Holte's corner

Object of Worship

Someone notes:
> "The Gohonzon" of course, was inserted by english translators
>...but this was written in 1264...some seven years before
> Nichiren began inscribing the Gohonzon...
> To what, I wonder, was Nichiren actually referring?
> The earlier translation says:
>
> "You ask if it is acceptable to recite the daimoku and the Namu-
> ichijo-myoden [without facing the object of worship] at such
times."
>
> hmmmmm...

That is just linguistic sleight of hand. They chose a literal
translation when they might have added footnotes or explainations,
but where a literal translation served the purposes of the people
behind the translation.

The word "Go"="honored.
The word "Honzon" translates variously as "object of
worship", "mandala" and has been used to refer to various kinds of
images including statues as well as written Honzon, so your point is
well taken.

However, the interpretation of what the object of worship is
subject to evolution not only historically, but in the practice of
the individual worshipper. Strictly speaking a physical "Honzon"
represents the "object" of worship. Which is more properly the goal
of worship than any particular physical object.

While confusion about the object of worship is nothing new, the
purpose of Nichiren Buddhism is to teach people to understand the
principle of "Kanjin No Honzon" or recognizing the "true object of
worship." That object of worship is neither any particular statue
nor any particular written image, but is most properly enlightenment
itself.
http://www.sgi-usa.org/buddhism/library/Nichiren/wnd/concord/pages.view/354.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/qao24
The goal of Nichiren Buddhism is to recognize the "object of worship
which is Shakyamuni of the essential teaching" meaning not the
literal Shakyamuni of the provisional teachings but the figurative
and more generalized shakyamuni who is eternal and present always in
our own minds. Since that eternal characteristic is potential in all
people and partially realized in many common mortals, and because we
so value the opinions of Nichiren that we usually think of that
principle as fully realized in Nichiren, we usually think of
Nichiren as a Buddha or Bodhisattva (which are essentially a common
entity, since a Buddha is considered 'extinct' while a Bodhisattva
actually operates in this world). But actually Nichiren was basing
this on the principle of three thousand worlds in a momentary state
of existence:

"When at last he revealed the method of meditation in Great
Concentration and Insight, he at the same time employed the 'three
thousand realms' as a way to understand. This principle is the
ultimate revelation of his final and supreme teaching. That is why
Chang-an states in his introduction [to Great Concentra-tion and
Insight], 'Great Concentration and Insight reveals the teaching that
T'ien-t'ai Chih-che himself practiced in the depths of his being.'
He had good rea-son for saying this. I hope that those who read this
work and seek to under-stand it will not allow their minds to be
distracted by anything else."

http://tinyurl.com/nfqq8

Nichiren wanted something a bit simpler than meditating on the
mutual possession of the 3000 worlds. Yet this principle is part of
his teaching and is fully embodied in the Gohonzon, but never really
well revealed in any statue or other image. Nichiren never intended
us to worship either himself, the "Dhuta Shakyamuni"
(provisional/historical) but to worship the Buddha in his three
properties and three thousand realms represented in whatever
physical object is near at hand that can help us image him/her in
our own minds. [Principle for observing our minds -- Kanjin]
Nichiren created the Gohonzon in order to resolve this confusion and
help people make the distinction between the eternal Buddha and the
various images used to picture him. He basically supplies the
rationale in the Kanjin No Honzon Sho:

"Question: You have told us about the sources of this doctrine. Now
what is meant by the observation of the mind?"

"Answer: The observation of the mind means to observe one's own mind
and to find the Ten Worlds within it. This is what is called
observing the mind. For example, though we can see the six sense
organs of other people, we can-not see our own. Only when we look
into a clear mirror do we see, for the first time, that we are
endowed with all six sense organs. Similarly, various sutras make
reference here and there to the six paths and the four noble worlds
[that constitute the Ten Worlds], but only in the clear mirror of
the Lotus Sutra and of the Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai's Great
Concentration and Insight can one see one's own Ten Worlds, hundred
worlds and thousand factors, and three thousand realms in a single
mo-ment of life."

Now looking at an image of Shakyamuni while chanting may help one do
this -- if the mind is primed with the basic principle Nichiren is
teaching.

The various doctrines and dogmas about Nichiren and the Gohonzon all
represent provisionalized efforts to "image" the "Honzon" to try to
lead people to this essential understanding. They often fail to do
so because it is impossible to stop people from reifying the divine,
the "Buddha", the properties which we are seeking, and most people
need some concrete image in their head in order to practice Buddhism
and are not willing to go deeper into Buddhism and do the work
required to acquire a comprehensive and deeper understanding of the
principles involved. Thus it is possible to reify the paper or wood
mandala nearly as easily as it is to reify the images. Neither
attitude is correct.

"Question: Although I can see both my own six sense organs and those
of others, I cannot see the Ten Worlds in myself or others. How can
I believe in them?"

"Answer: The "Teacher of the Law" chapter of the Lotus Sutra
says, "[This Lotus Sutra is] the most difficult to believe and the
most difficult to under-stand." [In describing how difficult it will
be to fulfill the teachings of the Lotus Sutra after the Buddha's
passing,] the "Treasure Tower" chapter speaks of the six difficult
and nine easy acts. The Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai states, "Because
the theoretical and the essential teachings [of the Lotus Sutra]
contradict all the earlier sutras, they are extremely difficult to
believe and difficult to understand...."

http://tinyurl.com/f2cu7
Still the Schools that emphasize the Gohonzon are on a track to such
deeper and more comprehensive understanding, even if they get side-
lined by the literalism and ignorance of practitioners not willing
to really understand the "concept behind the concept" or the "method
to the madness" -- or simply locked in "shallow understandings" and
tired arguments. People in their ignorance, attachment to person or
group, or shallow understanding often substitute dogmatic sounding
statements for the deeper truths of "Kanjin". We should have faith
that we can know our own minds.

Nichiren certainly meant "Honzon" in it's more abstract sense, and
probably was thinking of something along the lines of the Gohonzon
even at that early date. However, the real argument is not between
statues and paper images, but between a shallow understanding of
Honzon and a deeper one.

This is such a deep concept to grasp that when Nichiren finally
talked about it in the Kanjin No Honzon sho he enjoins his disciples
to keep the subject confidential:
http://tinyurl.com/gbbyr

"Question: Shakyamuni, the lord of teachings, is the Buddha who has
com-pletely destroyed the three categories of illusion. He is the
sovereign of all rulers, bodhisattvas, persons of the two vehicles,
human and heavenly beings, and others in the ten directions. When-
ever the Buddha moves, Brahma attends him on the left and Shakra on
the right. The four kinds of Buddhists and the eight kinds of
nonhuman beings follow behind, while the vajra-bearing gods march in
the vanguard. With his eighty thousand teachings he leads all living
beings to emancipation. How could a Buddha such as this dwell in the
hearts of us ordinary people?..."

His answer says(in part):
"....the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra says that Shakyamuni
Buddha, the lord of teachings, attained Buddhahood numberless major
world system dust particle kalpas ago, and that the cause that made
this possible was the practice he had carried out at that time.
Since then he has manifested emanation bodies throughout the worlds
of the ten directions and preached all the sacred teachings of his
lifetime to teach and convert people as numerous as the dust
particles of the land."

So are we to act "emmantion bod"ies of "the lord of teachings"/ the
essential teachings -- or do we manifest some lesser teaching? If we
image the simple Shakyamuni, we image the historical shakyamuni but
not the "Lord of teachings" -- the cause of enlightenment. When
people criticize the notion of "original enlightenment", one needs
only quote Nichiren, and T'ien'tai:

http://tinyurl.com/pk885
"T'ien-t'ai comments on this passage as follows: 'If people do not
possess innate Buddha wisdom, how could the Buddha say he wanted to
open it? One must understand that Buddha wisdom is inherent in all
human beings.'"

If every truth taught in the Universe is the product of the true
Buddha and his emmanations, then we can see the expedient means of
the Buddha at work in this world -- and yet rise above attachment to
literal interpretations and shallow understandings of what religion
is about. Each person has the potential for buddhahood -- or for
foolishness. Each religion can be used as a template to teach the
essential truths that Nichiren was trying to convey. There is no
need for a shallow understanding of what the Gohonzon is!

"At the start I took a vow, hoping to make all persons equal to me,
without any distinction between us, and what I long ago hoped for
has now been fulfilled. I have converted all living beings and
caused them all to enter the Buddha way." Shakyamuni Buddha, who has
attained perfect enlightenment, is our own flesh and blood. His
practices and the resulting virtues are our bones and marrow."
http://tinyurl.com/ngym4

This is not ultimately about Master and disciple as Ordinate and
subordinate, but about Zenchishiki, or good friends. The role of
teacher is to teach teachers. The role of student is to learn enough
to be able to transmit truth clearly. This is a never ending cycle
as the stream of living beings is a never ending stream. He
concludes his description of the "object of worship thusly:"

http://tinyurl.com/jjfwd

"The true object of devotion is described as follows: The treasure
tower sits in the air above the saha world that the Buddha of the
essential teaching [identified as the pure and eternal land]; Myoho-
renge-kyo appears in the center of the tower with the Buddhas
Shakyamuni and Many Treasures seated to the right and left, and,
flanking them, the four bodhisattvas, followers of Shakyamuni, led
by Superior Practices. Manjushri, Maitreya, and the other
bodhisattvas, who are all followers of the four bodhisattvas, are
seated below. All the other major and minor bodhisattvas, whether
they are disciples of the Buddha in his transient status or of the
Buddhas of the other worlds, are like commoners kneeling on the
ground in the presence of nobles and high-ranking court officials.
The Buddhas who gathered from the other worlds in the ten directions
all remain on the ground, showing that they are only temporary
manifestations of the eternal Buddha and that their lands are
transient, not eternal and unchanging."

Now for something to be eternal and unchanging it has to exist
outside of ordinary time and space. That puts it in the metaphysical
and from the point of view of ourselves (who live within ordinary
time and space) abstract or imaginary realm. Nichiren is describing
the Gohonzon in this passage. And we should all fix in our minds
what he means by Gohonzon. Then we can transcend petty arguments and
reveal our true selves ourselves.

Chris

Posted by cholte at April 19, 2006 09:48 PM