A friend shared a concern with me. He spoke of some recent experiences where even long-time practitioners were unable to explain basic Buddhist concepts. Can you give me an example, I asked. He gave me several. He told how at a meeting someone asked what was a "Buddha nature" and no one could answer. He gave other similar examples.
My friend is not an overly critical type and he wasn't telling me this to complain. He was telling me this to share his commitment to study, understand and implement the teachings.
People were either afraid to get it wrong, or they spoke in vague abstractions, or they deferred to "I should study more." No one spoke with any confidence. In fact they were clearly afraid to be convincing.
I thought, something is amiss. It is as if the language we use to talk about our faith is encoded. We either repeat the code or confirm our confusion. We are not able to communicate our understanding, which seems to me evidence of not understanding. And this Buddhism is supposed to be for all. Maybe I can do something to help, maybe I can help folks understand, maybe I can help them crack the code.
Deep breath, OK, I will give it a shot, here goes...
Toda-Sensei went to prison in June 1943, charged with violating Imperial Japan's Peace Preservation Act. He was a thought criminal. But even in a totalitarian system, no-one gets arrested for having thoughts. They get arrested for acting on those thoughts. For months prior to the arrest Toda and his mentor were followed as they conducted meetings, wrote, and spoke to build their fledgling organization. The threat to 'peace' was not their thoughts, nor two obscure school-teachers refusing the Shinto talisman. The threat was in sharing their thoughts with others.
In prison Toda lacked everything you think you need for a happy life. And he lacked everything you think you need to practice Buddhism. He did not have a Gohonzon, he was isolated from his mentor, he had no contact with anyone to encourage him. He did have a poor translation of the Lotus Sutra. He threw it away. It came back to his cell. He threw it away again. It was returned again. He thought the guards were mocking him.
In January 1944, he began to read the sutra. He may not have been aware of it but he'd actually been "reading" the sutra all along. By sharing Nichiren Buddhism in the face of powerful resistance he already was practicing the Lotus Sutra exactly as Nichiren taught, "because you have read the entirety of the Lotus Sutra with both the physical and spiritual aspects of your life, you will also be able to save ... all living beings. Others read the Lotus Sutra with their mouths alone, in word alone, but they do not read it with their hearts. And even if they read it with their hearts, they do not read it with their actions. It is reading the sutra with both one’s body and mind that is truly praiseworthy!" (WND1, pg 204)
Before imprisonment Mr. Makiguchi said, "without facing powerful enemies you can call yourself a follower or devotee of the sutra but you are not yet a votary. Only by facing powerful enemies can you be considered a votary." He and his protege, Toda, were indeed votaries of the sutra and thus the movement they started just might "save all living beings."
Anyway, alone in his prison cell, in the winter of 1944, Toda-Sensei began to chant and to study. His study began with a sutra that proceeds the Lotus. It is called The Sutra Of Infinite Meanings. In that sutra is a passage about the entity of the Buddha's life. It describes the Buddha through a series of negations: the Buddha is not coming or going not black nor white nor green nor blue, not this nor that, etc. Mr. Toda understood the superficial meaning of the passage -- that the ultimate truth is beyond language, beyond distinctions. This meaning depicted the Buddha abstractly. Perhaps because he was a teacher or perhaps because of his practical business-sense Mr Toda was not satisfied with the superficial understanding. He intuitively sensed that an entity must be real, not an abstraction, even though he could not grasp what it might be .
He chanted, he meditated, he struggled mightily. What could it be? He was not to be content with simple, pat answers. He was not interested in philosophical musings. He had to know.
Finally he got it. He had a revelation. Buddha was life itself. Buddha was the thing that made life alive.
From that moment his life was irrevocably changed. He resumed chanting and studying. But now every word of the sutra came alive. He understand every teaching, every concept in terms of life itself. As Nichiren wrote, "You must never think that any of the eighty thousand sacred teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha’s lifetime ... are outside yourself. (WND1 pg3)
The teachings of Buddhism were no longer ancient, archaic and inscrutable. They were imminent, applicable, real. They could be expressed in the language of now.
This is the key. This is how you too can crack the code. When you realize that every sentence of the Gosho and every word of Sensei's guidance is about your life; when you cease to think of kosen-rufu as happening somewhere else, or some-when else; when you consider every teaching as being about human life; then you will understand. You will 'get it.'
So how do you get there? You might be thinking, boy-oh-boy I better get busy and study.
Here is a surprise: I don't think so. I don't think studying turns the key. In Mr. Toda's case the cause for his awakenings was not the study. The cause was the efforts he made with Makiguchi-Sensei to build the fledgling organization and awaken others.
I believe that the way to turn the key is by opening your mouth and talking to another. See, I don't think wisdom is something you get and then share with others. I believe wisdom emerges from sharing. I also don't think benefit is something you get and then share with others. I think benefit comes from sharing with others.
Powerful forces exist in our lives that try to take us away from the moment; they try to convince us that "back-then" or "over-there" is where it is really happening. It is hard to overcome those forces by simply looking inward. You know; you've tried. You keep slipping away, drifting into abstractions, falling asleep. You can't grasp the teachings because you have no position of holding. You require a point of perspective, a place of leverage, traction.
That point of traction is on the outside. It is in your earnest discussions with those around you. Sensei calls this, "racking your brains" to communicate the greatness of this Buddhism. "If you give serious thought to the happiness of your friends and the welfare of your society and community — racking your brains over how you can contribute, taking action to try to make a difference — then you will find vibrant wisdom welling forth from your life. Courage will rise within you quite naturally. You will develop your character in the process." (December 9, 1999) See? You think you first need courage, wisdom and benefit and then you can help others. Sensei says you've got causality backwards, that courage, wisdom and character development are the result, not the cause.
Ultimately you are trying to communicate the greatness of another life. As a practical matter, they simply won't get it if you are merely parroting others or using jargon. You have to find their words, their context, their points of reference.
Don't worry about "getting it right." Worry only about helping another to become aware of their inner majesty. In that struggle your wisdom will arise. The teachings will become alive and active inside you. You will experience the joy of the Law and you will get it.
Toda-Sensei had another revelation in prison, several months later. The second revelation was the realization of his mission. He saw himself lifted into the air as one of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth in the great ceremony of the Treasure Tower. He awoke to his life's purpose.
Every life has purpose. You don't have to be a member of the SGI to have purpose. We aren't that special. One of our purposes is to help others awaken to their purpose. Everyone needs a reminder once in a while.
You might think, "I wish I knew what my purpose is. I should train myself so that when my mission comes I will be ready. Maybe I should get guidance and find out what my mission is." Again, I don't think so. I don't know what your mission is but I bet it isn't somewhere else. I bet it isn't around the corner but right where you are. Nobody can give you a mission, although dialogue can help you to focus and give it clarity. Sensei has often said that human revolution is in daily life. Today. Here. In his 2010 New Year's message, Sensei wrote, "Ultimately, worldwide kosen-rufu begins with encouraging the person right in front of us."
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