The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p13-14William LaFleur describes how Tendai thought, especially Chih-i’s Mo-ho-chih-kuan and the Lotus Sutra, influenced a transformation of Japanese poetry in the twelfth century. He points out that in the Lotus Sutra there is a philosophical move that is the opposite of what predominated in the West under the influence of Platonism. In the Sutra, “the illustration is in no way subordinate to what it illustrates.” Not a shadow of something else more real, “the narratives of the Lotus are not a means to an end beyond themselves. Their concrete mode of expression is not ‘chaff’ to be dispensed with in order to attain a more abstract, rational, or spiritual truth.” The Sutra itself says:
Even if you search in all directions,
You will find no other vehicles –
Except the skillful means of the Buddha.In other words, apart from concrete events, apart from stories, teachings, actions, and so on, there is no Buddhism.
Tag Archives: LS04
Day 4
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 concluded Chapter 2, Expedients, we begin at the top of today’s portion with the 5,000 arrogant bhikṣus and bhikṣunīs.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Some bhikṣus and bhikṣunīs
Were arrogant.
Some upāsakās were self-conceited.
Some upāsikās were unfaithful.
Those four kinds of devotees
Were five thousand in number.They could not see their own faults.
They could not observe all the precepts.
They were reluctant to heal their own wounds.
Those people of little wisdom are gone.
They were the dregs of this congregation.
They were driven away by my powers and virtues.They had too few merits and virtues
To receive the Dharma.
Now there are only sincere people here.
All twigs and leaves are gone.
The Great Power in Tactful Means
Buddhism for Today, p45The World-honored One was silent and did not stop [the 5,000 who left]. This was because he thought that even if he forced them to remain, they could not understand his teaching and it would tend instead to produce an adverse result. He also considered that they would wish to seek a true teaching sometime in the future and would in time develop the capacity to understand it. His preaching to them at that time would be the quickest way to save them.
At first glance this attitude of the Buddha seems to indicate indifference to others, but his mind in its profundity was filled with the great wisdom and benevolence of the Buddha. This is clear from the incident recounted in chapter 8, “The Five Hundred Disciples Receive the Prediction of Their Destiny.” When he gave a great many arhats the prediction that they would become buddhas in accordance with their practice, he said to Kāśyapa, “The other band of śrāvakas will also be like them. To those who are not in this assembly, do you proclaim my words.” The Buddha’s words “those who are not in this assembly” refer to the five thousand monks who had risen from their seats and left the assembly earlier. The fact that he purposely did not stop them at that time demonstrates his great power in tactful means.
Day 4
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 Buddha’s decision to teach Bodhisattvas, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 2, Expedients.All the Buddhas in the past, present, and future
Expounded, are expounding, and will expound
In the same manner the Dharma beyond comprehension.
I also will expound it in the same manner.The Buddhas seldom appear in the worlds.
It is difficult to meet them.
Even when they do appear in the worlds,
They seldom expound the Dharma.It is difficult to hear the Dharma
Even during innumerable kalpas.
It is also difficult to meet a person
Who listens to the Dharma attentively.
It is as difficult as seeing an udumbara-flower.
This flower, loved by all living beings,
And treasured by gods and men,
Blooms only once in a long time.Anyone who rejoices at hearing the Dharma
And utters even a single word in praise of it
Should be considered to have already made offerings
To the past, present, and future Buddhas.
Such a person is rarely seen,
More rarely than the udumbara-flower.[The Buddha said to the great multitude:]
All of you, do not doubt me!
I am the King of the Dharma.
I say to you:
“I will expound the teaching of the One Vehicle
Only to Bodhisattvas.
There is no Śrāvaka among my disciples.”Śāriputra, other Śrāvakas, and Bodhisattvas!
Know this!
This Wonderful Dharma is
The hidden core of the Buddhas.The living beings
In the evil world of the five defilements
Are attached to many desires.
They do not seek the enlightenment of the Buddha.Evil people in the future will doubt the One Vehicle
When they hear it from a Buddha.
They will not believe or receive it.
They will violate the Dharma, and fall into the evil regions.Extol the teaching of the One Vehicle
In the presence of those who are modest,
Who are pure in heart,
And who are seeking enlightenment of the Buddha!Śāriputra [and others], know this!
As a rule, the Buddhas expound the Dharma
With billions of expedients as stated above,
According to the capacities of all living beings.Those who do not study the Dharma
Cannot understand it.
You have already realized
The fact that the Buddhas, the World-Teachers, employ expedients,
According to the capacities of all living beings.
Know that, when you remove your doubts,
And when you have great joy,
You will become Buddhas![Here ends] the First Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
The Daily Dharma from May 15, 2020, offers this:
Anyone who rejoices at hearing the Dharma
And utters even a single word in praise of it
Should be considered to have already made offerings
To the past, present, and future Buddhas.
Such a person is rarely seen,
More rarely than the udumbara-flower.
The Buddha sings these verses to his disciple Śāriputra and all those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. It is natural to admire and respect those who make great sacrifices for the sake of improving the world, and who lead us to know what deserves those offerings. It is sometimes difficult to see the joy that comes from those efforts. In these verses the Buddha reminds us that even when our reaction to his Dharma is just a smile, or saying “Wonderful,” our admiration is a reminder of our own capacity for such great efforts.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 4
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 Buddha’s initial decision to use expedients, we consider the Buddha’s decision to teach Bodhisattvas.Śāriputra, know this!
Then I saw many sons of mine,
Thousands of billions in number,
Seeking the enlightenment of the Buddha.
They came to me respectfully.
They had already heard
Expedient teachings
From the past Buddhas.I thought:
“I appeared in this world
In order to expound my wisdom.
Now is the time to do this.”Śāriputra, know this!
Men of dull capacity and of little wisdom cannot believe the Dharma.
Those who are attached to the appearances of things are arrogant.
They cannot believe it, either.I am now joyful and fearless.
I have laid aside all expedient teachings.
I will expound only unsurpassed enlightenment
To Bodhisattvas.The Bodhisattvas who hear the Dharma
Will be able to remove the mesh of doubts.
The twelve hundred Arhats also
Will become Buddhas.
Teaching Only Bodhisattvas
Buddhism for Today, p47The true meaning of the Buddha’s words, “The buddhas teach only bodhisattvas,” should be interpreted as follows: As long as you think that the fact that you have been able to obtain enlightenment for yourself alone is enough, you cannot attain real enlightenment. If you feel that you yourself have attained enlightenment though many other people have not, such a feeling is positive proof that you are keeping yourself aloof from others. Such a feeling is not a blending with others; it is, rather, isolation from them. You cannot enter the state of “Nothing has an ego” because your egoistic feeling still remains. Therefore, your enlightenment is not real. One can obtain enlightenment for one’s own self, and by the same token, all others can do the same. One can be saved from one’s own suffering, and at the same time, all others can be saved from theirs. Your salvation together with that of others is your real salvation. At the very time that you understand this, you can be said to have attained real enlightenment and to have been set free from the bonds of illusion and suffering in the world.
Day 4
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 past and future Buddhas use expedients, we consider the Buddha’s initial decision to use expedients.
Śāriputra, know this!
Seeing with the eyes of the Buddha
The living beings of the six regions, I thought:
“They are poor, and devoid of merits and wisdom.
They incessantly suffer because they are taken
To the rough road of birth and death.
They cling to the five desires
Just as a yak loves its tail.
They are occupied with greed and cravings,
And blinded by them.
They do not seek the Buddha who has great power.
They do not seek the Way to eliminate sufferings.
They are deeply attached to wrong views.
They are trying to stop suffering by suffering.”My great compassion was aroused towards them.
I for the first time sat at the place of enlightenment[,]
[And attained enlightenment].
For three weeks afterwards,
I gazed on the tree,
Or walked about, thinking:
“The wisdom I obtained is
The most wonderful and excellent.
The living beings [of the six regions]
Are dull, attached to pleasures,
And blinded by stupidity.
How shall I save them?”On that occasion King Brahman,
Heavenly-King Śakra,
The four heavenly world-guardian kings,
Great-Freedom God, and other gods [of each world],
And thousands of millions of their attendants
Joined their hands together [towards me] respectfully,
Bowed to me,
And asked me to turn the wheel of the Dharma.I thought:
“If I extol only the Buddha-Vehicle,
The living beings [of the six regions] will not believe it
Because they are too much enmeshed in sufferings to think of it.
If they do not believe but violate the Dharma,
They will fall into the three evil regions.
I would rather enter into Nirvana quickly
Than expound the Dharma to them.”But, thinking of the past Buddhas who employed expedients,
I changed my mind and thought:
“I will expound the Dharma which I attained
By dividing it into the Three Vehicles.”The Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters
Appeared before me when I had thought this.
They consoled me with their brahma voices:
“Good, Śākyamuni, Highest Leading Teacher!
You attained the unsurpassed Dharma.
You have decided to expound it with expedients
After the examples of the past Buddha
We also expound the Three Vehicles
To the Living beings
Although we attained
The most wonderful and excellent Dharma.
Men of little wisdom wish to hear
The teachings of the Lesser Vehicle.
They do not believe that they will become Buddhas.
Therefore, we show them
Various fruits of enlightenment.
Although we expound the Three Vehicles,
Our purpose is to teach only Bodhisattvas.”Śāriputra, know this!
Hearing the deep, pure, and wonderful voices
Of the Lion-Like Saints,
I joyfully called out, “Namo Buddhaya!”
I thought:
“I appeared in the defiled world.
Just like the other Buddhas,
I will expound the Dharma
According to the capacities of all living beings.”
Having thought this, I went to Varanasi,
And expounded the Dharma to the five bhikṣus
With expedients
Because the state of tranquil extinction of all things
Is inexplicable by words.
That was my first turning
Of the wheel of the Dharma.
Thus the words: Nirvana, Arhat, Dharma,
and Sangha
Came into existence.I said to them:
“For the past innumerable kalpas
I have been extolling the teaching of Nirvana
In order to eliminate the sufferings of birth and death.”
See The Meaning of the Buddha’s Reluctance to Teach from Two Buddhas Seated Side by Side
Day 4
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 ways of attaining the Buddha path, we consider how all past and future Buddhas use expedients.
The World-Honored Ones in the future
Will be countless in number.
Those Tathāgatas also
Will expound the Dharma with expedients.The Tathāgatas save all living beings
With innumerable expedients.
They cause all living beings to enter the Way
To the wisdom-without-āsravas of the Buddha.
Anyone who hears the Dharma
Will not fail to become a Buddha.Every Buddha vows at the outset:
“I will cause all living beings
To attain the same enlightenment
That I attained.”The future Buddhas will expound many thousands
Of myriads of millions of teachings
For just one purpose,
That is, for the purpose of revealing the One Vehicle.The Buddhas, the Most Honorable Bipeds,
Expound the One Vehicle because they know:
“All things are devoid of substantiality.
The seed of Buddhahood comes from dependent origination.”The Leading Teachers expound the Dharma with expedients
After realizing at the place of enlightenment:
“This is the abode of the Dharma and the position of the Dharma.
The reality of the world is permanently as it is.”Gods and men are making offerings
To the present Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters.
The Buddhas as many as there are sands in the River Ganges
Who appeared in these worlds,
Are expounding the Dharma
For the purpose of giving peace to all living beings.They know the Highest Truth of Tranquil Extinction.
They have the power to employ expedients.
Although they expound various teachings,
Their purpose is to reveal the Buddha-Vehicle.Knowing the deeds of all living beings,
And their thoughts deep in their minds,
And the karmas they have done in their previous existence,
And their desires, natures, and powers to make efforts,
And also knowing whether each of them is keen or dull,
The Buddhas expound the Dharma according to their capacities,
With various stories of previous lives, parables, similes and discourses,
That is to say, with various expedients.I also do the same.
I show the enlightenment of the Buddha
With various teachings
In order to give peace to all living beings.I know the natures and desires of all living beings
By the power of my wisdom.
Therefore, I expound various teachings expediently,
And cause all living beings to rejoice.
Attaining the Path
Buddhism for Today, p50-51All living beings can enter the Buddha-way from any point: from worshiping the buddhas’ relics, from building stupas and memorials, from building temples and shrines to the buddhas in the wilderness, or even from heaping sand in play to form a buddha’s stupa. All living beings can enter the Buddha-way by doing anything good. As they increasingly strive after virtue and develop the great mind of benevolence, they finally become buddhas.
Day 4
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 learned of Śākyamuni’s old vow, we consider the ways of attaining the Buddha path.
The number of the Buddhas who passed away
During the past innumerable kalpas was
Hundreds of thousands of billions,
Uncountable.All those World-Honored Ones expounded
The truth of the reality of all things
With various stories of previous lives, parables and similes,
That is to say, with innumerable expedients.All those World-Honored Ones expounded
The teaching of the One Vehicle,
And led innumerable living beings [with expedients]
Into the Way to Buddhahood.All those Great Saintly Masters
Who knew the deep desires
Of the gods, men, and other living beings
Of all the worlds,
Revealed the Highest Truth
With various expedients.Those who met a past Buddha,
Who heard the Dharma from him,
And who obtained various merits and virtues
By almsgiving or by observing the precepts
Or by patience or by making endeavors
Or by dhyāna or by wisdom,
Have already attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha.Those who, after the extinction of a Buddha,
Were good and gentle,
Have already attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha.Those who, after the extinction of a Buddha,
Erected billions of stupas,
And who purely and extensively adorned [those stupas]
With treasures
Such as gold, silver, crystal,
Shell, agate, ruby, and lapis lazuli,
And who offered those adornments to his śarīras;
Or those who made the mausoleum [of the Buddha]
With stone, bricks, or clay,
Or with many kinds of wood,
Such as candana, aloes, or agalloch;
Or those who made the mausoleum of the Buddha
With heaps of earth
In the wilderness;
Or the boys who made the stupa of the Buddha
With heaps of sand by playing,
Have already attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha.Those who carved an image of the Buddha
With the [proper] physical marks in his honor
Have already attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha.Those who made an image of the Buddha
With the seven treasures;
Or those who made it
Of copper, copper-gold alloy, nickel,
Pewter lead, tin, iron, wood, or clay;
Or those who made it in plaster work,
Have already attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha.Those who drew or caused others to draw in color
A picture of the Buddha adorned with his physical marks,
Each mark representing one hundred merits,
Have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha.The boys who by playing drew
A picture of the Buddha
With a piece of grass or wood,
Or with a brush,
Or with the back of their fingernails,
Became able to accumulate merits one by one.
Having great compassion towards others,
They attained the enlightenment of the Buddha,
Taught only Bodhisattvas,
And saved many living beings.Those who respectfully offered
Flowers, incense, streamers, and canopies
Enshrined in a stupa-mausoleum;
Or those who caused men to make music
By beating drums, by blowing horns and conches,
And by playing reed-pipes, flutes, lyres, harps,
Lutes, gongs, and copper cymbals,
And offered the wonderful sounds produced thereby
To the image or picture of the Buddha;
Or those who sang joyfully in praise of him for his virtues;
Or those who just murmured [in praise of him],
Have already attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha.Those who, without concentrating their minds,
Offered nothing but a flower to the picture of the Buddha,
Became able to see
Innumerable Buddhas one after another.Those who bowed to the image of the Buddha,
Or just joined their hands together towards it,
Or raised only one hand towards it,
Or bent their head a little towards it
And offered the bending to it,
Became able to see innumerable Buddhas one after another.
They attained unsurpassed enlightenment,
Saved countless living beings,
And entered into the Nirvana-without-remainder
Just as fire dies out when wood is gone.Those who entered a stupa-mausoleum
And said only once “Namo Buddhaya,”
Without even concentrating their minds,
Have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha.Those who heard the Dharma
In the lifetime of a past Buddha
Or after his extinction
Have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha.