Dharma Wheel

Are the provisional teachings really to be discarded or used in light of the true teaching? Yes. Shakyamuni Buddha declares in the Hoben Chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Honestly discarding expedient means, will preach only the unsurpassed way. (Hokekyo, p. 183) Expedient teachings are partial truths an...

Why do the pre-lotus and lotus sutra teachings seem so different?

How is the true teaching liberating?

Are the provisional teachings really to be discarded or used in light of the true teaching?

Why is the lotus split into theoretical and essential in the first place?

Why do individuals experience different things when everything is interconnected? What is it that makes us have a unique experience? What makes you assume that 'everything is interconnected'? Unique experience is a given already. Why posit a theory that does not reflect actuality and then turn it i...

Why do individuals experience different things when everything is interconnected?

What is it that makes us have a unique experience?

Historically, we know that the Mahayana sutra's are later creations attributed to the Buddha. I'd assume that even Buddhists in ancient times knew this since the Mahayana sutra's are full of fantastical tales - They must have known they were allegorical. What I'm interested in though is whether the ...

Queequeg wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 4:35 pm Nichiren is mainly non-esoteric. The Esoteric themes discussed above are things you have to dig for.

Are there any gosho's which explain why daimoku works?

hope I'm not hijacking the original thread...

I'd like to ask if Nichiren Buddhism makes sense from a non-esoteric viewpoint?
Or do you have to take the axioms of esotericism in order for our practice to make sense?

So lately I've really been appreciating the idea that Buddhahood is the fusion of reality and wisdom. I'd like to quote two gosho's: A commentary says that the riverbed of reality is described as “infinitely profound” because it is boundless, and that the water of wisdom is described as “immeasurabl...

What I meant was that every phenomena relies on every other phenomena in existence, for it's own existence. That would be an expression of conventional truth in the context of the two truths doctrine but would it be a right expression of conventional truth? No because it isn't the case that every p...

If something happens, all its causes and conditions were present, by definition. Yes, of course. I can agree with this. But nichiren-123 said "ALL", which is why I asked what he meant by that. What I meant was that every phenomena relies on every other phenomena in existence, for it's own...

Why? Mindstreams and seperate existences are dependent on causes and conditions and lack an essential nature. What is so difficult to understand about that? That they can be perpetuated based on 1 cause. No, nothing arises from a single cause. But if a single cause is missing, a given entity will n...

Emptiness is what allows reincarnation to happen. There is nothing to obstruct the process. Just the idea of mindstreams and separate existence seems to directly oppose emptiness... Why? Mindstreams and seperate existences are dependent on causes and conditions and lack an essential nature. What is...

But every wave will eventually disintegrate and merge with the rest of the ocean. Absent friction, the momentum will never cease. And actually, the energy of the wave just turns into another form of energy - ie. if there is friction, then the energy becomes heat. mass/energy is conserved. But, tryi...

Just the idea of mindstreams and separate existence seems to directly oppose emptiness... Mindstream is not a separate existence. As explained through ichinen sanzen, the thought moment (ichinen) is not a discrete thing; it encompasses the dharmadhatu. As you observed above, remove one cause/condit...

Just the idea of mindstreams and separate existence seems to directly oppose emptiness... If you go to sleep and wake up the next day there’s a continuity. You remember the previous day. What is false is the assumption your personality is the basis for the continuity. That’s no-self/emptiness. What...

smcj wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2020 3:52 pm

nichiren-123 wrote: All I'm wondering is how to reconcile rebirth with emptiness.

Emptiness is what allows reincarnation to happen. There is nothing to obstruct the process.

Just the idea of mindstreams and separate existence seems to directly oppose emptiness...

All I'm wondering is how to reconcile my understanding of rebirth with emptiness. It's not something that should be taken on faith so we ought to analyse it. It is very simple: Emptiness just means that all things arise from causes and conditions. If, at death, ignorance remains, then it acts as th...

All I'm wondering is how to reconcile rebirth with emptiness. Study the two truths doctrine. It's not something that should be taken on faith so we ought to analyse it. you can analyse the two truths doctrine but you can't analyse rebirth as such. I need more than that. What aspect of the two truth...

OK, so this is my understanding of what has been said so far: Everything is empty with no real distinction but consciousness gives the illusion of separateness and distinction. Consciousness exists as a mindstream of karmic momentum which is perpetuated by the habit of grasping. The last two statem...

I'm saying that they depend on each other mutually. They affect each other. Yes, this relastionship is described as nāma-rūpa. But I'm saying that the main attribute of consciousness, (which is to act and make decisions) may survive the physical death of the body and exist as some sort of subtle fo...