living a spiritual life

What does it mean to be a Buddhist? Everyone who is reading this must be a Buddhist, or at the very least, interested enough in Buddhist practice to have asked to clicked onto this page. So, I have a question. Do you live a spiritual life?

Maybe the answer seems obvious, or maybe not. Please take a moment to think about it… What do you think?

As a Buddhist, I guess you must live a spiritual life, right?

According to the Wikipedia entry for “spiritual practice”, spiritual practice is “the regular or full-time performance of actions and activities undertaken for the purpose of inducing spiritual experiences and cultivating spiritual development”.

Does that describe what you do in your day-to-day life? Hopefully the answer you gave to all the questions above was “Yes”, because in actual fact, Buddhism is a spiritual practice.

A few weeks ago late one Saturday night, as I was preparing fresh flower offerings for the Buddha and Nichiren Shōnin at our temple, I started reflecting on this. It struck me that although everybody attends Shodaigyo practice on Thursday evenings, our Lotus Sūtra Study Group on Fridays, or even Services on Sunday, the real “meat and potatoes” of Buddhist life here lies behind the scenes, hidden within the everyday routine of life at the temple. This is also the same for each of us - although we share these activities such as Shodaigyo together, our spiritual life remains for the most part hidden from each other.

When we think of Buddhist practice we of course immediately think of chanting “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo”, reciting the Lotus Sūtra, and meditation as being the practices we engage in to spiritually cultivate ourselves. These are of course spiritual actions or practices we undertake, but the spirit or intention behind them is what makes our life a spiritual life. There is a term for this, the fundamental spirit or attitude we should have as Nichiren Shu Buddhists: O-Kyūji (お給仕).

O-Kyuji means “to serve the Buddha”. The spirit of “serving” or “O-Kyuji” is the starting point or foundation of our faith, our practice and our study. It is the invisible essence of a spiritual life.

What do you think, do you have a mind of “serving the Buddha”?

What does “serving the Buddha” mean, and what does it look like?

Actually, this mind appears in many shapes and forms, and is contained even in simple acts such as cleaning our altar, offering water, tea, fresh flowers, candlelight or incense. Chapter II of the Lotus Sūtra explains that:

Those who respectfully offered flowers, incense, streamers, and canopies…

to the image or picture of the Buddha…

or those who sang joyfully in praise of him for his virtues;

or those who just murmured [in praise of him],

have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha.

Those who, without concentrating their minds,

Offered nothing but a flower to the picture of the Buddha,

Became able to see

Innumerable Buddhas one after another.

(Chapter II, Expedients: Murano, p.42-43)

In our school of Buddhism, Nichiren Shu, there is a very famous set of rules or principles

concerning the structure of our spiritual life and faith. These three principles of faith which should be protected are: “Serving first, faith second, learning third.”

They are known as the “Three Rules of Nichirō Shōnin’s Lineage” (朗門の三則), because they can be traced back to Nichirō Shōnin, who was a disciple of Nichiren Shōnin and one of his Six Main Disciples.

Among all of Nichiren Shōnin’s disciples he is famous for being extremely devoted to his master, and perhaps the ultimate embodiment or example of “serving”. There are many stories about this.

When he was a young monk he didn’t want to leave his master’s side when he was being taken to be exiled on Izu Peninsula. He ran through the waves to the boat in which Nichiren Shōnin was being held just off shore, soon to be taken to Izu and begged the boat master to take him aboard as well. His request was denied, but he kept pleading causing an angry guard to begin beating him with an oar, fracturing the young monk’s right arm. He was by Nichiren Shōnin’s side when he was taken to Tatsunokuchi to be beheaded, and was later put in prison when his master was exiled to Sado Island. In prison he refused to eat, knowing that his master must often be without food on Sado island. He and another disciple called Nisshin made a clay image of their master and set it on a high ledge in their cell. Each day they knelt before it and chanting the Odaimoku.

When food was brought to them, they did not eat it, but placed it in front of the image as an offering. After weeks of not eating, one young officer brought a gift of a tachibana orange in an attempt to restore the prisoners’ spirits. When he received the gift, however, Nichirō Shōnin burst into tears saying, “How fond our master is of these. If only I were free, I would take it to him, even though it is several hundred miles away.” offering the orange to the clay image.

Having witnessed the profound devotion of Nichirō Shōnin for his master, the prison guard was so deeply moved that he insisted that he take Nichirō Shōnin’s place in prison so that he could go to be with Nichiren Shōnin on Sado.

The expression “Serving first, faith second, learning third” does not refer to a hierarchy between the three, but the correct sequence in which they should arise and be practised, each one serving as a foundation and base for the next. Correct learning or study is based on faith, and correct faith is based on the spirit of serving.

The reason why serving the Buddha is so important is because when we are serving someone, we are close to them. Just like a waiter at a restaurant, you have to be attentive and close by. If you’re far away it’s difficult to see and receive the teachings. If you’re in close contact, you have a personal relationship and connection with the Buddha, and you can know the heart and teachings deeply. Have you ever wondered why most of Nichiren Shōnin’s letters, even his important treatises such as Kanjin Honzon-shō are addressed not to his disciples, but to lay followers? I believe that one of the reasons is because his disciples were always by their master’s side, close by; they could receive teachings any time, ask questions easily, and observe and learn from their master’s behaviour.

Another feature of serving is that when we practise serving we are practising respect and humility, and thinking of something other than ourselves. We want to obtain the enlightened virtues of the Buddha such as generosity, compassion, warmth, wisdom, humility and peacefulness, but enlightenment is not a “thing” or “object” to be known, understood or “owned” - it’s a way of being.

We have to cultivate spiritual practice and the virtues of enlightenment. We can do this when we have the mind of serving the Buddha. We should keep our home altar clean, offer tea and water each morning, fresh flowers, fruit and cookies, incense and candlelight, as well as reciting the Lotus Sūtra and chanting the Odaimoku: performing morning and evening “service”. By doing this, we can change the way we see, hear, smell, talk, behave and think. This is our spiritual nourishment.

Nichiren Shōnin said in one of his writings:

Whether one chants the Buddha’s name, reads from the sutra rolls, scatters flowers or

even lights incense, in every case, the merit and good roots [formed by such acts] is

inherent in one’s thought-moment. You should take faith in this…

The mind which right now is deluded by the ignorance of the thought-moment is a

tarnished mirror. But if one polishes it, it will surely become the bright mirror that is the true suchness of the Dharma nature. Arouse faith deeply and day and night, morning and

evening, polish [the mirror of the mind] without neglect. How should you polish it? Simply

chanting Namu-myoho-renge-kyo is what is called “polishing”.

(Becoming a Buddha in One Lifetime, Is’shō Jōbutsu-shō; Stone 1990, p.450-451)

This month I would like to encourage everyone to try to remember the spirit of “serving” (O-Kyuji) in order to live a spiritual life. Take the time to make your altar at home beautiful, spend time with the Buddha and Nichiren Shonin, talk to them, and of course, chant the Odaimoku every day. Then you will naturally want to serve the Buddha and be close to him: you will come to have this mind of O-Kyuji as a natural feeling.

This is not something which we can feel with our brain. We have to feel it with our heart.