Category Archives: LS32

LS32

Day 10

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

Having last month witnessed Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence attain the Dharma and then meet the 16 princes, we conclude this portion of Chapter 7 with the princes begging the Buddha to turn the wheel of the Dharma.

“Thereupon the sixteen princes, having praised the Buddha with these gāthās, begged the World-Honored One to turn the wheel of the Dharma, saying, ‘World-Honored One! Expound the Dharma, and give peace and many benefits to gods and men out of your compassion towards them!’ They repeated this in gāthās:

You, the Hero of the World, are unequalled.
Adorned with the marks
Of one hundred merits,
You have obtained unsurpassed wisdom.
Expound the Dharma and save us
And other living beings of the world!

Expound the Dharma, reveal the Dharma,
And cause us to obtain that wisdom!
If we attain Buddhahood,
Others also will do the same.

You, the World-Honored One, know
What all living beings have deep in their minds,
What teachings they are practicing,
And how much power of wisdom they have.

You know their desires, the merits they obtained,
And the karmas they did
In their previous existence.
Turn the wheel of the unsurpassed Dharma!

See The True Pure Land

LS Introduction, LS32, d21b, d28b

The True Pure Land

The Great Vehicle teaches us about the appearance of Buddhas in all of the worlds in the ten directions. When a Buddha appears in a certain world, that realm is named a “pure land.” For instance, Amitayus Buddha appeared in a world far to the west of our World of Endurance. His pure land was named Highest Joy or Land of Bliss. The worlds of the ten quarters are called “the other pure lands,” since they are on other sides of our World of Endurance. A pure land is an ideal world beyond the concrete reality of our world. But if the notion of pure lands were to ignore this world of ours (the only place of reality), those places would be no more than imaginary existences. The other pure lands would have no entities unless the real World of Endurance existed (that is, unless they originated here in our minds in harmony with the mind of the Buddha). Therefore a true pure land must be realized here where we are.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

LS32

Day 9

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

Having last month heard Śākyamuni’s purpose – To reveal the Great Vehicle, we learn of his impartiality.

I see all living beings equally.
I have no partiality for them.
There is not ‘this one’ or ‘that one’ to me.
I transcend love and hatred.

I am attached to nothing.
I am hindered by nothing.
I always expound the Dharma
To all living beings equally.
I expound the Dharma to many
In the same way as to one.

I always expound the Dharma.
I do nothing else.
I am not tired of expounding the Dharma
While I go or come or sit or stand.
I expound the Dharma to all living beings
Just as the rain waters all the earth.

I am not tired of giving
The rain of the Dharma to all living beings.
I have no partiality for them,
Whether they are noble or mean,
Whether they observe or violate the precepts,
Whether they live a monastic life or not,
Whether they have right or wrong views,
Whether they are clever or dull .

Those who hear the Dharma from me
Will reach various stages
[Of enlightenment]
According to their capacities.

See Three Blades of Grass and the Two Trees

LS Introduction, LS32, d9b

Three Blades of Grass and the Two Trees

This chapter opens with Sakyamuni praising the four great “hearers” who told the parable of the rich man and his poor son. By their story, they demonstrated that they understood what the Buddha had been teaching. The Buddha said:

Excellent, excellent! You spoke very well about my true merits. They are just as you said. They are innumerable, asamkhya. You could not describe them all even if you tried for many hundreds of millions of eons. I am the King of the Law. I expound all teachings expediently by my wisdom in order to lead all living beings to the stage of knowing all things. I know how far a living being can be led by a particular teaching, and what each living being has deep in his mind (in his subconscious). Nothing hinders me from knowing all this. I know all things clearly, and show my knowledge of all things to all living beings (p. 105).

Sakyamuni then told them the following simile, which is called the “Simile of Herbs” or the “Three Blades of Grass and the Two Trees.”

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 witnessed the Rich Man putting on rags and visiting his son at his work, we consider the purpose of this expedient.

By his wisdom the rich man succeeded
In leading his son into his household.
Twenty years after that
He had his son manage his house.

The son was entrusted
With the keeping of the accounts
Of gold and silver,
And of pearl, crystal, and so on.
But he still lodged
In the hut outside the gate, thinking:
“I am poor.
None of these treasures are mine.”

Seeing the mind of his son
Becoming less mean and more noble,
The father called in
His relatives, the king, ministers,
Kṣatriyas, and householders,
In order to give his treasures to his son.

He said to the great multitude:
“This is my son.
He was gone
For fifty years.
I found him Twenty years ago.
I missed him
When I was in a certain city.
I wandered, looking for him,
And came here.
Now I will give him
All my houses and men.
He can use them
As he likes.”

The son thought:
“I was poor, base and mean.
Now I have obtained
The treasures, houses,
And all the other things From my father.
Never before
Have I been so happy.”

See To Believe, Accept, and Understand

LS Introduction, LS32, d7b

To Believe, Accept, and Understand

In Chapters One and Two, Sakyamuni firmly declared that the true teaching of the Buddha is the One Vehicle of the Lotus Sutra. He urged us to believe and accept it from the bottom of our hearts. In Chapter 4, he unveils how we can believe, accept, and understand it properly. In the previous chapters, Sariputra had been the principal direct listener to Sakyamuni’s preaching. Here his place is taken by four other important “hearers.” They are Subhuti, Maha-Katyayana, Maha-Kasyapa, and Maha-Maudgalyayana. [Maha means “great” in Sanskrit.]

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 considered some of the punishments for scowling at and doubting this sūtra, we consider more of the consequences for slandering the sūtra.

Some of them will become men again.
They will be foolish, short, ugly,
Crooked, crippled, blind, deaf,
And hunchbacked.
No one will believe their words.
They will always have fetid breath.
They will be possessed by demons.
Poverty-stricken and mean,
They will be employed by others.
Worn-out, thin,
And subject to many diseases,
They will have no one to rely on.
Anyone who employs them
Will not take care of them.
They will lose before long
What little they may have earned.
When they study medicine,
And treat a patient with a proper remedy,
The patient will have another disease
Or die.
When they are ill in health,
No one will cure them.
Even when they take a good medicine,
They will suffer all the more.
They will be attacked by others,
Or robbed or stolen from.
Their sins will incur these misfortunes.
These sinful people will never be able to see
The Buddha, the King of the Saints,
Who expounds the Dharma
And teaches all living beings.
They will always be reborn
In the places of difficulty
[In seeing the Buddha].
They will be mad, deaf or distracted.
They will never be able to hear the Dharma.
For as many kalpas
As there are sands in the River Ganges,
They will be deaf and dumb.
They will not have all the sense organs.
Accustomed to living in hell,
They will take it for their playground.
Accustomed to living in other evil regions,
They will take them for their homes. They will live
Among camels, asses, wild boars, and dogs.
Those who slander this sūtra
Will be punished like this.

When they are reborn in the world of men,
Deafness, blindness, dumbness,
Poverty, and many other defects
Will be their ornaments;
Dropsy, diabetes, mange,
Leprosy, carbuncles, and many other diseases
Will be their garments.
They will always smell bad.
They will be filthy and defiled.
Deeply attached to the view
That the self exists,
They will aggravate their anger.
Their lust will not discriminate
Between [humans,] birds or beasts.
Those who slander this sūtra
Will be punished like this.

(The Buddha said to Śāriputra:)
A kalpa will not be long enough to describe
The punishments to be inflicted
Upon those who slander this sūtra.

See One Single Teaching

LS Introduction, LS32, d3b, d4b

One Single Teaching

The first half of the Lotus Sutra (Shakumon) expounds the teaching of the One Vehicle. The several schools of Buddhism, which are divided roughly into three types (Sravaka-Vehicle, Pratyekabuddha-Vehicle, and Bodhisattva-Vehicle), are unified in the one single teaching of the One Vehicle. Since the number three represents all the various Buddhist Teachings, “three” here implies “many” or “all.”

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

LS32

Day 6

Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month heard in gāthās the house was so dangerous, so dreadful, we learn of the denizens of the 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.

See An Image of the Buddha’s Personality

LS Introduction, LS32, d5b, d6b

An Image of the Buddha’s Personality

[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.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra