SGI-USA Study Curriculum
Lectures on the Hoben and Juryo Chapters of the Lotus Sutra
by SGI President Daisaku Ikeda
The Buddha's Life Is as Vast as the Universe
Hi nyo go hyaku se man noku. Nayuta. Asogi. Sanzen
dai sen sekai. Ke shi u nin. Matchi mijin. Ka o tobo. Go
hyaku sen man noku. Nayuta. Asogi koku. Nai ge ichi-jin.
Nyo ze to gyo. Jin ze mijin. Sho zen-nanshi. O i unga. Ze
sho sekai. Ka toku shiyui kyokei chi go. Shu fu. Mi-roku
bo-sat^to. Ku byaku butsu gon. Seson. Ze sho sekai. Muryo
muhen. Hi sanju sho chi. Yaku hi shin-riki sho gyu. Issai
shomon. Hyaku-shi-butsu. I murochi. Fu no shiyui. Chi go
genshu. Gato ju. A-yui-ot-chi-ji. O ze ji chu. Yaku sho
fu das^seson. Nyo ze sho sekai. Muryo muhen.
"Suppose a person were to take five hundred, a
thousand, ten thousand, a million nayuta asamkhya major
world systems and grind them to dust. Then, moving eastward,
each time he passes five hundred, a thousand, ten thousand,
a million nayuta asamkhya worlds he drops a particle of
dust. He continues eastward in this way until he has finished
dropping all the particles. Good men, what is your opinion?
Can the total number of all these worlds be imagined or
calculated?"
The bodhisattva Maitreya and the others said to the Buddha:
"World-Honored One, these worlds are immeasurable,
boundless --- one cannot calculate their number, nor does
the mind have the power to encompass them. Even all the
voice-hearers and pratyekabuddhas with their wisdom free
of outflows could not imagine or understand how many there
are. Although we abide in the stage of avivartika,1 we cannot
comprehend such a matter. World-Honored One, these worlds
are immeasurable and boundless." (LS, p. 225)
Here, Shakyamuni employs a simile to indicate just how
long ago it was that he attained Buddhahood. The period
of time he describes in this way is called gohyaku jintengo,
which literally means "500 dust-particle kalpas."
He starts out saying, "Suppose a person were to take
five hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a million nayuta
asamkhya major world systems."
In the expression "five hundred, a thousand, ten thousand,
a million nayuta asamkhya," nayuta and asamkhya stand
for incalculably large numbers. An infinite number multiplied
by an infinite number certainly yields a product that no
one could compute.
In the cosmology of ancient India, a "major world
system" corresponds to the entire universe. Even one
major world system is itself an immense expanse. In a single
world, there is a sun and a moon, and in the center, there
is a Mount Sumeru, which towers unimaginably high.
A major world system consists of one billion such worlds.
In the "Life Span of the Thus Come One" chapter,
however, Shakyamuni speaks of "five hundred, a thousand,
ten thousand, a million nayuta asamkhya major world systems."
This indicates a number of worlds so huge as to far exceed
even the grand scale of the cosmos as we know it. Shakyamuni
then speaks of these worlds of an immeasurable and boundless
number all being ground up into fine dust. The number of
grains of dust thus produced would be even more incalculable.
"Dust" means the smallest particle of substance
to which matter can be broken down. In modern terms, it
might correspond to atoms or elementary particles.
He then postulates someone taking this immeasurable quantity
of dust panicles and moving eastward, dropping a particle
each time he passes 500, 1,000, 10,000, a million nayuta
asamkhya worlds.
The grains of dust must be dropped one at a time. If the
person continues in this manner until he runs out of dust,
then how many worlds will he pass during this interval?
This is what Shakyamuni asks Bodhisattva Maitreya and the
others. It is clear that no one can answer him.
In response, Bodhisattva Maitreya, who in the "Life
Span" chapter represents the assembly, replies, "These
worlds are immeasurable, boundless --- one cannot calculate
their number, nor does the mind have the power to encompass
them." "Nor does the mind have the power to encompass
them" indicates that comprehension is beyond even the
wisdom of voice-hearers and pratyekabuddhas who have extinguished
earthly desires, and the state of life of great bodhisattvas
who have attained the stage of nonregression. It is not
simply a matter of magnitude of number or of length of time;
understanding in fact depends on state of life.
That it is unknowable to even great bodhisattvas at the
stage of non-regression, who are said to have already extinguished
a measure of darkness, means that one cannot grasp the remote
past of the "Life Span" chapter without conquering
the fundamental darkness in life from which all illusions
and desires spring.
This is why Shakyamuni so strongly emphasized the need
to "believe and understand" at the outset of the
"Life Span" chapter. Nichiren Daishonin says,
"A sharp sword to cut through the fundamental darkness
is to be found in faith alone" (Gosho Zenshu, p. 751).
Similes using astronomically large numbers can be found
even in the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings. In the "Life
Span" chapter, however, Shakyamuni does not explain
"innumerable" as simply an abstract number. Through
using what on the surface seems a concrete example --- saying
that the worlds should be ground to dust and the particles
of dust dropped one at a time --- and so causing his listeners
to recall an image, it is as though he is progressively
challenging them to change their way of thinking. While
in both cases "immeasurable" numbers are employed,
from the standpoint of Maitreya and the others, there is
a different feeling, a different depth of spirit in the
simile of the "Life Span" chapter.
The simile that Shakyamuni uses here is not a simile "according
with other's minds" (i.e., according to the minds of
beings of the nine worlds) such as are found in the pre-Lotus
Sutra teachings. It is a simile "according with the
mind of the Buddha" whose purpose is to open up people's
narrow lives and draw them into the vast state of life of
the Buddha.
While listening to Shakyamuni's preaching, Maitreya and
the others in the assembly no doubt felt as though they
were powerfully being drawn into the great state of life
of the Buddha who freely moves through the universe.
Niji butsu go. Dai bosas^shu. Sho zennanshi. Konto
funmyo. Sengo nyoto. Ze sho sekai. Nyaku jaku mijin. Gyu
fu jaku sha. Jin ni i jin. Ichi-jin ikko. Ga jobutsu irai.
Bu ka o shi. Hyaku sen man noku. Nayuta. Asogi ko.
At that time the Buddha said to the multitude of great
bodhisattvas: "Good men, now I will state this to you
clearly. Suppose all these worlds, whether they received
a particle of dust or not, are once more reduced to dust.
Let one particle represent one kalpa. The time that has
passed since I attained Buddhahood surpasses this by a hundred,
a thousand, ten thousand, a million nayuta asamkhya kalpas."
(LS, 225)
Here Shakyamuni, saying he is going to make a clear proclamation,
reveals the remote past of gohyaku jintengo.
First, he says to take all of the worlds passed so far,
whether or not they received a particle of dust, and grind
them into dust.
Then he takes this infinite number of particles of dust
and converts them into time, saying, "Let one particle
represent one kalpa." A kalpa is an extremely long
period of time.
Finally Shakyamuni reveals that he attained Buddhahood
at a time in the past "a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand,
a million nayuta asamkhya kalpas" more distant than
even this immeasurable number of kalpas. This time period
is gohyaku jintengo.
Gohyaku jintengo indicates a point in the inconceivably
remote past. Even so, the duration it represents is still
limited. This is because, since gohyaku jintengo refers
to the point in time at which Shakyamuni became a Buddha,
it indicates a period with a definite beginning.
In essence, however, Shakyamuni's enlightenment is "without
beginning." For Shakyamuni's purpose in explaining
gohyaku jintengo was to refute the view of his initial attainment
of enlightenment, which held that he first became a Buddha
at a particular moment in his present lifetime.
The central issue is the view of enlightenment. When inner
darkness is dispelled, we find that life fundamentally is
without beginning or end; to become a Buddha is to uncover
and bring out that original life, just as it is. In "The
True Object of Worship," the Daishonin says that the
Shakyamuni present within the lives of us who embrace the
Mystic Law is "the original Buddha since time without
beginning" (MW-1, p. 65).
The principle of kuon ganjo clarifies the implicit meaning
of this passage. Kuon ganjo means the wellspring of life
and the wellspring of the universe. This primal life is
the life of the Buddha of limitless joy of kuon ganjo; it
is itself Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. The Daishonin says, "'Remote
past' means Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" (Gosho Zenshu, p.
759).
President Toda said:
Nichiren Daishonin's life and our lives are without beginning
or end. This is termed kuon ganjo, They have neither beginning
nor end. The universe itself is a great living entity. Since
it is the universe, it has neither beginning nor end. This
planet taken in isolation, however, has a beginning and
an end.
Our lives are not "creations" made by some "author"
such as a creating deity. We exist together with the universe,
and together with the universe our existence continues infinitely.
It could be said that life itself is both the creator and
the creation.
From the standpoint of the Daishonin's Buddhism, all who
heard Shakyamuni expound the "Life Span" chapter
instantaneously changed their stance from one of gradually
approaching enlightenment through extinguishing earthly
desires to that of direct belief and acceptance of the great
life of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Gohyaku jintengo is a "skillful
simile" for bringing people to base themselves on the
great life of kuon ganjo.
- Avivartika: a stage of bodhisattva practice signifying
non-regression.
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