The Importance of Words
Rev. Nichiko Niwano
President of Rissho Kosei-kai

Human Beings Are Creatures of Language

As the saying goes, “A round egg can be cut into cubes and similarly, one’s manner of speaking can make soft things sharp.” For example, whether we say, “The rose bush has a beautiful flower, but it has thorns,” or “Although the rose bush has thorns, it has a beautiful flower,” gives a very different impression. The first suggests that the beauty is overcome by faults, while the second suggests that faults are covered up by the beauty.

In one sutra passage that explains the importance of words, Shakyamuni admonishes his disciples, telling them to “speak having well examined whether your words will hurt yourself and hurt others and whether they will give rise to suffering.”

Japan is known as a land where the mysterious workings of language bring bliss. Through the Japanese language, we understand things and can open our eyes to the Truth.

It is often said that “human beings are creatures of language,” so words are of the utmost importance to human beings as long as they live and proper learning and remembering of Japanese is essential.

O-Daimoku

Polishing words is called suiko in Japanese, which literally means “pushing and knocking,” a phrase that originally comes from a Chinese poem. The poem is “A bird roosts in a tree at the pond’s edge / A monk knocks on the gate beneath the moon,” which describes the scene of a monk, having come back late at night, standing before a closed gate and knocking on it.

The poet, Jia Dao (779-843), was vacillating between the words “push” and “knock” when he happened to meet a famous poet, Han Yu (768-824), who told him that “knock” made the poem more vivid. This is the origin of the phrase “pushing and knocking.”

Depending on which word is used, the poem can come to life, so a single word conveys a major point.

For human beings, then, what would we say is the single most important word or phrase?

For me, one precious phrase is the o-daimoku, Namu Myoho Renge- kyo (I place my faith in the Lotus Sutra).

When we chant the o-daimoku, it is an expression of our heart and mind taking refuge in and obeying the Truth, of our gratitude for the preciousness of life we have received from Eternal Life, and of our efforts to do our very best in everything.

Once we understand that chanting of the o-daimoku contains these meanings, we are glad that we can chant it and every day is filled with joy in the Dharma.

Let us continually admonish ourselves and ask whether we fully understand the Truth of the Buddha’s teachings and whether we are conveying it correctly through our words.

Kosei 07/2004

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