Category Archives: LS32

LS Introduction, LS32, d3b, d4b

The Departure of the 5,000

[In Chapter 2, Expedients, T]he Buddha confirmed the existence of the highest truth, which can be attained only by a Buddha. The next question is, how does Sakyamuni Buddha expound this highest truth to living beings? That is what Sariputra and the entire congregation wanted to know. Three times Sariputra asked for an explanation, but three times his request was denied. (This is called the “Three Requests and the Three Denials.”) Sakyamuni had good reason to refuse Sariputra’s requests. The audience, you may recall, was composed mostly of followers of the Lesser Vehicle. These people had spent long years of their lives in rigorous religious exercises and were convinced they had finally arrived at the truth. They were called arhats—perfect ones. Most of them would feel insulted to hear that they had been on the wrong track all this time. It is difficult to be told that one is wrong, especially after having worked so hard and accomplished so much.

Finally, however, Sakyamuni decided to accept the earnest pleas of Sariputra. Before he even began to speak, five thousand monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen from the congregation stood up and walked out. They were sure that they already knew the highest truth, and saw no need to listen any more. Like religious fanatics everywhere, they were arrogant in their assurance and unwilling to be contradicted or be littled. The Buddha remained silent and made no move to prevent them from leaving. “Let the arrogant ones go!” he told Sariputra. “Listen carefully, and I will explain it to you.”

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

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.

Having last month considered how the Buddha is like the rich man in the parable, we consider how the śrāvakas are like the rich man’s son.

The poor son came to his father,
And took custody
Of the things of his father,
But wished to take none of them.

The same can be said of us.
We did not wish to have the treasure-store
Of the teachings of the Buddhas
Although we expounded it [to the Bodhisattvas].

We were satisfied with the elimination
Of illusions within ourselves.
What we accomplished was that elimination.
We did nothing more.

You told us
To purify the world of the Buddha
And teach all living beings.
We heard this, but did not wish to do so
Because we had already attained the truth:
“All things are void and tranquil.
Nothing appears or disappears.
Nothing is larger or smaller.
Nothing has āsravas.
Nothing is subject to cause and effect.”
Having thought this, we did not wish
To do [the Bodhisattva practices].

In the long night
We did not care
For the wisdom of the Buddha.
We did not wish to have it.
We thought:
“The Dharma we attained is perfect.”

Having studied the truth of the Void in the long night,
We emancipated ourselves
From the sufferings of the triple world,
Attained the Nirvāṇa-with-remainder,
And reached the final stage
Of our physical existence.

You said [to us]:
“When you attain enlightenment infallibly,
You will have already repaid
The favors I gave you.”

Although we expounded to the sons of the Buddha
The teachings for Bodhisattvas in order to cause them
To seek the enlightenment of the Buddha,
We did not wish to attain
The same enlightenment for ourselves.
You, our Leader, left us alone because you knew this.
You did not persuade us
To seek the enlightenment of the Buddha.
You did not say
That we should be able to have real benefits.

The rich man knew
That his son was base and mean.
Therefore, he made him nobler
With expedients,
And then gave him
All his treasures.

In the same manner,
You knew that we wished
To hear the Lesser Vehicle.
Therefore, you did a rare thing.
You prepared us with expedients,
And then taught us the great wisdom.

See Heavenly King Brahman

LS Introduction, LS32, d4b

Heavenly King Brahman

What is the significance of expedients? First of all, let us think about this question from the standpoint of Buddhism in general.

There is a legend that Sakyamuni, when he attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Buddha Gaya, in north-eastern India, was so impressed by its profundity that he remained motionless for hours. Then the Heavenly King Brahman, the lord of our world, came to him and said, “Your state of enlightenment is, indeed, impressive. Nevertheless, no matter how wonderful it may be to you, what good is it to anyone else? How are you going to serve people if you remain silent? Now that you have attained the ultimate truth, Please expound it to the people of the world and deliver them, too, from suffering.” After considering this request, Sakyamuni nodded in agreement, rose from his seat, and set out for Sarnath, where he delivered his first sermon

This legend shows that the profound depth of the Buddha’s enlightenment is almost impossible to express in words. (Otherwise the Buddha would have taught it immediately.) Nevertheless, it must be presented in words and expressed somehow if it is to help people. Words, however, are not always the perfect means of representing facts; they can express only part of them. For instance, we often find it difficult to express our innermost thoughts or complicated physical problems in words. (Physicists generally must resort to mathematical formulae; musicians use music; artists paint, and so on.)

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

LS32

Day 7

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

Having last month learned to whom to expound the Lotus Sūtra, we complete Chapter 3, A Parable.

Expound it to the Buddha’s sons
Who expound the Dharma without hindrance
To the great multitude
With their pure minds
By telling them
Various stories of previous lives,
Parables and similes,
And also by giving them various discourses!

Expound it to the bhikṣus
Who seek the Dharma in all directions
In order to obtain
The knowledge of all things,
Who join their hands together
Towards the sūtra of the Great Vehicle,
Who receive it respectfully,
Who keep it with joy,
And who do not receive
Even a gāthā of any other sūtra!

Expound it to those
Who seek this sūtra
As eagerly as they seek
The śarīras of the Buddha!

[Expound it to those]
Who receive [this sūtra]
And put it on their heads,
And who do not seek
Any other sūtra
Or think of the books of heresy!

(The Buddha said to Śāriputra:)
Those who seek the enlightenment of the Buddha
Are as various as previously stated.
A kalpa will not be long enough
To describe the variety of them.
They will be able to understand [this sūtra] by faith.
Expound to them
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma!

See The Power of His Mercy and Wisdom

LS Introduction, LS32, d21b

The Power of His Mercy and Wisdom

In some other Buddhist scriptures, the Sanskrit term for the eternal Buddha is Dharmakaya, which is understood to mean that the truth itself is the Buddha. But the truth as an abstraction has no power to save us. Only when Sakyamuni realizes the truth in his person and activates the character of a Buddha in his practice does he become able to save us by the power of his mercy and wisdom.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

LS32

Day 6

Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month heard the house-owner warn his children in gāthās, we learn his expedient solution.

The rich man
Thought:
“They are ignorant.
My anxiety deepens
There is nothing pleasant
In this house.
But they are engrossed
In playing.
They do not listen to me.
They will be burned to death.”

At the time
He thought of an expedient.
He said to them:
“I have many kinds of toys.
They are beautiful carts
Made of wonderful treasures.
They are sheep-carts, deer-carts,
And large bullock-carts.
They are outside the gate.
Come out!
I made those carts
For you.
Play with them
As you like!”

Hearing of the carts from him,
They ran out,
Striving to be first,
And reached an open place.
They were now free
From the sufferings.

See The Real Figure of the Buddha

LS Introduction, LS32, d21b

The Real Figure of the Buddha

[W]e can see the real figure of the Buddha when we devote ourselves to him in faith. We can attain this faithful state when we devote both our body and our soul to the Buddha and become unselfish. In other words, we reach a state in which our hearts are completely honest and gentle, and we leave all our cares in the hands of the Buddha. A simple fervent feeling of entrusting one’s life to the Buddha is the essence of faith. In the words of [Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata], we “wish to see (him) with all our hearts, and at the cost of our lives.”

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

LS32

Day 5

Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month heard the Buddha tell Śāriputra he has been teaching him under two billion Buddhas in the past, we hear the prediction of future Buddhahood for Śāriputra.

“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. The kalpa in which he appears will be called Great-Treasure-Adornment. Why will it be called Great-Treasure-Adornment? It is because in that world Bodhisattvas will be regarded as great treasures. The number of the Bodhisattvas [in that world] will be countless, inconceivable, beyond any mathematical calculation, beyond inference by any parable or simile. No one will know the number except the Buddha who has the power of wisdom. When those Bodhisattvas wish to go somewhere, jeweled flowers will receive their feet and carry them. Those Bodhisattvas will not have just begun to aspire for enlightenment. A long time before that they will have already planted the roots of virtue, performed the brahma practices under many hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas, received the praises of the Buddhas, studied the wisdom of the Buddhas, obtained great supernatural powers, and understood all the teachings of the Buddhas. They will be upright, honest, and resolute in mind. The world of that Buddha will be filled with such Bodhisattvas.

“Śāriputra! The duration of the life of Flower-Light Buddha will be twelve small kalpas excluding the period in which he was a prince and had not yet attained Buddhahood. The duration of the life of the people of his world will be eight small kalpas. At the end of his life of twelve small kalpas, Flower-Light Tathāgata will assure Resolution-Fulfillment Bodhisattva of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, saying to the bhikṣus, ‘This Resolution-Fulfillment Bodhisattva will become a Buddha immediately after me. He will be called Flower-Foot-Easy-Walking, the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the Samyak-sambuddha. His world will be like mine.’

“Śāriputra! After the extinction of Flower-Light Buddha, his right teachings will be preserved for thirty-two small kalpas. After that the counterfeit of his right teachings will be preserved also for thirty-two small kalpas.”

See Parables to Understanding

LS Introduction, LS32, d12b, d9b

Parables to Understanding

Chapters Three, Four, and Five each introduce a parable. The sutra was arranged in such a way that we can easily understand the theories, which were first introduced in Chapter 2, Expedients, by means of the parables in the next three chapters. By the end of [Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood], the five “hearers” (Śāriputra, Subhuti, Maha-Katyayana, Maha-Kasyapa, and Maha-Maudgalyayana) have been assured by Sakyamuni of their future Buddhahood. … [T]he sutra will gradually disclose how not just some, but all of the “hearers” are assured of becoming Buddhas in the future.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

LS32

Day 4

Day 4 finishes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Having last month considered the need for the teaching of Nirvana, we learn the power of the Great Vehicle.

Some sons of mine are pure in heart, gentle and wise.
They have practiced the profound and wonderful teachings
Under innumerable Buddhas
[ln their previous existence].
I will expound this sūtra of the Great Vehicle to them,
And a sure them of their future Buddhahood, saying:
“You will attain the enlightenment of the Buddha
In your future lives.”

Deep in their minds they are thinking of me,
And observing the pure precepts.
Therefore, they will be filled with joy
When they hear they will become Buddhas.
I know their minds.
Therefore, I will expound the Great Vehicle to them.

Any Śrāvaka or Bodhisattva
Who hears even a gāthā
Of this sūtra which I am to expound
Will undoubtedly become a Buddha.

See Small Good Deeds