Having faith in the Lotus Sūtra involves suffering and punishment by the shogunate. There is no doubt that the moon wanes and waxes and the tide ebbs and rises. Though at the moment I endure punishment and suffering, they will return to me as merit. Why would I lament a joy such as this?
Toki-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Toki, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Desciples, Volume 5, Page 11
Although we were your sons then as we are now, we wished to hear only the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle. If we had aspired for the teaching of the Great Vehicle, you would have already expounded it to us.
Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana speak this passage in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. This is before they tell the story of the Wayward Son. They explain their realization that the Buddha holds nothing back from us. The reason we hear expedient teachings rather than the highest teaching is because of the limits of our own aspiration. When we aspire to become Buddhas, we receive the highest teaching.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
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.
“When the Buddha expounded these teachings to the great multitude of gods and men, six hundred billion nayuta men emancipated themselves from āsravas, and obtained profound and wonderful dhyāna-concentrations, the six supernatural powers including the three major supernatural powers, and the eight emancipations because they gave up wrong views. At his second, third and fourth expoundings of these teachings also, thousands of billions of nayutas of living beings, that is, as many living beings as there are sands in the River Ganges, emancipated themselves from āsravas because they gave up wrong views. [They became Śrāvakas.] Those who became Śrāvakas thereafter were also innumerable, uncountable.
“The sixteen princes were young boys at that time. They renounced the world and became śramaṇeras. Their sense organs were keen; and their wisdom, bright. They had already made offerings to hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas, performed brahma practices, and sought Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi in their previous existence. They said to the Buddha simultaneously, ‘World-Honored One! All these Śrāvakas of great virtue, many thousands of billions in number, have already done [what they should do]. World-Honored One! Expound to us the teaching of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi! If we hear that teaching, we will study and practice it. World-Honored One! We wish to have the insight of the Tathāgata. You know what we have deep in our minds.’
Odaimoku: The Significance Of Chanting Namu Myoho Renge KyoThe word Namu … comes to signify a firm and full dedication of our lives, in both its physical and spiritual aspects. In other words, we express our faith in the Buddha and his teachings, particularly in the Lotus Sutra, and at the same time dedicate ourselves to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha in every possible way.
Only I know his secret practices.
He shows himself
To all living beings
In the form of my eldest son.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Nine of the Lotus Sūtra, speaking of Rāhula, the son born to him and his wife Yaśodharā before he left his life as a crown prince to seek enlightenment. In his highest teaching, the Buddha reminds us of our vows as Bodhisattvas to come into this world of conflict to benefit all beings. In the preoccupations that come with this life, we can forget these vows; they become a secret even to us. When we hear this Sūtra, we are reminded that we are the dear children of the Dharma, and that enlightenment is our rightful inheritance.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 11 continues Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City
The Buddha said to the bhikṣus:
“When Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, five hundred billion Buddha-worlds in each of the ten quarters quaked in the six ways, and all those worlds, including those intercepted from the brilliant rays of light of the sun and the moon by the neighboring worlds, were illumined [by great rays of light], and the living beings of those worlds were able to see each other for the first time. They said to each other, ‘How did you appear so suddenly?’ The palaces of the gods of those worlds, including the palace of Brahmans, also quaked in the six ways. The great rays of light which illumined all those worlds were brighter than the rays of light emitted by those gods.
Buddha Seed: Understanding the OdaimokuTheoretically Ichinen Sanzen of Ri tells us that we can attain Buddhahood and that all realms of existence, including Buddhahood, can be recognized in every moment of conscious awareness. However, Ichinen Sanzen of Ji tells us that we are in the process of becoming Buddhas and that Buddhahood is a reality already at work in our lives. Even a single moment of taking faith in and rejoicing in this teaching allows us to understand the reality of the Buddha’s presence in our lives.
Therefore, anyone who has wisdom should copy this sūtra with all his heart, cause others to copy it, and also keep, read and recite it, memorize it correctly, and act according to it.
The Buddha declares this to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. It is important to remember that early in the sūtra, the Buddha explained that he teaches only Bodhisattvas, beings who exist for the benefit of all beings. Our practice of the Lotus Sūtra is not just for ourselves. When we use it to lead others to enlightenment, we create the cause for our own enlightenment.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, having understood the wishes of the great disciples, said to the bhikṣus:
“In his future life, this Subhūti will see three hundred billion nayutas of Buddhas, make offerings to them, respect them, honor them, praise them, perform brahma practices, complete the Way of Bodhisattvas, and become a Buddha on the final stage of his physical existence. He will be called Beautiful-Form, 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 kalpa in which he will become that Buddha will be called Having-Treasures; and his world, Treasure-Born. The ground [of his world] will be even, made of crystal, adorned with jeweled trees, and devoid of mounds, pits, rubble, thorns and dirt. Jeweled flowers will cover the ground to purify it. The people of that world will live in buildings of wonderful treasures. His disciples in Śrāvakahood will be numberless, beyond calculation or comparison. The Bodhisattvas will be many thousands of billions of nayutas in number. The duration of the life of that Buddha will be twelve small kalpas. His right teachings will be preserved for twenty small kalpas. The counterfeit of his right teachings will be preserved also for twenty small kalpas. That Buddha will always stay in the sky, expound the Dharma to the multitude, and save innumerable Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas.Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Bhikṣus!
Now I will tell you.
Listen to me
With one mind!Subhūti, a disciple of mine,
Will be able
To become a Buddha
Called Beautiful-Form.He will make offerings
To many billions of Buddhas, and practice
According to the practices of the Buddhas,
And finally attain great enlightenment.On the final stage of his physical existence,
He will obtain the thirty-two physical marks,
And become as beautiful and as wonderful
As a mountain of treasures.The world of that Buddha
Will be the purest.
Anyone will be happy to see it.
That Buddha will save
Innumerable living beings
Of that world.Many Bodhisattvas
In the world of that Buddha
Will be clever.
They will turn
The irrevocable wheel of the Dharma,
And adorn that world.The Śrāvakas in that world also
Will be countless.
They will have the six supernatural powers,
Including the three major supernatural powers.
They will have the eight emancipations.
They will be exceedingly powerful and virtuous.The supernatural powers
Employed by that Buddha
For the expounding of the Dharma
Will be inconceivable.As many gods and men
As there are sands in the River Ganges
Will join their hands together
And listen to the words of that Buddha.The duration of the life of that Buddha
Will be twelve small kalpas.
His right teachings will be preserved
For twenty small kalpas.
The counterfeit of his right teachings
Also will be preserved for twenty small kalpas.
The Daily Dharma from May 13, 2022, offers this:
The supernatural powers
Employed by that Buddha
For the expounding of the Dharma
Will be inconceivable.
The Buddha sings this verse in Chapter Six of the Lotus Sūtra after predicting the future Buddhahood of his disciple Subhūti. Anything we do not understand can seem supernatural. Things we find common in our modern world would seem magical to those who lived in the Buddha’s time. It is only through our greater understanding that we can create our modern wonders. It should not then surprise us that with the Buddha’s mind, which he reminds us that we too can reach, the things we can accomplish will seem magical to those mired in delusion.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Looking forward to Rev. Shinkyo Warner’s session on Nichiren’s writings at the Nichiren Order of North America Mini-Retreat Aug. 6-7, 2022.
