A GOSHO LECTURE NICHIREN SHOSHU TEMPLE -- MYOGYOJI
REVEREND SHUDO SUGANO
REFERENCE: THE MAJOR WRITINGS OF NICHIREN DAISHONIN, VOLUME
TWO
Page 241, 3rd Paragraph to end of Paragraph 2, Page 242
Today I would like to continue our exploration of the Gosho, "Hell and Buddhahood". In advance of today's lecture, let me review some of the most important points in the last lecture.
In the last Gosho Lecture, we studied the importance of embracing and practicing the Lotus Sutra, which precisely means the True Law of Nam-Myoho- Renge-Kyo as taught by the Daishonin. We practice Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo from the standpoint of the Daishonin's Buddhism for the sake of our enlightenment in this lifetime, or according to the principle of sokushin jobutsu, which means attaining enlightenment as a common mortal.
To embrace and practice the True Law of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo enables us to achieve sokushin jobutsu, or enlightened behavior in our daily lives. 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 exactly as Nichiren Daishonin promised, and we will be able to function as Buddhas, or enlightened people in our every day lives.
Regarding our everyday lives and practice, the Gosho uses an important metaphor you should remember. The metaphor says: " From the indigo, an even deeper blue." It means that something dyed with indigo becomes even bluer than the indigo plant itself.
For us the Lotus Sutra, the Daishonin's Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, is the indigo plant, and the growing intensity of our practice is an even deeper blue. With this in mind, the important thing for reaching sokushin-jobutsu is to endeavor to intensify our faith day by day based upon the correct practice of the Daishonin's Buddhism. If we can do this, we will be able to maintain enlightenment in everyday situations and put it into practice in all of our affairs.
In other words, we will be able to change our critical circumstances, or the state of hell, into the absolutely good and beneficial circumstances of Buddhahood without fail. But whether this will occur or not depends upon the degree of our faith in the True Law and how hard we practice it in our daily lives.
Now, let's examine this morning's Gosho passages. First of all, the Daishonin clarifies what the state of Hell is. He doe this from the standpoint of traditional Buddhist beliefs and from the standpoint of True Buddhism.
The Japanese word, "jigoku", which translates "hell" in English, literally means, "digging a hole in the ground". The reason why is because a hole is dug to receive one who has died. Generally speaking, both Buddhist and non- Buddhist teachings declare hell to be underground. In contrast, heaven, or Buddhahood, exists some place far up in the sky. I think we have all probably heard this more than once from our fathers and mothers when we were children. Some of you may still keep these images in your mind.
However, this time I would like to talk about heaven and hell from the standpoint of Buddhism. There are many allegories that superficially describe heaven and hell, and they differ according to different sutras. Some of these allegories are discussed in the footnote on page 240, so I do not want to spend time going over them.
But I would like to tell you about heaven and hell as I heard it from my grandmother and from books during my childhood. According to my grandmother, there are two gods, Dosho and Domyo. Dosho takes a position on one shoulder and Domyo on the other from the time a person is born. They stay there until a person dies and go with him into the other region after death. All during one's life, they record all of one's deeds, both the goad and the evil, and after life, they accompany the person into the oti region and report to King Emma.
King Emma is lord of this region and judges the dead. If one's acts were evil during his lifetime, the two gods, Dosho and Domyo tell all of them. Then King Emma decides that that person should go to hell.
In contrast, if one's acts were good during his lifetime, Dosho and Domyo report that to King Emma so a decision can be made to send you to heaven, or to the enlightened land. So, as a child, I was told that if I wanted to escape hell, I should live doing good because we have to make that journey into the next world with two gods who tell everything.
My grandmother went on to describe what happens in the region beyond life. First of all, we have to cross the river of three crossings, which lies between life and death. When you look behind you from the boat, you can see your relatives who deplore and mourn your death. But they can do nothing to help you and just wave their hands in grief.
After you cross the river and get off the boat, you will find two roads and their guardians. The two gods, Dosho and Domyo, talk with them in whisper and then they decide which road you have to take. If you did absolutely no evil during your lifetime, they lead you directly to the enlightened land. If you acted a little bit evil, you have to go another way to King Emma to find out. what punishment you have to receive and whether you can go to the enlightened land or not. As you nervously sit waiting in front of King Emma, Dosho and Domyo report your entire life. On the basis of their remarks, King Emma decides what will be done with you, whether you like it or not.
Even if you go on a rampage and try to escape the fierce guardians of hell, the horseheaded and ox-headed demons, you cannot. They will force you to take the way to hell and put you into the hole of incessant sufferings. There are many incessant sufferings there.
If you refuse to go into hell, the horse-headed and ox-headed demons hit you with the meter long walking stick, which is made of iron, until all of your bones are crushed. You have to go into a cauldron filled with hot water, and they put you to torture. Next, you are forced to climb the mountain of death, which is covered with needles. Consequently, when you climb this mountain, you are tortured by awful pain.
Even if you try to ask for help, there is nobody who can help you. To make matters worse, fierce guardians will only torture you more severely. Even if you repent. of your sins and make n vow that you will never do evil again, you have to receive and endure the suffering continuously until your sins are completely expiated.
This is how hell was explained to me by my grandmother. In contrast, heaven, or the enlightened land, is the opposite. There are many flowers, blooming in all of their glory, and you can listen to fantasy music playing in the distance. After you have once stepped into the enlightened land, you can have any pleasure you desire. You can spend all day chatting with the people. And of course, that is very pleasant, because everyone there is enlightened. No one approaches you out of the lower worlds of hell, hunger, animality, anger, or the egotism of the other worlds below Buddhahood. In other words, it is a real fantasy island.
These images of heaven and hell are what I learned as a child. They superficially teach cause and effect as it relates to living and dying. These stories teach children the importance of acting good instead of bad during their lifetimes from the standpoint of causality. Children may believe these allegories. But can you believe that hell exists underground as an adult, or that heaven exists way up in the sky? Obviously. hell and the enlightened land are more clearly defined for adults in the sutras, and more specifically, in the Daishonin's Buddhism.
Where do they exist? As you already know, it is useless to look for hell or the enlightened land anywhere other than in our own hearts. Whether you see hell or the enlightened land depends upon the level of your life condition. In other words, if our life condition is weak, inevitably we will feel that everything is wrong. Put another way, if our life condition is low, we will not be able to look at things correctly, or from the vantage point of a Buddha. Consequently, we will consistently take the wrong way to resolve our problems, and we will receive the suffering that comes from wrong decisions. This is cause and effect in the state of hell.
In contrast, if we keep a high life condition, inevitably, we can look at everything correctly, or from the vantage point of the Buddha. Put another way, we will be able to understand that right is right and wrong is wrong, and we can make the best decisions to resolve each problem. Then we will be able to receive pleasure instead of continuous suffering. This is sokushin jobutsu or enlightenment in everyday life.
To clarify, the Daishonin gives us examples of two kinds of people who face the same everyday problems, but view their circumstances differently. To people who do not enjoy a high life condition and who live in a state of hell, fire is a suffering that burns out their physical bodies and minds. However, to people who enjoy an elevated life, this same fire moves them to the wisdom that enables them to expiate suffering.
For the people of hell, fire represents their agony. In contrast, for people of enlightenment, the burning fire of agony becomes the torch of Buddha wisdom because of their property of wisdom aspect. And please remember, there are three properties of the Buddha that we receive where we correctly practice the Daishonin's teachings.
The first is the property of the law, Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, which we and all things in the universe possess as the core of all life. It is the essence of all life and the One Law that governs everything in the universe.
The second property of the Buddha is the aspect of wisdom that we receive from practicing and living the law.
The third property of the Buddha is that of enlightened action that transforms Buddha wisdom into concrete decisions and solutions in everyday life.
These three aspects in action verify sokushin jobutsu, or enlightenment as common mortals, as we face, live through and resolve everyday situations with a high life condition. For people of hell, to die is a fierce and terror-filled thing. The hell they experienced in life becomes their incessant suffering in death.
However, for the enlightened, death is understood as a natural consequence. In other words, they realize that the person becomes a Buddha in his property of the law aspects. In other words, when enlightened people encounter death, they know that it is not the end, but the beginning for the next life in accordance with the law of eternity. Therefore, for them, death is not suffering and they can feel peace and pleasure. The black hole, which leads people to the bottom of hell, is a fiery inferno for the people whose lives are in a state of hell. However, for the people of Buddhahood, it becomes the abode where the Buddha, in his property of action aspect, manifests his great mercy.
For the enlightened, the iron rod, which puts people to torture, is the walking stick which clarifies the true entity of the Mystic Law and leads people to the enlightened land. The river of the three crossings, which is the border between life and death, becomes the ocean of Buddhahood, where one realizes that sufferings are nirvana. The mountain covered with needles becomes the towering peak of earthly desires are enlightenment.
In this sense, it is useless to look for Hell and Buddhahood in any place other than in our own hearts. Both lie within our own breath. Awakened to this truth, one is called a Buddha. Deluded about it, one is a common mortal. In other words, to realize all of the above matters is to attain enlightenment as a common mortal.
To put it another way, to awaken to all of the above principles is to open the inner eye of Buddha wisdom. As I said before, to embrace and practice the True Teaching of Nam-Myoho- Renge-Kyo equal the profound doctrine of sokushin jobutsu, or attaining enlightenment as a common mortal.
By embracing and practicing the True Teaching, Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, we will be able to manifest our own Buddha nature. To manifest our own Buddha nature means to have the inner eyes of Buddha wisdom fully opened so that we understand the aspects of life and death I just discussed. How is it possible that the inner eye of Buddha wisdom fully opens? It is possible through the power of the Buddha and the power of the Law. So immediately deepen your faith in both so that from the indigo comes an even deeper blue in the intensity of your faith and practice. Then we will be able to express our Buddha nature and apply Buddha wisdom in our daily lives through these physical bodies and our present mental abilities. Even though we may be deluded by earthly desires or deeply suffer in our daily affairs now; if we sincerely take faith in the Daishonin's Buddhism and correctly practice it,through the power of prayer to the Gohonzon, we will come to manifest sokushin jobutsu without fail.
The Daishonin gives us two examples of sokushin jyobutsu in the stories of Devadatta and the Dragon King's daughter. Devadatta was deluded by illusions The Dragon King's daughter had a physical appearance that people felt could not house or ever reach Buddhahood.
As you know, Devadatta started out as one of Shakyamuni's disciples, but later turned against him. Because of his arrogance, he grew jealous of Shakyamuni and made several attempts on his life. He ended up by persecuting Shakyamuni Buddha's entire order of believers.
For these reasons, he finally fell into the tortures of hell while alive. He was that severely deluded. However, he could listen to the Lotus Sutra and have faith in it, in spite of his personal animosity towards Shakyamuni. Because he could do that much, Shakyamuni could guarantee his future enlightenment as a Buddha called Tenno. As in many other instances, this story of Devadatta demonstrates the great mercy of the law that goes beyond our easy comprehension of it.
The story of the Dragon King's daughter is an example of the promise of Buddhahood to everyone without any change in their physical form. This story is told as an example because, as a dragon, she became a Buddha. Her story demonstrates the great impartiality of the law that probably goes beyond our easy comprehension of it, because it guarantees enlightenment to everyone.
In any case, both stories testify to the truth of the profound doctrine of sokushin jobutsu, or attaining enlightenment as a common mortal.
To answer the questions: Why could they, and why can we reach enlightenment by embracing and practicing the True Law of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo? -- -- It is because all virtues and benefits are contained in the single character "Myo" of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. "Myo" literally means, "mystic" or "beyond conception". However, the Daishonin says in the Gosho that "myo" has three meanings.
First, "myo" means to open.
Second, it means "endowed and perfect".
Thirdly, "myo" means "to revive".
"To open" means that "Myo" can open up the darkness of human illusion and reveal our Buddha nature. "Endowed and perfect" means that "Myo" possesses everything -- the Ten Worlds and three thousand realms that permeate and integrate the entirety of all life as it truly is and as we experience it. "Endowed and perfect" also means possessing all the practices and resulting virtues of all Buddhas.
"Revive" means that "Myo" enables one to attain Buddhahood without fail. And "revive" also means that all laws and teachings,when based upon the Mystic Law, assume their correct perspective and fulfill their intrinsic functions, which is to lead people to the One Law.
For these reasons, when we embrace the True Law of Myoho-Renge-Kyo, all the potential of "Myo" is activated. Then we entirely receive all the virtues of it. When we begin practicing it, chanting the complete and True Law, Nam- Myoho-Renge-Kyo, we begin to open up our human darkness to reveal our essential Buddha nature. Because this is true, deepen your faith so you can attain Buddhahood without fail, in this lifetime. Regarding the virtues of Myoho-Renge-Kyo, the Daishonin says in "The True Object of Worship":
"In essence they mean that Shakyamuni's practices and the virtues he consequently attained are all contained within the single phrase, Myoho-Renge-Kyo. If we believe in that phrase, we shall naturally be granted the same benefits as he was."
Please keep this in mind. To believe in the True Law of Nam-Myoho-Renge Kyo and practice throughout your whole life, exactly as the Daishonin taught. is the only way to manifest the profound doctrine of sokushin jobutsu and receive Buddha wisdom.
If you do this, you will be able to change all sufferings into pleasures in accordance with the virtues of the True Law. And further, you will be able to change even a troubled world, such as the one we live in, into the Buddha's land. In other words, we have to endure two things. We have to endure for Kosen-rufu as well as for our own individual enlightenment.
Please do your best in your practice and in your daily affairs, and teach others the Daishonin's Buddhism to the best of your ability. I believe this is the only way that we will ever change the state of hell into the Buddha's land.