Enlightenment Here and Now – Hui-neng

  No matter how the universal force or pattern of cosmic process may be defined by physicists, the universe does exist and humanity did emerge from this process after billions of years. “Mahayana (great vehicle) Buddhism sees all existence as supremely sacred. It needs no other-worldly validation of this sanctity—no God on High; and, most important of all, it sees the plain and mundane things of daily existence—when viewed from the right perspective—as sanctified as the loftiest ideals. In short, in this enlightened awareness we can all see the marvelous wonder of our universe, blemishes and all, and find our home and comfort in a cosmos that is magically a part of us, and us a part of it. This interpenetration of the individual in the universe is what Buddhism is really all about. This is Buddhism’s scope and majesty.”

  These words are not mine, but are found in “Hui-neng’s Enlightenment – Here and Now,” an article in the July, 1982 “Dharma World,” a publication of Rissho Kosei-kai. Rissho Kosei-kai may be translated as “a place of meeting to investigate the truth.” As expressed by Nikkyo Niwano, co-founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, with Mrs. Myoko Naganuma, on March 5, 1938, the translation becomes “Establishing teaching of the true Law (the Lotus Sutra) in the world through mutual exchange of thought among people of faith, the principle of spiritual unity among different human beings; with the objective of perfecting their personalities and attainment of buddhahood.”

  Niwano in Buddhism for Today further connects us with scientific thinking while simultaneously establishing Buddhism as—not a philosophical system only—but as one of the most profound religious practices in today’s world. “Evolution culminating in humankind was caused by the urge to live. Life had mind through which it desired to live from the time before it existed on earth. Such a will exists in everything in the universe and exists in us today. . . . Mind existing in the origin of life must surely exist in humankind. Humans are formed by combinations of particles. Looking more deeply, living beings are an accumulation of energy.”

  Like it or not, we are all part of one inseparable web of relationships