Why does Nichiren Daishonin use words on the Gohonzon? Why not pictures? And why words from more than one language?

Answer by Kazuo Fujii

No one can answer on behalf of Nichiren Daishonin. However, we can draw some conclusions about this based on his life and his writings. Nichiren Daishonin was a very rational man. He had a rational mind. He was also a religious revolutionary.

Firstly, Nichiren Daishonin taught that the Buddha nature is inherent in everyone and that everyone should be able to practise freely, wherever they are. Since the Gohonzon is a paper scroll, we can enshrine it in our own homes. This is very practical. It cuts right through the need to go to a specific place, such as a temple, in order to practise correctly.

Secondly, the Buddha nature and the universe are multi-dimensional. The range and diversity of these dimensions is too vast to be expresssed in the limited scope of a statue or a painting. Although statues and paintings might seem to express the personality of a Buddha, they in fact express the imagination and understanding of the artist who creates them. So, attempting to represent the Buddha nature through a statue or a painting could limit our understanding, perhaps leading us to think all Buddhas are fat, or all Buddhas are Asian.

As to why different languages are represented on the Gohonzon, this indicates the universality of Nichiren Daishonin's teaching, as well as his compassion. It is also as indication of the great insight and imagination expressed by Shakyamuni in the Lotus Sutra, which was rendered into Sanskrit and then Chinese, as it was transmitted from one country to another through the ages.

The Gohonzon includes two symbols written in Siddham which represents Sanskrit: Aizen (skt.Ragaraja) , and Fudo (skt.Achala) . These express two fundamental Buddhist principles: the transforming of deluded impulses (earthly desire) into enlightenment, and the transformation of the sufferings of birth and death into enlightenment. The symbolic representation of Sanskrit, which is an Aryan language, is representive of all Indo-European languages, and thus emphasizes the universality of the Gohonzon.

The other symbols on the Gohonzon are written in Chinese characters. These convey more than just words, they denote concepts which capture and express the workings of the unverse. It isn't necessary to know what each of them means. It's great if you do but that is not the purpose of the Gohonzon. Faith is what is important.

Nichiren Daishonin's vast compassion was the source of his wisdom in determining to inscribe the Gohonzon. He explains that everyone who chants Nam-myoho-renge- kyo to the Gohonzon can reveal inherent Buddhahood. This is because the Gohonzon is an expression of the universe from the perspective of the Buddha nature. By chanting Nam-myoho-renge- kyo, we fuse with the Gohonzon and enter into that Buddha nature.

The Gohonzon indicates that each person is the universe, not a limited version but the entire universe, so our imagination and realization can expand limitlessly when we practise to it.