A Guide to the - Rissho Kosei-kai

Combining time‐honored Buddhist teachings and stories with examples from modern life, thelate Rev. Nikkyo Niwano shows us how we can attain a uniquely Buddhist way of reflecting onour everyday ways of thinking and doing.PROLOGUEMany people refuse to believe in anything that cannot be proved logically or scientifically.Buddhists believe, however, that there is an orderly logic at work in the world. Since theordinary eye cannot see this order, Buddhists try to see it with the eye of faith. In today'ssecular world, faith sometimes seems like an outdated or unnecessary concept. But if we lookclosely, we can see it operating every day in our lives. Here is an example, from Japan, of thekind of faith we employ in our relations with loved ones:In the mountains of Shinshu a small group of students from Tokyo was gathering plantspecimens, and just below the edge of a sheer cliff they found an unusual flower. They wantedto add it to their collection, but could not climb down far enough. They decided to tie pieces ofclothing into a rope, down which one of them could climb. The rope seemed too flimsy,however, to support an adult. Just then a thirteen‐year‐old boy happened by. They asked him ifhe would be willing to climb down to the flower for a small reward while they stood above andheld the rope. The boy refused. They doubled their offer, but he shook his head. They tripledand even quadrupled it, but still he refused. Finally they asked how much he wanted. The boysaid, "I'll do it if my father holds the rope." This was faith. Logically, the boy would have beensafer with several husky students holding the rope than with just his father. His trust in hisfather was not strictly logical.The Japanese poet Jukichi Yagi (1898 ‐ 1927), who died young, was a devout Christian. One ofhis poems expresses his faith succinctly:Because one calls,Something appears.Because one does not call,Something disappears.When we call the name of God, certainly we feel something. Even if we cannot see God, we canfeel the embrace of God. The same thing is true when we call the Buddha's name.The poet Yaichi Aizu (1881‐‐1956), who was born in Niigata Prefecture and became a professoremeritus of Waseda University, included the following poem in his Jichu Rokumei‐shu (AnAnnotated Collection of Deer Cries):Eye of the Buddha old and fadedOn the temple wall watching over me.Aizu was looking at a mural at the temple Horyu‐ji in Nara Prefecture. No doubt as he openedhis heart to the image of the Buddha, whose color had faded with time, he began to feelpalpably that the Buddha was watching over him. Though the gods and buddhas may not bevisible to the eye, those who believe in them can continually commune with them in spirit.Buddhism teaches that when all living beings are purified, the world will be pure. A nationwhose people enjoy peace and prosperity is not something that we should passively await. It iswhen its people become of one heart that a nation becomes serene and peaceful; when theyare not of one heart, the nation is racked by contention and covetousness.4