The Confessional Samadhi of the Lotus Sutra, page 3

C. Clarifying the Proper Method for Entering Into the Bodhimandala for Three Weeks and Cultivating One's Practice with Diligence and a Single Mind

Proper entry into the Bodhimandala¹ entails six days of fasting per month². On these days the Crown Prince and the Four Heavenly Kings with their messengers and all the Good Spirits of Heaven³ come down to humanity to investigate who has been good and who has been evil. Seeing those that have cultivated good, they record it and offer them peace, comfort, and protection. In presenting their signs and marks, they make the practitioner’s mind bear joy and they increase their benefits in the form of good spiritual roots⁴.

When first desiring to enter into the Bodhimandala, the practitioners must resolve with their hearts as follows:

“For the next three weeks, I will have diligence and a single mind, just as the Buddha teaches of.”

Why is this so? When the mind has various thoughts that are adulterated with emotional distress, it is called ‘impure’. If the mind is impure, how can it correspond with Samadhi and the True Path? Therefore one must not be stingy with one’s body or one’s life, and one must have diligence and a single mind for the full three weeks.

Question:
The minds of living beings follow in accordance with the various different activities that they are engaged in. How does one maintain diligence and a single mind?

Answer:
There are two ways to cultivate diligence and a single mind:
     A. Cultivating a single mind in practice
     B. Cultivating a single mind in principle

A. A. Cultivating a single mind in practice

Upon first entering the Bodhimandala, the practitioner makes this thought:

"For three weeks, when worshipping the Buddha, I must worship with each single thought."

The mind must not have any distractions. Whether confessing, walking, chanting the Sutra, or in seated meditation, all is done with a single mind. One practices like this without having any other, distracting thoughts for a period of three weeks. This is called cultivating diligence and a single mind in practice.

B. Cultivating a single mind in principle

Upon first entering the Bodhimandala, the practitioner makes this thought:

"For three weeks, all of my actions will be completely illuminated."

The nature of the various states of mind created is not different. How is this so? As the mind's nature is neither born nor extinguished when worshipping the Buddha, so one must recognize that in doing all of its other various activities, the mind's nature is neither born nor extinguished. Like this, one observes and sees that all states of mind are in totality a single mind. Because the mind's nature has always come from a single source, the practitioner is able to observe the mind's source and the continuity of all the various states of mind. For a period of a full three weeks one does not allow the mind to be limited to aspects. This is called cultivating diligence and a single mind in principle.

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Footnotes:

1. Bodhimandala: The Sanctuary of Enlightenment – Mandala means circle or, more precisely, sphere. The place where the Buddha attains enlightenment; where one practices Buddhism. In The Lotus Sutra, this is the site of the 'Ceremony of Empty Space' & the Treasure Tower of The Lotus Sutra.

2. Six days of fasting per month: The Posadha or Uposatha; the 8th, 14th, 15th, 23rd, 29th, & 30^th (or 1^st) day of the lunar month - Two days each for the full & new moons, & one day each for the first & the last quarter moon; when the spiritual forces, both higher (gods) & lower (demons), are most busy. It is a post-noon fast.

3. The Crown Prince: Sakra Devendra (Indra), Lord of the 2^nd Heaven (Trayastrimsas, the Heaven of the 33 Gods) in the Realm of Desire; associated with the secular world The Four Heavenly Kings: The Arms, or protectors, of heaven; Lords of the First Heaven in the Realm of Desire, the generals of Sakra Devendra who do battle and protect heaven from evil and the Asuras; The Four Generals represent Wealth, Prosperity, Alertness, and Strength. 'and all the Good Spirits of Heaven': (J. Shoten zenjin) All the gods & spirits in the realm of heaven that look out after and protect humanity, and report to Sakra Devendra (the Will of Heaven, lord of the self and the Realm of Desire) on all the good & evil done in the world. The Heaven of the 33 Gods (Trayastrimsas), the heaven that watches over those in the secular world.

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