Monthly Archives: July 2019

LS32

Day 11

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

Day 11 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City, we return to the top and consider what happened when Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha finally attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.

The Buddha said to the bhikṣus:
“When Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, five hundred billion Buddha-worlds in each of the ten quarters quaked in the six ways, and all those worlds, including those intercepted from the brilliant rays of light of the sun and the moon by the neighboring worlds, were illumined [by great rays of light], and the living beings of those worlds were able to see each other for the first time. They said to each other, ‘How did you appear so suddenly?’ The palaces of the gods of those worlds, including the palace of Brahmans, also quaked in the six ways. The great rays of light which illumined all those worlds were brighter than the rays of light emitted by those gods.

For the remainder of this cycle through the Lotus Sūtra, I will offer observations from my 21-day retreat encouraged by Universal-Sage Bodhisattva. Today was Day 1 of 21.

21days

Day 1 of 21

2019-day1of21
Day 1 morning walking meditation: 6391 steps, more than 1,000 daimoku. The silhouette of my samue uniform and juzu beads in my left hand.

Today I got out of bed and 5:30am, dressed in my samue, did my morning service and then struck out for my one-hour walking meditation. The video of the start was captured by my Skybell doorbell.

Wearing the samue, which I purchased for a July 2017 Seattle Choeizan Enkyoji retreat, is one way in which I am trying to make this stay-cation retreat feel a little more real.

I developed the route I am taking this winter. The goal of all that twisting and turning is to avoid crossing busy streets while consuming one hour.

IntroductionDay 2 of 21

Lecture on Lotus Sutra, d19b

Practicing With a Spirit of True Generosity

The fourth of the peaceful practices is our vow, which we should always remember is to ultimately teach others and guide others to the Lotus Sutra. The Buddha instructs us to have great loving-kindness towards practitioners and non-practitioners alike and constantly be thinking of the most skillful way, the most appropriate way to lead them to seek out the Lotus Sutra. When we can practice with a spirit of true generosity to share the teachings of the Lotus Sutra then our lives will be full of great benefit, great friends, and the protection of the entire universe.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – July 1, 2019

Anyone who not only understands
This sūtra by faith
But also keeps, reads and recites it,
And copies it, or causes others to copy it,
And strews flowers, incense,
And incense powder to a copy of it,
And lights lamps of the perfumed oil
Of sumanas, campaka, and atimuktaka
Around the copy of this sūtra
And offers the light thus produced to it,
Will be able to obtain innumerable merits.
His merits will be as limitless as the sky.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sūtra. This teaching contains the Buddha’s highest wisdom, leads all beings to enlightenment, and calls us to transform our personal suffering into an aspiration to benefit all beings. The joy and clarity we gain by practicing and respecting this sūtra is beyond what we can imagine in our state of attachment and delusion.

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