NAM-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO
SGI-UK Study Department
Introductory Study Programme
My potential
Here we are, living in
the twenty first century. At
times, it may have seemed
unlikely that mankind would
make it to this time. Wars and
conflicts, droughts and famines,
problems economic and
environmental, psychological
and physical; nothing in the
advances of the past century has
been able to resolve these
issues. Our planet, seemingly
robust, remains remarkably
fragile. The causes we are
making now will affect the
environment of our planet for
generations to come.
As individuals, we
have been born into this world,
and into these circumstances.
We grow, mature and one day
we will start to decline and
inevitably we will die, passing
from this world into some other,
as yet unknown, state.
How do we cope with
life in this troubled world? If we are
fortunate, we are fit and healthy, as
are our children and relatives. If
we are fortunate, we have adequate,
or surplus, financial means, we
are occupied in interesting
ways, and surrounded with
loving and supportive family
and friends. We have nothing to
fear about the future of our jobs,
our homes, our health.
But who is that fortunate?
Or, if someone is that fortunate,
how can they be sure that their
good fortune will not one day run out?
The Buddhism of
Nichiren Daishonin teaches that
the way life is, is not the
responsibility of an external,
all-powerful being. Rather, this
philosophy starts with the
individual. Each person has in
broad terms similar attributes.
We are awake and asleep. We
eat, drink and have bodily
functions. We talk and we
listen. We have the potential to
fight and to love, to create and
to destroy. Buddhism teaches
that in the heart of every person
there is incredible potential,
which for the most part remains
hidden. As we will see later, this
potential is likened to a lotus flower.
Revealing it
Imagine a reservoir of the
best qualities that life has to offer.
And imagine this reservoir deep in
your own life, and of an enormous,
unimaginable volume. What will you
find there? You will find the necessary
ingredients to experience joy,
happiness and good fortune here and
now.
First, you will find
wisdom the wisdom to deal
with every situation you could
ever possibly have to confront.
This is more than knowledge, or
learning; it is the creative
wisdom to resolve fundamental
issues that affect your life.
Then you will find the
courage that you need to take
the action to make your life
move forward. No matter what
obstacles may appear to be
holding you back, the courage
in your life will enable you to
surpass them. No matter how
fearful, insignificant or
cowardly you may feel now,
there is more than enough
courage in this reservoir to
make you wonder why you
waited so long before moving
forward.
Also you will find an
enormous supply of compassion
which will ensure that every
action you take will be for the
good not only of yourself, but
also for the good of the world at
large.
There is also a store of
energy, or life-force; as much as
you need to achieve whatever
you wish for your life. This
creative, dynamic energy
combined with the courage,
compassion and wisdom
outlined above means that you
can really take control of your
life and fulfil your greatest
dreams.
Is all this a fantasy?
Buddhism teaches that we all
have this reservoir. Perhaps we
are aware that those qualities
trickle out to some extent, but
how often have we found that
the trickle dries up when we
really need it?
Right now!
This reservoir is known as
the Buddha state, or Buddha wisdom,
and the teachings of Buddhism exist
so that we can reveal it in daily life.
From this we can understand that the
Buddha is not a special person.
Buddhahood is not an unattainable life
condition, but a potential that is within
all life and within each of us, right
here, right now.
The person who
established the way for anyone to
become a Buddha in this day and age
was Nichiren Daishonin, who lived
in the thirteenth century in Japan. This
is what he says:
"If you wish to free yourself from
the sufferings of birth and death
you have endured since time
without beginning and to attain
unsurpassed enlightenment in this
lifetime, you must perceive the
mystic truth that is originally
inherent in all living beings. This
truth is Myoho-renge-kyo.
Chanting Myoho-renge-kyo will
therefore enable you to grasp the
mystic truth innate in all life". [On
Attaining Buddhahood in This
Lifetime, WND p3]
So what has been called a
'reservoir', Nichiren Daishonin refers
to as the 'mystic truth'. It is 'mystic'
because it is not apparent to our
ordinary conscious minds. It is the
'truth' that is at the heart of all
Buddhist teachings. All life, all
phenomena are endowed with
Buddhahood; the greatest potential of
life.
A Buddha is an ordinary
human being alive in this world who
realizes that the reservoir is there,
draws on it at will, and also works to
encourage others to do the same.
Nichiren Daishonin said that all the
teachings of Buddhism pointed to this
fact: we all have this potential and the
way to experience it is to chant Nammyoho-renge-kyo.
What is Nam-myohorenge-kyo?
taught that the act of praising
the Lotus Sutra would enable
the qualities of the Buddha, the
reservoir, inherent in our lives
to emerge. Therefore he placed
the word 'Nam' in front of the
title of the Lotus Sutra,
'Myoho-renge-kyo'.
This appears very simple; but
the practice itself is very
profound.
The Law of Life
As we consider each of
the constituent parts of Nammyoho-renge-kyo, we start to
sense its profundity. Nammyoho-renge-kyo is referred to
as the 'Law of Life'. Although
it is just six syllables, each
signifies profound truths that go
to the heart of the universe, life
and death, as well as the law of
cause and effect.
Nam
It is not easy to give a short
answer that answers all the aspects of
what Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is. Here
are two answers. It is the title and the
heart of the Lotus Sutra, and it is the
Law that explains the workings of life.
The Lotus Sutra
The Buddhist teaching,which
explains that everyone has the same
potential as the Buddha is the Lotus
Sutra (sutra means teaching). The
Sutras were originally taught in
Sanskrit, and the Lotus Sutra was
known as Sad-Dharma-PundarikaSutra. As the teachings of
Buddhism spread they were
translated into the languages of
the cultures they travelled to.
The Lotus Sutra was translated
into Chinese, and when it
reached Japan it was known as
Myoho-Renge-Kyo.
The title of a sutra was
considered to encapsulate the
teaching it contained. It was
also the practice to place the
word Nam (or, Devotion)
before the names of Buddhist
teachings or characters in order
to praise them.
Nichiren Daishonin
Nam is an action word.
The act of praising our potential
will make it emerge. Nam is the
word that turns this principle
from a theory into a reality. The
Lotus Sutra, although profound,
is merely a teaching. But Nammyoho-renge-kyo is a practice
that will have actual results. Nams
literal meaning is Respect or
Dedication so the whole phrase has
the simple meaning of `Devotion to
the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra`.
Myoho
Myoho explains at least
2 major principles of life: the
relationship between life and
death, as well as the relationship
between our highest, or Buddha,
state and all our other 9
conditions or states of life (See topic
on the ten states of life).
How do the teachings of
Buddhism view the relationship
between life and death? We all
have a birthday. That is, quite
simply, the day when we
emerged into the world as a
baby. We also have some idea
of what was happening to us in
the nine or so months before we
emerged from the womb. Before that,
however, other than the knowledge
that a sperm and an egg came together
at a particular moment, things are
not so clear. Biologists cannot
give definitive answers as to where
or what our consciousness was
before conception and philosophers
have also struggled to explain this.
Buddhism teaches that all our
constituent parts, not just physical
ones, but mental and spiritual as well,
existed in a state of latency, waiting
for the right conditions to emerge
before we could start the process of
being born after conception.
Before conception, we are
latent, or 'myo'. This means that our
life energy is waiting for the necessary
circumstances before it can take on a
physical form. 'Ho', law, or
phenomena, describes the manifest
state and particularly the emergence of
the new born baby into the world. We
remain alive manifest until the
point when, for whatever reason, our
bodies can no longer support our lives,
the body dies, and the constituent parts
separate. The body decays, and at this
point we cease to be 'ho' and return
once more to the latent state of
'myo'.
Buddhism teaches that
life is a cycle. We emerge from
myo, become ho and return to
myo again. This rhythm
continues forever. Similarly the
cycle of the seasons echoes this
process. We see new growth in
Spring, maturity in Summer,
harvest and decline in Autumn
before a period of apparently
bleak withdrawal in Winter. But
Winter never fails to turn into
Spring once more, and the cycle
starts again.
This cycle of myo and
ho is a bit like sleeping and
recharging before the next day
starts. But chanting Nam myoho
renge kyo is drawing from and
infusing our lives with life
force. Chanting itself works
according to the fundamental
principles of myo and ho.
We feel our Buddhahood at
work because our chanting has caused
it to appear according to another
fundamental life principle: renge
which is about how the effect exists
simultaneously with the cause. (See
topic on cause and effect and the nine
consciousnesses)
Renge
This literally means
lotus flower. The lotus flower
rests on the surface of the pond,
its roots going deep into the
water and drawing on the
nutrients it finds in the mud at
the bottom.
This image of the lotus
flower also means that the
Buddha is not a perfect being,
detached from the realities of
life, either in a monastery or in
some other, unearthly realm.
Rather, the Buddha is an aspect
of our own lives which we can
draw on. It is because of the
trials and tribulations of real,
everyday life in this world that
the Buddha's qualities can be
revealed.
Renge signifies the
process of cause and effect at
work deep within the life of
each person and which we are
ordinarily caught up in and
unable to change
fundamentally.
Kyo
The word Kyo literally
means 'sutra', or teaching. It is
the vibration of our voice which
is so important in our Buddhist
practice. It is said the voice
does the Buddha's work. This is
why we chant Nam-myohorenge-kyo aloud, rather than
performing a silent meditation.
Kyo is the interconnectedness of
all phenomena; and how our
prayer/sound of chanting can
affect people and situations out
of our immediate sphere.
Introductory study programme materials
Version 2.0 for use from July 2004
SGI-UK, Study Department, Taplow Court, Taplow, SL6 0ER, UK
