The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p175-176[A]n enormously large group of bodhisattvas spoke to the Buddha, telling him not to worry as after his extinction, “in a frightful and evil age,” even if cursed and abused or attacked with swords and sticks they would teach the Sutra everywhere. In such an evil age, “full of dreadful things, evil spirits will take possession of others to curse, abuse, and insult us.” In order to teach this Sutra they will wear “an armor of patient endurance” and “endure all such difficult things.” “We will cherish neither our bodies nor our lives,” they say, “but care only for the unexcelled way,” protecting and upholding in ages to come “what the Buddha has entrusted to us.” Repeatedly driven out from stupas and monasteries, they will endure such troubles, going wherever there are those who seek it to teach the Dharma entrusted to them by the Buddha. We are, they say, “emissaries” of the Buddha, “facing multitudes without fear,” in order to spread the Dharma. (LS 257-60)
We do not know what circumstances in India led to this kind of anticipation of abuse and persecution of followers of the Dharma Flower Sutra, but, especially for Nichiren and his followers, these words could be seen as anticipating their own experience. They were a powerful encouragement to endure suffering and persist in teaching the Sutra to others no matter how great the difficulties.
Today, few of us have to face such extreme persecution for teaching the Lotus Sutra. But most followers of the Sutra certainly do face difficulties, especially from those who are antagonistic toward the Sutra and toward those who seek to teach it. And in most, if not all, of the world such antagonism may be directed more intensely toward women. We know that Mahaprajapati and Yashodhara had to overcome great difficulties and even hostility toward women in order to become nuns and teachers of the Dharma.
There are other kinds of difficulties as well, difficulties in understanding the Sutra, difficulties in translation and interpretation, difficulties adequately embodying the teachings in our everyday lives, difficulties in teaching or preaching it, difficulties in sharing our enthusiasm for it. Indeed, for those who want to uphold the Dharma Flower Sutra, there is no shortage of difficulties. It is all too easy to become disheartened and discouraged and want to give up.
Chapter 13, especially perhaps in the final verses, “We will cherish neither our bodies nor our lives, but care only for the unexcelled way,” can be a wonderful encouragement to continue despite such difficulties. If others have faced terrible abuse and persecution, surely we too can face difficulties and survive.
Category Archives: d18b
Upholding the Sutra
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p174-175The Dharma Flower Sutra makes frequent reference to “upholding” the Sutra. What does it mean to “uphold” the Sutra? The Chinese character used here can mean such things as “keep,” “hold,” “uphold,” or “take care of.” Usually, when translating it in the Dharma Flower Sutra, I have used the term “embrace.” It occurs in several combinations that are important in the Sutra, especially (in Japanese pronunciation) as juji, “receive and embrace”; buji, “honor and embrace”; goji, “protect and embrace”; and jisetsu, “embrace and explain”; and there are many others. I like to use “embrace” because, for the Dharma Flower Sutra, what is involved is not a matter either of storage or of defending, but of following or adhering to the teachings of the Sutra by embodying them in one’s life.
But in Chapter 13, what is of most direct concern is propagating the Sutra in the face of great difficulties, spreading its teachings to others despite many obstacles, leading others to embrace it. So here, in the title of Chapter 13, it seems fitting to think of being encouraged to “uphold” the Sutra.
Encouragement to Uphold the Sutra
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p171The reason for the chapter title, “Encouragement to Uphold the Sutra,” may be obscure, as it is not so much that the bodhisattvas or nuns are encouraged as that they themselves promise or make a vow to endure and persist in teaching the Sutra despite rejection and persecution.
This concern and promise follow from the request of the Buddha at the end of Chapter 11, where Shakyamuni Buddha asks that anyone who can embrace, read, and recite the Sutra come before him now and make such a vow.
Now, here in Chapter 13, bodhisattvas respond: “We will cherish neither our bodies nor our lives but care only for the unexcelled way. In ages to come, we will protect and uphold what the Buddha has entrusted to us.” And they promise that they will go to preach the Dharma to anyone who seeks it. “We are emissaries of the WorldHonored One,” they declare, and say that they will teach the Dharma well, facing multitudes without fear. (LS 259—60)
Words such as these were very important to Nichiren and to many of his followers over the centuries who suffered abuse and persecution as a consequence of being ardent, sometimes fanatical, devotees of the Lotus Sutra.
Spread the Dharma Even at the Cost of Life
It is most important for a man of wisdom to spread the Lotus Sūtra by keeping the difference of time in mind. For instance, for those who are thirsty, water is just what is necessary, not a bow and arrow or arms. What is needed for a naked person is clothing, not water. One can understand the overarching principle through this one example. If a fierce god spreads the Lotus Sūtra, you should donate your own flesh to him because a fierce god is fond of flesh. It is useless to donate clothing or other food to him. If an evil king tries to destroy the Lotus Sūtra, never obey his order even at the cost of life. When high priests who observe the precepts and are devoted to the pursuit of faith pretend to spread the Lotus Sūtra outwardly, but try to destroy it inwardly, you must reprimand them vigorously. The Lotus Sūtra, “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra” chapter, admonishes us to, “Solely to venerate the Supreme Way without sparing one’s own life.” It is preached in the Nirvana Sūtra, “Even at the cost of life, one should not conceal the king’s orders.” Grand Master Chang-an interprets this in his Annotation on the Nirvana Sūtra, “The reason why it is said that even at the cost of life one should not conceal the teaching is because life is not as important as the Dharma. We must spread the Dharma even at the cost of life.”
Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 58
A Humble, Straightforward, and Respectful Practice
The teaching of the three kinds of enemies of the Lotus Sūtra is the sūtra’s way of warning us that if we present the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra we should not be surprised if we meet opposition from ignorant laypeople, corrupted clergy, and even respected teachers who are regarded as saints. We must not let this discourage us. Nor should we look for enemies or return abuse with abuse. From beginning to end we must treat all beings as future buddhas, whether they are presently acting as such or not. Another lesson we can take from this teaching is that we must be careful to not become one of the three kinds of enemies ourselves. We must not uncritically accept the teachings of others without checking things out for ourselves, like the ignorant laypeople.
We should not become arrogant and greedy like the evil monks, especially if we are put in a position of authority. We should not, like the false arhats, become self-righteous and pretend to be awakened when we are still tainted by greed, hatred, and delusion. Nor should we persecute others just because their opinions and views are different than our own, as the three kinds of enemies are said to do. Again, the humble, straightforward, and respectful practice of the Lotus Sūtra as exemplified by Never Despising Bodhisattva can serve as the model that will keep us from becoming one of the three kinds of enemies and enable us to deal in a firm but kind manner with them, should they confront us, so that we can eventually overcome all enmity and sow the seeds of buddhahood in their hearts.
Open Your Eyes, p509-510The Lesson of Never Despising Bodhisattva
Nichiren takes the description of the three kinds of enemies as a prophecy that vindicates his mission even as his persecutions fulfill the prophecy, but what should we make of this in our own lives and practice? Some people have interpreted this teaching to mean that one is only practicing the Lotus Sūtra correctly if one is arousing opposition. Consequently, these people believe that they must either identify who their enemies are or else preach the Lotus Sūtra so stridently that they will be sure to make enemies. I am not convinced that this is what the Lotus Sūtra really intends, even if it might appear to be the way Nichiren did things.
If we look at chapter twenty, “Never Despising Bodhisattva,” of the Lotus Sūtra we will find a story that illustrates what the sūtra intends. In that chapter the Buddha tells a story of a past life when he was known as the Never Despising Bodhisattva. That bodhisattva’s whole practice consisted of bowing to all he met and greeting them with the words, “I do not despise you because you can become buddhas.” (Murano 2012, p. 292) This practice of showing respect to all people and assuring them that they could attain buddhahood aroused the opposition of the arrogant monastics and laity who did not believe that ordinary people could attain buddhahood. They mocked him and even attempted to strike him with sticks and to throw stones at him. Never Despising Bodhisattva, however, did not return their abuse but moved to a safe distance and continued to regard them with respect and to assure them of their future buddhahood. This story seems to be a dramatization of the description given in the twenty stanzas of chapter thirteen. This story tells us two important things. The first is that Never Despising Bodhisattva did not seek to make enemies. All he did was respectfully share the message of the Lotus Sūtra, even if it contradicted the preconceived ideas of those who believed they had nothing more to learn about Buddhism. The second is that even when he was abused, he continued to maintain a respectful attitude and did not compromise his mission to preach the Lotus Sūtra. Nichiren himself equates his mission to teach Odaimoku with that of Never Despising Bodhisattva in Testimony to the Prediction of the Buddha (Kembutsu Mirai-ki):
Nevertheless, if there is a man after the death of the Buddha who breaks the attachment to the false doctrines of the “four tastes and three teachings” of the pre-Lotus sūtras and puts faith in the True Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, all the virtuous gods and numerous bodhisattvas who sprang up from underground will protect such a practitioner of the Lotus Sūtra. Under such protection, this practitioner would be able to spread over the world the focus of devotion (honzon) revealed in the Original Gate and the five-word daimoku of Myō, Hō, Ren, Ge, and Kyō,” the essence of the Lotus Sūtra.
He is just like Never Despising Bodhisattva, who, in the
Age of the Semblance Dharma after the death of
Powerful Voice King Buddha, spread in the land of this Buddha the twenty-four character passage in the Lotus Sūtra (chapter twenty) saying: “I respect you deeply. I do not despise you. Why is this? It is because you all will practice the way of bodhisattvas and will be able to attain buddhahood.” With such propagation, the bodhisattva was severely persecuted by all the people in the land, who beat him with sticks and threw stones at him.
Although the twenty-four characters of Never Despising Bodhisattva differ in wording from the five characters which I, Nichiren, spread, they are the same in meaning. We both appeared in the world under the same conditions: he toward the end of the Age of the Semblance Dharma after the death of Powerful Voice King Buddha, and I at the beginning of the Latter Age after the death of Śākyamuni Buddha. (Hori 2002, p. 174 adapted)
Open Your Eyes, p508-509Three Kinds of Enemies
In the Kaimoku-shō, Nichiren states that the twenty stanzas of verses from chapter thirteen, “Encouragement for Keeping this Sūtra,” of the Lotus Sūtra was being fulfilled by the actions of some of his contemporaries. In those verses, a host of bodhisattvas describe the persecutions and difficulties the practitioners of the sūtra will face in the evil world after the passing of the Buddha. The Tiantai patriarch Zhanran Miaole (711-782) interpreted these verses as referring to three kinds of enemies who would appear in the Latter Age of the Dharma. The three are: (1) the ignorant laity who are deceived by the false and hypocritical monks and elders and will abuse the true monks, (2) the false monks who are deceitful and claim to be enlightened when in fact they are not, and (3) the respected elder monks who are revered as arhats but who in fact are simply better at hiding their ulterior motives of greed and contempt. Nichiren equated these three formidable enemies with those people in Japan who were trying to suppress the teaching and practice of the Lotus Sūtra.
Open Your Eyes, p501Five Proclamations
In considering whether or not to give public witness to the Lotus Sūtra, even though he knew he might face persecution, Nichiren found encouragement and confirmation of his chosen course of action in the simile of the “six difficult and nine easier actions” given by the Buddha in chapter eleven of the Lotus Sūtra.
Vacillating between whether I should speak out or whether I should not if I were to back down in the face of royal persecutions, I hit upon the ‘six difficult and nine easier actions’ mentioned in the eleventh chapter, “Appearance of the Stūpa of Treasures,” in the Lotus Sūtra. It says that even a man as powerless as I can throw Mr. Sumeru, even a man with as little superhuman power as I can carry a stack of hay on his back and survive the disastrous conflagration at the end of the world, and even a man as ignorant as I can memorize various sūtras as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River. Even more so, it is not easy to uphold even a word or phrase of the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration. This must be it! I have made a vow that this time I will have an unbending aspiration to buddhahood and never fall back! (Hori 2002, p. 53 adapted)
The passage that Nichiren is referring to can be found in the verses of chapter eleven. Further on in Kaimoku-shō, Nichiren cites what he calls the “five proclamations” of the Buddha in chapters eleven and twelve, of which the “six difficult and nine easy actions” are a part of the third proclamation. The five proclamations refer to the “three proclamations” of chapter eleven and two exhortations of buddhahood in chapter twelve — the prediction of buddhahood for Devadatta and the attainment of buddhahood by the dragon king’s daughter. The three proclamations are the three times in chapter eleven in which the Buddha exhorts those gathered to receive and keep, protect, read, and recite the Lotus Sūtra in the world after the passing of the Buddha.
Open Your Eyes, p487-488Ecumenical Buddhism
While I struggle with Gene Reeves and Risshō Kōsei Kai’s doctrine of Interfaith Truth, I have no real problem with the idea that the ocean of the Lotus Sutra contains all of the rivers of Buddhist thought.
As Reeves states in his discussion of Chapter 22, Transmission, in his Stories of the Lotus Sutra:
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p235-236As the Dharma Flower Sutra often praises itself and asserts its own excellence or superiority, it is very important to notice that in [Chapter 22, Transmission], which entrusts the teaching to bodhisattvas, the Buddha says that if in the future there are people who cannot have faith in or accept the Dharma Flower Sutra, other profound teachings of the Buddha should be used in order to teach the Dharma Flower Sutra. In other words, the teachings of the Lotus Sutra are not only in the text called the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, they are also to be found in all of the profound teachings of the Buddha found in numerous sutras. By clinging too strongly to the text and words that we call the Dharma Flower Sutra, we may limit our ability to spread the teachings of the Sutra, the teachings that comprise the “real” Dharma Flower Sutra.
Later in the same chapter he expands on the need for a “generous attitude” when expounding the Lotus Sutra.
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p237-239It is common for people who are enthusiastic about something to want to protect it by preserving it just as it is and by taking pleasure in making it difficult for it to be understood or appreciated by the uninitiated. Being inflexible about how a text is to be translated and expressed, insisting, for example, on using unfamiliar Sanskrit terms or quaint English expressions, may make it very difficult for others to enter a particular circle of understanding and appropriation. In such ways we may be establishing an in-group/out-group situation in which we are on the inside, in some way perhaps protected from what is outside. Traditionally, secret religious doctrines or ceremonies often functioned in this way.
Perhaps this kind of group bonding through special, esoteric language is necessary to some degree. Certainly it is very common among religious groups. But when it means that the Dharma Flower Sutra, which entrusts us to spread it everywhere, is not taught generously to others, we fail to fulfill the commission of the Buddha.
I believe that teaching generously should mean that we share the Sutra in whatever ways are most appropriate to the intended audience, always, of course, within the real limits of our abilities. While it might be nice if everyone learned enough Chinese to be able to read Kumarajiva’s Chinese version of the Lotus Sutra, this is neither necessary nor necessarily desirable. It is good, I believe, that we have versions of the Dharma Flower Sutra that make it more intelligible to Japanese people, and it is good that there are English versions that make it more available to English-speaking people. This is not merely a matter of translation into other languages; it is important that the Sutra be rendered in ways that make it as understandable as possible.
This kind of generosity, a generosity in which one tries to understand and appreciate the linguistic and cultural situation of others, a generosity in which we do not insist that our own way of expressing something in the Sutra is the only good way, this kind of generosity is what the Sutra expects of those who are its genuine followers.
If we do not approach teaching the Sutra with such a generous attitude we will, I fear, fall into one more version of “merely formal Dharma.” In other words, we will be going through the motions of teaching and practicing, but very few will be deeply moved by such teaching. This kind of failure to be generous is largely unconscious, making it difficult, but not impossible, to detect and overcome. But another problem often stands in the way of our being generous in teaching: Often we are all too conscious of it, making it difficult to overcome. This is manifest in reticence or shyness in speaking and teaching.
For me this is all underscored in Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices:
A Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who wishes to expound this sūtra in the age of the decline of the teachings after my extinction should perform the following peaceful practices. When he expounds or reads this sūtra, he should not point out the faults of other persons or sūtras. He should not despise other teachers of the Dharma. He should not speak of the good points or bad points or the merits or demerits of others. He should not mention Śrāvakas by name when he blames them. Nor should he do so when he praises them. He should not have hostile feelings against them or dislike them. He should have this peace of mind so that he may not act against the wishes of the hearers. When he is asked questions, he should not answer by the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle, but expound the Dharma only by the teachings of the Great Vehicle so that the questioners may be able to obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things.”
And again later:
“Again, Mañjuśrī! A Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who wishes to keep, read and recite this sūtra in the latter days after [my extinction] when the teachings are about to be destroyed, should not nurse jealousy against others, or flatter or deceive them. He should not despise those who study the Way to Buddhahood in any way. He should not speak ill of them or try to point out their faults. Some bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās or upāsikās will seek Śrāvakahood or Pratyekabuddhahood or the Way of Bodhisattvas. He should not disturb or perplex them by saying to them, ‘You are far from enlightenment. You cannot obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things because you are licentious and lazy in seeking enlightenment.’ He should not have fruitless disputes or quarrels about the teachings with others. He should have great compassion towards all living beings. He should look upon all the Tathāgatas as his loving fathers, and upon all the Bodhisattvas as his great teachers. He should bow to all the great Bodhisattvas of the worlds of the ten quarters respectfully and from the bottom of his heart. He should expound the Dharma to all living beings without partiality. He should be obedient to the Dharma. He should not add anything to the Dharma or take away anything from the Dharma. He should not expound more teachings to those who love the Dharma more [than others do].
Yes, Nichiren didn’t appear to be so understanding or tolerant, but this is not 13th century Japan. This is a much different world. As Ryuei McCormick explained in his earlier reply to my inter-faith question, “Nichiren makes it clear that there are countries that are just ignorant and evil and then there are countries that slander. I believe the distinction he is making is between non-Buddhist cultures that need to be persuaded to give ear to the Dharma and learn more about it until they are able to take up the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sutra.”
Maintaining a Peaceful and Calm Mind
Buddhism for Today, p170In practicing the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, so long as a person forces himself to endure persecution and the scorn of outsiders though filled with anger and resentment, he is a beginner in Buddhist disciplines. A person who has attained the Way can maintain a peaceful and calm mind even while suffering and can feel joy in the practice itself. Until a person attains such a state of mind, he must take scrupulous care not to be tempted or agitated by the various setbacks in his daily life. The chapter “A Happy Life” [the title of the Peaceful Practices chapter in the 1975 edition of the Threefold Lotus Sutra] teaches us this. The bodhisattvas declare with great ardor their resolution to withstand persecution from outside in the chapter “Exhortation to Hold Firm,” while the Buddha, like a father, gently admonishes the bodhisattvas not to yield to inward temptation in the chapter “A Happy Life.” In a sense, these two chapters state the contrast between a kindly father who knows the world and a son who is young and high-spirited.