Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismThe practices carried out by the Buddha throughout his countless lifetimes (causes) and the resulting virtues of his enlightenment (effects) are contained in the daimoku and spontaneously accessed by the practitioner in the act of chanting. We can see this idea developing in a personal letter that Nichiren wrote the year before the Kanjin honzon shō:
This jewel of [the character] myō contains the merit of the Tathāgata Śākyamuni’s Pāramitā of giving (danbaramitsu), when in the past he fed his body to a starving tigress or [gave his life] to ransom a dove; the merit of his Pāramitā of keeping precepts, when, as King Śrutasoma, he would not tell a lie; the merit gained as the ascetic Forbearance, when he entrusted his person to King Kali; the merit gained when he was Prince Donor, the ascetic Shōjari, [etc.] He placed the merit of all his six perfections (rokudo) within the character myō. Thus, even though we persons of the evil, last age have not cultivated a single good, he confers upon us the merit of perfectly fulfilling the countless practices of the six perfections. This is the meaning [of the passage], “Now this threefold world / is all my domain. / The beings in it / are all my children.” We ordinary worldlings, fettered [by defilements], at once have merit equal to that of Śākyamuni, master of teachings, for we receive the entirety of his merit. The sūtra states, “[At the start I made a vow / to make all living beings] / equal to me, without any difference.” This passage means that those who take faith in the Lotus Sūtra are equal to Śākyamuni Commoners [i.e., the heirs chosen to succeed the emperors Yao and Shun] immediately achieved royal status. Just as commoners became kings in their present body, so ordinary worldlings can immediately become Buddhas. This is what is meant by the heart of [the doctrine of] three thousand realms in one thought-moment.
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Daily Dharma – Nov. 10, 2022
I see the [perverted] people sinking
In an ocean of suffering.
Therefore, I disappear from their eyes
And cause them to admire me.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. With the story of the wise physician in this chapter, the Buddha explains how he disappears from our view even though he is always present to us. The children in the story would not accept the remedy their father prepared for them to counteract the poison they had taken. Some of them hoped for another remedy, some believed the remedy would be worse than the poison. It was not until the father left and told them he would not return that the children realized the value of what they already had. When we take the Buddha for granted, as the children in the story took their father for granted, and ignore the path he has laid out for us, we lose sight of the Buddha. It is only when we realize we are lost that we look for a guide. When we bring the Buddha’s teachings to life, we find him everywhere.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 14
Day 14 covers all of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, and opens Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.
Having last month conclude today’s portion of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, we turn to Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, and consider the promise given to those who rejoice at hearing the Lotus Sutra.
Thereupon the World-Honored One said to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in the presence of the eighty thousand great men:
“Medicine-King! Do you see the innumerable gods, dragonkings, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men, and nonhuman beings, and [the four kinds of devotees:] bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, and upāsikās, and those who are seeking Śrāvakahood or Pratyekabuddhahood or the enlightenment of the Buddha in this great multitude? If in my presence any of them rejoices, even on a moment’s thought, at hearing even a gāthā or a phrase of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, I will assure him of his future Buddhahood, saying to him, ‘You will be able to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.’ ”
The Buddha said to Medicine-King:
“If after my extinction anyone rejoices, even on a moment’s thought, at hearing even a gāthā or a phrase of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, I also will assure him of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. If anyone keeps, reads, recites, expounds and copies even a gāthā of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, and respects a copy of this sūtra just as he respects me, and offers flowers, incense, necklaces, incense powder, incense applicable to the skin, incense to burn, canopies, banners, streamers, garments and music to it, or just joins his hands together respectfully towards it, Medicine-King, know this, he should be considered to have appeared in the world of men out of his compassion towards all living beings, although he already made offerings to ten billion Buddhas and fulfilled his great vow under those Buddhas in a previous existence.
The Daily Dharma from Nov. 12, 2021, offers this:
If after my extinction anyone rejoices, even on a moment’s thought, at hearing even a gāthā or a phrase of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, I also will assure him of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.
The Buddha declares these lines to Medicine-King Bodhisattva at the beginning of Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. Other teachings had described beings becoming enlightened after making exorbitant offerings or strenuous practices over many lifetimes. In the teaching of the Wonderful Dharma, a single moment of joy at hearing the Dharma is enough to assure us that we will become enlightened.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
800 Years: The Buddha’s Faith in Us
The Buddha shows great faith in us by entrusting the wonderful Dharma to us. We can repay this trust and faith by becoming the arms and hands of the Buddha and continuing the Tathagata’s great work of leading all beings to the shore of liberation.
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p136Daily Dharma – Nov. 9, 2022
Needless to say, anyone who not only keeps this sūtra but also gives alms, observes the precepts, practices patience, makes endeavors, concentrates his mind, and seeks wisdom, will be able to obtain the most excellent and innumerable merits. His merits will be as limitless as the sky is in the east, west, south, north, the four intermediate quarters, the zenith, and the nadir. These innumerable merits of his will help him obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things.
The Buddha makes this declaration to Maitreya Bodhisattva in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sūtra. We often think of merits as bonus points we get for good deeds. Good karma we create to offset the bad karma that came from our less skillful actions. Another way of looking at merits is as a measure of clarity. The more merit we gain, the more we see things for what they are. When we offer our merits for the benefit of all beings, we resolve to use this clarity to enhance the lives of others.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 13
Day 13 covers all of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples.
Having last month considered Pūrṇa’s plea to the Buddha, we consider the Buddha’s prediction for Pūrṇa.
Thereupon the Buddha said to the bhikṣus:
“Do you see this Pūrṇa, the son of Maitrāyanī? I always praise him, saying that he is the most excellent expounder of the Dharma. I also praise him for his various merits. He strenuously protects my teachings, and helps me propagate them. He shows the Way to the four kinds of devotees, teaches them, benefits them and causes them to rejoice. He explains my right teachings perfectly, and gives great benefits to those who are performing brahma practices’ with him. No one except the Tathāgata excels him in eloquence. Do not say that he protects only my teachings and helps me propagate them! In his previous existence he also protected the right teachings of nine thousand million Buddhas and helped them propagate their teachings. Under those Buddhas also he was the most excellent expounder of the Dharma. He clearly understood the truth of the Void expounded by those Buddhas, and obtained the four kinds of unhindered eloquence. He always expounded the Dharma clearly and purely, with no doubtfulness. Although he had the supernatural powers of Bodhisattvas, he performed brahma practices throughout his previous existence. Therefore, the people of the world of the Buddha [under whom he performed brahma practices] thought that he was a Śrāvaka. He benefited many hundreds of thousands of living beings with this expedient, and also caused innumerable, asaṃkhya people to aspire for Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. He did the work of the Buddha, that is, taught all living beings so that the world of the Buddha might be purified.
“Bhikṣus! Pūrṇa was the most excellent expounder of the Dharma under the seven Buddhas. He is the same under me. He will be the same under the future Buddhas of this Kalpa of Sages. He will protect the teachings of those Buddhas and help them propagate their teachings. After the end of this kalpa also he will protect the teachings of innumerable Buddhas, help them propagate their teachings, teach and benefit innumerable living beings, and cause them to aspire for Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. He will always make efforts to teach all living beings strenuously so that the worlds of those Buddhas may be purified. He will perform the Way of Bodhisattvas step by step for innumerable, asaṃkhya kalpas, and then attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi in this world. He will be called Dharma-Brightness, the Tathāgata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. The world of that Buddha will be composed of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, that is, as many Sumeru-worlds as there are sands in the River Ganges. The ground [of that world] will be made of the seven treasures. It will be as even as the palm of a hand. There will be no mountains nor ravines nor ditches. Tall buildings adorned with the seven treasures will be seen everywhere in that world, and the palaces of gods of that world will hang so low in the sky that gods and men will be able to see each other. There will be no evil regions nor women. The living beings of that world will be born without any medium. They will have no sexual desire. They will have great supernatural powers, emit light from their bodies, and fly about at will. They will be resolute in mind, strenuous, and wise. They will be golden in color, and adorned with the thirty-two marks. They will feed on two things: the delight in the Dharma, and the delight in dhyāna. There will be innumerable, asaṃkhya Bodhisattvas, that is, thousands of billions of nayutas of Bodhisattvas. They will have great supernatural powers and the four kinds of unhindered eloquence. They will teach the living beings of that world. There will also be uncountable Śrāvakas there. They will have the six supernatural powers including the three major supernatural powers, and the eight emancipations. The world of that Buddha will be adorned with those innumerable merits. The kalpa [in which Pūrṇa will become that Buddha] will be called TreasureBrightness; and his world, Good-Purity. The duration of the life of that Buddha will be innumerable, asaṃkhya kalpas, and his teachings will be preserved for a long time. After his extinction, stupas of the seven treasures will be erected [in his honor] throughout that world.”
See The Food of Dharma Joy and the Food of Meditative Delight
800 Years: Combining Faith and Discernment
Buddhism for Today, p64The mental state generated by the firsthand encounter with mystery is called faith. A religion whose teachings a person tries to explain entirely by reason has no power to move others because this person has only a theoretical understanding and cannot put his theory into practice. Such a religion does not produce the energy to cause others to follow it. True faith has power and energy. However uneducated a person may be and however humble his circumstances, he can save others and help them promote his religion if he only has faith. But if he has faith in what is fundamentally wrong, his energy exerts a harmful influence on society and those around him. Therefore faith and discernment must go together. A religion cannot be said to be true unless it combines faith and discernment. The Buddha’s teachings can be understood by reason. They do not demand blind, unreasoning faith. We must understand the Buddha’s teachings by listening to preaching and by reading the sutras. As we advance in our discernment of these teachings, faith is generated spontaneously.
When a person who has a flexible mind is not advanced in discernment, he develops faith as soon as he is told, “This is a true teaching.” So far as the teaching of the Lotus Sutra is concerned, that is all right, because he will gradually advance in discernment through hearing and reading its teaching.
In short, we can enter a religion from the aspect either of faith or of discernment, but unless a religion combines both aspects, it does not have true power.
Daily Dharma – Nov. 8, 2022
We have never seen
These many thousands of billions
Of Bodhisattvas.
Tell me, Most Honorable Biped!
Where did they come from?
Maitreya Bodhisattva sings these verses to the Buddha in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, the Buddha has asked who among those gathered to hear him teach will continue teaching this Wonderful Dharma in our world of suffering after the Buddha passes into his final extinction. Some Bodhisattvas say they will teach in other worlds, since the beings of this world are too defiled to hear the Buddha’s teaching. Other Bodhisattvas vow to remain in our world, but the Buddha tells them not to bother. At that moment, the ground cracks open, and innumerable Bodhisattvas spring up and vow to carry on the work of the Buddha. Maitreya and others had never seen these Bodhisattvas before. His asking the Buddha respectfully to explain what they do not understand. This example emphasizes that we must continue to question how the Buddha’s teaching applies to our lives rather than dogmatically accepting whatever happens.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 12
Day 12 concludes Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City, and completes the Third Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month considered the fate of the sixteen Bodhisattvas, we consider the Parable of the Magic City.
“Bhikṣus, know this! I can enter skillfully deep into the natures of all living beings. Because I saw that they wished to hear the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle and that they were deeply attached to the five desires, I expounded the teaching of Nirvāṇa to them. When they heard that teaching, they received it by faith.
“I will tell you a parable. Once upon a time there was a dangerous, bad road five hundred yojanas long. It was so fearful that no men lived in the neighborhood. Now many people wished to pass through this road in order to reach a place of treasures. They were led by a man, clever, wise, and well informed of the conditions of the dangerous road. He took them along this dangerous road, but halfway the people got tired of walking. They said to him, ‘We are tired out. We are also afraid of the danger of this road. We cannot go a step farther. Our destination is still far off. We wish to go back.’
“The leader, who knew many expedients, thought, ‘What a pity!
They wish to go back without getting great treasures.’ Having thought this, he expediently made a city by magic at a distance of three hundred yojanas from the starting-point of this dangerous road. He said to them, ‘Do not be afraid! Do not go back! You can stay in that great city, and do anything you like. If you enter that city, you will be peaceful. If you go on afterwards and reach the place of treasures, then you can go home.’
“Thereupon the worn-out people had great joy. They said, ‘We have never had such joy as this before. Now we shall be able to get off this bad road and become peaceful.’
“Then they made their way forward and entered the magic city.
They felt peaceful, thinking that they had already passed [through the bad road]. Seeing that they had already had a rest and relieved their fatigue, the leader caused the city to disappear, and said to them, ‘Now the place of treasures is near. I made this city by magic in order to give you a rest.’
Disposition to Understanding by Faith
This is another in a series of weekly blog posts comparing and contrasting the Sanskrit and Chinese Lotus Sutra translations.
Last month I discussed how Senchu Murano’s title for Kumārajīva’s Chapter 4 added a nice twist by taking the elements of faith and understanding and emphasizing faith. Understanding by Faith is more than simply individual elements of Belief and Understanding or Faith and Understanding.
But when we compare with H. Kern’s translation of the Nepalese Sanskrit document and the title for the story “exemplifying the skill of the wise father in leading a child that has gone astray and lost all self-respect back to a feeling of his innate nobility and to happiness,” we lose the elements of faith or belief or understanding and focus instead on the disposition of the son.
This Disposition used by Kern as the title for Chapter 4 is addressed specifically in the final prose section of the chapter:
Even so, O Lord, do we represent the sons of the Tathāgata, and the Tathāgata says to us: Ye are my sons, as the householder did. We were oppressed, O Lord, with three difficulties, viz. the difficulty of pain, the difficulty of conceptions, the difficulty of transition (or evolution); and in the worldly whirl we were disposed to what is low. Then have we been prompted by the Lord to ponder on the numerous inferior laws (or conditions, things) that are similar to a heap of dirt. Once directed to them we have been practicing, making efforts, and seeking for nothing but Nirvāṇa as our fee. We were content, O Lord, with the Nirvāṇa obtained, and thought to have gained much at the hands of the Tathāgata because of our having applied ourselves to these laws, practised, and made efforts. But the Lord takes no notice of us, does not mix with us, nor tell us that this treasure of the Tathāgata’s knowledge shall belong to us, though the Lord skillfully appoints us as heirs to this treasure of the knowledge of the Tathāgata. And we, O Lord, are not (impatiently) longing to enjoy it, because we deem it a great gain already to receive from the Lord Nirvāṇa as our fee. We preach to the Bodhisattvas Mahāsattvas a sublime sermon about the knowledge of the Tathāgata; we explain, show, demonstrate the knowledge of the Tathāgata, O Lord, without longing. For the Tathāgata by his skillfulness knows our disposition, whereas we ourselves do not know, nor apprehend. It is for this very reason that the Lord just now tells us that we are to him as sons, and that he reminds us of being heirs to the Tathāgata. For the case stands thus: we are as sons to the Tathāgata, but low (or humble) of disposition; the Lord perceives the strength of our disposition and applies to us the denomination of Bodhisattvas; we are, however, charged with a double office in so far as in presence of Bodhisattvas we are called persons of low disposition and at the same time have to rouse them to Buddha-enlightenment. Knowing the strength of our disposition the Lord has thus spoken, and in this way, O Lord, do we say that we have obtained unexpectedly and without longing the jewel of omniscience, which we did not desire, nor seek, nor search after, nor expect, nor require; and that inasmuch as we are the sons of the Tathāgata.
Comparing this with Murano’s translation you realized the shift in the perspective. Murano’s Śrāvakas are focused on their clinging to the Lesser Vehicle.
You expounded the Dharma to us with expedients according to our capacities because you knew that we wished to hear the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle. We did not know that we were your sons. Now we know that you do not grudge your wisdom to anyone.
While Kern’s Śrāvakas are focused on their innate disposition.
For the Tathāgata by his skillfulness knows our disposition, whereas we ourselves do not know, nor apprehend. It is for this very reason that the Lord just now tells us that we are to him as sons, and that he reminds us of being heirs to the Tathāgata.
Kern’s translation also notes an extra burden placed on the Śrāvakas, which is not made in Murano’s translation:
For the case stands thus: we are as sons to the Tathāgata, but low (or humble) of disposition; the Lord perceives the strength of our disposition and applies to us the denomination of Bodhisattvas; we are, however, charged with a double office in so far as in presence of Bodhisattvas we are called persons of low disposition and at the same time have to rouse them to Buddha-enlightenment.
One could argue that Kumārajīva’s Lotus Sutra is much less sympathetic to the plight of the Śrāvakas than the Nepalese Sanskrit Lotus Sutra.