This is another in a series of daily articles concerning Kishio Satomi's book, "Japanese Civilization; Its Significance and Realization; Nichirenism and the Japanese National Principles," which details the foundations of Chigaku Tanaka's interpretation of Nichiren Buddhism and Japan's role in the early 20th century.

---

In the Mandala Gohonzon the phrase Namu-Myōhō Renge Kyō appears in the center with Nichiren’s signature in line below. The four corners are guarded by the four heavenly kings. In the middle on the side between the corners are representations of Fudo Myo-o and Aizen Myo-o. In the center on either side of the Daimoku are five rows of names. In the top row, Many Treasures Tathagata appears immediately to the right of the Daimoku and Śākyamuni appears to the left. In the next row down, Mañjuśrī appears next to the Daimoku on the right and Universal Sage appears to the left. In the third row, Kishimojin appears on the right side of the Daimoku and the 10 Rākṣasas Daughters on the left. In the fourth row, Nagarjuna is on the right side of the Daimoku and Chan-jan on the left. On the final row, Amaterasu Omikami, the Sun Goddess, appears next to the Daimoku on the right and the god Hachiman appears on the left.  Many other names appear, but these are the names positioned closest to the Daimoku. The position of the Sun Goddess and Hachiman has particular import in Kishio Satomi’s Nichirenism.

Now, let us not neglect another important thought on the Supreme Being. Nichiren wrote down in the Center of the Supreme Being [the Mandala Gohonzon] as follows:

Adoration of the Perfect Mysterious Law Nichiren, with the Sun Goddess immediately to the right of this and Hachiman to the left.

This, no doubt, indicates a most important thought of Nichiren; it was suggested to him by the doctrine of the Ten Mysterious Laws of the Honmon in the Hokekyo. The so-called Three Radical Mysterious Laws among the ten are applied in the center of the Supreme Being.

The Three Radical Mysterious Laws are as under:

1. Mysterious Law of Original Effect.
2. Mysterious Law of Original Cause.
3. Mysterious Law of Original Land.

All of them, originally, were the doctrine concerning the Primeval Buddha. Let us interpret this as far as may be necessary. The Primeval Buddha who had attained Buddhahood from all eternity, in other words, the Buddha who revealed Himself as the eternal savior in Chapter 16 of the Hokekyo, reveals Himself in at least the three aspects. First of all, He reveals Himself as the Perfect Buddha who is the highest effect of cultivation. That is the Mysterious Law of Original Effect. It runs in the Hokekyo as under:

“Listen then, young men of good family. The force of a strong resolve which I assumed is such, young men of good family, that this world, including gods, men, and demons, acknowledges: Now has the Lord Shakyamuni, after going out from the home of the Shakas, arrived at supreme, perfect enlightenment, on the summit of the terrace of enlightenment at the town of Gaya. But, young men of good family, the truth is that many hundred thousand myriads of Koṭis of Æons ago I have arrived at supreme, perfect enlightenment. By way of example, young men of good family, let there be the atoms of earth of fifty hundred thousand myriads of Koṭis of worlds; let there exist some man who takes one of those atoms of dust and then goes in an eastern direction fifty hundred thousand myriads of Koṭis of worlds further on, there to deposit that atom of dust; let in this manner the man carry away from those worlds the whole mass of earth, and in the same manner, and by the same act as supposed, deposit all those atoms in an eastern direction. Now, would you think, young men of good family, that any one should be able to imagine, weigh, count, or determine (the number of) those worlds? I announce to you, young men of good family, I declare to you: however numerous be those worlds where that man deposits those atoms of dust and where he does not, there are not, young men of good family, in those hundred thousands of myriads of koṭis of worlds so many dust atoms as there are hundred thousands of myriads of koṭis of Æons since I have arrived at supreme, perfect enlightenment. From the moment, young men of good family, when I began preaching the law to creatures in this Sahā-world and in hundred thousands of myriads of Rotis of other worlds” (Kern, pp. 298—300 ; Yamakawa, pp. 455—8).

Secondly, even the Buddha cannot be Buddha without having any cause to be Buddha. Therefore He says:

“Once I had practiced the Bodhisattva-course and accomplished the life which is still everlasting, nay, it is multiplied by the above numbers” (i.e. 500,000 myriads of koṭis). (Yamakawa, p. 461 ; cp. Kern, P. 303).

The mysterious Law of Original Cause is shown as above. But if such things only are done in heaven, then they are nothing but matters-in-heaven. Buddha’s contention, however, is quite different from such an imaginary tale; he, obviously, mentioned such a practice on the earth. Consequently, the next problem is the one concerning the background wherein such mysterious things have been actually done. Buddha says:

“From the moment … when I began preaching the law to creatures in this Sahā-world.”

Or further:

“And when creatures behold this world and imagine that it is burning, even then my Buddhafield is teeming with gods and men. They dispose of manifold amusements, koṭis of pleasure gardens, palaces, and aerial cars; (this field) is embellished by hills of gems and by trees abounding with blossoms and fruits. And aloft gods are striking musical instruments and pouring a rain of Mandāras with which they are covering me and the disciples and other sages who are striving after enlightenment. So is my field here, everlastingly; but others fancy that it is burning; in their view this world is most terrific, wretched, replete with numbers of woes” (Kern, p. 308 ; Yamakawa, p. 471).

This is the Mysterious Law of Land.

If there be such individuals who practice the Buddha’s Way and there are Buddhas, then the country or the world which consists of the above beings must be the ideal world. The Sole Buddha, according to the Hokekyo, reveals Himself in these three aspects, but the three are one. Nichiren founded the system … from this point of view.

“Namu-Myōhōrengekyō,” “Adoration to the Perfect Truth of the Lotus,” means the first “Mysterious Law of Original Effect,” “Sungoddess and Hachiman” is the “Mysterious Law of the Original Land” and “Nichiren” means the Mysterious Law of Original Cause.”

Of course, Myōhōrengekyō is the content of the Buddha Shakyamuni’s personality, that is to say, it is another name of the Buddha. Therefore, it is quite natural to mention it as the Mysterious Law of Original Effect, namely He manifested the highest effect of attainment of our personality through sincere cultivation.

Nichiren is, of course, in this case, the prophesied person as the executor or performer of the Hokekyo in the age of the Latter Law. There is no doubt that he performed all his duties precisely according to the indication and prophecy of the Hokekyo: that is, he exemplified how to live in order to attain Buddhahood. But the Sungoddess is the Imperial ancestor of Japan, and the God of Hachiman is also a Japanese national God. Herein some people might imagine a narrow minded notion of nationality, whereas it is, in fact, the most important problem in Nichirenism as the universal religion.

Nichirenism and the Japanese National Principles, p90-94

---

Table of ContentsNext

This is another in a series of daily articles concerning Kishio Satomi's book, "Japanese Civilization; Its Significance and Realization; Nichirenism and the Japanese National Principles," which details the foundations of Chigaku Tanaka's interpretation of Nichiren Buddhism and Japan's role in the early 20th century.

---

Having previously discussed the Kaidan and the Daimoku, it’s time to consider Kishio Satomi’s take on the third of the Three Great Secret Dharmas, the Gohonzon.

The Sacred Title was treated as the problem of a religious subject while the Supreme Being is going to be treated as a problem of a religious object. Every religion has its object for worship. In Nichirenism, with regard to this point, what kind of object is given?

First of all, we must know the meaning of the Supreme Being itself. Three meanings were ascribed to the Supreme Being in Nichirenism. Originally, the word Honzon was a compound noun which can be divided into Hon and Son (Zon is an euphonical change). Hon means Origin and Son means augustness or supremacy. The innate supreme substance is the first definition, the second is the radical adoration, and the third is the genuine or natural respect. All these are slightly different expressions of the Supreme Being and its aspects.

There are two kinds of Supreme Beings in general. The one has the abstract principle as its religious object, while the other has a concrete idea of personality or person itself as its object of worship. In this connection, Nichiren has both simultaneously. According to him, Buddha Shakyamuni is the only savior in this world, therefore we must have Him as our object of religious worship. The following quotation demonstrates it:

“Worship, in Japan and the world, the Buddha Shakyamuni, the revealer of the Honmon of the Hokekyo, as the Supreme Being ” (Works, p. 195).

On the other hand, he says:

“You shall have the Sacred Title of the Hokekyo as the Supreme Being ” (Works, p. 348).

Thus, he founded two kinds of the Supreme Being, the object of worship. In other words, these are the Buddha centric Supreme Being and the Law centric one.

Nichirenism and the Japanese National Principles, p77-78

For Satomi, the Mandala Gohonzon is the physical representation of the Supreme Being.

For all beings, gods and men, animals and plants, spirits and demons, he gave the right position in the Supreme Being, the Circle or the Mandala. All of them, without exception, are surrounding the Sacred Title of the center, in other words, all the beings from Buddha to Hell devoted themselves to the highest truth of the Sacred Title. The Sacred Title is nothing but the Buddha Shakyamuni’s true name, as well as it is our own inherent nature. Realization of true self through the Sacred Title according to the principle of the Mutual Participation is thus taught. Man or Buddha or God in the highest possible sense can be seen here with the true significance of life. …

Keeping this in view it will be easy to understand that Nichiren’s idea consisted in “Coincidencia oppositorum” and “Synthetic union.” According to him, all beings on the one side are a mass of lust, but nevertheless they are, on the other side, Buddha in nature or Buddha in substance. Therefore if they would self-awaken to their true value and strain every nerve to get near their intrinsic Buddhahood, significant lives would be established. For that reason he divided the Buddha into two kinds, viz. Buddha-in-Nature and Buddha-in-Realization. The former corresponds to normal man and the latter means Buddha himself. Besides, all beings from the Buddha to Hell or from man to all lower animate creatures are united in the highest principle, that is to say, Myohorengekyo. Thus, this Mandala is, indeed, the real form of the Real Suchness or the world or self or the class harmonization. [Nichiren], therefore, strongly advocated this Supreme Being in the absolute sense. He writes on the right side of the Supreme Being as under:

“This is the Great Mandala which has never before appeared in this world during these two thousand two hundred and twenty years since Buddha’s Decease.”

On the left side is written

“Having been condemned to die on the twelfth day of the ninth month, in the eighth year of Bunn-nei, but as I had, instead, been exiled later on to the distant Isle of Sado, on the eighth day of the seventh month, in the tenth year of the same, I, Nichiren, make this representation for the first time.”

Thus Nichiren made the Supreme Being in a perfectly graphical method, which is much more effective than the ordinary Buddha’s image or Buddha’s picture or an abstract heaven.

Nichirenism and the Japanese National Principles, p80-83

---

Table of ContentsNext

This is another in a series of daily articles concerning Kishio Satomi's book, "Japanese Civilization; Its Significance and Realization; Nichirenism and the Japanese National Principles," which details the foundations of Chigaku Tanaka's interpretation of Nichiren Buddhism and Japan's role in the early 20th century.

---

In discussing the Daimoku, Kishio Satomi doesn’t stray from what would be considered standard Nichiren doctrine.

“Namu” …. means a vow of constant effort for the Attainment of Buddhahood. [Nichiren] says:

“Wise and ignorant, all people equally shall utter Namu-Myōhōrengekyō and abstain from any other vow of the kind ” (Works, p. 196).

And to this Nichiren particularly draws our attention, he says:

“There are two different significations of the Sacred Title between the ages of the Right and Copied Laws and the age of the Latter Law. In the age of the Right Law, Vasubandhu and Nāgārjuna, etc., adored the Sacred Title which they had limited within their own practices. In the age of the Copied Law, Nangaku (or Eshi), Tendai, etc., worshipped and uttered the Sacred Title, but they did it for the sake of their own practices, and did not propagate it widely to other people. Such attitudes are nothing but metaphysical methods. The Sacred Title which is uttered by me, Nichiren, in the Days of the Latter Law, is totally different from their attitudes in the previous ages. It is a ‘Namu-Myōhōrengekyō’ for the sake of our own practice and at the same time for the sake of the salvation of all beings” (Works, pp. 240—1).

According to him, the Sacred Title must be kept by every individual, and this individual must strive for the salvation of his environment. What he chiefly meant was the instruction of individuals by the Law of the Sacred Title.

Nichirenism and the Japanese National Principles, p71-72

On the issue of knowledge vs. faith:

[In this doctrine of the Sacred Title…] we see therein a possible solution of the problem of knowledge and faith. [Nichiren] held the value of faith in religion in high esteem, therefore he admonished the people to live in faith. So, he wrote to one of his disciples:

“The slight knowledge regarding Buddhism of some of my disciples proved their bane” (Works,
p. 729).

Further, he says:

“Our knowledge brings no profit whatever. If one has sufficient knowledge to distinguish between hot and cold, one should explore wisdom ” (Works, p. 1609).

However learned a man may be, his knowledge is apt to lead him astray unless he grasps the fundamental wisdom which is different from knowledge. We cannot rejoice in religious happiness without faith. Therefore he says:

“One may make oneself a learned man or scholar, but it is of no avail if one goes to hell” (Works,
p. 1358).

Thus, he recognized the superiority of faith, but he by no means depreciated knowledge. The essential nature of religion must be faith, but reason and the will, after conviction of faith, lead faith on to the right path. He says:

“Be diligent in practice and research, if these two became extinct, then Buddhist Law would have perished. So strive for them and cultivate other people. But in all circumstances, these are derived from faith and belief ” (Works, p. 502).

Nichirenism and the Japanese National Principles, p73-74

---

Table of ContentsNext