All posts by John Hughes

LS32

Day 18

Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.

Day 18 Full Text

Having last time repeated the vow of the eighty billion nayuta Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas in gāthās, we conclude Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

There will be many dreadful things
In the evil world of the kalpa of defilements.
Devils will enter the bodies [of those bhikṣus]
And cause them to abuse and insult us.

We will wear the armor of endurance
Because we respect and believe you.
We will endure all these difficulties
In order to expound this sūtra.

We will not spare even our lives.
We treasure only unsurpassed enlightenment.
We will protect and keep the Dharma in the future
If you transmit it to us.

World-Honored One, know this!
Evil bhikṣus in the defiled world will not know
The teachings that you expounded with expedients
According to the capacities of all living beings.

They will speak ill of us,
Or frown at us,
Or drive us out of our monasteries
From time to time.
But we will endure all these evils
Because we are thinking of your command.

When we hear of a person who seeks the Dharma
In any village or city,
We will visit him and expound the Dharma [to him]
If you transmit it to us.

Because we are your messengers,
We are fearless before multitudes.
We will expound the Dharma.
Buddha, do not worry.

We vow all this to you
And also to the Buddhas who have come
From the worlds of the ten quarters.
Buddha, know what we have in our minds!

The Daily Dharma from Nov. 12, 2018, offers this:

We will wear the armor of endurance
Because we respect and believe you.
We will endure all these difficulties
In order to expound this sūtra.

Medicine-King Bodhisattva and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva, along with their attendants, declare these verses to the Buddha in Chapter Thirteen of the Lotus Sutra. The Buddha had asked previously who would teach the Lotus Sūtra after the Buddha’s death. These Bodhisattvas declare their aspirations to maintain their practice of the Buddha Dharma in the face of unimaginable difficulties. We may believe that this practice will lead to permanent comfort and pleasure. But knowing that we are in a world that is constantly changing, we realize that any difficulty is temporary, and that the way to a beneficial outcome may only go through difficulties. This knowledge and faith in the Buddha’s teachings increases our capacity to be a beneficial force in this world of conflict.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 26, 2018

Tears keep falling when I think of the current unbearable hardships, but I cannot stop tears of joy when I think of obtaining Buddhahood in the future. Birds and insects chirp without shedding tears. I, Nichiren, do not cry, but tears keep falling. These tears are shed not for worldly matters, but solely for the sake of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore they should be called tears of nectar.

Nichiren wrote this as part of his letter to monk Sairen-bō in his Treatise on All Phenomena as Ultimate Reality (Shohō-Jissō Shō). For the sake of the Lotus Sūtra, Nichiren endured two harsh exiles, his house being burnt down, ambushes by soldiers with swords, being placed on the execution mat himself, and the persecution of his followers. Despite all these obstacles, he held true to the Buddha’s teaching in the face of all opposition. Most of us who practice the Lotus Sūtra today have lives of relative comfort. It is wonderful that we have Nichiren’s example. He was a human being just like us, and we too are capable of his faith and determination.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

Profound

The Real Intention of the Buddha

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While affirming the superiority of the Perfect Teaching, Chih-i does not mean to reject the other three teachings, as he regards all Buddhist doctrines whether coarse or subtle to be the teaching of the Buddha. His goal of judging the coarse or subtle is to resolve differences among the Four Teachings. This is because only when all of the Four Teachings are affirmed to be valid, can all beings with various types of faculties be embraced by the teaching of the Buddha. Chih-i’s conclusion is that the Ultimate Truth includes both coarseness and subtlety. In an absolute sense of opening the coarseness (e.g. relative) and revealing the subtlety (e.g. ultimate) and leading all sentient beings to attain universal liberation of Buddhahood, coarseness is subtlety. This is because each of the three teachings (Tripitaka, Common, and Separate) is an indispensable step towards the attainment of Buddhahood. However, Chih-i asserts that this absolute sense of integrating the coarse and the subtle (i.e., the three teachings are equally subtle as the Perfect Teaching) only becomes transparent in the Lotus Sūtra, in which the real intention of the Buddha for universal salvation is directly conveyed. Although the coarseness is expedient means that serves to reveal the subtlety, from the former is relative and the latter is ultimate, the equal importance of the relative and the ultimate for Chih-i lies in the fact that only by relying on the relative, can the ultimate be displayed. Meanwhile, only by aiming at the ultimate, can the relative be considered as valid. (Vol. 2, Page 101-102)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


LS32

Day 17

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Day 17 Full Text

Having last time considered Mañjuśrī’s answer and Accumulated-Wisdom’s response, we greet the daughter of the dragon king.

No sooner had he said this than the daughter of the dragon king came to [Śākyamuni] Buddha. She worshipped [his feet] with her head, retired, stood to one side, and praised him with gāthās:

You know the sins and merits
Of all living beings.
You illumine the worlds of the ten quarters.
Your wonderful, pure and sacred body
Is adorned with the thirty-two major marks
And with the eighty minor marks.

Gods and men are looking up at you.
Dragons also respect you.
None of the living beings
Sees you without adoration.

Only you know that I [am qualified to] attain Bodhi
Because I heard [the Dharma].
I will expound the teachings of the Great Vehicle
And save all living beings from suffering.

Despite perceived shortcomings and overt prejudice, the 8-year-old girl’s faith is resolute: “Only you know that I [am qualified to] attain Bodhi Because I heard [the Dharma].”

Blog

Practicing in Oakland

Temporary Nichiren Shu altar at the Bay Area Thelemic Temple. The Gohonzon was inscribed by the abbot of Minobu and given to Ryuei McCormick.
Got on Amtrak in Sacramento and took a ride to Oakland to attend the Nichiren Shu service and lecture put on my Rev. Ryuei McCormick. I’m writing this on the train ride back to Sacramento.

I met Ryuei McCormick back when I first switched to Nichiren Shu in 2015. I would attend Sunday services at Myokakuji Betsuin in San Jose occasionally. At the time, Ryuei McCormick was an assistant priest. Now he has his own Sangha in Oakland.

Ryuei McCormick is a scholar monk. Not sure he would agree with me, but that is how I describe his depth of understanding of the foundations of Buddhism. He has written a number of books. Among the ones I have here are Lotus Seeds: The Essence of Nichiren Shu Buddhism, Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the Gohonzon, and Lotus in a Sea of Flames, a biography of Nichiren Shonin.

I would take the long drive to San Jose more for his lectures than the actual service. Today’s hour-long lecture following the traditional Nichiren Shu service made me wish it were easier to attend his Oakland sangha events.

The journey isn’t the problem — easy Amtrak to Oakland, half-mile walk and return. Problem is really the conflicting service schedules between Sacramento and Oakland.

The view of the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet from the train on the way to Oakland.

The easy walk from Amtrak’s Jack London Square station
The ride home

Lotus World

Devadatta’s Instigation of a Schism in the Sangha

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One of the most critical events in the life of the early Sangha was Devadatta’s instigation of a schism. Devadatta convinced 500 newly ordained monks to follow him instead of Shakyamuni Buddha. Out of compassion for those 500 monks, the Buddha sent Shariputra and Maudgalyayana to visit them. Devadatta was eager to have these two revered disciples join his group, so he invited them to join him and even to preach to the monks while he rested. Devadatta’s overconfidence was his undoing, however, for Shariputra and Maudgalyayana taught the true Dharma which the monks had not heard before. They were thereby convinced to return to the Sangha of Shakyamuni Buddha. Devadatta awakened to discover that all his followers had left him.

Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the Gohonzon

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 25, 2018

Furthermore, the good men or women who do not speak ill of this sūtra but rejoice at hearing it after my extinction, should be considered, know this, to have already understood my longevity by firm faith.

The Buddha makes this declaration to his disciple Maitreya in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sūtra. After learning the merits of understanding the ever-present nature of the Buddha, Maitreya hears that this understanding is present in anyone who finds joy in this sūtra. From the parables told earlier in the sūtra, we know that this joy is not the same as the joy that comes from ending suffering. It is the joy in our awakening Buddha nature.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

Profound

The Attainment of Buddhahood

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Why is the attainment of Buddhahood the ultimate goal of sentient beings, and what is the significance of it? In Chih-i’s view, the goal of the Perfect Teaching that strives for Buddhahood is for liberation of all sentient beings, which differs from those of the other three teachings (Tripitaka, Common, and Separate) that are only suitable for certain type of beings with certain faculties. One may ask: “Why is the attainment of Buddhahood the universal truth for all beings?” This is because Chih-i regards the Buddha nature as the foundation for beings to attain Buddhahood. Deducing from the fact that all beings are endowed with Buddha-nature, all of them can eventually become a Buddha. Hence, Buddhahood is universal. With this single goal, all beings without exception can be led to liberation. To cause universal liberation of all beings is exactly the spirit of Mahāyāna Buddhism and is the inexhaustible motivation of bodhisattvas in entering the world to save others. The combination of striving for self-enlightenment and enlightenment of others is what makes the attainment of Buddhahood extremely meaningful and significant. (Vol. 2, Page 97-98)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


LS32

Day 16

Day 16 concludes Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures, and completes the Fourth Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 16 Full Text

Having last time witnessed Śākyamuni Buddha purifying two hundred billion nayuta more worlds to seat the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters, we watch the Buddhas of the replicas of Śākyamuni Buddha take their seats in the expanded world.

Thereupon the Buddhas of the replicas of Śākyamuni Buddha in the worlds of the east, who were expounding the Dharma in those worlds numbering hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas, that is, as many as there are sands in the River Ganges, came [to this expanded world]. So did the Buddhas of the worlds of the nine other quarters. They sat on the seats [under the jeweled trees]. [The Sahā-World and] the four hundred billion nayuta worlds of each of the eight quarters[, which were amalgamated into one Buddha world,] were filled with those Buddhas, with those Tathāgatas.

Thereupon one of the Buddhas on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees, wishing to inquire after Śākyamuni Buddha, gave a handful of jeweled flowers to his attendant, and said to him, [wishing to] dispatch him:

“Good man! Go to Śākyamuni Buddha who is now living on Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa! Ask him on my behalf, ‘Are you in good health? Are you peaceful? Are the Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas peaceful or not?’ Strew these jeweled flowers to him, offer them to him, and say, ‘That Buddha sent me to tell you that he wishes to see the stūpa of treasures opened.”‘

All the other Buddhas also dispatched their attendants in the same way.

The Daily Dharma from June 19, 2018, offers this:

“Good man! Go to Śākyamuni Buddha who is now living on Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa! Ask him on my behalf, ‘Are you in good health? Are you peaceful? Are the Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas peaceful or not?’ Strew these jeweled flowers to him, offer them to him, and say, ‘That Buddha sent me to tell you that he wishes to see the stūpa of treasures opened.’ “

In Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra, Buddhas and their devotees from innumerable worlds come to our world of conflict and delusion to see Śākyamuni Buddha open the tower inhabited by Many-Treasures Buddha. As our capability for enlightenment wells up from within us, the tower of treasures sprang up from underground when the Buddha asked who would teach the Wonderful Dharma after the Buddha’s extinction. The treasures in the tower are nothing more than Many-Treasures Buddha declaring the Lotus Sūtra to be the Teaching of Equality, the Great Wisdom, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas and the Dharma upheld by the Buddhas.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

Summer Writings

Fu-Jogo and Jogo

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Karma can be divided into two types based on the time scale in which you will experience the karmic retribution: “Fu-Jogo” and “Jogo.” Fu-Jogo means that the time is not fixed, and no one knows when the bad or good harvest will arise. Jogo means the time you will experience the result is fixed. There are also three types of Jogo, which differ by how soon you will meet the results of your karma: present order, extended order and later order.

Summer Writings