There are three essential aspects to Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism: faith, which means to determine to attain enlightenment through practising to the Gohonzon for the whole of one's life; practice for oneself and others, which means to perform Gongyo twice a day, and to chant Nam-moyho-renge-kyo to your heart's content, while making efforts to teach each other about this Buddhism and to work for their fundamental happiness, whether they practise Buddhism or not; and study, which means to read and try to understand the profoundity of the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin. Underlining the importance of these three aspects, Nichiren Daishonin states:

Believe in the Gohonzon, the supreme object of worship in the world. Forge strong faith and receive the protection of Shakyamuni, Taho and all the other Buddhas. Exert yourself in the two ways of practice and study1. Without practice and study, there can be no Buddhism. You must not only preserve yourself, you must also teach others. Both practice and study arise from faith. Teach others to the best of your ability, even if only a single sentence or phrase.

Since faith, practice and study form the basis of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism, let us look more closely at what they mean.

Faith
Faith is the most important aspect of the Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. As the Daishonin indicates in the passage above, faith gives rise to practice and study, and practice and study in turn serves to become enlightened, no matter what, and, through this enlightenment, to contribute to establishing a peaceful and happy world. As Daisaku Ikeda explains:

Faith can mean to believe in the Dai-Gohonzon and to devote yourself to it confidently and courageously, no matter what waves and storms may buffet you, no matter what criticism and vilification or prosecution may assail you. This is the path towards Buddhahood. If you are convinced of this, it can be called faith.

In this sense, faith in Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism is comparable to faith in many other areas of life. For example anyone who wants to achieve something that demands they make the effort to develop themselves can only do so because, fundamentally, they have faith in themselves and their abilities.

Practice
The practice of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism falls into two parts: practice for oneself and practice for others. Strictly speaking, we cannot compartmentalize our practice in this way as we are each inseparable from our own unique environment. Thus, as we gain benefit from our practice, so we quite naturally begin to benefit others. For example, if someone who has always lacked money changes this part of his karma, he will no longer relay on his friends or family for support and so will cause those people les worry. Conversely, through teaching others about Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we can help them to change those areas of their karma which cause them to suffer, and so we gain benefit of seeing them become happy too. In the same way, we need to study not only to understand how Buddhist concepts apply to our own lives, but also to explain Buddhism effectively to others who whish to learn about it. Indeed, study for the sake of intellectual, theoretical satisfaction has no place whatsoever in Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism.

Study
The teachings of Nichiren Daishonin are contained in a collection of texts called the Gosho. Go means 'worthy of the greatest respect' (as in Gohonzon), and sho means 'writings'. Roughly half of the Gosho comprises personal letters from Nichiren Daishonin to various of his followers, written in an easy style and language and pitched at a level of explanation suitable to reach the recipient; the other half comprises longer, more difficult and formal doctrinal treaties, written in classical Chinese and with a wider, more learned audience in mind, namely, the scholars and religious and secular authorities of the day. Unlike many major religions, then, the basic texts witch explain the doctrines of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism have been written by the founder himself and are not interpretations set down later by his followers.

As Daisaku Ikeda says, 'Faith is like an axle, and practice and study are like the two wheels of a cart. No matter how much you know about Buddhism doctrines, if your practice is weak, your faith could be said to be crippled'.

and; 'Without a thorough knowledge of Nichiren Daishonin' teachings, one's practice can easily become self-centred and one may begin interpreting true Buddhism on one's own way. Study will deepen one's confidence in faith and direct one to a correct path towards 3kosenrufu '

1 The protection both of one's own inherent wisdom and the physical environment.
2 Dai-Gohonzon, the original Gohonzon inscribed by Nichiren Daishonin.
3 Literally, to "widely declare and spread (Buddhism)." To secure lasting peace and happiness for all humankind through the propagation of true Buddhism.

index

This page was last modified on Sunday, August 20, 2006.