Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p 132-133[I]t says in the Lotus Sutra, “O Śāriputra! All the buddhas, the Blessed Ones, appear in the world for just one great purpose and reason.” The four meanings of “one great purpose” should be well understood. What are these four?
- The meaning of that which is unsurpassed indicates [that the tathāgatas appear in the world to show that] there is nothing else [to achieve] but the omniscient knowledge solely of the tathāgatas. Just as it says in the Lotus Sutra, “[The tathāgatas] appear in the world because they want to reveal the insight of the buddhas in order to purify the knowledge of living beings.” “The insight of the buddhas” means the tathāgatas are able to realize the profound truth with their knowledge of true reality.
- The meaning of sameness indicates [that the tathāgatas appear in the world to manifest] the equality of the absolute body of the disciples, the self-enlightened buddhas, and the buddhas. Just as it says in the Lotus Sutra, “[The tathāgatas] appear in the world because they want to manifest the insight of the buddhas to living beings.” “Equality of the absolute body” means that the absolute body and the buddha-nature are undifferentiated.
- The meaning of what is not known indicates [that the tathāgatas appear in the world to manifest what is not known] to all the disciples, self-enlightened buddhas, and others who are not able to know the real basis [of the tathāgatas]. “Not able to know the real basis” means they do not understand that there is only the ultimate, unique buddha vehicle. Just as it says in the Lotus Sutra, “[The tathāgatas] appear in the world because they want to enlighten living beings about the insight of the buddhas.”
- The meaning of wanting to cause [living beings] to realize an irreversible stage indicates that [the tathāgatas appear in the world because they] want to give countless acts of knowledge. Just as it says in the Lotus Sutra, “[The tathāgatas] appear in the world because they want to make living beings enter the insight of the buddhas.”
Furthermore, “to make manifest” means that [the tathāgatas] want to cause all those bodhisattvas with doubts to know a practice in accordance with the truth. Also, “to make enlightened” means to cause those who have not yet produced the thought of enlightenment to produce it, and to cause those who have already produced it to enter the truth (Dharma). Moreover, “to cause to realize” means to cause those who are following heretical systems to produce realization. Also, “to cause to enter” means to cause living beings who have attained the fruits of the Small Vehicle of the disciples to enter enlightenment.
Monthly Archives: September 2020
Inviting Disasters as Painful as Swallowing Swords
I myself am a humble man but the Lotus Sūtra is protected by the King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, Sun Deity, Moon Deity, the Four Heavenly Kings, Goddess Amaterasu, and Great Bodhisattva Hachiman. Therefore, those who persecute the believers of the Lotus Sūtra invite disasters as painful as swallowing swords or seizing fire by bare hands. Contemplating these things, it is noble of you to further your faith. It is noble indeed.
Kubo-ama Gozen Gohenji, Response to My Lady, the Nun of Kubo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 89
Daily Dharma – Sept. 12, 2020
Needless to say, boundless will be the merits
Of the person who hears this sūtra with all his heart,
And expounds its meanings,
And acts according to its teachings.
The Buddha sings these verses to Maitreya (whom he calls Ajita – Invincible) in Chapter Eighteen of the Lotus Sutra. The merits we gain through our study and practice of the Lotus Sūtra do not make us better than any of the other beings with whom we share this world. Merits accumulate when we strip away our delusions and see the world for what it is. We sometimes focus on what we can do to change the world, thinking that merely changing how we look at the world will have little effect. It is only when we see things for what they are that we can act effectively. Otherwise we are merely reinforcing the delusions of ourselves and others.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 7
Day 7 concludes Chapter 3, A Parable, and begins Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.
Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith, we return to the top of today’s portion of Chapter 3, A Parable, and the Buddha’s declaration that this triple world is his property and all living beings his children.
This triple world
Is my property.
All living beings therein
Are my children.
There are many sufferings
In this world.
Only I can save
[All living beings].I told this to all living beings.
But they did not believe me
Because they were too much attached
To desires and defilements.Therefore, I expediently expounded to them
The teaching of the Three Vehicles,
And caused them to know
The sufferings of the triple world.
I opened, showed, and expounded
The Way out of the world.Those children who were resolute in mind
Were able to obtain
The six supernatural powers
Including the three major supernatural powers,
And to become cause-knowers
Or never-faltering Bodhisattvas.Śāriputra!
With this parable I expounded
The teaching of the One Buddha-Vehicle
To all living beings.
All of you will be able to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha
If you believe and receive
These words of mine.This vehicle is
The purest and most wonderful.
This is unsurpassed by any other vehicle
In all the worlds.
This vehicle is approved with joy by the Buddhas.
All living beings should extol it.
They should make offerings to it,
And bow to it.The powers, emancipations,
dhyāna-concentrations, wisdom,
And all the other merits [of the Buddhas],
Many hundreds of thousands of millions in number,
Are loaded in this vehicle.I will cause all my children
To ride in this vehicle
And to enjoy themselves
Day and night for kalpas.The Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas
Will be able to go immediately
To the place of enlightenment
If they ride in this jeweled vehicle.Therefore, even if you try to find another vehicle
Throughout the worlds of the ten quarters,
You will not be able to find any other one
Except those given by the Buddhas expediently.
The Enchanting Stories of the Lotus Sutra
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p19The chief way in which the Lotus Sutra enchants is by telling stories – parables and similes, accounts of previous lives, stories of mythical events, and so forth. Though there are various ways of counting, it contains well over two dozen different stories. In the Sutra, a great many traditional Buddhist doctrines are mentioned, such as the four noble truths, the eightfold path, the three marks of the Dharma, interdependent origination, the twelve-link chain of causation, the six perfections, and more. Even one of the Sutra’s most emphasized teachings, that of the one vehicle of many skillful means, is initially presented as an explanation of why there is such a variety of teachings within Buddhism. There are plenty of teachings or doctrines in it, but if we want to approach a fuller understanding of what the Dharma Flower Sutra teaches, we had better pay attention to its stories, and not merely to propositions within them or to sentences that explain them, but also to the overall thrust and function of the stories within this very unusual Sutra.
An Explanation of Four Things Regarding the Tathāgata
Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p 129-130Hereafter is shown an explanation of four things [regarding the Tathāgata]. It should be known that these [four] are: 1) [the Tathāgata’s] fixed resolve, 2) the reason for the prediction, 3) taking the prediction, and 4) giving the prediction.
The Tathāgata’s Determination
For what purpose is [the Tathāgata’s] “fixed resolve”? It eliminates the dread of those who have produced the feeling of dread. Thus it is used to benefit the two types of people. This is why the Tathāgata has “fixed resolve.” The five types of dread should be known:
- The “dread of loss” refers to those of the Small Vehicle who take what they have heard as the truth, criticizing [and denying the existence of] the Great Vehicle. They think, “The Tathāgata has said the fruit of arhatship is the ultimate nirvana. I have completely apprehended such a nirvana.” Thus, this is the dread that the arhats have not entered nirvana.
- The “dread of excessive toil” refers to those of the Great Vehicle who upon hearing about the extreme duration, which extends through numbers of world-ages, and the various difficult practices of the bodhisattva path, produce this thought: “The path of the buddhas is extremely long. For countless, immeasurable world-ages I will be carrying out the bodhisattva practice and undergoing great hardship for a long time.” Thinking of this, they feel dread. Therefore they produce the thought of taking up a different vehicle.
- The “dread of biased views” refers to [the fear of] consciousness that discriminates the various forms of “I” and “mine,” that the body and self are real, and that [wholesome] factors are unwholesome.
- The “dread of regret” refers to [those like] Venerable Śāriputra who gave rise to the thought “I should not have practiced or realized the way of the Small Vehicle.” Having recognized the compulsion for this regret, there is the feeling of dread.
The “dread of being deceived” refers to the arrogant disciples who think, “Why has the Tathāgata deceived us?” It is such a dread as this. Regarding the reason for the prediction, it says in the Lotus Sutra:
Stop, Śāriputra, I will speak no further. If I explain this, all those in the world—the living beings, the heavenly beings, and others—will become frightened.
The elucidation of his reason [for not giving an explanation] – that all beings will become frightened – has three purposes: 1) [the Tathāgata] wants to make those in the great assembly think about and seek his profound and subtle realm; 2) [the Tathāgata] wants to make those in the great assembly feel respectful and completely wish to hear what he will explain; 3) [the Tathāgata] wants to cause the arrogant disciples to depart from the religious gathering.
Why We Continue to Transmigrate the Six Lower Realms
The reason why we continue to transmigrate through the six lower realms without attaining Buddhahood from the eternal past of innumerable kalpa (aeons) till today is that we fail to give up our lives for the sake of the Lotus Sūtra. Gladly Seen Bodhisattva burned himself for 1,200 years as a votive light to the Sun Moon Pure Bright Virtue Buddha and burned his arms for 72,000 years to the Lotus Sūtra. He is Medicine King Bodhisattva today. Never Despising Bodhisattva was abused, disparaged, beaten with sticks and rubble was thrown at him for many kalpa (aeons) in order to disseminate the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra. Did he not become Śākyamuni Buddha in a future existence? Therefore, the way of practicing the sūtra leading to Buddhahood differs according to the times.
Ichinosawa Nyūdō Gosho, A Letter to Lay Priest Ichinosawa, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 162
Daily Dharma – Sept. 11, 2020
If his writings are against the teachings of the Buddha, no matter how hard one might believe them, one will never attain Buddhahood. No matter how much one prays for peace and tranquility for the country, only deplorable events will take place.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Prayers (Kitō-shō), commenting on the writings of a priest who did not hold the Lotus Sutra as the Buddha’s highest teaching. Because the Lotus Sutra assures the enlightenment of all beings who teach and practice the Wonderful Dharma, it is what brings peace and tranquility to the world.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 6
Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable
Having last month considered how the Budddha lured the children to safety, we consider how each cart relates to each Dharma vehicle.“Śāriputra! Those who have intelligence, who receive the Dharma by faith after hearing it from the Buddha, from the World Honored One, and who seek Nirvāṇa with strenuous efforts in order to get out of the triple world, are called Śrāvakas. They may be likened to the children who left the burning house in order to get the sheep-carts. Those who receive the Dharma by faith after hearing it from the Buddha, from the World-Honored One, who seek the self-originating wisdom with strenuous efforts, who wish to have good tranquility in seclusion, and who perfectly understand the causes of all things, are called Pratyekabuddhas. They may be likened to the children who left the burning house in order to get the deer-carts. Those who receive the Dharma by faith after hearing it from the Buddha, from the World-Honored One, who strenuously seek the knowledge of all things, the wisdom of the Buddha, the self-originating wisdom, the wisdom to be obtained without teachers, and the insight and powers and fearlessness of the Tathāgata, who give peace to innumerable living beings out of their compassion towards them, and who benefit gods and men, that is to say, who save all living beings, are called men of the Great Vehicle. Bodhisattvas are called Mahasattvas because they seek this vehicle. They may be likened to the children who left the burning house in order to get the bullock-carts.
Appropriate Means and Ends
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p53-54Even the very fancy carriage that the father gives to the children is, after all, only a carriage, a vehicle. All of our teachings and practices should be understood as devices, as possible ways of helping people. They should never be taken as final truths.
Appropriate means are means, not ends. In this sense they have only instrumental and provisional importance. While it is true that the notion of skillful means is sometimes used to describe something provisional, it is important to recognize that being instrumental and provisional does not mean that such methods are in any sense unimportant. At one point at least, the Dharma Flower Sutra even suggests that it is itself an appropriate means. The context is one in which the Sutra is praising itself and proclaiming its superiority over others (“those who do not hear or believe this sutra suffer a great loss”), but then has those who embrace the Sutra in a future age say:
When I attain the Buddha way,
I will teach this Dharma to them
By skillful means,
That they may dwell within it. (LS 273)