This morning just as I was going to start chanting Daimoku the power went out. I added a few candles to illuminate the altar and resumed chanting Daimoku. A half-hour later, just as I was concluding my morning service with a final Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, the power returned and the lights snapped on. We need the rain here in California but I’m not sure we need this much wind.
Sunday was something of an East meets West day of practice. I began the day with a 10:30am online kito blessing service from the Nichiren Buddhist Kannon Temple of Nevada, with Rev. Shoda Kanai demonstrating the mystical powers of a priest who has completed two 100-day Aragyo ascetic practice training. I followed that at 3pm with a two-hour lecture and Q&A session that sought to reach westerners whose scientific view of daily reality has stunted their ability to imagine something more.
The lecture was sponsored by Rissho Kosei-kai International of North America and featured Dr. Dominick Scarangello. The title of the lecture was “Actualize Your Inner Potential By Modeling the Lotus Sutra’s Bodhisattvas,” but the main emphasis was to encourage westerners to use their imagination.
In the concluding slide of Dr. Scarangello’s presentation, he said:
What I’ve been trying to do so far is to draw upon modern scholars and philosophers to make the case for the value of interacting with the Lotus Sutra’s symbolic personifications of the teaching and engaging the sutra’s mythological stories in the sphere of the imaginal.
And I think if we can be open to this practice, more of the teachings of Founder Niwano and Rissho Kosei-kai will make sense to people in contemporary western cultures.
Founder Niwano was convinced that Buddhism is rational and compatible with modernity, but there is very much of the imaginal in his approach to practice, and I think it’s those aspects of his teachings and guidance the prove difficult for people in other cultures today.
The contrast between the Kaji Kito blessing and the academic discussion of contemporary western cultures couldn’t have been more stark. I found it fascinating.
I attended the Komasubara Persecution service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church today after which Rev. Kenjo Igarashi explained why he hesitates to perform funeral services for non-church members.
The subject came up recently after a director for a Catholic funeral service asked Rev. Igarashi if he could officiate a “Buddhist service” at their funeral home. He mentioned that they had already secured an altar for the service. I ended up helping to translate the request after the funeral director tried using the church email address when calling didn’t resolve the question.
Apparently, the deceased had most recently been a Shinshu practitioner but had previously been a member of the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church. The director had contacted the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Church in Sacramento but they had a conflict on the day the family requested. He then contacted Rev. Igarashi.
I forwarded the email to Rev. Igarashi and he called me to explain that if a member of the family were to call the church – not the funeral director – and ask that he perform a funeral service, then he would be obligated to perform the service. I passed that information on and heard nothing else until today, when Rev. Igarashi said he had performed the service the day before.
Rev. Igarashi laughed today at the situation he found himself in. Ten years ago, the man had stopped attending the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church, saying Rev. Igarashi was too mean. The Shinshu priest was nicer, the man said. “It had nothing to do with the religion,” Rev. Igarashi said.
There’s a reason Rev. Igarashi prefers not to perform services for people who do not have faith in the Lotus Sutra. Below is a summary of his explanation in his words. (Not verbatim but accurate.)
I do not want to perform services for non-members because it is very hard. People think that performing a funeral service is just a ceremony, not important. It’s just meaningful for the family, for their satisfaction.
But these services are not just ceremonial. A funeral service is very important because I have to carry off the deceased’s bad karma and erase their bad actions and then I send them to a Buddha’s place.
It is very hard for me. When they ask me already the deceased’s karma comes to me. I am hurt by the very heavy karma and kind of sick. Already this comes to me, and after that I perform a funeral service and clean up the deceased’ bad karma. That’s why funeral services are very important.
If church members have pretty strong faith, then it is easier for me, but if not, it is very hard.
It is my responsibility to send the deceased to a good realm. If I perform a service for somebody who fell into hell, I have to go to hell and save their spirit. This is not just ceremonial. This is serious.
I attended the Oeshiki Service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church Sunday. Oeshiki marks the passing of Nichiren, who died on Oct. 13, 1282. Rev. Igarashi made the point in his sermon that the memorial service for Nichiren is different than the ones we hold for our ancestors. The difference, Rev. Igarashi explained, is that we know where Nichiren went after he died. He returned to his existence as Honnge Jogyo, one of the four leaders of the Bodhisattvas who rose from the earth in Chapter 15.
Since I began reading and re-reading the Lotus Sutra as part of my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra Practice I’ve enjoyed playing with what I read. For example, consider where all those bodhisattvas who rose up from the earth came from.
They lived in the sky below this Sahā-World.
At the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church we have a new member who lived in Melbourne Australia before moving to Sacramento. One of the first things I asked her was whether she saw anything unusual in the sky Down Under. She was very confused by my question.
Yesterday I had only nice things to say about Rev. Ryuei Michael McCormick’s, “On the Opening of the Eyes: Annotated Translation with Glossary of the Kaimoku-sho.” Now I’d like to add a “But…”
The glossary included in Ryuei’s new book is a first look at what may be Ryuei’s next book, a dictionary of Nichiren Buddhism. Ryuei has finished the project, which was funded by Nichiren Shu, and submitted it to the powers governing such things at Nichiren Shu headquarters. There’s no release date yet.
The goal of the dictionary is to include the Nichiren Shu perspective on the basics of Buddhism. This example from the glossary exemplifies the concept:
accommodative-body: (S. nirmāṇa-kāya; J. ōjin) One of the three bodies of a buddha. Also known as the transformation-body. The accommodative-body is the physical body that a buddha assumes in a specific time and place in order to lead people to awakening through his compassionate actions and teaching. Shakyamuni Buddha, viewed as the buddha of history in our world, is an example of a buddha appearing with an accommodative-body. Accommodative-bodies seem to have finite lifespans, because they appear as buddhas who are born as human beings, attain buddhahood, turn the Wheel of the Dharma, and when they are done teaching they enter final nirvana.
The Tiantai school of Buddhism distinguishes between a superior accommodative-body that appears in a pure land and an inferior accommodative-body that appears in an impure land.
According to Nichiren Shonin, the accommodative-body is like the reflection of the moon in water, while the Dharma-body is like the moon itself, and the reward-body is like the moonlight. (WNS6, p. 131) He also taught that while the accommodative-body buddhas of the provisional Mahayana teachings are finite, the accommodative-body that is an aspect of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha has no beginning or end. (WNS3, p. 250)
Ryuei has given the basics, added the Tiantai perspective and finished with Nichiren’s interpretation.
Unfortunately when I tried to explore the topic of three thousand realms in a single thought-moment I was disappointed. Missing was an explanation of how Nichiren’s concept of the Ichinen Sanzen differed from Tiantai’s.
In Ryuei’s translation of the Kaimoku-sho we get this discussion:
From page 16
15. Twenty important doctrines are in the Lotus Sutra. Such schools as the Abhidharma Treasury, Completion of Reality, Discipline, Dharma Characteristics, and Three Treatises do not know even their names, while the Flower Garland and Mantra schools plagiarized them to build their own fundamental structure. The three thousand realms in a single thought-moment doctrine is hidden in the depths of the sixteenth, “The Duration of the Life of the Tathagata,” chapter in the Original Gate of the Lotus Sutra. Although Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu were aware of it, they did not speak of it. It is only our Tiantai Zhizhé who embraced it.
16. The teaching of the “three thousand realms in a single thought-moment” is based on the mutual possession of the ten realms. The Dharma Characteristics and Three Treatises schools established the eight realm teaching. Not even knowing ten realms, how could they know of their mutual possession? The Abhidharma Treasury, Completion of Reality, and Discipline schools, based on the Agama sutras, expound only the six realms, ignoring the other four realms. They insist on the existence of only a single buddha throughout the ten directions, denying the existence of buddhas in each of the directions. It is only natural that they leave out the concept of every sentient being having the buddha-nature. They do not recognize that anyone possesses the buddha-nature. Nevertheless, the Discipline and Completion of Reality schools today speak of the existence of buddhas throughout the ten directions and that sentient beings have the buddha nature. It must have been that scholars after the cessation of the Buddha plagiarized the Mahayana doctrines to the advantage of their own schools.
From page 29
63. The Flower Garland, Prajna, and Mahavairochana sutras conceal not only the attainment of buddhahood by people of the two vehicles but also the attainment of buddhahood in the remotest past. Those sutras have two faults. In the first place, as they preserve distinctions, they fail to open the provisional and reveal the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single thought-moment expounded in the Trace Gate. In the second place, they have not yet outgrown the Trace Gate because they fail to reveal the remotest past expounded in the Original Gate. These two great Dharmas are the backbone of the teaching of the Buddha throughout his life, and the essential heart of all the sutras.
64. The second chapter, “Expedients,” in the Trace Gate makes up for one of the two faults of the prior sutras by revealing the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment and the attainment of buddhahood by adherents of the two vehicles. Yet, this chapter is not outgrowing the traces and revealing the origin. Its teaching about the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment and attaining buddhahood by adherents of the two vehicles is not fully established. They are like the reflections of the moon in the water or rootless grass floating on waves.
65. In the Original Gate, the attainment of awakening for the first time [under the Bodhi tree] is disproven and the effects of the four doctrinal teachings are thereby eliminated. As the effects resulting from the four doctrinal teachings are eliminated, the causes leading to those effects shown in the four doctrinal teachings are eliminated. Thus, the cause and effect of the ten realms expounded in the prior sutras and the Trace Gate was eliminated and the doctrine of the cause and effect of the ten realms as expounded in the Original Gate was established. This is the doctrine of the original cause and original effect. In this relationship, the beginningless nine realms are all included in the beginningless buddha-realm. This is the true mutual possession of the ten realms, one hundred realms and one thousand aspects, and three thousand realms in a single thought-moment.
The glossary explanation for three thousand realms in a single thought-moment: (J. ichinen sanzen;)
The Tiantai school doctrine taught in the Great Calming and Contemplation by Zhiyi maintaining that three thousand realms of existence are contained in every single thought-moment of an ordinary sentient being at any given moment. It is based on the teaching of the ten suchnesses of all phenomena taught in the second, “Expedients,” chapter of the Lotus Sutra. The three thousand realms (conditions under which all things exist and phenomena take place) is arrived at by squaring the ten realms, because of the mutual possession of the ten realms, multiplying the resulting one hundred realms by the ten suchnesses, and then multiplying the resulting one thousand realms by the three categories of existence (five aggregates, sentient beings, and their environments). As it is shown that three thousand realms are included in an individual’s every thought-moment and therefore at least potentially accessible, it follows that practitioners of the two vehicles, who have been denied the possibility that they can attain buddhahood in the prior teachings, as well as ordinary people, can enter the world of buddhahood attained by the Buddha.
Nichiren Shonin advocated that chanting the daimoku of “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo” is the only practical way for ordinary people in the Latter Age of Degeneration to attain buddhahood.
What I was looking for was something like this:
Ichinen Sanzen established by Grand Master T’ien-tai is called Ichinen Sanzen of Ri or Ichinen Sanzen of the theoretical section of the Lotus Sutra. On the other hand, Ichinen Sanzen understood by Nichiren Shōnin is called Ichinen Sanzen of Ji or Ichinen Sanzen of essential section of the Lotus Sutra. … [T]he core of Nichiren Shōnin’s religion is Ichinen Sanzen, especially the mutual possession of the ten realms. T’ien-tai’s Ichinen Sanzen is focused on the ten suchnesses of Chapter 2, Expedients, of the Lotus Sutra. In Nichiren Shōnin’s understanding of Ichinen Sanzen, it is most important that nine realms possess the realm of Buddha and also that the realm of Buddha possesses the other nine realms. Without this mutual possession between the realm of Buddha and the nine realms, Sokushin Jōbutsu (attaining Buddhahood with one’s current body) and Juji Jōbutsu (attaining Buddhahood by upholding the Dharma) would not be possible.
This is a quote from Buddha Seed, Understanding the Odaimoku, which was adapted from “Odaimoku go Wakaru Hon,” the dictation of Rev. Taiko Seno’s lecture and translated by Nichiren Buddhist International Center.
I asked Ryuei about my concern that there was no clear explanation of how Nichiren both adopted and rejected Tiantai’s understanding of the 3000 realms in a single thought moment.
He replied:
About those passages – Nichiren never repudiated the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment as taught by Tiantai, in fact he opens with a part of the passage where it is taught in the Great Calming and Contemplation in the beginning of Kanjin Honzon-sho. However, Nichiren does distinguish between ichinen sanzen in principle and ichinen sanzen in actuality, the latter having its basis in chapter 16 and the Original Gate. Here are the definitions for those:
principle of the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment: (J. ri-no-ichinen-sanzen; 理の一念三千) See actuality of the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment.
actuality of the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment: (J. ji-no-ichinen-sanzen; 事の一念三千) Nichiren Shonin distinguishes between the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment in terms of principle and in terms of actuality. The practice of chanting the daimoku would be the actuality of the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment, in contrast to contemplating it in silent meditation. Of this contrast between the principle and actuality of the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment Nichiren Shonin wrote in Toki Nyūdō-dono Go-henji: Chibyō-shō (A Response to Lay Priest Lord Toki: Treatise on Healing Sickness):
There are two ways of observing the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment. One is in terms of principle, the second is in terms of the actual phenomena. At the time of Tiantai and Dengyo and so on, it was [observed in] principle. Now it is [observed in] actual phenomena. Since [the latter form of] contemplation is superior, the great difficulties [accompanying it] are also superior. The former is the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment of the provisional teaching [of the Lotus Sutra], and the latter is the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment of the original teaching [of the Lotus Sutra]. They are as different as Heaven and Earth, and at the time of death, you should keep this in mind. (WNS2, p. 257 adapted)
Ryuei provided the dictionary’s full entry on three thousand realms in a single thought-moment: (J. ichinen sanzen; 一念三千) The Tiantai school doctrine taught in the Great Calming and Contemplation by Zhiyi maintaining that three thousand realms of existence are contained in every single thought-moment of an ordinary sentient being at any given moment. It is based on the teaching of the ten suchnesses of all phenomena taught in the second, “Expedients,” chapter of the Lotus Sutra. The three thousand realms (conditions under which all things exist and phenomena take place) is arrived at by squaring the ten realms, because of the mutual possession of the ten realms, multiplying the resulting one hundred realms by the ten suchnesses, and then multiplying the resulting one thousand realms by the three categories of existence (five aggregates, sentient beings, and their environments). As it is shown that three thousand realms are included in an individual’s every thought-moment and therefore at least potentially accessible, it follows that practitioners of the two vehicles, who have been denied the possibility that they can attain buddhahood in the prior teachings, as well as ordinary people, can enter the world of buddhahood attained by the Buddha.
Nichiren Shonin advocated that chanting the daimoku of “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo” is the only practical way for ordinary people in the Latter Age of Degeneration to attain buddhahood based on the actuality of the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment. Nichiren Shonin’s On the Contemplation of the Mind and the Focus of Devotion opens with his particular way of understanding and applying this concept. (WNS2, pp. 127-132)
While the dictionary apparently will include entries for the principle of and actuality of the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment, I doubt anyone will find them without a reference to this distinction in the main entry for three thousand realms in a single thought-moment. And while Nichiren did not reject Tiantai’s teaching he did expand and refocus it and a dictionary of Nichiren Shu should make that explicit.
As explained in Buddha Seed:
Theoretically Ichinen Sanzen of Ri [T’ien-tai’s teaching] tells us that we can attain Buddhahood and that all realms of existence, including Buddhahood, can be recognized in every moment of conscious awareness. However, Ichinen Sanzen of Ji [Nichiren’s teaching] tells us that we are in the process of becoming Buddhas and that Buddhahood is a reality already at work in our lives. Even a single moment of taking faith in and rejoicing in this teaching allows us to understand the reality of the Buddha’s presence in our lives.
I am looking forward to using the glossary in my studies to better understand the teachings of Nichiren Shu and I eagerly await the publication of Ryuei’s full dictionary.
Rev. Ryuei Michael McCormick has published another of his thoroughly documented Buddhist tomes, “On the Opening of the Eyes: Annotated Translation with Glossary of the Kaimoku-sho.”
One can consider this a sort of prequel to Ryuei’s masterful Open Your Eyes: A Nichiren Buddhist View of Awakening, which uses the Kaimoku-sho as the basis for a historical look at the spread of Buddhism and specifically Nichiren’s teachings as viewed within the context of medieval Japanese culture.
Ryuei is, of course, not the first person to translate the Kaimoku-sho into English. I have five other English translations in my library:
Actually, the first three of the five appear to be the same translation. And there is not much difference in any of the translations since they are all working from the same Japanese text: Taisho Volume 84, Number 2689.
Here’s an example:
From Soka Gakkai’s translation in Volume 1 of The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin:
From the beginningless past I have been born countless times as an evil ruler who deprived the votaries of the Lotus Sutra of their robes and rations, their fields and crops, much as the people of Japan in the present day go about destroying the temples dedicated to the Lotus Sutra. In addition, countless times I cut off the heads of the votaries of the Lotus Sutra. Some of these grave offenses I have already paid for, but there must be some that are not paid for yet. Even if I seem to have paid for them all, there are still ill effects that remain. When the time comes for me to transcend the sufferings of birth and death, it will be only after I have completely freed myself from these grave offenses. My merits are insignificant, but these offenses are grave.
If I practiced the teachings of the provisional sutras, then these retributions for my past grave offenses would not appear. When iron is heated, if it is not strenuously forged, the impurities in it will not become apparent. Only when it is subjected to the tempering process again and again will the flaws appear. When pressing hemp seeds, if one does not press very hard, one will not get much oil from them. Likewise, when I vigorously berate those throughout the country who slander the Law, I meet with great difficulties. It must be that my actions in defending the Law in this present life are calling forth retributions for the grave offenses of my past. If iron does not come into contact with fire, it remains black, but if it contacts fire, it turns red. If you place a log across a swift stream, waves will pile up like hills. If you disturb a sleeping lion, it will roar loudly.
From the Writings of Nichiren Shonin, Doctrine 2, compiled by Kyōtsū Hori:
In the immemorable past, I must have been born a wicked king and must have deprived practicers of the Lotus Sutra of their food and clothing and their properties on numerous occasions just as some people today in Japan have been destroying the Lotus temples. I must have also cut off the heads of numerous practicers of the Lotus Sutra. I may have purged myself of some of these grave sins but not all of them. Even if I have, there are the residuals. In order to attain Buddhahood, I must completely compensate for all those serious sins. My merits in spreading the Lotus Sutra are still shallow while my sins in the past are still deep. If I had preached only provisional sutras, grave sins in my past lives would not have been revealed. It is like a forging iron, for instance. Unless you hit it and forge it hard, hidden scars will not be seen. They appear only when the iron is hit hard many times on an anvil. Or it is analogous to squeezing hemp seeds. Unless squeezed hard, there is little oil. Ever since I, Nichiren, strongly condemned those who slander the True Dharma in Japan, I have been persecuted. It must be that grave sins in my past lives are revealed through my merits in defending the dharma in this life. It is just as a piece of iron remains black unless heated by fire, and becomes red when placed in fire. Even calm water makes great waves when quickly stirred by a log. A sleeping lion roars loudly when awakened by a touch of hand.
From Kaimokushō or Liberations from Blindness, translated by Senchū Murano:
I think I was born as an evil king and plundered food, clothing, land, and so forth from practitioners of the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka-sūtra countless times during my previous consecutive existences since the beginningless past, just as the people of Japan today are destroying the temples of the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka-sūtra. I also think that I beheaded practitioners of the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka-sūtra countless times during my previous consecutive existences.
I may have already expiated some of these serious sins. But even the sins that I think I have already expiated may not have been expiated satisfactorily. In order to eliminate the bonds of birth and death, I must completely expiate all the sins I have committed.
My merits are trifling while my sins are serious. When I practiced Provisional Mahayana sutras, I did not have to commit these serious sins. When you forge a sword, the scar of the sword is not visible until the iron is red enough for forging and hammering is repeated. When you press sesame seeds with more power, you get more oil from them.
Now I am vehemently criticizing the slanderers of the Dharma in this country. I am persecuted probably because my protection of the Dharma has caused me to expiate the great sins that I had committed in my previous existences. Iron is black without fire, and red in fire. When a stream is checked abruptly by logs, mountainous waves will be made. When disturbed, a sleeping lion will roar.
And, finally, Ryuei’s translation:
In the beginningless past, I must have been born as a wicked king and must have deprived practitioners of the Lotus Sutra of their food and clothing and their properties on numerous occasions just as some people in Japan today have been destroying temples dedicated to the Lotus Sutra. I must have also cut off the heads of numerous practitioners of the Lotus Sutra. I may have purged myself of some of these heinous transgressions but not all of them. Even if I have, I am still experiencing the residual effects. In order to be delivered from samsara, I must completely renounce all those heinous transgressions. My merits are shallow while my transgressions are deep. If I had practiced only provisional sutras, heinous transgressions would not have been revealed. It is like forging iron, for instance. Unless you hit it and forge it hard, hidden impurities will not be seen. They appear only when the iron is forged many times on an anvil. It is also analogous to squeezing hemp seeds. Unless squeezed hard, there is little oil. Ever since I, Nichiren, strongly condemned those who slander the True Dharma in Japan, I have been persecuted. It must be that heinous transgressions in my past lives are revealed through my merits in defending the Dharma in this life. It is just as a piece of iron remains black unless heated by fire, and becomes red when placed in fire. Even calm water makes great waves when blocked by a log. A sleeping lion roars loudly when disturbed.
The Nichiren Shu translation and the one by Murano add subheadings describing the content. Soka Gakkai and Ryuei skip these embellishments and divide the letter into its original two portions.
What makes Ryuei’s On the Opening of the Eyes an invaluable addition are his notes and glossary, which make up three quarters of the 404-page book.
Ryuei has broken up the text into numbered blocks. The number corresponds to a note that identifies the exact section of the original Japanese text and adds pointers to entries in his extensive glossary.
An example of the text:
65. In the Original Gate, the attainment of awakening for the first time [under the Bodhi tree] is disproven and the effects of the four doctrinal teachings are thereby eliminated. As the effects resulting from the four doctrinal teachings are eliminated, the causes leading to those effects shown in the four doctrinal teachings are eliminated. Thus, the cause and effect of the ten realms expounded in the prior sutras and the Trace Gate was eliminated and the doctrine of the cause and effect of the ten realms as expounded in the Original Gate was established. This is the doctrine of the original cause and original effect. In this relationship, the beginningless nine realms are all included in the beginningless buddha-realm. This is the true mutual possession of the ten realms, one hundred realms and one thousand aspects, and three thousand realms in a single thought-moment.
Example of the note:
65. Taisho text 2689 in volume 84, lines 214b04-214b11
See glossary for: attainment of awakening for the first time, cause and effect, four doctrinal teachings, mutual possession of the ten realms, one hundred realms and one thousand aspects, original cause and original effect, ten realms, and Bodhi tree.
Gloassary examples. (The glossary entries include the Chinese ideograms, but they are dropped here because I am unable to reproduce them.)
- attainment of awakening for the first time: (J. shijō shōgaku)
- The ideograms literally mean “first attaining true awakening” and refer to Shakyamuni Buddha’s attainment of unsurpassed, complete, and perfect awakening under the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, India. Contrary to this, the sixteenth, “The Duration of the Life of the Tathagata,” chapter of the Lotus Sutra declares: “To tell the truth, good men, it is many hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of kalpas since I became the Buddha.” (LS, p. 247) Thus, the attainment of buddhahood in the remotest past of five hundred dust-particle kalpas ago was revealed.
- cause and effect: (J. inga;)
- The ideogram [not shown] means “cause” and the ideogram [not shown] means “effect.” The “law of cause and effect” encompasses the functioning of various kinds of causes and effects in every area of conditioned life.
- four doctrinal teachings: (J. shikyō or kehō no shikyō;)
- Zhiyi classified Shakyamuni Buddha’s fifty-years of teaching from the time of teaching the Flower Garland Sutra to the time of teaching the Lotus Sutra and Nirvana Sutra into five periods according to the order of teaching. They are further categorized into four doctrinal teachings: 1) the tripitaka teaching that is regarded as hinayana, 2) the shared teaching for voice-hearers, privately-awakened ones, and bodhisattvas, 3) the distinct teaching for advanced bodhisattvas, and 4) the perfect teaching that is complete and well-rounded without taking sides.
- mutual possession of the ten realms: (J, jikkai-gogu;)
- According to Zhiyi, the world consists of the ten realms of hell-dwellers, hungry ghosts, animals, asuras, humans, gods, voice-hearers, privately-awakened ones, bodhisattvas, and buddhas. Each of these realms mutually contain characteristics of the nine others in and of itself. This means that, for instance, human beings have characteristics of the nine other realms from beings in hell up to buddhas; asuras have those of the rest of the ten realms; buddhas also have characteristics of the nine other realms. This idea was set up by Zhiyi based on passages in the Lotus Sutra such as “The buddhas appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to open the insight of the buddha.” It meant to him that those beings in the nine realms other than the realm of buddhas also possessed the characteristics of buddhas. The idea of “mutual possession” provided the basis for another important Tiantai school doctrine, the “three thousand realms in a single thought-moment.”
Nichiren Shonin established and spread the practice of chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo on the foundation of the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment and the mutual possession of the ten realms as the ultimate means of attaining buddhahood by an ordinary person.
- one hundred realms and one thousand aspects: (J. hyakkai-sennyo;)
- According to the teaching of Zhiyi in the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra, an individual mind has ten realms (from the realm of the hell-dwellers up to and including the buddha-realm), each of which includes in itself characteristics of the other nine realms, as per the teaching of the mutual possession of the ten realms, making one hundred realms. Each of these one hundred realms has ten suchnesses, so there are one thousand aspects of existence. (FTP, p. 182; PMLS2, p. 74) In the Great Calming and Contemplation, Zhiyi further taught that as these one thousand aspects have three categories of existence, there are three thousand realms in a single thought-moment. (CSQI, pp. 815-816)
- original cause and original effect: (J. hon’in-honga;)
- The original cause is the causal conduct of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha revealed in the Original Gate of the Lotus Sutra. The original effect is his resulting virtue. That is to say, the original cause and original effect means the great merit of Shakyamuni Buddha’s practice since the eternal past and the great virtue he gained as a result of his great conduct.
Original cause and original effect are the first two of the ten subtleties of the Original Gate. They also refer to the mutual possession of the ten realms. This is because the realm of buddhahood, the effect aimed for in Buddhist practice, includes the other nine realms that are the causes of buddhahood’s unfolding. Conversely, the realm of buddhahood is nascent within each of the nine realms. (WNS2, p. 48)
- ten realms: (S. daśa-dhātu; J. jikkai;)
- The combination of the six destinies and the four noble states. The realms of the: 1) hell-dwellers, 2) hungry ghosts, 3) animals, 4) asuras, 5) humans, 6) gods, 7) voice-hearers, 8) privately-awakened ones, 9) bodhisattvas, and 10) buddhas.
- Bodhi tree: (S. Bodhi-druma; J. Bodai-ju or Dō-ju)
- The pipal or sacred fig tree (Ficus religiosa) in Bodhgaya under which Shakyamuni Buddha was sitting when he attained unsurpassed, complete, and perfect awakening.
Multiply that example by 288 and you have an idea of what Ryuei has accomplished with this book.
Tomorrow: Why Reading Glasses Are Sometimes Necessary for Eyes
Starting today and running through the end of 2021, I will be publishing excerpts from The History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, From Śākyamuni Buddha Through Nichiren Shōnin to the Present. As always, these are things I want to remember and they don’t necessary represent the full breadth of the material covered. For example, I’ve saved nothing from the 31 pages devoted to the history of various Nichiren schools after Nichiren’s death. This is valuable information for the book’s original audience – Nichiren Shu priests in training – but holds little interest in my quest to establish the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren’s teachings as the guiding light of my daily life.
This material is translated from a collection of essays and as a result each essay author exerts an influence over the material. For example take this explanation of the trials Śākyamuni overcame as he sat under the bodhi tree:
Under the Bodhi tree, demons appeared who tried to interfere with his meditation with temptations. In the Sutta-nipāta, a collection of some of the oldest scriptures, Śākyamuni recalls the demon’s temptations as follows: “Sensual passions are your first army. Your second is called Discontent. Your third is Hunger and Thirst. Your fourth is called Craving. Fifth is Sloth and Drowsiness. Sixth is called Terror. Your seventh is Uncertainty, Hypocrisy and Stubbornness. Your eighth is Gains, Offerings, Fame and Status wrongly gained, and whoever would praise self and disparage others.”
Although Śākyamuni says that demons used ten weapons, it should be noted that the demons are certainly not portrayed as supernatural beings separate from reality. These demons are the embodiments of the essential desires or afflictions humans possess from birth.
This categorical rejection of a spiritual world is a little surprising. While I understand why a non-Buddhist might suggest that demons simply represent “embodiments of the essential desires or afflictions humans possess from birth,” such a statement strips from Buddhism its mystical heritage. It is that heritage that I believe the Aragyo training makes real. Ministers who accomplish the 100-day ascetic training emerge with a real sense of the spiritual realm. Since two of my favorite priests – Revs. Kenjo Igarashi and Shoda Kanai – have completed multiple Aragyo trainings, I am biased toward that view.
Although dry and academic, this book provides an excellent foundation for what it means to be a Nichiren Buddhist.
Attended the Fall Higan service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church. Rev. Igarashi used the occasion to explain the difference between Obon and Higan, since both involve memorial services for our ancestors.
Rev. Igarashi explained that the two are completely different. For one telling of the story of Obon see Urobon-e or consider this excerpt from Nichiren’s On the Ullambana Service.
For Obon, Rev. Igarashi said, we just invite our ancestors to visit and serve them a lot of food and chanting. Higan, on the other hand, is a full week of focusing on the six paramitas.
As explained by the Nichiren Shu brochure on Higan, the Six Paramitas are:
In Rev. Igarashi’s telling, jikai or precepts, the 250 or 500 Hinayāna rules governing behavior of monks and nuns, were replaced by Nichiren with chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. In the age of Mappō, the latter age of degeneration, chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō is jikai. “Just chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. That’s the same thing as upholding the precepts,” Rev. Igarashi explained.
“It is very important to understand that precepts is practice,” Rev. Igarashi said. “Of all the paramitas, the most important is practice.”
After a retelling of the Parable of the Magic City, Rev. Igarashi said:
“That’s why we need more practice, practice, practicing. We need to extinguish our bad karma, otherwise we will never get a better life. That’s why we need more practicing.”
A French translation of Ryusho Jeffus’ Lotus Sutra Practice Guide: 35-Day Practice Outline is now available at nichiren-etudes.net.
I have now completed publishing “Nichiren, The Buddhist Prophet” by Masaharu Anesaki. Back in June, when I started, I offered a lengthy quote that I felt showed Anesaki’s insight into Nichiren’s Buddhism. It seems fitting to offer a concluding quote:
Buddhahood, or Truth, is eternal. It can be, and ought to be, made a fact in our own life. Nichiren is the man sent to lead all to that life, and he is now assisted by his followers, who are, therefore, the Saints prophesied in the [Lotus Sutra]. The attainment of Buddhahood is not a matter of individuals or of the aggregate of individuals, it is the embodiment of the all-embracing communion of all beings in the organic unity of Buddhahood which is inherent in them all. This realization is the Kingdom of Buddha, the establishment of the Land of Treasures, as Nichiren had declared in his Risshō Ankoku Ron and explained on many occasions.
Nichiren, The Buddhist Prophet, Chapter 9, Page 98-99
In September, as I did in March, I will devote the entire month to Higan and the Six Pāramitās. For the remainder of August I’m going to published some quotes from Nikkyō Niwano’s Buddhism for Today, which I have been using in my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra posts.