SGI-USA Study Curriculum

Lectures on the Hoben and Juryo Chapters of the Lotus Sutra
by SGI President Daisaku Ikeda

In Suffering or Joy, We Can Find Meaning

Yui butsu yo butsu. Nai no kujin. Shoho jisso. Sho-i shoho. Nyo ze so. Nyo ze sho. Nyo ze tai. Nyo ze riki. Nyo ze sa. Nyo ze in. Nyo ze en. Nyo ze ka. Nyo ze ho. Nyo ze honmak kukyo to.

"The true entity of all phenomena can only be understood and shared between Buddhas. This reality consists of the appearance, nature, entity, power, influence, inherent cause, relation, latent effect, manifest effect, and their consistency from beginning to end." (LS-2, 24)¹

What does the wisdom of the true entity of all phenomena add to our lives? It gives us the power to skillfully use everything that happens to create value.

Many things occur in the course of life. There are sufferings and joys, tailwinds and headwinds. All such phenomena provide opportunities for us to make the true entity of the world of Buddhahood in our lives shine; we can use everything that happens to expand our happiness. This is what it means to lead a life illuminated by the wisdom of the true entity of all phenomena.

Worth is not found in joy alone. Nor is success the only valuable outcome. Suffering is the mother of realization; worries and failures, so long as we are not defeated by them, enable us to deepen our faith. Our sufferings become the raw material with which to construct our happiness. This is the principle of "earthly desires are enlightenment." Earthly desires, like other phenomena, are themselves the true entity.

Fundamentally, for people who have faith in the Gohonzon, everything that happens is a benefit. This is the difference between the lives of those who believe in the Mystic Law and those who do not.

As a young man, I once asked President Toda what makes a person great. Brightly smiling, he replied: "It's having confidence. In life and in everything, it's confidence that counts."

There are many important things in life. Among all possible answers, Mr. Toda, without a moment's hesitation, cited confidence. By this, he meant of course great confidence in the Mystic Law.

"I will show victory in my life without fail."

"I will help everyone definitely become happy."

"I will cause my workplace and my community to develop greatly." "I will change the current of the age toward the emergence of a joyous society of humanism." Those who possess and who take unwavering action based on such confidence are great.

Confidence is single-minded resolve. Confidence is courage. Confidence is hope. Confidence is inner latitude and mercy. As the 26th high priest, Nichikan, indicates when he says, "Buddhahood means a strong mind of faith in the Lotus Sutra," confidence is itself the world of Buddhahood.

Although confidence and the world of Buddhahood are invisible to the eye, they are certain to become manifest in concrete form. This is in accordance with the principle of the true entity manifesting in all phenomena. Buddhism is not empty idealism.

Faith Manifests Itself in Daily Life

Buddhism becomes manifest in society. It could be said that Buddhism is the "true entity," and society (secular matters) "all phenomena." Similarly, faith is the "true entity" and daily life "all phenomena." The principle of faith manifesting itself in daily life is thus the principle of the true entity of all phenomena.

There can be no Buddhism divorced from the real world. Nichiren Daishonin, citing T'ien-t'ai's words, "No affairs of life or work are in any way different from the ultimate reality," says: "A person of wisdom is not one who practices Buddhism apart from worldly affairs but, rather, one who thoroughly understands the principles by which the world may be governed" (MW-6, p. 142); and "secular matters ultimately are Buddhism" (MW-1, 269). "Ultimately," here means "just as they are." In other words, secular matters, just as they are, are Buddhism. Only in the real world can the validity of Buddhism be proven. Nichiren Daishonin teaches: "When the skies are clear, the ground is illuminated. Similarly, when one knows the Lotus Sutra, he understands the meaning of all worldly affairs" (MW-1, 82). President Toda commented on this passage of "The True Object of Worship" as follows: "The Daishonin is saying that those who have embraced the Gohonzon ought to know, for example, how to improve their lives or how to develop their business."

The sun instantaneously illuminates the earth. Likewise, those who uphold the Mystic Law have to understand secular matters. Faith causes the sun of wisdom -- which enables us to clearly see what we need to do in order to win -- to rise in our hearts.

One of the Buddha's 10 honorable titles is "Understanding of the World." The Buddha profoundly understands all secular affairs.

The Ten Factors Also Exist in the Land

Incidentally, the true entity of the ten factors exists in the land and in society, just as it does in our lives and in our day-to-day existences. The land and society, for instance, have the factors of inherent cause and latent effect. They also have power. The "destiny," "good fortune" or other such characteristics of a land or society manifest in its appearance.

Nichiren Daishonin writes: "Buddhism is like the body and society like the shadow. When the body is crooked, so is the shadow" (MW-3, 308). A body and its shadow are an inseparable unity. If crookedness in the "body"-- distortions of philosophy, thought and religion -- are not rectified, then all attempts to produce a straight "shadow" are bound to fail.

Through our movement to conduct dialogue, we are contributing to society on a fundamental level by helping straighten out this "body." We are creating the fundamental inherent cause for peace and prosperity.

This month of August marks the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II -- a great war that plunged the entire world into hellish suffering. And yet, even now, new tragedies are unfolding in the world.

No land is more wretched than one wracked by ceaseless hostilities and bloodshed. War destroys everything. Nothing is more cruel than war.

President Toda, thinking of the suffering of the people of North and South Korea during the Korean War, composed the following elegy:

"I grieve for the many people there must be who have lost their husbands or wives, or who search in vain for their children or parents, on account of this war.

There must be those who, losing the wealth that they have accumulated, are reduced to beggary and suddenly die.

There are doubtless young people who -- have died without knowing why. And elderly women who have been killed while crying out, "I haven't done anything wrong!"

There must be bands of children who cannot even imagine what it would be like to have parents and siblings. And there are doubtless not a few housewives who have come to regard it as normal to -- be living with just the clothes on their backs, and elderly people surprised to find themselves dreaming about -- the rice they once ate.

Are there not some who show surprise when asked, 'Whose side are you on' and who reply without hesitation, 'I am on the side of food and shelter.'"

These lines express the grief, sadness, anger and resentment of people mercilessly trampled upon, divided and killed. President Toda regarded the sufferings of the people of Asia as his own, and he was deeply pained by their plight. In his heart, he shed tears of sympathy. And, to wipe away the tears of all people, he stood up alone to undertake the great struggle to widely propagate the Mystic Law.

Carrying on the spirit of our mentor, we are helping friends become happy through the Mystic Law and sending brilliant waves of peace, culture and education across the globe.

Creating a True and Lasting Peace

The true entity of all phenomena is the philosophical principle of the sanctity of life.

In the world today, ethnic conflicts and fear of terrorism are intensifying. The tragedy of people hating and killing their fellow human beings goes on with no sign of abating. Even in Japan, murders involving firearms are on the increase, and there is a growing sense of anxiety about the emergence of a "handgun society."

However, as seen with the eye of the Buddha who recognizes that each person is an entity of the Mystic Law, each person -- irrespective of ethnicity, social standing or birth -- is truly invaluable and irreplaceable. There must be no discrimination. The killing of people in society is absolutely intolerable.

"May all people shine! May all life shine!" This cry of love for humanity is the cry of the Lotus Sutra. It is the cry of those who understand the true entity of all phenomena. Buddhism exists to enable all people to share in the boundless joy of life.

Therefore, it is the duty of Buddhists to struggle dauntlessly against those who would rob life of its sanctity. In his famous "Declaration on the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons," President Toda proclaimed that he wanted "to root out the talons hidden behind" nuclear weapons.

It was a challenge against the devilish nature inherent in life that would prompt people to employ nuclear weapons against one another, and against the power of the 'mara,' the "robber of life," pervading the universe. It was a battle against the invidious nature of authority that readily uses people and sacrifices their lives in the interest of its own self-preservation.

The dawn of the 21st century is just before us. Humankind must overcome on its own this devilish nature, this cancer of humanity, that has festered and grown to sickening proportions during the 20th century.

The Lotus Sutra's wisdom of the true entity of all phenomena will undoubtedly become an important guideline for the new century -- for realizing a century, free of murder, a century in which people can peacefully coexist with one another and with nature.

In that sense, all of you spreading the Mystic Law are pioneers. You will definitely win the applause of the new century.

From the standpoint of the true entity of all phenomena, to harm someone is to harm the universe and to harm oneself.

When such a sense of oneness with the universe is lost, people become isolated and alienated from one another like grains of sand, and violence erupts from the depths of their impoverished, nihilistic hearts.

When a sense of oneness with the infinite life that is the Mystic Law is established in people's lives, the feeling will doubtless be as though humankind has been liberated from prison.

Nichiren Daishonin says: "Ultimately, all phenomena are contained within one's life, down to the last particle of dust. The nine mountains and the eight seas are encompassed by one's body; the sun, moon and myriad stars are contained within one's mind" (MW-5, 181).

The mountains and oceans, the sun, moon and stars, the Daishonin says, are all encompassed in one's being; what a vast and grand state of life he describes! The Gohonzon reveals the vast life of the original Buddha, who realizes the unity of the universe with the self, the self with the universe. The Daishonin, out of his immense compassion, bestowed the Gohonzon on humankind so that we, too, might develop the same state of life.

We find similar insights outside the Buddhist tradition as well. For example, the English author D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) writes:

"I am part of the sun as my eye is part of me. That I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly, and my blood is part of the sea. My soul knows that I am part of the human race, my soul is an organic part of the great human soul, as my spirit is part of my nation."²

He is expressing a sense of the oneness of the individual life and the universe. This true aspect of human life has been pursued through various philosophies, religions and literatures of East and West since time immemorial. The Daishonin's Buddhism perfectly expresses the unity of life with the universe both theoretically and in practical terms. The Daishonin's Buddhism, therefore, might be characterized as a religion of universal humanism.

Lawrence, who looked forward to the arrival of a new age of humankind, concludes, "Start with the sun, and the rest will slowly, slowly happen."³

Buddhism comes down to state of life. "Start with the sun." While carrying out a dialogue with the heavens, and with the gods of the sun and moon as our allies, we are developing a magnificent state of life. This is our Buddhist practice.

What is the purpose of life? It is to construct and solidify a state of absolute happiness, a condition in which to be alive is itself great joy.

Whatever happens we experience joy. In the depths of our lives, we are always happy. And we have confidence in the future. Like the ocean that remains calm in its depths even when waves rage over its surface during storms, and like the sun that continues shining on high even during heavy rain when dark clouds fill the sky, at every turn we can create value and develop our state of life, enjoying our existence to the fullest in both times of suffering and times of joy. This is a life based on the true entity of all phenomena.

How wonderful, indeed, are the lives that we who dedicate ourselves to Nichiren Daishonin's "Buddhism of the sun" can lead! And what a brilliant dawn for human civilization this great Buddhism will bring on! As we approach the 21st century, we will see increasingly clear actual proof of this. Burning with this great confidence, let us advance toward our tomorrow.

This concludes my lectures on the "Expedient Means" chapter of the Lotus Sutra. In this chapter, Shakyamuni, by explaining the wisdom of the true entity of all phenomena, indicates in approximate terms the path for all people to attain Buddhahood.

The "Life Span of the Thus Come One" (16th) chapter, which we will begin studying next time, clarifies the eternal span of the Buddha's life. It might be thought of as an account of the Buddha's experience, in which Shakyamuni develops more profoundly the teaching of "Expedient Means" from the standpoint of his own life. The all-important message gleaned from our studies thus far could be summed up as: "Cause the sun of the world of Buddhahood to rise in your heart." We will next turn to the world of the "Life Span" chapter in which the grand drama of life unfolds.

With all of you who are daily advancing kosen-rufu as disciples of Nichiren Daishonin in mind, I am determined to redouble my efforts in working on these lectures.

Notes:

1. Ed. Note: All quotations from the Lotus Sutra are from: The Lotus Sutra, tran. Burton Watson (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993). For purposes of convenience, all citations from this work will be given in the text and abbreviated as follows: LS followed by the chapter number, and then the page number.
2. D.H. Lawrence, Apocalypse (New York: Penguin Books, 1976), p. 126.
3. Ibid.

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