In the West, we put a lot of faith in scientific progress and rely on advances in technology to solve our problems. We seem to believe that society and history are progressing toward better systems. For example, Soviet communism failed, and capitalism seems to have “won.” We generally believe that organisms are evolving toward fitter forms. And we modern humans are striving for the goal of a ‘better” life every day. In short, the notion that change happens in a linear, progressive way, always progressing toward something better, is at the foundation of our daily lives.

But in the non-linear universe, time flows in any direction, and dimensions are multi-layered, and boundaries between dimensions are permeable. Our spiritual journey takes place in the non-linear universe of deep consciousness. It is in the non-linear realm that we can change our karma and do our “human revolution.”

Our hero, Siddhartha, grasped the non-linearity of our deep consciousness in his life. He attained enlightenment and declared that he found the path to free all beings from suffering. He directed criticism at the linear view of karma in Brahmanism. That religion was the dominant one in India in his time. Among many things, it served to solidify the caste system in India by teaching people a deterministic or fatalistic view of karma; that is, one is born into a particular caste because of his previous deeds and one can do nothing about it in this lifetime. Try avoiding evil deeds (including opposing authorities) and accumulating good deeds (including serving the upper caste) so that you can be reborn in a better circumstance in future lives.

Siddhartha attacked the linear notion of karma, stating the value of a human being is only determined by his or her actions, not by what caste he or she is born into. He teaches that by manifesting our deep consciousness through practice, we can explore our innermost universe.

Even if we don’t believe in “linear karma” it’s not so easy to snap out of our linear way of thinking. Organic, social, and sexual evolution has shaped us into who we are along with non-genetic influences such as education. We must eat and sleep, must spend a large portion of our life for sex related activities and raising our children. Our cognition system is heavily dependent on bifocal vision and communication is heavily dependent on language, which is highly abstract, conceptualized and logical. Since our thinking process is essentially based on language, we are bound to see the universe only through the filter produced by its constraints.

By contrast, Siddhartha explained that the enlightened world is beyond language and logic. Not all beings share the same objective world; the world we exist in depends on how we each perceive it based on our life state.

After Siddhartha’s death, his revolutionary view of karma was modified to suit the prevailing views of society at that time, which reflected a belief in fatalism. Thus, the linear view of karma sneaked back into Buddhism and influenced Mahayana Buddhism. When Buddhism formed close ties with ruling classes in many countries, it played a similar role to Brahmanism in ancient Indian society -- that is, to justify a rigid class society by promoting a deterministic/fatalistic view of karma. For instance, it justified unreasonably segregating leprosy patients in Japanese society for a long time, damaging them physically and psychologically.

Our practice of Nichiren Buddhism must go back to the founders’ original spirit. Excess focus on the linear view of karma may discourage people from going deeper. For Nichiren, what really mattered is simultaneous cause and effect, which operates under the fusion of reality and wisdom. This concept allows practitioners to go deeper every time regardless of their life condition. We are in the driver’s seat of our lives -- nothing else is, not even our karma.

Why are many religious symbols floating in the air? Amida Buddha is usually depicted as standing on a cloud and floating in the air, and angels have wings and fly freely. The significance of this is that flight implies freeing objects from gravity. Gravity symbolizes the linear view of the universe, which binds us in an every-day view; flight symbolizes freedom from the logical, allowing us to fly into the vast non-linear universe.

One of the most dramatic events in the Lotus Sutra is the Ceremony in the Air. A tremendous tower called the Treasure Tower levitated in the air during the ceremony. Siddhartha uses this universal symbol of freedom from the linear world in his most important teaching. Historically, this ceremony was held at Eagle Peak around 2600 years ago, but the Sutra states:

The Treasure Tower symbolizes our Buddha Nature existing in our innermost self. This Treasure Tower can be understood to be true and real only in a non-linear universe where time and space constraints do not exist.

Believing that “reality” is linear makes it almost impossible to trust in the existence of the Buddha Nature within us. But our prayer based on the Treasure Tower of the Lotus Sutra confirms and reconfirms that the Buddha Nature exists within our inner universe, and sends positive vibrations throughout the universe in a way that defies linear notions of time and space.