In terms of “explaining retinues that are formed by principal nature” (Ming Li-hsing Chüan-shu), what Chih-i attempts to convey is that every being possesses the Buddha-nature. The relationship is thus formed by this inherent nature for attaining Buddhahood. Chih-i argues that the fundamental principle of the Buddha-nature that is equally possessed by sentient beings and the Buddha is evidenced in the Buddha’s statement in the Lotus Sūtra, emphasizing that all living beings are his children. Therefore, retinues that are formed by principal nature indicate children and father relationship between sentient beings and the Buddha. (Vol. 2, Page 290-291)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismMonthly Archives: January 2019
Day 10
Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.
Having last month concluded Day 10’s portion of Chapter 7 with the princes begging the Buddha to turn the wheel of the dharma, we return to today’s portion of Chapter 6: Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and the prediction for the future Buddhahood of Subhūti.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, having understood the wishes of the great disciples, said to the bhikṣus:
“In his future life, this Subhūti will see three hundred billion nayutas of Buddhas, make offerings to them, respect them, honor them, praise them, perform brahma practices, complete the Way of Bodhisattvas, and become a Buddha on the final stage of his physical existence. He will be called Beautiful-Form, the Tathāgata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. The kalpa in which he will become that Buddha will be called Having-Treasures; and his world, Treasure-Born. The ground [of his world] will be even, made of crystal, adorned with jeweled trees, and devoid of mounds, pits, rubble, thorns and dirt. Jeweled flowers will cover the ground to purify it. The people of that world will live in buildings of wonderful treasures. His disciples in Śrāvakahood will be numberless, beyond calculation or comparison. The Bodhisattvas will be many thousands of billions of nayutas in number. The duration of the life of that Buddha will be twelve small kalpas. His right teachings will be preserved for twenty small kalpas. The counterfeit of his right teachings will be preserved also for twenty small kalpas. That Buddha will always stay in the sky, expound the Dharma to the multitude, and save innumerable Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Bhikṣus!
Now I will tell you.
Listen to me
With one mind!Subhūti, a disciple of mine,
Will be able
To become a Buddha
Called Beautiful-Form.He will make offerings
To many billions of Buddhas, and practice
According to the practices of the Buddhas,
And finally attain great enlightenment.On the final stage of his physical existence,
He will obtain the thirty-two physical marks,
And become as beautiful and as wonderful
As a mountain of treasures.The world of that Buddha
Will be the purest.
Anyone will be happy to see it.
That Buddha will save
Innumerable living beings
Of that world.Many Bodhisattvas
In the world of that Buddha
Will be clever.
They will turn
The irrevocable wheel of the Dharma,
And adorn that world.The Śrāvakas in that world also
Will be countless.
They will have the six supernatural powers,
Including the three major supernatural powers.
They will have the eight emancipations.
They will be exceedingly powerful and virtuous.The supernatural powers
Employed by that Buddha
For the expounding of the Dharma
Will be inconceivable.As many gods and men
As there are sands in the River Ganges
Will join their hands together
And listen to the words of that Buddha.The duration of the life of that Buddha
Will be twelve small kalpas.
His right teachings will be preserved
For twenty small kalpas.
The counterfeit of his right teachings
Also will be preserved for twenty small kalpas.
The Daily Dharma from July 11, 2018, offers this:
The supernatural powers
Employed by that Buddha
For the expounding of the Dharma
Will be inconceivable.
The Buddha sings this verse in Chapter Six of the Lotus Sūtra after predicting the future Buddhahood of his disciple Subhūti. Anything we do not understand can seem supernatural. Things we find common in our modern world would seem magical to those who lived in the Buddha’s time. It is only through our greater understanding that we can create our modern wonders. It should not then surprise us that with the Buddha’s mind, which he reminds us that we too can reach, the things we can accomplish will seem magical to those mired in delusion.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
A Single Reality
According to the Three Truths, all things exist by virtue of their dependence upon all other things, and each thing contributes to the existence of all other things. Another way of saying this is that all things are manifestations of the underlying process of cause and effect, which unites them all. If all things are temporary manifestations of a single all-encompassing network of cause and effect, then nothing is truly separate from anything else. Body and mind, living beings and their environment, even the realms of delusion and awakening are not ultimately separate. They are all part of a single reality, which is revealed when one puts the Lotus Sutra into practice through Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.
Lotus SeedsDaily Dharma – Jan. 21, 2019
Medicine-King Bodhisattva and Medicine-Superior Bodhisattva have already obtained those great merits. Because they planted the roots of virtue under many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas [in their previous existence], they obtained those inconceivable merits. All gods and men in the world should bow to those who know the names of these two Bodhisattvas.
The Buddha gives this explanation to the great multitude gathered to hear him in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. These two Bodhisattvas had been brothers under a great King in their previous life. They used wonders to lead their parents to a Buddha who was teaching the Wonderful Dharma in that world. By knowing the story of these two Bodhisattvas, we also know about the Wonderful Dharma and the Ever-Present Buddha who leads us through all our lives to his enlightenment. When we realize that through our practice we are worthy of respect from all beings, including ourselves, there is no need to demand respect from anyone. We are secure in our assurance of enlightenment.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
A Medieval Paradigm of Buddhist Liberation
The argument advanced here is not that Nichiren did or did not embrace original enlightenment thought, but that Tendai original enlightenment thought and Nichiren’s teaching both represent different appropriations and developments of a new, distinctively medieval paradigm of Buddhist liberation, embodied in different social and institutional contexts and given a different ideological thrust. The example of Nichiren and his later tradition will serve to illustrate that the doctrines of the new Kamakura Buddhism cannot be understood simply as emerging from the matrix of medieval Tendai original enlightenment thought, nor simply as reacting against it, nor as retaining its philosophical subtleties while eliminating its morally ambiguous areas. Rather, the various streams of both medieval Tendai and the new Kamakura Buddhism, in a complex web of mutual influences, now appropriating, now rejecting, together developed and were themselves expressions of a shared “nonlinear” reconception of the problem of salvation, which in each case was fleshed out in the specifics of a different religious vision and ideological orientation. (Page 241)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismExplaining the Meaning of Retinues
For the meaning of retinues, Chih-i explains that retinues refer to the Buddhist practitioners, who, after receiving the precepts or the method of meditation, carry out practices in accordance with the teaching, and are able to conceive an aspiration to attain precept, concentration and wisdom. Because of their practice that accords with the dharma, the dharma becomes a teacher, and the practitioner a disciple. A family tie is developed in due cause. Chih-i asserts:
“[The Buddha] teaches various Dharma-doors that enter the mind of beings. Because of the dharma, intimacy is formed; because of intimacy, [one] has faith in [the teaching of the Buddha]; because of the faith, one becomes subservient to [the teaching of the Buddha]. This is called Retinues.” (Vol. 2, Page 290)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismDay 9
Day 9 covers Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and introduces Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.
Having last month heard the Buddha’s call to come hear the Dharma, we consider how the dharma is of the same content and the same taste.
“The various teachings I expound are of the same content, of the same taste. Those who emancipate themselves [from the bonds of existence,] from illusions, and from birth and death, will finally obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things. But those who hear or keep my teachings or read or recite the sutras in which my teachings are expounded, or act according to my teachings, do not know the merits that they will be able to obtain by these practices. Why is that? It is because only I know their capacities, appearances, entities and natures. Only I know what teachings they have in memory, what teachings they have in mind, what teachings they practice, how they memorize the teachings, how they think of the teachings, how they practice the teachings, for what purpose they memorize the teachings, for what purpose they think of the teachings, for what purpose they practice the teachings, and for what purpose they keep what teachings. Only I see clearly and without hindrance that they are at various stages [of enlightenment]. I know this, but they do not know just as the trees and grasses including herbs in the thickets and forests do not know whether they are superior or middle or inferior. My teachings are of the same content, of the same taste. Those who emancipate themselves [from the bonds of existence,] from illusions, and from birth and death, will finally attain Nirvana, that is, eternal tranquility or extinction. They will be able to return to the state of the Void.
The Daily Dharma from Nov. 2, 2018, offers this:
Only I see clearly and without hindrance that they are at various stages [of enlightenment]. I know this, but they do not know just as the trees and grasses including herbs in the thickets and forests do not know whether they are superior or middle or inferior.
The Buddha makes this declaration in Chapter Five of the Lotus Sūtra, as he explains the simile of herbs. This is a good reminder for us on the Bodhisattva path of how important it is to have respect for all beings. We can believe we know whether someone else is less enlightened than we are, or even more enlightened than we are. But for Bodhisattvas, this belief is irrelevant. Only the Buddha knows who is where on the path. We do not need to know. We just need to find ways to benefit others, no matter how close they may be to enlightenment.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Daily Dharma – Jan. 20, 2019
Only I know his secret practices.
He shows himself
To all living beings
In the form of my eldest son.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Nine of the Lotus Sūtra, speaking of Rāhula, the son born to him and his wife Yaśodharā before he left his life as a crown prince to seek enlightenment. In his highest teaching, the Buddha reminds us of our vows as Bodhisattvas to come into this world of conflict to benefit all beings. In the preoccupations that come with this life, we can forget these vows; they become a secret even to us. When we hear this Sūtra, we are reminded that we are the dear children of the Dharma, and that enlightenment is our rightful inheritance.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Moment of Enlightenment
Nichiren … held that Buddhahood is accessed in the moment of embracing in the Lotus Sūtra:
“As life does not go beyond the moment, the Buddha expounded the blessings that come from a single moment of rejoicing [on hearing the Lotus Sūtra]. If two or three moments were required, this could no longer be called the original vow of the Buddha of great undifferentiating wisdom, the single vehicle of the teaching of immediate enlightenment that enables all beings to attain Buddhahood.” (Page 230)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismTwelve Types of Scripture in the Lotus Sūtra
[In Chih-i’s view,] the Lotus Sūtra as the perfect teaching is justified as it contains the subtlety of the twelve types of scripture. The following is Chih-i’s explanation of why the twelve types of scripture contained in the Lotus Sūtra are considered to be subtle.
- llsiu-to-luo (Sūtra) as the prose portion is called the direct speech, and contains the subtlety of the Lotus Sūtra, for this prose form of sūtra directly expounds the Middle Way as the knowledge of the Buddha.
- Chih-yeh (Geya) as the verse form is subtle, for it is the repetition of the prose portion that sūtra represents, and concerns the doctrine of the Middle way.
- Chia-t ‘o (Gāthā) as the independent verse is subtle. This is because, the verse portion in the Lotus Sūtra regarding the dragon girl who attained Buddhahood in one instant is independent, i.e., it is not the reiteration of the prose portion. This portion in verse form describes the dragon daughter who attains enlightenment in one second, which proves that the independent verse portion gāthā is subtle.
- Pen-shih (Itivṛttaka) that concerns the past lives of the disciples of the Buddha is subtle, whereas twenty thousand Buddhas do not teach anything else but the unsurpassed Path.
- Pen-sheng (Jātaka) that concerns the previous lives of the Buddha is subtle, for it is the story about the material body of the Buddha being born as a prince, and the dharmakāya being manifested as a bodhisattva.
- Yin-yüan (Nidāna) as the historical narratives is subtle, for the Buddha repeatedly proclaims the Greater Vehicle to beings, regardless of whether they are of the Lesser Vehicle, or of the Human and Heavenly Vehicle.
- Wei-ts ‘eng-yu (Adbhutadharma) that concerns rare events is subtle, for the auspicious signs the Buddha manifests, such as heavenly flowers raining down, the trembling of the earth, the ray of light exerting from between the Buddha’s eyebrows, and transforming land three times, are inconceivable.
- P’i-yü (Avadāna) that concerns allegories is subtle, for the title of the Lotus Sūtra uses the word Fa (dharma) as a metaphor for nothing else but the disclosure of the Three Vehicles (śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha and bodhisattva) and the revelation of the One Buddha-vehicle.
- Lun-i (Upadeśa) that concerns the discussions of doctrine is subtle. This is evidenced by the interaction between the dragon girl and the bodhisattva Wisdom Accumulation. The bodhisattva Wisdom Accumulation, being attached to the Separate Teaching and being suspicious of the Perfect Teaching, did not believe that the dragon girl can instantly attain Buddhahood. The dragon girl, after declaring that the Buddha can testify and see the possibility of her attainment of Buddhahood in one second, offered the Buddha a precious gem. Chih-i explains that the gem represents perfection, which is to answer the disciple of the Separate Teaching by means of the Perfect Teaching.
- Wu-wen Tzu-shuo (Udāna) that concerns the self-generated statement of the Buddha is subtle, for it is mentioned in the Lotus Sūtra that the Buddha speaks by himself without being questioned in order to praise the Buddha-wisdom.
- Shou-chi (Vyākaraṇa) that concerns prophecies of the Buddha is subtle, for it is mentioned in the Lotus Sūtra that the Buddha prophesizes listeners’ future Buddhahood. They will be able to peacefully abide in the ultimate wisdom and be revered by humans and heavenly beings.
- Fang-kuang (Vaipulya) that means correct and universal is indicated by the Buddha-vehicle and the Buddha-wisdom the Lotus Sūtra upholds, for the Buddha-vehicle is superior and universal, and the Buddha-wisdom is profound and abstruse.
The above is the description of the Subtlety of Expounding the Dharma. This subtlety represents the teaching of the Buddha in terms of the twelve types of scripture. In Chih-i’s view, all divisions of Buddhism whether of Śrāvakayāna or Mahāyāna are the “Word of the Buddha.” It is due to different circumstances and different capacities of beings that the teaching of the Buddha varies in order to suit specific situations. Since the Buddha’s proclamation of the dharma is spoken of in terms of the twelve types of scripture, the twelve types of scripture incorporate all teachings of the Buddha.
Yet, how do the twelve types of scripture fit into Chih-i’s system of classification in terms of the Four Teachings (Tripiṭaka, Common, Separate and Perfect), in which the Perfect Teaching is exclusively subtle? First, it must be determined whether the teaching (Neng-ch’üan) and the doctrine (Suo-ch’üan) of each of the Four Teachings are coarse or subtle. The Tripiṭaka Teaching is coarse in terms of both the teaching and doctrine; the Common Teaching is coarse in terms of doctrine, and subtle in terms of teaching; the Separate Teaching is coarse in terms of teaching, and subtle in terms of doctrine; and the Perfect Teaching is subtle in terms of both teaching and doctrine. Therefore, the Perfect Teaching is subtle only. Second, various sūtras must be examined, that are expounded in the five periods of the Buddha’s teaching, from which the Lotus Sūtra is said to contain one Perfect Teaching only. Third, since the Lotus Sūtra represents the Perfect Teaching, the former is perfect. Such a perfect feature is reflected by the subtlety of the twenty types of scripture that are contained in the Lotus Sūtra. (Page 287-289)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism