Tag Archives: LS27

LS32

Day 27

Day 27 concludes Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

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Having last month considered Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva’s offering of his arms, we hear Buddha reveal to Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva who Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva is today.

The Buddha said to Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva:

“What do you think of this? Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva was no one but Medicine-King Bodhisattva of today. He gave up his body in this way, offered it [to the Buddha], and repeated this offering many hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of times [in his previous existence]. [He knows that he can practice any austerity in this Sahā-World. Therefore, he does not mind walking about this world.]

“Star-King-Flower! Anyone who aspires for, and wishes to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, should offer a light to the stupa of the Buddha by burning a finger or a toe. Then he will be given more merits than the person who offers not only countries, cities, wives and children, but also the mountains, forests, rivers and ponds of the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, and various kinds of treasures. But the merits to be given to the person who fills the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds with the seven treasures and offers that amount of the seven treasures to the Buddhas, to the Great Bodhisattvas, to the Pratyekabuddhas, and to the Arhats, are less than the merits to be given to the person who keeps even a single gāthā of four lines of this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

See Paying Homage to The Buddha

LS32

Day 27

Day 27 concludes Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Day 27 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month witnessed Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha’s passing into Parinirvana, we consider Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva’s offering of his arms.

“Thereupon Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva thought again, ‘I have now made these offerings, yet I do not think that they are enough. I will make another offering to the śarīras.’

“He said to the Bodhisattvas, to the great disciples, and also to all the other living beings in the great multitude including gods, dragons and yakṣas, ‘Look with one mind! Now I will make another offering to the śarīras of Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha.’

“Having said this, he burned his arms adorned with the marks of one hundred merits, and offered the light of the flame to the eighty-four thousand stupas for seventy-two thousand years. [By doing so,] he caused innumerable seekers of Śrāvakahood and many other asaṃkhyas of people to aspire for Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, and obtain the samadhi by which they could transform themselves into the other living beings.

“Having seen him deprived of his arms, the Bodhisattvas, gods, men, asuras and others were overcome with sorrow. They said, ‘This Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva is our teacher. He is leading us. Now he has burned off his arms. He is deformed.’

“Thereupon Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva vowed to the great multitude, saying, ‘I shall be able to obtain the golden body of the Buddha because I gave up my arms. If my words are true and not false, I shall be able to have my arms restored.’

“When he had made this vow, his arms were restored because his merits, virtues and wisdom were abundant. Thereupon the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds quaked in the six ways, and the gods rained down jeweled flowers. All the gods and men had the greatest joy that they had ever had.”

See Upholding the Lotus No Matter What

LS32, d26b, d27b, 2buddhas

Upholding the Lotus No Matter What

Nichiren emphasized, not the literal performance of self-sacrifice in offering to the sūtra as exemplified by Bhaiṣajyarāja’s [Medicine King] self-immolation, but the willingness to face abuse, ostracism, verbal and physical attacks, or indeed, any sort of hardship in order to uphold and spread the sūtra’s teachings. In his reading, the offering that ordinary people can make, done with firm resolve, is the moral equivalent of the advanced bodhisattva’s sacrifice of his body, and it yields identical merit.

From another perspective, Nichiren concluded that the acts of Bhaiṣajyarāja and other bodhisattvas in the sūtras who relinquished eyes, limbs, and life itself for the dharma’s sake were no longer appropriate to his own era. As a young man, he wrote, he had taken the statement in the “Perseverance” chapter, “We will not be attached to our bodies or our lives,” to mean heroic undertakings on the order of making the perilous sea crossing to China to study the dharma, as pioneering Japanese monks like Saichō and Kūkai had done, or offering up one’s body in self-sacrifice like the bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja. But over time, he concluded that this was not the sūtra’s true intent: “At a time when the country is filled with respected persons who declare that there are other sūtras that surpass the Lotus Sūtra and join in attacking its votary, and when such persons are revered by the ruler and his ministers while the votary of the Lotus Sūtra, being poor and humble, is despised by the entire country, if he persists in his assertions as did [the bodhisattva] Sadāparibhūta or the scholar-monk Bhadraruci, it may well cost his life. [To maintain one’s resolve at such at time] is the most important thing of all.” What counts, in short, is upholding the Lotus, no matter what.

Two Buddhas, p228-229
LS32

Day 27

Day 27 concludes Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Day 27 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva, we return to the top and Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha’s passing into Parinirvana.

“Having sung this gāthā, Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, ‘World-Honored One! You do not change, do you?’
“Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha said to Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva, ‘Good man! The time of my Nirvana is near at hand. The time of my extinction is coming. Prepare me a comfortable couch! I shall enter into Parinirvana tonight.’ “Then he instructed Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva, saying, ‘Good man! I will transmit all my teachings to you. [I also will transmit] to you all the Bodhisattvas and all my great disciples. [I also will transmit] to you my teachings for Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. I also will transmit to you the one thousand Sumeru worlds made of the seven treasures, the jeweled trees, the jeweled platforms, and the gods attending on me. I also will transmit to you the śarīras to be left after my extinction. Distribute my śarīras far and wide and make offerings to them! Erect thousands of stupas [to enshrine them]!’

“Having given these instructions to Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva, Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha entered into Nirvana in the last watch of that night. Having seen the extinction of the Buddha, Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva was overcome with sorrow. He adored the Buddha all the more. He made a pyre of the candana grown on this shore of the sea, offered it to the body of the Buddha, and burned it. After it burned up, he collected the śarīras. He made eighty-four thousand stupas of treasures[, and put the śarīras therein]. He erected eighty-four thousand stupas[, and enshrined the urns therein]. The stupas were higher than the Third Dhyana-Heaven. They were adorned with yastis. Many streamers and canopies were hanging down [from the stupas]. Many jeweled bells also were fixed [on the stupas].

See The Lotus Sūtra and Its Practice in the Final Dharma Age

LS32, d26b, d27b, d28b, d29b, 2buddhas

The Lotus Sūtra and Its Practice in the Final Dharma Age

Chapters Twenty-Three, Twenty-Four, and Twenty-Five describe how specific bodhisattvas display their powers in the world to benefit sentient beings. As noted earlier, at one point in its compilation history, the Lotus Sūtra probably concluded with Chapter Twenty-Two, “Entrustment.” These three subsequent chapters represent a later stratum of the text, added as devotion to the bodhisattvas in question was gradually assimilated to the Lotus. From Nichiren’s standpoint, the bodhisattvas appearing in these chapters had received only the general transmission described in the “Entrustment” chapter. Either they had come from other worlds, or they were followers of Śākyamuni in his provisional guise as the Buddha of the trace teaching or shakumon portion of the sūtra. Thus, their work was chiefly confined to the True and Semblance Dharma ages. Yet, as we see, Nichiren drew on these chapters to make points about the Lotus Sūtra and its practice in the Final Dharma age.

Two Buddhas, p236
LS32

Day 27

Day 27 concludes Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Day 27 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month learned that this sūtra is a good medicine for the diseases of the people, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

“Star-King-Flower! Strew blue lotus flower and a bowlful of powdered incense to the person who keep this sūtra when you see him! After strewing these things [to him], you should think, ‘Before long he will collect grass [for his seat], sit at the place of enlightenment, and defeat the army of Mara. He will blow the conch-shell horn of the Dharma, beat the drum of the great Dharma, and save all living beings from the ocean of old age, disease and death.’

“In this way, those who seek the enlightenment of the Buddha should respect the keeper of this sūtra whenever they see him.”

When the Buddha expounded this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva, eighty-four thousand Bodhisattvas obtained the dharanis by which they could understand the words of all living beings. Many-Treasures Tathāgata in the stupa of treasures praised Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva, saying:

“Excellent, excellent, Star-King-Flower! You obtained inconceivable merits. You asked this question to Śākyamuni Buddha, and benefited innumerable living beings.”

See The Last Five Hundred Years

LS32, d27b, 2buddhas

The Last Five Hundred Years

After the ten analogies and ten similes, the Lotus goes on to extol the merits of embracing the “Bhaiṣajyarāja” chapter [The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva] specifically, suggesting that it may have been composed by a group of Lotus practitioners particularly devoted to this bodhisattva. Nichiren, however, read the passage as applying to his own time and to the Lotus as a whole. For example, a statement near the end of this chapter reads, “During the period of five hundred years after my parinirvāṇa, you must spread it far and wide in Jambudvipa [i.e., this world] and not allow it to be destroyed.” The “five hundred years after my parinirvāṇa” here probably indicates the time in which the Lotus Sūtra’s compilers understood themselves to be living, that is, within five centuries of the historical Buddha’s death. But in Kumārajīva’s Chinese translation, “the period of five hundred years after” can also be read as “the last five hundred years.” Nichiren, like other later East Asian interpreters, took this phrase to mean the last of five consecutive five-hundred-year periods following the parinirvāṇa as described in the Great Collection Sūtra (Skt. Mahāsamnipāta Sūtra; Ch. Daji jing, T 397); the “last five hundred years” is predicted to be a time of dissension among the Buddha’s followers, corresponding to the beginning of the mappō era, when the true dharma will be obscured. In other words, Nichiren took this passage as referring to his own, present time. Repudiating the idea that mappō is necessarily an age of Buddhism’s decline, he drew on the third analogy of the “Bhaiṣajyarāja” chapter, which compares the Lotus Sūtra to the moon that outshines all stars. “The blessings of the Lotus Sūtra surpass those of other sūtras even during the two thousand years of the True and Semblance Dharma ages,” he wrote. “But when the spring and summer of the two thousand years of the True Dharma and Semblance Dharma ages are over and the autumn and winter of the Final Dharma age have arrived, then the light of this moon [i.e., the Lotus] will shine even more brightly.” In the sūtra text, the “it” which is to be “spread far and wide” (J. kōsen-rufu) refers specifically to the “Bhaiṣajyarāja” chapter. Nichiren, however, took it as referring to the sūtra itself, and more specifically, to its title or daimoku, Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō.

Two Buddhas, p230-231
LS32, WONS

Day 27

Day 27 concludes Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Day 27 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the merits given to a woman who hears and keeps this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva, we learn this sūtra is a good medicine for the diseases of the people.

“Anyone who rejoices at hearing this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva and praises [this chapter], saying, ‘Excellent,’ will be able to emit the fragrance of the blue lotus flower from his mouth and the fragrance of the candana of Mt. Ox-Head from his pores, and obtain these merits in his present life.

“Therefore, Star-King-Flower! I will transmit this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva to you. Propagate this chapter throughout the Jambudvipa in the later five hundred years after my extinction lest it should be lost, and lest Mara the Evil One, the followers of Mara, gods, dragons, yakṣas, and kumbha]das should take advantage [of the weak points of the people of the Jambudvipa].

“Star-King-Flower! Protect this sūtra by your supernatural powers! Why is that? It is because this sūtra is a good medicine for the diseases of the people of the Jambudvipa. The patient who hears this sūtra will be cured of his disease at once. He will not grow old or die.

Nichiren writes in his Testimony to the Prediction of the Buddha:

The Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 7 (chapter 23, “Previous Life of the Medicine King Bodhisattva”), reads: “Propagate this sūtra throughout this world (Jambudvīpa) in the last 500-year period, namely at the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration, lest it should become extinct.”

Coming across this passage, I once lamented saying: “It has already been more than 2,220 years since Śākyamuni Buddha passed away. For what sin of mine was I neither born during the Buddha’s lifetime, nor fortunate enough to see the Four Reliances, four ranks of bodhisattva teachers whom people relied on after the death of the Buddha, in the Age of the True Dharma, or such great masters as T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō in the Age of the Semblance Dharma?”

Thinking it over, however, I was elated and said to myself, “How lucky I am to have been born in the last 500-year period and encounter the true teaching of the Lotus Sūtra!”

Kembutsu Mirai-ki, Testimony to the Prediction of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 169

LS32, WONS

Day 27

Day 27 concludes Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Day 27 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered how this sūtra saves all living beings, we consider the merits given to a woman who hears and keeps this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

“Star-King-Flower! Anyone who hears [especially] this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva also will be able to obtain innumerable merits. The woman who hears and keeps this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva will not be a woman in her next life. The woman who hears this sūtra and acts according to the teachings of it in the later’ five hundred years after my extinction, will be able to be reborn, after her life in this world, [as a man sitting] on the jeweled seat in the lotus flower blooming in the World of Happiness where Amitayus Buddha lives surrounded by great Bodhisattvas. He [no more she] will not be troubled by greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, jealousy, or any other impurity. He will be able to obtain the supernatural powers of a Bodhisattva and the truth of birthlessness. When he obtains this truth, his eyes will be purified. With his purified eyes, he will be able to see seven billion and two hundred thousand million nayuta Buddhas or Tathāgatas, that is, as many Buddhas as there are sands in the River Ganges. At that time those Buddhas will praise him, saying simultaneously from afar, ‘Excellent, excellent, good man! You kept, read and recited this sūtra, thought it over, and expounded it to others under Śākyamuni Buddha. Now you have obtained innumerable merits and virtues, which cannot be burned by fire or washed away by water. Your merits cannot be described even by the combined efforts of one thousand Buddhas. Now you have defeated the army of Mara, beaten the forces of birth and death, and annihilated all your enemies. Good man! Hundreds of thousands of Buddhas are now protecting you by their supernatural powers. None of the gods or men in the world surpasses you. None but the Tathāgatas, none of the Śrāvakas or Pratyekabuddhas or Bodhisattvas surpasses you in wisdom and dhyāna-concentration.’ Star-King-Flower! [He is a Bodhisattva.] This Bodhisattva will obtain these merits and the power of wisdom.

Nichiren writes about this prediction in his People in the World Letter:

QUESTION: In the 23rd chapter on the “Previous Life of Medicine King Bodhisattva” in the epilogue section of the Lotus Sūtra, women are encouraged to practice the sūtra wholeheartedly so that they may be reborn in the Pure Land of the Buddha of Infinite Life upon death. How about this?

ANSWER: The Buddha of Infinite Life in the “Previous Life of the Medicine King Bodhisattva” chapter is not the same as the Buddha of Infinite Life in the pre-Lotus sūtras and in the first half of the Lotus Sūtra. They merely have the same name. The Sūtra of Infinite Meaning (Muryōgi-kyō) says, “Even though they have the same name, their meanings are different.” Miao-lê says in his Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “Even though you find the name of the Buddha of Infinite Life in the hommon section of the Lotus Sūtra, it does not at all mean the Buddha of Infinite Life mentioned in the Sūtra of Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life.” These should dispel all your doubts. After all, Bodhisattvas who are advanced in practice may easily come to this Sahā World from Pure Lands in the universe and can also easily go back there.

Gochū Shujō Gosho, People in the World Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 203

LS32

Day 27

Day 27 concludes Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Day 27 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month compared the Lotus Sūtra to all other sūtras, we consider how this sūtra saves all living beings.

“Star-King-Flower! This sūtra saves all living beings. This sūtra saves them from all sufferings, and gives them great benefits. All living beings will be able to fulfill their wishes by this sūtra just as a man who reaches a pond of fresh water when he is thirsty, just as a man who gets fire when he suffers from cold, just as a man who is given a garment when he is naked, just as a party of merchants who find a leader just as a child who meets its mother, just as a man who gets a ship when he wants to cross [a river], just as a patient who finds a physician, just as a man who is given a light in the darkness, just as a poor man who gets a treasure, just as the people of a nation who see a new king enthroned, just as a trader who reaches the seacoast. Just as a torch dispels darkness, this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma saves all living beings from all sufferings, from all diseases, and from all the bonds of birth and death. The merits to be given to the person who, after hearing this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, copies it, or causes others to copy it, cannot be measured even by the wisdom of the Buddha. Neither can the merits to be given to the person who copies this sūtra and offers flowers, incense, necklaces, incense to burn, powdered incense, incense applicable to the skin, streamers, canopies, garments, and various kinds of lamps such as lamps of butter oil, oil lamps, lamps of perfumed oil, lamps of campaka oil, lamps of sumanas oil, lamps of pāṭala oil, lamps of vārṣika oil, and lamps of navamālikā oil [to the copy of this sūtra].

On my 21-day retreat encouraged by Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, we consider Day 17 of 21.