Medicine-King! Although many laymen or monks will practice the Way of Bodhisattvas, they will not be able to practice it satisfactorily, know this, unless they see, hear, read, recite, copy or keep this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma or make offerings to it.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. For us to aspire to benefit all beings is rare and wonderful. However, without the guidance of the Buddha, our efforts to benefit others can degenerate into expectations of separate benefits for ourselves. In the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha explains the limitations of his previous teachings, assures us of our capacity for enlightenment and how he is always helping us, and gives examples of great Bodhisattvas whose experience we can apply to our own lives.

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The [perverted] people think:
“This world is in a great fire.
The end of the kalpa [of destruction] is coming.”
In reality this world of mine is peaceful.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Here he draws a stark contrast between how those caught in the web of delusion see the world and how things really are. The world is constantly changing. When we expect the world to be as we want it, rather than as it is, any change is frightening. We assume that the world is falling apart and will sweep us along in its demise. When we practice the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, we know that we and all beings will become enlightened. The change in the world is part of our practice. We know how it will turn out and there is no fear. Only peace.

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However, we now live in the Latter Age of Degeneration, when disputes and quarrels are rampant while the True Dharma is lost. There is nothing but evil lands where evil rulers, evil subjects and evil people reject the True Dharma, showing respect only to evil dharmas and evil teachers. Evil spirits take advantage of this, filling the lands with the so-called three calamities and seven disasters.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on the True Way of Practicing the Teaching of the Buddha (Nyosetsu Shugyō-shō). It can be hard for us to imagine how what we believe can change our society. We think we have to create a new political system, or put the right people in power, or acquire wealth before we can have peace. What would happen in a world where people believed their happiness was intertwined with that of others? What happens in a world where people believe their happiness has to come at the expense of others? Our beliefs are far more powerful than we realize. When we put our belief in the Buddha’s description of the world as it is, and see our place in it as Bodhisattvas who have chosen to be here to benefit others, the world changes before our eyes.

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No, good men! I do not want you to protect or keep this sūtra because there are Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas sixty thousand times as many as the sands of the River Ganges in this Sahā-World. They are each accompanied by attendants also numbering sixty thousand times as many as the sands of the River Ganges. They will protect, keep, read, recite and expound this sūtra after my extinction.

The Buddha makes this declaration to the uncountable number of Bodhisattvas who came from other worlds to hear him teach in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. These Bodhisattvas had responded to the Buddha’s question of who would keep and expound the Buddha’s highest teaching after his death. They promised that they would remain in this world of conflict and fulfill the Buddha’s request. After the Buddha spoke these words, an unimaginable number of Bodhisattvas came up from underground and paid their respects to the Buddha. We can understand this story, and this image, as showing that our capacity for enlightenment, and our ability to benefit all beings, is already within us. We do not need an outside agent to give these to us.

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Please remember that the service to your lord itself is practicing the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. Interpreting the scriptural statement in the Lotus Sutra, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai, therefore, states in his Great Concentration and Insight: “All the activities and daily work of the people in the secular world do not contradict the truth preached by the Buddha.” Please contemplate the spirit of this scriptural statement again and again.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Response to a Follower (Dannotsu Bō Gohenji). In our frustration with this world of conflict, we may think it best to remove ourselves from those who are increasing the delusions of others. In this letter, Nichiren reminds us that the relationships we have in our lives are important. Service to others does not necessarily mean giving them what they ask for. It means wishing that they lose their delusions and nourishing the Buddha nature within them.

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Flower-Virtue! Now you see Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva here and nowhere else. But formerly he transformed himself into various living beings and expounded this sūtra to others in various places.

The Buddha makes this declaration to Flower-Virtue Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Four of the Lotus Sūtra. In their efforts to benefit all beings, Bodhisattvas develop the capacity to adapt themselves to their circumstances. They know they cannot use the same methods to teach everyone. Instead of seeing the beings in our world of conflict as obstacles to getting what we want, we can learn to see them as great teachers who have transformed themselves into what we need to become enlightened. This can also help them to realize their nature as Bodhisattvas, rather than beings stuck in the world of conflict, absorbed in their own gratification.

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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.

The 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.

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I sought the Great Dharma strenuously
Because I wished to save all living beings.
I did not wish to benefit myself
Or to have the pleasures of the five desires.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Twelve of the Lotus Sūtra. He describes his previous life as a great king who abandoned his throne, his wealth, and all the advantages of his position in society for the sake of enlightenment. In that life he realized that having pleasure as a goal was not making him happy, and only through the vow of the Bodhisattva to benefit all beings could he learn to see the world as it is.

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All things are possible if people are united in one spirit. Nothing can be accomplished if they are not united. It is also true in non-Buddhist scriptures. For instance, a king of Y’in in old China, King Chieh who had an army of seven hundred thousand men disunited in spirit, was defeated by King Wu of Chou and his army of eight hundred men, who were united in one spirit. So that if a person has two thoughts, nothing can be accomplished. Even if there are hundreds or thousands of people, if they are united in one they are surely able to accomplish their aim.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Cooperation (Itai Doshin-ji). When we develop the Bodhisattva mind of compassion, we learn that compassion is present in all beings. As we aspire to the Buddha mind of wisdom, we find that all beings have wisdom. When we act from compassion and wisdom rather than fear and delusion, we are united with the true minds of all beings.

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

Excellent, excellent, Ajita! You asked me a very important question. All of you should concentrate your minds, wear the armor of endeavors, and be resolute. Now I will reveal, I will show, the wisdom of the Buddhas, their supernatural powers without hindrance, their dauntless powers like a lion’s, and their great power of bravery.

The Buddha makes this declaration to Maitreya Bodhisattva, whom he calls Ajita (Invincible) in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, innumerable Bodhisattvas spring up from underground and vow to the Buddha to keep the sūtra after his extinction. Maitreya, knowing the minds of many others who have come to hear the Buddha teach, asks about these Bodhisattvas, whom he has never seen before. This question from Maitreya then leads to the Buddha later giving his most difficult teaching in Chapter Sixteen. The Buddha’s declaration in this passage shows how important questioning is to our faith.

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