Universal-Sage! If you see anyone who keeps, reads and recites the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in the later five hundred years after my extinction, you should think, ‘Before long he will go to the place of enlightenment, defeat Māra and his followers, attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, turn the wheel of the Dharma, beat the drum of the Dharma, blow the conch-shell horn of the Dharma, send the rain of the Dharma, and sit on the lion-like seat of the Dharma in the midst of the great multitude of gods and men.’

The Buddha gives this instruction to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva (Fugen, Samantabhadra) in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. Nichiren explained that the later five hundred years mentioned in this passage is the time in which we are living today. The Buddha is therefore talking about all of us who practice the Wonderful Dharma. When we can grow our capacity to respect each other as we respect the Buddha, it inspires the respect at the core of all beings, and transforms this world.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

You, the World-Honored One, are exceptional.
You reminded me of the teachings
Of innumerable Buddhas in the past
As if I had heard them today.

Ānanda, the Buddha’s cousin and one of his leading disciples, sings these verses in Chapter Nine of the Lotus Sūtra. In the Story, Ānanda had just been personally assured by the Buddha that he would become a Buddha himself in a future life. All the teachings of the Buddha across all time are always available to us. What prevents us from hearing them and putting them into practice is nothing more than our own attachment to our suffering and our doubts about our capacity for wisdom and compassion. When we take to heart the assurance that we and all beings can become enlightened, it clears away our delusion and allows to see the Buddha teaching us in all aspects of our lives.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

True practicers of Buddhism should not rely on what people say, but solely on the golden words of the Buddha.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on the True Way of Practicing the Teaching of the Buddha (Nyosetsu Shugyō-shō). We may take this to mean that we should not listen to anything that others tell us and dogmatically adhere to a fixed teaching. Another interpretation involves learning to see the world as the Buddha does. Where people often speak from their own delusion and selfish desires, the Buddha speaks only to lead us to his enlightenment and help us to remove our attachments. When we look for the Buddha in all parts of our lives, we can learn to appreciate anything we hear from anybody as teaching us to become enlightened.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

Tomorrow, I, Nichiren, will be exiled to Sado Island. In this cold evening I am thinking of you in the cold dungeon. My thought is that you have read and practiced the Lotus Sutra with your thought and action, which would save your parents, brothers, sisters, relatives, ancestors and everyone around you. Other people read the sutra vocally without feeling it in their hearts. Even though they might read it with their heart, they do not experience it as the sutra teaches. Compared with them you are very precious since you are practicing the sutra with your actions, voice and spirit.

Nichiren wrote this passage in a Letter to his Disciple Nichiro (Tsuchi-ro Gosho). At this point in Nichiren’s life, he had been placed on the execution mat at Tatsunokuchi Beach, only to have the execution stopped at the last minute. Instead of deterring him from teaching the Wonderful Dharma, this experience cemented his resolve to continue admonishing all those who were harming the people of Japan. He taught that rewarding delusions and leading people away from the Buddha’s wisdom only causes misery. Nichiren recognized that his life was the experience of the Lotus Sūtra, and showed his appreciation to everyone who, as he put it, “reads it with their bodies.”

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

As we look at each others’ faces, we notice our facial expression changes from time to time. It is full of delight, anger or calm sometimes; but other times it changes to greed, ignorance or flattery. Anger represents hells; greed – hungry spirits; ignorance – beasts; flattery – asura demons; delight – gods; and calm – men. Thus we can see in the countenance of people six realms of illusion, from hells to the realm of gods. We cannot see the four realms of holy ones (śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, bodhisattvas and Buddhas), which are hidden from our eyes. Nevertheless, we must be able to see them too, if we look for them carefully.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his treatise on Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Venerable (Kanjin Honzon-Shō). In other writings, he described Hell as not being in the earth and Heaven as not in the sky, but both within the two meter frame of our own bodies. In this work he shows us to look outside ourselves and recognize these realms in the beings with whom we share our world. The higher realms of devotion, perseverance, generosity and wisdom are more difficult to recognize, so difficult that we sometimes wonder whether they exist at all. With the Buddha’s teaching, we know they exist. We find what we look for.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

He endured all insults and disturbances
Inflicted upon him by arrogant people who thought
That they had already obtained the Dharma.

The Buddha sings these verses to Maitreya Bodhisattva in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sūtra. In Chapter Two of the sūtra, five thousand people left the assembly after the Buddha declared that everything he had taught until then had been an expedient. The Buddha did not stop these people. He said they were arrogant, meaning they believed they already had reached enlightenment and could learn nothing from the Buddha. In this description of the Bodhisattva perfection of Endurance, the Buddha prepares us for the reactions of those who are too attached to their misery to hear the Buddha’s teaching. When we can anticipate this kind of reaction, rather than being shocked by it, we can more easily stay determined to benefit even these abusive beings.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

If anyone keeps, reads and recites this sūtra 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 Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Universal-Sage Bodhisattva (Fugen, Samantabhadra) makes this vow to the Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sutra. Out of his gratitude for the teaching of the Wonderful Dharma, Universal Sage promises to encourage anyone who may be struggling in their practice of the Buddha Dharma. This is a reminder of how no matter what obstacles or difficulties we may encounter, great beings are helping us and we are in harmony with things as they truly are.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

He will see only wonderful things in his dream.
He will dream:
‘Surrounded by bhikṣus,
The Tathāgatas are sitting
On the lion-like seats,
And expounding the Dharma.’

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra, speaking of those who keep and practice the Wonderful Dharma. Dreams for many of us can be frightening places. They can be where we relive bad situations in our past or develop fantastic scenarios for disasters in the future. When we accept our nature as Bodhisattvas, and live assured of our future enlightenment, we find that even the thoughts over which we have no control begin to harmonize with the world around us. When we learn to recognize the Buddha in our everyday lives, our old traumas become vehicles for compassion.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

A bhikṣu who expounds this Sūtra
Of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
With patience
After my extinction,
Will be emancipated
From jealousy, anger, and other illusions,
That is to say, from all obstacles.

The Buddha sings these verses to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. We may realize that jealousy and anger are not desirable states, but only because what these states do to our moods. No matter how justified we may feel in our jealousy or anger, these are not pleasant states to be in or even to be around. The Buddha reminds us that the real problem with these states is that they keep us from seeing things as they are. Jealousy exaggerates the importance of what we want but do not have. Anger exaggerates the bad qualities of the targets of our anger. When we focus on this wonderful teaching, develop our patience, and remain determined to benefit all beings, we see things for what they are, and are liberated from illusions.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

I do not deceive
Those who believe me and rely on me.
I am not greedy or jealous
Because I have eliminated all evils.
Therefore, in the worlds of the ten quarters,
I am fearless.

The Buddha proclaims these verses to his disciple Śāriputra in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sutra. In this world of conflict, people believe that they must constantly strive to show that they are better than everyone else. Acquiring more material goods or a higher rank or position supposedly proves superiority. And if there is an encounter with someone who is better, that person must be brought down. What people do not realize that the source of greed and jealousy is fear. Like the Buddha, we too can eliminate our fears when we are satisfied with what we have and regard superior beings as a source of benefit.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com