Accepting the Light
Rev. Nichiko Niwano
President of Rissho Kosei-kai

An Existence that Gleams like a Gem

When rays of sunlight collect on one point of a convex lens, they are transformed into heat that can burn paper. In other words, when solar energy is concentrated, it becomes a greater thermal energy that has an influence on other things.

The Buddha’s teaching is like the light of a lamp that brightens the night’s darkness, the light of Truth that permeates the far corners of the cosmos, and the light of wisdom and compassion that dispels human doubts.

The light of Truth encompasses all people; what absorbs the light and changes it into the energy that nourishes personal growth is a humble, flexible heart and mind.

When we are humble, we become aware that we are caused to live by the one great Life-force and are overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude from deep within ourselves.

At that time we can no longer have such arrogant thoughts as that we are the only ones who are always right, and then we also experience the joy that comes from being in harmony with others.

Chapter eight of the Lotus Sutra, “The Five Hundred Disciples Receive the Prediction of Their Destiny,” relates the parable of the jewel hidden in a Robe. This parable teaches us that a man who thinks of himself as worthless and without merit is reborn as a new person when he learns a jewel has been sewn into the hem of his garment.

Likewise, when we become aware that we have been endowed with a life that gleams like a gem, we are filled with the profound sense of rejoicing because we have been given life as human beings.


Making Ourselves into Luminous Beings

Let me quote a verse by the poet Shinmin Sakamura:

Shining, shining
Everything shining.
There is not one thing that does not shine
Because those that don’t shine themselves
Reflect the light of those that do.

[from Hanahiraku, Kokorohiraku, Michihiraku (Flower Open, Heart Open, Road Open) Kodansha]

I think this poem well describes the essence of life in which all things can shine, and the importance of becoming aware of this.

Founder Niwano often spoke about the occasion when his mind’s eye was opened as from a dream after he heard a series of lectures on the Lotus Sutra by his great teacher Mr. Sukenobu Arai. The moment when his insight was penetrated by the Truth must have been for the founder a moment when his heart and mind were imbued with light. From then on, without caring about his own life, he devoted himself to shining that light on others with their worries and suffering so as to lead them to happiness.

A passage in the oldest of the sutras, the Suttanipata, praises Shakyamuni Buddha by saying, “You who are descended from the sun, you bring us the light.”

This verse likens the preciousness of the great virtue and teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha to the sun which through its power radiates light that nurtures all living beings.

Humbly accepting the light of Shakyamuni Buddha’s teaching and thereby making ourselves luminous beings who shine our light on others is described as the teaching of “Make yourself a light, make the Dharma your light.”

Kosei 08/2004

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