Buddha's State of Life

The Justice Chronicle, provided by Soka Gakkai International-USA, is a free monthly e-mail in support of the Soka Spirit movement. Soka Spirit is the SGI's educational effort to create value and deepen our understanding of Nichiren Buddhism through increased awareness of issues surrounding the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood and the spiritual foundation of the SGI movement.

1) FROM THE WISDOM OF THE LOTUS SUTRA

This excerpt is from SGI President Ikeda's collection of dialogues with Katsuji Saito, Takanori Endo and Haruo Suda entitled, The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra. The following excerpt is from volume 3, part 2, on the Devadatta chapter of the Lotus Sutra. Devadatta was a follower of Shakyamuni, thought to be his half-brother, who started his own order.

RELIGIONS THAT RESTRICT AND BIND CANNOT CAPTURE HEARTS

Suda: Devadatta, having resolved to turn against Shakyamuni, incited Ajatashatru [a prince who Devadatta had aligned himself with] to kill his father, King Bimbisara, and assume the throne. Another account has it that King Bimbisara willingly passed on the throne to his son.

Then, availing himself of King Ajatashatru's power, Devadatta hatched all manner of schemes to kill Shakyamuni. He dispatched assassins, set loose wild elephants and finally, rolled a huge stone down on him, but all of these attempts failed.

Ikeda: The Buddha's state of life is such that no power or scheme can harm him. Devadatta's failed attempts to do away with Shakyamuni eloquently attest to this. We see the same in the case of Nichiren Daishonin. Even with the immense power of the ruling Kamakura shogunate at their disposal, Nichiren Daishonin's enemies could not make good on their schemes.

Saito: Devadatta also plotted to destroy the sangha, or community of Shakyamuni's followers. He tried to kill his mentor and to undermine Shakyamuni's bond with his disciples. In terms of precepts, Devadatta advocated monastic rules even stricter than those upheld in Shakyamuni's order and in this way tried to make himself appear superior to the Buddha. There are some discrepancies among different sources, but the precepts Devadatta put forth are more or less as follows:

(1) Practitioners should dwell in the woods away from villages or towns; those who enter villages or towns are committing an offense. (2) Practitioners should live on alms alone; those who accept invitations to banquets are committing an offense. (3) Practitioners should dress in rags; those who accept donated robes are committing an offense. (4) Practitioners should dwell under trees and not under a roof; those who go near a roofed abode are committing an offense. (5) Practitioners should not eat the flesh of animals or fish; those who break this precept are committing an offense.

Endo: In India at the time, practitioners who strove to curb desires were greatly respected. Devadatta probably thought he could win a following by advocating such severe precepts.

In fact, it is said that 500 of the Buddha's disciples were deceived by Devadatta's words and became his followers. But these people later returned to Shakyamuni after Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, two of Shakyamuni's senior disciples, reasoned with them.

Those who remained with Devadatta created an order centering on the renegade disciple. This order, which revered Devadatta as an enlightened being, is thought to have survived in Indian society for as long as a thousand years.

Suda: These strict precepts must have sounded good. Indeed, they are so austere that Shakyamuni must have seemed decadent by comparison.

Ikeda: That was probably Devadatta's intention. An evil person, rather than present a face that says, I am evil, will use evil wisdom and cunning to make himself appear otherwise. At a time when many people were carrying out extreme practices, it probably would have been easy to criticize Shakyamuni's practice of the Middle Way as decadent. As a matter of fact, before attaining enlightenment, Shakyamuni had rigorously pursued the limits of painful asceticism. When he rejected this path, he was severely criticized as decadent by five of his erstwhile fellow ascetics.

Naturally, Shakyamuni's order, while having a certain open-mindedness when it came to daily practice and the following of precepts -- a quality intrinsic to the teaching of the Middle Way -- no doubt maintained a spirit of the greatest austerity when it came to seeking the Way. Without a certain measure of flexibility and openness, it would not have been possible to include many different people. The purpose of Buddhist practice and of precepts is to enable many people to enter the path of good and guide them to happiness. To impose precepts with the express purpose of causing people to suffer is perverse. Religions that bind and restrict people with external rules prohibiting one thing after another cannot capture people's hearts. Moreover, anyone hypocritical enough to affect poverty and austerity out of personal vanity and scheming is abusing the spirit of religion.

In short, Devadatta desperately wanted to be respected more highly than Shakyamuni. He was motivated by jealousy, and it was probably for this reason that he thought up his five precepts.

Endo: At its root, the idea can only have arisen from sheer madness.

Saito: I think Devadatta was destroyed by his own jealousy. (pp. 73-75.)

Four in a series.

2) FROM MY DEAR FRIENDS IN AMERICA

This series contains excerpts of speeches SGI President Ikeda made in the United Statesÿ which relate to Soka Spirit and are contained in the book My Dear Friends in America.

This excerpt is from a speech given on Sept. 21, 1993, in Boston.

REVERING THE MYSTIC LAW INHERENT IN OUR OWN LIVES

Nichiren Daishonin writes, When we revere Myoho-renge-kyo inherent in our own life as the object of devotion, the Buddha nature within us is summoned forth and manifested by our chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. This is what is meant by 'Buddha' (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 887).

In regard to this passage, second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda commented: The body of the person who chants daimoku to the Gohonzon in itself becomes the entity of the object of devotion. This is clear. Surely this very action constitutes 'embracing the Gohonzon' in the truest sense.

The 66th high priest, Nittatsu, once remarked that the life of the Daishonin is in itself the Gohonzon. He said: If we believe single-mindedly in this Gohonzon and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we ourselves become the Gohonzon. Furthermore, we become the noble entity of the life of the founder, Nichiren Daishonin. This is the true meaning of attaining Buddhahood in our present form.

I therefore ask that all of you chant single-mindedly to this Gohonzon, harboring not the slightest doubt in your heart; and I ask that you establish the kind of profound faith where you can realize in the depths of your life that your mortal body itself becomes the entity of the life of the Daishonin and the Gohonzon.

The Daishonin writes on this principle: In essence, the entity of Myoho-renge-kyo is the physical body that the disciples and followers of Nichiren who believe in the Lotus Sutra received from their fathers and mothers at birth (WND, 512).

In his Commentary on 'The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind,' Nichikan writes, When one embraces and has faith in this Gohonzon and chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, one's life immediately becomes the object of devotion; it becomes the life of Nichiren Daishonin.

How worthy of respect then are the lives of those who pray for the realization of kosen-rufu day after day and who make painstaking efforts and chant daimoku for the sake of the Law and for the happiness of others!

The offense of Nichiren Shoshu, in denigrating these noble members and excommunicating the SGI, is just as grave as the crime of persecuting the Daishonin himself. Those who respect and cherish the members of the SGI, the children of the Buddha, with all their heart are true followers of the Daishonin. (pp. 324-25)

Twenty-five in a series.