In Nichiren Shu, the mantra of the Odaimoku is … considered a fundamental practice that facilitates transformation. The phrase Namu Myoho Renge Kyo is the heart of the Lotus Sutra and the Eternal Buddha’s enlightenment. Nichiren Shonin taught us that by chanting these enlightened words of the Buddha, we too are able to open the enlightenment that has slept within our lives since ages past, referred to in Buddhist terms as Bussho, or our Buddha-nature. Bussho can also be translated as the “life of the Buddha” within each and every one of us. Therefore, the more we chant, the closer we become to the Buddha and the more our own Buddha-nature begins to grow, develop and blossom in a very natural and day-to-day manner.
Odaimoku: The Significance Of Chanting Namu Myoho Renge KyoAll posts by John Hughes
Daily Dharma – June 28, 2017
Do not doubt him even at a moment’s thought!
The Pure Saint World-Voice-Perceiver is reliable
When you suffer, and when you are confronted
With the calamity of death.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. The calamity of death is something we all will face eventually, whether it our own or that of those we love. The other calamities in our lives are relatively minor losses which can prepare us for this great calamity. The Bodhisattva World-Voice-Perceiver is the embodiment of Compassion: the desire to benefit all beings. When we learn to use all of the suffering in our lives, especially the calamity of death, as a way to remove our delusions and benefit others, then we can see the world with the eyes of the Buddha and know the joy he declares is at the core of our being.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 13
Day 13 covers all of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples.
Having last month heard the Parable of the Priceless Gem in prose, we finish the chapter in gāthās.
Thereupon Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya and the others, wishing to repeat what they had said, sang in gāthās:
Your assurance of our future Buddhahood
Gives us unsurpassed peace.
Hearing your voice, we have the greatest joy that we have ever had.
We bow to you, to the Buddha of Immeasurable Wisdom.Now in your presence,
We reproach ourselves for our faults.
The Nirvāṇa we attained was
Only part of the immeasurable treasures of yours.
We were like a foolish man with no wisdom.
We satisfied ourselves with what little we had attained.Suppose a poor man visited
His good friend, who was very rich.
The friend feasted him
With delicacies.He fastened a priceless gem
Inside the garment of the man as a gift to him,
And went out without leaving a word.
The sleeping man did not notice [the gift].The man woke up, and went to another country.
He worked to get food and clothing.
He had much difficulty
In earning his livelihood.He satisfied himself with what little he earned.
He did not wish to get anything more.
He did not notice the priceless gem
Fastened inside his garment.The good friend who gave the gem to the poor man
Happened to see him later.
He blamed him severely,
And showed him the gem fastened [inside the garment].Seeing the gem,
The poor man had great joy.
Now he satisfied his five desires
With many treasures.We are like the poor man.
In the long night you taught us
Out of your compassion towards us,
And caused us to aspire for unsurpassed [enlightenment].Because we had no wisdom, we did not notice that.
The Nirvāṇa we attained was only part [of your wisdom].
Satisfying ourselves with it,
We did not wish to attain anything more.Now you have awakened us, saying:
“What you attained was not true extinction.
When you have the unsurpassed wisdom of the Buddha,
You will attain true extinction.”Hearing from you that we are assured
Of becoming Buddhas one after another,
And that our worlds will be adorned,
We are joyful in body and mind.
The Daily Dharma from May 21, 2016, offers his:
He satisfied himself with what little he earned.
He did not wish to get anything more.
He did not notice the priceless gem
Fastened inside his garment.
These verses are part of a story told by Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya and other disciples in Chapter Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. It is about a man whose friend gives him a jewel while he is asleep. Not realizing he has this treasure, the man returns to his ordinary life, desperate to make a living and satisfy his ordinary desires. The story shows how we live when we forget about the jewel of Buddha nature we carry with us.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Daily Dharma – June 27, 2017
Anyone who rejoices at hearing the Dharma
And utters even a single word in praise of it
Should be considered to have already made offerings
To the past, present, and future Buddhas.
Such a person is rarely seen,
More rarely than the udumbara-flower.
The Buddha sings these verses to his disciple Śāriputra and all those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. It is natural to admire and respect those who make great sacrifices for the sake of improving the world, and who lead us to know what deserves those offerings. It is sometimes difficult to see the joy that comes from those efforts. In these verses the Buddha reminds us that even when our reaction to his Dharma is just a smile, or saying “Wonderful,” our admiration is a reminder of our own capacity for such great efforts.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 12
Day 12 concludes Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City, and completes the Third Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month heard in gāthās of the long-delayed awakening of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha, we witness in gāthās the turning of the wheel of the Dharma by the Buddha.
The palaces of the Brahmans
Of five hundred billion worlds in the east
Were illumined
More brightly than ever.Traveling to find [the place from where the light had come],
The Brahmans of those worlds came to that Buddha.
They strewed flowers and offered them to him.
They also offered their palaces.They praised him with gāthās,
And begged him to turn the wheel of the Dharma.
The Buddha sat in silence although he was begged
Because he knew that the time was not yet ripe for that.The Brahmans came also from the three other quarters,
From the four intermediate quarters, zenith, and nadir.
They strewed flowers, offered their palaces,
And begged the Buddha to turn the wheel of the Dharma, saying:“It is difficult to meet you.
Open the gate of the teachings as sweet as nectar
Out of your great compassion towards us,
And turn the wheel of the unsurpassed Dharma!”Assenting to their appeal,
The World-Honored One of Immeasurable Wisdom
Expounded the various teachings, that is,
The four truths and the twelve causes, saying:
“All the causes, from ignorance to aging-and-death,
Rise one after another.
You should know
All these illusions.”When he expounded these teachings,
Sixty quadrillions of living beings
Eliminated sufferings,
And became Arhats.At his second expounding of these teachings also,
Tens of millions of living beings, that is,
As many living beings as there are sands in the River Ganges,
Became Arhats because they gave up wrong views.Those who attained the enlightenment [of Arhats] afterwards
Were also innumerable.
No one would be able to count them
Even if he tried to do so for a billion kalpas.
Recently I’ve been reading books on the fundamentals of Buddhism, those points that transcend sectarian differences. Those fundamentals are contained in the Lotus Sutra as shown in this section:
Assenting to their appeal,
The World-Honored One of Immeasurable Wisdom
Expounded the various teachings, that is,
The four truths and the twelve causes, saying:
“All the causes, from ignorance to aging-and-death,
Rise one after another.
You should know
All these illusions.”
Our Effort
We cannot expect our practice of Buddhism, wishing to become enlightened, to take a short period of time, or little effort. Yet we can destroy all that we have attained all that we have accomplished within a short period of time by being discouraged and abandoning our practice.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1Daily Dharma – June 26, 2017
Those who have much lust will be saved from lust if they constantly think of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and respect him. Those who have much anger will be saved from anger if they constantly think of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and respect him. Those who have much stupidity will be saved from stupidity if they constantly think of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and respect him.
The Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon, Kanzeon, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. World-Voice-Perceiver is the embodiment of compassion for all beings, the wish that all beings be freed from suffering and realize the enlightenment of the Buddha. This compassion is the antidote to the three poisons of lust, anger and stupidity. By aspiring to the example of World-Voice-Perceiver and awakening our own compassion, we can overcome these poisons and bring benefits to all beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 11
Day 11 continues Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City
Having last month seen the reaction of the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the southeast, we hear from the south.
“Bhikṣus! The great Brahman-[heavenly-]kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the south, who saw their palaces illumined more brightly than ever, also danced with joy. They wondered why [their palaces were so illumined]. They visited each other and discussed the reason, saying, ‘Why are our palaces illumined so brightly?’ There was a great Brahman-heavenly-king called Wonderful-Dharma among them. He said to the other Brahmans in gāthās:
Our palaces are illumined so brightly.
There must be some reason.
Let us find [the place]
[From where the light has come].We have never seen this [light]
For the past one hundred thousand kalpas.
Did a god of great virtue or a Buddha appear
Somewhere in the universe?“Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion [worlds] went to the north, carrying flower-plates filled with heavenly flowers, in order to find [the place from where the light had come]. Their palaces also moved as they went. They [reached the Well-Composed World and] saw that Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathāgata was sitting on the lion-like seat under the Bodhi-tree of the place of enlightenment, surrounded respectfully by gods, dragon-kings, gandharvas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings. They also saw that the sixteen princes were begging the Buddha to turn the wheel of the Dharma. They worshipped the Buddha with their heads, walked around him a hundred thousand times, and strewed heavenly flowers to him. The strewn flowers were heaped up to the height of Mt. Sumeru. The Brahman-heavenly-king offered flowers also to the Bodhi-tree of the Buddha. Having offered flowers, they offered their palaces to the Buddha, saying, ‘We offer these palaces to you. Receive them and benefit us out of your compassion towards us!’ In the presence of the Buddha, they simultaneously praised him in gāthās with all their hearts:
It is difficult to see a World-Honored One.
You, the World-Honored One, eliminated all illusions.
We have not seen a World-Honored One
For the past one hundred and thirty kalpas.Send the rain of the Dharma
On the hungry and thirsty beings!
Possessor of immeasurable wisdom,
We have never seen anyone wiser than you.
You are as rare as an udumbara-flower.
Now we have met you today.Our palaces are beautifully adorned
With your light.
World-Honored One, receive them
Out of your great compassion towards us!“Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly-kings, having praised the Buddha with these gāthās, said, ‘World-Honored One! Turn the wheel of the Dharma so that Mara, Brahman, the other gods, śramaṇas, and brahmanas of the world may be peaceful, and that they may be saved!’ They simultaneously praised the Buddha in gāthās with all their hearts:
Most Honorable of Gods and Men!
Turn the wheel of the unsurpassed Dharma,
Beat the drum of the Great Dharma,
Blow the conch-shell horn of the Great Dharma,
Send the rain of the Great Dharma,
And save innumerable living beings!
Devoting ourselves to you, we beg you.
Resound your profound teaching!“Thereupon Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathāgata gave his tacit consent to their appeal.
I enjoy the image of the wisdom of the Buddha shining a light that illumines the worlds of the 10 directions. And each time through here I ponder why in the south, “We have never seen this [light]
For the past one hundred thousand kalpas” and in other directions the length of the absence is different.
The Reality of All Things Analyzed into Ten Nyoze
This is taken from Page 3 of the June 1, 2017, Nichiren Shu News, which is published by the Head Office of Nichiren Shu Buddhism and the Nichiren Shu Overseas Propagation Promotion Association (NOPPA).
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is the second in a series of translations and explanations of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren’s writings made by Bishop Senchu Murano. It has been published before in Nichiren Shu News, but we are printing it again now for our newer readers.
Bishop Senchu Murano, Head Priest, Myochoji Temple, Kamakura
The reality of all things, Shoho Jisso, is analyzed into ten suchnesses, or nyoze, in Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra. Tendai interpreted “all things,” shoho or sarvadharma in Sanskrit, as “living beings” when he explained the ten nyoze as follows:
Nyoze-so: All living beings are different from each other in appearance such as they are.
Nyoze-sho: All living beings are different from each other in nature such as they are.
Nyoze-tai: All living beings are different from each other in physique (entity) such as they are.
Nyoze-riki: All living beings are different from each other in power such as they are.
Nyoze-sa: All living beings are different from each other in action such as they are.
Nyoze-in: The present conditions of various living beings are the cause of their variety of future conditions as they are.
Nyoze-en: The present environments of various living beings are the cause of their variety of future environments as they are.
Nyoze-ka: All living beings are different from each other in their present conditions such as they are because their present conditions are the effects of past activities, which were different from each other.
Nyoze-ho: All living beings are different from each other in their rewards and retributions such as they are because their past activities in their past environments were different from each other.
Nyoze-hommatsu-kukyo-to: Not-withstanding all these differences, all living beings who are investigated here in regard to the first nyoze through the ninth and last nyoze, are equal to each other such as they are after all.
This Moment of Life
Today I make peace with my past. I am not the same person I was 60 years ago, and I’m not the same person I will be a week from today. I am responsible for my actions in this moment, but no longer in control or have power over my actions in the past moment. This moment only allows me to experience the effects of previous causes and decide how I will proceed into the future. In a way, the past does not exist. It doesn’t exist yet we cling to it as if it were life and death, when in fact the past is only death, and the present represents our life.
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