Buddhism for Today, p343Having finished preaching chapter 21, Sakyamuni Buddha rose from his Law seat and, through his supernatural power, laid his right hand on the heads of the innumerable bodhisattva-mahasattvas and spoke thus: “I, for incalculable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of asaṃkhyeyas of kalpas, have practiced this rare Law of Perfect Enlightenment. Now I entrust it to you. Do you wholeheartedly promulgate this Law and make it increase and prosper far and wide.”
To lay one’s hand on another’s head or to pat someone on the head is to praise him, according to Japanese custom. In the West it is usually a gesture of affection. In India, however, such an action means to put one’s trust in another, as if to say, “I leave it to you. Do your best.” It is said that Sūryasoma, who taught the Lotus Sutra to his favorite disciple, Kumārajīva, laid his hand on Kumārajīva’s head and said to him, “Reverently propagate this sutra.”
The Buddha’s action of laying his right hand on the heads of the innumerable bodhisattvas through his supernatural power represents his placing deep trust in them. They must have been deeply moved by the Buddha’s action.
Category Archives: LS32
The Originally Enlightened Buddha of the Perfect Teaching Abides in This World
Two Buddhas, p189“The originally enlightened buddha of the perfect teaching abides in this world,” Nichiren wrote. “If one abandons this land, to what other land should one aspire? Wherever the practitioner of the Lotus Sūtra dwells should be considered the pure land.” Based on such thinking, Nichiren opposed the idea, extremely common in his time, of shunning this world as wicked and impure and aspiring to birth in the pure land of a buddha or bodhisattva after death. Because the various sūtras preached before the Lotus do not teach the perfect interpenetration of the buddha realm and the nine deluded realms, Nichiren asserted, the superior realms of buddhas and bodhisattvas that they mention, such as Amitābha’s Sukhāvati realm or Maitreya’s Tusita heaven, are merely provisional names; the “Lifespan” chapter of the Lotus reveals that the true pure land is to be realized here in the present, Sahā world.
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 considered the declaration of the Bodhisattvas who had sprung up from underground and the response of the Buddha, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas with 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.
A True and Peerless Teaching
Buddhism for Today, p333-334There are indeed many different speeds in the process of the attainment of enlightenment. The difference in people’s capacity to understand the Buddha’s teachings exists only in the area encompassed by “this shore” (shigan), the world of birth and death. But people become buddhas equally when they reach “that shore” (higan), the realm of nirvana. Therefore, there is no essential difference in their capacity to understand the Buddha’s teachings. This is the teaching of mirai-ki’itsu, “man’s capacity to understand the Buddha’s teachings is one in the future.” The Buddhist term fugen-daie, “all creatures universally see the great assembly of the Buddha surrounded by many other buddhas,” indicates the idea that the Buddha has the divine power to lead all living beings equally to the realm of nirvana in the future.
The expression “all the gods in the sky sang with exalted voices” means that all living beings in the sahā-world received inspiration from all the gods. Such an expression is not limited to Buddhism. The phrase “a voice was heard from heaven” appears in Christian writings, and the words “I hear heaven’s voice” are often used in the teachings of Confucius and Mencius. These words imply that people receive revelations from heaven, that is, that they perceive the truth of faith as if an inspiration had flashed across their minds.
What did all the living beings in the sahā-world receive by inspiration from the exalted voices of all the gods in the sky? They realized that in the sahā-world, Sakyamuni Buddha preached the teaching called the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law, the Law by which bodhisattvas are instructed and which the buddhas watch over and keep in mind. This is a true and peerless teaching, which causes all beings in the universe to live, bestows harmony on them, and brings about their peace of mind. This realization means that although the sahā-world is now a realm of suffering, it will surely become the most sacred land of the universe in the future, when all teaching and learning will be united into one in the Buddha’s teachings.
The Joy of the Dharma
Two Buddhas, p189By devotion to the Lotus Sūtra and to its daimoku practice, Nichiren taught, one manifests the reality of ichinen sanzen — or more simply stated, the Buddha’s enlightened state — within oneself, opening a ground of experience that is joyful and meaningful, independent of whether one’s immediate circumstances are favorable or not. Nichiren called this the “joy of the dharma.” In the Lotus Sūtra’s language, even in a world “ravaged by fire and torn with anxiety and distress” one can, so to speak, experience the gardens, palaces, and heavenly music of the buddha realm.
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, 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 Five Kinds of Practices
Buddhism for Today, p295[Chapter 18] details the merits of a beginner, one who has just entered the teaching. [Chapter 19] expounds the merits of a preacher who has moved to a higher level. “Preacher” does not necessarily mean monk or nun but means any person – including Buddhist monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen – who receives and keeps the Buddha’s teachings and endeavors to spread them. The practices of a preacher are of five kinds (goshu hosshi): receiving and keeping the sutra (juji), reading it (doku) and reciting it (ju), expounding it (gesetsu), and copying it (shosha). … In each of these five practices, the state of our gradually deepening faith is clearly shown.
If we believe and discern the teaching after hearing it, and if we raise the mind of joyful acceptance of it, we proceed first to keep it firmly, then, reading and reciting the sutra, to inscribe it on our memory. As a personal discipline, this practice is done to establish the foundation of our faith. When our faith reaches this stage, we cannot help transmitting the teaching to others. As a result, we expound the sutra (the teaching) and copy it. We cannot say we have attained true faith until we go through each process of the five kinds of practices of the preacher.
The Constantly Abiding Pure Land
Two Buddhas, p188Another important implication that [the Life Span] chapter held for Nichiren was indeed this very possibility of realizing the buddha land in the present world. In the “Parable” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, Śākyamuni describes the world as a “burning house” in which there is no safe place. But now in the “Lifespan” chapter, having revealed his true identity as the primordially awakened buddha, Śākyamuni declares that, even in the fire that destroys the world at the end of the cosmic cycle, his land — the present world — is “tranquil” and “never decays”; it is a place where sentient beings are “joyful.” This is the realm depicted on Nichiren’s mandala. Alluding to this sūtra passage, Nichiren writes, “Now the Sahā world of original time is the constantly abiding pure land, liberated from the three disasters and beyond the [cycle of the] four kalpas [eons]. Its buddha has not already entered nirvana in the past, nor is he yet to be born in the future. And his disciples are of the same essence. This [reality] … is the three thousand realms of one’s own mind.”
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 concluded 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 consider the benefits of the fiftieth person who rejoices.
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!
To Have a Sense of Joyful Acceptance
Buddhism for Today, p283This chapter preaches in further detail the merits of first rejoicing over the Buddha’s teachings. The reason such merits are repeatedly preached is that our joyful acceptance of the Buddha’s teachings, our deep feeling of gratitude for them, is indispensable to faith. Even if we have read many sutras and have memorized all Buddhist doctrines, so long as we do not accept the Buddha’s teachings with heartfelt joy this means merely that we are knowledgeable in Buddhism; it does not indicate that we believe in the Buddha. To have a sense of joyful acceptance of the Buddha’s teachings is to have faith in them. Therefore the merits that we obtain by the joyful acceptance of his teachings are preached repeatedly in this chapter.