Having last month considered the first set of peaceful practices, we consider that all things are insubstantial.
“The Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas also should know the following truth. All things are insubstantial. They are as they are. Things are not perverted. They do not move. They do not go. They do not turn. They have nothing substantial just as the sky has not. They are inexplicable. They are not born. They do not appear. They do not rise. They are nameless. They are formless. They have no property. They are immeasurable and limitless. They have no obstacle or hindrance. He should see all this. Things can exist only by dependent origination. Only perverted people say, ‘Things are permanent and pleasant.’ This truth is the second thing he should approach.”
The Buddha gives this explanation to Mañjuśrī in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. The Buddha does not see the world as we do. This section explains how changing our view changes the world. When we no longer see beings with power to overwhelm us, and see beings in whom delusions have been created, we see our abilities to cut the root of those delusions and benefit them. These passages are what make the Lotus Sutra difficult to believe and understand, since they go against our habits of manipulating the world to become happy. As we learn to work with our minds, then we truly change the world.
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Another important principle of non-dualism taught in Nichiren Buddhism is that self-centered desires, which afflict our lives and create so much unhappiness, are themselves awakening. At first glance, this seems not only absurd but dangerous. Indeed, this principle has caused much misunderstanding and mischief down through the ages. Various people have misused this idea as a justification for indulging their egotism and hedonistic impulses in the name of awakened activity. However, when this principle is understood properly, it provides us with a healthy and productive way of relating to our own emotions and needs.
My body is pure and indestructible.
I will appear in any of many thousands of billions of worlds
During many hundreds of millions of kalpas,
And expound the Dharma to the living beings.
The Buddha sings these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. We can hear these lines and assume that the body of the Buddha is somehow a permanent version of the man who lived in this world of conflict 2500 years ago. The body of the Buddha takes many forms. We can see it in his teachings: the Wonderful Dharma he left for us. We can see it in every raindrop, every mountain, every smile and snarling face that comes into our lives. We can see it in the capacity we and all beings have to shed our delusions and live peacefully. The Buddha is always leading us to our better selves, whether we realize it or not.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
In addition to its meaning as ultimate truth or principle, Nichiren also used the term honzon in its more conventional sense to mean a physical icon forming the focus of practice, in this case, Lotus Sūtra recitation and the chanting of the daimoku. His honzon in this sense had plural forms. During Nichiren’s lifetime, the honzon most commonly used by his followers appears to have been a calligraphic mandala of his own devising, which he referred to variously as the “great mandala” (daimandara) or the “revered object of worship” (gohonzon). On this mandala the daimoku is written vertically as a central inscription, flanked by the names of Śākyamuni, Many Jewels, and the other personages who were present at the assembly in open space above Eagle Peak where the core of the origin teaching of the Lotus Sūtra was expounded. (Page 274)
Contemplating mind by going through dharmas (Lei Li-fa Wei-kuan)
Sūtra that is explained by going through dharmas can be approached by contemplating mind. How is this mind contemplation accomplished? This is to identify two opposite aspects as one identical entity, which is of no-distinction of neither this nor that. To be specific, Chih-i points out that if a Mahāyānist contemplates his mind, he contemplates evil mind as being non-evil mind. This means that evil is identical to good and is also neither evil nor good. He contemplates wholesome mind as being non-wholesome mind. This means that non-wholesome is identified with evil and is also neither wholesome nor evil. He contemplates one mind being identical to three minds (i.e., Emptiness, the Provisional Existence, and the Middle Way). With these three kinds of mind that embrace all dharmas, he experiences all minds and all dharmas. In other words, all dharmas are contained in one mind, and mind reflects the true reality that consists of three aspects (Emptiness, the Provisionality, and the Middle Way). One and three is identical to each other, given that three aspects describe one true reality, and one reality consists of three aspects. Such a way of contemplating mind is the foundation for all words, principle and practices. By contemplating mind, each of the meanings sūtra contains can all be embraced by the mind. (Vol. 2, Page 399)
Having last month witnessed the daughter of the dragon-king become a Buddha and concluded Chapter 12, Devadatta, we begin today’s portion of Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sūtra, with Medicine-King Bodhisattva-mahāsattva and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva-mahāsattva’s vow to uphold the Lotus Sūtra.
Thereupon Medicine-King Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, together with their twenty-thousand attendants who were also Bodhisattvas, vowed to the Buddha:
“World-Honored One, do not worry! We will keep, read, recite and expound this sūtra after your extinction. The living beings in the evil world after [your extinction] will have less roots of good, more arrogance, more greed for offerings of worldly things, and more roots of evil. It will be difficult to teach them because they will go away from emancipation. But we will patiently read, recite, keep, expound and copy this sūtra, and make various offerings to it. We will not spare even our lives [in doing all this].”
Nichiren used this chapter’s prediction of the difficulty in spreading the dharma to explain the troubles he faced. For example, in his Letter to Hōren:
It is most important for a man of wisdom to spread the Lotus Sūtra by keeping the difference of time in mind. For instance, for those who are thirsty, water is just what is necessary, not a bow and arrow or arms. What is needed for a naked person is clothing, not water. One can understand the overarching principle through this one example. If a fierce god spreads the Lotus Sūtra, you should donate your own flesh to him because a fierce god is fond of flesh. It is useless to donate clothing or other food to him. If an evil king tries to destroy the Lotus Sūtra, never obey his order even at the cost of life. When high priests who observe the precepts and are devoted to the pursuit of faith pretend to spread the Lotus Sūtra outwardly, but try to destroy it inwardly, you must reprimand them vigorously. The Lotus Sūtra, “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra” chapter, admonishes us to, “Solely to venerate the Supreme Way without sparing one’s own life.” It is preached in the Nirvana Sūtra, “Even at the cost of life, one should not conceal the king’s orders.” Grand Master Chang-an interprets this in his Annotation on the Nirvana Sūtra, “The reason why it is said that even at the cost of life one should not conceal the teaching is because life is not as important as the Dharma. We must spread the Dharma even at the cost of life.”
Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 58
Those who seek the enlightenment of the Buddha
Are as various as previously stated.
A kalpa will not be long enough
To describe the variety of them.
The Buddha speaks these verses in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. We may believe that only some kinds of people will hear the teaching of the Buddha. In this passage the Buddha reminds us that we cannot predict who will be able to join us in our practice and who will not. This is why it is so important to maintain our vow as Bodhisattvas to benefit all beings.
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Nichiren uses the term “object of worship” or honzon to mean not only a physical icon used for ritual, contemplative, or devotional purposes— the common meaning of the word in his time—but also the principle or reality which that object is said to embody. His various writings explain the object of worship in this latter sense from two perspectives. From one view, it is the original Buddha. For example:
[The people of] Japan as well as all of Jambudvīpa should as one take Śākyamuni, master of teachings, of the origin teaching as their object of worship – that is to say, Śākyamuni and Many-Jewels within the jeweled stūpa along with all the other Buddhas, flanked by Superior Conduct and the others of the four bodhisattvas.
In other writings, the object of worship is said to be the Lotus Sūtra, or Myōhō-renge-kyō, itself:
Question: What should ordinary worldlings in the evil days of the last age take as their object of worship?
Answer: They should make the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra their object of worship. …
Question: . . . Why do you not take Śākyamuni as the object of worship, but instead, the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra?
Answer: … This is not my interpretation. Lord Śākyamuni and T’ient’ai [Chih-i] both established the Lotus Sūtra as the object of worship…. The reason is that the Lotus Sūtra is the father and mother of Śākyamuni and the eye of all Buddhas. Śākyamuni, Dainichi, and the Buddhas of the ten directions were all born of the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore I now take as object of worship that which gives birth [to the Buddhas.]
These two views at first seem contradictory. However, if “Säkyamuni” in the passage first cited is understood to be the eternal Buddha, the apparent contradiction dissolves. The eternal Säkyamuni and the Dharma (i.e., the daimoku of the Lotus Sütra) are two aspects of an identity; the “three thousand worlds in one thought-moment as actuality” for Nichiren describes both the insigh t of the original Buddha and the truth by which that Buddha is awakened.
Chih-i illustrates the five meanings of sūtra (in the view concerning the word sūtra as translatable) with reference to the mind contemplation. …
In terms of the mind that is related to the meaning “wholesome teaching”, this means that mind can be taken as the teaching of wholesome words. Mind can also be taken as the teaching of wholesome practice, and wholesome principle. Thus, mind can be extended to contain the meaning track, constancy, and facts.
In terms of the mind as track, Chih-i explicates that if there is no contemplation, there is no rule to follow. Because of correct contemplation, mind is in charge. Because of the mind that is correctly in charge, the intention in the mind is also correct, so are practice and principle. If the mind that is in charge tallies with the principle, the intention also tallies with the principle. Therefore, mind can be regarded as track.
In terms of the mind as constancy, Chih-i explains that the nature of mind is constantly in concentration, which is like empty space. Such empty space cannot be ruined. Evil consciousness cannot ruin wholesome consciousness, deviant deeds cannot hinder correct deeds, and deviant principle cannot break correct principle. Therefore, mind is regarded as constancy.
In terms of the mind as facts, Chih-i explains that everything directing at the mind is taken as contemplation. The accomplishment of the contemplation of wisdom is not in contradistinction to the facts. This is like the fire that aids firewood: the facts and principle are not apart. Written language is contained in nonwritten language. One does not abandon written language in order to contemplate one’s mind. (Vol. 2, Page 398-399)
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.
Having last month witnessed Many-Treasures Buddha in the stūpa of treasures offer a half of his seat to Śākyamuni, we repeat in gāthās with Śākyamuni’s explanation of Many-Treasures Buddha in the stūpa of treasures and the Buddhas of the replicas.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
The Saintly Master, the World-Honored One,
Who had passed away a long time ago,
Came riding in the stūpa of treasures
To hear the Dharma [directly from me].
Could anyone who sees him
Not make efforts to hear the Dharma?
It is innumerable kalpas
Since he passed away.
He wished to hear the Dharma at any place
Because the Dharma is difficult to meet.
His original vow was this:
“After I pass away,
I will go to any place
To hear the Dharma.”
The Buddhas of my replicas
As innumerable
As there are sands in the River Ganges
Also came here
From their wonderful worlds,
Parting from their disciples,
And giving up the offerings made to them
By gods, men and dragons,
ln order to hear the Dharma,
See Many-Treasures Tathāgata,
Who passed away [a long time ago],
And have the Dharma preserved forever.
I removed innumerable living beings from many worlds,
And purified those worlds
By my supernatural powers
In order to seat those Buddhas.
Those Buddhas came under the jeweled trees.
The trees are adorned with those Buddhas
Just as a pond of pure water is adorned
With lotus flowers.
There are lion-like seats
Under the jeweled trees.
Those Buddhas sat on the seats.
The worlds are adorned
With the light of those Buddhas as bright
As a great torch in the darkness of night.
Wonderful fragrance is sent forth
From the bodies of those Buddhas
To the worlds of the ten quarters.
The living beings of those worlds
Smell the fragrance joyfully,
Just as the branches of a tree bend before a strong wind.
Those Buddhas employ these expedients
In order to have the Dharma preserved forever.
Nichiren points out in his Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching letter that all of this is preparatory for what’s coming in Chapter 16:
Now in the “Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures,” the eleventh chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, a step was taken in preparation for revealing the Eternal Buddha in the sixteenth chapter on “The Life Span of the Buddha.” It is stated in the “Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures” chapter that Śākyamuni Buddha, who had attained enlightenment for the first time only forty years or so before under the bodhi tree at Buddhagayā, India, called the crowd of Buddhas, who had obtained Buddhahood as far before as a kalpa or ten, “My manifestations.” This was against the principle of equality among Buddhas and greatly surprised everyone. If Śākyamuni Buddha had attained enlightenment only forty years or so before, large crowds of people all over the universe would not be waiting for His guidance. Even if He was capable of appearing in manifestation to guide them in various worlds, it would have been of no use. Grand Master T’ien-t’ai said in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 9, “Since there are so many of His manifestations, we should know that He has been the Buddha for a long time.” It represents the consternation of the great assembly, men and gods who were surprised at the great number of Buddhas in manifestation (funjin).
Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 69-70
