In this world, we have many problems and sorrows, and since we are not able to overcome them ourselves, we complain about them loudly. When World-Voice-Perceiver hears our voices, he immediately discerns what our problem is, solves it, and leads us towards enlightenment. That is the reason for his name. In Asia, millions of people chant his name sincerely for delivery from their troubles.
Introduction to the Lotus SutraAuthor: John Hughes
-
Equal to the Whole Lotus Sutra
[T]he Lotus Sutra was expounded in accordance with the Buddha’s true heart and intention. In Chapter 21 of the Lotus Sutra is says:
“All the teachings of the Tathāgata, all the unhindered, supernatural powers of the Tathāgata, all the treasury of the hidden core of the Tathāgata, and all the profound achievements of the Tathāgata are revealed and expounded explicitly in this sutra.” (Murano, p.294)
Thus, the Lotus Sutra is equal to the Buddha himself.
The Buddha is also included in the five characters of Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo, which is the Chinese title of the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren Shōnin said:
“A name has virtue representing its body.” (Jissh ō-shō, WNS2, p.4).
Therefore, the five [Chinese] characters of the Odaimoku are equal to the whole Lotus Sutra.
Buddha Seed: Understanding the Odaimoku
-
Daily Dharma – Feb. 22, 2018
I always expound the Dharma.
I do nothing else.
I am not tired of expounding the Dharma
While I go or come or sit or stand.
I expound the Dharma to all living beings
Just as the rain waters all the earth.The Buddha makes this declaration in Chapter Five of the Lotus Sūtra. It is normal for us humans to become worn out, frustrated or annoyed as we try to benefit others. Often, other people do not want our help, or when they take our help, they do not progress as fast as we want them to. Sometimes there are only a few people we want to help, and may actually wish harm on those we blame for our problems. The Buddha gives us a different example. He gets his energy from creating benefit. It does not drain him. He sees that all beings want to improve themselves, no matter how perversely they may go about it. He knows that all beings are worthy of receiving the Buddha Dharma.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
-
Day 28
Day 28 covers all of Chapter 24, Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, and concludes the Seventh Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month learned of the samadhi practiced by Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, we conclude Chapter 24, Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva.
Thereupon Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva-mahāsattva made offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha and to the stupa of Many-Treasures Buddha, [benefited the living beings of the Sahā World,] and left for his home world[, accompanied by the eighty-four thousand Bodhisattvas]. As they passed through the [one hundred and eight billion nayuta] worlds, the ground of those worlds quaked in the six ways; lotus-flowers of treasures rained down; and hundreds of thousands of billions of kinds of music were made. Having reached his home world, accompanied by the eighty-four thousand Bodhisattvas who surrounded him, he came to Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha. He said to the Buddha:
“World-Honored One! I went to the Sahā-World and benefited the living beings there. I saw Śākyamuni Buddha and the stupa of Many-Treasures Buddha. I bowed and made offerings to them. I also saw Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva, the Son of the King of the Dharma. [I also saw] Medicine-King Bodhisattva, Endeavor-Power-Obtainer Bodhisattva, Brave-In-Giving Bodhisattva, and others. I also caused these eighty-four thousand Bodhisattvas to obtain the ability to practice the samadhi by which they could transform themselves
into any other living being.”When [Śākyamuni Buddha] expounded this chapter of the Coming and Going of Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, forty-two thousand gods obtained the truth of birthlessness, and Flower-Virtue Bodhisattva obtained the ability to practice the samadhi for the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
[Here ends] the Seventh Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
-
The Lotus Sutra and Nichiren
Throughout the long history of admiration for the Lotus Sutra, there were many readers and devotees who contributed to its propagation. But only Nichiren devoted his life to reading the Lotus Sutra to such a profound extent, putting both his body and soul into understanding it.
Nichiren suffered numerous religious persecutions which jeopardized even his life. Thanks to these ordeals, however, he gained a deeper understanding of the Lotus Sutra, through which he was able to enter the realm of Buddhist Truth. The life-long experience of religious persecutions is unique to this saint, amounting to special ordeals worse than most ordinary men could endure.
Nichiren himself was aware of this, which is why he said, “Nichiren alone is able to read the words of the Sutra.”
Introduction to the Lotus Sutra
-
The Mission of the Sect of Nichiren
The first and greatest mission of Sakyamuni in this world is to help the multitude to unfold and develop their Buddha-intellect, and cleanse and purify their nature. When they are once able to unfold this Buddha-intellect of theirs, they will perceive the real nature of this world of evils, that is, the glory of that eternal reality which underlies the world of outward sense. Hence, to proclaim the identity of the evil or phenomenal world with the glorious underlying reality, or noumenon; to point out the way to Buddhahood; to open the path of salvation; above all, to convince the people that one and all of them may become Buddhas, here and now. This is the mission of the sect of Nichiren.
Doctrines of Nichiren (1893)
-
Slowly and Deliberately
When we really take the time to engage our whole life into our practice, a quality practice, we truly benefit more than if we approach our practice from a point of accumulating quantity. This also has a spillover effect into all areas of our life. Give it a try; go slowly and deliberately.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1
-
Daily Dharma – Feb. 21, 2018
Although we were your sons then as we are now, we wished to hear only the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle. If we had aspired for the teaching of the Great Vehicle, you would have already expounded it to us.
Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana speak this passage in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. This is before they tell the story of the Wayward Son. They explain their realization that the Buddha holds nothing back from us. The reason we hear expedient teachings rather than the highest teaching is because of the limits of our own aspiration. When we aspire to become Buddhas, we receive the highest teaching.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
-
Day 27
Day 27 concludes Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.
Having last month considered the merits of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, we consider the innumerable merits to be obtained by anyone who hears this chapter.
“Star-King-Flower! Anyone who hears [especially] this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva also will be able to obtain innumerable merits. The woman who hears and keeps this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva will not be a woman in her next life. The woman who hears this sūtra and acts according to the teachings of it in the later’ five hundred years after my extinction, will be able to be reborn, after her life in this world, [as a man sitting] on the jeweled seat in the lotus flower blooming in the World of Happiness where Amitayus Buddha lives surrounded by great Bodhisattvas. He [no more she] will not be troubled by greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, jealousy, or any other impurity. He will be able to obtain the supernatural powers of a Bodhisattva and the truth of birthlessness. When he obtains this truth, his eyes will be purified. With his purified eyes, he will be able to see seven billion and two hundred thousand million nayuta Buddhas or Tathāgatas, that is, as many Buddhas as there are sands in the River Ganges. At that time those Buddhas will praise him, saying simultaneously from afar, ‘Excellent, excellent, good man! You kept, read and recited this sūtra, thought it over, and expounded it to others under Śākyamuni Buddha. Now you have obtained innumerable merits and virtues, which cannot be burned by fire or washed away by water. Your merits cannot be described even by the combined efforts of one thousand Buddhas. Now you have defeated the army of Mara, beaten the forces of birth and death, and annihilated all your enemies. Good man! Hundreds of thousands of Buddhas are now protecting you by their supernatural powers. None of the gods or men in the world surpasses you. None but the Tathāgatas, none of the Śrāvakas or Pratyekabuddhas or Bodhisattvas surpasses you in wisdom and dhyāna-concentration.’ Star-King-Flower! [He is a Bodhisattva.] This Bodhisattva will obtain these merits and the power of wisdom.
-
Arising from the Mud
Ascetics of Hinayana Buddhism (the Lesser Vehicle) aim to escape from our world of sorrows, stand aloof from its problems, and attain a pure state of consciousness. This can make them indifferent to the world. They easily forget to fulfill the most important task in religion, namely, to save ordinary people.
On the other hand, Mahayana Buddhism (the Great Vehicle), beginning from the point of view of ordinary people, asserts that the state of enlightenment can be realized only in the midst of this world, because Bodhisattvas cannot save people without living and working here where evil and misery exist. Bodhisattvas, of course, are themselves pure, and they are never contaminated by the vice and evil of their environments. They are like lovely lotus flowers, which rise from out of the mud at the bottom of the water.
Introduction to the Lotus Sutra