From: sari@jungle.Berkeley.EDU (Sari Wilde)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Nichiren and the Lotus Sutra
Date: 17 Aug 92 05:40:37 GMT
Article-I.D.: qiclab.1992Aug17.235940.19942
Organization: ----


	
	I write in response to questons asked by Wong Weng Fai July 16.

>1.  How does the philosophy you outline make the Japanized Chinese rendition
>of "Namu Myoho Renge Kyo" the ultimate mantra?  A logical conclusion from what
>you said shold be that any mantra (including Nembutsu) will do if the mind is
>concentrated the right way.

	I tried to write about the *experience* of Buddhism in a simple, plain-
speaking manner.  The "concentrated" mind of which you speak results from the
chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and does not occur by chance or haphazardly
nor, in my experience (prior to chanting I had tried Zen, Kudalini and Hatha
yoga, Vedic and Tantric studies, macrobiotics, Quaker meditation, etc.), from
other pursuits.  Indeed, I had concluded prior to chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo
that Buddhism did not work and did not relate to daily life or the world today.

	In the following discourse, four other questions asked by Weng Fai will
also be answered:

>2.  Why is the mantra and the gohonzon even more important than the sutra
>which inspired it?  In particular, the Lotus never mentions this "fact".

>4.  Why is Nichiren the only who who understand [sic] true Buddhism?  Why is 
>his way the ONLY way?

>6.  Why the intolerance?  Why the aggression?...It is one thing to disagree
>with another's philosophy, its [sic] quite another to say, 'Nembutsu leads
>one to hell, Zen is evil, Shingon destroys the country and Ritsu are traitors'.>...

>...Furthermore, how does the Renge mantra and the gohonzon come in?  What has 
>the 7 characters written by a person who is dead and the chanting of the "One
>True Mantra" got to do with one's enlightenment?  Isn't these [sic] "external"
>just like the learning of sutras?

	Nichiren wrote in a letter ("Banishment to Sado," MW 5, p. 123) [Since
all my material quoting Nichiren comes from "The Major Writings of Nichiren
Daishonin," Vols. 1 - 6, Nichiren Shoshu Int'l. Center, I'll abbreviate "MW 1-
6."] that "my original aim in studying was to master the Buddhist teachings, 
so that I might attain Buddhahood and thereby also save the people to whom I
am indebted."  The principal difference between Nichiren and other Buddhist
innovators involved not only his ability to read and interpret the sutras ex-
pounded by Shakyamuni Buddha but also his "innate capability" to form/establish
a practice whereby Gautama's Dharma could be achieved.  If a student of 
Buddhism reads and studies the sutras of Shakyamuni, inconsistencies seemingly
appear.  Nichiren taught us to read the sutras exceedingly carefully to deter-
mine the truth.  For example, ("The Essence of the Juryo Chapter," MW 3, p. 32-
33):  "The Buddha also stated, 'However, men of devout faith, the time is 
limitless and boundless--a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand,
nayuta aeons--since I in fact attained Buddhahood.'  [Lotus Sutra, Ch. 16]  
With this single proclamation, he refuted as great falsehoods the words of the
Kegon Sutra, which states that Shakyamuni attained Buddhahood for the first
time in this world; the Agon sutras, which speak of his 'first attainment of 
the path'; the Vimalakirti Sutra, which reads, 'For the first time the Buddha
sat beneath the tree'; the Daijuku Sutra, which states, 'It is sixteen years 
since the Buddha first attained enlightenment'; the Dainichi Sutra, which de-
scribes the Buddha's enlightenment as having taken place 'some years ago when
I sat in the place of meditation'; the Ninno Sutra, which refers to the 
Buddha's enlightenment as an event of 'twenty-nine years ago,'; the Muryogi 
Sutra, which states, 'Previously I went to the place of meditation'; and the
Hoben Chapter of the Lotus Sutra, which says, 'When I first sat in the place of
meditation.'"

	Not only Nichiren but also other great interpreters of the Buddha's
sutras, T'ien-t'ai, Dengyo, and Maio-lo, for example, discerned a division of 
the sutras according to the capacity of the people to understand Buddhism.  If
we fail to understand the *process* by which Shakyamuni taught, we relegate
ourselves to interpreting Buddhism in a nonsensical fashion with no real effect
in this world.  Nichiren said, ("Questions and Answers on Embracing the Lotus
Sutra," MW 6, p. 20) "Therefore, the Great Teacher Chisho stated in his commen-
tary, 'If one claims that there is no division of Mahayana and Hinayana among
the sutras and no distinction of partial and perfect among relevations of the 
truth, and therefore accepts all the words of the various teachers, then the
preachings of the Buddha will have been to no purpose.'"  We preliminarily find
in this quote also the reason Nichiren so vigorously stated his position, the
supremacy of the Lotus Sutra over all others, and confrontationally challenged
other sects who, in fact, denigrated the Lotus.

	Nichrien revered and listened clearly to Shakyamuni's words.  At the 
age of 72, Shakyamuni, after 42 years of preaching, addressed the disciples
assembled before him with some zingers:

	"Honestly discarding the provisional teachings, [I will expound the 
supreme Way]." (Lotus Sutra, Ch. 2)

	"The World-Honored One has long expounded his doctrines and now must
reveal the truth." (LS, Ch. 2)

	"This Lotus Sutra is the secret storehouse of Buddhas.  Among the 
sutras, it hold the highest place." (LS, Ch. 14)

	"The scriptures I preach number in the countless millions.  Among all
those I have preached, now preach, and will preach, this Lotus Sutra is the 
most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand." (LS, Ch. 10)

	"Listen well and hear the Tathagata's secret and his Mystic power....
All gods, men and asuras of this world believe that after leaving the palace
of the Shakyas, the Shakyamuni Buddha seated himself at the place of meditation
not far from the city of Gaya and attained the supreme enlightenment.  However,
men of devout faith, the time is limitless and boundless--a hundred, thousand,
ten thousand, hundred thousand, nayuta kalpas--since I in fact attained 
Buddhahood." (LS, Ch. 16)

	In referring to the quote concerning "most difficult to believe and
the most difficult to understand," Nichiren wrote in "A Comparison of the 
Lotus Sutra and Other Sutras":  "After the death of the Buddha, there were only
three persons who realized the true meaning of this passage of the Lotus Sutra.
In India, Bodhisattva Nagarjuna said in his "Daichido Ron":  '[The Lotus Sutra]
is like a great physician who changes poison into medicine.'...In China, the 
Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai Chih-che interpreted this phrase in light of its con-
text:  'Among all those [sutras] I have preached, now preach and will preach, 
this Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to
understand.'  And in Japan, the Great Teacher Dengyo elaborated on this phrase:
'All the sutras of the first four or the five periods preached in the past, the
Muryogi Sutra now being preached, and the Nirvana Sutra to be preached in the
future, are easy to believe and easy to understand.  This is because the Buddha
taught these sutras in accordance with the capacity of his listeners.  The 
Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and to understand because in it 
the Buddha directly revealed what he had attained.'"  (MW 3, p. 303-4)

	The teachings of Shingon, Nembutsu, Zen, and Ritsu teach Dharma accord-
ing to the people's capacity rather than the Dharma itself revealed only, by
Shakyamuni's own words, in the Lotus Sutra.  These sects do not base their
teachings on the Lotus Sutra.  The Lotus Sutra also states:  "One who refuses
to take faith in this sutra and instead slanders it immediately destroys the
seeds for becoming a Buddha in this world....After they die, they will fall 
into the Avichi Hell."  (LS, Ch. 3)  I claim no credit for this argument which
I borrowed from Nichiren ("Questions and Answers on Embracing the Lotus Sutra,"
MW 5, p. 18-9):  "The Muryogi Sutra says:  '[Because people differ in their 
natures and desires,] I expounded the Law in various ways.  Expounding the Law
in various ways, I made use of the power of expedient means.  But in these more
than forty years, I have not yet revealed the truth.'  Hearing this pronounce-
ment, Bodhisattva Daishogon and the other eighty thousand bodhisattvas replied
in unison, voicing their understanding that '[If one cannot hear of this 
sutra...,] in the end he will never attain supreme enlightenment, even after
the lapse of countless, limitless, inconceivable asogi kalpas.'  The point of
this passage is to make clear that, no matter how much one may aspire to the 
Buddha Way by calling upon the name of Amida Buddha or by embracing the
teachings of the Zen sect--relying on the sutras of the Kegon, Agon, Hodo and
Hannya periods preached by the Buddha during the previous forty years and 
more--he will never succeed in attaining supreme enlightenment, even though a 
countless, limitless, inconceivable number of asogi kalpas should pass....
[The Lotus Sutra] says...'There is the Dharma of only one vehicle.  There are 
not two, nor are there three.'...It also says, 'One who refuses to take faith
in this sutra and instead slanders it immediately destroys the seeds for be-
coming a Buddha in this world.'"

	Nichiren clearly illuminated the basis for a provisional teaching or a
sutra preached according to the people's capacity:  "Although these earlier
sutras may include such statements as 'this is the foremost sutra' or 'this is
the king of sutras,' they are all nevertheless provisional teachings.  One is
not to rely on such pronouncements.  The Buddha himself commented on this 
point when he said, 'Rely on the sutras that are complete and final and not on
those that are not complete and final.' [Nirvana Sutra, Vol. 6]  And the Great
Teacher Miao-lo states in his commentary:  'Though other sutras may call them-
selves the king among sutras, there is none that announces itself as foremost
among all the sutra preached in the past, now being preached, or to be preached
in the future.  Thus one should understand them according to the principle of
"combining, excluding, corresponding and including."'  This passage of commen-
tary is saying in essence that, even if there should be a sutra that calls 
itself the king of sutras, if it does not also declare itself superior to those
sutras that have been preached before and those that shall be preached after,
then one should know that it is a sutra belonging to the category of expedient
teachings.  It is the way of the sutras preached before the Lotus to say 
nothing concerning the sutras that were to be preached in the future.  Only in
the case of the Lotus Sutra, because it is the ultimate and highest statement 
of the Buddha's teachings, do we find a clear pronouncement that this sutra 
alone holds the place of absolute superiority among 'all the sutras I have
preached, now preach, and will preach.'"  (Ibid., p. 21)

	Orthodox Nichiren Shoshu recites two chapters from the Lotus Sutra 
morning and evening.  The first is the Hoben Chapter or second chapter, and
the second is the Juryo Chapter or sixteenth chapter.  In the Hoben, Shakyamuni
repudiated the two Hinayana vehicles of Learning and Realization and the pro-
visional Mahayana vehicle of Bodhisattva and instead proclaims the true goal
of every Buddha is to lead all beings, without discrimination, to the one 
Dharma (Buddhahood) through the One Buddha Vehicle.  In the Juryo, he reveals
that, actually, he attained enlightenment in the remotest, infinite past 
through his Bodhisattva practice and not, as he previously claimed, 40 years
prior in his life as Shakyamuni.  Two important points arise at this juncture.
Through the Hoben and subsequent chapters in the sutra, we come to understand
that all people can attain Buddhahood in their present form--just as they are.
Secondly, we enlarge our perspective on the Buddha from the Hinayana view
that only one Buddha in this one world exists, Shakyamuni, to that of the 
Mahayanist who perceives that Buddhahood does, in fact, mean each one of us is
capable of becoming Buddha.  Daisaku Ikeda in "Buddhism, the First Millennium"
(Kodansha Int'l. Ltd., ISBN 0-87011-321-6, p. 130) describes the Hinayana/
Mahayana differences thusly:  "But, as we have seen, by the time some one
hundred years had passed after the death of Shakyamuni, the traditional
Buddhist organization, with the monastic community as its center, had evolved
into a rigid and generally exclusive group.  Its members, instead of making 
an attempt to spread the teachings of Shakyamuni among the populace as a whole,
devoted all their efforts to the examination of minute points of doctrine.  As
a result, those followers of Buddhism, laymen for the most part, who strove to
put into practice the bodhisattva ideal found themselves increasingly cut off
from the main organization by unbridgeable differences of method and ap-
proach....As a result of these tendencies, enlightenment came to be regarded as
something that exists only on an extremely lofty plane, and the attainment of
Buddhahood accordingly seemed far beyond the grasp of the ordinary monk or 
laymen....The followers of the Mahayana, on the other hand, viewed the Buddha 
as a being very close in existence to themselves.  Anyone who carried out the 
practices of the bodhisattva, exerting himself to bring profit and salvation to
others, could most certainly become a Buddha.  In the Mahayana scriptures, a 
great number of different Buddhas are described, presumably because the Maha-
yana followers were capable of perceiving a variety of Buddhas within their 
own minds and hearts."  Moreover, "The Hinayana concept of only one Buddha for
each world is dramatically contradicted in the Lotus Sutra in chapter eleven,
where a stupa or treasure tower appears floating in the air over the assembly,
and within it are seated side by side Shakyamuni and a second being called the
Taho or Many Treasures Buddha....The vision of the treasure tower springing up
and hanging in the sky, then, is intended to express this principle of the 
ability of all beings to realize through their life force the Buddha worlds
existing within each of them.  At the same time it, and the explanations in the 
chapters that follow it, serves to refute the old concept of 'one Buddha to one
world.'"

	The truly perplexing aspect of the Lotus Sutra for those unable to 
study with Shakyamuni himself remains our inability to access the Dharma 
through his teachings!  Shakyamuni beautifully revealed the potential for and
existence of Buddhahood through the "One Buddha Vehicle," but aside from asking
that the bodhisattvas who sprang up from the open space below the saha world to
protect, read, and expound the sutra (Ch. 15), this Buddha left no means to 
attain this extremely desirable state of Buddhahood.  What exactly does one do 
in a down-to-earth manner in order to attain Buddhahood through the one vehicle?
How does one live?  What exactly does nurturing Buddhahood in ourselves and 
others mean in everyday life?  On what or which basis do we live correctly
producing bodhisattva behavior and results?  Chapter 17 of the Lotus Sutra
excludes practicing the six paramitas by saying that arousing belief and under-
standing in the Lotus Sutra for one moment alone totally eclipses the paramitas
practice for "eighty billion nayuta kalpas."

	Nichiren steeped himself in doctrinal and theoretical studies, and
after many, many arduously long years of studying at the top-flight Buddhist
centers in Japan during his day and strenously perusing Shakyamuni's sutras and
the commentaries, he came to realize that the "One Buddha Vehicle" was con-
tained in chanting "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo."  In "The Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra,"
the question is posed:  "What passages of proof can be cited to show that one
should chant only the daimoku?  Answer:  The eighth volume of the Myoho-renge-
kyo [Kumarajiva's translation] states, 'One who receives and embraces the name
of the Lotus Sutra will enjoy good fortune beyond measure.'  The Sho-hokke-kyo
[Dharmaraksha's translation] says, 'If one hears this sutra and proclaims and
embraces its title, he will enjoy blessings beyond measure.'  And the Tembon-
hoke-kyo [Jnanagupta Dharmagupta's translation] says, 'One who receives and
embraces the name of the Lotus Sutra will enjoy good fortune beyond measure.'
These passages indicate that the good fortune one receives from simply chanting
the daimoku is beyond measure."  (MW 3, p. 8-9)  Again, Nichiren's wisdom 
allowed him to perceive that "the jewel of the character 'myo' contains all the
benefits which Shakyamuni Buddha received by practicing the six paramitas in
his past existences:  the benefits he obtained through the practice of alms-
giving by offering his body to a starving tigress and by giving his life in ex-
change for that of a dove; the benefits he obtained when he was King Shudama,
who, in order to observe the precepts, kept his word though it meant his death;
the benefits he obtained as a hermit called Ninniku by enduring the tortures in-
flicted upon him by King Kari; the benefits he obtained as Prince Nose and as
the hermit Shojari, and all his other benefits.  We...have not formed even
a single good cause, but Shakyamuni, [by bestowing upon us the character 'myo']
has granted us as many benefits as if we ourselves had fulfilled all the prac-
tices of the six paramitas."  ("Letter to Nichimyo Shonin," MW 3, p. 47-8)

	Nichiren's revelation to chant "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo" can be better 
understood in an analogy with the ocean:  one single drop of ocean water 
evinces the salty taste found everywhere in the ocean.  The drop provokes the 
essence of the ocean.  Nichiren designated "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" because: 
"Ultimately, all phenomena are contained within one's life, down to the last
particle of dust.  The nine mountains and the eight seas are encompassed by
one's body; the sun, moon, and myriad stars are contained in one's mind.  How-
ever, [common mortals do not perceive this,] just as the blind do not see 
images reflected in a mirror or as an infant fears neither flood nor fire."
("The Mongol Envoys," MW 5, p. 18)  He continued in a letter entitled "'Thus
I Heard'" that "our contemporaries think of the five characters of Myoho-
renge-kyo only as a name, but this is not correct.  It is the entity, that is,
the heart of the Lotus Sutra....Myoho-renge-kyo is neither the scriptural text
nor its meaning but the heart of the entire sutra."  (MY 3, p. 248)

	Indeed, we are often told in SGI that our own life contains the
universe; to come to know our life is to know the universe.  Buddhist princi-
ples live not theoretically but as manifested "truths" (revelations of life)
in everyday activities and life for those who develop the "concentrated" mind
or Buddha's eye.  Nichiren taught for those in his own age and for all those to
follow that the Buddha's life in no way is separate from that of the common
mortal.  Man inhabits a corporal body which always functions, however seemingly
"spiritually pure," as an animal in this world.  Do not eat and you will even-
tually die.  Eat and you will eventually excrete.  The attainment of Buddha-
hood does not lie in another life, another existence, or in another time but
in the efforts you make this very minute as a human being.  Your thoughts and
desires are your most valuable possessions because they become the fuel which
propels a person to chant and overcome difficulty or attain a goal, and that
chanting arouses the sleeping Buddha inside to function each day at work, at
home, at the opera, walking downtown, etc.  Purely trying to "focus" or "con-
centrate" the mind in certain ways or "behave" spiritually at certain times
implies a divorce or separation from life itself. This reasoning explains why
your uncle believes he can and should chant for any material object he wants.
Many people have misunderstood this principle in western culture because
spirituality is most often relegated to those areas of life involving abstrac-
tions of human qualities or life rather than real life situations.  Buddhism,
instead, invests the mundane, everyday life of man with the capability to mani-
fest Buddhahood.

	Nichiren clearly explained this principle and instructed his disciples
through personal guidance and letters (which we 1992 believers read and try
our best to implement today) how to live according to Buddhism.  He crystalized
the process to achieve Gautama's Dharma into a form accessible to any human
being being born now and in the future by the chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo
and by enscribing the mandala, as you know, called the Gohonzon, a replica of
which we each enshrine in our own home.  We Nichiren believers, in the
Mahayana tradition, regard him as a Buddha--the Buddha of the Latter Day of
the Law--the Buddha who left the Lotus Sutra in a form so that Gautama's
experience could be shared by all humanity.

	I apologize for the length of this article.  I will try to answer your
other questions regarding the ages or Days of Law at another time.  By the way,
I have asked many Japanese practicing in the USA who have also practiced in
Japan if they have ever heard of priests praying to Shinto dieties like Hachi-
man.  Aside from the priests' cowardly submission to the Japanese government
during WWII which Jon has already explained, none had ever heard of such a
practice.  Sorry.  I don't know where to go with that point from here.  Also,
can you give the specific reference to Toda's equating the Gohonzon and daimoku
with "the happiness manufacturing machine"?  I can give you a general opinion or
answer, but if I have the reference, I might be able to give you a very 
specific reply.

					With best regards,

					Sari Wilde	 
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern