Nembutsu Practice

Let's say you've learned enough about Buddhism that you are now eager to begin practicing but you find yourself isolated and without a chance to learn how to practice. Many beginners are in this situation: where can I find someone who will teach me, down in the West Texas town of El Paso, or in Klamath Falls, or in Harrisonburg?

What you need in this situation is a practice you can do now that will bring real benefit, one that will help you create the causes and conditions that will put you next to an authentic teacher of Dharma. Nembutsu is a practice like this: open to the public and very profound. Here is how to do it:

Nembutsu is the mindful repetition of the name of Amitabha Buddha. You will need to be mindful of three aspects in this practice: your body, your speech, and your mind.

With your body, move mindfully with the understanding that the Buddha Amitabha is present and that your surroundings are ultimately a pure land, that you inhabit a sacred place where realization comes easily and all beings are blessed. During formal practice periods, we do nembutsu while walking mindfully. It is quite alright to do nembutsu while washing dishes, cooking, cleaning, or carrying on your other ordinary tasks so long as you can maintain the pure view of your location as being in essence inseparable from Amitabha's pure land. Do not fidget or fuss with extraneous things.  Turn off the television, the radio, the blackberry, the internet; cut away extraneous distractions and focus on the essential. Keep an upright posture and relax: not too loose, not too tight.

With your speech, gently repeat the name of Amitabha Buddha again and again like a flowing river. It need not be loud. If necessary, say the nembutsu with "the tongue of the mind," which is to say, in your imagination only. In Tendai, we recite it as Namu Amidabu, and this sounds like Nah Moo Ah Mee Dah Boo (you know the sound of "a" in "apple"? don't use that sound. Use the "ah" sound as in "open up and say 'ah'". If the pronunciation is difficult, send me an email and we can work on it.) It is possible to say this a million or two million times over and not exhaust the benefit of it. Just keep going.

With your mind, be very aware that Amidabha Buddha is near you. You can visualize Amitabha above your head as a standing Buddha emanating very bright clear light. Wherever this light touches and penetrates becomes purified of all negative past karma, and what is more, the seeds of bodhicitta are planted in the minds of all beings touched by it. As your practice strengthens, extend this Buddha-power to all corners of all worlds until Amitabha's pure light touches and blesses all without exception (your neighborhood, your town, your region, your nation, the continent where you live, the planet Earth, the cosmos) with no exceptions: the people who have helped you and the ones that have hurt you, the ones you like or don't like, all the beings from the cancer ward to the pigs in the slaughter to your daughter's classroom. All of them.

Studying images of Amitabha can help you get started and get inspired. If you put yourself into this practice one hundred percent, it begins to take on a life of its own and becomes more real than a heartbreak or a toothache. Too see this, however, you must try and not hold back.

The great Ch'an master Hsuan Hua made some profound comments on recitation practice. I'll repeat them here for your consideration:

Your goal is to dispense with all extraneous thoughts and to consolidate your thoughts into one mindful thought of the Buddha. If you don't have extraneous thoughts, you won't have any evil thoughts, and when nothing evil is arising in your mind, you're on the road to goodness.

(Surangama Sutra commentary, p. 231)

Finally, I would like to dispel a concern many beginners express when introduced to nembutsu practice: how do I know Amitabha Buddha is real and not just another bit of make-believe? My answer: Earnestly put it into practice and see which is more real, the body of Amitabha or your own aging body; your everyday distracted mind or Amitabha's enlightened mind; your everyday contradictory and not-always-perfectly-honest speech or the pure teaching of Amitabha Buddha.

In reality, your nature is no different from Amitabha's, and with practice, all the enlightened characteristics we associate with Amitabha arise in you. This is a method for accomplishing it, and it is free for you to try. I encourage you to do just that, to realize the nature of mind and be of real and lasting help to all who suffer.

Contemplation: Tendai Daishi's Endonsho

After reviewing the guidelines for this practice, take the following as your contemplation:

The perfect and sudden calming and contemplation from the very beginning takes ultimate reality as its object. No matter what the object of contemplation might be, it is seen to be identical to the middle. There is nothing that is not true reality. When one fixes the mind on the dharmadhatu as object and unifies one’s mindfulness with the dharmadhatu as it is, then there is not a single sight nor smell that is not the middle way. The same goes for the realm of self, the realm of Buddha, and the realm of living beings. Since all aggregates and sense-accesses of body and mind are thusness, there is no suffering to be cast away. Since nescience and the afflictions are themselves identical with enlightenment, there is no origin of suffering to be eradicated. Since the two extreme views are the middle way and false views are the right way, there is no path to be cultivated. Since samsara is identical with nirvana, there is no cessation to be achieved. Because of the intrinsic inexistence of suffering and its origin, the mundane does not exist; because of the inexistence of the path and its cessation, the supramundane does not exist. A single, unalloyed reality is all there is – no entities whatever exists outside of it. That all entities are by nature quiescent is called “calming”; that this nature, though quiescent, is ever luminous, is called “contemplation”. Though a verbal distinction is made between earlier and later stages of practice, there is no ultimate duality, no distinction between them. This is what is called “the perfect and sudden calming and contemplation.

Donner, N. and Stevenson, D (1993) The Great Calming and Contemplation: A study and annotated translation of Chih-i’s mo-ho chih-kuan. Honolulu; A Kuroda Institute Book: 112-114.

Ennin's Diary: Full Text Available Online

Ennin, also known as Jikaku Daishi, is an important historical figure and a great bodhisattva.  He was a direct disciple of the founder of Tendai Buddhism in Japan, Saicho, and also spent a significant amount of time in China mastering the esoteric teachings known as Vajrayana in Tibet and as mikkyo in Japan.  He made great sacrifices along the way; his commitment to the teachings and to the benefit of all beings is exemplary. 

A translation of Ennin's diary has been made available free online.  I strongly encourage anyone with an interest in Buddhism, and especially those who are sangha members, to give it a read.  It is a record of one person's travels in a very turbulent time in Chinese history, and also of his spiritual training.  Find it here:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

(the scanning work was done by committee, which is why we have six files instead of one).

May all beings benefit!

Coming Attractions: Series on the Bodhisattva Precepts

In 2013, our Sunday morning Dharma talks and discussions will be centered around a text known as the Brahma Net Sutra, translated most recently into English by Martine Batchelor and published as The Path of Compassion (available at Amazon and other fine retailers; check bookfinder.com for used copies). 

This text is of central importance to us for practical reasons.  It directs our attention to the fundamental matter of conducting ourselves as bodhisattvas in the world.  We will use this text to provoke this question from many different perspectives:  how ought one to conduct one's life, to act in the world, in order to fulfill the Buddha-path?

Also, this text is of great historical and doctrinal importance to Tendai Buddhism.  The founder of our school in Japan, Saicho (also known as Dengyo Daishi, as he is referred to in our sutra service), built the training and ordination program that became the Tendai school on the foundation of the Brahma Net Precepts.  One might say that the specific characteristics of Tendai Buddhism, this is among the most distinctive.  The Brahma Net Precepts are big part of what make Tendai Buddhism Tendai Buddhism.

Martine Batchelor's translation of this sutra is valuable to us for a number of reasons.  The introduction is lengthy, and while it is particularly appropriate for beginners, experienced practitioners will also learn from it.  I encourage everyone to find a copy, read it, reflect on it seriously, and join us for a discussion on this remarkable cluster of teachings. 

It is not necessary to "do the homework" to participate in and benefit from the Dharma discussion.  But as with so many Dharma practices, you get out of it what you put into it...

I look forward to cultivating the highest intentions for 2014 with you.

Contemplation: Awaken! Take Heed!

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your object of contemplation:

Let me respectfully remind you:
Life and death are of supreme importance.
Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost.
Each of us should strive to awaken.
Awaken!
Take heed.  Do not squander your life.

The "Evening Gatha" as recited at Tendai Buddhist Institute

Contemplation: Basis of International Tendai

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your object of contemplation:

I propose the basis of International Tendai, for laity and ordained, should be awakening of the participant through practices, devotion, and study. This in turn leads to positive contributions to self, family, society, and the environment, engaged service to others, integration of the sacred and the provisional to attain peace and equanimity on earth and an assurance of liberation, now and in the future.

from the paper "Tendai Overseas and its Future" by Monshin Paul Naamon, given at the Commemorative Special Symposium for the 40th Anniversary of Tendai Buddhism Overseas, near Mt Hiei, Japan.  

An Introduction to the Sutra Service; Or, There Are No "Empty" Rituals

We have begun practicing our sutra service on Sunday mornings (and I hope you can join us).  I would like to offer a few words of introduction and description of the service in order to show how it works as a meditation practice, and how it can inform one's everyday life in a way that is deeply meaningful and helpful to oneself and others.  This is important because many of our sangha members have not had the opportunity to participate in this type of practice yet, due to limitations on our space and time that are no longer relevant.

I should address the sentiment I often hear from people who are interested in Buddhism but positively averse to anything that resembles a "ritual."  In our practice, there are no "empty rituals;" we are not indulging in some kind of rote exercise in followerdom or, what may be worse, lux exoticism.  On the contrary:  all Buddhist practices (and for that matter nearly everything we do on a day-to-day basis) are precisely rituals that make meaning for us, that give some kind of insight into how to conduct our lives.  The purpose of engaging in them is not to act the part of the Better Buddhist; Lisa Bright at Earth Sangha is right to insist that Buddhism, in the end, is not about Buddhism, but about the big picture.

Listen:  The purpose of engaging in these practices, the sutra service included, is to make it possible for us to be less and less bound by forces of habit that are out of our control, and more and more capable of conducting ourselves in an awake and creative way in every moment. 

The sutra service shows us how to do that, how to actualize our capacity for awakening in each moment.  It gives an outline for how to transform one's day, week, and year into an intentional practice, meditation-in-action, enlightened conduct.  It takes little imagination to see how the pieces fit together, especially with a few pointers.

After the service opens, the leader and the sangha take on the character of a chorus.  We recite all this together harmoniously.  From the start, the sutra service is an exercise in taking refuge in the right things (the wisdom of the three jewels) and not the wrong ones (distractions, harmful habits, untrustworthy projects of this world).  The service begins with this decision regarding what we, as a group value.  We choose to value the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha's teachings.  And we choose to value each other.  We recite together certain verses that have Japanese titles for convenience (translation for these would be cumbersome and inelegant), but we recite the verses themselves in English.  Here are the main points, in order (and there is a logic to the order in which we recite these--it is not as though this is a random assortment of pieties, as some may assume):

Sangemon. Here, we take honest stock of ourselves:  where we have been, and where we are going.  We recognize the habits of body, speech, and mind that are not helpful to ourselves or others (think, for instance, of envy, pride, hatred, greediness, closed-mindedness...), and we affirm that we do not wish to follow that path any longer.  Instead, we wish to do the next part:

Kaikyoge.  In this verse we rejoice in the opportunity to cultivate the qualities of wisdom and compassion.  This opportunity is not to be taken for granted, so we affirm that we will open our minds and seek the root while we can in the here and now.  We cultivate the aspiration to Wake Up.

What we have done so far sets the foundation for anything else one might do.  If one reflects on Sangemon and Kaikyoge at the start of one's day, then anything else one might do becomes a form of meditation insofar as one is able to maintain the thread of awareness and to keep the aspiration going.  This is one way in which the formal service can teach us a thing or two.  For the purposes of the service, the Thing To Do is to recite a selection of the Buddha's teachings, affirming, again, that this is what we value and what we wish to cultivate in ourselves and in our world.  Hence:

The Sutra.  Usually, we recite the Heart Sutra in our service.  Tendai temples usually recite the Lotus Sutra (selections of it) and the Amitabha Sutra as well, among others.  The point is that in announcing the teachings of the Buddha, we become like a chorus of Buddhas, telling the truth  about our condition.  After this and one or two other elements like it...

Hogo.  This verse looks back into historical time, to our spiritual ancestors Shakyamuni Buddha, Chih-i (sometimes spelled Zhiyi and referred to as Tendai Daishi), and Saicho (sometimes referred to as Dengyo Daishi).  All three of them told the truth in difficult times.  In spirit, we are looking back in history to all those men and women who have affirmed the path of wisdom and compassion, and showing gratitude and respect.  The last line of the verse looks to the future; we affirm our intention to bring this path forward into time, benefiting all.

Soeko closes the chanting portion of the service.  In this verse, we dedicate the merits of the practice we have done.  What does that mean?  When one does anything virtuous, a certain sort of positive energy or momentum is generated.  Then what?  We could choose to be stingy and horde all that positivity to ourselves, claiming for ourselves whatever good comes of it.  Or we could be negligent and just let it dissipate into nothingness.  Instead of these alternatives, we choose to share it and multiply it by affirming that these merits belong to all of animated life, so that together, we may "progress along the Buddha path of liberation."

Just as we close the service with Hogo and Soeko, one can close one's day reflecting a sense of gratitude into the past, and a sense of purpose into the future, and dedicate whatever virtuous acts one has engaged in to the benefit of all:  may these deeds become a cause for the awakening of all beings.  With this attitude, each day can become a meaningful ritual rather than a jumbled and out-of-control series of actions imposed on you; one can reflect back on each day without regret at having wasted time or opportunity.

And that is why I say that the sutra service demonstrates or models the Buddhist path of meditation in action.  It shows how to lay the groundwork for a life that has purpose, dignity, and joy.  And that is why I encourage everyone to participate fully in the sutra service.  (I should add, parenthetically, that there is much more to discover in the service than what I have gestured toward here...)

Enjoy your practice!

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 26

When it comes to Chapter 26 of the Lotus Sutra, "Study Questions" are not exactly possible from the point of view of practice.  This is because the practice described in it is not amenable to discussion.  It is not a teaching to be contemplated; it is something to be tried and experienced.  You have to be "game" for it, willing to try with an open mind.  By analogy:  you can try to question and discuss what the flavor of honey is, debate it and dissect it conceptually, take a stand for or against this or that characteristic you ascribe to it... or you can be smart about it and just taste some honey yourself. 

This practice is the chanting of dharani.  Each dharani is a series of syllables, not unlike a spell or incantation, that is charged with a certain capacity.  For instance, in Chapter 26, a number of dharani are transmitted to the assembly by different bodhisattvas, with the approval of Buddha Shakyamuni, in order to protect those who practice the teachings of the Lotus Sutra.  Chanting dharani is a spiritual practice that can serve a particular function in ordinary life, but are ultimately intended as means to the realization of the Dharma.

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 24

Chapter 24 of the Lotus Sutra tells the story of someone named Wonderful Voice bodhisattva (Gadgadasvara in Sanskrit, Myo-on in Japanese).  Much of the chapter gives an elaborate frame narrative that describes Wonderful Voice's intentions toward and relationship with Shakyamuni Buddha.  The portion of this chapter that is likely of most relevance to our sangha's current survey of the sutra overall is this one, in the words of Shakyamuni Buddha:

"This Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva protects all living beings in this Saha-World.  He transforms himself into one or another of these various living beings in this Saha-World and expounds this sutra to all living beings without reducing his super-natural powers, [his power of] transformation, and his wisdom.  He illumines this Saha-World with the many [rays of light] of his wisdom, and causes all living beings to know what they should know.  He also does the same in the innumerable worlds of the ten quarters, that is, in as many worlds as there are sands in the River Ganges.  He takes the shape of a Sravaka and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Sravaka.  He takes the shape of a Pratyekabuddha and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Pratyekabuddha.  He takes the shame of another Bodhisattva and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Pratyekabuddha.  He takes the shape of a Buddha and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Buddha.  He takes these various shapes according to the capacities of those who are to be saved" (page 313).

Does this recall to memory any themes you have encountered so far in your study of this sutra?  Is it directly in line with these themes, or does it introduce something new or unfamiliar to you? 

Keep an eye on this idea of a Bodhisattva appearing in different forms to suit the capacities of those who need help in future chapters of this sutra.

Lay Leadership Training for Tendai Practitioners

This is big news.  The Lay Leadership program will give an avenue for training and practice for laypersons in our sangha, which will deepen and enrich sangha life for all of us.  I could not be more excited by this, which is why I bring it up here.  The vision for the future of our community internationally included here is itself worth reflecting on.

The following is reproduced entirely from the June 2013 Shingi, which is the newsletter of the Tendai Buddhist Institute.   The author is my teacher, Monshin Naamon.

I propose the pillars of International Tendai, for laity and ordained, should be:

1. Spiritual awakening of the participant through practices, devotion and study,
2. positive contributions to self, family, society, and the environment,
3. engaged service to others 
4.  integration of the sacred and the provisional to attain peace and equanimity on earth and an assurance of liberation from dukkha, now and in future lives."

We have already accomplished some of the goals in a number of ways. We have lay and ordained members on the Tendai-shu New York Betsuin board of director's. We include lay participation in the daily and meditation services. We educate the laity at a very informed level through activities, such as the monthly sutra class, as well as the weekly discussions.

  

A continued move in this direction is the Lay Leadership Program. This program is a one year long training program that is intended to bring appropriate lay people into a more active role in the temple and sangha experience, and provide leadership at the lay level for Tendai in North America. In many ways such people would be referred to as shinja in Japan.

The training will provide the lay leaders skills to assist the temple or sangha leader in organizing and hosting services and practices. They will be taught how to lead meditations, set up the ken-mitsudan and other ceremonial elements for services, maintenance and other ongoing roles, and perform various sangha member functions.

The program will encompass a one year long period. The first year will include a four-day long leadership retreat (this year starting the Wednesday evening of July 17th through the Sunday afternoon of July 21st), attend at least two retreats, attend the New Year's eve service, and attend a concluding training session next summer at a time similar to this year's leadership retreat. Additionally, there will be online training each month for which the participant will be responsible.

In order to participate in the training a person must have been a member in good standing of a Tendai sangha for at least two years, must receive the recommendation of the sangha or temple leader, have taken refuge, and submit a formal application.

As mentioned before this is not training to be a priest and does not result in ordination. Ordination is physically and emotionally demanding.  It is clearly not for everyone.  However, the lay leadership program, while not being physically and emotionally demanding requires a commitment to the Buddhist Path and to one's sangha brothers and sisters. It can be a very rewarding activity and provides a mechanism by which one will be rewarded with a deepening of their spiritual path.

If you are interested in participating please contact Monshin for an application and more information. This is another step in Tendai's development outside of Japan. I look forward to exploring this new dimension with dedicated sangha members.

In peace and love,  

Gassho . . . Monshin

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 23

This is about trust, faith, and commitment:  sticking to something that is sacred, something you value, even when you do not know how it will turn out, and even if it means making intensive sacrifices of one kind or another to make it work.  That is Chapter 23, which is presented as a past-life story of Medicine King Bodhisattva. 

As the story goes, in a time long ago one Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva made an offering of his body to a Buddha named Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue by consuming fine incense and fragrant oils and setting his body alight with the pure intention of dedicating himself to the Dharma.  There was no way to know how this method would turn out, but in the story, it worked:  he was transformed, radiating intense light for an exceptionally long interval of time, and after finally dying, he took rebirth again in the company of the same Buddha.  After building many multitudes of stupas (monuments) for that Buddha's own mortal remains, Gladly-Seen Bodhisattva burnt off his own arms as an offering out of devotion to those stupas, again without knowing in advance how this would work.  His body was restored to health, intact, and he learned from the experience.

Sakyamuni Buddha goes on in this chapter to state that "Anyone who aspires for, and wishes to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, should offer a light to the stupa of the Buddha by burning a finger or a toe" (304).  There are Buddhist communities in which this practice is taken literally to this day; one can speculate that the self-immolations that have become famous in the last hundred years in Buddhist countries may have some relation to this practice.  In any event,  I do not wish for anyone to do this in our sangha.  Instead, I suggest what may be more difficult sacrifices:

*Offer your doubts and fears to the Buddha in your heart and set them on fire, imagining them to smell like sweet incense and to shine with the light of ten thousand suns.

*Offer your ignorance, arrogance, short-sightedness, cowardice, closed-mindedness, selfishness, hatred, jealousy, impatience, pride, aggression, and any other poisons of the heart in the same way, in a spirit of devotion.

*Respect the multitude of sentient beings you meet as though they contain the living relics of the Buddha in the way this ancient Bodhisattva did.  Because they do.  Use both arms if you can.

This leaves only one question:  what remains after these poisons are burned away and resolve into emptiness?  What is left behind?

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 22

Chapter 22 of the Lotus Sutra is very brief.  In it, Buddha Shakyamuni entrusts or transmits (depending on the translation) the teachings to the assembly.  He is asking them to "keep, read, recite, and expound" the teachings presented in this Sutra.  Following this, many of the supernatural elements that so prominently feature in the second half of the sutra are sent away from sight, including the Buddha Ancient Treasures.

Practically speaking, what does it mean to keep and expound or uphold this teaching?  In terms of practice or conduct in everyday life, what is the Buddha asking for?  What kind of practice is outlined in this Sutra, as you understand it? 

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 21

Chapter 21 of the Lotus Sutra describes the miraculous supernatural activities of the Buddhas.  These are capacities that exceed the ordinary, repetitive, and mundane expectations and limits we experience in everyday samsaric life.  Of interest in this chapter is the relationship between this extraordinary Buddha-capacity and the opportunities for Buddhist practice that present themselves in this life.

The first kind of supernatural activity of the Buddhas is described here (all quotations from the Murano translation of the Lotus Sutra):

[The Buddha] stretched out his long and broad tongue upwards until the tip of it reached the World of Brahman.  Then he emitted rays of light with an immeasurable variety of colours from his pores.  The light illumined all the worlds of the ten quarters.  The Buddhas who were sitting on the lion-like seats under the jewelled trees also stretched out their broad and long tongues and emitted innumerable rays of light.  Sakyamuni Buddha and the Buddhas under the jewelled trees displayed these  supernatural powers of theirs for one hundred thousand years.  Then they pulled back their tongues, coughed at the same time, and snapped their fingers.  These two sounds [of coughing and snapping] reverberated over the Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters, and the ground of those worlds quaked in the six ways. (pp. 292-293)

I have been taught that the long, broad tongue of the Buddha represents the teachings of the Buddha s represented in the sutras and commentaries:  a deep and extensive canon of material, far-reaching.  Reflect on the light and sounds and unnaturally flexible duration of time described in this passage.  What might the different elements here mean if understood as symbolic language?  What is this passage attempting to communicate in its imagery?

The second kind of supernatural activity of the Buddhas is a bit more subtle.

all the teachings of the Tathagata, all the unhindered, supernatural powers of the Tathagata, and all the profound achievements of the Tathagata are revealed and expounded explicitly in this sutra (p. 294).

Review what you have learned so far in this sutra.  What are the most important achievements and capacities of the Buddha as presented in this sutra?  Just what teaching is the Buddha asking his disciples to follow, and how is he instructing them to practice here?  This chapter may offer a helpful point of departure in reflecting on this.

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 20

Lotus Sutra chapter 20 tells the story of a bodhisattva called Never Despising (a previous incarnation of Buddha Shakyamuni).  This bodhisattva's life describes a helpful and profound practice that benefits oneself and others.  I encourage everyone to work with this practice.  Here is the gist of it:

Bodhisattva Never Despising responded internally to anyone he met in the same way, regardless of whether they agreed with him or treated him unkindly:

"I do not despise you
Because you will practice the Way
And become Buddhas."

Lotus Sutra, p. 289, Murano translation.

What does this mean?  It means that in all situations, Never Despising refused to give up on anyone as worthless, valueless, or hopeless.  He refused to assume anyone was, in the last analysis, his enemy, or some source of evil.  Instead, he recognized in everyone without exception their capacity for awakening, a capacity he himself was cultivating.  Put differently, he understood the spiritual unity of all life, and made it his practice to recognize this in everyone.

How is this helpful?  Well, for starters:

Those who were attached to [wrong] views
Were led into the Way
To the enlightenment of the Buddha
By this Bodhisattva.

Lotus Sutra, p. 290

Through this practice, Never Despising helped those around him transform hatred and ignorance into wisdom. 

This week's study question is rhetorical:  are you willing to give this practice a try?

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 18

The topic of Lotus Sutra chapter 18 is rejoicing in practice and in learning.  Rejoicing is a spiritual practice in its own right.  It also has a role in magnifying, if you will, the energy or effect of the activities one rejoices in.  Karma is like that:  for an action to be complete, one first forms an intention to do something, then carries out the intended act, and finally takes satisfaction in having done it.  Two thirds of all karma (at least) is mental and volitional, having to do with intentions regarding future actions and attitudes regarding past actions.

All of this means that intentionally and earnestly celebrating the attainments of others amounts to participating in that attainment, karmically-speaking.  Rejoicing in one's own virtuous actions, one's Buddhist activities, redoubles the strength of the seeds planted.  Seeds bear fruit:

Needless to say, boundless will be the merits
Of the person who hears this sutra with all his heart,
And expounds its meanings,
And acts according to its teachings.

Lotus Sutra, Murano translation, p. 268

I encourage you to rejoice in the wholesome deeds and activities of others, and the good qualities of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. 

Having heard much of the Lotus Sutra and hopefully taken it to heart, what is to be rejoiced in?  Reflect on what you have learned so far:  How can you incorporate these teachings into your spiritual practice?  Into your everyday conduct with others and on your own?

Contemplation: Shoya

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your object of contemplation:

I expound the transient verse
in the early evening--Listen!
Illusion  is deep enough and bottomless;
the ocean of life and death has no limits.
The ship that takes us from this life's suffering
is not yet departing;
now is not the time to sleep.

Shoya, as recited at Tendai Buddhist Institute.

Contemplation: Kokon

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your object of contemplation:

I expound the transient verse in the early evening.
Listen!

Today's sun is passing, our life is getting older and today,

what joyfulness remains,
is like a fish living in a teaspoon of water.
Now everyone endeavor diligently to rescue the burning intellect;
be mindful that life is suffering, empty, and transient.
Don't be self-indulgent.
Follow the mindful path.

Kokon, as recited at Tendai Buddhist Institute

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 16

Buddha Shakyamuni, at the end of Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra, states:

I am always thinking:
"How shall I cause all living beings
To enter into the unsurpassed Way
And quickly become Buddhas?"

Murano translation, p. 249

Chapter 16 is a significant and often-discussed chapter.  In it, Buddha Shakyamuni makes two startling claims that fly in the face of convention and expectation.  To summarize:  while the Buddha  appears to live and die as an ordinary man, in reality, this is simply a trick or a ruse; the real Buddha is by nature very, very ancient, not dying and not taking birth, but the personal or historical Buddha appears to be mortal.  Why does the Buddha take this appearance?  So that beings will not become complacent in practice or take the teachings for granted in their present lives.

Question: What Buddha is eternal and always abiding, according to the teachings you have read so far in the Lotus Sutra?  On behalf of whom or what is Buddha Shakyamuni speaking here?

Contemplation: Awaken! Take Heed!

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your object of contemplation:

Let me respectfully remind you:
Life and death are of supreme importance.
Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost.
Each one of us should strive to awaken.
Awaken!
Take heed!
Do not squander your life!

as recited at Tendai Buddhist Institute

Contemplation: All Is Integrated

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your object of contemplation:

with the threefold contemplation in a single thought [realizing that reality simultaneously has the threefold aspects of emptiness, conventional existence, and the Middle], one [realizes that] all is integrated and that there is not one color or scent that is not the Buddha-nature.  Without traversing the three aeons one immediately completes the practice of a [Bodhi]sattva, and without transcending one thought, one directly approaches the fruit of [the ultimate Buddha Maha]vairocana.  One fulfills perfect awakening on a seat of space.  The triple body [of the Buddha] is perfectly complete, and there is no one [who is] superior.   This result is truly the goal of this [Tendai] school.

Gishin,  The Collected Teachings of the Tendai Lotus School,  pp. 135-136