December 2009

Shakyamuni's Attainment of Enlightenment Commemorated

On December 8, Rissho Kosei-kai commemorated Shakyamuni's attainment of enlightenment, in the Great Sacred Hall at the organization's headquarters in Tokyo as well as at all Dharma Centers throughout Japan. About 3,500 members from 75 Dharma Centers gathered for the ceremony in the Great Sacred Hall. In gratitude for the underlying significance of Shakyamuni's attainment of enlightenment, members renewed their pledge to engage in bodhisattva practice in their everyday lives.

At the service in the Great Sacred Hall, members listened to the story of Shakyamuni's enlightenment and his words at the moment of attainment, and then 48 young women in saris made offerings at the altar before the statue of the Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni. President-designate Kosho Niwano then led the sutra chanting and read out a tribute to the Buddha by President Nichiko Niwano. After that, Rev. Mitsumasa Omoto, minister of the Iwakuni Dharma Center, testified to his experience of the faith, and President Niwano delivered a Dharma talk.

President Niwano quoted Shakyamuni's words at the moment of his enlightenment: "How wondrous, how wondrous! All living beings, without exception, are equipped with the Tathagata's wisdom and his virtuous attributes, but they do not realize this because of their attachment to desires and illusions." President Niwano said Shakyamuni greatly encouraged all people with his teaching that everyone can acquire, as he had, by purifying themselves of defilements and illusions, the spiritual treasures of wisdom and compassion. In reviewing the meanings of the Four Seals of the Law (All things are impermanent, All things are devoid of self, Nirvana is quiescence, All things are characterized by suffering), he emphasized the importance of accepting everything with gratitude, rather than rejecting some things out of self-interest. He said that the day commemorating Shakyamuni's attainment of enlightenment should be considered the most important day of the year not only by Budd hists but by all human beings. He emphasized the importance of always being thankful for encounters with the Buddha Dharma.

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