Together, let us benefit all beings.
The rule and preface for the Shugei Shuchi-in school
What does “Together, let us benefit all beings” mean?
“Together, let us benefit all beings.” These words were written by Kobo Daishi Kukai at the close of the Shugei Shuchi-in: Rule and Preface some twelve hundred years ago, and they still speak powerfully to us today.
“All beings” means every person and every living life. “To benefit” means to guide toward well-being. But the heaviest word here is “together.”
Not alone, but with others. To walk together and to wish for happiness together. That is the root of the phrase.
Why “together” matters
Kukai knew that the power of one person alone is limited. That is why he opened paths of education, cultivated companions, and tried to improve the world together with them.
He did not hoard power. He shared knowledge. He learned not only for himself, but for everyone, and he lived not only for himself, but for everyone. That was the direction of his gaze.
The school called Shugei Shuchi-in
Kukai gave this ideal concrete form in the school called Shugei Shuchi-in, founded in the year 828. Regardless of social rank or wealth, he opened learning to people, built a place where they could study together, speak together, and grow together.
Learning was not to be monopolized, but opened to society. In that sense, it may be called Japan’s first university open to all.
Transformation through education
Kukai believed that education changes people, and through people, changes society.
- Ignorance can turn into wisdom.
- Poverty can turn into skill.
- Division can turn into integration.
- Self-interest can turn into care for others.
One person receives teaching and then guides the next. In that widening chain, Kukai saw the future.
This teaching in our own time
The ideal has changed form, but it is still alive among us. Public education and lifelong learning are social forms shaped by that same spirit.
Today we also live in a digital age. Online learning and the internet have made it possible to learn together beyond barriers of geography and money.
Byodoji’s 24-hour livestream stands in the same current. At any time, from any place, anyone can join prayer and learning. This too is a contemporary expression of “benefit all beings together.”
The seeds Kukai planted have taken root across twelve centuries and continue to live in each of our steps.
What we can do
“Together, let us benefit all beings” is not an ideal only for extraordinary people. It is a direction entrusted to each of us who live now.
- Do not hoard knowledge or experience. Share them.
- If someone is struggling, think together and move together.
- Wish for the happiness of others as sincerely as you wish for your own.
- Leave a better future for those who come after us.
Conclusion: across twelve centuries
Kukai’s words have not lost their force. If anything, they are needed even more in a world full of difficult problems. The wish that “we all become well together” is exactly what our age requires.
Technology changes, but a heart that cares for people does not. Forms change, but the importance of walking together does not.
Shugei Shuchi-in: Rule and Preface
Rise and decline in things always depend on people. The ascent or fall of a person is determined by the path they follow.
Success and failure are shaped by people. A life is shaped by the path one chooses.
So let us walk the good path together.
Namu Daishi Henjo Kongo
