CHAPTER 10158

THE BUDDHISM OF THE

PEOPLE (2) WE ARE
FULFILLING THE MISSION
OF THE BODHISATTVAS
OF THE EARTH!

Inow receive the Buddha's decree

and stand up alone,
proudly upholding the great vow
to spread the Mystic Law.
Allies are few, enemies many.

hese are lines from 'Song of Comrades',

Iwhich my mentor, second Soka Gakkai
president Josei Toda, composed while he
was in prison. It is a song that conveys my
mentor's heart, one that always resounds
within my own.
Mr Toda inherited the spirit of his mentor,
founding Soka Gakkai president
Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, who died in prison
for his beliefs. Determined to fulfil the great
vow to "spread the Mystic Law", he stood up
alone as a lion king of justice, going
amongst the people, who were suffering in
the biter aftermath of Japan's defeat in
World War II. When Ithink of his dauntless
spirit, I, too, am filled with the courage and
determination to stand up alone.
Here, we find the essence of the un
changing Soka Gakkai spirit. It is through
passing on this lionhearted spirit from men
tor to disciple that the Soka Gakkai will159
forever fulfil its mission as a religion dedi
cated to realizing kosen-rufu.

The Stand-alone Spirit Is the Heart of

Nichiren Buddhism

Nichiren Buddhism teaches us to see the

noble Buddha nature inherent in all people,
to believe in their infinite potential, and
therefore to care about and treasure each
individual. This is the most distinguishing
characteristic of the Buddhism of the
people.
In the previous chapter, we looked at this
aspect from the perspective of the principle
that 'embracing the Gohonzon is in itself ob
serving one's own mind', 1 or attaining
enlightenment.
Nichiren Buddhism also teaches the im
portance of standing up with self-reliant faith
and showing respect towards others while
not being swayed by any kind of obstacle or
opposition we may face. This is the second
characteristic of the Buddhism of the people
that I wish to highlight.
We treasure others not only to help them
overcome their sufferings as individuals. By
awakening to the infinite value of their own
Iives through our support, they can move
away from a passive stance of seeking help
from others, to making efforts to help others.
They go from being merely recipients of en
couragement to people who are able to en
courage others. They undergo a human rev
olution, becoming people who can treasure
others. By triumphing over their hardships
and turning them into valuable experiences
that offer courage and hope to others, those
who once were overwhelmed by karmic suf
fering become strong. This is what it means
to change karma into mission.
When we recognize the dignity of our
own lives, we recognize the dignity of the
lives of others. The bodhisattva way of life in
Nichiren Buddhism is to stand up with the
wish to help others bring forth their inherent
dignity, and to become happy alongside
them. When each person plays an active
role in the effort to spread the Mystic160
Law striving for the happiness of all hu
manity while surmounting their own prob
lems this is the true image of the
Bodhisattvas of the Earth.2
The Gohonzon is the banner of our effort to
achieve that great ideal.

Nichiren alone took the lead in carrying

out the task of the Bodhisattvas of the
Earth. He may even be one of them. If
Nichiren is to be counted among the
Bodhisattvas of the Earth, then so must
his disciples and lay supporters. The
[Lotus Sutra] states: "If one [of these
good men or good women in the time
after I have passed into extinction] is
able to secretly expound the Lotus
Sutra to one person, even one phrase
of it, then you should know that he or
she is the envoy of the Thus Come
One. He has been dispatched by the
Thus Come One and carries out the
Thus Come One's work" [LSOC10, 200].
Who else but us can this possibly refer
to? (The True Aspect of All
Phenomena', WND-1, 385)

Bodhisattvas of the Earth Are Those

Who Have the Courage to Stand
Alone
In The True Aspect of All Phenomena', the
Daishonin writes, "Nichiren alone took the
lead in carrying out the task of the
Bodhisattvas of the Earth" (WND-1, 385). In
other words, he stood up alone as a pioneer
to pave the way forward.
The 'Emerging from the Earth' (15th)
chapter of the Lotus Sutra describes a vast
multitude of bodhisattvas, "as numerous as
the sands of sixty thousand Ganges163
Rivers" (LSOC15, 252), emerging from the
earth. The Daishonin also describes their
joyful arrival, writing, "When Bodhisattva
Superior Practices emerged from the earth,
did he not emerge dancing?" ('Great Evil
and Great Good', WND-1, 1119).
These innumerable Bodhisattvas of the
Earth led by Bodhisattva Superior Practices
are described as being as impressive as
Buddhas: "Solemn, dignified, they were be
ings of great and lofty stature" (The
Opening of the Eyes ()', WND-1, 253).
Bodhisattvas of the Earth are those who
have the courage to stand alone.
An eternal starting point of the Soka
Gakkai is second president Josei Toda's
awakening to his identity as a Bodhisattva of
the Earth while in prison. From this starting
point, in aworld racked by the misery of war
and endless human suffering, the mentors
and disciples of Soka have stood up to fulfil
the great vow for kosen-rufu and bring hap
piness and peace to all people. Aware of our
mission, we have gone out among the peo
ple, determined to be true champions who
can stand alone, fearless and unwavering in
the face of any adversity.

Fundamental Change Starts with a

Single Individual

The American poet and philosopher Henry

David Thoreau (1817-62) also believed in
the tremendous power of individuals who
have the courage to stand up for what is
right and just. That is the origin of all social
change. It all starts when a single individual
stands up. Thoreau declared that the institu
tion of slavery would be abolished "if one
thousand, if one hundred, if ten men whom I
could name, if ten honest men only ay, if
one HONEST man" stood up and took ac
tion against it.
Quoting these words of Thoreau, Dr
Martin Luther King, Jr (1929-68), the
leader of the American civil rights move
ment, said that by participating in thel64
struggle to end segregation, African
Americans who had suffered the indignities
of racial discrimination were "already walk
ing straighter because of the protest", and
as a result, "beneath the surface, this
nation's conscience is being stirred".)
When the minds and actions of individu
als change, the collective conscience that
hisattvas of the other worlds were in awe
of them.
The "Earth" in the expression
"Bodhisattvas of the Earth" symbolizes the
universal state of life innate to all people,
that is free of all discrimination. The165)
Daishonin writes, "If you are of the same
mind as Nichiren, you must be a Bodhisattva
of the Earth.. There should be no discrimi
nation among those who propagate the five
characters of Myoho-renge-kyo in the
Latter Day of the Law, be they men or
women. Were they not Bodhisattvas of the
Earth, they could not chant the daimoku
[Nam-myoho-renge-kyo]" (The True Aspect
of All Phenomena', WND-1, 385). The
Daishonin opened the way for calling forth
these bodhisattvas from the infinitely vast
earth of the people on into the eternal fu
ture. Most importantly, in stating that he is
"the son of a fisherman in Kataumi in the vil
lage of Tojo" (Questions and Answers on
the Object of Devotion', WND-2, 794), he
proudly declares himself to be from amongst
the common people.
The 'emergence of the Bodhisattvas of
the Earth' can also be taken as a metaphor
for the way that ordinary people firmly
grounded in reality reveal their innate poten
tial and joyously emerge onto the stage of
history to transform their troubled and dead
locked society on a fundamental level.