Tag Archives: LS26

LS32

Day 26

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Day 26 Full Text

Having last time met Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva and witnessed his reaction to hearing the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, we consider Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings’ ultimate gift to the Buddha.

“Having made these offerings [to the Buddha], he emerged from the samadhi, and thought, ‘I have now made offerings to the Buddha by my supernatural powers. But these offerings are less valuable than the offering of my own body.’

“Then he ate various kinds of incense taken from candana, kunduruka, turṣka, pṛkkā, aloes and sumac, and drank perfumed oil taken from the flowers of campaka and other flowers[. He continued doing all this] for twelve hundred years. Then he applied perfumed oil to his skin, put on a heavenly garment of treasures in the presence of Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha, sprinkled various kinds of perfumed oil on the garment, and set fire to his body, making a vow by his supernatural powers. The light of the flame illumined the worlds numbering eight thousands of millions of times the number of the sands of the River Ganges.

“The Buddhas of those worlds praised him, saying simultaneously, ‘Excellent, excellent, good man! All you did was a true endeavor. You made an offering to us according to the true Dharma. This offering excels the offerings of flowers, incense, necklaces, incense to burn, powdered incense, incense applicable to the skin, streamers and canopies of heavenly cloth, and the incense of the candana grown on this shore of the sea. It also excels the offerings of countries, cities, wives and children. Good man! This is the most excellent and honorable offering because you made it to us according to the Dharma.’

“Having said this, they became silent. The body of the Bodhisattva kept burning for twelve hundred years, and then was consumed. Having made this offering according to the Dharma, Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva passed away.

The Daily Dharma from April 14, 2018, offers this:

Having made these offerings [to the Buddha], he emerged from the samādhi, and thought, ‘I have now made offerings to the Buddha by my supernatural powers. But these offerings are less valuable than the offering of my own body.’

In Chapter Twenty-Three of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha tells the story of Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva, the previous life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva. This Bodhisattva practiced under an ancient Buddha, and made exorbitant offerings to that Buddha through his supernatural powers. He then realized that all the riches of the universe that he could conjure up paled in comparison to the treasure of his own body and his own life. He then made an offering of his body to the Buddha, which illuminated innumerable worlds. Nichiren wrote often of the hardships he faced in his life and those of his followers. He wrote of “reading the Lotus Sūtra with our bodies,” meaning bringing the Buddha’s wisdom to life in our lives. When we act according to the Wonderful Dharma, no matter what hardships we face, then we too are living the Lotus Sūtra, and making a perfect offering from our gratitude to the Buddha.

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

LS32, WONS

Day 26

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Having last month been introduced to a Buddha called Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue, we meet Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva and witness his reaction to hearing the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

“Thereupon [Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue] Buddha expounded the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva, to the other Bodhisattvas, and also to the Śrāvakas. Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva willingly practiced austerities under Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha. He walked about the world, seeking Buddhahood strenuously with all his heart for twelve thousand years until at last he obtained the samadhi by which he could transform himself into any other living being: Having obtained this samadhi, he had great joy.

“He thought, ‘I have obtained the samadhi by which I can transform myself into any other living being because I heard the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Now I will make offerings to Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha and also to the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.’

“He entered into this samadhi at once. He filled the sky with the clouds of mandārava-flowers, mahā-mandārava-flowers and the powdered incense of hard and black candana, and rained down those flowers and incense. He also rained down the powdered incense of the candana grown on this shore of the sea [between Mt. Sumeru and the Jambudvipa]. Six shu of this incense was worth the Sahā-World. He offered all these things to the Buddha.

Nichiren writes concerning this chapter in his letter “A Response to My Lady Nichinyo”:

It is said in the “Medicine King Bodhisattva” chapter that a bodhisattva called Issaishujōkiken (Gladly Seen by All) learned the Lotus Sūtra from the Buddha Sun Moon Brilliance. With deep admiration for his master’s favor and the value of the Lotus Sūtra, he made offerings of thousands of invaluable treasures. Issaishujōkiken felt that this was not enough, however, and proceeded to anoint his own body with oil, set it aflame, and continued to burn it like a lamp wick to venerate the Buddha for twelve hundred years. Thereafter, he burned a light on his elbow for seventy-two thousand years to venerate the Lotus Sūtra. Thus, if a woman venerates the Lotus Sūtra in the fifth 500-year period after the demise of the Buddha, during the Latter Age of Degeneration, the Buddha will bestow upon her all merits of the Lotus Sūtra just as a rich man gives all his wealth to his son.

Nichinyo Gozen Gohenji, A Response to My Lady Nichinyo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 4, Faith and Practice, Page 133

LS32

Day 26

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Having last month concluded Chapter 22, Transmission, we begin Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Thereupon Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! Why does Medicine-King Bodhisattva walk about this Sahā-World? World-Honored One! This Medicine-King Bodhisattva will have to practice hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of austerities in this world. World-Honored One! Tell me why! Not only the gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings but also the Bodhisattvas who have come from the other worlds’ and the Śrāvakas present here will be glad to hear the reason.”

Thereupon the Buddha said to Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva:

“Innumerable kalpas ago, that is, as many kalpas as there are sands in the River Ganges ago, there lived a Buddha called Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue, 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. He was accompanied by eight thousand million great Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas and also by great Śrāvakas numbering seventy-two times as many as there are sands in the River Ganges. The duration of his life was forty-two thousand kalpas. So were the durations of the lives of the Bodhisattvas. His world was devoid of women, hellish denizens, hungry spirits, animals and asuras. There was no calamity in his world. The ground of his world was as even as the palm of the hand. It was made of lapis lazuli, adorned with jeweled trees, and covered with a jeweled awning from which the streamers of jeweled flowers were hanging down. Jeweled vases and incense-burners were seen everywhere in that world. There was a platform of the seven treasures at the distance of a bowshot from each of the jeweled trees under which the Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas were sitting. On each of the platforms of treasures, myriads of millions of gods were making heavenly music, singing songs of praise of the Buddha, and offering the music and songs to the Buddha.

The Daily Dharma from April 3, 2017, offers this:

Thereupon Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One! Why does Medicine-King Bodhisattva walk about this Sahā-World? World-Honored One! This Medicine-King Bodhisattva will have to practice hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of austerities in this world.

This excerpt is from Chapter Twenty-Three of the Lotus Sutra. Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva is aware of the difficulties that Medicine-King or any other Bodhisattva will encounter while living in this world of conflict (Sahā) and asks the Buddha why this Bodhisattva would give up the pleasures of the higher realms to which he is entitled. The Buddha then tells the story of Medicine-King’s previous life, in which he gave up many attachments, including the attachment to his own body. These stories of Bodhisattvas are reminders of our own capacities, and that no matter what difficulties we face in our lives, our determination to benefit all beings, our certainty of enlightenment, and the help we receive from other beings will lead us to overcome any problems.

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

LS32, WONS

Day 26

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Having last month concluded Day 26’s portion of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, we begin Chapter 22, Transmission.

Having heard these words of the Buddha, the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas were filled with great joy. With more respect than ever, they bent forward, bowed, joined their hands together towards him, and said simultaneously. “We will do as you command. Certainly, World-Honored One! Do not worry!”

The Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas said simultaneously twice more, “We will do as you command. Certainly, World-Honored One! Do not worry!”

Thereupon Śākyamuni Buddha, wishing to send back to their home worlds [Many-Treasures Buddha and] the Buddhas of his replicas, who had come from the worlds of the ten quarters, said, “May the Buddhas be where they wish to be! May the stupa of Many-Treasures Buddha be where it was!”

Having heard these words of the Buddha, not only the innumerable Buddhas of his replicas, who had come from the worlds of the ten quarters and were sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees, Many-Treasures Buddha, and the great multitude of the innumerable, asaṃkhya Bodhisattvas, including Superior-Practice, but also the four kinds of devotees including Śāriputra and other Śrāvakas, and the gods, men and asuras of the world, had great joy.

Nichiren had this to say about the transmission:

The meaning of the chapter on “Transmission” in the Lotus Sūtra is that as Śākyamuni Buddha stepped out of the Stupa of Many Treasures and stood in the air, the original disciples of the Buddha such as Bodhisattva Superior Practice, disciples of the Buddhas in manifestation such as Bodhisattva Great Mañjuśrī, Great King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, the sun, the moon, the Four Heavenly Kings, the Dragon King, the ten female rākṣasa demons, and others gathered in the vast world of four-trillion nayuta, as numerous as the pampas grass in the Musashino Field or trees on Mt. Fuji. They waited knelt side by side with their heads bowed to the ground, their hands together in gasshō, beads of perspiration forming from all the body-heat. Like an affectionate mother stroking the head of her child, Śākyamuni Buddha placed His hand upon their heads three times and entrusted them with the Lotus Sūtra. Then accepting the request of Śākyamuni Buddha, Bodhisattva Superior Practice, the sun and moon, and others vowed to spread the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration.

Nichinyo Gozen Gohenji, A Response to My Lady Nichinyo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 4, Faith and Practice, Pages 132-133

LS32

Day 26

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Having last month concluded Day 26’s portion of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, we begin Chapter 22, Transmission.

Thereupon Śākyamuni Buddha rose from the seat of the Dharma, and by his great supernatural powers, put his right hand on the heads of the innumerable Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, and said:

“For many hundreds of thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas of kalpas, I studied and practiced the Dharma difficult to obtain, and [finally attained] Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Now I will transmit the Dharma to you. Propagate it with all your hearts, and make it known far and wide!”

He put his [right] hand on their heads twice more, and said:

“For many hundreds of thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas of kalpas, I studied and practiced the Dharma difficult to obtain, and [finally attained] Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Now I will transmit [the Dharma] to you. Keep, read, recite and expound [this sūtra in which the Dharma is given], and cause all living beings to hear it and know it! Why is that? It is because I have great compassion. I do not begrudge anything. I am fearless. I wish to give the wisdom of the Buddha, the wisdom of the Tathāgata, the wisdom of the Self-Existing One, to all living beings. I am the great almsgiver to all living beings. Follow me, and study my teachings without begrudging efforts! In the future, when you see good men or women who believe in the wisdom of the Tathāgata, you should expound this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to them, and cause them to hear and know [this sūtra] so that they may be able to obtain the wisdom of the Buddha. When you see anyone who does not receive [this sūtra] by faith, you should show him some other profound teachings of mine, teach him, benefit him, and cause him to rejoice. When you do all this, you will be able to repay the favors given to you by the Buddhas.”

See The General Transmission

LS32, d26b, LS Introduction

The General Transmission

After completing the special transmission [to the Great Bodhisattvas], as recorded in Chapter 21, “Supernatural Powers of the Tathagatas,” Sakyamuni rises from his seat [in Chapter 22, Transmission,] and extends his hands over the heads of [all the other] countless Bodhisattvas who have gathered there. He told them:

For a time so long that it is beyond imagination, I practiced the law which is difficult to obtain, and attained supremeperfect-enlightenment. I now entrust it all to you. Spread this teaching wholeheartedly after my extinction, and benefit and save all the people of the world (p. 297).

This is called the General Transmission, in which the Buddha entrusts his disciples to disseminate the Sutra after his departure. Three times he blesses his assembled followers, repeating the same words.

This is the teaching of Transmission. Here it is called the General or Total Transmission, because by it the Lotus Sutra is entrusted to all Bodhisattvas. What is the difference between this transmission and that which preceded it?

The Great Bodhisattvas from Underground, who received the Special Transmission in the previous chapter, are called “Bodhisattvas Taught by the Original Buddha.” They are the direct disciples of the Eternal and Original Buddha, who reveals his eternity and limitless true form in Chapter 16, “The Duration of the Life of the Tathagata.” The other Bodhisattvas, on the other hand, are called “Bodhisattvas Taught by the Provisional Buddha.” They are disciples of the historical Buddha (the Provisional Buddha), whose figure is limited and temporary. Among these Bodhisattvas, many are representatives from other worlds.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

LS32

Day 26

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Having last month begun Day 26’s portion of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, we conclude with the gāthās.

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

The Buddhas, the World-Saviors, have
Great supernatural powers.
They display their immeasurable, supernatural powers
In order to cause all living beings to rejoice.
The tips of their tongues reach the Heaven of Brahman.
Innumerable rays of light are emitted from their bodies.
For those who are seeking the enlightenment of the Buddha
The Buddhas do these things rarely to be seen.

The sound of coughing of the Buddhas
And the sound of their finger-snapping
Reverberate over the worlds of the ten quarters,
And the ground [of those worlds] quakes in the six ways.

The Buddhas joyfully display
Their immeasurable, supernatural powers
Because [the Bodhisattvas from underground]
[Vow to] keep this sūtra after my extinction.

Even if I praise for innumerable kalpas
The keeper of this sūtra,
To whom it is to be transmitted,
I cannot praise him highly enough.

His merits are as limitless,
As infinite, as boundless
As the skies of the worlds
Of the ten quarters.

Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to see me. He also will be able to see
Many-Treasures Buddha,
[The Buddhas of] my replicas,
And the Bodhisattvas whom I have taught today.

Anyone who keeps this sūtra will be able to cause me to rejoice.
He also will be able to bring joy
To [the Buddhas of] my replicas
And also to Many-Treasures Buddha who once passed away.

He also will be able to see
The present, past and future Buddhas
Of the worlds of the ten quarters,
Make offerings to them, and cause them to rejoice.

The Buddhas sat at the place of enlightenment,
And obtained the hidden core.
Anyone who keeps this sūtra will be able
To obtain the same before long.

Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to expound
The meanings of the teachings,
And the names and words [of this sūtra].
Their eloquence will be as boundless
And as unhindered as the wind in the sky.

Anyone who understands why the Buddhas expound [many] sūtras,
Who knows the position [of this sūtra in the series of sūtras],
And who expounds it after my extinction
According to its true meaning,
Will be able to eliminate the darkness
Of the living beings of the world where he walks about,
Just as the light of the sun and the moon
Eliminates all darkness.
He will be able to cause innumerable Bodhisattvas
To dwell finally in the One Vehicle.

Therefore, the man of wisdom
Who hears the benefits of these merits
And who keeps this sūtra after my extinction,
Will be able to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha
Definitely and doubtlessly.

The Daily Dharma from May 14, 2018, offers this:

Therefore, the man of wisdom
Who hears the benefits of these merits
And who keeps this sūtra after my extinction,
Will be able to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha
Definitely and doubtlessly.

The Buddha sings these verses to Superior-Practice Bodhisattva (Jōgyo, Viśiṣṭacārītra) in Chapter Twenty-One of the Lotus Sūtra. Superior-Practice is the embodiment of the fourth vow of a Bodhisattva: The Buddha’s teachings are immeasurable; I vow to attain supreme enlightenment. It is through our determination to benefit all beings, and our confidence in the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, that we maintain our lives in this world of conflict.

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

LS32

Day 26

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Having last month concluded Day 26’s portion of The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva, we cycle back to the top with Day 26’s portion of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.

Thereupon the Buddha said to the great Bodhisattvas headed by Superior-Practice:

“The supernatural powers of the Buddhas are as immeasurable, limitless, and inconceivable as previously stated. But I shall not be able to tell all the merits of this sūtra to those to whom this sūtra is to be transmitted even if I continue telling them by my supernatural powers for many hundreds of thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas of kalpas. To sum up, all the teachings of the Tathāgata, all the unhindered, supernatural powers of the Tathāgata, all the treasury of the hidden core of the Tathāgata, and all the profound achievements of the Tathāgata are revealed and expounded explicitly in this sūtra. Therefore, keep, read, recite, expound and copy this sūtra, and act according to the teachings of it with all your hearts after my extinction! In any world where anyone keeps, reads, recites, expounds or copies this sūtra, or acts according to its teachings, or in any place where a copy of this sūtra is put, be it in a garden, in a forest, under a tree, in a monastery, in the house of a person in white robes, in a hall, in a mountain, in a valley, or in the wilderness, there should a stupa be erected and offerings be made to it because, know this, the place [where the stupa is erected] is the place of enlightenment. Here the Buddhas attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Here the Buddhas turned the wheel of the Dharma. Here the Buddhas entered into Parinirvana.”

See Four Phrases of the Primary Mystery

LS32, d26b, LS Introduction

Four Phrases of the Primary Mystery

What Sakyamuni transmits [in Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas,] to Superb-Action and the other Great Bodhisattvas, who welled up from underground, is nothing less than (1) all the teachings of the Buddha, (2) all the unhindered supernatural powers of the Buddha, (3) all the treasury of the hidden core of the Buddha, and (4) all the profound achievements of the Buddha. These are called the Four Phrases of the Primary Mystery. Great Master Chih-i taught that the meanings that the title (Daimoku) expresses — that is, the meaning of the title itself, the purpose of the sutra, its essential teachings, the influence it has upon its readers, and the value of its teachings (which five he called the main things to be commented on in interpreting any sutra)—are expressed here in the Four Phrases of the Primary Mystery. Nichiren, on the other hand, believed that the Four Phrases of the Primary Mystery are to be found in the Sacred Title itself (Odaimoku), and what Sakyamuni now transmits to Superb-Action and the others is the Sacred Title of NAMU-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO. (“I devote myself to the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

LS32, d26b, LS Introduction

Reaching the Stage of Freedom

The Buddha sings these verses to Superior-Practice Bodhisattva in Chapter 21 of the Lotus Sūtra:

Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to expound
The meanings of the teachings,
And the names and words [of this sūtra].
Their eloquence will be as boundless
And as unhindered as the wind in the sky.

Anyone who believes in and upholds the Lotus Sutra, which is transmitted from Sakyamuni, has a thorough knowledge of the meanings of its diverse teachings, words, and interpretations, and is able to expound them impartially, just as the wind sails freely through the sky. That person will be able to reach a stage of freedom, and remain there.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra