Category Archives: WONS

WONS

Mt. Minobu Scenery

Regarding the mountain scenery at Minobu, there are Mt. Shichimen in the west, Mt. Tenshigatake in the east, Mt. Minobu in the north and Mt. Takatori in the south. These four mountains are so steep and as high as the heavens that birds can barely fly over them. Through the narrow spaces between these mountains four rivers flow: Fujigawa, Hayakawa, Ōshirogawa and Minobugawa. In an open-space about one hundred meters square my retreat was built. The mountains are so tall that I can barely see the sun in the day or the moon at night. There is heavy snowfall in the winter and grasses grow high in the summer. Few people visit me, as it is difficult for anyone to travail through the grasses and make their way. Especially since the snow is deep this year, no visitors have come to see me.

Shuju Onfurumai Gosho, Reminiscences: from Tatsunokuchi to Minobu, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 45-46

2buddhas, LS32, d19b, d20b, WONS

Who Are These Bodhisattvas?

Who are these bodhisattvas who emerge from beneath the earth? One interpretative move, current in medieval Japanese Tendai circles in Nichiren’s day, was to associate their four leaders — Viśiṣṭacaritra (J. Jōgyō, “Superior Conduct”), Anantacāritra (Muhengyō, “Boundless Conduct”), Viéuddhacāritra (Jyōgyō, “Pure Conduct”), and Supratisthitacāritra (Anryūgyo, “Firm Conduct”) — with the four universal elements of fire, wind, water, and earth, which were believed to constitute and benefit all beings. In a sense, Nichiren also understood these bodhisattvas as innate, for example, when he writes that they represent the bodhisattva realm within us; they are “the followers of the Śākyamuni Buddha who dwells within ourselves.” However, he also took them to be historical agents, entrusted by the Buddha with the mission of propagating the Lotus Sūtra specifically in the Final Dharma age, that is, his own time. “And what is this dharma that was entrusted to them?” he asked. “From within the Lotus Sūtra, it discards the broad to take up the condensed and discards the condensed to take up the essence, that is, the five characters Myōhō-renge-kyō.”

Two Buddhas, p174-175
WONS

The Basic Way to Buddhahood Lies in Faith

The Lotus Sūtra enjoins us to give up the provisional teachings, saying that with faith we can enter the Way to Buddhahood. The Nirvana Sūtra preached last in the śāla forest states that there are numerous ways to get the seed of Buddhahood, but as faith in the Three Treasures include all those ways, it is faith in the Three Treasures that matters most. The basic way to Buddhahood thus lies in faith. The foundation of the Fifty-two Ranks is the ten stages of faith which those who practice Buddhism should live up to. Of the ten stages of faith, the belief in the Three Treasures comes first. Those with faith in the Three Treasures are considered to have the right view even if their caliber is low and they cannot perceive much. Those without belief in the Three Treasures, on the other hand, are considered to have abandoned the seed of Buddhahood even if they are talented and can perceive many things.

Hokke Daimoku Shō, Treatise on the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 36-37

WONS

Closing the Buddha-Eye of All Living Beings

Those who have not learned the teaching of this Lotus Sūtra do not read between the lines. Encountering such passages as “They will be reborn among men and gods” in the “Devadatta” chapter, “Anyone … will be reborn in the Trāyastriṃsá Heaven or Tuṣita Heaven (in ‘The Encouragement of Universal Sage Bodhisattva’),” or “Anyone will be reborn in the Pure Land of Peace” in “The Previous Life of the Medicine King Bodhisattva,” they think that they must repeat the cycle of birth and death because they have not reached the irrevocable stage, no matter how hard they may practice the Lotus Sūtra in this defiled land, or however excellent the Lotus Sūtra may be. Such people believe that they have to wait until the time when Maitreya Bodhisattva will reappear in this world 5,670,000,000 years from now, or that they will repeatedly be reborn as human beings or animals, bearing the limitless suffering. They may also say that the practice of the Lotus Sūtra calls for the “own power” of the practicer and, therefore, is difficult to practice.

These people are those who do not know the difference between the pre-Lotus sūtras and the Lotus Sūtra. They are not only wandering blindly in their own stupidity and ignorance but also closing the Buddha-eye of all living beings.

Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-I, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 93-94

WONS

Practicers of the Lotus Sūtra

The Buddha Himself had His finger injured by Devadatta, and He met serious crises like this nine times during His lifetime. Wasn’t He a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra? Can’t we call Bodhisattva Fukyō (Never Despising) a practicer of the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra because he was despised and beaten? Venerable Maudgalyāyana was murdered by Brahmans armed with bamboo sticks. This occurred after he was assured that he would be a future Buddha in the Lotus Sūtra. Bodhisattva Kāṇadeva and Venerable Simha (Shishi Sonja), fourteenth and twenty-fifth patriarchs of Buddhism who transmitted the Buddha’s teaching, were both murdered. Were they not practicers of the Lotus? In China, Chu tao-sheng insisted that even an icchantika could attain Buddhahood and was banished to a temple in Su-chou; and Fa-tao was exiled to the south of the Yangtze River with his face branded with a hot iron rod when he remonstrated with the emperor against persecuting Buddhists. Were these monks not practicers of the Lotus Sūtra? Both Sugawara Michizane of Japan and Po Chü-i of China were banished because of their remonstration. Were they not worthy of being practicers of the Lotus Sūtra?

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 103-104

WONS

Blue Lotus Flowers

[T]he lotus flowers, the namesake of the Lotus Sūtra, are the greatest of the panaceas. An evil king Virūḍhaka in ancient India murdered more than 500 women who were close to the Buddha. The Buddha sent his disciple Ānanda to Mt. Himalaya to get a blue lotus flower, with which He touched the murdered women, thereby they were resuscitated and reborn in the Trāyastriṃsá Heaven seven days later. The lotus flowers are so wonderful that the Buddha likened them to the Wonderful Dharma.

Myōshin-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Response to My Lady, the Nun Myōshin Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 103

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WONS

Don’t Give Up the Lotus Sūtra

If those of high rank reproach you, view them as formidable enemies of the Lotus Sūtra. Consider the opportunity as rare as seeing an udumbara that blooms only once in 1,000 years or a blind turtle by chance encountering a log floating in the ocean and respond with confidence. Even a person who possesses a huge fief as large as 1,000 or 10,000 chō may have his land confiscated and lose his life over a small matter. If you must lay down your life for the sake of the Lotus Sūtra, have no regrets. Once Bodhisattva Medicine King practiced Buddhism by burning his own body for as long as 1,200 years before becoming a Buddha. King Suzudan allowed his body to be Asita’s seat for 1,000 years and served him. With those merits, he became the Śākyamuni we know Buddha today.

Therefore, make no mistake. If you give up the Lotus Sūtra now, you will become a laughing stock.

Ueno-dono Gohenji, A Reply to Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 113

d19b, d25b, d30b, d32b, d9b, WONS

Practicers of the Lotus Sūtra Are Not Found Anywhere

Some raise the question:

Although there seem to be the three kinds of enemies of the Lotus in this world today, practicers of the Lotus Sūtra are not found anywhere. It is difficult for us to call you a practicer of the Lotus because there is a great deal of discrepancy. Affirming divine intervention in favor of a practicer, the Lotus Sūtra in the chapter on the “Peaceful Practices” says: “Heavenly servants will come to serve the man who upholds the Lotus Sūtra so that swords and sticks will not injure him, and poisons will not harm him;” in the fifth chapter on “The Simile of Herbs,” “His life in this world will be peaceful and he will be reborn in a better place in the future;” in the 26th chapter on “Mystic Phrases,” “Should anyone hate and speak ill of the man who upholds the Lotus Sūtra, his mouth will be sealed—anyone who does harm to him will have his head split into seven pieces like a twig of an arjaka tree;” and in the 28th chapter on the “Encouragement of the Universal Sage Bodhisattva,” “He will be rewarded with happiness in this present life;” and “If anyone, upon seeing a man upholding this sūtra, exposes his faults, justifiably or not, such a man will be afflicted with white leprosy.”

They have a good reason to doubt me. So I will answer their question to dispel their doubt. It is said in the “Never-Despising Bodhisattva” (20th) chapter of the Lotus Sūtra that the practicer of the Lotus will be spoken ill of, despised, or struck with sticks, tiles, and stones; while it is said in the Nirvana Sūtra that such a man will be killed or hurt. The Lotus Sūtra also states in the “Teacher of the Dharma” (10th) chapter that those who spread it will be the target of much hatred and jealousy even during the lifetime of the Buddha.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 103

2buddhas, d13b, LS32 Text, WONS

Buddha Nature As Three Causes

Commentators have often interpreted the jewel in the garment as the “buddha nature.” The Lotus Sūtra does not contain the precise term “buddha nature” (Ch. foxing; J. busshō), perhaps because it had not yet come into use in Indian Buddhism. However, the Lotus clearly recognizes the buddha potential in all beings, and Chinese exegetes argued that the concept is there, if not the term itself. The expression “buddha nature” was well known in medieval Japan, and Nichiren uses it occasionally, but he appears to have preferred “buddha realm” (among the ten realms) or “seed of buddhahood” (J. busshu). His use of the latter term is quite different from the Hossō idea of untainted seeds in the storehouse consciousness. … “Buddha nature” and “seed of buddhahood” are similar in that both indicate the potential for buddhahood, supreme enlightenment, but where “nature” is constant and unchanging, “seeds” can lie dormant, even rot, or germinate and grow in response to conditions; as the Lotus Sūtra says, “The buddha-seeds germinate through dependent origination.” Thus, Nichiren may have used the term “seed of buddhahood” because he wished to portray buddhahood, not as an abstract potential, but as manifested through specific causes and conditions, that is, by embracing a specific form of practice. In that regard, he sometimes borrows Zhiyi’s concept of the “buddha nature as three causes”: (1) the innate potential for buddhahood; (2) the wisdom that illuminates it; and (3) the practice that manifests that wisdom. For Nichiren, that practice was chanting Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō, the act that manifests the jewel of the buddha realm hidden within the nine realms of ordinary people. Sometimes he refers to the daimoku itself as the “seed of buddhahood.”

Two Buddhas, p126-127
WONS

Upholders of Lotus Sūtra Are Envied by the King of Devils

Deer are killed by men because the meat is tasty, and tortoises lose their lives because of their good fat. Attractive women are envied by many others. Those who govern a country must worry about defending it against foreign forces, while property owners are susceptible to the dangers of life. Likewise, upholders of the Lotus Sūtra with the assurance of achieving Buddhahood are envied by the king of devils in the Sixth Heaven, who is the lord of the triple world of the unenlightened. It is preached in scriptures that this king of devils will haunt kings, parents, wives and children and envy the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra in the same way as how people fall victims to epidemics without seeing the disease or how old sake can make people dead drunk without them realizing it. This is exactly what is happening in the world today. I have done nothing wrong, but simply because I chant Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, I have been hated by people as well as the rulers of Japan for more than twenty years, and chased out of residences and exiled twice until, finally, I retreated to this mountain.

Shuju Onfurumai Gosho, Reminiscences: from Tatsunokuchi to Minobu, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 45