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Another Innumerable Day Before Day 1

Each time through The Immeasurable Meanings Sutra (Watson translation this time), I’m confronted with the question of how to describe the Buddha’s appearance. In particular, the sign that appears on his chest.

It was during my 21-day stay-cation retreat last year that I first read The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings (Reeves translation that time) and found this:

His chest, marked with a swastika,
Is like the chest of a lion.

I have known about the use of the swastika as a Buddhist marking for some time. I wrote about the decoration atop the Hanamatsuri shrine at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church. That post has a lot of nice background information that I won’t bother to duplicate here.

The point today is the decision of translators – other than Reeves – to avoid confusing the mark with the Nazi symbol.

The BDK English Tripitaka translation by Kubo and Logan offers:

Your chest is like that of a lion, and it is marked with the sign of virtue. (Page 13)

While the Kosei publishing 1975 translation by Tamura, Schiffer and Del Campana used the “swastika mark,” the “Modern Translation for Contemporary Readers” (Kosei 2019) translated by Shinozaki, Ziporyn and Earhart follows the BDK English Tripitaka example and offers:

His chest, bearing the mark of virtue, is like a lion’s chest.

Which brings us the reason I’m rehashing all this today.

Burton Watson’s translation of The Immeasurable Meanings Sutra chooses to keep the literal character while eschewing the word swastika.

… breast displaying a fylfot pattern; lion chested; …

The Buddha and the Fylfot

While I admire Watson’s effort to remain true to the literal text (see A Note About Translations at the bottom of yesterday’s post for another example), why can’t translators use the proper spelling of the word swastika, which is svastika? That eliminates the Nazi baggage and restores the idea that this image on the Buddha’s chest “is a statement of affirmation, ‘It is!’ ‘Life is good!’ ‘There is value’ ‘There is meaning!’ Svastika is a term that affirms the positive values of life.” (Also see this discussion of the Japanese meaning of the symbol Manji.)

And getting back to the topic of The Immeasurable Meanings Sutra …

See The Essential Point

Getting Ready to Search Background and Commentary


This post is for those who subscribe to this website and receive emails whenever something is posted and also for my Facebook followers.

All of those “Search Background and Commentary for Day XX” posts are the initial steps I’m taking to organize my posts to make searching more efficient. I’ve already tagged all of the Daily Dharma for last year and when I’m done creating the 32 search pages, I’ll then add all of the quotes related to particular sections of the Lotus Sutra.

To be honest, this is mostly for my benefit. When I do my daily 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra post I need to access background for that day. Right now I’m using quotes from Buddhism for Today, but by the end of February I expect to return to quoting from the Daily Dharma and other appropriate quotes.

I apologize for the annoyance of the 32 search page posts.

Open Your Eyes

A Nichiren Buddhist View of Awakening

Finally completed Rev. Ryuei McCormick’s Open Your Eyes: A Nichiren Buddhist View of Awakening. This is a compilation of a series of blog posts McCormick originally posted on his Fraught With Peril website.

I heartily endorse Mark Herrick’s assessment of this work:

This book is a thoroughly researched and well sourced reference combining a historical look at the spread of Buddhism and illuminating Nichiren’s thinking within its context of medieval Japanese culture. It carefully explains why Nichiren expressed criticism of other Buddhist schools and his overarching motivation to ease the suffering of people in this world by returning emphasis to Śākyamuni Buddha’s message that everyone regardless of gender, status, or circumstance can become a buddha in this very lifetime.

Open Your Eyes, p6

The physical book is huge. Literally. It measures 7 inches by 10 inches and 600 pages. (By comparison, Murano’s Lotus Sutra is 5 7/8 by 8 1/4 and 427 pages.) But it is not difficult to read. The text is broken up into 46 chapters, with an average length of 12 or so pages per chapter. I recommend a chapter-a-night regimen.

At the conclusion of the book, McCormick offers an excellent explanation of why you should bother reading his book. Given the length of the book, moving this message up front may encourage more people to pick it up and consider what it has to say:

Many people today, I think, are very casual about being either nominally religious, or vaguely spiritual, or openly disdainful of religious teachings and spiritual practice. Those who do investigate and take up Buddhism and Buddhist practice all too often are satisfied with the small rewards of worldly benefits like peace of mind gained through silent sitting practices, or perhaps good fortune in their relationships or careers because they believe Buddhism can give them some kind of metaphysical control over their lives through ritual practices. I would not deny that sitting meditation or chanting can bring about peace of mind or help people gain the insight to refrain from bad and instead make good causes to help them make the most of life in a worldly sense. Even Śākyamuni Buddha gave discourses to lay followers to help them live wisely and thereby enjoy relatively happy lives in a worldly sense. However, what Nichiren is inviting us to do in Kaimoku-shō is to reflect more deeply about religious teachings including Buddhism and what they mean in terms of how we view life and our own role. Are we content to simply accept that this is the only life and that after death there is nothing at all? Or do we believe there may be some heavenly realm to hope for and that a virtuous life can lead us to it? Or do we wish to seek buddhahood — a life of selfless compassion that transcends small-minded concerns about personal happiness in this or some other lifetime? If we are really willing to engage the deepest teachings of Buddhism and try to realize and actualize them, what are we willing to put on the line? How much of ourselves are we willing to give? Are we only looking for protection and benefits? Or do we have the compassion and courage to give more and more of ourselves for the sake of all beings according to whatever the situation may demand? I cannot imagine that everyone will come to the same conclusions as Nichiren did, but I do think that if the Kaimoku-shō can inspire us to at least reflect on these questions, then it will have been well worth taking the time to read and ponder its message.

Open Your Eyes, p586-587

I’m also publishing the Introduction and I will be setting aside additional quotes in the future.

Earlier I published a lengthy excerpt in a blog post Understanding the 12-Linked Chain of Causation.


 
Book List

Emptiness Inside a Lotus Sutra Circle

Lotus Sutra Burton Watson bookcoverIn 1993 I had been practicing what I considered to be Nichiren Buddhism for four years. I had started with Nichiren Shoshu of America before the split with Soka Gakkai and continued with Soka Gakkai after the divorce was finalized. I don’t recall ever being  encouraged to read the Lotus Sutra. I was certainly never encouraged to do more sutra recitation than the shindoku [the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese translation using Romanized text] and nothing beyond the Hoben Pon portion of Chapter 2, and Ji Ga Ge of Chapter 16. It was in this setting that I learned that Columbia University Press had published Burton Watson’s translation of the Lotus Sutra. Soka Gakkai held the copyright for the book and the local SGI community center bookstore had the book for sale. I purchased a copy. I read it once. I recall realizing that a single reading would not be sufficient to gain any appreciation of the sutra, but I never picked up that copy again.

It would be another 22 years before I again read the Lotus Sutra.

Today I’m beginning my 49th cycle through my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra practice. For 40 cycles I used Senchu Murano’s translation. Then I tried Leon Hurvitz’s Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma for a couple of cycles and followed that with the 1975 edition of The Threefold Lotus Sutra, which I dropped after just one cycle. I did one cycle with the BDK English Tripitaka translation and then shifted to Gene Reeves’ translation for two cycles. For the previous two cycles I’ve been using the 2019 edition of the Threefold Lotus Sutra.

I’ve now come full circle, back to Burton Watson’s translation. I’m curious what it will be like to read it again after 27 years.

In Watson’s Preface I still have the page corner turned down marking this quote:

The Lotus Sutra tells us at times that the Lotus Sutra is about to be preached, at other times it says that the Lotus Sutra has already been preached with such-and-such results, and at still other times it gives instructions on just how the Lotus Sutra is to be preached or enumerates in detail the merits that accrue to one who pays due honor to the text. But the reader may be forgiven if he comes away from the work wondering just which of the chapters that make it up was meant to be the Lotus Sutra itself. One writer has in fact been led to describe the sutra as a text “about a discourse that is never delivered, a lengthy preface without a book.*” This is no doubt because Mahayana Buddhism has always insisted that its highest truth can never in the end be expressed in words, since words immediately create the kind of distinctions that violate the unity of Emptiness. All the sutra can do, therefore, is to talk around it, leaving a hole in the middle where truth can reside.

Watson, pxx-xxi

* George J. Tanabe, Jr, and Wilma Jane Tanabe, eds., The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989), p. 2 in the introductory chapter by Professor George Tanabe.

When I first read this I could not have possibly fathomed the meaning of that hole in the middle, that central emptiness. As Watson points out in the Preface:

This is the first point to keep in mind in reading the Lotus Sutra. Its setting, its vast assembly of listeners, its dramatic occurrences in the end belong to a realm that totally transcends our ordinary concepts of time, space, and possibility. Again and again we are told of events that took place countless, indescribable numbers of kalpas or eons in the past, or of beings or worlds that are as numerous as the sands of millions and billions of Ganges rivers. Such “numbers” are in fact no more than pseudonumbers or non-numbers, intended to impress on us the impossibility of measuring the immeasurable. They are not meant to convey any statistical data but simply to boggle the mind and jar it loose from its conventional concepts of time and space. For in the realm of Emptiness, time and space as we conceive them are meaningless; anywhere is the same as everywhere, and now, then, never, forever are all one.

Watson, pxvi

How to comprehend this?

Very early in the sutra the Buddha warns us that the wisdom of the Buddhas is extremely profound and difficult to comprehend, and this warning is repeated frequently in later chapters. …

But of course in the view of religion there are other approaches to truth than merely through words and intellectual discourse. The sutra therefore exhorts the individual to approach the wisdom of the Buddhas through the avenue of faith and religious practice. The profound influence which the Lotus Sutra has exerted upon the cultural and religious life of the countries of eastern Asia is due as much to its function as a guide to devotional practice as to the actual ideas that it expounds. It calls upon us to act out the sutra with our bodies and minds rather than merely reading it, and in that way to enter into its meaning.

Watson, pxx-xxi

This is the Essential emptiness. Chih-i equated the Ultimate Truth with the empty space inside a house (The Ulimate Empty Space). The teachings of the Buddha provide the roof beams and pillars, and Lotus Sutra gathers the whole into a house with empty rooms in which to practice. The Emptiness is essential to the function of the house, to the teaching of the Lotus Sutra.

Sutra Recitation

Screenshot of sutra recitation
Daily sutra recitation as caught by security camera pointed at altar.

I’ve completed my 48th cycle through the 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra and before I set aside The Threefold Lotus Sutra: A Modern Translations for Contemporary Readers, I want to publish some quotes from the Preface discussing the importance of sutra recitation.

In chapter 17, “Specification of Merits,” the Buddha teaches another formula for how, after he has passed into nirvana, his followers can be true practitioners of the Lotus Sutra. This method consists of five elements: (1) rejoicing in the sutra, (2) reading and reciting it, (3) expounding it, (4) concurrently practicing the Six Paramitas, and (5) intensely practicing the Six Paramitas. Here the meaning of “reading and reciting” is deeper than in the aforementioned five practices of Dharma teachers: as our faith deepens, we do not simply read the sutra aloud but also come to appreciate it in our hearts and minds and study it in great depth.

In short, we are diligent in the practice of reading and reciting the sutra so that we can firmly receive and embrace it, that is, so that we can deepen our faith and devotion to it and make progress toward the attainment of buddhahood (the perfection of oneself). This is the first function of the practice of sutra recitation.

The second function of reading and reciting the sutra is to serve as an “offering,” or kuyo in Japanese, to the Three Treasures – the Buddha, his teachings, and the community of those who practice them – and it is also a bodhisattva practice undertaken for the sake of others. …

The third function of sutra recitation is to go beyond a merely intellectual understanding of the sutra’s contents. There are two ways of comprehending the Lotus Sutra: understanding it intellectually and understanding it bodily, that is, by reciting it orally. The act of reading the sutra aloud helps readers totally concentrate their consciousness on recitation without engaging their intellect to grasp the meaning of the words and phrases of the sutra. While the strength of modern intellectual comprehension is coherent logic founded on rational understanding, rhythmic recitation is capable of adding something more to our rational understanding of the literal meanings of the sutra.

According to the Japanese traditional belief called kotodama, spiritual power dwells within words, and therefore, when the mouth gives voice to words, it releases their inherent power, which is capable of stirring heaven and earth and all the living beings therein. Words work phonetically to produce rhythm and resonance, which are in turn the agents that guide the body and mind of the reciter to the realm of the sutra, that is, to the Buddha’s world of great harmony. Sutra recitation, in particular its rhythm and resonance, can liberate us from the disadvantage of the modern age — the habit of limiting our horizon of understanding to the intellectual comprehension of the sutra.

The experience of reciting the sutra aloud is quite different from reading it silently because sutra recitation provides more than just an intellectual understanding of the sutra. When we recite the sutra, we enjoy the pleasure of the rhythm of its sentences as well as the repetition of its set phrases and idioms, just as if we were reciting a poem or singing a song. We may even feel surrounded by the Buddha’s light and embraced by his compassion. This is a form of meditation.

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (2019), pxvii-xix

This March will mark the completion of five years of daily Lotus Sutra recitation. It is a practice unlike anything I attempted during more than 25 years with Soka Gakkai. It is a practice that has brought profound benefit in my life and encouraged my Bodhisattva vow to help others attain the path. It is a practice I heartily recommend.

The Language of Modern Buddhism

Threefold Lotus Sutra bookcoverIn my blog post on Nikkyō Niwano and the Lotus Sutra I made a passing reference to “what Risshō Kōsei-kai did to the Lotus Sutra when it re-edited its English translation of the Threefold Lotus Sutra.” Here’s what I was referencing.

Kosei Publishing, the publishing arm of Risshō Kōsei, published in 2019 “The Threefold Lotus Sutra: A Modern Translation for Contemporary Readers.” The work is translated by Michio Shinozaki, Brook A. Ziporyn and David C. Earhart. The new edition replaced “The Threefold Lotus Sutra,” first published by Kosei Publishing in 1975.

Michio Shinozaki declares the goal of the new translation in the Preface to this edition:

[E]very classic has to be reborn according to the demands of time, and The Threefold Lotus Sutra is no exception. Owing to significant revision, this magnificent sutra is now reborn as a newly translated publication for people today. This translation responds to the needs of the twenty-first century, in which both the study and the practice of Buddhism have spread far beyond traditional Buddhist cultures, and people of all races, ethnicities, genders, and walks of life throughout the world are turning to Buddhism in ever greater numbers to find spiritual solace and bring meaning to their lives. In the context of a truly globalized Buddhism, two of the most important demands of our time are, first, an English translation suitable to the fundamental Buddhist practice of daily sutra recitation, and second, a translation that renders potentially discriminatory language and ideas, which often appear in ancient religious classics, in ways appropriate to the overall spirit of the text, the fundamental principles of Buddhism, and contemporary notions of equality and human dignity.

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (2019), pxiv

In the Introduction to the new edition, Brook A. Ziporyn expands on the reasoning behind the modernization.

The Lotus Sutra categorically affirms our unity with the Buddha: all of us, regardless of who we are or the circumstances of our birth in this world, will absolutely become buddhas. However, this positive message of universal liberation is, at times, undercut by language and expressions that may cause readers to doubt the Lotus Sutra’s dedication to the equality of all living beings as well as its respect for the dignity of life. I therefore would like to touch upon one of the most difficult and delicate issues to which this translation of the Threefold Lotus Sutra responds: potentially offensive or seemingly discriminatory words and phrases within the text itself. A correct understanding of these passages necessarily depends on the way we interpret and make sense of such expressions. As Dr. Earhart mentions in the textual notes on the translation (see below), we endeavored to create a well-balanced translation that takes into consideration both adherence to textual integrity and the spiritual requirements of readers today.

Let me point out a few examples. By using auxiliary verbs we mitigated some passages in chapter 3 that could be taken to imply that physical impairments are punishment for having slandered the sutra. One line of this section reads:

“Even if they [people who slander this sutra] can become human beings,
They may be unhearing, unseeing, and mute,
Or wrap themselves in
Poverty and decay.”

We are under no obligation to interpret such expressions literally, and as is often the case with sacred literature, reading these kinds of passages allegorically allows us to reconcile them with the overall spirit of the text and our commitment to human rights and the dignity of all life. Accordingly, we should understand this line of the sutra as a precaution against slandering the Dharma, which makes people deaf or blind in a spiritual sense and causes them to suffer the poverty of not knowing the Buddha’s teaching and being unable to attain happiness.

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (2019), pxx-xxi

I agree that the alternate meaning offered fits fully with the intent of the Lotus Sutra. However, such a translation ignores the most basic teaching of Buddhism, a teaching affirmed by the Lotus Sutra. Our provisional existence is the sum of our past causes and the conditions in which we exist. Our physical impairments must be included, otherwise we open the door to the chaos outside the law of cause and effect. Yes, it is more socially acceptable to say my Dyslexia is just a product of a random combination of genetic material when my father’s seed fertilized my mother’s egg. And yet, personally, I would rather accept that I don’t know what past causes I made, and instead focus on the assurance I am given in the Lotus Sutra that the causes that I make will affect my future — in this lifetime and the next.

In his Notes on the Translation, David C. Earhart explains:

Changes were made in this new translation based on the following four criteria.

One: Modernize the language to reflect current usage and common understanding. …

Two: Bring as much accuracy as possible to the translation by following the standard definitions of words and phrases, key terminology in particular. …

Three: Make the language more inclusive and avoid phrases that could be construed as prejudicial. To this end, gender-neutral language has been privileged throughout the text, which will be discussed below. Doctrinal terminology closely tied to other religious traditions has been avoided. For instance, “salvation” has been replaced with “liberation”; “repent” with “acknowledge and express remorse” and “repentance” with “acknowledgment and remorse”; and “creatures” with “living beings.”

We have tried to open a larger window for freer interpretation of some of the more controversial passages, taking inspiration from chapter 12, where the reader is first confronted with the notion (widely accepted in Asia at the time of the sutra’s exposition and compilation) that the female body is an unacceptable vehicle for Supreme Perfect Awakening but then encounters the remarkably protofeminist refutation of this patently bogus supposition. Indeed, the concept of skillful means (Chn., fang bian; Jpn., hoben), so carefully laid out in the first several chapters of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wondrous Dharma, supports these minor liberties within the text. Many of these changes toward a more gender-neutral translation, including comparisons to more traditional versions of the passages in question, are discussed in detail in the endnotes.

Four: Provide a translation that lends itself to being read aloud. …

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (2019), plvii

Some examples

In describing Pūrṇa’s future Buddha realm in Chapter 8, the Buddha says:

“There will be no evil ways and no womankind, [for] all living beings will be born transformed and have no carnal passion.

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (1975), p 172

and in gāthās:

“Joy in the Law and pleasure in meditation
Shall be their food, with no thought of other;
No womankind will be there,
Nor any evil ways.”

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (1975), p 175

In the new translation we get:

“In that land, there will be no gender distinction, for all living beings there will come into existence by transformation, free of carnal desire.”

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (2019), p191

and in the gāthās:

“Rejoicing in the Dharma and delighting in meditation
Will be their food, and they will think of no other.
There will be no carnal temptations in that place,
Nor any evil paths.”

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (2019), p194

In Chapter 23, the Former Deeds of the Bodhisattva Medicine-King:

“His domain had no women, no hells, no hungry ghosts, no animals, no asuras, no disasters…”

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (1975), p304

In the new translation we get:

“His domain was free of gender distinction. It had no hells, no hungry spirits, no beasts, no asuras and no perils.”

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (2019), p336

And later in Chapter 23:

“Star Constellation King Flower! If there be anyone who hears this chapter of the former deeds of the Medicine King Bodhisattva, he will also obtain infinite and boundless merits. If there be any woman who hears this chapter of the former deeds of the Medicine King Bodhisattva and is able to receive and keep it, she, after the end of her present woman’s body, will not again receive [one]. If, after the extinction of the Buddha, in the last five hundred years, there be any woman who hears this sutra and acts according to its teaching, at the close of this life she will go to the Happy World, where Amita Buddha dwells, encompassed by his host of great bodhisattvas, and will [there] be born in the middle of a lotus flower upon a jeweled throne. Never again will he be harassed by desire, nor be harassed by anger and foolishness, nor again be harassed by pride, envy, or uncleanliness, … “

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (1975), p309-310

In the new translation we get:

“Constellation King Flower, if a man hears this chapter of the Former Deeds of the Bodhisattva Medicine King, he will receive infinite and boundless merits. If a woman who hears this chapter of the Former Deeds of the Bodhisattva Medicine King is able to receive and embrace it, then after her present female body comes to its end, she will not receive another one in the next lifetime.

If, in the last five-hundred-year period following the Tathagata’s passing, a woman who hears this sutra practices it as taught, at the end of her lifetime she will go to the world of peace and ease where Amitabha Buddha resides surrounded by a multitude of great bodhisattvas. There she will be born upon a jeweled seat within a lotus flower, never again to be vexed by greed, anger, and ignorance, or be troubled by such defilements as arrogance and envy.

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (2019), p342-343

A footnote on this change says:

In an earlier passage in this chapter, the absence of female bodies in a buddha’s purified domain was understood to mean the absence, in that world, of gender distinctions and desires associated with them. In other words, freedom from gender is itself a form of purity. In this passage, however, gender plays a very different role. Here, the description of a woman who “is able to receive and embrace” the sutra and therefore be freed from further rebirth in a female body in subsequent lives is something of a refutation of prejudices against women in historical Indian society. The meaning of this passage can only be fully appreciated when understood in the context of this historical background: despite this traditional Indian view of women being inferior to men and therefore undergoing greater suffering, this passage affirms that women can, indeed, reach the same state of awakening as men, as the following sentence discusses the merit of women who practice the sutra as taught and therefore attain rebirth in Amitabha’s land of peace and bliss. One historical interpretation of these two sentences was to read them together, such that a woman’s not receiving a female body becomes a function of being reborn in the pure land of Amitabha, which at the time of the sutra’s compilation, was a message of equality put forth in a patriarchal society. Even this understanding presents difficulties for an entirely gender-neutral rendering, however, as the living beings in Amitabha’s pure land are described in other sutras and commentaries as possessing the thirty-two marks of a great person, which include biologically male features, suggesting that the reward for women practicing the teaching is to be reborn in a higher realm but in a male form. As a result of these constraints, the translators rendered this passage “after her present female body comes to its end, she will not receive another one in the next lifetime.” Nonetheless, readers should be aware that this passage, taken together with the story of the dragon king’s daughter attaining Perfect Awakening in chapter 12, has been seen as a positive affirmation that women will attain buddhahood, or rebirth in Amitabha’s pure land, a message of equality that has inspired significant devotion to the text.

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (2019), p425-426

Ignored in the footnote explanation is the decision to have the reward body of the woman reborn in Amitabha’s pure land to be female, thus ignoring the historical meaning of the thirty-two marks of a great person. Still, in this case I am less disturbed by that change. At least the translators didn’t feel compelled to change the transformation that the daughter of the dragon king went through on her way to quickly becoming a Buddha. They did, however, ignore her transformed gender once she began her Bodhisattva practices. Even the old version felt compelled to insert [she] where this now male Bodhisattva “sat on a precious lotus flower, attaining Perfect Enlightenment, with the thirty-two signs and the eighty kinds of excellence, and universally proclaiming the Wonderful Law to all living creatures in the universe.” The Murano translation does a much better job of handling this: “Thereupon the congregation saw that the daughter of the dragon-king changed into a man all of a sudden, performed the Bodhisattva practices, went to the Spotless World in the south, sat on a jeweled lotus-flower, attained perfect enlightenment, obtained the thirty-two major marks and the eighty minor marks [of the Buddha], and [began to] expound the Wonderful Dharma to the living beings of the worlds of the ten quarters.” Needlessly inserting she, as the new version repeatedly does, is not helpful.

The final chapter of the Lotus Sutra, gets several changes:

Moreover, I will give them dhārāṇis, and obtaining these dhārāṇis, no human or nonhuman being can Injure them, nor any woman beguile them.

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (1975), p341

Becomes:

Moreover, I will give them a dharani incantation. Because they will have received this dharani, nonhuman beings will be unable to do them harm or damage, and human beings will be unable to distract or seduce them.

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (2019), p377

A note attached to this sentence offers this defense:

We have rendered the Chinese word nuren, literally, “women,” as “human beings” in accord with our translation policy of gender neutrality, so that “bodhisattvas” in this passage becomes an inclusive term. A traditional reading might suggest that the bodhisattvas are all male and their seducers, female.

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (2019), p427

Elsewhere, the reward received by anyone who copies this sūtra is originally described as involving nymphs. [Murano specifies eighty-four thousand goddesses]

If they only copy it, these when their life is ended will be born in the Heaven Trāyastriṃsá, on which occasion eighty-four thousand nymphs, performing all kinds of music, will come to welcome them, and they, wearing seven-jeweled crowns, will joy and delight among those beautiful nymphs; how much more those who receive and keep, read and recite, rightly remember it, comprehend its meaning, and practice it as preached! If there be any who receive and keep, read and recite it, and comprehend its meaning, when their life is ended the hands of a thousand buddhas will be proffered, that they fear not, neither fall into any evil destiny, [but] go straight to Maitreya Bodhisattva in the Tushita heaven, [where] Maitreya Bodhisattva, possessed of the thirty-two signs, is surrounded by a host of great bodhisattvas and has hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of nymph-followers, amongst whom they will be born. Such are their merits and benefits.

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (1975), p341-342

This reward is changed to become:

“Even if people only copy it, when their lifetimes come to an end, they will be born in Trayastrimsha Heaven, and on that occasion, eighty-four thousand heavenly beings, performing all kinds of music, will be there to welcome them. These people will put on crowns of the precious seven and pleasantly enjoy themselves in the company of refined attendants. How much greater, then, will be the merits and benefits of those who receive, embrace, read, and recite this sutra, rightly bear it in mind, comprehend its meaning, and practice it as taught.

“Those people who receive, embrace, read, and recite it and comprehend its meaning will, when their lifetimes are over, have the hands of a thousand buddhas extended to them. Therefore, they will have no fear and will not fall into an evil state of existence but will proceed directly to the place of Maitreya Bodhisattva in Tushita Heaven. There they will be born in the presence of Maitreya Bodhisattva, who possesses the thirty-two marks and is surrounded by a host of great bodhisattvas, and they will be accompanied by a retinue of hundreds of thousands of millions of heavenly beings. Such will be their merits and benefits.”

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (2019), p328

A note here underscores the deliberate nature of this change:

Taking into consideration gender neutrality—one of the guiding principles of this translation—we rendered three phrases in these two preceding paragraphs as follows: in the first paragraph, the original word tiannu, literally, “female heavenly beings,” was translated “heavenly beings,” and cainu, literally, “female attendants,” was translated “refined attendants”; and in the second paragraph, tiannu, was again translated as “heavenly beings.” Traditionally, the imagery of these two paragraphs would have male practitioners rewarded in a heavenly realm where they would be attended to by female beings, reflecting the patriarchal worldview of ancient Indian society.

The Threefold Lotus Sutra (2019), p427

Back in July 2016, I addressed this chapter’s patriarchal worldview and suggested it might be considered as simply a recruiting tool: “How could the youthful be awakened and their enthusiasm tapped? Perhaps ‘eighty-four thousand goddesses’ could convince some teenaged boys to give up their toys and leave the burning house.”

Something is lost when we take away the historical setting of the Buddha’s teaching. Will this new gender-neutral lesson better make the case for Buddhism today? I’m not convinced.

Understanding the 12-Linked Chain of Causation

In Nikkyō Niwano’s Buddhism for Today, he offers this explanation for the 12-linked chain of causation, one of the basic teachings of  Sakyamuni Buddha.

The Buddha preached the Law of the Twelve Causes in detail to Ānanda in the Dirghagānta-sūtra (Jō-agon-gyō). This law rules the growth of the human body as well as the changes in man’s mind. The former is called the “outer causation” (gai-engi) and the latter the “inner causation” (nai-engi). It explains the process through which a human being is born, grows, ages, and dies in light of the three temporal states of existence, the past, present, and future. And in connection with this, it shows how man’s mind changes and the fundamental method of purifying it and of removing illusions from it.

The twelve links or stages are (1) ignorance (mumyō), (2) actions (gyō), (3) consciousness (shiki), (4) name and form (mental functions and matter; myō-shiki), (5) the six entrances (the five sense organs and the mind; rokunyū), (6) contact (soku), (7) sensation (ju), (8) desire (ai), (9) clinging (shu), (10) existence (u), (11) birth (shō), and (12) old age and death (rō-shi).

First we will explain the growth and changes of the human body, the outer causation.

The first link of the Twelve Causes is ignorance. Prior to our conception by our parents, nothing is known or sensed. When the ignorant spirit is conceived in the mother’s womb through the action of sexual intercourse, consciousness is produced. Consciousness means “something living.” Here something like a human being – a fetus – is produced, although it is still incomplete. As the incomplete consciousness is gradually taking shape, it grows into name and form (mental functions and matter). “Name” means an immaterial being, spirit or soul, and “form” indicates a material being, that is, the human body. “Name and form” mean the human body with a soul.

As name and form (mind and body) grow, they develop the five sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body) and the mind, by which we perceive the existence of things. At this time, we are still in the mother’s womb and incomplete. This stage is called the six entrances because the functions of our minds and bodies are on the point of dividing into six different senses.

We are born into this world at the stage of the six entrances. When we grow to the age of two or three, the six entrances are completed and sensibility is developed. That is, we become able to discern shapes, colors, sounds, smells, tastes, physical sensations, and so on. This stage is called contact.

When this sensibility is further developed, feelings of like and dislike naturally develop. This state is called sensation. These feelings become distinct at six or seven years of age. As this state develops, desire is produced. “Desire” implies many things, but here we limit its meaning to the human body and take it only as meaning affection for the opposite sex. As affection for the other sex becomes stronger, we come to have the desire of possessing the other. This is clinging. Later we enter into married life; this stage is existence. In the course of time children are born as a natural consequence of our marriage. This is birth. When we reach this stage, we are attacked in various ways by sufferings in their true sense. This stage continues through life, and finally we come to old age and death.

Clinical studies by modern doctors prove that during the nine months from the moment of conception to the birth of a human baby, the body, which was at first like an amoeba, passes through all the major evolutionary stages that occurred before reaching the form of man as he is today. In other words, even today’s evolved man is in a state like the amoeba of two billion years ago when he is conceived in his mother’s womb. When this fact is compared with the Law of the Twelve Causes taught by the Buddha, we cannot help admiring the fact that the Buddha preached exactly what the studies of twentieth-century scientists tell us.

Buddhism for Today, p101-102

20200103_12-linked-chain-graphic

This seemed really odd to me and I contacted Rev. Ryuei McCormick. I sent him a copy of the above graphic and asked him what he thought. He replied, “It is pretty much in line with the interpretation found in the Treasury of Abhidharma Treatise (Abhidharmakośa), which summarizes the baseline of Buddhist teachings in both East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism. By ‘baseline’ I mean what are assumed to be the basic teachings that everyone agrees on.”

For me, Niwano’s dualistic view of our existence as a “human body with a soul” is problematic. I am much more comfortable with the emptiness of dependent origination, the provisional existence we experience and the middle way that encompasses this non-dualistic reality. There is no soul that exists beyond the process of dependent origination.

Open Your Eyes book coverAfter completing Buddhism for Today I took up McCormick’s Open Your Eyes: A Nichiren Buddhist View of Awakening and read his explanation. Reading McCormick’s book is a lot like trying to slake your thirst with a firehose. There is just so much information and, in my case, most of it is probably wasted. Still, I feel there is a lode of information here that I will want to mine further.

Dependent origination, then, is the teaching that things do have a provisional (though not intrinsic) existence based on causes and conditions. Therefore, one who is following the Middle Way will think in terms of causes and conditions, and not existence or non-existence. For the follower of the Middle Way there are no immutable categories or boundaries, nor is there any question of absolute identity or absolute difference between entities. Dependent origination is the awareness of cause and effect and the interdependence of all things that gives rise to an authentic sense of responsibility, genuine love and compassion.

Dependent origination applies to all phenomena, but the Buddha was specifically concerned with applying it to the human predicament. He wished to show the specific causes and conditions that bind people to an existence of suffering, and through understanding those causes, how to change them. To this end, the Buddha expounded the twelve-fold chain of dependent origination.

“With ignorance as condition, volitional formations [come to be]; with volitional formations as condition, consciousness; with consciousness as condition, name-and-form; with name-and-form as condition, the six sense bases; with the six sense bases as condition, contact; with contact as condition, feeling; with feeling as condition, craving; with craving as condition, clinging; with clinging as condition, becoming; with becoming as condition, birth; with birth as condition, aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair come to be. Such is the origin of this whole mass of suffering. This, monks, is called dependent origination. ” (Bodhi, Bhikkhu, trans. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000, p. 353)

Admittedly, this formula may seem a little obscure. Nevertheless, it is the foundation upon which the Buddha’s teachings rest and so deserves careful study. Through the ages Buddhists have understood and taught the twelvefold chain in a variety of ways depending upon the social and historical context. The following explanation is based upon the Buddha’s expanded analysis of this formula from another discourse, and also the traditional understanding derived from the abhidharma, the phenomenological treatises written by the early Buddhist monks in India as a systematic explanation of the sūtras.

In the traditional understanding, ignorance and volitional formations refer to past causes inherited from one’s past life or lives. The cycle begins with ignorance of the true nature of reality. Specifically, the Buddha states that this link in the twelve-fold chain refers to ignorance of the four noble truths.

“And what, monks, is ignorance? Not knowing suffering, not knowing the origin of suffering, not knowing the cessation of suffering, not knowing the way leading to the cessation of suffering. This is called ignorance.” (Bodhi 2000, p. 535)

Due to ignorance, one is disposed to perform acts of thought, word and deed based upon the most selfish and short sighted of motives. These are the volitional formations.

“And what, monks, are the volitional formations? There are these three kinds of volitional formations: the bodily volitional formation, the verbal volitional formation, the mental volitional formation. These are called the volitional formations.” (Ibid, p. 535)

These actions are also called “karma” which is not destiny or fate, but intentional activity motivated by ignorance, and to the consequences of those actions upon the future life or lives of the one who performs them. Volitional formations are also a subset of the mental formations that are the fourth of the five aggregates that constitute human life. They are habit-patterns that condition both ourselves and our environment in accordance with the nature of our motivations.

The next five links of the chain spell out the consequences of past karma in terms of one’s present life. They are the present effects of past causes. The first link is consciousness, which is the same as the fifth of the five aggregates.

“And what, monks, is consciousness? There are these six classes of consciousness: eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, mind-consciousness. This is called consciousness.” (Ibid, p. 535)

According to Buddhism, the kind of person we are in this life is not simply the result of heredity and environment but is the outcome of karma. In other words, the kind of person that we are now has been determined by our own choices and the habits or dispositions that we have built up over many previous lives. These predispositions give rise to and condition conscious experience of various kinds (consciousness of the external world and the internal awareness of thoughts and feelings). According to the abhidharma, the perpetuation of consciousness carries over from the expiration of one sentient being to the conception of a new sentient being. At some point, whether instantaneously or after an “intermediate existence” (depending on which version of abhidharma one gives credence to), consciousness finds itself drawn to the most appropriate womb and environment wherein it’s karmic inheritance can unfold. This transmigration of consciousness as a gandharva or “being to be reborn” is explained by the Buddha as follows:

“Monks, the conception of an embryo in a womb takes place through the union of three things. Here, there is the union of the mother and father, but it is not the mother’s season, and the being to be reborn is not present — in this case there is no conception of an embryo in a womb. Here, there is the union of the mother and father, and it is the mother’s season, but the being to be reborn is not present — in this case too there is no conception of an embryo in a womb. But when there is the union of the mother and father, and it is the mother’s season, and the being to be reborn is present, through the union of these three things the conception of an embryo in a womb takes place.” (Nanamoli, Bhikkhu and Bodhi, Bhikkhu, trans. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995, p. 358)

Some might be misled into thinking that consciousness is a kind of self that transmigrates from one lifetime to another. This was the mistaken view of a monk named Sati, who believed that the same consciousness “runs and wanders through the round of rebirths.” (Ibid, p. 349) The Buddha admonished Sati and in no uncertain terms stated that consciousness is not a fixed entity that transmigrates but is itself something that arises in accordance with conditions. Consciousness is more of a recurring pattern, like a wave, than a thing. In another discourse, the Buddha even says that the mutability and impermanence of consciousness is even more drastic than that of the body, and therefore one would be better off identifying the body as a self.

“It would be better, monks, for the uninstructed worldling to take as self this body composed of the four great elements rather than the mind. For what reason? Because this body composed of the  four great elements is seen standing for one year, for two years, for three, four, five, or ten years, for twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty years, for a hundred years, or even longer. But that which is called ‘mind’ or ‘mentality’ and ‘consciousness’ arises as one thing and ceases as another by day and by night. Just as a monkey roaming through the forest grabs hold of one branch, lets that go and grabs another, then lets that go and grabs still another, so too that which is called ‘mind’ and ‘mentality’ and ‘consciousness’ arises as one thing and ceases as another by day and by night.” (Bodhi 2000, p. 595)

Consciousness, then, is constantly changing to reflect the conditions that brought it about. As the Buddha explains to Sati, sometimes it is consciousness of something visual, or something auditory, or something tangible, or of some other sense. From moment to moment consciousness changes its focus and composition as often as a monkey jumping from branch to branch. Each moment of consciousness is therefore unique, dependent on conditions, impermanent, and not a candidate for any kind of permanent unchanging self.

Consciousness in turn gives rise to and is supported by the aggregates that make up name-and-form, the psychophysical personality.

“And what, monks, is name-and-form? Feeling, perception, volition, contact, attention: this is called name. The four great elements and the form derived from the four great elements: this is called form. Thus this name and this form are together called name-and-form.” (Ibid, p. 535)

Name-and-form in this case, encompasses four of the five aggregates — form, feeling, perception, and mental formations. “Name” is applied to feeling, perception, and mental formations as well as to contact and attention. These five always accompany consciousness as supportive functions that are involved in the recognition, or “naming,” of experience. “Form” is constituted by the four primary elements that are elsewhere listed as earth, air, fire, and water. These four elements do not simply refer to earth, air, fire, and water as we commonly relate to them. Rather, the four primary elements are emblematic of our experience of the physical world — solidity, movement, temperature, and cohesion respectively.

When dependent origination is explained within the boundaries of a single lifetime, then the links of name-and-form and consciousness are shown to be mutually conditioning. Instead of consciousness arising due to the ignorance and volitional formations attributed to a previous lifetime, consciousness is said to arise depending on name-and-form and to in turn give rise to name-and-form. In another discourse, Śāriputra explains this through the simile of two sheaves of reeds that are able to stand up by leaning up against one another, thus providing mutual support (Ibid, pp. 608-609).

Upon birth, the psychophysical personality begins to utilize the six sense bases consisting of sight, sound, touch, taste, smell and cognition.

“And what, monks, are the six sense bases? The eye base, the ear base, the nose base, the tongue base, the body base, the mind base. These are called the six sense bases.” (Ibid, p. 535)

These six senses bring one into contact with the world. They are sometimes called the six sense entrances because through them the world enters into our awareness. They are also referred to as the six roots because through them we are rooted in the world.

“And what, monks, is contact? These are the six classes of contact: eye-contact, ear-contact, nose-contact, tongue-contact, body-contact, mind-contact. This is called contact.” (Ibid, p. 535)

Contact naturally results in feelings based on that contact.

“And what, monks, is feeling? There are these six classes of feeling: feeling born of eye-contact, feeling born of ear-contact, feeling born of nose-contact, feeling born of tongue-contact, feeling born of body contact, feeling born of mind-contact. This is called feeling.” (Ibid, p. 535)

These feelings constitute the second of the five aggregates. Again, these last five links describe what one experiences in the present life; they are all givens that are the fruits of one’s own actions.

The next three links describe one’s present actions in relation to the circumstances that one experiences. They are the present causes that will have future effects. The first is the craving that arises based upon feeling.

“And what, monks, is craving? There are these six classes of craving: craving for forms, craving for sounds, craving for odors, craving for tastes, craving for tangibles, craving for mental objects. This is called craving.” (Ibid, p. 535)

One wishes to experience only pleasant feelings while avoiding the unpleasant at all costs. This craving leads to clinging to particular things, people, ideas and circumstances.

“And what, monks, is clinging? There are these four kinds of clinging: clinging to sensual pleasures, clinging to views, clinging to rules and vows, clinging to a doctrine of self. This is called clinging. ” (Ibid, p. 535)

This results in “becoming,” which is a way of summarizing the way in which we “become” hell-dwellers, hungry ghosts, animals, fighting demons, humans, and heavenly beings in the three realms. The three realms consist of the realms of desire (which takes in all existence from the hells up to the lower six heavens), form (the more refined heavens), and the formless (the most refined heavens). “Becoming’ refers to the constant struggle for identity and happiness that characterizes the day-to-day life of most people.

“And what, monks, is becoming? There are these three kinds of becoming: sense-realm becoming, form-realm becoming, formless-realm becoming. This is called becoming. (Ibid, p. 535)

The last two links of the chain explain the future effects of the present causes. In the Buddhist view, this constant struggle for a happy existence or even for a peaceful annihilation can never be achieved because life is characterized by the three marks of impermanence, suffering and non-self. One’s desperate strivings and unrequited desires can only lead to a future birth.

“And what, monks, is birth? The birth of the various beings into the various orders of beings, their being born, descent [into the womb], production, the manifestation of the aggregates, the obtaining of the sense bases. This is called birth.” (Ibid, p. 534)

Birth will then lead to another round of old age and death, grief, lamentation, suffering, dejection and despair.

“And what, monks, is aging-and-death? The aging of the various beings in the various orders of beings, their growing old, brokenness of teeth, grayness of hair, wrinkling of the skin, decline of vitality, degeneration of the faculties: this is called aging. The passing away of the various beings from the various orders of beings, their perishing, breakup, disappearance, mortality, death, completion of time, the breakup of the aggregates, the laying down of the carcass: this is called death. Thus this aging and this death are together called aging-and-death. ” (Ibid, p. 534)

In short, the twelve-fold chain of dependent origination shows that human life is the outcome of a vicious circle of desire, karma and suffering. The only escape is to abolish ignorance and recognize the vicious circle for what it is. Once the chain is broken, liberation is at hand.

“But with the remainderless fading away and cessation of ignorance comes cessation of volitional formations; with the cessation of volitional formations, cessation of consciousness; with the cessation of consciousness, cessation of name-and-form; with the cessation of name-and-form, cessation of the six sense bases; with the cessation of the six sense bases, cessation of contact; with the cessation of contact, cessation of feeling; with the cessation of feeling, cessation of craving; with the cessation of craving, cessation of clinging; with the cessation of clinging, cessation of becoming; with the cessation of becoming, cessation of birth; with the cessation of birth, cessation of aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair cease. Such is the cessation of this whole mass of suffering.” (Ibid, p. 534)

Who has achieved liberation? As discussed earlier, the twelve-fold chain is not concerned with the preservation or eradication of an individual person or entity. It is concerned with the way in which suffering is perpetuated and the way in which the conditions that give rise to suffering can be unraveled. The important thing is that suffering has ended and liberation has been achieved.

There is another way of understanding the twelve-fold chain of dependent origination, however, that does not need to assume the literal existence of many lifetimes. It can be said that from moment-to-moment we are renewing ourselves and enacting the cycle of birth and death, with all the suffering that it entails. From this point of view, ignorance and volitional formations refer to our inability to accept the life process on its own terms. We desperately search for some form of stability and lasting happiness and refuse to acknowledge the dynamic flow and interrelations that is the true reality of our lives.

Due to this misguided activity, we fall out of sync with the true rhythm of life and end up feeling self-conscious and threatened. We never see reality itself because it is clouded over with our expectations, regrets, frustration and all other manner of projection. At this point, the psychophysical personality, name-and-form, is consolidated and immediately begins interpreting the world encountered through the senses in terms of self and other. The contact between this self and the world outside it from moment-to-moment gives rise to the feelings that constitute our self-referential experience of the world.

At this point we begin craving for what is pleasant and constantly strive to be in the situations we do want. In this way, every moment becomes a new experience of transitory pleasure and pain.

Birth, then, refers not to an actual rebirth, but to the birth of a new self-concept or identity based on what we are experiencing in that single moment. Thus, from moment-to-moment we have a new idea about who we are in relation to our environment. We see ourselves variously as competent, kind, gentle, harsh, admirable, pitiable, uncertain, loving, loved, hateful, hated, indifferent, fascinated and so on as each moment arises. However, no matter how comfortable we are with these ideas of ourselves, they will all fade away as the next moment comes and the cycle renews itself. This is the momentary meaning of aging and death.

Looked at in this way, the abolishing of ignorance means that we cease living life in terms of self-reference. By not projecting our desires and expectations onto reality or bifurcating it into self and other, the actions and self-consciousness that lead to so much suffering ceases. Free of the chain, life can take on entirely new qualities that are no longer characterized by ignorance, craving, grasping or the myriad forms of suffering. The moment-to-moment unfolding of the life process continues, but now it is free of our erroneous and fearful interpretations, such as the idea of birth and death. Dependent origination teaches that since all entities are actually phases and configurations of the continuous unfolding of causes and conditions, there are no clear-cut lines that can be drawn between self and other, birth and death. Without such self-oriented projections, dependent origination can be seen just as it is — a dynamically relational unfolding of reality wherein every part contains the whole and is embraced by the whole.

The Lotus Sūtra states that the Buddha taught the twelve-fold chain of dependent origination for the sake of the pratyekabuddhas. “To those who were seeking Pratyekabuddhahood, he expounded the teaching of the twelve causes, a teaching suitable for them.” (Murano 2012, p. 14) As with the four noble truths this would indicate that the twelve-fold chain of dependent origination is a Hinayāna teaching, but once again Zhiyi, taught that the twelve-fold chain of dependent origination could be understood on increasingly profounder levels up to and including the perspective of the Lotus Sūtra. Just as the voice-hearers and privately awakened ones enter into the One Vehicle that takes them to buddhahood, so do the teachings associated with them blossom into the teaching of the One Vehicle.

Open Your Eyes: A Nichiren Buddhist View of Awakening, Page 179-188


See Nikkyō Niwano and the Lotus Sutra

Nikkyō Niwano and the Lotus Sutra

I’ve completed reading “Buddhism for Today: A Modern Interpretation of the Threefold Lotus Sutra,” and selected a number of quotes by Nikkyō Niwano that I will use in my upcoming daily 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra blog posts. I have enough of these quotes to spread over most of 2020.

Niwano’s insights into the Lotus Sutra are thought-provoking and I find those I’ve set aside inspiring. But his teachings are not without areas that present a problem for me. I emphasize that this is my problem. I wrote about this earlier when I introduced Buddhism for Today. Risshō Kōsei-kai, the organization Niwano founded in 1938 with Mrs. Myoko Naganuma, is not Nichiren Shu, and when the two differ on a doctrinal point, I’m going to rely on Nichiren Shu teachings. What follows are some quotes that I set aside as problematic.


[In Chapter 16] the Buddha then revealed his tactful methods in detail: “Good sons! All the sutras which the Tathāgata preaches are for the deliverance of the living. Whether speaking of himself or speaking of others, whether indicating himself or indicating others, and whether indicating his own affairs or the affairs of others, whatever he says is all real and not empty air.” …

In Risshō Kōsei-kai, when a member is admonished by a leader, he calls it “merit” (kudoku). It is indeed an unpleasant and unwelcome thing for anybody to be scolded or admonished by others. But since the Buddha’s salvation is often extended to us through such scoldings and admonitions, our salvation is realized when we receive these warnings with gratitude. The words “indicating the affairs of others” are most important, and we should always bear them in mind in our daily lives.

Buddhism for Today, p226-228

I spent 25 years practicing with Soka Gakkai and its lay-leader organizational structure. Perhaps that taints my view of scoldings during group counseling. The Risshō Kōsei-kai website’s “Basic Practice of Faith” describes the practice in this way: “One of the most important of Rissho Kosei-kai’s religious activities is a unique form of group counseling known as hoza. The members of a hoza group usually sit together in a circle, creating a warm, intimate atmosphere for open discussion. Members share problems and raise questions in the hoza as the other members listen and respond with compassion, trying to understand his or her problem, situation, and emotions.” Where does scolding belong in a Lotus Sutra-focused practice?


The word “repentance” has two meanings and applications. One is repentance in a general sense, the confession of our own past physical and mental misdeeds. Our minds are purified by such repentance, and because it frees us from a sense of sin, we feel greatly refreshed. There are cases too numerous to mention of Risshō Kōsei-kai members recovering from disease or being freed from family problems just by confessing their misdeeds before fellow members in group-counseling sessions. Psychoanalysts, especially those practicing depth analysis, have applied this principle in helping many disturbed people.

Recovery from illness is, of course, dependent on our repentance, whose true value consists in disclosing our buddha-nature.

Buddhism for Today, p423

I’m more than happy to accept the idea that repentance can have an effect on physical illness. Scientifically, this is an example of the non-dual nature of mind and body. We can make ourselves sick. It’s even an apt example of the Buddhist concept of our delusions causing our suffering. But “Risshō Kōsei-kai members recovering from disease or being freed from family problems” as a credit to their practice of repentance is just too close to Soka Gakkai’s “if you are sick chant; if don’t get better, chant more.” In Soka Gakkai, “cases too numerous to mention” of members being rewarded are standard fare for group meetings. For me, a practice focused on personal reward seems more appropriate for a hungry spirit than a Bodhisattva seeking to bring all sentient beings to the Buddha way.


Sakyamuni Buddha revealed that he instructed living beings occasionally by speaking of himself or speaking of others, occasionally by indicating himself or indicating others, and occasionally by indicating his own affairs or the affairs of others. Whatever he says is all real and not empty air — that is, there is nothing useless in what he says; all is for the purpose of elevating people and leading them to real enlightenment.

Here lies the vastness and profundity of the Buddha’s teaching. Buddhism is not opposed to Christianity, Islam, and other teachings of great sages, such as Confucius, Mencius, and Lao-tzu. We understand that such saints and sages are the appearance of the Buddha in other forms and that their teachings are the manifestation of the Buddha’s teachings in other forms. I do not say this because I am a Buddhist but because so long as the Buddha is the great truth and great life of the universe, there can be no truth that is not included in the Buddha, and no law other than that of the Buddha. Accordingly, a narrow-minded Buddhist who indiscriminately criticizes other religions and thinks, for example, that Buddhism is a true religion, while Christianity is not, cannot claim to be a true Buddhist.

A right teaching is right regardless of who preaches it. Truth is truth regardless of who proclaims it. Buddhists revere a person who leads all living beings by such a right and true teaching as “the Buddha.” It follows naturally that they should not set themselves in opposition to other religions.

Buddhism for Today, p228-229

I’m not prepared to go this far. I don’t object to describing the eternal Sakyamuni Buddha as the lifeforce of the universe and the source of all right teachings. For me that falls within the realm of personal interpretation as illustrated in the infinite meanings described in the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings. But to suggest that all religions arise from the eternal Sakyamuni’s teaching is just too far. The historical Buddha was not adverse to calling out wrong views held by religions of his day. Nichiren, of course, famously opposed those who did not base their faith on the Lotus Sutra. Niwano even defends Nichiren’s actions as necessary in this time.

Later in the book, Niwano offers a guideline for how to approach these differences in religions and religous practices:

Buddhism itself is a gentle teaching. This teaching is of course “right,” but it is not “self-righteous” in the sense of being opinionated and obstinate. As stated in the explanation of the Middle Path, the teaching of Buddhism is always in perfect accord with the truth, and its expression has the flexibility of perfect freedom. Therefore, a true Buddhist should not be obstinate or bigoted but should be flexible in accordance with the truth. Such an attitude is that of being gentle in mind.

Buddhism for Today, p250

These are, indeed, words to live by.


[T]he Buddha is an absolute existence. He exists everywhere inside and outside us and is constant, from the infinite past to the infinite future. He is an existence inseparable from us even if we want to part form him. Therefore, he is an absolute existence.

The Buddha can be compared to the air. Air always exists around us and even within our bodies. We cannot live for a moment without air, though we usually do not think about its existence. When we are confined in a small room and feel claustrophobic because of stale air, we open the windows and let in fresh air. At such times we are aware of the importance of air.

In the same way, the Buddha is the existence from which we cannot separate ourselves even if we want to, and which always causes us to live. He is an absolute and infinite existence. For this reason, we can devote ourselves to believing in the Buddha, depending upon him, and leaving everything to him.

Buddhism for Today, p220

This is an odd concept to apply to the Eternal Buddha Sakyamuni. For me it comes too close to the descriptions of the Judeo-Christian God. As a Buddhist, I believe in the emptiness of dependent origination. Susan Mattis, in her essay in A Buddhist Kaleidoscope, page 252-253, offers an excellent explanation of my view:

For Chih-i as for Nāgārjuna there is no reality or truth to be realized beyond the play of the ephemeral, conditioned elements of the realm of dependent origination; the ultimate, middle truth is nothing other than the realization of the true aspect of the phenomenal realm, that is, its empty, conditioned existence. This identity of ultimate truth and phenomena is for Chih-i the central and unequivocal teaching of the Lotus Sutra, the message embodied in the image of the Buddha pervading all realms of existence.


The Buddha’s teachings instruct us not to regard the changeable as the unchangeable. If we view things thoroughly and clearly, we can see all changes. To act according to changes with a flexible mind is the right way of living. At the same time, we should not be too bound by change, cither. To feel that we cannot do anything as well as young people because we have grown older, are too old to work efficiently any longer, and want only to live in comfort for the rest of our days is a way of thinking that is too influenced by change. There should be something unchanging within us even as we grow older. To make the best use of our experience, brains, technical skills, leadership, dignity, and other qualities, and to work for the benefit of people and society for our entire life is the right way to live. …

So far we have been considering elderly people; let us now give some examples involving young people. Women have come to have equal rights with men under the law since the postwar constitution of Japan was promulgated. This was a dramatic change from the prewar days. In the new constitution women have been granted equal human rights, but they have not changed in their physical structure, which enables them to give birth to and nurture babies. They are unchangeable in this respect. If women try to behave like men in everything simply because equality of the sexes has been guaranteed in the constitution, it represents a way of thinking that is restricted by change and is inconsistent with reason. Though there may have been some Japanese women who intentionally behaved like men, most have assumed a modest manner. Among them, some women who have listened to the teachings of the Buddha have lived in a reasonable and womanly manner and have indeed been women worthy of Buddhism.

Buddhism for Today, p234-235

Niwano was born in 1906 to a farm family in northern Japan. His cultural attitude toward Japanese women behaving like men, and one assumes men behaving like women, is to be expected. It will be interesting to see whether Risshō Kōsei-kai changes such references when it re-issues this book in the future. Judging by what Risshō Kōsei-kai did to the Lotus Sutra when it re-edited its English translation of the Threefold Lotus Sutra last year, I expect references to “reasonable and womanly manner” and “women worthy of Buddhism” to disappear.


About five hundred years after the Buddha’s extinction, a belief centering on Amita Buddha (also called Amitābha and Amitāyus) began to spread from western India. Its believers sought rebirth in the Pure Land, the paradise of Amita, by relying completely on the power of this buddha. Although this buddha is regarded as having great compassion and the power to bring all living beings to the Pure Land, this faith is incomplete so long as it suggests the idea of salvation through relying absolutely on his power. It is impossible for living beings to achieve rebirth in the Land of Amita Buddha unless they realize the universal truth and endeavor actually to live according to it. The salvation of this buddha will be realized when people seek wisdom and practice the way leading to the perfection of their character. So that all living beings might not misunderstand this or fall into depending completely on the power of Amita Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha added the conditional phrase, “If there be any woman who hears this sutra and acts according to its teachings.” The faith of Amita Buddha will display its true power by virtue of the truth taught in the Lotus Sutra.

Buddhism for Today, p364

This Niwano quote comes in reference to the Medicine King chapter’s explanations of the benefits of hearing that chapter and specifically a woman being reborn in Amita Buddha’s western paradise. My problem here is the ambiguity. What does Niwano mean when he says, “The faith of Amita Buddha will display its true power by virtue of the truth taught in the Lotus Sutra”?


See Understanding the 12-Linked Chain of Causation, a lengthy comparison of Niwano’s explanation of the 12 linked chain of causation with Rev. Ryuei McCormick’s explanation in his new book, Open Your Eyes: A Nichiren Buddhist View of Awakening.

A New Year

My wife has a theory that whatever you do on New Year’s Day will be your focus for the coming year. For example, she studiously avoids housework on this day. Instead, today she is making cookies. I spent way too much time configuring my new Pixel 4 phone, so to avoid technical dilemmas as my New Year focus I’ve fired up the laptop and I’m working on my blog as I listen to a Spotify channel called “Coffee Table Jazz.”

As can be surmised from the video above, I attended the New Year services at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church. Those are illegal fireworks being launched by residents of the nextdoor apartments. Don’t particularly care for driving at night and especially not after midnight on New Year’s Day, but I enjoy the year end and New Year services. We even had a stranger show up who lives in Tokyo but is visiting family in Sacramento. He heard about the service on our website. He said he routinely attends the midnight service in Tokyo.

2020 New Year altar

Today I offered some mochi and a tangerine on my altar. I’ve done some reconfiguring since the last time I posted a photo. I now have water cups for Kishimojin (left) and Daikokuten (right) that I purchased from Gasshodo. (Didn’t realize they were different sizes when I ordered them.)

Gone is my side altar, which looked like this:

My Decorations
My Decorations

Instead I’ve moved all of those “decorations” to some new glass shelves that I installed in corner next to the altar.

corner arrangement

Back in July I explained my gods on the altar and my decorations. In addition to Jizo (who I misspelled Jizu in my original post), I have added a collection of Hotei Bodhisattva statues that my son collected as a child. The larger Hotei is a contribution from my wife. The gold plated pagoda next to the Ryusho Jeffus’ painting belonged to my wife’s parents. It is from Japan but I have no idea which Japanese pagoda it represents. And, as illustrated, I’ve made an altar for Ryusho Jeffus’ gohonzon that he and Rev. Kanjin Cederman created for Jeffus’ book designed for prison inmates. The cup is another Gasshodo purchase.

I should point out that the slab of lapis lazuli and the crystal represent the purified Buddha lands described in the Lotus Sutra.

Happy New Year!

Year-end Cleanup

2019 cleaning

The last Sunday of the year is the traditional day for cleaning the temple at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church. This was my fourth time cleaning. Ven. Kenjo Igarashi cleans the altar and the statues, including dusting the inside of the Butsudan. My chore is to polish all of the brass. Rev. Igarashi’s son and wife and one other parishioner help out dusting and mopping the temple floor.

Following the cleanup, Mrs. Igarashi prepared noodles with mochi, mushrooms and hard-boiled eggs. I seriously don’t understand why more people don’t participate. The lunch alone is more than reward enough for me to come back next year.

2019 lunch