Teachngs of Nichidatsu Fujii.
We are able to celebrate the arrival of another new year. I have turned 100 years old [in the tradition of the old calendar]. Maha Bodhisattva Nichiren said, "Long may man's life seem to be, but it does not exceed one hundred years. Everything that occurs during that period of time is but a momentary dream." I have finally reached the age of one hundred years. I have lived a long life. Perhaps it is time for my life in this world to come to an end.
I was born and raised in Miyachi, a basin located at the foot of a volcanic mountain called Aso. It was an inconveniently situated poor farm village as it was in the heart of the mountain. In my childhood, I recall seeing my mother spinning cotton yarn from her spinning wheel after returning from farm work. She used to do that before going to bed. When I was a child, I never wore anything besides cotton kimonos made with hand woven cotton.
But in those days, I learned about gold brocaded satin damask. I was told that when one becomes a lord who can afford extravagance, one leads a life clad in this fabric. I had never seen anything of the sort and wondered what they looked like.
My life as a bikushu was by no means that of comfort. I experienced the depth of poverty, both in terms of food and clothing. My life in India was not an exception. I had less to eat than the people of India. I had neither money buy food, nor could I expect anyone to feed me. I couldn't live on grass. Life there was the minimum to survive. I collected and ate old thrown-out potatoes and greens from the market as well left-overs.
Mahatma Gandhi-ji's ashram was located at Wardha, in the Central Heights of India. I was taken care of there for a while. Gandhiji's life was also that of extreme simplicity. Although meals were served three times a day, they only consisted of a glass of water, vegetables, salt, and a thinned out soup made of wheat flour. It was still a sumptuous meal to me. To that extent my life was one of destitution.
For over 50 years, we through hardships in order to spread the Buddha Dharma. Life was far from being clad in gold-brocaded satin damask. I was even short of rags to clothe myself. I walked under the scorching sun, which reached over 40 degrees centigrade, bald headed and tonsured. Without anything to wear, I walked bare footed. Melted asphalt burnt the soles of my feet and made blisters. That was how I lived.
In recent years, especially now when I am celebrating the hundredth year from my birth I am living in gold-brocaded satin damask. This alter is adorned with it.
My hermitage in India was made of old tin sheets which I purchased. They were burnt and worn out. It would leak when it rained. Although my life was such, I am now living in a temple adorned with gold and silver as if I were received at the Lord Buddha's pure land while I am still alive. I am wearing things that I did not even dream of in the past. When considering that they are all caring offerings from my followers, they become precious. However, I feel as if I am burnt with a hot iron when I think my life would lead me to this.
In the future, when the people of Nipponzan Myohoji think that they can also follow the example of my late years and become accustomed to this kind of life, this order will change into a temple that can only afford luxury. There would no longer be anyone even in Nipponzan Myohoji who could spread the Buddha Dharma. When this change takes place, nothing will be accomplished.
Those who are extravagant and those who make monkhood a trade will never be able to spread the Buddha Dharma or the Odaimoku. I have fostered many disciples. However, those who had to leave Nipponzan Myohoji in their late years are all monks whose life became expensive. Although the Lord Buddha does not want to see anyone going astray into evil paths, there comes about a time when people within the order learn to lead a life of a lord clad in old brocaded satin damask, instead of following the footsteps of Maha Bodhisattva Nichiren. Nipponzan Myohoji will then become an order I would rather not see exist.
All the things that I have so far spoken of are ominous. But not everything is. There are sometimes a few people who depart on a journey to unknown lands, chanting the Odaimoku, where they have nothing to depend on, where people speak tongues unknown to them. These young people are now spreading the Buddha Dharma. They are spreading it in countries in Europe and the United States.
This is no falsehood. These two gentlemen here with us today are the chief architects of the London City Council and Milton Keynes. They initially approached the disciples of Nipponzan Myohoji out of sympathy, but it has now been decided that a Stupa will b erected in prayer for world peace. The stupa will be built by the mendicant monks and nuns. This place will eventually become a keystone of the world peace movement.
In my lifetime, I have seen both -- monks who live among gold-brocaded satin damask and dainty dishes, and the various young mendicant monks who take shelter under the sky -- come forth in this order of Nipponzan Myohoji.
Those who make monkhood a profession will remain that way throughout their lives. They will not spread the Buddha Dharma. Those who spread the Buddha Dharma abandon their living. They go to places without these things. They go as they are and only chant the Odaimoku. It spreads without having to explain it. . . .
There is no joy more reverent than when you awaken to this. One cannot rejoice more even being clad in gold-brocaded satin damask. One cannot rejoice more even if he eats dainty dishes. After all, joy is in our heart, not in our physical body.
The path of monkhood is to teach a spiritual way of life. You have taken this task upon yourselves and become disciples of Nipponzan Myohoji, the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra.