The Three Proofs or Sansho [三証 ] ; I. The Power of Threes

"In judging the relative merit of Buddhist doctrines,
I, Nichiren, believe that the best standards are those
of reason and documentary proof. And even more
valuable than reason and documentary proof is the
proof of actual fact." -- Nichiren Shonin

The Three Proofs, or 三証 {san sho) is a system that was used by Nichiren Shonin, to evaluate the wide diversity of conflicting Buddhist teachings, which were available in Japan, during the Kamakura Era. This was a burning issue, as various schools were competing for government patronage and secular power. As such, it was important to get the Dharma right, as the future of the nation was at stake. One thing, while the idea of the Three Proofs seems to be implicit in the Buddha's teachings, for example the Kalama Sutta, as far as I know, the concept was devised by Nichiren Shonin himself. I can not find any precise Pali or Sanskrit equivalent concepts. At any rate, the Three Proofs are Documentary Proof, Theoretical Proof, and Actual Proof.

Note: Due to length. I broke the original entry down into four (4).

The Power of Threes; Universal Truths, General Concepts, and Methods

During the 1980's, I was trained in the Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) success system that was developed by the Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970) and W. Clement Stone (1902 - 2002). As part of that training, I learned about one of Mr. Stone's learning systems, which was called the PIT formula; Principles, Ideas, and Techniques. We were strongly encouraged to always take notes; while listening to a lecture, reading, or attending a sales meeting. As an aid to that, we were trained to look for the principles, the ideas, and the techniques. PIT was a handy way to remember this:

P is for Principles: These are universal truths. They are both eternal and infinite. In other words they transcend temporal or spatial limitations, they are true everywhere and always. In regards to this, We were taught to ask, "What is it?"

However, principles are only abstract, and very general, or formless concepts. Unless we have some way to apply them, they are useless in daily life. Perhaps this was one of reasons Mr. Stone would talk about the importance of thinking and planning time. The thinking time relates to the second step.

I is for Ideas: It is on this level that abstract principles began to take form or shape as concrete concepts. Ideas are various possible ways to ways to apply universal principles; at a given time and place. The question to ask here is, "How can I use it?"

T is for Techniques: These are actual, empirical methods that are 'tried and true," They have been used, and have obtained desirable results that are repeatable. The question to ask was, "When will I use it?"

The answer we were given was "Do it Now!"

However, while PMA was a beautiful philosophy, I could not help but notice that the teachers did not have to the hit the streets and prove it. Moreover those who were doing it were failing at a large rate. The success stories were rather few and far between. It occurred to me the reason was that, in some cases, concepts that were really ideas were mistaken with universal principles. In addition, many of the techniques that had worked in the past, no longer cut it, as times had changed. Instead of being tried and true, the methods were bound and tethered to the past. We were trying to repeat the magic, but it was not working.

This may be a flaw of human beings. We get attached to certain forms and methods, and keep repeating them, out of habit, long after they have ceased to create any value in our lives. Still, I think the PIT formula is excellent. We simply were not using it fully. We would take a PIT stop, and do some thinking and planning, but the results were still "the pits." It was in our minds that failure occurred only because because we failed to work the system. No one had the courage to say the system, on the level of T, had stopped working years before. It was time to review P, come up with new I, and try some different T.

The PIT formula always reminded me of some other "sets of three" which I had already encountered, in Nichiren Buddhism, as taught by Soka Gakkai {SGI}, a decade earlier. In some respects, SGI had the same issues as my company. They had, in the past, enjoyed incredible growth. However, I/we/they got stuck in a cycle of trying to repeat the phenomena, and by 1979, had already begun to stagnate.

While I have since distanced my self from SGI, I still practice Nichiren Buddhism, albeit alone, or with the "cyber sangha," After more than a decade of misfortune and crippling illness, I have reviewed the P, come up with some new I, and found some T that seem to be working quite well. In the next entry, I shall began discussing some Buddhist rough equivalents of PIT, beginning with the Three Proofs or 三証 [san sho].

Welcome to the Ninth Consciousness

Hola! Some of you may already sort of know me from Fraught with Peril. I am still over there, but decided I wanted a spot of my own as well. This weblog, the Ninth Consciousness, will mostly be about Buddhism; but also other things that interest you, the reader, and I, the would be writer.

I have officially been a Buddhist for more 35 years now.As with many, my official entry level Dharma Gate was Nichiren Buddhism, brought to me by Soka Gakkai and Nichiren Shoshu. While I remain in the Nichiren camp, so to speak, I have moved in a more independent direction, and am probably headed toward Nichiren Shu. In between, a lot of things have happened.

As of right now, I expect the topics here shall cover some of the things I write about at Mettawaves from Robin's Nest. These would include what I do as Buddhist Practice, the method I employ, and why I do those practices. Basically, I follow the Eightfold Path, or more accurately, the Threefold Training; from which, the Eightfold Path is a derivative. That is Ethics / Precepts, Meditation, and Wisdom / Insight. The center of that is Meditation. I do the basics -- samatha / samadhi / dhyana and satipatthana / vipassana. Those are a mix of sanskrit and pali terms, which are helpful, but not necessary to know. I use them because translations are not always consistent. Those words might be rendered into English as: Stillness / Concentration / Absorption, and Mindfulness / Insight. As an aside, I do not think Insight is really a meditation in itself, it is more the result, and equivalent to the Third Training of Wisdom.

As for methodology, I pretty much stick to a form of Chanting Meditation called Shodai [唱題?]. This consists of three primary components; the mudra or hand gesture, the honzon or object of concentration, and the mantra or chant. The mudra corresponds to the training of ethics / precept; and the primary one I use is the Gesture of Reverence called Anjali Namaskara or Gassho. The primary honzon I use is a calligraphy mandala designed by Nichiren, based on the core chapters of the Lotus Sutra. The Mantra I primarily use is Namu Myoho Renge Kyo [南無妙法�華経], which is called the Daimoku [題目] . As you might suspect, I shall be going into this in minute detail.

As to why I do this, when I chant; the sun shines everywhere I go, people are kind to me, I always get green lights, lines are short, I get ideal parking spaces, and money falls from the sky! Seriously though, the practice, when i do it, puts me in a good mood, it is quite healing, it helps me improve my cognitive skills, and it promotes self reformation. We shall be going into that a bit more here, perhaps even discussing why it works.

Another thing I shall be doing here is studying the life and legends of Nichiren, the 13th Century Japanese Buddhist monk who founded the type of Buddhism I practice. Since the use of a honzon or religious icon is part of the practice, I will be getting into iconography; to include the a study of the extant Mandala Gohonzons inscribed by Nichiren himself and his successors. We shall also be discussing other honzons, as well as other mantras I find useful. We can also go off into Buddhist altars, ritual implements, the rosary, special confessional rites, and so on. My goodness, that is enough to keep me busy here for several years!