Day 4 finishes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sutra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

In the midst of explaining why expedients were necessary, Sakyamuni lists an amazing array of people who “Have already attained The enlightenment of the Buddha.”

Those who met a past Buddha,
Who heard the Dharma from him,
And who obtained various merits and virtues
By almsgiving or by observing the precepts
Or by patience or by making endeavors
Or by dhyana or by wisdom,
Have already attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha.

Those who, after the extinction of a Buddha,
Were good and gentle,
Have already attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha.

Those who, after the extinction of a Buddha,
Erected billions of stupas,
And who purely and extensively adorned [those stupas]
With treasures
Such as gold, silver, crystal,
Shell, agate, ruby, and lapis lazuli,
And who offered those adornments to his sariras;
Or those who made the mausoleum [of the Buddha]
With stone, bricks, or clay,
Or with many kinds of wood,
Such as candana, aloes, or agalloch;
Or those who made the mausoleum of the Buddha
With heaps of earth
In the wilderness;
Or the boys who made the stupa of the Buddha
With heaps of sand by playing,
Have already attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha.

Those who carved an image of the Buddha
With the [proper] physical marks in his honor
Have already attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha.

Those who made an image of the Buddha
With the seven treasures;
Or those who made it
Of copper, copper-gold alloy, nickel,
Pewter lead, tin, iron, wood, or clay;
Or those who made it in plaster work,
Have already attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha.

Those who drew or caused others to draw in color
A picture of the Buddha adorned with his physical marks,
Each mark representing one hundred merits,
Have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha.

The boys who by playing drew
A picture of the Buddha
With a piece of grass or wood,
Or with a brush,
Or with the back of their fingernails,
Became able to accumulate merits one by one.
Having great compassion towards others,
They attained the enlightenment of the Buddha,
Taught only Bodhisattvas,
And saved many living beings.

Those who respectfully offered
Flowers, incense, streamers, and canopies
To the image or picture of the Buddha
Enshrined in a stupa-mausoleum;
Or those who caused men to make music
By beating drums, by blowing horns and conches,
And by playing reed-pipes, flutes, lyres, harps,
Lutes, gongs, and copper cymbals,
And offered the wonderful sounds produced thereby
To the image or picture of the Buddha;
Or those who sang joyfully in praise of him for his virtues;
Or those who just murmured [in praise of him],
Have already attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha.

Those who, without concentrating their minds,
Offered nothing but a flower to the picture of the Buddha,
Became able to see innumerable Buddhas one after another.
Those who bowed to the image of the Buddha,
Or just joined their hands together towards it,
Or raised only one hand towards it,
Or bent their head a little towards it
And offered the bending to it,
Became able to see innumerable Buddhas one after another.
They attained unsurpassed enlightenment,
Saved countless living beings,
And entered into the Nirvana-without-remainder
Just as fire dies out when wood is gone.

Those who heard the Dharma
In the lifetime of a past Buddha
Or after his extinction
Have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha.

In particular, I marvel at the boys:

The boys who by playing drew
A picture of the Buddha
With a piece of grass or wood,
Or with a brush,
Or with the back of their fingernails,
Became able to accumulate merits one by one.
Having great compassion towards others,
They attained the enlightenment of the Buddha,
Taught only Bodhisattvas,
And saved many living beings.

Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Each day followers of Nichiren recite this section of the Chapter 2, Expedients:

Śāriputra! The Tathagatas divide [the Dharma] into various teachings, and expound those teachings to all living beings so skillfully and with such gentle voices that living beings are delighted. Śāriputra! In short, the Buddhas attained the innumerable teachings which you have never heard before. No more, Śāriputra, will I say because the Dharma attained by the Buddhas is the highest Truth, rare [to hear] and difficult to understand. Only the Buddhas attained [the highest Truth, that is,] the reality of all things’ in regard to their appearances as such, their natures as such, their entities as such, their powers as such, their activities as such, their primary causes as such, their environmental causes as such, their effects as such, their rewards and retributions as such, and their equality as such [despite these differences].

As Rev. Ryuei McCormick says his book “Lotus Seeds“:

Though the One Vehicle is expressed throughout the first half of the Lotus Sutra, the core passage, according to Nichiren Shohnin, is in the very first prose passage of the second chapter, “Tactfulness.” In that passage, the Buddha first reveals to his wisest disciple, Śāriputra, that the teaching of the Buddha is beyond the ability of even his most advanced disciples to understand. He tells Śāriputra that the true nature of reality can only be understood by the buddhas, and that this true nature of reality consists of Ten Factors (or “suchnesses”). … These Ten Factors are integral parts of the law of cause and effect, and they are found in the lives of all beings. They are present in the lives of ordinary beings, and they are present in the lives of Buddhas. It is due to the common ground of the Ten Factors that ordinary people are capable of becoming buddhas, and buddhas are capable of appearing as ordinary people.

As Rev. Ryusho Jeffus explains his book “Lecture on the Lotus Sutra“:

When it comes to the Ten Suchnesses, which we recite daily as we conclude our recitation of Chapter II, the most important idea is that there is no disconnect from any aspect of our physical life or our spiritual life and that in all things there is equality. Buddhism and enlightenment are not something that manifests in only one aspect of our life.

Day 2 completes Chapter 1, Introductory.

Yesterday detailed generally what the crowd saw when Sakyamuni “emitted a ray of light from the white curls between his eyebrows, and illumined all the corners of eighteen thousand worlds in the east, down to the Avici Hell of each world, and up to the Akanistha Heaven of each world.”

Today Manjusri answers Maitreya and speculates what exactly this means.

Thereupon Manjusri said to Maitreya Bodhisattva-mahasattva
and the other great men:

Good men! I think that the Buddha, the World-Honored One, wishes to expound a great teaching, to send the rain of a great teaching, to blow the conch-shell horn of a great teaching, to beat the drum of a great teaching, and to explain the meaning of a great teaching.

Good men! I met many Buddhas in my previous existence. At that time I saw the same good omen as this. Those Buddhas emitted the same ray of light as this, and then expounded a great teaching.

Therefore, know this! I think that this Buddha also is emitting this ray of light, and showing this good omen, wishing to cause all living beings to hear and understand the most difficult teaching in the world to believe.

And in gathas:

The good omen l see now is like that of old.
This is an expedient employed by the Buddhas.
The pre ent Buddha is also emitting a ray of light
In order to reveal the truth of the reality [of all things].

[Manjusri said to the multitude:]

All of you, know this, join your hands together,
And wait with one mind!
The Buddha will send the rain of the Dharma
And satisfy those who seek enlightemnent.

The Buddha will remove
Any doubt of those who seek
The teaching of the Three Vehicles.
No question will be left unresolved.

What I truly love about my personal practice of reading a portion of the Lotus Sutra each day is the repetition. This may sound counterintuitive. Wouldn’t repetition be tedious? But it’s not. Each time through a different aspect emerges. This is especially true about the Introductory chapter. If you haven’t been through this cycle several times you can’t really enjoy what is being introduced. We’re seeing things that we will see again and this witnessing helps underline that the miraculous things that we will see and hear in this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma are the universal truth of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Last month I covered the crowd gathered around the Buddha. This month, I see the light:

Thereupon the Buddha emitted a ray of light from the white curls between his eyebrows, and illumined all the corners of eighteen thousand worlds in the east, down to the Avici Hell of each world, and up to the Akanistha Heaven of each world. The congregation saw from this world the living beings of the six regions of those worlds. They also saw the present Buddhas of those worlds. They also heard the Dharma expounded by those Buddhas. They also saw the bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas and upasikas of those worlds who had already attained [the various fruits of] enlightenment by their various practices. They also saw the Bodhisattva-mahasattvas [of those worlds] who were practicing the Way of Bodhisattvas [in various ways] according to the variety of their karmas which they had done in their previous existence, and also according to the variety of their ways of understanding [the Dharma] by faith. They also saw the past Buddhas [of those worlds] who had already entered into Parinirvan. They also saw the stupas of the seven treasures which had been erected to enshrine the sariras of those Buddhas after their Parinirvana.

I’ll save for next month Maitreya Bodhisattva’s personal visions. For now, it’s enough to ponder what it might be like to see “from this world the living beings of the six regions of those worlds” – from hell to heaven – and hear the Dharma expounded by the Buddhas and understand that the “Bodhisattva-mahasattvas [of those worlds] … were practicing the Way of Bodhisattvas [in various ways] according to the variety of their karmas which they had done in their previous existence, and also according to the variety of their ways of understanding [the Dharma] by faith.”

Just imagine

Day 32 covers Chapter 28, The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, closing the Eighth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Last month, I covered the opening of the chapter and Sakyamuni’s explanation of the four things one must do to obtain the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

What comes next is Universal-Sage Bodhisattva’s great vow:

Thereupon Universal-Sage Bodhisattva said to the Buddha:

World-Honored One! If anyone keeps this sutra in the defiled world in the later five hundred years after [your extinction], I will protect him so that he may be free from any trouble, that he may be peaceful, and that no one may take advantage [of his weak points]. Mara, his sons, his daughters, his subjects, his attendant , yaksas, raksasas, kumbhandas, pisacakas, krtyas, putanas, vetadas or other living beings who trouble men shall not take advantage [of his weak points]. If anyone keeps, reads and recites this sutra while he walks or stands, I will mount a kingly white elephant with six tusks, go to him together with great Bodhisattvas, show myself to him, make offerings to him, protect him, and comfort him, because I wish to make offerings to the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. If he sits and thinks over this sutra, I also will mount a kingly white elephant and appear before him. If he forgets a phrase or a gatha of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, I will remind him of it, and read and recite it with him so that he may be able to understand it. Anyone who keeps, reads and recites the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma [after your extinction], will be able to see me with such joy that he will make more efforts. Because he sees me, he will he able to obtain samadhis and a set of dharanis. The set of dharanis will be the dharanis by which he can memorize repetitions of teachings, the dharanis by which he can memorize hundreds of thousands of billions of repetitions of teachings, and the dharanis by which he can understand the expediency of the voice of the Dharma.

Someday I’ll illustrate a great bodhisattva riding a kingly white elephant with six tusks. Each day when I recite the Lotus Sutra in Shindoku in the morning and again in the evening when I recite it in English I remember the promise of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva to ride to my rescue when I stumble and help me understand.

Next month: Captivating women.