All posts by John Hughes

LS32

Day 31

Day 31 covers Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva.

Day 31 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the role of the children as teachers, we consider King Wonderful-Adornment’s vow.

“King Wonderful-Adornment came down from the sky and said to that Buddha [staying in the sky], ‘World-Honored One! You are exceedingly exceptional. You have merits and wisdom. Therefore, the fleshy tuft on your head shines bright. Your eyes are long, wide, and deep blue in color. The curls between your eyebrows are as white as a bright moon. Your teeth are white, regular and bright. Your lips are as red and as beautiful as the fruits of a bimba-tree.’

“Thereupon King Wonderful-Adornment, having praised the Buddha for his many hundreds of thousands of billions of merits including those previously stated, joined his hands together towards the Tathāgata, and with all his heart, said to that Buddha again, ‘World-Honored One! I have never seen anyone like you before. Your teachings have these inconceivable, wonderful merits. The practices performed according to your teachings and precepts are peaceful and pleasant. From today on, I will not act according to my own mind. I will not have wrong views, arrogance, anger or any other evil thought.’ Having said this, he bowed to that Buddha and retired.”

The Daily Dharma offers this:

World-Honored One! I have never seen anyone like you before. Your teachings have these inconceivable, wonderful merits. The practices performed according to your teachings and precepts are peaceful and pleasant. From today on, I will not act according to my own mind. I will not have wrong views, arrogance, anger or any other evil thought.

King Wonderful-Adornment makes this declaration to Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. The king had been led to this Buddha by his sons, who showed him the wonders they learned from their practice of the Buddha Dharma. With his mind purified by hearing the Buddha’s teachings, he makes this aspiration to behave differently. Whether or not he can keep this aspiration, he shows his realization that hearing the teachings is not enough. Practicing them means changing our minds and how we live.

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

Buddha Taught

Who Thinks?

Who thinks now, if there is no Self? We have seen earlier that it is the thought that thinks, that there is no thinker behind the thought. In the same way, it is wisdom (paññā), realization, that realizes. There is no other self behind the realization. In the discussion of the origin of dukkha we saw that whatever it may be—whether being, or thing, or system—if it is of the nature of arising, it has within itself the nature, the germ, of its cessation, its destruction. Now dukkha, saṃsāra, the cycle of continuity, is of the nature of arising; it must also be of the nature of cessation. Dukkha arises because of ‘thirst’ (taṇhā), and it ceases because of wisdom (paññā). ‘Thirst’ and wisdom are both within the Five Aggregates.

What the Buddha Taught, p42
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 23, 2024

When the sun shines brightly in the sky, everything is made clearly visible on the earth. In the same manner, when one knows the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, one will understand the meaning of occurrences in the world.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his great work, Spiritual Contemplation and the Object of Devotion (Kanjin Honzon Shō). When we awaken to our nature as Bodhisattvas who have chosen our lives to benefit others and improve the world, we are freed from the confusion and anxiety around us. By keeping the Dharma of the Lotus Sutra, and following the guidance of Nichiren’s writings, we see what to do to make the world we live in now better for everyone.

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

LS32

Day 30

Day 30 covers all of Chapter 26, Dhāraṇīs

Day 30 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered Medicine-King Bodhisattva’s question, we consider Medicine-King Bodhisattva’s dhārāni spells.

Thereupon Medicine-King Bodhisattva said to the Buddha,”World-Honored One! Now I will give dhārāni spells to the expounder of the Dharma’ in order to protect him.”

Then he uttered spells:

“Ani (1), mani (2), manei (3), mamanei (4), shirei (5), sharitei (6), shamya (7), shabi-tai (8), sentei (9), mokutei (10), mokutabi (11), shabi (12), aishabi (13), sōbi (14), shabi (15), shaei (16), ashaei (17), agini (18), sentei (19), shabi (20), darani (21 ), arokya-basai-ha habi-shani (22), neibitei (23), abentarancibitei (24), atantahareishudai(25), ukurei (26), mukurei (27), ararei (28), hararei (29), shukyashi (30), asammasambi (31), botsudabikirijittei (32), darumaharishitei (33), sōgyanekkushanei (34), bashabashashudai(35), mantara (36), manta ashayata (37), urntaurota (38), kyōsharya(39), ashara (40), ashay taya (41), abaro (42), amanyanataya (43).”

The Daily Dharma offers 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

Buddha Taught

A Fire Gone Out

What happens to the Buddha or an Arahant after his death, Parinirvāṇa? This comes under the category of unanswered questions (avyākata). Even when the Buddha spoke about this, he indicated that no words in our vocabulary could express what happens to an Arahant after his death. In reply to a Parivrājaka named Vaccha, the Buddha said that terms like ‘born’ or ‘not born’ do not apply in the case of an Arahant, because those things—matter, sensation, perception, mental activities, consciousness—with which the terms like ‘born’ and ‘not born’ are associated, are completely destroyed and uprooted, never to rise again after his death.

An Arahant after his death is often compared to a fire gone out when the supply of wood is over, or to the flame of a lamp gone out when the wick and oil are finished. Here it should be clearly and distinctly understood, without any confusion, that what is compared to a flame or a fire gone out is not Nirvāṇa, but the ‘being’ composed of the Five Aggregates who realized Nirvāṇa. This point has to be emphasized because many people, even some great scholars, have misunderstood and misinterpreted this simile as referring to Nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa is never compared to a fire or a lamp gone out.

What the Buddha Taught, p41-42
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 22, 2024

Anything which tastes good, bad, delicious, distasteful, bitter or astringent, will become as delicious as the nectar of heaven and not distasteful when it is put on their tongues.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. In our habitual pursuit of pleasure, we often forget that what is pleasant to some people is irritating to others. This is most obvious with food. Flavors that some find delicious others find disgusting. When we understand that the things in the world are not the cause of our happiness or misery, and that our minds affect how we perceive the world, we find more joy and wonder than we thought possible, and no longer depend on this capricious existence for our happiness.

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

LS32

Day 29

Day 29 covers all of Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.

Day 29 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered Endless-Intent Bodhisattva’s offering to World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva, we consider in gāthās how World-Voice-Perceiver got his name.

Thereupon Endless-lntent Bodhisattva asked the Buddha in gāthās:

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 gāthās:

Listen! World-Voice-Perceiver practiced
According to the conditions of the places [of salvation].
His vow to save [people] is as deep as 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 hear his name, and see him,
And think of him constantly,
You will be able to eliminate all sufferings.

The Daily Dharma offers this:

Listen! World-Voice-Perceiver practiced
According to the conditions of the places [of salvation].
His vow to save [people] is as deep as the sea.
You cannot fathom it even for kalpas.

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. As the embodiment of Compassion, World-Voice perceiver demonstrates the boundlessness of our ability to benefit others. We can often feel overwhelmed by the problems in the world, and believe that we are not capable of doing everything that is necessary to lead beings out of their delusions. This chapter reminds us that we are not working alone, and that by depending on wisdom rather than power, we learn to see the wonders that surround us.

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

Buddha Taught

Absolute Truth

[T]he Buddha unequivocally uses the word Truth in place of Nibbāa: ‘I will teach you the Truth and the Path leading to the Truth.’3 Here Truth definitely means Nirvāṇa.

Now, what is Absolute Truth? According to Buddhism, the Absolute Truth is that there is nothing absolute in the world, that everything is relative, conditioned and impermanent, and that there is no unchanging, everlasting, absolute substance like Self, Soul or Atman within or without. This is the Absolute Truth. Truth is never negative, though there is a popular expression as negative truth. The realization of this Truth, i.e., to see things as they are (yathābhūtaṃ) without illusion or ignorance (avijjā), is the extinction of craving ‘thirst’ (Taṇhakkhaya), and the cessation (Nirodha) of dukkha, which is Nirvāṇa. It is interesting and useful to remember here the Mahāyāna view of Nirvāṇa as not being different from Saṃsāra. The same thing is Saṃsāra or Nirvāṇa according to the way you look at it—subjectively or objectively.

What the Buddha Taught, p39-40
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 21, 2024

It is not difficult
To grasp the sky,
And wander about with it
From place to place.
It is difficult
To copy and keep this sūtra
Or cause others to copy it
After my extinction.

The Buddha sang these verses in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra for all those who had come to hear him teach. When we start on the path of enlightenment by finding joy in the Buddha Dharma, we might believe that the world will change around us to meet our expectations, and that we will have no more difficulties. Then when we do find hard times, we may even abandon this wonderful practice and go back to our habits of gratifying ourselves. Our founder Nichiren lived through unimaginable hardships so that we who follow him would not lose this precious teaching. The Buddha in these verses reminds us that difficulties are part of our practice, and that we can find a way to use any situation in life to benefit others.

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

LS32

Day 28

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.

Day 28 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered how Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva expounds the Dharma, we consider Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva’s samadhi.

Thereupon Flower-Virtue Bodhisattva said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! This Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva planted deeply the roots of good. World-Honored One! What is the name of the samadhi by which he can transform himself into various living beings and appear in various places to save all living beings?”

The Buddha said to Flower-Virtue Bodhisattva:

“Good man! This is called the ‘samadhi by which one can transform oneself into any other living being.’ Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva entered into this samadhi and benefited innumerable living beings as previously stated.”

When the Buddha expounded this chapter of Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, the eighty-four thousand people, who had come accompanying Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, obtained the ability to practice the samadhi by which they could transform themselves into other living beings. Innumerable Bodhisattvas of this Sahā-World also obtained the ability to practice this samadhi. They also obtained dharanis.

The Daily Dharma offers this:

When the Buddha expounded this Chapter of Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, the eighty-four thousand people, who had come accompanying Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, obtained the ability to practice the samādhi by which they could transform themselves into other living beings. Innumerable Bodhisattvas of this Sahā-World also obtained the ability to practice this samādhi.

This description comes at the end of Chapter Twenty-Four of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva had come to our world of conflict and delusion from his perfect world to hear the Buddha teach the Wonderful Dharma. The Bodhisattvas in this world asked the Buddha about the transformations Wonderful-Voice made to benefit others. This chapter shows how those beings who have vowed to benefit us appear in ways we may not recognize right away. It also shows us the capability we have as Bodhisattvas to transform ourselves for the benefit of others.

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