The Mirror of Dharma
Many people understandably feel a great deal of anxiety about what will happen to them or to those they love after death. Perhaps we do as well, though among educated people in materialistic scientifically oriented cultures or sub-cultures many are convinced that there is no afterlife, or at least not in any subjective sense of the world. Related to that, many of us who do have a spiritual or even religious approach to life may wonder if we have made any progress in our spiritual cultivation. We may wonder if we have indeed been “saved” (whatever that may mean), or if we are getting any closer to liberation, nirvana, enlightenment, awakening, buddhahood, or whatever we may wish to call the final goal of spiritual attainment. As a response to these kinds of anxieties, Shakyamuni Buddha the “Mirror of Dharma.”
Towards the end of Shakyamuni Buddha’s life, Ananda asked the Buddha about the rebirths of a monk, a nun, and ten laymen and laywomen. The Buddha told Ananda that the monk had become an arhat and would not be reborn, whereas the nun had become a non-returner who would be reborn in one of the heavens known as the pure abodes and would attain final nirvana there. As for the laypeople, the Buddha stated that more than fifty lay-followers had become non-returners who would be reborn in the pure abodes, more than ninety had become once-returners who would only be reborn as a human or in a lower heaven one more time at most before attaining final nirvana, and over five hundred had become stream-enterers who would only be reborn seven more times at most before attaining final nirvana. (See LD 2.6-2.7, pp. 240-241)
The Buddha then told Ananda, “It is not remarkable that people should die, but that you should come and ask me about the fate of each person who has died is tiresome.” The Buddha goes on to say, “Therefore, Ananda, I will teach you a way of knowing the Dharma, called the Mirror of Dharma, whereby noble disciples, if they so wish, can discern for themselves that they have overcome rebirth in the hells, or as a hungry ghost, or animal, or in any other realm of suffering.” Using the Mirror of Dharma, a person can gain confidence that they are at the very least a stream-enterer who will no longer fall into the lower realms and is certain of attaining nirvana. (See LD 2.8, p. 241)
What is this Mirror of Dharma? The Buddha says that if one has unwavering confidence in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, and can maintain the morality valued by the noble ones in a way that is unbroken, without defect, unspotted, without inconsistency, liberating, uncorrupted, and conducive to concentration then one can be assured that one is at least a stream-enterer who will no longer fall into the lower realms and is certain to attain nirvana within seven lifetimes. (See LD 2.9, pp. 241-242)
Nichiren and his followers felt the same anxieties about the afterlife and their ability to attain any meaningful progress on the path to liberation and awakening. His Hokke Daimoku-sho (Treatise on the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra) opens with the following question and answer:
Question: Suppose there is a person who does not understand the meaning of the Lotus Sutra or the doctrines described in it. Is it possible for such a person to avoid falling into the Four Evil Realms of hell, hungry spirits, beasts, and asura demons, and eventually proceed to the state of non-retrogression, even becoming a Buddha, if this person chants the daimoku, Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, in earnest, just once in a day, a month, a year or a lifetime?
Answer: I could not agree with you more.
(WNS4, p. 38)
Further, in that same treatise, Nichiren asserts that having faith in the Three Treasures, even without understanding will prevent one from falling into the evil realms and enable one to enter the way to buddhahood.
The Lotus Sutra enjoins us to give up the provisional teachings, saying that with faith we can enter the Way to Buddhahood. The Nirvana Sutra preached last in the shala forest states that there are numerous ways to receive the seed of Buddhahood, but as faith in the Three Treasures includes all those ways, it is faith in the Three Treasures that matters most. The basic way to Buddhahood thus lies in faith. The foundation of the 52 stages of bodhisattva practice is the ten degrees of faith that those who practice Buddhism should live up to. Of the 10 degrees of faith, the belief in the Three Treasures comes first. Those with faith in the Three Treasures are considered to have the right view even if their capacity is low and they cannot perceive much. On the other hand, those without belief in the Three Treasures are considered to have abandoned the seed of Buddhahood even if they are talented and can perceive many things.
(Adapted from WNS4, p. 39)
A little further on Nichiren makes the following statement in which he seems to be making an equivalence between having faith in the Three Treasures and chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo:
The Buddha preaches in the Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground chapter of the Lotus Sutra that those who doubt and do not believe this sutra will fall into the evil realms of hell, hungry spirits, and beasts. This means that all who have the ability of understanding but do not have faith in the Three Treasures will fall into the evil realms. Nevertheless, scholars today wonder how those who only have belief in the Three Treasures but cannot understand what the sutra means are able to avoid falling into the evil realms by just chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. These scholars are those who will go down to the most terrible hell, according to the sutra cited above. Therefore, people can escape the evil realms without understanding the sutra perfectly as long as they chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.
(WNS4, pp. 39-40)
Faith in the Three Treasures, therefore, is the sign that one has at least become a stream-enterer. A stream-enterer is one who has entered the stream of the Dharma and will no longer be subject to falling into the lower realms after death. According to the Buddha, one should also be able to maintain the moral self-discipline valued by the noble ones (which is to say the Buddha and his followers). Of what does this morality consist of? Not killing, not stealing, not committing sexual misconduct that will harm oneself or others, not lying, and not indulging in intoxicants that cloud one’s judgment and impair one’s self-control. In short, one has clarity and conviction about the law of cause and effect and will therefore make good causes and refrain from making bad causes.
Is there more to becoming a stream-enterer than faith in the Three Treasures and living in accord with the law of cause and effect. According to the Buddha, those who attain stream-entry, once-returning, non-returning, or become arhats will also break through ten fetters that bind people to rebirth within the six lower realms.
Monks, there are these ten fetters. What ten? The five lower fetters and the five higher fetters. And what are the five lower fetters? the view that there is a self, doubt, seizing upon rules and rituals, sensual desire, and ill-will. These are the five lower fetters. And what are the five higher fetters? desire for form-realm existence, desire for formless realm existence, pride, restlessness, and ignorance. These are the five higher fetters. These, monks, are the ten fetters.
(Adapted from ND 10.13, p. 1350)
According to the Buddha, a stream-enterer breaks through the fetters of the view that there is a self, doubt, and seizing upon rules and rituals. A once-returner greatly weakens sensual desire, ill-will, and ignorance. A never-returner breaks through all five of the lower fetters. An arhat breaks through the five higher fetters as well. (See MD 118.9-12)
Now we are getting a clearer picture of stream-entry. A stream-enterer on the one hand, has faith in and no longer doubts the truth and efficacy of the Three Treasures as a refuge from suffering. A stream-enterer may not have a full or deep understanding of the Buddha Dharma, but they at least recognize that there is not an eternal self, which is to say they recognize at least conceptually that the self is caused and conditioned, a product of causality and subject to it. A stream-enterer no longer believes that merely following rules or performing rituals is enough to bring about liberation from suffering, there must be personal cultivation that leads to an awakening of mind and heart. We also see that a stream-enterer is still subject to sensual desire and ill-will, though not to the extent that they would kill, steal, rape, or commit other actions that would harm or greatly impair themselves or others. Their conviction about the law of cause and effect and self-control is strong enough to prevent them from falling into the lower realms of the hells, hungry ghosts, and animals even in terms of their present mindsets and conduct. A steam-enterer may still imagine and desire continued existence after death in some heavenly realm, they are still subject to conceit, and restlessness and have not overcome ignorance, so they are far from perfect or perfected. Still, stream-entry is quite a significant accomplishment. It represents the arising of a faith that overcomes anxiety about one’s fate and the arising of such a deep conviction about the Buddha Dharma and the law of cause and effect that one is firmly established on the right path with no danger of backsliding. The Buddha even states that one who has attained such a state will attain nirvana within seven more lifetimes at the most.
From a Tiantai and Nichiren perspective, stream-entry, once-returning, non-returning, and arhatship are all part of the realm of the voice-hearers, the first of the four noble or higher realms. How does this figure into the One Vehicle to Buddhahood? In Tiantai Buddhism, these four stages of attainment are equivalent to the first four of the ten degrees of faith among the fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice in the perfect teaching. These ten degrees of faith follow the five stages of practice outlined in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sutra: 1) rejoicing, 2) reading and reciting, 3) expounding the Dharma, 4) concurrent practice of the six perfections, and 5) proper practice of the six perfections.
In Nichiren Buddhism, we do not often discuss the fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice. More often, Nichiren discussed the stages of practice in terms of the Tiantai teaching that there are six degrees of identity between sentient beings and buddhas according to the perfect teaching. The first degree is identity in principle, which means that in principle we are all buddhas though we do not realize it or act like it because of ignorance and delusion. The second degree of identity is verbal, which is attained when one at least hears and accepts that we are buddhas. In Shishin Gohon-sho (The Four Depths of Faith and Five Stages of Practice), Nichiren argued that this degree of identity was equivalent to the stage of rejoicing among the five stages of practice and that chanting the Odaimoku was the practice of this stage for our current era. (See WNS4, pp. 107-112) The third degree is identity in contemplative practice which encompasses the other four of the five stages of practice. Even at this point, one is not firmly established in the higher realms and is still subject to the vagaries of life within the six lower realms with only glimpses (at best) of the higher realms in one’s life. The fourth degree is identity in outer appearance, in which one begins to at least seem saintlike and detached. The ten degrees of faith and the four stages of pre-Mahayana attainment are equivalent to this according to Tiantai teaching. The fifth degree of identity is that of partial realization, which is equivalent to all the other stages of bodhisattva practice except the last stage which is the attainment of buddhahood, which is equivalent to the sixth degree of ultimate identity with buddhas.
Looking at all these overlapping stages we can see that the two lower realms of the four higher realms (for voice-hearers and privately-awakened ones) are equivalent to the lower stages of bodhisattva practice. From the perspective of the One Vehicle, these two realms are for beginner bodhisattvas and those practicing the One Vehicle but do not realize they are cultivating bodhisattva practice.
According to Nichiren, those who chant the Odaimoku are at the stage of rejoicing and have achieved verbal identity with the buddhas, and yet they have also achieved a stage that is functionally equivalent to the identity in outer appearance. This is because, like stream-enterers, they have an unshakeable faith in the Three Treasures and are not liable to fall into the lower realms. Yet, in The Four Depths of Faith and Five Stages of Practice, Nichiren also recorded the following dialogue:
Question: Your disciples lack even a basic understanding and yet they collectively cry out Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. What stage is this equivalent to?
Answer: These people are not surpassed by those at the highest stage of the four flavors and three teachings. They are also stronger than those who practice the perfect teaching prior to the Lotus Sutra. … Therefore I entreat all those who live in this country: please do not show disrespect to my disciples.
(WNS4, p. 113)
To surpass the practitioners of the highest stage of the four flavors and three teachings (i.e. all those teachings prior to the perfect teaching of the Lotus Sutra) would mean to achieve the higher reaches of the identity of partial realization. This is quite a claim! This is certainly not meant to be an identity based upon understanding, wisdom, or even an ability to perfectly complete the six perfections of bodhisattva conduct because Nichiren had already argued that beginning practitioners should not try to take that upon themselves but should only cultivate faith and the practice of Odaimoku. I believe what Nichiren means is that one’s initial faith in the Original Gate of the Lotus Sutra and practice of Odaimoku as the expression of that faith sets one up on a path that will inevitably surpass the more limited aspirations and goals of the other teachings. I believe that the verbal identity of faith is meant to be inclusive of the greater degrees of identity as faith matures and unfolds in one’s life through as one continues to practice the Odaimoku and reflect (as best one can) upon the teachings in the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren’s writings. As Nichiren wrote:
Muddy water has no mind but still catches the moon’s reflection and naturally becomes lucid. Plants and trees catch the rain to blossom, but can we say they do this deliberately? The five characters of myo, ho, ren, ge, and kyoare not the text of the sutra nor a mere explanation. Rather, they are the sole intent of the whole sutra. Beginners may practice this without knowing the heart [of the Lotus Sutra], but their practice will naturally harmonize with its intention.
(WNS4, p. 113)
Let us come back now to Shakyamuni Buddha’s Mirror of the Dharma. The Buddha has given us a set of criteria by which we can reflect upon ourselves to discern whether we have achieved a level of maturity in our understanding and practice whereby we can be confident that the lower realms (whether we understand these as mental states we are liable to fall into or as possible future destinies or both) have been overcome and that our path towards awakening and liberation is secure. We must ask ourselves: Is our faith in the Three Treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha unshakeable? Have we overcome the debilitating doubts that hinder our practice? Do we understand that the “self” is not an unchanging essence but a process, subject to causes and conditions? Do we have enough conviction about the law of cause and effect to motivate us to continually make good causes and avoid bad causes? Does our practice go deeper than just outward conduct and ritual observances? Does our Odaimoku practice go beyond lip service? Does it express our joyful confidence in the Three Treasures of the Eternal and Original Shakyamuni Buddha, the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra, and the Sangha of the Original Disciples of the Original Buddha of whose company we can consider ourselves as upholders of the Odaimoku and all it represents? If we can answer yes to these questions, then we can be assured that our faith and practice have allowed us to enter the stream of the Dharma whose current will naturally carry us into the ocean of the Buddha’s vast liberating wisdom.