Discussion of “Emerging from the Earth” Chapter (Chapter 15).
Ikeda: It has been fifty years since I took faith in the Daishonin’s Buddhism, fifty years of fierce struggle amid gale-force winds.
During those fifty years, I have run tirelessly together with President Toda.
In everything, President Toda has been my source of inspiration.
Through this unity with him, I have won. President Toda once said: “We have to bring about a great revolution. It’s a revolution that will be accomplished not through force or arms. We have to bring about a human revolution, a bloodless, peaceful revolution.
This is true revolution.”
We of the Soka Gakkai, who were scorned as a gathering of the poor and the sick, have accomplished a revolution of the people, by the people and for the people. And we have done this without relying on power or wealth. We have embraced individuals and provided each with encouragement and the means to become prosperous and healthy. Today, more than ten million friends around the world are advancing along this path of human revo-lution.
Endo: The fact that the Soka Gakkai was vilified as a gathering of the poor and the sick is proof that the light of the Soka Gakkai has reached those suffering the most. Dr. Dong-Hoon Kim, director of the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center in Osaka, commented that for a religious body working to help people, to be called a “gathering of the poor and the sick” is the highest honor.
Saito: He commented that this attests to the merit of the Soka
movement.
Suda: To me, this type of gathering seems to match the image of bodhisattvas emerging from below the earth. Of course, “below” doesn’t mean the underside of society; rather, it indicates the wellspring of life itself, the Mystic Law.
Saito: I’m not sure that these two can be entirely separated. So many of the members in the early days of our movement had nothing on which to rely. Starting literally from zero, they had no recourse other than to tap their inherent strength and ability. For precisely this reason, they were quick to realize the greatness of faith in the Lotus Sutra, which enabled them to transform the state of their lives.
Ikeda: They had neither the armor of authority, the shield of learn-ing, nor the sword of wealth or status. No avenue was available to them other than that of struggling to summon forth their inherent strength. They had no alternative but to stand on their own two feet and forge a solidarity of humanism.
THE SGI IS A GATHERING OF BODHISATTVAS
Endo: I recall an address that Professor Su Dongtian of Shenzhen University in China gave at a meeting sponsored by the SGI of Hong Kong. [Titled “The Twenty-first Century and Buddhism
—SGI President Ikeda’s Buddhist Thought and the Civiliation of the Twenty-first Century,” it was held at the Hong Kong Culture Centre in September 1996.]
Characterizing the present as a time when most people are controlled by cravings and desires, Professor Su asserted that the
“conscientious wisdom” of people such as yourself, Mr. Ikeda, is a bright light guiding humankind toward the future. He credited you with having created many “gatherings of bodhisattvas,” mentioning the members of the Soka Gakkai in Japan and of the
SGI of Hong Kong.
Professor Su further noted that the SGI is a unique organization in that its members are, in their activities, not motivated by concern for profit or by ideology nor are they bound by a set of rules or a contract. Instead, ties of the heart and friendship, entirely free of any coercion or external pressure, form the basis of members’ association.
Ikeda: He really sees things very clearly.
Everything comes from the self-directed power of the people themselves. We have succeeded in helping people cultivate their own “inner power.”This is a remarkable achievement. And therein lies the SGI’s underlying strength. So many people would never carry on such vigorous activities over such a long time merely on the directive of some authority figure. The SI’s success in facilitating the empowerment of the people is truly the actualization of the Lotus Sutra’s teaching of”emerging from the earth.”
Suda: The Bodhisattvas of the Earth do not descend from the heaven like gods. Rather, they dance forth from the earth. This gives us a sense of the importance that the Lotus Sutra places on human beings.
A GATHERING OF BODHISATTVAS
WHO DANCE FORTH
I beg the most honored of two-legged beings to explain where they have come from,
What causes and conditions bring them together!
Huge in body, with great transcendental powers, unfathomable in wisdom,
firm in their intent and thought, with the power of great perseverance, the kind living beings delight to see — where have they come from? (ISIS, 216)
•••
These great bodhisattvas for countless kalpas
have practiced the Buddha wisdom.
All have been converted by me;
I caused them to set their minds on the great way.
These are my sons,
they dwell in this world…. (ISIS, 219-20)
Endo: Speaking of dancing forth from the earth, Nichiren Dai-shonin says, “When Bodhisattva Superior Practices emerged from the earth, did he not emerge dancing?” (WND, 11I9).
There are transcriptions of the Lotus Sutra, even of Kumar-jiva’s Chinese translation, in which the “Emerging from the Earth” chapter is titled “Dancing Forth from the Earth.”This variation is found even in copies of the Lotus Sutra included in the Taisho Shinshu Daizo Kyo (New Compilation of the Buddhist Canon in the Taisho Era [I912-26]), a collection of virtually all the sutras that have been translated into Chinese. A copy of the Lotus Sutra unearthed at Dunhuang in China also reads “dance forth” instead of “emerge.”
Ikeda: I see. It seems that “dancing forth” is a fitting image for the appearance of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth. After all they do appear on the scene fully aware of their mission to spread the Mystic Law. They don’t come forth reluctantly because Shakya-muni told them to; rather, the Bodhisattvas of the Earth leap forth and dance exuberantly with the sense: “Our time has come at last!”
Saito: There are several places in the Gosho, too, where the Dai-shonin uses “dance forth” in place of “emerge,” both terms in Japanese being pronounced the same.
Ikeda: By practicing with the self-motivated faith to “dance forth,” we can attain eternal happiness.
President Toda explained the supreme benefit of faith as follows:
Attaining Buddhahood means achieving the state in which we are always reborn overflowing with abundant and powerful life force; we can take action to our heart’s content based on a profound sense of mission; we can achieve all our goals; and we possess good fortune that no one can destroy. Because we can live tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of millions of lives in this way, our happiness truly knows no bounds. Someone who does not aspire for such a life of happiness, and who instead greedily seeks out minuscule joys, is truly pitiful.’
The purpose of faith is to realize a state of eternal happiness.
This existence is as fleeting as a dream. We practice faith to awaken from this dream and firmly establish a state of eternal happiness in the depths of our lives during this lifetime. That is what it means to ‘attain Buddhahood in this lifetime? And that’s why, as I always say, we must exert ourselves to the utmost in faith.
What, then, is necessary to achieve Buddhahood? Nichiren Dai-shonin says, “If you are of the same mind as Nichiren, you must be a Bodhisattva of the Earth” (WND, 385). Those who struggle for kosen-rufu with the same spirit as the Daishonin are the true Bodhisattvas of the Earth. Everything in the cosmos moves along its own path in exquisite harmony. Just as the Earth naturally follows its own orbit, so too is kosen-rufu like the revolution of a planet around the sun. In the same manner, our individual human revolution is like the rotation of a planet on its axis. These two motions are inseparable.
The SG represents the function of the Buddha. It is only nat-ural, therefore, that we are attacked by devilish functions. For, as the Daishonin says, The Buddha and Devadatta are like a form and its shadow-in lifetime after lifetime, they are never separated” (WND, 278). We have to search out and win over negative forces.
This is the spirit of sharing and teaching others about Nichiren
Daishonin’s Buddhism.
When we are “of the same mind as Nichiren,” what can we possibly have to fear? Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Josei Toda, the first and second Soka Gakkai presidents, never retreated a single step, even when under attack by the militarist authorities during the war. They continued advancing straight ahead with the spirit of the lion king, which is the spirit of Nichiren Daishonin.
Endo: That was where the Soka Gakkai and the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood decisively parted ways. Priests, far from being “of the same mind as Nichiren,” trampled the Daishonin’s spirit underfoot out of fear of persecution.
ENDURING HARDSHIP ON ACCOUNT OF FAITH
EQUALS ATTAINING BUDDHAHOOD
Ikeda: It was in prison that President Toda attained his enlighten-ment, which has become the origin of our movement. This is a key point. He was imprisoned on account of his faith in the Lotus Sutra. In light of the Daishonin’s writing, “The Four Debts of Gratitude,” this is comparable to reading the Lotus Sutra with one’s life constantly throughout each day without a moment’s rest.
During his imprisonment, President Toda had the instantaneous realization: “I am a Bodhisattva of the Earth!” He carried out his human revolution while undergoing great persecution. Enduring difficulties on account of faith equals attaining enlightenment.
In truth, he proved with his life the golden words, “If you are of the same mind as Nichiren, you must be a Bodhisattva of the Earth?” Strictly speaking, unless we encounter difficulties we cannot genuinely be “of the same mind as Nichiren.”
President Toda’s enlightenment in prison is our eternal starting Point. At that moment, the Lotus Sutra was revived, and the sun of human revolution dawned on the modern age. Although in the deep darkness of the time no one realized it, dawn had already broken in President Toda’s life.
Sait: President Toda left behind various statements about the enlightenment he experienced while imprisoned. It was during the early winter of 1944. At the time, he was continually pondering the Lotus Sutra while chanting earnest daimoku in an effort to grasp the sutra’s essential principles.
Endo: He would walk about in his solitary cell saying to himself,
“I have to know! I simply must understand!” Whether asleep or awake, he continued to seriously grapple with the sutra’s text. That is how President Toda describes the process leading to his enlightenment in his book The Human Revolution.
He goes on to relate how one morning, as he was on the verge of reaching 1,800,000 daimoku since the start of the year, he had a mystic experience while chanting daimoku in quiet concentration that seemed to refresh him in both body and mind. As he describes it in the narrative [in the third person:
It was neither a dream nor an illusion…. In terms of time, it may have lasted for several seconds or for several minutes, or even for several hours…. He [Toda] really had no way of knowing. He discovered himself at the Ceremony in the Air among a great multitude of beings incalculable in number, reverently bowing to the Dai-Gohonzon that shone before him with a brilliant golden hue….
When he tried to cry out, “This isn’t a lie! I am here right now!” he found himself seated in a chair in his solitary cell. The morning sun shone fresh and bright.
From this we can conclude that he perceived himself to be present at the Ceremony in the Air described in the “Emerging from the Earth” chapter.
Ikeda: President Toda’s enlightenment at that moment has become the starting point of world kosen-rufu. President Toda’s great con-viction, “I am a Bodhisattva of the Earth!” is the spring at the source of the great river of kosen-rufu.
Suda: He also wrote:
The Lotus Sutra that I see now is the same Lotus Sutra that until recently I found impenetrable to my understanding no matter how I exerted myself. Now I can read it, however, and draw forth its meaning as easily and accurately as if I were looking at something in the palm of my hand. Sensing the wonder of this, I am filled with immense gratitude; it is as though I have recollected a teaching that I learned in the distant past.*
And he made this determination: “My future has been decided.
I will devote the remainder of my existence to spreading this most exalted of teachings —the Lotus Sutra!”
Ikeda: It was a truly mystic revelation. Yet, for President Toda, it was an unmistakable experience. He read with his life T’ien-tai’s words, “The assembly at Eagle Peak which continues in solemn state and has not yet dispersed.” 5
Saito: High Priest Nichijun praised President Toda as the “van-guard of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth” and credited him with having called into appearance in the world the Bodhisattvas of the Earth making up the Soka Gakkai’s membership of 750,000 households. He also recognized the number 750,000 as significant because of its association with the phrase “the seven characters or five characters” of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
The “Emerging from the Earth” chapter could therefore truly be called the lifeblood of the SGI.
WE CAN “ENTER THE TREASURE TOWER”
THROUGH FAITH
Suda: What is the relationship of President Toda’s awakening as a Bodhisattva of the Earth and his earlier revelation that “the Buddha is life”?
Saito: President Toda attained his revelation that the Buddha is life in early March 1944, when he had been contemplating passages from the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra. Specifically, he had been pondering the matter of the real nature of the Buddha that transcends the so-called thirty-four negations: “His body neither existing nor not existing, neither caused nor conditioned, neither self nor other….
997
He had his revelation as to his identity as a Bodhisattva of the Earth in November of that same year, or about eight months later.
During that interval, President Toda continued chanting daimoku and pondering the sutras.
Endo: It seems to me his realization that the Buddha is life has something of an intellectual flavor to it. His awakening to his identity as a Bodhisattva of the Earth seems to represent a deepening of this earlier awakening—such that he experienced it, not intel-lectually, but at the very core of his being. In that sense, I think we can see a link between his revelation that the Buddha is life and his revelation eight months later that he is a Bodhisattva of the Earth.
Ikeda: While the total content of President Toda’s enlightenment is beyond words, it is a fact that he was thrown into prison because while enduring persecution. This in itself amounts to reading the Lotus Sutra with one’s life- with the totality of one’s being.
Enduring hardships on account of faith equals attaining Bud-dhahood. Because he struggled against extreme difficulties based on faith in the Mystic Law, a great transformation occurred in his life. This is just as the Daishonin indicates where he says,” Although I and my disciples may encounter various difficulties, if we do not harbor doubts in our hearts, we will as a matter of course attain Buddhahood” (WND, 283).
Enlightenment is not simply a matter of recognition or awareness of eternal life. This is very important. The eternity of life is not something to be recognized intellectually; it is something that we have to experience with our own lives. And only if we practice a correct teaching can we do so.
The difficulty is that even if one consciously makes an effort to become aware of the eternity of life, ultimately it is life that supports the self that is trying to achieve this awareness. One cannot comprehend what is large with what is small; a wave cannot comprehend the ocean over whose surface it passes. What, then, are we to do?
The only way to awaken to life’s eternity is to cause the greater, eternal self to “emerge” within the small self. And to do this, we need to undertake the task of self-purification wholeheartedly, with our entire being. This is the purpose of Buddhist practice.
Originally our lives are in harmony with the Mystic Law. But because we live in a strife-ridden world, we tend to base ourselves on egoism. As a result, our hearts become clouded by illusion and karma, and we grow befuddled and confused. This prevents the brilliant light of the eternal world of Buddhahood from illuminating our lives.
Endo: The “Life Span” chapter states that befuddled living beings cannot see the Buddha even when he is nearby see LSI6, 229). It also describes befuddled people as drowning in a sea of suffering (see LSI6, 230).
(Shakyamuni says: “I make it so that living beings in their befud-dement / do not see me even when close by” and “When I look at living beings / I see them drowned in a sea of sufferig.?)
Ikeda: That’s right. Id like to go into this in more detail later when we discuss the “Life Span” chapter, but for now suffice it to say that the Buddha this refers to is Shakyamuni as the original Buddha enlightened since the remote past. The Buddha is called the
“Thus Come One,” indicating the state of life of one in whom the Mystic Law naturally manifests at each moment.
This eternal pulsing dynamism of the Mystic Law is itself eter-1 nal life. It is the true identity of the Buddha-the original Bud-dha. Furthermore, it is the wellspring of the benefit that all Buddhas enjoy. Just as President Toda realized, the Buddha is life itself. In addition, this original Buddha is the very wellspring of our lives. In this sense, the sutra speaks of the original Buddha as being nearby. Befuddled, however, people fail to perceive this Buddha.
By struggling against difficulties, we polish our clouded hearts and fuse with eternal life. We might think of it as gaining self-mastery. It’s a matter of harmonizing one’s life, as though tuning a musical instrument, with the eternal rhythm of the Mystic Law.
It is a matter of fusing one’s entire being with the eternal life of the cosmos. This is what it means to be a Bodhisattva of the Earth.
Nichiren Daishonin says, These great bodhisattvas benefit the Living beings of the Latter Day of the Law as naturally as fish swim in water and as freely as birds fly through the sky” (GZ, 1033). The Bodhisattvas of the Earth have earnestly practiced the Mystic Law since the distant past. They have tempered their lives with the Mystic Law based on faith. That’s why the Daishonin says, “these bodhisattvas are the ones who had thoroughly forged their resolve” (WND, 953).
Because the Bodhisattvas of the Earth have such strong faith — that is, because in the depths of their lives they dwell in the world of Buddhahood —they can spread the Mystic Law in this strife-ridden saha world even while undergoing great persecution.
Suda: This is how they differ from the bodhisattvas of the theoretical teaching.
Ikeda: That’s right. The bodhisattvas of the theoretical teaching and bodhisattvas from other lands all aspire to become Buddhas.
For this reason, they cannot endure the difficulties of spreading the teaching in the saha world. It is the Bodhisattvas of the Earth of the essential teaching, who are thoroughly versed in and have mastered the eternal Mystic Law, who can endure the hardships incumbent upon those undertaking this great task.
President Makiguchi said: “Although it is said that particles of dust collect to form mountains, there are in fact no mountains that are tormed from accumulated particles of dust. At the most all they can form is a small hill. Real mountains are formed by great shifts in the earth’s crust. By the same token, no matter how much minor good you accumulate, it will never amount to major good?” The bodhisattvas of the provisional teachings are like those trying to attain Buddhahood by accumulating minor good. In con-trast, the bodhisattvas of the essential teaching cause the great vitality of Buddhahood to issue forth from the depths of their lives — from the fundamental nature of the Law, which is to say the very wellspring of their being with explosive force like a volcanic eruption.
The Bodhisattvas of the Earth constantly practice the Mystic Law and at each moment live in harmony with eternal life. While they are bodhisattvas in their appearance as practitioners, in terms of their state of life they are Buddhas.
President Toda’s experience of being present at the Ceremony in the Air as a Bodhisattva of the Earth signifies his entry into the realm of eternal life, the world of truth of the original Buddha.
Endo: His realization that “the Buddha is life itself” thus closely relates to his awareness that he was a Bodhisattva of the Earth.
Ikeda: That’s right. President Toda wrote:
Awakening
to the life of the Buddha,
I take pride
in having been a Bodhisattva of the Earth since the remote past.?
He composed this verse in I9SI, the year he became the Soka Gakkai’s second president.
Saito: The Ceremony in the Air is a cosmic scene that crystallizes the eternity of life. The Bodhisattvas of the Earth reveal in themselves the eternity of life. And the Gohonzon, set within the eternal realm of the Ceremony in the Air, embodies the life of Nichiren Daishonin, which is one with the eternal Mystic Law.
In that sense, President Toda’s experience signifies his having entered the realm of the Gohonzon. When he returned to his home in I945 after his release from prison, President Toda immediately sat upright before the Gohonzon and carefully examined the writing on it, thereby confirming the truth of the enlightenment he had attained.
Endo: In your book The Human Revolution, President Ikeda, you describe this moment as follows:
He removed his glasses and scrutinized each character, bending so close it seemed his face would touch the scroll.
“It was just like this. No mistake. Exactly, just as I saw it…
“
Murmuring silently, he satisfied himself that the solemn and mysterious Ceremony in the Air which he had witnessed in his cell was indeed inscribed on the Gohonzon. Profound delight surged through him and tears streamed down his face…. He cried out from the depths of his being:
“Gohonzon! Daishonin! I, Toda, will accomplish kosen-rufu!”
Ikeda: In a well-known passage, the Daishonin says: “Never seek this Gohonzon outside yourself. The Gohonzon exists only within the mortal flesh of us ordinary people who embrace the Lotus Sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo” (WND, 832). President Toda vividly felt the truth of these lines. Just as the Daishonin teaches when he says that through faith one can “enter the treasure tower of the Gohonzon” (WND, 832), he “entered” the treasure tower and took his place at the Ceremony in the Air.
The Gohonzon is itself the treasure tower, and the treasure tower is none other than one’s own life. President Toda grasped this truth with his entire being.
THE LOTUS SUTRA PORTRAYS THE DRAMA IN ALL PEOPLE’S LIVES
Saito: President Toda attained that enlightenment in his heart. Had someone been there with him while he had this experience in prison, that person, of course, could not have seen the Ceremony in the Air.
Ikeda: It’s something that he perceived within his own life. President Toda explained that the Lotus Sutra itself is a teaching that came out of Shakyamuni’s very own life. What was foreshadowed in the “Introduction” and “Supernatural Powers of the Thus Come One” chapters, as well as Shakyamuni’s exchanges with the voice-hearers and bodhisattvas, the astonishing appearance of the treasure tower, the emergence of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth—we can interpret all of these as dramas taking place in Shakyamunis own life.
Suda: When I visited Eagle Peak in India, the setting of Shakya-munis preaching of the Lotus Sutra, there was someone in our party who purportedly went around trying to find a chasm of some kind in the earth from which the Bodhisattvas of the Earth might have emerged. But this and other events in the sutra shall be taken as dramas occurring within Shakyamuni’s life; they are not to be interpreted literally.
Ikeda: While not historically factual, the events described in the sutra do express truths about life and the nature of existence.
Saito: For purposes of convenience, we have at times discussed the events of the Lotus Sutra as though they really happened. That is because they can be thought of as expressing the truth of life.
Endo: If we say that the Lotus Sutra is a teaching arising from Shakyamuni’s own life, then Shakyamuni’s identity becomes an issue. That is to say, the Shakyamuni appearing in the Lotus Sutra becomes “Shakyamuni in Shakyamuni’s own life.”
Ikeda: Shakyamuni’s appearance in the Lotus Sutra represents Shakyamuni’s true self. In a sense, the reason for the development from the theoretical teaching (or first half) of the Lotus Sutra to the essential teaching (or second half) is to enable Shakyamuni to reveal his true self. The other figures who appear and the various events that occur all function to assist in this revelation.
Saito: The original Buddha of the “Life Span” chapter, who has been enlightened since the remote past, corresponds to Shakya-muni’s true self.
Ikeda: That’s right. The original Buddha enlightened since the remote past is the eternal self that is one with the eternal Mystic
Suda: The Bodhisattvas of the Earth must also exist in Shakya-
muni’s life.
Ikeda: They are eternal bodhisattvas representing an aspect of Shakyamuni’s eternal self. The “Record of the Orally Transmitted
“Because they are bodhisattvas contained in
Teachings” says,
Shakyamuni’s own life, Shakyamunı summons torth these true disciples nurtured by the original Buddha” (cZ, 798).
This is not only true for Shakyamuni. The Daishonin says, “The example of one person represents the impartial truth inherent in all living beings” (cZ, $64). Shakyamuni’s eternal self is the eter-nal self of all living beings. In a broad sense, all beings are original Buddhas. The Bodhisattvas of the Earth are therefore eternal bodhisattvas existing in the lives of all people. The Daishonin explains this, saying: “Shakyamuni Buddha, who has attained per-fect enlightenment, is our own flesh and blood. His practices and resulting virtues are our bones and marrow” (WND, 365); “The Shakyamuni Buddha within our lives is the eternal Buddha since time without beginning” (WND, 365); and, “The bodhisattvas Superior Practices, Bondless Practices, Pure Practices, and Firmly Established Practices” represent the world of the bodhisattva within ourselves” (WND, 366).
Endo: The drama of the Lotus Sutra takes place in the lives of all
people. The same can be said of the Gohonzon, which is the Lotus Sutra of Nichiren Daishonin.
Ikeda: Based on the Ceremony in the Air described in the Lotus
Sutra, Nichiren Daishonin manifested his eternal self in the form of the Gohonzon. The Daishonin’s eternal self, needless to say, is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo; accordingly, down the middle of the
Nichiren.”
Gohonzon are inscribed the haracters “Nam-myoho-renge-kyo
Saito: In a Gosho he says, “I, Nichiren, have inscribed my life in sumi” ink…the soul of Nichiren is nothing other than Nam-myoho-renge-kyo” (WND, 4I2).
Ikeda: We can think of President Toda’s enlightenment in prison as the moment in which he connected with his eternal self as the leader of the movement to propagate the Mystic Law. That was the meaning of his presence at the Ceremony in the Air. What he awakened to in that instant was the unmistakable truth of life, the fundamental transcendent reality. Theretore, President Toda talked about the Ceremony in the Air as a fact. And he said that Soka Gakkai members were also all present there.
Endo: He once humorously remarked that those who have difficulty grasping Buddhist concepts are the ones who, during the Ceremony in the Air, were dozing off in spite of themselves at the back of the crowd.!
Saito: Again, President Toda once said: The Gohonzon exists within our own lives. The quintessence of faith in the Daishonin’s Buddhism is to believe that our own lives and the Gohonzon enshrined in the altar are one and the same.”4 I think this was his way of expressing what he had realized while in prison.
Suda: President Toda stated that the vision of the Ceremony in the Air he had while in prison did not differ in the least from the appearance of the Gohonzon that the Daishonin inscribed. This seems to me evidence that President Toda truly entered the Gohonzon.
Ikeda: President Toda fought the devilish nature of power head on.
And through his faith to wage such a struggle he attained an immense state of life. This is the principle of attaining enlightenment through faith. He could then read and comprehend the Lotus Sutra. That’s because he grasped with his life that the Lotus Sutra explains the eternal Mystic Law, or Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
That’s why he often said, “It’s simply impossible to read the Lotus Sutra without faith in the Gohonzon.”
Suda: While in prison, President Toda grappled with the Lotus Sutra as he struggled to chant daimoku and ponder its meaning.
But at the same time, it was a struggle to dig into the depths of his life.
Ikeda: Through thoroughly pursuing the question “What is the Buddha?” he came to realize that the Buddha is none other than the self and the great life of the universe; that these two— the self and the universe are in fact one.
Just as the saying, “Start digging right where you are, for there lies the source!” implies, when we dig into the inner reaches of our own being, the common foundation of life that all people share comes into view. This foundation is none other than the eternal life of the universe. President Toda became enlightened not only to the wellspring at the core of his own being, but also to the foundation of life that all people share. He realized that, as he put it, “in essence, all people are in fact Bodhisattvas of the Earth.”
With that conviction President Toda racked his brain to find a way to enable all members to share that same profound level of confidence in their lives. Sometimes in urging the members to work together to accomplish the goal of kosen-rufu, he would address them as “fellow Bodhisattvas of the Earth.” President Toda wholeheartedly sought to teach us the nobility and strength we can attain by basing ourselves on an awareness of the truth as the wellspring of our being. He showed actual proof of this truth through his own life. Because of his conviction, the members of the SGI now share this awareness of the common “homeland of life.”
The power of one person is truly immense. Such power and strength cannot fail to be activated in those who awaken to their mission as Bodhisattvas of the Earth. Such confidence is the starting point for everything. The very wellspring of our lives is free of all impurity and as vast as the universe. Accomplishing human revolution means realizing and showing actual proof of the existence of this life.
“THE UNIVERSE IS ITSELF COMPASSION”
Saito: Regarding these Bodhisattvas of the Earth, the “Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings” says, “Among the thousand plants and ten thousand trees, there is none that is not a Bodhisattva of the Earth” (GZ, 7S1). This is a little difficult to understand, because we tend to have an image of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth as people.
Endo: The Bodhisattvas of the Earth can perhaps be thought of more in terms of a function that brings living beings benefit. That passage in the “Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings” con-tinues, “Thus we may say that the Bodhisattvas of the Earth who emerge from the earth represent the essential teaching. The word essential represents the eternal merits handed down from the infinite past of ‘numberless major world system dust particle kalpas ’15 (GZ, 75I).
Ikeda: I think we might find a guideline for interpreting these passages in President Toda’s essay “On Compassion.” In conclu-sion, he says, “The universe is itself an entity of compassion.”The universe gives life to all things, causing them to come into being, to change, and to repeatedly undergo the cycle of birth and death.
The great life that is this universe is itself the entity of the Bud-aha. It is the entity of the Buddha inherently possessing the three enlightened properties —Law, wisdom and action.
The compassion of the universe is the function of the Buddha.
It is also the function of the inherent world of Bodhisattva, the power of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth. Therefore, in a general sense, all living things in the universe are sacred Bodhisattvas of the Earth; whereas in a specific sense, Bodhisattvas of the Earth refers to those awakened to this law of life.
The path of the bodhisattva lies in supremely humane action.
Such action, fundamentally, is at one with the function of the universe’s compassion. When we pray, speak out and take action for the happiness of a friend, the eternal life of the universe manifests through our thoughts, words and deeds.
Endo: I feel I have gained a clear sense of Buddhist humanism. which is as vast as the universe. Moreover in contrast to secular humanism], this humanism is respectful of the sanctity of all things, including even mountains and rivers, plants and trees.
Saito: The Bodhisattvas of the Earth appearing in the Lotus Sutra are described as “filling the sky over immeasurable hundreds, thou-sands, ten thousands, and millions of lands” (LSIS, 214). This is truly universal in scale; they completely occupy all space.
Suda: This is a depiction of a gathering of countless beings who manifest the principle that the universe is itself compassion. How solemn! What a grand drama! When we open our eyes to the teaching of the “Emerging from the Earth” chapter, it becomes only too obvious how truly petty and insignificant are the discrimination and egoism rampant in society.
Saito: I recall the poem “The Sun of Jiyu Over a New Land,” which you presented to friends in Los Angeles, President Ikeda.
In that poem, you describe the Bodhisattvas of the Earth as “roots” that cut through all differences. You write:
As each group seeks their separate roots and origins,
society fractures along a thousand fissure lines.
When neighbors distance themselves from neighbors, continue your uncompromising quest for your truer roots
in the deepest regions of your life.
Seek out the primordial “roots” of humankind.
Then you will without fail discover the stately expanse of Jiyu
unfolding in the depths of your life.
Here is the home, the dwelling place to which humankind traces its original existence— beyond all borders,
beyond all diVerences of gender and race.
Here is a world oVering true proof of our humanity.
If one reaches back to these fundamental roots, all become friends and comrades.
To realize this is to “emerge from the earth. “17
Suda: Everyone is sacred. Everyone is an irreplaceable and unique existence. Moreover, everyone is a child of the great earth of life.
This is what the “Emerging from the Earth” chapter teaches.
Endo: Only one year before you composed this poem, tragedy had visited Los Angeles. A group of white police officers were on trial for brutally beating an African-American man whom they had apprehended for a traffic violation. When an all-white jury handed down a verdict of “not guilty,” racial tensions exploded, resulting in widespread civil unrest [in 1992).
keda: Discrimination is absolutely evil. Those whose minds are clouded by discrimination injure the lives of others as well as themselves. To try to locate the roots of one’s identity in a particular racial or ethnic group is an illusion. It is like a mirage in the desert. Such a sense of identity, far from serving as a common
“homeland of life” that can be shared by all, only heightens distinctions between oneself and others and becomes an underlying cause of conflict and strife.
Today we need a transformation in how society views the human being. When people’s view of the human being changes, everything will change. “You must not yoke yourself to nationality or to ethnicity. You must not think of yourself as powerless or as ‘no more than a collection of matter. You must not regard yourself as a slave to your genes. Fundamentally, you have limitless and immense potential. Fundamentally, the human being is one with the universe! Such is the immense power of one person!”This is the message of the Lotus Sutra.
Endo: That is why it is called the sutra of hope.
THE MIND Is NOT MERELY A FUNCTION OF THE BRAIN
Suda: The tendency to view people as machines made of living matter and to see the spirit as no more than a function of the brain is emblematic of the modern age. The assumption seems to be that advances in the neurosciences will eventually fully elucidate all phenomena of the spirit.
Saito: There is no time to go into a detailed discussion here, but contrary to this idea is also the view that “the more we discover about the brain, the more clearly do we distinguish between the brain events and the mental phenomena, and the more wonderful do both the brain events and the mental phenomena become.”
Ikeda: There is also a view of the brain as a tool of the mind and as a venue where spiritual phenomena are worked out. It may be true that without the functioning of the brain, the mind would have no means to express itself. Still, I believe, as current research about the brain and the mind seems to indicate, that the two are in no sense identical.
In modern terms, we may say that the brain is like a wonderful computer; yet, it is ultimately a tool. What uses this tool is the subjective entity called the mind. The mind cannot be a locally defined entity contained within the body or the brain, although many people today seem to suppose so. Scientific research is making this increasingly clear. The mind is more vast and expansive; it has a breadth that transcends material restrictions.
For instance, the American clinical physician Larry Dossey says:
“There is good evidence that the mind cannot be localized. It displays its nonlocal character in a million ways, showing us that it is free in space and time, that it bridges consciousness between per-sons, and that it does not die with the body.”!?
The mind that transcends time and space is an entity whose dimensions are not locally circumscribed; the mind possesses the potential to transcend the small self. Dr. Dossey also writes: “If nonlocal mind is a reality, the world becomes a place of interaction and connection, not one of isolation and disjunction. And if humanity really believed that nonlocal mind were real, an entirely new foundation for ethical and moral behavior would enter, which would hold at least the possibility of a radical departure from the insane ways human beings and nation-states have chronically behaved toward each other.”20
Endo: The infinite expanse of the mind —this is what the doctrine of the three thousand realms in a single moment of life explains.
Saito: In “On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime,” there is the famous passage, “Life at each moment permeates the entire realm of phenomena and is revealed in all phenomena” (WND, 3). One senses from passages like this that science is approaching the view of life of Buddhism.
THE LOTUS SUTRA TEACHES THE TRUE WAY OF HUMANITY
Ikeda: Dr. Dossey further states: “If we continue in the ways in which we have conceptualized ourselves for hundreds of years, it is no longer certain that we will have a future on this Earth. If we are to survive, a sacred regard for the Earth and all things in it must arise once more.”21
Buddhism greatly transforms “the ways in which we have con-ceptualized ourselves. “This is not merely an intellectual transfor-mation; it manifests in the practice of compassion; that is, in altered Patterns of behavior. It could be termed a transtormation ot people’s fundamental state of life. And the appearance of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth could be thought of as its grand prelude.
Simply put, to have faith in the Lotus Sutra is to have faith in humanity. This is what President Toda said.
Saito: In other words, the human being is truly great. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the flag-bearer of the American renaissance, makes a very interesting comment to the same effect. He says, “The Belief in Christianity that now prevails is the Unbelief of men. They will have Christ for a lord & not for a brother. Christ preaches the greatness of Man but we hear only the greatness of Christ?”
Ikeda: Such insight is typical of Emerson. He’s right of course.
Neither the state nor ideology is sacred, nor is any superhuman Buddha or deity.
The Bodhisattvas of the Earth are in fact Buddhas. But the term Buddha is inevitably taken to mean a being somehow transcendental or superior to ordinary human beings. The Bodhisattvas of the Earth thoroughly devote themselves to the way of bodhisattvas as people who carry out Buddhist practice. They thoroughly devote themselves to the way of human beings. This point 1s tremendously significant.
The restoration of trust and belief in humanity will be the key discussions.
to religion in the twenty-first century, which is the theme of our
forefront of the age.
Suda: The teaching of the Lotus Sutra does indeed stand on the
Ikeda: For instance, one could argue that the collapse of the Soviet Union —a major change of the latter half of this century-fun-damentally arose from an inner thirst in human beings.
Endo: Shimon Peres, the former prime minister of Israel land Nobel Peace Prize laureate), said: “The Communist Party was not beaten by another party opposing it. The Communist Party was beaten by its own children and not by its rivals. The Soviet Union did not come apart under the impact of American pressure, European intervention, or a Chinese threat. The pressure did not come from without, it sprang from within. This gigantic change in human organization occurred without the army’s guns, without political parties’ banners, and without superpower threats?”?
Endo: Peres, looking back on the circumstances of the time, recalled a particularly poignant scene: “One of the most captivating images during the attempted coup against Mikhail Gorbachev was that of a battalion of Red Army soldiers in front of the Russian Parliament, Moscow’s ‘White House. “The soldiers were indi-fferent, with a ‘who cares attitude, when suddenly an old Russian woman, a babouchka, went up to them and said, ‘Children, what are you doing here? Go home!’ It was almost as if the babouchka were the sole commander of the Red Army?*24
Saito: Given the tenseness of the situation, this was a really coura-Seous woman. Peres’ description reminds me of the women of the Many Treasure Group who have steadfastly fought for kosen-rufu since the early days of the Soka Gakkai.
Ikeda: At the crucial moment, ordinary people are the strongest.
The thoroughly polished core humanity of the ordinary people shines the brightest. Faith in the Mystic Law enables us to bring out the full brilliance of this essential human core.
Nichiren Daishonin declares, “Nichiren alone took the lead in carrying out the task of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth” (WND, 385).
Reading this line fills me with profound emotion. The great strug gle of the human revolution is the dawn of life that humankind has eagerly awaited. It is the dawn of a new history. The human revolution is a liberation of the human being on the most fundamental level of life, on a dimension ranging over eternity. Nichiren Daishonin stood up alone to enable all people to accomplish this
liberation.
We who have gathered beneath the banner of the Law borne by the Bodhisattvas of the Earth share a mystic connection from the distant past. The famous Gakkai song “Doshi no Uta” (Song of Comrades) refers to this with the line: “I now receive the Buddha’s decree….”
When we understand this, we can see our marvelous mission.
It is as though the gears of our lives mesh with a million-horse-power engine. Tremendous energy wells forth, and we develop a self of awesome vitality and strength.