"The saha world Shakyamuni revealed in the Juryo chapter is the eternal pure land, impervious to the three calamities and the four cycles of change. In this world the Buddha is eternal, transcending birth and death, and his disciples are also eternal. That is why the three thousand worlds or the three realms of existence are within our own lives. The Buddha did not reveal this truth in the first fourteen chapters of the Lotus Sutra because the time was not right and he found his disciples not yet able to grasp the truth." -- The True Object of Worship
If one chants the daimoku without reverence for the Eternal Buddha; without a deep and abiding sense of gratitude for the Lotus Sutra , I believe one cannot experience or manifest the Buddhas teaching , ichinen sanzen . To aspire to having pure seeking minds, like those in the assembly when Shakyamuni preached the Life Span chapter of the Lotus; Shakyamuni’s orginal disciples who implored the Buddha to continue preaching as they would “ accept the Buddha’s words with faith”-; if we cannot arouse joy and cultivate this single mind of faith , it seems to me that we could not attain the same benefits — as those who attained Buddhahood hearing and believing the Buddha’s golden words .
ReplyDelete~Katie