Faith and practice in the Lotus Sutra are often presented in similar manner. I believe this is because faith is an actual practice for us. Faith is not simply the absolute belief in the teaching but is an experience of the truth of the teaching. Faith takes root in and grows from our daily practice and study. And yet, faith while growing from practice also nurtures that very same practice. In this way, faith and practice are not two separate activities but one constantly evolving cycle of activity.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraMonthly Archives: September 2021
Śākyamuni Buddha’s Many Teachings
Appearing in this world, Śākyamuni Buddha preached many teachings during His lifetime. The Buddha classified His own teachings preached during 50 years into different type of doctrines: shallow and profound, inferior and superior, and expedient and true. He thus preached that the truth was not revealed in the sūtras expounded in the 40 years or so before the Lotus Sūtra was preached, and that the Lotus Sūtra is the supreme and true teaching of all the sūtras expounded in the past, present, and future existences. Moreover, the Buddha of Many Treasures and various Buddhas throughout the universe attested this to be true.
Jōren-bō Gosho, A Letter to Jōren-bō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 172
Daily Dharma – Sept. 8, 2021
The highest Dharma that I attained
Is profound and difficult to understand.
Now I will expound it.
Listen to me with all your hearts!
The Buddha sings these verses to those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. He has already said that we must leave behind the expedient teachings tailored to our minds and take on the highest teaching which is the Buddha’s own mind. He knows how difficult this is for us, that we cannot hear it through our understanding alone, so he asks us to use our whole being to hear him.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 28
Day 28 covers all of Chapter 24, Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, and concludes the Seventh Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
When he was illumined by the light of Śākyamuni Buddha, he said to the Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha:
“World-Honored One! I wish to visit the Sahā-World, bow to Śākyamuni Buddha, attend on him, and make offerings to him. I also wish to see Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva, who is the Son of the King of the Dharma. [I also wish to see] Medicine-King Bodhisattva, Brave-In-Giving Bodhisattva, Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva, Superior-Practice-Intent Bodhisattva, Adornment-King Bodhisattva, and Medicine-Superior Bodhisattva.”
Thereupon Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha said to Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva:
“Do not despise that world! Do not consider it to be inferior [to our world]! Good Man! The Sahā-World is not even. It is full of mud, stones, mountains’ and impurities. The Buddha [of that world] is short in stature! So are the Bodhisattvas [of that world]. You are forty-two thousand yojanas tall. I am six million an eight hundred thousand yojanas tall. You are the most handsome. You have thousands of millions of marks of merits, and your light is wonderful. Do not despise that world when you go there! Do not consider that the Buddha and Bodhisattvas of that world are inferior [to us]! Do not consider that that world is inferior [to ours]!”
The Daily Dharma from May 21, 2020, offers this:
Thereupon Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha said to Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva: “Do not despise that world! Do not consider it to be inferior [to our world]! Good Man! The Sahā-World is not even. It is full of mud, stones, mountains and impurities. The Buddha [of that world] is short in stature. So are the Bodhisattvas [of that world]. You are forty-two thousand yojanas tall. I am six million and eight hundred thousand yojanas tall. You are the most handsome. You have thousands of millions of marks of merits, and your light is wonderful. Do not despise that world when you go there! Do not consider that the Buddha and Bodhisattvas of that world are inferior [to us]! Do not consider that that world is inferior [to ours]!”
In Chapter Twenty-Four of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha sends a light from his forehead to the world in which Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva lives. When that Bodhisattva saw this light from Śākyamuni Buddha, he asked permission from the Buddha he was attending to visit our world of conflict. The instruction he receives from his Buddha reminds us that no matter what advantages we have gained from our practice of the Buddha Dharma, these do not make us any better or worse than those we are determined to benefit.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Tolerance: Transient Problems
Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 123-124As the art of putting things into perspective, wisdom also teaches us how to contextualize problems, how to understand what worries us in a light that is liberating rather than debilitating. Recall that Buddhist wisdom is associated with the realizations that all things are impermanent and contingent. Cultivating the ability to tolerate the problems and difficulties that are almost always on our minds, awareness of their impermanence and contingency is essential. Keeping impermanence in mind, we realize that this problem, like all others, is transient. Although it weighs heavily on my mind right now, I can attain a perspective that predicts its transformation and eventual disappearance. That slight distance from the problem enables us to avoid being crushed by the perceived weight of problems.
In addition to seeing the transience of the problem, wisdom points to its contingency. All things just depend. They come into our lives due to particular conditions, and when those conditions change so will the problems. This formula – the Buddhist teaching of “dependent arising” – assists in understanding the status of difficulties. They are contingent and can be altered by changing the conditions upon which they currently depend. Understanding this empowers action and helps reduce the extent to which we waste time and energy bemoaning what has happened as though that state is permanent and unavoidable. Getting wise perspective encourages us to see the reality before us for what it is without lamentation or resentment. Accepting the problem as a problem does not undermine effective work to solve it. Indeed, it is exactly what makes skillful response possible by bringing pointless struggle to an end.
True Way of Practicing the Teaching of the Buddha
As I contemplate the matter, it is clearly stated in the “Teacher of the Dharma” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra that those who uphold this sūtra during the Latter Age of Degeneration would suffer from hatred and jealousy even more severe than those who upheld the sūtra during the lifetime of the Buddha.
The reason is that during the lifetime of the Buddha the preacher was the Lord Buddha, and His disciples were such superior beings as great bodhisattvas and arhats. The Buddha’s disciples also included humans, gods, the four categories of Buddhists (monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen), the eight kinds of gods and demi-gods who protect Buddhism, and non-humans. However, the Buddha preached the Lotus Sūtra for them only after spending forty years or so cultivating and nurturing their ability to understand and have faith in it. Even so, He encountered much hatred and jealousy. How much more hatred and jealousy should there be in this Latter Age of Degeneration, when the True Dharma is lost and the people quarrel and fight constantly!
Nyosetsu Shugyō-shō, True Way of Practicing the Teaching of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 81-82
Daily Dharma – Sept. 7, 2021
He should disregard the differences
Between the superior, mean, and inferior vehicles,
Between the things free from causality and those subject to it,
And between the real and the unreal.
He should not say:
“This is a man,” or “This is a woman.”
He should not obtain anything
Or know anything or see anything.
All these are the proper practices
That the Bodhisattva should perform.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Mañjuśrī in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. When we fully comprehend the idea of dependent origination, that no person has an ego, that each of us is the result of causes and conditions, and that the Buddha Dharma is a cause for good of which we may not be aware, it is no longer necessary to classify the beings with whom we share this world. Our inclinations towards dogma are replaced with curiosity. Our need to dominate is replaced with a need to understand.
Day 27
Day 27 conclud