The Heart of the Lotus Sutra by Daisaku Ikeda

Author:Daisaku Ikeda
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Middleway Press
Published: 2013-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

17

Sho-i sha ga. Nyorai nyojitchi-ken. Sangai shi so. Mu u shoji.

Nyaku tai nyaku shutsu. Yaku mu zai-se. Gyu metsu-do sha.

Hi jitsu hi ko. Hi nyo hi i. Fu nyo san-gai. Ken no sangai.

Nyo shi shi ji. Nyorai myo ken. Mu u shaku-myo.

“Why do I do this? The Thus Come One perceives the true aspect of the threefold world exactly as it is. There is no ebb or flow of birth and death, and there is no existing in this world and later entering extinction. It is neither substantial nor empty, neither consistent nor diverse. Nor is it what those who dwell in the threefold world perceive it to be. All such things the Thus Come One sees clearly and without error.” (LSOC, 267)

IN THIS PASSAGE, Shakyamuni clarifies the Buddha’s magnificent perspective on life, which could be said to represent the essence of Buddhism. This passage, in other words, holds the key to elevating all people’s state of life.

Probably nothing is so remotely mysterious yet so close at hand as birth and death. I am convinced that the “Life Span” chapter provides at once the most fundamental and most convincing solution to this enigma. And this passage contains an important part of that solution.

Nichiren Daishonin says, “First of all learn about death, and then about other things” (WND-2, 759), thus indicating the centrality of the issue of birth and death to Buddhism.

Josei Toda often said, “The final problem that Buddhism must solve is that of death.”

How does one address the issue of birth and death? I think that offering a viable solution will be an important requisite for religions in the twenty-first century. It is partly with this in mind that we now study the profound teachings of “Life Span.”

In this passage, Shakyamuni explains the Buddha’s wisdom to perceive the true aspect of life in the threefold world exactly as it is. Previously, in “Expedient Means,” he explained the Buddha’s wisdom in terms of the “true aspect of all phenomena.” Here he focuses on the life and death of living beings and explains the Buddha’s wisdom to perceive the truth of the oneness of birth and death.

With his initial question, “Why do I do this?” he is asking why the Buddha, enlightened since the remote past, appears in various forms, appropriately expounds a variety of teachings, and can unerringly guide all people. To explain, he says, “The Thus Come One perceives the true aspect of the threefold world exactly as it is.”

The threefold world refers to the world of unenlightened beings who transmigrate within the six paths (the first six of the Ten Worlds—from hell through the realm of heavenly beings). The threefold world comprises the world of desire, the world of form (or material world) and the world of formlessness (or world of the spirit). These are all worlds of illusion in which life is dominated by ignorance or darkness. This ignorance is itself the fundamental source of human misery and suffering.

The Buddha enlightened since the remote past is the Buddha who struggles perpetually to lead all people to happiness.

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