Highlights of the December 2025 Study Material

Chapter Overview 

The Energy of Karma Continues After Death

This month, we continue delving deeper into the Buddhist view of death. 

Everything—from the smallest cells to human beings to all the stars and galaxies in the universe—undergoes a cycle of life (a state of temporary existence) and death (a state of nonsubstantiality). Ikeda Sensei explains:

Josei Toda would often say that upon death our lives fuse with the universe. It’s not a matter of there being a soul; rather, one’s life, as an entity of the oneness of body and mind, returns to the universe. The universe itself is one great living entity. It is a vast ocean of life. … 

As it moves and changes, it enacts the rhythm of life and death. Our individual lives are like waves produced from the great ocean that is the universe; the emergence of a wave is “life,” and its abatement is “death.” This rhythm repeats eternally. (The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, vol. 4, pp. 249–50)

Buddhism teaches that an individual “wave” or life entity occurs because of the “temporary union of the five components.” When life emerges, there is a temporary union of the physical dimension (form) and spiritual functions (perception, conception, volition and consciousness). A single living entity harmoniously integrates these components during the phase of life, then disintegrates at death when the unifying power of life is lost.

While Buddhism denies the concept of an unchanging soul continuing after death, according to the concept of the nine consciousnesses,^[1] Shakyamuni taught that karma, stored in the eighth or alaya-consciousness, continues eternally. Transcending life and death, our karma determines the nature of our body and mind, as well as the circumstances into which we are born. 

Beyond our karma is the ninth or amala-consciousness, which Nichiren Daishonin describes as the “unchanging reality that reigns over all of life’s functions.”^[2] Sensei elaborates on this ninth level of consciousness, stating:

The Lotus Sutra teaches how, by activating the ninth consciousness, which lies at the utmost depths of our beings and is fundamentally free of impurity, we can at once change both the negative and positive karmic energy in our lives into supremely positive energy. …

The eternal Buddha of “Life Span,” the 16th chapter, could be called an expression in human form of this pure consciousness that has no limits in time and space. When we activate this fundamentally pure consciousness, the energy of all life’s good and evil karma is directed toward value creation; and the mind or consciousness of our ethnic group and of humankind is infused with the life current of compassion and wisdom. (WLS-4, 263)

The Daishonin says, “The five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo represent the ninth consciousness.”^[3] While our karma persists, we can transform and redirect all our karma toward good through chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. 

—Prepared by the SGI-USA Study Department

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Ikeda Sensei’s Guidance

Our State of Life After Death

Ikeda Sensei: While activity is the main characteristic of one’s life current while alive, one’s life current after death is passive. From that standpoint, we cannot independently change our state of life after we have died. For instance, while we are alive, even if our underlying tendency is that of the world of hell, through contact with other people and the influence of the environment, we may experience a variety of different worlds—heaven, humanity and so on. But in the state of death, we lose touch with external stimuli, reverting to the underlying state of our own lives.

Upon death, a life that has the world of hell as its underlying tendency becomes one with the world of hell existing in the universe and is filled with unmitigated pain and suffering. …

Lives that have Buddhahood as their fundamental tendency will upon death instantaneously become one with the world of Buddhahood in the universe and be infused with a sense of great and brilliant joy. (WLS-4, 270–71)

Digging Deep

December Study Guide 

Please use these questions to guide your study of The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, vol. 4, pp. 249–75. 

1) Of the nine consciousnesses, what are the first five based on? 

For the last four, match each consciousness with its corresponding description and write a brief description of each. (WLS-4, 261–64)

1. Sixth mind-consciousness
2. Seventh mano-consciousness
3. Eighth alaya-consciousness
4. Ninth amala-consciousness

a. life current of karmic energy
b. fundamentally pure consciousness; the Buddha nature
c. the function of intelligence to make inferences and judgements about things
d. an inner-directed awareness of the self

2) Ikeda Sensei says, “While activity is the main characteristic of one’s life current while alive, one’s life current after death is passive” (WLS-4, 270). How does our underlying life tendency affect us at the moment of death? Why is human revolution so important? (WLS-4, 270–73)

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Looking Forward: January Syllabus

The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, vol. 4, pp. 277–305
Part Three: “The Life Span of the Thus Come One”: The Eternity of Life
11: “Eternally Advancing With Great Life Force”

From the December Living Buddhism