Category Archives: d4b

800years, d3b, d4b, Blog

800 Years: The Cause of the Great Purpose

In 1989, when I first chanted the Daimoku, I was encouraged to chant in order to get stuff. Didn’t matter what stuff. Chanting was magical. Have faith, I was told.

Since leaving Soka Gakkai, my understanding of faith has shifted 180 degrees. This was true on Nov. 15, 2015, when I published a blog post following an on-line service with Rev. Ryusho Jeffus. And it is even truer today.

My understanding of faith today has grown from my appreciation of the purpose of the Buddha’s teaching. That purpose is succinctly explained in Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra:

“Śāriputra! The purpose of the various teachings that the Buddhas expound according to the capacities of all living beings is difficult to understand. I also expound various teachings with innumerable expedients, that is to say, with stories of previous lives, parables, similes and discourses. [The purpose of the various teachings of the Buddhas is difficult to understand] because the Dharma cannot be understood by reasoning. Only the Buddhas know the Dharma because the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds only for one great purpose.

“Śāriputra! What is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds? The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to open [the gate to] the insight of the Buddha, and to cause them to purify themselves. They appear in the worlds in order to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings. They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to obtain the insight of the Buddha. They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to enter the Way to the insight of the Buddha. Śāriputra! This is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas appear in the worlds.”

“The Buddha said to Śāriputra:

“The Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, teach only Bodhisattvas. All they do is for one purpose, that is, to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings, to cause them to obtain the insight of the Buddha.”

We are not asked to sit idly and intellectualize the meaning of the teaching of the Buddha. No, the Buddha seeks to cause us to act.

“The Tathāgatas save all living beings
With innumerable expedients.
They cause all living beings to enter the Way
To the wisdom-without-āsravas of the Buddha.
Anyone who hears the Dharma
Will not fail to become a Buddha.

“Every Buddha vows at the outset:
‘I will cause all living beings
To attain the same enlightenment
That I attained.’ ”

Our role is to gather enough faith to step through the gate of the Buddha’s wisdom and with each subsequent step to advance along the path the Buddha has laid before us – to enter the Way to the same enlightenment.

As I wrote back in 2015, “Eliminating suffering in my life by awakening my inherent enlightenment is the reason for chanting, not getting stuff.”

Table of Contents Next Essay
history, d3b, d4b, d16b

Extending Awakening to Those Left Out

The Nirvāṇa Sūtra was preached to extend awakening to those who had been left out during the exposition of the Lotus Sūtra and failed to benefit from it. These included the 5,000 people who left the Buddha in the Chapter 2, those who were left on the ground when the ceremony was lifted up in the air in Chapter 11, “Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures,” and those who were skeptical about both this newly revealed truth, the eternity of Buddha’s life, and disregarding the provisional Buddhist teachings and practices.

The above is why the Nirvāṇa Sūtra is also called the teaching of supporting the Buddhist precepts and expounding the eternity of buddhahood, in Japanese furitsu-danjō-kyō, or teaching of gleaning, in Japanese kunjū-kyō. In contrast the Lotus Sūtra is called the teaching of great gathering, in Japanese daishu-kyō.

Also another characteristic of the Nirvāṇa Sūtra is to “reiterate and remove,” in Japanese tsuisetsu-tsuimin. This means reiterating all sūtras for those who had missed their opportunities, in Japanese tsuisetsu, and removing teachings other than the Lotus Sūtra that do not lead to buddhahood, in Japanese tsuimin. However, the Nirvāṇa Sūtra is not regarded as a pure One Vehicle teaching like the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, in spite of being classified in the same period, the Nirvāṇa Sūtra is ranked lower than the Lotus Sūtra.

History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, p 170
elements, d3b, d4b, d17b, d21b

Continuity In, And Development Of, Lotus Thought

Because the Mahayana sutras all possess to some extent the underlying conviction that their task was to win others over to their belief, it is very difficult to distinguish, among the intermingling of intellectual influences, exactly which ideas were borrowed and which were lent. Further, unlike the treatises of the Abhidharma, the authors of the Mahayana sutras did not lend their names to their works, but put them in the mouth of Ānanda; it is therefore all the harder to clarify the actual circumstances of transmission.

The first half of the Lotus Sutra (the theoretical teachings, called the “secondary gate”; Jpn., shakumon) is concerned with giving concrete expression to the idea of “explaining the three and revealing the one” in the “Tactfulness” chapter, giving predictions of future buddhahood to the arhats and pratyekabuddhas and including all three vehicles in the one. This reflects a powerful new viewpoint. From the time of early Mahayana and the Perfection of Wisdom sutras, the bodhisattva vehicle had been praised as superior to the others, and the possibility of arhats and pratyekabuddhas gaining buddhahood was not acknowledged. The possibility of buddhahood for women and for Devadatta, who had fallen into hell for slandering the Dharma, remained unadmitted. When a movement grew up within Mahayana demanding the potential of enlightenment for all beings through the enlarged compassion of the Buddha, the formation of the “Devadatta” chapter became a necessity. This trend reached its culmination in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, which taught that all beings without exception possess the buddha-nature and buddhahood is possible even for icchantikas (incorrigibles), even though they have no aspiration for enlightenment (bodhicitta). This is clearly in the line of Lotus thought.

The latter half of the Lotus Sutra (the essential teachings, called the “primary gate”; Jpn., honmon), deals with the true and expedient teachings of the Eternal Original Buddha, set forth in the chapter “Revelation of the [Eternal] Life of the Tathāgata.” This development may be traced as stemming from the monotheistic tendencies of the early Mahayana sutras coupled with the growth in Hinduism of faith in a supreme deity. The idea of an eternal, original Buddha exerted an influence on the concept of Amitābha/Amitāyus (characterized by eternal light and eternal life) in the Pure Land sutras, and on Vairocana Buddha (the Dharma Body of Wisdom) of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra.

These, then, are two aspects that portray the continuity and development of Lotus thought in Mahayana sutras.

Source elements of the Lotus Sutra, p 210-211
d4b, d9b, WONS

Jurui Seed and Sōtai Seed

QUESTION: What then is the Lotus Meditation?

ANSWER: Regarding the practice of the Lotus Sūtra for the ordinary and unenlightened people in these latter days, there are two doctrines, that of “jurui seed” (opening and merging related concepts) and that of “sōtai seed”, (opening and merging of opposite concepts) leading them into the one Buddha vehicle.

QUESTION: What is the source of this information?

ANSWER: It originates from four characters, shu (seed), sō (appearance), tai (entity or body), and shō (nature), found in the fifth chapter of the Lotus Sūtra , “Simile of Herbs.” Jurui seed and sōtai seed are based on the first of the above four characters, seed, the seed of Buddhahood. The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra comments on jurui seed, thus: “Anyone with a soul possesses the seed of Buddhahood. If one hears but a phrase of the sūtra, one would realize that one has the seed of Buddhahood. Should one put one’s hands together and bow in prayer towards the Buddha, then one is able to advance toward Buddhahood.” Sōtai seed means opening and merging the three paths of evil passions, karma, and suffering into three merits of hosshin (Dharma Body), hannya (wisdom) and gedatsu (salvation), respectively.

Of these two concepts, jurui seed has its basis in the Lotus Sūtra, although some aspects of it can be related to various sutras occurring prior to the Lotus Sutra. Grand Master Miao-lê has observed in his Annotations to the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra that the “jurui seed but not sōtai seed can be found in distinct teachings.” Distinct teachings, in this case, do not suggest its usual meaning referring to the four teachings, zō (tripiṭaka), tsū (common), betsu (distinct) and en (perfect), but rather it points to the perfect teachings that have existed prior to the Lotus Sūtra or the perfect teachings taught by those other than Grand Master T’ien-t’ai. Even within the theoretical section or the first half of the Lotus Sūtra, verses of the “Expedients” chapter mention the opening and merging of jurui seed of human and heavenly beings. The teaching beginning with the verse “those who pay their respect to the ashes of the Buddha,” followed by twenty or so lines claiming that even a small gesture of goodness would lead to enlightenment amounts to the opening and merging of jurui seed.

Shimon Butsujō-gi, Listening to the Once Buddha Vehicle Teachings for the First Time, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 246

d4b, WONS

All Those Who Hear This Sūtra Will Become Buddhas Without Fail

It is preached in the Lotus Sūtra, “Expedients” chapter, “If there are those who hear the Dharma, not even one will fail to attain Buddhahood.” Although this phrase consists of only ten Chinese characters, it means that reading a line of the Lotus Sūtra has the same merit as reading all the holy teachings that Śākyamuni Buddha preached in his lifetime. Therefore, Grand Master Miao-lê states in his Commentary on the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, “In spreading the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra, when we consider the meaning of just one doctrine, we must consider the entire scriptures of the Buddha preached in his lifetime from the beginning to the end.”

The “beginning” here means the Flower Garland Sūtra while the “end” means the Nirvana Sūtra. The Flower Garland Sūtra was preached by four great Bodhisattvas — Hoe, Kudokulin, Kongōban, and Kongozō — upon the request of a bodhisattva called Gedatsugatsu. It was preached in the presence of the Buddha, who had just attained enlightenment. I do not know how many fascicles it consisted of at the time it was housed in India, the Dragon King Palace, or the Tuṣita Heaven, but when it was translated into Chinese and transmitted to Japan, there existed three editions of 60 fascicles, 80 fascicles, and 40 fascicles. Regarding the Nirvana Sūtra, too, we do not know how many fascicles it consisted of in India, the Dragon King Palace, and elsewhere but in Japan there are several editions in 40, 36, 6, and 2 fascicles. Beside these two sūtras, the Āgama sūtras, the sūtras preached in the third of the five periods of the Buddha’s teaching (according to T’ien-t’ai), and the Wisdom Sūtra are said to be more than 5,000 or 7,000 fascicles.

Even if one can’t read or listen to all these voluminous scriptures of Buddhism, if just one character or phrase of the Lotus Sūtra is read, the merit received is equivalent to reading the entire set of sūtras without missing even a single character. For instance, the words for India or Japan consist of merely two Chinese characters each, but included in these two characters are all of the lands, great mountains, plants, people and animals in the five regions of India, 16 major states, 500 medium states, 10,000 minor states and numerous tiny states. Taking another example, a mirror which is as small as one centimeter, two centimeters, three centimeters, four centimeters, or five centimeters square, can reflect people a meter or two meters tall, or a mountain as high as 10, 20, 100, or 1,000 meters. Therefore, as we read a phrase in the, “Expedients” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, it is stated that all those who hear this sūtra will become Buddhas without fail.

Sennichi-ama Gohenji, A Reply to Sennichi-ama, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 158-159

Foundations, LS32, d3b, d4b, Blog

The Whiteness of the Buddha’s Wisdom

This was written in advance of Sunday’s meeting of the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area, which has been discussing Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra this month.

Last week I asked, Does the Buddha Only Teach Bodhisattvas? And my short answer was that since the Buddha is seeking to lead everyone to buddhahood, there are no śrāvakas, only bodhisattvas, among his disciples.

Before moving to Chapter 3 and the Buddha’s prediction that Śāriputra will teach the Three Vehicles according to his original vow, I want to discuss the One Vehicle.

From the last part of Chapter 2, Expedients, we are taught:

Any Śrāvaka or Bodhisattva
Who hears even a gāthā
Of this sūtra which I am to expound
Will undoubtedly become a Buddha.

There is only one teaching, that is, the One Vehicle
In the Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters.
There is not a second or a third vehicle
Except when the Buddhas teach expediently.

The Buddhas lead all Living beings
By tentative names [of vehicles]
In order to expound their wisdom.
They appear in the worlds
Only for the One Vehicle.

And shortly after that:

Know this, Śāriputra!
I once vowed that I would cause
All living beings to become
Exactly as I am.

That old vow of mine
Has now been fulfilled.
I lead all living beings
Into the Way to Buddhahood.

One Goal. One Vehicle. Inseparable.

The Tathāgatas save all living beings
With innumerable expedients.
They cause all living beings to enter the Way
To the wisdom-without-āsravas of the Buddha.
Anyone who hears the Dharma
Will not fail to become a Buddha.

Every Buddha vows at the outset:
“I will cause all living beings
To attain the same enlightenment
That I attained.”

The future Buddhas will expound many thousands
Of myriads of millions of teachings
For just one purpose,
That is, for the purpose of revealing the One Vehicle.

In considering this, it occurred to me that here again the light of the Buddha’s wisdom is an apt analogy.

The Buddha’s wisdom shines in perfect brightness. A Buddha and another Buddha – Yui Butsu Yo Butsu – perceive this light as uniformly white, but those who have not eliminated all of their defilements filter this light into innumerable colors, failing to see the full spectrum of the Buddha’s wisdom.

In the Profound Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, Chih-i writes:

Briefly, there are three differences [in the kind of preaching undertaken by the Buddha] called “in accordance with the feelings” [of the listener] ; “in accordance with the feelings [of the listener] and the wisdom” [of the Buddha] ; and “in accordance with the wisdom” [of the Buddha.]

The preaching in accordance with the feelings [or capacities of sentient beings] refers to [the teaching of the Buddha which takes into account] the fact that the feelings and natures [of sentient beings] are not the same, so the explanation which is taught in accordance with the feelings is different [for each person]. As it is clarified in the Abhidharma-mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra, there are immeasurable varieties of the dharma supreme in the world [laukikāgra-dharmāh].

It is the same for the real ultimate truth. How much more so for the others. It is like a blind man following his feelings when presented with many different [analogies for the whiteness of] milk.

The blind man, hearing various explanations, argues about the color white. Do they not all refer to [the whiteness of] milk? All the masters have failed to understand this meaning. They each are attached to a certain text, and present their own opinions and argue. They each deny each other’s [opinions], believing one and not believing another. What vigorous bickering! They do not know which side is correct.
Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 237

There is only one teaching, One Vehicle.

stories, d3b, d4b, d6b

Finding the Appropriate Action

An action that can be characterized as “skillful means” is selected or created to fit the situation and abilities of the recipients of the method, just as good teachers must consider the situation and abilities of their students. When this notion is extended, however, to practices that need to be developed by followers of the Buddha, then it is helpful to construe such means as needing or having a double appropriateness – appropriateness for the practitioner as well as for the recipient. That is, what makes something appropriate in our own practice is not only the abilities and situation of the person being guided but also the situation, and especially the abilities, of the one doing the guiding. Just as good teachers must consider their own abilities, we have to seriously ask ourselves not only “What needs to be done?” but “What can I do?” This is only to say that, insofar as possible, the whole situation, including oneself as part of the situation, needs to be taken into account in order for action to be as appropriate as possible.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p52
Foundations, d3b, d4b, Blog

Does the Buddha Only Teach Bodhisattvas?

This was written in advance of Sunday’s meeting of the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is discussing Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra this week. Originally, this post was intended for next year, when I will be posting quotes from Paul L. Swanson’s Foundations of T’ien-T’ai Philosophy. In the book Swanson includes a translation of a portion of the first chapter to Chih-i’s Fa hua hsüan i, the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra, along with extensive explanatory footnotes.

Do a search on this site for “only bodhisattvas” and you will find several articles discussing Chapter 2, which says:

“The Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, teach only Bodhisattvas. All they do is for one purpose, that is, to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings, to cause them to obtain the insight of the Buddha.

And again:

“Śāriputra! These [present] Buddhas teach only Bodhisattvas because they wish to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings, to cause them to obtain the insight of the Buddha, and to cause them to enter the Way to the insight of the Buddha.

And again:

“Śāriputra! Some disciples of mine, who think that they are Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas, will not be my disciples or Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas if they do not hear or know that the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, teach only Bodhisattvas.

And finally in the gāthās:

All of you, do not doubt me!
I am the King of the Dharma.
I say to you:
“I will expound the teaching of the One Vehicle
Only to Bodhisattvas.
There is no Śrāvaka among my disciples.”

To say that – at least as far as the Lotus Sutra goes – the Buddha teaches only Bodhisattvas seems beyond question. But it turns out that Paul Swanson in his “Foundations of T’ien-T’ai Philosophy: The Flowering of the Two Truths Theory in Chinese Buddhism” quibbles on this point.

In the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra, Chih-i writes:

“He teaches only bodhisattvas, and has no śrāvaka as disciples.”

Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 210

Swanston adds a footnote here saying:

This abbreviated quote is a bit misleading. Hurvitz, Lotus Sūtra, 46 [page 43 in the revised edition], translates the entire context as follows:

“I, being King of the Dharma
Universally address the great multitudes
Having recourse only to the Path of the One Vehicle
Teaching and converting bodhisattvas
and having no voice-hearing disciples.”

However, the word “only” in the original Lotus Sūtra modifies the “path of the One Vehicle,” and not “only bodhisattvas.” Thus this section more likely means that the Buddha has recourse to the doctrine of ekayāna [one vehicle] to teach bodhisattvas, not to teach śrāvaka, and that he has recourse to other methods of teaching in dealing with śrāvakas. It does not mean that the Buddha has no disciples which are śrāvakas. The context makes clear that the Buddha is preaching the subtle dharma to all beings, śrāvakas and bodhisattvas alike (as the next line says), and that śrāvakas are included in the group of the Buddha’s disciples. I fear that Chih-i was overzealous in his attempt to illustrate the “subtlety” of the Buddha’s attendants.

While I agree with Swanson that “the Buddha is preaching the subtle dharma to all beings, śrāvakas and bodhisattvas alike,” I think Swanson misses an important point: The śrāvakas are bodhisattvas. At least those śrāvakas who advance beyond the Tripiṭaka teaching are promised attainment of the enlightenment of the Buddha by treading the bodhisattva path. Śrāvakas are not found on the path sublime.

One could argue that Swanson does get some support in his interpretation from the BDK translation of Kumārajīva’s Chinese translation of the Lotus Sutra:

I, the King of the Dharma,
Now proclaim to the great assembly:
I lead and inspire the bodhisattvas
Only with the path of the single vehicle;
I am here without disciples.

But my other English translations are clear that śrāvakas are not among the Buddha’s disciples when he is teaching the One Vehicle.

SGI translation by Burton Watson says:

I, being king of the doctrines,
make this announcement to the entire great assembly.
I employ only the single vehicle way
to teach and convert the bodhisattvas,
I have no voice-hearer disciples.

Gene Reeves offers this:

Have no doubt,
Being king of the teachings,
I speak to the whole great assembly.
Using only the one-vehicle way.

I teach and transform bodhisattvas
And have no shravakas as disciples.

The 1975 Risshō Kōsei Kai translation says:

Be you free from doubts;
I am the king of the Law
And declare to all the assembly:
‘I, only by the One-vehicle Way,
Teach the bodhisattvas,
And have no śrāvaka disciples.’

The 2019 Risshō Kōsei Kai translation says:

All of you, cast out doubts,
For I am master of all teachings.
I announce to everyone in the great assembly that
‘All I do is teach and transform bodhisattvas
Using the One Vehicle Way.
So none of my disciples are shravakas.’

All of this sets up the foundation for next month’s discussion of Chapter 3 and Śāriputra’s original vow to teach only the Three Vehicles once he becomes a Buddha in the distant future.

stories, LS32, d4b, d25b

Taking the Bodhisattva Way

In Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra we find such expressions as this:

If anyone, even while distracted,
With even a single flower,
Makes an offering to a painted image,
They will progressively see countless buddhas. (LS 94)

If making an offering with just a single flower while being distracted can be a sign of taking the Buddha Way, surely such things as expressions of gratitude or apology, even superficial ones, can be signs of respect for others. Just as “merely formal” Dharma is better than no Dharma at all, small signs of respect are much better than no respect at all.

Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva tells everyone he meets, even extremely arrogant monks, even those who are angry, disrespectful, and mean-spirited, that they have taken the bodhisattva way. If what he says is true, surely whenever we make even superficial expressions of gratitude or apology, we are to some degree showing respect, a sign that, like Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva, we too have—to some slight but very important degree—taken the bodhisattva way that will lead to our awakening.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p218
stories, LS32, d4b

The Meaning of Dharma

While it can mean other things such as “way” or “method,” there are four chief ways in which “dharma” is used in Buddhism:

  1. things—all the objects of experience that we can see, feel, hear, and touch, often translated as “phenomenon”;
  2. the Buddha’s teaching, a use which is often extended to include Buddhist teachings and practices generally, and thus can mean Buddhism itself;
  3. the truth that is taught in the Buddha’s teachings, especially the highest truth disclosed in the awakening of the Buddha; and
  4. the reality that the truth reveals, that which enables and sustains all things in accord with interdependence.
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p31