Tag Archives: LS17

LS32

Day 17

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Day 17 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month greeted the daughter of the dragon king, we hear Śāriputra’s objection to the daughter of the dragon-king becoming a Buddha.

Thereupon Śāriputra said to the daughter of the dragon-king:

“You think that you will be able to attain unsurpassed enlightenment [and become a Buddha] before long. This is difficult to believe because the body of a woman is too defiled to be a recipient of the teachings of the Buddha. How can you attain unsurpassed Bodhi? The enlightenment of the Buddha is far off. It can be attained only by those who perform the [Bodhisattva] practices with strenuous efforts for innumerable kalpas. A woman has five impossibilities. She cannot become 1. the Brahman-Heavenly-King, 2. King Śakra, 3. King Mara, 4. a wheel-turning-holy-king, and 5. a Buddha. How can it be that you, being a woman, will become a Buddha, quickly [or not]?”

Ryusho Jeffus Shonin in his Lecture on the Lotus Sutra has this to say about prejudice:

In the example of the dragon girl, it is worthy of considering how prejudices can enter our way of thinking and influence us in negative ways. Because a woman bleeds, which is the result of giving birth, she was considered impure, and yet giving birth, bringing new life into the world is one of the purest things. I once heard someone say that women bleed giving birth and men bleed killing. Perhaps we should give this some thought. Nichiren wrote a response to a woman believer saying that because a woman bleeds she is considered impure by society, but in the eyes of the Buddha that distinction does not apply.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

LS32

Day 17

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Day 17 Full Text

Having last time considered Mañjuśrī’s answer and Accumulated-Wisdom’s response, we greet the daughter of the dragon king.

No sooner had he said this than the daughter of the dragon king came to [Śākyamuni] Buddha. She worshipped [his feet] with her head, retired, stood to one side, and praised him with gāthās:

You know the sins and merits
Of all living beings.
You illumine the worlds of the ten quarters.
Your wonderful, pure and sacred body
Is adorned with the thirty-two major marks
And with the eighty minor marks.

Gods and men are looking up at you.
Dragons also respect you.
None of the living beings
Sees you without adoration.

Only you know that I [am qualified to] attain Bodhi
Because I heard [the Dharma].
I will expound the teachings of the Great Vehicle
And save all living beings from suffering.

Despite perceived shortcomings and overt prejudice, the 8-year-old girl’s faith is resolute: “Only you know that I [am qualified to] attain Bodhi Because I heard [the Dharma].”

LS32

Day 17

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Having last month considered Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva’s question of whether anyone taught by Mañjuśrī is qualified to become a Buddha quickly, we hear Mañjuśrī’s answer and Accumulated-Wisdom’s response.

Mañjuśrī answered:

“Yes. There is a daughter of Dragon-King Sagara [among those whom I taught]. She is eight years old. She is clever. She knows the karmas of all living beings. She obtained dhārāṇis. She keeps all the treasury of the profound and hidden core expounded by the Buddhas. She entered deep into dhyāna-concentration, and understood all teachings. She aspired for Bodhi in a ksana, and reached the stage of irrevocability. She is eloquent without hindrance. She is compassionate towards all living beings just as a mother is towards her babe. She obtained all merits. Her thoughts and words are wonderful and great. She is compassionate, humble, gentle and graceful. She [has already been qualified to] attain Bodhi[, and to become a Buddha quickly].”

Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva said:

“As far as I know, [when he was a Bodhisattva,] Śākyamuni Buddha sought Bodhi, that is, enlightenment incessantly for innumerable kalpas. He accumulated merits by practicing austerities. Even the smallest part, even the part as large as a poppy-seed of this world-this world being composed of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds-is not outside the places where the Bodhisattva made efforts to save all living beings at the cost of his life. It was after doing all this that he attained Bodhi, that is, enlightenment. I do not believe that this girl will be able to attain perfect enlightenment[, that is, to become a Buddha] in a moment.”

See The Lesson of the Dragon King’s Daughter

d17b, LS Introduction

The Lesson of the Dragon King’s Daughter

The story of how the Dragon-King’s daughter attained enlightenment [in Chapter 12, Devadatta,] has long been taken as an example of women attaining enlightenment by instantly understanding the Dharma. In India, it was thought that women were spiritually inferior to men, and could not enter any of the five superior existences–Buddhahood being one of them. However, Sakyamuni taught that all living beings–male or female, young or old, human or nonhuman–are potential Buddhas. This story graphically illustrates his point, and it helped future generations overcome their prejudice against women.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

LS32

Day 17

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Having last month considered Mañjuśrī and his efforts in the palace of Dragon-King Sagara, we hear Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva ask whether anyone taught by Mañjuśrī is qualified to become a Buddha quickly.

Thereupon Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva praised him with gāthās:

Possessor of Great Wisdom and Virtue!
You were brave in saving innumerable living beings.
This great congregation and I understand
That you expounded
The truth of the reality of all things,
Revealed the teaching of the One Vehicle,
And led those innumerable living beings
[Into the Way] to Bodhi quickly.

Mañjuśrī said, “In the sea I expounded only the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.”

Accumulated-Wisdom asked Mañjuśrī:

“The sūtra is exceedingly profound and wonderful. This is the treasure of all the sūtras. It is rare in the world. Do you know anyone who acted according to this sūtra so strenuously that he has already been qualified to become a Buddha quickly?”

Pausing before we get to the meat of this tale – the prejudice against women and the universality of Buddha nature – I want to underscore that Mañjuśrī expounded only the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. That’s very rare. Consider Chapter 3’s revelation that Śāriputra will eventually become a Buddha called Flower-Light in a world “even, pure, adorned, peaceful, and fertile, where gods and men will prosper.” What will that Buddha teach? “Flower-Light Tathāgata will also lead the living beings [of his world] by the teaching of the Three Vehicles.” This remains a puzzle to me.

LS32

Day 17

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Having last month learned Devadatta’s future and the future of those who receive this chapter, we consider Mañjuśrī and his efforts in the palace of Dragon-King Sagara.

At that time Many-Treasures, the World-Honored One, who had come from the nadir,’ was accompanied by a Bodhisattva called Accumulated-Wisdom. The Bodhisattva said to Many-Treasures Buddha, “Shall we go back to our home world?”

Śākyamuni Buddha said to Accumulated-Wisdom:

“Good man, wait for a while! A Bodhisattva called Mañjuśrī is coming. See him, talk about the Wonderful Dharma with him, and then go back to your home world!”

Thereupon Mañjuśrī came sitting on a one-thousand-petaled lotus-flower as large as the wheel of a chariot. He was accompanied by other Bodhisattvas who were also sitting on jeweled lotus-flowers. Mañjuśrī had sprung up from the palace of Dragon-King Sagara in the great ocean, gone up to the sky[, and traveled through the sky towards Mt. Sacred Eagle]. Having reached Mt. Sacred Eagle, he descended from the lotus flower, came to the two World-Honored Ones,” and worshipped their feet with his head. Having completed the worship, he came to Accumulated-Wisdom, exchanged greetings with him, retired and sat to one side.

Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva asked Mañjuśrī, “You went to the palace of the dragon-king. How many living beings did you lead into the Way to Bodhi there?”

Mañjuśrī answered, “Their number is immeasurable, incalculable, inexplicable, unthinkable. Wait for a while! You will be able to see them.”

No sooner had he said this than innumerable Bodhisattvas, who were sitting on jeweled lotus-flowers, sprang up from the sea, came to Mt. Sacred Eagle, went up to the sky, and stayed there. All these Bodhisattvas had been led [into the Way to Bodhi] by Mañjuśrī. They had already performed the Bodhisattva practices. [Up in the sky] they [began to] expound the six pāramitās. Some of them were formerly Śrāvakas. When they were Śrāvakas, they expounded the Śrāvaka practices in the sky. Now they were acting according to the truth of the Void of the Great Vehicle.

Mañjuśrī said to Accumulated-Wisdom, “Now you see the living beings whom I taught in the sea.”

See The Dragon Girl’s Example

LS32, d17b, LS Introduction

The Dragon Girl’s Example

The Buddha is a perfected being with a human personality. He is the ideal toward which all human beings strive. It had long been believed that to become such a perfect being takes an endlessly long period of training and practice. But [in Chapter 12, Devadatta,] the daughter of the Dragon-King attained enlightenment quickly. Her case is called, “The Attainment of Buddhahood in This Very Life.” It maintains that ordinary people have the possibility to attain enlightenment in their own bodies (during their present lifetimes), and teaches that the Buddha’s power works within the bodies of ordinary people. The idea of “the attainment of Buddhahood in this life” greatly influenced Japanese society after the Great Master Dengyo introduced it from China in 805. Dengyo, a Japanese scholar, had already read about it in the Lotus Sutra, but he found that the Chinese had worked it out in detail. Also, Nichiren explained this idea in Kanjin-honzon-sho (“A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation of the Most-Venerable-One”). In it he says, “Sakyamuni Buddha, who has attained Perfect Enlightenment, is our flesh and blood, and all the merits he has accumulated before and after attaining Buddhahood are our bones.”

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

LS32, WONS

Day 17

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Having last month learned who the seer who taught the king was, we hear the prediction for Devadatta’s future and the future of those who receive this chapter.

He said to the four kinds of devotees:

“Devadatta will become a Buddha after innumerable kalpas.’ He will be called Heavenly-King, the Tathāgata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. The world of that Buddha will be called Heavenly-Way. That Buddha will live for twenty intermediate ka]pas. He will expound the Wonderful Dharma to all living beings. [Hearing the Dharma from him,] as many living beings as there are sands in the River Ganges will obtain Arhatship; another group of innumerable living beings will aspire for the enlightenment of cause-knowers; and another group of living beings as many as there are sands in the River Ganges will aspire for unsurpassed enlightenment, obtain the truth of birthlessness, and reach the stage of irrevocability. After the Parinirvana of Heavenly-King Buddha, his right teachings will be preserved in that world for twenty intermediate kalpas. During that time a stupa of the seven treasures sixty yojanas tall and forty yojanas wide and deep will be erected to enshrine the śarīras of his perfect body. Gods and men will bow to the wonderful stupa of the seven treasures and offer various flowers, incense powder, incense to burn, incense applicable to the skin, garments, necklaces, banners, streamers, jeweled canopies, music and songs of praise [to the stupa]. [By doing all this,] innumerable living beings will attain Arhatship; another group of innumerable living beings will attain Pratyekabuddhahood; and another group of inconceivably numerous living beings will aspire for Bodhi and reach the stage of irrevocability.”

He said to the bhikṣus:

“Good men or women in the future who hear this chapter of Devadatta of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma with faithful respect caused by their pure minds, and have no doubts [about this chapter], will not fall into hell or the region of hungry spirits or the region of animals. They will be reborn before the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters. They will always hear this sūtra at the places of their rebirth. Even when they are reborn among men or gods, they will be given wonderful pleasures. When they are reborn before the Buddhas, they will appear in lotus-flowers.”

Nichiren offers this explanation of why Devadatta’s sins did not preclude his becoming a Buddha in the Lotus Sūtra:

[R]egarding the three rebellious sins committed by Devadatta, although he caused the Buddha to bleed, this Buddha was the Buddha before the Lotus Sūtra was preached and not the Original and True Buddha who attained Enlightenment in the eternal past. He also killed an arhat, but this arhat was the one before the Lotus Sūtra was preached, not the practicer of this sūtra. He disrupted the harmony in a Buddhist order, but it was not the order based on the great sudden and perfect Lotus precepts, but on the Hinayana precepts before the Lotus Sūtra was preached. As a result, although the earth split open and Devadatta fell into the Hell of Incessant Suffering, because he had not actually committed the three rebellious sins against the Lotus Sūtra, he could therefore still become the Heavenly King Buddha in the Lotus Sūtra.

Ha Ryōkan-tō Gosho, A Letter Refuting Ryōkan-bō and Others, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Pages 55-56

LS32, WONS

Day 17

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Having last month heard in gāthās of the king who sought the Great Vehicle, we learn who the seer was.

I sought the Great Dharma strenuously
Because I wished to save all living beings.
I did not wish to benefit myself
Or to have the pleasures of the five desires.

Although I was the king of a great country,
I sought the Dharma strenuously.
I finally obtained the Dharma and became a Buddha.
Therefore, I now expound it to you.

The Buddha said to the bhikṣus:

“The king at that time was a previous life of myself. The seer at that time was a previous life of Devadatta. Devadatta was my teacher. He caused me to complete the six pāramitās. He caused me to have loving-kindness, compassion, joy and impartiality. He caused me to have the thirty-two major marks and the eighty minor marks [of the Buddha]. He caused me to have my body purely gilt. He caused me to have the ten powers and the four kinds of fearlessness. He caused me to know the four ways to attract others. He caused me to have the eighteen properties and supernatural powers [of the Buddha]. He caused me to have the power of giving discourses. I attained perfect enlightenment and now save all living beings because Devadatta was my teacher.”

Here is Nichiren’s take on the king and seer from Minobu-san Gosho, Mt. Minobu Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Pages 126-127

In another past lifetime of the Buddha he was the ruler of a great country because of the accumulation of virtue in the past. But he was neglectful in ruling the country. His 100 ministers and all the people revered him as a consequence of the pleasurable results of his former observance of the ten virtuous acts. But this would prove to be like the flame of a lamp flickering in the wind, or a dream on a spring night, or the brief blooming of morning glories on a bamboo fence. Though he had followed the virtuous precepts in his past lives, now that he had been born as the ruler of a great country he was enticed by the murderous demon of impermanence and spent his life in vain, neglecting to practice the good. [If he continued in this way] he would sink into the bottomless flames of the Hell of Incessant Suffering where there is no distinction between warriors and peasants. The flames of the three torments would scorch him, his five limbs would be bound in iron cords, and the gag of the three torments would be inserted into his mouth. The monstrous jailers of hell armed with tridents and screaming callously, would punish him by stabbing him all over his body. The sounds of his cries would reach up to the heavens, and in his grief he would fall to the ground. His 100 ministers and all his people would be unable to come to his aid, nor could his family and loved ones come to save him. [He thought of his beloved wife] with whom he slept and awoke on the same bed within the brocade curtains. Together they were like two birds with one wing each who must fly together in the heavens, or like two trees with branches intertwined on the earth. The days and months they had spent together had amassed into years, but not even she and their children could come to visit him. Reflecting on these things he opened his storehouses and donated gold and silver and all the seven treasures in order to support the saṃgha. He donated elephants and horses, and even his wife and children to them. Later he blew a conch seeking for the great Dharma. He beat a drum seeking for the great Dharma. He sought the Dharma in all directions. At that time there was a seer named Asita. This seer came to the king saying, “I can teach you the True Dharma if you are able to serve me well.” The king rejoiced and entered the mountains, where he collected fruit, gathered firewood, picked vegetables, and drew water for a thousand years. All the while he constantly recited, “Jōzon Myōhōko, Shinjin Mukeken,” which means, “Because I am seeking the Wonderful Dharma I do not feel tired in body and mind.” Through this practice he was able to obtain the Dharma of the five Chinese characters: myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō. This king would become Śākyamuni Buddha in a future life. In our country there is a Japanese poem that tells how he received the Dharma by serving his master. When a sutra is copied and presented this verse is sung: “I obtained the Lotus Sūtra by gathering firewood, picking vegetables, and drawing water.” Hearing this I am overcome with emotion.

LS32

Day 17

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Having last month met the seer who promised to teach Śākyamuni the Great Vehicle, we repeat in gāthās.

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

I remember that I became a king in a kalpa of the past.
Although I was a king,
I did not indulge in the pleasures of the five desires
Because l was seeking the Great Dharma.

I tolled a bell, and said loudly in all directions;
“Who knows the Great Dharma?
If anyone expounds the Dharma to me,
I will become his servant.”

There was a seer called Asita.
He came to [me, who was] the great king, and said:
“I know the Wonderful Dharma.
It is rare in the world.
If you serve me well,
I will expound the Dharma to you.”

Hearing this, I had great joy.
I became his servant at once.
I offered him
Anything he wanted.

I collected firewood and the fruits of trees and grasses,
And offered these things to him respectfully from time to time.
I never felt tired in body and mind
Because I was thinking of the Wonderful Dharma.

See Kneeling Before the Buddha