Buddha will use the power of
Buddha-nature and create
a Buddha Nation
In today’s article, I’d like to base on
what I’ve discussed in previous articles
and particularly talk about
“Buddha and Buddha Nation.”
The Buddhist Scripture called “Lotus Sutra“,
which explains “The Law of Origin” and
“Buddha-nature”, teaches that there are many
“Advanced Life-Form Planets” like Earth’s
human society in the vast universe.
These “Advanced Life-Form Planets” are
collectively called “Nation.”
For example, a Nation with many Buddhas
is called a “Buddha Nation.”
However, when speaking of “Buddha”,
you, everyone, including me, are all Buddha.
The reason why that we all possess
Buddha-nature in our hearts.
In a previous article, I said,
“Basically, you are the only Buddha.”
This is true.
This is because, unless you yourself
take action, Nothing in the world will
essentially change.
Even if others take action, nothing will
change.
The world will change only when you
take action. This is an empirical fact.
Therefore, in this sense, practically,
Buddha is only you.
Everyone else is the other.
However, I believe that in the countless
lives we have lived since the distant past,
we have not done much “Buddha’s Training.”
Of course, this cannot be determined.
However, I believe that in today’s human
society, there are almost none, including me,
who have thoroughly undertaken “The Training
as the Buddha” in the countless human lives
we have lived since the immeasurable past.
Even if there are such people, I believe that
they are extremely rare.
Certainly, in the sense that everyone
possesses Buddha-nature, we are all Buddha,
and we are in common in that respect.
However, when it comes from the perspective
of “How much Buddha’s Training each person
has accumulated in past lives,” there are
differences between each person.
Such as: “That person doesn’t accumulate a lot,”
“He has accumulated much,” “This person has
accumulated a little in a past life,” etc.
*
So, what I would like to talk about in this article is
“The people who have thoroughly practiced the
Buddha’s Training” in a past life.
In the case of such a Buddha, what kind of
Nation in the vast universe would he or she
be born into, and what would be the goal of
what they would aim for in their actions?
I would like to explain this based on the
description of the scripture, “Lotus Sutra”
that I mentioned earlier, which explains
the Law of Origin.
According to the description, Buddha is
usually born in the “Nation with many
Buddhas,” that is, “The Buddha Nation”
in the vast universe, and trains under the
guidance of many Buddhas there.
Alternatively, Buddha may train under
rare Buddhas who have accumulated
“Thorough Buddha’s Training” who exist
in various nations, that is, the various
planets of advanced life in the universe.
Then there, he or she is thoroughly trained
in “Buddha’s Training.”
And after completing the training, Buddha
comes to be born in a “Country where many
ordinary people live,” like our human society
on Earth.
It is an extremely rare occurrence,
but occasionally, such a “Buddha who
has thoroughly completed the Buddha’s
Training” comes to be born in
a “Country where many ordinary people
live,” like Earth.
So what does Buddha do when he or she
is born in such a country?
Buddha begins to strive to make that
country a Buddha Nation.
The characteristics of Buddha Nation
Regarding the characteristics of
Buddha Nation, I have talked about it
in a previous article as follows:
The following will be able to say
about the characteristics of Buddha
Nation.
If your country were to become the
“Buddha Nation,” your country seems to
remain unchanged and looks pretty
much the same. Your country has many
religions and philosophies, many kinds
of economic activities are carried out,
and many citizens live normally.
Also, your country’s traditional culture
exists and they are carefully preserved.
(Image Above)
However, if your country becomes a
“Buddha Nation,”the Buddha Nation’s
Unique Characteristic will come to
appear in some respects.
What is it like?
One is, since the Buddha Nation
I mentioned above is a peaceful and
prosperous nation, if your country becomes
a Buddha Nation, a strong movement
towards peace and prosperity will come
to occur within your country.
The second is the fact that if your country
becomes the Buddha Nation, it will become
a “Country that cannot be destroyed by
anyone.”
As a result, the various good thoughts,
religions, cultural assets, and civic life that
exist in your country will be carefully
preserved and protected.
Also, even if some countries attack
your country with mighty military power,
after a while, they will be defeated or
leave for some reason. You will clearly
see that their army is emaciated and
withdrawing.
Why it become so?
This is because the power of the Law of
Origin, which you have exerted, moves
all phenomena and strongly protects
“your country” and does so.
Also, good forces, nations, or powerful
people will come from outside and
protect your country and your citizens.
As a result, all people will live in peace and
happiness in the Buddha Nation.
*
The third characteristic is the biggest.
It cannot be seen from the outside.
It is something that exists within the
hearts of the people in the Buddha
nation.
It is the fact that almost every citizen
of the Buddha nation emits Mercy
toward other citizens, and they are
constantly sending “Good Fortune” in
their hearts.
In other words, in the Buddha nation,
citizens send good fortune to each
other in their hearts.
As a result, people’s good fortune is
constantly increasing.
For instance, your Good Fortune
increases as the reward by sending
Good Fortune to other citizens. This is
based on the principle that
“Contributing to the happiness of others
will make you happy yourself.”
At the same time, your Good Fortune is
constantly increasing by the Good
Fortune that other citizens send you.
The same can be said about other citizens.
The Good Fortune of other citizens,
other than you, is always increased by the
Good Fortune you send them in your heart.
At the same time, their Good Fortune is
always increasing by the “The reward of their
own actions of sending Good Fortune to
other citizens.”
The Lotus Sutra, the scripture that
expounds the Law of Origin, contains
the phrase
“Having Mercy Heart to All Living Existence.”
(Chapter 10, “The preacher of the Law”)
The meaning of this phrase is as above.
Buddha’s three kinds of Bodies
Regarding Buddha,
Buddha always possesses three kinds
of bodies. This is the definition;
No matter which Buddha we look at,
whether born in the past, present, or
future, they all possess three kinds of
bodies.
This means that although the Buddha’s
body is actually one, Buddha possesses
the body of three different functions
simultaneously.
The three kinds of bodies are as follows:
One is “The Body of Buddha-nature“
The second is “The body of Wisdom“
The third is “The body of the Action acting
Mercy”
First, “Buddha-nature” of “The Body of
Buddha-nature” refers to the Buddha-nature
that resides in all phenomenal worlds.
Buddha-nature literally means the
“Nature of Buddha.”
Buddha-nature is written in Chinese
characters as 仏性 (Butsu-shō).
“Butsu” of Buddha-nature is Buddha,
and “shō” is nature. Together they form
“Buddha-nature.”
For instance, all phenomena in the
phenomenal world possess
“The nature of Buddha,” Buddha-nature.
For example, the people around you,
their minds, the desk and chair in front of
you, your homes, families, companies,
individuals, society, countries, the international
community, the natural world, life, the Earth,
the sun, the solar system, the galaxy, and
all other living existence and matter all possess
the nature of Buddha, that is Buddha nature.
Buddha lives with Buddha-nature as his own
Main Body.
This means that Buddha lives with his own body
and Buddha-nature as one. This is the first point
mentioned above, “The body of Buddha-nature.”
So, what happens when you make your own body
and Buddha-nature to be one?
First, by merging with Buddha-nature, you will be
able to use the power of Buddha-nature as your
own power.
And you will be happy with that power.
You will become healthy.
Also, you can gain a vastly broader state of mind.
Also, you can lead people to happiness.
*
The second one is –
As stated above, Buddha-nature exists in
all lives, matter, phenomena, and events.
So you will become able to move these
phenomena and events freely through
Buddha-nature.
Therefore, after Buddha is born in one nation
in the universe, he or she will use the “power of
Buddha-nature” and the “power that Buddha-
nature moves phenomena and events,” and
begin to strive to lead the people in the nation
to happiness.
And what’s an important is that these attempts
and actions will surely be achieved.
This is because, through Buddha-nature,
you will use “The power that moves
all phenomena and events,” so there’s no way
your goal won’t be achieved.
It will definitely be achieved.
There will be a mighty power at work there,
as no Military or Economic Power can stand
against it.
In this way, Buddha will bring happiness to
the citizens and people of the country
in which he was born, bring peace to society,
and transform that country into
a “Buddha nation.”
He or she finishes the war of the country that
was constantly at war, and transforms it into
a peaceful nation, a Great Power of Peaceful
Civilization.
For example, it would be a peaceful civilization like
the Palemira Civilization that flourished in the
3rd century AD. (Image Above)
It is one of the civilizations that evokes the image
of a Buddha nation. (The country prospered as
a transit city on the Silk Road, a trade route
connecting Eastern and Western civilizations.)
What can we do to become one
with Buddha-nature?
So, how can we become one with
Buddha-nature?
In other words, how can we merge
with Buddha-nature?
Here, we use the word “Merge.“
Merge is to merge into one, or
to become one.
To merge with the Buddha-nature,
which manages all phenomenal worlds,
you need to perform two acts: “Acts of
Mercy” and “Acts of Wisdom.”
These are the second and third Buddha’s
Bodies: “The Body of Wisdom” and
“The Body of the Action acting Mercy,”
which I talked about earlier. (Table Below)
In other words, Buddhas of all nations in
the universe merge with Buddha-nature
by performing Acts of Mercy and Wisdom.
In this article, I’d like to talk in more detail
than before about “The Act of Wisdom”
and ”The Act of Mercy.”
The Act of Wisdom
First, I will talk about “The Act of Wisdom.”
About the Act of Wisdom, I have said until
now that “It is an Act of reading well,
thinking well, and understanding the correct
information of ‘Buddha-nature’ and
‘The Law of Origin, which is established with
Buddha-nature as its main body,’ and then
discussing it with others, etc.”
This is an undeniable fact.
The Mind called “Zen-Jō” that
supports Wisdom
However, here I would like to talk about
an important “Mental Function” that
supports the function of Wisdom
when you use it.
That is the mind called “Zen-Jō.”
*
Have you ever heard of the word “Zen“?
Zen is a word that is commonly heard.
For example, Zen Gym, Zen Fitness,
Zendesk, etc.
“Zen” in “Zen-Jo” that I mentioned now
refers to this Zen.
Zen Gym and Zen Fitness are the training
Gym where special practices such as Zazen —
Keep sitting quietly– or Yoga are practiced
to achieve “Mental Concentration.”
Meanwhile, Zendesk is a company that
facilitates companies’ customer management.
It centralizes the management of customer
inquiries from multiple channels, such as
email, chat, phone, and social media, on a single
screen, and enabling fast and efficient responses.
It is a cloud-based customer service platform
that can be described as an assistant company
that makes a company’s customer management
smoother and more efficient for companies.
The original meaning of Zen and Jō
What I am trying to talk about here now is
the heart that Zen or “Zen-Jō” originally
meant.
Both Zen and Jō mean “Mental Concentration
Power.” However, there are crucial differences
between Zen and Jō in the process of achieving
concentration as follows.
Zen gains concentrative power by using
only the power of thought, that is,
by thinking well. In other words, Zen achieves
concentration by thinking one thing
concentrically.
On the other hand, Jō is the act of achieving
mental concentration by using all powers,
including the power of Thought, as well as
all power of Desires and Joys such as
Satisfaction, Agreement, Enlightenment,
Understanding, Intuitive power, Physical Health,
Physical Strength, and Mental Wealth.
From this, it can be said that the meaning of
Jō is broad, while Zen is narrow, since
it concentrates only on the power of Thought.
In conclusion, Zen is a part of Jō.
In other words, Zen is a part of Jō, and
is originally Jō.
However, due to certain circumstances,
Zen was separated from Jō and given
a different name, “Zen.” (Table Below)
So why was Zen separated from Jō?
This is because in real society and
the world, many complex and serious
problems often arise, and “Zen’s power
of Thought” came to the forefront and
was overwhelmingly used to fight against
them.
For this reason, Zen was separated from
Jō and placed at the beginning of “Zen-Jō.”
(Table Below)
In other words, the reason for placing Zen
at the beginning of “Zen-Jō” signifies that
“Zen’s power of Thought” struggles with
the various complex problems of the real
world. Doing so makes easier to gain
the heart of Jō later.
Two facts can be known
from the above
This fact shows the following two things:
①
As long as Zen is needed, this society is
“a many-problems society,”
a Problematic Society.
When Zen becomes less needed,
and Zen returns to Jō, this society will
have fewer problems. However, given
the current situation, it seems likely that
this “Problematic Society” will continue
for some time to come.
➁
The fact that “Zen” was taken from the
word “Zen-Jō” and placed at the head of
“Zen-Jō” indicates that the Zen’s thinking
ability, that is, “Thinking well”, is most
effective when it comes to solving
problems.
For example, let’s say when you are
doing your job, you cannot get many
results.
In such cases, if you use “Zen’s thinking
ability” and do your job with thinking well,
you’ll be able to do “Productive Work”
with good results.
“Thinking well” attracts Work well.
Question
Why are these “Zen and Jō” related to
the “Act of Wisdom”?
What is the relationship between
“Zen-Jō” and “Wisdom”?
Answer
“The Strong Concentration” of Zen-Jō
works to protect Wisdom.
*
Now, I’ll backtrack a bit and talk about
Wisdom. Wisdom is a power that performs
important functions, such as guiding human
behavior in the right direction, clarifying the
causal relationships between things,
using the imagination, and having many
other great functions.
For example, the fact that
“All things and events possess Buddha-nature“
can also be revealed through the
function of Wisdom.
However, that Wisdom has a major
weakness. The weakness, that is,
the disadvantage of Wisdom, is that
when exposed to internal and external
Winds, the fire of wisdom is easily
extinguished.
In that case, External winds refer to
when many different people say many
things or when a variety of different
information is provided in a jumbled
manner, which may cause Wisdom to
become confused and prevent it from
exerting Wisdom’s full power.
On the other hand, Internal winds refer
to the anxiety, confusion, extreme
suffering, and suffering from illness,
etc, which arise when a person’s mind
encounters some kind of bad event.
When bothered by these mental turmoil,
Wisdom also can, as expected, be
prevented from exerting good wisdom.
Then this is where the “Zen-Jō”
mentioned earlier comes in.
Zen and Jō’s “Strong Concentration Power”
can be likened to a Quiet Room.
(Image below.)
When Wisdom is placed in this “Quiet Room,”
it is well protected from both internal and
external winds. And the fire of Wisdom
continues to burn brightly
like a candle flame, and emits its light.
As a result, “The fire of Wisdom protected
by Zen-Jō” continues to emit the light of
superior wisdom, no matter how chaotic
society may be, or how chaotic hearts
may be.
For this reason, “The Wisdom firmly
protected by Zen and Jō” can be called
“The Wisdom with truely power.”
*
As above, the role of Zen-Jō protecting
wisdom is important.
If Zen-Jō is strong, the power of
wisdom will be exerted powerfully.
Now, I said above that “The Wisdom
protected by Zen-Jō” emits an
“Unwavering light” like a candle flame
in a silent room.
However, in reality, “The Wisdom
protected by Zen-Jō” emits like
a Laser Beam, a sharp, powerful light,
to the world and deals with the
problems around you. And it illuminates
the world and solves the problems
occurring in the world well.
Losing Zen-Jō is
“Breaking a Bridge”
For these reasons, it is important to
have Zen-Jō no matter what the
situation.
For instance, when you can’t
concentrate on work, or when you’re
feeling depressed or lost, you decide
to “have Zen-Jō” and have it.
Then, through the concentration of
Zen-Jō, your wisdom will be strengthened,
and with that wisdom, you will be able
to break through stagnation and
progress your work.
For example, imagine when you’re
serving customers at work, they give
you a difficult request.
At that moment, you won’t know
how to handle the situation,
you become nervous, and for
a moment, your mind goes blank.
But in that moment, you tell yourself,
“Have Zen-Jō” and have it.
Then you gain “A calm, stable mind”
and “Concentration”, and you will be
able to demonstrate the good
wisdom protected by Zen-Jō.
You will intuitively recall past cases
and the ways you have dealt with
similar situations in the past, and
be able to use these to get out of
the crisis.
Also, by “The wisdom that is
protected by Zen-Jō,” you will be able
to make good use of your
“past experiences” and
“accumulated know-how.”
As a result, you will be able to do the
“work that satisfies customers” and
give them peace of mind and
a sense of accomplishment.
*
In this way, it’s important to
“have Zen-Jō” in times of crisis or
difficult situations. And even when
times aren’t difficult, such as when
you’re feeling depressed, normal,
or even happy, it is also important
to have Zen-Jō.
If you have Zen-Jō, Good Wisdom
will be exerted, you can deal with
problems, and your life and work
will go more smoothly.
As a result, it can be said as follows:
“Not having Zen-Jō and Wisdom”
or “Losing Zen-Jō and Wisdom
means the same as
“The bridge breaks.”
If the bridge breaks, you fall from
a high place into a fast-flowing
river. That’s a scary thing.
Question
Which is the Main, and which is
the Sub, Zen-Jō or Wisdom?
Answer
Wisdom is the Main, and Zen-Jō
is the Sub. In other words,
Wisdom is Primary, and
Zen-Jō is Secondary.
This is because, Zen-Jō
strengthens wisdom to the last,
but it is wisdom that directly
comes to the forefront to address
and resolve problems.
Also, Wisdom has the power to
recognize the existence of Buddha-
nature that resides in all phenomenal
worlds, and to merge with it.
For these reasons, Wisdom is
“The main body of the moon shining
in the sky,” while Zen-Jō is “The moon’s
shadow reflected in a pond.”
Question
You said earlier that when we face a crisis
or a problem, “Have Zen-Jō.”
Why don’t you say “Have Zen-Jō and
Wisdom,” and say only “Have Zen-Jō”?
Why do you emphasize only “Zen-Jō”?
Answer
The meaning of Zen-Jō, both Zen and Jō,
is basically concentration.
It also means focusing your mind on one
thing.
● Zen achieves this concentration through
the power of thought.
● Jō achieves the concentration through
things other than the power of thought,
such as the mind or power, etc.
“Concentration” means a “stable mind”
and a “calm mind.” It also means “a mind
that has regained the composure to
correctly understand things.”
I said earlier as follows:
When you find yourself in a difficult
situation at work, facing a crisis,
encountering a difficult situation, or
when something unexpected event
occurs, it’s the time when your mind,
by these events, becomes moved and
unsettled. They may also confuse and
lead you astray.
Therefore, first tell yourself,
“Have Zen-Jō”, and calm your mind.
And, after calming your mind, if you
exert Wisdom, Good Practical Wisdom
will be exerted.
Wisdom cannot be exerted when your
mind fall into confusion and moving.
When you calm your mind, the mind
will naturally exert Good Wisdom.
In conclusion,
When you use Zen-Jō and Wisdom,
there are two ways to do it:
・When placing Zen-Jō at the Front,
while Wisdom at the Back.
・When placing Wisdom at the Front,
while Zen-Jō at the Back.
Speaking metaphorically:
There are the “Times when standing
Zen-Jō as King while Wisdom as Minister”
and the “Times when standing Wisdom as
King and Zen-Jō as Minister.”
To be continued
