Discussion of the “Introduction” Chapter (Chapter 1).
Saito: In 1995, the Saint-Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences presented you, President Ikeda, with a microfilm copy of the Lotus Sutra in the Western Xia (Xi Xia, or Tangut) script. I understand that this is the first time this important manuscript, which many scholars around the world have been waiting to study, has been made public.
Ikeda: I am very honored to receive it. As the founder of the Institute of Oriental Philosophy here in Tokyo, I have high hopes for the development of greater cooperation between the two research institutions.
Western Xia was a kingdom established by the Tangut, a people of Tibetan stock, in what is now northwestern China. Buddhism was the predominant religion. The kingdom flourished from the eleventh through the early thirteenth centuries, and in the short two centuries of its existence, Western Xia developed its own writing system, the Tangut script, and translated numerous Buddhist sutras.
The Tangut-script Lotus Sutra that I received was based on the Chinese translation by the great Kumarajiva with which we are so familiar. The ancient city of Dunhuang, famous as a center of Buddhism and Buddhist art, was also once a part of Western Xia.
Suda: When I think of the people of Western Xia reading the Lotus Sutra, I feel a sense of closeness and affinity with them. Also, I am rather curious about how they understood this scripture and how they studied Buddhism.
Endo: A Western Xia proverb can be translated: “The wise person speaks gently and wins others’ allegiance, just as the Yellow River flows serenely and carries all with it.”
Saito: “Gently” does not mean a superficial show of courtesy but a genuine sincerity.
Ikeda: Yes, it means an open, considerate attitude; a broadness of heart, a warmth that embraces others. Though the content of one’s words may be harsh or strict, when based on such genuine sincerity, they are in fact words of gentleness.
The meaning of this proverb would seem to be this: Wise people speak clearly and reasonably; that is why they can enable people to grasp and accept what they are saying — much like the Yellow River, which flows powerfully while carrying many people gently upon its waters.
The people of Western Xia were undoubtedly intelligent, forthright and proud. We Japanese, who tend to lack conviction and to be taken in easily by devious rhetoric, should look to them as a model.
Now let us proceed on our journey through the Lotus Sutra just like the Yellow River, moving forward with steady momentum. We at last begin our discussion of the first chapter, “Introduction.”
Saito: As the name indicates, this is the opening chapter. Its content can be divided into three major parts.
The first part opens with “This is what I heard” (LSOC, 3) and then introduces the congregation of myriad sentient beings assembled on Mount Gridhrakuta (Eagle Peak) at Rajagriha.
Suda: “This is what I heard” — or “Thus I heard” as it is also often translated — appears at the beginning of almost every sutra. It’s a sort of set phrase, isn’t it?
Ikeda: Yes, but in the case of the Lotus Sutra, the act of hearing has deep meaning, and it is emphasized throughout the scripture. Therefore, although “This is what I heard” is a standard in most sutras, it is especially significant in the case of the Lotus Sutra. This is an important point, one profoundly relevant to Nichiren Buddhism.
Saito: The second part of the “Introduction” chapter is when Shakyamuni enters “the samadhi of the origin of immeasurable meanings” (LSOC, 37) and manifests a variety of extraordinary phenomena.
Suda: “The samadhi of the place of immeasurable meanings” refers to a state of meditation in which one concentrates his or her mind on the fundamental Law that is the source of the Buddha’s innumerable teachings.
Ikeda: The name of this meditation implies that the Lotus Sutra, which the Buddha is about to expound, is the ultimate teaching that all other teachings are based on or derive from. The Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings, which serves as a prologue to the Lotus Sutra, states, “Immeasurable meanings derive from a single Law.” This single, ultimate teaching is revealed in the Lotus Sutra.
Endo: It is not until the “Expedient Means” chapter that Shakyamuni calmly arises from his meditation and actually begins to preach the Lotus Sutra. The first chapter is devoted instead to describing the array of wondrous phenomena Shakyamuni manifests with his transcendental powers while in his state of intense meditation.
Suda: For example, mandarava and manjushaka flowers rain down from the heavens on the Buddha and the assembly, and the earth shakes and trembles in six ways. As a result, the beings gathered on Eagle Peak are delighted beyond what they have ever experienced; they rejoice and gaze intently at the Buddha. The Buddha then emits a ray of light from the tuft of white hair? between his eyebrows, completely illuminating the eighteen thousand lands to the east.
Ikeda: Simply hearing this episode may cause a person to think that the Lotus Sutra is some kind of fairy tale or, in today’s terms, a science-fiction story!
Concerning the beings who gathered on Eagle Peak in the “Introduction” chapter, President Toda once wrote:
There were twelve thousand voice-hearers headed by Shariputra; eighty thousand bodhisattvas; Yashodhara, who was accompanied by six thousand of her followers and retainers; Ajatashatru, along with several thousand of his followers and retainers; and each of the eight kinds of nonhuman beings [heavenly beings, dragons, yakshas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kimnaras, mahoragas] brought their followers and retainers, numbering in the tens of thousands. The roughest calculation shows that hundreds of thousands must have attended the assembly at Eagle Peak.
There were eighty thousand bodhisattvas and twelve thousand voice-hearers alone! How is it possible that, in an age without microphones, Shakyamuni assembled an audience of such huge proportions and spoke to them all? The Lotus Sutra tells us that indeed they did all gather and hear him preach. An enormous number of listeners — hundreds of thousands — gathered and heard Shakyamuni expound the Law. Is that a lie? No, it is not. Did that many really assemble? How was it possible for the Buddha to lecture to such a vast body of listeners without a microphone, no matter how loudly he spoke?…The Lotus Sutra says that the gathering lasted eight years. With that many gathered for eight years, providing food for them all would have been a monumental task. What would they have done about organizing toilets for such a crowd? But does the sutra lie? No, it does not. They assembled, and yet they did not assemble….
Those gathered were the voice-hearers and the bodhisattvas who dwelled within Shakyamuni’s own life. Hence, there is nothing to hinder even tens of millions of such voice-hearers and bodhisattvas from assembling.
Mr. Toda didn’t want to make the Lotus Sutra seem like some fanciful story divorced from reality or Buddhism, some kind of abstraction. Moreover, he was absolutely convinced that the Lotus Sutra and Buddhism were neither. He knew the Lotus Sutra was in fact the Law of life, the Law existing in the depths of one’s own being.
From this perspective, then, we see that the ray of light emanating from the tuft of white hair between the Buddha’s eyebrows and illuminating the lands to the east represents the profound truth of life. In The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, the Daishonin says, “The ray of light from the white hair is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo” (OTT, 16). Precisely because it is the light of the Mystic Law, it illuminated all worlds, from the hell of incessant suffering (Avichi hell) to the highest heavenly realm (Akanishtha heaven). The Mystic Law has the power to lead even those in the hell of incessant suffering to enlightenment.
Endo: Each of the worlds illuminated by that light is described in vivid detail, as if we were watching an epic film. The Buddhas of various lands are preaching, and those who have embraced the teachings are practicing them in many ways. In some lands, the Buddha has died, and his followers, out of love and respect for him, erect stupas or memorial towers as offerings of faith.
Ikeda: Yes, it is a movie on a truly colossal scale projected on the screen of the whole universe. I he entire cosmos is the stage of the Lotus Sutra. All Buddhas have attained their enlightenment based on the Mystic Law, and it is the Lotus Sutra that reveals this one fundamental Law — the Mystic Law. As a prelude to the presentation of this great Law, a variety of startling omens occur. [In reference to this point, the Lotus Sutra reads:]
At that time Manjushri said….”I suppose that the Buddha, the World-Honored One, wishes now to expound the great Law, to rain down the rain of the great Law, to blow the conch of the great Law, to beat the drum of the great Law, to elucidate the meaning of the great Law…. He wishes to cause all living beings to hear and understand the Law, which is difficult for all the world to believe. Therefore he has manifested this auspicious portent of emitting a beam of light from the white tuft of hair between his eyebrows].” (LSOC, 46)
Saito: The third and final part of “Introduction” is devoted to the description of these auspicious omens. Bodhisattva Maitreya, representing all the assembled listeners, voices surprise and doubts by asking why Shakyamuni has manifested all these astounding phenomena. Bodhisattva Manjushri replies to Maitreya’s questions.
In doing so, Manjushri speaks of experiences in previous lives. He describes how in the past a Buddha named Sun Moon Bright manifested the same kind of wondrous phenomena when he preached the Lotus Sutra. On that basis, says Manjushri, Shakyamuni must also be about to preach the Lotus Sutra.
A UNIVERSAL LOTUS SUTRA
Ikeda: Both the ultimate teaching preached by the Buddha Sun Moon Bright and the teaching Shakyamuni was about to preach were the Lotus Sutra. This is an important point. In the same chapter, Manjushri goes on to say that in addition to the Buddha Sun Moon Bright whom he had encountered in a past lifetime, there were twenty thousand Buddhas named Sun Moon Bright before that, implying that the ultimate great teaching all of those Buddhas taught was the Lotus Sutra. Nor does it not stop there.
In the “Parable of the Phantom City” chapter, the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence preaches the Lotus Sutra, and in the “The Bodhisattva Never Disparaging” chapter, Buddha Awesome Sound King does so, as well. After the death of the Buddha Sun Moon Bright, his disciple Bodhisattva Wonderfully Bright preaches the Lotus Sutra. After the passing of the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence, his sixteen bodhisattva disciples preach the Lotus Sutra, too. After the passing of the Buddha Awesome Sound King, Bodhisattva Never Disparaging recites the so-called twenty-four-character Lotus Sutra. The Lotus Sutra is always a teaching for the time after the Buddha’s passing.
The sutra also relates that the various Lotus Sutras preached by these Buddhas of the past were of enormous length. The Lotus Sutra of the Buddha Sun Moon Bright was preached over the incredibly long period of sixty small kalpas. The Lotus Sutra of the Buddha Awesome Sound King comprised “twenty thousand, ten thousand, a million verses” (LSOC, 309), while the Lotus Sutra of the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence was preached for more than eight thousand kalpas and contained verses as numerous as the grains of sand of the Ganges River.
What all this means is that the Lotus Sutra is not only Shakyamuni’s twenty-eight-chapter Lotus Sutra that we know and read today. Though the forms in which they were preached are different, all of them are the Lotus Sutra.
Saito: That would lead us to conclude that there is a universal Lotus Sutra.
Ikeda: Yes. Mr. Toda, who had grasped its very essence, offers a noteworthy perspective on the Lotus Sutra:
The same Lotus Sutra is expressed in different ways, depending on the Buddha who preaches it, the time it is preached, and the capacity of the people to understand it. Though the ultimate truth of the Lotus Sutra is identical in all cases, there will be differences in its presentation according to whether the living beings of a particular time have a strong or weak connection to Buddhism.
The average person with a slight knowledge of Buddhism will think that only Shakyamuni has preached the Lotus Sutra. But in fact the Lotus Sutra tells us that Bodhisattva Never Disparaging and the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence also taught the Lotus Sutra. And the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai also taught it.
The ultimate truth is one, but it is expressed in many forms, and all of them are the Lotus Sutra. The universal Lotus Sutra is the teaching in which the Buddha reveals and makes accessible to all people the Law he has become enlightened to, the Law for attaining Buddhahood, so that all may achieve true happiness and ease.
Nichiren Daishonin spoke of the Lotus Sutra in terms of its comprehensive, abbreviated and essential forms. The essential form of the Lotus Sutra was his own Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and the practice most appropriate for today is this essential Lotus Sutra.
The Daishonin doesn’t specifically identify the comprehensive and abbreviated forms of the Lotus Sutra, but if we think of the enormous and lengthy versions of the Lotus Sutra preached by the past Buddhas as the comprehensive form, then the twenty-eight-chapter version would be the abbreviated form. Or, if we regard the twenty-eight-chapter version as the comprehensive form, Bodhisattva Never Disparaging’s twenty-four-character Lotus Sutra would be the abbreviated form.
Mr. Toda also spoke of three kinds of Lotus Sutras: (I) the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra, (2) T’ien-t’ai’s treatise Great Concentration and Insight and (3) Nichiren Daishonin’s Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Saito: Though we may be straying a bit from the subject, I think the view of the Lotus Sutra existing in many differing versions sheds light on the question as to whether the twenty-eight-chapter Lotus Sutra actually contains the direct teaching of Shakyamuni himself or is in fact the creation of later editors and compilers. In other words, could we regard the core thought of the Lotus Sutra as Shakyamuni’s direct teaching but still say the form in which that thought is presented reflects the conditions of the times in which the sutra was compiled?
Ikeda: I think we can say that Shakyamuni’s thought, which forms the sutra’s core, assumed a certain shape in response to the conditions of the time and the prevailing state of philosophical thought when the sutra was compiled.
The age sought Shakyamuni’s thought, and Shakyamuni’s thought appeared in response to that need. What we see at work here is the mutual response, or communion, between the people and the Buddha. This is how a universal philosophy comes into being. We could also describe it as the living dynamism of a true philosophy. Though the philosophy may appear in a new form, it does so because that form articulates the truth of the philosophy better in that particular circumstance of time. In that sense, I believe we can answer the question you posed earlier, about whether the Lotus Sutra is the direct teaching of Shakyamuni or a creation of its compilers, by saying it is the direct teaching of the Buddha.
Of course, the form in which the teaching finds expression reflects the historical circumstances of the period in which it was compiled, and historical research into that period can reveal much about the sutra. We should welcome the results of sound academic research. I am also convinced such research can do nothing to undermine the philosophical value of the Lotus Sutra, and that in fact any fresh revelations will only make it shine all the more brilliantly.
Suda: Many scholars today support the theory that the Lotus Sutra was compiled around the first century CE, several hundred years after Shakyamuni’s death.
At that time, the different schools of Theravada Buddhism had come to think of themselves as the orthodox lineage of Buddhism and had become closed, authoritarian and divorced from the people. Against that background, a movement to express faith in the Buddha by worshiping or erecting stupas dedicated to him arose among the laity. Their faith led them to try to establish direct communication with the Buddha rather than accepting the authoritarian monks as intermediaries. This became the Mahayana Buddhist movement, and scriptures such as the Wisdom sutras, the Flower Garland Sutra and the Lotus Sutra were compiled at this time.
The Theravada schools criticized the new Mahayana movement, saying that the Mahayana scriptures were arbitrary creations and not the teaching of the Buddha. The criticism that Mahayana is not the Buddha’s teaching existed from the Mahayana movement’s very inception.
Endo: The new Mahayana movement must have seemed like a sham, a fraudulent new religion to the Theravada traditionalists.
Even though centuries had passed since Shakyamuni’s death, however, it does not follow that the new Mahayana scriptures were arbitrary fictions with no link to him. They may have been recorded many years later, but it is quite possible they were the Buddha’s teachings handed down as part of the oral transmission. This is true not only of the Lotus Sutra but of the other Mahayana sutras set down in writing at about this time.
Even the Theravada scriptures were recorded by Shakyamuni’s disciples only after his death. Ikeda: In ancient India, it seems to have been customary not to write down important teachings but to memorize and transmit them orally. The great Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna’ writes in his Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom: “The Buddha’s disciples recited the Buddha’s teachings and recorded them as scriptures.” These “scriptures” are the Mahayana sutras.
Be that as it may, we can only praise the genius of the Lotus Sutra’s compilers, for they could extract the essence of Shakyamuni’s thought from the teachings handed down both orally and in writing and magnificently restore that essence to life. I can’t help thinking that among the compilers, some brilliant individual pursued and grasped Shakyamuni’s enlightenment and demonstrated superlative leadership in setting down the sutra in writing.
Suda: As research on Buddhist texts proceeds, scholars have discovered the seedlings of later Mahayana teachings in the earliest Theravada texts and have come to emphasize that indeed the Mahayana resulted from developing the Buddha’s ideas in a correct and orthodox fashion. Clearly, then, the assertion that only the Theravada scriptures are the Buddha’s teachings and the Mahayana scriptures are not is no longer tenable. Both Theravada and Mahayana scriptures derive from a single source: Shakyamuni.
Saito: Of all the Mahayana scriptures, the Lotus Sutra is unparalleled in its faith and wisdom to seek Shakyamuni. In some respects, it might even be called a first-century treatise on Shakyamuni.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF “THIS IS WHAT I HEARD”
Saito: I think we can also interpret the significance of “This is what I heard,” the opening of the “Introduction” chapter, from the standpoint of the universal Lotus Sutra. The issue is what “this” refers to, in other words, the actual content of “what I heard.” On the surface, of course, it is the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra, but it goes much further than that.
Endo: The Great Teacher Miao-lo interprets what was heard, or “the substance of a doctrine heard from the Buddha,” in a conventional way as the entire twenty-eight chapters. But Nichiren Daishonin went further, declaring that “the substance of the doctrine” refers to “its heart or core” (OTT, 9), in other words, to Myoho-renge-kyo.
Explaining this in The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, the Daishonin cites the following statement by Tien-t’ai in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra, volume one: “The words ‘This is what’ indicate the substance of the doctrine heard from the Buddha. ‘I heard’ indicates a person who is capable of upholding that doctrine” (OTT, 9).
Ikeda: In this case, the Daishonin applies the principle of “text, meaning and intent” to reading the sutra. “Text” refers to the sutra’s literal content. “Meaning” indicates the doctrine or principle to which the text refers. When we restrict ourselves to examining only the literal text of the scripture, we can only get as far as its meaning.
But no amount of discussion of the text and meaning of the Lotus Sutra will be truly valuable unless we get to its heart, or true intent. The Daishonin concludes that “the ‘substance of a doctrine’ means its heart or core…. The heart or core of all phenomena is Myoho-renge-kyo” (OTT, 9).
“The substance of a doctrine,” “the heart or core of all phenomena,” is the Buddha’s wisdom itself, which pulsates through all twenty-eight chapters of the sutra. That wisdom is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. “This is what I heard” — in other words, having heard that wisdom just as it is— refers to faith and the way of mentor and disciple. Only through the disciples’ faith in the mentor can they enter the world of the Buddha’s wisdom. As T’ien-t’ai stated in his Great Concentration and Insight, and Nagarjuna in his Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, “Buddhism is like an ocean that one can only enter with faith” (WND-I, 832).
From this perspective, “This is what I heard,” in terms of the Lotus Sutra, means to concentrate one’s entire being on apprehending and connecting with the vibration of the Buddha’s life. “This” refers to the faith and understanding that enable those who hear the teachings to “hear them exactly as they are preached” and engrave them in their lives. Since this activity involves one’s entire being, the expression “I heard” is used. “I,” the entire being, “hear,” not just the ears.
The “I” in this phrase is usually taken to mean Ananda, 1º the disciple of Shakyamuni said to have been central in compiling the scriptures. Today, in the Latter Day of the Law, however, “I” signifies each of us. We each listen to the Daishonin’s teaching of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with our whole being and embrace faith in it. This is the true meaning of “This is what I heard.”
As Nichiren Daishonin says: “The meaning behind each and every word and phrase of the twenty-eight chapters of the sutra refers to the hearing of this doctrine as it applies to one’s own self, and this is summed up in the words ‘This is what I heard.?’ This thing that is heard is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Therefore, the sutra says that all achieve the Buddha way” (OTT, 222).
We are not to read the sutra as something separate from ourselves. Instead, we should “hear” it as it applies to oneself and as the Law of our own lives.
Endo: That is a very clear explanation.
In his Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, Nagarjuna writes, “The meaning of ‘this’ [of ‘This is what I heard’] is faith.” And Tient’ai writes in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra, “”This’ indicates to have faith in and follow [the teachings of the sutra just as they are].”
Nagarjuna uses an interesting allegory to describe faith. Faith, he says, is like soft leather, while lack of faith is like stiff leather. Soft leather can be put to many uses, but stiff leather cannot. In other words, those with faith follow the Buddha’s teachings and hear them just as they are, while those without faith cannot.
T’ien-t’ai’s “to have faith in and follow” is very significant, I think. He further states that “follow” here means that “one proceeds to follow the Buddha’s teaching as a student follows the instructions of his teacher.” When one follows in this way, the path of mentor and disciple is established.
Ikeda: The essence of “This is what I heard” is the oneness of mentor and disciple, and that is the quintessence of the transmission of Buddhism.
The drama of the oneness of mentor and disciple, in which there is a mutual resonance and response between the Buddha’s resolve to save all living things and the resolve of the disciple who seeks to embody and propagate the Buddha’s teaching, is epitomized in this expression, “This is what I heard.”
Further, the Lotus Sutra is a scripture for the time after the Buddha’s death. How are sentient beings to be saved after the Buddha dies? Who at that time will uphold and propagate the sutra? These basic themes already begin to be played out in “Introduction”. One example is the account of how Bodhisattva Wonderfully Bright, the disciple of the Buddha Sun Moon Bright, preached the Lotus Sutra after his mentor’s passing and brought others to enlightenment, starting with Sun Moon Bright’s eight princely sons.
Saito: Buddhas wish to help all beings throughout eternity attain enlightenment, and that is the very purpose for their appearance in the world.
Ikeda: Yes. The Daishonin writes, “If Nichiren’s compassion is truly great and encompassing, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo will spread for ten thousand years and more, for all eternity…” (WND-I, 736).
It is also true in general that those who really care for the people retain the power to move people even after their death. Mahatma Gandhi, for instance, once declared that if his soul could serve as a light for humanity, then he would continue speaking even from the grave. The struggle of disciples who share their mentor’s passionate determination to save others far into the future does indeed contribute to doing just that. The Law truly does give rise to compassionate action. Things may be all right while one’s mentor is still present. But it is when the mentor has gone that the bond between mentor and disciple is truly tested. Buddhism is that strict.
When all were mourning after Shakyamuni died, one old monk said: “Stop, my friends. Do not be sad. Do not lament. We have been well freed from that great practitioner. He was always pestering us, telling us it is good to do this, it is wrong to do that. From now on, let us do as we please. And let us not do what we do not wish to do.”
I am sure you are appalled by the sentiments of this old monk. But in fact, that is how people’s minds work. Therefore, your mission as leaders of the twenty-first century is extremely important.
Saito: Yes, we really need to remember this.
Returning to “Introduction,” after the death of Buddha Sun Moon Bright, his disciple Bodhisattva Wonderfully Bright preached the Lotus Sutra in the same way Sun Moon Bright had done. Should we regard this as the practice of “This is what I heard”?
Ikeda: Yes, I believe so. The Buddha’s passing was a turning point at which Bodhisattva Wonderfully Bright was transformed from a disciple who sought to be led to enlightenment into a disciple who led others to enlightenment. This is the spirit of the Lotus Sutra.
The heart of “This is what I heard” exists in the disciples rising up with the determination to lead others to happiness just as their mentor did. It is a declaration of a momentous struggle, of readily taking on all hardships in the cause of guiding others toward enlightenment.
The compilation of the twenty-eight-chapter Lotus Sutra after Shakyamuni’s death was made possible by his disciples who shared with one another “This is what I heard,” out of their wish, based on the same state of life as the Buddha, to save all people. In this sense, the Lotus Sutra is an embodiment of the spirit of the oneness of mentor and disciple.
Perhaps from one perspective, Mr. Toda’s enlightenment in prison, too, can be described as his personal experience of “This is what I heard” while undergoing persecution for the sake the Law. There, he “heard” the sutra’s words “I am always here, preaching the Law” (LSOC, 271) as expounded by the original Buddha, Nichiren Daishonin.
Suda: Speaking of disciples rising up to carry on their mentor’s mission, I recently reread some passages from your A Youthful Diary, dated after Mr. Toda’s death [on April 2, 1958], and I was moved once again by their message. Your journal entries depict how, making your mentor’s spirit your own, you struggled and racked your brain day after day to find the best way to protect and develop the Soka Gakkai. Please allow me to quote a few excerpts:
April 8, 1958: Approximately 120,000 people came to offer incense today [in memory of Mr. Toda]. Sincere people who heartily respect Sensei. Determined that I must guide them further from here on, limitlessly, toward happiness. On behalf of my “father.”
May 25, 1958: Sometimes feel indignant at many of the leaders. Have they forgotten Sensei’s death? Regrettable….
November 10, 1958: Every day, I feel my late mentor’s compassion flowing and pulsating within my being….
December 12, 1958: The youth are moving ahead dynamically. Will fight for them, throughout my life, sacrificing myself if need be. This is precisely what my mentor did….
February 20, 1959: The cry that issued from the life of my mentor must not be allowed to fade as the days pass. It must never die out. We have the organization, doctrinal study, social standing…but what’s important is compassion — people of compassion; unflagging seeking spirit, individuals whose resolve to seek the Law knows no bounds….
July 23, 1959: The top leaders should think more seriously about our members. They should abandon their own interests in order to serve the members. Only then will others follow them gladly. Our leaders mustn’t become sly or calculating. It would be unfortunate for the members.
Ikeda: I feel exactly the same way today. The spirit of the Lotus Sutra, from start to finish, is that of the oneness of mentor and disciple.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HEARING THE LAW: THE VOICE DOES THE BUDDHA’S WORK
Suda: I think hearing has an especially deep significance for human life. We experience sound before we see or smell.
Endo: David Burrows, a New York University music teacher, has some interesting information regarding this. “The unborn child,” he says, “may startle in the womb at the sound of a door slamming shut. The rich warm cacophony of the womb has been recorded: The mother’s heartbeat and breathing are among the earliest indications babies have of the existence of a world beyond their own skin.”
Suda: Hearing seems to be the first of the five senses to develop. In the broadest terms, though, hearing is not simply auditory but also the power of life itself to perceive the mysterious rhythm pulsing throughout the universe.
The Daishonin writes, “This sahā world is a land in which one gains the way through the faculty of hearing” (WND-2,87). From my own experience, I can say that I quickly forget what I read in a book, but when I listen carefully to a lecture, the impression it makes on me is many times stronger than reading, and it sticks in my memory.
Endo: The twenty-sixth high priest, Nichikan, said we should continue to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for some time after a person has died, so that the departed might hear it.
Saito: In the Lotus Sutra, great importance is placed on hearing the Law. Each time Shakyamuni makes a significant statement on the Law, such as in the “Expedient Means” and “Life Span” chapters, the virtues of hearing the Lotus Sutra are always enumerated immediately afterwards.
Ikeda: Nichiren Daishonin also says, “This sutra makes ‘hearing’ the sole basis of practice” (WND-2, 88). That is why the voice of the Buddha is so important. With regard to the character kyo (sutra) of Myoho-renge-kyo, he says: “The voice carries out the work of the Buddha, and it is called kyo” (OTT, 4).
Endo: The Daishonin also says that a “pure and far-reaching voice,” a voice that can reach the Brahma heaven, is the foremost among the Buddha’s thirty-two remarkable features (WND-I, 332). The “pure and far-reaching voice” is one that carries far, is clear and pure in tone and is delightful to hear. Shakyamuni’s voice must have been such a voice.
Ikeda: I am sure it was because of this marvelous voice that Shakyamuni could inspire people profoundly and revive their spirits. It was a voice of truth embodying the Law for becoming a Buddha that he had become awakened to in the depths of his own being.
The voice is the vibration of the living whole. A person’s being and character are revealed by the voice. A French writer once said the voice is our second face. Though we may hide our true appearance, we cannot hide the voice.
Suda: A very interesting article appeared in the British science magazine Nature on an experiment about the credibility of various media! Two interviews, one true and one containing falsehoods, were conducted by the same person in three media — print, radio and television. Both interviews were presented in each of these media, and the respective audiences of readers, listeners and viewers were asked to decide which of the two in each medium was false.
Television fooled the most people. But three-fourths of the radio listeners recognized the false story. Newspaper readers fell somewhere in between. I think we can interpret this to mean that though we may be easily fooled by visual images, we are not easily deceived by the voice.
Saito: I sense a marvelous rhythm in the chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. It is a strong sound that gives people courage and energy.
Suda: The world-renowned violinist Yehudi Menuhin commented on the sound of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in a dialogue with President Ikeda. The nam of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, he said, is a strong sound. The sound m is the source of life, the sound that begins the word mother and, as the syllable ma, the first sound a child learns. This m sound is very important, he declared. He added that the significant sound r also comes in a crucial, central position in Nam-myoho-renge-kyo (in renge).
Ikeda: Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the fundamental rhythm of the universe, the most revered of all voices. Nichiren Daishonin writes:
“[When] once we chant Myoho-renge-kyo, with just that single sound we summon forth and manifest the Buddha nature of all Buddhas… and all other living beings. This blessing is immeasurable and boundless” (WND-I, 887).
He also writes: “We, too, are the eggs of ignorance, which are pitiful things, but when nurtured by the chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, [we]… are free to soar into the sky of the true aspect of all phenomena and the reality of all things” (WND-I, 1030), and, “Nichiren alone, without sparing his voice, now chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo” (WND-I, 736). Not sparing one’s voice doesn’t refer to loudness or volume. It means the great voice of compassion that seeks to bring all beings to enlightenment.
Without sparing our voices, and with our hearts as one with Nichiren Daishonin, we of the SGI are engaging in activities to propagate the Buddhist teachings.
The SGI resounds with many voices. The most basic voice is our earnest chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. But we also hear the warm voice of encouragement, the vibrant voice of courage, the heartfelt voice of joy, the earnest voice of pledge and commitment, and the clear voice of wisdom. They are the source of an infinite wellspring of benefit.
With all of these unsparing voices, the SGI is performing the glorious work of the Buddha, which is to propagate widely the Mystic Law.