Chanting Growers Group (2013-∞)

[Cvh]

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

 

[Weird]

Moreover, the Lotus Sutra expounds two kinds of attaining Buddhahood in one’s present form. The theoretical teaching of the sutra expounds the attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form in principle, and the essential teaching expounds the attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form in its actual aspect. The essential teaching’s doctrine of attaining Buddhahood in one’s present form concludes that one can attain supreme enlightenment in one’s present status as an ordinary person, without changing individual characteristics. That is why one’s physical form, just as it is, is the Thus Come One who in his original state is eternally endowed with the three bodies. This doctrine is found nowhere else in the entire lifetime of Shakyamuni’s teachings. The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra reads, “In the various teachings, he [the Buddha] kept this secret and did not transmit it.”

---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-2/Content/329



The Attainment of Buddhahood in Principle and in Its Actual Aspect

 

[Weird]

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

 

[Babbabud]

Nam myoho renge kyo

 

[Weird]

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

 

[Cvh]

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

 

[Cvh]

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

 

[Weird]

I DEEPLY appreciate your visit here and your constant concern over the numerous persecutions that have befallen me. I do not regret meeting with such great persecutions as the votary of the Lotus Sutra. However many times I were to repeat the cycle of birth and death, no life could be as fortunate as this. [If not for these troubles,] I might have remained in the three or four evil paths. But now, to my great joy, I am sure to sever the cycle of the sufferings of birth and death, and attain the fruit of Buddhahood.

Even for spreading the teaching of the theoretical “three thousand realms in a single moment of life” from the first half of the Lotus Sutra, T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō met with hatred and jealousy. In Japan it was transmitted from Dengyō to Gishin, Enchō, Jikaku, and others, and spread. The eighteenth chief priest of the Tendai school was the Great Teacher Jie, and he had many disciples. Among them there were four named Danna, Eshin, Sōga, and Zen’yu. The teaching also was divided into two: the Administrator of Priests Danna transmitted the doctrinal studies, while the Supervisor of Priests Eshin studied the meditative practices. Thus the doctrinal studies and meditative practices are like the sun and moon; doctrinal studies are shallow, while meditative practices are deep. Thus the teaching expounded by Danna is broad but shallow, while the teaching of Eshin is limited but deep.

Though the teaching I am now propagating seems limited, it is extremely profound. That is because it goes deeper than the teaching expounded by T’ien-t’ai, Dengyō, and others. It is the three important matters1 in the “Life Span” chapter of the essential teaching. Practicing only the seven characters of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo seems limited, but since they are the master of all the Buddhas of the three existences, the teacher of all the bodhisattvas in the ten directions, and the guide that enables all living beings to attain the Buddha way, it is profound.

The sutra states, “The wisdom of the Buddhas is infinitely profound and immeasurable.”2 It refers to “the Buddhas” here in the sense of all Buddhas throughout the ten directions in the three existences, from the Thus Come One Mahāvairochana of the True Word school and Amida of the Pure Land school to the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of all schools and all sutras, all Buddhas of the past, future, and present, and the present Thus Come One Shakyamuni. And the sutra speaks of the wisdom of all those Buddhas.

What is meant by this “wisdom”? It is the entity of the true aspect of p.318all phenomena, and of the ten factors of life that lead all beings to Buddhahood. What then is that entity? It is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. A commentary states that the profound principle of the true aspect is the originally inherent Myoho-renge-kyo.3 We learn that that true aspect of all phenomena is also the two Buddhas Shakyamuni and Many Treasures [seated together in the treasure tower]. “All phenomena” corresponds to Many Treasures, and “the true aspect” corresponds to Shakyamuni. These are also the two elements of reality and wisdom. Many Treasures is reality; Shakyamuni is wisdom. It is the enlightenment that reality and wisdom are two, and yet they are not two.

These are teachings of prime importance. These are also what is called “earthly desires are enlightenment,” and “the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana.” Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo during the physical union of man and woman is indeed what is called “earthly desires are enlightenment,” and “the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana.” “The sufferings of birth and death are nirvana” exists only in realizing that the entity of life throughout its cycle of birth and death is neither born nor destroyed. The Universal Worthy Sutra states, “Without either cutting off earthly desires or separating themselves from the five desires, they can purify all their senses and wipe away all their offenses.” Great Concentration and Insight says, “The ignorance and dust of desires are enlightenment, and the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana.” The “Life Span” 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?” The “Expedient Means” chapter says, “The characteristics of the world are constantly abiding.” Surely such statements refer to these principles. Thus what is called the entity is none other than Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Earthly DesiresAre Enlightenment

---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/35

 

[Weird]

Shakyamuni Buddha and the written words of the Lotus Sutra are two different things, but their heart is one. Therefore, when you cast your eyes upon the words of the Lotus Sutra, you should consider that you are beholding the living body of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni.

The Pure and Far-Reaching Voice

---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/37

 

[Babbabud]

Nam myoho renge kyo

 

[Cvh]

Nam myoho renge kyo

 

[ARTofMAKINGfire]

Cool reading.....

 

[Weird]

Ching-hsi4 writes, “‘To produce even a single moment of belief and understanding’ represents the beginning in the practice of the essential teaching.”5

---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/94

On the Four Stages of Faith and the Five Stages of Practice

 

[Weird]

F we examine the essential and the theoretical teachings of the Lotus Sutra, we see that the theoretical teaching maintains, as [did the teachings that came] before, that the Buddha first attained enlightenment during his present lifetime; therefore, obstacles still beset the teaching. The essential teaching has freed itself from such impediments. However, compared with the five characters of the daimoku, it is a doctrine unsuited to the capacity of the people of the Latter Day of the Law. The wonderful means of truly putting an end to the physical and spiritual obstacles of all living beings is none other than Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.


Nichiren

---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/103

The Wonderful Means of Surmounting Obstacles

 

[Weird]

Coming now to the character myō, the Lotus Sutra says, “This sutra opens the gate of expedient means and shows the form of true reality.”19 The Great Teacher Chang-an states, “Myō means to reveal the depths of the secret storehouse.”20 The Great Teacher Miao-lo says of this, “To reveal means to open.”21 Hence the character myō means to open.

---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/14

The Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra

 

[Babbabud]

Nam myoho renge kyo

 

[Weird]

Outstanding Principles states, “Neither teacher nor disciples need undergo countless kalpas of austere practice in order to attain Buddhahood. Through the power of the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law they can do so in their present form.” Thus, as you can see, this commentary does not accept the word “only” in Mind Aspiring for Enlightenment’s statement.

---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/151

The Doctrine of Attaining Buddhahoodin One’s Present Form

 

[Weird]

But in the case of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, it has already been a period of numberless major world system dust particle kalpas since he became a Buddha of perfect enlightenment and complete reward. The Thus Come One Mahāvairochana, the Thus Come One Amida, the Thus Come One Medicine Master, and all the other Buddhas of the ten directions are followers of Shakyamuni, the lord of teachings and our original teacher. He is like the moon in the sky that is reflected in ten thousand different bodies of water. The Vairochana Buddha seated on the lotus pedestal with other Buddhas surrounding him in the ten directions, who is described in the Flower Garland Sutra, and the Thus Come One Mahāvairochana of the Diamond Realm and the Womb Realm, who is described in the Mahāvairochana and Diamond Crown sutras, are attendants who stand on the left and right of the Thus Come One Many Treasures, the Buddha described in the “Treasure Tower” chapter of the Lotus Sutra. They are like two high ministers in attendance on a worldly ruler. And this Many Treasures Buddha is a follower of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings of the “Life Span” chapter.
We, the various beings who live in this world, have been the beloved children of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, since numberless major world system dust particle kalpas in the past. And though because of the offense of our unfilial behavior we are unaware of this to this day, we are nevertheless not the same as the beings of another realm.
A Buddha with whom one establishes a connection that leads to enlightenment, and the various beings who establish such a connection, may be compared to the moon in the sky as it is reflected in countless bodies of clear water. But in the case of a Buddha with whom no such connection can be established, the various beings are comparable to deaf persons straining to hear the sound of thunder or blind persons facing the sun or the moon.
And yet there are some teachers who deprecate Shakyamuni and pay reverence to the Thus Come One Mahāvairochana, or some teachers who declare that one cannot establish a connection leading to Buddhahood with Shakyamuni, but can establish such a connection with Amida. Other teachers support the Shakyamuni of the Hinayana teachings, the Shakyamuni of the Flower Garland Sutra, or the Shakyamuni of the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra. All these teachers and their supporters who forget [the] p.485Shakyamuni [of the “Life Span” chapter] and choose some other Buddha instead are like Prince Ajātashatru, who killed his father, King Bimbisāra, and, turning against Shakyamuni, became a patron of Devadatta.

Choosing the Heart of the Lotus Sutra

---> https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-2/Content/235

 

[Weird]

The Lotus Sutra itself states, “Though they [the Buddhas] point out various different paths, in truth they do so for the sake of the Buddha vehicle.”31 The term “various different paths” refers to all the sutras preached prior to the Lotus Sutra. And the words “for the sake of the Buddha vehicle” mean that all these earlier sutras were preached for the sake of the Lotus Sutra.

The Meaning of the Sacred Teachings of the Buddha’s Lifetime

--- https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-2/Content/177

 

[Babbabud]

Nam myoho renge kyo