All posts by John Hughes

Eyes

Summary of the Ten Realms

  1. The realm of the hell-dwellers is the lowest of the realms. Those who willfully commit the ten evil acts are reborn as hell-dwellers as the fruition of their deeds. Likewise, those who commit one of the five grave offences (killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, killing an arhat, injuring the Buddha, causing a schism in the Sangha) will immediately be reborn in the lowest hell in their next life. The hot hells and cold hells (perhaps for the passionately unrestrained and the cold-hearted respectively) are the abode of those so consumed with hatred, bitterness, and despair that their only wish is to destroy themselves and others out of spite and the desire to end their miserable existence.
  2. The realm of the hungry ghosts is only slightly better. Those who commit the ten evil acts primarily motivated by selfish craving are reborn as hungry ghosts as the fruition of their deeds. Hungry ghosts are said to have large mouths and bellies, but only tiny throats. Hungry ghosts can never be satisfied and are consumed by craving. This is the state of those who suffer from addictions that control and dominate their lives. These addictions can be to drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, power, work, entertainment, or even religion.
  3. The realm of animals is the state of cunning, primitive aggression, and instinctive desires. Those who unthinkingly commit the ten evil acts are reborn as animals. It is a state of mind that does not look beyond immediate gratification and pays no heed to consequences or long-term benefit. Here, pleasure and pain reign supreme over reason amid the brute struggle for survival as the strong prey upon the weak. Though not as inherently painful as the two previous worlds, those who are in this state will inevitably meet with frustration and confusion, if not outright pain and suffering.
  4. The realm of the fighting demons is the realm of arrogant demons who are obsessed with issues of status and power and whose ambition is to overthrow the gods of heaven. Those who follow the five precepts or even the five constant virtues (of Confucianism) but with ulterior motives and in a spirit of hypocrisy and self-righteousness are reborn as fighting demons. Those in this state are full of pride and arrogance and are extremely competitive and envious. They can never rest or feel secure because they must constantly strive to maintain and improve their position and prestige, no matter how well off they may actually be.
  5. The realm of humanity is, of course, the realm we are most familiar with. Those who follow the five constant virtues or who take refuge in the Three Treasures (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) and follow the five precepts are able to be reborn as humans. In the human world, suffering is recognized for what it is, and morality and reason are called upon to improve the human condition. At this point, civilized life can truly begin. The human state is considered a very fortunate one, because the suffering and striving of the previous four realms does not overcome reason, nor is there the complacency brought about by the pleasures of the heavens. From this realm of humanity, one can find the opportunity to encounter the Three Treasures, take up the teachings, put them into practice, and attain liberation.
  6. The realm of the heavenly beings is where the gods make their abode. Those who take refuge in the Three Treasures, follow the ten good acts, and give generously to worthy people and causes are able to be reborn in the heavens of desire. Those who follow the ten good acts and also go on to cultivate states of meditative absorption to overcome all inner disturbance and negativity are able to be reborn in the more refined heavens of form or formlessness, which correspond to the states of concentration they attained. The heavens are temporary (though long lasting) realms of spiritual bliss of increasing subtlety and refinement.
  7. The realm of the śrāvakas is the first of the four noble states. Śrāvakas are those who hear the teachings of the Buddha, specifically the four noble truths, and put them into practice by becoming monks or nuns and taking up a life of strict discipline and rigorous contemplative practices in order to awaken to the fact that all conditioned things are ultimately unsatisfactory, impermanent, selfless, and empty of any fixed unchanging essence. This awakening is their attainment of nirvärpa. Nirväna, for them, is the elimination of the fetters of greed, hatred, and false views that bind them to rebirth among the six lower realms. Upon attaining nirvāṇa, śrāvakas are known as arhats (lit. worthy ones), who are worthy to receive offerings. Though this is called a realm, arhats do not exist in a separate realm apart from the world of humanity. Arhats are invariably human beings who attain nirvāṇa and upon their deaths (which is called final nirvāṇa) they are no longer to be found anywhere, much like a fire that has been extinguished.
  8. The realm of the pratyekabuddhas is the second of the four noble states. Pratyekabuddhas are the ascetics and hermits who live in a time and place where Buddhism is unknown but attain liberation by contemplating causes and conditions and awakening to the unsatisfactory, impermanent, selfless, and empty nature of all conditioned phenomena. Unlike buddhas, they do not afterwards try to teach others how to awaken. Like the arhats they are invariably human beings who have eliminated greed, hatred, and false views. They too have realized nirvāṇa and are no longer bound to be reborn among the six lower realms. Sometimes pratyekabuddhas are not viewed as hermits who awaken on their own apart from Buddhism. Sometimes they are thought to be those Buddhist practitioners who live as forest-hermits and attain nirvāṇa by contemplating the twelve-fold chain of dependent origination taught by the Buddha to provide a deeper understanding of causes and conditions. In this case they are known as “cause-knowers” (J. engaku).
  9. The realm of the bodhisattvas is the third of the four noble states. Bodhisattvas are those who aspire to attain buddhahood so that they too can lead all sentient beings to liberation. To do this they make vows, for instance the four great vows of the bodhisattva (to save all being, quench all defilements, know all the teachings, and attain the path to buddhahood), and take up the practice of the six perfections (of generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditative absorption, and wisdom). Bodhisattvas sometimes reside in the pure lands of the buddhas of the ten directions but can just as often be found taking rebirth among those in the six worlds in accordance with their vows so that they can help sentient beings, cultivate wisdom, and accrue the merit needed to attain buddhahood.
  10. The realm of the buddhas is the fourth of the four noble states. Buddhahood is the state characterized by purity, bliss, eternity, and self (or authenticity). With perfect wisdom and great compassion, the buddhas spontaneously and unselfconsciously respond to the spiritual needs of all sentient beings. They reside in the pure lands but also appear in the world of humanity as a person who attains buddhahood, teaches the Dharma, and establishes the Sangha.

Each of these ten realms contains the causes and conditions of all ten within themselves. This means that any of the ten contains the potential to manifest any of the others. This is the mutual possession of the ten realms. One might say that the lower realms contain the higher realms as seeds of their future growth and maturity, while the higher realms embrace the lower realms insofar as they are perspectives that have been outgrown and yet assimilated. These are not ten separate realms lined up alongside each other, but rather ten different subjective modes of the interplay of causes and conditions. This means that if you change the causes and conditions you can also change the kind of realm that is or will be experienced. This also means that the realm of buddhahood is accessible to all the other realms and conversely the realm of buddhahood is able to compassionately interact with the lower realms.

Open Your Eyes, p148-151
d3b, d4b, WONS

If Easy to Believe, the Sūtra Is Not the True Dharma

After all, those with capacity to understand and have full faith in Buddhism who had the luck of listening to Śākyamuni Buddha preach the Lotus Sūtra in India must have accumulated a great deal of merit in their past lives. Moreover, they were fortunate to have been assisted and guided by the Lord Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, who had come to attest to the truth of Śākyamuni’s words, various Buddhas in manifestation who had come from all over the universe, numerous bodhisattvas who had sprung up from underground, and such distinguished disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha as Mañjuśrī and Maitreya. Nevertheless, there were some who were not converted to the Lotus Sūtra. This is the reason why those self-conceited, as many as 5,000, moved out when the Buddha was about to start preaching (chapter 2, “Expedients”), and why some men and gods were transferred to other worlds (chapter 11, “The Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures”). It was so even while Śākyamuni Buddha was alive. How much more difficult is it to believe in the Lotus Sūtra in the Ages of the True Dharma and Semblance Dharma after the death of Śākyamuni Buddha, not to say in the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration? If you could easily believe in the sūtra, it would mean that the sūtra is not the True Dharma.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 134

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 2, 2020

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.

We can read these words of the Buddha from Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra as if we had to wait until another life to see Buddhas. But by making offerings to an image of the Buddha, by practicing respect towards a representation of the Buddha, we start to look for and recognize the Buddha in ourselves and in all of the beings who share the world with us. When we see this world of conflict and suffering as the Buddha’s Pure Land, then we see all beings as our enlightened teachers. We see innumerable Buddhas.

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

LS32

Day 10

Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.

Day 10 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the process needed for Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence to become that buddha, we meet the sixteens sons of the Buddha.

“Bhikṣus! At the end of the period of ten small kalpas, the Dharma of the Buddhas came into the mind of Great-Universal­Wisdom-Excellence Buddha. Now he attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Before he left home, he had sixteen sons. The first son was called Accumulated-Wisdom. Each of the sons had various playthings. When the sons heard that their father had attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, they gave up the playthings, left home, and came to that Buddha.

“[When they were leaving home,] their mothers saw them off, weeping. Not only the wheel-turning-holy-king, who was their grandfather, but also one hundred ministers and hundreds of thousands of billions of subjects surrounded and followed the princes, wishing to come to the place of enlightenment, to see Great­Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathāgata, to make offerings to that Buddha, respect him, honor him, and praise him.

“Having come [to that Buddha], the princes worshipped him at his feet with their heads, walked around him, joined their hands together towards him with all their hearts, looked up at the World­Honored One, and praised him in gāthās:

In order to save all living beings,
You, the World-Honored One,
Who have great powers and virtues,
[Made efforts] for many hundreds of millions of years.
Now you have become a Buddha.
You have finally fulfilled your vows. Congratulations!

You, the World-Honored One, are exceptional.
When you were sitting,
You were quiet and peaceful.
You did not move your body, hands or feet
For ten small kalpas.

Your mind was tranquil, not distracted.
You have finally obtained tranquil extinction.
You now dwell peacefully in the Dharma-without-āsravas.

Seeing that you have peacefully attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha,
We, too, have obtained benefits.
Congratulations! How glad we are!
All living beings are suffering.
Being blind, they have no leader.
They do not know how to stop suffering,
Or that they should seek emancipation.
In the long night fewer people go to heaven,
And more people go to the evil regions.
They go from darkness to darkness, and do not hear
Of the names of the Buddhas.

You are the Most Honorable One.
You have obtained the peaceful
Dharma-without-āsravas.
Not only we but also all gods and men
Will be able to obtain the greatest benefit.
Therefore, we bow and devote ourselves to you,
The Most Honorable One.

The Daily Dharma from March 1, 2020, offers this:

Seeing that you have peacefully attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha,
We, too, have obtained benefits.
Congratulations! How glad we are!

The children of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha sing these verses to their father in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. They realize that when one being reaches enlightenment, it is a benefit for all beings. In Chapter Ten, the Buddha teaches that many people will hate his Wonderful Dharma with jealousy during his lifetime, and many more will be jealous of it after his extinction. These people see the Buddha as different from themselves, and do not understand how they can become as enlightened as he is. They believe that for one person to gain, another must lose. The Buddha shows that all beings benefit from his teaching. Nothing is taken away from anyone.

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

Eyes

Ten Wonders of the Original Gate

Quote

As for the ten wonders of the Original Gate they involve the causes and effects of buddhahood from the perspective of the Eternal Buddha and are as follows:

  1. The Wonder of Original Cause: The Eternal Buddha’s practice of the bodhisattva path occurred in the incalculably remote past and thereby puts the previous wonders of knowledges, practices, and stages of the Trace Gate in a timeless perspective.
  2. The Wonder of Original Effect: Likewise the Eternal Buddha’s attainment of buddhahood occurred in the remote past, and thus the wonder of the threefold Dharma is put into this timeless perspective.
  3. The Wonder of the Original Land: Since the time of the Eternal Buddha’s attainment of buddhahood in the remote past he has remained in this world of Endurance (Skt. sahā) teaching sentient beings. This world is, therefore, the true Pure Land of Eternally Tranquil Light of the Eternal Buddha.
  4. The Wonder of Original Receptivity and Response: The wonder of receptivity and response is now shown to have begun in the remote past.
  5. The Wonder of Original Supernatural Powers: The wonder of the Eternal Buddha’s use of supernatural powers is now shown to have begun in the remote past.
  6. The Wonder of the Original Expounding of the Dharma: The wonder of the Eternal Buddha’s expounding of the Dharma is now shown to have begun in the remote past.
  7. The Wonder of Original Attendants: The wonder of the Eternal Buddha’s relationship with sentient beings and fostering of bodhisattvas is now shown to have begun in the remote past.
  8. The Wonder of the Original Nirvāṇa: This is the wonder of the Eternal Buddha’s actual abiding in nirvāṇa since the remote past, though he repeatedly displays the attainment of nirvāṇa with remainder (the extinction of greed, hatred, and delusion in life) and final nirvāṇa or nirvāṇa without remainder (physical extinction) in order to inspire sentient beings.
  9. The Wonder of the Original Lifespan: This is the wonder of the Eternal Buddha’s unborn and deathless lifespan, though he takes on various transient lives in the world in order to teach, guide, and inspire sentient beings.
  10. The Wonder of Original Benefits: The wonder of the Eternal Buddha’s merit and beneficial influence on sentient beings is now shown to have begun in the remote past.
Open Your Eyes, p143-145
WONS

Ice and Fire

Ice, before the sun rises, is as hard as gold. Fire, when there is no water, is as hot as iron in a furnace. However, hard ice can easily be melted by the sun in summer and fire can be extinguished by water. In the same fashion, although the esoterists appear to be noble and wise, they are like those who rely on the hardness of ice, without seeing the potential of the sun, or fire without considering water.

Oto Gozen Go-shōsoku, A Letter to Lady Oto, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 116

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – May 1 2020

Anyone who understands why the Buddhas expound [many] sūtras,
Who knows the position [of this sūtra in the series of sūtras],
And who expounds it after my extinction
According to its true meaning,
Will be able to eliminate the darkness
Of the living beings of the world where he walks about,
Just as the light of the sun and the moon
Eliminates all darkness.

The Buddha sings these verses to Superior-Practice Bodhisattva (Jōgyo, Viśiṣṭacārītra) in Chapter Twenty-One of the Lotus Sūtra. The superiority of the Lotus Sūtra does not disparage the Buddha’s expedient teachings. The Lotus Sūtra leads all beings to enlightenment. Other teachings could only reach a limited audience. When we as Bodhisattvas who are determined to benefit all beings expound this highest expression of the Buddha’s wisdom, and do not limit ourselves to saving only a few, then we become the light that limits the darkness of ignorance, fear and violence in this world of conflict.

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

LS32

Day 9

Day 9 covers Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and introduces Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.

Day 9 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered how the Buddha is like the cloud, we consider the Buddha’s insight into our capacities, appearances, entities and natures.

“The various teachings I expound are of the same content, of the same taste. Those who emancipate themselves [from the bonds of existence,] from illusions, and from birth and death, will finally obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things. But those who hear or keep my teachings or read or recite the sutras in which my teachings are expounded, or act according to my teachings, do not know the merits that they will be able to obtain by these practices. Why is that? It is because only I know their capacities, appearances, entities and natures. Only I know what teachings they have in memory, what teachings they have in mind, what teachings they practice, how they memorize the teachings, how they think of the teachings, how they practice the teachings, for what purpose they memorize the teachings, for what purpose they think of the teachings, for what purpose they practice the teachings, and for what purpose they keep what teachings. Only I see clearly and without hindrance that they are at various stages [of enlightenment]. I know this, but they do not know just as the trees and grasses including herbs in the thickets and forests do not know whether they are superior or middle or inferior. My teachings are of the same content, of the same taste. Those who emancipate themselves [from the bonds of existence,] from illusions, and from birth and death, will finally attain Nirvana, that is, eternal tranquility or extinction. They will be able to return to the state of the Void.

“Although I knew the equality and differences of all things, I refrained from expounding it to them in order to protect them because I saw their [various] desires.

See Deliverance, Abandonment and Extinction

b4today, LS32, d9b

Deliverance, Abandonment and Extinction

The Buddha then declared: “The Law preached by the Tathāgata is of one form and flavor, that is to say, deliverance, abandonment, extinction, and finally the attainment of perfect knowledge.” This means that though his teachings are all the same essentially, they can be analyzed into three parts: deliverance (gedatsu-sō), abandonment (ri-sō), and extinction (metsu-sō).

“Deliverance” is the mental state of being no longer influenced by changes in circumstances or things. If one reaches this state, one can consider all things equally, unmoved by whatever happens. On the other hand, those who are convinced that they cannot look at things equally wish to rise above the world ofphenomena, and so they lose the feeling of kinship with people who are suffering and distressed. We should abandon such self-righteousness and strive instead to save people from their sufferings. This attitude is called “abandonment.”

“Extinction” means to extinguish false discrimination between oneself and others, that is, to feel the unity of oneself and all creatures in the universe. We cannot reach this state of mind as long as we think only that we must save people who are suffering and distressed. We must wish to stretch out our hands to others spontaneously and embrace them. This feeling is the mental state of the unification of oneself and others.

Buddhism for Today, p79
Eyes

Ten Trace Wonders

Quote

As for the ten wonders of the Trace Gate they involve the causes and effects of buddhahood understood from the perspective of the teaching of the historical Buddha and are as follows:

  1. The Wonder of Objects: The wondrous objective realities that the Buddha taught such as the four noble truths, the twelve-fold chain of dependent origination, the ten suchnesses from chapter two of the Lotus Sūtra, the two truths (the conventional and the ultimate), the threefold truth (of the empty, the provisional and the Middle Way), and the one truth of ultimate reality itself are all wondrous because they lead to and express the subtle and perfect teaching of the Lotus Sūtra.
  2. The Wonder of Knowledges: The deepening knowledge (or gnosis) of ordinary beings, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas who awaken to the aforementioned objects are wondrous because they all ultimately lead to buddhahood.
  3. The Wonder of Practices: All practices, including concentration and insight; the threefold training of morality, concentration, and wisdom; and the six perfections of the bodhisattva, are wondrous because they all lead ultimately to buddhahood.
  4. The Wonder of Stages: All the stages of attainment that ultimately lead to buddhahood, from the stage of those who only strive for rebirth as a human being or in the heavens, to those stages of śrāvaka practice leading to arhatship, all the way up to the advanced stages of bodhisattva practice are wondrous.
  5. The Wonder of the Threefold Dharma: All of the above leads to buddhahood, which is the wondrous fulfillment of the threefold Dharma or three tracks: the track of real nature, the track of contemplative illumination of wisdom, and the track of fulfilling potential as the accomplishment of meritorious deeds.
  6. The Wonder of Receptivity and Response: The Buddha’s wholesome influence and assistance given in response to the needs of sentient beings in accord with their receptivity to his teachings is wondrous.
  7. The Wonder of Supernatural Powers: The power of the Buddha to assist sentient beings with supernatural mastery over his own body, clairaudience, mind reading, past-life recall, clairvoyance, and knowledge of the destruction of the taints is wondrous.
  8. The Wonder of Expounding the Dharma: The Buddha’s ability to expound the Dharma in the form of sūtras (prose discourses), verse restatements of the prose (S. gāthā), original verse teachings (S. geya), expansive discourses (S. vaipulya), prophecies to his disciples concerning their attainment of buddhahood, short sayings, tales of causality, parables, stories of his disciples past lives, stories of his own past lives, tales of auspicious occasions, and dialogues is wondrous.
  9. The Wonder of Attendants: The variety of relationships that sentient beings have with the Buddha depending on either the universality of buddha-nature or specific causes or the vows they have made is wondrous.
  10. The Wonder of Merits and Benefits: The final wonder of the Trace Gate is the boundless merit enjoyed by the Buddha and the great benefit he confers upon all sentient beings when they encounter the Buddha, hear the Dharma, and put it into practice so that they also may attain buddhahood.
Open Your Eyes, p142-143