Difference between revisions of "The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: Preface"
| (One intermediate revision by one other user not shown) | |||
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
==Preface== | ==Preface== | ||
| − | Before I go any further into this preface, I would like to say that if it were not for the encouragement of Gerhard Lenz and his enormous [[effort]] in turning my handwritten pages into a published work, as well his patient advice and editing, none of this original “web project” would ever have come into [[existence]]. Another [[person]] who has added an invaluable service as our proofing and style expert is Harley White. Lastly, for his support and encouragement, I want to express my [[gratitude]] to my [[friend]] and {{Wiki|mentor}}, the [[Venerable]] Yumu Yamane. | + | Before I go any further into this preface, I would like to say that if it were not for the encouragement of Gerhard Lenz and his enormous [[effort]] in turning my handwritten pages into a published work, as well his {{Wiki|patient}} advice and editing, none of this original “web project” would ever have come into [[existence]]. Another [[person]] who has added an invaluable service as our proofing and style expert is Harley White. Lastly, for his support and encouragement, I want to express my [[gratitude]] to my [[friend]] and {{Wiki|mentor}}, the [[Venerable]] Yumu Yamane. |
| − | The [[object]] of this publication project is that the [[existing]] translations, either those of the powerful lay organisation or at least two of the persuasions that are monkish orders, tend to be either misleading or in the case of the lay organisation [[sycophantic]] and misguided. This is mainly on account of a finicky [[desire]] to do translations that are either a reiteration of [[word]] for [[word]] for what was memorised verbatim by Anan ([[Ānanda]]) at the council of [[Rājagrha]] ([[Ōshajo]]) near [[Spirit]] [[Vulture Peak]] ([[Ryōjusen]], [[Gridhrakūta]]) or the writings of [[Nichiren Daishōnin]] or the notes written down by his closest [[disciple]] [[Nikkō Shōnin]]. | + | The [[object]] of this publication project is that the [[existing]] translations, either those of the powerful lay organisation or at least two of the persuasions that are monkish orders, tend to be either misleading or in the case of the lay organisation [[sycophantic]] and misguided. This is mainly on account of a finicky [[desire]] to do translations that are either a reiteration of [[word]] for [[word]] for what was memorised verbatim by [[Anan]] ([[Ānanda]]) at the council of [[Rājagrha]] ([[Ōshajo]]) near [[Spirit]] [[Vulture Peak]] ([[Ryōjusen]], [[Gridhrakūta]]) or the writings of [[Nichiren Daishōnin]] or the notes written down by his closest [[disciple]] [[Nikkō Shōnin]]. |
This may well be considered [[scholarly]] accuracy, but if such a [[teaching]] is to be valid to westerners, then maybe a lot of soul-searching will be necessary in order to make [[sense]] out of the [[Wikipedia:Coherentism|incoherent]] utterances of [[monks]] who have made little attempt at {{Wiki|learning}} the [[languages]] of the [[West]] or even the dictatorial claptrap of those responsible for the powerful lay organisation. It is also extremely apparent that both these types of organisations have incredibly little [[knowledge]] of the enormous research conducted into the [[Buddha]] teachings by Sinologists, Sanscritologists, Tibetanologists and Japanologists in various countries in the [[West]]. | This may well be considered [[scholarly]] accuracy, but if such a [[teaching]] is to be valid to westerners, then maybe a lot of soul-searching will be necessary in order to make [[sense]] out of the [[Wikipedia:Coherentism|incoherent]] utterances of [[monks]] who have made little attempt at {{Wiki|learning}} the [[languages]] of the [[West]] or even the dictatorial claptrap of those responsible for the powerful lay organisation. It is also extremely apparent that both these types of organisations have incredibly little [[knowledge]] of the enormous research conducted into the [[Buddha]] teachings by Sinologists, Sanscritologists, Tibetanologists and Japanologists in various countries in the [[West]]. | ||
| Line 12: | Line 12: | ||
What is being attempted here is a close study of what it was that made [[Nichiren]] realise that the {{Wiki|salvation}} of humankind is to be found within the text (montei) of the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Hokke-kyō]]). I think it can be said that only at extremely sparse intervals in the course of history have there been a few {{Wiki|individuals}} who have really comprehended what [[existence]] is all about. Many of these persons came from the [[East]]. | What is being attempted here is a close study of what it was that made [[Nichiren]] realise that the {{Wiki|salvation}} of humankind is to be found within the text (montei) of the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Hokke-kyō]]). I think it can be said that only at extremely sparse intervals in the course of history have there been a few {{Wiki|individuals}} who have really comprehended what [[existence]] is all about. Many of these persons came from the [[East]]. | ||
| − | The first one I would mention has to be the historical [[Shākyamuni]], but apparently his teachings only really began to have a profound meaning after [[Nāgājuna]], [[Vasubandhu]], [[Tendai]] ([[T’ien T’ai]]), [[Myōraku]] ([[Miao-lo]]) and [[Nichiren]] had made their [[appearances]]. Prior to the [[Buddha]] [[teaching]] there were {{Wiki|Fu Hsi}} ({{Wiki|Fuxi}}), [[Wikipedia:Shennong|Shên Nung]] ({{Wiki|Shennong}}), {{Wiki|Confucius}}, {{Wiki|Mencius}} as well as many others who gave [[ordinary people]] the [[formula]] for the [[enlightenment]] of [[Buddhahood]]. | + | The first one I would mention has to be the historical [[Shākyamuni]], but apparently his teachings only really began to have a [[profound meaning]] after [[Nāgājuna]], [[Vasubandhu]], [[Tendai]] ([[T’ien T’ai]]), [[Myōraku]] ([[Miao-lo]]) and [[Nichiren]] had made their [[appearances]]. Prior to the [[Buddha]] [[teaching]] there were {{Wiki|Fu Hsi}} ({{Wiki|Fuxi}}), [[Wikipedia:Shennong|Shên Nung]] ({{Wiki|Shennong}}), {{Wiki|Confucius}}, {{Wiki|Mencius}} as well as many others who gave [[ordinary people]] the [[formula]] for the [[enlightenment]] of [[Buddhahood]]. |
| − | The message is to devote our [[lives]] to and found them on the [[dimension]] where [[existence]] occurs whose [[interdependence]] of [[cause]], concomitancy and effect pervades the entirety of [[existence]] and is [[Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō]] in [[Japanese]]. It is the recitation of the title and [[subject]] matter of the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Hokke-kyō]]) that makes us realise that the meaning of [[existence]] is here and now in each and every moment of our [[lives]] and that the [[white lotus]] flower-like {{Wiki|mechanism}} is the {{Wiki|totality}} of all the possible reaches of our [[minds]]. | + | The message is to devote our [[lives]] to and found them on the [[dimension]] where [[existence]] occurs whose [[interdependence]] of [[cause]], concomitancy and effect pervades the entirety of [[existence]] and is [[Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō]] in [[Japanese]]. It is the {{Wiki|recitation}} of the title and [[subject]] {{Wiki|matter}} of the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Hokke-kyō]]) that makes us realise that the meaning of [[existence]] is here and now in each and every [[moment]] of our [[lives]] and that the [[white lotus]] flower-like {{Wiki|mechanism}} is the {{Wiki|totality}} of all the possible reaches of our [[minds]]. |
This is neither a strictly [[scholarly]] translation of the [[Sutra on the White Lotus Flower]]-like {{Wiki|Mechanism}} of the Utterness of the [[Dharma]] ([[Myōhō Renge Kyō]]) nor is it a flat rendering of The [[Oral Transmission]] on the Meaning of the [[Dharma]] [[Flower Sutra]] ([[Ongi Kuden]]). Nevertheless this is a serious attempt to make both of these texts more accessible to [[people]] who have less [[experience]] with [[Buddhist]] {{Wiki|literature}} in general. | This is neither a strictly [[scholarly]] translation of the [[Sutra on the White Lotus Flower]]-like {{Wiki|Mechanism}} of the Utterness of the [[Dharma]] ([[Myōhō Renge Kyō]]) nor is it a flat rendering of The [[Oral Transmission]] on the Meaning of the [[Dharma]] [[Flower Sutra]] ([[Ongi Kuden]]). Nevertheless this is a serious attempt to make both of these texts more accessible to [[people]] who have less [[experience]] with [[Buddhist]] {{Wiki|literature}} in general. | ||
| − | The purpose of this project is to encourage readers who seek individuation as {{Wiki|C.G. Jung}} calls it and for those who already are familiar with the teachings of [[Nichiren]] to embrace the implication of opening up one’s inherent [[Buddha nature]] with our persons just as they are. {{Wiki|C.G. Jung}} wrote that individuation means being undivided which entails a fundamental [[sense]] of well-being that harmonises with all persons and everything that surrounds us. In other words we are [[happy]]. | + | The {{Wiki|purpose}} of this project is to encourage readers who seek individuation as {{Wiki|C.G. Jung}} calls it and for those who already are familiar with the teachings of [[Nichiren]] to embrace the implication of opening up one’s [[inherent]] [[Buddha nature]] with our persons just as they are. {{Wiki|C.G. Jung}} wrote that individuation means being undivided which entails a fundamental [[sense]] of well-being that harmonises with all persons and everything that surrounds us. In other words we are [[happy]]. |
| − | In the [[teaching]] of [[Nichiren]] this [[sense]] of [[completeness]] means that our real [[Wikipedia:Identity (social science)|identity]] is [[life]] itself, which has always been the basic ingredient of the whole of [[existence]]. This is not a handbook for some kind of quackish beatification, but a serious examination of the [[Buddha]] [[enlightenment]] of [[Nichiren]], who saw in the [[Sutra]] on the [[White Lotus]] Flower-like {{Wiki|Mechanism}} of the Utterness of the [[Dharma]] ([[Myōhō Renge Kyō]]), or simply the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Hokke-kyō]]), the real meaning of the whole of [[life]]. According to [[Nichiren]] in his Oral Transmission on the Meaning of the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Ongi Kuden]]), which was put into [[writing]] by his closest [[disciple]] [[Nikkō]], [[Kyō]] or [[sutra]] refers to the {{Wiki|dimensions}} in which [[life]] takes place and wherein the [[interdependence]] of [[cause]], concomitancy and effect ([[Renge]]) functions, which is throughout the entirety of all [[existence]] ([[Myōhō]]). | + | In the [[teaching]] of [[Nichiren]] this [[sense]] of [[completeness]] means that our real [[Wikipedia:Identity (social science)|identity]] is [[life]] itself, which has always been the basic ingredient of the whole of [[existence]]. This is not a handbook for some kind of quackish beatification, but a serious {{Wiki|examination}} of the [[Buddha]] [[enlightenment]] of [[Nichiren]], who saw in the [[Sutra]] on the [[White Lotus]] Flower-like {{Wiki|Mechanism}} of the Utterness of the [[Dharma]] ([[Myōhō Renge Kyō]]), or simply the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Hokke-kyō]]), the real meaning of the whole of [[life]]. According to [[Nichiren]] in his [[Oral Transmission]] on the Meaning of the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Ongi Kuden]]), which was put into [[writing]] by his closest [[disciple]] [[Nikkō]], [[Kyō]] or [[sutra]] refers to the {{Wiki|dimensions}} in which [[life]] takes place and wherein the [[interdependence]] of [[cause]], concomitancy and effect ([[Renge]]) functions, which is throughout the entirety of all [[existence]] ([[Myōhō]]). |
| − | When it comes to the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Hokke-kyō]]) there are two {{Wiki|distinct}} parts. The first part consists of the {{Wiki|discourse}} that the [[Buddha]] [[Shākyamuni]] {{Wiki|preached}}, which is the very [[essential]] part. Then there is the part that I describe as metric hymns. Originally these verses, which some [[scholars]] call [[stanzas]], often consisted of a recurring group of five ideograms which may or may not have rhymed. These verses are also called [[gathas]] in [[Sanskrit]] and in [[Japanese]] ge. It is my [[suspicion]] that these verses were a later addition in order to facilitate committing the contents of the [[sutra]] to [[memory]]. Even the [[Buddha]] who saw [[existence]] as the [[singularity]] of its utterness, as the [[Buddha]] himself says in the Sixteenth Chapter on the Lifespan of the [[Tathāgata]], as neither being its [[reality]] nor not [[existing]] at all ([[hijitsu hiko]]), might have found it difficult to compose such | + | When it comes to the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Hokke-kyō]]) there are two {{Wiki|distinct}} parts. The first part consists of the {{Wiki|discourse}} that the [[Buddha]] [[Shākyamuni]] {{Wiki|preached}}, which is the very [[essential]] part. Then there is the part that I describe as metric hymns. Originally these verses, which some [[scholars]] call [[stanzas]], often consisted of a recurring group of five ideograms which may or may not have rhymed. These verses are also called [[gathas]] in [[Sanskrit]] and in [[Japanese]] ge. It is my [[suspicion]] that these verses were a later addition in order to facilitate committing the contents of the [[sutra]] to [[memory]]. Even the [[Buddha]] who saw [[existence]] as the [[singularity]] of its utterness, as the [[Buddha]] himself says in the Sixteenth [[Chapter]] on the [[Lifespan]] of the [[Tathāgata]], as neither being its [[reality]] nor not [[existing]] at all ([[hijitsu hiko]]), might have found it difficult to compose such verse spontaneously. |
What I [[feel]] is important in such translating work is to try and bring the [[intention]] and the meaning of such a [[subject]] within the reach of the {{Wiki|intelligent}} reader. In other words these translations are similar to the “explanatory interpretations” of the various schools that are involved in the [[propagation]] of this kind of [[teaching]]. | What I [[feel]] is important in such translating work is to try and bring the [[intention]] and the meaning of such a [[subject]] within the reach of the {{Wiki|intelligent}} reader. In other words these translations are similar to the “explanatory interpretations” of the various schools that are involved in the [[propagation]] of this kind of [[teaching]]. | ||
| Line 28: | Line 28: | ||
The next question arises as to what authority I have to undertake this task. I am now eighty years of age and first started to seriously study both classical and {{Wiki|modern}} {{Wiki|Chinese}} when I was seventeen years old. This long and varied journey of [[life]] is filled with deep research and serious study that also included {{Wiki|literary}} and {{Wiki|modern}} [[Japanese]], [[Tibetan]] and most of the [[languages]] of {{Wiki|Western}} {{Wiki|Europe}}. If one is embracing a [[language]], then I suppose it must involve a similar inclusion of the cultures of the idioms concerned. Apart from my {{Wiki|linguistic}} endeavours these translations are the expression of forty years of [[faith]] in the [[teaching]] of [[Nichiren Daishōnin]] that was inherited by his successor [[Nikkō Shōnin]]. | The next question arises as to what authority I have to undertake this task. I am now eighty years of age and first started to seriously study both classical and {{Wiki|modern}} {{Wiki|Chinese}} when I was seventeen years old. This long and varied journey of [[life]] is filled with deep research and serious study that also included {{Wiki|literary}} and {{Wiki|modern}} [[Japanese]], [[Tibetan]] and most of the [[languages]] of {{Wiki|Western}} {{Wiki|Europe}}. If one is embracing a [[language]], then I suppose it must involve a similar inclusion of the cultures of the idioms concerned. Apart from my {{Wiki|linguistic}} endeavours these translations are the expression of forty years of [[faith]] in the [[teaching]] of [[Nichiren Daishōnin]] that was inherited by his successor [[Nikkō Shōnin]]. | ||
| − | Before I started the practices of the [[teaching]] of [[Nichiren]] I studied portions of the [[doctrines]] that came before the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] (Hokke-kyō) both from the {{Wiki|Chinese}} point of [[view]] as well as from the [[Tibetan]]. Here we are immediately placed in the contradictory situation of [[enlightenment]] as the total [[extinction]] in [[nirvana]] and the [[Buddha]] [[awakening]] as opening up our inherent [[Buddha nature]] with our persons just as they are ([[sokushin]] jō [[butsu]]). The latter {{Wiki|concept}} of the purpose of the [[Dharma]] is reasonably applicable by means of the daily practices of [[Nichiren]] Schools ([[Kōmon]]) that follow [[Nikkō Shōnin]]. According to [[Nichikan]] Shōnin (1665-1726), it is not so much to admit how deeply we [[consciously]] believe, but the fact that we just get on and do our practice. | + | Before I started the practices of the [[teaching]] of [[Nichiren]] I studied portions of the [[doctrines]] that came before the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Hokke-kyō]]) both from the {{Wiki|Chinese}} point of [[view]] as well as from the [[Tibetan]]. Here we are immediately placed in the [[contradictory]] situation of [[enlightenment]] as the total [[extinction]] in [[nirvana]] and the [[Buddha]] [[awakening]] as opening up our [[inherent]] [[Buddha nature]] with our persons just as they are ([[sokushin]] jō [[butsu]]). The [[latter]] {{Wiki|concept}} of the {{Wiki|purpose}} of the [[Dharma]] is reasonably applicable by means of the daily practices of [[Nichiren]] Schools ([[Kōmon]]) that follow [[Nikkō Shōnin]]. According to [[Nichikan]] [[Shōnin]] (1665-1726), it is not so much to admit how deeply we [[consciously]] believe, but the fact that we just get on and do our [[practice]]. |
The [[Sutra on the White Lotus Flowe]]r-like {{Wiki|Mechanism}} of the Utterness of the [[Dharma]] ([[Myōhō Renge Kyō]]) is a celebration of [[life]] itself even though some passages are difficult to swallow. If it were not for The [[Oral Transmission]] on the Meaning of the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Ongi Kuden]]), the deeper significance of many parts of this [[sacred]] [[writing]] would have been lost. The real meaning of this [[sutra]] is tucked away in the title which in plain English would read “the [[time]] and place of the [[interdependence]] of [[cause]], concomitancy and effect that constitutes the {{Wiki|totality}} of [[existence]]”. | The [[Sutra on the White Lotus Flowe]]r-like {{Wiki|Mechanism}} of the Utterness of the [[Dharma]] ([[Myōhō Renge Kyō]]) is a celebration of [[life]] itself even though some passages are difficult to swallow. If it were not for The [[Oral Transmission]] on the Meaning of the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Ongi Kuden]]), the deeper significance of many parts of this [[sacred]] [[writing]] would have been lost. The real meaning of this [[sutra]] is tucked away in the title which in plain English would read “the [[time]] and place of the [[interdependence]] of [[cause]], concomitancy and effect that constitutes the {{Wiki|totality}} of [[existence]]”. | ||
| − | The [[reality]] of our [[lives]] is that we are suspended in a ‘balloon’, wherein there are both 1) [[birth]], maturing, becoming old, [[sickness]], {{Wiki|decline}}, and the finality of [[death]] (shō, rō, byō, shi) which applies to [[living beings]], and 2) coming into [[existence]], lasting as long as they should, falling apart, and finally ceasing to [[exist]] (shō, jū, i, metsu) of all that is [[inanimate]], including stellar entities. Within this ‘balloon’ of the ‘[[reality]] of our [[lives]]’, the [[interdependence]] of [[cause]], concomitancy and effect is a completely valid equation. I will attempt to explain how this contradictory equation is dealt with on the Fundamental [[Object]] of Veneration ([[gohonzon]]), which is a graphic description of all that the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Hokke-kyō]]) entails, as well as being a [[representation]] of everything that concerns our [[lives]]. | + | The [[reality]] of our [[lives]] is that we are suspended in a ‘balloon’, wherein there are both 1) [[birth]], maturing, becoming old, [[sickness]], {{Wiki|decline}}, and the finality of [[death]] ([[shō]], rō, byō, shi) which applies to [[living beings]], and 2) coming into [[existence]], lasting as long as they should, falling apart, and finally ceasing to [[exist]] ([[shō]], jū, i, metsu) of all that is [[inanimate]], including stellar entities. Within this ‘balloon’ of the ‘[[reality]] of our [[lives]]’, the [[interdependence]] of [[cause]], concomitancy and effect is a completely valid equation. I will attempt to explain how this [[contradictory]] equation is dealt with on the Fundamental [[Object]] of Veneration ([[gohonzon]]), which is a graphic description of all that the [[Dharma Flower Sutra]] ([[Hokke-kyō]]) entails, as well as being a [[representation]] of everything that concerns our [[lives]]. |
| − | Martin Bradley<br/> | + | Martin {{Wiki|Bradley}}<br/> |
Kagoshima, [[Japan]], 2012 | Kagoshima, [[Japan]], 2012 | ||
Latest revision as of 23:09, 16 March 2015
The Dharma Flower Sutra
seen through the Oral Transmission of
Nichiren Daishōnin
Preface
Before I go any further into this preface, I would like to say that if it were not for the encouragement of Gerhard Lenz and his enormous effort in turning my handwritten pages into a published work, as well his patient advice and editing, none of this original “web project” would ever have come into existence. Another person who has added an invaluable service as our proofing and style expert is Harley White. Lastly, for his support and encouragement, I want to express my gratitude to my friend and mentor, the Venerable Yumu Yamane.
The object of this publication project is that the existing translations, either those of the powerful lay organisation or at least two of the persuasions that are monkish orders, tend to be either misleading or in the case of the lay organisation sycophantic and misguided. This is mainly on account of a finicky desire to do translations that are either a reiteration of word for word for what was memorised verbatim by Anan (Ānanda) at the council of Rājagrha (Ōshajo) near Spirit Vulture Peak (Ryōjusen, Gridhrakūta) or the writings of Nichiren Daishōnin or the notes written down by his closest disciple Nikkō Shōnin.
This may well be considered scholarly accuracy, but if such a teaching is to be valid to westerners, then maybe a lot of soul-searching will be necessary in order to make sense out of the incoherent utterances of monks who have made little attempt at learning the languages of the West or even the dictatorial claptrap of those responsible for the powerful lay organisation. It is also extremely apparent that both these types of organisations have incredibly little knowledge of the enormous research conducted into the Buddha teachings by Sinologists, Sanscritologists, Tibetanologists and Japanologists in various countries in the West.
What is being attempted here is a close study of what it was that made Nichiren realise that the salvation of humankind is to be found within the text (montei) of the Dharma Flower Sutra (Hokke-kyō). I think it can be said that only at extremely sparse intervals in the course of history have there been a few individuals who have really comprehended what existence is all about. Many of these persons came from the East.
The first one I would mention has to be the historical Shākyamuni, but apparently his teachings only really began to have a profound meaning after Nāgājuna, Vasubandhu, Tendai (T’ien T’ai), Myōraku (Miao-lo) and Nichiren had made their appearances. Prior to the Buddha teaching there were Fu Hsi (Fuxi), Shên Nung (Shennong), Confucius, Mencius as well as many others who gave ordinary people the formula for the enlightenment of Buddhahood.
The message is to devote our lives to and found them on the dimension where existence occurs whose interdependence of cause, concomitancy and effect pervades the entirety of existence and is Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō in Japanese. It is the recitation of the title and subject matter of the Dharma Flower Sutra (Hokke-kyō) that makes us realise that the meaning of existence is here and now in each and every moment of our lives and that the white lotus flower-like mechanism is the totality of all the possible reaches of our minds.
This is neither a strictly scholarly translation of the Sutra on the White Lotus Flower-like Mechanism of the Utterness of the Dharma (Myōhō Renge Kyō) nor is it a flat rendering of The Oral Transmission on the Meaning of the Dharma Flower Sutra (Ongi Kuden). Nevertheless this is a serious attempt to make both of these texts more accessible to people who have less experience with Buddhist literature in general.
The purpose of this project is to encourage readers who seek individuation as C.G. Jung calls it and for those who already are familiar with the teachings of Nichiren to embrace the implication of opening up one’s inherent Buddha nature with our persons just as they are. C.G. Jung wrote that individuation means being undivided which entails a fundamental sense of well-being that harmonises with all persons and everything that surrounds us. In other words we are happy.
In the teaching of Nichiren this sense of completeness means that our real identity is life itself, which has always been the basic ingredient of the whole of existence. This is not a handbook for some kind of quackish beatification, but a serious examination of the Buddha enlightenment of Nichiren, who saw in the Sutra on the White Lotus Flower-like Mechanism of the Utterness of the Dharma (Myōhō Renge Kyō), or simply the Dharma Flower Sutra (Hokke-kyō), the real meaning of the whole of life. According to Nichiren in his Oral Transmission on the Meaning of the Dharma Flower Sutra (Ongi Kuden), which was put into writing by his closest disciple Nikkō, Kyō or sutra refers to the dimensions in which life takes place and wherein the interdependence of cause, concomitancy and effect (Renge) functions, which is throughout the entirety of all existence (Myōhō).
When it comes to the Dharma Flower Sutra (Hokke-kyō) there are two distinct parts. The first part consists of the discourse that the Buddha Shākyamuni preached, which is the very essential part. Then there is the part that I describe as metric hymns. Originally these verses, which some scholars call stanzas, often consisted of a recurring group of five ideograms which may or may not have rhymed. These verses are also called gathas in Sanskrit and in Japanese ge. It is my suspicion that these verses were a later addition in order to facilitate committing the contents of the sutra to memory. Even the Buddha who saw existence as the singularity of its utterness, as the Buddha himself says in the Sixteenth Chapter on the Lifespan of the Tathāgata, as neither being its reality nor not existing at all (hijitsu hiko), might have found it difficult to compose such verse spontaneously.
What I feel is important in such translating work is to try and bring the intention and the meaning of such a subject within the reach of the intelligent reader. In other words these translations are similar to the “explanatory interpretations” of the various schools that are involved in the propagation of this kind of teaching.
The next question arises as to what authority I have to undertake this task. I am now eighty years of age and first started to seriously study both classical and modern Chinese when I was seventeen years old. This long and varied journey of life is filled with deep research and serious study that also included literary and modern Japanese, Tibetan and most of the languages of Western Europe. If one is embracing a language, then I suppose it must involve a similar inclusion of the cultures of the idioms concerned. Apart from my linguistic endeavours these translations are the expression of forty years of faith in the teaching of Nichiren Daishōnin that was inherited by his successor Nikkō Shōnin.
Before I started the practices of the teaching of Nichiren I studied portions of the doctrines that came before the Dharma Flower Sutra (Hokke-kyō) both from the Chinese point of view as well as from the Tibetan. Here we are immediately placed in the contradictory situation of enlightenment as the total extinction in nirvana and the Buddha awakening as opening up our inherent Buddha nature with our persons just as they are (sokushin jō butsu). The latter concept of the purpose of the Dharma is reasonably applicable by means of the daily practices of Nichiren Schools (Kōmon) that follow Nikkō Shōnin. According to Nichikan Shōnin (1665-1726), it is not so much to admit how deeply we consciously believe, but the fact that we just get on and do our practice.
The Sutra on the White Lotus Flower-like Mechanism of the Utterness of the Dharma (Myōhō Renge Kyō) is a celebration of life itself even though some passages are difficult to swallow. If it were not for The Oral Transmission on the Meaning of the Dharma Flower Sutra (Ongi Kuden), the deeper significance of many parts of this sacred writing would have been lost. The real meaning of this sutra is tucked away in the title which in plain English would read “the time and place of the interdependence of cause, concomitancy and effect that constitutes the totality of existence”.
The reality of our lives is that we are suspended in a ‘balloon’, wherein there are both 1) birth, maturing, becoming old, sickness, decline, and the finality of death (shō, rō, byō, shi) which applies to living beings, and 2) coming into existence, lasting as long as they should, falling apart, and finally ceasing to exist (shō, jū, i, metsu) of all that is inanimate, including stellar entities. Within this ‘balloon’ of the ‘reality of our lives’, the interdependence of cause, concomitancy and effect is a completely valid equation. I will attempt to explain how this contradictory equation is dealt with on the Fundamental Object of Veneration (gohonzon), which is a graphic description of all that the Dharma Flower Sutra (Hokke-kyō) entails, as well as being a representation of everything that concerns our lives.
Martin Bradley
Kagoshima, Japan, 2012
Continue Reading
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: Preface
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: Synopsis of the Dharma Flower Sutra (Hokke-kyō) Trilogy
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The First and Introductory Chapter
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Second Chapter on Expedient Means
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Third Chapter on Similes and Parables
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Fourth Chapter on Faith Leading to Understanding
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Fifth Chapter on The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Sixth Chapter on The Disclosure of the Future Record Of those who will attain Enlightenment
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Seventh Chapter on The Parable of the Imaginary City
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Eighth Chapter on the Prediction of Enlightenment for Five Hundred Disciples
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Ninth Chapter on the Announcement of the Future Attainment to Buddhahood of Both Those who Need and Do Not Need Instruction
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Tenth Chapter on The Dharma as a Teacher
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Eleventh Chapter on Seeing the Vision of the Stupa made of Precious Materials
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin:The Twelfth Chapter on Daibadatta (Devadatta)
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin:The Thirteenth Chapter on Exhorting the Disciples to Receive and Hold to the Buddha Teaching
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin:The Fourteenth Chapter on Practising in Peace and with Joy
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin:The Fifteenth Chapter on the Bodhisattvas who Swarm up Out of the Earth
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin:The Sixteenth Chapter on the Lifespan of the Tathāgata
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin:The Seventeenth Chapter on Discerning the Meritorious Virtues
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin:The Eighteenth Chapter on the Joy of the following Meritorious Virtues of Practice
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin:The Nineteenth Chapter on the Meritorious Virtues of the Teacher who Propagates the Dharma Flower Sutra
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Twentieth Chapter on the Bodhisattva Not Holding Anyone or Anything in Contempt Ever (Jōfukyō, Sadapāribbhūta)
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Twenty-first Chapter on the Reaches of the Mind of the Tathāgata
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Twenty-second Chapter on the Assignment of the Mission
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Twenty-third Chapter on the Original Conduct of the Bodhisattva Sovereign Medicine (Yaku’ ō, Bhaishajya-rāja)
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Twenty-fourth Chapter on the Bodhisattva Sound of Utterness (Myo ‘on, Gadgadasvara)
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Twenty-fifth Chapter on the Universal Gateway of the Bodhisattva Perceiving the Sound of the Existential Dimensions (Kanzeon, Avalokiteshvara)
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Twenty-sixth Chapter on Dhāranī
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Twenty-seventh Chapter on the Original Conduct of King Utterly Embellished (Myōshōgonnō, Shubhavyūha)
- The Dharma Flower Sutra seen through the Oral Transmission of Nichiren Daishōnin: The Twenty-eighth Chapter on the Persuasiveness and Quest (for Buddhahood) of the Bodhisattva Universally Worthy (Samantabhadra, Fugen)
