Time to Practice Shakubuku

by Younousse Tamkeloe

You see a deaf-blind person, who is walking without a cane toward a big road, and if he continues walking in this direction, then a car will hit him. Your eyes are open, you can hear well, you are very healthy, all your five senses are alive. If you see this deaf-blind person walk toward the road without making anything to save this person and this person makes an accident and dies, then you will cause very bad karma. First, the law of the universe will punish you in this life physically. Then, spiritually, you will lose all your ability to become an enlightened person or reincarnate as a human in your next life. You will end up in Hell.

The same is happening nowadays. We are in a very messy moment in human history: disease, pandemic, war, lies are spreading. Even though some people don’t want to accept it, it is real and true. People can close their eyes, close their five senses, refuse the reality, but the facts are there. As a Nichiren Daishonin Buddhist, you are an awake person, you have open eyes. Because you made a sermon that you will protect the Gohonzon, you will protect the Lotus Sutra, and you will chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. So, automatically, you are Buddha. It doesn’t matter which level of awakeness, enlightenment, or karma you have, you are, automatically, Buddha because you chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. This is also a fact.

Nichiren Daishonin explained the difference between practicing shoju and shakubuku in the treatise “Conversation between a Sage and an Unenlightened Man” [see notes below]. We are currently in wartime. It is not the moment to do shoju by meditating through chanting Daimoku and doing Gongyo. We are in the moment of doing shakubuku by sharing Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism in order to save other people. Because we have open-eyes and we are awake persons, we have to help blind persons to have open eyes. The only way that we, spiritual persons or Buddhists, who know the reality in the spiritual way, can heal the world is by doing shakubuku.

Now, we are in the moment of new technology, and digitalization is passing through every sector. And shakubuku nowadays needs to be done digitally. We have different types of social media platforms and applications, where we only need to register to connect to others. Even when you just share one sentence about Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism, about your experiences as a Buddhist, or some quote that fits the moment, then you are doing shakubuku. Because everyone needs to hear about the Lotus Sutra. It is very important.

I explained in my previous blog article how to do shakubuku in this digitalization moment, for example, people can share the good news about Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism through a WhatsApp group, etc. Because we are also in the moment when it is important to limit personal contact. It is like in every wartime, there is less personal contact. But this can never stop us from doing shakubuku. At this moment, digitalization gives us the opportunity to share Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism with friends who you may not see in person but you are still connected through social media.

We have to stop seeing the negative in everything but see the positive side in everything, too. And we need to be real. The reality – according to the writings of Nichiren Daishonin – is that we are in the moment of practicing shakubuku. So, everyone has to do shakubuku. And how to do shakubuku? It is forbidden to meet in a big group, so you may be prevented from talking about Buddhism and doing shakubuku in person. We are in the digitalization moment, and the only way to do shakubuku is through digitalization. It is not an obligation, but if you want to solve your problem through meditation then don’t forget to talk about Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism through digitalization. It is important. Otherwise, you are becoming part of the problem for what is happening in the world. Because we live in a world where there are human resources, natural resources, and spiritual resources. It is a fact, and it needs to be stated. We need to share all our resources with each other. Don’t just give food to people, but teach people how to get food, too. Because it is not every time that they will have to see you to have food. Teaching people how to get their own food is the best gift you can give to them. So, while you are chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, you don’t have to forget to practice shakubuku.

Notes

Nichiren Daishonin, an excerpt from the treatise “Conversation between a Sage and an Unenlightened Man”

“Now, in widely propagating the Buddhist teachings and bringing salvation to all people, one must first take into consideration the teaching, the capacity of the people, the time, the country, and the sequence of propagation. The reason is as follows. In terms of the time, there are the periods of the Former, the Middle, and the Latter Days of the Law, and in terms of the teachings, there are the Hinayana and the Mahayana doctrines. In terms of the practices to be adopted, there are shoju and shakubuku. It is a mistake to practice shakubuku at a time when shoju is called for, and equally erroneous to practice shoju when shakubuku is appropriate. The first thing to be determined, therefore, is whether the present period is the time for shoju or the time for shakubuku.

“Shoju is to be practiced when throughout the entire country only the Lotus Sutra has spread, and when there is not even a single misguided teacher expounding erroneous doctrines. At such a time, one may retire to the mountain forests, practice meditation, or carry out the five, the six, or the ten practices. But the time for shakubuku is very different from this. It is a time when many different sutras and teachings spring up here and there like so many orchids and chrysanthemums, when the various schools command a large following and enjoy renown, when truth and error stand shoulder to shoulder, and when Mahayana and Hinayana dispute which is superior. At such a time, one must set aside all other affairs and devote one’s attention to rebuking slander of the correct teaching. This is the practice of shakubuku.

“If, failing to understand this principle, one were to practice shoju or shakubuku at an inappropriate time, then not only would one be unable to attain Buddhahood, but one would fall into the evil paths. This is firmly laid down in the Lotus and Nirvana sutras, and is also clearly stated in the commentaries by T’ien-t’ai and Miao-lo. It is, in fact, an important principle of Buddhist practice.

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“We may compare these two kinds of practice to the two ways of the civil and the military used in governing a nation. There is a time when military measures should take precedence, and a time when civil measures ought to be emphasized. When the world is at peace and calm prevails within the country, then civil measures should take precedence. But when the barbarian tribes to the east, south, west, and north, fired by wild ambitions, rise up like hornets, then military measures should come first.

“Though one may understand the importance of both civil and military arts, if one does not understand the time, donning armor and taking up weapons when all countries are calm and peaceful and there is no trouble anywhere throughout the world, then one’s actions will be wrong. On the other hand, one who lays aside one’s weapons on the battlefield when enemies are marching against one’s ruler and instead takes up a writing brush and inkstone is likewise failing to act in accordance with the time.

“The methods of shoju and shakubuku are also like this. When the correct teaching alone is propagated and there are no erroneous doctrines or misguided teachers, then one may enter the deep valleys and live in quiet contentment, devoting one’s time to reciting and copying the sutra and to the practice of meditation. This is like taking up a writing brush and inkstone when the world is at peace. But when there are provisional schools or slanderers of the correct teaching in the country, then it is time to set aside other matters and devote oneself to rebuking slander. This is like taking up weapons on the battlefield.

“Therefore, the Great Teacher Chang-an in his commentary on the Nirvana Sutra states: ‘In past times the age was peaceful, and the Law spread throughout the country. At that time, it was proper to observe the precepts and not to carry staves. But now the age is perilous, and the Law is overshadowed. Therefore, it is proper to carry staves and to disregard the precepts. If both past and present were perilous times, then it would be proper to carry staves in both periods. And if both past and present were peaceful times, then it would be proper to observe the precepts in both of them. You should let your choices be fitting and never adhere solely to one or the other.’ The meaning of this passage of commentary is perfectly clear.

“In past times, the world was honest, people were upright, and there were no erroneous teachings or erroneous doctrines. Therefore, one could behave in a proper manner and carry out one’s religious practices peacefully and amicably. There was no need to take up staves and berate others, no occasion to attack erroneous teachings.

“But the present age is a defiled one. Because the minds of people are warped and twisted, and provisional teachings and slander alone abound, the correct teaching cannot prevail. In times like these, it is useless to practice the reading, reciting, and copying [of the Lotus Sutra] or to devote oneself to the methods and practices of meditation. One should practice only the shakubuku method of propagation, and if one has the capacity, use one’s influence and authority to destroy slander of the correct teaching, and one’s knowledge of the teachings to refute erroneous doctrines.

“As we have seen, it is said that one should let one’s choices be fitting and never adhere solely to one or the other. Therefore, we must look at the world today and consider whether ours is a country in which only the correct doctrine prevails, or a country in which erroneous doctrines flourish.

[…]

“But if, in our present age, one were to practice shoju [rather than shakubuku], then without doubt that person would fall into the evil paths together with those who slander the correct teaching. The Great Teacher Nan-yüeh in his Four Peaceful Practices states, ‘If there should be a bodhisattva who protects evil persons and fails to chastise them . . . then, when his life comes to an end, he will fall into hell along with those evil persons.’