Then for Pukkusati’s sake Shakyamuni preached a sophisticated sermon, probably because he perceived that this man was of intellectual capacity sufficient for him to understand difficult Buddhist theories. The sermon was a detailed, logical presentation showing that human beings have six senses–sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and thought–for perceiving six objects: earth, water, fire, wind, air, and knowledge. From this operation of perception are born the sixteen kinds of emotions and sensations, including pain and pleasure and joy and sorrow. Knowledge of the nature and sources of these emotions lead to understanding of the truth that there is no permanent self and that there should be no attachments to conditioned phenomena. This in turn leads to paramount wisdom and the realization that nirvana is the ultimate Noble Truth. The person realizing this can attain the highest realm of tranquility by abandoning all things that cause delusions and by breaking with the three poisons of covetousness, anger, and delusion.
The Beginnings of BuddhismQuotes
The Lotus Sūtra Wish-Granting Gem
[This] analogy is concerned with two kinds of gems P’o-1i (a crystal) and Ju-i (wish-granting gem). Although both are called gem, the former as a crystal cannot rain down treasures, which analogizes emptiness (that is one-sided view). For Chih-i, one-sided emptiness refers to the attainment of the śrāvaka who is only concerned about the salvation of himself, but not of others; and the treasure refers to the bodhisattva practice of helping others. Since emptiness does not involve the functional aspect of saving living beings, the gem P’o-1i that cannot rain down treasures is taken to analogize emptiness. The wish-granting gem, on the other hand, analogizes the Middle Way. Since the Middle Way signifies the comprehensive view of affirming both emptiness and the provisional existence, it involves the bodhisattva’s actions of saving living beings in the phenomenal world. Therefore, the gem Ju-i that can rain down treasures is taken to analogize the functional nature of the Middle Way. From the practical dimension, this analogy is meant to say that the substance of the Lotus Sūtra is synonymous to the wish-granting gem Ju-i, which is dynamic, functional, and impartial.
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismA Spoon’s Understanding of Taste
The chief of the Buddha’s followers, Ananda, attained the Eye of the Law at the first sermon he heard. Though for the next twenty-five years of active missionary life he heard Shakyamuni preach daily and was familiar with all major and minor points of his teachings, Ananda did not attain ultimate arhat enlightenment until three months after Shakyamuni’s death. In the collection of moral teachings known as the Dhammapada it is said, “Though a fool attend on a wise man all his life, he will no more comprehend the Law than a spoon understands the taste of the soup. An intelligent man who spends only a short time with a wise man will at once comprehend the Law, as the tongue understands the taste of the soup.” In spite of the importance of causes from previous existences, however, the suitability—or lack of it—of the person’s guide and the method of training and eagerness of the person himself affect the speed with which enlightenment is attained. (Page 118)
The Beginnings of BuddhismThe Three Sufferings
In addition to the four sufferings and the eight sufferings, which describe types of suffering, Buddhism analyzes suffering according to its cause in three ways (the three sufferings): suffering caused directly, the physical pain experienced by all living creatures with sensory systems; suffering caused by loss or destruction of things to which human beings have attachments or of which they entertain expectations; and suffering caused by the impermanence of all things. The first kind of suffering is objective. The second is subjective and can be relieved by altering one’s mental attitude. Much of the suffering that human beings experience is of this kind, as is most of the suffering that religions are called upon to succor. The last of the three sufferings, caused by the impermanence of all things, is an idea that permeates Buddhism and Indian philosophy in general.Basic Buddhist Concepts
Chih-i’s Talent
[Chih-i’s] talent lies in the fact that he not only absorbed and incorporated different views and theories, but also went beyond all of his predecessors and contemporaries by formulating his own system of thought. Since his system is based on a complete evaluation and critique of all other available views of his time, it is thus endowed with the features of syncretism, comprehensiveness, and completeness, and a sense of harmony, flexibility, and perfection. (Page 22)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismThe Strings of a Lute
Shakyamuni then said, “Sona, just now were you not thinking these thoughts?” And Shakyamuni enumerated the distractions that had been running through Sona’s mind. Sona admitted that all this was true.
Shakyamuni then asked Sona if he had played the lute when he lived at home. Sona said he had played it, and Shakyamuni asked, “If the strings are stretched too taut, will the lute produce a pleasing sound?”
“If the strings of the lute are too slack, will the instrument produce a pleasing sound?”
“No.”
“But if the strings are neither too taut nor too slack, but just right, the lute will produce a pleasant sound?”
“Yes, it will.”
“Well, Sona, in Buddhist discipline, if one is too eager, the mind will be shallow and unsettled. If one is too lax, the mind will become lazy. The proper way is to be neither too eager nor too lax but to make spiritual efforts and progress at a suitable pace.”
When he had heard this highly appropriate metaphor of the lute, Sona acquired the ability to go on with disciplines at a suitable pace and thus to abandon illusions and hindrances and finally to attain the ultimate enlightenment of the arhat.
No matter how eager and assiduous a person is in religious training, achieving enlightenment depends on primary and secondary causes from previous existences. For people with the right causes, the opportunity for enlightenment will come readily; for people without them, the opportunity will probably not develop. Although it is true that the buddha-nature is inherent in all sentient beings, the speed with which enlightenment is reached depends on the causes from previous existences and the causes in the present life. (Page 166-117)
The Beginnings of BuddhismThe Buddha Heart in Each Character
The Lotus Sūtra was expounded by the Buddha in accordance with his own heart. In this Sūtra, the Buddha disclosed the entirety of his life, such as his compassion, his wisdom and his power to save people through his virtue. Thus, the Lotus Sūtra has been called the Buddha’s life itself.
After years of study, Nichiren Shōnin, the founder of our order, understood the profound and deep connection between the Lotus Sutra and the Buddha. Whenever he received gifts from his followers, he always wrote a “thank you” letter and reported to the Lotus Sūtra about the gifts. In this manner, he also taught his followers about the Buddha’s heart and intention. Whenever one reads the Lotus Sūtra with deep faith, each character of the Sūtra is equal to the Buddha himself because each character is his true heart.
Buddha Seed: Understanding the OdaimokuCustomary Stage-By-Stage Manner of Teaching
Then Shakyamuni, perceiving their reaction, taught them in his customary stage-by-stage manner, beginning with almsgiving, abiding by the moral precepts, and the assurance that good acts are rewarded by rebirth in a blessed state. He went on to teach the doctrine of cause and effect, to show the error of adhering to desire, and to emphasize the merit of renouncing it. Finally, when he saw that they were purified in heart, he taught them the basic Buddhist doctrine of the Four Noble Truths. The result of this teaching was that the overseers were enlightened to the correct Buddhist views of the world and of human life, were freed of all delusions, and attained the spotless Eye of the Law. They became lay believers in Buddhism for the rest of their lives and took refuge in the Buddha, the Law, and the Order.
The Beginnings of BuddhismA Good Buddhist Friend
Friends form a unique relationship; true friendship is one of mutual commitment to the well-being of the other. Friendship takes time to build. It takes trust, openness, and a desire to put in to it freely just for the benefit of the other, and not just for what can be taken away. And from a Buddhist perspective a good Buddhist friend can help us to maintain our practice, a person who will tell us when we have done something right or when we might do something better. A good Buddhist friend will not merely say things just to make us feel good. Instead, they will say things to us that will make us be good. This is also the kind of friend we can become to others. Helping them attain Buddhahood is the best gift we can give to our friends.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1The Rich Man and His Poor Son
Man is said by Chinese moralists to be the chief of all living beings in this world. But when a man is engrossed in pursuing his own interests, and cannot live in peace with his neighbours, how can he deserve so high a title? Let us take an illustration. There is one, say, who is entirely ignorant of the Truth. He does not know that in his real nature he is identical with the Buddha of Original Enlightenment, but regards himself as a debased and common person incapable of instruction. In short, he is such a one as Buddha would call a mendicant. But he was not always thus. He began life as the son of a rich man to whom he was very dear. Yet he left his good father, and wandered to and fro upon the earth till forty years had elapsed; during which period his father went to live in a foreign land, so that the prodigal could not rejoin him even when he wanted to, but sank into the direst poverty. But was this poverty, this beggary, his true and original condition? Was it the state proper to a rich man’s heir? No! The beggar is but the image of the real man. He is like the Chinese philosopher Chuang-tzu when he dreamt he was a butterfly. The butterfly had only a temporary and subjective existence in the consciousness of the dreamer; it was not Chuang-tzu himself, but vanished when he awoke. Our wanderer, however, is still asleep; alas he is still dreaming that he is a beggar. Under this delusion he is taken captive by the five appetites of colour, sound, smell, taste, and touch, and humbled by the seven passions of cheerfulness, anger, sorrow, pleasure, love, hate, and avarice; he becomes unjust and partial, and aims only at self-interest; he sinks into the gulfs of sadness, melancholy, pains, and troubles; he assumes that his soul is doomed to pass through a series of painful transformations in the six forms of living beings – such as hungry devils, brutes, and so forth. To enable such a one to awake from his dream, and recover from the confusion that besets him, our Sect appoints the Great Mandala as the Chief Object of Worship, which manifests the identity existing between the Buddha and the multitude, and helps people to form a determination to become enlightened. If the beggar we have been speaking of looks steadfastly at this Mandala and sees his own person reflected there, so as to free himself from the base idea of self-renunciation, he will soon become a Buddha of Original Enlightenment in spite of his outward ordinary appearance, just as, on Chuang-tzu awaking from his dream, the butterfly disappeared and the dreamer became himself again. Thus restored, the beggar will be once more the rich man’s son. Sariputra, one of Sakyamuni’s disciples, is said to have become Keko Buddha without undergoing any change in his appearance. Therefore Sakyamuni says, “The Mandala is the mysterious ground on which any man can acquire enlightenment and become a Buddha.”
Doctrines of Nichiren (1893)