The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p25-26Creativity is a path to liberation, and imagination is a path to liberation. That is why the Dharma Flower Sutra invites us into a world of enchantment – to enable us to enter the path of liberation, a liberation that is always both for ourselves and for others. Notice, please, that this first chapter of the Lotus Sutra does not come to us as an order; it is an invitation to enter a new world and thereby take up a new life, but it is only an invitation.
But this invitation also carries a warning – enter this world and your life may be changed. It may be changed in ways you never expected. The Dharma Flower Sutra comes with a warning label. Instead of saying “Dangerous to your health,” it says, “Dangerous to your comfort.” The worst sin in the Lotus Sutra is complacency and the arrogance of thinking one has arrived and has no more to do. The Sutra challenges such comfort and comfortable ideas. Danger can be exciting. It can also be frightening. We do not know if we can make it. We do not know whether we even have the power to enter the path, the Buddha Way.
This is why, while the Dharma Flower Sutra begins with enchantment, it does not end there. It goes further to announce that each and every one of us has within us a great and marvelous power, later called “buddha-nature.” The term “buddha-nature” does not appear in the Lotus Sutra, probably because it had not yet been invented, but the idea that would later be called “buddha-nature” runs through these stories not as a mere thread, but as a central pillar – albeit a very flexible one.
Monthly Archives: October 2020
Accepting and Upholding the name of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara
Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p 148-149[I]t is said, “He who accepts and upholds the name of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, and he who accepts and upholds the names of all the buddhas as numerous as the sands of sixty-two koṭis of Ganges Rivers, will each produce equal merit.” This has two meanings: 1) the power of faith and 2) complete knowledge.
The power of faith has two types: l) complete faith that one’s body is no different from the body of Avalokiteśvara, and 2) reverence felt toward Avalokiteśvara, so that one also believes one can completely attain such qualities as his.
Complete knowledge means the ability to be determined and to know the element of reality (dharmadhātu). “The element of reality” is referred to as the nature of reality (dharmatā). This “nature of reality” is referred to as the universal absolute body of all the buddhas and the bodhisattvas. “The universal body” is the true absolute body.
Bodhisattvas in the first stage are able to penetrate it. Therefore, one who accepts and upholds the names of all the buddhas as numerous as the sands of sixty-two koṭis of Ganges Rivers and one who accepts and upholds the name of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara will both produce merit without any difference.
Never-Despising Bodhisattva and Nichiren
Although the twenty-four characters of Never-Despising Bodhisattva differ in wording from the five characters that I, Nichiren, spread, they are the same in meaning. We both appeared in the world under the same conditions: he toward the end of the Age of the Semblance Dharma after the death of Powerful Voice King Buddha, and I at the beginning of the Latter Age after the death of Śākyamuni Buddha. Also, Never-Despising Bodhisattva and I, Nichiren, are at the same stage of progress in the practice of the Lotus Sūtra: he is in the initial “rejoicing upon hearing the Lotus Sūtra (sho-zuiki-hon)” rank in the five-stage practice (gohon), while I am an ordinary man in the second stage of the “notional understanding (myōji-soku)” in the six-stage practice (roku-soku).
Kembutsu Mirai-ki, Testimony to the Prediction of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 174-175
Daily Dharma – Oct. 9, 2020
Expound the Dharma, reveal the Dharma,
And cause us to obtain that wisdom!
If we attain Buddhahood,
Others also will do the same.
These verses are sung by the sixteen children of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha in a story told by the Buddha in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. When the children learned of their father becoming enlightened, they gave up their toys and preoccupations and begged that Buddha to teach them. With this declaration they showed their father that they were ready to receive his wisdom and set off on the path to their own enlightenment.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Another Innumerable Day Before Day 1
As promised last month, I present the first of the 10 Beneficial Effects of the Sutra of Innumerable Meaning:
The Buddha said: “O you of good intent! First, this sutra can enable a bodhisattva—whose mind has not yet produced it to generate the aspiration for enlightenment; can awaken a mind of compassion in one who lacks kindness and sympathy; can awaken in one who is fond of killing a mind of expansive mercy; can awaken in one in whom envy arises a mind of sympathetic joy; can awaken in one who is in bondage to desires a mind that can rise above them; can awaken in a selfish one a mind of consideration for others; can awaken in the mind of an arrogant one the attitude of proper behavior; can awaken in one who is quick to anger a mind that is given to forbearance; can awaken in one who becomes lazy in discipline a mind of appropriate endeavor; can awaken in one who has unceasing thoughts a mind directed toward tranquility; can awaken an insightful mind in one who is deluded and confused; can awaken in one who is not yet able to ferry others a mind to convey them to freedom; can awaken in one who commits the ten harmful acts a mind of the ten virtues; can inspire in the mind of one drawn to conditioned phenomena the intent to transcend cause and condition; can create in one who tends to withdraw from commitment a mind that is resolute; can awaken in one whose conduct is unrestrained a mind to exert self-control; and can awaken in one who has delusive worldly passions a mind to purge and be rid of them. O you of good intent! This is known as the inconceivable power of the first beneficial effect of this sutra.
I can think of no better summary of the goals of becoming a Buddhist.
The True Heart and Compassion of the Buddha’s salvation
Journey of the Path to Righteousness, p 1The Odaimoku we chant, take faith in, and practice in accordance with the teachings of Nichiren is the true heart and compassion of the Buddha’s salvation. This actualization of Myōhō Renge Kyō means to chant the Odaimoku with both the mind and the body as one.
So as all who live in this world would be able to walk the correct path shown to us by the Buddha, as well as to realize this world (in actuality) is a happy and peaceful place, Nichiren devoted his entire life to the propagation of the Lotus Sutra and to the Odaimoku. He strove for every one of us to walk this correct path shown to us by the Buddha who lived in this very world. It is therefore imperative to follow Nichiren’s guidance as a way of life to both cast the mind in a straightforward direction towards the Odaimoku and to also deepen our faith on a daily basis.
The Good Luck of Encountering the Lotus Sūtra
[A]lthough fishermen and hunters today kill fish and deer daily and the warriors of the Minamoto and Taira clans kill each other annually, they probably will not fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering so long as they don’t kill their own parents. In fact, with good luck some might encounter the Lotus Sūtra, put faith in it, and manage to become Buddhas.
Suzumono Goshōsoku, A Letter of Gratitude for Various Donations, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 90
Daily Dharma – Oct. 8, 2020
Medicine-King! This sūtra is the store of the hidden core of all the Buddhas. Do not give it to others carelessly! It is protected by the Buddhas, by the World-Honored Ones. It has not been expounded explicitly. Many people hate it with jealousy even in my lifetime. Needless to say, more people will do so after my extinction.
The Buddha makes this declaration to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. For us who recognize how the Buddha’s teaching transforms our lives and the world, it can be hard to imagine that anyone would reject it. However, there are beings who are so filled with fear and delusion that they mistake the Buddha’s good medicine for poison. While we are committed to leading all beings to enlightenment, we realize that we are not alone in our efforts. The protective deities and the Buddha himself are always working to benefit all beings. In our current capacities, we may not be able to reach everybody immediately. We should not let this discourage us. The least we can do is hope in our hearts for the happiness of all beings, even if they are not accessible to us.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Between Day 32 and Day 1: Without Giving Up the Five Desires
At the start of the sutra we hear from Ānanda, Mahākāśyapa and Maitreya:
“World-honored One! After you have passed away, O Tathāgata, how do living beings produce the bodhisattva mind, practice in accordance with the comprehensive sutras of the Great Vehicle (Mahayana), and, with right mindfulness, bring their thoughts into the realm of one reality? How do they avoid losing sight of the aspiration for ultimate enlightenment (bodhicitta)? Moreover, without cutting off worldly passions and without abandoning the five desires, how do they achieve purity of the sense faculties and eliminate accumulated impurities? Without giving up the five desires, how can they still become capable of seeing events and things free from encumbrance with the pure natural eyes received from their parents at birth?”
The Buddha addressed Ānanda:
“Hear me clearly! Hear me clearly, and consider this well! In the past, on Mount Vulture Peak and at other places, the Tathāgata has already expounded the one genuine path from many perspectives. And now, at this place, for the benefit of all living beings in the future who wish to follow the Supreme Way that is the Great Vehicle—and who wish to learn and follow the practice of Universal Sage,3 I will now expound the method4 for that, which I have kept in mind. Impurities, in any number, should be eliminated whether one perceives Universal Sage or not. This I will now explain to you, accordingly, in great detail.
Going forward I will focus on each of the senses and their karmic consequences – the sense faculty of sight, the sense faculty of hearing, the sense faculty of smell, the sense faculty of speech and the sense faculty of the body and mind, each of which is detailed in the Sutra of Contemplation of Dharma Practice of Universal Sage.
All without giving up the five desires.
Six Paramitas and the Daimoku
Buddhism established the practice of the Six Paramitas for the Bodhisattva in search of truth. The divisional practice of the Six Paramitas is the following:
- “Generosity” is to protect and to impart others beneficially.
- “Precept” is to correctly perform deeds befitting a human being.
- “Patience” is to endure both painful difficulties and criticisms.
- “Effort” is to act in correctness.
- “Meditation” is to maintain quietude of mind.
- “Wisdom” is to perceive things as they truly are.
This divisional Bodhisattva practice of the Six Paramitas is completely contained within the practice of chanting the Odaimoku. This being so, although not practicing each individual paramita with active cognition and direction, those who chant the Odaimoku and follow the correct teachings of Nichiren are naturally imbued with the paramitas just as a fountain naturally fills its basin with water.
Journey of the Path to Righteousness, p 2