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Chapter II:

Nichiren

II. Nichiren and the Lotus Sutra

2. Reading the Lotus Sutra in Reverse


It is often said that Nichiren's Buddhism is a religion of experience, but what this probably implies is that the experience involves suffering. The question then is why Nichiren persevered in the propagation of the Lotus Sutra when it required such hardship.

The answer lies in Mahayana Buddhism which advocates the life of the bodhisattva over that of the Sravaka or pratyekabuddha in Hinayana Buddhism. It is the bodhisattva who strives to unify in practice his desire for personal enlightenment with his efforts to convert all sentient beings; i.e. the "unification of self-practice and conversion." This image of the bodhisattva is of course depicted in many places in the Lotus Sutra, as well and is commonly seen as the Lotus' ideal personage.

Nichiren's view of the Lotus, however, did not stop with general or broadly drawn interpretations of the Buddha's teachings. As can be judged from the Five Guides which seeks to determine the doctrine, the talent, the time, the nation and the history of Buddhism's propagation, Nichiren sought from the Lotus concrete and practical answers to the problems of mankind. Given this approach to reading the sutra, one becomes aware of the frequent use of the terms "latter law," "latter age" and "evil age." Nichiren pursued this finding very deeply in his studies and ultimately concluded that the Lotus Sutra was expounded for the benefit of all sentient beings living in the age of mappo. 1

The process by which he arrived at this conclusion is as follows. Firstly, Nichiren respected of sutras. It was also an evaluation of the degree to which the Buddha had revealed the essence of his understanding. Therefore, the Lotus was not simply the final sutra, it was also the ultimate doctrine left for us by the Buddha. Naturally, Nichiren also used this classification.

But Nichiren went beyond Zhi-yi and Saicho's evaluation and, examining closely the last portions of the Shakumon and Honmon, discovered that the doctrines taught there were aimed at the common man living in mappp. A cautious reading of those sections reveals how the normal person in the latter age can encounter the salvation of the Buddha.

Accordingly, in mappo it is necessary to read the Lotus in reverse order. This does not mean that we should simply read from back to front. As just explained, this means that we who live in the defiled age of mappo must read the sutra with a view as to how Sakyamuni's teachings can best be absorbed. In other words, we are required to read not as though pursuing some classic, but as though making a life-and-death search for conquest over the real life, sufferings of our existence.

Nichiren said that reading in this way would lead one to realize that the Lotus was preached expressly for people of the age of crisis and disruption. He also declared that it was taught for his own personal benefit (Hokke shuyo sho). The times when the propagation of the Lotus is said to be truthfully represented without interpellation are when Sakyamuni taught the Lotus Sutra on Vulture Peak and at the beginning of mappo. Presented in this way, one can understand the principle that the Lotus is Sakyamuni's ultimate truth left behind for those beings living in the latter age.

3. The Lotus Sutra as Prophecy

Nichiren paid special attention to the beginning of the mappo era. In Japan, fear of this coming age was especially wide spread towards the closing years of the Heian period (794-1185) and the new schools of Buddhism that blossomed in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) developed doctrines specifically aimed at overcoming these fears. The term "mappo" or "latter dharma" stands in contrast to "shobo" and "zobo." Shobo, or the true dharma, refers to the first 1,000 years following the Buddha's extinction when his teachings were still being accurately transmitted. Zobo, or the apparent dharma, points to the second millennium after the Buddha when his teachings are starting to lose their efficacy but survive in a formalized Buddhist faith. Mappo on the other, hand refers to the era when the dharma has completely disappeared and not even the outward shape of it remains.

For salvation in such an era of despair, Pure Land Buddhism sought help in the Buddha of the Western Paradise, in whose pure land believers hoped to be reborn in the next life. In contrast to this, Nichiren stated that since we have been born into this world we must recognize that here in this very absolute moment of time we are receiving the eternal teaching and conversion efforts of Sakyamuni Buddha.

Consequently, the search for Buddhism in an age where the Buddhist dharma no longer exists requires one to adhere strictly to the essence of Sakyamuni's will. To do otherwise or to rely on some other doctrine is in itself a tacit rejection of Sakyarnuni.

Thus, the teachings of the One Buddha Vehicle, the identity of this world with the Paradise of Quiescent Light, and the eternal Buddha are not to be seen as generalized doctrines. They must be reexamined by us as inhabitants of the age of mappo with an extremely clear cut perspective as to their concrete practicality. In this regard, the section in the chapter "Expedient Means" describing the great causal relationship between Sakyamuni and ourselves, i.e. his eternal efforts at conversion, demands closer inspection and a reappraisal of the Lotus Sutra as a "work of prophecy" left for us in mappo by the Buddha Sakyamuni.

In this sense, a great mandate has been decreed for the propagation of the Lotus in mappo, which means that the commission bestowed upon Jogyo and the other bodhisattvas who were prophesied as springing out of the earth in chapter fifteen must also be realized.

Sometime ago Prof. Shobun Kubota identified four classes of individuals who appear in the Lotus Sutra: 1) common men, 2) Sravakas and pratyekabuddhas, 3) bodhisattvas of the Shakumon and 4) bodhisattvas who will well up out of the earth. The Lotus holds up the fourth of these types as the most deserving of respect, because these bodhisattvas who are to spring from the earth bear the responsibility of spreading the teachings of the Lotus in the latter age as mandated in the twenty first chapter of the sutra.

By Dr. Hoyo Watanabe Chairman of the Department of Buddhism in Rissho University. i


(To be continued)

Gassh __/\__ Y k, Namu Myh Renge Ky.

http://nichirensangha.com

From: Watakushi-tachi no Nichiren-shu.

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