"On Deities"
August, 1995, NST Myogyoji Temple Magazine
By Rev. Shoshin Kawabe Myogyoji Temple, West Chicago
6/11/95 -- In the "Niike Gosho," the Original Buddha, Nichiren Daishonin states,
"Moreover, since this country is a land of slander,
the protective deities, hungering for the taste of the Law, have abandoned
their shrines and ascended to heaven, so evil demons have entered them
in their stead and provide guidance for many people. Since the Buddhas
have ceased their teaching and returned to the Pure Land, the temples and
shrines have wastefully formed the haunts of demonic karmic relations.
I picture in my mind their roof tiles lined up in rows using state funds
and people's sorrow. These are not my words. They are in the sutras. You
should learn them. The various Buddhas and deities would absolutely never
accept offerings from slanderers. Much less should human beings receive
them. The Great Gracious Deity Kasuga proclaimed through an oracle, 'Though
I should have to eat rice ablaze with copper flames, I will not accept
objects belonging to people with defiled hearts. Though I should have to
sit on a seat ablaze with copper flames, I will not go to the houses of
people with defiled hearts. I would rather go to places with weeds in the
corridors and thatched roofs.' And 'Even if sacred straw festoons were
hung for one thousand days, I will not go to a place where there is no
faith. Though it be a house draped in heavy mourning, I will go to a place
where there is faith.' Just as stated, the deities lament over this country
of slander and ascend to heaven.
A 'defiled heart' refers to those who refuse to embrace the Lotus Sutra.
I see this in the fifth volume of the Lotus Sutra. It is deities who call
slanderous offerings copper flames. Still less should we common mortals
consume flames. If someone who killed my parents attempted to give me something,
could I, as their child, accept it? Even wise men and sages would be unable
to avoid the Hell of Incessant Suffering. In addition, you must not associate
with such slanderers. You should greatly fear being implicated in the same
slander." (Gosho, p. 1458)
Good morning, everyone. It is worthy of respect that all of you Hokkeko members have made a pilgrimage of profound faith on this day, when we hold the monthly Oko lecture in order to repay our debt of gratitude to the Original Buddha,Nichiren Daishonin. I have humbly presented to the Daishonin the offerings all of you have made, and have prayed for the slander and sin of each one of you to be extinguished, for the doubling of your faith and practice, for the promotion of your shakubuku, for your good health in body and mind, and for the realization of the Great Desire of kosen-rufu.
It has been a while since I last lectured on the "Niike Gosho," but today I would like to continue where I left off before. You may have the tendency to brush aside the Gosho passage we have just read today, but when you read it sincerely and carefully, it reveals an extremely profound doctrine.
A passage such as this makes us once again realize all the more keenly that there is not even one single character of the Daishonin's Gosho which is meaningless. "Honzon Kuyo Gosho" ("On Consecrating an Object of Worship") states:
"The characters in the Lotus Sutra number 69,384. Though to our eyes each and everyone of them appear to be merely characters written in black, to the eye of the Buddha, each and every one of them is a buddha." (Gosho,p.1054)
Truly, just as this teaching indicates, the heart of the Original Buddha is contained within each and every character of the Gosho. We must keep this foremost in mind when we read the Gosho. We must never for a moment read the Gosho with the idea of conducting scholarly research. Shortly after this Gosho passage, the Daishonin talks about the function of the Shoten Zenjin (the various benevolent deities) as they occur in Buddhism.
I think that in general there is some confusion concerning the concept of "deity." A "deity" in Buddhism differs drastically from a "deity" in Christianity. As the saying in Japan goes, "Revere the deities and the Buddhas," deities and Buddhas are thought of in equal terms in Japan. This way of thinking is also what breeds total ignorance concerning the religions of the world. Their understanding is only, "Another name for deity is Buddha, and another name for Buddha is deity." Then when asked the basis for that statement, they call such irresponsible conjecture their own way of thinking, and fail to give a satisfying reply.
Buddhism gives a clear explanation of these "deities." As all of you know, all people possess ten states of life, called the Ten Worlds. From lowest to highest, these are Hell, Hunger, Animality, Anger, Humanity, Heaven, Learning, Partial Enlightenment, Bodhisattva and Buddha. The lowest three are called the Three Evil Paths, and when the fourth is added to those three, they are called the Four Evil Paths. When the next two, Humanity and Heaven, are added to those four, they are called the Six Paths. This Six Paths is called the Transmigration of the Six Paths, and I think many of you acknowledge that they are worlds of suffering in which one is deluded and ignorant of the truth.
Usually we repeatedly go back and forth among these Six Paths. An understanding of the Transmigration of the Six Paths can be readily understood whenever one watches television. There we see people suffering from epidemics, war and crime; disgraceful people coveting profits and power; people who make their way in the world completely disregarding morals and reason; people who calmly kill other people; people who alternate between joy and sorrow over temporary fame and wealth; and people who were celebrities yesterday but criminals today. Those are precisely the Transmigration of the Six Paths. That which enables people to conquer the Transmigration of the Six Paths and construct a state of true happiness is True Buddhism.
Incidentally, there is a Gosho passage which states, "Joy is Heaven." Among the Ten Worlds, the World of Heaven is where the Shoten Zenjin reside. In other words, in Buddhism, deities are after all nothing but deluded people. Christianity puts forth the doctrine, "God lives everywhere," but although they differ in terms of the number of deities, that doctrine is no different from the ultimate conclusion of Greek mythology or Shinto, a primitive religion in Japan, both of which say, "The deities created the world and the deities reside everywhere."
In both East and West, in ancient times people affixed the names of deities to natural phenomena, and we could say that it's only natural that they were reverent toward the tremendous power of nature, which dominated human's lives. For example, in Greek mythology the sun is called Helios, while in Japan's Shinto, the sun is called Amaterasu Omikami (the Great Deity that Illuminates the Heavens). In this way names of deities were affixed to the natural phenomena throughout the universe and thus became objects of faith. We could say that compared to today, when people defy nature, in ancient times people were humble before nature. In short, we could say that deity is another name for natural phenomena.
In Shinto and in Greek mythology, and even in the Vedas of India, there are accounts of the so called deities hating each and repeatedly fighting wars amongst themselves, and of the deities themselves suffering. In addition, in the Bible there is an account of God carrying out a wide-spread massacre of animals, including humans. When I read these accounts, I realize that there is a tremendous difference between those other religions and Buddhism, which, while strict with people, expounds the True Law with profound mercy. We can only say that those other teachings explain that the way deities solve their problems is to conduct wars or take life. In the end, even the deities which reside in the World of Heaven are nothing more than deluded common mortals who transmigrate through the Six Paths. However, we could also say that they lead terrible existences which reveal the World of Anger.
Deities can live lives and be in positions where they have unique, tremendous powers relative to us humans.
"Kaimoku Sho" states,
"The Nirvana Sutra states, 'The scriptures of all the world's non-Buddhist teachings explain Buddhism, and they are not non-Buddhist teachings.'" (Gosho, p. 525)
The scriptures of other religions, including the Bible, are in truth one part of Buddhism. One reason for this is because these scriptures explain in detail about the conditions found in Heaven. However, people do not know Buddhism, so they believe without doubt that deities reside upon the highest throne.
This is a serious problem. The teachings of other religions are certainly one part of Buddhism, but those teachings alone contain none of the essentials of Buddhism. For example, an engine moves an automobile, but with just an engine, and nothing else, an automobile will not run. Believing in other religions is no different from being convinced that an automobile will run with only an engine. This is harmful and there is no benefit.
That same "Kaimoku Sho" states,
"The Great Master Miao-lo states, 'The spread of Buddhism truly hinges upon this. Propriety and music advance first, and afterwards the True Path opens.'" (Gosho, p. 524)
In short, the role of all other religions and philosophies found in society is to prepare the way for the spread of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism, the True Law of the Latter Day of the Law. It is once again a serious problem to forget this and be convinced that each of the other religions themselves comprise the ultimate Law. The first step in making an automobile run is to install an engine. Your belief in the religions in which all of you believed up until now was not wasted. It is as though the struggles you went through and the good deeds you performed up until now have come to fruition for the first time upon your entering Buddhism.
To put it another way, the truth contained in the teachings of Christianity and other religions are contained within the Daishonin's Buddhism. The role of the other religions has been to act a guide to lead you here. However, for those other religions to forget and abandon that role is truly unfortunate.
I think it's possible to do shakubuku from that stand point. There is a reason why, within our Ten Worlds, deities form the basis of Heaven, as opposed to forming the basis of Humanity. To put it an easy to understand way, deities have higher virtues than humans. They perform one tremendous practice. Humans often tell lies, but deities never lie. In short, a deity is completely honest.
"Ho-on Sho" states,
"Though the sun and moon reside in the sky, they are never depraved like us, who conduct our affairs on earth, due to the influence of the Buddhist precept against reckless speech." (Gosho, p. 1002)
The workings of the sun and the moon are in accordance with the tremendous functions of the Shoten Zenjin which Buddhism calls the Great Sun Emperor and the Great Moon Emperor. We humans think, "I worked hard today and am tired, so tomorrow I'll rest," but the Shoten Zenjin never do this. They repeat their allotted functions even to the point of exhausting their lives. The earth goes around the sun, but what if it thought, "I'm bored with this repetitive lifestyle, so tomorrow I'll try to make a square orbit," or "I feel sorry for the moon always orbiting me, so now I'll orbit the moon." I guess it would be even more sensational than what appears on television.
We tell lies everyday, and do not reflect upon ourselves about those lies. However, the Shoten Zenjin (or deities) never tell lies. This precept against reckless speech is truly difficult. The virtue obtained by accomplishing that difficult practice is extremely high when compared with that of humans. However, in spite of that, they are in the same category as human beings. From this, I think anyone can easily see that the Buddha's virtue is eminent.
I will continue with this Gosho passage next month. Thank you for your attentive audience.
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