Only you know that I [am qualified to] attain Bodhi
Because I heard [the Dharma].
I will expound the teachings of the Great Vehicle
And save all living beings from suffering.

These verses are sung to the Buddha by the eight-year-old daughter of the dragon-king Sāgara in Chapter Twelve of the Lotus Sūtra. She appeared before the congregation when called by the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī from whom she had been taught the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra. Most of those gathered did not believe that such a young creature, much less a female, could reach the same enlightenment as the Buddha. But then before their eyes, she made all the transformations necessary and began to teach the Wonderful Dharma herself.

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

Anyone who reads this sūtra
Will be free from grief,
Sorrow, disease or pain.
His complexion will be fair.
He will not be poor,
Humble or ugly.
All living beings
Will wish to see him
Just as they wish to see sages and saints.
Celestial pages will serve him.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra. When we cultivate the mind of the Buddha, and bring his teachings to life, we help other beings find true happiness. This is different from our normal pattern of attempting to manipulate what others think about us through bribery, threats, and other forms of coercion. When we help others find their minds, they realize that they share our true mind of joy and peace.

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

The Indian lizard kṛkalāsa eats in the wind; it won’t grow if there is no wind. A fish lives in the water, and a bird makes a nest in the tree. Likewise, Buddhas live in the Lotus Sutra. As the moon’s reflection resides in the water, Buddhas reside in the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, you must remember that where there is no Lotus Sutra, there are no Buddhas.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Response to My Lady the Nun, Mother of Lord Ueno (Ueno-dono Haha-ama Gozen Gohenji). We may take for granted our opportunity to find and practice the Lotus Sūtra in this lifetime. In Nichiren’s writings, and in the Lotus Sūtra itself, we are reminded of the great benefit we have created and the great hardships we have already endured to allow us to find this Wonderful Dharma and have the opportunity to practice it. When we try to rely on the transitory aspects of our lives, we are surely disappointed. It is only when we keep and practice this Sūtra that we find the Buddha leading us to our true birthright, the enlightenment he knows we and all beings can reach.

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

Anyone who protects this sūtra
Should be considered
To have already made offerings
To Many-Treasures and to me.

The Buddha makes this declaration to all those assembled to hear him teach the Dharma in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, Many-Treasures Buddha has just appeared to confirm the truth of the sūtra, and the Buddha has asked who will protect and preserve this sūtra after his extinction. By considering anyone who defends the meaning of the Lotus Sūtra to be one who has been personally present before these Buddhas, the Buddha invites us to consider not just our previous lives, but our current lives. We repay these Buddhas for this wonderful teaching by bringing it to life ourselves. As Nichiren wrote, “even if only a word or phrase, spread it to others.”

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

My body is pure and indestructible.
I will appear in any of many thousands of billions of worlds
During many hundreds of millions of kalpas,
And expound the Dharma to the living beings.

The Buddha sings these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. We can hear these lines and assume that the body of the Buddha is somehow a permanent version of the man who lived in this world of conflict 2500 years ago. The body of the Buddha takes many forms. We can see it in his teachings: the Wonderful Dharma he left for us. We can see it in every raindrop, every mountain, every smile and snarling face that comes into our lives. We can see it in the capacity we and all beings have to shed our delusions and live peacefully. The Buddha is always leading us to our better selves, whether we realize it or not.

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

Just as a reflection is seen
In a clear mirror,
All things in the world will be reflected
On the pure body of this [person, that is, of this] Bodhisattva.
No one but he
Will be able to see all things clearly.

The Buddha declares these lines to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. When we encounter other beings in this world of conflict, we tend to filter our experience through our expectation. If it is a friend, we expect them to care about us and treat us well; an enemy, to harm us and treat us badly; a stranger, we compare them to other beings like them and expect them to be the same. When we use the Buddha Dharma to look for the complexity of all beings, and look for how we can bring out their ability to benefit and protect others, then we reflect back to them their true natures, rather than the clouds of their delusions.

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

World-Honored One! I bring you a message from Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha. [He wishes to say this.] Are you in good health? Are you happy and peaceful or not? Are the four elements of your body working in harmony or not? Are the worldly affairs bearable or not? Are the living beings easy to save or not? Do they not have much greed, anger, ignorance, jealousy, stinginess and arrogance, or do they? Are they not undutiful to their parents, or are they? Are they not disrespectful to śramaṇas, or are they? Do they not have wrong views, or do they? Are they not evil, or are they? Do they not fail to control their five desires, or do they?

The passage above is how Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva greets Śākyamuni Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Four of the Lotus Sūtra. This Bodhisattva asks not only about the Buddha, but about those whom the Buddha benefits with his teaching. The Buddha answers that those he teaches have prepared through innumerable lives to receive his wisdom. The questions of Wonderful-Voice show how we obscure the teaching through our delusion and attachments.

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Good men or women in the future who hear this Chapter of Devadatta of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma with faithful respect caused by their pure minds, and have no doubts [about this chapter], will not fall into hell or the region of hungry spirits or the region of animals. They will be reborn before the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters.

The Buddha makes this prediction in Chapter Twelve of the Lotus Sūtra. In this Chapter, he assures Devadatta, an evil man who creates great harm, that he too will eventually reach the enlightenment of the Buddha. This prediction is for the rest of us too. It shows that when we nourish our capacity for respect for all beings, no matter how much harm they create, then we uproot the causes of our own greed and fear, and we will always find ourselves in a realm where the Buddha teaches the Wonderful Dharma.

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

To enter the room of the Tathāgata means to have great compassion towards all living beings. To wear the robe of the Tathāgata means to be gentle and patient. To sit on the seat of the Tathāgata means to see the voidness of all things. They should do these [three] things and then without indolence expound this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to Bodhisattvas and the four kinds of devotees.

The Buddha, the Tathāgata, gives this description to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. When we awaken to our nature as Bodhisattvas and resolve to benefit other beings, we often find we do not know how to accomplish this. In the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha gives instructions for reaching others and helping them let go of their delusions. By voidness the Buddha does not mean that nothing exists, rather that nothing has an inherent existence. Nobody is innately ignorant or innately wise. When we maintain our resolve to improve the world, maintain our patience and increase our capacities, and see the possibility of enlightenment for everyone, then are we truly living the Buddha’s teachings.

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

Anyone who rejoices at hearing the Dharma
And utters even a single word in praise of it
Should be considered to have already made offerings
To the past, present, and future Buddhas.
Such a person is rarely seen,
More rarely than the udumbara-flower.

The Buddha sings these verses to his disciple Śāriputra and all those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. It is natural to admire and respect those who make great sacrifices for the sake of improving the world, and who lead us to know what deserves those offerings. It is sometimes difficult to see the joy that comes from those efforts. In these verses the Buddha reminds us that even when our reaction to his Dharma is just a smile, or saying “Wonderful,” our admiration is a reminder of our own capacity for such great efforts.

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