This ideal world, or “Buddha world” does not refer only to a world we enter after death. It is possible to enter it during our lifetime. Therefore we use the words “Becoming a Buddha” for someone who is still alive. Nichiren Shonin said, “The true way of a Bodhisattva or Buddha is to strive to achieve the Buddha world.”
Spring WritingsQuotes
Equality Under the Lotus Sutra
In the Simile of the Herbs, the one teaching – the single Buddha vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sutra – is applicable to all regardless of the many things we tend to hold up as measures of difference and inequality. When it comes to the teachings of the Buddha there can be no mistaking the divisions of class, education, economic standing, race, gender, sexual orientation, and on the list could go, these things do not matter when it comes to who is able to benefit from practicing the Lotus Sutra.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraCling-Free Emptiness
Awareness of Emptiness is awareness of the constantly changing nature of life. To understand Emptiness is to understand that there is nothing that we can hold on to forever, and to see that we must not cling to things like money, power, sexual pleasure, fame, the company of loved ones, or even our own lives. All of these things are temporary and do not possess a fixed or eternal nature. On the other hand, through Emptiness we can learn to appreciate things and people as the dynamic and changing things that they are. When we do not cling to the good things in life, we are finally free to appreciate them for what they are for as long as they do grace our lives, but without being burdened by the fear of their eventual dissolution.
Lotus SeedsThe Precept Platform
Nichiren Shonin’s teachings indicate that the precept platform can be anywhere one practices chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.
Awakening to the LotusBecoming Enlightened
Becoming enlightened is not about winning some competition against something or someone. It is about overcoming your own suffering and leading by example. Becoming enlightened is about becoming victorious over illusion, victorious over suffering, victorious over self-doubt, and becoming victorious in life.
The Magic City: Studying the Lotus SutraPraying
In Buddhism and especially as we chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo we are engaging not in this manner of praying but from the perspective of praising the Lotus Sutra, of celebrating the truths contained within this teaching of the Buddha, and of rejoicing. Our praying is not about something coming into our lives or something being done for our lives, our praying is about the changes that take place in our lives because of our practice and our celebration of those changes.
Practice GuideLittle Things
I read something the other day that said it isn’t the big things that really make us happy or unhappy. It is little things. Think about this. The research found that for example on our jobs we gain a sense of happiness or dissatisfaction more from the accumulation of little events throughout the day or days, than we do from one or two major events. We have a sense of our general disposition more from viewing a series of events than from one event. Today we are able to practice Buddhism and the Lotus Sutra because we have created the causes to do so. And by the same method, the accumulation of the merits of our practice we can manifest the Buddha potential within our lives.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1The Challenge in Eliminating Suffering
It is true that, on the one hand, the elimination of suffering does not lie in the acquisition of more material things. It also does not lie in the abhorrence or avoidance of the material. The Buddha chose the middle path. This path turned away from asceticism and from hedonism. The middle path is one of finding the way between the two, without ignoring either. This is our challenge.
Physician's Good MedicineRecords of the True Buddhist Life
Now Nichiren interpreted the “Consummation and Perpetuation” in a totally different manner. The inspiration he derived from these narratives was a spirit of emulation, instead of mere piety; the life of the true Buddhist was to be lived in emulating the courageous and compassionate spirit of the divine beings and the vows they uttered. This was due to Nichiren’s peculiar conception of the whole scripture, namely, that it was a book not to be read simply by the eyes, or merely understood by the mind, but to be “read by the body,” that is, by flesh and blood. The truths revealed therein were, for Nichiren, the records of the true Buddhist life, which was realized by the saints of the past, and therefore to be striven for by all Buddhists of the coming ages.
Nichiren, The Buddhist ProphetSeeing This World As It Is
[O]ne must not deplore the real world because of the degradation and disorder. Don’t think about a next unknown world, even heaven, because what is definite is that we must live in this sensuous real world now. We should see this world as it is, and make more effort to change it into the ideal world, the “Buddha’s World.” Even if we don’t achieve this during our lifetimes, after death we will enter into the Buddha world automatically.
Spring Writings