Category Archives: LS32

LS32

Day 29

Day 29 covers all of Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.

Day 29 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the merits to be given to those who bow and make offerings to World-Voice-Perceiver, we consider how World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva goes about this Sahā-World.

Endless-Intent Bodhisattva said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! How does World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva go about this Sahā-World? How does he expound the Dharma to the living beings? What expedients does he employ?”

The Buddha said to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva:

“Good man! In a certain world, World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva takes the shape of a Buddha and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Buddha. He takes the shape of a Pratyekabuddha and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Pratyekabuddha. He takes the shape of a Śrāvaka and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Śrāvaka. He takes the shape of King Brahman and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by King Brahman. He takes the shape of King Śakra and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by King Śakra. He takes the shape of Freedom God and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by Freedom God. He takes the shape of Great-Freedom God and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by Great-Freedom God. He takes the shape of a great general in heaven and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a great general in heaven. He takes the shape of Vaiśravaṇa and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by Vaiśravaṇa. He takes the shape of the king of a small country and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by the king of a small country. He takes the shape of a rich man and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a rich man. He takes the shape of a householder and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a householder. He takes the shape of a prime minister and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a prime minister. He takes the shape of a brahmana and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a brāhmana. He takes the shape of a bhikṣu, a bhikṣunī, an upāsakā or an upāsikā and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a bhikṣu, a bhikṣunī, an upāsakā or an upāsikā. He takes the shape of a wife and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by the wife of a rich man, of a householder, of a prime minister, or of a brāhmana. He takes the shape of a boy or a girl and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a boy or a girl. He takes the shape of a god, a dragon, a yakṣa, a gandharva, an asura, a garuda, a kiṃnara, a mahoraga, a human being or a nonhuman being and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by one or another of these living beings. He takes the shape of Vajra-Holding God and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by Vajra-Holding God.

“Endless-Intent! This World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva does these meritorious deeds. He takes various shapes, walks about many worlds, and saves the living beings [of those worlds]. Make offerings to World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva with all your hearts! This World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva-mahāsattva gives fearlessness [to those who are] in fearful emergencies. Therefore, he is called the ‘Giver of Fearlessness’ in this Sahā-World.”

See Princess Miao-shan

b4today, LS32, d29b

Princess Miao-shan

While both the concept of appealing for help by calling the name of the bodhisattva and the idea that Kwan-yin takes on many forms remained important elements in Kwan-yin devotion and religious practices, a great many other stories, extra-canonical stories, especially stories of embodiments of Kwan-yin, attracted popular attention in China. The most common of these stories to come down to the present day is the story of Princess Miao-shan. Taught to them by their mothers and grandmothers, it has had much influence on how Kwan-yin is perceived and understood by Chinese Buddhists.

Miao-shan (meaning “wonderfully good”) was the third daughter of King Miao-chuang. She was naturally attracted to Buddhism, keeping a vegetarian diet from a young age, reading Buddhist scriptures during the day, and meditating at night. Having no sons, the King hoped to choose an heir from among his sons-in-law. When Miao-shan became old enough to marry, unlike her two older sisters who had married men chosen by their father, she refused to be married to anyone. angered her father so much that he found a variety of ways in which to punish her. For a while, for example, she was made to do hard work in the garden. When those tasks were completed, she was allowed to go to the White Sparrow nunnery, where she underwent further trials designed to discourage her from becoming a nun. But she persevered. So the King burned down the temple, killing the five hundred nuns who lived there, and he had Miao-shan executed for disobedience.

While her body was being protected by a mountain spirit, Miao-shan’s spirit traveled to a purgatory, where she was able to save many beings by preaching the Dharma to them. Returning to earth, she went to Fragrant Mountain, meditated for nine years, and became fully awakened.

By this time her father the King had become very ill with a mysterious incurable disease. Disguised as a wandering monk, Miao-shan went to her father and told him that there was only one thing that could save him – a medicine that was made from the eyes and hands of someone who had never felt anger. And she even told him where such a person could be found. There she secretly offered her own eyes and hands to be turned into medicine, which was taken by the King, curing him of his disease.

The King then went to Fragrant Mountain to give thanks to the one who had saved him. There he immediately recognized the ascetic without eyes or hands as his own daughter. Overwhelmed with remorse, the King and his entire family converted to Buddhism. And Miao-shan was transformed into her real form – Kwan-yin with a thousand arms and eyes. Soon after this, Miao-shan died and her remains were placed in a pagoda.

Buddhism for Today, p279-280
d1b, Vasubandhu

The Accomplishment of Seven Types of Merit

The Commentary [on Chapter One, Introductory] says: The gateway to this sutra begins with an introduction that reveals the accomplishment of seven types of merit. 1) [The merit] accomplished in the opening statement; 2) [the merit] accomplished with the gathering of the great assembly; 3) [the merit] accomplished when the Tathāgata wants to teach the Dharma; 4) [the merit] accomplished when the comportment by which [the Tathāgata] teaches the Dharma accords with his station; 5) [the merit] accomplished when he establishes the ground to teach; 6) [the merit] accomplished when the assembly wants to hear about the event; 7) [the merit] accomplished by Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī.

Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p 95-96
LS32

Day 28

Day 28 covers all of Chapter 24, Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, and concludes the Seventh Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 28 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva’s power of transformation, we conclude Chapter 24, Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva.

Thereupon Flower-Virtue Bodhisattva said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! This Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva planted deeply the roots of good. World-Honored One! What is the name of the samadhi by which he can transform himself into various living beings and appear in various places to save all living beings?”

The Buddha said to Flower-Virtue Bodhisattva:

“Good man! This is called the ‘samadhi by which one can transform oneself into any other living being.’ Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva entered into this samadhi and benefited innumerable living beings as previously stated.”

When the Buddha expounded this chapter of Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, the eighty-four thousand people, who had come accompanying Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, obtained the ability to practice the samadhi by which they could transform themselves into other living beings. Innumerable Bodhisattvas of this Sahā-World also obtained the ability to practice this samadhi. They also obtained dharanis.

Thereupon Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva-mahāsattva made offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha and to the stupa of Many-Treasures Buddha, [benefited the living beings of the Sahā World,] and left for his home world[, accompanied by the eighty-four thousand Bodhisattvas]. As they passed through the [one hundred and eight billion nayuta] worlds, the ground of those worlds quaked in the six ways; lotus-flowers of treasures rained down; and hundreds of thousands of billions of kinds of music were made. Having reached his home world, accompanied by the eighty-four thousand Bodhisattvas who surrounded him, he came to Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha. He said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! I went to the Sahā-World and benefited the living beings there. I saw Śākyamuni Buddha and the stupa of Many-Treasures Buddha. I bowed and made offerings to them. I also saw Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva, the Son of the King of the Dharma. [I also saw] Medicine-King Bodhisattva, Endeavor-Power-Obtainer Bodhisattva, Brave-In-Giving Bodhisattva, and others. I also caused these eighty-four thousand Bodhisattvas to obtain the ability to practice the samadhi by which they could transform themselves
into any other living being.”

When [Śākyamuni Buddha] expounded this chapter of the Coming and Going of Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, forty-two thousand gods obtained the truth of birthlessness, and Flower-Virtue Bodhisattva obtained the ability to practice the samadhi for the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

[Here ends] the Seventh Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

See Becoming Bodhisattvas Who Take On Different Forms and Roles

LS32, d28b, stories

Becoming Bodhisattvas Who Take On Different Forms and Roles

While Kwan-yin, Manjushri, and Maitreya are famous, especially in China and throughout East Asia, for taking on whatever body is needed in order to be helpful to others, Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva is hardly known outside of the Dharma Flower Sutra, or even outside of Chapter 24 of the Dharma Flower Sutra. He seems, for example, to have been completely neglected by artists. I do not know why this is so. It certainly cannot be because this story is any less encouraging to women than the Kwan-yin chapter. Here, by indicating numerous ways in which Wonderful Voice takes on female bodies, the text goes to some lengths to assure women that they too can become bodhisattvas, that they themselves can become Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva. Perhaps one reason that this bodhisattva failed to attract artists is that it is difficult to portray a face as beautiful as millions of moons together!

Nor do we know whether the story of Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva is older or younger than the story in the Dharma Flower Sutra of Kwan-yin Bodhisattva. But I think it is no accident that in the Dharma Flower Sutra this story is placed just before the Kwan-yin chapter. Kwan-yin is enormously famous for being able to take on any form in order to save others. One could easily think that this special power to take on different forms belongs to Kwan-yin alone. But in the Dharma Flower Sutra we are clearly shown that almost exactly the same power and list of forms is also attributed to Wonderful Voice. The point, I believe, is not that there are two bodhisattvas with such power, but that every bodhisattva has such power. We are not talking about magical tricks here. The ability to take on different forms according to what is needed means just that, an ability to adapt to different situations, particularly to the different needs of people. Taking on different forms is no more and no less than the ability to serve others usefully, practically, and effectively. This is a power given not only to the bodhisattvas Kwan-yin and Wonderful Voice, but to each and every one of us.

Thus, one obvious meaning of this story for us is that we too can become bodhisattvas who take on different forms and roles in order to help others. And there is another side to this, even its opposite – anyone can be a bodhisattva for us. If Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva can take on any form, anyone we meet might be Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva in a form designed to help us! But very often at least, someone can be a bodhisattva for us only if we let them, only if we open ourselves in such a way as to enable someone to be a bodhisattva for us.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p265-266
LS32

Day 27

Day 27 concludes Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Day 27 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva’s observation of the Buddha, ‘World-Honored One! You do not change, do you?’, we consider Glady-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva’s further offering to the śarīras of Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha.

“Thereupon Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva thought again, ‘I have now made these offerings, yet I do not think that they are enough. I will make another offering to the śarīras.’

“He said to the Bodhisattvas, to the great disciples, and also to all the other living beings in the great multitude including gods, dragons and yakṣas, ‘Look with one mind! Now I will make another offering to the śarīras of Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha.’

“Having said this, he burned his arms adorned with the marks of one hundred merits, and offered the light of the flame to the eighty-four thousand stupas for seventy-two thousand years. [By doing so,] he caused innumerable seekers of Śrāvakahood and many other asaṃkhyas of people to aspire for Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, and obtain the samadhi by which they could transform themselves into the other living beings.

“Having seen him deprived of his arms, the Bodhisattvas, gods, men, asuras and others were overcome with sorrow. They said, ‘This Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva is our teacher. He is leading us. Now he has burned off his arms. He is deformed.’

“Thereupon Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva vowed to the great multitude, saying, ‘I shall be able to obtain the golden body of the Buddha because I gave up my arms. If my words are true and not false, I shall be able to have my arms restored.’

“When he had made this vow, his arms were restored because his merits, virtues and wisdom were abundant. Thereupon the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds quaked in the six ways, and the gods rained down jeweled flowers. All the gods and men had the greatest joy that they had ever had.”

See Acts of Devotion

LS32, d26b, d27b, stories

Acts of Devotion

There is no evidence to suggest that such practices as burning body parts or one’s whole body was taken literally in India. It was in China and Vietnam especially, with finger burning and self-immolations occurring even as late as 1948, that such language was taken literally. This is one danger of literalism. It can lead to extreme acts that benefit no one. Devotion is good; devotion to the Buddha is good; devotion to the Dharma Flower Sutra is good. But acts of devotion have to be examined with additional criteria to determine whether they are in accord with the Dharma as a whole, whether they promote or retard one’s progress along the way, and whether they are likely to lead to a reduction in suffering. There could be very exceptional circumstances, perhaps once in ten million eons, when such a sacrifice is called for. It may be that Vietnam in the 1960s was one such time. But the monk Thich Quang Duc, who burned himself in 1963, did not do so merely to express his devotion. His act of devotion was also a political act aimed at improving the lives of millions of people.

Religious devotion not tempered by intelligence and wisdom can be dangerous, both to others and to oneself. Sound practice, skillful practice of the Buddha Way, requires that we develop to the fullest all of our capacities for doing good.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p246-247
d25b, WONS

The Vow of Bodhisattvas Who Sprang Up from Underground

The twenty-first chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, the “Divine Powers of the Buddha,” says: “Thereupon those bodhisattvas who had sprung up from underground, as numerous as the dust-particles of 1,000 worlds, all heartfully pressed their hands together in reverence of the Buddha, looked up to the noble countenance of the Buddha and said to Him, ‘World Honored One! We will propagate this sūtra after Your death in the lands of Buddhas in manifestation (funjin Buddhas) and in this world from which You will pass away.’ ”

T’ien-t’ai offers an interpretation of this in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra: “No bodhisattvas other than those who had sprung up from underground made this vow to the Buddha.” Tao-hsien declared in his Supplement to the Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra: “The propagation of this sūtra was entrusted only to those bodhisattvas who had sprung up from underground. Why was it so? Because it was the dharma preached by the Eternal Buddha in the eternal past, the task of preaching it was entrusted to those who received His guidance in the eternal past.”

After all, Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī (Monjushiri) is a disciple of the Immovable (Fudō) Buddha of the Golden World in the east; Avalokiteśvara (Kannon) is that of the Buddha of Infinite Life in the west; Bodhisattva Medicine King (Yakuō), of Sun Moon Pure Bright Virtue (Nichigatsu Jōmyō-toku) Buddha; and Bodhisattva Samantabhadra (Fugen), of Treasure Power Virtue (Hōitoku) Buddha. These bodhisattvas have come to this world solely to assist Śākyamuni Buddha in carrying out the work of His ministry. They merely represent bodhisattvas who appeared in sūtras preached before the Lotus Sūtra or in its theoretical section, and who did not possess the great dharma of the essential section. How can they qualify to propagate it in the Latter Age of Degeneration?

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 157-158

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.

Day 26 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva, we return to today’s portion of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, and consider those supernatural powers.

Thereupon the Buddha said to the great Bodhisattvas headed by Superior-Practice:
“The supernatural powers of the Buddhas are as immeasurable, limitless, and inconceivable as previously stated. But I shall not be able to tell all the merits of this sūtra to those to whom this sūtra is to be transmitted even if I continue telling them by my supernatural powers for many hundreds of thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas of kalpas. To sum up, all the teachings of the Tathāgata, all the unhindered, supernatural powers of the Tathāgata, all the treasury of the hidden core of the Tathāgata, and all the profound achievements of the Tathāgata are revealed and expounded explicitly in this sūtra. Therefore, keep, read, recite, expound and copy this sūtra, and act according to the teachings of it with all your hearts after my extinction! In any world where anyone keeps, reads, recites, expounds or copies this sūtra, or acts according to its teachings, or in any place where a copy of this sūtra is put, be it in a garden, in a forest, under a tree, in a monastery, in the house of a person in white robes, in a hall, in a mountain, in a valley, or in the wilderness, there should a stupa be erected and offerings be made to it because, know this, the place [where the stupa is erected] is the place of enlightenment. Here the Buddhas attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Here the Buddhas turned the wheel of the Dharma. Here the Buddhas entered into Parinirvana.”

See Any Place Can Be A Holy Place

LS32, d26b, stories

Any Place Can Be A Holy Place

At the end of the [prose section of the Divine Powers chapter] is a very interesting passage, a part of which is often used in Buddhist liturgical services. Let’s look at the entire paragraph:

After the extinction of the Tathagata, you should all wholeheartedly embrace, read and recite, explain and copy, and practice [this sutra] as you have been taught. In any land, wherever anyone accepts and embraces, reads and recites, explains and copies, and practices it as taught, or wherever a volume of the sutra is kept, whether in a garden, or a woods, or under a tree, or in a monk’s cell, or a layman’s house, or in a palace, or in a mountain valley or an open field, in all these places you should put up a Stupa and make offerings. Why? You should understand that all such places are places of the Way. They are where the buddhas attain supreme awakening; they are where the buddhas turn the Dharma wheel; they are where the buddhas reach complete nirvana.

Here, putting up a Stupa is a dramatic way of indicating that all places where the Dharma is embodied in actual life are sacred places, as holy as any stupa. In a sense, it is a rejection of the idea that only temples and stupas and such are holy places. For the Lotus Sutra, any place at all can be a holy place, a place of awakening, a place of the Way, simply by being a place in which the Dharma is embodied by being put into practice. And it is precisely in such places, wherever you are, that “the buddhas attain supreme awakening, … the buddhas turn the Dharma-wheel, … the buddhas reach complete nirvana.” This is a fantastically powerful affirmation of the reality and importance of the holy ground on which we all stand. In a sense, wherever Buddha Dharma is successfully shared or taught a Stupa has already emerged.

If you take refuge in the Buddha, the Buddha has refuge in you – your practice is what enables the Buddha to be alive in this world. Not yours alone, of course, but your practice of the bodhisattva way, along with the practice of others, is what can dispel the darkness and the gloom of living beings.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p231-232