Discussion of “The Life Span of the Thus Come One” Chapter (Chapter 16); The Ten Worlds
Ikeda: People need to grow. Leaders, especially, must not lull themselves into complacency, thinking, “Haven’t I done enough already?” Rather, they should always reflect, asking such questions as “Am I truly going in the right direction?” “Is my present state of life how it should be?”” Am I sure no one in the community is suffering?” We need to examine everything with clear eyes.
Only when we can reflect seriously upon ourselves have we truly internalized the message of the Lotus Sutra, the “scripture of human revolution.”
From a certain standpoint, nothing is as vulnerable and fragile as a human being. Nor, perhaps, is anything potentially as base or cruel. On the other hand, there is no limit to how strong or noble a person can become through cultivating the heart. One’s spirit has no color, shape or dimension, but given the proper conditioning it can expand boundlessly.
Our present state of life, while it might seem stable, is in fact a fleeting phenomenon, an expression of the truth of temporary existence.! This means that our lives are changing constantly, never pausing for even a moment.
Endo: The view that 1l things are in state of constant Aux is
termed the truth of nonsubstantiality.
Ikeda: Precisely because our lives are nonsubstantial, there are no limitations on the extent to which we can develop. We must not become attached to whatever aspect of the self appears at any one time; there is always change. The real issue, therefore, is the way in which we change—whether for better or for worse. It can only
be one or the other.
Suda: Some people stop trying to develop, claiming they are inca-pable. But they are just spoiling themselves. If we are not moving forward in life, we are moving backwards.
Ikeda: Indeed, as Nichiren Daishonin says, to not advance is to retreat. In particular, there is nothing more deplorable than when the leaders of an organization stop growing. When this happens, everyone suffers.
This is precisely why human revolution is essential. The important point is to make a fresh start to renew oneself-every day.
Leaders who have stopped seeking their own development tend to behave arrogantly. They are the ones you’ll find needlessly scolding people. Such highhanded and arrogant conduct characterizes the worlds of Animality and Hunger. Praising others, on the other hand, is the hallmark of the world of Bodhisattva. It is important to recognize greatness in others. SGI members throughout the world are like precious gems; we must respect and encourage one another to lead the best possible life. That is the whole purpose of the organization.
Now is the time for leaders to revolutionize their state of life. In light of the principles of three thousand realms in a single moment of life and the inseparable relationship between self and environ-ment, when all members genuinely stand up in faith, a great current will be generated that cannot fail to change society.
Saito: Lack of direction and a sense of foreboding seem to pervade the world today. Only through a fundamental change in the lives of the people can the path to recovery be found.
Endo: In other words, it will no longer suffice to simply treat the superficial symptoms. The deep-rooted cause for the malady has to be addressed. For example, any attempt to effect educational reform that does not address issues of philosophy and views of humanity and life itself— which are the very starting point of edu-cation—will devolve into little more than clever arguments over teaching technique.
Suda: Moreover, if not approached properly, all such initiatives — however well intentioned-will simply become fodder for unscrupulous politicians.
THE BUDDHA UNDERSTANDS THE MYSTERIES OF THE HEART
Ikeda: Nichiren Daishonin says, “If you try to treat someone’s illness without knowing its cause, you will only make the person sicker than before” (WND, 774). The key to revolutionizing our state of life is to revolutionize our hearts, our minds. That is most important. Where is the focus of our hearts? Are we striving to become healthier so that we can participate even more in activities for kosen-rufu? Or are we allowing ourselves to backslide, using illness, for example, as an excuse to slacken our efforts, consequently becoming more ill? Are we aspiring to grow and help those around us become happy? Or are we taking advantage of the organization and our position, lording it over others?
The results we produce are completely different depending on the focus of our hearts. Such subtle workings of the heart are the central theme of the doctrines of the Ten Worlds and their mutual possession. The Daishonin says: “Explaining the wonder of life is the prime objective of all the sutras. One who is awakened to the workings of the mind is called a Thus Come One” (Gz, S64).
Saito: In other words, a Buddha is someone who thoroughly grasps the wonder of life.
Ikeda: That’s right. Only through practice can we attain this state.
A famous judo expert related the secret of his mastery. Ha recounted how he was thrown repeatedly by his teacher, becoming totally exhausted in the process, until suddenly his heart became one with his technique. From that point, he began to win. Likewise, in the process of reading a difficult book, even if at first we do not understand the ideas being expressed, if we continue making strenuous effort, in an unexpected moment of clarity we can grasp its meaning. Such flashes of insight come only after much steadfast and patient effort.
Everything depends on the heart. It is the same in our Buddhist practice. Only by studying and struggling to deepen our faith can we bring forth our Buddha nature. Simply talking on and on about revolutionizing one’s state of life changes nothing. Someone who sits atop the organization and makes other people work hard while personally taking it easy is decadent. Such a person could never realize Buddhahood. Those who have agonized and endured the most on account of faith reveal their inherent Buddha nature.
BODHISATTVAS GO OUT OF THEIR WAY
To TAKE ON HARD WORK
Saito: That is the way of the bodhisattva.
Ikeda: Indeed. Bodhisattvas are those who willingly go out of their way to take on hard work; who possesses the spirit to eagerly undertake difficulties for the sake of the Law, for other people and society. This is the very antithesis of being self-centered.
Suda: Those dwelling in the six paths (Hell, Hunger, Animality, Anger, Humanity, Heaven) and the two vehicles of Learning and Realization are self-centered.
Endo: The world of Bodhisattva is a realm in which people thoroughly dedicate themselves to other people and the Law. This is the exact opposite of what we find in the worlds up through the two vehicles. Reaching this stage entails fundamentally transforming our state of life. Nichiren Daishonin says, “Bodhisattvas dwell among the common people within the six paths, acting humbly and respecting others. They draw devils to themselves and provide blessings to others” (GZ, 433). Bodhisattvas treat themselves lightly while cherishing others, he says; and they take things that are difficult and painful on themselves while imparting joy to others. This is an ideal for all human beings and an unchanging code of conduct for leaders.
Suda: It’s the exact opposite of a way of life based solely on instinct. In society today, many people think it natural to look out only for themselves without concern for others, some even going so far as to foist difficulties on others while jealously seeking comfort for themselves.
Ikeda: That’s so true. From this we can really see the necessity of the SGI. The lives of SGI members illuminate the darkness of people’s hearts with the light of happiness.
Endo: Dr. Linus Pauling remarked, “Number nine, the world of the Bodhisattva—a state of compassion in which one seeks to save all people from sufferingthis is a spirit that people would do well to accept.”
CHANGING THE UNDERLYING CURRENT OF AN EGOISTIC SOCIETY
keda: A self-centered heart is destined for the world of Hell. This is true for individuals and society at large.
A heart directed “for the Law” and “for the people” on the other hand, is destined for the world of Buddhahood. In fact, in light of the principle of the simultaneity of cause and effect, Buddhahood already exists in such a heart.
Kosen-rufu is a struggle to change the underlying current of society from self-centered to altruistic, from egoistic to compas-sionate. Through our present activities, we are making the most necessary and fundamental contribution to this change. I hope you will take pride in this, and that you will have the confidence to defend the righteousness of our actions before any and all detractors.
The world of Bodhisattva is not a special realm. The Daishonin says: “Even a heartless villain loves his wife and children. He too has a portion of the Bodhisattva world within him” (WND, 358).
He is talking about the natural love a person has for family and the unabashed love parents have for their children. The world of Bodhisattva emerges in a society where such heartfelt love and concern are not confined to families but extend to all people.
Endo: I am reminded of the Monument of Prayer for World Peace in Hiroshima. One of the six bronze figures making up the monument symbolizes the spirit of continuity.
Ikeda: It’s a statue of a mother holding a child.
Endo: Yes. The mother holds the child in her hands, raising it up above her. The expression on her face is striking; she seems to be saying, “I will bequeath to you a better world.”
Saito: That spirit is a part of the world of Bodhisattva.
A BETTER AGE FOR CHILDREN
Suda: It is now forty years since Josei Toda issued his famous Declaration for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons.?
A little earlier it was said that a self-centered existence leads to the world of Hell. I think that war and nuclear weapons are good symbols of this. This is a story of a mother who heroically battled this scourge of the modern age.
Her name was Asayo Yamashita, and she was a victim of the atomic-bombing of Hiroshima. Married in 1944, she was pregnant with her first child at the time of the explosion. She was only about I.S miles from the epicenter of the blast and narrowly managed to avoid being crushed by the buildings that collapsed around her. Running to a nearby school where she hoped to seek refuge, she was caught in a downpour of black rain* and drenched from head to toe.
Those who drank water from this rain, which contained high levels of radiation, within a few days lost their hair; became diar-rhetic and eventually died. Of course at the time, Mrs. Yamashita had no way of knowing just how dangerous the rain was.
Four months later her first son was born, and three years later she gave birth to a second son. Mrs. Yamashita repeatedly taught her young children about the importance of peace. At meals, while doing the laundry or mending torn bedsheets, she would tell them, “Mommy will change the world so that when you become adults you won’t have to go to war.”
Around the time her eldest son was in fourth grade, Mrs.
Yamashita began holding study meetings in her home with other mothers. They pursued a wide range of studies, including women’s history, home education and history. In addition to engaging in impassioned discussion once a week, they also initiated and carried out a variety of grass-roots campaigns —a movement to ban atomic and hydrogen bombs, a petition drive to make available polio vac-cines, and activities for peace, human rights and educational reform.
The study meetings steadily developed over time. Five years Later, they had a regular participation of more than twenty mothers and were holding both daytime and night sessions.
Endo: It was a true grass-roots movement.
Suda: Yes, it was. Once, when her eldest son remarked on how busy she was with her activities, Mrs. Yamashita told him: “That’s because these are activities to put an end to war. Even now the victims of the A-bomb continue to suffer. The people of Hiroshima who experienced the horror are the ones who must stand up in the forefront of this movement. No matter how arduous, this is something that has to be done.” Throughout this time, however, Mrs. Yamashita was gradually succumbing to the cancer she contracted from exposure to radi-ation. In the summer of 1962, she was hospitalized and underwent surgery. She was released from the hospital once but was sent back again the following February and underwent another operation in the summer of that year.
One day her eldest son, then a high school student, visited her in the hospital ward to find her neatly folding up some old paja-mas. “What are you planning on doing with those?” he asked her.
“You should just throw them away.”
“When you get married and have children, they can be used to make diapers,” she replied. Then, as if trying to gaze into the future, she said: “I wonder what the world will be like when your children are full grown. I would give anything to see that.” Jokingly her son responded, “You would doubtless be a med-ding grandmother.”
“I would like to tell the young people about how hard their grandmothers worked to create such a peaceful age,” she said.
In May of the following year, 1964, she had a third operation.
The results were not positive. On June 16, after thanking each of the family members and relatives who had gathered at her bed-side-demonstrating concern for others to the very end—she died. She was thirty-nine The cancer had spread to her lungs, liver and uterus.
Saito: That must have been caused by the black rain.
Suda: The study meetings for mothers that she had pioneered continued over the next twenty years. This group’s activities in promoting peace education and opposing war and nuclear arms shine to this day as a towering achievement.
At one point, Mrs. Yamashita’s son, while helping her make a placard for use in a peace demonstration, asked, “Why do wars happen even though everyone knows that war is bad?”
“Before they realize what is happening, people get swept up in a current leading to war. That’s human nature,” she replied.”That’s what’s frightening.” She recalled the very first words in the preamble to the UNESCO constitution and asked her son if he had learned them in school: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be con-structed.”
“What does it mean that war is born in people’s minds?” he asked.
“The tendency for people to hate one another, to think: ‘As long as I’m safe, nothing else matters, to view others’ suffering with indifference-such an attitude ultimately leads to war. The only way to guard against this is by constructing the defenses of peace’ in people’s minds.”
“But how can war be eliminated?” he further probed.
Sighing a little, she replied, “I’m not sure.”
Saito: It seems she clearly apprehended the deep-seated negativity that is part of the karma all people share. Because she was earnestly struggling to alter the reality of society, she keenly understood how enormously difficult it is to change people’s hearts.
Suda: Two years after Mrs. Yamashita’s death, her eldest son, Yoshi-nori, encountered the Daishonin’s Buddhism and took faith. Having had to squarely face and overcome his own fear of death as a result of his exposure to the atomic bomb, he became a major force behind the series of antiwar publications produced by the youth division members of Hiroshima. Currently, he is vigorously participating in activities for kosen-rufu together with other Soka Gakkai members in Hiroshima. He is a central figure in the men’s division.
Ikeda: I know him well. Your account illustrates the oneness of parent and child; he is certainly connected to his mother eter-nally. I think his mother must be really delighted by his continuing efforts for the cause of peace.
Saito: The prayer of Mrs. Yamashita and the other mothers to construct the “defenses of peace” in people’s minds, I believe, is part of the great river of the popular movement for kosen-rufu.
THE ONENESS OF SELF AND OTHERS
Ikeda: There are countless people in the world whose hearts have been wounded for some reason. We need to extend a healing hand to them all. Through such efforts, we in fact heal ourselves.
When something untoward happens, people tend to imagine that no one could possibly be as unhappy and miserable as they.
They wallow in self-pity and turn a blind eye to everyone and everything else. But dwelling on their own pain and stewing in feelings of discontent and hopelessness only cause their life force to wane even more. It seems to me that it is human bonds—the desire to live for the sake of others— that can give someone the strength to live on at such times. As long as one is holed up in egoism, there is no happiness. When we break out and take action for others, our lives spring with vitality.
Endo: In terms of psychology, we often hear that concern for others stimulates a person’s own mental and emotional health. People laboring under stress or anxiety tend to brood endlessly over their own suffering. One treatment for such a condition is to bring such people together and guide them to put their energy into thinking about and coming to the assistance of one another.
Saito: Is that so they can learn to care about people suffering as they are?
Endo: Yes. An atmosphere is created where individuals can easily listen to one another and talk things over together. Researchers find that this kind of group therapy results in a marked rise in the strength and will to live of all involved.
Suda: When you encourage someone, you find your own spirits refreshed. This is something we often experience in our Buddhist activities.
Ikeda: The SGI is truly an oasis of rejuvenation.
When we look after and care for others —that is, help others draw forth the strength to live-our own strength to live increases. When we help people expand their state of life, our lives also expand. This is the marvel of the bodhisattva path; actions to benefit others cannot be separated from actions to benefit oneself.
To merely talk about benefiting others is arrogant. To only say the words “saving people” is hypocritical. Only when we realize that our efforts on others’ behalf are also for our own sake are we practicing with true humility.
One’s own life and the lives of others are ultimately insepara-ble. The bodhisattva path, therefore, is the correct path in life.
Endo: To put it another way, by helping others we help ourselves.
A survivor of the concentration camps during the Holocaust attributed his survival to having lived based on one rule: “In our group we shared everything; and the moment one of the group ate something without sharing it, we knew it was the beginning of the end for him?”
Ikeda: That’s a remarkable observation. This is a truth of life learned in the most extreme circumstances.
Saito: As soon as someone lost the spirit to share with others, they began to die. This is a chilling testimony.
Ikeda: It is of course impossible for those who were not there to casually discuss the concentration camp experience; it was such an overwhelming ordeal. For that very reason, this is a valuable lesson for humankind, as well as a stern reality.
Endo: Yes. While many survivors of the camps have labored under lifelong psychological scars, one survivor asserted that he did not suffer in the least over the experience in the years after the war.
That’s because, he explained, at Auschwitz he learned the true meaning of friendship. “When I was a child, strangers shielded me with their bodies from the blowing winds, for they had nothing else to offer but themselves.”
There were of course those who descended to the level of ani-mals, only looking out for themselves. That’s not unreasonable given the extreme hardships they faced. But there were also those who used themselves as shields to protect children from the harsh winds assailing them.
THE TRAP OF A “SOCIETY OF NARCISSISM”
Endo: The psychologist who shares these experiences, Julius Sega, warns that the modern age is caught in a trap of narcissism. He says: “Narcissism is becoming increasingly common and accepted in our culture. Thinking of others is out of fashion now?”
He then quotes the Viennese psychiatrist and Nazi death camp survivor Viktor Frankl who observed, “You’re always forced— ordered—to feel joy, be happy, and experience pleasure.” Dr. Segal adds, “Self-sacrifice and thinking about others are made to seem irrelevant, even unhealthy?”
Ikeda: He makes a good point. The question is have we realized a happier society as a result. I don’t think so.
Endo: Indeed. Increasingly, people are becoming isolated, forgetting what it means to encourage one another. Consequently, they are losing their will to live to the fullest.
Saito: Then the desire to find something “still more fun” grows only more overwhelming. It’s a vicious cycle.
Ikeda: It is the world of Bodhisattva —the way of life of”number nine,” as Dr. Pauling once called it that cuts the dark chains of this trap. A well-known story clearly illustrates this point. Someone goes to Hell and finds that everyone there is suffering because they cannot eat even though each has a sumptuous meal right in front of them. The reason they can’t eat is that their chopsticks are longer than their arms, so they cannot put the food into their mouths. The person then goes to the Buddha land. There, again, the chopsticks are longer than people’s arms. But everyone is con-tent. Why? It’s because they take turns feeding one another.
Saito: In other words, the difference between Hell and Buddha-hood is not one of environment. The difference lies solely in the hearts of those dwelling in these realms.
Suda: I think the story highlights why there is still a great deal of suffering in a time of so much abundance, as in Japan today.
Ikeda: In any event, society changes. It changes moment by moment. Politics, economics, fads-everything in the world undergoes change. The issue is whether, amid much change, one possesses an unchanging center. We have such a center in the Mystic Law.
The Mystic Law is the constant, unchanging core; and it is the fundamental power causing all things to go in a positive direction.
People change, but the Law does not. People can be deceived, but the Law cannot. Trying to cheat the Law is of absolutely no avail.
When we base ourselves on this absolute and unchanging Law, both our lives and society prosper eternally. Apart from the Law, everything else is, in a manner of speaking, an illusion.
After all is said and done, the supreme way of life is that of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth who thoroughly dedicate themselves to kosen-rutu. There is no more lotty or sublime way to live. Realizing this is a matter of faith.
A COURAGEOUS HEART OF FAITH
Is ITSELF BUDDHAHOOD
Saito: It is said of bodhisattvas, “Seeking enlightenment above, saving sentient beings below.” From our standpoint, these correspond to practicing for oneself and practicing for others.
Ikeda: We become happy ourselves, and we help others do the same. This is analogous to the two motions of a planet, which rotates on its axis while revolving around the sun. It is a universal principle.
In a sense, bodhisattvas exert themselves to help people become happy, even if it means putting off their own happiness until later.
This is the spirit of the Soka Gakkai. It is a most noble way of life.
Faith is a struggle. Life is a struggle. Buddhism is a struggle. By waging a courageous and high-spirited struggle against evil, we can draw forth the states of Bodhisattva and Buddhahood from within.
This world is dominated by the devil king of the sixth heaven, which exerts a powerful force of misery over all people. That’s why when a truly happy person appears, the devil king of the sixth heaven envies, hates and tries to destroy the person. Nichiren Daishonin vigorously battled this negative influence, as did Shakyamuni.
We must challenge and defeat this negativity in life, which causes people to resent and persecute one another, which seeks to keep them in a state of misery. Only when we win over the forces of evil can we achieve true happiness or Buddhahood. That’s why Nichiren Daishonin urges us to “summon up the courage of a lion” (WND, 997).
Suda: Faith like the courage of a lion must be the hallmark of the world of Buddhahood, which is also described as a state of indestructible happiness.
Ikeda: Yes. Such happiness is absolute, because a person in this state of life can discern the significance of all affairs of life and society; which is in itself wisdom. Also, no matter how things may change, the person’s heart remains calm and steady; this is inner strength.
Moreover, it’s absolute because with it we can freely tap this wisdom and strength from the depths of our lives whenever necessary.
It certainly is not a state free of worry or suffering. Such a life, if it existed, would be monotonous and dull. If everything were to go smoothly— that in itself would be an illusion, a lie. Worries are an integral part of the reality of life.
Nichiren Daishonin teaches the principle that earthly desires are enlightenment. Because we have desires and worries, we can appreciate happiness. Because we face and overcome painful difficulties, we can attain Buddhahood. The truth is that a life without any suffering is not at all happy. That is the perspective of Buddhism.
What, then, is the world of Buddhahood? From our standpoint, it is none other than faith
President Toda said: “Attaining Buddhahood doesn’t mean simply becoming a Buddha or heading in that direction. Honestly believing in the Daishonin’s teaching of the true entity of life and that the ordinary person is most respectworthy, we are profoundly confident that we are Buddhas just as we are, from the eternal past into the infinite future. This is what it means to become a Buddha. *10
This comes down to faith, determination. It’s a matter of our internal awareness.
THE ESSENTIAL TEACHING
IS TO “RETURN TO THE ORIGINAL LIFE”
Theda: “The Life Span of the Thus Come One,” the sixteenth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, describes the Buddha enlightened since the remote past, or the eternal Buddha. Just who is this Bud-dha? Commenting on the passage in the Lotus Sutra that reads, “It has been immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thou-sands, millions of nayutas of kalpas sınce I in fact attained Buddha-hood” (LSI6, 225), the Daishonin explains: ‘I’ represents the living beings of the Dharma realm. Everyone in the Ten Worlds is referred to here in the word ‘T” (GZ, 753).
The eternal Buddha of the “Life Span” chapter means all living beings. We are all “eternal Buddhas.” Ordinary people are Buddhas just as they are.
There are no grades or distinctions among people. We are all equal; we are all equally Buddhas. The only difference among people has to do with whether, or the extent to which, we realize this in our hearts. From the standpoint of Buddhism, that is the only meaningful distinction.
A Buddha is not someone displaying the thirty-two features or eighty features.” Our lives, originally, are the Buddha. The universe itself is originally the Buddha. The appearance of the sun is a function of compassion. The illumination of the moon is also compassion, as is the beautiful respiration of green plants and trees.
The entire universe is a great living entity carrying out activities of compassion from the beginningless past through the eternal future. This vast organism of compassion is the eternal Buddha.
And the life of every being in the Ten Worlds is one with this Buddha of the “Life Span” chapter. Faith in the Mystic Law is the key enabling us to “return” to this original life.
Saito: Returning to the original life—that’s the Lotus Sutra’s essential teaching.
Ikeda: Exactly. The Daishonin clearly states in the “Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings,” “The ‘Life Span’ chapter reveals the original life of all beings in the Ten Worlds. This chapter is called the essential teaching, or hommon, because it is the gate Upn mon) to the truth of eternity Upn hon)” (GZ, 799).
Suda: The great life of the Buddha enlightened since the remote past is the “original life” of the beings of the Ten Worlds. The essential teaching is so called because it enables us to return to this original life.
Endo: Since this original life is fundamentally a property of one’s own life, there is no limit to the extent to which we can tap the power of the original Buddha.
Ikeda: The entire universe is like our own personal bank account.
The amount of fortune we can withdraw depends solely on our faith. Faith means battling life’s negative functions. Justice means opposing evil. Buddhist practice means struggling against adversity.
At one point, the Daishonin’s follower Shijo Kingo, who was known for his spirited practice, was so overwhelmed by difficulties that he unwittingly began complaining: “I thought that those who believe in the Lotus Sutra were supposed to enjoy peace and security in this life.” When the Daishonin heard this, he instructed him as follows: “The pine tree lives for ten thousand years, and therefore its boughs become bent and twisted…. The votary of the Lotus Sutra is the Thus Come One whose life span is immeasurable; no wonder his practice is hindered, just as the pine tree’s branches are bent or broken” (WND, 47ł). Just as the pine tree stands up to wind and snow, showing proof of its immense longevity, practitioners of the Lotus Sutra, through enduring difficulties, manifest their true identity as Buddhas of eternal life. The Daishonin stresses to Shijo Kingo that now is the time to reveal the supreme world of Buddha-hood. At this time when you are about to receive supreme benefit, he questions, what can you possibly have to complain about?
Saito: In the same writing, the Daishonin also says, “Those who uphold this sutra should be prepared to meet difficulties”; but he assures Shijo Kingo that “Buddhahood lies in continuing faith” (WND, 471).
Ikeda: It’s a matter of embracing the Mystic Law. We need to steadfastly uphold the Mystic Law through every obstacle, confident that we truly have a mission for kosen-rufu.
WE ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT
BY DEFEATING “DEVILS”
Ikeda: Shakyamuni constantly battled devilish functions. It would be no exaggeration to say that the definition of a Buddha is one who continuously fights these devilish functions.
Suda: It is clear from the sutras that Shakyamuni fought negative forces throughout his entire life. When devilish forces rose up against him, Shakyamuni dauntlessly put down their underhanded attempts to infiltrate his mind with illusion and lead him astray.
His only defenses in this struggle were faith, tenacious effort and wisdom.
Ikeda: To begin with, the essence of Shakyamuni’s enlightenment lay in this battle against negative influences. The words that Shakyamuni uttered immediately after attaining enlightenment beneath the bodhi tree are recorded in sutras.
Endo: There is a description of when Shakyamuni, after long years of earnest practice, awakened to the Law:
Routing the host of Mara doth he stand, Just as the sun when lighting up the sky.!2
Ikeda: When the Mystic Law blossoms in our hearts, our lives shine like the sun with perfect calm and composure and infinite strength. This is the world of Buddhahood.
Manifesting the world of Buddhahood and defeating the devilish functions are one and the same. Devils exist both within our lives and in our environment. But whether we defeat them or are defeated by them depends solely on our own spirit and determi-nation.
The important thing is that we win over them and that we do so continually. Buddhist practice means never coming to a stand-still. We have to cultivate a self that absolutely no negative influence can deter.
Suda: Not only at the time when he attained enlightenment, but thereafter as well, Shakyamuni continually fought against negative forces, driving back their insidious influence. The eminent Bud-dhologist Hajime Nakamura writes:
It is not the case that the Buddha gained enlightenment after the devils had scattered in disarray. Rather, defeating devils and gaining enlightenment are two sides of the same feat. 13
Buddhahood can only be found within these very actions to drive off illusion. Continuous, spirited advancement is itself the activity of the Buddha. It is not that Shakyamuni became a different being because he attained enlightenment.14
Ikeda: Buddhahood is a state of life of oneness with the Mystic Law. A Buddha is someone who makes the Mystic Law his or her teacher. Thoroughly and steadfastly upholding the Mystic Law is itself the world of Buddhahood.
Immediately after attaining enlightenment, Shakyamuni vowed to “live always making the Law my teacher.” He declared: “I have awakened to this Law. I will venerate and revere and base myself on this Law”s And that is precisely how he lived out the rest of
his life.
Saito: When he was on the verge of death, Shakyamuni said, “I have succeeded in devoting my life to the self”6 meaning his complete devotion to the eternal Mystic Law within.
Endo: He also left behind words urging his disciples to likewise
“rely on the Law and on your life.”
Ieda: The Six Paramitas Sutra” says “to become the master of your mind rather than let your mind master you” (WND, 486). It’s not a matter of leading a self-centered existence but of living based on the Law, based on kosen-rufu. Faith means having such a spirit.
FAITH Is PROOF OF BUDDHAHOOD
Ikeda: Tremendous importance is attached to the Daishonin’s statement in “The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind”:
“That ordinary people born in the latter age can believe in the Lotus Sutra is due to the fact that the world of Buddhahood is present in the human world” (WND, 358). Our faith in the Lotus Sutra is proof that the world of Buddhahood exists in our lives.
Suda: I sense something very subtle and important in the proposition that it is possible to believe in the Lotus Sutra because we possess the world of Buddhahood. The usual assumption would probably be that because one believes in the Lotus Sutra, one can reach the world of Buddhahood. But it is just the opposite.
Ikeda: There are two ways of looking at it. Certainly, you can say that because we believe in the Lotus Sutra we will attain the world of Buddhahood. But it is because we ourselves are entities of the eternal Mystic Law, in other words, because the world of Buddha-hood is inherent in our lives that it is possible for us to believe in the Lotus Sutra in the first place. Whether it is the revelation of the theoretical teaching that all people can become Buddhas, or the revelation of the essential teaching that the Buddha’s life is eternal, we can believe in the teaching because we can sense something eternal in our lives.
Saito: I think that on some level— whether conscious or uncon-scious-everyone senses the existence of something eternal.
Ikeda: Everyone indeed can sense the eternal. That may be the most salient characteristic of human beings. That’s probably why only humans have religion.
This inherent capacity could be described as an awareness of the sanctity of life or a connection to others or as the ability to harmonize with nature and the universe. This inner sense or capacity for goodness is itself the source of the faith to believe in the Lotus Sutra.
In any event, precisely because our lives are endowed with the world of Buddhahood, it is possible for us to believe in the Lotus Sutra. And when we summon forth the power of faith and believe in the Lotus Sutra, we can liberate the power of the world of Buddhahood inherent in our lives and channel that power to create value. Our continual practice then enables us to display the power of the world of Buddhahood all the stronger.
Suda: Because we possess the world of Buddhahood, we can manifest faith, and through faith we can open up the world of Buddhahood in our lives. This seems to be the correlation.
Saito: Exactly. Dwelling in the nine worlds could be compared to being shut inside a room. Dwelling in the world of Buddhahood, on the other hand, is like bathing in clear, bright sunshine. The beings of the nine worlds fundamentally dwell in the great macro-cosm that is the world of Buddhahood. People vaguely sense this as some kind of eternal aspect of their lives, but because they are shut up in a room surrounded by dense walls of illusion, they tall to fully comprehend their true environment. When they break down these walls of illusion through faith, they can then freely enjoy the fresh air of the Mystic Law pervading the universe.
Endo: When you use the “key” of faich to open up the “window” of your heart, the “room” of your life is flooded with fresh air and brilliant light from outside. Then, there is no difference between being in the room and being outside.
Ikeda: Why don’t we continue this discussion of the relation between the nine worlds and the world of Buddhahood in the next chapter?
A MIND THAT PERCEIVES THE BUDDHA
Is THE BUDDHA
When living beings have become truly faithful, honest and upright, gentle in intent, single-mindedly desiring to see the Buddha, not hesitating even if it costs them their lives, then I and the assembly of monks appear together on Holy Eagle Peak. (LS16, 230)
Ikeda: This outpouring of inner strength is something we actually experience through faith. When we put our all into our activities for kosen-rufu, we feel a sense of unbounded freshness and exhil-aration. We must not practice passively. When we practice with the spirit of not begrudging our lives, true power wells forth.
Nichiren Daishonin teaches that the world of Buddhahood appears in our heart, citing the passage, “single-mindedly desiring to see the Buddha, not hesitating even if it costs them their lives” (WND, 389). Single-mindedly striving to bring forth one’s Buddha nature without begrudging one’s own life is faith. This is the seeking spirit. The power of the original Buddha manifests in the heart of someone who earnestly seeks the life-state of the original Buddha.
The Daishonin’s interpretation of the line “single-mindedly desiring to see the Buddha” is much more profound than the literal meaning.
Suda: Yes. In one place he says, Single-mindedly desiring to see the Buddha’ may be read as follows: single-mindedly observing the Buddha, concentrating one’s mind on seeing the Buddha, and when looking at one’s own mind, perceiving that it is the Bud-dha” (WND, 389-90).
Ikeda: Exactly. While initially we start out “single-mindedly desiring to see the Buddha,” he indicates that, in the end, we perceive that we are the Buddha. Our determination in faith, our spirit to practice without begrudging our lives, is itself the manifestation of the eternal world of Buddhahood. In short, faith itself is the world of Buddhahood. This is the true aspect of “the world of Buddhahood is present in the human world” (WND, 358).
Endo: Practicing without begrudging one’s life —this is what is meant by the line: “If you exert a hundred million aeons of effort in a single moment of life, the three enlightened properties of the Buddha will appear within you at each moment. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the practice of genuine and constant devo-tion” (GZ, 790).
Saito: This is also what High Priest Nichikan indicated when he said, “What we call a strong mind of faith in the Lotus Sutra is the world of Buddhahood.”18
Ikeda: The Daishonin and High Priest Nichikan were saying the same thing. We need to practice with the courageous spirit of a Lion to protect Buddhism and the Buddha’s children and to resolutely stand up to persecution. This is the secret to causing the world of Buddhahood to manifest in our lives.
Saito: I can really see the importance of the SGI spirit —that is, the spirit to spread the Law and practice selflessly without begrudging one’s life, regardless of the cost.
Ikeda: Faith means carrying out a practice of dedicating one’s entire being to realizing kosen-rutu. It means to abandon egoism and uphold one’s principles no matter what.
President Makiguchi and President Toda lived entirely for the sake of kosen-rufu, for the sake of all others, for the sake of the members and for society, without giving any thought to them-selves, putting everything off for later. And I have done the same.
One certainly cannot attain Buddhahood with a slovenly or lazy attitude. The Daishonin says, “On the path to attain Buddha-hood it may invariably be when one has done something like lay down one’s life that one becomes a Buddha” (WND, 202).
The Buddha is a human being—a person who struggles con-tinuously. The Buddha is not some special being existing in another world. The Daishonin teaches that the ordinary person is the most respectworthy and noble being. This is the principle of the true entity of all life; the “true entity” manifests amid the reality of”all phenomena” of life and society. Therein exists the world of Buddhahood.
In the same way that people exert themselves in different fields, whether as a company employee, a teacher, a housewife or a farmer, so too does the world of Buddhahood pulse vibrantly in all spheres of activity. This is the perspective of the Lotus Sutra.
Suda: A high priest who wants to be revered as a Buddha while failing to take action to spread the Daishonin’s teaching tramples on the heart of the Lotus Sutra.
Endo: Such fraud and deception are inexcusable.
Ikeda: Regarding the oneness of Buddhahood and the nine worlds, putting our palms together when we pray symbolizes this.
It also represents the Mystic Law. In the “Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings,” the Daishonin says, ” (In the term pressing palms together) pressing refers to myo or Mystic, while palms refers to ho or the Law;… together means ‘the world of Buddhahood’ and palms means the other nine worlds” (cZ, 722).
In other words, Buddhahood lies in chanting daimoku based on faith no matter what happens. Whatever sufferings of the nine worlds we may be undergoing, through strong faith we can lead lives in which the nine worlds manifest the world of Buddha-hood, and the world of Buddhahood manifests the nine worlds.
While there may be instances when our prayers are answered immediately, there will also be times when that is not the case.
Even so, we should continue offering prayer, chanting daimoku and taking action. Such resolute faith is itself the world of Buddha-hood; it is victory. Maintaining such faith to the very end of our lives enables us to set out on a journey over the three existences at one with the eternal Buddha of the “Life Span” chapter.