Sovereign, Teacher, and Parent

Sovereign, Teacher, and Parent

Background

IT has been said that Shakyamuni Buddha is to us a sovereign, a teacher, and a parent, who alone works to save and protect us.1 Amida Buddha is not a sovereign to us, is not a parent, and is not a teacher. Hence the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai in his commentary2 says: “The Buddha of the western land is different [from the Buddha of this sahā world], and those who form a relationship with him are also different. And because the Buddha is different, it is impossible to assert that the wealthy man [in the parable of the wealthy man and his impoverished son], when he hides the fact that he is the father of the impoverished son, corresponds to Shakyamuni, and when he reveals that he is the father, to Infinite Life [or Amida] Buddha. And because those who form a relationship with him are different, it is impossible to assert that the living beings of this sahā world are related to Infinite Life Buddha in the way that the father and son [in the above parable] are related. Moreover, nowhere from its beginning to its end is there anything in this [Lotus] sutra that would support such a claim. Close your eyes and ponder the matter deeply.”

The fact is that Shakyamuni Buddha was the son and heir apparent of King Shuddhodana of central India. When he was nineteen years old, he left family life and went into seclusion at a place called Mount Dandaka. He climbed the high peaks to gather firewood and descended to the deep valleys to draw water, carrying out difficult and painful practices. At the age of thirty he attained Buddhahood and spent the remainder of his life expounding his sacred teachings.

Outwardly, he preached various sutras such as the Flower Garland, Āgama, Correct and Equal, and Wisdom sutras, but in his heart he longed to preach the Lotus Sutra. He knew, however, that living beings differ in their capacities, and therefore he did not preach as his own mind dictated, but instead preached numerous sutras that were suited to the hearts and minds of his listeners.

For forty-two years he continued to be troubled by thoughts on this matter. But then a time came when he preached the Lotus Sutra, declaring that he had fulfilled the vows he had taken earlier and he would now let living beings know how they could become Buddhas like himself.

From remote ages in the past up to the present, he explained, he had at times appeared as a deer, at times as a bear, or at other times had offered his body as food to a demon.3 He would now take the merits he had acquired through these acts and bestow them on living beings who put faith in the Lotus Sutra, stating that they were “true sons of the Buddha,”4 truly his own children.

When Shakyamuni Buddha has been such a thoughtful parent as this, if one should regard him with contempt and fail to put faith in the Lotus Sutra he preached, “the one great reason for which the Buddhas appear in the world,”5 then how can such a person ever attain Buddhahood? You should ponder this question very carefully!

In the second volume of the Lotus Sutra we read: “If a person fails to have faith but instead slanders this sutra, immediately he will destroy all the seeds for becoming a Buddha in this world.”6 And later are the words “not accepting a single verse of the other sutras.”7 These passages mean that, in order to become a Buddha, one should seek to accept and uphold only the Lotus Sutra and should not accept a single verse or phrase of any other sutra.

In the third volume we read: “Suppose that someone coming from a land of famine should suddenly encounter a great king’s feast.”8 That is, a person who has come from a land beset by famine suddenly encounters a great king’s feast. This means that though one may behave like a dog or a fox, one should never direct one’s mind to the lesser vehicle teachings as did Mahākāshyapa and Maudgalyāyana. When they were told that though a stone that was split apart might be put together again, or though a tree that had withered might bloom once more, no persons of the two vehicles could ever attain Buddhahood, Subhūti was so dumbfounded that he threw down the alms bowl he was carrying,9 and Mahākāshyapa wept so loudly that his voice echoed throughout the major world system, so great was their grief and sorrow. Yet later, with the preaching of the Lotus Sutra, the Venerable Mahākāshyapa was given a prophecy that he would become a Buddha named Light Bright Thus Come One, and Maudgalyāyana, Subhūti, Mahākātyāyana, and the others10 thereby realized that they too were certain to attain Buddhahood. Thus their joy was like that of a person who, coming from a land of famine, suddenly encounters a great king’s feast.

Since the beginningless past, we living beings have never for an instant been separated from this wish-granting jewel of Myoho-renge-kyo. But, befuddled by the wine of ignorance, we fail to realize that it is hidden in the lining of our robes, and we are content with merely a little gain.11 Though we are living beings who, simply by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, could quickly attain Buddhahood, we observe petty precepts such as the five precepts or the ten good precepts, being reborn as a result in the realm of heavenly beings, as deities such as Brahmā or Shakra, and thinking that a wonderful accomplishment. Or at times we are born as human beings, becoming rulers of various countries, high ministers, court nobles, or other court officials, and we think ourselves incomparably happy.12 Thus we content ourselves with such little gains and are delighted with them.

However, the Buddha has taught that these accomplishments are mere prosperity in a dream, a phantom joy, and that we should simply accept and uphold the Lotus Sutra and quickly become Buddhas.

In the fourth volume of the Lotus Sutra we read: “Since hatred and jealousy toward this sutra abound even when the Thus Come One is in the world, how much more will this be so after his passing?”13

 

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Devadatta was the strongest man in all the five regions of India. He picked up a stone that was thirty-five feet in length and twelve feet across and threw it at the Buddha.27 Hsiang Yü of Ch’u,28 who was said to have been the strongest man in China, lifted up a cauldron that held nine piculs of water and was filled to the brim. But though men such as these might pick up Mount Sumeru and hurl it away, to find someone who can read this sutra, the Lotus, exactly as it teaches, is difficult indeed, we are told.

Some may say they have read it, copied it, and preached it. But does this mean then that the sutra passages referred to above are false? Should we assume that such persons of our time are all true practitioners of the Lotus Sutra? One should ponder this matter very carefully.

In the “Devadatta” chapter in the fifth volume of the Lotus Sutra we read: “If there are good men or good women who on hearing the ‘Devadatta’ chapter of the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law believe and revere it with pure hearts and harbor no doubts or perplexities, they will never fall into hell or the realm of hungry spirits or of beasts, but will be born in the presence of the Buddhas of the ten directions.”

This chapter deals with two important matters. The first is that concerning Devadatta, the elder brother of the Venerable Ānanda. He was the son and heir of King Dronodana and a grandson of King Simhahanu, and hence a cousin of the Buddha.

He envied the Buddha his reputation as the foremost seeker of the way in the entire continent of Jambudvīpa, and vowed that he himself would become the foremost profligate and expounder of false views in all of Jambudvīpa. He enlisted ten thousand evil persons in his schemes, inciting them to enmity against the Buddha, and committed three of the five cardinal sins.29 As a result, the earth split apart and while he was still alive he fell into the great citadel of the hell of incessant suffering. But in the “Devadatta” chapter the Buddha predicted that he would become a Buddha named Heavenly King Thus Come One.

The passage cited above tells us what lies in store for good men who put faith in the Lotus Sutra upon hearing it. That is, if even a person as evil as Devadatta can become a Buddha, then how could persons of this latter age who, even if they are guilty of grave offenses, have in most cases not committed anything worse than the ten evil acts, fail to attain Buddhahood? And all the more so if they are deeply loyal in their faith.

The second important matter dealt with in this chapter is the fact that the daughter of the dragon king Sāgara, a reptile child of eight, was able to become a Buddha, a truly rare and wonderful event.

I say this because the Flower Garland Sutra states, “Women are messengers of hell who can destroy the seeds of Buddhahood. They may look like bodhisattvas, but at heart they are like yaksha demons.”30 The passage means that women are branded as messengers from hell and can rot the seeds that would otherwise allow them to become Buddhas, and though they resemble a bodhisattva in appearance, at heart they are like yaksha demons.31

And in the same sutra we read, “If a person once looks on a woman, he will lose the benefits of his eyes. It is better to look on a great serpent than to look on a woman.”32

A certain sutra tells us, “If all the desires and delusions of all the men throughout the major world system were lumped together, they would be no greater than the karmic impediment of one single woman.”33 This passage means that the various desires and delusions inherent in all the men throughout the major world system must be lumped together in order to match the karmic impediment of one single woman.34 And another sutra says, “Even if the eyes of the Buddhas of the three existences were to come out and fall to the ground, no woman could ever attain Buddhahood.”35

But this chapter, the “Devadatta” chapter, tells us that, while there are the different realms of human beings and of animals, if even the dragon king’s daughter, who belongs to the realm of animals, can become a Buddha, then we, who as a result of past deeds have been fortunate enough to be born in human form, a form superior to that of the dragon girl, cannot fail to become Buddhas.

And the passage quoted earlier has already assured us that we will never fall into the three evil paths.

Regarding hell, the first of the evil paths, it is made up of eight cold hells and eight hot hells. Among the eight great hot hells, the hell of repeated rebirth for torture is the first and shallowest of them, situated one thousand yojanas beneath the continent of Jambudvīpa. The offenders in this hell think constantly of doing harm to one another. Whenever they happen to see one another, they behave like a hunter who has come upon a deer. With iron claws they slash each other’s bodies until blood and flesh are torn away and only the bones remain. Or the wardens of hell beat them from head to foot with clubs until they are completely pulverized like grains of sand.

In the hell of burning heat, one suffers indescribable torment. Iron walls surround one on four sides and the gate is shut so tight that the strongest man could not open it. And the fierce flames soar so high that even if one had the wings of a garuda bird, one could not surmount them.

The realm of hungry spirits is located in two places. One is the court of Yama, the lord of hell, which is five hundred yojanas under the earth; the other is mingled in with the realms of human beings and heavenly beings.

There are various types of hungry spirits. Some have bellies like huge seas and throats as thin as needles, and though they eat constantly day and night, they never feel satisfied.36 Others live five hundred or seven hundred lifetimes without ever so much as hearing the words “eat” or “drink.” Some break open their own skulls and eat the brains,37 while others, after giving birth to five children in one night, proceed in the same night to eat them all up.38

Though there are forests with ten thousand kinds of fruit, when the hungry spirits try to pick the fruit, the trees all turn into a forest of swords. Though there are ten thousand rivers flowing into the sea, when they try to drink from them, the rivers turn into raging fires. How can they hope to escape from suffering?

Next is the realm of animals, which is located in two places. Most of the beings in this realm live in the great oceans, though some are mingled in with the realms of human beings and heavenly beings. In this realm of animals, the shorter beings are swallowed up by the longer ones, the smaller are eaten by the larger; all devour one another without a moment’s rest. Some are born in the form of birds or animals, some become oxen or horses, loaded down with heavy burdens, forced to go east when they want to go west, or west when they want to go east. They think only of the plentiful water and grass to be found in the mountains and plains and know nothing of anything else.

But the Buddha has told us that if good men and good women embrace the Lotus Sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, they can escape being condemned to these three evil paths. What could be more wonderful than this? Here is something to rely on, something to rely on indeed!

Moreover, in the fifth volume of the Lotus Sutra, the dragon king’s daughter says, “I unfold the doctrines of the great vehicle to rescue living beings from suffering.”39 What are these “doctrines of the great vehicle” that she unfolds? They are the Lotus Sutra. And who does she refer to as the living beings that are suffering? She does not refer to the living beings in hell, or to the living beings in the realm of hungry spirits. She refers simply to women; that is what is meant by the words “rescue living beings from suffering.”

There are the five obstacles and the three obediences, the three persons that women must obey and the five obstacles that they face. The dragon king’s daughter was a woman and she had experienced and understood the sufferings of women. Therefore she was not concerned about other matters, but vowed that she would be a guide and leader for other women. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

 

Background

This letter was written in 1255, when Nichiren Daishonin was living in Kamakura. One view suggests that he may have written the letter to his parents, while another view suggests his disciple Nichirō.

Concerning the three virtues of sovereign, teacher, and parent, from which this writing takes its name, the virtue of sovereign is the power to protect all living beings, the virtue of teacher is the wisdom to instruct and lead them to enlightenment, and the virtue of parent is the compassion to nurture and support them.

The Daishonin begins by identifying Shakyamuni as the Buddha endowed with the three virtues of sovereign, teacher, and parent, who protects the people and saves them from suffering. In contrast, he says, the Buddha Amida, who is revered by the popular Nembutsu, or Pure Land, school, is a Buddha who has no connection with people in this sahā world and therefore displays none of the three virtues for them. While Amida is a Buddha who is said to dwell in a remote western paradise, the Daishonin describes Shakyamuni as the real Buddha of this world, recounting specific facts about Shakyamuni the person, his attainment of Buddhahood, and his life of teaching.

Among Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings, the Lotus Sutra stands out as foremost; it enables people of the two vehicles, voice-hearers and cause-awakened ones, to attain Buddhahood, which was denied them in the sutras preached prior to the Lotus Sutra. And the essence of the Lotus Sutra is its title, Myoho-renge-kyo, which the Daishonin compares to a “wish-granting jewel” that ordinary people possess throughout eternity. He compares them to the subject of the “parable of the jewel in the robe” in the Lotus Sutra, who had long possessed the precious gem a friend had sewn into the lining of his garment but was unaware of this fact. Rather than searching elsewhere, people should chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, he says, and quickly attain Buddhahood.

Next, the Daishonin cites the “Devadatta” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, stating that it addresses “two important matters.” The first is the attainment of Buddhahood by Devadatta, and the second is the attainment of Buddhahood by the dragon king’s daughter. These represent the　principles of attainment of Buddhahood by evil persons and women and attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form. If evil persons and women, who are barred in other sutras from attaining Buddhahood, can do so through the Lotus Sutra, then all people certainly can. Believing purely in the principles of the sutra expressed in this chapter, he says, will prevent one from falling into the three evil paths, that is, the realms of hell, hungry spirits, and animals.

Introducing in some detail the kinds of suffering thought to accompany these realms, he assures again that by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with pure faith one can avoid such an unhappy destiny. He closes by emphasizing that this is the teaching capable of relieving the sufferings of women in particular.

 

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