Many people think in the following manner: “If I have faith, the gods and the buddhas will protect me.” When they feel joy after recovering from a long illness, or when their daughter gets into the college of her choice, or when they close a big business deal, these people may believe that they have been “protected” or “watched over.” But is that really what is happening?
Using the word sunshin (“narrow faith”), the revered Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) warned about the type of faith that seeks to make wishes come true. He said, “You must promptly correct the narrow faith in your heart and take refuge in the single good teaching of the True Vehicle, [that is, the Lotus Sutra].” The Lotus Sutra teaches us that we have been caused to live within the eternal life of the Buddha. More than being alive, we are caused to be alive. That is the essential thing we can learn from the Buddha’s teachings. So the true path of faith is to be grateful for what we have already received, especially our very lives. When you come to know that you have been caused to live thanks to the sun, the moon, the air, the earth, and the oceans—everything in the universe—you can be grateful for everything. The essential way to think about “protection” is to be thankful for these things—in other words, to be aware that the Buddha protects you by causing you to be alive.
The fact is, whether or not specific moments of our lives turn out how we wish, we have already been given a lot of protection. Awakening to this fact and being grateful for it is perhaps the particular insight of those who walk the Buddha Way.
Kokorono manako o hiraku [Opening the Mind’s Eye] (Kosei Publishing, 2013), pp. 21-22
Nichiko Niwano is president of Rissho Kosei-kai and an honorary president of Religions for Peace. He also serves as an advisor to Shinshuren (Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan).
