The word “Emptiness” can sound very bleak and intimidating. However, the word was not chosen to be comforting. It is used in Mahayana Buddhism to challenge the fixed idea that we can grasp the nature of reality or anything within it, or that we can find any real boundaries between one thing and another. Emptiness means that all people, places, and things are empty of anything we can hold on to as unchanging or separate from everything else. Looked at in a positive way, this means that all of reality is without any real boundaries. As the Lotus Sutra says, “all things are open like the sky.” They are not non-dual, which means that they have no fixed boundaries, because all things are bound up with one another as part of the overall dynamic process of life. So Emptiness is not a dark nothingness. It is a way of helping us to open up our minds to the true nature of reality that transcends the rigid and ultimately false categories of birth and death, of self and other.
Lotus SeedsAuthor: John Hughes
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Daily Dharma – Feb. 5, 2018
Seeing [these wonders displayed by] the supernatural powers of his sons, the father had the greatest joy that he had ever had. He joined his hands together towards his sons [staying in the sky], and said, ‘Who is your teacher? Whose disciples are you?’
King Wonderful-Adornment makes this declaration to his sons in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. His sons had been asked by their mother to display their supernatural powers to their father and awaken the desire in him to hear the Buddha Dharma. We all have abilities of which we are not aware, and can cultivate those abilities so that they may seem miraculous to those who do not understand them. But it is important for us not to fall in the trap of using these abilities to strengthen our ego delusion. Instead we should dedicate our talents towards awakening the joy of the Wonderful Dharma in all beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
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Day 11
Day 11 continues Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City
Having last month concluded this day’s portion of Chapter 7, we start again at the top.
The Buddha said to the bhikṣus:
“When Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, five hundred billion Buddha-worlds in each of the ten quarters quaked in the six ways, and all those worlds, including those intercepted from the brilliant rays of light of the sun and the moon by the neighboring worlds, were illumined [by great rays of light], and the living beings of those worlds were able to see each other for the first time. They said to each other, ‘How did you appear so suddenly?’ The palaces of the gods of those worlds, including the palace of Brahmans, also quaked in the six ways. The great rays of light which illumined all those worlds were brighter than the rays of light emitted by those gods.
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The Blessed Sardine
We can come to faith only by encountering the absolute Buddha and believing his words. This is an act beyond the working of our knowledge. In Chapter Two, the Buddha says, “Sariputra, know this! The Buddhas do not speak differently.” The Buddhas speak truth. We can recognize that truth even when it is beyond our full understanding.
On the other hand, this does not mean that we should believe blindly. There is a Japanese saying that “even the head of a sardine seems blessed if you have faith in it.” This is not what we mean by faith. We can maintain a belief that is inspired by the experience of something beyond our ordinary capacities. We can evaluate it by means of our intellect and reason, and form our own mental attitudes. The title of Chapter Four, “Understanding by Faith,” refers to this process of the formation of our own psychological attitudes.
Introduction to the Lotus Sutra
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Nichiren Shu Creed
Nichiren Shu creed:
- We base our life on the example of the Lotus Sutra as personally experienced by Nichiren Shonin.
- We put our faith in the Eternal Buddha Sakyamumi, who is the true teacher of wisdom and compassion for all people.
- We train ourselves to attain Buddhahood by upholding Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, both in action and in spirit.
- Our teacher is Nichiren Shonin, who vowed to cultivate the Buddha nature of all people and create the land of the Buddha in this world. We also vow to work for that goal.
- We are all the Buddha’s children, and we will live together peacefully with all people in our search for the Truth.
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Daily Dharma – Feb. 4, 2018
If after my extinction anyone rejoices, even on a moment’s thought, at hearing even a gāthā or a phrase of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, I also will assure him of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.
The Buddha declares these lines to Medicine-King Bodhisattva at the beginning of Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. Other teachings had described beings becoming enlightened after making exorbitant offerings or strenuous practices over many lifetimes. In the teaching of the Wonderful Dharma, a single moment of joy at hearing the Dharma is enough to assure us that we will become enlightened.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
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Day 10
Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.
Having last month witnessed Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence attain the Dharma and then meet the 16 princes, we conclude this portion of Chapter 7 with the princes begging the Buddha to turn the wheel of the Dharma.
“Thereupon the sixteen princes, having praised the Buddha with these gāthās, begged the World-Honored One to turn the wheel of the Dharma, saying, ‘World-Honored One! Expound the Dharma, and give peace and many benefits to gods and men out of your compassion towards them!’ They repeated this in gāthās:
You, the Hero of the World, are unequalled.
Adorned with the marks
Of one hundred merits,
You have obtained unsurpassed wisdom.
Expound the Dharma and save us
And other living beings of the world!Expound the Dharma, reveal the Dharma,
And cause us to obtain that wisdom!
If we attain Buddhahood,
Others also will do the same.You, the World-Honored One, know
What all living beings have deep in their minds,
What teachings they are practicing,
And how much power of wisdom they have.You know their desires, the merits they obtained,
And the karmas they did
In their previous existence.
Turn the wheel of the unsurpassed Dharma! -
The True Pure Land
The Great Vehicle teaches us about the appearance of Buddhas in all of the worlds in the ten directions. When a Buddha appears in a certain world, that realm is named a “pure land.” For instance, Amitayus Buddha appeared in a world far to the west of our World of Endurance. His pure land was named Highest Joy or Land of Bliss. The worlds of the ten quarters are called “the other pure lands,” since they are on other sides of our World of Endurance. A pure land is an ideal world beyond the concrete reality of our world. But if the notion of pure lands were to ignore this world of ours (the only place of reality), those places would be no more than imaginary existences. The other pure lands would have no entities unless the real World of Endurance existed (that is, unless they originated here in our minds in harmony with the mind of the Buddha). Therefore a true pure land must be realized here where we are.
Introduction to the Lotus Sutra
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Four Noble Truths
The Four Noble Truths, a kind of simplified law of causation, are perhaps the best known of all the Buddha’s teachings: all existence is suffering, the cause of suffering is craving and illusion, suffering can be eliminated, and the way to eliminate suffering is to follow the Eightfold Path (ashtangika-marga) consisting of right views, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditation. As if to indicate their importance, Shakyamuni took the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path as the subjects of his very first sermon, celebrated as “setting the Wheel of the Law in motion,” delivered to five ascetics at Deer Park near Benares.
Basic Buddhist Concepts
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Daily Dharma – Feb. 3, 2018
You skillfully expound the Dharma with various parables and similes,
And with various stories of previous lives.
Now my mind is as peaceful as the sea.
Hearing you, I have removed the mesh of doubts.Śāriputra, the wisest of the Buddha’s disciples, sings these verses in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. After the Buddha announced in Chapter Two that he had not revealed his highest wisdom, that everything he had taught before then was preparation, Śāriputra was the first to understand what the Buddha meant. The parables, similes and other parts of the Lotus Sūtra help us to understand how to read them, and how to make them real in our lives. When we find the true purpose of what the Buddha is teaching us, our mind and the world become peaceful together.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com