The first half of the Lotus Sutra is the theoretical section, which is called the Trace or Imprint Gate. The Trace Gate consists of the first 14 chapters in which the Buddha is still seen as the historical Shakyamuni Buddha who attained awakening 2,500 years ago. It is called the Trace Gate because it covers the teaching of the One Vehicle by the historical Shakyamuni Buddha … and these teachings are the traces or imprints of the teaching of eternal life by the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha. The historical life of the Buddha and his teaching is like a print made of soft wax by a seal, or like traces left in the sand by a person walking on the beach.
Lotus SeedsQuotes
Shoju and Shakubuku
Nichiren Shonin spoke of one other practice required of Buddhists: to express compassion and gratitude to our fellow humans; this is propagation of the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. There are two forms of propagation, shoju and shakubuku. Shoju means gentle persuasion, and is used to describe the propagation of one who sets a good example. People are naturally drawn to such a person and seek to emulate him or her. However, the means that Nichiren Shonin advocated for his time and for the Declining Age of the Dharma in general is shakubuku, which means to break and subdue. However, this does not mean subduing people, being rude and dogmatic, or breaking violently. Instead, this simply means to speak the truth about the primary effectiveness of the Lotus Sutra and to speak truthfully about the deficiencies of other teachings. This does not mean attacking people with an attitude of insulting their beliefs; Nichiren Shonin says that the correct form of shakubuku is shown in the example of Bodhisattva Never Despise in Chapter Twenty of the Lotus Sutra.
Awakening to the LotusKleshas
Buddhism employs the all-inclusive term klesha to mean the mistaken thoughts and actions that obstruct our attainment of enlightenment. (Kleshas are also thought of as impurities, and eliminating them is described as purifying the mind.) The most fundamental of these obstructions are the three poisons: greed, anger, and foolishness. Greed is desire for and attachment to things regarded as pleasant and enjoyable, and anger is aversion and resistance to things regarded as unpleasant and undesirable. Greed and anger are the same as craving, since craving is a mistaken desire, a mistaken love or hate of things. Foolishness, a lack of knowledge of the truth, is identical with ignorance in the Twelve-linked Chain of Dependent Origination. The three poisons, then, can be reduced to craving and ignorance, the fundamental causes of all suffering.
Basic Buddhist Concepts
The Letters Composing This Sutra
The Kaikyōge (the Verses for Opening the Sutra) includes the following: “The letters composing this sutra are the Buddha’s manifestation.”
Nichiren Shōnin said, “Seeing the letters of the Lotus Sutra equals seeing the living Säkyamuni Buddha” (Reply to Shijō Kingo) and “The letters of this Sutra are the Buddha’s soul” (Kitö-shō).
The Lotus Sutra is the Eternal Buddha himself.
Buddha Seed: Understanding the OdaimokuThe Influence of a Single Thought
The title of the [Lotus Sutra], which occupies the middle portion of the Mandala, is what represents [the Original Buddha’s] body proper, while the various figures that appear on either side represent its thousand transformations. These figures stand for the Ten Worlds of living beings. Therefore the body of any individual, when reflected in the Mandala-mirror, is the sum total of these worlds – nay, the sum total of all things and all phenomena in time and space; and the Ten Worlds are in reality one and the same body. And since good and bad ideas both arise from this one body, they pervade all its transformations – that is, the Ten Worlds of being. Hence, if one single thought be pure, and so identified with the mind of Buddha, these Ten Worlds become the Buddha’s mind. On the other hand, if one single thought is debased into the mind of an infernal being, the same fate happens to the Ten Worlds. In spite of its insignificance, a single thought has a wide and rapid influence. This influence may be compared to that possessed by water and fire. If water be received into the mouth, the whole body is immediately conscious of a sense of coolness. If the hands are held over the stove, warmth is felt to the very tips of the toes. So a single thought produces enlightenment if good, and darkness if bad. The reason of this is that, the essence being one and the same, the influence is universal. It is clear, therefore, how careful we ought to be in allowing the rise in our minds of even a single thought.
Doctrines of Nichiren (1893)Potato Chips
I used to try to make potato chips at home for my partner. Time after time I tried and they just never came out anything like the chips you could get in the bag. The bag chip was his favorite kind, but I tried none-the-less.
At one time I worked right next to a deli and the guy who owned it made his own chips every day. So I asked him what the secret was to making chips. He told me it was the soaking in water. You have to soak them in water to remove all the starch from the slices. Who would have thought? I had tried adjusting the thickness of the slice, the oil, the heat, the pan, all kinds of things I tried. I never knew soaking in water that was the key ingredient. …
Chanting Odaimoku is so simple. It is like soaking the potatoes in water to remove the starch. We need to soak our lives in the Odaimoku of the Lotus Sutra to remove the things that hold us back from enlightenment.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1The Doctrine of Karma
The well-known but often misunderstood doctrine of Karma amounts to this, that no man’s life is a product of the present only but is the result of a long chain of moral causation, in which the quality of his deeds and character bears the fruits deserved. It teaches that there is a necessary course of life and fortune for everyone, which is determined by his or her moral disposition tantamount to the merit or demerit of the past and present deeds. The doctrine sounds like fatalism, yet the intention was to admonish every one to do his best in endeavouring to free himself from vicious Karma and to advance on the way to Buddhist perfection.
History of Japanese ReligionAll the Buddhas of Past, Present, and Future
The Great Mandala shows all the sentient beings of the ten worlds illuminated by the Odaimoku. The buddhas of past, present, and future are included in this. Shakyamuni Buddha represents the Buddhas of the present, while Many Treasures Tathagata represents all the Buddhas of the past, and the sentient beings of the other nine worlds are the Buddhas of the future. This shows that all the Buddhas of past, present, and future are unified with the Odaimoku.
Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the GohonzonThe Need to Chant Odaimoku
Even though you know about the Odaimoku, if you don’t chant Odaimoku, it is the same as if you don’t know the Odaimoku at all. You will only come to realize how wonderful and beneficial the Odaimoku is after you have chanted it. Please open your mind peacefully and try to chant, even ten times a day, faithfully. Odaimoku is the key to open your stored treasures. Please keep this precious key with you always.
Spring WritingsFaith and Practice and Doubts
Eventually as our practice matures and we have many experiences in faith overcoming obstacles and making changes at the core of our life, our faith becomes more unshakable and it becomes more difficult to become discouraged. I say more difficult but we should never become complacent, as it is always possible to become sidetracked or discouraged. In fact if we take our faith and practice for granted it is most certain to happen. But indeed, over time our doubts do decrease as we accumulate a variety of experiences in our faith and practice. It is our intention to eventually create the kind of firm foundation of faith and practice of the Dharma that removes all of our doubts.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra