All posts by John Hughes

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 6, 2019

He satisfied himself with what little he earned.
He did not wish to get anything more.
He did not notice the priceless gem
Fastened inside his garment.

These verses are part of a story told by Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya and other disciples in Chapter Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. It is about a man whose friend gives him a jewel while he is asleep. Not realizing he has this treasure, the man returns to his ordinary life, desperate to make a living and satisfy his ordinary desires. The story shows how we live when we forget about the jewel of Buddha nature we carry with us.

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

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Tatsunokuchi

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On 9/12/1271, Nichiren was arrested by Hei (Taira) no Yoritsuna (Hei no Saemon-no-jō, d. 1294), deputy chief of the samurai-dokoro, the board of retainers for the Hōjō, and sentenced to exile on the remote island of Sado in the Japan Sea. He was remanded to the custody of Honma Shigetsura, deputy governor of the island. His arrest was probably part of a larger bakufu move to subdue unruly elements in mobilizing their defenses against the Mongols. Nichiren himself wrote that, while he was formally sentenced to exile, Yoritsuna’s real intent was to have him beheaded that night, and he was taken to the execution grounds at Tatsunokuchi, but for some reason his life was spared. Later hagiographies, which elaborate on the drama of Nichiren’s arrest and near-beheading, say he was saved when a dazzling object streaked across the night sky, terrifying his executioners. Nichiren himself clearly felt that in some sense he had undergone a death and transformation: “On the twelfth night of the ninth month of last year, between the hours of the Rat and the Ox [11:00 pm to 3 am] the man called Nichiren was beheaded. This is his spirit (konpaku) that has come to the province of Sado and, in the second month of the following year, is writing this amid the snow.” (Page 257-258)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism


Profound

Relationship of Relative and Ultimate

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Three kinds of relationship between the Relative and Ultimate in terms of the Traces and Origin are delineated by Chih-i in order to convey their inconceivable reality as one entity.

  1. The Ultimate underlies the implementation of the Relative (Yüeh-shih Shih-ch’üan). Chih-i explains that the Buddha’s real intention in his teaching is for beings to recognize the Origin as the Ultimate Truth. However, the Ultimate is difficult to be measured by beings, for they have mistaken the Relative (i.e., Traces) as the Ultimate, and are unable to recognize the Relative or the Ultimate.
  2. The Relative has to be abandoned in order to reveal the Ultimate (Feich’üan Hsien-shih). Chih-i asserts that this meaning indicates that the Buddha’s real intention is for beings to recognize the Relative in order to prevent them from being attached to it.
  3. Opening the Relative and revealing the Ultimate (K’ai-ch’üan Hsien-shih). This is to prevent beings from being attached to the Ultimate and neglecting the importance of the Relative, since the Relative is an inseparable reality from the Ultimate (in the sense that the former reveals the latter). The relationship of these two is that the Relative contains the Ultimate as the latter underlies the former, and the Ultimate contains the Relative as the latter is derived from the former. These two are identical to each other, given that one cannot depart from the Relative to seek the Ultimate.
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 what happened when Never-Despising Bodhisattva heard the twenty thousand billion gāthās of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, we learn whose past lives are revealed in this story.

“Great-Power-Obtainer! What do you think of this? The Never-Despising Bodhisattva at that time was no one but myself. If I had not kept, read or recited this sūtra or expounded it to others in my previous existence, I should not have been able to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi so quickly. Because I kept, read and recited this sūtra, and expounded it to others under those past Buddhas, I attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi quickly.

“Great-Power-Obtainer! The four kinds of devotees: the bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, and upāsikās at that time failed to meet the Buddha, hear the Dharma, and see the Saṃgha for twenty thousand million kalpas because they abused me with anger. They suffered much in the Avici Hell for one thousand kalpas. Having expiated their sin in this way, they met [me, who was] Never-Despising Bodhisattva again, and were led into the Way to Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.

“Great-Power-Obtainer! What do you think of this? The four kinds of devotees who always abused [me, who was] that Bodhisattva at that time are now present here in this congregation in the persons of the five hundred Bodhisattvas including Bhadrapala, the five hundred bhikṣunīs including Lion-Moon, and the five hundred upāsakās including Thinking-Of-Buddha. Now they do not falter in seeking Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.

“Great-Power-Obtainer, know this! This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma benefits Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, and causes them to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Therefore, they should keep, read, recite, expound and copy this sūtra after my extinction.”

The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra says Chih-i used this chapter to explain that nothing good comes into being without evil:

In Chih-i’s view, nothing good comes into being without evil. Evil assists sentient beings in pursuing good deeds and in accumulating merits. This is exemplified through evidence from the Lotus Sūtra. One example is drawn from one of the previous lives of the Buddha, when he was known as Sadāparibhūta-bodhisattva. This bodhisattva bowed humbly to everyone, claiming that someday they would all become Buddhas. His actions infuriated many people, and they scolded and beat him. As a result, those beings had to suffer from their karman in hell. However, as soon as they paid their dues, the cause and condition of their previous meeting with the bodhisattva matured, and they were able to meet the Buddha in their present lifetime. Upon receiving the Buddha’s teaching in the Lotus Sūtra, they entered the stage of non-retrogression (Skr., avinivartanīya). This case shows that the evil karman of beings in the past gives rise to the opportunity for beings to be taught by the Buddha in the present. This benefit is produced by the evil karman from one’s former action. Chih-i regards this situation as “the evil of oneself aiding the good of oneself.” Another example illustrates the benefit that is produced by the evil karman of others. This refers to the Buddha’s cousin Devadatta, who is regarded as an evil person because of attempting to kill the Buddha and alienating the Buddha’s saṃgha (community). However, the Buddha claims that Devadatta is a good friend. Chih-i uses this example to argue, “The evil of others can aid the good of oneself.” (Vol. 2, Page 259-260)

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


History of Japanese Religion

Nichiren’s Buddhist Church

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Nichiren’s conception of the Buddhist Church was an extension of his idea of the paradise inherent in every soul and to be realized in the life of each enlightened soul as well as in the universal communion of such souls.

History of Japanese Religion

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 5, 2019

Anyone who visits a monastery to hear
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
And rejoices at hearing it even for a moment,
Will be able to obtain the following merits:

The Buddha sings these verses to Maitreya (whom he calls Ajita – Invincible) in Chapter Eighteen of the Lotus Sutra. The joy we find in the Buddha’s highest teaching is different from what we experience when our desires are satisfied. It is a joy we can learn to find at the heart of everything we think, say and do. The merit that comes from this joy does not make us better than anyone else; it only allows to see the world as the Buddha does. Joy is not something that needs to be added to our lives. It is what we find remaining when we let go of our attachment and delusion.

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

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Defiance of Worldly Authority

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In later life, Nichiren’s conviction that all the people of Japan in his day were slanderers of the Lotus Sūtra would underscore his advocacy of shakubuku (to “break and subdue”), the “stern method” of teaching the Dharma by assertively rebuking “wrong views.” To the rhetoric of rebuking slander he assimilated both the Buddhist ideal of bodhisattva conduct and the Confucian virtues of loyalty and filial piety. One rebukes another’s slander to save that person from the hells and to provide the karmic connection to the Lotus that alone enables the realization of Buddhahood; thus Nichiren regarded shakubuku as an act of bodhisattva-like compassion and the highest form of service to that person. In addition, Nichiren argued that not to obey a sovereign or parent who opposed the Lotus Sūtra was the true form of loyalty and filial devotion, thus appropriating Confucian virtues in a way that could in some cases legitimize, or even mandate, defiance of worldly authority. (Page 255-256)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism


Profound

Teaching and Practice

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Respecting the teaching and practice, whereas the Origin refers to the teaching and the Traces refers to the practice, Chih-i states that the teaching functions as the foundation for practice to arise, but without practice, one cannot attain an encounter with the teaching (from which the principle can be manifested). Therefore, the indispensability of these two parties renders a single inconceivable reality. (Vol. 2, Page 320)

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


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 eight hundred merits of the body, we consider the twelve hundred merits of the mind.

“Furthermore, Constant-Endeavor! The good men or women who keep, read, recite expound or copy this sūtra after my extinction, will be able to obtain twelve hundred merits of the mind. When they hear even a gāthā or a phrase [of this sūtra] with their pure minds, they will be able to understand the innumerable meanings [of this sūtra]. When they understand the meanings [of this sūtra] and expound even a phrase or a gāthā [of this sūtra] for a month, four months, or a year, their teachings will be consistent with the meanings [of this sūtra], and not against the reality of all things. When they expound the scriptures of non-Buddhist schools, or give advice to the government, or teach the way to earn a livelihood, they will be able to be in accord with the right teachings of the Buddha. They will be able to know all the thoughts, deeds, and words, however meaningless, of the living beings of the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds each of which is composed of the six regions. Although they have not yet obtained the wisdom-without-āsravas, they will be able to have their minds purified as previously stated. Whatever they think, measure or say will be all true, and consistent not only with my teachings but also with the teachings that the past Buddhas have already expounded in their sūtras.”

The Daily Dharma for Nov. 1, 2018, offers this:

They will be able to know all the thoughts, deeds, and words, however meaningless, of the living beings of the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds each of which is composed of the six regions. Although they have not yet obtained the wisdom-without-āsravas, they will be able to have their minds purified as previously stated. Whatever they think, measure or say will be all true, and consistent not only with my teachings but also with the teachings that the past Buddhas have already expounded in their sūtras.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. Paradoxically, the process of clarifying our minds so that we can see things for what they are is not an intellectual exercise. The practice of the Wonderful Dharma is not based on learning complicated theories or arcane facts. It can be as simple as chanting Odaimoku sincerely, awakening our nature as Bodhisattvas, and working for the benefit of all beings.

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

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Feb. 4, 2019

When he sat on that seat, the Brahman-heavenly-kings rained heavenly flowers on the area extending a hundred yojanas in all directions from that seat. From time to time withered flowers were blown away by fragrant winds and new flowers were rained down. [The Brahman-heavenly-kings] continued this offering to him for fully ten small kalpas. [After he attained Buddhahood also,] they continued raining flowers until he passed away.

The Buddha describes the life of an ancient Buddha named Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, when that Buddha took the seat from which he would become enlightened, the gods who created his world recognized the immense benefit all beings were about to receive and showed their joy by filling the skies with these beautiful flowers. After that Buddha became enlightened, gods from innumerable other worlds came to his world to make offerings, giving up the pleasures of their own worlds. The enlightenment of any being extends beyond the personal contact we have with any that being. It changes the entire universe.

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