February 26, 2018
Life encompasses the body and the mind. Life encompasses the self and the environment. Life at each moment encompasses and includes all phenomena in the entire universe. If life at each moment encompasses and includes ALL phenomena in the entire universe, then good and evil does NOT exist apart from life either, as the potential for the other always exists. Phenomena are those facts or situations you observe to exist or happen in your life, especially whose causes or explanations are in question, but phenomena have no distinct nature or existence of their own. Phenomena are indications of POTENTIAL states or conditions that a person can manifest or experience, but arise only by virtue of their relationship with other phenomena. In the same way; when life does NOT appear to exist, the POTENTIAL for the other, life always exists, but neither existence nor non-existence can define the true nature of phenomena in terms of these concepts, because non-existence exists alone, apart from other phenomena. The true aspect of all phenomena is a reality that consists of factors, i.e. appearance, nature, entity, power, influence, internal cause, relation, latent effect, manifest effect, and their consistency from beginning to end, which describe their existence and the differences among them, which invariably manifest in all phenomena, and all phenomena invariably manifest in these factors. These factors invariably manifest in potential states or conditions that a person can experience, i.e. realms or categories of beings from the lowest to the highest; the realms of (1) hell, (2) hungry spirits (hunger), (3) animals (animality), (4) asuras (anger), (5) human beings (humanity), (6) heavenly beings (heaven), (7) voice-hearers (learning), (8) cause-awakened ones (realization), (9) bodhisattvas, and (10) Buddhas, which invariably manifest in life and its environment. For example, hell indicates a condition in which living itself is misery and suffering, and in which, devoid of all freedom, one’s anger and rage become a source of further self-destruction, but neither the phenomenon of hell nor anger has any distinct nature, i.e. inherent disposition nor existence of its own. Karmic impediment is born from deluded thoughts, as a result of the imposition of misleading perceptions that come from our sense organs. We then conceive an idea (conception) from what we perceived (perception), and finally initiate some action (volition), i.e. make some cause, all the while we use our consciousness, which integrate these components, to discern the characteristics of what we perceive, by distinguishing between right and wrong, and exercise our value judgment. Some karma does not necessarily produce a specific kind of result or reward, or yield an effect that is destined to appear at or within a certain fixed time, but usually in the same lifetime. Other karma, whether positive or negative, will inevitably produce a fixed or set result, such as (1) actions motivated by exceptionally strong earthly desires or by a profoundly pure mind; (2) actions, whether good or evil, done habitually; (3) actions, whether good or evil, performed in relation to such sources of benefit as the three treasures of Buddhism; and (4) actions causing harm to one’s parents. Fixed karma is either destined to appear in the same lifetime, in the next lifetime, in a third or even later lifetime; and as a general rule, was traditionally considered unchangeable, but sincere repentance will eradicate even the most fixed karma. If we aim to carry out repentance, when out of touch with reality because we are remorseful over the condition of our life, pondering the true aspect of all phenomena will cause the Sun of Wisdom to arise and wipe out the frost or dew of darkness. Life possesses vast and limitless POTENTIAL at each moment. Life permeates the entire realm of phenomena, the plants, sky, earth, and even the smallest particles of dust, including all insentient beings, and fills the entire universe; and all phenomena reveals life at each moment. The common message aims to encourage the elimination of our attachments; to transient phenomena, and “casting off the transient” or eliminating our attachment to provisional phenomena, which is arranged and exists only for the present and “revealing the true,” or what is permanent, and to encourage the elimination of attachment to our ego, i.e. to the perception of our self as an independent and fixed identity. By establishing such a firm self, we can overcome any painful hardship, banish darkness and manifest the essential nature of all phenomena as inseparable and non-dual. In “On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime,” the Daishonin expresses, “When we look into our own mind at any moment, we perceive neither color nor form to verify that it exists. Yet we still cannot say it does not exist, for many differing thoughts continually occur. The mind cannot be considered either to exist or not to exist. Life is indeed an elusive reality that transcends both the words and concepts of existence and nonexistence. It is neither existence nor nonexistence, yet exhibits the qualities of both. It is the mystic entity of the MIDDLE WAY that is the ultimate reality.”