THE DHARMA FLOWER SUTRA SEEN THROUGH
THE ORAL TRANSMISSION OF NICHIREN DAISHÔNIN
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The Sutra on the White Lotus Flower-like Mechanism
Of the Utterness Of the Dharma (Myôhô Renge Kyô),
The Sixth Chapter on the Disclosure of the Future
Record of those who will attain Enlightenment

The first important point: the disclosure of the future record.

In the seventh volume of the Textual Explanation of the Dharma Flower Sutra it says that the significance of a disclosure is to give something out.

The Oral Transmission on the Meaning of the Dharma Flower Sutra says that “the Future Record of those who will attain Enlightenment” designates Nam Myôhô Renge Kyô which is to give back our lives and devote them to (namu kimyô) the Utterness of the Dharma [entirety of existence] (Myôhô) permeated by the underlying white lotus flower-like mechanism of the interdependence of cause, concomitancy and effect (Renge) in its whereabouts of the ten realms of dharmas (Kyô). Here the word “disclose” indicates all the sentient beings of the dimension of humankind. But it is not to be disclosed to those people who will not hold faith in this teaching, since they will not accept it.

Now, Nichiren and those that follow him receive the future record of those who will attain enlightenment on account of their reciting Nam Myôhô Renge Kyô. Again the Oral Transmission says that the disclosure of the future records of those who will attain enlightenment means to disclose to someone the workings of the realms of dharmas or the Dharma realm (hokkai, dharmadâtu) of which the entirety is the underlying dynamism of all existence wherein the interdependence of cause, concomitancy and effect is operative. The disclosure of the future record of falling into hell is due to causes of transgression. This is on account of the karma produced by such transgressions and that there are people who have it disclosed to them that they will fall into the realms of suffering (jigokai). You must be aware that the same principle also applies to each one of the ten [psychological] realms of dharmas (jikkai). If one discloses the future record of a life that is to be, then that life will come to its end in dying. If one is to disclose the future record of somebody’s death, then after that person has passed through the intermediate phase between dying and living (chu’on, antarabhava) that person will be reborn again. Disclosure of the future records such as this is valid for the perpetuity of the past, present and future.

What this all alludes to is that the four disciples 1) Makakashô, 2) Kasennen, 3) Mokkenren and 4) Shubodai who exerted themselves to attain the highest stage of the teaching of the individual vehicle (arakan, arhat) through listening to the discourses of the Buddha and who were also of average propensities can be taken as representatives of the four phases of the lifetime of sentient beings: 1) being born and growing (shô), 2) maturing and aging, 3) getting sick and becoming feeble and 4) the finality of death.

Makakashô represents the phase of our lives which is our birth and growing up. Makakashô was one of the ten most important disciples of Shākyamuni, as well as being the foremost practitioner of all the ascetic precepts to purify one’s body along with shaking off attachments to clothes, food and dwelling. Also he is thought of as being the most dedicated and diligent of the Buddha’s disciples whose deep faith and spiritual accomplishments make him the psychological archetype for being alive. Kasennen represents the phase in our lives of maturing and aging. This disciple’s personality was forged through intensive study. He was considered the principal debater of the Buddha teachings and made enormous efforts to propagate them. Perhaps we can see in the maturity and learning of this great disciple a reflection of the maturity and aging that lies within us. Mokuren stands for the phase in our own lives of sickness and decline. He was said to have had the most outstanding psychic abilities among the disciples of Shākyamuni. It is recorded that when his mother died she fell into one of the dimensions of hungry demons. However through his psychic powers he was able to save her through the teachings of the Dharma Flower Sutra. It is also recorded that Mokuren was killed by Brahman heretics because of his ability to discern that the past karma of these Brahmans was negative. But all the same he was able to remove that karma and save his assassins. When it comes to Shubodai, do we see something in the demeanor of this wise individual, the dignity that lies behind the unavoidable archetypal decline in our own existences? Out of all the major disciples of Shākyamuni he had the deepest understanding of the immateriality of the latencies of noumena or the emptiness of nirvana which is comparable to that which lies between one atomic particle and another (kû, shûnyatâ). Thus he was able to fully understand the fundamental principle that living and dying are not separate from each other (shôji funi) and all the implications of a necessary death.

When we reach the level of understanding something of the content of the Dharma Flower Sutra, then these four phases of our existence which are 1) being born and growing up, 2) maturing and aging, 3) sickness and decline and 4) the finality of death become apparent in our minds in the archetypal form of those four great intellectual seekers (shômon, shrâvaka). None of this is separate from the eight features of the life of a Buddha which consist of; 1) the descent from the heavenly realms, 2) entering the womb, 3) leaving the womb, 4) leaving home for the ascetic life, 5) subduing all manner of negativism, 6) the attainment to the path, 7) turning the wheel of the Dharma and 8) entering into the extinction of nirvana. However, to receive the disclosure of the future record of understanding the real aspect of all dharmas (shohô jissô) is a disclosure of what the Utterness of the Dharma (myôhô) entails and also a concept of what the Dharma realm or the realms of dharmas really are. A disclosure of the future record with regard to the Lotus Flower (Renge) implies that the Dharma realm is utterly untainted, immaculate and devoid of volition.

Again to receive the disclosure of the record of the implication of the word sutra (Kyô) is that the words, expressions, sounds and voices of all life will perpetuate throughout eternity. There is only one expression for disclosing all future records and that is Nam Myôhô Renge Kyôwhich means to devote our lives to and found them on (Nam) the Utterness of the Dharma [entirety of existence] (Myôhô) permeated by the underlying white lotus flower-like mechanism of the interdependence of cause, concomitancy and effect (Renge) in its whereabouts of the ten realms of dharmas (Kyô).

Then, after the World Honoured One had finished declaiming the metric hymn in the previous chapter, he addressed the great assembly and said: “The Dharma is just as it has been described in this metric hymn. This disciple of mine Makakashô, will in ages to come after having reverently had audiences with three hundred myriads of myriads of Buddha World Honoured Ones and having respectfully made offerings to them and solemnly rendered honour to them as well as broadly communicating the unlimited all-embracing Dharma of all the Buddhas, will in his final incarnation attain the realization of Buddhahood. His name will be the Tathâgata Radiant Splendour (Kômyô, Rashmiprabhâsa) worthy of offerings, correctly and universally enlightened, whose wisdom and conduct are perfect, completely free from the cycles of living and dying yet with a complete understanding of the realms of existence, lord supreme, the master who brings the passions and delusions of sentient beings into harmonious control, the teacher of humankind and devas, the Buddha World Honoured One, also the country of Light and Merit (Kôtokukoku, Avabhâsa). His kalpa will be named ‘all-embracing Adornment’ (Daishôgon, Mahâlamkaraka). This Buddha’s lifespan will be twelve minor kalpas. The period when his Dharma will be correctly flawless whereby sentient beings can become fully enlightened will continue for twenty minor kalpas. The period in which his Dharma will degenerate into mere formalities and ritual (zôbô) will again last for another twenty minor kalpas.”

The second important point concerning Makakashô and the Tathâgata Radiant Splendour in the passage of the sutra that begins with “The disciple of mine Makakashô . . .”

The Oral Transmission on the Meaning of the Dharma Flower Sutra says that the radiant splendour which is Nam Myôhô Renge Kyô refers to the way all sentient beings look. The word “radiant” involves the concept of the blazing torches and the fierce fires of the hellish sufferings in our minds that are in fact none other than the luminosity of the wisdom which is received from and applied by the fundamental enlightenment that is eternally within us. The same is appropriate to the other nine realms of dharmas which are always a reflection of our own respective states of mind including the fruition of enlightenment.

Now, Nichiren and those that follow him beam the radiant splendour of the psychological equation of Nam Myôhô Renge Kyô into the unenlightened darkness of that which detracts from the truth (hôbô). This is the role of Makakashô who was to become the Tathâgata Radiant Splendour.

Makakashô considered the ascetic practice to purify the body and mind and shake off one’s attachments to clothes, food and a place to live as the basis of his faith and vocation for Buddhahood (zuda, dhûta). Here the word “zuda” means to shake off or do away with something. Now that we have entered the final phase of the Dharma of Shākyamuni (mappô), people who follow the teaching of Nichiren do away with all other practices and dedicate themselves entirely to observing that of Nam Myôhô Renge Kyô.

This alludes to, “The difficulty of holding to this sutra and those that can are people who do the ascetic practice of purifying their bodies and minds which is ‘zuda’.”

The whole area of the kingdom of Radiant Splendour is richly adorned. It is devoid of filth and dirt or tiles and gravel, thorns or brambles, feces or other impurities. The whole terrain is equally level. It is devoid of high or low places, potholes or trenches or even squalid and slummy settlements. The ground itself is lapis lazuli. There are rows of trees that are formed out of precious substances and golden ropes are strung along the edges of the roads. Here and there are scattered clusters of flowers of precious materials. Everywhere it is immaculately pure. In this kingdom there are boundless thousands of bodhisattvas and the assembly of people who strive to attain the highest stage of the individual vehicle through listening to the Buddha is again without number. Even though the Evil One (Mara) is present in that kingdom, he and all his following protect the Dharma of the Buddha.

Then the World Honoured One wishing to reiterate this concept repeated it in the form of a metric hymn.

This I have to say to the monks:
that through my eyes of enlightenment
I see this person Makakashô
who in ages to come
after uncountable kalpas have gone by
will indeed attain the fruition of Buddhahood (sabutsu).
In his future existences
he will make offerings to
and be admitted into the presence of
three hundred, ten thousand of myriads
of Buddha World Honoured Ones
and for the sake of attaining
the wisdom and discernment of the Buddhas
he will practice
with the purist of religious devotion (bongyô).
After having made offerings to
the highest beings on two legs
who are the World Honoured Ones,
Makakashô will do all the practices
to attain the highest wisdom.
In his last incarnation
he will become a Buddha.
His Buddha terrain will be immaculate.
The ground will be of lapis lazuli
and many trees of precious materials
will line the sides of the roads
which will be cordoned off
with golden ropes
for the pleasure of those that see them.
There will be the finest of fragrances
constantly in the air
and all sorts of delicate flowers
will be strewn along the way.
All sorts of rarities
will be the adornment of this terrain.
The ground
will be equally flat all over
without any hills or ditches
and the multitudes of bodhisattvas
can never really be counted.
Their minds will be harmoniously open
and whose reaches of the mind will go far.
They will hold to all the sutras
of the universal vehicle of all the Buddhas.
All the people in the assembly
who exert themselves to attain
the highest realization of the individual vehicle
through listening to the Buddha (shômon, shrâvaka)
will be pure and undefiled
and also without troublesome worries (bonnô)
will be abiding in their final incarnations.
As royal sons of the sovereign of the Dharma
it would be impossible to count them.
Even by the means of the vision of the devas
their number cannot be counted.
This Buddha’s lifespan
will amount to twelve minor kalpas.
The period when this Buddha’s teaching
will turn into mere ritualistic formalities (zôbô)
will last for another twenty minor kalpas.
Everything which concerns
the World Honoured One Radiant Splendour
will be just as I have said.

Thereupon Mokuren, Shubodai, Kasennen and all the others who were shaking and trembling unanimously put the palms of their hands together and looked up to the World Honoured One without taking their eyes off him even for an instant. Then all together they recited in unison the following metric hymn:

Ferocious Hero, Subduer of Demons
and at the same time the World Honoured One
who is the sovereign of the Dharma of all the Shakya clan,
for the sake of taking pity on us,
please bestow upon us the sound of your voice.
If by knowing what is in the depths of our minds
you can find a way to foresee
our attainment to Buddhahood,
it would be like a besprinkling
of honey dew (kanro, amrta)
which would cause anyone who drank it
to become immortal,
so as to disperse the frenzy
of our troublesome worries (bonnô)
in order that we might be able
to become invigorated again.
It is as though somebody
who came from a country where the people are starving
is suddenly presented
with a feast fit for a great king.
Yet still with doubts and fears
in that person’s mind
he does not dare to eat.
It is only after the king
has bidden him to do so
that he will have the courage
to enjoy the feast.
It is also the same situation for us
who always worry about the errors
of the individual vehicle (shôjô, hinayâna),
yet we really do not know how we shall arrive
at the unsurpassed wisdom of the Buddha.
If only we were able to hear the voice of the Buddha say
that we will attain the fruition of Buddhahood
though we still have in our minds
the fear and the anxiety of the person
who does not dare to eat,
if the Buddha could only make the announcement
as to who will become enlightened
then we would be filled with joy and relief.
Ferocious Hero, Subduer of Demons
and at the same time the World Honoured One
who always wishes to give comfort to the realms of existence,
we beg you to announce
who will become a Buddha,
in the same way as
a hungry person is bidden to eat.

Then at that moment the World Honoured One knowing what was going on in the minds of his greater disciples said to the assembly of monks:“This Shubodai, in ages to come after having been admitted to the presence of three hundred myriads of myriads of further immense numbers of Buddhas and having made offerings to them as well as venerating them, praising them and exalting them, will constantly practice the conduct of purity which is the way to nirvana along with completing the path of bodhisattva practice. He will then in his last incarnation reach the state of Buddhahood.”

This Buddha will be called the Tathâgata Token of Eminence who will be worthy of offerings, correctly and universally enlightened, whose knowledge and conduct are perfect, completely free from the cycles of living and dying, yet with a thorough understanding of the realms of existence, lord supreme, the master who brings the passions and delusions of sentient beings into harmonious control, the teacher of humankind and the devas, the Buddha and the World Honoured One. His kalpa will be called Endowed with Jewels and his terrain will be called Born Out of Jewels, where the land will be level all around and the ground will be of crystal. It will be stately adorned with trees consisting of precious substances. It will be devoid of hills and ditches, with no sand nor gravel nor brambles nor thorns nor excrement nor filth. Flowers of precious substances will cover the ground and the environment will be totally pure. The people who live in that country will live in pavilions built with precious materials or will dwell in pagodas built of rare substances. The disciples of the Tathâgata Token of Eminence who will be the people who exert themselves to attain the highest stage of the teachings of the individual vehicle through listening to the Buddha (shômon, shrâvaka) will be of a boundlessly uncountable number which cannot be estimated. The assembly of bodhisattvas will be made up of numberless and infinite thousands of myriads of persons. The lifespan of this Buddha will be twenty minor kalpas. The period when the Dharma of this Buddha will be correctly practiced and understood so that it will bring about enlightenment (shohô) will perpetuate for twenty minor kalpas. Also the age when the Dharma of this Buddha has fallen into the routinization of so many ritualistic formalities (zôbô) will last for another twenty minor kalpas. This Buddha Token of Eminence will continually be present in empty space (kokû) where he will explain the Dharma for the benefit of the boundless multitude of bodhisattvas as well as giving release from the wheel of transmigration and unenlightenment to the assembly of the people who will exert themselves to attain the highest stage of the teaching of the individual vehicle through listening to the Buddha.

Thereupon the Buddha, wishing to reiterate the meaning of what he had said, expressed it again in the form of a metric hymn.

Now listen all you assembled monks
to what I am telling you.
You must unanimously heed
what I am about to say.
This great disciple of mine Shubodai
will in future ages
attain the fruition of Buddhahood
and his name will be Token of Eminence.
He will indeed make offerings
to uncountable myriads of myriads of Buddhas.
According to the practices of the enlightened
he will gradually complete
the all-embracing path of Buddhahood
and in his final incarnation
he will effectuate
the thirty-two distinguishing marks of the Buddhas.
He will be tall, upright and exquisitely handsome
like a mountain of precious stones.
The terrain of his Buddha land
will be the first in magnificence and purity.
The people who see this terrain
cannot help themselves but be delighted.
The Buddha Token of Eminence will give release
from the cycles of transmigration and unenlightenment
to boundless multitudes of sentient beings.
The pith or the important point
of the Dharma of that Buddha
will make all the bodhisattvas, who without exception
will be endowed with the sharpest of propensities,
rotate the wheel of no regression to bewilderment.
This Buddha terrain will always
be adorned with bodhisattvas
along with the assembly whose number cannot be counted
of all those who listen to the Buddha (shômon, shrâvaka)
and will all arrive at the three insights (sanmyô).
[They are 1) the insight into the mortal conditions of themselves and others in their previous lives, 2) the penetration of their minds into future mortal conditions and 3) the insight into the painfulness of their present existences so as to overcome all passions and desires.]
Also they will be in possession
of the six reaches of the mind
of those who have realized the highest degree
of the teachings of the individual vehicle (arakan, arhat).
[They are 1) the sight of the devas, 2) the hearing of the devas, 3) the ability to penetrate the minds of other beings, 4) the ability to understand the karma of sentient beings, 5) the ability to manifest themselves according to the propensities of other people and mentally be able to travel elsewhere, 6) the ability to cut off all troublesome worries (bonnô).]
Again, all those people who listen to the Buddha
will dwell in the dimension
of the awe-inspiring effectiveness
of the eight kinds of emancipation.
[They are 1) emancipation from when subjective desire arises and the realization of what things are in reality, 2) liberation when no subjective desire arises by still meditating on the fundamental reality of all existence, 3) liberation through concentrating on the sublime so as to realize a permanent state of freedom from all desire, 4) liberation in the realization of the boundlessness of noumena, latency and empty space (kû, shûnyatâ), 5) liberation in the realization of the infinite knowledge of understanding what existence is all about, 6) liberation in the realization of the illusoriness and unreality of existence, 7) liberation in the state of mind in which there is neither thought nor the absence of thought, 8) liberation through a state of mind in which there is without question the final extinction of nirvana.]
While this Buddha expounds the Dharma
he will manifest the boundless reaches of his mind
along with transformations and changes of phenomena
that cannot be pondered over or discussed.
Devas and humankind
as many as the grains of sand of the Ganges
will all put the palms of their hands together
as they take in the words of the Buddha.
The lifespan of this Buddha
will be as long as twelve minor kalpas.
The length of time in which his Dharma remains correct
so that other people
can become enlightened through it
will be twenty minor kalpas
and when his Dharma becomes a simulated and routinized parody
of what such a teaching really is
it will linger on again
for another twenty kalpas.

There and then the World Honoured One said to the assembly of monks (biku, bikshu, shrâmanera): I will now tell you that this Kasennen in ages to come after reverently having made offerings to eighty thousand myriads of Buddhas venerating and paying homage to them, after all these Buddhas will have entered into the extinction of nirvana, he will build a stupa dedicated to each Buddha which will be of an equal height and width of a thousand yojanas and each covering an area of five thousand yojanas. These stupas will be made of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, mother-of-pearl, agate, pearl and coral which all together are the seven precious materials. Afterwards all these stupas will be adorned with a profusion of flowers, strings of precious beads, perfume, ointments, sweet-smelling and variously coloured powders, incense, painted canopies and large tubular banners which will all serve as further reverence to these monuments. Having achieved all this, he will then make further offerings to another twenty thousand Buddhas and at the same time having completed all the practices of the bodhisattva path, he will indeed attain the fruition of Buddhahood. His name will be the Tathâgata the Rich Golden Shine of the Sands of the Jambu River, who will be worthy of offerings and universally enlightened, whose knowledge and conduct are perfect, completely free from the cycle of living and dying, yet still with a complete understanding of the realms of existence, lord supreme, the master who brings the passions and delusions of sentient beings into harmonious control, teacher of humankind and the devas, the Buddha who is the World Honoured One.

The terrain, upon which the Tathâgata the Rich Golden Shine of the Sands of the Jambu River will depend for an existence, will be equally level in all directions and the ground will be of crystal. It will be adorned with trees of precious substances and golden cords will be set up along the sides of the roads. Wonderfully beautiful flowers will cover the ground. All the surroundings will be absolutely pure and the people who see this terrain will be filled with gladness. In this Buddha terrain it will be free of the four of the most unfortunate paths of rebirth which are 1) the sufferings of the various types of hells, 2) the realms of the hankerings and cravings of the hungry ghosts, 3) the instinctive qualities and the lack of spiritual prowess of animality and 4) the dimension of anger, arrogance and showing off of the ashuras (shura). But there will be many human beings and devas. Also the assembly of the intellectual seekers (shômon, shrâvaka) and bodhisattvas will be of boundless myriads of myriads of myriads. This will be the real adornment of this Buddha terrain. The lifespan of the Tathâgata the Rich Golden Shine of the Sands of the Jambu River will be twenty minor kalpas. The length of time in which his Dharma will remain correct so that other people can become enlightened through it will be twenty minor kalpas and when his Dharma becomes a simulated and routinized parody of what such a teaching is it will linger on for another twenty minor kalpas.

Thereupon the World Honoured One, wishing to reiterate the importance of what he had said, expressed it again in the form of a metric hymn.

Now then all you monks (biku) listen single-mindedly.
What I have said just now
is the real truth and in no way different from it.
This disciple of mine Kasennen
who on account of all sorts of wonderful gifts
that he will offer to the Buddhas
after their extinction into nirvana,
will erect stupas
made of the seven precious materials
and adorn them with flowers and incense
as offerings to these Buddha relics.
Then in his final incarnation
he will come to realize the Buddha wisdom
and attain the unexcelled
correct and all-embracing enlightenment.
His Buddha terrain will be pure
where he will emancipate
boundless myriads of myriads of myriads of sentient beings
from the cycles of living and dying.
Also people from the ten directions
will make offerings to him.
There will be nothing brighter
than the radiance of this Buddha,
since this Buddha will be called
the Rich Golden Shine
of the Sands of the Jambu River
as well as the Golden Light of the World of Humankind.
The bodhisattvas and the intellectual seekers (shômon, shrâvaka)
who will have freed themselves
of all concepts of the illusion of existence
will be boundless without number
which will be the real adornment of this Buddha land.

Thereupon the World Honoured One again addressed the great assembly and said: I will now tell you that Mokkenren, through all kinds of offerings to eight thousand Buddhas after having rendered homage and venerating them, subsequently when all these Buddhas have passed into the extinction of nirvana, will indeed build stupas for each which will be equally a thousand yojanas tall and a thousand yojanas wide that will occupy an area of five thousand yojanas. These stupas will be made of the seven precious substances which are gold, silver, lapis lazuli, mother-of-pearl, agate, pearl and coral. There will be an abundance of flowers, garlands, fragrant ointments, fragrant coloured powders, incense, canopies and tubular banners as further offerings to these reliquary monuments.

After having achieved such feats, once again he will make offerings to two hundred myriads of myriads of myriads of Buddhas in exactly the same way as before. Then he will definitely attain Buddhahood. His name will be Tathâgata of the Perfumes of Tamâla and Sandalwood who will be worthy of offerings, correctly and universally enlightened, whose knowledge and conduct will be perfect, completely free from cycles of living and dying, yet with a complete understanding of the realms of existence, lord supreme, the master who will bring the passions and delusions of sentient beings into harmonious control, the teacher of humankind and the devas and the Buddha who is the World Honoured One. The kalpas in which he lives will be called Joyous Fulfillment and his terrain or Buddha land will be called Joy of the Mind. It will be equally level in all directions and the ground will consist of crystal. It will be adorned with trees of precious substances and flowers of pearl will be scattered all around. The whole environment will be purity itself and the people who look upon it will be filled with joy. There will be many devas and human beings and the bodhisattvas and the intellectual seekers (shômon, shrâvaka) will be without number. This Buddha’s lifespan will be twenty-four minor kalpas. The period in which his Dharma will be correct so that other people can become enlightened through it will endure for forty minor kalpas and the length of time in which this Dharma will be an imitation and routinization of what such a teaching should be (zôbô) will also perpetuate for forty minor kalpas.

Then the World Honoured One wishing to reiterate the meaning of what he had just said, expressed it again in the form of a metric hymn.

This disciple of mine Mokkenren
when he gets rid of his present body
as being beyond use,
will then be able to see
eight thousand two hundred of myriads of myriads
of Buddha World Honoured Ones.

The third important point concerning the previous six lines in the sutric text: “This disciple of mine Mokkenren, when he gets rid of his present body as being beyond use, will then be able to see eight thousand two hundred of myriads of myriads of Buddha World Honoured Ones.”

The Oral Transmission on the Meaning of the Dharma Flower Sutra states that the question arises from this particular passage as to whether we let go of our present bodies when they are beyond use and transmigrating from one body to another does not mean that we let go of our bodies permanently. Letting go of our bodies when they are beyond use and transmigration from one body to another are concepts that belong to the original archetypal state (honmon), whereas relinquishing our bodies permanently refers to the teachings that are derived from the external events of the Buddha’s life and work (shakumon). [This also points to other teachings that would like to insinuate that we only have one life.]

However to suggest that one must let go of one’s body and person when it is beyond use is contradictory to the notion of our troublesome worries (bonnô) not being separate from our enlightenment and that the cycles of living and dying are not separate from nirvana since nirvana is equated with the universal entity of the Dharma (hosshin) which is what our existence consists of. Coming to the point, Nichiren and his followers reverently recite Nam Myôhô Renge Kyô which implies that they have already let go of their own bodies and person (shin) by letting them go wholeheartedly into the practices of our school.

Again the Oral Transmission states that when we read the Chinese ideogram “to let go” with its extended meaning of “giving a donation without any attachments” then it takes on the significance of making an offering of the five elements: 1) earth, 2) water, 3) fire, 4) wind and 5) the latency of noumena and the empty space that lies between one atomic particle and another (kû, shûnyatâ). These we donate to the Dharma realm or the realms of dharmas [which again is life itself]. But this ideogram is not used with the implication of throwing our bodies or persons away. The assertion that we must let go of our bodies and persons before we can attain Buddhahood is a concept that belongs to the provisional teachings. The real meaning of letting one’s body go is to relinquish our feelings of attachment to such makeshift doctrines.

The sutric text that deals with the concept of letting go of our bodies and persons also implies the Dharma gateway of the one instant of thought containing three thousand existential spaces (ichinen sanzen). To let go of one’s body and person means that we return home to the dimension to which we always belong that is the underlying principle of the original archetypical state which in itself is the one instant of thought containing three thousand existential spaces. This is what Myôraku means in his Broad Elucidations of Tendai’s Textual Meaning of the Dharma Flower Sutra, (Maka Shikan Guketsu), where he asserts: “You should know that our bodies and persons and the environment upon which they depend for an existence are the same as each instant of mental activity that includes every possible ramification of existence or as the Buddhist formula puts it ‘one instant of thought containing three thousand existential spaces (ichinen sanzen)”. So when we arrive at the Buddha path [in the teaching of Nichiren this means opening our inherent Buddha nature with our persons just as they are] then this is becoming at one with the underlying principle which is explained as intuitively understanding and harmonizing with the oneness of mind in which each instant of mental activity pervades everywhere throughout the realms of dharmas or the Dharma realm.”

For the sake of the path of the Buddhas
he will render homage to them and make offerings.
Wherever all these Buddhas are
my disciple Mokkenren will always continue
to do the practices of purity.
For a period of innumerable kalpas
he will hold to the Dharma of these Buddhas
and after their extinction into nirvana
he will erect stupas
made of the seven precious materials.
The way to these monuments
will be indicated by golden flagpoles.
With flowers, perfumes and music
he will make donations
to all the stupas and temples
of all these Buddhas.
Having gradually completed
the path of bodhisattva
he will come to enjoy the fruition of Buddhahood
in his Buddha terrain Joy of the Mind.
This Buddha’s name will be
the Tathâgata of the Perfumes
of Tamâla and Sandalwood.
His lifespan will be twenty-four kalpas
during which he will continually expound
the Dharma of the Buddha
for the benefit of the devas and humankind.
There will be as many intellectual seekers (shômon, shrâvaka)
as the sands of the Ganges.
They will all be endowed
with the three insights [1) the insight into the mortal conditions of oneself and others in previous lives, 2) the insight of the devas who can see into future mortal conditions and 3) the insight of being able to overcome all passions and temptations so as to be capable of attaining enlightenment]
along with the six extensions of ordinary mental proficiencies.
[These are 1) the supernatural ability to manifest oneself to any being in any place wherever desired, 2) the supernatural power to see anything anywhere whether it be big or small, 3) the power to hear anything anywhere at will, 4) the ability to understand the karma and life conditions of other people, 5) the power to look into the past lives and understand the present circumstances of sentient beings and 6) the ability to completely cut off all troublesome worries (bonnô).]
Also these intellectual seekers (shômon, shrâvaka)
will be imposing in their dignity.
As for the bodhisattvas
with determination to make energetic progress
in their Buddha wisdom
they will never regress from their endeavours.
When the Tathâgata of the Perfumes
of Tamâla and Sandalwood
passes into the extinction of nirvana,
the period in which his Dharma will remain correct
so that other people
will be able to be enlightened through it (shohô)
will go on for forty kalpas
and the period in which his Dharma
will become a ceremonial semblance and a routinization
will perpetuate for another forty kalpas.
All my disciples whose virtue inspires respect
who are five hundred in number
will receive the announcement
of their future attainment of Buddhahood
which will be in ages to come.
All of you will become enlightened
just as the cause and karmic circumstances
are embedded in your lives and mine.
This I must explain further
so you must listen carefully.

The fourth important point with regard to the last four lines of the sixth chapter of the Dharma Flower Sutra: “All of you will become enlightened just as the cause and karmic circumstances are embedded in your lives and mine. This I must explain further.”

The Oral Transmission on the Meaning of the Dharma Flower Sutra points out that the cause and karmic circumstances that are embedded in our lives refer to a psychological depth which in the Buddha teaching of Shākyamuni was expressed in terms of a period of time in the far distant past that would be as impossible to calculate as the number of particles of dust that would be left if one were to grind into powder three thousand universes. [Would this allude to the origins of some kind of life incarnate in the cosmos?]

Here Shākyamuni describes this profundity of cause and concomitancy that is internalized in our existences for the benefit of those in the assembly who had lesser propensities.

In the term “cause and karmic circumstances”, the word “cause” which permits us to open up our inherent Buddha nature is likened to the seeds of a plant. The “karmic circumstances” refer to a psychological depth that is defined as being the inaccessible remote past. Thus the idea of cause and its karmic circumstances implies the mythological parable of the sowing of the seeds of enlightenment by the Buddha Daitsû Chishô (Mahâbhijña Jñânâbhibu) in the seventh chapter of the Dharma Flower Sutra. Now Nichiren and those that follow him reverently recite Nam Myôhô Renge Kyô which means to devote our lives to and found them on (Nam) the Utterness of the Dharma [entirety of existence] (Myôhô) [that is in this case is the ever-present infinite in time] permeated by the underlying white lotus flower-like mechanism of the interdependence of cause, concomitancy and effect (Renge) in its whereabouts of the ten realms of dharmas (Kyô).

.

This is why the Universal Teacher Myôraku said in his Annotations on the Textual Explanation of the Dharma Flower Sutra, “You should know that, in this present age of the final period of the Dharma of Shākyamuni, after hearing the Dharma only a single time one can accept it as being the truth.” This is certainly due to the seeds of enlightenment being embedded in our lives.

“Are embedded” could be applied to the parable of the Buddha Daitsû who lived in the age of the unimaginably distant past. The seeds of enlightenment are Nam Myôhô Renge Kyô. “The cause and karmic circumstances” are the intrinsicality of the seeds of enlightenment and psychologically stimulating them.

The intention of the teaching of the original archetypal state refers to the intrinsicality of the seeds of enlightenment. This is a depth in our own minds which in the India of Shākyamuni was expressed as the unbelievably uncountable grains of dust that would amount to the granules that would be left over if someone were to grind five hundred universes from their respective big bangs to their big crunches into powder. This refers to the ever-present infinite in time and the quintessence of life itself. This means that through the psychological stimulation of this cause, which is the real concept of the Utterness of the Dharma (Myôhô), we are able to attain to the path of the Buddha.