All posts by John Hughes

LS32

Day 19

Day 19 concludes Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and begins Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.

Day 19 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month witnessed the arrival of the Bodhisattvas who emerge from the earth, we meet the leaders of the bodhisattvas and conclude today’s portion of Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.

Those Bodhisattvas had four leaders: 1. Superior-Practice, 2. Limitless-Practice, 3. Pure-Practice, and 4. Steadily-Established-Practice. These four [great] Bodhisattvas were the highest leaders [of those Bodhisattvas]. In the presence of the great multitude, they joined their hands together towards Śākyamuni Buddha, looked up at him, and inquired after him saying:

“World-Honored One! Are you in good health? Are you peaceful or not? Are the living beings, whom you are to save, ready to receive your teachings or not? Do they not fatigue you?’

Thereupon the four great Bodhisattvas sang in gāthās:

World-Honored One, are you peaceful?
Are you in good health?
Are you not tired
With teaching the living beings?
Are they ready
To receive your teaching,
Or are they not?
Do they not fatigue you?

See Humanistic Buddhism

LS32, d19b, d20b, stories

Humanistic Buddhism

In this story [of the bodhisattvas from the earth] there is also an affirmation of human life, reflecting a humanistic, positive regard for human life in this world. In greeting the Buddha, the bodhisattvas from below ask the Buddha whether he is in good health and peaceful, whether the living beings here are ready to receive the Dharma, and whether they are exhausting him. His reply is that he is in good health, that the living beings of this world are ready to receive the Dharma, and that they do not wear him out because they have already learned some important things in previous lives, where they have planted roots of goodness. Thus, a positive regard for human beings is affirmed: just as in the story of the gem in the hair, the treasure, the Dharma Flower Sutra, is given because there are many of great merit; here too there is a positive regard for human beings in general.

Nikkyo Niwano, founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, connects this story and its message of world-affirmation with the idea that Shakyamuni Buddha became awakened not as someone sent to earth by a god or as one who received a divine revelation from a transcendent realm, but through his own efforts as a human being. In this respect, Buddhism, he said, is quite different from most, perhaps all, other religions.

It is appropriate, therefore, that Master Hsing Yun, founder of Fo Guang Shan – a great monastery in Taiwan, with branches all over the world, which is strongly oriented to serving people in this world and in this time – calls his teaching “Humanistic Buddhism.”

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p193
d26b, d27b, Peaceful Action

The Practice of Devotion, Dedication and Love

Just as the practice of Never Disparaging Bodhisattva had a specific function, to remind people of their inherent Buddha nature and potential Buddhahood, Medicine King represents another aspect of practice – the practice of devotion, dedication, and love. Without devotion and constancy you cannot go very far or deep. Without this kind of affection and dedication it is quite difficult to gain insight. This is why it is very important to establish good relationships with our Sangha brothers and sisters and our teachers. We should not underestimate the practice of devotion, but devotion alone is not enough – it must go together with the practice of meditation, of looking deeply, and the practice of compassion in action. The great bodhisattvas presented in the action dimension of the Lotus Sutra offer us examples of the many ways and forms of practice through which we can become the hands and arms of the Buddha in the world.

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p164
WONS

Blessings of a Donation to the Lotus Sūtra

Emperor Aśoka governed most of the Jambudvīpa around which the sun in the sky revolves. In the past when he was a five-year-old boy named Tokushō, he donated a rice cake made of sand. The merit of this donation caused him to be reborn in this world as a great ruler. It was not due to a special ambition of Tokushō, whose donation was a part of child’s play. Nevertheless, he was able to gain such a great reward due to the holiness of the Buddha.

This applies much more so for you who offered a donation to the Lotus Sūtra, which is far more exalted than the Buddha to whom Emperor Aśoka donated a rice cake. The difference between the two is like a star against the moon or a light against the sun. Thus your blessing is much greater than that of Emperor Aśoka.

Kubo-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Response to My Lady, the Nun of Kubo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 91-92

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 3, 2021

Knowing that people wish to hear
The teachings of the Lesser Vehicle,
And that they are afraid of having the great wisdom,
[My sons, that is,] the Bodhisattvas transform themselves
Into Śrāvakas or cause-knowers,
And teach the people with innumerable expedients.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Eight of the Lotus S̄ūtra. Our fear of the Buddha’s wisdom comes from the attachment we have to our delusions. At some level we know that we are suffering, but we believe that anything different from how we live now will be worse. There are times when someone who seems to share our delusions can help us move away from them. But then as an actor becomes so absorbed in a role that he forgets his real life, those who choose a life in this world of conflict can forget their existence as Bodhisattvas who have vowed to benefit all beings. This Wonderful Dharma reminds us of this vow and helps us appreciate those who are still bound by delusion and what we can learn from them.

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 heard Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva ask the Buddha how an ordinary Bodhisattva should go about preaching the Lotus Sutra, we consider the proper practices the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should perform.

“Mañjuśrī! What are the proper practices the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should perform? He should be patient, mild and meek. He should not be rash, timorous, or attached to anything. He should see things as they are. He should not be attached to his nonattachment to anything. Nor should he be attached to his seeing thing as they are. These are the proper practices the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should perform.

“What are the proper things the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should approach? He should not approach kings, princes, ministers or other government directors. He should not approach heretics, aspirants for the teaching of Brahman, Nirgraṇṭhas, writer of worldly literature, writers of non-Buddhist songs of praise, Lokāyatas or Anti-Lokāyatas. He should not approach players of dangerous sports such as boxers or wrestlers. He should not approach naṭas or other various amusement-makers. He should not approach caṇḍālas, boar-keepers, shepherds, poulterers, dog-keepers, hunters, fishermen, or other people who do evils for their livelihood. When they come to him, he should expound the Dharma to them, but should not wish [to receive anything from them]. He should not approach those who seek Śrāvakahood, be they bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās or upāsikās. He should not exchange greeting with them. He should not stay with them in the same monastery, promenade or lecture-hall. When they come to him, he should expound the Dharma to them according to their capacities, but should not wish [to receive anything from them]. Mañjuśrī! The Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should not expound the Dharma to a woman with a desire for her. He should not wish to look at her. When he enters the house of others, he should not talk with a little girl, an unmarried woman or a widow. He should not approach or make friend with anyone of the five kinds of eunuchs. He should not enter the house of others alone. lf he must enter it alone for some rea on, he should think of the Buddha with all his heart. When he expounds the Dharma to a woman, he should not laugh with his teeth visible to her. He should not expose his breast to her. He should not be friendly with her even for the purpose of expounding the Dharma to her. Needless to say, he should not be so for other purposes. He should not wish to keep young disciples, śramaṇeras or children. He should not wish to have the same teacher with them.

“He should always make it a pleasure to sit in dhyāna. He should live in a retired place and concentrate his mind. Mañjuśrī! [A retired place] is the first thing he should approach.

“The Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas also should know the following truth. All things are insubstantial. They are as they are. Things are not perverted. They do not move. They do not go. They do not turn. They have nothing substantial just as the sky has not. They are inexplicable. They are not born. They do not appear. They do not rise. They are nameless. They are formless. They have no property. They are immeasurable and limitless. They have no obstacle or hindrance. He should see all this. Things can exist only by dependent origination. Only perverted people say, ‘Things are permanent and pleasant.’ This truth is the second thing he should approach.”

See Maintaining a Peaceful and Calm Mind

d26b, Peaceful Action

An Act of Love, Not Despair

I knew Thich Quang Duc [, the first monk to immolate himself in the 1960s to protest Vietnam’s anti-Buddhist laws,] personally. As a young monk I practiced with him in a Sangha in central Vietnam, and for a time I stayed at his temple near Saigon. In 1963, I was in New York teaching at Columbia University, and I learned of his death from an article and picture in the New York Times. Many people asked me, “Isn’t such an act a violation of the Buddhist precept of not killing?” So I wrote Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. a letter explaining that the monk’s act was not suicide. A suicidal person is someone who is so overwhelmed by despair that they don’t want to live anymore. I knew that Thich Quang Duc loved life and wished only for his friends and all living beings to be able to live in peace.

When Jesus died on the cross he did so for the sake of human beings. His sacrifice was not made out of despair but out of the wish to help, out of his great love for humankind. That is exactly what motivated Thich Quang Duc. He acted not out of despair but from hope and love. He was free enough to offer his body in order to transmit the message to the world that the Vietnamese people were suffering, that we needed help. Because of his great compassion, he was able to sit very still as the flames engulfed him, in perfect samadhi, perfect concentration.

Such an act is a very profound offering. is being offered? The manifestation in action of our bodhicitta, our aspiration to practice wholeheartedly and realize enlightenment in order to help bring all living beings to the shore of liberation. The Sutra tells us that after Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings had attained the “samadhi that displays all manner of physical bodies,” he felt overjoyed and made many kinds of offerings to the Buddha to show his great gratitude and devotion for having received the teachings. But, the Sutra says, “After he had made this offering, he arose from samadhi and thought to himself, ‘Though by resort to supernatural power I made an offering to the Buddha, it is not as if I had made an offering of my own body.’ ”

Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p159-160

See the end of Stretching the Truth to Pull Meaning Out of the Lotus Sutra

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 2, 2021

The Śrāvakas will have already eliminated āsravas,
And reached the final stage of their physical existence.
They will become sons of the King of the Dharma.
Their number also will be beyond calculation.
Even those who have heavenly eyes
Will not be able to count them.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Six of the Lotus Sūtra. The Śrāvakas are those who want only to eliminate their delusions and end their suffering. They do not yet realize that the Buddha leads them to become Bodhisattvas and work for the benefit of all beings. They do not believe they can reach the Buddha’s own wisdom. The Buddha assures even these beings that in the course of time, as they realize their true nature, they too will become enlightened.

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 question about Mañjuśrī’s efforts to teach the dharma, we consider Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva’s objection that a dragon girl can become a Buddha quickly and meet the dragon girl.

Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva said:

“As far as I know, [when he was a Bodhisattva,] Śākyamuni Buddha sought Bodhi, that is, enlightenment incessantly for innumerable kalpas. He accumulated merits by practicing austerities. Even the smallest part, even the part as large as a poppy-seed of this world-this world being composed of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds-is not outside the places where the Bodhisattva made efforts to save all living beings at the cost of his life. It was after doing all this that he attained Bodhi, that is, enlightenment. I do not believe that this girl will be able to attain perfect enlightenment[, that is, to become a Buddha] in a moment.”

No sooner had he said this than the daughter of the dragon king came to [Śākyamuni] Buddha. She worshipped [his feet] with her head, retired, stood to one side, and praised him with gāthās:

You know the sins and merits
Of all living beings.
You illumine the worlds of the ten quarters.
Your wonderful, pure and sacred body
Is adorned with the thirty-two major marks
And with the eighty minor marks.

Gods and men are looking up at you.
Dragons also respect you.
None of the living beings
Sees you without adoration.

Only you know that I [am qualified to] attain Bodhi
Because I heard [the Dharma].
I will expound the teachings of the Great Vehicle
And save all living beings from suffering.

See Challenging Our Assumptions About Gender and Gender Roles

LS32, d17b, stories

Challenging Our Assumptions About Gender and Gender Roles

Today much, if not all, of the world is gradually undergoing something of a transformation with respect to what people think about gender. Women insist on equality with men, resulting in some quite remarkable changes in social structures and cultural habits in much of the world. The story of the dragon princess can be used to support the ideal of equality between men and women, as that was its obvious purpose, at least with respect to the ability to become fully awakened.

That the story retains what we see as an incorrect assumption that buddhas are always male can be used as an occasion for us to challenge our own assumptions about gender and gender roles. It is easy for us to recognize that the assumption in the Sutra that buddhas must be male is both unnecessary and undesirable, but it is not as easy to see our own unchallenged assumptions about the nature and appropriate roles of men and women. We might even think that the assumption found in this Lotus Sutra story comes to us a gif from the Buddha – is an opportunity for us to become more awakened, especially with respect to gender issues.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p161-162