Discussion of the “Expedient Means” Chapter (Chapter 2).
But you and the others already know how the Buddhas, teachers of the world, accord with what is appropriate in employing expedient means.
You will have no more doubts or perplexities but, your minds filled with great joy, will know that you yourselves will attain Buddhahood. (LSOC, 81)
Saito: In the previous chapter, we confirmed that the principle of the “true aspect of all phenomena” is the basis for the attainment of Buddhahood by all living things. This time, we would like to explore the contemporary significance of the true aspect of all phenomena from various perspectives.
This teaching reveals to us the wondrous interrelationship of all things, clarifying that all phenomena — in other words, all individual lives — are identical to the true aspect or entity — that is, the life of the universe. Each part is identical to the whole. Today, many different fields of modern science are affirming this same principle — that the whole is not simply a sum of its parts but, in fact, the whole is contained in each of its parts.
Ikeda: That’s very true. In fact, viewed from this perspective, it may even be easier for us today to understand the true aspect of all phenomena than it was for our predecessors over the ages.
Endo: Many scientific findings indicate that the whole is included in its parts. Perhaps the most easily understood example of this is the DNA in our cells.
DNA — deoxyribonucleic acid — is the substance that carries the genetic information of an organism and is found in each of its cells. The human body is made up of approximately two hundred kinds of cells, each with its own function. So it would be natural to assume that the DNA of each type of cell is distinct, but in fact the same DNA is found in almost all cells. In other words, every cell of one’s body — whether a cell that produces hair on the head or a liver cell — contains the genetic information of the entire body.
Suda: That was the premise of the movie about cloning dinosaurs, Jurassic Park. It suggested that one cell recovered from a fossil would be sufficient to recreate an entire extinct creature, such as a dinosaur.
Ikeda: Precisely because each cell in the body contains a full complement of genetic information, it can perform the function appropriate to its location in the body. A hair cell functions as a hair cell, a liver cell as a liver cell. There is harmony within the body as a whole. This is the mystic function of life.
Josei Toda described this harmony of a living being’s component parts in their proper place as exemplifying the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai’s assertion: “The Law of all living beings is mystic” (WND-I, 417).
Saito: The fact that every cell includes all of the body’s genetic information has been likened to an enormous library. The information defining the way we laugh, cry, walk, all our physical traits and characteristics, are included in this giant cellular library.
One scientist has said that the information contained in a single cell is equivalent to a thousand five-hundred-page books. If we take the brain itself as a single library, given that it stores all the information we acquire during our lifetime, it has a storage capacity equivalent to some twenty million books.
Ikeda: It is said that the brain will become the greatest frontier of science in the twenty-first century. It is such a vast realm that it could be described as a miniature cosmos, a universe in its own right. Up until now, I believe, brain research has focused largely on the functions of individual parts of the brain.
Suda: Yes. The parts of the brain that process emotion and the parts that distinguish graphic symbols have been identified.
Ikeda: But as brain research proceeds, we are discovering that the brain is not simply a conglomeration of the functions of its parts. For example, the human brain consists of two hemispheres: the left side, which controls intellectual functions, and the right side, which controls creative and artistic activity. But it is surprising that there are fully functioning individuals who lack an entire hemisphere of the brain. For example, there was a young man who was leading a perfectly normal life but was discovered during a routine medical examination to be missing his left cerebral hemisphere.
Since he was lacking the hemisphere that directs intellectual activity and right-body motor functions, one would expect to find him unable to understand language or to control the right side of his body. But this was not the case. His right cerebral hemisphere had taken over the functions of the missing left hemisphere.
Endo: Life is indeed mysterious. There have been many reports of children born with some dysfunction because parts of their brains were missing. As they grew older, however, their brains repaired themselves until, by adulthood, these individuals were functioning completely normally. There are kindergartens that allow such children to be raised in an ordinary environment with other children, providing them with constant stimulation to help them develop. Even children born with only the brain stem and a portion of the frontal lobe, through such positive interaction and stimulation, have learned to play with other children.
Ikeda: That’s most interesting. Life is filled with truly unfathomable potential. At last we are coming to see the enormous power it possesses. That is why we must never count anyone out. In particular, we mustn’t put boundaries on our own potential. In most cases, our so-called limitations are nothing more than our own decision
to limit ourselves.
Saito: Some suggest there is a similarity between this capacity of the brain to rejuvenate itself and the principles of holography. A hologram is a three-dimensional image created by overlapping waves of light. When the film of a hologram is cut into pieces, each piece contains the whole hologram image. It may not be as sharply focused as the original uncut film image, but the full three-dimensional image is visible.
Ikeda: That reminds me of a line from a poem by William Blake: “To see the World in a grain of sand.”
Suda: Fractal theory, which has recently received much attention, is another contemporary articulation of the idea that each part includes the whole. Fractal theory originally developed as a part of geometry. I refers to a structure in which component parts and the whole have the same shape, a characteristic known as self-similarity.
Fractal structures can be seen everywhere in the natural world. The branching of airways in the human lung are fractal, because the branching of even the smallest portion thereof is identical to the branching of the whole system. The same phenomenon can be discerned in the branching of the capillaries in the brain; in the way streams branch out from rivers; in the shapes of clouds; and in the way branches are arranged on trees. This similarity of the part and the whole can be found in many natural phenomena that, until now, were thought to follow no set pattern.
Nor are fractal structures restricted to the natural world. It is said they can be observed even in such things as telecommunications errors and social phenomena, such as stock price fluctuations and the distribution of wealth.
Endo: This concept of the part containing the whole can be stated in terms of the principle of the Ten Worlds: Each world (the part) contains all of the Ten Worlds (the whole). In other words, each of the Ten Worlds is a microcosm of its own.
Suda: Yes, that is the principle of the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds. Each individual life contains the Ten Worlds, and at the same time, the life of the universe itself contains the Ten Worlds. During a discussion on the theory of life, Mr. Toda once said:
Any other planet with the same conditions for life as Earth inspires a human presence. Perhaps “inspires” is not the best way of putting it. What I mean is that, since the entire universe contains the Ten Worlds, on that other planet, a humanlike life form will appear in response to the Ten Worlds. Let us imagine that only dogs or cats live on that planet — even in that case, humanlike qualities will respond within the animal realm, because the Ten Worlds are mutually inclusive. So in a way a humanlike being would exist on that planet.
Saito: Mr. Toda is describing the principle of “mystic response.” Since the universe itself is an entity that embodies all of the Ten Worlds, the Ten Worlds within the universe appear in response to the conditions existing on various planets, in response to various causes, or having sensed that the time or some other circumstance is right for their appearance.
The mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, I think, offers valuable insights that may contribute to the theory of evolution and other aspects of the life sciences.
Ikeda: That is a subject that merits future research. From the standpoint of the wisdom of the “true aspect of all phenomena,” which sees the part as being identical to the whole, every single thing in existence is worthy of supreme reverence, possessing the treasure of the entire universe. The “Expedient Means” chapter restates the principle of the true aspect of all phenomena as: “Phenomena are part of an abiding Law, / that the characteristics of the world are constantly abiding” (LSOC, 75). The “characteristics of the world” (all phenomena) are the manifestation (true aspect) of the “abiding,” or ever-present, Mystic Law.
T’ien-t’ai writes, “All things having color or fragrance are manifestations of the Middle Way?” The expression “all things having color or fragrance” refers to the tiniest bits of matter. Even the smallest things embody the true aspect of the Middle Way —in other words, they embody the life of the universe.
In that respect, it is absolutely clear that nature is not something for human beings to use and exploit as they see fit, solely for their own interests. Both nature and humanity are part and whole of the life of the universe. Nature and humanity are one. To destroy the natural world is to destroy human life as well.
Endo: The principle of the “true aspect of all phenomena” has a direct bearing on environmental ethics, then.
Ikeda: Yes. In The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, Nichiren Daishonin says: “The countless things in the three thousand realms that undergo the process of birth, abiding, change, and extinction, are all in themselves embodiments of transcendental powers” (OTT, 125).
In other words, all phenomena, ever-changing, appearing and disappearing, are themselves manifestations of the Thus Come One’s transcendental powers. Ceaselessly changing though they are, all things in the universe are in fact always present; they are the Middle Way, the true aspect, the Thus Come One.
Mr. Toda remarked:
Ultimately, each instant of existence should be called “Thus Come One.” Not only our own lives but all things in the universe never cease to change, not even for the briefest instant. They are transformed and transformed again from one moment to the next. Since every single thing is constantly changing, a house as a house, the very house itself, is constantly changing. Time passes, and it turns into clods and dust. The clods as clods, the clods themselves, become dust, and the dust continues to disintegrate as well.
When we see all things for what they are, this is called the principle of temporary existence. And since these phenomena are temporary, they are not real. In that respect, they are nonsubstantial — this is the principle of non-substantiality. If we look at each moment as existing just as it is, that is the Middle Way. So the appearance and nature of all things, in their moment-by-moment existence, are the true aspect. Our moment-by-moment existences and lives are also the true aspect, and in that momentary true aspect, all life from the beginningless past is included, as well as all life into the infinite future.
This single instant of life contains the effects of all our past lives and the causes for all our future lives. This is the Law of the Lotus, the law of cause and effect. This single instant of life is the activity of the universe itself, our own lives and actual existence. The activity of the universe from moment to moment is constantly changing and manifests itself as various phenomena, all of which are undergoing a transformation within that activity. This is what we call “transcendental powers.” It is not a matter of someone bestowing some kind of power on us. What it means is that the free and unrestricted transformation of all universal phenomena, in response to all other activity therein, represents the true aspect of the universe.
This was Mr. Toda’s view of the true aspect of all phenomena. It is not the least bit different from the passages cited earlier from the Lotus Sutra, Tien-t’ai or Nichiren Daishonin. These are words to ponder and savor.
Endo: In what you have just quoted, it seems as though Mr. Toda is treating matter and the phenomenon of life in the same way, but I’m a little lost as to how to go about explaining this. I know that “all phenomena” includes both matter and life, but we usually think of the two as distinct.
Ikeda: This is an important point. As “all phenomena” indicates, Buddhism’s view of matter, too, is not a fixed and unchanging object but a dynamic phenomenon that goes through a cycle of generation and disintegration. In other words, Buddhism views matter from the dimension of the phenomenal as opposed to the purely material. It regards life, too, as a dynamic phenomenon that undergoes a cycle of birth and death.
Usually, it would be considered a mistake to view a phenomenon in the same way we do a material object, that is, as a static and fixed existence. But we cannot say a phenomenon does not exist. It neither exists nor doesn’t exist. Yet there are times when it is reasonable to describe a phenomenon as existing and times when it is just as appropriate to describe it as nonexisting. This way of looking at things is called the Middle Way, because it takes a middle path without adhering either to existence or nonexistence. This is the same as “the true aspect” when it is correctly understood just as it is.
Endo: I see. It’s easy to understand when we look at reality in terms of its phenomenal and material dimensions. We could probably of its phenomenal and material dimensions. We could probably apply this to the three truths — nonsubstantiality, temporary existence and the Middle Way — of which Mr. Toda often spoke. For example, to look at matter not as something fixed or static material but dynamic phenomenal in nature would correspond to the truth of nonsubstantiality. Yet, it is also possible to temporarily view matter as static, and this would correspond to the truth of temporary existence. To refrain from adhering to one view or the other, meanwhile, would represent the truth of the Middle Way. Tien-t’ai described a perfect and fully integrated understanding of the true aspect of all phenomena from all three of these perspectives as the “unification of the three truths.” This was the true aspect of all phenomena of which he spoke.
Ikeda: All things reside in the realm of phenomena, subject to the cycle of birth, duration, change and extinction. What we call matter is simply a phenomenon that has entered a temporary stage of stability or duration.
Suda: Classical science, and particularly its core of Newtonian mechanics, is based on a material view of existence. For example, in Newtonian mechanics, two objects exist, and between those two solid objects operates a force called gravity. This system explained many physical phenomena very adroitly. But as an eventual result, life came to be viewed primarily as nothing more than matter, nothing more than a machine.
Ikeda: This view, however, is not really fundamental to science itself.
Endo: No, it is not part of science per se. Its real source is in the “religion” of science, I would say. Some describe this tendency to fix on one aspect of reality and then declare that it applies to everything as “reductionism.” This kind of reductionist thinking makes the error of reducing the whole to one of its parts and then extending that partial view to encompass the whole.
Saito: I think this reductionist view has cast a dark shadow over people’s lives today and has robbed them of hope and contributed to an increase in their sense of powerlessness.
Ikeda: To avoid the error of worshiping science as a religion, we need a true philosophy that expresses a holistic view of life. Proper scientific method recognizes a partial view as just that — a partial view. And since the search for truth he’s at the very root of science, when a once-authoritative partial view reaches a dead end, science strives to break through that impasse and discover new, more creative theories that approach reality more closely. This is how scientific revolutions occur.
Suda: Many of these scientific revolutions, as historical records show, are sparked by one individual’s genius and creativity.
Ikeda: Naturally, that is an important factor. Human beings, after all, are wellsprings of creativity. Brilliant scientists like Albert Einstein are a good example, I think.
Josei Toda, incidentally, accompanied Tsunesaburo Makiguchi to a lecture by Einstein when the latter visited Japan in 1922. Mr. Toda later described that occasion as one of the greatest joys of his life.
Einstein described the motivation for his passionate search for the truth as “a cosmic religious feeling?” It was, he said, “to experience the universe as a single significant whole.” He perceived “the sublimity and marvelous order which reveal themselves both in nature and in the world of thought.?” He also wrote that “Buddhism…contains a much stronger element of [this cosmic religious feeling].”
Einstein emphasized that science and religion are not in opposition. Not only was religious feeling a motivation for scientific pursuit, but the results of scientific investigation made humankind humble in the face of the wondrous natural laws that govern all existence. He writes:
This attitude, however, appears to me to be religious, in the highest sense of the word. And so it seems to me that science not only purifies the religious impulse of the dross of its anthropomorphism but also contributes to a religious spiritualization of our understanding of life?
The main source of conflict between science and religion, according to Einstein, was the “concept of a personal God?” The “dross of anthropomorphism” refers to this concept. The humble search for the law of life, which is the way of Buddhism, was, according to Einstein, simultaneously scientific and religious. From the Buddhist perspective, we could say that Buddhism is an all-encompassing body of wisdom focused on the totality of life, while science is focused on temporary aspects of existence. In that sense, science is a part of Buddhism. That is why there is no conflict between the two. All the truths of the world are, without exception, the Buddhist Law.
Mr. Toda often said that the more science advanced, the more it would demonstrate the validity and truth of the Buddhist teachings. Of course, science and Buddhism belong to two separate dimensions, and their approaches are different as well. I am not saying that Buddhist teachings are correct by virtue of their validation by science. Scientific knowledge changes and evolves dally, but the absolute truths of Buddhism are in no way affected by the relative truths of science.
Nevertheless, we can see that the more science advances, the more it is arriving at a position in harmony with Buddhism. Today, this agreement acts as a strong recommendation of the preeminence of Buddhist philosophy. For example, Einstein’s theory of relativity is extremely close to a worldview that is phenomenal (dynamic and integrated) as opposed to material (static and mechanistic), don’t you think?
Saito: Yes. The theory of relativity postulates that all physical phenomena exist in a four-dimensional continuum known as space-time, where the three dimensions of space are merged with the dimension of time. In classical Newtonian mechanics, time and space were regarded as absolute and separate. This was based on our everyday perceptions of and assumptions about time — for example, that time passes at the same rate for a person riding in an automobile and a person walking along the road. But the theory of relativity tells us that the faster one is moving through space the slower time passes in relation to how it does for a stationary observer.
Time and space are indivisible, in other words. One cannot be divorced from the other. It is the relationship (phenomenal in nature) between the two that governs the way each of them
appears.
Suda: Modern physics has also discovered that it is impossible to accurately measure at the same time the position and velocity of an object, especially in the realm of subatomic particles. The attempt of measurement itself exerts an influence on the activity of these particles. At work here is Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, which effectively destroyed the distinction between object and subject upon which modern analytical science rested. In other words, object and subject are inseparable. The results of scientific observation are determined by the relationship between observer and observed.
Ikeda: In its pursuit of the basic building blocks of the universe — a search taking it to ever smaller components, from molecules to atoms, from atoms to subatomic particles — modern science has stumbled on a paradox; that the most basic subatomic particles have a dual nature. They are not only particles but also waves. This discovery has forced scientists to reassess their way of looking at the world of matter, hitherto viewed as fixed and unchanging, and instead view it in terms of the actual changes occurring to matter itself and the interrelationship among different kinds of matter. In other words, to take a phenomenal, integrated view. They were do compelled to take into account the relationship between observer and object.
The picture of the world painted by modern physics has thus undergone a dramatic change, from a conglomeration of infinite matter to a tapestry of infinite relationships. And this latter vision of the world has much in common with the insights and perceptions of Mahayana Buddhism.
Saito: Einstein revealed that matter is simply energy in a temporarily stable state. According to this theory, matter and energy are not separate. But, at the same time, they always take either one form or the other. In other words, they are indivisible but manifest themselves temporarily as separate.
Einstein discovered that energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. This is the famous equation E=mc². Light travels at close to 186,000 miles per second; so it is clear that an enormous amount of energy is produced by a tiny amount of mass.
Endo: This discovery was later used in developing the atomic bomb.
Ikeda: Yes, it was a tragedy that Einstein’s theory took on a life of its own, employed by people who did not understand the significance of the phenomenal worldview, which the theory originally suggested. The world is an intricately interwoven web of infinite relationships. When we apply this worldview to matter and to all living things, including people, we can see the world as Mr. Toda did, as one great life entity, as the Thus Come One. And further, we can perceive that it is the true aspect of our own existence as well.
A weapon such as the atomic bomb, whose only purpose is destruction and division, is nothing more than a product of the ignorance and delusion that shroud the true aspect of existence. The fundamental darkness inherent in life manifests itself as the devil king of the sixth heaven. Mr. Toda declared that whoever used atomic weapons was a devil incarnate, a fiend. This declaration expressed his enormous rage at anyone who would violate and annihilate life, something so infinitely precious and noble.
At any rate, the revolution in scientific thought from a static to a dynamic worldview shook all human thought to its very foundations. We might say that this scientific revolution, the result of analytical reasoning having reached its limits, has provided us with a glimpse of a vast realm with which a static, partial worldview could not come to grips. It was based on that realization that Einstein and Heisenberg, among others, came to reflect on the existence of a larger whole, the ultimate reality of which the mechanical laws of physics occupied only a portion.
Suda: Analytical reasoning has been a powerful weapon of modern science. Many of the rules governing the natural world were discovered by finely partitioning the material world so that it could be easily observed and reducing the complexities of natural phenomena to simpler elements. In that process of simplifying phenomena into their elements, there is a tendency to discard or ignore other aspects of those phenomena.
Instead of turning their attention to the true aspect inherent in all ever-changing, interrelated phenomena, the inclination is to view such phenomena as fixed entities, ignoring certain aspects of them, and proceed to extract laws from this limited reality — laws that they then regard as the whole truth.
Endo: Recently, there has been reaction within the scientific community to thought of this kind. One such reaction has been the recognition that we have gained only a very limited, partial understanding of the natural world by means of rational analysis.
We see frequent evidence that science cannot predict future events, no matter how deeply it may analyze phenomena. I have no intention whatsoever of criticizing the work of meteorologists, but weather forecasting is the perfect example of this inability to predict the future. Long-term weather forecasts, in fact, are generally expected to be wrong! There are simply too many complex, interrelated meteorological factors to be taken into account for accurate long-term weather forecasts to be possible through any sort of analytical reasoning.
Saito: There has recently appeared a new stream of scientific thought known as the “science of complexity.” While science has tried to attain certain knowledge by simplifying phenomena and stripping them of their natural complexity, the science of complexity focuses on the complex nature of phenomena just as it is, without reducing phenomena to simpler models that are easier to analyze. America’s Santa Fe Research Institute in New Mexico is famous for its new research system that dismantles the traditional boundaries of biology, mathematics, physics and other sciences and seeks to comprehend phenomena from a holistic perspective.
Suda: Weather, ecology and the brain are all examples of complex systems that cannot be fully understood by mathematical analysis or simulations. Why is it that “simple” science does not apply to such natural phenomena? One reason is that in such phenomena, very small changes can produce very great changes — the so-called butterfly effect. The butterfly effect gets its name from the following scenario: a butterfly in the Amazon rain forest flaps its wings. That tiny action becomes the starting point for an infinite chain of events, eventually resulting in a change in the global weather.
Endo: Sort of like the saying, “For want of a nail… the kingdom was lost.”
Ikeda: Yes. That’s a fine example of the time-tested wisdom of ordinary people. They knew that all things are intimately related.
Suda: Yes. But though the same butterfly may flap its wings the next day, it might have no effect on the weather at all. This uncertainty is one of the distinctive characteristics of the science of complexity. Another difference between the science of simplicity and the science of complexity is clearly demonstrated in the difference between the workings of a computer and the human brain. Computers are excellent at mathematical computations, processing data and storing large amounts of information, but if even the smallest error enters the data, it can impede proper function.
The human brain, on the other hand, is not well-suited for such large computations or processing or memorizing huge volumes of information, but it has a flexibility that allows it to deal with what would correspond to small errors in data, as well as an ability to extract in a moment the information it needs from a wide variety of sources. A computer programmed to play chess, no matter how sophisticated it is, often loses to a human player.
Ikeda: Even this brief overview shows that modern science is gradually coming into harmony with the Lotus Sutra’s teaching of the true aspect of all phenomena. What is crucial is to direct this tendency toward a recognition of the infinite worth and nobility of the individual.
Saito: We need a science that doesn’t alienate people but instead gives them inspiration and courage.
Ikeda: Yes. Learning must give people hope. What other use is there for knowledge? I am reminded of Lu Xun’s lecture at the People’s School of Xiamen University in China.
Suda: Lu Xun taught at Xiamen University for a short time, didn’t he?
Ikeda: Yes. The People’s School was a learning facility started by the students of Xiamen University for children of poor families. They took on the role of teachers and tried to teach children who would otherwise have tew educational opportunities. Lu Xun had been invited to speak at the opening ceremony in December 1926.
First, a certain high-ranking professor mounted the dais. There was no applause. Speaking on the significance of the People’s School, he said: “This school will benefit the people because, for example, if servants can read, they will be able to please their masters by delivering their letters correctly.” It was a remark of unbelievable arrogance — a sign of blatant contempt for the common people. He was baldly declaring that the only reason for them to gain an education was to please their masters.
Seeing Lu Xun’s burning gaze on him, the professor faltered, but blundered on: “Their masters will be pleased and hire them, and they will earn their daily bread.” Snickering arose in the auditorium. The professor was completely befuddled and fled from the podium. Then Lu Xun stood up to speak:
“What I want to say is this: You are all children of laborers and farmers. Because you are poor, you were deprived of the opportunity to study. But the only poverty you suffer is that of money. You are not poor in intelligence or ability. Though you may come from impoverished families, you are equal in intelligence and ability to all others.”
Lu Xun glanced at the professor and the university president sitting in the front row, who by now had broken out in a cold sweat. Then he turned back to the students.
“No one is so powerful,” he continued, “that he is free to treat you as his eternal slave…. Nor is it your fate to remain poor all your lives.” His voice rose. “If only you have the determination, if only you have the will to fight, you will definitely succeed, you will definitely have a bright future.” The auditorium was rocked with thunderous applause.
Endo: What a moving story!
Ikeda: Lu Xun wanted to let his listeners know that all people, no matter what their circumstances, are equal and have unlimited potential. And he wanted to encourage them never to give up, no matter what temporal powers or what fate might stand in their way. He urged them to overcome any such obstacle, to rise to the
challenge and triumph.
Saito: When you think about it, Shakyamuni’s original intent in teaching the “true aspect of all phenomena” was to urge us all to rise to the same challenge. And Shakyamuni himself took the lead and fought that battle, as well. The “Expedient Means” chapter states:
I view things through the Buddha eye,
I see the living beings in the six paths,
how poor and distressed they are, without merit or wisdom,
how they enter the perilous road of birth and death,
their sufferings continuing with never a break,…
[they] enter deeply into erroneous views, hoping to shed suffering through greater suffering.
For the sake of these living beings
I summon up a mind of great compassion. (LSOC, 76)
Ikeda: Compassion means to feel others’ sufferings as our own. It originates from a deep inner cry of sympathy when we share someone’s pain. Shakyamuni sought a way to free all living beings from the chains of suffering, and he agonized and fought to perfect that way. In “Expedient Means,” he declares: “I have come into this impure and evil world” (LSOC, 78).
With this thought, Shakyamuni resolved to take up the challenge of leading others to enlightenment. Great people stand tall in the center of the storm. It is only by facing the challenges of a chaotic world that we can test our mettle. And the heart of one who fights against all odds is filled with compassion as vast as the ocean for future generations.
A student of Xiamen University even remarked to Lu Xun as they made their way to the ceremony, “When I am near you, I feel refreshed and energized, as if I were actually next to the ocean.”
“No,” replied Lu Xun and pointed to the laborers’ children who were joyfully entering the building, “there is your ocean.”
Endo: The Lotus Sutra has often been likened to the great ocean, hasn’t it?
Ikeda: Yes. Nichiren Daishonin writes, “[The Lotus Sutra] is like the water of the great ocean, a single drop of which contains water from all the countless streams and rivers” (WND-1, 69). The whole is included in the parts. All the treasures of the universe are there in each individual. The drama of infinite value creation begins with the actions of one person.
Saito: The English philosopher Alfred North Whitehead taught that nature was not a conglomeration of things but a series of events. He writes: “Life can only be understood as an aim at that perfection which the conditions of its environment allow. But the aim is always beyond the attained fact.” In other words, life aims for perfection, always seeking to approach it as closely as possible. It is always trying to transcend the attained fact, the present reality.
Ikeda: That may be true. Life is not some simple mechanism governed only by physical laws of cause and effect. Of course, since living things are made of matter, they do have a mechanical aspect. But they are not simply machines and nothing more. All life has a fundamental desire to create value. Value is a relative notion, and in this world, this tapestry of relationships, life is always seeking to create ever better relationships, that is, ever greater value.
Life tries to weave a more beautiful tapestry (the value of beauty), a more useful tapestry (the value of benefit), a better tapestry (the value of good). I think there can be no doubt that creating value is a very important characteristic. In that sense, the struggle to achieve perfection is proof of life.
Life aspires toward a perfection that is “always beyond the attained fact.” From the perspective of the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, all life, whatever its present form, is seeking to transcend its present state in pursuit of perfection.
The essential nature of life is to aspire for the perfection that is the state of Buddhahood. This aspiration is expressed in a passage that appears throughout the sutra: “pressing their palms together and turning toward the Buddha.” In other words, all life, at the most fundamental level, seeks the Buddha.
The teaching of the “true aspect of all phenomena”” I think, reveals this truth that every living thing is an irreplaceably precious existence. Nichiren Daishonin proclaimed this essence of the Lotus Sutra for all to hear. And in modern times, the same message was proclaimed by Mr. Makiguchi and Mr. Toda, who directly inherited the Daishonin’s spirit.
After Mr. Makiguchi’s death in prison, Mr. Toda composed this poem in his cell:
I clutch in my hand the wish-granting jewel,
My heart cries out, “With this,
I will save everyone!”
My mentor smiles in peace.
The “wish-granting jewel” refers to the principle of “three thousand realms in a single moment of life”; it refers to the Gohonzon. In Nichiren’s writings, we find, “The jeweled flowers are wish-granting jewels, and wish-granting jewels stand for the principle of three thousand realms in a single moment of life” (OTT, 93). Faith based on this principle means being absolutely confident that, by one’s very presence, it is possible to change everything. It is faith propelled by a stand-alone spirit.
Now is the time for every individual practitioner to fully display the limitless power of the Mystic Law. For the entire Soka Gakkai exists in each individual. In each individual, the entire twenty-first century awaits. That is why I hope all of our members, without exception, will carry out their precious missions — missions that each was born to fulfill in this lifetime.
That fighting spirit, that determination to keep challenging oneself, is itself the soul of victory, the power source that will allow each person to create a glorious decade in this important stage of our movement.