All posts by John Hughes

beginning

Three Types of Learning

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These three types of learning are precepts, concentration, and wisdom. Precepts (or morality) are for the sake of correctly training mind and body and establishing correct physical and mental habits. Concentration, or meditation, is for the sake of spiritual unification after the mind and body have been properly trained. It produces a state in which the mind is as clear as a mirror and as still as the surface of an undisturbed body of water. Correct wisdom, reached when this kind of spiritual unification has been attained, makes possible correct judgments and suitable actions. In the light of this progression, the order for training and attainment in the three types of learning is this: precepts, concentration, and wisdom.

But, since the three types of learning correspond to three aspects of the human spirit—intellect (wisdom), emotion (concentration), and volition (precepts)—and since all three of these exist simultaneously as parts of the human spirit, the three kinds of learning, too, are not independent of each other but form a unity. From this viewpoint, there is no question of precedence among them. Nonetheless, for the sake of attainment of the states toward which the three kinds of learning are directed, the order precepts, concentration, and wisdom is reasonable.

The Beginnings of Buddhism

History of Japanese Religion

The Ideal Aim of Buddhist Perfection

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Thus the whole realm of existence is nothing but a stage of “mutual participation” of beings and their conditions, a grand harmony of all possible instruments glorifying in unison the fundamental oneness of existence.

In the light of this world-view, the ideal aim of Buddhist perfection consists in the full realization, on the part of every one, of the Buddha-nature, or in the participation of our life in Buddha’s purpose and work. For Buddha-nature is universally and primordially inherent even in existences of the utmost viciousness, and all of them can be elevated to Buddhahood. Indeed, mankind stands midway between Buddha, the Supreme Enlightened, and the most degraded infernal being, and, therefore, has the possibility of advancing further on the way to Buddhahood or of descending to the beasts or to the nethermost purgatories or hells. Hence the task of man consists in comprehending the truth of the all-pervading Buddha-nature and of mutual participation working throughout the realms of existence, especially the truth of the interaction and interdependence of different beings and their qualities, functions, and so on.

History of Japanese Religion

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Aug. 19, 2018

Those who read the Lotus Sutra, therefore, should not regard it as consisting of merely written words. The words are the mind of the Buddha.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, Wooden Statues or Portraits (Mokue Nizō Kaigen no Koto). Here he reminds us of how words affect each of us differently, and even the same person is affected differently in different parts of their life. If we become dogmatically fixed on a single meaning of the Buddha’s highest teaching, and do not continue to indulge our curiosity about the Buddha’s mind, we miss the point.

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

LS32

Day 14

Day 14 covers all of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, and opens Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.

Having last month heard Śākyamuni’s prediction for Rāhula, we repeat in gāthās:

Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

When I was a crown prince,
Rāhula was my eldest son.
When I attained the enlightenment of the Buddha,
He received the Dharma, and became the son of the Dharma.

In his future life he will see
Many hundreds of millions of Buddhas,
Become the eldest son of those Buddhas, and seek
The enlightenment of the Buddha with all his heart.

Only I know his secret practices.
He shows himself
To all living beings
In the form of my eldest son.

He has many thousands of billions of merits.
His merits are countless.
He dwells peacefully in the Dharma of the Buddha,
And seeks unsurpassed enlightenment.

The Daily Dharma from March 9, 2018, offers this:

Only I know his secret practices.
He shows himself
To all living beings
In the form of my eldest son.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Nine of the Lotus Sūtra, speaking of Rāhula, the son born to him and his wife Yaśodharā before he left his life as a crown prince to seek enlightenment. In his highest teaching, the Buddha reminds us of our vows as Bodhisattvas to come into this world of conflict to benefit all beings. In the preoccupations that come with this life, we can forget these vows; they become a secret even to us. When we hear this Sūtra, we are reminded that we are the dear children of the Dharma, and that enlightenment is our rightful inheritance.

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

Profound

Coarseness and Subtlety (Ts’u-miao)

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This polar notion is established to judge various teachings of the Buddha in terms of whether or not they contain expedient means. Chih-i demonstrates the coarseness or subtlety by comparing the Lotus Sūtra with other sūtras. The teaching of the Buddha that contains expedience in other sūtras is considered to be Relative Truth, for it complies with various capabilities and inclinations of audiences. Relative Truth is coarse, given that it is only the means to reach the final goal of the Ultimate Truth. In the ultimate teaching of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha directly reveals that all past teachings are expedient means in leading beings to open the Buddha’s knowledge and insight. The Lotus teaching that contains no expedient means is regarded by Chih-i to be the ultimate, and renders subtlety. However, the distinction of the coarseness and the subtlety are only Chih-i’s strategy of projecting the superiority of the Lotus teaching in his system of classification so that the ultimate goal of attaining Buddhahood as the spirit of Mahāyāna Buddhism can be asserted. In Chih-i’s view, with the Ultimate Truth as an absolute reality, there is no more distinction between these two. From the viewpoint of the coarse teaching as the preparatory means for listeners to be intellectually matured for the subtle teaching, and from the viewpoint of the Buddha’s real intention being always for the purpose of expounding the subtle teaching even when he was implementing the coarse teaching, the significance of the coarse teaching would never be overly emphasized. Hence, Chih-i insists that the coarseness contains the subtlety, and it is no longer coarse when the universal salvation for all beings is declared by the Buddha in the Lotus Sūtra. (Page 64)

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


beginning

The Perfection of Character

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In treating illness, in addition to therapy directed immediately against the symptoms, doctors sometimes prescribe regimens related to diet, sleep, and exercise designed to create a generally healthy body capable of resisting illness. Something similar applies to treating spiritual disorders. Of course, it is essential to remove ignorance and cravings that directly bring about the lusts causing suffering. But it is also necessary to eliminate all other conditions that make it easy for suffering to develop and to produce spiritual good health and resistance against the further occurrence of suffering.

To this end, training in eight aspects of human behavior is provided in the Eightfold Noble Path. The system inherent in this path is intended not only to eliminate temporary suffering but also to create a perfectly healthy character in which suffering will not arise under any circumstances. Buddhist training and enlightenment employ present suffering as the occasion to institute a course leading ultimately to the perfection of the character.

The Beginnings of Buddhism

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Aug. 18, 2018

With Nichiren’s boundless compassion, “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo” will be heard forever even beyond the ten-thousand year period of Degeneration. It has the merit of curing the blindness of all people, blocking the way to hell. This merit is superior to those of Dengyō in Japan, T’ien-t’ai in China, Nāgārjuna in India or Kāśyapa who was the Buddha’s disciple. Practice for a hundred years in the Pure Land is not worth the merit of chanting the daimoku for one day in this defiled world. Propagation of the daimoku in a two-thousand year period following the death of the Buddha is not worth as much as spreading the daimoku for even a short while in the Latter Age of Degeneration. This is not from my wisdom; it is solely due to the time in which I live.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Essay on Gratitude (Hōon-jō). In other writings, he explained that the superiority of the Lotus Sūtra is not in its power to change the world, but its power to lead all beings, without exception, to the same enlightenment the Buddha found. In this sūtra, the Buddha gives us a different idea of time, the world and our lives. All of these are truly boundless, and the Buddha is always here teaching us.

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

Profound

Arising and Abandoning

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Arising and abandoning are the two aspects of evaluating various levels of religious attainment as positions that belong to the Four Teachings respectively. According to Chih-i, the positions that belong to the three teachings (Tripiṭaka, Common, and Separate) are coarse, seeing that the doors of these teachings are expedient means or contain expediency. This proposes that truth expounded by the Buddha in these teachings is relative, which functions to guide beings to eventually reach the Ultimate Truth. The positions of the Perfect Teaching are considered to be subtle, for the door of the Perfect Teaching directly reveals the Ultimate Truth without having to employ expedient means as the Relative Truth. Therefore, “arising of positions” (Wei-hsing) is to confirm the legitimacy of various positions regardless of whether they are coarse or subtle, from the viewpoint that all of them are beneficial in terms of suiting different abilities of sentient beings. On the other hand, the abandonment of these tentative positions (Wei-fei) is necessary for the arising of new positions. Attainment arises according to conditions. Along with the arising of new conditions, new positions are produced, with which old positions must be abandoned. With regard to the Four Teachings, Chih-i argues that the positions of the Tripiṭaka, the Common, and the Separate Teachings must be abandoned. This is because, once they have fulfilled their roles as tentative positions, i.e., after one has progressed from these three teachings to the Perfect Teaching, and attained the ultimate position of the Perfect Teaching, these tentative positions are no longer needed. Moreover, at the moment when these tentative positions hinder one’s attainment of the ultimate position on the path of religious practice, they must be abolished too.

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


beginning

Five Aggregates and Suffering

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The last of the eight sufferings — the five aggregates — means attachment to form (physical things), perception (operation of the perception of pleasure and pain), mental conceptions and ideas (the operation of conceptions and symbols), volition (the operation of various mental processes including that of volition), and consciousness (the operation of conscious judgment and of consciousness itself). This set of aggregates refers to all phenomena, both internal to the sentient being and external in the form of environment. Since clinging to them binds the sentient being to the world of transmigration with its inherent miseries, the suffering of the five aggregates can be said to correspond to that of the world of transmigration.

The Beginnings of Buddhism

LS32

Day 13

Day 13 covers all of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples.

Having last month heard the Pūrṇa’s desire, we consider Śākyamuni’s praise for Pūrṇa.

Thereupon the Buddha said to the bhikṣus:

“Do you see this Pūrṇa, the son of Maitrāyanī? I always praise him, saying that he is the most excellent expounder of the Dharma. I also praise him for his various merits. He strenuously protects my teachings, and helps me propagate them. He shows the Way to the four kinds of devotees, teaches them, benefits them and causes them to rejoice. He explains my right teachings perfectly, and gives great benefits to those who are performing brahma practices’ with him. No one except the Tathāgata excels him in eloquence. Do not say that he protects only my teachings and helps me propagate them! In his previous existence he also protected the right teachings of nine thousand million Buddhas and helped them propagate their teachings. Under those Buddhas also he was the most excellent expounder of the Dharma. He clearly understood the truth of the Void expounded by those Buddhas, and obtained the four kinds of unhindered eloquence. He always expounded the Dharma clearly and purely, with no doubtfulness. Although he had the supernatural powers of Bodhisattvas, he performed brahma practices throughout his previous existence. Therefore, the people of the world of the Buddha [under whom he performed brahma practices] thought that he was a Śrāvaka. He benefited many hundreds of thousands of living beings with this expedient, and also caused innumerable, asaṃkhya people to aspire for Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. He did the work of the Buddha, that is, taught all living beings so that the world of the Buddha might be purified.

The Introduction to the Lotus Sūtra offers this about Pūrṇa:

Among the Buddha’s many followers, ten were outstanding. Each was famous for possessing a particular talent which excelled all others. For example, Sariputra was the wisest; Maha-Kasyapa was known for his good practices; Maha-Maudgalyayana was famed for his supernatural powers; Purna was the best preacher, distinguished for his eloquence. This meant that he was more than just a master of rhetoric and silvery words; he could preach with such clarity that through him people could understand the Buddha’s deep teachings, and free themselves from sufferings.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra