The Three Kinds of Treasure
Okyobi Sermon, October, 2005
Reverend Shogu Kimura
Introduction
Confucius held to the proverb, “Nine thoughts to one word,” which means that he considered nine times before he spoke. Tan, the Duke of Chou, was so earnest in receiving callers that he would bind up his hair three times in the course of washing it, or spit out his food three times in the course of a meal, in order not to keep them waiting. Think carefully about what I mean by this so you will have no cause to reproach me later. Such thoughtfulness is surely a part of Buddhism. (Gosho, p. 1170; MWND-2, p. 273)
Good morning everyone. Today, on this occasion of the September Oko sermon in our expression of gratitude to our master Nichiren Daishonin and the Tatsunokuchi Honan-e Ceremony in observation of the Tatsunokuchi persecution, I have sincerely recited the sutras and chanted Daimoku together with you. Moreover, I have sincerely prayed for you to eliminate your sins and negative karma from this and infinite past lifetimes; for you to redouble your faith; for you to enjoy a safe and long life; for peace and harmony to reign in your home; for all matters to proceed forth smoothly; and for the successful achievement of all your great objectives in this and future existences. I am certain that the Daishonin would be truly pleased to see so many of you in attendance today.
In his lifetime, the Daishonin encountered many persecutions, as is indicated in the gosho passage, “Minor persecutions and annoyances are too numerous even to be counted, but the major persecutions number four.” The four major persecutions refer to the Matsubagayatsu Persecution, the Izu Exile, the Komatsubara Persecution, and the Tatsunokuchi Persecution. Of these, the Tatsunokuchi Persecution represented an extremely significant transformation in which he revealed his essential entity as the True Buddha, based on the principle of “the infinite past of kuon is in itself the Latter Day of the Law” (kuon soku mappo), while he maintained his form as a common mortal. This transformation is known as “casting off the transient and revealing the true” (hosshaku kempon).
After midnight of the 12th day of the 9th month of the 8th year of Bun’ei (1271) – past 2 a.m. on the 13th day – the Daishonin was taken by warriors of the feudal government to the execution site in Tatsunokuchi. At this time, there was an incident in which Shijo Kingo and his brother, who had accompanied the Daishonin, requested permission to follow him in death. Resigned to the fact that the Daishonin’s execution was imminent, Shijo Kingo wept tears of excruciating sorrow. The Daishonin told him that being executed for the sake of the Lotus Sutra was exactly what he had thus far prayed to be able to do and that nothing gave him greater pleasure. He reminded Shijo Kingo not to lose sight of this instruction and his promise and told him that he should, in fact, be rejoicing at this time. This is described in the following gosho passage: “Shijo Kingo, in tears, said, ‘These are your last moments.’ I replied, ‘How thoughtless you are! You should be delighted at this great fortune. Don’t you remember your promise?’” (Gosho, p.1060)
The Daishonin was placed in the central area. As Shijo Kingo, his brother, and numerous disciples, who were concerned about the Daishonin, chanted Daimoku, the soldiers of the feudal regime surrounded the Daishonin. One of the warriors held a long sword and flung his arm high to behead the Daishonin. At that very moment, a ball of light, as large as the moon, suddenly lit up the sky from the direction of Enoshima. The light was bright enough to clearly illuminate the faces of the people who were present. Cowered by this tremendous event, the warrior who held the sword fell to the ground. In fact, most of the soldiers were truly frightened and dropped to the ground or ran away. Buddhism teaches that a Buddha never dies a violent or unnatural death. Thus, one who has attained Buddhahood would never be executed to death.
Today’s service is an expression of our debt of gratitude to the Daishonin, the True Buddha, for his great compassion. We extend our appreciation to him for undergoing the great persecutions. Through this ceremony, we pledge to him that we will continue to uphold faith, without ever begrudging our lives, regardless of what obstacles we may encounter, and that we will achieve our great objective of kosenrufu.
The gosho passage on which we are focusing today is from “The Three Kinds of Treasure” (Sushun tenno gosho). This gosho was written on the 11th day of the 9th month of the 3rd year of Kenji (1277). The Daishonin, who was in Minobu at the time, addressed it to Shijo Kingo.
Usually, I present you with a brief summary of the entire gosho, but I will omit that today, since we are short on time.
I will now explain the gosho passage for this month.
First, the sentence reads: “Confucius held to the proverb, “Nine thoughts to one word,” which means that he considered nine times before he spoke.”
The Daishonin referred to the Confucian principle of “Nine thoughts to one word.” This is an extremely essential phrase in this passage. This does not mean that you must reconsider nine times whether or not you should utter a word. It means that you must consider nine aspects in your every conduct. In other words, you must thoroughly consider an issue from various perspectives before you verbalize it. You must carefully present your thoughts, so that they are described neither excessively nor insufficiently. Let me introduce each of these nine aspects to you.
- The first thought is “to see clearly when one uses his eyes.” This means that it is important for us to keenly understand the reasoning and essential nature of things when we observe all occurrences, conditions, and people.
- The second thought is “to hear acutely when one uses his ears.” We must pay serious attention when we listen to people speak and in all other matters that pertain to listening and hearting. We must not be absent-minded, and we must never fail to hear the entirety of things. It is important to listen assertively, while we clearly evaluate between good and bad, truth and heresy, and right and wrong.
- The third thought is “to look cordial when it comes to one’s countenance.” In our dealings with others, we must try our best to maintain a gentle expression and attitude.
- The fourth is “to appear respectful when it comes to one’s demeanor.” When we encounter people, we must revere them, regardless of who they are; we must deal with them with great respect in our expression and attitude.
- The fifth thought is “to be conscientious when one speaks.” In our speech, we must try to make certain that our words and thoughts are not incongruous. We must not say what we do not mean.
- The sixth thought is “to be reverent when one performs his duties.” This means that we must be reverent and deferential in our conduct.
- The seventh is “to seek advice when one is in doubt.” When we are in doubt, we must never formulate arbitrary evaluations. Even if we are superior in position to the other person, it is important for us to seek advice.
- The eighth thought is “to consider the consequences when one is enraged.” This means that we must thoroughly consider the negative consequences that we may eventually encounter due to our current momentary outburst of angry emotion.
- The ninth and final thought is “to do what is right at the sight of gain.” When we are about to gain something that is beneficial to us, we must consider whether or not that gain is reasonable and is fair to us and to others. It is essential for us not to embrace any unreasonable gains.
The Daishonin, through his reference to the principle of “Nine thoughts to one word,” instructed us that we must thoroughly consider these nine aspects before uttering a word.
He meant that in voicing every word, we must carefully consider these nine significant aspects.
Through this gosho passage, the Daishonin taught us that we must never deal with people, based on a momentary outburst of emotion. He instructed us that, in our speech and our conduct, we must be considerate towards those whose lives are different from ours.
The next segment in the passage stated: “Tan, the Duke of Chou, was so earnest in receiving callers that he would bind up his hair three times in the course of washing it, or spit out his food three times in the course of a meal, in order not to keep them waiting.”
In this anecdote, Tan, the Duke of Chou, respected people and never treated them carelessly or impolitely, even when he was eating a meal or washing his hair. He never made them wait, and he met them right away. This taught us that it is important to be considerate and sincere towards others in our conduct.
Based on these instructions, let us consider how we should conduct ourselves at the temple and in society.
At the temple, within the Hokkeko organization, we encounter problems from time to time, even though we are all embracing the supreme Buddhism. Strangely enough, there are occasions when friction among some people increases in proportion to their increase in activities. Society is full of people who are suffering from problems concerning human relationships. Why are there such problems? In essence, these issues exist because individuals are unable to see things from a comprehensive perspective. If a person is convinced that his thoughts and knowledge are correct, when in fact, he himself exists in delusion, he is then unable to view things from a comprehensive standpoint. He tends to focus on trivial matters, his ego clashes with that of others, and his unnecessary or inappropriate words cause problems to escalate out of proportion. Even in uttering a single word, we must base our speech and conduct on the nine considerations, which would enable us to achieve a correct understanding of things from a comprehensive perspective. When we possess this comprehensive outlook, we would not be controlled by and limited to our own views. We would be able to see the conditions and intentions of others. This, in turn, would cause us to change our own conduct.
However, the only way in which we can truly achieve a comprehensive outlook on things is by upholding correct faith and chanting Daimoku. The benefits of chanting Daimoku would enable us to gain a comprehensive perspective on things and understand their true nature. There are many things that cannot be resolved by means of the experience and knowledge that we can gain in society in general. As common mortals in the Latter Day of the Law, we tend to think of society and Buddhism as separate entities. However, society is actually a part of Buddhism.
If people increasingly base their lives on society, their delusion will deepen in direct proportion to such increase, and they will destroy their lives. They may want to become famous in society; they may want to be considered great by people in society; they may want to be acknowledged by those in society. Using their practice to achieve such objectives is a topsy-turvy scheme that mistakes the means for the end.
Nichikai Shonin, the 60th High Priest of the Head Temple, who was the father of our current High Priest Nikken Shonin, stated:
If the sun and the moon did not exist in the heavens, this world would be completely dark. A nation without a great sovereign would end in ruin. An individual without a soul is a dead person. In the same way, if we lose sight of the Three Great Secret Laws of the essential teaching – the Great Law of the Buddhism of the sowing – then True Buddhism would meet with darkness and end in destruction. Buddhism is in itself society. Therefore, if Buddhism is destroyed, then, as a matter of course, society, too, would be destroyed and cease to exist.
Society cannot exist without True Buddhism. In other words, not knowing about Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is tantamount to not having life.
When the Daishonin referred to the Confucian principle of “Nine thoughts to one word,” he did not do so to encourage us to become outstanding individuals in society. His instruction sought to teach us the conduct of those who uphold powerful faith.
He then wrote: “Such thoughtfulness is surely a part of Buddhism.” Buddhism essentially teaches people to be thoughtful and considerate towards others. This is the issue taught by our gosho passage for this month. The Lotus Sutra that we recite everyday, indeed, represents the true objective of Shakyamuni’s advent into this world. The Bodhisattva Never Disparaging (Fukyo; twentieth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra expounded the correct way to practice. It described how Bodhisattva Fukyo, in his practice, held all people – the elderly, the young, men, women, good people and evil individuals – in reverence and associated with them. He joined his hands in prayer towards them to show his respect, since he believed that all people possess the Buddha nature and would, therefore, attain Buddhahood without fail. Indeed, the Lotus Sutra taught people that they must revere and venerate all individuals, and that they must respect them in their conduct, regardless of whether or not they were associated by a karmic bond. Another truly important practice expounded by the Lotus Sutra was shakubuku. The practice of shakubuku was, in fact, based on the practice of revering the Buddha nature within all people.
In our daily lives, we, too, must sincerely respect and revere those around us. When we associate with them with such an attitude, our actions will directly function to protect True Buddhism. Then, we will be able to successfully achieve shakubuku.
As we uphold faith in Nichiren Shoshu and assiduously perform shakubuku, we must never entertain the illusion that we are immediately perfect, superior individuals, simply because we embrace the supreme teaching. If we believe that we are superior people because we are the Daishonin’s disciples and if we conduct ourselves haughtily, we will immediately descend into a life condition of arrogance. Precisely because we uphold the Lotus Sutra and practice the True Buddhism of the Daishonin, we must encounter people in society with warmth and consideration, and we must thoroughly exercise common sense in our dealings with them.
I would like to conclude my sermon for today by sincerely praying that you will achieve a profound understanding of the issue set forth in this month’s gosho passage and that you will visit the temple as frequently as possible and assiduously perform shakubuku.
Finally, I would like to share with you that I flew to Japan last week on urgent business. My cousin, Reverend Yuou Kimura, passed away, and I went to attend his funeral service. He attended the Transfer Ceremony here in March of last year, so some of you may know of him. His funeral was successfully conducted under the great leadership of our High Priest Nikken Shonin. I apologize for my absence from this temple during this time.
I have one more issue to tell you. The 4th Overseas Believers’ General Tozan Pilgrimage will be held at the Head Temple next summer, from August 17 through 21. Our goal is to send 108 or more believers from Myoshin-ji Temple to attend this tozan. We are upon hard times, so things may be difficult for you, but please understand that the goal for the number of participants was set forth by our High Priest. So, let us all participate in this tozan pilgrimage. I will soon send you detailed information concerning this event, and I ask you for your cooperation.
Thank you for your kind attention to the very end.