QUESTION: I ask with much hesitation whether it can be that fire can beget water, or that a rock may beget flowers. From the standpoint of Buddhism, it is understood that a bad effect would follow from a bad cause; similarly, a good product would arise from something good. Nevertheless, should we look at our origins, it is clear that we are the products of the binding of our parent’s red and white blood. In like manner, the root of evil can spawn impurity. Whilst we attempt to wash it with the waters of the ocean, it would still not be cleansed. When we examine our minds and bodies–that which receives of this painful lot–we can say that it is composed of the three basic evil passions: greed, anger, and ignorance. When these two, evil passions and their painful results, come together to form various karma, they give rise to the paths of karma that chain us to the painful environment of the triple world and six realms (lower six of the ten realms). It is like a bird trapped in a cage. How is it that the three ways, evil passions, karma, and suffering can turn into the three merits, Dharma Body, Reward Body and Accommodative Body of the Buddha? It is, for example, as difficult to expect an appealing fragrance to arise from feces made to look like sandalwood.

ANSWER: Your question is quite natural. It is difficult for me to provide a sufficient answer as well. In any case, Nāgārjuna, the 13th transmitter of the Buddhist teaching whom even Grand Master T’ien t’ai respected as the Founder, comments on the single character “myō” in his Great Wisdom Discourse: “It is the same as a renowned doctor who prescribes a poison for medicine.” What is meant here by “poison”? It refers to the three paths, that are our evil passions, karma, and suffering. Then what is meant by medicine? It refers to the three merits: Dharma Body, unsurpassed wisdom, and emancipation. What is meant by prescribing a poison for medicine? It means nothing but transforming the three evils to three merits. Grand Master T’ien-t’ai in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra states: ” ‘Myō’ of Myōhō Renge Kyō means unfathomable.” And in the Great Concentration and Insight, he claims: “As one thought contains ten realms, there should be no less than 3,000 modes of existence contained in one thought, making it impossible to separate one’s thought from all existing things. This relationship is difficult to explain in words, such that ‘thought’ falls within the realm of incomprehension.” Becoming a Buddha with one’s present body is not easily defined.

Shimon Butsujō-gi, Listening to the Once Buddha Vehicle Teachings for the First Time, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 247-248