LS32

Day 21

Day 21 covers all of Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata.

Day 21 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the impact of the Buddha’s seemingly passing away, we consider the Buddha’s pure land.

The [perverted] people think:
“This world is in a great fire.
The end of the kalpa [of destruction] is coming.”
In reality this world of mine is peaceful.

It is filled with gods and men.
The gardens, forests and stately buildings
Are adorned with various treasures;
The jeweled trees have many flowers and fruits;
The living beings are enjoying themselves;
And the gods are beating heavenly drums,
Making various kinds of music,
And raining mandārava-flowers on the great multitude and me.

[This] pure world of mine is indestructible.
But the [perverted] people think:
“It is full of sorrow, fear, and other sufferings.
It will soon burn away.”

Because of their evil karmas,
These sinful people will not be able
To hear even the names of the Three Treasures
During asaṃkhya kalpas.

The Daily Dharma offers this:

The [perverted] people think:
“This world is in a great fire.
The end of the kalpa [of destruction] is coming.”
In reality this world of mine is peaceful.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Here he draws a stark contrast between how those caught in the web of delusion see the world and how things really are. The world is constantly changing. When we expect the world to be as we want it, rather than as it is, any change is frightening. We assume that the world is falling apart and will sweep us along in its demise. When we practice the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, we know that we and all beings will become enlightened. The change in the world is part of our practice. We know how it will turn out and there is no fear. Only peace.

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

essentials

Nichiren’s Lotus School

[Nichiren’s] study of ten years (1243-1253) on [Mount Hiei] convinced him that a revival of Tendai philosophy alone was the nearest approach to the Truth.

By Tendai philosophy Nichiren meant not what he found there at hand but what was taught by Dengyō Daishi himself. The original T’ien-T’ai of Chih-i was chiefly theoretical, whereas the Japanese Tendai of Dengyō Daishi was practical as well as theoretical. But after the two great masters, Jikaku and Chishō, the practical sides of Tendai were either mystic rituals or Amita faith; that seemed to them most important. The fundamental truth of the Lotus doctrine seemed to be laid aside as if it were a philosophical amusement. Nichiren could not accept this attitude and so returned in 1253 to his old monastery at Kiyozumi where he proclaimed his new doctrine that the Lotus alone could save the people of the depraved age, the essential formula being “Homage to the Text of the Lotus of the True Ideal.” It is Dharma-smriti (thought on Dharma) and not Buddha-smriti as was the Amita formula. Dharma is the ideal realized by the original Buddha. All beings are saved through homage to the Lotus of Truth, and this alone, he declared, is the true final message of the Buddha.

The Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy, p178-179
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – July 20, 2024

All of you, wise men!
Have no doubts about this!
Remove your doubts, have no more!
My words are true, not false.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. If we come to the Buddha, attached to our delusions and fearful of the potential for peace and joy we all have within us, it is easy to doubt what he says. We have been suffering a long time. Like the children playing in the burning house, we are so caught up in the drama and insanity of our world that we cannot imagine any other way to live. When the Buddha warns us of how dangerous it is to continue as we are, we are more certain of our familiar pain than of his enlightenment. When we trust the Buddha Dharma, and cultivate our potential to create unimaginable benefit in this world, then we realize the pettiness of the crises we create for ourselves. We awaken our curiosity and gratitude and learn to see this beautiful world

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

LS32

Day 20

Day 20 completes Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, and concludes the Fifth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 20 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered Maitreya’s plea for an explanation, we consider in gāthās Maitreya’s plea for an explanation.

Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

It is not long
Since you renounced the family of the Śākyas
And sat under the Bodhi-tree
Near Gaya.

These sons of yours are innumerable.
They have practiced
The way to Buddhahood for a long time.
They have supernatural powers and the power of wisdom.

They have studied the Way of Bodhisattvas well.
They are not defiled by worldliness
Just as the lotus-flower
Is not defiled by water.

They sprang up from underground,
And are now standing before you respectfully.
This is difficult to understand.
How can we believe this?

You attained enlightenment quite recently.
But you have done so many things.
Remove our doubts!
Explain all this as it is!

See Arising Out of the Dirt of Our Lives

essentials

Saichō’s Lotus School

Since the Lotus of the Good Law was translated and expounded by Kumarajiva, it has been one of the most popular subjects of Buddhist study along with the Prajna and Nirvana texts. When the philosophy of immanence or the phenomenological doctrine was promulgated on the basis of the Lotus by Chih-i, it was generally known as the T’ien-T’ai School. It was Saichō (Dengyō Daishi, 767-822 AD) who went to China and received the doctrine from this school and on his return in 804 AD founded the Tendai school in Japan. His theoretical elucidation of the Lotus doctrine may not be much different from the original Chinese school, but his practical application of the doctrine to the national cult and synthetic treatment of all other Buddhist schools subordinate to his school seem to be the new aspects added by virtue of his genius. Besides the Lotus doctrine, he professed to teach mystic Shingon, Amita-pietism, contemplative Zen, as well as Mahayanistic Vinaya discipline. To him these were subordinate doctrines to the Lotus or at any rate concurrent systems to complete the central doctrine. However, in the course of time, there appeared among his followers some ardent specialists in each of these systems and sometimes the result was separation. In the Heian period (781-1183) the mystic rituals and ceremonial performances promoted by this school in concert with the Shingon School carried the day to satisfy the aristocratic taste of the time. There arose in time a devotional school of Amita-pietism which also flourished in the bosom of the school. Through the influence of the two streams of religious activities a great Buddhist transformation took place in the national life and thoughts of Japan during the period.

The Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy, p176-177
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – July 19, 2024

Did a god of great virtue or a Buddha
Appear somewhere in the universe?
This great light illumines
The worlds of the ten quarters.

The Brahma Heavenly Kings of the East sing these verses as part of a story the Buddha tells in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. Long ago there was another Buddha named Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence. When he became enlightened, the entire universe was illuminated. Beings who had never seen each other could recognize each other clearly. We can see this story as a metaphor for what happens when the Buddha’s wisdom comes into our lives. We leave the darkness of our ego attachment and come into the light of the world as it is.

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

LS32

Day 19

Day 19 concludes Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and begins Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.

Day 19 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the superiority of the Lotus Sutra, we consider the Bodhisattva’s dream.

He will see only wonderful things in his dream.
He will dream:
‘Surrounded by bhikṣus,
The Tathāgatas are sitting
On the lion-like seats,
And expounding the Dharma.’

He also will dream:
‘As many living beings, including dragons and asuras,
As there are sands in the River Ganges
Are joining their hands together
Towards me respectfully,
And I am expounding the Dharma to them.’

He also will dream:
‘The bodies of the Buddhas are golden-colored.
They are emitting innumerable ray of light,
And illumining all things.
The Buddhas are expounding all teachings
With their brahma voices.
I am among the four kinds of devotees
To whom a Buddha is expounding
The unsurpassed Dharma.
I praised the Buddha
With my hands joined together.
I heard the Dharma from him with joy.
I made offerings to him, and obtained dharanis.
I also obtained irrevocable wisdom.
The Buddha knew
That I entered deep into the Way to Buddhahood.
So he assured me of my future attainment
Of perfect enlightenment, saying:
‘Good man, in your future life,
You will be able to attain immeasurable wisdom,
That is, the great enlightenment: of the Buddha.
Your world will be pure and large
Without a parallel.
There will be the four kinds of devotees there.
They will hear the Dharma from you
With their hands joined together.’

The Daily Dharma offers this:

He will see only wonderful things in his dream.
He will dream:
‘Surrounded by bhikṣus,
The Tathāgatas are sitting
On the lion-like seats,
And expounding the Dharma.’

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra, speaking of those who keep and practice the Wonderful Dharma. Dreams for many of us can be frightening places. They can be where we relive bad situations in our past or develop fantastic scenarios for disasters in the future. When we accept our nature as Bodhisattvas, and live assured of our future enlightenment, we find that even the thoughts over which we have no control begin to harmonize with the world around us. When we learn to recognize the Buddha in our everyday lives, our old traumas become vehicles for compassion.

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

essentials

Kamakura Buddhism

Buddhism in the Nara period (710-794 AD) was a philosophy of investigation and speculation, while that of the Heian period (794-1185 AD) was externally an eclecticism or syncretism of Shintoistic and Buddhistic ideas and internally a unification of the theory of universal immanence (exoteric). Buddhism in this later period greatly influenced the social life and culture on all sides by its doctrine of enfolding power (esoteric). In the Kamakura period (1185-1335 AD) the specific character of Buddhism was pre-eminently practical, national and markedly enthusiastic in preaching, exclusive in doctrine, more simplified and specific than ever, but extensive in the application or the realization of the ideal, since all Buddhist schools in the period preached salvation—i.e., the way of enlightenment—for all, that is, pansophism.

The religious activity of this period was, in a way, a strong protest against the previous orthodox schools which seemed to end in an exhibition of either speculative achievement or ritualistic efficacy, betraying in their aristocratic pomp and ceremonial display the fast-degenerating tendency of philosophical-religious life in general. The importance of a reversion to the monistic and practical religion of Prince Shōtoku was strongly felt. The consensus of the leading ideas and the necessity of spiritual reform among the populace brought about the uniformity of the religious type of the time. Certainly the memory of Prince Shōtoku was greatly awakened and a considerable increase in his images, sanctuaries, memorial services and even guilds of artisans connected with him was conspicuous during the period. One of the Buddhist schools founded at the time [Jodo Shinshu] enshrined him as the patriarch of Japan.
Kamakura Buddhism, the Buddhism of ‘All-Enlightenment,’ may be summarized into seven schools:

  1. The Zen School of meditative intuitionism
    a. Rinzai Sect founded by Eisai (1141-1215)
    b. Sōtō Sect founded by Dōgen (1200-1253)
  2. The Fuke School of introspective asceticism, founded by Kakushin in 1255
  3. The Jōdo School of Amita-pietism, founded by Hōnen
    (1133-1212)
  4. The Shin School of Amita-pietism, founded by Shinran (1173-1262)
  5. The Ji School of Amita-pietism, founded by Ippen (1239-1289)
  6. The Nichiren School of Lotus-pietism, founded by Nichiren (1222-1282)
  7. The Shin-Ritsu Sect, the reformed school of self-vow discipline, founded by Eison (1201-1290), the restorer of the disciplinary school
The Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy, p153-155
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – July 18, 2024

Although the time is ripe for the Lotus Sutra to convert everyone, teachers who propagate it are ordinary teachers while their disciples are wicked and sickened by the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance. They avoid teachers who preach the True Dharma, befriending teachers who preach false Dharma. Is it not natural then that he who practices the Lotus Sutra, the true teaching of the Buddha, and his disciples and followers and lay followers are persecuted more severely than the three kinds of enemies?

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on the True Way of Practicing the Teaching of the Buddha (Nyosetsu Shugyō-shō). In our efforts to uphold and practice the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, we may be surprised to be the targets of anger or aggression from others, especially from others who also practice the Dharma with us. These difficulties will be opportunities for us to practice wisdom and nourish our compassion. We can learn to recognize others’ delusions within our own minds and remain focused on ridding ourselves of the three poisons, rather than attempting to change someone else’s behavior. In this way we become an example for how to live, and allow the Ever-Present Buddha Śākyamuni to work within our hearts.

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

LS32

Day 18

Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.

Day 18 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered in gāthās how the Bodhisattva should expound the Dharma, we consider the merits of the expounder of the Lotus Sutra.

A Bhikṣu who expounds this Sūtra
Of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
With patience
After my extinction,
Will be emancipated
From jealousy, anger, and other illusions,
That is to say, from all obstacles.

He will have no sorrow.
He will not be spoken ill of.
He will not be in fear.
He will not be threatened with swords or sticks,
Or driven out [of his monastery].

A man of wisdom
Who controls his mind
As previously stated
Will be peaceful.

His merits will be innumerable.
You would not be able to tell the number of them
By any parable or simile even if you tried to do so
For thousands of billions of kalpas.

The Daily Dharma offers this:

A bhikṣu who expounds this Sūtra
Of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
With patience
After my extinction,
Will be emancipated
From jealousy, anger, and other illusions,
That is to say, from all obstacles.

The Buddha sings these verses to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. We may realize that jealousy and anger are not desirable states, but only because what these states do to our moods. No matter how justified we may feel in our jealousy or anger, these are not pleasant states to be in or even to be around. The Buddha reminds us that the real problem with these states is that they keep us from seeing things as they are. Jealousy exaggerates the importance of what we want but do not have. Anger exaggerates the bad qualities of the targets of our anger. When we focus on this wonderful teaching, develop our patience, and remain determined to benefit all beings, we see things for what they are, and are liberated from illusions.

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