1989 – Discovering Nikkyo Niwano

It’s indeed surprising that the work of Nikkyo Niwano has not been recognized more extensively in the west. Still largely unknown, or seemingly ignored among followers of Buddha-thought (as is the Lotus Sutra); notably with the exception of members of Rissho Kosei-kai. Had I not stumbled upon Niwano’s writings in 1982, it’s safe to say I would not be practicing today (or at least attempting to practice) the teachings of the Buddha. Scientific principles and theory are significantly in his “Modern Interpretation of The Threefold Lotus Sutra.”

  With each new advance in theoretical science, physicists and cosmologists inform us that since the beginning of time, nothing in the universe today, including you and me, could have come into existence had not certain conditions caused it: matter created from primordial energy forming patterns of relationship, matter predominating over anti-matter, elemental particles reaching out to interconnect to form webs of relationship—the list goes on. Reaching back to the first second in which the universe began to form out of the “big bang”—and note, creating time in the process—fundamental elements which make up all life in the universe, resulted from these and other related conditions.

  Buddha-thought presents a remarkably similar view. The central doctrine of the Buddha’s teachings, the Law of Causation, states that all phenomena in the universe are produced by causation. Thus, all things are interrelated. From Niwano’s Buddhism for Today:

“Shakyamuni Buddha did not regard this universe as God’s creation or his conquest, but as resulting from the relation of cause and effect by which all phenomena are produced. . . . all things exist in relationship with one another and are interdependent.

  All things and forms in the universe, how we view ourselves as human beings, are produced from one void that can neither be seen with the eyes nor felt with the hands. There is a great invisible life-force of the universe, the working of which produces all things from the void, and all things are produced by virtue of the necessity of their existence. Humanity is no exception. We ourselves are brought into being in the forms we take by virtue of the necessity to live in this world. Thinking this way, we are bound to feel the worth of being alive as human beings, the wonder of having been brought into this world.

Next:  Niwano asks the question – is there something that is unchanging and eternal?