On the Principle of Three Thousand Realms in a Single Moment of Life
THE Twelve-linked Chain of Causation
Question: What is the twelve-linked chain of causation as it applies to the process of transmigration?
Answer: The first link is ignorance. The Dharma Analysis Treasury says: “The state resulting from past delusion is ignorance.” That is to say, ignorance represents the earthly desires of love and craving that one gave rise to in the past. Thus a son may conceive hatred for his father and love for his mother, or a daughter may conceive hatred for her mother and love for her father, as described in the ninth volume of Dharma Analysis Treasury.
The second link is action. Dharma Analysis Treasury says: “The various deeds carried out in the past are called action.” That is, the deeds or karma one has created in the past are called action. There are two kinds of karma. The first is “karma leading to rebirth,” that is, karma that determines what realm of existence we will be reborn into. The second is “completing karma,” which represents all the karma not included in the above category. It is past karma that determines such things as whether one will break a leg or cut a finger. This is completing karma.
The third link is consciousness. Dharma Analysis Treasury says: “Consciousness is the one of the five aggregates that is crucial in the forming of life.” The five aggregates are already present when the child is in the mother’s body. The five aggregates are form, perception, conception, volition, and consciousness. They are also known as the five components.
The fourth link is name and form. Dharma Analysis Treasury says: “What precedes the six sense fields is name and form.”
The fifth link is the six sense fields. Dharma Analysis Treasury says: “After the eyes and other organs are produced, but before the three elements of perception,1 the six sense fields come into being.” The six sense fields are the activities, or output, of the six sense organs, the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
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Interpretation of the Three Bodies
First, with regard to the Dharma body, the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai quotes a passage in the Nirvana Sutra and states: “All the various worldly truths are, as far as the Thus Come One is concerned, none other than the supreme truth. But ordinary living beings, due to their inverted ways of thinking, suppose that such truths are not part of the Law of the Buddha.”3
From this passage of commentary we can understand that although the concepts of self and other, environment and self, realm of the devil and Buddha realm, impurity and purity, cause and effect, appear to be opposites, they all in no way stand in opposition to the Dharma body of the Buddhas. Thus the disbelief of Sunakshatra is identical with the believing mind of the king of Lankā.4 And the doctrines of the Prajnāmita school of non-Buddhist believers,5 though they appear to be erroneous, are not different from the correct views of the rich elder Sudatta.
One should understand, therefore, that the basis of the Dharma body is the entity of the ordinary living being. The religious practices and vows of the Buddhas of the ten directions are in fact meant to enable one to acquire this Dharma body.
Next, with regard to the reward body, the commentary by the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai states: “The wisdom that accords with the true nature of phenomena, following the way that accords with the truth, reaches perfect enlightenment. Wisdom accords with the principle of the true nature, and because it abides by this principle, it is called ‘Thus.’ One comes in accordance with wisdom and hence the word ‘Come’ is used. Hence the term ‘Thus Come One of the reward body.’ This is called rochana, which is translated as ‘pure and full.’”6
This means that the wisdom that accords with the true nature of phenomena follows the way that accords with the truth. When the principle and the wisdom of perfect enlightenment become perfectly fused with the realm of phenomena, then the principle is called “Thus” and the wisdom is called “Come.”7
Background
Nichiren Daishonin wrote On the Principle of Three Thousand Realms in a Single Moment of Life in 1258. There is no known recipient or addressee; rather, it appears to be notes recorded in preparation for subsequent works.
The contents are divided into three parts. First, “The Twelve-linked Chain of Causation”; second, “The Principle of Three Thousand Realms in a Single Moment of Life”; third, “Interpretation of the Three Bodies.” These three interrelated subjects are key to an understanding of Buddhism.
In the first section, the Daishonin lists and defines each link of the twelve-linked chain of causation: ignorance, action, consciousness, name and form, the six sense fields, contact, sensation, desire, attachment, existence, birth, and aging and death.
He then answers the question of how the twelve-linked chain of causation operates over the three existences, from one’s past life to one’s present life to one’s future life, in terms of cause and effect.
Next he summarizes the operation of this causal chain first from the perspective of transmigration, that is, how the chain of causality keeps on transmigrating in a state of delusion and suffering, and then from the perspective of emancipation, or how one frees oneself from the chain of delusion and suffering.
In the second section covering the principle of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, the Daishonin explains the ten factors of life and the three realms of existence, the two components of that principle, and how they relate to the Ten Worlds. Because of the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, these constituents form the hundred worlds, the thousand factors, and the three thousand realms. All of them exist in a single moment of life.
He then proceeds to shed light on the significance of the principle of three thousand realms in a single moment of life by quoting from T’ien-t’ai’s Great Concentration and Insight, from Miao-lo’s Annotations on “Great Concentration and Insight,” Annotations on “The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra,” Annotations on “The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra,” and Diamond Scalpel. These passages clarify that this all-inclusive principle constitutes an indispensable aid to understanding the true nature of life.
In the last section, “Interpretation of the Three Bodies,” the Daishonin, citing T’ien-t’ai’s interpretations, addresses the significance of the Dharma body and the reward body ascribed to the Buddha, but does not discuss the manifested body.
Notes
1. The three elements of perception are the six sense organs, six objects, and six consciousnesses. The six objects are objects perceived by the six sense organs, and contact between the six sense organs and their respective objects gives rise to the six consciousnesses.
3. The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra.
4. The king of Lankā is a demon king said to have lived in Lankā in southern India, and to have been instructed by Shakyamuni, receiving a prophecy of future enlightenment.
5. The Prajnāmita school is thought to have been a non-Buddhist school in India in Shakyamuni’s day, but no details concerning it are known.
6. The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra.
7. The words “Thus” and “Come” form the term “Thus Come [One].”