Here are some of my thoughts about the role of the clergy and
the relationship between the clergy and the laity. Again, this is
off-the-cuff, so don’t expect this to be a thesis. Let me
begin by sharing with you a passage from the opening of the
Nichiren Shu handbook:
Our faith does not differentiate ministers from lay
followers. The minister’s base of activities is in a
temple, church, or association, where they are responsible
for personal and social dissemination of our faith, for
studying the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and
Nichiren Shonin, and for conducting Buddhist ceremonies.
While living a secular life, lay members are responsible for
working hard at their faith and training, and practicing the
teachings. In this way we spread the true and wonderful
aspects of the teachings. Only with unity and cooperation
between ministers and lay members can we strengthen the faith
in Nichiren Buddhism.
(Shingyo Hikkei: A Handbook for Members of the Nichiren
Order, p.1)
Note that it says that minister and lay followers are not
differentiated except in terms of their lifestyles and spheres of
influence. Here in America, even these things are
inconsequential, as I am a clergyman who works full time and has
a family and my base of operations is my home as much as the San
Jose Temple. Secondly, notice that the passage says that there
should be cooperation between the clergy and the laity, NOT
submission of the laity to the clergy.
As for Nichiren, the Gosho, “How those initially aspiring to
the Way can attain Buddhahood through the Lotus Sutra”
states:
Only when one understands all this clearly and has faith
in it can the power of the Law be manifested and the Buddhas
and bodhisattvas bring benefit to the people. To illustrate,
in kindling a fire, three things are needed: a good piece of
steel, a good flint and good tinder. The same is true of
prayer. Three things are required--a good teacher, a good
believer and a good doctrine--before the prayers can be
effective and disasters banished from the land.
A "good teacher" is a priest who is innocent of any
wrongdoing in secular affairs, who never fawns upon others
even in the slightest, who has few desires and is satisfied
with little, and who is compassionate, a priest who trusts to
the scriptures, reads and upholds the Lotus Sutra
and also encourages others to embrace it. Such a priest the
Buddha has praised by calling him, among all priests, the
finest teacher of the Dharma.
A "good believer" is one who does not depend upon
persons of eminence nor despise persons of humble station,
who does not rely on the backing of his superiors nor look
down on his inferiors, who, not relying upon the opinions of
others, upholds the Lotus Sutra among all the
various sutras. Such a person the Buddha has called the best
of all people.
As for a "good doctrine," the Buddha has told us
that this sutra, the Lotus, represents the foremost
among all doctrines. Among all the sutras the Buddha
"has preached," among those he "now
preaches," and among those he "will preach,"
this sutra is designated as foremost, and therefore it is a
"good doctrine."
This is very good advice we should all reflect on. However,
we should also keep in mind that Nichiren constantly reminded his
disciples to follow the Dharma and not the Person. These were
actually the words of Shakyamuni Buddha. The very same Buddha who
once made the following remarks about noble friendship:
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was
living among the Sakyans. Now there is a Sakyan town named
Sakkara. There Ven. Ananda went to the Blessed One and, on
arrival, having bowed down to the Blessed One, sat to one
side. As he was sitting there, Ven. Ananda said to the
Blessed One, “This is half of the holy life, lord:
having admirable people as friends, companions, and
colleagues.”
"Don't say that, Ananda. Don't say that. Having
admirable people as friends, companions, and colleagues is
actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk has
admirable people as friends, companions, and colleagues, he
can be expected to develop and pursue the noble eightfold
path. (Samyutta Nikaya XLV.2)
It seems strange that the Buddha would tell us to rely only
on the Dharma in one place and then tell Ananda that the whole of
the holy life is to have good friends. This is not a
contradiction however. The point is that the Dharma is the true
entity of ichinen sanzen (three thousand realms in one
thought/moment), and ichinen sanzen embraces our
relationships with ourselves, with others and with the world.
This means that the quality of our relationships is very much an
expression of our realization of the Truth of ichinen sanzen.
Does anybody remember the term esho funi? It means the
non-duality of self and environment. If we have good friends
around us who encourage us in our practice, help us to deepen
that practice, and even point out our errors or shortcomings in a
healthy and constructive way, then this is a reflection of the
Wonderful Dharma taking center stage in our inner lives.
Bringing this back to the role of the clergy and the relationship
of the clergy to the laity, it seems to me that the real role of
the clergy is to make themselves available to others as
“good friends” who lead others to the Dharma by
example, NOT by authority. If they are not doing this, then they
are only dress-up priests, priests in name only. Related to this,
no one should gain anything by becoming a Buddhist minister.
Instead, becoming a Buddhist minister should be seen as taking on
a very grave responsibility. In addition, no lay person should
think that their enlightenment depends upon getting something
from the priests. The Dharma is not a “thing” that can
be kept, bestowed, received or transmitted except in a rhetorical
sense. The priest’s role is to facilitate the practice of
the laity, not to do it for them.
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