THE IMPORTANCE OF ACTION IN BUDDHISM
Selection Source: Develop a Life-condition As Vast As the Ocean,
November 23, 1987, Shizuoka, Japan, Buddhism in Action, Vol. VI, pp.
319-320
Nichiren Daishonin faced persecution from government authorities
here in Izu. He was exiled to Ito on the Izu Peninsula; here he
spent a difficult two years, from May 12, 1261, to February 22,
1263, from the age of forty to forty-two. On New Year’s Day in
1262, the Daishonin wrote a letter to a believer by the name of Kudo
Sakon-no-jo Yoshitaka in Awa Province (present-day Chiba
Prefecture). This Gosho, “The Four Debts of Gratitude,” reads, “It
is already twenty-four or twenty-five years since I began studying
Buddhism” [WND, 43]. This statement is made from the viewpoint of a
common mortal, the form in which the Daishonin manifested himself to
lead the people.
He goes on to say, “Yet I have believed wholeheartedly in the Lotus
Sutra only for the past six or seven years.” Here the Daishonin
shows great humility. But let us examine the meaning underlying
this passage. The Daishonin was not simply preoccupied with
Buddhist study; he experienced great persecutions after the
establishment of his Buddhism, meaning that he truly read the Lotus
Sutra with his entire being, as expounded in the sutra.
The Daishonin continues: “Moreover, although I had faith in the
sutra, because I was negligent and because of my studies and the
interruptions of mundane affairs, each day I would recite only a
single scroll, a chapter, or the title.” Through this passage, I
feel as if the Daishonin knew of your present situation, that you
are very busy with many concerns and unable to devote yourselves to
practice and study as much as you would like. This sounds exactly
like the guidance you need.
The passage continues: “Now, however, for a period of more than 240
days — from the twelfth day of the fifth month of last year to the
sixteenth day of the first month of this year — I think I have
practiced the Lotus Sutra twenty-four hours each day and night.”
Why does he say this? As he states: “I say so because, having been
exiled on the Lotus Sutra’s account, I now read and practice it
continuously, whether I am walking, standing, sitting, or lying
down.” Here the Daishonin teaches us that only through experiencing
hardships can one truly live the Lotus Sutra or “read” it through
one’s actions. Then he expresses his profound joy of life by
saying, “For anyone born human, what greater joy could there be?”
The Daishonin continues: It is the way of ordinary people that, even
though they spur themselves on to arouse the aspiration for
enlightenment and wish for happiness in the next life, they exert
themselves no more than one or two out of all the hours of the day,
and this only after reminding themselves to do so. As for myself, I
read the Lotus Sutra without having to remember to, and practice it
even when I do not read its words aloud [WND, 43].
What a sublime state of life he had!
