by Nichiko Niwano

Life inevitably brings with it various forms of suffering. Shakyamuni teaches us how to gain the wisdom to discern the causes of this suffering.

To mark Rissho Kosei-kai's seventieth anniversary, and in a spirit of gratitude for our salvation, last year we decided to initiate a project to install an icon of the Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni and the Dharma titles of Founder Nikkyo Niwano and Cofounder Myoko Naganuma at the home altar of each member, as a way of both looking back over the history of the organization and looking forward with a renewed determination to expand our dissemination work. This project also reflects how the growth of our organization over the last seventy years has reached the stage where the particular way we express our faith has very nearly achieved its mature form.

Installing an icon of the Eternal Buddha at one's home altar is something very fundamental to being a Buddhist, and living daily life with a Buddhist altar at the center of the household brings great happiness. Meanwhile, installing the Dharma titles of the founder and cofounder is a confirmation of the unique chain of events in which their encounter with the Lotus Sutra led them to set up the organization with which we all became involved, resulting in the particular way we pursue our devotion and express our faith.

The seeds sown by the founder, cofounder, and original leaders of the organization sprouted, put down roots, and grew up into large, beautiful trees. We of the present generation are enjoying their leaves, flowers, and fruit, and so we feel deeply grateful and exceedingly joyful.

Also, as we pursue this project, we have found that many of the faithful in Japan and other countries have expressed a deeply felt response to the project during their hoza sessions and seminars, and are now putting their hearts into helping promote it. This is the most encouraging development possible and greatly strengthens our feeling of solidarity as a sangha.

Area directors, division directors, heads of Dharma centers, and others have mentioned that many of the faithful have told them that they feel they now have the Eternal Buddha, founder and cofounder together with them at home. To further extend this happiness to others, we hope that we will continue to devote ourselves to the practice of the teachings without rushing, but also without resting, with a long-term view toward our centenary in 2038.

We are grateful that, through the efforts of our teachers, the founder and cofounder, we have encountered the teachings of Shakyamuni, and so this enshrinement project is a fitting symbol of our devotion to his teachings. The most important point is that we hope members will go beyond making these symbols mere objects of routine worship and instead take the opportunity to think seriously about what Shakyamuni meant to say to future generations such as our own.

The guidance of the founder and cofounder has brought us to the realization that the true spirit of Shakyamuni is to be found in wisdom and compassion as expounded in the Lotus Sutra.

Life inevitably brings with it various forms of suffering. Shakyamuni teaches us how to gain the wisdom to discern the causes of this suffering, and also identify where our own assumptions or understanding may be at fault. Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra, "Skillful Means," contains the verse "[But] those who will not learn / Are not able to discern it"; this shows that there is no substitute for studying the Dharma.

Studying the Dharma means gaining a correct understanding of the Buddha's teachings and comparing them with our own behavior in daily life, and continually repeating this process. In other words, it is the practice of exchanging your own personal outlook with the Buddha's.

The founder often taught us that "if one changes, others will change accordingly." When problems occur, people immediately start trying to change other people or the external situation. In fact, the first point of departure and main issue is how to change yourself.

When you take a Buddha-like point of view, the world around you starts to appear differently from how it appeared before. People who thought themselves unhappy realize how truly happy they already are and what a wonderful thing it is to be blessed with life. Where you used to think, "It's all someone else's fault," you start to think, "I should be grateful to that person." Even if the issue at hand has not actually changed, when you are released from attachment and achieve spiritual freedom you can approach it calmly and with tolerance. I think this is what the founder meant when he said that "if one changes, others will change accordingly."

In this way, accepting the wisdom of Shakyamuni swiftly frees our hearts, and we become tranquil and happy. Thus, studying the Dharma is intrinsically enjoyable. I expect many people have tended to consider doctrinal studies as rather stiff and dry. By completely forsaking such preconceived notions, we can together savor studying the Dharma with pleasure, taking it to heart as we continue to learn from one another in a fresh and lively way.

As you may know, in chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra, "Revelation of the [Eternal] Life of the Tathagata," Shakyamuni describes his dearest wish in the following way: "Ever making this my thought: / 'How shall I cause all the living / To enter the Way supreme / And speedily accomplish their buddhahood?'"

Each one of us truly needs to firmly open ourselves to Shakyamuni's immeasurably compassionate heart and become people who share in the heart of the Buddha. The truest compassion we can show is to communicate Shakyamuni's wisdom to others.

People tend to assume that they will be completely satisfied when they themselves are happy. In reality, it does not work this way. I think many of you have experienced the supreme joy you feel in yourself when another person is saved. This feeling is said to be the "third instinct," which all people possess.

In Rissho Kosei-kai, we traditionally speak of this as "putting others first." We have always urged members to place great importance on familiar relationships, to put their own concerns to one side, to pray for the salvation of others and to extend a hand and communicate the teachings.

I think we can see in the phrase of chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra, "Ever making this my thought," how important it is to relate with others with the constant and wholehearted intent of finding a way to help people near us who are suffering from trouble or sorrow. Though Shakyamuni's greatest desire was the salvation of all living things, he never ignored the people around him, but was kind to everyone, teaching them the Dharma without rest.

Shakyamuni also used a variety of parables to communicate the Dharma, so that all people could understand and accept it. The founder also used skillful means tailored to each individual in order to lead them toward the true path to salvation.

When I inherited the Lamp of the Dharma from the founder in 1991, I declared that I wanted to build an organization that is true to Shakyamuni. This was an expression of my hope that we would be able to correctly grasp and incorporate Shakyamuni's thought patterns and worldview. In today's context I would express this as a hope that all our prayers have ceased to be prayers of supplication, and instead have become prayers of gratitude resulting from the awareness, self-realization, and joy of salvation achieved from self-motivated study of the Dharma.

Even when we have this kind of achievement as a basis firmly underfoot and also have in hand comprehensible ways to communicate the teaching, we will still need to devise even more ways to exercise expedient means to bring others to true salvation as an expression of compassion.

Wisdom and compassion are the true spirit of Shakyamuni--we can symbolize wisdom as brightness and compassion as warmth. The proper aim of our organization should be to work toward a manner of existence in which every one of the faithful, every sangha, every Dharma center, and the organization itself is filled to overflowing with brightness and warmth.

In these times of worldwide financial crisis, I am sure that many of our faithful are being affected in various ways. However, it is precisely in times like these that we need to receive the Buddha's wisdom and continue our religious training with light hearts and hope for the future. At the same time, however, the application of warm compassion by the sangha is now the most important priority.

Now that we have passed our seventieth anniversary, let us take to heart the injunction "Make the self your light, make the Dharma your light" as we look forward to our centenary, with every member embracing the vital work of being saved and saving others by the virtues of wisdom and compassion learned through Dharma studies.

We do not intend to rush, nor do we intend to rest, in the work of installing the icon of the Eternal Buddha and Dharma titles of the founder and cofounder at the home altars of all members. We also plan to devote ourselves, with the help of all our members, to building new customs and traditions of pleasurable Dharma studies.