Category Archives: d4b

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The Inexplicable Merit of Having Heard the Lotus Sūtra

When the “Expedients” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra was preached, 5,000 self-conceited ones did not believe in what they heard and withdrew from the preaching of the Lotus Sūtra. Nevertheless, they became Buddhas in three months’ time because they did not slander the Lotus Sūtra. Referring to this incident, it is preached in the Nirvana Sūtra, “Both believers and non-believers will be born in the Immovable Land.” Those who heard the Lotus Sūtra can become Buddhas even if they do not put faith in the sūtra, so long as they do not slander it, due to the inexplicable merit of having heard the sūtra. This is like the person bitten by a poisonous snake called shichibuja who is bound to fall within taking seven steps and is unable to take the eighth step due to the inexplicable work of the poison. Or it is also like an embryo that changes its shape within seven days and never stays in one shape for more than eight days.

Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 52

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If Easy to Believe, the Sūtra Is Not the True Dharma

After all, those with capacity to understand and have full faith in Buddhism who had the luck of listening to Śākyamuni Buddha preach the Lotus Sūtra in India must have accumulated a great deal of merit in their past lives. Moreover, they were fortunate to have been assisted and guided by the Lord Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, who had come to attest to the truth of Śākyamuni’s words, various Buddhas in manifestation who had come from all over the universe, numerous bodhisattvas who had sprung up from underground, and such distinguished disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha as Mañjuśrī and Maitreya. Nevertheless, there were some who were not converted to the Lotus Sūtra. This is the reason why those self-conceited, as many as 5,000, moved out when the Buddha was about to start preaching (chapter 2, “Expedients”), and why some men and gods were transferred to other worlds (chapter 11, “The Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures”). It was so even while Śākyamuni Buddha was alive. How much more difficult is it to believe in the Lotus Sūtra in the Ages of the True Dharma and Semblance Dharma after the death of Śākyamuni Buddha, not to say in the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration? If you could easily believe in the sūtra, it would mean that the sūtra is not the True Dharma.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 134

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Teaching Only Bodhisattvas

The true meaning of the Buddha’s words, “The buddhas teach only bodhisattvas,” should be interpreted as follows: As long as you think that the fact that you have been able to obtain enlightenment for yourself alone is enough, you cannot attain real enlightenment. If you feel that you yourself have attained enlightenment though many other people have not, such a feeling is positive proof that you are keeping yourself aloof from others. Such a feeling is not a blending with others; it is, rather, isolation from them. You cannot enter the state of “Nothing has an ego” because your egoistic feeling still remains. Therefore, your enlightenment is not real. One can obtain enlightenment for one’s own self, and by the same token, all others can do the same. One can be saved from one’s own suffering, and at the same time, all others can be saved from theirs. Your salvation together with that of others is your real salvation. At the very time that you understand this, you can be said to have attained real enlightenment and to have been set free from the bonds of illusion and suffering in the world.

Buddhism for Today, p47
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Lotus Sūtra and Ten Realms

The second, “Expedients,” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra (fascicle 1) states that the purpose of the Buddhas appearing in the worlds was “to cause all living beings to open the gate to the insight of the Buddha.” This means that of the nine of the ten realms of living beings (excepting the realm of Buddhas), each embraces the realm of Buddhas. In the sixteenth chapter, “The Life Span of the Buddha,” the sūtra also declares: “As I said before, it is immeasurably long since I, Śākyamuni Buddha, obtained Buddhahood. My life spans an innumerably and incalculably long period of time. Nevertheless, I am always here and I shall never pass away. Good men! The duration of my life, which I obtained by practicing the way of bodhisattvas, has not yet expired. It will last twice as long as the length of time as stated above.” This passage also shows that the nine realms are included in the realm of Buddhas.

The following passages in the Lotus Sūtra also show that the ten realms of living beings embrace one another. It is said in the twelfth chapter, “Devadatta,” that after an incalculably long period of time, Devadatta will be a Buddha called “Heavenly King.” This shows the realm of Buddhas included in the realms of hells as it says that even a man as wicked as Devadatta, who had tried to kill the Buddha and had gone to hell, will be able to become a Buddha.

In the twenty-sixth chapter on the “Mystic Phrases,” the Buddha praises the ten female rākṣasa demons such as Lambā saying, “Your merits will be immeasurable even when you protect the person who keeps only the name of the Lotus Sūtra.” Since even these rākṣasa demons in the realm of hungry spirits protect the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, the ten realms, from hells up to the realm of Buddhas, are comprised in the realm of hungry spirits.

The “Devadatta” chapter states also that a daughter of a dragon king attained perfect enlightenment, proving the existence of the ten realms in the realm of beasts.

The tenth chapter, “The Teacher of the Dharma,” says that even a semi-god like Asura King Balin (a king of asura demons mentioned in the first “Introduction” chapter) will obtain Buddhahood if he rejoices for a moment at hearing a verse or a phrase of the Lotus Sūtra. This shows that the ten realms are contained in the realm of asura demons.

It is stated in the second “Expedients” chapter: “Those who carve an image of the Buddha with proper physical characteristics in His honor have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha,” showing that the realm of man includes the ten realms in it.

Then in the first “Introduction” and the third “A Parable” chapters, various gods such as the great King of the Brahma Heaven declare, “we also shall be able to become Buddhas,” proving that the ten realms are contained in the realm of gods. In the third chapter, the Buddha assures Śāripūtra, the wisest of His śrāvaka disciples, that he will also attain Buddhahood in future life and will be called “Kekō (Flower Light) Buddha.” This confirms the existence of the ten realms in the realm of śrāvaka.

The second chapter states that those monks and nuns who sought emancipation through the way of pratyekabuddha (without guidance of teachers by observing the principle of cause and effect) pressed their hands together in respect, wishing to hear the Perfect Way. This affirms the existence of the ten realms in the realm of pratyekabuddha.

It is written in the twenty-first chapter, “Divine Powers of the Buddha,” that bodhisattvas as numerous as particles of dust of 1,000 worlds, who had sprung up from underground, beseeched the Buddha for this true, pure, and great dharma, namely the Lotus Sūtra. This verifies the existence of the ten realms in the realm of bodhisattvas.

Finally, in the sixteenth chapter, the Buddha sometimes appears as a Buddha in the realm of Buddhas but at other times appears as some of the others who reside in the other nine realms. This indicates that the ten realms are included in the realm of Buddhas.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 132-133

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Fulfilling the Four Great Vows

Although there are various Buddhist teachings, none allows the attainment of Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles. As a result, when the attainment of Buddhahood by the Vehicles is not allowed, bodhisattvas, too, are not allowed to attain Buddhahood. This is because the attainment of Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles is inevitable for bodhisattvas to fulfill their Four Great Vows. They made a vow to save all the people however numerous they are. Therefore, even the bodhisattvas of the Perfect Teachings preached in such sūtras as the Flower Garland Sūtra, Hōdō sūtras and the Wisdom Sūtra cannot reach the shojū stage of enlightenment though they are considered to become Buddhas according to the scriptural statement cited above. It is needless to say that ordinary people and those of the Two Vehicles cannot become Buddhas by those sūtras. Therefore, it is stated in the chapter on “Expedients” of the Lotus Sūtra that the Buddha made a vow to teach all the people and cause them to enter the way leading to Buddhahood, that is to say, they can attain Buddhahood only in the Lotus Sūtra.

Nijō Sabutsu Ji, Obtaining Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 226

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The Path of the Buddha

In Chapter II, the Buddha reveals that there are not separate and incomplete practices but simply the Single Buddha practice of the Lotus Sutra. The Buddhas show the insight of the Buddha completely and unobstructed so that all people are able to benefit fully from the path the Buddha awakened to.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

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Attaining the Path

All living beings can enter the Buddha-way from any point: from worshiping the buddhas’ relics, from building stupas and memorials, from building temples and shrines to the buddhas in the wilderness, or even from heaping sand in play to form a buddha’s stupa. All living beings can enter the Buddha-way by doing anything good. As they increasingly strive after virtue and develop the great mind of benevolence, they finally become buddhas.

Buddhism for Today, p50-51
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Gaining Entry to the Path

Other passages in the Lotus Sūtra describe the hardships of the bodhisattva path. But [in the last half of Chapter 2] we learn that gaining entry to the path is remarkably easy. The Buddha begins by making the standard claim that those who perform the six perfections (pāramitās) of giving, ethics, patience, effort, concentration, and wisdom — the so-called bodhisattva deeds — will attain the path of the buddhas. This is familiar doctrine in both the mainstream and Mahāyāna traditions. But then, in one of the most moving passages in the sūtra, he promises the same attainment for those who perform the far easier act of merely paying homage to stūpas. Even little children “who have drawn a buddha image with a blade of grass or a twig, brush or fingernail, such people, having gradually accumulated merit and perfected great compassion, have certainly attained the path of the buddhas.” The same is true for those who pay homage by making music or even make a low-pitched sound with their voice. “Those who, even with distracted minds have offered a single flower to a painted image will in due time see innumerable buddhas. Or those who have done obeisance to images, or merely pressed their palms together, or raised a single hand, or nodded their heads, will in due time see immeasurable buddhas.” For a tradition that by this time had already developed an architectonics of enlightenment notable for both its precision and its complexity, such declarations are revolutionary.

Two Buddhas, p61
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Hōnen vs. Nichiren

Hōnen’s followers maintained one should set aside the Lotus in this lifetime and chant the nenbutsu instead, achieve birth in Amitābha’s pure land, and attain the awakening of the Lotus Sūtra there.

Nichiren fiercely opposed this argument. For him, Hōnen’s focus on human limitations ignored the Buddha’s own distinction between true and provisional teachings. The Lotus was the sūtra of which Śākyamuni himself had said, “For more than forty years I have expounded the dharma in all manner of ways through adeptness in skillful means, but the core truth has still not been revealed,” and, “Having openly set aside skillful means, I will teach only the highest path.”

Precisely because the Lotus Sūtra is profound, Nichiren argued, it can save even the most depraved individuals. He also maintained that the nenbutsu belonged to the lesser category of provisional Mahāyāna and did not represent the Buddha’s final intent. He likened it to the scaffolding erected in building a large stūpa: once the stūpa (the Lotus Sūtra) has been completed, the scaffolding (the nenbutsu) should be dismantled.

Like Hōnen, Nichiren taught a universally accessible mode of practice, grounded in faith and centered on the chanting of a single phrase. But despite these outward similarities, the doctrine and attitude underlying the two practices differ radically. Rather than promising enlightenment after death and in a distant realm, the daimoku as taught by Nichiren offers direct access to a dimension in which the self opens to pervade the universe, and buddhahood is realized “in this body.” In his teaching, mappō is accordingly revalorized as the moment when the “perfectly encompassing path” of immediate enlightenment becomes accessible to all.

Two Buddhas, p28-29
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The Status of Arhatship

Different Mahāyāna sūtras treat the status of Arhatship — the goal of the mainstream tradition — in different ways, for example, as a lesser but still viable goal (as in The Inquiry of Ugra) or as an outright misunderstanding on the part of the Buddha’s disciples (as in the Vimalakirti Sūtra). There was a shared consensus, however, that persons of the first two vehicles, in liberating themselves from rebirth by achieving the goal of nirvāṇa, were thereby excluded from achieving the buddhahood that is gained on the bodhisattva path. The Lotus Sūtra is distinct in asserting that the apparent threefold division of the teaching into the distinct vehicles of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas is only apparent: ultimately, all are following the bodhisattva path and will eventually become buddhas. This “revival” of śrāvakas, causing them to realize that they are actually bodhisattvas, was identified early on by Chinese exegetes as a crucial feature of the Lotus.

Two Buddhas, p58-59