Monthly Archives: September 2020

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Sept. 8, 2020

The Buddhas seldom appear in the worlds.
It is difficult to meet them.
Even when they do appear in the worlds,
They seldom expound the Dharma.

The Buddha proclaims these verses in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. Later in the Sūtra he explains that in reality he became enlightened far in the past and will continue to lead all beings to enlightenment far into the future. The reason the Buddhas appear so rarely is not because they conceal themselves. It is because we do not recognize them for what they are. We cannot see the air we breathe, but it is crucial for our lives. Because of this we often take it for granted, unless we are so afflicted, or the air is so poisoned that we cannot breathe. Then we are aware of it. Likewise, the Buddha Dharma is available to us all the time.

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

LS32

Day 3

Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Day 3 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month learned the expediency of the teaching of the Three Vehicles, we consider the reaction of the Śrāvakas and the Arhats.

The great multitude at that time included Śrāvakas. [They also included] Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya, and other Arhats, twelve hundred altogether, who had already eliminated āsravas. [They also included] the bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, and upāsikās, [that is, the four kinds of devotees] who had already aspired for Śrāvakahood or Pratyekabuddhahood. All of them thought:

“Why does the World-Honored One extol so enthusiastically the power of the Buddhas to employ expedients? Why does he say that the Dharma attained by him is profound and difficult to understand, and that the true purpose of his teachings is too difficult for Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas to know? He expounded to us the teaching of emancipation. We obtained this teaching and reached Nirvāṇa. We do not know why he says all this.”

Thereupon Śāriputra, seeing the doubts of the four kinds of devotees, and also because he, himself, did not understand [why the Buddha had said this], said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! Why do you extol so enthusiastically [what you call] the highest [Truth, and the power of the Buddhas to employ) expedients? [Why do you extol) the Dharma which [you say] is profound, wonderful, and difficult to understand? I have never heard you say all this before. The four kinds of devotees also have the same doubts. World-Honored One! Explain all this! Why do you extol so enthusiastically the Dharma which [you say] is profound, wonderful, and difficult to understand?”

Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1 offers this on the followers’ puzzlement:

Previous to teaching the Lotus Sutra the Buddha taught expedients to lead people to the ultimate teaching of the Lotus Sutra. In many ways it was as if he were leading the blind to the train station so they could then find the way to the true complete teachings contained in the Lotus Sutra. But we need to remember that the train station is not the destination, the expedients are not the sum of the Buddha’s teachings.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1

d3b, Vasubandhu

Two Kinds of Profundity

[The Tathāgata says] “The wisdom of all the buddhas is profound and vast,” causing those in the great assembly to feel respect and openly want to hear what the Tathāgata teaches. It should be known that two kinds of profundity are included in the meaning of the word “profound.” What are these two? 1) The profundity of realization that is expressed as “the wisdom of all the buddhas is profound and vast” and 2) the profundity of the scripture that is expressed as “the gateway to their wisdom is profound and vast.” “Profundity” is the generic characteristic for the former and the individual characteristic for the latter.

The profundity of realization has five types: l) the profundity of the meaning means the profundity that is based on a certain meaning, 2) the profundity of the essence of true reality, 3) the profundity of inner realization, 4) the profundity of the basis, and 5) the profundity of the unsurpassable. What is “profound” is great enlightenment. “Great enlightenment” means the highest, complete enlightenment realized by the tathāgatas. Why is it profound? It is profound because “none of the disciples or self-enlightened buddhas are capable of knowing it.” “Wisdom” means all-encompassing omniscience. Just as it says in the Lotus Sutra:

The wisdom of all the buddhas is profound and vast. The gateway to their wisdom is difficult to ascertain, difficult to apprehend, difficult to know, difficult to understand, and difficult to enter. None of the disciples or self-enlightened buddhas are capable of knowing it.

Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p 119-120
WONS

The Lord Who Preaches Here Is the Eternal Buddha

[F]ourteen chapters in the essential section can be regarded as one sūtra with three parts: the preface, the main discourse, and the epilogue. The first half of the fifteenth chapter, “Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground,” is the prologue. The second half of the fifteenth chapter, the sixteenth chapter, “The Life Span of the Buddha,” and the first half of the following chapter, the “Variety of Merits,” (a chapter and two-halves in all) make up the main discourse. The remainder constitutes the epilogue.

The Lord who preaches here is the Eternal Buddha, not Śākyamuni Buddha who attained Buddhahood for the first time in this world under the bodhi tree in Buddhagayā. Accordingly, what is preached here differs from what was preached previously as clearly as heaven and earth. That is to say, it is revealed here that all living beings in the ten realms as well as the world in which they live manifest themselves to be eternal. It comes close to revealing the truth of the “3,000 existences contained in one thought,” with only an extremely thin bamboo film separating them.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 151-152

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Sept. 7, 2020

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.

The Buddha declares these verses in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra after telling the parable of the Magic City. The parable is his explanation of why expedient teachings are necessary, and why we must eventually set them aside to attain the enlightenment that is our true nature.

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

LS32

Day 2

Chapter 1, Introductory (Conclusion).

Day 2 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the reaction of the four kinds of devotees of the world of Sun-Moon-Light Buddha, we conclude Chapter 1, Introductory.

Wonderful-Light, the Teacher of the Dharma,
Kept the store of the Dharma of the Buddha, and expounded
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
For eighty small kalpas.

Led by Wonderful-Light, those eight princes resolved
To attain unsurpassed enlightenment.
[Wonderful-Light said to them:]
“You will be able to see countless Buddhas.”

Having made offerings to [countless] Buddhas,
Those princes followed them, practiced the Great Way,
And became Buddhas in succession.
Each of them assured another of his future Buddhahood.

The last God of Gods
Was called Burning-Light Buddha.
As the leader of seers,
He saved innumerable living beings.

There was a lazy man
Among the disciples
Of Wonderful-Light, the Teacher of the Dharma.
[The lazy man] was attached to fame and gain.

Always seeking fame and gain,
He often visited noble families.
He did not understand what he had recited,
Gave it up, and forgot it.
Because of this,
He was called Fame-Seeking.

But he [later] did many good karmas,
And became able to see innumerable Buddhas.
He made offerings to them,
Followed them, practiced the Great Way,
And performed the six paramitas.
Now he sees the Lion-Like One of the Sakyas.

He will become a Buddha
In his future life.
He will be called Maitreya.
He will save innumerable living beings.

The lazy man who lived after the extinction
Of [Sun-Moon-] Light Buddha was
No one but you.
Wonderful-Light, the Teacher of the Dharma, was I.

The ray of light of [Sun-Moon-] Light Buddha,
That is, the good omen, was the same as what I see now.
Judging from this, the present Buddha also will expound
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

The good omen I see now is like that of old.
This is an expedient employed by the Buddhas.
The present Buddha is also emitting a ray of light
In order to reveal the truth of the reality [of all things].

[Mañjuśrī said to the multitude:]

All of you, know this, join your hands together,
And wait with one mind!
The Buddha will send the rain of the Dharma
And satisfy those who seek enlightenment.

The Buddha will remove
Any doubt of those who seek
The teaching of the Three Vehicles.
No question will be left unresolved.

See Warning: Life Changing Events Ahead

LS32, d2b, stories

Warning: Life Changing Events Ahead

The chapter ends in this way:

The time has come for people to understand.
With your palms together, wait single-mindedly!
The Buddha will pour the rain of the Dharma
To satisfy those who seek the Way.

If those who seek after the three vehicles
Have any doubts or regrets,
The Buddha will remove them
So that none whatever remain. (LS 74)

In effect, the first chapter is a warning – a warning that you are entering an imaginative territory, a world that can change your life, and that such a change in you can be significant for the entire cosmos. The world of the imagination can be a frightening and even dangerous place, precisely because it invites us into a world that is new and unfamiliar and therefore difficult to understand.

It may place demands on us by assuring us that we can be and do much more than we ever believed possible – yet if we respond to it in joy, our entry into this transformative world can be very rewarding.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p 37-38
Blog

Zoom, Zoom and Away!

When I got up at 7 am and discovered my Internet had been out for more than four hours, I didn’t have high expectations for my day. Still I soldiered on. I got dressed and did my morning service, reciting the second day’s portion of the Lotus Sutra in shindoku and chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō for 20 minutes.

Checked the Internet. Nothing. You never know what chanting might bring. (Winking smiley face goes here.)

I called my Internet service provider and waited on hold. And waited on hold. And waited on hold. Finally got to talk with a tech support guy only to be disconnected before he could complete troubleshooting my problem.

I called my Internet service provider and waited on hold. And waited on hold. And waited on hold. And waited on hold. And waited on hold. OK. It is Sunday. Can’t expect a full staff.

Finally reached a woman who quickly diagnosed my problem: the backup battery for my fiber-optic connection to my service provider appears to be dead. No battery; no connection. And, again, it is Sunday and the tech support woman said I’d receive a call to schedule a service call to replace the battery. Just not today.

I ended the call and shrugged my shoulders. (Really working hard on the paramita of patience.) And then I looked at the phone and thought: Can I get my weak local cellphone connection to replace my fiber-optic connection?

To be frank, I was surprised at how well it worked.

At 10:30 am I joined Rev. Shoda Douglas Kanai at the Nichiren Buddhist Kannon Temple of Nevada for his monthly kaji kito service.
Rev. Kanai explained some of the unique character of the Gohonzon he received after completing his second 100-day aragyo ascetic practice. In addition to the kaji kito ceremony, Rev. Kanai also eye-opened a pair of gohonzons for his church members.
At 12:30pm I joined the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area and Rev. Ryuei McCormick for their Sunday service and dharma talk
Shami Mark Ryugan Herrick led the Dharma talk, which today focused on the first chapter of the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings.
Here’s an example PowerPoint slide from Ryugan’s talk. As I’ve said before, attending these talks at the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area  is a lot like drinking from a firehose.

Dharma talk video

Having completed my Zoom day I was able to share my phone’s cellular WiFi connection and complete this blog post. All together, not a bad day.

d3b, Vasubandhu

Why Did the Tathāgata Address Only Śāriputra?

Why did he address only Venerable Śāriputra and none of the other disciples? It is because [Śāriputra’s] deep wisdom was in accordance with the Tathāgata.

There are five explanations of why [the Tathāgata] did not address the bodhisattvas: 1) [he wanted] to make the disciples do what had to be done; 2) [he wanted] to make the disciples change their minds and strive for great enlightenment; 3) [he wanted] to protect the disciples from fears and trepidation; 4) he wanted to make the others [gathered there have] good intentions; and 5) he wanted all the disciples not to give rise to the thought of having completed their task.

Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p 119
WONS

What Use Is It To Possess an Intelligence that Lacks Sophistication?

What use is it to possess an intelligence that lacks sophistication? If only you are intelligent enough to distinguish heat from cold, you will understand the importance of the “good friend.”

This being said, it is most difficult to encounter the “good friend.” Indeed, the Buddha likened the difficulty to a one-eyed turtle in the ocean finding a piece of floating sandalwood with the right-sized hole so it can get into the hole, or a string lowered from the Brahma Heaven to be threaded through the eye of a needle on the earth.

Moreover, in the evil world in the Latter Age of Degeneration, the “good friend” is as scarce as the amount of soil on a fingernail while “evil friends,” who lead the people to evil realms, are as numerous as the number of dust particles of the great earth.

San Sanzō Kiu no Koto, Concerning the Prayer Services for Rain by Three Tripiṭaka Masters, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 204.