History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, p 164The goal of Buddhism is attaining the stage of “selflessness.” This is an awakening by conquering one’s egotism manifesting as an aggregation of desires. However, one needs first to experience their ego and overcome it to reach “selflessness.” This also means there is no selflessness without ego. Knowing oneself and thereby all of humanity, one finally reaches the answer after a multitude of questions. The Buddha’s teachings show how to find the answer. They explain the practices we need to recognize the true nature of humanity and to how to live in the right way. Thus, Buddhism started by showing what we are.
Nichiren Shōnin had a different goal. His focus was society. His first question was, “How can we make this world better?” To reach his answer required two additional questions: “How should we act?” and “What is our existence?” The former has an ethical aspect where the latter has a philosophical aspect. He used various sūtras, the teachings of Śākyamuni Buddha, the lord of the Dharma, to answer these questions. For him, all sūtras were the true teachings of the Buddha. In other words, Nichiren Shōnin’s teachings were the true teachings of the Buddha.
Monthly Archives: December 2021
The Eye of Buddhas
Only when the Lotus Sūtra is placed before the wooden or painted image of the Buddha with 31 marks of physical excellence, does the image become the Buddha of the pure Perfect Teaching. The Sūtra of Meditation on the Universal Sage Bodhisattva, therefore, speaks of the Buddha of the Lotus Sūtra, “The threefold body of the Buddha is produced from the Hōdō.” “Hōdō” in this sense does not mean the Hōdō period of preaching by the Buddha, but it means the Lotus Sūtra. The Sūtra of Meditation on the Universal Sage Bodhisattva also preaches, “This Mahāyāna sūtra is the eye of Buddhas; it enables them to obtain the five kinds of eyesight.”
Mokue Nizō Kaigen no Koto, Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, Wooden Statues or Portraits, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 91
Daily Dharma – Dec. 29, 2021
Good men! I think that the Buddha, the World-Honored One, wishes to expound a great teaching, to send the rain of a great teaching, to blow the conch-shell horn of a great teaching, to beat the drum of a great teaching, and to explain the meaning of a great teaching.
Mañjuśrī declares this to Maitreya and all others gathered to hear the Buddha teach in Chapter One of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha had just produced the light from between his eyebrows illuminating the worlds of the ten directions, a sight none but Mañjuśrī had experienced. The great teaching the Buddha was about to expound is the Lotus Sutra. This statement awakens our interest and shows us how to listen to this teaching, as if it were a great cooling rain or the loud call of a conch-shell or drum.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 4
Day 4 concludes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Seeing people of no wisdom, I thought:
“If I teach them only the Way to Buddhahood,
They will be distracted.
They will doubt my teaching, and not receive it.
I know that they did not plant
The roots of good in their previous existence.
They are deeply attached to the five desires.
They suffer because of stupidity and cravings.
Because they have many desires,
They will fall into the three evil regions,
Or go from one to another of the six regions
Only to undergo many sufferings.
Through their consecutive previous existences,
Their small embryos have continued to grow up
To become men of few virtues and merits.
They are now troubled by many sufferings.
They are in the thick forests of wrong views.
They say “Things exist,”
Or “Things do not exist.”
They are attached to sixty-two wrong views.
They are deeply attached to unreal things.
They hold them firmly, and do not give them up.
They are arrogant, self-conceited,
Liable to flatter others, and insincere.
They have never heard of the name of a Buddha
Or of his right teachings
For thousands of billions of kalpas.
It is difficult to save them.”Therefore, Śāriputra!
I expounded an expedient teaching
In order to eliminate their sufferings.
That was the teaching of Nirvana.
The Nirvana which I expounded to them
Was not true extinction.
The Daily Dharma from July 24, 2021, offers this:
Therefore, Śāriputra!
I expounded an expedient teaching
In order to eliminate their sufferings.
That was the teaching of Nirvāṇa.
The Nirvāṇa which I expounded to them
Was not true extinction.
All things are from the outset
In the state of tranquil extinction.
The Buddha provides this explanation to his disciple Śāriputra in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. In this part of the story, the Buddha has announced that everything he had taught up until then, including the teachings of suffering and Nirvāṇa, were merely preparation for his highest teaching: the realization of the same enlightenment he reached. With the teaching of Nirvāṇa, the Buddha helps us take responsibility for our own situation rather than relying on an external force to make us happy. One problem with Nirvāṇa is that we can believe that it is something we do not have now. When we extinguish the fires of our delusion, we see the world with the Buddha’s eyes. We see the world for what it is, right here and right now.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Lord and the Right Dharma
History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, p 164In 1260 (the first year of the Bun’o era), Nichiren Shōnin presented his Treatise on Spreading Peace Throughout the Country by Establishing the True Dharma, in Japanese Risshō Ankoku-ron, to the former regent of Kamakura Shogunate, Lord Tokiyori Hōjō.
“You should promptly discard your false faith and take up the true and sole teaching of the Lotus Sūtra at once. Then this triple world of the unenlightened will all become Buddha lands. Will Buddha lands ever decay? All the worlds in the universe will become Pure Lands. Will Pure Lands ever be destroyed? When our country does not decay and the world is not destroyed, our bodies will be safe and our hearts tranquil. Believe these words and revere them!”
We can summarize the passage above with a series of four questions:
- Question 1: How can we find security for our bodies and peace of mind? Answer: We need first to improve our society.
- Question 2: How can we improve our society?
Answer: We need to change the focus of our devotion.- Question 3: How can we change the focus of our devotion? Answer: We need to know the transgressions we commit.
- Question 4: How can we know our transgressions?
Answer: We need to know our true lord and his right teachings.The answer to the last question realizes the doctrine of Establishing the correct teaching for the peace of the land, in Japanese Risshō Ankoku. This doctrine guides us to know ourselves, recognize our transgressions, convert our religion, and as a result, contribute to a better society. Thus, we establish the Buddha’s Land where the safety of our bodies and the peacefulness of our minds are guaranteed.
Two Meanings of Daimoku
The daimoku has two meanings: the daimoku which was practiced during the Ages of the True Dharma and Semblance Dharma, and that which is practiced in the Latter Age of Degeneration. During the Age of the True Dharma, Bodhisattvas Vasubandhu and Nāgārjuna chanted the daimoku solely for the sake of their own practice. During the Age of the Semblance Dharma, Grand Masters Nanyüeh and T’ien-t’ai chanted only the daimoku, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō; they, too, chanted it for their own practices, not to guide other people. Their daimoku was a practice for attaining enlightenment based on the teaching of the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra. The daimoku which I, Nichiren, recite today in the Latter Age of Degeneration is the daimoku of Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, which, unlike that of the previous ages, is not merely the practice for personal enlightenment but it is the practice also for benefitting others. This five-character daimoku is not just a title of the Lotus Sūtra; it contains the five profound meanings of the name, entity, quality, function and teaching.
Sandai Hiho Honjo-ji, The Transmission of the Three Great Secret Dharmas, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 289-290
Daily Dharma – Dec. 28, 2021
The mother said to them, ‘Show some wonders to your father out of your compassion towards him! If he sees [the wonders], he will have his mind purified and allow us to go to that Buddha.’
These lines are from a story told by the Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. The two sons of King Wonderful-Adornment have asked their mother for permission to leave home and follow the Buddha Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom. The wonders in the story are beyond the capacity of human beings, but they show the King that another way of living is possible, and induce him to seek the teaching of that Buddha. Even if we cannot develop supernatural powers, there are wonders we can develop in our practice. We can learn the value of respecting all beings. We can control our desires and not be devastated by life’s tragedies. We can share “even a word or phrase,” as Nichiren put it, of the teaching and bring great benefit to others. In our normal lives, changed by our practice, we too can purify the minds of others.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 3
Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.
Thereupon Śāriputra, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Sun of Wisdom, Great Honorable Saint!
You expound the Dharma for the first time after a long time.
You say that you obtained
The powers, fearlessness, samādhis,
Dhyana-concentrations, emancipations,
And other inconceivable properties [of a Buddha].No one asks you about the Dharma you attained
At the place of enlightenment.
[The Dharma] is too difficult for me to measure.
[So it is for others; therefore,] no one asks you.Although you are not asked, you extol the teachings
[Of the past Buddhas] which you practiced.
Your wisdom is wonderful.
It is the same wisdom that the other Buddhas obtained.The Arhats-without-āsravas
And those who are seeking Nirvāṇa
Are now in the mesh of doubts, wondering:
“Why does the Buddha say all this?”Those who are seeking the vehicle of cause-knowers,
And the bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, gods, dragons,
Gandharvas, and other supernatural beings,
Are exchanging glances of perplexity.They are looking up at you, at the Honorable Biped
Thinking:
“What is this for?
Buddha! Explain all this!”You once said to me:
“You are the most excellent Śrāvaka.”
With all my wisdom, however, I now doubt.
I do not understand
Whether the Truth I attained is final or not,
Whether the teachings I practiced are true or not.Your sons born from your mouth are looking up at you
With their hands joined together, entreating:
“With your wonderful voice,
Explain all this as it really is!”As many gods and dragons
As there are sands in the River Ganges,
And the eighty thousand Bodhisattvas
Who are seeking Buddhahood,
And the wheel-turning-holy-kings
Of billions of worlds
Are joining their hands together respectfully,
Wishing to hear the Perfect Way.
Making Change
In our daily lives we encounter individuals who challenge us and seem to make it difficult to practice. It is possible we may become discouraged and think there is no possible way for the circumstances to change. We may feel there is nothing we can do to be at peace with certain people in our environment. Yet those challenging individuals can provide for us an opportunity to change ourselves in ways not otherwise possible. We can choose whether we wish to learn and grow or remain unchanged and continue to have difficulties with the same situations.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraMoving to Minobu
History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, p 157-158In the Hōon-jō, he wrote, “If a sage makes three attempts to warn the rulers of the nation and they still refuse to heed his advice, then he should retire to a mountain forest. This is the custom from ages past.” This moved him to action. However, it seems that at the start there was no specific plan for his place of retirement.
A month after his meeting with Yoritsuna, Nichiren Shōnin left Kamakura on May 12, heading towards Hakii Village in the Province of Kai. Since the believer Hakii (Nambu) Sanenaga was the steward of Hakii Village, it seems that Nichiren Shōnin accepted an invitation from him. Traveling west on the Tōkaidō Road, on that day he went as far as Sakawa, present day Odawara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, traversing the Ashigara Pass until reaching Takenoshita, present day
Koyama-chō, Shizuoka Prefecture, on the 13th, and stopping at Numazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture on the 14th. From here he headed towards Kai, reaching Ōmiya, present day Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture, on the 15th, Nambu, present day Nambu-chō, Yamanashi Prefecture, on the 16th. Then on the 17th, he arrived at Sanenaga’s villa in Hakii Village present day Minobu-chō. Along the way resided the lay believers Takahashi Nyūdō and Nishiyama Nyūdō, but Nichiren Shōnin did not stop to see them, so as not to draw the attention of the Hōjō clan.Nichiren Shōnin had not planned from the beginning to live at Minobu, but after remaining there for a while, life in the mountains appealed to him. He moved into a lodging prepared by Lord Hakii on June 16, 1274, where he remained living until September of 1282, when he was forced to come down from the mountain due to illness.