Monthly Archives: February 2020

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 26, 2020

It is difficult to keep this sūtra.
I shall be glad to see
Anyone keeping it even for a moment.
So will all the other Buddhas.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. He is well aware of how hard it is to move from expedient teachings to the Wonderful Dharma. We have habits and attachments built up over many lifetimes, and live in a world that does not always support our practice. Still, one cannot underestimate the importance of trying, even for the briefest amount of time, to hold on to this teaching and bring it to life in this world.

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

LS32

Day 12

Day 12 concludes Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City, and completes the Third Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 12 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the sixteen princes, we consider The Parable of the Magic City and conclude Chapter 7.

I was one of the sixteen śramaṇeras.
You were among those to whom I expounded the Dharma.
Therefore, I now lead you with expedients
To the wisdom of the Buddha.

Because I taught you in my previous existence,
I expound the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
In order to lead you into the Way to Buddhahood.
Think it over! Do not be surprised! Do not be afraid!

Suppose there was a bad and dangerous road.
Many wild animals lived in the neighborhood.
No man was there; no water nor grass there.
The road was so fearful.

Many tens of millions of people
Wished to pass through this dangerous road.
The road was very long.
It was five hundred yojanas long.

The people had a leader.
He had a good memory.
He was wise and resolute in mind.
He could save people from dangers.

Getting tired,
The people said to him:
“We are tired.
We wish to go back.”

He thought:
‘How pitiful they are!
Why do they wish to return
Without getting great treasures?’

Thinking of an expedient, he said to himself:
‘I will use my supernatural powers.’
He made a great city by magic,
And adorned it with houses.

The city was surrounded by gardens, forests,
And by ponds and pools for bathing.
Many-storied gates and tall buildings [in that city]
Were filled with men and women.

Having made all this by magic,
He consoled the people, saying:
“Do not be afraid! Enter that city!
And do anything you like!”

They entered that city,
And had great joy.
They felt peaceful,
And thought that they had already passed [ through the road].

Seeing that they had already had a rest,
The leader collected them, and said:
“Go on ahead now! This is a magic city.
You were tired out halfway.
You wished to go back.
Therefore, I made this city by magic As an expedient.
Make efforts!
Let us go to the place of treasures!”

I am like the leader.
I am the leader of all living beings.
I saw that halfway some got tired
With the seeking of enlightenment,
And that they could not pass through the dangerous road
Of birth-and-death and illusions.
Therefore, I expounded to them the teaching of Nirvāṇa
As an expedient to give them a rest, saying:
“You have already eliminated sufferings.
You have done everything you should do.”

Now I see that they have already attained Nirvāṇa
And that they have become Arhats.
Therefore, I now collect the great multitude,
And expound to them the true teaching.

The Buddhas expound the teaching of the Three Vehicles
Only as an expedient.
There is only the One Buddha-Vehicle.
The two [vehicles] were taught only as resting places.

Now I will tell you the truth.
What you attained is not [true] extinction.
Make great efforts in order to obtain
The Buddha’s knowledge of all things.
When you obtain the knowledge of all things
And the ten powers of the Buddha,
And the thirty-two physical marks,
You will be able to say that you attained true extinction.
The Buddhas, the Leaders, expound the teaching of Nirvāṇa
In order to give a rest [to all living beings].
When they see them having already had a rest,
They lead them to the wisdom of the Buddha.

[Here ends] the Third Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

See The 16th Prince

LS32, d12b, b4today

The 16th Prince

The Buddha declared, “The sixteenth is I myself, Sakyamuni Buddha, who has accomplished Perfect Enlightenment in the sahā-domain.” He first reveals here his own history and the cause of his eventual enlightenment.

We should take note of the declaration that Sakyamuni is the Buddha who has accomplished Perfect Enlightenment in the sahā-domain. The Buddha alone is the great teacher for the people of this sahā-world. We cannot but call again to mind here how irreplaceable and important the man Sakyamuni is for us as the historical Buddha.

The Tathāgata Sakyamuni, the Eternal Original Buddha, as the first cause of this appearing Buddha, is the Buddha of non-beginning and non-end who appears everywhere in the universe at all times. These two Buddhas are originally the same, but their significance is different. Unless we understand this, we will not be able to grasp Sakyamuni’s words hereafter.

Buddhism for Today, p118-119
d17b, WONS, 2buddhas

Just As Poison Can Be Turned Into Medicine

In the development of Tendai Buddhism after Saichō, the implications of the nāga princess’s achievement were analyzed and disputed from many angles. Was the enlightenment to be realized “with this body” full or partial? To which of the stages of bodhisattva practice did it correspond? Was this kind of immediate realization accessible to all, or only to those who had cultivated practice in prior lifetimes? With some exceptions, later Tendai thinking shifted away from Saichō’s notion of attaining buddhahood within three lifetimes to an emphasis on direct realization of buddhahood in one’s present body. By Nichiren’s time, one strand of scholastic argument held that, at least in principle, even ordinary deluded persons might be able to access buddhahood at the beginning stages of faith and practice. Nichiren taught that embracing the Lotus Sūtra would make this a reality: “The Lotus Sūtra is the Buddha’s teaching and the Buddha’s wisdom. When one puts faith in even a single character or brushstroke, one immediately becomes a buddha in one’s present body. … , so [the Lotus Sūtra] transforms ordinary beings into buddhas. That is why it is called the wonderful dharma.”

Two Buddhas, p158-159
Lotus Seeds

The Ten Factors: Nature

Quote

Of the Ten Factors, Nature is the internal or subjective aspect of phenomena. This factor focuses on those intrinsic qualities that make things what they are, as opposed to external or superficial appearances. Nature also indicates our inner thoughts and feelings.

Lotus Seeds

WONS

An Omen of Great Virtue

The growth of the worst kind of evil is an omen of great virtue. Therefore, when we witness the entire Jambudvīpa (whole world) filled with evil and confusion to the same extent we can expect to see the dissemination of the Lotus Sūtra throughout the world.

Chie Bōkoku Gosho, Evil Wisdom Destroying the Country, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 87

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 25, 2020

World-Honored One! It is difficult for anyone in the world to believe this. It is as difficult as to believe a handsome, black-haired man twenty-five years old who points to men a hundred years old and says, ‘They are my sons,’ or as to believe men a hundred years old who point to a young man and say, ‘This is our father. He brought us up.’

Maitreya Bodhisattva explains his perplexity to the Buddha in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha had just revealed that he was who taught all the Bodhisattvas who have appeared from underground to continue teaching the Wonderful Dharma after the extinction of the Buddha. Maitreya realizes that his doubts are no different from those of those gathered to hear the Buddha teach and asks the Buddha to explain. When our experience does not match what the Buddha teaches, we should not keep silence and just accept what he tells us. It is only through sincere questioning that we find the Buddha’s mind and make it our own.

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

LS32

Day 11

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

Day 11 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the reaction of the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the southeast, we consider the reaction of the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the south.

“Bhikṣus! The great Brahman-[heavenly-]kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the south, who saw their palaces illumined more brightly than ever, also danced with joy. They wondered why [their palaces were so illumined]. They visited each other and discussed the reason, saying, ‘Why are our palaces illumined so brightly?’ There was a great Brahman-heavenly­king called Wonderful-Dharma among them. He said to the other Brahmans in gāthās:

Our palaces are illumined so brightly.
There must be some reason.
Let us find [the place]
[From where the light has come].

We have never seen this [light]
For the past one hundred thousand kalpas.
Did a god of great virtue or a Buddha appear
Somewhere in the universe?

“Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion [worlds] went to the north, carrying flower-plates filled with heavenly flowers, in order to find [the place from where the light had come]. Their palaces also moved as they went. They [reached the Well-Composed World and] saw that Great­Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathāgata was sitting on the lion­like seat under the Bodhi-tree of the place of enlightenment, surrounded respectfully by gods, dragon-kings, gandharvas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings. They also saw that the sixteen princes were begging the Buddha to turn the wheel of the Dharma. They worshipped the Buddha with their heads, walked around him a hundred thousand times, and strewed heavenly flowers to him. The strewn flowers were heaped up to the height of Mt. Sumeru. The Brahman-heavenly-king offered flowers also to the Bodhi-tree of the Buddha. Having offered flowers, they offered their palaces to the Buddha, saying, ‘We offer these palaces to you. Receive them and benefit us out of your compassion towards us!’ In the presence of the Buddha, they simultaneously praised him in gāthās with all their hearts:

It is difficult to see a World-Honored One.
You, the World-Honored One, eliminated all illusions.
We have not seen a World-Honored One
For the past one hundred and thirty kalpas.

Send the rain of the Dharma
On the hungry and thirsty beings!
Possessor of immeasurable wisdom,
We have never seen anyone wiser than you.
You are as rare as an udumbara-flower.
Now we have met you today.

Our palaces are beautifully adorned
With your light.
World-Honored One, receive them
Out of your great compassion towards us!

“Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly-kings, having praised the Buddha with these gāthās, said, ‘World-Honored One! Turn the wheel of the Dharma so that Mara, Brahman, the other gods, śramaṇas, and brahmanas of the world may be peaceful, and that they may be saved!’ They simultaneously praised the Buddha in gāthās with all their hearts:

Most Honorable of Gods and Men!
Turn the wheel of the unsurpassed Dharma,
Beat the drum of the Great Dharma,
Blow the conch-shell horn of the Great Dharma,
Send the rain of the Great Dharma,
And save innumerable living beings!
Devoting ourselves to you, we beg you.
Resound your profound teaching!

“Thereupon Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathāgata gave his tacit consent to their appeal.

“The great Brahman-[heavenly-]kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the southwest, west, northwest, north, northeast, and nadir also did the same.

See Heavenly Practice To Save All Living Beings

LS32, d11b, b4today

Heavenly Practice To Save All Living Beings

Though heavenly beings have attained a peaceful state of mind and body, as long as there is a human being who is suffering, if they are concerned to save him from his suffering and if they practice positively to help the buddhas for the sake of the salvation of all living beings, they rise to the world of the buddhas (bukkai), the highest realm of living beings. This is because even heavenly beings make strenuous efforts for the sake of serving others, making them happy, and saving them from their sufferings. In such merciful actions and creative lives they feel a deep joy, and this is the way that leads them to the enlightenment of the buddhas.

As illustrated by the diagram of the ten realms of living beings (jikkai) … , the way to enter the world of the buddhas starts in the world of human beings (ningen-kai). It is concerning this point that Nichiren said, “A hundred years’ practice in the Pure Land is not equal to the merit of a day’s practice in the impure land.” Unless heavenly beings continually come down to the world of human beings and practice to save all living beings from their sufferings, they cannot become buddhas. For this reason, all the Brahma heavenly kings descended from the peaceful heavens, desiring to receive the Buddha’s teachings so much that they gave up their palaces, that is, their peaceful lives.

Buddhism for Today, p99
d17b, 2buddhas

To Realize Buddhahood With This Very Body

Women’s capacity for buddhahood was not the only message that East Asian exegetes drew from the nāga princess episode. Her story was also taken as evidence that some practitioners might “realize buddhahood with this very body” (sokushin jōbutsu). Within the Tiantai tradition, Zhanran may have been first to use this term for the nāga princess’s enlightenment. One might question how her enlightenment could be termed realizing buddhahood “with this very body” when she transforms into a man. However, commentators did not necessarily see this sex change as a complete bodily transformation, such as one undergoes between successive lifetimes. The doctrine of sokushin jōbutsu, which developed especially in Japan, had two major implications: a drastic shortening of the length of time deemed necessary to achieve enlightenment, and the possibility of doing so without first eradicating the defilements of an ordinary person.

Saichō identified this doctrine as one of the ways in which the Lotus Sūtra surpasses all others. In contrast to conventional Mahāyāna notions of the bodhisattva path as requiring three incalculable eons to fulfill — a position maintained by his chief rivals, the Hossō school — Saichō saw the Lotus Sūtra as the “direct path” or “great direct path” of rapid realization, requiring only one, two, or at the most three lifetimes. The nāga girl’s story underscored this possibility. She had, Saichō noted, a threefold hindrance: as a nāga, she belonged to the animal realm; she was female and of poor faculties; and being only eight years old, she had not been able to devote much time to religious discipline. Nonetheless, through the wondrous power of the Lotus Sūtra, she had attained buddhahood.

Two Buddhas, p158