Gongyo—which includes reciting portions of the “Expedient Means” and “Life Span of the Thus Come One” chapters of the Lotus Sutra morning and evening—is part of daily practice for Nichiren Buddhists. This series carries Ikeda Sensei’s explanations of gongyo, section by section. The full text can be found in The Heart of the Lotus Sutra, pp. 103–24.
Yui butsu yo butsu. Nai no kujin. Shoho jisso. Sho-i shoho. Nyo ze so. Nyo ze sho. Nyo ze tai. Nyo ze riki. Nyo ze sa. Nyo ze in. Nyo ze en. Nyo ze ka. Nyo ze ho. Nyo ze honmakkukyo to.
Literal translation: “The true aspect of all phenomena can only be understood and shared between Buddhas. This reality consists of the appearance, nature, entity, power, influence, internal cause, relation, latent effect, manifest effect, and their consistency from beginning to end.” (The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras, p. 57)
Ikeda Sensei:
Just what exactly is the wisdom of the Buddha that Shakyamuni has been praising from the start of the chapter as “infinitely profound” and “difficult to understand”? Here he tries to explain.
The true aspect of all phenomena is the wisdom of the Buddhas that can only be understood and shared between Buddhas. Shakyamuni clarifies that the true aspect specifically consists of the ten factors of life—appearance, nature, entity, power, influence, internal cause, relation, latent effect, manifest effect and their consistency from beginning to end.
“All phenomena” indicates life in the Ten Worlds and its environment, or all living beings and the realms in which they dwell. In other words, it refers to all nature, to all things and phenomena. …
The true aspect of all phenomena might be thought of as the undisguised truth of all things.
The ten factors of life that follow indicate the contents of the true aspect. For this reason, this passage is termed the “true aspect of the ten factors.”
What Are the Ten Factors of Life?
The meaning of the ten factors might be summarized as follows: 1) Appearance: attributes of things discernible from the outside, such as color, form, shape and behavior. 2) Nature: the inherent disposition or quality of a thing or being that cannot be discerned from the outside. 3) Entity: the essence of life that permeates and integrates appearance and nature. These first three factors describe the reality of life itself. The next six factors, from the fourth, power, through the ninth, manifest effect, explain the functions and workings of life. 4) Power: life’s potential energy. 5) Influence: the action or movement produced when life’s inherent power is activated. 6) Internal cause: the cause latent in life that produces an effect of the same quality as itself, i.e., good, evil or neutral. 7) Relation: the relationship of indirect causes to the internal cause. Indirect causes are various conditions, both internal and external, that help the internal cause produce an effect. 8) Latent effect: the effect produced in life when an internal cause is activated through its relationship with various conditions. 9) Manifest effect: the tangible, perceivable result that emerges in time as an expression of a latent effect and therefore of an internal cause, again through its relationship with various conditions. 10) Consistency from beginning to end: the unifying factor among the ten factors. It indicates that all the other nine factors from the beginning (appearance) to the end (manifest effect) are consistently and harmoniously interrelated. All nine factors thus consistently and harmoniously express the same condition of existence at any given moment.
In the passage, each factor is prefixed by the term nyo ze, meaning, “it is like.” Shakyamuni is saying in effect: although the Buddha wisdom cannot be articulated in words, if one were to venture to describe it, this is how it might be expressed.
Let me try to explain the ten factors of life through an example. Your own existence is a phenomenon. Your features, posture and so on compose the “appearance” of the phenomenon of your life.
Invisible to the eye, such traits as shortness of temper, magnanimity, kindness or reticence or the various aspects of your personality or temperament make up your “nature.” Your physical and spiritual totality—that is, your “appearance” and “nature” together—make up your “entity,” the person you are.
Also, your life has various energies (power), and these produce various external functions (influence). Your life thus becomes a cause (internal cause) and, activated by conditions internal and external (relation), changes arise in your life (latent effect), and these eventually appear externally (manifest effect).
Moreover, these nine factors interweave your life and your environment without any inconsistency or omission (consistency from beginning to end). This is the true aspect of the ten factors of your life.
Each of us lives within the framework of the ten factors. No one could say that he or she has no appearance. Such a person would be invisible. Similarly, no one could truly claim not to have a personality, not to have any energy or not to carry out any activity. Nor could there be a situation where the appearance was one person, the nature someone else and the entity another person still. There is consistency among all factors, and together they make up the irreplaceable totality of your being. …
When observing any phenomenon, the Buddha understands its true aspect. When looking at people, the Buddha understands their state of life and sees their Buddha nature within. When looking at something in nature, the Buddha can sense its noble brilliance. And, when considering social phenomena, the Buddha can deftly discern their underlying significance.
It might be said that the wisdom of the true aspect of all phenomena is the ability to discern the true nature of all things.
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