Day 22 covers all of Chapter 17, The Variety of Merits.
Last week I wrote a blog post about a video lecture on the Pure Land as understood by Nichiren Shu. Today’s reading from Chapter 17 provides another Lotus Sutra quote specifically explaining that the Eternal Buddha is always present and that this Saha World is the Pure Land.
Ajita! The good men or women who hear of my longevity of which I told you, and understand it by firm faith, will be able to see that I am expounding the Dharma on Mt. Grdhrakuta,* surrounded by great Bodhisattvas and Sravakas. They also will be able to see that the ground of this Saha-World is made of lapis lazuli, that the ground is even, that the eight roads are marked off by ropes of jambanada gold, that the jeweled trees are standing in lines, and that the magnificent buildings are made of treasures. They also will be able to see that the Bodhisattvas are living in those buildings. They will be able to see all this because, know this, they have already understood [my longevity] by firm faith.
The Buddha taught that what we are today is a result of what we have thought and done in the past, and what we shall be in the future will be a result of what we think and do in the present.
Unfortunately, we trap ourselves in a vicious cycle of suffering by not recognizing the impermanent nature of things. Neither do we realize the ways in which we are setting in motion the various causes that will eventually determine the nature of our lives. Because of this ignorance, in our attempts to get those things that we mistakenly believe will bring permanent self-fulfillment, we act in ways that are far from beneficial, both for ourselves and for others. Most of us are familiar with the phrase “what goes around comes around,” but how many of us actually make sure that all of our words, actions, and thoughts are the kind that we would like to see mirrored back to us by the people, places, and events in our daily lives?
The gods, men and asuras in the world think that I, Śākyamuni Buddha, left the palace of the Śākyas, sat at the place of enlightenment not far from the City of Gayā, and attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi [forty and odd years ago]. To tell the truth, good men, it is many hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of kalpas since I became the Buddha.
The Buddha makes this proclamation in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sutra. This was the first time he revealed himself not as the temporal Siddhartha Gautama, the man who left home and became enlightened, but as the Ever-Present Buddha Śākyamuni who has been alive for innumerable eons helping beings to become enlightened and will continue that existence for twice that time into the future. This is the highest teaching of the Buddha, the purpose of all his expedient teachings that came before, and the Wonderful Dharma that is most difficult to believe and understand. When we comprehend the existence of this Ever-Present Buddha for even the blink of an eye, we gain more clarity about the world than through any of the Buddha’s other teachings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
To set the stage, we have the children who got into some poison and are rolling on the floor in agony by the time their father returns home.
At that time the father returned home. Some sons had already lost their right minds while the others still had not.
I bring this up because of how it plays out when the physician gives his children the medicine he says has a good color, smell and taste.
Notice here that the children can see the medicine has a good color and they can sniff the medicine to test its smell. But they must have faith in their father and his talents as a physician in order to believe the medicine tastes good before they take it.
And so…
The sons who had not lost their right minds saw that this good medicine had a good color and smell, took it at once, and were cured completely. But the sons who had already lost their right minds did not consent to take the medicine given to them, although they rejoiced at seeing their father come home and asked him to cure them, because they were so perverted that they did not believe that this medicine having a good color and smell had a good taste.
This is a wonderful example of faith because that faith – accepting that the medicine will taste good – is tested and confirmed. Once we take the medicine we realize it does, indeed, taste great.
You should promptly discard your false faith and take up the true and sole teaching of the Lotus Sutra at once. Then this triple world of the unenlightened will all become Buddha Lands. Will Buddha lands ever decay? All the worlds in the universe will become pure lands. Will Pure Lands ever be destroyed? When our country does not decay and the world is not destroyed, our bodies will be safe and our hearts tranquil. Believe these words and revere them!
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Spreading Peace through Right Practice (Risshō Ankoku-ron). We may believe that we can practice correctly only when the world becomes peaceful. As if so long as we are in this world of conflict, we would need to use force and aggression to create peace. Nichiren turns this idea upside down. He shows that only by our practicing respect towards all beings, and working for their benefit, can we create peace in this world.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 20 completes Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, and concludes the Fifth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Last month, covered Maitreya’s statement that “We have never seen these many thousands of billions of Bodhisattvas.” So today…
Thereupon Sakyamuni Buddha said to Maitreya Bodhisattva:
Excellent, excellent, Ajita! You asked me a very important question. All of you should concentrate your minds, wear the armor of endeavors, and be resolute. Now I will reveal, I will show, the wisdom of the Buddhas, their supernatural power without hindrance, their dauntless powers like a lion’s, and their great power of bravery.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he said, sang in gathas:
Exert yourselves and concentrate your minds!
Now I will tell you about this matter.
Do not doubt me!
My wisdom is difficult to understand.
Arouse your power of faith,
And do good patiently!
You will be able to hear the Dharma
That you have never heard before.
Now I will relieve you.
Do not doubt me!
Do not be afraid!
I do not tell a lie.
My wisdom is immeasurable.
The highest Dharma that I attained
Is profound and difficult to understand.
Now I will expound it.
Listen to me with all your hearts!
The Daily Dharma of Oct. 19, 2016, had this response:
Excellent, excellent, Ajita! You asked me a very important question. All of you should concentrate your minds, wear the armor of endeavors, and be resolute. Now I will reveal, I will show, the wisdom of the Buddhas, their supernatural powers without hindrance, their dauntless powers like a lion’s, and their great power of bravery.
The Buddha makes this declaration to Maitreya Bodhisattva, whom he calls Ajita (Invincible) in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, innumerable Bodhisattvas spring up from underground and vow to the Buddha to keep the sūtra after his extinction. Maitreya, knowing the minds of many others who have come to hear the Buddha teach, asks about these Bodhisattvas, whom he has never seen before. This question from Maitreya then leads to the Buddha later giving his most difficult teaching in Chapter Sixteen. The Buddha’s declaration in this passage shows how important questioning is to our faith.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
I wear my armor of endeavors. I am resolute. I have aroused my power of faith. I am listening with all my heart.
Namu or Namas assumes a variety of meanings and literally signifies devotion. Namas further signifies to return, restore or entrust one’s life, as well as to express one’s gratitude, a respectful greeting, reverence, to sincerely believe and to take refuge in.
In order to save the [perverted] people,
I expediently show my Nirvāṇa to them.
In reality I shall never pass away.
I always live here and expound the Dharma.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. This is part of the explanation that his existence in the physical form of Śākyamuni was only one way that he leads all beings to enlightenment. The Buddha described his ever-present nature as the most difficult of his teachings to believe and understand. Recognizing the presence of the Buddha in the world is the same as recognizing Buddha nature in ourselves and all beings. Knowing that the Buddha is always available to help us in this difficult practice of the Wonderful Dharma means we do not need to rely on our own limited abilities. The store of the Dharma is always available to us. We just need to find it and use it.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Manjusri! This Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma is the treasury of the hidden core of the Buddhas, of the Tathagatas. It is superior to all the other sutras. I kept it [in secret] and refrained from expounding it for the long night. Now I expound it to you today for the first time.
I hear this instruction:
Be patient, and compassionate
Towards all living beings,
And then expound this sutra
Praised by the Buddhas!
Anyone who keeps this sutra
In the latter days after my extinction
Should have compassion towards laymen and monks
And towards those who are not Bodhisattvas.
He should think:
‘They do not hear this sutra.
They do not believe it.
This is their great fault.
When I attain the enlightenment of the Buddha,
I will expound the Dharma to them
With expedients
And cause them to dwell in it.’
My son celebrated his 25th birthday earlier this month. They’re born and then they’re gone. Left behind are little ghosts, such as the toddler who loved Disney’s animated Winnie the Pooh stories. When he grew older, the Pooh stories were his retreat when anxiety struck.
“I need a Pooh movie,” he would say, and we would gather around the VHS player and watch together.
Last night, after watching the final U.S. Presidential Debate and the CNN commentary – you really can’t polish this turd – I needed a Pooh movie.
Having no personal equivalent of A.A. Milne’s classic tales, I chose instead to listen to an hour-long, four-part lecture about “The Pure Land in Nichiren Shu Buddhism.”
Seriously, this was a perfect Pooh movie.
Link to YouTube playlist
The lecture is given by Rev. Kanto Tsukamoto at the Nichiren Shu Buddhist Temple in Dagenham, a suburb of London. (The first of the videos says the lecture was given in 2014 but it was only uploaded on YouTube between Oct. 15 and Oct. 18, 2016.) The videos are the creation of Choeizan Enkyoji, the Seattle Nichiren Buddhist Temple. (YouTube, Temple Website)
The first part of the movie offered a clear explanation of the fundamentals of Nichiren Shu doctrine, along with a very compelling explanation of why we practice both for personal merit and for the merit of others.
Of course, the bulk of the video covers the difference between the Pure Land of Amitābha Buddha and the Pure Land of Sakyamuni as taught by Nichiren Shonin.
The title of this post comes from the explanation of how one gets to the Pure Land after death. Followers of Amitābha Buddha believe one is reborn in a Pure Land far away in the West. This is called O-Jo.
The Lotus Sutra, in particular the 16th Chapter, teaches that there is no Pure Land separate from this Saha World.
The [perverted] people think:
“This world is in a great fire.
The end of the kalpa [of destruction] is coming.”
In reality this world of mine is peaceful.
For Nichiren followers, there is no difference between the pure land of Mount Sacred Eagle, where Sakyamuni preaches the Lotus Sutra, the spiritual land of Mount Sacred Eagle.
Although I always live here
With the perverted people
I disappear from their eyes
By my supernatural powers.
When they see me seemingly pass away,
And make offerings to my sariras,
And adore me, admire me,
And become devout, upright and gentle,
And wish to see me
With all their hearts
At the cost of their lives,
I reappear on Mt. Sacred Eagle
With my Samgha,
And say to them:
‘I always live here.
I shall never be extinct.
I show my extinction to you expediently
Although I never pass away.
Upon death, one is not “reborn” in a distant land. Instead, one passes through to the pure land of Mount Sacred Eagle. This is O-Kay.
The Gohonzon is the link between the real Mount Sacred Eagle and the spiritual Mount Sacred Eagle. It is our anchor. With our practice and study for ourselves and others we build a real pure land in this world.
If you are feeling anxious about things, this is a wonderful video to watch. We Bodhisattvas are stronger together.
