In the Mahacattarisaka Sutta (Discourse on the Great Forty), the Buddha teaches the causes and accompanying factors that support Right Concentration, a practice of the Eightfold Noble Path. Being in harmony with non-self, Right Concentration is said to depend upon all other seven practices that comprise the Eightfold Noble Path.

When he gets to Right View, he says this;

What, bhikkhus, is Right View? Bhikkhus, there are two kinds of Right View. There is Right View in which not all the leaks have been stopped. It gives rise to merit but still results in attachment. Then there is Right View that is noble in which the leaks have been stopped. It is supramundane and an element of the Path. What is Right View in which not all the leaks have been stopped? It is the view that there is a point in giving alms, offering alms, and ceremonial offerings. That there is ripening of the fruit of wholesome and unwholesome actions. That this world exists and so does the other world. That there is birth from parents, and there are beings who are born spontaneously. That monks and brahmans have perfected the Path, are going in the right direction, have experienced for themselves the special understandings, and are able to illuminate our understanding of this world or the other world.

What is Right View in which the leaks have been stopped? It is understanding, understanding as one of the Five Faculties, understanding as one of the Five Powers, understanding as the enlightenment factor called investigation of phenomena in someone whose mind is noble, whose mind has no leaks, who has been provided with the Noble Path, and who is practicing the Noble Path. That, bhikkhus, is Right View that is noble, without leaks, supramundane, and a limb of the Path.

The Sutta goes on to explain, I think, how Right View – while interdependent upon the other seven practices – lies at the base of our suffering. People who follow a spiritual path often believe they hold right view. They want to help end their own and the suffering of others. As the Buddha says, there is merit in this. But when we fall into the trap of thinking such merit depends on adherence to a particular set of precepts, a doctrine or dogma, or depends upon monks and brahmans (a priestly class might be essential, but can not be viewed as sufficient) to show us the way, then we experience attachment, and therefore further suffering. This is leakage or outflow. Our views drive our thoughts, actions, livelihood and every other element of our lives, and so if our views are not right, then we will continue to have outflows – we continue to create further seeds of suffering.

Even the Dalai Lama has confessed, in his typical self effacing fashion, to realising his own attachment to Buddhism. He has said:

I know a physicist from Chile who told me that it is not appropriate for a scientist to be biased towards science because of his love and passion for it. I am a Buddhist practitioner and have a lot of faith and respect in the teachings of the Buddha. However, if I mix up my love for and attachment to Buddhism, then my mind shall be biased towards it. A biased mind, which never sees the complete picture, cannot grasp the reality. And any action that results from such a state of mind will not be in tune with reality. As such it causes a lot of problems.

I think he also alludes to this during an interview in the film Dalai Lama Renaissance at http://dalailamafilm.com/. These musings seem to precede more recent posts on his Dalai Lama Facebook page, supporting the idea of spirituality and ethics moving beyond religion altogether. Bold stuff indeed, but surely founded in right view. He’s seriously sticking a finger in his leaks there!

The prevention of leaks and outflows, for us lay practitioners, would seem practically impossible to eliminate. This is why I think teachings like the Heart Sutra and Diamond Sutra are so important as they contain much of the core DNA of Right View.

We all like to think of ourselves as Bodhisattvas and Buddhas, but we often become addicted or attached to the fruit of the Arhat – we achieve insight into the Dharmas, but fail in our hearts to behave in accordance with the truth that all Dharmas are conditioned. Having crossed the sea of suffering upon a raft we have spent many years constructing, we become attached to it – even when we have completed our journey, we do not want to let go of our prized possession. The teachings of Buddhism are like the raft, and can become a hindrance if used wrongly.

In the Alagaddupama Sutta (Discourse on Knowing the Better Way to Catch a Snake) the Buddha teaches:

Bhikshus, a person who studies that way can be compared to a man trying to catch a poisonous snake in the wild. If he reaches out his hand, the snake may bite his hand, leg, or some other part of his body. Trying to catch a snake that way has no advantages and can only create suffering.

Bhikshus, understanding my teaching in the wrong way is the same. If you do not practice the Dharma correctly, you may come to understand it as the opposite of what was intended. But if you practice intelligently, you will understand both the letter and the spirit of the teachings and will be able to explain them correctly. Do not practice just to show off or argue with others. Practice to attain liberation, and if you do, you will have little pain or exhaustion.

Therefore if we believe that Buddhism itself has made us into a nice people, and therefore everyone else can be made into nice people through Buddhism, then we’re missing the point – particularly if we think we “get it” – because in all likelihood, we don’t.

The Gosho Opening the Eyes of Wooden and Painted Images is one of the shorter writings, and not surprisingly has been adopted by the SGI to support the stance that it is unnecessary to perform the eye opening ritual for the Gohonzon. This is one area where I wholeheartedly agree with the SGI’s attitude and almost all of their reasoning (However, I don’t think the Gohonzon replaces the Lotus Sutra in the latter day of the law – but it is an aid to meditation).

The Gosho opens by referring to the 32 features possessed by the Buddha. Of these 32, only 31 can be expressed in an image/carving (many modern status of Buddha are made of materials other than wood) – the Buddha’s pure and far reaching voice cannot.

Nichiren goes on to explain that when a sutra is placed before the image/carving in consecration, that it is the nature of the sutra used that will determine the spiritual aspect of the image/carving. For example, when an Agama Sutra (the Agama Sutras include the most core teachings of the Buddha, including the Four Noble Paths and the Noble Eightfold Path – where the wheel symbol comes from) is placed before an image/carving of the Buddha, that image/carving takes on the spiritual aspect of a voice hearer (sravaka).

Now, when the Lotus Sutra is placed before an image/carving, Nichiren argues the effect is to transform that image/carving into the living Buddha. This doesn’t mean you can rub his tummy and he’ll giggle – it means that the image/carving will someone become spiritually charged – consecrated.

Personally, this is where I detract from such beliefs, because it is a short step away from churning out lucky charms and other tacky Buddhist tat on the basis it’s the living Buddha. And it’s an even shorter step away to the slippery slope of paranoia and superstition – believing unless you get the Buddha into your Gohonzon really quick, then you’ll have Hitler or Bin Laden in there. Sadly, Nichiren couldn’t resist a bit of mud slinging at his Tendai contemporaries over this very issue, arguing that any image/carving eye-opened by other sects would lead to your carvings/pictures being inhabited by devils and demons, the sky would fall down and we’ll all go to hell in a handcart.

This raises a more fundamental issue with Nichiren’s formative experiences of mediaeval Tendai Buddhism, and original enlightenment (Jpn. Hongaku) thought which postulates the environment, including grasses and trees, could also express Buddhahood. The ‘Japanisation’ of T’ien-t’ai buddhism inevitably assimilated aspects of earlier Shinto beliefs, including nature worship and a strong belief in spirits (Jpn kami). This influence has been described as introducing an “aspect of conventional deluded consciousness”, and I think there’s some truth in that observation.

Whilst I would maintain the environment comprises all ten realms; which one it manifests at any time is due to our relative (deluded) viewpoint at any moment – this is perfectly confluent with the theory of Ichinen Sanzen. Without being distracted by a large diversion into the above topic, the result of believing the environment can independently ‘radiate’ Buddhahood – so that through some process of osmosis the practitioner is able to bathe in it’s glory – utterly smacks of ‘other power’ (Jpn jiriki). Relying on something outside of ourselves for salvation was right at the heart of the Nembutsu – one of Nichiren’s greatest annoyances, so the apparent inconsistency regarding the possession of images/carvings by demons, goblins etc., really has to be put into the context of the superstitions of the time.

So, what of the Gohonzon (SGI or otherwise) in your butsudan? I really can’t get the insistence by some of using the passage…

Unless one who has grasped the essence of the Lotus Sutra conducts the eye-opening ceremony for a wooden or painted image, it will be as if a masterless house were to be occupied by a thief, or as if, upon death, a demon were to enter one’s body.

… to hammer other Lotus Believers into a sink hole of superstitious crap.

Firstly, this whole Gosho refers to the practice of opening the eyes of Wooden and Painted Images [of the Buddha]. The Gohonzon is not this. The Gohonzon is a pictorial representation of the Lotus Sutra itself – so opening the eyes of the Gohonzon would be like opening the eyes of a scroll of the Lotus Sutra. And the Lotus Sutra is used to open the eyes of wooden and painted images.

When we chant in front of our Gohonzon and recite the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra to it, we open the door to our Buddhahood. Any “eye opening” is going on right there. To believe that everyone living in Mappo is essentially too dull of wit to grasp the essence of the Lotus Sutra displays a singular arrogance.

Your Gohonzon WILL NOT be inhabited by Rumpelstiltskin if you don’t have a priest come to consecrate it. If you find him in there (Rumpelstiltskin, not the priest), my advice would be to go and find a good psychotherapist!

Secondly – had Nichiren sat down and imagined the world’s population would expand into the billions, he might have pondered how large an army of priests he would need running hither and thither servicing the needs of the laity. It would have meant his school growing into a global empire of authority to bestow or take away each practitioner’s own private Buddha – MUHARHARHAR. Despite Nichiren’s self aggrandising, I don’t think he was such a megalomaniac, nor so naïve to imagine that an organisation of such size would not succumb to schisms of it’s own.

I also firmly reject the “pick’n-mix” accusations of “pro-priesthood” adherents. I do not hold my views simply because it’s inconvenient to travel to London, Japan, or send my Gohonzon off in the post to get “Mojo’d” by a big enlightened cheese. I believe that Gohonzons (Gohonzi? – the latinised plural sounds better) do not require an eye opening ceremony because of the arguments above – namely, it smacks of “other power”, promotes superstitious delusion, and inevitably (where human beings are concerned) will lead to abuses of power, and de-egalatarisation of our faith.

The remainder of the Gosho deals with the issue of prayers for the deceased and I suspect sheds some light on the rationale behind the funeral ceremonies that priests have traditionally performed. The gist is that the spirit of the deceased is, through the devotional [to the Lotus Sutra] conduct of the living, transformed into the Dharma body of the Buddha – and thus saved from demons (and presumably the realm of hungry spirits).

The final paragraph touches on the ability to instantly bring the deceased’s spirit to the stage of realisation through the example of Chunda’s (a blacksmith who provided Shakyamuni’s last meal before entering nirvana) grasping of emptiness (non-birth and non-extinction) in his lifetime. Further, he highlights that when a wise person enlightened to the Lotus Sutra conducts a service for the deceased, the possibility of sudden attainment of enlightenment (Buddhahood) for the deceased is no less than that attained by the dragon king’s daughter in the twelfth (Devadatta) chapter of the Lotus Sutra.

The SGI’s position that eye-opening ceremonies are unnecessary, then brings into the question of why they would argue against folks using Gohonzons downloaded from the Internet.

Listen to this episode of abuddhistpodcast.com

My good friend Jason Jarrett produces a super podcast regularly on the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin. This is an interesting episode about the Gohonzon, but if you’re in a hurry, skip to 34 minutes in, where some very interesting points of view are given.

I think the esoteric nature of the Gohonzon’s power does require some explanation, as the SGI official suggests – the benefit of guidance to understand what it is you are doing is crucial. I understand this stance and agree with it, given the immense misconceptions some people have about what the Gohonzon is and how it works. However, given the SGI’s stance, there is no logical reason for them to suggest their Gohonzon is any more powerful than a home made one, provided the user is instructed in its meaning and usage.

Is the Gononzon a representation of the Lotus Sutra or of the Eternal Buddha? The Lotus Sutra is more powerful than an image or carving of the buddha (the manifest, or provisional body) – it has to be, because it is the voice of the Buddha that transmits the Law. The Gohonzon represents the Lotus Sutra – I think the idea is that it is synonymous with it, and therefore represents the essential Buddha, and therefore does not require any eye opening.

For the sake of clarity the poison/medicine metaphor relates life’s challenges, or rather one’s unenlightened attitude towards them, to poison – and the function of the Mystic Law, having been revealed and realised within one’s life, to the transforming power that subsumes this poison, turning it into beneficial medicine.

The idea for this metaphor, at least within Nichiren Buddhism appears to come from Nagarjuna’s treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra (location within the text unknown), where Nagarjuna states:

[The Lotus Sutra is] like a great physician who can change poison into medicine.

Nichiren quotes this passage repeatedly in the Gosho. This shouldn’t be confused with the parable of the [good] physician in Ch16 of the Lotus Sutra, which is more about simple ignorance of good medicine when it is before us.

The poison-into-medicine metaphor is often explained in practical terms through:

• the daily practice of chanting Daimoku to harness the Buddha’s (the great physician’s) wisdom
• having the faith that whatever course of thought or action subsequently pops into one’s minds will be the transformative medicine and,
• ultimately to manifest the courage and conviction to “see it through” – to transform our sufferings into enlightenment.

This approach is typical of Nichiren’s shock and awe methodology to trounce whatever besets us. This is not to say this understanding of his approach is wrong, but it may be limited.

The relative wisdom that one derives from a good campaign of Daimoku might bubble into the conscious mind a little more easily if another aspect of this metaphor were considered. To focus meditation and contemplation on one’s attribution (realisation of the causes) of suffering rather than focussing on the final effect (an end of the suffering) one wishes to achieve may produce a more satisfying medicine (i.e. longer term) than attempting to fire-fight the immediate dilemma.

The Blade Wheel

I’m not sure if Nichiren would have been aware of Dharmarakshita, a 10^th century Mahayana teacher who composed a wonderful text called (in Tibetan) blo-sbyong mtshon-cha ‘khor-lo. This is often translated as Wheel of Sharp Weapons, but as Dr Bob Thurman (Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University) asserts, it is more accurately translated as Blade Wheel of Mind Transformation.

Bodhisattva Manjushri – courtesy Ella Brewer

The metaphor of the blade wheel refers to the cutting edge that returns to us (like a boomerang) following our negative behaviour to slice away the delusion and ignorance at the root of our wrong doing. Thurman speculates that the blade wheel may have a basis in the flaming-tipped sword of critical wisdom (prajna) wielded by the Bodhisattva Manjushri.

The text opens with a comparison between crows and peacocks. Crows are likened to arhats, who can still pick nutrition from carrion (the suffering of samsara), but essentially keeping themselves to themselves, seeking wisdom without cultivating compassion – essentially living a monastic existence which is removed (as far as possible) from samsara.

Peacocks on the other hand are said to thrive on the essence of poisonous plants (such as the roots of the Belladonna plant). It was once thought peacocks used the poisonous compounds to produce their beautiful iridescent plumage – thus representing the transformative power to turn poison into medicine, or beauty (not merely in the visual sense). Early verses declare that the peacocks avoid the medicine gardens, instead bravely accepting the poisonous plants:

Now, desire is the jungle of poisonous plants here.
Only brave ones, like peacocks, can thrive on such fare.
If cowardly beings, like crows, were to try it,
Because they are greedy, they might lose their lives.

and

And thus bodhisattvas are likened to peacocks:
They live on delusions – those poisonous plants.
Transforming them into the essence of practice,
They thrive in the jungle of everyday life.
Whatever is presented, they always accept,
While destroying the poison of clinging desire.

Unlike the arhat-like crow, the peacock-like Bodhisattva doesn’t try to avoid the poison of desires. Knowing that to maintain bodhicitta (our bodhisattva vow), rather than avoiding it, one must consume and transform the poison into enlightenment. It goes on:

All of our sufferings derive from our habits (Karma)
Of selfish delusions we heed and act out.
As all of us share in this tragic misfortune,
Which stems from our narrow and self-centered ways,
We must take all our sufferings and the miseries of others
And smother our wishes of selfish concern.

Here is the ultimate goal of the Boddhisattva – to smother selfish concern with compassion for all. The text goes on to around stanza 48 describing a great many examples of karmic retribution, the possible causes and corrective antedotes which in each case is a means to preventing future suffering.

After this, the syntax changes subtly to be more accusative, but then ends with a more ontological examination of our sufferings, again, reinforcing the causality of all phenomenon and the interdependence of one’s happiness and sufferings with those of others. I challenge the reader to find nothing here that relates to their own lives!

I think this text makes a valuable addition to our practical understanding of turning poison into medicine. As a result of my own understanding of it I have found myself chanting for those I have caused similar suffering and have even remembered events I had forgotten. Chanting, and meditating upon these issues can help awaken new depths of compassion that might otherwise not have been accessed while simply trying to fix the current problem at hand.

The Buddhist Apology – Zange

Turning poison into medicine is, I feel, closely related to the practice of zange – the buddhist apology – although apology is perhaps not the best way to describe what is going on. The Japanese term zange literally translates as confession – but to who? The Buddha, the Mystic Law?

Confession in the buddhist context simply means declaring to one’s self what is true (and perhaps less than desirable) regarding our thinking and conduct.

Indeed, another Mahayana writer, Shantideva, in his Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra (Way of the Bodhisattva) devotes the whole second chapter to this spirit of self confession. We simply cannot begin to transform poison into medicine until we realise where we are going wrong and, crucially, change our thinking and not simply our behaviour.

The SGI’s Zange is something that can be worked through as one chants, and goes something like this, but I’m sure there are infinite variations:

APPRECIATION

For having the Gohonzon.
For being able to change my Karma.
For being alive at this time.
For all the people around me.
For everything being a teacher for me.

SELF-REALIZATION

Realise again that for every External cause
there is first an Internal cause.
Every hurt, anger, frustration, irritation or painful situation
that occurs to me is my responsibility and my karma.
Hendoku Iyaku – I can turn poison into medicine.
Become aware of my own internal hooks that drew such
an experience to me.
I alone am responsible for raising my life-condition.

APOLOGY

For current slander in thought, word and deed,
let me not want to do that anymore.
Daimoku of altruism – Chant for the health and well being of the person(s) involved,
and that they may deepen their faith.
Ask the Gohonzon, “What can I do to rectify the situation?”

DETERMINATION

To work harder for widespread propagation.
To create value in the areas
of family relations, school or work.

The point I’m trying to make here is that views are essentially empty of absolutes. They have to be – particularly views regarding the Buddha’s specific words. And, don’t forget, it is largely accepted that only a small part of the Lotus Sutra was recorded around the time of the Theravadan discourses and that the Sutra as we know it today dates from around the first century CE.

As with so much of this stuff – quit arguing about which teaching is supreme (dualist thinking) and get on with developing courage, compassion, wisdom, and a calm mind!

Kern (English direct from Sanskrit)

128. And when such as had heard the law of the Jinas, owing to the manysidedness of (their) skilfulness, had approached me and stood before my face, all of them with joined hands, and respectful;

129. Then I conceived the idea that the time had come for me to announce the excellent law and to reveal supreme enlightenment, for which task I had been born in the world.

130. This (event) to-day will be hard to be understood by the ignorant who imagine they see here a sign, as they are proud and dull. But the Bodhisattvas, they will listen to me.

131. And I felt free from hesitation and highly cheered; putting aside all timidity, I began speaking in the assembly of the sons of Sugata, and roused them to enlightenment.

132. On beholding such worthy sons of Buddha (I said): Thy doubts also will be removed, and these twelve hundred (disciples) of mine, free from imperfections, will all of them become Buddhas.

Bunno Kato, Yoshiro Tamura & Kojiro Miyasaka (from Kumarajiva’s Chinese translation of the Sanskrit)

When I saw the Buddha-sons
Bent on seeking the Buddha-way,
In countless thousands and myriads of kotis,
All, with reverent hearts,
Draw near to [me] the Buddha;
They had already heard from the buddhas
The Law which they tactfully explained.
Then I conceived this thought:
‘The reason why the Tathagata appears
Is for preaching the Buddha-wisdom;
Now is the very time.’
Know, Sariputra!
The stupid and those of little wit,
The tied to externals and the proud
Cannot believe this Law.
But now I am glad and fearless;
In the midst of the bodhisattvas
Frankly put aside tactfulness
And only proclaim the supreme Way.
[You] bodhisattvas hearing this Law,
Having all got rid of the nets of doubts,
[You] twelve hundred arhats
Will all become buddhas.

Burton Watson (from Kumarajiva’s Chinese translation of the Sanskrit)

When I looked at the Buddha sons,
I saw incalculable thousands, ten thousands, millions
who had determined to seek the way of the Buddha,
everyone with a respectful and reverent mind,
all coming to the place of the Buddha,
persons who in the past had listened to other Buddhas
and heard the Law preached through expedient means.
Immediately the thought came to me
that the reason the Thus Come One has appeared
is so he may preach the Buddha wisdom.
Now is precisely the time to do so.
Shariputra, you should understand
that persons of dull capacity and small wisdom,
who are attached to appearances, proud and overbearing,
are incapable of believing in this Law.
Now I, joyful and fearless,
in the midst of the bodhisattvas,
honestly discarding expedient means,
will preach only the unsurpassed Way.
When the bodhisattvas hear this Law,
they will be released from all entanglements of doubt.
The twelve hundred Arhats,
they too will all attain Buddhahood.

So what of words?

So where does this leave us? Well, the Buddha himself left some guidance on the subjective discrimination of words in the Lankavara Sutra (which of course is negated if you accept an exclusive reading of the Lotus Sutra) – from Ch33:

Said Mahamati: Again, Blessed One, (87) are words to be considered different (anya) or not-different (ananya) from discrimination?

Replied the Blessed One: Mahamati, they are neither different nor not-different. Why? Because words rise, Mahamati, with discrimination as their cause. If, Mahamati, words are different from discrimination, they cannot have it for cause. Then if they are not different, words cannot express the sense, which they do. Therefore, words and discrimination are neither different nor not-different.

Then Mahamati said: Again, Blessed One, are words themselves the highest reality? or is what is expressed in words the highest reality?

The Blessed One replied: Mahamati, words are not the highest reality, nor is what is expressed in words the highest reality. Why? Because the highest reality is an exalted state of bliss, and as it cannot be entered into by mere statements regarding it, words are not the highest reality. Mahamati, the highest reality is to be attained by the inner realisation of noble wisdom; it is not a state of word-discrimination; therefore, discrimination does not express the highest reality. And then, Mahamati, words are subject to birth and destruction; they are unsteady, mutually conditioning, and are produced by the law of causation. And again, Mahamati, what is mutually conditioning and produced by the law of causation cannot express the highest reality, because the indications [pointing to the distinction between] self and not-self are non-existent. Mahamati, words are these indications and do not express [the highest reality]. Further, Mahamati, word-discrimination cannot express the highest reality, for external objects with their multitudinous individual marks are non-existent, and only appear before us as something revealed out of Mind itself. Therefore, Mahamati, you must try to keep yourself away from the various forms of word-discrimination.

Further findings

Chapter 10

I was reviewing Ch10, variously entitled (Teacher of the law). It’s subtle, but in all translations I have seen (including Burton Watson’s), the end of the first verse section states that of all the scriptures the Buddha has preached, the Lotus is foremost. Then, at the start of the next non-verse section he makes the distinction that of all he has preached, now being preached, or will be preached, the Lotus is the hardest to understand.

Somehow this gets transmogrified in into (paraphrased) “of all I have preached, am preaching and will preach, the Lotus is foremost” – which is not what the text says at all.

QUESTION: What is the entity of Myoho-renge-kyo? Answer: All beings and their environments in any of the Ten Worlds are themselves entities of Myoho-renge-kyo.

there’re still some things that make us all the same

As Elwood says in the Blues Brothers…

And remember people, that no matter who you are, and what you do to live, thrive and survive, there’re still some things that make us all the same. You, me… them… everybody! everybody!

This first passage from the Gosho reveals the identity of the manifest Mystic Law as all beings and their environments.

One of the most difficult questions I am asked as a Nichiren Buddhist is “What is the Mystic Law, exactly”. A verbose answer might simply be to cite the Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra – the sanskrit title of the Lotus Sutra, which is translated variably as “Wonderful Law-Flower Sutra” or “The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law”. The Mystic Law refers to the nature of reality as taught in the Lotus Sutra.

However, this is not a terribly helpful reply, because it doesn’t really explain what it means in practical terms. The paradox is that the Mystic Law, being the direct wisdom of the Buddha, is incredibly hard to grasp, let alone transmit in writing, let alone translate numerous times in different languages throughout differing historical and cultural contexts.

The early chapters proclaim the Lotus Sutra as the great single vehicle of the Buddha-way, replacing the two vehicles of voice hearers (sravakas) and self enlightened ones (pratyekabuddhas), and arguably the bodhisattva vehicle (depending on the exclusivity of the reading). The core of it’s teaching reveals that the Buddha has been around a lot longer than his followers thought, and that all will [eventually] attain Buddhahood, without exception, even evil-doers and women (hurah!)

The Lotus Sutra, however, doesn’t provide specific practices beyond the reading, copying, reciting, and preaching of the Sutra after the Buddha’s passing. While the Daimoku was not strictly Nichiren’s invention, he elevated it to a supreme level, and it became the single-practice Buddhism we follow today, and is our way of propagating the Sutra, and realising the Mystic Law in our lives.

But still this only briefly explains the Law in a literary sense; what it stands for, and how we propagate and realise it. So what IS it exactly?

Saicho (the great teacher, Dengyo) aside from championing the supremacy of the Lotus in an exclusive manner also recorded the concept of “three kinds of Lotus Sutra” consisting of

1. The fundamental lotus – which represents the Buddhas true compassionate intent to lead all beings to buddhahood.
2. The hidden and secret lotus – or those teachings in which the Buddha’s intention is not outwardly revealed due to the audience.
3. The exoteric teaching that was preached and recorded as the text of the Lotus Sutra.

The Mystic Law itself is perhaps best represented as the fundamental lotus, above.

An easy trap to fall into, I think, is to view the Mystic Law as somehow conscious; that it can be persuaded to help us in return for Daimoku, or inflict retribution through our wrong-doing or slander. Western theistic thinking likes to slap a face on the Mystic Law, but this is erroneous.

The Mystic Law is not something wholly external to our own reality, but it is not wholly internal either. This Law of the Lotus Sutra essentially states that on the subtle level, all is one great Dharma. Differentiations, labels, views, and concepts are all relative to its absolute and embracing truth.

Consider a forest floor, covered in mushrooms. Anyone who has studied mushrooms, will know that the manifestation of mushrooms on the surface (Ho – appearance) is simply the results of hidden threads, or causes and conditions (Myo – Nature – Emptiness) beneath the dirt. We are like mushrooms, ignorant to the ultimate reality that our woes and fortunes depend upon incredibly subtle and intricate interwoven threads that bind us together beneath the surface of our conscious minds.

This notion of Gross (conventional existence as we understand it) and Subtle (emptiness, cause and effect, nature) when viewed as a single whole, become a threefold truth – the basis for Middle Way – Madhyamaka – thought. This posits that appearance and nature are combined to produce an entity that is fully consistent – and this is what is reflected in the Lotus Sutra.

Nagarjuna’s earlier doctrines of dependant origination and Sunyata (emptiness – that no form or non-form exists independently) bubbled through T’ien-t’ai and gave rise to the mutual possession of the Ten worlds, and presumably to the notion of original enlightenment, because if we are all interconnected, then we must all, therefore, be connected in some way to the Buddha.

I think it is incredibly important as Nichiren Buddhists to understand Sunyata (emptiness), because the whole notion of original enlightenment (that we are all inherently capable of manifesting Buddhahood) depends on an understanding of emptiness (also called void, or what the chinese saw as ‘principle’).

Ichinen Sanzen is really T’ien-t’ai’s further development of Middle Way throught, based on the true nature of all phenomenon as expressed in Ch2 of the Lotus Sutra. Along with his ten world doctrine it all got rolled it into a complex system of analysis that attempts to describe the complexity of the Mystic Law at any given moment.

So, where does this leave us? We have established that the Mystic Law is simply the ultimate (and ungraspable) reality of the Buddha’s wisdom.

So why, for example, do we say things like “reveal the power of the Mystic Law in our lives”. Like He Man and the Masters of the Universe do we, by holding the sword of Daimoku aloft, somehow invoke the power of the Castle Grayskull to do our bidding? I don’t think so.

The power of the Mystic Law is in removing our ignorance, and in doing so, helping us to fulfil our potential as bodhisattvas of the earth.

Other more esoteric elements of Nichiren Buddhism support the notion that by living one’s life in harmony with the Mystic Law, or in rhythm with the Mystic Law that material benefit will naturally manifest. Nichiren combines this idea of esho funi (oneness of self and environment) with his exclusive reading of the Lotus Sutra to predict disaster for those who do not follow his practice (earthquakes, invasion, drought, remember?) – and conversely great benefit for those who do.

While I feel that one will certainly derive suffering or benefit from an ignorance of or adherence to the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, I believe any manifest effects are simply the product of causes made.

These effects might appear Mystic, but they are simply effects which are unfathomable by us due to their causality being too subtle to fathom. I personally doubt if whether one upholds the Lotus Sutra inclusively (Nichiren Shu or Rissho Kosei-kai) or exclusively (SGI, Nichiren Shoshu), that it is going to make much difference to one’s ability to be compassionate to others, and to realise benefit in one’s life.

The goal here is to be of service to others, demonstrate compassion to those in suffering, courage towards obstacles and devils, and to promote the egalitarian spirit of Buddhism throughout the world.

I believe The Mystic Law is nothing other than the Buddha’s understanding of absolute reality. It is impossible to grasp using our gross consciousness, yet it binds and saves all beings who appreciate it’s magnificence.

No teaching from a relative standpoint (i.e. from one who is not a fully realised Buddha) can effectively transmit its import or determine a sole method of practice. To truly grasp the sublime insight of the Buddha would extinguish all hope of explaining it in conventional terms.

It is not exclusive, but embracing, and all encompassing. The practice of connecting with it is to connect with the eternal Buddha; manifesting the desire to save all beings from suffering without delusion or impediment. It reveals all skilful means as the Buddha’s infinite wisdom. It ends one’s self-imploding quest for perfection and illuminates as an eternal explosion of brilliance the Buddha’s compassion for all beings.

• Hinayana (of which the Theravada is the extant school). This term translates as Lesser Vehicle and as such can be regarded derogatory.
• Mahayana, which translates as Great Vehicle.
• Vajrayana, which translates to Diamond Vehicle or Adamantine Vehicle.

However, to classify Buddhism rigidly in this way is not always helpful. Mayahana Buddhism, which is largely attributed to Nagarjuna and the Nalanda centre of learning, is based firmly on the foundations of the Theravada (Pali canon). Likewise, Vajrayana is based on the Mahayana school.

Although Vajrayana can be viewed as an extension to the Mahayana philosophy, it is perhaps more accurately described as a delivery system for express enlightenment. Unlike the Mahayana that teaches the “path to enlightenment” through bodhicitta over many lifetimes, Vajrayana teaches the “path of the fruit” – that we inherently possess Buddha nature and that through advanced techniques we can experience the ultimate reality instantly, perhaps in a single lifetime (sound familiar?)

It is these teachings that came back to Japan with Saicho (Dengyo) early in the ninth century, which eventually lead to the formation of the Tendai. Just a few years later in 806 another monk, Kobo, returned from China and founded the True Word (Shingon) school, armed with a pile of esoteric scriptures, mandalas etc.

These instant enlightenment schools of Buddhism were around before Nichiren, so it’s hard to imagine that Nichiren could have gained a following by offering anything less that what was already being taught. But how was he going to do it?

Esoteric teachings are, as the definition goes, not public. They are transmitted directly from teacher to student, or dare I say, mentor to disciple.

This secrecy is justified for a number of reasons. The profundity of the teachings are such that without being transmitted in context, a student may misunderstand them and do mental or physical harm to himself or others. Either that, or the student will simply be unable to grasp the teaching’s intent at all. This element of esotericism is perhaps at the heart of the Shoshu priesthood’s jealous guardianship of the “Heritage of the Law” and it’s secret transmission between successive high priests.

This secret transmission within the priesthood is however a minor example of esotericism compared to the next possibility.

The Gosho, Aspiration for the Buddha Land, mentions;

In the twenty-two hundred and more years since the Buddha’s passing, and in India, China, Japan, and throughout Jambudvipa, [the Great Teacher T’ient’ai said], “Vasubandhu and Nagarjuna clearly perceived the truth in their hearts, but they did not teach it.

In Opening of the Eyes;

Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu were aware of it but did not bring it forth into the light.

In fact, these sentiments are repeated in The Votary of the Lotus Sutra Will Meet Persecution, and The Selection of the Time, On Repaying Debts of Gratitude, The Actions of the Votary of the Lotus Sutra, The Third Doctrine, Letter to Misawa and I’m sure others.

The The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon says;

How wondrous it is that, around two hundred years and more into the Latter Day of the Law, I was the first to reveal as the banner of propagation of the Lotus Sutra this great mandala that even those such as Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu, T’ien-t’ai and Miao-lo were unable to express. This mandala is in no way my invention.

But then goes on to add;

Therefore, this Gohonzon shall be called the great mandala never before known; it did not appear until more than 2,220 years after the Buddha’s passing

So, on one hand, Nichiren averts credit for the Gohonzon, admitting it is not his invention, but then seems to indicate the contrary. It might also be worth considering the phrase “Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu, T’ien-t’ai and Miao-lo were unable to express”. Were these teachers unable to express the Mandala or were they unwilling for the simple reason that the Gohonzon is so fantastical in it’s profundity that it simply didn’t suit their respective audiences?

This confusing and contradictory text certainly makes more sense if we consider the possibility that the Mandala and the Daimoku became esoteric teachings following the 1^st century when it is generally accepted that the Mahayana sutras were composed.

Then there is the whole debate regarding conferal of Gohonzons. The very fact that the various priesthoods (and the SGI) all frown upon home-made Gohonzons indicates tantric and/or esoteric leanings regarding the transmission of the Mandala.

It’s hard to imagine that Nichiren wrote down his most profound teachings for public consumption – these would have been oral transmissions with trusted disciples. The Gosho are, after all, largely letters to supporters. His remonstrations with government certainly expose the core of his arguments for supporting the Lotus Sutra, but for the deepest insight into Nichiren’s understanding I feel the answers lie not in the Gosho, but with the high priests of the various Nichiren sects.

Of course, in the Nichiren tradition it is believed that by chanting Daimoku and basing our lives on Nam Myoho Renge Kyo that we’ll overcome such sufferings through the power of the Mystic Law. For the purposes of investigation it can’t hurt to look down once in a while from the top of the treasure tower of the Buddha’s teachings and regard the very foundations upon which they were built – foundations that are sadly not talked about very much in the SGI.

The sufferings (Skt. Dukkha) of samsara (birth, old age, sickness and death) come generally in three flavours, and are outlined in the first of the Four Noble Truths – that of True Suffering.

The suffering of suffering

This is the suffering that seems to pervade much of the so called third world today, but we have all experienced it. This could be called the suffering of the five aggregates – it is what we perceive as physical discomfort via our five sense organs. Sores, legions or injuries to skin, flesh and bone, foul smells, tinitus, vile flavours, the pain of listening to loud noises, horrifying sights, hunger and thirst (in the physical sense) and a million other aches and pains, including haemorrhoids – these are all this first kind of suffering.

This level of suffering does not require an ego (a powerful sense of “I”), and is shared throughout the animal kingdom. No living being wishes to endure unpleasant pain (we’ll skip the chapter on sadomasochists for now). This kind of suffering is the substantial cause for the creation of activities designed to expedite the avoidance or aversion of the same.

The suffering of change

In other words, Who moved my cheese? (I’ve not read the book by the way). It’s amazing how many Buddhist concepts have been remixed and re-presented in a more palatable form for the western audience. But I digress.

It’s hard to imagine a mouse would actually conceptualise this thought had it been feeding on cheese that was left in the same locations for a period of time, and then suddenly removed. The mouse would have no sense of indignation (how dare they), anger (who the hell did this?) or despair (we’re all going to die) – only a sense that it needs to find more cheese from somewhere; anywhere. The mouse is not hindered by an inflated ego. This is, I wager, as least part of the above book’s lesson.

The suffering of change is something we in the west are all too familiar with, and yet the vast majority of us remain totally blind to it. Money, and material facility, it could be said, is the cheese of the westerner.

Consider Mr Dick Thrust, a classic type A personality. He feels he is dynamic, an achiever; he ducks and dives in amongst the rapidly and constantly changing world to earn enough money for his new sports car. Upon winning his new trophy, he cruises in it, polishes it, and loves the attention it gets him from people who are impressed by such things. After a couple of weeks, fewer people admire his acquisition. After a few months the car is totally taken for granted by friends and colleagues, and Dick starts to feel less valued. After a year and oh no, there is a newer, lighter, faster version of the sports car about to go on sale!

What Dick has experienced, like the mice, is the suffering of change. There are of course other more mundane examples that we cannot avoid, such as the death of a loved one. People inevitably grow old, become ill and die (or are killed before their natural time is up). Despite this knowledge, we nearly all suffer terrible grief when we lose a loved one. This, again, is the suffering of change.

The truth of impermanence is our weapon against this kind of suffering. All phenomena are empty of intrinsic existence. They come into being as the result of various causes and conditions, and they may flourish for a time, but sooner or later they decrease, degrade, and fade back into universe. This is the natural way of things, and by meditating upon this truth, we can lessen our harmful attachment to phenomena and to our sense of self, or “I”.

All pervasive suffering

This is the daddy, the big kahuna burger of suffering. The actions we take to avoid the first two kinds of suffering create our Karma – our habitual patterns of behaviour and thinking. Our lesser, or impure self has a habit of making causes based on delusion and ignorance. This is not good, because the effects of those causes (consistency from beginning to end) can only be in the same vein, and the latent effects of those causes is stored in back in our Karma. It’s like spiralling downward into hell. Jolly, eh?

When we realize that our tainted aggregates (five senses and consciousness) are the cause of our suffering, we might consider escape through suicide. For a Christian, or, ironically, a scientist, that would be the end of it in terms of this world. However, according to the Buddhist viewpoint, our deepest consciousness (Karma) is eternal. We’ll just be back again in another tainted body, hauling our huge shitty sack of Karma behind us.

Karma is our deepest level of consciousness, and the big problem is that our Karma clouds our judgement and, without corrective action, will cause us to go on making bad causes in our futile attempt to avoid suffering. To truly minimise (we’ll never eliminate it while alive) our suffering, we must rid ourselves of the fundamental darkness in our lives that is our ignorance and delusion.

Anger, arrogance, pride, greed etc, all these emotions are the causes of all-pervasive suffering. They are caused not by our aggregates, but by our ego, and our ego is driven by our Karma. These emotions are the result of our attachment to things we wrongly feel are eternal (the joy of owning a new car, for example), but which are not.

Luckily, we can affect our Karma in a positive way – enlightenment can be achieved through many practices, according to the capacity of the individual. In Nichiren Buddhism it is believed that rather than through introspection and meditation on doctrines such as impermanence and emptiness, the Karma is most effectively polished clean through the recitation of one’s devotion to the Lotus Sutra – Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Personally I am happy that both have a role to play, but that’s a subject for another day.

So, Nichiren’s line regarding “Desires are enlightenment” would appear true in the sense that the desire to end suffering will eventually lead one to enlightenment. Even Daisaku Ikeda has said;

I believe in the existence of another kind of human desire: I call it the basic desire, and I believe that it is the force that actively propels all other human desires in the direction of creativity.

So, perhaps the basic desire he alludes to is the fundamental desire to end suffering for all beings. This basic desire perhaps equates to the concept of Bodhicitta, the driving force behind the motivations of those on the Bodhisattva path.

However, I start to lose the plot a little when “Desires are enlightenment” is applied to our impure desires; those that are based upon our various mental afflictions. It is explained in the Gosho background, thus:

Nichiren Daishonin teaches that, when one bases one’s life on Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, earthly desires work naturally for one’s own and others’ happiness.

This, I feel, might lead one to imagine that as long as he/she is chanting thousands of Daimoku a day that the desire for that new TV, that job, or the desire to pass an exam are all perfectly legitimate fodder for the great transformation machine of the Law.

This one single major misunderstanding is perhaps responsible for the materialist and misguided notions of Nichiren Buddhism that still exist to this day in some areas. In effect, a syllogistic shortcut has been perpetuated, made possible due to a blind reliance on some Mystic Law that will “make it alright”.

Some cars are fast; speed kills; therefore fast cars kill you. The conclusion is only true when the car is driven fast. Or to put it another way, desires create suffering, suffering leads to enlightenment, therefore desires are enlightenment. So, if you mistakenly think that your sullied, and impure desires are going to help you experience nirvana without the necessity of traversing suffering, think again!

The Gosho says;

These are also the two elements of reality and wisdom. Many Treasures is reality; Shakyamuni is wisdom. It is the enlightenment that reality and wisdom are two, and yet they are not two.

Reality here represents the Madhyamaka school’s view of emptiness – the true nature of all phenomena, and wisdom here represents the compassion to share this understanding. The Gosho goes on to say;

Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo during the physical union of man and woman is indeed what is called “earthly desires are enlightenment,” and “the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana.” “The sufferings of birth and death are nirvana” exists only in realizing that the entity of life throughout its cycle of birth and death is neither born nor destroyed.

This is just such a funky passage, it makes me smile. Chanting Daimoku with my wife during sex might raise an eyebrow, but sounds like a wild party.

Orgasm is a fascinating state of mind. Indeed, the French have a term for orgasm, la petite mort – meaning little death. In a way, when we experience orgasm with someone we truly love, then all other matters of the world dissolve, even if only for a moment. In that state we are left in perfect bliss, knowing no other desire or fear or anguish or jealousy or delusion – we are singularly focussed on expressing our deepest connection with another human being. It is a nirvana-like state, and perhaps is how one should enter death, so the French may have a point!

But the Gosho passage goes on to state that the true absorption of “The sufferings of birth and death are nirvana” only exists through an understanding that the [true] entity of life throughout its cycle of birth and death is neither born nor destroyed. Here Nichiren alludes to dependant arising – that all phenomena (including us) are essentially empty of independent existence, and are merely the temporary manifestations of various causes and conditions.

It is this understanding of emptiness – of interconnectedness – that gives rise to compassion for other beings. When we harm another, we harm ourselves. Only when we investigate and begin to understand these concepts can we begin to practice a more mindful existence.

And when we can begin to practice mindfulness, then we can begin to create desires based on bodhicitta (a desire to benefit others) – desires that do not create suffering (or very little!), but instead happiness. In effect, enlightenment actually leads to us creating better earthly desires!

This reverse relationship makes a lot of sense. Indeed, Nichiren said “Earthly desires are enlightenment” – he didn’t say “Earthly desires lead to enlightenment” – a subtle difference which implies the understanding that just as earthly desires do eventually (via suffering) lead to enlightenment, then so too can enlightenment lead to desires based upon bodhicitta rather than delusion.

Please work to understand the logic behind this statement, and that no matter how much you chant, if you are unfortunate enough to make impure causes through your desires, then you’re still gonna suffer.

Only the ship of Myoho-renge-kyo enables one to cross the sea of the sufferings of birth and death.

One of the things I find hardest to accept is the Daishonin’s complete refusal to accept any other Sutras as being of any value. He’s not just saying that Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo is the express lane to revealing your own buddhahood – he is saying it’s the ONLY way. In this Gosho, the Universal Salty Taste is likened to the truth of the Mystic Law revealed in the Lotus Sutra.

The six flavours

Nichiren begins by describing the six flavours (subtle [savoury?], salty, pungency, sourness, sweetness and bitterness). He goes on to state that even to prepare a meal that employed a hundred flavours, if it lacked the addition of salt then it would not be fit for a king.

It is interesting that Nichiren chooses to say a hundred flavours, as this is the number of the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds that go to make up Ichinen Sanzen. Without the salt, or in this case, the world of Buddhahood, then Ten Worlds would have no great purpose. Life would become a painful austerity without any hope of freedom from the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death.

The eight mysterious qualities of the ocean

Nichiren characterises the ocean – the storehouse of the salty taste – in eight ways:

• It gradually becomes deeper
• Becomming deeper, its bottom is hard to fathom
• Its salty taste is the same everywhere
• Its ebb and flow follows certain rules
• It contains various treasure storehouses
• Creatured of great size dwell in it
• It refuses to store corpses
• It takes in all rivers and heavy rainfall without changing size

At this point Nichiren takes the following passage from Chapter 39 of the Nirvana Sutra:

O good man! It is the same with the Great Nirvana Sutra, which is inconceivable. For example, this is as with the eight things which are inconceivable. What are the eight? They are: 1) by degrees the deepness increases; 2) it is deep and the bottom is difficult to gain; 3) sameness obtains as in the case of the salty taste [of the ocean, which is everywhere salty]; 4) the tide does not exceed the boundary line; 5) there are various storehouses of treasure; 6) a great-bodied being lives therein; 7) no dead bodies are to be found there; 8) all rivers and great rains flow in, but the volume of water neither increases nor decreases.

and asserts that they apply to the Lotus Sutra, and not the Nirvana Sutra, where they are clearly written.

It gradually becomes deeper – Nichiren then goes on to use the above passages to explain how the Lotus Sutra leads all people to Budhahood, regardless of their capacity for understanding.

Becoming deeper, its bottom is hard to fathom – the Lotus Sutra can only be understood and shared between Buddhas. This explains one of the essential aspects of the Lotus Sutra in that it cannot be fully understood by our wakeful consciousness. That is to say, that to believe the Lotus Sutra is not so much an act of studying, consciously assimilating, and benefiting from practices – but one of faith.

Its salty taste is the same everywhere – Here, Nichiren compares all rivers, which contain no salt, to all sutras other than the Lotus, which offer no way to attain enlightenment. However, the Nirvana Sutra only refers to the salty taste of the ocean as being uniform – All beings possess the Buddha Nature and ride in one vehicle. That is to say, that there is one Emancipation. It doesn’t come in different flavours. The Nirvana Sutra is not saying that all other teachings are worthless – just that there is only one state of Buddhahood. This vexes me. Also, it is the function of the rivers to carry minerals, including salt, into the oceans. So, without them, there could be no ocean.

Its ebb and flow follows certain rules – Nichiren asserts upholders of the Mystic Law who even though they were to lose their lives would attain the stage of non-regression. The Nirvana Sutra’s the tide does not exceed the boundary line seems to have been inverted to mean the tide does not recede past a certain point. The Nirvana Sutra actually states with regard the ebb and flow:

Fourth, the tide does not cross the boundary line. In this, many prohibitions suppress the bhiksus (Buddhist monks). There are eight impure things which they must not keep. It is as when stated that my disciple well upholds, recites, copies, expounds and discriminates this all-wonderful Great Nirvana Sutra and that he does not transgress against it, even if it meant losing his life. That is why we say that the tide does not overstep the boundary line.

This means that those stood on the shore must come to the emancipation of the Law by upholding, reciting, copying, expounding etc. The ocean will not come to them, because Buddhahood is eternal and unchanging – it does not come to those who do not carry out the practices listed.

It contains various treasure storehouses – Nichiren cites countless practices and good deeds of all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, and the blessings of the various paramitas being contained in the Mystic Law. Again, the Nirvana Sutra contains a somewhat more verbose list of benefits including the Eightfold Path.

Creatures of great size dwell in it – here Nichiren’s description appears to fit more easily with the Nirvana Sutra by stating that the Buddhas’ and Bodhisattvas’ great bodies, great aspiring minds, great distinguishing features, great evilconquering force, great preaching, great authority, great transcendental powers, great compassion, and great pity all arise naturally from the Lotus Sutra. The nirvana Sutra says unhindered, of the fact that all beings are taken in, meaning that all the great acts of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are manifestations of Buddha Nature.

It refuses to store corpses – Nichiren says here that with the Lotus Sutra one can free oneself for all eternity from slander and incorrigible disbelief. The Nirvana Sutra says however:

The dead body is none other than the icchantika, the four grave offences, the five deadly sins, slandering the vaipulya, delivering sermons wrongly or unlawfully. The person stores up the eight impure things; he wilfully uses what belongs to the Buddha and the Sangha; he does what is unlawful [i.e. against Dharma] in the presence of the bhiksus and bhiksunis [monks and nuns]. These are the dead bodies. The Great Nirvana Sutra is away from any such. That is why we say that there remains no dead body there.

Again, the Nirvana Sutra is worded in such a way as to imply that the Nirvana does not comprise those things classified above as dead bodies. Nichiren, applying this text to the Lotus Sutra puts a more positive spin on it, implying the Lotus Sutra doesn’t simply remain pure of dead bodies, but also offers one the facility to free oneself from the practices that would otherwise prevent emancipation.

It takes in all rivers and heavy rainfall without changing size – Buddhahood is boundless. Nichiren uses the word Universality. The Nirvana describes it as no beginning and no end, being non-form, non-action, being Eternal, not being born, and not dying. It is this essentially empty nature of Buddhahood that makes it infinite in its reach – thus Universal in nature. As we have already found, Buddha nature exists in all phenomena.

A tub of brine

Nichiren then begins to examine what it means to slander, persecute or otherwise harm a votary of the Lotus Sutra. He uses the example of the brine in a jar of pickles. Although trapped in the jar, the brine will ebb and flow in concert with the ebb and flow of the ocean. Therefore to condemn one who upholds the Lotus Sutra is the same as condemning the Thus Come One Shakyamuni himself.

The final passage implies that Nichiren was undergoing great persecution at the time, as he asks when the ten demon daughters will fulfil their promise (made in chapter 26 of the Lotus Sutra) to split the head of one who persecutes a follower of the Lotus into seven pieces. He goes on to cite Ajatashatru as an example of this kind of retribution who broke out in sores after imprisoning King Bimbisara.

Conclusions

I am really clueless as to how these passages from the Nirvana have found their way into this Gosho. While I can understand his use of the Metaphor’s in the Nirvana Sutra, his decision to commandeer something clearly written in another Sutra confuses me, particularly when his later criticism and analysis of other texts is so detailed and painstaking.

I’m placing this critique here so I can refer back to it at a later time.

The picture I have chosen to introduce this article is a three dimensional fractal. Hopefully it can demonstrate how a simple universal truth (in this case, a mathematical construct) can give rise to all the beauty and complexity we perceive as reality. Ichinen Sanzen is the Buddhist theory that describes that reality.

Despite having written at length regarding the Ten Worlds, the Ten Factors and Three Realms, it is almost inevitable that my words alone will only have provided the briefest overview of the theoretical components that  together form the theory of Ichinen Sanzen – three thousand realms in a single moment of life.

There are many discourses that serve to explain Ichinen Sanzen by way of a posthumous analysis of various situations and events. You must have read them – e.g. Peter got out of bed, made breakfast, received a letter through the door that turned out to be his divorce papers – and then follows a detailed description of how each moment of this sequence of events relates to the Ten Worlds, Ten Factors and Three Realms.

This kind of thought exercise is all well and good, but in doing so, we are only deriving a self satisfied theoretical understanding of what might have been Peter’s Ichinen Sanzen, without any practical benefit or method of observing or influencing it in real time in our own lives.

For example, with spanners, and screwdrivers you might strip down an aeroplane to its constituent parts, but staring at the thousands of bits and pieces for a lifetime will bring you no nearer to being able to fly safely from A to B or to understanding the theory of flight.

Just like the Ten Worlds, Ten Factors, and Three Realms, in and of itself Ichinen Sanzen doesn’t provide us with the mechanism for applying mindfulness in daily life. Now let’s begin exploring how Nichiren Daishonin incorporated it into our daily practice.

Theoretical Ichinen Sanzen

The theory of Ichinen Sanzen arguably first came into being in China when Chih-i (538-597 CE), the great Buddhist philosopher of the Madhyamaka, set forth on systematising the Buddhist teachings from India. Despite being the fourth patriarch of the T’ien-t’ai school of Buddhism, Chih-i is generally accepted as the de-facto founder of that school. He is often referred to simply as the great teacher T’ien-t’ai.

Chih-i of the T'ien-t'ai school

In his work, Chih-i had to overcome the negative and nihilistic dialects that earlier Indian teachers such as Nagarjuna used, and instead prepared his material using more positive language that was preferred by the Chinese. Ichinen Sanzen effectively arose from the concepts of dependant origination (cause and effect), emptiness (nature) and impermanence (appearance).

Chih-i interpreted Nagarjuna’s teachings on the nature of emptiness from a different perspective. Chih-i taught that emptiness (nature) and impermanence (appearance) are merely two aspects of the ultimate truth – the middle way. Indeed, Chih-i taught there is no other reality than the middle way (the world we experience).

So, while both Chih-i and Nagarjuna viewed the ultimate truth of all phenomenon as enlightenment, it was Chih-i who explained this in terms of all phenomena being in harmony with one another, and perfectly integrated – at least in language that we would understand more readily.

This harmony and integration gives rise to the concept of mutual possession, which is essentially an expansion of dependent origination. Mutual possession, as we have already covered gives rise to the unavoidable logical conclusion that Buddha is all phenomena, including you and I – that emptiness itself is Buddhahood.

I’m not sure if Great Concentration and Insight is where Chih-i first elucidated the theoretical Ichinen Sanzen, but here it appears thus:

A mind by nature contains ten worlds of living beings. Since these ten worlds contain one another, there exist 100 worlds in one mind. Furthermore, each of these 100 worlds consists of “three realms,” that is to say, living beings, the land on which they live, and the five aggregates of living beings. They also possesses “ten factors”. Thus, 30 modes of existence are in one world and 3,000 modes of existence are in 100 worlds. In short, 3,000 modes of existence are contained in the mind at any given moment. When there is mind, even for a momentary flash, 3,000 modes of existence are in it… Thus a mind is unfathomable.

And there is the crux of the issue – the mind is unfathomable! So, what’s the point of Ichinen Sanzen if all it really concludes is that the mind is unfathomable?

Of cats trapped in boxes

Although it is often written that the number of three thousand realms is specific and not arbitrary, this is true only insofar that it comprises the theories of its component parts (which we have already covered). For example, if one were to treat the first of the three realms (the five components) verbosely, then we might truly be looking at several thousand realms.

What if one formulated other divisions within the realm of society or environment, for example, or indeed if the Avatamsaka Sutra (Flower Garland) had depicted eighteen Dharma Realms instead of ten, then future theories would quite rightly have derived an even higher number of realms in a single life moment.

The point I’m trying to make is that the specific number of three thousand is not pivotal in the practical application of Ichinen Sanzen – it has only theoretical relevance in serving to demonstrate that our unenlightened seventh consciousness (our waking self) has no hope of grasping, from moment to moment, the innermost workings of our mind.

Schrodinger's Cat in a Box Experiment

Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935 devised a thought experiment in which a cat was placed into a box along with aparatus designed to release poisonous gas upon the decay of a single atom of a radioactive element. Of course, the experiment was only theoretical, but it demonstrated perfectly the inability of the observer to determine the state of what is essentially a dynamic quantum system.

The difference between the cat’s experience and the external observer’s experience (from a relational interpretation of the system) parallels the difference between how our Buddhahood or ninth consciousness, and our ego, or seventh consciousness both perceive our phenomenal being.

To the observer of the box (or in other words, to the conscious ego attempting to observe the mind) the cat’s state is indeterminate – and just as the cat is simultaneously both dead and alive, so our mind simultaneously comprises three thousand realms.

It is this superposition of states that we simply cannot observe until the box is opened. Of course, the cat in the box (representing our Buddhahood) knows full well whether it is alive or dead. This extends my metaphor whereby to grasp the true state of our life at any moment is only possible from our enlightened state, or Buddhahood.

The final passage demonstrates clearly what Chih-i was trying to explain:

When there is mind, even for a momentary flash, 3,000 modes of existence are in it… Thus a mind is unfathomable.

The reason for this slight detour is really to demonstrate both the profundity of Ichinen Sanzen as a theory, but also how it is useless in any practical sense without a further framework of daily practice (whatever that is) or meditation in order to connect our lives with it at a deeper level.

The process of connecting our seventh consciousness to our Buddhastate is the act of observing the mind (the practice of mindfulness). Prior to Nichiren Daishonin, this was only to be achieved by following strict meditative practices such as those outlined in T’ien-t’ai’s Great Concentration and Insight.

Of course, the Buddha achieved actual observation of the mind when he attained enlightenment in the inconceivable past. In the Juryo (Life Span) 16^th Chapter of the Essential Teaching of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha expounded the Three Mystic Principles, which were True Cause (the Buddha’s practice that lead him to enlightenment), True Effect (the Buddha’s enlightenment), and True Land (the place where the Buddha had been expounding his teachings since his original attainment of enlightenment.). We learn from this that all phenomena express Ichinen sanzen and can therefore possess Buddhahood. This is actual Ichinen Sanzen from the standpoint of Shakyamuni’s Buddhism, but is still inaccessible to the people in the Latter Day, and therefore from the standpoint of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism remains, prima facie, theoretical.

Nichiren believed that these methods for obtaining enlightenment did not fit the time, nor the capacity of the people, and he strove to develop a path more accessible to the people of the Latter Day of the Law.

Nichiren Daishonin’s actual Ichinen Sanzen

The Daishonin tells us in the Gosho The Opening of the Eyes:

The principle of Ichinen sanzen begins with an understanding of the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds or states of existence.

To the people of Japan at the time, these concepts were incredibly difficult to believe and difficult to understand. Buddha’s were directly worshipped by many, and were believed to exist in various Buddha lands, rather like the Christian God, sat in heaven. Thus the Lotus Sutra became marginalised as many schools believed people could not attain enlightenment or benefit from it.

The Opening of the Eyes is an important Gosho in that it also establishes Nichiren, based on the persecution he suffered as the foremost votary of the Lotus Sutra, as the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law; or in other terms, the object of devotion in terms of the person.

Nichiren later went on to write The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind. In it, he expresses the object of devotion for observing the mind in terms of the Law as none other than the five characters of Myoho Renge Kyo.

Shakyamuni’s practices and the virtues he consequently attained are all contained within the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo. If we believe in these five characters, we will naturally be granted the same benefits as he was.

So, where does this assertion come from? In the Gosho A Sage and an Unenlightened Man, Nichiren cites a passage in the ‘Dharani’ chapter in the eighth volume of the Lotus Sutra, where the Buddha says to the mother of demon children,

If you can shield and guard those who accept and uphold the mere name of the Lotus Sutra, your merit will be immeasurable.

In The Origin of the Service for Deceased Ancestors, Nichiren states:

At the eight-year assembly on Eagle Peak, he [Maudgalyayana] embraced the Lotus Sutra and chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and became Tamalapattra Sandalwood Fragrance Buddha.

Nichiren repeatedly uses simile and metaphor to explain why the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra is very powerful, and how embracing the Daimoku brings benefit equal to that of embracing and reciting the entire Sutra. These are Nichiren Daishonin’s (as the Buddha of the Latter Day) assertions and deductions, and generally do not verbosely appear in the Lotus Sutra itself.

So, by chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, we bring forth within our lives the wisdom of the Buddha. This practice elevates our default life condition bit by bit; it changes our Karma from one where the endless cycle of creating the causes and experiencing the effects of our negative thinking can be transformed into the indestructible freedom of wisdom, compassion and happiness.

In his limitless compassion for the people, Nichiren went on to inscribe the Gohonzon, the visual representation of Buddhahood as the focus for our practice of “Observing the Mind”, or becoming enlightened to our Ichinen Sanzen. In Reply to Kyo’o, Nichiren writes,

I, Nichiren, have inscribed my life in sumi ink, so believe in the Gohonzon with your whole heart. The Buddha’s will is the Lotus Sutra, but the soul of Nichiren is nothing other than Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Down the centre Nam Myoho Renge Kyo represents the oneness of the Person and the Law. This illuminates to the left and right the various forces and influences in life, both positive and negative, that all existence possesses; thus depicting the mutual possession of all Dharma realms within the state of Buddhahood.

The Gohonzon is the Mandala Nichiren inscribed for all humanity. The Gohonzon is the clear mirror, in which we can view the reality of our own entity. The Gohonzon’s properties to help us view our Buddhahood are no different from a mirror’s ability to show us our reflection. It has no intrinsic power of its own beyond this facility. This isn’t to diminish in any way its beauty or importance to our practice.

This is reinforced in the Gosho The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon,

Never seek this Gohonzon outside yourself. The Gohonzon exists only within the mortal flesh of us ordinary people who embrace the Lotus Sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo

It is this very instruction from Nichiren which seems to have been forgotten over time by the priesthood of Nichiren Shoshu. The Gohonzon is NOT an occult talisman, lucky charm or other juju. It is NOT a rabbit’s foot!

The Dai Gohonzon holds no more power to reflect our Buddhahood than the copy (and it is a copy, let’s not forget that) in my Butsudan. In terms of the Threefold Truth, the Gohonzon’s appearance is the beautiful paper scroll printed with Nichiren’s inscriptions – the nature of the Gohonzon is to connect us with our Buddhahood and our Ichinen Sanzen when we chant before it with firm faith in the power of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.