Monthly Archives: April 2020

WONS

Seeing the Four Realms of Holy Ones

QUESTION: It is not entirely clear that the six realms of illusion exist in the realms of human beings, but I am beginning to think they seem to as I listen to you. Nevertheless, I cannot see the four realms of holy ones at all. What do you say about this?

ANWSER: You doubted the existence of six realms of illusion in the realm of men, but I tried hard to explain it until you said you seemed to understand it. The same might happen with four realms of holy ones. Therefore, I shall try to explain as much as possible what the sūtras state, supplemented with reason. We see the so-called principle of impermanence everywhere in front of our eyes. We humans understand this principle, through which two groups of Hinayāna sages (Two Vehicles) called śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha try to obtain enlightenment (arhatship). How can we say then that the realms of two Hinayāna sage groups are not included in the realm of men? A man, no matter how inconsiderate he may be, loves his wife and children. It shows that he is partly in the bodhisattva realm.

The only realm contained in the realm of men and yet hard to see is that of Buddhas. However, since we see nine other realms included in the realm of human beings, we can conjecture that the realm of Buddhas, too, is contained therein. You should firmly believe this and have no doubt about it. On the existence of the realm of Buddhas contained in the human realm, the Lotus Sūtra states in the second “Expedients” chapter that the purpose of Buddhas appearing in the world was “to cause all living beings to open the gate to the insight of the Buddha.” And in the Nirvana Sūtra, we come across a passage which states: “Though having only human eye, those who study Mahāyāna Buddhism are regarded the same as having Buddha-eye because they see the truth of Buddhism.” The reason why we, ordinary people, born in the Latter Age, can put faith in the Lotus Sūtra is that the realm of Buddhas is included in the realm of human beings.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 135

Daily Dharma, d14b

Daily Dharma – April 14, 2020

If anyone keeps, reads, recites, expounds and copies even a gāthā of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, and respects a copy of this sūtra just as he respects me…or just joins his hands together respectfully towards it, Medicine-King, know this, that person should be considered to have appeared in the world of men out of their compassion towards all living beings.

The Buddha declares these lines to Medicine-King Bodhisattva at the beginning of Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. We might believe that everything happens by chance, or that we were sent into this life by someone who is testing us. This Sūtra awakens us to our existence as Bodhisattvas who asked to be born in this world of suffering out of our vow to benefit all beings.

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

LS32

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.

Day 26 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month concluded Chapter 22, Transmission, we begin Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva and consider why Medicine-King Bodhisattva walks about this Sahā-World.

Thereupon Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! Why does Medicine-King Bodhisattva walk about this Sahā-World? World-Honored One! This Medicine-King Bodhisattva will have to practice hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of austerities in this world. World-Honored One! Tell me why! Not only the gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings but also the Bodhisattvas who have come from the other worlds’ and the Śrāvakas present here will be glad to hear the reason.”

Thereupon the Buddha said to Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva:

“Innumerable kalpas ago, that is, as many kalpas as there are sands in the River Ganges ago, there lived a Buddha called Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue, 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. He was accompanied by eight thousand million great Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas and also by great Śrāvakas numbering seventy-two times as many as there are sands in the River Ganges. The duration of his life was forty-two thousand kalpas. So were the durations of the lives of the Bodhisattvas. His world was devoid of women, hellish denizens, hungry spirits, animals and asuras. There was no calamity in his world. The ground of his world was as even as the palm of the hand. It was made of lapis lazuli, adorned with jeweled trees, and covered with a jeweled awning from which the streamers of jeweled flowers were hanging down. Jeweled vases and incense-burners were seen everywhere in that world. There was a platform of the seven treasures at the distance of a bowshot from each of the jeweled trees under which the Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas were sitting. On each of the platforms of treasures, myriads of millions of gods were making heavenly music, singing songs of praise of the Buddha, and offering the music and songs to the Buddha.

See The Lessons of the Bodhisattvas

LS32, d26b

The Lessons of the Bodhisattvas

Ordinary people need actual models to help them practice what is good. Whom should they take as their model in their practice of the path of the Buddha’s teaching? It goes without saying that they should follow the model of Sakyamuni Buddha himself. The first thing they must do is tread the path that the Buddha has shown them. But they have no idea how to begin to emulate the Buddha because he is perfect and faultless and has accomplished all virtues. Ordinary people can much more easily aim at emulating a virtue possessed by a bodhisattva or a deed practiced by a bodhisattva. The closing chapters of the Lotus Sutra provide us with a series of such bodhisattva models. In these chapters, each virtue of the bodhisattva is described as the highest, ideal state of mind; by describing such virtues and urging us to attain such an ideal state, the Buddha admonishes us, who are apt to be arrogant. Our religious life is a continual process of trial and error, of taking two steps forward and one back. Whenever we read the last six chapters of the Lotus Sutra, we are encouraged and inspired anew not to be neglectful or arrogant. Here lies the importance of these chapters.

Buddhism for Today, p350
Eyes, d26b, WONS

The Diamond Chalice Precept

In order to reflect his new understanding of the Buddha and Buddhist practice, Nichiren believed that the time had come for the establishment of a new precept platform. Nichiren taught that it was impractical for the ordinary person in the Latter Age of the Dharma to attempt to approach awakening by merely adhering to a code of conduct. People no longer felt capable of living up to these various sets of precepts; many of those who did had come to realize that morality and ethics alone do not bring anyone closer to awakening. Of course, there were also hypocrites who strictly adhered to the letter of the precepts while violating their spirit. In order to remedy this, Nichiren taught that the true spirit of all the various sets of precepts is expressed in the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, the most important thing is to simply strive to uphold the Lotus Sūtra in order to transcend one’s imperfections and attain awakening. This is the true fulfillment of all the precepts.

The Manual of Nichiren Buddhism explains this as follows:

Nichiren claimed that the kaidan at Hieizan was established for the priests whose duty was to save the people of the semblance age of the Dharma and that a new kaidan should be established for the priests who would save those of the latter age of the Dharma. He also held that not only priests but also laymen should come to the Kaidan of the Essential Teaching and receive the Fundamental Precept of Nichiren Buddhism, that is to chant the Daimoku, which should be practiced by all living beings, priests or not. (Murano 1995, p. 62)

Teaching, Practice and Proof, a writing attributed to Nichiren, refers to the “fundamental precept” of upholding the Lotus Sūtra as the “Diamond Chalice Precept.” The following passage from the Brahmā’s Net Sūtra is a possible source for this precept: “This precept of the diamond chalice is the source of all Buddhas, the source of all bodhisattvas and the seed of the Buddha nature.” Nichiren realized that if the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Teaching, Myōhō Renge Kyō, is the enlightenment of the Eternal Śākyamuni Buddha and therefore the seed of buddhahood, then Myōhō Renge Kyō is itself the Diamond Chalice Precept. By chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, practitioners would be upholding the Diamond Chalice Precept that embraces all other precepts. Nichiren goes on to say in Teaching, Practice and Proof:

Afterwards, [explain that] the core realization of Myōhō Renge Kyō, which is the main gate of the Lotus Sūtra, contains all the merits of the practices and virtues of all the buddhas of the past, present, and future, which manifests as the five characters. How could these five characters not contain the merits of all precepts? Once the practitioner has this comprehensive Wonderful Precept, even if he wants to destroy it, he cannot. This has been called the ‘Diamond Chalice Precept.’ All buddhas of the past, present, and future keep this precept. All the Dharma-bodies, reward-bodies, and accommodative-bodies become the buddhas of no beginning and no end. The Great Master Tiantai wrote: ‘[The Buddha] secretly put this into all the teachings and did not expound it.’ Now when all people, whether wise or foolish, householder or home-leaver, upper or lower class, of the present latter age of the Dharma train themselves in accord with the view of Myōhō Renge Kyō, why should they not obtain buddhahood?

[The twenty-first chapter of the Lotus Sūtra states:] ‘Therefore, the man of wisdom who hears the benefits of these merits and who keeps this sūtra after my extinction will be able to attain the awakening of the Buddha definitely and doubtlessly. The people of the provisional schools who slip away from this decisive teaching of the three Buddhas (Śākyamuni, Many Treasures, and the emanation buddhas of the ten directions) will definitely end up in the Avici Hell. Similarly, if this precept is so excellent, then all the precepts of the previous provisional teaching will have no merit. Without any merit, the daily rules of abstention are useless. (Kyōgyōshō Gosho in the Shōwa teihon p. 1488 as translated by Yumi and Michael McCormick)

Open Your Eyes, p470-471
Blog

The Nature of Buddhist Philosophy

Quote

Rejecting idle speculation, Shakyamuni was concerned – as all Buddhists must be – with the present life, its joys, sorrows, loves, hates, and infinite choices. In other words, instead of being concerned with existence as an abstract study, Buddhist philosophy deals with the nature of the human condition in this life and the manner in which human beings respond to it.
Basic Buddhist Concepts

WONS

T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō and the Lotus Sūtra

Generally speaking, only these two, T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō, were practicers of the Lotus Sūtra in the 1,800 years after the death of the Buddha. Grand Master Dengyō, therefore, cites in his Outstanding Principles of the Lotus Sūtra the words of the Lotus Sūtra, chapter 11 on the “Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures,” which states that lifting up Mt. Sumeru and throwing it to numerous Buddha lands is not as difficult as spreading the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration after the death of the Buddha. Interpreting this, he then declares: “Śākyamuni Buddha said that it is easy to uphold the sūtras, which are shallow in meaning, but it is difficult to uphold those sūtras profound in meaning. Therefore, it is natural for men of valor to believe in the Lotus Sūtra, which is profound in meaning, just as Grand Master T’ien-t’ai following the wishes of Śākyamuni spread the Lotus School in China in the past; and today we on Mt. Hiei, following the teaching of T’ien-t’ai, are propagating the Lotus School in Japan.”

The meaning of this interpretation is that suppose there was a short man, five feet tall, living in between the ninth small kalpa within the Kalpa of Continuance when the human life span was 100 years and decreasing, and the last fifty years of Śākyamuni Buddha’s life and 1,800 years after His death. Even if such a man can throw a gold mountain, 168,000 yojana or 6,620,000 ri in height, over the Surrounding Iron Mountains as though it were a one or two inch piece of tile thrown a few hundred yards at a speed faster than a sparrow, it would be more difficult to expound the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration the way the Buddha did during His lifetime. Only Grand Masters T’ien t’ai and Dengyō spread it in a way similar to that of the Buddha.

Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 215-216

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – April 13, 2020

In this profound sūtra
The teachings for the Śrāvakas are criticized.
Those who hear
That this sūtra is the king of all the sūtras,
And think over this sūtra clearly after hearing it,
Know this, will approach the wisdom of the Buddha.

The Buddha sings these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. He has already declared that the sūtra he is teaching is the closest to his own wisdom, that it is different from anything he has taught before, and that it is the teaching for Bodhisattvas. The expedient teachings he gave to Śrāvakas before this sūtra were limited because they did not show the way to enlightenment for all beings. As we keep this sūtra in our minds, and learn to recognize it in our daily lives, we not only approach our own enlightenment, we lead all beings to enjoy the Buddha’s wisdom.

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

LS32

Day 25

Day 25 covers all of Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, and opens Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.

Day 25 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, we return to Chapter 20 and meet Powerful-Voice-King Buddha.

Thereupon the Buddha said to Great-Power-Obtainer Bodhisattva-mahāsattva:
“Know this! Anyone who speaks ill of or abuses or slanders the bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās or upāsikās who keep the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will incur the retributions previously stated. Anyone [who keeps this sūtra] will be able to have his eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind purified, that is to say, to obtain the merits as stated in the previous chapter.

“Great-Power-Obtainer! Innumerable, limitless, inconceivable, asaṃkhya kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Powerful-Voice-King, 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. The kalpa in which he lived was called Free-From-Decay; and his world, Great-Achievement. Powerful-Voice-King Buddha expounded the Dharma to the gods, men and asuras of his world. To those who were seeking Śrāvakahood, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the four truths, saved them from birth, old age, disease and death, and caused them to attain Nirvana. To those who were seeking Pratyekabuddhahood, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the twelve causes. To the Bodhisattvas who were seeking Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the six paramitas, and caused them to obtain the wisdom of the Buddha.

“Great-Power-Obtainer! The duration of the life of Powerful-Voice-King Buddha was forty billion nayuta kalpas, that is, as many kalpas as there are sands in the River Ganges. His right teachings were preserved for as many kalpas as the particles of dust of the Jambudvipa. The counterfeit of his right teachings was preserved for as many kalpas as the particles of dust of the four continents. The Buddha benefited all living being and then passed away. After [the two ages:] the age of his right teaching and the age of their counterfeit, there appeared in that world another Buddha also called Powerful-Voice-King, 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. After him, the Buddhas of the same name appeared one after another, two billion altogether.

The Introduction to the Lotus Sutra offers this on ages of the Buddha’s teachings:

The terms, “Age of Right Teachings” and “Age of Counterfeit Teachings,” express the Buddhist view of history. It is believed that for a while after a Buddha has entered Nirvana, people will remember his teachings correctly, put them into practice, and attain enlightenment. However, as time passes, those teachings will become mere academic formalities. People will know about them and be able to discuss them, but they will no longer practice them diligently and attain enlightenment. This second period is called the Age of Counterfeit Teachings. Finally, the teachings will decay altogether. People will neither practice them, understand them, nor attain enlightenment. This is the Age of Degeneration, when Buddhism declines and finally fades away. It is believed by most scholars that the first and second periods last for a thousand years each. The Age of Degeneration can drag on for as long as 10,000 years. In any case, Never-Despising Bodhisattva lived during the second of these three periods, an Age of Counterfeit Teachings.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Eyes, d16b, WONS

Nichiren and the Precepts

It is clear that Nichiren was no longer advocating even the Mahāyāna precepts of the Brahmā’s Net Sūtra. He believed that the practice of revering the true spirit of the Lotus Sūtra by invoking its title transcended any precept codes or particular Buddhist practices or lifestyles inherited from the past as those were all just provisional methods based on provisional teachings that were no longer efficacious. The following statements of his in other writings also express his view that faith in the Lotus Sūtra is what leads to buddhahood and not the observance of precepts:

Speaking of Ajātaśatru and Devadatta: “I am convinced that ordinary people in the Latter Age of Degeneration commit sins more or less. Whether or not such a man can reach Buddhahood depends not on how serious his sin is but whether or not he believes in the Lotus Sūtra. (Hori 2002, p. 188)

It is preached in the Lotus Sūtra, the “Appearance of the Stūpa of Treasures” chapter, ‘Upholding this sūtra is what is called observing the precepts.’ (Hori 2004, p. 214)

Open Your Eyes, p467-468