The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p247[W]e should devote our whole selves to the Dharma, to the Truth. This is the most important meaning of “burning our bodies.” Does it mean abandoning the bodhisattva practice of service to others in order to serve the Dharma? Of course not. It is by serving the Dharma that we serve both others and ourselves. Serving the Dharma and serving others cannot be separated, just as serving others cannot be completely separated from serving ourselves. This integration of interests – in contrast with Western individualism and with certain Christian ideas of completely selfless devotion and sacrifice – is one of the great insights of Buddhism.
Let your practice be a light for others, helping them to dispel the darkness. This is a second symbolic meaning of “burning” our bodies or arms.
Monthly Archives: October 2020
Our Primary Responsibility as Human Beings
Journey of the Path to Righteousness, p 27Shakyamuni Buddha passed way 3,000 years ago but his soul still lives on. He became one with the cosmos. From our view, the universe is vast. It is, however, but one, large lifeform when perceived through the eye of a Buddha. The life of this vast universe is the life of (Hon Butsu) the Original Buddha itself. The world where we live is the pure land of the Buddha, and this Buddha land, as such, is called (Jojyakkodo) The Eternal Pure Land. We, being ordinary people without this perception, choose to instead vandalize this world through our selfishness and become out-of-control. The world becomes a difficult place to live in with the killing of each other through war and the destruction of the environment as a result of satisfying selfish, human interest. As human beings, we should share the responsibility for the sufferings of each other and the difficult world in which we live. We must come to understand that as our primary responsibility as human beings.
Daily Dharma – Oct. 1, 2020
Medicine-King! Erect a stūpa of the seven treasures in any place where this sūtra is expounded, read, recited or copied, or in any place where a copy of this sūtra exists! The stūpa should be tall, spacious and adorned. You need not enshrine my śarīras in the stūpa. Why not? It is because it will contain my perfect body.
The Buddha declares these lines to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. In ancient India, stūpas were tombs built as memorials to those who had enjoyed a superior position in their lives. After the Buddha died, small relics of his body were distributed so that many great stūpas could be built to his memory. Even today all over Asia, stūpas hold the physical remains of the Buddha. In this chapter, the Buddha reminds us that when we have the Lotus Sūtra with us, it is as good as having the Buddha himself.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com