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The
Lotus Sutra is a Mahayana Buddhist text whose teachings form
the foundation of Nichiren Buddhism. This article is the
first in a series of excerpts of SGI President Daisaku
Ikeda's six-volume work, The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra,
which explores the significance of this ancient text to our
contemporary lives.
Making "Life" the
Keyword
of the Coming Age |
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[İSeikyo
Shimbun] |
Here, SGI President Ikeda
discusses the enlightenment of second Soka Gakkai president
Josei Toda during his imprisonment by Japan's militarist
government in World War II. In prison, Toda avidly studied
the Lotus Sutra and its introductory Sutra of Immeasurable
Meanings. While struggling to understand a passage in the
latter sutra describing the "entity of the Buddha," Toda had
a realization that completely transformed his perspective on
Buddhism. The passage is a list of 34 negations, beginning
"His body neither existing nor not existing, neither caused
nor conditioned, neither self nor other. . . ."
The Lotus Sutra teaches that all human beings can attain
Buddhahood. What, then, is a Buddha? What does it mean to
attain Buddhahood? These are questions vital to all Buddhist
teachings. To merely say that the entity of the Buddha
transcends the power of language, that it is unfathomable,
does not help our understanding in the least. Mr. Toda
deeply contemplated these questions and sought to resolve
them.
It was then that the word life suddenly flashed
through his mind. He perceived that the Buddha is life
itself:
| Life is
neither existing nor not existing, neither caused
nor conditioned, neither self nor other, neither
square nor round, neither short nor long, . . .
neither crimson nor purple nor any other sort of
color. |
Life is a straightforward,
familiar word we use every day. But at the same time it can
express the most profound essence of the Buddhist Law, a
single word that expresses infinite meaning. All human
beings are endowed with life, so this word has practical,
concrete meaning for everyone. In this way, Mr. Toda's
realization made Buddhism comprehensible to all.
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[İYali Shi/Dreamtime.com] |
Life also has enormous diversity. It is rich and full of
energy. At the same time, it operates according to certain
laws and has a defined rhythm. Life is also free and
unfettered. It is an open entity in constant communication
with the external world, always exchanging matter and energy
and information. Yet while open, it maintains its autonomy.
Life is characterized by this harmonious freedom and an
openness to the entire universe. The infinite and unbounded
state of Buddhahood can be described as a state in which the
freedom, openness and harmony of life are realized to the
maximum extent.
Mr. Toda once described his feelings after having attained
his realization in prison as follows:
| It is like lying on
your back in a wide open space looking up at the sky
with arms and legs outstretched. All that you wish
for immediately appears. No matter how much you may
give away, there is always more. It is never
exhausted. Try and see if you can attain this state
of life. |
With the word Buddha, the
image of a supreme being tends to dominate people's
impression. It evokes a feeling of the Buddha being somehow
distant and separate from us. The word Law, in the
sense that it implies a rule or phenomenon, suggests the
impersonal. Alone, it does not convey much warmth.
Essentially, the Buddha and the Law are not two different,
separate things--the word life encompasses both.
All people are endowed with life, and life is immeasurably
precious. The declaration that "the Buddha is life itself"
reveals that the very essence of Buddhism--the Buddha and
the Law--is in our own life.
Mr. Toda once said:
| We use the word
self [to refer to ourselves], but this word
actually refers to the universe. When we ask how the
life of the universe is different from the life of
each one of you, the only differences we find are
those of your bodies and minds. Your life and that
of the universe are the same. |
I believe that "life" and "life
force" will be the keywords for the 21st century. Mr. Toda's
enlightenment that the Buddha is life itself is a
declaration that life is the absolute and supreme reality.
It was an opening volley to all warped and twisted points of
view which would destroy the dignity of human life. And
indeed this is Buddhism's fundamental challenge.
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