The Unanimous Declaration by the Buddhas of the Three Existencesregarding the Classification of the Teachings and Which Are to Be Abandoned and Which Upheld Chapter11
Written by Nichiren
The Lotus Sutra speaks of the “appearance” (the physical features of all living beings; the Thus Come One of the manifested body of original enlightenment); the “nature” (the mind nature of all living beings; the Thus Come One of the reward body of original enlightenment); and the “entity” (the entity of all living beings; the Thus Come One of the Dharma body of original enlightenment).
From these three factors evolve the other seven factors that follow them, and the two groups then combine to make up the ten factors. These ten factors pervade the Ten Worlds. These Ten Worlds are born from the mind of the individual and constitute the eighty-four thousand teachings.
Here a single individual has been used as an example, but the same thing applies equally to all living beings. This unanimous declaration by the Buddhas of the three existences, this passage [in the Lotus Sutra], is a basic text, a judgment of the Buddhas that bears their stamp of unmistakable authentication. This stamp of the Buddhas is the single seal of the true aspect. “Seal” is another term for “stamp.”
All the other sutras lack this seal of the true aspect, and hence they cannot function as a basic text. They lack any true Buddha, and because they lack a true Buddha, they are texts pertaining to a dream world. They are not to be found in the pure lands.
Though the Ten Worlds are ten in number, the ten factors are all one.16 For example, though the moons reflected in different bodies of water are countless in number, the moon up in the sky is only one. The ten factors as they pertain to the nine worlds are ten factors in a dream world—they are like the moons reflected in bodies of water. But the ten factors of the world of Buddhahood are the ten factors of the waking state of original enlightenment—they are like the moon up in the sky.
For this reason, when the ten factors that pertain to one realm, the world of Buddhahood, become manifest, then the ten factors pertaining to the nine worlds, factors that are like the moons in the water, will without exception all become manifest at the same moment. The whole will constitute the entity and its function, the essence and its activities, that come together within the single entity of Buddhahood.
Because the Ten Worlds are mutually inclusive, the living beings of the Ten Worlds equally possess all of the ten within their lives. Thus the real moon up in the sky and the moons reflected in the bodies of water are all part of the entity of the individual, without a single exception. Hence the ten factors are marked by consistency from beginning to end,17 with no distinction setting off one from another.
What is “original,” or at the beginning, are the ten factors of the ordinary living being. What is “latter,” or at the end, are the ten factors of the Buddhas. Since the Buddhas are made manifest through the mind of the living being at each moment, the living being is termed “original” and the Buddhas are termed “latter.”
In the Lotus Sutra, however, the Buddha says: “Now this threefold world is all my domain, and the living beings in it are all my children.”18
After the Buddha had attained the way, in order to instruct and convert others he referred to this as his first attainment of the way, and, entering the dream realm of birth and death, from that standpoint described the waking state of original enlightenment. Hence he likened wisdom to a father, and ignorance to the children, explaining the matter in this fashion.
Although living beings are made up of the ten factors of original enlightenment, even a single instant of ignorance can cloud their minds, as though in a state of sleep. They have then entered the dream realm of birth and death and forgotten the principle or truth of original enlightenment. This tiny hair’s breadth of ignorance sets them to dreaming empty dreams of the three existences of past, present, and future.
The Buddha may be likened to a person in the waking state who enters the dream realms of birth and death in order to waken living beings. This wisdom of the Buddha is comparable to a parent to those in a realm of dreams, and we who are in the dream state are comparable to the children. That is the reason why the Buddha says that living beings “are all my children.”
Once we have fully understood this principle, then we will see that the Buddhas and we as individuals, from the standpoint of what is “original,” are like a father and his children, and from the standpoint of what is “latter” also, are like a father and his children. The inborn nature of the father and of the children, both in terms of which is “original” and which is “latter,” is identical. Hence we come to realize that there is no difference between one’s own mind and the mind of the Buddha, and accordingly wake from the dream realm of birth and death and return to the waking state of original enlightenment. This is known as attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form.
To attain Buddhahood in one’s present form means at this moment to realize one’s inborn, original nature, to know that it is one’s unaffected and unobstructed destiny as a living being, one’s reward, and the unseen protection [of the Buddhas].
Notes
16. While the Ten Worlds represent the ten different states of life, the ten factors exist in each of the Ten Worlds. Hence it states, “Though the Ten Worlds are ten in number, the ten factors are all one.”
17. In this context, “beginning” indicates the ten factors that pertain to the world of Buddhahood, and “end,” the ten factors pertaining to the nine worlds.