Changing Poison Into Medicine

Buddhism is a religion of inner transformation. The pure realm in which the Buddha resides and the impure realm where ordinary people dwell are not two separate realms.

“Creating A Century of Humanism in Which All Can Shine” p. 55 Jan 1 2021 Living Buddhism SGI-USA

Changing poison into medicine is the principle that a life dominated by the three paths of earthly desires, karma and suffering can be transformed into a life replete with the three virtues of the Dharma body, wisdom and emancipation by virtue of the power of the Mystic Law. In other words, any adverse situation can be changed into a positive one through the power of Buddhist practice. This phrase is from Volume 100 of Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, attributed to Nagarjuna, which mentions “a great physician who can change poison into medicine.”

Faith for Changing All Poison Into Medicine

Let us begin with this famous passage from “On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime.”

It [the Vimalakirti Sutra] … states that, if the minds of living beings are impure, their land is also impure, but if their minds are pure, so is their land. There are not two lands, pure or impure in themselves. The difference lies solely in the good or evil of our minds. (“On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 4)

Nichiren Buddhism Is a Religion of Inner Transformation

Buddhism is a religion of inner transformation. The pure realm in which the Buddha resides and the impure realm where ordinary people dwell are not two separate realms. There is no fixed difference between them; all apparent differences are expressions of the good or evil of the minds of those who live there. Human beings can, therefore, transform their environment by transforming their inner state of being.

In other words, the key to social change is people fundamentally transforming their mindset.

Transforming Delusion Into Enlightenment

In this writing, Nichiren Daishonin also states: “It is the same with a Buddha and an ordinary being. When deluded, one is called an ordinary being, but when enlightened, one is called a Buddha” (WND-1, 4). The difference between a Buddha and an ordinary being is nothing more than the difference between a deluded and an enlightened life state.

How, then, can we transform delusion into enlightenment? Through the practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. By chanting, we conquer the fundamental ignorance that is the root cause of delusion and bring forth the life state of Buddhahood originally inherent within us. We overcome every suffering and hardship and move everything in the direction of happiness.

Prayers based on the Mystic Law are guaranteed to activate the heavenly deities—the positive functions of the universe.