Chanting Growers Group

[EasyMyohoDisco]

"Kai-ko said: ". . . I felt it a terrible pity that someone such as he, outstanding in every respect, should die so young. Reconsidering the matter, however, I realized that it was because of this boy's death that his mother became a seeker of the way and his father began to practice, praying for his repose. How marvelous, I thought. Moreover, the fact that they have put their trust in the Lotus Sutra, which all people detest, must mean that their deceased son has been at their side and encouraged them to do so." I also believe this to be the case."

The Sons Pure Storehouse and Pure Eye
(The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 1050)

 

[PassTheDoobie]

"... if you see a person who accepts and upholds this
sutra, you should rise and greet him from afar, showing
him the same respect you would a Buddha."*
Let's cherish each of our fellow members and carefully and
sincerely look after each individual,
showing them the utmost of respect.
This is the basic point from which everything starts.

Daisaku Ikeda

*"Encouragements of the Bodhisattva Universal Worthy" chapter, the Lotus Sutra

 

[en-lighten-ment]

WOW, EasyMyohoDisco

Please accept my sincere gratitude.

Thank you & Peace,
En

 

[Hitman]

Hi PasstheDoob,

Sorry if you felt that I was being critical. I was just trying to make Lokes feel comfortable. I gave him a million Daimoku chart to chant. I do need to read more of the Goshos , I have to start somewhere. Let's toke a fatty together! Plus I didn't know anything about Tao, I kinda like the sound of it. The Tao of Pooh, it reminded me of Winnie the Pooh and then I wanted to read it more.

Peace, This Hits for you!

 

[PassTheDoobie]

Hi Hit! Sorry! I didn't quite understand what you were talking about and then went back and read that post. The "indirectly critical" comment was being directed at Desi and I have amended the post to reflect that. By the way, it is based on Winnie the Pooh.

My point to you is that the Daishonin's writings all point to what has value and what does not IN THE LATTER DAY OF THE LAW. If one doesn't respect the Daishonin's opinion, then one is not supporting his teachings. If one is not supporting the teachings, how can one claim faith in them?

If one has incomplete or incorrect faith, how can they ever know the true power and meaning of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo? The things that the Daishonin admonishes us not to do are not for the purpose of denying our experience or knowledge, but to deny our naive accumulation of karma. Read the Gosho first and investigate other beliefs after you have accomplished that.

Unless you do so, how will you know what the Daishonin has already said about the issues addressed in the other teaching? You only risk becoming confused or influenced in a way that would play right into the hands of the Devil of the Sixth Heaven. Why, if one has faith in the Gohonzon, would one do that?

Deep respect,

T

 

[EasyMyohoDisco]

*some of these quotes reposted from other recent posts*

*some of these quotes reposted from other recent posts*

Quotes from The Goshos

"To hope to attain Buddhahood without speaking out against slander is as futile as trying to find water in the midst of fire or fire in the midst of water."

Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, 747

"Bodhisattvas, have no fear of mad elephants. What you should fear are evil friends! …Even if you are killed by a mad elephant, you will not fall into the three evil paths. But if you are killed by an evil friend, you are certain to fall into them."


WND, 11

"Moreover, the Nirvana Sutra states: “If even a good monk sees someone destroying the teaching and disregards him, failing to reproach him, to oust him, or to punish him for his offense, then you should realize that that monk is betraying the Buddha’s teaching. But if he ousts the destroyer of the Law, reproaches him, or punishes him, then he is my disciple and a true voice-hearer.”

WND-1, pg. 17

"As Chang-an has noted,] “One who rids the offender of evil is acting as his parent.”
WND, 287

"In [the Latter Day of the Law] there will be evil monks who will steal this sutra and divide it into many parts, losing the color, scent and flavor of the correct teaching that it contains. These evil men will read and recite this sutra, but they will ignore and put aside the profound and vital principles that the Thus Come One has expounded in it and replace them with ornate rhetoric and meaningless talk."
WND, 271

"People think that good deeds are all equal in their goodness; thus they adhere to lesser good and do not realize that, in doing so, they bring about major evil."
WND, 78

"Now is the time when, because the impurity of thought prevails, more people fall into the evil paths with the intention of creating good causes than they do by committing evil.”
WND, 78

"If, knowing the best path, one sees one’s parents or sovereign taking an evil path, can one fail to admonish them? If a fool, crazed with wine, is about to drink poison, can one, knowing this, not try to stop him? In the same way, if one understands the truth of the Buddhist teachings and knows the sufferings of [the worlds of hell, hunger and animality], can one fail to lament at seeing someone to whom one owes a debt of gratitude about to fall into the evil paths? Rather one should cast away one’s body and lay down one’s life in an effort to save such a person. One will never grow weary of admonishing him, nor will their be limits to one’s grief."
WND, 122-123

"I hope we may set about as quickly as possible taking measures to deal with these slanders against the Law and bring peace to the world without delay."
WND, 26

"Only the worms that are born from the body of the lion itself will feed on the lion’s flesh. In the same way, Ananda, the Buddha’s teachings cannot be destroyed by outside forces. But the evil monks who exist within the body of my teachings — they are the ones who will destroy these teachings that the Buddha has labored over and worked to establish for a period of three great asamkhya kalpas."

WND, 577

"The devil king of the sixth heaven has attempted to take possession of my body. But I have for some time been taking such great care that he now no longer comes near me."

WND, 310.

"Devadatta was the foremost good friend to the Thus Come One Shakyamuni. In this age as well, it is not one's allies, but ones powerful enemies who assist one's progress.The Hojo clan in Kamakura could not have firmly established itself as the ruler of Japan had it not been for the challenges posed by Yoshimori and the Retired Emperor of Oki. In this sense these men were the best allies the ruling clan could have. For me, Nichiren, my best allies in attaining Buddhahood are Kagenobu, the priests Ryokan, Doryu and Doamidabutsu, and Hei no Saemon and the lord of Sagami. I am grateful when I think that without them I could not have proved myself to be the votary of the Lotus Sutra."
WND I, 770

"The Buddha and Devadatta are like a form and its shadow—in lifetime after lifetime, they are never separated."
WND I, 278

"From these examples you may imagine how inadequate are the scholars of this latter evil age! It is far better to be an evil person who learns nothing of Buddhism at all than to put one's faith in such men, who declare that heaven is earth, east is west, or fire is water, or assert that the star is bigger than the moon, or an anthill higher than Mt. Sumeru."
WND I, 599

"None of you who declare yourselves to be my disciples should ever give way to cowardice. Neither should you allow concern for your parents, wife, or children to hold you back, or be worried about your property. Since countless kalpas in the past you have thrown away your life more times than the number of dust particles of the land for the sake of your parents, your children, or your lands. But not once have you given up your life for the Lotus Sutra. You may have tried to practice its teachings to some extent, but whenever you were persecuted, you backslid and ceased to live by the sutra. That is like boiling water only to pour it into cold water, or like trying to strike fire but giving up halfway. Each and every one of you should be certain deep in your heart that sacrificing your life for the Lotus Sutra is like exchanging rocks for gold or dung for rice."
WND I, 764

"It also says: “After the Former Day of the Law has ended and the Middle Day of the Law has begun, there will be monks who will give the appearance of abiding by the rules of monastic discipline. But they will scarcely ever read or recite the sutras, and instead will crave all kinds of food and drink to nourish their bodies. . . . Though they wear the clothes of a monk, they will go about searching for alms like so many huntsmen who, narrowing their eyes, stalk softly. They will be like a cat on the prowl for mice.” The Parinirvana Sutra states, “There are also icchantikas who resemble arhats but who commit evil deeds.”
WND I, 406

"Concerning the third group of enemies of the Lotus Sutra, the sutra says: “Or there will be forest-dwelling monks wearing clothing of patched rags and living in retirement . . . they will preach the Law to white-robed laymen and will be respected and revered by the world as though they were arhats who possess the six transcendental powers.” And the six volume Parinirvana Sutra states: “There are also icchantikas who resemble arhats but who commit evil deeds. There are also arhats who resemble icchantikas but display merciful hearts. The icchantikas who look like arhats spend their time slandering the correct and equal sutras to the populace. The arhats who look like icchantikas, on the other hand, are critical of the voice-hearers and go about preaching the correct and equal sutras. They address the populace, saying, ‘You and I are all bodhisattvas. Why? Because each living being possesses the Buddha nature.’ But the populace will probably call such men icchantikas.”
WND I, 275

 

[PassTheDoobie]

from "Encouragement to a Sick Person" / WND pg. 76

from "Encouragement to a Sick Person" / WND pg. 76

In light of the above sutra passages, setting aside evil people and nonBuddhists who do not believe in Buddhism, with regard to those who, though Buddhist believers, have devout faith in provisional teachings preached before the Lotus Sutra such as the Nembutsu, and devote themselves to reciting it ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, or as many as sixty thousand times a day without chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo even once in the course of ten or twenty years, are they not like a person who, clinging to the transfer deed already nullified by his parent, refuses to accept its revised version? They may appear to others as well as to themselves to have faith in the Buddha’s teachings, but if we go by what the Buddha actually taught, they are unfilial people.

This is why the second volume of the Lotus Sutra states: “But now this threefold world is all my domain, and the living beings in it are all my children. Now this place is beset by many pains and trials. I am the only person who can rescue and protect others, but though I teach and instruct them, they do not believe or accept my teachings.”

This passage means that to us living beings the Thus Come One Shakyamuni is our parent, our teacher, and our sovereign. Although Amida, Medicine Master, and other Buddhas are sovereigns to us living beings, they are neither parents nor teachers. Shakyamuni is the only Buddha endowed with all three virtues and to whom we owe a profound debt of gratitude. There are parents and parents, yet none of them can equal Shakyamuni Buddha. There are all manner of teachers and sovereigns, but none as admirable as he is. Could those who disobey the teaching of this parent, teacher, and sovereign possibly not be abandoned by the heavenly gods and the earthly deities? They are the most unfilial of all children. It is for this reason that the Buddha said, “Though I teach and instruct them, they do not believe or accept my teachings.” Even if they follow the sutras preached before the Lotus and practice them for a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, or a million kalpas, if they do not believe in the Lotus Sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo even once, they will be unfilial. They will therefore be abandoned by the sacred ones of the three existences and the ten directions, and hated by both the heavenly gods and the earthly deities. (This is the first of the five guides for propagation.)

Even those people who commit the five cardinal sins, the ten evil acts, or innumerable other wrongdoings may attain the way if only their faculties are keen. Devadatta and Angulimala represent such people. And even those of dull faculties may attain the way, provided they are free of misdeeds. Chudapanthaka is an example. The faculties of ordinary people like ourselves are even duller than those of Chudapanthaka. We are unable to discern the colors and shapes of things, as if we had a sheep’s eyes. In the vast depths of our greed, anger, and foolishness, we commit the ten evil acts every day, and though we may not commit the five cardinal sins, we also perpetrate offenses similar to these daily.

Moreover, every single person is guilty of slander of the Law, an offense exceeding even the ten evil acts or the five cardinal sins. Although few people slander the Lotus Sutra with actual words of abuse, there are none who accept it. Some appear to accept the sutra, but their faith in it is not as deep as their faith in the Nembutsu or other teachings. And even those with profound faith do not reproach the enemies of the Lotus Sutra. However great the good causes one may make, or even if one reads and copies the entirety of the Lotus Sutra a thousand or ten thousand times, or attains the way of perceiving three thousand realms in a single moment of life, if one fails to denounce the enemies of the Lotus Sutra, it will be impossible to attain the way. To illustrate, it is like the case of someone in the service of the imperial court. Even though he may have served for a decade or two, if he knows someone to be an enemy of the emperor but neither reports him to the throne nor shows personal animosity toward him, all the merit of his past services will be thereby negated, and he will instead be charged with an offense. You must understand that the people of this age are slanderers of the Law. (This is the second.)

The thousand years beginning from the day after the Buddha’s passing are called the Former Day of the Law, a period when there were many who upheld the precepts, and people attained the way. The thousand years of the Former Day were followed by the Middle Day of the Law, which also lasted a thousand years. During this period, many people broke the precepts, and few attained the way. The thousand-year Middle Day is followed by the ten thousand years of the Latter Day of the Law. During this period, people neither uphold the precepts nor break them; only those without precepts fill the country. Moreover, it is called a defiled age, an age rife with disorder. In an uncorrupted age, called a pure age, wrong is discarded while right is observed, just as crooked timber is planed according to the mark left by a thread stretched straight. During the Former and Middle Days of the Law, the five impurities began to appear, and in the Latter Day, they are rampant. They give rise to the great waves of a gale, which not only beat against the shore, but strike each other. The impurity of thought has been such that, as the Former and Middle Days of the Law gradually passed, people transmitted insignificant erroneous teachings while destroying the unfathomable correct teaching. It therefore appears that more people have fallen into the evil paths because of errors with respect to Buddhism than because of secular misdeeds.

Now the two thousand years of the Former and Middle Days of the Law have passed, and it has been more than two hundred years since the Latter Day began. Now is the time when, because the impurity of thought prevails, more people fall into the evil paths with the intention of creating good causes than they do by committing evil. As for evil acts, even ignorant people, if they recognize them for what they are, may refrain from committing them. This is like extinguishing a fire with water. But people think that good deeds are all equal in their goodness; thus they adhere to lesser good and do not realize that, in doing so, they bring about major evil. Therefore, even when they see sacred structures related to Dengyo, Jikaku, and others that are neglected and in disrepair, they leave them as they are for the simple reason that they are not halls dedicated to the Nembutsu. Instead, they build Nembutsu halls beside those sacred structures, confiscate the lands that have been donated to them, and offer them to the halls they have erected. According to a passage of the Sutra on Resolving Doubts about the Middle Day of the Law, such deeds will bring few benefits. You should understand from the above that even if one performs a good deed, should it be an act of lesser good that destroys great good, it will cause one to fall into the evil paths.

The present age coincides with the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law. Gone completely are those people with the capacity to attain enlightenment through either the Hinayana or the provisional Mahayana sutras. There now remain only those whose capacity is suited solely to the true Mahayana sutra. A small boat cannot carry a large rock. Those who are evil or ignorant are like a large rock, while the Hinayana and provisional Mahayana sutras as well as the Nembutsu are like a small boat. If one tries to cure virulent sores with hot-spring baths, because the ailment is so serious, such mild treatment will be of no avail. For us in this defiled world of the latter age, embracing the Nembutsu and other teachings is like working rice paddies in winter; it does not suit the time. (This is the third.)

One should also have a correct understanding of the country. People’s minds differ according to their land. For example, a mandarin orange tree south of the Yangtze River becomes a triple-leaved orange tree when it is transplanted to the north of the Huai River. Even plants and trees, which have no mind, change with their location. How much more, then, must beings with minds differ according to the place!

 

[EasyMyohoDisco]

Well said Nichiren Daishonin! That post was awesome! Nichiren wrote those words for 2008 hundreds of years ago, he is a true hero!

 

[PassTheDoobie]

"When you shake your head, your hair sways; when your mind begins to work, your body moves. When a strong wind blows, the grass and trees can no longer remain still; when the earth shakes, the seas are atremble. Thus if one can move Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, can the grass and trees fail to respond, can the waters remain calm?"

(Concerning the Statue of Shakyamuni Buddha Fashioned by Nichigen-nyo - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol.2, page 811) Selection source: Q & A on Buddhism, Seikyo Shimbun, October 19th, 2008

 

[PassTheDoobie]

"Hence, although the people might 'take sticks of wood or tiles and stones and beat and pelt him' (chapter twenty), he nevertheless persisted in his effort, 'preaching to them forcefully, though it angered them (Words and Phrases, volume ten), an action that arose from his feelings of pity and compassion. Since we are taught that the Buddha mind is a mind of great pity and compassion, a bow of obeisance is made in acknowledgement of this pity and compassion."

(Ongi kuden - Gosho Zenshu, page 769, The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, page 164) Selection source: "Kyo no Hosshin", Seikyo Shimbun, October 15th, 2008

 

[PassTheDoobie]

"Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life, and continue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, no matter what happens."

(Happiness in This World - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol.1, page 681) Selection source: "Kyo no Hosshin", Seikyo Shimbun, October 16th, 2008

 

[PassTheDoobie]

"The German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) wrote this line that was his creed later in life: 'Out of suffering, joy.' These are very inspiring words. Everyone has problems. The important thing is not to allow problems to defeat us, but to use them instead as a springboard to help us forge a more expansive life-state.

"The Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin teaches the principles that the sufferings of birth and death are none other than nirvana and that earthly desires are none other than enlightenment. Precisely because we experience sufferings, we can bring forth the life-state of Buddhahood."

SGI Newsletter No. 7648, 22ND SOKA GAKKAI HEADQUARTERS LEADERS MEETING--PART 2 [OF 2], Imparting Joy to Others, Sep. 30th, 2008, translated Oct. 15th, 2008

 

[EasyMyohoDisco]

When once we chant Myoho-renge-kyo, with just that single sound we summon forth and manifest the Buddha nature of all Buddhas; all existences; all bodhisattvas; all voice-hearers; all the deities such as Brahma, Shakra, and King Yama; the sun and moon, and the myriad stars; the heavenly gods and earthly deities, on down to hell-dwellers, hungry spirits, animals, asuras, human and heavenly beings, and all other living beings. This blessing is immeasurable and boundless.

How Those Initially Aspiring to the Way Can Attain Buddhahood through the Lotus Sutra
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 887

 

[en-lighten-ment]

Thx for the quotes I especially liked the quotes from the Goshos. I have been finding myselfxbeing angry more and more frequently, and questioning my anger. Maybe because of the heated political situations in America currently. I find my anger directed at the parts of society that wish to use laws to force there moral views on others. When I was young and christen by default. I was taught a christen myth. In the time before the creation of the world when all the children of god lived together, and it was being dicused that we should all go down to earth to live. The debate of free will came up. Two of the oldest of gods children where derectly on the other side each debate Lucifer said free choice should not be given to man there for all of man kind would remain pure and return to god. Jesus said man should be given freewill to decide for himself and learn from his sins. Lucifer was cast out of heaven and life as we know it ensued. So aren't the people who try to use laws to make others follow there moral ideas not acting in the example of Lucifer? Is living your life mimicking a higher power not one of the highest forms of worship? And yet these people clam to be Christians?

From this I derive
The devil knows not whom he serves
and you know not whom you whorship

After reading the Quotes from Goshos I no longer feel shameful for my anger,but still question it. However the question now stands as what to do about it or with it.

Peace,
En

 

[EasyMyohoDisco]

En, Feel free to consider yourself a chanting grower and start using the words Nam-myoho-renge-kyo! as best you can to prove to yourself that you can control your anger among other things. I'm impressed with how quickly you grasped something as profound as letting go of the "lies" we're raised with in america to find a single great truth, "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo!".

Just remember anyone can do it, and Buddhahood is not outside yourself! Thank you so much for that post! BONZAI! :wink:

 

[grapepunched]

NAM-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO!
Pushin toward Gohonzon!

 

[en-lighten-ment]

It seems that seance I started reading your posts my head continual keeps getting dunked in water, Thank you! Nam-myoho-renge-kyo!

 

[PassTheDoobie]

En, the most important thing you can do right now is chant. Just do it! Chant! Think about whatever you want to think about. But think with a seeking mind and pursue this with a "put up or shut up" spirit (you do the work and should then receive a result).

Chant about anything. You need to experience the power yourself, firsthand. It is based on the power of our personal experiences that we take faith in the power of these teachings.

T

 

[en-lighten-ment]

Word

Peace,
En

 

[PassTheDoobie]

"Having good friends is all the Buddhist way."*
Let's do our very best to cultivate friendships with as
many people as we possibly can!
A good friend is indeed the most valuable treasure we
can have in life.

Daisaku Ikeda

*Ananda, one of Shakyamuni Buddha's closest disciples, once asked him: "It seems to me that by having good friends and advancing together with them, one has already halfway attained the Buddha way. Is this way of thinking correct?"

Shakyamuni replied, "Ananda, this way of thinking is not correct. Having good friends and advancing together with them is not half the Buddhist way but all the Buddhist way."

(http://www.sgi.org/goodfriends.html)