Purification of the Six Sense Organs
The six organs are:
- eyes (visual sense)
- ears (auditory sense)
- nose (olfactory sense)
- tongue (sense of taste)
- body (sense of touch)
- mind (sense of perception)
Organs refer to the sensory apparatuses and their functions to perceive the environment. Through the six sense organs, living beings are exposed to external stimulation, such as voices, smells, etc., and as a result, suffer.
However, the Benefits of the Teacher of the Law (nineteenth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra states:
If good men or good women who embrace this Lotus Sutra read it, recite it, sometimes preach and transcribe it … By virtue of these benefits, their six sense organs will become sublime and completely purified. (Hokekyo, p. 474)
This passage means that one can obtain the fortune of the purification of the six sense organs by carrying out the five practices of embracing, reading, reciting, teaching and transcribing the Lotus Sutra. *
Buddhist Practice: Sutra Recitation
Nichiren Shoshu Buddhists perform Gongyo (recitation of the sutra) everyday. It includes a portion of the second and the entire sixteenth chapter of the Lotus Sutra. During morning and evening Gongyo, we recite the Hoben (second) and the Juryo (sixteenth) chapters and chant the Daimoku (Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo).
To learn more about the purification of the six sense organs, the Lotus Sutra, and how to become a Buddhist, visit our Buddhist Temple on Saturday, November 8th, at 2:00 pm for our next Introduction to Buddhism meeting.
*Excerpted from Basic Terminology of Nichiren Shoshu, page 107.
