This is taken from Page 3 of the June 1, 2017, Nichiren Shu News, which is published by the Head Office of Nichiren Shu Buddhism and the Nichiren Shu Overseas Propagation Promotion Association (NOPPA).
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is the second in a series of translations and explanations of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren’s writings made by Bishop Senchu Murano. It has been published before in Nichiren Shu News, but we are printing it again now for our newer readers.
Bishop Senchu Murano, Head Priest, Myochoji Temple, Kamakura
The reality of all things, Shoho Jisso, is analyzed into ten suchnesses, or nyoze, in Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra. Tendai interpreted “all things,” shoho or sarvadharma in Sanskrit, as “living beings” when he explained the ten nyoze as follows:
Nyoze-so: All living beings are different from each other in appearance such as they are.
Nyoze-sho: All living beings are different from each other in nature such as they are.
Nyoze-tai: All living beings are different from each other in physique (entity) such as they are.
Nyoze-riki: All living beings are different from each other in power such as they are.
Nyoze-sa: All living beings are different from each other in action such as they are.
Nyoze-in: The present conditions of various living beings are the cause of their variety of future conditions as they are.
Nyoze-en: The present environments of various living beings are the cause of their variety of future environments as they are.
Nyoze-ka: All living beings are different from each other in their present conditions such as they are because their present conditions are the effects of past activities, which were different from each other.
Nyoze-ho: All living beings are different from each other in their rewards and retributions such as they are because their past activities in their past environments were different from each other.
Nyoze-hommatsu-kukyo-to: Not-withstanding all these differences, all living beings who are investigated here in regard to the first nyoze through the ninth and last nyoze, are equal to each other such as they are after all.