Tag: 2ndEd

Among the many disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha there are ten representative ones known as the “ten great disciples.” Venerable Maudgalyāyana among them was foremost in his supernatural power. He traveled around the entire world preaching without losing even a single strand of his hair. How could he accomplish such a feat? It is said that it was due to his merit in his previous life of listening to Śākyamuni Buddha preaching despite the distance of 1,000 ri (about 5,000 km). Also Chang-an, a disciple of Grand Master T’ien-t’ai, traveled a distance of more than 10,000 ri (about 50,000 km) in order to hear the Grand Master preach the Lotus Sūtra. Grand Master Dengyō traveled to China, more than 3,000 ri (about 15,000 km) away, to study the Great Concentration and Insight. Tripiṭaka Master Hsüan-tsung of China had to overcome a distance of 200,000 ri (about 1,000,000 km) to introduce the Wisdom Sūtra from India.

Doesn’t the distance they traveled show the depth of their aspiration? However, they were all males and incarnations of the Buddha or bodhisattvas. In contrast, you are a woman with five hindrances. As such it is almost impossible for you to be an incarnation of a Buddha or bodhisattva. Yet it is certain that you will attain Buddhahood. I can only imagine the kind of meritorious acts you performed in your previous life.

Oto-gozen no Haha Gosho, A Letter to the Mother of Lady Oto, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers II,
Volume 7, Page 142-143

Prince Shōtoku of Japan was a son of Emperor Yōmei, the thirty-second sovereign of Japan. When he was six years old, elderly men coming from Paekche, Koguryō, and T’ang China paid homage to the Emperor. The six-year old crown prince declared that they were his disciples, and these elderly men holding hands in reverence said that the crown prince was their teacher. It was indeed a wonder. It is also said in a non-Buddhist work that a certain man, while walking on a street, came across a young man about thirty years old beating an old man of about eighty years old on the street. Asked what was the matter, the story says, the young man answered that this elderly man he was beating was his son. The relationship between Śākyamuni and great bodhisattvas from underground is similar to these stories.

Therefore, Bodhisattva Maitreya and others asked a question, “World Honored One! When You were the crown prince, You left the palace of the Śākya clan and sat in meditation under the bodhi tree not far from the town of Gayā until You attained perfect enlightenment. It has only been forty years or so. How could You, World Honored One, achieve so much in so short a time?”

For forty years or so starting with the Flower Garland Sūtra, bodhisattvas have asked questions in every assembly to dispel the doubts all beings might have had. This, however, is the most serious question of all. In the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning, for instance, 80,000 bodhisattvas such as Great Adornment put forth a serious question concerning the apparent discrepancy in time required for attaining Buddhahood. While it has been said in the sūtras preached in the first forty years or so that it would take many kalpa, now it was preached that one could obtain Buddhahood quickly through the teaching of the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning. However serious the question of Great Adornment Bodhisattva was, that of Maitreya was more crucial. …

The thirty-six questions asked by Kāśyapa in the Nirvana Sūtra were also not as serious as the one asked by Maitreya. If the Buddha had not squarely answered the question to dispel this doubt, all the holy teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime would have appeared to be as worthless as bubbles, and the questions of everyone would have remained unanswered. Here lies the importance of the sixteenth chapter, “The Life Span of the Buddha,” of the Lotus Sūtra.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 71-72

When a wise man who mastered the Lotus Sūtra conducts a service for the remains of the dead, the dead man’s human body becomes the Dharma Body. This is what is meant by “with one’s present body.” It is possible for a wise man of the Lotus Sūtra to recover the spirit that left the dead person, put it back into the remains and convert it into the Buddha mind. This is the so-called attainment of Buddhahood.

The term “with one’s present body” is the physical aspect while the “attainment of Buddhahood” is the spiritual aspect. Therefore, it is possible to convert the dead person’s physical and spiritual aspects into the state of enlightenment that lasts forever from the eternal past. This is called the attainment of Buddhahood with one’s present body. Therefore, it is stated in the “Expedients” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “The reality of all things consists of appearance (body of the dead), nature (his mind), substance (his body and mind), etc.”

Mokue Nizō Kaigen no Koto, Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, Wooden Statues or Portraits, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 98

The bodhisattvas described in the fifteenth chapter, “Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground,” who have sprung out of the great earth, as numerous as the number of dust-particles of 1,000 worlds, are followers of the Original Buddha Śākyamuni who resides within our minds.

They are like T’ai-kung-wang and Duke of Chou, retainers of King Wu of the Chou dynasty in ancient China, who at the same time served the King’s young son, King Ch’eng; or Takeuchi no Sukune of ancient Japan, a leading minister to Empress Jingu, who concurrently served her son, Prince Nintoku. Just like them Bodhisattvas Superior Practice (Jōgyō), Limitless Practice (Muhengyō), Pure Practice (Jōgyō), and Steadily Established Practice (Anryūgyō), the four leaders of these bodhisattvas sprung from the earth, are simultaneously followers of the Original Buddha and bodhisattvas who reside in the minds of us, ordinary people.

Therefore, Grand Master Miao-lê has declared in his Annotations on the Mo-ho chih-kuan (Mo-ho chih-kuan fu-hsing-chiian hungchiieh): “You should know that both our bodies and the land on which we live are a part of the 3,000 modes of existence which exist in our minds. Consequently, upon our attainment of Buddhahood, we are in complete agreement with the truth of ‘3,000 existences contained in one thought,’ and our single body and single thought permeate through all the worlds in the universe.”

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Venerable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 145

Those who intend to spread Buddhism must correctly understand the five principles for propagation in order to disseminate the True Dharma. They are: (1) the teaching, (2) the capacity of the people, (3) the time, (4) the country, and (5) the sequence of spreading the Buddha’s teachings.

Ken Hōbō-shō, A Clarification of Slandering the True Dharma, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 113.

Śākyamuni Buddha is quoted to have declared in the third chapter on “A Parable” of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 2, “This triple world is My domain.” It means that the Buddha Śākyamuni has the virtue of being our master, the king and the most respectable in the world. His words, “All living beings therein are My children,” means that the Buddha has the virtue of our parent; and “There are many sufferings in this world; only I can save all living beings” points out His virtue of being our teacher. In the sixteenth chapter on “The Life Span of the Buddha” of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha is quoted to have declared, “I am the father of the world.” …

Grand Master Miao-lê declares in his Five Hundred Questions and Answers (Wu-pai wén-lun): “A man who does not know the long life of his father is like a man who wanders around the country governed by his father. Such a man cannot be a son of a man no matter how talented he is;” and “Even though his talent is as great as that of all the people in the country put together, he is nothing but a fool if he does not know how old his parents are.” Precept Master Tao-hsüan (Dōsen) of the Fen-te-ssu Temple at Chung-nan-shan in T’ang China mentions in his Ancient and Modern Disputes between Buddhism and Taoism (Ku-chin fu-tao lun-hêng), “Before the time of the Three Emperors (Fu Hsi, Shen Nung and Yellow Emperor) in ancient China, they had no characters for writing; they knew who their mother was but did not know their father. They acted as if they were birds and beasts.” These are words that Priest Hui-yüan (Eon) of Sui China uttered when he admonished the Emperor Wu of Northern Chou against his persecuting Buddhists.

Hasshū Imoku-shō, A Treatise on the Differences of the Lotus Sect from Eight Other Sects, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 16

It is predicted in the Lotus Sūtra, in the 13th chapter “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra,” that 2000 years after the Buddha’s extinction, in the Latter Age of Degeneration, three kinds of enemies will appear against those who spread the Lotus Sūtra. The time at hand matches exactly the Latter Age of Degeneration preached in the Lotus Sūtra as the “fifth 500-year period” after the death of the Buddha. As I, Nichiren, contemplate whether or not the Buddha’s words have proved to be true, three kinds of enemies surely exist today. If I deny the existence of the three enemies and spread the Lotus Sūtra in a manner so as to avoid persecution, I cannot claim to be a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. On the other hand, if I spread the sūtra in such a way that I am persecuted by enemies, I certainly will lose my life.

Kyōki Jikoku-shō, Treatise on the Teaching, Capacity, Time and Country, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 95-96

Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu were great commentators who wrote one thousand commentaries. However, they commented only on provisional Mahāyāna sūtras, and even though they inwardly grasped the Lotus Sūtra, they did not outwardly speak of it. (There is an oral transmission about this). T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō spread the Lotus Sūtra but they did not reveal the Most Venerable One of the essential section, the four bodhisattvas guided by the Original True Buddha, precept dais of the essential section, and the five characters of “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.” Their reasons were, first of all they did not receive the teaching from the Buddha. Secondly the time was not right to spread the teaching. The time has now arrived, however, and the four bodhisattvas guided by the Original True Buddha will appear in this world to spread the True Dharma according to the sūtra. I, Nichiren, have known this for a while. During the time of Emperor Wu in Han China a blue bird flew from the West signaled the omen of Hsi-wang-mu’s coming or a magpie sang as the omen of a visiting guest. My disciples should think this through seriously. You should not abandon your faith in the Lotus Sūtra even at the risk of your life.

Hokke Gyōja Chinan-ji, Difficulty of the Practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 16

[T]he eleventh chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures,” states: “Those who uphold the teaching of this sūtra are deemed to serve Me, Śākyamuni, and the Buddha of Many Treasures. They also serve Buddhas in manifestation here who adorn and glorify their respective worlds.” This means that Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, and all the Buddhas in manifestation are in our minds, and that we, upholders of the Lotus Sūtra, will follow their steps and inherit all the merits of those Buddhas.

This is the meaning of the passage in the tenth chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “The Teacher of the Dharma,” which reads: “Those who hear of this Lotus Sūtra even for a moment, will instantly attain Perfect Enlightenment.”

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Venerable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 144-145

[B]eginning with Śākyamuni Buddha, such Buddhas as the Buddha of Infinite Life, Medicine Master Buddha, and the Buddha of Many Treasures as well as such bodhisattvas as Avalokiteśvara, Mahāsthāmaprāpta, Samantabhadra, and Mañjuśrī are compassionate parents to us. You should not forget that the ultimate doctrine of compassion with which these Buddhas and bodhisattvas guide the people is solely in the Lotus Sūtra. You should remember that the secret doctrine to save the evil, the stupid, women, and those without Buddha-nature is not revealed in sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra. This is the very reason why the Lotus Sūtra is superior to all other Buddhist scriptures.

Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō, Treastise on Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 15