The Practice of Nichiren Buddhism
Now I would like to talk to you about the actual practice of
Nichiren Buddhism. The practice of Nichiren Buddhism is centered
upon the Three Great Hidden Dharmas taught by our founder,
Nichiren Shonin. This morning I spoke about the three refuges and
the threefold training, and I also told you that Nichiren
Buddhism recognizes the Lotus Sutra as the supreme
teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha. But how are these things connected
and how can we bring them into our own lives? Nichiren Shonin
taught the Three Great Hidden Dharmas as a way of redefining the
three refuges and the threefold training so that we could
directly take faith in and practice the supreme truth of the Lotus
Sutra.
Let me begin with the Gohonzon (Supreme Venerable), which is
depicted behind me in the form of a calligraphic mandala. This
mandala was inscribed by the Venerable Shingaku Oikawa, the
founder of this temple, but it was modeled upon the mandalas that
Nichiren Shonin created in order to depict the Gohonzon. Most
Nichiren Buddhists will have a similar mandala enshrined in their
homes which is the focus of daily practice. So what is the
Gohonzon, and why do we use mandalas to represent it?
Essentially, the Gohonzon is not a thing or an object but an
event. It is the transmission of the Wonderful Dharma to us by
the Eternal Shakymuni Buddha during the Ceremony in the Air. The
Ceremony in the Air is the central event described by the Lotus
Sutra. I do not have the time to describe the Ceremony in
the Air in detail, but you should know that in it Shakyamuni
Buddha reveals that his enlightened life transcends the
categories of birth and death, self and other, and that all
beings throughout the universe have been entrusted with this
teaching and can attain enlightenment by entrusting themselves to
it. In other words, our spritual practice depends upon the
manifestation in our own lives of the enlightened life of the
Buddha which transcends time and space and the distinctions of
self and other and which is always available to us in every
moment if we will just open ourselves up to it.
Nichiren further identified the unity of our lives and the
enlightened life of the Buddha with the five characters Myo
Ho Ren Ge Kyo - which is the actual title of the Lotus
Sutra. Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo means the Wonderful Dharm
of the Lotus Flower Teaching. These five characters are none
other than the eternal life of the Buddha as no different from
our own life, and our own life as no different than the eternal
life of the Buddha. However, until we acknowledge this and take
faith in it, this does not help us. Our minds and hearts must
awaken to this deep truth which the Lotus Sutra is
trying to make us realize. That is why we chant Namu Myoho Renge
Kyo (a.k.a the Odaimoku or Sacred Name), because Namu
means “I have faith in” or “I rejoice in.” So
when we chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, we are affirming and
expressing our faith in the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower
Teaching. We are opening ourselves up to the true nature of
reality in terms of the enlightened life of the Buddha as no
different than our own lives. Through such trust and confidence
we are able to discover the perfect wisdom and great compassion
of the selflessly giving reality which is the actual pure,
blissful, and eternal, true self.
So the calligraphy on this mandala is a depiction of the
transmission of the Wonderful Dharma which is Namu Myoho Renge
Kyo (written in the bold characters right down the center) by the
Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha to all beings throughout the universe.
Shakyamuni Buddha’s name is at the top just to the left of
the Odaimoku, and to the right of the Odaimoku is Many Treasures
Buddha (a primordial Buddha who appears in the Lotus Sutra
to testify to the truth of Shakyamuni Buddha’s teaching).
The rest of the calligraphy on the mandala consists of the names
of those who were a part of the congregation during the Ceremony
in the Air and who represent all beings throughout the universe
who are illuminated by the enlightened life of the Buddha through
the practice of Odaimoku.
Since the Gohonzon is the ongoing transmission of the Wonderful
Dharma to all of us by the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha, its reality
is all around us and can be depicted in more than one way. In the
temple, for instance, you will notice that it is depicted in the
form of a treasure tower engraved with the Odaimoku flanked by
statues of Shakyamuni Buddha and the Buddha Many Treasures. A
statue of Nichiren sits in front of them since he is the one who
actualized this teaching in his own life and passed it on to us.
The second of the Three Great Secret Dharmas is the Odaimoku, and
I have already described that. The Odaimoku is Namu Myoho Renge
Kyo which means “I take refuge in the Wonderful Dharma of
the Lotus Flower Teaching.” It is our expression of a deep
trust in the Buddha’s teaching and our joyful reception of
the enlightened qualities of the Buddha’s life into our own
lives which allows our own Buddha-nature to clearly shine forth.
The third of the Three Great Secret Dharmas is the Kaidan, which
means the precept platform. In Nichiren’s day, one had to go
to an officially sanctioned precept platform and there take the
three refuges and accept the precepts or way of life of a
Buddhist practitioner. This was the only way to offically become
a disciple of the Buddha as a monk or a nun. Nichiren, however,
taught that the precept platform should be based upon upholding
the Odaimoku wherever one is and that it did not matter if one
did so as a layperson or as a monastic disciple.
This morning I told you about the three refuges and the threefold
training. Now let me explain them in terms of the Three Great
Secret Dharmas. When we face the Gohonzon we are taking refuge in
the Buddha, not just as a person who attained enlightenment in
India 2,500 years ago, but the Buddha whose enlightened life
transcends time and space, and the duality of self and other. The
Gohonzon is also the focus of our meditation. It is the inner
truth that we can discern when we deeply reflect upon our lives.
When we chant Odaimoku, we are taking refuge in the Dharma, not
the Dharma as a set of abstract principles, but the Dharma as the
true nature of reality which we awaken to. The Odaimoku is also
the practice of cultivating wisdom because the Odaimoku is the
concise expression of Shakyamuni Buddha’s supreme insight
which goes beyond any of the Buddha’s discursive teachings.
When we manifest the Kaidan (the place of taking up the precepts)
by upholding the Wonderful Dharma, in that place we are taking
refuge in the Sangha, not just in terms of the monastic
community, but as the community of all beings who are enlightened
through Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. The Kaidan is manifested anywhere
that we live in accord with the true spirit of the Wonderful
Dharma, and so it is also the fulfillment of the ethical
discipline of Buddhism.
The practice of Nichiren Buddhism actually means to live our
lives centered upon the Gohonzon, to uphold the Odaimoku at all
times, and to regard every place as the Kaidan. In short,
Nichiren Buddhist practice means to transform our whole lives
through faith in the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower
Teaching. It is a transformation based upon the awakening of the
Buddha as our own awakening.
But Buddhist practice also means setting aside certain times and
certain places so that we can take a step back from the hectic
pace and relentless concerns of our daily lives and reacquaint
ourselves with the Wonderful Dharma. For that reason, Nichiren
Buddhists will enshrine the Omandala-Gohonzon in their homes and
in the morning and evening recite the Odaimoku accompanied by key
passages of the Lotus Sutra as well as several prayers
and vows that help to illuminate the purpose and meaning of our
practice. As you page through the service book, you will notice
that the various prayers, invocations and vows are expressing the
themes that we have been discussing today and these help to
remind us what a life based on Buddha Dharma is really about. The
two sections from the Lotus Sutra consist of the first
prose section of the second chapter, wherein Shakyamuni Buddha
first reveals the fundamental unity of all life and the potential
of all beings to attain Buddhahood; and the sixteenth chapter,
wherein Shakyamuni Buddha reveals that his life transcends birth
and death. These two sections prepare us for the essential
practice of chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. In a way, the
recitation of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo is the actual gem which is our
practice, and the passages from the Lotus Sutra as well as the
other prayers, vows, and invocations are the setting for that
gem.
The Ceremony in the Air
In order to fully explain the Omandala-Gohonzon, I must
briefly explain the central event described in the Lotus
Sutra - the Ceremony in the Air. Basically, the first half
of the Lotus Sutra records Shakyamuni Buddha’s
teaching that all people have the potential to awaken to the true
nature of reality just as he did, and that all of his teachings
had this awakening as their ultimate goal. Upon teachng this, a
great treasure tower rises up out of the earth and into the air
and inside of it is another Buddha from the primordial past named
Many Treasures, who testifies that all that Shakyamuni Buddha has
taught is true. At this point, I should mention that the Lotus
Sutra is not trying to teach us simply through philosophy or
ethical injunctions but through the symbolism of a vast cosmic
drama in order to reach our hearts and imaginations as well as
our conscious minds. So, at this point all of the many beings who
are present (and this includes not just humans but all the many
beings that could possibly exist throughout the universe) ask to
see this primordial Buddha, but in order to open the treasure
tower Shakymuni Buddha must recall all of the many Buddhas who
are teaching throughout the universe because they are actually
manifestations of Shakyamuni Buddha. In order to do this, he must
first purify the world and turn it into a Pure Land to prepare
for their arrival. Once they are gathered together, Shakyamuni
Buddha opens the treasure tower and reveals the Buddha of Many
Treasures. This Buddha then invited Shakyamuni Buddha to join him
in the treasure tower, so now the two Buddhas are seated there
together. The entire congregation is then elevated into the air
around the treasure tower and in this way the Ceremony in the Air
which forms the central event of the grand cosmic drama of the Lotus
Sutra begins. The many bodhisattvas (those beings who have
aspired to become Buddhas in order to save all beings) from the
Pure Lands throughout the universe then promise to spread the
Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Teaching that all beings can
attain Buddhahood, but Shakyamuni Buddha tells them that there
are actually another group of bodhisattvas who are to spread the
teachings in the world after his death during the age when the
true spirit of the Buddha’s teachings have been forgotten.
These other disciples then emerge from beneath the earth and they
are each equal to a Buddha in their dignity and magnificence.
They reveal that they are in fact the Buddha’s original
diciples and have been since the infinite past. The many beings
of the congregation are extremely confused by this, since
Shakyamuni Buddha had only become enlightened under the Bodhi
Tree 40 years prior to the events of the Lotus Sutra.
Shakyamuni Buddha then reveals that he actually attained
enlightenment in the inconceivably remote past and that his
enlightened life transcends the concepts of birth or death. The
Buddha then teaches that if one can have faith in this teaching
and rejoice in it for even a moment, then all the merits and and
virtues of the Buddha will become a part of their own lives. He
then entrust this teaching to the bodhisattvas who emerged from
beneath the earth as well as to all of the other beings present
in the Ceremony in the Air.
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