*Meaning of eternal life after death*
Suda: If not a soul, then just what continues on after death? This is a difficult question.
Ikeda: Second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda would often say that upon death our lives
fuse with the universe. It's not a matter of there being a soul; rather, our life, as an entity of the
oneness of body and mind, returns to the universe. The universe itself is one great living entity.
It is a vast ocean of life. It nurtures all things, gives all things life, enables them to function.
When things die, they return again to its embrace, and receive new vitality.
There is a boundless and overflowing ocean of life which is always in motion. As it moves and
changes, it enacts the rhythm of life and death.
Our individual lives are like waves produced
from the great ocean that is the universe; the emergence of a wave is 'life', and its abatement
is 'death'.
This rhythm repeats eternally.
Suda: I heard the experience of Harue Yamaguchi of Hachioji, Tokyo, who died last year [in
1996]. The funeral of Mrs Yamaguchi, who had fought for many years for the kosen-rufu of her
community, was attended by an extraordinary number of people.
She was 65 when she died, but the look on her face was so peaceful that it became the talk of
the community. During the five days her body lay in the home while funeral ceremonies were
underway, she reportedly grew more lovely by the day. The wrinkles on her forehead vanished
and she looked as though she had actually grown younger.
On viewing her, one person even remarked in surprise, 'She is smiling like a child. That's truly how she looks.'
Mrs Yamaguchi, who joined the Soka Gakkai in 1955, had undergone surgery to remove a
tumor from her lung eight years before. Even after that, she continued energetically carrying
out activities in the Hachioji area.
Suda: Whenever she had a moment's time, she would be talking with local members or calling someone to offer encouragement.
She was so lively and high-spirited, people would
sometimes ask her, 'How do you manage always to be so bright and cheerful?'
To which she
would reply: 'It's because I chant daimoku to help people overcome their sufferings. It seems to
me that the more I encourage others, the more abundant my own life-force becomes.'
Because she was always brightly encouraging other members, everyone was surprised at her
sudden death.
While alive, she had often said, 'Life is eternal. I would like to die quickly, the
way the petals of a flower scatter after it has bloomed. I don't want to become a burden for
others.'
When she died, she quickly lost consciousness and didn't experience any suffering at all. And,
as has already been noted, she had a truly peaceful countenance - with the same look on her
face as she had when encouraging someone.
Saito: Her appearance in death was indeed a source of great encouragement for everyone.
Ikeda: I have heard a great deal about her. She was deeply trusted by many people, not only
in Hachioji, but throughout the western Tokyo region.
President Toda once said:
All of our actions in past existences are contained in their entirety in our life. This is why
Buddhism is so important.
While we might want to say, 'What I did in the past is irrelevant. I
was born with a clean slate', we cannot get away from our past so easily.
'Why was I born poor?' 'Why was I born stupid?' 'Why is my business failing even though I am
working as hard as I can?'
The answer to all of these questions is to be found in our past lives.
Although the cause is in our past lives, the Daishonin's Buddhism teaches how we can break
through such obstacles.
Looking at our lives from a physiological standpoint, in the course of several years every cell in
our body, from the center of our eyeballs to the marrow of our bones, is replaced.
This is
recognized by medical science. On that basis, you could perhaps argue that you are not liable
for a debt incurred five years earlier. But while we might like to be absolved of our debts, the
debt collector will come without fail.
Similarly, we have no choice but to take responsibility for
our actions of the past.While we can readily understand this from a logical standpoint, when we are faced with it as an
actual problem we find ourselves at a loss.
In this connection, Nichiren Daishonin says that
those who worship the Dai-Gohonzon, though they may be people of little virtue or people who
committed great offences in the past, will be completely absolved, and will receive the same
effects as they would if they had made many good causes in the past (cf. Gosho Zenshu, p.
754).
That's why faith is so important.
