Put on the Robe of the Buddha
Rev. Nikkyo Niwano
Founder, Rissho Kosei-kai
“Forbearance” Is Forgiving Others
Ultimately, I think “forbearance” comes down to forgiving others. Someone once said “To love is to forgive,” and those words have remained firmly in my mind. Of course, the natural affection between parents and children or romantic partners falls into a different category, but the love that arises in platonic relationships is surely, just as that saying suggests, something that is nurtured through forgiveness.
But I would like to add that to forgive is also to understand.
When I announced to the new recruits that I would not hit them, it was because I understood that no one among them would only learn if they were struck. The military was downsizing in those days, so it was extremely difficult to pass the conscription examination with the top grade and be recruited into the navy. People generally felt that it would be deeply insulting to slap such capable men. When I thought about it like that, I was naturally filled with an appreciation for the recruits, and that feeling led to my resolve: I would not strike them!
This is by no means a brag. I only intend to speak about the interconnectedness of forbearance, nonviolence, and mutual understanding from the standpoint of my own experience.
After Shakyamuni left the palace to embark on his spiritual quest, his foster mother Mahapajapati made a magnificent robe, hoping that one day he would wear it. She spun the thread herself, wove the cloth, and embroidered it with gold thread. When Shakyamuni returned to his hometown of Kapilavastu for the first time after attaining awakening, she offered the robe to him, but Shakyamuni Buddha gave it to his religious community to use. However, the robe was so splendid that no one would wear it.
Shakyamuni then instructed Maitreya Bodhisattva to wear the robe. When Maitreya put it on, the thirty-two marks (physical features) that distinguish a buddha appeared on his body. It is said that when Maitreya went out to beg for alms, the townspeople simply stared at him in wonder. They were so amazed by his appearance that they forgot to offer him food.
Even we who are alive today, twenty-five hundred years later, will surely manifest the marks of the Buddha in our demeanor if we clothe our hearts in the robes of “flexibility and forbearance.” Rather than wearing splendid clothes that cost a lot of money, this is the finest adornment for the body. Furthermore, the virtue from that flexibility and forbearance will spread outward from each of you, like ripples on the water, transforming society, the country, and ultimately the whole world into a realm of harmony. I hope that all of you will wear the Buddha’s robe with boundless, magnanimous spirit.
Bodai no me o okosashimu (Kosei Publishing, 2018), pp. 99-101