Published by
Soka Spirit Editor
Posted on June 07, 2012
The Gohonzon conferred by the SGI are based on an original Gohonzon transcribed by the 26th high priest Nichikan (1665–1726), known as the restorer of Nichiren’s teachings. He is known as the restorer because previous high priests had deviated from the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin. Today’s priesthood labels this Gohonzon as counterfeit because it was not sanctioned by the current high priest. When their scheme to take control of the Soka Gakkai International in 1991 failed and they excommunicated over ten million members, they played the only card they had left—they denied Gohonzon to SGI practitioners. When chief priest Sendo Narita of Joen-ji Temple seceded from Nichiren Shoshu, he offered the original Nichikan transcribed Gohonzon to the SGI in 1993 to confer upon its membership. It is not a counterfeit Gohonzon having been in existence since the 18th century.
But there is version of a Gohonzon that is completely different from any of the Gohonzon that the Daishonin inscribed. What is legitimately a counterfeit or erroneous Gohonzon was inscribed by Nichiren Shoshu priests themselves.
The fraudulent Gohonzon that Nichiren Shoshu priests contrived is called the doshi Gohonzon—the Gohonzon that the priesthood has enshrined at some funeral services. Doshi means a teacher who guides, in this case, the dead.
On the doshi Gohonzon only are inscribed “Hell King Emma” and “Officials of Hell who judge those dwelling in the five paths [of Hell, Hunger, Animality, Anger and Tranquility]” on the either side of “Nichiren” instead of “the Sun Goddess” and “the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman.”On the upper right-hand corner is inscribed, “[This Gohonzon] is the seal that attests to the enlightenment [of the dead] in their present form” (Jpn. Sokushin jobutsu no inmon nari).
The Japanese term for “officials of Hell who judge those dwelling in the five paths” —godo myokan— does not appear even once in The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin.
Furthermore, instead of “Those who slander will have their heads split into seven pieces” in the upper right-hand part is inscribed “This is my constant thought: how I can cause all living beings.” And in the upper left-hand part, instead of “Those who make offerings gain good fortune exceeding that of the ten honorable titles of the Buddha” is inscribed “To gain entry to the highest Way and quickly attain Buddhahood”.
This doshi Gohonzon is “fraudulent” because it is completely different from any other Gohonzon that Nichiren Daishonin inscribed. As the inscriptions of “Hell King Emma” and “Officials of Hell” symbolize, the doshiGohonzon is based on a superstitious view of hell, where the ten kings of Hell dwell, that had become increasingly popular among Japanese in the 16th century. Such superstition is believed to have derived from Taoism.
According to this folk belief, the dead will be judged by the ten kings of hell on ten “judgment days”: the seventh day after a person’s death, the fourteenth day, the twenty-first day, the twenty-eighth day, the thirty-fifth day, the forty-second day, the forty-ninth day, the one hundredth day, the one year anniversary, and three year anniversary. Using this superstition, priests encouraged believers to conduct a Buddhist memorial service on each occasion in order to collect offerings.
Through the 16th and 17th centuries, people in Japan were constantly suffering from famine, war and natural disasters, facing the fear of death in their everyday lives. Nichiren Shoshu priests capitalized on this fear by creating the fraudulent doshi Gohonzon and a ridiculous number of memorial services. It is undeniable proof of the corruption and greed accumulated over last 700 years within Nichiren Shoshu.
To prey upon people’s fear of death and to profit from it, priests even fabricated writings they attribute to Nichiren such as one titled “On Praise of the Ten Hell Kings” (Ju-o Santan Sho) published in Showa Shintei Nichiren Daishonin Gosho by Taiseki-ji temple. This writing is not included in The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, published by the Soka Gakkai. This forged document details various sufferings that the dead will have to go through in hell and repeatedly emphasizes that the only way to save the dead from their suffering is to have priests pray for them. Incidentally, “On the Praise of the Ten Hell Kings” has been scientifically proven to be written between 1396 and 1411 (the Daishonin passed away in 1282).
Based on this fake writing, priests assert that at the time of death, King Emma drives 49 nails to the body of the deceased person. He first drives a nail into each of his or her eyes; then, another nail into each ear; 6 nails into the tongue; 18 nails into the chest; 6 nails into the stomach; and 15 nails into the feet.
The writing explains that when a priest is asked to conduct a memorial service for the deceased King Emma takes 15 nails from the feet of the deceased person because of the benefit of requesting a priest to conduct a Buddhist service. With each memorial service, King Emma removes more and more nails from the deceased. Without the surviving relatives engaging priests in this relentless procedure of memorial services, the image of loved ones impaled by nails persists.
An excerpt from “On the Praise of the Ten Hell Kings” states:
“Yet people are ignorant of the benefit of conducting a memorial service with a priest. They are ignorant of the benefit of conducting a memorial service for the 7th day anniversary of the death of their parents and siblings. They are much more ignorant of the benefit of the memorial service for the 49th, 100th, one year and three year anniversary of their passing. If you don’t’ conduct a memorial service for the deceased, your mercilessness is despicable. Unless you help the deceased rid themselves of their pains and worries, you will be committing the profound sin of not being filial. The deceased one will become an obstacle in your life as he or she will becomean evil spirit” (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Showa New Edition, published by Head Temple Taiseki-ji).
In a notification addressed to Soka Gakkai President Einosuke Akiya and dated October 21, 1991, Nichiren Shoshu General Administrator Nichijun Fujimoto states:
“Recently Soka Gakkai members have been conducting funeral services without priests—the so-called Gakkai funeral. The Soka Gakkai is systematically destroying the Daishonin’s Buddhism and the doctrines of the Fuji school, thus committing a slander of the Law. Nichiren Shoshu absolutely cannot approve of this.
“What is important in a funeral service are the Gohonzon, a teacher who guides [the dead], and a posthumous Buddhist name. Needless to say, since olden times, the doshi Gohonzon—as the Gohonzon for funeral services—has been reverently enshrined unless there is a special instruction from the high priest to do otherwise.
“Lay believers cannot attain the ultimate purpose of enlightenment in their present form unless they have faith in which they regard their local chief priests as their masters.
“If lay believers go against this…they will definitely fall into hell.”
This is a desperate attempt by the priesthood to intimidate SGI members into believing that they cannot attain enlightenment without thedoshi Gohonzon, a priest [“a teacher who guides the dead”], and a posthumous Buddhist name. This is simply an expression of panic by the priesthood at the possibility of losing believers (customers) whom it only views as objects of exploitation.
In contrast, depicting the life condition of Buddhahood with vivid, poetic images, the Daishonin warmly encourages us that only our faith and practice can lead us to enlightenment in this lifetime and to a peaceful, magnificent experience of death. He states:
“Continue your practice without backsliding until the final moment of your life, and when that time comes, behold! When you climb the mountain of perfect enlightenment and gaze around you in all directions, then to your amazement you will see that the entire realm of phenomena is the Land of Tranquil Light. The ground will be of lapis lazuli, and the eight paths will be set apart by golden ropes. Four kinds of flowers will fall from the heavens, and music will resound in the air. All Buddhas and bodhisattvas will be present in complete joy, caressed by the breezes of eternity, happiness, true self, and purity. The time is fast approaching when we too will count ourselves among their number. But if we are weak in faith, we will never reach that wonderful place” (WND-1, 761).
As for prayers of the surviving relatives, Nichiren states in The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings: “Now when Nichiren and his followers perform ceremonies for the deceased, reciting the Lotus Sutra and chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the ray of light from the daimoku reaches all the way to the hell of incessant suffering and makes it possible for them to attain Buddhahood then and there” (p. 17).
And in “Letter to Horen,” he writes to a son about his deceased father that each morning when he recites the verse section of the “Life Span” chapter, he “is sending forth golden-hued characters from his mouth…and each character changes into a sun, and each sun changes into a Thus Come One Shakyamuni. They emit great beams of light that penetrate the earth and shine upon the three evil paths and the great citadel of the hell of incessant suffering…They visit the realm where your departed father is dwelling, wherever it may be, and there hold discourse with him.
“Who do you think we are?” they say. “We are the characters of the verse section of the ‘Life Span’ chapter of the Lotus Sutra that your son Horen recites each morning. These characters will be your eyes, your ears, your feet, your hands!” Thus do they earnestly converse with him” (WND-1, 517–18).
The Daishonin also explains how the benefits we receive are transferred (without priests) to our deceased relatives:
“The blessings of Shakyamuni Buddha have already been transferred to your person. And your person is a continuation of the face and form of your departed father.
“It is like a seed that puts forth sprouts, or a flower that produces fruit. Though the flower falls, the fruit remains; though the seed is hidden from sight, the sprout is visible to us.
“Thus the blessings that you yourself enjoy are in fact treasures belonging to your late father. When the pine flourishes, the cypress will rejoice; when the grasses wither, the orchids weep. And if even feelingless beings such as plants and trees can behave in this way, then how much more so those who have feelings, let alone those who are bound together as father and son?” (WND-1, 513).
[Incidentally, there is a Gohonzon called rinmetsudo (the occasion of death)-no-Gohonzon that is said to have been enshrined at the time of Nichiren Daishonin’s passing. It is housed at Myohon-ji in Hikigayatsu, Kamakura. It is the Gohonzon that the Daishonin inscribed in October 1280.
The historical information of this Gohonzon is contained in a letter that Nichidai, Nikko Shonin’s disciple, gave to Nichigo as follows:
“When the Founder was at the moment of his passing, he called on this particular mandala to be enshrined. This was a sheer fact. It was a matter of course” (“Reply to Saiso Ajari”).
King Emma and Officials of Hell are not written on this Gohonzon. The spaces where they are written on the doshi Gohonzon are occupied by the Sun Goddess and Bodhisattva Hachiman just like other Gohonzon.]
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