Chapter 16
The Duration of the Life of the Tathagata
 

SUMMARY

In the preceding chapter, the countless number of bodhisattvas appeared from underground.  Bodhisattva Maitreya asked Sakyamuni how the Buddha could teach these countless people during the forty odd years after his enlightenment. 

This chapter answers the question and explains the existence of an everlasting and immortal Buddha.  It explains what we should worship as Gohonzon, or the Most Venerable One, and how we should adore the Gohonzon.

EXPLANATIONS

"Thereupon the Buddha said to the great multitude including Bodhisattvas and others, 'Good men!  Understand my sincere and infallible words by faith!'"
 (P.241, L.4.):

This chapter begins with the above words that Sakyamuni Buddha repeated three times.  It signifies how important this chapter is.  It is hard for us, ordinary people, to understand the Buddha's words logically, so we must believe them.

Tathagata is one of the epithets of a Buddha, and it means one who comes "thus."  Thus, the Tathagata had already attained Enlightenment a long time ago.  He was supposed to stay in the realm of truth, but he appeared again in this world in order to save all living beings.  Thus the Eternal Buddha comes here in order for us to attain Buddhahood just like him. 

"Thereupon the World-Honored One, seeing that they repeated their appeal even after they repeated it three times, said to them: 'Listen to me attentively!  I will tell you about my hidden core and supernatural power."
(P.241, L.16.):

Responding to the Buddha, the congregation repeated three times: "We will receive your words by faith."  Then at the fourth time, the Buddha finally started to tell the truth.  It was a solemn ceremony to repeat the phrases four times; it symbolizes how important this chapter is.  The same thing happened in chapter 2, "Expedients."  (See PP. 24-31.)   The Buddha said to Sâriputra; "No more, Sâriputra, will I say because the Dharma attained by the Buddhas is the highest Truth, rare to hear and difficult to understand."  Sâriputra asked: "Explain all this."  They exchanged the dialogs three times, then the Buddha finally said: "you asked me three times with enthusiasm.  How can I leave the Dharma un-expended?  Listen to me attentively."  Thus, the Buddha began to reveal the highest truth in chapter 2.  This is a ritual act.

"To tell the truth, it is many hundreds of thousand of billions of nayutas of kalpas since I became the Buddha.'
 (P.241, L.22.):

The sutras except the Lotus Sutra accept only the historical Buddha: Sakyamuni Buddha who left Kapila Palace of the Sakya Clan, sat under the Bodhi Tree,  attained Buddhahood, and died at the age of 80.  The historical Buddha is mortal and tangible.  He is also called "Shaku-butsu."  On the other hand, "Hom-butsu"  is the original and eternal Buddha who became the Buddha many hundreds of thousand of billions of nayutas of kalpas ago.  

Shaku-butsu is a manifestation of the Hom-butsu.  Hom-butsu is the Buddha who has no beginning and no end, just like a circle.  If there is a beginning, there must be also an end, like a line.

Therefore, Siddhartha Gautama who was born in Kapila Palace was already a Buddha at the time of his birth, but in order to show us that we could become Buddhas like him, he renounced his kingdom and practiced many religious exercises and meditation; as the result, he became a Buddha.

Here, we can see three different types of the Buddha: the Original Buddha, the Manifested Buddha, and the Reward Buddha.  Although there are many Buddhas, only Sakyamuni Buddha has these three types of the Buddha within himself.

"Suppose someone smashed into dust Five Hundred thousand billion nayuta asamkhya worlds, and sent to the east carrying the dust. When he reached a world at a distance of Five Hundred thousand billion nayuta asamkhya worlds, he put a particle on that world. ... Then he repeated that until the particles of the dust were exhausted." (P. 241, L.22.):

This phrase means eternal.  The similar explanation was revealed in chapter 7: "Suppose someone smashed all the earth-particles of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds into ink-powder.  Then he went to the east on the world at a distance of one thousand worlds from this world.  Then he repeated the inking of a dot on the world at every distance of one thousand worlds until the ink-powder was exhausted."

Comparing a distance of Five Hundred thousand billion nayuta asamkhya worlds in Chapter 16 and a distance of one thousand worlds from this world in Chapter 7, the former is a much longer distance.  In any case, it explains eternity.

"All this time I have been living in this Saha-World, and teaching by expounding the Dharma to them." (P.242, L.20):

The Buddha is alive and teaching Dharma to us always.  The physical Buddha who was born in India (Present Nepal) passed away,  so we cannot see him or hear from him; however, the Original Buddha exists in Dharma.  Human beings, animals, plants, wind, air and everything in the universe is the manifestation of the Dharma.

"During this time I gave names to myself differently" (P.241, L.25.):

For instance, he named himself the Burning-Light Buddha, Amida Buddha, Dainin Buddha, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, and many others.

"I expounded the Wonderful Dharma with these various expedients, and caused all living beings to rejoice." (P.243, L.32.):

A lie and an expedient are very different.  Lie is to deceive others and cause them harm while an expedient is a white lie to lead others to a better situation or salvation.  Nichiren Shu has many expedients such as amulets, ofuda, Kito blessing, and rei-dan.  These are for people to rejoice.  Rejoicing is one of the ways for people to approach the teaching of the Lotus Sutra.  Sakyamuni Buddha expounds his teachings so skillfully and with such a gentle voice that living beings are delighted.

It is very important to rejoice or delight in whatever you are doing.  Rejoicing and delighting make you and others feel better and full of vitality.

"All the sutras that I expounded hitherto were for the purpose of saving all living beings." (P.243, L.7.):

All teachings of the Buddha even expedients are for the purpose of saving all living beings.  

All teachings explained before revealing the Original Buddha in Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra are called "Shaku-mon" or Provisional teachings.  The "Hom-mon" is the latter half of the sutra that reveals the eternal nature of the Buddha.  Some Nichiren sects concentrate only the section of the Hom-mon.  Nichiren Shu places equal value on the Shaku-mon and the Hom-mon because even though Shaku-mon is expedient, it is still for the purpose of saving all living beings.  It is teaching to help all to understand the Hom-mon, as education in elementary and middle schools is a step to understanding higher education.

Therefore, the Eternal Buddha manifests as Sakyamuni, Amida, Dainichi, Yakushi Buddhas or other bodhisattvas.  The Eternal Buddha might manifest as Jesus Christ, Moses, Allah, or Confucius, depending of the level of understanding of the people.

If we understand all religions and cultures, we do not need to fight each other because of differences.

"I see that the triple worlds is the world in which the living beings have neither birth nor death, that is to say, do not appear or disappear, that it is the world in which I do not appear or from which I do not disappear, that it is not real or unreal, and that  its is not as it seems or as it does not seem.  I do not see the triple world in the same way as the livings beings of the triple world do."  (P.243, L.14.):

The triple world is the world of unenlightened beings.  It is divided into three:

The Buddhas see the essence of all things while we see things in differences: black or white, good or bad, wise or fool, beneficial or harmful, or winning or loosing.

Christians see differences like good or evil, God or Satan, heaven or hell, while Buddhists are supposed to see things in totality and individually as they is.   We should not attach to a thing or a matter.  See things in difference among equality and equality among difference.

"The duration of my life is innumerable, asamkhya kalpas.  I am always here.  I Shall never pass away." (P.243, L.25):

The Eternal Buddha is never born nor passes away.  Although the historical Buddha passed away many centuries ago in India, the Original Buddha is always with us.  The Buddha reveals the following parable for us to easily understand the existence of the Original Buddha:

  

THE PARABLE OF THE EXCELLENT PHYSICIAN

There was once an excellent and wise physician.  He was good at dispensing medicines and curing diseases. He had many children.  One day he went to a remote country on business.

After he left home, the children accidentally took some poison.  The poison passed in to their bodies, and the sons writhed in agony, rolling on the ground.  At that time the father returned home.  Some of his children had already lost their senses while others still had not.  All of them begged him to cure the poison sickness and said, "We were ignorant.  We took poison by mistake.  Cure us and give us back our lives!"

Seeing his children suffering so much, he compounded a medicine by pounding and sieving the herbs, and gave it to them, saying, "It has good color, smell and taste.  Take it!  It will remove the pain at once.  You will not suffer any more."

Those who had not lost their right minds took it at once, and were cured completely.  But the rest of them, who had already lost their right minds, did not consent to take the remedy given to them, because they were so perverted that they did not believe that this medicine having a good color and smell had a good taste.

The father thought, "These children are pitiful.  They are so poisoned that they are perverted.  Although they rejoice at seeing me and asked me to cure them, they do not consent to take this good medicine.  Now I will have them take it with an expedient."

Then he said the them, "Now I am old and decrepit.  I shall die soon.  I am leaving this medicine here.  Take it.  Do not be afraid, you will be cured!"  Having advised them, he went to a remote country again.  Then he sent home a messenger to tell them, "Your father has just died."

Having heard that their father had passed away leaving them behind, they felt extremely sorry.  They thought, "If our father were alive, he would love and protect us.  Now he has deserted us and died in a remote country."

They felt lonely and helpless because they thought that they were parentless and shelterless.  Their constant sadness finally caused them to remember what the father had said  in his last words, "Take this remedy!"  Then they took it and completely recovered from the poison.

On hearing that they had recovered their health, the father returned home and showed himself to them.

"What do you think of  this?  Do you think that anyone can accuse this excellent physician of falsehood?"  The answer is "No!"  

(EXPLANATIONS):

The Buddha is like the father.  It is many hundreds of thousands of billions of kalpas since he became the Buddha.  In order to save the perverted people in the world after the Buddha's death, he says expediently, "I shall pass away."

Although Sakyamuni Buddha has been gone for almost 2500 years, his teachings exist even today and will exist forever.  Just as the physical body of the doctor could not cure the sickness but rather it was the remedy that cured the poor children, the Buddha's teachings, the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, is continuing to cure the people in the declining latter age of the law.

Odaimoku AS THE GOOD REMEDY

St. Nichiren, the founder of Nichiren Buddhism, said the title of the Lotus Sutra, which is the Odaimoku, "Namu Myoho Renge Kyo," is just like the remedy of good color, taste, and fragrance.  Nichiren Shonin also said, "Chant the Odaimoku.  It is the only way to attain Buddhahood in the latter age of the law."

By chanting "Namu Myoho Renge Kyo," you will have the four powers of the Odaimoku at least.  They are to cure some physical and spiritual illness, to protect practitioners of the Lotus Sutra, to erase one's bad karma, and to attain the truth or Enlightenment.

Enjoy Chanting the Odaimoku

Many people asked; "I am chanting Odaimoku for many hours, many months or many years.  Why do I not get benefit of such and such."  These people seem to chant and pray hard, but their chanting and prayer is in the stage of the sixth and seventh consciousness.   They doubt the power of the Odaimoku and doubt themselves.  The doubt is buried deep in their sub-consciousness (the seventh consciousness).  They must purify the doubtful sub-consciousness.  

How can we purify the sub-consciousness and bad karma?  It is positive thinking.  One easy way to do is to smile.  It is to chant Odaimoku with a smiling face.  Look up at the Gohonzon, so your eyes will go up slightly and make your face turn to smiles.

Do not force yourself to chant.  If you force yourself to chant, you simply build up negative sub-consciousness because it is hard or painful.  Enjoy chanting Odaimoku.  If you do not feel happy chanting, you should change your chanting methods: for instance, sitting, timing, speed, or other factors.  

The Original Buddha is always thinking how to cause all living beings to enter into the unsurpassed way and quickly become Buddhas.

~NAMU MYOHO RENGE KYO~