The Dragon King's Daughter; A 9-minute SGI Buddhist comedy for 6 - 7 actors

By Lynette Yetter
Inspired by The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras, translated by Burton Watson, Soka Gakkai, Japan, 2009, pp 224-228.

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

Shakyamuni Buddha 

Bodhisattva Wisdom Accumulated

Fabric waver 1
Fabric waver 2 / Lotus bearer
Bodhisattva Manjushri (aka M Dude) 

Dragon King’s Daughter

PROPS: 

-- shimmery blue fabric, approximately 1.5 yards x 3 yards

-- 2 plastic headbands with a topknot of fake hair fastened to the top of each

-- cardboard cutout of giant lotus flower with LOTS of petals, big enough to appear to be a vehicle for a person to ride on

-- a large paper (approx. 5- to 10-foot long white butcher paper, covered with images of lotus flowers)

FADE IN:

SHAKYAMUNI

In the future ages if there are good men or good women . . .

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Excuse me, Shakyamuni, what is that thing on top of your head?

SHAKYAMUNI

This protuberant knob of flesh on the crown of my head is like a topknot of hair, is it not? It is one of my 32 characteristics as the buddha.            

                            

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Cool!

Shakyamuni CLEARS her throat and prepares to once again begin her speech.

SHAKYAMUNI

In the future ages if there are good men or good women who, on hearing the Devadatta Chapter of the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law . . . 

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

What is the Devadatta Chapter?

SHAKYAMUNI

It’s what we are in right now. We floated up off of Eagle Peak into outer space in the Ceremony in the Air that transcends the framework of time and space. You and I and everyone here are characters in the Devadatta Chapter. Does that answer your question, Boddhisattva Wisdom Accumulated?

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Thanks! 

(Beat)

I just accumulated some more wisdom! Or was that knowledge? Never mind. Please continue, Shakyamuni.

SHAKYAMUNI

As I was saying, 

(Beat)

In the future ages if there are good men or good women who, on hearing the Devadatta Chapter of the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law, believe and revere it with pure hearts and harbor no doubts or perplexities . . .

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Believe with a pure heart. That’s like faith, right? 

SHAKYAMUNI

Of course.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

And we can substitute faith for wisdom, right?

SHAKYAMUNI

Of course.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Then I AM accumulating wisdom, and not just knowledge, because I DO believe with a pure heart!

SHAKYAMUNI

That’s why you are Bodhisattva Wisdom Accumulated. Now listen-up so you can accumulate some more wisdom.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Okay.

SHAKYAMUNI

. . . will never fall into the realm of hell, hungry spirits or beasts . . .

BWA puts his hand in the air and waves it to signal that he has a question.

SHAKYAMUNI (CONT’D)

You have a question?

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Is the realm of hell, hungry spirits or beasts the lowest three of the 10 Worlds?

SHAKYAMUNI

Yes.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

But, I thought that with the Mutual Possession of the 10 Worlds and Three Thousand Realms that all of the worlds are mutually inclusive. So, even the world of Buddhahood contains Hell, Hungry Spirits and Beasts. If that is true, how can those good men and good women not experience those worlds? I’m confused.

SHAKYAMUNI

Good point. We’ll leave that to Tien Tai to sort out. For now, just bear with me, okay, so we can continue with this play?

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

A play? I thought we were in the Ceremony in the Air?

SHAKYAMUNI

It’s both. We are in a play ABOUT the Ceremony in the Air. And the playwright is being creative with the tale. Now, don’t you want to know what happens next?

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Sure!

SHAKYAMUNI

Okay then, there’s just a little bit more to my speech. Can you wait that long?

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

I’m all ears. Go ahead!

SHAKYAMUNI

Now where was I . . . Will never fall into the realm of hell, hungry spirits or of beasts, but will be born in the presence of the buddhas of the ten directions, and in this place where they are born they will constantly hear this sutra.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Don’t those good men and good women get to do anything else beside constantly hear this sutra?

SHAKYAMUNI

This is a parable, a metaphor for the mysterious workings of life. Of course they get to do other things. 

(Beat)

Remember, you promised to wait until I finished the speech.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Oh yeah. Sorry. Go on.

SHAKYAMUNI

If they are born among humans or heavenly beings, they will enjoy exceedingly wonderful delights.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Like ice cream?

SHAKYAMUNI

Even better. Now please wait until I finish.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Okay.

SHAKYAMUNI

And if they are born in the presence of the buddhas, they will be born by transformation from Lotus Flowers.

Silence. A long pause. BWA is content and mellow, enjoying listening attentively, waiting for the speech to continue.

SHAKYAMUNI (CONT’D)

That’s it. I’m done. That’s the speech.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

(Applauds) Great speech! 

(Beat)

Well, I’ve got some other things to be doing. Can I go now?

SHAKYAMUNI

Good man, wait a little while. There is a bodhisattva named Manjushri whom you should see. Debate and discuss the wonderful Law with him, and then you may return to your homeland.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Okay.

Two Fabric Wavers run out carrying the blue fabric onto the stage from right to left, with Bodhisattva Manjushri hidden behind, ducking down and running along at the same speed as the Fabric Wavers. The Fabric Wavers are rippling the blue fabric as if it is the ocean. Their bodies are hidden behind the fabric.  They stop. Manjushri (still hidden behind the fabric) has a giant lotus flower made from cardboard fastened to him, as if it was his chair or magic carpet or his space ship that he can zoom around on. As the Fabric Wavers continue to ripple the fabric to look like ocean swells, Bodhisattva Manjushri stands up. The Fabric Wavers slowly kneel, lowering the fabric to reveal Bodhisattva Manjushri on his Lotus vehicle.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED (CONT’D)

Wow! Bodhisattva Manjushri is rising out of the sea and floating in the air on a giant lotus flower with a 1,000 petals! Where did you come from, Dude?

The Fabric wavers drag the fabric and exit Stage Right. Off stage they set down the fabric and pick up cardboard cutouts of many Lotus flowers.

M DUDE

My real name is Bodhisattva Manjushri but you can call me M Dude. I have just come from the Palace under the sea of Dragon King Sagara.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Cool!

M Dude steps out of his Lotus vehicle. Bows to Shakymuni, then goes to side of Bodhisattva Wisdom Accumulating.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED (CONT’D)

When you went to the palace of the Dragon King, how many living beings did you convert?

M DUDE

The number is immeasurable, incapable of calculation. The mouth cannot express it, the mind cannot fathom it. There will be proof. Wait a moment.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

(speaking to the audience directly in a dramatic whisper) Everyone wants me to wait a moment!

Lotus Bearer enters carrying a large paper covered with images of Lotus flowers, as if the Lotus flowers are more flying carpets carrying more people. Lotus Bearer walks around moving the Lotus flowers in a way that looks like they are flying.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED (CONT’D)

Wow! Look at those countless bodhisattvas seated on jeweled lotus blossoms emerging from the ocean and coming here suspended in the air above Eagle Peak.

M DUDE

All of these beings have been converted and saved by me. They carried out all the bodhisattva practices, which are too numerous to mention here in this short play.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

You are of great wisdom and virtue, brave and stalwart, you have converted and saved immeasurable beings. Now those in this great assembly, as well as I myself, have all seen them. You expound the principle of the true aspect, open up the Law of the single vehicle, broadly guiding the many beings, causing them quickly to attain enlightenment.

Lotus bearer EXITS Stage Right.

M DUDE

When I was in the ocean I constantly expounded the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law alone.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

This sutra is very profound, subtle, and wonderful, a treasure among sutras, a rarity in the world. Are there perhaps any living beings who, by earnestly and diligently practicing this sutra, have been able to attain buddhahood quickly?

M DUDE

There is the daughter of the dragon king Sagara.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

What is her name?

M DUDE

What?

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

What is her name?

M DUDE

Her name is “the Dragon King’s Daughter”.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

But, the Dragon King has a name. You told me so yourself. His name is Sagara. What is his daughter’s name?

M DUDE

She doesn’t have a name. After all, she is female and only 8 years old and a reptile to boot. Who cares if she has a name? We’ll just call her the Dragon King’s Daughter.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Hmmm . . . I still want to know her name. If she doesn’t have a name, we should give her one - like how Nichiren Daishonin gave names to his formerly-nameless female followers. He called them nuns and gave them beautiful names. I think we should name her "Momo!"

M DUDE

Can I get on with the story?

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Sure. Go ahead.

M DUDE

Anyways, the Dragon King’s Daughter has just turned eight years old. Her wisdom has keen roots and she is good at understanding the activities and deeds of the sense organs of living beings.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

What does that mean?

M DUDE

The translation is kind of complicated, what with different cultures and all. Let’s just say that she is really wise and understands everything and everybody. She is capable of achieving enlightenment.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

And she is only 8 years old? Wow! That’s hard for me to believe.

M DUDE

Why?

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

When I observe Shakyamuni, I see that for a really really long time - like forever and ever, he carried out harsh and difficult practices, accumulating merit, piling up virtue, seeing the way of the bodhisattva without ever resting. There is not a speck of the universe where he has not sacrificed his body and life for the sake of living beings. Only after he had done that was he able to complete the way of enlightenment.

Before his words come to an end, the Dragon King’s Daughter (who has the prop -- a headband with topknot of hair -- hidden somewhere on her person) ENTERS Stage Right as the Fabric waver runs around her with the fabric in such a way as to make it seem that the Dragon King’s Daughter is appearing magically in the assembly. When she is in front of Shakyamuni, she bows to him, and so does the fabric bearer (as if the fabric bearer is her shadow). The fabric bearer from this point on stays near the Dragon Kings Daughter like a shadow, holding the fabric bundled in her arms.

DRAGON KING’S DAUGHTER

Having heard his teachings, I have attained enlightenment -- the Buddha alone can bear witness to this. I unfold the doctrines of the great vehicle to rescue living beings from suffering.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

You know what Shariputra would say, if we had enough actors to have Shariputra present? 

DRAGON KING’S DAUGHTER

What would he say?

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

He would say to you, and I quote, (clears throat), “You suppose that in this short time you have been able to attain the unsurpassed way. But this is difficult to believe. Why? Because a woman’s body is soiled and defiled, not a vessel for the Law. How could you attain unsurpassed enlightenment? The road to buddhahood is long and far-stretching. Only after one has spent immeasurable kalpas (that’s a really really long time like forever) pursuing austerities, etc etc etc can one finally achieve success. Moreover, a woman is subject to the five obstacles. 1. She cannot become a Brahma heavenly king. 2. She cannot become a king Shakra. 3 She cannot become a devil king. 4. She cannot become a wheel turning sage king. And 5. She cannot become a buddha. 

(Beat) 

How then could a woman like you be able to attain buddhahood so quickly?

The Dragon Girl cups her hands, miming holding a precious object.

DRAGON KING’S DAUGHTER

Do you see this precious jewel that is worth a major world system?

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Yes.

The Dragon Girl mimes handing the jewel to Shakyamuni. He immediately accepts it.

DRAGON KING’S DAUGHTER

I presented the precious jewel, and the world-honored one accepted it. Was that not quickly done?

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Very quickly!

DRAGON KING’S DAUGHTER

Employ your supernatural powers and watch me attain buddhahood. It will be even quicker than that!

The Fabric waver swirls the fabric around and around the Dragon King’s Daughter. Hidden by the fabric, the Dragon King’s Daughter fastens a topknot to her head, just like the topknot of Shakyamuni.

The Fabric waver drops the fabric. The Dragon King’s Daughter has her hands folded in prayer position and chants to the audience with a confidence of the entire universe in her heart.

DRAGON KING’S DAUGHTER (CONT’D)

Nam myoho renge kyo. Nam myoho renge kyo. Nam myoho renge kyo.

BODHISATTVA WISDOM ACCUMULATED

Wow! If you, a child, a female and a reptile can become a Buddha instantly by chanting Nam myoho renge kyo, anyone can do it! 

Dragon King’s Daughter looks out to the audience and says -

DRAGON KING’S DAUGHTER

We all can become buddhas! Let’s do it, right now! Will you chant with us? 

All the actors turn towards the gohonzon and chant in unison with the audience -

ALL

Nam myoho renge kyo. Nam myoho renge kyo. Nam myoho renge kyo.

THE END

Book Review: Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace

Book review by guest blogger, Tantra Bensko
Lynette Yetter’s novel draws from her own life when she went to the Andes, pulled by the sound of the panpipes as a tool for transformation. Yet it is fiction, in the way called for in David Shields’ Reality Hunger. It means more knowing she really did something truly audacious and death defying. Here, we get a glimpse of how close to reality it is, and how the fiction made it into the powerful book it is.

“Hurtling through space and time, the blue orb was rapidly self-destructing. Vital fluids pumped out of its innards burned in orgies of greed. The vapors ate away its luminous ozone skin.

Indigenous Elders, you might call them brain cells of wisdom, were ignored.

New synapses of fiber optic cable and satellite rays rationalized the destruction as ‘progress.’

Chaos surged like a flooding river.”

Thus begins the story in which Lucy goes to participate in the ancient culture of the Andes.

Her words continue to swell when she extends her viewpoint outward, such as “Each person, a black-clad spark of soul, pulled by the inexorable gravity of survival. Together the seething mass of humanity ran. In their black mourning clothes, they were like primordial darkness churning. The light of humanity in their hearts bound each to the other as if to birth a new galaxy of life, in Warrior Town.”

It’s obvious Lynette knows how to write powerfully. I also appreciate how real and down-to-earth the language is, how honest and wholesome this book. It’s hip in a DIY kind of way, with Lynette doing a tour on bike for this book as activism inspiring others to follow their dreams and stand up for peace, and play. It also is a great example of what David Shields call for in his manifesto Reality Hunger, which is taking the world by storm now. Lynette Yetter’s Lucy feels real, and the events occurred in the way that anything occurs in our memories—as fiction–stories we’ve told ourselves repeatedly and bundled into plot packages.

One of the things I like best is that she includes the vantage point of manifesting and finding our future—and doesn’t just include the times her intentions worked. Her idealism, naïve ideas of the simplicity of finding her heart’s desire are sweet, and ironic when faced with reality. She manages to keep her humor about the ups and downs that causes, though she feels such things very passionately, and they can shake her. Her naïve idealistic determination makes her follow the sound of pan pipes to Peru, where she plays in various venues, joining in with indigenous musicians, as she believes the sound can help create visions of harmony for others as it did for her. She believes she can make a difference to bring more peace to this world through them. But it’s just that quality, and her passionate empathy and love, that create the inspiring events of this book.

Lucy takes on oppression and segregation, pointing out the false flag of 911, the cultural imperialism of missionaries, the modern tendency to block people out of simply going out and camping under the stars, and she wonders at anomalies of government/military connections. In South America, she plays indigenous peasant music only recently made legal, and has no trouble associating with citizens  in the Andes who disrespect unfair political authority, and encourages harmony in dangerous situations. Even in competitive traditions she fosters a sense of oneness.

She acknowledges how magical the world is through synchroncities such as running into the man who wrote a song she was playing. Yet, this isn’t a treatise on creative visualization. The irony that can undercut such magic becomes obvious when she gets to know the song’s author. I love that combination. She’s not living out some formula, pretending it always works. So, when her intentions do manifest, her visions do come true, they are far more believable and powerful.

We learn about Andean folklore, such as the respectful relationship of miners to the Tios, earth spirits who live underground. We also learn that kusillos are androgynous entities who bridge the known and unknown.  And we follow closely: shocking international business practices, the role of civil disobedience in social progress, and the involvement of the U.S. in civil war. This book made me cry for a long time, tremble, and even shout out loud.

David Shields would like her book. In his, Reality Hunger, which also came out in 2010, he claims “Most, perhaps even all, good work (or, okay, work that excited me) eludes easy generic classification: once we know it’s coloring entirely within the lines called 'novel' or 'memoir' or 'Hollywood movie,' I honestly don’t see how anything emotionally or intellectually interesting can happen for the reader. . . . Just as out-and-out fiction no longer compels my attention, neither does straight-ahead memoir.”

I asked Lynette about the fiction/memoir interface: “My book and reality. It is heavily based on my own personal experience in Peru and Bolivia.

In order to better tell the Truth, to express Reality, I chose to fictionalize my experiences. As an old hiking buddy and PhD in English once told me — fiction is where we express the deeper truths of life. In short, she said, ‘Fiction rocks!’ Lucy Plays Panpipes for Peace started out as pure memoir — emails sent to friends and first person stories I told at performance spaces in Los Angeles.

But, it was too limiting to stick to chronological events and specific people.

By fictionalizing reality I can lump many people into a single character who then becomes an archetype. And in that process, new characters – 100% fictitious – are sometimes born. My favorite is Aunt Bert.

Aunt Bert came to me in a vision, you might say. I was riding in a bus along the shores of Lake Titicaca, when suddenly Aunt Bert appeared in my mind. She told me her life story. As I looked out the bus window at the scenery passing by, I was so moved by her life that I even cried at the sad parts. And when I got to where I was going, I wrote down what she had told me. That is how Aunt Bert came to be in the book.

Speaking of reality – to me, Aunt Bert is one of the most real characters in the novel – yet she is 100% fictitious.

Reality is so multi-dimensional. On one hand, it is the material world we can document with calendars and cameras and weights and measures. Yet it is also the invisible realm of the mysterious that animates all of life – is life. By fictionalizing the material world, I strive to reveal the deeper truths of what is invisible yet is the most powerful truth of all – our own lives.”

David Shields asks “A character is either ‘real’ or 'imaginary’?. . . . To be alive is to travel ceaselessly between the real and the imaginary, and mongrel form is about as exact an emblem as I can conceive for the unresolvable mystery at the center of identity.”

I can feel this book in my heart. I know Lynette bravely accomplished the amazing feats in this story, yet it isn’t a heavy handed recitation of her travels, or an SGI tract, but a call to go into our deepest selves, to cry, because there is a reality there that the fictionalization allows to live in a moving way, inside of us. There is no boundary between story and life, Lucy and Lynette, or our hands, wet with tears, and the pages they turn, which catch the light of the sun, that is not separable from the light of consciousness.

Is Obama's Call for Peace an Impossible Dream? (How global domestic abuse affects you, and what you can do about it)

How can we explain the stunned silence of the crowds when President Obama mentioned the word "peace" in his acceptance speech? Like an abused wife, have we become so accustomed to the control tactics of global domestic abusers that we now see abuse as normal and peace as an impossible dream?

Domestic abuse gone global. It's not just an intimate couple trapped in a cycle of abuse based on power and control, it's all of us in the world. Global domestic abuse. Domestic abuse tactics include:

• Isolation

o Controlling what we do, who we see, who we talk to, what we read, where we go (The Patriot Act and Homeland Security, and their counterparts around the world)
o Limiting our outside involvement (Creating a climate of fear of traveling to unapproved countries such as Cuba, and restrictions of movement for travel and immigration across the US border)

• Male Privilege

o Treating us like a servant (Wage slaves)
o Making all the big decisions (WTO, World Bank, IMF, etc)
o Acting like the King of the Castle (All those experts we are expected to believe)
o Being the one to define men's and women's roles (Women still do not legally have equal rights, and what rights women do have are being challenged every day)

• Economic Abuse

o Preventing us from getting or keeping a job (We've all seen this)
o Making us ask for money (Mortgage applications, car loan applications, Health Insurance applications, Social Aid applications, Student loan applications, Grant applications, etc, etc, etc)
o Not letting us know about or have access to the (global) family income (Rich getting richer and poor getting poorer)

• Emotional Abuse (Turn on the TV and you'll find all of these; hence the epidemic of mood-altering medications and suicides)

o Putting us down (If we're not an expert, our ideas don't count)
o Calling us names (Advertisements that imply "You're ugly, fat, unlovable!" etc, if we don't look like a model)
o Making us think we're crazy (Prozac, Paxil, Ritalin, etc.)
o Making us feel bad about ourselves ("You're a social reject if you don't have the latest iPhone!" or whatever)
o Playing mind games (Too many to list)
o Humiliating us (Airport security)
o Making us feel guilty (Mortgage foreclosures, IMF loans with harsh conditions)

• Coercion and Threats

o Making us do illegal things (Invading countries is not legal)
o Making us drop charges (US ignores the World Court)
o Making and/or carrying out threats to do something to hurt us (People jailed under the Patriot Act for just reading, talking, or not talking like Leah-Lynne Plante)
o Threatening to commit suicide (Suggesting that the world will end unless the economy keeps making the rich richer and the poor poorer)

• Intimidation

o Making us afraid by using looks, actions, gestures (Turn on the TV and almost everywhere we see something trying to make us feel fear, such as a news show about terrorists)
o Smashing things (Atomic bombs blowing up cities, etc)
o Destroying our property (Our home, the Earth, is being destroyed by transnational corporations)
o Abusing pets (Species going extinct due to industrial pollution)
o Displaying weapons (Selling and using weapons seems to be the number one industry: the military-industrial complex)

There's a lot more, but you get the idea. As you can see, the abusers are the super rich people who create transnational corporations that make the rich richer and the poor poorer, while buying up radio and TV stations and major newspapers to spread propaganda justifying the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, and paying politicians to do their bidding. The victims of this global domestic abuse are all the rest of us: almost 7 billion people living on this globe.

When the abuser is an individual trying to control another individual, any domestic abuse hotline you may call will probably advise you to leave the situation and sever all ties, physical, financial, verbal, emotional, etc., with the abuser.

But when you're a victim of global domestic abuse, you can't leave the globe and go to another planet, as in Eric Frank Russell's 1951 science fiction classic tale of a Gandhian utopian planet, ...And Then There Were None. Like the Democrats, Republicans and other parties in Washington, and everyone on the planet, we all have to find a way to come together, dialog, and work things out. How can we, as President Obama said, "Do the painstaking work of building consensus and making the difficult compromises needed to move . . . forward?"

A huge first step would be for abusers to take a lesson from one of their own: the late transnational CEO, Ray C. Anderson. In his autobiography, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose--Doing Business by Respecting the Earth, he shows how he woke up from being an abuser and developed empathy and compassion.

In the United Kingdom there is a program for abusers to learn how to accept responsibility for their actions and reform their ways. Perhaps they can take their program to corporate headquarters around the world, Wall Street brokerage firms, and government offices of obstructionist politicians.

In the meanwhile, we can each develop our own state of life. I feel inspired by these words of Daisuku Ikeda, president of the lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International, which I jotted down during his 1990 live-simulcast speech from Los Angeles, California:
"When you feel entrapped by the chains of society, stand up with courage (compassion and wisdom) and your life will be as huge as the universe."



Article first published as Is Obama's Call for Peace an Impossible Dream? on Blogcritics.

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