This section features Ikeda Sensei’s seminal guidance to the members of the United States. The following is an excerpt of his speech given at the Boston Community Center, in Boston, Massachusetts, September 27, 1991. The full speech can be found in My Dear Friends in America, fourth edition, pp. 137–51.
You Can See Eagle Peak Without Taking a Single Step
Nichiren Daishonin writes: “Wherever we dwell and practice the single vehicle, that place will be the Capital of Eternally Tranquil Light. And, without having to take a step, those who are our disciples and lay supporters can view Eagle Peak in India and day and night will go to and from the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light that has existed for all time. What a truly inexpressible joy it is!” (“Reply to Sairen-bo,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 313).
Nichiren Daishonin states that the desolate island where he resides is the “Capital of Eternally Tranquil Light.” This capital does not exist off in some distant land. The Daishonin does not teach that to attain Buddhahood we must venture from where we are to some other place. Without having to take a step, the place where we live and attain Buddhahood becomes the land of eternal happiness. This is Nichiren’s teaching.
This point is of great significance. One meaning that derives from it is that the Daishonin’s teaching directly opposes evil authoritarianism.
It is said that distance gives rise to authority. This adage assails the foolish tendency of human beings to regard as respectable people or things so distant or at such height as to make them inaccessible.
Nichiren states: “As a rule, people in the world value what is distant and despise what is near, but this is the conduct of the ignorant. Even the distant should be repudiated if it is wrong, while what is near should not be discarded if it accords with the truth” (“Reply to Hoshina Goro Taro,” WND-1, 155–56).
While this passage is speaking of things near and distant in a temporal sense, the same principle holds true in terms of space. People tend to overlook the value of things close at hand. In Buddhism, however, the reality of the present and of the place where we live is of the utmost importance.
To those who must travel to some special place, others who are closer to that place come to possess greater authority. Thus a hierarchy of authority evolves among people according to their relative proximity.
In a religion that teaches belief in an external deity, often the clergy, in serving as a bridge connecting the people with the distant deity and its world of heaven, comes to possess special authority.
By contrast, Buddhism teaches that the people themselves are the entity of the Buddha. The Buddha exists not in some distant other world but in the inner realm of people’s lives, and where they live becomes the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light. Among all the Buddhist sutras, the Lotus Sutra places particular emphasis on this teaching.
Viewed from this standpoint, it becomes clear that Nichiren Buddhism is no place for authoritarianism. Only the Gohonzon, the world of Buddhahood, is to be solemnly revered. The Buddha exists right at this moment, in the very place where we are.
“Never seek this Gohonzon outside yourself,” Nichiren writes. “The Gohonzon exists only within the mortal flesh of us ordinary people who embrace the Lotus Sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. The body is the palace of the ninth consciousness, the unchanging reality that reigns over all of life’s functions” (“The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon,” WND-1, 832).
The Daishonin’s words about the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light, in this letter addressed to Sairen-bo, set forth the fundamental guidelines for the age of worldwide kosen-rufu and the age of establishing the identity of each locality. Wherever you are, that place is the stage for worldwide kosen-rufu. Wherever you are, that place is the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light.
I hope all of you members who live here in Boston will make your lives shine with blessings, confident that this city, the community where you live and your homes are all the capital of eternal happiness. Also, I hope that, ever joyful, ever cheerful and ever exercising your good common sense, you will enjoy the happiest of lives. I would like to ask husbands to cherish their wives; wives to cherish their husbands; parents to cherish their children; and children to cherish their parents. The correct Buddhist way of life is to make such steady, down-to-earth efforts, focusing on showing actual proof of faith. Herein lies the way to a life filled with good fortune and blessings.
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