In the Lotus Sutra many teachings emerge, but none has a deeper impact on our faith than the teaching that this world of suffering is indeed the Buddha’s Pure Land.
Nichiren explains in his Treatise on Protecting the Nation:
“QUESTION: Which “Pure Land” should practicers of the Lotus Sūtra pray to be reborn in?
“ANSWER: It is stated in the sixteenth chapter on “The Life Span of the Buddha,” the essence of the Lotus Sūtra consisting of 28 chapters, “I will always stay in this Sahā World;” “I reside here always;” and “This world of Mine is at peace.” According to these statements, the Eternal True Buddha, the origin of all Buddhas in manifestation, is always in this Sahā World. Then why should we wish to be anywhere other than this Sahā World? You should know that there is no Pure Land other than the very place where the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra resides. Why should we concern ourselves seeking a Pure Land in any other place?
Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Pages 67-68
This is the dividing line between the provisional teachings and the essential. As Nichiren says in his A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Venerable One:
“[W]hen the Eternal Buddha was revealed in the essential section of the Lotus Sūtra, this world of endurance (Sahā World) became the Eternal Pure Land, indestructible even by the three calamities of conflagration, flooding, and strong winds, which are said to destroy the world. It transcends the four periods of cosmic change: the kalpa of construction, continuance, destruction, and emptiness. Śākyamuni Buddha, the Lord-preacher of this Pure Land, has never died in the past, nor will He be born in the future. He exists forever throughout the past, present, and future. All those who receive His guidance are one with this Eternal Buddha. It is because each of our minds is equipped with the “3,000 modes of existence” and the “three factors,” namely, all living beings, the land in which they live, and the five elements of living beings (matter, perception, conception, volition and consciousness).
“This truth was not made clear in the first fourteen chapters of the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra. Perhaps it was because the time was not ripe at this stage of preaching the Lotus Sūtra; and capacity of comprehension on the part of the listeners was not yet sufficient.”
Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 148
Only with faith can we imagine this. As the Introduction to the Lotus Sutra explains:
Introduction to the Lotus Sutra“[W]e find ourselves in a hostile environment, where the forces of nature seek only to destroy us. We see grief, pain, and fear everywhere we look. To us, this is the ‘real world.’ Because of our corrupted hearts, this world, which should be a paradise, is utter defilement. It is this world, however, which our Buddha-nature can transfigure and realize in all its original glory.”
With faith and practice, the world is transformed.
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