Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable

Day 6 Text with annotations

Having last month begun the Parable of the Burning House in gāthās with the condition of the house, we learn in gāthās about the owner and his concern for his children in the burning house.

This old and rotten house
Was owned by a man.
Shortly after he went out
To a place in the neighborhood,
Fires broke out suddenly
In the house.

Raging flames came out
Of all sides at the same time.
The ridges, rafters,
Beams and pillars
Burst, quaked, split, broke and fell.
The fences and walls also fell.

All the demons yelled.
The eagles, crested eagles,
And other birds, and kumbhandas
Were frightened and perplexed.
They did not know
How to get out of the house.
The wild beasts and poisonous vermin
Hid themselves in holes.

In that house also lived
Demons called pisacakas.
Because they had few merits and virtues,
They suffered from the fire.
They killed each other,
Drank blood, and ate flesh.

The small foxes were
Already dead.
Large wild beasts
Rushed at them and ate them.
Ill-smelling smoke rose
And filled the house.

The centipedes, millipedes,
And poisonous snakes
Were driven out of their holes
By the fire,
And eaten
By the kumbhanda demons.

The hair of the hungry spirits caught fire.
With hunger, thirst and burning,
The spirits ran about
In agony and dismay.

The house was so dreadful.
[In that house] there were
Poisonings, killings and burnings.
There were many dangers, not just one.

At that time the house-owner
Was standing outside the gate.
He heard a man say to him:
“Some time ago
Your children entered this house to play.
They are young and ignorant.
They are engrossed in playing.”
Hearing this,
The rich man was frightened.
He rushed into the burning house.

In order to save them
From burning to death,
He told them
Of the dangers of the house:
“There are demons and poisonous vermin here.
Flames have already spread all over.
Many sufferings are coming
One after another endlessly.
There are poisonous snakes,
Lizards, vipers,
Yakṣas, kumbhanda demons,
Small foxes, foxes, dogs,
Crested eagles, eagles,
Kites, owls and centipedes here.
They are unbearably hungry and thirsty.
They are dreadful.
These sufferings are difficult to avoid.
Worse still, there is a big fire.”

Though the children heard his warning,
They were still engrossed in playing.
They did not stop playing
Because they were ignorant.

The Introduction to the Lotus Sūtra offers a discussion of the Buddha as father and we his children.

[The Parable of the Burning House] presents the Buddha as a concerned parent, and so brings an intimacy into the relationship between the Buddha and us ordinary people. On our part, the Buddha appears like a father to be loved and trusted in faith. On the Buddha’s part, living beings like us are his children to be saved with compassion. In all of Buddhist literature, there is no other example quite as vivid as this one in the Lotus Sutra, which presents the Buddha as the Savior of suffering humanity. Here in the Lotus Sutra the Buddha touches our hearts with a clear-cut image of his personality.

Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Day 5 Text with annotations

Having last month considered Śāriputra’s fear that he was listening to Mara in the form of a Buddha, we hear Śākyamuni’s prediction of the future Buddhahood of Śāriputra.

Thereupon the Buddha said to Śāriputra:

“Now I will tell you in the presence of this great multitude including gods, men, śramaṇas, and brāhmanas. Under two billion Buddhas in the past, I always taught you in order to cause you to attain unsurpassed enlightenment. You studied under me in the long night. I led you with expedients. Therefore, you have your present life under me.

“Śāriputra! I caused you to aspire for the enlightenment of the Buddha in your previous existence. You forgot all this, and thought that you had already attained extinction. In order to cause you to remember the Way you practiced under your original vow, I now expound to the Śrāvakas this sūtra of the Great Vehicle called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’

“Śāriputra! After a countless, inconceivable number of kalpas from now, you will be able to make offerings to many thousands of billions of Buddhas, to keep their right teachings, to practice the Way which Bodhisattvas should practice, and to become a Buddha called Flower-Light, 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 world of that Buddha will be called Free-From-Taint. That world will be even, pure, adorned, peaceful, and fertile, where gods and men will prosper. The ground of that world will be made of lapis lazuli; the roads will fan out from the center to the eight directions. Those roads will be marked off by ropes of gold, and the trees of the seven treasures on the roadsides will always bear flowers and fruit. Flower-Light Tathāgata will also lead the living beings [of his world] by the teaching of the Three Vehicles.
–
“Śāriputra! Although the world in which he appears will not be an evil one, that Buddha will expound the teaching of the Three Vehicles according to his original vow.

This prediction of Śāriputra’s future world is one of the great mysteries to me. After more than 40 times reading the Lotus Sūtra, I simply cannot fathom why Śāriputra, as the Buddha Flower-Light, will teach the Three Vehicles. None of the other predictions of future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas includes this detail.

The Buddha says, “In order to cause you to remember the Way you practiced under your original vow, I now expound to the Śrāvakas this sūtra of the Great Vehicle called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’ ”

Note the Buddha is concerned with “the Way you [Śāriputra] practiced under your original vow.”

Then in the prediction of Flower-Light’s world, we are told, “Although the world in which he appears will not be an evil one, that Buddha will expound the teaching of the Three Vehicles according to his original vow.”

Updated March 22, 2019

I posted this question to the Nichiren Shu page on Facebook and received this reply from Rev. Ryuei McCormick:

My impression is that the first prediction is the most complete and comprehensive. In the other predictions it should be understood that this is probably the case.

The One Vehicle is not another vehicle aside from the three vehicles. I don’t buy those interpretations that say it is a fourth vehicle, and that does not seem how Nichiren or Tiantai understood it either. There are no three vehicles other than as partial aspects of the One Vehicle. There is no One Vehicle aside from its manifestations in terms of the three vehicles.

Also there is a difference between evil and defiled. The people of a given land may all be “good” (i.e. wholesome) but still have the defilement of ignorance that causes them to cling to self and dharmas. The three vehicles are progressively deeper ways of breaking through such defilement.

Another way to look at this may be as follows – the shravaka and pratyekabuddha vehicles are preliminary understandings of the bodhisattva vehicle, the bodhisattva vehicle is a preliminary understanding of the One Vehicle, and the One Vehicle is the most complete understanding of the previous three vehicles. If there were no One Vehicle there would be nothing for the three vehicles to be increasingly adequate explanations of, and if there were no three vehicles there would be nothing for the One Vehicle to be a complete understanding of. They are all in mutually possession of one another just as the ten worlds are – and in fact the three vehicles and buddhahood are four of the ten worlds!

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei

Updated April 26, 2019, with Clay Creating the One Vehicle

Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Day 3 Text with annotations

Having last month witnessed the World-Honored One emerging quietly from his samādhi, we learn of the insight of the Tathāgatas.

“Śāriputra! The insight of the Tathāgatas is wide and deep. [The Tathāgatas] have all the [states of mind towards] innumerable [living beings,] unhindered [eloquence,] powers, fearlessness, dhyāna-concentrations, emancipations, and samādhis. They entered deep into boundlessness, and attained the Dharma which you have never heard before.

“Śāriputra! The Tathāgatas divide [the Dharma] into various teachings, and expound those teachings to all living beings so skillfully and with such gentle voices that living beings are delighted. Śāriputra! In short, the Buddhas attained the innumerable teachings which you have never heard before. No more, Śāriputra, will I say because the Dharma attained by the Buddhas is the highest Truth, rare [to hear] and difficult to understand. Only the Buddhas attained [the highest Truth, that is,] the reality of all things’ in regard to their appearances as such, their natures as such, their entities as such, their powers as such, their activities as such, their primary causes as such, their environmental causes as such, their effects as such, their rewards and retributions as such, and their equality as such [despite these differences].

The Daily Dharma from May 25, 2018, offers this:

Śāriputra! The Tathāgatas divide [the Dharma] into various teachings, and expound those teachings to all living beings so skillfully and with such gentle voices that living beings are delighted.

The Buddha gives this explanation to his disciple Śāriputra in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. The work towards enlightenment is a shared enterprise. The Buddha cannot make us enlightened, and we cannot become enlightened by ourselves. The Buddha does not bribe, coerce, threaten or manipulate us into reaching the wisdom he knows we can find. Instead he sees deeply into our minds and uses the delusions we already have to lead us away from the suffering we create for ourselves. In our work as Bodhisattvas, we do well to keep the Buddha’s example in mind.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

Note: Apparently I didn’t post this on March 19 and only noticed the error a month later.

Chapter 1, Introductory (Conclusion).

Day 2 Text with annotations

Having last month considered Sun-Moon-Light Buddha’s preaching of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, we learn what occurred after Sun-­Moon-Light Buddha’s extinction.

“At that time there was a Bodhisattva called Virtue-Store. Sun-­Moon-Light Buddha assured him of his future Buddhahood. The Buddha said to the bhikṣus, ‘This Virtue-Store Bodhisattva will become a Buddha immediately after me. He will be called Pure-Body, the Tathagata, the Arhat, the Samyak-sambuddha.’

“Having assured him of his future Buddhahood, the Buddha then entered into the Nirvāṇa-without-remainder at midnight. After his extinction, Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva kept the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, and expounded it to men for eighty small kalpas. The eight sons of Sun-Moon-Light Buddha became his disciples. He taught them and caused them to resolve to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. They made offerings to many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas, and then attained the enlightenment of the Buddha [one after another]. The son who became a Buddha last was called Burning-Light. One of the eight hundred disciples [of Wonderful-Light] was called Fame­Seeking. He was attached to gain. He read and recited many sūtras, but did not understand them. He forgot many parts of those sūtras. Therefore, he was called Fame-Seeking. But he [later] planted the roots of good, and became able to see many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas. He made offerings to them, respected them, honored them, and praised them.

“Maitreya, know this! Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva at that time was no one but myself; and Fame-Seeking Bodhisattva, no one but you. This good omen we see now is not different from what I saw at that time. Therefore, l think that the Tathagata of today also will expound the sūtra of the Great Vehicle called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’

The Introduction to the Lotus Sūtra explains how this acts as a prelude to what’s to come:

Sun-Moon-Light Buddha expounded the Lotus Sutra prior to entering nirvana, and then assured one of his disciples of his future Buddhahood. The same can be said about Sakyamuni. The Lotus Sutra is the written teachings of Sakyamuni that were expounded prior to his death. In them, he too assured disciples of their future Buddhahood.

Sun-Moon-Light Buddha assigned one of his followers, Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva, to preserve and spread his teachings after he was gone. Likewise, Sakyamuni assigned his followers the task of spreading his teachings in this world after he should enter nirvana. This theme will be developed later, beginning in Chapter Ten, “The Teacher of the Law,” and continuing for many chapters after.

Thus this chapter introduces ideas which serve as a prelude to or foreshadowing of the philosophy of the Lotus Sutra, presenting themes which will gradually unfold in the chapters which follow.

Day 31 covers Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva.

Day 31 Text with annotations

Having last month concluded Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva, we begin again innumerable, inconceivable, asaṃkhya kalpas ago, in the realm of a Buddha called Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom.

Thereupon the Buddha said to the great multitude:
“Innumerable, inconceivable, asaṃkhya kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom, the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the Samyak-sambuddha. His world was called Light-Adornment; the kalpa in which he lived, Gladly-Seen. Under that Buddha lived a king called Wonderful-Adornment. His wife was called Pure-Virtue. They had two sons, Pure-Store and Pure-Eyes by name. The two sons had great supernatural powers, merits, virtues and wisdom. A long time ago, they had already practiced the Way which Bodhisattva should practice. They had already practiced the dana-pāramitā, the sita-pāramitā, the kṣānti-pāramitā, the vīrya-pāramitā, the dhyāna-pāramitā, the prajña-pāramitā, and the pāramitā of expediency. They also had already obtained the four states of mind towards all living beings:] compassion, loving-kindness, joy and impartiality. They also had already practiced the thirty-seven ways to enlightenment. They had done all this perfectly and clearly. They also had already obtained the samādhis of Bodhisattvas: that is, the samādhi for purity, the samādhi for the sun and the stars, the samādhi for pure light, the samādhi for pure form, the samādhi for pure brightness, the samādhi for permanent adornment, and the samādhi for the great treasury of powers and virtues. They had already practiced all these samādhis.

Nichiren uses this tale in discussing the plight of two Ikegami brothers, who were pitted against each other by their father in an effort to prompt them to abandon the Lotus Sūtra.

As you and your elder brother were born in the Latter Age of Degeneration in an outlying country and have faith in the Lotus Sūtra, I was sure that demons would possess the nation’s ruler or your parents and persecute you. But as I expected, despite your father disowning you repeatedly, you two brothers held onto your faith. Are you the reincarnation of Princes Pure Store and Pure Eyes, who led their father King Wonderful Adornment? Or is this through the discretion of Bodhisattva Medicine King and Bodhisattva Superior Practice [sic]? Your father’s disinheritance was revoked in the end and you were able to carry through with filial piety as before. Are you not filial sons in the truest sense of the word? I am sure the various heavenly beings are pleased, and the ten female rākṣasa demons, protectors of the Lotus Sūtra, accept your aspiration. Moreover, there is something heartfelt about you. When my doctrine spreads as widely as predicted in the Lotus Sūtra, I hope to share the joy with you.