Category Archives: WONS

d26b, WONS

What the Buddha had in Mind

After entrusting the essential dharma of five characters to the bodhisattvas who appeared from underground, the Buddha ascended from the Stupa of Treasures. Standing in the sky, the Buddha tapped the heads of Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, the King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, the sun and moon, the Four Heavenly Kings and others three times, and entrusted them with the expanded and concise teachings of the Lotus Sūtra (though without the essential dharma) as well as all the sūtras preached before and after the Lotus Sūtra. This was for the sake of saving the people in the 2,000-year period of the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma. Thereafter, when the Buddha preached the Nirvana Sūtra, He again expounded the Lotus as well as pre-Lotus sūtras, entrusting them to such great bodhisattvas as Mañjuśrī. This was the preaching regarding the benefit of gleaning after the harvest of the Lotus Sūtra.

Thus what the Buddha transmitted was not the same, so the task of propagation after the death of the Buddha was limited according to the content of transmission. Accordingly Kāśyapa, Ānanda and others spread only the Hinayāna sūtras without expounding the Mahāyāna sūtras. Nāgārjuna, Asaṅga and others spread the provisional Mahāyāna sūtras without preaching the One Vehicle true teaching of the Lotus Sūtra. Even though they preached the Lotus Sūtra, they merely suggested its teaching, or they preached merely a part of the theoretical section without discussing the beginning and ending of the Buddha’s guidance.

Appearing in this world as the avatars of Avalokiteśvara and Medicine King Bodhisattva, Grand Masters Nan-yüeh and T’ien-t’ai expounded both the Hinayāna and Mahāyāna sūtras, provisional and true teachings, the theoretical and essential sections of the Lotus Sūtra, as well as such doctrines as the beginning and ending of the Buddha’s guidance and the eternal relationship between the Buddha and His disciples. Moreover, they advocated the theory of “sūtras which had been preached, are being preached, and will be preached,” claiming that the Lotus Sūtra was supreme among all the holy teachings preached in the lifetime of the Buddha. Their critical classification of teachings is superior to those of commentators in India and many masters in China. Tripiṭaka masters of both old and new translations do not equal to Nan-yüeh and T’ien-t’ai at all. Founders of both exoteric and esoteric Buddhist schools cannot compete with them. The two grand masters, however, were still basing themselves on the whole or parts of the Lotus Sūtra without expounding its essence, the five characters. Although they themselves knew it, they did not convey this to others. It was solely because they correctly remembered what was entrusted to them and respected what the Buddha had in mind.

Soya Nyūdō-dono-gari Gosho, A Letter to Lay Priest Lord Soya, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 162.

d19b, d20b, WONS

Spreading the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration

The heart of this essential section of the Lotus Sūtra, “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō” (an absolute faith in the five-character title of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma), was not transmitted even to the most trusted disciples such as Bodhisattvas Mañjuśrī or Medicine King, and certainly not the lower-ranking bodhisattvas. Instead the Buddha called out numerous bodhisattvas from underground, for whom He expounded it during the preaching of eight chapters following the fifteenth chapter in the essential section of the Lotus Sūtra and entrusted them with the task of spreading it in the Latter Age of Degeneration.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 148

WONS

‘Honestly Casting Away the Expedient’

Grand Master Dengyō … stated in his Treatise on the Protection of the State: “The Ages of the True Dharma and Semblance Dharma have passed and the Latter Age, when the Lotus Sūtra is to spread, is approaching;” “In the home of the One Vehicle Lotus Teaching, the provisional teachings should never be used;” “To those who believe in the One Vehicle of the Lotus Sūtra, the Hinayāna teaching must not be given;” and “Rotten meals should not be served in jeweled dishes.” He also stated: “Even the great arhats were reprimanded by the Buddha when they adhered to Hinayāna teachings in the Buddha’s lifetime. After the death of the Buddha, how can those masters of the dharma, as imperfect and inferior as mosquitoes and horseflies, stick to the Hinayāna teaching against the intention of the Buddha?”

These are not arbitrary words that Grand Master Dengyō thought up himself, but they are based on the Buddhist scriptures. That is to say, it is stated in the Lotus Sūtra: “Honestly casting away the expedient, I am going to preach the supreme of all teachings, the Lotus Sūtra.” In the Nirvana Sūtra it is said: “Until they listened to the Lotus Sūtra, they all held onto wrong ideas.” “The wrong ideas” or “the expedient” in these passages stand for such sūtras as the Flower Garland, the Great Sun Buddha, the Wisdom and the Amitābha preached during the forty years or so before the Lotus Sūtra was preached. Grand Master T’ien-t’ai said that “casting away” meant “abandon,” that is to say, “abandon the expedient teachings.”

Shimoyama Goshōsoku, The Shimoyama Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 69

WONS

‘Wonderful’

Grand Master T’ien-t’ai states in the sixth fascicle of the Great Concentration and Insight, “The icchantika has a slim possibility to attain Buddhahood because he has some mind left, but the Two Vehicles cannot because they want their mind and body annihilated. In the Lotus Sūtra, however, the Two Vehicles are allowed to attain Buddhahood, so the sūtra is called ‘myō’.” Grand Master Miao-lê also says in the sixth fascicle of the Annotations on the Great Concentration and Insight, “Various sūtras call themselves ‘great,’ not ‘wonderful’ because they can lead those with heart, but not without heart, to Buddhahood. The Lotus Sūtra, however, can lead those without heart to Buddhahood, so it is called the ‘wonderful’ sūtra.” These passages mean that only the Chinese character for “great,” not that for “wonderful,” was put on each title of such sūtras as the Great Flower Garland Sūtra, the Sūtra of Great Assembly, the Great Wisdom Sūtra and the Great Nirvana Sūtra. These sūtras can save only people who are still alive but not dead ones, while the Lotus Sūtra can save dead people as well, which is why the sūtra is called “wonderful.” Therefore, those who are entitled to attain Buddhahood cannot do so by various other sūtras, while even those who have difficulty in attaining Buddhahood can become Buddhas by the Lotus Sūtra, let alone those who are easily capable of doing so. Accordingly, no one should rely on various other sūtras after the Lotus Sūtra was expounded.

Hokke Daimoku Shō, Treatise on the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 46

WONS

‘Good Friends’ Today

QUESTION: According to the Flower Garland Sūtra, Bodhisattva Good Treasures met some fifty “good friends,” in search of the way. Among his “good friends” were such distinguished bodhisattvas as Universal Sage, Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara (Kannon) and Maitreya. Ever Weeping Bodhisattva, King Spotted Feet, King Wonderful Adornment and King Ajātaśatru were led to emancipation from the illusion of life and death respectively by Bodhisattva T’an Wu-chieh, King Fumyō, King Wonderful Adornment’s wife and two sons, and Minister Jivaka.

These teachers were, however, great sages, and difficult to encounter after the passing of the Buddha. After the extinction of the Buddha there lived such great teachers as Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu in India, but they died, and such teachers as Nan-yūeh (T’ien-t’ai’s teacher) and T’ien-t’ai of China are no longer here. How can we then sever the chain of life and death?

ANSWER: “Good friends” (reliable teachers) exist even in the Latter Age; they are the Lotus Sūtra and Nirvana Sūtra.

Shugo Kokka-ron, Treatise on Protecting the Nation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 58

WONS, Eyes

Subtle and Complex Interplay of Karma

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Based upon the teachings of the sūtras and the classic treatises explaining Buddhist cosmology and the working of karma, Nichiren believed that the fruition of karma was not just an individual matter but also something that unfolded in terms of whole societies, even nations. This is what we would today call “collective karma.” He also believed that the effects of karma could occur in conspicuous or obvious ways, such as when there are wars or tragic accidents; however, it could occur in more subtle and inconspicuous ways, such as the slow and quiet progress of an illness. Nichiren also taught that the effects of karma can unfold in the present life, in the next life, or even be deferred to some other future lifetime. The intertwining of wholesome and unwholesome karmic seeds, the intermingling of individual and collective karma, and the uncertainty of when causes and conditions will bring about the karmic effects of past deeds all combine to make the unfolding of the karmic law of cause and effect quite subtle and complex.

Open Your Eyes, p519
d21b, WONS

The Eternal Pure Land

[W]hen the Eternal Buddha was revealed in the essential section of the Lotus Sūtra, this world of endurance (Sahā World) became the Eternal Pure Land, indestructible even by the three calamities of conflagration, flooding, and strong winds, which are said to destroy the world. It transcends the four periods of cosmic change: the kalpa of construction, continuance, destruction, and emptiness. Śākyamuni Buddha, the Lord-preacher of this Pure Land, has never died in the past, nor will He be born in the future. He exists forever throughout the past, present, and future. All those who receive His guidance are one with this Eternal Buddha. It is because each of our minds is equipped with the “3,000 modes of existence” and the “three factors,” namely, all living beings, the land in which they live, and the five elements of living beings (matter, perception, conception, volition and consciousness).

This truth was not made clear in the first fourteen chapters of the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra. Perhaps it was because the time was not ripe at this stage of preaching the Lotus Sūtra; and capacity of comprehension on the part of the listeners was not yet sufficient.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 148

WONS, Eyes

Revealing Hidden Seeds of Past Evil Karma

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Nichiren speaks of the power of practice to reveal the hidden seeds of past evil karma in terms of two analogies — the forging of iron and the collection of hemp oil. “It is like forging iron, for instance. Unless you hit it and forge it hard, hidden scars will not be seen. They appear only when the iron is hit hard many times on an anvil. Or it is analogous to squeezing hemp seeds. Unless squeezed hard, there is little oil.” (Murano 2000, p. 107) Nichiren states that he would not have faced any resistance if he had remained content to teach the provisional sūtras that others were already teaching. “Ever since l, Nichiren, strongly condemned those who slander the True Dharma in Japan, I have been persecuted. It must be that grave sins in my past lives are revealed through my merits in defending the Dharma in this life.” (Murano 2000, p. 107) From this perspective, to encounter resistance and even persecutions is proof that one’s practice is valid, that it is making a real difference in one’s life and the lives of others. I think it is true that if we challenge ourselves in our Buddhist practice, we will find ourselves coming up against latent forces of ego and the power of unwholesome habit patterns. We may even find ourselves having to stand up to and confront the people around us who are invested in an unwholesome or unjust status quo. Substance abusers, for instance, who try to break their addictions and change their way of living will meet resistance from “friends” and sometimes even family or co-workers when they try to change their habits and accustomed ways of doing things, and needless to say they will also have to confront their own inner demons. On the other hand, sometimes the resistance we meet in others is not because we are cultivating a more liberated, wholesome, and compassionate way of living but because we are acting out in ways that are needlessly provocative, arrogant, belligerent, and/or paranoid and mistaking that for taking a revolutionary or prophetic stance for everyone’s good. We must be very wary of the view that resistance automatically proves we are right or that we are expiating karma. Sometimes it can be proof that we are on the wrong track, that we are hardening our ego instead of realizing selfless compassion, and actually sowing the seeds of conflict rather than harmony due to our belligerent self-righteousness.

Open Your Eyes, p518
WONS

Mixing Other Teachings with the Odaimoku

Some of my disciples pretend to know the details of doctrines. They are mistaken. The odaimoku, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, is the essence of the Lotus Sūtra. It is like a human being’s spirit. If any other teachings were to be added to the odaimoku, it would be the cause of great trouble. It would be like the Empress marrying two Emperors or committing adultery. The teachings of the Lotus Sūtra did not spread far enough during the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma. This was because these periods were intended for other sūtras.

We are presently living in the Latter Age of Degeneration. The Lotus Sūtra and other sūtras are no longer efficacious in bringing about enlightenment. Only the odaimoku can accomplish this. This is not my arbitrary opinion. It was so-arranged by the Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, various Buddhas from all over the universe, and numerous great bodhisattvas from beneath the earth such as Superior Practice Bodhisattva.

It is a serious mistake to mix other teachings with the odaimoku. For example, when the sun rises, we no longer need to use lamps. When it rains, the dew is of no use. A baby does not need any nourishment except for milk. We do not need to add supplements to effective medicine.

Ueno-dono Gohenji, A Reply to Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 129

WONS

Clothing a Happy Mind

Clothing defends our bodies against the cold and protects our bodies against the heat. It also hugs or adorns our bodies. It is preached in the “Medicine King” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 7, “It is as if a naked person was given clothing.” This means that it is tantamount to a person who receives clothes after shivering in the cold without them. It refers to a happy mind.

Nanjō-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Nanjō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 17