Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.
Having last month considered in gāthās the great supernatural powers of the Buddhas, we conclude Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.
Anyone who keeps this sūtra will be able to cause me to rejoice.
He also will be able to bring joy
To [the Buddhas of] my replicas
And also to Many-Treasures Buddha who once passed away.
He also will be able to see
The present, past and future Buddhas
Of the worlds of the ten quarters,
Make offerings to them, and cause them to rejoice.
The Buddhas sat at the place of enlightenment,
And obtained the hidden core.
Anyone who keeps this sūtra will be able
To obtain the same before long.
Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to expound
The meanings of the teachings,
And the names and words [of this sūtra].
Their eloquence will be as boundless
And as unhindered as the wind in the sky.
Anyone who understands why the Buddhas expound [many] sūtras,
Who knows the position [of this sūtra in the series of sūtras],
And who expounds it after my extinction
According to its true meaning,
Will be able to eliminate the darkness
Of the living beings of the world where he walks about,
Just as the light of the sun and the moon
Eliminates all darkness.
He will be able to cause innumerable Bodhisattvas
To dwell finally in the One Vehicle.
Therefore, the man of wisdom
Who hears the benefits of these merits
And who keeps this sūtra after my extinction,
Will be able to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha
Definitely and doubtlessly.
The final eight chapters [of the Lotus Sutra] speak of the transmission of the sutra to the bodhisattvas. In “The Divine Power of the Tathāgata” (chapter 21), the Buddha declares: “The divine powers of buddhas are so infinite and boundless that they are beyond thought and expression. Even if I, by these divine powers … were to declare the merits of this sutra, I should still be unable to reach the end of those [merits]. Essentially speaking, all the laws belonging to the Tathāgata, all the sovereign, divine powers of the Tathāgata, all the mysterious, essential treasuries of the Tathāgata, … all are proclaimed, displayed, revealed, and expounded in this sutra” (MFH, 52a; TLS, p. 298). Nichiren called this the “specific transmission” (beppuzoku) because it was made specifically to the bodhisattva Eminent Conduct and the other bodhisattvas who had sprung up from the earth. It was upon his understanding of this chapter that he selected the five syllables of the title of the Lotus Sutra (myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō) and encouraged their chanting, because he thought of himself as a reincarnation of Eminent Conduct (Bodhisattva Viśiṣṭacāritra).
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A peaceful summer had passed, the short days of autumn followed one another, and the dreary winter was nigh. The exile continued to ponder on his mission, now more deeply and calmly than ever before. His faith in his mission was firmly established, and his aggressive propaganda was bearing fruit, not only in winning many converts, but even in inspiring awe in his opponents. Toward the end of the year in which he was banished, the Mongols caused fresh alarm by sending a number of ships, which were followed in the next year by another embassy. Family strife broke out among the Hōjōs, and members of the clan killed one another. All these events were interpreted by Nichiren and his followers as the results of the injustice done the prophet, and also as a fulfilment of his warning predictions. This was a triumph for Nichiren, but what concerned him more was the future of the nation and of the religion. In the Sacred Title he had given his religion a standard and a form of worship suitable to every people in the Latter Days; he had also explained who Buddha is, and the relation between Buddha and ourselves. But the object of worship had not yet been clearly defined. What should it be? How should it be presented to men’s physical and spiritual vision? The next task, the consummation of his activities hitherto, was the solution of this problem, the revelation of the Supreme Being, and a preparation for the complete fulfilment of his great mission.
The thought had occupied him, as he tells us, since the autumn (eleventh month) of 1272. The way in which he solved the problem was quite characteristic of his philosophical cast of mind; as well as of his practical nature – philosophical, because Nichiren always emphasized the Truth, the metaphysical basis of existence, and was never content to worship a personal god, whether Buddha or any other deity, merely as a being existing beside ourselves; practical, because his special endeavor was to seize the very quintessence of Truth, and to present it in a way so simple and concrete that even the least intelligent might be inspired and moved by it.
Surely, the Lord Śākyamuni, when understood as the primeval Tathāgata, is the ultimate entity of the universe, and consequently the object of worship. Yet, when he is simply represented, as he is represented by other Buddhists, in an image, or in any other manner suggesting a particular person, the erroneous conception immediately arises, that the person is different from the Truth that he embodies. On the other hand, Nichiren’s religion was not the worship of an abstract truth, but a life to be lived by every being, human, or other. Thus, the thing to be done was to unite the Truth and the Person in a concrete representation, and to regard it as the embodiment of the Supreme Being. This had been partly accomplished in the formula of worship symbolized in the Sacred Title. But this latter means of religious worship, chiefly intended for oral utterance, was to be supplemented by providing the soul with a representation of the Supreme Being which symbolized a perfect union of the eternal Truth with the primeval person of Buddha. The result was set forth in the “Spiritual Introspection of the Supreme Being,” an essay finished on the twenty-fifth of the fourth month; and a tangible symbolic representation was made on the eighth day of the seventh month, 1273. Now let us see what the idea and representation were.
Chapter 7 The Climax of Nichiren's Life; The Graphic Representation of The Supreme Being
The Lotus Sūtra says in effect that when the sūtra is propagated in the fifth 500-year period after the death of Śākyamuni Buddha, evil spirits will dwell in the people and try to stop it. If one believes the sutra, he is spoken ill of, beaten, chased away, and even killed. Under the circumstances, the first person to propagate the sūtra receives the same merit of serving all Buddhas in the universe throughout the lives in the past, present, and future. He also inherits the merit of Śākyamuni Buddha which He had accumulated as a bodhisattva in the past. Therefore, when Bodhisattva Fukyō was propagating the sūtra in the past, scholarly priests, nuns, and great priests who kept 250 precepts seduced men and women to speak ill of him and beat him, but he never gave up until he attained Buddhahood. Śākyamuni Buddha is the former Bodhisattva Fukyō.
Myōhō Bikuni Go-henji, A Reply to Nun Myōhō, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 214
No, no, I will not say any more.
My teaching is wonderful and inconceivable.
If arrogant people hear me,
They will not respect or believe me.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. This was his response the first time Śāriputra asked to receive the Buddha’s highest teaching. The Buddha knew we must be prepared for his wisdom. We must discern clearly the difference between what we know and what we do not know. Because all things are impermanent, the truths we cling to may no longer apply. The ignorance and confusion at the root of our suffering will disappear as we set aside what is no longer true and gain wisdom.
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Having last month conclude Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, we begin Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas with the vow of the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas as many as the particles of dust of one thousand worlds who had sprung up from underground.
Thereupon the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas as many as the particles of dust of one thousand worlds, who had sprung up from underground, joined their hands together towards the Buddha with all their hearts, looked up at his honorable face, and said to him:
“World-Honored One! After your extinction, we will expound this sūtra in the worlds of the Buddhas of your replicas and also in the place from which you will pass away. Why is that? It is because we also wish to obtain this true, pure and great Dharma, to keep, read, recite, expound and copy [this sūtra], and to make offerings to it.”
Thereupon the World-Honored One displayed his great supernatural powers in the presence of the multitude, which included not only the many hundreds of thousands of billions of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who had already lived in this Sahā-World [before the arrival of the Bodhisattvas from underground], headed by Mañjuśrī, but also bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, upāsikās, gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings. He stretched out his broad and long tongue upwards until the tip of it reached the World of Brahman. Then he emitted rays of light with an immeasurable variety of colors from his pores. The light illumined all the worlds of the ten quarters. The Buddhas who were sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees also stretched out their broad and long tongue and emitted innumerable rays of light. Śākyamuni Buddha and the Buddhas under the jeweled trees displayed these supernatural powers of theirs for one hundred thousand years. Then they pulled back their tongues, coughed at the same time, and snapped their fingers. These two sounds [of coughing and snapping] reverberated over the Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters, and the ground of those worlds quaked in the six ways. By the supernatural powers of the Buddhas, the living beings of those worlds, including gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, and mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings, saw the many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees in this Sahā-World. They also saw Śākyamuni Buddha sitting by the side of Many-Treasures Tathāgata on the lion-like seat in the stupa of treasures. They also saw that the many hundreds of thousands of billions of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas and the four kind of devotees were surrounding Śākyamuni Buddha respectfully. Having seen all this, they had the greatest joy that they had ever had.
In chapter 20 the Buddha addresses the bodhisattva Great Power Obtained and relates to him the story of the bodhisattva Never Despise, thereby pointing out the retribution of those who slander practitioners of the Lotus Sutra and the reward of those who preserve the true Dharma. In the past, after the death of the Buddha of that age, in a time when the Law had deteriorated and was only an imitation of the Truth, monks of the utmost arrogance held authority. A bodhisattva, named Never Despise, appeared and saluted all he met, whether ordained or lay, with the words, “I deeply revere you. I dare not slight and contemn you. Wherefore? [Because] you all walk in the bodhisattva-way and are to become buddhas” (MFH, 50c; TLS, p. 290). Those who were not pure of mind became irritated at his behavior, and reviled and abused him, and beat him with clubs and sticks, and threw potsherds and stones at him. Even so, he still saluted them and said, “I dare not slight you.” When his death drew near, he heard in the sky the verses of the Lotus Sutra and was able to receive and keep it, gaining the merits of the purity of the sense-organs. As a result, he was able to prolong his life for two hundred myriad kotis of nayutas (each equal to ten thousand kotis) of years, preaching the Lotus Sutra to the people, and converting the arrogant monks.
The story illustrates the principle of reversing a person’s belief by refuting his heretical views. Even being abused and reviled by people is itself a forging of links with Buddhism, planting the seed of future enlightenment. Nichiren based his method of shakubuku (refuting heretical views) upon this chapter.
When Nichiren had finished the “Opening the Eyes,” amidst the snows of winter, with the coming of the spring a better time began for him. The governor of the island was much attracted by Nichiren’s saintly life, as well as by his strong personality. The government issued an order to protect the exile; Nichiren was given an abode at Ichi-no-sawa, a place on the slope of a range of hills. The local chief of this region admired and protected him, showing him great respect; his wife and son were converted. The place of exile became a veritable center of propaganda, and many flocked to listen to the sermons of the wonderful man. Nichiren reviewed his past experience anew, in calm reflection; the hardships he had gone through appeared in another light, and he now recognized that they were all in expiation of the grave sins accumulated from eternity through neglect or abandonment of duty, or through not having always lived as the true Buddhist. The strenuous repression of which he made so much in his combative propaganda meant the repression not only of others’ illusions and vices, but of his own. In a letter written about one month after the “Opening the Eyes,” he sums up the arguments expounded in that work, and speaks of himself as follows:
“That Nichiren suffers so much is not without remote causes. As is explained in the chapter on the Bodhisattva Sadāparibhūta, all abuses and persecutions heaped upon the Bodhisattva were the results of his previous karma. How much more, then, should this be the case with Nichiren, a man born in the family of an outcast fisherman, so lowly and degraded and poor! Although in his soul he cherishes something of the faith in the Lotus of Truth, the body is nothing but a common human body, sharing beastlike life, nothing but a combination of the two fluids, pink and white, the products of flesh and fish. Therein the soul finds its abode, something like the moon reflected in a muddy pool, like gold wrapped up in a dirty bag. Since the soul cherishes faith in the Lotus of Truth, there is no fear even before (the highest deities, such as) Brahmā and Indra; yet the body is an animal body. Not without reason others show contempt this man, because there is a great contrast between the soul and the body. And even this soul is full of stains, being the pure moonlight only in contrast to the muddy water; gold, in contrast to the dirty bag.
“Who, indeed, fully knows the sins accumulated in his previous lives? … The accumulated karma is unfathomable. Is it not by forging and refining that the rough iron bar is tempered into a sharp sword? Are not rebukes and persecutions really the process of refining and tempering? I am now in exile, without any assignable fault; yet this may mean the process of refining, in this life, the accumulated sins (of former lives), and being thus delivered from the three woeful resorts. …
“The world is full of men who degrade the Lotus of Truth, and such rule this country now. But have I, Nichiren, not also been one of them? Is that not due to the sins accumulated by deserting the Truth? Now, when the intoxication is over, I stand here something like a drunken man who having, while intoxicated, struck his parents, after coming to himself, repents of the offence. The sin is hardly to be expiated at once. … Had not the rulers and the people persecuted me, how could I have expiated the sins accumulated by degrading the Truth?”
Such reflections on his own sinfulness naturally led Nichiren to apply the same principles to his followers. No one is totally destitute of Buddha-nature, which is dormant in the innermost recess of the soul; but none is free from the sin of having disregarded and disobeyed the Truth. Nichiren is now fulfilling the oaths taken before Buddha, and thereby expiating his sins through a severe discipline in hardships. Persecutions are necessary accompaniments of the lives of those who labor for the sake of the Truth, because of their efforts to stir up the malicious and perverse nature of their fellow-beings, among whom the work of propagating the Truth is done. But the perils are at the same time a means of expiating the workers’ own grave sins. Moreover, an existence of any kind is never an individual matter, but always the result of a common karma, shared by all born in the same realm of existence. Hence the expiation made by any one individual is, in fact, made for the sake of all his fellow-beings. Both the persecutors and the persecuted share the common karma accumulated in the past, and therefore share also in the future destiny, the attainment of Buddhahood. Nichiren’s repression of others’ malice and vice is at the same time his own expiation and self-subjugation. How, then, should his followers not share his merit in extinguishing the accumulated sins, and preparing for the realization of the primeval Buddha-nature? “Therefore,” Nichiren exhorts his disciples, “believe in me, and emulate my spirit and work, in the firm faith that the Master is the savior and leader! Work together, united in the same faith! Then, the expiation of sins will be achieved for ourselves and for all our fellow-beings, because we all share in the common karma.”
Chapter 6 The Exile In Sado And The Ripening of Nichiren's Faith in His Mission
[P]racticers of the Lotus Sūtra today should remember this as preached in the “Previous Life of the Medicine King Bodhisattva” chapter: “Just as the ocean is the largest of all bodies of water, upholders of the Lotus Sūtra are above all other people.” They should also remember: “Just as the moon is brighter than any star, upholders of the Lotus Sūtra are the first among the people.” Wise men today in Japan are like numerous stars while Nichiren is like the full moon.
Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 248
The One Year Memorial Service for Rev. Ryusho Jeffus will be held online on Sunday, Aug. 15 via Zoom at 10:30 AM Pacific Time – 1:30 PM Eastern Time, 6:30 PM GMT (London), 7:30 PM CET (Prague).
