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SG: The consituents of a Buddha
I'm reading Encountering the Dharma, Richard Hughes Seager's exploration of SG, and was surprised by a quote from an early member of SG quoting Josei Toda, one of the three spiritual fathers of SG. She recalls in her first meeting with Toda being questioned to the point of frustration. Toda grows exasperated with her inablity to reach the place he is trying to take her and says: "You are a spirit, are you not?" When she agrees, he ask for more. What more are you. She can't come up with anything more and Toda then jumps in: "You are spirit, body and life. These three constitute a Buddha."
In all my reading of Buddhism, I don't recall anything about "spirit" being a constituent part of experience, of being. What is Toda on about? Is this something unique to SG?
In all my reading of Buddhism, I don't recall anything about "spirit" being a constituent part of experience, of being. What is Toda on about? Is this something unique to SG?
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Mahayana deems everyone to have Buddha Nature, which is true up to a point, but I'm also inclined to think they equally possess Mara Nature.
But this 'spirit' mentioned seems to be a new angle.
And a hypothetical one at that.
If you've never encountered this before in any literature by Buddhists, anywhere else, then I think you could safely say, it's an SG ideology and one I don't think shared by other schools of thought.....
i was able to find the excerpt from that book you are referring to. taking it in context with the full version, my guess would be that he is referring to the "spirit" of the buddha. one of the major concepts of the SGI is of the Ten Worlds. (hell, hunger, animality, anger, humanity, heaven, learning, realization, bodhisattva, buddha) it is said that all of these ten worlds exist within us simultaneously.
Toda goes on to say, "The Buddha appears in this world in response to the environment. It has always existed and is unchanging, but something triggered it to manifest in you."
the SGI will frequently refer to the "seed of buddhism", that is, your buddhahood is always there albeit untapped. my guess is that he may be referring to this indescribable something within that has manifested into the buddha. the lotus is also used as a metaphor for this. from a small seed in the muck, grows a white pristine flower. the muck represents our life, the seed represents the seed of buddhism, the white flower represents our buddha nature.
also, i should add that if you are interested in reading a good comprehensive book on the nichiren philosophy, i suggest "The Buddha in Daily Life" by Richard Causton.
As others have mentioned, you are running into some of Josei Toda's peculiar interpretations, which SGI utilizes but aren't recognized by most other mainstream Buddhist groups. Like ZG, I have also practiced with SGI in the past; that said, there are also other avenues for practicing Nichiren Buddhism that are more traditional in doctrine and outlook.
from reading the actual book, i'm not sure if i interpreted as much frustration as the OP noted. it's hard to tell from a book that doesn't use the same words, you know? i could imagine him saying it passively and i can imagine him saying it aggressively.
page 58:
http://books.google.com/books?id=utaH3TyPf2EC&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=toda+spirit+%22constitute+a+buddha%22+encountering+the+dharma&source=bl&ots=RKFx5sSe_n&sig=BbagijZL4329k9wXLx3A8BglCeI&hl=en&ei=w2aaTLLBK4X7lwek0onABA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false