All posts by John Hughes

LS32

Day 22

Day 22 covers all of Chapter 17, The Variety of Merits.

Day 22 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the benefits received when members of the congregation heard from the Buddha that the duration of his life was so many kalpas, we consider Maitreya’s response in gāthās.

Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, joined his hands together towards the Buddha, and sang in gāthās:

You expounded a rare teaching.
I have never heard it before.
You have great powers.
The duration of your life is immeasurable.

Having heard from you that they were given
The various benefits of the Dharma,
The innumerable sons of yours
Were filled with joy.

Some of them reached the stage of irrevocability.
Some obtained dharanis, or eloquence without hindrance,
Or the all-holding formulas
For memorizing billions of repetitions of teachings.

Bodhisattvas as many as the particles of earth
Of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds obtained
The faculty of turning
The irrevocable wheel of the Dharma.

Bodhisattvas as many as the particles of earth
Of one million Sumeru-worlds obtained
The faculty of turning
The wheel of the pure Dharma.

Bodhisattvas as many as the particles of earth
Of one thousand Sumeru-worlds obtained
The faculty of attaining the enlightenment of the Buddha
After eight rebirths.

Bodhisattvas numbering four times or three times or twice
The number of the particles of earth of the four continents
Obtained the faculty of becoming Buddhas
After four, three or two rebirths respectfully.

Bodhisattvas as many as the particles of earth
Of the four continents obtained
The faculty of attaining the knowledge of all things
immediately after this life.

Having heard of your longevity,
They obtained these effects and rewards,
Pure, immeasurable, and without āsravas.
Having heard from you
Of the duration of your life,
Living beings as many as the particles of earth
Of eight Sumeru-worlds
Aspired for unsurpassed [enlightenment].

You expounded the teachings
Immeasurable and inconceivable,
And benefited living beings
As limitless as the sky.

[The gods] rained down mandārava-flower ,
And mahā-mandārava-flowers of heaven.
Sakras and Brahmans came from the [other] Buddha-worlds
As many as there are sands in the River Ganges.

[The gods] rained down candana and aloes [powder],
And offered it to the Buddhas.
The powder came down fluttering
Just as birds fly down from the sky.

Heavenly drums automatically sounded
Wonderful in the sky.
Thousands of billions of heavenly garments
Whirled down.

[The gods] burned priceless incense which was put
In wonderful incense-burners of many treasures.
The incense-burners automatically went around,
And the odor was offered to the World-Honored Ones.

The great Bodhisattvas lined up vertically one upon another
To the Heaven of Brahman, holding
Billions of lofty and wonderful canopies and streamers
Made of the seven treasures.

[The great Bodhisattvas] hoisted before the Buddha
Jeweled banner adorned with excellent streamers.
They also praised the Tathāgatas
With tens of millions of gāthās.

I have never seen these things before.
All living beings
Rejoice at hearing
That the duration of your life is immeasurable.

Your fame is extended over the worlds of the ten quarters.
You benefit all living beings.
The root of good which they have planted
Will help them aspire for unsurpassed [enlightenment].

The Daily Dharma from June 4, 2023, offers this:

Having heard from you
Of the duration of your life,
Living beings as many as the particles of earth
Of eight Sumeru-worlds
Aspired for unsurpassed [enlightenment].

The Bodhisattva Maitreya sings these verses in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sutra. He describes the effect on all beings of the Buddha’s revealing his existence as the Ever-Present Śākyamuni. If we believed that the Buddha was just a man who lived 2500 years ago, we might think that we had to wait until another being became enlightened before we could follow them on the path to our own awakening. But with this understanding that the Buddha is always helping us, here and now, then we awaken our capacity to see things as they are and work confidently 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

Stone: Tanaka Millennialism

Gen. Ishiwara’s Violent Millennialist Vision

The potential influence of one individual’s violent millennialist vision is yet more vividly illustrated by the example of Ishiwara Kanji (1889-1949). …

Nichiren, as we have seen, had accepted the traditional theory of Buddhist decline occurring over five five-hundred-year periods. This scheme provided Ishiwara with a framework for his views on the “final war,” a concept he had begun developing in the early 1920s and to which he would devote most of his life (Peattie 1975, 53-74). War, for Ishiwara, was a driving force of historical progress, in which the struggles of nations and peoples to impose their ideologies on their neighbors led to higher levels of civilization. By the present time, Ishiwara believed, these competing cultures and ideologies had aligned themselves along two polar axes: the West, led by the United States, which followed the “way of dominance,” and Asia, to be headed by Japan, which followed the “way of righteousness.” The conflict between these two was destined to end in Japanese victory ushering in everlasting peace. Ishiwara drew support for his theory from Nichiren’s statement that in the fifth five-hundred-year period following the Buddha’s nirvana—that is, at the beginning of the Final Dharma age—”a great war, unprecedented in prior ages, shall break out in the world” (Senji shō in Risshō 1988, 2:1008). Nichiren was referring to the Mongol invasion, which he saw as divine punishment for Japan’s neglect of the Lotus. For Ishiwara, however, Nichiren’s “unprecedented great war” signified the final war that would pit the imperialistic West against an East Asia united under Japanese leadership in a conflict of apocalyptic proportions. To prepare for this cataclysm, Japan would need to mobilize the resources of China and Manchuria—an argument Ishiwara used to justify Japanese military aggression on the Asian continent. Through this war to end all wars, “Our powerful enemies will be vanquished, the glorious spirit of the Japanese kokutai will come home to the hearts of the peoples of all nations, and the world will enter an era of peace under the guidance of the imperial throne” (Ishiwara 1968, 1:431; trans. from Peattie 1975, 74).

Japanese Lotus Millennialism, p271-272
Daily Dharma, WONS

Daily Dharma – Aug. 16, 2023

The written words of the Lotus Sutra express in a visible and tangible form the Brahma’s voice of the Buddha, which is invisible and intangible, so that we can see and read them with our eyes. The Buddha’s pure and immaculate voice, which had disappeared, is resuscitated in the form of written characters for the benefit of humankind.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, Wooden Statues or Portraits (Mokue Nizō Kaigen no Koto). Living in this world, 2500 years after the Buddha Śākyamuni walked the Earth, it is difficult to hear his voice leading us to enlightenment and encouraging us to let go of our attachments. In the Lotus S̄ūtra we have an instrument for creating the Buddha’s voice in our own time. This is his highest teaching. It brings all beings to liberation, whether they are clever or dull, stupid or wise, focused or distracted. It reminds us of our true nature as Bodhisattvas who chose this life out of our determination to benefit all beings. It shows us how to transform the poison of suffering into the medicine of compassion, and the poison of ignorance into the medicine of wisdom.

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

LS32

Day 21

Day 21 covers all of Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata.

Day 21 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered in gāthās the pure world of the Buddha, we conclude Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata.

To those who have accumulated merits,
And who are gentle and upright,
And who see me living here,
Expounding the Dharma,
I say:
“The duration of my life is immeasurable.”
To those who see me after a long time,
I say, “It is difficult to see a Buddha.”

I can do all this by the power of my wisdom.
The light of my wisdom knows no bound.
The duration of my life is innumerable kalpas.
I obtained this longevity by ages of practices.

All of you, wise men!
Have no doubts about this!
Remove your doubts, have no more!
My words are true, not false.

The physician, who sent a man expediently
To tell his perverted sons
Of the death of their father in order to cure them,
Was not accused of falsehood although he was still alive.

In the same manner, I am the father of the world.
I am saving all living beings from suffering.
Because they are perverted,
I say that I pass away even though I shall not.
If they always see me,
They will become arrogant and licentious,
And cling to the five desires
So much that they will fall into the evil regions.

I know who is practicing the Way and who is not.
Therefore I expound various teachings
To all living beings
According to their capacities.

I am always thinking:
“How shall I cause all living beings
To enter into the unsurpassed Way
And quickly become Buddhas?”

The Daily Dharma from July 15, 2023, offers this:

I am always thinking:
“How shall I cause all living beings
To enter into the unsurpassed Way
And quickly become Buddhas?”

The Buddha sings these verses at the end of Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. In this chapter he revealed his existence as the Buddha who lives throughout time and space rather than in the limited human body in which we recognize him. When we realize that all the moments of our lives, all the joys and grief we face, all the people and other beings we encounter are in truth the Buddha leading us towards his own enlightenment, we see the Buddha in his true form, and we see the world for what it is.

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

Stone: Tanaka Millennialism

The Terrorist Nichiren

[Among those individuals, for whom imperialist aspirations, inflated to the proportion of millennial visions, inspired and legitimated violence], an important example is the revolutionary Kita Ikki (1883-1937), who advocated national socialism and strong imperial rule. …
Japan’s destiny, in Kita’s view, was to lead the rest of Asia in throwing off the yoke of Western imperialism and to spearhead a  world socialist revolution.
In making this proposal, Kita clearly saw himself as a second Nichiren, remonstrating with government leaders in an attempt to save the country from disaster. Both the Gaishi’s introduction and final chapter—titled “The Mongol Invasion by Britain and Germany,” a reference to European interests in China—speak of the Gaishi as the “Taishō ankoku ron”: Just as Nichiren had risked his life to warn the authorities of foreign invasion in the thirteenth century, Kita now sought to protect the nation by warning against the threat posed by Western imperialism in the Taishō era (1912-26) (1959a, 4, 203). By the 1930s variations on the theme of a Japan-led Pan-Asianism had gained wide support; Kita was among the first to connect it with the new Lotus millennialism.
Kita’s vision also entailed aggressive military conquest culminating in world peace, with Japan presiding over a union of nations. Like Tanaka Chigaku, who may briefly have influenced him, Kita equated Nichiren’s teaching of shakubuku with the forcible extension of empire. The specifically Nichirenist elements in Kita’s vision had less to do with the ideal world that would be achieved under Japanese rule than with the new Nichirenshugi rhetoric of shakubuku as legitimating the violence necessary to accomplish it. The Buddha, Kita said, had manifested himself as the Meiji emperor, and “clasping the eight volumes of the Lotus Sutra of compassion and shakubuku,” waged the Russo-Japanese War. Now China, too, was “clearly thirsting for salvation by shakubuku” (161, 154).
Just as the Lord Śākyamuni [Buddha] prophesied of old, the flag  bearing the sun, of the nation of the rising sun, is now truly about to illuminate the darkness of the entire world. … What do I have to hide? I am a disciple of the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren, my elder brother in the teachings, taught the Koran of compassionate shakubuku, but the sword has not been drawn. He preached the doctrine of world unification but it has yet to reach China or India. … Without the  Lotus Sutra, China will remain in everlasting darkness; India will in the end be unable to achieve her independence, and Japan too will perish. … Drawing the sword of the Dharma, who in the Final Dharma age will vindicate [the prediction of] Śākyamuni? (201, 203, 204)
… In 1936, leading some fourteen hundred men, [Kita] attempted a coup d’état, assassinating several government officials and seizing the center of Tokyo. … Along with the insurrectionist leaders, Kita was arrested for complicity and executed the following year.
Japanese Lotus Millennialism, p269-271
Daily Dharma, WONS

Daily Dharma – Aug. 15, 2023

The “mutual possession of ten realms” doctrine is as difficult to maintain as it is to see fire in a rock or flowers in wood. However it is not totally impossible because rocks spark when struck together and a tree blooms in spring. It is most difficult to believe that the realm of Buddhas is contained in the realm of humans because it is like saying that fire is in water or water in fire.

Nichiren wrote this in his treatise on Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Venerable (Kanjin Honzon-Shō). “Mutual Expression of Ten Realms” is one of the more difficult ideas from the Chinese Master T’ien-t’ai. Nichiren uses it to illustrate what the Buddha teaches in the Lotus Sūtra: that Buddha nature is contained within all beings. Even though this idea is difficult, we can see it in the transformations of everyday objects we encounter: rocks, fire, flowers and trees. With his similes, Nichiren reminds us that with the Lotus Sūtra as our guide, we can see the Buddha Dharma 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

LS32

Day 20

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.

Day 20 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered in gāthās the Buddha’s reply to Maitreya’s question, we consider the Buddha’s explanation that he taught the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who sprang up from underground.

Thereupon the World-Honored One, having sung these gāthās, said to Maitreya Bodhisattva:

Now I will tell all of you in this great multitude, Ajita! [I know that] you have never seen these great, innumerable, asaṃkhya Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who sprang up from underground. After I attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi in this Sahā-World, I taught these Bodhisattvas, led them, trained them, and caused them to aspire for enlightenment. They lived in the sky below this Sahā-World. When they were there, they read many sūtras, recited them, understood them, thought them over, evaluated them, and remembered them correctly. Ajita! These good men did not wish to talk much with others [about things other than the Dharma] but to live in a quiet place. They practiced the way strenuously without a rest. They did not live among gods and men. They had no hindrance in seeking profound wisdom. They always sought the teaching of the Buddha. They sought unsurpassed wisdom strenuously with all their hearts.”

Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

Ajita, know this, these great Bodhisattvas
Have studied and practiced
The wisdom of the Buddha
For the past innumerable kalpas.

They are my sons because I taught them
And caused them to aspire for great enlightenment.
They have been living in this world
[For the past innumerable kalpas].

They always practiced the dhuta.
They wished to live in a quiet place.
They kept away from bustling crowds.
They did not wish to talk much.

These sons of mine studied my teachings
Strenuously day and night
In order to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha.
They lived in the sky
Below this Sahā-World.

Resolute in mind,
They always sought wisdom,
And expounded
Various wonderful teachings without fear.

I once sat under the Bodhi-tree
In the City of Gaya,
Attained perfect enlightenment,
And turned the wheel of the unsurpassed Dharma.

Then I taught them,
And caused them to aspire £or enlightenment.
Now they do not falter [in seeking enlightenment].
They will be able to become Buddhas.

My words are true.
Believe me with all your hearts!
I have been teaching them
Since the remotest past.

The Daily Dharma from June 28, 2023, offers this:

My words are true.
Believe me with all your hearts!
I have been teaching them
Since the remotest past.

The Buddha sings these verses to Maitreya Bodhisattva and others gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Maitreya had never seen any of the other Bodhisattvas who sprang up from underground in this chapter, despite his memory of previous lives and other worlds. The Buddha explains that the beings who had just appeared are also his disciples and have come to spread this Wonderful Dharma in our world. Nichiren teaches that when he realized that he was an incarnation of Superior-Practice, the leader of the Bodhisattvas from underground, then all of us who follow Nichiren and continue to keep the Lotus Sūtra are the followers of Superior-Practice. We do not need to wait for someone to come to our world and lead us. The world does not need anyone other than those already here to teach the Dharma. We are the Bodhisattvas from underground.

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

Stone: Tanaka Millennialism

Tanaka’s Righteous War

Tanaka and the Kokuchūkai endorsed war in a “righteous” cause— extending the sacred Japanese kokutai to all peoples. There were also individuals, not necessarily affiliated with religious bodies, for whom imperialist aspirations, inflated to the proportion of millennial visions, inspired and legitimated violence. This was especially evident in the 1930s, a time of economic depression, affecting especially agrarian workers, and of a perceived inability of bureaucrats to deal with problems at home and abroad. This period saw a number of political assassinations and attempted coups d’état led by disaffected military officers and other right-wing elements seeking to remove “corrupt” officials intervening between the emperor and his people and “restore” direct imperial rule. Ultimately unsuccessful, their actions nonetheless had the effect of increasing the political power of the military and of right-wing influence in government. Some of these insurrectionists drew selective inspiration from the new Nichirenist millennialism, such as Tanaka’s equation of shakubuku with territorial conquest, as well as from Nichiren’s own emphasis on readiness to sacrifice one’s life if needed for the spread of Dharma (on Nichirenist-inspired terrorism, see Tokoro 1972, 174-88).

Japanese Lotus Millennialism, p269
Daily Dharma, WONS

Daily Dharma – Aug. 14, 2023

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

LS32

Day 19

Day 19 concludes Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and begins Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.

Day 19 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the parable of the gem in the top-knot in gāthās, we consider the prediction for those who read this sūtra.

Anyone who seeks
The enlightenment of the Buddha
And wishes to expound this sūtra
In peaceful ways after my extinction,
Should practice
These four sets of things.

Anyone who reads this sūtra
Will be free from grief,
Sorrow, disease or pain.
His complexion will be fair.
He will not be poor,
Humble or ugly.

All living beings
Will wish to see him
Just as they wish to see sages and saints.
Celestial pages will serve him.

He will not be struck with swords or sticks.
He will not be poisoned.
If anyone speaks ill of him,
The speaker’s mouth will be shut.
He will be able to go anywhere
As fearless as the lion king.
The light of his wisdom will be
As bright as that of the sun.

The Daily Dharma from Aug. 2, 2023, , offers this:

Anyone who reads this sūtra
Will be free from grief,
Sorrow, disease or pain.
His complexion will be fair.
He will not be poor,
Humble or ugly.
All living beings
Will wish to see him
Just as they wish to see sages and saints.
Celestial pages will serve him.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra. When we cultivate the mind of the Buddha, and bring his teachings to life, we help other beings find true happiness. This is different from our normal pattern of attempting to manipulate what others think about us through bribery, threats, and other forms of coercion. When we help others find their minds, they realize that they share our true mind of joy and peace.

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