Monthly Archives: February 2019

Daily Dharma, d2b

Daily Dharma – Feb. 25, 2019

Always seeking fame and gain,
He often visited noble families.
He did not understand what he had recited,
Gave it up, and forgot it.
Because of this,
He was called Fame-Seeking. But he [later] did many good karmas,
And became able to see innumerable Buddhas.

Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva sings these verses in Chapter One of the Lotus Sūtra. They are part of a story he tells about Fame-Seeking Bodhisattva (Gumyō, Yaśaskāma). This shows that each of the innumerable Bodhisattvas who are helping us to become enlightened use different ways of reaching people. Even those enmeshed in the suffering of self-importance, who use this Wonderful Dharma to make themselves seem superior to others, simply because they are leading others to this teaching, they too are creating boundless merit.

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

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The Seed Being Simultaneously the Harvest of Liberation

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Although the very notion of a “seed” tends to suggest a gradual process of growth and maturation, in Nichiren’s thought, because “original cause” and “original effect” are simultaneous, the “process” of sowing, maturing, and harvesting also occurs simultaneously. This is called, in the terminology of Nichirenshū doctrine, “the seed being simultaneously [the harvest of] liberation” (shu soku datsu). Nichiren explains this idea in readily accessible terms to a lay follower:

The mahā-mandārava flowers in heaven and the cherry blossoms of the human world are both splendid flowers, but the Buddha did not choose them to represent the Lotus Sūtra. There is a reason why, from among all flowers, he chose this [lotus] flower to represent the sūtra. Some flowers first bloom and then produce fruit, while others bear fruit before flowers. Some bear only one blossom but many fruit, others send forth many blossoms but only one fruit, while others produce fruit without flowering. In the case of the lotus, however, flowers and fruit appear at the same time. The merit of all [other] sūtras is uncertain, because they teach that one must first plant good roots and [only] afterward become a Buddha. But in the case of the Lotus Sūtra, when one takes it in one’s hand, that hand at once becomes Buddha, and when one chants it with one’s mouth, that mouth is precisely Buddha. It is like the moon being reflected in the water the moment it appears above the eastern mountains, or like a sound and its echo occurring simultaneously.(Page 271)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism


Profound

The ‘Line Marker’ of the Mind

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Five meanings that are related to mind are enumerated by Chih-i. …

With regard to the mind that contains the meaning “line marker” (Hsin-shih Sheng-mo), this refers to the mind that is correct without deviance, which is illustrated by Chih-i in reference to words, practice and principle. In terms of the mind that is related to words, this means that by contemplating mind, one is able to obtain correct words, and be removed from deviant words. In terms of the mind that is related to practice, this means that by contemplating mind, one is able to obtain correct thought and eliminate evil actions. In terms of the mind that is related to principle, this means that by contemplating mind, one’s correct mind is able to depart from false views and attachments, and to penetrate the correct principle. (Vol. 2, Page 397-398)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


LS32

Day 12

Day 12 concludes Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City, and completes the Third Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 12 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the Parable of the Magic City in gāthās, we consider the Buddha’s explanation of the parable as we complete Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City.

I am like the leader.
I am the leader of all living beings.
I saw that halfway some got tired
With the seeking of enlightenment,
And that they could not pass through the dangerous road
Of birth-and-death and illusions.
Therefore, I expounded to them the teaching of Nirvāṇa
As an expedient to give them a rest, saying:
“You have already eliminated sufferings.
You have done everything you should do.”

Now I see that they have already attained Nirvāṇa
And that they have become Arhats.
Therefore, I now collect the great multitude,
And expound to them the true teaching.

The Buddhas expound the teaching of the Three Vehicles
Only as an expedient.
There is only the One Buddha-Vehicle.
The two [vehicles] were taught only as resting places.

Now I will tell you the truth.
What you attained is not [true] extinction.
Make great efforts in order to obtain
The Buddha’s knowledge of all things.
When you obtain the knowledge of all things
And the ten powers of the Buddha,
And the thirty-two physical marks,
You will be able to say that you attained true extinction.
The Buddhas, the Leaders, expound the teaching of Nirvāṇa
In order to give a rest [to all living beings].
When they see them having already had a rest,
They lead them to the wisdom of the Buddha.

[Here ends] the Third Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

The Daily Dharma from Jan. 30, 2019, offers this:

The Buddhas expound the teaching of the Three Vehicles
Only as an expedient.
There is only the One Buddha-Vehicle.
The two [vehicles] were taught only as resting places.

The Buddha declares these verses in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra after telling the parable of the Magic City. The parable is his explanation of why expedient teachings are necessary, and why we must eventually set them aside to attain the enlightenment that is our true nature.

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

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 24, 2019

He endured all insults and disturbances
Inflicted upon him by arrogant people who thought
That they had already obtained the Dharma.

The Buddha sings these verses to Maitreya Bodhisattva in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sūtra. In Chapter Two of the sūtra, five thousand people left the assembly after the Buddha declared that everything he had taught until then had been an expedient. The Buddha did not stop these people. He said they were arrogant, meaning they believed they already had reached enlightenment and could learn nothing from the Buddha. In this description of the Bodhisattva perfection of Endurance, the Buddha prepares us for the reactions of those who are too attached to their misery to hear the Buddha’s teaching. When we can anticipate this kind of reaction, rather than being shocked by it, we can more easily stay determined to benefit even these abusive beings.

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

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The Daimoku as the ‘Seed’ of Buddhahood

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Nichiren accepted the received Mahāyāna view that “all sentient beings have the Buddha nature,” as well as Tendai ideas about the Buddhahood of insentient beings, but did not himself develop a particular theory of Buddha nature. Rather, as a number of postwar Nichirenshū scholars have pointed out, he emphasized the daimoku as the “seed” of Buddhahood. While ideas about the “Buddha-seed” (busshu) have a long and varied history, Nichiren’s concept draws explicitly on Chih-i’s Fa-hua hsüan-i, which describes the Buddha as leading the beings to enlightenment by first sowing the seed of enlightenment by preaching them the Lotus Sūtra, then bringing it to maturity, and finally reaping the harvest of liberation, a process transpiring over successive lifetimes. Nichiren makes explicit that it is always the Lotus Sūtra that sows the initial seed. While people in the True and Semblance Dharma ages might have progressed spiritually and even reached the maturity of full enlightenment through other teachings, this was only because they had first received the seed of Buddhahood by hearing the Lotus Sūtra in prior lifetimes. This idea also occurs in certain medieval Tendai texts attributed to Saichō, and it is possible that Nichiren’s emphasis on the seed of Buddhahood reflects more general developments within the broader field of contemporary Lotus Sūtra interpretation. However, Nichiren’s reading is distinctive in that it identifies the seed of Buddhahood as the daimoku (“All Buddhas of the three time periods and ten directions in variably attain Buddhahood with the seed of the five characters Myōhōrenge-kyō”) or as the “three thousand realms in one thought-moment.” Nichiren also connects the notion of the seed of Buddhahood specifically to the Final Dharma age. People in this age, he claims, have never before received this seed in prior lifetimes; they are people “originally without good [roots] ” (honmi uzen):

At this time, Namu-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō of the “Fathoming the Lifespan” chapter, the heart of the teaching of origin, should be planted as the seed [of Buddhahood in the minds] of the two kinds of persons who inhabit this defiled and evil age–those who commit the [five] perverse [offenses] and those who slander [the True Dharma].

(Page 270-271)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism


Profound

The ‘Gushing Spring’ Mind

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Five meanings that are related to mind are enumerated by Chih-i. …

With regard to the mind that contains the meaning “gushing spring” (Hsin-han Yung-ch ‘üan), Chih-i states that if one’s mind is filled with hindrances and one is not capable of perceiving the nature of all dharmas, the mind will not flow. Contemplating mind is the means to remove all hindrances, and cause mind to be transparent and filled with wisdom.
Mind as “gushing spring” is illustrated by Chih-i with reference to words, practice and doctrine. In terms of the mind that is related to gushing spring of words, this means that when one’s mind is clear, one is able to speak and debate without impediment, and one’s words flow out inexhaustibly. In terms of the mind that is related to gushing spring of practice, this means that if one does not contemplate one’s mind, practice cannot flow without any interval. Because of the contemplation, all thoughts flow out one after another, turning the six hindrances (as the opposite counterpart of the Six Perfections) over into Six Perfections (alms-giving, keeping precepts, patience, diligence, meditation, prajn͂ā), and the Six Perfections incorporate all practices. In terms of the mind that is related to gushing spring of doctrine, this refers to one’s mind contemplation as effective as a sharp hoe that is used to chop the ground, and as huge rocks and sand that function to purify water, whereby clear water flows inexhaustibly.

LS32

Day 11

Day 11 continues Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City

Day 11 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered what occurred when Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, we consider the reaction of the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the east.

“The palaces of the Brahman-heavenly[-kings] of the five hundred billion worlds in the east were illumined twice as brightly as ever. The Brahman-heavenly-kings [of those worlds] each thought, ‘My palace has never been illumined so brightly before. Why is that?’ They visited each other and discussed the reason. There was a great Brahman-heavenly-king called All-Saving among them. He said to the other Brahmans in gāthās:

Why are our palaces illumined
More brightly than ever?
Let us find [the place]
[From where this light has come].
Did a god of great virtue or a Buddha
Appear somewhere in the universe?
This great light illumines
The worlds of the ten quarters.

“Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion worlds went to the west, carrying flower-plates filled with heavenly flowers, in order to find [the place from where the light had come]. Their palaces also moved as they went. They [reached the Well-Composed World and] saw that Great­Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathāgata was sitting on the lion­like seat under the Bodhi-tree at the place of enlightenment, surrounded respectfully by gods, dragon-kings, gandharvas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings. They also saw that the sixteen princes were begging the Buddha to turn the wheel of the Dharma. Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly­kings worshipped the Buddha with their heads, walked around him a hundred thousand times, and strewed heavenly flowers to him. The strewn flowers were heaped up to the height of Mt. Sumeru. The Brahman-heavenly-kings offered flowers also to the ten-yojana-tall Bodhi-tree of the Buddha. Having offered flowers, they offered their palaces to the Buddha, saying, ‘We offer these palaces to you. Receive them and benefit us out of your compassion towards us!’ In the presence of the Buddha, they simultaneously praised him in gāthās with all their hearts:

You, the World-Honored One, are exceptional.
It is difficult to meet you.
You have innumerable merits.
You are saving all living beings.

As the great teacher of gods and men,
You are benefiting all living beings
Of the worlds of the ten quarters
Out of your compassion towards them.

We have come here from five hundred billion worlds.
We gave up the pleasure
Of deep dhyāna-concentration
Because we wished to make offerings to you.
Our palaces are beautifully adorned
Because we accumulated merits in our previous existence.
We offer [these palaces] to you.
Receive them out of your compassion towards us!

“Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly-kings, having praised the Buddha with these gāthās, said, ‘World-Honored One! Turn the wheel of the Dharma and save all living beings! Open the Way to Nirvāṇa!’ They simultaneously said in a gāthā with all their hearts:

Hero of the World,
Most Honorable Biped!
Expound the Dharma!
Save the suffering beings
By the power of your great compassion!

“Thereupon Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathāgata gave his tacit consent to their appeal.

The Daily Dharma from April 15, 2018, offers this:

Did a god of great virtue or a Buddha
Appear somewhere in the universe?
This great light illumines
The worlds of the ten quarters.

The Brahma Heavenly Kings of the East sing these verses as part of a story the Buddha tells in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. Long ago there was another Buddha named Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence. When he became enlightened, the entire universe was illuminated. Beings who had never seen each other could recognize each other clearly. We can see this story as a metaphor for what happens when the Buddha’s wisdom comes into our lives. We leave the darkness of our ego attachment and come into the light of the world as it is.

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

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 23, 2019

Bhikṣus, know this! I can enter skillfully deep into the natures of all living beings. Because I saw that they wished to hear the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle and that they were deeply attached to the five desires, I expounded the teaching of Nirvāṇa to them. When they heard that teaching, they received it by faith.

The Buddha gives this explanation to the Bhikṣus (monks and nuns) gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. As difficult as it is to hear the Buddha’s highest teaching, he would not give it to us unless we were ready to receive it. Still, we who would receive it must set aside his earlier teachings as a means to our personal happiness, and see them as preparations to learn how to benefit all beings. Our faith in the Buddha is the confidence that we will become as enlightened as he is, and that he is helping all of us on the path to that enlightenment.

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

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Contemplation of the Mind with Daimoku

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[T]he “contemplation of the mind” in Nichiren’s teaching is not the introspective meditation on the moment-to-moment activity of one’s (unenlightened) mind, but rather embracing the daimoku, which is said to embody the enlightenment of the eternal Buddha of the origin teaching, that is, the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment in actuality.

“Embracing” the daimoku has the aspects both of chanting and having the mind of faith (shinjin); for Nichiren, the two are inseparable. Faith is also all-inclusive: in the Final Dharma age, it substitutes for the three disciplines of precepts, meditation, and wisdom. “That ordinary worldlings born in the Final Dharma age can believe in the Lotus Sūtra is because the Buddha realm is inherent in the human realm.” Thus the “one thought-moment containing three thousand realms” is also the “single moment of belief and understanding.” In the moment of faith, the three thousand realms of the original Buddha and those of the ordinary worldling are one. This moment of faith corresponds to the stage of myōji-soku. Like that of many medieval Tendai texts, Nichiren’s thought focuses on realizing Buddhahood at the stage of verbal identity, which he understood as the stage of embracing the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra and taking faith in it. (Page 270)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism