<p>I know next to nothing about Schopenhauer but the Nichiren sect of Japanese Buddhism focus on the sutra popularly known as Lotus Sutra - the 妙法蓮華経 Myōhō Renge Kyō which is in turn from Chinese 妙法蓮華經; pinyin: Miàofǎ Liánhuá jīng, which is ultimately from Sanskrit Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra literally Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma. So "Mystic Law" is just a re-translation of "Sublime Dharma". Now I am no expert on the text but I believe the 'Sublime Dharma' refers to All of Existence and Phenomena. So this concept is only tangentially related to the Will or Collective Consciousness described by Schopenhauer.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-01T18:45:02.737Z
Do you know of any books or other such recources I could look for in order to better understand what the "Sublime Dharma" is? I have never heard of that term before.
Morella Almånd
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2016-05-02T20:40:29.810Z
I think that the Sanskrit "Saddharmapuṇḍarīka" combines several words i.e. "Sad-" (meaning "sublime" or "true") plus "dharma" (meaning "law") plus "puṇḍarīka" (which presumable means "white lotus"). The Sanskrit "Sad-" is I guess equivalent to the Pali word "Sat" ... and there's a topic [What is Sat-Dharma?](http://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/5565/254) which I hope answers your question about "sublime dharma".
ChrisW
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2016-05-13T06:17:26.150Z
@MorellaAlmann Based on my limited readings I believe there is no substantial difference from the Dharma in Buddhism and the 'Sublime' Dharma of the Lotus Sutra. Essentially it appear to be a word in praise of the majesty of the Dharma?
Yinxu
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2016-05-01T08:27:49.837Z
2016-05-01T08:27:49.837Z
Yinxu
<p>I recently was watching a video in which Schopenhauer's views on aesthetics were expressed. Part of his views relied on saying that there is one aspect of the nominal world which can be experienced -despite that basically being a contradiction to what the nominal and phenomenal world are-. He went on to say that the exception is called, "The Will". The will as basically, to my best understanding, the driving force for all things which pervades all things, both abstract and not, and that, once aware of this "Will" one loses what I guess could be loosely identified as the self, and becomes more as one with, "The Will".  </p>

<p>This, to me, sounds a lot like what I have heard called, "The Mystic Law". <a href="http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/47" rel="nofollow">Here is a definition of the mystic law</a> as referred to as, "the true aspect", by the philosopher, Miao-Lo:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“The true aspect invariably manifests in all phenomena, and all phenomena invariably manifest in the ten factors. The ten factors invariably manifest in the Ten Worlds, and the Ten Worlds invariably manifest in life and its environment.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>My question then is, how closely are these two "aspects" related, and are they really referring to the same thing?</p>

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2016-05-01T09:16:32.560Z
This might be a question better answered on [the Philosophy.SE site](http://philosophy.stackexchange.com/) (because it seems to me likely that few people on this site will have read Schopenhauer). I don't myself know how to ask questions on Philosophy.SE (I don't know about philosophy nor about what's on-topic on that site), but perhaps you could ask something like, "Does Schopenhauer's 'will' correspond to any Buddhist concept, which word in the Buddhist vocabulary (if any) most closely matches Schopenhauer's? Or are they for some reason completely different and not comparable?"
ChrisW
<philosophy><western-philosophy><nichiren>
Is Schopenhauer's "the Will" equivalent to "the Mystic Law"?
# Is Schopenhauer's "the Will" equivalent to "the Mystic Law"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-04-30)

I recently was watching a video in which Schopenhauer's views on aesthetics were expressed. Part of his views relied on saying that there is one aspect of the nominal world which can be experienced -despite that basically being a contradiction to what the nominal and phenomenal world are-. He went on to say that the exception is called, "The Will". The will as basically, to my best understanding, the driving force for all things which pervades all things, both abstract and not, and that, once aware of this "Will" one loses what I guess could be loosely identified as the self, and becomes more as one with, "The Will".

This, to me, sounds a lot like what I have heard called, "The Mystic Law". [Here is a definition of the mystic law](http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/47) as referred to as, "the true aspect", by the philosopher, Miao-Lo:

> “The true aspect invariably manifests in all phenomena, and all phenomena invariably manifest in the ten factors. The ten factors invariably manifest in the Ten Worlds, and the Ten Worlds invariably manifest in life and its environment.”

My question then is, how closely are these two "aspects" related, and are they really referring to the same thing?

**Tags:** philosophy, western-philosophy, nichiren

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This might be a question better answered on [the Philosophy.SE site](http://philosophy.stackexchange.com/) (because it seems to me likely that few people on this site will have read Schopenhauer). I don't myself know how to ask questions on Philosophy.SE (I don't know about philosophy nor about what's on-topic on that site), but perhaps you could ask something like, "Does Schopenhauer's 'will' correspond to any Buddhist concept, which word in the Buddhist vocabulary (if any) most closely matches Schopenhauer's? Or are they for some reason completely different and not comparable?"  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-05-01. Score: 2

I know next to nothing about Schopenhauer but the Nichiren sect of Japanese Buddhism focus on the sutra popularly known as Lotus Sutra - the 妙法蓮華経 Myōhō Renge Kyō which is in turn from Chinese 妙法蓮華經; pinyin: Miàofǎ Liánhuá jīng, which is ultimately from Sanskrit Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra literally Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma. So "Mystic Law" is just a re-translation of "Sublime Dharma". Now I am no expert on the text but I believe the 'Sublime Dharma' refers to All of Existence and Phenomena. So this concept is only tangentially related to the Will or Collective Consciousness described by Schopenhauer.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Do you know of any books or other such recources I could look for in order to better understand what the "Sublime Dharma" is? I have never heard of that term before.  
> **username_1**: I think that the Sanskrit "Saddharmapuṇḍarīka" combines several words i.e. "Sad-" (meaning "sublime" or "true") plus "dharma" (meaning "law") plus "puṇḍarīka" (which presumable means "white lotus"). The Sanskrit "Sad-" is I guess equivalent to the Pali word "Sat" ... and there's a topic [What is Sat-Dharma?](http://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/5565/254) which I hope answers your question about "sublime dharma".  
> **username_2**: @MorellaAlmann Based on my limited readings I believe there is no substantial difference from the Dharma in Buddhism and the 'Sublime' Dharma of the Lotus Sutra. Essentially it appear to be a word in praise of the majesty of the Dharma?  

---

