On Aug. 3, 2021, I attended Rev. Shoda Kanai’s Tea Time with a Priest, an informal weekly Zoom gathering from the Nichiren Buddhist Kannon Temple of Nevada in Las Vegas. The Tea Time is open to anyone with a question. On that day someone asked about faith, and that was the impetus for my 800 Years of Faith Project. I am dedicating this year-long effort to the 800th Anniversary of the birth of Nichiren Shonin in 1222. [ Read More ]
I began this project on Jan. 1, 2022, with a quote from the opening verses of Śāntideva’s “A Guide to the Buddhist Path to Awakening,” The Bodhicaryāvatāra. I have decided to end the project today, Dec. 31, 2022, with a quote from the late Ryusho Jeffus Shonin.
The quote comes from Ryusho’s Important Matters: Lotus Sutra—Faith and Practice, his discussion of the Shutei Nichiren Shu Hoyo Shiki. The Hoyo Shiki is the formal book of standards for Nichiren Shu priests.
It cannot be said often enough that chanting the sutra yields immeasurable benefits. I think we all know that or at least we all say we know that. How deeply aware of that are we in the depths of our lives? Perhaps some say this is true and yet find a space in their lives that is unsure. I don’t think there is anything broken in you if you harbor those doubts. Nope, nothing wrong with you at all. In fact, it is perhaps more normal than not.
Too often in matters of faith it is supposed that true faith is a faith without the slightest doubt or questioning. Because of this people often fear revealing the truth of their lives. As a result everyone wanders around thinking they must be the only one who doubts. It is as if we don’t want to reveal the chink in our armor, fearing that the next person will use that to accuse us of not having a “pure, undoubting faith,” whatever that might look like.
I like to think of those moments of doubt and questions as exciting places. They are places of discovery and invite curiosity. When we can relish our doubts, we can humanize our beliefs and our practice. …
My doubts center around whether I am qualified to teach others about the Dharma. Who am I to think I have any claim to wisdom or knowledge beyond what everyone else has long ago sorted out? I also have doubts about whether I am offering anything of value with regard to understanding and practicing the Lotus Sutra. I’m not fishing for compliments or assurances. I’m instead letting you peek inside my mind.
Since I’ve been writing I’ve had numerous people say complimentary things about how what they read helped them understand and have a deeper relation to their practice of the Lotus Sutra. I am left speechless, often fearing that if I say anything it will ruin the illusion, Yet I am also aware that what they say is true, and they are being sincere. I am thankful that I can have such an ability, though I am doubtful that I can claim it as my own. I know that it only comes from my faith in and practice of the Lotus Sutra. Even if unskilled, it is still my wish to somehow share with and encourage others to find the joy I have found, not exactly like mine but their own version.”
This yearlong trip has been a journey of discovery. Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.
SHOHO JISSO SHO
Have faith in the Great Mandala Gohonzon, the most superlative in the world. Endeavor! Endeavor to strengthen your faith, so that you may be blessed with the protective powers of all Buddhas. Learn and practice to strengthen your faith. Without learning and practicing there is no Buddhism. To learn and to practice are a part of faith. Follow these yourself and influence others to do the same. Even if only a word or a phrase, spread it to others.
(Background : 1273, 51 years old, at Sado, Showa Teihon, p.728)
Explanatory note
It is most important for us who follow the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin to believe obediently in the Great Mandala Gohonzon. It is an object of faith and worship. It symbolizes the salvation revealed in the Lotus Sutra.
When the Buddha Sakyamuni preached the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha Taho proved its truth, and Sakyamuni’s funjin (manifestations), who had been preaching in all other worlds, praised Him. Furthermore, all deities who had been deeply impressed by listening to the teachings of the Lotus Sutra promised to protect the people who would believe in the sutra.
When we wish to receive this protection, we must do two things – to learn and to practice.
We often distinguish learning from practicing. But we must learn while we devote ourselves putting the teachings of the sutra into practice. Nichiren Daishonin teaches us that it is impossible to be a true and faithful follower without learning and practicing.
Rev. Ogawa
Phrase A DayMYOICHI AMA GOZEN GOHENJI
Faith is nothing special. A wife loves her husband, the husband devotes his life to her, parents do not give away their children, and children do not desert their mother. Likewise, believe in the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha Sakyamuni, the Buddha Taho, all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and deities. Then chant “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.” This is faith.
(Background : May 18, 1280, 58 years old, at Minobu, Showa Teihon, p.] 749)
Explanatory note
This letter is impressive. Nichiren Daishonin always explained religious practice in daily life. Myoichi Ama must have imprinted on her subconcious to remember her master’s words in these simple daily matters. We do not know about her for certain, but it is said that she lived near Kamakura and lost her husband in her early married life. It is very hard for a wife to accept her husband’s death, because she still loves him even after he is gone. Nichiren Daishonin advised her to turn her love to faith in the Lotus Sutra.
It is easy to talk about faith but hard to understand it. An ordinary person is able to grasp the real meaning of faith through love.
In order to receive salvation, Buddhists must have a strong aspiration to Buddhas and deities in the Lotus Sutra with the same love found among husband, wife, and their children. When one is drowning, he must wish someone’s help very strongly. To have faith in the Lotus Sutra is just like that : having a strong aspiration.
Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and deities surely protect those who have faith in the Lotus Sutra and who chant “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.” That is Nichiren Daishonin’s teaching.
Rev. Kanai
Phrase A DayHO-ON JO
I, Nichiren, believe my compassion is boundless because I am devoting myself to salvation of all mankind, overcoming many persecutions. Therefore, “Namu Myoho Renge Ryo,” the teaching for the people in the Latter Age of the Declining Law, will spread forever beyond the ten-thousand-year period. It has the merit of curing the (religious) blindness of all people and blocks the way to hell. This merit is superior to those of Dengyo of Japan, T’ien-t’ai of China, Nagarjuna of India, and Kasyapa, who was the Buddha’s disciple.
Therefore, the practice for a hundred years in the peaceful Pure Land is not worth the merit of chanting Odaimoku for one day in this defiled world. Propagation of the Lotus Sutra in the two-thousand-year period following the death of the Buddha does not give benefit as much as spreading Odaimoku for a while in the Latter Age of the Declining Law. This is not due to my wisdom; it is solely due to the time of the Latter Age in which I live.
(Background ; July 21, 1276, 54 years old, at Minobu, Showa Teihon, p.1248)
Explanatory note
What is the truth of humankind? This has been a long quest in human history. The development of human society was only possible through this quest, and our ancestors had sought the fundamental truth by physical and spiritual training. In other words, the history of humankind is the history of seeking happiness. Civilization has proved that happiness could be attained not by satisfaction of one’s own self but by faith in truth.
However, the quick development of the modern science made us forget this fundamental spirit of humankind, and the civilization that our ancestors have built up is in danger of being corrupted because modern people became more selfish and forgot to work together with others in harmony.
Buddhism also has tried to find true nature of humankind which Buddha taught us. In this modern age, we, Buddhists, should not neglect to find the true spirit of Buddhism and the true mind of the Buddha Sakyamuni.
It is easy to chant “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.” But it is difficult to understand and believe it, unless we find the true teaching and salvation of the Lotus Sutra, which the Buddha Sakyamuni revealed to us. “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo” was what the Buddha had kept deep in the sutra, and Nichiren Daishonin has revealed it for the first time in the thirteenth century. Nichiren believed that Odaimoku was the most important virtue he could leave behind for us in Buddhist history and proudly announced it to people. He said that it is most important for us to have faith in the teaching and practice in this real world, rather than to practice it in the Pure Land.
Although we read this “Ho-on Jo” quite often without thinking deeply, we must think of the true meaning of the words which Nichiren showed us.
We receive Odaimoku and preserve it in our bodies. At the same time we attain Buddhahood as a natural result of accepting and maintaining the “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. “
Rev. Akahoshi
Phrase A DayBuddhism for Today, p259-260Almost all people who enter a religious faith have some form of suffering. It is natural for them to want to free themselves from such sufferings, and they are not to be blamed for this. But when they are concerned only with the desire to recover from illness or to be blessed with money, they are merely attaching themselves to the idea of “disease” or “poverty.” Though they wish to rid themselves of these problems, instead they become their victims because their minds grasp the idea of illness or poverty so tightly that they cannot let go.
People who believe in religion only in order to receive divine favors in this world easily retrogress from their stage of development in that faith. This is because they cannot truly understand the eternity of the Buddha’s life, and at the same time the eternity of man’s life. They think only of the present and begin to doubt the teaching or grow tired of it unless clear material merits are manifested. But there are some people who cannot receive such merits in this world because of deep and inextinguishable unfavorable karma from their former lives, even if they have faith in a true religion, purify their minds, and devote themselves to the bodhisattva practice for the benefit of others in society.
Nevertheless, people who can believe in the immortality of the Buddha’s life can also feel confident of their own eternal life. Therefore they can live with self-confidence, realizing, “If we only continue this way, we are sure to extinguish our former karma eventually and will approach the mental state of the Buddha step by step.” Even if they do not immediately recover from illness or become suddenly blessed with tangible wealth, their minds will be composed. Even if they seem to outsiders to be suffering, their minds are free of suffering. This is the attitude adopted by a real believer.
The three delusions (delusions arising from incorrect views and thoughts, delusions which hinder knowledge of salvation methods, and delusions which hinder knowledge of the ultimate reality) that exist in the mind of all people as well as the karma of committing the ten evil acts, and the five rebellious sins are like the darkness of night. All the Buddhist scriptures such as the Flower Garland Sūtra are like stars in the dark night whereas the Lotus Sūtra is comparable to the moon that brightens the darkness of night. Those who believe in the Lotus Sūtra only half-heartedly are like the half-moon shining in the dark night. Those who deeply believe in the sūtra are likened to the full moon brightening the darkness of night. In the night with only stars twinkling in the sky without the moon, aged persons, women and children are unable to go out, though strong and healthy persons may. When the full moon brightens the night, even older persons and women and children are free to go out to play, attend parties, or meet friends and acquaintances. Likewise, in sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra, though bodhisattvas and ordinary people with superior nature may be able to attain Buddhahood, the Two Vehicles, ordinary people, evil persons, women, or aged people, idlers and those without precepts in the Latter Age will never be able to be reborn in the Pure Land or attain Buddhahood. That is not the case with the Lotus Sūtra. The Two Vehicles, evil persons and women all attain Buddhahood in the Lotus Sūtra, not to speak of bodhisattvas and ordinary people with superior nature. Again, the moon shines brighter at dawn than in the early evening and in autumn and winter than in spring and summer. Likewise, the Lotus Sūtra has more divine help in the Latter Age of Degeneration than during the 2,000 years of the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma.
Yakuō-bon Tokui-shō, The Essence of the “Medicine King Bodhisattva” Chapter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 31
Anyone who hears the Dharma
Will not fail to become a Buddha.Anyone who rejoices at hearing the Dharma
And utters even a single word in praise of it
Should be considered to have already made offerings
To the past, present, and future Buddhas.
Such a person is rarely seen,
More rarely than the udumbara-flower.Anyone who rejoices at hearing this sūtra,
And who receives it respectfully,
Know this, has already reached
The stage of avaivartika.Anyone who believes and receives this sūtra
Should be considered
To have already seen the past Buddhas,
Respected them, made offerings to them,
And heard the Dharma from them
In his previous existence.Anyone who reads and recites the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, know this, will be adorned just as I am. I will shoulder him.
Anyone who keeps
The sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma,
Know this, has compassion towards all living beings
Because he is my messenger.Anyone who keeps
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Should be considered to have given up his pure world and come here
Out of his compassion towards all living beings.Anyone who keeps this sūtra in the future
Should be considered
To have been dispatched by me
To the world of men in order to do my work.Anyone who copies, keeps, reads and recites this sūtra, makes offerings to it, and expounds it to others after my extinction, will be covered by my robe. He also will be protected by the present Buddhas of the other worlds.
Anyone who, while seeking the enlightenment of the Buddha, sees or hears this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, and after hearing it, understands it by faith and keeps it, know this, will approach Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.
Anyone who expounds this sūtra
Will be able to see me,
To see Many-Treasures Tathāgata,
And to see the Buddhas of my replicas.Anyone who reads and recites this sūtra in the future
Is a true son of mine.
He shall be considered to live
On the stage of purity and good.Anyone, after my extinction,
Who understands the meaning of this sūtra,
Will be the eye of the worlds
Of gods and men.Anyone who expounds this sūtra
Even for a moment in this dreadful world,
Should be honored with offerings
By all gods and men.If after my extinction anyone rejoices, even on a moment’s thought, at hearing even a gāthā or a phrase of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, I also will assure him of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.
No one is excluded from the merits of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. No one is left behind. All that is required is faith, a single step toward the gate that is held open for everyone by the Eternal Buddha Śākyamuni. All who continue are guaranteed to reach enlightenment.
When we say we have faith in the Lotus Sutra, is it faith in the 69,384 Chinese characters of Kumārajīva’s translation? Or is it something else?
In Chapter 1, Mañjuśrī recalls when he was Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva in a time “innumerable, inconceivable, asaṃkhya kalpas ago.” At that time, Sun-Moon-Light Buddha taught the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. It took Sun-Moon-Light Buddha sixty small kalpas to complete the telling of this sutra.
In Chapter 7, we learn of a Buddha named Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence who lived a countless, limitless, inconceivable, asaṃkhya number of kalpas ago. At the request of his 16 sons, that Buddha expounded the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. It took that Buddha eight thousand kalpas to complete the expounding of the Lotus Sūtra.
In Chapter 11, when the Stupa of Treasures springs up from underground, we are told that when the Buddha inside the reliquary was yet practicing the Way of Bodhisattvas, he made a great vow: ‘If anyone expounds a sūtra called the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in any of the worlds of the ten quarters after I become a Buddha and pass away, I will cause my stūpa-mausoleum to spring up before him so that I may be able to prove the truthfulness of the sūtra and say ‘excellent’ in praise of him because I wish to hear that sūtra [directly from him].’
In Chapter 12, we learn that when Śākyamuni was a king in a previous life he sought the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma for innumerable kalpas without indolence and met a seer who promised to teach him the sutra of the Great Vehicle called the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
In Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva heard from a voice in the sky the twenty thousand billion gāthās of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
In Chapter 23, we are told that innumerable kalpas ago there lived a Buddha called Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue. He expounded the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva, to the other Bodhisattvas, and also to the Śrāvakas. In all, Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva heard the eight hundred thousands of billions of nayuta of kankaras of bimbaras of asaṃkhyas of gāthās of this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
In Chapter 27, innumerable, inconceivable, asaṃkhya kalpas ago, a Buddha called Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom expounded the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, wishing to lead King Wonderful-Adornment [and] also out of his compassion towards all living beings.
The Lotus Sutra self-referencing the Lotus Sutra is criticized by some, but they mistake the meaning.
The Saddharma, the law of nature, is one. Just as Namu Myoho Renge Kyo encompasses all 69,384 Chinese characters of Kumārajīva’s translation, those Chinese characters encompass the eight hundred thousands of billions of nayuta of kankaras of bimbaras of asaṃkhyas of gāthās and the twenty thousand billion gāthās of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma and the teaching that took sixty small kalpas to complete.
One vehicle. One Dharma.
Zui-Ji-I GOSHO
The Lotus Sutra is the true teaching because the Buddha Sakyamuni preached it from the bottom of his heart exactly as he was enlightened. Other sutras were taught according to listeners’ level of understanding. The Buddha teaches righteousness. The chanting of the sutra will lead us to righteousness unconsciously. For example, the creeping mugwort grass among the hemp will grow straight, or the body of a snake will become straight if it goes into a straight pipe, or if one has good friends, his attitudes will become good. Likewise, one who believes in the Lotus Sutra will attain Buddhahood.
(Background : 1278, 56 years old, at Minobu, Showa Teihon, p.1611)
Explanatory note
The Lotus Sutra reveals the true spirit of the Buddha Sakyamuni and teaches us to follow the sutra. Because the Buddha’s spirit is sacred and noble, even those who do not fully understand the meaning of the sutra will have infinite merits by just reading the sutra.
The creeping mugwort grass among the hemp will grow straight. The snake inside a pipe will straighten its coil. A man who associates with a wise person will find his attitude, actions, and words changing for the better. It is the same with the Lotus Sutra.
Nichiren Daishonin expounded the simplest way which is to chant Odaimoku, “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,” throughout his life. For if the teachings of the Buddha were taught in a complicated manner, a normal person would never be able to understand them, and they would be in a maze. To chant Odaimoku, is very simple and easy. If we, with faith, follow this simple method revealed by Daishonin, we shall be able to understand the teachings of the Buddha unconsciously and to accept the salvation of the Lotus Sutra.
Rev. Igarashi
Phrase A Day[From letter written immediately after return from Izu exile:]
“If you desire to attain Buddhahood immediately, lay down the banner of pride, cast away the club of resentment, and trust yourselves to the unique Truth. Fame and profit are nothing more than vanity of this life; pride and obstinacy are simply fetters to the coming life. … When you fall into an abyss and someone has lowered a rope to pull you out, should you hesitate to grasp the rope because you doubt the power of the helper? Has not Buddha declared, “I alone am the protector and savior”? There is the power! Is it not taught that faith is the only entrance (to salvation)? There is the rope! One who hesitates to seize it, and will not utter the Sacred Truth, will never be able to climb the precipice of Bodhi (Enlightenment). … Our hearts ache and our sleeves are wet (with tears), until we see face to face the tender figure of the One, who says to us, “I am thy Father.” At this thought our hearts beat, even as when we behold the brilliant clouds in the evening sky or the pale moonlight of the fast-falling night. … Should any season be passed without thinking of the compassionate promise, “Constantly I am thinking of you?” Should any month or day be spent without revering the teaching that there is none who cannot attain Buddhahood? Devote yourself whole-heartedly to the “Adoration to the Lotus of the Perfect Truth,” and utter it yourself as well as admonish others to do the same. Such is your task in this human life.”