Rejecting idle speculation, Shakyamuni was concerned – as all Buddhists must be – with the present life, its joys, sorrows, loves, hates, and infinite choices. In other words, instead of being concerned with existence as an abstract study, Buddhist philosophy deals with the nature of the human condition in this life and the manner in which human beings respond to it.
Basic Buddhist Concepts
Quotes
Repaying Debt of Gratitude to the Eternal Śākyamuni
For Nichiren, Śākyamuni Buddha surpasses our worldly rulers, teachers, and parents, because he is the lord who presides over our awakening, the teacher who leads us to awakening, and the parent who sees us as his children and who are the inheritors of his awakening.
Śākyamuni Buddha is equipped with the three virtues of a lord, master, and parent. As a lord, he protects the people; as a teacher he guides the people; and as a parent, he loves the people. It is only he who is perfectly equipped with these three virtues. (Hori 2004, p. 244 modified. See also Gosho Translation Committee 2006, p. 1039)
When Nichiren spoke of repaying debts of gratitude to our rulers, teachers, and parents, he also means that we must realize and requite our debt of gratitude to the Eternal Śākyamuni Buddha above all, and in doing so repay the worldly debts as well.
Open Your Eyes, p15-16The Highest Form of Meditation
Nichiren’s conviction is that the highest form of meditation is not found in a special transmission confined to an elite lineage of Zen masters or any other select group of people. Rather, it is to be found expressed by Śākyamuni Buddha himself in the Lotus Sūtra, but the sutra’s teaching must come alive for us in and through actual contemplation of the Wonderful Dharma, here expressed in terms of the “threefold contemplation in a single thought” and the “three thousand realms in a single thought-moment.” This goes beyond any conceptual teaching or otherworldly piety. This points to actual contemplation of the true nature of mind … .
The connection between this kind of contemplation based on the Lotus Sūtra and the practice of Odaimoku is stated in the Treatise on the Ten Chapters (Jisshō-shō):
What we should chant all the time as the practice of the perfect teaching is ‘Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō,’ and what we should keep in mind is the way of meditation based on the truth of ‘three thousand realms in a single thought-moment.’ Only wise men practice both chanting ‘Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō’ and meditating on the truth of ‘three thousand realms in a single thought moment.’ Lay followers of Japan today should recite only ‘Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.’ As the name has the virtue of reaching the body that it represents, when one chants ‘Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō,’ one will not fail to receive all the merit of the Lotus Sütra.
Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō fulfills the same function as calming and contemplation practice in Nichiren’s view, as it allows anyone to contemplate the Wonderful Dharma and receive the merit of the Buddha’s highest teaching. In Nichiren’s time, very few lay people would have had the opportunity to study the Tiantai teachings or had the time to engage in meditation practice. It was very important that a way of practice suitable to ordinary working people be provided if Buddhism was truly to be a Great Vehicle for all beings. Though Nichiren encouraged those who could to practice the Tiantai method of meditation, he clearly saw it as practically superfluous compared to the great merit of chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, which Nichiren and his disciples and followers found could itself calm the mind and open it to the great insight of the Buddha.
Open Your Eyes, p416-417The Primary Motivation for Practicing Buddhism
For Nichiren, the primary motivation for practicing Buddhism should not be a selfish desire to escape suffering on our own, or to gain supernatural powers, or to become detached meditators. Likewise, our aspiration to attain buddhahood and liberate all beings should not be a matter of condescending pity for suffering sentient beings. Rather, we should be motivated by gratitude for all that has been done for us by others, long before we were ever able to ask for such favors, much less be capable of earning such help as we received in our youth and throughout our life. We should have a heartfelt wish to do all we can to repay the great debt we owe others for the life that we have and all the assistance and blessings that we have received. This is not a matter of presuming to save others out of pity. It is a realization that others have already helped us and that our most authentic response is to repay that favor by following the Buddha Way for the sake of all.
Open Your Eyes, p10-11The Ten Factors: Causes
Of the Ten Factors, Causes are those actions that contribute directly to the present. This factor and the next three – Conditions, Effects and Consequences – directly refer to the law of cause and effect. Cause, in this context, refers to all of our thoughts, words and deeds, which become the seeds in the depths of our lives. The accumulation of these seeds are the habit-patterns that determine the ways in which our life will unfold. In fact, the dominant world or state of mind that is our usual state of being is the fruition of these very seeds. Therefore, it is very important that we plant as many good seeds in our life as possible.
Lotus SeedsA Useful Religion
Shakyamuni himself frequently said that religious doctrine must be not only true and correct but also useful.
Basic Buddhist Concepts
Shining Like a Bright Mirror Cleared of Dust
The teaching that there is a pure consciousness that must be cleared of adventitious defilements (such as those stored by the storehouse consciousness) is, however, something that can be found as far back as the teachings in the Pāli canon.
This mind, O monks, is luminous, but it is defiled by adventitious defilements. The uninstructed worldling does not understand this as it really is; therefore for him there is no mental development.
This mind, O monks, is luminous, and it is freed from adventitious defilements. The instructed noble disciple understands this as it really is, therefore for him there is mental development. (Nyanaponika & Bodhi, p. 36)
If this is indeed the case, and there is a pure consciousness in the depths of our being, then Buddhist practice is not about creating an awakened state of mind but of recovering or rediscovering the awakened state of mind that was there all along. This is what is taught in the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna Treatise: “Grounded on the original enlightenment is non-enlightenment. And because of non-enlightenment, the process of actualization of enlightenment can be spoken of.” (Hakeda, p. 38) How the pure consciousness came to be obscured by adventitious defilements in the first place seems to be an unanswerable question. The point of the teaching is that a pure awakened mind is always present and that our practice can wipe away the obscurations and allow it to shine like a bright mirror cleared of dust.
Open Your Eyes, p276Reflections of the Moon in the Water
Zhiyi, I believe, awakened to the same truth that the creators of the Lotus Sūtra did. He expressed it in terms of the “three thousand realms in a single thought-moment.” However, the full import of what the creators of the Lotus Sūtra and Zhiyi realized will not be revealed until we discuss the Original Gate and the Buddha’s attainment of buddhahood in the remotest past. The One Vehicle teaching was only the relatively shallow beginning of what they realized. As Nichiren says a little further on in Kaimoku-shō:
The second chapter, “Expedients,” in the Trace Gate of the Lotus Sūtra makes up for one of the two faults of the pre-Lotus sūtras by revealing the teachings of the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment’ and ‘attainment of buddhahood by the people of the two vehicles.’ Yet, since the chapter has not yet revealed the Original and Eternal Buddha by ‘outgrowing the provisional and revealing the essential,’ it does not show the real concept of the ‘three thousand realms in a single thought-moment.’ Nor does it establish the true meaning of ‘attainment of buddhahood by people of the two vehicles.’ They are like the reflections of the moon in the water, or rootless grass floating on waves. (Hori 2002, p. 48)
Open Your Eyes, p266The Ten Factors: Activity
Of the Ten Factors, Activity is the actual change brought about through power. It should be pointed out that things will not necessarily be done just because someone or something has the power to do them. Nothing exists by itself and nothing happens in a vacuum. In order to have an actual effect on the world, the right circumstances must exist. These circumstances, based upon the power of the beings involved, call forth the appropriate activity or response to produce the actual effect. A match will not light itself. It must be struck against a wall or a match box first.
Lotus SeedsThe Second of the Four Truths
Inevitably, suffering and its stimulus are bound together by causal links, and suffering will not vanish as long as the stimulus persists. The second of the four truths sets forth the cause of suffering.
Basic Buddhist Concepts