Day 4 concludes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Having last month considered the dilemma faced by the Buddha upon attaining enlightenment, we consider his decision to employ expedients. But, thinking of the past Buddhas who employed expedients, I changed my mind … Continue reading Day 4
Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients. Having last month considered how the Buddhas craft their message to our desires, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 2, Expedients. “Śāriputra! The Buddhas appear in the evil worlds in which there are the five defilements. The worlds are defiled by the decay of the … Continue reading Day 3
Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients. Having last month considered the Buddha’s various teachings, we consider how the Buddhas craft their message to our desires. “Śāriputra! The present Buddhas, the present World-Honored Ones, of many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters benefit all living beings, and … Continue reading Day 3
Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients. Having last month considered the one great purpose of the Buddha’s teaching, we consider the Buddha’s various teachings. The Buddha said to Śāriputra: “The Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, teach only Bodhisattvas. All they do is for one purpose, that is, to show the insight of the … Continue reading Day 3
Paul L. Swanson’s “Foundations of T’ien-T’ai Philosophy: The Flowering of the Two Truths Theory in Chinese Buddhism” includes a 96 page English translation of a portion of the first chapter of Chih-i’s Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra. For the next 80 or so days I’ll be offering quotes from this along with Swanson’s footnotes. … Continue reading Chih-i’s Fa hua hsüan i
Day 4 concludes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Having last month considered the simple acts of those who have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha, we consider more simple acts of those who have already attained the enlightenment of the … Continue reading Day 4
This was written in advance of the Jan. 17, 2021, meeting of the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is discussing Chapter 3 of the Lotus Sutra this week. This post extends last month’s discussion of Does the Buddha Only Teach Bodhisattvas? In Chapter 3, the Buddha explicitly states that Śāriputra … Continue reading Abiding in the One and Employing the Three
This was written in advance of Sunday’s meeting of the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area, which has been discussing Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra this month. Last week I asked, Does the Buddha Only Teach Bodhisattvas? And my short answer was that since the Buddha is seeking to lead everyone … Continue reading The Whiteness of the Buddha’s Wisdom
This was written in advance of Sunday’s meeting of the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is discussing Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra this week. Originally, this post was intended for next year, when I will be posting quotes from Paul L. Swanson’s Foundations of T’ien-T’ai Philosophy. In the book … Continue reading Does the Buddha Only Teach Bodhisattvas?
Day 4 concludes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Having last month considered how all Buddhas utilize expedients to teach the dharma, we consider the simple acts of those who have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha. Those who met a … Continue reading Day 4