A GOSHO LECTURE NICHIREN SHOSHU TEMPLE -- MYOGYOJI
REVEREND SHUDO SUGANO
REFERENCE: THE MAJOR WRITINGS OF NICHIREN DAISHONIN, VOLUME TWO page 41, paragraphs 2 and 3
"Your late husband escaped such agonies, for he was a follower of Nichiren, the votary of the Lotus Sutra. A passage from the sutra reads: 'Even if they fall into a great fire, they will not be burned...If they are swept away by a great flood, by chanting its name they can straightway reach shallow water.' Another passage reads, 'The good fortune of the believer cannot be burned by fire or washed away by water.' How reassuring!
"You may think of hell, the iron rods of the guards of hell or the rending cries of Aborasetsu as existing way off in some far away place, but they are not like that. This teaching is of prime importance, and yet I will impart it to you just as Bodhisattva Monju revealed to the Dragon King's daughter the secret teaching of sokushin jobutsu, that one can attain Buddhahood as a common mortal. Now that you are about to receive that teaching, strive even more earnestly in your faith. One who practices still more earnestly whenever he hears the teaching of the Lotus Sutra is a true seeker of,the way. When T'ien-T'ai stated, 'From the indigo, an even deeper blue,' he meant that some- thing dyed with indigo becomes even bluer than the indigo plant itself. For the Lotus Sutra is the indigo plant and the growing intensity of our practice is 'an even deeper blue'."
Let us continue our exploration of the Gosho, "Hell and Buddhahood". The passage I just read this morning is a rather awkward place to begin, because it makes reference to the agonies that Lady Ueno's husband escaped because he was a follower of the Daishonin. What those agonies are will become clear if we take time to review the last Gosho lectures for a few minutes.
The first point in the last lecture was that there is no essential difference between the common man and the Buddha. When one is aware of this deep in his heart he is called a Buddha. If he is deluded about it, he is called a common mortal. To realize that one is a Buddha one has only to embrace the Lotus Sutra, or Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, and practice it.
The second point is that when one embraces the Daishonin's Lotus Sutra, or Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, he will be able to realize that the hell he sees in his life and society are in themselves the Buddha land. In other words, when we sincerely embrace and practice the True Law of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, we will be able to elevate our life condition from hell to Buddhahood within this lifetime without fail, and we will be able to function as Buddha's or enlightened people in our every day life. This is the principle of sokushin jobutsu.
The third point was, that in contrast, those who cannot embrace Nam-Myoho- Renge-Kyo will not be able to manifest their Buddha nature in their daily life. To make matters worse, like every human being they will continue to make bad causes. Because they do not embrace the True Law, they will continue to follow provisional teachings that will not help them. Those teachings cannot help them because they do not give the true wisdom that helps them make wise decisions in their daily life. Also, they will find no real comfort for the sufferings they and every other human being must experience.
The Gosho says that such people who cannot embrace the Lotus Sutra are like people who finding themselves in fire, move deeper and deeper into the flames, or they are like drowning men who sink deeper and deeper into the water. The Daishonin says of the persons belonging to this group that:
"Even though one may practice the provisional teachings for uncountable aeons, he will only fall deeper into the hell if he turns against the Lotus Sutra (which is the true law of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo)."
Now, in reference to the passage I read this morning, being consumed by the fire of his problems and drowning in a sea of despair is the fate that Lady Ueno's husband escaped because he followed the Daishonin during his lifetime. Now we can began our exploration of today's passages, because you should understand the main points of the last gosho lectures and the agonies that Lady Ueno's husband escaped because he embraced and practiced Nam-Myoho-Renge- Kyo and followed the Daishonin.
Clearly, it is very important to embrace the correct teaching if one is planning to live wisely and well in this lifetime and exhibit his Buddhahood in his every day life. Because you are familiar with the eight kinds of sufferings, you understand that all human beings must undergo them. We cannot escape them. But the key to being happy in spite of them and managing them when we meet them lies in the teaching that governs our lives. Even when we embrace Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, we must meet difficulties.
What do we do? What do other people do? I think we all know of people who appear to live from pleasure to pleasure, enduring the suffering periods in between. When there are troubles they must endure. They appear to hold on tight until it is over, waiting for the next period of enjoyment or peace. When we think about this kind of living, it becomes even more clear that Buddhism is the paramount teaching that shows us how to live wisely and well not only in the present, and even during those times things do no go well, but how to live happily in the future also.
Why can I say this? I can say this because the Daishonin says this. In the "Opening of the Eyes", the Daishonin says: "If you want to understand the causes that existed in the past, look at the results as they are manifested in the present. And if you want to understand what results will be manifested in the future, look at the causes that exist in the present." This is the reason I can say that True Buddhism is the paramount teaching. It is the paramount teaching because it teaches causality. This passage makes you understand why you have a difficult time in the present.
You have or are having a difficult time in the present because of the causes you made in the past. In this same manner, it teaches you that if you want to receive good results in the future, you must do something in the present moment. In other words, you must make good causes now to shape a fortunate future. In this sense, Buddhism teaches us thai past, present and future are a continuous stream and always connected.
However, Buddhism also teaches us that you can never go back into the past to make causes in order to avoid your present sufferings, even if we become clearly aware of the errors we made many years or lifetimes ago. Now you can find many other people who say that they also believe that. They will say that the present is the most important. They will also say, "The future's not ours to see, and because it is not, the pleasure of the moment is the most important for me." They may add: "I don't know what status or benefit I will have in the future. So the important thing for me is to get as much enjoyment out of this lifetime for myself."
Can you agree with this view of life? I hope you can't. As Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist, you shouldn't be able to agree with this outlook on life. In other words, you should understand that everything we see now is the result of past causes, and everything that we do or produce now shape our future. As a matter of course, we all receive different effects because our lives and circumstances are different. We did not all make the same causes in the past. We do not all make the same causes now. But regardless of the differences, we are Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist, we can all make the same cause this very moment, and that is to sincerely and correctly practice the Daishonin's Buddhism.
I have mentioned that we are inconvenienced by suffering in the present because of the causes we made in the past. Of what help is practice to the Gohonzon since this is true? There are four characters on the top of the right hand side of the Gohonzon. These four characters read "GEN -- TO -- NI -- SE" which mean that this Gohonzon exists for the people of the present and future. In other words, the purpose of practicing to this Gohonzon is to manifest the wisdom to enable us to make the best causes now for beneficial future effects.
We will be able to do this in spite of less than fortunate and happy circumstances. We must, suffer from our past ignorance, stupidity and greed. This is the Law of Causality. But the Daishonin quotes a passage from the Gosho that tells us the benefit of having made the one true cause of embracing the Gohonzon. He says:
"Even if they fall into a great fire, they will not be burned....If they are swept away by a great flood, by chanting its name [the name of the Lotus Sutra -- Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo] they can straightaway reach shallow water."
Another passage form the Lotus Sutra says:
"The good fortune of the believer cannot be burned by fire or washed away by water."
In other words, there may be times when it appears that our lives are going to be completely consumed by our problems and that we will completely drown in despair. However, there is not a chance in a million that such a thing will happen. You will not be burned to a cinder or drowned by the flood as long as you correctly practice to the Gohonzon. Because we have taken faith in True Buddhism, because we have embraced and chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, we have accumulated the fortune to endure the effects of our bad causes. We can never be over-run or captured by them.
There will be obstacles, but we will be able to attain Buddhahood without fail, through our present physical bodies and mental abilities and present circumstances. Because Gohonzon and our practice stand in the middle of those circumstances, regarding being burned or drowned by life's problems, it will be for you as it was for Lady Ueno's late husband. The Daishonin says of her husband:
"Your husband escaped such agonies, for he was a follower of Nichiren, the votary of the Lotus Sutra."
In another way, here again, the Daishonin insists in this important teaching, that hell doesn't exist in some faraway place, but that it exists in this world. To be more precise, hell and Buddhahood exists in our lives which is composed of our physical bodies and mental abilities.
But with the Daishonin's Buddhism, if hell is there so also is Buddhahood. To know this, one must have the correct teaching. According to prior teachings, one's actual life was defined as something agonizing and to be endured. In other words, to live was to suffer. If one wanted to escape from his agonies, first of all he had to learn that he could not escape them. To survive, he had to deny his body and his mind, extinguish them completely so he would not feel anything or desire any- thing. Then he could endure this lifetime.
The ultimate escape was, of course, to be completely dead. Then he could go to some pure or Buddha's land faraway that existed as a place separate from himself. In contrast, the Lotus Sutra says there is no separate place for heaven or hell. Both exist, within our 4, 5, or 6 foot bodies and here on earth. It further declares no essential difference between the common mortal and the Buddha. Everything depends upon whether one is aware of that or not and embrace the correct teaching to nurture his Buddhahood.
The Buddha's land or Hell manifest themselves through our own physical bodies and mental abilities within this lifetime through the causes we make. And those causes we take into the immediate future and into our future lives. Therefore, the Daishonin says:
"You may think of hell, the iron rods of the guards of hell or the rending cries of Aborasetsu as existing way off in some faraway place, but they are not like that."
In this sense, when we honestly take a good look at our lives and our environments, we can see that what the Gosho says is true. But in this same sense, if hell exists in front of us, so should the Buddha land. Why doesn't it? It must be because there is something we are not aware of. This is perhaps the reason that we cannot live wisely and well and why we waste our human life which is so precious and rare to receive.
The teaching that we all have the potential to be enlightened people is most important. The Lotus Sutra declared that because Ichinen-Sanzen is true, this is the most important realization. Therefore, the Daishonin states: "This teaching is of prime importance", and he goes on to say, "...I will impart it to you just as Bodhisattva Monju revealed to the Dragon King's daughter the secret teaching of sokushin-jobutsu that one can attain Buddhahood as a common mortal."
As you know, Bodhisattva Monju led the Dragon King's daughter to the Lotus sutra As a consequence, she could attain Buddhahood without making any such changes, as changing her dragon shape or her sex. She could do this because, Bodhisattva Monju revealed to her the secret teaching of sokushin jobutsu. The most important thing about this story is that it guaranteed Buddhahood to women and all sentient and insentient beings without changes in their physical nature.
That is why this is called the paramount teaching of the Lotus Sutra and within all Buddhism. It is a radical departure from formerly accepted Buddhist teaching. Very fortunately, Lady Ueno had the same relationship with the Daishonin that the Dragon King's daughter had with Bodhisattva Monju, and she received this teaching from the True Buddha. But upon giving her this supreme teaching, he urges her to strive even more earnestly in her faith whenever she hears the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. He says that one who does this is a true seeker of the way.
Why does he say this? He says this because it is not enough to just think about this teaching. In other words, it is more important for us to take faith and strive to practice it in our daily lives exactly as the Daishonin prescribed. If one takes faith in the Daishonin's true teaching of Nam-Myoho-Renge- Kyo and practices it ceaselessly, he will be able to approach and attain Buddhahood in spite of the sufferings he must endure because of his past causes Therefore the Daishonin stresses the importance of sincere faith and correct practice with a metaphor which T'ien-T'ai used. It says:
"From the indigo, an even deeper blue." To clarify what this metaphor signifies, the Gosho goes on to say': "....[H]e meant that something dyed with indigo becomes even bluer than the indigo plant itself."
To put it another way, to be aware that there is no difference between the common mortal and the Buddha, and no difference between Hell and the pure land, is like observing the blue of the indigo plant. It is a Significant realization and a dye that can color everything. But to actually manifest this realization within our daily lives as ordinary people makes that realization more significant -- in other words, it makes it true and our actual lives become a deeper blue than the indigo plant itself. In this sense, to practice the True Teaching correctly is more important for us than the intellectual realization of its truth and theory. As a consequence, we have to come to understand the importance of striving in our faith more earnestly.
For instance, do you think that you faith today is deeper than yesterday's? If you can answer, "yes", I can say that you understand the metaphor of indigo. If you could not answer, "yes", than you must strive more earnestly. Do you think you will be able to develop tomorrow's faith more than today's? Perhaps you cannot now answer that question. In other words, the metaphor of the indigo plant indicates the importance of developing our faith more than before. The Daishonin says:
"For us the Lotus Sutra is the indigo plant, and the growing intensity of our practice is 'an even deeper blue.'"
If we practice Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo as the Daishonin indicated,
we will be able to develop our faith more than ever so that we will be
able to manifest our Buddha nature through our daily activities. As a consequence,
we will be able to live wisely and well in light of the Daishonin's true
teaching of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. Please remember the metaphor that says,
"From the indigo, an even deeper blue," and try to do your best
in your practice.