Category Archives: LS32

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 learned that all Buddhas use expedients, we conclude Chapter 2, Expedients.

[The Buddha said to the great multitude:]

All of you, do not doubt me!
I am the King of the Dharma.
I say to you:
“I will expound the teaching of the One Vehicle
Only to Bodhisattvas.
There is no Śrāvaka among my disciples.”

Śāriputra, other Śrāvakas, and Bodhisattvas!
Know this!
This Wonderful Dharma is
The hidden core of the Buddhas.

The living beings
In the evil world of the five defilements
Are attached to many desires.
They do not seek the enlightenment of the Buddha.

Evil people in the future will doubt the One Vehicle
When they hear it from a Buddha.
They will not believe or receive it.
They will violate the Dharma, and fall into the evil regions.

Extol the teaching of the One Vehicle
In the presence of those who are modest,
Who are pure in heart,
And who are seeking enlightenment of the Buddha!

Śāriputra [and others], know this!
As a rule, the Buddhas expound the Dharma
With billions of expedients as stated above,
According to the capacities of all living beings.

Those who do not study the Dharma
Cannot understand it.
You have already realized
The fact that the Buddhas, the World-Teachers, employ expedients,
According to the capacities of all living beings.
Know that, when you remove your doubts,
And when you have great joy,
You will become Buddhas!
[Here ends] the First Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

See The One Vehicle

LS Introduction, LS32, d3b, d4b

The One Vehicle

Notwithstanding the Buddha’s efforts, people failed to realize that the expedients they had been taught were only part of the vast and profound truth attained by their master. Gradually they divided into different schools or sects clustered around a particular teaching which they believed to be the ultimate. During his fifty-year teaching Sakyamuni had employed a wide variety of expedients. His disciples, who scattered far and wide, noticed that they had received different teachings. They began to argue among each other about which teachings and practices were the more correct.

To solve these disputes, Sakyamuni introduced the Lotus Sutra – his ultimate teaching. Its first purpose was to break the attachments his disciples had formed to their own particular ideas. That is, Sakyamuni proclaimed that all he had previously taught were only expedients. They were partial truths, not the whole. They were separate “Vehicles.” Now they must be unified into One Vehicle, the Buddha Vehicle. This concept of the One Vehicle is the central thought of the Lotus Sutra and the chief idea presented in this chapter.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

LS32

Day 3

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

Having last month been introduced to the idea of expedient teachings, we consider the depth 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].

See The Reality of All Things

LS Introduction, LS32, d3b

The Reality of All Things

[T]he “Ten Suchnesses” … form one of the Buddha’s best known teachings. Reality in the “reality of all things” means “substance” or “existence.” According to this teaching, the true nature of existence (the reality of all things) can be seen in nine aspects as such: (1) their objective appearances (attributes), (2) their subjective natures (inner natures), (3) their entities (forms), (4) their powers (inner potentials), (5) their functions and activities, (6) their primary or direct causes, (7) their environmental causes (indirect causes), (8) their effects upon others, and (9) their rewards and retributions upon themselves.

This is not a classification of existence, but an illustration of various viewpoints from which the true nature of existence may be understood. The viewer is the Buddha, these nine factors essentially make up a whole as a manifestation of his wisdom. From the first factor (appearances) through to the last (rewards and retributions), all are unified as one. Each is ultimately equal to the others, and so really only one “as such” exists. This one, the tenth factor, is called the “equality of the nine factors.’

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

LS32

Day 2

Day 2 completes Chapter 1, Introductory.

Having last month started Day 2’s portion of Chapter 1, Introductory, we continue with the seventy thousand successive Sun-Moon-Light Buddhas.

“After his extinction there appeared a Buddha also called Sun­-Moon-Light. After his extinction there appeared another Buddha also called Sun-Moon-Light. In the same manner, seventy thousand Buddhas appeared in succession, all of them being called Sun­Moon-Light with the surname Bharadvaja.

“Maitreya, know this! All those Buddhas were called Sun-Moon­light with the ten epithets. Their expounding of the Dharma was good at the beginning, good in the middle, and good at the end. The last Sun-Moon-Light Buddha was once a king. He had eight sons born to him before he renounced the world. The first son was called Having-Intention; the second, Good-Intention; the third, Infinite­Intention; the fourth, Treasure-Intention; the fifth, Increasing­Intention; the sixth, Doubts-Removing-Intention; the seventh, Resounding-Intention; and the eighth, Dharma-Intention. These eight princes had unhindered powers and virtues. Each of them was the ruler of the four continents [of a Sumeru-world]. Having heard that their father had renounced the world and attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, they abdicated from their thrones, and followed their father. They renounced the world, aspired for the Great Vehicle, performed brahma practices, and became teachers of the Dharma. They had already planted the roots of good under ten million Buddhas in their previous existence.

See The Prelude

LS Introduction, LS32, d2b

The Prelude

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.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

LS32

Day 1

Day 1 covers the first half of Chapter 1, Introductory

Having last month considered in gāthās the activities of the Bodhisattvas illumined by the light, we conclude today’s portion of Chapter 1.

The supernatural powers of the Buddha
And his wisdom are rare.
He is illumining innumerable worlds
By emitting a pure ray of light.
We were astonished
At seeing [those worlds].

Mañjuśrī, Son of the Buddha!
Remove our doubts!
The four kinds of devotees
Are looking up with joy at you and me,
Wishing to know why this ray of light is emitted
By the World-Honored One.

Son of the Buddha, answer me!
Remove our doubts and cause us to rejoice!
For what purpose is the Buddha
Emitting this ray of light?

Does he wish to expound the Wonderful Dharma
Which he attained when he was sitting
At the place of enlightenment?
Does he wish to assure us of our future Buddhahood?

He shows us the worlds of the Buddhas
Adorned with many treasures.
We can see the Buddhas of those worlds.
This cannot be for some insignificant reason.

Mañjuśrī, know this!
The four kinds of devotees and the dragons
Are looking at you, thinking:
“What is he going to say?”

See In the Buddha’s light

LS Introduction, LS32, d1b

In the Buddha’s light

In the Buddha’s light, the congregation could see that some wise people had given up earthly desires, aware that all forms of existence are as insubstantial as the sky. Others made offerings to the relics of the Buddhas or built monuments (stupas) for them. For those in the congregation who could not make out all the details, the Bodhisattva Maitreya, who is to be our next Buddha, recounted everything he saw. The congregation was amazed at these things and thought there must be some explanation for them. Even Maitreya did not know the answer, so he put the question to Manjusri, who was considered the wisest of all the Buddha’s disciples, wiser, it was said, than any three men.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra

LS32

Day 32

Day 32 covers Chapter 28, The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, closing the Eighth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Having last month heard Śākyamuni Buddha praise Universal Sage, we hear Śākyamuni Buddha’s instructions to Universal Sage.

“Universal-Sage! If you see anyone who keeps, reads and recites the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in the later five hundred years after my extinction, you should think, ‘Before long be will go to the place of enlightenment, defeat Mara and his followers, attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, turn the wheel of the Dharma, beat the drum of the Dharma, blow the conch-shell horn of the Dharma, send the rain of the Dharma, and sit on the lion-like seat of the Dharma in the midst of the great multitude of gods and men.’

See The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva

LS Introduction, LS32, d32b

The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva

The meaning of this chapter’s title is that Universal-Sage Bodhisattva (Samantabhadra) will appear before, protect, and encourage anyone who keeps and practices the Lotus Sutra, and he will have that person aspire to the Way to Buddhahood.

Introduction to the Lotus Sutra