All posts by John Hughes

d15b, WONS

Covered by the Robe of the Buddha

When we read the Lotus Sūtra, the “Teacher of the Dharma” chapter declares: “The Buddha covers these people (who believe in the Lotus Sūtra) with His robe, and they are protected by all the Buddhas in the universe.” This means that the Buddhas of all the worlds in every direction come together to fill the four million, hundred million nayuta of the worlds beside the triple thousand worlds. They are crowded together, like stars in the sky, or rice and hemp plants on earth, ready to help practicers of the Lotus Sūtra. It is like a crown prince of a great king protected by many retainers.

Ueno-dono Haha-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Response to My Lady the Nun, Mother of Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 180

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 29, 2021

Those who believe in the Lotus Sutra are like the winter season, for many hardships come incessantly. Winter is surely followed by spring. We have never heard or seen that winter returns to fall. We have never heard that the believers in the Lotus Sutra go back to become ordinary men. The Lotus Sutra says, “All people who listen to this Sutra will attain Buddhahood.”

Nichiren wrote this in his Letter to the Nun Myoichi (Myoichi Ama Gozen Gohenji). Nichiren suffered through many hardships in his life, including exile, banishment from his family and home province, being placed on the execution mat, and having his home at Matsubagayatsu burned by members of the Pure Land sect. Through all these difficulties, Nichiren kept his faith in the Buddha’s wisdom and fulfilled his mission to benefit all beings in this world of conflict by leading them with the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra. Nichiren’s faith and practice inspire our faith and practice. Whatever obstacles we may face, we progress towards enlightenment under the guidance of the Ever-Present Buddha.

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

LS32

Day 8

Day 8 concludes Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith, and closes the second volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 8 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month begun the Parable of the Rich Man and His Poor Son in gāthās, we consider the arrival of the poor son and his father’s reaction.

At that time the poor son
Wandered from village to village,
From country to country,
Seeking food and clothing.
Sometimes he got what he wanted,
At other times he could not.
Getting thinner from hunger,
He had scabs and itches on his skin.
Wandering from one place to another,
He came to the city of his father.
Employed at places from day to day,
He came to the house of his father.

At that time the rich man was sitting
On the lion-like seat
Under the great awning of treasures
Inside the gate of the house.
Many attendants were surrounding him.
Many people were on his guard.

Some of his attendants were counting
Gold, silver, and other treasures.
Some were keeping accounts;
Others, writing notes and bills.

Seeing his father noble and honorable,
The poor son thought:
“Is he a king,
Or someone like a king?”

Frightened and scared,
He wondered:
“Why did I come here?”
He thought:
“If I stay here any longer,
I shall be forced to work.”

Having thought this, he ran away.
He asked someone
For the way to a village of the poor
In order to get a job.

From his lion-like seat,
The rich man saw the poor son in the distance,
And recognized him as his son.
But he did not tell this to the others.

He immediately dispatched a messenger
To chase, catch, and bring him back.
The poor son cried out with fright,
And fell to the ground in agony, thinking:
“He caught me. I shall be killed.
What use was it coming here
For food and clothing?”

The rich man thought:
“He is ignorant, narrow-minded, and mean.
If I tell him that I am his father,
He will not believe me.”

The Daily Dharma from Nov. 30, 2020, offers this:

The rich man thought:
“He is ignorant, narrow-minded, and mean.
If I tell him that I am his father,
He will not believe me.”

These verses are part of the story of the Wayward Son told by Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. The son in the story has forgotten who his father is. The father cannot just bring him into his inheritance while the son is still attached to his lowly life. The story explains the disciples’ understanding of why the Buddha cannot give his highest teaching without expedients.

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

history

Teachers of the Dharma and Messengers of the Tathāgata

Let’s reconsider the question of why the Lotus Sūtra describes Śākyamuni Buddha as the Eternal Buddha. This places Śākyamuni Buddha as eternal not only to unify all the buddhas. The greatest message of the Lotus Sūtra is, “become a messenger of the Tathāgata!”

Teaching extends beyond the physical body. Even if a teacher’s physical body dies, his teachings remain in our memories or in writing. But it is not enough to just remain. A teaching has meaning only when it continues to be taught, actively influencing people. A teaching that is not activated, that does not influence people in the present time, is relatively meaningless. Those who created the Lotus Sūtra were aware of this. They found Śākyamuni Buddha’s one great purpose is to lead all living beings to realize that they can become buddhas, and then with this realization, to walk the path toward achieving buddhahood.

Those who actualize this one great purpose by spreading the message of the Lotus Sūtra through the five practices of bodhisattvas are called teachers of the Dharma and messengers of the Tathāgata. These people activate Śākyamuni Buddha’s great purpose by creating places to work towards the salvation of others as Śākyamuni Buddha had wished, even though they may be living in the buddhaless world that has followed his passing.

History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, p 92-93
WONS

Evaluating the Merits of Spreading the Lotus Sūtra

It is preached in the Lotus Sūtra that we must uphold it and propagate it in the seventeenth and eleventh chapters respectively. What does propagating this sūtra mean? As it is said in the fourteenth chapter that the Lotus Sūtra is supreme of all sūtras, only those who insist that the Lotus Sūtra is superior to such sūtras as the Great Sun Buddha, Flower Garland, Nirvana, and Wisdom, are true practicers of the Lotus Sūtra. If this is so, practicers of the Lotus Sūtra except for Grand Master Dengyō and I, Nichiren, have not existed for more than 700 years since Buddhism was introduced to Japan. I have been wondering then why those who abuse and speak ill of me, a true practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, are left unpunished. I now know, however, why their “heads have not been split into seven pieces” or their “mouths have not been sealed” as predicted in the twenty-sixth and fourteenth chapters of the sūtra. Such punishments are relatively light and concern only a few people.

Nichiren is the prime practicer of the Lotus Sūtra in the whole world. Those who abuse me, hate me, and others who side with such people, should suffer from the severest calamities in the world. The great earthquake of the Shōka Era that shook entire Japan and the great comet of the Bun’ei Era that ran across the sky were such punishments. Think on this carefully! Many have harmed practicers of Buddhism after the death of Śākyamuni Buddha, but calamities as severe as the ones we have now never occurred before. This means that never before has there been a person admonishing all the people to recite “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.” Is there anyone in the whole world who can see eye to eye, and stand shoulder to shoulder with me, to evaluate the merits of spreading the Lotus Sūtra?

Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 206-207

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Nov. 28, 2021

I am grateful to have been born a human with this precious body due to accumulated causes and conditions in my past existences. According to the sutra, I must have encountered and given offerings to ten trillion Buddhas in the past. Even though I did not place my faith exclusively in the Lotus Sutra, thus slandering the Dharma and being born poor and lowly in this life as a result, my merit of giving offerings to the Buddhas was so great that I was born as a believer of the Lotus Sutra.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on the Testimony of the Lotus Sutra (Hokke Shōmyō-shō) addressed to Nanjō Tokimitsu. Unlike most of those who practiced the Buddha Dharma in his time, Nichiren did not belong to the higher classes of royalty or warriors. He saw clearly the suffering of common people and vowed to end it. He realized that the superiority of the Lotus Sūtra does not lie in its power to bring rain or change history. The power of this sūtra lies in its determination to save all beings, rich or poor, noble or common, deluded or wise. Nichiren’s offering to the Buddha was to spread this Wonderful Dharma. To benefit the Buddha is to benefit all beings.

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

LS32

Day 7

Day 7 concludes Chapter 3, A Parable, and begins Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.

Day 7 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered why lesser teachings are inadequate, we consider the prohibition against expounding the sutra.

I expound only to people of profound wisdom
This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Because men of little wisdom would doubt this sūtra,
And not understand it even if they heard it.
No Śrāvaka
Or Pratyekabuddha
Can understand
This sūtra.

Even you, Śāriputra,
Have understood this sūtra
Only by faith.
Needless to say,
The other Śrāvakas cannot do otherwise.
They will be able to follow this sūtra
Only because they believe my words,
Not because they have wisdom.

Śāriputra
Do not expound this sūtra
To those who are arrogant and idle,
And who think that the self exists!

Do not expound it to men of little wisdom!
They would not be able to understand it
Even if they heard it
Because they are deeply attached to the five desires.

Those who do not believe this sūtra
But slander it,
Will destroy the seeds of Buddhahood
Of all living beings of the world.

See Believe These Words and Revere Them

history, d15b, d16b, d21b

Six Occasions of Showing the Deeds and Figures of Buddhas

Śākyamuni Buddha does not abandon us perverted people.

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

With this vow, Śākyamuni Buddha, as the Eternal Buddha, is constantly lending a helping hand to us perverted people.

How do the activities of the Buddha toward the salvation of others over eternity develop? In “The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata,” these activities are revealed in the form of the six occasions of showing the deeds and figures of buddhas.

I told the stories of my previous lives in some sūtras, and the stories of previous lives of other Buddhas in other sutras. I showed my replicas in some sūtras, and my transformations in other sūtras. I described my deeds in some sūtras, and the deeds of others in other sūtras.

Śākyamuni Buddha is always leading us into salvation, showing himself in many guises and using many different methods. Right before the Assembly in Space begins, many buddhas were invited. These were actually manifestations of the Eternal Buddha. This reveals why they are called manifestations. Many buddhas besides Śākyamuni Buddha appear in Buddhism, for example, Amitābha Buddha and Medicine Master Buddha. Each of these buddhas is viewed as a part of the Eternal Buddha. Even the historical Śākyamuni Buddha, whose lifespan was limited, is viewed as one aspect of the Eternal Buddha. In this way, all the buddhas working toward the salvation of living beings are merely different manifestations of the eternal Buddha, who uses the six occasions of revealing the deeds and figures of buddhas to show himself appropriately in each situation.

It may seem that so long as we remember that the Eternal Buddha is at the base of the individual Buddhas, we can put our faith in any Buddha. Nichiren Shōnin severely criticized such a theory, saying that it makes light of the base and emphasizes trivial details.

History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, p 91-92
Lecture on Lotus Sutra

Arrogance of the Intellectual

Quote

Shariputra chimes in with his doubts about the dragon girl, almost scoffing, saying in effect, Who do you think you are so presumptuous to come here and claim to be able to become a Buddha so rapidly? The arrogance of the intellectual can be most harmful when we let our brain control our heart. Shariputra offers up the traditionally held objections to a woman becoming a king, which also transferred to beliefs about women becoming Buddhas. Those five objections are called the five impossibilities and are: a woman cannot become a Brahman-Heavenly-King, a King Sakra, a King Mara, a wheel-turning-holy-king, or a Buddha.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

WONS

The Same Lotus Sūtra Is Preached for All

Many sūtras other than the Lotus preach variously according to the caliber of listeners. For instance the “five precepts” are preached for those in the human realm, the “ten good acts” for those in the realm of heaven, compassion and charity for the King of the Brahma Heaven, equal alms-giving among priests for the king of devils, 250 precepts for monks, 500 precepts for nuns, the four noble truths for men of śrāvaka, the 12 links of cause and effect for men of pratyekabuddha, and the six pāramitā for bodhisattvas. It is like water taking its shape according to the container or an elephant exerting its strength according to the enemy.

This is not the case with the Lotus Sūtra, in which the same Lotus Sūtra is preached for all the eight kinds of protectors of the Lotus Sūtra and four kinds of devotees. It is as if a ruler straightening a curved line or a lion exerting his full power regardless of the strength of its prey.

Shokyō to Hokekyō to Nan’I no Koto, The Difficulty and Easiness in Understanding the Lotus Sūtra and Other Sūtras, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 284