Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p119-120In terms of the ultimate dimension, the life span of the Tathagata is immeasurable and infinite. Yet even though in ultimate reality the Buddha is not born and does not die, nevertheless he pretends to be born, to exist for a while, and to enter nirvana to show living beings of the world how to take care of themselves. The Buddha gives us the spiritual medicine we need for the healing and transformation of our bodies and minds – the practice of mindfulness. Now it is up to us to take the medicine and practice diligently so that we too can get in touch with the ultimate dimension and recognize our true nature of no birth and no death.
We have to use mindfulness in order to touch the ultimate dimension. When we notice a yellow leaf underfoot during walking meditation, it is an opportunity to look deeply into its nature of no coming and no going. When we breathe mindfully, we are in touch with our breath and body and we already feel different than before. Using mindfulness, everything appears to us more clearly. The practice of mindfulness is the path that leads us to the ultimate dimension. When we practice mindfulness in our daily life activities – working, gardening, cooking, washing the dishes, greeting guests – we are in touch with the phenomenal world very deeply, much more deeply than when we do not have mindfulness. At that point the ultimate dimension can begin to show itself to us.
The ultimate dimension reveals itself either vaguely or clearly to us depending on the quality of our mindfulness. Sometimes we have mindfulness only for a moment; sometimes we can maintain it for two or three minutes. If we look at a cloud mindfully and are able to maintain our mindfulness for three minutes, for those three minutes we have concentration, samadhi. When our practice of mindfulness is solid and steady enough then we are able to keep the lamp of samadhi alight from moment to moment. Whether we are in the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, or office, when we sweep the courtyard or drive our car, in all these actions we maintain the bright flame of samadhi. Practicing this way we get in touch with our own true nature, which is exactly the same as the Buddha’s, unborn and undying. Just like the yellow leaf and everything else we see around us in the world of appearances, we too are participating in the infinite life span of the Buddha.
Category Archives: LS32
Day 32
Day 32 covers Chapter 28, The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, closing the Eighth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month concluded Chapter 28, we begin again with the arrival of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva.
Thereupon Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, who was famous for his virtues and supernatural powers without hindrance, came from a world [in the distance of many worlds] to the east [of this Sahā-World]. He was accompanied by innumerable, uncountable great Bodhisattvas. All the worlds quaked as he passed through. [The gods] rained down jeweled lotus-flowers, and made many hundreds of thousands of billions of kinds of music. He was also surrounded by a great multitude of innumerable gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings. They reached Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa of the Sahā-World by their virtues and supernatural powers. [Universal-Sage Bodhisattva] worshiped [the feet of] Śākyamuni Buddha with his head, walked around the Buddha [from left] to right seven times and said to the Buddha:
“World-Honored One! I heard the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, which you expounded in this Sahā World, from a remote world in which lives Treasure-PowerVirtue-Superior-King Buddha. I came here with many hundreds of thousands of billions of Bodhisattvas in order to hear and receive [this Sūtra]. World-Honored One! Tell me how the good men or women who live after your extinction will be able to obtain this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma!”The Buddha said to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva:
“The good men or women will be able to obtain this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma after my extinction if they do the following four things: 1. secure the protection of the Buddhas, 2. plant the roots of virtue, 3. reach the stage of steadiness [in proceeding to enlightenment], and 4. resolve to save all living beings. The good men or women will be able to obtain this sūtra after my extinction if they do these four things.”
See The Four Conditions Necessary for Acquiring the Dharma Flower Sutra
The Four Conditions Necessary for Acquiring the Dharma Flower Sutra
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p299-300Here, in Chapter 28 of the Dharma Flower Sutra, Universal Sage becomes the vehicle for specifying the four conditions necessary for acquiring the Dharma Flower Sutra. Three of these are matters of action, things we do or can do. At least to some extent we can choose to plant roots of virtue, choose to join those who are determined to be awakened, and choose to be determined to save all the living. The first of the four, on the other hand, is quite different. Being protected and kept in mind by buddhas is not something we can choose; rather, it is more like a gift. Faith, at least in one of its dimensions, is the trust and confidence that we are always under the care of buddhas.
Being under the protection and care of buddhas does not mean that no harm can come to us. We should know that even with the protection of buddhas, the world is a dangerous place. Shakyamuni Buddha, we should remember, was harmed more than once during his teaching career and probably died from food poisoning. We can never entirely escape from a whole host of dangers, including disease, aging, crime, and war. What the Lotus Sutra teaches is not that we can be completely free from danger, but that no matter what dangers we have to face, there are resources, both in ourselves and in our communities, that make it possible for us to cope with such dangers. By having faith in the Buddha, doing good by helping others, genuinely aspiring to become more and more fully awakened through wise and compassionate practice, and by extending our compassion not only to our family and our friends but to all living beings, the dangers we face will recede into the background. They will not go away, but we will not be dominated by them.
To have faith in the Buddha is to take refuge in the Buddha. It means that embodying the Buddha in our everyday lives is our highest good. This is to live in faith, to trust life itself. Such faith is not a license to stupidly do dangerous things, but it does make it possible to live an abundant life, without undue fear or caution, even perhaps in the eyes of the world to be a little foolish. This is part of what it means to be in the care of the buddhas.
The Wave Is Already Water
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p117-118I once wrote a poem:
The work of building will take ten thousand lifetimes.
But dear one, look –
that work has been achieved ten thousand lives ago.This is speaking from the point of view of the ultimate dimension. Do you need to become a Buddha? Do you need to run after enlightenment? The wave does not have to seek to become water – she is water, right here and now. In the same way, you are already nirvana, you are already a Buddha; you are already what you want to become. What is essential is to enter the path of practice in order to realize this truth and help others realize it too.
With his limitless life span, the Buddha has unbounded capacity to help living beings throughout space and time, in all the realms of existence. But he plays at the pretense of coming and going, being born and passing into nirvana, as a kind of skillful means to encourage living beings to enter the path of practice.
Day 31
Day 31 covers Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva.
Having last month heard of a Buddha called Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom and the virtues of Pure-Store and Pure-Eyes, we consider what happened when the two sons asks their mother to go hear Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha.“Thereupon that Buddha expounded the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, wishing to lead King Wonderful-Adornment also out of his compassion towards all living beings. 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 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]! ‘
“Pure-Store and Pure-Eyes joined their ten fingers and palms together, and said to their mother, ‘We were born in this family attached to wrong views although we are sons of the King of the Dharma.’
“The mother said to them, ‘Show some wonders to your father out of your compassion towards him! If he sees [the wonders], he will have his mind purified and allow us to go to that Buddha.’
See ‘Off the Path’
‘Off the Path’
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p286It is interesting that we find the Dharma Flower Sutra here being sensitive to the possibility of families having members with different religious perspectives. Sometimes the term “heretical” has been used to translate the Chinese/Japanese term gedo, which literally means “off the path,” where the path is the Way of the Buddha. It simply means non-Buddhist. Actually, one could say that Buddhism itself is a Hindu heresy. “Heresy” means departure from something already established, some “orthodoxy,” and is always more or less within some tradition. Thus “Christian heresy” is possible and so is “Buddhist heresy” but that is not what is meant by gedo, especially here, where the King is a follower of brahman views, that is, of orthodox views.
Beyond the Eight Outer Forms
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p116-117We sometimes use the expression “The Eight Outer Forms of Realizing the Path” to mean the appearances or forms through which every Tathagata passes: entering the womb, being born, getting in touch with suffering, becoming a practitioner, following the path, attaining enlightenment, teaching the Dharma, and entering nirvana. We practice in order to see that these outer forms of reality are really only magical appearances. In fact, the Buddha is not born and does not die; that is the true nature of the Buddha and of everything else. When we look deeply enough into any phenomenon – a pebble, a drop of dew, a leaf, a cloud – we recognize its ultimate nature in the Three Dharma Seals of impermanence, no-self, and interdependence. In this way we can discover its true nature of no birth, no death, which is exactly the same as the true nature of the Tathagata. A beautiful golden leaf in autumn is also just putting on a magical show for us. First the leaf plays at being born in the springtime, and later it pretends to fall down to earth and die. As far as the phenomenal world is concerned, we believe that the leaf comes into being and then passes away. But in terms of the ultimate dimension, birth and death, coming and going, existence and nonexistence are only a magic display, a mere appearance.
Day 30
Day 30 covers all of Chapter 26, Dhāraṇīs
Having last month considered the dhārāni spells offered by Brave-In-Giving Bodhisattva, we consider the dhārāni spells offered by Vaiśravaṇa Heavenly-King.Thereupon Vaiśravaṇa Heavenly-King, the Protector of the World, said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One! I also will utter dhārānis in order to protect this teacher of the Dharma out of my compassion towards all living beings.”
Then he uttered spells, “Ari (1), nari (2), tonari (3), anaro (4), nabi (5), kunabi (6).”
[He said to the Buddha:]
“World-Honored One! I will protect this teacher of the Dharma with these divine spells. I also will protect the person who keeps this sūtra so that he may have no trouble within a hundred yojanas’ distance [from here].”
The Ultimate Skillful Means
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p115The appearance of the Buddha in the historical dimension, as a particular person born into a particular family, and having a normal human life span, is like a magic show designed to capture the attention of the living beings of that time and guide them to the path of transformation. In the chapters of the Lotus Sutra discussed in Part One, on the historical dimension, the Buddha used various skillful means in teaching the paths of the three vehicles, when in fact there is really only One Vehicle. We could say that of all the Buddha’s methods of teaching, his appearance in the form of various historical Buddhas throughout time and space is the ultimate skillful means. Through this method, the Tathagata has never stopped teaching and guiding beings to liberation.
Day 29
Day 29 covers all of Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.
Having last month repeated in gāthās why the son of the Buddha is called World-Voice-Perceiver, we consider the many misfortunes for which World-Voice-Perceiver responds.Suppose you are thrown into a large pit of fire
By someone who has an intention of killing you.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver
The pit of fire will change into a pond of water.Suppose you are in a ship drifting on a great ocean
Where dragons, fish and devils are rampant.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
The ship will not b sunk by the waves.Suppose you are pushed
Off the top of Mt. Sumeru by someone.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
You will be able to stay in the air like the sun.Suppose you are chased by an evil man,
And pushed off [the top of] a mountain made of diamond.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
You will not lose even a hair.Suppose bandits are surrounding you,
And attempting to kill you with swords.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
The bandits will become compassionate t wards you.Suppose you are sentenced to death,
And the sword is drawn to behead you.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
The sword will suddenly break asunder.Suppose you are bound up
In pillories, chains, manacles or fetters.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
You will be released from them.Suppose someone curses you to death,
Or attempts to kill you by various poisons.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
Death will be brought to that person, instead.Suppose you meet rākṣasas
Or poisonous dragons or other devils.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
They will not kill you.Suppose you are surrounded by wild animals
Which have sharp, fearful tusks and claws.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver
They will flee away to distant places.Suppose you meet lizards, snakes, vipers or scorpions
Emitting poisonous vapor like flames.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
They will go away as you call his name.Suppose clouds arise, lightning flashes, thunder peals,
Hail falls, and a heavy rains comes down.
If you think of the power of World-Voice-Perceiver,
The thunderstorm will stop at once.