All posts by John Hughes

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 28, 2023

Seeing that you have peacefully attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha,
We, too, have obtained benefits.
Congratulations! How glad we are!

The children of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha sing these verses to their father in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. They realize that when one being reaches enlightenment, it is a benefit for all beings. In Chapter Ten, the Buddha teaches that many people will hate his Wonderful Dharma with jealousy during his lifetime, and many more will be jealous of it after his extinction. These people see the Buddha as different from themselves, and do not understand how they can become as enlightened as he is. They believe that for one person to gain, another must lose. The Buddha shows that all beings benefit from his teaching. Nothing is taken away from anyone.

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

LS32

Day 25

Day 25 covers all of Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, and opens Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.

Day 25 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month learned the identities of the devotees who had impure minds who had impure minds and identity of Never-Despising Bodhisattva, we repeat in gāthās the tale of Never-Despising Bodhisattva.

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

There was once a Buddha,
Called Powerful-Voice-King.
His supernatural powers and wisdom
Were immeasurable.
Leading all living beings, he is honored
By gods, men and dragons with offerings.

Some time after the extinction of that Buddha,
His teachings had almost died out.
At that time there lived a Bodhisattva
Called Never-Despising.
The four kinds of devotees at that time
Were attached to views.

Never-Despising Bodhisattva
Went to them,
And said,
“I do not despise you
Because you will practice the Way
And become Buddhas.”

When they heard this,
They spoke ill of him and abused him.
But Never-Despising Bodhisattva
Endured all this.

Thus he expiated his sin.
When he was about to pass away,
He heard this sūtra,
And had his six sense-organs purified.
He prolonged his life
By his supernatural powers,
And expounded this sūtra
To many people.

Those who were attached to views
Were led into the Way
To the enlightenment of the Buddha
By this Bodhisattva.

Never-Despising [Bodhisattva] met
Innumerable Buddhas after the end of his life.
He expounded this sūtra,
And obtained innumerable merits,
He quickly attained the enlightenment of the Buddha
By these accumulated merits.

See Subduing Evil by Never Despising

Important Matters

Prosperity

Let me interject a caution here. I’m not sure I would have even mentioned this say 10 or so years earlier, but I need to address the increase of religions that teach prosperity as an indicator of faith or that prosperity must come first before helping others. While it is true that we benefit from our practice, it is not true that our benefits are the indicator of our faith or practice. Prosperity has nothing to do with joy. It has nothing to do with enlightenment. The Buddha turned his back on prosperity. He turned his back on austerity. If our teacher did this, shouldn’t we also? You do not need to become wealthy to benefit others. Your financial situation has nothing to do with your ability to benefit others. It has nothing to do with your ability to cause others to be joyful. It has nothing to do with your enlightenment. In fact, financial prosperity may even hinder all of the above. This is not to say we shouldn’t try to become secure in our living situations, or that we shouldn’t try to be wise in our finances. Finances and prosperity are simply things that can hinder or encourage, but it is the hindering and encouraging we should focus on. When we become virtuous, kind, trustworthy, respectful, humble in ourselves, then we are manifesting the qualities desired. These are unmeasurable and not indicated by our bank account or dwelling place or the car we drive or the clothes we wear. These qualities are in our actions and our words, our presence of being. Being honest with yourself you will know and others will certainly respond.

“This is the place of practice where the Three Treasures of ultimate truth and the unseen beings who protect the Dharma now appear and descend to this place. They see us clearly with the light of their wisdom. This place of practice where we are is the Pure Land of Eternally Tranquil Light. This present form-body is the awakened Dharma-Body. The sutra that we are upholding is what all Buddhas certify as the Dharma. The thought that is rightly upheld is the entire Dharma-realm. May each sound and each thought and all the virtues spread equally to adorn the Buddha’s land as offerings to the Three Treasures and contributions to all sentient beings.

“May awakening spread everywhere manifesting its light. May all the natural spirits, other beings, and the four kind of devotees in this world, those who are far and near, inside and outside the place of practice, throughout heaven and earth, and those who have a relationship with the Dharma and are seeing, hearing, and enjoying it receive conspicuous and inconspicuous benefit equally and limitlessly.”

Shutei Hoyo Shiki page 395

Important Matters, p 44-45
PhraseADay, WONS

Practice in Actions, Voices, and Spirit

TSUCHI-RO GOSHO

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 heart and action, which would save your parents, brothers, sisters, relatives, ancestors, and everyone around you. Other people read the sutra vocally without feeling 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 in your actions, voices, and spirit.

(Background : October 9, 1271, 49 years old, at Echi, Showa Teihon, p.509)

Explanatory note

Nichiren Daishonin believed himself to be the Buddha Sakyamuni’s messenger and conducted his spiritual train. ing in accordance with the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. He put it into practice.

Nichiren said, “We must put into practice the teachings of the Lotus Sutra in all phases of life.” He asserted that it is not true practice if we only understand it with our minds. Instead, he said, we must devote our hearts and souls to the fullest when we read the sutra.
He was a practician of the Lotus Sutra and requested his disciples and believers to be the same.

The above quotation is the opening paragraph of a letter to his disciple Nichiro and who was arrested with Nichiren at the time of the Tatsu-no-kuchi Persecution and who was put into a dungeon. The night before Nichiren’s departure for Sado Island, Nichiren wrote the above letter to him.

Once he is exiled to the island, he might not be able to return to Kamakura. Even in such a circumstance, Nichiren worried about his disciples. We can see his compassion in this letter. He consoled those who were suppressed because of practicing the Lotus Sutra. He praised his disciples who practiced the sutra with their spirit and bodies.
Reflecting on people today, many are ill spiritually. How thoroughly do they understand themselves? How seriously are they seeking the true teaching? Most likely, people try to solve their problems superficially without going to the source. This is just a patchwork. In order to cure sickness of mind and body, we must find spiritual support. We must firmly believe in the Lotus Sutra and devote ourselves to it.

To practice the Lotus Sutra with one’s action, voice, and spirit is to hold it “through three karmas.” We hope to keep our daily lives in accordance with this phrase.

Rev. Ogawa

Phrase A Day

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 27, 2023

All living beings are either noble or humble. They are either handsome or ugly. They are destined to be reborn either in a better region or in a worse region. All of them will be reflected on the pure bodies [of the good men or women].

The Buddha makes this declaration to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. Much of what we see in the world is a projection of our own biases and ignorance. We see things for what we want them to be rather than what they are. We classify the people in our lives as friends, enemies or strangers not because of their inherent qualities, but because of how they treat us. When we act for the benefit of others rather than our own gratification, we are showing them their true qualities. We let them see themselves for what they are.

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

LS32

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.

Day 24 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the eight hundred merits of the nose in gāthās, we consider the twelve hundred merits of the tongue.

“Furthermore, Constant-Endeavor! The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this sūtra, will be able to obtain twelve hundred merit of the tongue. 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. When they expound the Dharma to the great multitude with their tongues, they will be able to raise deep and wonderful voices, to cause their voices to reach the hearts of the great multitude so that the great multitude may be joyful and cheerful. Hearing their speeches given in good order by their deep and wonderful voices, Śakra, Brahman, and the other gods and goddesses will come and listen to them. In order to hear the Dharma, dragons, dragons’ daughters, gandharvas, gandharvas’ daughters, asuras, asuras’ daughters, garuḍas, garuḍas’ daughters, kiṃnaras, kiṃnaras’ daughters, mahoragas, and mahoragas’ daughters also will come to them, respect them, and make offerings to them. Bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, and upāsikās; and kings, princes, ministers, and their attendants [also will come and hear the Dharma]. The wheel-turning[holy-]kings of small [countries], and the wheel-turning-[holy-]kings of great [countries, each of whom has the] seven treasures and one thousand children, also will come with their [treasures, children and] internal and external retinues, riding in their [movable] palaces, and hear the Dharma. These [good men or women, that is,] Bodhisattvas will expound the Dharma so well that the brahmanas, householders, and people of their country will, throughout their lives, attend on them, and make offering to them. The Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas also will wish to them. [These good men or women] will expound the Dharma in the places which the Buddhas will face. They will keep all the teaching of the Buddhas and raise deep and wonderful voices of the Dharma.”

The Daily Dharma from Aug. 26, 2022, offers this:

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

Important Matters

Your Place of Practice Revealed

Our reading and reciting is a solemn practice, one that carries great significance. We are not who we may think we are when we engage in this seemingly simple practice. We are no longer the mere mortal living a mundane life. Our voices are carried throughout the entire universal Dharma realm, our thoughts are also spread to the farthest edge of the limitless universe, as contradictory as that may seem. They are our offerings we carry to all the entities, all the beings, all the energies throughout space and time. We are in fact creating a cascade of Dharma-influenced causes that reverberate outward from us, and inward toward us. Just as we send the Dharma nourishment to the beings of time and space, that same nourishment imprints on our own lives the Ultimate Truth of the Buddha, causing us to manifest all the rewards and benefits of the Lotus Sutra.

Our actions upon the environment become actions on ourselves as well. These thoughts should be the thoughts that occupy our minds as we engage in our devotions of reading and reciting the sutra. Our sitting or kneeling, our prostrations, our bowing, our bell ringing, our water offering, our incense burning, our book opening, the turning of the pages, our shifting in place as our joints ache, our singing of the hymns, our reading and reciting the sutra and chanting the sacred title are all priceless offerings we give to all sentient beings and to the Three Treasures of Buddha Dharma, and Sangha. We are not merely common mortals sitting in a simple room with a small box shrine housing a yellowing scroll or dented Buddha statue and reading in a scratchy voice. All of that is transformed into the grandest castle housing a gold-plated shrine wherein is housed a scroll written in gold, silver and platinum characters as we lift up the sutra with the voice of an operatic singer.

You and your place of practice are not merely transformed. No, they are truly revealed. Your place is revealed as the Buddha’s Pure Land it has always been. You are revealed as a Buddha you have always been.

These are the mysteries for us to contemplate as we engage in the solemn yet joyful practice of reading and reciting the sutra in our daily practice.

This doesn’t wear out. You can’t use it all up. In fact, the more you do it the more abundant it becomes. Your dedication of merit to others does not reduce your merit. Your Buddha’s Pure Land and your own enlightenment grow and expand as your practice continues to grow and deepen.

Important Matters, p 43-44
PhraseADay, WONS

Repentance

KONICHI BO GOSHO

A tiny needle sinks into the water. Rain falls – it cannot float in the air. These are natural laws. A person who kills a tiny ant falls into hell. Thus, a person who kills a human being falls into hell.

However, a huge rock can float on water if it is placed on a ship. A raging fire can be extinguished by the power of water. Without repentance, even a small sin can make a man fall into hell. On the other hand, with sincere repentance, even great sins can be erased.

(Background : March 1276, 54 years old, at Minobu, Showa Teihon, p.] 158)

Explanatory note

According to Buddhism, a person who kills any living being falls into hell, even for killing a tiny ant. I know you may think that it is heavy punishment for just killing an ant. However, a tiny needle sinks into the water because its density is greater than that of water. The rule is applicable to the concept of falling into hell.

But is it possible that we, common people, do not kill any living being? Nichiren pointed out in “Ken Hobo Sho” that it is almost impossible even for a priest of Ritsu Sect, which adheres strictly to Buddhist precepts, not to kill any living beings throughout his life.

To repent one’s wrong conduct, he or she must have faith in the teachings of the Buddha Sakyamuni from the bottom of one’s heart. Instead of falling into guilty consciousness because of not keeping the precepts, one should rely on the Buddha’s teachings to be saved.

We should understand the parable which Nichiren revealed. It states that even a huge rock which is too heavy for a man to lift can still float on water, if it is carried aboard a ship.

If each one of us in the Latter Age of the Declining Law chants Odaimoku sincerely to repent wrong conduct, we will be able to experience appreciation of living in this great world.

Rev. Okuno

Phrase A Day

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 26, 2023

Tears keep falling when I think of the current unbearable hardships, but I cannot stop tears of joy when I think of obtaining Buddhahood in the future. Birds and insects chirp without shedding tears. I, Nichiren, do not cry, but tears keep falling. These tears are shed not for worldly matters, but solely for the sake of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore they should be called tears of nectar.

Nichiren wrote this as part of his letter to monk Sairen-bō in his Treatise on All Phenomena as Ultimate Reality (Shohō-Jissō Shō). For the sake of the Lotus Sūtra, Nichiren endured two harsh exiles, his house being burnt down, ambushes by soldiers with swords, being placed on the execution mat himself, and the persecution of his followers. Despite all these obstacles, he held true to the Buddha’s teaching in the face of all opposition. Most of us who practice the Lotus Sūtra today have lives of relative comfort. It is wonderful that we have Nichiren’s example. He was a human being just like us, and we too are capable of his faith and determination.

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

LS32

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.

Day 23 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the merits of the good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, we consider the eight hundred merits of the eye.

With their pure eyes given by their parents, these good men or women will be able to see all the mountains, forests, rivers and oceans inside and outside the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, [each of which is composed of six regions] down to the Avici Hell and up to the Highest Heaven. They also will be able to see the living beings of those worlds, to know the karmas which those living beings are now doing and the region to which each of those living beings is destined to go by his karmas.”

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

Listen! I will tell you of the merits
Of those who fearlessly expound
To the great multitude
This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

They will be able to obtain the excellent eyes
Adorned with eight hundred merits.
Their eyes will be pure
Because of this adornment.

With their eyes given by their parents,
They will be able to see Mt. Meru, Mt. Sumeru,
The Surrounding Iron Mountains,
And the other mountains,
And the forests, oceans and rivers
Inside and outside the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds.

They will be able to see the living beings
Of those worlds [each being composed of the six regions]
Down to the Avici Hell and up to the Highest Heaven.
Although they have not yet obtained heavenly eyes,
They will be able to see all this
With their natural eyes.

See The Merits of the Eye