Buddhism for Today, p259-260People who believe in religion only in order to receive divine favors in this world easily retrogress from their stage of development in that faith. This is because they cannot truly understand the eternity of the Buddha’s life, and at the same time the eternity of man’s life. They think only of the present and begin to doubt the teaching or grow tired of it unless clear material merits are manifested. But there are some people who cannot receive such merits in this world because of deep and inextinguishable unfavorable karma from their former lives, even if they have faith in a true religion, purify their minds, and devote themselves to the bodhisattva practice for the benefit of others in society.
Nevertheless, people who can believe in the immortality of the Buddha’s life can also feel confident of their own eternal life. Therefore they can live with self-confidence, realizing, “If we only continue this way, we are sure to extinguish our former karma eventually and will approach the mental state of the Buddha step by step.” Even if they do not immediately recover from illness or become suddenly blessed with tangible wealth, their minds will be composed. Even if they seem to outsiders to be suffering, their minds are free of suffering. This is the attitude adopted by a real believer.
Monthly Archives: December 2020
Receiving the Benefit of the Lotus Sutra
The Buddha says to Bodhisattva Medicine King, “If after I have passed into nirvana there is a person who, having heard even one gatha or phrase of the Lotus Sutra and having rejoiced in it, that person shall attain the highest enlightenment and become a Buddha. And if there is a person who receives and upholds, reads and recites, explains or copies in writing even one gatha of this Sutra, or who looks upon it with reverence and makes various offerings, it is the same as if that person had made offerings to the Buddha and taken the great vow of the bodhisattva, and he or she too will become a Buddha.” Long after the Buddha has passed into nirvana, the future Buddhahood of any person who is able to hear the Lotus Sutra, even just one gatha or phrase of it – even just the title of the Sutra – and at that moment give rise in their hearts to great satisfaction and joy, has already been affirmed. We do not have to go back 2,500 years, climb the The Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain Peak, and sit among the assembly of Shakyamuni Buddha in order to receive the benefit of this Sutra.
The ‘Four Reliances’
The Nirvana Sūtra, the “Four Reliances” chapter, preaches the “Four Reliances” in person and in dharma. The former is the four ranks of bodhisattvas upon whom Buddhists relied on for guidance after the death of the Buddha, and the latter is the four standards which Buddhists must follow: (1) to follow the true teaching, not persons; (2) to follow the meaning of the teaching, not the words; (3) to follow the wisdom of the Buddha, not the knowledge of the people; and (4) to follow the Lotus Sūtra, which is the true teaching, not the pre-Lotus sūtras. These are the basic teaching in practicing Buddhism.
Ichidai Goji Keizu, Genealogical Chart of the Buddha’s Lifetime Teachings in Five Periods, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 244
Daily Dharma – Dec. 3, 2020
As we look at each others’ faces, we notice our facial expression changes from time to time. It is full of delight, anger or calm sometimes; but other times it changes to greed, ignorance or flattery. Anger represents hells; greed – hungry spirits; ignorance – beasts; flattery – asura demons; delight – gods; and calm – men. Thus we can see in the countenance of people six realms of illusion, from hells to the realm of gods. We cannot see the four realms of holy ones (śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, bodhisattvas and Buddhas), which are hidden from our eyes. Nevertheless, we must be able to see them too, if we look for them carefully.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his treatise on Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Venerable (Kanjin Honzon-Shō). In other writings, he described Hell as not being in the earth and Heaven as not in the sky, but both within the two meter frame of our own bodies. In this work he shows us to look outside ourselves and recognize these realms in the beings with whom we share our world. The higher realms of devotion, perseverance, generosity and wisdom are more difficult to recognize, so difficult that we sometimes wonder whether they exist at all. With the Buddha’s teaching, we know they exist. We find what we look for.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 21
Day 21 covers all of Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata.
Having last month considered the Parable of the Skillful Physician and his Sick Children, we consider whether the Buddha can be accused of lying when he says he’ll enter into nirvana.
“Good men! What do you think of this? Do you think that anyone can accuse this excellent physician of falsehood?”
“No, World-Honored One!”
The Buddha said:
“I am like the father. It is many hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of asaṃkhyas of kalpas since I became the Buddha. In order to save the [perverted] people, I say expediently, ‘I shall pass away.’ No one will accuse me of falsehood by the [common] law.”
The Buddha and This Dangerous World
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p203-204We should notice that, as in the parable of the burning house of Chapter 3 of the Sutra, the dangers – the fire and many other terrible things in Chapter 3 and the poison in Chapter 16 – are found in the fathers’ houses. Some have raised questions as to why the Buddha would be so careless as to have such a fire-hazard of a house or why he would leave poison lying around in a house full of children. This kind of question probably presupposes that the Buddha is somehow all-powerful and creates and controls the world. But that is not a Buddhist premise. In the Dharma Flower Sutra the point of having the danger occur in the Buddha’s home is to indicate a very close relationship between the Buddha and this world. The world that is dangerous for children is the world in which the Buddha – like all of us – also lives. …
The parables in the Dharma Flower Sutra do not say that the fathers created the burning house or the poison found in the home of the physician. Shakyamuni Buddha has inherited this world, or perhaps even chose to live in this world, in order to help the living. The dangers in this world are simply part of the reality of this world. Indeed, it is because of them that good medicine and good physicians are needed here.
The Importance of the Dharma
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p93Chapter 10 of the Lotus Sutra, “Preachers of Dharma,” can be seen as the concluding chapter of the first section of the Sutra, on the historical dimension. At the same time, this chapter opens the door to the ultimate dimension, which is the focus of the second half of the Sutra. In this chapter, the importance of the Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Wonderful Dharma is revealed. The Dharma is as important as the Buddha, as worthy of our offerings and respect. The practice of recollecting the Buddha can take us to a point of deep transformation and bring about immeasurable merit, but recollecting the Dharma brings equal transformation and merit. The Lotus Sutra, “foremost among all sutras,” is thus the Buddha himself. When we express our deep respect for this Sutra, when we uphold and teach it, then we are at the same time expressing our respect for the Buddha.
Necessary Steps
In every expedient presented in the Lotus Sutra, the expedient is also useful and a necessary step along the way to the ultimate teaching. Nothing the Sravakas or Pratyekabuddhas were taught was useless or of no value. Everything they were taught is necessary to their practice and to our practice even today. The Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the Twelve Link Chain of Causation are all important and necessary teachings to enable us to fully understand and practice the Lotus Sutra.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraConfronted by Many Difficulties
Nobody, regardless of high and low, however, believes that I, Nichiren, am a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. People must be wondering why Nichiren, who claims to be a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, is confronted by many persecutions and difficulties while the sūtra preaches that one who practices Buddhism is at peace in this world and will be reborn in a better place in future lives. It must be that, they believe, Nichiren is not in accordance with the true intent of the Buddha.
Expecting such a vicious criticism from the beginning, I am not surprised even if I am exiled at the displeasure of the ruler of Japan because it is clearly stated in the Lotus Sūtra that one who practices the teachings of the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration will be confronted by many difficulties.
Hakii Saburō-dono Go-henji, A Response to Lord Hakii Saburō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 183
Daily Dharma – Dec. 2, 2020
This sūtra is
The most excellent.
To keep this sūtra
Is to keep me.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. We may believe that before we can practice we need to find a Buddha or another enlightened being alive in our world to guide us. These verses remind us of the ever-present Buddha Śākaymuni who was revealed in the Lotus Sūtra. Whether or not we see him as another human in our presence, he is always guiding us to enlightenment. The Buddha also reminds us that by living as he has shown us in the Lotus Sūtra, as Bodhisattvas who exist for the benefit of all beings, we show our respect for him and bring his wisdom to life.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com