SGI-USA Study Curriculum
Lectures on the Hoben and Juryo Chapters of the Lotus Sutra
by SGI President Daisaku Ikeda
Bodhisattvas Are the Buddha's Emissaries
Who Lead People to Happiness
Sa ze kyo i. Bu shi ta-koku. Ken shi gen go.
Nyo bu i shi. Zeji sho shi. Mon bu haiso. Shin dai uno.
Ni sa ze nen. Nyaku bu zai sha. Jimin gato. No ken kugo.
Konja sha ga. On so ta-koku. Ji yui koro. Mu bu jiko. Jo
e hikan. Shin zui shogo. Nai chi shi yaku. Shiki ko mimi.
Soku shu buku shi. Doku byo kai yu. Go bu mon shi. Shi^chi
toku sai. Jin ben rai ki Gen shi ken shi.
"Having given these instructions, he [the excellent
physician] then goes off to another land, where he sends
a messenger home to announce, 'Your father is dead.'
"At that time the children, hearing that their
father has deserted them and died, are filled with great
grief and consternation and think to themselves: If our
father were alive, he would have pity on us and see that
we are protected. But now he has abandoned us and died in
some other country far away. We are shelterless orphans
with no one to rely on!
"Constantly harboring such feelings of grief,
they at last come to their senses and realize that the medicine
is in fact excellent in color and fragrance and flavor,
and so they take it and are healed of all the effects of
the poison. The father, hearing that his children are all
cured, immediately returns home and appears to them all
once more." (LS16, 228 - 229)
The Bodhisattvas of the Earth Are
Messengers Sent by the Buddha
What will become of things after I am gone?" This
is the constant thought of a genuine leader. That a leader
should attend to the present goes without saying; it is
constantly thinking about the future and taking action to
perfectly set the stage for future generations that distinguishes
an outstanding leader.
Leaders concerned only with their own time are egoists.
Those who come after such leaders and future society will
suffer.
Simply put, concern for the future defines one's quality
of leadership. This is an essential principle, and it holds
true in all areas.
The Buddha, moreover, is a great leader among leaders who
has stood up for the eternal happiness of all beings. "How
can I save people after my passing?" This is the greatest
issue facing the Buddha; therein lies his true mission.
The sutra passage "He sends a messenger home to announce.
. .," which we are now studying, is the will of Shakyamuni
who went to great lengths to clarify this point.
The excellent physician, having prepared the effective
medicine and set out on a journey, sends home a messenger
who announces to the children that their father has died
in the course of his travels.
The children are thunderstruck. Filled with grief, they
finally open their eyes and realize that the effective medicine
their father left behind is in fact "excellent in color
and fragrance and flavor," and they take it. As a result,
they are completely cured of the sickness from which they
were suffering.
The important point here is that the father induces the
children to take the effective medicine by concealing himself.
As long as he had remained at their side, the children had
refused to take the medicine and simply sank deeper into
suffering. Under these circumstances, the father used the
expedient means of having someone inform the children that
he had died in another land. He could thus finally cause
his beloved children to take the medicine and so lead them
to happiness.
The excellent physician, needless to say, is Shakyamuni
himself, and the children are the people in the world after
Shakyamuni's passing.
The children's grief upon hearing the sad news of their
father's death --- "We are shelterless orphans with
no one to rely on!" --- is the heartfelt cry of people
who have lost the Buddha. It could also be said to represent
the cry of people today whose lives, cut off from the cool,
fresh waters of a reliable philosophy, have become parched
and dry.
What, then, is the effective medicine? It is the teaching
left behind by the Buddha. It is the Law. According to the
Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai of China, "highly effective
medicine" means the sutras and teachings of the Buddha
(Hokke Mongu [Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra]).
In summation, the parable of the excellent physician and
his sick children indicates how the Buddha (the excellent
physician) uses the expedient means of his death to enable
the people in the world after his passing (the children)
to believe in the teaching (the effective medicine) he has
left behind. This is a restatement of the principal theme
of the entire "Life Span of the Thus Come One"
(16th) chapter.
The passage "he sends a messenger home to announce"
begs the question: Just who exactly is the messenger sent
by the excellent physician?
The messenger, bearing the message of the excellent physician,
communicates the news of the father's death to the children.
Entrusted with the father's spirit to somehow lead the children
to happiness, he fulfills a vital role in enabling them
to take the medicine.
Perhaps without this messenger the children would have
lost their lives on account of the illness. In fact, the
messenger represents people with the most important mission
from the standpoint of Buddhism. The "messenger [sent]
home to announce" represents those who can communicate
the correct Buddhist teaching to people after the Buddha's
passing; it indicates the "messengers of the Thus Come
One" who can spread the hopeful teaching of Buddhism
in an age bereft of hope.
Regarding this point, Nichiren Daishonin clearly states,
"The 'messenger' in our time refers to the Bodhisattvas
of the Earth who will appear in the beginning of the Latter
Day" (The Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol.
1, pp. 74 - 75).
"He sends a messenger home to announce" refers
to the Bodhisattvas of the Earth, who will shoulder the
task of propagation after Shakyamuni's death. That these
bodhisattvas will gallantly appear in the evil world of
the Latter Day, when Shakyamuni's teaching has lost its
power to lead people to enlightenment, and spread the effective
medicine of the Mystic Law left behind by the Buddha is
indeed a message of hope.
On one level, Nichiren Daishonin struggled to spread the
Mystic Law as the reincarnation of Bodhisattva Superior
Practices (Jogyo), leader of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth.
Needless to say, on the level of the implicit doctrine
of the Lotus Sutra, he is the original Buddha who left behind
the great beneficial medicine of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo that
can lead all people throughout the Latter Day to enlightenment.
The Daishonin is himself the "excellent physician"
and the "father" of all people.
Accordingly, from this standpoint the messenger is none
other than those who advance kosen-rufu in strict accord
with the Daishonin's teachings.
On one level as Bodhisattvas of the Earth, and on another
as followers of the original Buddha, we are emissaries of
the Thus Come One who tell others about the supreme teaching
of the Mystic Law and show actual proof of its greatness.
This is the honorable status we all enjoy.
Never before in the history of Buddhism has there been
a popular movement that has spread the correct Buddhist
teaching to such an extent, or led so many people to happiness,
as ours. More than anything else, this reality, this role
that we have played, attests to the fact that we are the
noble emissaries of the Buddha.
Nichiren Daishonin calls out to his disciples:
Now we are at the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law
and I, Nichiren, am the first to set out on the worldwide
propagation of Myoho-renge-kyo. These five characters are
the heart of the Lotus Sutra and the source of the enlightenment
of all Buddhas.... My disciples, form your ranks and follow
me, and you shall surpass even Mahakashyapa or Ananda, T'ien-t'ai
or Dengyo! (MW-I, 176)."
"I have opened the way to world kosen-rufu,"
the Daishonin says. "My disciples, follow me! And accomplish
a great mission surpassing even that of Mahakashyapa and
Ananda, T'ien-t'ai or Dengyo!"
As "messengers sent to announce," it is our mission
to carry out this spirit of the original Buddha and spread
the Mystic Law throughout the entire world.
Even the excellent physician could not have saved the children
without a messenger. Similarly, without the popular movement
of Bodhisattvas of the Earth who embrace the great effective
medicine of the Mystic Law, the people of the sick present
age cannot be saved.
Together, let us proudly advance along the glorious path
of life of Bodhisattvas of the Earth.
We Are Struggling Solely for the
Sake of Living Beings
Sho zen-nanshi. O i unga. Ha u nin no. Sesshi
ro-i. Komo zai fu. Hot^cha. Seson. Butsu gon. Ga yaku nyo
ze. Jobutsu irai. Muryo muhen. Hyaku sen man noku. Nayuta.
Asogi ko. I shujo ko. I hoben-riki. Gon to metsu-do. Yaku
mu u no. Nyo ho setsu ga. Komo ka sha. Niji seson. Yoku
ju sen shigi. Ni setsu ge gon.
"Good men, what is your opinion? Can anyone say
that this skilled physician is guilty of lying?"
"No, World-Honored One."
The Buddha said: "It is the same with me. It has
been immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands,
millions of nayuta and asamkhya kalpas since I attained
Buddhahood. But for the sake of living beings I employ the
power of expedient means and say that I am about to pass
into extinction. In view of the circumstances, however,
no one can say that I have been guilty of lies or falsehoods."
At that time the World-Honored One, wishing to state
his meaning once more, spoke in verse form, saying....
(LS16, 229)
After concluding the parable of the excellent physician
and his sick children, Shakyamuni puts the question to his
disciples: "Can anyone say that this skilled physician
is guilty of lying?"
"What do you think?" he asks them. "You
certainly wouldn't say that he is lying, would you?"
He waits for the disciples to indicate their assent, and
then says, "It is the same with me," and goes
on to explain his spirit by way of analogy to the excellent
physician.
This is another passage conveying the atmosphere of heartfelt
give-and-take that Shakyamuni cultivated with his disciples.
It certainly was not one-way communication. Shakyamuni was
not arbitrary or dogmatic. It is indeed difficult to find
leaders with such magnanimity in society today.
Shakyamuni's spirit in expounding his death as an expedient
means comes down to the one phrase, "for the sake of
living beings." While possessing an immeasurable span
of life, to save others he used the power of expedient means
to reveal his own extinction.
This spirit of compassion no doubt deeply penetrated the
lives of those gathered when he expounded the Law. For those
who open-mindedly and wholeheartedly caught the mentor's
spirit, Shakyamuni could hardly have appeared guilty of
lies or falsehoods. As we learned before, all that the Buddha
preaches "is true and not false."
This points to the fundamental difference between an expedient
means and a lie. The distinguishing characteristic of an
expedient means is that it arises from profound compassion
for others, and contributes to improvement in their lives.
This is the essential point.
In a general discussion of leadership in society, the German
philosopher Karl Jaspers argues: "Both of them, democrat
and tyrant, address themselves to the people.... Which of
them will meet with success can be decided in each instance
only by the people themselves; the decision they reach is
a decision over themselves." (1)
Outwardly, democratic leaders and dictators appear similar
in that they both appeal to the people.
In every case, therefore, it is ultimately the people themselves
who must determine whether leaders' words are true or false.
It is the people's choice which direction in which they
will advance. Therefore, the only way is for the people
themselves to become wise.
And a Buddhist has to speak the truth and spare nothing
of his or her life in taking resolute action for the people
(i.e., "for the sake of living beings").
In an age swirling with affectation and vanity, the members
of the SGI have steadfastly taken action "for the sake
of living beings." With confidence in this and while
showing splendid proof of this, let us joyfully advance,
setting our sights on May 3, 2005.
We will next begin studying the jigage section, which develops
the contents of the prose section of the "Life Span"
chapter in beautiful verse.
- Karl Jaspers, The Origin and Goal of History, trans.
Michael Bullock (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.,
1953), p. 167.
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