From The Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva (Reeves, p420), something I want to set aside for future reference:

Having recited these verses, the Buddha said to Ananda: “Repent now of the six sense faculties, embrace the teaching of meditation on Universal Sage Bodhisattva, and explain it clearly everywhere for all the heavenly beings and people in all directions. After the extinction of the Buddha, if the disciples receive and embrace, read and recite, and explain the sutras of the Great Vehicle, the Expansive Teaching, in a quiet place, such as a graveyard or under the trees of a monastery, they should read and recite the sutras of the Expansive Teaching and should think about the meaning of the Great Vehicle. As a result of the strong power of reflecting. They will be able to see my body, the Stupa of Abundant Treasures Buddha, the countless buddhas embodied in all directions, Universal Sage Bodhisattva, Manjushri Bodhisattva, Medicine King Bodhisattva, and Medicine Lord Bodhisattva. As a result of revering the Dharma, these buddhas and bodhisattvas, living in the sky with wonderful flowers, will praise and revere those who practice and embrace the Dharma. And as a result just of their reciting the sutras of the Great Vehicle, the Expansive Teaching, the buddhas and bodhisattvas will make offerings day and night to those who embrace the Dharma. …

“After the extinction of the Buddha, if his disciples faithfully follow the Buddha’s words and practice repentance, it should be known that they are doing the work of Universal Sage. Those who do the work of Universal Sage neither see evil characteristics nor experience retribution from evil actions. If there are living beings who show respect to the buddhas in all ten directions six times night and day, recite the Great Vehicle sutras, and think about the profound first principle of the teaching of emptiness, in the time it takes to snap one’s fingers they will rid themselves of the sins of life and death committed during hundreds of myriads of thousands of billions of eons. Anyone doing this work is truly a child of the Buddha, born from the buddhas. The buddhas in all directions and the bodhisattvas will become their teachers. Such people will be said to be perfect in bodhisattva precepts. Without going through a special ceremony, they will become accomplished naturally, and be worthy of receiving offerings from all human and heavenly beings.”

Accomplished naturally without going through a special ceremony.

Programming note: Having completed the 21-day stay-cation retreat encouraged by Universal Sage Bodhisattva, I still have some things I want to say about the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings and The Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva. For the next several days I will add this as an extended 21 Days series.

I can’t imagine any discussion of the The Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva that doesn’t include the Elephant Walk (Reeves, p402-404). Enjoy.

The body of Universal Sage Bodhisattva is unlimited, the range of his voice is unlimited, and the forms of his image are unlimited. When he wants to come to this world he uses his own divine powers to shrink his body to a smaller size. Because the three hindrances of the people in Jambudvipa are heavy, through the power of his wisdom he transforms himself and rides a white elephant.

The elephant has six tusks and is supported by seven legs. Under its seven legs are seven live lotus flowers. The elephant is as white as snow, the most brilliant of whites. Even crystal or the Himalayas cannot be compared with it. The body of the elephant is four hundred and fifty leagues long and four hundred leagues tall.

At the tips of its six tusks are six bathing pools, and in each bathing pool grow fourteen lotus flowers, filling them all equally. The flowers bloom majestically, like the king of heavenly foliage. On each of these flowers sits a jade maiden, with a crimson face surpassing even that of a goddess. In the hands of each of the maidens five harps appear spontaneously, each accompanied by five hundred other musical instruments. Five hundred birds, as colorful as precious gems, including wild ducks, wild geese, and mandarin ducks, are among the leaves and flowers. On the elephant’s trunk there is a flower with a stalk the color of red pearl. The flower itself is gold in color and looks like a bud that has not yet blossomed.

After witnessing this, if anyone continues to repent and contemplates the Great Vehicle sincerely, unceasingly pondering over it with clear vision, they will be able to see the flower bloom and radiate a golden color.

The calyx of the lotus flower is made of kimshuka jewels and wonderful and pure mani jewels. Its stamens are made of diamonds. A transformed buddha can be seen sitting on the calyx of the lotus flower with a host of bodhisattvas sitting on the stamens. From between the eye brows of the transformed buddha comes a golden light, which goes into the elephant’s trunk with the color of a red lotus flower. This light comes out of the elephant’s trunk and enters its eyes. Then it shines from the elephant’s eyes and enters its ears. It then comes out of the elephant’s ears, illuminates the top of its head, and changes into a golden platform.

On the elephant’s head are three transformed attendants. One has a golden wheel in its hands, another holds a mani jewel, and another grasps a diamond pounder. When the attendant raises the pounder and points it at him, the elephant immediately takes a few steps. The elephant does not step on the ground but hovers in the air, seven feet above the earth, yet it leaves its footprints on the ground. The footprints have in them a Dharma wheel with a hub and a thousand spokes, all of them perfect. In each Dharma wheel is a great lotus flower, on which there is a transformed elephant. These elephants also have seven legs and walk behind the great elephant. Every time one of these elephants raises and brings down a foot, seven thousand elephants appear, all following behind the great elephant.

On the elephant’s trunk, the color of a red lotus flower, sits a transformed buddha, who emits light from between his eyebrows. This golden light, as before, enters the elephant’s trunk, which is the color of a red lotus flower. This light comes out of the elephant’s trunk and enters its eyes. Then it shines from the elephant’s eyes and enters its ears. It then comes out of the elephant’s ears and reaches the top of its head.

Gradually going up the elephant’s back, the light is transformed into a golden saddle adorned with the seven precious materials. On all four sides of the saddle are pillars made of the seven precious materials and decorated with sets of jewels, making a jeweled pedestal. On this pedestal there is a lotus flower stamen of the seven precious materials, and that stamen also has on it a hundred jewels. The blossom of that lotus flower is made of a great mani jewel.

The bodhisattva named Universal Sage sits there cross-legged. On his body, pure as a white jewel, are fifty lights of fifty different colors, forming a halo over his head. Golden light radiates from the pores of his body, and innumerable transformed buddhas are at the ends of the golden rays, accompanied by transformed bodhisattvas to serve them.

The elephant walks deliberately and carefully. Going slowly, he pours large jeweled lotus flowers before a follower. When this elephant opens its mouth, the jade maidens in the bathing pools on the elephant’s tusks play fine and wonderful music that praises the one true way of the Great Vehicle. Having seen this, the follower rejoices and shows respect, again reading and reciting the profound sutras, showing respect to the innumerable buddhas in all directions wherever they may be, to the Stupa of Abundant Treasures Buddha, to Shakyamuni Buddha, and to Universal Sage and other great bodhisattvas.

Makes me want to practice.

The Threefold Lotus translation offers some helpful footnotes.

• Three hindrances: Arrogance, envy and covetousness.
• Six tusks: Suggesting the purity of the six sense organs: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
• Seven legs: Suggesting the absence of the seven evils: killing, stealing, committing adultery, lying, speaking ill of others, improper language, and having a double tongue.
• Transformed Buddha: The transformed body in which a Buddha manifests himself in order to save sentient beings.

As I have recited The Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva over these three weeks, this quote (Reeves, p417) has always stood out as something I will want to refer to in the future. So, for safe keeping, I offer this mark of the great Dharma:

The Buddha then said to Ananda: “After the extinction of the Buddha, if his disciples want to repent of their evil and bad actions, they only have to read and recite the Great Vehicle sutras. These sutras of the Expansive Teaching are the eyes of the buddhas. By means of these sutras the buddhas have been able to attain five kinds of eyes, and from them are born the three kinds of buddha bodies. This is the mark of the great Dharma, marking the ocean of nirvana. From such an ocean the three kinds of pure buddha bodies are born. These three kinds of bodies are a field of blessings for human and heavenly beings, and most worthy of offerings. If anyone recites and reads the sutras of the Great Vehicle, the Expansive Teaching, it should be known that they have the blessings of a buddha and, having extinguished their various evils long ago, are born of buddha-wisdom.”

Day 19 of 21Day 21 of 21

Today in my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra practice I cover Chapter 24, Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva. That chapter opens like this:

Thereupon Śākyamuni Buddha [faced the east and] emitted rays of light from the fleshy tuft on his head, that is, from one of the marks of a great man, and also from the white curls between his eyebrows. The light illumined one hundred and eight billion nayuta Buddha-worlds, that is, as many worlds in the east as there are sands in the River Ganges. There was a world called [All-] Pure-Light-Adornment [in the east] beyond those worlds. In that world was a Buddha called Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom, the Tathāgata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. He expounded the Dharma to a great multitude of innumerable Bodhisattvas who were surrounding him respectfully. The ray of light, which was emitted from the white curls [between the eyebrows] of Śākyamuni Buddha, also illumined that world.

For me, the first time I read this, it brought up a question. Back in Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures, we’re told that Śākyamuni, as a requirement before opening the Stupa of Treasures, was required to “call back all the Buddhas of his replicas who will be expounding the Dharma in the worlds of the ten quarters at that time.” Or as Reeves puts it, “Let the buddhas who are embodiments of that buddha and are preaching the Dharma in the worlds of the ten directions return together and assemble in one place.”

So I wondered, whether, after all of Śākyamuni’s replicas returned, were there any Buddhas left in the universe? Or, in other words, are all Buddhas replicas of the eternal Śākyamuni?

The reference in Chapter 24 to a Buddha called Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom seemed to suggest that there are other Buddhas in the universe besides Śākyamuni and his replicas.

And then upon reading The Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva, the question became a bit more complicated.

First we meet the Buddha Good Virtue (Reeves, p413):

From the sky of the eastern direction will come a voice saying: “Here is a buddha, a world-honored one named Good Virtue, who also is embodied in innumerable buddhas who sit crosslegged on lion seats under jewel trees. All these world-honored ones, in the concentration of universal manifestation of bodily forms, speak to a follower, praising him and saying: ‘Good, good, good son! You have now read and recited the Great Vehicle sutras. What you have recited is in the sphere of the buddhas.’ “

And then we meet the Buddha Sandalwood Virtue (Reeves, p415):

When a follower thinks in this way, a voice in the sky will say: “In the southern direction there is a buddha named Sandalwood Virtue, who also is embodied in countless other buddhas. All these buddhas teach the Great Vehicle and cut off sins and evils.

At this point it appears reasonable to conclude, at least based on this sutra, that Śākyamuni and his replicas are not the only Buddhas, and not only are there other Buddhas, but those Buddhas have replicas.

We even get Abundant Treasures Buddha in the Stupa emanating Buddhas (Reeves, p422):

Having said this, followers should continue repenting, and after seven days the Stupa of Abundant Treasures Buddha will spring out of the earth. With his right hand, Shakyamuni Buddha will open the door of the stupa, where Abundant Treasures Buddha will be seen deep in the concentration of universal manifestation of bodily forms. From all the pores of his body he will emit rays of light as numerous as the grains of sands of the Ganges. In each of the rays will be hundreds of thousands of billions of transformed buddhas.

And then there is this (Reeves, p409):

When the great assembly has gathered together like a cloud, they will see Shakyamuni Buddha emitting rays of golden light from the pores of his whole body, in each of which are hundreds of millions of transformed buddhas. From the tufts of white hair between their eyebrows, the sign of a great man, the embodiment buddhas will emit rays of light that stream into the head of Shakyamuni Buddha. Seeing this, from all the pores of their bodies the embodiment buddhas will also emit rays of golden light, in each of which are transformed buddhas, numerous as the grains of sands in the Ganges.

So here he have Śākyamuni emanating Buddhas and those Buddhas turn around and emanate more Buddhas. Turtles all the way down.

Day 17 of 21Day 19 of 21

After seeing the buddhas in all directions, one will have a dream in which on an elephant’s head there is a man who handles diamond pounders who points a diamond pounder at the six sense organs. After the six organs have been pointed at, Universal Sage Bodhisattva will teach the Dharma for this follower, to purify the six organs through repentance. In this way the follower will repent for a day or for twenty-one days.

Then, by the power of the concentration by which the buddhas appear and by the beauty of the preaching of Universal Sage Bodhisattva, with their ears followers will gradually hear sounds without hindrance, their eyes will gradually see things without hindrance, and their noses will gradually smell odors without hindrance. This is as taught extensively in the Wonderful Dharma Flower Sutra.

The Sutra of Contemplation of the
Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva
Reeves translation

A major portion of this sutra explores the specific evils that arise from the six sense organs. Rather than break them up and comment on them separately, I’m going to list the evils of each organ from the prose section and use the gāthās to wrap it all together. Again, all of this comes from the Reeves translation

Eyes

“In innumerable previous lives, because of your eyes you have been greedily attached to material forms. Because of your attachment to such forms, you greedily desire the dust of the passions. Because of your desire for the dust of the passions, you receive a woman’s body.* Living in age after age, you are deluded by and attached to forms. Forms harm your eyes and you become a slave to desire. This is why forms cause you to wander in the threefold world. This makes you so blind you can see nothing at all.”

Ears

“Because of your ears, you have sought external sounds for many eons. Hearing wonderful sounds gives rise to deluded attachment to them. Hearing evil sounds brings about the damage of a hundred and eight kinds of affliction. This kind of retribution from evil ears results in evil things. Incessantly hearing evil sounds gives rise to various entanglements. Due to your perverted hearing, you will fall into truly evil paths, remote places, or wrong views where the Dharma cannot be heard.”

Nose

“In the innumerable eons of your previous lives, because of your lust for odors, you developed sense discriminations and became constantly attached to them, and you fell into life after life. Now you should contemplate the cause of the Great Vehicle. This cause of the Great Vehicle is the true character of all things.”

Tongue

“You should speak about the bad and evil things done by your tongue, saying: ‘This tongue, moved by thoughts of evil actions, makes me praise deluded speech, idle talk, harsh words, divisive talk, slander, lies, and wrong views, and it also makes me speak useless words. With such a multitude and variety of evil actions, which provoke fights and dissension, I teach what is not Dharma as if it were Dharma. I now repent for all such sins. … The errors of this tongue are countless and without limit. Thorns of evil actions are rooted in the tongue. It is this tongue that stops the wheel of the true Dharma. Such an evil tongue cuts off the seeds of blessings. Meaningless things are frequently forced on others. Praising wrong views is like adding wood to a fire, bringing greater harm to beings already in raging flames. It is like someone who dies from drinking poison without getting any sores. Recompense for my sins, for the evil, wrong, and bad things I have done, should result in my falling into evil paths for hundreds or thousands of eons. Because of lying I will fall into a great purgatory. Now going to the buddhas of the southern direction, I confess my errors and sins.’ ”

Body and Mind

“Now you should repent of body and mind. The sins of the body are killing, stealing, and fornication, while thinking bad thoughts is the sin of the mind. Committing the ten evil actions and the five irredeemable sins is just like being a monkey, or like birdlime glue. Attachment to all sorts of things leads to the passions of the six sense faculties. The actions of these six sense faculties fill every threefold world. the twenty-five states of existence, and all places where there is life, filling them with heavy branches, small branches, flowers, and leaves. Such actions also increase ignorance, old age, death, and the twelve kinds of suffering, and inevitably involve the eight evils and the eight difficulties. You should now repent of such evil and bad deeds.”

And now in gāthās

If you have evil in your eyes,
Impure with hindrances from actions in the past,
You should recite the Great Vehicle
And reflect on its first principle.

This is called eye repentance.
It exhausts past bad actions.

When the ears hear noise,
The principle of harmony is upset.
This produces craziness,
Like that of a foolish monkey.

You should recite the Great Vehicle
And meditate on the emptiness and formlessness of things,
To exhaust all evils for a long time,
And hear sounds from all directions with heavenly ears.

The nose is attached to scents.
In accord with its contamination, contacts occur.
In this way the deluded nose, in accord with its contamination,
Gives birth to all kinds of entanglements.
If you recite the Great Vehicle sutras
And meditate on the reality of things,
You will long be free from evil actions done in the past
And not do them in future lives.

The tongue causes five kinds of bad consequences
From harsh words spoken in the past.

If you want to control it yourself,
You should make an effort to practice compassion,
Think of the meaning of the true quiescence of things,
And not conceive by making distinctions.

The mind is like a monkey,
Never resting for a moment.

If you want to subdue it,
You should make an effort to recite the
Great Vehicle,
Keeping in mind the Buddha’s great awakened body,
His power, and his freedom from fear.

The body, master of its organs,
Dances freely among these six harmful faculties
Without obstacle,
Like dust swirling in the wind.

If you want to be rid of these evils,
Long separated from dirt and trouble,
Ever in the comfort of nirvana,
And at ease with a calm heart,
You should recite the Great Vehicle sutras
And keep in mind the mother of bodhisattvas.

Innumerable excellent skillful means will be obtained
By reflecting on the true nature of things.
These so-called six methods
Purify the six sense organs.

The whole ocean of hindrances from past actions
Arises from illusion.
If you want to repent, you should sit upright
And reflect on the true nature of things.

And, most important, the gāthās conclude:

All sins are like frost and dew.
The sun of wisdom can dissipate them.
For this reason, with all your heart
You should repent of the six senses.

*While Reeves and The Threefold Lotus Sutra have “receive a woman’s body,” the BDK English Tripitaka Tiantai Lotus Texts says, “your body is derived from a woman.” A footnote explains: “In traditional interpretations of the Chinese shou nu ren shen, nu ren has been read in the genitive; and in a previous English translation of this sutra, this phrase is translated as “[you] receive the body of a woman.” In our translation we have read nu ren as ablative, and therefore render the phrase as “your body is derived from a woman.”

And assuming the “derived from a woman” is correct, does that then play into the Four Forms of Birth: (1) birth from the womb, as in mammals; (2) birth from eggs; (3) birth from dampness (the way worms were thought to be generated); and (4) birth by transformation, that is, spontaneous birth without the womb, eggs, or dampness, as in the cases of deities and beings in the hells. Are we “derived from woman” instead of having been born through transformation in the heavens?

Day 10 of 21Day 12 of 21

The encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, for which this stay-cation retreat is named, is opening for me some ideas on how to expand my own practice.

Today, I recited the BDK English Tripitaka version of The Sutra Expounded by The Buddha On Practice of The Way Through Contemplation of The Bodhisattva All-Embracing Goodness as translated from the Chinese of Dharmamitra.

I am really tempted to turn this portion of the sutra into a personal practice that would go like this.

Repeat three times:

The buddhas, the World-honored Ones, are always present in this world. Yet even though I believe in the comprehensive sutras, I am unable to clearly discern the buddhas because of my karmic encumbrances. I now take refuge in the Buddha! May you, Śākyamuni, Fully Enlightened World-honored One, please become my mentor! O Mañjuśrī, possessor of great wisdom, with your wisdom and understanding, please initiate me in the pure bodhisattva ways! Thereby, out of compassion for me, Maitreya Bodhisattva, the sun of surpassing mercy, will permit me to take up the bodhisattva ways; the buddhas of the ten directions will appear to bear witness for me; and the eminent bodhisattvas—those supreme great leaders who safeguard living beings, who inspire and watch over those like me—will each make themselves known by name.

On this day I accept and embrace the comprehensive sutras! Even if I should fall into hells and suffer innumerable hardships upon reaching the end of this life, through it all I will never renounce the correct Dharma of the buddhas! By means and reason of these causes and the power of their beneficial effects, Śākyamuni Buddha now becomes my mentor and Mañjuśrī becomes my steward! O Maitreya who is to come—please impart the teachings to me! O buddhas of the ten directions—please bear witness for my assurance! O great virtuous bodhisattvas—please be my companions!

Trusting now in the wonderful and most profound principle of the Great Vehicle sutras, I take refuge in Buddha, I take refuge in Dharma, and I take refuge in Sangha!

Conclude by saying:

Here, this day, I have awakened the aspiration for enlightenment! Through the beneficial effects of this, may I universally ferry all living beings!

Of special note is the conclusion’s focus on saving all living beings. This is not a solitary practice, even when on a solitary stay-cation retreat.

Day 5 of 21Day 7 of 21

Whether renunciant or layperson, the practitioner will not need a mentor, will not need stewards, and will not need to take vows in a ceremony because of the power of accepting, keeping faith with, reciting, and internalizing the Great Vehicle sutras, and because of All-embracing Goodness Bodhisattva’s [Fugen] encouragement to engage in this practice. This is the core of the true Way of the buddhas in the ten directions. By means and reason of this Way, the practitioner will naturally attain the five attributes of an enlightened one: perfection in behavioral principles, perfection in concentration, perfection in wisdom, perfection in emancipation, and perfection in the perspective that pertains to emancipation. Buddha tathāgatas become so by following this Way; the promise of their buddhahood is obtained in the Great Vehicle sutras.

The Sutra Expounded by the Buddha on Practice of the Way Through Contemplation of the
Bodhisattva All-Embracing Goodness
BDK English Tripitaka

Accomplished my first full cycle – Morning Shindoku reading of the Lotus Sutra, afternoon BDK English Tripitaka’s Infinite Meanings Sutra followed by the BDK’s Sutra Expounded by the Buddha on Practice of the Way through Contemplation of the Bodhisattva All-embracing Goodness and finishing with English Lotus Sutra. I am really looking forward to doing this for another 18 days.

From the start I have planned eventually to start adding quotes from my reading but had not expected to start this soon. The quote above jumped out at me today, resonating with my solitary stay-cation retreat, without mentor or stewards or vows, relying only on faith in the Great Vehicle sutras and the encouragement of All-embracing Goodness Bodhisattva [Fugen].

And when I wasn’t seated in front of my altar, I was at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church working with Rev. Kenjo Igarashi to add plywood to protect the windows of the chicken shed, so named because that is where we barbeque chicken twice a year. Earlier this year I replaced all of the plastic windows, hence the blue film, something Rev. Igarashi had wanted for years. Once I had those installed Rev. Igarashi was insistent that the windows should be protected during the 10 months of the year when the shed is unused. So there I was, painting and installing the eighth-inch plywood sheets. I consider my support of the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church a major part of my practice and a suitable activity during my stay-cation retreat.

Day 2 of 21Day 4 of 21