As our desires develop into deep grasping, our troubles also develop into spiritual suffering. We need a spiritual teaching to bring spiritual peace, hope and guidance to our life. This teaching is called “religion.” For a spiritual world and a peaceful mind, Buddhism is the specialty, and the Lotus Sutra the specialist. This teaching makes an analysis of the poison of suffering, explains the cause of suffering, and prescribes a good medicine for us to make harmony in body, mind and nature. That is the teaching of “Enlightenment.”
Spring WritingsMonthly Archives: March 2017
Daily Dharma – March 24, 2017
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 causes him to hear it even for a moment, in his next life by his merits, will be able to live with the Bodhisattvas who obtain dhāraṇīs.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Maitreya (whom he calls Ajita – Invincible) in Chapter Eighteen of the Lotus Sutra. The dhāraṇīs are promises made by Bodhisattvas to protect those who keep and practice the Lotus Sūtra. They are included in the sūtra so that we can use them to remind these Bodhisattvas, and ourselves, of the protection we enjoy from our practice. This protection is not just meant for us. It is for all beings. When we share the teaching of the Wonderful Dharma with others, we help them become aware of their potential to become enlightened.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 13
Day 13 covers all of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples.
Having last month covered Purna’s past efforts in gathas, we continue with predictions for his future.
In the future also he will make offerings
To innumerable Buddhas, protect their right teachings,
Help them propagate their teachings,
And purify their worlds.He will always fearlessly expound the Dharma
With expedients.
He will save countless living beings
And cause them to have the knowledge of all things.He will make offerings to many Tathagatas
And protect the treasure-store of the Dharma.
After that he will be able to become a Buddha
Called Dharma-Brightness.His world will be called Good-Purity.
It will be made of the seven treasures.
His kalpa will be called Treasure-Brightness.
There will be Bodhisattvas [in his world],
Many hundreds of millions in number.
They will have great supernatural powers.
They will be powerful and virtuous.
They will be seen throughout that world.Innumerable Sravakas will organize the Samgha.
They will have the three major supernatural powers,
The eight emancipations,
And the four kinds of unhindered eloquence.The living beings of that world will have no sexual desire.
They will be born without any medium.
They will be adorned with the marks [of the Buddha].
They will not think
Of any other food [than the two kinds of food]:
The delight in the Dharma, and the delight in dhyana.
There will be neither women nor evil regions
In that world.Purna Bhiksu will be able to obtain
All these merits,
And have his pure world
Inhabited by many sages and saints.
I have innumerable things to say of him.
I have told you only a few of them.
Each time Day 13 reaches Purna becoming the Buddha Dharma-Brightness in a world called Good-Purity I feel compelled to comment on the idea of a world without sexual desire or women and where “They will be born without any medium.” See this and this. Without women or sexual desire it sort of makes the whole “They will not think / Of any other food [than the two kinds of food]: / The delight in the Dharma, and the delight in dhyana” seem less impressive. What else is there to distract them? OK. I’m being silly. I’ll do better tomorrow.
Having Joy
As we begin to wander into the Lotus Sutra, I think the most important thing is to understand those things that in this moment enhance your practice, encourage you, and deepen your relationship with the Lotus Sutra. In all things I believe that joy should be at the root. While the Lotus Sutra may at times seem perplexing or impossible to understand I do think that joy is possible to establish. Having joy well up from within your life and manifest in actuality is very important. When you have joy then you will have greater praise, which leads to further joy. The message of joy and gratitude are as much at the heart of the Lotus Sutra, as is any complex doctrinal message.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraDaily Dharma – March 23, 2016
The highest Dharma that I attained
Is profound and difficult to understand.
Now I will expound it.
Listen to me with all your hearts!
The Buddha sings these verses to those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. He has already said that we must leave behind the expedient teachings tailored to our minds and take on the highest teaching which is the Buddha’s own mind. He knows how difficult this is for us, that we cannot hear it through our understanding alone, so he asks us to use our whole being to hear him.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 12
Day 12 concludes Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City, and completes the Third Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month having covered the setup before the Parable of the Magic City, now we review the parable.
“I will tell you a parable. Once upon a time there was a dangerous, bad road five hundred yojanas long. It was so fearful that no men lived in the neighborhood. Now many people wished to pass through this road in order to reach a place of treasures. They were led by a man, clever, wise, and well informed of the conditions of the dangerous road. He took them along this dangerous road, but halfway the people got tired of walking. They said to him, ‘We are tired out. We are also afraid of the danger of this road. We cannot go a step farther. Our destination is still far off. We wish to go back.’
“The leader, who knew many expedients, thought, ‘What a pity!
They wish to go back without getting great treasures.’ Having thought this, he expediently made a city by magic at a distance of three hundred yojanas from the starting-point of this dangerous road. He said to them, ‘Do not be afraid! Do not go back! You can stay in that great city, and do anything you like. If you enter that city, you will be peaceful. If you go on afterwards and reach the place of treasures, then you can go home.’
“Thereupon the worn-out people had great joy. They said, ‘We have never had such joy as this before. Now we shall be able to get off this bad road and become peaceful.’
“Then they made their way forward and entered the magic city.
They felt peaceful, thinking that they had already passed [through the bad road]. Seeing that they had already had a rest and relieved their fatigue, the leader caused the city to disappear, and said to them, ‘Now the place of treasures is near. I made this city by magic in order to give you a rest.’
The Daily Dharma of Jan. 20, 2017, offers this:
He said to them, ‘Do not be afraid! Do not go back! You can stay in that great city, and do anything you like. If you enter that city, you will be peaceful. If you go on afterwards and reach the place of treasures, then you can go home.
This is part of the Parable of the Magic City, told by the Buddha in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, a guide is leading a group of travelers through a dangerous road to a city of treasures. Halfway through the trip, the travelers, overcome by their fear and fatigue, consider giving up their journey and returning to their previous lives. The guide makes a resting place for them where they can relax before continuing. When the travelers mistake this resting place for their destination, the guide makes the city disappear so that they will keep moving towards the true treasures. The Buddha compares himself to the guide, us to the travelers, the magic city to that place we all want where even our unspoken desires are met, and his enlightenment to the city of treasures. To see the world as it is and find true happiness, we need to let go of our delusions and keep faith in our guide and his highest teaching.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Middle Way of the Middle Way
Both the Middle Way as practice and the Middle Way as insight are dependent on each other. By practicing the Middle Way, we attain the insight of the Middle Way, and through the insight of the Middle Way, we are able to live in accord with the practice of the Middle Way. Ultimately, the Middle Way is the unity of practice and insight.
Lotus SeedsDaily Dharma – March 22, 2017
All living beings are suffering.
Being blind, they have no leader.
They do not know how to stop suffering,
Or that they should seek emancipation.
In the long night fewer people go to heaven,
And more people go to the evil regions.
They go from darkness to darkness, and do not hear
Of the names of the Buddhas.
The children of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha proclaim this to their father in a story told by Śākyamuni Buddha in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. They understand that when beings are so preoccupied with their own happiness, and so convinced that this happiness comes from what they can acquire, that they need an enlightened being to lead them to see the world as it is. With the Lotus Sūtra as the embodiment of the Buddha’s highest teaching, we have the same wisdom present to us as those children’s father was to them.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 11
Day 11 continues Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City
Having last month finished the travels of the Brahman-heavenly-kings, we return to the light at the top of Day 11.
“When Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, five hundred billion Buddha-worlds in each of the ten quarters quaked in the six ways, and all those worlds, including those intercepted from the brilliant rays of light of the sun and the moon by the neighboring worlds, were illumined [by great rays of light], and the living beings of those worlds were able to see each other for the first time. They said to each other, ‘How did you appear so suddenly?’ The palaces of the gods of those worlds, including the palace of Brahmans, also quaked in the six ways. The great rays of light which illumined all those worlds were brighter than the rays of light emitted by those gods.
It is this light that we celebrate, for without the Buddha’s presence it would be very dark.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1 offers this:
With the Lotus Sutra and our Buddhist practice we can even illuminate the sufferings we are experiencing as well as those we have experienced and with the wisdom learned we can forge a future with different outcomes. No matter how dark or how long darkness has existed in our lives, just as a light illuminates a cave that has been dark for hundreds of years, the Lotus Sutra can bring light and enlightenment to our lives.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1
Daily Dharma – March 21, 2017
Those who seek the enlightenment of the Buddha
Are as various as previously stated.
A kalpa will not be long enough
To describe the variety of them.
The Buddha speaks these verses in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. We may believe that only some kinds of people will hear the teaching of the Buddha. In this passage the Buddha reminds us that we cannot predict who will be able to join us in our practice and who will not. This is why it is so important to maintain our vow as Bodhisattvas to benefit all beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com