Wednesday, August 22, 2012

How to be a Buddha; The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon

SGI study chief Mr. Morinaka for the first time lectured in Seattle, Washington. On August 20th, to a packed auditorium, he talked about "The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon" by Nichiren Daishonin. His lecture drew heavily from commentary written by SGI President Daisaku Ikeda.

As background, Mr. Morinaka discussed some of the history of Buddhism and observed that Buddhism branched into two main practices:

1. Meditative
2. Praying to statues

Meditation nowadays, he said, is often thought of as achieving tranquility, peace of mind. Some schools even advocate trying to sever attachments. However, in the past, Tien Tai of China practiced a different type of meditation whose intent was to observe ones innate limitless Buddhahood and to manifest it.

Praying to statues, on the other hand, Mr. Morinaka observed was separating ourselves from Buddhahood. A statue externalizes the Buddha. The greater we imagine the external Buddha to be, the lesser we ourselves feel. We feel tinier and more insignificant.

As I ponder these observations, it brings to mind some oft quoted words of Nichiren Daishonin.

"Never seek this Gohonzon outside yourself. The Gohonzon exists only within the mortal flesh of us ordinary people who embrace the Lotus Sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo." ("The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon," Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 832)

and

"Even though you chant and believe in Myoho-renge-kyo, if you think the Law is outside yourself, you are embracing not the Mystic Law but an inferior teaching." ("On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime," WND page 3)

So, we can see that even if we are chanting daimoku, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, to the gohonzon, if we think the gohonzon is outside ourself, instead of observing our own innate limitless Buddhahood and manifesting it, we actually can feel tinier and more insignificant -- as if we are praying to a statue of an external Buddha.

This reminds me of a point made by Christopher Small in his book Music, Society, Education. Small observed that Western Industrialized Society has created a type of priesthood called "experts." The more we idolize "experts" and unquestioningly believe what they say, the tinier and more insignificant we feel. "I'm not an expert," is a phrase we often hear and maybe have said ourselves. When we put anyone on a pedestal, be it an Olympic athlete, a rock star, a politician, an economist, a scientist or even an SGI leader, the more we idolize them as "others" outside of ourselves, the tinier and more insignificant we feel.

Of course we admire greatness, beauty and wisdom. We feel deep appreciation for what our mentors and role models teach us. But, if we forget that we are all one, that each of us is a microcosm of the entirety of humanity, all of life and indeed the whole universe, then we are externalizing that person whom we admire, seeing them as outside of ourself. And when we externalize them, the more we worship their greatness, then the tinier and more insignificant we feel. Rather than feeling inspired to achieve greatness ourselves, we can actually lose hope and even succumb to despair.

Despair is rampant because Western Industrialized Society teaches us the false belief that we are all separate from other people, the natural world and the cosmos. It is a new habit we are developing, learning to strengthen our awareness of our innate limitless Buddhahood and to manifest it.

Mr. Morinaka, in his lecture, repeatedly emphasized the importance of faith; it is up to ones faith to elicit the power of the gohonzon. With faith as the foundation of our practice and study we do our human revolution and strengthen our conviction that we each are as limitlessly powerful and indomitable as the entire universe spanning past, present and future and that nothing is impossible.







The Sun of Jiyu Over a New Land; the complete poem

Since this major work of Daisaku Ikeda, "The Sun of Jiyu Over a New Land," is only quoted in truncated versions elsewhere online, I decided to type out the entire poem and post it on this blog as a public service.

In response to the Rodney King Riots of 1992, SGI president Ikeda wrote this poem of hope to the SGI-USA members of Los Angeles, and by extension, the people of the entire world.

"The Sun of Jiyu Over a New Land" inspired the SGI youth of Los Angeles to present a Global Family Festival at the Ikeda Auditorium in Santa Monica, California in 1998. During the rehearsal period we, of the Documentary Committee, would read the entire poem aloud together every week.

You can also find this poem in the book To My Dear Friends in America; Collected U.S. Addresses 1990-1996, by Daisaku Ikeda, World Tribune Press, 2008, pages 202 - 215.

"The Sun of Jiyu Over a New Land"
To my treasured friends of Los Angeles, the city of my dreams.

A brilliant, burning sun
rises above the newborn land, 
aiming toward a new century,
raising the curtain on a new stage
of humanity's history.
Shedding its light equally on all things,
it seeks the sky's distant midpoint. 

In this land wrapped in the limitless light
of the morning sun,
my splendid American friends
make their appearance;
bearing the world's hopes,
with power and vigor they commence their progress anew.
To my beloved and treasured friends I say:
"Long live America renewed!
Long live the SGI-USA reborn!"

Ah! This enchanting city, Los Angeles!
Land of freedom and pioneering spirit!
From jagged mountain ranges 
to the Pacific Ocean,
variegated nature changes ceaselessly --
rich agricultural lands nurtured by the sun's dazzling rays,
and the groundbreaking efforts 
of those who came before.
Downtown, clusters of buildings soar skyward.

To think that this vast metropolis 
could grow from a single aqueduct
stretched across the barren desert
from beyond the distant mountains!

It is said that in America
new winds blow from the west.
And indeed, the fresh breezes
of new ways of thinking,
new styles of living,
have arisen in California
and spread to the entire United States.
So many stories of the silver screen,
created here in Hollywood,
have delivered bountiful gifts
of romance and dreams 
to the world's peoples.

This rich spiritual soil, 
this great earth alive with diversity
of peoples and traditions -- 
giving rise to new culture,
a new humanity.

Los Angeles is a city pregnant with future,
a city where, in the words of one writer,
you can set new precedents 
with your own energy and creativity.

And more, Los Angeles is a bridge
linking East and West,
a land of merging and fusion
where cultures of the Pacific
encounter traditions of the West.

Ah, the Pacific that opens before our eyes!
The boundless, free and untamed sea
for which the great Melville
voiced his respect and praise:
"It rolls the mid-most waters on the world.
. . . the tide-beating heart of earth."

Once, the Mediterranean
was inland sea and mother to the 
civilizations of the surrounding regions --
Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In like manner, the Pacific's depths
must not divide -- 
but be the cradle of a new civilization,
an enormous "inland sea" connecting
the Americas North and South,
the continents of Asia and Australia.

This is my firm conviction --
California will be the energy source 
for the Pacific region
in the twenty-first century
and Los Angeles its eastern capital.

In October 1960, I took my first steps on
the American continent
in California, the Golden State.
The honor and glory of becoming 
the first chapter established in North America 
belong to the Los Angeles Chapter. 

Since then, this city has been
the core and center of kosen-rufu
in the United States, the starting point
for worldwide kosen-rufu.
My dear friends, never forget
this mission which you
so decidedly possess.

In the thirty-three years since that time, 
I have visited Los Angeles seventeen times.
Kansai is the heart
whose beating drives the movement 
for kosen-rufu in Japan;
Los Angeles plays this self-same role for the entire world.
For this reason, on each visit,
staking all, I drove in deep
and deeper
the piling of construction.

In 1980,
the first SGI General Meeting was held,
and in 1987, Soka University of America
opened its doors.

Ah, February 1990!
I postponed my visit 
to South America and for seventeen days
gave myself heart and soul
to the work of encouraging
my beloved fellow members
here in Los Angeles!
Those impassioned, consuming days of
unceasing toil and action
are the collaborative 
golden poems of shared struggle.

Nor can I ever forget the spring of 1992 ---
even now my heart is rent with pain 
when I recall how the 
tragic news of the civil unrest in Los Angeles
raced around the world.

Heartrending images
of the evening sky shrouded in black smoke,
of buildings collapsing in flames,
once peaceful streets shattered by riot,
the entire city gripped
by a battlefield tension.
People standing lost in confusion,
a woman holding an infant cried out
-- What has become of the ideals of this country?
What are we supposed to teach our children? --
Her woe-filled words tore 
like talons at my heart.

I received continuous reports,
extended prompt relief.
And, putting everything aside,
I sat before the Gohonzon and 
single-mindedly prayed --
for the safety of my treasured friends,
for the immediate restoration of order,
for a world without violence and discrimination.

Ah, America, land bringing together
so many different peoples!
A republic of ideals
born beneath the lofty banners,
the uniting principles of
freedom and equality.
As this century draws to its close,
the soul of your idealism
grieves at the stark realities of racial strife.
What is to become of the
spirit of your nation
fostered by so many people of
wisdom and philosophy?

My treasured friends,
There is no question that your multiracial nation, America,
represents humanity's future.
Your land holds secret stores of unbounded possibility, transforming
the energy of different cultures
into the unity of construction,
the flames of conflict 
into the light of solidarity,
the eroding rivulets of mistrust
into a great broad flow of confidence.
On what can we ground our efforts to open
the horizons of such a renaissance?

It is for just this reason,
my precious, treasured friends,
that you must develop within yourselves
the life-condition of Jiyu --
Bodhisattva of the Earth.

As each group seeks its separate 
roots and origins,
society fractures along a thousand fissure lines.
When neighbors distance themselves 
from neighbors, continue your
uncompromising quest 
for your truer roots
in the deepest regions of your life.
Seek out the primordial "roots" of humankind.
Then you will without fail discover
the stately expanse of Jiyu
unfolding in the depths of your life.

Here is the home, the dwelling place
to which humankind traces
its original existence --
beyond all borders,
beyond all difference of gender and race.
Here is a world offering true proof
of our humanity.

If one reaches back to these fundamental roots,
all become friends and comrades.
To realize this is to "emerge from the earth."

Past, present, future . . . 
The causes and effects of the three existences
flow ceaselessly as the reality of life;
interlinked, they give rise to all 
differences and distinctions.
Trapped in those differences,
human society is wracked by 
unending contention.

But the Buddhism of True Cause,
expounded by the Daishonin whose
teachings we embrace,
enables us to break the spell
of past karma, past causes and effects,
and to awaken to the grand humanity
-- the life of Jiyu --
that had lain dormant in our hearts.

My mentor, President Toda,
taught us that when one embraces
the Mystic Law,
all intervening causes and effects
ebb and retreat, and there emerges
the common mortal of beginningless time.

This, another name for Bodhisattva of the Earth,
is the greatness and splendor
of the human being write large,
after all false distinctions and adornments
have been removed.

Awaken to the life of Jiyu within!
When the bright sun of True Cause rises,
the stars and planets of 
past cause and effect grow dim,
and the supreme world of
harmonious unity emerges -- 
the unity of friends and comrades
each manifesting the life-condition 
of Bodhisattva of the Earth,
offering timeless proof that, indeed,
"The assembly on Eagle Peak has not yet dispersed."

Ah, my treasured friends,
whom I so deeply love and respect!
It is critical for you now
to directly perceive
the web of life that binds all people!

Buddhism describes
the connective threads of 
dependent origination.
Nothing in this world exists alone;
everything comes into being and continues
in response to causes and conditions.
Parent and child.
Husband and wife.
Friends. Races.
Humanity and nature.
This profound understanding
of coexistence, of symbiosis -- 
here is the source of resolution for
the most pressing and fundamental issues
that confront humankind
in the chaotic last years of this century.

The Buddhist scriptures include
the parable of "Two Bundles of Reeds,"
aptly demonstrating this relation
of dependent origination.
Only by supporting each other
can the two bundles stand straight --
if one is removed, the other must fall.
Because this exists, so does that;
because that exists, so does this.

 For several brilliant centuries,
Western civilization has encouraged 
the independence of the individual
but now appears to be facing 
a turbulent twilight.
The waves of egoism
eat away at the shores of
contemporary society.
The tragedy of division
wraps the world in a thick fog.
Individuals are becoming 
mere scraps, mere fragments,
competing reed bundles of lesser self
threatened with mutual collapse.

My friends!
Please realize that you already possess
the solution to this quandary.
First you must break the hard shell 
of the lesser self.
This you must absolutely do.
Then direct your lucid gaze toward your friends, fellow members.

People can only live fully
by helping others to live.
When you give life to friends,
you truly live.
Cultures can only realize
their further richness
by honoring other traditions.
And only by respecting natural life
can humanity continue to exist.

Now is the time for you to realize 
that through relations
mutually inspiring and harmonious,
the greater self is awakened to dynamic action.
the bonds of life are restored and healed.
And blossoms in delightful multitude
exude the unique fragrance 
of each person, of each ethnicity,
in precise accord with the principle of
cherry, plum, pear and damson.(1)

Our goal --
the Second American Renaissance.
Holding high the standard of humanity,
we advance --
from divisiveness to union,
from conflict to coexistence,
from hatred to fraternity.
In our struggle, in our fight,
there cannot be
even a moment's pause or stagnation.
My beloved friends,
Bodhisattvas of the Earth
readying yourselves
for the new century's dawn!
With you own efforts
bring about a renaissance here,
in this "magnetic land!"

The certain signs of America reborn,
Los Angeles rejuvenated,
are to be found within your hearts.
With this pride and conviction,
be victorious in your daily life,
overcome your own weaknesses every day.
Never forget that it is only through 
relentless challenge 
-- one step following another -- 
that you can steadily transform
your ideals into reality.

Buddhism is reason.
Therefore, always maintain self-control.
Be the master of your actions. 
Exercise common sense in society.
Keep a smiling countenance at home.
Be courteous to your friends and fellow members,
like a warm spring breeze to the suffering.
Reason exhaustively with the confused.
But, when you deal with the arrogant ones,
be bold and fearless like the Lion King!

Look!
Seen from the Malibu Training Center,
the Pacific Ocean's unbounded expanse
is bathed in radiant California sun.
An ocean of peace across whose surface 
innumerable waves murmur and dance.

Beloved Los Angelenos!
I want you each to be
like the California sunshine,
showering on all people
the bright light and warmth
of your compassion.
Be people who extend hope and courage,
who inspire respect and gratitude
wherever you go.

Buddhism teaches us the means
to overcome life's fundamental pain
-- the sufferings of birth, aging, sickness and death -- 
which none can escape,
and which no degree of wealth and fame
can relieve in the slightest.

Everyone, anyone -- 
when returned to
their solitary human existence,
is but a karma-laden "reed,"
trembling before the onslaught
of the four sufferings.

Seeking eternity within impermanence,
crossing over delusion to nurture confidence,
building happiness from anguish,
rush forward from today
toward tomorrow
in the prodigious battle that is
our human revolution!
For you are the Buddha's emissaries
upholding the ultimate philosophy of life!

Comrades!
Fellow Bodhisattvas of the Earth!
Born here, gathered together here in Los Angeles
that you might fulfill your mission --
Raise your voices in songs of praise 
for freedom, democracy and humanity!
Wave the banners of culture and peace!

Ah, Los Angeles!
Here is to be found SUA,
A palace of intellect for 
the Pan-Pacific era of the twenty-first century.
Here is located the World Culture Center,
dynamo of American kosen-rufu.
And here rises the splendid form
of the future site of the SGI Headquarters --
which will become the mainstay
of the grand endeavor of worldwide kosen-rufu.
Truly a new wind will blow from the west!
Los Angeles, the stage on which
you act with such freedom and vigor,
is the launching site for world kosen-rufu, 
the cornerstone that links East and West.

Walt Whitman, giant of 
the American Renaissance, penned these words:
"Come, I will make the continent indissoluble,
I will make the most splendid race 
the sun ever shone upon,
I will make divine magnetic lands,
With the love of comrades,
With the life-long love of comrades."(2)

Ah, Los Angeles!
The sun rises beyond the Rockies,
spreading its light over the wide Pacific.
Now! In its luminous beams,
let friend and friend pull together
in perfect unity, rowing into the seas --
embarking on a new leg
of our journey of kosen-rufu!

Grip the rudder,
hold firm to your course --
the Stars and Stripes,
the tricolor flag of the SGI,
ripple as a hopeful breeze fills our sails.
The lapping waves beat out their message
of congratulations upon our ship's bow!
Our destination --
America's distant future,
the lights and colors
of a Century of Life,
the brilliant glory of human harmony.




1. "Cherry, plum, peach and damson blossoms all have their own qualities, and they manifest the three properties of the life of the Buddha without changing their character" (Nichiren Daishonin, Gosho Zenshu, p. 784)

 2. Walt Whitman, "For You O Democracy," Leaves of Grass, 1860