Chapter 3 - Mara And The Obstacles To Spiritual Practice

The first few months of correct practice will see you enjoy many different kinds of obvious benefits. The details will vary depending on the individual but these easily observable benefits, which act as a kind of positive reinforcement, let the practitioner know that they are doing the correct thing. Please be aware that there are even better, far more important benefits that you will not realize for some time. These include peace of mind, happiness and even nirvana or enlightenment.

These benefits are inherently present in you from the first moment you chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, however, when you as an individual realize them in your life depends on how hard you work to develop your humanity.

As your practice begins to develop you will encounter the first of many challenges; it may be a series of small calamities or it might be something far more serious depending on the causes you have made in the past. The details will naturally change from student to student but if you practice correctly Mara will definitely appear in your life.

Mara is often personified in teachings but the term can best be defined as the internal negative forces present in all sentient beings. The concept of Ichinen Sanzen clearly demonstrates that living beings always possess all ten world states (from hell to Buddhahood). It is also apparent that every being will manifest one of these states, or, what is more likely, some combination of them in any life moment. Thus, negative forces continue to exist even in the life of a Buddha.

Attacks of mental negativity will continue to occasionally visit your mind right up until the moment of death so you must learn to deal with this kind of energy as early in your practice as is possible. After your initial grace period Mara will attack relentlessly and if you do not cope with the challenges presented you will fail. If you do fail; that is, give up and walk away from your practice the effects of taking that action will be grim. It will be a failure of monumental proportions because the effects will carry over into numerous future lives until that negative energy is eradicated.

Even worse, the sutras make clear that you will not receive another opportunity to attain enlightenment for millions or even billions of years. Please realize the serious nature of these consequences. The amount of suffering you will endure before you find another chance is beyond human comprehension or imagination.

To be successful in these circumstances you must determine to move forward in your human development no matter what occurs. There will be occasions when it seems to be a matter of common sense to quit but at those times you must push forward even harder.

As you advance the challenges become greater but if you are really training your mind then you are developing the skills to handle these tests. You will be tested because this process is necessary for growth. How do you really know what you stand for if your values are never challenged? Can you mature in an environment where nothing bad ever happens to you?

What you now perceive to be adversity is actually good for you! It will teach you how to endure, and then persevere in the face of evil, which will make you strong and resilient. In a year or two you will have enough perspective to see for yourself that beings who "attack" you are actually your best friends! The people you now consider enemies are the people who give you the opportunity to practice Mahayana thought transformation, which is more than merely a benefit, it is a beautiful gift that we will come to greatly treasure.

When someone behaves in an inappropriate manner, a skillful Buddhist student has several options available: You can respond to hatred with anger but if you do then another link is forged and this person will show up in your future environment with that same negative energy all over again. You can choose to practice Metta, which means that you say nothing hurtful to the person in return or that you remain totally silent.

A better alternative is to transform that negative energy in your mind into love for the person attacking you by using Mahayana thought transformation. The only cure for hatred is love. Mahayana thought transformation requires a solid base of practice and study but it is the best way to practice because it eliminates hatred and transmits love.

To transform negative energy like hate or anger into love first begin by realizing the empty nature of all things. Understand that the focal point of your anger is a person just like you, dependent on causes and wanting only happiness, never suffering. He is responding to you in a hostile fashion because of causes you made in the past so returning his anger is foolish.

When you calmly analyze a hostile situation it becomes evident that the only person responsible for what appears in your environment is you, yourself. If you do not like your current surroundings then it is you who must change. If your life is filled with angry, antagonistic people then the problem is you and your bad behavior in this life and in the infinite past. If you really understand this then it becomes absurd to return the anger directed at us by people who are not living in a skillful manner.

Advanced Nichiren students will tell you: "You may complain one million times but this will change nothing and only make you and the people around you unhappy. On the other hand, if you chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo one million times you will become happy and your environment will most definitely change into the true Pure Land of the Buddha."

It is not possible to practice Mahayana Buddhism in isolation; you need to be around other beings and some of these beings must behave in what you perceive to be a hostile manner or you will not be able to practice patience or tolerance. If these beings are not present in your environment then you will not be able to develop the mental skills needed to advance spiritually. In time you will realize that the man who expressed hostility to you was your true friend. This realization is the foundation of wisdom.

If you learn to really see the man or woman who disparages you then it will become clear to you that he or she has been your mother and father at some point in the endless past. This person is in your environment because they have a direct connection to you and you owe them a debt that can only be repaid by attaining enlightenment.

As your mind continues to develop you will eventually realize that "good" or "bad" is just another unreal mental construction or category. You must begin to make the effort to free yourself from this kind of unreal thinking. When an action occurs make the effort not to make judgments.

Merely labeling something is not the same as understanding; you have substituted cataloging for comprehension since the beginning less past and it has led you only to a state of suffering. If you now understand the nature of your error then now is the time to begin the practice that will lead you to the freedom of Nirvana.

The key to positive, continuous mental growth and the development of wisdom is practice and study. Jose Toda was a man who accomplished amazing things (see "Stop Suffering: A Buddhist Guide To Happiness"). He gave lectures on "The Lotus Sutra" almost every week for seven years. When one of his students asked him how he had acquired the wisdom and knowledge to do this he replied: "While in prison I chanted sincere Daimoku and I studied. As a result, these things seem to have come to me. The eighty thousand sutras in fact refer to my own life."

Teachers Of "The Lotus Sutra"

Every student who practices "The Lotus Sutra" must become a teacher of others to properly follow the instructions given by the Buddha. When you begin to teach, however, a whole new set of challenges present themselves. Any person who teaches this truth to the world will be harshly disparaged.

In "The Lotus Sutra" Shakyamuni warned future followers: "And since hatred and jealousy towards this sutra abound even when "the thus come one" is in the world, how much more will this be so after his passing?" (Chapter 10, "The Teacher of The Law")

T"ien T"ai wrote: "It will be "much worse" in the future because "The Lotus Sutra" is so hard to teach." Nichiren"s "The Opening Of The Eyes" devotes numerous pages to the subject because his followers did not understand why they were encountering such bitter denigration. In part one of this major writing Nichiren states: "As mountains pile upon mountains and waves follow waves, so do persecutions add to persecutions and criticisms augment criticisms."

Every student of "The Lotus Sutra" must experience and persevere in spite of these persecutions. In chapter thirteen (Encouraging Devotion) the student is warned: "There will be many ignorant people who will curse and speak ill of us and will attack us with swords and staves, but we will endure all these things."

Later in the same chapter it speaks directly to the student of the latter day of the Law: "In this muddy kalpa, this muddy age; there will be many things to fear. Evil demons will take possession of others and through them curse, revile and heap shame on us. But we, reverently trusting in the Buddha, will put on the armor of perseverance. In order to preach this sutra we will bear these difficult things."

You will discover this truth for yourself if you seriously begin to propagate these Teachings. The Meditation of "The Lotus Sutra" will help the earnest student greatly improve his current life but it also aims at purifying the vast ocean of negative karma we have created in the past. Please remember when you are attacked that this abuse is part of your practice.

The latter section of Part 1 in Nichiren"s greatest written work "The Opening Of The Eyes" explains why students who actually propagate these teachings are persecuted.

Nichiren wrote: "It is said that good medicine tastes bitter. This sutra, which is like good medicine, dispels attachments to the five vehicles (common or "worldly" beings, heavenly beings, voice hearers, Pratyekabuddhas, and Bodhisattvas) and establishes the one supreme teaching. It reproaches common mortals and censures sages, denies provisional Mahayana, and refutes Hinayana. It speaks of the heavenly devils as poisonous insects and calls the non Buddhists evil demons. It censures those who cling to Hinayana beliefs, calling them mean and impoverished, and it dismisses Bodhisattvas as beginners in learning. For this reason, heavenly devils hate to listen to it, non Buddhists find their ears offended, persons in the Shomon and Engaku realms are dumbfounded, and Bodhisattvas flee in terror. That is why all these types of persons try to make trouble for us."

Nichiren carried the burden of propagating "The Lotus Sutra" most of his adult life. He gave of himself to teach others but this does not adequately describe the burden he carried. When you teach Dharma to others you must be available to them at any time, no matter what you are doing. This entails serious sacrifices when it comes to personal activities; sometimes it is difficult to finish a meal, for example.

Nichiren wrote ("The True Aspect Of All Phenomena") "you must not only persevere yourself; you must also teach others." "Teach others to the best of your ability, even if it is only a single sentence or phrase." This means that there is no time for personal weaknesses, you must put them aside and be strong for the person or persons who depend on you.

Nichiren had no one to turn to for encouragement when he needed it yet he persevered and provided essential support not only for the people of his day but for all of the numerous students who have since followed his teachings. His life is an example that all practitioners should emulate if they wish to be successful.