The Great Law of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo

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The Great Law of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo

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Some people claim that compared to the eight volumes of the Lotus Sutra, or the Great Teacher Tiantaiโ€™s practice of the threefold contemplation in a single mind (๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ), the practice of chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo to the Gohonzon seems limited and shallow. Others have claimed that the Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo is simply a condensed way to practice the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra, or a simplification of the practice of concentration and insight (๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ). These theories are in grave error and violate the very heart of Nichiren Daishoninโ€™s Buddhism.

Letโ€™s review how the Daishonin describes the Great Law of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo in the Gosho. From the three categories of comprehensive, abbreviated, and essential, the Daishonin specifically describes Myoho-Renge-Kyo as the ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ practice. Amongst the three phases of sowing, maturing, and harvesting, the Daishonin specifically refers to Myohoโ€“Renge-Kyo as the Buddhism of the sowing. With regards to the sutra text, its meaning, and its intent, the Daishonin specifically states that Myoho-Renge-Kyo represents the ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต. The Dashonin states in ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ถ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ-๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ,
๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฎ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—›๐˜€๐˜‚ฬˆ๐—ฎ๐—ป-๐˜๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป. ๐—ง๐—ต๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ช๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—บ ๐—ฆ๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜† ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜… ๐—ต๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฎ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ž๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฎฬ„๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ท๐—ถฬ„๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ, ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ, ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป. ๐—ง๐—ต๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—š๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฃ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ช๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—บ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€. ๐—œ, ๐—ก๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป, ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐— ๐˜†๐—ผ๐—ต๐—ผ-๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒ-๐—ธ๐˜†๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐—บ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ ๐—ฆ๐˜‚๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€.

(๐™‚๐™ค๐™จ๐™๐™ค ๐™ฏ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™๐™ช, ๐™ฅ. 331)
Furthermore, he states in ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ,
๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ผ๐˜๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—ฆ๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ. ๐—”๐—น๐—น ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ฑ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ฑ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐— ๐˜†๐—ผ๐—ต๐—ผโ€๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒโ€๐—ž๐˜†๐—ผ.

(๐™‚๐™ค๐™จ๐™๐™ค, ๐™ฅ.1447-1448; ๐™ˆ๐™’-7, ๐™ฅ๐™ฅ. 194-195)
Additionally, the Daishonin declares the following in ๐˜š๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ-๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ,
๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐— ๐˜†๐—ผ๐—ต๐—ผโ€๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒโ€๐—ž๐˜†๐—ผ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜…๐˜, ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ. ๐—ฆ๐—ผ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ, ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€, ๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ'๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜.

(๐™‚๐™ค๐™จ๐™๐™ค, ๐™ฅ. 1114; ๐™ˆ๐™’-6. ๐™ฅ. 224)
Thus, as we can see from these passages, the Myoho-Renge-Kyo revealed by the Daishonin cannot simply be said to be the condensing of the text of the Lotus Sutra; this Great Law of the sowing hidden in the depths (๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ถ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ) of the Life Span (๐˜‘๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ; sixteenth) chapter differs fundamentally from Shakyamuniโ€™s Buddhism of the harvest. This is the mystic Law (๐˜ฎ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ) that the Original Buddha was instantly enlightened to in the beginningless past of ๐˜ฌ๐˜ถ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ-๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ซ๐˜ฐ, and the origin of all Buddhas of the three existences and the ten directions.

In accordance with the principles set forth above, we can see that it is also erroneous to claim that Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo is merely an abbreviated practice of the Great Teacher Tiantaiโ€™s threefold contemplation in a single mind. For the sake of brevity, I will save discussion of this topic for another post, but the practice of concentration and insight (๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ) represents a veiled or alloyed form of the mystic Law, suitable for the time and capacities of the Middle Day of the Law.

The assertion that the Daishoninโ€™s goal was simply to condense the practice of the Lotus Sutra into the five or seven characters of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo truly belittles the ultimate purpose of the Founderโ€™s advent into this world. Generally speaking, the various lineages (๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ณ๐˜บ๐˜ถ) descending from the five senior priests (๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ) are in a state of grave error on this fundamental principle. We must understand that the Myoho-Renge-Kyo revealed by the Daishonin is the mystic Law of the Buddhism of the sowing of the true cause (๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ชโ€™๐˜ฏ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ) that will illuminate the infinite darkness of the fifth five hundred year period. The Daishonin embodied this Great Law, his inner enlightenment, into the Gohonzon of the essential teaching. Thus, we chant Daimoku to the Gohonzon of the oneness of the Person and the Law with unwavering faith and conviction, we can attain the great benefit of enlightenment in our present form (๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ซ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ด๐˜ถ) in this lifetime (๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ซ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ด๐˜ถ).
"The five characters of Myoho-Renge-Kyo are the core of the Lotus Sutra and the origin of all Buddhas throughout the entire world. Upon seeing the signs that these five characters now must be propagated, I, Nichiren, have set the precedent, today, at the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law."

- Nichiren Daishonin, โ€œShuju onfurumai-goshoโ€ ็จฎ็จฎๅพกๆŒฏ่ˆžๅพกๆ›ธ


https://www.nichirenshoshu.or.jp/eng/daishonin.html
narhwal90
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Re: The Great Law of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo

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