Because the Buddha’s life and heart exist without regard to time and space, his capacity for compassion and wisdom are equally as endless. We humans often have small hearts and lives and perhaps cannot imagine ever having as great a capacity for compassion and wisdom as the Buddha. We may never be able to conceive of living without hate, jealousy or anger. Through our connection with the Buddha, however, we can develop such a capacity for compassion and wisdom as well as connection with all living beings.
Buddha Seed: Understanding the OdaimokuQuotes
The Great Mirror of Enlightenment
The Mandala, in fact, is a great mirror of enlightenment, in which all things and all phenomena are simultaneously reflected. If a man sits in front of this mirror, and views his own body reflected therein, he will find his body at once transformed into that of the Buddha of Original Enlightenment, and discover in his body the source from which all things and all phenomena in the external world have taken their rise.
Doctrines of Nichiren (1893)With Joy
We can be as the Tathagatas and show our friends many examples of how with our Buddhist practice we can repair and become happy in the triple world. Let us renew our efforts to practice with joy, live with joy, and interact with joy. Lets all manifest and bring into reality the Buddha land in our lives.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1The Universal Nexus Binding All Beings
When a deed or work is performed with the intention and pious desire of dedicating it to the soul of a certain person, its efficacy will establish a closer communion between the dedicator and the objective. If the soul to whom it is dedicated is travelling in the inferior resorts of transmigration, the piety and virtue of the dedication will help it along its way towards a better resort and finally to Buddhahood. If it has already attained a certain height of spiritual enlightenment, the dedicator himself will be led up more closely to the realm of bliss. Since the connection between the two is not merely based on their relationship during earthly existence but is in fact a partial manifestation of the universal nexus binding all beings, the dedication may, nay must, at the same time be directed to all fellow beings and the merit thereof will be participated in by them all.
History of Japanese ReligionA Seed We Plant in Our Lives
It should be clear that the Odaimoku is more than simply the title of the Lotus Sutra. Neither is chanting the Odaimoku viewed by Nichiren Buddhism as merely a concentration device or a mantra practiced for accruing benefits. It is an expression of the practitioner’s faith and joy in the Buddha’s teaching contained in the Lotus Sutra, the teaching that buddhahood is not only a potential within all our lives but an active presence leading us to awakening in this very moment. The Odaimoku is like a seed that we plant within our lives. Continuing to chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo as our essential daily practice, we nurture that seed so that ultimately the wisdom and compassion of buddhahood can bloom within us and within all beings.
Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the GohonzonThe Power of Odaimoku
When you face difficulties, the Odaimoku will lead you to a path to overcome these difficulties. When you have many troubles, it will lead you to a path to show what the cause of your suffering is. And when your life is being threatened, it will lead you to a secure place unconsciously. Also, the Lotus Sutra has a mystical power to save deceased spirits. At a funeral or memorial service, Odaimoku chanted by attendees transfers their rewards to the deceased spirits, making them calm and peaceful.
Spring WritingsAn Ever-Increasing Treasure
Ultimately the goal for practitioners of Buddhism is enlightenment, and in the Lotus Sutra we are told that enlightenment is one that is equal to that of all Buddhas. In a sense our goal of enlightenment is also an ever-increasing treasure. As we develop and mature in our practice we are able to see that enlightenment is an ever unfolding and evolving objective. It isn’t that the end point changes, instead it is that we are able to see ever expanding possibilities, we are able to imagine greater growth as we actually begin to grow. When we begin we cannot possibly understand the degree to which our life is capable of expanding.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraThe Living Buddha
The theoretical first half of the Lotus Sutra taught that we are all potential buddhas and that the Buddha actually taught only One Vehicle, which enables us to realize that potential. In the essential latter half of the Lotus Sutra, the promise of the One Vehicle bears fruit as the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha. Since the historical Shakyamuni was a real person, the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha makes the seemingly abstract ideal of Buddhahood concrete in a living exemplar. Furthermore, since Buddhahood transcends birth and death, the Buddha is able to be just as present to us right now as he was to his historical disciples. In being present to us, the Buddha is able to grant us the ability to live in accord with his teachings and realize our own Buddhahood, our own eternal life.
Lotus SeedsThe Recipe for Practice
Now that we have the parts that makeup practice, let’s take a brief look at how these elements come together. You should remember that there is no one correct recipe; as in your favorite home cooking, the recipe is there to give you the general idea, but the chef creates a wholesome dish with some personal discretion.
Awakening to the LotusEight Sufferings
When he set the Wheel of the Law in motion at Deer Park in Benares, the Buddha explained that birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering, union with the hateful is suffering, separation from the beloved is suffering, failing to obtain the desired is sufferings, and all elements of our physical and psychological environments are suffering. The first four of these are called the four sufferings, and the entire series the eight sufferings.
Basic Buddhist Concepts