Śākyamuni is lord of this threefold world; all lesser rulers hold their territories in fief from him. With this concept of the Buddha, Nichiren asserted the superior authority of the Lotus Sūtra over that of worldly rule. Śākyamuni also presides over a pure land, the Pure Land of Eagle Peak (ryōzenjōdo), and Nichiren often assured his followers that their deceased relatives were with Śākyamuni there. In short, Nichiren’s concept of the object of worship not only posits a Buddha who encompasses all things, but itself attempts to encompass all views of the Buddha. (Page 274)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismMonthly Archives: March 2019
The Final Teaching of the Buddha
In Chih-i’s system, various types of the Buddha’s teaching are arranged in an ascending order, so that beings can be led to receive the final teaching of the Buddha. To Chih-i, the final teaching of the Buddha should express the most profound doctrine, and the Origin in which the eternal Buddha abides can be regarded precisely as such a doctrine, whereby the Lotus Sūtra is legitimized to be the final teaching of the Buddha. (Vol. 2, Page 402)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismDay 19
Day 19 concludes Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and begins Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.
Having last month concluded Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, we consider the question posed by Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, more than eight times the number of the sands of the River Ganges, who had come from the other worlds.
Thereupon the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, more than eight times the number of the sands of the River Ganges, who had come from the other worlds, rose from among the great multitude, joined their hands together towards the Buddha, bowed to him, and said:
“World-Honored One! If you permit us to protect, keep, read, recite and copy this sūtra, and make offerings to it strenuously in this Sahā-World after your-extinction, we will [do so, and] expound it in this world.”
Thereupon the Buddha said to those Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas:
“No, good men! I do not want you to protect or keep this sūtra because there are Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas sixty thousand times as many as the sands of the River Ganges in this Sahā-World. They are each accompanied by attendants also numbering sixty thousand times as many as the sands of the River Ganges. They will protect, keep, read, recite and expound this sūtra after my extinction.”
The Daily Dharma from June 23, 2018, offers this:
No, good men! I do not want you to protect or keep this sūtra because there are Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas sixty thousand times as many as the sands of the River Ganges in this Sahā-World. They are each accompanied by attendants also numbering sixty thousand times as many as the sands of the River Ganges. They will protect, keep, read, recite and expound this sūtra after my extinction.
The Buddha makes this declaration to the uncountable number of Bodhisattvas who came from other worlds to hear him teach in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. These Bodhisattvas had responded to the Buddha’s question of who would keep and expound the Buddha’s highest teaching after his death. They promised that they would remain in this world of conflict and fulfill the Buddha’s request. After the Buddha spoke these words, an unimaginable number of Bodhisattvas came up from underground and paid their respects to the Buddha. We can understand this story, and this image, as showing that our capacity for enlightenment, and our ability to benefit all beings, is already within us. We do not need an outside agent to give these to us.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Implicit and Explicit Predictions
In Chapter 13, the predictions for Maha-Prajapati Biksuni and Yasodhara Biksuni come about in an indirect sort of way. The Buddha notices his aunt, the woman who raised him after his mother died in child birth, looking at him. I can just imagine it to be one of those looks only a mother could give a child, something on the order of a scolding without words. This would be a look that probably told the Buddha, hey aren’t you forgetting something.
At any rate the Buddha guesses what his aunt is thinking and asks her if she thought that somehow she had been left out of all the predictions that have now covered every practitioner type, Sravakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas. He says he had already assured the Sravakas of their enlightenment and that he did not exclude her from that general grouping. In this I believe the Buddha realizes that even though he had implicitly included women in the general prediction, he realizes now that the women really need it clearly stated not just for them but for the males in the congregation.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraDaily Dharma – March 3, 2019
Now I will tell you clearly. The merits of the person who gave all those pleasing things to the living beings of the six regions of four hundred billion asaṃkhya worlds, and caused them to attain Arhatship are less than the merits of the fiftieth person who rejoices at hearing even a gāthā of this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Maitreya (whom he calls Ajita – Invincible) in Chapter Eighteen of the Lotus Sūtra. He compares the benefit created by someone who teaches innumerable beings and makes exorbitant offerings through following the pre-Lotus sūtras to the benefits of finding joy in the Buddha’s Highest teaching. This joy is not the same as just getting what we want, or being relieved from what we do not want. It is the joy of seeing the world for what it is, and our place in it as Bodhisattvas who exist 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
Nichiren’s Conception of the Buddha
Nichiren’s writings as a whole … present a spectrum of concepts of the Buddha, drawing on the implications, not only of the Dharma body, but of the recompense and manifested bodies as well. Nichiren’s Buddha is at once both immanent and transcendent. He is “our blood and flesh”; his practices and resulting virtues are “our bones and marrow.” Yet at the same time, he is “parent, teacher, and sovereign” to all beings of this, the Sahā world. In this connection, Nichiren also stressed that Śākyamuni was only the Buddha who, out of compassion for its beings, had actually appeared in this world—a frequent point in Nichiren’s criticism of devotion to Amida. (Page 274)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismThe Cause and Effect of Buddhahood
For Chih-i, Buddhism consists of the cause and effect of Buddhahood. Looking at the cause and effect separately, the cause of Buddhahood concerns the Buddha’s self-cultivation of striving for Buddhahood, and the effect of Buddhahood concerns the Buddha’s activity of transforming others as the result of his attainment of Buddhahood. Hence, the Origin is considered by Chih-i as the cause of Buddhahood, and the Traces the effect of Buddhahood. However, Chih-i emphasizes that true reality is of no distinction between cause and effect. The cause and effect are contained in each other. The cause decides the realization of effect, and the effect is the manifestation of the cause. Since cause and effect are identical, the cause and effect of Buddhahood are complete in both the Origin and the Traces. (Vol. 2, Page 400-401)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismDay 18
Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.
Having last month considered the first set of peaceful practices, we consider that all things are insubstantial.
“The Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas also should know the following truth. All things are insubstantial. They are as they are. Things are not perverted. They do not move. They do not go. They do not turn. They have nothing substantial just as the sky has not. They are inexplicable. They are not born. They do not appear. They do not rise. They are nameless. They are formless. They have no property. They are immeasurable and limitless. They have no obstacle or hindrance. He should see all this. Things can exist only by dependent origination. Only perverted people say, ‘Things are permanent and pleasant.’ This truth is the second thing he should approach.”
The Daily Dharma from Dec. 18, 2018, offers this:
The Buddha gives this explanation to Mañjuśrī in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. The Buddha does not see the world as we do. This section explains how changing our view changes the world. When we no longer see beings with power to overwhelm us, and see beings in whom delusions have been created, we see our abilities to cut the root of those delusions and benefit them. These passages are what make the Lotus Sutra difficult to believe and understand, since they go against our habits of manipulating the world to become happy. As we learn to work with our minds, then we truly change the world.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Self-Centered Desires and Awakening
Another important principle of non-dualism taught in Nichiren Buddhism is that self-centered desires, which afflict our lives and create so much unhappiness, are themselves awakening. At first glance, this seems not only absurd but dangerous. Indeed, this principle has caused much misunderstanding and mischief down through the ages. Various people have misused this idea as a justification for indulging their egotism and hedonistic impulses in the name of awakened activity. However, when this principle is understood properly, it provides us with a healthy and productive way of relating to our own emotions and needs.
Lotus SeedsDaily Dharma – March 2, 2019
My body is pure and indestructible.
I will appear in any of many thousands of billions of worlds
During many hundreds of millions of kalpas,
And expound the Dharma to the living beings.
The Buddha sings these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. We can hear these lines and assume that the body of the Buddha is somehow a permanent version of the man who lived in this world of conflict 2500 years ago. The body of the Buddha takes many forms. We can see it in his teachings: the Wonderful Dharma he left for us. We can see it in every raindrop, every mountain, every smile and snarling face that comes into our lives. We can see it in the capacity we and all beings have to shed our delusions and live peacefully. The Buddha is always leading us to our better selves, whether we realize it or not.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com