The True Entity of Life (The True Aspect of All Phenomena) continued
The True Entity of Life (The True Aspect of All Phenomena) continued
Mystic Bond
One becomes a votary of the Lotus Sutra by virtue of his practice in past existences. It is karmic relationships that determine which among so many of the same kind of trees are made into images of Buddha. It is also because of karma that some Buddhas are born as provisional ones.
Nichiren Daishonin became a votary of the Lotus Sutra, not because of his relation with the Lotus Sutra in this lifetime, but because of past karma --- because he practiced the sutra in his past existences. Trees are insentient, but some of them "are made into images of Buddha" --- for example, the Gohonzon. Others become bars in a prison. The Daishonin says that "it is karmic relationships that determine" their fate because plants cannot think or act on their own will. What they are made into depends on their inherent karma, and that decides who will use them.
For every effect, there is always a cause that produced it. The law of causality unites past, present and future. There are Buddhas and Buddhas. Some are the Buddhas of Hinayana teachings, others of provisional Mahayana teachings. Each has a different task and a different power, and all of this derives from their karma, from their acts in past existences.
We are engaged in the propagation of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as true disciples of Nichiren Daishonin, but what about those who have no firm basis for their lives? What they consider to be happiness is as ephemeral as a thin blanket of snow in the noonday sun, as fleeting as a mirage, and as rootless as duckweed floating at the mercy of waves. How fragile, illusionary and empty their way of living is, engulfed in the constant changes of life ! Think of the misery a man feels when stripped of a reputation that once intoxicated him. Or of the petty, short-lived "haughtiness of ashura" --- those who were in some position of authority yesterday, but are removed from power today.
Such people are to be pitied for the weakness and shallowness of their foundation in life. For I know that in the depths of all that flux and phenomenal impermanence, unaffected by anything, lies the ultimate foundation --- the Mystic Law. You must be convinced that people who make that foundation their own have the most meaningful lives of all. My mentor, Josei Toda, was awakened to the fact that his true entity was that of a Bodhisattva of the Earth. When we are awakened to our mission and our true entity, we, too, will feel infinite power welling forth from within. Toda's words, filled with a thousand emotions, still ring in my heart, as in his poem written for me:
Now in bud is the mystic bond
Which we formed of old.
Let it come into full bloom
Stout-hearted and magnificent.
Our predecessors, who developed the Soka Gakkai into what it is today, were always aware of "the mystic bond which we formed of old" as they continued their struggle. You are now fighting as members of the Soka Gakkai, the group of Bodhisattvas of the Earth. Believe that it is because of your past karma, and fight courageously on to accomplish your mission. Attain your ultimate purpose in this life, for only by so doing can you lead a life of complete fulfillment.
(to be continued)
The True Entity of Life (The True Aspect of All Phenomena) continued
Mystic Bond
One becomes a votary of the Lotus Sutra by virtue of his practice in past existences. It is karmic relationships that determine which among so many of the same kind of trees are made into images of Buddha. It is also because of karma that some Buddhas are born as provisional ones.
Nichiren Daishonin became a votary of the Lotus Sutra, not because of his relation with the Lotus Sutra in this lifetime, but because of past karma --- because he practiced the sutra in his past existences. Trees are insentient, but some of them "are made into images of Buddha" --- for example, the Gohonzon. Others become bars in a prison. The Daishonin says that "it is karmic relationships that determine" their fate because plants cannot think or act on their own will. What they are made into depends on their inherent karma, and that decides who will use them.
For every effect, there is always a cause that produced it. The law of causality unites past, present and future. There are Buddhas and Buddhas. Some are the Buddhas of Hinayana teachings, others of provisional Mahayana teachings. Each has a different task and a different power, and all of this derives from their karma, from their acts in past existences.
We are engaged in the propagation of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as true disciples of Nichiren Daishonin, but what about those who have no firm basis for their lives? What they consider to be happiness is as ephemeral as a thin blanket of snow in the noonday sun, as fleeting as a mirage, and as rootless as duckweed floating at the mercy of waves. How fragile, illusionary and empty their way of living is, engulfed in the constant changes of life ! Think of the misery a man feels when stripped of a reputation that once intoxicated him. Or of the petty, short-lived "haughtiness of ashura" --- those who were in some position of authority yesterday, but are removed from power today.
Such people are to be pitied for the weakness and shallowness of their foundation in life. For I know that in the depths of all that flux and phenomenal impermanence, unaffected by anything, lies the ultimate foundation --- the Mystic Law. You must be convinced that people who make that foundation their own have the most meaningful lives of all. My mentor, Josei Toda, was awakened to the fact that his true entity was that of a Bodhisattva of the Earth. When we are awakened to our mission and our true entity, we, too, will feel infinite power welling forth from within. Toda's words, filled with a thousand emotions, still ring in my heart, as in his poem written for me:
Now in bud is the mystic bond
Which we formed of old.
Let it come into full bloom
Stout-hearted and magnificent.
Our predecessors, who developed the Soka Gakkai into what it is today, were always aware of "the mystic bond which we formed of old" as they continued their struggle. You are now fighting as members of the Soka Gakkai, the group of Bodhisattvas of the Earth. Believe that it is because of your past karma, and fight courageously on to accomplish your mission. Attain your ultimate purpose in this life, for only by so doing can you lead a life of complete fulfillment.
(to be continued)
