Hi Everybody,
Hope all is well with you.We're in the middle of the chapter that introduces all the key elements of the daily practice. Since the chantingof the phrase nam myoho renge kyo is central to the practice and the process of change, where does it come from, and what does it mean?
Most of this phrase or mantra comes from the Lotus Sutra itself. Myoho renge kyo is the title of the Lotus Sutra as written in classical Japanese. To be precise it is written in the Chinese pictograms that the Japanese adopted as their own, in order to create their own written language. The five characters used to write this phrase mean literally, ' the Mystic law of the Lotus Sutra.' The word mystic does not mean mysterious. Rather it conveys the sense of the ultimate or highest teaching that hasn't previously been revealed.
The key word Nam which is placed in front of the title words is what you might call the committal word. It comes from the ancient language of Sanskrit and means, among several other things, ' to devote one's life to.' So a straightforward literal translation Nam myoho renge kyo might be, ' I devote my life to the mystic law of the Lotus Sutra.' But that is really just the beginning. many volumes have been written to explain the depths of meaning locked up in this mantra. That is partly because, in the Buddhist tradition, the title given to each sutra is seen to be immensely important, and is considred to embody the entire teaching that it contains. As Nichiren Daishonin explains to us in one of his letters, using the analogy of the name of japan,
' Included within the two characters representing Japan is all that is within the country's sixty six provinces; the people and the animals, the rice paddies and the other fields, those of high and low status, the nobles and the commoners...similarly included within the title or daimoku of Nam myoho renge kyo is the entire sutra consisting of of all eight volumes, twenty eight chapters, and 69,384 characters without the omission of a single character...'
Moreover, since Chinese is an incomparably concise language, in which each character can be used to express an immense range of different though related meanings, these 5 basic characters combine to convey a veritable universe of odeas. In very much the same way that in the world of physics for example, the simple-seeming equation e=mc2, sums up within its five characters the complex relationship between energy and matter across the entire vastness of the universe.
But neither of these partial explanations can begin to explain the depth of meaning that Nichiren himself ascribes to this phrase. He describes it as nothing less than the Universal Law of Life, that expresses within its brief compass the realtionship between human life and the entire environment within which life is lived. It sums up within itslef he says, nothin less than the ' wisdom of all the Buddhas.'
Shakyamuni himself expresses something very close to that in the Lotus Sutra itself when he writes that this Law,
'can only be understood and shared between Buddhas.'
It is crucially important I think to make clear that that description is not referring to some sort of exclusivity. Far from it, since the whole purpose of the Lotus Sutra is to convey far and wide to all humanity the depth and breadth of Shakyamuni's hard-won enlightenment, to enable people, all people, to build better lives for themselves. It is simply expressing the crucial point that the intellect, and words and explanations can only take you so far along the path of understanding. You have to practice Buddhism, and experience to some extent its power and potential to change your life from the inside, before you truly begin to understand. Just as of course, you actually have to bite into the stawberry yourself, before you can begin to understand what it tastes like!
That's enough for today.
Thanks for reading this far.
Hope to see you next time around.
Best wishes,
William
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