Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p p5-6I humbly submit that true reality is without marks and not something known through discrimination. The nature of reality is beyond words. How can it be adequately grasped through conceptualization? Nevertheless the Great Hero [the Buddha] transmitted the truth by relying on forms and images in accordance with [the capabilities of] sentient beings. The noble Buddha was spiritually proficient and assumed subtle language in order to foster the Path. At the beginning in the Deer Park, his first words were the teaching of the Four Noble Truths, and so on until the perfect culmination in the teaching of the three points [of the Dharma Body, the prajña-wisdom, and liberation before entering Nirvāṇa] at Kuśināgara. During this period his words flowed forth unceasingly, so that an elephant or horse could not carry [all the texts]. His various sermons were so abundant that the Dragon Palace could be filled without exhausting them. Surely a trap is used to catch rabbits, but after the rabbits are caught one forgets the trap. By means of a pointing finger one can find the moon; after one finds the moon the finger is ignored. The Dharma Body is established at sixteen feet tall for those who are attached to formal existence. The highest Path finds its ultimate expression in written texts for those who are caught up in verbal teachings. The one-sided emotional understanding of ordinary people is not the profound erudition of the Enlightened One.
Furthermore, when the sun is wrapped up in shadows, the moon succeeds it in giving forth light. Thus Śākyamuni Buddha “unleashed [the horse from] the carriage” [i.e., passed away into Nirvāṇa] and the Bodhisattvas propagated the Path. Thereafter Aśvaghoṣa and Nāgārjuna revived the declining Law [of the Buddha in India], and then Mo-t’eng and Fa-lang passed on the secret key [in China]. Thenceforth pure men of wisdom appeared one after the other, and men of eminent spiritual talents followed, so that they could not all be counted.
Monthly Archives: February 2023
Daily Dharma – Feb. 26, 2023
Whoever for as long as a kalpa,
With evil intent and flushed face,
Speaks ill of me,
Will incur immeasurable retributions. Whoever for even a moment
Reproaches those who read, recite and keep
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Will incur even more retributions.
The Buddha declares these lines to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. Why is it worse to criticize someone who is even beginning to practice the Wonderful Dharma than it is to criticize the Buddha who is fully enlightened? It is like the difference between kicking a full-grown tree and kicking a young sapling. The Buddha knows how to handle criticism. One who has just started with the Buddha Dharma could be discouraged from this practice through criticism. We should encourage anyone who wants to practice with us.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 20
Day 20 completes Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, and concludes the Fifth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month considered Maitreya’s doubts, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.
Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
It is not long
Since you renounced the family of the Śākyas
And sat under the Bodhi-tree
Near Gaya.These sons of yours are innumerable.
They have practiced
The way to Buddhahood for a long time.
They have supernatural powers and the power of wisdom.They have studied the Way of Bodhisattvas well.
They are not defiled by worldliness
Just as the lotus-flower
Is not defiled by water.They sprang up from underground,
And are now standing before you respectfully.
This is difficult to understand.
How can we believe this?You attained enlightenment quite recently.
But you have done so many things.
Remove our doubts!
Explain all this as it is!Suppose a man twenty-five years old
Points to grey-haired and wrinkle-faced men
A hundred years old,
And says, “They are my sons.”
Suppose old men point to a young man
And say, “He is our father.”
No one in the world will believe
That a father is younger than his sons.You are like the father.
You attained enlightenment quite recently.
These Bodhisattvas are resolute in mind.
They are not timid.
They have practiced the Way of Bodhisattva
For the past innumerable kalpas.They are good at answering difficult questions.
They are fearless and patient.
They are handsome, powerful and virtuous.
They are praised by the Buddhas
Of the worlds of the ten quarter .
They expound [the Dharma] clearly.They did not wish to live among men.
They preferred dwelling in dhyana-concentration.
They lived in the sky below
In order to attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.We do not doubt your words
Because we heard them direct from you.
Explain all this so that the living beings in the future
May be able to understand your words, Buddha!Those who doubt this sūtra
And do not believe it
Will fall into the evil regions.
Explain all this to us now!How did you teach these innumerable Bodhisattvas
In such a short time,
And cause them to aspire for enlightenment
And not falter in seeking enlightenment?[Here ends] the Fifth Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
The Daily Dharma from Sept. 6, 2022, offers this:
How did you teach these innumerable Bodhisattvas
In such a short time,
And cause them to aspire for enlightenment
And not falter in seeking enlightenment?
Maitreya Bodhisattva sings these verses to the Buddha in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Despite the Buddha’s explanation that he personally taught all of the Bodhisattvas who appear in Chapter Fifteen, Maitreya and others are still confused by what the Buddha has told them. Since they have faith that whatever the Buddha teaches is for their benefit, they persist with their sincere questioning, assured that the Buddha is leading them to enlightenment. While faith is an important part of our practice, recognizing our own confusion, and using questions to resolve that confusion are equally important. The Buddha does not ask for blind obedience. He knows we cannot find peace until we bring our whole being to his practice.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Tendai Lotus Teachings and Nichiren
Beginning today and running through April 28, I’ll be publishing quotes taken from “The Collected Teachings of the Tendai Lotus School,” which was written by Gishin in 830 CE and translated from the Japanese by Paul L. Swanson. The book was published as part of the BDK English Tripiṭaka (97-II) in 1995. (PDF)
Having read Swanson’s Foundations of T’ien-T’ai Philosophy and Haiyan Shen’s The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism and Paul Groner’s Saicho : The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School, I have a dilettante’s understanding of the basics of the teachings of Chih-i, a Chinese monk who lived in the 6th century CE and wrote extensively on the structure and ideas of the Lotus Sūtra. And having had that introduction I found Gishin’s explanation of the Tendai teachings an excellent summary.
Nichiren’s teachings draw extensively from Tendai and Chih-i, but I’m not confident in my understanding of where Nichiren’s teachings diverge. That has led me to wonder whether there is a reason why Nichiren Shu appears to have ignored Gishin’s text and instead embraced the work of Korean monk Chegwan, who wrote “A Guide to the Tiantai Fourfold Teachings” in the late 10th century. (See History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, p 99.)
I asked Rev. Ryuei McCormick whether there is a specific issue with Gishin’s work that troubles Nichiren Shu, and he replied:
This is a question I have also asked and not received a satisfactory answer from anyone. I can’t remember who replied to me but the answer from a Nichiren Shu priest was basically that Chegwan’s book wasn’t tainted by the Tendai esoteric associations. But as Paul Swanson points out, neither is the book by Gishin. So I can only shrug. I have certainly found nothing in Gishin’s book that would go against Nichiren’s teachings. Frankly, I think Chegwan and Gishin’s books are very complimentary.
I will return to the question of how Nichiren’s teaching departs from Tendai and Chih-i on April 29 after I’ve finished publishing the selected quotes from Gishin’s “The Collected Teachings of the Tendai Lotus School.”
The Collected Teachings of the Tendai Lotus School
The Collected Teachings of the Tendai Lotus School by Gishin was translated from the Japanese by Paul L. Swanson and published in 1995 as part of the BDK English Tripiṭaka (97-II).
From the Translator’s Introduction
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 1-2The Collected Teachings of the Tendai Lotus School (Tendai Hokkeshū Gishū) is an introduction to the doctrine and practice of the Japanese Tendai school. It was compiled by Gishin (781-833), the monk who accompanied Saichō (767-822) to T’ang China as his interpreter, so that he might help to transmit the Chinese T’ien-t’ai tradition to Japan. He later succeeded Saichō as head of the Tendai establishment on Mt. Hiei. The content of this work consists, for the most part, of extracts from the writings of Chih-i (538-97), the founder of Chinese T’ien-t’ai Buddhism; and it concisely outlines the basic tenets of Tendai doctrine and practice. Except for the introduction and colophon, it takes the form of a catechism. It is divided into two major sections, on doctrine and on practice. The section on doctrine contains a discussion of the Four Teachings, the Five Flavors, the One Vehicle, the Ten Suchlikes, Twelvefold Conditioned Co-arising, and the Two Truths. The section on practice discusses the Four Samādhis and the Three Categories of Delusions.
The Collected Teachings of the Tendai Lotus School was compiled in response to an imperial request that each Buddhist school prepare a description and defense of its own doctrine for submission to the court. The resulting texts are often referred to as “The Six Sectarian Texts Compiled by Imperial Request in the Tenchō. …
The exact date of compilation of this present work is uncertain. The Tendai zasu ki, an ecclesiastical history of the Tendai prelates, claims that Gishin compiled it in 823; but the closing verse in the Collected Teachings itself mentions the Tenchō era (824-34). It was probably submitted to the court in 830 along with the other five works.
The Collected Teachings of the Tendai Lotus School is the shortest of the works submitted to the court by the six Buddhist schools. … Its content is limited to Tendai proper and does not discuss esoteric Buddhism, Zen, or precepts, the other three of the so-called “four pillars of Japanese Tendai.” This was the cause of some controversy, since it ignored both esoteric Buddhism, which was in such great demand at the time, and the important issue of Hinayāna vs. Mahāyāna precepts. Perhaps Gishin felt that a straightforward presentation of the unique features of Tendai proper, as presented in the writings of Chih-i, was most important. Thus the final incorporation of esoteric Buddhism into Japanese Tendai was left to later monks such as Ennin (794-864), Enchin (814-89), and Annen (841-?).
At the conclusion of the Preface, Gishin writes:
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 7This compilation first presents the two main topics, Doctrine and Contemplation. Next, under these categories it lists all the essential points and outlines them. However, the doctrine is vast, so that shallow and ignorant people become lost. Mysterious reality is deep and profound, so that fools cannot measure it. It is like scooping up the ocean with a broken gourd or viewing the heavens with a tiny tube. Therefore I clumsily take up this great rope [of the vast Buddha-dharma] and feebly attempt to compose this work. At times the text is brief and the meaning hidden, at times [it is] short or long. If one tried to exhaust all the details, the result would be too complicated. As an incomplete presentation of the essentials of our school, it resembles a crude commentary. The attempts at summation often miss the mark, and the essential content is difficult to outline.
The reason that the Four Teachings and the Five Flavors stand at the beginning is that these are the fundamental doctrines of the original Buddha and the basis of this [Tendai] school’s profound teaching. The other doctrines are numerous, but they depend on and proceed from these first two. This work consists of one fascicle and is called The Collected Teachings of the Tendai Lotus School.
At the end, Gishin offers this verse:
In praise it is said:
After Kuśināgara [where the Buddha entered final Nirvāṇa] ,
In the midst of the era of the semblance Dharma,
The two sages of Mt. Nan-yo and Mt. T’ien-t’ai
And the two leaders Chan-jan and Saichō
Firmly established the Path for the myriad years,
And its doctrine crowned all schools.In the Tenchō period (824-834) Buddhism again flourished.
The Emperor mercifully requested
A presentation of the admirable [doctrines].
Therefore, of the luxuriant meanings
I have outlined just a few.
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 136
The text translated by Swanson was actually copied in the middle of the winter of 1649 by “an anonymous private monk”:
Colophon
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 137The Collected Teachings is a composition by Master [Gi]shin of Mt. Hiei. Whether on teachings or on the practice of contemplation, it is an outline of the 80,000 doctrines in the twelvefold scripture, a summary of the essentials concerning all the subjects of this [Tendai] school, rolled up in many pages. It should be recognized as a substantial vessel of scholarship. It is also a book that has reached the attention of the Emperor. It has already been officially presented to the court. How can it not be transmitted? In the past it was popular, but it became old with the years. Since there are not a few errata [in the text], I am now correcting and editing it, adding punctuation, having catalpa wood plates carved, and bringing it to print. It is hoped that this work by such a virtuous elder will not disappear for a thousand years.
See Tendai Lotus Teachings and Nichiren
Book Quotes
Daily Dharma – Feb. 25, 2023
You, the World-Honored One, are exceptional.
You reminded me of the teachings
Of innumerable Buddhas in the past
As if I had heard them today.
Ānanda, the Buddha’s cousin and one of his leading disciples, sings these verses in Chapter Nine of the Lotus Sūtra. In the Story, Ānanda had just been personally assured by the Buddha that he would become a Buddha himself in a future life. All the teachings of the Buddha across all time are always available to us. What prevents us from hearing them and putting them into practice is nothing more than our own attachment to our suffering and our doubts about our capacity for wisdom and compassion. When we take to heart the assurance that we and all beings can become enlightened, it clears away our delusion and allows to see the Buddha teaching us in all aspects of our lives.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 19
Day 19 concludes Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and begins Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.
Having last month considered the request of the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, more than eight times the number of the sands of the River Ganges, who had come from the other worlds, we consider the arrival of the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who sprang up from underground.
When he had said this, the ground of the Sahā-World, which was composed of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, quaked and cracked, and many thousands of billions of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas sprang up from underground simultaneously. Their bodies were golden-colored, and adorned with the thirty-two marks and with innumerable rays of light. They had lived in the sky below this Sahā-World. They came up here because they heard these words of Śākyamuni Buddha. Each of them was the leader of a great multitude. The Bodhisattvas included those who were each accompanied by attendants as many as sixty thousand times the number of the sands of the River Ganges. Needless to say, [they included those who were each accompanied by less attendants, for instance,] fifty thousand times, forty thousand times, thirty thousand times, twenty thousand times or ten thousand times the number of the sands of the River Ganges, or by attendants just as many of the sands of the River Ganges, or by attendants as many as a half, or a quarter of the number of the sands of the River Ganges, or by attendants as many as the sands of the River Ganges divided by a thousand billion nayuta, a billion, ten million, a million, ten thousand, a thousand, a hundred, ten, five, four, three or two attendants, or only by one attendant. [The Bodhisattvas] who preferred a solitary life came alone. The total number of the Bodhisattvas was innumerable, limitless, beyond calculation, inexplicable by any parable or simile.
The Essentials for Calming and Inight
Not found in the Shutei Hoyo Shiki is a teaching by Chih-i in his “Essentials for Practicing Calming and Insight Dhyana Meditation.” I feel it is important to include it in this book of important matters. These essentials are Zeal, Vigor, Mindfulness, Discernment, and Single-Mindedness.
Important Matters, p 96-97
- Zeal
- First, a person must possess the desire, the willingness to change something. Without this aspiring to change there is no initial cause for implementation.
- Vigor
- Next, a person must approach the task with effort, and a willingness to accomplish the task without letting up. Not being afraid to challenge the root causes of which may be the most difficult. Unrelenting adherence to the Six Perfections, the Eightfold Path even when it seems most difficult or most discouraging.
- Mindfulness
- Generation of a mind that is able to see what is based upon reality and what is based on our interpretation. A mind that is aware that there are noble acts and acts that are to be avoided. Develop a mind that is free from the outflows of impurity. Being awake in the moment and aware.
- Discernment
- Discrimination of action based on mindfulness. To make critical judgments about what is wise. Assessments of value and achievements against what will be lost or unattainable by acting a certain way. It isn’t always a case of clear-cut choices. Sometimes the choice is between two unpleasant courses that one hopes will yield the greatest potential for future better choices.
- Single-Mindedness
- Achieving a focus that prohibits us from being distracted and side-tracked. Making a single-minded effort to cultivate one’s mind so that nothing can interfere with our efforts.
Daily Dharma – Feb. 24, 2023
The Buddha is the master of the human and heavenly realms, the parent of all living beings, and the teacher who opens the way and leads us all to enlightenment. Lowly parents lack the virtue of a master, and the master without the virtue of parents is frightening. People with the virtues of parents or master do not necessarily possess the virtue of the teacher.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Prayers (Kitō-shō). This illustrates three aspects of the ever-present Buddha to which we can aspire as we practice his highest teachings. Parents care about their children, but they can lack the skill and knowledge necessary to benefit them. A skillful master can be wise about how to live in this world of conflict, but without a true concern for the well-being of those he leads, can degenerate into cruelty and selfishness. As a teacher, the Buddha has found us all within himself, and cares for us as he cares for himself. He has also found himself within all of us, and knows what it takes to lead us to his wisdom.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 18
Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.
Having last month considered how a retired place is the first thing to find, we consider in gāthās the proper practices and things to be approached.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
A Bodhisattva who wishes
To expound this sūtra without fear
In the evil world
After [my extinction]
Should perform proper practices
And approach proper things.He should keep away
From kings, princes and ministers,
From other government officials,
From players of dangerous sports,
From caṇḍālas, from heretics,
And from aspirants for the teaching of Brahman.He should not approach arrogant people,
Or the scholars who are deeply attached
To the Three Stores of the Lesser Vehicle,
Or the bhikṣus
Who violate the precepts,
Or self-appointed Arhats,
Or the bhikṣunīs/
Who like to laugh playfully.He should not approach the upāsikās
Who are attached to the five desires
Or who seek in their present life
The extinction[-without-remainder].When they come to him
With good intent
In order to hear
About the enlightenment of the Buddha,
He should expound the Dharma to them
Without fear,
But should not wish to receive
Anything from them.He should not approach
Or make friends with a widow
Or with an unmarried woman
Or with a eunuch.He should not approach
Slaughterers or cooks
Or those who kill for profit,
Such as hunters or fishermen.He should not approach
Butchers
Or procurers
Of prostitutes.He should not approach
Dangerous wrestlers
Or makers of various amusements
Or immoral women.He should not expound the Dharma
To a woman in an enclosed place.
When he expounds the Dharma to her,
He should not laugh playfully.When he goes to a village to beg for food,
He should take a Bhikṣu with him.
If he cannot find a Bhikṣu [to take with him],
He should think of the Buddha with all his heart.These are the proper practices he should perform
And the proper things he should approach.
He should expound the Dharma peacefully
Only after doing all this!
The Daily Dharma from June 6, 2022, offers this:
When they come to him
With good intent
In order to hear
About the enlightenment of the Buddha,
He should expound the Dharma to them
Without fear,
But should not wish to receive
Anything from them.
The Buddha makes this explanation to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. In our zeal to practice this Wonderful Dharma we may come to expect that because this is such a wonderful teaching, we deserve to be rewarded for providing it to others. With this expectation, we then lose our focus on using the Dharma to benefit others and instead use it to benefit ourselves. When we show how to give freely, without expectations, we embody generosity, the same generosity the Buddha himself demonstrated when he provided the teaching to us.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com