Question

I sometimes talk with believers about study, and they often talk to me about past lives, about reincarnation.

It seems to me that this belongs more to Shakyamuni's teaching, as Nichiren Daishōnin only speaks of the present and the future.

In Meditation four, "the multitude of obstacles due to offenses against the Dharma accumulated over the course of very ancient past eons...", one might think that there are past lives.

I'd love to have an enlightened opinion.

Answer

Certainly, in the top right-hand corner of the Gohonzon, it says " i gen to ni-se ", meaning "for the two phases of the present and the future", and the same expression is found in the fourth meditation of the Gongyō: "And in the two phases of the present and the future, may the great wish of marvelous awakening be fulfilled".

However, this does not mean that Nichiren Daishōnin does not speak of the past, of past lives.

In the Eye-opening Treatise, he writes:

"If you want to know the causes of the past, look at the effects of the present. If you want to know the effects of the future, look at the causes of the present".

Again, in the Eye-opening Treatise, he writes:

"In forcefully reprimanding the Dharma offenders swarming around the country, I suffered these great difficulties. This is undoubtedly because my actions to protect the Dharma in this life have brought to light the retributions of my grave faults in the past".

Or again, in the Reply to Lady Nun Sen'nichi dated July 28 of the 1st year of Kōan (1278) he writes:

"In the Lotus Sutra, it says that those who have made offerings to a hundred thousand million Buddhas in the past are those who do not abandon practice in this life. If this is the case, you are a woman who has made the offering to one hundred thousand million Buddhas".

I haven't counted all the other numerous examples.

Indeed, Shakyamuni taught that life continues in the three phases of past, present and future, and this notion of eternity being understood as an established fact, Nichiren Daishōnin didn't need to say anything more about it.

Let's look at the "life continuum" from the point of view of reason.

First of all, I'd like to consider the fact that life is continuous in all three phases from the point of view of general principles.

In today's science, there is the law of mass invariance.

This law states that the absolute mass of matter in the universe remains the same, which implies that even if its shape changes, the number of molecules that make it up is invariant. For example, if you set fire to a sheet of paper and burn it, it turns to ash and ceases to exist as paper. Does this mean it becomes "nothing"? The molecules that made up the paper combine with the oxygen in the air (this is called combustion) and the paper turns to ash, but the molecules that made up the paper don't disappear or diminish. They simply combine with the oxygen and take on a different form. This is known as the law of mass invariance.

Consequently, all beings in the universe exist eternally according to the law of mass invariance, which means that even if they change form, they will never disappear. So why should only life be nothing when it dies?

Like this "law of immutability of mass", the Buddha's Dharma teaches that our lives exist eternally, changing form as we pass from life to death and back again from death to life.

The following doubt can certainly be raised: The "law of invariance of mass" considers that life is separate from the body, and that while the body can transform itself into other molecules and remain immutable according to the "law of invariance of mass", life, being "neither nothing nor being", has no mass.

Let's consider now the "continuum of life" in the three phases from a Buddhist point of view.

First of all, let's talk about "past lives". We are all born into this world with natural differences or different birth circumstances. For example, some people are born into a rich family, others into a poor one; some are born with healthy bodies, others with handicaps; some are born with a gentle nature, others with a violent temper.

So, each person is born into different circumstances and, from every point of view, none can be exactly the same as another.

So why this difference at birth? The mistake would be to think that if we're born poor, it's the fault of the rich, if we're born handicapped, it's the fault of our parents, if we have a bad temper, it's the fault of society.

In fact, everything in the world has a cause and an effect. Because there are causes, there are effects. There can be no effect without a cause. Recognizing cause and effect in all things is called "reason" or "logic". If this is the case, even if a person is born with a disability, in poverty or with parents who argue constantly, these are only effects, and there must be a cause that brought them about before that.

So where are the causes? If we are born with a difference, it means that the cause that generated the effect was there before we were born.

The other mistake would be to think that it's God's will, chance or destiny, which would annihilate any desire for transformation and, worse still, blame it on others.

So we have to say that there was a previous life, that our lifestyle and conduct in that previous life are the cause, and that we received these effects at birth.

Secondly, with regard to the question of whether or not there is life after death, Buddhism teaches that, if you commit offenses against the Dharma during your life, you will fall into hell after your death, but if you practice the correct teaching and accumulate works and virtues, you can not only eliminate the karmic causes of unhappiness and be happy in this life, but also carry them with you until after your death. In other words, this is the state of life of Buddhahood, implying that even after death, you can enjoy a sense of restful happiness.

As proof of this, a marked difference appears on the body of a deceased person. This translates into the appearance of hell if he or she has fallen into hell, and the appearance of Buddhahood if he or she has attained Buddhahood.

Let us now turn to the explanation of the first part of Fourth meditation: "May the multitude of obstacles due to offenses against the Dharma accumulated over the past eons and up to the present day, see their extinction".

Obstacles due to offenses against the Dharma are obstacles to Buddhahood caused by our negative karmic acts or bad deeds which hinder the path to Buddhahood. They refer to the bad deeds and Dharma offenses accumulated by beings since time immemorial, which hinder the practice of Buddhism and prevent access to Buddhahood.

Of all the bad deeds we may have committed in our past lives, offending the Dharma is the most serious.

In his writing on the Differences between the Small and Great Vehicles, Nichiren Daishōnin states:

"It is now more than two hundred years since we entered the End of the Dharma. All those who received the Lotus Sutra seeding in the past and present have finally disappeared completely. And even if a few who received the seeding remain, the country is filled with an infinite number of people who have committed great worldly misdeeds and offended the Dharma in the extra-worldly. Also, they are like pouring a small amount of water into a great fire, introducing a flame into much water, like fresh water into the great ocean and gold into the earth, there is only bad karma, there is no good karma in the past, nor good karma in the present".

Furthermore, in Letter to the brothers, he writes:

"Do not doubt the fact that you have committed Dharma offences in the past".

As Nichiren Daishōnin asserts, beings born in the Dharma End have accumulated serious Dharma offenses from eons past.

As for the nature of the obstacles that hinder our practice leading to Buddhahood, I've already talked about this in question number 1 of our first meeting, so I won't go into it again.

Instead, let's see how the obstacles caused by offenses against the Dharma are extinguished, and how enlightenment is attained by receiving and keeping the wonderful Dharma.

In Letter from Sado, Nichiren Daishōnin writes:

"If I am persecuted in this way, it is because of my previous karmic deeds. (...) My present exile is not due to any secular crime. Only in this way will I be able to erase my grave past faults in this life and free myself from the three evil paths in the next."

Nichiren Daishōnin speaks here from the point of view of an ordinary man, suggesting that he himself underwent the great ordeal of exile on the island of Sado solely for the cause of spreading the marvelous Dharma and thus destroyed the bad karma of his grave sins.

His golden words teach that all beings experience great physical and mental suffering as a result of their various karmic deeds, and that when they die, they fall into the hell of unremitting suffering. However, Nichiren Daishōnin also says that if we receive the correct Dharma with faith and continue to practice shakubuku despite persecution and slander, the works and virtues of this shakubuku allow the heavy karma of past faults to first manifest, then purify and erase it.

In other words, when we, who have accumulated Dharma offenses since time immemorial, keep the correct Dharma and practice shakubuku, various obstacles, or hindrances due to our faults occur because of our heavy karma of offenses. However, this is nothing more than the appearance of the great suffering we would normally undergo in hell, which is alleviated in this life thanks to the great works and virtues of having received the correct Dharma with faith.

In the Oral Transmission of the Doctrine, Nichiren Daishōnin teaches:

"The karmic obstacles that arise from the actions of our six roots are innumerable and fall upon our lives like frost and dew. However, it can be said that when the sun rises and shines, the frost and dew disappear instantly. The sun of wisdom is Nam Myōhōrengekyō, which Nichiren now pages in the End of the Dharma".

Or, in the dialogue between a Saint and a fool, he writes:

"When Nam Myōhōrengekyō is reverently chanted, what fault would remain ineffectual? What happiness would fail to occur? It is true, it is profound, you must receive it with faith".

As Nichiren Daishōnin states, if we firmly believe in his teaching and chant the Daimoku Nam Myōhōrengekyō for personal practice and the conversion of others, there is absolutely no fault karma that cannot be erased. All serious faults can be erased like morning dew in sunlight.

As we saw last month in the first question about demons and deities, Nichiren Daishōnin wrote to the Ikegami brothers:

"If you speak of this doctrine, demons are bound to appear. If they did not appear, there would be no way of knowing that this was the correct teaching. In the same fifth volume we read: "As practice and understanding deepen, three obstacles and four demons emerge in deceptive forms, competing with each other. They must not be obeyed, nor should we be afraid of them. Obeying them would lead us down the wrong path. To be afraid of them would prevent us from practicing the correct teaching.""

The appearance of various obstacles and demons is due to the fact that the Dharma of Nichiren Daishōnin is the only correct Dharma, and it is also a proof of the progress of the practice of the person concerned. This is when it's important to finally inspire strong faith and confront obstacles and demons. If we fear them and are overwhelmed, we will surely withdraw from practice and, because of this grave karma of offending the Dharma, we will suffer various afflictions in this life and fall into the Three Evil Ways in the next life. We must be convinced that the Dharma of Nichiren Daishōnin is the only true teaching capable of annihilating all karmic faults, and it is essential that we dedicate ourselves to propagation by shakubuku, whatever obstacles and demons may stand in our way. Only by abiding in such faith can we attain the state of Buddhahood.