REVEREND SHUDO SUGANO
REFERENCE: THE MAJOR WRITINGS OF NICHIREN DAISHONIN, VOLUME
TWO
Page 239 2nd line from the bottom to 241, 2nd line from top.
Now, let me continue to examine the Gosho, "Hell and Buddhahood", which I just read.
At, the last Gosho lecture, I talked to you about the fact that there are no essential differences between the Buddha and the common man. The only difference is whether one can take faith in and practice the True Law of Nam- Myoho-Renge-Kyo or not. In other words, it all depends upon whether one can realize that his life is Myoho-Renge-Kyo and manifest his Buddha nature in his daily life in accordance with the Daishonin's True Buddhism, which is the practice of Nam-Myoho- Renge-Kyo.
If we cannot, or continue to think that we are bearers of original sin, or something else, we are deluded. We suffer and will continue to suffer and we are called a common mortal. But if we understand that our life and all life in the universe is called Myoho-Renge-Kyo, we will be able to obtain the way to overcome each suffering. When we can do this, we are called a Buddha. When we gain Buddhahood in this lifetime, we will be able to carry the benefit of it into death. Further, the benefit of Buddhahood realized this lifetime we take into the next life as a theory that enables us to meet Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo again.
This is the meaning and implication of the profound doctrine of sokushin jobutsu, or attaining enlightenment as a common mortal. How do we become aware that our lives are Myoho-Renge-Kyo and manifest our Buddhahood in daily life? Only through embracing the Lotus Sutra, which is precisely the True Law of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, and practicing it exactly as the Daishonin instructed.
What happens when we do this? The Daishonin answers this question when he tells us what we will realize. He says we will realize that:
"Neither the pure land nor hell exists outside ourselves; both lie within our own hearts. Awakened to this truth, one is called a Buddha; deluded about it, he is a common mortal. The Lotus Sutra awakens us to this reality, and one who embraces the Lotus Sutra will find that hell is itself the enlightened land"
As a conclusion, one who can embrace Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo in his heart and practice it can be called a Buddha, or one at the stage of Buddhahood.
One who cannot embrace Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo will not be able to manifest his Buddha nature in his daily life at all. In other words, he will never escape from his sufferings if he does not know, rejects or turns against the True Law of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. Nothing will help him except the Daishonin's Buddhism. Even though he may practice various teachings for countless lifetimes, he will fall into hell this lifetime and continue to fall into hell lifetime after lifetime.
These are not only the Daishonin's words. As this Gosho indicates, these are also the word of Shakyamuni and his many emanations, as well as Taho's. They use a comparison to describe the existence of those who practice provisional teachings and those who cannot embrace the Lotus Sutra:
"To practice the provisional teachings is to be like a man scorched by fire who enters deeper and deeper into the flames, or like a drowning man sinking to the bottom of the deep water. Not to embrace the Lotus Sutra is like jumping into fire or water."
Comparison and metaphor are used here, but you yourself can understand its meaning by thinking about the people you know in everyday life. Each disappointment hurts them. Each insult is something from which they cannot recover. They have no way to understand their lives and they suffer as the "hurt and insulted of this earth". They may practice many different Kinds of teachings, but as the comparison indicated -- -- they are like men scorched by fire who enter deeper and deeper into the flames, or they are like drowning men, sinking finally to the bottom of deep waters.
There is no escape for such people.Provisional teachings only take them further and further away from the truth of their lives. They live a tortured existence this lifetime and die as common mortals. In contrast, one who realizes that he is a potential Buddha, and practices the way to manifest it in his daily life by embracing and practicing Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, is a Buddha. Embracing Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo and correctly practicing it helps us change bitter situations into benefit and gives us the wisdom to make the right causes now that shape our future.
I really want to stress the importance of rejecting provisional teachings which reveal only partial truths about life and the universe. They cannot help you manifest your Buddha nature in your daily life. To make it worse, you accumulate bad causes for your future life. If we correctly embrace the Daishonin's teachings, we can understand that Buddhahood is in the depths of our hearts and we can endure to manifest it in our daily lives. This is the true meaning of "sokushin jobutsu", or attaining enlightenment as a common mortal.
Now you might say: "Reverend Sugano, how can you say Buddhahood exists in the human heart. It seems to me that human beings are always deluded by their ignorance, greed and stupidity. In other words, human beings are always suffering from something. Consequently, I don't believe we will be able to act as Buddhas everyday."
But I want to assure you, indeed, Buddhahood exists in the depths of our hearts; and I want you to think about what a Buddha, or Buddhahood is. Then perhaps you will be convinced that this is so. To help convince you, I would like to draw a profile of a Buddha in accordance with the sutras. In the sutra, there are ten honorable titles of the Buddha that indicate the great power, wisdom, virtue and competence that are unique to the state of Buddhahood. In the general sense, it is said that the Buddha masters all laws and the ultimate reality of life so that he stands on the supreme state of Buddhahood, which is a life condition of perfect and absolute freedom.
However, that is not enough. So I will draw you a profile from the ten honorable titles of the Buddha.
The first title is "Nyorai" which literally means, "One Who Has Come From The World of Truth". This title signifies that the Buddha embodies the fundamental truth of all phenomena and has grasped the law of cause and effect which permeates past, present and future.
The second title is "Ogu", which means "One Who Is Qualified to Receive Offering From the People".
The third is "Shohenchi", which signifies "One Endowed With All-encompassing Perfect Wisdom and Who Comprehends All Phenomena Equally and Correctly". In other words, he knows everything perfectly.
The fourth is "Myogyosoku", which means "one who Sees the Truth and follows the Way Satisfactorily So That He Can Benefit Others".
Fifth is "Zenzei", which means, "One Who Has Freed Himself From Illusion with Wisdom and Reached the State of Buddhahood Through His Practice of the Eightfold Path". In other words, he knows how he is going to arrive at the world of enlightenment.
The sixth is "Sekinge", which means, "One Who Understands All Secular and Religious Affairs".
Seventh is "Mujoshi", which means, "One Who is Unsurpassed by Anyone Else". In other words, he stands supreme among all people.
Eighth is "Jogojobu", which means, "One who Instructs and Leads All People to Enlightenment".
Ninth is "Tenninshi", which means, "One Who Is Able to Guide All People to Their Teacher".
Tenth and last is "Butsu-Seson", or Buddha, which means, "One Who is an Awakened One, Endowed With Perfect Wisdom and Virtue", and he is honored by all people in the world.
This is the summary of the ten honorable titles of the Buddha. Of course there are many more and the explanations vary according to different writings. Generally, the most familiar title for us is the tenth one, "Butsu- Seson", but now you know that the Buddha possess nine other powers, roles and wisdom.
In this sense, Buddha seems to surpass other ordinary people; and you probably have lost your confidence to become a Buddha, haven't you? Well, don't be discouraged. Please assert yourself. You still have the potential to manifest your Buddhahood in the real world.
Why can I say this? I can say this because Buddhism reveals the doctrine of the Mutual Possession of the Ten Worlds. You probably know about the Ten Worlds which indicate ten different life conditions which we experience. The implication of the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds is that every individual can bring forth the Buddha nature dormant within the illusions of the nine worlds. When he does this he reforms the basis of his life. Please remember, the ultimate goal of our Buddhist practice is to elevate our basic life-tendency and establish the supreme state of Buddhahood as the foundation of our lives.
According to the doctrine of the mutual possession of the ten worlds, we firmly understand that Buddhahood, along with the other nine worlds, exists in the depths of our life. The process of enduring everything to make Buddhahood our life-tendency is living the profound doctrine of "sokushin jobutsu", or attaining enlightenment as a common mortal. Now, I will give you some examples for your affirmation regarding this process.
You may frequently feel rage, greed and foolishness. But you may also sometimes feel tranquility and joy. Where do these differing feelings come from? They flow from the same heart, but each feeling is expressed in response to different situations. Still, we can express our highest life condition in spite of the lower ones. I am saying that we can precisely manifest Buddhahood, which is the highest life condition in spite of the lowest life condition of Hell. Be convinced that you have the possibility to manifest Buddhahood without fail. It all depends upon whether you are aware of your Buddhahood or not.
If you are aware of the existence of your Buddha nature, you will be able to endure the pull of the lower worlds and you will be able to manifest Buddhahood in your daily life. This is why Buddhism stresses the importance of being aware of our Buddha nature and enduring to express it through Buddhist practice. In other words, if you only feel the low life-condition, but don't know how to manifest your Buddha nature, you are not fully aware that you have it. Here is the importance of possessing a practice that gives us awareness and the way to manifest the highest life condition.
"Awareness" and the "Way" come through embracing the True Law of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo and practicing it exactly as it was handed down from the Daishonin. If we can do this, we can obtain wisdom and one of the ten titles of the Buddha; and we can employ one of his powers to gain absolute wisdom and virtue which enables us to live wisely and well.
In contrast, if we act against the True teaching, or are in discord with it, we will not, only be unable to realize the existence of Buddhahood in the depths of our life, but we will fall further and further into incessant suffering as well. This is a terrible fate.
Therefore, the Daishonin admonishes us against taking faith in provisional teachings and following their doomed leaders through a quotation from the Lotus Sutra. The fate of a person who follows these provisional teachings and leaders is as follows:
"After he dies, he will fall into the hell of incessant sufferings. [After one aeon he will be reborn only to fall back into hell, and] he will go through this cycle for countless aeons."
In other words, such a person will never realize the highest life condition, which is Buddhahood - and further, he will not be able to escape from the lower life-conditions. The True Teaching is Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, which signifies the ultimate law of all phenomena and the entity of all life. If we embrace and practice it exactly as the Daishonin teaches us, we will be able to attain enlightenment as a common mortal within this lifetime. We can obtain the wisdom and Buddha's power which enables us to change suffering into pleasure and transform our lower life condition into the highest life-condition. We will be able to make the best decisions to solve our problems and take the best alternatives in our daily lives.
You could not remain "the hurt and insulted of this earth". Instead you will learn to live wisely and well. In other words, we will manifest our life tendency as Buddhas in our daily lives. This is the true intention of the doctrine of "sokushin jobutsu", or attaining enlightenment as a common mortal. Therefore, it can be said that there is no essential difference between the Buddha and the common mortal. It can also be said that neither the pure land nor hell exists outside ourselves; both lie within our own hearts. Awakened to this truth, one is called a Buddha; deluded about it, he is a common mortal.
In conclusion of today's lecture, I urge you to take faith in the supreme teaching and reject provisional ones. Practice it correctly in accordance with the Daishonin's instructions so you can realize the existence of your own Buddha nature and manifest it in you daily lives. The supreme teaching is Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. The correct practice is chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo to the Gohonzon. If you take faith in this sincerely and practice it correctly in accordance with the Daishonin's directions, you will be able to manifest your Buddha nature in you daily life without fail.
Finally, I would like to add something regarding the characteristics of Buddha. As I mentioned earlier, through the ten honorable titles of the Buddha, you can probably imagine the Buddha's power, wisdom and role.
However, the Buddha's basic motivation, I think, is great, compassion for others. In other words, the Buddha desires that all people reach the same stage he has. The Buddha wants all of us to gain the same wisdom, power and roles which make all people the same as the Buddha. For this reason, we must endure, not only to obtain wisdom and virtue through correct practice, but we must also endure to share our wisdom and virtue with others as one of the roles of the Buddha.
Here is the true intention of doing Shakubuku. If we do shakubuku based upon great compassion and share Buddha's wisdom and virtues, everyone will be able to realize their own Buddha nature in the depths of their hearts. In other words, they will become aware of their true identity -- the Buddhahood in the depths of their hearts along with the other nine worlds. Then they will want to know what they should do to manifest it; and they will come to know that the way to manifest it is through the example of your daily practice.
For this reason, it is important for us not only to do
shakubuku and teach others -- it is also important to show them a good
example through our daily lives. This is the true motivation and action
of one who has attained Buddhahood as a common mortal. This is the true
motivation of sokushin jobutsu.