Illustration by Google Gemini

The Bodhisattva-mahāsattva also should know the following truth. All things are insubstantial. They are as they are. Things are not perverted. They do not move. They do not go. They do not turn. They have nothing substantial just as the sky has not. They are inexplicable. They are not born. They do not appear. They do not rise. They are nameless. They are formless. They have no property. They are immeasurable and limitless. They have no obstacle or hindrance. He should see all this. Things can exist only by dependent origination. Only perverted people say, ‘Things are permanent and pleasant.’ This truth is the second thing he should approach.

Śākyamuni Buddha gives this explanation to Mañjuśrī in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. The Buddha does not see the world as we do. This section explains how changing our view changes the world. When we no longer see beings with power to overwhelm us, and see beings in whom delusions have been created, we see our abilities to cut the root of those delusions and benefit them. These passages are what make the Lotus Sutra difficult to believe and understand, since they go against our habits of manipulating the world to become happy. As we learn to work with our minds, then we truly change the world.

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

Illustration by Google Gemini

This sūtra is
The most excellent.
To keep this sūtra
Is to keep me.

Śākyamuni Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. We may believe that before we can practice we need to find a Buddha or another enlightened being alive in our world to guide us. These verses remind us of the ever-present Buddha Śākaymuni who was revealed in the Lotus Sūtra. Whether or not we see him as another human in our presence, he is always guiding us to enlightenment. The Buddha also reminds us that by living as he has shown us in the Lotus Sūtra, as Bodhisattvas who exist for the benefit of all beings, we show our respect for him and bring his wisdom to life.

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

Illustration by Google Gemini

The Lotus Sutra is called “Zui-jii,” namely it expounds the true mind of the Buddha. Since the Buddha’s mind is so great, even if one does not understand the profound meaning of the sutra, one can gain innumerable merits by just reading it. Just as mugwort among hemp plants grows straight and a snake in a tube straightens itself, if one becomes friendly with good people, one’s mind, behavior and words become naturally gentle. LIkewise, the Buddha thinks that those who believe in the Lotus Sutra become naturally virtuous.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his treatise The Sutra Preached in Accordance to [the Buddha’s] Own Mind (Zui-jii Gosho). In this passage, he makes clear what the Buddha meant by abandoning expedient teachings, and that the Lotus Sutra contains the Buddha’s highest teaching.

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

Illustration by Google Gemini

Every Buddha vows at the outset:
“I will cause all living beings
To attain the same enlightenment
That I attained.”

Śākyamuni Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha holds nothing back from us. There is nothing hidden or secret in his teachings. He is not threatened by anyone who reaches his wisdom, since he knows this is the potential we all have in us. By his example we can discern between the knowledge that separates from others, and that which unites us with our fellow beings.

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

Illustration by Google Gemini

Anyone who believes and receives this sūtra
Should be considered
To have already seen the past Buddhas,
Respected them, made offerings to them,
And heard the Dharma from them
In his previous existence.

Śākyamuni Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. Whatever view we may have of our past lives, we can agree that it is difficult to remember what happened in them. In these verses the Buddha reminds us that our joy in hearing his teaching in this life indicates that we have already heard and practiced what he taught, no matter how difficult it may seem to us now. This also means that by believing and receiving the Lotus Sūtra we are respecting and making offerings to all Buddhas.

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

Illustration by Google Gemini

How good it is to see a Buddha,
To see the Honorable Saint who saves the world!
He saves all living beings
From the prison of the triple world.

The Brahma Heavenly-Kings of the Zenith sing these verses in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra. They gave up their kingdoms, their subjects and their homes to travel across innumerable worlds to hear the Wonderful Dharma. They inspire our devotion by showing how important this teaching is to them. For us who know of the Ever-Present Buddha Śākyamuni, we recognize that the Buddha exists everywhere, even in our triple world of form, formlessness and desire. When let go of the delusions that imprison us, and recognize this Buddha in our midst, we find ourselves in the Buddha’s pure land.

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

Illustration by Google Gemini

The merits of the Buddha are beyond the expression of our words. Only the Buddha, only the World-Honored One, knows the wishes we have deep in our minds.

In Chapter Eight of the Lotus Sutra, Pūrṇa has these words in mind while looking at the face of Śākyamuni Buddha. The thoughts we have are mostly words, and the words are about the things we want. Words can help us make sense of the world around us, especially the words the Buddha uses to teach us. But words can also confuse us when we mistake our expectations for the reality of the world. When the Buddha calls us to become Bodhisattvas, to realize that our happiness is linked to that of all beings, his words open a part of our mind with which we are not familiar. He asks us to set aside the habits we have learned from this world of conflict and see his world in a new way.

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

Illustration by Google Gemini

World-Honored One! Now we see that we are Bodhisattvas in reality, and that we are assured of our future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Therefore, we have the greatest joy that we have ever had.

Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya and the others gathered to hear Śākyamuni  Buddha teach make this declaration in Chapter Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. He and the others thought that their existence was merely to hear and preserve what the Buddha taught them, and to transmit it to others. They believed they were incapable of becoming as enlightened as the Buddha, because the Buddha’s earlier teachings had only led them so far. With the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha reminds all of us of our decision to come to this world of conflict to benefit all beings. He awakens us to our capacity to see the world with his eyes and experience the joy of reality.

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

Illustration by Google Gemini

Mañjuśrī! A Bodhisattva-mahāsattva who performs this fourth set of [peaceful] practices after my extinction, will be able to expound the Dharma flawlessly. Bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, upāsikās, kings, princes, ministers, common people, brāhmaṇas and householders will make offerings to him, honor him, respect him, and praise him. The gods in the sky will always serve him in order to hear the Dharma from him. When someone comes to his abode located in a village, in a city, in a retired place or in a forest, and wishes to ask him a question, the gods will protect him day and night for the sake of the Dharma so that the hearer may rejoice because this sūtra was, is, and will be protected by the supernatural powers of the past, present and future Buddhas.

Śākyamuni Buddha gives this explanation to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra. The fourth set of peaceful practices is not blaming those who do not hear the Lotus Sūtra and resolving to save them when one becomes perfectly enlightened. Rather than becoming upset with those who do not accept this teaching, it is useful to know that we are not alone in wanting to save them, and that by reducing our own delusions we increase our capacity to benefit others.

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

Illustration by Google Gemini

I see the [perverted] people sinking
In an ocean of suffering.
Therefore, I disappear from their eyes
And cause them to admire me.

Śākyamuni Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. With the story of the wise physician in this chapter, the Buddha explains how he disappears from our view even though he is always present to us. The children in the story would not accept the remedy their father prepared for them to counteract the poison they had taken. Some of them hoped for another remedy, some believed the remedy would be worse than the poison. It was not until the father left and told them he would not return that the children realized the value of what they already had. When we take the Buddha for granted, as the children in the story took their father for granted, and ignore the path he has laid out for us, we lose sight of the Buddha. It is only when we realize we are lost that we look for a guide. When we bring the Buddha’s teachings to life, we find him everywhere.

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