How did Nichiren understand [Nirvāṇa Sūtra stories of people killed for slandering the Mahāyāna]? In Risshō Ankoku-ron, Nichiren stated that while King Sen’yo and King Virtuous may have killed slanderers of the Dharma in the past, since the appearance of Śākyamuni Buddha the correct method is to simply deny them offerings. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra told those stories of the previous lives of Śākyamuni Buddha in order to emphasize the gravity of slandering the True Dharma and the great virtue of defending the True Dharma but such methods are not being advocated in the present. Instead, the withholding of alms and especially state support from corrupt monks and the support and protection of true monks should now be followed. In accordance with our current laws and the wise separation of church and state, I believe this means that each of us must discern what teachings or causes we should or should not support with our time and money and that the protection of the law should extend equally to all so that there will be no question of religious persecution arising from either the government or the actions of private individuals or institutions. Every religious or spiritual teaching should be free to stand or fall on its own merits or lack thereof.
Open Your Eyes, p562All posts by John Hughes
Following the Example of Young Ascetic in the Snow Mountains
If something like what is being talked about in the town were to actually happen, it would make me a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred million times happier than having my proposals accepted. Should I be exiled again it would be for the third time, and the Lotus Sūtra could not possibly consider me, Nichiren, an indolent practicer. As a result, I would be blessed by the favors of Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, Buddhas in manifestation throughout the universe, and by the numerous bodhisattva disciples of the Original Buddha that emerged from the earth. I am certain of all this and I am looking forward to the experience. I wish to follow the example of Young Ascetic in the Snow Mountains who sacrificed his own body for the Buddhist Dharma, and I wish to sacrifice myself for Bodhisattva Never-Despising, who endured persecution with swords, sticks, pieces of tile and stones. It would be regrettable otherwise to live a useless life and die of an epidemic or old age.
Dannotsu Bō Gohenji, Response to a Follower, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 130-131
Daily Dharma – June 29, 2020
I led all living beings at first with the teaching of the Three Vehicles. Now I will save them by the Great Vehicle only. Why is that? It is because, if I had given them the teaching of the Great Vehicle at first directly from my store of the Dharma in which my immeasurable wisdom, powers and fearlessness are housed, they would not have received all of the Dharma.
The Buddha speaks these words to Śāriputra in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. This is part of his explanation of why he needed to use expedient teachings of the Three Vehicles prior to giving the Great Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra, and why expedient teachings need to be set aside. Since the earlier teachings were tailored to the limited capacity of the hearers, they could not hold all of the Buddha’s wisdom. In the Great Vehicle, the Buddha teaches us with his wisdom, and increases our capacity.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Another Innumerable Day Before Day 1
Having mentioned yesterday the idea that merits vary according to own’s karma, I want to show how this plays into what the Buddha chose to teach.
“O you of good intent! By virtue of sitting upright and properly for six years at the place of the Way beneath the bodhi tree, I realized and achieved the full dynamic of ultimate enlightenment. With the insight of a buddha I perceived that not everything should be explained. What is the reason for this? It is that the conditioned desires of all living beings are not the same. Since conditioned desires differ, ways of expounding the Dharma are many and various. For more than forty years I have expounded the Dharma in all manner of ways through adeptness in skillful means, but the core truth has still not been revealed. That is why living beings differ regarding realization of the Way, and do not realize and quickly achieve ultimate enlightenment.
“O you of good intent! The Dharma is like water that can wash away dirt and grime. Whether coming from a well or a pond, a stream or a river, a valley or a ditch, or an ocean, the water contained in all of these can effectively wash all kinds of dirt and grime away. So it is also with the water of the Dharma: it can cleanse living beings of the dirt of all delusive worldly passions. O you of good intent! The character of the water is the same even though streams, rivers, wells, ponds, valleys, ditches, and oceans are each different and distinct. So it is also with the character of the Dharma: it removes and washes away the dirt of delusive passions equally and without discrimination; the three teachings,14 the four fruits, and the two ways, however, are not one and the same.
“O you of good intent! Although the water from all of these places is cleansing, a well is not a pond, a pond is neither a stream nor a river, and valleys and ditches are not oceans. The Tathāgata—Hero of the World, in total command of the Dharma—has expounded various teachings that are also like this. The initial-period discourses, the middle-period discourses, and the latter-period discourses are all able to remove and wash away delusive worldly passions of living beings. But the initial-period discourses are not the middle ones, and the middle-period discourses are not the latter ones. The initial-, middle-, and latter-period discourses express the same thing, yet they differ from each other in meaning.
The sutra goes on to explain the differences of the various teachings and then concludes:
“And so, you of good intent, starting from when I established the Way and first began to expound the Dharma, until this moment in which I am discoursing on the all-ferrying Infinite Meanings Sutra, there has never been a time when I have not expounded suffering, emptiness, ever changingness, nonexistence of self, non-reality, non-unreality, non- greatness, non-smallness, intrinsic non-origination, continuing non-cessation, the formlessness of all things, that aspects and natures of phenomena neither come nor go, and that the four modes are the dynamic of living beings.
“O you of good intent! What all this means is that the buddhas have but one message: they are able to conform universally to all voices by means of a single sound. From a single body they are able to manifest embodiments as countless and immeasurable as millions upon millions of myriads of Ganges Rivers’ sands; then, in each embodiment, manifest various shapes as countless as millions upon millions of myriads of Ganges Rivers’ sands; then, in each shape, display appearances as countless as some millions upon millions of myriads of Ganges Rivers’ sands. O you of good intent! This, in fact, is the profound and unimaginable realm of all of the buddhas! It is neither knowable by those of the two vehicles nor reachable by bodhisattvas in the tenth development stage! Only a buddha together with a buddha can fathom it completely! O you of good intent! Thus do I expound the transcendent, profound, incomparable, all-ferrying Infinite Meanings Sutra! Its content and principles are true and correct, and its value is supreme and unsurpassed. It is embraced by the buddhas of the past, present, and future together. It is impervious to the influence of disruptive forces and the influence of differing views, and is neither corrupted nor destroyed by any deluded perception or the cycle of births and deaths. If great-being bodhisattvas wish to achieve ultimate enlightenment quickly, they should achieve mastery in the practice of this deeply profound, unsurpassed, all-ferrying Infinite Meanings Sutra.”
Underscore: the buddhas have but one message.
A True Monk
A true monk is one who not only strictly upholds the precepts but who also preaches the True Dharma, even in the face of persecution. Even in pre-Mahāyāna discourses, the Buddha made it clear that he intended for his monks (and even nuns and lay followers) to teach and even to refute false teachings. In the Mahāparinibbāna-sutta the Buddha tells Mara the following:
“Evil One, I will not take final nirvāṇa till I have monks and disciples who are accomplished, trained, skilled, learned, knowers of the Dharma, trained in conformity with the Dharma, correctly trained and walking in the path of the Dharma, who will pass on what they have gained from their Teacher, teach it, declare it, establish it, expound it, analyze it, make it clear; till they shall be able by means of the Dharma to refute false teachings that have arisen, and teach the Dharma of wondrous effect. ” (Walshe, p. 247 adapted)
Nichiren also cites the following passage from the Nirvāṇa Sūtra that likewise emphasizes the duty of true monks to remonstrate with those who are violating the Dharma. The passage reads:
“If a good monk, seeing one who violates the Dharma, does not drive away, reproach, or impeach such a one, know that this monk is the enemy of the Buddha Dharma. If he drives away, reproaches, or impeaches such a one, he is my disciple, a true disciple.” (Yamamoto, p. 67, adapted)
We might recognize in this a Mahāyāna reiteration of the Buddha’s statements in the Mahāparinibbāna-sutta. Nichiren cites a commentary on this passage by Zhiyi’s disciple Guanding (561-632) that makes the point that a true friend will try to prevent a friend from committing evil and so it is more truly compassionate to correct them and in fact lacking in compassionate to remain silent. There are several examples in the Pāli canon of the Buddha remonstrating with monks who were found to be misrepresenting the Buddha Dharma to the detriment of themselves and others. He recognized that there may be times when one has to “be cruel to be kind” as we sometimes put it. There are times when one must speak the truth plainly to those who may not want to hear it.
Open Your Eyes, p554-555Daily Dharma – June 28, 2020
My words are true.
Believe me with all your hearts!
I have been teaching them
Since the remotest past.
The Buddha sings these verses to Maitreya Bodhisattva and others gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Maitreya had never seen any of the other Bodhisattvas who sprang up from underground in this chapter, despite his memory of previous lives and other worlds. The Buddha explains that the beings who had just appeared are also his disciples and have come to spread this Wonderful Dharma in our world. Nichiren teaches that when he realized that he was an incarnation of Superior-Practice, the leader of the Bodhisattvas from underground, then all of us who follow Nichiren and continue to keep the Lotus Sūtra are the followers of Superior-Practice. We do not need to wait for someone to come to our world and lead us. The world does not need anyone other than those already here to teach the Dharma. We are the Bodhisattvas from underground.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Between Day 32 and Day 1: Equality and Differences
Last month I mentioned the goal of practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva, this month I was struck by the equality and differences in this.
Ānanda! When monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen, heavenly beings (devas), nāgas, others of the eight classes of ever-present guardian spirits, or any living beings are internalizing6 the Great Vehicle sutras, practicing in accordance with the Great Vehicle, aspiring to a Great Vehicle consciousness, and would be pleased to see an embodiment of the bodhisattva Universal Sage, take joy in seeing the stupa of Many-Treasures Buddha, be happy to see Śākyamuni Buddha as well as buddhas that emanate from him, and be glad to achieve purification of the six sense faculties, they should learn this way of contemplation. Beneficial effects of this contemplation are the elimination of encumbrances and the perception of extraordinary and wondrous things.
As a result of resolutely internalizing and keeping faith with it, and wholeheartedly pursuing mastery of it, a practitioner will become continuously conscious of the Great Vehicle without immersion into a specialized focus of mind, and he or she will gain perception of Universal Sage within the course of one to three-times-seven days. A practitioner who has great encumbrances will gain perception of him after seven-times-seven days have passed. A practitioner with greater encumbrances will gain perception after one more rebirth, and a practitioner with yet more serious encumbrances will gain perception after two more rebirths. Further, a practitioner with even graver encumbrances will gain perception after three more rebirths. Karmic consequences differ like this—that is why there are variations in my ways of explanation.
It is fitting that the closing sutra of the Threefold Lotus Sutra reminds us that the promises made will reward everyone. We are all equal. It is the encumbrances of our past karma that create the illusion of differences in individual rewards. This is markedly underscored in Chapter 17 of the Lotus Sutra in the discussion of The Variety of Merits received by those who had heard from the Buddha that the duration of his life was so many kalpas.
Nichiren’s Well-Reasoned Case
Nichiren is [sometimes] portrayed as an aggressive and even violent fanatic. The extravagant vows that he makes are sometimes cited as evidence of this. For instance, Nichiren vows to never give up the Lotus Sūtra even if someone offered to make him ruler of Japan or threatened to kill his parents. Is this unreasoning aggressive fanaticism, however? Or is it simply a refusal to cave in to bribes or threats? I would note that Nichiren’s parents had already passed away when he wrote this, so this was a bit of rhetoric on Nichiren’s part. What is often overlooked is Nichiren’s caveat: “… I will not submit to them until a man of wisdom defeats me by reason.” Was this empty rhetoric? Why even put that caveat in there? In fact, the whole of the Kaimoku-shō up to the point where Nichiren expresses this vow is a marshaling of texts to support Nichiren’s case that the Lotus Sūtra is the ultimate teaching of the Buddha that should not be neglected, derided, or subordinated to lesser teachings. Now we may or may not accept Nichiren’s reasoning, and may or may not find his proof-texts and the presumption of scriptural authority they rested upon convincing, but I do think Nichiren put in quite a lot of effort to present a well-reasoned case and that as far as he was concerned no one had provided him with any adequate response to the case he was making for the Lotus Sūtra (and against its detractors). Instead, he had been physically attacked on several occasions, banished twice, and almost been executed.
Who exactly was being unreasonable and fanatical about their beliefs? Nichiren, who wrote long essays citing the Buddha’s teachings in order to clarify the Buddha’s true intention? Or those who were trying to silence and even kill him? And what was Nichiren advocating as the ultimate teaching based on the Lotus Sūtra? I rather like the way it is put in Reply to Hoshina Goro Taro (Hoshina Goro Taro-dono Gohenji), a letter attributed to Nichiren.
In Buddhism that teaching is judged supreme that enables all people, whether good or evil, to become Buddhas. Surely anyone can grasp so reasonable a standard. By means of this principle we can compare the various sütras and ascertain which is superior.
(Gosho Translation Committee 1999, p. 156)
What the Buddha had in Mind
After entrusting the essential dharma of five characters to the bodhisattvas who appeared from underground, the Buddha ascended from the Stupa of Treasures. Standing in the sky, the Buddha tapped the heads of Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, the King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, the sun and moon, the Four Heavenly Kings and others three times, and entrusted them with the expanded and concise teachings of the Lotus Sūtra (though without the essential dharma) as well as all the sūtras preached before and after the Lotus Sūtra. This was for the sake of saving the people in the 2,000-year period of the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma. Thereafter, when the Buddha preached the Nirvana Sūtra, He again expounded the Lotus as well as pre-Lotus sūtras, entrusting them to such great bodhisattvas as Mañjuśrī. This was the preaching regarding the benefit of gleaning after the harvest of the Lotus Sūtra.
Thus what the Buddha transmitted was not the same, so the task of propagation after the death of the Buddha was limited according to the content of transmission. Accordingly Kāśyapa, Ānanda and others spread only the Hinayāna sūtras without expounding the Mahāyāna sūtras. Nāgārjuna, Asaṅga and others spread the provisional Mahāyāna sūtras without preaching the One Vehicle true teaching of the Lotus Sūtra. Even though they preached the Lotus Sūtra, they merely suggested its teaching, or they preached merely a part of the theoretical section without discussing the beginning and ending of the Buddha’s guidance.
Appearing in this world as the avatars of Avalokiteśvara and Medicine King Bodhisattva, Grand Masters Nan-yüeh and T’ien-t’ai expounded both the Hinayāna and Mahāyāna sūtras, provisional and true teachings, the theoretical and essential sections of the Lotus Sūtra, as well as such doctrines as the beginning and ending of the Buddha’s guidance and the eternal relationship between the Buddha and His disciples. Moreover, they advocated the theory of “sūtras which had been preached, are being preached, and will be preached,” claiming that the Lotus Sūtra was supreme among all the holy teachings preached in the lifetime of the Buddha. Their critical classification of teachings is superior to those of commentators in India and many masters in China. Tripiṭaka masters of both old and new translations do not equal to Nan-yüeh and T’ien-t’ai at all. Founders of both exoteric and esoteric Buddhist schools cannot compete with them. The two grand masters, however, were still basing themselves on the whole or parts of the Lotus Sūtra without expounding its essence, the five characters. Although they themselves knew it, they did not convey this to others. It was solely because they correctly remembered what was entrusted to them and respected what the Buddha had in mind.
Soya Nyūdō-dono-gari Gosho, A Letter to Lay Priest Lord Soya, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 162.
Daily Dharma – June 27, 2020
Thereupon Medicine-King Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One! Now I will give dhāraṇī-spells to the expounder of the Dharma in order to protect him.”
This promise to the Buddha from Medicine-King Bodhisattva comes in Chapter Twenty-Six of the Lotus Sutra. The dhāraṇīs are given in a language that nobody understands any more. But this does not reduce their effectiveness. In the second chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha declared that his wisdom cannot be reached by understanding alone. There is another, nonverbal aspect of his teaching that we must comprehend. The dhāraṇīs not only give us reassurance that beings we cannot comprehend are helping us to become enlightened, they also remind us to look for the unspoken teachings that are part of the Buddha Dharma.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com