Casting Off the Transient and Revealing the True
Casting Off the Transient and Revealing the True
The idea of “attaining Buddhahood,” a central goal of Buddhism, is well known in Eastern cultures, though often misunderstood. Few people, however, cherish the goal of becoming a “Buddha.” But Nichiren Buddhism makes clear that doing so is nothing special—that it actually means rediscovering and fully expressing one’s “true self”— the self that is rich in wisdom, courage, compassion and joy.Buddhism calls the process of awakening this true self “casting off the transient and revealing the true,” the method by which Buddhas set aside their temporary, or transient, identities and fully reveal their true nature.
The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai employed the term to explain the contrast between two views of Shakyamuni Buddha: That of the Buddha who attained enlightenment for the first time under the bodhi tree in India, and that of the Buddha who attained enlightenment in the extremely remote past, as revealed in “Life Span of the Thus Come One,” the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra.
In the 16th chapter, Shakyamuni overturns the view that he attained enlightenment for the first time in that lifetime, saying: “All believe that the present Shakyamuni Buddha, after leaving the palace of the Shakyas, seated himself in the place of enlightenment not far from the city of Gaya and there attained supreme perfect enlightenment. But good men, it has been immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of nayutas of kalpas since I in fact attained Buddhahood” ( The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras, pp. 265–66).
T’ien-t’ai defined “the transient” as the view that Shakyamuni attained enlightenment for the first time near Gaya in India, and “the true” as the view that he had actually attained enlightenment in the extremely remote past, countless kalpas ago. According to T’ien-t’ai, Shakyamuni cast off the transient and revealed the true when he disclosed the true nature of his enlightenment in this way in the “Life Span” chapter.
This disclosure has profound implications. It suggests that Buddhahood is not a state achieved at some distant time in the future through extremely prolonged effort, as had been thought. Rather, it is a real potential inherent eternally within all people. Based on this awareness, Nichiren Daishonin taught and staked his life on spreading the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo at the core of the Lotus Sutra in order to help all people manifest their enlightened potential.
In the course of doing so, he faced and overcame the most extreme trial of his life, the Tatsunokuchi Persecution—his unjust arrest and near execution at Tatsunokuchi in September 1271. Through overcoming this great obstacle, he accomplished his own “casting off the transient and revealing the true.” From Sado Island, the place of his subsequent exile, he wrote: “This person Nichiren was beheaded. It is his soul that has come to this island of Sado” (“The Opening of the Eyes,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 269). Though he actually survived the ordeal, he nevertheless states that he was beheaded. In this way, he suggests that his “self” as it had been until then came to an end. It was his “true self” that emerged upon overcoming that great persecution. He had cast off his transient identity to reveal his true nature as a Buddha, the true Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law.
But this should not be taken to mean that Nichiren ceased at this point
to be a common mortal. The Chinese character translated as “casting off”
also means “to open.” Therefore, “casting off the transient and
revealing the true” describes how the Daishonin “opened up” the
superficial view of himself as an ordinary Buddhist priest and revealed
his underlying true nature as that of a genuine Buddha.
Precisely because he was and remained an ordinary human, he thereby proved the principle that any ordinary person can become a Buddha of supreme enlightenment. This, in fact, was the entire purpose of his teaching.
It has been said that the decline of Buddhism in India began with the deification of the Buddha— the inability to see the Buddha as human. Similarly, to assert that Nichiren, in revealing his true identity, became something beyond human would destroy the humanity of his teachings.
The principle of casting off the transient and revealing the true, then, applies to all of us. Shakyamuni and Nichiren demonstrated that all people are entities of the Buddha of beginningless time—that all possess the eternal Buddha nature inherent in the universe.
Shakyamuni’s casting off the transient and revealing the true in the Lotus Sutra, and Nichiren’s doing so in the course of his efforts to spread the Mystic Law, therefore provide us with a source of infinite hope and confidence that we can become absolutely happy in this life, without changing who we are.
Also, “revealing the true” means to base oneself on the deepest self-awareness, to be profoundly aware of the truth that you are a Buddha and to “reveal” this truth through Buddhist practice in your everyday actions.
Though this may be easy to agree with in principle, we all can find ourselves lacking in confidence at times. It may be at work, in our studies or in our relationships. We may feel stuck in our efforts to study Buddhism or share it with others.
These are precisely the times when we can “cast off the transient and reveal the true” through the power of Buddhist practice. SGI President Ikeda says:
Whenever we find ourselves in a deadlock, we need to challenge ourselves to offer sincere prayer and summon forth great power of faith to resolve the situation. According to [second Soka Gakkai president Josei] Toda, this is what “casting off the transient and revealing the true” means for us. Faith means to struggle against deadlock. ( Lectures on the “Expedient Means” and “Life Span” Chapters of the Lotus Sutra, vol. 2, p. 60)
Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to the Gohonzon gives us power to positively challenge everything we face each day and make steady progress. It is fuel for opening up our apprehensive, unconfident “transient” selves and revealing our strong, wise and undefeatable “true selves.” When we each decide that our mission and ultimate purpose in life is to strive for kosen-rufu—the realization of peace and happiness for all people—and engage in courageous Buddhist practice toward this end, we are casting off the shell of our lesser self. In its place, we reveal in the midst of our daily lives, just as we are, our greater “true self.”
Thank You
Precisely because he was and remained an ordinary human, he thereby proved the principle that any ordinary person can become a Buddha of supreme enlightenment. This, in fact, was the entire purpose of his teaching.
It has been said that the decline of Buddhism in India began with the deification of the Buddha— the inability to see the Buddha as human. Similarly, to assert that Nichiren, in revealing his true identity, became something beyond human would destroy the humanity of his teachings.
The principle of casting off the transient and revealing the true, then, applies to all of us. Shakyamuni and Nichiren demonstrated that all people are entities of the Buddha of beginningless time—that all possess the eternal Buddha nature inherent in the universe.
Shakyamuni’s casting off the transient and revealing the true in the Lotus Sutra, and Nichiren’s doing so in the course of his efforts to spread the Mystic Law, therefore provide us with a source of infinite hope and confidence that we can become absolutely happy in this life, without changing who we are.
Also, “revealing the true” means to base oneself on the deepest self-awareness, to be profoundly aware of the truth that you are a Buddha and to “reveal” this truth through Buddhist practice in your everyday actions.
Though this may be easy to agree with in principle, we all can find ourselves lacking in confidence at times. It may be at work, in our studies or in our relationships. We may feel stuck in our efforts to study Buddhism or share it with others.
These are precisely the times when we can “cast off the transient and reveal the true” through the power of Buddhist practice. SGI President Ikeda says:
Whenever we find ourselves in a deadlock, we need to challenge ourselves to offer sincere prayer and summon forth great power of faith to resolve the situation. According to [second Soka Gakkai president Josei] Toda, this is what “casting off the transient and revealing the true” means for us. Faith means to struggle against deadlock. ( Lectures on the “Expedient Means” and “Life Span” Chapters of the Lotus Sutra, vol. 2, p. 60)
Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to the Gohonzon gives us power to positively challenge everything we face each day and make steady progress. It is fuel for opening up our apprehensive, unconfident “transient” selves and revealing our strong, wise and undefeatable “true selves.” When we each decide that our mission and ultimate purpose in life is to strive for kosen-rufu—the realization of peace and happiness for all people—and engage in courageous Buddhist practice toward this end, we are casting off the shell of our lesser self. In its place, we reveal in the midst of our daily lives, just as we are, our greater “true self.”
Thank You
