HELL IS THE LAND OF TRANQUIL LIGHT

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faith, Gosho, Hell Is the Land of Tranquil Light, Life Span, Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren Daishonin, Nine Consciousnesses, Ten Worlds

The two characters for hell can be interpreted to mean digging a hole in the ground. Can anyone avoid having a hole dug for them when they die? This is what is called “hell.” The flames that burn one’s body are the fires of the hell of incessant suffering. One’s wife, children, and relatives vying for position around one’s body as they move toward the grave are the wardens and demon guards of hell. The plaintive cries of one’s family are the voices of the guards and wardens of hell. One’s two-and-a-half-foot-long walking stick is the iron rod of torture in hell. The horses and oxen that carry one’s body are the horse-headed and ox-headed demons, and the grave is the great citadel of the hell of incessant suffering. The eighty-four thousand earthly desires are eighty-four thousand cauldrons in hell. One’s body leaves home for the mountain of death, while the river beside which one’s filial children stand in grief is the river of three crossings. It is utterly useless to look for hell anywhere else.

Those who embrace the Lotus Sutra, however, can turn all this around. Hell becomes the Land of Tranquil Light; the burning fires of agony become the torch of the wisdom of a Thus Come One of thereward body; the dead person becomes a Thus Come One of the Dharma body; and the fiery inferno, the “room of great pity and compassion”⁶where a Thus Come One of the manifested body abides. Moreover, the walking stick becomes the walking stick of the true aspect, or the Mystic Law; the river of three crossings becomes the ocean of “the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana”; and the mountain of death becomes the towering peak of “earthly desires are enlightenment.” Please think of it in this way. Both attaining Buddhahood in one’s present form and “opening the door of Buddha wisdom”⁷ refer to realizing this and to awakening toit. Devadatta’s changing the Avīchi hell into the blissful Land of Tranquil Light, and the dragon king’s daughter’s attaining Buddhahood without changing her form, were nothing other than this. It is p.458because the Lotus Sutra saves those who oppose it as well as those who follow it. This is the blessing of the single character myō, or mystic.

Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna stated, “[The Lotus Sutra is] like a great physician who can change poison into medicine.”⁸ The Great TeacherMiao-lo stated, “How can one seek the Land of Eternally Tranquil Lightanywhere apart from Buddhagayā? This sahā world does not exist anywhere outside the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light.”⁹ He also said: “The true aspect invariably manifests in all phenomena, and all phenomena invariably manifest in the ten factors. The ten factors invariably manifest in the Ten Worlds, and the Ten Worlds invariably manifest in life and its environment.”¹⁰

The Lotus Sutra reads, “The true aspect of all phenomena [can only be understood and shared between Buddhas. This reality consists of the appearance, nature . . . and] their consistency from beginning to end.”¹¹The “Life Span” chapter states, “It has been immeasurable, boundless [hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of nayutas of kalpas] since I in fact attained Buddhahood.” In this passage, “I” refers to all beings in the Ten Worlds. Because all beings of the Ten Worlds are inherently Buddhas, they dwell in the pure land. The “Expedient Means” chapter reads, “These phenomena are part of an abiding Law, [and] the characteristics of the world are constantly abiding.” Since it is the way of the world that birth and death are eternally unchanging characteristics of life in the three existences of past, present, and future, there is no need to grieve or to be surprised. The single word “characteristic” represents the eight characteristics, or phases, of the Buddha’s existence. Even these eight phases do not transcend the two words birth and death.To be enlightened in this way is referred to as the attainment ofBuddhahood in one’s present form by the votaries of the Lotus Sutra.

Since your deceased husband was a votary of this sutra, he doubtless attained Buddhahood just as he was. You need not grieve so much over his passing. On the other hand, to grieve is only natural for ordinary people. However, even sages are sometimes sad. Could the lamenting of all the great enlightened disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha at his passing have been meant to show the behavior of ordinary people?

You should by all means perform as much good as you possibly can for the sake of your deceased husband. The words of a wise man of old also teach that “you should base your mind on the ninth consciousness, and carry out your practice in the six consciousnesses.”¹² How reasonable it is too! In this letter I have written my long-cherished teachings. Keep them deep within your heart.

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In the fifth month of the eleventh year of Bun’ei (1274), NichirenDaishonin left Kamakura and went to live in a small dwelling at the foot of Mount Minobu. In the seventh month, the Daishonin wrote this letter to the wife of Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō, or Ueno. She was the mother of Nanjō Tokimitsu, who had succeeded his father as steward of Ueno in Suruga Province. She had raised nine children after her husband’s death in 1265 and was a devoted mother and a sincere follower of the Daishonin. On this occasion she had sent the Daishonin various offerings to commemorate the tenth anniversary of her husband’s death. This letter expresses the Daishonin’s appreciation for her thoughtfulness and devotion and goes on to encourage her by shifting his focus from her late husband’s attainment of Buddhahood to her own attainment of Buddhahood.

The Daishonin in this letter explains the fundamental concept of the Ten Worlds, i.e.,:

• The world of hell;
• The world of hungry spirits (also called hunger);
• The world of animals (animality);
• The world of asuras (anger);
• The world of human beings (humanity or tranquillity);
• The world of heavenly beings (heaven or rapture);
• The world of voice-hearers (learning);
• The world of cause-awakened ones (realization);
• The world of bodhisattvas; and
• The world of Buddhas (Buddhahood).

He further explains the Nine Consciousnesses. “Consciousness” is the translation of the Sanskrit vijnana, which means discernment. The nine consciousnesses are

• Sight-consciousness (Skt chakshur-vijnana ),
• Hearing-consciousness (shrota-vijnana),
• Smell-consciousness (ghrana-vijnana),
• Taste-consciousness (jihva-vijnana),
• Touch-consciousness (kaya-vijnana),
• Mind-consciousness (mano-vijnana),
• Mano -consciousness (mano-vijnana),  
• Alaya consciousness (alaya-vijnana), and
• Amala -consciousness (amala-vijnana). (The Sanskrit is the same for both the sixth and seventh consciousnesses.)

he first five consciousnesses correspond to the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. The sixth consciousness integrates the perceptions of the five senses into coherent images and makes judgments about the external world. In contrast with the first six consciousnesses, which deal with the external world, the seventh, or mano -consciousness, corresponds to the inner spiritual world. Awareness of and attachment to the self are said to originate from the mano -consciousness, as does the ability to distinguish between good and evil. The eighth, or alaya -consciousness, exists in what modern psychology calls the unconscious; all experiences of present and previous lifetimes—collectively called karma—are stored there. The alaya -consciousness receives the results of one’s good and evil deeds and stores them as karmic potentials or “seeds,” which then produce the rewards of either happiness or suffering accordingly. Hence it was rendered as “storehouse consciousness” in Chinese. The alaya -consciousness thus forms the framework of individual existence. The Dharma Characteristics (Chin Fa-hsiang; Jpn Hosso) school regards the eighth consciousness as the source of all spiritual and physical phenomena. The Summary of the Mahayana (Shelun; Shoron) school, the T’ient’ai school, and the Flower Garland (Hua-yen; Kegon) school postulate a ninth consciousness, called amala-consciousness, which lies below the alaya-consciousness and remains free from all karmic impurity. This ninth consciousness is defined as the basis of all life’s functions. Hence it was rendered as “fundamental pure consciousness” in Chinese. The ninth, or āmala-consciousness, free from all karmic impurity, is the fundamental purifying force that is the Buddha nature.

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HELL IS THE LAND OF TRANQUIL LIGHT

Tags

faith, Gosho, Hell Is the Land of Tranquil Light, Lotus Sutra, Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren Daishonin, Ten Worlds

Neither the pure land nor hell exists outside oneself; both lie only within one’s own heart. Awakened to this, one is called a Buddha; deluded about it, one is called an ordinary person. The Lotus Sutrar eveals this truth, and one who embraces the Lotus Sutra will realize that hell is itself the Land of Tranquil Light.

Even if one were to practice the provisional teachings for immeasurable millions of years, if one should turn away from the Lotus Sutra, it would simply always be hell. I did not make this assertion; it was decided by Shakyamuni Buddha, Many Treasures Buddha, and the emanation Buddhas of the ten directions. To practice the provisional teachings is to be like a person scorched by fire who goes deeper into the flames, or like a drowning person sinking farther toward the bottom of the depths. Those who fail to embrace the Lotus Sutra are like persons going into fire or water. Those who rely on such evil teachers as Hōnen,Kōbō, and other slanderers of the Lotus Sutra and believe in the Amidaor Mahāvairochana Sutra are going farther and farther into the fire or deeper and deeper into the depths of the water. How can they possibly escape agony? They will doubtless fall into the fiery pits of the hell of repeated rebirth for torture, the hell of black cords, and the hell of incessant suffering, or sink into the icy depths of the hell of the crimson lotus and the hell of the great crimson lotus.² The second volume of the Lotus Sutra reads, “When his life comes to an end he will enter the Avīchi hell, [be confined there for a whole kalpa, and when the kalpa ends, be born there again]. He will keep repeating this cycle for a countless number of kalpas.”³

Your late husband has escaped such agonies, for he was a lay supporter of Nichiren, the votary of the Lotus Sutra. The sutra reads, “If someone . . . should enter a great fire, the fire could not burn him. . . . If one were washed away by a great flood and called upon his name, one would immediately find oneself in a shallow place.”⁴ It also reads, “The good fortune you gain thereby . . . cannot be burned by fire or washed away by water.” How reassuring! How encouraging!

After all, even if one looks for hell in some faraway place, the iron rods of the wardens of hell and the accusing cries of the demon guards do not exist apart from one. This teaching is of prime importance, but I will impart it to you just as Bodhisattva Manjushrī explained the secret teaching of the attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form to thedragon king’s daughter. After hearing it, strive even more earnestly in faith. One who, on hearing the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, makes even greater efforts in faith is a true seeker of the way. T’ien-t’ai states, “From the indigo, an even deeper blue.”⁵ This passage means that, if one dyes something repeatedly in indigo, it becomes even bluer than the indigo leaves. The Lotus Sutra is like the indigo, and the strength of one’s practice is like the deepening blue.

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In the fifth month of the eleventh year of Bun’ei (1274), NichirenDaishonin left Kamakura and went to live in a small dwelling at the foot of Mount Minobu. In the seventh month, the Daishonin wrote this letter to the wife of Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō, or Ueno. She was the mother of Nanjō Tokimitsu, who had succeeded his father as steward of Ueno in Suruga Province. She had raised nine children after her husband’s death in 1265 and was a devoted mother and a sincere follower of the Daishonin. On this occasion she had sent the Daishonin various offerings to commemorate the tenth anniversary of her husband’s death. This letter expresses the Daishonin’s appreciation for her thoughtfulness and devotion and goes on to encourage her by shifting his focus from her late husband’s attainment of Buddhahood to her own attainment of Buddhahood.

The Daishonin in this letter explains that there are eight hot hells, each with sixteen subsidiary hells. The hell of repeated rebirth for torture is the first of the hot hells. There victims are slashed and pounded with swords and iron staves, whereupon their body immediately regenerates; they thus experience the same suffering repeatedly. The hell of black cords is the second of the hot hells. There the occupants are either sawed in half or slashed with red-hot axes. Suffering there is said to be ten times greater than in the hell of repeated rebirth for torture. Those who have committed the five cardinal sins are said to undergo indescribable torture in the lowest and severest hell, the hell of incessant suffering. The hell of the crimson lotus and the hell of the great crimson lotus are two of the eight cold hells. They are so called because the intense cold there makes one double over until one’s back splits open and the bloody flesh blossoms like a crimson lotus flower.

He explains that both the pure land and hell exist within us. To suppose that they exist somewhere else is an illusion. Though in one moment we may experience the misery characterized by the world of hell, in that same moment, through Buddhist practice, we can begin transforming our lives so that we can savor the deep, inexhaustible joy of the world of Buddhahood.

Those who uphold the Lotus Sutra can actualize in their own lives the principle that “hell is itself the Land of Tranquil Light.” In one of his other writings, the Daishonin tells Shijo Kingo that if it were necessary in order to protect him, he would accompany him even to hell. He writes: “For if you and I should fall into hell together, we would find Shakyamuni Buddha and the Lotus Sutra there” (WND-1, 850). The implication here is that if Nichiren Daishonin and Shakyamuni Buddha were both present, hell would no longer be hell; it would become a Buddha land. And if that were so, then the wardens of hell[13] would not attack the followers of the Buddha, nor would King Yama, the king of hell, have any choice but to become a protector of the Lotus Sutra.

The Lotus Sutra is a teaching of changing the place we are right now into a Buddha land. Faith in the Lotus Sutra means undertaking the challenge to do just that. Consequently, the Daishonin’s followers who persevere in the practice of the Lotus Sutra will not possibly suffer in the world of Hell. They are guaranteed to enjoy a state of life of complete freedom. Daishonin wanted to deeply impress this point on the lay nun Ueno. Though she perhaps had already heard a number of times before about this principle of “hell is itself theLand of Tranquil Light,” the Daishonin no doubt wanted her to grasp it on a more profound level and to manifest it in her own life. These passages also convey the Daishonin’s sincere wish that she exert herself in her Buddhist practice with stronger resolve.