The etymological meaning of the Sanskrit term sūtra refers to vertical threads of a textile or vertical, and such meaning is extended by Buddhists to refer to scriptures that record the teaching of the Buddha. Thus, sūtra can mean line, string, scripture, or the verse or sentences, which convey the teachings of the Buddha, or one of the twelve divisions of scripture. When sūtra is transcribed as Hsiu-to-luo or translated into Chinese Ching, it refers to the scriptures that convey the Buddha’s teaching: in a narrow sense, one of the twelve literary styles of the Buddhist canon; in a broad sense, one of the Tripiṭaka, i.e., the whole scripture. In line with the meanings such as vertical, line, string, sūtra is translated into Chinese as Ch’i-ching, meaning “to conform to,” which is traditionally understood as suggesting that the Buddha ‘s teaching conforms to the truth and is suitable for all people. Ch’i is traditionally interpreted as that which penetrates and embraces. Sūtras are thought to penetrate into the truth and embrace all sentient beings. … According to these various meanings of the word sūtra, Chih-i summarizes five meanings in view of the sūtra being untranslatable (e.g. foundation, slight emanation, gushing spring, line marker, garlands being tied together) and five meanings in view of the sūtra being translatable (e.g. Ching, tallying with, foundation, thread, and wholesome teaching). (Vol. 2, Page 403)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismQuotes
The Influence of Spirits
Although we don’t know our ancestors as specific individuals, they know us verv well. Therefore, it is just as a mother is concerned for her children. If great grandchildren or descendants ignore them and do not take care of them by holding a Memorial Service, how sad they are. Nichiren Shonin said, “Even though we take our body from our parents, if, after your parent’s death, you do not take care of them and your ancestors no memorial service, no prayers, no respect – do you think that your deceased parents cannot say anything? They become malevolent spirits and curse not only you but also your children and grandchildren, as well as future descendants.”
Cursing means they will punish you with bad things. In fact, it is not a rare case where malevolent spirits have cursed a descendant, for example causing them to meet with a mishap, accident, sickness, domestic discord, relationship trouble, etc. We tend to see and think of everything based on only visible things, never thinking of spiritual influences. You might not believe it, but there are many cases connected with spiritual influences. In fact, most of the things that happen around us are affected by spirits.
Summer WritingsEncompassing All Views of the Buddha
Śākyamuni is lord of this threefold world; all lesser rulers hold their territories in fief from him. With this concept of the Buddha, Nichiren asserted the superior authority of the Lotus Sūtra over that of worldly rule. Śākyamuni also presides over a pure land, the Pure Land of Eagle Peak (ryōzenjōdo), and Nichiren often assured his followers that their deceased relatives were with Śākyamuni there. In short, Nichiren’s concept of the object of worship not only posits a Buddha who encompasses all things, but itself attempts to encompass all views of the Buddha. (Page 274)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismThe Final Teaching of the Buddha
In Chih-i’s system, various types of the Buddha’s teaching are arranged in an ascending order, so that beings can be led to receive the final teaching of the Buddha. To Chih-i, the final teaching of the Buddha should express the most profound doctrine, and the Origin in which the eternal Buddha abides can be regarded precisely as such a doctrine, whereby the Lotus Sūtra is legitimized to be the final teaching of the Buddha. (Vol. 2, Page 402)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismNichiren’s Conception of the Buddha
Nichiren’s writings as a whole … present a spectrum of concepts of the Buddha, drawing on the implications, not only of the Dharma body, but of the recompense and manifested bodies as well. Nichiren’s Buddha is at once both immanent and transcendent. He is “our blood and flesh”; his practices and resulting virtues are “our bones and marrow.” Yet at the same time, he is “parent, teacher, and sovereign” to all beings of this, the Sahā world. In this connection, Nichiren also stressed that Śākyamuni was only the Buddha who, out of compassion for its beings, had actually appeared in this world—a frequent point in Nichiren’s criticism of devotion to Amida. (Page 274)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismThe Cause and Effect of Buddhahood
For Chih-i, Buddhism consists of the cause and effect of Buddhahood. Looking at the cause and effect separately, the cause of Buddhahood concerns the Buddha’s self-cultivation of striving for Buddhahood, and the effect of Buddhahood concerns the Buddha’s activity of transforming others as the result of his attainment of Buddhahood. Hence, the Origin is considered by Chih-i as the cause of Buddhahood, and the Traces the effect of Buddhahood. However, Chih-i emphasizes that true reality is of no distinction between cause and effect. The cause and effect are contained in each other. The cause decides the realization of effect, and the effect is the manifestation of the cause. Since cause and effect are identical, the cause and effect of Buddhahood are complete in both the Origin and the Traces. (Vol. 2, Page 400-401)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismSelf-Centered Desires and Awakening
Another important principle of non-dualism taught in Nichiren Buddhism is that self-centered desires, which afflict our lives and create so much unhappiness, are themselves awakening. At first glance, this seems not only absurd but dangerous. Indeed, this principle has caused much misunderstanding and mischief down through the ages. Various people have misused this idea as a justification for indulging their egotism and hedonistic impulses in the name of awakened activity. However, when this principle is understood properly, it provides us with a healthy and productive way of relating to our own emotions and needs.
Lotus SeedsNichiren’s Great Mandala
In addition to its meaning as ultimate truth or principle, Nichiren also used the term honzon in its more conventional sense to mean a physical icon forming the focus of practice, in this case, Lotus Sūtra recitation and the chanting of the daimoku. His honzon in this sense had plural forms. During Nichiren’s lifetime, the honzon most commonly used by his followers appears to have been a calligraphic mandala of his own devising, which he referred to variously as the “great mandala” (daimandara) or the “revered object of worship” (gohonzon). On this mandala the daimoku is written vertically as a central inscription, flanked by the names of Śākyamuni, Many Jewels, and the other personages who were present at the assembly in open space above Eagle Peak where the core of the origin teaching of the Lotus Sūtra was expounded. (Page 274)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismExperiencing All Minds and All Dharmas
Contemplating mind by going through dharmas (Lei Li-fa Wei-kuan)
Sūtra that is explained by going through dharmas can be approached by contemplating mind. How is this mind contemplation accomplished? This is to identify two opposite aspects as one identical entity, which is of no-distinction of neither this nor that. To be specific, Chih-i points out that if a Mahāyānist contemplates his mind, he contemplates evil mind as being non-evil mind. This means that evil is identical to good and is also neither evil nor good. He contemplates wholesome mind as being non-wholesome mind. This means that non-wholesome is identified with evil and is also neither wholesome nor evil. He contemplates one mind being identical to three minds (i.e., Emptiness, the Provisional Existence, and the Middle Way). With these three kinds of mind that embrace all dharmas, he experiences all minds and all dharmas. In other words, all dharmas are contained in one mind, and mind reflects the true reality that consists of three aspects (Emptiness, the Provisionality, and the Middle Way). One and three is identical to each other, given that three aspects describe one true reality, and one reality consists of three aspects. Such a way of contemplating mind is the foundation for all words, principle and practices. By contemplating mind, each of the meanings sūtra contains can all be embraced by the mind. (Vol. 2, Page 399)
The Object of Worship
Nichiren uses the term “object of worship” or honzon to mean not only a physical icon used for ritual, contemplative, or devotional purposes— the common meaning of the word in his time—but also the principle or reality which that object is said to embody. His various writings explain the object of worship in this latter sense from two perspectives. From one view, it is the original Buddha. For example:
[The people of] Japan as well as all of Jambudvīpa should as one take Śākyamuni, master of teachings, of the origin teaching as their object of worship – that is to say, Śākyamuni and Many-Jewels within the jeweled stūpa along with all the other Buddhas, flanked by Superior Conduct and the others of the four bodhisattvas.
In other writings, the object of worship is said to be the Lotus Sūtra, or Myōhō-renge-kyō, itself:
Question: What should ordinary worldlings in the evil days of the last age take as their object of worship?
Answer: They should make the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra their object of worship. …
Question: . . . Why do you not take Śākyamuni as the object of worship, but instead, the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra?
Answer: … This is not my interpretation. Lord Śākyamuni and T’ient’ai [Chih-i] both established the Lotus Sūtra as the object of worship…. The reason is that the Lotus Sūtra is the father and mother of Śākyamuni and the eye of all Buddhas. Śākyamuni, Dainichi, and the Buddhas of the ten directions were all born of the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore I now take as object of worship that which gives birth [to the Buddhas.]
These two views at first seem contradictory. However, if “Säkyamuni” in the passage first cited is understood to be the eternal Buddha, the apparent contradiction dissolves. The eternal Säkyamuni and the Dharma (i.e., the daimoku of the Lotus Sütra) are two aspects of an identity; the “three thousand worlds in one thought-moment as actuality” for Nichiren describes both the insigh t of the original Buddha and the truth by which that Buddha is awakened.