Reply to Niiama

Chapter2(Describing the unprecedentedness of the Gohonzon)

But enough of this. I have been asked to inscribe a Gohonzon for Ōama, and I am troubled about it. The reason is as follows. This Gohonzon was never mentioned in the writings of the many Tripitaka masters who traveled from India to China, or in those of the priests who journeyed from China to India. All the objects of devotion ever enshrined in the temples throughout India are described without exception in The Record of the Western Regions, The Biography of the Tripitaka Master of Ta-tz’u-en-ssu Temple, and The Transmission of the Lamp. Nor have I found it mentioned among the objects of devotion of the various temples that were described by those sages who traveled from China to Japan, or by those wise men who went from Japan to China. Since the daily records of countless temples, such as Gangō-ji and Shitennō-ji,⁵ the first temples in Japan, and many histories, beginning with The Chronicles of Japan, name them without omission, the objects of devotion of those temples are clearly known, but a Gohonzon has never been listed among them.

People say in doubt, “It was probably not expounded in the sutras or treatises. That is why the many wise men have neither painted nor carved images of it.” However, the sutras are before their very eyes. Those who so doubt should examine whether or not it is found in the sutras. It is wrong to denounce this object of devotion merely because it was never painted or carved in previous ages.

For example, Shakyamuni Buddha once ascended to the heaven of the thirty-three gods to fulfill his obligations to his deceased mother. But because of the Buddha’s transcendental powers, with the exception of the Venerable Maudgalyāyana, no one in the entire land of Jambudvīpa was aware of it. Thus, even though Buddhism is before their very eyes, if people lack the proper capacity, it will not be revealed, and if the time is not right, it will not spread. This is a principle of nature. It is as if, for instance, the tides of the ocean were ebbing and flowing in accordance with the time, or the moon in the heavens were waning and waxing.

Notes

5. A temple of the Flower Garland school, Gangō-ji is one of the seven major temples of Nara. The construction of this temple was begun in 588 by the court official Soga no Umako and was completed in 596. Shitennō-ji is the oldest extant Japanese Buddhist temple. Founded by Prince Shōtoku in 587, it is located in what is now Osaka. It is said that Shōtoku built it to demonstrate his gratitude for his victory with Soga no Umako over Mononobe no Moriya, and that he enshrined there statues of the four heavenly kings (Jpn shitennō).