by Rev. Shokai Kanai

In the previous bulletin, I discussed about Three Lives of Maitreya Bodhisattva and wrote that we would be able to become Buddhas in our future. This teaching is revealed in Chapter One of the Lotus Sutra. I would like to talk about Chapter Two of the sutra this time.

The "Reality of All Things" means to realize the three processes of all things; why human beings and other things are born, how they progress and where they will end. When we become Buddhas, we can see the past, present and future of all things. This is the insight of the Buddha as revealed in the "Coming of the Buddhas, " Chapter Two.

The Buddhas see this world as:

"Everything is constantly changing," but it does not mean that things disappear into nothing, but they change the forms and appearances into something else. Human beings, houses and cars become old and eventually decay, then they will change their forms to the five elements such as soil, water, energy, air and void. Lotus flowers and cherry blossoms keep their beauty only for a few days. That is why we cherish the beauty, and we enjoy seeing the beautiful flowers.

"Everything relies on others." Human beings, animals, plants, minerals, mountains, rivers, oceans and all others live together while helping each other. With the blessing of the rays of the sun and the rain, all living beings are alive in great harmony and balance. Therefore, if a man cuts down trees or pollutes the rivers or kills other people in his disregard for others and his surroundings, we may not exist on this earth in the near future.

The "Buddha Dharma is eternal." Physical bodies change. The society and time changes. However, these laws of "Everything is constantly changing" and "Everything relies on others" are never changed in the past, present and future. Therefore, Buddha Dharma is eternal.

Our physical features explain these three laws. Our parents had not decided our facial features like size of their children’s eyes, height of a nose, shape of a mouth. Of course, the parents affect their children’s skin color, features and characteristics. The physical features are also caused by karma of his or her previous lives. He or she in their previous lives created a cause to have such a physical feature -- whether a gentle or an angry face, tall or short, and healthy or sickly.

Therefore, I cannot say that my parents bore me at their pleasures, rather my soul in my previous karma chose my parents. As the result of my previous karma meeting with the parents, siblings, environment, education, friends and time, I exist now as I am. It is called "En," or mutual relationship.

Therefore, good karma or bad karma in one’s previous lives appears in this life, then the karma in this life will bring forth future result. We cannot erase the past, but we can change our life in the present, so we see that our future depends on what we do now.

That is the teaching of the Ten Suchness in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sutra.

Buddha Sakyamuni was born on this earth in order to reveal these laws; The Ten Suchness, Everything is Constantly Changing, Everything relies on others and the Eternal Dharma.