ronnymarsh wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 9:48 pm
The meaning of emptiness in Buddhism is not that of an "absolute emptiness" of the "ein sof" type of Qabalah, or "wu" of Taoism. Emptiness is the characteristic that all things change their states by changing their causes and conditions. If you think of a concept where emptiness is a concrete quality of an object, you are proposing the notion of atman.
I don't get your point. What are you trying to say?
In the Gosho "The Entity of the Mystic Law"
https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/47 the author (whether Nichiren himself or a Nichirenist disciple) clearly and repeatedly expounds what enlightenment is:
"Question: If the entity of all living beings is the Mystic Law in its entirety, then are all the actions and their results that are associated with the nine worlds, from the world of hell up to that of bodhisattvas, in effect of the entities Mystic Law?"
Answer: The mystic principle that is the essential nature of phenomena possesses two aspects, the defiled aspect and the pure aspect. If the defiled aspect is operative, this is called delusion. If the pure aspect is operative, this is called enlightenment. Enlightenment constitutes the realm of Buddhahood. Delusion constitutes the realms of ordinary mortals (...)
In this first paragraph of the answer Nichiren presents the distinction between illusion and illumination.
There is a "mystical principle" that is unique, however this principle has "two aspects", the "defiled" and the "pure". When the first aspect is operative, that is, when the mystical principle behaves according to that aspect, then there is ignorance, otherwise, when it behaves according to the pure aspect, then there is enlightenment.
This description is taken completely from the Mahayana's "Treatise on the Awakening of the Faith of the Mahayana", which talks about "One Mind - Two Gates", which is an influential text in the Kegon and Zen schools, and is the key text from which the notion of "hongaku" is the key to understanding the Mahayana concept of innate and sudden enlightenment.
You might consider trying to understand these writings of Nichiren through the teachings and texts of the Tientai/Tendai Lotus School which a survey of Nichiren's writings will show he in fact based his teachings on. This text you cite, Totaigisho, itself cites several Tientai texts, but makes no reference to Awakening of Faith. Awakening of Faith has no place in the Lotus traditions, including Nichiren.
As for you explanation of the passage - I wouldn't put it that way. The meaning of these passages is quite clear if properly understood through the Tientai teachings, particularly the Tientai texts Nichiren cites in this text. There is NO hint that the Awakening of Faith is relevant.
This "entity" Nichiren was dicussing is variously called Buddhanature, Tathgatagarbha, Myohorengekyo, Buddhanture-Middleway, "Mystical Entity", Mind, etc. The qualities of pure and impure are not intrinsic or extrinsic to it, but rather conventional distinctions identified by the Buddha for the purpose of teaching beings who themselves are, by definition, trapped by delusions. By distinguishing the impure, that is also marked by ignorance, the Buddha is able to point out "right" and "wrong" and thereby identify the path to bodhi (ignorance is not an effect of delusion, as you seem to suggest, but is delusion itself, is impurity itself).
In Totaigisho, Nichiren quotes Nanyue Huisi, Zhiyi's teacher:
“The entity of the mind is endowed with two aspects, the defiled and the pure. However, it does not have two different forms but is single in nature and without distinction.”
In the Unanimous Declaration I referred to above, Nichiren commented:
Living beings in the nine worlds sleep in an ignorance that accompanies them each moment of their lives, drowned in dreams of the realm of birth and death, forgetful of the waking state of original enlightenment, clinging to dreamlike rights and wrongs, moving from darkness into darkness.
For this reason the Thus Come One enters this dream realm of birth and death in which we dwell, speaks in the same dream language as living beings with their topsy-turvy thinking, beckons to these living beings in their dreams, speaks to them of distinctions between good and evil as they exist in the realm of dreams, and in this way bit by bit leads and guides them.
Ignorance and enlightenment are different things. It is incorrect to literally understand that "worldly desires are enlightenment", for example.
Actually, they are the same from the view of the Buddha, and this is the only correct view. Perceiving them as different is a provisional view. That's why the mere change in view turns klesa into dharmakaya. Nichiren in Totaigisho which you quoted from puts it this way:
In essence, the entity of Myoho-renge-kyo is the physical body that the disciples and followers of Nichiren who believe in the Lotus Sutra received from their fathers and mothers at birth. Such persons, who honestly discard expedient means, put faith in the Lotus Sutra alone, and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, will transform the three paths of earthly desires, karma, and suffering into the three virtues of the Dharma body, wisdom, and emancipation. The threefold contemplation and the three truths will immediately become manifest in their minds, and the place where they live will become the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light. The Buddha who is the entity of Myoho-renge-kyo, of the “Life Span” chapter of the essential teaching, who is both inhabiting subject and inhabited realm, life and environment, body and mind, entity and function, the Buddha eternally endowed with the three bodies—he is to be found in the disciples and lay believers of Nichiren. Such persons embody the true entity of Myoho-renge-kyo; this is all due to the meritorious workings that the spontaneous transcendental powers inherent in it display. Could anyone venture to doubt it? Indeed it cannot be doubted!
Worldly desires are not enlightenment when we observe them "from above". However, when we get to the heart of the matter and observe that both worldly desire and enlightenment are phenomena derived from one and the same mind, when we realize that at this level both are empty, devoid of an atman, and arising from causes and conditions, so we can say they are the same.
You kind of agree, but there's no reason to refer to "atman" here. Atman and anatman are Hinayana views and really should not be introduced at this level.
Its not that we can "say they are the same." They actually ARE the same. This is a significant difference.
(...)It is like a piece of crystal. If the crystal is placed in the sun’s rays, it will attract them and produce fire. But if it is placed in the moon’s rays, it will produce water. The crystal is a single entity, but the effects it produces differ according to the circumstances.(...)
Nichiren's example expresses what the distinction between ignorance and enlightenment consists of.
There is a single crystal and two phenomena that occur through two distinct causes. In the first example we have contact between the crystal and the sun's rays, and the result is the production of fire. In the second example we have contact between the crystal and the moon's rays, and the result is the production of water.
The key issue to understand this issue is |contact|. Contact between the subject (the crystal) and a certain type of object produces a specific effect according to the object's qualities.
You're still talking about the 9 worlds only. The Sudden and Perfect concerns Buddhahood, and only considers the 9 worlds as they are opened by Buddhahood. Enlightenment in the Sudden and Perfect is not about the good or evil influences, ie. sunlight and moonlight, but concerns the crystal itself.
The issue of "contact" is a concern in the 9 worlds, which of course is relevant for us because that is where we are mired. We are not awakened buddhas. But this contact, though emphasized in Nichiren's teachings, is not the overall point and doesn't really explain what is meant by awakening in the Lotus traditions.
The passage I quoted above continues:
But because the affairs of good and evil in this dream realm are so manifold in nature, so endlessly and boundlessly varied, he first of all addresses himself to the good, establishing three categories of superior, middling, and inferior good. This is the doctrine of the three vehicles [of voice-hearer, cause-awakened one, and bodhisattva]. And, after explaining this, he points out that within each of these three categories there are three subcategories [those of superior, middling, and inferior capacities], so that, beginning with the highest category, that of superior capacity within the category of superior good, there are three times three categories, or nine categories in all.
But all these categories belong in the end to the rights and wrongs or good and evil as these exist in the dream p.839realm of birth and death in the nine worlds. And all these distinctions represent erroneous views, the way of the non-Buddhists. (This is the view set forth in Delving into the Essentials.)
But then he explains that the goodness of mind of the highest category, that of superior capacity within the category of superior good, represents the principle of the waking state of original enlightenment and hence may be called the root or basis of goodness. At this point, because the listeners are utilizing the power of distinguishing between good and evil as they exist in the realm of dreams, they can begin to understand the principle of the true aspect of the original mind in the realm of wakefulness.
At this time the Buddha points out that, although one speaks of two different phenomena, dreams and the waking state, false affairs and true affairs, the mind underlying these is a single entity in either case. When it encounters conditions leading to sleep, it becomes the mind of dreams, but when sleep has passed away, it is the mind of the waking state. In either case the mind is a single entity, he explains. But in order to lay the groundwork for opening and merging of the dream realm and waking state, he has earlier preached an expedient means. (This addresses the doctrine of the Middle Way as it is explained in the specific teaching.)
Nichiren here in this passage is explaining "An Essay on the Protection of the Nation", by Saicho, the founder of the Tendai School in Japan. From here, he goes on to explain that the teaching with distinctions is in its entirety a provisional teaching that is only true in theory. It doesn't actually have the effect of Buddhahood. I don't want to quote the whole text, but as I mentioned, the Lotus Teachings are pretty well summarized in there, but this kind of puts a fine point on it:
The Thus Come One Shakyamuni, the lord who set forth a lifetime of teachings, preached the complete body of the scriptures and left us this declaration. The Buddhas of the three existences all unanimously use the same words and the same intention in the fashion they employ in preaching the teachings. Therefore I too will preach the teachings in this manner, not differing in a single word. As the “Expedient Means” chapter of the Lotus Sutra says, “Following the same fashion that the Buddhas of the three existences employ in preaching the teachings, I now will do likewise, preaching a Law that is without distinctions.”
The Law that is without distinctions is the wonderful Law of the one vehicle. It is the Law that makes no distinctions between good or evil, the Law that preaches that grass and trees, forests, mountains and rivers, the great earth or even one particle of dust all possess within themselves the full Ten Worlds. This one vehicle of the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law present in one’s mind pervades all the pure lands of the ten directions without exception. The blessings that adorn the living beings and the environment in the pure lands of the ten directions are present within one’s own mind and never depart from it for an instant. This is the Thus Come One of original enlightenment, the three bodies that are a single unity, and outside of this there is no Law. This single Law exists within the pure lands of the ten directions, and no other Law exists. Hence it is called a Law without distinctions.
And that goes back to what I said about consciousness.
Consciousness in Buddhism is not something that always exists. It is a continuum product of the contact between a subject and an object. Only when there is contact there is Consciousness, if there is not contact there will be no consciousness.
(…) The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is like this. The mystic principle of the true aspect of reality is one, but if it encounters evil influences, it will manifest delusion, while if it encounters good influences, it will manifest enlightenment.(…)
This consciousness you are referring to is not the "Mystical Entity." What you are describing is by definition a conventional dharma.
In Totaigisho, Nichiren seems to be discussing what is in a sense a provisional teaching, except for the way that the Sudden and Perfect Teaching is understood.
The focus of Nichiren's teaching is one discrete instance - the moment of Faith and Understanding (信解) ie. adhimukti. Its worth noting, adhimukti is not a reaction to external influences, but is an individually aroused mental factor. This moment of adhimukti is described clearly in Shishingohonsho. In the Sudden and Perfect teaching, this moment of faith and understanding occurs when the Buddha in Principle (ie all living beings) hears the name [of the Buddha] for the first time, ie. first learns of Buddhanature. In Nichiren's case, its the moment a person hears the Daimoku for the first time. This moment is explained in the Tientai teaching on the Six Identities and is based on the 16th and 17th chapters of the Lotus Sutra. At that moment of hearing the name, the being Suddenly enters bodhi. This is what is difficult to believe and difficult to understand. While this moment occurs nominally in a provisional context, since the nine worlds are actually just a delusion that never arises in the first place, its like a person dreaming who hears the call to awaken within the dream. Once they awaken, they realize the dream, including that call to awaken, was insubstantial all along and that their original state prevailed at all times.
You say you are familiar with the Unanimous Declaration, but you might want to review it again.