This post is in part a response to the discussion about anger during this weekend’s Urban Retreat and at the Sunday service at Myosho-ji, Wonderful Voice Budhdist Temple, in Charlotte, NC.
Recently I came across a book originally published in 1893. According to the introduction it is the first translation into English of the foundational doctrines of Nichiren. The introduction describes this as the “Englishing” of a lecture series first given by the Most Learned and Virtuous Archbishop Nissatsu Arai, at the temple of Ikegami.
This book, THE DOCTRINES OF NICHIREN WITH A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE (1893), is short. It is also free from Google Play or you can download a PDF copy here.
The late Archbishop of Ikegami’s focus is significantly different than the focus you see in the writings of native English writers who, in effect, offer a double “Englishing” of Nichiren’s teachings and his interpretation of the Lotus Sutra.
This is not meant to anger those who have rendered the Japanese experience into something an American could begin to contemplate. I have nothing but deep and sincere appreciation for their efforts.
I know, you are waiting for the “But…” but I don’t want to frame this discussion in that manner.
First, this is my post. I’m offering something from my self-discussion that I hope might be of use in your self-discussion.
Self-discussion is my name for the self-exploration that I see as the ideal of this Buddhist practice.
The principal difference between the late Archbishop of Ikegami’s focus and the Western interpretation is illustrated in this quote:
This world, so full of evils as to appear like a fiery furnace in the eyes of the vulgar, is perceived by the Buddha to be a peaceful and happy realm inhabited by beings of high spiritual order. What is the truth of it? Is the world pure and full of pleasures, or foul and full of pains? The solution will be this or that according to the confusion or the enlightenment of each in dividual mind. The world seen by the Buddha and the world seen by the multitude are not two, but one. When enlightenment is attained to, all worlds are found to be equally glorious and splendid. The first and greatest mission of Sakyamuni in this world is to help the multitude to unfold and develop their Buddha-intellect, and cleanse and purify their nature. When they are once able to unfold this Buddha-intellect of theirs, they will perceive the real nature of this world of evils, that is, the glory of that eternal reality which underlies the world of outward sense. Hence, to proclaim the identity of the evil or phenomenal world with the glorious underlying reality, or noumenon; to point out the way to Buddhahood; to open the path of salvation; above all, to convince the people that one and all of them may become Buddhas, here and now—this is the mission of the sect of Nichiren.
This focus on unfolding and developing our Buddha-intellect, and cleansing and purifying our nature offers an avenue for self-discussion.
The fact that I get angry is my failure — my “vulgar” nature.
I can go through any number of intellectual exercises to illustrate how someone else cannot make me angry. Clearly, only I allow myself — my vulgar nature — to let me wander into the world of anger. And, as Ryusho Shonin said during the discussion after today’s service at Myosho-ji, only I can find enlightenment. No one can do that to me just as no one can make me angry.
Each moment we are offered the opportunity to choose between the confusion or the enlightenment.