Saturday, May 1, 2010

Lion Cubs Will Become Lions – A Dialogue between Ikeda, Saito and Morinaka

IKEDA: A lion is valiant and resolute. It is powerful. It brims with a majesty that subdues all other animals. It is these qualities of the lion king that the Daishonin focuses on in his writings. He cites, for example, the passage in the Lotus Sutra that speaks of “the power of...the lion’s ferocity” (LS15, 218). He also describes the Buddha as a lion king successfully refuting the non-Buddhist believers who outnumber him.

MORINAKA: In comparing the Lotus Sutra to other sutras, the Daishonin says it is “like a
wrestling match between a lion king and a fox or a rabbit” (Gosho Zenshu, p. 852).

IKEDA: He also focuses on the lion’s calm and fearless manner.

SAITO: In a well-known passage, the Daishonin says: “Wherever your daughter may frolic or play, no harm will come to her; she will move about without fear like the lion king” (WND, 412). This refers to the benefit gained by those who believe in the Gohonzon.

IKEDA: In many places, the Daishonin mentions the formidable might of the lion that inspires awe and respect in all other animals. He also makes reference to the distinct characteristic of the lion king of summoning every ounce of strength in an attack, never taking any opponent lightly. This is the principle of “advancing three steps, and then gathering oneself to spring.”

Above all, the metaphor of the lion king is used in the Gosho to represent the Buddha, and Nichiren Daishonin in particular. The Daishonin writes, “The votary of the Lotus Sutra is like the sun or the lion” (WND, 613). In another place, he describes himself as being “like the lion king” (WND, 856).

SAITO: The Daishonin also compares the Lotus Sutra, the king of all sutras, to the lion king.

IKEDA: At any rate, of utmost importance is the oneness of mentor and disciple. A lion cub will also become a lion. Hence, the Daishonin teaches that we should struggle with the same spirit as the mentor.

He writes: “The lion king fears no other beast, nor do its cubs” (WND, 997), and “A calf
begotten by an ox king will become an ox king; it will never become a lion king. A cub sired by a lion king will become a lion king; it will never become a human king or a heavenly king”(WND, 323). A lion cub grows into a lion. Likewise, though ordinary people, the children of the Buddha who strive to realize kosen-rufu will definitely become Buddhas. This is the very essence of the correct teaching of Buddhism.


To assert that the Buddha exists apart from human beings and that ordinary people are only ever destined to be guided by the Buddha is not genuine Buddhism. The Lotus Sutra teaches that all people are Buddhas, and that Shakyamuni seeks to enable all to attain the same lofty state of life as he.


SAITO: Yes. Though the other sutras expound the greatness of Shakyamuni and the Buddhas from other lands, they do not reveal the greatness of human beings from the standpoint that all people without exception have the capacity to become Buddhas. Only the Lotus Sutra fully and completely sets forth a philosophy of respect for human beings.

IKEDA: From the perspective of those who are the Buddha’s disciples, people who just revere the Buddha from afar as mere bystanders do not qualify as genuine disciples.
Unless we wage a great struggle for the happiness of all people with the same dedication as the mentor—just as the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas of the Earth have struggled together as one since the distant past—we cannot call ourselves the lion’s cubs.Worse, if we are lion cubs whose actions incur the ridicule of “foxes,” then we do not qualify as successors of the lion king.

We only carry on the legacy of the Lotus Sutra, the scripture of the oneness of mentor and disciple, when we firmly make the heart of a lion king our own and struggle as one with the mentor.

None of us believe from the start that we possess great power and ability. But when we gain courage from the mentor, the strength to take action and fight wells forth in our lives. We already possess that strength and ability within us. When we embrace the Mystic Law, that is the lion king, that power and ability naturally well forth.

The Daishonin writes: “Suppose a lion has a hundred cubs. When the lion king sees its cubs attacked by other beasts or birds of prey, he roars; the hundred cubs will then feel emboldened, and the heads of those other beasts and birds of prey will be split in seven pieces” (WND, 949).

The practice of the hundred cubs, who represent the disciples, is to gain courage from the
roar of the lion king, the mentor, and defeat other beasts and birds of prey that attack them.

SAITO: In other words, if the disciples only rely on the mentor to battle and defeat devilish forces without taking on the struggle themselves and emerging victorious, they cannot possibly carry on the mentor’s spirit.

Source: 'The Heart of the Lion King' - Study Material for April 2010

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