History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, p 16The Four Noble Truths: (1) The Truth of Suffering: An insight regarding suffering, such as the four and eight kinds of suffering. The world we live in is suffering. (2) The Truth of the Arising of Suffering: An insight regarding the cause that gives rise to suffering. Desire is the cause of suffering. (3) The Truth of the Cessation of Suffering: An insight regarding the extinction of suffering. Removing desire, the source of suffering, equals arriving at the ideal: liberation. (4) The Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering: An insight regarding the practices that make the extinction of suffering possible. Carrying out the Noble Eightfold Path.
All posts by John Hughes
Wearing the ‘Robe of the Gentle and Patient’
I have gratefully received the bolt of fabric for a clerical robe and summer wear. I thank you very much for the donation.
To begin with, food maintains life and clothes cover the body. Therefore, one who gives food to sentient beings will be rewarded with longevity while one who deprives others of food will receive in retribution a short life.
Those who do not give clothes to people will receive their just due of being reborn without clothes. Those in the lower five of the six paths of existence are born without clothes. Only heavenly beings in the six paths are born with clothes on. In particular, among those in the lower five paths, the deer is born not only without clothes but with the ill fate of having its hide skinned as retribution for the sin of robbing others of clothing.
Among the people who practiced giving clothes to others, Nun Sembyaku was born with clothes on. There are many ways of practicing Buddhism, none of which is practiced without clothes. Therefore, Śākyamuni Buddha attained Enlightenment in the clothes given by his foster mother, Nun Mahā-Prajāpatī, and Buddhist monks were allowed to wear the “three robes.” It seems that Buddhist monks with low capacity will not attain the level of arhat without sufficient clothes and food. This is especially so in the Lotus Sūtra, where it is preached that wearing the “robe of the gentle and patient” is the most basic of practices. The sūtra also says that the Buddha protects the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra with clothes. Isn’t this gracious?
Hōe Sho, Writing on Vestments, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers II, Volume 7, Page 185-186
Daily Dharma – Oct. 10, 2021
Every Buddha vows at the outset:
“I will cause all living beings
To attain the same enlightenment
That I attained.”
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha holds nothing back from us. There is nothing hidden or secret in his teachings. He is not threatened by anyone who reaches his wisdom, since he knows this is the potential we all have in us. By his example we can discern between the knowledge that separates from others, and that which unites us with our fellow beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 26
Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.
Having heard these words of the Buddha, the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas were filled with great joy. With more respect than ever, they bent forward, bowed, joined their hands together towards him, and said simultaneously. “We will do as you command. Certainly, World-Honored One! Do not worry!”
The Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas said simultaneously twice more, “We will do as you command. Certainly, World-Honored One! Do not worry!”
Thereupon Śākyamuni Buddha, wishing to send back to their home worlds [Many-Treasures Buddha and] the Buddhas of his replicas, who had come from the worlds of the ten quarters, said, “May the Buddhas be where they wish to be! May the stupa of Many-Treasures Buddha be where it was!”
Having heard these words of the Buddha, not only the innumerable Buddhas of his replicas, who had come from the worlds of the ten quarters and were sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees, Many-Treasures Buddha, and the great multitude of the innumerable, asaṃkhya Bodhisattvas, including Superior-Practice, but also the four kinds of devotees including Śāriputra and other Śrāvakas, and the gods, men and asuras of the world, had great joy.
Escaping One-Sided Deluded Attachments
History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, p 16The Middle Way: The “middle” in “middle way” refers to not relying on the two extremes of pleasure and asceticism, in other words, placing oneself in a free state without getting caught up in one-sided deluded attachments. Rather than a middle state between two extremes, it means to eliminate the contradiction between the two. The “way” refers to practice, or concrete methods leading to liberation. The “middle way” expresses the state of body and mind that leads to liberation.
Solely Due to Your Deep Faith in the Lotus Sūtra
King Ajātaśatru stood against Śākyamuni Buddha, but on the urging of Minister Jivaka he put faith in the Lotus Sūtra and governed the whole country. King Wonderful Adornment was advised by his two princes and corrected his mistaken views. What happened in your situation is the same. I believe your advice softened the heart of your lord. This is solely due to your deep faith in the Lotus Sūtra.
Shijō Kingo-dono Gohenji, Response to Lord Shijō Kingo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 151
Daily Dharma – Oct. 9, 2021
Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to expound
The meanings of the teachings,
And the names and words [of this sūtra].
Their eloquence will be as boundless
And as unhindered as the wind in the sky.
The Buddha sings these verses to Superior-Practice Bodhisattva (Jōgyo, Viśiṣṭacārītra) in Chapter Twenty-One of the Lotus Sūtra. This teaching transforms us from beings who exist for our own comfort and awakens our true nature as Bodhisattvas: beings who exist for the benefit of all beings. This transition requires that we engage with these other beings and break out of the isolation of our own attachments. The first step is simply to listen, to be present and accept whatever the world has to offer. But at some point we need to speak. It can be difficult to know what to say. But with this Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, we find that because it embodies the Buddha’s highest wisdom, so long as we transmit what it has taught us, we will always have ways to use it to benefit other beings and bring this teaching to life in our world.
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 concluded today’s portion of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, we return to Never-Despising Bodhisattva and a Buddha called Powerful-Voice-King.Thereupon the Buddha said to Great-Power-Obtainer Bodhisattva-mahāsattva:
“Know this! Anyone who speaks ill of or abuses or slanders the bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās or upāsikās who keep the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will incur the retributions previously stated. Anyone [who keeps this sūtra] will be able to have his eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind purified, that is to say, to obtain the merits as stated in the previous chapter.“Great-Power-Obtainer! Innumerable, limitless, inconceivable, asaṃkhya kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Powerful-Voice-King, 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 lived was called Free-From-Decay; and his world, Great-Achievement. Powerful-Voice-King Buddha expounded the Dharma to the gods, men and asuras of his world. To those who were seeking Śrāvakahood, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the four truths, saved them from birth, old age, disease and death, and caused them to attain Nirvana. To those who were seeking Pratyekabuddhahood, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the twelve causes. To the Bodhisattvas who were seeking Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the six paramitas, and caused them to obtain the wisdom of the Buddha.
“Great-Power-Obtainer! The duration of the life of Powerful-Voice-King Buddha was forty billion nayuta kalpas, that is, as many kalpas as there are sands in the River Ganges. His right teachings were preserved for as many kalpas as the particles of dust of the Jambudvipa. The counterfeit of his right teachings was preserved for as many kalpas as the particles of dust of the four continents. The Buddha benefited all living being and then passed away. After [the two ages:] the age of his right teaching and the age of their counterfeit, there appeared in that world another Buddha also called Powerful-Voice-King, 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. After him, the Buddhas of the same name appeared one after another, two billion altogether.
Life Experience
We learn in Chapter 28 that in order to obtain the dharma there are certain things that must happen in our lives. The distinction here is made that merely hearing and being exposed to the dharma are different from embracing and experiencing the Dharma. When we obtain something it is not a casual experience but a deeper inner life change. It is the difference between thinking and being. Obtaining the Dharma is a life experience.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraUnderstanding Acts and Their Results
History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, p 14-15In the Sutta-nipāta, a collection of some of the oldest scriptures, one can find what is likely the original expression of the teaching of dependent arising.
Not by birth is one a Brahman, nor is one by birth no Brahman; by acts one is a Brahman, by acts one is no Brahman.
By acts one is a husbandman, by acts one is an artisan, by acts one is a merchant, by acts one is a servant.
By acts one is a thief, by acts one is a soldier, by acts one is a priest, by acts one is a king.
So the wise know these acts as they really are.
They see dependent arising and understand acts and their results.This set of verses describes the acts of an individual as determining their state of existence in the present. While we do not know if this early thought about dependent arising was really the content of Śākyamuni’s awakening, it can be seen that at this stage there was an awareness that the suffering of existence is a result of one’s own actions.
In contrast, a more organized theory of dependent arising, called the “twelve links of dependent arising,” presents twelve items for observation: ignorance, volition, consciousness, name and form, the six-fold sphere of sense contact, contact, sensation or feeling, craving, grasping, becoming, birth, and finally old age and death. Biographical scriptures state that when attaining enlightenment, Śākyamuni observed in order the process by which suffering comes into existence. Volition arises because there is ignorance. Consciousness is born because volition arises, and so on. Śākyamuni also observed the reverse order of the process by which suffering is extinguished. Volition is extinguished because ignorance is extinguished. Consciousness is extinguished because volition is extinguished, and so on. This kind of insight is called a dharma, meaning “law” or “teaching.”
Śākyamuni tried to enter nirvāṇa while keeping the content of this awakening to himself. However, it is said that at this point he was encouraged three times by Brahmā, a god in Brahmanism, to teach his awakening. He then decided to preach and declared the following: “The door of ambrosia (deathlessness) has been opened for those who have ears; Brahmā, do away with faith. I did not teach the correct Dharma thinking that it might harm people.