“The Reality as It is” and the personal realization of Buddhahood
This conception of the Buddha-nature, and of its realization in ourselves through worship, are consequences of the time-honored theory of the Threefold Personality (tri-kāya) of Buddha. But the characteristic feature in Nichiren’s ideas is that he never was content to talk of abstract truth, but always applied the truth taught to actual life, bringing it into vital touch with his own life. Ethics and metaphysics are never to be separated, but to be united in religion, and religion means a life actually embodying truth and virtue. Truths are revealed and virtues inculcated in the Lotus of Truth, and consequently the true religious life is equivalent to “reading the Scripture by person.” Thus, the essay, which begins with discussions of the metaphysical entity of Buddha-nature, proceeds naturally to a consideration of the Buddhist life, especially as exemplified in Nichiren’s own life. In it he says:
“I, Nichiren, a man born in the ages of the Latter Law, have nearly achieved the task of pioneership in propagating the Perfect Truth, the task assigned to the Bodhisattva Viśiṣṭacāritra. The eternal Buddhahood of Śākyamuni, as he revealed himself in the chapter on Life-duration, in accordance with his primeval entity; the Buddha Prabhūtaratna, who appeared in the Heavenly Shrine, in the chapter on its appearance, and who represents Buddhahood in the manifestation of its efficacy; the Saints (Bodhisattvas) who sprang out of the earth, as made known in the chapter on the Issuing out of Earth – in revealing all these three, I have done the work of the pioneer (among those who perpetuate the Truth); too high an honor, indeed, for me, a common mortal! …
“I, Nichiren, am the one who takes the lead of the Saints-out-of-Earth. Then may I not be one of them? If I, Nichiren, am one of them, why may not all my disciples and followers be their kinsmen? The Scripture says, “If one preaches to anybody the Lotus of Truth, even just one clause of it, he is, know ye, the messenger of the Tathāgata, the one commissioned by the Tathāgata, and the one who does the work of the Tathāgata.” How, then, can I be anybody else than this one? …
“By all means, awaken faith by seizing this opportunity! Live your life through as the one who embodies the Truth and go on without hesitation as a kinsman of Nichiren! If you are one in faith with Nichiren, you are one of the Saints-out-of-Earth; if you are destined to be such, how can you doubt that you are the disciple of the Lord Śākyamuni from all eternity? There is assurance of this in a word of Buddha, which says: “I have always, from eternity, been instructing and quickening all these beings.” No attention should be paid to the difference between men and women among those who would propagate the Lotus of the Perfect Truth in the days of the Latter Law. To utter the Sacred Title is, indeed, the privilege of the Saints-out-of-Earth. …
“When the Buddha Prabhūtaratna sat in the Heavenly Shrine side by side with the Tathāgata Śākyamuni, the two Buddhas lifted up the banner of the Lotus of the Perfect Truth, and declared themselves to be the Commanders (in the coming fight against vice and illusion). How can this be a deception? Indeed, they have thereby agreed to raise us mortal beings, to the rank of Buddha. I, Nichiren, was not present there in the congregation, and yet there is no reason to doubt the statements of the Scripture. Or, is it possible that I was there? Common mortal that I am, I am not well aware of the past, yet in the present I am unmistakably the one who is realizing the Lotus of Truth. Then in the future I am surely destined to participate in the communion of the Holy Place. Inferring the past from the present and the future, I should think that I must have been present at the Communion in the Sky. (The present assures the future destiny, and the future destiny is inconceivable without its cause in the past.) The present, future, and past cannot be isolated from one another.
“When I meditate on these things, my joy has no limit, in spite of the miseries of the life of an exile. Tears in joy, tears in afflictions. … I shed tears in thinking of the present perils and sufferings; my tears cannot be checked even in the midst of rejoicing over the destiny of Buddhahood that is before me. Birds and insects cry and weep, but shed no tears; I, Nichiren, neither cry nor weep, yet no moment passes without tears. These are shed, indeed, not on account of any worldly matter but for the sake of the Lotus of Truth. If this be so, these tears are drops of ambrosia. …
“In this document, the truths most precious to me are written down. Read, and read again; read into the letters and fix them into your mind! Thus put faith in the Supreme Being, represented in a way unique in the whole world! Ever more strongly I advise you to be firm in faith, and to be under the protection of the threefold Buddhahood. March strenuously on in the ways of practice and learning! Without practice and learning the Buddhist religion is nullified. Train yourself, and also instruct others! Be convinced that practice and learning are fruits of faith! So long as, and so far as, there is power in you, preach, if it be only a clause or a word (of the Scripture)! Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō! Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō! Sincerely, in reverence.
“Let me add: Herewith I have delivered to you the truths revealed to me, Nichiren. Precious truths are specially transmitted to you. What a mysterious dispensation! … O, may I, Nichiren, be a kinsman of the Saints-out-of-Earth, six myriads of Gangā-sands in number? All this I do with the sole aim of leading all men and women in this country, Japan (nay in the world), to the communion of those who utter “Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō.” Does not the Scripture say, “The one called Viśiṣṭacāritra … and he, (together with the three other leaders) is the leader in utterance?” That you have become my disciple is indeed the result of a remote connection. Keep this letter carefully for yourself! Know that I, Nichiren, have therein recorded the truths realized personally by myself! Good-by.”
The above essays were the introduction to the revelation of the Supreme Being in graphic representation. When he had thus expounded his thoughts, he undertook, in the summer of 1273, the work of the “revelation,” the climax of his life work. The design was as described above, and beneath were added two postscripts. On the right side, “This is the great Maṇḍala, which has never before appeared throughout the whole Jambudvipa (world) during the two thousand two hundred and twenty and more years elapsed since Buddha’s decease.” On the left side, “Having been sentenced (to death) on the twelfth day of the ninth month, in the eighth year of Brunei, and having been later exiled afar to the island of Sado, on the eighth day of the seventh month, in the tenth year of the same, Nichiren makes this representation, for the first time.”
Whatever Nichiren’s followers may claim about this Maṇḍala and the postscripts, and whatever criticism modem scholars may make, it remains an undoubted fact that Nichiren attached the greatest importance to this work, as being the pivotal point in his life. After this, begins the last part of his life, the consummation, and preparation for the perpetuation, of his religion, in accordance with the threefold division of the Scripture mentioned above.
The Climax of Nichiren's Life; The Graphic Representation of The Supreme Being
Peace in exile; the object of religious worship 76
The Supreme Being and the doctrine of "mutual participation" 79
The Supreme Being; the union of the Truth and his Person 81
'The Reality as It is' and the personal realization of Buddhahood. 82
The revelation of the Great Maṇḍala and further thoughts on his mission 85
NICHIREN: THE BUDDHIST PROPHET