All posts by John Hughes

WONS

Interpreting the True Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra

Interpreting the true meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai of
China states in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “Sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra expound enlightenment of men but not of women. The Lotus Sūtra expounds enlightenment of both men and women.” Does this not mean that the Lotus Sūtra is supreme among all the holy teachings of the Buddha expounded in His lifetime and that in the Lotus Sūtra attainment of Buddhahood by women is the most precious? If so, all women in Japan need not worry since women’s enlightenment is allowed by the Lotus Sūtra although all other sūtras deny it.

Sennichi-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Reply to My Lady Nun Sennichi, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 147

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 6, 2021

Having sung this gāthā, Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, ‘World-Honored One! You do not change, do you?’

This description of the life of Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva comes from Chapter Twenty-Three of the Lotus Sūtra. In a previous existence, this Bodhisattva had given up his body and his life for the sake of teaching the Wonderful Dharma. He was then reborn into a world in which the Buddha he served previously was still alive and benefitting all beings. Recognizing this unchanging aspect of the Buddha despite his changing appearances helps us see into our own capacity for enlightenment.

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

LS32

Day 18

Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.

Day 18 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the proper practices the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should perform, we consider the proper practices a Bodhisattva should perform
and the proper things he should approach in gāthās.

Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

A Bodhisattva who wishes
To expound this sūtra without fear
In the evil world
After [my extinction]
Should perform proper practices
And approach proper things.

He should keep away
From kings, princes and ministers,
From other government officials,
From players of dangerous sports,
From caṇḍālas, from heretics,
And from aspirants for the teaching of Brahman.

He should not approach arrogant people,
Or the scholars who are deeply attached
To the Three Stores of the Lesser Vehicle,
Or the bhikṣus
Who violate the precepts,
Or self-appointed Arhats,
Or the bhikṣunīs/
Who like to laugh playfully.

He should not approach the upāsikās
Who are attached to the five desires
Or who seek in their present life
The extinction[-without-remainder].

When they come to him
With good intent
In order to hear
About the enlightenment of the Buddha,
He should expound the Dharma to them
Without fear,
But should not wish to receive
Anything from them.

He should not approach
Or make friends with a widow
Or with an unmarried woman
Or with a eunuch.

He should not approach
Slaughterers or cooks
Or those who kill for profit,
Such as hunters or fishermen.

He should not approach
Butchers
Or procurers
Of prostitutes.

He should not approach
Dangerous wrestlers
Or makers of various amusements
Or immoral women.

He should not expound the Dharma
To a woman in an enclosed place.
When he expounds the Dharma to her,
He should not laugh playfully.

When he goes to a village to beg for food,
He should take a Bhikṣu with him.
If he cannot find a Bhikṣu [to take with him],
He should think of the Buddha with all his heart.

These are the proper practices he should perform
And the proper things he should approach.
He should expound the Dharma peacefully
Only after doing all this!

The Daily Dharma of Nov. 19, 2020, offers this:

When they come to him
With good intent
In order to hear
About the enlightenment of the Buddha,
He should expound the Dharma to them
Without fear,
But should not wish to receive
Anything from them.

The Buddha makes this explanation to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. In our zeal to practice this Wonderful Dharma we may come to expect that because this is such a wonderful teaching, we deserve to be rewarded for providing it to others. With this expectation, we then lose our focus on using the Dharma to benefit others and instead use it to benefit ourselves. When we show how to give freely, without expectations, we embody generosity, the same generosity the Buddha himself demonstrated when he provided the teaching to us.

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

Foundations

Four Siddhānta and Two Truths

Chih-i devotes a large section at the beginning of his [ Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra] to a discussion of the four siddhānta, perhaps to make certain that his audience realizes the various ways in which one can approach the Buddha-dharma, and to temper his repeated assertions that his concepts and theories do not adequately describe reality.

The four siddhānta are:

  • the worldly point of view (laukika siddhānta )
  • the individual point of view (prātipāurusika siddhānta)
  • the therapeutic point of view (prātipākṣika siddhānta)
  • the supreme point of view (pāramārthika siddhānta)

Lamotte correctly asserts that the theory of the four siddhānta is an extension or development of the two truths theory.

Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 23-24
Lecture on Lotus Sutra

Changing Ourselves

Quote

If we think we can practice Buddhism and that this practice will change everyone in our lives to become agreeable or likeable or be some way that suits us, then we are working the wrong end of the formula. Buddhism is about changing ourselves, which in turn causes our environment to change. The formula is change in self equals change in others and environment. The formula is not changing environment will change oneself. This is important to always keep in mind. The most effective thing to work on to become happy, to become enlightened, is one’s own life.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

WONS

Nichiren’s Dilemma

If I, Nichiren, did not speak of this because of my fear of the people, I would be betraying the Buddha’s admonition in the Nirvana Sūtra, “not to hide the teachings of the Buddha even at the cost of life.” If I am to speak it up, I am afraid I shall suffer persecution. But if I do not proclaim this, I will not be pardoned from disobeying the Buddha’s commandment. What should I do? I am in a dilemma!

It is not surprising that the following can be found in the Lotus Sūtra: “Many people hate the Lotus Sūtra with jealousy even in My lifetime. Needless to say, more people will do so after My extinction (chapter 10)” and “Many people in the world would have hated it and few would have believed in it (chapter 14).”

Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 8.

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 5, 2021

World-Honored One! The bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās or upāsikās who seek, keep, read, recite and copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in the defiled world in the later five hundred years after [your extinction], if they wish to study and practice this sūtra, should concentrate their minds [on study and practice] strenuously for three weeks. When they complete [the study and practice of] three weeks, I will mount a white elephant with six tusks, and appear before them with my body which all living beings wish to see, together with innumerable Bodhisattvas surrounding me.

Universal-Sage Bodhisattva (Fugen, Samantabhadra) makes this declaration to the Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. Nichiren interprets “the later five hundred years” as the time in which we live today. Universal sage describes the ways in which we can practice this Sūtra. To seek it is to find it in all aspects of our lives. To keep it is to rely on its teachings and have confidence in its ability to lead us to the Buddha’s wisdom. To read and recite it is to continue to remind ourselves and others of the details of the teachings. To copy it is to make it available to others. The merits we gain through these practices allow us to see the world for what it is and be part of making it better for everyone.

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

LS32

Day 17

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Day 17 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva’s objection that a dragon girl can become a Buddha quickly and met the dragon girl, we consider Śāriputra’s objection.

Thereupon Śāriputra said to the daughter of the dragon-king:

“You think that you will be able to attain unsurpassed enlightenment [and become a Buddha] before long. This is difficult to believe because the body of a woman is too defiled to be a recipient of the teachings of the Buddha. How can you attain unsurpassed Bodhi? The enlightenment of the Buddha is far off. It can be attained only by those who perform the [Bodhisattva] practices with strenuous efforts for innumerable kalpas. A woman has five impossibilities. She cannot become 1. the Brahman-Heavenly-King, 2. King Śakra, 3. King Mara, 4. a wheel-turning-holy-king, and 5. a Buddha. How can it be that you, being a woman, will become a Buddha, quickly [or not]?”

See Even A Girl

LS32, d17b, stories

Even A Girl

While today we can regret the fact that early Buddhists failed to challenge the assumption that a buddha must always have a male body, it is not surprising that this was simply assumed in this story of the dragon princess.

It is an incorrect representation of the story, however, to claim that the Sutra “insists” on such a transformation. What is insisted on is the claim that “even” a girl can become a buddha. Since by definition buddhas are male, the story simply says in one brief phrase that her body was transformed into that of a male during the process of her becoming a buddha. There is no insistence. It is simply assumed to be a necessary step in becoming a buddha.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p161
Foundations

Kumārajīva’s Different Levels of Truth

Kumārajīva left very little of his own writings. The only works extant are a commentary on the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra in the form of notes probably taken down by his disciples (T. 38, No. 1775), and a collection of his correspondence with Hui-yüan (T. 45, No. 1856), often called the Ta Ch’eng ta i chang (hereafter referred to as the Correspondence). Neither text contains a discussion of the two truths as such, but in the Correspondence Kumārajīva does allude to different levels of truth, or doctrine. …

This work also contains the idea, based on the Ta Chih tu lun (The Treatise on the Great Prajñāpāramitā), that the śrāvakas follow the Four Noble Truths to realize the Buddhist path, but bodhisattvas know that the truth is One. Kumārajīva puts it this way:

The wisdom of śrāvakas is dull, therefore they must first learn this path [of advancing gradually from the stage of stream winner to Arhat] and later attain power. Since bodhisattvas understand profoundly, they have the insight that the four [noble] truths are one truth. … The śrāvakas use the four truths to understand the true aspects of reality. Bodhisattvas use the one truth to understand the true aspects of reality. The wisdom of the śrāvakas is dull so they often have a fearful mind. The wisdom of the bodhisattva is acute, so they often have a compassionate mind. Both realize the same true aspects of reality. [T. 45, 140b28-c5]

There is no mention of the two truths as such, but the idea of different levels of truth, which are ultimately one truth, is clear.

Kumārajīva also declares that:

one cannot state that form and so forth have permanence. For what reason? Because they arise from groups of causes and conditions, and perish moment by moment. Also, because they are included in the skahdha, dhātu, and āyatana, we cannot say that they are inexistent. [T. 45, 137c12-14]

This is reminiscent of Chih-i’s presentation of the threefold truth without the third aspect of the Middle: (a) Form is not permanent; it is comprised of a group of causes and conditions. This is the meaning of “emptiness,” and the content of the first aspect of Chih-i’s threefold truth concept. (b) However, this does not mean that one is affirming a nihilistic nothingness or inexistence. The forms of skahdha dhātu, and āyatana have conventional existence. This is the viewpoint of the worldly truth, and is the content of the second aspect of Chih-i’s threefold truth concept.

In China the viewpoint of emptiness (a) was identified as the supreme truth, so Chih-i utilized the concept of the Middle as a “third truth” to bring the two viewpoints (a) and (b) together into a united whole. At the time of Kumārajīva the problem had not yet taken this form. If Kumārajīva had been asked how he would harmonize his above statement with the Mādhyamika doctrine of the two truths, we may speculate that he would have said that both standpoints (a) and (b) are the conventional truth (saṃvṛtisatya) and that both of them together, or neither, are the supreme truth (paramārthasatya).

In both the Correspondence and commentary on the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra Kumārajīva reveals himself to be an orthodox Śūnyavādin and Mādhyamikan who relies chiefly on the Pañcaviṃśati-sāhasrikā-prajn͂āpāramitā Sūtra and Ta Chih tu lun for his doctrine. In fact Robinson goes so far as to conclude that “Kumārajīva’s doctrine is the doctrine of the Great Perfection of Wisdom Treatise.”

Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 19-21