[I]t is debatable whether Chih-i ever conceived the idea of one single Buddha, or found it meaningful. There is, in fact, a fundamental difference between the doctrine that “the three bodies are one body” and the idea that “all buddhas are one Buddha only” (issaibutsu ichibutsu), which would later be put forward in Japanese Tendai. Chih-i acknowledged, and justified, the existence of other Buddhas, and did not eventually reduce them to Śākyamuni Buddha (they are not Śākyamuni’s upāya). In the last analysis, Chih-i regarded Śākyamuni only as the most important Buddha of the Lotus Sutra and only as the Buddha of the present world. He claimed that the three bodies all reveal the “origin,” but he never qualified this original time as the absolute time. His “origin” is just the archetypal movement, the attainment of buddhahood.
A Buddhist Kaleidoscope; Lucia Dolce, Between Duration and Eternity: Hermeneutics of the ‘Ancient Buddha’ of the Lotus Sutra in Chih-i and Nichiren, Page 229
All posts by John Hughes
The Living Dharma
Now let me talk about the truth and the living Dharma. The appearance of the great stupa serves as a device or reason for bringing together a great assembly of Buddhas and lands but it also serves as a validation of the truth of the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra. Many Treasures Buddha demonstrates to us the truth of the underlying Dharma or the truth of the Lotus Sutra does not change. While the actual words or makeup of the Sutra may take on different appearances or different words the truth that underlies it all is unchanging. The two Buddhas sitting beside each other show us that not only the teacher is to be respected but also the truth of the teaching is equally respectable. We are not really devoting ourselves to the teacher but to the truth of the teaching and that is the real basis of our devotion to the Buddha.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraThose Without Faith or Wisdom
Grand Master T’ien-t’ai interprets in his Mo-ho chih-kuan (Great Concentration and Insight): “Those without faith in the Lotus Sūtra consider it to be only for sages and to be too difficult for ignorant people like themselves. Those without wisdom become self-conceited considering themselves equal to the Buddha.”
Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 96
Daily Dharma – Dec. 8, 2019
Anyone who expounds this sūtra
Will be able to see me,
To see Many-Treasures Tathāgata,
And to see the Buddhas of my replicas.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. We can hear this teaching with an aspiration to see visions of Śākyamuni Buddha and other Buddhas. But we can also hear the Buddha’s promise that when we keep in mind his assurance that we and all beings have the capacity for enlightenment, we will see the world differently. We will start to interpret the actions of ourselves and others in a new light. We will see many more beings who are helping us to become enlightened, rather than beings who are frustrating our efforts at pursuing our selfish goals.
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
For today’s pass through The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings I will quote from Nikkyō Niwano’s Buddhism for Today. This book, which I will be quoting from extensively in the future, offers a commentary on the full Three-Fold Lotus Sutra.
On this first of the three sutras, Nikkyō Niwano writes:
Buddhism for Today, pxxii-xxiiiOf the three sutras mentioned above, the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings contains the sermon Sakyamuni delivered on the Vulture Peak (Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa) immediately before preaching the Lotus Sutra. The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings, which is inseparable from the Lotus Sutra, is regarded as the introduction to the latter. This is because in the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings Sakyamuni states the reasons for the aims and the order of his preaching during the past forty years and also says that he has not yet manifested the truth. This does not mean that so far he had preached untruth but that he had not yet revealed the final truth, although all of his previous sermons were true. In other words, he had not yet manifested the full profundity of his teaching, being afraid that people would not be able to grasp it because their understanding and faith were not sufficiently developed. Therefore he made an important promise concerning his next sermon: “I am now to reveal the real truth.” His next sermon was the Lotus Sutra. For this reason, if we do not read the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings we cannot realize clearly either the position of the Lotus Sutra among all the sermons that Sakyamuni preached during his lifetime or the true sacredness of the Lotus Sutra.
The Primacy of the Recompense Body
[Chih-i’s] integration [dharma body, the recompense body and the transformation body] notwithstanding, Chih-i eventually puts the accent on one of the three bodies:
“[Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra] reveals the three bodies. If they are differentiated in a vertical sense, the true one is the recompense body. The wisdom of the recompense body, being one with what is above and in accord with what is below, encompasses the three bodies. … The text says ‘In the very far distant past since I became Buddha, I have benefited human beings in the three worlds.’ What is enlightened is the dharma body, what causes enlightenment is the recompense body. Because the dharma [body] and the recompense [body] become one, things may receive benefits. … Thus, the correct meaning [of the scriptural passage] is to postulate the virtues of the Buddha in his recompense body.”
This is perhaps the most interesting feature of Chih-i’s theory of the three bodies. The saṃbhogakāya represents a Buddha who has a beginning, and thus is finite before attaining enlightenment, but who becomes immeasurable, infinite, after his awakening. It exemplifies a Buddha who encompasses in himself both historical existence and universal principle: not an absolute Tathāgata who assumes for some time a phenomenal form and then goes back to his true nature, but a Tathāgata who is, at the same time, his true nature and his temporal manifestation.
A Buddhist Kaleidoscope; Lucia Dolce, Between Duration and Eternity: Hermeneutics of the ‘Ancient Buddha’ of the Lotus Sutra in Chih-i and Nichiren, Page 227
The Ten Worlds: Buddhas
Of the Four Higher Worlds – voice hearers, privately awakened ones, bodhisattvas, and buddhas – the highest is the world of buddhas. This is the world viewed from the perspective of perfect, unsurpassed awakening. From this perspective, one can see that the world of birth and death is itself the pure land. The world of the buddhas also represents the Buddha-nature, which is our own capacity for perfect and unsurpassed awakening. This world transcends all the other states because it is free of their limitations and suffering, but is also inherent within them as their true nature, infinite and free of suffering.
Lotus SeedsA Laughingstock
I, Nichiren, am a laughingstock, but how can it be said that the Lotus Sūtra, which I believe in, is also a laughingstock? For instance, even if a purse emits a foul odor, the gold in the purse is beautiful. Even if a pond it stagnant and filthy, the lotus flowers that bloom in the pond are pristine. Likewise, though I am the most insignificant being in Japan, the Lotus Sūtra, which I put faith in, is the supreme of all the Buddhist scriptures.
A sensible person who wants to get hold of gold should not discard it just because the purse containing the gold reeks. If one loves the lotus flower, one should not have disdain for the pond where the lotus plant grows. If I, though insignificant, become a Buddha, it proves the great power of the Lotus Sūtra. Accordingly, if the last moment of my life is not positive, I will hurt the reputation of the Lotus Sūtra. If the last moment of my life happens to be negative, I will not only be viewed as evil by everyone in the world but I will also become a very evil person who ruins the name of the Lotus Sūtra.
Nishiyama-dono Goke-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Response to My Lady, the Nun Widow of Lord Nishiyama, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 101
Daily Dharma – Dec. 7, 2019
How did you teach these innumerable Bodhisattvas
In such a short time,
And cause them to aspire for enlightenment
And not falter in seeking enlightenment?
Maitreya Bodhisattva sings these verses to the Buddha in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Despite the Buddha’s explanation that he personally taught all of the Bodhisattvas who appear in Chapter Fifteen, Maitreya and others are still confused by what the Buddha has told them. Since they have faith that whatever the Buddha teaches is for their benefit, they persist with their sincere questioning, assured that the Buddha is leading them to enlightenment. While faith is an important part of our practice, recognizing our own confusion, and using questions to resolve that confusion are equally important. The Buddha does not ask for blind obedience. He knows we cannot find peace until we bring our whole being to his practice.
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: Purification of the Senses
Having completed my 47th cycle through the Lotus Sutra, I mark the The Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva with the verses for purification of the six senses:
(Reeves, p417-419)If you have evil in your eyes,
Impure with hindrances from actions in the past,
You should recite the Great Vehicle
And reflect on its first principle.This is called eye repentance.
It exhausts past bad actions.When the ears hear noise,
The principle of harmony is upset.
This produces craziness,
Like that of a foolish monkey.You should recite the Great Vehicle
And meditate on the emptiness and formlessness of things,
To exhaust all evils for a long time,
And hear sounds from all directions with heavenly ears.The nose is attached to scents.
In accord with its contamination, contacts occur.
In this way the deluded nose, in accord with its contamination,
Gives birth to all kinds of entanglements.
If you recite the Great Vehicle sutras
And meditate on the reality of things,
You will long be free from evil actions done in the past
And not do them in future lives.The tongue causes five kinds of bad consequences
From harsh words spoken in the past.If you want to control it yourself,
You should make an effort to practice compassion,
Think of the meaning of the true quiescence of things,
And not conceive by making distinctions.The mind is like a monkey,
Never resting for a moment.If you want to subdue it,
You should make an effort to recite the
Great Vehicle,
Keeping in mind the Buddha’s great awakened body,
His power, and his freedom from fear.The body, master of its organs,
Dances freely among these six harmful faculties
Without obstacle,
Like dust swirling in the wind.If you want to be rid of these evils,
Long separated from dirt and trouble,
Ever in the comfort of nirvana,
And at ease with a calm heart,
You should recite the Great Vehicle sutras
And keep in mind the mother of bodhisattvas.Innumerable excellent skillful means will be obtained
By reflecting on the true nature of things.
These so-called six methods
Purify the six sense organs.The whole ocean of hindrances from past actions
Arises from illusion.
If you want to repent, you should sit upright
And reflect on the true nature of things.All sins are like frost and dew.
The sun of wisdom can dissipate them.
For this reason, with all your heart
You should repent of the six senses.