Nichiren’s writings during the Izu exile show the emergence of several new elements in his thought. One is a deepened sense of personal connection between himself and the Lotus Sūtra. The sūtra speaks of trials and difficulties that will attend its practice and propagation in the evil age after the Buddha’s nirvāṇa. “Hatred and jealousy toward this sūtra abound even during the Buddha’s lifetime; how much more so after his nirvāṇa!” Such passages, cast in the form of predictions uttered by the Buddha or great bodhisattvas, probably served to give meaning to the opposition from established Buddhist schools encountered by the Mahāyāna community that had compiled the sūtra. In exile, Nichiren began to read them as speaking specifically to his own circumstances and expressed delight that he was able to live in his own person the persecutions predicted in the sūtra. “The devotees (jikyōsha) of the Lotus Sūtra in Japan have not yet experienced these scriptural passages. I alone have read them. This is the meaning [of the statement]: ‘We do not value bodily life but cherish only the unexcelled way.’ ” (Page 251-252)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismAll posts by John Hughes
The Practice of the Perfect Teaching
The practice of the Perfect Teaching concerns embracing all practices in a single mind. This is to say that one practice can embrace all practices, and all practices can be represented by one practice. This is because the Middle Way of the Perfect Teaching is taken by Chih-i as the Ultimate Truth that can view the fundamental identity of all things, whereby the whole reality can be instantaneously grasped through one practice. Realizing that the part is identical to the whole, one does not need to go through immeasurable practices. One’s mind that contains the whole universe enables one to embrace all practices.* (Vol. 2, Page 297)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism*See Nichiren’s warning.
Day 17
Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.
Having last month heard Śāriputra’s objection to the daughter of the dragon-king becoming a Buddha, we witness the daughter of the dragon-king become a Buddha.
At that time the daughter of the dragon-king had a gem. The gem was worth one thousand million Sumeru-worlds. She offered it to the Buddha. The Buddha received it immediately. She asked both Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva and Venerable Śāriputra, “I offered a gem to the World-Honored One. Did he receive it quickly or not?”
Both of them answered, “Very quickly.”
She said, “Look at me with your supernatural powers! I will become a Buddha more quickly.”
Thereupon the congregation saw that the daughter of the dragon-king changed into a man all of a sudden, performed the Bodhisattva practices, went to the Spotless World in the south, sat on a jeweled lotus-flower, attained perfect enlightenment, obtained the thirty-two major marks and the eighty minor marks [of the Buddha], and [began to] expound the Wonderful Dharma to the living beings of the worlds of the ten quarters. Having seen from afar that [the man who had been] the daughter of the dragon-king had become a Buddha and [begun to] expound the Dharma to the men and gods in his congregation, all the living beings of the Sahā-World, including Bodhisattvas, Śrāvakas, gods, dragons, the [six other kinds, that is, in total] eight kinds of supernatural beings, men, and nonhuman beings, bowed [to that Buddha] with great joy. Having heard the Dharma [from that Buddha], [a group of] innumerable living beings [of that world] understood the Dharma, and reached the stage of irrevocability, and [another group of] innumerable living beings [of that world] obtained the assurance of their future attainment of enlightenment. At that time the Spotless World quaked in the six ways. Three thousand living beings of the Sahā World reached the stage of irrevocability, and another group of three thousand living beings [of the Sahā-World] aspired for Bodhi, and obtained the assurance of their future attainment of enlightenment. The Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva, Śāriputra, and all the other living beings in the congregation received the Dharma faithfully and in silence.
On the topic of the daughter of the dragon-king becoming a Buddha, Nichiren writes in Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers:
Speaking of attainment of Buddhahood by this female dragon, therefore, Grand Master Miao-lê writes, “The great blessing despite little practice shows the power of the Lotus Sūtra. “As this female dragon is indebted to the Lotus Sūtra for attaining Buddhahood, how could she abandon practicers of the sūtra even without the Buddha’s command? So, she says in verse praising the Buddha,”I will widely disseminate Mahāyāna Buddhism to save the suffering people.” This vow of the female dragon is at the same time the vow of all the dragons who follow her, which is so deep that the mouth cannot express it and the mind cannot fathom it. The Sāgara Dragon King, father of the female dragon, was a beast in body but had a deep compassion for his children that he gave the greatest treasure in the ocean, a wish-fulfilling gem to his daughter as a donation upon her attainment of Buddhahood with the present body. This gem was worth as much as all things in the whole world.
Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 63-64
Joy of Faith
When we have joy, we should realize that true joy is to live along with the Buddha. We should practice harder and not wallow in earthly pleasures. We can make earthly pleasure a starting point for true joy.
Thus, while living in this world with suffering and joy, we live along with the Buddha and Nichiren Shōnin. Living with religious joy rising out of the suffering and joy in this world is called Jiju Hōraku; this is receiving joy of the Dharma by oneself. As we are living in this defiled world of reality with our defiled bodies, we are living along with the Buddha in this Pure Land. It is this joy of faith that is the resolution of our sufferings.
Buddha Seed: Understanding the OdaimokuDaily Dharma – Jan. 28, 2019
We know the defects of the Lesser Vehicle.
But we do not know how to obtain
The unsurpassed wisdom of the Buddha.
The Buddha’s disciples Maudgalyāyana, Subhūti and Mahā-Kātyāyana sing these verses in Chapter Six of the Lotus Sūtra. They have heard the Buddha teach that the expedient teachings about Suffering are incomplete. However they still have not yet embraced the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra which leads all beings to enlightenment. Nichiren explained, in his Treatise on Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, how teachings that came before the Lotus Sūtra were based on the mind of the hearer, where the Wonderful Dharma is itself the mind of the Buddha. When we read, recite, copy and expound the Lotus Sūtra, we are becoming of one mind with the Buddha.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Creation of an Independent Nichiren Hokke Tradition
Had Nichiren not publicly attacked Hōnen’s teaching and come into conflict with the bakufu, his following might have remained simply another branch of medieval Tendai, and an independent Nichiren Hokke tradition might never have emerged. However, his failure to win an official hearing, followed by the sentence of exile, forced him into an adversarial position from which he would begin to define his religion over and against that of the ruling elites. Of low status from the outset and now under criminal sentence, Nichiren would increasingly articulate his message from the standpoint of someone on the margins in challenge to the center. More precisely, he would elaborate a world view and mythic vision in which center and periphery were reversed. (Page 251)
Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese BuddhismFour Dharma-Doors
[W]hen various groups of retinues are examined in terms of the Four Teachings, they are classified by Chih-i into coarse or subtle. Retinues that belong to the Tripiṭaka, the Common and the Separate Teachings are coarse, except for the ones of the Perfect Teaching that are subtle. As the Perfect Teaching concerning universal salvation that is represented by the Lotus Sūtra, Chih-i maintains that in the Lotus Sūtra, all retinues of the Buddha are considered to be subtle. For Chih-i, the Four Teachings are the four ways of reaching truth, and thus, are the four Dharma-doors. (vOL. 2, Page 293)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismDay 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.
Having last month witnessed Śākyamuni open the Stupa of Treasures, we witness Many-Treasures Buddha in the stūpa of treasures offer a half of his seat to Śākyamuni.
Thereupon Many-Treasures Buddha in the stūpa of treasures offered a half of his seat to Śākyamuni Buddha, saying, “Śākyamuni Buddha, sit here!”
Śākyamuni Buddha entered the stūpa and sat on the half-seat with his legs crossed. The great multitude, having seen the two Tathāgatas sitting cross-legged on the lion-like seat in the stūpa of the seven treasures, thought, “The seat of the Buddhas is too high. Tathāgata! Raise us up by your supernatural powers so that we may be able to be with you in the sky!”
Thereupon Śākyamuni Buddha raised them up to the sky by his supernatural powers, and said to the four kinds of devotees with in a loud voice:
“Who will expound the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in this Saha-World? Now is the time to do this. I shall enter into Nirvana before long. I wish to transmit this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to someone so that this sūtra may be preserved.”
The Daily Dharma from Dec. 20, 2018, offers this:
“Who will expound the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in this Sahā-World? Now is the time to do this. I shall enter into Nirvāṇa before long. I wish to transmit this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to someone so that this sūtra may be preserved.”
The Buddha asks this of those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. If there had been no one among those listening who was able to expound the Sūtra, he would not have asked this question. Our ability to benefit others with the Buddha Dharma is not based on our eloquence, our intelligence or our position in life. It is based only on our faith in the Buddha’s teachings and our determination to benefit others. When we read, recite, and copy the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha is transmitting it to us. We preserve the Sūtra through our practice.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
See the Good Things
Going lightly on ourselves, realizing that the teaching of the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra are peaceful and pleasant and we can obtain wonderful merits, means that we should abandon wrong views. Being gentle of mind is being gentle towards others and ourselves. Learning to celebrate the good things, to even see the good things in our lives takes practice and skill, especially if we have listened to our mental tapes or the messages of others that try to tell us we are not worthy. Try this out. Today for half the day look around you and really pay attention to all the things that are red. See if you can spot all the red things in your environment. For the second half try to spot all the green things, look closely and see if you can see green things you never thought of as green before.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1Daily Dharma – Jan. 27, 2019
Sometimes he chided him, saying:
“Work hard!”
At other times he coaxed him, saying:
“I will treat you as my son.”
These verses are part of the story of the Wayward Son told by Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. The son in the story has become attached to his lowly existence. The father must teach him slowly with expedients to prepare him to come into his inheritance. The story explains the disciples’ understanding of how the Buddha uses expedients to prepare us to aspire for enlightenment. The Buddha leads each of us differently, and as we progress in our wisdom, he changes how he teaches us. All this is preparation for us to come into the Buddha’s own mind and enjoy his wisdom.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com