Hi Everybody,
We're coming to the end of the chapter on the ten worlds or the ten life states, and we've come in a sense to the genuine $64000 question, how does the Buddhist description of these life states match up against the reality of our lives. It doesn't take much self analysis I suggest, to recall or to recognise in our daily experience the life states they describe.We've all experienced at some time or another the pain and greyness of hell state. We've all experienced the frustrations of not getting what we want in hunger state, or the sense of deep personal fulfilment that comes when we've really been able to help someone else achieve something they seek, or through a personal difficulty. So I would argue, they certainly match up to our common experience, and there are some general points that are worth bearing in mind.
Thus we move from one life state to another with great rapidity and with complete freedom depending on what's going on in our heads and in our environment from moment to moment. Nichiren Buddhism chooses to describe that fluency of movement by saying that each life state contains the potential of all the others. We can immediately see the validity of that idea if we think of incidents in our daily lives, and the very purpose of the the concept of the ten worlds is to raise our general level of self awareness. Indeed it has been argues that if we weren't offered some such concept then we would have to invent one to explain the immensely changeable...and even contradictory...feelings we demonstrate or experience every single day of our lives. Of course we're not accustomed to calling these variable and fluctuating states of mind, life states or worlds, as Buddhism describes them. Indeed we take them so much for granted that we may not dignify them with any name at all. But do we experience them? Yes indeed. And we recognise them rapidly enough when we have them pointed out to us.
The nub of the argument.
If we are prepared to accept that argument, and we do need to give it some careful thought, then what follows from it is very important indeed in terms of our understanding of Nichiren Buddhism. Since it brings us to the central promise made by Nichiren, namely that it is possible for us to experience the life state of Buddhahood, in this lifetime, whatever situation our life happens to be in at any given moment. we have within us that is, the potential to move from the near despair of Hell say, to the compassion of Bodhisattva, or the hope and optimism and profound sense of capability and well-being of Buddhahood.
This is the basis for the fundamental argument that has already been touched upon more than once, namely the normality of Buddhahood. It's not in any way a superhuman life state, but a supremely human one. Shakyamuni and Nichiren were ordinary men who nevertheless attained this life state during their everyday lives on Earth. Thus the great promise at the heart of Mahayana and Nichiren Buddhism is that this Buddha Nature is not some remote and inaccessible goal, it is the immediate earthly purpose of our daily practice. However hard it is for us to accept that premise, and of course, it is hard.
Enough for one day.
Back next time to wrap up this key chapter.
Thank you for reading this far. I'm very grateful.
Hope to see you next time.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.
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