No, good men! I do not want you to protect or keep this sūtra because there are Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas sixty thousand times as many as the sands of the River Ganges in this Sahā-World. They are each accompanied by attendants also numbering sixty thousand times as many as the sands of the River Ganges. They will protect, keep, read, recite and expound this sūtra after my extinction.
The Buddha makes this declaration to the uncountable number of Bodhisattvas who came from other worlds to hear him teach in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. These Bodhisattvas had responded to the Buddha’s question of who would keep and expound the Buddha’s highest teaching after his death. They promised that they would remain in this world of conflict and fulfill the Buddha’s request. After the Buddha spoke these words, an unimaginable number of Bodhisattvas came up from underground and paid their respects to the Buddha. We can understand this story, and this image, as showing that our capacity for enlightenment, and our ability to benefit all beings, is already within us. We do not need an outside agent to give these to us.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 31 covers Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva.
In the our modern world, where religious practice seems the domain of only the old, where are the sons of the King of the Dharma, the youth who inspire and lead their parents?
Innumerable, inconceivable, asamkhya kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom, the Tathagata, the Arhat, the Samyak-sambuddha. His world was called Light-Adornment; the kalpa in which he lived, Gladly-Seen. Under that Buddha lived a king called Wonderful-Adornment. His wife was called Pure-Virtue. They had two sons, Pure-Store and PureEyes by name. The two sons had great supernatural powers, merits, virtues and wisdom. A long time ago, they had already practiced the Way which Bodhisattva should practice. They had already practiced the dana-pararnita, the sila-paramita, the ksanti-pararnita, the virya-paramita, the dhyana-paramita, the prajna-paramita, and the paramita of expediency. They also had already obtained [the four states of mind towards all living beings:] compassion, loving kindness, joy and impartiality.
At 64 years of age, I’d estimate that I’m about the average age of those who regularly attend, maybe even on the younger side some Sundays. Reading the story of King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva makes me long to meet a young follower – perhaps two brothers – with a fire of devotion for the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Shonin’s teaching that only the young can possess.
[King Wonderful-Adornment said,] World-Honored One! These two sons of mine did the work of the Buddha. They converted me from wrong views by displaying wonders. They caused me to dwell peacefully in your teachings. They caused me to see you. These two sons of mine are my teachers. They appeared in my family in order to benefit me. They inspired the roots of good which I had planted in my previous existence.
Thereupon Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha said to King Wonderful-Adornment, ‘So it is, so it iS. It is just as you say. The good men or women who plant the roots of good will obtain teachers in their successive lives. The teachers will do the work of the Buddha, show the Way [to them], teach them, benefit them, cause them to rejoice, and cause them to enter into the Way to Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Great King, know this! A teacher is a great cause [of your enlightenment] because he leads you, and causes you to see a Buddha and aspire for Anuttarasamyak-sambodhi.
It is useless to stack up a pile of treasures in your storehouse if you are in poor health. Therefore the value of a healthy body is more important than treasures in the storehouse. At the same time, however, a healthy body means nothing if your mind is not pure. This is why we can say that our most precious treasure is our mind itself. Upon reading this letter, please try to accumulate the treasure of your mind.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his “Emperor Shushun” Letter (Sushun Tennō Gosho) addressed to his disciple Shijō Kingo. We can become so focused on acquiring material resources to meet the needs of our bodies, that we neglect to care for our health. A sick man in a mansion cannot be happy. Nichiren points out that even when we have physical health, if our minds are clouded by delusion, we cannot be happy either. The practice of the Wonderful Dharma can bring great physical and material benefits. But more importantly, this practice helps us prepare our minds to appreciate what we have and use it for the benefit of all beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Last month I commented on the fact that the Dharanis are not given for the purpose of gaining merit. They will protect the teacher of the Dharma.
The Daily Dharma from Nov. 29, 2015, offers an interesting perspective on this.
Thereupon Medicine-King Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One! Now I will give dhāraṇī-spells to the expounder of the Dharma in order to protect him.”
This promise to the Buddha from Medicine-King Bodhisattva comes in Chapter Twenty-Six of the Lotus Sutra. The dhāraṇīs are given in a language that nobody understands any more. But this does not reduce their effectiveness. In the second chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha declared that his wisdom cannot be reached by understanding alone. There is another, nonverbal aspect of his teaching that we must comprehend. The dhāraṇīs not only give us reassurance that beings we cannot comprehend are helping us to become enlightened, they also remind us to look for the unspoken teachings that are part of the Buddha Dharma.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
He should disregard the differences
Between the superior, mean, and inferior vehicles,
Between the things free from causality and those subject to it,
And between the real and the unreal.
He should not say:
“This is a man,” or “This is a woman.”
He should not obtain anything
Or know anything or see anything.
All these are the proper practices
That the Bodhisattva should perform.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Mañjuśrī in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. When we fully comprehend the idea of dependent origination, that no person has an ego, that each of us is the result of causes and conditions, and that the Buddha Dharma is a cause for good of which we may not be aware, it is no longer necessary to classify the beings with whom we share this world. Our inclinations towards dogma are replaced with curiosity. Our need to dominate is replaced with a need to understand.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 29 covers all of Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.
World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and the explicit promises are another area that troubles my literalist delusions.
Thereupon Endless-Intent Bodhjsattva rose from his seat, bare j his right shoulder, joined rus hands together towards the Buddha, and said, “World-Honored One! Why is World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva caJled World-Voice-Perceiver?”
The Buddha said to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva:
“Good man! If many hundreds of thousands of billions of living beings hear [the name of] World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and call his name with all their hearts when they are under various sufferings, World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva will immediately perceive their voices, and cause them to emancipate themselves [from the sufferings].
And then later:
Thereupon Endless-lntent Bodhisattva asked the Buddha in gathas:
World-Honored One with the wonderful marks
I ask you about this again.
Why is the son of the Buddha
Called World-Voice-Perceiver?
The Honorable One with the wonderful marks answered Endless-Intent in gathas:
Listen! World-Voice-Perceiver practiced
According to the conditions of the places [of salvation].
His vow to save [people] is as deep a the sea.
You cannot fathom it even for kalpas.
On many hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhas
He attended and made a great and pure vow.
I will tell you about his vow in brief.
If you hea.r his name, and see him,
And think of him constantly,
You will be able to eliminate all sufferings.
The Daily Dharma from June 8, 2016, turns this around in a way that eases my silly misconception.
Suppose bandits are surrounding you,
And attempting to kill you with swords.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
The bandits will become compassionate towards you.
The Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon, Kanzeon, Kuan Yin, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. When we allow this Bodhisattva, the embodiment of compassion, into our minds, we realize the value of the connections we have with all beings, even those who are so deluded that they want to harm us. When we ourselves embody compassion, we should not be surprised when it awakens the compassion that is at the core of our existence.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The mother said to them, ‘Show some wonders to your father out of your compassion towards him! If he sees [the wonders], he will have his mind purified and allow us to go to that Buddha.’
These lines are from a story told by the Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. The two sons of King Wonderful-Adornment have asked their mother for permission to leave home and follow the Buddha Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom. The wonders in the story are beyond the capacity of human beings, but they show the King that another way of living is possible, and induce him to seek the teaching of that Buddha. Even if we cannot develop supernatural powers, there are wonders we can develop in our practice. We can learn the value of respecting all beings. We can control our desires and not be devastated by life’s tragedies. We can share “even a word or phrase,” as Nichiren put it, of the teaching and bring great benefit to others. In our normal lives, changed by our practice, we too can purify the minds of others.
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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.
It is time to start at the beginning of this chapter and the description of the powers already attained by a Bodhisattva called Wonderful-Voice in the All-Pure-Light-Adornment World.
He had already planted roots of virtue a long time ago. He had already made offerings to many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas, and attended on them. He had already obtained profound wisdom. He had already obtained hundreds of thousands of billions of great samadhis, that is, as many great samadhis as there are sands in the River Ganges, such as the samadhi as wonderful as the banner of a general, the samadhi for the traveling of the king of the stars, the samadhi for freedom from causality, the samadhi for the seal of wisdom, the samadhi by which one could understand the words of all living beings, the samadhi by which one could collect all merits, the samadhi for purity, the samadhi for exhibiting supernatural powers, the samadhi for the torch of wisdom, the samadhi for the Adornment-King, the samadhi for pure light, the samadhi for pure store, the samadhi for special teachings, and the samadhi for the revolution of the sun.
Of all of these samadhis, states of intense concentration achieved through meditation, I want to know something about the “samadhi as wonderful as the banner of a general.”
Fan drum I purchased online for use in my home practice.
Yesterday I wrote about the Obon service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church – Chanting for Our Ancestors and Ourselves. I return today to complete story of the day.
During Ven. Kenjo Igarashi’s Gosho lecture he began discussing Obon and the origins of the service and then he wandered off into a personal tale. You might call it:
What a Young Monk Did for Summer Vacation
(Here’s some background. It’s not from his story Sunday but from earlier discussions. Rev. Igarashi took his vow to become a priest on April 28, 1968. His parents disapproved of him becoming a priest. His older brother, who became an orthopedic physician in Tokyo, was held up as the guiding example. Rev. Igarashi’s mother eventually gave up trying to dissuade him but his father never accepted Kenjo’s decision. After high school, Rev. Igarashi attended a junior college in Minobu.)
On Sunday, Rev. Igarashi said it was during summer vacation while attending college in Minobu that he decided to participate in a traditional Nichiren Shu ascetic practice in which a monk walks from Minobu to Tokyo chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo while pounding on a uchiwa daiko, a traditional fan drum unique to the Nichiren sect.
This was his first ascetic practice and he admits to being worried about what lay ahead. After all, he was supposed take no money or food or water. He was to have only the clothes on his back and his drum.
So he hedged his bets. He put some paper money in a zippered pouch inside his robes before starting out. Of course, no sooner had he started than a typhoon struck the area, drenching the young monk as he began his journey.
Eventually the rain stopped and the weather became beautiful. Rev. Igarashi, getting hungry, stopped and examined his zippered pouch to consider his dining options. (You know what’s coming.) He found the pouch empty.
No money to pay for a meal, the young monk returned to his journey, marching along chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo as he beat his drum.
The area around Minobu is farmland and there are very few people on the road. Eventually he encountered a farmer. He told him of his journey and the farmer offered to take him to his home and give him water. Once there, the farmer’s wife offered him food.
The young monk continued his journey, eventually arriving in urbanized areas. Rev. Igarashi explained that his practice involved standing outside a home and pounding loudly on the drum while chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. He found this deeply embarassing.
Eventually a resident of the house would come out and give him the equivalent of a dollar or 50 cents. Going house to house like this he would eventually gather enough money to buy a meal.
The trip took five days to complete.
According to Google Maps the trip from Mount Minobu to Tokyo and specifically Homonji Park can be walked in 34 to 35 hours, or a little less than 7 hours day.
If his writings are against the teachings of the Buddha, no matter how hard one might believe them, one will never attain Buddhahood. No matter how much one prays for peace and tranquility for the country, only deplorable events will take place.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Prayers (Kitō-shō), commenting on the writings of a priest who did not hold the Lotus Sutra as the Buddha’s highest teaching. Because the Lotus Sutra assures the enlightenment of all beings who teach and practice the Wonderful Dharma, it is what brings peace and tranquility to the world.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
