Buddhism for Today, p377-378The causes of … misunderstanding [of Chapter 25: The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva] are basically two. The first is their superficial idea of salvation, which they seek in something outside themselves. As has already been explained in chapter 16, salvation lies in our awareness of the existence of the Eternal Buddha, who is omnipresent both within and outside us, and in our earnest and heartfelt realization that we are caused to live by the Buddha.
Such a firm realization leads us to true peace of mind. At the same time, our speech and conduct come naturally to be in accord with the Buddha and will produce harmony in our surroundings. The Land of Eternally Tranquil Light, namely, an ideal society, will be formed when a harmonious world gradually spreads in all directions.
True salvation comes about in this way. Misunderstanding salvation is caused by our mistakenly regarding it as meaning freedom from pain and distress through the help of some outside agency. This is just like a person who suffers from a headache caused by constipation and takes aspirin for the headache. He will temporarily feel relief from his headache because of the medicine, but he will not recover completely so long as he is not cured of his constipation, the root cause. In the same way, to rely completely on power outside oneself will not cause one to be truly saved from suffering, even though he may be relieved of an immediate problem.
Category Archives: LS32
Realizing the Ideal
Buddhism for Today, p376The true spirit of chapter 24 is that an ideal is not truly holy until it is actually realized by people little by little. Although the buddhas dwelling in ideal worlds, such as the Tathāgata Mahāvairocana and the Tathāgata Amita, are surely very holy, the Eternal Original Buddha, whom people can revere through the Tathāgata Sakyamuni as the personified ideal thereof, should be the object of worship for those living in this world.
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.
Having last month considered Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha’s advice to Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, we consider Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva’s preparations to come to the Sahā World.
Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva said to the Buddha “World-Honored One! I can go to the Sahā-World by your powers, by your supernatural powers of traveling, and by your merits and wisdom which adorn me.”
Thereupon Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva entered into a samadhi. He did not rise from his seat or make any other movement. By the power of this samadhi, he caused eighty-four thousand lotus flowers of treasures to appear in a place not far from the seat of the Dharma situated on Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa. Those flowers had stalks of jambunada gold, leaves of silver, stamens of diamond, and calyxes of kimsuka treasures.
Thereupon Mañjuśrī, the Son of the King of the Dharma, having seen these lotus-flowers, said to Śākyamuni Buddha:
“World-Honored One! What does this omen mean? Tens of millions of lotus-flowers have appeared. They have stalks of jambunada gold, leaves of silver, stamens of diamond, and calyxes of kimsuka treasures.”
Thereupon Śākyamuni Buddha said to Mañjuśrī:
“This means that Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva-mahāsattva, surrounded by eighty-four thousand Bodhisattvas, is coming from the World of Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha to this Sahā World in order to make offerings to me, attend on me, bow to me, make offerings to the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, and hear it.”
Day 27
Day 27 concludes Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.
Having last month compared the Lotus Sūtra to all of the other sūtras, we consider how this sūtra saves all living beings.“Star-King-Flower! This sūtra saves all living beings. This sūtra saves them from all sufferings, and gives them great benefits. All living beings will be able to fulfill their wishes by this sūtra just as a man who reaches a pond of fresh water when he is thirsty, just as a man who gets fire when he suffers from cold, just as a man who is given a garment when he is naked, just as a party of merchants who find a leader just as a child who meets its mother, just as a man who gets a ship when he wants to cross [a river], just as a patient who finds a physician, just as a man who is given a light in the darkness, just as a poor man who gets a treasure, just as the people of a nation who see a new king enthroned, just as a trader who reaches the seacoast. Just as a torch dispels darkness, this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma saves all living beings from all sufferings, from all diseases, and from all the bonds of birth and death. The merits to be given to the person who, after hearing this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, copies it, or causes others to copy it, cannot be measured even by the wisdom of the Buddha. Neither can the merits to be given to the person who copies this sūtra and offers flowers, incense, necklaces, incense to burn, powdered incense, incense applicable to the skin, streamers, canopies, garments, and various kinds of lamps such as lamps of butter oil, oil lamps, lamps of perfumed oil, lamps of campaka oil, lamps of sumanas oil, lamps of pāṭala oil, lamps of vārṣika oil, and lamps of navamālikā oil [to the copy of this sūtra].
Understanding ‘Desires’
Buddhism for Today, p359-360The Buddha continued: “Star Constellation King Flower! This sutra is that which can save all the living; this sutra can deliver all the living from pains and sufferings; this sutra is able greatly to benefit all the living and fulfill their desires.”
The Buddha preaches here in more detail that the Lotus Sutra itself enables all living beings to be saved, be delivered from pain and suffering, be benefited, and be fulfilled in their desires. The word “desires” does not mean immediate desires for material satisfactions or a comfortable life. It indicates the ideal that is the real goal of one’s life. Although every person has his own specific desire, or goal, it should always be one that benefits others. For Buddhists this is of crucial importance. Misinterpretation of the Lotus Sutra arises when people misunderstand the word “desires” as meaning immediate desires based on man’s greed. There is nothing so dangerous and terrible as to misinterpret the Law. We must take great care to understand it correctly.
Daily Dharma – April 14, 2020
If anyone keeps, reads, recites, expounds and copies even a gāthā of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, and respects a copy of this sūtra just as he respects me…or just joins his hands together respectfully towards it, Medicine-King, know this, that person should be considered to have appeared in the world of men out of their compassion towards all living beings.
The Buddha declares these lines to Medicine-King Bodhisattva at the beginning of Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. We might believe that everything happens by chance, or that we were sent into this life by someone who is testing us. This Sūtra awakens us to our existence as Bodhisattvas who asked to be born in this world of suffering out of our vow to benefit all beings.
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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 concluded Chapter 22, Transmission, we begin Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva and consider why Medicine-King Bodhisattva walks about this Sahā-World.Thereupon Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva said to the Buddha:
“World-Honored One! Why does Medicine-King Bodhisattva walk about this Sahā-World? World-Honored One! This Medicine-King Bodhisattva will have to practice hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of austerities in this world. World-Honored One! Tell me why! Not only the gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings but also the Bodhisattvas who have come from the other worlds’ and the Śrāvakas present here will be glad to hear the reason.”
Thereupon the Buddha said to Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva:
“Innumerable kalpas ago, that is, as many kalpas as there are sands in the River Ganges ago, there lived a Buddha called Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue, 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. He was accompanied by eight thousand million great Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas and also by great Śrāvakas numbering seventy-two times as many as there are sands in the River Ganges. The duration of his life was forty-two thousand kalpas. So were the durations of the lives of the Bodhisattvas. His world was devoid of women, hellish denizens, hungry spirits, animals and asuras. There was no calamity in his world. The ground of his world was as even as the palm of the hand. It was made of lapis lazuli, adorned with jeweled trees, and covered with a jeweled awning from which the streamers of jeweled flowers were hanging down. Jeweled vases and incense-burners were seen everywhere in that world. There was a platform of the seven treasures at the distance of a bowshot from each of the jeweled trees under which the Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas were sitting. On each of the platforms of treasures, myriads of millions of gods were making heavenly music, singing songs of praise of the Buddha, and offering the music and songs to the Buddha.
The Lessons of the Bodhisattvas
Buddhism for Today, p350Ordinary people need actual models to help them practice what is good. Whom should they take as their model in their practice of the path of the Buddha’s teaching? It goes without saying that they should follow the model of Sakyamuni Buddha himself. The first thing they must do is tread the path that the Buddha has shown them. But they have no idea how to begin to emulate the Buddha because he is perfect and faultless and has accomplished all virtues. Ordinary people can much more easily aim at emulating a virtue possessed by a bodhisattva or a deed practiced by a bodhisattva. The closing chapters of the Lotus Sutra provide us with a series of such bodhisattva models. In these chapters, each virtue of the bodhisattva is described as the highest, ideal state of mind; by describing such virtues and urging us to attain such an ideal state, the Buddha admonishes us, who are apt to be arrogant. Our religious life is a continual process of trial and error, of taking two steps forward and one back. Whenever we read the last six chapters of the Lotus Sutra, we are encouraged and inspired anew not to be neglectful or arrogant. Here lies the importance of these chapters.
The Diamond Chalice Precept
In order to reflect his new understanding of the Buddha and Buddhist practice, Nichiren believed that the time had come for the establishment of a new precept platform. Nichiren taught that it was impractical for the ordinary person in the Latter Age of the Dharma to attempt to approach awakening by merely adhering to a code of conduct. People no longer felt capable of living up to these various sets of precepts; many of those who did had come to realize that morality and ethics alone do not bring anyone closer to awakening. Of course, there were also hypocrites who strictly adhered to the letter of the precepts while violating their spirit. In order to remedy this, Nichiren taught that the true spirit of all the various sets of precepts is expressed in the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, the most important thing is to simply strive to uphold the Lotus Sūtra in order to transcend one’s imperfections and attain awakening. This is the true fulfillment of all the precepts.
The Manual of Nichiren Buddhism explains this as follows:
Nichiren claimed that the kaidan at Hieizan was established for the priests whose duty was to save the people of the semblance age of the Dharma and that a new kaidan should be established for the priests who would save those of the latter age of the Dharma. He also held that not only priests but also laymen should come to the Kaidan of the Essential Teaching and receive the Fundamental Precept of Nichiren Buddhism, that is to chant the Daimoku, which should be practiced by all living beings, priests or not. (Murano 1995, p. 62)
Teaching, Practice and Proof, a writing attributed to Nichiren, refers to the “fundamental precept” of upholding the Lotus Sūtra as the “Diamond Chalice Precept.” The following passage from the Brahmā’s Net Sūtra is a possible source for this precept: “This precept of the diamond chalice is the source of all Buddhas, the source of all bodhisattvas and the seed of the Buddha nature.” Nichiren realized that if the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Teaching, Myōhō Renge Kyō, is the enlightenment of the Eternal Śākyamuni Buddha and therefore the seed of buddhahood, then Myōhō Renge Kyō is itself the Diamond Chalice Precept. By chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, practitioners would be upholding the Diamond Chalice Precept that embraces all other precepts. Nichiren goes on to say in Teaching, Practice and Proof:
Afterwards, [explain that] the core realization of Myōhō Renge Kyō, which is the main gate of the Lotus Sūtra, contains all the merits of the practices and virtues of all the buddhas of the past, present, and future, which manifests as the five characters. How could these five characters not contain the merits of all precepts? Once the practitioner has this comprehensive Wonderful Precept, even if he wants to destroy it, he cannot. This has been called the ‘Diamond Chalice Precept.’ All buddhas of the past, present, and future keep this precept. All the Dharma-bodies, reward-bodies, and accommodative-bodies become the buddhas of no beginning and no end. The Great Master Tiantai wrote: ‘[The Buddha] secretly put this into all the teachings and did not expound it.’ Now when all people, whether wise or foolish, householder or home-leaver, upper or lower class, of the present latter age of the Dharma train themselves in accord with the view of Myōhō Renge Kyō, why should they not obtain buddhahood?
[The twenty-first chapter of the Lotus Sūtra states:] ‘Therefore, the man of wisdom who hears the benefits of these merits and who keeps this sūtra after my extinction will be able to attain the awakening of the Buddha definitely and doubtlessly. The people of the provisional schools who slip away from this decisive teaching of the three Buddhas (Śākyamuni, Many Treasures, and the emanation buddhas of the ten directions) will definitely end up in the Avici Hell. Similarly, if this precept is so excellent, then all the precepts of the previous provisional teaching will have no merit. Without any merit, the daily rules of abstention are useless. (Kyōgyōshō Gosho in the Shōwa teihon p. 1488 as translated by Yumi and Michael McCormick)
Open Your Eyes, p470-471Day 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 and meet Powerful-Voice-King Buddha.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.
The Introduction to the Lotus Sutra offers this on ages of the Buddha’s teachings:
The terms, “Age of Right Teachings” and “Age of Counterfeit Teachings,” express the Buddhist view of history. It is believed that for a while after a Buddha has entered Nirvana, people will remember his teachings correctly, put them into practice, and attain enlightenment. However, as time passes, those teachings will become mere academic formalities. People will know about them and be able to discuss them, but they will no longer practice them diligently and attain enlightenment. This second period is called the Age of Counterfeit Teachings. Finally, the teachings will decay altogether. People will neither practice them, understand them, nor attain enlightenment. This is the Age of Degeneration, when Buddhism declines and finally fades away. It is believed by most scholars that the first and second periods last for a thousand years each. The Age of Degeneration can drag on for as long as 10,000 years. In any case, Never-Despising Bodhisattva lived during the second of these three periods, an Age of Counterfeit Teachings.
Introduction to the Lotus Sutra