Hi Everybody,
Hope you're enjoying this beautiful spring.
We're talking about the Gohonzon and we're re-affirming if you like Nichiren's famous declaration; ' I Nichiren have inscribed my life in sumi ink, so believe in this Gohonzon with with your whole heart.'
We've talked about the meaning of the word Gohonzon itself. We've talked a bit about what seems to be going on when we chant in front of it, that transformation of the spirit. And we've talked about what the inscription itself means. That's where we pick it up.
The Gohonzon is said to depict in its complex calligraphy all the aspects of our ordinary human life. The good the bad and the ugly, the positive and the negative, the light and the dark. All those aspects of our everyday life are there, and Nichiren's too of course , for he was after all an ordinary human being. The ten life states that we discussed in an earlier chapter are set out clearly on the Gohonzon. But they are illuminated...that's the key word... illuminated by the principle that can enable us, however strong our anger, or however deep our despair, to move our lives towards the life state of Buddhahood that Nichiren captured in sumi ink. Nothingn is excluded. No life state is rejected. We don't have to get rid of anything, or feel guilty about anything. The characters on the Gohonzon are there to make clear that ther eisn't a life state or a condition that a human being can experience, that would in some way prohibit that journey towards our better self. Everything can be transformed.
That is the huge scale of the promise.
That's a big promise to absorb. So enough for today.Enough to dwell on and think over.
See you next week.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available from Amazon and on Kindle. Good value!!!
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