The Sutra of Queen Śrimālā of the Lion’s Roar, p36“O Lord, those who first attained that stage [of nirvana] were not ignorant of the Dharma and were not dependent upon others. They also knew they had attained the stages with remainder [through their own efforts], and would inevitably attain supreme, complete enlightenment (anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi). Why? Because the Śrāvaka (disciple) and pratyekabuddha vehicles are included in the Mahayana. The Mahayana is the Buddha vehicle. Therefore, the three vehicles are the One Vehicle.
“Those who attain the One Vehicle attain supreme, complete enlightenment. Supreme, complete enlightenment is the realm of nirvana. The realm of nirvana is the Dharma body of the Tathāgata. Attaining the absolute Dharma body is [attaining] the absolute One Vehicle. The Tathāgata is not different from the Dharma body. The Tathāgata is identical to the Dharma body. If one attains the absolute Dharma body then one attains the absolute One Vehicle. The absolute [One Vehicle] is unlimited and unceasing.
Daily Dharma – Sept. 8, 2024
We do not see a shadow in the dark. Man does not see the flight path of a bird in the air. We do not see the path of a fish in the sea. We do not see everyone in the world reflected on the moon. However a person with “heavenly eyes” sees all these. The scene of the chapter “Appearance of a Stupa of Treasures” exists in the mind of Lady Nichinyo. Though ordinary people do not see it, Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures and Buddhas throughout the universe recognize it. I, Nichiren, also can see it. How blessed are you!
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Response to My Lady Nichinyo (Nichinyo Gozen Gohenji). The Chapter Nichiren mentions describes the assembly of the Buddha, Many-Treasures Buddha, and innumerable Buddhas from other worlds gathered to hear the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra. Nichiren used a representation of this scene for the Omandala Gohonzon, his representation of the Buddha’s highest teaching. In this response, Nichiren recognizes that Lady Nichinyo sees this assembly in the reality of her everyday life. The Buddha taught that this is the most difficult of his teachings to believe and understand. Nichiren and Lady Nichinyo are examples for us that, despite this difficulty, we too can learn to see this world of delusion and ignorance as the Buddha’s pure land.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 2
Chapter 1, Introductory (Conclusion)
Having last month considered how Sun-Moon-Light recited the Innumerable Teachings Sūtra and emitted a ray of light illumining eighteen thousand Buddha-worlds in the east just as Śākyamuni is illumining the Buddha-worlds, we consider that Sun-Moon-Light Buddha taught the Lotus Sutra.
“Maitreya, know this! There were two thousand million Bodhisattvas in that congregation. They wished to hear the Dharma. They were astonished at seeing the Buddha-worlds illumined by this ray of light. They wished to know why the Buddha was emitting this ray of light.
“At that time there was a Bodhisattva called Wonderful-Light. He had eight hundred disciples. Sun-Moon-Light Buddha emerged from his samādhi, and expounded the sūtra of the Great Vehicle to Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva and others without rising from his seat for sixty small kalpas. It was called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’ The hearers in the congregation also sat in the same place for sixty small kalpas, and their bodies and minds were motionless. They thought that they had heard the Buddha expounding the Dharma for only a mealtime. None of them felt tired in body or mind. Having completed the expounding of this sūtra at the end of the period of sixty small kalpas, Sun-Moon-Light Buddha said to the Brahmans, Maras, śramaṇas, brahmanas, gods, men, and asuras, ‘I shall enter into the Nirvāṇa-without-remainder at midnight tonight.’
See The Prelude
One Path of the Tathāgatagarbha
The Buddhist Feminine Ideal, p120Because of this identity of the One Vehicle with Tathāgatagarbha, Mahāyāna no longer is a distinct path placed over and above the Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas. Instead, Mahāyāna as the Acceptance of the true Dharma, is identical with the One Vehicle because of this total inclusion of all living beings without distinction of path. Ultimately there is only one path towards the Supreme, Complete Enlightenment.
Daily Dharma – Sept. 7, 2024
Knowing that people wish to hear
The teachings of the Lesser Vehicle,
And that they are afraid of having the great wisdom,
[My sons, that is,] the Bodhisattvas transform themselves
Into Śrāvakas or cause-knowers,
And teach the people with innumerable expedients.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Eight of the Lotus S̄ūtra. Our fear of the Buddha’s wisdom comes from the attachment we have to our delusions. At some level we know that we are suffering, but we believe that anything different from how we live now will be worse. There are times when someone who seems to share our delusions can help us move away from them. But then as an actor becomes so absorbed in a role that he forgets his real life, those who choose a life in this world of conflict can forget their existence as Bodhisattvas who have vowed to benefit all beings. This Wonderful Dharma reminds us of this vow and helps us appreciate those who are still bound by delusion and what we can learn from them.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 1
Day 1 covers the first half of Chapter 1, Introductory
Having last month considered the Bodhisattvas Maitreya sees, we consider the activities of Bodhisattvas observed by Maitreya.
Mañjuśrī!
I see some kings coming to a Buddha,
And asking him about unsurpassed enlightenment.
They have renounced the world of pleasures,
Left their palaces,
Parted from their ministers and women,
And shaved their beard and hair.
They now wear monastic robes.I also see some Bodhisattvas
Becoming bhikṣus,
Living alone in retired places,
And joyfully reciting sūtras.I also see some Bodhisattvas
Zealously and courageously
Entering remote mountains, and pondering
The enlightenment of the Buddha.I also see some of them having given up desires,
And living in retired places,
Entering deep into dhyāna-concentration,
And obtaining the five supernatural powers.I also see some Bodhisattvas finding peace in dhyāna,
Joining their hands together [towards the Buddha],
And praising the King of the Dharma
With tens of millions of gāthās.I also see some Bodhisattvas resolute in mind.
They have obtained profound wisdom
By questioning the Buddha.
And now they remember what they heard from him.I also see some sons of the Buddha
Concentrating their minds, having wisdom,
Expounding the Dharma to the multitude
With innumerable parables and similes,
Expounding the Dharma with joy,
Teaching [other] Bodhisattvas,
Defeating the army of Mara,
And beating the drum of the Dharma.I also see some Bodhisattvas
Being tranquil and peacefully calm,
Not delighting in being respected
By gods or dragons.I also see some Bodhisattva
Living in forests, and emitting ray of light
In order to have the denizens in hell,
And cause them to enter the Way to Buddhahood.I also see some sons of the Buddha
Walking about forests without sleeping
In order to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha.I also see some of them
Observing the precepts with due deportment,
And keeping purity like that of gems,
In order to attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.I also see some sons of the Buddha
Enduring abuse
Or blows with sticks
Inflicted by arrogant people
In order to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha.I also see some Bodhisattvas
Giving up wanton pleasures,
Parting from foolish companions,
Approaching men of wisdom,
Controlling their minds from distraction,
And concentrating their minds in hills or forests
For thousands of billions of years
In order to attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.
Śrimālā: Depending Upon the Mahayana
The Sutra of Queen Śrimālā of the Lion’s Roar, p29“O Lord, acceptance of the True Dharma is [acceptance of] the Mahayana. Why? Because the Mahayana brings forth all the good acts of the world and of the transcendental, of the disciples and of the pratyekabuddhas. O Lord, just as the eight great rivers flow from Lake Anavatapta, so likewise all the good acts of the world and of the transcendental, of the disciples and of the pratyekabuddhas, emerge from the Mahayana.
“O Lord, moreover, just as all seeds are able to grow [only] when they depend upon the earth, so likewise all the good acts of the world, of the transcendental, of the disciples, and of the pratyekabuddhas are able to increase [only] when they depend upon the Mahayana. Therefore, O Lord, abiding in the Mahayana, one accepts Mahayana—this is identical with abiding in the two vehicles and accepting all the good acts of the world, of the transcendental, and of the two vehicles.
Daily Dharma – Sept. 6, 2024
For many hundreds of thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas of kalpas, I studied and practiced the Dharma difficult to obtain, and [finally attained] Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Now I will transmit the Dharma to you. Propagate it with all your hearts, and make it known far and wide!
The Buddha entrusts his highest teaching to all those gathered to see him in Chapter Twenty-Two of the Lotus Sūtra. He had already explained how difficult it is to believe and practice this highest teaching, and all the trouble it took for him to reach it. He also realizes that this teaching is not something he can keep for himself, and is meaningful only when it was shared with others. This is yet another example of the Buddha showing us how to live with the beings we want to benefit. We realize that our treasure is not what we keep for ourselves, but what we have in common with others. We are diminished not by what we lose, but by attempting to hold on to our delusions.
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Another Innumerable Day Before Day 1
Having last month in the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings considered the first of the 10 beneficial effects of this sutra, we consider the second of the 10 beneficial effects of this sutra.
“O you of good intent! Second, this sutra’s unimaginable power for beneficial effect is this: If there are living beings who obtain this sutra20—whether a section of it, whether a verse of it, or whether a phrase—and thus become able to perceive millions upon millions of meanings, even though uncountable numbers of kalpas may pass they will not be able to elucidate the teaching they have acquired and kept. Why is this so? It is because the meanings of this teaching are unlimited. O you of good intent! This sutra can be likened to a single seed from which a thousand million seeds result. And each of these seeds, in turn, also results in a thousand million in number. In this way, the production of seeds is limitless in measure. So it is also with this sutra—it is a single teaching that gives rise to a hundred thousand meanings, and each one of these, in turn, produces a thousand million in number. In this way, meanings are produced to an unlimited and boundless extent. Thus is this sutra named Infinite Meanings. O you of good intent! This is known as the inconceivable power of the second beneficial effect of this sutra.
I am reminded of Nichiren and the progress from his first declaration of Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō:
At first only I, Nichiren, started chanting the daimoku, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, but then two, three, then one hundred people, gradually began chanting it. This will continue in the future. Isn’t this what emerging from the earth means? When an innumerable number of people emerge from the earth and this Wonderful Dharma spreads extensively, there will be no mistake, just as a shooting arrow never misses the earth, Japan will be filled with people chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. You should therefore establish your fame as the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra and devote your life to it.
Shohō Jisso-shō, Treatise on All Phenomena as Ultimate Reality, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 78
A single seed from which a thousand million seeds result.
Śrimālā: Becoming The Dharma Mother
The Sutra of Queen Śrimālā of the Lion’s Roar, p22-23“Moreover, acceptance of the True Dharma is like the great earth that supports four weights. What are the four? The great seas, the mountains, vegetation, and living beings. Similarly, like that great earth, good sons and daughters who accept the True Dharma build the great earth and carry four responsibilities. Who are the four?
- Living beings who have parted from good friends either have not heard [the Dharma] or are without the Dharma. By advising them to cultivate the good deeds of humans and gods, [good sons and daughters] prepare them [for entering the path].
- For those who want to be disciples (śrāvakas) they present the disciple vehicle.
- For those who want to be pratyekabuddhas (solitary enlightened ones) they present the pratyekabuddha vehicle.
- For those who want to be [followers of the Great Vehicle], they present the Mahayana.
“These are the good sons and good daughters who accept the True Dharma, build the great earth, and carry the four responsibilities.
“Therefore, Lord, good sons and daughters who accept the True Dharma, build the great earth, and carry the four responsibilities become friends without being asked for the sake of all living beings. In their great compassion, they comfort and sympathize with living beings and become the Dharma mother of the world.”