Two Buddhas, p239-240Gadgadasvara [Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva] finds brief mention in a personal letter Nichiren wrote to a woman who had made offerings to each of the Lotus Sūtra’s twenty-eight chapters. “The ‘Gadgadasvara’ chapter,” he wrote to her, “tells of a bodhisattva called Gadgadasvara (“Fine Sound”) who dwells in the land of the buddha Kamaladalavimalanakṣastrarā jasaṃkusumitābhijn͂a (“Knowledge [Conferred by] the King of Constellations [Named] Pure Flower”) in the east. In the past, in the age of the buddha Jaladharagarjitaghoṣasusvaranakṣatrarājasamkusumitābhijn͂a (“Flowering Wisdom of the King of Constellations [Named] Thunder-Sound of Clouds”), he was Lady Vimaladattā (Pure Virtue), the consort of King Śubhavyūha (Fine Adornment). At that time, Lady Vimaladattā made offerings to the Lotus Sūtra and was reborn as the present bodhisattva Gadgadasvara. When the tathagata Śākyamuni expounded the Lotus Sūtra in the Sahā world, this bodhisattva arrived and promised to protect those women who would embrace the Lotus Sūtra in a latter age.”
Here Nichiren draws on the interpretive tradition that Gadgadasvara had in a past life been the consort of King Subhavyūha, who appears in Chapter 27 of the Lotus, to assert that this bodhisattva will watch over the sūtra’s female devotees.
Category Archives: WONS
Saving the Ignorant, Evil, Women, and Icchantika
According to the three great works of T’ien-t’ai (Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, and Great Concentration and Insight ) and Miao-lê’s annotations on them, the Lotus Sūtra is to save the ignorant, evil, and women, whom other sūtras are unable to save, as well as icchantika, who are eternally drowned in the sea of life and death. Yet, teachers of other sects, who do not know this aim of the Buddha, consider the Lotus Sūtra either equal to other sūtras, good only for much-practiced bodhisattvas above the ranks of shoji and shojū, or promising Buddhahood to the ignorant merely as a means of encouragement.
T’ien-t’ai and Miao-lê refuted these erroneous doctrines, declaring that those wandering in the six realms of illusions are exactly whom the Lotus Sūtra aims to address. They preached the two doctrines of shurui seed and sōtai seed, recognizing both merits and demerits of the past as the seed of Buddhahood. They also declared that those born into the realms of heavenly beings or human beings must have accumulated in the past the merit of keeping the five precepts or the ten virtuous acts enabling them to become Buddhas.
Shugo Kokka-ron, Treatise on Protecting the Nation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 41
Misled by ‘Evil Friends’
In the final analysis, no matter how I am abandoned by gods and how much difficulty I encounter, I will uphold the Lotus Sūtra at the cost of my own life. Śāripūtra could not attain Buddhahood after having practiced the way of the bodhisattva for as long as sixty kalpa because he could not endure the difficulty presented by a Brahman who asked him for his eyes. Those who had received the seed of Buddhahood from the Eternal Buddha and Daitsūchishō (Great Universal Wisdom) Buddha an incalculable number of kalpa ago could not obtain Buddhahood for as long as 500 or 3,000 dust-particle kalpa (gohyaku jindengō or sanzen jindengō) until they listened to the preaching of the Lotus Sūtra on Mt. Sacred Eagle in this world. It was because they had been misled by these “evil friends” to abandon the Lotus Sūtra. No matter what happens, abandoning the Lotus Sūtra will cause us to be plunged into hell.
Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 105
Worrying About One’s Sickness
By the way your husband’s recent illness may have been at the Buddha’s discretion. This is because it is preached in the Vimalakirti Sūtra and the Nirvana Sūtra that a sick person will indeed attain Buddhahood. This means that the desire to attain Buddhahood begins to appear while one worries about one’s sickness, doesn’t it?
Myōshin-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Response to My Lady, the Nun Myōshin Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 103
The Sin of Slandering a Practicer of the Lotus Sūtra
Suppose a man as evil as Devadatta slandered, physically beat and envied Śākyamuni Buddha, committing all three kinds of acts—physical, verbal, and mental—against the Buddha for as long as one medium kalpa (20 times the length of a kalpa). How serious is the sin committed by this man? This earth is 168,000 yojana in depth, and it supports all the water of the four great oceans, earth, and rocks of nine mountains, numerous trees and plants, and all creatures on top without dropping, tilting or breaking them. On the contrary, Devadatta’s body being five feet tall or so fell into hell breaking through the earth because he committed the Three Rebellious Sins. The hole he fell through still exists today in India. Tripiṭaka Master Hsüan-chuang writes in his Record of the Western Regions that he saw the hole of Devadatta in India while making a pilgrimage from China to India.
However, it is preached in the “Teacher of the Dharma” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra that the sin of slandering a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration on a mere whim, without any trace of animosity or envy, is more serious than the sin of Devadatta committing the three kinds of acts—verbal, physical, and mental—against the Buddha for as long as a medium kalpa. How much more so then is the sin of people today who, like Devadatta commit the three kinds of evil acts (verbal, physical, and mental) against a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, by speaking ill of him, censuring him, envying and physically beating him, and trying to kill him for many years!
Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 44-45
Praying the Repose of Parents After Death
Your having deep faith is not for the sake of [pleasing] others, but for the sake of your late father. Other people will not pray for your deceased parents. You are their child, so you must pray for their repose after death.
Ueno-dono Gohenji, A Reply to Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 113
A True Friend
[T]he reason why I, Nichiren, insist on the supremacy of the Lotus Sūtra is as follows: while preaching the Lotus Sūtra the Buddha twice exhorted the listeners to actively spread the teaching. In addition, the Buddha expounded the Nirvana Sūtra for the purpose of amplifying the Lotus teaching. It is preached in the Nirvana Sūtra, “Suppose a good priest who upholds the True Dharma sees a man destroying the Buddha’s Dharma and ignores him without rebuking him, chasing him away, or chastising him. You should know that such a priest is a loathsome enemy of Buddhism.” …
Therefore if I, Nichiren, am afraid of the people in the world and do not rectify the false teachings of these tripitaka masters and grand masters, I will end up in being a loathsome enemy of the Buddha. Moreover, Grand Master Chang-an warns the scholars in the Latter Age of Degeneration in his Annotations on the Nirvana Sūtra: “He who destroys and confuses Buddhism is an enemy of Buddhism. He who pretends to be friendly while having no compassion to someone is someone’s enemy. He who rectifies someone’s mistakes is someone’s true friend.”
Ōta-dono-gari Gosho, A Letter to Lord Ōta, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 199.
Faith Is the Cause for Wisdom
Two Buddhas, p196In its claims for the salvific powers of the Lotus Sūtra, the “Description of Merits” chapter says that the merit accruing to those who generate even a single thought of willing acceptance — that is, faith — in the Lotus Sūtra immeasurably surpasses that gained by men and women who cultivate the first five perfections of a bodhisattva for eighty myriads of kotis of nayutas of eons. The sixth perfection, wisdom, is not included. But Nichiren held that wisdom, too, is inherent in, and emerges from, faith in the Lotus Sūtra. Scholars of his day, he notes, all agree that those who would practice the Lotus Sūtra must devote themselves to the three disciplines of moral conduct, meditative concentration, and wisdom; lacking any of these, one cannot attain the way. Nichiren adds, “I too once thought the same.” But over time, he became convinced that this was not the case. Citing the “Description of Merits” chapter to support his argument, Nichiren asserts that the Buddha had restrained persons at the first, second, and third of the five stages of practice from focusing on the cultivation of moral conduct and meditative concentration and directed them solely to cultivate some degree of wisdom.” And because our wisdom is inadequate, he teaches us to substitute faith, making this single word ‘faith’ the basis. … Faith is the cause for wisdom and corresponds to the stage of verbal identity.”
Our Troubles Now and Rewards in the Future
Grand Master T’ien-t’ai in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 6, asserts: “Our troubles and sufferings in this world are all due to our sins in our past lives, and rewards for our meritorious acts in this life will be received in our future lives.” It is also said in the Shinjikan-gyō (Sūtra of Meditation on the Earth of the Mind): “Our virtues or vices in our past can be seen in our present fortune; our future fortune can be seen in our present acts,” and in the “Never-Despising Bodhisattva” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra: “Thus the bodhisattva made amends for the past.” It seems that the Never Despising (Fukyō) Bodhisattva was attacked with rocks and tiles because of his past sins. It seems also that those who are destined for hell in the next life do not receive punishment even for serious sins in this life. For instance, some icchantika do not even receive punishment.
Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 104
Revealing the Original Cause and Original Effect
Two Buddhas, p185-186Nichiren understood the revelation of Buddha’s inconceivable “lifespan” as the very heart of the sūtra. The sūtra text makes clear that, even after realizing buddhahood, Śākyamuni has remained in the world, and will continue to do so, for countless eons, “teaching the dharma and inspiring sentient beings.” For Nichiren, this signaled a seismic shift in the entire concept of buddhahood as a realm apart from the nine realms of ordinary experience. Conventional understanding holds that the cause of buddhahood and its effect, that is, practice and attainment, are separated in time. To become a buddha, one must carry out the practices of the bodhisattva for three immeasurable eons, a staggering length of time spanning countless lifetimes. The “trace teaching” or shakumon portion of the Lotus Sūtra, even while extending the promise of buddhahood to all beings, still preserves this perspective on realizing buddhahood as a linear process in which one moves from practice (nine realms) toward attainment (buddhahood). We see this in Śākyamuni Buddha’s predictions in the sūtra’s early chapters that his individual śrāvaka disciples such as Sāriputra, Mahākāśyapa, and others will become buddhas in the remote future, after many eons of bodhisattva practice. From this perspective, buddhahood remains a distant goal, abstracted from one’s present experience.
But with the origin teaching, Nichiren wrote, the cause and effect of the pre-Lotus Sūtra teachings and of the trace teaching are “demolished” and “original cause and original effect” are revealed: “The nine realms are inherent in the beginningless buddha realm, and the buddha realm inheres in the beginningless nine realms. This represents the true mutual inclusion of the ten realms … and three thousand realms in a single thoughtmoment.” That is, he saw the origin teaching as overturning linear views of practice and attainment, in which one first makes efforts and then realizes buddhahood as a later result, and revealing that cause (the nine realms) and effect (the buddha realm) are present simultaneously; buddhahood is manifested in the very act of practice.