Category Archives: WONS

WONS

Unless the Causative Relationship Is Ripe

The moon does not shy away from its own reflection, but it cannot be reflected without water. Even though the Buddha hopes to convert the populace, He cannot show the eight major events in His life unless the causative relationship is ripe. It is like Hinayāna sages of śrāvaka, who have listened to the Mahāyāna teaching and ascended the ladder of the bodhisattva way leading to Buddhahood, until they have reached the step of shoji in the distinct teaching or shojū in the perfect teaching. In the end, however, they have to wait for the future for their Buddhahood. It is because they have listened only to the pre-Lotus sūtras and striven for self-control and self-salvation.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 75

WONS

Delight in Such a Discouraging Life

We left Echi on the tenth of the tenth month and arrived at the province of Sado on the 28th of the same month. On the first of the eleventh month I entered the Sammaidō Hall in the wilderness called Tsukahara located behind the residence of Homma Rokurōzaemon. This place was a run-down hut, about six foot square in size and without a statue of the Buddha, built in a place where dead bodies were abandoned like Rendaino in Kyoto.

The roof was full of holes and the four walls had fallen off so that snow which piled up in the room never disappeared. I had to stay here day and night, sitting on a piece of fur and wearing a raincoat made of straws. At night it snowed, hailed and thundered continuously. In the daytime no rays of sunshine penetrated the heavy clouds. It was such a discouraging life there. In ancient China Li-ling (Su-wu) was sent to the land of Hsiung-nu as an emissary and was captured and confined in a cave for years. Tripitaka Master Fa-tao who remonstrated with Emperor Hui-tsung of Sung in vain was exiled to Southern China, having his face branded with a red-hot iron. They must have felt just like I felt then.

However, this is in fact delightful. In ancient times King Suzudan abandoned the throne to seek the True Dharma and devoted himself to austerities under a prophet called Asita for as long as one thousand years. As a result of such intense training, he finally obtained the great merit of the Lotus Sūtra. Struck by self-conceited monks with sticks, Never-Despising Bodhisattva could become a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra.

Now it is Nichiren who, born in the Latter Age of Degeneration, is encountering these great difficulties for having propagated the five Chinese characters of myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō.

Shuju Onfurumai Gosho, Reminiscences: from Tatsunokuchi to Minobu, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 31-32

2buddhas, LS32, d7b, WONS

Reverse Connection

Because the consequences of slandering the Lotus Sūtra are so frightful, in the verse section of this third chapter of the sūtra, after summarizing the karmic retribution that would attend that offense, the Buddha admonishes Śāriputra “never to expound this sūtra to those who have little wisdom. … You should teach the Lotus Sūtra to those who are able to accept it.” Some among Nichiren’s disciples wondered why he himself failed to follow this injunction. Would one not do better to lead people gradually through provisional teachings, as Śākyamuni Buddha himself had done, rather than insisting on immediately preaching the Lotus Sūtra to persons whose minds were not open to it? In Nichiren’s understanding, however, the sūtra’s warning against preaching the Lotus Sūtra to the ignorant had applied only to the Buddha’s lifetime and to the subsequent two thousand years of the ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma, when people still had the capacity to achieve buddhahood through provisional teachings. Now, in the age of the Final Dharma, he argued, no one can achieve liberation through such incomplete doctrines. Therefore, the Buddha had permitted ordinary teachers such as himself to preach the Lotus Sūtra directly, so that people could establish a karmic connection with it, “whether by acceptance or rejection.” Here Nichiren invoked and assimilated to the Lotus Sūtra the logic of “reverse connection” (J. gyakuen), the idea that even a negative relationship to the dharma, formed by rejecting or maligning it, will nonetheless eventually lead one to liberation. Persons who have formed no karmic connection to the true dharma may perhaps avoid rebirth in the lower realms but lack the conditions for attaining buddhahood; those who slander the dharma paradoxically form a bond with it. Though they must suffer the fearful consequences of disparaging the Lotus Sūtra, after expiating that offense, they will be able to encounter the Lotus again and achieve buddhahood by virtue of the very karmic connection to the sūtra that they formed by slandering it in the past. Now, in the age of the Final Dharma, Nichiren maintained, most persons are so burdened by delusive attachments that they are already bound for the hells. “If they must fall into the evil paths in any event, it would be far better that they do so for maligning the Lotus Sūtra than for any worldly offense. … Even if one disparages the Lotus Sūtra and thereby falls into hell, the merit gained [by the relationship to the sūtra that one has formed thereby] will surpass by a billion times that of making offerings to and taking refuge in Śākyamuni, Amitābha, and as many other buddhas as there are sands in the Ganges River.” Thus in this age, Nichiren maintained, one should persist in urging people to embrace the Lotus Sūtra, regardless of their response, for the Lotus alone can implant the seed that bears the fruit of buddhahood.

Two Buddhas, p86-88
d26b, d27b, WONS

The Moon that Brightens the Darkness of Night

The three delusions (delusions arising from incorrect views and thoughts, delusions which hinder knowledge of salvation methods, and delusions which hinder knowledge of the ultimate reality) that exist in the mind of all people as well as the karma of committing the ten evil acts, and the five rebellious sins are like the darkness of night. All the Buddhist scriptures such as the Flower Garland Sūtra are like stars in the dark night whereas the Lotus Sūtra is comparable to the moon that brightens the darkness of night. Those who believe in the Lotus Sūtra only half-heartedly are like the half-moon shining in the dark night. Those who deeply believe in the sūtra are likened to the full moon brightening the darkness of night. In the night with only stars twinkling in the sky without the moon, aged persons, women and children are unable to go out, though strong and healthy persons may. When the full moon brightens the night, even older persons and women and children are free to go out to play, attend parties, or meet friends and acquaintances. Likewise, in sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra, though bodhisattvas and ordinary people with superior nature may be able to attain Buddhahood, the Two Vehicles, ordinary people, evil persons, women, or aged people, idlers and those without precepts in the Latter Age will never be able to be reborn in the Pure Land or attain Buddhahood. That is not the case with the Lotus Sūtra. The Two Vehicles, evil persons and women all attain Buddhahood in the Lotus Sūtra, not to speak of bodhisattvas and ordinary people with superior nature. Again, the moon shines brighter at dawn than in the early evening and in autumn and winter than in spring and summer. Likewise, the Lotus Sūtra has more divine help in the Latter Age of Degeneration than during the 2,000 years of the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma.

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

2buddhas, LS32, d5b, d6b, d7b, WONS

Opening Buddhahood as a Real Possibility to Anyone

In the Lotus Sūtra’s narrative, Śāriputra is the first śrāvaka to receive the Buddha’s prediction of his future buddhahood. “When Śāriputra heard this,” Nichiren wrote, “he not only cut off the illusions arising from primal ignorance and reached the stage of the true cause [for liberation] but was acclaimed as the [future] tathāgata Padmaprabha [Lotus Light]. … This was the beginning of the attainment of buddhahood by all beings of the ten realms.”

For Nichiren, … the Lotus Sūtra’s message that persons of the two lesser vehicles could attain buddhahood was not about extending this possibility to a group of previously excluded individuals but, rather, established the mutual inclusion of the ten realms as the ground that, for the first time, opened buddhahood as a real possibility to anyone.

Two Buddhas, p82
WONS

All Disciples of Lord Śākyamuni Buddha

Since Śākyamuni Buddha is eternal and all other Buddhas in the universe are His manifestations, then those great bodhisattvas who were taught by manifested Buddhas and who are from other worlds are all disciples of Lord Śākyamuni Buddha. If the “Life Span of the Buddha” chapter had not been expounded, it would be like the sky without the sun and moon, a country without a king, mountains and rivers without gems, or a man without a soul.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 75

WONS

Fundamental Darkness

If a major evil demon of fundamental darkness can enter the body of even a bodhisattva on the rank next only to the Buddha, preventing this bodhisattva from attaining the merit of Enlightenment of the Lotus Sūtra, all the more so can this demon wreak havoc with beings below the bodhisattva rank. Also, the King of Devils in the Sixth Heaven can occupy the body of the wife and children to fool the parents and husband, enter the body of the king to persecute the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, or go into the bodies of the parents to torture their filial children.

When Śākyamuni Buddha was the Crown Prince Siddhārtha, he sought to abdicate his princely position in order to enter the priesthood. King Śuddhodana, however, advised the Prince to refrain from entering the priesthood until his pregnant wife gave birth to their son Rāhula. The King of Devils postponed the birth of Rāhula for six years in order to prevent the Crown Prince from entering the priesthood.

Kyōdai-shō, A Letter to the Ikegami Brothers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 76

d21b, WONS

Subordinates of Śākyamuni Buddha.

[P]reaching the sixteenth chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha declared, “All the gods, men, and asura demons believe that this Śākyamuni Buddha was the one who had left the palace of the Śākya clan and sat in meditation under the bodhi tree not far from the town of Gayā and attained perfect enlightenment.” This declaration in the Lotus Sūtra represents what all the great bodhisattvas had in mind while listening to the sūtras starting with the Flower Garland at the Hall of Enlightenment to the fourteenth “Peaceful Practices” chapter of the Lotus. “To speak the truth, good men,” continued the Buddha, “it has been countless aeons (numerous hundreds, ten thousands, 100 millions, nayuta of kalpa) since I obtained Buddhahood.”

Thus with one stroke He denied as untrue all His previous statements such as “obtaining the first enlightenment” said three times in the Flower Garland Sūtra, “the first enlightenment” in the Āgama sūtras, “the first meditation under the bodhi tree” in the Vimalakirti Sūtra, “sixteen years after the first enlightenment” in the Sūtra of the Great Assembly, “I once sat in meditation at the place of practice in Buddhagayā” in the Great Sun Buddha Sūtra, “for twenty-nine years since His enlightenment” in the Sūtra of the Benevolent King, “I once meditated under the bodhi tree in the place of enlightenment for six years” stated in the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning, and “At first I sat at the place of enlightenment, gazed on the tree, and walked about it meditating” in the “Expedients” (second) chapter of the Lotus Sūtra.

Thus it was revealed that Śākyamuni had long been the Buddha since the eternal past, and it became clear that various Buddhas were all manifestations (funjin) of Śākyamuni Buddha. In the pre-Lotus sūtras, as well as in the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra, various Buddhas and Śākyamuni Buddha were on the same level, each practiced Buddhism on their own. Therefore, those who considered various Buddhas to be their Most Venerable One did not worship Śākyamuni. Now, however, as Śākyamuni proved to be the Eternal Buddha, those Buddhas on the lotus petals in the Flower Garland Sūtra, or Buddhas in the Hōdō sūtras, Wisdom and Great Sun Buddha Sūtras all became subordinates of Śākyamuni Buddha.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 74

WONS

The Evil Ban Be Turned to the Just with Myō

The word “hell” can be defined “to dig the ground.” It is called “hell” because dead people are buried in the ground. In the same way, we can say that the wife, children, and relatives carrying the corpse to a crematory are jailors of hell; the grief-stricken cries of wife and children are the scolding voices of jailors; and the crematory flames are the flames of the Hell of Incessant Suffering. A two-and-a-half foot cane seems like a jailor’s iron stick; horses and cows look like horse-head demons and cow-head demons; the hole for burying the dead corresponds to the Hell of Incessant Suffering; eighty-four thousand desires are eighty-four thousand iron pots in Hell; to leave home is a journey of death; and the river by which filial children mourn equals the Styx, the river of death. It would be foolish for you to look for hell in places other than your own mind!

However, for those who uphold the Lotus Sutra, all this is reversed. Hell will be altered to the Pure Land of Eternally Tranquil Light; the flames in hell will be changed into the light of wisdom of the Buddha of the Reward-body; the dead will be changed into the Buddha of Dharma-body; the fiery hole of hell will be changed to the compassion of the Buddha of the Accommodative-body; the cane of the dead will become the cane of the true entity of all phenomena; the Styx will become the ocean of Nirvana; and the journey of death will become the doctrine of “earthly desires turned to enlightenment.”

Understand this, please. To understand this is “immediate attainment of Buddhahood with the present body” or “opening the treasury of Buddha-Wisdom.” This is exactly how Devadatta, the Evil changed the Hell of Incessant Suffering into the Pure Land of Tranquil Light, and a daughter of the Dragon King became a Buddha in an instant. According to the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, the evil can be turned to the just. This is solely attributable to the merit of one character “myō.”

Ueno-dono Goke-ama Go-henji, A Response to the Nun, Widow of Lord Ueno, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 50-52

d27b, WONS

The Light of One Character of the Lotus Sūtra

The Lotus Sūtra is like the moon. The rays of light emitted by stars reach the distance of half a mile, 1, 10, or 20 miles at the most whereas the rays of the moon light reach as far as 1,000 miles or so. Even if all stars in the four continents and all the worlds throughout the universe, 100, 1,000, 10,000, 1,000,000 in number, are put together, they are not comparable to the moon in brightness. It goes without saying that one star can never be compared to the moon in brightness. Likewise, all the sūtras such as the Flower Garland Sūtra, the Āgama sūtras, the Hōdō sūtras, the Wisdom Sūtra, the Nirvana Sūtra, the Great Sun Buddha Sūtra, and the Sūtra of Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life put together, do not amount to one character of the Lotus Sūtra.

Yakuō-bon Tokui-shō, The Essence of the “Medicine King Bodhisattva” Chapter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 30-31