Even if I praise for innumerable kalpas
The keeper of this sūtra,
To whom it is to be transmitted,
I cannot praise him highly enough.

The Buddha sings these verses to Superior-Practice Bodhisattva (Jōgyo, Viśiṣṭacārītra) in Chapter Twenty-One of the Lotus Sūtra. When the Buddha praises us for keeping the Lotus Sūtra, he is praising our Buddha-Nature and encouraging us to develop it. When we praise the Buddha and show our gratitude for the practice he has given us, we are praising the Lotus Sūtra. When we praise and value the Lotus Sūtra, we are encouraging the Buddha-Nature in all beings, just as the Buddha has promised to do. Therefore when we keep and practice the Lotus Sūtra, we are fulfilling the Buddha’s promise of our enlightenment.

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

Their tongues will be purified.
Their tongues will not receive anything bad.
Anything they eat will become
As delicious as nectar.

The Buddha sings these verses to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. With food and drink it is easy to see how different people will find the same food either delicious or disgusting. Our experience and beliefs shape what we are comfortable putting into our bodies, and whether we do so for the sake of our health or the pleasure that comes from experiencing their flavor. But when we find that something with good flavor is bad for our health, or vice versa, we can change our tastes. This is another example of how the Lotus Sūtra teaches us how to live in the world. We learn to embrace situations we once found frightening or intolerable. We increase our capacity with our focus on benefiting others. As a wise teacher once said, we learn to enjoy problems the way we enjoy ice cream.

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

We were satisfied with the elimination
Of illusions within ourselves.
What we accomplished was that elimination.
We did nothing more.

These verses are sung by Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. They use the parable of the wayward son in this chapter to describe their own realization that the Buddha had not held any teaching back from them. Instead, the Buddha earlier allowed them to remain in the satisfaction of ending their own suffering. But before they can continue their progress towards the Buddha’s own enlightenment, they must give up their preoccupation with suffering, as the boy in the parable had to give up his idea of himself as a lowly hired worker, rather than the heir to his father’s treasure.

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World-Honored One! I bring you a message from Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha. [He wishes to say this.] Are you in good health? Are you happy and peaceful or not? Are the four elements of your body working in harmony or not? Are the worldly affairs bearable or not? Are the living beings easy to save or not? Do they not have much greed, anger, ignorance, jealousy, stinginess and arrogance, or do they? Are they not undutiful to their parents, or are they? Are they not disrespectful to śramaṇas, or are they? Do they not have wrong views, or do they? Are they not evil, or are they? Do they not fail to control their five desires, or do they?

The passage above is how Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva greets Śākyamuni Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Four of the Lotus Sūtra. This Bodhisattva asks not only about the Buddha, but about those whom the Buddha benefits with his teaching. The Buddha answers that those he teaches have prepared through innumerable lives to receive his wisdom. The questions of Wonderful-Voice show how we obscure the teaching through our delusion and attachments.

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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].

Medicine-King Bodhisattva, his attendants and other Bodhisattvas make this vow to the Buddha in Chapter Thirteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Once we awaken to our Bodhisattva nature and resolve to benefit all beings, we may still hold on to the belief that those beings should gratefully receive the teaching and and keep progressing towards enlightenment. We may even become discouraged in our practice of the Wonderful Dharma when these beings do not live up to our expectations. The vow of these great Bodhisattvas reminds us of how difficult is is for us ordinary beings to keep the Lotus Sūtra, and of the determination it takes to create benefit in the world.

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Anyone who understands why the Buddhas expound [many] sūtras,
Who knows the position [of this sūtra in the series of sūtras],
And who expounds it after my extinction
According to its true meaning,
Will be able to eliminate the darkness
Of the living beings of the world where he walks about,
Just as the light of the sun and the moon
Eliminates all darkness.

The Buddha sings these verses to Superior-Practice Bodhisattva (Jōgyo, Viśiṣṭacārītra) in Chapter Twenty-One of the Lotus Sūtra. The superiority of the Lotus Sūtra does not disparage the Buddha’s expedient teachings. The Lotus Sūtra leads all beings to enlightenment. Other teachings could only reach a limited audience. When we as Bodhisattvas who are determined to benefit all beings expound this highest expression of the Buddha’s wisdom, and do not limit ourselves to saving only a few, then we become the light that limits the darkness of ignorance, fear and violence in this world of conflict.

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The Buddha said to the rākṣasīs: “Excellent, excellent! Your merits will be immeasurable even when you protect the person who keeps only the name of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.”

The Buddha declares these lines in Chapter Twenty-Six of the Lotus Sūtra. The rākṣasīs are violent, bloodthirsty demons whose nature is to satisfy their own cravings at the expense of beings weaker than themselves. In the Lotus Sūtra, they learn of their capacity to use their strength to protect others and vow to the Buddha to defend anyone who keeps this sūtra. They understand that when they dedicate their strength to caring for other beings rather than destroying them, they gain the merit which will bring them closer to enlightenment. We learn from this example about our own natures, and that of the beings we share this world with.

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Therefore, the man of wisdom
Who hears the benefits of these merits
And who keeps this sūtra after my extinction,
Will be able to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha
Definitely and doubtlessly.

The Buddha sings these verses to Superior-Practice Bodhisattva (Jōgyo, Viśiṣṭacārītra) in Chapter Twenty-One of the Lotus Sūtra. Superior-Practice is the embodiment of the fourth vow of a Bodhisattva: The Buddha’s teachings are immeasurable; I vow to attain supreme enlightenment. It is through our determination to benefit all beings, and our confidence in the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, that we maintain our lives in this world of conflict.

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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.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. In this chapter, the Buddha shows that our practice of this Wonderful Dharma is not separate from our existence in this world. The purpose of the Buddha’s wisdom is not to escape to a better life, but to see our lives for what they are, and to use that clarity 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

These good men and women are great Bodhisattvas. They should be considered to have appeared in this world by their vow to expound the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma out of their compassion towards all living beings, although they already attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi [in their previous existence].

The Buddha declares these lines to Medicine-King Bodhisattva at the beginning of Chapter Nine of the Lotus Sūtra. In the teachings of Nirvāṇa, the goal is to remove suffering so that we can be reborn in a peaceful realm. In this Sūtra, the Buddha reminds us that we who keep this Sūtra have given up the privilege of higher realms so that we can benefit beings where we find ourselves now. We do not fear rebirth in lower realms since our compassion takes us even there so we can benefit beings in those realms.

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