Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 14-15Question: What is the content of that called the Tripiṭaka Teaching?
Answer: This refers to the three stores [of the Buddha’s teachings]: first, the collection of the Sutras; second, the collection of the Vinaya; and third, the collection of the Abhidharma.
Q: Are these terms, “Sutra” and so forth, Sanskrit, or are they Chinese?
A: They are Sanskrit.
Q: What are they in Chinese?
A: Sutra is sometimes translated and sometimes not. When it is translated, various people translate it in different ways. However, many use the translation “Dharma source.” Vinaya is translated as “extinction.” Abhidharma is translated as “incomparable Dharma.”
Q: For what reason are the translations “Dharma source” and so forth used?
A: [A Sutra is] called a “Dharma source” because it is a source of verbal teachings concerning the world-transcending good Dharma. [In the Vinaya] the Buddha expounds on the intentional and spontaneous precepts and how to extinguish evil physical and verbal activity. Therefore it is translated as “extinction.” [In the Abhidharma] the meaning of the Dharma is analyzed by the Noble One’s wisdom, which is incomparable in this world. Therefore it is translated as “incomparable Dharma.”
Q: Which Sutras and treatises are the “Dharma source” [in the Tripiṭaka Teaching] ?
A: Here the fourfold Agama is the Dharma source, the Vinaya of eighty recitations is the text for extinction [of passionate attachments], and the Abhidharma treatises are the “incomparable Dharma.”
All posts by John Hughes
Daily Dharma – March 3, 2023
Ignorant people will speak ill of us,
Abuse us, and threaten us
With swords or sticks.
But we will endure all this.
Medicine-King Bodhisattva and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva, along with their attendants, declare these verses to the Buddha in Chapter Thirteen of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha had asked previously who would teach the Lotus Sūtra after the Buddha’s death. These Bodhisattvas realize the difficulty of teaching and keeping this sūtra. They know that some who come to hear the Buddha Dharma are strongly attached to their anger. These Bodhisattvas vow to look beyond the violence and suffering of these people and promise to lead even them to enlightenment.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 25
Day 25 covers all of Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, and opens Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.
Having last month repeated in gāthās the tale of Never-Despising Bodhisattva, we conclude Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva.
Never-Despising [Bodhisattva] at that time
Was myself.
The four kinds of devotees,
Who were attached to views at that time,
Were able to meet innumerable Buddhas
After they heard
The words of Never-Despising [Bodhisattva]:
“You will become Buddhas.”
They are now present here
In this congregation.They are the five hundred Bodhisattvas
And the four kinds of devotees
Including men and women of pure faith,
Who are now hearing the Dharma from me.In my previous existence
I encouraged them
To hear this sūtra,
That is, the most excellent Dharma.
In all my previous existences
I taught them the Way to Nirvana.
But really this is the sūtra
I taught them to keep.This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Can be heard only once
In hundreds of millions of billions of kalpas,
That is, in an inconceivable number of kalpas.The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones,
Expound this sūtra only once
In hundreds of millions of billions of kalpas,
That is, in an inconceivable number of kalpas.Therefore, anyone who hears this sūtra
And practices the Way
After my extinction,
Should have no doubts about [this sūtra].He should expound this sūtra with all his heart;
Then he will be able to meet Buddhas
Throughout all his existences,
And quickly attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.
An Interpretation of Four Teachings
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 11-12Question: What are the names of the Four Teachings?
Answer: (1) The Tripiṭaka Teaching, (2) the Shared Teaching,
(3) the Distinct Teaching, and (4) the Perfect Teaching.Q: Why are all four called “Teaching”?
A: “Teaching” contains the meaning of elucidating reality and transforming beings; therefore they are called teachings.
Q: We agree that teachings are used for elucidating reality, but what do you mean by “transforming beings”?
A: “Transforming beings” refers to transforming and converting the minds of beings.
Q: How many meanings are there to “transformation and conversion”?
A: There are three meanings.
Q: What are these three meanings?
A: The first is the conversion of evil to good. The second is the conversion of delusion to understanding. The third is the conversion of the ordinary to the noble. Therefore it is said that beings are transformed.
Q: Why are they established as four Teachings, and not three or five?
A: The noble Buddha, in his sermon on the four unexplainables, used four methods of instruction, and according to conditions used four explanations. Therefore the Four Teachings were established.
Daily Dharma – March 2, 2023
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.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 24
Day 24 concludes Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, and closes the Sixth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month considered the twelve hundred merits of the tongue, we consider in gāthās the twelve hundred merits of the tongue.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Their tongues will be purified.
Their tongues will not receive anything bad.
Anything they at will become
As delicious as nectar.When they expound the Dharma to the great multitude
And lead them
By telling them the stories of previous lives, parables, and similes
With their deep, pure and wonderful voices,
The hearers will rejoice
And make excellent offerings to them.All gods, dragons,
Yakṣas and asuras
Will come together
And hear the Dharma respectfully.Anyone who expounds the Dharma, if he wishes,
Will be able to cause the living beings
Of the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds
To hear his wonderful voice.The wheel-turning-kings of great and small [countries],
Who have each one thousand children,
Will come with their children and attendants,
And join their hands together respectfully to hear the Dharma.Gods, dragons, yakṣas,
Raksasas and pisacakas
Also will come joyfully,
And make offerings to him.The Brahman-Heavenly-King,
King Mara, Freedom [God],
Great-Freedom [God],
And the other gods also will come to him.The Buddhas and their disciples who hear
The voice of the expounder of the Dharma,
Will think of him, protect him,
And sometimes appear before him.
The Daily Dharma from July 4, 2022, offers this:
Their tongues will be purified.
Their tongues will not receive anything bad.
Anything they eat will become
As delicious as nectar.
The Buddha sings these verses to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. With food and drink it is easy to see how different people will find the same food either delicious or disgusting. Our experience and beliefs shape what we are comfortable putting into our bodies, and whether we do so for the sake of our health or the pleasure that comes from experiencing their flavor. But when we find that something with good flavor is bad for our health, or vice versa, we can change our tastes. This is another example of how the Lotus Sūtra teaches us how to live in the world. We learn to embrace situations we once found frightening or intolerable. We increase our capacity with our focus on benefiting others. As a wise teacher once said, we learn to enjoy problems the way we enjoy ice cream.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Meaning of the Four Teachings
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 11The ability to respond to the Buddha’s teaching is not the same for all sentient beings; it depends on their aspirations and desires. The teachings of the Noble One rely on these transformational conditions and thus are different for each person. A Sūtra says, “From the night the Buddha realized the Path until the night of his final Nirvāṇa, the doctrine that he preached was true and not vain wisdom.” In reverently examining the gist of the teachings, it is [seen to be] profound and worthy of reliance; therefore it is summarized as the Four Teachings and classified into the categories of tentative and real.
Daily Dharma – March 1, 2023
The king and queen took off their necklaces of pearls worth hundreds of thousands, and strewed the necklaces to the Buddha. The necklaces flew up to the sky [seven times as high as the tāla-tree], and changed into a jeweled platform equipped with four pillars. On the platform was a couch of great treasures, and thousands of millions of heavenly garments were spread [on the couch]. The Buddha [went up,] sat cross-legged [on the couch], and emitted great rays of light. King Wonderful-Adornment thought, ‘The Buddha is exceptional. He is exceedingly handsome. He has the most wonderful form.’
The Buddha uses this description as part of the story of King Wonderful-Adornment in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. This King was led by the supernatural powers of his children to meet Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star- King Flower-Wisdom Buddha who was teaching the Wonderful Dharma in that world. The King and his wife the Queen were both so inspired by that Buddha that they allowed the symbols of their wealth and power to be transformed into a sacred platform from which the Buddha could lead all beings to enlightenment. When they found that Buddha, the beauty of his wisdom far outshone the beauty of their jewels.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 23
Day 23 covers all of Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, and opens Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.
Having last month considered the eight hundred merits of the eye, we consider the twelve hundred merits of the ear.
“Furthermore, Constant-Endeavor! The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this sūtra, will be able to obtain twelve hundred merits of the ear. With their pure ears, they will be able to recognize all the various sounds and voices inside and outside the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, [each of which is composed of the six regions] down to the Avici Hell and up to the Highest Heaven. They will be able to recognize the voices of elephants, horses and cows; the sounds of carts; cryings and sighings; the sounds of conch-shell horns, drums, gongs and bells; laughter and speech; the voices of men, women, boy and girls; meaningful voices, meaningless voices; painful voices, delightful voices; the voices of the unenlightened ones, the voices of the enlightened ones; joyful voices, joyless voices; the voices of gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras and mahoragas; the sounds of fire, water and wind; the voices of hellish denizens, animals and hungry spirits; and the voices of bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas and Buddhas. In a word, with their pure and natural ears given by their parents, they will be able to recognize all the sounds and voices inside and outside the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, although they have not yet obtained heavenly ears. Even when they recognize all these various sounds and voices, their organ of hearing will not be destroyed.”
Tendai Scriptural Foundation
Tendai Lotus School Teachings, p 6-7During the great T’ang dynasty, the Dharma Master Chan-jan, following the standards of past sages and the thousand-year [tradition of Buddhism], was singularly astute. The restoration of the Path was truly due to this man. In his [Chih-kuan] i-li [Chan-jan] says, “The gist of the teachings of this Tendai school is to utilize the Lotus Sutra for its essential structure, the Ta Chih tu lun for its instruction, the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra for commentarial support, and the Pañcaviṃśati-sāhasrikā-prajn͂ā-pāramitā Sūtra for methods of contemplation; to quote all Sutras to increase faith; and to quote all treatises as aids to understanding. The contemplation of the mind is its warp and all doctrines its woof. The many texts are thus woven together, and not in the same way as others.” Thus from the beginning it was a fast boat [for crossing over] the waters of wisdom, and a diked road for the subtle vehicle [to cross to the other shore of enlightenment].