If they think that I am always here, and do not think that I will pass away, they will become too arrogant and lazy to realize the difficulty of seeing me, and they will not respect me. Therefore I say [to them] expediently, ’Bhikṣus, know this! It is difficult to see a Buddha who appears in [this] world.’
The Buddha makes this explanation to those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. We may wonder what took the Buddha so long to give his highest teaching to us, whether he was holding it back because of stinginess, not wanting to share the great treasure of his wisdom. Here and in other parts of the Sūtra, he shows that unless we cultivate our respect for the Buddha, and thus for all beings, we take him for granted and lose his precious wisdom.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
You, the World-Honored One, are exceptional.
You reminded me of the teachings
Of innumerable Buddhas in the past
As if I had heard them today.
Ānanda, the Buddha’s cousin and one of his leading disciples, sings these verses in Chapter Nine of the Lotus Sūtra. In the Story, Ānanda had just been personally assured by the Buddha that he would become a Buddha himself in a future life. All the teachings of the Buddha across all time are always available to us. What prevents us from hearing them and putting them into practice is nothing more than our own attachment to our suffering and our doubts about our capacity for wisdom and compassion. When we take to heart the assurance that we and all beings can become enlightened, it clears away our delusion and allows to see the Buddha teaching us in all aspects of our lives.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Buddha will remove
Any doubt of those who seek
The teaching of the Three Vehicles.
No question will be left unresolved.
Mañjuśrī declares these verses at the end of Chapter One of the Lotus Sūtra. They remind us how important questions are to what the Buddha teaches. Questions come up throughout the book, and they lead to many important aspects of this Wonderful Dharma. It is important for us to ask questions respectfully whenever we hear a teaching, knowing that we will find an answer.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The mother said to them, ‘Show some wonders to your father out of your compassion towards him! If he sees [the wonders], he will have his mind purified and allow us to go to that Buddha.’
These lines are from a story told by the Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. The two sons of King Wonderful-Adornment have asked their mother for permission to leave home and follow the Buddha Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom. The wonders in the story are beyond the capacity of human beings, but they show the King that another way of living is possible, and induce him to seek the teaching of that Buddha. Even if we cannot develop supernatural powers, there are wonders we can develop in our practice. We can learn the value of respecting all beings. We can control our desires and not be devastated by life’s tragedies. We can share “even a word or phrase,” as Nichiren put it, of the teaching and bring great benefit to others. In our normal lives, changed by our practice, we too can purify the minds of others.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
What do you think of this? Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva was no one but Medicine-King Bodhisattva of today. He gave up his body in this way, offered it [to the Buddha], and repeated this offering many hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of times [in his previous existence]. [He knows that he can practice any austerity in this Sahā-World. Therefore, he does not mind walking about this world.]
The Buddha gives this explanation to Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Three of the Lotus Sūtra. The story of the previous life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva shows us the capacities we have already developed and are not aware of. When we see ourselves as choosing to come into this world of conflict to benefit all beings, rather than stuck where we do not want to be and just making the best of it, then it is much easier to let go of our delusions.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Suppose bandits are surrounding you,
And attempting to kill you with swords.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
The bandits will become compassionate towards you.
The Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon, Kanzeon, Kuan Yin, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. When we allow this Bodhisattva, the embodiment of compassion, into our minds, we realize the value of the connections we have with all beings, even those who are so deluded that they want to harm us. When we ourselves embody compassion, we should not be surprised when it awakens the compassion that is at the core of our existence.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
World-Honored One! It is difficult for anyone in the world to believe this. It is as difficult as to believe a handsome, black-haired man twenty-five years old who points to men a hundred years old and says, ‘They are my sons,’ or as to believe men a hundred years old who point to a young man and say, ‘This is our father. He brought us up.’
Maitreya Bodhisattva explains his perplexity to the Buddha in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha has just revealed that all of the Bodhisattvas who have appeared from underground to continue teaching the Wonderful Dharma after the extinction of the Buddha have been taught by the Buddha in the time since he became enlightened. Maitreya realizes that his doubts are no different from the doubts of those gathered to hear the Buddha teach and asks the Buddha to explain. The Buddha says later that he sees the world differently than other living beings. But this does not mean that when our experience does not match what the Buddha teaches, we must keep silence and just accept what he tells us. It is only through sincere questioning that we find the Buddha’s mind and make it our own.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Deep in their minds they are thinking of me,
And observing the pure precepts.
Therefore, they will be filled with joy
When they hear they will become Buddhas.
I know their minds.
Therefore, I will expound the Great Vehicle to them.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. He speaks of those who come to his teachings wanting only to end their own suffering. He understands the part of our existence that is obscured by our delusions, and that the teaching of enlightenment of all beings in the Lotus Sūtra inspires us to purify this world of conflict. The joy we find in the Buddha’s wisdom is incomparable to the happiness we find when our desires are met. When we learn the Buddha’s mind through his teachings, we learn about our own true minds.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
True practicers of Buddhism should not rely on what people say, but solely on the golden words of the Buddha.
Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on the True Way of Practicing the Teaching of the Buddha (Nyosetsu Shugyō-shō). We may take this to mean that we should not listen to anything that others tell us and dogmatically adhere to a fixed teaching. Another interpretation involves learning to see the world as the Buddha does. Where people often speak from their own delusion and selfish desires, the Buddha speaks only to lead us to his enlightenment and help us to remove our attachments. When we look for the Buddha in all parts of our lives, we can learn to appreciate anything we hear from anybody as teaching us to become enlightened.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
To those who have accumulated merits,
And who are gentle and upright,
And who see me living here,
Expounding the Dharma,
I say:
“The duration of my life is immeasurable.”
The Buddha declares these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. This chapter is where the Buddha reveals for the first time his ever-present nature. He became enlightened in the remotest past, and will continue teaching all beings far into the future. There is a view that to see a Buddha in our time requires a supernatural way of seeing, even a personal vision or a revelation not available to ordinary people. What the Buddha teaches here is that he is always visible to anyone, anywhere. It is when we look for him to teach us and are compassionate and disciplined in our desires that he appears to us.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
