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An Offering to 69,384 Buddhas

There are two kinds of practicers of the Lotus Sūtra. Sages in the past peeled their own skin to inscribe the Lotus Sūtra. The present unenlightened followers who offer their own summer kimono to the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra gain the same merit as those who skinned themselves in the past. The Lotus Sūtra contains 69,384 characters, each representing the Buddha. Therefore, the offering of a summer kimono is the same as offering 69,384 summer kimonos to the Buddhas. Just as a small spark can set ablaze thousands of square miles of dry prairie land, the offering of a single summer kimono will serve as an offering to each of the 69,384 Buddhas in the Lotus Sūtra. The merit of this will extend not only to yourself but also to your parents, grandparents, and countless others including, of course, your own beloved husband.

Sajiki Nyōbō Gohenji, A Response to Lady, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 128-129

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 how this sūtra saves all living beings, we consider the merits given to a woman who hears and keeps this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

“Star-King-Flower! Anyone who hears [especially] this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva also will be able to obtain innumerable merits. The woman who hears and keeps this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva will not be a woman in her next life. The woman who hears this sūtra and acts according to the teachings of it in the later’ five hundred years after my extinction, will be able to be reborn, after her life in this world, [as a man sitting] on the jeweled seat in the lotus flower blooming in the World of Happiness where Amitayus Buddha lives surrounded by great Bodhisattvas. He [no more she] will not be troubled by greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, jealousy, or any other impurity. He will be able to obtain the supernatural powers of a Bodhisattva and the truth of birthlessness. When he obtains this truth, his eyes will be purified. With his purified eyes, he will be able to see seven billion and two hundred thousand million nayuta Buddhas or Tathāgatas, that is, as many Buddhas as there are sands in the River Ganges. At that time those Buddhas will praise him, saying simultaneously from afar, ‘Excellent, excellent, good man! You kept, read and recited this sūtra, thought it over, and expounded it to others under Śākyamuni Buddha. Now you have obtained innumerable merits and virtues, which cannot be burned by fire or washed away by water. Your merits cannot be described even by the combined efforts of one thousand Buddhas. Now you have defeated the army of Mara, beaten the forces of birth and death, and annihilated all your enemies. Good man! Hundreds of thousands of Buddhas are now protecting you by their supernatural powers. None of the gods or men in the world surpasses you. None but the Tathāgatas, none of the Śrāvakas or Pratyekabuddhas or Bodhisattvas surpasses you in wisdom and dhyāna-concentration.’ Star-King-Flower! [He is a Bodhisattva.] This Bodhisattva will obtain these merits and the power of wisdom.

Nichiren writes about this prediction in his People in the World Letter:

QUESTION: In the 23rd chapter on the “Previous Life of Medicine King Bodhisattva” in the epilogue section of the Lotus Sūtra, women are encouraged to practice the sūtra wholeheartedly so that they may be reborn in the Pure Land of the Buddha of Infinite Life upon death. How about this?

ANSWER: The Buddha of Infinite Life in the “Previous Life of the Medicine King Bodhisattva” chapter is not the same as the Buddha of Infinite Life in the pre-Lotus sūtras and in the first half of the Lotus Sūtra. They merely have the same name. The Sūtra of Infinite Meaning (Muryōgi-kyō) says, “Even though they have the same name, their meanings are different.” Miao-lê says in his Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “Even though you find the name of the Buddha of Infinite Life in the hommon section of the Lotus Sūtra, it does not at all mean the Buddha of Infinite Life mentioned in the Sūtra of Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life.” These should dispel all your doubts. After all, Bodhisattvas who are advanced in practice may easily come to this Sahā World from Pure Lands in the universe and can also easily go back there.

Gochū Shujō Gosho, People in the World Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 203

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The Bone Marrow of the 12 Kinds of Scriptures

To begin with, the Lotus Sūtra is essential to the 80,000 Buddhist teachings, the bone marrow of the 12 kinds of scriptures. Various Buddhas in the past, present, and future attain perfect enlightenment under the guidance of this sūtra while the Buddhas that manifest in all the worlds throughout the universe guide sentient beings with the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra as the primary object.

Kyōdai-shō, A Letter to the Ikegami Brothers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 72

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Day 26

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Day 26 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the description of the realm of a Buddha called Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue, we hear Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue expound the Lotus Sūtra and Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva make a flower and incense offering to the Buddha.

“Thereupon [Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue] Buddha expounded the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva, to the other Bodhisattvas, and also to the Śrāvakas. Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva willingly practiced austerities under Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha. He walked about the world, seeking Buddhahood strenuously with all his heart for twelve thousand years until at last he obtained the samadhi by which he could transform himself into any other living being: Having obtained this samadhi, he had great joy.

“He thought, ‘I have obtained the samadhi by which I can transform myself into any other living being because I heard the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Now I will make offerings to Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha and also to the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.’

“He entered into this samadhi at once. He filled the sky with the clouds of mandārava-flowers, mahā-mandārava-flowers and the powdered incense of hard and black candana, and rained down those flowers and incense. He also rained down the powdered incense of the candana grown on this shore of the sea [between Mt. Sumeru and the Jambudvipa]. Six shu of this incense was worth the Sahā-World. He offered all these things to the Buddha.

Continuing the discussion of the Age of True Dharma, Age of Semblance Dharma and finally the Latter Age of the Dharma and how these affect the Lotus Sūtra, I offer this from Nichiren’s letter, The Essence of the “Medicine King Bodhisattva” Chapter:

The three delusions (delusions arising from incorrect views and thoughts, delusions which hinder knowledge of salvation methods, and delusions which hinder knowledge of the ultimate reality) that exist in the mind of all people as well as the karma of committing the ten evil acts, and the five rebellious sins are like the darkness of night. All the Buddhist scriptures such as the Flower Garland Sūtra are like stars in the dark night whereas the Lotus Sūtra is comparable to the moon that brightens the darkness of night. Those who believe in the Lotus Sūtra only half-heartedly are like the half-moon shining in the dark night. Those who deeply believe in the sūtra are likened to the full moon brightening the darkness of night. In the night with only stars twinkling in the sky without the moon, aged persons, women and children are unable to go out, though strong and healthy persons may. When the full moon brightens the night, even older persons and women and children are free to go out to play, attend parties, or meet friends and acquaintances. Likewise, in sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra, though bodhisattvas and ordinary people with superior nature may be able to attain Buddhahood, the Two Vehicles, ordinary people, evil persons, women, or aged people, idlers and those without precepts in the Latter Age will never be able to be reborn in the Pure Land or attain Buddhahood. That is not the case with the Lotus Sūtra. The Two Vehicles, evil persons and women all attain Buddhahood in the Lotus Sūtra, not to speak of bodhisattvas and ordinary people with superior nature. Again, the moon shines brighter at dawn than in the early evening and in autumn and winter than in spring and summer. Likewise, the Lotus Sūtra has more divine help in the Latter Age of Degeneration than during the 2,000 years of the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma.

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

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A Woman is Like Water

(hitherto missing) A woman is like water, which fills the shape of its container. A woman is like an arrow, which fits the bow that shoots it. A woman is like a ship, which moves at the will of the helmsman. Therefore, if a woman’s husband is a king, then she will be a queen. If a husband is virtuous, his wife may attain Buddhahood. This rationale applies not only in the present life but also in the lives to come. Your husband, Lord Hyōe no Saemon, is a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. As his wife, I am sure that you are regarded as a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, too. You also offered, on your own initiative, a hemp garment to wear in the summer for the sake of the Lotus Sūtra. This is commendable.

Sajiki Nyōbō Gohenji, A Response to Lady, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 128

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Helping the Practicer of the Lotus Sūtra

Both the sun and moon are still in the sky, Mt. Sumeru still exists, the tides of the sea still rises and ebbs, and four seasons come and go in order. Why is it then that no one comes to help the practicer of the Lotus? This doubt of mine grows greater and greater.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 64

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An Offering to Śākyamuni Buddha and the Lotus Sūtra

Now in this mountain stream of Minobu there are many pebbles, but no taro dried like stone that you kindly sent to me. Summer is a farming season when you don’t have enough workers. Moreover, the construction of Ōmiya Shrine must keep you extremely busy. Nevertheless, you thought of the mountain village of Minobu to send a precious offering to us. I appreciate it very much. Ultimately this is your offering to Śākyamuni Buddha and the Lotus Sūtra to pray for the repose of your late father out of your longing for him. Yours is a true heart of filial piety.

Such deities as the King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, Sun Deity, Moon Deity, and the Four Heavenly Kings have vowed before the Buddha to reside in the dwellings of people dutiful to their parents and protect them. While little can be done if these deities decide not to honor their vow, as it is a fundamental rule to keep a promise, how can they break the vow they made before the Buddha? Such deities will never fail to protect people who have filial piety.

Therefore, even if the lords, whom you serve at the risk of your life, force you to abandon your faith or severe persecution befalls you, do not retreat. Instead muster your faith in the Lotus Sūtra, and regard it as a good opportunity to see whether or not deities keep the promise they made to the Buddha. Your steadfast faith will enable the soul of your father to become a Buddha and he will come to protect you. Then all the obstacles and challenges will disappear, and you will be able to enjoy living in ease and comfort. When you encounter oppression, therefore, gladly accept it as the moment of truth.

Ueno-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 10

LS32, WONS

Day 23

Day 23 covers all of Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, and opens Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.

Day 23 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered merits of the 50th person who rejoices, we consider the merits of those who invite others to hear the Lotus Sūtra.

“Furthermore, Ajita! Anyone who goes to a monastery in order to hear this sūtra and hears it even for a moment while he is sitting or standing, in his next life will be able to go up to the palace of heaven, riding in a beautiful and wonderful elephant-cart or horse-cart or in a palanquin of wonderful treasure by his merits. Anyone who, while sitting in the place of the expounding of the Dharma, persuades another per on to it down or shares his seat with him to hear [the Dharma] when he sees him coming to the place, in his next life by his merits, will be able to obtain the seal of King Sakra, of the Brahman Heavenly-King or of a wheel-turning-holy-king.

“Ajita! Anyone who[, while he is staying outside the place of the expounding of the Dharma,] says to another person, ‘Let us go and hear the sūtra called the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma which is being expounded [in that place],’ and cause him to hear it even for a moment, in his next life by his merit , will be able to live with the Bodhisattvas who obtain dharanis. He will be clever and wise. He will not be dumb throughout thousands of millions of his future existences. His breath will not be foul. He will have no disease of the tongue or the mouth. His teeth will not be defiled, black, yell w, few, fallen out, uneven or crooked. His lips will not be pendulous, shrunk, chapped, cracked, broken, distorted, thick, large, yellow-black or loathsome. His nose will not be flat or awry. His face will not be black, long, distorted or displeasing. His lips, tongue and teeth will be well-shaped; his nose, long, high and straight. His face will be full; his eyebrows, thick and long; and his forehead, broad and even. In a word, he will have all the good features of a man. He will be able to see the Buddhas, hear the Dharma from them, and receive their teachings by faith throughout his future existences.

“Ajita, look! The merits of the person who causes even a single man to go and hear the Dharma are so many. It is needless to speak of the merits of the person who hears [this sūtra] with all his heart, reads it, recites it, expounds it to the great multitude, and acts according to its teachings.

Nichiren explains the importance of these merits in his Treastise on Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra:

The Pure Land Buddhists today … [say] it is impossible to practice the Lotus Sūtra unless one possesses a high capacity to understand and it bewilders the evil ordinary people in the Latter Age of Degeneration. Are they not contradicting themselves? Grand Master Miao-lê in his Annotations to the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra asserts, “Most people make mistakes, without knowing how great the merits of the inexperienced practicers can be. They imagine that only the experienced practicers can have merits and slander the inexperienced. Therefore, in the ‘Merits of Rejoicing at Hearing This Sūtra’ chapter it is shown that the merits of the inexperienced practicer can be great and how great the merits of the Lotus Sūtra are.” This passage means that the merit of the 50th person rejoicing at hearing the Lotus Sūtra transmitted one after another was preached to show that the merit of an ignorant person with little capacity in the Latter Age rejoicing even for a moment at hearing the sūtra preached is superior to the merit of sages who practice the pre-Lotus sūtras preached during the 40 or so years before the Lotus Sūtra. This is preached so that the Lotus Sūtra is not mistaken as the teaching attained by only persons of superior capacity and devotion.

Therefore, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra compares the 50th person rejoicing at hearing the Lotus Sūtra transmitted one after another, the lowest rank in the practice of the Lotus Sūtra, against the practicers of non-Buddhist teachings, Hinayana Buddhism, and provisional Mahayana Buddhism. He states that the merits of the lowest rank in the practice of the Lotus Sūtra are superior to those of any other practice.

Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō, Treastise on Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 7-8

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The Indisputable Words of the Buddha

As I contemplate this, if Śākyamuni Buddha had passed away after preaching only forty years or so without preaching the Lotus in the last eight years, who would have given offerings to these respectable people? They would certainly be in the realm of the hungry souls alive.

However, just as the sun in spring melts away the ice and strong winds shake off all the dew, those sūtras preached in some forty years were discredited at once by one statement in the chapter on “Preaching” of the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning: “The truth has not been revealed yet.” Just as the strong wind disperses dark clouds revealing the full moon in the sky and the sun shines in the clear sky, it was made shiningly clear that “the Buddha reveals the truth after preaching the provisional dharma for a long time.” It was stated in the Lotus Sūtra, the spotless mirror, in the indisputable words of the Buddha as clear as the sun and the moon in the sky that men like Śāripūtra and Kāśyapa could obtain Buddhahood and that they would be Flower Light Buddha and Light Buddha respectively in the future. That was the very reason why lay followers among gods and men after the death of the Buddha continued to look up to those Hinayāna sages as if they were Buddhas.

When the water is clear, the moon is bound to be reflected in it. When the wind blows, trees and grasses are bound to bend. So, when there is a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, those sages such as Śāripūtra and Kāśyapa should come to see him even if it means that they have to overcome such obstacles as great fires or huge rocks. Kāśyapa is said to have begun meditation to wait for the Buddha Maitreya, but this is not the time for him to do so. I wonder why they have not rushed to rescue the practicer of the Lotus when his life is at stake. Are we not during the last 500-year period, at the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration?

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 63-64

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Daimoku Similes

During my recent hour-long walking meditations, I’ve been pondering how to describe the role of the Daimoku in Buddhist practice. Similes – comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid – seem the best bet.

Consider The Simile of the Magnifying Glass

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Lighting a fire with a magnifying glass

Let’s set the stage with some background from Nichiren’s letters:

The first thousand years following the Buddha’s extinction are called the Age of the True Dharma. During this period, many people kept the precepts and some attained Buddhahood. The next thousand years are called the Age of the Semblance Dharma. During this period, many people broke the precepts, and only a few attained Buddhahood. After the Age of the Semblance Dharma comes the Latter Age of Degeneration. This period is filled with people who neither keep nor break the precepts, but the country is filled with people who have no precepts.

Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō-dono Gosho, A Letter to Lord Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 140.

Source

In the Latter Age of Degeneration, the pre-Lotus sūtras and the teaching of the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra, which were suitable in the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma, no longer enabled the people to shed delusions of life and death and attain Buddhahood.

Sandai Hiho Honjo-ji, The Transmission of the Three Great Secret Dharmas, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 288

Source

In the Latter Age of Degeneration beginning 2,000 years after the passing of the Buddha, the Hinayāna and Mahāyāna sutras given to Kāśyapa, Ānanda, Mañjuśrī, Maitreya, Medicine King, Avalokiteśvara and others were no longer useful as medicine for living beings. It is because they were no longer effective as cures for the severe ailments of living beings. While the Buddha considered what to do about this, Superior Practice Bodhisattva emerged from the earth. The Buddha then ordered the bodhisattva to give the five characters of Myō, Hō, Ren, Ge, and Kyō to all living beings throughout the Jambudvīpa.

Takahashi Nyūdō-dono Gohenji, A Response to Lay Priest Lord Takahashi, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 74-75

Source

So today, more than 700 years later, we are well into the Latter Age of Degeneration, when the Buddha’s teachings have lost their vitality. It is much like the sun in winter in Upstate New York.

During the spring and summer and into the fall, the sun nourishes us with its warmth. But once winter settles in, that warmth is nowhere to be found. The same sun is there in the cloudless afternoon sky, but the temperature is 17 degrees Fahrenheit or even less.

In this endless winter of diminished warmth in the Latter Age of Degeneration, the Daimoku acts like a magnifying glass, focusing the Dharma rays to a single point. That focused energy is enough to set fire to karmic encumbrances or to burn away delusions.

The daimoku has two meanings: the daimoku which was practiced during the Ages of the True Dharma and Semblance Dharma, and that which is practiced in the Latter Age of Degeneration. During the Age of the True Dharma, Bodhisattvas Vasubandhu and Nāgārjuna chanted the daimoku solely for the sake of their own practice. During the Age of the Semblance Dharma, Grand Masters Nanyüeh and T’ien-t’ai chanted only the daimoku, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō; they, too, chanted it for their own practices, not to guide other people. Their daimoku was a practice for attaining enlightenment based on the teaching of the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra. The daimoku which I, Nichiren, recite today in the Latter Age of Degeneration is the daimoku of Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, which, unlike that of the previous ages, is not merely the practice for personal enlightenment but it is the practice also for benefitting others. This five-character daimoku is not just a title of the Lotus Sūtra; it contains the five profound meanings of the name, entity, quality, function and teaching.

Sandai Hiho Honjo-ji, The Transmission of the Three Great Secret Dharmas, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 289-290

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