Nichiren bestowed more than one Gohonzon on several individuals. Don't worry. If you like the Gohonzon for the Transmission of the Dharma or the Shutei Gohonzon, and wish to chant to more than one Nichiren Gohonzon from time to time, go ahead.
Did you know that Kyo'o Gozen died? So, if the infant daughter of the perfectly faithful Shijo Kingo died prematurely, a similar tragedy could befall any one of us. Never let anything destroy your faith. Birth, old age, illness, and death is one aspect of "immutable karma". Likewise, eternal lifespan is another aspect of "immutable karma" (thanks to the process of reincarnation). Nichiren teaches us that, when the practitioner attains Buddhahood, one's ancestors and descendants, for seven generations back and seven generations forward, attain Buddhahood. This is why we chant ceaselessly to attain Buddhahood and cause others to do the same.
"I either preach my own body
ReplyDeleteor preach the body of another or show my own body
or show the body of another or show my own matter
or show the matter of another. The various words I preach
are all true and not empty. What is the reason?
The Tathagata knows and sees the appearance
of the Three Worlds in accordance with reality:
there is no Birth-and-Death,
whether backsliding or emerging;
likewise there is neither existence in the world
nor extinction; they are not real; they are not void,
they are not thus; they are not different.
It is not as the Three Worlds
see the Three Worlds. In such a matter as this
the Tathagata sees clearly
and is without error. Because the various beings
have distinctions of various types of natures
and various types of recollections, I, desiring
to cause various good karmic roots to be produced
by means of considerable causalities,
parables, and words, preach various kinds of dharmas:
The work of the Buddha which I perform
I have never once abandoned even for a brief time.
Thus the time since I attained buddhahood
is very great, long and distant.
My life is immeasurable asemkheyas of kalpas
and I abide forever and am not extinguished." -- Lotus Sutra Chapter 16