Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.
Having last month discussed the proper things to approach, it’s time for the gathas:
A Bodhisattva who wishes
To expound this sutra without fear
In the evil world
After [my extinction]
Should perform proper practices
And approach proper things.He should keep away
From kings, princes and ministers,
From other government officials,
From players of dangerous sports,
From candalas, from heretics,
And from aspirants for the teaching of Brahman.He should not approach arrogant people,
Or the scholars who are deeply attached
To the Three Stores of the Lesser Vehicle,
Or the bhiksus
Who violate the precepts,
Or self-appointed Arhats,
Or the bhiksunis
Who like to laugh playfully.He should not approach the upasikas
Who are attached to the five desires
Or who seek in their present life
The extiniction[-without-remainder].
When they come to him
With good intent
In order to hear
About the enlightenment of the Buddha,
He should expound the Dharma to them
Without fear,
But should not wish to receive
Anything from them.He should not approach
Or make friends with a widow
Or with an unmarried woman
Or with a eunuch.He should not approach
Slaughterers or cooks
Or those who kill for profit,
Such as hunters or fishermen.He should not approach
Butchers
Or procurers
Of prostitutes.He should not approach
Dangerous wrestlers
Or makers of various amusements
Or immoral women.He should not expound the Dharma
To a woman in an enclosed place.
When he expounds the Dharma to her,
He should not laugh playfully.When he goes to a village to beg for food,
He should take a bhiksu with him.
If he cannot find a bhiksu [to take with him],
He should think of the Buddha with all his heart.These are the proper practices he should perform
And the proper things he should approach.
He should expound the Dharma peacefully
Only after doing all this!
For purposes of reminder, I’ll stick something from Rev. Ryusho Jeffus‘ discussion of this topic in his Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:
By doing the peaceful practices we will create the kind of peaceful lives that further reflects and enhances our practice. It is sort of like an endless feedback loop that keeps replenishing and enhancing.
I imagine that some will say, yes, but Nichiren was pretty harsh with some of the people of his time, and shouldn’t we too carry out that same strict rhetoric as we engage with people who don’t believe in the Lotus Sutra? To this I say these are two different situations. For one thing, there are few of us today whose lives are threatened and for whom death is a constant possibility because of our practice. We live in a time when there are few actual obstacles to practicing our faith either privately or in society. It isn’t that this can’t happen, it is that it isn’t currently happening. In such a situation, even Nichiren stated that we should only use a much more strident approach when absolutely necessary.
When there is no obstacle to practice it is entirely possible to create a false obstacle by our behavior of obstinacy and belligerence. The kinds of obstacles created in those situations are false. I can be a jerk and have people around me treat me poorly, but I can’t claim it is because of my practice when I am not actually following the peaceful practices in a peaceful environment. In an environment that is not hostile we should practice in a non-hostile way. If the reverse becomes true then other measure might be called for.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra