It is our practice of chanting the Sacred Title, or Odaimoku, that slowly allows us to build up our lives. We begin to walk a path; we begin to take our journey towards the possibility of attaining the enlightened life promised to us by the Buddha.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraQuotes
Redirecting Our Lives Completely to Enlightenment
We have a lot of practice seeing the flaws in our lives. Sometimes we focus only on what is missing in our lives. Yet when we consider our lives from the perspective of the Lotus Sutra we can begin to see that our lives, no matter how seemingly flawed, are in fact the perfect life and present the perfect condition for the emergence of our Buddhahood.
Our lives are actually complete from the perspective of the practice of Buddhism. There is nothing missing. While there may be things in our lives that we can change or improve upon, we should also consider that each one of those things actually could represent strengths, something we can change into a positive.
It isn’t necessary to become someone else. It is only necessary to redirect our lives completely to enlightenment.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1The Cycle of Birth and Death in Each Moment
So back to our 80-year-old woman today who carries the memory of the 8-year-old. The 80-year-old has tools available to her today she did not have as an 8-year-old. The 8-year-old had neither the skills nor capacity of the 80-year-old. Think about the Ten Suchnesses. Think about those as an 8-year-old and those as an 80-year-old. There are big differences.
The 8-year-old existed but no longer exists. And yet the 8-year-old has influence today, even though she died a long time ago. She perhaps hasn’t been buried yet, but she is dead. In her place – in her reincarnation, if you will – a multitude of women have come and gone. The reincarnation of self, the cycle of birth and death, continues in each and every moment and continues without end and without interruption.
What is real, and what is not real? This is where the Middle Way comes in. It is all both real and unreal at the same time. Can the 80-year-old woman touch the 8-year-old girl? Yes, at times the 8-year-old girl is perhaps painfully present, and yet where is that 8-year-old girl? She is visible nowhere.
We all have similar experiences, things we have experienced, things we have done at different stages in our lives. We may have regrets. We may have pride. All of those things existed and then are no more. Life is a fluid experience no matter how much we may wish it to be solid and unchanging.
Physician's Good MedicineThe Realm of ‘Mutual Participation’
The fundamental teaching of the Lotus concerning the reality of the universe amounts to this, that every being exists and subsists by virtue of the inexhaustible qualities inherent in each. There are innumerable individuals, and also groups of beings, including Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, celestial beings, mankind, furious spirits, beings in the purgatories, etc. Their respective characteristics are unmistakably distinct, but their qualities and conditions are constantly subject to change, because in each of the beings are inherent the qualities manifest in others, the differences arising simply from the varying configuration of the manifest and the potential qualities. Moreover, even taking the existences as they are at a given moment, they cannot subsist but by mutual interaction and influence. To subsist by itself by no means signifies to be separate from others; on the contrary, to interact one with another is the nature of every particular being. These features of existence are the laws or truths (dharma), and the cosmos is the stage of the infinite varieties and interactions of the dharmas, in other words, the realm of “mutual participation.”
Nichiren, The Buddhist ProphetTeaching Hope and Peace of Mind
Buddhism is sometimes regarded as a very difficult teaching, but in fact most of the teachings are expounded using practical parables, so that we can understand them easily. The reason for using parables is because it is the best way to expound enlightenment, which is something we haven’t experienced before. The Buddha places His compassion and wisdom inside each teaching in order to give us hope and peace of mind.
Spring WritingsThe Journey to Our Destination
Each of us is making a journey through life from birth to death, which is a fact of our existence. We are not sure of the length of that journey or the path it will take, but we do know for a fact the destination. We are unable to change the ultimate destination, and we may only be able to minimally impact the length of the journey. Buddhism gives us a way to take control of the single remaining element in this journey we can change and that is the path our journey takes us.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraThe Three Marks
The first two seals – impermanence and selflessness – with the addition of “unsatisfactoriness,” are known as the “Three Marks,” which the Buddha used to describe the real nature of all things. He described things in this way so that his followers could free themselves from attachments which cannot bring real happiness. The logic behind the marks of impermanence, selflessness, and unsatisfactoriness is as follows: All things, which appear and disappear in accordance with the law of cause and effect, are impermanent. If all the things that make up our life are impermanent and depend upon causes and conditions, then none of them should be clung to as the basis of a secure self. In other words, we cannot find eternal life and happiness by depending upon anything that is impermanent – and therefore undependable – including our own body and mind. If everything, including our body and mind, is impermanent and unable to provide the basis for an unchanging and independent self, then nothing can be called a truly satisfactory source of happiness or of eternal life. All things are therefore unsatisfactory.
Lotus SeedsSeeing the Truth in the Sutra
Sometimes uncovering or showing a small part of something enables us to see the potential of something even greater. Protecting something that is small or encouraging a fledgling effort can result in unimaginable outcomes. As our lives are slowly freed from illusions and then our eyes purified we are able to see the truth in the sutra, the truth in our lives and become Buddhas.
It might be eye opening for you to actually make a list of improvements in your life, both big and small, since you began practicing Buddhism.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1The True Nature of Our Existence
What our Buddhist practice calls on us to do is to understand the true nature of our existence. This nature is transient, always changing, always dying, and always being reborn in every moment of our lives. We are always changing, never the same. Nothing remains unchanged forever.
Physician's Good MedicineCommunion of the Believers
In short, every one who nourishes him, the man who is living for the sake of the Truth, is father or mother, and is thus contributing to the Buddhist cause. In this way his sense of personal indebtedness was always combined with the consciousness of his high mission; there was nothing in his life that did not present itself in these two aspects — the immediate benefits, and the eternal cause; all practised in the communion of the believers.
Nichiren, The Buddhist Prophet