Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p 134In regard to “repudiating [the Small Vehicle],” it says in the Lotus Sutra, “O Śāriputra! In all the worlds of the ten directions there are no two vehicles, let alone three.” “There are no two vehicles” means there is no nirvana attained through the two vehicles. There is only the great enlightenment realized by the tathāgatas. To completely perfect all wisdom is called the great nirvana. It is not the case that the disciples and self-enlightened buddhas [are able to attain] nirvana since there is only the single buddha vehicle.
Monthly Archives: October 2020
A Great Cart Pulled by a White Ox
Compared with the Lotus Sūtra, the Amitābha Sūtra is a star after the sun rose and dew in heavy rain.
Therefore, Grand Master Dengyō asserted in his Clarification of the Precepts: “It is nonsense to give a cart pulled by sheep, deer or cows, after giving a great cart pulled by a white ox. It is needless for a wealthy man to clean the toilet after succeeding to the family business. Therefore, it is said in the Lotus Sūtra, ‘Honestly discarding the expedient teachings, the Buddha explains only the unsurpassed way.’ ” The Grand Master also said, “When the sun appears, stars disappear, and when one understands the proficiency of the Lotus Sūtra, he is able to see the deficiencies in the other sūtras.”
Shimoyama Goshōsoku, The Shimoyama Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 90
Daily Dharma – Oct. 21, 2020
There are thousands of fish eggs, but few become fish. Hundreds of mango blossoms bloom, but few become fruit. It is the same with human beings, because most people are turned aside by evil distractions. There is an army of warriors wearing armor, but few are able to fight bravely. Many people search for truth, but few attain Buddhahood.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Letter to Lord Matsuno. In Nichiren’s lifetime he saw many of his followers charmed by his teaching, but lacking the resolve to practice. This letter was one of many Nichiren used to encourage us not to waste our precious human life with frivolous pursuits, destructive actions, and selfish desires. It reminds us that we all carry the seed of Buddha nature, and to look for ways to nourish that seed.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 12
Day 12 concludes Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City, and completes the Third Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month considered the Parable of the Magic City, we consider the meaning of the Magic City.
“Bhikṣus! I, the Tathāgata, am like the leader. I am your great leader. I know that the bad road, which is made of birth-and-death and illusions, is dangerous and long, and that we should pass through it and get off it. If you had heard only of the One Vehicle of the Buddha, you would not have wished to see or approach the Buddha, but would have thought, ‘The Way to Buddhahood is too long for us to pass through unless we make painstaking efforts for a long time.’
“I knew that you were mean and timid. In order to give you a rest halfway, I expounded expediently to you the teaching of Nirvāṇa by the two vehicles. To those who attained the two [ vehicles], I say, ‘You have not yet done all that you should do. You are near the wisdom of the Buddha. Think it over and consider it! The Nirvāṇa you attained is not true. I divided the One Vehicle of the Buddha into three only expediently.’
“I say this just as the leader, who saw that his party had had a rest in the great city which he had made by magic in order to give them a rest, said to them, ‘The place of treasures is near. This city was not true. I made it by magic.”‘
Helping People Along Difficult Roads
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p94-95While there are several important things one might learn from this story [of the Magic City], its central message is quite clear: while we may think that nirvana, a condition of complete rest and quiet, is our final goal, it is not. While we may think that nirvana is salvation, that is only a useful illusion from which we will eventually need to move on. According to the Dharma Flower Sutra, it is always an illusion to think that we have arrived and have no more to do, to think that if we reach some kind of experience of happiness or comfort, we have reached the end of the path.
Similarly, while we may think that the Buddha entered final nirvana, becoming “extinct” and thus no longer active, that too is only a useful illusion, as the Buddha is working still, enabling us to live and work with him to save all the living. In Chapter 16 of the Sutra we can find these words:
In order to liberate the living,
As a skillful means I appear to enter nirvana.
Yet truly I am not extinct.
I am always here teaching the Dharma. (LS 296)The Buddha has used teachings, including the teaching of his own final nirvana, to help people along difficult roads.
Even A Child In Play
Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p 135“[E]ven a child in play who has built a Stupa for the Buddha out of a heap of sand – all are people who have attained the path of the buddhas.” This means that those who have produced the thought of enlightenment and who are carrying out bodhisattva practice will plant good roots of merit and be able to realize enlightenment. It is not the case that those who have not originally produced the thought of enlightenment, such as ordinary people and the disciples who are fixed [in the Small Vehicle], are able to attain it. The same applies to those such as the ones [who have honored the Buddha] “by nodding their head.”
Odaimoku: The Sacred Title
The third of the Three Great Secret Dharmas is the Odaimoku, Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. In Sino-Japanese, the title of the Lotus Sutra is “Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo.” These five characters are themselves an expression of the essential core of the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha taught in the Lotus Sutra. Because the Odaimoku embodies the essence of the Lotus Sutra, the five characters “Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo” are the key to unlocking the Buddha-nature that resides within all life. When the word Namu, meaning “devotion,” is added to the title, it becomes Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, or “Devotion to the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.” According to Nichiren, by chanting “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo” we are expressing our faith in the Eternal Buddha and opening our lives to all the qualities and merits of Buddhahood.
Lotus SeedsThe Merit of 10,000 Odaimoku
In cleaning up my desk, I found a photocopy of a translation of an article in the Nichiren Shu Shinbun No. 2373 published on Sept. 1, 2019. The article was written by Rev. Shincho Mochizuki, Ph.D., Professor, Minobusan University, and translated into English by Rev. Keiji Oshima.
Here’s the text of the article without the Japanese and Chinese characters:
The Number of the Characters of the Lotus Sutra Translated in Chinese and the Merit of Odaimoku
The Lotus Sutra we recite is one of three versions translated in Chinese, which are Shō Hokekyō translated by Dharmarakṣa (Jiku Hōgo), Tempon Hokekyō by Jñānagupta (Janakutta), and Myōhō Renge Kyō by Kumārajīva (Kumarajū).
Nichiren Shū uses Myōhō Renge Kyō and there are various opinions about the number of the characters this sutra contains. Nichiren Shōnin refers to its number in his writing Thank-you Note for a Clerical Robe and an Unlined Kimono (On-Koromo Narabini Hitoe Gosho), which was written in 1275 as an appreciation letter for the offering of the kimono and cloth for the robe from the wife of Toki Jōnin: “The Lotus Sutra has 69,384 characters and each of them is a Buddha.”
Chōkyō-ge, which is considered composed by Grand Master T’ian Tai Zhi Yi ( Tendai Daishi Chigi) who propagated the Lotus Sutra in China, also says that each character written in the Lotus Sutra should be the Buddha itself as following: “I deeply bow to the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, Saddharma Pundarika, of a unit of the 8 volumes containing 28 chapters composed of 69,384 characters. Each character of this sutra is the True Buddha. The True Buddha’s preaching benefits the living beings. All the living beings will have attained the Way of the Buddha. Thus, I bow to the Lotus Sutra.”
The numbers of the 7 characters of Odaimoku divided by Myōhō Renge Kyō of 69,384 characters is 9,912. Hence, approximately 10,000 times of chanting the Odaimoku is equivalent to reciting the whole 8 volumes of Lotus Sutra, in terms of the numbers of characters. You may see some temples have the monument with Odaimoku carved “Humbly fulfilled to chant 10,000 Odaimoku,” which tells that they accumulated the same merit as chanting the whole Lotus Sutra by chanting 10,000 Odaimoku. In order to contribute in accumulating this merit for their temple, the followers participate in the activities and chant Odaimoku.
Here’s the photocopy of the article.
Trivia point: If you do the recommended 300 Daimoku in the morning and again in the evening evening, which for me takes about 20 minutes at a time, then you recite the entire Lotus Sutra – 9,912 Daimoku – every 16 and a half days. In my practice, that means I accomplish this twice each cycle through my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra (which takes 34 days when you add the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings and the Sutra of the Contemplation of Universal Sage). I like the idea of circumnavigating the Lotus Sutra three times each month.
Gaining the Supreme Gem of Treasures
In the Lotus Sūtra it is guaranteed that Śāriputra would be Flower Light Buddha, Subhūti would be Beautiful Form Buddha, and the 1,200 śrāvaka disciples would all be Universal Brightness Buddhas. This was a great surprise that they had never dreamed of. They must have felt as though they entered a mountain of treasures upon the crumbling of Mt. Kun-lun. Thus it is stated in the passage of understanding by the Two Vehicles, “We were able to gain the supreme gem of treasures without seeking it.” Therefore, there is no doubt that all those in the realms of the Two Vehicles will protect the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. Even lowly beasts and birds remember the favors they owe and try to repay them. It is said that a bird called wild goose never fails to take care of the mother goose on the verge of death. A fox is said to die facing toward the hill where it lived. Even beasts do not forget the favor they owe, how much more so with human beings?
Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 57-58
Daily Dharma – Oct. 20, 2020
If they think that I am always here, and do not think that I will pass away, they will become too arrogant and lazy to realize the difficulty of seeing me, and they will not respect me. Therefore I say [to them] expediently, ’Bhikṣus, know this! It is difficult to see a Buddha who appears in [this] world.’
The Buddha makes this explanation to those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. We may wonder what took the Buddha so long to give his highest teaching to us, whether he was holding it back because of stinginess, not wanting to share the great treasure of his wisdom. Here and in other parts of the Sūtra, he shows that unless we cultivate our respect for the Buddha, and thus for all beings, we take him for granted and lose his precious wisdom.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com