Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Oct. 11, 2024

Have faith in the great Mandala Gohonzon, the most superlative in the world. Endeavor! Endeavor to strengthen your faith, so that you may be blessed with the protective powers of all Buddhas.

Nichiren wrote this as part of his letter to monk Sairen-bō in his Treatise on All Phenomena as Ultimate Reality (Shohō-Jissō Shō). One way of reading this passage is that as we develop our faith in the Omandala Gohonzon, the Buddhas will provide more protection for us. Another way to read it is that as our faith develops, so does the power we have to protect others, free them from suffering and help them to awaken their Buddha nature. Either way, Nichiren shows us the practical results of our faith.

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

LS32, Blog

A Century of the Lotus Sutra in a Decade


I began using the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of Greater New England’s Myoho Renge Kyo Romanized as my morning service in March of 2015. Each morning I would recite that day’s portion of the Lotus Sutra in Shindoku. After 32 days, the cycle starts again.

On Sept. 14, 2015, I added to my evening practice reading aloud in English the same portion of the Lotus Sutra that I had recited in Shindoku in the morning. I would then post a short comment on the day’s reading. That was day-1-1. The next day was day-2-1 and then day-3-1 until reaching day-32-1. When the cycle restarted on Oct. 16, 2015, that was day-1-2.

Today I have reached day-1-100.

This is my 10th year of practicing Nichiren Shu Buddhism in this manner. I believe I have received a great benefit from having read the Lotus Sutra daily, but the familiarity has bred a laziness. I find my mind wandering as I recite the words. I can go minutes and suddenly realize I don’t recall what I just read.

I am planning on changing my practice next year. I’ll have more details on my plans as the New Year approaches.

LS32

Day 1

Day 1 covers the first half of Chapter 1, Introductory

Day 1 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the activities of Bodhisattvas observed by Maitreya, we consider more of what Maitreya sees.

I also see some Bodhisattvas
Offering delicious food and drink
And hundreds of kinds of medicines
To the Buddha and the Sangha.

Some offer garments and beautiful robes
Worth tens of millions
Or beyond monetary value
To the Buddha and the Sangha.

Some offer thousands of billions
Of jeweled houses made of candana
And wonderful bedding
To the Buddha and the Sangha.

Some offer pure gardens and forests
Abounding in flowers and fruits,
And furnished with rivers, springs,
and pools for bathing,
To the Buddha and the Saṃgha.

I see those Bodhisattvas
Making offerings of those wonderful things
Joyfully and untiringly
In order to attain unsurpassed enlightenment.

Some Bodhisattvas expound
The truth of tranquil extinction,
And with various expedients,
Teach innumerable living beings.

I also see some Bodhisattvas
Who attained the following truth:
“The nature of things is not dual.
It is [formless] like the sky.”

I also see some sons of the Buddha
Having no attachment in their minds.
They seek unsurpassed enlightenment
With this wonderful wisdom.

See Higan: The Art of Giving

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Oct. 10, 2024

The Buddhas sat at the place of enlightenment,
And obtained the hidden core.
Anyone who keeps this sūtra will be able
To obtain the same before long.

The Buddha speaks these verses in Chapter Twenty-One of the Lotus Sūtra. They are his assurance to us as those who follow and practice the Lotus Sūtra that we are firmly on the path to enlightenment, no matter what challenges we find in the world.

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

LS32, Innumerable

Another Innumerable Day Before Day 1

Having last month in the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings considered the second of the 10 beneficial effects of this sutra, we consider the third of the 10 beneficial effects of this sutra.

“O you of good intent! Third, this sutra’s unimaginable power for beneficial effect is this: If there are living beings who can hear this sutra— whether a section of it, whether a verse of it, or whether a phrase—they will gain awareness of hundreds of millions of myriads of meanings. Then, even though they have delusive worldly passions, it will be as if their delusive passions do not exist. They will not feel that taking birth or experiencing death are things that need to be feared; they will give rise to a mind of compassion for all living beings; and they will come to have a dauntless attitude with regard to all things.

A person with great strength can bear and carry all manner of heavy things. So it is also with people who keep faith with this sutra: they can shoulder the great responsibilities of ultimate enlightenment, and they can carry living beings away from the path of recurring births and deaths. They are capable of ferrying others even though they still cannot ferry themselves. Suppose a ship’s captain is rendered immobile by a serious affliction and must therefore remain on shore. But he has a fine, reliable vessel that is always equipped with everything needed to ferry others, which he makes available and on which they embark. So it is also with those who keep faith with this sutra: while enduring the circumstances of living in the five conditions of existence—the whole of their being constantly beset by one hundred and eight serious afflictions, one after another— they remain on this shore of ignorance, aging, and death. But they have this fine, reliable, all-ferrying sutra, equipped with infinite meanings, that is able to rescue living beings: those who practice it22 as expounded will attain deliverance from the cycle of births and deaths. O you of good intent! This is known as the inconceivable power of the third beneficial effect of this sutra.

Underscore: Even though they have delusive worldly passions, it will be as if their delusive passions do not exist. They will not feel that taking birth or experiencing death are things that need to be feared; they will give rise to a mind of compassion for all living beings; and they will come to have a dauntless attitude with regard to all things.

Blog

QuizWithIt

I’ve been exploring the website QuizWithIt, which allows you to create quizzes from various sources. You can even have the resident AI create the questions and answers from the material you supply.

Here is the AI-produced quiz generated after digesting the Lotus Sutra. Please take this four question quiz. My discussion follows below.

Did you get question No. 4 correct? I must admit that I was taken aback by the “correct” answer, but there’s a case to be made that “the primary speaker in the Lotus Sutra” is the Eternal Śākyamuni revealed in Chapter 16. In the Sutra of Contemplation of Universal Sage, we learn:

“Śākyamuni Buddha is Vairocana – the One Who Is Present in All Places. Where this buddha abides is called Perpetual Tranquil Light, where perpetuity is perfectly achieved, where the perfect truth of self is constituted, where perfect purity casts off the aspects of existence, where perfect happiness is no longer a characteristic that occupies body and mind, where phenomena are no longer perceived as having or not having aspects, where likewise there is serene liberation as well as perfect wisdom.

Since there’s no way to quiz the AI about its choices, we’ll never know why it said the primary speaker is Vairocana.

Interestingly, I got two-out-of-four odd answers when I offered the AI the annotated version of the Lotus Sutra to digest. One AI generated question:

Who is the author of the Annotated Lotus Sutra?

Answer: Kumarajiva

Another questionable answer was offered to the AI-generated question:

Which chapter of the Lotus Sutra emphasizes the concept of skillful means?

The AI offered choices of Chapter 1 through 4 and marked Chapters 3 and 4 the correct answers. Answering Chapter 2, Expedients, would be considered wrong.

If you are interested in creating web-based quizzes that can be embedded in websites, check out QuizWithIt.

QuizWithIt describes itself as “a team of scientists, developers, and media specialists who are passionate about bringing knowledge to the world. This website and app is a spin-off of ‘Science without the gobbledygook,’ a widely popular YouTube channel produced by Sabine Hossenfelder, who also oversees this project.”

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Oct. 9, 2024

If anyone keeps, reads, recites, expounds and copies even a gāthā of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, and respects a copy of this sūtra just as he respects me…or just joins his hands together respectfully towards it, Medicine-King, know this, that person should be considered to have appeared in the world of men out of their compassion towards all living beings.

The Buddha declares these lines to Medicine-King Bodhisattva at the beginning of Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. We might believe that everything happens by chance, or that we were sent into this life by someone who is testing us. This Sūtra awakens us to our existence as Bodhisattvas who asked to be born in this world of suffering out of our vow to benefit all beings.

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

LS32, Universal Sage

Between Day 32 and Day 1: Beholding Buddhas In Each of the Ten Directions

Having last month considered keeping the Buddhas in mind, we consider beholding Buddhas in each of the 10 directions.

At this time the practitioner should once again undertake self-amendment and pay homage to the buddhas of the ten directions. After homage has been offered to the buddhas of the ten directions, Universal Sage Bodhisattva, abiding before the practitioner, will teach and instruct the practitioner regarding all karmic causes and conditions from his or her past lives and to avow all of his or her very grave faults and impure acts. The practitioner must then avow them in his or her own words while facing the World-honored Ones. When the practitioner’s avowal is completed, he or she will then immediately attain the specialized focus of mind in which buddhas reveal themselves.

While engaged in this specialized focus of mind, the practitioner will fully and clearly behold, in the eastern direction, the buddha Akṣobhya and the Land of Wonderful Joy. In this same manner he or she will clearly and completely behold buddhas and magnificent wonderful lands in each of the ten directions. After having seen buddhas in all of the ten directions, the practitioner will envision a person with a diamond cudgel on top of an elephant’s head who, with the cudgel, signifies each of the six sense faculties. After the six sense faculties have been so indicated, for the practitioner’s benefit Universal Sage Bodhisattva will expound the method of self-amendment to purify them. Over the course of one to seven days,16 the practitioner will do self-amendment as he or she is taught. Through the power of the engaged specialized focus of mind in which buddhas reveal themselves, and through Universal Sage Bodhisattva’s well-composed explanation of the method, the practitioner’s ears will gradually hear sounds without encumbrance, the practitioner’s eyes will gradually see things without encumbrance, and the practitioner’s nose will gradually smell scents without encumbrance, as is extensively expounded in the Dharma Flower Sutra.

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Oct. 8, 2024

World-Honored One! I bring you a message from Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha. [He wishes to say this.] Are you in good health? Are you happy and peaceful or not? Are the four elements of your body working in harmony or not? Are the worldly affairs bearable or not? Are the living beings easy to save or not? Do they not have much greed, anger, ignorance, jealousy, stinginess and arrogance, or do they? Are they not undutiful to their parents, or are they? Are they not disrespectful to śramaṇas, or are they? Do they not have wrong views, or do they? Are they not evil, or are they? Do they not fail to control their five desires, or do they?

The passage above is how Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva greets Śākyamuni Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Four of the Lotus Sūtra. This Bodhisattva asks not only about the Buddha, but about those whom the Buddha benefits with his teaching. The Buddha answers that those he teaches have prepared through innumerable lives to receive his wisdom. The questions of Wonderful-Voice show how we obscure the teaching through our delusion and attachments.

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

LS32

Day 32

Day 32 covers Chapter 28, The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, closing the Eighth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 32 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered Universal-Sage Bodhisattva’s vow, we consider Universal-Sage Bodhisattva’s instruction of how to study.

“World-Honored One! The bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās or upāsikās who seek, keep, read, recite and copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in the defiled world in the later five hundred years after [your extinction], if they wish to study and practice this sūtra, should concentrate their minds [on study and practice] strenuously for three weeks. When they complete [the study and practice of] three weeks, I will mount a white elephant with six tusks, and appear before them with my body which all living beings wish to see, together with innumerable Bodhisattvas surrounding me. I will expound the Dharma to them, show them the Way, teach them, benefit them, and cause them to rejoice. I also will give them dhārāṇi spells. If they obtain these dhārāṇis, they will not be killed by nonhuman beings or captivated by women. Also I myself will always protect them. World-Honored One! Allow me to utter these dhārāṇis spells!”

Thereupon he uttered spells before the Buddha:

“Atandai (1), tandahatai (2), tandahatei (3), tandakusharei (4), tandashudarei (5), shudarei (6), shudarahachi (7), botsudahasennei (8), sarubadarani-abatani (9), sarubabasha-abataru (10), hu­abatani (11), sōgyahabishani (12), sōgyaneku-kyadani (13), asogi (14), sōgyahagyadai. (15), teirei-ada-sōgyatorya-aratei-haratei (16), sarubasogya-sammaji-kyarandai (17), sarubadaruma­shuharisettei (18), saru-basatta-rodakyōsharya-atogyadai (19), shin-abikiridaitei (20).”

The Daily Dharma offers this:

World-Honored One! The bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās or upāsikās who seek, keep, read, recite and copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in the defiled world in the later five hundred years after [your extinction], if they wish to study and practice this sūtra, should concentrate their minds [on study and practice] strenuously for three weeks. When they complete [the study and practice of] three weeks, I will mount a white elephant with six tusks, and appear before them with my body which all living beings wish to see, together with innumerable Bodhisattvas surrounding me.

Universal-Sage Bodhisattva (Fugen, Samantabhadra) makes this declaration to the Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. Nichiren interprets “the later five hundred years” as the time in which we live today. Universal sage describes the ways in which we can practice this Sūtra. To seek it is to find it in all aspects of our lives. To keep it is to rely on its teachings and have confidence in its ability to lead us to the Buddha’s wisdom. To read and recite it is to continue to remind ourselves and others of the details of the teachings. To copy it is to make it available to others. The merits we gain through these practices allow us to see the world for what it is and be part of making it better for everyone.

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

On the Journey to a Place of Treasures