Gongyo—which includes reciting portions of the “Expedient Means” and “Life Span of the Thus Come One” chapters of the Lotus Sutra—is part of daily practice for Nichiren Buddhists. This series carries Ikeda Sensei’s explanations of gongyo. This month, we start Sensei’s explanations of the verse section of the “Life Span of the Thus Come One” chapter. The full text can be found in The Heart of the Lotus Sutra, pp. 297–304.
What Is the Verse Section?
The verse section of the “Life Span” chapter is also referred to as the jigage. What does ge in jigage mean? It is a transliteration of the Sanskrit term gatha, which is also sometimes rendered as keta or kada. In short, it means “verse.”
To put it another way, a gatha or ge is a text that relates the Buddha’s teaching or that praises the virtues of the Buddha and bodhisattvas through verse. It is a Buddhist scripture that is easily recited and memorized. Since this ge begins with the words pronounced in Japanese ji ga, it is called the jigage. …
The benefit that accrues to those who read and recite this verse is vast and immeasurable.
Nichiren Daishonin says that the jigage, or verse section, “represents the soul of the twenty-eight chapters of the sutra” (“Letter to Horen,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 516). …
Toward the Future, Toward Humankind
The verse section explains that whenever people seek the Buddha, the Buddha appears in the world, and the land where the Buddha appears becomes a Buddha land of peace and tranquility.
But if the Buddha constantly abides in this world without ever entering extinction, then why can’t people see him? And what can they do to gain the ability to see him? This, too, is explained in the verse section. It might be said that the verse section reveals the key to forming the profound bond between the Buddha and disciples of seeking mind, the eternal bond of the oneness of mentor and disciple existing throughout past, present and future. …
The final line of the verse section explains the Buddha’s constant wish: “How can I cause living beings to gain entry into the unsurpassed way and quickly acquire the body of a Buddha?” (The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras, p. 273). The verse section in its entirety exudes the Buddha’s compassionate desire to enable all people to establish in their hearts a state of true happiness.
Each word of the verse section is imbued with the Buddha’s compassion to enable all people to become Buddhas. From the standpoint of Nichiren Buddhism, everyone is an entity of the Mystic Law; all people are Buddhas. And the verse section of the “Life Span” chapter praises the benefit we attain when we open our eyes to this truth. It profoundly calls out to each of us to advance along the path of truth and genuine happiness open to all people, as clarified in the chapter’s prose section.
Nichiren says that each character of the Lotus Sutra is a “golden Shakyamuni” (“Reply to the Lay Priest Soya,” WND-1, 486). And he explains that when we read or recite the verse section of the “Life Span” chapter, whose golden characters number 510, each of these characters becomes a sun and a Buddha, illuminating all worlds and the entire universe and leading all people to happiness (see “Letter to Horen,” WND-1, 517–18).
The verse section illuminates the lives of all people. Every day in the morning and evening, we recite this scripture, the ultimate treasure of humankind. Therefore, our benefit is great beyond measure.
Not only do we recite the verse section, we also practice it and prove its truth. We are communicating and spreading its benefit to all people. Nichiren Daishonin and all Buddhas of the three existences and the ten directions no doubt praise our efforts. How wonderful! How truly fortunate we are! …
The Verse Section Represents Oneself
Shortly after he began his journey of propagation, Shakyamuni called out to a youth whom he met in the forest: “Seek out your self!”
“Seek out your self!” “Know your true self!” “Start digging right at your feet!” Herein lies the source of happiness and the path of hope.
Therefore, President Toda always encouraged people to “live your own life,” to “live true to yourself”:
Whether you suffer from poverty or failure in business, are miserable because of marital discord or suffer injury from a fall or other accident, ultimately all such sufferings are your own life. They are manifestations of the living phenomenon that is your self. When we view things this way, we see that all occurrences in our daily existence involve changes in our lives themselves. The important thing, therefore, is to try to cause more positive changes and ceaselessly make efforts to secure happiness.
The key is to live true to yourself. You have to realize that living true to yourself is the only way. To live based on other people or circumstances, always thinking, “Things would be fine if that person would only do such-and-such” or “If the world were only like this, then I could be happy,” is a mistake, is it not?
No matter where we go, we can never escape ourselves. Happiness and misery, everything in life, are contained in the single word “self.” Ultimately, victory or defeat in life comes down to a matter of disciplining and dignifying this inescapable thing that is the self.
One must not have a weak self that’s easily blown this way and that depending on the wind’s direction. One who can profoundly distinguish between true and false and who possesses a solid self will not be swayed by rumors and hearsay.
We have to develop a towering self. The verse section of the “Life Span” chapter praises the wonder and greatness of the true self, of the self that basks in the realization: “I am originally a Buddha!”
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