The highest Dharma that I attained
Is profound and difficult to understand.
Now I will expound it.
Listen to me with all your hearts!
The Buddha sings these verses to those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. He has already said that we must leave behind the expedient teachings tailored to our minds and take on the highest teaching which is the Buddha’s own mind. He knows how difficult this is for us, that we cannot hear it through our understanding alone, so he asks us to use our whole being to hear him.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Having last month considered how the Buddha is like the rain cloud, we consider how the Buddha preaches the Dharma untiringly and without partiality.
All gods and men!
Listen to me with one mind!
Come here and see me,
Who am the Most Honorable One!
I am the World-Honored One.
I am not surpassed by anyone.
I have appeared in this world
To give peace to all living beings.
I will expound the Dharma as pure as nectar
To you all in this great multitude.
My teachings are of the same taste.
They are for emancipation, that is, for Nirvana.
I will expound these teachings [of mine]
With a wonderful voice.
My purpose is
To reveal the Great Vehicle.
I see all living beings equally.
I have no partiality for them.
There is not ‘this one’ or ‘that one’ to me.
I transcend love and hatred.
I am attached to nothing.
I am hindered by nothing.
I always expound the Dharma
To all living beings equally.
I expound the Dharma to many
In the same way as to one.
I always expound the Dharma.
I do nothing else.
I am not tired of expounding the Dharma
While I go or come or sit or stand.
I expound the Dharma to all living beings
Just as the rain waters all the earth.
I am not tired of giving
The rain of the Dharma to all living beings.
I have no partiality for them,
Whether they are noble or mean,
Whether they observe or violate the precepts,
Whether they live a monastic life or not,
Whether they have right or wrong views,
Whether they are clever or dull .
Those who hear the Dharma from me
Will reach various stages
[Of enlightenment]
According to their capacities.
The Dharma Flower Sutra calls upon us, not only to transform individuals, but also “to purify buddha-lands.” From the point of view of the Sutra, of course, this earth is the buddha land of Shakyamuni Buddha. This world, and especially this world, is Shakyamuni Buddha’s world. But the Buddha is not some sort of all-powerful God ruling the universe. The Buddha is embodied, made real, in the Buddha-deeds of ordinary living beings. The Buddha invites us to be partners with him in transforming this world into a pure buddha land, where there is a kind of harmony of beauty enabling living beings to flourish together in many different healthy ways, all equally depending on the Dharma and on one another.
[Chapter 5] of the Lotus Sutra encourages us to think of the large picture and to be grateful that we are nourished by the Dharma raining on us. But it is also important to recognize that the Dharma can be rained down by us. In Zen and Western Thought the famous Zen scholar Masao Abe wrote that “the greatest debt without doubt is to my three teachers. … Without the Dharma rain they poured upon me, a rain which nourished me for many years, even this humble bunch of flowers could not have been gathered.”
In other words, to follow the Buddha Way, the Dharma, is to be nourished by the Dharma, but it is also to nourish others – many kinds of others. In still other words, to follow the Buddha Way of transforming living beings and purifying buddha lands is to become a buddha oneself, at least in small but very important ways.
Buddhism is not an easy, passive religion. It really isn’t possible to simply say you are a Buddhist and then do nothing. There is no nominal Buddhism. Those kinds of delusions only lead to more suffering since the cause for suffering is not being eliminated. Buddhism is an ever deepening and ever-expanding journey into the depths of our lives. But it isn’t simply a self-help philosophy; it is a journey into the depths of self for the benefit of other beings. There really isn’t a simple way around it, there is no shortcut.
Yesterday I completed the third week of the Enkyoji Buddhist Network’s online classes. This week dealt with Shodaigyo, the Nichiren Shu alternative to the traditional sutra chanting service. Shodaigyo eschews shindoku and instead combines seated meditation and chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. The simplicity of this format makes it an excellent vehicle for introducing the Daimoku to people unfamiliar with Buddhism.
The practice was established by Japanese Nichiren Shu Bishop Nichijun Yukawa in 1947. The fundamentals of Shodaigyo practice are detailed in Journey of the Path to Righteousness, an English translation by Rev. Shogen Kumakura, head priest of New York Daiseion-ji, of the most critical section of Rev. Tairyu Gondo’s manual on the liturgy of the Shodai-gyo, Chapter One: The Heart of Shodaigyo – The Manners and Practice.
Download Enkyoji Shodaigyo practice guideThis book offers minutely detailed instructions on the proper way to practice shodaigyo. As the book explains: “In following the above procedures, the effects of Shodaigyo Ceremony practice are improved.”
The reason for the development of this form of practice is detailed in the brief Introduction:
It is not easy for the practitioner to maintain a seriousness of heart for the most assiduous practice of chanting the Odaimoku. This being so, a variety of earlier methodologies for the practitioner have been taken into consideration for quite some time. The current form of Shodaigyo was developed from a foundation of those earlier methodologies. Today, this evolved form of Shodaigyo is practiced in Nichiren temples throughout the country of Japan and now around the world. Archbishop Nichijun Yukawa, my Sensei (mentor) and the founder of Gudo Dougan-Kai (The Association of the Same Wish for Those Seeking the Way), was the developer of this modern form of Shodaigyo. He propagated this current Shodaigyo form throughout Japan until he was until he was 93 years old.
“Shodaigyo is to chant the Odaimoku intently, staring deeply into the heart of the Self, in identification of the purified mind.”
The pamphlet developed by the Enkyoji Network is available here.
Shodaigyo is sometimes combined with Reidan Daimoku Hand Gestures. You can read about those here.
For the next 25 days I’m going to postpone my quotes from Vasubandhu’s Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, and instead post quotes from Journey of the Path to Righteousness.
Toward the end of the Age of the Semblance Dharma, Bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara (Kannon) and the Medicine King (Yakuō) appeared in this world as Nan-yüeh and T’ien-t’ai respectively, and they thoroughly explained the doctrines of “1,000 aspects contained in 100 realms” and “3,000 existences contained in one thought,” stressing the theoretical section as the central theme and the essential section as its supporting idea. They, however, merely reasoned in the abstract that 3,000 modes of existence are contained in the minds of the unenlightened; they did not practice and have others practice the actual way of realizing it—reciting and upholding the five characters of myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō, and revering the Most Venerable One as revealed in the essential section of the Lotus Sūtra (hommon no honzon). A few people with the capacity to comprehend the True Dharma did exist, but after all, the time was not ripe for the perfect teaching.
Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 161
The Buddhas expound the Dharma
In perfect freedom.
Knowing the various desires and dispositions
Of all living beings,
They expound the Dharma
With innumerable parables
And with innumerable similes
According to their capacities.
These verses are sung by Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. They show the realization by the Buddha’s disciples of why the Buddha uses different teachings for different people. For us who do not know the various desires and dispositions of all living beings, the Buddha gives this Lotus Sūtra, When we put this teaching into practice, and use it to benefit all beings, it is as if we are teaching from the Buddha’s own mind.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Having last month considered the son taking control of the storehouses but still living in a hovel, we consider how the Buddha is like the rich man.
“After a while the father noticed that his son had become more at ease and peaceful, that he wanted to improve himself, and that he felt ashamed of the thought that he was base and mean. The time of the death of the father drew near. The father told his son to call in his relatives, the king, ministers, kṣatriyas, and householders. When they all assembled, he said to them, ‘Gentlemen, know this! This is my son, my real son. He ran away from me when I lived in a certain city, and wandered with hardships for more than fifty years. His name is so-and-so; mine, so-and-so. When I was in that city, I anxiously looked for him. I happened to find him [years ago]. This is my son. I am his father. All my treasures are his. He knows what has been taken in and what has been paid out.’
“World-Honored One! At that time the poor son was very glad to hear these words of his father. He had the greatest joy that he had ever had. He thought, ‘I never dreamed of having this store of treasures myself. It has come to me unexpectedly.’
“World-Honored One! The great rich man is you. We are like [his son, that is,] your sons because you always tell us that we are your sons. World-Honored One! We once had many troubles in the world of birth and death because of the three kinds of sufferings.’ We were so distracted and so ignorant that we clung to the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle. At that time you caused us to think over all things and to clear away the dirt of fruitless discussions about them. We made strenuous efforts according to the teachings [of the Lesser Vehicle] and attained Nirvāṇa as a day’s pay. Having attained it, we had great joy, and felt satisfied [with the attainment of it]. We said, ‘We have obtained much because we made efforts according to the teachings of the Buddha.’ But when you saw that we clung to mean desires and wished to hear only the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle, you left us alone. You did not tell us that we had the treasure-store, that is, the insight of the Tathāgata. You expounded the wisdom of the Buddha[, that is, the Great Vehicle] with expedients, but we did not aspire for that vehicle because, when we had obtained the day’s pay of Nirvāṇa from the Buddha, we thought that we had already obtained enough. We did not wish to have what you had showed and expounded to the Bodhisattvas by your wisdom. You expounded the Dharma to us with expedients according to our capacities because you knew that we wished to hear the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle. We did not know that we were your sons. Now we know that you do not grudge your wisdom to anyone. Although we were your sons then as we are now, we wished to hear only the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle. If we had aspired for the teaching of the Great Vehicle, you would have already expounded it to us. Now you expound only the One Vehicle in this sūtra. You once reproached us Śrāvakas in the presence of the Bodhisattvas because we wished to hear the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle. [At that time we thought that you had taught us only the Lesser Vehicle,] but now we know that you have been teaching us the Great Vehicle from the outset. Therefore, we say that the great treasures of the King of the Dharma have come to us although we did not seek them, and that we have already obtained all that the sons of the Buddha should obtain.”
At the end of this story, the son is happy, as he has acquired great wealth, much greater wealth than he had ever imagined having. But, while it is the end of the story, we must not imagine that it is the end of the matter. We can even say that his difficulties – that is, his responsibilities – have now really only just begun. Awakening is a process – a responsibility as much as an achievement or a gift.
As the shravakas say right after the telling of this parable, we should never become complacent and satisfied with some lesser level of awakening, such as some great experience of nirvana, but always pursue the Buddha way.
Perhaps above all, this chapter is an exhortation never to be complacent with what one has achieved, an invitation to continue to grow in wisdom, compassion, and service.
That is the bodhisattva way, the bodhisattva way of becoming a buddha.
In order to portray his insight, Nichiren Shonin inscribed the Ceremony in the Air as a mandala in Chinese calligraphy. This mandala is not some icon or external power that we ask to intercede for us. Instead, the Great Mandala concretely manifests the Focus of Devotion enabling us to more easily identify with the Eternal Buddha and realize our own Buddhahood. Of course, Nichiren Shonin was not against using statues or portraits to represent the Focus of Devotion. In most Nichiren Shu temples, the Focus of Devotion is represented by statues of Shakyamuni Buddha and Many Treasures Tathagata flanking a stupa with Namu Myoho Renge Kyo inscribed upon it. Other representations of the Focus of Devotion might feature a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha and the four great bodhisattvas who were the leaders of the bodhisattvas who emerge from beneath the earth, a simple statue of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha, a simple inscription of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, or even an elaborate display of statues representing all the beings portrayed on the calligraphic mandala. The calligraphic mandala, however, is the most popular form of the Focus of Devotion for enshrinement in one’s home. No matter what form it takes, the point of the physical object or objects used to portray the Focus of Devotion is to help us become aware of, and participate fully in, the reality of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha at the Ceremony in the Air.
