Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p108In Chapter 15 of the Lotus Sutra, “Welling Up Out of the Earth,” we begin to see the unborn and undying nature of the Buddha. From the point of view of our conventional understanding, we see reality as limited by the two barriers of time and space. But the Lotus Sutra reveals to us the eternal presence of the Buddha; time and space are not separate.
Category Archives: LS32
The Lotus Sūtra Is Truest of All True Words
In the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 7 (“Divine Powers of the Buddha” chapter), preaches, “You should uphold this sūtra after My death. There is no doubt that such people will attain Buddhahood.” The holy teachings of the Buddha preached during His lifetime are all so precious that we cannot neglect them. They are all golden words of our Father, Lord Teacher Śākyamuni Buddha, the Great Sage. They are all true words. Nevertheless, they are divided into several categories such as Hinayāna, Mahāyāna, exoteric, esoteric, provisional Mahāyāna and true Mahāyāna. Compared to the sūtras of the non-Buddhist teachings such as Two Heavenly Beings and Three Hermits in India and Taoist priests in China, Buddhist sūtras are the teachings of the true words whereas these non-Buddhist scriptures are of lies. The Buddhist scriptures, however, can also be divided into those of true words, lies, idle talks, and harsh words. Among them, the Lotus Sūtra is the truest of all true words, the utmost of all truth.
Myōhō-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Reply to My Lady, the Nun Myōhō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 142
Daily Dharma – Dec. 7, 2020
Anyone who keeps
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Should be considered to have given up his pure world and come here
Out of his compassion towards all living beings.
The Buddha declares these verses to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. He reminds us that as Bodhisattvas, we are no longer concerned with getting into a paradise where all our desires are met. This also means that we were not sent into this world of conflict (Sahā) so that we could be tested to see whether we are worthy of getting into that paradise. Instead, we are Bodhisattvas, beings who through our great resolve to benefit all beings, have with great courage chosen to immerse ourselves in the misery of this world, because we know there is no other way to create benefit and lead all beings to the Buddha’s enlightenment.
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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 heard the vow of the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas as many as the particles of dust of one thousand worlds who sprang up from underground, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, with the reaction of the gods in the skies [of the worlds of the ten quarters.
At that time the gods in the skies [of the worlds of the ten quarters] said loudly:
“There is a world called Sahā beyond a distance of many hundreds of thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas of worlds. In that world lives a Buddha called Śākyamuni. He is now expounding to Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas a sūtra of the Great Vehicle, called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’ Rejoice from the bottom of your hearts! Bow and make offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha!”
Having heard their voice from the skies, the living beings of those worlds joined their hands together towards the Sahā World, and said, “Namah Sakyamunaye Buddhaya, namah Sakyamunaye Buddhaya.” Then they strewed various flowers, various kinds of incense, various necklaces, streamers, canopies, personal ornaments, treasures, and other wonderful things to the Sahā-World from afar.
The strewn things came from the worlds of the ten quarters like gathering clouds and changed into a jeweled awning over the Sahā-World. The awning extended over the Buddhas staying in this world. At that time the worlds of the ten quarters became passable through each other without hindrance as if they had been a single Buddha-world.
See 10 Divine Powers
10 Divine Powers
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p224The divine powers displayed in this story are said to be ten in all, five having to do with the past and five with the future. The second five can be understood as consequences of the first five being widely implemented. While these ten are known as “divine powers,” they are actually events – events that display special, magical powers, some by buddhas, some by others.
When Daffodils Manifest
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p108In the Upper Hamlet of Plum Village where I live there is an area where wild daffodils manifest in late February. When we first arrived on the land to begin building Plum Village, we were not aware that there were so many beautiful daffodils, hundreds of thousands of them, waiting there to manifest in early spring. We had only a historical perception of the land; we had not yet seen its ultimate dimension. The daffodils don’t bloom any other time of the year, and then suddenly tens of thousands of them spring up, just like the bodhisattvas welling up from the Earth. When these golden flowers manifest, it is very beautiful, and so we have named that place “Treasure of the Dharma Body.” You can’t see the Dharma realm (dharmadhatu), until it manifests to you. If you’re too attached to your perception of the historical dimension of reality, you may not be able to see the ultimate dimension manifest. When you know how to look deeply into the historical dimension, you touch the ultimate dimension.
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 twelve hundred merit of the tongue in gāthās, we consider the eight hundred merits of the body.“Furthermore, Constant-Endeavor! The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this sūtra, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the body. Their bodies will become as pure as lapis lazuli. All living beings will wish to see them. Some of the living beings in the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds are just born or have just died. All living beings are either noble or humble. They are either handsome or ugly. They are destined to be reborn either in a better region or in a worse region. All of them will be reflected on the pure bodies [of the good men or women]. The Surrounding Iron Mountains, the Great Surrounding Iron Mountains, Mt. Meru, Mt. Maha-Meru, and the other great mountains, and the living beings in those mountains also will be reflected on their bodies. [All the six regions] down to the Avici Hell and up to the Highest Heaven and the living beings therein also will be reflected on their bodies. The Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and Bodhisattvas as well as the Buddhas who are expounding the Dharma, also will show their reflections on their bodies.”
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Anyone who keeps
This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Will be able to have his body purified like lapis lazuli.
All living beings will wish to see him.Just as a reflection is seen
In a clear mirror
All things in the world will be reflected
On the pure body of this [person, that is, of this]
Bodhisattva.
No one but he
Will be able to see all things clearly.The gods, men, asuras,
Hellish denizens,
Hungry spirits and animals,
That is, all living beings
Of the one thousand million Sumeru-world
Will be reflected on his body.The palaces of the gods in the heavens
Up to the Highest Heaven,
The Surrounding iron Mountains,
Mt. Meru, Mt. Maha-Meru,
And the great oceans also
Will be reflected on his body.The Buddhas, Śrāvakas, Bodhisattvas who are sons of the Buddhas
[That is, the saints] of whom some live a solitary life
While others are expounding the Dharma to the multitude,
Also will be reflected on his body.Although he has not yet obtained the wonderful body
[Of the Bodhisattva who knows] the nature of the Dharma-without-āsravas,
He will be able to have all these things
Reflected on his pure and natural body.
The Daily Dharma from April 1, 2020, offers this:
All living beings are either noble or humble. They are either handsome or ugly. They are destined to be reborn either in a better region or in a worse region. All of them will be reflected on the pure bodies [of the good men or women].
The Buddha makes this declaration to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra, describing those who keep the Lotus Sūtra. Much of what we see in the world is a projection of our own biases and ignorance. We see things for what we want them to be rather than what they are. We classify the people in our lives as friends, enemies or strangers not because of their inherent qualities, but because of how they treat us. When we act for the benefit of others rather than our own gratification, we are showing them their true qualities. We let them see themselves for what they are.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Indestructible Dharma Body
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p105-106The Buddha says:
For the sake of the Buddha Path,
I, in incalculable lands,
From the beginning until now,
Have broadly preached the scriptures,
But among them,
This scripture is first.
If there is anyone who can hold it,
Then he holds the Buddha body.The Buddha body is the Dharma body, the dharmakaya, ultimate reality. We cannot confine the true nature of the Buddha into the space of eighty years, into the framework of a country with a population of 500 million, into the small space and small time of the historical dimension. The Buddha is always present throughout the trichiliocosm in an infinite, incalculable number of transformation bodies. And just as the Buddha manifests in various forms in the historical dimension but his true body, the dharmakaya, abides in the ultimate, we too exist in the historical dimension but at the same time we have a Dharma body in the ultimate dimension. Our historical body has a beginning and an end, and we experience the cycle of birth, old age, sickness, and death. But our Dharma body is indestructible. So while in living in our historical body we practice being in touch with our Dharma body, because when we can touch the nature of our Dharma body – the ultimate dimension – we are no longer afraid of birth and death.
Day 23
Day 23 covers all of Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, and opens Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.
Having last month completed today’s portion of Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, we return to Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra and the merits to be given to a good man or woman who rejoices at hearing this Sūtra.Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva-mahāsattva said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One! How many merits will be given to a good man or woman who rejoices at hearing this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma?” He sang in a gāthā:
How many merits will be given
To a person who rejoices
At hearing this sūtra
After your extinction?Thereupon the Buddha said to Maitreya Bodhisattva-mahāsattva: “Ajita! Suppose a bhikṣu, a bhikṣunī, an upāsakā, an upāsikā, or some other wise person, whether young or old, rejoices at hearing this sūtra in a congregation after my extinction. After leaving the congregation, he or she goes to some other place, for instance, to a monastery, a retired place, a city, a street, a town, or a village. There he or she expounds this sūtra, as he or she has heard it, to his or her father, mother relative, friend or acquaintance as far as he or she can. Another person who has heard [this sūtra from him or her], rejoices, goes [to some other place] and expounds it to a third person. The third person also rejoices at hearing it and expounds it to a fourth person. In this way this sūtra is heard by a fiftieth person. Ajita! Now I will tell you the merits of the fiftieth good man or woman who rejoices at hearing [this sūtra]. Listen attentively!
The Buddha and the Dharma
Peaceful Action, Open Heart, p94-95[In Chapter 10] the Lotus Sutra opens the door of the ultimate dimension to us. The Buddha is none other than the Dharma. The true body of the Buddha is the Dharma body (dharmakaya). Through the Dharma, we can touch the Buddha right in the present moment. Whenever we show respect and make offerings to the Dharma, when we hear, practice, and teach it to others, we are at the same time showing respect to the Buddha. The Buddha is always with us, right here in the present moment. We need only receive this wonderful Dharma and put it into practice.