The Buddhas joyfully display
Their immeasurable, supernatural powers
Because [the Bodhisattvas from underground]
[Vow to] keep Myōhō Renge Kyō after my extinction.
Monthly Archives: June 2025
Tao-sheng: The Parable of the Skillful Physicians and His Sick Children
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p295-298I will tell you a parable. There was once an excellent and wise physician. He was good at dispensing medicines and curing diseases. He had many sons, numbering ten, twenty, or a hundred.
This example symbolizes the Buddha who exists [forever] in reality but who says he will soon be extinguished. Living beings formerly received [from him] transformative teaching; they are “sons” born of the bodhisattva. Twenty refers to the two vehicles. Hundred or more indicates “many.” He who cures diseases on the basis of the [sufferer’s] present [condition) is a “physician.”
[One day] he went to a remote country on business.
Having transformed this [realm], he must also transform that [realm], without taking any rest.
After he left home, the sons took poison. The poison passed into their bodies, and the sons writhed in agony, rolling on the ground.
Their understanding is small and they suffer from delusion; they are likened to those who “drink poisonous medicines.” “Going astray from li,” they belong to the “other.” The condition (pratyaya) of delusion arises: “The medicines start becoming effective.” Having received consciousness of death and birth, they are likened to being in “agonized pain and confusion.” [Being in the cycle of] birth and death, they are “rolling about on the earth.”
At that time the father returned home.
The li underlying the former transformative teaching is true; it is “home.” The condition for receiving teaching overcomes them and they return to the city of Gayā and recognize it; they “return.”
Some sons had already lost their right minds while the others still had not.
Ever since they received the teaching, [some of] them have practiced the right path all the time: they “have not lost their sanity.” Going astray from it, [some of] them “have lost [their sanity].”
All the sons saw their father in the distance and had great joy.
Conditions develop in such a way that they overcome their ignorance, on a shallow level, and approach li, gradually, little by little: They “see from afar.” But as they see that form [incarnated] in response [to the different needs of individual beings] they are all “[over]joyed,” and there is no one who does not offer alms to him and praise him.
They begged him on their knees, saying, ‘You came back safely. We were ignorant. We took poison by mistake.
The process of overcoming [ignorance] having been started, the true reveals the erroneous. What is said here is an unreal, tentative statement.
Cure us, and give us back our lives!’
They have appealed to him to heal them; he “heals” them, that is, he revives their wisdom-life. This also is an unreal, tentative statement.
Seeing his sons suffering so much, the father consulted books of prescriptions, and collected good herbs. having a good color, smell and taste. He compounded a medicine by pounding and sieving the herbs, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is a very good medicine. It has good color, smell and taste.’
All that the Buddha has preached about the Dharma, in accordance with the way [beings] respond, has the same goal: it is “tasty.” The words describe their external joy: they are “colorful.” They have had their thought rectified inside and outside: it is “fragrant.” The [Buddha’s] teaching manifests the ultimate consequence, unity in the markless (wu-hsiang/animitta): he “pounded, sifted, and blended them.”
Take it! It will remove the pain at once and you will not suffer any more.’
He meant “to order them to take.” This also is an unreal, tentative statement.
The sons who had not lost their right minds saw that this good medicine had a good color and smell, took it at once, and were cured completely.
They apprehended [the Buddha’s] purport: they “took it.” They had their delusions removed: they were “healed.”
But the sons who had already lost their right minds did not consent to take the medicine given to them, although they rejoiced at seeing their father come home and asked him to cure them, because they were so perverted that they did not believe that this medicine having a good color and smell had a good taste.
Although they knew that it was a medicine, they remained ignorant of its purpose; thus it was “no good.”
He said to them, ‘Know this! Now I am old and decrepit. I shall die soon.
Likewise, the Buddha’s age was eighty; his form was like a worn-out vehicle. He was just about to enter parinirvāṇa.
I am leaving this good medicine here. Take it! Do not be afraid that you will not be cured!
If the Great Dharma of the six pāramitās is not kept, it will disappear. li is not subject to destruction; when practiced, it will remain.
Having thus advised them, he went to a [remote] country again. Then he sent home a messenger to tell them, ‘Your father has just died.’
[The Buddha] carried out again [his mission] to convert the rest; he “went again to another realm,” He entered nirvāṇa under the twin trees; his words and traces were completely extinguished: he “sent a messenger back to declare, ‘Your father is dead.’ ”
Having heard that their father had passed away from this world, leaving them behind, they felt extremely sorry. They thought, ‘If our father were alive, he would love and protect us. Now he has deserted us and died in a remote country.’
They felt lonely and helpless because they thought that they were parentless and shelterless. Their constant sadness finally caused them to recover their right minds. They realized that the medicine had a good color, smell and taste. They took it and were completely cured of the poison.
Seeing the Buddha entering nirvāṇa, they were awakened to the fact that [the Buddha] did not exist eternally. They began to realize what the Buddha had said: it turned out to be “tasty.” They apprehended the purport: they “took it.”
On hearing that they had recovered their health, the father returned home, and showed himself to them.
They comprehended the profound meaning. They were beginning to see the Buddha, [yet] there were those who had not seen the Buddha in corporeal form. To them he also “came back.”
Good men! What do you think of this? Do you think that anyone can accuse this excellent physician of falsehood?
The [Buddha’s] intention was to make beings gain consciousness [of reality], and the result was that he saved beings. Even though the [Buddha’s] words are lacking in consistency, [the underlying] li does not contradict the truth. Although [the Buddha] preached all day long, by preaching he did not commit “the sin of willfully false speech.”
The Troubled World of the Five Turbidities
In Senchu Murano’s translation of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddhas says in Chapter 2, Expedients: “Śāriputra! The Buddhas appear in the evil worlds in which there are the five defilements. The worlds are defiled by the decay of the kalpa, by illusions, by the deterioration of the living beings, by wrong views, and by the shortening of lives.” In Master Hsuan Hua’s translation these defilements are called turbidities.
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v3, p108-109Śāriputra, all Buddhas appear in the troubled world of the five turbidities: namely, the turbidity of the kalpa, the turbidity of afflictions, the turbidity of living beings, the turbidity of views, and the turbidity of life spans. In order to universally save living beings, all Buddhas of the ten directions may appear in the world that is turbid and troubled in five ways. The five turbidities are:
- The turbidity of the kalpa. What is meant by kalpa? Kalpa means time. There is no such thing as time. The past, present, and future are perceived only because living beings discriminate. Thus, the kalpa comes into being. Kalpa is a Sanskrit word translated as “measure of time.” In what way is time a turbidity? Time is made turbid by the offenses of living beings.
- The turbidity of afflictions. This refers to the five dull afflictions – greed, anger, delusion, arrogance, and doubt – mentioned in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. These five primary afflictions are the roots from which all other afflictions are derived. In addition to the five dull afflictions, there are also five sharp afflictions, which make up the turbidity of views discussed below. These sharp afflictions arise much faster than the dull afflictions.
- The turbidity of living beings refers to living beings’ various good and bad causes, resulting in various good and bad karmic results. Each person has created negative karma; therefore, all living beings are sullied.
- The turbidity of views refers to the five sharp afflictions: views of individual identity, extreme views (concerning annihilationism and externalism), erroneous views regarding moral practices and austerities, views of attachment to personal views, and wrong views. These views are also turbid.
- The turbidity of life spans. Living beings are allotted a certain amount of time in any given life span to play out their karmic consequences. Therefore, life is itself turbid.
What is “turbidity”? Let me give you an example. When you stir water that has some mud in it, the water becomes murky and unclear; this water is described as turbid. Similarly, these five turbidities taint our world. That is why it is known as the troubled world of the five turbidities.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for June 23, 2025
“Universal-Sage! If you see anyone who keeps, reads and recites Myōhō Renge Kyō in the later five hundred years after my extinction, you should think, ‘Before long be will go to the place of enlightenment, defeat Mara and his followers, attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, turn the wheel of the Dharma, beat the drum of the Dharma, blow the conch-shell horn of the Dharma, send the rain of the Dharma, and sit on the lion-like seat of the Dharma in the midst of the great multitude of gods and men.’
Tao-sheng: The Buddha’s Long Life-Span
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p295The duration of my life, which I obtained by the practice of the way of Bodhisattvas, has not yet expired.
When he was treading the bodhisattva path in the past, his lifespan “was twice the preceding [number].” It should be known, therefore, that though [his life-span] was compared to the number of grains of sand, the tiniest part of it has not yet been exhausted. Now the Buddha is described by way of a bodhisattva; the Buddha’s life-span is long [in comparison with the bodhisattva’s].
Turning the Dharma Wheel of the Four Noble Truths Three Times
Turning the wheel of the Dharma appears throughout the Lotus Sutra. What that turning includes is detailed in Chapter 7 after the enlightenment of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathāgata, who is said to have “turned the wheel of the teaching of the four truths three times, making twelve proclamations altogether.” In his commentary of Chapter 2, Expedients, Master Hsuan Hua explains what it means to turn the wheel of the teaching of the four truths three times.
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v3, p230-232To teach these five bhikṣus, Śākyamuni Buddha turned the Dharma wheel of the four noble truths three times. What does that mean?
When the Buddha first taught the five bhikṣus, he said:
Recognize that suffering is oppressive.
Recognize that the aggregation of suffering happens through attraction.
Recognize that the cessation of suffering can be realized.
Recognize that the Path leading to the cessation of suffering can be cultivated.This is the first turning of the Dharma wheel. Suffering is oppressive. The aggregation of suffering is the cumulative effect of afflictions. Suffering can be brought to an end, leading to the stillness of nirvāṇa, with its four virtues: permanence, joy, true self, and purity. The Path leading to cessation can be cultivated. This describes the first turning of the Dharma wheel (the indicative turning).
In the second turning of the Dharma wheel (the hortative turning), the Buddha said,
Suffering is to be understood.
The aggregation of suffering is to be severed.
The cessation of suffering is to be realized.
The Path leading to the cessation of suffering is to be cultivated.In the third turning of the Dharma wheel (the evidential turning), the Buddha said,
I have understood suffering and need not understand it further.
I have severed the aggregation of suffering and need not sever it further.
I have realized the cessation of suffering and need not realize it further.
I have cultivated the Path and need not cultivate it further.The Buddha said that he knew about suffering, had cut off his afflictions, had attained the four virtues of nirvāṇa, and had realized the thirty-seven factors of awakening.
Affliction is a kind of “guest dust.” It comes not from the host but from the outside. In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, we read about guest dust. Ājñātakauṇḍinya became awakened because of these two words “guest dust.” “A guest,” he said, “does not stay forever; at some point, a guest will leave.” Ājñātakauṇḍinya became awakened because of the two words guest dust and is therefore known as he who “understood the fundamental essence” and “the first to become awakened.”
As the Buddha said to the five bhikṣus, “You should realize the cessation of suffering. You should cultivate the Path leading to the cessation of suffering,” Ājñātakauṇḍinya understood and immediately attained realization.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for June 22, 2025
“I have expounded many sūtras. I am now expounding Myōhō Renge Kyō. I also will expound many sūtras in the future. The total number of the sūtras will amount to many thousands of billions. Myōhō Renge Kyō is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.”
Tao-sheng: Awakening to Reality
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p295All that I say is true, not false, because I see the triple world as it is.
He who has seen Reality never again sees what is not real. [The Buddha’s] original intention was to ferry them over to Reality and awaken them to it. Thus, in accordance with the way they responded he devised expedients. Even though these are not identical their imports are not different. However, it is said here that [the Thus Come One] sees only “[the marks of] the triple sphere.” He has already seen something more than that. Because [everything] he says contains his original [intention] he seeks to find the words and expressions in various forms [that would suit the existential situations of beings].
Hsuan Hua’s Ledgers
Following on yesterday’s post Hsuan Hua and the Four Vast Vows, I offer this short explanation from Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v5, p136-137Some of them were counting
His gold, silver, and other valuables.
His expenses, earnings, and assets
Were noted and recorded there in the ledgers.There were people estimating the value of his gold, silver, and other valuables. All of his expenditures and revenues were noted and recorded in the ledgers. Just as merchants document their business transactions, we who study the Buddhadharma write things down because we wish to elaborate upon key principles with detailed explanations. For example, we write out a commentary for a sūtra so that those who do not understand certain principles may read the commentary and gain understanding. The ledger represents the four vast vows:
Living beings are boundless; I vow to save them all.
Afflictions are endless; I vow to cut them off.
Dharma-doors are countless; I vow to learn them all.
Buddhahood is unsurpassed; I vow to realize it.
If someone makes the four vast vows, his or her name is said to be “written in the ledger” to become a Buddha. Taking the four vast vows is considered to be evidence that the individual will become a Buddha. Writing account ledgers is an allegory for cultivating.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for June 21, 2025
“These sixteen Bodhisattvas willingly expounded Myōhō Renge Kyō. Each of them taught six hundred billion nayutas of living beings, that is, as many living beings as there are sands in the River Ganges. Those living beings were always accompanied by the Bodhisattva[, by whom they were taught,] in their consecutive existences. [In each of their consecutive existences,] they heard Myōhō Renge Kyō from him, and understood it by faith. By the merits [they had thus accumulated], they were given a privilege to see four billion Buddhas, that is, four billion World-Honored Ones. They have not yet seen all of them.”