Category Archives: WONS

Day 22

Day 22 covers all of Chapter 17, The Variety of Merits.

Having last month considered what those who believe will see, we consider who those rejoice at hearing the longevity of the Buddha after his extinction.

“Furthermore, the good men or women who do not speak ill of this sūtra but rejoice at hearing it after my extinction, should be considered, know this, to have already understood my longevity by firm faith. It is needless to say this of those who [not only rejoice at hearing this sūtra but also] read, recite and keep it. They also should be considered to be carrying me on their heads. Ajita! They need not build a stupa or a monastery in my honor, or make the four kinds of offerings’ to the Saṃgha because those who keep, read and recite this sūtra should be considered to have already built a stupa or a monastery or made offerings to the Saṃgha. They should be considered to have already erected a stupa of the seven treasures tall enough to reach the Heaven of Brahman, the upper part of the stupa being the smaller. They should be considered to have already equipped the stupa with streamers, canopies and jeweled bells, and enshrined my śarīras therein. They also should be considered to have already offered flowers, incense, necklaces, incense powder, incense applicable to the skin, incense to burn, drums, music, reed pipes, flutes, harps, various kinds of dances, and songs of praise sung with wonderful voices [to the stupa ] continuously for many thousands of billions of kalpas.

“Ajita! Anyone who, after hearing this sūtra, keeps or copies it or causes others to copy it after my extinction, should be considered to have already built many hundreds of thousands of billions of monasteries, that is to say, innumerable monasteries, each of which was installed with thirty-two beautiful halls made of red candana, eight times as tall as the tala-tree, and spacious enough to accommodate one hundred thousand bhikṣus. He also should be considered to have already furnished [those monasteries] with gardens, forests, pools for bathing, promenades, and caves for the practice of dhyāna, and filled [those monasteries] with clothing, food, drink, bedding, medicine, and things for amusements, and offered [those monasteries] to me and to the Saṃgha of bhikṣus in my presence. Therefore, I say, ‘Anyone who keeps, reads or recites this sūtra, expounds it to others, copies it, causes others to copy it, or makes offerings to a copy of it after my extinction, need not build a stupa or a monastery, or make offering to the Saṃgha.’ Needless to say, anyone who not only keeps this sūtra but also gives alms, observe the precepts, practices patience, makes endeavors, concentrates his mind, and seeks wisdom, will be able to obtain the most excellent and innumerable merits. His merits will be as limitless as the sky is in the east, west, south, north, the four intermediate quarters, the zenith, and the nadir. These innumerable merits of his will help him obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things.

Nichiren uses this section of this chapter to underscore the various levels of practice.

Because in a later section, when speaking of the fourth stage of practice the sūtra says, “Needless to say, anyone who not only keeps this sūtra but also gives alms, observes the precepts, practices patience, makes endeavors, concentrates his mind, and seeks wisdom, will be able to obtain the most excellent and innumerable merits.” This passage from the sūtra makes it clear that people in the first, second, and third stages of practice should refrain giving alms, observing the precepts, and the rest of the first five bodhisattva practices until they arrive at the fourth stage of practice and then they are allowed to begin practicing them. Therefore, if they are only allowed to practice them at this stage, we know that they should refrain from practicing them in the first stage.

Shishin Gohon-shō, The Four Depths of Faith and Five Stages of Practice, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 104

See also this portion of the same letter.

Distance Traveled Show Depth of Aspiration

Among the many disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha there are ten representative ones known as the “ten great disciples.” Venerable Maudgalyāyana among them was foremost in his supernatural power. He traveled around the entire world preaching without losing even a single strand of his hair. How could he accomplish such a feat? It is said that it was due to his merit in his previous life of listening to Śākyamuni Buddha preaching despite the distance of 1,000 ri (about 5,000 km). Also Chang-an, a disciple of Grand Master T’ien-t’ai, traveled a distance of more than 10,000 ri (about 50,000 km) in order to hear the Grand Master preach the Lotus Sūtra. Grand Master Dengyō traveled to China, more than 3,000 ri (about 15,000 km) away, to study the Great Concentration and Insight. Tripiṭaka Master Hsüan-tsung of China had to overcome a distance of 200,000 ri (about 1,000,000 km) to introduce the Wisdom Sūtra from India.

Doesn’t the distance they traveled show the depth of their aspiration? However, they were all males and incarnations of the Buddha or bodhisattvas. In contrast, you are a woman with five hindrances. As such it is almost impossible for you to be an incarnation of a Buddha or bodhisattva. Yet it is certain that you will attain Buddhahood. I can only imagine the kind of meritorious acts you performed in your previous life.

Oto-gozen no Haha Gosho, A Letter to the Mother of Lady Oto, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers II, Volume 7, Page 142-143

Day 21

Day 21 covers all of Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata.

Having last month learned why Śākyamuni says ‘I shall pass away,’ we begin the Parable of the Skillful Physician and His Sick Children.

“Good men! All the Buddhas, all the Tathāgatas, do the same as I do. [They expound their teachings] for the purpose of saving all living beings. Therefore, [their teachings] are true, not false.

“I will tell you a parable. There was once an excellent and wise physician. He was good at dispensing medicines and curing diseases. He had many sons, numbering ten, twenty, or a hundred. [One day] he went to a remote country on business. After he left home, the sons took poison. The poison passed into their bodies, and the sons writhed in agony, rolling on the ground. At that time the father returned home. Some sons had already lost their right minds while the others still had not. All the sons saw their father in the distance and had great joy. They begged him on their knees, saying, ‘You came back safely. We were ignorant. We took poison by mistake. Cure us, and give us back our lives!’

“Seeing his sons suffering so much, the father consulted books of prescriptions, and collected good herbs. having a good color, smell and taste. He compounded a medicine by pounding and sieving the herbs, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is a very good medicine. It has good color, smell and taste. Take it! It will remove the pain at once and you will not suffer any more.’

“The sons who had not lost their right minds saw that this good medicine had a good color and smell, took it at once, and were cured completely. But the sons who had already lost their right minds did not consent to take the medicine given to them, although they rejoiced at seeing their father come home and asked him to cure them, because they were so perverted that they did not believe that this medicine having a good color and smell had a good taste.

Nichiren discusses the sick children in his letter A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One:

When we think of the Buddha’s intent reflected upon the clear mirror of these scriptures, we see that His appearance in this world was not for the sake of those who heard Him preach the Lotus Sūtra for eight years on Mt. Sacred Eagle. It was for those in the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma, and in the Latter Age of Degeneration. More precisely, it was not for the sake of those in the 2,000 years of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma, but for those like myself in the beginning of the Latter Age. The “sick ones” refer to the slanderers of the Lotus Sūtra after the death of Śākyamuni Buddha. It was “for those who did not perceive and accept this medicine excellent both in color and flavor” that the Buddha said he would “leave this excellent medicine.”

If we think of it this way, we can see why the bodhisattvas from underground did not appear during the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma. The 1,000-year Age of the True Dharma was appropriate for Hinayāna and provisional Mahāyāna Buddhism, but not fit for the preaching of the Lotus Sūtra in terms of both the “capacity” of those to be taught and the “time” for it to be preached. Therefore, four ranks of Bodhisattva-teachers (Four Reliances) preached the Hinayāna and provisional Mahāyāna teachings in order for the people to attain Buddhahood by nurturing the seed of Buddhahood that they had received during the lifetime of Śākyamuni Buddha. They did not preach the Lotus Sūtra then because they knew that if they had preached it, many people would have slandered it rendering it impossible to nurture the seed of Buddhahood. The capacity of the people for comprehension then was like that of those who listened to the Buddha preach in the first four of the five periods during His lifetime.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 161

The Canonical Robe

Now, in ancient times there lived a monk among the Buddha’s disciples. Once during a famine, as the Buddha did not have enough to eat, this monk sold his own kesa stole and donated the money to the Buddha. The Buddha was curious about the donation and thus asked the monk for details. The monk explained. The Buddha then declined to accept the offering by saying, “A Buddhist priest’s stole is the canonical robe in which various Buddhas in the past, present, and future lives gain emancipation. I do not think I can repay such a great favor which was gained by selling such a precious robe.” The monk then asked the Buddha what he should do with the money for the kesa stole he sold. The Buddha asked in return whether or not the monk had a mother. “Yes, I have,” answered the monk. The Buddha then told the monk that he should offer the money to his own mother. The monk then said to the Buddha, “The Buddha is the Most Venerable One in the triple world. You are the eyes of all living beings. You are able to repay the money of a great canonical robe that may cover all the worlds in the universe or a wide kesa stole that may spread over the great earth. On the contrary, my mother is as ignorant as cattle and more hopeless than a sheep. How will she be able to repay the indebtedness of offering a kesa stole?” In response, the Buddha carefully questioned the monk, “Who gave birth to you? Isn’t it your mother who gave birth to you? There is no doubt that she will be able to repay the indebtedness of this kesa stole.”

Toki-dono Gohenji, Reponse to Lord Toki, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 119

Day 20

Day 20 completes Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, and concludes the Fifth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Having last month heard Śākyamuni explain that he is the teacher of these Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, we learn of the doubts this causes among Maitreya and the other Bodhisattvas.

Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva-mahāsattva and the innumerable Bodhisattvas in the congregation doubted the Buddha’s words which they had never heard before. They thought:

‘How did the World-Honored One teach these great, innumerable, asaṃkhya Bodhisattvas, and qualify them to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi in such a short time?’

[Maitreya Bodhisattva] said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! When you, the Tathāgata, were a crown prince, you left the palace of the Śākyas, sat at the place of enlightenment not far from the City of Gaya, and attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. It is only forty and odd years since then.

“World-Honored One! How did you do these great deeds of the Buddha in such a short time? Did you teach these great, innumerable Bodhisattvas, and qualify them to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi by your powers or by your merits?

“World-Honored One! No one can count the number of these great Bodhisattvas even if he goes on counting them for thousands of billions of kalpas. They have already planted roots of good, practiced the way, and performed brahma practices under innumerable Buddhas from the remotest past.

Nichiren discusses the importance of the question raised by Maitreya in his letter, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching:

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

Conducting a Service for the Remains of the Dead

When a wise man who mastered the Lotus Sūtra conducts a service for the remains of the dead, the dead man’s human body becomes the Dharma Body. This is what is meant by “with one’s present body.” It is possible for a wise man of the Lotus Sūtra to recover the spirit that left the dead person, put it back into the remains and convert it into the Buddha mind. This is the so-called attainment of Buddhahood.

The term “with one’s present body” is the physical aspect while the “attainment of Buddhahood” is the spiritual aspect. Therefore, it is possible to convert the dead person’s physical and spiritual aspects into the state of enlightenment that lasts forever from the eternal past. This is called the attainment of Buddhahood with one’s present body. Therefore, it is stated in the “Expedients” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “The reality of all things consists of appearance (body of the dead), nature (his mind), substance (his body and mind), etc.”

Mokue Nizō Kaigen no Koto, Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, Wooden Statues or Portraits, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 91-92

Day 19

Day 19 concludes Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and begins Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.

Having last month considered at the start of Chapter 15 the question posed by Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, more than eight times the number of the sands of the River Ganges, who had come from the other worlds, we greet the many thousands of billions of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who sprang up from underground.

When he had said this, the ground of the Sahā-World, which was composed of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, quaked and cracked, and many thousands of billions of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas sprang up from underground simultaneously. Their bodies were golden-colored, and adorned with the thirty-two marks and with innumerable rays of light. They had lived in the sky below this Sahā-World. They came up here because they heard these words of Śākyamuni Buddha. Each of them was the leader of a great multitude. The Bodhisattvas included those who were each accompanied by attendants as many as sixty thousand times the number of the sands of the River Ganges. Needless to say, [they included those who were each accompanied by less attendants, for instance,] fifty thousand times, forty thousand times, thirty thousand times, twenty thousand times or ten thousand times the number of the sands of the River Ganges, or by attendants just as many of the sands of the River Ganges, or by attendants as many as a half, or a quarter of the number of the sands of the River Ganges, or by attendants as many as the sands of the River Ganges divided by a thousand billion nayuta, a billion, ten million, a million, ten thousand, a thousand, a hundred, ten, five, four, three or two attendants, or only by one attendant. [The Bodhisattvas] who preferred a solitary life came alone. The total number of the Bodhisattvas was innumerable, limitless, beyond calculation, inexplicable by any parable or simile.

Those Bodhisattvas who appeared from underground, came to Many-Treasures Tathāgata and Śākyamuni Buddha both of whom were in the wonderful stūpa of the seven treasures hanging in the sky. They [joined their hands together] towards the two World-Honored Ones, and worshipped their feet with their heads. Then they [descended onto the ground and] came to the Buddhas sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees, bowed to them, walked around them from left to right three times, joined their hands together respectfully, and praised them by the various ways by which Bodhisattvas should praise Buddhas. Then they [returned to the sky,] stood to one side, and looked up at the two World-Honored ones with joy. A period of fifty small kalpas elapsed from the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas’ springing up from underground till the finishing of the praising of the Buddhas by the various ways by which Bodhisattvas should praise Buddhas. All this while Śākyamuni Buddha sat in silence. The four kinds of devotees also kept silence for the fifty small kalpas. By his supernatural powers, however, the Buddha caused the great multitude to think that they kept silence for only half a day. Also by the supernatural powers of the Buddha, the four kinds of devotees were able to see that the skies of many hundreds of thousands of billions of worlds were filled with those Bodhisattvas.

Nichiren offers this description of these Bodhisattvas, who “are simultaneously followers of the Original Buddha and bodhisattvas who reside in the minds of us,” in his letter, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One:

The bodhisattvas described in the fifteenth chapter, “Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground,” who have sprung out of the great earth, as numerous as the number of dust-particles of 1,000 worlds, are followers of the Original Buddha Śākyamuni who resides within our minds.

They are like T’ai-kung-wang and Duke of Chou, retainers of King Wu of the Chou dynasty in ancient China, who at the same time served the King’s young son, King Ch’eng; or Takeuchi no Sukune of ancient Japan, a leading minister to Empress Jingu, who concurrently served her son, Prince Nintoku. Just like them Bodhisattvas Superior Practice (Jōgyō), Limitless Practice (Muhengyō), Pure Practice (Jōgyō), and Steadily Established Practice (Anryūgyō), the four leaders of these bodhisattvas sprung from the earth, are simultaneously followers of the Original Buddha and bodhisattvas who reside in the minds of us, ordinary people.

Therefore, Grand Master Miao-lê has declared in his Annotations on the Mo-ho chih-kuan (Mo-ho chih-kuan fu-hsing-chiian hungchiieh): “You should know that both our bodies and the land on which we live are a part of the 3,000 modes of existence which exist in our minds. Consequently, upon our attainment of Buddhahood, we are in complete agreement with the truth of ‘3,000 existences contained in one thought,’ and our single body and single thought permeate through all the worlds in the universe.”

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 147

Five Principles for Propagation

Those who intend to spread Buddhism must correctly understand the five principles for propagation in order to disseminate the True Dharma. They are: (1) the teaching, (2) the capacity of the people, (3) the time, (4) the country, and (5) the sequence of spreading the Buddha’s teachings.

Ken Hōbō-shō, A Clarificaton of Slandering the True Dharma, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 123.

Our Master, Teacher and Father

Śākyamuni Buddha is quoted to have declared in the third chapter on “A Parable” of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 2, “This triple world is My domain.” It means that the Buddha Śākyamuni has the virtue of being our master, the king and the most respectable in the world. His words, “All living beings therein are My children,” means that the Buddha has the virtue of our parent; and “There are many sufferings in this world; only I can save all living beings” points out His virtue of being our teacher. In the sixteenth chapter on “The Life Span of the Buddha” of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha is quoted to have declared, “I am the father of the world.” …

Grand Master Miao-lê declares in his Five Hundred Questions and Answers (Wu-pai wén-lun): “A man who does not know the long life of his father is like a man who wanders around the country governed by his father. Such a man cannot be a son of a man no matter how talented he is;” and “Even though his talent is as great as that of all the people in the country put together, he is nothing but a fool if he does not know how old his parents are.” Precept Master Tao-hsüan (Dōsen) of the Fen-te-ssu Temple at Chung-nan-shan in T’ang China mentions in his Ancient and Modern Disputes between Buddhism and Taoism (Ku-chin fu-tao lun-hêng), “Before the time of the Three Emperors (Fu Hsi, Shen Nung and Yellow Emperor) in ancient China, they had no characters for writing; they knew who their mother was but did not know their father. They acted as if they were birds and beasts.” These are words that Priest Hui-yüan (Eon) of Sui China uttered when he admonished the Emperor Wu of Northern Chou against his persecuting Buddhists.

Hasshū Imoku-shō, A Treatise on the Differences of the Lotus Sect from Eight Other Sects, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 17

Day 17

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Having last month heard Medicine-King Bodhisattva-mahāsattva and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva-mahāsattva’s vow to uphold the Lotus Sūtra, we hear from Arhats and Śrāvakas who vow to preach the Lotus Sūtra in some other world.

At that time there were five hundred Arhats in this congregation. They had already been assured of their future attainment [of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi]. They said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One! We also vow to expound this sūtra [but we will expound it] in some other worlds [rather than in this Sahā-World].”

There were also eight thousand Śrāvakas some of whom had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn. They had already been assured of their future attainment [of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi]. They rose from their seats, joined their hands together towards the Buddha and vowed:

“World-Honored One! We also will expound this sūtra in some other worlds because the people of this Sahā-World have many evils. They are arrogant. They have few merits. They are angry, defiled, ready to flatter others, and insincere.”

In his letter Treatise on the Teaching, Nichiren used the hesitance of the Arhats and Śrāvakas to preach in the Sahā world to show what he was up against:

It is predicted in the Lotus Sūtra, in the 13th chapter “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra,” that 2000 years after the Buddha’s extinction, in the Latter Age of Degeneration, three kinds of enemies will appear against those who spread the Lotus Sūtra. The time at hand matches exactly the Latter Age of Degeneration preached in the Lotus Sūtra as the “fifth 500-year period” after the death of the Buddha. As I, Nichiren, contemplate whether or not the Buddha’s words have proved to be true, three kinds of enemies surely exist today. If I deny the existence of the three enemies and spread the Lotus Sūtra in a manner so as to avoid persecution, I cannot claim to be a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. On the other hand, if I spread the sūtra in such a way that I am persecuted by enemies, I certainly will lose my life.