Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘The Buddha Lands of the ten directions are just dharma blossoms. Here, all buddhas of the ten directions in the past and present who abide in unsurpassed, complete enlightenment turn dharma blossoms and are turned by dharma blossoms. In this way there is the original practice of bodhisattvas, not turning back or veering away; there is the most profound, immeasurable wisdom of buddhas; there is the serene, subtle samadhi difficult to comprehend and difficult to enter.’ (Shobogenzo Hokke Ten Hokke)

The Dogen study group has moved onto this fascicle (which also provided the quote from Huineng yesterday), which is, when we read the footnotes, an exposition of the Lotus Sutra. The notes from the Nishijima and Cross translation express this most poetically, referring to the title of the fascicle:

‘Hō means “Dharma,” “the law of the universe,” or the universe itself. Ke means “flowers.” So hokke means “the universe that is like flowers.” The full title of the Lotus Sutra, Myōhōrengekyō (Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma), is usually abbreviated to Hokkekyō. So hokke also suggests the wonderful universe as manifested in the Lotus Sutra. Ten means “to turn,” or “to move.” So hokke-ten-hokke means “the wonderful universe that is like flowers is moving the wonderful universe that is like flowers itself.”‘