All posts by John Hughes

LS32

Day 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.

Day 23 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month repeated in gāthās the merits of the fiftieth person who rejoices at hearing even a gāthā of the Lotus Sūtra, we complete Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra.

Anyone who persuades even a single person
To hear the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower
Of the Wonderful Dharma, saying:
“This sūtra is profound and wonderful.
It is difficult to meet it
Even during ten million kalpas,”
And causes him to go and hear it even for a moment,
Will be able to obtain the following merits:

In his future lives, he will have no disease of the mouth.
His teeth will not be few, yellow or black.
His lips will not be thick, shrunk or broken.
There will be nothing loathsome [on his lips].
His tongue will not be dry, black or short.
His nose will be high, long and straight.
His forehead will be broad and even.
His face will be handsome.
All people will wish to see him.
His breath will not be foul.
The fragrance of the utpala-flowers
Will always be emitted from his mouth.

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:

He will be reborn among gods and men.
He will be able to go up to the palace of heaven,
Riding in a wonderful elephant-cart or horse-cart,
Or in a palanquin of wonderful treasures.

Anyone who persuades others to sit and hear this sūtra
In the place where the Dharma is expounded,
Will be able to obtain the seat of Sakra or of Brahman
Or of a wheel-turning-holy-king by his merits.
Needless to say, boundless will be the merits
Of the person who hears this sūtra with all his heart,
And expounds its meanings,
And acts according to its teachings.

The Introduction to the Lotus Sūtra offers this on The Merits of that First Moment of Joy:

“Rejoicing” is the joy which one experiences when the significance of the Sutra first sinks in like a ray of light. When this ray of light first illuminates our soul, we have not yet undertaken any profound studies or done any difficult practices. But the merits of that first moment of joy are greater than those of any other practices we may undertake later. It is the hinge upon which everything else turns. This is the essential and most important point of this chapter. Faith is simple; it is also decisive.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

Lecture on Lotus Sutra

Our Ordinariness

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We may think we are ordinary but within each of us underneath the mask of ordinariness is our true identity of enlightened beings. We may not be capable always of seeing our own enlightened nature; we may be so deeply in disguise as to fool ourselves. Yet as we practice we can become more aware of our true nature and our true relationship with the Eternal Buddha as identified in the Lotus Sutra.

Our ordinariness is what enables us to perfect our lives and makes it possible for us to relate to and teach others in society.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 2, 2019

Anyone who keeps this sūtra
In the latter days after my extinction
Should have compassion towards laymen and monks
And towards those who are not Bodhisattvas.
He should think:
‘They do not hear this sūtra.
They do not believe it.
This is their great fault.
When I attain the enlightenment of the Buddha,
I will expound the Dharma to them
With expedients
And cause them to dwell in it.’

The Buddha sings these verses to Mañjuśrī in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra. In our zeal to help other beings, we may create expectations of how they will receive our efforts, or how they will change themselves after hearing the Buddha Dharma. We may even blame them for not improving as quickly as we might want. These verses remind us that there is no shortage of time available for our efforts to benefit others.

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

original

Seeking More Balanced View To Tendai Original Enlightenment Thought

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Whether the new schools are seen as emerging from the “womb” of Tendai original enlightenment thought, or taking form as a reaction against it, or developing out of it by dialectical process, all these views reflect the influence of an evolutionary model of Buddhist history in which the new Kamakura Buddhism represents the apex. Occasionally there is even a hint of telos at work, as though the very raison d’être of Tendai original enlightenment thought was to give rise to the new Kamakura Buddhism. Hongaku thought thus becomes merely one more locus from which to reassert tired stereotypes of a vibrant, reformist “new Buddhism” reacting against a corrupt, elitist “old Buddhism.”

To point out that existing models of the relationship between Tendai hongaku thought and the new Kamakura schools serve to privilege the latter is in no way to disparage the achievements of men like Shinran, Dōgen, and Nichiren. Nevertheless, such assumptions prejudice our understanding and need to be reexamined if a more balanced view is to be obtained.

Profound

All Expedient Vehicles Become Subtle

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First, the subtle Track of Real Nature shows that although sentient beings originally possessed the treasure of the Buddha-nature, they were not aware of this fact before the Buddha expounded the Lotus Sūtra. Thus, the Track of Real Nature in the various teachings of the Buddha before the Lotus Sūtra is coarse. Upon the revelation of the One Buddha vehicle in the Lotus Sūtra, the practitioners of the other three teachings are able to see the Buddha-nature as the treasure of enlightenment they inherently possess, whereby the coarse dharma in the past becomes the subtle dharma in the present. Second, the Track of the Illumination of Wisdom is subtle if one abandons one’s attachment to striving to attain wisdom and reach truth. One should understand that wisdom and truth are inseparable, and it is false to seek outwardly instead of inwardly, in view of the fact that one’s wisdom is always contained in one’s nature. As long as one realizes that truth and wisdom are identical to each other as one entity, this realization implies that the Track of the Illumination of Wisdom is subtle, representing One Great Vehicle that is neither horizontal nor vertical. Third, the subtle Track of Accomplishment delineates that innumerable practices and dharma-doors, which are contained in the tathāgatagarbha are, by nature, the manifestation of the suchness of the Buddha-nature. With such an understanding, all expedient vehicles become subtle, and there is no more relative, only the ultimate. (Vol. 2, Page 251)

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


LS32

Day 22

Day 22 covers all of Chapter 17, The Variety of Merits.

Day 22 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the merits of those who hear of the Buddha’s longevity and understand it by firm faith, we consider the merits of the good men or women who do not speak ill of this sūtra.

“Furthermore, the good men or women who do not speak ill of this sūtra but rejoice at hearing it after my extinction, should be considered, know this, to have already understood my longevity by firm faith. It is needless to say this of those who [not only rejoice at hearing this sūtra but also] read, recite and keep it. They also should be considered to be carrying me on their heads. Ajita! They need not build a stupa or a monastery in my honor, or make the four kinds of offerings’ to the Saṃgha because those who keep, read and recite this sūtra should be considered to have already built a stupa or a monastery or made offerings to the Saṃgha. They should be considered to have already erected a stupa of the seven treasures tall enough to reach the Heaven of Brahman, the upper part of the stupa being the smaller. They should be considered to have already equipped the stupa with streamers, canopies and jeweled bells, and enshrined my śarīras therein. They also should be considered to have already offered flowers, incense, necklaces, incense powder, incense applicable to the skin, incense to burn, drums, music, reed pipes, flutes, harps, various kinds of dances, and songs of praise sung with wonderful voices [to the stupa ] continuously for many thousands of billions of kalpas.

The Daily Dharma from Nov. 25, 2018, offers this:

Furthermore, the good men or women who do not speak ill of this sūtra but rejoice at hearing it after my extinction, should be considered, know this, to have already understood my longevity by firm faith.

The Buddha makes this declaration to his disciple Maitreya in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sūtra. After learning the merits of understanding the ever-present nature of the Buddha, Maitreya hears that this understanding is present in anyone who finds joy in this sūtra. From the parables told earlier in the sūtra, we know that this joy is not the same as the joy that comes from ending suffering. It is the joy in our awakening Buddha nature.

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

Lotus Seeds

Awakening to the Middle Way

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Understanding the Truth of the Middle Way can help us to overcome one-sided views. Awakening to the Middle Way allows us to let go of the one-sided anything, and allows us to let go of the one-sided view of non-existence, which attempts to find something unchanging and independent to cling to. The Truth of the Middle Way frees us of worldly delusion even as it allows us to remain fully involved in the world as bodhisattvas.

Lotus Seeds

Blog

Daily Gosho

Beginning this morning and continuing for the next four years or so I’ll be publishing a quote each day from the Writings of Nichiren Shōnin. As with this site in general, the purpose here is to provide a place to store things I’ve found useful for later recall.

As I begin I’m reminded of the opening to Śāntideva’s A Guide to the Buddhist Path to Awakening:

2 Nothing new will be said here, nor have I any skill in composition. Therefore I do not imagine that I can benefit others. I have done this to perfume my own mind.

3 While doing this, the surge of my inspiration to cultivate what is skillful increases. Moreover, should another, of the very same humors as me, also look at this, then he too may benefit from it.

The quotes from Nichiren’s writings were gathered during last year’s 100 Days of Study project with intention of eventually publishing them. Some quotes are short but many are substantial.

My goal is to give myself something to ponder each day, something to perfume my own mind.

WONS

The Merit of the Lotus Sutra

You should know that the merit of the Lotus Sūtra is the same whether you chant the whole eight scrolls or just one scroll, one chapter, one stanza, one phrase, one character, or the daimoku. For instance, a drop of ocean water contains the water of numerous rivers, large and small, while a wish-fulfilling gem produces numerous treasures. In this sense, a drop of ocean water is the same as numerous drops and a gem is the same as numerous gems. One character of the Lotus Sutra is like this one drop of ocean water or one wishfulfilling gem. Numerous characters of the sutra are like numerous drops of ocean water or numerous wish -fulfilling gems.

Gassui Gasho, A Letter on Menstruation, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 28

Daily Dharma

Daily Dharma – Jan. 1, 2019

Ajita! Anyone who hears that my life is so long, and understands it by faith even at a moment’s thought, will be able to obtain innumerable merits.

The Buddha makes this declaration to his disciple Maitreya, also known as Invincible (Ajita) in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sutra. In the previous chapter, the Buddha revealed for the first time that his impending death was merely an expedient, intended to reach those who would take him for granted if they thought they could see him at any time. The Buddha explained that this is the teaching that is most difficult to believe and difficult to understand. Namely that he is always present, leading us and all beings to enlightenment.

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