In considering Nikkyō Niwano’s discussion of Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra,” I’ve set aside an item I missed on my first time through Buddhism for Today.

The Math of Faith

Faith is often said to multiply: the object of faith is multiplied by the mind of faith. However, even if the object of faith is the most perfect in the world, its effect cannot appear in a person if he assumes the wrong attitude in believing and has a low degree of faith. Let us suppose that the Buddha’s teachings are equivalent to the figure one hundred. If a person’s joyful acceptance of the Buddha’s teachings is zero, a hundred multiplied by zero equals zero. At the same time, however strong a person’s religious feeling may be, the result will be of no value to him if the object of his faith is empty, because zero multiplied by a hundred equals zero. However earnestly one may believe in an empty object, the result will be nil. If he has faith in a wrong teaching, it stands to reason that this will lead to an evil or unhappy result. …

The teaching of the Lotus Sutra can be compared to an infinite positive number. Suppose that the sutra is equivalent to the figure one hundred. If one deeply believes in the sutra with a single thought, at the same time feeling gratitude toward it, and if his single thought of the sutra is assumed to be equivalent to the figure one, a highly positive effect will appear in him because one multiplied by one hundred makes one hundred.

If first rejoicing over the Buddha’s teachings is important for a believer, how immeasurable will be the merits as his religious feeling increases to the value of two, five, ten, and a hundred.