About the “perspective thing” I commented on earlier:
This is just my personal opinion, but it is based on not only everything I have learned in my studies, but also through the course and consequence of my experience of living to the best of my ability (which at times has not been something I would suggest to emulate) as a disciple of Nichiren Daishonin. Study can only take you so far. You have to be able to apply the teachings to your daily life in an actual rather than just in a theoretical manner. The only way to manifest the wisdom to do so is through faith.
I have posted enough on this thread that the content of what I am saying has already been said, as far as I’m concerned. Remember my posting the definitions of “expedient means’? The perspective thing is this: For YOU, Sleepy, to make the effort toward understanding that you are--to speak up and be noticed, ask questions, and declare your interest (and I am assuming the fact that you would not do any of this without also chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo)—reveals the existence of your relationship with the Law. Because it includes your chanting (again, assuming that to be the case), it also reveals your transient identity as a Bodhisattva of the Earth.
The issue to which we would try and arouse faith in initially is the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as it relates to us; that through our faith displayed in the effort of practice and study, our prayers may be answered and our desire for the elimination of delusion (enlightenment) achieved. In this process however, a personal awareness or experience is simultaneously aroused; and this is a perception pertaining to us, as we relate to the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. This is one’s understanding and sense of mission to propagate the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin that can only come from chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which is what the identifies one as being a Bodhisattva of the Earth.
The Daishonin clearly states that if you chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, you are a disciple of Nichiren. See, my belief is one that is based on the fact that I know in my heart and in every fiber of my being that Nichiren Daishonin is the same entity as the Sage at the beginning of the kalpa of continuance that the Daishonin discusses from T’ien-t’ai’s writings. “The sage practiced with this Law as his teacher and attained enlightenment, and therefore he simultaneously obtained both the mystic cause and the mystic effect of Buddhahood, becoming the Thus Come One of perfect enlightenment and fully realized virtues.” (The Entity of the Mystic Law).
At the same time, in the same writing, he is assuring us that we common mortals of flesh and blood are also the entity of the Mystic Law. This is because we are disciples of the Entity of the Mystic Law and as such can achieve the same enlightenment (literally, not figuratively). The Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the life of the Entity of the Mystic Law and can only be revealed by this Buddha, The Thus Come One Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
So the “perspective thing” that I am trying to get across here is that all of these writing become much easier to comprehend from the perspective from which they are taught, rather than their literal interpretation. What actually comes first in regards to the viewpoint of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism is an important perspective to have. Without it, all of what I am saying is very difficult to perceive.
For example, Nichiren Daishonin never made the overt declaration, “I am the True Buddha!” But then, how could he? The level of faith and comprehension of the true intent of his teachings was a work in progress that would have precluded such a statement for anyone but his closest disciples. He often refers to Shakyamuni in such a reverent way as to be confusing in light of the perspective that Nichiren is in fact, the True Buddha (Buddha Of Beginningless Time). However he specifically discusses the perspective of the comparative worth of being a disciple of the Lotus Sutra during the former and middle days of the Law versus being Nichiren’s disciple in the Latter Day of the Law, even to the point of specifically teaching that Shakyamuni’s Lotus Sutra (the teaching for attaining Buddhahood in the Former and Middle days of the Law) no longer held the power to lead it’s practitioner to enlightenment in the Latter Day of the Law.
If, in theory, only the Buddha Nam-myoho-renge-kyo Thus Come One can reveal this Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, then in what manner would this Buddha make his advent? If the truth is that The Buddha of Beginningless Time (Nam-myoho-renge-kyo Thus Come One) is the source of the enlightenment of all other Buddhas, does it not make sense that as the karma of earth unfolded, many emissaries might precede his advent to lay the foundation of doctrines and understanding so that the perfect teaching could be revealed, delineated, and propagated in a single lifetime?
Therefore, the Daishonin qualifies who these emissaries have been, by quoting from their works and filling in the nuance meanings of their teachings that could only be revealed by him. The fact is that the Daishonin refers to the works and commentaries of other Buddhas such as T’ien-t’ai, as much as he refers to the literally translated Lotus Sutra of Shakyamuni.
Were it not for the teachings that preceded his, the Daishonin would have had a much more difficult time in clarifying what these true teachings were as they relate to faith and the required necessities of practice and study for the attainment of Buddhahood in ones present form. So after all that Sleepy, my friend, my suggestion and encouragement to you are that you chant to understand all that you read with your life rather than your mind.
Secondly, determine to yourself to have the open mind of faith that transcends literal interpretation. The Daishonin says that Shakyamuni Buddha was fully aware of the Entity of the Mystic Law and that Nam-myoho-renge-kyo was the original basis of his enlightenment in the distant past. Therefore try and understand that the Lotus Sutra, as it is intended to be understood and practiced in the Latter Day of the Law, must be read with the advent of the Buddha of Beginningless Time having already occurred, in mind. In it’s literal form, today, even the Lotus Sutra is merely an expedient means “to open the door of Buddha wisdom to all living beings, show it, cause them to awaken to it, and induce them to enter its path” for the perfect teaching of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
The author of the Lotus Sutra of the Latter day of the Law is none other than Nichiren, and it is his teachings which we should be trying to master, through his elucidation of the Lotus Sutra in light of his original enlightenment as the True Buddha; not the literal Lotus Sutra of Shakyamuni.
Again all of the above is my personal understanding. Take it for what it is worth. I hope I haven’t completely confused everyone!
T