Ven. Kenjo Igarashi offered a lesson in Consciousness-Only as seen from the Nichiren perspective following the Sunday Ohigan ceremony in which he offered prayers for the ancestors of church members.

And before I begin I must underline that this is my understanding of what he said and is only as accurate as I can make it. Any errors are mine alone.

On one level, the chart he displayed offered an explanation of what exists when we are alive and what remains in the “special realm” after we die.

The eye, ear, nose, tongue and body sense organs do not “know” anything. The sixth level, thought, interprets the five sense organs. What we do with this information – our good and bad actions – are stored in the seventh level.

The eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind are the transitory part subject to birth and death that create the illusion that we conceive of as our world.

Our good and bad actions create a shell of intentions that shape our future. This shell encloses our pure Bodhisattva compassion. And that Bodhisattva compassion itself encloses our innate Buddha nature.

Prayers for our ancestors in which we transfer our merit received from chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo and studying the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma seek to mitigate that shell of intentions that will control our ancestors’ future lives.

For myself, I saw this chart and was reminded of Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, and promised effect “the good men or women who keep, read, recite expound or copy this sutra after my extinction, will be able to obtain.”

And considering this from the inside out, I appreciated this picture of universal Buddha nature, this seed, that exists wrapped in compassion. The goal of chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo is to realize this equality and difference.