Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.

Having last month pondered time and its ravages on memory, it’s time to consider the Dharma of the Buddhas and its elusiveness.

The Buddha said to the bhiksus:

The duration of the life of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha was five hundred and forty billion nayuta kalpas. [Before he attained Buddhahood,] he sat at the place of enlightenment and defeated the army of Mara. He wished to attain Anuttara-samyak­sambodhi, but could not because the Dharma of the Buddhas had not yet come into his mind. He sat cross-legged without moving his mind and body for one to ten small kalpas. During all that time the Dharma of the Buddhas did not come into his mind.

[Before he sat at the place of enlightenment,] the Trayastrimsa Gods prepared him a lion-like seat a yojana high under the Bodhi­tree so that he might be able to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi on that seat. When he sat on that seat, the Brahman-heavenly-kings rained heavenly flowers on the area extending a hundred yojanas in all directions from that seat. From time to time withered flowers were blown away by fragrant winds and new flowers were rained down. [The Brahman-heavenly-kings] continued this offering to him for fully ten small kalpas. [After he attained Buddhahood also,] they continued raining flowers until he passed away.

[When he sat on that seat,] the four heavenly-kings beat heavenly drums, and the other gods made heavenly music and offered it to him. They continued these offerings also for fully ten small kalpas. [After he attained Buddhahood also,] they continued these offerings until he passed away.

Bhiksus! At the end of the period of ten small kalpas, the Dharma of the Buddhas came into the mind of Great-Universal­Wisdom-Excellence Buddha. Now he attained Anuttara-samyak­sambodhi.

The Daily Dharma from May 27, 2016, offers this perspective:

When he sat on that seat, the Brahman-heavenly-kings rained heavenly flowers on the area extending a hundred yojanas in all directions from that seat. From time to time withered flowers were blown away by fragrant winds and new flowers were rained down. [The Brahman-heavenly-kings] continued this offering to him for fully ten small kalpas. [After he attained Buddhahood also,] they continued raining flowers until he passed away.

Day 9 covers Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and introduces Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.

Having last month summarized how this simile reveals the dharma it’s time to describe the grownups among the plants before we conclude the chapter.

Both the Sravakas and the cause-knowers,
Who live in mountains or forests,
Who have reached the final stage
of their physical existence,
And who have attained enlightenment by hearing the Dharma,
May be likened to the herbs
Which have already grown up.

The Bodhisattvas
Who resolve to seek wisdom,
Who understand the triple world,
And who seek the most excellent vehicle,
May be likened to the short trees
Which have already grown up.

Those who practice dhyana,
Who have supernatural powers,
Who have great joy
When they hear that all things are insubstantial,
And who save all living beings
By emitting innumerable rays of light,
May be likened to the tall trees
Which have already grown up.

Ah, for a chance to be a real grownup.

Day 8 concludes Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith, and closes the second volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Last month I finished the prose section and now it’s time for the gathas.

Hearing your teaching of today,
We are dancing with joy.
We have never had
Such joy before.

You say:
‘The Sravakas will be able to become Buddhas.’
We have obtained unsurpassed treasures
Although we did not seek them.

Parable of the Rich Man and His Poor Son

You are like the father.
Knowing that we wished
To hear the Lesser Vehicle,
You did not say to us,
‘You will become Buddhas.’
You said of us to others:
‘Though they are my disciples, they are Sravakas.
They eliminated asravas,
But attained only the Lesser Vehicle.’

You said to us:
‘Expound the most excellent Way
[to Bodhisattvas]!
Those who practice the Way
Will be able to become Buddhas.’

By this order of yours
We expounded the unsurpassed Way
To the great Bodhisattvas
With various stories of previous lives,
With various parables and similes
And with various discourses.

Hearing the [Way, that is, the] Dharma from us,
Those sons of yours
Thought it over day and night,
And practiced it strenuously.
Thereupon the Buddha assured them
Of their future Buddhahood, saying to them:
‘You will become Buddhas
In your future lives.’

You expounded the real thing,
That is, the store
Of the hidden core of the Buddhas
Only to the Bodhisattvas.
You did not expound
This truth to us.

The poor son came to his father,
And took custody
Of the things of his father,
But wished to take none of them.
The same can be said of us.

We did not wish to have the treasure-store
Of the teachings of the Buddhas
Although we expounded it [to the Bodhisattvas].

We were satisfied with the elimination
Of illusions within ourselves.
What we accomplished was that elimination.
We did nothing more.

The Daily Dharma from Sept. 2, 2016, offers this to consider:

These verses are sung by Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. They use the parable of the wayward son in this chapter to describe their own realization that the Buddha had not held any teaching back from them. Instead, the Buddha earlier allowed them to remain in the satisfaction of ending their own suffering. But before they can continue their progress towards the Buddha’s own enlightenment, they must give up their preoccupation with suffering, as the boy in the parable had to give up his idea of himself as a lowly hired worker, rather than the heir to his father’s treasure.

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

Day 7 concludes Chapter 3, A Parable, and begins Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.

Having last month covered the teaching for the unsurpassed enlightenment equal to that of the Buddha, we come to those who rejoice at hearing this sutra.

I am the King of the Dharma.
I expound the Dharma without hindrance.
I appeared in this world
In order to give peace to all living beings.

Sariputra!
I expound this seal of the Dharma
In order to benefit
[All living beings] of the world.
Do not propagate it carelessly
At the place where you are!

Anyone who rejoices at hearing this sutra,
And who receives it respectfully,
Know this, has already reached
The stage of avaivartika.

Anyone who believes and receives this sutra
Should be considered
To have already seen the past Buddhas,
Respected them, made offerings to them,
And heard the Dharma from them
In his previous existence.

Anyone who believes what you expound
Should be considered
To have already seen all of us,
That is, you and me,
And the Sangha of bhiksus,
And the Bodhisattvas.

I expound only to people of profound wisdom
This Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma Because men of little wisdom would doubt this sutra,
And not understand it even if they heard it.
No Sravaka
Or Pratyekabuddha
Can understand
This sutra.

Even you, Sariputra,
Have understood this sutra
Only by faith.
Needless to say,
The other Sravakas cannot do otherwise.
They will be able to follow this sutra
Only because they believe my words,
Not because they have wisdom.

Only by faith.

Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month compared the Sravakas, Pratyekabuddhas and Bodhisattvas with the children who cherished the sheep carts, the deer carts and the bullock carts, it’s time to consider why the father gave all of the children the large bullock carts.

Sariputra! Seeing that all his children had come out of the burning house safely and reached a carefree place, the rich man remembered that he had immeasurable wealth. So without partiality, he gave them each a large cart. I am also a father, the father of all living beings. Seeing that many hundreds of thousands of millions of living beings have come out of the painful, fearful and rough road of the triple world through the gate of the teachings of the Buddha, and obtained the pleasure of Nirvana, I thought, ‘I have the store of the Dharma in which the immeasurable wisdom, powers and fearlessness of the Buddhas are housed. These living beings are all my children. I will give them the Great Vehicle. I will not cause them to attain extinction by their own ways. I will cause them to attain the extinction of the Tathagata.’

To those who have left the triple world, I will give the dhyana­concentrations and emancipations of the Buddhas for their pleasure. These things are of the same nature and of the same species. These things are extolled by the saints because these things bring the purest and most wonderful pleasure.

Sariputra! The rich man persuaded his children to come out at first by promising them the gifts of the three kinds of carts. But the carts which he gave them later were the largest and most comfortable carts adorned with treasures. In spite of this, the rich man was not accused of falsehood. Neither am I. I led all living beings at first with the teaching of the Three Vehicles. Now I will save them by the Great Vehicle only. Why is that? It is because, if I had given them the teaching of the Great Vehicle at first directly from my store of the Dharma in which my immeasurable wisdom, powers and fearlessness are housed, they would not have received all of the Dharma. Sariputra! Therefore, know this! The Buddhas divide the One Buddha-Vehicle into three by their power to employ expedients.

Underscore I am also a father, the father of all living beings. Seeing that many hundreds of thousands of millions of living beings have come out of the painful, fearful and rough road of the triple world through the gate of the teachings of the Buddha, and obtained the pleasure of Nirvana, I thought, ‘I have the store of the Dharma in which the immeasurable wisdom, powers and fearlessness of the Buddhas are housed. These living beings are all my children. I will give them the Great Vehicle. I will not cause them to attain extinction by their own ways. I will cause them to attain the extinction of the Tathagata.’

Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month concluded Day 5, I return to the beginning of Chapter 3, A Parable.

Thereupon Sariputra, who felt like dancing with joy, stood up, joined his hands together, looked up at the honorable face, and said to the Buddha:

Hearing this truthful voice of yours, I feel like dancing [with joy].

Whenever I read the opening of Chapter 3 I’m always reminded of Rev. Ryusho Jeffus’ Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:

Chapter III opens with one of my favorite descriptions of how I think we should approach our practice and life in general. When we can face life with great joy, when we can feel like dancing, then I think we have completed most of the objective of our practice. Chapter II ends with the Buddha saying that when you have great joy this is when you will be a Buddha. Right away we are told Śāriputra has this feeling of joy so much that he felt like dancing.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

As a postscript I feel a need to confess only now realizing that for 10 months or so I’ve been copying and pasting the first line of Day 5 and repeating the error Day 5 begins Chapter 5, A Parable. I’ve gone back and changed all of the Chapter 5s to Chapter 3.

Day 4 finishes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sutra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Having last month covered the affirmation of the one vehicle it is time to consider the Buddha’s vow.

I do not deceive
Those who believe me and rely on me.
I am not greedy or jealous
Because I have eliminated all evils.
Therefore, in the worlds of the ten quarters,
I am fearless.

I am adorned with the physical marks of a Buddha.
I am illumining the world with my light.
To the countless living beings who honor me,
I will expound
The seal of the truth, that is, the reality of all things.

Know this, Sariputra!
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.

The Daily Dharma from Nov. 15, 2016, offers this on the final two stanzas:

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. Earlier in the chapter he explained that all the teachings he used before the Lotus Sūtra were mere expedients, intended to use our desire for happiness to bring us out of our suffering and onto the path of enlightenment. The expedient teachings were tailored to the ignorant and deluded minds of those who heard them, but had not yet revealed the true wisdom and compassion of the Buddha. Now that we have met this Wonderful Dharma, we are assured of our enlightenment and that of all beings. We learn to see innumerable Buddhas in limitless worlds through unimaginable time, and our own true selves at the heart of reality.

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

Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Last month covered the true nature of reality and the 10 factors. And today I review in gathas:

The [wisdom of the] World-Heroes is immeasurable.
None of the living beings in the world,
Including gods and men,
Knows the [wisdom of the] Buddhas.

No one can measure the powers, fearlessness,
Emancipations, samadhis,
And other properties of the [present] Buddhas,
Because they, in their previous existence,
Followed innumerable Buddhas
And practiced the teachings of those Buddhas.

The profound and wonderful Dharma
Is difficult to see and difficult to understand.
I practiced the teachings of the [past] Buddhas
For many hundreds of millions of kalpas,
And became a Buddha at the place of enlightenment.
I have already attained the Dharma.

Before continuing, I want to offer a pair of quotes. First, from Nichiren, The Buddhist Prophet:

The Dhamma is the truth revealed by Buddha, the Lord of Truth; yet he is not the creator of it. We are enlightened by the truths taught by him, but we can be thus enlightened because our existence and nature are based on the same Dhammata that is found in Buddha himself.
Nichiren, The Buddhist Prophet

The other quote comes from Rev. Ryusho Jeffus’ Physician’s Good Medicine:

Oratio Divina is a type of prayer that is in response to the text. For example, after reading a portion of the Lotus Sutra, you might meditate on a personal response to what was read. Rather than merely absorbing the text or even trying to define or describe what has been read and its meaning, the focus becomes directed to how you shall respond in your life to what you read.

This type of study-response activity makes the sutra a tool or guide on which to base future actions. It can be a call to reinterpret your life and environment or your relationship to both. Rather than reading to understand, it is more of a reading to hear. Listen to the text you study and listen to what is going on internally as you listen. What are your first thoughts? Based upon what you heard, what are some actions you might take in your own life?
Physician's Good Medicine

Day 2 completes Chapter 1, Introductory.

Having last month begun Manjusri’s answer to Maitreya, it’s time to explore the background for what he saw.

Good men! Innumerable, inconceivable, asamkya kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Sun-Moon-Light, the Tathagata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. He expounded the right teachings. His expounding of the right teachings was good at the beginning, good in the middle, and good at the end. The meanings of those teachings were profound. The words were skilful, pure, unpolluted, perfect, clean, and suitable for the explanation of brahma practices. To those who were seeking Sravakahood, he expounded the teaching of the four truths, a teaching suitable for them, saved them from birth, old age, disease, and death, and caused them to attain Nirvana. To those who were seeking Pratyekabuddhahood, he expounded the teaching of the twelve causes, a teaching suitable for them. To Bodhisattvas, he expounded the teaching of the six paramitas, a teaching suitable for them, and caused them to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, that is, to obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things.

After his extinction there appeared a Buddha also called Sun­-Moon-Light. After his extinction there appeared another Buddha also called Sun-Moon-Light. In the same manner, twenty thousand Buddhas appeared in succession, all of them being called Sun­Moon-Light with the surname Bharadvaja.

Maitreya, know this! All those Buddhas were called Sun-Moon­light with the ten epithets. Their expounding of the Dharma was good at the beginning, good in the middle, and good at the end. The last Sun-Moon-Light Buddha was once a king. He had eight sons born to him before he renounced the world. The first son was called Having-Intention; the second, Good-Intention; the third, Infinite-Intention; the fourth, Treasure-Intention; the fifth, Increasing-­Intention; the sixth, Doubts-Removing-Intention; the seventh, Resounding-Intention; and the eighth, Dharma-Intention. These eight princes had unhindered powers and virtues. Each of them was the ruler of the four continents [of a Sumeru-world]. Having heard that their father had renounced the world and attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, they abdicated from their thrones, and followed their father. They renounced the world, aspired for the Great Vehicle, performed brahma practices, and became teachers of the Dharma. They had already planted the roots of good under ten million Buddhas in their previous existence.

Thereupon the last Sun-Moon-Light Buddha expounded a sutra of the Great Vehicle called the ‘Innumerable Teachings, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’ Having expounded this sutra, he sat cross-legged [facing the east] in the midst of the great multitude, and entered into the samadhi for the purport of the innumerable teachings. His body and mind became motionless.

Thereupon the gods rained mandarava-flowers, maha­mandarava-flowers, manjusaka-flowers, and maha-manjusaka­flowers upon the Buddha and the great multitude. The world of the Buddha quaked in the six ways. The great multitude of the congregation, which included bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas, upasikas, gods, dragons, yaksas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kirmnaras, mahoragas, men, nonhuman beings, the kings of small countries, and the wheel turning-holy kings, were astonished. They rejoiced, joined their hands together [towards the Buddha], and looked up at him with one mind.

Thereupon the Tathagata emitted a ray of light from the white curls between his eyebrows, and illumined all the corners of eighteen thousand Buddha-worlds in the east just as this Buddha is illumining the Buddha-worlds as we see now.

The points to underline here are twofold. First, what Manjusri saw before is what Maitreya and the congregation see now. The other point, and I think most important, is the rarity of this event. “Twenty thousand Buddhas appeared in succession, all of them being called Sun­-Moon-Light with the surname Bharadvaja” and all expounded the Dharma broken into three vehicles. Only the last Sun­-Moon-Light exhibited the good omen the congregation sees now.

Day 1 covers the first half of Chapter 1, Introductory

Having last month discussed the gods and other non-humans present in the gathering who are protective deities, I should mention King Ajatasatru, who gets a special mention in the introduction:

King Ajatasatru, who was the son of Vaidehr, was also present with his hundreds of thousands of attendants. They each worshipped the feet of the Buddha, retired, and sat to one side.

Rev. Ryuei Michael McCormick‘s “Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the Gohonzon,” offers this about the king, who was chosen by Nichiren for inclusion on the Mandala Gohonzon:

King Ajatashatru was the king of Magadha, whose capital city was Rajagriha, at the time that Shakyamuni Buddha taught the Lotus Sutra. Vulture Peak, where the Lotus Sutra was taught, is located just outside of Rajagriha to the northeast. King Ajatashatru and his attendants appear in the assembly in the first chapter.

In the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, King Ajatashatru represents the icchantika. An icchantika is an incorrigible disbeliever who, according to some teachings, is utterly devoid of the seeds of buddhahood. The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, however, teaches that even icchantika such as Ajatashatru have buddha-nature. The Lotus Sutra’s prediction of Devadatta’s eventual buddhahood is taken to mean that even the icchantika’s buddha-nature will someday come to full flower.
Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the Gohonzon