Category Archives: WONS

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Blue Lotus Flowers

[T]he lotus flowers, the namesake of the Lotus Sūtra, are the greatest of the panaceas. An evil king Virūḍhaka in ancient India murdered more than 500 women who were close to the Buddha. The Buddha sent his disciple Ānanda to Mt. Himalaya to get a blue lotus flower, with which He touched the murdered women, thereby they were resuscitated and reborn in the Trāyastriṃsá Heaven seven days later. The lotus flowers are so wonderful that the Buddha likened them to the Wonderful Dharma.

Myōshin-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Response to My Lady, the Nun Myōshin Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 103

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d17b, WONS

The Most Serious Sins Ever to Appear

There will be a person who hates the Buddha physically, verbally, and mentally for as long as a kalpa like Devadatta. The Buddha was the crown prince of King Śuddhodana while Devadatta was a prince of Doroṇodana, and therefore the Buddha and Devadatta were first cousins. In the past as well as today, among sages as well as ordinary people, a breakdown of human relations arises more often from the dispute over women than anything else. When Śākyamuni Buddha was Crown Prince Siddhārtha, Devadatta was also a crown prince. Minister Ya’o had a daughter called Yaśodharā, who was the most beautiful girl in the whole India, and whose beauty was known throughout the world. As Crown Prince Siddhārtha and Devadatta fought for her hand, their relationship turned sour.

Thereafter, Prince Siddhārtha entered the priesthood becoming the Buddha, and Devadatta, too, entered the priesthood under the guidance of Monk Sūdra. As the Buddha observed the 250 precepts and maintained the 3,000 proper demeanors of a priest, all the heavenly beings and the people adored and respected Him. However, no one respected Devadatta, causing him to ponder over a way to win a better reputation than the Buddha among the people in the world. In the end Devadatta began to assert that there were five points that proved that he should be more respected than the Buddha. It is preached in the Fourfold Precepts that a Buddhist monk should always 1. wear a robe made of rags; 2. beg for alms; 3. take a meal only once a day; 4. sit in the open; and 5. not take the five kinds of seasoning such as salt. Thus Devadatta publicized them saying, “The Buddha accepts the robes donated by people, but I wear a robe made of ragged pieces of cloth; the Buddha takes the food offered by people, but I have to beg for alms to feed myself; the Buddha has a meal three times a day, but I have it only once a day; the Buddha takes a rest in the shade of a rock or under a tree, but I, Devadatta, always sit in the open during the day; and the Buddha sometimes tastes the five kinds of flavors (sour, bitter, sweet, peppery, and salty), but I have never taken them.” As a result the people in the world were led to believe that Devadatta was incomparably superior to the Buddha.

While Devadatta was trying to demean the Buddha’s reputation, King Bimbisāra in Magadha, a follower of the Buddha, was sending 500 wagons full of donations to the Buddha and his disciples every day without fail for several years. Envious of this royal donation, Devadatta incited Crown Prince Ajātaśatru to murder his own father, King Bimbisāra, while he himself tried to kill the Buddha by hurling a rock at Him. His act of trying to kill the Buddha with a rock constitutes committing the sin of an evil physical act; while accusing the Buddha of deceiving people is an evil verbal act; and thinking of the Buddha as a loathsome enemy from a previous life is an evil mental act. The evil acts of Devadatta, consisting of physical, verbal, and mental acts, are the most serious sins ever to appear.

Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 43-44

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Don’t Give Up the Lotus Sūtra

If those of high rank reproach you, view them as formidable enemies of the Lotus Sūtra. Consider the opportunity as rare as seeing an udumbara that blooms only once in 1,000 years or a blind turtle by chance encountering a log floating in the ocean and respond with confidence. Even a person who possesses a huge fief as large as 1,000 or 10,000 chō may have his land confiscated and lose his life over a small matter. If you must lay down your life for the sake of the Lotus Sūtra, have no regrets. Once Bodhisattva Medicine King practiced Buddhism by burning his own body for as long as 1,200 years before becoming a Buddha. King Suzudan allowed his body to be Asita’s seat for 1,000 years and served him. With those merits, he became the Śākyamuni we know Buddha today.

Therefore, make no mistake. If you give up the Lotus Sūtra now, you will become a laughing stock.

Ueno-dono Gohenji, A Reply to Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 113

d9b, d19b, d25b, d30b, d32b, WONS

Practicers of the Lotus Sūtra Are Not Found Anywhere

Some raise the question:

Although there seem to be the three kinds of enemies of the Lotus in this world today, practicers of the Lotus Sūtra are not found anywhere. It is difficult for us to call you a practicer of the Lotus because there is a great deal of discrepancy. Affirming divine intervention in favor of a practicer, the Lotus Sūtra in the chapter on the “Peaceful Practices” says: “Heavenly servants will come to serve the man who upholds the Lotus Sūtra so that swords and sticks will not injure him, and poisons will not harm him;” in the fifth chapter on “The Simile of Herbs,” “His life in this world will be peaceful and he will be reborn in a better place in the future;” in the 26th chapter on “Mystic Phrases,” “Should anyone hate and speak ill of the man who upholds the Lotus Sūtra, his mouth will be sealed—anyone who does harm to him will have his head split into seven pieces like a twig of an arjaka tree;” and in the 28th chapter on the “Encouragement of the Universal Sage Bodhisattva,” “He will be rewarded with happiness in this present life;” and “If anyone, upon seeing a man upholding this sūtra, exposes his faults, justifiably or not, such a man will be afflicted with white leprosy.”

They have a good reason to doubt me. So I will answer their question to dispel their doubt. It is said in the “Never-Despising Bodhisattva” (20th) chapter of the Lotus Sūtra that the practicer of the Lotus will be spoken ill of, despised, or struck with sticks, tiles, and stones; while it is said in the Nirvana Sūtra that such a man will be killed or hurt. The Lotus Sūtra also states in the “Teacher of the Dharma” (10th) chapter that those who spread it will be the target of much hatred and jealousy even during the lifetime of the Buddha.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 103

d13b, WONS, 2buddhas, LS32 Text

Buddha Nature As Three Causes

Commentators have often interpreted the jewel in the garment as the “buddha nature.” The Lotus Sūtra does not contain the precise term “buddha nature” (Ch. foxing; J. busshō), perhaps because it had not yet come into use in Indian Buddhism. However, the Lotus clearly recognizes the buddha potential in all beings, and Chinese exegetes argued that the concept is there, if not the term itself. The expression “buddha nature” was well known in medieval Japan, and Nichiren uses it occasionally, but he appears to have preferred “buddha realm” (among the ten realms) or “seed of buddhahood” (J. busshu). His use of the latter term is quite different from the Hossō idea of untainted seeds in the storehouse consciousness. … “Buddha nature” and “seed of buddhahood” are similar in that both indicate the potential for buddhahood, supreme enlightenment, but where “nature” is constant and unchanging, “seeds” can lie dormant, even rot, or germinate and grow in response to conditions; as the Lotus Sūtra says, “The buddha-seeds germinate through dependent origination.” Thus, Nichiren may have used the term “seed of buddhahood” because he wished to portray buddhahood, not as an abstract potential, but as manifested through specific causes and conditions, that is, by embracing a specific form of practice. In that regard, he sometimes borrows Zhiyi’s concept of the “buddha nature as three causes”: (1) the innate potential for buddhahood; (2) the wisdom that illuminates it; and (3) the practice that manifests that wisdom. For Nichiren, that practice was chanting Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō, the act that manifests the jewel of the buddha realm hidden within the nine realms of ordinary people. Sometimes he refers to the daimoku itself as the “seed of buddhahood.”

Two Buddhas, p126-127
WONS

Upholders of Lotus Sūtra Are Envied by the King of Devils

Deer are killed by men because the meat is tasty, and tortoises lose their lives because of their good fat. Attractive women are envied by many others. Those who govern a country must worry about defending it against foreign forces, while property owners are susceptible to the dangers of life. Likewise, upholders of the Lotus Sūtra with the assurance of achieving Buddhahood are envied by the king of devils in the Sixth Heaven, who is the lord of the triple world of the unenlightened. It is preached in scriptures that this king of devils will haunt kings, parents, wives and children and envy the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra in the same way as how people fall victims to epidemics without seeing the disease or how old sake can make people dead drunk without them realizing it. This is exactly what is happening in the world today. I have done nothing wrong, but simply because I chant Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, I have been hated by people as well as the rulers of Japan for more than twenty years, and chased out of residences and exiled twice until, finally, I retreated to this mountain.

Shuju Onfurumai Gosho, Reminiscences: from Tatsunokuchi to Minobu, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 45

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Imagine the Wonders that Occur with the Daimoku

QUESTION: You cannot burn anything by simply uttering the word, “fire,” repeatedly. Indeed, you have to use your hand in order to burn something. You cannot quench your thirst by just saying “water.” You need to use your mouth for drinking water. The same is true with the daimoku. I doubt it is possible to escape from the evil realms through the mere chanting of the daimoku, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. Isn’t it necessary to understand what the daimoku means and what it entails?

ANSWER: When the sinew of a lion is used as a string for a koto, the sound is so powerful that all the strings made from other threads will snap. And when hearing of the sourness of a pickled plum, saliva fills the mouth without eating it. Such mysterious things happen even in worldly affairs. How then can it be denied that something wonderful happens with the Lotus Sūtra? Even a parrot is said to have been reborn in the realm of heavenly beings just by repeating the name of the Four Noble Truths of the Hinayāna teaching. Moreover, a man who dedicated himself to the Three Treasures – the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṃgha – was able to escape the attack of a monster fish in the ocean. Imagine the wonders that would occur with the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, the essence of all the 80,000 teachings, and the eye of all the Buddhas. Do you still hold the belief that you cannot escape the four kinds of evil realms by just chanting the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra?

Hokke Daimoku Shō, Treatise on the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 36

WONS

Revelations of the Lotus Sūtra

Revealing the single path to Buddhahood in the Āgama sūtras, the Lotus Sūtra preaches in chapter two, “Expedients,” “I expounded various Hinayāna sūtras according to the capacities of all living beings. They are the entrance to the Mahāyāna teaching.” Revealing the single path to Buddhahood in the Flower Garland Sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra states in chapter 16, “The Life Span of the Buddha,” “The gods, men and asura in the world think that I, Śākyamuni Buddha, left the palace of the Śākyas, sat at the place of enlightenment not far from the City of Gayā, and attained Buddhahood. To tell the truth, however, it has been innumerable kalpa (aeons) since I attained Buddhahood.” In the case of the Wisdom Sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra states 18 types of voidness in chapter 14, “Peaceful Practices”—the voidness which is expounded in the Wisdom Sūtra is included in the Lotus Sūtra. In the case of the Sūtra of Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life, the Lotus Sūtra preaches the doctrine of reaching the Pure Land of Peace in chapter 23, “Anyone who hears this sūtra and acts according to its teaching will be reborn in this Pure Land upon death.” As for practicing virtuous deeds with distracted minds, the Lotus Sūtra reveals the single path by saying in chapter 2, “Expedients,” “Those who chanted just once ‘Namu Buddha’ without concentration in mind, have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha.” For all living beings, the Lotus Sūtra says in chapter 3, “A Parable,” “This triple world is My property. All living beings therein are My children.” For the non-Buddhist teachings and writings, the Lotus Sūtra says in chapter 19, “The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma,” “When they expound the scriptures of non-Buddhist schools, or give advice to the government, or teach the way to earn a livelihood, they will be able to be in accord with the right teachings of the Buddha.” Passages that describe the revelation of the single path to Buddhahood in the Tuṣita Heaven or of gods and men are too numerous to write them all down here.

Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-I, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 93

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‘Three Kinds of Enemies of the Lotus Sūtra’

Exactly as the Buddha predicted, there are “three kinds of enemies of the Lotus Sūtra” all over Japan. Nevertheless, we don’t see any practicers of the Lotus Sūtra. Does this mean that the words of the Buddha have been proved untrue? Could this be? After all, who has been abused and despised by the ignorant people for the sake of the Lotus Sūtra? Which monk has been brought to the attention of court nobles and warriors in power? Which monk has often been exiled as predicted in the sūtra? No such man exists in Japan, except for Nichiren. However, as Nichiren has been abandoned by the gods, he probably is not a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. Then, who would be a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra to realize the Buddha’s prediction?

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 98

WONS, Kaleidoscope

‘The Śākyamuni of Subtle Enlightenment Is Our Blood and Our Flesh’

Quote

The accent on the world of enlightenment represented by chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra seems at first to concentrate on the Buddha and on the nature of buddhahood. Yet, the exegesis elaborated within the T’ien-t’ai/Tendai tradition develops a religious view which, in various ways, addresses the position of humanity: a true Buddha cannot exist without human beings (because it is from among humans that a Buddha emerges) and human beings cannot exist without a Buddha (because the Buddha represents the essence of humanity).

Nichiren asserts that the Buddha-world is the only reality and at the same time restores the historical perspective as the only context in which the dimension of the absolute open to human beings is concretized. The Buddha’s enlightenment, that is, “the merits acquired by Śākyamuni through his practice,” is epitomized in the five characters of the title of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, if someone “receives and keeps” the sutra and obtains access to its meaning through the recitation of the title, they will be endowed with these merits. “The Śākyamuni of subtle enlightenment is our blood and our flesh. The merits of his practice, are they not our bones and marrow?” Nichiren writes. Buddhahood becomes a reality of history, not just in history. Nichiren’s emphasis is not on the absolute per se, but on the relative which has to change to become absolute. A shift occurs from the three worlds of universal time (past-present-future) to the actual historical moment, and this gives a social dimension to Nichiren Buddhism. The endowment with the Buddha-world, however, is the exclusive prerogative of the “practitioner of the Lotus”: “One who keeps the sutra is endowed with the Buddha-bodies and performs Buddha’s acts.” The emphasis on a concrete realization of original time leads to the interpretation of the truth represented by the discourse of the Lotus Sutra as a truth which does not exist beyond the confines of history.
A Buddhist Kaleidoscope; Lucia Dolce, Between Duration and Eternity: Hermeneutics of the ‘Ancient Buddha’ of the Lotus Sutra in Chih-i and Nichiren, Page 235