All posts by John Hughes

d12b, WONS

The Eternal Buddha Śākyamuni’s Three Benefits and Three Virtues

The seventh chapter on “The Parable of a Magic City” of the Lotus Sūtra states that the Great Universal Wisdom Buddha had been the king of a country with 16 princes before entering the priesthood; when the king became a Buddha, his 16 princes awakened aspiration for Buddhahood and became novices. Meanwhile the 16 novices grew to be 16 bodhisattvas, preaching the Lotus Sūtra as their father Buddha had taught them and planting the seed of Buddhahood in all the people in the Sahā World. These 16 bodhisattvas all attained Buddhahood, the seventh chapter continues, and they became 16 Buddhas, the first of whom was Akṣobha Buddha, the ninth was Amitābha Buddha, and the sixteenth was Śākyamuni Buddha. Akṣobha Buddha has connection with the world to the east, Amitābha (Buddha of Infinite Life) is connected to the world of the west, and only Śākyamuni Buddha has a karmic relationship with this Sahā World. Each of these Buddhas is equipped with the three benefits of guidance (sowing, maturing, and harvesting) and the three virtues (of lord, master and parents), but both Akṣobha and Amitābha Buddhas are provisional Buddhas who appeared in the world to preach expedient teachings. Therefore, they have neither the three benefits nor the three virtues in the true sense of the word. In other words, their benefits and virtues are recognized only in term of their guidance of the people in their respective worlds, whereas the Eternal Buddha Śākyamuni is perfectly equipped with the three benefits and three virtues.

Ichidai Goji Keizu, Genealogical Chart of the Buddha’s Lifetime Teachings in Five Periods, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 248

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Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 23, 2021

Bhikṣus! It is a very long time since that Buddha passed away. Suppose someone smashed all the earth-particles of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds into ink-powder. Then he went to the east[, carrying the ink-powder with him]. He inked a dot as large as a particle of dust [with that ink-powder] on the world at a distance of one thousand worlds from his world. Then he went again and repeated the inking of a dot on the world at every distance of one thousand worlds until the ink-powder was exhausted. What do you think of this? Do you think that any mathematician or any disciple of a mathematician could count the number of the worlds [he went through]?

The Buddha gives this explanation in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. Our concept of time can be limited to what happens in the brief existence we enjoy in this world. We often feel we have no time for what is necessary, much less what we enjoy. With this limited viewpoint, we can find it hard to believe that we have enough time to become enlightened. The Buddha reminds us that there is no shortage of time, and that in all of our existence, we will have opportunities to increase our capacity to benefit others.

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

LS32

Day 4

Day 4 concludes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 4 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the simple acts of those who have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha, we consider more simple acts of those who have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha.

The boys who by playing drew
A picture of the Buddha
With a piece of grass or wood,
Or with a brush,
Or with the back of their fingernails,
Became able to accumulate merits one by one.
Having great compassion towards others,
They attained the enlightenment of the Buddha,
Taught only Bodhisattvas,
And saved many living beings.

Those who respectfully offered
Flowers, incense, streamers, and canopies
Enshrined in a stupa-mausoleum;
Or those who caused men to make music
By beating drums, by blowing horns and conches,
And by playing reed-pipes, flutes, lyres, harps,
Lutes, gongs, and copper cymbals,
And offered the wonderful sounds produced thereby
To the image or picture of the Buddha;
Or those who sang joyfully in praise of him for his virtues;
Or those who just murmured [in praise of him],
Have already attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha.

Those who, without concentrating their minds,
Offered nothing but a flower to the picture of the Buddha,
Became able to see
Innumerable Buddhas one after another.

Those who bowed to the image of the Buddha,
Or just joined their hands together towards it,
Or raised only one hand towards it,
Or bent their head a little towards it
And offered the bending to it,
Became able to see innumerable Buddhas one after another.
They attained unsurpassed enlightenment,
Saved countless living beings,
And entered into the Nirvana-without-remainder
Just as fire dies out when wood is gone.

Those who entered a stupa-mausoleum
And said only once “Namo Buddhaya,”
Without even concentrating their minds,
Have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha.

Those who heard the Dharma
In the lifetime of a past Buddha
Or after his extinction
Have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha.

See Doing Good

d2b, d5b, stories

Doing Good

Doing good in the Dharma Flower Sutra means doing the good of all, including oneself.

Just as “doing good” appears often in the Dharma Flower Sutra, so too does the expression “to see countless buddhas” and the like. By doing good, we are told, Fame Seeker was able to see countless buddhas. What could this possibly mean?

Perhaps it means seeing the buddhas who are in the buddha lands in every direction. Or perhaps it means seeing countless buddhas of the past. But I do not think so. Though the idea was not formalized until much later, I believe the Dharma Flower Sutra would have us understand that the Buddha is to be found, is to be seen, in every living being. Thus to see countless buddhas is to see the buddha in others, in everyone one meets, just like Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva.

Thus doing good and seeing countless buddhas are truly connected. One does good because one sees the buddha both in oneself and in others, and seeing the buddha in others gives one a motivation for doing good, helping them in whatever ways are appropriate.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p45
Peaceful Action

The Quality of Diligence

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The next paramita, vīrya, is very often misinterpreted. Bringing the quality of diligence to our practice does not mean that we have to drive ourselves very hard and suffer a lot. Many people think that to be a diligent practitioner you have to practice sitting meditation for one or two hours, or you have to sit all day until you feel pain all through your body, and you think that this is good. You are able to push yourself hard, and so you feel like a hero. You can bear the pain in your mind and body. You have made it. You have survived a retreat.

This is not the practice of vīrya. You don’t have to suffer in order to progress in the practice. True diligence, wholesome energy, and effort in our practice, is born from joy. The point of the practice is not to create more suffering, but to bring well-being, transformation, and healing. We are not practicing only to achieve some better state in the future, but in order to get in touch with the joy and peace that are available right now, in every moment. If you practice with the correct attitude, you will feel relief from suffering right away.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p260
WONS

The Seeds of the Lotus Sūtra

Suppose there is a common or a noble woman who conceived a child by the king, people who do not know who is the real father of the child may consider the child to be a son of a commoner or a nobleman. They will all realize, however, that the baby is a child of the king when the king himself declares the truth. By the same token, when the Lotus Sūtra informs you of those who are able to leave the triple world of birth and death or escape the cycle of the six realms and ascend the four realms through the pre-Lotus sūtras, it is all because the seeds of the Lotus Sūtra have been implanted within their lives throughout previous existences. Of the people who had planted the seed during their previous lives, those who are unresponsive and not able to attain nirvana through the pre-Lotus sūtras are able to attain enlightenment through the Lotus Sūtra during this lifetime. It is like a crown prince who was given birth by the queen but was raised by a wet nurse. The nurse is equivalent to the sūtras prior to the Lotus Sūtra.

Shōjō Daijō Fumbetsu-shō, The Differences between Hinayāna and Mahāyāna Teachings, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 197

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 22, 2021

You should promptly discard your false faith and take up the true and sole teaching of the Lotus Sutra at once. Then this triple world of the unenlightened will all become Buddha Lands. Will Buddha lands ever decay? All the worlds in the universe will become pure lands. Will Pure Lands ever be destroyed? When our country does not decay and the world is not destroyed, our bodies will be safe and our hearts tranquil. Believe these words and revere them!

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Spreading Peace through Right Practice (Risshō Ankoku-ron). We may believe that we can practice correctly only when the world becomes peaceful. As if so long as we are in this world of conflict, we would need to use force and aggression to create peace. Nichiren turns this idea upside down. He shows that only by our practicing respect towards all beings, and working for their benefit, can we create peace in this world.

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

LS32

Day 3

Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Day 3 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered what happened when Śākyamuni finally agrees to teach the dharma, we consider the one great purpose of the Buddha’s teaching.

“Śāriputra! The purpose of the various teachings that the Buddhas expound according to the capacities of all living beings is difficult to understand. I also expound various teachings with innumerable expedients, that is to say, with stories of previous lives, parables, similes and discourses. [The purpose of the various teachings of the Buddhas is difficult to understand] because the Dharma cannot be understood by reasoning. Only the Buddhas know the Dharma because the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds only for one great purpose.

“Śāriputra! What is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds? The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to open [the gate to] the insight of the Buddha, and to cause them to purify themselves. They appear in the worlds in order to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings. They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to obtain the insight of the Buddha. They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to enter the Way to the insight of the Buddha. Śāriputra! This is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas appear in the worlds.”

See The Four Meanings of ‘One Great Purpose’ of the Buddhas

Peaceful Action

All-Embracing Inclusiveness

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The Sanskrit word “kṣānti” is often translated as “forbearance,” or “endurance,” but this does not really convey the true meaning of this paramita. Forbearance implies that you have to suffer a little bit in order to be able to accept something. If we look at the Chinese character for “kṣānti,” in the lower part is the character for “heart,” and in the upper part there is a stroke that looks like a knife, something sharp that is a little bit difficult to handle. This is a graphic expression of its true root meaning, “all-embracing inclusiveness.” If our heart is large and open enough, we can accept the sharp thing and it will not bother us. Something that seems unpleasant or disturbing only feels that way when our heart is too small. When our heart is large enough, we can be very comfortable, we can embrace the sharp, difficult thing without injury. So kṣānti is a quality of being that does not bring suffering; in fact, it allows us to escape the kind of suffering we experience when our heart is too small. When our heart is big enough, we won’t suffer.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p256
Lecture on Lotus Sutra

The Awakening Process

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When we can respect someone as being equally a Buddha, even if unawakened, then we can relax and be joyful at being able to be in contact with that person, even if they do not practice. Then we are able to bring joy to them. That is when our Buddha can communicate with their Buddha. We are not really converting anyone; we are allowing an awakening process to begin. The length of time we may not know.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra