Today I started running extracts from The Doctrines of Nichiren with a Sketch of His Life, a book first published in 1893. Since the book is well out of copyright protection, I’ll be republishing almost all of the book in daily sections. You can download the Google scan of the book in PDF format here or get it on your e-reader from Google here.

As the introduction explains, the pamphlet went through an “Englishing” before publication. In some cases I’ve made changes, such as changing “Holy Book” into “Lotus Sutra.” I’ve placed square brackets – [Lotus Sutra] – around these changes.

I found some of the changes interesting. For instance, where Senchu Murano talks of “perverted” people who are deluded, this text speaks of the “vulgar.”

The difference in this “Englishing” offers a different perspective:

The Buddha of Original Enlightenment is universal and omnipresent. Earth, air, fire, water, colour, sound, smell, taste, touch, and all visible objects, form the Buddha’s Spiritual Body. Form, perception, conception, name and knowledge, as well as the functions of body, mouth, and will, are the Buddha’s Compensation Body. Head, trunk, hands and feet, eyes, nose, tongue and so forth, constitute his Transformation Body. Things and events are all interconvertible; they do not differ from each other in the smallest degree. When once the reason of this is understood, the three bodies of the Buddha of Original Enlightenment are displayed. Even the anger of infernal beings, the stupidity of beasts, the avarice of hungry devils, and all the base qualities inherent in other living beings, go to form the body of the Buddha of Original Enlighten ment in its entirety. And it is the Great Mandala which represents and shows forth this mysterious inter-relation of entities.

New for me was this explanation of the relationship between the 10 Worlds and the states of mind of ordinary people: