Monthly Archives: April 2019

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – April 28, 2019

“Good man! Go to Śākyamuni Buddha who is now living on Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa! Ask him on my behalf, ‘Are you in good health? Are you peaceful? Are the Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas peaceful or not?’ Strew these jeweled flowers to him, offer them to him, and say, ‘That Buddha sent me to tell you that he wishes to see the stūpa of treasures opened.’“

In Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra, Buddhas and their devotees from innumerable worlds come to our world of conflict and delusion to see Śākyamuni Buddha open the tower inhabited by Many-Treasures Buddha. As our capability for enlightenment wells up from within us, the tower of treasures sprang up from underground when the Buddha asked who would teach the Wonderful Dharma after the Buddha’s extinction. The treasures in the tower are nothing more than Many-Treasures Buddha declaring the Lotus Sūtra to be the Teaching of Equality, the Great Wisdom, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas and the Dharma upheld by the Buddhas.

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

LS32

Day 10

Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.

Day 10 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month completed Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, we begin Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City, with the story of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha.

The Buddha said to the Bhikṣus:

“A countless, limitless, inconceivable, asaṃkhya number of kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence, 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. His world was called Well-Composed; and the kalpa in which he became that Buddha, Great-Form.

“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]?”

“No, we do not, World-Honored One!”

“Bhikṣus! Now all the worlds he went through, whether they were inked or not, were smashed into dust. The number of the kalpas which have elapsed since that Buddha passed away is many hundreds of thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas larger than the number of the particles of the dust thus produced. Yet I remember [the extinction of] that Buddha by my power of insight as vividly as if he had passed away today.”

Continuing with the content from Miraculous Tales of the Lotus Sutra from Ancient Japan, we learn of A Fox on Suzaku Avenue,

Miracles

A Fox on Suzaku Avenue

A good man, leisurely walking along Suzaku Avenue, met a beautifully dressed attractive woman who spoke to him in a graceful voice and immediately touched his heart. The overwhelmed man took the woman to a quiet unpeopled place where they had a more intimate conversation.

The man said to the woman, “Our karmic relation from our previous lives has caused this meeting. I want to have a relationship with you tonight.”

The woman replied, “It is not difficult to realize your wish. But you will lose your life if you associate with me. This is why I cannot accept your offer.”

The man insisted, “I am not concerned about my life. I only wish to sleep with you.”

“Oh, no, no. Do not think like that. You have an official title and rank as well as a wife and children. One’s existence is a life-long treasure while desire is a momentary pleasure. How can one lose one’s precious life for a transient pleasure?” inquired the woman.

The man did not give up and continued to persuade her. “Although I understand your reasoning, I am infatuated by your enchanting appearance. The love between man and woman is something natural and beautiful. Listen sympathetically and grant my wish.”

Finally the woman accepted and agreed, saying, “Your kind and sincere words impress me so much that I can no longer refuse you. I will prolong your life by dying in your place. I hope that you will copy the Hokekyō and offer a dedication service to relieve me from my sufferings.”

The joyful man said that he would repay the woman with his treasures. So they spent the night intimately. At daybreak when the time for their separation arrived, the man said, “I wish to know if you will die in my place. I will return home and copy the sūtra.”

“If you wish to know when I die, go near the Butokuden in the morning and look for me,” replied the woman and asked him to give her his fan, saying, “This fan will be your sign.” Thus they parted tearfully.

In the morning, the man walked around the Butoku Palace and found a dead fox lying on the ground behind the palace with his fan over its face. The man clearly understood the situation. From that day on, the man made a copy of the Hokekyō every seventh day and offered a dedication service with a lecture. Before the forty-ninth day after the death of the woman, the man dreamed that the woman appeared dressed in the attire of a Heavenly Lady, accompanied by hundreds of similarly dressed women. She said to the man, “Thanks to the power of the Hokekyō which you had copied, I am relieved from my eternal sufferings and am travelling to the Tōri Heaven. My obligation to you is limitless and I will reward you for generations.”

As the woman finished speaking, she ascended to the sky. Beautiful music was heard in the sky, and a pleasant fragrance filled the man’s room. (Page 142-143)

Miraculous Tales of the Lotus Sutra from Ancient Japan


Lotus Path

Stepping-stones

Quote

Sometimes we might find ourselves in the midst of a serious crisis and think to ourselves that it will never get better or that things will never change. I am not sure it is possible for most of us to avoid feeling this way at one time or another in our life. But consider, if you will, for a moment that all of these setbacks, obstacles, troubles, whatever, are nothing more than stepping-stones along the path of your life. There is no reason why your life should be limited by your current condition, unless that is what you want. Stopping on the stone on which you are currently standing, though, does not get you down the road to happiness.

Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – April 27, 2019

He said to them, ‘Know this! Now I am old and decrepit. I shall die soon. I am leaving this good medicine here. Take it! Do not be afraid that you will not be cured!’

The Buddha gives this explanation in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. It is part of the Parable of the Wise Physician in which a father finds his children have taken poison and gives them an antidote. The poison has caused some of the children to lose their right minds and not trust that the medicine will cure them. By faking his death, the father used an expedient to get the children to realize that there was no other medicine that would cure them, and summon the courage to take it. When we accept the Wonderful Dharma and put it into our lives, we are cured of our delusions and find the Buddha’s wisdom.

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

Blog

Clay Creating the One Vehicle

Back in March I asked about Śākyamuni’s prediction that when Śāriputra becomes a Buddha he will preach the Three Vehicles. Why not just the One Vehicle?

Recently I switched my daily reading from the Murano translation of the Lotus Sūtra to Leon Hurvitz’s Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma. In Hurvitz’s version is an added section to the The Simile of Herbs (Medicinal Herbs) chapter translated from a Sanskrit manuscript. Included is this exchange between Śākyamuni and Kāśyapa:

“Again, O Kāśyapa, the Thus Gone One, in his guidance of the beings, is equitable, not inequitable. O Kāśyapa, just as the light of the sun and the moon illuminates the whole world, both him who does well and him who does ill, both him who stands high and him who stands low, the good-smelling and the bad-smelling, just as that light falls everywhere equally, not unequally, in just that way, O Kāśyapa, does the light of the thought of the knowledge of the all-knowing, of the Thus Gone Ones, the worthy ones, the properly and fully enlightened ones, the demonstration of the true dharma, function equally among all beings in the five destinies according to their predispositions, be they persons of the great vehicle, persons of the vehicle of the individually enlightened, or persons of the vehicle of the auditors. Nor in the light of the knowledge of the Thus Gone One is there either deficiency or superfluity, for the light conduces to knowledge in accord with merit. O Kāśyapa, there are not three vehicles. There are only beings of severally different modes of conduct, and for that reason three vehicles are designated.”

When this had been said, the long-lived Mahākāśyapa said to the Blessed One: “If, O Blessed One, there are not three vehicles, what is the reason for the present designation of auditors, individually enlightened, and bodhisattvas?”

When this had been said, the Blessed One said to the long-lived Mahākāśyapa: “It is just as the potter. O Kāśyapa, makes pots with the same clay. Among them, some become pots for sugar lumps, some pots for clarified butter, some pots for curds or milk, while some become pots for inferior and filthy things; and just as there is no difference in the clay, but rather a supposed difference in the pots based solely on the things put into them, in just this way, O Kāśyapa, is there this one and only one vehicle, to wit, the buddha vehicle. There exists neither a second nor a third vehicle.” (Page 103)

Profound

Objects, Knowledge and Practice

Quote

[T]he Buddhist world in South and North China during fifth and six centuries was divided by its focus on either the doctrinal aspect or practical aspect. Chih-i’s elaboration of the first three Subtleties (Objects, Knowledge and Practice) resolves the discrepancy between Southern and Northern branches by laying equal importance of both doctrinal and practical aspects.

  1. The Subtlety of Objects emphasizes the importance of the doctrinal aspect concerning truth. Without truth, liberation is not possible, since one’s attainment of liberation is based on one’s realization of truth.
  2. The Subtlety of Knowledge connects these aspects with each other. On the one hand, because of knowledge, one is able to penetrate the doctrine of truth. On the other hand, from Chih-i’s elaboration of knowledge (as we see how the twenty kinds of knowledge are derived from various types of practice),29 knowledge is obviously related to the practical aspect: without practice, knowledge cannot be obtained.
  3. The Subtlety of Practice emphasizes the significance of the practical aspect in obtaining knowledge and penetrating truth. Therefore, these three subtleties embrace all aspects of Buddhism, for all aspects of Buddhism are concerned with doctrine and practice. (Vol. 2, Page 465)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


LS32

Day 9

Day 9 covers Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and introduces Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.

Day 9 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month heard in gāthās why the Buddha needed to use expedients, we consider the Simile of Herbs.

Kāśyapa, know this!
Suppose a large cloud rose in the sky,
And covered everything on the earth.
The cloud was so merciful
That it was about to send a rainfall.
Lightning flashed,
And thunder crashed in the distance,
Causing people to rejoice.

The cloud covered the sun,
And cooled the earth.
It hung down
As low as if we could reach it.

Now the rain came down
To all the quarters of the earth.
The rainwater was immeasurable.
It soaked all the earth.
There were many plants
In the retired and quiet places
Of the mountains, rivers and ravines.

They were herbs, cereal-plants, young rice-plants,
Vegetables, sugar canes, and other grasses;
Fruit-trees including vines,
And other trees, tall and short.
They were sufficiently watered by the rain.
So were all the dry lands.

The herbs and trees grew thick by the rain.
All the grasses and trees in thickets and forests
Were watered variously according to their species
By the rain water of the same taste
Coming down from the [same] cloud.

All the trees grew differently
According to their species.
They became superior or middle or inferior
Or tall or short trees.

The roots, trunks, branches, leaves,
Flowers and fruits of the various trees
Were given a fine and glossy luster
By the same rain.

Although watered by the same rain,
Some of them were tall, while others not,
Because they were different
In their entities, appearances and natures.

Continuing with the content from Miraculous Tales of the Lotus Sutra from Ancient Japan, we learn of Priest Renchō.

Miracles

Priest Renchō

Priest Renchō was a good friend and a colleague of Holy Man Chōen of Sakurai. Renchō was most devoted to the Way, and never idled away his time, but fervently recited the Hokekyō. Except when bathing, he never loosened his sash. He stayed up day and night, and hardly slept. He neither used a pillow nor a stand to rest his arms and elbows. He avoided sleeping and lying a long time in bed and remained sitting.

When reciting the sūtra, he was spirited and his attention never slackened. He constantly recited the Hokekyō and rested from time to time when his mind felt tired. Otherwise, his recitation was always enjoyable.

He visited and recited one thousand copies of the sūtra at each of the famous mountains and sacred places, including Mount Mitake, Kumano, Shiga, and Hatsuse.

Renchō used to recite the sūtra so rapidly that he could easily finish one thousand copies within a month. He had recited numerous copies of the sūtra since his youth.

One night a person staying with Renchō dreamed that four armored and helmeted strangers, dressed in celestial robes, surrounded Renchō and constantly protected him.

Towards the end of his life, Renchō held in his hand a beautiful white lotus blossom which was out-of-season. As one of his friends asked about the blossom, Renchō said, “This is the Lotus of the Buddha Nature.” After speaking, Renchō passed away and the lotus blossom in his hand suddenly disappeared. (Page 84-85)

Miraculous Tales of the Lotus Sutra from Ancient Japan


Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – April 26, 2019

Great-Power-Obtainer, know this! This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma benefits Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, and causes them to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Therefore, they should keep, read, recite, expound and copy this sūtra after my extinction.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Great-Power-Obtainer Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty of the Lotus Sūtra. In several places in the sūtra, the Buddha asked who would continue to teach this Wonderful Dharma after his extinction and lead all beings to Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi: perfect unsurpassed enlightenment. When he revealed his Ever-Present Existence in Chapter Sixteen, he assured all those receiving his words that his life is not limited to that of the physical body he inhabited. In truth he is leading all beings throughout all time and space to his wisdom, and this Lotus Sūtra he has given us is the embodiment of that wisdom.

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