The long and broad tongue reaching to the Brahma heaven testifies to the truth of what had been taught. It is a way of affirming that what the Buddha teaches is true, especially true in the sense of being effective in relieving suffering. This tongue symbolizes the length and breadth the Dharma: it is both broad or inclusive and long in that it can reach everywhere. Though it takes many forms, the Dharma goes everywhere and is one; that is, it is neither divided nor fragmented.

Thus this image of the long and broad tongue reaching to the heavens is called a symbol of nimon-shin’itsu, “two gateways, one in faith.” That is, in faith the two halves of the Sutra are one, and Shakyamuni Buddha and the Original Buddha are one. …

This unity of Shakyamuni Buddha and the Original Buddha is related to the Dharma Flower Sutra’s repeated affirmation of the reality and importance of this concrete, actual world. The original, universal Buddha is always an embodied Buddha – for us, principally Shakyamuni Buddha, who is uniquely the Buddha of this world, the one declared in the Lotus Sutra to be the “father of this world.” The abstract universal and original Buddha has to be embodied in order to make a difference in this world. Without Shakyamuni Buddha, for us at least, there might be no buddha at all. Even the three Pure Land Sutras, which are the textual basis for devotion to Amida Buddha, like the Dharma Flower Sutra are said to have been preached on Eagle Peak by Shakyamuni Buddha. Regardless of what buddha is the main object of art or devotion, the whole Buddhist tradition has its historical origin in Shakyamuni Buddha.