All posts by John Hughes
The Meaning of Transcendental Teaching
Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 166-167“[T]ranscendental” means that in whatever place, there the Lord of the Four Teachings distinctly exists in various bodies, with various words, and gives various sermons. [At some times and places] he hides his grand body of immeasurable virtues and is manifested as six feet tall, shining gold and purple. [At other times and places] he does not preach the sweet taste and eternal pleasure [of nirvāṇa] but the bitter taste of transiency. For him [as Śākyamuni] to reject the royal robes and pick up the dung pot is called an “expedient means” [upāya]. If he opens the gate of expedient means and reveals the aspects of true reality [as in the Lotus Sūtra], the body one faces is the perfect and eternal body; the Dharma one faces is the perfect Dharma; the practice and reality one faces are all true reality.
In this way, although these are all the shared teachings of one voice [of the one eternal Buddha], there are distinctions such as Hinayāna and Mahāyāna. Although there are long and short as to the capacity [of sentient beings] to receive, that which is revealed is ultimately only one. Various terms name one ultimate [reality]. Only one ultimate [reality] is given many names. To discuss the shared and distinct aspects of teaching, practice, and reality in this way makes it difficult to understand the [distinct] aspects, but easy to clarify [the one underlying principle of] reality.
The Three Kinds of Buddha Body
Except for the Eternal Buddha revealed in the essential section of the Lotus Sūtra, Buddhas all attained Buddhahood for the first time in this life and possess three kinds of bodies (the Dharma Body, Reward Body and Accommodative Body). Accommodative Buddhas are finite Buddhas who appear in this world, showing both beginning (attaining Buddhahood) and ending (entering nirvana). The Reward Body is obtained as the reward for completing the bodhisattva practice and having mastered the wisdom of the Buddha. Buddhas in this body (Reward Buddhas) therefore has the beginning (attaining Buddhahood) but no ending (entering nirvana). The Dharma Body is the body of fundamental truth, the Dharma to which the Buddha is enlightened, which is immaterial having no beginning or ending. The Vairocana Buddha of the Flower Garland School and the Great Sun Buddha of the True Word School are claimed to be the Buddhas in Reward Body and Dharma Body respectively.
The Buddha revealed in the essential section of the Lotus Sūtra is the One attaining Buddhahood in the eternal past. He, too, possesses the three kinds of the Buddha Body. In this Eternal Buddha, the three bodies are fused in one, having no beginning and no ending, and He lives forever from the eternal past to the infinite future to guide the people.
Ichidai Goji Keizu, Genealogical Chart of the Buddha’s Lifetime Teachings in Five Periods, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 250
Daily Dharma – Feb. 28, 2021
The Indian lizard kṛkalāsa eats in the wind; it won’t grow if there is no wind. A fish lives in the water, and a bird makes a nest in the tree. Likewise, Buddhas live in the Lotus Sutra. As the moon’s reflection resides in the water, Buddhas reside in the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, you must remember that where there is no Lotus Sutra, there are no Buddhas.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Response to My Lady the Nun, Mother of Lord Ueno (Ueno-dono Haha-ama Gozen Gohenji). We may take for granted our opportunity to find and practice the Lotus Sūtra in this lifetime. In Nichiren’s writings, and in the Lotus Sūtra itself, we are reminded of the great benefit we have created and the great hardships we have already endured to allow us to find this Wonderful Dharma and have the opportunity to practice it. When we try to rely on the transitory aspects of our lives, we are surely disappointed. It is only when we keep and practice this Sūtra that we find the Buddha leading us to our true birthright, the enlightenment he knows we and all beings can reach.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 6
Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable
Having last month considered the expedient the rich man used to get his children to flee the burning house, we consider the large carts given to the children.
Hearing of the carts from him,
They ran out,
Striving to be first,
And reached an open place.
They were now free
From the sufferings.Seeing them come out
Of the burning house
To the safe crossroad,
He sat on the lion-like seat,
And said to others with joy:
“I am happy.
These children are difficult to bring up.
They are young and ignorant.
They entered the dangerous house.
In that house were
Many poisonous vermin
And many dangerous mountain spirits.
Raging flames of big fires rose
From the four sides of the house
At the same time.
But my children were
Engrossed in playing.
Now I saved them
From the dangers.
Therefore, I am happy.”The children saw their father
Sitting in peace.
They came to him,
And said:
“Give us
The three kinds of jeweled carts
That you promised us!
You said:
“Come out, and I will give you
The three kinds of carts as you like.”
Now is the time for that.
Give them to us now!”He was a very rich man.
He had many storehouses.
He made many large carts
Adorned with treasures,
Such as gold, silver,
Lapis lazuli, shell and agate.[The carts] were beautifully adorned.
Railings were put around them.
Bells were hanging on the four sides
With ropes of gold.[The carts] were roofed
With nets of pearls.
Garlands of golden flowers
Were hanging on all sides.Other ornaments of fabrics
Of divers colors
Encircled the bodies of the carts.
Bedding was made of soft cloth.
[The bedding] was covered
With the most wonderful woolen fabrics.
They were bright, white, pure and clean,
Worth hundreds of thousands of millions.Large white bullocks,
Fat, stout, powerful,
And beautiful in their build,
Were yoked to the jeweled carts.
The carts were also guarded
By many attendants.[The rich man] gave to each of his children
One of these wonderful carts.
The children
Danced with joy.They drove these jeweled carts
In all directions.
They were happy and delighted.
Nothing could stop their joy.
See Awakening
Awakening
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p56Awakening is more a road than a destination, more a commencement than a conclusion – a responsibility as much as an achievement. To enter the Buddha Way is not a matter of attaining some great height from which one can boast or look down on others. It is to enter a difficult path, a way. At the end of this parable, the children are very happy, as they have received a gift much greater than they expected, perhaps greater than they could have imagined. But we must not imagine that receiving the gift is the end of the matter.
We can say that their lives and their difficulties – that is, their responsibilities – have now really only just begun.
Suitable and Transcendental Teaching
There are two kinds [of teachings]. The first is “suitable” [teaching]26 and the second is “transcendental” [teaching].27
Suitable [teaching] refers to the preaching of various teachings appropriate to various conditions, like the Buddha of the Tripiṭaka [Teaching]. Since the conditions are distinct, the teachings are distinct. [However,] since [fundamentally] the Lord is one, the teachings have a shared commonality. [That is, they are in basic agreement.] If one practices based on these teachings, there is the [varying] ability to receive28 and [the one common goal] which is to be realized.
Although various names are given for reality, actually there are not numerous [different] realities. The Lotus Sūtra [illustrates this and] says, “[The father] took off his jeweled necklace . . . and put on dirty robes” and said “If you work diligently there is no need to go elsewhere. I will increase your wages” and finally “poured oil on his feet.”29
This is a limited explanation of the principle of physical and verbal practice [suitable for certain people] and there is no further interpretation.30 The “suitable” teachings, practice, and reality of the Shared, Distinct, and Perfect [Teachings] are also like this. [If understood in this way], the meaning [of the distinct aspects] is easy to understand, but the integrated [Oneness] of reality is difficult [to understand].
Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 166
Sentient Beings in This Sahā World
We, sentient beings in this Sahā World, have all been beloved children of the Lord Buddha Śākyamuni since “500 dust-particle kalpa” ago. Because of our own fault, being undutiful to the Buddha, we had not been aware of being His children until today, but we are not the same as sentient beings in other worlds. The relationship between the Buddha and us, which was established in the remotest past of 500 dust particle kalpa ago, is like the moon in the sky reflecting on clear water by itself. Our relationship to other Buddhas, which has never been established, is like deaf people unable to hear the peal of thunder or blind people unable to see the sun and moon.
Hokke Shuyō Shō, Treatise on the Essence of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 209
Daily Dharma – Feb. 27, 2021
Sometimes he chided him, saying:
“Work hard!”
At other times he coaxed him, saying:
“I will treat you as my son.”
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 become attached to his lowly existence. The father must teach him slowly with expedients to prepare him to come into his inheritance. The story explains the disciples’ understanding of how the Buddha uses expedients to prepare us to aspire for enlightenment. The Buddha leads each of us differently, and as we progress in our wisdom, he changes how he teaches us. All this is preparation for us to come into the Buddha’s own mind and enjoy his wisdom.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 5
Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable
Having last month considered Śāriputra’s fear that the Buddha was Mara in disguise, we consider the Buddha’s prediction for Śāriputra.Thereupon the Buddha said to Śāriputra:
“Now I will tell you in the presence of this great multitude including gods, men, śramaṇas, and brāhmanas. Under two billion Buddhas in the past, I always taught you in order to cause you to attain unsurpassed enlightenment. You studied under me in the long night. I led you with expedients. Therefore, you have your present life under me.
“Śāriputra! I caused you to aspire for the enlightenment of the Buddha in your previous existence. You forgot all this, and thought that you had already attained extinction. In order to cause you to remember the Way you practiced under your original vow, I now expound to the Śrāvakas this sūtra of the Great Vehicle called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’
“Śāriputra! After a countless, inconceivable number of kalpas from now, you will be able to make offerings to many thousands of billions of Buddhas, to keep their right teachings, to practice the Way which Bodhisattvas should practice, and to become a Buddha called Flower-Light, 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 called Free-From-Taint. That world will be even, pure, adorned, peaceful, and fertile, where gods and men will prosper. The ground of that world will be made of lapis lazuli; the roads will fan out from the center to the eight directions. Those roads will be marked off by ropes of gold, and the trees of the seven treasures on the roadsides will always bear flowers and fruit. Flower-Light Tathāgata will also lead the living beings [of his world] by the teaching of the Three Vehicles.
“Śāriputra! Although the world in which he appears will not be an evil one, that Buddha will expound the teaching of the Three Vehicles according to his original vow. The kalpa in which he appears will be called Great-Treasure-Adornment. Why will it be called Great-Treasure-Adornment? It is because in that world Bodhisattvas will be regarded as great treasures. The number of the Bodhisattvas [in that world] will be countless, inconceivable, beyond any mathematical calculation, beyond inference by any parable or simile. No one will know the number except the Buddha who has the power of wisdom. When those Bodhisattvas wish to go somewhere, jeweled flowers will receive their feet and carry them. Those Bodhisattvas will not have just begun to aspire for enlightenment. A long time before that they will have already planted the roots of virtue, performed the brahma practices under many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas, received the praises of the Buddhas, studied the wisdom of the Buddhas, obtained great supernatural powers, and understood all the teachings of the Buddhas. They will be upright, honest, and resolute in mind. The world of that Buddha will be filled with such Bodhisattvas.
“Śāriputra! The duration of the life of Flower-Light Buddha will be twelve small kalpas excluding the period in which he was a prince and had not yet attained Buddhahood. The duration of the life of the people of his world will be eight small kalpas. At the end of his life of twelve small kalpas, Flower-Light Tathāgata will assure Resolution-Fulfillment Bodhisattva of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, saying to the bhikṣus, ‘This Resolution-Fulfillment Bodhisattva will become a Buddha immediately after me. He will be called Flower-Foot-Easy-Walking, the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the Samyak-sambuddha. His world will be like mine.’
“Śāriputra! After the extinction of Flower-Light Buddha, his right teachings will be preserved for thirty-two small kalpas. After that the counterfeit of his right teachings will be preserved also for thirty-two small kalpas.”