Had Nichiren not publicly attacked Hōnen’s teaching and come into conflict with the bakufu, his following might have remained simply another branch of medieval Tendai, and an independent Nichiren Hokke tradition might never have emerged. However, his failure to win an official hearing, followed by the sentence of exile, forced him into an adversarial position from which he would begin to define his religion over and against that of the ruling elites. Of low status from the outset and now under criminal sentence, Nichiren would increasingly articulate his message from the standpoint of someone on the margins in challenge to the center. More precisely, he would elaborate a world view and mythic vision in which center and periphery were reversed. (Page 251)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismMonthly Archives: January 2019
Four Dharma-Doors
[W]hen various groups of retinues are examined in terms of the Four Teachings, they are classified by Chih-i into coarse or subtle. Retinues that belong to the Tripiṭaka, the Common and the Separate Teachings are coarse, except for the ones of the Perfect Teaching that are subtle. As the Perfect Teaching concerning universal salvation that is represented by the Lotus Sūtra, Chih-i maintains that in the Lotus Sūtra, all retinues of the Buddha are considered to be subtle. For Chih-i, the Four Teachings are the four ways of reaching truth, and thus, are the four Dharma-doors. (vOL. 2, Page 293)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismDay 16
Day 16 concludes Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures, and completes the Fourth Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month witnessed Śākyamuni open the Stupa of Treasures, we witness Many-Treasures Buddha in the stūpa of treasures offer a half of his seat to Śākyamuni.
Thereupon Many-Treasures Buddha in the stūpa of treasures offered a half of his seat to Śākyamuni Buddha, saying, “Śākyamuni Buddha, sit here!”
Śākyamuni Buddha entered the stūpa and sat on the half-seat with his legs crossed. The great multitude, having seen the two Tathāgatas sitting cross-legged on the lion-like seat in the stūpa of the seven treasures, thought, “The seat of the Buddhas is too high. Tathāgata! Raise us up by your supernatural powers so that we may be able to be with you in the sky!”
Thereupon Śākyamuni Buddha raised them up to the sky by his supernatural powers, and said to the four kinds of devotees with in a loud voice:
“Who will expound the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in this Saha-World? Now is the time to do this. I shall enter into Nirvana before long. I wish to transmit this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to someone so that this sūtra may be preserved.”
The Daily Dharma from Dec. 20, 2018, offers this:
“Who will expound the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in this Sahā-World? Now is the time to do this. I shall enter into Nirvāṇa before long. I wish to transmit this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to someone so that this sūtra may be preserved.”
The Buddha asks this of those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. If there had been no one among those listening who was able to expound the Sūtra, he would not have asked this question. Our ability to benefit others with the Buddha Dharma is not based on our eloquence, our intelligence or our position in life. It is based only on our faith in the Buddha’s teachings and our determination to benefit others. When we read, recite, and copy the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha is transmitting it to us. We preserve the Sūtra through our practice.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
See the Good Things
Going lightly on ourselves, realizing that the teaching of the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra are peaceful and pleasant and we can obtain wonderful merits, means that we should abandon wrong views. Being gentle of mind is being gentle towards others and ourselves. Learning to celebrate the good things, to even see the good things in our lives takes practice and skill, especially if we have listened to our mental tapes or the messages of others that try to tell us we are not worthy. Try this out. Today for half the day look around you and really pay attention to all the things that are red. See if you can spot all the red things in your environment. For the second half try to spot all the green things, look closely and see if you can see green things you never thought of as green before.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1Daily Dharma – Jan. 27, 2019
Sometimes he chided him, saying:
“Work hard!”
At other times he coaxed him, saying:
“I will treat you as my son.”
These verses are part of the story of the Wayward Son told by Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. The son in the story has become attached to his lowly existence. The father must teach him slowly with expedients to prepare him to come into his inheritance. The story explains the disciples’ understanding of how the Buddha uses expedients to prepare us to aspire for enlightenment. The Buddha leads each of us differently, and as we progress in our wisdom, he changes how he teaches us. All this is preparation for us to come into the Buddha’s own mind and enjoy his wisdom.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Importance of 3,000 Realms In One Thought-Moment
The beginnings of Nichiren’s eventual thinking concerning the daimoku are, however, already present in his Ichidai shōgyō taii (The cardinal meaning of the sacred teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime), written in 1258, which declares the Lotus Sūtra to be the Buddha’s ultimate teaching and the purpose of his advent in this world. In this work, Nichiren identifies the five characters of the daimoku, the “Wonderful Dharma,” with the “three thousand realms in one thought-moment” (ichinen sanzen), an identification that would be central to his later writings. The Ichidai shōgyō taii also foreshadows the importance Nichiren would place on the concept of the “three thousand realms in one thought-moment” as the foundation of his mature thought. Unlike the majority of medieval Tendai kuden texts, Nichiren took as his doctrinal basis not the threefold contemplation in a single mind, but the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment. While both concepts express the idea of a perfectly interpenetrating universe in which all dharmas simultaneously encompass one another, the “three thousand realms in one thought-moment” explicitly includes two component principles that Nichiren would draw upon in developing his thought. One is the mutual inclusion of the ten dharma realms (jikkai gogu), which Nichiren used to focus more diffuse notions of nonduality on the mutual encompassing of the Buddha realm and the nine realms of unenlightened beings. The other is the concept of the land (kokudo seken), which is nondual with and inseparable from the beings who inhabit it. This concept would be important to Nichiren for two reasons. First, it underlies his claim that the land itself can manifest Buddhahood, that is, that the pure land can be realized in the present world. Second, its implication that insentient forms can manifest Buddhahood provided the doctrinal basis for his use of a mandala as a honzon or object of worship. (Page 248-249)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismRetinues Related to Buddha’s Transformation Body
In terms of “explaining retinues that are formed by the responses of the Buddha (Ming Ying-sheng Chüan-shu), Chih-i states that this group of retinues is related to the Buddha’s transformation-body (Skt., nirmāṇakāya), and the nirmāṇakāya is the manifestation of the Buddha’s Dharma-body (dharmakāya). The former is the body that is present in responding to sentient beings. Chih-i argues that the Buddha’s Dharmabody manifests itself as the nirmāṇakāya is (i) for the sake of maturing others (Wei Shu-t ‘a), (ii) for the sake of self-maturing (Wei Tzu-shu), and (iii) for the sake of original karmic affinity (Wei Pen-yüan).
Chih-i explains that the reason the nirmāṇakāya is necessary for the sake of maturing others is because the wholesome factors of the second group of retinues (that are formed by karmic connection) are weak, and they are unable to bring forth a resolve to the bodhi-mind by themselves. Although having attained salvation for himself, with his great compassion, the Buddha appears to be the bodhisattva who responds to the beings by means of entering the twenty-five kinds of existence, in order to be a teacher and to guide beings to aspire to attain Buddhahood. Because of the response of the bodhisattva, living beings may attain the real Path, and become internal retinues (i.e., also become a bodhisattva); they may attain the similar Path (i.e., resembling bodhisattva wisdom); and they may neither attain the real Path nor the similar Path, but their wholesome karma can still increase. In short, the bodhisattva ‘s response can benefit all living beings regardless of their differences. In order to emphasize the function of the dharmakāya that is all-embracing, Chih-i goes so far as to include destructive elements of the mundane world, declaring:
“As for the hatred, resistance, slander of heretics, one should know that all these are actions of the dharmakāya.”
This statement of Chih-i is quite daring and reflects Chih-i’s comprehensive view of worldly phenomenon. Considering that Chih-i vehemently adheres to the Ultimate Truth that underlies all things, the logical conclusion drawn from this theory includes, of course, constructive as well as destructive elements, and destructive elements are, thus, declared by Chih-i as the act of the dharmakāya, and as belonging to expedient means. Chih-i asserts that in the Lotus Sūtra, all of the Buddha’s actions are revealed for the sake of saving living beings; though expedient, they contain his real intention of leading beings to attain Buddhahood.
Chih-i explains that the nirmāṇakāya that is for the sake of self-maturing refers to the bodhisattva who attains the Path either by receiving the teaching of the historical Buddha Śākyamuni, or by receiving the teaching of the eternal Buddha in an incalculable past in the Origin.
In terms of the nirmāṇakāya for the sake of original karmic affinity, Chih-i explains that “Origin” (Pen) refers to one’s initial resolve to enlightenment, and because of this original resolve, one has developed karmic affinity with the Buddha, which insures one’s attainment of Buddhahood. (Vol. 2, Page 292-293)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismDay 15
Day 15 concludes Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, and opens Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures.
Having last month learned of Śākyamuni’s replicas, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 11 with Śākyamuni emitting a ray of light.
Thereupon the Buddha emitted a ray of light from the white curls [between his eyebrows, and faced the east]. The congregation saw the Buddhas of five hundred billion nayuta worlds, that is, as many worlds as there are sands in the River Ganges, in the east. The ground of those worlds was made of crystal. Those worlds were adorned with jeweled trees and garments, and filled with many thousands of billions of Bodhisattvas. Jeweled curtains were stretched and jeweled nets were hung over those worlds, where the Buddhas were expounding the Dharma with loud and wonderful voices. The congregation also saw that many thousands of billions of Bodhisattvas, with whom those worlds were filled, were expounding the Dharma to the living beings of those worlds.
The Buddha also illumined the worlds of the south, west, north, the four intermediate quarters, zenith, and nadir, with rays of light emitted from the white curls [between his eyebrows]. The worlds of those quarters looked like those of the east.
The Introduction to the Lotus Sūtra offers this on the temporary manifestations of the Eternal Buddha:
In Buddhism, people worship not only Sakyamuni Buddha but also other Buddhas, such as Amitayus (in the west) and Aksobhya (in the east). Such Buddhas have different names and attributes, and different life spans, long or short. The longest existing one is thought to have lived for several tens of kalpas. At any rate, they are all limited entities, because all of them eventually entered into Nirvana. The main point of the Lotus Sutra is that all Buddhas, by whatever names they may use, are temporary manifestations of the eternal, infinite, and immortal Sakyamuni Buddha. He transforms himself into other Buddhas when necessary to redeem and guide people, who understand him in various ways according to their particular times, places, and levels of culture.
Introduction to the Lotus SutraMessenger of Buddha
Nichiren deemed himself to be the man sent by Buddha to open the way for the transformed world, the messenger of Buddha, an incarnation of the Truth.
History of Japanese ReligionDaily Dharma – Jan. 26, 2019
Upon seeing such passages in various sutras as “The truth lies beyond language,” and “It is found where the mind is extinguished,” they will embrace an evil thought that the holy scriptures of the Buddha do not reveal his true Enlightenment. As a result, devils get hold of these three categories of people in the Latter Age of Degeneration, and even destroy the country.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Chanting the Great Title of the Lotus Sūtra (Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō). He reminds us that even though words are limited, we must not cast out the Buddha’s true teaching as unable to lead us to enlightenment. We can revere the Buddha Dharma without making it into a dogma. When we ignore completely what the Buddha left for us, what remains is our own selfish desires and confusion. When the individuals in a society are focused only on their own personal benefit, how can that society survive?
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com