What are some of the meanings of myo

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illarraza
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Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:30 am

What are some of the meanings of myo

Post by illarraza »

In the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra we read that Myo means: "To open"; "to revive"; and "fully endowed".

"...Coming now to the character myō, the Lotus Sutra says, “This sutra opens the gate of expedient means and shows the form of true reality.” The Great Teacher Chang-an states, “Myō means to reveal the depths of the secret storehouse.” The Great Teacher Miao-lo says of this, “To reveal means to open.” Hence the character myō means to open."

"Myō means to revive, that is, to return to life. For example, it is said that, though the chick of a yellow crane may die, if the mother crane calls the name of Tzu-an, then the dead chick will come back to life. Or, in the case of the fish and shellfish that have been killed because a poisonous bird called a chen has entered the water, it is said that, if they are touched with a rhinoceros horn, they will all be brought back to life. Similarly, persons of the two vehicles, icchantikas, and women were described in the sutras that preceded the Lotus Sutra as having scorched and killed the seeds that would have allowed them to become Buddhas. But by holding fast to this single character myō, they can revive these scorched seeds of Buddhahood."

No matter how one feels before chanting, even while in the depths of despair, after chanting, one often feels revived with renewed hope, concentration, focus, and positive energy.

"Myō in India is rendered as sad, and in China, as miao. Myō means to be fully endowed, which in turn has the meaning of “perfect and full.” Each word and each character of the Lotus Sutra contains within it all the 69,384 characters that compose the sutra. To illustrate, one drop of the great ocean contains within it the waters of all the various rivers that flow into the ocean, and a single wish-granting jewel, though no bigger than a mustard seed, is capable of showering down the treasures that one could wish for with all the wish-granting jewels.

To give another analogy, plants and trees are withered and bare in autumn and winter, but when the sun of spring and summer shines on them, they put forth branches and leaves, and then flowers and fruit. Before the preaching of the Lotus Sutra, the people in the nine worlds were like plants and trees in autumn and winter. But when the single character myō of the Lotus Sutra shone on them like the spring and summer sun, then the flower of the aspiration for enlightenment blossomed, and the fruit of Buddhahood or rebirth in the pure land emerged.

Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna in his Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom says, “[The Lotus Sutra is] like a great physician who can change poison into medicine.” This quotation occurs in a passage in Great Perfection of Wisdom that explains the virtues inherent in the character myō of the Lotus Sutra. The Great Teacher Miao-lo remarks, “Because it can cure what is thought to be incurable, it is called myō, or wonderful.”

In general, there are four kinds of people who have great difficulty in attaining Buddhahood or rebirth in the pure land. First are those predestined for the two vehicles, second are icchantikas, third are those who cling to the doctrine of void, and fourth are those who slander the Law. But through the Lotus Sutra, all of these people are able to become Buddhas. That is why the Lotus Sutra is called myō. "
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Minobu
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Re: What are some of the meanings of myo

Post by Minobu »

What’s with being born in the pure land ?


I thought this is the pure land.
Something we are to awaken to.
illarraza
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Re: What are some of the meanings of myo

Post by illarraza »

Minobu wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 2:17 pm What’s with being born in the pure land ?


I thought this is the pure land.
Something we are to awaken to.
Before Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the Earth return to this Pure Land, according to the Buddha and Nichiren, we go to the "intermediate" (or latent) Pure Land of Eagle Peak for 49 days before rebirth. That is why we memorialize the 49th day.

Mark
illarraza
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Re: What are some of the meanings of myo

Post by illarraza »

"Myō is the name given to the mystic nature of life, and hō, to its manifestations. Renge, which means lotus flower, is used to symbolize the wonder of this Law. If we understand that our life at this moment is myō, then we will also understand that [all] life is the Mystic Law. This realization is the mystic kyō, or sutra." - Nichiren
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