Buddhism for Today, p263-264[There are] twelve merits that a believer can obtain by holding an unshakable belief in the Buddha’s infinite life. In brief, the Buddha teaches us that if we establish the basic idea of faith, we can infinitely generate the power both to deepen our own faith and to extend it to others. He also teaches us that we can expect to surely gain the supreme merit of attaining Perfect Enlightenment in the future if we thoroughly devote ourselves to deepening our own faith.
It is, of course, very difficult to attain Perfect Enlightenment. As preached in this chapter, some bodhisattvas cannot attain it unless they practice religious disciplines for eight more lives. How much less can we know how many years and how much effort it will cost ordinary people?
What great hope it gives us to know that we will surely attain Perfect Enlightenment at some time if we only believe in a righteous faith and endeavor to practice it. As long as we have this hope, life is happy and worth living. A person earns or loses money; he falls in love or is disappointed in love; he rises to a higher position in time or he loses his job because of a trifling mistake; he brings up his child successfully or loses it. If we pass through life in this way with no purpose, merely repeating vain feelings of joy and sorrow, even though each moment seems to be substantial and important, we will have an inexpressible sense of emptiness upon looking back over our life. But if our life has the strong backbone of a righteous faith running through it, and if we have a firm belief that we can advance to Perfect Enlightenment step by step even though life has its apparent ups and downs, its various joys and sorrows, we will be able to pass easily through whatever hardships may come, however long life’s journey may be and however many rebirths it may entail.
All posts by John Hughes
The Highest Form of Meditation
Nichiren’s conviction is that the highest form of meditation is not found in a special transmission confined to an elite lineage of Zen masters or any other select group of people. Rather, it is to be found expressed by Śākyamuni Buddha himself in the Lotus Sūtra, but the sutra’s teaching must come alive for us in and through actual contemplation of the Wonderful Dharma, here expressed in terms of the “threefold contemplation in a single thought” and the “three thousand realms in a single thought-moment.” This goes beyond any conceptual teaching or otherworldly piety. This points to actual contemplation of the true nature of mind … .
The connection between this kind of contemplation based on the Lotus Sūtra and the practice of Odaimoku is stated in the Treatise on the Ten Chapters (Jisshō-shō):
What we should chant all the time as the practice of the perfect teaching is ‘Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō,’ and what we should keep in mind is the way of meditation based on the truth of ‘three thousand realms in a single thought-moment.’ Only wise men practice both chanting ‘Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō’ and meditating on the truth of ‘three thousand realms in a single thought moment.’ Lay followers of Japan today should recite only ‘Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.’ As the name has the virtue of reaching the body that it represents, when one chants ‘Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō,’ one will not fail to receive all the merit of the Lotus Sütra.
Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō fulfills the same function as calming and contemplation practice in Nichiren’s view, as it allows anyone to contemplate the Wonderful Dharma and receive the merit of the Buddha’s highest teaching. In Nichiren’s time, very few lay people would have had the opportunity to study the Tiantai teachings or had the time to engage in meditation practice. It was very important that a way of practice suitable to ordinary working people be provided if Buddhism was truly to be a Great Vehicle for all beings. Though Nichiren encouraged those who could to practice the Tiantai method of meditation, he clearly saw it as practically superfluous compared to the great merit of chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, which Nichiren and his disciples and followers found could itself calm the mind and open it to the great insight of the Buddha.
Open Your Eyes, p416-417Reasons Why the Lotus Sūtra Is Supreme
Now let us compare the merit of worshiping our Lord Preacher Śākyamuni Buddha, not for an hour or two or a day or two but for as long as a kalpa (aeon) by putting the palms of our hands together before Him, looking up at His face with two eyes, bowing our heads and forgetting all other things, as if trying to extinguish the fire in one’s own head, as if a thirsty person thinks of only water and hungry people think of nothing but food—merit of ceaseless devotion to the Buddha as along as a kalpa—to the merit of praising and giving alms to the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration without sincerity, as if a stepmother praises a stepchild. It is stated in the Lotus Sūtra that the merit of praising or giving alms to the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration, even if not from a believing heart, is a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, and hundred million times superior to the merit of the physical, verbal and mental devotion to the Buddha for as long as a kalpa. Grand Master Miao-lê interprets this, “His merit is superior to the merit of devoting to a Buddha worthy of the ten epithets for the Buddha.” The ten epithets are the ten titles of the Buddha praising His virtue. Miao-lê is saying that the merit of devoting to the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra is superior to the merit of devoting to the Buddha equipped with the ten epithets. This is one of the 20 reasons why the Lotus Sūtra is supreme among all the Buddhist scriptures enumerated by Grand Master Miao-lê.
Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 48-49
Daily Dharma – April 9, 2020
Have faith in the Great Mandala Gohonzon, the Most Venerable One in the entire world. Earnestly endeavor to strengthen your faith, so that you may be blessed with the protective powers of Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of many treasures, and Buddhas in manifestation throughout the Universe. Strive to carry out the two ways of practice and learning. Without practice and learning Buddhism will cease to exist. Endeavor yourself and cause others to take up these two ways of practice and learning, which stem from faith. If possible, please spread even a word or phrase of the sutra to others.
Nichiren wrote this as part of his letter to monk Sairen-bō about the nature of reality (Shohō-Jissō Shō). One way of reading this passage is that as we develop our faith in the Great Mandala Gohonzon, the Buddhas will provide more protection for us. Another way to read it is that as our faith develops, so does the power we have to protect others, free them from suffering and help them to awaken their Buddha nature. Either way, Nichiren shows us the practical results of our faith.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 21
Day 21 covers all of Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata.
Having last month considered the medicine and the unwillingness of some sons to take the medicine, we repeat the length of time since Śākyamuni became a buddha in gāthās:
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
It is many hundreds of thousands
Of billions of trillions
Of asaṃkhyas of kalpas
Since I became the Buddha.For the past innumerable kalpas
I have always been expounding the Dharma
To many hundreds of millions of living beings
In order to lead them into the Way to Buddhahood.In order to save the [perverted] people,
I expediently show my Nirvāṇa to them.
In reality I shall never pass away.
I always live here and expound the Dharma.Although I always live here
With the perverted people
I disappear from their eyes
By my supernatural powers.When they see me seemingly pass away,
And make offerings to my śarīras,
And adore me, admire me,
And become devout, upright and gentle,
And wish to see me
With all their hearts
At the cost of their lives,
I reappear on Mt. Sacred Eagle
With my Saṃgha,
And say to them:
“I always live here.
I shall never be extinct.
I show my extinction to you expediently
Although I never pass away.
I also expound the unsurpassed Dharma
To the living beings of the other worlds
If they respect me, believe me,
And wish to see me.
You have never heard this
Therefore, you thought that I pass away.”
The Omnipresent Buddha
Buddhism for Today, p241-242Because the Original Buddha is omnipresent, a virtuous person will naturally be able to perceive his teachings that are incomprehensible to ordinary men, just as a television set with good reception transmits a sharp picture. However, ordinary people cannot come in contact with the Buddha’s teachings until such great religious leaders as the Lord Sakyamuni, Chih-i, Prince Shōtoku, Saichō, Dōgen, and Nichiren appear in this world and directly preach the Law.
Even if people of little virtue happen to live in the same age as such religious leaders, they cannot come in contact with the teachings preached by them. This is because … the appearance of buddhas means that we are aware of them. The same thing can be said of the words “to see a buddha.” However often we hear the Buddha’s teachings, we cannot see a buddha unless we direct our mind toward him. This is how we should interpret the words “to see a buddha.” Although the Original Buddha exists in all times and in all places, his salvation does not appear unless we see a buddha in the true sense. Simply because the Original Buddha always exists close to us, we cannot expect his help if we are idle and lead greedy and self-centered lives.
The Primary Motivation for Practicing Buddhism
For Nichiren, the primary motivation for practicing Buddhism should not be a selfish desire to escape suffering on our own, or to gain supernatural powers, or to become detached meditators. Likewise, our aspiration to attain buddhahood and liberate all beings should not be a matter of condescending pity for suffering sentient beings. Rather, we should be motivated by gratitude for all that has been done for us by others, long before we were ever able to ask for such favors, much less be capable of earning such help as we received in our youth and throughout our life. We should have a heartfelt wish to do all we can to repay the great debt we owe others for the life that we have and all the assistance and blessings that we have received. This is not a matter of presuming to save others out of pity. It is a realization that others have already helped us and that our most authentic response is to repay that favor by following the Buddha Way for the sake of all.
Open Your Eyes, p10-11The Treasure of a Pure Mind
It is useless to stack up a pile of treasures in your storehouse if you are in poor health. Therefore, the value of a healthy body is more precious than treasures in the storehouse. At the same time, however, a healthy body means nothing if your mind is not pure. This is why we can say that our most precious treasure is our mind itself. Upon reading this letter, please try to accumulate the treasure of your mind.
Sushun Tennō Gosho, The ‘Emperor Sushun’ Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 123
Daily Dharma – April 8, 2020
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.
The Buddha makes this declaration in Chapter Five of the Lotus Sūtra, as he explains the simile of herbs. This is a good reminder for us on the Bodhisattva path of how important it is to have respect for all beings. We can believe we know whether someone else is less enlightened than we are, or even more enlightened than we are. But for Bodhisattvas, this belief is irrelevant. Only the Buddha knows who is where on the path. We do not need to know. We just need to find ways to benefit others, no matter how close they may be to enlightenment.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 20
Day 20 completes Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, and concludes the Fifth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month considered the doubts of Maitreya Bodhisattva-mahāsattva and the innumerable Bodhisattvas, we consider the handsome, black-haired man twenty-five years who says men 100 years old are his children.“World-Honored One! It is difficult for anyone in the world to believe this. It is as difficult as to believe a handsome, black-haired man twenty-five years old who points to men a hundred years old and says, ‘They are my sons,’ or as to believe men a hundred years old who point to a young man and say, ‘This is our father. He brought us up.’ You are like the young man. It is not long since you attained enlightenment. But it is many thousands of billions of kalpas since the great multitude of these Bodhisattvas began to practice the Way strenuously in order to attain the enlightenment of the Buddha. During that time they entered into, stayed in, and came out of many hundreds of thousands of billions of samadhis, and obtained great supernatural powers. They performed brahma practices for a long time. They learned good teachings one by one, and obtained the ability to answer questions skillfully. They are regarded as the treasures of the world of men by all the people of the world because they are rare. Today you say that, after you attained the enlightenment of the Buddha, you caused them to aspire for enlightenment, taught them, and led them into the Way to Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.
“World-Honored One! You did these deeds of great merit although it is not long since you attained Buddhahood. We believe that your words given according to the capacities of all living beings are infallible, and that we understand all that you know. But the beginners in Bodhisattvahood after your extinction, if they hear these words of yours, will not receive them by faith but commit the sin of violating the Dharma. Therefore, World-Honored One! Explain all this so that we may be able to remove our doubts and that the good men in the future may have no doubts when they hear these words of yours!”
The Daily Dharma from April 4, 2020, offers this:
World-Honored One! It is difficult for anyone in the world to believe this. It is as difficult as to believe a handsome, black-haired man twenty-five years old who points to men a hundred years old and says, ‘They are my sons,’ or as to believe men a hundred years old who point to a young man and say, ‘This is our father. He brought us up.’
Maitreya Bodhisattva explains his perplexity to the Buddha in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha has just revealed that all of the Bodhisattvas who have appeared from underground to continue teaching the Wonderful Dharma after the extinction of the Buddha have been taught by the Buddha in the time since he became enlightened. Maitreya realizes that his doubts are no different from the doubts of those gathered to hear the Buddha teach and asks the Buddha to explain. The Buddha says later that he sees the world differently than other living beings. But this does not mean that when our experience does not match what the Buddha teaches, we must keep silence and just accept what he tells us. It is only through sincere questioning that we find the Buddha’s mind and make it our own.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com