Category Archives: LS45

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45 Days of the Lotus Sutra

I have now completed my 101st trip through the Lotus Sutra – my 57th journey through the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings and the Sutra of Contemplation of Universal Sage – and I’ve decided to change my daily practice.

Since March 2015, I’ve recited a portion of the Lotus Sutra in shindoku in the morning and then in the afternoon read aloud the same portion of Senchu Murano’s English translation of the Lotus Sutra.

Starting Dec. 16, I will be reading aloud portions of the Threefold Lotus Sutra in English, morning and evening. The cycle will take 45 days starting with the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings and concluding with the Sutra of Contemplation of Universal Sage.

I will use the Basic Nichiren Shu Service morning and evening, substituting my daily reading for the traditional quotes from the Lotus Sutra.

Going forward, my shindoku practice will be limited to the month of February. Each day in February I will recite a different chapter in shindoku in the morning. In the evening I will continue my English reading. The purpose of the February shindoku recitation is to allow me to recite an entire chapter at one time, following along with the shindoku recordings. The traditional 32-day division splits several chapters over multiple days.

At the start of this year I proposed dividing the Lotus Sutra into 365 roughly equal portions and providing annotations for each section. To that end I created  my annotated version of the Lotus Sutra, but I decided the small size created by dividing the sutra into 365 portions wasn’t practical.

The 45-day practice of reading aloud in English replaces that project. This brings the benefits of the smaller bites to both the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings and the Sutra of Contemplation of Universal Sage. I hope others who want to make the study of the Lotus Sutra a part of their daily practice will consider this method.

For now I will be stopping my daily 32-days of the Lotus Sutra posting.

I’ve added horizontal rules to the Threefold Lotus Sutra for those who want to follow along. Blue rules denote morning service and green rules evening.

Day 1 M Sutra of Innumerable Meanings
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Day 2 M
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Day 3 M
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Day 4 M
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Day 5 M Chapter 1, Introductory
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Day 6 M
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Day 7 M Chapter 2, Expedients
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Day 8 M
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Day 9 M
E Chapter 3, A Parable
Day 10 M
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Day 11 M
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Day 12 M
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Day 13 M Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.
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Day 14 M
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Day 15 M Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs
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Day 16 M Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood
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Day 17 M Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City
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Day 18 M
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Day 19 M
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Day 20 M Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples
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Day 21 M Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn
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Day 22 M Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma
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Day 23 M Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures
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Day 24 M
E Chapter 12, Devadatta
Day 25 M
E Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra
Day 26 M Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices
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Day 27 M
E Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.
Day 28 M
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Day 29 M Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata
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Day 30 M Chapter 17, The Variety of Merits
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Day 31 M
E Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra
Day 32 M
E Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma
Day 33 M
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Day 34 M Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva
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Day 35 M Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas
E Chapter 22, Transmission
Day 36 M Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva
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Day 37 M
E Chapter 24, Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva
Day 38 M
E Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver
Day 39 M
E Chapter 26, Dhāraṇīs
Day 40 M Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva
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Day 41 M Chapter 28, The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva
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Day 42 M Sutra of Contemplation of Universal Sage
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Day 43 M
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Day 44 M
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Day 45 M
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LS45, Blog

Dividing the Threefold Lotus Sutra into 45 Days

45 day division tableI’ve created a table for my 45 Days of the Lotus Sutra cycle. The table contains links to the text for each of the daily morning and evening sessions.