Day 21 covers all of Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata.

Having dealt with “Understand my sincere and infallible words by faith” and the real and unreal Triple World, it’s time to consider the background to the Parable of the Skillful Physician and His Sick Chilren.

Good men! The duration of my life, which I obtained by the practice of the way of Bodhisattvas, has not yet expired. It is twice as long as the length of time as previously stated. Although I shall never enter into Nirvana, I say to men of little virtue, ‘I shall pass away.’ I teach them with this expedient. Why is that? It is because, if they see me for a long time, they will not plant the roots of good, but become poor and base, and cling to the five desires so much that they will be caught in the nets of wrong views. If they think that I am always here, and do not think that I will pass away, they will become too arrogant and lazy to realize the difficulty of seeing me, and they will not respect me. Therefore I say [to them] expediently, ‘Bhiksus, know this! It is difficult to see a Buddha who appears in [this] world.’ Why is that? It is because some men of little virtue cannot see me even during many hundreds of thousands of billions of kalpas while the others can. Therefore, I say [to them], ‘Bhiksus! It is difficult to see a Tathagata.’ Those who hear this and know that it is difficult to see me, will adore me, admire me, and plant the roots of good. Therefore I say [to them], ‘I shall pass away,’ although I shall not.

Good men! All the Buddhas, all the Tathagatas, do the same as I do. [They expound their teachings] for the purpose of saving all living beings. Therefore, [their teachings] are true, not false.

This requirement that the faithful long for salvation is the subject of the Daily Dharma of April 29, 2016:

If they think that I am always here, and do not think that I will pass away, they will become too arrogant and lazy to realize the difficulty of seeing me, and they will not respect me. Therefore I say [to them] expediently, ‘Bhikṣus, know this! It is difficult to see a Buddha who appears in [this] world.’

The Buddha makes this explanation to those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sūtra. We may wonder what took the Buddha so long to give his highest teaching to us, whether he was holding it back because of stinginess, not wanting to share the great treasure of his wisdom. Here and in other parts of the Sūtra, he shows that unless we cultivate our respect for the Buddha, and thus for all beings, we take him for granted and lose his precious wisdom.

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

Next month the Parable and the medicine the Buddha left behind.

Day 20 completes Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, and concludes the Fifth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Having last month covered Sakyamuni’s response to the inquiry of the Bodhisattvas from Underground, this month we get the reaction from the Bodhisattvas who were already in the congregation.

We have never seen
These many thousands of billions
Of Bodhisattvas.
Tell me, Most Honorable Biped!
Where did they come from?
They have gigantic bodies,
Great supernatural powers, and inconceivable wisdom.
They are resolute in mind.
They have a great power of patience.
All living beings are glad to see them.
Where did they come from?

The Daily Dharma from July 24, 2016, offers one way of looking at this reaction from Maitreya, who is next in line to become the Buddha in the Saha World.

We have never seen
These many thousands of billions
Of Bodhisattvas.
Tell me, Most Honorable Biped!
Where did they come from?

Maitreya Bodhisattva sings these verses to the Buddha in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. In the story, the Buddha has asked who among those gathered to hear him teach will continue teaching this Wonderful Dharma in our world of suffering after the Buddha passes into his final extinction. Some Bodhisattvas say they will teach in other worlds, since the beings of this world are too defiled to hear the Buddha’s teaching. Other Bodhisattvas vow to remain in our world, but the Buddha tells them not to bother. At that moment, the ground cracks open, and innumerable Bodhisattvas spring up and vow to carry on the work of the Buddha. Maitreya and others had never seen these Bodhisattvas before. His asking the Buddha respectfully to explain what they do not understand. This example emphasizes that we must continue to question how the Buddha’s teaching applies to our lives rather than dogmatically accepting whatever happens.

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

Time for this again:

Day 19 concludes Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and begins Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.

Last month I promised “it will be time to discuss the difficulty in hearing this sutra and Parable of the Priceless Gem in the Top-Knot” and I see no reason to disappoint.

Manjusri! It is difficult to hear even the title of this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma [even if you try to do so, walking about] innumerable worlds. Needless to say, it is more difficult to see, keep, read and recite this sutra.

A Daily Dharma from April 21, 2016, offers this insight:

Suppose one sets up a needle on top of Mt. Sumeru and throws a piece of string on a windy day from another Mt. Sumeru standing too far to see. It is impossible to thread the needle set up on the first Mt. Sumeru. It is, however, even more difficult to experience the great title of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore you should realize that being able to chant the great title of this sutra is more wonderful than a blind person gaining his eyesight and seeing his parents for the first time.

Nichiren wrote this passage in his Treatise on Chanting the Great Title of the Lotus Sūtra (Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō). Those with great talents, or who have worked hard and made great accomplishments, tend to think that what they have done is normal. They can lose any appreciation for what they have and focus only on what they lack. This passage reminds us of the treasure we enjoy in the five syllables of Myo Ho Ren Ge and Kyo. Just hearing this Great Title is the result of great efforts we have made in the past, whether we appreciate and remember those efforts or not.

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

I often marvel at how fortunate I am to have heard the title of the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Dharma and to chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.

As for the Parable of the Priceless Gem in the Top-Knot, I am reminded of my “fight with the Mara of the five aggregates, with the Mara of illusions, and with the Mara of death” and I hope that I am worthy of receiving this reward.

When reciting the Four Great Vows I sometimes modify the second vow and say, “My vulgar desires are inexhaustible: I vow to quench them all.” And “vulgar” in this case is derived from the 1893 Doctrines of Nichiren which quotes Nichiren as saying:

Since the doctrines taught by Sakyamuni all his life long are those which take the nature of a living being as the basis on which they stand, anyone who understands his own nature is called a Buddha, while those unable to do so are justly termed ‘the vulgar.’
Doctrines of Nichiren (1893)

Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.

Having finished going through the Peaceful Practices last month, it’s time to return to the Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Before continuing I want to confess to having skipped the first part of this chapter yesterday. Literally. I was so focused on the Devadatta chapter that I didn’t notice that the day’s reading continued with Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra. And I did it twice! In the morning shindoku reading and the evening English translation. In the more than a year that I’ve made this regimen my practice that’s the first time I’ve done that.

So I caught up today, reading all of Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra and the opening of Peaceful Practices. I’ll get to the opening of Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra on Day 17 next month, for today I start with the “eighty billion nayuta Bodhisattvas” who have been hearing about the promise of future Buddhahood for the Arhats, Sravakas and Bhiksunis.

These Bodhisattvas had already reached the stage of avaivartika, turned the irrevocable wheel of the Dharma, and obtained dharanis. They rose from their seats, came to the Buddha, joined their hands together [towards him] with all their hearts, and thought, “If the World-Honored One commands us to keep and expound this sutra, we will expound the Dharma just as the Buddha teaches.”

They also thought, “The Buddha keeps silence.’ He does not command us. What shall we do?”

There are two ways to view this question. Most obvious: These Bodhisattvas have yet to hear about the Bodhisattvas from underground and don’t know that those Bodhisattvas will be tasked with propagating the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma after the Buddha’s extinction. The other view is from their eyes: What to do when all you hear is silence?

In order to follow the wish of the Buddha respectfully, and also to fulfill their original vow, they vowed to the Buddha with a loud voice like the roar of a lion:

World-Honored One! After your extinction, we will go to any place [not only of this Saha-World but also] of the worlds of the ten quarters, as often as required, and cause all Jiving beings to copy, keep, read and recite this sotra, to expound the meanings of it, to act according to the Dharma, and to memorize this sOtra correctly. We shall be able to do all this only by your powers. World-Honored One! Protect us from afar even when you are in another world!

Today I found that determination to push on when unsure very inspiring.

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

There’s much to enjoy in this chapter – Devadatta as the person responsible for Sakyamuni’s enlightenment and the example of the 8-year-old Dragon girl – and yet what I enjoy more is Sakyamuni’s explanation of why he sought enlightenment at the time when Devadatta was his teacher:

I sought the Great Dharma strenuously
Because I wished to save all living beings.
I did not wish to benefit myself
Or to have the pleasures of the five desires.

Although I was the king of a great country,
I sought the Dharma strenuously.
I finally obtained the Dharma and became a Buddha.
Therefore, I now expound it to you.

I look forward to the fulfillment of this promise:

Good men or women in the future who hear this chapter of Devadatta of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma with faithful respect caused by their pure minds, and have no doubts [about this chapter], will not fall into hell or the region of hungry spirits or the region of animals. They will be reborn before the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters. They will always hear this sutra at the places of their rebirth. Even when they are reborn among men or gods, they will be given wonderful pleasures. When they are reborn before the Buddhas, they will appear in lotus-flowers.

Day 16 concludes Chapter 11, Beholding the Stupa of Treasures, and completes the Fourth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Having last month taken on the hard and easy things, it is time to review the The Difficulty of Retaining the Sutra, the Hotoge section read twice each day following the chanting of Daimoku as part of the Nichiren Shu practice.

It is difficult to keep this sutra.
I shall be glad to see
Anyone keeping it even for a moment.
So will all the other Buddhas.
He will be praised by all the Buddhas.
He will be a man of valor,
A man of endeavor.
He should be considered
To have already observed the precepts,
And practiced the dhuta.
He will quickly attain
The unsurpassed enlightenment of the Buddha.

Anyone who reads and recites this sutra in the future
Is a true son of mine.
He shall be considered to live
On the stage of purity and good.

Anyone, after my extinction,
Who understands the meaning of this sutra,
Will be the eye of the worlds
Of gods and men.

Anyone who expounds this sutra
Even for a moment in this dreadful world,
Should be honored with offerings
By all gods and men.

And this also allows me to reintroduce Rev. Ryuei Michael McCormick’s Lotus in the Sea of Flames. Recently I’ve begun republishing by quote collection, but I don’t have quotes from this novelization of Nichiren’s life. I do, however, have the book’s explanation for the rhythmic reading that is performed when reciting this section.

At this point in the book, Nichiren is being taken away to Izu on his first exile.

“I am no magistrate,” said the official. “I am not interested in your arguments. I am only interested in getting you onto that ship, out of Kamakura, and on to Izu. Now keep quiet!”

Nichiren put his palms together and bowed. His disciples cried out to him, some in tears. The guards kept back all but one. Nichiro, now a strong young man of 16, would not be cowed. He slipped past the guards and ran down to the boat just as it was being pushed off into the surf.

“Get back!” screamed the official.

But Nichiro would not get back. Crying for his master as he reached out to him, he waded out into the bay after the boat. Nichiren exhorted him to be calm, but his disciple was too overwrought and would not listen. “Take me with you!” He shouted again and again. Exasperated, the official took an oar and struck the young monk with bone shattering force. Clutching at his broken right arm, Nichiro finally backed away, his face white with pain.

Tears fell from Nichiren’s eyes as he saw his faithful disciple so brutalized. “Nichiro! Calm yourself. Is this how a disciple of the Buddha should act? From now on, when you see the sun setting in the west behind Izu, think of me. When I see the sun rising from the sea, I shall think of you.”

Nichiro nodded. “Forgive me, master.” Becoming faint, he went down on his knees in the water, sweat and tears coursing down his face. One of the guards finally reached him and escorted him back to where Nissho and the other monks were gathered.

As the boat moved away Nichiren began to chant the final verses from the eleventh chapter of the Lotus Sutra, “It is difficult to keep this sutra. I shall be glad to see anyone keeping it even for a moment.” The rocking of the waves caused his voice to fade in and out, giving the recitation an odd rhythm. The passage ended with, “Anyone who expounds this sutra even for a moment in this dreadful world should be honored with offerings by all gods and men.” From that point on Nichlren knew that he and his disciples had truly become practitioners of the Lotus Sutra as its predictions of hardships that would be faced by the teachers of the True Dharma began to be fulfilled in their own lives.

Day 15 concludes Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, and opens Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures.

Last month covered the concept that a stupa housing the Lotus Sutra contains the Buddha’s perfect body. And this month, I dig for the water of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.

Medicine-King! Although many laymen or monks will practice the Way of Bodhisattvas, they will not be able to practice it satisfactorily, know this, unless they see, hear, read, recite, copy or keep this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma or make offerings to it. If they hear this sutra, they will. Anyone who, while seeking the enlightenment of the Buddha, sees or hears this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, and after hearing it, understands it by faith and keeps it, know this, will approach Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.

Medicine-King! Suppose a man on a plateau felt thirsty and sought water. He dug a hole in order to get water. As long as he saw the dug-out lumps of earth were dry, he knew that water was still far off. He went on digging, and then found the dug-out lumps of earth wet. When he finally found mud, he was convinced that water was near. In the same manner, know this, the Bodisattvas who have not yet heard, understood or practised this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, are still far from Anuttara-­samyak-sambodhi. [The Bodhisattvas] who hear, understand, think over and practice this sutra, will approach Anuttara-samyak-­sambodhi. Why is that? It is because Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi which all the Bodhisattvas [should attain] is expounded only in this sutra. This sutra opens the gate of expedients and reveals the seal of the truth. The store of this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma is sound and deep. No one can reach its core. Now I show it to the Bodhisattvas in order to teach them and cause them to attain [Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi].

Medicine-King! The Bodhisattvas who, having been surprised at hearing this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, doubt and fear it, know this, are beginners in Bodhisattvahood. The Sravakas who, having been surprised at hearing this sutra, doubt and fear it, know this, are men of arrogance.

We are far from water without the Lotus Sutra.

The Daily Dharma offers this explanation:

Medicine-King! Although many laymen or monks will practice the Way of Bodhisattvas, they will not be able to practice it satisfactorily, know this, unless they see, hear, read, recite, copy or keep this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma or make offerings to it.

The Buddha gives this explanation to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. For us to aspire to benefit all beings is rare and wonderful. However, without the guidance of the Buddha, our efforts to benefit others can degenerate into expectations of separate benefits for ourselves. In the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha explains the limitations of his previous teachings, assures us of our capacity for enlightenment and how he is always helping us, and gives examples of great Bodhisattvas whose experience we can apply to our own lives.

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

Day 14 covers all of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, and opens Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.

Last month I promised to answer the question: Who are these people who keep, read, recite, expound and copy even a phrase of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma?

People worthy of respect:

Medicine-King! If anyone asks you who will become a Buddha in his future life, answer that such a person as previously stated [anyone who rejoices, even on a moment’s thought, at hearing even a gatha or a phrase of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma] will! Why is that? The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound and copy even a phrase of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, and offer flowers, incense, necklaces, incense powder, incense applicable to the skin, incense to burn, canopies, banners, streamers, garments and music to a copy of this sutra, or just join their hands together respectfully towards it, should be respected by all the people of the world. All the people of the world should make the same offerings to them as they do to me.

Who gave up their own benefits to benefit others:

Know this! These good men or women are great Bodhisattvas. They should be considered to have appeared in this world by their vow to expound the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma out of their compassion towards all living beings, although they already attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi [in their previous existence]. Needless to say, those who keep all the passages of this sutra and make various offerings to this sutra [are great Bodhisattvas]. Medicine­King, know this! They should be considered to have given up the rewards of their pure karmas and appeared in the evil world after my extinction in order to expound this sutra out of their compassion towards all living beings.

Dispatched by the Buddha:

The good men or women who expound even a phrase of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma even to one person even in secret after my extinction, know this, are my messengers. They are dispatched by me. They do my work. It is needless to say this of those who expound this sutra to many people in a great multitude.

Beyond reproach:

Medicine-King! An evil man who speaks ill of me in my presence with evil intent for as long as a kalpa is not as sinful as the person who reproaches laymen or monks with even a single word of abuse for their reading and reciting the Sntra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 13 covers all of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples.

Last month I discussed what a Buddha world would look like and used Good-Purity, where Purna would preside as the Buddha Dharma-Brightness in the kalpa called Treasure-Brightness.

This time through I stumbled over this line, wondering at the meaning of it:

He will perform the Way of Bodhisattvas step by step for innumerable, asamkhya kalpas, and then attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi in this world.

This world as in Saha World?

The gathas section doesn’t repeat that detail:

In the future also he will make offerings
To innumerable Buddhas, protect their right teachings,
Help them propagate their teachings,
And purify their worlds.

He will always fearlessly expound the Dharma
With expedients.
He will save countless living beings
And cause them to have the knowledge of all things.

He will make offerings to many Tathagatas
And protect the treasure-store of the Dharma.
After that he will be able to become a Buddha
Called Dharma-Brightness.

But a translation used by Soka Gakkai suggests the same idea:

Little by little he will become fully endowed with the way of the bodhisattva, and when immeasurable asamkhya kalpas have passed, here in the land where he is dwelling he will attain supreme perfect enlightenment.

Does this mean anything?

Purna, like Sariputra, doesn’t ask for some explicit promise he will become a Buddha. But unlike Sariputra, who reveals his feelings of betrayal before he learned of the use of expedients, Purna simply accepts with faith the teachings he has heard:

The World-Honored One is extraordinary. What he does is exceptional. He expounds the Dharma with expedients by his insight according to the various natures of all living beings of the world, and saves them from various attachments. The merits of the Buddha are beyond the expression of our words. Only the Buddha, only the World-Honored One, knows the wishes we have deep in our minds.’

Contrast that with the “the twelve hundred Arhats, who had already obtained freedom of mind”:

We have never been so joyful before. How glad we shall be if we are assured of our future Buddhahood by the World-Honored One just as the other great disciples were!

Day 12 concludes Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City, and completes the Third Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Yesterday and the day before’s discussions of the 16 princes set the stage for the big reveal on the final day of Chapter 7. But before I get to that I want to underline what constituted the initial turning of the wheel of the Dharma.

Thereupon Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathagata, having assented to the appeals made by the Brahman-heavenly­kings of the worlds of the ten quarters and also by the sixteen princes, turned the wheel of the teaching [of the four truths] three times, making twelve proclamations altogether. The wheel of this teaching could not be turned by any other one in the world, be he a sramana, a brahmana, a god, Mara or Brahman. The Buddha said, ‘This is suffering. This is the cause of suffering. This is extinction of suffering. This is the Way to extinction of suffering.’

Then he expounded the teaching of the twelve causes, saying, ‘Ignorance causes predisposition. Predisposition causes consciousness. Consciousness causes name-and-form. Name­and-form causes the six sense organs. The six sense organs cause impression. Impression causes feeling. Feeling causes craving. Craving causes grasping. Grasping causes existence. Existence causes birth. Birth causes aging-and-death, grief, sorrow, suffering and lamentation. When ignorance is eliminated, predisposition is eliminated. When predisposition is eliminated, consciousness is eliminated. When consciousness is eliminated, name-and-form is eliminated. When name-and-form is eliminated, the six sense organs are eliminated. When the six sense organs are eliminated, impression is eliminated. When impression is eliminated, feeling is eliminated. When feeling is eliminated, craving is eliminated. When craving is eliminated, grasping is eliminated. When grasping is eliminated, existence is eliminated. When existence is eliminated, birth is eliminated. When birth is eliminated, aging-and-death, grief, sorrow, suffering and lamentation are eliminated.’

When the Buddha expounded these teachings to the great multitude of gods and men, six hundred billion nayuta men emancipated themselves from asravas, and obtained profound and wonderful dhyana-concentrations, the six supernatural powers including the three major supernatural powers, and the eight emancipations because they gave up wrong views. At his second, third and fourth expoundings of these teachings also, thousands of billions of nayutas of living beings, that is, as many living beings as there are sands in the River Ganges, emancipated themselves from asravas because they gave up wrong views. [They became Sravakas.] Those who became Sravakas thereafter were also innumerable, uncountable.

And this was all fine and good and what Buddhas do, but the 16 princes wanted more.

The sixteen princes were young boys at that time. They renounced the world and became sramaneras. Their sense organs were keen; and their wisdom, bright. They had already made offerings to hundreds of thousands of billions of Buddhas, performed brahma practices, and sought Anuttara-samyak­sambodhi in their previous existence. They said to the Buddha simultaneously, ‘World-Honored One! All these Sravakas of great virtue, many thousands of billions in number, have already done [what they should do]. World-Honored One! Expound to us the teaching of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi! If we hear that teaching, we will study and practice it. World-Honored One! We wish to have the insight of the Tathagata. You know what we have deep in our minds.’

Young boys reminding their father that half-measures won’t return full results.