Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p216The title of Chapter 26 of the Lotus Sutra, “Dharani” means “holding fast to.” Dharanis are words or phrases that hold great powers of insight and transformation. Just by reciting a dharani mindfully, often repeated three times, we invoke the power of the syllables, the sacred sounds that are produced when our body, speech, and mind are in harmony, unified, in a state of samadhi. With the energy of concentration, the sound of a dharani can in and of itself bring about transformation.
The practice of reciting dharanis aims at reestablishing communication and understanding with the great beings, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, in order to receive their spiritual energy. We do not walk the spiritual path alone; we walk in the footsteps of our teachers, friends, fellow practitioners, and all those who have practiced before us, our spiritual ancestors. So the practice of the dharanis is a Dharma door that opens up and allows us to receive the energy of those who support us in our practice.
Category Archives: LS32
Day 26
Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.
Having last month witnessed Śākyamuni Buddha’s transmission of the Dharma to the Bodhisattvas, we consider the reaction of the Bodhisattvas and conclude Chapter 22, Transmission.
Having heard these words of the Buddha, the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas were filled with great joy. With more respect than ever, they bent forward, bowed, joined their hands together towards him, and said simultaneously. “We will do as you command. Certainly, World-Honored One! Do not worry!”
The Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas said simultaneously twice more, “We will do as you command. Certainly, World-Honored One! Do not worry!”
Thereupon Śākyamuni Buddha, wishing to send back to their home worlds [Many-Treasures Buddha and] the Buddhas of his replicas, who had come from the worlds of the ten quarters, said, “May the Buddhas be where they wish to be! May the stupa of Many-Treasures Buddha be where it was!”
Having heard these words of the Buddha, not only the innumerable Buddhas of his replicas, who had come from the worlds of the ten quarters and were sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees, Many-Treasures Buddha, and the great multitude of the innumerable, asaṃkhya Bodhisattvas, including Superior-Practice, but also the four kinds of devotees including Śāriputra and other Śrāvakas, and the gods, men and asuras of the world, had great joy.
Exemplars of the Dharma
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p235[W]hat is the job that needs to be done? The more general answer is that the Dharma needs to be widely shared – so, especially with the Buddha no longer able to do so directly, bodhisattvas are responsible for teaching, and thus perpetuating, Buddha Dharma. The Sutra is concerned not only with teaching the Dharma in the ordinary sense; it is concerned with having the Dharma be embodied, having it be a central part of the lives of people. Early in [Chapter 23], Shakyamuni Buddha says, “For incalculable hundreds of thousands of billions of eons, I have studied and practiced this rare Dharma of supreme awakening.” Notice that he says both “studied” and “practiced.” Practicing the Dharma goes beyond studying it to embody it in one’s life. Thus bodhisattvas have a responsibility not only of teaching the Dharma by words, but also by demonstrating and exemplifying it in their actions.
It is because of this role as exemplars of the Dharma that bodhisattvas, both mythical and human, can be models for us. Because they are said to have many marvelous powers, people may pray to a bodhisattva for relief from some kind of danger or suffering, but that is not the most useful way to understand our relationship to such bodhisattvas. They have been entrusted by the Buddha to be exemplars of the Dharma who in their very being can inspire us to follow our own bodhisattva ways. If various bodhisattvas have found skills and powers with which to help others, we too can develop skill in ways of helping others.
A Vast, Incalculable Ocean of Happiness
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p199-200Fully endowed with all the merits,
His benevolent eye beholding the beings,
He is happiness accumulated, a sea incalculable.
For this reason one must bow one’s head to him.This is the concluding verse of [Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva]. The bodhisattva of compassion is equipped with all kinds of merits (sattva punya), acquired during countless lifetimes of manifesting understanding and compassion. He is able to regard all beings with love and compassion. I think this is the most beautiful sentence in the entire sutra: “The bodhisattva regards all beings with the eyes of love.” You too have the eyes of compassion and love. The Buddha eye has been transmitted to you. The question is whether you will choose to make use of those eyes to look deeply.
Looking deeply, listening carefully, you understand the suffering of the other person, you accept him or her, and naturally your love and compassion flow freely. This is the most beautiful practice, the most powerful method of bringing about transformation and healing. Happiness is not described here in terms of weights or measures, but as a vast, incalculable ocean.
Day 25
Day 25 covers all of Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, and opens Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.
Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, we return to Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva and meet the Buddha Powerful-Voice-King.Thereupon the Buddha said to Great-Power-Obtainer Bodhisattva-mahāsattva:
“Know this! Anyone who speaks ill of or abuses or slanders the bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās or upāsikās who keep the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will incur the retributions previously stated. Anyone [who keeps this sūtra] will be able to have his eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind purified, that is to say, to obtain the merits as stated in the previous chapter.“Great-Power-Obtainer! Innumerable, limitless, inconceivable, asaṃkhya kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Powerful-Voice-King, the Tathāgata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. The kalpa in which he lived was called Free-From-Decay; and his world, Great-Achievement. Powerful-Voice-King Buddha expounded the Dharma to the gods, men and asuras of his world. To those who were seeking Śrāvakahood, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the four truths, saved them from birth, old age, disease and death, and caused them to attain Nirvana. To those who were seeking Pratyekabuddhahood, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the twelve causes. To the Bodhisattvas who were seeking Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the six paramitas, and caused them to obtain the wisdom of the Buddha.
“Great-Power-Obtainer! The duration of the life of Powerful-Voice-King Buddha was forty billion nayuta kalpas, that is, as many kalpas as there are sands in the River Ganges. His right teachings were preserved for as many kalpas as the particles of dust of the Jambudvipa. The counterfeit of his right teachings was preserved for as many kalpas as the particles of dust of the four continents. The Buddha benefited all living being and then passed away. After [the two ages:] the age of his right teaching and the age of their counterfeit, there appeared in that world another Buddha also called Powerful-Voice-King, the Tathāgata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. After him, the Buddhas of the same name appeared one after another, two billion altogether.
Taking Personally the Three Phases of the Dharma
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p214We can, of course, understand the three phases [of the Dharma] not as an inevitable sequence of periods of time, but as existential phases of our own lives. There will be times when the Dharma can be said to be truly alive in us, times when our practice is more like putting on a show and has little depth, and times when the life of the Dharma in us is in serious decline. But there is no inevitable sequence here. There is no reason, for example, why a period of true Dharma cannot follow a period of merely formal Dharma. And there is no reason to assume that a period has to be completed once it has been entered. We might lapse into a period of decline, but with the proper influences and circumstances we could emerge from it into a more vital phase of true Dharma. A coming evil age is mentioned several times in the Dharma Flower Sutra, but while living in an evil age, or an evil period of our own lives, makes teaching the Dharma difficult, even extremely difficult, nowhere does the Dharma Flower Sutra suggest that it is impossible to teach or practice true Dharma.
Compassion
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p200Happiness is made of one substance – compassion. If you don’t have compassion in your heart you cannot be happy. Cultivating compassion for others, you create happiness for yourself and for the world. And because Avalokiteśvara is the embodiment of this practice, the Sutra says that we pay respect to him by bowing and touching our foreheads to the ground. This is an ancient Indian practice, a gesture of deep respect to one’s teacher.
With Avalokiteśvara as Our Refuge and Protection
From moment to moment conceive no doubts,
For the pure saint Who Observes the Sounds of the World
In the discomforts of pain, agony, and death
Can be a point of reliance.
Dwell in mindfulness every moment, without any doubt about the power of compassion and understanding. With great confidence and faith in Avalokiteśvara, every moment is a moment of mindfulness with compassion and understanding as its object. The symbol of compassion becomes the object of your mindfulness, the object of your recollection. And even in a situation of danger, “of pain, agony, and death,” you maintain this awareness and recollection.
Avalokiteśvara is a holy person, but holiness is not something we find only in certain persons. Everywhere that there is mindfulness, concentration, and insight, there is the element of holiness. So when we take the qualities of Avalokiteśvara as the object of our mindfulness, then the element of holiness arises in us too. With Avalokiteśvara as our refuge and protection, we reach the shore of non-fear, no longer afraid of danger or suffering, no longer in fear of death.
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p199
The Comparative Superiority of the Lotus Sūtra
The comparative superiority of all the sūtras preached during fifty years or so by Śākyamuni Buddha is declared in chapter 10 of the Lotus Sūtra, “The Teacher of the Dharma”: “I have expounded numerous sūtras. I am now expounding this sūtra. I also will expound many sūtras in the future. The total number of the sūtras will amount to many thousands, ten thousands and millions of them. This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.”
Even if this statement of the Lotus Sūtra were uttered by Śākyamuni Buddha alone, anybody from the highest ranking bodhisattvas down should respect and believe in it. The Buddha of Many Treasures, coming from the Eastern Hōjō World, attested to its truth. Besides, various Buddhas in manifestation from all the worlds in the universe gathered to verify its truth “with their long and wide tongues extended to the Brahma Heaven” just as Śākyamuni Buddha did, and returned to their respective lands.
The three phrases of “already preached, being now preached, and going to be preached” (i, kon, tō) include all the sūtras preached not only by Śākyamuni Buddha during fifty years or so of His preaching but also by all the Buddhas from all the worlds in the universe through the past, present, and future. These numerous sūtras are all compared with the Lotus Sūtra. Suppose that these Buddhas, from all the worlds in the universe, who presented themselves at the assembly of the Lotus Sūtra and added their seals of approval, should return to their respective homelands and say to their disciples that there is a sūtra superior to the Lotus Sūtra, would their disciples trust them at all?
Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 5.
Day 24
Day 24 concludes Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, and closes the Sixth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month considered the eight hundred merits of the body, we conclude Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma with the twelve hundred merits of the mind.“Furthermore, Constant-Endeavor! The good men or women who keep, read, recite expound or copy this sūtra after my extinction, will be able to obtain twelve hundred merits of the mind. When they hear even a gāthā or a phrase [of this sūtra] with their pure minds, they will be able to understand the innumerable meanings [of this sūtra]. When they understand the meanings [of this sūtra] and expound even a phrase or a gāthā [of this sūtra] for a month, four months, or a year, their teachings will be consistent with the meanings [of this sūtra], and not against the reality of all things. When they expound the scriptures of non-Buddhist schools, or give advice to the government, or teach the way to earn a livelihood, they will be able to be in accord with the right teachings of the Buddha. They will be able to know all the thoughts, deeds, and words, however meaningless, of the living beings of the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds each of which is composed of the six regions. Although they have not yet obtained the wisdom-without-āsravas, they will be able to have their minds purified as previously stated. Whatever they think, measure or say will be all true, and consistent not only with my teachings but also with the teachings that the past Buddhas have already expounded in their sūtras.”
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Their minds will become pure, clear, keen and undefiled.
They will be able to recognize with their wonderful minds
The superior, mean and inferior teachings.
When they hear even a gāthā [of this sūtra],
They will be able to understand
The innumerable meanings of [this sūtra].When they expound [this sūtra]
In good order according to the Dharma
For a month, four month or a year,
They will be able to understand at once
The thoughts of gods, dragons, men, yakṣas, demigods,
And of all the other living beings
Inside and outside this world
Composed of the six regions
Because they keep
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.They also will be able to hear and keep
The Dharma expounded to all living beings
By the innumerable Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters
Who are adorned with the marks of one hundred merits.When they think over the innumerable meanings [of this sūtra],
And endlessly repeat the expounding of those meanings,
They will not forget or mistake the beginnings and ends [of quotations]
Because they keep the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.They will see the reality of all things.
Knowing the position [of this sūtra in the series of sūtras],
And the names and words [of this sūtra], according to the meanings of it,
They will expound [this sūtra] as they understand it.They will expound the Dharma
Already taught by the past Buddhas.
Therefore, they will be fearless
Before the multitude.Anyone who keeps the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Will have his mind purified as previously stated.
Although he has not yet obtained the [wisdom-]without-āsravas,
He will be able to obtain [these merits of the mind].When he keeps this sūtra,
He will be able to reach a rare stage.
He will be joyfully loved and respected
By all living beings.He will be able to expound the Dharma
With tens of millions of skillful words
Because he keeps
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.[Here ends] the Sixth Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
The Daily Dharma for Oct. 11, 2020, offers this:
When they hear even a gāthā or a phrase [of this sūtra] with their pure minds, they will be able to understand the innumerable meanings [of this sūtra]. When they understand the meanings [of this sūtra] and expound even a phrase or a gāthā [of this sūtra] for a month, four months, or a year, their teachings will be consistent with the meanings [of this sūtra], and not against the reality of all things.
The Buddha declares these lines to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep and practice this Sūtra. The words of the Sūtra are not specific directions for how to live. We need to interpret them and apply them to our lives in the world today. There are many others whose experience and guidance can help us see what the Sūtra means, and who can benefit from our experience.
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