All posts by John Hughes

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – April 3, 2019

The [perverted] people think:
“This world is in a great fire.
The end of the kalpa [of destruction] is coming.”
In reality this world of mine is peaceful.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Here he draws a stark contrast between how those caught in the web of delusion see the world and how things really are. The world is constantly changing. When we expect the world to be as we want it, rather than as it is, any change is frightening. We assume that the world is falling apart and will sweep us along in its demise. When we practice the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, we know that we and all beings will become enlightened. The change in the world is part of our practice. We know how it will turn out and there is no fear. Only peace.

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

original

Making Evil the subject of liberative contemplation

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Chih-i’s own thought stresses that delusion and enlightenment, the nine realms and Buddha realm, are inherent in any phenomenon; thus, those who live in evil circumstances and have no opportunity to contemplate the perfections are not excluded from the Way but can make that evil the subject of liberative contemplation. Nevertheless, he was extremely careful to clarify that the ontological nonduality of good and evil did not obviate the need to make firm conventional distinctions between them; he also inveighed against monks who interpreted the teaching of nonduality as legitimizing antinomian behavior or who taught it irresponsibly without regard for their listeners’ ability to understand. (Page 361)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism


Profound

Subtlety of the Original Proclamation of the Dharma

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Fei-chi Hsien-pen (Abandoning the Traces and revealing the Origin) is the function related to the Subtlety of the Original Proclamation of the Dharma. Chih-i explains that in the past, because of heavy hindrances of five aggregates (Ch., Wu-yün; Skt., pan͂ca skandhāḥ) of sentient beings, the Buddha could not express the Origin, but only showed his recent accomplishment in the Traces. In the Lotus Sūtra, the hindrances of beings are wiped away, whereby it is necessary to abandon the teaching of the Traces in revealing the teaching of the Origin. (Vol. 2, Page 447)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


LS32, WONS

Day 17

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Day 17 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month heard Medicine-King Bodhisattva-mahāsattva and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva-mahāsattva’s vow to uphold the Lotus Sūtra, we hear from Arhats and Śrāvakas who vow to preach the Lotus Sūtra in some other world.

At that time there were five hundred Arhats in this congregation. They had already been assured of their future attainment [of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi]. They said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One! We also vow to expound this sūtra [but we will expound it] in some other worlds [rather than in this Sahā-World].”

There were also eight thousand Śrāvakas some of whom had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn. They had already been assured of their future attainment [of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi]. They rose from their seats, joined their hands together towards the Buddha and vowed:

“World-Honored One! We also will expound this sūtra in some other worlds because the people of this Sahā-World have many evils. They are arrogant. They have few merits. They are angry, defiled, ready to flatter others, and insincere.”

In his letter Treatise on the Teaching, Nichiren used the hesitance of the Arhats and Śrāvakas to preach in the Sahā world to show what he was up against:

It is predicted in the Lotus Sūtra, in the 13th chapter “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra,” that 2000 years after the Buddha’s extinction, in the Latter Age of Degeneration, three kinds of enemies will appear against those who spread the Lotus Sūtra. The time at hand matches exactly the Latter Age of Degeneration preached in the Lotus Sūtra as the “fifth 500-year period” after the death of the Buddha. As I, Nichiren, contemplate whether or not the Buddha’s words have proved to be true, three kinds of enemies surely exist today. If I deny the existence of the three enemies and spread the Lotus Sūtra in a manner so as to avoid persecution, I cannot claim to be a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. On the other hand, if I spread the sūtra in such a way that I am persecuted by enemies, I certainly will lose my life.

Lecture on Lotus Sutra, d15b, d16b

A Vow to Manifest Our Buddhahood

There are two causes at work when the Stupa of Treasures appears that are stated in Many Treasures original vow. In other words there are two things that make the appearance of Many Treasures and his stupa possible. The first cause, or the first requirement was the original vow of Many Treasures. By making his vow originally he set into motion the actualization of it happening. In our own lives it would be comparable to making a determination to do something. Because of our promise or determination we put into motion the actualization of that thing we determined. This is one reason why I feel that when we take vows to practice Buddhism it is so important to really understand the significance of making that promise. We should become people of our word, doing what we promise to do, in all situations.

The second cause, which enabled Many Treasures Buddha to appear, was the supernatural powers he obtained as the result of his own practice of the Lotus Sutra. In other words Many Treasures Buddha made a vow, which he could carry out because of his accumulated benefit of practicing the Lotus Sutra. Many Treasures Buddha, wishing to repay his gratitude for the many benefits he had obtained, promised to appear whenever the Lotus Sutra was taught, and he was able to do this because he received the merit and made the promise.

In our own lives, we have the hidden treasure, the gem of Buddhahood, which we can ignore and let lay dormant. On the other hand we can choose to make a vow, or a determination, to manifest and then carry out the necessary activities to actualize the vow to manifest our Buddhahood. All this we can do through our faith in the Lotus Sutra.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – April 2, 2019

The Buddhas expound the Dharma
In perfect freedom.
Knowing the various desires and dispositions
Of all living beings,
They expound the Dharma
With innumerable parables
And with innumerable similes
According to their capacities.

These verses are sung by Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. They show the realization by the Buddha’s disciples of why the Buddha uses different teachings for different people. For us who do not know the various desires and dispositions of all living beings, the Buddha gives this Lotus Sūtra, When we put this teaching into practice, and use it to benefit all beings, it is as if we are teaching from the Buddha’s own mind.

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

original

Between Good and Evil

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The criticism that nondual original enlightenment thought undermines proper distinctions between good and evil is not something peculiar to this doctrine but has recurred throughout the history of the Mahāyāna. The Mahāyāna denial of duality aims at liberation from attachment by undercutting notions of self-existing entities to which one might cling; in repudiating the idea that there can be “self” independent of “other,” it also serves to foster responsibility and compassion. Its denial of “good” and “evil” as independent ontological entities is not a denial of morality; from the perspective of conventional truth, good and evil must be distinguished. But the Mahāyāna rhetoric of nonduality, such as “saṃsāra is nirvāṇa” and “the defilements are enlightened insight,” has at times been taken as a license to commit evil and exposed the tradition to criticism. (Page 360)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism


Profound

The Ten Subtleties in the Origin

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With regard to the ten functions in the door of the Origin, they are also regarded by Chih-i to express the Ten Subtleties in the Origin. If the ten functions in the Traces can be taken as revealing the relationship between the Three Vehicles and the One Vehicle, then the ten functions in the Origin can be taken as revealing the relationship between the Traces and the Origin. This indicates that both groups of the Ten Subtleties concern the Ultimate Truth that consists of the Relative and the Ultimate. Although the ten functions of the Traces and of the Origin are spoken of by Chih-i in different terms, they contain the same teaching of the Buddha in conveying the Ultimate Truth or True Reality. The Three Vehicles and the Traces are taken as the Relative Truth, and the One Vehicle and the Origin the Ultimate Truth. The similar terms of these two groups of the ten functions prove Chih-i’s theory that the Buddha’s teaching is consistent and coherent. Regardless of whether it is relative or ultimate teaching, Chih-i stresses that the Buddha’s real intention is to reveal the One Buddha vehicle that is already present in the Origin. (Vol. 2, Page 446-447)

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism


LS32, WONS

Day 16

Day 16 concludes Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures, and completes the Fourth Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 16 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month repeated in gāthās Śākyamuni’s explanation of Many-Treasures Buddha in the stūpa of treasures and the Buddhas of the replicas, we consider Śākyamuni’s question of who will protect and keep this Sūtra after his extinction.

(The Buddha said to the great multitude.)
Who will protect
And keep this sūtra,
And read and recite it
After my extinction?
Make a vow before me to do this!

Many-Treasures Buddha,
Who had passed away a long time ago,
Made a loud voice like the roar of a lion
According to his great vow.

Many-Treasures Tathāgata and I
And the Buddhas of my replicas,
Who have assembled here,
Wish to know who will do [all this].

My sons!
Who will protect the Dharma?
Make a great vow
To preserve the Dharma forever!

Anyone who protects this sūtra
Should be considered
To have already made offerings
To Many-Treasures and to me.

Many-Treasures Buddha vowed to go
About the worlds of the ten quarters,
Riding in the stūpa of treasures,
In order to hear this sūtra [directly from the expounder].

Anyone [who protects this sūtra] also
Should be considered to have already made offerings
To the Buddhas of my replicas, who have come here
And adorned the worlds with their light.

Anyone who expounds this sūtra
Will be able to see me,
To see Many-Treasures Tathāgata,
And to see the Buddhas of my replicas.

Nichiren’s letter A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, offers this interpretation:

Moreover, the eleventh chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures,” states: “Those who uphold the teaching of this sūtra are deemed to serve Me, Śākyamuni, and the Buddha of Many Treasures. They also serve Buddhas in manifestation here who adorn and glorify their respective worlds.” This means that Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, and all the Buddhas in manifestation are in our minds, and that we, upholders of the Lotus Sūtra, will follow their steps and inherit all the merits of those Buddhas.

This is the meaning of the passage in the tenth chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “The Teacher of the Dharma,” which reads: “Those who hear of this Lotus Sūtra even for a moment, will instantly attain Perfect Enlightenment.”

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 146

Lotus Seeds

Awakening Is Insight

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Awakening is not something that exists in a vacuum or a mystical void. Awakening is insight into the true nature of all reality and the deep caring which springs from that insight. ·When Buddhahood is attained, the defilements are not simply rejected or forgotten. Instead, they are seen as part of the dynamic and interdependent nature of life. One who is awakened to their true nature is no longer under their power and, in fact, is able to see them in their essence as a part of the dynamic and interdependent nature of all things, pure without the taint of our clinging. Greed, hatred, delusion, pride, false views, and doubt are transformed through awakened awareness into their positive equivalents, just like solid blocks of ice can melt into water in sunlight. Through Buddhahood, we turn greed into devotion, hatred into healthy criticism, delusion into openness to the truth, pride into self-confidence, false views into careful reasoning, and doubt into careful consideration. We will also be able to use the knowledge we have gained of our own inner life to understand and help others deal with the defilements in their lives.

Lotus Seeds