The Buddha says that his lifespan is limitless. It is immeasurable. It is without beginning. And it is without end. It is beyond time. Also the Buddha says that he – and here we are not referring specifically to Shakyamuni but instead referring to the concept of Buddha – has given various names to himself. The Buddha is actually a manifold Buddha, that is the Buddha is many Buddhas. He is all Buddhas. He is Buddha beyond Shakyamuni Buddha. As we saw when the Buddha called his emanations back, all the Buddhas throughout time and space are all reflections or manifestations of a single Buddha. The Buddha appears to different people in different ways, but in all cases the intent, the fundamental purpose, of those Buddhas is to lead all beings to the concept of Eternal Buddha as revealed in Chapter XVI of this Saha World’s Lotus Sutra.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraMonthly Archives: August 2020
Awakening to the Impermanence of Human Life
It is preached in the Nirvana Sūtra, “The life of a human being is not at a standstill. It changes more rapidly than a swift stream in the mountain. Though we exist today, we do not know whether or not we will exist tomorrow.” The Māyā Sūtra, states, “Human life is like a caṇḍāla who drives a flock of sheep to the slaughterhouse. Likewise, human life approaches death step by step.” Finally, the Lotus Sūtra preaches, “The triple world is unsafe, like a burning house. It is full of suffering and is dreadful indeed.” These are scriptural statements made by our compassionate father, the Greatly Awakened and World Honored One, in order to teach ordinary people in the Latter Age of Degeneration about the impermanence of human life and to awaken us, his naive children.
However, we unenlightened ones are not awakened and do not aspire for enlightenment even for a moment. Instead we spend time needlessly trying to find nicer clothing to adorn our bodies, which will be naked within a night after being discarded in the field when we die. Or, we try to save a fortune to support our bodies, which will disappear completely in a few days after death when it becomes water and drains away, dust mixed with the soil, or smoke rising to the sky. These imprudent activities of the human world remain the same throughout the ages.
Matsuno-dono Gohenji, Response to Lord Matsuno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 68-69
Daily Dharma – Aug. 14, 2020
Make offerings to World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva with all your hearts! This World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva-mahāsattva gives fearlessness [to those who are] in fearful emergencies. Therefore, he is called the ‘Giver of Fearlessness’ in this Sahā-World.
The Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon, Kanzeon, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. World-Voice-Perceiver is the embodiment of compassion. When we make offerings to compassion, we show how much we value it. In this world of conflict, we are taught to value aggression and violence rather than compassion. Those who do not dominate others are judged as targets for domination. If we clear away the delusion of our self-importance, and see other beings as worthy of happiness just as we are, we find ways for everyone to benefit together.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
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.
Having last month considered what became of the sixteen śramaṇeras, we consider the relationship between the 16 śramaṇeras and the living beings who life after life followed them.
“Bhikṣus! When we were śramaṇeras, we each taught many hundreds of thousands of billions of living beings, that is, as many living beings as there are sands in the River Ganges. Those living beings who followed me, heard the Dharma from me in order to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Some of them are still in Śrāvakahood. I now teach them the Way to Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. They will be able to enter the Way to Buddhahood by my teaching, but not immediately because the wisdom of the Tathāgata is difficult to believe and difficult to understand. Those living beings as many as there are sands in the River Ganges, whom I taught [ when I was a śramaṇera], included you bhikṣus and those who will be reborn as my disciples in Śrāvakahood after my extinction. My disciples who do not hear this sūtra or know the practices of Bodhisattvas, after my extinction will make a conception of extinction by the merits they will have accumulated by themselves, and enter into Nirvāṇa as they conceive it. At that time I shall be a Buddha of another name in another world. Those who will enter into Nirvāṇa as they conceive it will be able [to be reborn] in the world I shall live in, seek the wisdom of the Buddha, and hear this sūtra. They will be able to attain [true] extinction only by the Vehicle of the Buddha in that world because there is no other vehicle except when the Tathāgatas expound the Dharma with expedients.
“Bhikṣus! I will collect Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas and expound this sūtra to them when I realize that the time of my Nirvāṇa is drawing near, that the living beings have become pure in heart, that they can understand the truth of the Void by firm faith, and that they have already entered deep into dhyāna-concentration. No one in the world can attain [true] extinction by the two vehicles. [True] extinction can be attained only by the One Buddha-Vehicle.
“Bhikṣus, know this! I can enter skillfully deep into the natures of all living beings. Because I saw that they wished to hear the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle and that they were deeply attached to the five desires, I expounded the teaching of Nirvāṇa to them. When they heard that teaching, they received it by faith.
Our Collective Effort Toward the Common Good
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p89As a bodhisattva, Excellent in Great Penetrating Wisdom was helped toward becoming a buddha by gods and kings of the Brahma heavens. We can understand that without the help of the gods and kings of heaven, the prince would not have become a buddha at all. This can be understood to mean that Buddhist practice is not primarily a solitary matter, but something done in and for a larger community with the help of others. The sixteen princes praised and honored their father because he was doing the common good, something from which everyone would benefit.
Fields in Consciousness
Dhammapada, p88-89We have to be very careful of misunderstanding here, for the Buddha is not saying that the physical world is a figment of imagination. That would imply a “real” world to compare with, and this is the real world. We are not “making it up,” but neither are we misperceiving a reality “out there” where things are solid and individuals are separate. What the Buddha is telling us is precisely parallel to what the quantum physicists say: When we examine the universe closely, it dissolves into discontinuity and a flux of fields of energy. But in the Buddha’s universe the mind-matter duality is gone; these are fields in consciousness.
When Einstein talked about clocks slowing down in a powerful gravitational field, or when Heisenberg said we can determine either the momentum or the position of an electron but not both, most physicists felt a natural tendency to treat these as apparent aberrations, like the illusion that a stick bends when placed in a glass of water. It took decades for physicists to accept that there is no “real” universe, like the real stick, to refer to without an observer. Clocks really do slow down and electrons really are indeterminable; that is the way the universe actually is. Similarly, the Buddha would say, this universe we talk of is made of mind. There is no “real” world-in-itself apart from our perceiving it. This doesn’t make physical reality any less physical; it only reminds us that what we see in the world is shaped by the structure of consciousness.
The Jeweled Stupa Arising from the Earth
The jeweled stupa arising from the earth represents the emergence of the Buddha-nature in the daily lives of ordinary people. The transformation of this world into the Pure Land of Tranquil Light reveals that this very world is the real pure land where awakening is realized. The recall of the emanated buddhas from the pure lands reveals that these idealized buddhas are all personifications of the historical Shakyamuni Buddha’s own awakened qualities and inner life. The image of Many Treasures Tathagata and Shakyamuni Buddha symbolizes the unity of the true reality (Many Treasures Tathagata) and the wisdom of the person who awakens to it (Shakyamuni Buddha).
Lotus SeedsTwo Kinds of People Who Harm the Lotus Sūtra
There are two kinds of people who harm the Lotus Sūtra. The first kind are those in whom the seed of Buddhahood was planted in a past life. The seed germinated and grew in them while they aspired for enlightenment, and they are close to attaining Buddhahood in this existence. For those in this category, should they slander the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, their mouths would be shut and their heads split into pieces. The second kind of people are those who slandered the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra in previous lives as well as in the present life. Such people are being tormented in the Hell of Incessant Suffering life after life and their mouths are not sealed no matter how much they slander. For instance, a felon in prison waiting to be executed will not receive additional punishment till his execution, no matter how many evil acts he commits in prison. On the other hand, a prisoner who is scheduled to be released will be immediately punished should he commit an evil act in prison.
Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 62
Daily Dharma – Aug. 13, 2020
World-Honored One, do not worry! We will keep, read, recite and expound this sūtra after your extinction. The living beings in the evil world after [your extinction] will have less roots of good, more arrogance, more greed for offerings of worldly things, and more roots of evil. It will be difficult to teach them because they will go away from emancipation. But we will patiently read, recite, keep, expound and copy this sūtra, and make various offerings to it. We will not spare even our lives [in doing all this].
Medicine-King Bodhisattva, his attendants and other Bodhisattvas make this vow to the Buddha in Chapter Thirteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Once we awaken to our Bodhisattva nature and resolve to benefit all beings, we may still hold on to the belief that those beings should gratefully receive the teaching and and keep progressing towards enlightenment. We may even become discouraged in our practice of the Wonderful Dharma when these beings do not live up to our expectations. The vow of these great Bodhisattvas reminds us of how difficult is is for us ordinary beings to keep the Lotus Sūtra, and of the determination it takes to create benefit in the world.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 11
Day 11 continues Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City
Having last month considered the reaction of the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the south, we consider the reaction of the great Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the zenith and conclude today’s portion of Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City.“The great Brahman-[heavenly-]kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the southwest, west, northwest, north, northeast, and nadir also did the same. The great Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the zenith, 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 Brahmanheavenly-king called Sikhin among them. He said to the other Brahmans in gāthās:
Our palaces are adorned
More brightly than ever.
Why are they illumined
By this powerful light?We have never seen nor heard
Of such a wonderful thing as this before.
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 down, 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 Great-UniversalWisdom-Excellence Tathāgata was sitting on the lion-like seat under the Bodhi-tree of the place of enlightenment, surrounded respectfully by gods, dragon-kings, gandharvas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and non-human 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-kings 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:
How good it is to see a Buddha,
To see the Honorable Saint who saves the world!
He saves all living beings
From the prison of the triple world.The All-Knower, the Most Honorable One of Gods and Men,
Opens the gate of the teachings as sweet as nectar,
And saves all living beings
Out of his compassion towards them.There has been no Buddha
For the past innumerable kalpas.
Before you appeared,
The worlds of the ten quarters were dark.The living beings in the three evil regions
And asuras are increasing.
The living beings in heaven are decreasing.
Many fall into the evil regions after their death.They do not hear the Dharma from a Buddha
Because they did evils,
Their appearances are getting worse;
And their power and wisdom, decreasing.
Because they did sinful karmas,
They lose pleasures and the memory of pleasures.
They are attached to wrong views.
They do not know how to do good.
They are not taught by a Buddha;
Therefore, they fall into the evil regions.Now you have appeared for the first time after a long time,
And become the eyes of the world.
You have appeared in this world
Out of your compassion towards all living beings,
And finally attained perfect enlightenment.
We are very glad.
All the others also rejoice at seeing you,
Whom they have never seen before.Our palaces are beautifully adorned
With your light.
We offer them to you.
Receive them out of your compassion towards us!May the merits we have accumulated by this offering
Be distributed among all living beings,
And may we and all other living beings
Attain the enlightenment of the Buddha!