Category Archives: WONS

WONS

The Great Merit of Believing in a Line or Verse of Lotus Sūtra

There once was a poor woman named Golden Pearl Lady who donated a gold coin for gilding a statue of the Buddha. For this merit, her body retained a golden hue through numerous existences for as long as 91 kalpa (aeons). Her husband, a gold beater, is the Buddha’s disciple Kāśyapa in this life and is guaranteed to be a future Buddha called Light Buddha in the Lotus Sūtra.

Now, Priest Jōmyō and his wife donated 2,000 pieces of copper coins to the Lotus Sūtra. Golden Pearl Lady’s donation was made to the Buddha while you donated to the Lotus Sūtra. The sūtra is the teacher of the Buddha and the Buddha is a disciple of the sūtra. Regarding this it is preached in the Nirvana Sūtra, “What is looked up by various Buddhas is the dharma; therefore, various Buddhas respect and donate offerings to the dharma.” It is also preached in the “Medicine King Bodhisattva” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 7, “Suppose a person fills the whole world with the seven treasures such as gold, silver, lapis, and pearls and donate them to the Buddha and other sages such as a great bodhisattva, a pratyekabuddha, and an arhat. The merit he gains does not amount to the great merit of the person who believed in a line or a verse of the Lotus Sūtra.”

As stated above, Golden Pearl Lady continued to be reborn with a golden body for as long as 91 kalpa (aeons) because of her merit of making a donation to the Buddha, who is inferior to the Dharma. How could it be for you two, who made a donation to the Lotus Sūtra, the teacher of the Buddha, not to attain the rank of Buddhas during this lifetime?

Jōmyō Shōnin Gohenji, A Reply to Holy Priest Ota Jōmyō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 39-40

WONS

Encouraging All the People in Japan to Recite the Daimoku

For the past 28 years since the 28th of the fourth month in the fifth year of Kenchō (1253) till the 12th month in the third year of Kōan (1280), I have devoted myself to nothing but encouraging all the people in Japan to recite the daimoku, the five or seven-character title of the Lotus Sūtra. This is exactly like the compassion of a mother trying to breast feed her baby. Now is the time for us to expound the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra as predicted by the Buddha to be spread in the fifth 500-year period, the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration after His death. The days of Grand Masters T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō were still in the Age of the Semblance Dharma prior to the time for the propagation of the Lotus Sūtra. Nevertheless, as there were some people whose capacity to understand and believe the Lotus Sūtra was ripe, the sūtra was spread a little. How much more it should be spread today, the Latter Age of Degeneration!

Kangyō Hachiman-shō, Remonstration with Bodhisattva Hachiman, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 272

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Those Who Keep This Sūtra

In his Outstanding Principles of the Lotus Sūtra, Grand Master Dengyō cites the passage of the Lotus Sūtra, chapter 23, which claims: “This sūtra likewise is superior to any of the other sūtras. Those who keep this sūtra are also superior to all living beings.” Noting that the above is a scriptural statement, Grand Master Dengyō then quotes from the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra of Grand Master T’ien-t’ai. Noting that this is a citation from the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, he interprets its meaning: “You should know that the canons of other schools are not perfect, and those who uphold them are also not perfect. The basic canon of the Tendai-Hokke School, the Lotus Sūtra, is superior. Therefore, those who uphold it are superior to all people. This is what the Buddha stated. How could it be self-admiration?”

Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 28.

WONS

Seeing Living Buddhas Giving Benefit to People

Men of the Two Vehicles such as Śāripūtra and Maudgalyāyana who had been the Buddha’s disciples awakened to their first aspiration for Buddhahood at that time of the Buddha’s first sermon at Deer Park. The Buddha, however, expounded only expedient teachings to them for more than forty years. Now in the Lotus Sūtra, He expounded the True Dharma. And when the eternity of the life of the Buddha was suggested in chapter 15 on the “Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground” in the essential section of the Lotus Sūtra, great Bodhisattvas, men of the Two Vehicles (srāvaka and pratyekabuddha), the King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, sun god, moon god, Four Heavenly Kings, and Dragon King, who had listened to the Buddha preach ever since the preaching of the Flower Garland Sūtra, attained enlightenment, reaching the same rank as the Buddha or the one next to it. Therefore, when we look up to heaven today, we can see living Buddhas giving benefit to people while retaining their original ranks.

Hokke Shuyō Shō, Treatise on the Essence of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 211

d17b, WONS

‘Jōzon Myōhōko, Shinjin Mukeken’

In another past lifetime of the Buddha he was the ruler of a great country because of the accumulation of virtue in the past. But he was neglectful in ruling the country. His 100 ministers and all the people revered him as a consequence of the pleasurable results of his former observance of the ten virtuous acts. But this would prove to be like the flame of a lamp flickering in the wind, or a dream on a spring night, or the brief blooming of morning glories on a bamboo fence. Though he had followed the virtuous precepts in his past lives, now that he had been born as the ruler of a great country he was enticed by the murderous demon of impermanence and spent his life in vain, neglecting to practice the good. [If he continued in this way] he would sink into the bottomless flames of the Hell of Incessant Suffering, where there is no distinction between warriors and peasants. The flames of the three torments would scorch him, his five limbs would be bound in iron cords, and the gag of the three torments would be inserted into his mouth. The monstrous jailers of hell armed with tridents and screaming callously, would punish him by stabbing him all over his body. The sounds of his cries would reach up to the heavens, and in his grief he would fall to the ground. His 100 ministers and all his people would be unable to come to his aid, nor could his family and loved ones come to save him. [He thought of his beloved wife] with whom he slept and awoke on the same bed within the brocade curtains. Together they were like two birds with one wing each who must fly together in the heavens, or like two trees with branches intertwined on the earth. The days and months they had spent together had amassed into years, but not even she and their children could come to visit him. Reflecting on these things he opened his storehouses and donated gold and silver and all the seven treasures in order to support the Saṃgha. He donated elephants and horses, and even his wife and children to them. Later he blew a conch seeking for the great Dharma. He beat a drum seeking for the great Dharma. He sought the Dharma in all directions. At that time there was a seer named Asita. This seer came to the king saying, “I can teach you the True Dharma if you are able to serve me well.” The king rejoiced and entered the mountains, where he collected fruit, gathered firewood, picked vegetables, and drew water for a thousand years. All the while he constantly recited, “Jōzon Myōhōko, Shinjin Mukeken,” which means, “Because I am seeking the Wonderful Dharma I do not feel tired in body and mind.” Through this practice he was able to obtain the Dharma of the five Chinese characters: myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō. This king would become Śākyamuni Buddha in a future life. In our country there is a Japanese poem that tells how he received the Dharma by serving his master. When a sūtra is copied and presented this verse is sung: “I obtained the Lotus Sūtra by gathering firewood, picking vegetables, and drawing water.” Hearing this I am overcome with emotion.

Minobu-san Gosho, Mt. Minobu Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 126-127

WONS

Answering When a Practicer of the Lotus Sūtra Says a Prayer

As the Ages of the True and Sembance Dharmas have already passed those who observe precepts today are as scarce as tigers in downtown; and finding people of wisdom is as rare as the giraffe’s horn. We have to depend on a light before the moon appears; where gems do not exist, gold and silver are treasures. As there exists a precedent of returning a favor received from a white crow to a black crow, favors of a holy priest should be returned to an ordinary priest today. How can there then be no answer when a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra says a prayer that requires a prompt answer?

Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 68

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The Pure Land Where the Practicer of Lotus Sūtra Resides

QUESTION: Which “Pure Land” should practicers of the Lotus Sūtra pray to be reborn in?

ANSWER: It is stated in the sixteenth chapter on “The Life Span of the Buddha,” the essence of the Lotus Sūtra consisting of 28 chapters, “I will always stay in this Sahā World;” “I reside here always;” and “This world of Mine is at peace.” According to these statements, the Eternal True Buddha, the origin of all Buddhas in manifestation, is always in this Sahā World. Then why should we wish to be anywhere other than this Sahā World? You should know that there is no Pure Land other than the very place where the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra resides. Why should we concern ourselves seeking a Pure Land in any other place?

It is, therefore, stated in the twenty-first chapter on the “Divine Powers of the Buddha” of the Lotus Sūtra: “Wherever scrolls of the sūtra are placed, whether it may be in a garden, a forest, under a tree, in a monastery, a layman’s house, a palace, a mountain, a valley or a wilderness…, you should know that it is the very place to practice Buddhism.” The Nirvana Sūtra states: “You should know, Gentlemen, that wherever this Nirvana Sūtra spreads becomes the Pure Land as indestructible as a diamond, inhabited by people with bodies as imperishable as a diamond.” Those who believe in and practice the Lotus-Nirvana Sūtras, thus, should not seek the Pure Land anywhere other than the very place where they, believers of this sutra, reside.

Shugo Kokka-ron, Treatise on Protecting the Nation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Pages 67-68

WONS

For Whom Was the “The Life Span of the Buddha” Expounded?

QUESTION: For whom was the chapter on “The Life Span of the Buddha” expounded, revealing the Buddha’s enlightenment in the remotest past broadly and in detail?

ANSWER: “The Life Span of the Buddha” chapter together with a half chapter each preceding and following it were expounded specially for the people living after the Buddha’s extinction from beginning to end. It was expounded especially for those in this Latter Age of Degeneration such as Nichiren.

Hokke Shuyō Shō, Treatise on the Essence of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 211-212

WONS

Upholding This Sūtra Is Upholding the Buddha’s Body

Your late husband resting beneath the shade of clumps of grass, where nobody visits him, must be anxious to know how his young children whom he left behind in the Sahā World are doing. In ancient China a man named Su-wu was detained in a northern barbarian country for 19 years. He is said to have fastened a letter to the leg of a wild goose addressed to his beloved wife and children at home. A Japanese man, Abe no Nakamaro, went to T’ang China to study. When he lost his way back to Japan, he looked at the moon rising in the east and composed a poem saying “It must be the moon over Mt. Mikasa in Kasuga (Nara).” Your late husband must be thinking of these things as if they were his own.

Nevertheless, because you faithfully chant the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, the character Myō of the Lotus Sūtra transforms itself into the messenger of the Buddha or such bodhisattvas as Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, Superior Practice, or Never Despising. And these messengers of the Buddha will report the things in the Sahā World to your late husband in the other world just as the mirror pieces of Ch’ên-tzu in ancient China became birds to keep him informed, and the sound of Su-wu’s wife beating her husband’s clothes with a fulling block every autumn reached the ears of her husband detained by the northern barbarians.

Moreover, just as a flower becomes a fruit or a half moon becomes a full, the Chinese character Myō is transformed into the Buddha. Therefore, it is preached in the Lotus Sūtra, “Beholding the Stupa of Treasures” chapter, “He who is able to uphold this sūtra is upholding the Buddha’s body.” Grand Master T’ien-t’ai declares, “Every character is the true Buddha.”

Thus, the character Myō is none other than Śākyamuni Buddha who is perfectly equipped with the 32 marks of physical excellence and 80 minor marks of physical excellence of a Buddha. However, as we cannot see deeply enough, we see it merely as a character. For instance, an aged person with poor eyesight cannot see the new shoot of a lotus flower that sprouts in a pond. Though there may be a shadow, we cannot see it in the darkness of night. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that this character Myō is the Buddha’s body.

Moreover, the character Myō is the moon, sun, stars, mirrors, clothes, food, flowers, earth, and ocean. The merits of all of these are combined in the character Myō. And regarding treasures, it is the wish-fulfilling gem. Please understand this.

Myōshin-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Response to My Lady, the Nun Myōshin, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 106-107

WONS

Believing in the Three Treasures of Buddhism

The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 4, states: “It is said that a thief acquired the golden head of a Buddhist statue by uttering ‘Namu Buddha.’ How much more so for a wise man saying this. Venerable gods in the entire universe will not fail to help a wise man. Be diligent and don’t be lazy.”

This interpretation means that once upon a time there was a state in India where the gods in heaven were worshiped but Buddhism was not. A Buddhist temple was built there enshrining the King of Devils in the Sixth Heaven. As the head of this King’s statue was made of gold, a thief had been trying to steal it for years in vain. One day this thief sneaked into the temple and listened secretly to the Buddha’s sermon saying that “namu” means “to be surprised and awakened.” So, the thief chanted “Namu Buddha.” This enabled him to get hold of the head of the Buddhist statue that he had been trying to steal. Later he confessed it to an investigator. As a result, it is said, everyone in the state abandoned the gods in heaven and became a Buddhist. Surmising from this instance of a thief, even a sinner can be relieved of a great burden if one believes in the Three Treasures of Buddhism.

Dōjōjin Shugo-ji, Protective Deities for the Place of Practicing Buddhism, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 16