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Chanting Growers Group

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EasyMyohoDisco

We had a great meeting last night and with that in my back pocket I'm looking forward to a great day! :smile:


"As you crave food when hungry, seek water when thirsty, long to see a lover, beg for medicine when ill, or as a beautiful woman desires powder and rouge, so should you put your faith in the Lotus Sutra. If you do not, you will regret it later."

Persucution by Sword and Staff
(The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 965)
 

PassTheDoobie

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The Eternity of Life

The Eternity of Life

As a philosophy, Buddhism has always stressed the importance of squarely confronting the reality of death. Death, along with illness and aging, is defined in Buddhism as one of the fundamental sufferings that all people must face.

Because of this emphasis, Buddhism has sometimes been associated with a pessimistic outlook on life. Quite the opposite is, in fact, the case. Because death is inevitable, any attempt to ignore or avoid this most basic "fact of life" condemns us to a superficial mode of living. A clear awareness and correct understanding of the nature of death can enable us to live without fear and with strength, clarity of purpose and joy.

Buddhism views the universe as a vast living entity, in which cycles of individual life and death are repeated without cease. We experience these cycles every day, as millions of the some 60 trillion cells that comprise our bodies die and are renewed through metabolic replacement. Death is therefore a necessary part of the life process, making possible renewal and new growth. Upon death our lives return to the vast ocean of life, just as an individual wave crests and subsides back into the wholeness of the sea. Through death, the physical elements of our bodies, as well as the fundamental life-force that supports our existence, are returned and "recycled" through the universe. Ideally, death can be experienced as a period of rest, like a rejuvenating sleep that follows the strivings and exertions of the day.

Buddhism asserts that there is a continuity that persists over cycles of life and death, that our lives are, in this sense, eternal. As Nichiren wrote: "When we examine the nature of life with perfect enlightenment, we find that there is no beginning marking birth and, therefore, no end signifying death."

In the fifth century C.E., the great Indian philosopher Vasubandhu developed the "Nine-Consciousness Teaching" that provides a detailed understanding of the eternal functioning of life. In this system, the first five layers of consciousness correspond to the senses of perception and the sixth to waking consciousness. The sixth layer of consciousness includes the capacity for rational judgment and the ability to interpret the information supplied by the senses.

The seventh layer of consciousness is referred to as the mano-consciousness. This layer corresponds to the subconscious described in modern psychology and is where our profound sense of self resides.

Beneath this is the eighth, or alaya-consciousness. It is this layer of consciousness that contains the potential energy, both positive and negative, created by our thoughts, words and deeds. This potential energy, or profound life-tendency, is referred to as karma.

Again, contrary to certain assumptions, Buddhism does not consider karma to be fixed and unchangeable. Our karmic energy, which Buddhist texts describe as the "raging current" of the alaya-consciousness, interacts with the other layers of consciousness. It is at this deepest level that human beings exert influence upon one another, on their surroundings and on all life.

It is also at this level that the continuity of life over cycles of birth and death is maintained. When we die, the potential energy which represents the "karmic balance sheet" of all our actions--creative and destructive, selfish and altruistic--continues to flow forward in the alaya-consciousness. It is this karma that shapes the circumstances in which the potential energy of our lives becomes manifest again, through birth, as a new individual life.

Finally, there is the ninth level of consciousness. This is the very source of cosmic life, which embraces and supports even the functioning of the alaya-consciousness. The purpose of Buddhist practice is to stimulate and awaken this fundamentally pure amala-consciousness, or wisdom, which has the power to transform the most deeply established flow of negative energy in the more shallow layers of consciousness.

The questions of life and death are fundamental, underlying and shaping our views of just about everything. Thus, a new understanding of the nature of death--and of life's eternity--can open new horizons for all humankind, unleashing previously untapped stores of wisdom and compassion.

[ Courtesy October 1998 SGI Quarterly]
 

PassTheDoobie

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The Nine Consciousnesses

The Nine Consciousnesses

The Buddhist teaching of the nine consciousnesses offers the basis for a comprehensive understanding of who we are, our true identity. It also helps explain how Buddhism sees the eternal continuity of our lives over cycles of birth and death. This perspective on the human being is the fruit of thousands of years of intense introspective investigation into the nature of consciousness. Historically, it is grounded in efforts to experience and explain the essence of Shakyamuni's enlightenment beneath the bodhi tree some 2,500 years ago.

The nine consciousnesses can be thought of as different layers of consciousness which are constantly operating together to create our lives. The Sanskrit word vijnana, which is translated as consciousness, includes a wide range of activities, including sensation, cognition and conscious thought. The first five of these consciousnesses are the familiar senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. The sixth consciousness is the function that integrates and processes the various sensory data to form an overall picture or thought, identifying what it is that our five senses are communicating to us. It is primarily with these six functions of life that we perform our daily activities.

Below this level of consciousness is the seventh consciousness. Unlike those layers of consciousness that are directed toward the outer world, the seventh consciousness is directed toward our inner life and is largely independent of sensory input. The seventh consciousness is the basis for our sense of individual identity; attachment to a self distinct to and separate from others has its basis in this consciousness, as does our sense of right and wrong.

Below the seventh consciousness, Buddhism elucidates a deeper layer, the eighth or Älaya consciousness, also known as the never-perishing or storehouse consciousness. It is here that the energy of our karma resides. Whereas the first seven consciousnesses disappear on death, the eighth consciousness persists through the cycles of active life and the latency of death. It can be thought of as the life-flow that supports the activities of the other consciousnesses. The experiences described by those who have undergone clinical death and been revived could be said to be occurrences at the borderline of the seventh and eighth consciousnesses.

An understanding of these levels of consciousness and the interaction between them can offer valuable insights into the nature of life and the self, as well as pointing to the resolution of the fundamental problems that humanity confronts.

According to Buddhist teachings, there are specific deep-seated delusions in the seventh consciousness regarding the nature of self. These delusions arise from the relationship between the seventh and eighth levels of consciousness and manifest as fundamental egotism.

Buddhist teachings describe the seventh layer as emerging from the eighth consciousness: it is always focused on the eighth consciousness of the individual, which it perceives as something fixed, unique and isolated from other things. In reality, the eighth consciousness is in a state of continual flux. At this level our lives constantly interact, exerting a profound influence on each other. The perception of a fixed and isolated self that the seventh consciousness generates is thus false.

The seventh consciousness is also the seat of the fear of death. Being unable to perceive the true nature of the eighth consciousness as an enduring flow of life energy, it imagines that upon death, the eighth consciousness will become permanently extinct. Fear of death thus has roots in the deep layers of the subconscious.

The delusion that the eighth consciousness is one's true self is also termed fundamental ignorance, a turning away from the interconnectedness of all being. It is this sense of one's self as separate and isolated from others that gives rise to discrimination, to destructive arrogance and unbridled acquisitiveness. Humanity's ravaging of the natural environment is another obvious result.

A Karmic River

Buddhism posits that our thoughts, words and deeds invariably create an imprint in the deep layers of the eighth consciousness. This is what Buddhists refer to as karma. The eighth consciousness is therefore sometimes referred to as the karmic storehouse--the place where these karmic seeds are stored. These seeds or latent energy can be either positive or negative; the eighth consciousness remains neutral and equally receptive to either type of karmic imprinting. The energy becomes manifest when conditions are ripe. Positive latent causes can become manifest as both positive effects in one's life and as positive psychological functions such as trust, nonviolence, self-control, compassion and wisdom. Negative latent causes can manifest as various forms of delusion and destructive behavior and give rise to suffering for ourselves and others.

While the image of a storehouse is helpful, a truer image may be that of a raging torrent of karmic energy. This energy is constantly moving through and shaping our lives and experience. Our resultant thoughts and actions are then fed back into this karmic flow. The quality of the karmic flow is what makes each of us distinct beings--our unique selves. The flow of energy is constantly changing, but, like a river, it maintains an identity and consistency even through successive cycles of life and death. It is this aspect of fluidity, this lack of fixity, that opens the possibility to transforming the content of the eighth consciousness. This is why karma, properly understood, is different from an unchanging or unavoidable destiny.

The question, therefore, is how we increase the balance of positive karma. This is the basis for various forms of Buddhist practice that seek to imprint positive causes in our lives. When caught up in a cycle of negative cause and effect, however, it is difficult to avoid making further negative causes, and it is here that we turn to the most fundamental layer of consciousness, the ninth or amala consciousness.

This can be thought of as the life of the cosmos itself; it is also referred to as the fundamentally pure consciousness. Unstained by the workings of karma, this consciousness represents our true, eternal self. The revolutionary aspect of Nichiren Buddhism is that it seeks to directly bring forth the energy of this consciousness--the enlightened nature of the Buddha--thus purifying the other, more superficial layers of consciousness. The great power of the ninth consciousness welling forth changes even entrenched patterns of negative karma in the eighth consciousness. Because the eighth consciousness transcends the boundaries of the individual, merging with the latent energy of one's family, one's ethnic group, and also with that of animals and plants, a positive change in this karmic energy becomes a "cogwheel" for change in the lives of others. As SGI President Ikeda writes, "When we activate this fundamentally pure consciousness, the energy of all life's good and evil karma is directed toward value creation; and the mind or consciousness...of humankind is infused with the life current of compassion and wisdom." Nichiren identified the practice of chanting the phrase Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as the basic means for activating the ninth consciousness in our lives.

As the layers of consciousness are transformed, they each give rise to unique forms of wisdom. The wisdom inherent in the eighth consciousness allows us to perceive ourselves, our experience and other phenomena with perfect clarity and to profoundly appreciate the interconnectedness and interdependence of all things. As the deep-rooted delusions of the seventh consciousness are transformed, an individual is enabled to overcome the fear of death, as well as the aggression and violence that spring from this fear. A wisdom arises which enables us to perceive the fundamental equality of all living beings and to deal with them on an unchanging basis of respect. It is this type of transformation and wisdom that is sorely required in our world today.

[ Courtesy April 2004 SGI Quarterly]
 

PassTheDoobie

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Buddha wisdom
[仏智] ( Jpn butchi )


The supreme wisdom of a Buddha that penetrates the true aspect of all phenomena. The "Expedient Means" (second) chapter of the Lotus Sutra states: "The wisdom of the Buddhas is infinitely profound and immeasurable. The door to this wisdom is difficult to understand and difficult to enter. Not one of the voice-hearers or pratyekabuddhas is able to comprehend it." The "Simile and Parable" (third) chapter of the sutra explains that even Shariputra, who was known as foremost in wisdom among all Shakyamuni's disciples, could attain enlightenment only by taking faith in the Buddha's teachings. That is, it attributes Shariputra's enlightenment not to his wisdom but to his faith. The Lotus Sutra makes clear that all human beings have Buddha wisdom as a potential, and that only faith in the sutra can bring it forth. Concerning the relationship between faith and wisdom, Nichiren (1222-1282) set forth the principle of substituting faith for wisdom in On the Four Stages of Faith and the Five Stages of Practice. Here, wisdom indicates the Buddha wisdom that is beyond ordinary understanding. This principle means that through faith one can gain the Buddha wisdom and attain enlightenment.



The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism
 

PassTheDoobie

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Buddha of limitless joy
[自受用身] ( Jpn jijuyushin )


Buddha of limitless joy is broader in meaning than Buddha of self-enjoyment, which is another translation of jijuyushin. (1) T'ient'ai (538-597) identified the Buddha of limitless joy with the Buddha revealed in the essential teaching (latter half ) of the Lotus Sutra, whom he defined as the Buddha originally endowed with the three bodies—the Dharma body, the reward body, and the manifested body. Here, these three bodies are regarded as the three integral aspects of a single Buddha, i.e., the fundamental truth or Law to which he is enlightened (the Dharma body), the wisdom to realize it (the reward body), and the merciful actions to help people attain Buddhahood (the manifested body). See also Buddha of beginningless time.

(2) Dengyo (767-822), the founder of the Japanese Tendai school, is quoted in Nichiren's Real Aspect of the Gohonzon as having stated, "A single moment of life comprising the three thousand realms is itself the Buddha of limitless joy; this Buddha has forsaken august appearances" (832). Dengyo identified the true identity of the Buddha of limitless joy as a single moment of life in which all three thousand realms exist. This is Dengyo's description of the same Buddha T'ient'ai mentioned.

(3) Nichiren (1222-1282) identified the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life as the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo that he realized within his own life. In other words, Nichiren established two concepts of three thousand realms in a single moment of life; one is T'ient'ai's and the other, his own. In his Treatment of Illness, Nichiren writes: "There are two ways of perceiving the three thousand realms in a single moment of life. One is theoretical, and the other, actual. What T'ient'ai and Dengyo practiced was theoretical, but what I practice now is actual. Because what I practice is superior, the difficulties attending it are that much greater. The doctrine of T'ient'ai and Dengyo was the three thousand realms in a single moment of life of the theoretical teaching, while mine is that of the essential teaching. These two are as different as heaven is from earth" (1114-115). T'ient'ai established the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life based on "the true aspect of all phenomena," the phrase from the "Expedient Means" (second) chapter of the Lotus Sutra. On the other hand, Nichiren states in The Opening of the Eyes: "The doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life is found in only one place, hidden in the depths of the 'Life Span' chapter of the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra. Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu were aware of it but did not bring it forth into the light. T'ient'ai Chih-che alone embraced it and kept it ever in mind" (224). Obviously what T'ient'ai embraced and kept ever in mind does not refer to the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life that he expounded publicly. Nichiren regarded it as Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Nichikan (1665-1726), the twenty-sixth chief priest of Taiseki-ji temple, who is known for his commentaries on Nichiren's writings, interpreted Nichiren's teaching, saying that the Buddha of the essential teaching is not the eternal Buddha but the Buddha who attained enlightenment at a fixed point in time. From this viewpoint, the Buddha of the essential teaching is not eternally endowed with the three bodies, but is rather the Buddha who advanced to the state of limitless joy through the bodhisattva way, thereby acquiring the three bodies. In contrast, Nichikan stated that the Buddha who embodies eternal life endowed with all of the Ten Worlds and the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo whereby all Buddhas attained enlightenment, is originally endowed with the three bodies since time without beginning, and that that Buddha is what Nichiren called the Buddha of beginningless time. Nichikan concluded that Nichiren embodied that Buddha. See also Buddha of beginningless time; Buddha of self-enjoyment.



The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism
 

PassTheDoobie

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Buddha of beginningless time
[久遠元初の自受用身] ( Jpn kuonganjo-no-jijuyushin )


Also, eternal Buddha, original Buddha, or true Buddha. The Buddha who has been eternally endowed with the three bodies—the Dharma body, the reward body, and the manifested body, thereby embodying the eternal Law or the ultimate truth of life and the universe. This term appears in Nichiren's (1222-1282) writing given to his successor Nikko and signed by Nichiren. Titled On the Mystic Principle of the True Cause, it refers to "the Mystic Law, uncreated and eternal, of the Buddha of beginningless time," and states that the Mystic Law lies in the depths of the "Life Span" (sixteenth) chapter of the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra. Nichikan (1665-1726), the twenty-sixth chief priest of Taiseki-ji temple, identified Nichiren as that Buddha, based on the fact that Nichiren was the first to spread the Mystic Law. According to Nichiren, the Japanese term jijuyushin literally means the "body that is freely received and used." The Buddha of beginningless time is also called the Buddha of limitless joy—indicating the Buddha who freely derives boundless joy from the Law while enjoying absolute freedom, and who directly expounds the Law that he realized within his own life. In the "Life Span" chapter, Shakyamuni revealed his attainment of Buddhahood numberless major world system dust particle kalpas in the past. No matter how far in the past, however, it occurred at a fixed point in time and therefore is not eternal. Moreover, he did not clarify the Law or cause that enabled him to attain enlightenment at that time. In contrast, the Buddha of beginningless time is eternal and also represents eternal life endowed with both the nine worlds and Buddhahood. In The Opening of the Eyes, Nichiren states: "This is the doctrine of original cause and original effect. It reveals that the nine worlds are all present in beginningless Buddhahood and that Buddhahood is inherent in the beginningless nine worlds. This is the true mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, the true hundred worlds and thousand factors, the true three thousand realms in a single moment of life" (235). Here "original cause" refers to the "beginningless nine worlds," and "original effect" to "beginningless Buddhahood." What Nichiren defined as "the true three thousand realms in a single moment of life" is the original state of life. To manifest this state of life is the attainment of Buddhahood for all people. Nichiren established the practice that enables everyone to achieve this by inscribing the Gohonzon, or the object of devotion that embodies this original state of life, and prescribing the invocation of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. See also Buddha of limitless joy; true Buddha.


The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism
 

scegy

Active member
PTD: than you for the chapters about Hoben and Juryo, i was asking myself about that lately and i'm glad you brought it up. Much love and respect brother

Bonzo: So nice to see you, i hope all is good and that you'r still fighting!

This whole forum and specially THIS thread is with me in my heart and it helps to polish my Diamond a lot, thank you, to ALL of you!
 

PassTheDoobie

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A big welcome to our Brother Stevius! Scegy! I told Stevius to PM you and introduce himself to you. It would seem to me that you two have a lot in common!

BONZO!!! You holdin it together Homey? Keep after it!

We miss you SoCal!

Mrs.B, we all love you too! Thank you for being such a good human! We can't wait for you two to come visit us! stonegirl says Hi!

Bowing in humble obeisance,

T
 

Babbabud

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Yea I think ill have the photos done and get on this passport deal. Time to become a citizen of the world not just Cali :)

So great to see Bonzo post up:) Hey SoCAl where you at :)

Stevius great to see you stop in here ... See ya in chat :)

EasyDiscoDude way to rock the boards :) Such great high energy post from you !!!

Scegy :))

Payaso Lets get together and chant soon :)

Nam myoho renge kyo
 

PassTheDoobie

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Nichiren Buddhists, who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, don't just have a "higher power", they have the highest power--the combination of the life force of the Buddha nature inherent within their lives; and the Gohonzon, the Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind in the Fifth Five-Hundred-Year Period after the Thus Come One's Passing which allows that life force to become manifest.

PTD
 

PassTheDoobie

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Love to you too TT! Where the hell is Desi? And Hitman? SoCal must really be struggling! At least Bonzo's back. Let's all chant Daimoku of appreciation for the wonderful opportunity we have to change our karma and really focus on sending positive energy to our friends who need it.

If they are not here sharing, they are probably not experiencing the best of times. Being mindful of that, let's have compassion in our thoughts towards others who are going through the same things we have or will. In reality each of our individual struggles are all connected, and when we chant for each other, that compassion translates into fortune for ourselves. One cannot possibly avoid the reward for correct thinking--the good fortune will come whether you seek it or not.

Much love and deep respect,

T (Once again my deepest thanks to Payaso for doin' the sticky on this thread! And continuing heartfelt thanks and deepest appreciation to our friends and sovereigns, Gypsy and DG! May you reap the reward for your support of the Law in lifetime after lifetime! Thank you all so much!!!)
 

PassTheDoobie

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On Offering Prayers to the Mandala of the Mystic Law

On Offering Prayers to the Mandala of the Mystic Law

I have offered prayers to the Gohonzon of Myoho-renge-kyo. Though this mandala has but five or seven characters, it is the teacher of all Buddhas throughout the three existences and the seal that guarantees the enlightenment of all women. It will be a lamp in the darkness of the road to the next world and a fine horse to carry you over the mountains of death. It is like the sun and moon in the heavens or Mount Sumeru on earth. It is a ship to ferry people over the sea of the sufferings of birth and death. It is the teacher who leads all people to Buddhahood and enlightenment. This great mandala has never yet been propagated anywhere in Jambudvipa in the more than 2,220 years since the Buddha’s passing.

[The prescription of] medicine differs according to the illness. A slight ailment can be treated with ordinary medicine, but for grave illnesses, an elixir should be used. During the more than 2,220 years since the Buddha’s passing, the people’s illnesses of earthly desires and negative karma were not serious, and a succession of wise men appeared in order to act as physicians and dispense medicine appropriately as these illnesses required. These men came from the Dharma Analysis Treasury school, the Establishment of Truth school, the Precepts, Dharma Characteristics, and Three Treatises schools, as well as the True Word, Flower Garland, Tendai, Pure Land, and Zen schools. Each of these schools prescribed its own medicine. For example, the Flower Garland school set forth the principle of the six forms and the ten mysteries, the Three Treatises school advocated the middle path of the eight negations,(1) the Dharma Characteristics school stressed the perception that all phenomena derive from consciousness only,(2) the Precepts school upheld the two hundred and fifty precepts, the Pure Land school invoked the name of Amida Buddha, the Zen school expounded the “perceiving one’s true nature and attaining Buddhahood,” the True Word school propounded the meditation on the five elements,(3) and the Tendai school taught the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life.

Now, however, we have entered the Latter Day of the Law, and the medicines of these various schools no longer cure the people’s illnesses. Moreover, all the Japanese have become icchantikas and people of grave slander. Their offense is even worse than that of killing one’s father or mother, fomenting a rebellion, or causing a Buddha to bleed. Japan is filled with individuals whose respective offenses exceed even those of one who were to gouge out the eyes of all the human beings of a major world system, or raze all temples and pagodas in the worlds of the ten directions. Consequently, the heavenly deities glare down furiously upon our nation day after day while the earthly deities tremble in continual rage. Nevertheless, all the people of our day believe themselves to be without fault, and none doubt that they will be reborn in the pure land or attain Buddhahood.

The blind cannot see or know the shining sun, and someone who is sound asleep will not feel even an earthquake that is reverberating like a great drum. So too it is with all the people of Japan [who do not realize their own offenses]. The offenses committed by the men are heavier than those committed by the women. In like manner, the nuns’ offenses are heavier than the laymen’s and the priests’ more serious than the nuns’. Among the priests, the offenses of those who observe the precepts are worse than those of priests who violate them, and those of learned priests are graver still.4 Such priests are like those with white leprosy among lepers and, among those with white leprosy, the most malignant.

Then, what great physician or what efficacious medicine can cure the illnesses of all people in the Latter Day of the Law? They cannot be cured by the mudras and mantras of the Thus Come One Mahavairochana, the forty-eight vows of the Thus Come One Amida, or the twelve great vows of the Thus Come One Medicine Master, not even his pledge to “heal all ills.” Not only do such medicines fail to cure these illnesses; they aggravate them all the more.

Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, brought together the Thus Come One Many Treasures and all the emanation Buddhas of the ten directions, and left one elixir— the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo— for the people of the Latter Day of the Law. He refused to entrust it to any of the bodhisattvas such as Dharma Wisdom, Forest of Merits, Vajrasattva, Universal Worthy, Manjushri, Medicine King, and Perceiver of the World’s Sounds, let alone to Mahakashyapa, Shariputra, [or any other person of the two vehicles]. Rather, there were four great bodhisattvas, including Superior Practices, who had been disciples of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni since [he first attained Buddhahood] numberless major world system dust particle kalpas ago. Not even for a moment had they ever forgotten the Buddha. Shakyamuni summoned these great bodhisattvas and transferred Myoho-renge-kyo to them.

A woman who takes this efficacious medicine will be surrounded and protected by these four great bodhisattvas at all times. When she rises to her feet, so too will the bodhisattvas, and when she walks along the road, they will also do the same. She and they will be as inseparable as a body and its shadow, as fish and water, as a voice and its echo, or as the moon and its light. Should these four great bodhisattvas desert the woman who chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, they would incur the wrath of Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the emanation Buddhas of the ten directions. You may be certain that their offense would be greater than even that of Devadatta, their falsehood more terrible than Kokalika’s. How reassuring, how encouraging! Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Nichiren


Background

Neither the date nor the recipient of this letter is known. But it is generally supposed that the letter was given to the lay nun Sennichi, the wife of Abutsubo, in the tenth year of Bun’ei (1273). The “Mystic Law” in the title indicates both the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo and the seven characters of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. The mandala of the Mystic Law refers to the Gohonzon— the object of devotion inscribed by Nichiren Daishonin with Nam-myoho-renge-kyo down its center. The Daishonin also mentions elsewhere that the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra should be made into an object of devotion.

In terms of the principle of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, the daimoku down the center of the Gohonzon represents the enlightened “single moment of life” of Nichiren Daishonin, and the characters on both sides of it, “the three thousand realms.” Because the former includes the latter, the Daishonin says that “this mandala has but five or seven characters.”

The Daishonin emphasizes that Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the medicine that will cure the illnesses (that is, sufferings) of all people in the Latter Day of the Law, and that the lay nun Sennichi, a woman who chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, will be protected by the four bodhisattvas at all times.

Notes

1. “The eight negations” refers to the eight expressions of negation in Nagarjuna’s Treatise on the Middle Way: “Neither birth nor extinction, neither cessation nor permanence, neither uniformity nor diversity, neither coming nor going.” The doctrine of the eight negations indicates that the Middle Way, or true nature of all phenomena, cannot be defined as either existence or nonexistence; it is non-substantial and transcends all duality.

2. The perception that all phenomena arise from the alaya-consciousness.

3. The meditation on the five elements is an esoteric form of meditation intended to let one realize that self and environment are composed of the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space; that the five parts of the body, namely, crown, face, chest, abdomen, and knees, are governed by the five syllables of the esoteric mantra avarahakha; and that one’s own life is ultimately one with the five Buddhas who are embodiments of the five aspects of Mahavairochana Buddha’s wisdom.

4. In this passage the Daishonin states that the more highly respected the perpetrator, the heavier in effect the offense will be. Men had the greater influence in Japanese society, so their errors with respect to Buddhism made a heavier impact than the same errors committed by women. Similarly, the clergy carried more influence than the laity, and, among the clergy, those priests who observed the precepts and were well learned commanded the highest respect; thus their errors had a graver influence on society than anyone else’s.
 

PassTheDoobie

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"The Buddha wrote that one should become the master of one’s mind rather than let one’s mind master oneself. This is what I mean when I emphatically urge you to give up even your body, and never begrudge even your life for the sake of the Lotus Sutra."

(Letter to Gijo-bo - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. 1, page 390) Selection source: "Kyo no hosshin", May 12, 2009
 

Desiderata

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Love this passage!

Love this passage!

"The Buddha wrote that one should become the master of one’s mind rather than let one’s mind master oneself. This is what I mean when I emphatically urge you to give up even your body, and never begrudge even your life for the sake of the Lotus Sutra."

(Letter to Gijo-bo - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. 1, page 390) Selection source: "Kyo no hosshin", May 12, 2009

Hey Everyone!............ Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!

Scegy, has been an inspiration to me recently.........it's great how we help to keep each other UP!

There's alot of reading material to back track on too T!.......thankyou so much bro!

Hey TT, the spiritual Babba's, Mr. Stevius, Mr. Bonzo!!!, Easy the Mystic, Payaso, who shows his love in many ways, Mr. Wilson and Sleepy, who are always here....and T our mentor of the path!
 

Babbabud

Bodhisattva of the Earth
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Hey Desi :)
Thanks for your participation here brother :) Glad to have you around my friend !!
Much love to all you Chanters out there. Lets make today a great one.
 

WAMEN

Joint Date: Today.
Veteran
Hugs to you all my friends. Its a happy day and this is the best place to celebrate it.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

You all take care :wave:
 
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