The title of the Lotus Sutra is Myoho-Renge-Kyo. Nichiren Daishonin added the word ‘Nam’, meaning devotion or dedication. Translated superficially, Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo means, ‘I devote myself to the inexpressibly profound and wonderful truth, the Law of Life, expounded in the Lotus Sutra, which embodies the loftiest teachings of Buddhism’.
Nichiren Daishonin said: “To practice only the seven characters of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo may appear limited, yet since this law is the master of all Buddhas of the past, present and the future, the teacher of all bodhisattvas in the universe, and the guide that enables all human beings to attain Buddhahood, its practice is incomparably profound.”
In another writing he says: “Since all laws and phenomena are included in the five characters Myoho-Renge-Kyo, the word kyo (literally sutra) is the crown of all sutras. It thus envelops all the sutras”.
In other words, the title, Myoho-Renge-Kyo contains the essence of teachings of the Lotus Sutra which itself contains all Buddhist teachings. ‘The One Essential Phrase’ explains the importance of name. An extract reads: “… included within the title, Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, is the entire sutra consisting of all eight volumes, twenty eight chapters and 69,384 characters without exception”.
Each Chinese character has a wealth of meaning which makes it the most suitable language for written teaching. It is not possible here to study all the aspects of the meaning of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo because, as explained above this would be to explain the entirety of the Buddhist philosophy. What follows is a basic outline.
Myoho is often translated as Mystic Law. Mystic implies difficult to discern. Myo refers to inherent enlightenment and ho to inherent ignorance. Myo refers to death and ho to life. Ho relates to all phenomena which can be seen or experienced through the senses, whereas myo relates to those aspects of life which are unseen. For example, if someone is very sad it is obvious from their facial expression and reactions. But when the same person becomes happy and starts laughing, where does the sadness go? We cannot say that it exists as it did before, but on the other hand it does still exist somewhere within that person’s life and can reappear at some other time. This is called the state of ‘neither existence nor non-existence’ and is described as Mystic. Thus life in all its myriad manifestations, both physical and non-physical, is following a continuous cycle of myo and ho, latent and manifest, death (the unseen or latent state) and life (comprising birth, growth, and physical decline).
Myo has three more meanings which Nichiren Daishonin explained in ‘On the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra’: To Open, To be Endowed and Perfect, and To Revive. The inherent energy of life is expansion. This is what to open means. To be endowed and perfect means that every element in life has this quality; for example, every drop of water in the ocean contains the properties and elements of the ocean itself. To revive refers to the regenerating and recreating the force of life.
Myoho describes life in its entirety, which is difficult to comprehend and is therefore called Mystic. Ho refers to individual phenomena whereas myo refers to universal rhythm of life, which harmonizes and unifies. Ho is the nine states, whereas myo is the Buddha state. Both aspects are, of course, inseparable. This is why a life based merely on ho, that is, on symptoms or outward appearances, tends towards defeat and destruction whereas life based on myoho is always tending towards creativity and harmony.
Renge means lotus flower and signifies the simultaneous nature of cause and effect, since in the lotus, the flower and the seed pod appear at the same time. Renge indicates the simultaneity of myo (Buddha) and ho (Nine states). In terms of our Buddhist practice the nine states are the cause and the Buddha state the effect.
There are actually two causes, the inherent cause and the external cause, and two effects, the latent effect and the manifest effect. We all have the inherent cause for enlightenment to Buddhahood. The external cause is the Gohonzon and our relationship with it is chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. This instantly creates the manifest effect of Buddhahood and we also create a tendency (latent effect) to experience the Buddha state in the future. We should be clear that Renge does not mean that we can live now and pay later. Renge explains the simultaneity of cause and effect which means we suffer right now when we act in a destructive way.
“As to the question of where exactly hell and the Buddha exist, one sutra reads that hell exists underground and another sutra reads that the Buddha is in the west. However, closer examination reveals that both exist in our five foot body. The reason I see it this way is that hell is the heart of a man who inwardly despises his father and disregards his mother, just like the lotus seed, which contains both flower and fruit at the same time.”
Finally, since the Lotus flower blooms in muddy swamps, renge also signifies life’s ability to purify itself.
Kyo has two meanings. The first is sutra, teaching, sound or vibration. Sounds never stop. Everything affects everything else in the boundless universe.
“Kyo denotes the voices and sounds of all living beings. One interpretation says, ‘voice makes an essential part of the Buddhist practice’. This is called kyo and the three existences of life are also called kyo”.
Thus kyo also means thread as in the weft of cloth. This signifies continuity or the flow of past, present and future; the perfect teaching which explains the eternal flow of life.
Through this explanation, limited though it must be, it can be seen that Myoho-Renge-Kyo has infinite depth. All Buddhist principles and philosophies arise through deeper study of these characters. But how can we use it in our lives? Myoho-Renge-Kyo is a beautiful, all-embracing truth, but if remains pure theory it is useless. This is where Nam comes in.
Nam is derived from the Sanskrit word Namas which means devotion or salutation. In Chinese, it was translated as kimyo. Ki means to return to the unchangeable, unshakable truth, and myo (a different myo from that of myoho) means to be based on wisdom which functions according to the circumstances. So the action of Nam, devoting or concentrating ourselves on chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo to the Gohonzon, means to return to this unchangeable truth of Myoho-Renge-Kyo and then live our lives based on the wisdom which arises, according to whatever situations occur in our daily lives. In terms of action kimyo means to unify one’s individual life with the rhythm of the life of the universe.
Ultimately, happiness does not depend on anything outside us. A good job, marriage, or any other situation in life can just easily be a source of suffering as it can be of happiness. This is why we chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo: TO ENSURE AN UNSHAKEABLE CONDITION OF LIFE.
Source: The Buddhism of the Sun (Pg. 54-56)
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