The Tientai Teachings on Lotus Sutra
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The Lotus Sutra
Translated by Burton Watson
Chapter One: Introduction
This is what I heard:
At one time the Buddha was in Rajagriha, staying on Mount Gridhrakuta. Accompanying him were a multitude of leading monks numbering twelve thousand persons. All were arhats whose outflows had come to an end, who had no more earthly desires, who had attained what was to their advantage and had put an end to the bonds of existence, and whose minds had achieved a state of freedom.
Their names were Ajnata Kaundinya, Mahakashyapa, Uruvilvakashyapa, Gayakashyapa, Nadikashyapa, Shariputra, Great Maudgaly~yana, Mahakatyayana, Aniruddha, Kapphina, Gavampati, Revata, Pilindavatsa, Bakkula, Mahakaushthila, Nanda, Sundarananda, Purna Maitrayaniputra, Subhuti, Ananda, and Rahula. All were like these, great Arhats who were well known to others.
There were also two thousand persons, some of whom were still learning and some who had completed their learning.
There was the nun Mahaprajapati with her six thousand followers. And there was Rahula's mother, the nun Yashodhara, with her followers.
There were bodhisattvas and mahasattvas, eighty thousand of them, none of them ever regressing in their search for anuttara-samyaksambodhi. All had gained dharanis, delighted in preaching, were eloquent, and turned the wheel of the Law that knows no regression. They had made offerings to immeasurable hundreds and thousands of Buddhas, in the presence of various Buddhas had planted numerous roots of virtue, had been constantly praised by the Buddhas, had trained themselves in compassion, were good at entering the Buddha wisdom, and had fully penetrated the great wisdom and reached the farther shore. Their fame had spread throughout immeasurable worlds and they were able to save countless hundreds of thousands of living beings.
....commentary continued on the next day , stay tuned
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First ,we shall talk abt the chinese name of the title
The Wonder law of the Dhamma lotus Sutra
Such is the wonderfulness that is deep ,unfathomable , sophiscated
Tientai Chi Che Venerable Spent 9 months giving commentary on the single word - wonderful
In Tientai or Tendai teaching before going into the voluminous wordings of the sutra
Masters spent time on the 7 points to the title classification and the 5 abstract meaning of the whole sutra
the 7 points to the classification of the sutra is as follows
single independent point - 3
repeats and interlink - 3
complete - 1
For example <> Buddha is a human ,so is Amitabha as the human subject matter
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Commentary based on Master Hsuan Hua
available in traditional chinese from the following website
http://book.bfnn.org/article/0034.htm
translated with shallow understanding from Upasika Heng Jian
As every effort to translate traditional chinese into english ,any mistakes please point out ,will amend as part of the lesson learnt in this posting
With Utmost Sincerity
Upasika Heng Jian
aka Bohiruci -
Let us talk about the single 3 classification - human , dharma , examples
first one is the human as the subject matter of the title of the sutra
like <>
so in Western Paradise .Why is there Western Paradise exist ? it is all due to the Vows of Dharmacara Bhikkhi in the causal ground as bodhisattvahood ,Which later become as Amitabha as fruition of His practice
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This 48 vows which every vows is the wish to deliver all sentient beings to the Western Paradise ,thus the Name of Amitabha is the subject matter of this sutra.
When the Buddhadharma going to be extinct in the future times , the first to extinct will be Shurangama Sutra .This is due to the fact that Shurangama is the right cause of all Buddhahood .This is also as the Shurangama states the pheonomenon of the world so clearly.Which can said reveal the heaven's secret.
subsequently the <> will remain for another hundred years and the whole of Buddhadharma will be extinct
.At that time the world will be full of the 3 disaster and 8 catastrophies and thus end of the saha world ......
to be continued .....