NICHIREN BUDDHISM : CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES
BASIC
CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES OF NICHIREN BUDDHISM
TEN
WORLDS
The
prime concern of Buddhism is our life-condition, the joy or suffering we
experience at each moment. This is always seen as an interaction between
external conditions and inner tendencies; the same conditions (the same
workplace, for example) that might be experienced by one person as unremitting
misery may be a source of exhilarating challenge and satisfaction for another. Strengthening
our inner state so that we are able to resist and even transform the most
difficult and negative conditions is the purpose of Buddhist practice.
Based
on his reading of the Lotus Sutra, the sixth-century Chinese Budhhist T’ien
T’ai developed a system that classifies human experience into ten states or
“worlds”. The concept was adopted and elaborated by Nichiren Daishonin,
who stressed the inner, subjective nature of these worlds.
Each
of us proposes the potential for all ten worlds and we shift from one world to
other according to our life state and our interaction with the environment.
The
ten Worlds, in order from the least to the most desirable, are :
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