Dear Friend,
Thank you for sending me Fire in the Lotus. It was an interesting read offering food for thought that will send me back to writing at Fraught with Peril as I ponder the development of my own practice in light of many schisms of so-called Nichirenism. Do I add to the discord and disharmony, or will I live up to my name, chikushonin, which means ‘wisdom unifying all people’?
There is one photocopy page missing from the book you sent me. It is from the section ‘Appendix 1: How to practice Nichiren Buddhism’, pages 274 and 275. Strangely, these missing pages contain the heart of the Juryo Chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the very passages that explain the practice and resulting merit realized through embracing this sutra.
Shujo ki shin-buku. ---------------When they have become truly faithful.
Shichi-jiki I nyunan. --------------Honest, upright, gentle in intent.
Isshin yok-ken butsu.-------------Single-mindedly yearning to see the Buddha.
Fu ji shaku shinmyo.--------------Not begrudging their life to do so.
Ji ga gyu shuso.--------------------Then (in the present moment), I and the assembly of Monks.
Ku shutsu ryojusen. --------------Appear/together at Holy Eagle Peak.
Above are three pairs of verse totaling six lines. Nichiren wrote ‘sad’, which rendered as ‘myo’ [of myohorenge], indicated ‘six’ which in turn indicates ‘perfect endowment’. I find in these three pairs of verse the perfect endowment of ‘true cause’, ‘true effect’, and the ‘true land’ respectively, the Three Bodies of One Buddha.
As a token of appreciation, please accept the enclosed a bookmarker I have scribed with characters which read “Daikudoshin, myokaku, myojisoku-kyo”, and their interpretation in English of “A great seeking mind, mystically awakened, Buddhahood as manifest reality”. Please excuse the childish nature of my kanji.
While phonically identical, there are two kinds of myojisoku. The first is written in three ideographs and literally means the stage of practice where one “hears the name or words of the truth” and thereby understands in theory that Buddhahood is inherent in one’s own life. Of this stage of practice Nichiren writes in On the Four Stages of Faith and Five Stages of Practice :
“Of these various stages, the four stages of faith are intended for those living in the Buddha's lifetime, and the five stages of practice for those living after his passing. Among these, the first of the four stages of faith is that of producing even a single moment's faith and understanding, and the first of the five stages of practice is that of rejoicing on first hearing the Lotus Sutra. These two stages together form a casket containing the treasures of the ‘hundred worlds and thousand factors’ and the ‘three thousand realms in a single life-moment’; they are the gate from which all Buddhas of the ten directions and the three existences emerge.”
And in The Teaching Approved by All Buddhas of the Three Time Periods, Nichiren is reported as stating:
“When one knows that both the dependent and primary recompense of the ten dharma-realms are the Dharmabody Buddha possessing the virtues of the three bodies in a single entity, one reaches the penetration and understanding that all dharmas are precisely the Buddha Dharma: this is called the stage of verbal identity [myoji-soku]. From the stage of verbal identity one attains Buddhahood in this very body. Thus, in the perfect and sudden teaching, there is no order of successive stages.”
From the stage of myoji-soku [名字即] written in three ideographs, one attains the second kind, the myojisoku written in four ideographs, directly--the second kind of myojisoku [命時儈倶] that is Buddhahood as manifest reality. These four ideographs I found “hidden in the depths of the Juryo Chapter”. They are underlined in the six phrases of verse above. ‘Myoji’ indicates ‘faith and understanding’, while ‘soku’ indicates ‘acceptance and joy’.
As for the “a casket containing the treasures of the ‘hundred worlds and thousand factors’ and the ‘three thousand realms in a single life-moment’; they are the gate from which all Buddhas of the ten directions and the three existences emerge”, the three ideographs that are encased by these four ideographs, ‘ga gyu shu’, when read together translate literally as ‘self equals others’. Truly, myojisoku is the Original gate from which all Buddhas of the ten directions and the three existences emerge. It is the true kaidan where one awakens to the Mystic Precepts that arise from the reality of ‘self equals others’.
The sutras that were preached before the Lotus Sutra encourage practitioners to take refuge in the Three Treasures. The Lotus Sutra encourages us to take refuge in the sutra itself. This is because the Lotus Sutra, that is, the sutra that starts at the truth, is the source of the Three Treasures of the Buddha, the Law, and the Sangha, which always appear together. Like the three bodies of Buddha, they are never separated. Regarding the Three Treasures the Lotus Sutra has this to say:
“My pure land is not destroyed,
yet the multitude see it as consumed in fire,
with anxiety, fear and other sufferings
filling it everywhere.
These living beings with their various offenses,
through causes arising from their evil actions,
spend asamkhya kalpas
without hearing the name of the Three Treasures.” (chap. 16)
This passage from the jigage continues:
“But those who practice meritorious ways,
who are gentle, peaceful, honest and upright,
all of them will see me
here in person, preaching the Law.”
The myojisoku of four ideographs in the six-line verse quoted above is “the name of the Three Treasures.”
命, myo, which means ‘life’ is the treasure of the Buddha and indicates the virtues of Bodhisattva Superior conduct.
時, ji, means ‘time’, which encompasses past, present, and future—in short, the eternity of the treasure of the Law and indicates the virtues of Bodhisattva Boundless Conduct.
儈, so, which means ‘priest’ or ‘sangha’ indicates the treasure of the community of believers, and the virtues of Bodhisattva Pure Conduct, and, lastly
倶, ku, ‘combined/appear/together’, expresses the unity of these three treasures, these three bodies and resulting virtues that are never separate from the lives of common mortals [myohorenge] at any instant, indicating the virtue of Bodhisattva Firmly Established Conduct.
Nichiren called himself a common mortal of myojisoku, of three ideographs. I, myself, am also a common mortal of myojisoku.
Having heard the name and words of the truth, I am filled with joy. Yet, the question remains, ‘Will I live up to my name?’
Thank you for your kindness to me.
Sincerely, chikushonin 智倶諸人.
南無妙法蓮華命時儈倶經 Namu-myohorenge-myojisoku-kyo