If anyone, guilty or not, calls the name of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva when he is bound up in manacles, fetters, pillories or chains, those things [in which he is bound up] will break asunder, and he will be saved.

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. The bonds of ignorance and delusion in which we find ourselves are not the result of our personal inadequacy, and neither do they come entirely from the circumstances of the world around us. But these bonds are real, and in our struggles to escape we often just make them worse. When we remember World-Voice Perceiver, the embodiment of compassion, and call on her for help, then we awaken compassion within ourselves and others in the world, and break the bonds of delusion for everyone.

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You should promptly discard your false faith and take up the true and sole teaching of the Lotus Sutra at once. Then this triple world of the unenlightened will all become Buddha Lands. Will Buddha lands ever decay? All the worlds in the universe will become pure lands. Will Pure Lands ever be destroyed? When our country does not decay and the world is not destroyed, our bodies will be safe and our hearts tranquil. Believe these words and revere them!

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Spreading Peace through Right Practice (Risshō Ankoku-ron). We may believe that we can practice correctly only when the world becomes peaceful. As if so long as we are in this world of conflict, we would need to use force and aggression to create peace. Nichiren turns this idea upside down. He shows that only by our practicing respect towards all beings, and working for their benefit, can we create peace in this world.

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They also had already obtained [the four states of mind towards all living beings:] compassion, loving-kindness, joy and impartiality.

The Buddha gives this description in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sutra of two boys who had been the previous lives of Medicine-King and Medicine-Superior Bodhisattvas. These four states of mind are those which allow to see the world for what it is and bring true benefit for all beings. Any living being is capable of them. Their opposites: cruelty, indifference, misery and prejudice, are never what we aspire to, even though we find ourselves in them far too often. But even these states can be used as an indication that we are not seeing things for what they are, and lead us back to a true curiosity and appreciation for what we have.

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They also will be able to see the living beings of those worlds, to know the karmas which those living beings are now doing and the region to which each of those living beings is destined to go by his karmas.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. In our world of conflict and ignorance, we sometimes envy people who use force to get what they want. In this deluded state of mind, we believe that cruelty, violence and greed can make us happy. When we use the Buddha’s wisdom to see things for what we are, we realize the power that comes from patience, generosity, compassion and selflessness. We avoid the misery of self-importance, and find the peace that comes from being tied into this world rather than setting ourselves apart from it.

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World-Honored One! I have never seen anyone like you before. Your teachings have these inconceivable, wonderful merits. The practices performed according to your teachings and precepts are peaceful and pleasant. From today on, I will not act according to my own mind. I will not have wrong views, arrogance, anger or any other evil thought.

King Wonderful-Adornment makes this declaration to Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha in Chapter Twenty-Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. The king had been led to this Buddha by his sons, who showed him the wonders they learned from their practice of the Buddha Dharma. With his mind purified by hearing the Buddha’s teachings, he makes this aspiration to behave differently. Whether or not he can keep this aspiration, he shows his realization that hearing the teachings is not enough. Practicing them means changing our minds and how we live.

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Always seeking fame and gain,
He often visited noble families.
He did not understand what he had recited,
Gave it up, and forgot it.
Because of this,
He was called Fame-Seeking.
But he [later] did many good karmas,
And became able to see innumerable Buddhas.

Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva sings these verses in Chapter One of the Lotus Sūtra. They are part of a story he tells about Fame-Seeking Bodhisattva (Gumyō, Yaśaskāma). This shows that each of the innumerable Bodhisattvas who are helping us to become enlightened use different ways of reaching people. Even those enmeshed in the suffering of self-importance, who use this Wonderful Dharma to make themselves seem superior to others, simply because they are leading others to this teaching, they too are creating boundless merit.

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Annotations on the Great Concentration and Insight states: “The passage cited about the earlier teachings correctly distinguishes between the provisional and the true. This is because it explains the truer the teaching the lower the stage (of those enlightened by it); whereas the more provisional the teaching the higher the state must be (of those enlightened by it).”

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on The Four Depths of Faith and Five Stages of Practice (Shishin Gohon-Shō). The passage from T’ien-t’ai he quotes reminds us that we do not need to rely on our own talents or intelligence to become enlightened. The highest teaching of the Lotus Sūtra is meant for all beings, wise or simple, clever or stupid. The Buddha’s provisional teachings were intended to match the minds of those who heard them. But the Wonderful Dharma is the Buddha’s own mind, harmonizing with the seed of enlightenment within us all.

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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.

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Make offerings to World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva with all your hearts! This World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva-mahāsattva gives fearlessness [to those who are] in fearful emergencies. Therefore, he is called the ‘Giver of Fearlessness’ in this Sahā-World.

The Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon, Kanzeon, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. World-Voice-Perceiver is the embodiment of compassion. When we make offerings to compassion, we show how much we value it. In this world of conflict, we are taught to value aggression and violence rather than compassion. Those who do not dominate others are judged as targets for domination. If we clear away the delusion of our self-importance, and see other beings as worthy of happiness just as we are, we find ways for everyone to benefit together.

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

Mañjuśrī! A Bodhisattva-mahāsattva who keeps this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in the latter days after [my extinction] when the teachings are about to be destroyed, should have great loving-kindness towards laymen and monks, and great compassion towards those who are not Bodhisattvas. He should think: ‘They do not know that the Tathāgata expounded expedient teachings according to the capacities of all living beings. They do not hear, know or notice it, or ask a question about it or believe or understand it. Although they do not ask a question about this sūtra, or believe or understand it, I will lead them and cause them, wherever they may be, to understand the Dharma by my supernatural powers and by the power of my wisdom when I attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Until we reach enlightenment, we may not be able to reach all beings. Rather than blaming them for not having the capacity to learn from us, or blaming ourselves for not being skillful enough to reach them, the Buddha reminds us to be patient and realize there is no hurry to being free from our delusions.

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