FEATURE
33
3
A happy life‑condition
T
his series of articles is intended to look at the question
of how individual people can be truly happy in the face
of a constant stream of challenging circumstances in
life. It has been said that the prevailing mood in the world
today is one of powerlessness: how can one person have
any impact on decisions taken by powerful organisations and
governments? This month we will explore a principle which
provides an answer to this pressing question.
One of the things that concern Nichiren Buddhists is the
question of a person’s life‑condition. The best person to
start with is oneself, so we can each ask ourselves: ‘What
life‑condition am I in?’ Perhaps we feel happy, or sad, or neither.
Perhaps there is something on our minds, something we hope
to obtain, or achieve, something that drives us in a particular
direction. Nichiren Buddhism has a very clear way of explaining
the different ways that we feel and respond to the world around
us. It is a principle often referred to as ‘the Ten Worlds’.
Each of the Ten Worlds or life‑states that are explained here
[see pages 34 and 35 for the full list] are ways that we respond
to what is going on in our lives. We are taught that we have
each one of these states latent in our lives, it is just a question
of how and when they are stimulated and become manifest.
Let’s start with a calm, rational state called ‘Tranquillity’.
Sometimes it is also called ‘Humanity’ but I would like to
stress its calmness and reasonableness. When we are in this
state, things in the world appear to be ‘just right’. It’s the ideal
life‑condition to be in on holiday, when we can recharge and
recover from the challenges of life. We all need to experience
tranquillity, but too much can be a problem, and can lead to
laziness. This is also the time to point out that we will see
a positive and negative side to most of these worlds and
extreme laziness is the negative side of tranquillity.
Imagine you are resting on a sunny afternoon, having a
nice, tranquil experience, when the neighbours put on some
music which is not only too loud, but of a sort which you would
normally avoid. The life‑state of tranquillity will probably have
been replaced by some kind of annoyance, even perhaps
a restrictive feeling of suffering. This could be the world
known as ‘Hell’. Unlike the hell which some cultures or faiths
describe as being underground, this is a very real experience
where we feel imprisoned by our circumstances.
Or rather than the neighbour’s music, perhaps you receive
a pleasant message on your phone – someone you are fond
of has told you that they love you and as a result your heart
sings! This is likely to be the world of ‘Rapture’ (also known
as ‘Heaven’). This might be followed by a desire to see that
person, and the yearning is likely to be a manifestation of the
world of ‘Hunger’. This is not just a condition that is to do with
the desire to eat food, but can also be about relationships
or other objects and ways that we think we can improve
life. There is also a world in which we operate on the level
of our more basic animal instincts, and this world, perhaps
unsurprisingly, is known as ‘Animality’. Perhaps if the noisy
neighbours had a reputation for causing trouble our instinctive
reaction would be fear that they might react dangerously to
any complaint. If instead we feel superior to our neighbours –
perhaps because we have a disdainful opinion of their choice
of music – then this sounds rather like the world of ‘Anger’.
▼
In the third instalment of his series of articles, Robert Harrap looks at
how the Buddhist principle of the Ten Worlds applies to our daily life
34
Feature
The Ten Worlds or ten states of life
Buddhahood
Wisdom,
compassion, courage,
life‑force, which
illuminate the positive
aspects of each of the
other nine worlds
Bodhisattva
Compassion
Acting selflessly for other
people, without expecting
a reward
Realisation
Wisdom, insight
through observing the
world and the effects of
learning
Learning
Self-improvement,
by striving to understand
new concepts through
the teachings of others
A basis for realisation
or
or
or
Pity for those one is
trying to help
Lacking a broad view of
life due to self-absorption
‘A martyr to the cause’,
neglecting one’s own life
or health
Arrogance, ‘I know best’
▼
This world is not about being angry, instead it is usually quite
a quiet world, but one that is dominated by our small ego and
therefore demonstrates arrogance and contempt.
By looking at tranquillity, hell, rapture, hunger, animality
and anger, we have briefly considered what are commonly
considered the six ‘lower’ worlds. These are worlds that we
experience due to the things that happen in our environment
and it is just a question of our personal buttons being pushed.
There are also four ‘higher’ worlds which require effort for us
to experience them. ‘Learning’ and ‘Realisation’ are states
where we are trying to improve our lives, either by studying the
wisdom and experience of others, or through our own insight
into life. Then there is the compassionate and altruistic state
of ‘Bodhisattva’ in which we make efforts to take away the
sufferings of others and to replace it with something more
positive. Finally, we are told that the dynamic and creative world
of ‘Buddhahood’ is also a potential in our lives, characterised
by courage, compassion, wisdom and life‑force. This world of
Buddhahood is the only one that is purely positive.
Having introduced these ten states, the next thing is to
acknowledge that life is much more complicated than humans
having just ten ways of operating. A great Chinese Buddhist
thinker known as T’ien-t’ai1 observed that people tend to
have one of these worlds as their ‘basic’ life‑condition and
that they then experience the world through the ‘lens’ of
that basic world. For example someone who is incredibly
laid-back might have ‘tranquillity’ as their basic condition,
and then they will experience rapture, hunger and anger in
a tranquil way. Someone else who is fiercely driven by their
ego will experience tranquillity, hell and animality through
the ‘lens’ of their anger state. When I first started to read
about Buddhist principles, it was this aspect, known as ‘the
mutual possession of the Ten Worlds’ which really grabbed my
attention. The implication is that rather than ten, there are a
hundred worlds at play in each of us. This principle provides
an extremely sophisticated analysis of human psychology, and
The tendency to become
self-centred or cut
off from life; having
a dismissive attitude
towards others with less
knowledge
Rapture
Intense pleasure
and happiness
Heightened awareness
Feeling glad to be alive
or
Happiness is short-lived
as it results from the
achievement of desires;
The wish for it to continue
can lead to excess
(drugs, materialism)
explains a lot about how we each behave and how different
people can react differently to the same situation.
The aim of Buddhist practice is to establish the world of
Buddhahood as our fundamental life‑condition, and then to
experience the other worlds through that state. The Buddha
has all of the worlds including anger, hunger and rapture, but
they are states that create value rather than being self-centred
or destructive.
T’ien-t’ai then demonstrated how these worlds become
manifest in our lives, and he applied the principle of the
mutual possession through the mechanics of a principle called
‘the ten factors’ found in the Buddhist teaching known as the
Lotus Sutra.2 How do we know a person’s life‑condition? We
can usually see it in their face, or in their appearance. We will
hear it in their voice and in the things they say. We will see it
in the influence of the causes they make, or in the effects of
those causes. A person who is motivated by their hunger will
behave very differently from someone motivated by altruism
(or the world known as Bodhisattva). A person in tranquillity
will react differently to a person in the state of hell. T’ien-t’ai
said that when the hundred worlds are applied through the ten
factors, there are a thousand factors.
T’ien-t’ai also explained that at each moment this process
is happening in each of us as individuals, and also in
those people around us and in the place where we live. He
described these three aspects of the individual, society and
our environment as three distinct yet inter-connected realms.
This analysis shows us what the collective life‑condition is for
a person and the circumstances around them. He concluded
his thinking with the name of this principle as ‘three thousand
realms in a single moment of life’.3
Despite the apparently complicated mathematics required to
get to this figure of three thousand realms, the most important
aspect of this principle is to ask this question: What is in my
heart right now? What life‑condition am I in at this moment?
Is it hell, hunger or anger? This principle says that there are
35
3
Tranquillity
or Humanity
At peace and in
control of desires
Ability to act with reason
and humanity
or
Unwillingness to tackle
problems
Laziness
Anger
Passion to fight
injustice and create a
better world
Creative force for change
or
Egotism
Cannot bear to lose
Self-righteousness
Animality
Normal instinct to
survive (sleep, eat, make
love) and protect and
nurture life
or
Desire to live and
achieve goals
A strong yearning to
improve things in one’s
own life and society
or
Acting only from instinct,
threatening the weak and
fearing the strong
Pleasure seeking, living
only in the present
three thousand possibilities in this moment, and then in the
next moment another three thousand possibilities. What
life‑condition, then, would I like to be in? Would I like to be in
the life‑condition of Buddhahood? This is the importance of
the ‘single moment’.4
Because it explains the relationship of our own personal
life‑condition with that of the inter-connected world around
us, this principle explains how we are empowered to make a
change to what is going on in life.
If I would like to experience life through the condition of
Buddhahood, I can. Nichiren Daishonin explained precisely
what is necessary for us to experience this. I just need to
make the causes in this moment to stimulate the Buddhahood
that is in my life. Then as I reveal my Buddhahood, I am in a
position to influence the life‑condition of people around me,
and the place where I live. As I establish Buddhahood as the
main life‑condition that I experience, endless possibilities
emerge. The powerlessness described at the start of this
article becomes a thing of the past. The power of the individual
changes from being an insignificant aspect in the midst of
huge institutions, and through the web of interconnectedness
becomes the catalyst for extraordinary change.
The principle of three thousand realms in a single moment
of life teaches us that the change of life‑condition of an
individual is a cause for the change of the world itself. I am no
longer powerless. I have and can access great power. And that
power will have great influence. This principle teaches me that
my inner change changes the world. I affect the people around
me, as well as the place where I find myself. As I reveal my
value-creating potential, and encourage others to reveal their
infinite potential too, the world will change.
The world of the early twenty-first century might appear to be
in a mess. Conflicts may be continuing pointlessly around the
world. But as we view this present situation through the lenses
first of dependent origination (see the May 2014 issue of
the Art of Living), and then three thousand realms in a single
Hunger
Greed
Continuous unsatisfied
desire for power, sex,
money etc.
Hell
Understanding the state
of hell leads to the desire
to help others
or
Depression, despair,
suffering
Self-destructive
tendencies
moment of life, we can see how the causes and conditions
of the lower life‑conditions, often called the three poisons
of greed, anger and foolishness, have led us to the present
time. Then we see that this time is the perfect time for us to
be drawing on our infinite inner potential to show the power
and influence of enlightened human beings to make a change
in the world. This takes us back to the idea of absolute
happiness we read about in the Art of Living in April.
The most important factor as we make this shift from a
world where the prevailing mood is one of powerlessness to
one where individuals feel empowered to make a valuable
contribution to changing the situation is this: the inner
determination of the individual. A question for all of us is
to ask: Am I determined to challenge myself to transform
the three poisons in my own life into the Buddha’s courage,
compassion, wisdom, dynamism, creativity and life‑force? As
Daisaku Ikeda writes:
Each human life, together with its environment, is an
expression of the fundamental life‑force of the entire
cosmos. It follows that any change in the inner life‑condition
of a single human being can, at the deepest level of life
itself, exert an influence on other human lives.5 ■
1 Also known as Chih-I (538-597). The founder of the T’ien-t’ai school of
Buddhism in China.
2 The ten factors (listed in chapter 2 of The Lotus Sutra) are: appearance, nature,
entity, power, influence, internal cause, relation (or external cause), latent effect,
manifest effect, and consistency.
3 Jp. ichinen sanzen
4 The word ‘ichinen’ is often heard in the sense of ‘determination’ or ‘commitment’
to a goal.
5 Words of Wisdom, Buddhist Inspiration for Daily Living by Daisaku Ikeda,
www.ikedaquotes.org