The Unanimous Declaration by the Buddhas of the Three Existencesregarding the Classification of the Teachings and Which Are to Be Abandoned and Which Upheld Chapter14

Written by Nichiren

Broadly speaking, the sacred teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime represent a Law or doctrine pertaining to the individual. One should thus strive to achieve a very clear understanding of one’s own original entity as an individual. To awake to that is to be a Buddha, to be confused about that is to be an ordinary living being. This is the message contained in the text of the Flower Garland Sutra.

The sixth volume of On “Great Concentration and Insight” states: “One understands that everything that is contained within this body of ours is modeled after heaven and earth. Thus we see that the roundness of the head is patterned after the heavens, the squareness of the feet imitates the form of the earth. The empty spaces within the body correspond to the empty sky. The warmth of the belly is patterned on spring and summer, the firmness of the back is patterned on autumn and winter.

“The four major parts of the body²³ imitate the four seasons, the twelve large joints imitate the twelve months, the three hundred and sixty smaller joints imitate the three hundred and sixty days of the year.²⁴ The breath going in and out of the nose imitates the wind passing over the mountain lakes and stream valleys, the breath going in and out of the mouth imitates the wind in the open sky. The eyes correspond to the sun and moon, and their opening and closing correspond to day and night.

“The hairs of the head are like the stars and constellations, the eyebrows like the stars of the Big Dipper, the veins like the rivers and streams, the bones like the rocks, the skin and flesh like the earth, and the body hairs like the thickets and groves of trees.

“The five major organs²⁵ correspond to the five planets²⁶ in the sky, the five sacred mountains²⁷ on the earth, the five agents²⁸ in the yin-yang cosmology, the five constant virtues in human society, the five components that make up the mind,²⁹ the five virtues³⁰ in terms of conduct, and the five penalties in terms of the regulation of crime. The five penalties are tattooing, amputation of the nose, amputation of the feet, castration, and the death penalty. (These five penalties represent various kinds of injury inflicted on the individual as a form of punishment. They amount in all to three thousand types of punishment, but are summed up under the term five penalties.)

“In terms of governors of the realm of heaven and earth, the five major organs correspond to the five offices. The five offices are discussed later on in volume eight, where Notes on the Objects in Nature³¹ is quoted; they are Kou-mang and the other deities.³² These ascend to the sky and become the five kinds of clouds,³³ or undergo transformation to become the five kinds of dragons.³⁴ The heart corresponds to the red bird of the south, the kidneys to the black tortoise of the north, the liver to the green dragon of the east, the lungs to the white tiger of the west, and the spleen to the Hooked Stars.”

It also states: “The five musical notes, the five fields of study,³⁵ the six arts³⁶ all arise from the five major organs. And if we consider the correspondences as they apply to the domestic administration, we see that the mind of enlightenment within the individual is comparable to a great king who resides within a hundred encircling walls. When he comes forth, he is flanked and guarded by the five offices. The lungs correspond to the Minister of War, the liver to the Minister of the Interior, the spleen to the Minister of Works, the four limbs to the general populace, while to the left is the Supervisor of Fate and to the right the Supervisor of Records to control and supervise the life span of the individual. The navel corresponds to the Lord of the Great Unity, and so forth. All of these correspondences are clearly set forth in The Teaching of the Practice of Meditation.”

If we look carefully into the basic entity of the individual, we find it to be as just described. And to suppose that this diamond-hard, indestructible body is in fact a body belonging to the impermanent realm of birth and extinction is a form of distorted thinking comparable to Chuang Chou’s dreaming that he was a butterfly. This is what this passage of commentary is telling us.

The five agents are earth, water, fire, wind, and space.³⁷ They are also referred to as the five elements, the five components, the five precepts, the five constant virtues, the five directions, the five kinds of wisdom, and the five periods of teachings. It is simply that one single thing is explained in different ways in the various different sutras, or that the Buddhist texts and the non-Buddhist texts give different names to the various categories.

If now we consult the Lotus Sutra, we find that it opens up and explains these five agents as the five aspects of Buddha nature³⁸ and the seeds of the five wisdom Thus Come Ones that are to be found in the lives of all living beings. They are thus equivalent to the five characters Myoho-renge-kyo. These five characters are what make up the entity of the individual, and hence that entity exists eternally in its original state, it is the Thus Come One of original enlightenment.

This is what is explained in terms of the ten factors of life, that which “can only be understood and shared between Buddhas.”³⁹

Bodhisattvas who have reached the stage in which there is no more regression or people who have attained the highest stage in the two vehicles know nothing whatsoever of this doctrine. But ordinary people who follow the teachings of perfect and immediate enlightenment understand this even when only beginners in religious practice, and therefore they are able to attain Buddhahood in their present form, to enjoy the entity that is diamond-hard and indestructible.

Hence it is perfectly clear that if heaven itself crumbles, then the body of the individual likewise will crumble; if the earth breaks asunder, the body of the individual too will break asunder; if the elements of earth, water, fire, wind, [and space] perish, the body of the individual too will perish. But though the three existences of past, present, and future may give way to one another, these five elements will never change or pass away. And though the three periods of time, the Former Day, the Middle Day, and the Latter Day of the Law, may differ one from another, these five elements are one in nature, not subject to rise or fall, to change of any kind.

The commentary⁴⁰ on the “Parable of the Medicinal Herbs” chapter of the Lotus Sutra explains that the principle underlying the perfect teaching, or the perfect principle, is comparable to the great earth, while the teaching of perfect and immediate enlightenment, or the perfect teaching, is comparable to the rain that falls from the sky. The first three of the four teachings, the Tripitaka teaching, the connecting teaching, and the specific teaching, are comparable to the three types of plants and two types of trees described in the chapter. These plants and trees spring up from the great earth that is the perfect principle and are nourished by the rain from the sky that is the perfect teaching. But though these plants and trees, which represent the five vehicles, flourish, they do not realize that their flourishing is due to their dependence on heaven and earth. Hence the Buddha explains that the human and heavenly beings, persons of the two vehicles, and bodhisattvas who follow the three teachings mentioned above are comparable to such plants and trees because they are unaware of the debt of gratitude they owe. Thus they are given the designation “plants and trees.”

But now with the preaching of the Lotus Sutra these “plants and trees,” which represent the five vehicles, come to know and understand their mother, the perfect principle, and their father, the perfect teaching. They realize the debt they owe their mother, the one earth that they all sprang from, and the debt they owe their father, the one rain that watered them. This, then, is the meaning of the chapter on the “Parable of the Medicinal Herbs.”