in delusion and ignorance. They are nothing more than turning the poison of anger into the medicine of energy; the poison of isolation into the medicine of compassion; the poison of attachment into the medicine of wisdom.

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Thereupon the Buddha said to World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva:

“Receive it out of your compassion towards this Endless-Intent Bodhisattva, towards the four kinds of devotees, and towards the other living beings including gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, human and nonhuman beings!”

In Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra, Endless-Intent Bodhisattva offers a necklace of gems with inestimable value to World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva. At first World-Voice-Perceiver refuses to take it, and only accepts it when the Buddha asks him to receive it for the benefit of all beings. This reminds us that when we cultivate a mind of compassion, anything we receive is not meant to be held for our personal benefit. It is meant to be transformed into something beneficial for all beings.

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May the merits we have accumulated by this offering
Be distributed among all living beings,
And may we and all other living beings
Attain the enlightenment of the Buddha!

These verses are from Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sutra, where the Brahma Kings from the ten quarters of the universe come to celebrate the enlightenment of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha. We too can cultivate this wish that all the good results of our life’s work be for the benefit of all beings.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

Those who believe in the Lotus Sutra are like the winter season, for many hardships come incessantly. Winter is surely followed by spring. We have never heard nor seen that winter returned to fall. We have never heard that the believers in the Lotus Sutra go back to ordinary people. The Lotus Sutra says, “All people who listen to this sutra will attain Buddhahood.”

Nichren wrote this in a letter to one of the lay women who followed his teachings, Myoichi Ama. Knowing the hardships Nichiren faced in his life helps us understand his great fearlessness and determination to spread the Wonderful Dharma. One of the most difficult things about hardship is that it can seem like it will never end. Nichiren reminds us that hardships do end, and that we who practice the Lotus Sutra are assured of our future enlightenment. The example of Nichiren’s life also shows us that as Bodhisattvas, we can use our hardships to lead other beings to enlightenment.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com