All posts by John Hughes

beginning

Twelve Stages Of Attainment

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Śākyamuni then explained the twelve stages by means of which he attained the highest enlightenment. He divided each of the Four Noble Truths into three stages of attainment. In the first stage, he acquired theoretical understanding of the Four Noble Truths as they are. In the second stage, he put his theoretical knowledge into practice. Doing this involves a correct understanding of the nature of suffering, the extinction of the causes of suffering, the application of the ways in which those causes are eliminated and traveling the full Path. As one continues practical application in connection with the Four Noble Truths, theory and practice come to agree entirely, and one arrives at the third stage, where all the practical aims have been fulfilled. At this point, one is ready for the highest enlightenment.

Śākyamuni explained that only when he had completed these three stages was he sufficiently convinced of being a supremely enlightened Buddha to announce his nature publicly. Only then had he achieved perfect liberation, and only then had he escaped from the cycle of birth, death, and transmigration.

The Beginnings of Buddhism

buddhaseed

True Cause and True Effect

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Endlessness of effect is natural. Here it is revealed that both the nine realms as cause and the realm of Buddha as effect are beginningless and endless in the past, present, and future. To conclude, cause and effect originally existed simultaneously; they exist in the present time, and they will exist in the future. At this point, there is no time difference between the nine realms as cause and the realm of Buddha as effect, and they exist simultaneously. This is true cause and true effect which is the relationship of cause and effect based on the enlightenment of the Original Buddha.

Now, the true meaning of the mutual possession of ten realms and three thousand existences in one thought is established. If effect comes out only after the work of cause is completed, there would be some time distance between cause and effect; mutual possession could not be established.

Buddha Seed: Understanding the Odaimoku

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Aug. 11, 2018

Ignorant people will speak ill of us,
Abuse us, and threaten us
With swords or sticks.
But we will endure all this.

Medicine-King Bodhisattva and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva, along with their attendants, declare these verses to the Buddha in Chapter Thirteen of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha had asked previously who would teach the Lotus Sūtra after the Buddha’s death. These Bodhisattvas realize the difficulty of teaching and keeping this sūtra. They know that some who come to hear the Buddha Dharma are strongly attached to their anger. These Bodhisattvas vow to look beyond the violence and suffering of these people and promise to lead even them to enlightenment.

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

LS32

Day 6

Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month heard the Buddha’s explanation of what prompted his concern, we consider the limits of the Buddha as the father of all living beings.

“Śāriputra! Seeing all this, I [also] thought, ‘I am the father of all living beings. I will eliminate their sufferings, give them the pleasure of the immeasurable wisdom of the Buddha, and cause them to enjoy it.’

“Śāriputra! I also thought, ‘If I extol my insight, powers, and fearlessness in the presence of those living beings only by my supernatural powers and by the power of my wisdom, that is to say, without any expedient, they will not be saved because they have not yet been saved from birth, old age, disease, death, grief, sorrow, suffering and lamentation, but are burning up in the burning house of the triple world. How can they understand the wisdom of the Buddha?’

“Śāriputra! The rich man did not save his children by his muscular power although he was strong enough. He saved them from the burning house with a skillful expedient and later gave them each a large cart of treasures.

The Introduction to the Lotus Sutra offers this:

[The Parable of the Burning House] presents the Buddha as a concerned parent, and so brings an intimacy into the relationship between the Buddha and us ordinary people. On our part, the Buddha appears like a father to be loved and trusted in faith. On the Buddha’s part, living beings like us are his children to be saved with compassion. In all of Buddhist literature, there is no other example quite as vivid as this one in the Lotus Sutra, which presents the Buddha as the Savior of suffering humanity. Here in the Lotus Sutra the Buddha touches our hearts with a clear-cut image of his personality.
Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Profound

Mother and Child

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The biography of Kumārajīva describes how he displayed his talent even when he was still in his mother’s womb. It is said that after his mother conceived him, the wisdom of Kumārajīva was so highly effective that he even influenced his mother, with which she became very knowledgeable, and her understanding ability was doubled than before. In addition, she was able to speak Sanskrit language without ever having learned it before, and was extremely fluent in being engaged in debate. (Page 10)

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


beginning

The Four Noble Truths Explained

“O brothers, this is the Noble Truth of Suffering. Birth is suffering; old age is suffering; illness is suffering; death is suffering; meeting people one hates is suffering; parting from people one loves is suffering; failing to get what one wants is suffering. In other words, all five aggregates of the body and mind, which have attachments to things and to people, and of the environment are suffering. This is the Noble Truth of Suffering.

“O brothers, this is the Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering. Craving – for sensual pleasure, continued existence, and annihilation; for happiness in all places, accompanied by joy and covetousness – which leads to rebirth, is the basic cause and reason for suffering. And this is the Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering.

“O brothers, this is the Noble Truth of the Extinction of Suffering. The Noble Truth of the Extinction of Suffering is the total elimination of craving, abandoning it entirely, being liberated from it, and no longer having any attachments.

“O brothers, this is the Noble Truth of the Path to the Extinction of Suffering. The Eightfold Noble Path – right view, right thinking, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right memory, and right meditation – is the Noble Truth of the Path to the Extinction of Suffering.” (Page 33-34)

The Beginnings of Buddhism

Doctrines of Nichiren

To Become a Bodhisattva, or Even a Buddha

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It is not difficult for any one to become a Bodhisattva, or even a Buddha. Women, too, may succeed, in spite of the exceptional difficulty which popular Buddhist teaching attributes to the female sex in such a quest. Why, even a female dragon is said to have attained to Buddhahood; and if that is true, why not a female human bing? Devadatta became a Buddha in spite of his infernal character. Why, then, not another man?

Doctrines of Nichiren (1893)

Lotus Path

The Heart of the Matter

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Here is the heart of the matter: Every day we should live our lives as not just disciples of the Buddha, but as Bodhisattvas from beneath the ground, disciples of the Eternal Buddha. Our actions are the most powerful form of speech.

Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Aug. 10, 2018

Therefore, Universal-Sage! When you see the keeper of this sūtra in the distance, you should rise from your seat, go to him, receive him, and respect him just as you respect me.

The Buddha gives this instruction to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. When we open our eyes to the wonders of the world, and truly appreciate the innumerable beings who share it with us, we can feel alone and insignificant. The Buddha’s Wonderful Dharma shows us both the unimaginable expanse of this universe and the importance of our place in it. None of us can be replaced. Our purpose is neither the futile pursuit of pleasure, nor to make our isolated existence permanent. We are here to open the gate of the Buddha’s wisdom to all beings, to show all beings the joy of enlightenment, and to help them put themselves on the path to enlightenment. We do this by cultivating respect for all beings and, heeding the instructions in this verse, respecting all beings as much as we would the Buddha himself.

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

LS32

Day 5

Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month heard the reaction of the gods that they also shall be able to become Buddhas, we listen as Śāriputra asks the Buddha to reassure “these twelve hundred people” of their future Buddhahood.

Thereupon Śāriputra said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! Now my doubts are gone. You assured me of my future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. These twelve hundred people now have freedom of mind. When they had something more to learn, [that is to say, when they had not yet completed their study for Arhatship,] you taught them, saying, ‘My teaching is for the purpose of causing you to emancipate yourselves from birth, old age, disease, and death, and to attain Nirvāṇa.’ The [two thousand] people, including those who have something more to learn and those who have nothing more to learn, also think that they attained Nirvāṇa because they emancipated themselves from such a view as ‘I exist,’ or ‘I shall exist forever,’ or ‘I shall cease to exist.’ But [both the twelve hundred people and the two thousand people] are now quite perplexed because they have heard from you [the Dharma] which they had never heard before. World-Honored One! In order to cause the four kinds of devotees to remove their doubts, explain why you said all this to them!”

See Our Spiritual Parent