The Oral Transmission of the Meaning

Chapter 25
The Universal Door of the Bodhisattva
Observing the Sounds of the World

#1 On The Bodhisattva Inexhaustible Will

Inexhastible Will (Mujin I) is the Total Blending of the Three Truths

Not (Mu) is the Truth of Emptiness
Exhaustible (Jin) is the Truth of That Which is Temporary
Will (I) is The Middle Way

Observing the Sounds of the World (Kanzeon)

Observing (Kan) is the Truth of Emptiness
The World (Se) is the Truth of That Which is Temporary
The Sound (On) is the Middle Way

The Sutra on the Lotus Blossom of the Wonderful Dharma (Myoho Renge Kyo)

Wonderful (Myo) is the Truth of Emptiness
The Lotus Blossom of the Dharma (Ho Renge) is the Truth of That Which is Temporary
The Sutra (Kyo) is The Middle Way

The Three Truths are the wonderful principle that is the nature of spirituality (Dharma)

The Three Truths of Inexhaustible Will and The Three Truths of Observing the Sounds of the World are its precious expression.

Now Nichiren and those that chant Namu-Myoho Renge Kyo are the Inexhaustible Will during the demise of the Dharma.

And in discussing Not (Mu), there is the aspect of our dying.
Inexhaustible (Jin) is the aspect of our living
Will (I) is the power of our spiritual life force

Suddenly, in all doors to the Dharma, object and wisdom are merged as one through the single word of the Will (I). This Will is the middle way that is the nature of spirituality (Dharma). This nature of spirituality is Namu-Myoho Renge Kyo. These are the five characters of the Will.

For us who are in the womb of the five ranks of faith, this is the taking of the five shapes. With the taking of the five shapes there are the five wheels¹. The five wheels are the five characters of the Wonderful Dharma. These five characters are also in the expression of the Will.

The Buddha's will is contained in the five characters of the Wonderful Dharma. The will is distinguished in them.

The Buddha's will is the Lotus Sutra. This is the good medicine taught in the Chapter on Measuring the Life², the good medicine of the Buddhas of the past, present and future. The three thousand-fold tapestry³ that is all things spiritual does not go beyond a single expression of the will. The Buddha's will is the mind of faith, beyond all that is discriminated or distinguished. The Wonderful Dharma is combined together with the embodiment of reality everywhere.

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Footnotes:

1. The Five Shapes: The Square, The Circle (or Teardrop), The Triangle, the Cresent, and the Sphere, representing the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind and space. They are also The Five Wheels of life energy in the pelvis, the abdomen, the chest/throat, the brow and the crown. In esoteric Buddhism there are various kinds of correspondences made between these and the Five Buddhas with the Five Kinds of Wisdom

2. The Chapter on the Measuring the Life: The sixteenth chapter of the Lotus Sutra in which the eternl life of the Buddha is revealed.

3. Tapestry: Here Nichiren literally uses the term 'thicket' or 'dense forest' to decribe the three thousand fold spiritual realm.

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