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.

Last month I started making my way through the Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma. Now I move from eyes to the ears.

Furthermore, Constant-Endeavor! The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this sutra, will be able to obtain twelve hundred merits of the ear. With their pure ears, they will be able to recognize all the various sounds and voices inside and outside the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, [each of which is composed of the six regions] down to the Avici Hell and up to the Highest Heaven. They will be able to recognize the voices of elephants, horses and cows; the sounds of carts; cryings and sighings; the sounds of conch-shell horns, drums, gongs and bells; laughter and speech; the voices of men, women, boys and girls; meaningful voices, meaningless voices; painful voices, delightful voices; the voices of the unenlightened ones, the voices of the enlightened ones; joyful voices, joyless voices; the voices of gods, dragons, yaksas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kimnaras and mahoragas; the sounds of fire, water and wind; the voices of hellish denizens, animals and hungry spirits; and the voices of bhiksus, bhisunis, Sravakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas and Buddhas. In a word, with their pure and natural ears given by their parents, they will be able to recognize all the sounds and voices inside and outside the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, although they have not yet obtained heavenly ears. Even when they recognize all these various sounds and voices, their organ of hearing will not be destroyed.

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

Their ears given by their parents will be purified, not defiled.
With their natural ears,
They will be able to recognize the sounds of voices
Of the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds.

They will be able to recognize
The voices of elephants, horses and cows;
Th ounds of carts, gongs, bells, conch-shell horns,
And of drums, lyres, harps, reed-pipes and flutes.
Although they recognize pure and sweet songs,
They will not be attached to them.
They also will be able to recognize
The countless kinds of voices of men.

They will be able to recognize
The voices of gods,
The wonderful songs [of gods],
And the voices of men, women, boys and girls.
They will be able to recognize
The songs of kalavitikas, of jivakajivakas,
And of the other birds in mountains,
And on rivers and ravines.

The expounder of the Dharma
Will be able to recognize from afar,
While he is staying in the world [of men],
The cryings and shriekings
Of the denizens in hell,
The shoutings of hungry and thirsty spirits
Who are seeking food and drink,
And the voices of asuras
Bellowing to each other
[As they pound] on the seacoasts.
Even when he recognizes all this by hearing,
His organ of hearing will not be destroyed.

The expounder of the Dharma will be able to recognize,
While he is staying [in this world],
The voices of birds and animals calling each other
In the worlds of the ten quarters.

The teacher of the Dharma will be able to recognize,
While he is staying [in the world of men],
The voices of the gods of the heavens
Above the Heaven of Brahman,
[That is,] of the Light-Sound Heaven,
Of the Universal-Pure Heaven, and of the Highest Heaven.

The teacher of the Dharma
Will be able to recognize,
Without moving about,
The voices of the bhiksus and bhiksunis
Who read or recite sutras
Or expound them to others.

He will be able to recognize
The voices of the Bodhisattvas
Who read or recite sutras
Or expound the meanings
Of quotations from them
To others.

Anyone who keeps this Sutra
Of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Will be able to recognize the voices of the Buddhas,
That is, the voices of the Great Honorable Saints
Who teach all living beings,
And who expound the Wonderful Dharma in great congregations.

He will be able to recognize
All the sounds and voices
Inside and outside the one thousand million Surneru-worlds,
[Each being composed of the six regions]
Down to the Avici Hell and up to the Highest Heaven.
And yet his organ of hearing will not be destroyed.
He will be able to recognize everything by hearing
Because his ears are sharp.

Anyone who keeps
This Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Will be able to obtain these merits with his natural ears Although he has not yet obtained heavenly ears.

The Daily Dharma of Aug. 12, 2015, offers this explanation:

The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. As we shed our delusions and see the world more for what it is, we begin to see and understand things not visible or comprehensible to those still mired in their suffering and attachment. Knowing the suffering we have left behind, we may be lured into abandoning this world and those in it. In this chapter, the Buddha shows that all of the sense organs we have in this life, sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and thought, all of these can be used either to increase our delusion or bring us towards awakening. The Buddha reached enlightenment in this world, and so do we.

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

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.

Last month, I introduced the Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma. Now for the first of those merits:

They will be able to adorn and purify their six sense-organs with these merits. With their pure eyes given by their parents, these good men or women will be able to see all the mountains, forests, rivers and oceans inside and outside the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, [each of which is composed of six regions] down to the Avici Hell and up to the Highest Heaven. They also will be able to see the living beings of those worlds, to know the karmas which those living beings are now doing and the region to which each of those living beings is destined to go by his karmas.

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

Listen! I will tell you of the merits
Of those who fearlessly expound
To the great multitude
This Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
They will be able to obtain the excellent eyes
Adorned with eight hundred merits.
Their eyes will be pure
Because of this adornment.

With their eyes given by their parents,
They will be able to see Mt. Meru, Mt. Sumeru,
The Surrounding Iron Mountains,
And the other mountains,
And the forests, oceans and rivers
Inside and outside the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds.
They will be able to see the living beings
Of those worlds [each being composed of the six regions]
Down to the Avici Hell and up to th Highest Heaven.
Although they have not yet obtained heavenly eyes,
They will be able to see all this
With their natural eyes.

As I begin walking through these merits, it is important to underscore that these senses are not yet heavenly. In this case, these feats are accomplished “with their eyes given by their parents.”

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.

Having dealt with the example of the propagation of the Lotus Sutra contained in the story of the 50th “good man or woman who rejoices at hearing this sutra” here and here, it’s time to move to the Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.

Thereupon the Buddha said to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva­-Mahasattva:

The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the eye, twelve hundred merits of the ear, eight hundred merits of the nose, twelve hundred merits of the tongue, eight hundred merit of the body, and twelve hundred merits of the mind.

The Daily Dharma of June 4, 2016, offers this:

The Buddha gives this teaching in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra. This is another reminder that the practice of the Wonderful Dharma does not take us out of the world of conflict we live in. Instead, it helps us to use the senses we have, in ways we did not think were possible, to see the world for what it is. Merits in this sense are not status symbols. They are an indication of clarity, of our faculties not being impeded by anything that blocks their capacity.

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

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.

Last month dealt with the example of the propagation of the Lotus Sutra contained in the story of the 50th “good man or woman who rejoices at hearing this sutra.”

In the Liturgy of Nichiren Shu booklet published by the Nichiren Buddhist International Center in Hayward, Calif., is an excerpt from the Gassui Gosho (Letter on Menstruation):

You may chant the whole twenty eight chapters, one chapter, one paragraph, one sentence or even one character, of the Lotus Sutra a day. Or, you may chant the daimoku, “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,” just once in a day or once in your whole life. Even if you may never chant the daimoku yourself, you may rejoice at hearing others chant it just once in your whole life. Or you may rejoice with others who rejoice at hearing a voice chanting the daimoku. The joy of the daimoku chanting transmitted 50 times this way from person to person, will grow weaker steadily until in tho last fiftieth person it will be as uncertain as the mind of a two or three year old baby or as unpredictable as a horse or a cow, which cannot tell the difference between head and tail. Nevertheless, the merit of such people is one hundred thousand billion times greater than that of those whose wisdom is as great as Sariputra, Maudgalyayana, Manjusri and Maitreya. …

So it is with good man or woman who rejoices at hearing this daimoku.

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.

I would like to think I have new insights each day I recite a portion of the Lotus Sutra, but sometimes I’m simply reminded of how much I enjoy a particular passage. In this case, on the 10th time through Day 23, I’m again struck by the example of the propagation of the Lotus Sutra contained in the story of the 50th “good man or woman who rejoices at hearing this sutra.”

Ajita! Suppose a bhiksu, a bhiksuni, an upasaka, an upasika, or some other wise person, whether young or old, rejoices at hearing this sutra in a congregation after my extinction. After leaving the congregation, he or she goes to some other place, for instance, to a monastery, a retired place, a city, a street, a town, or a village. There he or she expounds this sutra, as he or she has heard it, to his or her father, mother, relative, friend or acquaintance as far as he or she can. Another person who has heard [this sutra from him or her], rejoices, goes [to some other place] and expounds it to a third person. The third person also rejoices at hearing it and expounds it to a fourth person. In this way this sutra is heard by a fiftieth person. Ajita! Now I will tell you the merits of the fiftieth good man or woman who rejoices at hearing [this sutra]. Listen attentively!

Underscore he or she expounds this sutra, as he or she has heard it, to his or her father, mother, relative, friend or acquaintance as far as he or she can.

And today I repeat what I wrote last April: Feeble and weak as my understanding may be, I rejoice in hearing and in turn pass it on.

Ajita, look! The merits of the person who causes even a single man to go and hear the Dharma are so many. It is needless to speak of the merits of the person who hears [this sutra] with all his heart, reads it, recites it, expounds it to the great multitude, and acts according to its teachings.

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.

Last month, I focused on, as Maitreya asks, “How many merits will be given to a good man or woman who rejoices at hearing this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma?”

This month I’m going to skip the lesson of the 50th person who rejoices and jump to the opening of the next chapter, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.

Thereupon the Buddha said to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva­Mahasattva:

“The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the eye, twelve hundred merits of the ear, eight hundred merits of the nose, twelve hundred merits of the tongue, eight hundred merits of the body, and twelve hundred merits of the mind. They will be able to adorn and purify their six sense-organs with these merits.

The Daily Dharma for June 4, 2016, offered this on these verses:

The Buddha gives this teaching in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra. This is another reminder that the practice of the Wonderful Dharma does not take us out of the world of conflict we live in. Instead, it helps us to use the senses we have, in ways we did not think were possible, to see the world for what it is. Merits in this sense are not status symbols. They are an indication of clarity, of our faculties not being impeded by anything that blocks their capacity.

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.

Last month, I focused on the illustration of how the Lotus Sutra might be spread using the example of the 50th person to hear of the sutra. But, as Maitreya asks, “How many merits will be given to a good man or woman who rejoices at hearing this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma?”

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 asamkhya 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 faces, 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-apanna, of the Sakrdagamin, of the Anagamin or of the Arhat, eliminate all asravas, practice deep dhyana-concentration without hindrance, and obtain the eight emancipations. What do you think of this? Do you think that the merits obtained by this great almsgiver 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 asamkhya worlds, and caused them to attain Arhatship are less than the merit of the fiftieth person who rejoices at hearing even a gatha of this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

And in gathas:

Suppose there was a great almsgiver.
He continued giving alms
To innumerable living beings
For eighty years according to their wishes.

Those living beings became old and decrepit.
Their hair became grey; their faces, wrinkled;
And their teeth, fewer and deformed.
Seeing this, he thought:
“I will teach them because they will die before long.
I will cause them to obtain the fruit of enlightenment.”

Then he expounded the truth of Nirvana to them
As an expedient, saying:
“This world is as unstable
As a spray of water,
Or as a foam, or as a filament of air.
Hate it, and leave it quickly!”

Hearing this teaching, they attained Arhatship,
And obtained the six supernatural powers,
Including the three major supernatural powers,
And the eight emancipations.

The superiority of the merits of the fiftieth person
Who rejoices at hearing even a gatha [of this sutra]
To the merits of this [great almsgiver]
Cannot be explained by any parable or simile.

The merits of the [fiftieth] person
[Who hears this sutra] are immeasurable.
Needless to say, so are the merits of the first person
Who rejoices at hearing it in the congregation.

I rejoice at hearing the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

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.

Yesterday we read about the merits that accrue from “understanding by faith,” and today we learn of the merits of simply rejoicing at hearing even a gathas of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Asked by Maitreya Bodhisattva-mahasattva to quantify the merits to be given to the good man or woman who rejoices at hearing the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha offers this illustration of how the Lotus Sutra might be spread:

Ajita! Suppose a bhiksu, a bhiksuni, an upasaka, an upasika, or some other wise person, whether young or old, rejoices at hearing this sutra in a congregation after my extinction. After leaving the congregation, he or she goes to some other place, for instance, to a monastery, a retired place, a city, a street, a town, or a village. There he or she expounds this sutra, as he or she has heard it, to his or her father, mother, relative, friend or acquaintance as far as he or she can. Another person who has heard [this sutra from him or her], rejoices, goes [to some other place] and expounds it to a third person. The third person also rejoices at hearing it and expounds it to a fourth person. In this way this sutra is heard by a fiftieth person. Ajita! Now I will tell you the merits of the fiftieth good man or woman who rejoices at hearing [this sutra]. Listen attentively!

I have great affinity for this description: He or she expounds this sutra, as he or she has heard it, to his or her father, mother, relative, friend or acquaintance as far as he or she can.

Feeble and weak as my understanding may be, I rejoice in hearing and in turn pass it on.

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.

One of my favorite concepts in the Lotus Sutra is the example of the 50th person to hear and rejoice.

The Buddha said to Maitreya Bodhisattva-mahasattva: ‘Ajita! Suppose a bhiksu, a bhiksuni, an upasaka, an upasika, or some other wise person, whether young or old, rejoices at hearing this sutra in a congregation after my extinction. After leaving the congregation, he or she goes to some other place, for instance, to a monastery, a retired place, a city, a street, a town, or a village. There he or she expounds this sutra, as he or she has heard it, to his or her father, mother, relative, friend or acquaintance as far as he or she can. Another person who has heard [this sutra from him or her], rejoices, goes [to some other place] and expounds it to a third person. The third person also rejoices at hearing it and expounds it to a fourth person. In this way this sutra is heard by a fiftieth person. Ajita! Now I will tell you the merits of the fiftieth good man or woman who rejoices at hearing [this sutra].

And those merits are huge.

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

And this promise makes me want to stand outside the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church waiving a sign when services are scheduled:

Anyone who[, while he is staying outside the place of the expounding of the Dharma,] says to another person, ‘Let us go and hear the sutra called the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma which is being expounded [in that place],’ and causes him to hear it even for a moment, in his next life by his merits, will be able to live with the Bodhisattvas who obtain dharanis.

Of course, that’s a minimum-wage merit compared to the earnings of those who devote their lives to the Lotus Sutra:

“Ajita, look! The merits of the person who causes even a single man to go and hear the Dharma are so many. It is needless to speak of the merits of the person who hears [this sutra] with all his heart, reads it, recites it, expounds it to the great multitude, and acts according to its teachings.

And in gathas:

Anyone who persuades others to sit and hear this sutra
In the place where the Dharma is expounded,
Will be able to obtain the seat of Sakra or of Brahman
Or of a wheel-turning-holy-king by his merits.

Needless to say, boundless will be the merits
Of the per on who hears this sutra with all his heart,
And expounds its meanings,
And acts according to its teachings.

In the next chapter we get a wonderful, as in full of wonder, list of merits to be given to the teacher of the Dharma.

The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the eye, twelve hundred merits of the ear, eight hundred merits of the nose, twelve hundred merits of the tongue, eight hundred merits of the body, and twelve hundred merits of the mind. They will be able to adorn and purify their six sense-organs with these merits.

And this will be done with their natural sense organs.

Although they have not yet obtained heavenly eyes,
They will be able to see all this
With their natural eyes.

And…

Their ears given by their parents will be purified, not defiled.
With their natural ears,
They will be able to recognize the sounds of voices
Of the one thousand million sumeru-worlds.

One final point: Today’s two chapters listing the merits speak consistently about “good men or women.” The merits to be earned from the Lotus Sutra are not limited to men or to women reborn as men. Even without the Devadatta chapter, the Lotus Sutra benefits men and women equally. In fact, I would argue that the lesson of the Dragon King’s daughter is only peripherally about the enlightenment of women, which is covered in the promises made to Sakyamuni’s step-mother and former wife in Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra. The 8-year-old dragon girl is both very young and a member of the non-human world. Her quick transformation and enlightenment underlines the universal power of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, complementing the evil Devadatta, who was Sakyamuni’s teacher at one point and tormentor at another and eventually becomes a Buddha himself.

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.

Today’s quote from Lecture on the Lotus Sutra says in part:

As we begin to wander into the Lotus Sutra, I think the most important thing is to understand those things that in this moment enhance your practice, encourage you, and deepen your relationship with the Lotus Sutra. In all things I believe that joy should be at the root.

Joy equals merit:

Thereupon the Buddha said to Maitreya Bodhisattva-mahasattva:

Ajita! Suppose a bhiksus, a bhiksuni, an upasaka, an upasika, or some other wise person, whether young or old, rejoices at hearing this sutra in a congregation after my extinction. After leaving the congregation, he or she goes to some other place, for instance, to a monastery, a retired place, a city, a street, a town, or a village. There he or she expounds this sutra, as he or she has heard it, to his or her father, mother, relative, friend or acquaintance as far as he or she can. Another person who has heard [this sutra from him or her], rejoices, goes [to some other place] and expounds it to a third person. The third person also rejoices at hearing it and expounds it to a fourth person. In this way this sutra is heard by a fiftieth person. Ajita! Now I will tell you the merits of the fiftieth good man or woman who rejoices at hearing [this sutra]. Listen attentively!

How much merit:

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

And in gathas:

The superiority of the merits of the fiftieth person
Who rejoices at hearing even a gatha [of this sutra]
To the merits of this [great almsgiver]
Cannot be explained by any parable or simile.

The merits of the [fiftieth] person
[Who hears this sutra] are immeasurable.
Needless to say, so are the merits of the first person
Who rejoices at hearing it in the congregation.

And with this quote, picture a guy with one of those signs alerting passersby to a nearby sale:

Ajita! Anyone who[, while he is staying outside the place of the expounding of the Dharma,] says to another person, ‘Let us go and hear the sutra called the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma which is being expounded [in that place],’ and causes him to hear it even for a moment, in his next life by his merits, will be able to live with the Bodhisattvas who obtain dharanis.

Then we get to the merits of the teacher of the Dharma:

The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the eye, twelve hundred merits of the ear, eight hundred merits of the nose, twelve hundred merits of the tongue, eight hundred merits of the body, and twelve hundred merits of the mind. They will be able to adorn and purify their six sense-organs with these merits.

In both the merits of the eyes and ears, we learn:

Although they have not yet obtained heavenly eyes,
They will be able to see all this
With their natural eyes.

And …

Anyone who keeps
This Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Will be able to obtain these merits with his natural ears
Although he has not yet obtained heavenly ears.