Monthly Archives: July 2020

WONS

Women Cannot Attain Buddhahood Without Lotus Sūtra

On Mt. Sacred Eagle, northeast of Rājagṛha in Magadha, India, Śākyamuni Buddha preached the Lotus Sūtra for eight years in front of the Buddha of Many Treasures and numerous Buddhas from all the worlds in the universe. Listening to Him directly, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai remembered Śākyamuni Buddha declaring that the Holy Teachings of the Buddha preached during His lifetime of 50 years were all for the benefit of the people; and that He has preached the impossibility of attaining Buddhahood by women in various sūtras preached in the first 42 years until He revealed in the Lotus Sūtra that women, too, would be able to become Buddhas. In a great country called China, located across mountains and seas, 108,000 Chinese li away to the northeast of Mt. Sacred Eagle, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai appeared as a messenger of the Buddha 1,500 years or so after the Buddha passed away, and declared conclusively that women cannot attain Buddhahood without the Lotus Sūtra.

Hokke Daimoku Shō, Treatise on the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 47

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – July 4, 2020

The Buddha said to the rākṣasīs: “Excellent, excellent! Your merits will be immeasurable even when you protect the person who keeps only the name of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.”

The Buddha declares these lines in Chapter Twenty-Six of the Lotus Sūtra. The rākṣasīs are violent, bloodthirsty demons whose nature is to satisfy their own cravings at the expense of beings weaker than themselves. In the Lotus Sūtra, they learn of their capacity to use their strength to protect others and vow to the Buddha to defend anyone who keeps this sūtra. They understand that when they dedicate their strength to caring for other beings rather than destroying them, they gain the merit which will bring them closer to enlightenment. We learn from this example about our own natures, and that of the beings we share this world with.

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

LS32

Day 5

Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Day 5 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month heard Śāriputra’s prediction in gāthās, we hear the reaction of the great multitude.

At that time the great multitude included bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās and upāsikās, that is, the four kinds of devotees; and gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras and mahoragas. When they saw that Śāriputra was assured of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi by the Buddha, they danced with great joy. They took off their garments and offered them to the Buddha. Śakra-Devanam-Indra, the Brahman Heavenly-King, and innumerable other gods also offered their wonderful heavenly garments and the heavenly flowers of mandāravas and mahā-mandāravas to the Buddha. The heavenly garments, which had been released from the hands of the gods, whirled in the sky. The gods simultaneously made many thousands of millions of kinds of music in the sky, and caused many heavenly flowers to rain down.

They said, “The Buddha turned the first wheel of the Dharma at Varanasi a long time ago. Now he turns the wheel of the unsurpassed and greatest Dharma.”

Thereupon the gods, wishing to repeat what they had said, sang in gāthās:

The Buddha turned the wheel of the teaching of the Four Truths
At Varanasi a long time ago.
He taught that all things are composed of the five aggregates
And that they are subject to rise and extinction.

Now he turns the wheel of the Dharma,
The most wonderful, unsurpassed, and greatest.
The Dharma is profound.
Few believe it.
So far we have heard
Many teachings of the World-Honored One.
But we have never heard
Such a profound, wonderful, and excellent teaching as this.
We are very glad to hear this
From the World-Honored One.

Śāriputra, a man of great wisdom,
Was assured of his future Buddhahood.
We also shall be able
To become Buddhas,
And to receive
The highest and unsurpassed honor in the world.

The Buddha expounds his enlightenment, difficult to understand,
With expedients according to the capacities of all living beings.
We obtained merits by the good karmas which we did
In this life of ours and in our previous existence.
We also obtained merits by seeing the Buddha.
May we attain the enlightenment of the Buddha by these merits!

See Shariputra Reborn

LS32, d5b, stories

Shariputra Reborn

Throughout the Dharma Flower Sutra two things are affirmed: 1) that the Sutra is continuous with what was taught and done in the early years of the Buddha’s ministry, and 2) that something new is happening. This is generally true of Mahayana sutras. They both affirm a continuity with older Buddhist traditions and claim that in Mahayana something new has emerged.

Thus, it is significant that Shariputra becomes further enlightened here, “re-born” as he puts it. This can be contrasted with some other Mahayana sutras, in which he is treated as merely stupid, meaning that Hinayana Buddhists are quite stupid and unworthy of the Dharma. In some cases, shravakas were even said to be icchanti – hopeless, incorrigible, utterly devoid of buddha-nature.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p64
Eyes

The Method of Subduing

Quote

The way of subduing is not about spreading the Dharma by way of the sword. Rather, it is about having the compassion and courage to correct those who are misrepresenting the Dharma, forthrightly giving public witness to the True Dharma, and if violent opposition is aroused to defend against it.

Open Your Eyes, p568
WONS

‘Revealing the Truth by the Absolute View’

“Revealing the truth by the absolute view” in the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra is completely different from the Perfect Teaching of the pre-Lotus sūtras. It is said in the tenth fascicle of the Commentary on the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra: “The Lotus Sūtra is completely different from other sūtras in expressing ‘Opening the provisional and revealing the truth’ and ‘Opening the Manifestation and revealing the Substance.’ In this sense the Lotus Sūtra is totally different from other sūtras.” The fourth fascicle on the Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra states that the Lotus Sūtra and other sūtras are the same if the wisdom of the Buddha is a characteristic of the Lotus Sūtra. The meaning of this commentary seems to be that only the Lotus Sūtra reveals the truth and merges all the provisional teachings though both the Lotus Sūtra and various pre-Lotus sūtras explain the wisdom of the Buddha. This is the excellent point of the absolute subtlety in the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra. It is clear that the various pre-Lotus sūtras are teachings by which nobody can attain Buddhahood. The reason is that the Perfect Teaching of the pre-Lotus sūtras does not contain the absolute subtlety by which people can attain Buddhahood in spite of the fact that three kinds of dharma (mind, the Buddha and people) should be respectively made “myō” (supreme teaching) by the two views of the absolute and relative subtleties.

Nijō Sabutsu Ji, Obtaining Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 234

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – July 3, 2020

Good men or women in the future who hear this Chapter of Devadatta of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma with faithful respect caused by their pure minds, and have no doubts [about this chapter], will not fall into hell or the region of hungry spirits or the region of animals. They will be reborn before the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters.

The Buddha makes this prediction in Chapter Twelve of the Lotus Sūtra. In this Chapter, he assures Devadatta, an evil man who creates great harm, that he too will eventually reach the enlightenment of the Buddha. This prediction is for the rest of us too. It shows that when we nourish our capacity for respect for all beings, no matter how much harm they create, then we uproot the causes of our own greed and fear, and we will always find ourselves in a realm where the Buddha teaches the Wonderful Dharma.

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

LS32

Day 4

Day 4 concludes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 4 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month concluded Chapter 2, Expedients, we begin at the top of today’s portion with the 5,000 arrogant bhikṣus and bhikṣunīs.

Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Some bhikṣus and bhikṣunīs
Were arrogant.
Some upāsakās were self-conceited.
Some upāsikās were unfaithful.
Those four kinds of devotees
Were five thousand in number.

They could not see their own faults.
They could not observe all the precepts.
They were reluctant to heal their own wounds.
Those people of little wisdom are gone.
They were the dregs of this congregation.
They were driven away by my powers and virtues.

They had too few merits and virtues
To receive the Dharma.
Now there are only sincere people here.
All twigs and leaves are gone.

See The Great Power in Tactful Means

b4today, LS32, d3b, d4b

The Great Power in Tactful Means

The World-honored One was silent and did not stop [the 5,000 who left]. This was because he thought that even if he forced them to remain, they could not understand his teaching and it would tend instead to produce an adverse result. He also considered that they would wish to seek a true teaching sometime in the future and would in time develop the capacity to understand it. His preaching to them at that time would be the quickest way to save them.

At first glance this attitude of the Buddha seems to indicate indifference to others, but his mind in its profundity was filled with the great wisdom and benevolence of the Buddha. This is clear from the incident recounted in chapter 8, “The Five Hundred Disciples Receive the Prediction of Their Destiny.” When he gave a great many arhats the prediction that they would become buddhas in accordance with their practice, he said to Kāśyapa, “The other band of śrāvakas will also be like them. To those who are not in this assembly, do you proclaim my words.” The Buddha’s words “those who are not in this assembly” refer to the five thousand monks who had risen from their seats and left the assembly earlier. The fact that he purposely did not stop them at that time demonstrates his great power in tactful means.

Buddhism for Today, p45
Eyes

Choosing the Method

Quote

The two methods of embracing and subduing are said by Nichiren to be as incompatible as fire and water. ”The way of embracing is as different from the way of subduing as water is from fire. Fire dislikes water. Water hates fire. Those who embrace laugh at those who subdue. Those who subdue feel sorry for those who embrace.” (Murano 2000, p. 122 adapted). Nichiren quotes Guanding (562-632) as saying of Buddhist monks that in regard to the two methods of propagation: ”When the world is not peaceful, they should carry staves. When the world is peaceful, they should observe the precepts. They should choose one or the other according to the needs of the time. They should not constantly cling to either of the two.” (Murano 2000, p. 122 adapted) A choice is set up between the two contrasting methods. But how different, really, are the ways of embracing and subduing? Guandin’s statement underscores the matter of the precepts – those who follow the way of embracing will follow the precepts including the precepts against killing and fighting, whereas those who follow the way of subduing are to set aside the precepts and take up arms to defend themselves. From examining the passages cited in the Nirvāṇa Sūtra and the Lotus Sūtra that are said to exemplify the ways of embracing and subduing it would appear that during a time when embracing is the correct method the laymen should follow the five precepts and the monastics should follow the monastic precepts and avoid violence of any kind. In addition, the monastics should stay away from people in power, refrain from criticizing others, practice meditation in seclusion, and only teach when approached by those respectfully seeking the Dharma. On the other hand, during a time when subduing is the correct method, the laypeople should set aside the five precepts (the first of which prohibits killing and violence) and take up arms to defend the True Dharma and the monastics who uphold it, while the true monastics are allowed to keep company with those who can defend them and, according to Guanding, even take up staves themselves. In addition, the true monastics should publicly roar the lion’s roar by actively preaching the Dharma, denouncing false teachings and corruption in the Sangha, and expound the universality of buddha-nature even to those who refuse to listen and may even react violently. The watery method of embracing is therefore the way of seclusion, meditation, and non-violence; whereas the fiery method of subduing is the way of publicly preaching the True Dharma to those who may be violently opposed to it and it allows for the taking up of arms for defense. These two ways would indeed seem to be contradictory.

The ways of embracing and subduing, however, are not entirely opposed. They both have the same aim: the expounding of the True Dharma. They are both based on the compassionate motivation to teach people that all beings are capable of realizing buddhahood. The exemplar of the way of subduing in

Open Your Eyes, p567-568