Chanting Growers Group (2013-∞)

[Weird]

Question: You have told us about the sources of this doctrine. Now what is meant by the observation of the mind?

Answer: The observation of the mind means to observe one’s own mind and to find the Ten Worlds within it. This is what is called observing the mind. For example, though we can see the six sense organs of other people, we cannot see our own. Only when we look into a clear mirror do we see, for the first time, that we are endowed with all six sense organs. Similarly, various sutras make reference here and there to the six paths and the four noble worlds [that constitute the Ten Worlds], but only in the clear mirror of the Lotus Sutra and of the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai’s Great Concentration and Insight can one see one’s own Ten Worlds, hundred worlds and thousand factors, and three thousand realms in a single moment of life.

---> http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/39#para-153

 

[Weird]

What other way to start the New Year than chanting

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

 

[Weird]

New Year’s Gosho

I HAVE received a hundred slabs of steamed rice cake and a basket of fruit. New Year’s Day marks the first day, the first month, the beginning of the year, and the start of spring.1 A person who celebrates this day will accumulate virtue and be loved by all, just as the moon becomes full gradually, moving from west to east,2 and as the sun shines more brightly, traveling from east to west.

First of all, as to the question of where exactly hell and the Buddha exist, one sutra states that hell exists underground, and another sutra says that the Buddha is in the west. Closer examination, however, reveals that both exist in our five-foot body. This must be true because hell is in the heart of a person who inwardly despises his father and disregards his mother. It is like the lotus seed, which contains both blossom and fruit. In the same way, the Buddha dwells within our hearts. For example, flint has the potential to produce fire, and gems have intrinsic value. We ordinary people can see neither our own eyelashes, which are so close, nor the heavens in the distance. Likewise, we do not see that the Buddha exists in our own hearts. You may question how it is that the Buddha can reside within us when our bodies, originating from our parents’ sperm and blood, are the source of the three poisons and the seat of carnal desires. But repeated consideration assures us of the truth of this matter. The pure lotus flower blooms out of the muddy pond, the fragrant sandalwood grows from the soil, the graceful cherry blossoms come forth from trees, the beautiful Yang Kuei-fei was born of a woman of low station, and the moon rises from behind the mountains to shed light on them. Misfortune comes from one’s mouth and ruins one, but fortune comes from one’s heart and makes one worthy of respect.

The sincerity of making offerings to the Lotus Sutra at the beginning of the New Year is like cherry blossoms blooming from trees, a lotus unfolding in a pond, sandalwood leaves unfurling on the Snow Mountains, or the moon beginning to rise. Now Japan, in becoming an enemy of the Lotus Sutra, has invited misfortune from a thousand miles away. In light of this, it is clear that those who now believe in the Lotus Sutra will gather fortune from ten thousand miles away. The shadow is cast by the form, and just as the shadow follows the form, misfortune will befall the country whose people are hostile to the Lotus Sutra. The believers in the Lotus Sutra, on the other hand, are like the sandalwood with its fragrance. I will write you again.

Nichiren

The fifth day of the first month

Reply to the wife of Omosu


Background

This letter was written to the wife of Omosu in acknowledgment of offerings Nichiren Daishonin had received from her at the beginning of the year. The precise year of this letter, however, remains unclear.

Omosu derived his name from that of the area in which his estate was located, Omosu Village in Fuji District of Suruga Province. His full name was Ishikawa Shimbei Yoshisuke. His wife was the elder sister of Nanjō Tokimitsu.

In this letter, Nichiren Daishonin explains the operative principle of the Ten Worlds in a simple, poetic way, revealing that both Buddhahood and hell exist within the life of each individual. A person with a heart full of hatred experiences the world of hell; a person with faith in the Lotus Sutra experiences the world of Buddhahood.

---> http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/172

 

[Weird]

Thus the Former Day of the Law possessed all three: teaching, practice, and proof, whereas in the Middle Day of the Law, there were teaching and practice but no longer any proof. Now in the Latter Day of the Law, only the teaching remains; there is neither practice nor proof. There is no longer a single person who has formed a relationship with Shakyamuni Buddha. Those who possessed the capacity to gain enlightenment through either the provisional or true Mahayana sutras have long since disappeared. In this impure and evil age, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo of the “Life Span” chapter, the heart of the essential teaching, should be planted as the seeds of Buddhahood for the first time in the hearts of all those who commit the five cardinal sins and slander the correct teaching. This is what is indicated in the “Life Span” chapter where it states, “I will leave this good medicine here. You should take it and not worry that it will not cure you.

---> http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/57

 

[Babbabud]

Nam myoho renge kyo

 

[Weird]

Question: If the entity of all living beings is the Mystic Law in its entirety, then are all the actions and their results that are associated with the nine worlds, from the world of hell up to that of bodhisattvas, in effect entities of the Mystic Law?

Answer: The mystic principle that is the essential nature of phenomena possesses two aspects, the defiled aspect and the pure aspect. If the defiled aspect is operative, this is called delusion. If the pure aspect is operative, this is called enlightenment. Enlightenment constitutes the realm of Buddhahood. Delusion constitutes the realms of ordinary mortals.

These two aspects, the deluded and the enlightened, are indeed two different phenomena, and yet both are workings of the one principle, that is, the essential nature of phenomena, or the true aspect of reality. It is like a piece of crystal. If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water. The crystal is a single entity, but the effects it produces differ according to the circumstances.

The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is like this. The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is one, but if it encounters evil influences, it will manifest delusion, while p.418if it encounters good influences, it will manifest enlightenment. Enlightenment means enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena, and delusion, ignorance of it.

It is like the case of a person who in a dream sees himself performing various good and evil actions. After he wakes up and considers the matter, he realizes that it was all a dream produced by his own mind. This mind of his corresponds to the single principle of the essential nature of phenomena, the true aspect of reality, while the good and evil that appeared in the dream correspond to enlightenment and delusion. When one becomes aware of this, it is clear that one should discard the ignorance associated with evil and delusion, and take as one’s basis the awakening that is characterized by goodness and enlightenment.

The Complete and Final Teaching on Perfect Enlightenment Sutra declares, “The beginningless illusions and ignorance that beset all living beings are all produced by the perfectly enlightened mind of the Thus Come Ones.”

The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai in his Great Concentration and Insight states, “Ignorance or illusions are in themselves enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena. But due to the influence of delusions, enlightenment changes into ignorance.” The Great Teacher Miao-lo comments on this as follows: “Enlightenment has no separate entity but completely depends upon ignorance; and ignorance has no separate entity but completely depends upon enlightenment.”6

Ignorance is a state of delusion that must be cut off, whereas enlightenment is the state that one must manifest. How then can we say that they are a single entity? To resolve doubts on this point, one should have a clear grasp of the passages that have been quoted here. The example of the dream given in the ninety-fifth volume of The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom and the T’ien-t’ai school’s example7 of the piece of crystal cited above are very interesting illustrations.

Further proof of the truth that ignorance and enlightenment are one in essence is found in the passage in the Lotus Sutra that reads, “These phenomena are part of an abiding Law, [and] the characteristics of the world are constantly abiding.”8 Great Perfection of Wisdom says, “Enlightenment and ignorance are not different things, not separate things. To understand this is what is called the Middle Way.”

There are many passages of proof asserting that the mystic principle of the true aspect of reality possesses two aspects, the defiled and the pure. But none can surpass the one in the Flower Garland Sutra that says, “The mind, the Buddha, and all living beings—these three things are without distinction,” or the passage in the Lotus Sutra that describes the true aspect of all phenomena.

The Great Teacher Nan-yüeh says, “The entity of the mind is endowed with two aspects, the defiled and the pure. However, it does not have two different forms but is single in nature and without distinction.”9 And the example of the mirror10 that he gives truly presents a thorough explanation of the subject. For a more detailed understanding, one may also refer to his interpretations in The Mahayana Method of Concentration and Insight.

Another good explanation is given in the sixth volume of Miao-lo’s Annotations on “The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra,” in the passage that reads: “While the three thousand realms remain latent [in ordinary beings], they are all designated by the term ‘ignorance.’ But when the three thousand realms all manifest themselves as the result [of Buddhahood], then they are all designated by the term ‘eternal p.419happiness.’ However, because the three thousand realms themselves remain unchanged, ignorance is essentially one with enlightenment. Since the three thousand realms all remain constant, they possess both entity and function.” This commentary makes the matter perfectly clear.

---> http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/47#para-1

 

[Weird]

three obstacles and four devils Various obstacles and hindrances to the practice of Buddhism. The three obstacles are: (1) the obstacle of earthly desires; (2) the obstacle of karma, which may also refer to opposition from one’s spouse or children; and (3) the obstacle of retribution, also obstacles caused by one’s superiors, such as rulers or parents. The four devils are: (1) the hindrance of the five components; (2) the hindrance of earthly desires; (3) the hindrance of death, because untimely death obstructs one’s practice of Buddhism or because the premature death of another practitioner causes doubts; and (4) the hindrance of the devil king.

---> http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Glossary/T#three paths

 

[Weird]

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

 

[Babbabud]

Nam myoho renge kyo

 

[Weird]

Point One, regarding Bodhisattva Never Disparaging

The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings says: The word “Constantly” in the name [Constantly] Never Disparaging refers to the bodhisattva Never Disparaging who is constantly present in the three existences of past, present, and future. The name “Never p.151Disparaging” refers to the three inherent potentials of the Buddha nature1 that is present in the minds of all living beings. The Buddha nature is the Dharma nature. And the Dharma nature is Myoho-renge-kyo.

--- > http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/ott/PART-2/20

 

[Moosiepoo]

Om nam nam nam nam

Om nam nam nam nam

Hi all! Long time lurker, first time poster here. TBH i havent read much of this thread but i am really excited about this because it is the perfect time to begin a new chanting practice! I am someone who for all of my life have been my own worst critic (like so many others) . And very recently have seen very clearly that my minds obsession with over analizing, judging and just being plain nasty to myself is the ONLY thing standing in the way of my happiness. Its time to embrace myself with love and cultivate some positivity in my life and others. and i just wanna say that i am super grateful that sites like this exist for people like us to band together to create positive change in ourselves and our community(ies). Oh and i had my first nam myoho renge kyo chant this morning! I am Feeling very inspired today and am sending love to all beings!

Peace

 

[Weird]

Hi all! Long time lurker, first time poster here. TBH i havent read much of this thread but i am really excited about this because it is the perfect time to begin a new chanting practice! I am someone who for all of my life have been my own worst critic (like so many others) . And very recently have seen very clearly that my minds obsession with over analizing, judging and just being plain nasty to myself is the ONLY thing standing in the way of my happiness. Its time to embrace myself with love and cultivate some positivity in my life and others. and i just wanna say that i am super grateful that sites like this exist for people like us to band together to create positive change in ourselves and our community(ies). Oh and i had my first nam myoho renge kyo chant this morning! I am Feeling very inspired today and am sending love to all beings!

Peace

beautiful message and the essence of the practice for me and would venture to say some of your fellow practitioners.

it allows me to center myself again and remove the influence of all those pressures you mentioned and when my plate is cleared I can better embrace and nurture the humanity around me.

thanks for taking the time to share the confirmation of similar experience is very confimring and enriching for those of us that practice.

 

[Moosiepoo]

thank you and ur welcome! This is an exciting time for me Weird. ive had this social anxiety and depression most of my life that it was starting to seem like a life sentence. but ive been really making real progress lately.. ie joining this forum-this is actually my first post on any forum!!!! YAY!!

I love all these tools we have! and they become so much stronger when we practice together. Im gonna start a small weekly or monthly gathering over in my neck of the woods and get this baby amplified! anybody else doing this?

 

[Babbabud]

Nam myoho renge kyo
Nam myoho renge kyo
Nam myoho renge kyo

 

[Weird]

All the while some put their whole faith in the “sharp sword”1 of the Buddha Amida and intone the name of this lord of the Western Land; others believe that hearing the name of the Buddha Medicine Master will “heal all ills”2 and recite the sutra that describes this Thus Come One of the Eastern Region. Some, putting their trust in the passage in the Lotus Sutra that says, “His illness will be wiped out and he will know neither old age nor death,”3 pay homage to the wonderful words of that sutra; others, relying upon the sutra passage that reads, “The seven disasters will instantly vanish, and the seven blessings will instantly appear,”4 conduct ceremonies at which a hundred priests expound the sutra at a hundred preaching platforms.5 There are those who follow the esoteric teachings of the True Word school and conduct rituals in which they fill five jars with water,6 and others who devote themselves entirely to seated meditation and try to perceive the emptiness of all phenomena as clearly as the moon.7 Some write out the names of the seven guardian spirits8 and paste them on a thousand gates, others paint pictures of the five mighty bodhisattvas9 and hang them over ten thousand thresholds, and still others pray to the heavenly gods and earthly deities in ceremonies conducted at the four corners of the capital and on the four boundaries of the nation. Taking pity on the plight of the common people, the rulers carry out government on the national and local levels in a benevolent manner.

But despite all these efforts, they merely exhaust themselves in vain.

Therefore, you must quickly reform the tenets that you hold in your heart and embrace the one true vehicle, the single good doctrine [of the Lotus Sutra]. If you do so, then the threefold world will become the Buddha land, and how could a Buddha land ever decline? The regions in the ten directions will all become treasure realms, and how could a treasure realm ever suffer harm? If you live in a country that knows no decline or diminution, in a land that suffers no harm or disruption, then your body will find peace and security, and your mind will be calm and untroubled.

--- > http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/2

 

[Weird]

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

 

[Weird]

Question: Since, by means of a single instance, one may surmise the nature of all, on hearing your brief remarks about the Lotus Sutra, I feel that my ears and eyes have been clearly opened for the first time. But how can one understand the Lotus Sutra, so as to quickly reach the shore of enlightenment?

I have heard it said that only one for whom the sun of wisdom shines unclouded in the great sky of the three thousand realms in a single moment of life, and for whom the water of wisdom in the broad pond of the threefold contemplation in a single mind is clear and never muddied, has the capacity to carry out the practice of this sutra. But I have never exerted myself to study the various schools of the southern capital of Nara, and so I know nothing of the doctrines of The Treatise on the Stages of Yoga Practice and The Treatise on the Consciousness-Only Doctrine; and my eyes are equally unopened with respect to the teachings of the northern peak of Hiei, and so I am quite confused about the significance of the works Great Concentration and Insight and The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra. With regard to the Tendai and Dharma Characteristics schools, I am like a person with a pot over his head who is standing with his face to a wall. It would seem, therefore, that my capacity is not suited to the Lotus Sutra. What am I to do?

Answer: It is the way of scholars these days to assert that only those who possess superior wisdom and strenuously exert themselves in the practice of meditation have the capacity to benefit from the Lotus Sutra, and to discourage persons who lack wisdom from even trying. But this is in fact an utterly ignorant and erroneous view. The Lotus Sutra is the teaching that enables all living beings to attain the Buddha way. Therefore, the persons of superior faculties and superior capacity should naturally devote themselves to contemplation and to meditating on the Law. But, for persons of inferior faculties and inferior capacity, the important thing is simply to have a heart of faith. Hence the sutra states: “If there are good men or good women who . . . believe and revere it with pure hearts and harbor no doubts or perplexities, they will never fall into hell or the realm of hungry spirits or of beasts, but will be born in the presence of the Buddhas of the ten directions.”18 One should have complete faith in the Lotus Sutra and look forward to being born in the presence of the Buddhas in one’s next life.

---> http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/8

 

[Weird]

This is indeed an accursed time to live in this land! However, the Buddha has commanded me to be born in this age, and it is impossible for me to go against the decree of the Dharma King. And so, as the sutra dictates, I have launched the battle between the provisional and the true teachings. Donning the armor of endurance and girding myself with the sword of the wonderful teaching, I have raised the banner of the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo, the heart of the entire eight volumes of the Lotus Sutra. Then, drawing the bow of the Buddha’s declaration, “I have not yet revealed the truth,”4 and notching the arrow of “honestly discarding the provisional teachings,”5 I have mounted the carriage drawn by the great white ox6 and battered down the gates of the provisional teachings. Attacking first one and then another, I have refuted opponents from the eight and ten schools, such as the Nembutsu, True Word, Zen, and Precepts. Some have fled headlong while others have retreated, and still others have been captured to become my disciples. I continue to repulse their attacks and to defeat them, but legions of enemies exist who oppose the single Dharma King and the handful who follow him. So the battle goes on even today.

“The Lotus Sutra is the teaching of shakubuku, the refutation of the provisional doctrines.”7 True to the letter of this golden saying, in the end, every last one of the believers of the provisional teachings and schools will be defeated and join the retinue of the Dharma King. The time will come when all people will abandon the various kinds of vehicles and take up the single vehicle of Buddhahood, and the Mystic Law alone will flourish throughout the land. When the people all chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the wind will no longer buffet the branches, and the rain will no longer break the clods of soil. The world will become as it was in the ages of Fu Hsi and Shen Nung.8 In their present existence the people will be freed from misfortune and disasters and learn the art of living long. Realize that the time will come when the truth will be revealed that both the person and the Law are unaging and eternal. There cannot be the slightest doubt about the sutra’s promise of “peace and security in their present existence.”

---> http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/42

 

[Babbabud]

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

 

[Weird]

Question: Why do you not advocate the meditation on the three thousand realms in a single moment of life, but instead simply encourage the chanting of the daimoku?

Answer: The two characters that comprise the name Japan contain within them all the people and animals and wealth in the sixty-six provinces of the country, without a single omission. And the two characters that make up the name India—do they not likewise contain within them all the seventy countries of India?21 Miao-lo says, “When for the sake of brevity one mentions only the daimoku, or title, the entire sutra is by implication included therein.”22 He also says, “When for the sake of brevity we speak of the Ten Worlds or the ten factors, the three thousand realms are perfectly encompassed therein.”23

When Bodhisattva Manjushrī and the Venerable Ānanda came to compile all the words spoken by the Buddha at the three assemblies during the eight years [in which the Lotus Sutra was preached], they wrote down the title Myoho-renge-kyo, and to show their understanding [that the entire sutra is contained in these five characters], they proceeded with the words “This is what I heard.”24

Question: If a person simply chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with no understanding of its meaning, are the benefits of understanding thereby included?

Answer: When a baby drinks milk, it has no understanding of its taste, and yet its body is naturally nourished. Who ever took the wonderful medicines of Jīvaka knowing of what they were compounded? Water has no intent, and yet it can put out fire. Fire consumes things, and yet how can we say that it does so consciously? This is the explanation of both Nāgārjuna and T’ien-t’ai, and I am restating it here.

Question: Why do you say that all teachings are contained within the daimoku?

Answer: Chang-an writes: “Hence [T’ien-t’ai’s explanation of the title in] the preface conveys the profound meaning of the sutra. The profound meaning indicates the heart of the text, and the heart of the text encompasses the whole of the theoretical and essential teachings.”25 And Miao-lo writes, “On the basis of the heart of the text of the Lotus Sutra, one can evaluate all the other various teachings of the Buddha.”26

Though muddy water has no mind, it can catch the moon’s reflection and so naturally becomes clear. When plants and trees receive the rainfall, they can hardly be aware of what they are doing, and yet do they not proceed to put forth blossoms? The five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo do not represent the sutra text, nor are they its meaning. They are nothing other than the intent of the entire sutra. So, even though the beginners in Buddhist practice may not understand their significance, by practicing these five characters, they will naturally conform to the sutra’s intent.

Question: When your disciples, without any understanding, simply recite with their mouths the words Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, what level of attainment do they reach?

Answer: Not only do they go beyond the highest level of the four flavors and three teachings, as well as that attained by practitioners of the perfect teaching set forth in the sutras that precede the Lotus Sutra, but they surpass by a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, million times the founders of the True Word and various other schools of Buddhism, such as Shan-wu-wei, Chih-yen, Tz’u-en, Chi-tsang, Tao-hsüan, Bodhidharma, and Shan-tao.

---> http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/94#para-36