Day 11 continues Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City

This middle section of Chapter 7 is all about an amazing new light that illumines the entire universe. Last month I discussed what the universe had been like before the light, a time when “the three evil regions are crowded; And the living beings in heaven, decreasing.”

From each of the 10 directions, Brahman-heavenly-kings travel in search of the source of the light illumining their palaces. When they arrive in the Well-Composed World of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha they find him sitting on the lion-­like seat under the Bodhi-tree at the place of enlightenment, surrounded respectfully by gods, dragon-kings, gandharvas, kirµnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings.

Continuing yesterday‘s focus on the 16 princes, I’ll note that they play an integral role begging the Buddha to turn the wheel of the Dharma.

All of the Brahman-heavenly-kings encourage the Buddha:

Great Saint, turn the wheel of the Dharma
And reveal the reality of all things!
Save the suffering beings
And cause them to have great joy!

If they hear the Dharma, some will attain enlightenment;
Others will be reborn in heaven.
The living beings in the evil regions will decrease;
And those who do good patiently will increase.

Doing good patiently

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

Last month I promised to focus on the 16 princes.

On this twelfth time through these verses it is still hard not to feel like a “spoiler” when I discuss the princes.

At the end of Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, we get the great teaser of what is to come:

Now I will tell you
About my previous existence
And also about yours.
All of you, listen attentively!

Underline And also about yours

We then learn of a Buddha called Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence who lived in a time so long ago it is beyond calculation. More important than the distance in the past, is this:

I remember the extinction of that Buddha
As vividly as if he had passed away just now,
By my unhindered wisdom; I also remember
The Sravakas and Bodhisattvas who lived [with him].

Bhiksus, know this!
My wisdom is pure, wonderful,
Free from asravas and from hindrance.
I know those who lived innumerable kalpas ago.

And now the princes:

Before [the king who became Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence] left home, he had sixteen sons. The first son was called Accumulated-Wisdom. Each of the sons had various playthings. When the sons heard that their father had attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, they gave up the playthings, left home, and came to that Buddha.

Note that these 16 princes gave up their playthings without needing to be offered various toy carts.

In praising the Buddha, the princes point out something that will be repeated several times in tomorrow’s section:

All living beings are suffering.
Being blind, they have no leader.
They do not know how to stop suffering,
Or that they should seek emancipation.
In the long night fewer people go to heaven,
And more people go to the evil regions.
They go from darkness to darkness, and do not hear
Of the names of the Buddhas.

You are the Most Honorable One.
You have obtained the peaceful Dharma-without-asravas. Not only we but also all gods and men
Will be able to obtain the greatest benefit.
Therefore, we bow and devote ourselves to you,
The Most Honorable One.

Without a Buddha in the world, “fewer people go to heaven, And more people go to the evil regions.”

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

The Simile of the Herbs (I always pronounce the “h”) is my favorite of the seven parables in the Lotus Sutra. And beyond the actual parable the message of this chapter is among the most important in my view:

I see all living beings equally.
I have no partiality for them.
There is not ‘this one’ or ‘that one’ to me.
I transcend love and hatred.

I am attached to nothing.
I am hindered by nothing.
I always expound the Dharma
To all living beings equally.
I expound the Dharma to many
In the same way as to one.

I always expound the Dharma.
I do nothing else.
I am not tired of expounding the Dharma
While I go or come or sit or stand.
I expound the Dharma to all living beings
Just as the rain waters all the earth.

I am not tired of giving
The rain of the Dharma to all living beings.
I have no partiality for them,
Whether they are noble or mean,
Whether they observe or violate the precepts,
Whether they live a monastic life or not,
Whether they have right or wrong views,
Whether they are clever or dull.

Those who hear the Dharma from me
Will reach various stages
[Of enlightenment]
According to their capacities.

The equality despite the difference.

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

For the past couple of months – here and here, for example – I’ve been fixated on the fact the “faith” is not present in the chapter Understanding by Faith. But there are other points here.

I can relate to old guys thinking that what they’ve been doing is fine. – “A day’s pay” – but even more I relate to the concept of a son who does not know he has a father, let alone the treasure that is his inheritance, and the compassion that a father would have for a lost son.

The poor son, having wandered from town to town, from country to country, from village to village, came to the city where his father was living. The father had been thinking of him for more than fifty years since he had lost him, but never told others [that he had a missing son]. He was alone, pining for his son.

And…

The rich man gave him a name and called him son. The poor son was glad to be treated kindly, but still thought that he was a humble employee. Therefore, the rich man had him clear dirt for twenty years. After that the father and son trusted each other. Now the son felt no hesitation in entering the house of his father, but still lodged in his old place.

Yes, Understanding by Faith, is the answer.

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

As I cycle through each day one topic at a time I get to return to the “fun” things. And the Buddha as a vehicle salesman is tops in fun when juxtaposed with our modern consumer economy.

This vehicle is
The purest and most wonderful.
This is unsurpassed by any other vehicle
In all the worlds.
This vehicle is approved with joy by the Buddhas. All living beings should extol it.
They should make offerings to it,14
And bow to it.

The powers, emancipations,
dhyana-concentrations, wisdom,
And all the other merits [of the Buddhas],
Many hundreds of thousands of millions in number,
Are loaded in this vehicle.

I will cause all my children
To ride in this vehicle
And to enjoy themselves
Day and night for kalpas.

The Bodhisattvas and Sravakas
Will be able to go immediately
To the place of enlightenment
If they ride in this jeweled vehicle.

Therefore, even if you try to find another vehicle
Throughout the worlds of the ten quarters,
You will not be able to find any other one
Except those given by the Buddhas expediently.

As a child I loved weekend drives with the family. Happy am I to be able “to ride in this vehicle and to enjoy [myself] day and night for kalpas.”

Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable

Last month, I discussed the people, especially the young, “playing joyfully” unaware of the burning house.

The Parable of the Burning House

The dilemma:

[I thought, ‘] I am the father of the world. I eliminated fear, despondency, grief, ignorance and darkness. I obtained immeasurable insight, powers and fearlessness. I have great supernatural powers, the power of wisdom, the paramita of expedients, the paramita of wisdom, great compassion, and great loving-kindness. I am not tired of seeking good things or of benefiting all living beings. I have appeared in the triple world, which can be likened to the rotten and burning house, in order to save all living beings from the fires of birth, old age, disease, death, grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation, stupidity, darkness, and the three poisons, to teach all living beings, and to cause them to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. I see that all living beings are burned by the fires of birth, old age, disease, death, grief, sorrow, suffering and lamentation. They undergo various sufferings because they have the five desires and the desire for gain. Because they have attachments and pursuits, they have many sufferings in their present existence, and will suffer in hell or in the world of animals or in the world of hungry spirits in their future lives. Even when they are reborn in heaven or in the world of humans, they will still have many sufferings such as poverty or parting from their beloved ones or meeting with those whom they hate. Notwithstanding all this, however, they are playing joyfully. They are not conscious of the sufferings. They are not frightened at the sufferings or afraid of them. They do not dislike them or try to get rid of them. They are running about this burning house of the triple world, and do not mind even when they undergo great sufferings.[‘]

Sariputra! Seeing all this, I [also] thought, ‘I am the father of all living beings. I will eliminate their sufferings, give them the pleasure of the immeasurable wisdom of the Buddha, and cause them to enjoy it.’

Sariputra! I also thought, ‘If I extol my insight, powers, and fearlessness in the presence of those living beings only by my supernatural powers and by the power of my wisdom, that is to say, without any expedient, they will not be saved because they have not yet been saved from birth, old age, disease, death, grief, sorrow, suffering and lamentation, but are burning up in the burning house of the triple world. How can they understand the wisdom of the Buddha?’

Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Last month I discussed Sariputra’s feeling of betrayal and the Buddha’s explanation that Sariputra forgot his original vow and the many, many lifetimes of teachings that passed before.

This has puzzled me for some time. The Buddha tells Sariputra:

In order to cause you to remember the Way you practiced under your original vow, I now expound to the Sravakas this sutra of the Great Vehicle called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’

Underscore remember the Way you practiced under your original vow.

Then, in explaining the world where Sariputra will be a Buddha called Flower-Light, the Buddha says:

“Sariputra! Although the world in which he appears will not be an evil one, that Buddha will expound the teaching of the Three Vehicles according to his original vow.

Again according to his original vlow. Why the “Three Vehicles” when his world is not only free of evil but filled with Bodhisattvas:

The kalpa in which he appears will be called Great-Treasure-Adornment. Why will it be called Great-Treasure-Adornment? It is because in that world Bodhisattvas will be regarded as great treasures. The number of the Bodhisattvas [in that world] will be countless, inconceivable, beyond any mathematical calculation, beyond inference by any parable or simile. No one will know the number except the Buddha who has the power of wisdom. When those Bodhisattvas wish to go somewhere, jeweled flowers will receive their feet and carry them. Those Bodhisattvas will not have just begun to aspire for enlightenment. A long time before that they will have already planted the roots of virtue, performed the brahma practices under many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas, received the praises of the Buddhas, studied the wisdom of the Buddhas, obtained great supernatural powers, and understood all the teachings of the Buddhas. They will be upright, honest, and resolute in mind. The world of that Buddha will be filled with such Bodhisattvas.

Something to consider.

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

Yesterday, I bemoaned my inability to recall the content of a chapter even after reading it more than 12 times. And today I’m reminded that my willingness to admit my shortcomings and my efforts to improve set me apart from the arrogant bhiksus and bhiksunis who walked out on the Buddha’s explanation of why he uses expedients.

Some bhiksus and bhiksunis
Were arrogant.
Some upasakas were self-conceited.
Some upasikas were unfaithful.
Those four kinds of devotees
Were five thousand in number.

They could not see their own faults.
They could not observe all the precepts.
They were reluctant to heal their own wounds.
Those people of little wisdom are gone.
They were the dregs of this congregation.
They were driven away by my powers and virtues.

They had too few merits and virtues
To receive the Dharma.
Now there are only sincere people here.
All twigs and leaves are gone.

And later…

Sariputra, know this!
Men of dull capacity and of little wisdom cannot believe the Dharma.
Those who are attached to the appearances of things are arrogant.
They cannot believe it, either.

I am now joyful and fearless.
I have laid aside all expedient teachings.
I will expound only unsurpassed enlightenment
To Bodhisattvas.
The Bodhisattvas who hear the Dharma
Will be able to remove the mesh of doubts.
The twelve hundred Arhats also
Will become Buddhas

No doubts here.

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

Each morning I read the corresponding section of the Lotus Sutra in Shindoku using the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of Greater New England’s Myoho Renge Kyo Romanized. Ryuoh Faulconer explains, “Shindoku reading is sometimes referred to as a faith reading. The practice of reading in Shindoku allows the reader to touch their innate Buddha Nature that we each posses.”

While “faith reading” this morning, I was taken aback by my inability to recall more than the first part of this day’s reading, the portion used in the daily practice that includes the 10 suchnesses.

So this afternoon I remind myself of the need for faith, Śāriputra and the others’ confusion upon hearing this and the One Great Purpose of the Buddhas:

“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.”

Day 2 completes Chapter 1, Introductory.

Last month, I focused on the rarity of seeing this light – 20,000 Buddhas all preached the dharma, but only the last offered the light of his own wisdom. Today, I want to dwell on what Manjushri recalls having seen in the worlds illumined by the light of that long-ago Buddha.

This ray of light illumined
Eighteen thousand Buddha-worlds in the east.
It showed the region
To which each living being was to go by his karmas.

The worlds of the Buddha were
Adorned with many treasures,
And given the colors of lapis lazuli and crystal.
I saw all this by the light of the Buddha.

I also saw the gods, men, dragons, yaksas, gandharvas, and kimnaras of those worlds.
Each of them made offerings
To the Buddha by whom he was taught.

I also saw the Tathagatas of those worlds
Who had attained enlightenment by themselves.
The color of their bodies was as beautiful
And as wonderful as that of the golden mountains,
Or as that of a golden image
Put in a shrine of pure lapis lazuli.

Those World-Honored Ones explained to the great multitudes
The meaning of the profound teaching.
There were innumerable Sravakas
In the worlds of those Buddhas.
All those great multitudes were seen
By the light of the Buddha.

The bhiksus were living in mountains and forests.
They made endeavors,
And observed the pure precepts
As carefully as one keeps brilliant gems.

As many Bodhisattvas
As there are sands in the River Ganges
Performed almsgiving, patience, and other practices.
I saw all this by the light of the Buddha.

I also saw some Bodhisattvas
Who entered deep into dhyana-concentrations,
And became tranquil and motionless in body and mind,
In order to attain unsurpassed enlightenment.

I also saw some Bodhisattvas,
Who realized the tranquil extinction of all things,
And expounded the Dharma to [the people of] their worlds in order to attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.

The light illumines the present and past and foretells the future. A great teaching is coming this way.