"There's and the is no need to seek impatiently for greatness, fame or wealth. The Earth and Sun do not hurry; they follow their own path at their own pace. If the Earth were to accelerate and complete one rotation in three hours instead of twenty - four, we would be in big trouble! The most important thing in life, too, is to find a sure and certain path and confidently advance along it." -- D. Ikeda
"How long does a lifetime last? If one stops to consider, it is like a single night’s lodging at a wayside inn. Should one forget that fact and seek some measure of worldly fame and profit? Though you may gain them, they will be mere prosperity in a dream, a delight scarcely to be prized. You would do better simply to leave such matters to the karma formed in your previous existences." -- Nichiren
'The Benevolent Kings Sutra states: “Evil monks, hoping to gain fameand profit, in many cases appear before the ruler, the crown prince, or the other princes, and take it upon themselves to preach doctrines that lead to the violation of the Buddhist Law and the destruction of the nation. The ruler, failing to perceive the truth of the situation, listens toand puts faith in such doctrines.” -- Nichiren
"Law-devouring hungry spirits are people who renounce the world and spread Buddhism. They think that if they preach the Law people will respect them, and because of their ambition for fame and profit, they spend their entire present lifetime striving to be thought of as better than others. They neither help other human beings nor have a mind tosave their parents. Such people are called Law-devouring hungry spirits, or hungry spirits who use the Buddhist teachings to satisfy their own desires." -- Nichiren
Now, if you wish to attain Buddhahood, you have only to lower the banner of your arrogance, cast aside the staff of your anger, and devote yourself exclusively to the one vehicle of the p.59Lotus Sutra. Worldly fameand profit are mere baubles of your present existence, and arrogance and prejudice are ties that will fetter you in the next one. Ah, you should be ashamed of them! And you should fear them, too!' -- Nichiren
"Never conduct yourself in a shameful manner. Be unmoved by greed, by the desire for fame, or by anger." -- Nichiren
"The reason is this: All people are concerned about their next lifetime, but the priests and nuns, who would appear to ponder more deeply about this than other men and women, in fact set aside the matter of rebirth in the pure land and merely act as guides in helping people get through this present lifetime. Wise persons and sages are also given to insisting that they are correct and superior to others, that they are heirs to the teachings of a certain founder, and that they have legitimate claim to a certain domain. They place great emphasis uponfame and personal gain, and give little thought to any kind of serious search for the way." -- Nichiren
"Hell is a dreadful dwelling of fire, and the realm of hungry spirits is a pitiful place where, driven by starvation, they devour their own children. The realm of asuras consists of strife, and that of animals is tokill or be killed. The hell of the crimson lotus is so called because the intense cold of this hell makes one double over until one’s back splits open and the bloody flesh emerges like a crimson lotus flower. And thehell of the great crimson lotus is even more horrible. When one falls into such an evil place, the fact that one was a ruler or a general means nothing. Tormented by the wardens of hell, one is no different than a monkey on a string. What use are fame and fortune then? Can one still be arrogant and persist in false beliefs?" --
"In volume five of Great Concentration and Insight we read: “These days there are many devilish monks who break the precepts and returnto lay life. Fearing that they will be punished for their action, they then go over to the side of the Taoists. Hoping to gain fame and profit, they speak extravagantly of the merits of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, usurping Buddhist concepts and reading them into their p.225erroneous scriptures. They twist what is lofty and force it into a mean context; they destroy what is exalted and drag it down among the base, striving to put the two on an equal level.” - Nichiiren
"Nichigen is a sage. He is already unrivaled as a scholar of Buddhism. Yet he has discarded all desire for fame and fortune and become my disciple. He has lived the words in the sutra, “We care nothing for our bodies or lives.”2 To repay his debts of gratitude to the Buddha, he has taught you and your fellow believers and inspired you, Matsuno, to make these sincere offerings. All this is truly amazing.
The Buddha stated that, in the latter age, monks and nuns with the hearts of dogs would be as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.3 By this he meant that the priests and nuns of that day would be attached tofame and fortune. Because they wear robes and surplices, they look like ordinary priests and nuns. But in their hearts they wield a sword of distorted views, hastening here and there among their patrons and filling them with countless lies so as to keep them away from other priests or nuns. Thus they strive to keep their patrons to themselves and prevent other priests or nuns from coming near them, like a dog who goes to a house to be fed, but growls and springs to attack the moment another dog approaches. Each and every one of these priests and nuns is certainto fall into the evil paths. Being the scholar that he is, Nichigen must have read this passage in the sutra. His unusual consideration and frequent visits to me and my disciples are deeply appreciated.
In your letter you write: “Since I took faith in this sutra [the Lotus], I have continued to recite the ten factors of life4 and the verse section of the ‘Life Span’ chapter and chant the daimoku without the slightest neglect. But how great is the difference between the blessings received when a sage chants the daimoku and the blessings received when we chant it?” To reply, one is in no way superior to the other. The gold that a fool possesses is no different from the gold that a wise man possesses; a fire made by a fool is the same as a fire made by a wise man.
However, there is a difference if one chants the daimoku while acting against the intent of this sutra..." -- Nichrenn
"Later, he [Devadatta] broke his ties with his family and joined the Buddhist Order, but when there were large gatherings of human and heavenly beings, the Buddha would censure him, calling him a fool or one who eats the spit of others. In addition, being a man who cared deeply about fame and personal profit, he envied the attention that was paid to the Buddha. He then began observing the five ascetic practices in an attempt to appear more admirable than the Buddha. He pounded iron to make a thousand-spoked wheel pattern [to imprint on the soles of his feet], gathered together fireflies to form a tuft of white hair between his eyebrows, and committed to memory sixty thousand and eighty thousand jeweled teachings. He erected an ordination platform on Mount Gayāshīrsha and lured many of the Buddha’s disciples over to his side. He smeared poison on his fingernails and thus attempted to poison the feet of the Buddha. He beat the nun Utpalavarnā to death and rolled a huge rock down on the Buddha, injuring the latter on the toe. He was guilty of committing three cardinal sins and, in the end, gathered about him all the evil men of the five regions of India and strove to harm the Buddha and his disciples and lay supporters." -- Devadatta
"Yet we assume that those who have preceded us in death are wretched, and that we who remain alive are superior. Busy with that task yesterday and this affair today, we are helplessly bound by the five desiresof our worldly nature. Unaware that time passes as quickly as a white colt glimpsed through a crack in the wall,2 ignorant as sheep being led to the slaughter, held hopeless prisoners by our concern for food and clothing, we fall heedlessly into the snares of fame and profit and in the end make our way back to that familiar village in the three evil paths, where we are reborn time after time in the realm of the six paths. What person of feeling could fail to grieve at such a state of affairs, or could failto be moved to sorrow!" -- Nichiren
“They seek after fame and profit and increase their illusions of thought and desire.” -- Nichiren
"...But the people in this evil age are so arrogant, prejudiced, and attached to fame and profit that they are afraid that, should they become the disciple of a humble person or try to learn something from him, they will be looked down upon by others. " -- Nichiren
"...Devadatta, however, did not command such respect from others, so he began to consider whether there was not some way he could gain worldly fame that would surpass that of the Buddha. He came across five criteria by which he might surpass the Buddha and gain recognition from society..." -- Nichiren
"...Again, it says, “Persons who, because they are greedy for fame and profit, preach from such impure motives, will suffer retribution in this realm.” -- Nichiren
"...If one wishes for happiness in one’s next existence, one should renounce one’s desire for fame and fortune and respect the priest who teaches the Lotus Sutra as one would a living Thus Come One, no matter how humble that priest’s station. Thus it is written in the sutra." -- Nichiren
"In China the teachers who led the ten schools of Buddhism of northern and southern China did not in their minds truly understand the relative superiority and inferiority of the various Buddhist teachings, and in preaching them, they were confused as to which were of true profundity. Similarly, Chi-tsang of the Three Treatises school, Ch’eng-kuan of the Flower Garland school, and Tz’u-en of the Dharma Characteristics school were confused in their minds and misled in their preaching. Because they were men who were firm in their aspiration for the way, in the end they set aside their own fame and reputation and gave allegiance to the principles expounded by T’ien-t’ai. But whether the power of their repentance was sufficient to free them from the sufferings of birth and death, or whether, their sin of slandering the Lawbeing weighty and their power of repentance slight, they in the end fell into hell like King Ajātashatru or the Scholar Vimalamitra, it is impossible to say." -- Nichiren
and lastly, referring to the retired Ikeda:
"The sutra passage then continues in this manner: “Or there will be forest-dwelling monks wearing clothing of patched rags and living in retirement, who will claim they are practicing the true way, despising and looking down on all humankind. Greedy for profit and support, 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. These men with evil in their hearts, constantly thinking of worldly affairs, will borrow the name of forest-dwelling monks and take delight in proclaiming our faults, saying things like this: ‘These monks are greedy for profit and support and therefore they preach non-Buddhist doctrines and fabricate their own scriptures to delude the people of the world. Because they hope to gain fame and renown thereby they make distinctions when preaching this sutra.’ Because in the midst of the great assembly they constantly try to defame us, they will address the rulers, high ministers, Brahmans, and householders, as well as the other monks, slandering and speaking evil of us, saying, ‘These are men of perverted views who preach non-Buddhist doctrines!’” The Great Teacher Miao-lo makes the following comment: “Third is a section that exposes the arrogance and presumption of those who pretend to be sages.” This sutra passage and Miao-lo’s comment on it convey the following meaning. In the evil age there will be many monks who equip themselves with the three robes and one begging bowl and live in a deserted and quiet place, conducting themselves like Mahākāshyapa and the other arhats who have acquired the three insights and the six transcendental powers, respected and revered by the lay believers. When they speak one word regarding the doctrine, it seems like a golden word uttered by the Thus Come Onehimself. These monks will speak slanderously of those who practice theLotus Sutra, addressing the rulers and high ministers and saying in an attempt to destroy them, “These are men of perverted views and their doctrines are erroneous in nature!”
No comments:
Post a Comment