SIDEBAR

Why the Truth about the Dai Gohonzon Matters 
Updated March 29, 2006

by Hope Evers, Ohio

"The critical importance of knowing the truth about the Dai Gohonzon lies in the fact that Nichiren Shoshu wields this singular object as its primary instrument of control. While seeming to praise this particular Gohonzon's virtues, in reality Nichiren Shoshu uses it as bait to lure believers away from Nichiren's empowering essential teaching and render them subservient, blind to their limitless potential. Commenting on people who exhibit the type of behavior epitomized by Nichiren Shoshu's exploitation of the Dai Gohonzon tradition, Nichiren paraphrased a predecessor of his, writing, 'though they praise the Lotus Sutra they destroy its heart.'" (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 1026) 

Nichiren's Writings  
Where is the Dai Gohonzon?  
Origins of a Legend 
The True Buddha  
Toppling Hierarchies  
Why the Truth Matters  
Awesome Teaching

FEATURE 

“Where is Nichiren’s Reference to the 
Dai Gohonzon?”  Click here for Hope Evers' Gosho-based article examining fact versus fiction about the Dai Gohonzon.    

Better than HD TV-- The Gohonzon's 3-D Ceremony in the Air.  Click here for M. LaVora Perry's article. 

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"One should not be intimidated by the fact that so many hold such beliefs. Nor does the truth of a belief depend on whether it has been held for a long or short time. The point is simply whether or not it conforms with the text of the scriptures and with reason." -The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, pp. 168-169

Ordinary people rock the world. Or to put it another way, ordinary people are the entities of enlightenment and our mundane environment is a Buddha land. This is the ultimate teaching of the Buddha’s Lotus Sutra. Perhaps it was this teaching that compelled me to begin my practice of Nichiren Buddhism as a Soka Gakkai International (SGI) member in 1987. Over the ensuing years, I have studied Nichiren’s teachings, which are based on the Lotus Sutra, primarily as they appear in SGI and SGI-USA materials.

Nichiren Writings: The Best Source for Learning What He Taught
A few years ago I discovered that some schools of Nichiren Buddhism refute the validity of the Dai Gohonzon. At the start of my Buddhist practice I was taught that this large wooden religious object was a fundamental element of Nichiren Buddhism—especially as taught by Nichiren Shoshu, which was affiliated with the SGI when I began practicing (click here for information about these two groups' official disassociation). So I embarked on a personal quest to uncover the truth. My search for answers began and ended with Nichiren’s own writings as published by the Soka Gakkai. This is probably because during the early years of my practice a long-time Buddhist leader impressed upon me the importance of basing everything on the teachings of our school’s founder, Nichiren.

Where is Nichiren's Reference to the Dai Gohonzon?
The article “Where is Nichiren’s Reference to the Dai Gohonzon?” summarizes the result of my research into the origin of the Dai Gohonzon. For me learning that most likely Nichiren did not inscribe this unique object has been eye-opening to say the least. The most important point that was brought home to me during this journey is that, just as Nichiren repeatedly taught, the journey itself is an inward one. I don’t have to go as far away as Japan, where the Dai Gohonzon is enshrined, to glimpse my full potential—enlightenment or absolute happiness. Within my own life I always have everything I need to experience this ultimate state of being no matter where I am in time or space—and so does everyone else.

Possible Origins of a Legend
In delving into research beyond Nichiren’s writings, I’ve discovered that some Nichiren Schools (e.g. Nichiren Shu) claim that the Dai Gohonzon was carved during the lifetime of the ninth Nichiren Shoshu high priest, Nichiu (1402-1482). I first learned about Nichiu in an SGI-USA book titled The Untold History of the Fuji School. A downloadable version of this book is available here from SokaSpirt.org. [Aside: I learned about the Nichiren Shu branch of Nichiren Buddhism on the Internet while attempting to conduct objective research about the history of the Dai Gohonzon. I disagree with some of their core interpretations of Nichiren's teachings; for instance, their practice of praying to statues of Shakyamuni Buddha.] 

If the Dai Gohonzon was in fact created some time after Nichiren's passing (1282 CE), and its legend came into being centuries before contemporary laity and priests learned of it, then inaccuracies surrounding its origins would predate the founding of the Soka Gakkai (1930). This would mean that many people, through no fault of their own, learned and transmitted misinformation. NEXT

Who is the True Buddha? (You!)
There are other aspects of the Nichiren Shoshu tradition that some claim to be false. Such as: 1.) Nichiren left a document naming a chief priest successor (i.e. his disciple Nikko); 2.) Nichiren identified the foot of Mount Fuji as the location where he wanted the high sanctuary of his school of Buddhism to be erected after his death; 3.) Nichiren penned certain writings and 4.) Nichiren claimed to be the “original” or “true” Buddha.”

Because the texts of documents upon which the first two points above are based does not appear in either of the books from which I primarily acquire Nichiren’s writings and oral teachings (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin and The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings) and because I need to conduct further independent study to learn more about those points and point three, I don’t currently have the knowledge to expound on them in depth. In reference to point one, however, I will say that I think what matters most is not whether or not Nichiren named a chief successor, but who it was that authentically preserved and transmitted his teachings after his death and who is authentically preserving and transmitting them today.

Regarding the fourth point, through the writings of Nichiren’s to which I have been exposed I can ascertain his view about the ideas of an “original” or “true” Buddha. Here is part of what I found on these topics in Nichiren’s own words (I inserted the {}):

“The Lotus Sutra is the teacher of all the Buddhas of the ten directions {throughout infinite space} and the three existences {throughout eternal time} ("The Drum at the Gate of Thunder," The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin (WND), Soka Gakkai, Tokyo, 1999, p. 948).”

“A common mortal is an entity of the three bodies, and a true Buddha” ("The True Aspect of all Phenomena," ibid, p. 384).

“The ‘true Buddha’ here means common mortal” (ibid).

"You, yourself are a Thus Come One {a Buddha} who is originally enlightened and endowed with the three bodies. You should chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with this conviction." ("On the Treasure Tower," ibid, pp. 299-300)

Toppling Hierarchies 
As the above passages illustrate, Nichiren taught that we common mortals possess the ultimate state of being—Buddhahood, enlightenment or absolute happiness—within us. He constantly spurred his followers, many of whom were deemed by Japanese society to be of an inferior class, to manifest their unlimited greatness. There is no human hierarchy in such a view. 

Yet over the course of centuries, a convoluted and misguided hierarchy has been erected within the Nichiren Shoshu tradition. This hierarchy places one Gohonzon above all others—making it great (the English translation of  "Dai"), while all others are ordinary. In the same way, the true Buddha has been incorrectly made into a god-like figure and confined to being one, specific individual (Nichiren) instead of everyone. I wrote “Where is Nichiren’s Reference to the Dai Gohonzon?” because I want to be a part of reaffirming the message of equality—and equal access to enlightenment—that is at the heart of Buddhism.

My article arose from a selfish desire as well—I want to personally experience and maintain an enlightened state of being and I know that Nichiren said it is impossible to do so without proactively correcting erroneous Buddhist teachings. He wrote: "To hope to attain Buddhahood without speaking out against slander is as futile as trying to find water in the midst of fire or fire in the midst of water." ("The Essentials for Attaining Buddhahood," ibid, p. 747).  

NEXT

Why the Truth Matters
The critical importance of knowing the truth about the Dai Gohonzon lies in the fact that Nichiren Shoshu wields this singular object as its primary instrument of control. While seeming to praise this particular Gohonzon's virtues, in reality Nichiren Shoshu uses it as bait to lure believers away from Nichiren's empowering essential teaching and render them subservient, blind to their limitless potential. Commenting on people who exhibit the type of behavior epitomized by Nichiren Shoshu's exploitation of the Dai Gohonzon tradition, Nichiren paraphrased a predecessor of his, writing, "though they praise the Lotus Sutra they destroy its heart" ("Letter to Niike," ibid, p. 1026). 

Annually, hundreds of Nichiren Shoshu followers, believing that they must journey to a special location and be in the company of special people (the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood) in order to experience an enlightenment that they can find no where else, make religious pilgrimages to Nichiren Shoshu's head temple in Japan to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in front of the Dai Gohonzon. Such pilgrimages lead people away from the enlightenment they seek because the pilgrims are, in keeping with Nichiren Shoshu's perverse interpretation of Nichiren's teachings, seeking enlightenment outside instead of within themselves.

Nichiren said pursuing enlightenment outside oneself leads nowhere, writing: "If you seek enlightenment outside yourself, then your performing even ten thousand practices and ten thousand good deeds will be in vain. It is like the case of a poor man who spends night and day counting his neighbor's wealth but gains not a even a half coin." ("On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime," ibid, p. 3)

Awesome Teaching
Nichiren's words are awesome. In “On Persecutions Befalling the Sage” he says he—a self-described, ugly, poor, short and despised man—was the only person who had thus far completely lived and fulfilled the prophecies of the Lotus Sutra. The historically verifiable facts that he provides in this letter to support his claim are solid and make me say, "Wow." 

Nichiren's teaching, which includes the Gohonzon and the message of his fulfillment of prophecy that he relayed in “On Persecutions Befalling the Sage,” does not need the embellishment of saying he created a special type of Gohonzon if he did not. Nor does his teaching benefit from the claim, which is unsubstantiated when one views his known writings objectively, that creating such a Gohonzon was his crowning life achievement. Rather, if the history of the Dai Gohonzon as taught by Nichiren Shoshu is false, this history degrades Nichiren's teaching—a teaching which, in the same way that Nichiren and the rest of us ordinary people are true Buddhas, is profoundly great just as it is. FortuneChildBooks.com

For information about Nichiren Shoshu's contemporary distortions of Nichiren's teachings visit SokaSpirt.org.

Reference: Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism (Seikyo Press, Tokyo, 2002)

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Hope Evers is a freelance writer and has been practicing and studying Nichiren Buddhism as a member of the SGI-USA since the mid-1980s. She lives in Ohio with her family. Email sent to email<AT>fortunechildbooks.com to her attention will be forwarded to her. 

Better than HD TV--The Gohonzon's 3-D Ceremony in the Air.  
Click here for M. LaVora Perry's latest article.  April 26, 2006