Nichiren's teachings on Gohonzon and use of ???

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Minobu
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Nichiren's teachings on Gohonzon and use of ???

Post by Minobu »

I'm realizing I have practically no knowledge of what Nichiren DaiShonin has to say about Gohonzon.

Other than in one gosho where he says I have inscribed my life in Sumi Ink, and when he says never before has this been seen in Jumbaddivia.

someone could please start with correct spelling of Jumbadivia...

So does he give esoteric instruction in private and that is all lost..any hints to that..

Are there recorded oral teachings on subject.
maybe some exoteric teachings somewhere ...

It's odd i have devoted myself to a mandala I have no real concrete information about how to approach IT or what practice actually is about with It is...

too weird ...hopefully it is just my ineptness...


It's all intuition and somew here where the Gakki taught "This is Your Life "

Other Buddhist schools when you create a mandala you are taught what they are , how to practice within it , esoteric and exoteric teachings about it.

And more importantly from a Buddhist perspective how to benefit all sentient beings with it whilst practicing within It. you are taught to do stuff...


so please refrain from other than Nichiren Shonin's direct teachings and words....before it goes to personal and sectarian thoughts on the matter...kindly understand I need to know what the Man had to say.
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Minobu
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Re: Nichiren's teachings on Gohonzon and use of ???

Post by Minobu »

FROM ANOTHER THREAD...
illarraza wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 7:36 pm
Now i take my guidance exclusively through the Gohonzon, the Lotus Sutra, and the writings of Nichiren. They have never let me down.

M
This is very esoteric and personal .
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Minobu
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Re: Nichiren's teachings on Gohonzon and use of ???

Post by Minobu »

oh yes..and Nichiren Daishonin said never seek this Gohonzon outside yourself...

which is cool except there are dates of inscription and then lineage of from Tien Tai the great to venerable Mia-Lo ...Dengyo the Great ..
narhwal90
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Re: Nichiren's teachings on Gohonzon and use of ???

Post by narhwal90 »

The Mandala Workshop books exhibit their #10 example of an original Nichiren gohonzon, generally but not universally considered to have been inscribed in 1274, possibly with a toothpick just before Nichiren returned from Sado after his pardon- and given to the captain of the ship. As seen, it is a very simple design on one sheet- almost unrecognizable in comparison to more refined examples.
IMG_20210611_195459-small.jpg
IMG_20210611_195459-small.jpg (397.93 KiB) Viewed 1139 times
Is it the composition which is important? Or the circumstances- or the history- or perhaps what motivates one to practice?
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Minobu
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Re: Nichiren's teachings on Gohonzon and use of ???

Post by Minobu »

Is it the composition which is important? Or the circumstances- or the history- or perhaps what motivates one to practice?
but what of Nichiren and His teachings on what Gohonzon is , how to incorprate His dharma into a practice.


I ask this for what can you or anyone add to this.

The Gohnzon is inside you
Chant ODaimoku and concentrate on the upper part where MYO character is.

Do gongyo and recite silent prayers in front of IT

Enshrine one in your home and offer only water evergreens, fruits and incense..

During New Year's celebrations it's acceptable to offer bottles of sake which you get to drink after...


Where are the teachings about anything other this...from the Hand of Nichiren...

Did He purposely make damn sure there are none for a reason...

so it becomes like intuitive experience...and then like those intuited with what ever ...get to tell their shakkabukku ...


I type this with an unbroken steady practice for over two years now....

my silent prayers are based on shoshu...i offer one recital and a lot of ODaimoku to the gods...i mention a bunch of Vedic brothers and sister of Lord Brahma and Lord Indra who are inscribed on Gohonzon...

sometimes i do a lot of healing chanting for one god in particular who went mad in order to do something beneficial for all sentients and Samsara...


then i do one gongyo for this Three Treasures ...my concept of such...

or just one recital for the gohonzon and the entity and Nichiren Daishonin's Dharma inscribed on Gohonzon



can anyone out there add to this....with something other that intuition stuff.
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Re: Nichiren's teachings on Gohonzon and use of ???

Post by narhwal90 »

Minobu wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 3:38 pm
Is it the composition which is important? Or the circumstances- or the history- or perhaps what motivates one to practice?
but what of Nichiren and His teachings on what Gohonzon is , how to incorprate His dharma into a practice.


I ask this for what can you or anyone add to this.

The Gohnzon is inside you
Chant ODaimoku and concentrate on the upper part where MYO character is.

Do gongyo and recite silent prayers in front of IT

Enshrine one in your home and offer only water evergreens, fruits and incense..

During New Year's celebrations it's acceptable to offer bottles of sake which you get to drink after...

Where are the teachings about anything other this...from the Hand of Nichiren...

Did He purposely make damn sure there are none for a reason...

so it becomes like intuitive experience...and then like those intuited with what ever ...get to tell their shakkabukku ...
I've always viewed offerings of water, flowers, fruit and so on as traditional expressions of gratitude. Not mandated by Nichiren I believe, but a nice looking altar that invites practice is helpful.

I keep my old N.Shoshu altar accessories because it reminds me of my friends, and the old days- I find that helpful. I offer artificial flowers because I'm not into cutting up flowers and trees for the purpose, when I am in a craft store I sometimes buy a couple new ones- to change up the altar. That means the bedroom accumulates vases of flowers not used on the altar- and that looks nice too.

As to cookies vs sake that seems to be entirely according to one's own preferences. An alcoholic or diabetic might choose entirely different offerings. Whatever gets you practicing and keeps you doing it seems like a win.

Nichiren didn't give many specific instructions as to practice; daimoku, recitation of the sutra, meditation on ichinen sanzen and the Tendai 3 Truths, is about it, statuary also but that is controversial. There is no fundamental difference between an altar made of cardboard boxes in a homeless person's tent and one found in the fanciest temple; both are Eagle Peak.
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Minobu
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Re: Nichiren's teachings on Gohonzon and use of ???

Post by Minobu »

all very cool..

it's weird He did not give huge instruction on the whole thing and left it up to personal devices...


another thing...because Lord Sakyamuni said if you want to be my disciple you can only drink the amount of alcohol that fits on the head of a pin...i refrain from alcohol use...although for many a year in my late twenties and early 30's i awoke to a few shots of scotch and a reefer followed by some codeine ...like every day...

i was also horrified when at the culture centre the first time a priest came to do Gojukai at the end of it he went into Mrs' Izumi's office and emerged with alike a huge glass of sake...He stood in front of me and told me , holding this huge glass of sake...saw i was glaring at the thing...and was all chuckles..told me .to stop meditating...it wasn't Buddhist thought...




please though.... as to the artificial flowers ...a song immediately popped into my head...have a listen to the first two lines...I'm not making fun of it at all...just saying ...listen to a first few bars...







few lines if you do not wish to listen
Sat in the corner of the Garden Grill, with plastic flowers on the window sil
No more miracles, loaves and fishes, been so busy with the washing of the dishes
Reaction level's much too high - I can do without the stimuli
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Minobu
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Re: Nichiren's teachings on Gohonzon and use of ???

Post by Minobu »

narhwal90 wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 4:19 pm I've always viewed offerings of water, flowers, fruit and so on as traditional expression I offer artificial flowers because I'm not into cutting up flowers and trees for the purpose, when I am in a craft store I sometimes buy a couple new ones- to change up the altar. That means the bedroom accumulates vases of flowers not used on the altar- and that looks nice too.
Just something that crossed my mind..

I realize your motivation for the artificial flowers.

I used to offer flowers and all sorts of rice and stuff when i had a make shift Tibetan Altar...

all of which is biodegradable...the rice i would toss of the 15th floor and the birds ate it..

the water i would toss into potted plants...the flowers i would toss in a bush in High Park to biodegrade.

Every time you buy a plastic flower you make room for one more to be produced.

your room full of artificial flowers will be around for like a thousand years...somewhere...

just saying...

the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
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Minobu
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Re: Nichiren's teachings on Gohonzon and use of ???

Post by Minobu »

anyways ...i don't think Nichiren shonin even wrote anywhere to chant ODaimoku to Gohonzon , let alone set up a gongyo and offer prayers to Gohonzon...this all sort of happened into a temple setting...after His passing...

Maybe Nichiren was more a grass roots kind of guy loaded with the esoteric, and faith that as long as he left the Daimoku and the recite gongyo when you feel the urge to ...it would all work out...

for me The gohonzon is something i access to do stuff with ...be it healing , material , or spiritual, or bring teachings to me, or set me up to learn stuff...bring people to me...bring this WWW. thing ...

in other words my esoteric Guru and helpers.
illarraza
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Re: Nichiren's teachings on Gohonzon and use of ???

Post by illarraza »

Minobu wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 3:38 pm
Is it the composition which is important? Or the circumstances- or the history- or perhaps what motivates one to practice?
but what of Nichiren and His teachings on what Gohonzon is , how to incorprate His dharma into a practice.


I ask this for what can you or anyone add to this.

The Gohnzon is inside you
Chant ODaimoku and concentrate on the upper part where MYO character is.

Do gongyo and recite silent prayers in front of IT

Enshrine one in your home and offer only water evergreens, fruits and incense..

During New Year's celebrations it's acceptable to offer bottles of sake which you get to drink after...


Where are the teachings about anything other this...from the Hand of Nichiren...

Did He purposely make damn sure there are none for a reason...

so it becomes like intuitive experience...and then like those intuited with what ever ...get to tell their shakkabukku ...


I type this with an unbroken steady practice for over two years now....

my silent prayers are based on shoshu...i offer one recital and a lot of ODaimoku to the gods...i mention a bunch of Vedic brothers and sister of Lord Brahma and Lord Indra who are inscribed on Gohonzon...

sometimes i do a lot of healing chanting for one god in particular who went mad in order to do something beneficial for all sentients and Samsara...


then i do one gongyo for this Three Treasures ...my concept of such...


or just one recital for the gohonzon and the entity and Nichiren Daishonin's Dharma inscribed on Gohonzon


can anyone out there add to this....with something other that intuition stuff.
The Opening of the Eyes explains Gohonzon from the perspective of the "person" of Shakyamuni Buddha of the Juryo Chapter of the Lotus Sutra specifically and us generally. The True Object of Worship explains Gohonzon in terms of the Law of Namu Myoho renge kyo. The oneness of person and Law is known as Ninpo-Ika. Our Mandala Gohonzon is the Gohonzon of Ninpo-Ika.

M
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Re: Nichiren's teachings on Gohonzon and use of ???

Post by narhwal90 »

Moderated posts in violation of the quotation without commentary rule.
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Re: Nichiren's teachings on Gohonzon and use of ???

Post by ronnymarsh »

Nichiren's main writing on the Gohonzon is the "Nyorai Metsugugogo gohyakusai no Kanjin no Honzon Sho", better known simply as "kanjin no honzon sho" or "True Object of Devotion [honzon] of Mind Contemplation [kanjin]". It is in this writing that he reveals the Honzon as he is normally represented.

However, there is a difference between Mandala and Gohonzon.
The scroll or tablets that the adepts and temples enthron are necessarily the "mandala", that is, a representation of the Gohonzon.

The Gohonzon truly is, in short, the mind/life of the Original Buddha. When Nichiren says "don't look for the gohonzon outside your heart/mind/life", what he's saying is don't look for the Buddha outside your heart/mind/life, which is a statement that is primarily aimed at teaching from Japanese pure land Buddhism (where the Buddha is in the western pure land).

As for the representation of this mandala, however, in many writings Nichiren suggests that it is done through Shakyamuni Buddha of chapter 16, being flanked by the four bodhisattvas of the original portal, as he does in the gosho "Establishing the Four Bodhisattvas as the Object of Worship" .

However, due to his life of clashing, Nichiren was never able to actually establish a Honmon in Kaidan where the object of devotion was the image of Shakyamuni flanked by the four bodhisattvas, but only used the Buddhist parchment style of inscriptions.

This style of mandala was first spread by Shinran Shonin, the founder of the Jodo Shinshu [true pure land school], and is called in that school "myogohonzon".

Myogohonzon can be of three types in Jodo Shinshu:
1. Rokuji myogohonzon: six-letter honzon, where it is written "namuamidabutsu".
2. Kuji Myogohonzon: nine-letter honzon, where it is written "namufukashigikonyorai".
3. Juji Myogohonzon: ten-letter honzon, which is written "kimyojinjippomugekonyorai"

Thus, the followers of Jodo Shinshu in Japan mostly enshrined only the parchment with the words namuamidabutsu in their butsudan/butsuma.

Nichiren, who had previously also recited the nembutsu because he was a tendai monk, was eventually influenced by the practice, and his honzon continued to be expressed in the same mold as the honzons of Shinran Shonin.

In the Nikko lineage, it is even understood that any sculpture consists of calumny, and the only honzon accepted are those made with writing. Also, similarly, in the lineage of Nichiryu Daishonin the honzon must be made with writing only, and sculptures of the Buddha are not accepted.
However, this is something more traditional, stemming from the desire to imitate the master than necessarily based on what Nichiren wrote.
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Re: Nichiren's teachings on Gohonzon and use of ???

Post by Lotomístico »

ronnymarsh wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 2:59 am Nichiren's main writing on the Gohonzon is the "Nyorai Metsugugogo gohyakusai no Kanjin no Honzon Sho", better known simply as "kanjin no honzon sho" or "True Object of Devotion [honzon] of Mind Contemplation [kanjin]". It is in this writing that he reveals the Honzon as he is normally represented.

However, there is a difference between Mandala and Gohonzon.
The scroll or tablets that the adepts and temples enthron are necessarily the "mandala", that is, a representation of the Gohonzon.

The Gohonzon truly is, in short, the mind/life of the Original Buddha. When Nichiren says "don't look for the gohonzon outside your heart/mind/life", what he's saying is don't look for the Buddha outside your heart/mind/life, which is a statement that is primarily aimed at teaching from Japanese pure land Buddhism (where the Buddha is in the western pure land).

As for the representation of this mandala, however, in many writings Nichiren suggests that it is done through Shakyamuni Buddha of chapter 16, being flanked by the four bodhisattvas of the original portal, as he does in the gosho "Establishing the Four Bodhisattvas as the Object of Worship" .

However, due to his life of clashing, Nichiren was never able to actually establish a Honmon in Kaidan where the object of devotion was the image of Shakyamuni flanked by the four bodhisattvas, but only used the Buddhist parchment style of inscriptions.

This style of mandala was first spread by Shinran Shonin, the founder of the Jodo Shinshu [true pure land school], and is called in that school "myogohonzon".

Myogohonzon can be of three types in Jodo Shinshu:
1. Rokuji myogohonzon: six-letter honzon, where it is written "namuamidabutsu".
2. Kuji Myogohonzon: nine-letter honzon, where it is written "namufukashigikonyorai".
3. Juji Myogohonzon: ten-letter honzon, which is written "kimyojinjippomugekonyorai"

Thus, the followers of Jodo Shinshu in Japan mostly enshrined only the parchment with the words namuamidabutsu in their butsudan/butsuma.

Nichiren, who had previously also recited the nembutsu because he was a tendai monk, was eventually influenced by the practice, and his honzon continued to be expressed in the same mold as the honzons of Shinran Shonin.

In the Nikko lineage, it is even understood that any sculpture consists of calumny, and the only honzon accepted are those made with writing. Also, similarly, in the lineage of Nichiryu Daishonin the honzon must be made with writing only, and sculptures of the Buddha are not accepted.
However, this is something more traditional, stemming from the desire to imitate the master than necessarily based on what Nichiren wrote.
As I've read, in Jodo Shinshu a scroll of Amida is preferable to a statue, and a scroll with "Namu Amida Butsu" is preferable to both, I think Rennyo said something along those lines. I'm not a Shinshu follower btw, just what I heard.
One should become the master of one’s mind rather than let one’s mind master oneself.
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