“What then should we depend on?”
Notes from Nikkyo Niwano (1)

Buddhism for Today, A Modern Interpretation of the Threefold Lotus Sutra, Nikkyo Niwano; John Weatherhill, Inc., New York and Tokyo; and Kosei Publishing Company, Tokyo. Copyright 1961, 1976 by Kosei Publishing Company.  [Kojiro Miyasaka’s English translation very slightly amended] – from Chapter 16, The Life of the Tathagata:

  What then should we depend upon for our salvation? Here we must here remember the Buddha’s teaching, “Make yourself the light, make the Law your light,” the words Shakyamuni spoke to Ananda, one of his ten great disciples [also his cousin] before dying. Ananda felt anxious, reflecting, “When the World-honored One who is an unparalleled leader and teacher, dies, who on earth should we depend upon in our practice and life? In response to Ananda’s anxiety, the Buddha taught him as follows:

  “In the future you should make yourself your light and depend on your own self. You must not depend on other people. You should also make the Law your light and depend upon the Law. You must not depend upon others.”

  There is no better teaching than this to sum up the essence of a right religion in a few words. The Buddha first taught, “You can depend upon your own self.” When we depend upon other people, we do not know what to do if we are forsaken by them or if they disappear. Therefore the Buddha admonished us to depend upon ourselves and walk the Way through our own efforts.

  But what should we depend upon in living our lives? The Buddha taught that this is nothing other than the Law, namely, the truth, and that we must not depend absolutely upon others, Here the word “others” means “gods,” being who are considered to exist and to be our masters. The Buddha taught emphatically that we must not depend upon such gods, but only upon the Law, the truth.

  [Note from dfs, the guy above driving the car – When Pilate asks Jesus, “What is truth?” Jesus is silent and doesn’t answer, after which Pilate says, “I find no fault in this man.”]

  Indeed, his words carry great weight. A single word of the teaching “Make the self your light, make the Law your light” is more valuable than all the innumerable teachings concerning human life and religion that have been promulgated by the many great persons of past ages.

  Through this teaching we understand that what we depend on, the Law, exists both within and outside us. It is the truth that permeates the entire universe, not establishing a distinction between inside and outside. Our body is produced by this truth and is caused to live by it. Our mind is also produced by it and caused to work by it. All things, including society, the earth and sky, plants, birds and beasts, are produced by this truth and are caused to live by it.

  A person who feels the word “truth” to be somewhat cold and abstract can replace it with the term “the great life,” which makes everything in this world exist and live. When we are firmly aware in the depths of our mind that we are given life by the great life that permeates the universe, we can obtain the true mental peace that is not disturbed by anything.

Next – In what way can we gain such consciousness?