Two Buddhas, p86-88Because 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.
Category Archives: 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
Opening Buddhahood as a Real Possibility to Anyone
Two Buddhas, p82In 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.
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
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
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
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
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
The Ten Objects Ten Stage Meditation
QUESTION: Why is the Wonderful Dharma called the “three thousand existences contained in one thought”?
ANSWER: Grand Master T’ien-t’ai, after perceiving the “three thousand existences contained in one thought” doctrine, expounded many teachings such as the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra (consisting of ten fascicles); the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra (consisting of ten fascicles); the Samadhi of Bodhicitta; the Shōshi-kan (Introduction to Meditation); the Annotations on the Vimalakirti Sūtra; the Commentary on How to Eliminate Four Misconceptions of Body, Feeling, Mind, and Self; and the Annotations on the Doctrine of the Dhyānapāramitā; without explaining the “three thousand existences contained in one thought” doctrine. What he expounded were only the Ten Realms, the Hundred Realms, and the Thousand Aspects. However, there exists the Great Concentration and Insight, ten fascicles, which he expounded to a disciple, Grand Master Chang-an, in the summer of the fourth month when he was fifty-seven years old, at the Yü-ch’üan-ssŭ Temple in Ching-chou. What he wrote in the first four fascicles was only concerned with such doctrines as the Six Stages in the practice of the Lotus Sūtra and Buddhahood, the Four Kinds of Meditation, and not the “three thousand existences contained in one thought” doctrine. Beginning with the fifth fascicle, however, he discusses the Ten Objects Ten Stage Meditation, revealing the “three thousand existences contained in one thought” doctrine for the first time. Grand Master Miao-lê recommended this to people of the Latter Age of Degeneration, saying in his Annotations on the Great Concentration and Insight, “Grand Master T’ien-t’ai’s doctrine of spiritual contemplation is based on the ‘three thousand existences contained in one thought’ doctrine. … Those who seek his teaching must not think that there is an ultimate doctrine of T’ien-t’ai’s except this.” The numerous doctrines expounded in the 60 fascicles and 3,000 pages of writings on the Lotus Sūtra as interpreted by T’ien-t’ai (three major writings of T’ien-t’ai, 10 fascicles each, and Miao-lé’s annotations on them, also 10 fascicles each) are not enough to perceive the true intent of Grand Master T’ien-t’ai. Instead, we should master just the first several lines (on the “3 ,000 existences contained in one thought” doctrine) in the fifth fascicle of the Great Concentration and Insight.
Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-I, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 89-90
Karmic Bonds Formed in the Past
When I was banished to Sado in the northern sea, people there, both priests and laity, hated me even more than did the men and women of Sagami Province. Abandoned in the wilderness and exposed to the snow, I survived by eating grass. I felt as though I were personally experiencing the sufferings of Su-wu, who survived by eating snow while living in captivity in the land of northern barbarians for nineteen years. Or of Li Ling, who was imprisoned in a rocky cave on the shore of the northern sea for six years. I suffered this ordeal not because of any fault of my own but solely because of my desire to save the country of Japan.
However, while I was exiled in Sado Province, you, my Lady Nun, and your husband, Lord Lay Priest, avoiding the watchful eyes of others, at times brought me food by night. At other times you were both ready to give your lives for my sake without fearing punishment from the provincial officials. Therefore, though life on Sado was harsh, I was loath to leave the island, feeling as if I was leaving my heart behind, and I seemed to be pulled back with each step I took.
I wonder what kind of karmic bond we had formed in the past. Just when I was thinking how mysterious it was, you sent your most precious husband as your messenger to this distant place. I thought it must have been a dream or an illusion. Even though I cannot see you, I am convinced that your heart remains here with me. Whenever you yearn for me, Nichiren, look toward the sun which rises in the morning and the moon which appears in the evening. I will inevitably be reflected in the sun and the moon. In the next life, let us meet in the Pure Land of Mt. Sacred Eagle. Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.
Kō no Ama Gozen Gosho, A Letter to My lady, the Nun Kō, the Nun Myōichi, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 166-167