Holte's corner

Letter from Teradamori

Letter from Teradomari -- Discussion
www.sgi- usa.org/buddhism/library/Nichiren/Gosho/LetterTeradomari.htm
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/irgosho/message/11151
> I have received the string of coins that you sent. Those resolved
> to seek the Way should all gather and listen to the contents of
> this letter.

This letter (among many others) counters the premise that the Gosho
were not intended to be studied by us followers of Nichiren. He wrote
the Gosho, usually as part of "thank you" letters to his disciples.
His disciples would give him sustenance, and he'd give them "dharma"
or Buddhist teachings in return. His Gosho were not all 'shastras'
many of them were very personal letters. And in this sense they were
a somewhat new thing in Buddhism. You don't see any letters from
Shakyamuni. In religious writings they are closer to the letters of
the "New Testament" of Christianity than to nearly any other
religious work. We can appreciate them all the more because they take
the general theories of Buddhism and apply them to specific realities
and to generating useful "protocols" or "guidelines" for our own use.
This is what makes them invaluable. You can read Dengyo or Tendai
commentaries and learn a lot of theory. But how to practice and
acheive enlightenment in a confused and real world? No way.

Nichiren starts by recounting his trip to Sado:
> This month (the tenth month), on the tenth day, we left the village
> of Echi in Aiko District of the province of Sagami.
> Along the way we
> stopped at Kumegawa in the province of Musashi and, after traveling
> for twelve days, arrived here at the harbor of Teradomari in the
> province of Echigo. From here we are going to cross the sea to the
> island province of Sado, but at the moment the winds are not
> favorable, so I do not know when we will depart.

In later written "Gosho" of a more hagiographic format, Nichiren's
disciples add in miraculous and fantastic events to the account of
his journey's from Matsubagayatsu to Sado. This journey was not a
pleasant trip. You can imagine that Nichiren wasn't dressed for
winter, and winter was coming. That he was cold, hungry, in danger of
death. Perhaps in shackles. He was a prisoner. He had some of his
acolytes with him, but his main companions were troops.

So he wasn't exaggerating:
> The hardships along the way were worse than I could have imagined,
> and indeed more than I can put down in writing. I will leave you to
> surmise what I endured. But I have been prepared for such
> difficulties from the outset, so there is no point in starting to
> complain about them now. I shall accordingly say no more of the
> matter.

This is the key point of this letter. "I have prepared for such
difficulties from the outset." Nichiren knew what his words would do,
and how his provocative essays would be taken. In the Kaimoku Sho
(written after this document) he tells us:

"I, Nichiren, am the only person in all Japan who understands this. But if I utter so much as a word concerning it, then parents, brothers and teachers will surely censure me and the ruler of the nation will take steps against me. On the other hand, I am fully aware that if I do not speak out, I will be lacking in compassion. I have considered which course to take in the light of the teachings of the Lotus and Nirvana sutras. If I remain silent, I may escape persecutions in this lifetime, but in my next life I will most certainly fall into the hell of incessant suffering. If I speak out, I am fully aware that I will have to contend with the three obstacles and four devils. But of these two courses, surely the latter is the one to choose."

We have a duty to uphold the truth and teach this teaching. Even if
it costs us the approval of friends and loved ones or even gets us in
trouble:

> The fourth volume of the Lotus Sutra states: "Since hatred and
> jealously toward this sutra abound even during the lifetime of the
> Buddha, how much worse will it be in the world after his passing?"
> The fifth volume says: "The people will be full of hostility, and
> it will be extremely difficult to believe." And the thirty-eighth
> volume of the Nirvana Sutra states: "At that time all the Brahmans
> spoke to [King Ajatashatru], saying, 'O Great King, at present
> there is a man of incomparable wickedness, a monk called Gautama.
> All sorts of evil persons, hoping to gain profit and alms, have
> flocked to him and become his followers. They do not practice
> goodness, but instead use the power of spells and magic to win
> over men like Mahakashyapa, Shariputra and Maudgalyayana.'"

Like Shakyamuni, Buddhists throughout time have been accused of "not
practicing goodness," because rather than focusing on ethical
precepts or good deeds, we've tried to focus on distinguishing what
is actually true so that we could more clearly judge what "goodness"
and "evil" are about. Accordingly our opponants, who are often the
ones really seeking "magic spells", jealously defame us to others.
Because they themselves are not aware of the distinction between
appearing to practice Goodness and actually making the cause for
enlightenment or a real change in self and environment. Consequently,
when all their pretensions are exposed by comparison to the real
thing, they get angry.

As Nichiren says:
> This passage from the Nirvana Sutra recounts the evil words
> which the various Brahman believers spoke against Shakyamuni
> Buddha because he refuted the scriptures preached by their
> original teachers, the two deities and the three ascetics.

People confuse "dogmas" or scriptures with reality, not recognizing
that all scriptures are "empty" until someone reads them, interpret's
their meaning and applies them to reality. Consequently it seems
sacriligious when someone is "free" with religious teachings enough
to actually analyze them and make distinctions between what is true
and what is untrue. And for a teaching such as the Lotus Sutra to
explain that these teachings are "upaya" meant to help people awaken,
and not an end in and of themselves, is more than they can handle --
since they are all the more attached to their teachings for seeking
to emancipate themselves from the Saha world.

As Nichiren says:
> In the above passages from the Lotus Sutra, however, it is not the
> Buddha himself who is being looked upon as an enemy. Rather, as
> T'ien-t'ai explains, it is [the Lotus Sutra which is being
> opposed by] "the various shravakas and pratyekabuddhas and the
> bodhisattvas who seek only the Buddha of recent enlightenment."

People get caught up in following their own teachers, or the reified
image they have in their head of Shakyamuni. The idea that Buddhism
is a universal well of truth shocks and dismays them. Disciples and
self-enlightened ones are in love with ideas. The idea that those
ideas are not the end of their questing is something hard to accept.

> In other words, persons who show no desire to hear or believe in
> the Lotus Sutra or who say that it does not match their capacity,
> though they may not actually slander the Law in so many words,
> are all to be regarded as envious and hostile enemies.

Now Nichiren used "martial" language to refer to the monks and
teachers of his time, but if you watch the behavior of people over
time. You will see that those who are attached to a particular person
or institution actually do act enviously and hostile towards those
who -- in actual fact -- devote themselves to Nam Myoho Renge Kyo and
the Lotus Sutra.

> Observing the situation when the Buddha was in the world and
> comparing it with the situation since his passing, we may say that
> the scholars of the various sects in the world today are like the
> Brahmans of the Buddha's time. They too speak of "a man of
> incomparable wickedness," by which they mean me, Nichiren.

And Nichiren could note the comparisons between the complaints. There
are still stories about Nichiren that describe him as a sorcerer.

> They speak of "all sorts of evil persons who have flocked to him,"
> by which they mean my disciples and followers. The Brahman
> believers, having incorrectly received and transmitted the
> teachings of the earlier Buddhas, displayed hostility toward
> the later Buddha, Shakyamuni. The scholars of the various sects
> today are doing the same sort of thing.

Nichiren by being the "Votary of the Lotus Sutra" was transmitting
the "true teachings." Shakabuku is described as a kind of "breaking
and untwisting" of distorted things. Buddhism tends to get distorted
in the hands of people who are entranced or bedazzled by either part
of it's theories, or who want to limit their understanding in some
way. These people can't handle the Lotus Sutra. And in Nichiren's
day they couldn't handle Nichiren's criticisms.

> In effect, they have let their own way of understanding the
> Buddha's teachings lead them into heretical views. They are
> like persons who, dizzy from drink, think that the huge mountain
> in front of them is spinning round and round.

This analogy is important to help us understand whether or not we
understand the Buddha's teachings. If the world seems to be spinning,
it may be we who are "spinning the world." The various schools of
Buddhism involve a dizzying confusion of ideas. Yet, a truly awake
person doesn't see mountains spinning around, but sees things for
what they are. Nichiren's Buddhism is about planting our feet on the
ground and getting sober. Not getting drunk on fantastic sounding
theories, hiding on a mountain, or learning spells and positions.

Not:
> And so we now have these eight sects or ten
> sects all disputing with one another over their various doctrines.

Now I have a question. What are the four teachings of the Nirvana
Sutra that Nichiren refers to next?

> Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. 4, page 97.

Posted by cholte at September 7, 2004 06:57 PM