The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p163In the context of the Dharma Flower Sutra, it is not surprising to find that a dragon or young person can become a buddha, but that someone can do so suddenly is quite surprising – because it goes against the Sutra’s often repeated assertion that the way to becoming a buddha is long and arduous. Indeed, this is the point of the tale of the weary travelers and the fantastic castle-city in Chapter 7. This story about the dragon princess is the only place in the Dharma Flower Sutra where it is said that one can become a buddha suddenly.
At least in Japan and China, and quite likely in India as well, there was controversy over whether or not sudden awakening is possible. What we find in the Dharma Flower Sutra can be taken as another example of its tolerance of diverse views. Taken as a whole, it seems to say that becoming a buddha is normally, perhaps almost always, a long and difficult path, but that there can be exceptions. Rather than articulating this exception as a kind of doctrine, however, the Sutra simply makes it part of a story, illustrating the exception without entering into debate on the subject.
True awakening is difficult and rare; sudden awakening is much rarer still. If profound awakening happens at all, and certainly if it happens suddenly – in ourselves or in others, like those at the end of this story – we too should be amazed and grateful. But let us not suppose that there is some shortcut to true awakening through the use of drugs or some other esoteric practices. True awakening takes much time and effort.
All posts by John Hughes
Generosity: Giving Gifts
The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras divide the practice of giving into two types, following the lead of the earlier Buddhist tradition. At the most basic level is the gift of material goods of various kinds, especially those goods necessary for life itself, and at the higher level is the gift of the dharma, the teachings, the very possibility of a spiritually significant life. But the teachings are powerless if hunger and poverty stand in the way. So the sutras teach compassion for all levels of human suffering and demand that material generosity be the first order of business for an authentic Buddhist. Therefore the Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom asserts: “Do give gifts! For poverty is a painful thing. One is unable, when poor, to accomplish one’s own welfare, much less that of others!”
Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 18-19
Nichiren’s Great Quandary
I am in a great quandary. When my prediction comes true, it will prove that I am a sage, but Japan will be destroyed. I, Nichiren, have not committed any crime in this life. I am only sorry that what I said for the sake of my country and in order for me to repay the debt of gratitude to my native land was not appreciated. In addition, I was arrested and badly beaten with the fifth fascicle of the Lotus Sūtra, which I had kept in my bosom. Finally I was taken through the streets of Kamakura like a criminal. So I said loudly to the heavenly beings:
“The sun and moon gods are still in heaven as they had been at the time of the Lotus Assembly on Mt. Sacred Eagle. Yet they don’t come to rescue me, Nichiren, now when I am severely persecuted. Does it mean first of all, that I am not a true practicer of the Lotus Sutra? If so, I will not hesitate to correct my false view right away. If I, Nichiren, am a true practicer of the Lotus Sutra, please show proof immediately all over Japan. Otherwise, the sun and moon today are great liars who fool Säkyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures and Buddhas in all the worlds in the universe. Their lies are a hundred, thousand, ten thousand and ten million times larger than those committed by Devadatta and his disciple Kokālika.”
In prompt response they immediately caused civil disturbance, throwing Japan into confusion. Although I am an ordinary man not worth mentioning, in regard to upholding the Lotus Sūtra, I am the greatest man in Japan today.
Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 245-246
Daily Dharma – Mar. 10, 2021
The Buddha possesses 32 marks of physical excellence, all of which belong to the category of matter. The Brahma’s voice, pure and immaculate voice of the Buddha, however is invisible. Therefore it is impossible for us to depict it in pictures or statues.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, Wooden Statues or Portraits (Mokue Nizō Kaigen no Koto). The statues, portraits and other images of the Buddha and other protective deities which we use in our practice are not meant to be idols. They are living examples of the perfections to which we aspire and from which we draw strength. The ceremony in which we “Open the Eyes” of an Omandala or anything else we use in our practice reminds us that everything around us has life. When we hear the Buddha’s voice from them, leading us to enlightenment, then we learn how to improve the world for ourselves and all beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 16
Day 16 concludes Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures, and completes the Fourth Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month witnessed the arrival of the Buddhas of the replicas of Śākyamuni Buddha from the 10 quarters, we witness the opening of the door to the Stupa of Treasures.
Thereupon one of the Buddhas on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees, wishing to inquire after Śākyamuni Buddha, gave a handful of jeweled flowers to his attendant, and said to him, [wishing to] dispatch him:
“Good man! Go to Śākyamuni Buddha who is now living on Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa! Ask him on my behalf, ‘Are you in good health? Are you peaceful? Are the Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas peaceful or not?’ Strew these jeweled flowers to him, offer them to him, and say, ‘That Buddha sent me to tell you that he wishes to see the stūpa of treasures opened.”‘
All the other Buddhas also dispatched their attendants in the same way.
Thereupon Śākyamuni Buddha, having seen that all the Buddhas of his replicas had already arrived and sat on the lion-like seats, and also having heard that they had told their attendants of their wish to see the stūpa of treasures opened, rose from his seat, and went up to the sky. All the four kinds of devotees stood up, joined their hands together towards him, and looked up at him with all their hearts. Now he opened the door of the stūpa of the seven treasures with the fingers of his right hand. The opening of the door made a sound as large as that of the removal of the bolt and lock of the gate of a great city. At that instant all the congregation saw Many Treasures Tathāgata sitting with his perfect and undestroyed body on the lion-like seat in the stūpa of treasures as if he had been sitting in dhyāna-concentration. They also heard him say:
“Excellent, excellent! You, Śākyamuni Buddha, have joyfully expounded the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. I have come to hear this sūtra [directly from you].”
Having seen that the Buddha, who had passed away many thousands of billions of kalpas before, had said this, the four kinds of devotees praised him, saying, “We have never seen [such a Buddha as] you before.” They strewed heaps of jeweled flowers of heaven to Many-Treasures Buddha and also to Śākyamuni Buddha.
The Daily Dharma from Jan. 24, 2021, offers this:
“Good man! Go to Śākyamuni Buddha who is now living on Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa! Ask him on my behalf, ‘Are you in good health? Are you peaceful? Are the Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas peaceful or not?’ Strew these jeweled flowers to him, offer them to him, and say, ‘That Buddha sent me to tell you that he wishes to see the stūpa of treasures opened.’”
In Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra, Buddhas and their devotees from innumerable worlds come to our world of conflict and delusion to see Śākyamuni Buddha open the tower inhabited by Many-Treasures Buddha. As our capability for enlightenment wells up from within us, the tower of treasures sprang up from underground when the Buddha asked who would teach the Wonderful Dharma after the Buddha’s extinction. The treasures in the tower are nothing more than Many-Treasures Buddha declaring the Lotus Sūtra to be the Teaching of Equality, the Great Wisdom, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas and the Dharma upheld by the Buddhas.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Wisdom: The Genetrix and Nurse
Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 218-219The perfection of wisdom is pictured as more than just the highest and most exalted of the bodhisattva’s virtues; it is the one that brings the others to fruition. The first five perfections are initially practiced at ordinary levels of understanding and then nurtured to the level of perfection when wisdom is applied to them. Therefore, the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines says: “For this perfection of wisdom directs the six perfections, guides, leads, instructs, and advises them, is their genetrix and nurse. Because, if they are deprived of the perfection of wisdom, the first five perfections do not come under the concept of perfections, and they do not deserve to be called ‘perfections.’ ” Wisdom is also said to encompass the other five perfections: “It is thus that the bodhisattva, the great being who trains in this deep perfection of wisdom, has taken hold of all the six perfections, has procured them, has conformed to them. And why? Because in this deep perfection of wisdom all the perfections are contained.” The image of encompassing the other practices of perfection leads the Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom to claim that “when the bodhisattva trains in perfect wisdom, he acquires all the accomplishments which he should acquire.”
Retainers of the Eternal Śākyamuni Buddha
The honzon of the Tendai (T’ien-t’ai) Sect is Śākyamuni Buddha, who had actually practiced the Bodhisattva way and attained Buddhahood in the eternal past. The Buddhas such as Vairocana Buddha, Lord Preacher of the Flower Garland School, and the Great Sun Buddha, Lord Preacher of the True Word School, are retainers of this Eternal Śākyamuni Buddha.
Ichidai Goji Keizu, Genealogical Chart of the Buddha’s Lifetime Teachings in Five Periods, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 250
Daily Dharma – Mar. 9, 2021
Mañjuśrī! A Bodhisattva-mahāsattva who performs this third set of peaceful practices in the latter days after [my extinction] when the teachings are about to be destroyed, will be able to expound the Dharma without disturbance. He will be able to have good friends when he reads and recites this sūtra. A great multitude will come to him, hear and receive this sūtra from him, keep it after hearing it, recite it after keeping it, expound it after reciting it, copy it or cause others to copy it after expounding it, make offerings to the copy of this sūtra, honor it, respect it, and praise it.
The Buddha gives this explanation to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. The third set of practices involves not despising those who practice the Wonderful Dharma in any way, or hindering their practice by telling them that they are lazy and can never become enlightened. Such treatment goes against the true nature we all share, and can only create conflict.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 15
Day 15 concludes Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, and opens Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures.
Having last month considered the plight of those who have heard the Lotus Sutra, we consider the support the Buddha offers those who expound the Dharma.“Medicine-King! Although I shall be in another world [after my extinction], I will manifest men and women [by my supernatural powers], dispatch them [to the expounder of the Dharma], and have them collect people to hear the Dharma from him. I also will manifest monks, nuns and men or women of faith [by my supernatural powers], dispatch them, and have them hear the Dharma from them. These people manifested [by my supernatural powers] will hear the Dharma [from him], receive it by faith, follow it, and not oppose it. If he lives in a retired place, I will dispatch gods, dragons, demigods, gandharvas, asuras, and others to him, and have them hear the Dharma from him. Although I shall be in another world, l will cause him to see me from time to time. If he forgets a phrase of this sūtra, I will tell it to him for his complete [understanding].”
Meditation: Five Skandas
Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 202-203If by “self” we mean a permanent center of subjectivity, something fixed, self-established and independent of the world around it, something fully in command of its own existence and knowable as such, then careful observation leads to the conclusion that there is no such entity at the heart of human subjectivity. That single realization became perhaps the most important focal point for Buddhist meditation, and the sutras challenged practitioners to examine and test its truth in introspection and philosophical analysis.
The “no-self” claim is not the end of Buddhist reflection on this matter, however. In fact, it is just the beginning. If there is no self in the sense of a permanent soul, an independent entity whose experience this is, then who am “I”? Buddhist answers differ substantially depending on by whom, when, and where the question is posed. But one early and enduring articulation attempts to divide what appears to be a unified “self” into operating divisions or functions. Human beings, they claimed, are composed of five always impermanent components that are observable most directly from within but also in some way from the outside. These are the five skandhas, five components that make human experience what it is. They are (l) a body whose five senses make contact with the world; (2) various feelings of approval and disapproval in response to perceptual stimulus; (3) conceptual thinking that classifies and manages perceptions and feelings; (4) volitional forces that guide our movement through particular wishes and desires; and (5) self-consciousness that holds all of these components together as a relatively unified subjectivity in the world.
Different Buddhist texts and different translations of them divide these components up in different ways. But the important point is that, from a traditional Buddhist point of view, no one element constitutes the soul or self – the one you really are. Instead, human existence is imagined as a loosely configured movement in and among these various components as they shift and change over time.