Monthly Archives: February 2019

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 15, 2019

Enemies find it difficult to attack when two people are together. Therefore, do not keep your brothers at a distance even for a brief period, regardless of what faults they may have; always be close to them. Whenever you get angry, it is clearly written on your face. Please remember that at no time do gods or deities protect those who are short tempered. It is true that you are destined to become a Buddha, but isn’t it regrettable for you to get hurt, pleasing your enemy and causing us grief?

Nichiren wrote this passage in his “Emperor Shushun” Letter (Sushun Tennō Gosho) addressed to his disciple Shijō Kingo. Nichiren knew the temperament of this Samurai warrior, and gave him detailed instructions for how to navigate the political hazards he faced. No matter how vindictive his Lord Ema became, Nichiren reminded him to persist in leading Ema by the Buddha Dharma and to rely on those who kept the Lotus Sūtra with him. As a result, Kingo outlived both Ema and Nichiren himself and is well known as one of Nichiren’s first followers.

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

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Demolishing the Trace Teachings

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Nichiren elaborates (see earlier) in the following passage:

“When one arrives at the origin teaching, because [the view that the Buddha] first attained enlightenment [in this lifetime] is demolished, the fruits of the four teachings are demolished. The fruits of the four teachings being demolished, their causes are also demolished. The causes and effects of the ten realms of the pre-Lotus Sūtra and trace teachings being demolished, the cause and effect of the ten realms of the origin teaching are revealed. This is precisely the doctrine of original cause (hon ‘in) and original effect (honga). The nine realms are inherent in the beginningless Buddha realm; the Buddha realm inheres in the beginningless nine realms. This represents the true mutual inclusion of the ten realms, the hundred realms and thousand suchnesses, and the three thousand realms in one thought-moment.”

To unpack the rather technical language of this passage, the “four teachings” here represent those other than the Lotus Sūtra. Their “effects” refers to the attainment of Buddhahood, or to the Buddhas, represented in these teachings, and their “causes,” to the practices for attaining Buddhahood, or to those still in the stages of practice. In terms of the ten dharma realms, “cause” represents the nine realms, and “effect,” the Buddha realm. “Demolishing” the causes and effects of the pre-Lotus Sūtra teachings and the trace teaching of the Lotus Sūtra means to demolish linear views of practice and attainment, in which efforts are first made and then Buddhahood is realized as a later consequence. The origin teaching   specifically, the “Fathoming the Lifespan” chapter with its revelation of the Buddha’s original enlightenment   is here seen as opening a perspective in which cause (nine realms) and effect (Buddhahood) are present simultaneously. It is passages such as this that led Tamura Yoshirō to assert that Nichiren maintained the notion of original enlightenment in the depths of his mature thought. (Page 264-265)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism


Profound

The Gushing Spring

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With regard to sūtra that means gushing spring (flan-Yungch ‘üan), Chih-i explains that the meaning “gushing spring” is a figure of speech, indicating that the meanings stemming from the teaching of the Four Siddhāntas are endless, and what flows out of the Buddha-dharma is inexhaustible. The gushing spring in terms of teaching refers to measureless meanings that flow out of one sentence in the Worldly Siddhānta. The gushing spring in terms of practice refers to measureless practices arouse by hearing the teaching of the Siddhānta for Each Person, and the teaching of the Siddhānta of Counteraction. These practices can lead one to enter the realm of wholesomeness and the Eightfold Correct Path. The gushing spring in terms of the doctrine refers to the one, by hearing the Supreme Truth, is able to understand that the principle is like empty space. The dharma as empty space cannot be conceptualized and permeates everywhere.

Chih-i adds that when these three aspects are scrutinized as the Dharmadoor, the teaching as the gushing spring refers to the eloquence of the dharma without obstruction; the practice as the gushing spring refers to the eloquence of phrases without obstruction; the doctrine as the gushing spring refers to the eloquence of the doctrine without obstruction. (Vol. 2, Page 392)

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


LS32, WONS

Day 2

Chapter 1, Introductory (Conclusion).

Day 2 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the teaching of the last Sun-Moon-Light Buddha, we consider Sun-Moon-Light Buddha’s preaching of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.

“Maitreya, know this! There were two thousand million Bodhisattvas in that congregation. They wished to hear the Dharma. They were astonished at seeing the Buddha-worlds illumined by this ray of light. They wished to know why the Buddha was emitting this ray of light.

“At that time there was a Bodhisattva called Wonderful-Light. He had eight hundred disciples. Sun-Moon-Light Buddha emerged from his samādhi, and expounded the sūtra of the Great Vehicle to Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva and others without rising from his seat for sixty small kalpas. It was called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’ The hearers in the congregation also sat in the same place for sixty small kalpas, and their bodies and minds were motionless. They thought that they had heard the Buddha expounding the Dharma for only a mealtime. None of them felt tired in body or mind. Having completed the expounding of this sūtra at the end of the period of sixty small kalpas, Sun-Moon-Light Buddha said to the Brahmans, Maras, śramaṇas, brahmanas, gods, men, and asuras, ‘I shall enter into the Nirvāṇa-without-remainder at midnight tonight.’

In Nichiren’s writings he explains that the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra took place in three assemblies over the last eight years of the Buddha’s teaching. From that we have today 28 chapters in eight volumes.

Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī and the Venerable Ānanda used the daimoku of Myōhō Renge Kyō to indicate the entirety of the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra in three assemblies over the period of the last eight years of the Buddha’s teaching; and to indicate that this is what they meant the sutra begins with the words “Thus have I heard.”

Shishin Gohon-shō, The Four Depths of Faith and Five Stages of Practice, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Pages 106-107

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What would a teaching that required sixty small kalpas look like? Myōhō Renge Kyō, of course.

Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 14, 2019

If you wish to obtain quickly the knowledge
Of the equality and differences of all things,
Keep this sūtra, and also make offerings
To the keeper of this sūtra!

The Buddha sings these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva at the beginning of Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. When we see things for what they are, how they are similar and how they are different, we see them with the eyes of the Buddha. This Wonderful Dharma in the Lotus Sūtra is the Buddha showing us how to open our eyes to the joys and wonders that exist in this world of conflict and suffering. When we find something valuable, we offer it our time, our thoughts and our devotion. By making offerings to this Wonderful Dharma, and to all those who keep it, our eyes open even more to the truth of our lives.

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