“Nam-myoho-renge-kyo
is only one phrase or verse, but it is no ordinary phrase, for it is the
essence of the entire sutra. ... Included within the title, or daimoku, of
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the entire sutra … Truly, if you chant this in the morning and
evening, you are correctly reading the entire Lotus Sutra. Chanting daimoku twice is the same as reading
the entire sutra twice, one hundred daimoku equal one hundred readings of the
sutra, and one thousand daimoku, one thousand readings of the sutra. Thus, if you ceaselessly chant daimoku, you
will be continually reading the Lotus Sutra.” (“The One Essential Phrase”, WND-1, p922-923)
“So, even
though the beginners in Buddhist practice may not understand their
significance, by practicing these five characters, they will naturally conform
to the sutra’s intent.” (“On The Four Stages of Faith”, WND-1,
p788)
“The Lotus Sutra
of the Correct Law says that, if one hears this sutra and proclaims and
embraces its title, one will enjoy merit beyond measure.” (“Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra”,
WND-1, p143)
“Only the ship of Myoho-renge-kyo enables one
to cross the sea of the sufferings of birth and death.” (“A Ship to Cross the Sea of
Suffering”, WND-1, p 33)
DAILY RECITATION OF CHAPTERS 2 AND 16 OF THE
LOTUS SUTRA
In 1264, Nichiren Daishonin replied to a question from the wife of
Daigaku Saburō concerning how to perform gongyo.
“You say that you used to recite one chapter of the Lotus Sutra
every day, completing the entire sutra in the space of twenty-eight days, but
that now you read the “Medicine King” chapteronce a day. You ask if
you should simply read each chapter in turn, as you were originally doing.” (WND-1,
p68)
“Though no chapter of the Lotus Sutra
is negligible, among the entire twenty-eight chapters, the “Expedient Means”
chapter and the “Life Span” chapter are particularly outstanding. The remaining
chapters are all in a sense the branches and leaves of these two chapters.
Therefore, for your regular recitation, I recommend that you practice reading
the prose sections of the “Expedient Means” and “Life Span” chapters.… As for the remaining chapters, you may turn
to them from time to time when you have a moment of leisure.”(WND-1, p71)
It’s clear from this letter that the Daishonin had already established the daily practice of reciting extracts from these two chapters of the Lotus Sutra…
COMPREHENSIVE, ABBREVIATED AND
ESSENTIAL PRACTICE
“To accept,
uphold, read, recite, take delight in, and protect all ...
twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra is called the comprehensive
practice.
To accept,
uphold, and protect the “Expedient Means” chapter and the “Life Span” chapter
is called the abbreviated practice.
And simply to
chant one four-phrase verse or the daimoku,
and to protect those who do so, is called the essential practice.
Hence, among
these three kinds of practice, comprehensive, abbreviated, and essential, the daimoku is defined as the essential practice.(WND-1, p143)
Basically,
all of the Nichiren schools have a daily practise (Gongyo), or twice daily
practise, which includes a combination of recitations from the Lotus Sutra,
silent prayers (of gratitude and intent), daimoku and bell-ringing/striking a
wooden block.
All of the
various schools have their own particular style but generally chant extracts
which they consider to be the core of the Lotus Sutra.Some ring the bell continuously during
daimoku, some use it to indicate what stage of the gongyo they are at, some
chant extracts from the two main chapters of the Lotus Sutra (2nd
and 16th) and others use longer extracts from these chapters or key extracts
from other chapters.All believe that
their way is the correct way to practice and is usually based on their founders’
(or subsequent leaders’) guidelines of what should be focussed on.As Nichiren hasn’t really written about this
practice, there doesn’t seem to be a major conflict online about how to do
gongyo and most of the schools chant in Japanese (although some don’t).
“Nam” or “Namu”
The core of
Nichiren’s teaching though is to chant “Nam(u)-Myoho-Renge-Kyo” and some Nichiren
schools can get quite hung up on this issue, believing that because Nichiren
Shoshu and the SGI says “nam” instead of “namu” we are not practising correctly
and will get no benefit from our practise.
Personally,
I see it as something of a non-issue because the “mispronounced” word is a
Japanese transliteration of the Sanskrit word “namas” which means “devotion”.It’s not like a mispronunciation of the title
of the Lotus Sutra “myoho-renge-kyo” but a small discrepancy over an
approximation of a foreign word for devotion.
If Nichiren
wanted to avoid confusion, he could have used any of the Japanese words for
devotion, but he obviously felt that the Sanskrit word more fully embodied the
depth of this devotion/unity with the Lotus Sutra and wanted to include a
Japanese approximation of it in his mantra.Even though I think it’s a non-issue, let’s look at some examples of Japanese:
CONTEXTUAL
PRONOUNCIATION -Sometimes the final
syllable of a word is pronounced as though the final vowel were not there:Squirrel in Japanese is RISU and is
pronounced RI-SU, but the verb to be - DESU - is often pronounced as DE-S not
DE-SU.
PHONETIC CONTRACTION
– Sometimes during conversation, or when speaking quickly, the final vowel
sound may be dropped, especially when the following word starts with the same
syllable sound.If this is the case, we might
get the use of NAMU AMIDA BUDDHA, NAMU ICHIJO-MYOTEN, NAMU NICHIREN, etc. but
when the following word starts with an “M” we would get NAM(u) MYOHO RENGE KYO.
JAPANESE
SYLLABLES - Unfortunately because we don’t have a recording of Nichiren
chanting, we have to rely on the Gosho to guide us, but this doesn’t help us either.Japanese is a syllabic language and while
most of the Japanese syllables are two or three characters and usually end in a
vowel there are also solitary vowels AND a solitary “n” and ”m” syllable.i.e. the Japanese word for newspaper is
shimbun, which has both the solitary “m” in the middle and a solitary “n” at
the end.In the Gosho, Nichiren
sometimes refers to the seven syllables of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, but this is
true whether we say “namu” or “nam” because although in English “nam” is one
syllable, it is still two syllables - “na” and “m” – in Japanese.
As I say, I
think this is something of a non-issue, but some sects get really worked up
about this.It’s a shame, but if it was
such a big deal, I’m sure Nichiren would have clarified the correct pronunciation
of “nam”/”namu” much more clearly in one of his letters, stressing that it
should always be pronounced “MU” especially as the following word does start
with an M and “NAM(u) MYOHO RENGE KYO” is so central to our practise. He didn’t, so he either believed everyone was
chanting correctly or he didn’t see it as an issue.
Which Gohonzon is Best?
A Gohonzon is a mandala used by the various
schools of Nichiren Buddhism.Carl Jung described a mandala as a universal expression of the
human subconscious and Nichiren’s various Gohonzon are reifications of the
Mystic Law of “nam-myoho-renge-kyo”. On the surface they represent pictorially or calligraphically the
world and its spiritual nature, but on a deeper level they are a guide for
transforming our ordinary human minds into enlightened ones.
So why do we have a
Gohonzon?
In the Gosho, “Questions
and Answers on the Object of Devotion” we have the following conversation:
QUESTION: In the evil world
of the latter age, what should ordinary men and women take as their object of
devotion?
ANSWER: They should make the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra their object
of devotion.
QUESTION: Which is superior, a Buddha or a sutra?
ANSWER: As the
object of devotion one should select which is superior… in Buddhism, Shakyamuni
should be regarded as the object of devotion.
QUESTION: If that is so, then why
do you not take Shakyamuni as your object of devotion, but instead make the
daimoku of the Lotus Sutra the object of devotion?
ANSWER: …Shakyamuni Buddha and
T’ien-t’ai are the ones who have declared that the Lotus Sutra should be the
object of devotion.And now, in this
latter age, I, Nichiren, too, following the example of the Buddha and
T’ien-t’ai, take the Lotus Sutra as the object of devotion.I do so becaue the Lotus Sutra is the father
and mother of Shakyamuni Buddha, the eye of the Buddhas, and Shakyamuni,
Mahavairochana and all the other Buddhas of the ten directions were born from
the Lotus Sutra.Therefore, as the
object of devotion I now take that which is capable of bringing forth such life
force.
Even though Nichiren inscribed the Dai-Gohonzon on Oct.
12, 1279 for the happiness of all humanity, he doesn’t specifically refer to it
in any of his writings, and throughout his life, he inscribed many subsequent
Gohonzon with various scenes, characters and concepts from the Lotus Sutra.All of them are intended to act as a
representation of the Lotus Sutra, an embodiment of the Mystic Law and the
reification of “Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo” and to act as a mirror to our lives.They are not just objects of devotion, but
objects of devotion for observing the mind.The Gohonzon is the life of Nichiren Daishonin and the life of
Shakyamuni Buddha.And, equally as
important, the Gohonzon is YOUR LIFE.
When we chant we are connecting
ourselves with the Buddha nature of the universe bringing forth our Buddhahood
and accessing our Buddha wisdom.
"A
bronze mirror will reflect the form of a person but it will not reflect that
person’s mind. The Lotus Sutra, however, reveals not only the person’s form but
that person’s mind as well.And it
reveals not only the mind, it reflects, without the least concealment, that
person’s past actions and future as well” (Rulers of the Land of the Gods, WND2 –
619)
Despite all of this evidence from the
Gosho though, some schools of Nichiren Buddhism still worship statues of the
Buddha instead of a mandala or have both the Gohonzon and a statue of Buddha as
their objects of worship.
With so many Gohonzon to choose from –
there are 125 official Nichiren ones in existence as well as those inscribed by
the priests of various schools - which one will give us the best benefit.Is it the Dai-Gohonzon of Nichiren Shoshu?
In an article about the Dai-Gohonzon,
Ted Morino, the SGI-USA Study Department Senor Advisor writes “What is most
important is the power of our faith and practice, which enables us to tap the
power of the Buddha and the Law in the Dai-Gohonzon and in all other Gohonzon,
and within ourselves.”
He also quotes Daisaku Ikeda as saying “The
Gohonzon enshrined at our home carries the same significance as the Dai-Gohonzon”
and Mr. Morino continues “Since the Dai-Gohonzon is made of wood, its physical
longevity is naturally limited. But the essence of the Dai-Gohonzon, the Law,
will never perish because it inherently exists in the universe and within each
of us.”
Returning to the Gosho, in The Real
Aspect of the Gohonzon, Nichiren writes “Never seek this Gohonzon outside
yourself. The Gohonzon exists only within the mortal flesh of us ordinary
people who embrace the Lotus Sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.” (WND1 –
p832)
All of this implies to me that it is
your faith in the Lotus Sutra, your practise of Nichiren Buddhism and your
daimoku of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo (which is the actual “object” of devotion), that
is more important than which version of the Gohonzon you have chosen
to “observe your mind”.
If anything, the only significance of
your specific Gohonzon, is that it identifies which school of Nichiren Buddhism
you belong to.Some people argue online
that their Gohonzon is more beautiful or more complete than that of another
school, but again if all Gohonzon are embodiments of the daimoku of the Lotus
Sutra, you are comparing the beauty and completeness of the same object, and
implying that Nichiren’s decision to include, or not include, certain
characters or the less symmetrical nature of some of his Gohonzon are
reflections of his attitude to his followers.As a Nichiren Buddhist I would be honoured to receive a Gohonzon from
the Daishonin, even one that had bits “missed off” and it would be a great
treasure irrespective of its aesthetic beauty.
BONUS – I’ve put links below for a
website which has images of the 125 different mandala that Nichiren inscribed
and also a youtube link which has the same mandala displayed as a video and it
contains the chanting of “Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo”.
WARNING - Some of you may not want to
check out this webpage or youtube video as they contain images of the Gohonzon,
which some members and schools consider to be bad luck.Personally, I have no problem with it and
think it’s interesting from a historical point of view to look at the history
of Nichiren’s embodiment of the Lotus Sutra over time.Similarly, the youtube video was put on by a
Nichiren Shu member and you may feel uncomfortable listening to their members
chanting “namu” if you are used to chanting “nam”.Again, for me watching and listening to this
video is interesting from a study point of view, and I don’t feel it
constitutes a change of faith.If you do
listen and prefer the sound of this chanting though, feel free to find out more
about them (or Kempon Hokke another “namu” school) online.
