Written by Nichiren
Chapter10(Revealing the appearance of enlightenment hidden in the Buddha’s heart)
This “perfect delight” represents the harmonious unity of the sentient beings, who dwell in the phenomenal realm of the ten directions, and the lands, which support and surround them in the phenomenal realm of the ten directions. Thus the living beings and their environments are one, and the three bodies of the Buddha are a single body. The four kinds of lands are not differentiated but come together in the one Buddha of the Dharma body.
The self made up of the Ten Worlds is the Dharma body. The mind made up of the Ten Worlds is the reward body. The form made up of the Ten Worlds is the manifested body. Outside of the Ten Worlds there is no Buddha, outside of the Buddha there are no Ten Worlds. The living beings and their environments are not two things, and one’s self and the land one inhabits are not two things. Because the phenomenal realm of the ten directions is the body of a single Buddha, it is called the Land of Tranquil Light, and for this reason it represents the ultimate principle that is without marks.
It is separate from the marks of the impermanence of birth and extinction, and therefore it is called “without marks.” It is the utmost depth of the essential nature of phenomena and the ultimate of profound Buddhist principles and hence it is called the ultimate principle.
This ultimate principle that is without marks, or the perfect delight of Tranquil Light that embodies it, exists within the mind nature of all sentient beings, a pure realm free of outflows. It is termed the lotus dais of the mind of the wonderful Law. Therefore it is said that outside the mind there is no other principle. And so we may come to understand that all phenomena are manifestations of the Buddhist Law.
The two principles of birth and death are principles that pertain to the dream realm of birth and death, delusions, examples of topsy-turvy thinking. When we employ the waking state of original enlightenment to gain a correct understanding of the nature of our minds, we see that it has no birth that can be called a beginning, so it could never have a death that would be an ending. Is this not what it means to grasp the mind that is removed from birth and death?
This mind is not burned in the fires at the end of a kalpa, is not destroyed by the disaster of floods, cannot be severed with a sword or pierced with an arrow. One may put it inside a mustard seed and the mustard seed will not be stretched nor will the mind be cramped thereby. One may put it in the vast heavens and the heavens will not be too broad for it nor the mind too narrow to fill them.
The opposite of good we call bad, the opposite of bad we call good. Hence we know that outside of the mind there is no good and there is no bad. What is apart from this good and this bad is called the unlabeled.11 The good, the bad, and the unlabeled—outside of these there is no mind, and outside of the mind there are no concepts. Beyond all such distinctions expressed in words, beyond good and bad, pure and defiled, ordinary mortal and sage, heaven and earth, big and small, east and west, north and south, the four other directions between each of these and the directions of up and down, is that which transcends the reach of words, the place where the workings of the mind come to an end.
Words are what give expression to the distinctions that are thought of in the mind. Therefore, outside of the mind there are neither distinctions nor the absence of distinctions. Words echo the thoughts of the mind and find expression through the voice.
The ordinary mortal is confused about the nature of his own mind, and remains unenlightened. The Buddha is enlightened to that nature, and manifests it as what are called transcendental powers. Transcendental power means the power of the spirit to penetrate all phenomena without hindrance. Such freely exercised transcendental powers are present in the minds of all sentient beings. Hence even foxes and raccoon dogs can exercise the respective transcendental powers that they possess,12 because their respective shares of awakening arise from the spirit of the mind.
From this single element of mind spring all the various lands and environmental conditions. The sacred teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime are devoted to explaining this principle. These are what is known as the storehouse of the eighty-four thousand teachings. All these are teachings encompassed within the single entity of an individual. Hence the storehouse of the eighty-four thousand teachings represents a day-to-day record of one’s own existence. This storehouse of the eighty thousand teachings is embodied in and contained within one’s own mind. To use the mind to suppose that the Buddha or the Law or the pure land exist somewhere other than in one’s own self and to seek them elsewhere is a delusion.
When the mind encounters good or bad causes, it creates and puts forth the aspects of good and bad. As the Flower Garland Sutra says: “The mind is like a skilled painter, who creates various forms made up of the five components. Thus of all the phenomena throughout the entire world, there is not a single one that is not created by the mind. The Buddha is the same in nature as the mind, and living beings are the same in nature as the Buddha. In the threefold world there is only this single mind. Outside of this mind there is no other phenomenon that exists. The mind, the Buddha, and all living beings—these three are without distinction.”13 And the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra says: “From the single Law that is without marks, that is devoid of marks, are born immeasurable meanings.”14 This single Law that is without marks, that is devoid of marks, is the mind that is present in each instant of thought in all living beings.
The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra comments on this: “It does not have the marks of impermanence characterized by birth and extinction and hence it is said to be ‘without marks.’ It is removed from the marks of the nirvana of remainder and the nirvana of no remainder expounded in the two vehicle teaching, and hence it is said to be ‘devoid of marks.’”15
This mind that is beyond comprehension constitutes the core teaching of the sutras and treatises. And one who is awake to and understands this mind is called a Thus Come One.
Once one has waked to and understood this mind, then the Ten Worlds become one’s own self, one’s own mind, one’s own form, for the Thus Come One of original enlightenment becomes one’s own body and mind.
While one fails to understand this, one is in a state of ignorance. Ignorance means to be without clear understanding. One has not yet become clearly enlightened as to the nature of one’s own mind. When one wakes to and understands this mind, this is called awakening to the essential nature of phenomena. Thus ignorance and awakening are simply different names for this single mind. Although there are two different words or terms used, there is only the one mind.
Therefore one must not cut off or do away with ignorance. For if one cuts off the dreaming mind that is ignorance, then one will also lose the waking mind, the mind of enlightenment. The whole point of the perfect teaching is to show that one must not cut off the tiniest bit of delusion. For all phenomena that exist are manifestations of the Buddhist Law.
Notes
11. What can be labeled neither good nor bad. In other words, morally neutral.
12. In ancient Japan foxes and raccoon dogs were believed to deceive people. The Daishonin regards these animals as exercising supernatural powers, and refers to it as a kind of enlightenment. With such an example, he intends to illustrate that the Buddha nature exists in all sentient beings.
13. The words “In the threefold world there is only this single mind. Outside of this mind there is no other phenomenon that exists” are not found in the extant edition of the Flower Garland Sutra, but their meaning is reflected in some places in the sutra.
14. A summary of a passage from the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra.
15. A summary of a passage from Words and Phrases. What transcends the two extremes of “births and deaths” and “nirvana,” or the end of the cycle of birth and death, is the Middle Way. The nirvana of remainder is the nirvana of the arhat who has eliminated all illusions and will no longer be reborn in the six paths, but who is still bound to the world of suffering in that he possesses a body. The nirvana of no remainder is the state that the arhat achieves at death, when both body and mind—the sources of suffering—are extinguished.