On Consecrating an Image of ShakyamuniBuddha Made by Shijō Kingo

Chapter3(Clarifying the True Eye-Opening Ceremony)

Main Text

These doctrines of the five types of vision and the three bodies are not expounded anywhere outside of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai has said, “The Buddha consistently possesses the three bodies throughout the three existences. But in the various teachings, he kept this secret and did not transmit it.”³ In this passage of commentary, the phrase “in the various teachings” refers not only to the Flower Garland, Correct and Equal, and Wisdom sutras, but to all sutras other than the Lotus Sutra. And the phrase “he kept this secret and did not transmit it” means that, throughout the entire body of scriptures outside of the “Life Span” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, concealed and avoided expounding it. Therefore, in performing the eye-opening ceremony for painted or wooden Buddha images, the only authority to rely on is the Lotus Sutra and the T’ien-t’ai school.

Notes

3. The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra.

Lecture

Both the Five Eyes and the Three Bodies originate solely from the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, Nichiren Daishonin teaches that the eye-opening and consecration of Buddha images must be conducted only through the Lotus Sutra.

In the Age of the Semblance Dharma, it was the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai who correctly inherited Shakyamuni’s Lotus Sutra and established a complete system of Buddhist doctrine based upon it. However, after the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law, many monks—such as those of the Shingon, Ritsu, and Nembutsu schools—began to set up their own doctrines based on arbitrary personal views, neglecting the true intent of the sutra. They not only debased and distorted the Law, but each insisted that his own teaching alone was correct.

Against this background, Nichiren Daishonin pointed out that the principle of “opening the eyes” of a Buddha image—that is, infusing it with the life of the Buddha—must be carried out solely through the Lotus Sutra and the T’ien-t’ai school.

However, the term “T’ien-t’ai school” here does not refer to the later form that, after the time of Jikaku (Ennin) and Chishō (Enchin), became corrupted by the false doctrines of Shingon esotericism. The Daishonin referred to “the Lotus Sutra and the T’ien-t’ai school” in contrast to the Shingon, Ritsu, and Nembutsu schools, which had deviated from the Buddha’s true intent and transmitted mistaken teachings. Thus, by saying “the Lotus Sutra and the T’ien-t’ai school,” the Daishonin expressed his rejection of the contemporary T’ien-t’ai school that had become assimilated into Shingon.

Needless to say, in the present age of the Latter Day of the Law, this ultimately means Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.