The Ten Suchnesses: Embodiment, Potential, and Function
Dr. Dominick Scarangello
International Advisor to Rissho Kosei-kai
Last time we began exploring the Lotus Sutra’s principle of the Ten Suchnesses—ten steps through which all things come into being and events occur. Knowing the Ten Suchnesses is important to practicing the Dharma in everyday life because they help us understand, and thus become aware of in real time, how our mindsets and actions create either suffering or happiness. Last time we explored the first two, “such an appearance” and “such a nature,” and considered how changing our demeanor, facial expressions, and so forth—how we present ourselves to the world—can transform our mindsets. In the West, we usually think of our outer expression as a manifestation of our inner state, but Buddhism tells us the reverse is also true: our mindsets can be functions of our outer expressions. This is why Buddhism stresses proper decorum and right action, and why Rissho Kosei-kai emphasizes the importance of trying to maintain a bright and cheerful demeanor.
This time, let’s consider “such an embodiment,” “such a potential,” and “such a function.” “Embodiment” is the sum of our being. It is the totality of our inner state, which is our mindset, or “such a nature,” and our outward manifestation of our being, “such an appearance.” A simple way to think about it is “appearance + nature = embodiment.”
The Buddha taught that everything that is embodied in our world possesses two qualities: potential and function. Potential is exactly that: latent abilities and possibilities. Function is the manifestation of those potentials in the world through action.
Let’s stick with the example of the realm of hells—a personal world of anger. An angry mindset and appearance causes us to have the potential, the likelihood, for striking out at others in word or deed, inflicting physical or emotional harm on them. We are primed and energized for this, like a wound-up toy, compressed spring, or a loaded and cocked firearm.
“Such a function” happens when we encounter circumstances that provide an opportunity for that pent-up negative energy to be released. That’s when potential energy becomes kinetic energy.
This is why it’s important to be self-aware about our mindsets and how we comport ourselves, because they foretell how we are predisposed to act. If we can intervene at the stage of “such an appearance” or “such a nature,” we can prevent ourselves from embodying the negative energy of anger and stop the manifestation of angry action toward others before it even happens. On the other hand, if we can develop the mindsets of the realms of awakening, and comport ourselves accordingly, we’ll build up the potential for wise, skillful action that brings us liberation from suffering and that will bring more light to the world around us.
If we catch ourselves glaring or snapping at someone, we should reflect on our feelings and state of mind. It’s important to recognize that the other person is never the cause of our outburst of frustration. This is what the Ten Suchnesses teach us. Other people are not the causes of our own behavior; we are. The other person is only the condition, a convenient circumstance for us to manifest what is already within us.
You can see this by observing how one person stays calm and another person explodes, even in similar situations. Take, for example, how people respond differently to being inconvenienced by having to wait in a long line at a store or government office. Some people stay calm, while others lose their cool. They face the same circumstances but respond differently. The difference is in the mindsets of the individuals. The situation doesn’t make them angry. The source of the anger is within the individual.
So in that moment when we catch ourselves snapping at those around us, raising our voices, or responding with a huff, it’s not about that other person. It’s about us. Nobody “makes” us angry. If we are angry, it’s because we already have that potential within us. When we think “So-and-so made me angry,” we are reversing cause and condition. Others are the condition, the setting or opportunity. We are the cause. When we accept this and take responsibility for our actions, we can look inward and begin dealing with what is going on within ourselves. Reversing the cause and condition is scapegoating, and as long as we do this, we’ll never do the self-work needed to attain liberation and be happy.
Instead of blaming others, we need to ask what is going on within us and why. How are we suffering inside, and what can we do—how can we practice—to move toward the extinguishment of this suffering? You may have noticed that we’ve entered the sphere of “such a cause,” “such a condition,” and “such an effect.” Let’s consider them in greater detail next month.
Field Report from the Sangha
Rev. Chris Peters
Minister, Rissho Kosei-kai of Oklahoma (RKOK)
Hoza, Tedori, and a Healing Sense of Community
For most of 2024, we had a visitor with us at RKOK who was in his early thirties. He was kind, polite, soft-spoken, and seemed to mostly listen, although he did occasionally speak during Sunday morning hoza, or “Dharma circle.”
As he spent more time with the sangha, he shared with us that while he had been living far from his hometown and in another state for graduate school, he experienced a cancer diagnosis and treatment. He continued by saying he had been in remission for a while. It was good to know he was in remission and did not require further treatment, but he appeared to have an emotional heaviness to him, a tension I had yet to understand.
In early January of 2025, he signed up for membership and followed this with more frequent attendance at Sunday morning services, classes, and meditation. He began to be more open with me and the sangha, participating in tedori, or “helping members enhance their connection with the Dharma.” At the same time, he was also present when other sangha members shared about losses they experienced throughout the year, and he witnessed how we hold space for each other, not giving direct advice but listening with an open heart.
He shared with me the difficulty of being a graduate student in his twenties who was facing a potentially terminal illness so early in life. The challenges ran deep too, due to the difficulties of navigating the administrative aspects of our health care system here in the United States; this part was especially frustrating for him. In addition, the physical and emotional aspects of the cancer treatment and seriousness of the illness had left him with a sense of isolation from others.
As he shared further in tedori and listened in hoza, I saw the emotional heaviness and tension he had carried in the first year here at RKOK slowly evaporate. I believe that while this has been a healing journey for him, it has been a great learning experience for me too in the healing power available to members through the combination of hoza and tedori. In hoza, holding space is modeled for everyone participating; there’s a sense of trust, safety, and a realization that transcendence of suffering is possible for people even when circumstances cannot be changed and must instead be accepted. I think this hoza experience I’m describing acts as a glue to create a sense of community within the sangha, and this in turn also encourages members to trust the process of tedori.
Impermanence is continually a factor in life; people are dealing with all the challenges that unfold between birth and death. Illness is an obvious example, family members passing away is another, employment can be stressful or unstable, and there is always something available on the news about world events that can trigger upset. Yet, every Sunday morning, regardless of what is happening, the sangha is there and available to mindfully listen; it’s a consistent and safe social space. For some people, sangha might be the only social environment they can go to that is consistent and safe.
I see how the consistency of the sense of community offered by the sangha compels people, with the encouragement of another member in tedori, to go deeper within themselves and their circumstances. As you experience this while listening as a hoza participant, acting as a hoza facilitator, or during tedori, the buddha nature of the speaker becomes evident. With our new member I just described, or anyone else who fully engages, I see clearly the fundamental need humans have to be listened to without judgement and to have acceptance modeled in a heart-to-heart exchange about a difficult topic. When this is provided and buddha nature is connected to and expressed, people find ways to move forward beyond survival and thrive again. The member I’ve described here has, after a brief delay, recently completed his PhD and started a new job. He is much more at ease than when we first met him. His moving forward in life was accomplished through his efforts and the support he received by taking refuge in the Three Treasures.