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12. June 2005: What is meant
by “the Religious” ? |
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Shin Yatomi
SGI-USA
Study department leader
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A Buddha
is a most respect worthy human being. Buddhism,
in this sense, points to the way to become such
a person. What Shakyamuni expounded, therefore,
is not a special ideology or philosophy but a guide
to living for all people.
The Daishonin strictly refuted various Buddhist
sects, which prospered in his day. His struggle
to reproach other Buddhist priests, however, was
to bring Buddhism back to Shakyamuni’s original
intent, which is to reveal the supreme way to live
as a human being.
The Daishonin awakened to the fundamental law of
the universe, and he declared the universal truth
of human life, transcending the partial truths expounded
in other religions. |
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This article is translated from the
January 1994 issue of The Daibyakurenge, the study magazine
of the Soka Gakkai in Japan.
I, Nichiren, am not the founder of any school,
nor am I a latter-day follower of any older school. I
am a priest without precepts, neither keeping the precepts
nor breaking them. I am an ordinary creature like an ox
or a sheep, who is neither particularly wise nor ignorant.(WND,
p.669)
What does Shakyamuni belong
to?
Have you heard the following story—Upon running
into Karl Marx in heaven, a man asked him: Are you a Marxist?”
With a bewildered look on his face, Marx replied: “No.
I’m no such person.”
Watching people suffer in poverty, Marx attempted to devise
an equitable way to distribute social wealth among the
people—with no intention to create a narrow-minded
ideology. Marx’s supporters in the latter age, however,
turned him into the rather intolerant creator of Communism.
The same appears to hold true of Buddhism. If Shakyamuni
were asked, “What sect of religion do you belong
to?” he would probably answer, “I don’t
belong to any sect.” Observing a world steeped in
conflict over different ideologies and religions, President
Toda once said: “If the prominent philosophers and
religionists of all time, such as Shakyamuni, Mohammed,
Marx, Ricardo, Kant and T’ien-t’ai, all met
together and had a large conference, they definitely would
have a meaningful discussion without fighting with one
another.”
As fifty-ninth high priest Nichikan Shonin sates, “The
world of Buddhahood is one of people of supreme dignity,”
a Buddha is a most respect worthy human being. Buddhism,
in this sense, points to the way to become such a person.
What Shakyamuni expounded, therefore, is not a special
ideology or philosophy but a guide to living for all people.
Shakyamuni expounds the nature of his enlightenment as
follows: “[Attaining enlightenment] is like a wanderer
in the forest finding an old path along which people of
the past had walked. This path leads the wander to an
old castle where people used to live. It is a wonderful
palace surrounded by a beautiful garden and lotus pond.
Upon returning to his city, he reports to the king about
the palace in the forest and urges to rebuild a city there.
Eventually, many people start to take the same path to
gather in the old city, and the city flourishes once again.
“Likewise, I found the correct the correct path
that all Buddhas took in the past and taught people about
it. In this way, this path became known to many people
and prospered to become what we see today.”
“The religious”
encourages people in active aspiration toward the good
and the valuable
Nichiren Daishonin states, “The purpose of the appearance
in this world of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings,
lies in his behavior as a human being”(WND, p.852).
The Daishonin clarifies here that what Shakyamuni sought
to reveal ultimately is “his behavior as a human
being”—a path for the human being, that is,
a humanistic way of living.
The Daishonin strictly refuted various Buddhist sects,
which prospered in his day. His struggle to reproach other
Buddhist priests, however, was to bring Buddhism back
to Shakyamuni’s original intent, which is to reveal
the supreme way to live as a human being. Once people’s
awareness takes root at this starting point of Buddhism,
the framework of other sects and schools would bcome meaningless.
Thus, the Daishonin states, “I, Nichiren, am not
the founder of any school, nor am I a latter-day follower
of any older school.”
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If the Daishonin learned of
the teachings the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood has
been propounding recently, what he would probably
say and why? |
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The Daishonin awakened to the fundamental law of the universe,
and he declared the universal truth of human life, transcending
the partial truths expounded in other religions. If the
Daishonin learned of the teachings the Nichiren Shoshu
priesthood has been propounding recently, he would probably
say: “Who taught such dogma that puts a high priest
on a pedestal? This is no Buddhism!”
In his lecture at Harvard, “Mahayana Buddhism and
Twenty-first Century Civilization,” SGI President
Ikeda, reffering to Dewey’s emphasis on the importance
of “the religious” rather than religisons,
stated: “While Dewey does not identify a specific
external power, for him ‘the religious is a generalized
term for that which supports and encourages people in
active aspiration toward the good and the valuable.”
Shakyamuni and the Daishonin awakened to the law permeating
life for all eternity and attempted to expound the most
human way of living based on such a law. What they tried
to reveal was a teaching that elevates the existence of
the human being.
That which controls, encourages and empowers oneself exists
within, and this eternal law at the same time permeates
the entire universe transcending the self. Here we can
find “the religious” in its truest sense,
as it inspires wisdom and passion in the human being.
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