Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p212The cart was yoked with white bullocks. The color of the skin of the white bullocks was bright; their build, beautiful and stout; and their pace, regular. They could run as swift as [fleet like] the wind. The cart was guarded by many attendants. [This great rich man gave one of these carts to each of his children] [What is the reason?] because his wealth was so immeasurable that his various storehouses were full [of treasures].
The dustless purity of the Buddha’s six supernatural powers (abhijñā) is what a white ox symbolizes. [The Buddha] is utterly pure inside and outside: that is the implication of skin is pure white. li is wondrous and all encompassing: it is what his bodily form is lovely implies. There is nothing that it cannot break: [it has] “great muscular strength.” Moving forward toward the middle path is what its tread is even means. There is nothing that it cannot destroy or reach: it is “fleet like the wind.” Applying and propagating the teaching of the Greater [Vehicle] and entrance into [the cycle of] the five ways of existence (gatis) is the intended meaning of the yoke. The phrase that [this ox] has many attendants illustrates that those who attend to [the Buddha] who teaches practitioners are gathered [as many in number] as the trees in the woods. [The paragraph including] “What is the reason?” explains the reason why he intends to give [the doctrine] equally to them.
The Singing Monk
Note: This is another in the monthly excerpts from “Tales of the Lotus Sutra.”
Buddhism in Practice, p440The Buddhist monk Sengding. Nothing is known of his background, but he lived at Chanjing Monastery in Jiangyang and recited the Lotus Sūtra [as his regular practice]. He had a particular love of popular song, which he was at an utter loss to restrain. As a result, he was given to the habit of dissipating himself in the dusty and vulgar world [of Jiangyang nightlife] . However, whenever he did so, [his devotion was such that] divine youths would regularly manifest (gan) and come to his assistance.
Sometimes when he had passed out blind drunk, his dharma robe cast off [in a heap] from his body, [he would awaken to find that the robe had] spontaneously pleated and folded itself and that covers had been drawn over him, properly concealing his body. If his robe had become soiled with mud when he took it off, in the twinkle of an eye it was washed clean. As he picked it up to put it on, he would find it to be impregnated with a rare and pure fragrance that lingered for a long time [without fading]. On other occasions, the water [in the vessels for offering] automatically replenished itself. Or the floor [of his chamber] always appeared cleanly swept.
One time while Ding was drooling away in a drunken stupor, he awoke suddenly to find divine deva youths standing before him. His whole body was damp with saliva. He felt immediately humbled, and from then on he regarded observance of the precepts with the highest esteem. No one knows where or how he ended his days.
Vajra Sutra: No Dharma to Attain
The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, p140There actually is no dharma in the fruit position of the unsurpassed, proper and equal, right enlightenment which can be attained.
Why?
You personally cultivate and personally certify to the position. It is not obtained from outside, because basically you already have it. It is not that you become involved in external conditions or rely on external strength. The conditions and the strength are within you. You cultivate and you can attain. Of course to say you attain is just a manner of speaking, because basically you never lost anything in the first place so it is not possible for you to attain anything. Since it was that way for Śākyamuni Buddha, Burning Lamp Buddha gave him a prediction and a special name.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for April 7, 2025
If you wish to dwell in the enlightenment of the Buddha,
And to obtain the self-originating wisdom,
Make offerings strenuously to the keeper
Of Myōhō Renge Kyō!
Tao-sheng: The Wonderous Li of the Great Vehicle
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p212The cart was tall [high], wide and deep, adorned with many treasures [multitude of jewels], surrounded by railings [posts], and having bells hanging on the four sides. [Parasols and] a canopy adorned with rare treasures was fixed on the top of it. Garlands of flowers, tied with jeweled ropes, were hanging from the canopy. In the cart were quilts spread one on another, and a red [vermillion] pillow.
The statement that the carriages are adorned with a “multitude of jewels” is designed to demonstrate the wondrous li of the Greater Vehicle, which encompasses every kind of goodness that exists. With regard to “high and wide,” li surpasses empirical calculation: it is “high”; [it] fills up and covers the illimitable[wu-chi]: it is “wide.” Concerning “a multitude of jewels,” eighty-four thousand pāramitās in total are signified by a multitude of jewels. A multitude of jewels [surrounded by] posts and handrails analogize dhārāṇis. Little bells suspended on four sides symbolize four kinds of [unhindered] eloquent speech. Parasols and canopies symbolize compassion (karunā). Miscellaneous jewels refer to the jewels of the seven riches. Jeweled cords are comparable to the great vows (mahāpraṇidhāna); they connect [being] with all the goodness and wondrous fruits. Flowered tassels refer to the flowers of the seven enlightenment [factors]. Heaps of carpets decorated with strips of cloth refer to various kinds of meditation. Vermillion-colored cushions symbolize various meritorious virtues, and cushions [symbolize] mutual support.
Vajra Sutra: The King of Kalinga
The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, p114-118Long before in a former life, Śākyamuni Buddha had been a young cultivator practicing in the mountains about thirty miles from the capital city where the King of Kalinga held court. One day the king decided to go hunting and called together a party of soldiers, ministers, and officials to accompany him. To complete the party he summoned the most beautiful concubines in the palace. Actually he could not bear to part with his women for even the duration of a hunting trip. He found them a most pleasant pastime.
The hunting grounds on the mountain were very large, and the King of Kalinga immediately set out in pursuit of big game, leaving the timid women behind to entertain themselves. As the women strolled around on the mountain, they happened upon the young bhikṣu who was only eighteen or nineteen years old and quite handsome, despite the fact that his hair had grown long and his clothes were tattered. When they first spied him they thought he was a kind of weird creature or a man-eating beast, and they panicked. “Look,” they gasped, clutching one another, “there’s a wild animal that looks like a man!”
“I am not a wild animal, I am a cultivator of the Way,” the young man assured them.
When the concubines heard that the creature could talk their curiosity was aroused, and they edged closer to speak with him.
“What does it mean to ‘cultivate the Way’?” they asked, for they had never been outside the confines of the palace, and so had never heard of such a thing. The young cultivator spoke dharma for them. Seeing what they had never seen before, and hearing what they had never heard before, soon they were enthralled and forgot everything even who and where they were.
Meanwhile the King of Kalinga returned from his expedition to discover that his palace concubines had wandered away. He set out to find them. Eventually he caught sight of them gathered around the strange-looking man. The king, bent on discovering who the man was and what he was doing with the concubines, crept silently towards them like a spy on a secret mission. When he got close he paused, listened to the young cultivator speaking dharma, and realized that the concubines were so enraptured they had not noticed the arrival of their king. Whereupon the King of Kalinga cleared his throat and challenged the young man, “What are you doing here?”
“I am cultivating the Way,” replied the bhikṣu.
“Have you attained the fruit of Arhatship in your cultivation?” asked the king.
“No.” said the young cultivator, “I have not certified to Arhatship.”
“Have you attained the third stage?” continued the king.
“No,” said the bhikṣu, “I have not certified to the third fruit.”
“I have heard there are people who live in the mountains and by eating a certain kind of fruit they attain immortality, but they still are not free of greed and desire. They still have lust in their minds. You are so young and you haven’t certified to any of the fruits of the Way. Do you give rise to thoughts of lust?” asked the king.
“I have not cut it off,” replied the bhikṣu.
With that reply the King of Kalinga became enraged. “If you haven’t cut off lust, then when you see my… these women… you see them like this… how can you be patient with the lust which arises in your mind?” he challenged.
“Although I have not cut off lust, I do not give rise to lustful thoughts. In my cultivation I contemplate the nine kinds of impurities.”
“Ha!” spit back the king, “you cultivate the contemplation of impurities. You are a cheat! What proof do I have that you do not lust after my women? What proof that you can bear your thoughts of lust?”
“I bear them,” replied the bhikṣu. “I can bear anything.”
“Oh you can, can you? Well, we shall see about that. First I will cut off your ear.” The king unsheathed his glistening sword, took hold of the bhikṣu’s ear, and lopped it off. By that time the ministers and officials had gathered around to see what had caused such commotion. They looked at the young cultivator who appeared totally unmoved and without pain, and they pleaded with the king, “Great King, do not take your sword to him. He is a great master. He must be a Bodhisattva. You must not take your sword to him.”
“How do you know he is a Bodhisattva? How do you know?” demanded their king, bristling with jealousy.
“Look at him,” said the officials, “you cut off his ear and he did nothing. He has not even flushed. He just sits there as if nothing had happened.”
“How do you know that he feels as if nothing had happened? I wager in his mind he hates me. I shall try him out again.” He positioned his sword and neatly sliced off the bhikṣu’s nose. “Are you angry?”
“I am not angry,” replied the bhikṣu.
“You aren’t? It is more likely that you are a liar as well as a cheat. Perhaps you can cheat these women, but you can’t cheat me. I shall cut off your hand and see what you do. Can you bear it?” his voice shook as he brought down the sword again.
“It is all the same to me,” said the bhikṣu.
“All right, if it is all the same, then I shall cut off your other hand,” which he did, saying with barely controlled rage, “still not angry? Are you enraged yet?”
“No, I am not enraged,” said the bhikṣu.
“I don’t believe you. Nobody could stand to have both hands cut off and not get angry. You are certainly a freak,” he said as he cut off one of the bhikṣu’s legs. “Still not angry?”
The king chopped away at the other leg. “Angry?” he nearly screamed once more.
The maimed bhikṣu continued to sit as before, although now both his ears, his nose, both his hands and both legs were totally severed from his body. “I am not angry,” he said once again.
But by then the Four Great Heaven Kings were angry and cursing the king. They sent down a rain of hail stones the size of dumplings. The hail beat down so violently that a section of the mountain near the party fell away and went roaring down the slopes. The king froze with fear upon realizing his mistake. He knelt before the earless, noseless, handless, legless bhikṣu and begged forgiveness. “I was wrong, I was wrong,” he cried in terror. “Heaven is punishing me. Do not be angry, please do not be angry.”
“I have not become angry,” said the bhikṣu.
“That is not true,” cried the panic-stricken king. “If you are not angry, why is heaven punishing me?” He still thought the bhikṣu had called down a curse on him.
“I can prove that I have not become angry,” said the bhikṣu. “If I have, then the extremities of my body will not mend. But if I have not become angry, then my hands, legs, ears, and nose will grow hack the way they were.” No sooner had he finished speaking then his legs, hands, ears, and nose perfectly rejoined the trunk of his body. When he was whole again the bhikṣu made a solemn dedication to the king, “Upon realizing Buddhahood I will take you across first.”
Later when the young cultivator was reborn as a young prince who realized the Way and became Śākyamuni Buddha, he first went to the Deer Park to take across the former king of Kalinga, the Venerable Ājñātakauṇḍinya.
After hearing that account, some people may say, “I think I shall find a bhikṣu who practices patience in the mountains and cut off his ears, nose, hands, and legs. Then he will make the vow to take me across when he first realizes Buddhahood.” That plan would be fine if you were assured of meeting a cultivator with a compassionate, patient mind like Śākyamuni Buddha’s. However, if the cultivator gave rise to one thought of anger while you were slicing away at him, then you would fall into the unintermittent hells. So you had better think twice before attempting that method. Besides, you are not a king. If you were a king you might manage it.
Śākyamuni Buddha referred to his encounter with the King of Kalinga at that point in order to remind Subhūti that he understood the paramita of patience. “When the King of Kalinga dismembered my body, I had no mark of self, no mark of others, no mark of living beings and no mark of a life.”
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for April 6, 2025
It is not difficult
To expound all the other sūtras
As many as there are sands
In the River Ganges.It is not difficult
To grasp Mt. Sumeru
And hurl it to a distance
Of countless Buddha-worlds.It is not difficult to move [a world]
[Composed of] one thousand million Sumeru-worlds
With the tip of a toe
And hurl it to another world.It is not difficult
To stand in the Highest Heaven
And expound innumerable other sūtras
To all living beings.It is difficult
To expound Myōhō Renge Kyō
In the evil world
After my extinction.
Tao-sheng: Three Are Identical with the One
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p211-212Śāriputra! Then the rich man gave each of them a large cart of the same size.
On account of their demand, they have obtained the discourse on li, that three are identical with the One. li [in reality] does not consist in the three; now [the Buddha] gives them the One. The One has not been known as something to be given to them; it was not given in the beginning. What they previously understood turns out to be nothing; there is no point to resort again to metaphorical speeches. He has resorted to them only in order to awaken those who have not reached it. The reason why he has resorted to them is because men tend to believe in self (ātman) and are not willing to receive teaching. Because when they heard that [the One] appeared they did not comprehend it, [the Buddha] has to tell them about it. Now they have no alternative but to accept it, so that they may attain enlightenment.
Vajra Sutra: Frightening Emptiness
The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, p112-113“If someone hears the Vajra Prajña Pāramita Sūtra and is not frightened, or alarmed, or terrified.” Why would it frighten people? Ordinary people have always been attached to the mark of self, so if they are told there is no self they are very frightened. “What!” they exclaim, “Where did I go? How can there be no me? I am always here. How can I, myself, not exist?”
Those of the Two Vehicles have realized the emptiness of self, but have not yet realized the emptiness of the dharma. When they hear that “Even the dharma should be relinquished” they become terrified. “How can I give up the dharma? If I cast aside the dharma, what will I use in cultivation? I will not have anything.”
Although fully accomplished Bodhisattvas have certified to the emptiness of self and the emptiness of the dharma they have not obtained the emptiness of emptiness. They have not realized that emptiness also must be emptied. With emptiness still remaining, there is an attachment to it. The Buddhadharma teaches not to be attached to self and not to be attached to phenomena. However, when there is no self and no phenomena, emptiness arises. Involvement with that emptiness can cause one to be waylaid by it. Loitering in emptiness, stopped in stillness, one simply guards the emptiness within which one dwells. That is also a mistake. So when Bodhisattvas who have not realized the emptiness of emptiness hear of real mark, the principle substance of prajña which does not even admit of emptiness, they also become alarmed and terrified.
A person who hears the sūtra and is not frightened, or alarmed, or terrified understands the true proper dharma of prajña pāramita. Therefore Śākyamuni Buddha said, “You should know that person is most rare.”
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for April 5, 2025
Anyone who keeps
Myōhō Renge Kyō
Will be able to know by smell
Whether the gods are walking, sitting, playing or performing wonders.