Buddhism for Today, p357The greatest homage of the Bodhisattva Loveliness to the Buddha was to endeavor to maintain the Buddha’s teachings forever and to memorize and extol them. However, as a believer who practiced the Lotus Sutra, he was not satisfied with such practices because he realized that the greatest homage to the Buddha is to practice his teachings oneself. Therefore the Bodhisattva Loveliness burned his arms. In other words, he devoted himself to the practice of the Law with no concern for whatever trouble, pain, or difficulty it might entail. His practices themselves became a great light that led all the people to dispel the darkness in their minds, causing them to seek the Way voluntarily. From this description, we can understand what great merit our practice of the Law will bring to us.
Monthly Archives: February 2020
Syncing the Ten Realms and Three Thousand Realms with the Buddha
Two Buddhas, p71-72The interpenetration of ten realms reveals that, in principle, there is no difference between an ordinary person and a buddha; both embody the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment. But in ordinary, deluded persons the buddha realm remains dormant and unrealized, and they are trapped by suffering. In the case of a buddha, the buddha realm is fully expressed; that is, all the other nine realms are illuminated, elevated, and redirected by it to work in an enlightened way. For Nichiren, this fully realized state was embodied in the daimoku. We could say that chanting the daimoku aligns or “syncs” the ten realms and three thousand realms of the practitioner with those of the Buddha, enabling direct realization in the very act of practice.
The First Thing Needing Change
When you are in a good mood, cheerful, smiling, and positive then things may not get you flustered or irritated as easily as if you felt grumpy. The external environment isn’t the thing that changes; it is our life that changes in how it responds to our external environment. The way we respond in turn affects the way others respond to us. Have you ever noticed how some people are always dissatisfied or complaining, as if nothing ever is good enough? It is hard to attract good things to one’s life if nothing is ever good enough. There is a consistency in all of this. The message here is that when we start to change internally then we begin to see an external change, which then sets up the condition for us to further change. It all has to begin within one’s own life. Again, Buddhism teaches us that the first thing needing change is ourselves.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraDaily Dharma – Feb. 6, 2020
Suppose one sets up a needle on top of Mt. Sumeru and throws a piece of string on a windy day from another Mt. Sumeru standing too far to see. It is impossible to thread the needle set up on the first Mt. Sumeru. It is, however, even more difficult to experience the great title of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore you should realize that being able to chant the great title of this sutra is more wonderful than a blind person gaining his eyesight and seeing his parents for the first time.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Chanting the Great Title of the Lotus Sūtra (Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō). Those with great talents, or who have worked hard and made great accomplishments, tend to think that what they have done is normal. They can lose any appreciation for what they have and focus only on what they lack. This passage reminds us of the treasure we enjoy in the five syllables of Myo Ho Ren Ge and Kyo. Just hearing this Great Title is the result of great efforts we have made in the past, whether we appreciate and remember those efforts or not.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 26
Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.
Having last month concluded Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas in gāthās, we begin Chapter 22, Transmission, with Śākyamuni Buddha places his right hand on the heads of all the Bodhisattvas.
Thereupon Śākyamuni Buddha rose from the seat of the Dharma, and by his great supernatural powers, put his right hand on the heads of the innumerable Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, and said:
“For many hundreds of thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas of kalpas, I studied and practiced the Dharma difficult to obtain, and [finally attained] Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Now I will transmit the Dharma to you. Propagate it with all your hearts, and make it known far and wide!”
He put his [right] hand on their heads twice more, and said:
“For many hundreds of thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas of kalpas, I studied and practiced the Dharma difficult to obtain, and [finally attained] Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Now I will transmit [the Dharma] to you. Keep, read, recite and expound [this sūtra in which the Dharma is given], and cause all living beings to hear it and know it! Why is that? It is because I have great compassion. I do not begrudge anything. I am fearless. I wish to give the wisdom of the Buddha, the wisdom of the Tathāgata, the wisdom of the Self-Existing One, to all living beings. I am the great almsgiver to all living beings. Follow me, and study my teachings without begrudging efforts! In the future, when you see good men or women who believe in the wisdom of the Tathāgata, you should expound this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to them, and cause them to hear and know [this sūtra] so that they may be able to obtain the wisdom of the Buddha. When you see anyone who does not receive [this sūtra] by faith, you should show him some other profound teachings of mine, teach him, benefit him, and cause him to rejoice. When you do all this, you will be able to repay the favors given to you by the Buddhas.”
The True benevolent and compassionate Mind
Buddhism for Today, p344Three times the Buddha laid his hand upon the heads of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas and repeated the following words. From this repetition, we can easily judge how important was his declaration: “I, for incalculable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of asaṃkhyeyas of kalpas, have practiced this rare Law of Perfect Enlightenment. Now I entrust it to you. Do you receive and keep, read and recite, and proclaim this Law abroad that all living beings universally may hear and know it. Wherefore? The Tathāgata is most benevolent and compassionate, not mean and stingy, and is able fearlessly to give the Buddha-wisdom, the Tathāgata-wisdom, and the Self-existent wisdom to all living beings.”
This is an extremely important passage. The words “rare Law” and “not mean and stingy” call for deep consideration in order to understand their true meaning. We cannot attain the Buddha’s enlightenment without undergoing extraordinary difficulties. Leaving aside his long period of practice in former lives, the Buddha repeatedly underwent many sufferings in this world and finally attained enlightenment. He also openly taught his rare Law of Perfect Enlightenment to all living beings without the slightest trace of a mean and stingy mind. Moreover, he used various tactful means with thoughtful consideration so that all living beings might be able to attain Perfect Enlightenment as quickly as possible and without being sidetracked.
When we compare this attitude with the common way of the world, we must acknowledge how much we owe to the Buddha. When experienced people teach knowledge and techniques to their juniors, there are very few who take the trouble to lead their juniors so successfully that they can master the learning and techniques in half the time that it took the teacher to acquire them. Most seasoned veterans take the attitude that it is beneath their dignity to initiate their juniors, into the secrets of their learning and techniques, or else they force their juniors to experience as many difficulties in learning as they themselves did. Such an attitude comes from a mean and stingy mind, which is a great impediment to social progress.
The Buddha strictly admonished us against having mean and stingy minds. A person should not only generously and unstintingly teach others what he has realized but also help the learners through various methods to master it faster than he himself did. This is the true benevolent and compassionate mind. A veteran should maintain this attitude toward his juniors in teaching secular learning and techniques, to say nothing of instructing them in the Law and enlightenment. We should wholeheartedly adopt such an attitude.
Chanting and Seeing the Buddha in One’s Mind
Two Buddhas, p70-71Like other Buddhists of his day, Nichiren understood the six paths as actual cosmological realms into which beings are born repeatedly in accordance with their deeds, and the four holy paths of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and buddhas, as higher states achieved through cultivation. But at the same time, he understood all ten realms as lying “within ourselves.” In his major treatise “On the Contemplation of the Mind and the Object of Worship” (Kanjin honzon shō), Nichiren explains this by way of illustration. When one looks at another person’s face, they appear sometimes ecstatic, sometimes furious, and sometimes calm, or they might wear expressions of foolishness or perversity. Rage, he explains, is the hell realm; greed, the realm of hungry ghosts; foolishness, the realm of beasts; perversity, the asura realm; joy, the heavenly realm; and calm, the human realm. The four holy paths do not appear outwardly but can be known by introspection. Our understanding that all things are insubstantial and fleeting reflects the realms of the two vehicles of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas within our own mind. The affection that even a hardened criminal feels for his wife and children is an expression of the inner bodhisattva realm. Because the nine realms within one’s own mind can thus be demonstrated, Nichiren says, one should believe that the buddha realm is present as well.
In the above quotation, “seeing” the Buddha in one’s mind might suggest a specific cognition or insight, but for Nichiren, this meant chanting the daimoku, the expression of faith in the Lotus Sūtra. Though he encouraged study and intellectual understanding of the Buddhist teachings, the benefits of the daimoku, he said, are the same whether chanted by a wise person or a foolish one. He illustrated this by the analogies of fire that burns without intent to do so, or a newborn infant nourished unknowingly by its mother’s milk. At the beginning of [Chapter 2], when Śākyamuni Buddha first begins to speak, his opening words are: “Profound and immeasurable is the wisdom of the buddhas.” “What is this wisdom?” Nichiren asks. “It is the embodiment of the real aspect of all dharmas, the ten suchnesses realized by the Buddha. What is that embodiment? It is Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō.”
The Ten Factors
The Ten Factors of life can he found in the Lotus Sutra in Chapter 2, Expedients. The passage that contains the Ten Factors is recited as part of the daily practice of Nichiren Buddhism. They are appearance, nature, entity, power, activity, causes, conditions, effects, consequences, and the unity of all phenomena.
Lotus SeedsClarifying the Truth of the Buddhist Dharma
The wise do not forget times of distress, even though they may be in times of peace and tranquility. The foolish, on the other hand, do not realize approaching danger and continue to enjoy living in comfort. It is said that a great fire fears a small amount of water, and a large tree pays attention to a small bird so that its twigs will not be broken off. Likewise, wise persons are always cautious not to slander the Mahāyāna teachings. Consequently, in the event such an offense is committed, Bodhisattva Vasubandhu vowed to cut off his tongue; Bodhisattva Aśvaghoṣa said he would behead himself. Moreover, Grand Master Chi-ts’ang served Grand Master T’ien-t’ai as a stepladder; Tripitaka Master Hsüan-chuang made a trip to India, the land of the Buddha, in search of the Dharma; Tripiṭaka Master Amoghavajra went to India in order to resolve his doubt; and Grand Master Dengyō went abroad to China to master the Dharma. They thus risked their lives in order to clarify the truth of the Buddhist Dharma and to uphold it.
Toki-dono Gosho, A Letter to Lord Toki, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 117
Daily Dharma – Feb. 5, 2020
All things are possible if people are united in one spirit. Nothing can be accomplished if they are not united. It is also true in non-Buddhist scriptures. For instance, a king of Y’in in old China, King Chieh who had an army of seven hundred thousand men disunited in spirit, was defeated by King Wu of Chou and his army of eight hundred men, who were united in one spirit. So that if a person has two thoughts, nothing can be accomplished. Even if there are hundreds or thousands of people, if they are united in one they are surely able to accomplish their aim.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Cooperation (Itai Doshin-ji). When we develop the Bodhisattva mind of compassion, we learn that compassion is present in all beings. As we aspire to the Buddha mind of wisdom, we find that all beings have wisdom. When we act from compassion and wisdom rather than fear and delusion, we are united with the true minds of all beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com