Today I added Senchu Murano’s 36-page booklet entitled The Gohonzon, which was published in 1997 by the Nichiren Shu Overseas Propagation Promotion Association. (Read it here.)
Murano, who is the principal translator for the Nichiren Shu version of the Lotus Sutra harbors some theories that I take issue with. For example, in this booklet he says:
Sakyamuni Buddha became the Buddha in the remotest past. There was no Buddha before him. He was the first Buddha, the Original Buddha. All the other Buddhas in the past, present and future are his emanations.
In The Gohonzon booklet, Murano offers an abbreviated summary of the teaching of the Lotus Sutra that he entitles:
The Fantasy of the Lotus Sutra
The Pure World of the Original and Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha is a fantasy of the Lotus Sutra. A fantasy may not be real, but it sometimes portrays the truth more eloquently than reality. That is why Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Miyazawa Kenji’s Milky Way Railroad Train At Night is immortal.
The fantastic narration of the Lotus Sutra begins with the story of Prabhutaratna (Many-Treasures, Taho) Buddha, as follows:
There lived a Buddha called Taho many kalpas ago in a world called Treasure-Pure, which was located far to the east of the Saha World. Taho Buddha knew the Wonderful Dharma, but did not expound it by himself because he thought that the Wonderful Dharma should be expounded by a Buddha who would emanate from himself as many Replica-Buddhas as there are worlds in the universe, dispatch them to those worlds, and then expound the Wonderful Dharma in a sutra called the Lotus Sutra. Taho Buddha decided to wait for the advent of such a Buddha, and to approve the truthfulness of the Lotus Sutra expounded by that Buddha.
Taho Buddha requested his disciples to build a stupa, and to put his body in it after he passes away. His disciples made a stupa as they were instructed. After his Parinirvana, they positioned his body into a sitting posture of meditation, put it in the stupa, and shut the door.
A Buddha can see, hear, speak, and even move after his Parinirvana. The only thing a past Buddha cannot do is to expound the Dharma. Be must be satisfied with hearing the Dharma expounded by a present Buddha.
Taho Buddha had been watching all the corners of the universe for many kalpas until he finally found a Buddha doing what He had wished to see. He saw Sakyamuni Buddha of the Saha World, which was located far to the west of his world, issue many replicas from himself, dispatch them to all the worlds of the universe, and then expound the Lotus Sutra. Having rejoiced at seeing all this, Taho Buddha prepared himself for the journey to the Saha World. He made his stupa move. It flew through the skies over many worlds, and reached the sky below the Saha World. Then the stupa rose, passed the Saha World from underneath, and floated in the sky above Mt. Sacred Eagle. Taho Buddha turned the stupa toward Sakyamuni, and praised him from within the stupa.
The congregation was astonished to see all this. Representing the congregation, Daigyosetsu Bodhisattva asked Sakyamuni, “Who is in the stupa?” Sakyamuni answered, “Taho Buddha is there.” Daigyosetsu begged Sakyamuni to open the door of the stupa so that all the congregation could see the newly arrived Buddha. But Sakyamuni refused his appeal, saying that Taho Buddha would never allow anyone to open the door of his stupa unless an expounder of the Lotus Sutra collects his Replica-Buddhas from the worlds of the ten quarters. Daigyosetsu begged Sakyamuni to collect them.
Sakyamuni Buddha consented to his appeal. He issued a ray of light from his forehead as a sign to call them forth. Acknowledging this light, the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters returned to their home world, and assembled on Mt. Sacred Eagle. With this Sakyamuni Buddha hovered, and opened the door of the stupa. Taho Buddha moved to the left to make some space for Sakyamuni to sit, and asked him to join him. Sakyamuni entered the stupa and sat on the right of Taho Buddha.
Seeing the two Buddhas sitting side by side in the stupa hanging in the sky, the congregation wished to be near the two Buddhas. Reading the minds of the congregation, Sakyamuni raised them up to the sky below the stupa.
Thereupon Sakyamuni Buddha announced that he would transmit the Lotus Sutra to someone. Hearing this, many Bodhisattvas begged Sakyamuni to transmit it to them. But he refused their appeal, saying, “I meant to say that I would transmit this sutra to someone other than you. You are not needed. I have chosen the ones to whom I will transmit this sutra.”
When he said this, innumerable Bodhisattvas sprang up from the four corners of the Saha World. The four army-like divisions of Bodhisattvas were headed by one or another of the Four Bodhisattvas: Visistacaritra (Jogyo), Anantacaritra (Muhengyo ), Visuddhacaritra (Jogyo) and Spratisthitacaritra (Anryugyo). All the Bodhisattvas from underground rose to the sky, and greeted Sakyamuni Buddha with the disciple-to-master courtesy, saying, “We are very glad to see you again. Are you in good health?” Sakyamuni said to them, “I am very glad .to see that you rejoice at seeing me again.”
The congregation was surprised to see the newcomers from underground greeting Sakyamuni as respectfully and as courteously as if they were the disciples of Sakyamuni Buddha.
Representing the congregation, Maitreya Bodhisattva asked Sakyamuni, saying, “Who are they? We have never seen them before. They must have hidden themselves underground a very long time ago. You are younger than they because it is only forty and some years ago that you became the Buddha. But these elders greet you as respectfully and as courteously as if they were your disciples. This is strange. It is difficult to believe that a handsome, black-haired man of twenty-five years can point to men a hundred years old, and say, ‘They are my sons.’ Who are the newcomers?” Sakyamuni Buddha said to Maireya Bodhisattva, “You think that I left the palace of the Sakyas, sat at the place of enlightenment, and became the Buddha forty and some years ago. You are mistaken. I became the Buddha in the remotest past. These Bodhisattvas from underground are my disciples whom I taught in the remotest past.”
After saying this, Sakyamuni Buddha transmitted the Lotus Sutra to the Bodhisattvas headed by Visistacaritra. Then he descended from the stupa to the ground. All the people who were in the sky also descended. Sakyamuni Buddha put his right hand on the heads of the Bodhisattvas, and said, “Now I will transmit the Lotus Sutra to all of you. Propagate it with all your hearts.”
Sakyamuni Buddha turned toward the stupa in the sky, and said, “May the Buddhas be where they wish to be. May the stupa be where it was.”
Here ends the fantasy of the Lotus Sutra.
I prefer the actual book to this fantasy.