All posts by John Hughes

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Oct. 26, 2019

All of you, wise men!
Have no doubts about this!
Remove your doubts, have no more!
My words are true, not false.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. If we come to the Buddha, attached to our delusions and fearful of the potential for peace and joy we all have within us, it is easy to doubt what he says. We have been suffering a long time. Like the children playing in the burning house, we are so caught up in the drama and insanity of our world that we cannot imagine any other way to live. When the Buddha warns us of how dangerous it is to continue as we are, we are more certain of our familiar pain than of his enlightenment. When we trust the Buddha Dharma, and cultivate our potential to create unimaginable benefit in this world, then we realize the pettiness of the crises we create for ourselves. We awaken our curiosity and gratitude and learn to see this beautiful world for what it is.

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 learned about a bhikṣu called Never-Despising, we consider what became of Never-Despising Bodhisattva.

“When he said this, people would strike him with a stick, a piece of wood, a piece of tile or a stone. He would run away to a distance, and say in a loud voice from afar, ‘I do not despise you. You will become Buddhas.’ Because he always said this, he was called Never-Despising by the arrogant bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās and upāsikās. When he was about to pass away, he heard [from a voice] in the sky the twenty thousand billion gāthās of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, which had been expounded by the Powerful-Voice-King Buddha. Having kept all these gāthās, he was able to have his eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind purified as previously stated. Having his six sense-organs purified, he was able to prolong his life for two hundred billion nayuta more years. He expounded this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to many people [in his prolonged life]. The arrogant bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās and upāsikās, that is, the four kinds of devotees who had abused him and caused him to be called Never-Despising, saw that he had obtained great supernatural powers, the power of eloquence, and the great power of good tranquility. Having seen all this, and having heard the Dharma from him, they took faith in him, and followed him.

“This Bodhisattva also taught thousands of billions of living beings, and led them into the Way to Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. After the end of his prolonged life, he was able to meet two hundred thousand million Buddhas, all of them being called Sun-Moon-Light. He also expounded the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma under them. After that, he was able to meet two hundred thousand million Buddhas, all of them being called Cloud-Freedom-Light-King. He also kept, read and recited this sūtra, and expounded it to the four kinds of devotees under those Buddhas so that he was able to have his natural eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind purified and to become fearless in expounding the Dharma to the four kinds of devotees.

“Great-Power-Obtainer! This Never-Despising Bodhisattva-mahāsattva made offerings to those Buddhas, respected them, honored them, praised them, and planted the roots of good. After that, he was able to meet thousands of billions of Buddhas. He also expounded this sūtra under those Buddhas. By the merits he had accumulated in this way, he was able to become a Buddha.

See Always Despised But Never Despising

2buddhas, LS32, d25b, WONS

Always Despised But Never Despising

We cannot know for certain, but the story of Sadāparibhūta [Never-Despising Bodhisattva] may reflect the experience of the Lotus Sūtra’s compilers in encountering anger and contempt from mainstream Buddhist monastics. The Sanskrit name Sadāparibhūta actually means “Always Despised.” As an ordinary monk without any particular accomplishments, Sadāparibhūta had no obvious authority for delivering predictions of future buddhahood, and monastics who looked askance at the nascent Mahāyāna movement may have found his words presumptuous and offensive. Hence, he was “always despised.” Dharmaraksa, who first rendered the Lotus Sūtra into Chinese, translated the bodhisattva’s name in this way. But Kumārajīva instead adopted “Never Despising,” shifting emphasis to the bodhisattva’s attitude of reverence for all. As Nichiren expresses it: “In the past, the bodhisattva Sadāparibhūta carried out the practice of veneration, saying that all beings have the buddha nature; that if they embrace the Lotus Sūtra, they are certain to attain buddhahood; and that to slight another is to slight the Buddha himself. He bowed even to those who did not embrace the Lotus Sūtra, because they too had the buddha nature and might someday accept the sūtra.”

Two Buddhas, p207
buddhaseed

This Universe is One Great Being

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When we thoroughly consider about Ichinen Sanzen of Ri deeply, we come to understand that everything in the Universe depends on each other, relates with each other, and does not exist independently. Everything exists as one. In the cycle of nature, everything in the Universe has its own role by making others active with each other and supporting each other. In other words, this Universe is one great being. Nothing has an independent existence. We human beings also have our own role as a part of the great life of the Universe.

Buddha Seed: Understanding the Odaimoku

Saicho

Saichō and the Fan Wang Precepts

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Saichō clearly advocated strict adherence to the Fan wang precepts. Later attempts to substitute the Lotus Sūtra’s precepts for them were in violation of Saichō’s intention. His only reference in the Kenkairon to the precepts of the Lotus Sūtra concerned the anrakugyō proscription on consorting with Hinayāna practitioners. Saichō thus awarded the Fan wang Ching a higher status than had Chih-i, who relegated it to the status of Kegon teachings, a mixture of Unique and Perfect teachings.

Saichō: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School, p210
d27b, WONS

The Lotus Sūtra’s Power of Divine Help

It is stated [in “Medicine King Bodhisattva” chapter] that this sūtra will spread widely in Jambudvīpa after 2,000 years. In this statement the Lotus Sūtra is likened to the third parable of the Moon. Grand Master Dengyō interprets this, “The Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma have already passed, and the Latter Age of Degeneration is around the corner. Now is the time for the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra to spread.” The divine help of the Lotus Sūtra is superior to other sūtras in both the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma. However, as the moonlight is brighter in the fall and winter than in the spring and summer, the Lotus Sūtra’s power of divine help grows more powerful in the Latter Age than in the 2,000-year period of the Ages of the True and Semblance Dharmas.

Yakuō-bon Tokui-shō, The Essence of the “Medicine King Bodhisattva” Chapter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 31

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Oct. 25, 2019

The living beings are various in their natures, desires, deeds, thoughts and opinions. Therefore, I expounded the dharma with various stories of previous lives, with various parables, similes and discourses, in order to cause all living beings to plant the roots of good.

The Buddha gives this explanation in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. He describes the methods he used to prepare those whom he taught for receiving his highest teaching. In this chapter, the Buddha reveals that his existence is not limited to that of the physical body of Siddhartha Gautama 2500 years ago. In truth he has been leading all beings to his enlightenment for an unimaginably long time, and will continue to lead us for twice that time into the future. We approach the Buddha’s true wisdom when we see the purpose of our existence as benefiting all beings, and are certain that the outcome of whatever troubles us now is the enlightenment of all beings.

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

LS32

Day 24

Day 24 concludes Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, and closes the Sixth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 24 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the twelve hundred merits of the mind, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, in gāthās.

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

Their minds will become pure, clear, keen and undefiled.
They will be able to recognize with their wonderful minds
The superior, mean and inferior teachings.
When they hear even a gāthā [of this sūtra],
They will be able to understand
The innumerable meanings of [this sūtra].

When they expound [this sūtra]
In good order according to the Dharma
For a month, four month or a year,
They will be able to understand at once
The thoughts of gods, dragons, men, yakṣas, demigods,
And of all the other living beings
Inside and outside this world
Composed of the six regions
Because they keep
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

They also will be able to hear and keep
The Dharma expounded to all living beings
By the innumerable Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters
Who are adorned with the marks of one hundred merits.

When they think over the innumerable meanings [of this sūtra],
And endlessly repeat the expounding of those meanings,
They will not forget or mistake the beginnings and ends [of quotations]
Because they keep the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

They will see the reality of all things.
Knowing the position [of this sūtra in the series of sūtras],
And the names and words [of this sūtra], according to the meanings of it,
They will expound [this sūtra] as they understand it.

They will expound the Dharma
Already taught by the past Buddhas.
Therefore, they will be fearless
Before the multitude.

Anyone who keeps the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Will have his mind purified as previously stated.
Although he has not yet obtained the [wisdom-]without-āsravas,
He will be able to obtain [these merits of the mind].

When he keeps this sūtra,
He will be able to reach a rare stage.
He will be joyfully loved and respected
By all living beings.

He will be able to expound the Dharma
With tens of millions of skillful words
Because he keeps
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

[Here ends] the Sixth Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

See In Harmony with the True Dharma

2buddhas, LS32, d23b, d24b

In Harmony with the True Dharma

Nichiren does not comment extensively on the six forms of sensory purification. But in one letter, he addresses at some length a passage from the “Benefits Obtained” chapter in the section discussing the purification of the mental faculty: “If they [expounders of the Lotus] teach the works on worldly affairs, treatises on political science or enterprise, all these will be in harmony with the true dharma” (271). This means, Nichiren says, that the Lotus takes worldly dharmas, or phenomena, as “immediately comprising the whole of the buddha-dharma,” a feature that he saw as distinguishing it from other sūtras: “The sūtras preached before the Lotus Sūtra hold in essence that all dharmas are produced from the mind. To illustrate, they say that the mind is like the great earth, while the grasses and trees [that grow from it] are like the dharmas. Not so with the Lotus Sūtra. [It teaches that] the mind is itself the great earth, and the great earth is precisely the grasses and trees. The sūtras preached before it say that clarity of mind is like the moon and that purity of mind is like a flower. Not so with the Lotus Sūtra. It teaches that the moon is the mind, the flower is the mind.”

Two Buddhas, p202-203
Saicho

The Lotus Sūtra Precepts

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The Lotus Sūtra includes a number of passages which could be read as advocating correct behavior and thus as a form of precepts. In order to understand Saichō’s use of the Lotus Sūtra and the ways in which later scholars interpreted his references to it, these passages must be considered. Medieval Tendai scholars maintained the position that these passages described four types of precepts. First were the eternal unconditioned precepts which provided the foundation for all other sets of precepts, called the Lotus One-vehicle precepts (Hokke ichijōkai) or the Unmanifested Diamond precepts (musa kongōhōkai). These precepts were formless, without definite content, and based mainly on the second chapter of the Lotus Sūtra. No direct reference to these precepts was found in Saichō’s works.

In contrast to these formless precepts, the other three types did have definite contents. The second type concerned the behavior of those who preached the Lotus Sūtra. It was referred to in Saichō’s Final Admonitions (Yuikai).

The third type consisted of four requirements for people who would devote themselves to upholding the Lotus Sūtra (jikyō) after the Buddha’s death. They were to:

    1. Be under the guardianship of the Buddhas.
    2. Plant the roots of a multitude of virtues.
    3. Enter the various correct concentrations.
    4. Aspire to save all living beings.

This list did not play an important role in Saichō’s thought and was referred to only in works by later scholars.

The fourth and most important type of precepts was found in the chapter on serene and pleasing activities (Anrakugyōbon) [Peaceful Practices] in the Lotus Sūtra. This chapter described the ways in which bodhisattvas were to practice during the period of the decline of the Buddha’s teaching. These practices consisted of general instructions for preaching and for adhering to the teachings of the Lotus Sūtra rather than actual rules. They were grouped into four categories: action, word, thought and vow. Saichō was concerned mainly with the actions which the sūtra recommended. These were divided into two sets. The first set was a description of the religious practices which a devout person should follow, such as quietly meditating on things as they are. The second set was a list of the many types of people whom a Mahāyāna Buddhist was to avoid. Commentators traditionally divided this set into ten types of people, the fifth of which consisted of those who sought Hinayāna goals.

These precepts, usually called the anrakugyō (serene and pleasing activities), have long played as important role in T’ien-t’ai thought.

Saichō: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School, p206-208