Friday 17 May 2013

Daily Gosho - The Teaching, Practice, and Proof


The time to be brave and prove the validity of the Mystic Law!

"Nichiren's disciples cannot accomplish anything if they are cowardly."

(The Teaching, Practice, and Proof - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol.1, page 481) http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=473 Selection source: SGI President Ikeda's guidance, Seikyo Shimbun, June 24th, 2012 Selection source: Myoji no Gen, Seikyo Shimbun, November 13th, 2012


Background
In the fifth month, 1274, Nichiren Daishonin left Kamakura and went to live in a small dwelling in the wilderness of Mount Minobu. Here he continued to write letters and other documents, trained his disciples, and lectured on the Lotus Sutra. From this time, his disciples, centering around Nikko Shonin, took the leadership in propagation activities.
This letter is generally thought to have been written at Minobu in the third month of the twelfth year of Bun’ei (1275). It contains the Daishonin’s reply to questions from Sammibo, one of the Daishonin’s leading disciples, concerning his preparations for a religious debate.
Sammi-bo was noted for his eloquence and learning. He was a priest who had studied on Mount Hiei, delivered lectures for the aristocracy in Kyoto, and was for a while active in helping spread the Daishonin’s teachings. The Daishonin, however, chided him on several occasions for his arrogance. During the Atsuhara Persecution of 1279, he forsook his faith and is said to have met a tragic death, although the precise details are not known.
In this letter, Nichiren Daishonin states that Shakyamuni’s teachings no longer lead to enlightenment in the Latter Day of the Law, and that only Nam-myoho-renge-kyo combines the three elements of teaching, practice, and proof essential to making Buddhism viable. In the opening section, he discusses the Buddha’s teaching, the practice of the teaching, and the proof, that is, the merit - strictly speaking, enlightenment - resulting from practice in the three consecutive periods of the Former, Middle, and Latter Days of the Law. In terms of Hinayana Buddhism, he explains that in the Former Day there are teaching, practice, and proof; in the Middle Day there are teaching and practice but no longer any proof; and in the Latter Day only the teaching remains, and there is neither practice nor proof.
The Daishonin goes on to say that those who attained Buddhahood during Shakyamuni’s lifetime and in the Former and Middle Days of the Law were able to do so because they had already received the seeds of Buddhahood from Shakyamuni in the past and nurtured it over many lifetimes until their capacity for enlightenment had all but matured. For this reason, they were able to gain conspicuous benefit through Shakyamuni’s teachings— that is, they attained enlightenment immediately. In the Latter Day, however, people receive the seeds of Buddhahood for the first time. Because the seeds require a certain period of time to mature, the enlightenment of these people takes a while to become apparent and is therefore called inconspicuous benefit. Next, asserting the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra, the Daishonin points out the doctrinal errors of the True Word, Nembutsu, and other schools, and urges Sammi-bo to refute their misconceptions fearlessly. Lastly, he stresses the benefit of Myoho-renge-kyo, the core of the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra, and predicts that that teaching will spread widely without fail.


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