Attended Sunday services online with Myosho-ji, Wonderful Voice Buddhist Temple, Charlotte, NC. Rev. Ryusho Jeffus has been working on a project where he takes one chapter of the Lotus Sutra each month and creates illustrations and then writes a commentary. I keep a directory of this project here.

Following the service, Ryusho Shonin showed off one of his illustrations for Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith, and then discussed this quote from the conclusion of the chapter:

Some living beings planted the roots of good
In their previous existence.

A core concept of Nichiren Buddhism is Ichinen Sanzen, or 3,000 Worlds Contained in One Thought.

In each moment of our existence, we have the potential to manifest any of the 10 worlds, including the world of the Buddha.

From Rev. Ryuei McCormick’s book “Lotus Seeds“:

Before Nichiren Shonin, Ichinen Sanzen was a theory that Buddhist practitioners attempted to understand through meditation. Nichiren Shonin, however, taught that Ichinen Sanzen could be realized through faith in the Odaimoku. At the very end of the Kanjin Honzon-sho, he wrote:

“For those who are incapable of understanding the truth of the ‘3,000 worlds contained in one thought,’ Lord Shakyamuni Buddha, with his great compassion, wraps this jewel with the five characters of Myo, Ho, Ren, Ge, and Kyo and hangs it around the necks of the ignorant in the decadent Latter age of the dharma.”

As a Nichiren Shu practitioner I chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo with the goal of manifesting my Buddha nature.

Each moment is unique. What I do in each moment plants seeds that grow and eventually bear fruit.

Today’s quote from Ryusho Shonin’s “Lecture on the Lotus Sutra” underscores everything I’ve come to appreciate about this practice:

When it comes to the reward of practicing Buddhism, it lies solely in the change that takes place first in our own lives and then manifests in our environment. Buddhism is not about being rewarded with riches or material goods; those things are temporary and destructible. What we seek in our Buddhist practice is the indestructible enlightenment of the Buddha; something that the Lotus Sutra teaches us is possible.

As Ryusho Shonin explains in the video above, I am not the same person I was yesterday, of last year. Each day is a new existence. Each moment I plant the roots of good for my next existence.