Monthly Archives: April 2018

LS32

Day 3

Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Having last month considered our inability to measure the wisdom of the Buddha, we learn the profound and wonderful Dharma is known only to the Buddhas.

(He said to Śāriputra again:)
I have already attained
The profound and wonderful Dharma,
The Dharma without āsravas, the inconceivable Dharma.
It is known only to me
And to the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters.

Śāriputra, know this!
The Buddhas do not speak differently.
Have great power of faith
In the Dharma expounded by the Buddhas!
As a rule, the World-Honored Ones expound the true teaching
Only after a long period [of expounding expedient teachings].

(He said to the Śrāvakas
And to those who were seeking the vehicle of cause-knowers:)
I saved all living beings
From the bonds of suffering,
And caused them to attain Nirvāṇa.
l showed to them
The teaching of the Three Vehicles as an expedient
In order to save them from various attachments.

See Unity of the Three in the One

LS32, d3b, d4b, LS Introduction

Unity of the Three in the One

In Chapter Two, “Expedients,” the Buddha revealed the three vehicles to be expedients – that is, provisional teachings. He clarified that the unity of the three in the One Buddha Vehicle is the true teaching. This is called “opening the provisional to reveal the truth,” or “opening the three to reveal the one,” or “the three teachings become one.”

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

History of Japanese Religion

Japanese Morality

Quote

Scrupulous fidelity to tradition is everywhere a characteristic of tribal religion. Its morality is based upon the sanctity of the communal life amounting to the adoration of blood kinship and the observance of social rules. The individual is almost nothing in the face of the community, and unreasoning submission to social sanction is the essential condition of individual life. Authority and tradition, not the person and conscience, are the ultimate foundation of morality which, though remaining still in force, are being modified by the influence of modern civilization on village life. This has been the strength and at the same time the weakness of Japanese morality. It was the force that solidified the feudal régime and still sustains the solidarity of the people as a body.

History of Japanese Religion

WONS, 100 Days of Study

Day 32 of 100

It has been 2,200 years or so since the Buddha expounded the Lotus Sūtra. As the life span of human beings is short, there is no one still alive who was able to see the Buddha in person. The length of a day as well as the life span in the realm of heavenly beings, however, are so long that there exist numerous heavenly beings who listened to the Buddha preach the Lotus Sūtra. Fifty years for human beings is equivalent to one day and night for the Four Heavenly Kings. Passing the day and night in this way, with 30 days in a month and 12 months to a year they live altogether 500 years. Accordingly 2,200 years or so in the human realm is equivalent to 44 days of the Four Heavenly Kings, and it has been only 44 days since the sun and moon and Vaiśravaṇa (Bishamon, one of the Four Heavenly Kings) saw the Buddha enter Nirvana. In other words it has not been two months yet since the Buddha passed away. To such heavenly beings as Indra and the King of the Brahma Heaven it has been a month or so since the Buddha passed into Nirvana. How can they forget all about the vow they made before the Buddha, the great favor of the sūtra in which they attained Buddhahood, and abandon the practicers of the Lotus Sūtra in such a short span? When we think of things in this way, we are sure we can depend on these heavenly beings.

Accordingly, the prayer said by the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra will inevitably be fulfilled just as a sound is echoed, a shadow follows the body, the moon reflects upon the clear water, a water nymph invites the water, a magnet attracts iron, amber eliminates dust, and a clear mirror reflects the color of everything.

Kitō-shō, Treatise on Prayers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 50

Personally I’m fascinated by this idea that a day in the life of a god is the equivalent of 50 years of a human being. (See Day 20 of 100) We are so focused on ourselves that we miss the wonder. Just imagine: It is less than two months since Vaiśravaṇa Heavenly-King, the Protector of the World, said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One! I also will utter dhārānis in order to protect this teacher of the Dharma out of my compassion towards all living beings.”

100 Days of Study

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – April 1, 2018

Śāriputra! Seeing that all his children had come out of the burning house safely and reached a carefree place, the rich man remembered that he had immeasurable wealth. So without partiality, he gave them each a large cart.

The Buddha tells the parable of the Burning House in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, a man tries to warn his children who are playing in a dangerous house of the harm that will come to them if they do not set aside their preoccupations and come out. The children did not listen to him, so he told them about nonexistent toys outside the house. The Buddha then compares himself promising an end to suffering to the father promising nonexistent toys, and himself leading all beings to Enlightenment to the father giving his children toys more wonderful than they could imagine.

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