Learn from Example of Others
Rev. Nichiko Niwano
President of Rissho Kosei-kai

A Compass for Living

People need something that can serve as a compass in their lives. For example, with the “right person” as our model, we can recognize our own immaturity and inexperience, and develop a strong desire to learn humbly from that person. Learning from the example of someone—from the manner in which that person actually lives and works—is different from book learning in its directness, because we are able to observe our role model with our own eyes.

A youth named Zenzai, who appears in the Garland Sutra, is said to have called upon and learned from 53 teachers in the course of his religious training. We can understand the story of Zenzai as illustrating the fact that when we make our own hearts humble we can absorb more of the teachings from a broad variety of people, because the Truth is conveyed only through living human beings.

We can say that in this way, learning from the example of someone means not only gaining knowledge and skills from a role model, but also finding out what is useful in truly opening our eyes as human beings and working to improve our own character.

The Model of Shakyamuni

When Shakyamuni took up the lifestyle called “abandoning home,” he called upon different teachers and sought the Way. During the six years that he undertook ascetic practices, he followed a number of teachers and studied a variety of teachings. For Shakyamuni, however, all of those teachings were only points of reference. He never lost his own identity, but accepted teachings that should accept and rejected those that should reject. Since he found that he could not achieve the Way through such ascetic practices, he eventually gave them up and while leading a more balanced lifestyle attained enlightenment. This has come to be called “perfect enlightenment,” “achieving self-awareness,” and “teacher less self-enlightenment” (that is, not being taught by someone else but becoming enlightened on one’s own).

When we examine the long history of the Buddha Way, we find that seeking a master is important, of course, but even more important is seeking what the master seeks.

When we learn the Way from predecessors, we should ask ourselves what they have practiced as the Buddha Way and what they have sought through it. What they sought was simply what was within them by delving into them. In other words, they sought the true nature of their inner selves.

Therefore, learning from our predecessors is to inquire into the true self-lying in the depths of our beings. Frankly, our true predecessors are our own selves, and the Buddha Way is learning the Way of self-reliance and genuine freedom.

Here, the “Buddha” of the “Buddha Way” clearly means the “true self.” The Buddha Way is the path to self-awareness, and that is what a master seeks.

Kosei 05/2004

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