Written by Rev. Kubota
Translated by H.G. Lamont
 
 
 

We believe that the Lord Buddha Shakyamuni is the Unique, Supremely
Enlightened,  Eternal and Omnipresent Lord, Teacher and Parent of All
Beings and All Worlds, Who Alone can save us from Ignorance, Delusion
and Evil and raise us to His Own State of Liberation, Eternity and Omniscience.

The Lord Buddha Shakyamuni descended and manifested Himself in ancient
India thousands of years ago and having manifested Supreme Enlightenment,
taught vast numbers of expedient (provisional or temporary) doctrines for the
benefit of many types of beings. However, at the end of His Earthly Career,
He abandoned all these expedient teachings and proclaimed the Truth in the
Hokekyo or Lotus Sutra:

(I) All beings will be saved by the One Buddha Vehicle of the Lotus Sutra.

(II) Lord Shakyamuni Himself is really the Eternal Buddha Truly Enlightened
in the Most Distant Past.

(III) This scripture, the Lotus Sutra, was not merely for the great Buddhist
saints of His time but primarily for the sinful, suffering, lowly beings of the
evil future period, thousands of years after His Earthly manifestation had
disappeared.

(IV) Especially for that future period He entrusted the Innermost Essence
and Merit of this Lotus Sutra, the Very Essence of His Own Practice and
Enlightenment to His disciples from the most distant past, the Bodhisattvas
Who Sprang from the Earth so that they might appear and propagate this to
all beings. (The Daihatsunehangyo or Great Parinirvana Sutra is a kind of
appendix to the Lotus Sutra, containing additional instructions).

In the course of time Buddhism as a religion passed through the Age of
theTrue Dharma and the Age of the Counterfeit Dharma, and finally in
the year 1052 C.E. the last phase of this cycle of Buddhism, the Age of
the Latter Dharma (mappo), began: the other forms of Buddhist teachings
had disappeared, been corrupted, or become ineffective.  Nearly two
hundred years into this last phase of the current cycle of Buddhism,
Nichiren Daishonin (1222-1282), the Messenger of the Buddha, the
Reincarnation of the Bodhisattva Jogyo, foremost among the Bodhisattvas
Who Sprang from the Earth, appeared in Japan and inaugurated the spread
of the true doctrine of the Hokekyo or Lotus Sutra, embodied in the Three
Great Secret Dharmas (san dai hi ho), which are based on the Doctrine of
the Original State of the Buddha  (hommon), the second half of the Lotus
Sutra, which is superior to the first half:

(1) The Daimoku of the Doctrine of the Original: this is the "Title"
("Myoho renge kyo"), the essence of the Sutra, containing all the merits
and virtues of the Original, Eternal Buddha Lord Shakya. When through
faith we receive and keep this as "Namu Myoho renge kyo", the Buddha
spontaneously cedes and assigns us His merits and raises us to His world.
Since this world is primarily oriented towards hearing, "Namu Myoho renge
kyo" is most usually manifested through but not limited to chanting (shodai).
The Daimoku (or Odaimoku) means "Title" but is not merely the title of a
book but the whole essence of the Supreme Lotus Sutra.  The Daimoku is
called the "One Great Secret Dharma" and by itself becomes a seed of
Buddhahood even for unbelievers, who, after punishment in the Unremitting
Hell  will attain Buddhahood in a future eon. The Daimoku is not a magic spell
but the effective prayer and practice based on faith.  For those who receive
and keep it with faith it opens out to reveal itself as the Great Direct Way
(daijikido) to Buddhahood and the other two Great Secret Dharmas:

(2) The Object of Worship of the Doctrine of the Original: it is from the
Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni (through His Messenger Nichiren Daishonin
[Bodhisattva Jogyo] that we receive the Daimoku, the principal practice, and
we direct it towards that Original, Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni as the Principal
(Original or Fundamental) Enlightened One, the Object of Worship (gohonzon)
in our minds and (where possible) to a physical embodiment, such as:

(1) A mandala written by or modeled on one written by Nichiren Daishonin,

(2) A written scroll of "Namu Myoho renge kyo",

(3) Images of the manifest Buddha Shakya and the ancient Buddha of Witness
Taho seated on either side of the Daimoku and surrounded by the Four Chief
Bodhisattvas Who Sprang from the Earth,

(4) The image of Lord Shakyamuni attended by the Four Bodhisattvas Who
Sprang from the Earth or,

(5) A statue of Shakyamuni with the Hokekyo (Lotus Sutra) placed before it.
(All of these are permissible images of the Eternal Buddha but our sect, which
was often persecuted, has often preferred the mandala because of its ease of
movement and concealment.) We of the Kempon Hokke Sect do not permit the
separate enshrinement of other deities in our temples or altars; however, a
statue of Nichiren Daishonin may be placed before and below the Gohonzon
itself.

(3) The Precept Platform of the Doctrine of the Original: the Precept (or
Ordination) Platform is the place where not only priests and nuns but the laity
as well receive the precepts by which they live their lives as Buddhists.  The
precepts differ according to the type of Buddhism but in the [Kempon Hokke]
tradition all believers accept the fundamental precept to receive and keep
"Namu Myoho renge kyo".  This is  the ideal or abstract Precept Platform
which in one sense can exist anywhere and at any time when we receive and
keep the Daimoku but Nichiren Daishonin clearly intended that an actual
structure be built once the propagation of the true Teaching had succeeded,
just as the Tendai patriarch Saicho (767-822) had campaigned for a Tendai
Precept Platform, which was erected after his death. (This Precept Platform
was probably meant to be established at Minobusan provided it has the pure
preaching and practice, not in its present degenerate state.) Thus, the Precept
Platform for society as a whole lies in the future but for individuals is already
present wherever they believe and practice.