Category Archives: WONS

800years, WONS

800 Years: Unwavering Faith

Not only I, Nichiren, but also my disciples will reach the land of Buddha unfailingly so long as we all hold on to unwavering faith no matter what difficulty confronts us. I have always told my disciples not to have a doubt about the lack of heavenly protection and not to lament the lack of tranquility in this world. I am afraid, however, that they might all have doubts about these and no longer listen to me. It seems only natural that ordinary people, in face of reality, will forget what they promised. Having pity on their families, my lay followers must lament being separated from wives and children in this world. However, had they ever been truly separated from their beloved families throughout many lives in the past? Had they ever been separated for the sake of Buddhism? Theirs must have been the same sad separation. I, Nichiren, should continue upholding the Lotus Sūtra and go to the Pure Land of Mt. Sacred Eagle, so that I will be able to return to this world to guide the people.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 109

800years, WONS

800 Years: A Mountain of Faith

Rivers come together to form an ocean. Particles of dust accumulate to become Mt. Sumeru. When I, Nichiren, began having faith in the Lotus Sūtra, it was like a drop of water or a particle of dust in Japan. However, when the sūtra is chanted and transmitted to two, three, ten, a million, and a billion people, it will grow to be a Mt. Sumeru of perfect enlightenment or the great ocean of Nirvana. There is no way other than this to reach Buddhahood.

Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 243-244

800years, original, WONS

800 Years: The Mandala Gohonzon and Faith

Nichiren’s writings say very little about the place of his mandala (or of Buddha images) in actual practice. There is one personal letter, the “Nichinyo gozen gohenji,” which does touch on this issue, and though some modern scholars dispute its authenticity, it has historically been highly valued in the Nichiren tradition for its easily accessible description of the mandala and its relation to the practitioner’s faith:

Never seek this gohonzon elsewhere, [for] it abides only in the fleshly heart within the breast of persons like ourselves who embrace the Lotus Sūtra and chant Namu-myōhō-renge-kyō. This is called the capital city of suchness, the ninth consciousness that is the mind-ruler (kushiki shinnō shinnyo no miyako). Being endowed with the ten realms means that [all] ten realms, not excepting a single one, are contained within a single realm, [that of Buddhahood]. That is the reason why this is called a mandala. “Mandala” is a word from India. Here [in Japan] it is called “perfect endowment” (Tinnen gusoku) or “cluster of merits” (kudokuju). This gohonzon is contained solely within the word “faith.” That is the meaning of “gaining entrance by faith.” By believing undividedly in [the Lotus Sūtra, in accordance with its words,]” honestly discarding skillful means” and “not accept[ing] even a single verse from other sūtras, ” Nichiren’s disciples and lay followers shall enter the jeweled stūpa of this gohonzon. How reassuring, how reassuring!

If one judges by this passage, it appears that the logic of Nichiren’s mandala is quite similar to that of esoteric practice, wherein the practitioner visualizes the union of self and Buddha, known as “the Buddha entering the self and the self entering the Buddha” (nyūga ganyū). For Nichiren, however, the nonduality of the practitioner and the Buddha is realized neither by esoteric visualization techniques nor by introspective contemplation involving the application of mental categories, such as the threefold contemplation. Rather, it is by faith in the Lotus Sūtra that one enters the realm of the Buddha’s enlightenment–the three thousand realms in a single thought-moment as actuality–and manifests its identity with oneself. (Page 280-288)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism


800years, WONS

800 Years: Stronger Faith = Greater Protection

When Tripiṭaka Master Kumārajīva brought the Lotus Sūtra to China, the Heavenly King Vaiśravaṇa dispatched countless soldiers to escort him safely over the Pamirs. When Priest Dōshō read the Lotus Sūtra in a waste land, innumerable tigers came together to protect him. You will also be protected in the same way; the thirty-six earthly deities and the twenty-eight heavenly gods will protect you. Moreover, two heavenly gods always accompany each person just as a shadow follows the body. One is called God Dōshō, and another is God Dōmyō. Both protect a person by accompanying him on both his shoulders, so that Heaven will not punish the innocent by mistake, not to speak of a lady with virtue like you. Grand Master Miao-lê has stated: “As long as one has strong faith, he certainly will receive greater protection.” It means that the stronger one’s faith is, the greater the gods’ protection.

Oto Gozen Go-shōsoku, A Letter to Lady Oto, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 120

800years, WONS

800 Years: Rewards of Faith

It is said in the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 8 (chapter 28): “If someone will uphold, read, and recite this sūtra in the future, his wishes will be fulfilled, and he will receive a happy reward in his present life.” It is said also: “If someone reveres and praises the Lotus Sūtra, he will receive a real reward in his present life.” Regarding these two passages, the eight characters meaning “he will receive a happy reward in his present life” and another eight characters meaning “he will receive a real reward in this life;” if these sixteen characters are not realized and I, Nichiren, do not receive a great reward in this life; the golden worlds of the Buddha would be as worthless as the empty words of Devadatta, and the testimony of the Buddha of Many Treasures would be no different from the lies of Kokālika, the disciple of Devadatta. All the people who slander the Lotus Sūtra would not fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering, and there would be no Buddhas throughout life in the past, present and future. Therefore, I urge you, my disciples, to practice Buddhism as preached in the Lotus Sūtra without sparing your life and put Buddhism to proof once for all. Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō! Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō!”

Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 249

Daily Dharma, WONS

Daily Dharma – Aug. 31, 2022

Have faith in the Great Mandala Gohonzon, the Most Venerable One in the entire world. Earnestly endeavor to strengthen your faith, so that you may be blessed with the protective powers of Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of many treasures, and Buddhas in manifestation throughout the Universe. Strive to carry out the two ways of practice and learning. Without practice and learning Buddhism will cease to exist. Endeavor yourself and cause others to take up these two ways of practice and learning, which stem from faith. If possible, please spread even a word or phrase of the sutra to others.

Nichiren wrote this as part of his letter to monk Sairen-bō about the nature of reality (Shohō-Jissō Shō). One way of reading this passage is that as we develop our faith in the Great Mandala Gohonzon, the Buddhas will provide more protection for us. Another way to read it is that as our faith develops, so does the power we have to protect others, free them from suffering and help them to awaken their Buddha nature. Either way, Nichiren shows us the practical results of our faith.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

800years, WONS

800 Years: Finding Protection in Faith

Let me say this for your sake. I am aware of your longstanding faith, but you must strengthen it. Then you will find the greater protection of the ten female rākṣasa demons. You need not look afar for an example; although all the people in Japan, from the ruler to common people, tried to harm me, I have survived until today due to my firm faith.

Oto Gozen Go-shōsoku, A Letter to Lady Oto, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 120-122

800years, Easy, WONS

800 Years: Resolved

To leave us with no choice but to restore faith day by day, Nichiren Shōnin expounds his teachings as follows:

“Reflecting deeply on my past, I, Nichiren, studied Buddhism from childhood and began to ponder and wish as follows: People’s life spans are never, for a single moment, static and continue to change. If you look closely at the state of one’s dying moment, you will find that the breath once exhaled is never inhaled again. That is exactly like when dew on top of a leaf falls off to the ground. Our life ends regardless of wisdom or foolishness, old age or youth. Therefore, since we have such a transitory life, we must learn about it deeply, keeping in mind day after day that the end of life is just before us, and that our life is limited.

“Thinking about it in this way, you must come to realize that the most important thing upon death is the noble heart as a fundamental part of human beings. There is no other way to realize the existence of that noble heart and cultivate it than to follow the proper faith. Since the proper faith is precisely the faith in the Odaimoku, you should devote yourself to it without delay.

“Since the proper mental activity arises with the proper faith, true peace is achieved only when people who are engaged in such a mental activity collectively form a nation. At that time, those who live there will live at peace both in mind and body.”

Easy Readings of the Lotus Sutra
800years, WONS

800 Years: ‘Difficult to Put Faith In and Difficult to Understand’

There are many people who put faith in the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra. Yet as I often experience great difficulties, both public and private, some change their faith after a year or two, even becoming my enemies who shoot arrows at me. Some only outwardly appear to be believers of the Lotus Sūtra, while others believe in the Lotus Sūtra in heart but not in practice.

Śākyamuni Buddha, was the legitimate son of King Śuddhodana, a great king who governed the entire continent of Jambudvīpa, and all of its 84,210 countries. The kings in Jambudvīpa all submitted to King Śuddhodana, and he had an innumerable number of domestic servants. Nevertheless, Śākyamuni, at the age of 19, left the palace of King Śuddhodana and entered Mt. Daṇḍaloka, where he spent 12 years practicing asceticism. He was then accompanied by only five men: Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya, Aśvajit, Bhadrika, Dasābala-Kāśyapa and Mahānāman, two of whom left him in the sixth year and the remaining three also deserted him during the last six years. In the end he continued his training alone until he attained Buddhahood. The Lotus Sūtra is harder than this to have faith in. Therefore, the sūtra itself preaches that it is “difficult to put faith in and difficult to understand.” It is also preached in the sūtra (“The Teacher of the Dharma” chapter) that the great difficulties that abound today in the Latter Age of Degeneration surpass those that occurred during the lifetime of the Buddha. Therefore, the practicer of this sūtra who perseveres through the adversities today acquires more merit than giving alms to the Buddha over the course of a kalpa (aeons).

Shijō Kingo-dono Gohenji, Response to Lord Shijō Kingo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 152

800years, WONS

800 Years: Faith and Comprehension of the Unenlightened

Compared to this Eternal Buddha and His teaching preached in the essential section, those preached in the theoretical section, the pre-Lotus sūtras, the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning, and the Nirvana Sūtra, namely, all the sūtras preached prior to, at the same time as, and after the Lotus Sūtra, are easy to believe in and understand. It is because they are provisional teachings adjusted to meet the faith and comprehension of the unenlightened while what is preached in the essential section transcends them all and is difficult to believe in and comprehend because it adheres to the true intent of Śākyamuni Buddha.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 152