How Those Initially Aspiring to the Way Can Attain Buddhahood through the Lotus Sutra

Chapter8(Proving Propagation in the Latter Day of the Law by Citing the Sutras and Commentaries)

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This being the case, it becomes obvious that one ought to embrace this sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. In the “Medicine King” chapter, the Buddha states, “In the last five-hundred-year period you must spread it abroad widely throughout Jambudvīpa and never allow it to be cut off.” The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai comments on this by saying, “In the last five-hundred-year period, the mystic way will spread and benefit humankind far into the future.” And the Great Teacher Miao-lo further says, “It is the time when the great teaching will be propagated.” All these passages indicate that, during the last five-hundred-year period, the Lotus Sutra will be propagated, and thereafter will continue to exist throughout Jambudvīpa and never disappear.

The “Peaceful Practices” chapter refers to those who, “in the latter age hereafter, when the Law is about to perish, should accept and embrace, read and recite this sutra.” And the “Supernatural Powers” chapter says: “At that time the Buddha spoke to Superior Practices and the others in the great assembly of bodhisattvas, saying: ‘If in the process of entrusting this sutra to others I were [to employ these supernatural powers for immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of asamkhya kalpas] to describe the benefits of the sutra, I could never finish doing so. To put it briefly, all the doctrines possessed by the Thus Come One, all the freely exercised supernatural powers of the Thus Come One, the storehouse of all the secret essentials of the Thus Come One, all the most profound matters of the Thus Come One—all these are proclaimed, revealed, and clearly expounded in this sutra.’”

The meaning of these various passages is that, whether one speaks of it as the fifth five-hundred-year period following Shakyamuni Buddha’s passing, or calls it the future age, or the defiled and evil age, it is apparent that at the present time, when the two thousand years of the Former and Middle Days of the Law have ended and we are more than two hundred years into the Latter Day, only the Lotus Sutra should be propagated. The reason for this is that in this age the people’s minds have become twisted, and the teachings produce no actual effect. The Buddhas and gods no longer manifest their awesome powers, and prayers for this life and for future existences go unanswered. At such a time the heavenly devil, or Pāpīyas, will take advantage of the situation and come rampaging, and the nation will be troubled by constant famine and drought. Disease and plague will rage everywhere, and we will suffer the disasters of foreign invasion and internal strife, our nation being constantly at war within, and later assaulted by invading warriors from another country. In such an age of conflict, when the pure Law of the other sutras ceases to be effective, the wonderfully efficacious medicine of the Lotus Sutra will provide the cure for all these grave disasters.

Notes

38. The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra.

39. The Annotations on “The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra.”

Lecture

By citing passages from the Lotus Sutra alongside the commentaries of Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai and Great Teacher Dengyo, it is proven that in the Latter Day of the Law, the Lotus Sutra alone will be widely propagated as the great good medicine that saves living beings sinking into suffering.

As documentary proof that one should embrace the Lotus Sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in the Latter Day of the Law, the text first cites a passage from the “Former Affairs of the Bodhisattva Medicine King” (twenty-third) chapter of the Lotus Sutra: “After I have passed into extinction, in the last five-hundred-year period you must spread it abroad widely throughout Jambudvipa and never allow it to be cut off, nor must you allow evil devils, the devils’ people, heavenly beings, dragons, yakshas, or kumbhandas to seize the advantage!” This is none other than definitive documentary proof that in the Latter Day of the Law, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is to be widely propagated throughout the entire world (Jambudvipa).

Regarding this passage, Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai states in The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra (Hokke Mongu): “In the last five-hundred-year period, the mystic way will spread and benefit humankind far into the future.”

High Priest Nichikan interprets this passage in his Treatise on Judging Passages According to the Meaning (Igi Hanmon Sho), stating: “The ‘last five-hundred-year period’ refers to the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law. ‘Spread and benefit far into the future’ signifies propagation. ‘Mystic’ is the word that praises, and ‘way’ is the object that is praised; the ‘way’ is none other than the Three Great Secret Laws that are praised.”

Furthermore, Great Teacher Miao-lo states in The Annotations on “The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra” (Mongu Ki): “This provisionally rests upon the time when the great teaching is to be propagated.” Prior to this, he writes, “The beginning of the Latter Day of the Law is not without inconspicuous benefit,” which means that because the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law—the last five-hundred-year period—is the time when the great teaching is to be propagated, there is inconspicuous benefit. In other words, this clarifies that the great teaching not yet spread during the Former and Middle Days of the Law—namely, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the heart of the Lotus Sutra—will be propagated at the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law, bringing forth great benefit.

Thus, Shakyamuni Buddha designated the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law as the time when the Mystic Law should be widely propagated, Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai defined it as the time when “the mystic way will spread and benefit humankind,” and Great Teacher Miao-lo interpreted it as “the time when the great teaching is to be propagated.” Expressing this meaning, the Daishonin states: “It is evident that the Lotus Sutra will spread during the fifth five-hundred-year period, and thereafter it will never be cut off or lost throughout Jambudvipa.” He declares that in the Latter Day of the Law, the Lotus Sutra will spread throughout the entire world without ever being cut off.

Moreover, the “Peaceful Practices” (fourteenth) chapter states: “In a latter age hereafter, when the Law is about to perish, those who embrace, read, and recite this sutra must not harbor minds of jealousy, flattery, or deceit.”

The phrase “embrace, read, and recite this sutra” at the time in the Latter Day of the Law when Shakyamuni’s correct teaching perishes expounds the attitude of embracing the Mystic Law—the heart of the Lotus Sutra—when the correct teaching is on the verge of extinction.

Next, the “Supernatural Powers of the Thus Come One” (twenty-first) chapter contains the passage in which the Buddha entrusts the Law to be propagated in the Latter Day of the Law to Bodhisattva Superior Practices and the others. Namely: “At that time the Buddha spoke to Superior Practices and the others in the great assembly of bodhisattvas, saying: ‘The supernatural powers of the Buddhas are as immeasurable, boundless, and inconceivable as this. Even if I were to use these supernatural powers for immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of asamkhya kalpas to expound the benefits of this sutra for the sake of entrustment, I could still never finish doing so. To state it in brief, all the doctrines possessed by the Thus Come One, all the freely exercised supernatural powers of the Thus Come One, the storehouse of all the secret essentials of the Thus Come One, all the most profound matters of the Thus Come One—all these are proclaimed, revealed, and clearly expounded in this sutra.'”

In On the Three Great Secret Laws (Sandai Hiho Sho), the Daishonin cites this passage from the “Supernatural Powers” chapter and states: “Question: What is the Law expressed ‘in brief’ as mentioned in the sutra? Answer: It is the Object of Worship of the ‘Life Span’ chapter, the Sanctuary, and the five characters of the Daimoku—which Shakyamuni kept secret from the time of his first attainment of enlightenment throughout the four flavors and three teachings, and even until he rose from the seat where he extensively opened the three vehicles to reveal the one vehicle in the Lotus Sutra and briefly opened the near to reveal the distant in the ‘Emerging from the Earth’ chapter, and which he himself practiced in the beginning when he attained the true aspect of all phenomena” (1021:03). In other words, the “heart of the Lotus Sutra” entrusted by Shakyamuni to Bodhisattva Superior Practices is none other than the Three Great Secret Laws, which Shakyamuni himself practiced to attain the true aspect of all phenomena when he achieved enlightenment in the remote past of five hundred dust-particle kalpas ago.

Furthermore, in his Treatise on Judging Passages According to the Meaning, High Priest Nichikan comments on this passage: “Because all of the Thus Come One’s name, entity, quality, and function are proclaimed, revealed, and clearly expounded within the Object of Worship of the Essential Teaching—the five characters of Myoho-Renge-Kyo—the sutra says, ‘all… in this sutra.’ And because he entrusts this Object of Worship to the Bodhisattvas of the Earth of a thousand worlds, the commentary states, ‘He grasped its pivot and handle and bestowed it upon them.’ How could this be anything other than the Object of Worship?” He thus defines the passage on the entrustment of the essence of the sutra as the “entrustment of the Object of Worship.”

The “heart of the Lotus Sutra” entrusted by Shakyamuni to Bodhisattva Superior Practices is the Gohonzon (Object of Worship) of the Three Great Secret Laws, which is established and propagated in the Latter Day of the Law by Nichiren Daishonin, and which will continue to spread beyond the ten thousand years of the Latter Day and into eternity.

Regarding these scriptural passages and commentaries, the Daishonin states that all references to propagation in the “last five-hundred-year period”—the fifth five-hundred-year period after Shakyamuni’s passing—or to “a future age,” “an evil and impure age,” or “a latter age hereafter, when the Law is about to perish,” serve as documentary proof that at the present time, more than two hundred years into the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law following the two thousand years of the Former and Middle Days, the Lotus Sutra alone will spread.

Finally, the Daishonin explains the reason why the Lotus Sutra alone must be propagated in the Latter Day of the Law: at present in the Latter Day,

• “People are already perverse” — meaning their lives are distorted;
• “The teachings truly show no sign of efficacy” — meaning the power of the Law is lost; and
• “[There is no] majestic power of the Buddhas and gods” — meaning there is neither the power of the Buddha nor the protection of the heavenly deities.

Consequently, “prayers for this life” go unanswered. As a result, the three calamities of famine, pestilence, and warfare arise in succession, and the seven disasters—most notably the two great disasters of internal strife and foreign invasion—occur, marking an age when conflict and strife are firmly established. In such a time, the wholesome doctrines of the other sutras have no power to counteract these disasters; only the great good medicine of the Lotus Sutra—namely, the Three Great Secret Laws—is capable of overcoming these great disasters.