The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p128-130Some traditions maintain that there are five kinds of Lotus Sutra practices taught here: receiving and embracing (or upholding) the Sutra, reading it, reciting (or chanting) it, explaining it (by teaching or preaching), and copying it.
“Receiving and embracing” involves really hearing and following the Sutra, giving yourself to it, so to speak. It is not merely a matter of hearing with one’s ears and mind, but also with one’s body. That is, it is a matter of making the Sutra a truly significant part of one’s life by embodying its teachings in one’s actions in everyday life.
By reading the Sutra, whether alone or with others, aloud or to oneself, and by reciting or chanting the Sutra, the teachings are likely to become more deeply rooted in our minds and hearts. The Sutra does not seem to support, however, the idea that mindlessly reciting the text has any value.
Reciting sutras once meant reciting them from memory. Memorizing sutras was once an extremely important responsibility of monks. For centuries it was the only way they had to store them, as writing had not yet been invented in India. Even after the invention of writing, without printing presses, copies of a sutra written on bark and such, especially copies of a sutra as long as the Lotus Sutra, must have been relatively rare.
Explaining the Sutra to others is good not only for learners, but also for teachers. All good teachers know that, in the process of teaching, they almost always learn at least as much as their students. Even now – after decades of teaching the Dharma Flower Sutra – I still always feel that in a classroom we are all learners and that I am being blessed with the greatest learning of all.
Copying a sutra originally meant, until relatively recently, writing it out by hand. With such a large quantity of sutras, this was a very important practice, the principal way of storing sutras for subsequent use. With written copies there could be much less reliance on memorized versions. But while copying Chinese characters by brush can be a pleasant meditative exercise involving concentration, I’m not at all sure that such copying is so important today. What is important is looking at every character or word in the text, not quickly skipping over parts that are boring or difficult. Translating also, I believe, can well serve the purpose of concentrating one’s focus on each part of the text. Such practice, too, can be beneficial both to the reader and to the translator.
Monthly Archives: November 2020
In Training
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p79The terms “in training” and “those who no longer train” have to be understood here in a special way, not in the conventional way we might understand those who study or those who do not study in the world. Those in training (learners) have not yet mastered the practice, while those who no longer train (adepts) have. Yet even those who have much more to learn, who have just set out on the path, are predicted to become a Buddha, just as adepts, arhats, and great disciples have been. This prophecy reflects the great inclusiveness of the Lotus Sutra’s teaching. No one is left out; the white ox cart of the One Vehicle is spacious enough to carry everyone to Buddhahood. And in the next chapter, we will see how this spirit of inclusiveness was expanded even more by later additions to the Sutra.
Daily Dharma – Nov. 26, 2020
Anything which tastes good, bad, delicious, distasteful, bitter or astringent, will become as delicious as the nectar of heaven and not distasteful when it is put on their tongues.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. In our habitual pursuit of pleasure, we often forget that what is pleasant to some people is irritating to others. This is most obvious with food. Flavors that some find delicious others find disgusting. When we understand that the things in the world are not the cause of our happiness or misery, and that our minds affect how we perceive the world, we find more joy and wonder than we thought possible, and no longer depend on this capricious existence for our happiness.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 14
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 Buddha’s prediction for his son, Rāhula, we conclude Chapter 9 with the prediction for the two thousand Śrāvakas, of whom some had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn.
Thereupon the World-Honored One saw the two thousand Śrāvakas, of whom some had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn. They were gentle, quiet and pure. They looked up at the Buddha with all their hearts.
The Buddha said to Ānanda, “Do you see these two thousand Śrāvakas, of whom some have something more to learn while others have nothing more to learn?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Ānanda! These people will make offerings to as many Buddhas, as many Tathāgatas, as the particles of dust of fifty worlds. They will respect those Buddhas, honor them, and protect the store of their teachings. They will finally go to the worlds of the ten quarters and become Buddhas at the same time. They will be equally called Treasure-Form, 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. They will live for a kalpa. They will be the same in regard to the adornments of their worlds, the number of the Śrāvakas and Bodhisattvas of their worlds, the duration of the preservation of their right teachings, and the duration of the preservation of the counterfeit of their right teachings.”
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
I assure the future Buddhahood
Of these two thousand Śrāvakas
Who are now present before me.
They will become Buddhas in their future lives.They will make offerings to as many Buddhas
As the particles of dust as previously stated.
They will protect the store of the teachings of those Buddhas,
And attain perfect enlightenment.They will go to the worlds of the ten quarters.
Their [Buddha-]names will be the same.
They will sit at the place of enlightenment
And obtain unsurpassed wisdom at the same time.Their [Buddha-]names will be Treasure-Form.
[The adornment of] their worlds, [the number of] their disciples,
[The duration of the period of] their right teachings,
[And that of] the counterfeit of them will be the same.By their supernatural powers, they will save
The living beings of the worlds of the ten quarters.
Their fame will extend far and wide.
They will enter into Nirvana in the course of time.Thereupon the two thousand Śrāvakas, of whom some had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn, having heard the Buddha assure them of their future Buddhahood, danced with joy, and sang in a gāthā:
You, the World-Honored One, are the light of wisdom.
Hearing from you
That we are assured of our future Buddhahood,
We are as joyful as if we were sprinkled with nectar.
Our Potential to Become a Buddha
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p104While the term “buddha-nature” is never used in the Dharma Flower Sutra, this is a good example of the use of the basic idea behind the concept that would be developed after the Dharma Flower Sutra was compiled. One way we can understand the term is as a kind of “power” that makes it possible for any one of us to be a bodhisattva for someone else, a strength that makes it possible for us to share in doing the Buddha’s work of awakening all the living, a strength that makes it possible for us to go far beyond our normal expectations.
Buddha-nature, the potential to become a buddha, is not something we have to earn; it is something that all of us have received naturally, something that cannot be destroyed or taken away from us. It is, as the parable in Chapter 4 teaches, our inheritance; it is ours by virtue of our very existence. This is why we are taught in [Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples] that our treasure is very close.
Our buddha-nature is, in one sense, part of the basis of our very existence. Nothing could be closer. On the other hand, unless we learn to make use of this ability and put it into practice in our daily lives, the goal of realizing it, of becoming a buddha, remains very distant. In light of these two views, gaining the treasure is a matter of more fully understanding and realizing something that was always within us. While our treasure is very close, that full realization and appropriation of it always remains very distant.
Kaundinya
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p77After Buddha had predicted Purna’s Buddhahood, 1,200 arhats in the assembly thought, “Now the bhikshu Purna has received the prophecy of his Buddhahood. If the Buddha would predict Buddhahood for all his other disciples, we would be overjoyed.” The Buddha was able to know the thoughts in the minds of those in the assembly, and so he predicted Buddhahood for his disciple Kaundinya and 500 other arhats. Kaundinya represents the most senior disciples of the Buddha. He was the eldest of the five ascetics who had practiced with Siddhartha before his attainment of Buddhahood, and who had abandoned him when, near death, Siddhartha had given up ascetic practice, bathed and took food, and sat under the bodhi tree. After he had attained enlightenment and became the Buddha, he went looking for these five ascetics in order to teach them what he had learned. Though they had rejected him, these five men were so struck by the Buddha’s radiant and serene appearance that they agreed to listen to what he had to say. Thus, they heard the Buddha’s first Dharma talk on the Four Noble Truths, in the Deer Park at Sarnath, and became the first members of the Buddha’s Sangha.
The Words of Lotus Sūtra Are Very Spirit of the Buddha
The Buddha attained Buddhahood by understanding this Lotus Sūtra. If He does not preach the sūtra for other people, He will commit the mistake of destroying the seed of Buddhahood. Therefore, Śākyamuni Buddha appeared in this world to expound the Lotus Sūtra. Then the King of Devils in the Sixth Heaven, who is said to be the manifestation of fundamental ignorance, entered the bodies of all sentient beings, made them bear a grudge against the Buddha, and tried to interfere with His attempt.
King Virūḍhaka murdered 500 members of the Śākya Clan; Aṅgulimāla chased after the Buddha; Devadatta injured the Buddha with a huge rock; and Chinchāmānavika strapped a bowl to her belly and spread a rumor that the Buddha made her pregnant. After a Brahman king decreed that anyone who let the Buddha enter the walled city would be fined 500 taels, the people in the city erected barriers of thorny roses on streets, threw feces into wells, blocked the gates with spikes, and poisoned food. These were all caused by the King of Devils who hated the Buddha. The murder of Nun Utpalavarṇā, who was a disciple of the Buddha, the killing of Maudgalyāyana by non-Buddhists with bamboo sticks and burying the murdered body of Kālodāyin in horse dung were also caused by hatred of the Buddha on the part of the King of Devils.
Śākyamuni Buddha, however, was able to escape all kinds of persecutions and began preaching the Lotus Sūtra on a mountain called Mt. Sacred Eagle northeast of Rājagṛha in Central India. The Buddha was then 72 years old and it was the forty-second year since He began expounding the Dharma. After preaching the sūtra for eight years He passed away at the age of 80 at midnight on the 15th day of the second month by the Hiraṇyavati River at Kuśinagara in East India. Nevertheless, as He made it clear that His enlightenment was preached in the Lotus Sūtra, the words of the Lotus Sūtra are thus the very spirit of the Buddha. As each word of the sūtra represents the Buddha’s spirit, Śākyamuni Buddha will protect those who practice this sūtra as if they were His own eyes. He will accompany and protect them as a shadow follows the body. Why shouldn’t their prayers be answered?
Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 60-61
Daily Dharma – Nov. 25, 2020
Tears keep falling when I think of the current unbearable hardships, but I cannot stop tears of joy when I think of obtaining Buddhahood in the future. Birds and insects chirp without shedding tears. I, Nichiren, do not cry, but tears keep falling. These tears are shed not for worldly matters, but solely for the sake of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore they should be called tears of nectar.
Nichiren wrote this as part of his letter to monk Sairen-bō in his Treatise on All Phenomena as Ultimate Reality (Shohō-Jissō Shō). For the sake of the Lotus Sūtra, Nichiren endured two harsh exiles, his house being burnt down, ambushes by soldiers with swords, being placed on the execution mat himself, and the persecution of his followers. Despite all these obstacles, he held true to the Buddha’s teaching in the face of all opposition. Most of us who practice the Lotus Sūtra today have lives of relative comfort. It is wonderful that we have Nichiren’s example. He was a human being just like us, and we too are capable of his faith and determination.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 13
Day 13 covers all of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples.
Having last month heard the prediction for Pūrṇa’s future buddhahood, we repeat the predictions for Pūrṇa in gāthās.Thereupon the Buddha, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Bhikṣus, listen to me attentively!
The Way practiced by my sons
Is beyond your comprehension
Because they learned how to employ expedients.Knowing that people wish to hear
The teachings of the Lesser Vehicle,
And that they are afraid of having the great wisdom,
[My sons, that is,] the Bodhisattvas transform themselves
Into Śrāvakas or cause-knowers,
And teach the people with innumerable expedients.Saying to the innumerable living beings, [for instance,]
“We are Śrāvakas.
We are far from the enlightenment of the Buddha,”
They save them, and cause them to attain [Śrāvakahood]
Even the lazy people who wish to hear the Lesser Vehicle
Will become Buddhas with this expedient in the course of time.My disciples are performing
The Bodhisattva practices secretly
Though they show themselves in the form of Śrāvakas.
They are purifying my world
Though they pretend to want little
And to shun birth-and-death.
In the presence of the people,
They pretend to have the three poisons and wrong views.
They save them with these expedients.
They change themselves into various forms.
If I speak of all their transformations,
The listeners will doubt me.Under hundreds of thousands of millions of past Buddhas,
This Pūrṇa practiced strenuously what he should do.
He expounded and protected
The teachings of those Buddhas.In order to obtain unsurpassed wisdom,
He became the most excellent disciple
Of those Buddhas.
He was learned and wise.
He expounded the Dharma without fear,
And made his listeners rejoice.
He was never tired
Of helping those Buddhas do their work.He obtained great supernatural powers
And the four kinds of unhindered eloquence.
Seeing who was clever, and who was dull,
He always expounded the Pure Dharma.He expounded the dharma of the Great Vehicle
To hundreds of thousands of millions of living beings,
And caused them to dwell in the Dharma
So that the worlds of those Buddhas might be purified.In the future also he will make offerings
To innumerable Buddhas, protect their right teachings,
Help them propagate their teachings,
And purify their worlds.He will always fearlessly expound the Dharma
With expedients.
He will save countless living beings
And cause them to have the knowledge of all things.He will make offerings to many Tathāgatas
And protect the treasure-store of the Dharma.
After that he will be able to become a Buddha
Called Dharma-Brightness.His world will be called Good-Purity.
It will be made of the seven treasures.
His kalpa will be called Treasure-Brightness.
There will be Bodhisattvas [in his world],
Many hundreds of millions in number.
They will have great supernatural powers.
They will be powerful and virtuous.
They will be seen throughout that world.Innumerable Śrāvakas will organize the Saṃgha.
They will have the three major supernatural powers,
The eight emancipations,
And the four kinds of unhindered eloquence.The living beings of that world will have no sexual desire.
They will be born without any medium.
They will be adorned with the marks [of the Buddha].
They will not think
Of any other food [than the two kinds of food]:
The delight in the Dharma, and the delight in dhyāna.
There will be neither women nor evil regions
In that world.Pūrṇa Bhikṣu will be able to obtain
All these merits,
And have his pure world
Inhabited by many sages and saints.
I have innumerable things to say of him.
I have told you only a few of them.
The Importance of Embodying the Dharma in Our Lives
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p 105-107Here is one version of the surprising revelation that shravakas may indeed be bodhisattvas.
Monks, listen carefully!
Because they have learned skillful means well,
The way followed by children of the Buddha [bodhisattvas]
Is unthinkably wonderful.Knowing that most delight in lesser teachings
And are overawed by great wisdom,
Bodhisattvas become
Shravakas or pratyekabuddhas.Using innumerable skillful means,
They transform all kinds of beings
By proclaiming themselves to be shravakas,
Far removed from the Buddha Way.They save innumerable beings,
Enabling them to succeed.
Though most people are complacent and lazy,
In this way they are finally led to become buddhas.Keeping their bodhisattva actions
As inward secrets,
Outwardly
They appear as shravakas.They appear to have little desire
And to be tired of birth and death,
But in truth
They are purifying buddha lands. (LS 210—11)The point is in part to emphasize the importance of embodying the Dharma in our lives, in our actions and behavior toward others. But equally important is the idea that anyone can be a bodhisattva for us, if we are open to seeing and experiencing the other as a bodhisattva. As is so often the case, this teaching, the idea that a shravaka can be seen to actually be a bodhisattva, is both about how we should regard ourselves and about how we should regard others, an idea that will be developed and emphasized over and over again in subsequent chapters of the Dharma Flower Sutra.