Monthly Archives: November 2021

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 26, 2021

Why was this bhikṣu called Never-Despising? It was because, every time he saw bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇis, upāsakas or upāsikās, he bowed to them and praised them, saying, ‘I respect you deeply. I do not despise you. Why is that? It is because you will be able to practice the Way of Bodhisattvas and become Buddhas.’

The Buddha gives this description of Never-Despising Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty of the Lotus Sūtra. The only practice of this Bodhisattva was to show his respect to all people, whether or not they respected him. This practice was so important, the Buddha used it as an example of what he practiced in a previous life to enable him to become enlightened.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

LS32

Day 5

Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Day 5 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered Śāriputra’s joy at what he has just heard from the Buddha, we consider Śāriputra’s understanding.

I once was attached to wrong views,
And became a teacher of the aspirants for the teaching of Brahman.
You expounded to me the teaching of Nirvāṇa,
And removed my wrong views because you understood me.
I gave up all those wrong views,
And attained the truth that nothing is substantial.

At that time I thought
That I had attained extinction.’
But now I know
That the extinction I attained is not the true one.
When I become a Buddha in the future,
I shall be adorned with the thirty-two marks,
And respected
By gods, men, yakṣas, and dragons.
Only then I shall be able to say
That I have eliminated all [illusions].

In the midst of the great multitude,
You said to me, “You will become a Buddha.”
Hearing this truthful voice,
All my doubts are gone.

When I had heard this from you,
I was much frightened and perplexed; I thought:
“The Buddha troubles me.
Isn’t he Mara in the form of a Buddha?”

You skillfully expound the Dharma with various parables and similes,
And with various stories of previous lives.
Now my mind is as peaceful as the sea.
Hearing you, I have removed the mesh of doubts.

You said:
“The innumerable Buddhas in the past
Expounded the Dharma with expedients.
The numberless Buddhas at present
Also expound the Dharma
With expedients.
So will the countless Buddhas
In the future.”

You appeared in this world,
Left your home, attained enlightenment,
And now turn the wheel of the Dharma,
Also with expedients.

You expound the true teaching;
Papiyas does not.
Therefore, I know
That you are not a transformation of Mara.
I thought that the Dharma was expounded by Mara
Because I was in the mesh of doubts.

I hear your gentle voice.
Your voice is deep and wonderful.
You expound the Pure Dharma.
My heart is filled with great joy.
All my doubts are gone.
I have obtained true wisdom.

I shall become a Buddha without fail.
I shall be respected by gods and men.
I will turn the wheel of the unsurpassed Dharma,
And teach Bodhisattvas.

The Daily Dharma from March 29, 2021, offers this:

You skillfully expound the Dharma with various parables and similes,
And with various stories of previous lives.
Now my mind is as peaceful as the sea.
Hearing you, I have removed the mesh of doubts.

Śāriputra, the wisest of the Buddha’s disciples, sings these verses in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. After the Buddha announced in Chapter Two that he had not revealed his highest wisdom, that everything he had taught before then was preparation, Śāriputra was the first to understand what the Buddha meant. The parables, similes and other parts of the Lotus Sūtra help us to understand how to read them, and how to make them real in our lives. When we find the true purpose of what the Buddha is teaching us, our mind and the world become peaceful together.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

history, d21b

Achieving Buddhahood Without a Beginning

At the beginning of Chapter 16, “The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata,” Śākyamuni Buddha asks his listeners three times to pledge their faithful reliance on what he is about to teach. Maitreya and the others assembled pronounce their firm conviction in response. Having completed this cautious procedure, the Buddha tells them:

Listen to me attentively! I will tell you about my hidden core and supernatural powers. The gods, men and asuras in the world think that I, Śākyamuni Buddha, left the palace of the Śākyas, sat at the place of enlightenment not far from the City of Gayā, and attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi forty and odd years ago. To tell the truth, good men, it is many hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of kalpas since I became the Buddha.

This means: “You all think that Śākyamuni left the Śākya palace, practiced hard, and achieved buddhahood forty-odd years ago near Gayā. But you’re wrong. An infinite amount of time has passed since I became a Buddha.” Thus Śākyamuni Buddha revealed that he had not achieved buddhahood recently, but is the Eternal Buddha who achieved buddhahood in the infinite past. This is referred to as “opening the near to reveal the far,” in Japanese kaigon-kennon, or “opening the traces to reveal the origin,” in Japanese kaishaku-kenpon. This means opening a temporary figure of the Buddha achieving buddhahood recently, and manifesting a original figure of the Buddha achieving buddhahood in the infinite past. In the Japanese characters, kai, is opening, ken, is manifesting.

History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, p 90
WONS

The Meaning of Slandering

The Lotus Sūtra in the 13th chapter on the “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra” states, “Evil monks of the defiled world who do not know that the Buddha used expedient and provisional teachings will slander and scowl at practicers of the Lotus Sūtra. We will often be chased out of monasteries.”

It is also preached in the Nirvana Sūtra, “After My extinction, there will be hundreds, thousands, and many more besides, who do not believe in the Great Nirvana Sūtra and slander it. (…) The three kinds of Buddhists practicing the teachings for śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattvas will likewise hate this supreme Great Nirvana Sūtra.”

Monk Valued Opinion fell into the three evil realms (hell, realm of hungry spirits, and that of beasts and birds) because of his sin of slandering Bodhisattva Happy Root; and Thinking-of-Buddha and others suffered in the Hell of Incessant Suffering because of their sin of beating Never-Despising Bodhisattva. They all erred from not being able to distinguish between the Mahāyāna and Hinayāna and provisional and true teachings in Buddhism. As even the ignorant know that the ten evil acts and the five rebellious sins are grave crimes, they will hardly cause national destruction or the ruin of Buddhism. Consequently, it is stated in the Sūtra of the Benevolent King, “Unable to distinguish right from wrong, the king will put his faith in their (evil priests’) teachings.” It is also stated in the Nirvana Sūtra, “Those who commit the four major sins (killing, stealing, adultery and lying) and the five rebellious sins, with full knowledge