Respecting the teaching and practice, whereas the Origin refers to the teaching and the Traces refers to the practice, Chih-i states that the teaching functions as the foundation for practice to arise, but without practice, one cannot attain an encounter with the teaching (from which the principle can be manifested). Therefore, the indispensability of these two parties renders a single inconceivable reality. (Vol. 2, Page 320)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismMonthly Archives: February 2019
Day 24
Day 24 concludes Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma and closes the Sixth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month considered the eight hundred merits of the body, we consider the twelve hundred merits of the mind.
“Furthermore, Constant-Endeavor! The good men or women who keep, read, recite expound or copy this sūtra after my extinction, will be able to obtain twelve hundred merits of the mind. When they hear even a gāthā or a phrase [of this sūtra] with their pure minds, they will be able to understand the innumerable meanings [of this sūtra]. When they understand the meanings [of this sūtra] and expound even a phrase or a gāthā [of this sūtra] for a month, four months, or a year, their teachings will be consistent with the meanings [of this sūtra], and not against the reality of all things. When they expound the scriptures of non-Buddhist schools, or give advice to the government, or teach the way to earn a livelihood, they will be able to be in accord with the right teachings of the Buddha. They will be able to know all the thoughts, deeds, and words, however meaningless, of the living beings of the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds each of which is composed of the six regions. Although they have not yet obtained the wisdom-without-āsravas, they will be able to have their minds purified as previously stated. Whatever they think, measure or say will be all true, and consistent not only with my teachings but also with the teachings that the past Buddhas have already expounded in their sūtras.”
The Daily Dharma for Nov. 1, 2018, offers this:
They will be able to know all the thoughts, deeds, and words, however meaningless, of the living beings of the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds each of which is composed of the six regions. Although they have not yet obtained the wisdom-without-āsravas, they will be able to have their minds purified as previously stated. Whatever they think, measure or say will be all true, and consistent not only with my teachings but also with the teachings that the past Buddhas have already expounded in their sūtras.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. Paradoxically, the process of clarifying our minds so that we can see things for what they are is not an intellectual exercise. The practice of the Wonderful Dharma is not based on learning complicated theories or arcane facts. It can be as simple as chanting Odaimoku sincerely, awakening our nature as Bodhisattvas, and working for the benefit of all beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Daily Dharma – Feb. 4, 2019
When he sat on that seat, the Brahman-heavenly-kings rained heavenly flowers on the area extending a hundred yojanas in all directions from that seat. From time to time withered flowers were blown away by fragrant winds and new flowers were rained down. [The Brahman-heavenly-kings] continued this offering to him for fully ten small kalpas. [After he attained Buddhahood also,] they continued raining flowers until he passed away.
The Buddha describes the life of an ancient Buddha named Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, when that Buddha took the seat from which he would become enlightened, the gods who created his world recognized the immense benefit all beings were about to receive and showed their joy by filling the skies with these beautiful flowers. After that Buddha became enlightened, gods from innumerable other worlds came to his world to make offerings, giving up the pleasures of their own worlds. The enlightenment of any being extends beyond the personal contact we have with any that being. It changes the entire universe.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Need to Rebuke Enemies of the Lotus Sūtra
In keeping with Nichiren’s increased emphasis on the Lotus Sūtra as the exclusive vehicle of salvation in the Final Dharma age, his writings during the Izu period also show a growing concern with the evil of “slander of the Dharma” (hōbō), a sin elaborated in detail in a number of Mahāyāna sūtras but which Nichiren understood as willful disbelief in or rejection of the Lotus Sūtra. Believers in the Lotus Sūtra, in his thought, ordinarily need not fear rebirth in the hells, whatever their mis deeds: “Apart from discarding faith in the Lotus Sūtra to follow an advocate of provisional teachings, all other worldly evil acts cannot equal [in weight] the merit of the Lotus; thus those who have faith in the Lotus Sūtra will not fall into the three evil paths.” Slander of the Lotus Sūtra, however, “exceeds a thousand times” the five perverse offenses (gogyakuzai) of killing one’s mother, father, or an arhat; causing the body of the Buddha to bleed; or disrupting the harmony of the sangha; and is the cause for falling into the Avici Hell. Thus the practitioner of the Lotus has a duty to rebuke slander, whatever the personal consequences: “No matter what great good one may produce, even if one reads and transcribes the entire Lotus Sūtra a thousand or ten thousand times, or masters the way of contemplating the three thousand realms in one thought-moment, if one fails to rebuke enemies of the Lotus Sūtra, one cannot attain the Way.” (Page 255)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismThe Inconceivable Reality
Chih-i’s illustration of the inconceivable reality of the Origin and the Traces in the context of six polar concepts reveals the significance of both entities: the Origin is what the Traces are based upon, and the Traces are what manifest the Origin. (Vol. 2, Page 320)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismDay 23
Day 23 covers all of Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, and opens Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.
Having last month completed Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, we begin Chapter 19: The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.
Thereupon the Buddha said to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva:
“The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the eye, twelve hundred merits of the ear, eight hundred merits of the nose, twelve hundred merits of the tongue, eight hundred merits of the body, and twelve hundred merits of the mind. They will be able to adorn and purify their six sense-organs with these merits.
The Daily Dharma from Jan. 29, 2019, offers this:
The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the eye, twelve hundred merits of the ear, eight hundred merits of the nose, twelve hundred merits of the tongue, eight hundred merits of the body, and twelve hundred merits of the mind.
The Buddha gives this teaching in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra. This is another reminder that the practice of the Wonderful Dharma does not take us out of the world of conflict we live in. Instead, it helps us to use the senses we have, in ways we did not think were possible, to see the world for what it is. Merits in this sense are not status symbols. They are an indication of clarity, of our faculties not being impeded by anything that blocks their capacity.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Daily Dharma – Feb. 3, 2019
Bhikṣus! It is a very long time since that Buddha passed away. Suppose someone smashed all the earth-particles of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds into ink-powder. Then he went to the east[, carrying the ink-powder with him]. He inked a dot as large as a particle of dust [with that ink-powder] on the world at a distance of one thousand worlds from his world. Then he went again and repeated the inking of a dot on the world at every distance of one thousand worlds until the ink-powder was exhausted. What do you think of this? Do you think that any mathematician or any disciple of a mathematician could count the number of the worlds [he went through]?
The Buddha gives this explanation in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. Our concept of time can be limited to what happens in the brief existence we enjoy in this world. We often feel we have no time for what is necessary, much less what we enjoy. With this limited viewpoint, we can find it hard to believe that we have enough time to become enlightened. The Buddha reminds us that there is no shortage of time, and that in all of our existence, we will have opportunities to increase our capacity to benefit others.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Primary and Dependent Karmic Recompense
THE LAND OR COUNTRY (KORU): “Country” here means a land inhabited by a specific people. From the viewpoint that the “self” at present is the concatenation of all past deeds, living beings represent primary karmic recompense (shōhō) and the land they inhabit, dependent recompense (ehō). The two are understood as nondual (eshō funi), like body and shadow. Thus, in correspondence to the capacity of their inhabitants, lands or countries may be said to have an affinity to particular teachings. Following earlier Tendai thinkers such as Saichō, Annen, and Genshin, Nichiren argued that the country of Japan is related exclusively to the Lotus Sūtra. However, such claims on the part of Annen and others were inevitably linked to the authority of their religious institution, the Enryakuji on Mt. Hiei, as a major cultic center for the rites of nation-protection. In Nichiren’s hands, the same claim served to challenge the authority of Mt. Hiei and other leading cultic centers, as well as the rulers who supported them, by arguing that they did not preserve unadulterated the teaching of the Lotus, which alone could truly protect the country, but had contaminated it with Mikkyō, Pure Land, and other “inferior” teachings. Indeed, part of Nichiren’s idea of Japan was that it had become “a country of slanderers of the Dharma”; hence one disaster was destined to follow upon another. (Page 254-255)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismExplaining the Origin and the Traces
Explaining the Origin and the Traces (Shih Pen-chi)
In order to address the concept Origin, Chih-i finds it necessary to explain the relationship between the Origin and the Traces by means of defining these two in the context of the six polar notions in terms of the principle and facts, principle and teaching, teaching and practice, substance and function, relative and ultimate, and present and past. These six notions designate the Origin and the Traces six different definitions.
- In terms of the principle and facts (Li-shih), the Origin is defined as the principle, and embodies the nature of emptiness; and the Traces are defined as the facts and refer to all entities of worldly phenomena.
- In terms of the principle and teaching (Li-chiao), the Origin is defined as the principle, and refers to both the principle as the Absolute Truth and the facts as the Worldly Truth; and the Traces are defined as the teaching and refer to the teaching of the principle and facts.
- In terms of the teaching and practice (Chiao-hsing), the Origin is defined as the teaching, and refers to the teaching of the principle and facts, and the Traces are defined as the practice, and refer to the practice that is derived from this teaching.
- In terms of the substance and function (T’i-yung), the Origin is defined as the substance, and refers to the Dharma-body (dharmakāya); and the Traces are defined as the function, and refer to the Transformation body (nirmāvakāya) that is derived from this substance.
- In terms of the relative and ultimate (Ch’üan-shih), the Origin is defined as the Ultimate Truth, and refers to the ultimate attainment of the substance and function by the eternal Buddha; and the Traces are defined as the Relative Truth and refers to the relative implementation of the substance and the function by the historical Buddha.
- In terms of the present and past (Chin-i), the Origin is defined as the present, and refers to what is revealed for the first time in the present Lotus Sūtra concerning the eternal Buddha; and the Traces are defined as the past and refers to what has been already known in the previous sūtras, concerning historical Buddha Śākyamuni.
Through these six definitions, Chih-i reveals not only the content of the Origin and the Traces, but also the relationship between the two: The Origin is fundamental, and the Traces arise from the Origin. Nevertheless, the content of the Origin and the Traces is not fixed but takes turns to define each other in the subsequent context of different polar concepts. This reflects a complementary and interactive relation between the Origin and the Traces and is Chih-i’s endeavor to demonstrate that the Origin contains the Traces, and the Traces contain the Origin. Chih-i argues that the Origin and the Traces are different and not different. They are different because they bear different definitions in each of the six polar concepts, and they are not different because they are defined by their counterpart in each of the subsequent polar concepts. Hence, the Origin and the Traces are inconceivable, and this inconceivable reality that underlies the Origin and the Traces is further illustrated by Chih-i, who claims that although the Origin and the Traces are different with six meanings, they share the same inconceivable reality. (Vol. 2, Page 318-319)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismDay 22
Day 22 covers all of Chapter 17, The Variety of Merits.
Having last month considered the merits of the good men or women who do not speak ill of this sūtra, we consider the merits of those who keep or copy this sūtra or causes others to copy it after my extinction.
“Ajita! Anyone who, after hearing this sūtra, keeps or copies it or causes others to copy it after my extinction, should be considered to have already built many hundreds of thousands of billions of monasteries, that is to say, innumerable monasteries, each of which was installed with thirty-two beautiful halls made of red candana, eight times as tall as the tala-tree, and spacious enough to accommodate one hundred thousand bhikṣus. He also should be considered to have already furnished [those monasteries] with gardens, forests, pools for bathing, promenades, and caves for the practice of dhyāna, and filled [those monasteries] with clothing, food, drink, bedding, medicine, and things for amusements, and offered [those monasteries] to me and to the Saṃgha of bhikṣus in my presence. Therefore, I say, ‘Anyone who keeps, reads or recites this sūtra, expounds it to others, copies it, causes others to copy it, or makes offerings to a copy of it after my extinction, need not build a stupa or a monastery, or make offering to the Saṃgha.’ Needless to say, anyone who not only keeps this sūtra but also gives alms, observe the precepts, practices patience, makes endeavors, concentrates his mind, and seeks wisdom, will be able to obtain the most excellent and innumerable merits. His merits will be as limitless as the sky is in the east, west, south, north, the four intermediate quarters, the zenith, and the nadir. These innumerable merits of his will help him obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things.
The Introduction to the Lotus Sutra offers this on Hearing and Accepting by Faith:
The previous chapter, “The Duration of the Life of the Tathagata,” explained that the Buddha’s life span is eternal. This teaching is the most important of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, the merits or benefits which the teaching brings us must be immeasurably great. That indeed is the case. This chapter, the “Variety of Merits,” minutely delineates the benefits coming to anyone who hears Chapter Sixteen and accepts it by faith. The “variety” referred to means classifying and explaining those benefits in detail.
Introduction to the Lotus Sutra