The Buddhism of daily life

Coming back from Zeist I picked up on a programme on the History Channel (yes I have a UPC box now and 99 channels to choose from – more about that later) about Tibetan Buddhism and the Tibetan Book of the Dead. This sparked my interest because it was through meeting Tibetans in Dharamsala (almost thirty years ago) that I first became interested in Buddhism. I studied and practised with some determination on my return to Britain but for me it just didn’t work. While the philosophy of Tibetan Buddhism appeared more coherent and complete than any spiritual system I had encountered before, its logical conclusion – that one should withdraw from the outer world and contemplate the inner world - just didn’t resonate with me. For sure meditation created benefits and it was nice to feel attached to a community that didn’t regard competition and material success as the goals of our lives on earth. But for me something was missing in that equation. I didn’t feel any desire to “take the robes” and withdraw from my society into another one (I too much wanted to change my society, was quite attached to “earthly pleasures” and felt it was a form of spiritual tourism). So my practice gradually waned.

I was quite astounded when I met Nichiren Buddhism in Cardiff some twenty years later. A member challenged me chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo ten minutes a day for a month and see if it made a difference in my life. I was less than happy with the direction of my life at the time, so I took up the challenge. It worked – I felt changes occur. But I was deeply sceptical of the philosophy and the organisational structure of what felt like a cult that almost seemed to be perverting the teachings of Shakyamuni by saying that earthly desires lead to enlightenment. I questioned this for a long time.

Watching this programme I began to understand both the linkages and differences between these two schools of Buddhism. Right now I want to focus on the differences. Nichiren Buddhism is the Buddhism of every day life. It teaches that the Buddha nature is inherent within all of us and that chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo is a way to bring out and strengthen this aspect of ourselves and put it at (or at least closer to) the centre of our own beings. It doesn’t involve renouncing the world (often a tempting course of action) but rather transforming our relationship with it. To do this we must start to understand ourselves as potentially enlightened beings living in physical bodies and often in imperfect social and economic circumstances.

Our task is twofold. Firstly to challenge the circumstances that create unhappiness in our life – not because a new job, relationship, pay rise (whatever) will in themselves create happiness in our lives (though for a while they will) but because achieving these things removes a source of suffering from our lives. Secondly to become a source of inspiration to others: to show people in our communities and daily lives that through practicing Buddhism that we become happier, more grounded, and more competent people. Enlightenment can be found in our day-to-day lives, and most of all in our daily struggles -through trusting in our faith in ourselves as buddhas not in our intellects, past experiences or those of people around us.