Inherit the Buddha's Spirit

“The highest offering to the Buddha is not to worship something reminiscent of the Buddha.  Rather, it is to inherit the Buddha’s spirit.  In other words, the highest offering lies in struggling to manifest, as one’s own way of life, even a part of the spirit of the Buddha, who upheld the philosophy that everyone is a Buddha and tirelessly strove to save all from suffering.” 

Daisaku Ikeda (Buddhism Day by Day, p297)      

The Buddha's Warning

Okay, maybe not the last one, but in the Kalama Sutra, Shakyamuni states: 

“Don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, "This contemplative is our teacher."  When you know for yourselves that, "These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness" — then you should enter & remain in them.”

The key point of the Kalama Sutra is to teach us that the source of any information, or even our own reasoning or contemplation, shouldn't be accepted at face value.  It is essential for us to distance ourselves from blind faith and to "know for ourselves" through actual practice and testing the claims of that knowledge or wisdom.  Once we have proved through our own investigation, research, action and results that this practice leads to a state of happiness for ourselves and society, then, and only then, should we adopt and pursue that practice.

Throughout his years of teaching, Shakyamuni taught many different sutras, continually updating the depth and breadth of his teachings in accordance with the growing capacity of his audience.  Finally, after 40 years, he taught the complete truth of the mystic law of the universe that he had awakened to under the Bodhi tree in his penultimate teaching - the Lotus Sutra.

Before he died, Shakyamuni taught one final sutra - the Nirvana Sutra - in which he confirmed that the Lotus Sutra contained his complete and all-encompassing philosophy - the king of all sutra - and that it would never be replaced by a future teaching.  He also issued a final warning to his disciples at that time, and for the future, to focus on the teaching itself and not to be led astray by the words of religious leaders, wise men, other people or one's own thoughts:

FOLLOW THE LAW NOT THE PERSON

  

Shakyamuni's Approval

In the Sahassavagga section of the Dhammapada,  Shakyamuni says:

“Better it is to live one day seeing the rise and fall of things than to live a hundred years without ever seeing the rise and fall of things.

… Better it is to live one day seeing the Supreme Truth than to live a hundred years without ever seeing the Supreme Truth”

This comes from one of Shakyamuni’s earlier teachings and while we know that Shakyamuni revealed his ultimate teaching in The Lotus Sutra, we can also see that this earlier teaching contains universal truths about awakening to the Mystic Law and the reality of all phenomena.

In fact from the teachings of the four noble truths and the eightfold path onwards, Shakyamuni was encouraging us to understand the causes of our suffering and teaching us a path to happiness. 

Since those early days, the Buddha taught many different teachings in relation to the time and capabilities of the hearers, and three key principles became established among future generations of buddhists which were judged to guarantee the authenticity of a doctrine as a Buddhist doctrine. 

These three criteria, also known as the three Dharma seals, were the concepts of impermanence, non-self and nirvana. 

1 IMPERMANENCE (EVERYTHING CHANGES)

Everything is in a constant state of change.  We are born.  We grow old.  We get sick.  We die.  Fruit ripens then spoils.  The movement of the sea erodes coastlines.  A movie star’s career rises or declines.  Fashions change.  Companies go bankrupt.  We fall in love.  We get married.  We grow apart.  We get divorced.  Empires rise and fall. 

Does this mean that impermanence has to be a source of suffering?  Not at all.  It may seem like a negative and pessimistic view of life, but it’s our failure to understand impermanence that causes us suffering.  Once we awaken to this universal truth we are encouraged in two ways.  Firstly, it  allows you to make the most of every moment during the good times.  This could be an opportunity to reconnect with a loved one you have lost touch with or to cherish the person right in front of you.  Secondly, if you are going through bad times, impermanence gives you hope that things will change for the better. 

Nichiren’s famous words of encouragement in his letter “Happiness in This World” are “Suffer what there is to suffer.  Enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life, and continue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, no matter what happens.  How could this be anything other than the boundless joy of the Law?  Strengthen your power of faith more than ever.”   (WND1, p681)

His advice isn’t just to go with the flow of life and to suffer and enjoy whatever life brings, but to “see” the impermance of all phenomena and wake up to the true reality of our suffering and joy.   Nichiren is teaching us to use our faith and practice to make the most of every moment of our life.

The Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh explains that “The Buddha implored us not just to talk about impermanence, but to use it as an instrument to help us penetrate deeply into reality and obtain liberating insight. … Without impermanence, life is not possible. How can we transform our suffering if things are not impermanent?  How can our daughter grow up into a beautiful young lady? How can the situation in the world improve?  We need impermanence for social justice and for hope.”

2 NON-SELF (AN ETERNITY OF NON-INDEPENDENCE)

The concept of non-self is based on the view that our present identity is not eternal, and even though we will be reborn with a new identity based on our eternal entity’s accumulated causes and effects, there is no eternal independent self that will continue life on another plane of existence, such as the Christian concept of heaven or hell. 

Also it’s impossible to live a life where we exist independently from others and our environment, and we are constantly influencing, and are influenced by, our environment and the people we come into contact with, both directly and indirectly (through TV, literature, blogs, etc.). 

3 NIRVANA (ETERNAL HAPPINESS)

When unenlightened our ignorance, greed and anger, and our inability to clearly understand IMPERMANENCE and NON-SELF, leads us to a life of suffering, but when we awaken to these realities that life, and even our own identity, are changeable and that everything is connected, we can achieve the highest state of calm and serenity – NIRVANA.

THE LOTUS SUTRA AND THE ONE DHARMA SEAL

The SGI Dictionary of Buddhism describes the THREE DHARMA SEALS  “ as standards to determine whether or not a sutra or a doctrine was valid”  and continues that within Chinese Mahayana Buddhism these three seals were seen as a concept of early Buddhism.  “It established instead the one Dharma seal, which was the principle of the ultimate reality, or the true aspect of all phenomena.  The Dharma seal of the ultimate reality is based on the Lotus Sutra, which sets forth this true aspect of all phenomena.”

2005 PEACE PROPOSAL

Every year since 1983 President Ikeda has written a Peace Proposal (see also For the Sake of Peace) with a Buddhist perspective on how to bring peace to society through committees, treaties and dialogue. 

  

In his 2005 Peace Proposal, ”Towards a New Era of Dialogue: Humanism  Explored”,  he summarised the Buddhist concept of these three Dharma seals:

“The impermanence of all phenomena (shogyo-mujo) explains that all things, events and experiences can be understood as an unbroken continuity of change and transformation.  Because everything changes, there is nothing that has a fixed, independent existence or substance (shoho-muga).  The enlightened state realized through the fully developed capacity to discern this reality is referred to as the tranquility of nirvana (nehan-jakujo).

This describes the initial awakening achieved by Shakyamuni when he realized that all things arise in the context of their interrelatedness;  this is a world woven of the rich threads of diversity, as all things exist in a web of interdependence, each serving as the cause or connection by which all other things come into being.”

(Daisaku Ikeda, 2005 Peace Proposal, p5)

Most Buddhist schools claim they are following Shakyamuni’s true intent through their own faith and practice of one or more of his teachings, so Shakyamuni also gave a warning of who to trust in the future…  

Shakyamuni's Shakubuku Style

In one of my previous posts “The Teacher of the Law” I looked at the various stages of the Buddha’s teachings and how he chose to break down the true aspect of all phenomena into smaller stages to fulfil his vow “to make all persons equal to [him], without any distinction between us” (The Lotus Sutra & Its Opening and Closing Sutras (2000), p70).  Over the last few posts I’ve looked at some of these earlier practices, but this time we continue with Shakyamuni’s journey and how he introduced this path to enlightenment to his first followers.  These early teachings (including the Pali Canon) are part of the Agama Period which Shakyamuni taught for 12 years and formed the basis of the Therevadan and Vinaya schools of Buddhism.

After becoming enlightened and thinking through how he could teach this wisdom to others, Shakyamuni returned to Varanasi and Deer Park to reveal the first stage of the Mystic Law to the five ascetics that he had practiced with before.	Æ	When we awaken to the wonder of the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra, we want to share this joy and knowledge with the people around us that we know, such as our friends, family, classmates, etc.
At first, they weren’t very excited to see him and doubted his enlightenment because he had previously turned his back on these austere practices.	Æ	The people we talk to may not initially be interested in what we have to say and may even be disparaging of our faith.
But when they noticed his confident attitude and his demeanour, they realised that there was something different about their old friend and wanted to know what his secret was.	Æ	Often it’s our attitude and behaviour as Buddhists, especially how we react when facing sickness, challenges and negativity in our lives, which make people want to know more about our practice.
Hearing these early teachings, they decided to become followers of Shakyamuni and the Buddhist Order was born.  Shakyamuni’s first disciples is thought to have been Ajnata Kaudinya.	Æ	The people we introduce to Nichiren Buddhism may initially show an interest and decide to come along to a discussion meeting, but after a period of study and practice they may decide to join our Buddhist Order – the SGI.

Chain Reaction

In addition to the topics already covered (Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, Five Precepts, etc.)  another one of the early Buddhist teachings was the twelve-linked chain of causation, and Shakyamuni is thought to have taught this twelve step program to explain the causal relationship between ignorance and the sufferings of aging and death.

Shakyamuni introduces these twelve links in the Assutava Sutra :

"When this exists, that comes to be. With the arising of this, that arises." 

These twelve links are:

(1)  ignorance, which results in
(2)  action, which causes
(3)  consciousness or the function to discern, which causes
(4)  name and form (or spiritual and material objects of discernment) which consist of 
(5)  the six sense organs, which interpret
(6)  contact , which arouses
(7)  sensation (visual, aural, intellectual, etc.), which leads to
(8)  desire (or cravings for sights, sounds, smells, ideas, etc.) which precedes
(9)  attachment, which causes
(10) existence (a karmic force of becoming), which manifests in
(11)  birth (a new status/position, a born again identity, etc.) which begins the process of 
(12) aging and death.

These twelve links can be viewed pessimistically as "the way things are" and that we are doomed to a perpetual existence stuck in this cycle of suffering, or it can be interpreted optimistically, reasoning that through wisdom, ignorance (the source of our delusion) can be eliminated freeing us from this chain of suffering and leading to Shakyamuni's initial teachings on nirvana.  Returning to the Assutava Sutra:

"When this does not exist, that does not come to be. With the cessation of this, that ceases."

The Great Commentary on the Abhidharma, a text of the Sarvāstivāda school, views the twelve-linked chain of causation as operating over the three existences of life, such that "aging and death" in this life are the results of causes formed in a previous life:

1	IGNORANCE	CAUSES CREATED IN THE PAST
2	ACTION
3	CONSCIOUSNESS	EFFECTS MANIFESTED IN THE PRESENT
4	NAME AND FORM
5	SIX SENSE ORGANS
6	CONTACT
7	SENSATION
8	DESIRE	CAUSES CREATED IN THE PRESENT
9	ATTACHMENT
10	EXISTENCE
11	BIRTH	EFFECTS MANIFESTED IN THE FUTURE
12	AGING AND DEATH

From a Nichiren Buddhist perspective, we can see that the cause of all our suffering is ignorance, and especially ignorance of the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra, and therefore, the only way to break this chain and achieve our own emancipation is through our faith in the Lotus Sutra and our practice of Nichiren Buddhism.  In the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni also reveals for the first time, the rarest and most-difficult-to-understand Law, the true entity of all phenomena ...

The Story So Far ...

Between August and October last year I started a series of posts on the history of Shakyamuni's awakening and early teachings.  So far there have been four posts on this journey, including his life up to sitting under the Bodhi tree, his encounters with Mara, his enlightenment and his decision to teach others about the Law.  There have also been four posts on his early teachings, including the four noble truths, the eightfold path and the five precepts. 

Buddhism Rules!

THE FIVE PRECEPTS

I previously looked at Shakyamuni's earlier teachings of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS and the EIGHTFOLD PATH as they relate to Nichiren Buddhism, but Shakyamuni knew that it would be difficult for his followers at that time, especially lay people, to remember all of a sutra or to commit time to study his teachings in detail, so he distilled the essence of a good life into five precepts.  These precepts were a list of 5 rules to live your life by, and while they didn’t give a detailed explanation of the workings of the universe,  they would ensure that followers lived a respectful life, creating good causes for their future happiness.

In the Abhisanda Sutra he introduces these precepts and mentions that these are eternal guidelines since the beginning of time and as they “will never be open to suspicion” explains they will be eternal guidelines for all time in the future as well.

These five precepts were:

 “A disciple of the noble ones ... abstains from taking life.  ...

The disciple of the noble ones abstains from taking what is not given. ...

The disciple of the noble ones abstains from illicit sex. ...

The disciple of the noble ones abstains from lying. ...

The disciple of the noble ones abstains from taking intoxicants.”

I will go into these in a little more detail in a moment, but it’s interesting to note that in this sutra, all of these precepts are followed by the phrase:

“In doing so, he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings.  In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression.”

I think this is a really interesting phrase, especially that by following these precepts a person “gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression”.   How does this happen?

Let’s imagine living in a village of 1000 people where everyone takes from others and there is no freedom from danger, animosity and oppression. If you and four friends choose to live by the precept of “abstaining from taking what is not given” there are now a few people in the village who will not take things from you, your friends and others, so you have already gained a very very small share of this limitless freedom as a result of your decision.  If another 300 people start to practice Buddhism and agree to follow these precepts, there is now a 30% drop in theft in the village which you all continue to share in.  And if in the future 98% of the village agrees “not to take what is not given”, your environment will be mostly free from danger, animosity and oppression.  In the same way, as we propagate Nichiren Buddhism and people start to reveal their Buddhahood, and respect the Buddhahood of other people in their communities, society starts to become a better, more peaceful and more harmonious place to live.

Returning to the five precepts, they are all based on respecting ourselves, our bodies and our property and the lives, bodies and property of others.  The Brahma Net Sutra goes into a little more detail: 

            (1)          “A disciple of the Buddha shall not himself kill, encourage others to kill, kill by expedient means, praise killing, rejoice at witnessing killing, or kill through incantation or deviant mantras.  He must not create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of killing, and shall not intentionally kill any living creature.”

(2)          "A disciple of the Buddha must not himself steal or encourage others to steal, steal by expedient means, and steal by means of incantation or deviant mantras.  He should not create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of stealing.” 

(3)          “A disciple of the Buddha must not engage in licentious acts or encourage others to do   so  ... nor create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of such misconduct.”  Generally, according to the sutra, priests, monks and nuns were forbidden from engaging in sexual activity, while lay believers were encouraged to conduct themselves in a pure way.  Some people wonder how this might relate to other aspects of sexuality?  Is it okay to have a same-sex partner or is this licentious?  Is it okay to engage in role-play, S&M or other fantasies, or is this licentious?  How about multiple partners?  Personally, I think a lot of this is down to your own personal choice, and as long as you and your partner are both consenting adults and happy within the relationship I don't see a problem.  Ultimately, like all of these precepts, the focus is on respecting yourself, your body and other people. 

(4)          “A disciple of the Buddha must not himself use false words and speech, or encourage others to lie or lie by expedient means.  He should not involve himself in the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of lying, saying that he has seen what he has not seen or vice-versa.”   In addition to verbally lying, this also includes physical gestures such as nodding or shaking your head to confirm or deny something, and remaining deceptively silent when asked if you have or haven’t done something. 

(5)          “A disciple of the Buddha must not trade in alcoholic beverages or encourage others to do so.  He should not create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of selling any intoxicant whatsoever, for intoxicants are the causes and conditions of all kinds of offenses.”  The key point of this precept is that disciples of the Buddha should maintain a clear mind and body, and encourage others to do the same, so that they are aware of their behaviour and avoid committing offenses due to a lack of self-control. 

In addition to these there were an addition five precepts added for priests to follow and, over the years, these precepts were extended until there was a total of 250 precepts for monks and 500 precepts for nuns to follow.  Some people believe these precepts for monks and nuns were part of Shakyamuni’s teachings and designed to ensure followers who wanted to devote their entire lives to his teachings focussed on the essential qualities of a good monk or nun, while others disagree and think that 250 or more rules for living goes against his spirit of following the Middle Way.  

 PRECEPTS IN THE LATTER DAY OF THE LAW

Are these precepts still relevant today or have they also been replaced by The Lotus Sutra?

In general, Shakyamuni mentions in the “Treasure Tower” that the key precepts of the Lotus Sutra are accepting and upholding, and reading and reciting, this sutra, and Nichiren also advises a follower about to take part in a debate with another Buddhist school to “tell them that the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo, the heart of the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra, contain the benefit amassed through the countless practices and meritorious deeds of all Buddhas throughout the three existences.  Then, how can these five characters not include the benefits obtained by observing all of the Buddhas’ precepts?  ... Now in the Latter Day of the Law, any person ... who embraces Myoho-renge-kyo and practices it in accordance with the Buddha’s teaching, cannot fail to gain the fruit of Buddhahood. ... Now that so wondrous a precept [the Diamond Chalice Precept of the Lotus Sutra] has been revealed, none of the precepts expounded in the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings or in the theoretical teaching have the slightest power to benefit people.  Since they provide not the slightest benefit, it is totally useless to observe them, even for a single day.” (WND-1, p481-482)

From this Gosho we can see that none of the pre-Lotus Sutra precepts are necessary for our practice, but I still think these first five precepts are important "eternal guidelines" for us to consider in our daily lives, which accord with the general philosophy of the Lotus Sutra to respect the dignity of our lives and the lives of others.
 

So what are the precepts for the modern Nichiren Buddhist? 

The four precepts of the Lotus Sutra are:

(1)      Accept the Lotus Sutra

(2)      Uphold the Lotus Sutra

(3)      Read the Lotus Sutra

(4)      Recite the Lotus Sutra

And for Nichiren Buddhists:

THE ONE ESSENTIAL PRECEPT IS TO CHANT “NAM-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO”