Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p311-312The earlier chapter (10) concerning “preachers of Dharma” was aimed at preaching that the cause of three is that of the One. This chapter is aimed at making it widely known that the effect of the three is that of the One, and also at distinguishing the merit and reward of the Dharma as well.
The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
This refers to the Dharma preacher. It is said in the (previous?) chapter and in the great multitude [he] explains them others.” Here this statement is now substantiated.
will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the eye, twelve hundred merits of the ear, eight hundred merits of the nose, twelve hundred merits of the tongue, eight hundred merits of the body, and twelve hundred merits of the mind.
As for the reward for those who practice the Dharma Blossom as they preach it, it is the great enlightenment wisdom. This wisdom is capable of clairvoyance and omniscience. If beings are to be given ultimate wisdom, it will be imparted to them imperceptibly. This is why it becomes present in men gradually, as if the joy could [only] be attained step by step. The rewards are explained in terms of the six senses, in order to attract learners. Hearing it, learners will be willing to practice the sūtra and accumulate the acts [as exhorted by the sūtra], working to achieve that by which they abide. As regards the statement that [the Buddha] resorts to the six senses [as teaching aids], [the faculty of] seeing the forms (rūpa) naturally is present in the eyes, and [the faculty of] perceiving the Dharma naturally is present in the mind. As already suggested, attainment through learning cannot make [one acquire] omniscience. Hence, the ever-penetrating eyes stop at seeing “the three thousand” [chiliocosms or great worlds]. On (this?) basis it is possible to speak of the physical body.
The physical body exists close to [reality] in a coarse form and so we can say that it is still short of the Dharma-body. In the final analysis, [however,] the three thousand [chiliocosms] being such, how can they be different from the ten quarters [in their largeness]? They represent [the range of] the ultimate illumination by the substance (t’i) of the Dharma body. The three faculties are illustrated [with respect to] the [eight hundred] virtues in reading and preaching [the sūtra]. Thus, the numbers shown are not identical [with that of the other three]. What they represent in totality is the One; separately, they represent the immeasurable. They are all merely approximate numbers. He who searches independently for the meaning of the chapter must grasp it beyond the words.
Monthly Archives: July 2025
Four Accomplishments
This is still another example of how Chinese Master Hsuan Hua weaves basic Buddhist teachings within his commentary on the Lotus Sutra. This comes from Chapter 7, The Parable of the Conjured City.
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v6, p146-147Looking at things from the perspective of the individuals being taught, we can consider the four siddhāntas. What is a siddhānta? Siddhānta is a Sanskrit word that means “accomplishment.” The four siddhāntas are:
- The worldly siddhānta. This refers to benefiting the world. Originally there was nothing, but something was created out of nothing, which brought delight to the beings who beheld it. The worldly siddhānta brings benefit to the world.
- The siddhānta for individuals. This benefits every individual by helping them attain repose and comprehension.
- The corrective siddhānta. This has the function of preventing misdeeds and guarding against enemies. It refers to corrective methods that benefit living beings by disciplining them.
- The siddhānta of the supreme truth. Eventually, living beings arrive at the state of ultimate nirvāṇa. In other words, they realize the supreme truth and obtain its benefits.
This explanation of the four siddhāntas is given according to the potentials of the individuals being taught. From the perspective of the Buddha’s response body, there are four more ways to explain the conjured city.
- The transformation of the world. The Buddha uses provisional and expedient Dharma so that living beings in the world will benefit from it. The conjured city is an example of this.
- The transformation of individuals. The Buddha teaches all living beings to undertake small acts of kindness.
- Transformation through correction. The Buddha teaches all living beings to get rid of the delusions arising from incorrect views and incorrect thoughts.
- Transformation according to the supreme truth. The Buddha teaches all living beings to attain the great fruition of the Great Vehicle – that is, to finally attain Buddhahood.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for July 4, 2025
“Universal-Sage! Anyone who keeps, reads and recites Myōhō Renge Kyō [in the later five hundred years] after [my extinction], will not be attached to clothing, bedding, food or drink, or any other thing for living. What he wishes will not remain unfulfilled. He will be able to obtain the rewards of his merits in his present life. Those who abuse him, saying, ‘You are perverted. You are doing this for nothing,’ will be reborn blind in their successive lives in retribution for their sin. Those who make offerings to him and praise him, will be able to obtain rewards in their present life. Those who, upon seeing the keeper of this sūtra, blame him justly or unjustly, will suffer from white leprosy in their present life.”
Tao-sheng: Merit for Rejoicing, Explaining and Propagating the Sūtra
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p309The merits of the person who causes even a single man to go and hear the Dharma are so many. It is needless to speak of the merits of the person who hears [this sūtra] with all his heart, reads it, recites it, expounds it to the great multitude, and acts according to its teachings.
This refers to the forthcoming chapter. What has not been substantiated in the preceding, and what has so far been omitted, is how much merit there will be for those who rejoice appropriately, “explaining” by turns and propagating [the sūtra to others].
Five Precepts
This is another example of how Chinese Master Hsuan Hua weaves basic Buddhist teachings within his commentary on the Lotus Sutra. This comes from Chapter 4, Faith and Understanding.
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v5, p45-47There are five precepts: no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no false speech, and no taking intoxicants. Some people might say, “One should refrain from killing and stealing. Sexual misconduct is a little harder, but one should also refrain from it. Lying is no good, one should refrain from it. But what problem is there with drinking alcohol or taking intoxicants? Why include that in the precepts? The Buddha must have made a mistake when he set up the precepts. Drinking alcohol should not be prohibited.”
Do you think this reasoning is correct? It may seem to have some logic, but it is actually completely wrong. Alcohol confuses the mind. Once you drink, you might kill or steal, even though you normally would not have. You might have completely abstained from sexual misconduct; however, when you are drunk, your mind gets confused and your desires are inflamed. You might lie too. Before you are drunk, you are clear that you have taken the five precepts and that you should not lie. But when you are drunk, you may deny breaking the precepts even though you did, thereby lying in the process. So then you have broken the precept against lying as well.
This reminds me of a story about the five precepts. There was a layman who took the five precepts and decided to stop drinking. He did not drink for two or three years, until the urge suddenly hit him one day. He thought, “Killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and lying are definitely to be avoided. But it is not going to make any difference if I drink a little wine.” He bought some wine, took it home, and got ready to drink.
Chinese people drink wine differently from Westerners. Instead of going to a bar and downing glass after glass without eating anything, Chinese people like to have some appetizer to go with their wine. This layman got some wine to drink, but there was no appetizer to go with it. Quite coincidentally, the neighbor’s chicken ran over to his house. When he saw it, he thought, “If I deep-fry the chicken, it will taste quite good with the wine. This is perfect!” Since he had already had some wine and wanted to drink some more, he forgot that killing was against the precepts. He wanted an appetizer to go with the wine, and the little chicken came at the right time. He thought, “This is a gift heaven sent me to go with the wine. Perhaps god has pitied me for not drinking for so long and has sent me this chicken to go with the wine.” Without a second thought, he cut off the chicken’s head and poured boiling water over it to remove the feathers. Then he deep-fried it with oil and salt until it was crispy. He started to eat it with the wine. The more he ate, the better the chicken tasted and the more he enjoyed the wine. Since he had not had chicken for a long time, he was so carried away that he even ate the chicken bones. He was about ninety percent drunk when the neighbor lady knocked on his door. “Did my chicken come this way? Did you see it?” she asked him.
The neighbor came to look for her chicken, which he had already devoured. If he admitted that he had killed and eaten the chicken, his neighbor would certainly not forgive him. Therefore, he lied by saying, “No, I did not see a chicken.”
Because he drank, he had broken the precepts against killing and stealing. Even though the chicken ran over on its own, he still took it and killed it without the owner’s permission. If stealing is defined as taking without permission, this counts as stealing. When the owner came to look for her chicken, he said he did not see it and thus broke the precept against lying too. By this time, he had broken four of the five precepts. Since he was drunk, lust arose in him. When he saw how pretty the neighbor lady was, he locked the door behind her and raped her. Thus, he broke all five precepts. Because he drank wine, he broke the other four precepts. So in Buddhism there is a precept against alcohol and intoxicants, which you must not break.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for July 3, 2025
[The rākṣasas] said to the Buddha simultaneously:
“World-Honored One! We also will protect the person who reads, recites and keeps Myōhō Renge Kyō so that he may have no trouble. No one shall take advantage of the weak points of this teacher of the Dharma.”
Tao-sheng: Recompense
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p308Anyone who[, while he is staying outside the place of the expounding of the Dharma,] says to another person, ‘Let us go and hear the sūtra called the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma which is being expounded [in that place],’ and cause him to hear it even for a moment, in his next life by his merit , will be able to live with the Bodhisattvas who obtain dharanis. He will be clever and wise. He will not be dumb throughout thousands of millions of his future existences.
Why is the recompense [“for having rejoiced at hearing”] the Dharma Blossom administered this way? [The Buddha] merely takes up what men feel like [having]. Hence, [the Buddha] says: “[the body into which he is reborn] shall acquire carriages, as well as palanquins fitted with precious gems.”
His breath will not be foul.
There is nothing that can be disliked.
The Five Desires
Following yesterday’s example of how Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s commentary expands the Lotus Sutra, I offer another example of how he uses the sutra to explain basic Buddhist concepts.
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v6, p321-324SUTRA
“Bhikṣus, you should know that the Tathagata possesses skillful means and profound understanding of the dispositions of living beings. Knowing that they aspire to lesser Dharmas and are deeply attached to the five desires, he teaches them nirvana. When they hear this teaching, they will immediately believe and accept it.”
COMMENTARY
Bhikṣus, you should know that the Tathagata possesses skillful means and profound understanding of the dispositions of living beings. Knowing that they aspire to lesser Dharmas and are deeply attached to the five desires… Śākyamuni Buddha said to the bhikṣus, “You should know!” Know what? The Dharma that the Tathagata teaches is the provisional Dharma. Why does he teach the provisional Dharma? Because the potentials of living beings vary. If you were to teach them the ultimate Dharma, they probably wouldn’t believe it; if you were to teach them through skillful means, then they probably would believe it.
The expedient Dharma-doors that the Tathagatas use are always in accord with living beings. Why does the Buddha use expedient Dharma-doors to teach living beings? He does so because all living beings have individual conditions that allow them to be taken across through specific skillful means. The Buddha teaches them accordingly. What’s meant by living beings with conditions that allow them to be taken across through specific skillful means? For example, the Buddha, “knowing that they aspire to lesser Dharmas,” can see that their vision of things is small. Since all these living beings know are petty things and minor principles, they wouldn’t understand if you were to speak to them about the entire universe. They know only their small problems, so they wouldn’t understand it if you tried to talk to them about the problems of the world. Their resolve is to just cultivate a tiny path. They continue to be “deeply attached to the five desires.”
The five desires are the desires for wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep.
- Wealth. In this world, if you have wealth, you can buy any material goods, so people are attached to their wealth. If they could see through it, then they wouldn’t be attached to it; being unable to see through it, people fight over money. I’ve often told you that the word money in Chinese [錢 qian], is composed of two swords [戈ge] and the radical for gold [金 jin]. This means that “You have a sword, I have a sword, and the two of us fight over the gold.” So those with money will have a lot of trouble; those who don’t have money won’t have this problem. But everyone wants money, and they aren’t afraid of the trouble it brings. If you know how to use money properly, you can create blessings; if you don’t know how to use it well, you’ll commit offenses. With money you can either create merit or else commit a lot of offenses. Therefore, money is really the worst thing there is! Money is filthy! You’ll often see people counting money by spitting on their fingers when they count the bills. Who knows how many germs are on that money? It’s quite unsanitary, yet no one seems to mind. When it comes to money, people seem to like it, and they aren’t concerned about hygiene.
- Sex. This is the desire for nice-looking forms and the attachment to attractive appearances.
- Fame. This is greed for celebrity. When someone praises you, you’re elated. If someone says something bad about you, you may feel even more hurt than if you’d been stabbed in the heart with a knife. Reputation is very important to people, but it’s just one of the five desires.
- Food. This refers to the food we eat every day. If you have one kind of food to eat but not another kind, you may not feel satisfied. If you have that kind of food but not this kind, you may not feel satisfied either. If you eat both kinds of food at the same time, you won’t be able to eat much of either one, so you still won’t feel satisfied. There’s no way that you can ever satisfy your desire for food. If you cultivate the Path, you mustn’t look upon food and drink as being overly important. You should think of them as medicine that you use to keep your body from becoming dehydrated and emaciated. Don’t get too attached to food.
- Sleep. Everyone likes to sleep. You might feel that sleeping for one hour is not enough, nor is sleeping for two, three, four, or five hours. Finding sleep immensely enjoyable, you feel you must sleep at least seven or eight hours a night.
These are the five desires to which living beings are attached and which they find extremely important. They can’t get along without money. Nor can they go without sex. They have to have some fame, and they can’t be lacking food or sleep either. They tend to be deeply attached to one or more of these five desires.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for July 2, 2025
I beat a drum and sought the Dharma in all directions, saying with a loud voice, ‘Who will expound the Great Vehicle to me? If there is anyone, I will make offerings to him, and run errands for him for the rest of my life.’
“Thereupon a seer came to [me, who was] the king. He said, ‘I have a sūtra of the Great Vehicle called Myōhō Renge Kyō. If you are not disobedient to me, I will expound Myōhō Renge Kyō to you.’
“Having heard this, I danced with joy, and immediately became his servant.
Tao-sheng: complete penetration of the ultimate of nothingness
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p308The living beings [of the six regions] are of one or another of the four kinds of births:
What they seek is [merit], [but their pleasure is] “not like the appropriate joy the fiftieth person would get in hearing the Dharma Blossom.” The merits of the four fruitions, as mentioned earlier, are of limited measure [in comparison with this joy]. [In contrast,] the Dharma Blossom, on behalf of li, represents the complete penetration of the ultimate of nothingness. Men have appropriate joys, which means that they have accomplished the path of Thus Come One. The path has been accomplished because of these men, so their merits cannot be easily kept down [from arising]. Hence, it is said, “[the merit] does not equal one-hundredth part, not one-thousandth part.” How can this be an empty [statement]?