By Shingyo Imai

Last week we shared Chapter 1, Introductory. Today we take our first real step onto the path, into Chapter 2 — Hōbenpon, "Expedients." This chapter is so rich, so central to everything the Lotus Sutra teaches, that we will spend three Sundays inside it before moving on. Today, the first of those three, we look at ten short phrases, spoken by the Buddha almost in a single breath, that Tiantai Master would later build an entire universe out of. They are called the “Ten Suchnesses."

Here is the setting. The Buddha has just risen from a deep meditation. He turns to Shariputra, his wisest disciple in matters of doctrine, and says something stunning: that the wisdom of the Buddhas is profound beyond measure, and that only a Buddha, together with another Buddha, can fully understand the true reality of all things — what the sutra calls shohō jissō, "the real aspect of all things and phenomena." And then, instead of a long explanation, he offers what sounds almost like a chant, a list of ten ways of looking at any single thing, any single moment, any single life event:

“Their appearances as such, their natures as such, their entities as such, their powers as such, their activities as such, their primary causes as such, their environmental causes as such, their effects as such, their rewards and retributions as such, and their equality as such despite these differences.”

I know that on first hearing, this can sound abstract, fuzzy — even a little dry, like a list you'd memorize for an exam. But I want to walk through it slowly, because underneath it is one of the most solemnly radical claims in all of Buddhist teaching.

Let's use something ordinary to get the idea: think of a single flame, burning on a candle in front of you.

1. Their appearances as such — nyoze-sō — is simply how it appears: the shape and color you see, tall or small, flickering or still.

2. Their natures as such — nyoze-shō — is what it essentially is underneath that appearance: heat, the nature of burning, present whether or not the flame happens to be lit right now.

3. Their entities as such — nyoze-tai — is its actual substance, the wax and wick and flame together as one existing thing, appearance and nature fused into a single reality you could point to. These first three are about the 'what' of a single flame, burning on a candle is. Now, the followings are about the 'how'—how it functions, the causal categories.

4. Their powers as such — nyoze-riki — is its potential, what it is capable of: the ability to give light, to give warmth, to light another candle.

5. Their activities as such — nyoze-sa — is that power actually put into motion: the flame right now, actively burning, actively lighting the room.

6. Their primary causes as such — nyoze-in — is the direct seed of its burning: the wick, catching flame.

7. Their environmental causes as such— nyoze-en — is everything else that had to be needed for that seed to ripen: the oxygen in the room, the match that was struck, the hand that struck it.

8. Their effects as such — nyoze-ka — is what directly results: light, heat, the wax beginning to melt.

9. Their rewards and retributions as such — nyoze-hō — is the result that effects outward from that: the room grown warmer, the space grown brighter, someone able to read by that light who could not read in the dark a moment ago.

10. And then, the tenth: Their equality as such despite these differences — nyoze-honmatsu-kukyōtō. This last one is different from the other nine. It doesn't add a new angle. It tells us that all nine of the others — appearance all the way through rewards and retributions — are not separate facts loosely stacked together. They are one seamless whole, consistent from the first suchness to the last, each one already indicating all the others. The appearance of the flame and the ultimate nature of the flame are, in the end, not two different things described from two different angles. They are one thing, seen completely.

Now — why does the Buddha bother to teach this, and why did it matter so much to the very tradition that shaped how we've been studying this sutra?

Because the Buddha isn't really talking about the candle. He's talking about you. He's talking about every one of you in this room, in this world, in every one of the ten realms of existence the sutra will later describe — from the deepest suffering to full Buddhahood itself. And what he's saying is this: whatever you are, right now, exactly as you appear, exactly as your nature runs, exactly as the causes and conditions of your life have shaped you, and exactly as the results of your life effect outward into the world — all of that, held together, is already the true aspect of reality, the true aspect of you. Not a lesser, provisional version of it, waiting to be replaced by something more spiritual later. This. Now. As you are.

That is the fundamentally very radical part. Ordinary teaching often tells us that our present appearance is illusion to be seen through, that our present self is something to escape on the way to something purer. The Ten Suchnesses say something different: that your appearance and your ultimate nature are not two things. That the person sitting in this room right now — with your particular history, your particular wounds, your particular gifts, your particular unfinished causes still ripening into effects — already, in this very moment, holds the true aspect of reality within it. Nothing needs to be stripped away first. Tiantai Master would later take this single passage and build from it the teaching of ichinen sanzen, which means "three thousand realms in a single moment of thought" — the idea that the whole of existence, every possible realm of being, is somehow already present, whole and undivided, in one ordinary thought, right now, in you.

—————

Let me tell you a story. It's a famous one from the Buddhist tradition, but I'll tell it in a simple way.

There was a man named Angulimala. His name meant "finger-garland," because he wore a necklace made from the fingers of the people he had killed. He was a murderer, a terrifying bandit. He was the very definition of evil. His ‘appearance’ was that of a monster, his ‘nature’ was violent, his ‘activity’ were killing.

One day, the Buddha walked down the road where Angulimala was waiting. Everyone else ran away in terror. But the Buddha just kept walking, calm and peaceful. Angulimala was stunned. He ran after the Buddha, but no matter how fast he ran, he could not catch up.

"Stop, monk!" he yelled. The Buddha replied, "I have stopped. You should stop too."

Angulimala was confused. He finally threw down his sword and fell at the Buddha's feet. In that moment, he saw himself. He saw his ‘appearance’, the ‘cause’ of his suffering, the ‘power’ for good that was still within him, the ‘activity’ of brutality he had committed, and the ‘effect’ it was creating.

But the Buddha saw something more. He saw the "complete fundamental whole" within Angulimala. He saw that even this man, this murderer, possessed the same essence, the same potential for awakening, as himself. His Ten Suchnesses were not just those of a killer; they were also those of a Buddha, waiting to be revealed.

Angulimala became a monk. And through his practice, he was able to change his life completely. He transformed his ‘primary causes’ and ‘environmental causes’, and in doing so, he changed his ‘effects’ and ‘rewards and retributions’. He attained enlightenment. He became a Buddha. The man who once took lives became a man who nurtured life.

“This is the message. This is the hope. This is where we find our shared emotion.”

This teaching of the Ten Suchnesses is not just a philosophy. It is a lifeline. It tells us that no matter what our appearance is right now, no matter how difficult our nature seems, no matter what mistakes we have made in our actions in our activities, the essence of a Buddha is present within us. Our current situation is not the end of the story. It is just one part of the complete fundamental whole.

When you feel weak, remember the “Ten Suchnesses." The power to be strong is already within you. When you feel like you have failed, remember that the cause for success is already within you, waiting for the right conditions. When you look at someone you find difficult to love, try to see their Ten Suchnesses. See beyond their appearance and nature. Try to see the same potential for Buddhahood that exists within you.

The Buddha's wisdom is not found in some far-off heaven. It is found in the ordinary, everyday reality of our lives. It is found in the simple act of a mother caring for her child, in the diligence of a worker at their job, in the kind word you say to a friend who is hurting.

This is the deep wisdom of the "Expedients" chapter. The Buddha uses these expedient means—these skillful teachings like the Ten Suchnesses—to help us open our eyes to the truth that is already right in front of us.

We are all, in every moment, a complete fundamental whole, perfectly expressing the eternal reality of the Lotus Sutra. Let's bow our heads in gratitude for this incredible gift, and let's carry this teaching in our hearts this week. Let's try to see the Buddha in our chanting, Namu Myohorengekyo, and in each other.

Next week, we stay in this same chapter, and turn to a passage our founder Nichiren Shonin himself singled out and treasured above almost any other in the sutra: the Buddha's own explanation of why he appears in the world at all — the "one great purpose" for which all Buddhas come.

Thank you for sharing. Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.