Substitute Faith for Wisdom

In the gosho entitled “The Four Depths of Faith and the Five Stages of Practice (Shishin Gohon-sho), Nichiren wrote:

Determining the correct practice is of great importance. Let us therefore look to the sutra for passages that can provide us with solid footing. For those of us in the first, second, and third of the five stages of practice, the Buddha said that it is correct to refrain from the two methods morality and concentration, and to dutifully focus on wisdom. However, because we are not yet fit for wisdom, faith must substitute for wisdom. The one word “faith” is the most essential. Lack of faith is the reason why people become icchantika who slander the Dharma, while faith is the basis for wisdom, and this occurs at the stage of verbal identity. [1]

As in many of his writings, Nichiren assumes that the reader will be familiar with the technical terms he draws from the general teachings of the Buddha and the Tiantai school of Buddhism. Let me unpack some of this for those of us who do not know what he is referring to so that we can understand his point.

According to the teachings of Tiantai Zhiyi (538-597), in the seventeenth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, “The Variety of Merits,” Shakyamuni Buddha describes five stages of putting the Lotus Sutra into practice for those living in the age after his final nirvana. The first is the stage of rejoicing upon hearing that Shakyamuni Buddha’s lifespan is immeasurable. This is to understand by faith that buddhahood is unborn and deathless. It is not something that appears or disappears, and therefore it is always at hand though elusive to those of us who are ignorant of the true nature of all things. The second stage is to engage in reading and reciting the Lotus Sutra, which conveys this good news to us all beings. The third stage is to begin expounding this Wonderful Dharma to others. The fourth stage is to engage in the concurrent practice of the six perfections of bodhisattvas that lead to buddhahood: generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditative absorption, and wisdom. The fifth is to further engage in the proper practice of the six perfections.

Nichiren is telling those of us who are encountering Buddhism and hearing the Lotus Sutra for the first time that we should consider ourselves on the stage of rejoicing. We may not even be ready for the stages of consistently reading and reciting the Lotus Sutra, or lucidly expounding it for others. It would be a mistake, therefore, to hold ourselves to the very high standard of concurrently and properly cultivating the six perfections of bodhisattva practice. By imposing such perfectionism upon ourselves, we may become discouraged, thereby undermining our practice and our confidence in ourselves and the Dharma. Nichiren tells us to treasure and nurture our faith and not allow ourselves to be disheartened by our inability to live up to the ideals of advanced stages of cultivation.

In the Mahaparibbana Sutta, while on his deathbed beneath the twin Sal trees, the Buddha was asked if other teachers had realized the truth if only the Buddha and his followers had realized it. The Buddha told him that in whatever teaching and discipline the eightfold noble path is not found, one will not find ascetics who can attain liberation, but in that teaching where the eightfold noble path is found, one will find ascetics who can attain liberation. [2] The noble eightfold path consists of right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. In each of these cases, “right” means whole, complete or sound as opposed to partial or biased, incomplete, or unsound. One cannot attain awakening or liberation if one lives a life that is biased and unsound, unwholesome and confused. That is why the eightfold noble path is necessary. Sometimes the Buddha presented the eightfold noble path as the threefold training of morality, concentration, and wisdom. In this case, right speech, action, and livelihood are the training of morality; right effort, mindfulness, and concentration are the training of concentration; and right view and right intention comprise the training of wisdom. Here we see that morality, concentration (corresponding to meditative absorption), and wisdom are all included among the six perfections of bodhisattva practice.

Nichiren seems to be contradicting the Buddha by saying that, at least for beginners, morality and concentration, as well as generosity, patience, and energy, can be dispensed with. Only the training and perfection of wisdom are retained, but then wisdom is also set aside to be substituted by faith. He does this because, in the seventeenth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha states that the merits of those who understand the Buddha’s immeasurable lifespan by faith for even a moment’s thought will accrue more merit than those who practice the first five perfections. It is the Buddha who sets wisdom apart from the other five perfections. Yet Nichiren makes a good point. If we had wisdom then we wouldn’t be in the position of ignorance and suffering that we are in to begin with. How do we suddenly attain wisdom? This is, of course, to ask how can we attain buddhahood?

We attain buddhahood by adopting Shakyamuni Buddha’s right view and right intention. We are taking him at his word, taking it on faith that his guidance is correct. In terms of the provisional teachings, it means taking it on faith that the six paths of ordinary life from hell to heaven will all be ultimately unsatisfactory if we continue to blindly pursue them and allow ourselves to be led by greed, hatred, and delusion. We take it on faith that if we follow the middle way between self-indulgence and self-denial, between eternalism and nihilism, between the empty and provisional we will find the right path to overcome the three poisons and escape the six paths of suffering. More importantly, as Nichiren Buddhists, we take it on faith that the buddhahood of Shakyamuni Buddha is unborn and deathless, that the buddha-realm is always and already embracing our lives through and through. This is to say that the unconditioned true reality of all things is something we should deeply and joyfully trust in. Faith means to temporarily adopt the Buddha’s wisdom as our own. By doing that, the rest of the eightfold noble path will follow. By doing that, we can go on to cultivate the first five perfections guided by wisdom.

Nichiren refers to the icchantika or “incorrigible ones” who will not let themselves believe anything the Buddha teaches. In the case of the Lotus Sutra, they slander the Wonderful Dharma by refusing to believe that the Buddha’s life transcends appearance and disappearance. They refuse to believe that buddhahood is a part of our lives and so cannot begin to identify themselves or anyone else as buddhas, whether in the making or fully actualized. On the other hand, Zhiyi believed that all beings can identify with the Buddha, at least to some degree. The Tiantai teaching that there are six degree of identity with the Buddha is another teaching that Nichiren refers to in the passage from “The Four Depths of Faith and Five Stages of Practice.” These six degrees are 1) identity in principle, 2) verbal identity, 3) identity in contemplative practice, 4) identity in outer appearances, 5) identity of partial realization, and 6) ultimate identity.

Nichiren acknowledges that within the Tiantai teachings, the stage of rejoicing can be equated with different degrees of identity. He then states his opinion that the stage of rejoicing is equivalent to verbal identity with buddhahood. This means that those who rejoice upon hearing the teaching of the Lotus Sutra that the Buddha’s lifespan is immeasurable will be able to identify themselves with the Buddha, at least in terms of a verbal acknowledgment that there is no difference between sentient beings and buddhas aside from the delusion keeps the former alienated from their own buddha-qualities. This identification with the Buddha, and therefore our buddhahood that is also the buddhahood of all beings, by hearing and acknowledging naturally develops into identity in contemplative practice, which then develops into identity in outer appearance as we begin to act as a buddha would act. This in turn matures into partial realization and finally, ultimate identity as we fully become what we have always been. This is an organic process however, it cannot be forced or faked (though on second thought I suppose identity in outer appearances is a kind of “fake it till you make it stage”). It has to begin with genuinely hearing and accepting the Wonderful Dharma. The verbal identity must not be half-hearted. We must not let the good news of the unborn and deathless nature of buddhahood go in one ear and out the other. Our verbal acknowledgment and sharing of this teaching through the practice of the Odaimoku must be more than lip service. It must come from a deep and ever-deepening place within if it is to develop into a contemplative, outer, partial, and finally ultimate identity with the Buddha.

This is where the initial cultivation of faith becomes crucial. It is the starting point for all that follows. This does not mean we should blindly believe that buddhahood is the deepest truth about ourselves and since we already have it we can become complacent and indulge the opposites of the six perfections, the so-called six obscurations of stinginess, immorality, ill-will, indolence, distraction, and foolishness. Rather, it means that as we deepen our faith, our joyful confidence in what the Buddha teaches us in the Lotus Sutra, we will more and more naturally find ourselves viewing things as the Buddha does, having the same kind of selfless compassion as the Buddha, and naturally wanting to slow down, live more intentionally, mindfully, peacefully, and in harmony with ourselves and others. Then the eightfold noble path and the six perfections will not seem like formal practices that need to be taken up but more like a description of how an awakened person lives.

In the Great Calming and Contemplation, Zhiyi says that faith is what will keep a practitioner from despairing that one does not have the wisdom of buddhahood, but at the same time, one should have at least enough wisdom to prevent arrogance and the mistaken belief that one is already equal to the Buddha even though still a beginner. [3] At the same time, to be a beginner in the practice of the Lotus Sutra brings inestimable merit, and so is incomparably greater than those who pursue lesser goals or who believe that buddhahood is something that can only be actualized in the far future or a distant land or afterlife. One is on the trajectory of greater identification with the Buddha as one deepens one’s faith and is led naturally into a life characterized by the eightfold noble path and the six perfections that are the virtues of buddhahood.

How then, do we cultivate and nurture faith? What is the practice of faith in the Lotus Sutra that we beginners should focus our efforts on? Here is what Nichiren says:

Beginners should refrain from giving alms, observing the precepts, and the rest of the five bodhisattva practices, and for the present should instead take up the practice of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo which is the spirit of the single moment of understanding by faith and the stage of rejoicing. This is the true intention of the Lotus Sutra! [4]

Nichiren does not mean that we should be stingy, carelessly make bad causes that go against the precepts, or disregard the other perfections of bodhisattva practice, nor that we should not develop them in the future. His point is that the Odaimoku is the only formal practice we need to cultivate the stage of rejoicing, to thereby understand the subtlety of Lotus Sutra by faith. As we deepen our joy and confidence, we will develop a more complete and perfect identification with the Buddha as we realize our buddhahood and the buddhahood of all beings. As that identification deepens, we will naturally and genuinely take up all the virtues of buddhahood.

In the parable of the wealthy man and his poor son in the fourth, “Understanding by Faith,” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the impoverished young man who does not even realize he is the wealthy man’s son gradually learns the extent of his father’s wealth as he becomes more confident and less estranged from his father. As an employee given custodian of the wealth he learns its extent, how to manage it, how to save and spend, and properly utilize the father’s resources. In the end, he learns that this wealth is his own inheritance. It was not someone else’s wealth. He was himself the true heir of the estate all along. In the same way, all the virtues of the Buddha, all of his generosity, virtue, meditative attainments, perfect wisdom, and selfless compassion are our birthright. How do we get to the point where we truly believe that this treasure house of virtues is really ours to employ for the happiness and liberation of all? Through cultivating and nourishing the faith that it is so. How do we do that? By hearing and acknowledging and sharing the Wonderful Dharma that assures us it is so. To do that, Nichiren tells us that the Buddha has provided us with the practice of the Odaimoku.

[1] Writings of Nichiren Shonin: Faith and Practice, Volume 4, p. 109.

[2] Digha Nikaya 16.5.27. See The Long Discourses of the Buddha, p. 268.

[3] Clear Serenity, Quiet Insight, pp. 230-232.

[4] Writings of Nichiren Shonin: Faith and Practice, Volume 4, p. 110.