All posts by John Hughes

LS32

Day 27

Day 27 concludes Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Day 27 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered Glady-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva’s further offering to the śarīras of Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha, we learn the identity of Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva today and the merits to be given to the person who keeps even a single gāthā of four lines of this Sūtra.

The Buddha said to Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva:

“What do you think of this? Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva was no one but Medicine-King Bodhisattva of today. He gave up his body in this way, offered it [to the Buddha], and repeated this offering many hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of times [in his previous existence]. [He knows that he can practice any austerity in this Sahā-World. Therefore, he does not mind walking about this world.]

“Star-King-Flower! Anyone who aspires for, and wishes to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, should offer a light to the stupa of the Buddha by burning a finger or a toe. Then he will be given more merits than the person who offers not only countries, cities, wives and children, but also the mountains, forests, rivers and ponds of the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, and various kinds of treasures. But the merits to be given to the person who fills the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds with the seven treasures and offers that amount of the seven treasures to the Buddhas, to the Great Bodhisattvas, to the Pratyekabuddhas, and to the Arhats, are less than the merits to be given to the person who keeps even a single gāthā of four lines of this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

See The Most Important Meaning of ‘Burning Our bodies.”

LS32, d26b, d27b, stories

The Most Important Meaning of ‘Burning Our bodies’

[W]e should devote our whole selves to the Dharma, to the Truth. This is the most important meaning of “burning our bodies.” Does it mean abandoning the bodhisattva practice of service to others in order to serve the Dharma? Of course not. It is by serving the Dharma that we serve both others and ourselves. Serving the Dharma and serving others cannot be separated, just as serving others cannot be completely separated from serving ourselves. This integration of interests – in contrast with Western individualism and with certain Christian ideas of completely selfless devotion and sacrifice – is one of the great insights of Buddhism.

Let your practice be a light for others, helping them to dispel the darkness. This is a second symbolic meaning of “burning” our bodies or arms.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p247
Shodaigyo

Our Primary Responsibility as Human Beings

Quote

Shakyamuni Buddha passed way 3,000 years ago but his soul still lives on. He became one with the cosmos. From our view, the universe is vast. It is, however, but one, large lifeform when perceived through the eye of a Buddha. The life of this vast universe is the life of (Hon Butsu) the Original Buddha itself. The world where we live is the pure land of the Buddha, and this Buddha land, as such, is called (Jojyakkodo) The Eternal Pure Land. We, being ordinary people without this perception, choose to instead vandalize this world through our selfishness and become out-of-control. The world becomes a difficult place to live in with the killing of each other through war and the destruction of the environment as a result of satisfying selfish, human interest. As human beings, we should share the responsibility for the sufferings of each other and the difficult world in which we live. We must come to understand that as our primary responsibility as human beings.

Journey of the Path to Righteousness, p 27
Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Oct. 1, 2020

Medicine-King! Erect a stūpa of the seven treasures in any place where this sūtra is expounded, read, recited or copied, or in any place where a copy of this sūtra exists! The stūpa should be tall, spacious and adorned. You need not enshrine my śarīras in the stūpa. Why not? It is because it will contain my perfect body.

The Buddha declares these lines to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. In ancient India, stūpas were tombs built as memorials to those who had enjoyed a superior position in their lives. After the Buddha died, small relics of his body were distributed so that many great stūpas could be built to his memory. Even today all over Asia, stūpas hold the physical remains of the Buddha. In this chapter, the Buddha reminds us that when we have the Lotus Sūtra with us, it is as good as having the Buddha himself.

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

LS32

Day 26

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Day 26 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, we repeat those supernatural powers in gāthās.

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

The Buddhas, the World-Saviors, have
Great supernatural powers.
They display their immeasurable, supernatural powers
In order to cause all living beings to rejoice.
The tips of their tongues reach the Heaven of Brahman.
Innumerable rays of light are emitted from their bodies.
For those who are seeking the enlightenment of the Buddha
The Buddhas do these things rarely to be seen.

The sound of coughing of the Buddhas
And the sound of their finger-snapping
Reverberate over the worlds of the ten quarters,
And the ground [of those worlds] quakes in the six ways.

The Buddhas joyfully display
Their immeasurable, supernatural powers
Because [the Bodhisattvas from underground]
[Vow to] keep this sūtra after my extinction.

Even if I praise for innumerable kalpas
The keeper of this sūtra,
To whom it is to be transmitted,
I cannot praise him highly enough.

His merits are as limitless,
As infinite, as boundless
As the skies of the worlds
Of the ten quarters.

See Our Field of Bodhisattva Practice

LS32, d19b, d26b, stories

Our Field of Bodhisattva Practice

It is quite revealing that the Buddha declines the offer of bodhisattvas from other worlds to help in this world. It indicates that we who live in this world have to be responsible for our own world. We can rely neither on gods nor extraterrestrial beings of any kind to fulfill our responsibilities. In recent years we have experienced extremely severe “natural calamities” all over the world. No doubt some of these were unavoidable, but almost certainly some were related to the warming trend of the earth’s climate, which results directly from human activity, from releasing greater and greater quantities of carbon dioxide into the earth’s atmosphere. Some potential disasters can be avoided if we realize that this is the only home we or our descendants will ever have and begin to take better care of it.

Of course, the authors and compilers of the Dharma Flower Sutra had no idea of modern environmental issues such as global warming. Still, they did have a very keen sense of the importance of this world as the home both of Shakyamuni and of themselves. They too thought that what we human beings do with our lives, how we live on this earth, is of the utmost importance.

Thus, this story is not only about affirmation of the earth. As is always the case when a text is read religiously, it is also about ourselves, in this case, the hearers or readers of the Dharma Flower Sutra. It tells us who we are – namely, people with responsibilities for this world and what it will become, people who are encouraged to follow the bodhisattva way toward being a buddha, people for whom, like Shakyamuni Buddha, this world of suffering is our world, our field of bodhisattva practice.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p192
Shodaigyo

Byodo

Quote

Shakyamuni Buddha observed the world of humanity closely. He perceived the diversity of all humans: ten people will all have ten differences in infinite variety (such as being young or old, male or female, clever or stupid, rich or poor, good or bad). Each of us, however, has a precious “Buddha Nature” in the depths of our lives which enables us to become a Buddha. With conviction, each one of us must practice Buddhism to awaken. Then, you will become a Buddha just as you yourself are. But it must be done by you. You are the one to acquire true peace and happiness. This is Byodo, the “equality” of all human beings. Shakyamuni Buddha enlightens us all to this principle through (Byodo Daie) “The Supreme Teaching of Equality”

Journey of the Path to Righteousness, p 28
WONS

Visiting the Pure Land of Mt. Sacred Eagle

I pray that all my followers who read this writing may feel the joy of visiting, together with me, Nichiren, the Pure Land of Mt. Sacred Eagle to look up at the faces of the Eternal Buddha Śākyamuni, the Buddha of Many Treasures, and countless Buddhas in manifestation from all the worlds in the universe.

Kanjin Honzon-shō Soejō, Cover Letter of the ‘Kanjin Honzon-shō’, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 169

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Sept. 30, 2020

We were satisfied with the elimination
Of illusions within ourselves.
What we accomplished was that elimination.
We did nothing more.

These verses are sung by Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. They use the parable of the wayward son in this chapter to describe their own realization that the Buddha had not held any teaching back from them. Instead, the Buddha earlier allowed them to remain in the satisfaction of ending their own suffering. But before they can continue their progress towards the Buddha’s own enlightenment, they must give up their preoccupation with suffering, as the boy in the parable had to give up his idea of himself as a lowly hired worker, rather than the heir to his father’s treasure.

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

LS32

Day 25

Day 25 covers all of Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, and opens Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.

Day 25 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month repeated in gāthās the story of Never-Despising Bodhisattva, we conclude Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva.

Never-Despising [Bodhisattva] at that time
Was myself.
The four kinds of devotees,
Who were attached to views at that time,
Were able to meet innumerable Buddhas
After they heard
The words of Never-Despising [Bodhisattva]:
“You will become Buddhas.”
They are now present here
In this congregation.

They are the five hundred Bodhisattvas
And the four kinds of devotees
Including men and women of pure faith,
Who are now hearing the Dharma from me.

In my previous existence
I encouraged them
To hear this sūtra,
That is, the most excellent Dharma.
In all my previous existences
I taught them the Way to Nirvana.
But really this is the sūtra
I taught them to keep.

This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Can be heard only once
In hundreds of millions of billions of kalpas,
That is, in an inconceivable number of kalpas.

The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones,
Expound this sūtra only once
In hundreds of millions of billions of kalpas,
That is, in an inconceivable number of kalpas.

Therefore, anyone who hears this sūtra
And practices the Way
After my extinction,
Should have no doubts about [this sūtra].

He should expound this sūtra with all his heart;
Then he will be able to meet Buddhas
Throughout all his existences,
And quickly attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.

See The Relation Between true Dharma and merely formal Dharma