Question

Gérard, could you explain what the eighteen domains are?

Answer

The 18 domains comprise the 6 roots and 6 objects we have just seen, plus the six consciousnesses. We will therefore analyze the relationship between roots/objects/consciousness, and then briefly summarize the six consciousnesses.

Primitive Buddhism expresses the idea that consciousness comes from both the root and the object. For example, we find the expression "visual awareness comes from the eye and the colors" or "mental awareness comes from the mind and the dharmas". This way of thinking has progressed to the concept of triple harmony.

Triple harmony is the instantaneous and constantly renewed combination of the roots of objects and consciousnesses. What we call 'existence' is at every moment the result of this triple encounter between an environment (the object), perceptive organs (the roots) and a perceiving subject (the consciousness). We cannot imagine existence if just one of these fundamental elements were missing or if their combination were imperfect. This is why we use the term harmony.

The six consciousnesses are firstly visual consciousness, which is the discernment and understanding of what the eye perceives.

Secondly, the auditory consciousness; this is the discernment and understanding of what the ear perceives.

Thirdly, the olfactory consciousness; this is the discernment and understanding of what the sense of smell perceives.

Fourthly, gustatory consciousness; this is the discernment and understanding of what the tongue perceives.

Fifthly, bodily consciousness; this is the discernment and understanding of what the body perceives.

Sixthly, mental consciousness; this is the discernment and understanding of what the mind perceives.

Buddhism has been interested in analyzing the relationship between the mind and the realms of the six consciousnesses. In short, they are not separate objects. The six consciousnesses represent a present and immediate activity of the mind. Its consciousness of visual, auditory, etc. perceptions is only exercised in the present moment and once this activity has been carried out, the moment belongs to the past and the result of the operation of the six consciousnesses has been added to the mind. There is therefore only a difference, which we call temporal, between the six consciousnesses and the mind.

Ultimately, the process of cognition by which we become aware of what surrounds us, and which is ultimately the basis of our illusion, is as follows: an object (a sound, a smell, an image) enters our field of perception. Our appropriate root (sight, smell, etc.) perceives it. We conceptualize it by giving it a name. Then we react to it (like it or not) and, finally, we become aware of it.

The Nothing but Consciousness current has explained the existence of a seventh consciousness. This seventh consciousness, the seat of the ego, the illusion of the self, is also supported by the mind, which at the same time as determining the six consciousnesses produces this extremely powerful awareness of individualized existence, of the ego, the source of our limitations and suffering. Overcoming this attachment to the ego brings about the appeasement of the wisdom of equality, which consists of perceiving oneself and others, the inner and the outer, in equal measure.

This wisdom is the fruit of the practice of Nam Myōhōrengekyō.

Indeed, the chapter on the Benefits of Dharma masters states:

"If a son of good, or a daughter of good, receives and keeps this Lotus Sutra, if he reads it, recites it, explains it, copies it, that person will obtain eight hundred benefits for the eye, a thousand two hundred benefits for the ear, eight hundred benefits for the nose, a thousand two hundred benefits for the tongue, eight hundred benefits for the body, a thousand two hundred benefits for the mind; he will adorn his six sense organs with its benefits and purify them all. This son of good, or daughter of good, with the carnal eye engendered by his or her parents, once purified, will see all the mountains, forests, rivers and seas inside and outside the tricosmic world, all the way down to hell without intermittence and up to the Gods of the summit of being; he or she will also see all the beings therein, as well as the places where they will be reborn according to the fruits and rewards conditioned by their actions. Of all this he will have full vision and knowledge".

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

"The Dharma Masters are five in number; their benefit is the retribution of the purification of the six roots. In fact, now Nichiren and his kind who reverently recite Nam Myōhōrengekyō obtain the purification of the six roots".

Further on, he said:

"The benefit is Buddhahood from this body, the purification of the six roots".

When our six roots are purified, then we perceive the true aspect of the dharmas and there is fusion between subject and object, between what we perceive and what is perceived.

Finally, the trinomial "aggregates-inputs-domains" refers to the whole of the phenomenal, including our illusions, those omnipresent illusions that prevent us from perceiving the real aspect of phenomena. We are in fact ordinary beings, plunged into fundamental darkness because of the evil passions fuelled by the three poisons of anger, greed and stupidity. It took Shakyamuni twelve years of uninterrupted mortification to free himself from this darkness and awaken from the illusion. The great master of the Tendai also engaged in practices that are extraordinary in our eyes, in order to observe his heart and discover the principle of One Thought Three Thousand, something that is absolutely impossible for us to achieve. This is why Nichiren Daishōnin revealed the Dai Gohonzon, about which he wrote in the Treatise on the Honzon:

"For those who do not know One Thought Three Thousand, the Buddha showed great compassion and wrapped this pearl in these five ideograms which he hung around the necks of the infantile beings of the End of the Dharma".

As infantile beings, we have no wisdom and are incapable of perceiving what the Gohonzon is. This is why, in the Answer to Lord Soya who entered the path, Nichiren Daishōnin writes:

"Each ideogram in this Sutra is a living Buddha with a marvelous awakening. However, ordinary people like us, who see things through our fleshly eyes, only see ideograms. For example, hungry spirits see the water of the Ganges as fire. Humans see it as water. Celestial beings see the water of the river as nectar. Thus, water is always the same, but can be perceived in completely different forms depending on the causal retribution. The blind do not see this sutra, beings with eyes of flesh see ideograms, the two vehicles see emptiness, the bodhisattvas see an infinity of doctrines, while a Buddha sees in each ideogram the venerated Shakya of the color of gold".

Fortunately, we have a palliative for this blindness, this lack of wisdom, which prevents us from seeing the true aspect of the Gohonzon, and therefore the true aspect of the dharmas. This is faith. Indeed, in the Oral Transmission of the Doctrine, Nichiren Daishōnin says "the word faith is the sharp sword that eliminates the fundamental darkness. Therefore, if we have faith that this Gohonzon is the threefold body of the Buddha, the true aspect of things, then we perceive the true aspect of things, there is perfect fusion between the object and the subject (Kyōchi Myōgō) and we are Buddha from this body.

With regard to this relationship between the object, and the subject, the great master Miao-lè used to say,

"Even if the aspiration to Buddhahood is not sincere, if it is associated with the correct object, the benefits will nevertheless be many."

However, I think this sentence is aimed at beginners. After a few years of practice, you should be able to grasp the true meaning of the practice.

Quoting the passage "They desire with all their heart to see the Buddha and for this they spare neither their body nor their life", taken from the Jiga stanzas of the Lifespan chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren Daishōnin wrote to the monk Gijō-bō:

"It is with this phrase that Nichiren manifests the world of the Buddha from his own heart".

It is therefore also with this phrase that we should practice. When each Daimoku that we recite is said with the sole thought of "seeing the Buddha and for that to spare neither our body nor our life", this energy of faith and this energy of practice then bring forth in us the power of the Dharma and the power of the Buddha of the Gohonzon. There is then a fusion between the object (the Gohonzon) and the subject (us) and we become Buddha from this body.

Now, seeing the Buddha is part of the extra-mundane Law of the four holy paths, whereas daily life is part of the mundane Law of the six paths. Therefore, if during the practice of Daimoku our One thought is turned towards our personal worries, this is no longer the original meaning of Shōdai because, even if the desire to see the Buddha is present, we are still sparing our body and our life.

The world is increasingly chaotic and can explode at any moment. Aware that we who practice the correct teaching of Nichiren Daishōnin are the only ones who can reverse this trend, we must at all costs and more than ever invest ourselves body and soul in the practice of Shōdai without sparing either our body or our life, in the spirit of different bodies animated by the same heart as Nichiren Daishōnin wishing with all his heart to see the Buddha.

As believers of the Nichiren Shōshū, we have the correct object in front of us, and even if our motivations are only worldly, namely praying for health, money, a good spouse, our faith nonetheless takes us into the extra worldly of Buddhahood, as Miao-lè used to say.

This is not, however, in my opinion, enough to make shakubuku. Knowing how to explain why Nichiren Shōshū is the only school to teach reality and the practice to awaken to it is paramount in the perspective of the Vast propagation.