A short biography of Chinese Master Hsuan Hua can be read here:
A Brief Account of the Life of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua (1918-1995)
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary
A short biography of Chinese Master Hsuan Hua can be read here:
Category Archives: Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary
A short biography of Chinese Master Hsuan Hua can be read here:
Higan: Four Factors of Wisdom
Today is the final day of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:
For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.
The today we consider the Perfection of Wisdom. For this Spring Higan week I’m using Hsuan Hua‘s commentary on the Lotus Sutra in which he discusses the perfections’ four kinds of corresponding factors.
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v8,ch12, p188-189The pāramitā of prajña. There are also four corresponding factors for practicing the pāramitā of prajña.
- To break through ignorance. By practicing the pāramitā of prajña, you can overcome your ignorance. Ignorance is stupidity.
- To adorn bodhi and gather in living beings.
- To attain joy through wisdom. When you have wisdom, you’ll feel sublimely happy; this is to benefit yourself. When you have wisdom, you can also teach and transform other living beings; this is to benefit others.
- To remove hindrances that obstruct wisdom. If you have wisdom, you can remove any obstacles that hinder the attainment of wisdom so that you can attain genuine wisdom, prajña.
Higan: Four Factors of Dhyana
Today is the sixth day of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:
For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.
The today we consider the Perfection of Dhyana. For this Spring Higan week I’m using Hsuan Hua‘s commentary on the Lotus Sutra in which he discusses the perfections’ four kinds of corresponding factors.
The pāramitā of dhyana. Dhyana means “the practice of contemplation.” It also means “silent reflection.” There are also four corresponding factors for practicing the paramitā of dhyāna.
- To break through the distracted mind. The skill of dhyana can subdue the scattered mind. You can stop having a lot of false thoughts through the practice of dhyāna.
- To adorn bodhi and gather in living beings.
- To remain still in body and mind and not disturb other living beings. By practicing dhyana, you’ll attain peace and stillness in body and mind; this is to benefit yourself. By not bothering living beings, you benefit others.
- To attain nirvāṇa in peace and tranquility. Within a state of purity [while in dhyana], you’ll attain nirvāņa in peace and tranquility.
Higan: Four Factors of Vigor
Today is the fifth day of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:
For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.
The today we consider the Perfection of Vigor. For this Spring Higan week I’m using Hsuan Hua‘s commentary on the Lotus Sutra in which he discusses the perfections’ four kinds of corresponding factors.
The pāramitā of vigor. There are also four corresponding factors for practicing the paramita of vigor.
- To break through indolence. If you cultivate with vigor, you’ll be able to overcome indolence. You’ll conquer your tendency to be lazy. If you lack vigor, your laziness will control you. With vigor, you’ll be able to break through laziness.
- To adorn bodhi and gather in living beings.
- To increase [cultivation of] wholesome Dharma and not bother other people. By increasing your cultivation of wholesome Dharma, you bring benefit to yourself. By not bothering others, causing them trouble, or bringing them afflictions, you benefit them.
- To attain bodhi through great strength. By drawing on your great strength, you’ll attain the reward of bodhi.
Higan: Four Factors of Patience
Today is the third day of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:
For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.
Today we consider the Perfection of Patience. For this Spring Higan week I’m using Hsuan Hua‘s commentary on the Lotus Sutra in which he discusses the perfections’ four kinds of corresponding factors.
The paramita of patience. There are also four corresponding factors for practicing the pāramitā of patience.
- To break through impatience. By practicing the pāramitā of patience, you’ll be able to overcome impatience. When the mind no longer thinks, “I can’t endure this!” then you’ll have patience.
- To adorn bodhi and gather in living beings.
- To enable both oneself and others to be free of fear. By practicing patience, people around you won’t be afraid, and you’ll no longer experience fear either.
- To be free of anger in the next life. If you cultivate patience in this life, you won’t have a bad temper in your next life, nor will you have much hatred or resentment. Why do you have such a bad temper in this life? You have a bad temper in this life because you didn’t cultivate patience in former lives. If you cultivate patience, your family members won’t be separated from one another. Your household will always be peaceful and harmonious, and your family members won’t suffer separation and distress. Because of the merit attained through the cultivation of patience, you won’t undergo suffering and hardship in your next life. In the future, you’ll attain the bliss of nirvāṇa.
Higan: Four Factors of Precepts
Today is the second day of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:
For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.
The today we consider the Perfection of Precepts. For this Spring Higan week I’m using Hsuan Hua‘s commentary on the Lotus Sutra in which he discusses the perfections’ four kinds of corresponding factors.
The paramita of upholding precepts. There are four corresponding factors for practicing the pāramitā of upholding precepts.
- To cultivate all wholesome practices and eradicate misguided disciplines. You shouldn’t cultivate just one form of good deeds. You must do all manner of good deeds. Your good deeds will go toward offsetting your wrong deeds.
- To adorn bodhi and gather in living beings. You gather in and transform living beings as you adorn and bring to perfection the bodhi of your inherent nature. You teach all living beings, forsaking none. You shouldn’t think, “I have no affinity with this living being, so I’m not going to save him. I’ll save that living being because he has affinities with me.” Whether you have affinities with someone is irrelevant; you must teach them all.
- To be peaceful and without regret, whether asleep or awake. You’ll feel tranquil whether you’re asleep or awake. Your inherent nature will be serene, and your physical body will be calm. You’ll have neither regret nor hatred. You won’t lament over the past, nor will you bear grudges against anyone. You’ll have no intention to harm any living being. By upholding precepts, one is protecting living beings.
- To attain the bliss of humans and gods, as well as nirvāṇa in the future.
These are the four corresponding factors for practicing the pāramitā of upholding precepts.
Higan: Four Factors of Giving
Today is the first day of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:
For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.
The today we consider the Perfection of Generosity. For this Spring Higan week I’m using Hsuan Hua‘s commentary on the Lotus Sutra in which he discusses the perfections’ four kinds of corresponding factors.
The paramita of giving. The paramita of giving is dana pāramitā in Sanskrit. There are four corresponding factors related to it. What are they?
- To break through stinginess. By practicing the pāramitā of giving, you can get rid of your stinginess.
- To adorn bodhi, your own inherent awakening.
- To benefit both oneself and others. To give when you want to and feel delighted afterwards is self-benefit. For people who are hungry, you give them food to relieve their hunger. For people who are thirsty, perhaps you give them a soft drink to quench their thirst. By giving, you relieve them of their hunger and thirst, which is benefiting others.
- To attain a great fruition in the future. If you give now, you’ll be wealthy and honorable in future lives. Why will you be wealthy? Because you’re not stingy and always give to others. As a reward, you’ll have more wealth in your next life. However, you shouldn’t give wishing that you’ll become wealthy in your next life. You should dedicate the merit obtained from giving toward seeking unsurpassed bodhi.
Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s Commentary on the Lotus Sutra
Chinese Master Hsuan Hua began his commentary on the Lotus Sutra with Chapter 25, the “Universal Door of Guan Yin Bodhisattva” on October 6, 1968. He finished explaining the “Universal Door” chapter on Nov. 9, 1968. On the next day, Nov. 10, he began his commentary on the full Wonderful Dharma Lotus Sūtra. These lectures were open to anyone wishing to attend and were delivered nightly in San Francisco, generally running from seven to nine in the evening. The lecture series continued for two years. Over this period, Hsuan Hua delivered over 350 lectures. The lectures concluded November 10, 1970.
The Buddhist Text Translation Society in Ukiah, California, turned the lecture series into a 14-volume commentary along with a 15th volume containing both the English and Chinese translations of the Lotus Sutra. The first edition of the commentary was published in 1998; the second edition in 2020.
Each volume starts with The Eight Guidelines of the Buddhist Text Translation Society.
- A volunteer must free him/herself from the motives of personal fame and profit.
- A volunteer must cultivate a respectful and sincere attitude free from arrogance and conceit.
- A volunteer must refrain from aggrandizing his/her work and denigrating that of others.
- A volunteer must not establish him/herself as the standard of correctness and suppress the work of others with his or her fault-finding.
- A volunteer must take the Buddha-mind as his/her own mind.
- A volunteer must use the wisdom of Dharma-selecting vision to determine true principles.
- A volunteer must request virtuous elders in the ten directions to certify his/her translations.
- A volunteer must endeavor to propagate the teachings by printing and distributing sūtras, śāstra texts, and vinaya texts when the translations are certified as being correct.
Three Forewords follow: The Lotus Dharma Blooms in Us All by Bhikṣuṇī Heng Chih; Fifty Years Later, the Lotus Continues to Bloom by Ron Epstein, PhD; and Timeless Ease for an Uneasy Time by Susan Rounds, PhD.
With the exception of Volume 1, Prologue, each volume contains an Outline of the Lotus Sutra covering the content in the volume. This outline was created by Ouyi Zhixu, a Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar in 17th century China. He is considered the Ninth Patriarch of the Chinese Pure Land tradition and the Thirty-First Patriarch of the Tiantai tradition as well as a Chan master.
Each volume contains a 44-page glossary and an index.
After I finished Hsuan Hua’s commentary I went back to see if I could discern any pattern in his work. As a student of Nichiren Buddhism, I wanted to know if there was an obvious difference in interpretation from what would be expected from someone in the Nichiren school. His focus on Guan Shi Yin was certainly far greater than a Nichiren devotee would have offered, but generally Hsuan Hua came across as a student of Zhiyi of the Tiantai School. (See Five Schools of One Buddhism.)
I counted 382 pages in the English text of the Lotus Sutra in Volume 15 of the set. The 14 volumes of commentary total 3,529 pages, not counting the stuff repeated in each volume. On average, each page of the sutra generated 9.24 pages of commentary text. But that’s just the average. By far the subject that generated the most commentary was Chapter 25, The Universal Door of Guan Yin Bodhisattva, which is Volume 13. The eleven pages of sutra text resulted in 229 pages of commentary – 20.82 pages generated for each sutra page. The other above average chapters were Chapter 1, Introduction, 16.40 pages of commentary for each sutra page; Chapter 12, Devadatta, 12.56; Chapter 3, A Parable, 12.49; and Chapter 10, Dharma teachers, 10.91.
Tomorrow: Variations In The Translation of Kumārajīva’s Lotus Sutra
Variations In The Translation of Kumārajīva’s Lotus Sutra
In reading the 14 volumes of Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s commentary on the Lotus Sutra I’ve identified a number of places where his translation differs – mostly minor points – from other English translations of Kumārajīva’s fifth century Chinese translation. (See here, here, and here.)
For the final example, consider this description of monks who tormented Never-Despising Bodhisattva from Hsuan Hua’s commentary on Chapter 20:
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v11, ch20, p198-199SUTRA
After that Buddha passed into nirvāṇa,
When his Dharma was about to perish,
There was a Bodhisattva
Known as Never Slighting.
At that time the fourfold assembly
Was attached to the Dharma. …COMMENTARY
The fourfold assembly at that time was attached to the Dharma. Even the Dharma has to be relinquished, how much more so that which is not the Dharma? If you don’t understand the Dharma, you must strive to understand it. Once you understand it, you have to let go of it. You can’t cling to it. At that time, because the Buddhadharma was about to perish, the bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, and upāsikās were all attached to the superficial aspects of the Dharma. They focused their efforts on the trivial aspects of the Dharma and clung to them rigidly. Not only did they fail to understand the Dharma, they were attached to it. Attached to the Dharma, they gave rise to overbearing pride.
This idea that you shouldn’t cling to the boat that carries you across the water after you reach the other shore is a common reframe in Hsuan Hua’s commentary. But other English translation offer a different picture.
Senchu Murano’s translation says:
Some time after the extinction of that Buddha,
His teachings had almost died out.
At that time there lived a Bodhisattva Called Never-Despising.
The four kinds of devotees at that time Were attached to views.
The Modern Rissho Kosei-kai translation offers:
The four groups of that era
Were attached to their own views of the teachings.
Gene Reeves has:
At that time the four groups
Were attached to self-centered views of things.
The BDK Tripiṭaka translation says:
At that time the fourfold assembly
Was becoming attached
To its own interpretation of the Dharma.
Leon Hurvitz’s translation, considered by many to be the most academically thorough, is the least clear on the point:
At the time, the fourfold multitudes
Were reckoning in terms of dharma.
Hsuan Hua spent many years in China printing sutras in Chinese and distributing them as part of his practice. Given the ways in which his English translation of Kumārajīva differs from other English translators, I’m left to wonder whether he was working from a different copy of Kumārajīva’s work. The volume that contains the English translation of the sutra also contains the Chinese version from which it was translated.
While there’s a clear difference between Hsuan Hua’s translation describing the monks who tormented Never-Despising Bodhisattva, other differences reveal examples of where Senchu Murano, whose translation I use in my daily practice, differed from the majority of English translators.
Consider this part of Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva. Hsuan Hua’s English translation has:
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v12, ch23, p88-89SUTRA
“Having spoken this verse, Bodhisattva All Beings Delight to See said to the Buddha, ‘World Honored One! World Honored One! You are still in the world!”
COMMENTARY
Having spoken this verse, Bodhisattva All Beings Delight to See said to the Buddha Pure Bright Virtue Resembling the Sun and Moon, “World Honored One! World Honored One! You are still in the world!” This Bodhisattva exclaimed “World Honored One” twice because the Buddha hadn’t yet entered parinirvāņa, so he could meet the Buddha for a second time in his new life.
That repetition is not present in Senchu Murano’s translation:
“Having sung this gāthā, Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, ‘World-Honored One! You do not change, do you?’
On the other hand, Leon Hurvitz’s translation agrees that “World Honored One” is repeated:
“At that time the bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings, having proclaimed this gāthā, addressed the buddha, saying, ‘World-Honored One, World-Honored One, you are still in the world!’
In fact, Murano’s is the only translation that does not include the title World Honored One twice in the verse. But those repetitions are unlike Hsuan Hua and Hurvitz. For Example, Reeves has:
“Having recited this verse, Seen with Joy by All the Living Bodhisattva said to that buddha: ‘World-Honored One, is the World-Honored One still alive in the world?’
Or the BDK Tripiṭaka’s:
“Thereupon Bodhisattva Sarvarūpasamdarśana, having spoken this verse, addressed the Buddha, saying: O Bhagavat! The Bhagavat is yet in this world!
The Modern Rissho Kosei-kai translation offers:
Then the Bodhisattva Delight to Behold for All Living Beings, having uttered these verses, said to that buddha, ‘World-Honored One, just as before, you are still the world-honored one in this world.’
As a scholar-priest within the Nichiren Shu, Murano is highly regarded for the clarity of his translations and for his alignment with the traditional Japanese understanding of the text. To reach that clarity appears to have led to differences between Murano’s translation and other English translators.
Next: Where Chinese Master Hsuan Hua and Nichiren Would Disagree
Ānanda’s Trial
I’ve reached the final volume of Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s 14-volume commentary on the Lotus Sutra and the final chapter of the sutra. Still don’t have any idea what I’m going to do with the material I set aside, but the year-long journey has been entertaining.
While I’ve learned a lot from Hsuan Hua’s commentary, my self-exploration has had some interesting results. The best example of this happened the other day when I was reading his explanation of the Dharma Ages.
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v14, ch28, p98-99The first five hundred years [after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa] are [part of] the Proper Dharma Age, during which people are determined to attain liberation and many achieve it. During the second five-hundred-year period, people focus on meditative concentration practices. What happens in the third five-hundred-year period? People focus on building stūpas and monasteries. This is the Semblance Dharma Age. During the fourth five-hundred-year period, people have a strong desire for knowledge. They learn many sūtras, but they’re not interested in cultivation. They think that comprehension is enough, so they don’t practice what they learn; in this way, they’re just like Ānanda.
Just like Ānanda? That seemed harsh. In Chapter 9 of the Lotus Sutra a bunch of newbie Bodhisattvas whine about the prophecy of Ānanda’s future Buddhahood. As the Buddha explains in Chapter 9:
“Good men! Ānanda and I resolved to aspire for Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi under the Void-King Buddha at the same time [in our previous existence]. At that time Ānanda always wished to hear much while I always practiced strenuously. Therefore, I have already attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi[, but he has not yet]. Now he protects my teachings. He also will protect the store of the teachings of future Buddhas, teach Bodhisattvas, and cause them to attain [Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi], according to his original vow. Therefore, now he has been assured of his future Buddhahood.”
That’s from Senchu Murano’s translation. As I explained in “Ānanda’s Vow”, all of the other translations of Kumarajiva’s Chinese version of the Lotus Sutra generally agreed that Ānanda was deficient in his application of what he learned. But not H. Kern. His translation of an 11th century Nepalese Sanskrit version of the Lotus Sutra offered a different view of why Ānanda had lagged behind. Kern’s translation says:
Young men of good family, I and Ānanda have in the same moment, the same instant conceived the idea of supreme and perfect enlightenment in the presence of the Tathāgata Dharmagahanābhyudgatarāja, the Arhat. At that period, young men of good family, he (Ānanda) constantly and assiduously applied himself to great learning, whereas I was applying myself to strenuous labor. Hence I sooner arrived at supreme and perfect enlightenment, whilst Ānanda Bhadra was the keeper of the law-treasure of the Lords Buddhas; that is to say, young men of good family, he made a vow to bring Bodhisattvas to full development.
Fulfilling a vow to bring others to enlightenment before he himself seeks it sounds a lot better than Hsuan Hua’s declaration that Ānanda just didn’t practice what he learned. This led me to ask Google’s Gemini AI to explain the criticism of Ānanda.
I’ve uploaded the full response from Gemini: The Treasurer of Dhamma and the Primacy of Realization. Since that article is more than 3,000 words, I uploaded the text to Google’s NotebookLM and asked it to create a Video Overview. For those subject to TL:DR, here’s a seven minute explanation.
While I have several complaints about the artwork the AI created to illustrate the talk, the video does a nice job of summarizing the issues surrounding the criticism of Ānanda.