Salvation for the Suffering Animals by Graham Lamont
The power of the Lotus Sutra or Hokekyo to save all beings through our power of faith is proven by the attainment of Buddhahood dramatically demonstrated by the Dragon Girl in the “Chapter of Devadatta” 12 and referred to in the last quotation in the previous section: “They all saw the Dragon Girl .... attain True Enlightenment.” Although this event has several profound spiritual meanings for us, which I hope to explore in future issues, it can be noted here that Nichiren Shonin declares that this passage refers to “the Ten Realms which the Realm of the Beasts possesses.” (Kanjin honzon sho, STN, v. 1, 704) That is, even the Realm of Beasts possesses the Buddha Realm as well as the other Realms and, therefore, must inevitably attain Buddhahood. He also states:
“Though having the vile body of a dragon beast, born even as a woman and not even mature in years, she was scarcely eight years old. Though it was not at all expected, by the teaching and converting of Manjushri, within the sea between the “Dharma Teacher” and the “Devadatta” {Chapters] when He had scarcely preached the “Chapter of the Jewelled Stupa”, it was wondrous thing that she became a Buddha. If it were not for the power of the Hokekyo, how could it be thus? Therefore, Myoraku wrote, indeed, ‘The practice is shallow but the merit profound in order to reveal the Sutra’s power.’” (Kito sho, STN, v. 1, 673-674, citing the Hokke mongu ki (T.34.344c)
On a more immediate level Nichiren Shonin writes that the power of the faith of the Daimoku, “Namu Myoho renge kyo” extends from our realm into the Realm of Beasts. In the second year of Koan (1279) the Tonsured Layman of Nakaoki erected a sotoba or memorial offering plaque of wood (originally deriving from the “stupa” or reliquary mounds) for their deceased daughter on the thirteenth anniversary of her death; concerning this sotoba Nichiren comments:
“.... because on its face you displayed the Seven Characters “Namu Myoho renge kyo”, when the north wind blows the scaly tribe (fish) of the Southern Sea, meeting that wind, will leave the sufferings of the great sea and when the east wind comes the birds and deer of the western mountains, having had that wind touch their bodies, shall escape the Way of the Beasts and they shall be reborn in the Inner Cloister of Tushita. How much more the human beings who have a following joy (zuiki) for that sotoba, touching it to their hands and seeing it with their eyes! Think that it is like the moon’s reflection when the water is clear and the reverberation when they strike the drum that by the merit of that sotoba the departed parents shall also illuminate the Pure Land like the sun and moon of heaven and the person of filial nurture as well as his wife and children shall have a lifespan of a hundred and twenty years in the present world and in the after life shall go to the Pure Land of the Spiritual Mountain (ryozen jodo). Henceforth on subsequent sotobas you should display the Title (Daimoku) of the Hokekyo.” (Nakaoki nyudo goshosoku, STN, v. 2, 1718-1719)
This wonderful passage with its rather long sentences shows the power of the Daimoku to save all beings once the initial act of faith is made: after the memorial sotoba was set up in faith as an act of good for the departed (tsuizen), its power (which is a combination of the power of the Dharma, the power of the Eternal Buddha, and the power of the faith of the donor) spread to the donor’s family, rescuing his departed parents and his whole kindred. This, of course, is further proof of what was said above about one person’s faith in the Hokekyo benefitting not just one person but all those associated with that person. Clearly Nichiren was primarily concerned with the salvation of humankind, for he says, “How much more the human beings”. (Incidentally, the reference to “a lifespan of a hundred and twenty years” is not necessarily to be taken literally but is a traditional Buddhist expression of the longest life possible under the circumstances.)
However, the power of “Namu Myoho renge kyo” overflows into the world of the suffering beasts, who are being punished for their evil past deeds; through the power of the Daimoku written in faith they, too, are liberated and brought to the Inner Cloister of the Tushita Heaven. In conventional terms this Inner Cloister is the best part of Tushita Heaven where the next Buddha, the Great Bodhisattva Maitreya (Miroku In Japanese) dwells and preaches; it is, in reality, a Pure Land. However, Nichiren has explained in the Shugo kokka ron (STN, v. 1, 129-130) that when the Lotus Sutra speaks of such places of excellent rebirth, such as this Tushita Heaven, the Trayastrimsha (Toriten: Heaven of the Thirty Three), and the Western Pure Land of the Buddha Amida, it is giving names from the Previous Sutras to the one true Pure Land of the Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni, the Pure Land of the Spiritual Mountain which is described in the Sixteenth Chapter of the Lotus Sutra. Thus by the power of “Namu Myoho renge kyo” and the faith and practice of those who receive and keep this quintessence of the supreme Hokekyo, even the suffering beasts will attain Buddhahood in the Eternal Pure Land.
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