The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, p69-70The section of text which begins, “If, on the other hand, a person were to receive and hold from this sutra,” was spoken by Śākyamuni Buddha. Receive means that the mind receives it. Hold means that the body puts the teaching into practice. …
In general, one may memorize any four-lines that suit him and explain them to others. One should not interpret the passage of sutra text in this section as referring only to the verses in this particular sutra, because the dharma is not fixed; it’s not inflexible. If one insists on a given four lines, the dharma becomes static. The Vajra Sutra subdues the mind and rids it of rigid attachments, enabling it to separate from all marks. It sweeps away all phenomena and separates from all marks. Separation from all marks is Buddhahood. Do not be attached to a particular four lines. Keep the dharma alive! Let it be like a vital dragon, like a coursing tiger. Speak the sutra until it leaps and bounds. Talk until it soars. Do not be so stuffy that you put everyone to sleep, and then be so stupid as to think your lecturing has caused them to enter samadhi.
Receiving and holding the sutra is self-benefitting cultivation which leads to self-enlightenment. Explaining it to others benefits and enlightens them.
If you can receive and hold a four-line gāthā yourself, and speak it for others, the blessings and virtue of that act are far greater than the blessings and virtue derived by the person who gives three thousand great thousand world systems full of the seven precious gems as a gift. Why? Because the giving of dharma is the most supreme kind of giving, and as such far surpasses the giving of wealth.
Monthly Archives: May 2025
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for May 2, 2025
There is only one teaching, that is, Myōhō Renge Kyō
In the Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters.
There is not a second or a third vehicle
Except when the Buddhas teach expediently.The Buddhas lead all Living beings
By tentative names [of vehicles]
In order to expound their wisdom.
They appear in the worlds
Only for Myōhō Renge Kyō.
Tao-sheng: Did Not Comprehend
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p234The poor son was glad to be treated kindly, but still thought that he was a humble employee. Therefore, the rich man had him clear dirt for twenty years.
Seeing the truth and meditating on it have taken him ten [years] each: so it is said, “twenty years.”
After that the father and son trusted each other. Now the son felt no hesitation in entering the house of his father [Came and went at his ease]
[The Buddha] had him hear about the Greater Vehicle, and so he came and went to this li at his ease without harboring any doubt.
but still lodged in his old place.
He heard the teaching of the Greater Vehicle preached and was led to know that it was what he had already had, and yet he did not comprehend it: he was “lodged in the same place as before.”
Vajra Sutra: World Systems
The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, p67-68Every world system contains:
1 Mount Sumeru;
1 set of the Four Great Continents, namely:
- Jambudvipa to the south,
- Pūravavideha to the east,
- Aparagodānīya to the west, and
- Uttarakuru to the north;
1 sun, and 1 moon.
One thousand of such world systems is called one small-thousand world system. A thousand small-thousand world systems is called one middle-thousand world system. A thousand middle-thousand world systems is called one great-thousand world system. Because the word “thousand” occurs three times, the great-thousand world system is referred to as the three thousand great-thousand world system. This gigantic world system contains limitless Buddhalands, and in spite of its name, the number of worlds it contains may vary, because phenomena are flexible, not fixed. One should not become too attached to an exact number.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for May 1, 2025
Thereupon the Buddha said to the Bodhisattvas, gods, men and the four kinds of devotees: “When I was a Bodhisattva] in my previous existence, I sought Myōhō Renge Kyō for innumerable kalpas without indolence. I became a king [and continued to be so] for many kalpas. [Although I was a king,] I made a vow to attain unsurpassed Bodhi. I never faltered in seeking it. I practiced alms-giving in order to complete the six pāramitās. I never grudged elephants, horses, the seven treasures, countries, cities, wives, children, menservants, maidservants or attendants. I did not spare my head, eyes, marrow, brain, flesh, hands or feet. I did not spare even my life.”