The Ultimate New Years Resolution

New Years is a time for resolutions to make some improvement in our lives, either by putting an end to some bad habit or by striving to initiate a new more beneficial course of action. Perhaps we might wish to quit smoking, or drink less alcohol, or none at all, or to eat less, or eat healthier, or to cut back on spending, or pay off debts. Or else we might commit ourselves to an exercise program, or yoga, or to finish a long postponed project, or to give more regularly to charity. The New Year provides a fresh opportunity to overcome suffering and ensure our welfare by cutting off bad causes and fostering good causes.

Taking up the way of spiritual awakening or buddhahood also begins with a great resolution or vow. This kind of vow, however, goes right to the root of our lives. It is not simply a matter of curtailing one or two bad habits, or of saving more money or getting a better muscle tone. It is resolving to turn away from the greed, hatred, and delusion that ruin our lives and the lives of others and turning towards the selfless compassion of buddhahood for the sake of all beings. The other kinds of resolutions, if we are even able to keep them, can help us with temporal security and gain, but all of these gains will pass. Health, wealth, relationships, and even our self-image are all temporary. They are incapable of providing ultimate satisfaction or the stability we crave. Buddhahood, however, opens up a whole new perspective. It is an awakening to life’s deepest truth, a sublime truth that cannot be captured in words but has been characterized as pure, blissful, constant, and even as the authentic self that transcends the duality of self and other. The motivation to realize buddhahood is not limited to mere self-improvement but arises from a compassionate concern for all beings.

Is it even possible to have such a spiritual awakening? Or is such a resolution too grandiose? Is such a great vow a romantic but futile gesture in a material universe devoid of spirit? Or is it something that only god(s) may grant, and we should refrain from such presumption? 2,500 years ago, a man named Siddhartha Gautama in ancient India made such a great vow. He even forsook his comfortable life as the son of a local ruler to live as homeless mendicant in order to fulfill his vow. After six years of striving, at the age of 35, Siddhartha claimed that he had awakened to the true nature of life while sitting beneath a tree in meditation. With a sharp and clear mind he had spent the night deeply contemplating the causes and conditions of his life, in fact of all lives, of life itself. As the morning star appeared in the sky he saw through all the delusions and attachments that cloud and bedevil human life and cast them aside, awakening to the true selfless nature of life that transcends birth, death, and all suffering. He was no longer merely Siddhartha, the former prince and seeker of truth. From that moment on he became known as the Buddha, the “Awakened One”. He would also be called Shakyamuni, the “sage of the Shakya clan”. As Shakyamuni Buddha, this man in India 2,500 years ago claimed to have fulfilled his great vow to overcome suffering by awakening to the truth and by spending the next 45 years as a wandering mendicant teaching all who would listen how to awaken to the truth for themselves. This truth or law of life he called the Dharma. The community of those who practiced the Dharma so that they too could awaken and know it directly was called the Sangha. Buddhism is the wisdom tradition lived by all those who take refuge from suffering in the Three Treasures of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha in the conviction that there was man who achieved spiritual awakening or buddhahood, that this man left a teaching or Dharma whereby it is possible for others to awaken, and that there is a community or Sangha that one can join that has kept this tradition alive so that those of us living today can realize buddhahood.

According to the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha’s resolution or vow was for our sakes from the very beginning. In that sutra the Buddha says to his disciple Shariputra: “Know this, Shariputra! I once vowed that I would cause all living beings to become exactly as I am. That old vow of mine has now been fulfilled. I lead all living beings into the way to buddhahood.”[1] If we can trust the Buddha’s statement in the Lotus Sutra that he has fulfilled his vow, then we should have confidence in making our own resolution or vow to realize buddhahood. The Buddha further states: “Every buddha vows at the outset: ‘I will cause all living beings to attain the same awakening that I attained.’”[2] In Buddhism the aspiration to attain buddhahood and thereby cause all other beings to do so as well is called “bodhicitta” or “awakening mind.” Here is a wonderful summary of its importance by T.R.V. Murti:

The Mahayana texts cannot praise the Bodhicitta too highly. It is the foundation of all good, the source of all endeavor, the refuge of all beings, a veritable treasure. As the one secure foundation for the happiness of all beings and the one remedy for their suffering, it is immeasurable in its purity and goodness. It is not to be thought that Bodhicitta is a preparation for some unworldly ideal having no relevance to the problems of the present-day world. Even in this world its influence is very great; as the basis of all altruism, it makes for social solidarity and happy human relationships.[3]

From this aspiration come the many resolves or vows of the bodhisattvas, or “awakening beings,” those who have set out on the way to buddhahood. For example there are the four great vows to save all sentient beings, to quench all defilements, to know all the Buddha’s teachings, and to attain the way to buddhahood.[4] The bodhisattvas also resolve to bring to perfection the qualities of generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom. These qualities are the fruits of buddhahood. The last quality is paramount because it guides the others and is their goal. Regarding the importance of these resolutions T.R.V. Murti again provides a powerful and concise summary:

The importance of the Great Resolves cannot be underestimated. They set the goal of the Bodhisattva very clearly before him for all time. They give unerring and unfailing direction to him in his spiritual career. The resolve itself acts as an accelerating force in his progress and counteracts unspiritual tendencies. Man becomes what he wills. He is not molded by circumstances; he molds the circumstances. Spiritual realization is a growth from within, self-creative and self-determining. It is not too much to say that the nature of the resolve determines the nature of the final attainment, like the seed determining the plant. The seed of Buddhahood is sown in the initial vow that the Bodhisattva makes. The entire later discipline is the cultivation and preservation of this.[5]

In Nichiren Buddhism we are inspired and guided by the teachings and example of the 13th century Japanese monk Nichiren Shonin (Nichiren means “Sun Lotus”; Shonin is a title of respect that means “sage”). Nichiren Shonin once wrote in a letter:

I, Nichiren, vowed to study and master Buddhism and to attain Buddhahood so that I would be able to save the people from whom I had received favors. To attain Buddhahood, one must not think selfishly even at the cost of his life.[6]

Nichiren Shonin was very determined to attain buddhahood, and he was able to arouse, sustain, and nurture his aspiration through faith in the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra (a title sometimes abbreviated to the Lotus Sutra), a Mahayana discourse wherein the Buddha assures all his followers that they can attain buddhahood. The Lotus Sutra itself promises that any who hear it and take faith in even a verse or phrase will attain buddhahood.

The Buddha said to Medicine King: “If, after my extinction, anyone rejoices, even for a moment’s thought, at hearing even a verse or a phrase of the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra, I will also assure him of his future attainment of unsurpassed perfect awakening.”[7]

In another passage the Buddha goes so far as to assert that those who show reverence to the Lotus Sutra even slightly have already attained supreme perfect awakening and should be considered the Buddha’s representatives:

The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound and copy even a phrase of the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra, and offer flowers, incense, necklaces … or just join hands respectfully towards it, should be respected by all the people of the world. All the people of the world should make offerings to them as they do to me. Know this! These good men or women are great bodhisattvas. They should be considered to have appeared in this world by their vow to expound the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra out of compassion towards all living beings, although they already attained supreme perfect awakening [in their previous existence]. Needless to say, those who keep all the passages of this sutra and make various offerings to this sutra [are great bodhisattvas]. Medicine King, know this! They should be considered to have given up the rewards of their pure karmas and appeared in the evil world after my extinction in order to expound this sutra out of their compassion towards all living beings. The good men or women who expound even a phrase of the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra even to one person in secret after my extinction, know this, are my messengers. They are dispatched by me. They do my work. It is needless to say this of those who expound this sutra to many people in a great multitude.[8]

This seems to be very extravagant praise indeed of even a minimal positive display of reverence for the Lotus Sutra. It would seem that simply bowing to the sutra or discreetly sharing it with one other person fulfills the aspiration for buddhahood. In another passage, the Buddha praises protecting someone who keeps the title alone: “Your merits will be incalculable even when you protect the person who keeps only the name of the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra.”[9] Inspired by this, Nichiren Shonin, taught that expressing and fulfilling the aspiration for buddhahood could be accomplished by simply reciting a short phrase of devotion to the sacred title  (“Odaimoku”) of the Lotus Sutra: “I devote myself to the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra.” Nichiren Shonin saw the Odaimoku as a prayer for buddhahood, or even as the seed of buddhahood. In Japanese, the Chinese characters that compose the Odaimoku are pronounced: “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo”.

Buddhism begins with a heart that aspires to a better and freer life for all people, beginning with our own spiritual awakening. For the seed of this initial aspiration to bear fruit we must have confidence that such a spiritual awakening, called buddhahood, is possible. This can only happen through cultivating our hearts day-by-day, moment-by-moment. In the Nichiren Buddhist tradition this aspiration and faith is aroused, expressed, and nurtured whenever we chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. This is why Nichiren Buddhism expresses the ultimate aspiration and resolution to attain buddhahood in terms of the Vow to Embrace and Maintain Faith: “From this body, until I attain buddhahood, I will strive to uphold Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.”[10] This resolution can also be expressed in terms of a fourfold vow:

 I vow to uphold the teaching of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo

I vow to practice the teaching of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo

I vow to protect the teaching of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo

I vow to spread the teaching of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo[11]

This aspiration to realize buddhahood for the sake of all beings is the basis of all spiritual progress. The resolutions or vows that follow from this heartfelt aspiration find many expressions in the Buddhist tradition, and innumerable ways have been found to put them into practice until their ultimate fulfillment. In Nichiren Buddhism, the recitation of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo brings all of this together into a single expression of trust in the Buddha’s teaching that the fulfillment of our highest aspiration and most audacious resolution is indeed possible for all of us.

[1] Lotus Sutra p. 37

[2] Ibid, p. 43

[3] Central Philosophy of Buddhism pp. 264-265

[4] Nichiren Shu Service Book p. 78

[5] Central Philosophy of Buddhism, pp. 265-266

[6] Nichiren Shu Service Book p. 83

[7] Lotus Sutra p. 171

[8] Ibid p. 172

[9] Ibid p. 329

[10] Nichiren Shu Service Book p. 70

[11] Ibid p. 79