Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month covered the expedient used to save the children in the gāthās, we conclude Day 6’s portion of the gāthās.

Seeing them come out
Of the burning house
To the safe crossroad,
He sat on the lion-like seat,
And said to others with joy:
“I am happy.
These children are difficult to bring up.
They are young and ignorant.
They entered the dangerous house.
In that house were
Many poisonous vermin
And many dangerous mountain spirits.
Raging flames of big fires rose
From the four sides of the house
At the same time.
But my children were
Engrossed in playing.
Now I saved them
From the dangers.
Therefore, I am happy.”

The children saw their father
Sitting in peace.
They came to him,
And said:
“Give us
The three kinds of jeweled carts
That you promised us!
You said:
“Come out, and I will give you
The three kinds of carts as you like.”
Now is the time for that.
Give them to us now!”

He was a very rich man.
He had many storehouses.
He made many large carts
Adorned with treasures,
Such as gold, silver,
Lapis lazuli, shell and agate.

[The carts] were beautifully adorned.
Railings were put around them.
Bells were hanging on the four sides
With ropes of gold.

[The carts] were roofed
With nets of pearls.
Garlands of golden flowers
Were hanging on all sides.

Other ornaments of fabrics
Of divers colors
Encircled the bodies of the carts.
Bedding was made of soft cloth.
[The bedding] was covered
With the most wonderful woolen fabrics.
They were bright, white, pure and clean,
Worth hundreds of thousands of millions.

Large white bullocks,
Fat, stout, powerful,
And beautiful in their build,
Were yoked to the jeweled carts.
The carts were also guarded
By many attendants.

[The rich man] gave to each of his children
One of these wonderful carts.
The children
Danced with joy.

They drove these jeweled carts
In all directions.
They were happy and delighted.
Nothing could stop their joy.

Ah, yes. Difficult children, engrossed in playing, young and ignorant of the dangers of the world. The problems of parenting are certainly universal.

Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month covered Śāriputra’s mesh of doubts, we now come to Śākyamuni’s response.

Thereupon the Buddha said to Śāriputra:

“Now I will tell you in the presence of this great multitude including gods, men, śramaṇas, and brahmanas. 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 sutra of the Great Vehicle called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’

Under two billion Buddhas Śāriputra was taught, but he retained nothing. Not a clue. And Śāriputra is foremost in wisdom among the voice hearers. It gives extra meaning to the gāthā (Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith), “The Buddhas practice patience / In order to save inferior people.”

And makes me wonder, What have I forgotten?

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

Having last month covered the power of intention – faith – in pursuit of enlightenment, we conclude Chapter 2.

The World-Honored Ones in the future
Will be countless in number.
Those Tathāgatas also
Will expound the Dharma with expedients.

The Tathāgatas save all living beings
With innumerable expedients.
They cause all living beings to enter the Way
To the wisdom-without-āsravas of the Buddha.
Anyone who hears the Dharma
Will not fail to become a Buddha.

Every Buddha vows at the outset:
“I will cause all living beings
To attain the same enlightenment
That I attained.”

The future Buddhas will expound many thousands
Of myriads of millions of teachings
For just one purpose,
That is, for the purpose of revealing the One Vehicle.

The Buddhas, the Most Honorable Bipeds,
Expound the One Vehicle because they know:
“All things are devoid of substantiality.
The seed of Buddhahood comes from dependent origination.”

The Leading Teachers expound the Dharma with expedients
After realizing at the place of enlightenment:
“This is the abode of the Dharma and the position of the Dharma.
The reality of the world is permanently as it is.”

Gods and men are making offerings
To the present Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters.
The Buddhas as many as there are sands in the River Ganges
Who appeared in these worlds,
Are expounding the Dharma
For the purpose of giving peace to all living beings.

Underscore Every Buddha vows at the outset:
“I will cause all living beings
To attain the same enlightenment
That I attained.”

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

Having last month covered Śāriputra’s question, we get Śākyamuni’s response.

Thereupon the Buddha said to him,
“No, no, I will not. If I do, all the gods and men in the world will be frightened and perplexed.”

Śāriputra said to him again:

“World-Honored One! Explain it, explain it! The many hundreds of thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas of living beings in this congregation have active functions of mind and clear wisdom because they have seen the [past] Buddhas in their previous existence. If they hear you, they will respect and believe you.”

Thereupon Śāriputra, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in a gāthā:

King of the Dharma, Most Honorable One!
Explain it! Do not worry!
The innumerable living beings in this congregation
Will respect and believe you.

The Buddha checked him again, saying, “No. If I do, all the gods, men and asuras in the world will be frightened and perplexed, and arrogant bhikṣus will fall into a great pit.”

Thereupon the Buddha repeated this in a gāthā:

No, no, I will not say any more.
My teaching is wonderful and inconceivable.
If arrogant people hear me,
They will not respect or believe me.

Thereupon Śāriputra said to him again:

“World-Honored One! Expound the Dharma, expound the Dharma! The hundreds of thousands of billions of living beings in this congregation like me followed the [past] Buddhas and received their teachings in their consecutive previous existences. They will respect and believe you. They will be able to have peace after the long night and obtain many benefits.”

Thereupon Śāriputra, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

Most Honorable Biped!
Expound the Highest Truth!
I am your eldest son.
Expound the Dharma!

The innumerable living beings in this congregation
Will respect and believe the Dharma.
They have been taught by the [past] Buddhas
In their consecutive previous existences.
They are joining their hands together [towards you],
Wishing with all their hearts to hear and receive your words.

Expound the Dharma
To us twelve hundred men,
And also to the other people
Who are seeking Buddhahood!
We shall be very glad to hear the Dharma.
The other people will also.

The Daily Dharma from July 3, 2016, offers this:

No, no, I will not say any more.
My teaching is wonderful and inconceivable.
If arrogant people hear me,
They will not respect or believe me.

Day 2 completes Chapter 1, Introductory.

Having last month begun Mañjuśrī’s repetition of what he saw in gathas, we continue with what was illumined by the ray of light.

This ray of light illumined
Eighteen thousand Buddha-worlds in the east.
It showed the region
To which each living being was to go by his karmas.

The worlds of the Buddha were
Adorned with many treasures,
And given the colors of lapis lazuli and crystal.
I saw all this by the light of the Buddha.

l also saw the gods, men, dragons, yakṣas,
Gandharvas, and kiṃnaras of those worlds.
Each of them made offerings
To the Buddha by whom he was taught.

I also saw the Tathagatas of those worlds
Who had attained enlightenment by themselves.
The color of their bodies was as beautiful
And as wonderful as that of the golden mountains,
Or as that of a golden image
Put in a shrine of pure lapis lazuli.

Those World-Honored Ones explained to the great multitudes
The meaning of the profound teaching.
There were innumerable Śrāvakas
In the worlds of those Buddhas.
All those great multitudes were seen
By the light of the Buddha.

The bhikṣus were living in mountains and forests.
They made endeavors,
And observed the pure precepts
As carefully as one keeps brilliant gem·.

As many Bodhisattvas
As there are sands in the River Ganges
Performed almsgiving, patience, and other practices.
I saw all this by the light of the Buddha.

I also saw some Bodhisattvas
Who entered deep into dhyāna-concentrations,
And became tranquil and motionless in body and mind,
In order to attain unsurpassed enlightenment.

I also saw some Bodhisattvas,
Who realized the tranquil extinction of all things,
And expounded the Dharma to [the people of] their worlds
In order to attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.

The four kinds of devotees
Of the world of Sun-Moon-Light Buddha
Also saw the Buddha displaying this great wonder.
They had great joy.
They asked one another:
“Why is he doing this?”

By the light of the Buddha. On my list of topics for future blog posts is the role of light in the Lotus Sutra.

Day 1 covers the first half of Chapter 1, Introductory

Having last month covered Maitreya’s reaction to the ray of light illuminating the worlds to the east in prose, we repeat in gathas.

Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva, wishing to repeat what he had said, asked him in gathas:

Mañjuśrī!
Why is the Leading Teacher
Emitting a great ray of light
From the white curl between his eyebrows?

[The gods] rained mandarava-flowers
And manjuaka-flowers.
A breeze carrying the fragrance of candana
Is delighting the multitude.

Because of this, the ground has become
Beautiful and pure;
And this world quaked
In the six ways.

The four kinds of devotees
Are joyful.
They are happier than ever
In body and mind.

The light from [the white curls]
Between the eyebrows of the Buddha illumines
Eighteen thousand worlds to the east.
Those worlds look golden-colored.

I see from this world
The living beings of the six regions
Extending down to the Avici Hell,
And up to the Highest Heaven

Of each of those worlds,
I see the region to which each living being is to go,
The good or evil karmas he is doing,
And the rewards or retributions he is going to have.

I’m pondering, as I always do at this point, what it would be like to “see the living beings of the six regions, extending down to the Avici Hell and up to the Highest Heaven” and to know “the region to which each living being is to go, The good or evil karmas he is doing, And the rewards or retributions he is going to have.”

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 covered Sakyamuni’s instructions to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, we come to the prediction of those who keep, read and recite the sutra.

“Universal-Sage! Anyone who keeps, reads and recites this sutra [in the later five hundred years] after [my extinction], will not be attached to clothing, bedding, food or drink, or any other thing for living. What he wishes will not remain unfulfilled. He will be able to obtain the rewards of his merits in his present life. Those who abuse him, saying, ‘You are perverted. You are doing this for nothing,’ will be reborn blind in their successive lives in retribution for their sin. Those who make offerings to rum and praise him, will be able to obtain rewards in their present life. Those who, upon seeing the keeper of this sutra, blame him justly or unjustly, will suffer from white leprosy in their present life. Those who laugh at him will have few teeth, ugly lips, flat noses, contorted limbs, squint eyes, and foul and filthy bodies, and suffer from bloody pus of scabs, abdominal dropsy, tuberculosis, and other serious diseases in their successive lives. Therefore, Universal-Sage! When you see the keeper of this sutra in the distance, you should rise from your seat, go to him, receive him, and respect him just as you respect me.

The Daily Dharma from Nov. 1, 2016, offers this:

The Buddha makes this promise to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. When we who are living in this latter age of Degeneration keep and practice this Sūtra, we change the focus of our own existence. We lose our dependence on the things we thought we needed to make us happy, and thus learn to appreciate them for what they are. We set aside our fear of losing these things and gain the courage to handle situations we previously thought were impossible. We stop focusing on what we need to live and find gratitude for what sustains our lives.

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

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

Having last month met Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha, King Wonderful-Adornment learns of his future Buddhahood.

“Thereupon Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha said to the four kinds of devotees, ‘Do you see this King Wonderful-Adornment standing before me with his hands joined together, or not? This king will become a bhiksu under me, strenuously study and practice the various ways to the enlightenment of the Buddha, and then become a Buddha called Sala-Tree-King in a world called Great-Light in a kalpa called Great-Height-King. Sala-Tree-King Buddha will be accompanied by innumerable Bodhisattvas and Sravakas. The ground of his world will be even. [King Wonderful-Adornment) will have these merits.’

“Thereupon the king abdicated from the throne in favor of his younger brother, renounced the world, and with his wife, two sons, and attendants, practiced the Way under that Buddha. After he renounced the world, the king acted according to the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma constantly and strenuously for eighty-four thousand years. Then he practiced the samadhi for the adornment of all pure merits. Then he went up to the sky seven times as high as the tala-tree, and said to that Buddha, ‘World-Honored One! These two sons of mine did the work of the Buddha. They converted me from wrong views by displaying wonders. They caused me to dwell peacefully in your teachings. They caused me to see you. These two sons of mine are my teachers. They appeared in my family in order to benefit me. They inspired the roots of good which I had planted in my previous existence.’

The Lecture on the Lotus Sutra offers this explanation of how we can do the work of the Buddha:

In the story of King Wonderful-Adornment in Chapter 27, the two sons who vow to practice Buddhism and then vow to convert their father do so because they are able to manifest the benefits of their Buddhist practice. The truth of the teaching enables them to change their lives, giving them the joy of life and the capacity to turn around and save their father. Their faith and seeking spirit led them to Buddhism and their benefit enables them to share it.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

Day 30 covers all of Chapter 26, Dhāraṇīs

Having last month heard the dharani spells of Vaisravana Heavenly-King, we come to World-Holding Heavenly-King.

Thereupon World-Holding Heavenly-King, accompanied by thousands of billions of nayutas of gandharvas who were surrounding him respectfully, came to the Buddha, joined his hands together, and said to him, “World-Honored One! I also will protect the keeper of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma with dharanis, with divine spells.”

Then he uttered spells,” Akyanei (1), kyanei (2), kuri (3), kendari (4), sendari (5), matogi (6), joguri (7), furoshani (8), atchi (9).”

[He said to the Buddha:]

“World-Honored One! These dharanis, these divine spells, have already been uttered by four thousand and two hundred million Buddhas. Those who attack and abuse this teacher of the Dharma should be considered to have attacked and abused those Buddhas.”

World-Holding Heavenly-King, also known as Dhritarashtra or Dai Jilcolcu Tunno, protects the upper right corner of the Mandala Gohonzon, or the East Gate. From Lotus World:

The Flammarion Iconographic Guide: Buddhism describes Dhritarashtra as follows: “This guardian king governs in the east and presides over the spring. He is ‘He who maintains the kingdom (of the Law)’, ‘the maintainer of the state’ … He commands an army of celestial musicians (Gandharvas) and vampire demons (Pishacha).” The gandharvas are one of the eight kinds of supernatural beings who are said to revere and protect the Dharma; the pishachas are a type of hungry ghost.

According to the Kumarajiva translation of the Lotus Sutra, it is Dhritarashtra who offers dharanis in Chapter 26 for the benefit of those who keep the Lotus Sutra.
Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the Gohonzon