The Eight Sufferings are unavoidable. Liberation is possible through the Lotus Sutra because it teaches us how to find our own path to salvation. No Buddhist movement and no glorious mentor can do this for you – it is a process of faith and the greatness of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo that frees us from suffering.
There are many reasons why we become Buddhist. Living in a Christian society the idea of endurance in a wretched world and aspiring to the reward of heaven in the afterlife is paramount. Salvation in my birth religion, as such, was possible through accepting Christ as my savior. From the age of awareness, I did not believe in Christianity, but the images of Armageddon and the fires of hell had been branded into my psyche. I wondered if there was any hope for the world or me. Although I was raised without want in a good family, my life was filled with suffering.
At nineteen, I first heard the mantra, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. The day after saying it for the first time, I was jailed in Junction City, Kansas on trumped up charges of vagrancy, the week of the Kent State riots. We were protesting the Vietnam War near the military base; many of us were arrested. I was released a few days later to report for my own induction into the Army. Several more years of suffering and confusion transpired until I joined NSA. I dove into the practice that promised to conquer suffering and manifest enlightenment into my life.
For the next thirty years, I pretended to be happy, but I was caught in a vicious cycle of a zealot’s misery, addiction, bad career choices, poverty, dysfunctional relations with my parents, an unhappy marriage, illness, anger, and comprehensive, unfulfilled desire. I would stand up at meetings and try to fake happiness, but there was no joy within me, just calloused determination to overcome the next round of sufferings. I would say that happiness was not a state of “tee-hee” joy, but an impervious life condition that was fearless before all obstacles which would ultimately triumph. I was a well-intended hypocrite, oblivious to the source of my own failures.
I lied to myself and others about being happy. My mask was one of false bravado, although, at the time, it seemed like the only way to be. We were all suffering from the vicissitudes of daily life with the hope that our practice and efforts would change our negative karma and open up the path to absolute happiness within. Unless a problem was overwhelming, I would not seek guidance from senior leaders, so as not to seem weak or be deemed a complainer. At meetings or interacting with others of the society, I tried to look courageous, possessing an elevated life condition and boundless strength. My advice to others was to challenge their lazy nature and overcome their obstacles through the power of daimoku and shakubuku for the sake of kosen-rufu. My life was one and the same as the objective of the SGI. No expense, no inconvenience, or challenge was too much for the cause. I believed that everything I did, no matter how inconspicuous was known and acknowledged by the Gohonzon. The Buddha was on my mind at all times.
I became an expert at enduring the most agonizing problems, somehow rationalizing that since my practice was so intense, it was only natural that I would be forced to challenge aeons of negative karma in a single lifetime. I taught this credo to others. I purposely stood outside in the hailstorm, braving one wretched experience after another with stoic pride. I believed that the more obstacles I encountered, the greater my enlightenment. To suffer and never give up was the way of the bodhisattva.
I was raised strictly and was one of the nation’s top high school athletes. I had more than twenty full scholarship offers to play basketball and track and field. The turmoil of the 60s and the earth shattering experiences of psychedelic substances impelled me on the path of spiritual discovery. I went from the occult to Hinduism and finally to Buddhism. It took until 2002 to break the chains of unhappiness. As an NSA/SGI member, I approached the practice like an athletic event, exerting myself in the three ways of practice, documenting in full, each trial, tribulation, failure, and victory. In my more than three decades of practice, I chanted 75 million daimoku, convinced about 120 people to receive the Gohonzon, that I know of (prior to my book), and devoted every atom of my life to the SGI cause. On reflection, it seemed impossible that any person, slight, obstacle or event could have every turned me away from my esteemed mission, yet, in 2002, I found myself estranged from the society, its goals, and a great many of its doctrines. How as this possible? Some might claim the King Devil of the Sixth Heaven resides at the highest stage of practice, immediately prior to enlightenment, waiting to knock the aspirant to the ground, to suffer the formidable climb again.
Little did I know that the true cause for my suffering was my religion, no, not Buddhism, but the SGI twist on sectarian Buddhism. For me, my wholehearted, unquestioning plunge into movement caused me to neglect my individuality, my personal aspirations, and my non-believing friends – outside of the society. Once I removed the cause of my suffering – the neglect of my own life, the bad effects evaporated like morning fog before the summer sun. None of this is meant to imply that there is not invaluable training and merit in the SGI way, because there are many wonderful people, goals, intentions, and there is a plethora of knowledge and wisdom. My connection to president Ikeda was so complete that I would see him in my dreams and long to please him with my efforts. What went wrong? Did my own dark side win out or did the original enlightenment in me finally open the path to liberation, salvation, and Buddhahood? Looking at the SGI and Taiseki-ji school, I finally realized that the documentary and theoretical proofs that they espoused were fatally flawed. As Nichiren said, “actual proof is the most important of all.” Once my faith in the Lotus Sutra moved me toward on my own path, my very existence was blessed with manifest actual proof like the explosion of new life in spring. Everywhere I had seen the gray, lifeless grip of winter, new blossoms appeared in abundance, and beautiful green emerged from the landscape of my weathered life. It was this transformative experience of discarding the erroneous and embracing true that shed light on the sufferings of life.
The Nirvana Sutra and other sutras describe eight sufferings common to humanity. The first four are well known and need not be discussed here – they are birth, old age, sickness, and death. The other four are parting from those we love; meeting those we hate; the angst of unfulfilled desires; and mind-body sufferings emerging from the five components of form, perception (sensation), conception, volition, and consciousness.
Desire and attachment cause suffering when parting from those we love. Freedom from desire is a metaphor for the perfect perspective on the emptiness of all phenomena and the ephemeral nature of existence. Saying goodbye to a departing loved one is suffering. When we know that all phenomena are mutually arising, or rather, all is by nature impermanent, letting go is softened. Moreover, our wisdom can begin to loosen attachment without diminishment of love, care, or concern. This, I believe is the Middleway.
Meeting those we hate due to necessary social interactions is most difficult. The example of Buddha recognizing the dignity and enlightenment of the wretched masses he preached to and his enemies is the example we can use to navigate the dealing with those who would do us wrong or cause us pain.
The suffering of having unfulfilled desires is solved not by having any desire, but by appreciating what you have. There is truth in the power of prayer and intention. By projecting your desire into the quantum field, no matter how great or petty, an answer to that prayer begins to manifest. At times that answer is yes, at times, no, and at times, maybe, but not yet. In view of the ephemeral nature of life, even a desire fulfilled can lead to suffering. Minimal desire and more appreciation is the key to conquering the suffering of unfulfilled desire.
The sufferings arising from the mind-body connection and the five components are minimized and transcended when we walk the path of faith in the dharma. Physical and psychological pain cannot be avoided, neither can excitement be banished. Nichiren’s example of not being swayed by any of the eight winds is the attitude we can embody. By doing so, this final suffering can be transcended.
The wisdom to understand and transform these universal sufferings is found in the Four Noble Truths and mastery of the Eightfold Path. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the means to utilize the Eight Sufferings as a vehicle to enlightenment, a way to understand the deepest meaning of the Four Noble Truths, and the way to successfully walk the Eightfold Path.
The Four Noble Truths state: 1) All life is suffering 2) Desire is at the root of suffering; 3) Suffering can be ceased; 4) Following The Eightfold Path is the way to end suffering. It might be hard to admit that all life is suffering, especially when looking at only a small slice of it, but age confirms this sobering truth as all good things come to an end. Desire causes suffering, but desire cannot truly be eliminated. To accept innate desire and elevate it to seek the dharma is the key. Buddhism promises that suffering can be ended by following the Eightfold Path. This Eightfold path is considered to be a provisional idea in the SGI, yet it is perfectly aligned with the message of the Lotus Sutra. The Eightfold Path varies in language, but is consistent in meaning. 1.) Right View; 2) Right Resolve; 3) Right Speech 4) Right Conduct 5) Right Livelihood 6) Right Effort 7) Right Mindfulness 8) Right Meditation. All one need do is view each path with daimoku and the lessons of the Lotus Sutra.
By walking my own path based on the Lotus Sutra, happiness, liberation from suffering, conspicuous benefit, inconspicuous reward, and enlightenment have naturally appeared, like the lush growth of spring. Walk your own path and end all your suffering. It is your challenge. It is your right.
While studying the other day, I happened upon a key concept that brought back old memories of doctrinal doubt and confusion. The spirit of Joseph Campbell awakened in me. It was time for an inquiry. First, I chanted. My method of research is simple, I track down all the sources that I can find and then study my ass off, everyday as if I were cramming for an exam. Over the years, I’ve assembled quite a library of reference books and materials like Buddhist and Vedic dictionaries, glossaries, and obscure texts from all the world religions.
The core doctrine that has troubled me for decades is the “Buddhism of the Sowing” and the “Buddhism of the Harvest.” This belief system is important because it justifies the replacement of Shakyamuni’s Buddhism with the teachings of Nichiren. Why would such a doctrine be disturbing to me? I’m glad you asked. It cuts right to the center of contemporary Nichiren Buddhism, how it’s infused into all other areas of the religion as promoted by the Fuji school. My premise is that the modern day interpretation of this doctrine is a subtle, post-Nichiren priestly invention that fosters exclusivity while gently skewing what’s actually written in the Lotus Sutra. This subject is ripe for debate and I invite you, all to tell me just how wrong I am.
To demonstrate the spider web nature of this doctrine, I started at the Buddhism of the sowing then was referred to the Buddhism of the harvest. From there I went to the Life Span, Expedient Means and Phantom City chapters of the Lotus Sutra; Reply to Lord Soya Gosho; gohyaku-jintengo; sanzen-jintengo, kuon ganjo; true cause; true effect; teacher of the true cause; teacher of the true effect; three mystic principles; the six types of Shakyamuni and so forth. These co-dependent concepts are inner related supposedly making a perfectly round teaching. I find them fascinating in the sense that if you successfully refute one the others become suspect. It would be similar to proving that Christ did not die on the cross but actually survived the crucifixion (which I write about in a future blog). With no resurrection, Christianity is dealt a near-fatal blow. Without the nebulous dogma of sowing and harvest, the philosophy of Fuji school becomes irrelevant. These sectarian theories should come with a warning label that reads: “Unquestioning belief in these concepts may produce constipation.”
I wonder how many leaders, lecturers, and members accepted post-Nichiren clerical speculation without question, in-depth research, and meditation? In the SGI, unwavering acceptance of the aforementioned doctrine of sowing and harvesting was mandatory for the correct dissemination of the Mystic Law in the Latter Day – it has been, after all, the literary and theoretical proof that justified widespread propagation of SGI’s brand of Buddhism throughout the world. I remember lecturing on this subject and feeling troubled. When I expressed serious doubts in private about the apparent contradictions, my leaders would say that the Lotus Sutra was “difficult to believe and difficult to understand,” saying that as if the Fuji school interpretation of Nichiren Buddhism and the Lotus Sutra was like a body and shadow. It took me thirty years to figure out there was trouble in nirvana. I was encouraged to “chant more,” to understand this “truth.” I chanted a lot and the contradictions became as obvious as seeing a mountain peak after the clouds had blown away. The emperor was naked and I could see his bronze.
The “Dictionary of Buddhist Terms and Concepts” defines an aspect of sowing, maturing, and harvesting:
“People in the Latter Day of the Law by definition never received the seed of enlightenment from the Buddha in the past. They can receive this seed by taking faith in the Buddhism of the sowing, which plants the original seed of enlightenment in their lives. Moreover, by the practice of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with faith in the Gohonzon, they can complete the process of maturing and harvesting within this lifetime.” (Page 410)
In other words, according to Nichiren Shoshu and the SGI, we “bodhisattvas of the earth” living in the Latter Day, “by definition,” have no connection with Shakyamuni or the Law taught in sanzen-jintengo, gohyaku-jintengo, or kuon ganjo. His disciples of 2500 years ago were able to attain enlightenment because of their prior connection to him and the Law from the remote past. How then, do we rectify Shakyamuni’s statement in chapter fifteen of the Lotus Sutra, Emerging from the Earth, where he claims to have trained all the noble appearing, fully endowed bodhisattvas of the earth by himself in the remote past? Further, in the Phantom City chapter he asserts that both he and they were taught the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law in the time of sanzen-jintengo.
“With regard to this great multitude I now say this to you. Ajita, these bodhisattvas and mahasattvas who in immeasurable and countless asamkhyas have emerged from the earth and whom have never been seen before in the past – when I had attained anuttara-samyak-sambodhi in this saha world, I converted and guided these bodhisattvas, trained their minds and caused them to develop a longing for the way. These bodhisattvas have all been dwelling in the world of empty space underneath the saha world. They read, recite, understand the various scriptures, ponder them, make distinctions and keep them correctly in mind.” (Lotus Sutra, chapter fifteen, Emerging From the Earth, page 219)
Aren’t we supposed to be the bodhisattvas of the earth, or as Nichiren Shoshu insists, “followers” of the bodhisattvas of the earth? How can we have no connection with the Law or Shakyamuni Buddha when he stated in the Lotus Sutra that he trained us aeons ago, as early as sanzen-jintengo – a period of time that is measured in myriad galactic dust particles? If Bodhisattva Jogyo was leading us – the incalculably numerous (and cool) bodhisattvas of the earth – how do we have no connection to Bodhisattva Jogyo, Shakyamuni Buddha, the Lotus Sutra, and its wonderful dharma that we were charged with propagating in the Latter Day? The Lotus Sutra provides two mythological eras of staggering age for the times Shakyamuni awakening through the True Cause (and subsequent True Effect). One is found in Phantom City and the other in chapter sixteen of the Lotus Sutra, The Life Span of the Thus Come One.
“In the Juyro (sixteenth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni clarifies the True Effect, the Buddhahood that he attained, by revealing his original enlightenment in the remote past of gohyaku-jintengo. However, he alludes to the cause of that enlightenment only with the words, “Once I also practiced the bodhisattva austerities,” and does not clarify the Law which he practiced in order to attain Buddhahood.” (Dictionary of Buddhist Terms and Concepts, page 422)
Interestingly enough, T’ien-t’ai stated in his Hokke Gengi that “bodhisattva austerities” were the true cause of Shakyamuni’s original enlightenment, designating this attainment as the first stage of security, or the eleventh of the fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice. Nichiren identified the true cause or fundamental Law that enables all Buddhas to attain enlightenment as the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. As we all know, Myoho-renge-kyo is the translated title and essence of the Lotus Sutra. It takes on various forms throughout the universe. Shakyamuni didn’t have to clarify what Law he practiced – it’s obvious. Nichiren defined it as the “true cause.” Shakyamuni further explains his connection to the Law from sanzen-jintengo.
“At that time the Buddha, responding to pleas from the shramaneras, passed a period of twenty thousand kalpas and then at last, in the midst of the four kinds of believers, preached the Great Vehicle sutra entitled the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law, a Law to instruct the bodhisattvas, one that is guarded and kept in mind by the Buddhas. After he had preached the sutra, the sixteen shramaneras, for the sake of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, all together accepted and embraced it, recited and intoned it, penetrated and understood it.” (Lotus Sutra, chapter seven, Phantom City page, 132)
Shakyamuni further explains the Law he practiced and became enlightened through. With all his bodhisattva-Buddha brothers, he reincarnated over and over spreading the Law and ended up in our sector of the universe – this nuthouse known as the saha world.
“You monks, I will now tell you this. These disciples of the Buddha, these sixteen shramaneras, have now all attained anuttara-samyak-sambodhi…In the lands of the ten directions they are at present preaching the Law…The sixteenth is I, Shakyamuni Buddha, who in this saha land have attained anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.” (Phantom City page 134)
The grandiose description of elapsed time of sanzen-jintengo and gohyaku- jintengo, are not real. Although they are interpreted to indicate a period of time that is finite, essentially, they may as well be infinite to us. Our sect has been trying to take the dharma hungry world by storm for decades based on dubious sutra interpretations that portray events long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away. We’ve always been connected to the Buddha, the Lotus Sutra, the Gohonzon, and Nam-myoho-renge-kyo – that’s what’s “difficult to believe and difficult to understand” for the Buddhist professionals their lay-adepts.
The Buddhism of the sowing, maturing, and harvest is a metaphor created to illustrate how the Buddha’s Law is awakened in people’s lives. We’re introduced to Buddhism and Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we’re trained in study and practice, and we aspire to become awakened.
Our problem began when priests, over the centuries and with time on their hands, wrote commentaries formulating a proprietary doctrine, obscuring the truth of the Sutra, and creating exclusivist dogmas that regarded everyone else as slanderers. Shakyamuni laid the foundation and Nichiren built the edifice. What is difficult to believe and difficult to understand is that the belief and practice are elegantly simple, with no need for skewed commentaries and biased distinctions that foster exclusivity. Although difficult to believe and difficult to understand, in my opinion, the Fuji school has taken something beautiful, intimate, and profound, and fashioned it into a cult.