Treasuring Each Person—The Heart of Our Shared Struggle for Kosen-rufu

Seven years had passed since our first president, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, died in prison in the cold late autumn of 1944 for his unwavering belief in Nichiren Buddhism. And now I was beholding the noble figure of Mr. Toda as he was named president, something I had hoped to see for so long. That day marked a brilliant triumph of mentor and disciple.

We had battled our way through a series of overwhelming difficulties to get there. It was like treading on thin ice or standing at the edge of a precipice. The year before, Mr. Toda’s businesses plunged into crisis amid the economic turmoil of postwar Japan, and Mr. Toda stepped down as Soka Gakkai general director to prevent these troubles from negatively affecting the organization.

Dealing with the harsh realities of society was challenging to the extreme. But our faith and practice of Nichiren Buddhism were never defeated.

I made a powerful vow to strive in a spirit of oneness with my mentor to overcome this low point and open the way to a bright future without fail. I told myself, “Mr. Toda was imprisoned along with Mr. Makiguchi for his commitment to Nichiren Buddhism, and he is now carrying on Mr. Makiguchi’s vision. Without him, we would be unable to achieve the widespread propagation of the Mystic Law. Protecting this great leader of propagation is protecting the lifeblood of kosen-rufu. It is vital that he become president and spearhead our movement, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that happens so we can realize the great vow for kosen-rufu!”

Mr. Toda said to me, “The mission I was born in this world to fulfill is also your mission.” Praying intensely and working furiously, I broke through every obstacle to clear the way for my mentor.

“When a [person] has spent all [their] life on the edge of a precipice, the most urgent perils are of little moment.”^[1] I engraved these memorable words in my life during that painful period seven decades ago. They are from The Eternal City, a novel set in a time of revolution, which I read with Mr. Toda.

Even in the most desperate circumstances, we pressed forward with this unshakable conviction, one in spirit as mentor and disciple.

‘I Am a Bodhisattva of the Earth!’

The Soka Gakkai had disintegrated due to oppression by Japan’s militarist government during World War II. For Mr. Toda, becoming president meant setting to work on rebuilding it into an invincible grassroots organization that would stand firm in the face of any attack by authority.

Mr. Toda emerged from prison with a profound awakening to his identity as a Bodhisattva of the Earth, recognizing that the struggle for kosen-rufu would inevitably face persecution by the three powerful enemies^[2] again in the future.

During the war, Mr. Makiguchi often declared sternly that the Soka Gakkai must “cast off the transient and reveal the true”—referring to the Buddhist concept that means to discard one’s transient status and show one’s true identity or highest potential.

Carrying on his mentor’s aspirations, Mr. Toda concluded that this meant the Soka Gakkai must emerge as a harmonious community of practitioners united in the spirit of the oneness of mentor and disciple. It must be a gathering of people awakened to their identity as Bodhisattvas of the Earth and sharing the vow and mission to work for kosen-rufu.

Since then, every May 3 has been a day when we make a fresh determination and renew our vow to continue the eternal journey of the shared struggle of mentor and disciple.

The Qualities of Endurance and Compassion

When it comes to understanding the Lotus Sutra, I have only a minute fraction of the vast ability that T’ien-t’ai and Dengyo [great Buddhist teachers of China and Japan, respectively]^[3] possessed. But as regards my ability to endure persecution and the wealth of my compassion for others, I believe they would hold me in awe. (“The Opening of the Eyes,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 242)^[4]

The first passage we will study in this installment is from “The Opening of the Eyes.” It is an important passage in which Nichiren Daishonin shares his state of mind as a votary, or practitioner, of the Lotus Sutra in the Latter Day of the Law. These words highlight once again the profound significance of the Soka Gakkai’s appearance in the world [as an organization embodying the same outstanding qualities of endurance and compassion as the Daishonin].

The teachers T’ien-t’ai and Dengyo of earlier times made invaluable contributions to promoting a correct understanding of the Lotus Sutra, clarifying its universal wisdom with great logic and reason. But, Nichiren says, there is something even more important for spreading the Lotus Sutra in the evil age of the Latter Day—namely, the endurance and compassion to help guide to happiness those who are overwhelmed by suffering. These two qualities are essential for practitioners of the Lotus Sutra. At the same time, they are the capacities that enabled him to proclaim the establishment of his teaching of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo (on April 28, 1253) and set forth on his great struggle to spread it throughout the entire world in this corrupt latter age.

Nichiren Daishonin’s Arduous Struggle Before Establishing His Teaching

In a preceding section in “The Opening of the Eyes,” Nichiren describes his thoughts prior to proclaiming his teaching.

He says that he pondered deeply whether he should do so, knowing that he would be persecuted by the authorities if he did, but that if he did not, he would be “lacking in compassion” (WND-1, 239). He finally concluded that he must choose the course of speaking out fearlessly over remaining silent: “If I were to falter in my determination in the face of persecutions by the sovereign, however, it would be better not to speak out. While thinking this over, I recalled the teachings of the ‘Treasure Tower’ chapter [of the Lotus Sutra] on the six difficult and nine easy acts”^[5] (WND-1, 239).

The nine easy acts include impossible deeds such as lifting Mount Sumeru^[6] and tossing it about, shouldering a load of dry grass and yet remaining unburned amid a great fire, and reading and memorizing as many sutras as there are grains of sand in the Ganges (see WND-1, 239–40).

The six difficult acts, meanwhile, include upholding the Lotus Sutra and teaching it to even one person in the age after the Buddha’s passing, something that is declared to be infinitely more difficult than any of the seemingly impossible nine easy acts (see WND-1, 239).

Why is it so hard, then, to teach the Lotus Sutra to even a single person? One reason is the incredible difficulty of bringing about an internal change in one person’s life. It requires tenacious engagement. In the Latter Day of the Law, in particular, such efforts will meet with resistance and opposition. That’s why endurance is needed. And the power of our vow for kosen-rufu enables us to endure these trials and break through the obstacles and difficulties we encounter.

Nichiren Daishonin writes, “I vowed to summon up a powerful and unconquerable desire for the salvation of all beings and never to falter in my efforts” (WND-1, 240). With that unwavering vow, he launched himself fearlessly into his great struggle, declaring that just “as mountains pile upon mountains and waves follow waves, so do persecutions add to persecutions and criticisms augment criticisms” (WND-1, 241).

In the process of enduring those severe persecutions, he established the great teaching for the enlightenment of all humanity, a people-centered Buddhism through which anyone can change their karma into mission, live their lives to the fullest and become happy.

Kosen-rufu Is the Most Difficult Undertaking of All

Another name for the Buddha is “One Who Can Endure.”

Without the ability to endure, one cannot teach and practice the Lotus Sutra in the trouble-filled saha world^[7] of the Latter Day of the Law, an age more rife with hatred and jealousy than in Shakyamuni’s lifetime.^[8]

We of the Soka Gakkai, fully aware of the inevitability of such persecution, rose up with Mr. Toda at the helm as an unparalleled leader of propagation. Our efforts for kosen-rufu are directly connected to Nichiren’s great struggle to spread the Mystic Law amid unceasing hardships.

Once, on the anniversary of the Daishonin’s establishment of his teaching, I spoke of the six difficult and nine easy acts to explain why kosen-rufu is such a challenging endeavor.

The Lotus Sutra is the teaching for the enlightenment of all people. It vanquishes the fundamental ignorance^[9] residing within us, enables each of us to improve and elevate our inner state of life and awakens us to our dignity and limitless potential. The actions of each individual who has undergone this awakening inevitably create new waves of transformation in a multitude of forms—waves of a kind completely different from that of entrenched power, which seeks to preserve the status quo above all. The result, even though unintended, is friction and conflict, escalating at times into open hostility from the established order.

Though we may have the best intentions and be completely sincere in our dealings with society, seeking to establish the correct teaching for the peace of the land in the spirit of friendship toward all, we cannot escape this inherent tension. That is why an indomitable spirit of endurance is indispensable to carry out kosen-rufu in the saha world.

Reaching Out as a Friend of the People

Inseparable from this quality of endurance is compassion.

Compassion is standing with those who are suffering and miserable. The Sanskrit word for compassion shares a root with the word for friendship. Genuine compassion is being a true friend to those who are suffering and reaching out to support and assist them and help relieve their suffering. It means never abandoning them, no matter what.

There is a parable from the Nirvana Sutra that Nichiren placed importance on. It is the story of a poor woman who makes a perilous journey with her infant. When she and her child are swept away while crossing the Ganges River, she refuses to let go of the infant. Because of her “loving tenderness”— that is, compassion—for her child in the face of all obstacles, she is reborn in the Brahma heaven (see WND-1, 282).

Nichiren asserts that steadfastness, like the kind demonstrated by this compassionate, long-suffering mother in the parable, is the key to attaining Buddhahood. In a famous passage in this connection from “The Opening of the Eyes,” he writes: “Although I and my disciples may encounter various difficulties, if we do not harbor doubts in our hearts, we will as a matter of course attain Buddhahood” (WND-1, 283). This is a passage that our members around the globe, united in the spirit of oneness of mentor and disciple, have read with their lives while triumphing over all manner of obstacles.

Thinking of these passages reminds me that May 3 is Soka Gakkai Mother’s Day and that next month (June 2021) marks the 70th anniversary of the women’s division. I would like to offer my heartfelt appreciation and praise to our women’s division members, the noble suns of Soka, who nurture life, work for peace and live with joy and optimism, refusing to let any hardship or storm of karma defeat them.

The Lotus Sutra Is a Teaching for the Latter Day of the Law

The “Medicine King” chapter states, “After I [Shakyamuni] have passed into extinction, in the last five-hundred-year period [the Latter Day of the Law] you must spread it [the Lotus Sutra] abroad widely throughout Jambudvipa [the entire world] and never allow it to be cut off.” And the same chapter says, “This sutra provides good medicine for the ills of the people of Jambudvipa” (The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras, p. 330).

The Nirvana Sutra says, “Suppose that a couple has seven children, one of whom falls ill. Though the parents love all their children equally, they worry most about the sick child.” … And among all medicines, the finest medicine is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. (“Choosing the Heart of the Lotus Sutra,” WND-2, 487)^[10]

Now let us examine the above passage from “Choosing the Heart of the Lotus Sutra.” Immediately before this passage, Nichiren Daishonin poses the question for whom the “Life Span” chapter, which reveals the eternal life of the Buddha, was taught. He declares in response that it was taught solely for people who live in the world after Shakyamuni’s death, and in particular, for him and his disciples. He writes: “It [the “Life Span” chapter] was preached for Nichiren and his followers, who are living today in the Latter Day of the Law” (WND-2, 487).

Prior to the section we are studying, Nichiren cited passages from “Emerging from the Earth” and “Life Span,” the 15th and 16th chapters of the Lotus Sutra. In the section we are focusing on, he offers documentary proof from “Medicine King,” the 23rd chapter, and the Nirvana Sutra.

The passage from the “Medicine King” chapter cited above represents the true words with which Shakyamuni entrusts to disciples the task of widely spreading the Lotus Sutra throughout the entire world in the evil latter age after his passing and freeing all living beings of suffering. It is documentary proof that worldwide kosen-rufu is the Buddha’s intent. The Bodhisattvas of the Earth embrace this as their mission and vow to carry out this undertaking in the Latter Day of the Law.

The Good Medicine to Cure the Ills of All Humankind

Next, the Daishonin cites a passage from the “Medicine King” chapter stating that the Lotus Sutra is the “good medicine for the ills of the people of Jambudvipa [the entire world]” (LSOC, 330). This tells us that in widely propagating the Lotus Sutra, the true focus is not merely spreading its doctrines, but actually helping those who are struggling with real-life problems become happy.

The Buddha is referred to as a “great king of physicians.”^[11] From his perspective of deep compassion, the living beings of the Latter Day of the Law are not only vulnerable to the threat of physical illness from external sources such as epidemics; they are also deluded by ignorance, plagued by spiritual illness arising from the virulence of the three poisons of greed, anger and foolishness. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the great good medicine for overcoming such sufferings and enabling people of the Latter Day to attain enlightenment.

The fundamental focus of the Lotus Sutra, the teaching of universal enlightenment, is how to relieve each person’s real-life sufferings.

Next, the Daishonin refers to another parable from the Nirvana Sutra—the parable of the seven children: “Suppose that a couple has seven children, one of whom falls ill. Though the parents love all their children equally, they worry most about the sick child” (WND-2, 487).

The sick child, in the context of the Nirvana Sutra, is a metaphor for King Ajatashatru,^[12] who regarded Shakyamuni with enmity. Those who seem to be the most difficult to help are often in fact those who are suffering the most. To the Daishonin, the ill child is none other than each person living in the Latter Day of the Law, a time when it is difficult to guide them to enlightenment. Both Shakyamuni and Nichiren Daishonin reach out to those who are the most miserable and despairing.

Nichiren also refers to the parable of the seven children and the story of King Ajatashatru in greater detail in a letter he wrote the lay nun Myoichi, containing the inspiring words: “Winter always turns to spring” (“Winter Always Turns to Spring,” WND-1, 536).

Nichiren’s Tireless Encouragement to His Disciples

The essence of Nichiren Buddhism is to engage with others in our lives, value each person and do everything we can to guide them to happiness.

As he opened the way for “establishing the correct teaching for the peace of the land,” envisioning the achievement of worldwide kosen-rufu in the future, the Daishonin also took a deep interest in the life of each of his disciples and continuously encouraged them.

Mr. Toda vowed to accomplish kosen-rufu in Japan and throughout Asia, realizing what is known as the “westward transmission of Buddhism.”^[13] At the same time, he warmly embraced and offered personal guidance to Soka Gakkai members who visited him day after day for advice about their problems, ranging from illness to financial hardship, family discord and many other issues.

It’s not simply a matter of advocating relieving the suffering of all humanity as an abstract, general principle. What matters is relieving the actual suffering of real individuals. That is the measure of the vow to lead all people to enlightenment. Buddhism is about winning. To put it another way, as the proverb “One is the mother of ten thousand” (“Conversation between a Sage and an Unelightened Man,” WND-1, 131) indicates, through concrete actions to reach out to help one individual, we affect all living beings. Helping relieve the suffering of someone you know leads to the relief of the sufferings of all people.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) declared that his personal vow was “To wipe every tear from every eye.”^[14] These words make me recall the compassionate visage of Mr. Toda, whose most heartfelt wish was to eliminate misery and suffering from the world.

An Anecdote From Gandhi

Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, once shared with me an anecdote he heard from his grandfather.

A man was walking along the beach one morning and discovered a large number of starfish washed up on the sand. Knowing that once the sun rose, the starfish would dry out and die, the man began picking them up and tossing them back into the sea. Another man approached him and said with a laugh: “Look how many there are! You can’t possibly save them all.” The first man, having just tossed a starfish into the sea, replied: “No, but it will make a big difference to this one!”

Arun Gandhi summed up the meaning of his grandfather’s story: “If we can touch one person’s life and save that life, that is the great change we can effect.”^[15]

What really matters is that we engage sincerely with each person in our lives, without letting the abstract notion of innumerable others sway or distract us.

Everyone Is Important and Precious

During the Cold War, when the forces of nationalism and militarism were on the rise, the psychologist Carl Jung (1875–1961) warned of the harm of viewing people as a faceless mass in which the individual is powerless: “As a social unit he [the individual] has lost his individuality and become a mere abstract number. … He can only play the role of an interchangeable unit of infinitesimal importance.”^[16] When that happens, he lamented, “the value or meaning of the individual” is lost.^[17]

He declared that the individual is not insignificant and that we need to help each person realize “that [the individual] is the one important factor and that the salvation of the world consists in the salvation of the individual soul.”^[18]

Jung identifies a crucial point.

Each person’s life and sufferings are unique. Each person has incomparable dignity and irreplaceable value.

Kosen-rufu Advances Through One-to-One Dialogue

Nichiren Daishonin states: “The varied sufferings that all living beings undergo—all these are Nichiren’s own sufferings” (The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, p. 138).

And in one of his letters, he states: “The [shared] sufferings that all living beings undergo … all these are Nichiren’s own sufferings” (“On Reprimanding Hachiman,” WND-2, 934).

He is saying that he takes as his own both the sufferings particular to each human being—the “varied sufferings”—as well as confronting and praying for the resolution of the fundamental sufferings common to all living beings—the “shared sufferings.” With that spirit of compassion, he reaches out to all people.

In his inaugural speech on becoming Soka Gakkai president seven decades ago, Mr. Toda declared his goal of expanding our membership to 750,000 households—at a time when it stood at just 3,000. It was an astonishing target that seemed to be far in the future. He also said in a lecture he gave at that meeting: “Kosen-rufu today means to share Nichiren Buddhism with individuals throughout the country and help them embrace the Gohonzon. … This can only be accomplished by one-to-one, heart-to-heart dialogue.”^[19]

The focus must always be on valuing and forming friendships with others, encouraging them and helping them revitalize their lives on the deepest level. Such steadfast efforts have enabled our grassroots movement of Bodhisattvas of the Earth to spread to 192 countries and territories. They serve as the driving force for the Soka Gakkai’s development as a truly global religious movement.

The Courage and Sincerity to Forge Heart-to-Heart Bonds

Josei Toda said: “Never forget that incredible changes can occur in people’s hearts if you interact with them based on deep compassion. It is essential above all to show utmost courtesy and patience in your dealings with others.”

Once, when I was taking the lead in expanding our movement as youth division chief of staff, I said to some members I was speaking with: “In the depths of our being, we are all connected to the boundless life of the universe. Therefore, through chanting earnestly and one-to-one dialogue with those around us, we can transform our families, workplaces, communities and indeed the entire world.”

This formula for kosen-rufu remains unchanged, with members around the globe now putting it into practice.

From one person to another, and then from that person to the next—through this chain of courage and sincerity linking heart to heart, vibrant, hope-filled new horizons of kosen-rufu will stretch out before us.

Toward the Triumphant Summit of Our 100th Anniversary

As Mr. Toda’s disciple, I will continue forging ahead with him now and forever on our shared journey to spread the Mystic Law.

Don’t leave it up to others; your own enthusiasm and commitment are what count. The passionate fighting spirit of such self-reliant, lionhearted individuals will open wide the path to human revolution leading directly to kosen-rufu.

Aiming toward the triumphant summit of our 100th anniversary (in 2030), let us continue each day to challenge the tasks at hand so that we can realize Nichiren Daishonin’s ideal of establishing the correct teaching for the peace of the land and the entire world. Let us do so with bold determination, true to our vow for kosen-rufu!

Translated from the May 2021 Daibyakurenge, the Soka Gakkai’s monthly study journal.