Mastering Buddhism … remains impossible without enough time to absorb it. And if you are to devote enough time to studying Buddhism, it will be nearly impossible to obey one’s parents, masters, and the sovereign as well. Those who aim at attaining Buddhahood cannot afford to be obedient to parents, masters, and sovereign until they reach the ultimate way to cut the chain of birth and death.
Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 2.
A man of shallow faith pretends to have right faith and is contemptuous towards other followers, so as to harm the faith of others. Leave such people alone. By the intention of the King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra and other deities, I believe that such a time will certainly come when all the people of Japan will simultaneously believe in the Lotus Sutra. I am sure that many people will then say, “I have believed in this sutra all along.”
Nichiren wrote this passage in a Reply to Lord Ueno (Ueno-dono Gohenji). In Nichiren’s life, he tolerated the contempt of many who refused his call to set aside expedient teachings and take up the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra. Despite repeated attempts to reach these people, and after enduring his home being burned down, attacks with swords, a mock execution and numerous exiles, he retired to a hermitage on Mt. Minobu to spend the last days of his life. As the Buddha showed no contempt towards his cousin Devadatta, Nichiren showed no contempt towards his persecutors. When we find others who despise us for our practice, we have the example of these two men. They both took the long view towards enlightenment, and did not let themselves be wounded by the follies of human nature.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 14 covers all of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, and opens Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.
Having last month considered the objection of the eight thousand Bodhisattvas who had just resolved to aspire for Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, we consider the Buddha’s prediction for his son, Rāhula.Thereupon the Buddha said to Rāhula:
“In your future life you will become a Buddha called Walking-On-Flowers-Of-SevenTreasures, the Tathāgata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. [Before you become that Buddha,] you will make offerings to as many Buddhas, as many Tathāgatas, as the particles of dust of ten worlds. [Before you become that Buddha,] you will become the eldest son of those Buddhas just as you are now mine.
“The adornments of the world of Walking-On-Flowers-OfSeven-Treasures Buddha, the number of the kalpas for which that Buddha will live, the number of his disciples, the duration of the preservation of his right teachings, and the duration of the preservation of the counterfeit of his right teachings will be the same as in the case of Mountain-Sea-Wisdom-Supernatural-PowerKing Tathāgata.
“After you become the eldest son of the [Mountain-Sea-Wisdom-Supernatural-Power-King] Buddha, you will attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi [, and become Walking-On-Flowers-Of-SevenTreasures Buddha].”
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
When I was a crown prince,
Rāhula was my eldest son.
When I attained the enlightenment of the Buddha,
He received the Dharma, and became the son of the Dharma.In his future life he will see
Many hundreds of millions of Buddhas,
Become the eldest son of those Buddhas, and seek
The enlightenment of the Buddha with all his heart.Only I know his secret practices.
He shows himself
To all living beings
In the form of my eldest son.He has many thousands of billions of merits.
His merits are countless.
He dwells peacefully in the Dharma of the Buddha,
And seeks unsurpassed enlightenment.
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p115-116Rahula was also known as a “first” – first in quietly doing good. It is said that this means that he followed the Vinaya precepts, the rules for monks, very strictly. Like Ananda, he became one of the Buddha’s ten principal disciples.
As he was Shakyamuni’s only biological son, it was only natural that Shakyamuni Buddha would make an extra effort not to show any favoritism toward him. Thus there are many stories of Rahula being treated by his father just like any other follower.
While the name Ananda means “bliss” or “joy,” the name Rahula means “obstruction,” “bond,” or “fetter.” Born just shortly before the future Buddha left home to pursue enlightenment, it is said that he was named Rahula by his grandfather after the future Buddha announced immediately after the birth of his son that an “obstruction” (rahula) had been born. Like many sons of noble Shakya families of the time, the future Buddha apparently had been thinking of leaving home from a fairly young age. It is said that his own father, the king, had arranged for his marriage to Yashodhara when he was nineteen in order to discourage him from leaving home. Ten years later, Rahula was born, and it was said that Shakyamuni called him Rahula because he created “bonds” of affection. This story would later be used to show how a bond of love can be an impediment or hindrance to one who wants to follow the life of a monk.
Though his age at the time is far from certain, Rahula was about seven years old when Shakyamuni returned to his home in Kapilavasthu with many of his followers and stayed in a bamboo grove outside the city. Yashodhara pointed his father out to the boy, but at first Shakyamuni paid no attention to his son. When they were about to leave, Yashodhara told Rahula to ask for his father’s blessings. He did so, and Shakyamuni beckoned to him to follow him. When they reached the forest, Shakyamuni told Shariputra to shave the boy’s head, put him in monk’s robes, and make him the first novice monk. In some accounts, Yashodhara tells Rahula to ask his father for his inheritance and his wealth, and the Buddha instead makes him the inheritor of his spiritual wealth by turning him into a novice monk.
Just as according to Fa-hsien nuns worshiped at the stupas of Ananda, novice monks worshiped at the Stupa of Rahula, who apparently died before his father did.
Peaceful Action, Open Heart shines 60 years of study and practice upon one of the crowning scriptures of the path of the Buddha, and is destined to be known as one of the most significant writings by Thich Nhat Hanh.
The Lotus Sutra is one of the most revered of Mahayana sacred texts and is sometimes called “the king of sutras.” Despite this fact, there are very few commentaries in English available today. Thich Nhat Hanh explores the Sutra’s main theme – that everyone has the capacity to become a Buddha, and that Buddha-nature is inherent in everything – but he also uniquely emphasizes the sutra’s insight that Buddha-nature is the basis for peaceful action. Since we all will one day become a Buddha, he says, we can use mindfulness practices right now to understand and find solutions to current world challenges. In his interpretation of the sutra, he suggests that if the practices, views, and insights of the Lotus Sutra would find application not only by individuals but also by nations, it would offer concrete solutions to transform individual suffering and the global challenges facing the world today.
Stamped with his signature depth of vision, lucidity, and clarity, Thich Nhat Hanh’s insights based on the wisdom of the Lotus Sutra invoke a wide range of contemporary topics and concerns, such as the Palestinian-Israeli war, the threat of terrorism, and the degradation of our environment. In proposing radical new ways of finding peaceful solutions to universal, contemporary conflicts, he not only challenges the U.N to change from an organization to a real organism working for peace and harmony in the world, but also encourages all branches of all governments to act as Sangha. In so doing, he demonstrates the practical and direct applicability of this sacred text to today’s concerns.
This book has been re-released with a new title. The earlier hardcover edition was entitled Opening the Heart of the Cosmos.
One must assume that the publisher offered the third paragraph for purposes of expanding the potential reach of the book. While the environment is an important aspect of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching, the suggestion that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the United Nations are significant topics is unfounded, at least in the 2008 edition published under the title, Peaceful Action, Open Heart.”
I was introduced to this book in July, 2020, when Ryuei Shonin announced the creation of an Amazon Wish List for his Lotus Sutra Study program. This is the first book by Thich Nhat Hanh that I’ve read. And as with Nikkyō Niwano’s commentary on the Lotus Sutra, I feel a need to distance myself from some of the interpretations of Thich Nhat Hanh.
Here is an example from Thich Nhat Hanh’s discussion of the Buddha’s prediction for Shariputra in Chapter 3, A Parable:
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p46-47Hearing this the Buddha said, “Shariputra, in past lives you studied and practiced with me, and I taught you the bodhisattva way. But in this lifetime you forgot it and, following the path of the shravaka, believed you had reached the final goal of your practice, nirvana. Now, through teaching this Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, I am able to reestablish you on the bodhisattva path. In the future you will become the Buddha Flower Glow (Padmaprabha) in a Buddha Land called Free of Defilements (Viraja). You will do as I do, and teach the three vehicles to guide living beings, and finally you will also teach the One Vehicle, just as I am teaching now.”
Thich Nhat Hanh book’s endnotes indicate that he is using Leon Hurvitz’s translation of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma for his English language quotes, but in this instance Thich Nhat Hanh has not only grossly paraphrased but also fabricated new text.
Here’s the relevant portion from Hurvitz:
Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, p51“Flower Glow, the Thus Come One, shall furthermore by resort to the three vehicles teach and convert the beings. Śāriputra, though the time of that buddha’s emergence shall not be an evil age, by reason of his former vow he shall preach the dharma of the three vehicles.”
Few things in the Lotus Sutra are more puzzling to me than the prediction that Śāriputra will teach the Three Vehicles even though the kalpa in which he becomes that Buddha “will not be an evil age.” If only the Buddha, as Thich Nhat Hanh erroneously inserts, had added, “finally you will also teach the One Vehicle, just as I am teaching now.” But the Buddha doesn’t say Śāriputra will ever teach the One Vehicle or the Lotus Sutra.
Before I start posting quotes here from the book I’ll be posting several articles concerning problems of one sort or another that I have with Thich Nhat Hanh interpretation.
Having said that, I should underline my overall satisfaction and favorable opinion of “Peaceful Action, Open Heart: Lessons from the Lotus Sutra.”
I fully endorse this from the Introduction:
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p8This book shows how the teachings of the Sutra can help us realize the practices of mindfulness, compassion, and love for the well-being of our family, our community, our society, and the world.
And this beautiful poem by Thich Nhat Hanh:
Reciting the Lotus Sutra
At night as I recite the Lotus Sutra
The sound moves the galaxies
The Earth below wakes up
In her lap suddenly flowers appear
At night as I recite the Lotus Sutra
A jeweled Stupa appears resplendent.
All over the sky bodhisattvas are seen
And Buddha’s hand is in mine.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
QUESTION: How do you know that you are a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra in the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration?
ANSWER: The following statements in the Lotus Sūtra attest it to be the truth: “Many people hate this sūtra with jealousy even in the lifetime of the Buddha, not to say after His death” (chapter 10, “The Teacher of the Dharma”). “Ignorant people will speak ill of us (who propagate this sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration), abuse us, and threaten us with swords and sticks. … We will be driven out of our monasteries from time to time” (chapter 13, “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra”). “Many people in the world will hate this sūtra and few will believe it” (chapter 14, “Peaceful Practices”). “People struck him (a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra) with sticks, pieces of wood, pieces of tile, and stones” (chapter 20, “The Never-Despising Bodhisattva”). “King of devils, his subjects, gods, dragons, yaksa demons, and kumbhāṇḍa demons will take advantage of the time (the first 500-year period in the Latter Age of Degeneration)” (chapter 23, “Previous Life of the Medicine King Bodhisattva”).
In order to see that these words of the Buddha are not false, when we see the faces of all the people in Japan, the king and his subjects, monks and nuns, and laymen and laywomen, reflected upon these clear mirrors of the Lotus Sūtra, there is nobody but I, Nichiren, who fits them perfectly. As for the time, we certainly are at the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration. Should there be no Nichiren today, these words of the Buddha would all be proved false.
Kembutsu Mirai-ki, Testimony to the Prediction of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 175
He should respect the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones,
As his unsurpassed fathers.
He should give up arrogance
So that he may expound the Dharma without hindrance.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. By arrogance, the Buddha means not only acting as if we know what we do not, but any fixed understanding of the world and the beings in it. This opening of our minds allows us to be receptive to the innumerable ways the Buddhas are teaching us, and to learn to see the world for what it is. This receptivity also allows us to see the Buddha nature in all beings, no matter how deluded they are and how much harm they create. Respect is what allows us to fully hear and be present for what the world has to offer us.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 13 covers all of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples.
Having last month learned of Pūrṇa’s qualities, we hear the prediction for Pūrṇa’s future buddhahood.“Bhikṣus! Pūrṇa was the most excellent expounder of the Dharma under the seven Buddhas. He is the same under me. He will be the same under the future Buddhas of this Kalpa of Sages. He will protect the teachings of those Buddhas and help them propagate their teachings. After the end of this kalpa also he will protect the teachings of innumerable Buddhas, help them propagate their teachings, teach and benefit innumerable living beings, and cause them to aspire for Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. He will always make efforts to teach all living beings strenuously so that the worlds of those Buddhas may be purified. He will perform the Way of Bodhisattvas step by step for innumerable, asaṃkhya kalpas, and then attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi in this world. He will be called Dharma-Brightness, the Tathāgata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. The world of that Buddha will be composed of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, that is, as many Sumeru-worlds as there are sands in the River Ganges. The ground [of that world] will be made of the seven treasures. It will be as even as the palm of a hand. There will be no mountains nor ravines nor ditches. Tall buildings adorned with the seven treasures will be seen everywhere in that world, and the palaces of gods of that world will hang so low in the sky that gods and men will be able to see each other. There will be no evil regions nor women. The living beings of that world will be born without any medium. They will have no sexual desire. They will have great supernatural powers, emit light from their bodies, and fly about at will. They will be resolute in mind, strenuous, and wise. They will be golden in color, and adorned with the thirty-two marks. They will feed on two things: the delight in the Dharma, and the delight in dhyāna. There will be innumerable, asaṃkhya Bodhisattvas, that is, thousands of billions of nayutas of Bodhisattvas. They will have great supernatural powers and the four kinds of unhindered eloquence. They will teach the living beings of that world. There will also be uncountable Śrāvakas there. They will have the six supernatural powers including the three major supernatural powers, and the eight emancipations. The world of that Buddha will be adorned with those innumerable merits. The kalpa [in which Pūrṇa will become that Buddha] will be called TreasureBrightness; and his world, Good-Purity. The duration of the life of that Buddha will be innumerable, asaṃkhya kalpas, and his teachings will be preserved for a long time. After his extinction, stupas of the seven treasures will be erected [in his honor] throughout that world.”
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p108-109In [Chapter 8: The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples], as in others, when the Buddha describes the future buddha land of Purna after he has become the buddha named Dharma Radiance, he says that his land will be without women, that men will have no sexual desire, and that they will be born without having mothers. Historically, such a misanthropic attitude toward women probably reflects the experience of celibate monks living in India twenty centuries ago. Sexuality and gender has been an ongoing problem for Buddhism. This is in large part because sexual desire in men can be seen as the prime embodiment of desire and greed – everything that Buddhism, especially traditional Indian Buddhism, opposed and sought to abolish. Women were seen as the cause of men’s sexual desires, and thus as embodiments of evil.
With respect to attitudes toward women, Buddhism was something of an improvement over Hinduism. Women were, for example, admitted into the community as ordained nuns, as was true in Jainism. But nuns were radically subordinated to monks and it was believed that only through rebirth as a man could a woman have any possibility of awakening fully.
The Dharma Flower Sutra often reflects such attitudes, as appears to be the case in this chapter. But, as we will see later, it sometimes takes a more generous view of women and of their potential to be Dharma teachers and become buddhas in the future. Thus the Sutra is consistent in teaching that every living being has the potential to become a buddha in this world. In doing this, in maintaining the consistent teaching of universal buddha-nature, the Sutra takes an important step toward teaching the equality of men and women.
Yet while the Dharma Flower Sutra does take a step forward with respect to equality, going beyond Hinduism, beyond traditional Buddhism, and even beyond many Mahayana sutras, it only takes a step, and not a very large one at that, falling far short of today’s standards. We can, I believe, love the Dharma Flower Sutra and seek to follow its important teachings while still recognizing that, like everything else, it has limitations. We should not forget that the Sutra itself teaches that all Buddhist teachings are skillful means, relative to their time and circumstance, including the details of the Dharma Flower Sutra. In this sense, though ahead of its time in most ways, in some other ways the Lotus Sutra reflects the limitations of the culture and time in which it arose.
I am currently processing quotes I have saved from “Foundations of T’ien-T’ai Philosophy: The Flowering of the Two Truths Theory In Chinese Buddhism” by Paul L. Swanson. I won’t be posting these until late January, 2021, after I finishing posting quotes from Peaceful Action, Open Heart: Lessons from the Lotus Sutra by Thich Nhat Hanh, which I’ll start tomorrow. Since one of the T’ien-T’ai Philosophy quotes pertains a recent blog post, I figured I should get it in now while it is still relevant.
So, back on Oct. 6 I discussed by idea of how to envision the “four realms of holy ones” – Śrāvaka, Pratyekabuddha, Bodhisattva and Buddha – that Nichiren said “are hidden from our eyes.”
Here’s my summary:
Since I was discouraged from putting too much emphasis on this idea, I found this quote from Swanson’s book very interesting:
Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 6Chih-i divided the realms of existence into ten interpenetrating realms or destinies: hell, preta, beast, asura, man, gods, śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, bodhisattva, and buddha. These are not ten separate distinct worlds, but rather experiences or states of existence in one reality.
It may be more accurate to refer to these ten “destinies” as ten states of experience: hellish, to be full of insatiable appetite, brutish, combative, human, divine, ‘śrāvaka-like, pratyekabuddha-like, bodhisattva-like, and buddha-like. When one suffers the inevitable results of his or her misdeeds, one experiences the realm of hell. When one blindly follows sensual desires in a futile attempt to satisfy fleshly appetites, one experiences the realm of the preta. When one blindly follows one’s passions, one experiences the realm of beasts. When one fights with one’s fellow human being, one experiences the combative realm of the asura. When one joyfully listens to the music of Bach, one can experience the delightful realm of the gods. When one hears the teaching of the Buddha, one experiences the realm of the śrāvaka. When one performs an altruistic deed, one experiences the realm of the bodhisattva. When one has an insight into the true nature of reality, one experiences the realm of the Buddha. Chih-i’s claim that these realms are “interpenetrating” or “mutually inclusive” means that each sentient being experiences them all in accordance with its actions.
From Amazon