Your premise at the start of this thread has been critiqued.
theseekerof wrote: ↑Thu Feb 21, 2019 8:53 pm
The reason the title of this thread is like this is because Nichiren claims that all his teachings are from the Lotus Sutra only.
Nichiren never made any such claim.
What he actually taught was that the the Essential Teaching of the Lotus Sutra is only found in the Lotus Sutra.
You need to back up with your arguments and address the faults of your basic premise.
2nd of all, according to the Lotus Sutra, no one can fathom the wisdom of the Buddha, thus no one can give out the meangs to the Buddha's teachings besides the Buddha himself.
If I understand you correctly, Nichiren would agree with this 100%. This is why Nichiren taught "Namu
Myohorengekyo" and not "Namu
What I Say.
Since Nichiren teaches nothing from the Lotus Sutra besides reciting the Title of the sutra, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, I have picked three Nichiren teachings and compare it with the Lotus Sutra.
No, you did not establish this. You made some claims about what Nichiren taught without offering any proof that the words you put in his mouth are his.
Nichiren teachings taken from The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace
No. That
book is a compilation of the purported teachings of Daisaku Ikeda. You really ought not confuse what that man, Ikeda, has to say with what Nichiren taught.
If you want to discuss what Nichiren actually taught, you ought to refer to Nichiren's writings, of which over 700 have survived to this day.
In accord with the Buddhist principle that “earthly desires lead to enlightenment,”
I don't know where this quote comes from.
Bonno soku bodai is often translated as "Earthly Desires are Enlightenment."
Bonno is klesha.
Bodai is bodhi. This is basic Mahayana.
Nichiren directly mentions
bonno soku bodai in several writings and refers to it implicitly throughout his writings - its a teaching with a particular meaning in the Tiantai-Tendai tradition - and Nichiren cannot be understood outside of the context of Tiantai/Tendai. Tendai Daishi (Zhiyi) refers to this teaching in
Mohezhikuan (Jp.
Maka Shikan; Tr. by Swanson as "Clear Serenity, Quiet Insight"), and it is explained extensively in Tiantai/Tendai writings. It is often paired with the teaching - Sufferings of Samsara are Nirvana.
From the
Mohezhikuan:
The perfect-and-sudden [method of practicing cessation-and-contemplation] involves taking the true aspects [of reality] as the object from the very beginning. Whatever is made to be the object [of contemplation], it is the Middle; there is nothing that is not truly real. [When one attains the state of contemplation wherein] reality itself (dharmadhatu) is fixed as the object [of contemplation], and thoughts are integrated with reality itself, [then one realizes that] there is not a single color or scent that is not the Middle Way. It is the same for the realm of the individual, the
realm of Buddhas, and the world at large. All [phenomena experienced through] the aggregates (skandha) and senses (ayatana) are thusness; therefore there is no [substantial] suffering that needs to be removed. Since ignorance (avidya) and the exhausting dust [of passionate afflictions
(kleša)] are indivisible with bodhi-wisdom, there is no origin [of suffering; i.e., craving] to be severed. Since the extreme [dualities] and false [views] are [indivisible with] the Middle and what is right, there is no path to be cultivated. Since [this cyclic world of] samsara is [indivisible with] nirvana, there is no extinguishing [of craving] to be realized. Since suffering and its causes do not exist [substantially], there is no mundane world [to be transcended]; since the path and the extinction [of craving] do not exist [substantially], there is no transcendent world [to be gained]. There is purely the single true aspect [of reality-as-it-is]; there are no separate things outside this true aspect. For things in themselves (dharmata) to be quiescent is called “cessation”; to be quiescent yet ever luminous is called “contemplation.” Though earlier and later [stages] are spoken of, they are neither two nor separate. This is called perfect-and-sudden cessation-and-contemplation.
There is absolutely no where in the Lotus Sutra the Buddha says such thing as this.
Actually, at the heart of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha states:
Since I attained buddhahood
the number of kalpas that have passed
is an immeasurable hundreds, thousands, ten thousands,
millions, trillions, asamkhyas.
Constantly I have preached the Law, teaching, converting
countless millions of living beings,
causing them to enter the buddha way,
all this for immeasurable kalpas.
In order to save living beings,
as an expedient means I appear to enter nirvana
but in truth I do not pass into extinction.
I am always here, preaching the Law.
I am always here,
but through my transcendental powers
I make it so that living beings in their befuddlement
do not see me even when close by.
When the multitude sees that I have passed into extinction,
far and wide they offer alms to my relics.
All harbor thoughts of yearning
and in their minds thirst to gaze at me.
When living beings have become truly faithful,
honest and upright, gentle in intent,
single-mindedly desiring to see the Buddha,
not hesitating even if it costs them their lives,
then I and the assembly of monks
appear together on Holy Eagle Peak.
At that time I tell the living beings
that I am always here, never entering extinction,
but that because of the power of expedient means
at times I appear to be extinct, at other times not,
and that if there are living beings in other lands
who are reverent and sincere in their wish to believe,
then among them too
I will preach the unsurpassed Law.
But you have not heard of this,
so you suppose that I enter extinction.
When I look at living beings
I see them drowned in a sea of suffering;
therefore I do not show myself,
causing them to thirst for me.
Then when their minds are filled with yearning,
at last I appear and preach the Law for them.
Such are my transcendental powers.
For asamkhya kalpas
constantly I have dwelled on Holy Eagle Peak
and in various other places.
When living beings witness the end of a kalpa
and all is consumed in a great fire,
this, my land, remains safe and tranquil,
constantly filled with heavenly and human beings.
The halls and pavilions in its gardens and groves
are adorned with various kinds of gems.
Jeweled trees abound in flowers and fruit
where living beings enjoy themselves at ease.
The gods strike heavenly drums,
constantly making many kinds of music.
Mandarava blossoms rain down,
scattering over the Buddha and the great assembly.
My pure land is not destroyed,
yet the multitude sees it as consumed in fire,
with anxiety, fear, and other sufferings
filling it everywhere.
These living beings with their various offenses,
through causes arising from their evil actions,
spend asamkhya kalpas
without hearing the name of the three treasures.
But those who practice meritorious ways,
who are gentle, peaceful, honest, and upright,
all of them will see me
here in person, preaching the Law.
At times for this multitude
I describe the Buddha’s life span as immeasurable,
and to those who see the Buddha only after a long time
I explain how difficult it is to meet a buddha.
Such is the power of my wisdom
that its sagacious beams shine without measure.
This life span of countless kalpas
I gained as the result of lengthy practice.
You who are possessed of wisdom,
entertain no doubts on this point!
Cast them off, end them forever,
for the Buddha’s words are true, not false.
This is kind of PhD level Buddhism, but here's the basic argument:
When Buddha Shakyamuni first turned the wheel at Sarnath to the Five Ascetics, he taught the Four Noble Truths. He described the cause of suffering as craving (
trishna). Craving is related to klesa, and in some cases the words are used more or less interchangeably. Klesa are in ways derivative of craving. Klesa are elaborated into lists, in East Asia most commonly as 108, but are in practice, innumerable (hence the reference in the quote from Mohezhikuan that refers to "exhausting dust" because they are irritants as numerous as dust.) Klesa basically derive from the three poisons of desire, aversion and ignorance. Desire is the instinct to seek pleasure, aversion is the instinct to avoid displeasure, and ignorance is at the root of all desire and aversion - we impulsively act on desires and aversions because we fundamentally misunderstand our real nature. We think that this pleasure or that avoidance of displeasure will relieve us of suffering once and for all, but we do not realize that grasping and avoiding does not relieve us of suffering but merely perpetuates it. In early teachings of the Buddha, he taught that we can end the cycle by not acting on our cravings. Break that cycle long enough and karma will be exhausted... the spinning of samsara will simply roll to a halt when it is no longer propelled.
Later, the Buddha taught emptiness which reveals all dharmas, including each link in the chain of causation, to be without essential reality. Samsara could simply be released by seeing that it is insubstantial: Realize Emptiness and *poof* what is left but liberation.
But these teachings have shortcomings. For one, these paths in and of themselves terminate in individual benefit. There is no regard for the suffering of others. Secondly, and this is a deeper critique - its actually a reactionary path that pits suffering as a categorical evil to be avoided and ended... it turns out, these paths are expressions of klesa at very subtle levels.
In the higher Mahayana teachings on Buddha Nature and Tathagatagarbha, nothing is to be avoided, nothing is to be sought, realization of emptiness is not the end - its just a further insight about reality. What
really is happening is a timeless awakening: Buddhaseeds are cast in Buddhafields, where they sprout and grow into Buddhas. Buddhas are like the farmers of these fields, with hosts of bodhisattva farmhands. We are given a glimpse of this view in the first chapter of the Lotus Sutra where the Buddha emits a beam of light from his forehead and illuminates the lands in the East:
At that time the Buddha emitted a ray of light from the tuft of white hair between his eyebrows, one of his characteristic features, lighting up eighteen thousand worlds in the eastern direction. There was no place that the light did not penetrate, reaching downward as far as the Avichi hells and upward to the Akanishtha heavens.
From this world one could see the living beings in the six paths of existence in all of those other lands. One could likewise see the buddhas present at that time in those other lands and could hear the sutra teachings that those buddhas were expounding. At the same time one could see the monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen who were carrying out religious practices and attaining the way. One could also see the bodhisattvas mahasattva who, through various causes and conditions and various types of faith and understanding and in various forms and aspects, were carrying out the way of the bodhisattva. And one could also see the buddhas who had entered parinirvana, and could also see how, after the buddhas had entered parinirvana, towers adorned with the seven treasures were being erected for the buddha relics.
This is the level where teachings like "
klesa are
bodhi" have relevance. This is the Lotus Sutra where the Buddha explains his awakening, described alternatively as occurring in the inconceivably remote past or
nitya, eternal or maybe more accurately, atemporal, and yet involving causes. If that latter description does not makes sense, I don't think its supposed to; its one of those riddles meant to break conventional thinking. The Lotus Sutra, particularly the "Chapter and Two Halves" (Second half of Ch. 15 though the first part of Ch. 17), is taught from the atemporal perspective of the Buddha. "When I look at living beings / I see them drowned in a sea of suffering... / When living beings witness the end of a kalpa / and all is consumed in a great fire / this, my land, remains safe and tranquil / constantly filled with heavenly and human beings." This teaching is stated succinctly in the Vimalakirti Sutra -
At that time Śāriputra was influenced by the Buddha’s numinous charisma to have this thought: “If the bodhisattva’s buddha land is pure according to the purity of the bodhisattva’s mind, then when our World-honored One was a bodhisattva his mind must have been pure. Nevertheless, this buddha land is so impure!”
The Buddha knew what he was thinking and asked him, “What do you think? Although the blind do not see them, can the sun and moon be anything but pure?”
[Śāriputra] answered, “No, World-honored One! This is the fault of the blind, not that of the sun and moon.”
[The Buddha said], “Śāriputra, it is through the transgressions of sentient beings that they do not see the purity of the Tathāgata’s (i.e., my) buddha land. This is not the Tathāgata’s fault! Śāriputra, this land of mine is pure, but you do not see it.”
In this view, klesa are neither substantial nor insubstantial; beings are caught up in them, suffer because of them, but they are illusory, and likewise, so is their suffering. The Buddha explains in the passage above that he is always here, contriving conditions that will lead beings out of thickets of their own making so that they can see how things really are: "safe and tranquil." As the Buddha states, "The true aspect of all phenomena can only be understood and shared between buddhas," and, "at the start I took a vow / hoping to make all persons / equal to me, without any distinction between us / and what I long ago hoped for / has now been fulfilled."
What you object to is a commentarial gloss on the Lotus Sutra that is actually informed by a broad and deep understanding of Mahayana.
There is much more to Nichiren than you give credit for. All you are really commenting on is your own views and the selective reading you choose.
The true aspect of all phenomena indicates the two Buddhas Shakyamuni and Taho [seated together in the treasure tower]. Taho represents all phenomena and Shakyamuni, the true aspect.
Nichiren give this meaning on the true aspect of all phenomena in his own terms without any reference from the Buddha's teaching. Thus he got the meaning from thin air, having nothing to do with the Buddha's teachings.
That's a symbolic gloss.
When the Buddha attained awakening, he touched the Earth to call it as a witness to his awakening. In the Lotus Sutra, Taho serves a similar function, but because the teaching of the Lotus Sutra can only be shared between Buddas. Only a Buddha can witness Shakyamuni's teaching of the Lotus Sutra. Many Treasures (Taho) is a poetic reference to the world of phenomena.
Here's what the Buddha say about what the true aspect of all phenomena is.
(snip)
You left out reference to the most important reference to the True Aspect in Chapter 2:
The true aspect of all phenomena can only be understood and shared between buddhas. This reality consists of the thus appearance, thus nature, thus entity, thus power, thus influence, thus internal cause, thus relation, latent effect, thus manifest effect, and their thus consistency from beginning to end.”
Whatever instruction the Buddha gives to bodhisattvas to dwell in the True Aspect is a provisional teaching.
Continued:
The two Buddhas also indicate the two principles of the truth as object and the wisdom to grasp it. Taho signifies the truth , as object and Shakyamuni, the wisdom.
Although these are two, they are fused into one in the Buddha’s enlightenment.
These teachings are of prime importance.
They mean that earthly desires are enlightenment and that the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana.
Even during the physical union of man and woman, when one chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, then earthly desires are enlightenment and the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana. Sufferings are nirvana only when one realizes that life throughout its cycle of birth and death is neither born nor destroyed.
See the above explanation on bonno soku bodai.
Continued
These principles are what is meant by the following passages. The FugenSutra states, ‘Without cutting off earthly desires and separating themselves from the five desires,11 they can purify their senses and wipe away their offenses.’ It is stated in the Maka shikan that ‘the ignorance and dust of desires are enlightenment and the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana.’
Here Nichiren found this idea of "earthly desire are enlightenment" through these two sources,The FugenSutra and the Maka Shikan and he incorporates its meaning into the Lotus Sutra.
Nichiren give this meaning in his own terms without any reference from the Lotus Sutra. Thus he got the meaning from another source, having nothing to do with the meaning in the Lotus Sutra.
Actually, Fugen Sutra is considered part of the Lotus Sutra. And Maka Shikan is based on the Lotus Sutra.
Continued:
The Juryo chapter of the Lotus Sutra says, ‘At all times I think to myself: How can I cause living beings to gain entry into the unsurpassed way and quickly acquire the body of a Buddha?’ And the Hoben chapter states, ‘All the characteristics of the world are eternal.’
These two passages has nothing to do with earthly desire are enlightenment.
Nichiren give this meaning in his own terms without any reference from the Buddha's teaching. Thus he got the meaning from thin air, having nothing to do with the Buddha's teachings.
You keep asserting that, but it doesn't make it true.
Nichiren teachings taken from The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace
I hope you realize how ridiculous that statement is. Again, don't equate Ikeda's ideas with Nichiren.
When the living witness the end of an eon, When everything is consumed in a great fire, This land of mine remains safe and tranquil, Always filled with human and heavenly beings.
Here if the Buddha has any connection with sufferings, his land would be burned up by the great fire also.
No. As explained above, the burning is just the mistaken views of living beings.
Queequeg wrote:
What he revealed was the Three Great Secret Laws in the Lotus Sutra -
The Honzon, the Kaidan, and Daimoku, which are there in the Lotus Sutra if you know where to look.
Only when you want to hide something or have some secret, thats when you use codes and hidden meanings in your speech, so that your enemy cannot decipher the meanings of your words when they overheard your conversation.
Secret here does not carry the ordinary meaning of secret. Its right in the open. The problem that irked the devotees of the Lotus Sutra is that it did not apparently include a practice. But that is actually not so.
In the Transcendent Powers of the Tathagata chapter:
The transcendent powers of the buddhas are as immeasurable, limitless, and inconceivable as this. Yet if I were to use these transcendent powers to teach the benefits of this sutra so that it would be entrusted to you for immeasurable, limitless, hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of incalculable kalpas, I would not be able to reach the end of these qualities. To sum up, in this sutra I have clearly revealed and taught all the teachings of the Tathāgata, all the transcendent powers of the Tathāgata, all the treasure houses of the hidden essence of the Tathāgata, and all the profound aspects of the Tathāgata. For this reason, after the pari nirvāṇa of the Tathāgata, you should wholeheartedly preserve, recite, explain, and copy it, and practice according to the teaching. Those who accept, recite, explain, and copy it, and practice according to the teaching, in whichever land they may be, in a place where the sutra abides—either in a garden, a forest, under a tree, in a monk’s chamber, in a layman’s house, in a palace, on a mountain, in a valley, or in the wilderness—in all of these places they should erect and pay homage to a monument. Why is this? Because you should know that these places are the terraces of enlightenment where all the buddhas have attained highest, complete enlightenment, where all the buddhas have turned the wheel of the Dharma, and where all the buddhas entered parinirvāṇa.”
Honzon (istadevata). Who teaches the Lotus Sutra? Shakyamuni, particularly Shakyamuni as he reveals himself in the 16th Chapter. Shakyamuni is the honzon.
Kaidan, the place where practice is carried out. As described in the passage above, its anywhere a person "accepts, recites, explains, and copies" the Lotus Sutra... these places are the terraces of enlightenment (bodhimanda).
Daimoku - the title of the Lotus Sutra which is the essence of the entire teaching.
In the Lotus Sutra the Buddha never teach that If you have deep faith in this truth and chant Myoho-renge-kyo, you are certain to attain Buddhahood in this lifetime.
You are right. And Nichiren doesn't say that everyone attains Buddhahood in this lifetime except in a general sense that collapses cause and effect. But this doesn't mean one becomes a Buddha with 32 major and 80 minor characteristics. Buddha in that case is a more generic term relating to the Buddha Nature. And, the sutra repeatedly encourages people to recite it. Reciting the title is a way to recite it.
And in the Description of Merits chapter (17)
“O Ajita! Those sentient beings who hear about the great length of the Buddha’s lifespan, and can awaken even a single thought of willing acceptance, will all obtain immeasurable merit. If there are sons and daughters of a good family who, for the sake of highest, complete enlightenment, practice the five perfections of giving (dāna), good conduct (śīla), perseverance (kṣānti), effort (vīrya), and meditation (dhyāna), with the exception of the perfection of wisdom (prajñā), for eighty myriads of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas, their merit is not even a hundredth, a thousandth, a hundred thousandth of a myriad of a koṭi of the former person’s merit. It is so small that it cannot be conceived of through calculation or illustration. If there are sons and daughters of a virtuous family who possess such merit as the former,
they will never revert from highest, complete enlightenment.”
Shakyamuni Buddha attain supreme enlightenmen not from Chanting Myoho-renge-kyo, there is no historical account that Shakyamuni Buddha became fully enlightened from chanting Myoho-renge-kyo.
And Nichiren never taught that Shakyamuni chanted "Namumyohorengekyo."
He did however practice the 24 character phrase when he was Sadaparibhuta:
I deeply respect you. I dare not belittle you. Why is this? Because all of you practice the bodhisattva path, and will become buddhas.
“O Mahāsthāmaprāpta, what do you think about this? Was Bodhisattva Sadāparibhūta of that time someone unknown to you? He was none other than I myself. If I had not preserved and recited this sutra and taught it to others in my previous lives, I would not have swiftly attained highest, complete enlightenment. Because I preserved and recited this sutra and taught it to others in the presence of previous buddhas, I swiftly attained highest, complete enlightenment.
Here's what all the Buddha teaches in order to cause all livings beings to attain supreme enlightenment:
Lotus Sutra Chapter 2:
Śāriputra! I also expound various teachings to all living beings only for the purpose of revealing the One Buddha-Vehicle. There is no other vehicle, not a second or a third. Śāriputra! All the present Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters also do the same.
...
1:Shravaka Vehicle.
2:Pratyekabuddha
3:Bodhisattvas Vehicle
[/quote]
What you don't seem to get is that the three vehicle are upaya. There is only one vehicle - The Buddhayana (Buddha Vehicle) also called the Single Vehicle (Ekayana). The Buddha teaches it as three because they're not ready to hear the Single Vehicle.
You really ought to read the whole text as a story. Don't worry about trying to find lines here and there that confirm your preconceived notions. Just start at the beginning and let it unfold like a novel. That's really the only way to understand the text. Your selective quoting leaves out the context of those quotes, which are integral to understanding the full import.
And actually, that's precisely one of the main themes of the Lotus Sutra: the teachings of the Buddha should not be parsed out and selectively venerated. The whole thing needs to be taken in at once. Its only then that the full meaning of particulars is revealed. This is actually basic Buddhism - dharmas are not self existent; they arise as discrete things only in context of the whole.
Its ironic that Nichiren's exclusive teaching is actually about a holistic view. What he taught was that if you selectively take a discrete teachings of the Buddha and treat that as the final teaching, you have turned away from the Dharma. The Lotus Sutra declares itself the final teaching. The irony is that in making that statement, it embraces all teachings as expressions of the the Ekayana.
Anyway, I don't know if there is really much else to discuss. You seem bent on critiquing Nichiren. If he's such a problem for you, you'd be best served by moving along.