Total Pageviews

Sunday, February 21, 2016

"The true object of worship should be the Buddha at the moment of this transmission..." - Nichiren

"A Stupa of treasures is hanging in the sky above the Saha-World of the Eternal Buddha. The letters of myo ho reng kyo are seen in the center of the Stupa. On either side of the letters are seen Buddha Sakyamuni and the Many-Treasures Buddha. Buddha Sakyamuni is accompanied by the four Bodhisattvas and Manjusri and Maitreya are sitting in the lower seats. All the other Bodhisattvas, including those taught by the historical Buddha Sakyamuni and those who have come from the other worlds of the ten quarters are also on the ground. This shows that these Buddhas are the manifestations of the Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni and that the worlds of theirs are the manifestations of the Saha-World of the Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni. We should worship all these Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in this arrangement. This is the Honzon, or the true object of worship. This Honzon was not revealed during the lifetime of the Buddha except when he expounded the eight consecutive chapters (XV to XXII) of the Lotus Sutra."-- Kanjin Honzon  Sho, NOPPA Translation

Nichiren says in "Reply to Lady Nichinyo":

I for the first time reveal, as a banner of the spread of the Hokkekyo the Great Mandala which even Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, and so on, and Tendai, Myoraku, and so on did not reveal. This is not at all something which I, Nichiren made myself. It is the Object of Worship which is from the print block of the Great Muni, the World Honored One within the Stupa of Taho and the Separate-Body Buddhas.

From the Kaimoku Sho: 

"All the sects except the Tendai Sect worship wrong objects. The Kusha, Jojitsu, and Ritsu Sects worship Buddha Shakyamuni regarded as the person who eliminated illusions and attained enlightenment for the first time under the Bodhi Tree. They are as wrong as a crown prince who thinks that he is the son of a subject. The Kegon, Shingon, Sanron and Hosso Sects are Mahayana. The Hosso and Sanron Sects worship Buddha Shakyamuni as defined in the provisional Mahayana. They are as wrong as a crown prince who thinks that he is the son of a military officer. The Kegon and Shingon Sects despise Buddha Shakyamuni and worship Buddha Vairocana. They are as wrong as a prince who deserts his father and follows another king of unknown ancestry. The Jodo Buddhists hold that Buddha Amitabha is their Buddha, and do not worship Buddha Shakyamuni. They do not know that Buddha Amitabha is one of the manifestations of Buddha Shakyamuni. The Zen Buddhists are like a man of low birth who criticizes his parents when he gets some position in society. They despise the Buddhas and sutras. All these sects worship wrong objects. In ancient times people did not know their fathers. They were like birds and beasts. They do not know the favors of Buddha Shakyamuni." The sects who do not know the Chapter of the Duration of the Life of the Tathagata in the Lotus Sutra are like beasts. They do not know the favors of Buddha Shakyamuni."  

In the Kanjin-honzon-sho it says:

"During the fifty years of his teaching from the time of his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree till hisParinirvana under the Salatree, the Buddha expounded many sutras. In these sutras he described a wide variety of pure lands, such as the Pure Land of Flower-Store, the Pure Land of Esoteric Adornment, the Pure Land of Three Transformations, the Pure Land of Peaceful Life, and the Pure Land of Emerald. These pure lands are either the abodes of the followers of the Lesser Vehicle, or of the partially-enlightened Bodhisattvas, or of the perfectly enlightened Bodisattvas. 

These pure lands are, however, impermanent. They are established on in the kalpa of composition. The expounder of these sutras is the historical Buddha, and the Buddhas of these pure lands are the manifestations of the historical Buddha. Therefore, when the historical Buddha enters into Parinirvana, the Buddhas of these pure lands pass away, and their pure lands also disappear. But the Saha-World of the Original Buddha is the eternal pure land, free from the three calamities and the four kalpas. In this eternal world the Buddha never disappeared in the past, nor is to appear in the future. All living beings under him are one with him because they have the wisdom of the Buddha in their minds." 

He also states in this same work...

"During the fifty years of his teaching from the time of his enligtenment under the bo-tree till his attainment of Nirvana under the Sala-tree, the Buddha expounded a great number of sutras. ... Buddha Shakyamuni as the expounder of these sutras is not eternal, because the eternity of the Buddha is for the first time revealed in the latter half of the [Lotus Sutra]....In this (saha) world, the Buddha is eternal, has never been extinct, nor is to be reborn... The Buddha made no mention of this truth in the first half of the [Lotus Sutra], because he had not yet found hearers intelligent enough to understand it. 

"This truth is embodied in the five Words, or rather in the Seven Words, Na-mu-myo-ren-ge-kyo, or 'The Most Honorable Lotus of the Perfect Truth,' which also means 'Adoration be to the Lotus of the Perfect Truth' when taken as the formula of invocation. The Five Words being the expression of the most profound teaching of the buddha, the Buddha didn't entrust them even to the hitherto most repected Bodisattvas ... instead, he transmitted them to the Bodhisattvas equal to the dust-atoms of one thousand worlds in number who appeared from the gaps of the earth for the first time in the fifteenth chapter of the [Lotus Sutra].  

"The true object of worship should be the Buddha at the moment of this transmission. ... 

"In history, however, no one has ever worshipped the Buddha as revealed in this scene. ... an image of the true object of worship is destined to appear for the first time at the beginning of the Period of Deprivation." 

No comments:

Post a Comment