The Sutra of the Lotus Flower
of the Wonderful Law
Chapter 13
Exhortation to Hold Firm
(2)
This is the ninety-third installment of a detailed commentary
on the Threefold Lotus Sutra by the late founder of
Rissho Kosei-kai, Rev. Nikkyo Niwano.
COMMENTARY Yashodhara, as we know, was Shakyamuni's wife when he was still a prince. She is said to have been chaste and gentle, but apparently she was also a woman of strong will. When the prince suddenly renounced the world, leaving his wife and infant son, of course she was overcome by sorrow, but she soon pulled herself together and devoted herself to bringing up her son, Rahula. Moreover, she ceased using cosmetics after the prince left the palace. When she heard that he had exchanged his finery for a simple brown robe, she too donned such a robe; when she heard that he ate only one meal a day and slept under a tree or on a rock, she did the same. In this way she remained with him in spirit.
The first time Shakyamuni returned to his birthplace after becoming the Buddha, he set up residence in the forest outside Kapilavastu and then went from house to house in the city begging his food, as usual. While doing so he came upon King Shuddhodana and preached the Law to him, after which the king escorted him to the palace. The entire clan had gathered to greet him. Yashodhara alone was absent. She did not want to meet Shakyamuni in front of a crowd. She remained in her room, thinking that if Shakyamuni still felt fondly toward her he would surely seek her out. He was immediately aware of her feelings and went to her room accompanied by Shariputra and Maudgalyayana. When Yashodhara saw him, she was speechless with emotion. She could only cling to his feet, sobbing. Shakyamuni stood serenely as she wept. Finally she grew calmer and, recalling that her former husband was now the Buddha, stood up, wiped away her tears, and bowed quietly to him. Gazing at her with affection, Shakyamuni nodded in satisfaction and then told her of her previous life.
Seven days later, when Shakyamuni and his disciples were on their morning begging round in the city, Yashodhara dressed Rahula in formal clothes and gave him his first glimpse of his father.
"See those religious mendicants [shramana]? The one of such outstanding nobility and dignity is your father," she told the boy.
"I didn't know I had a father. The only father I know is the old king," Rahula said doubtfully.
"That's understandable. But that fine mendicant is your real father. Go to your father now and ask for your inheritance. Your father has a treasure no one has seen."
Eventually Shakyamuni entered the palace to receive the offering of a meal. Rahula went up to him and said innocently, "Father, being near you makes me very happy." He stayed by Shakyamuni's side, smiling, throughout the meal.
When the Buddha rose to return to the forest, Rahula said, "Father, please give me my inheritance," and followed him. No one tried to stop the boy. Weeping, Yashodhara watched him leave. Rahula, having followed his father to the forest, was immediately accepted as a disciple and thus received his priceless inheritance.
After that Yashodhara led a lonelier life than ever, secluded deep in the palace. Eventually King Shuddhodana died, and Gautami left to become a bhikshuni. Yashodhara resolved to do the same and went to Vaishali, where Gautami--now known as Mahaprajapati--was living. Refusing the carriage offered to her, she walked all the way with her serving women and was accepted into the Sangha.
Yashodhara then went to the Jetavana Monastery in Shravasti, where Shakyamuni was staying, to receive instruction from him. It was not long before she attained a clear and pure state of mind, and she passed her days happily in religious practice. Since Rahula, then a novice (shramanera), was also living at the monastery, Yashodhara dwelt nearby. She often went to hear Shakyamuni teach and, with his permission, visited Rahula from time to time.
There are no stories of Yashodhara's noteworthy accomplishments as a bhikshuni, but her gentle character seems to have attracted the love and respect of many people, lay and ordained alike. Followers of the Buddha in Shravasti heaped offerings on her--so much so, it is said, that she could have lived in greater luxury than when she had been in the palace. She found this irksome, however, and moved to Vaishali, but the same thing happened there. So she moved yet again, to the outskirts of Rajagriha. As we can see, she was truly a dedicated bhikshuni.
TEXT Then the Bhikshuni Mahaprajapati and the Bhikshuni Yashodhara, together with all their retinue, all rejoiced greatly, having obtained [such] unprecedented [felicity], and immediately before the Buddha spoke thus in verse:
"World-honored leader! / Comforter of gods and men! / We, hearing thy prediction, / Have perfect peace in our hearts."
After uttering this verse the bhikshunis spoke to the Buddha, saying: "World-honored One! We also are able to publish abroad this sutra in lands in other regions."
COMMENTARY The predictions of the bhikshunis' buddhahood form a kind of coda to the teaching of women's ability to attain buddhahood presented through the story of the dragon king's daughter. It must seem odd, however, that women like the bhikshunis Mahaprajapati and Yashodhara, who were highly cultivated, had accumulated much merit, and had been instructed directly by Shakyamuni, had to wait till the very end to have their buddhahood predicted, whereas the dragon king's daughter--too young to have gained much learning or accumulated much merit, and taught not by Shakyamuni himself but by Manjushri--accomplished buddhahood first.
There are two reasons for this order, I think. The first, as pointed out earlier in relation to the prediction of the buddhahood of Ananda and Rahula in chapter 9, "Prediction of the Destiny of Arhats, Training and Trained," has to do with the difficulty of instructing those extremely close to one. Mahaprajapati had reared Shakyamuni from infancy, while Yashodhara had been his wife and had even conceived a child by him. Someone unrelated in any way to his or her teacher, as in the case of the dragon king's daughter and Manjushri, often finds it easier to accept the Law than someone to whom one is closely related, such as a parent or a spouse, because in the latter case emotions get in the way. We can interpret the Buddha's delayed predictions directed at Mahaprajapati and Yashodhara as his way of teaching this principle. It does not mean that the two bhikshunis were in any way inferior to the dragon king's daughter.
The second reason is to demonstrate that anyone can transmit the Buddha's teaching as long as it is done correctly and that anyone, no matter how uneducated, can attain the Buddha's enlightenment as long as he or she is truly receptive. It does not matter whether the person is the Buddha's direct disciple or lives thousands of years later. Nor does it matter what country or ethnic group the person comes from. All that is necessary for salvation is receptivity to the true teaching.
The eight-year-old girl symbolizes a heart as open and impressionable as a child's. Her belonging to the dragon king's realm symbolizes people of "uncivilized" lands, who are much more capable of wholehearted faith than the half-baked intellectuals of "civilized" countries. In studying the Buddha's teaching, it is important that we cast aside conventional wisdom, preconceived ideas, and the emotions with which we are encrusted, making our minds and hearts a tabula rasa. This is one of the lessons we must learn from the narratives of female attainment of buddhahood in both chapter 12, "Devadatta," and the present chapter.
TEXT Thereupon the World-honored One looked upon the eighty myriads of kotis of nayutas of bodhisattva-mahasattvas. All these bodhisattvas were of [the stage] avaivartika, who rolled the never-retreating Law wheel and had attained to the dharanis.
COMMENTARY [The stage] avaivartika. One of the ten stages of bodhisattva practice, this stage is called avaivartika, avaivartya, or avinivartaniya, which means no backsliding from the degree of attainment already reached. Having determined to attain buddhahood, the bodhisattvas reach a stage from which they will never again regress to being shravakas, pratyekabuddhas, or ordinary people.
ï½ Rolled the . . . Law wheel. This phrase means to teach the Dharma. Expounding the Law is like rolling a wheel that never stops and saves all living beings.
ï½ Dharanis. See the October-December 2007 issue of Dharma World.
TEXT Immediately they rose from their seats, went before the Buddha, with one mind folded their hands, and reflected thus: "If the World-honored One commands us to keep and expound this sutra, we will proclaim abroad this Law as the Buddha has taught it." Again they reflected thus: "The Buddha now is silent; we are not commanded; what shall we do?"
Then these bodhisattvas, respectfully obeying the Buddha's will and themselves desiring to fulfill their original vow, before the Buddha raised a lion's roar and uttered a vow, saying: "World-honored One! After the extinction of the Tathagata we will compass and travel through the worlds in all directions, in order to lead all the living to copy this sutra, receive and keep, read and recite it, expound its meaning, practice it as their Law, and rightly keep it in mind, all by the Buddha's might. Be pleased, World-honored One, [though] in another quarter, to behold and guard us from afar!"
COMMENTARY Respectfully obeying the Buddha's will and themselves desiring to fulfill their original vow. The Buddha's intention is to bring all living beings to salvation. The original vow of the bodhisattvas, unchanged through all the lifetimes of the past, is also to save all living beings. To strive to achieve this goal is to obey the will of the Buddha as well as to fulfill one's original vow.
ï½ A lion's roar. The Buddha's mien when teaching is compared to the roar of the lion, the king of beasts, before which all must prostrate themselves. Here the metaphor is applied to the discourse of the bodhisattvas themselves.
ï½ Compass. The Chinese compound for "compass," chou-hsüan, means "to encircle" and "to rotate," thus, "to go around."
ï½ Travel. The Chinese word translated as "travel" here means to go and come back again, that is, to go repeatedly to the same place.
ï½ Rightly keep it in mind. This phrase means to memorize fully and without error. Rightly keeping in mind the Buddha's teaching is not the same as merely memorizing it. First of all, practitioners must thoroughly understand its meaning. Understanding is not enough, though; they must also believe deeply in it. When faith and understanding are thus united, the teaching will become engraved indelibly upon their minds and can be recalled at any time. This is what the sutra means by "rightly keep in mind." It is an extremely important point.
ï½ All by the Buddha's might. To say "I can do this, not by my own strength but because of the Buddha's power" may seem to imply complete reliance upon the Buddha (the power of another), but that is not so. Each person must strive with all his or her might. A holy task such as this, however, cannot be achieved through the puny strength of one human being; what makes it possible is one's receptiveness in conjunction with the responsiveness of the Buddha's power (the compassion of the Original Buddha). Trying to do something by one's own power alone may seem courageous, but in fact it is mere bravado. In whatever we do, we must always acknowledge that we can succeed only because of the activity of the Original Buddha's compassion. We must therefore submit to that great power with humility.
The bodhisattvas go on to express their message in verse. This is the famous "twenty-line verse of the 'Exhortation to Hold Firm' chapter." Nichiren, becoming aware that everything expressed in the verse applied to himself, realized that he had been born with the mission to spread the teaching of the Lotus Sutra in the period of the Decay of the Law. The verse can also be interpreted as a vow to put into practice the three rules of the abode, the robe, and the throne of the Tathagata outlined in chapter 10, "A Teacher of the Law" (see the November/December 2005 issue). Lines 1 to 17 (until "for remembering the Buddha's command . . . [we] will endure all these things") correspond to wearing the robe of the Tathagata, that is, the practice of gentleness and forbearance. Line 18 ("Wherever in villages and cities . . . we will all go there and preach the Law bequeathed by the Buddha") corresponds to entering the abode of the Tathagata, the practice of great compassion. Line 19 ("We are the World-honored One's apostles . . . abide in peace") corresponds to sitting on the throne of the Tathagata, the realization that all phenomena are empty, and the practice of spreading widely the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. Line 20 brings together the whole.
To be continued
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