Living in the Anger World is like to live in a Hell: How to change that condition

I like to share with you a speech about angry spirits. Do you know Japanese proverb “living is hell”? Does the hell actually exist in this world?   One day I was walking in town, I saw two men fighting.  One of them was very angry. Although at the time my mind was happy and my heart bright, unpleasant feelings soon filled my spirit. I felt disgusted and horrified by this ugliness. One day, while staying in Japan, driving my car, I watched a traffic accident. Somebody hit another person’s car. 

How can an angry person have good feelings too?   And how can we keep good feelings watching or living bad events?

I think everybody experiences anger. Please remember this the next time you get angry.  Under the grip of anger, our surroundings may either vanish or become dull and ugly. People turn into demons and the beautiful view turn into a kind of hell. The angry person will see everyone as fools or in a wrong way. Happiness turns into pain. Have you experienced such a thing? How do you feel about it? The person who experimented hit of his car was really angry and at finally reacted hitting the face of the other with a fist. Please think about this. If somebody steels your wallet, do you get soon “an angry stealer”?

     These cases are just fighting each other.  But Killing person happen from fighting.   Moreover, if somebody kills your kindness person, how do you feel?   Somebody will come to your home.   And then somebody will have Knight for killing.   How should you do?   How do you feel?

     Anger is actually “The world of Anger” which is typified by a Buddhist legend called “Ashura”. It was said that Ashura was a demon so huge that ocean water was not enough to reach his knees. He thought: “Everyone is fool and I’m right”. A person in the state of Anger is extremely self-centred, it’s easy for him to be provoked and than he loses his sense of humanity to act in some foolish way.

    In the explosive situation where two persons come to a quarrel, one would usually subjugate reason to the anger. The anger arises because of “EN”means de stiny.

     Nichiren Shonin wrote: “Anger is hell”. As the power of anger is extremely strong and uncontrollable people sometimes arrive to kill some other “in reason” of small issues and then regret, soon later. But it is always the one who displays compassionate heart who subdue the other who is angry. This is why an extremely strong demon like ashura “shrank and hid himself in a lotus flower blossoming when reproached by Taishaku” or when the Buddha appears.

     Hearts full of anger change everything around us into hell. Through my clouded eyes even a very good person changes into demon of hell that impairs me, and I experience the torture of hell.

     Furthermore Nichiren Shōnin explain in on realizing Buddha hood in One Single Life

     “If the spirit of the living beings is impure the land is impure. If the mind is pure, the land is pure. It’s the purity of the spirit that rules of the purity of the land. It’s said that don’t exist pure and impure land in themselves, they are two only in reason of good and evil of our spirit.” 

Buddha’s pure land and this world illustrate this teaching. -

     “This is due to our duality of good and evil.

    This world changes either into pure land or into hell strictly related to our mind’s tendencies. This is the teaching of Mutual Endowment of the Ten Worlds.

There are the worlds of hell, greedy spirits, animals, Anger, humans and heaven, as well as the worlds of voice-hearers, cause-awakened ones, Bodhisattva and the spiritual realm of Buddha hood, all of which are collectively called Ten Worlds. We usually call “Great Sages of the World” those living in the state from Buddha hood to Voice-hearers. And also we call the six states of existence from the world of Heaven to Hell. So, if we get angry, we have to fall into the hell of Anger. If we desire more and more we fall into greedy world. If we always keep angry and eating and desire we can’t come up from Greedy World and Hungry Spirit to the human beings state.

But the lotus sutra chapter 12 Devadatta explains this.

   “Good men or women who, in the future, will hear this chapter of Devadatta of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma with faithful respect caused by their pure minds, and have no doubts, will not fall into hell or in the region of hungry spirits or in the region of animals. They will be reborn before the Buddha of the worlds of the ten quarters.”

     As our continuous chanting of the Odaimoku includes Chapter 12 we will be able to stabilize our life on human levels. And I believe that when we attend Buddhist ceremony service we will be able to become one with the Buddha. However we soon go back to normal our daily life and fall into our tendency levels because there are many earthly desires in our Retribution world.

     Nichiren Shōnin explains also that our hearts are like mirrors. The mind of angry or hesitant person is a mirror amid the darkness, it’s dull, and absorbs all the light but if we polish this mirror, it will surely become sparkling and fitted to reflect the light.

“We have to remember to polish this mirror every day.” How should we polish it? The answer is simple. We chant Odaimoku (南無妙法蓮華経) every day to polish it.

     When we are controlled by anger, we fall down into the world of Hell.    In order to escape that condition, we should always chant Odaimoku, and polish the mirror of our heart. In this way we utter our vow to not be lost in the ways of an angry heart. Participating to Buddhist ceremony we keep clear mind to never fall into evil, hellish and greedy world even during our normal daily life.

If we fell into these worlds, we have to visit temple and worship the Buddha state. Why do we attend Buddhist ceremony service? The answer is very simple. We recite the lotus sutra and chant Odaimoku for the Buddha, Nichiren Daishonin, and our ancestors. We can pray for our family’s good fortune during Buddhist ceremony

     Furthermore after receiving benefits from pilgrimages and temple visits, we have to spread the compassion we felt to other persons who haven’t known Buddha’s mercy. If we never transmit and spread compassion to others we never become one with the Buddha. Even if we keep staying in the “Voice Hearers state” we cannot cause awakened world in our life, nor become Bodhisattva. That’s why “Voice Hearers” and “Realization for Oneself” means, “listening and learning teaching” and “Absorption”. To cause awakening means build opportunity to enter the Buddha’s way. Person of “these” worlds never spread to other person. Only person who acts as Spreading Buddha’s compassion teaching will be able to attain Bodhisattva vehicle. And ultimately we will be able to become one with the Buddha.

When we think that all over the world in every moment there are many little and big wars and terrorist attacks, we must ponder that causes of battle are almost completely rooted in inhuman behaviours and earthly desires. So this time I’d like to share this reflection so that we think more and more on the importance of “life as the most precious treasure”.

Now Nichirenshū is approaching a new campaign called いのちに合掌　立正安国 お題目結縁運動 “Inochi ni Gasshō” means that we should join the hands in Gasshō

  Whenever I visit to Nichirenshū head quarters, reception the person working at the entrance reception desk surprises me: they kindly greet everyone saying “Konnichiwa”with the hands in Gassho posture.

In the same spirit, when we have lunch we should make vow with gassho. Whenever we eat food we should think to give the life of other all living beings. That’s the reason why Japanese people usually say “itadakimasu” with gassho before meal. It’s like to say “thank you” even for meal, because somebody gave his life to prepare the meal for us. In this perspective “ITADAKIMASU” means “I receive your life for my life”. So, we should make Gassho vow as in the greetings as eating.

立正安国Risshō Ankoku means everybody is perceived by the Buddha’s compassion heart, in the perspective rooted in the Lotus Sutra, So that then we can act to change human feelings and heart till this world can change from cruel attitudes to compassionate feelings and behaviours. That’s why we have to be accustomed to chant with compassion in the heart.

Odaimoku Kechien means that we spread the Lotus Sutra to the others who not yet have known and tight relationship wit the true teaching of the Lotus Sutra and Odaimoku.

So I’d like to conclude this speech recommending you to walk the way of the Bodhisattva in this world. Thank you listening and sharing.