This was originally written in response to a member of the Nichiren Shu Yahoo Group, but the response was something I have been mulling over for years, so I have revised it a bit and share it hear for the consideration of whoever may care to read it:
In the Kanjin Honzon Sho, Nichiren Shonin wrote: "All the practices and enlightenment of Shakyamuni Buddha are contained in the five characters: Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo. When we receive and keep these five characters, we immediately obtain the merits of the Buddha's practices and enlightenment." - cited in the Sacred Services of Nichiren Shu published by the San Jose Nichiren Buddhist Temple.
I agree with this because I know what Namu Myoho Renge Kyo means. But I will admit that to the uninitiated it sounds like Nichiren is saying that chanting these particular Sino-Japanese syllables has the magical effect of instantly making us Buddhas. I think there is more to what Nichiren Shonin was saying than that however.
I know that Nichiren Shu members in Korea chant "Namu Myo Beop Yeon Hwa Kyeong." This was raised at a meeting of international ministers of Nichiren Shu and to my knowledge no objections were raised. Unlike Koreans or Chinese however, we English speakers do not have a native pronounciation of the characters that Nichiren used for the Odaimoku. I suppose we could chant "Namas Saddharma Pundarika Sutra," but I don't think it is as catchy as Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, and in any case the characters of the Odaimoku and even their Sino-Japanese pronounciation represent to me the line of transmission from the Sanskrit sutra to its translation into Chinese by Kumarajiva (which I feel is superior to the Sanskrit version) to its interpretation by Chih-i and Miao-lo, to its transmission to Japan by Saicho, and finally to its definitive (for us Nichiren Buddhists) interpretation by Nichiren Shonin. So I am all for sticking with the Sino-Japanese pronounciation, at least for those who don't have a native way of pronouncing those characters (for whom switching to a Japanese pronounciation could be problematic). But at the same time I think it is needful to point out what those characters symbolize. And by "symbolize" I am referring to Paul Tillich's definition of a symbol as something that points beyond itself but at the same time participates in that which it points to.
For some time I have said, "There is no Buddhism without zen and no zen without Buddhism." By that I mean that Buddhism without the equanimity and awareness, calmness and centering, symbolized by the word "zen" (which comes from the Sanskrit word dhyana by the same tortuous linguistic route that brought us Namu Myoho Renge Kyo) is not Buddhism. Conversely, zen that holds itself aloof from the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha is not zen at all, or at least it is not Buddhist zen but something else - perhaps a secular technique of calming and concentration that one can use to play better golf or maintain one's motorcycle, but it is no longer about liberation in the Buddhist sense.
My friend Taigen Roshi asked me if I could say the same about Odaimoku. "There is no Buddhism without Odaimoku, and no Odaimoku without Buddhism." I had to think about that. Obviously Shakyamuni Buddha sat in meditation and so do all Buddhists to this day (even Nichiren Buddhists as my sensei the Ven. Ryusho Matsuda pointed out to me when I first met him). But chanting seven Sino-Japanese symbols as the be all and end all practice of Buddhism was an innovation of Nichiren Shonin in the 13th century, more than 1,500 years of Buddhism had gone by up to that point, and more than 700 years would follow wherein most Buddhists in Asia would never even hear of Odaimoku until the 20th century. And at that point, they heard about it when Japan conquered their countries and sent in Buddhist missionaries (I am thinking in particular of Korea and Taiwan). I could easily say that there is no Odaimoku without Buddhism, by which I mean that while there are plenty of people chanting Odaimoku who know nothing about Buddhism, don't want to know anything about Buddhism, and who use Odaimoku as a magick spell for personal gain and for cursing enemies, it is not Odaimoku in the sense that Nichiren meant it. It is a counterfeit. But could I honestly tell Taigen Roshi, "There is no Buddhism without Odaimoku"?
I found that I could, if by Odaimoku I did not merely mean seven Sino-Japanese syllables but that which they represent which has been a core part of Buddha Dharma from the very beginning. From earliest times, mindfulness of the Dharma ("Dharmasmrti" is the Sanskrit term for this practice) has been one of the many methods of mind-cultivation ("cittabhavana" in Sanksrit) used in Buddhism. So Buddhism has always held that contemplating the Dharma itself is an important practice, but that is just one practice among many and includes contemplation of the four noble truths and eightfold path and dependent origination, which is not what we mean by "Devotion to the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Teaching." Even beyond that, however, is what the Buddha did upon his awakening beneath the Bodhi Tree. According to the Connected Discourses (Samyutta Nikaya), he arose from the Bodhi Tree and considered to whom he should show reverence as his teacher. But he realized that it was nothing but the Wonderful Dharma (in Pali Sadhamma) which had been his teacher, and so he paid reverence to the Wonderful Dharma. Paying reverence to the Wonderful Dharma, which is what "Namu Myoho" means, is one of the first things the Buddha did. And this reverence became a life based on that Wonderful Dharma in every moment, and a life dedicated to sharing that Wonderful Dharma. Insofar as that goes, the Buddha at first hesitated to teach, but the god Brahama (the creator deity of Brahmanism) told him that some people were like lotus flowers just on the verge of rising up from the muddy water and coming into bloom. If the Buddha were to teach these people, who were like lotus flowers in various stages of maturity, they would come to bloom. This is what we mean by Renge which means "lotus flower". From that moment on all the Buddha's discourses, Kyo means "sutra" or "discourse", were aimed at bringing all people's enlightened qualities into bloom, or at least to plant the seed of such a blooming in their lives. So the Buddha's whole life was "Namu Myoho Renge Kyo," though of course he never chanted and certainly knew nothing of China or Japan (and Japan as a unified nation didn't even exist yet at that time, Japanese mythology aside). Namu Myoho Renge Kyo is a rich verbal symbol of what his life was all about: dedication to the Wonderful Dharma which brings people's enlightened qualities into bloom through the constant discourse of the Buddha's teaching and example, and in fact the discourse of life itself.
So I really can say, "Without Odaimoku there is no Buddhism, and without Buddhism there is no Odaimoku." And, with all that in mind, I can fully affirm what Nichiren claimed in Kanjini Honzon Sho: "All the practices and enlightenment of Shakyamuni Buddha are contained in the five characters: Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo. When we receive and keep these five characters, we immediately obtain the merits of the Buddha's practices and enlightenment."
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
Though the article bends over backwards to show that conservatives don't see this as a problem at all, and that only crazy left-wing wackos would see this as problematic - the hard core of this article is that Alan Greenspan of all people is saying that the growing gap between rich and poor in this country is becoming a danger to our democracy. I remember when I was in the Navy ROTC in college and upon my commisioning taking a vow to protect this country from all enemies foreign and domestic. Well, the Al-Quaida are on the run or else being lured into Iraq by the lightning rod our our occupation so that we can use our military might against them (the effectiveness and/or morality of this is of course debateable) but I wonder if the domestic dangers of a crumbling infrastructure and the Brazilification of our country will ever get addressed. Having been in LA during the LA riots, I often wonder what will happen if the desperate, disparaged, and discarded will rise up again and when and where, and where will my family and friends be when it happens. I admit, I also wonder where will I be when it happens. Seeing a city in flames and the violent outrage of those forced by cycles of poverty to live in ghetttoes is not just a possibility for me, I have alread seen it. If things keep going as they are, I fully expect to see it again. I also know that right now my entire quality of life is threatened by school closures and the threat that even school bus service will be suspended (which would be an incredible hardship as my wife and I work full time just to afford a two-bedroom apartment that costs twice or three times the monthly mortgage of a sizeable house in other parts of this country). I see the infrascture that makes middle-class life possible crumbling around me. Articles like this supply the context for what I am feeling at the ground level.
I fear that the values of this country are geared towards Mammon and Mammon alone, and God and Jesus are used as a gloss and an excuse. And while children are not sacrificed to Moloch, the public school system that can provide them with a future is being abandoned and thus the future generations are being abandoned to poverty and drugs. I heard just the other day from a public school teacher that African-American and Latino boys entering high school are warned right off the bat that only 1 in 3 of them are expected to graduate. They are effectively told that most of them have already been written off. So it is to the grave or jail that they are written off to as they drop out of school and into the gangs. And of course their violence and desperation will effect, even mortally, those who do not give up on themselves or allow others to give up on them. And so the children are sacrificed after all.
Our culture is no longer, if it ever was, a shining city on the hill. It is Babylon, and if it does not change it will suffer the fate of Babylon.
I use Biblical imagery for two reasons, I happen to be reading through the Bible (again) and I realize that most people in this culture have a gut response to the Bible and even those who deny it find that it has an authoritative hold.
In 13th century Japan, Nichiren used the sutras in the same way to warn his society about its own corruption and degredation and false worship. For the Kamakuran samurai, the sutras had the impact as the Bible does on us. But I believe the message is the same - a society that neglects the value of people and turns to worship money and power instead, will fall from threats within and without.
Here is the article:
Rich-poor gap gaining attention By Peter Grier, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Tue Jun 14, 4:00 AM ET
WASHINGTON - The income gap between the rich and the rest of the US population has become so wide, and is growing so fast, that it might eventually threaten the stability of democratic capitalism itself.
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Is that a liberal's talking point? Sure. But it's also a line from the recent public testimony of a champion of the free market: Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
America's powerful central banker hasn't suddenly lurched to the left of Democratic National Committee chief Howard Dean. His solution is better education today to create a flexible workforce for tomorrow - not confiscation of plutocrats' yachts.
But the fact that Mr. Greenspan speaks about this topic at all may show how much the growing concentration of national wealth at the top, combined with the uncertainties of increased globalization, worries economic policymakers as they peer into the future.
"He is the conventional wisdom," says Jared Bernstein, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank. "When I'm arguing with people, I say, 'Even Alan Greenspan....' "
Greenspan's comments at a Joint Economic Committee hearing last week were typical, for him. Asked a leading question by Sen. Jack Reed (news, bio, voting record) (D) of Rhode Island, he agreed that over the past two quarters hourly wages have shown few signs of accelerating. Overall employee compensation has gone up - but mostly due to a surge in bonuses and stock-option exercises.
The Fed chief than added that the 80 percent of the workforce represented by nonsupervisory workers has recently seen little, if any, income growth at all. The top 20 percent of supervisory, salaried, and other workers has.
The result of this, said Greenspan, is that the US now has a significant divergence in the fortunes of different groups in its labor market. "As I've often said, this is not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing," Greenspan told the congressional hearing.
The cause of this problem? Education, according to Greenspan. Specifically, high school education. US children test above world average levels at the 4th grade level, he noted. By the 12th grade, they do not. "We have to do something to prevent that from happening," said Greenspan.
So are liberals overjoyed by these words from a man who is the high priest of capitalism? Not really, or at least not entirely.
For one thing, some liberal analysts prefer to focus on the very tip of the income scale, not the top 20 percent. Recent Congressional Budget Office data show that the top 1 percent of the population received 11.4 percent of national after-tax income in 2002, points out Isaac Shapiro of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in a new study. That's up from a 7.5 percent share in 1979.
By contrast, the middle fifth of the population saw its share of national after-tax income fall over that same period of time, from 16.5 to 15.8. "Income is now more concentrated at the very top of the income spectrum than in all but six years since the mid-1930s," asserts Mr. Shapiro in his report.
For another, some Democratic analysts believe that Greenspan's emphasis on education as a cure ignores other causal factors of inequity. Data show an income gap widening among college graduates, says Mr. Bernstein. The quality of US high schools has nothing to do with that, he says. Instead it's partly a function of overall monetary and fiscal policies. "Greenspan takes a very long term view of the situation," says Bernstein.
On the other hand, some conservatives label the whole inequality debate a myth. The media's recent focus on the subject stems from its liberal bias and clever press management by Democrats, they say.
Inequality studies often ignore the wealth created by rising house prices, for instance - and homes represent the most substantial investment by many, if not most, Americans.
Nor do US workers necessarily perceive themselves on the losing end of a rigged capitalist game. A recent New York Times survey found that while 44 percent of respondents said they had a working-class childhood, only 35 percent said they were working class today, points out Bruce Bartlett, a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis. Eighteen percent said they grew up lower class, while only 7 percent said they remained in that societal segment.
When Democrats today raise the inequality flag, they are simply trying to attack President Bush's tax cuts, albeit indirectly, says Mr. Bartlett. "A lot of this is driven by the estate-tax debate," he says.
And as Greenspan himself points out, by many measures the economy is doing well. Unemployment is down, GDP is up. Inflation still slumbers. Current standards of living are unmatched.
"So you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has," Greenspan told the JEC last week. "But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."
Here is an article that I found today 6/13/05 about Microsoft's kowtowing to the Communist Chinese government and blocking words like "democracy", "freedom" and "human rights." If someone using Microsoft's China-based Internet portal tries to use those words, they will not be able to and will receive a message telling them they are not allowed to use such profanity.
That a country from the USA would do such a thing boggles my mind. Obviously money is much much more important than the ideals our founding fathers wrote into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Even our much vaunted cry to spread freedom and democracy is only so much paper and rationalizations.
I hope that another guiding light appears in the word, a guiding light that really will represent freedom and democracy. The experiment here has failed, and traitors to our ideals like Microsoft can make money hand over fist by denying "democracy", "freedom" and "human rights" to the rest of the word, while in the US there is no longer even any money for basic services like school buses or paper or pencils for the classrooms (even in a supposedly wealthy city like San Francisco in a supposedly wealthy state like California in the supposedly wealthiest nation the world has ever seen).
Years ago (2000 to be exact) my friend Taigen Dan Leighton held a memorial service for American Democracy. I thought that was rather funny but also a bit over the top at the time. I no longer think so. Now I think it was very prophetic (in the sense of the Hebrew prophets - not mere fortune-telling) of him. Our country was to be a shining light on a hill - now we throw blankets over the lights of others so that we can serve Mammon.
And yes, I noted that the House passed a Global Internet Freedom Act in 2003. More paper, unless it is enforcef and unless that act has real teeth. And even if it does, why do a bunch of French reporters need to remind the Unites States of America of it's duty? The reason is that we are greedy for the Chinese market on the one hand, and afraid of China's military might on the other. And on the third hand, we are growing ever more reliant on Chinese investments or so I've heard, just as Saudi Arabian investments have become so integral to certain sectors of our economy (yes, the same country whose main import after oil is Wahhabism and the terrorists who kill American soldiers every day). We are now captives of our enemies, and willingly sell-out our heritage of freedom democracy, seperation of church and state, human rights, and all the other ideals which we have tried to spottily uphold over the last 200 + years.
Here is the article:
BEIJING (AFP) - Users of Microsoft's new China-based Internet portal have been blocked from using the words "democracy", "freedom" and "human rights" in an apparent move by the US software giant to appease Beijing.
Other words that could not be used on Microsoft's free online blog service MSN Spaces include "Taiwan independence" and "demonstration".
Bloggers who enter such words or other politically charged or pornographic content are prompted with a message that reads: "This item should not contain forbidden speech such as profanity. Please enter a different word for this item".
Officials at Microsoft's Beijing offices refused to comment.
Internet sites in China are strongly urged to abide by a code of conduct and self-censor any information that could be viewed by the government as politically sensitive, pornographic or illegal.
For many Chinese websites, such content also includes news stories that the government considers unfavorable or does not want published.
New regulations issued in March now require that all China-based websites be formally registered with the government by the end of June or be shut down by Internet police.
Microsoft formed its portal joint venture with China's state-funded Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd (SAIL) last month to launch the MSN China web portal.
Microsoft is not the only international tech company to comply with China's stringent Internet rules.
Yahoo! and Google -- the two most popular Internet search engines -- have already been criticized for cooperating with the Chinese government to censor the Internet.
The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) earlier said it "deplores the irresponsible policies of United States Internet firms Yahoo! and Google in bowing directly and indirectly to Chinese government demands for censorship".
It has called on the United States to apply the principles of its Global Internet Freedom Act on its private sector's activities in "some of the world's most repressive regimes".
The Global Internet Freedom Act, passed by the US House of Representatives in July 2003, aims to combat online censorship imposed by governments around the world.
In their efforts to conquer the Chinese market, Yahoo! and Google are "making compromises that directly threaten freedom of expression," RSF has said.
Hi all,
Last night at Faithful Fools I talked again about the meaning of Odaimoku. I had done that a couple of weeks ago and shared some that here because the woman who sits with me was wanting to know what all of this chanting that we do is all about. She was absent last Sunday but came last night and told me that her mental state is such that she has been having a hard time concentrating or retaining anything, so instead of moving onto a new topic we just discussed the meaning of Odaimoku again. As before, she said that what I was explaining sounded like how she perceived life when she was younger, a more intuitive appreciation of cause and effect and the mysterious nature of things and so on, but now as a homeless woman with diabetes living in an SRO and not able to get adequate medical care and at the mercy of what she calls "poverty pimps" (apparently those organizations which take lots of money from the city, state, feds, etc. to provide housing and other programa but who she feels do not really deliver - I personally can't judge and am only relating what she perceives about her situation) she is finding it harder to believe that there is any justice or sense in things.
In any case, my conviction that life does unfold according to causes and conditions and that the unconditioned is the other side of the reality coin of the conditioned remains. I think that dukkha or the suffering, frustration, tragedies, everyday angst, etc. of life tends to obscure the sense and justice of things, tends to obscure for us the workings of cause and effect so that we lose our perspective, lose the big picture, and things do end up seeming to be arbitary. Instead of the Mystic Law (another translation of Myoho) or the Golden Rule, there is "Those with the gold make the rules, and those with the guns get the gold."
I think that part of what our practice and part of what coming together to practice and discuss the teachings can do is remind us of the big picture, and remind us that guns and gold are not the final court of appeal, and remind us that we do not need to give up our faith in the Buddha-Dharma, our hope to actualize the liberation of all beings, or loving-kindness for all beings, even our enemies.
I discovered last night that we could discuss all these things just in relation to the meaning of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. I think that everytime we meet at Faithful Fools we could discuss the meaning of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo in relation to anything and every explanation would be different and relevant. All of our talks come back again and again to recovering our devotion to the Wonderul Truth or Sublime Reality or Mystic Law or whatever you want to call it, and to seeing how that is like a beautiful lotus of wisdom and compassion that can blossom in the muddy pool of life's challenges, and that all the things that compose our lives are a sutra or thread of discourse trying to convey this to us in various ways. This is what I have meant by the "sole efficacy of Odaimoku" because it is from that point that we can encompass all the teachings and insights and merits of living a wakeful life.
Conversely, there are times to look to particular sources of guidance. For instance, Sunday morning we did our silent sitting session as we do every first Sunday at San Jose. Afterwords, the Ven. Ryusho Matsuda shared with us several verses from the Dhammapada and encouraged us to read the Dhammapada for ourselves. These were verses many of us have read before about avoiding fighting, purifying our minds, avoiding evil, doing good, conquering oneself before trying to conquer others and several others. Sensei acknowledged that this was very strict, because while almost everyone would admit that what these verses teach is sound advice, very few of us are able to fully live in accord with them. But that does not exempt us from trying. Sensei pointed out that the Buddha is not telling anyone to listen to him or suffer punishment. Rather the Buddha is pointing out a better way to live our lives so as to avoid suffering and create happiness for ourselves and others by overcoming our egotism.
Though it was not specifically about Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, I think that my sensei's speech was also an exposition of the inner depths and life of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. It is to be able to live the ideal expressed in the Dhammapada (an ideal many of us expect and sometimes demand of each other but rarely of ourselves when difficulties arise) that is the reason we practice Odaimoku and refresh ourselves with the Lotus Sutra again and again each day. The two go hand in hand, the celebration and practice of the Lotus Sutra and the living out of its spirit which is described not just in the Lotus Sutra but in its particulars in the Dhammapada and throughout the sutras, all of which are rivers emptying into the ocean of the Lotus Sutra.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei