by Masuo Nezu

These are personal reminiscences about the late founder Rev. Nikkyo Niwano from his former chief secretary, Masuo Nezu, now in retirement. During his years of service, the writer accompanied Rev. Niwano on dissemination tours, interreligious cooperation activities, and peace promotion work, both in Japan and overseas. This series recalls not only heartwarming episodes from the founder's everyday life, but also the spiritual insights derived from his words and deeds.

9

The Community Church in New York

In the summer of 1979, Founder Niwano attended the Third Assembly of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP III), held in Princeton, N.J. At that time he was invited to speak at a Sunday service at the Unitarian Universalist New York Community Church.

During breakfast on the day, I asked him casually what he was going to talk about, and he said, "Today, I will talk about kaiji-gonyu."

This is taught in chapter 2, "Skillful Means," of the Lotus Sutra. It means "to open the door to Buddha-wisdom, to reveal it, and to enable all beings to know it and enter into it."

Regardless of where he was, Rev. Niwano used to chant one chapter or another of the Threefold Lotus Sutra every day, in addition to his usual daily recitation of an excerpt from the sutra.

That particular day was the second day of the month, and just by chance we had chanted chapter two and read about kaiji-gonyu in Rev. Niwano's hotel room. I thought he felt that it was appropriate to tell American Unitarian Universalist church members about the essence of kaiji-gonyu.

A couple of speakers were scheduled before Rev. Niwano. Not only church members, but also all the members of the Japanese delegation to WCRP III, Buddhists, Shintoists, Christians, and others were present.

From the platform as the service progressed, Rev. Niwano observed the audience. His sermon turned out not to be about kaiji-gonyu, as I had expected, but about the sampoin, the "three marks" of the Dharma.

After the entire service was over, on our way back to the hotel, I asked him why he had changed his topic. He answered that when he saw the audience, he thought it might be better to do so.

Though it is just my guess, he may have thought that the subject of kaiji-gonyu would be a little too complicated for the audience members who were not so familiar with Buddhism, as well as being time-consuming.

The sampoin is more central, understandable to everyone, and can be explained in less time. The service was running a little late and there were people who had schedules to keep. Rev. Niwano was probably concerned about them.

"The Taste Gets Better Each Time"

The Rev. Dr. George A. Mullins, an Anglican clergyman in Australia who is now retired, first visited Rissho Kosei-kai headquarters in Tokyo in 1968. Since that time he has become deeply interested in both Rissho Kosei-kai activities and the Lotus Sutra.

Rev. Niwano holds a friendly chat with Rev. George A. Mullins (right) at the Great Sacred Hall on September 13, 1968, during the latter's stay at Rissho Kosei-kai to undertake his study of the organization.

He has visited Rissho Kosei-kai in Japan more than a dozen times during the past thirty-odd years to do extensive research and to study. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of Melbourne with a dissertation on "The Nature of New Religions," focusing mainly on the Lotus Sutra and Rissho Kosei-kai.

In November 1991, Rev. Mullins delivered a speech as one of the guests at the consultative meetings about the Inheritance of the Lamp of the Law held at Rissho Kosei-kai headquarters in Tokyo.

Rev. Mullins said that he had learned Rev. Niwano had never failed to chant the Lotus Sutra for even a single day over decades, and that the text had lost none of its subtlety for him and continued to exert a profound influence on him.

In his speech, Rev. Mullins recalled his vivid memory of a friendly chat with Founder Niwano in a Chinese restaurant on the occasion of his visit to Tokyo some twenty or more years earlier. At that time, Rev. Mullins asked Rev. Niwano about how many times he had chanted the sutra throughout his lifetime.

"If you have read the Lotus Sutra, as you say you have, twice a day for some forty years," Rev. Mullins said, "then you have read the essential Lotus Sutra more than 25,000 times!" "Yes," was the quick reply, "and the taste gets better each time."

Dr. Mullins told me the following on another occasion as he recalled the above conversation: "As Founder Niwano read the Lotus Sutra for at least another twenty years after that, the total number exceeded 47,000 times, and no doubt the taste kept improving for him, and for those who had the privilege to meet him and hear him."

(The founder's first contact with the Lotus Sutra came through the lay Buddhist organization Reiyukai, in which he was a member for a brief time from the summer of 1934. Since Rev. Niwano passed away in October 1999, he would have read the Lotus Sutra 65 x 365 x 2 = 47,450 times. In addition to his daily devotions, he chanted the sutra as the leader at memorial day services at the headquarters of Rissho Kosei-kai four times a month and at other ceremonies and on many other occasions for years. One can imagine that his total number of readings actually must have exceeded 50,000.)