Oneness of life and its environment

The Story of a Traveler

A traveler happened upon a certain town. An old man was sitting by the town gate. The traveler asked him: “Old man, what kind of town is this?”

The old man responded with a query: “What kind of town did you come from?”

The traveler said: “Well I came from a good-for-nothing town, and the people living there were detestable and unpleasant.”

“I see,” said the old man. “This town is identical to the town you came from.”

A few days later, another traveler came to the town and encountered the old man at the town gate. He asked, “Old man, what kind of town is this?”

The old man asked: “What kind of town did you come from?”

“The last town I came from was a wonderful place. The people were kind, and I have never been to a better town.”

“I see,” said the old man. “This town is identical to the town you can from.”

(“WEB Edition – Brief Notes on Life” [Chiisana jinsei-ron note])

Why did the old man respond differently, telling the first traveler – who said that he came from a terrible place; and telling the second traveler – who said he had been in a wonderful town – that this is a great place? He replied differently because, even though they may be looking at the same town, the observations would be completely different between a person who sees positive aspects and one who focuses on the negative aspects.

The moral of this story is that the nature of the environment is determined by the person’s mind.

Replace the word “town” in the parable with your workplace or school.

You may complain that the teacher who instructs your class is completely inept, or that your boss is a tyrant. However, complaining in this way will never help to improve the situation. Moreover, if you always proclaim that you did nothing wrong and shirk all responsibilities and blame others, you never will be able to reflect upon your own shortcomings. Therefore, you cannot grow and improve as a human being. Those who always complain about others and constantly grumble about their environment never will become happy.

By contrast, if you think, “I’m going to ask my teacher to change this matter,” or “What can I do to help the boss or supervisor?” and act to improve my situation, you will receive the cooperation of those around you and achieve the improvement you desire.

An old proverb states: “He who gives to another bestows upon himself.” Those who exert their efforts toward the people around them will find that they will be loved and supported by them without fail.

In order to become happy, we cannot wait for others or our environment to change. When we change, our environment also will change. We can change our environment by nurturing the correct attitude in our own hearts.

We are One and Inseparable With Our Environment

In Buddhism, this is known as the “oneness of life and its environment” (esho funi). The syllable “e” is short for “eho” and means environment. “Sho” stands for “shoho” and signifies self. The phrase “funi” (literally “not two”) describes a thing that seems to be separate entities but is, in fact, one and the same. In other words, esho funi means the environment and our life are not separate. We possess a relationship with our environment in which we are one and inseparable with each other.

We live in our environment. Therefore, if our home, our town, our country, or our earth disappeared, we would not continue to live. Thanks to our environment we are able to exist.

Meanwhile, the environment represents an existence that changes according to our actions.

For example, currently, there are world-wide issues such as global warming and atmospheric pollution. Various countermeasures have been proposed and discussed, but the situation has become increasingly serious. Certainly, no one in the world would purposely act to destroy the earth and no one would consciously be nonchalant about the future of our planet. The actions of a single person may be insignificant, but if you multiply them by hundreds of millions of billions, those human actions gain great strength and possess the power to tremendously affect the earth’s environment.

Nichiren Daishonin states the following in the Gosho, “Attaining Buddhahood in this Lifetime: (“Issho jobutsu-sho“):

The pure and impure lands are not separate realms. The goodness or evil of our hearts and minds determines the nature of the land. The same is true for a Buddha and a common mortal.

(Gosho, p. 46)

The pure and impure lands are not separate realms. The goodness or evil of our hearts and minds determines the nature of the land. The same is true for a Buddha and a common mortal.

(Gosho, p. 46)

Those who totally are influenced and tormented by the environment will feel that this world is impure and full of suffering. However, those who believe in the Gohonzon and sincerely devote themselves to their faith and daily practice can transform this world into a pure and peaceful Buddha land. Furthermore, they can experience true happiness and live a life of supreme, good fortune.

Let us chant Daimoku to the Gohonzon every day to polish our hearts — our lives. By so doing, we can cause the pure Buddha nature to well forth from within us. Moreover, let us exert our utmost efforts to do shakubuku and enable others to become happy so that, together, we all can create an environment of true peace.