Imagery of the Lotus Sutra Nam Myoho Renge

Imagery of the Lotus Sutra Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Translation • English is a linear language • Most english translations reduce a Chinese ‘image’ to a single word or phrase, sacrificing beauty for simplicity • Meaning of sounds in Japanese or English may change over time • Chinese is not a linear language – it requires both rational and intuitive • Power of images to convey meaning is universal & timeless • Meaning of sounds in archaic Chinese does not change over time

Chinese/Japanese • Chinese words are modified by the words around them but the images they contain are indelible • Japanese speaking people use Chinese characters when they wish to convey a specific meaning – Borrowed image/meaning characters are called ‘kanji’ • Because single kanji can have many different Japanese pronunciations, it is accompanied by Japanese pronunciation characters (kana)

Nan Wu NAM • Nan & Wu is a sound construct used by early Chinese buddhists to imitate the sanskrit word “NAMAS” • Namas is interpreted as ‘devotion’ • Old meaning of Namas means ‘yoke’ • In ancient times, buffalo/oxen were yoked together to pull heavy carts. Large carts carried riches, food, medicine, or honored people. If one of these carts entered a village, a watchful person would yell out ‘NAMAS’ or yoke

Nan Wu NAM • When a teaching of the Buddha was to be recited or preached, buddhists used this term (Namas) to mean: ‘harken’, ‘become aware’, ‘pay close atttention’, & ‘show respect’ üWestern scholars commonly translate Namas as ‘Hail’ • Because the hearer turned his total attention to what was being preached, the word came to mean ‘Devotion’

Nan • Shih (Jap. Ju) is the number 10. As an element of Nan it represents the 5 cardinal points: north, south, east, west, and center. The center being the most important because one’s center determines the other 4 cardinal points • Chiung is a bottomless box, an open space, freedom, a pasture, retirement. As an element of Nan, it means frontier • Jen is a compound. It looks like symbol for Japanese yen (money). It is an upside down person (an offense), plus a second horizontal line. The second line indicates a repetition of offenses or simply repetition. As Nan, it means a repetition of vegetation – a jungle.

Nan • Shih, Chiung & Jen combines to form a descriptive compound that is the jungle frontier south of China. By itself it means ‘South’ Wu • Wu looks like a checkerboard with 4 dots under it. It is an image of men felling a forest (the semi-circle at the top left is the radical for cutting). It means vanishing, defect, want, or negation – a clearing away.

Imagery of Nam A person is surrounded in all directions by jungle vines (his offenses). They cling, rip, tear at his flesh, and block the light, making progress difficult. He is lost, turned around, and going deeper into the jungle. This is Nan of Nan Wu And Wu is the clearing

• Namu or Nam – 3 Sanskrit terms translated in the Lotus Sutra as faith or belief – Sraddha: to arouse faith and to possess curiosity about (1 st stage) – Prasada: expresses the idea of purity and clarity; purpose of faith is to cleanse the mind in order to enable our inherent wisdom to shine – Adhimukti: literally means intent. The orientation of one’s mind or will. The mental attitude of deepening one’s understanding, cultivating and polishing one’s life toward perfecting the ultimate state of ‘prasada’. Faith purifies reason, strengthens it, elevates it as an engine for continuous self-improvement

MYO • Myo is composed of two Chinese root characters • Nu means ‘young girl, ” “thou”, or “you” • Shao is something small that has been cut in half – something fine, something difficult to perceive • Kumarajiva used these symbols to to express ‘wonderful’, ‘subtle’, ‘fine’, and ‘mysterious’ • Corresponds to sanskrit word ‘Sad’ meaning ‘perfectly endowed’ or ‘complete’ round (Hokke) teaching (kyo)

NU Why is "mysterious" (mystic) a "young girl"? The answer lies in the nu character. The brush strokes that compose nu outline the image of the new moon. Look inside the brush strokes to see it. The moon is at first a slender crescent that grows into full roundness, expressing the maturity of a young girl growing into a full (pregnant) woman. The new moon is like a young girl. The full moon is a mature woman. The moon is by extension an expression of the cycle of birth and death, therefore "universal. " The new moon only partially illuminates the full moon meaning "all has not been revealed" and is therefore "mysterious. “

MYO The moon illuminates the darkness as does hope (myo). Hope opens the doors that are "difficult to enter" in the Hoben Pon of the Lotus Sutra. The path illuminated by myo is medicine for all living things. "Just as the moon is reflected in the water the moment it appears from behind the eastern mountains" (from the Major Writings, Vol. 3, p. 306), our world is illuminated by introducing all to Myo, the First Buddha of the Lotus Sutra.

HO • “HO” is “Fa” in Chinese and ‘dharma’ in Sanskrit • It means ‘rule’, ‘law’, and by extension, “model” or “pattern” • Modern form is composed of two Chinese characters – Chu and Shui

HO • Chu looks like a music stand. The triangular base of the stand is a vessel or jug. The telephone pole-like structure above it is the jug’s cover. It means to remove, lay aside, to leave. Removing the jug’s cover and contents leaves it empty. • Shui is two dots and a semi-vertical line. The vertical line represents a stream, the two dots are whirls of water. It means “water. ”

HO = Law? • Jug? Water? How can this mean ‘Law’? – Law (Fa) removes chu (vices) and makes morals as smooth as water (shui) • There is an older combination of elemental characters used to construct fa (Jp. ho, English "law"). Fa was composed of chi and cheng. • Chi is a triangle. It means "union" or "junction of different elements, " and "adapting to the whole. " To understand this meaning, imagine the sides of the triangle converging into a single point. • Cheng is footprints leading directly to the crest of a hill then viewing all directions. Because the prints do not stray cheng means "righteousness. " • Fa means "adapting (chi) towards righteousness (cheng)" — therefore, "law. "

MYOHO • “Myo” whose literal meaning is mysterious or inscrutable stands for Hossho (Buddahood or enlightenment) • “ho” literally meaning the law or phenomena, for Mumyo (darkness or ignorance) • Myoho means that both enlightenment & darkness are two sides of one like light and shadow • Also means that all phenomena represent nothing but the 10 Worlds

REN – the Lotus • Hua is a radical indicating vegetation. The horizontal line is the surface from which the plan emerges. For the lotus, that surface is a swampy water. The 2 vertical lines are contractions of a primitive that was an offering made with both hands. It’s construed as the plant emerging from the ground • Chuan in its primitive form is a yoke, meaning mastery. It is now a carriage. The carriage delivers riches, medicine, or honored people. It is a treasure vehicle. • Cho is footprints, one after the other. It looks like a large Z with two dots above it • Cho combines with Chuan, becoming carriages in a row, one after the other, or a succession. In a Buddhist sense, causality. Combining hua, cho, and chuan results in a plant that expresses causality - the Lotus.

Lotus • Principle of oneness of the life-force of the unenlightened sentient being and the enlightened Buddha. – As the lotus blossom bears within itself its own fruit in the form of seeds – Its immaculate beauty is undefiled by the muddy waters it grows in • Nichiren taught that everything, including all Buddhas, bodhisattvas, heavenly beings and mortals manifest their true and noble forms when illuminated by the Law

GE • The ge of renge is hua in Chinese. It’s 2 characters both pronounced hua. • Hua 1 means vegetation • Hua 2 is a composite. Modern form looks like a square net on a pole. Primitive images (yu & hua 3) are unrecognizable.

GE The flower (hua) is the expansion (yu) of vegetal (hua 1) evolution (hua 3). • This expansion of evolution in flowers begins with han, the flower bud. Han is composed of characters meaning "the external manifestation of an interior force. " • Flowers are clusters of blessings. The Sutra says "Mandara flowers fall like rain, " (U mandara ke, Gongyo book, p. 33), covering the believer in blessings. • The Fourth Buddha of the Lotus Sutra (hua) is the external manifestation of an interior force, fully evolved, completely expanded, the Buddha of liberation.

KYO • Kyo is Ching (pronounced "ying" in Chinese). It means "teaching. " It is composed of I (Jp. ichi), ch'uan, t'ing, and mi. Ichi is a single horizontal line, the first character in Chinese. It is unity, the source of all things, the number one. It shows relationships within characters. Ch'uan is three waves — a river formed by smaller streams. Ichi and Ch'uan combine to make the sound/image Ching 2. The river (Ch'uan) flows underground (ichi). It means underground waterways, veins, and blood vessels.

KYO

KYO T'ing (a person standing on the ground) observes the source of things (ichi) and where they flow (ch'uan). The deeper the source (ichi) the longer the river (ch'uan). The source (ichi) of Myoho-renge-kyo is infinite and always present. T'ing observes the surface (ichi) and the movement (ch'uan) under the surface. Flowing water (ch'uan) changes but is singular (ichi). It is the lifeblood (ching 2) of all Buddhas. Ching (fifth Buddha of the Lotus Sutra) is the Buddha of ever-present eternity. All phenomena are teachings (Ching). Kyo represents the sounds and voices of all; the eternity of life; our voices activates, it is inherently possessed of enlightenment & darkness, and simultaneously obtains cause and effect

• Daimoku – ‘Great Title’ • Dai- of Daimoku – Means ‘great’, not special, super or superior – Dai is the image of a person, standing with arms and legs fully extended – To stand up for your family, work, community which is great • The arms & legs fully extended mean to fully ‘extend oneself (for others) is great. ’ • The arms mean also all-embracing, signifies a broad-spirited person, someone who is fully awake, alive. – Lotus Sutra is said to be the ‘wisdom that embraces all species’

Title of the Lotus Sutra • 28 th day of the fourth month, 1253 – Nichiren Daishonin first declared it • Sanskrit – Saddharmapundarikasutra • Chinese – Miao-fa Lien-hua Ching • Kumarajiva (344 -413 AD) • Japanese – Myoho-renge-kyo • Sutra (gongyo) we recite twice a day is classical, literary and ancient form of Japanese

BUDDHISM • Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism begins with the belief that all living beings have potential to achieve enlightenment • Revived the teachings of the Lotus Sutra as the heart of all Buddhism. • The workings of the universe are all subject to a single principle, or Law. By understanding that Law, we can unlock the hidden potential and achieve harmony with life • Nam myoho renge kyo is given concrete form by inscribing the Gohonzon

Nam or Namu Verbal contraction of Sanskrit word namu or namas (do not to don’t) – Literally means ‘devotion’ or kimyo – To devote one’s life (Nichiren) To embrace, to fuse with (become one with) life, with the immutable truth of Myoho-renge-kyo. “Believe in this mandala [the Gohonzon] with all your heart. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is like the roar of a lion. What sickness can therefore be an obstacle? ” (MW-1, 119).

Myoho Mystic Law • Myo – ‘fully endowed’; perfection – Character of myo means ‘to open’ according to Nichiren; we ordinary individuals are able to develop our full potential – Unseen essence of life; its mystic nature • Ho – life’s manifestations or phenomena

Renge Lotus Flower The lotus flower grows and blooms in a muddy pond, and yet remains pristine and free from any defilement, symbolizing the emergence of Buddhahood from within the life of an ordinary person. Symbolizes the simultaneity of the law of cause and effect Buddhism teaches that everything in the universe embodies the law of cause and effect The most powerful cause we can make is to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the effect of Buddhahood is simultaneously created in the depths of our life and will definitely manifest in time.

Kyo Sutra • Voice or teaching of a Buddha; also means sound or vibration/ rhythm • Chinese character kyo originally meant the warp in a piece of woven cloth; kyo later came to take on the meaning of the thread of logic, reason, or The Way of the Law • According to Nichiren, fundamentally, kyo refers to the continuity of life throughout past, present and future

7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Buddhists 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) Past-oriented attitude Complains first; self-centered or selfish Apathy - comfortable with being uncomfortable Gives lip-service – do as I say, not what I do Inability to love and believe in yourself Inconsistent daily practice Doubts that your life is Nam myoho renge kyo itself

Creative Power • The law of cause and effect is strict, universal and operates throughout eternity • Our challenge is to fight against negative tendencies (greed, anger, ignorance) which prompt us to hurt ourselves or others • Through buddhist practice, we are fusing with the law, becoming one with the infinite life force of the Mystic Law • To chant with an awareness of our true identity as Bodhisattvas of the Earth

Vision Quest • The real work begins when you uncover your essence – To build a building, you don’t just start by piling up concrete and girders – For word and action to truly manifest your vision, you need to make Buddhahood a daily reality, the Prime Point – Fundamental choice of freedom – the ability to choose freedom and strength. To choose not to be ruled by your fears, your personal issues with others or yourself

Foundation to Share in Intent • Soka – to share in the intent of Nichiren, to believe in the 3 virtues of the Buddha – Mentor, sovereign & parent – Embrace the gohonzon, to take his writings to heart – Take on the mission, as a Bodhisattva of the Earth, and to realize it as it applies to your own life