Category Archives: LS32

Eyes, d7b, WONS

Teaching Skill

Another issue to be addressed is the appropriateness of insisting on teaching the Lotus Sūtra to those who do not wish to hear it, or who are not able to really appreciate its significance. Isn’t this unskillful? Wouldn’t it be better to just let people learn and practice those Buddhist teachings that they find meaningful and encourage them in that, as the way of embracing suggests? Then, when they are ready they may come to the Lotus Sūtra on their own, and until then they will not feel any antagonism towards it because it has not been used to challenge their own beliefs and practices. Nichiren also addresses this issue in Treatise on the Teaching, Capacity, Time and Country (Kyō Ki Ji Koku Shō).

“Question: How should we comprehend the statement in chapter three, ‘A Parable,’ of the Lotus Sūtra, ‘You should not expound this sutra to ignorant people?’

“Answer: This applies to wise masters, who are able to discern the capacity of people, not to ordinary masters in the Latter Age of Degeneration.

“We should also solely expound the Lotus Sūtra to those who slander the Dharma. This would establish the connection of a poisonous drum between the unfaithful people and the Lotus Sūtra as it is said that the sound of a drum smeared with poison kills a man who hears them. It is like the practice of Never Despising Bodhisattva preached in the ‘Never Despising Bodhisattva’ chapter of the Lotus Sūtra.

“If a person has the capacity of a wise man, though, we should teach him the Hinayāna sūtras first of all, then the provisional Mahāyāna sūtras, and finally the true Mahāyāna sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra. If a man is deemed ignorant, however, we should teach him the true Mahāyāna sūtra from the start, as it can plant the seed of buddhahood in both believers and slanderers.” (Hori 2004, pp. 97-98)

Nichiren is saying that if one is a truly skillful teacher who is teaching someone who has the ability to understand Buddhism on a very deep level and who is open to learning then certainly Buddhism should be taught systematically starting with the basics taught in the pre-Mahāyāna teachings, proceeding on to the Mahāyāna developments, and finally arriving at the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra. Nichiren assumes a very different set of circumstances, however. He says that those who are not skillful teachers in the Latter Age of the Dharma who is encountering people who are incapable of understanding Buddhism on a deep level or who are even opposed to the Lotus Sūtra because they cling to lesser teachings should simply proclaim the Lotus Sūtra at the start so that people can at least make a connection with it, even if it might initially be a negative one. Otherwise, they would lose their opportunity to hear and connect with the sūtra at all.

Open Your Eyes, p575-576
LS32

Day 10

Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.

Day 10 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City, we return to Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and the prediction for Subhūti.

Thereupon the World-Honored One, having understood the wishes of the great disciples, said to the bhikṣus:
“In his future life, this Subhūti will see three hundred billion nayutas of Buddhas, make offerings to them, respect them, honor them, praise them, perform brahma practices, complete the Way of Bodhisattvas, and become a Buddha on the final stage of his physical existence. He will be called Beautiful-Form, 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 will become that Buddha will be called Having-Treasures; and his world, Treasure-Born. The ground [of his world] will be even, made of crystal, adorned with jeweled trees, and devoid of mounds, pits, rubble, thorns and dirt. Jeweled flowers will cover the ground to purify it. The people of that world will live in buildings of wonderful treasures. His disciples in Śrāvakahood will be numberless, beyond calculation or comparison. The Bodhisattvas will be many thousands of billions of nayutas in number. The duration of the life of that Buddha will be twelve small kalpas. His right teachings will be preserved for twenty small kalpas. The counterfeit of his right teachings will be preserved also for twenty small kalpas. That Buddha will always stay in the sky, expound the Dharma to the multitude, and save innumerable Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas.

Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

Bhikṣus!
Now I will tell you.
Listen to me
With one mind!

Subhūti, a disciple of mine,
Will be able
To become a Buddha
Called Beautiful-Form.

He will make offerings
To many billions of Buddhas, and practice
According to the practices of the Buddhas,
And finally attain great enlightenment.

On the final stage of his physical existence,
He will obtain the thirty-two physical marks,
And become as beautiful and as wonderful
As a mountain of treasures.

The world of that Buddha
Will be the purest.
Anyone will be happy to see it.
That Buddha will save
Innumerable living beings
Of that world.

Many Bodhisattvas
In the world of that Buddha
Will be clever.
They will turn
The irrevocable wheel of the Dharma,
And adorn that world.

The Śrāvakas in that world also
Will be countless.
They will have the six supernatural powers,
Including the three major supernatural powers.
They will have the eight emancipations.
They will be exceedingly powerful and virtuous.

The supernatural powers
Employed by that Buddha
For the expounding of the Dharma
Will be inconceivable.

As many gods and men
As there are sands in the River Ganges
Will join their hands together
And listen to the words of that Buddha.

The duration of the life of that Buddha
Will be twelve small kalpas.
His right teachings will be preserved
For twenty small kalpas.
The counterfeit of his right teachings
Also will be preserved for twenty small kalpas.

See Longing to Hear, ‘You Will Become Buddhas’

b4today, LS32, d10b, d9b

Longing to Hear, ‘You Will Become Buddhas’

When understanding develops into service to society and to other people, we can call it faith or religion. A true religion has this kind of power. Where does inspiration, the foundation of this power, come from? Inspiration comes not from theories but from the contact of one’s spirit with other spirits. When we meet a person of great character and listen to his words, our hearts are touched with joy. We ardently determine to emulate him even at the risk of our lives. The ability to give us such determination is the greatness of Sakyamuni as the appearing Buddha. When we take as the universal truth the words of Sakyamuni Buddha, whom we revere as the ideal human being, we receive a great power, which is beyond mere understanding and which gives us strength and uplifts us.

This is why the Buddha’s disciples were eager to hear the Buddha’s words, “You will become buddhas,” directly from his lips. Such words were a stronger encouragement to them than the support of ten million people. “Be pleased to say a word to us! If you should say something to us, we would sacrifice ourselves for your teachings and would follow them to the end. We would never turn away or be neglectful in our practice. So be pleased to say a word to us!” Thus were the disciples asking Sakyamuni.

This innocent and trusting attitude shows true faith. The disciples’ manner of asking is a good example for our religious lives, so we should bear it well in mind. The understanding of the Buddha’s teachings gained by reading books and listening to preaching is still shallow. If we do not have a sense of being inspired or the feeling of flying straight to Sakyamuni’s arms of great compassion, our understanding will not produce the power to save others as well as ourselves. Worshiping the Buddha’s image and repeating the title of the Lotus Sutra are not mere idol worship and magical incantations. The purpose of these actions is nothing other than the merging of ourselves with the mind of Sakyamuni, whom we revere as our teacher and our parent, and through him with the great salvation of the Eternal Original Buddha.

Buddhism for Today, p85
d24b, WONS

Service to Your Employer Is Practicing the Lotus Sūtra

Putting aside other matters, I will beseech the Buddha to protect each of you from now on. Continue to serve your lord as you have done till now. It is equivalent to practicing the Lotus Sūtra twenty-four hours a day. How precious this is.

Please remember that the service to your lord itself is practicing the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra. Interpreting the scriptural statement in the Lotus Sūtra (“The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma” chapter), Grand Master T’ien-t’ai, therefore, states in his Great Concentration and Insight, “All the activities and daily work of the people in the secular world do not contradict the truth preached by the Buddha.” Please contemplate the spirit of this scriptural statement again and again.

Dannotsu Bō Gohenji, Response to a Follower, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 131

LS32

Day 9

Day 9 covers Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and introduces Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.

Day 9 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month begun the gāthās, we consider the Simile of the Herbs.

Kāśyapa, know this!
Suppose a large cloud rose in the sky,
And covered everything on the earth.
The cloud was so merciful
That it was about to send a rainfall.
Lightning flashed,
And thunder crashed in the distance,
Causing people to rejoice.

The cloud covered the sun,
And cooled the earth.
It hung down
As low as if we could reach it.

Now the rain came down
To all the quarters of the earth.
The rainwater was immeasurable.
It soaked all the earth.
There were many plants
In the retired and quiet places
Of the mountains, rivers and ravines.

They were herbs, cereal-plants, young rice-plants,
Vegetables, sugar canes, and other grasses;
Fruit-trees including vines,
And other trees, tall and short.
They were sufficiently watered by the rain.
So were all the dry lands.

The herbs and trees grew thick by the rain.
All the grasses and trees in thickets and forests
Were watered variously according to their species
By the rain water of the same taste
Coming down from the [same] cloud.

All the trees grew differently
According to their species.
They became superior or middle or inferior
Or tall or short trees.

The roots, trunks, branches, leaves,
Flowers and fruits of the various trees
Were given a fine and glossy luster
By the same rain.

Although watered by the same rain,
Some of them were tall, while others not,
Because they were different
In their entities, appearances and natures.

See When Inequality Threatens the Ecosystem

LS32, d9b, stories

When Inequality Threatens the Ecosystem

According to the simile of the great cloud and rain, every living being is, in one sense, equally valuable. Each has its own function within the larger whole. Each has its own integrity, its own value for itself, its own goodness, its own purposes, its own beauty. The rain nourishes according to the needs of the various plants. A big tree requires more water than a small shoot of grass. But this does not necessarily mean that the big tree is superior to the small blade of grass; it’s just bigger. Different living beings play different roles in the ecology of the planet. Each of us depends on a vast network of living beings, which are dependent on each other. Thus, a certain harmony or peace is required – not necessarily a perfect harmony, but enough of a harmony to enable the system to function and survive through growth and modification.

Today, many believe that the minimal harmony necessary for human survival on earth is being destroyed by earth’s dominant group of living beings – human beings. Whole habitats – rainforests, wetlands, uncultivated plains, natural rivers and streams – have been destroyed and are still being destroyed, probably at an increasing rate. Increased economic activity virtually everywhere also means increasing pollution of the air and water and the very soil upon which we depend for much of our food. In addition to such environmental destruction, humankind has developed weapons of enormous destructive power that could hardly have been imagined a century ago.

In this sense, human beings have made themselves more important, that is, more powerful, than other living beings in this ecosystem. They threaten to destroy even the minimal harmony that makes life on earth possible.

This is a situation well beyond what the Indian compilers of the Lotus Sutra could have imagined. It would be foolish to claim that the Sutra provides a recipe for solving the kind of problems that threaten the planet today. But, in principle, the Sutra is hardly silent about such matters. It calls upon us to recognize that – in important respects – all living beings are equal. All are nourished by the same processes, symbolized in the simile as the rain of the Dharma.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p 81-82
LS32

Day 8

Day 8 concludes Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith, and closes the second volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 8 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith, we return to the top and the expedient the rich man used to entice his son to work for him.

Thereupon the rich man thought of an expedient to persuade his son to come to him. He [wished to] dispatch messengers in secret. He said to two men looking worn-out, powerless and virtueless, ‘Go and gently tell the poor man that he will be employed here for a double day’s pay. If he agrees with you, bring him here and have him work. If he asks you what work he should do, tell him that he should clear dirt and that you two also will work with him.’
“The two messengers looked for the poor son. Having found him, they told him what they had been ordered to tell. The poor son [came back with them,] drew his pay in advance, and cleared dirt with them. Seeing him, the father had compassion towards him, and wondered [why he was so base and mean]. Some days later he saw his son in the distance from the window. The son was weak, thin, worn-out, and defiled with dirt and dust. The father took off his necklace, his garment of thin and soft cloth, and other ornaments. He put on tattered and dirty clothing, smeared himself with dust, and carried a dirt-utensil in his right hand. He looked fearful. He [came to the workers and] said, ‘Work hard! Do not be lazy!’

“With this expedient the father came to his son. He said to him, ‘Man! Stay here and work! Do not go anywhere else! I will pay you more. Do not hesitate to take trays, rice, flour, salt and vinegar as much as you need! You can have an old servant if you want to. Make yourself at home! I feel like your father. Do not worry any more! I am old, and you are young. When you work, you do not deceive [the other workers]. You are not lazy. You do not get angry [with the other workers], or reproach them. You are not like the other workers who do these evil things. From now on I will treat you as my son.’

See Hopeless Cases

LS32, d7b, d8b, stories

Hopeless Cases

For followers of the Dharma Flower Sutra, there is no such thing as a “hopeless case.” Everyone, without exception, has within himself or herself an inner strength, a great power, to flourish in some way.

And yet, in this story, upon seeing the great power and wealth of the father, the son runs away in fear. Sometimes, when we see how great is the Buddha’s treasury – how great the responsibility of compassionate knowing – we too may run away in fear. It is not easy to be a follower of the Dharma Flower Sutra or of the bodhisattva way. It involves taking responsibility, both for one’s own life and for the lives of others. And that can be frightening. That is why it is not enough for a religion to teach doctrine; it must provide assurance, over and over again – assurance that life can be meaningful, even wonderful, assurance that can overcome our natural tendency to run away in fear.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p72
LS32

Day 7

Day 7 concludes Chapter 3, A Parable, and begins Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.

Day 7 Text with annotationsPlay MP3
Having last month considered the plight of the rich man who misses his lost son, we witness the arrival of the son at his father’s estate.

“World-Honored One! At that time the poor son, who had worked at various places as a day worker, happened to come to the house of his father. Standing by the gate of the house, he saw his father in the distance. His father was sitting on a lion-like seat, putting his feet on a jeweled footstool. Brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, and householders surrounded him respectfully. He was adorned with a necklace of pearls worth ten million. The secretaries and servants were standing on either side of him, holding insect-sweepers made of white hairs. Above him was a jeweled awning, from which streamers of flowers were hanging down. Perfume was sprayed and beautiful flowers were strewn on the ground. He was exhibiting treasures and engaging in trade. Adorned with these various things, he looked extraordinarily powerful and virtuous.

“Seeing the exceedingly powerful father, the poor son was frightened. He regretted that he had come there. He thought, ‘Is he a king or someone like a king? This is not the place where I can get something by labor. I had better go to a village of the poor, where I can work to get food and clothing easily. If I stay here any longer, I shall be forced to work.’

“Having thought this, the poor son ran away. The rich man, who was sitting on the lion-like seat, recognized him at first sight as his son. He was delighted. He thought, ‘Now I have found the person to whom I can transfer my treasures and storehouses. I have been thinking of my son all this time, but I have had no way to find him. Now he has come by himself all of a sudden. This is just what I wanted. I am old, but not too old to lose any attachment [to my treasures].’

See Faith in Yourself

LS32, d7b, d8b, stories

Faith in Yourself

At a meeting some time ago of the International Buddhist Congregation in Tokyo, a young woman described how, dissatisfied with the faith in which she had been raised, she had searched among Christian and Buddhist traditions for an appropriate faith for herself, finally discovering with some joy the importance of having faith in herself. We might think that faith in oneself is not enough. And indeed it isn’t. But it is an important beginning. The poor man in this story was not able to become a functioning contributor to his family and society until he gained some respect for and confidence in himself.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p69