Category Archives: LS32

Blog, Kern, d31b

The Request of Pure-Store and Pure-Eyes

This is another in a series of weekly blog posts comparing and contrasting the Sanskrit and Chinese Lotus Sutra translations.

In comparing English translations of Kumārajīva’s Chinese Lotus Sutra with H. Kern’s English translation of the 11th century Nepalese Sanskrit Lotus Sutra one finds an interesting disagreement on what exactly the two sons of the king requested from their mother in Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva, or as Kern titles his Chapter 25, Ancient Devotion .

Kern offers this version:

Then, young men of good family, the two young princes Vimalagarbha and Vimalanetra went to their mother, to whom they said, after stretching their joined hands: We should like to go, mother, to the Lord Jaladharagarjitaghoṣhasusvaranakṣhatrarājasaṃkusumitābhijña, the Tathāgata, &c., and that, mother, because the Lord Jaladharagarjitaghoṣhasusvaranakṣhatrarājasaṃkusumitābhijña, the Tathāgata, &c., expounds, in great extension, before the world, including the gods, the Dharmaparyāya of the Lotus of the True Law. We should like to hear it.

Kumārajīva expands this request to include an invitation for the mother to join them. As Senchu Murano offers:

The two sons, Pure-Store and Pure-Eyes, came to their mother, joined their ten fingers and palms together, and said, ‘Mother! Go to Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha! We also will go to attend on him, approach him, make offerings to him, and bow to him because he is expounding the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to all gods and men. Hear and receive [the sūtra]!’

The other English translations agree with Murano that the invitation is extended to the mother.

The BDK Tripiṭaka translation has:

We entreat you, O mother, to go before the Buddha Jaladharagarjitaghoṣasusvaranakṣatrarājasaṃkusumitābhijña. We shall also go before him together with you, attend him, make offerings to him, and pay him homage. Why is this? Because this buddha teaches the Lotus Sutra amid the assembly of all the devas and humans. Thus we should all listen to him.

Gene Reeves has:

Meanwhile the two sons, Pure Treasury and Pure Eyes, went to their mother and, putting their ten fingers and palms together, said to her: ‘We beg you, mother, to go and visit Wisdom Blessed by the King of Constellations Called the Sound of Thunder in the Clouds Buddha. We also would wait on, associate with, make offerings to, and worship him. Why? Because this buddha is teaching the Dharma Flower Sutra among the multitudes of human and heavenly beings, and we ought to hear and receive it.’

The only exception is Leon Hurvitz. His translation, which compared a composite Sanskrit Lotus Sutra with Kumārajīva’s Chinese translation and created a hybrid English translation, doesn’t include the invitation to the mother to go along with the boys. He has:

At that time the two sons, Pure Womb and Pure Eye, went before their mother and, joining their palms, ten fingers to ten fingers, deferentially spoke: ‘We beg leave, Mother, to go before the buddha Wisdom Adorned with Flowers by the King of Constellations [named] Thunder Sound of Clouds, where we too will attend him, approach him with familiarity, make offerings to him, and worship him. What is the reason? In the midst of a multitude of all gods and men this buddha preaches the Scripture of the Dharma Blossom, and we must listen to it receptively.’

Where there is a difference among the English translations of Kumārajīva is in the response of the mother. Kern’s translation has the mother say:

Whereupon the queen Vimaladattā said to the two young prince Vimalagarbha and Vimalanetra: Your father, young gentlemen, the king Śubhavyūha, favors the Brahmans. Therefore you will not obtain the permission to go and see the Tathāgata.

In Burton Watson’s English translation of Kumārajīva, he has the mother reply:

The mother announced to her sons, ‘Your father puts his faith in non-Buddhist doctrines and is deeply attached to the Brahmanical doctrines. You should go to your father, tell him about this, and persuade him to go with you.’

The Modern Risshō Kōsei-kai translation has:

“The mother replied to her sons, ‘Your father believes in a different teaching, as he is deeply attached to the Brahman doctrines. You should go to your father and see if he will agree to go with you.’

While Kumārajīva’s translation includes the invitation to the mother to go with the sons to see the Buddha, the mother does not respond and instead indicates that the two sons need to convince their father to join them.

That is, all the English translations of Kumārajīva except Murano, who offers:

“The mother said to them, ‘[Yes, I will. But] your father believes in heresy. He is deeply attached to the teachings of brahmanas. Go and tell him to allow us to go [to that Buddha]!’

This is another example of Murano’s effort to clarify and enhance his translation of the Lotus Sutra.

Next: A Patriarchal Worldview Shared by Women

Daily Dharma, d4b

Daily Dharma – May 22, 2023

Know this, Śāriputra!
I once vowed that I would cause
All living beings to become
Exactly as I am.

That old vow of mine
Has now been fulfilled.
I lead all living beings
Into the Way to Buddhahood.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. Earlier in the chapter he explained that all the teachings he used before the Lotus Sūtra were mere expedients, intended to use our desire for happiness to bring us out of our suffering and onto the path of enlightenment. The expedient teachings were tailored to the ignorant and deluded minds of those who heard them, but had not yet revealed the true wisdom and compassion of the Buddha. Now that we have met this Wonderful Dharma, we are assured of our enlightenment and that of all beings. We learn to see innumerable Buddhas in limitless worlds through unimaginable time, and our own true selves at the heart of reality.

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

LS32

Day 3

Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Day 3 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered how all Buddhas of the past, present and future expounded various teachings to all living beings with innumerable expedients, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 2, Experients.

“Śāriputra! The Buddhas appear in the evil worlds in which there are the five defilements. The worlds are defiled by the decay of the kalpa, by illusions, by the deterioration of the living beings, by wrong views, and by the shortening of lives. Śāriputra! When a kalpa is in decay, the living beings [in that kalpa] are so full of illusions, so greedy, and so jealous that they plant many roots of evil. Therefore, the Buddhas divide the One Buddha-Vehicle into three as an expedient.

“Śāriputra! Some disciples of mine, who think that they are Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas, will not be my disciples or Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas if they do not hear or know that the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, teach only Bodhisattvas.

“Śāriputra! Some bhikṣus and bhikṣunīs do not seek Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi because they think that they have already attained Arhatship, that they have already reached the final stage of their physical existence, and that the Nirvāṇa attained by them is the final one. Know this! They are arrogant because it cannot be that the bhikṣus who attained Arhatship do not believe the Dharma. Some bhikṣus who live in a period in which no Buddha lives after my extinction may not believe the Dharma after they attain Arhatship because in that period it will be difficult to meet a person who keeps, reads, and recites this sūtra, and understands the meanings of it. They will be able to understand the Dharma when they meet another Buddha.

“Śāriputra and all of you present here! Understand the Dharma by faith with all your hearts! There is no vehicle other than the One Buddha-Vehicle.”

The Daily Dharma from July 18, 2022, offers this:

Śāriputra! Some disciples of mine, who think that they are Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas, will not be my disciples or Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas if they do not hear or know that the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, teach only Bodhisattvas.

The Buddha makes this declaration to his disciple Śāriputra in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sutra. When the Buddha says he only teaches Bodhisattvas, he does not mean that he excludes anyone from his teaching. It is only when we realize and develop our capacities as Bodhisattvas, beings who exist to benefit all beings, rather than being preoccupied with our own suffering, can we hear, practice and appreciate the Buddha Dharma.

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

Daily Dharma, d19b

Daily Dharma – May 21, 2023

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

LS32

Day 2

Chapter 1, Introductory (Conclusion)

Day 2 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered what Sun-Moon-Light Buddha did when he emerged from his samādhi, we consider what happened after the Buddha expounded the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Having expounded the Sūtra
Of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma,
And caused the multitude to rejoice,
The Buddha told the gods and men
At that moment on that day,
“I have already expounded to you
The truth of the reality of all things.
I shall enter into Nirvāṇa at midnight tonight.
Make efforts with all your hearts!
Leave the life of license!
It is difficult to see a Buddha, who can be seen
Only once in hundreds of millions of kalpas.”

Having heard that the Buddha would enter into Nirvāṇa,
Those sons of the World-Honored One
Were filled with sorrow.
They said, “How quickly the Buddha is gone!”

The Saintly Master, the King of the Dharma,
Consoled the countless living beings, saying:
“Although I shall pass away,
You must not worry.
This Virtue-Store Bodhisattva has already understood
The truth of the reality [of all things]
[To be attained by the wisdom] without asravas.
He will become a Buddha immediately after me.
He will be called Pure-Body.
He will save innumerable living beings.”

The Buddha passed away that night
Just as fire dies out when wood is gone.
His śarīras were distributed.
Countless stupas were erected to enshrine them.

As many bhikṣus and bhikṣunīs
As there are sands in the River Ganges
Redoubled their endeavors
In order to attain unsurpassed enlightenment.

Wonderful-Light, the Teacher of the Dharma,
Kept the store of the Dharma of the Buddha, and expounded
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
For eighty small kalpas.

Led by Wonderful-Light, those eight princes resolved
To attain unsurpassed enlightenment.
[Wonderful-Light said to them:]
“You will be able to see countless Buddhas.”

Having made offerings to [countless] Buddhas,
Those princes followed them, practiced the Great Way,
And became Buddhas in succession.
Each of them assured another of his future Buddhahood.

The last God of Gods
Was called Burning-Light Buddha.
As the leader of seers,
He saved innumerable living beings.

See The Wave and the Water

LS32

Day 1

Day 1 covers the first half of Chapter 1, Introductory

Day 1 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month considered the first words of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, we consider those who were present for the teaching.

Sakra-Devanam-Indra was also present. Twenty thousand gods were attending on him. There were also Beautiful-Moon God, Universal-Fragrance God, Treasure-Light God, and the four great heavenly-kings. Ten thousand gods were attending on them. Freedom God and Great-Freedom God were also present. Thirty thousand gods were attending on them. Brahman Heavenly-King who was the lord of the Saha-World, Great Brahman Sikhin, and Great Brahman Light were also present. Twelve thousand gods were attending on them.

There were also the eight dragon-kings: Nanda Dragon-King, Upananda Dragon-King, Sagara Dragon-King, Vasuki Dragon­King, Taksaka Dragon-King, Anavatapta Dragon-King, Manasvin Dragon-King, and Utpalaka Dragon-King, each accompanied by hundreds of thousands of attendants. There were also the four kiṃnara-kings: Dharma Kiṃnara-King, Wonderful-Dharma Kiṃnara-King, Great-Dharma Kiṃnara-King, and Dharma­Keeping Kiṃnara-King, each accompanied by hundreds of thousands of attendants.

There were also the four gandharva-kings: Musical Gandharva­King, Musical-Voice Gandharva-King, Beautiful Gandharva-King, and Beautiful-Voice Gandharva-King, each accompanied by hundreds of thousands of attendants.

There were also the four asura-kings: Balin Asura-King, Kharaskandha Asura-King, Vemacitrin Asura-King, and Rahu Asura-King, each accompanied by hundreds of thousands of attendants.

There were also the four garuda-kings: Great-Power-Virtue Garuda-King, Great-Body Garuda-King, Great-Fulfillment Garuda­King, and Free-At-Will Garuda-King, each accompanied by hundreds of thousands of attendants.

King Ajatasatru, who was the son of Vaidehi, was also present with his hundreds of thousands of attendants. They each worshipped the feet of the Buddha, retired, and sat to one side.

See The Story of Devadatta and Ajātaśatru

Daily Dharma, d14b

Daily Dharma – May 19, 2023

Medicine-King! I will tell you.
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Is the most excellent sūtra
That I have ever expounded.

The Buddha sings these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. Our founder Nichiren explained that the superiority of the Lotus Sūtra lay not in its being more powerful than other Sūtras, but that it leads all beings, without exception, to the Buddha’s own enlightenment. Other teachings distinguish between those who can follow the Buddha Dharma and those who cannot. But this teaching assures everyone who hears it that they will become enlightened.

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

Daily Dharma, d29b

Daily Dharma – May 18, 2023

Do not doubt him even at a moment’s thought!
The Pure Saint World-Voice-Perceiver is reliable
When you suffer, and when you are confronted
With the calamity of death.

The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. The calamity of death is something we all will face eventually, whether it our own or that of those we love. The other calamities in our lives are relatively minor losses which can prepare us for this great calamity. The Bodhisattva World-Voice-Perceiver is the embodiment of Compassion: the desire to benefit all beings. When we learn to use all of the suffering in our lives, especially the calamity of death, as a way to remove our delusions and benefit others, then we can see the world with the eyes of the Buddha and know the joy he declares is at the core of our being.

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

LS32, Universal Sage

Between Day 32 and Day 1: Attached to Sweet Scents

Having last month considered the function of the sense faculty of hearing, we consider the attachment to sweet scents.

Having completed self-amendment, the practitioner will see Many-Treasures Buddha emit a great bright golden-colored light. Shining everywhere in the eastern direction, and extending to worlds in all of the ten directions as well, it highlights innumerable buddhas whose bodies are the color of pure gold. In the skies in the eastern direction, these words will be richly intoned:

“Here is a buddha, a World-honored One, whose name is Splendid Virtue!26 Also here are innumerable buddhas emanated from him, sitting in the lotus posture on lion seats at the base of jewel trees. All of these World-honored Ones are engaged in the specialized focus of mind regarding their universal manifestation in any figure or form, and they are saying these words of praise: ‘Well done, you of good intent! Well done! You are now reciting and internalizing the Great Vehicle sutras! What you are taking to heart is the realm of buddhas!’ ”

After these words are spoken, Universal Sage Bodhisattva will once again expound a method of self-amendment for the practitioner’s sake:

“In your previous existences – throughout innumerable kalpas – because you so yearned for sweet scents, in every situation your evaluations of what you discerned were based upon attachment and you fell into the cycle of births and deaths (samsara). Accordingly, you must now contemplate the foundation of the Great Vehicle! The foundation of the Great Vehicle is the true reality of all things!

After hearing these words, the practitioner must cast his or her body to the ground and undertake further self-amendment. Having done so, the practitioner must then speak thus:

“Namaḥ Śākyamuni Buddha! Namaḥ stupa of Many-Treasures Buddha! Namaḥ all buddhas emanated from Śākyamuni Buddha in all of the ten directions!”

Having said this, he or she must universally pay homage thusly to the buddhas in the ten directions:

“Namaḥ Splendid Virtue Buddha of the East and all buddhas emanated from him!”

As if seeing each one of them with his or her own eyes, the practitioner should, with reverent thoughts, make offerings of incense and flowers. When finished paying homage, the practitioner must then formally kneel, place his or her palms together, and give praise to the buddhas with a variety of verses. After praising them, the practitioner must speak to matters of the ten harmful karmic actions and do self-amendment for his or her impurities. Having completed self-amendment, the practitioner should speak these words:

“In previous existences, throughout innumerable kalpas, I longed for scents, flavors, and contacts, and I produced many impurities. Throughout uncountable existences ever since, having such causes has resulted in my taking on various unsavory forms, being in hells and among hungry spirits and beasts, and being in faraway realms where there are wrong views. Today I avow harmful karmic acts like these! Taking refuge in the buddhas, masters of the correct Dharma, I acknowledge my impurities and I amend myself of them!”

When the self-amendment process is completed, the practitioner must again internalize and recite the Great Vehicle sutras without laziness of body or mind.

As a sort of follow-on for this peril of infatuation with scents, consider the Daily Dharma from Jan. 20, 2021, and its discussion of the Lotus Sutra’s attitude toward the sense of smell:

They also will be able to locate the Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas by smelling their bodies from afar. Even when they recognize all this by smell, their organ of smell will not be destroyed or put out of order. If they wish, they will be able to tell others of the differences [of those scents] because they remember them without fallacy.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. Our sense of smell is often unconscious. We associate smells with places, experiences or even people that we like or dislike. These smells can even cause an emotional reaction by causing us to relive a situation associated with that smell. In the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha teaches that our everyday experiences are no different from enlightenment, that his great wisdom is not about how to escape from this world. It is about how to use the senses and abilities with which we are blessed in ways we cannot imagine.

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

Daily Dharma, d6b

Daily Dharma – May 17, 2023

I see that all living beings are burned by the fires of birth, old age, disease, death, grief, sorrow, suffering and lamentation. They undergo various sufferings because they have the five desires and the desire for gain…Notwithstanding all this, however, they are playing joyfully. They are not conscious of the sufferings. They are not frightened at the sufferings or afraid of them. They do not dislike them or try to get rid of them. They are running about this burning house of the triple world, and do not mind even when they undergo great sufferings.

The Buddha offers this explanation to his disciple Śāriputra in Chapter Three of the Lotus Sūtra. He compares his teaching of suffering and Nirvāṇa to a father luring his children from a dangerous house with a promise of better toys. The children were so preoccupied with their own entertainment that they could not hear their father’s warning. In this triple world of beautiful forms, fascinating ideas and consuming desires, it is easy to stay with our childish games and ignore the Buddha’s teaching. Our maturity as Bodhisattvas comes when we set these aside for the benefit of all beings.

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