The First Introduction to the Buddhist Scripture -- Scripture of Lotus Magnificence of Marvelous Law

Author: Tao Qing Hsu

The First Introduction

The title of the Buddhist Scripture “Scripture of Lotus Magnificence of Marvelous Law” is translated from the Chinese title “妙法蓮華經”. Each English character is according to my knowledge and understanding about this scripture. The used characters of the title and the content translated by me are some kind of difference from the translated by others. In the internet, you can find someone to call it shortly as “Lotus Sutra”. When you use this key word “Lotus Sutra” in the Internet, you can find a lot of introduction about it and the summary description of each chapter. However, if you want to learn more and are curious about what the content is translated, explained and taught by me, you might be interested in following this blog.

I try to use as little Sanskrit literal translation as possible, and at the same time, try to use commonly used words to make it easier for the public to understand.  In the translation, I do my best to achieve the principles of translation to be honesty, elegance and expressiveness. However, it may be some distance away from a literary work.

I do not suggest you to use Buddhist scriptures for academic research or literary appreciation. If you use them for academic research or literary appreciation, it may be increased the burden and pain of your own life. Why? That is because if you use them pursue the fame and benefit for yourself, it would be far away from learning Buddha. However, if you will maintain your life by the academic research or literary appreciation in Buddhism, and to use them as the career, it is your choice. If you are capable to balance the life in learning Buddha well, it is not bad. Why? Because I believe that you will use your wisdom and any convenient way to help others after you are enlightened from learning Buddha. At the same time, you will have the good repay after doing that. Such kind of repay may be the invisible, such as your happiness caused by the grateful from others.     

The Buddhist scripture is to help you to achieve the Buddhahood. 

In fact, Buddhist scriptures are used to help you eliminate the troubles of life and death. At the same time, it helps you to confirm whether you really understand the teachings of Buddha or not, and how your level is in learning Buddha by yourself. In a word, the Buddhist scripture is to help you to achieve the Buddhahood. However, if you mistakenly use it, you maybe hate and leave it someday. If you are capable of profoundly realize the teaching of Buddha from this Buddhist scripture, it would help you easily perceive and alert any manipulation by others and their greedy intention in any situations and in any regional or religious communities. At the same time, it would help you to cultivate your mind to be open-minded, compassionate, and be full of wisdom, so as to maintain a peaceful life.

There are totally 28 volumes in this Buddhist scripture “Scripture of Lotus Magnificence of Marvelous Law”.

There are totally 28 volumes in this Buddhist scripture “Scripture of Lotus Magnificence of Marvelous Law”. I have ever translated the 25th volume of this Buddhist scripture as titled “ Pusa World-Sounds-Perceiving in Universally Door Chapter”. The related link as follows:

 

A Brief Talk about Pusa World-Sounds-Perceiving in Universally Door Chapter

Bodhisattva World-Sounds-Perceiving in Universal Door Chapter (In Chinese and English)

When we read the Buddhist scripture “Scripture of Lotus Magnificence of Marvelous Law” with honesty heart, we will obtain  the blessed, protected and brought to mind by the Buddha.

Regarding the Buddhist scripture “Scripture of Lotus Magnificence of Marvelous Law”, there is a lot of content in each volume, because it includes the verses and each verse of the content is a short summary of the major content. Furthermore, it is  to repeat mostly the major content of the volume and to increase some new content. If you are interested in reading the whole content of 28 volumes, it takes time and patience. This Buddhist scripture is worth for us to read and understand in our lifetime. Usually, when we have completely read this Buddhist scripture with our sincere heart and revering attitude, we will love to learn the Buddha and are interested in knowing more about the other Buddhist scriptures. That is because it is coming from the blessed, protected and brought to mind by the Buddha.     

One of the Ten Titles about Buddha -- Should-Make-Offerings

 

Author: Tao Qing Hsu

  

The Meaning of Should-Make-Offerings

The word Should-Make-Offerings means that the completely practicing and enlightened Tathagata is full of complete virtue and merit, and thus is full of the ability to teach, save and reform the all beings which are included the beings in heaven, so as to liberate all beings from sufferings of life and death. That is, Tathagata is qualified and adequate to hold the Buddha-vocation and that is why the Tathagata is worth to be made offerings by all beings. Therefore, it means that all beings should make offerings to the Tathagata. This all beings include the heavenly beings and the worldly humans.

Why it was called Should-Make-Offerings

Why it was called Should-Make-Offerings. The Buddha said. In the past, when I was in the cause rank, the good laws, solemn and majestic appearance, and the classified of precepts were practiced. The strength of the ten good roots was cultivated so as to make it increased. Thus consummately practicing and learning to attain the ultimate rank. When achieve the Nirvana, cut off and end all worries. To make the body, mouth and mind clean and untainted. Forever destroy worries. Such as to break the head-root of Tala tree, make it never sprout buds. Furthermore, due to ending the worries of greed, anger, and obsession, all the toward-going would never produce the fruition and generate. It was beyond the law of bitter fruitions of the four difficulties of birth (living), aging, illness and dying. The two seeds of confusion and suffering would never be produced. It was established the name of Should-Make-Offerings. Furthermore, make all the clothes, bedding, food and drink, soups and medicines, banners, flags, precious canopies, fragrant flowers, lamps and fruits in the world, and the highest thing in heaven and earth be offered to the Buddha. Obtain the blessing of supreme wealth and auspiciousness. It was the name of Should-Make-Offerings.

 

Make offerings with the heart of respect and sincerity to the Buddha.   

When all beings make offerings to the Tathagata, they should have a heart of respect and sincerity to the Buddha and should have the voluntary will to do that, and there should not be such things of manipulation, coercion and intimidation or the any similar bad things. If there are some religious communities which makes you feel uncomfortable to make offerings to anyone or to be generous to the group, you should alert that there has been existed some problems and it must be something wrong in their inner group. In Buddha’s teaching, there are rightful and good notions of giving and being generous to all beings and to the Buddha. You will understand it by reading more the translated Buddhist scripture or following this blog. In a word, that we respect the Buddha is to respect yourself. 

To make offerings to the Tathagata is to make offerings to the all beings and to the self.

Eventually, in the deep teaching and meaning, to make offerings to the Tathagata is to make offerings to the all beings. At the same time, it is to make offerings to the self. That is any good repay will finally return to the self, including the invisible good things, such as healthy in mind and body, and keep harmony relationship with the family members, etc. Why? In the chapter 11 of Buddhist scripture” The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha”, I had ever explained the similar notion. The link is as followed if you are interested in understanding it: Chapter 11: Giving meals turns to victory

There is no Binary Opposition in mind for a person who has completely achieved the Buddhahood. 

 

In the profound teaching of Buddha, when a person has completely achieved the Buddhahood, there is no Binary Opposition in its mind. It is because that it has been enlightened and realized that its heart, all Buddhas’ heart and all beings’ heart are the one. That is, their nature is the same and is the one. What is the nature? It is the emptiness and silence. What the different is the appearance, the languages and form of their outside. Meanwhile, what the different is the time and process of the reincarnations, and the experience of life and death.

The Starting Point is to help all Beings to become Buddhas and the final purpose is to help us to achieve the Buddhahood.

 

When we practice the giving and being generous to others with the great compassionate and wisdom, we also practice to be no Binary Opposition with others. That is, we practice to realize what the nature of the self and the others is. At the same time, we practice to be the one with all Buddhas and all beings. That is, the starting point is to help all beings to become Buddhas and the final purpose is to help us to achieve the Buddhahood. This is to cultivate our great and generous mind. 

When we are learning Buddha, if we don’t understand this meaning, it would make us feel weird and feel that we are enforced to practice the giving. In a word, this is the more profoundly teaching of Buddha. Generally, for the beginner, the senior Master won’t tell you this point. Furthermore, many of junior Masters and the Master of little-boarding (Hinayana) even don’t understand this point.

In Buddhism, there is the personal cause and condition and outcome, which is rely on your own choice of a thought and your action, not rely on the manipulation from others and any ignorant people.

 

In Buddhism, the different master will take use of the different explanation to guide and teach you how to practice the giving. No matter what it is, you think it is reasonable, you can accept it and you do it, which is your choice. If you don’t accept it, it is also your choice. No one has the right to punish you if you choose to reject to give. If a good or upright Master teaches you to give alms, but you refuse it, it is only your personal choice of cause and effect, and it means that if you hope to become a Buddha, it is far away. That is, it needs to take you long time and your many worlds of lives to finally become a Buddha. 

If someone says that if you refuse to give, you will receive the retribution of bad karma and go to hell, which you have to be alert because there is an element of manipulation involved. In Buddhism, there is the personal cause and condition and outcome, which is rely on your own choice of a thought and your action, not rely on the manipulation from others and any ignorant people. When we learn the Buddha’s teaching, that is what we have to know. 

In Conclusion

Practicing the giving is the first and basic learning in Buddhism. Without this basic practicing, it is hardly for us to achieve the Buddhahood. Therefore, it is very important to understand the multiple meaning of giving in Buddhism and then to practice it actually.        

Chapter 5: Correct the vice into the good deed

(Chapter 5) A Brief Talk about The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha

Co-translators in the time of Eastern Han Dynasty, China (A.D. 25 - 200) : Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan (Who translated the said Scripture from Sanskrit into Chinese. )

Translator in modern time (A.D.2018: Tao Qing Hsu (Who translated the said Scripture from Chinese into English.)

Teacher and writer for explaining the said Scripture: Tao Qing Hsu

Chapter 5: Correct the vice into the good deed

The Buddha said,” People have a lot of faults, yet don’t know to repent, suddenly let their heart rest, and the sins come to the body; such as the water return to the sea, being deep and wide gradually. If people have faults, resolve them by themselves and know the mistake, correct the vice and do the good, the sins would be vanished by themselves; such as illness cause the sweaty, being healed gradually.”

No matter whether the status is noble or low in the worldly eyes, people are not holy human. There must be fault in the life. In the chapter four, there are mentioned about ten evil deeds. That is faults. Any one of them is also one of the causes which could incur the bad result in the life. Such as stealing because of greedy heart, it could cause the result of poverty. Or such as killing with hatred, it could cause the result of serious disease or dying badly.

Fortunately, there always are the chances for us to repent our faults. However, not everyone can grasp this opportunity, because they do not perceive their own faults. What badly is that someone has made the mistake but they still think what they have done is right. In the history, we can find such persons a lot, who cause the tragic world, and finally, the end of their life is terrible.

The sins would cause the retributions. If people do not know to repent their faults, their sins come to the body such as the water return to the sea, being deep and wide gradually. It means that the sins and the retributions would become bigger and bigger.

There is a verse said by Buddha:

Even if through the hundred eons,

The evil karma does not be disappeared.

When the cause is met by the condition,

The person still has to bear its own retribution by oneself.

“If people have faults, resolve them by themselves and know the mistake, correct the vice and do the good, the sins would be vanished by themselves; such as illness cause the sweaty, being healed gradually.” It means to repent our faults and do the good things, then, the sins won’t come to our body and any retribution would not appear. It is like to have a cold. The cold would be healed gradually when we lie down on a bed, cover a bed quilt and let our body sweat. This also tells us that it is not difficult to resolve our faults and do the good thing.      

In the Buddhism, there is the basic classwork of learning Buddha for the just getting started, that is to repent our faults for what happened in our present life and in our past life. In the concept of the Buddhism, everyone must be responsible for and burden the result of what they have done. The evil karma is made by whom, which person should be responsible to eliminate its own evil karma by oneself, because the retribution caused by the evil karma would not happen to other person, but to the doer itself.

When we do the repent, we do not repent toward the agent of Buddha, such as Buddhist monk, but, we do our repent to Buddha directly. For the beginning learner or for the learner who could not understand the Buddha-nature for a long time, Buddha is someone else. So, when they have made the mistake again after the repent, they are panic to ask for the forgiving of Buddha, because they are afraid of the sins coming to their body.

But, for those who have understood and realized the Buddha-nature, Buddha is not someone else, but having been converged in their heart. That is two in one; the sentient beings are equal to Buddha. Those who are in this state are basically to have done the repent for their faults for a long time and rare to make the mistake again.

Any wise Buddhist monk or nun, or the enlightened Buddha-learner would not replace the Buddha to forgive anyone. They also have no right to replace Buddha to punish Buddhist because the disciples do not believe in what they have taught about the Buddhism, or because they think that the disciples betray the Buddha. Why? In Buddhism, the first, no argument is one of the Buddha-law. Secondly, any result of personal retribution is arisen from the cause made by oneself. Therefore, to let the personal retribution vanish only depends on the personal action, such as correcting the vice and doing the good.

Someone use the Buddha-law, such as the ten good virtues, to view others faults when people do not obey the ten good virtues. For example, when I began to learn Buddha, I sometimes heard someone to say that some Buddhist nuns had fought with each other in the temple, or that some of the Buddha-learner had done a lot of evil things, such as the negative news.

This is to misuse the Buddha-law. In fact, Buddha-law is to regulate oneself, not to regulate others. Whether to learn the virtue of Buddha or not is coming from the self-motivation, not from the force by others. So, whether to obey the ten good deeds is coming from the autonomy, not from the lure or threaten or violence.

A country might use the lure, threaten or violence to force people to obey its country-law. But, Buddha-law cannot be used like that. If Buddha-law is used like that, it would violate the country-law and also violate the Buddha-nature, the compassion and wisdom. Why? The country-law is directly to regulate the public, the people in the country. But, Buddha-law is used for the personal spiritual improvement, from the self-help to help others, from the self-benefit to benefit others, and from the self-realization to help others realize by themselves. Therefore, it is the very important judgment when we chose a community of learning Buddha.