Traditionally, the Dai-Gohonzon was Kept Secret

The priesthood’s emphasis on the direct worship of the Dai-Gohonzon over worship of one’s personal Gohonzon completely contradicts its own tradition. Throughout the history of Taiseki-ji, the successive high priests transcribed Gohonzon so that believers could practice the Daishonin’s Buddhism without directly praying to the Dai-Gohonzon.

Hori Nichiko, the fifty-ninth high priest and renowned scholar of the history of Nichiren Buddhism, explained that the Dai-Gohonzon was intended to “be kept in secrecy until the time of kosen-rufu.” [1] High Priest Nichiko also wrote: “In the early times, this matter [i.e., the Dai-Gohonzon] was publicized neither within our school nor outside.”[2]

If directly praying to the Dai-Gohonzon were so important for one’s attainment of enlightenment, how could the priesthood have previously hidden its existence from believers and apparently even from many of its own priests? According to the priesthood’s recorded history, many believers in the past knew not even of the existence of the Dai-Gohonzon. One must assume that the early priesthood was not intentionally preventing the enlightenment of believers by hiding the Dai-Gohonzon; rather, this fact makes it clear that the dogma of the current priesthood that one must pray directly to the Dai-Gohonzon is a recent invention.

The Nichiren Shoshu’s historical data that first referred to the existence of the Dai-Gohonzon of the High Sanctuary and its transmission is 14^th high priest Nisshu’s 17^th century “On ‘Matters to Be Observed after Nikko’s Death'” (Nikko Ato Jojo no Koto Jisho) (the original of this document is stored at Taiseki-ji). In this document, Nisshu described the transmission of the entity of the Law in terms of the Dai-Gohonzon of the High Sanctuary of the Essential Teaching (Complete Works of Successive High Priests of Nichiren Shoshu, Vol. 1, p. 459).

Nichiren Daishonin states, “If you confuse the general with the specific even in the slightest, you will never be able to attain Buddhahood and will wander in suffering through endless transmigrations of births and deaths” (WND-1, 747).

Based upon this passage, Nichiren Shoshu claims that since the high priest alone has received the heritage of the Law (the specific heritage), our claiming to receive the heritage independent of him prevents us from attaining enlightenment. Is this true?

This is not the intent of the Daishonin’s statement regarding the general and specific. Nikken and his priesthood assert that “general” refers to all believers and “specific” refers to priests, particularly the high priest. But “general” and “specific” in this passage actually refer to the heritage transferred from Shakyamuni Buddha to the Bodhisattvas of the Earth in the Lotus Sutra. The Bodhisattvas of the Earth, led by Bodhisattva Jogyo, received the specific transfer while all the other bodhisattvas assembled received the general transfer.

The Daishonin’s statement here is emphasizing the specific mission that the Daishonin and his followers, in their role as Bodhisattvas of the Earth, have in propagating the essence of the Lotus Sutra. This passage is not in any way referring to a distinction between priesthood and laity. The temple takes the above passage out of context, and misinterprets it to assert their own authority.

---