One can say that the teaching of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha during the Ceremony in the Air is not merely a mythological portrayal of the timeless and placeless qualities of Buddhahood, but is also a symbol of the workings of the pure consciousness within the depths of our lives. This is likewise the dimension of our life that transcends space and time. Essentially, Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra teaches that the true nature of Shakyamuni Buddha’s life is the true nature of all life, including our own. This means that the Buddha’s life and all of his awakened qualities are just as present here and now as they were 2,500 years ago in India when he was teaching the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, we should no longer feel we must devote ourselves to any cold, abstract principles or to any personifications of incomplete aspects of the life of the Buddha. Based upon his understanding of the Ceremony in the Air, Nichiren Shonin taught that we should take refuge in the Eternal Shakyamnni Buddha as the unity of the historical, ideal, and universal aspects of the Buddha-­nature. These are fully realized and manifested by Shakyamuni Buddha, and are also the potential within all of us. The Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha, therefore, should be our Focus of Devotion if we want to fully realize the true nature of the Buddha’s awakened life and our own.

The life of a buddha cannot be discussed in terms of a beginning or an end because the true reality of life has no beginning or end. This is in keeping with the Three Truths of Emptiness, Provisionality, and the Middle Way. The Buddha has no birth or death because the Buddha is the selfless, dynamic, and interdependent true nature of life which has no birth or death. However, as a part of the dynamic interplay of all things, the Buddha’s awakening unfolds in terms of this world’s concepts of birth and death, striving and awakening. From the perspective of the Middle Way, the Buddha’s awakened life is what it is and cannot be defined as either transcendent or mundane, though it displays both aspects.

The jeweled stupa arising from the earth represents the emergence of the Buddha-nature in the daily lives of ordinary people. The transformation of this world into the Pure Land of Tranquil Light reveals that this very world is the real pure land where awakening is realized. The recall of the emanated buddhas from the pure lands reveals that these idealized buddhas are all personifications of the historical Shakyamuni Buddha’s own awakened qualities and inner life. The image of Many Treasures Tathagata and Shakyamuni Buddha symbolizes the unity of the true reality (Many Treasures Tathagata) and the wisdom of the person who awakens to it (Shakyamuni Buddha).

Buddha nature is the true nature of all beings. There are no barriers due to race, class, sex, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or even moral quality. The Buddha-nature is always there waiting to be discovered. All of the previous teachings of the Buddha, which separated people into several subsidiary “vehicles,” are skillful means for accomplishing the “One Vehicle.”

If Ichinen Sanzen is the theory of the interpenetration of the universal (the Three Thousand Worlds) and the particular (in a single moment of thought), then the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha is the concrete actualization of this theory. The Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha is not at all a transcendent, theistic savior, but the living proof that the Wonderful Dharma is the true nature of our lives and not just a cold abstraction or an unattainable ideal. With this in mind, Nichiren Shonin insisted that the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha alone should be the true Focus of Devotion.

As Nichiren Shonin stated in the Ho-on jo, the first of the Three Great Secret Dharmas is the Gohonzon, or Essential Focus of Devotion, which is the all-encompassing life of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha. In the Lotus Sutra, prior to Chapter 16, Shakyamuni Buddha is no more than a historical buddha whose birth, awakening, and imminent death all occur within the confines of northern India over the course of a normal human lifetime. In Chapter 16, however, Shakyamuni Buddha clearly demonstrates the unity of the Three Bodies: the historical, the ideal, and the universal aspects of Buddhahood. For this reason, the Shakyamuni Buddha of Chapter 16 is differentiated from the historical Shakyamuni Buddha of the prior teachings by adding the title “Eternal.”

Nichiren Shonin taught that these three principles – Gohonzon, Odaimoku and Precept Platform – would enable all people to realize the truth of Ichinen Sanzen for themselves and become fully awakened. For this reason, Nichiren was convinced that he had surpassed previous forms of Buddhism by presenting a form of teaching and practice that was not only accessible but potent enough to enable all people to fully realize the truth of the Buddha’s teaching for themselves.

The concept of Ichinen Sanzen is the most important of all of Nichiren’s teachings. Since all worlds are contained in every single moment of awareness, then every moment is potentially the one in which we awaken to the world of Buddhahood. If any of this is to help us, however, there must be a way to make that potential a reality. It was Nichiren Shonin’s conviction that there must be a way for all people to attain Buddhahood. This idea led him to uncover the Three Great Secret Dharmas that allow anyone to put the potential within Ichinen Sanzen into actual practice in their lives. The Three Great Secret Dharmas are the Gohonzon, the Essential Focus of Reverence; the Odaimoku, the Sacred Title of the Lotus Sutra; and the Kaidan, the Precept Platform. A clear understanding of the Three Great Secret Dharmas will enable us to understand and put into practice the true spirit of all the Buddha’s teachings.

The 1,000 worlds resulting from the multiplication of the one hundred worlds with the ten factors are made universal by the Three Realms. The Three Realms consist of the individual, who is composed of the Five Aggregates (form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness); the community of all beings, who are transmigrating through the Ten Worlds; and the land in which they all live. These Three Realms show that the one thousand worlds are present in and manifest themselves through all things without exception. That is, the possibilities that they point to are possessed by individuals, societies, and even non-human and inanimate phenomena.

In the daily practice of Nichiren Buddhism, the Ten Factors are recited three times. This is done to acknowledge each of the Three Truths of Emptiness, Provisional Reality, and the Middle Way. The first recitation acknowledges that all Ten Factors are ultimately empty because they are nothing apart from the flow and process of the Ten Worlds that they describe. The second recitation acknowledges that all Ten Factors do have a provisional existence because their activity allows the Ten Worlds to manifest. The third recitation acknowledges that all Ten Factors are expressions of the Middle Way.