Our faith is the initial key that opens the gate to the teachings of the Buddha. Our practice is the action that allows us to enter into the wisdom of the Buddha. Studying the Dharma illuminates the path. As we progress in our practice our faith naturally grows.
In Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, we are offered four sets of practices – those of body, mouth, mind, and vows – that “an ordinary Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas” should use to expound the Dharma. Invariably, the student of Nichiren Buddhism stumbles here at the stark difference between these peaceful practices and the violence and conflict that enveloped Nichiren’s life.
Much of that difference can be explained by Nichiren’s goals in 13th Century Japan.
Two Buddhas, p31“For Nichiren, preaching the exclusive truth of the Lotus Sūtra was not only about leading individuals to enlightenment, but also about saving the country and establishing an ideal buddha land in this world, a task he came to see as his personal mission and responsibility. In declaring the supremacy of the Lotus Sūtra, he found it necessary to rebuke attachment to other, provisional teachings; in consequence, he encountered repeated antagonism.”
Nichiren felt the four peaceful practices were unsuited to his era. Do they apply today?
In Buddhism for Today, Nikkyō Niwano argues carrying the insistence on aggressive propagation into the modern world is ill-advised.
Buddhism for Today, p170“In practicing the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, so long as a person forces himself to endure persecution and the scorn of outsiders though filled with anger and resentment, he is a beginner in Buddhist disciplines. A person who has attained the Way can maintain a peaceful and calm mind even while suffering and can feel joy in the practice itself. Until a person attains such a state of mind, he must take scrupulous care not to be tempted or agitated by the various setbacks in his daily life. The chapter “A Happy Life” [the title of the Peaceful Practices chapter in the 1975 edition of the Threefold Lotus Sutra] teaches us this. The bodhisattvas declare with great ardor their resolution to withstand persecution from outside in the chapter “Exhortation to Hold Firm,” while the Buddha, like a father, gently admonishes the bodhisattvas not to yield to inward temptation in the chapter “A Happy Life.” In a sense, these two chapters state the contrast between a kindly father who knows the world and a son who is young and high-spirited.”
Rev. Ryusho Jeffus offers this warning in his Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra“When there is no obstacle to practice it is entirely possible to create a false obstacle by our behavior of obstinacy and belligerence. The kinds of obstacles created in those situations are false. I can be a jerk and have people around me treat me poorly, but I can’t claim it is because of my practice when I am not actually following the peaceful practices in a peaceful environment. In an environment that is not hostile we should practice in a non-hostile way.”
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