Regarding the “opening the eyes” of Buddhist statues, it is preached in the Sūtra of Meditation on the Universal Sage Bodhisattva, “This Mahāyāna 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 Mahāyāna 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 sūtra 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 Āgama 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.

Shijō Kingo Shakabutsu Kuyō-ji, Opening the Eyes Service of Shijō Kingo’s Statue of Śākyamuni, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 130-131