Regarding the “opening the eyes” of Buddhist statues, it is preached in the Sūtra of Meditation on the Universal Sage Bodhisattva, “This Mahayana sūtra is the treasure-house of various Buddhas and the eyes of the numerous Buddhas in all the worlds throughout the universe in the past, present, and future lives.” The sūtra also states, “This Mahayana sūtra is the eyes of various Buddhas. They were able to have the five kinds of eyes by virtue of this sūtra.” The five kinds of eyes mentioned in this sutra are: (1) human-eyes, (2) divine-eye, (3) wisdom eye, (4) dharma-eye, and (5) Buddha-eye. These five kinds of eyes are naturally acquired by those who uphold the Lotus Sūtra. This is like the people in a country who naturally follow whomever becomes the king, and fish in an ocean naturally obey the lord of the ocean. The pre-Lotus sūtras such as the Flower Garland Sūtra, the Agama sūtras, the Wisdom Sūtra, and the Great Sun Buddha Sūtra may have the name of the “five kinds of eyes” but not in reality. On the contrary, the Lotus Sūtra has them both in name and reality. Even if there is no name it is necessarily included in reality.

Regarding the threefold body of a Buddha, the Sūtra of Meditation on the Universal Sage Bodhisattva preaches:

The three kinds of body which a Buddha possesses is expounded in Mahayana Buddhism. In particular, the Lotus Sūtra is equipped with all the teachings just as an ocean accepts all the waters. From this ocean (of the Lotus Sūtra) three pure bodies of a Buddha are born. These three bodies of a Buddha are the fields where human and heavenly beings can plant the merit of good deeds, and they are the most superior of accepting offerings from human and heavenly beings.

The three bodies of a Buddha are (1) Dharma Body, (2) Reward Body, and (3) Accommodative Body. Each Buddha inevitably is equipped with these three. If we compare them to the moon, the Dharma Body is the moon’s body, the Reward Body is the moonlight, and the Accommodative Body is the shadow of the moon. As one body of the moon has three sides, each Buddha has the virtue of three Buddhas.

This doctrine of “five kinds of eyes” and “three bodies of a Buddha” cannot be found anywhere except in the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai states in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 9, “A Buddha has been equipped with the ‘three bodies’ always throughout the past, present, and future existences, but the Buddha concealed it in various sūtras except the Lotus Sūtra.” In this interpretation, “various sūtras” refer to not only the Flower Garland Sūtra, the Hōdō sūtras, and the Wisdom Sūtra but also all the sūtras except the Lotus Sūtra. ”The Buddha concealed it” means Lord Śākyamuni Buddha did not expound it anywhere except in the “Lifespan of the Buddha” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, the opening the eyes service for a Buddhist portrait or statue must be performed with the Lotus Sūtra by the Tendai (T’ien-t’ai) School of Buddhism.

Shijō Kingo Shakabutsu Kuyō, Opening the Eyes Service of Shijō Kingo’s Satue of Śākyamuni Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 131-132

The joy of this 100 days project is the opportunity to lay out the foundation of Nichiren Buddhism in some detail as opposed to quick quotations.