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Saturday, February 22, 2020

Josei Toda's inferior enlightenment

Toda's enlightenment was based on the Sutra of Infinite Meanings, not on the Lotus Sutra, the Namu Myoho renge kyo, nor Nichiren's Gohonzon. His enlightenment was born of the following passage from the Sutra of Infinite Meanings:

His body is neither existing nor nonexisting; 
Without cause or condition, 
Without self or others; 
Neither square nor round, 
Neither short nor long; 
Without appearance or disappearance, 
Without birth or death; 
Neither created nor emanating, 
Neither made nor produced; 
Neither sitting nor lying, 
Neither walking nor stopping; 
Neither moving nor rolling, 
Neither calm nor quiet; 
Without advance or retreat, 
Without safety or danger; 
Without right or wrong, 
Without merit or demerit; 
Neither that nor this, 
Neither going nor coming; 
Neither blue nor yellow, 
Neither red nor white; 
Neither crimson nor purple, 
Without a variety of color. 

Toda taught that by contemplating this passage he came to understand that Buddha is life itself. Neither the Buddha of the Lotus Sutra nor Nichiren Daishonin in any of his authentic writings taught that Buddha is life itself. Toda's enlightenment does not go beyond the Shingon master's enlightenment who understood "Buddha" as non-substantial or merely the Dharma Body. The fact is, the Three Bodied Tathagata (Buddha) has both form and fragrance. Reason this for a moment. The cockroach has life. Does that mean that the cockroach is Buddha?

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