Realization of Buddhahood

KANJIN HONZON SHO

The Saha-world is the world of the Original Buddha and is the eternal Pure Land, which is free from the three calamities and the four kalpa. In this eternal world, the Buddha never disappeared in the past, nor is He to appear in the future. In consequence, all living beings under the Buddha in the Saha-world are one with Him and eternal. It is because those who believe in the Lotus Sutra, live in the land where they have united themselves with the Buddha and attained the truth of “the three thousand existences in one thought.”

(Background : April 25, 1273, 51 years old, at Sado, Showa Teihon, p.712)

Explanatory note

The world of the Original Buddha Sakyamuni is permanently peaceful and blissful without the traumas of birth and death. Contrarily, in the Saha-world of human beings, there are various sufferings and anxieties caused by three calamities of fire, flood, and storms; and the four types of transitions (Four kalpa): origination, duration, destruction, and annihilation.

In fact, in the realm of the Original Buddha, all existences are absolutely pure and tranquil. The Buddha himself with all other existences has never disappeared in the past nor will He appear in the future. The Buddha and all His disciples are equally enlightened by the glory of the sacred power of Odaimoku.

All beings have already been saved by the Original Buddha and are identified as one with the Buddha.

Despite the Buddha-land being perfect and beautiful, many people still have perverted views in which everything is still burning by the fire of illusions.

Nichiren Daishonin has found truth in the Lotus Sutra which is neither extreme idealism nor extreme realism. According to his teaching, the Buddha-land is not different from the human world. This land is the Buddha-land because it is where the Buddha is expounding the Lotus Sutra.

We, human beings, are the real disciples of the Original Buddha Sakyamuni, and had been taught by Him and have accomplished the Supreme Enlightenment.

This is the sacred relationship between the Original Buddha and the human beings in the Latter Age of the Declining Law. While we believe in the Lotus Sutra and recite Odaimoku, we can recognize our own existence and be able to realize our own divine Buddhahood.

Rev. Syaku

Phrase A Day