Monthly Archives: July 2018

Blog

Karma Kittens

Hiding in plain site

So I continue the quest to tame my foster kittens. It took me several tries today to find their hiding places. The carrier was easy enough, but the wire raceway under my desk was a stroke of genius – a black kitten hidden in the darkest corner under the desk.

My wife and I have decided to leave them alone since every time we touch them they decide they must find a new hiding place. Instead, we are only giving them food when we are in the room and withholding it when we leave. We’ll see how that works.

Now I’m killing time, allowing the kittens an opportunity to eat. No takers yet.

Available for purchase from NBIC.

I’ve been reading The Beginnings of Buddhism and gathering quotes that I’ll eventually reprint here. I enjoy the early teachings of Buddhism, considering them in the context of the Lotus Sūtra. Today, for example, I set aside a quote explaining the concept of karma as understood before Buddhism.

[W]hen Shakyamuni was teaching in a town named Devadaha, the issue of karma was being discussed. In those times, in India, there were five explanations for the causes of present happiness and unhappiness:

  1. Everything, happiness and unhappiness, is determined by karma from previous existences.
  2. All fate is determined by the will of an all-powerful deity who created and controls the world.
  3. Human fate is determined by the good or bad ways in which the elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—constituting the fleshly body are combined.
  4. The fate of the entire life of an individual is determined by the social class and family into which he was born.
  5. Human fate does not depend on any of these definite causes but is determined, from minute to minute, by completely accidental occurrences.

From the Buddhist standpoint, all of these explanations either are deterministic and fatalistic or rely purely on chance and therefore deny the significance and value of education and training and fail to take into account the importance of free will in efforts to determine and develop fate. For the sake of a correct interpretation of cosmic workings, Buddhism proposed doing away with these explanations and offered in their place the Law of Causation and the Four Noble Truths as accurate explanations of the world and of human life.

And so I gather up the cat food as I prepare to leave and offer the kittens the value of education and training and the importance of free will. No food until you come out of hiding.

LS32

Day 22

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

Having last month witnessed the reaction of the gods, we consider the innumerable merits of a moment’s faith.

Thereupon the Buddha said to Maitreya Bodhisattva-mahāsattva: “Ajita! Anyone who hears that my life is so long, and understands it by faith even at a moment’s thought, will be able to obtain innumerable merits. Suppose good men or women practiced [ the six pāramitās] except the prajñā- pāramitā, that is, the five pāramitās: the dāna-pāramitā, the śīla-pāramitā, the kṣānti-pāramitā, the vīrya-pāramitā, and the dhyāna-pāramitā, for eighty billion nayuta kalpas in order to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. These merits of the good men or women are far less than one hundredth or one thousandth of the merits of the person [who understand my longevity by faith even at a moment’s thought], or less than his merits divided by one hundred thousand billion. [The superiority of his merits to theirs] cannot be explained by any calculation or parable or simile.

It cannot be that the good man who obtained merits [by understanding my longevity by faith even at a moment’s thought] falters in walking the Way to Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.”

The Daily Dharma from Aug. 20, 2017, offers this:

Ajita! Anyone who hears that my life is so long, and understands it by faith even at a moment’s thought, will be able to obtain innumerable merits.

The Buddha makes this declaration to his disciple Maitreya, also known as Invincible (Ajita) in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sutra. In the previous chapter, the Buddha revealed for the first time that his impending death was merely an expedient, intended to reach those who would take him for granted if they thought they could see him at any time. The Buddha explained that this is the teaching that is most difficult to believe and difficult to understand. Namely that he is always present, leading us and all beings to enlightenment.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

Lotus Seeds

Reflections of the Eternal Buddha

Quote

The last half of the sutra, consisting of the latter 14 chapters, is the Essential Section that reveals the Original Buddha. Therefore it is called the Original Gate. In this section, the Buddha personifies the universal and timeless ultimate truth. As such he is known as the Original or Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha. The Eternal Buddha is an ever-present and active spiritual reality that leads all people to realize their own Buddhahood. All Buddhas who appear throughout the universe as teachers in the past, present, and future are reflections of this Eternal Buddha. In other words, they owe their awakening to the Eternal Buddha, their source and model.

Lotus Seeds

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – July 25, 2018

World-Honored One! I bring you a message from Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha. [He wishes to say this.] Are you in good health? Are you happy and peaceful or not? Are the four elements of your body working in harmony or not? Are the worldly affairs bearable or not? Are the living beings easy to save or not? Do they not have much greed, anger, ignorance, jealousy, stinginess and arrogance, or do they? Are they not undutiful to their parents, or are they? Are they not disrespectful to śramaṇas, or are they? Do they not have wrong views, or do they? Are they not evil, or are they? Do they not fail to control their five desires, or do they?

The passage above is how Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva greets Śākyamuni Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Four of the Lotus Sūtra. This Bodhisattva asks not only about the Buddha, but about those whom the Buddha benefits with his teaching. The Buddha answers that those he teaches have prepared through innumerable lives to receive his wisdom. The questions of Wonderful-Voice show how we obscure the teaching through our delusion and attachments.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

LS32

Day 21

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

Having last month repeated in gāthās the many hundreds of thousands of billions of trillions of asaṃkhyas of kalpas since Śākyamuni became the Buddha, we consider the reality of the power of the Buddha’s wisdom.

I see the [perverted] people sinking
In an ocean of suffering.
Therefore, I disappear from their eyes
And cause them to admire me.
When they adore me,
I appear and expound the Dharma to them.

I can do all this by my supernatural powers.
I live on Mt. Sacred Eagle
And also in the other abodes
For asaṃkhya kalpas.

The [perverted] people think:
“This world is in a great fire.
The end of the kalpa [of destruction] is coming.”
In reality this world of mine is peaceful.
It is filled with gods and men.
The gardens, forests and stately buildings
Are adorned with various treasures;
The jeweled trees have many flowers and fruits;
The living beings are enjoying themselves;
And the gods are beating heavenly drums,
Making various kinds of music,
And raining mandārava-flowers on the great multitude and me.

[This] pure world of mine is indestructible.
But the [perverted] people think:
“It is full of sorrow, fear, and other sufferings.
It will soon burn away.”

Because of their evil karmas,
These sinful people will not be able
To hear even the names of the Three Treasures
During asaṃkhya kalpas.

To those who have accumulated merits,
And who are gentle and upright,
And who see me living here,
Expounding the Dharma,
I say:
“The duration of my life is immeasurable.”
To those who see me after a long time,
I say, “It is difficult to see a Buddha.”

I can do all this by the power of my wisdom.
The light of my wisdom knows no bound.
The duration of my life is innumerable kalpas.
I obtained this longevity by ages of practices.

See Opening the Provisional to Reveal the Truth

LS32, d21b, LS Introduction

Opening the Provisional to Reveal the Truth

In [Chapter 16], the “Duration of the Life of the Tathagata,” it is explained that, while Sakyamuni is provisionally appearing in the limited figures of his manifestations, in reality, he is eternal and infinite. This is called “opening the near to reveal the distant,” or “opening the provisional to reveal the truth,” or similar expressions. Moreover, the first half of the Sutra, from Chapters One to Fourteen, is called Provisional, Imprinted, or Secondary (Shakumon), because Sakyamuni expounded it by means of his provisional duplicate; and the second half, from Chapter Fifteen to the final Chapter Twenty-eight, is called Original or Primary (Hommon), because Sakyamuni expounded it in the form of the Original Buddha (Hombutsu).

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Blog

‘Fraidy Cats

Sacramento SPCA Foster Kittens

So I’m killing time in my home-office-slash-foster-kitten-shelter. The Sacramento SPCA had some kittens needing socialization before they can be put up for adoption. They hiss and run away when approached. I volunteered to see if I could socialize them. Right now I’m just being  present, working quietly, trying not to make them anxious.  They are sleeping now, which I’ll call progress.

Ven. Kenjo Igarashi lights candle in front of altar.

Last Sunday, July 22, was the Obon service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church. This was my fourth Obon service since joining the church and the first in which Ven. Kenjo Igarashi moved the stupas to the front of the altar. Normally these stupas are hidden off to right of the altar.

The rack of stupas represent all of people for whom Rev. Igarashi has held memorial services. In the photo above I’ve highlighted the stupa Rev. Igarashi made for my parents, Mary and Edwin Hughes, and my wife’s father, Richard Buchin. I can’t locate without help the stupa he created for my wife’s mother, Mary Buchin, since we asked him to use her Japanese name,  Michiko Wada.

Due to an operator error, I failed to record Rev. Igarashi’s sermon, which was an interesting lesson that included a bomb scare (locked box left on porch; eventually found to contain discarded SGI Gohonzon and other SGI material), unwanted discarded SGI books (the church is not in the recycling business) and a dragon fly who flew into the church one hot summer day to practice the Lotus Sutra, stayed the night and left the next morning when the priest’s assistant opened the doors.   Really wish I had that recording.

Nichiren Shōnin in front of Śākyamuni Buddha and Many Treasures Buddha in the Stupa of Treasures.

I’ll close out this post with a photo I downloaded from Facebook. It was posted by Chen Hsiongcai of Singapore.

Awakening to the Lotus

Why We Chant

Quote

Of course, one might wonder why simply repeating a phrase is considered the most important practice for Nichiren Buddhists. Nichiren Shonin himself explained that the Buddha prescribed the Odaimoku as a good medicine to cure living beings of the sufferings of birth and death. To become more like someone we admire, it is helpful to act like that person. If we want to become like the Buddha, we must act like the Buddha. In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha revealed that all Buddhas including himself became enlightened by revering the Lotus Sutra itself. This is what we are doing when we chant the Odaimoku. Through this practice, we become one with the Buddha and cultivate our own Buddha nature.

Awakening to the Lotus

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – July 24, 2018

The living beings are various in their natures, desires, deeds, thoughts and opinions. Therefore, I expounded the dharma with various stories of previous lives, with various parables, similes and discourses, in order to cause all living beings to plant the roots of good.

The Buddha gives this explanation in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. He describes the methods he used to prepare those whom he taught for receiving his highest teaching. In this chapter, the Buddha reveals that his existence is not limited to that of the physical body of Siddhartha Gautama 2500 years ago. In truth he has been leading all beings to his enlightenment for an unimaginably long time, and will continue to lead us for twice that time into the future. We approach the Buddha’s true wisdom when we see the purpose of our existence as benefiting all beings, and are certain that the outcome of whatever troubles us now is the enlightenment of all beings.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

LS32

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 Maitreya’s doubts, we consider a handsome, black-haired man twenty-five years old who points to men a hundred years old and says, ‘They are my sons.’

“World-Honored One! It is difficult for anyone in the world to believe this. It is as difficult as to believe a handsome, black-haired man twenty-five years old who points to men a hundred years old and says, ‘They are my sons,’ or as to believe men a hundred years old who point to a young man and say, ‘This is our father. He brought us up.’ You are like the young man. It is not long since you attained enlightenment. But it is many thousands of billions of kalpas since the great multitude of these Bodhisattvas began to practice the Way strenuously in order to attain the enlightenment of the Buddha. During that time they entered into, stayed in, and came out of many hundreds of thousands of billions of samadhis, and obtained great supernatural powers. They performed brahma practices for a long time. They learned good teachings one by one, and obtained the ability to answer questions skillfully. They are regarded as the treasures of the world of men by all the people of the world because they are rare. Today you say that, after you attained the enlightenment of the Buddha, you caused them to aspire for enlightenment, taught them, and led them into the Way to Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.

“World-Honored One! You did these deeds of great merit although it is not long since you attained Buddhahood. We believe that your words given according to the capacities of all living beings are infallible, and that we understand all that you know. But the beginners in Bodhisattvahood after your extinction, if they hear these words of yours, will not receive them by faith but commit the sin of violating the Dharma. Therefore, World-Honored One! Explain all this so that we may be able to remove our doubts and that the good men in the future may have no doubts when they hear these words of yours!”

The Daily Dharma from May 12, 2018, offers this:

World-Honored One! It is difficult for anyone in the world to believe this. It is as difficult as to believe a handsome, black-haired man twenty-five years old who points to men a hundred years old and says, ‘They are my sons,’ or as to believe men a hundred years old who point to a young man and say, ‘This is our father. He brought us up.’

Maitreya Bodhisattva explains his perplexity to the Buddha in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha had just revealed that he was who taught all the Bodhisattvas who have appeared from underground to continue teaching the Wonderful Dharma after the extinction of the Buddha. Maitreya realizes that his doubts are no different from those of those gathered to hear the Buddha teach and asks the Buddha to explain. When our experience does not match what the Buddha teaches, we should not keep silence and just accept what he tells us. It is only through sincere questioning that we find the Buddha’s mind and make it our own.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com