Ajita! Anyone who[, while he is staying outside the place of the expounding of the Dharma,] says to another person, ‘Let us go and hear the sūtra called the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma which is being expounded [in that place],’ and causes him to hear it even for a moment, in his next life by his merits, will be able to live with the Bodhisattvas who obtain dhāraṇīs.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Maitreya (whom he calls Ajita – Invincible) in Chapter Eighteen of the Lotus Sutra. The dhāraṇīs are promises made by Bodhisattvas to protect those who keep and practice the Lotus Sūtra. They are included in the sūtra so that we can use them to remind these Bodhisattvas, and ourselves, of the protection we enjoy from our practice. This protection is not just meant for us. It is for all beings. When we share the teaching of the Wonderful Dharma with others, we help them become aware of their potential to become enlightened.

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All this time I have been living in this Sahā-World, and teaching [the living beings of this world] by expounding the Dharma to them. I also have been leading and benefiting the living beings of one hundred thousand billion nayuta asaṃkhya worlds outside this world.

The Buddha gives this explanation to all those gathered to hear him in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. In the parable of the physician and his children, the Buddha explains how if he were to reveal himself explicitly to those still focused on their own suffering, they would take him for granted and not believe the Wonderful Dharma he provides for him. It is by learning to recognize the Buddha living with us here today, who is helping us all awaken from our delusions, and taking on his work of benefiting all beings, that we lose our suffering and attachment, and realize the potential for enlightenment that is at the core of our true being.

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In this profound sūtra
The teachings for the Śrāvakas are criticized.
Those who hear
That this sūtra is the king of all the sūtras,
And think over this sūtra clearly after hearing it,
Know this, will approach the wisdom of the Buddha.

The Buddha sings these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. He has already declared that the sūtra he is teaching is the closest to his own wisdom, that it is different from anything he has taught before, and that it is the teaching for Bodhisattvas. The expedient teachings he gave to Śrāvakas before this sūtra were limited because they did not show the way to enlightenment for all beings. As we keep this sūtra in our minds, and learn to recognize it in our daily lives, we not only approach our own enlightenment, we lead all beings to enjoy the Buddha’s wisdom.

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You, the World-Honored One, know
What all living beings have deep in their minds,
What teachings they are practicing,
And how much power of wisdom they have.

The children of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha proclaim this to their father in a story told by Śākyamuni Buddha in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. In our preoccupation with our pursuits in this world of conflict we are so focused on our schemes that we have forgotten the Buddha’s wisdom dormant in us all. With the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha leads us to an unfamiliar and even uncomfortable way of seeing the world. But it is only when we leave the false safety of our delusions that we can truly benefit ourselves and others.

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Anyone who expounds this sūtra
Will be able to see me,
To see Many-Treasures Tathāgata,
And to see the Buddhas of my replicas.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. We can hear this teaching with an aspiration to see visions of Śākyamuni Buddha and other Buddhas. But we can also hear the Buddha’s promise that when we keep in mind his assurance that we and all beings have the capacity for enlightenment, we will see the world differently. We will start to interpret the actions of ourselves and others in a new light. We will see many more beings who are helping us to become enlightened, rather than beings who are frustrating our efforts at pursuing our selfish goals.

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Mañjuśrī! A Bodhisattva-mahāsattva who performs this third set of peaceful practices in the latter days after [my extinction] when the teachings are about to be destroyed, will be able to expound the Dharma without disturbance. He will be able to have good friends when he reads and recites this sūtra. A great multitude will come to him, hear and receive this sūtra from him, keep it after hearing it, recite it after keeping it, expound it after reciting it, copy it or cause others to copy it after expounding it, make offerings to the copy of this sūtra, honor it, respect it, and praise it.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. The third set of practices involves not despising those who practice the Wonderful Dharma in any way, or hindering their practice by telling them that they are lazy and can never become enlightened. Such treatment goes against the true nature we all share, and can only create conflict.

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The children who had not lost their right minds saw that this good medicine had a good color and smell, took it at once, and were cured completely. But the children who had already lost their right minds did not consent to take the medicine given to them, although they rejoiced at seeing their father come home and asked him to cure them, because they were so perverted that they did not believe that this medicine having a good color and smell had a good taste.

In Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha tells a parable of a wise physician who prepares medicine for his children who have accidentally poisoned themselves. He compares the children to us whose minds are poisoned by the delusions of greed, anger and ignorance. He also compares himself to the wise father and the medicine to the Lotus Sūtra that he has left for us. Until the children took the medicine and tasted it for themselves, they could not be cured of the poison. Until we make this practice of the Wonderful Dharma an active part of our lives, we cannot be cured of our delusions.

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Tears keep falling when I think of the current unbearable hardships, but I cannot stop tears of joy when I think of obtaining Buddhahood in the future. Birds and insects chirp without shedding tears. I, Nichiren, do not cry, but tears keep falling. These tears are shed not for worldly matters, but solely for the sake of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore they should be called tears of nectar.

Nichiren wrote this as part of his letter to monk Sairen-bō in his Treatise on All Phenomena as Ultimate Reality (Shohō-Jissō Shō). For the sake of the Lotus Sūtra, Nichiren endured two harsh exiles, his house being burnt down, ambushes by soldiers with swords, being placed on the execution mat himself, and the persecution of his followers. Despite all these obstacles, he held true to the Buddha’s teaching in the face of all opposition. Most of us who practice the Lotus Sūtra today have lives of relative comfort. It is wonderful that we have Nichiren’s example. He was a human being just like us, and we too are capable of his faith and determination.

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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.

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The Buddhas joyfully display
Their immeasurable, supernatural powers
Because [the Bodhisattvas from underground]
[Vow to] keep this sūtra after my extinction.

The Buddha sings these verses to Superior-Practice Bodhisattva (Jōgyo, Viśiṣṭacārītra) in Chapter Twenty-One of the Lotus Sūtra. Superior-Practice is the leader of the Bodhisattvas who came up from underground in Chapter Fifteen when the Buddha asked who would continue to keep and practice this sūtra after his physical extinction in this world. Nichiren saw himself as the embodiment of Superior-Practice, and all of us who are determined to lead all beings to enlightenment through this Wonderful Dharma as embodiments of the Bodhisattvas who came up from underground. The powers of the Buddhas only seem supernatural to those who are mired in delusion and ignorance. They are nothing more than turning the poison of anger into the medicine of energy; the poison of isolation into the medicine of compassion; the poison of attachment into the medicine of wisdom.

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