In keeping with Nichiren’s increased emphasis on the Lotus Sūtra as the exclusive vehicle of salvation in the Final Dharma age, his writings during the Izu period also show a growing concern with the evil of “slander of the Dharma” (hōbō), a sin elaborated in detail in a number of Mahāyāna sūtras but which Nichiren understood as willful disbelief in or rejection of the Lotus Sūtra. Believers in the Lotus Sūtra, in his thought, ordinarily need not fear rebirth in the hells, whatever their mis deeds: “Apart from discarding faith in the Lotus Sūtra to follow an advocate of provisional teachings, all other worldly evil acts cannot equal [in weight] the merit of the Lotus; thus those who have faith in the Lotus Sūtra will not fall into the three evil paths.” Slander of the Lotus Sūtra, however, “exceeds a thousand times” the five perverse offenses (gogyakuzai) of killing one’s mother, father, or an arhat; causing the body of the Buddha to bleed; or disrupting the harmony of the sangha; and is the cause for falling into the Avici Hell. Thus the practitioner of the Lotus has a duty to rebuke slander, whatever the personal consequences: “No matter what great good one may produce, even if one reads and transcribes the entire Lotus Sūtra a thousand or ten thousand times, or masters the way of contemplating the three thousand realms in one thought-moment, if one fails to rebuke enemies of the Lotus Sūtra, one cannot attain the Way.” (Page 255)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismAll posts by John Hughes
The Inconceivable Reality
Chih-i’s illustration of the inconceivable reality of the Origin and the Traces in the context of six polar concepts reveals the significance of both entities: the Origin is what the Traces are based upon, and the Traces are what manifest the Origin. (Vol. 2, Page 320)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismDay 23
Day 23 covers all of Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, and opens Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.
Having last month completed Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, we begin Chapter 19: The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.
Thereupon the Buddha said to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva:
“The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the eye, twelve hundred merits of the ear, eight hundred merits of the nose, twelve hundred merits of the tongue, eight hundred merits of the body, and twelve hundred merits of the mind. They will be able to adorn and purify their six sense-organs with these merits.
The Daily Dharma from Jan. 29, 2019, offers this:
The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the eye, twelve hundred merits of the ear, eight hundred merits of the nose, twelve hundred merits of the tongue, eight hundred merits of the body, and twelve hundred merits of the mind.
The Buddha gives this teaching in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra. This is another reminder that the practice of the Wonderful Dharma does not take us out of the world of conflict we live in. Instead, it helps us to use the senses we have, in ways we did not think were possible, to see the world for what it is. Merits in this sense are not status symbols. They are an indication of clarity, of our faculties not being impeded by anything that blocks their capacity.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Daily Dharma – Feb. 3, 2019
Bhikṣus! It is a very long time since that Buddha passed away. Suppose someone smashed all the earth-particles of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds into ink-powder. Then he went to the east[, carrying the ink-powder with him]. He inked a dot as large as a particle of dust [with that ink-powder] on the world at a distance of one thousand worlds from his world. Then he went again and repeated the inking of a dot on the world at every distance of one thousand worlds until the ink-powder was exhausted. What do you think of this? Do you think that any mathematician or any disciple of a mathematician could count the number of the worlds [he went through]?
The Buddha gives this explanation in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. Our concept of time can be limited to what happens in the brief existence we enjoy in this world. We often feel we have no time for what is necessary, much less what we enjoy. With this limited viewpoint, we can find it hard to believe that we have enough time to become enlightened. The Buddha reminds us that there is no shortage of time, and that in all of our existence, we will have opportunities to increase our capacity to benefit others.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Primary and Dependent Karmic Recompense
THE LAND OR COUNTRY (KORU): “Country” here means a land inhabited by a specific people. From the viewpoint that the “self” at present is the concatenation of all past deeds, living beings represent primary karmic recompense (shōhō) and the land they inhabit, dependent recompense (ehō). The two are understood as nondual (eshō funi), like body and shadow. Thus, in correspondence to the capacity of their inhabitants, lands or countries may be said to have an affinity to particular teachings. Following earlier Tendai thinkers such as Saichō, Annen, and Genshin, Nichiren argued that the country of Japan is related exclusively to the Lotus Sūtra. However, such claims on the part of Annen and others were inevitably linked to the authority of their religious institution, the Enryakuji on Mt. Hiei, as a major cultic center for the rites of nation-protection. In Nichiren’s hands, the same claim served to challenge the authority of Mt. Hiei and other leading cultic centers, as well as the rulers who supported them, by arguing that they did not preserve unadulterated the teaching of the Lotus, which alone could truly protect the country, but had contaminated it with Mikkyō, Pure Land, and other “inferior” teachings. Indeed, part of Nichiren’s idea of Japan was that it had become “a country of slanderers of the Dharma”; hence one disaster was destined to follow upon another. (Page 254-255)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismExplaining the Origin and the Traces
Explaining the Origin and the Traces (Shih Pen-chi)
In order to address the concept Origin, Chih-i finds it necessary to explain the relationship between the Origin and the Traces by means of defining these two in the context of the six polar notions in terms of the principle and facts, principle and teaching, teaching and practice, substance and function, relative and ultimate, and present and past. These six notions designate the Origin and the Traces six different definitions.
- In terms of the principle and facts (Li-shih), the Origin is defined as the principle, and embodies the nature of emptiness; and the Traces are defined as the facts and refer to all entities of worldly phenomena.
- In terms of the principle and teaching (Li-chiao), the Origin is defined as the principle, and refers to both the principle as the Absolute Truth and the facts as the Worldly Truth; and the Traces are defined as the teaching and refer to the teaching of the principle and facts.
- In terms of the teaching and practice (Chiao-hsing), the Origin is defined as the teaching, and refers to the teaching of the principle and facts, and the Traces are defined as the practice, and refer to the practice that is derived from this teaching.
- In terms of the substance and function (T’i-yung), the Origin is defined as the substance, and refers to the Dharma-body (dharmakāya); and the Traces are defined as the function, and refer to the Transformation body (nirmāvakāya) that is derived from this substance.
- In terms of the relative and ultimate (Ch’üan-shih), the Origin is defined as the Ultimate Truth, and refers to the ultimate attainment of the substance and function by the eternal Buddha; and the Traces are defined as the Relative Truth and refers to the relative implementation of the substance and the function by the historical Buddha.
- In terms of the present and past (Chin-i), the Origin is defined as the present, and refers to what is revealed for the first time in the present Lotus Sūtra concerning the eternal Buddha; and the Traces are defined as the past and refers to what has been already known in the previous sūtras, concerning historical Buddha Śākyamuni.
Through these six definitions, Chih-i reveals not only the content of the Origin and the Traces, but also the relationship between the two: The Origin is fundamental, and the Traces arise from the Origin. Nevertheless, the content of the Origin and the Traces is not fixed but takes turns to define each other in the subsequent context of different polar concepts. This reflects a complementary and interactive relation between the Origin and the Traces and is Chih-i’s endeavor to demonstrate that the Origin contains the Traces, and the Traces contain the Origin. Chih-i argues that the Origin and the Traces are different and not different. They are different because they bear different definitions in each of the six polar concepts, and they are not different because they are defined by their counterpart in each of the subsequent polar concepts. Hence, the Origin and the Traces are inconceivable, and this inconceivable reality that underlies the Origin and the Traces is further illustrated by Chih-i, who claims that although the Origin and the Traces are different with six meanings, they share the same inconceivable reality. (Vol. 2, Page 318-319)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismDay 22
Day 22 covers all of Chapter 17, The Variety of Merits.
Having last month considered the merits of the good men or women who do not speak ill of this sūtra, we consider the merits of those who keep or copy this sūtra or causes others to copy it after my extinction.
“Ajita! Anyone who, after hearing this sūtra, keeps or copies it or causes others to copy it after my extinction, should be considered to have already built many hundreds of thousands of billions of monasteries, that is to say, innumerable monasteries, each of which was installed with thirty-two beautiful halls made of red candana, eight times as tall as the tala-tree, and spacious enough to accommodate one hundred thousand bhikṣus. He also should be considered to have already furnished [those monasteries] with gardens, forests, pools for bathing, promenades, and caves for the practice of dhyāna, and filled [those monasteries] with clothing, food, drink, bedding, medicine, and things for amusements, and offered [those monasteries] to me and to the Saṃgha of bhikṣus in my presence. Therefore, I say, ‘Anyone who keeps, reads or recites this sūtra, expounds it to others, copies it, causes others to copy it, or makes offerings to a copy of it after my extinction, need not build a stupa or a monastery, or make offering to the Saṃgha.’ Needless to say, anyone who not only keeps this sūtra but also gives alms, observe the precepts, practices patience, makes endeavors, concentrates his mind, and seeks wisdom, will be able to obtain the most excellent and innumerable merits. His merits will be as limitless as the sky is in the east, west, south, north, the four intermediate quarters, the zenith, and the nadir. These innumerable merits of his will help him obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things.
The Introduction to the Lotus Sutra offers this on Hearing and Accepting by Faith:
The previous chapter, “The Duration of the Life of the Tathagata,” explained that the Buddha’s life span is eternal. This teaching is the most important of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, the merits or benefits which the teaching brings us must be immeasurably great. That indeed is the case. This chapter, the “Variety of Merits,” minutely delineates the benefits coming to anyone who hears Chapter Sixteen and accepts it by faith. The “variety” referred to means classifying and explaining those benefits in detail.
Introduction to the Lotus SutraPenitence
What is penitence in the Lotus Sutra? The first thing you should do is be calm and obedient before the Buddha, and recognize your immaturity by yourself. It does not matter whether you feel a sense of guilt or not, but have penitence to the Buddha and pray to extinguish your bad karma with the Odaimoku. It is said that a penitence or repentance service was held by the Buddha for his disciples or congregation regularly when He was still alive. The echo of penitence with Odaimoku enters into our body through our ears and sinks deeply into the Alaya-shiki, extinguishing the nested bad karmas one after another, and Odaimoku is stored in your Alaya-shiki as good karma.
Nichiren Shonin says: “Even if the bad karma is small, if you don’t have penitence, you will surely have to reap the gravest. Even if you have deep bad karma, through your penitence to the Buddha, the karma will disappear.” (Konichi-bo Gosho)
Summer WritingsInnumerable Merits Of The Lotus Sūtra
One character in sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra, or name of Buddhas other than the Original Śākyamuni Buddha, is like a drop of river water, or a stone in the mountains or ocean. Unlike a drop of sea water, a drop of river water does not contain the water of numerous rivers, and a stone in the mountains or ocean doesn’t have the merit of numerous stones. However, … the Lotus Sūtra has innumerable merits; therefore, you may freely chant any of its chapters.
Gassui Gasho, A Letter on Menstruation, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 28
Daily Dharma – Feb. 2, 2019
The king and queen took off their necklaces of pearls worth hundreds of thousands, and strewed the necklaces to the Buddha. The necklaces flew up to the sky [seven times as high as the tāla-tree], and changed into a jeweled platform equipped with four pillars. On the platform was a couch of great treasures, and thousands of millions of heavenly garments were spread [on the couch]. The Buddha [went up,] sat cross-legged [on the couch], and emitted great rays of light. King Wonderful-Adornment thought, ‘The Buddha is exceptional. He is exceedingly handsome. He has the most wonderful form.’
The Buddha uses this description as part of the story of King Wonderful-Adornment in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. This King was led by the supernatural powers of his children to meet Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star- King Flower-Wisdom Buddha who was teaching the Wonderful Dharma in that world. The King and his wife the Queen were both so inspired by that Buddha that they allowed the symbols of their wealth and power to be transformed into a sacred platform from which the Buddha could lead all beings to enlightenment. When they found that Buddha, the beauty of his wisdom far outshone the beauty of their jewels.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com