[W]hat is the Kaidan, or Place for Learning Moral Precepts? This is easily understood, since we have already explained the Honzon and the Daimoku. It has been already pointed out that our bodies are identical with the body of the Buddha of Original Enlightenment. The reality behind appearances is the miraculous scene that is reflected, as in a mirror, by the enlightenment of the Buddha; in other words, that is apprehended by the Buddha’s intellect. Now we ourselves are the Buddha’s intellect, and it is the reality behind appearances which we must learn to apprehend. The intellect stands in the same relation to this “miraculous scene” as the cover of a vessel to the vessel itself. In each case, the former corresponds to the latter.
Doctrines of Nichiren (1893)Quotes
Awakening to Our Existing Buddhahood
For those of us who practice in a Nichiren denomination we have the representation of the Lotus Sutra and the eternal Buddha depicted on the calligraphic mandala. It is not uncommon for some to view this picture as the actual thing that enables enlightenment. Again this too is a distortion, as the enlightenment is something we already possess and not something that resides outside our lives and which we need to somehow meld with or absorb. We already have it. The picture representation, however it appears, is merely a tool for us to use to awaken to our already existing Buddhahood.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1Four Siddhāntas and the Lotus Sūtra
This is the last part in elaborating the Four Siddhāntas. By stressing that the Four Siddhāntas are expressed in the Lotus Sūtra, Chih-i legitimizes his own view concerning the Lotus Sūtra as the ultimate teaching of the Buddha embracing all types of the teaching. The passage is quoted by Chih-i from the “Chapter on Expedient Means” (Fang-pien-p’in) in order to prove that the meaning of the Four Siddhāntas can be drawn from it:
“[The Buddha] understands all actions of living beings, what they think in their deep minds, their habitual tendencies [they carry] from the past, their desires, their nature, the power of their exertions, and whether their faculties are acute or dull. [The Buddha] employs various causes and conditions, similes, parables, and other words and phrases, adapting whatever means that are suitable to expound his teaching.”
This passage is interpreted by Chih-i as:
” ‘Desire’ is the [mundane] pleasure and desire, which indicates the Worldly Siddhānta. ‘Nature’ refers to the nature of knowledge and wisdom, which indicates the Siddhānta for Each Person. The ‘power of exertions’ refers to the destruction of evil, which indicates the Siddhānta of Counteraction. ‘Acute or dull faculties’ refers to different realizations attained by two people [with either acute or dull faculties], which indicates the Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth.”
Chih-i associates the phrases “their desires” with the Worldly Siddhānta (for the teaching suits the desire of living beings), “their nature” with the Siddhānta for Each Person (for nature means the nature of knowledge and wisdom which denotes the wholesomeness this teaching is intended to produce), “the power of their exertions” with the Siddhānta of Counteraction (for power is meant to destroy evil, which is the intended result of this teaching), and “whether their faculties are acute or dull” with the Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth (for the teaching aims at enlightening living beings of different capacities).
Through such an interpretation that reveals the meaning of the Four Siddhāntas implied in the Lotus Sūtra, the validity of the Lotus Teaching is confirmed.
Securing the Entity of Moral Life
The specific point in Saichō’s contention was that the confessions and vows were to be made not to human masters, as in other branches of Buddhism, but to Buddha himself, which meant to one’s own innermost soul and entity. And therein lay the mystery, that by taking vows with these convictions and uttermost zeal, one could arouse the innermost good, including power and wisdom, which was inherent but otherwise dormant. Once aroused, this would ensure for us an incorruptible firmness of moral and spiritual life and could last throughout any number of lives, in spite of obstacles, temptations, nay despite even casual guilt and the commission of sin. The initiation, therefore, was taught to secure the awakening and abiding of the fundamental Buddha-nature, the mystery of “securing the entity of moral life.”
History of Japanese ReligionDifferentiating the Teaching of the Buddha
Chih-i’s intention of differentiating the teaching of the Buddha is for the sake of presenting it as a whole. This is to say that although there are various types of the teaching, all of them are unified under the One Buddha-vehicle that is expressed in the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, the Lotus Sūtra functions to dissolve the relative teachings into the ultimate teaching. Chih-i affirms that all of the relative teachings of the Three Vehicles (śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva) contain the real intention of the Buddha in leading sentient beings to attain Buddhahood. This intention of the Buddha is the ultimate teaching of the One Buddha-vehicle. By this definition, all types of the teaching of the Buddha are subtle. The distinction between the relative and the ultimate is only made to coincide with living beings separated from conceiving the subtlety of the Buddha’s teaching. Chih-i asserts that the only purpose for the Buddha to employ the coarse device as the relative teaching is for the ultimate teaching. In this sense, all types of the teaching of the Buddha in the five periods that are analogized with the five flavors of dairy products (milk, cream, curdled milk, butter, and ghee) contain subtlety. In terms of revealing the Ultimate Truth, the teaching of the five flavors is not dissimilar to each other. Once the ultimate teaching (i.e., Lotus Sūtra) is presented, there is no more coarseness or relativity, but subtlety. (Vol. 2, Page 44-45)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismFour Siddhāntas and Four Noble Truths
The Four Siddhāntas that are conveyed in the light of the Four Noble Truths in the Tripiṭaka, Common, and Separate Teachings, are relative teachings. The ultimate teaching of the Four Siddhāntas refers to the Perfect Teaching. Chih-i’s explanation of the Four Siddhāntas in terms of relative and ultimate that are related to each of the Four Teachings is as follows:
- The Buddha employs only the first three Siddhāntas (i.e., Worldly Siddhānta, Siddhānta for Each Person, and Siddhānta of
Counteraction) to expound the Four Noble Truths that belong to the Tripiṭaka Teaching. Since this teaching concerns analysis and disintegration of dharmas (entities) in perceiving emptiness and is to prepare listeners with lower faculties to be able to eventually receive Mahāyāna Teaching, it is unskillful in terms of the way of perceiving emptiness, and is relative. - The Four Siddhāntas the Buddha employs to expound the Four Noble Truths that belong to the Common Teaching are skillful, for the teaching concerns embodying dharmas in perceiving emptiness. That is, dharmas are empty therein. However, truth is dichotomized into the Absolute Truth and the Worldly Truth: the former concerns emptiness, and the latter empirical existence. This teaching of duality is relative.
- The Four Siddhāntas the Buddha employs to expound the Four Noble Truths that belong to the Separate Teaching are profound, for this doctrine concerns the Middle Way of transcending the truths of emptiness and existence. However, this Middle Way does not identify emptiness with existence, and is still relative.
- The Four Siddhāntas the Buddha employs to expound the Four Noble Truths that belong to the Perfect Teaching are ultimate and subtle. This is because this doctrine concerns the Middle Way that identifies emptiness with existence. For Chih-i, such a way of perceiving reality as an integrated unity of both emptiness and provisional existence is perfect and is the ultimate teaching of the Buddha. (Vol. 2, Page 43-44)
Teaching the Essential Teaching
Only the Bodhisattvas of the Earth, the original disciples of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha, are able to teach the essential teaching [during the Latter Age of the Dharma when no other teaching is radical enough to shake beings out of their complacency, obstinacy, and spiritual blindness]. Even then, however, the provisional bodhisattvas are still present and able to protect and assist the Bodhisattvas of the Earth in accomplishing their mission.
Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the GohonzonExplaining the formation of the Four Siddhāntas (Shih-ch’eng)
This is to explain that the formation of each of the Four Siddhāntas is different. The Worldly Siddhānta is formed in order to comply with what is enjoyed and desired (Sui-lo-yü) by people. The Siddhānta for Each Person is formed in order to comply with what is suitable to individuals (Sui-p’ien-i) and arouse their virtues. The Siddhānta of Counteraction is formed in order to deal with particular cases of individual sickness. The Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth is formed in order to transmit the Supreme Truth. According to Chih-i, each Siddhānta contains the Four Siddhāntas. In addition, the first Siddhānta (i.e., Worldly Siddhānta) embodies the beginning stage for living beings to strive for Buddhahood as the cause, and the last Siddhānta (i.e., Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth) embodies the final stage of attaining Buddhahood as the effect. (Vol. 2, Page 38)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismAdvancing to the Buddha World
At last, we have been able to meet the Lotus Sutra in this world. We who believe in it no longer need to worry about the worlds after death. We will be able to advance to the Buddha World by consistently chanting the Odaimoku. We can live following the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, which is the Bodhisattva way – to live for other people, helping and supporting people who are suffering, making them feel as at ease as possible. It is not necessarily just supporting people, but spirits also. Please come to the Temple to observe the O-Bon Segaki Service, which is a traditional Buddhist ceremony to save suffering spirits. With these merits, we can give peace to our ancestors and obtain merits in our life, extinguish misfortune and curses, and extend our lives to obtain good fortune.
Summer WritingsTen Characteristics of Each of the Four Siddhāntas
The ten characteristics of each of the Four Siddhāntas
- The Worldly Siddhānta is characterized as (i) speaking about phenomenon and noumenon to comply with conditions that are suitable to, and are pleasurable to be heard by audiences; (ii) explaining both the Provisional (Unreal) and the Real; (iii) combinations of causes and conditions that result in differences between good and evil beings; (iv) a separate view of the five aggregates (i.e., form, sensation, conception, volitional activity, and consciousness) that are taken as real; (v) differentiating wholesomeness from evil; (vi) viewing the three periods (past, present, and future) of time separately; (vii) separating the Four Wholesome Factors (Ssu-shan-ken) that belong to the Ordinary Ranks of a Higher Level (Nei-fan) from the Ordinary Ranks of a Lower Level (Wai-fan); (viii) to differentiate between “the Path of Vision” and “the Path of Cultivation (ix) neither “learning” nor “no-learning 47 and (x) the Siddhānta for Each Person that is contained within.
- The Siddhānta for Each Person is characterized as (i) to arouse the wholesome mind that existed previously; (ii) to only talk about the Provisional (Unreal) of living beings; (iii) if wholesome conditions are combined, a wholesome person comes into being; (iv) from the wholesome five aggregates, the wholesome five aggregates can be reproduced; (v) to explain that the present wholesomeness can reproduce the future wholesomeness; (vi) concerning future period of time; (vii) concerning stages of “heat” and “summit”; (viii) concerning “the path of vision;” (ix) realizing the “learning and (x) the Siddhānta of Counteraction that is contained within.
- The Siddhānta of Counteraction is characterized as (i) to get rid of new evil; (ii) to only talk about the Real (i.e., evil is real because it causes the real effect of generating more evil); (iii) when evil conditions are combined, an evil person comes into being; (iv) to destroy the evil five aggregates with the wholesome five aggregates; (v) to destroy the present evil with the present wholesomeness; (vi) concerning the present period oftime; (vii) concerning the Four Types of Mindfulness (Ch., Ssu-nien-ch’u; Skt., catvāri smṛtyupasthānāni) that are practiced together and individually$ l (viii) concerning “the path of cultivation”; (ix) cultivating the “learning”; and (x) the Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth that is contained within.
- The Siddhānta of the Supreme Truth is characterized as (i) enabling a person to realize the path of a sage; (ii) not Unreal and not Real; (iii) not good and not evil; (iv) attaining the five aggregates with “non-defilement (v) neither good nor evil; (vi) attaining the negation of the three periods of time; (vii) attaining the Highest Mundane Dharma that is closest to “real non-defilement (viii) attaining “the path of no-learning”; (ix) attaining the arhatship of “no-learning”; and (x) the Supreme Truth that does not include the three other siddhāntas. (Vol. 2, Page 35-36)