Category Archives: WONS

WONS

Difficulties Depending on Sūtra Practiced

No matter which sūtra one practices, he who practices Buddhism is bound to encounter difficulties depending on the sūtra he practices. Of all sūtras, the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra is faced with the most severe obstacles, especially in the Latter Age of Degeneration, when it is stated in the sūtra that it is most suited to the time and the capacity of people. Therefore, Grand Master Miao-lê states in his Annotations on the Great Concentration and Insight, fascicle 8, “Seeing people not desirous of cutting the chain of life and death and not aspiring to the way leading to Buddhahood, the devil will cherish them as if he were their real parent.”

The meaning of this interpretation is that even though a person practices meritorious acts, if he practices only those teachings such as the nembutsu, Shingon, Zen and Ritsu without practicing the Lotus Sūtra, the true way leading to Buddhahood, the king of devils will act as though he were the practicer’s parent, and haunt many people to entertain and make offerings to the practicers. It is for the purpose of deceiving people into believing in him as a true practicer of Buddhism. It is like the priest who is respected by the king and therefore highly esteemed with offerings by ordinary people. The fact that the ruler of the country looks upon Nichiren as an enemy, on the contrary, proves that Nichiren is the practicer of the True Dharma.

Shuju Onfurumai Gosho, Reminiscences: from Tatsunokuchi to Minobu, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 33

2buddhas, LS32, d25b, WONS

Always Despised But Never Despising

We cannot know for certain, but the story of Sadāparibhūta [Never-Despising Bodhisattva] may reflect the experience of the Lotus Sūtra’s compilers in encountering anger and contempt from mainstream Buddhist monastics. The Sanskrit name Sadāparibhūta actually means “Always Despised.” As an ordinary monk without any particular accomplishments, Sadāparibhūta had no obvious authority for delivering predictions of future buddhahood, and monastics who looked askance at the nascent Mahāyāna movement may have found his words presumptuous and offensive. Hence, he was “always despised.” Dharmaraksa, who first rendered the Lotus Sūtra into Chinese, translated the bodhisattva’s name in this way. But Kumārajīva instead adopted “Never Despising,” shifting emphasis to the bodhisattva’s attitude of reverence for all. As Nichiren expresses it: “In the past, the bodhisattva Sadāparibhūta carried out the practice of veneration, saying that all beings have the buddha nature; that if they embrace the Lotus Sūtra, they are certain to attain buddhahood; and that to slight another is to slight the Buddha himself. He bowed even to those who did not embrace the Lotus Sūtra, because they too had the buddha nature and might someday accept the sūtra.”

Two Buddhas, p207
d27b, WONS

The Lotus Sūtra’s Power of Divine Help

It is stated [in “Medicine King Bodhisattva” chapter] that this sūtra will spread widely in Jambudvīpa after 2,000 years. In this statement the Lotus Sūtra is likened to the third parable of the Moon. Grand Master Dengyō interprets this, “The Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma have already passed, and the Latter Age of Degeneration is around the corner. Now is the time for the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra to spread.” The divine help of the Lotus Sūtra is superior to other sūtras in both the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma. However, as the moonlight is brighter in the fall and winter than in the spring and summer, the Lotus Sūtra’s power of divine help grows more powerful in the Latter Age than in the 2,000-year period of the Ages of the True and Semblance Dharmas.

Yakuō-bon Tokui-shō, The Essence of the “Medicine King Bodhisattva” Chapter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 31

WONS

The Avatar of Grand Master T’ien-t’ai

When Grand Master Dengyō of Japan dug the ground to build the Main Temple on Mt. Hiei, a key with eight tongues emerged. Later, he took the key with him when he sailed to T’ang China. There he met Venerable Tao-sui, the seventh patriarch of the T’ien-t’ai School and a disciple of Grand Master Miao-lê and was initiated into the T’ien-t’ai doctrine. Grand Master Dengyō was so genuine and intelligent by nature that Tao-sui was delighted to show him the fifteen storehouses of Buddhist scriptures built by Grand Master T’ien-t’ai. Fourteen of them were opened but not the last one. Grand Master Dengyō then requested, “Please open this storehouse.” Venerable Tao-sui replied, “There is no key to this storehouse. I believe that Grand Master T’ien-t’ai will appear some day again in this world to open it himself.” Grand Master Dengyō then took out the key that he had brought from Japan and opened it. When it was opened, rays of light generated in the storehouse brightened the room. Looking for the source of the light, they found it coming from the very sentence on the “three thousand existences contained in one thought” in the fifth fascicle of the Great Concentration and Insight. It was gracious and wonderful. Venerable Tao-sui, who transmitted the T’ien-t’ai doctrine to Grand Master Dengyo, bowed before his disciple, saying, “You are the avatar of Grand Master T’ien-t’ai.” In this way, all the books and scrolls of Grand Master T’ien-t’ai that had been kept in those storehouses were brought to Japan. At present in the Main Hall of the Enryaku-ji Temple on Mt. Hiei are the 25th chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “Word-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva,” copied by Grand Master T’ien-t’ai and the Great Concentration and Insight recorded by Grand Master Chang-an.

Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-I, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 90-91

WONS

Protection for the Practicer of the Lotus Sūtra

I, Nichiren, believe that as soon as the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra appears, all those gods such as the Sun God and the Moon God, who heard the preaching of the Lotus in the “three meetings at two places” (on Mt. Sacred Eagle and in the Stupa appearing high in the sky) will hurry to his aid just as a magnet attracts pieces of iron and the moon reflects itself on the water. They will bear his difficulties and carry out the vows they made before the Buddha at those meetings. Nevertheless, they have not come to rescue me, Nichiren. Is it because I am not a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra? I must reconsider the sūtra in the light of my own background in order to see what is wrong with me.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 81

WONS

Lessening Karmic Retribution

As you have been fervent believers of the Lotus Sūtra, you now beckon the major sins committed in the past in order to lessen its karmic retribution. For instance when iron is forged well, its flaws become visible. When burned, a stone turns to ashes, but gold becomes pure gold. I am sure the merit of your true faith in the Lotus Sūtra will be evident, and the ten female rākṣasa demons, guardians of the Lotus Sūtra, will protect you now. Just as Indra appeared as a rākṣasa demon before Young Ascetic in the Snow Mountains to test his resolution and Vaiśravaṇa disguised himself as a dove to test King Sivi, the ten female rākṣasa demons may have possessed your parents in order to torture you and test your faith. You may regret if you are not steadfast in your faith. An overturned cart is a warning for the cart that follows.

Kyōdai-shō, A Letter to the Ikegami Brothers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 77-78

WONS

Tasting the Flavor of the True Dharma

Now, when I contemplate the state of Japan, I note that it has been a long time since her inception. Accordingly, the future of the original protective deities of Japan must have been exhausted, their life span having grown shorter, and their authority and power having declined. Their authority and power will increase only when they taste the flavor of the True Dharma. The True Dharma, however, has been lost, allowing evil dharmas to prosper and protective deities to grow old. How can they repulse national disasters and protect parishioners?

Kangyō Hachiman-shō, Remonstration with Bodhisattva Hachiman, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 261

2buddhas, Blog, WONS

Bodhisattvas from Other Worlds

The book Two Buddhas Seated Side By Side presents a chapter by chapter look at the Lotus Sutra, with Donald S. Lopez Jr. offering a description and anti-Mahayana commentary on each chapter and Jacqueline I. Stone following with an explanation of how Nichiren used the chapter in Medieval Japan.

I’ve found Stone’s contribution excellent and Lopez’s effort so disappointing that I hesitate to suggest anyone purchase the book. See this blog post.

That’s not to say that Lopez has contributed nothing worthwhile. It’s just that I have bags of salt handy when taking in his contribution.

The latest example is his opening paragraph for Chapter 15, Bodhisattvas Emerging from the Earth:

The dramatic tension that has been building since the “Jeweled Stūpa” chapter continues to build here. At the end of that chapter, the Buddha calls for those who are willing to step forward and, in the presence of the assembled buddhas, vow to spread the Lotus Sūtra after his parinirvāṇa. In the “Perseverance” chapter [Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra], billions of great bodhisattvas who have arrived from other worlds vow to spread the Lotus Sūtra throughout the ten directions. The theme of volunteers vowing to preserve the Lotus Sūtra after the Buddha is gone continues in this chapter, which opens with the bodhisattvas who have arrived from other lands to witness the opening of the stūpa now offering to preserve, recite, copy, and pay homage to the Lotus Sūtra in this Sahā world after the Buddha has passed into final nirvāṇa. However, the Buddha replies that there are sufficient bodhisattvas in his own world, the Sahā world, a statement that would be imbued with great meaning by Nichiren. The Buddha’s polite refusal of the offer of assistance from the foreign bodhisattvas, that is, the bodhisattvas who have arrived from other worlds, sets the scene for yet another dramatic event.

Two Buddhas, p161

What jumped out at me here was the characterization of Medicine-King Bodhisattva-mahāsattva and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva-mahāsattva, together with their twenty-thousand attendants who were also Bodhisattvas, as bodhisattvas “who have arrived from other worlds.” These are the great Bodhisattvas who are listed in Chapter 1, Introductory, as being present at the start. And in Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva, Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva asks the Buddha: “World-Honored One! Why does Medicine-King Bodhisattva walk about this Sahā-World?” Where in the Lotus Sutra does it suggest all of the Bodhisattvas have all arrived from other worlds?

And yet, judging from Stone’s description of Nichiren’s writings, the other-worldly nature of these Bodhisattvas was well known.

Based on his understanding of the Buddha’s teaching process, Nichiren argued that [the bodhisattvas from beneath the earth] could only appear in the Final Dharma age. During the two thousand years following the Buddha’s passing, that is, the True Dharma and Semblance Dharma ages, persons who had received the seed of buddhahood from Sakyamuni Buddha were led to the stages of maturation and harvesting through provisional teachings. Had the bodhisattvas from beneath the earth appeared and spread the daimoku during that time, many of those people would have reviled it, thereby destroying the merit gained through the maturing of the seeds that they had already received. During those two thousand years, Nichiren said, some of the bodhisattvas from other worlds remained to teach the Lotus Sūtra in this world. Specifically, Zhiyi and his teacher Huisi, long revered as manifestations of the bodhisattvas Bhaiṣajyarāja [Medicine-King] and Avalokiteśvara [World-Voice-Perceiver], respectively, had taught the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment from the abstract perspective of the trace teaching.

Two Buddhas, p175-176

Understanding that Medicine-King Bodhisattva and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva and World-Voice-Perceiver are from other worlds does offer an explanation why the Buddha keeps silence when “[E]ighty billion nayuta Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas … rose from their seats, came to the Buddha, joined their hands together [towards him] with all their hearts, and thought, ‘If the World-Honored One commands us to keep and expound this sūtra, we will expound the Dharma just as the Buddha teaches.’ ”

See A Variable Transmission for the One Vehicle

WONS

Teaching Suitable to a Country

When spreading the Dharma in a country, it is important to take into consideration the type of country it is. One cannot assume that a teaching suitable in one country will necessarily be suitable in another country.

Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō-dono Gosho, A Letter to Lord Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 143.

WONS

All Disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha

[S]ince it has been revealed that Śākyamuni has attained enlightenment in the eternal past, Bodhisattvas Nikkō (Sunlight) and Gakkō (Moonlight), disciples of Medicine Master Buddha in the world to the east; Bodhisattvas Kannon (Avalokiteśvara) and Seishi (Mahāsthāmaprāpta), disciples of the Buddha of Infinite Life in a land to the west; various disciples of Buddhas in various lands throughout the universe as well as disciples of the Great Sun Buddha depicted in both the Diamond Realm Mandala and the Matrix-store Realm Mandala of the Great Sun Buddha Stūra and the Diamond Peak Sūtra now are all disciples of Śākyamuni. Since Buddhas in the worlds throughout the universe are all manifestations (funjin) of Śākyamuni Buddha, their disciples are of course Śākyamuni’s disciples. Let alone the sun, the moon, and stars, that have been in this world from its beginning, are disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 76