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One Spirit; One Religion
Notes from Ven. Kenjo Igarashi‘s sermon following the July 29, 2018, Kaji Kito service.
“What is the religion? What is the faith?” Rev. Igarashi began.
When Rev. Igarashi first came to the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church he would visit the homes of each of the members at the end of the year. He recalled one occasion when he tried to start chanting the Lotus Sutra before the family altar but was interrupted by an elderly woman chanting Namu-Amida. He explained to the woman that he was a Nichiren minister and he was holding a Nichiren Buddhist service and she was supposed to chant Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. The woman apologized for her mistake. In other homes he would find both the Nichiren Shu mandala and another mandala in a butsudan.
“I think everyone doesn’t know what is our faith,” Rev. Igarashi said. “What is the religion. Religion is your spirit and your spirit is just one. If you have two or three or five spirits, then maybe you can believe a lot of other religions. But everyone has just one spirit and just one faith.”
Those people who travel from church to church ignore the teaching of Sakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren Shonin, he said.
“Everybody has Buddha nature. Everybody will become a Buddha. If you chant Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo you will get enlightenment. That’s one religion for one spirit. People who don’t understand this have two or three religions.”
Rev. Igarashi then mentioned the March 20, 1995, terrorist sarin attack on the Tokyo subway by members of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo. (Wikipedia), explaining that the cult leader took advantage of young people, especially college students. Earlier this month, the members of the cult who had been on death row since their convictions were executed by hanging. (See news reports)
“If young people have strong faith, if the young ones know we have just one spirit and one religion, then I believe that they would never join this kind of cult,” Rev. Igarashi said. “That’s why I like to talk about how you have to have strong faith. Your spirit has one spirit. You have one spirit. One spirit with one religion is fine. So otherwise all the time you are thinking this religion is good or that religion is good. So that’s all the time your spirit and mind moves along. And that’s why all the time you have a chance to get caught up with a cult. So that’s why you have to be careful.
“We have the supreme teaching of Sakyamuni Buddha and Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Shonin doctrine. If you chant Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo your Buddha nature is going to open and you are going to get enlightenment. Then you’ll never come back to this suffering world. …
“You have just one spirit, one religion. We have Nichiren Buddhism, Lotus Sutra, and chant Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. Everybody can get enlightenment. Everybody has Buddha nature. … That’s why if you chant Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo you are going to get enlightenment someday, maybe today or tomorrow or it takes a hundred years or 1000 years later. We don’t know but you have to keep upholding Nichiren Buddhism and the Lotus Sutra.”
Karma Kittens
So I continue the quest to tame my foster kittens. It took me several tries today to find their hiding places. The carrier was easy enough, but the wire raceway under my desk was a stroke of genius – a black kitten hidden in the darkest corner under the desk.
My wife and I have decided to leave them alone since every time we touch them they decide they must find a new hiding place. Instead, we are only giving them food when we are in the room and withholding it when we leave. We’ll see how that works.
Now I’m killing time, allowing the kittens an opportunity to eat. No takers yet.
I’ve been reading The Beginnings of Buddhism and gathering quotes that I’ll eventually reprint here. I enjoy the early teachings of Buddhism, considering them in the context of the Lotus Sūtra. Today, for example, I set aside a quote explaining the concept of karma as understood before Buddhism.
[W]hen Shakyamuni was teaching in a town named Devadaha, the issue of karma was being discussed. In those times, in India, there were five explanations for the causes of present happiness and unhappiness:
- Everything, happiness and unhappiness, is determined by karma from previous existences.
- All fate is determined by the will of an all-powerful deity who created and controls the world.
- Human fate is determined by the good or bad ways in which the elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—constituting the fleshly body are combined.
- The fate of the entire life of an individual is determined by the social class and family into which he was born.
- Human fate does not depend on any of these definite causes but is determined, from minute to minute, by completely accidental occurrences.
From the Buddhist standpoint, all of these explanations either are deterministic and fatalistic or rely purely on chance and therefore deny the significance and value of education and training and fail to take into account the importance of free will in efforts to determine and develop fate. For the sake of a correct interpretation of cosmic workings, Buddhism proposed doing away with these explanations and offered in their place the Law of Causation and the Four Noble Truths as accurate explanations of the world and of human life.
And so I gather up the cat food as I prepare to leave and offer the kittens the value of education and training and the importance of free will. No food until you come out of hiding.
‘Fraidy Cats
So I’m killing time in my home-office-slash-foster-kitten-shelter. The Sacramento SPCA had some kittens needing socialization before they can be put up for adoption. They hiss and run away when approached. I volunteered to see if I could socialize them. Right now I’m just being present, working quietly, trying not to make them anxious. They are sleeping now, which I’ll call progress.
Last Sunday, July 22, was the Obon service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church. This was my fourth Obon service since joining the church and the first in which Ven. Kenjo Igarashi moved the stupas to the front of the altar. Normally these stupas are hidden off to right of the altar.
The rack of stupas represent all of people for whom Rev. Igarashi has held memorial services. In the photo above I’ve highlighted the stupa Rev. Igarashi made for my parents, Mary and Edwin Hughes, and my wife’s father, Richard Buchin. I can’t locate without help the stupa he created for my wife’s mother, Mary Buchin, since we asked him to use her Japanese name, Michiko Wada.
Due to an operator error, I failed to record Rev. Igarashi’s sermon, which was an interesting lesson that included a bomb scare (locked box left on porch; eventually found to contain discarded SGI Gohonzon and other SGI material), unwanted discarded SGI books (the church is not in the recycling business) and a dragon fly who flew into the church one hot summer day to practice the Lotus Sutra, stayed the night and left the next morning when the priest’s assistant opened the doors. Really wish I had that recording.
I’ll close out this post with a photo I downloaded from Facebook. It was posted by Chen Hsiongcai of Singapore.
One
We begin as we did in the classroom. Putting hands together in gassho, Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo.
And before we continue, the disclaimer: I am allowed to record Ven. Kenjo Igarashi’s sermons and lectures as long as I don’t publish the actual recording. Since that requires that I must transcribe the hour-long class, there are bound to be errors introduced. Those are mine. Since I’m condensing and editing what I hear, what I write is more paraphrasing than quotes. Again, any errors are mine. I also want to thank Keiko Tsuda for help with the Japanese.
The lesson was about One, only One, Rev. Igarashi explained at the start.
“When I was a college student I was asked at an exam to answer the question, What is One?” He had to fill a legal-size paper with the answer.
“What is One?” he said. “A lot of things.”
He then wrote in Japanese on the chalkboard.
一仏一乗 — Ichibutsu Ichijyou — One Buddha, One Vehicle
一念三千 — Ichinen Sanzen — One moment contains 3000 realms
一念随喜 — Ichinen Zuiki — One moment of faith (Chapter 10)
一念信解 — Ichinen Shinge — One moment of faith that Sakyamuni Buddha’s life is eternal (Chapter 17)
“Lots of ichi,” he said.
The first example: One Buddha, One sutra. Only Sakyamuni Buddha; no other Buddha. And only one vehicle, not two or three.
“The Lotus Sutra teaches about second vehicle or third vehicle,” Rev. Igarashi explained, “but only one vehicle can lead to enlightenment. Only one Buddha; only one vehicle.”
Nichiren taught that only the Lotus Sutra possesses the key to opening enlightenment in our lives. Other teachings, other Buddhas cannot save people, cannot bring true enlightenment. That’s why only one Buddha; only one vehicle. Only Sakyamuni Buddha and the Lotus Sutra can save all of the people.
Rev. Igarashi explained that adding other teachings or other Buddhas to your practice is like adding sand and dirt to a bowl of rice and then eating.
“Why don’t you just eat pure rice?” he said. “Only the Lotus Sutra can bring enlightenment and save other people.”
(On the topic of Ichinen Sanzen, we’ll have to wait until next month. For a preview of the 3,000 realms contained in one moment of thought, see this quote from Lotus Seeds.)
The remaining examples of “one” focus on a single moment.
“Ichinen Zuiki: Only one second, maybe just a half-second, if you rejoice at hearing the Lotus Sutra — if you are listening a short time and then you rejoice — then you are going to get enlightenment — not long, long time,” he said.
He then read from Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma:
“If after my extinction anyone rejoices, even on a moment’s thought, at hearing even a gāthā or a phrase of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, I also will assure him of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.”
Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi means enlightenment.
“Ichinen Shinge: If you understand — if you believe — the Lotus Sutra and Sakyamuni’s life is eternal — if you believe for only one second or a half-second — you are going to get enlightenment, you are going to be a Buddha in your next life. Only a short time that you believe that Sakyamuni’s life is eternal,” Rev. Igarashi explained, and then quoted from Chapter 17, The Variety of Merits:
“Thereupon the Buddha said to Maitreya Bodhisattva-mahāsattva: “Ajita! Anyone who hears that my life is so long, and understands it by faith even at a moment’s thought, will be able to obtain innumerable merits.”
“Sakyamuni was born in India to save the people living in the defiled world, but already before he was born in India his spirit had already become enlightened a long, long, long time ago,” Rev. Igarashi explained.
Many people cannot believe that Sakyamuni’s life is eternal. That’s why he said in Chapter 17, if you believe for only a second, only a half-second, if you believe from the bottom of your heart, then you are assured by Sakyamuni of getting enlightenment and becoming a Buddha in your next life.
Some people believe we have to study or we have to practice for a long, long, long time over many, many lives otherwise we cannot get enlightenment. They give up.
“But it is not this long, long time but only one second, only half-second if you can believe then you can get enlightenment,” Rev. Igarashi said.
While Ichinen Zuiki, Ichinen Shinge — a single moment of faith — are very easy, if you are thinking of other religions it is not pure. You have to purify your mind and believe Sakyamuni’s life is eternal and the Lotus Sutra is the supreme teaching, then you are going to get enlightenment and get merit.
“Sometimes when people chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo or the Lotus Sutra, tears fall without explanation,” Rev. Igarashi said. “That means they are very happy. The Lotus Sutra makes them very happy. Maybe he or she understands what the Lotus Sutra says and realizes she will get enlightenment and merits. They are just crying naturally during Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo.”
At this point Rev. Igarashi shifted to a discussion of the Parable of the Burning House in Chapter 3 and the deer carts, sheep carts and bullock carts the children wanted.
The śrāvakas and the pratyekabuddhas — nijyou or followers of the two vehicles — think only of their own enlightenment and leaving the suffering world. “We call this thinking very small,” Rev. Igarashi said. “That’s why we call nijyou Hinayana Buddhism. Hinayana Buddhism is a small boat that carries only one person at a time.”
Because nijyou followers only think about themselves, sutras before the Lotus Sutra said they could not get enlightenment. But the Lotus Sutra said even those people can get enlightenment. “We have a big boat to cross the suffering ocean,” Rev. Igarashi said. “Everybody can get in.”
Ichibutsu Ichijyou — only one Buddha, only one vehicle — can save all suffering people.
“We have to practice and we have to try to save all of the people. Trying to save other people is our practice — not only me, not only one,” he said. “Many people are thinking, I’m happy so I don’t care about other people. That’s not the thinking of the big vehicle, Daijyou. That’s why we have to think about Ichibutsu Ichijyou and Daijyou. It is very important. Then we just believe that Sakyamuni Buddha’s life is eternal and a moment’s faith is all that is required.”
Which brought us to Tanshin Mugei — 但信無解.
One only has to believe. Understanding is not required — Tanshin Mugei — believe it even if you don’t understand.
[He also returned to a topic covered in Dec. 17, 2017, service: The story of Ksudrapanthaka, disciple of the Buddha who couldn’t remember anything, even his name. See this post.]
If you seriously believe, even if you don’t understand, you will get enlightenment.
“Many people feel they must understand before they believe,” Rev. Igarashi said. “But if you try practicing, naturally you will come to understand the meaning of the Lotus Sutra. That’s why Nichiren Shonin said ‘Your belief will change to wisdom.’ So even if you don’t understand, if you chant Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, your belief will naturally change to wisdom and then you will understand what the Lotus Sutra is, what Buddhism is.”
Getting to the point
Each Sunday I press the record button on my voice recorder and place it on the podium from which Ven. Kenjo Igarashi makes his sermon.
“Not a serious speech this time,” said Rev. Igarashi after I set the recorder down.
I smiled and shook my head at this self-deprecation.
“Don’t care,” I said with a smile, leaving the recorder and walking to my seat.
This was the first service after the grueling week of preparation for the annual two-day Summer Food Bazaar and Rummage Sale, and Rev. Igarashi’s sermon used the church’s need for maintenance, and thus money, to discuss personal faith and practice.
[All quotes paraphrase Rev. Igarashi’s actual words.]
“Our church needs money for maintenance of the buildings, everything,” he said after pointing out that we had to re-roof the church, social hall and the minister’s residence last year. “What I want is to support this church not by money. I want everybody to support this church by everybody’s faith in Nichiren Buddhism. It is more important. Not just money.
“Everybody is thinking just give money. That’s it. I donate money to church. That’s it. That’s no good. Your strong faith supports the church and manages the church, too. That’s why I’m thinking all the time if we can manage the church without the bazaar, with only member’s support. That’s my idea, but actually it is very difficult.”
Rev. Igarashi then offered a comparison with Christian televangelists who say “God needs more money, so give me money.” Or “I have to be rich and have a luxurious life so you can become rich.”
“I want to try to give you a good life,” he said. “I pray for you to have a good life, good health. That’s more important [than being rich]. Because everybody has lots of karma, lots of good and bad karma and bad actions in your life. So your bad actions and bad karma make trouble with other people. Everything happens from your spirit, from your mind, because everybody has lots of bad karma. … That’s why we fight with other people. Not from outside. Everything happens from your karma, your bad actions. … We are born into this world because everybody has bad karma.
At this point, Rev. Igarashi described bad karma as a pointed sharp protuberance that pokes others, causing conflict and fighting between ourselves and others. I imagined a karmic Pinocchio nose, growing longer and sharper with each bad action.
“That is why we practice Buddhism and purify our spirit and then try to make smooth our spirit,” he said. “That’s why all the time I’m giving you purification (kaji kito) to purify your spirit. Then you will be happy in your life. If I’m happy, I’m rich.
“Everything starts from your mind. It is more important [than money or riches]. That’s why coming to church and purifying your spirit is more important.
“Please come to church and practice and try to purify your spirit and don’t make bad actions. This is more important than money.
“Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo and practicing the Lotus Sutra are more important.”
49 Days Later
Today, Ven. Kenjo Igarashi held a 49-Day Memorial service for my wife’s father, Richard Buchin, at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church. It was a small family affair with just my wife and son and his girlfriend.
When my wife’s mother died in 2016 I had only been practicing Nichiren Shu Buddhism for a little more than a year, and I had no understanding of the 49 Day journey of the deceased. (When my parents died in 2003 and 2009 I was practicing with Soka Gakkai, which ignores such teachings judging from my experience.)
Now with the completion of the journey for my wife’s father I have a fuller appreciation of the value of marking these first seven weeks after the passing of a loved one. (With both sets of parents gone, I’ll be happy if the subject doesn’t arise again for many, many years.)
The picture at the top of this post is of a memorial that I composed for my wife’s father (see this blog post from April 28, 2018). I brought it to Rev. Igarashi and asked if he could decorate it. He readily agreed. This finished product will act as our memorial tablet for our altar.
Nyonin Gosho
As an addendum to my 100 Days of Study I’m reproducing here the introductory essay by Professor Yutaka Takagi of Risshō University that appears in Nyonin Gosho, a volume of Nichiren’s letters addressed to women. This sampling of 22 of Nichiren’s letters contains 8 letters not included in the seven volumes of the Writings of Nichiren Shōnin. The letters in this volume were translated by Nichiren Shū priests in America, including two letters translated by Ven. Kenjo Igarashi.
Nichiren and Women
1. Women Followers of Nichiren
In pre-modern Japan, women in general were referred to as me, omina, onna, nyonin or nyōbō. Occasionally the term fujin was used but josei does not seem to have been in use. Another term menoko was used for women, but it also meant girls like me—no-warawa. The Chinese characters joshi or saishi were read as meko, and joshi (read as meko) seems to have meant girls. Of these, nyonin was by far the most commonly used.
In Nichiren’s writings, too, the term nyonin is found most often. Apart from these general terms for women, there are characteristic ways of addressing a woman in ancient and medieval Japan: upperclass women such as imperial princesses, women of upper aristocratic, and upper samurai families were referred to by individual names. For instance, the wife of Minamoto Yoritomo was referred to as Hōjō Masako. It should be remembered, however, that, as seen here, women retained their original names after marriage. In modern terms a man and his wife had separate family names.
Thus, individual names of those women belonging to the upper echelons of society are occasionally known to us, but those of lowerclass women are rarely known. However, as individual names should have been necessary for differentiating one from another in daily life, there must have been individual names. Nevertheless, it is a fact that it was extremely rare for such names to appear in historical documents.
How then were letters for women addressed in those days? Among the Kamakura Buddhist monks, Nichiren wrote the most letters to women, which was an outstanding characteristic in propagation and acceptance of his religion. Considering this, let me enumerate some examples showing the way Nichiren addressed the women to whom he wrote or who were mentioned in his letters:
- My Lady Oto
- Wife of Lord Shijō Kingo
Wife of Lord Ōta Wife of Lord Hyōe-sakan
Lord Nitta and His Wife
Wife of Lay Priest Lord Inagawa - My Lady, Mother of Lord Ueno
Mother of My Lady Oto - My Lady, Nun of Matsuno My Lady, Nun of Kubo
My Lady the Nun, Mother of Lord Ueno
My Lady, Nun Abutsubō
My Lady, Nun Myōichi
My Lady, Nun Myōshin
Nun Zenichi
As you can see in this list, no one was addressed by a proper noun, e.g. Hōjō Masako. That is to say, for one, none of those women, who received Nichiren’s letters, belonged to the upperclasses, because as we pointed out above only upperclass women were identified by personal names in those days.
Next “My Lady Oto” under (I), seemed to be an unmarried woman, as her mother was addressed “Mother of My Lady Oto” under (3). A woman addressed as ‘ ‘Lady Nichigen” by Nichiren may also have been unmarried. However, such unmarried women are small in number, with the greater number of married women called ‘ ‘wives”; (2) illustrates this. As in the case of “Wife of Lord Ōta,” the honorific suffix “lord” was fixed to the husband, not to the wife; an expression in which a wife seems to be regarded as an appendix to her husband. Under (3) are mothers, names of whose children—Lord Ueno (i.e., Lord Nanjō) and My Lady Oto—are used for identification.
Under (4) each is a nun; though they all lived as nuns, it does not necessarily mean that they resided in nunneries, renouncing families, as monks renounced their families. There seems no doubt that they lived the same as the laity. Nevertheless, they were called nuns. Why? For one, it was perhaps because of their peculiar hair style called amasogi, cutting the hair straight below the eyebrows. Cutting hair (including amasogi) or shaving the head was the proof of having entered the Buddhist order in those days. So it is possible that women with the amasogi hair-do were recognized as nuns even if they lived as laity. For another, these nuns probably observed the precept of refraining from sexual relations: abstention from sexual relations is one of the precepts required of Buddhist monks and nuns. Male counterparts of women, who were called nuns while living as laity, were those men who were called lay priests. An example of a lay priest and a nun living together as husband and wife is that of Lay Priest Toki, the greatest lay-supporter of Nichiren Shönin, and his wife, Nun Toki. However, many of those who were addressed as nuns seem to have been single. Probably they became nuns after their husbands passed away. Accordingly the motive for their becoming nuns might have been to pray in behalf of their late husbands, that is, to offer the merit of entering the priesthood in praying for the repose of their deceased husbands. Some wives probably became nuns for similar reasons: to pray for the recovery of their husbands from serious illnesses. The Jöei Code, the basic law of samurai society at the time of Nichiren, stipulated that it was the duty of widows to pray for their deceased husbands. Accordingly, this, together with not remarrying, was the chastity required of women in those days.
The names of these nuns are of two types: first, “My Lady, the Nun of Matsuno” and “My Lady, the Nun of Kubo,” were called by the names of places they resided; names of other nuns, such as “Nun Myōichi” and “Nun Myōhō” were Buddhist names taken probably from the Myōhō Renge-kyō. “Nun Zenichi” must have been a Buddhist name including “Nichi” taken from “Nichiren.” Notations on existing mandalas, hand written by Nichiren and given to his followers, show that he granted them Buddhist names including
the character nichi. By granting such names Nichiren hoped that a sense of belonging to one family would be strengthened among his followers. Putting it another way in modern terms, he hoped to promote cohesion of those with the same faith. At the same time, such Buddhist names were believed to be granted also to those who were identified by their residence. Nevertheless, it is not clearly known why they were identified by the names of the places they resided.
2. What Women Followers of Nichiren Expected
Why did Nichiren write to so many women? Even to women, who were married, and called “wives,” Nichiren wrote as individuals independent of their husbands. That is to say, he wrote to self-supporting, independent women, who had their own properties and were capable of acting on their own, based on their financial power. In concrete and simple terms, these women, independent of their husbands or on their own, were able to send offerings to Nichiren. They sent, on their own, indeed, such various offerings to Nichiren as rice, wheat, laver (non), seaweed (wakame), taro, devil’s-tongue (konnyaku), persimmons, citron, sake, candy, coins, hemp-garments, and robes. They could be divided into food-stuff (mostly rice and wheat), coins and clothes.
The food—stuff was harvested from their farms and gardens on their homesteads, which indicates that those women owned such farms and vegetable gardens, and perhaps many of them were engaged in agriculture. At any rate, they more or less owned properties or farmlands, apart from those of their husbands, products of which were offered to Nichiren. Thus, it was possible for those women to be initiators for making offerings to Nichiren or requesting him to conduct Buddhist services. Therefore Nichiren, who received the offerings and was requested to conduct services, wrote letters in order to express his gratitude to them directly and answer their questions. Women’s economic independence based on separate ownership of property between husband and wife helped women to be independent parishioners of Nichiren just like men.
Then what did these women expect of Nichiren and what did they ask him?
First of all they expected him to pray for the repose of the deceased. Nichiren recited the Lotus Sutra and chanted the daimoku for the bliss of the deceased and to ensure that they fared better in their next lives. The deceased for whom those women wanted to pray were their parents, husbands, and children. Though it seems very rare for siblings to pray for each other, there is an instance of an elder brother sending offerings to Nichiren to pray for his younger brother. At any rate, those women as children, wives and mothers prayed for the repose of their late parents, husbands and children, as well as being able to make offerings for having prayers said because of their own wealth. Being filial to parents, chaste to husbands, and compassionate to children, those women served them even after each of them had passed away.
Regardless whether they were girls, wives, widows, mothers, or nuns who continued family-lives of lay people, those women all hoped to attain Buddhahood. In Buddhism it had been regarded that women were creatures incapable of attaining Buddhahood. It was a matter of discrimination against women in Buddhist philosophy, which maintained that women are incapable of attaining Buddhahood because of their inherent five hindrances, including being unable to become a Buddha. A woman called Nun Sen’nichi of Sado wrote to Nichiren saying: “1 am concerned with the sins of women. In your sermon you have said that attainment of Buddhahood by women takes precedence in the Lotus Sutra. So I am totally depending on you.” It shows what was sought after not only by her but also all women, who were regarded inherently incapable of becoming Buddhas. They expected to find above all the solution to this problem in the person of Nichiren. Regarding the way of life for women in those days, the “three bonds” (the Confucian moral that they should obey fathers at home, husbands when married, and children when widowed) and “five hindrances” (which regarded them incapable of becoming Brahma Heavenly King, Indra, king of devils, Wheel-Turning Noble King, and Buddha) were stressed. Especially, ‘five hindrances” are mentioned in the “Devadatta” chapter of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, as the sutra gained in popularity from the Heian Period, women became religiously aware of them. However, attainment of Buddhahood by women is also possible according to the “Devadatta” chapter, in which it is mentioned that a daughter of a Dragon King became a Buddha. The “Devadatta” chapter, which guarantees the attainment of Buddhahood by Devadatta, the Evil, as well as by women, has been revered by both men and women as the basis of attaining Buddhahood. Thus, central to the faith in the Lotus Sutra prevalent during the Heian Period was faith in the “Devadatta” chapter. Doubtless to say that Nichiren made use of it. For instance he wrote to Nun Kōnichi saying: “Three bonds that tied you have been cut in this life; the cloud of five hinderances has already been cleared. The moon in your heart has no cloud to cover it, and the dirt on your body has all been wiped off. You are a Buddha as you are. What a blessing!”
Buddhist orders in the Kamakura Period, both old and new, tried to save the people or lead them to Buddhahood, and people were dead serious about attaining it. Under such circumstances, women with independently disposable properties spent them to pray for the repose of the deceased. It also provided an economic foundation for supporting the monastic order of Nichiren and his disciples. In this sense, women capable of independently being engaged in religious activities were among a larger group of women who meekly submitted to parents or husbands. Nichiren’s letters addressed to his female followers point this out, and his letters reflect his sincerity with which he tried to solve these women’s problems and console them in their sadness. In writing a history of Japanese women, these letters of Nichiren for women are indispensable as historical documents.
Yutaka Takagi, Professor
Risshō University, Tokyo, Japan
Stages of Enlightenment
Ven. Kenjo Igarashi held his first-ever adult Sunday school class last weekend, May 13. Rev. Igarashi has always been available to answer questions and in the past held Sunday classes for children, but in the 29 years he has been ministering to members in Sacramento, he has never before held a class just for adults. As the organizer of this inaugural session, I’m hoping to make this a monthly feature. The next class will be held the second Sunday in July. (June is out because of the Summer Bazaar.)
At Rev. Igarashi’s request, the class was held an hour and a half before the regular service. This provided an hour for the lesson and a half-hour for his preparation for the service. Sunday’s class was organized without any formal announcement. I am hoping the next class will be advertised in the upcoming newsletter.
For purposes of note-taking I recorded the lecture. I have a longstanding agreement with Rev. Igarashi that allows me to record services and lectures as long as I promise not to publish the raw recording. As a result what appears on this website is somewhat more reliable than ordinary note-taking but not a full transcript. This class actually had a person taking notes in shorthand and another attendee who is a native Japanese speaker who took notes in Japanese. It would be fun to gather those sources to make an even better picture of what we learned.
And what Rev. Igarashi chose to focus on was the concept of enlightenment in our daily life.
(What follows paraphrases to the best of my ability what Rev. Igarashi explained.)
As the graph on the chalkboard in the above photo shows, people commonly see the first thought of enlightenment, that introduction that sparks an interest in knowing more, as the beginning of a long process that climbs higher and higher, passing through the stages of Bodhisattvas until supreme enlightenment is reached.
We think of enlightenment as a distant goal, and so we practice every day, chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. But enlightenment is not far away. It is just under your foot. It is part of daily life. It is not special.
We all have an innate Buddha nature. This is what Never-Despising Bodhisattva bowed to in everyone he met. A person who awakens to the thought of enlightenment, that first step, has the same pure Buddha nature as someone who has been practicing for years.
Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō is the seat of enlightenment.
With that in mind, it is important to realize everyone is different. We have lots of previous lives and don’t know what karma we carry. That is why we practice the Lotus Sutra and chant Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. With this practice we purify our spirit, enabling our Buddha nature to emerge.
Everyone can become a Buddha. This is the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. We are not waiting around to die and be reborn in some distant pure land. We practice the Lotus Sutra in this world and transform this suffering world with Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.
In Memoriam
Sunday’s service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church included a 47-year memorial service for the father of a church member, the 49-Day memorial service for the father of another member and the first memorial for Richard Buchin, my wife’s father, who died the day before on Saturday, April 28.
Ven. Kenjo Igarashi offered a sermon on the 49-day journey of the deceased. Rather than paraphrase that sermon I’ll reprint his lecture from May 2016:
The Significance of the 49-Day Journey After Death
Last November marked the 40-year anniversary since I first became an overseas minister. Since then, I have spent these past several months reflecting on my various experiences throughout my journey as a Buddhist priest in the United States. It led me to realize that while I have much more that I wish to tell to you about Buddhism, there are also many concepts that need further explanation. One example that comes to mind is the importance of the 49th day memorial service for the deceased, which is specific to Buddhist traditions. Its significance is often times downplayed or even forgotten, when compared to the notion of holding funeral services. I wish to elaborate on this topic by briefly taking you through the 49-day journey of the deceased.
When an individual passes away, it is said that 49 nails are hammered into their body and soul, restraining both the physical body and soul from moving. Every seven days, starting from the day of the individual’s passing, until the 49th day, we hold memorial services for the individual. Seven nails will be removed every seventh day, until all 49 of these nails are removed, to ultimately free the deceased’s soul. On the 49th day, there will be a trial or hearing held in front of the so-called ”judge”, who will be standing in front of six gates, bearing no signs. However, we all know that each of these gates leads the individual to six possible realms of existence. These include hell, those of hungry spirits, animals, ashura, humans, or the heavenly beings. Everyone wants to either return as a human being, or enter the realm of heavenly beings. This judge in front of the six gates, will not guide this individual to the proper gate, but only instruct them to choose one. The individual will choose the gate based on what they may think is only instinct, yet this decision will also be guided by the actions that the individual took during their time on this earth.
While it may seem as if we take little part in the deceased individual’s 49-day journey, this is not the case. One way we can assist them, is by chanting ”Namu myo ho renge kyo”, which as you know, is the name of the Buddha nature that we all possess. We chant this odaimoku throughout the 49 days to call upon the deceased individual’s Buddha nature. If you recall, the Buddha nature can be imagined as the inside of a seed, while the outer shell represents bad karma resulting primarily from previous actions. Whenever we chant the odaimoku, the Buddha nature slowly grows. While this is a slow process, the more we chant, the more the Buddha nature shows, until it finally appears by sprouting through the outer shell. If the Buddha nature does not appear at the end of the 49 days, the individual will not be able to reach Enlightenment.
While death signifies the end of an individual’s time in this world, it does not mark the ultimate endpoint of their spirit. Please remember that your Buddhist practice can serve an important purpose in providing happiness for not only yourself, but also others, including the deceased.
Ven. Kenjo lgarashi
May 2016
I have been searching for a generic outline of Japanese Buddhist beliefs about what happens after death, and recently found Meido: The Japanese Underworld. While this doesn’t track exactly with Rev. Igarashi’s explanation, it offers an explanation of the seven trials that take place over the 49 days.
Below is a poster that I made for my wife. She left it on her office door before returning to New York State to attend to affairs after her father’s passing. For me, the summary of his life is a telling example of what has changed in the world. A smart kid who works part-time at a major manufacturer, graduates high school and serves his country in the Armed Forces. After his honorable discharge he returns home to his job. That job lasts 40 years and provides him and his wife a pension and health care for their retirement. That was commonplace in his day. It is extremely rare in my lifetime. Will it even exist in my son’s life?
