Daily Dharma, d14b

Daily Dharma – Jan. 3, 2024

You, the World-Honored One, are exceptional.
You reminded me of the teachings
Of innumerable Buddhas in the past
As if I had heard them today.

Ānanda, the Buddha’s cousin and one of his leading disciples, sings these verses in Chapter Nine of the Lotus Sūtra. In the Story, Ānanda had just been personally assured by the Buddha that he would become a Buddha himself in a future life. All the teachings of the Buddha across all time are always available to us. What prevents us from hearing them and putting them into practice is nothing more than our own attachment to our suffering and our doubts about our capacity for wisdom and compassion. When we take to heart the assurance that we and all beings can become enlightened, it clears away our delusion and allows to see the Buddha teaching us in all aspects of our lives.

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

LS32

Day 25

Day 25 covers all of Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, and opens Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.

Day 25 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month concluded Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, we begin today’s portion of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, and consider the Buddha’s reaction to the announcement by the Bodhisattvas from underground.

Thereupon the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas as many as the particles of dust of one thousand worlds, who had sprung up from underground, joined their hands together towards the Buddha with all their hearts, looked up at his honorable face, and said to him:

“World-Honored One! After your extinction, we will expound this sūtra in the worlds of the Buddhas of your replicas and also in the place from which you will pass away. Why is that? It is because we also wish to obtain this true, pure and great Dharma, to keep, read, recite, expound and copy [this sūtra], and to make offerings to it.”

Thereupon the World-Honored One displayed his great supernatural powers in the presence of the multitude, which included not only the many hundreds of thousands of billions of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who had already lived in this Sahā-World [before the arrival of the Bodhisattvas from underground], headed by Mañjuśrī, but also bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, upāsikās, gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings. He stretched out his broad and long tongue upwards until the tip of it reached the World of Brahman. Then he emitted rays of light with an immeasurable variety of colors from his pores. The light illumined all the worlds of the ten quarters. The Buddhas who were sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees also stretched out their broad and long tongue and emitted innumerable rays of light. Śākyamuni Buddha and the Buddhas under the jeweled trees displayed these supernatural powers of theirs for one hundred thousand years. Then they pulled back their tongues, coughed at the same time, and snapped their fingers. These two sounds [of coughing and snapping] reverberated over the Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters, and the ground of those worlds quaked in the six ways. By the supernatural powers of the Buddhas, the living beings of those worlds, including gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, and mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings, saw the many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees in this Sahā-World. They also saw Śākyamuni Buddha sitting by the side of Many-Treasures Tathāgata on the lion-like seat in the stupa of treasures. They also saw that the many hundreds of thousands of billions of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas and the four kind of devotees were surrounding Śākyamuni Buddha respectfully. Having seen all this, they had the greatest joy that they had ever had.

See Sharing in the Tathagata’s Limitless Lifespan and Great Spiritual Power

mappō, Nattier Decline, Dollarhide Senji-Shō, Stone Last Age, WONS, Blog, Books

The Problem With Mappō

Is it time to let go of our attachment as Nichiren Buddhists to the doctrine of Mappō, the Latter Age of Degeneration?

Back on Aug. 17, 2019, I wrote a blog post entitled “Does the Eternal Buddha’s Teaching Lose Its Potency?” I argued then that the Lotus Sutra clearly teaches that the Eternal Buddha is always present. How could his teaching decline?

To explore the issue, I recently picked up Jan Nattier’s “Once Upon A Future Time: Studies in a Buddhist Prophecy of Decline.” The first half of of Nattier’s 1991 book is devoted to establishing the roots of the prediction of the decline in Buddhism.

From Nattier’s book I learned of Kenneth Dollarhide’s “Nichiren’s Senji-Shō: An Essay on the Selection of the Proper Time.”  The book, published in 1982 as Volume One in Studies in Asian Thought and Religion, includes a description of Nichiren’s life and the Age of the Last Law.

Finally, I picked up Jacqueline Stone’s two-part journal article “Seeking Enlightenment in the Last Age: Mappō Thought in Kamakura Buddhism,” [PDF] which was published in 1985 in the Spring and Autumn editions of The Eastern Buddhist.

Over the next several weeks I will be publishing excerpts from these  sources.

Before that, I want make clear that Nichiren did not contend that the Lotus Sutra would lose its effectiveness over time. In Shugo Kokka-ron, Treatise on Protecting the Nation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Pages 25-27, Nichiren writes:

QUESTION: Do you have any scriptural passages proving that the Lotus Sūtra alone will remain even after other sūtras all disappear?

ANSWER: In the tenth chapter on “The Teacher of the Dharma” of the Lotus Sūtra, Śākyamuni Buddha declared in order to spread the sūtra, “The sūtras I have preached number immeasurable thousands, ten thousands, and hundred millions. Of the sūtras I have preached, am now preaching, and will preach, this Lotus Sūtra is the most difficult to believe and to understand ” It means that of all the sūtras which the Buddha has preached, is now preaching, and will preach during 50 years of His lifetime, the Lotus Sūtra is the supreme sūtra. Of the 80,000 holy teachings, it was preached especially to be retained for people in the future.

Therefore, in the following chapter on “The Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures,” the Buddha of Many Treasures emerged from the great earth, and Buddhas in manifestation from the worlds all over the universe gathered. Through these Buddhas in manifestation as His messengers, Śākyamuni Buddha made this declaration to bodhisattvas, śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, heavenly beings, human beings, and eight kinds of supernatural beings who filled the innumerable (400 trillion nayuta) worlds in eight directions:

“The purpose of the Buddha of Many Treasures to emerge and gathering of Buddhas in manifestation all over the universe is solely in order for the Lotus Sūtra to last forever. Each of you should vow that you will certainly spread this Lotus Sūtra in the future worlds of five defilements after the sūtras which have been preached, are being preached, and will be preached, will have all disappeared and it will be difficult to believe in the True Dharma.”

Then 20,000 bodhisattvas and 80 trillion nayuta of bodhisattvas each made a vow in the 13th chapter on “The Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra”, “We will not spare even our lives, but treasure the Unsurpassed Way.” Bodhisattvas emerged from the great earth, as numerous as dust particles of the entire world, as well as such bodhisattvas as Mañjuśrī and all also vowed in the 22nd chapter on the “Transmission,” “After the death of the Buddha … we will widely spread this sūtra.” After that, in the 23rd chapter on “The Previous Life of the Medicine King Bodhisattva” the Buddha used ten similes in order to explain the superiority of the Lotus Sūtra over other sūtras. In the first simile the pre-Lotus sūtras are likened to river-water and the Lotus Sūtra, to a great ocean. Just as ocean water will not decrease even when river-water dries up in a severe drought, the Lotus Sūtra will remain unchanged even when the pre-Lotus sūtras with four tastes all disappear in the Latter Age of defilement and corruption without shame. Having preached this, the Buddha clearly expressed His true intent as follows, “After I have entered Nirvana, during the last five-hundred-year period you must spread this sūtra widely throughout the world lest it should be lost.”

Contemplating the meaning of this passage, I believe that the character “after” following “after I have entered Nirvana” is meant to be “after the extinction of those sūtras preached in forty years or so.” It is, therefore, stated in the Nirvana Sūtra, the postscript of the Lotus Sūtra:

“I shall entrust the propagation of this supreme dharma to bodhisattvas, who are skillful in debate. Such a dharma will be able to last forever, continue to prosper for incalculable generations, profiting and pacifying the people. ”

According to these scriptural passages the Lotus-Nirvana Sūtras will not become extinct for immeasurable centuries.

Quotes from Mappō discussion

Daily Dharma, d24b

Daily Dharma – Jan. 2, 2024

Their tongues will be purified.
Their tongues will not receive anything bad.
Anything they eat will become
As delicious as nectar.

The Buddha sings these verses to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. With food and drink it is easy to see how different people will find the same food either delicious or disgusting. Our experience and beliefs shape what we are comfortable putting into our bodies, and whether we do so for the sake of our health or the pleasure that comes from experiencing their flavor. But when we find that something with good flavor is bad for our health, or vice versa, we can change our tastes. This is another example of how the Lotus Sūtra teaches us how to live in the world. We learn to embrace situations we once found frightening or intolerable. We increase our capacity with our focus on benefiting others. As a wise teacher once said, we learn to enjoy problems the way we enjoy ice cream.

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

The Vision of Buddhism, Blog, Books

The Vision of Buddhism

The Wife adheres to a New Year’s Day rule: Don’t do anything on New Year’s Day that you don’t want to end up doing all year long.1 She cleans and straightens the house over the days leading to New Year’s Eve in order to enjoy her relaxed holiday. Having been married 34 years, I’ve adopted her rule – do only things you want to do all year long on New Year’s Day – but without all the preparatory inconvenience.

So today, Jan. 1, 2024, I’ve strictly limited television viewing. I’ve ignored the leaves littering the bottom of the pool in the backyard. And I’ve spent the majority of the day in my recliner reading.

I picked up Richard J. Smith’s “The I Ching: A Biography,” which I had been reading the day before. This is one of the “Lives of Great Books” series which “recount the complex and fascinating histories of important religious texts from around the world.” I’ve previously read “The Lotus Sutra: A Biography” and “The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Biography,” both by Donald S. Lopez Jr.

Vision of Buddhism bookcoverHowever, in keeping with my “only do things you want to do all year long,” I put The I Ching biography down and picked up “The Vision of Buddhism” by Roger J. Corless. This was an introductory Buddhism text recommended by Jan Nattier in her book “Once Upon A Future Time: Studies in a Buddhist Prophecy of Decline.” (More about that book tomorrow and subsequent days.)

I was attracted to this book by Corless’ effort to reject the Western tendency to teach Buddhism as a linear historical tale.

History is an academic discipline that has developed in the western hemisphere. The western hemisphere has been strongly influenced by the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and their conception of time as something created by God in and through which God manifests himself. On this view, time is meaningful. It has a beginning and an end, and the end is a goal, so that there is development, a progressive achievement of the goal. It makes sense to ask “What is the meaning of life?” A Christian hymn says “God is working his purpose out as year succeeds to year.” As soon as we substitute the word Buddha for God in this sentence, however, there is a problem.

History as a secular discipline has many of the features of the Abrahamic tradition’s view of time. God has been gradually eased out, and the notion of goal or purpose has become suspect, but the assumption that time is meaningful and that development is real does not seem to have been given up by even the most radical critics of the philosophy of history.

Buddhism, on the other hand, sees things as changing over time, but it does not see things as becoming more meaningful as they change. Change, for Buddhism, is a primary characteristic of cyclic existence (samsara), and history is just a lot of change. All that we can say about history, Buddhistically, is that as time goes on we get more of it.

I greatly enjoyed his summary of the basic story of the Buddha’s life, which uses the Tibetan story of the “Twelve Acts of the Buddha”:

  1. Waiting in the Tushita Heaven
  2. Growing in the womb of Mayadevi
  3. Birth as a human for the last time.
  4. Attainment of intellectual and physical skills
  5. Marriage and the enjoyment of sensuality
  6. Renunciation of the worldly life
  7. The practice of extreme self-denial
  8. The march to the center
  9. Overcoming Mara
  10. Attaining enlightenment
  11. Teaching
  12. Final Nirvana

His summary of the teaching of emptiness – or as he explains it, “transparency” – was very useful and I was looking forward to seeing how his college textbook published in 1989 would proceed. At that moment, however, I needed to run an errand with The Wife. (All year long I’ll do this!)

When I was able to return to my recliner, I picked up “The Vision of Buddhism” but instead of returning to where I had left off I decided to first browse the book index.

As a Nichiren Buddhist I’m always interested in what an introductory college text has to say about the Kamakura period of Japan’s Buddhist development.

Nothing. The word Kamakura does not appear in the index. The entry for “Japan, and Buddhism” points to pages 59-62.

This happens to be the place where Corless has devoted a little more than two full pages to “Nichiren Shoshu (“The Orthodox Nichiren Lineage”). There is no other index entry for Nichiren.

In Corless’ Chapter 2, The Value of Worldly Skills (Act 4 of the Buddha), in the subsection entitled “Social Buddhism,” he writes:

Social Buddhism
There are two forms of Buddhism that, in very different ways, emphasize social action above all else: the Nichiren Shoshu of Japan, and the reform movement of Dr. Ambedkar in India.

NICHIREN SHOSHU
Nichiren Shoshu, “The Orthodox Nichiren Lineage,” is nothing if not clear, organized, and motivated. It claims to have the true Buddhism, proves it by its physical success, and aims at the destruction of all other forms of religion. Its roots are in a medium length Mahayana Sutra, Saddharmapundarika Sutra or Sutra on the True Dharma which is like a White Lotus, called the Lotus Sutra for short. This text presents Shakyamuni in his gigantic-sized, Sambhogakaya form preaching the Mahayana doctrines that had been withheld from the Hinayana. It may have been written about the beginning of the Christian era. Partly perhaps because it was chosen by the Chinese monk Chih-i (531-597 C.E.) as the perfect expression of Mahayana, it has become one of the most popular texts of Far Eastern Buddhism. It was studied by Nichiren (1222-1282 C.E.), a Japanese Tendai monk practising on Mount Hiei. He seems to have decided that the scholastic exegesis of the Lotus Sutra had become over-subtle, and that its main points had been missed. The Sutra was not concerned, he felt, with voluminous doctrinal formulae, but with the victory of the oppressed under the leadership of the Bodhisattva Vishishtacharitra (“He of Superlative Action”; known as Jogyo Bosatsu in Japan), who is mentioned in chapter 15 of the Lotus Sutra as the leader of a vast army of Bodhisattvas who emerge from below the earth to worship the Buddha. Coming out of the earth signified, for Nichiren, the release of the lowly from injustice, and he identified Vishishtacharitra with himself. Later followers came to regard Nichiren as the pre-eternal Buddha, superior to all other Buddhas. Only by cleaving to the supreme doctrine of the Lotus Sutra could anyone be free, either relatively (i.e., within samsara) or absolutely (i.e., by leaving samsara). He expressed his contempt for competing forms of Buddhism in four staccato phrases:

  1. “Nembutsu muken”: Those who recite the Buddha’s Name in the hope of paradise will be reborn in hell.
  2. “Zen temma”: The practitioners of Zen are deluding demons.
  3. “Shingon bokoku”: The Tantric Buddhists, who say they are protecting the country, are traitors.
  4. “Ritsu kokuzoku”: The Buddhists who punctiliously observe the monastic regulations are rebels.

The government attempted to execute Nichiren as a troublemaker, but he was saved by a miracle, and exiled to the island of Sado between 1271 and 1274. He founded two temples before he died, and began the Hokke Shu, “Lotus Lineage” which emphasized the great merit of reciting the mantra NAM’MYOHO-REN-GE-KYO, “Hail to the Lotus Sutra.” Since the Lotus Sutra says that reciting a single phrase from it earns as much merit as reciting all of it, and since, according to classical Chinese thought, the essence of a book is encapsulated in its name or title, those who recite NAM’MYO-HO-REN-GE-KYO will find that they get all that they need.

After Nichiren’s death, the lineage did not have a large following until Toda Josei (1900-1958 C.E.) became president of the Soka Gakkai, “Value-Creation Society,” in 1951. Soka Gakkai is a lay organization that grew out of the educational theories of Makiguchi Tsunesaburo (1871-1944) who, in his four-volume work Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei, “A System of Value-Creation Education,” written between 1930 and 1934, offered the unexceptionable idea that education should increase the student’s sense of values. Toda befriended Makiguchi, both joined the Nichiren Shoshu (an outgrowth of the Hokke Shu), and, after Makiguchi’s death, Toda whipped up what had been a study circle into a tightly run missionary society. He vowed to obtain the conversion of seven hundred and fifty thousand families before his death, and far exceeded his goal.

Today, Soka Gakkai is a potent force in Japanese society, able to stage breathtakingly unified mass meetings and, through the Komeito, “Clean Government Party,” it is powerfully influential in the Diet (the Japanese parliament). Its militancy alarms non-members, who may argue that it is not really Buddhism. Soka Gakkai claims, for instance, that Japan lost the Second World War because the Four Divine Kings deserted Japan when the Lotus Sutra was neglected. Soka Gakkai also has a world mission, with an American headquarters near Los Angeles and branches throughout the United States. Members of Soka Gakkai in America, where it is called Nichiren Shoshu of America (N.S.A.), attribute such varied practical benefits as release from drug addiction, a happy sex life, improved sports performance, good business deals, and successful hitch-hiking to the persistent recitation of the mantra NAM’MYO-HO-REN-GE-KYO. Unlike most Buddhists, they make great efforts to gain converts, and may claim that other Buddhists are not “real” Buddhists. And, whereas Nichiren himself originally claimed the Lotus Sutra as the salvation of Japan, American devotees patriotically use it to pay homage to the Stars and Stripes, sometimes with fife-and-drum bands.

After reading this I was exhausted and took a nap. I set my watch’s timer for 30 minutes and closed my eyes.

Napping I don’t mind doing for the rest of the year. Reading Corless’ book, not so much. When I got up from my nap I went to my office to write this. Writing is something I want to do all year. Explaining how many ways Corless gets Nichiren Buddhism wrong, I can do without.

I’ll go do gonyo now while my wife proof-reads this. After I do my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra post I’ll consider my wife’s suggestions and post this. Tomorrow I plan to pick up Jan Nattier’s “A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path according to The Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparip̣rcchā)

1
The Wife’s objection: I feel this is misleading. The rule is – What you do on NYD will dominate or be a major focus for the coming year. Therefore you want to do pleasurable and rewarding things. return
LS32

Day 24

Day 24 concludes Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, and closes the Sixth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 24 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month concluded Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, we return to the top of today’s portion of Chapter 19 and consider the eight hundred merits of the nose.

“Furthermore, Constant-Endeavor! The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this sūtra, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the nose. With their pure noses, they will be able to recognize all the various things above, below, within and without the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds.
“Those who keep this sūtra will be able to recognize, without moving about, the scents of the sumanas-flowers, jātika-flowers, mallikā-flowers, campaka-flowers, pāṭala-flowers, red lotus flowers, blue lotus flowers, white lotus flowers, flower-trees and fruit-trees. They also will be able to recognize the scents of candana, aloes, tamālapattra and tagara, and the scents of tens of millions of kinds of mixed incense which are either powdered or made in lumps or made applicable to the skin. They also will be able to recognize the living beings including elephants, horses, cows, sheep, men, women, boys and girls by smell. They also will be able to recognize without fallacy grasses, trees, thickets and forests by smell, be the nearby or at a distance.

“Those who keep this sūtra also will be able to recognize the gods [and things] in heaven by smell while they are staying [in the world of men]. They will be able to recognize the scents of the pārijātaka-trees, kovidāra-trees, mandārava-flowers, mahā-mandārava-flowers, mañjūṣaka-flowers, mahā-mañjūṣaka-flowers [in heaven]; the powdered incense of candana and aloes, the scents of other flowers, and the mixture of these scents in heaven without fail. They will be able to recognize the gods by smell. They will be able to recognize from afar the scent that Śakra-Devānām-Indra gives forth when he satisfies his five desires and enjoys himself in his excellent palace, or when he expounds the Dharma to the Trāyastriṃs̒a Gods at the wonderful hall of the Dharma, or when he plays in the gardens. They also will be able to recognize by smell from afar the gods and goddesses of the other heavens, including the Heaven of Brahman and the Highest Heaven. They also will be able to recognize the incense burned by the gods in those heavens. They also will be able to locate the Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas by smelling their bodies from afar. Even when they recognize all this by smell, their organ of smell will not be destroyed or put out of order. If they wish, they will be able to tell others of the differences [of those scents] because they remember them without fallacy.”

Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

Their nose will be purified.
They will be able to know
The smells of all things,
Be they good or bad.

They will be able to recognize by smell
The sumanas-flowers and jātika-flowers;
Tamala[pattra] and candana;
Aloes and sappanwood;
Various flowers and fruits;
And all living beings including men and women.

Anyone who expounds the Dharma will be able to locate
All living beings from afar by smell.
He will be able to locate by smell
The wheel-turning-kings of great [countries],
The wheel-turning-kings of small [countries],
And their sons, ministers and attendants.

He will be able to locate by smell
The wonderful treasures of personal ornaments,
The underground stores of treasures,
And the ladies of the wheel-turning-kings.

He will be able to recognize persons
By smelling their ornaments or garments
Or by smelling their necklaces
Or by smelling the incense applied to their skin.

Anyone who keeps
This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Will be able to know by smell
Whether the gods are walking, sitting, playing or performing wonders.

Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to locate by smell, without moving about,
The flowers and fruits of trees,
And the oil taken from sumanas-flowers.

He will be able to recognize by smell
The flowers of the candana-trees
Blooming in steep mountains,
And the living beings in those mountains.

Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to locate by smell
The living beings in the Surrounding Iron Mountains,
In the oceans, and underground.

He will be able to know by smell
Whether asuras and their daughters
And their attendants are fighting
Or playing with each other.

He will be able to locate by smell
Lions, elephants, tigers,
Wolves, wild oxen and buffalos
In the wilderness and in steep places.

He will be able to know by smell
Whether an unborn child is a boy or a girl,
Or a child of ambiguous sex,
Or the embryo of a nonhuman being.

He will be able to know by smell
Whether a woman is an expectant mother,
Or whether she will give an easy birth
To a happy child or not.

He will be able to know by smell
What a man or a woman is thinking of,
Or whether he or she is greedy, ignorant or angry,
Or whether he or she is doing good.

He will be able to recognize by smell
The gold, silver, and other treasures
Deposited underground,
And the things enclosed in a copper box.

He will be able to know by smell
The values of various necklaces,
And the deposits of their materials,
And also to locate the necklaces [when they are lost].

He will be able to recognize by smell
The mandārava-flowers,
And the mañjūṣaka-flowers,
And the pārijātaka-trees in heaven.

He will be able to know by smell
Whether a heavenly palace
Adorned with jeweled flowers
Is superior, mean or inferior.

He will be able to recognize by smell
Gardens, forests, excellent palaces,
And the wonderful hall of the Dharma in heaven,
And other stately buildings where [the gods] enjoy themselves.

He will be able to know by smell
Whether the gods are hearing the Dharma
Or satisfying their five desires,
Or coming, going, walking, sitting or reclining.

He will be able to know by smell
Whether the goddesses, clad in the garments
Adorned with fragrant flowers,
Are playing as they are moving about.

He will be able to know by smell
Who has reached the Heaven of Brahman,
Who has entered into dhyāna,
And who has come out of it.

He will be able to know by smell
The person who has appeared for the first time in the Light-Sound Heaven
Or in the Universal-Pure Heaven or in the Highest Heaven,
And who has disappeared from there.

Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to locate by smell
The bhikṣus who are sitting or walking about
In seeking the Dharma strenuously,
And the bhikṣus who are reading or reciting [this] sūtra
Or devoting themselves
To sitting in dhyāna
Under the trees of forests.

He will be able to know by smell
The Bodhisattvas who are resolute in mind,
And who are sitting in dhyāna or reading [this] sūtra
Or reciting it or expounding it to others.

He will be able to locate by smell
The World-Honored One who is expounding the Dharma
Out of his compassion
Towards all living beings who respect him.

He will be able to know by smell
Those who rejoice at hearing [this] sūtra
From the Buddha,
And act according to the Dharma.

Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to have these merits of the nose
Although he has not yet obtained the nose
Of the Bodhisattva [who attained] the
Dharma without āsravas.

See The Merit of This Teaching

Blog

10 Years on the Journey to the Place of Treasures

Today, Jan. 1, 2024, marks the start of my 10th year on this journey.

I began in 2015 with a 500-day challenge inspired by Rev. Ryusho Jeffus‘ book “The Magic City: Studying the Lotus Sutra.”

“I wonder what you could accomplish in your life if you made a commitment from today for 500 days to practice on a regular consistent basis towards the achievement of some change in your life? Would you be able to travel the entire 500 days without giving up or abandoning or forgetting your goal and effort?”

The days counted to 500 and then again and again and again.

Ryusho had said early on that a 500-day journey was trivial. A 10-year timeframe, he said, would be more useful for judging the merits of the practice of Nichiren Buddhism.

In this tenth year I will complete reciting the Lotus Sutra more than 100 times. I’m currently on my 91st cycle through the Lotus Sutra. I’m on my 47th cycle through the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings and The Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva, the two additional sutras within the Threefold Lotus Sutra.

Before I complete this 10-year challenge, I hope to finish two projects:

  1. Create a 365-day collection of the promises contained in the Lotus Sutra. For an example, see Anyone, which I wrote as part of my 800 Years of Faith project in 2022. This would then become a Daily Promise to remind us of the power of the Lotus Sutra.
  2. Divide the text of the 28 chapters of the Lotus Sutra into 365 roughly equal portions. Each day would include a brief commentary, perhaps a quote from Shinkyo Warner Shonin’s Daily Dharma or a quote from one of the many books I’ve read. This would become the Daily Practice, a simple way to read the Lotus Sutra.

In 2025, these would then replace the Daily Dharma and 32 Days of the Lous Sutra posts.

At least that’s the plan today, the first day of my 10th year on this journey to the place of treasures.

Daily Dharma, d29b

Daily Dharma – Jan. 1, 2024

Listen! World-Voice-Perceiver practiced
According to the conditions of the places [of salvation].
His vow to save [people] is as deep as the sea.
You cannot fathom it even for kalpas.

The Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon, Kanzeon, Kuan Yin, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. As the embodiment of Compassion, World-Voice perceiver demonstrates the boundlessness of our ability to benefit others. We can often feel overwhelmed by the problems in the world, and believe that we are not capable of doing everything that is necessary to lead beings out of their delusions. This chapter reminds us that we are not working alone, and that by depending on wisdom rather than power, we learn to see the wonders that surround us.

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

LS32

Day 23

Day 23 covers all of Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, and opens Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.

Day 23 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the merits will be given to a good man or woman who rejoices at hearing this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, we compare the merits of the great almsgiver to the merit of the fiftieth person who rejoices at hearing even a gāthā of this Sūtra.

“Suppose the Jambudvipa was filled with wonderful treasures such as gold, silver, lapis lazuli, shell, agate, coral and amber; elephant-carts and horse-carts; and palaces and stately buildings made of the even treasures. Suppose a man who was seeking merits gave all those pleasing things [filling the Jambudvipa] to the living beings of four hundred billion asaṃkhya worlds according to their wishes. A world consists of the six regions. The living beings [of the six regions] are of one or another of the four kinds of births: oviparous, viviparous, from moisture, or without any medium. Some of them have form while others do not. Some have desire while others do not. Some have no feet while other have two feet or four or more. Having continued giving those alms to them for eighty years, this great almsgiver thought, ‘I gave those pleasing things to them according to their wishes. Now they are old and decrepit. They are more than eighty years old. Their hair is grey; and their face , wrinkled. They will die before long. I will lead them by the Dharma of the Buddha.’

“Then he collected them. He propagated the Dharma to them, led them by the Dharma, showed them the Dharma, taught them, benefited them, and caused them to rejoice. He caused them to attain in a moment the enlightenment of the Srota-āpanna, of the Sakrdāgāmin, of the Anāgāmin or of the Arhat, eliminate all āsravas, practice deep dhyāna-concentration without hindrance, and obtain the eight emancipations. What do you think of this? Do you think that the merits obtained by this great alms giver were many or not?”

Maitreya said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! I think that his merits were many, immeasurable and limitless. His merits were already immeasurable when he gave all those pleasing things to them. Needless to say, so were his merits when he caused them to attain Arhatship.”

The Buddha said to Maitreya:

“Now I will tell you clearly. The merits of the person who gave all those pleasing things to the living beings of the six regions of four hundred billion asaṃkhya worlds, and caused them to attain Arhatship are less than the merit of the fiftieth person who rejoices at hearing even a gāthā of this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. The merits of the former person are less than a hundredth or a thousandth of the merits of the latter person, or less than the merits of the latter person divided by a hundred thousand billion. [The superiority of the merits of the latter person to those of the former person] cannot be explained by any calculation, parable or simile.

“Ajita! The merits of the fiftieth person who rejoices at hearing this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma are immeasurable, limitless, asaṃkhya. Needless to say, so are the merits of the first person who rejoices at hearing [this sūtra] in the congregation. His merits are immeasurable, limitless, asaṃkhya and incomparable.

The Daily Dharma from June 21, 2023, offers this:

Now I will tell you clearly. The merits of the person who gave all those pleasing things to the living beings of the six regions of four hundred billion asaṃkhya worlds, and caused them to attain Arhatship are less than the merits of the fiftieth person who rejoices at hearing even a gāthā of this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Maitreya (whom he calls Ajita – Invincible) in Chapter Eighteen of the Lotus Sūtra. He compares the benefit created by someone who teaches innumerable beings and makes exorbitant offerings through following the pre-Lotus sūtras to the benefits of finding joy in the Buddha’s Highest teaching. This joy is not the same as just getting what we want, or being relieved from what we do not want. It is the joy of seeing the world for what it is, and our place in it as Bodhisattvas who exist for the benefit of all beings.

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

Daily Dharma, d21b

Daily Dharma – Dec. 31, 2023

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

On the Journey to a Place of Treasures