Category Archives: WONS

WONS

The Evil Ban Be Turned to the Just with Myō

The word “hell” can be defined “to dig the ground.” It is called “hell” because dead people are buried in the ground. In the same way, we can say that the wife, children, and relatives carrying the corpse to a crematory are jailors of hell; the grief-stricken cries of wife and children are the scolding voices of jailors; and the crematory flames are the flames of the Hell of Incessant Suffering. A two-and-a-half foot cane seems like a jailor’s iron stick; horses and cows look like horse-head demons and cow-head demons; the hole for burying the dead corresponds to the Hell of Incessant Suffering; eighty-four thousand desires are eighty-four thousand iron pots in Hell; to leave home is a journey of death; and the river by which filial children mourn equals the Styx, the river of death. It would be foolish for you to look for hell in places other than your own mind!

However, for those who uphold the Lotus Sutra, all this is reversed. Hell will be altered to the Pure Land of Eternally Tranquil Light; the flames in hell will be changed into the light of wisdom of the Buddha of the Reward-body; the dead will be changed into the Buddha of Dharma-body; the fiery hole of hell will be changed to the compassion of the Buddha of the Accommodative-body; the cane of the dead will become the cane of the true entity of all phenomena; the Styx will become the ocean of Nirvana; and the journey of death will become the doctrine of “earthly desires turned to enlightenment.”

Understand this, please. To understand this is “immediate attainment of Buddhahood with the present body” or “opening the treasury of Buddha-Wisdom.” This is exactly how Devadatta, the Evil changed the Hell of Incessant Suffering into the Pure Land of Tranquil Light, and a daughter of the Dragon King became a Buddha in an instant. According to the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, the evil can be turned to the just. This is solely attributable to the merit of one character “myō.”

Ueno-dono Goke-ama Go-henji, A Response to the Nun, Widow of Lord Ueno, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 50-52

d27b, WONS

The Light of One Character of the Lotus Sūtra

The Lotus Sūtra is like the moon. The rays of light emitted by stars reach the distance of half a mile, 1, 10, or 20 miles at the most whereas the rays of the moon light reach as far as 1,000 miles or so. Even if all stars in the four continents and all the worlds throughout the universe, 100, 1,000, 10,000, 1,000,000 in number, are put together, they are not comparable to the moon in brightness. It goes without saying that one star can never be compared to the moon in brightness. Likewise, all the sūtras such as the Flower Garland Sūtra, the Āgama sūtras, the Hōdō sūtras, the Wisdom Sūtra, the Nirvana Sūtra, the Great Sun Buddha Sūtra, and the Sūtra of Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life put together, do not amount to one character of the Lotus Sūtra.

Yakuō-bon Tokui-shō, The Essence of the “Medicine King Bodhisattva” Chapter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 30-31

WONS

The Ten Objects Ten Stage Meditation

QUESTION: Why is the Wonderful Dharma called the “three thousand existences contained in one thought”?

ANSWER: Grand Master T’ien-t’ai, after perceiving the “three thousand existences contained in one thought” doctrine, expounded many teachings such as the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra (consisting of ten fascicles); the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra (consisting of ten fascicles); the Samadhi of Bodhicitta; the Shōshi-kan (Introduction to Meditation); the Annotations on the Vimalakirti Sūtra; the Commentary on How to Eliminate Four Misconceptions of Body, Feeling, Mind, and Self; and the Annotations on the Doctrine of the Dhyānapāramitā; without explaining the “three thousand existences contained in one thought” doctrine. What he expounded were only the Ten Realms, the Hundred Realms, and the Thousand Aspects. However, there exists the Great Concentration and Insight, ten fascicles, which he expounded to a disciple, Grand Master Chang-an, in the summer of the fourth month when he was fifty-seven years old, at the Yü-ch’üan-ssŭ Temple in Ching-chou. What he wrote in the first four fascicles was only concerned with such doctrines as the Six Stages in the practice of the Lotus Sūtra and Buddhahood, the Four Kinds of Meditation, and not the “three thousand existences contained in one thought” doctrine. Beginning with the fifth fascicle, however, he discusses the Ten Objects Ten Stage Meditation, revealing the “three thousand existences contained in one thought” doctrine for the first time. Grand Master Miao-lê recommended this to people of the Latter Age of Degeneration, saying in his Annotations on the Great Concentration and Insight, “Grand Master T’ien-t’ai’s doctrine of spiritual contemplation is based on the ‘three thousand existences contained in one thought’ doctrine. … Those who seek his teaching must not think that there is an ultimate doctrine of T’ien-t’ai’s except this.” The numerous doctrines expounded in the 60 fascicles and 3,000 pages of writings on the Lotus Sūtra as interpreted by T’ien-t’ai (three major writings of T’ien-t’ai, 10 fascicles each, and Miao-lé’s annotations on them, also 10 fascicles each) are not enough to perceive the true intent of Grand Master T’ien-t’ai. Instead, we should master just the first several lines (on the “3 ,000 existences contained in one thought” doctrine) in the fifth fascicle of the Great Concentration and Insight.

Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-I, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 89-90

d20b, WONS

The Answer to the Most Important Question

Prince Shōtoku of Japan was a son of Emperor Yōmei, the thirty-second sovereign of Japan. When he was six years old, elderly men coming from Paekche, Koguryō, and T’ang China paid homage to the Emperor. The six-year old crown prince declared that they were his disciples, and these elderly men holding hands in reverence said that the crown prince was their teacher. It was indeed a wonder. It is also said in a non-Buddhist work that a certain man, while walking on a street, came across a young man about thirty years old beating an old man of about eighty years old on the street. Asked what was the matter, the story says, the young man answered that this elderly man he was beating was his son. The relationship between Śākyamuni and great bodhisattvas from underground is similar to these stories.

Therefore, Bodhisattva Maitreya and others asked a question, “World Honored One! When You were the crown prince, You left the palace of the Śākya clan and sat in meditation under the bodhi tree not far from the town of Gayā until You attained perfect enlightenment. It has only been forty years or so. How could You, World Honored One, achieve so much in so short a time?”

For forty years or so starting with the Flower Garland Sūtra, bodhisattvas have asked questions in every assembly to dispel the doubts all beings might have had. This, however, is the most serious question of all. In the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning, for instance, 80,000 bodhisattvas such as Great Adornment put forth a serious question concerning the apparent discrepancy in time required for attaining Buddhahood. While it has been said in the sūtras preached in the first forty years or so that it would take many kalpa, now it was preached that one could obtain Buddhahood quickly through the teaching of the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning. However serious the question of Great Adornment Bodhisattva was, that of Maitreya was more crucial. …

The thirty-six questions asked by Kāśyapa in the Nirvana Sūtra were also not as serious as the one asked by Maitreya. If the Buddha had not squarely answered the question to dispel this doubt, all the holy teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime would have appeared to be as worthless as bubbles, and the questions of everyone would have remained unanswered. Here lies the importance of the sixteenth chapter, “The Life Span of the Buddha,” of the Lotus Sūtra.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 72-74

WONS

Karmic Bonds Formed in the Past

When I was banished to Sado in the northern sea, people there, both priests and laity, hated me even more than did the men and women of Sagami Province. Abandoned in the wilderness and exposed to the snow, I survived by eating grass. I felt as though I were personally experiencing the sufferings of Su-wu, who survived by eating snow while living in captivity in the land of northern barbarians for nineteen years. Or of Li Ling, who was imprisoned in a rocky cave on the shore of the northern sea for six years. I suffered this ordeal not because of any fault of my own but solely because of my desire to save the country of Japan.

However, while I was exiled in Sado Province, you, my Lady Nun, and your husband, Lord Lay Priest, avoiding the watchful eyes of others, at times brought me food by night. At other times you were both ready to give your lives for my sake without fearing punishment from the provincial officials. Therefore, though life on Sado was harsh, I was loath to leave the island, feeling as if I was leaving my heart behind, and I seemed to be pulled back with each step I took.

I wonder what kind of karmic bond we had formed in the past. Just when I was thinking how mysterious it was, you sent your most precious husband as your messenger to this distant place. I thought it must have been a dream or an illusion. Even though I cannot see you, I am convinced that your heart remains here with me. Whenever you yearn for me, Nichiren, look toward the sun which rises in the morning and the moon which appears in the evening. I will inevitably be reflected in the sun and the moon. In the next life, let us meet in the Pure Land of Mt. Sacred Eagle. Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.

Kō no Ama Gozen Gosho, A Letter to My lady, the Nun Kō, the Nun Myōichi, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 166-167

d21b, WONS

The Person who has Lost his Right Mind

The reason why such śrāvaka disciples as Śāripūtra and Maudgalyāyana were in the Hell of Incessant Suffering for as long as 3,000 or 500 (million) dust-particle kalpa was not because they committed the crime of ten evil acts, five rebellious sins, or eight rebellious sins such as treason. It was simply because they met “evil friends,” abandoned the faith in the Lotus Sūtra, and moved to the faith in the expedient teachings. Grand Master T’ien-t’ai explains this in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 6, “Upon meeting an ‘evil friend,’ people lose their right mind.” The right mind refers to the mind of putting faith in the Lotus Sūtra, and losing the right mind means abandoning the faith in the Lotus Sūtra and putting faith in other sūtras. Therefore, it is preached in the Lotus Sūtra, “The Life Span of the Buddha” chapter, “No matter how effective a medicine is, such a person will never take it.” This is explained by Grand Master T’ien-ta’i in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 6, “A person who has lost his right mind will not take a good medicine, no matter how effective it is, choosing instead to roam about the street of life and death, and run away to foreign countries.”

Kyōdai-shō, A Letter to the Ikegami Brothers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 75

LS32, WONS

Day 27

Day 27 concludes Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Day 27 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the merits given to a woman who hears and keeps this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva, we learn this sūtra is a good medicine for the diseases of the people.

“Anyone who rejoices at hearing this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva and praises [this chapter], saying, ‘Excellent,’ will be able to emit the fragrance of the blue lotus flower from his mouth and the fragrance of the candana of Mt. Ox-Head from his pores, and obtain these merits in his present life.

“Therefore, Star-King-Flower! I will transmit this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva to you. Propagate this chapter throughout the Jambudvipa in the later five hundred years after my extinction lest it should be lost, and lest Mara the Evil One, the followers of Mara, gods, dragons, yakṣas, and kumbha]das should take advantage [of the weak points of the people of the Jambudvipa].

“Star-King-Flower! Protect this sūtra by your supernatural powers! Why is that? It is because this sūtra is a good medicine for the diseases of the people of the Jambudvipa. The patient who hears this sūtra will be cured of his disease at once. He will not grow old or die.

Nichiren writes in his Testimony to the Prediction of the Buddha:

The Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 7 (chapter 23, “Previous Life of the Medicine King Bodhisattva”), reads: “Propagate this sūtra throughout this world (Jambudvīpa) in the last 500-year period, namely at the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration, lest it should become extinct.”

Coming across this passage, I once lamented saying: “It has already been more than 2,220 years since Śākyamuni Buddha passed away. For what sin of mine was I neither born during the Buddha’s lifetime, nor fortunate enough to see the Four Reliances, four ranks of bodhisattva teachers whom people relied on after the death of the Buddha, in the Age of the True Dharma, or such great masters as T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō in the Age of the Semblance Dharma?”

Thinking it over, however, I was elated and said to myself, “How lucky I am to have been born in the last 500-year period and encounter the true teaching of the Lotus Sūtra!”

Kembutsu Mirai-ki, Testimony to the Prediction of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 169

WONS

Beginner Practice

Fascicle nine of the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra says, “The beginner is afraid that getting drawn into the myriad activities that are supporting conditions will hinder their practice of right action. At this time, they should solely uphold this sūtra which is the best kind of offering. By dispensing with other matters in order to uphold the principle they will gain enormous benefit.”

This commentary says that the supporting conditions are the first five of the six bodhisattva practices. A beginner who tries to practice them as well will hinder his own right action of faith. For instance, if a small boat overloaded with treasure tries to cross the ocean, both the boat and the treasure will sink. The phrase “solely uphold this sūtra” does not even refer to the whole sūtra but only to upholding the daimoku, not any other passages. If even reading and writing the whole sūtra is not allowed, then still less (should a beginner attempt to practice) the first five bodhisattva practices.

The phrase, “dispensing with other matters in order to uphold the principle” means to give up the observation of the precepts and other matters and only practice the daimoku, which is the principle. “They will gain enormous benefit” means, conversely, that a beginner who tries to practice everything else and the daimoku at the same time will lose all the benefits of their practice.

Shishin Gohon-shō, The Four Depths of Faith and Five Stages of Practice, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 105

d7b, WONS

Believe These Words and Revere Them

The Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 2, the 3rd chapter on “A Parable” states:

“He who does not put faith in this sūtra and slanders it, [will commit the sin of exterminating the seed of Buddhahood in all the people in the whole world. Or, suppose those who frown at and harbor doubt about the teaching of this sūtra . . . despise, hold in contempt, hate, envy, and bear a deep grudge against those who read, recite, copy, and uphold this sūtra. What would such people get in return? You should listen carefully.] Such people will fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering upon death, [where their suffering will last endlessly, for a kalpa after another…, until they fall into the world of beasts becoming a huge serpent as long as 500 yojana in length.]”

The same sūtra, fascicle 7, the 20th chapter on the “Never Despising Bodhisattva” also asserts: “[Some of the four categories of Buddhists (monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen) had impure minds. They got angry, spoke ill of him, saying, ‘Where did this ignorant monk come from?’ They struck him with a stick, a piece of wood, a piece of tile or a stone.] They were tormented in the Hell of Incessant Suffering for as long as 1,000 kalpa for the sin of persecuting a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra.”

The Nirvana Sūtra, too, declares: “If one avoids good teachers who preach the True Dharma and instead takes refuge in false dharmas, one will sink into the Hell of Incessant Sufferings, undergoing all the sufferings with his huge body of 84,000 square yojana.”

Examining many sūtras, we thus see they all regard slandering the True Dharma the most serious crime. How sad it is that people [in Japan] all should wander out of the gate of the True Dharma into the prison of evil dharma! Such ignorance is causing everyone [in Japan, high and low,] to be pulled by the rope of evil teachings and caught forever by the net of slandering the True Dharma! In this life such wanderers are lost in the mist of delusions; in the next life they will sink to the bottom of flaming hell. How sad it is! How terrible it is!

You should promptly discard your false faith and take up the true and sole teaching of the Lotus Sūtra at once. Then this triple world of the unenlightened will all become Buddha lands. Will Buddha lands ever decay? All the worlds in the universe will become Pure Lands. Will Pure Lands ever be destroyed? When our country does not decay and the world is not destroyed, our bodies will be safe and our hearts tranquil. Believe these words and revere them!

Risshō Ankoku-ron, Treatise on Spreading Peace Throughout the Country by Establishing the True Dharma, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Pages 141-142

d20b, WONS

The Bodhisattvas from the Earth

Grand Master Miao-lê further explained in his Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “Wise men know things in advance as a snake knows that it is a snake.” The meaning of these words in the Lotus Sūtra and annotations by T’ien-t’ai and Miao-lê are clear, that is to say, nobody had ever seen or heard of those bodhisattvas from the earth after Śākyamuni’s enlightenment under the bodhi tree till today, either in this world or in any of the worlds in the universe.

So the Buddha answered the question of Bodhisattva Maitreya: “Maitreya! It was I who taught and guided those great bodhisattvas whom you said you had never seen. After I attained perfect enlightenment in this Sahā World, I taught, guided, and controlled them, and encouraged them to aspire for enlightenment.” He continued, “After I sat in meditation under the bodhi tree near the town of Gayā and was able to attain perfect enlightenment, I taught and guided them, while preaching the supreme dharma and caused them to aspire for enlightenment. Now they have all been proceeding to the highest enlightenment without falling back I have taught and guided them since the eternal past.”

Then Bodhisattva Maitreya and other great bodhisattvas began to doubt the Buddha. At the time the Flower Garland Sūtra was preached, numerous great bodhisattvas such as Dharma Wisdom gathered. While wondering who they were, Maitreya and others were told by Śākyamuni Buddha, apparently to their satisfaction, that Dharma Wisdom and other great bodhisattvas were Śākyamuni’s “good friends.” The same thing happened to those great bodhisattvas who gathered together at Daihōbō where the Sūtra of the Great Assembly was preached, and to those who gathered at Lake White Heron upon the preaching of the Wisdom Sūtra. The great bodhisattvas appearing from underground now, however, seemed incomparably superior to them, and it appeared probable that they were teachers of Śākyamuni Buddha. Nevertheless, the Buddha declared that it was He who caused them to aspire for enlightenment, as if the Buddha taught and guided immature people as His disciples. It was only natural, therefore, that Bodhisattva Maitreya and others had serious doubts about Śākyamuni Buddha.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 72