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YFriday, February 08, 2008

What does the Gohonson means?
The literal meaning of the term honzon is "object of fundamental respect". Go is an honorific. Even people who declare that they are not religious will surely have something they value or esteem most highly. Whatever people cherish more dearly-that is their object of devotion. Though they night like to claim otherwise, there are those for other whom money is an object of devotion. For others, it might be social status. For some,knowledge is the altar at which they worship.
What you make the object of your greatest veneration will have profound influence on your life. The Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin takes as its object of fundamental respect the life of the Buddha-the eternal essence of life at one with the universe. That object of veneration is not something abstract or far out of reach,because it is our life itself. Nichiren Daishonin writes:" Never seek this Gohonzon outside yourself. The Gohonzon exists only within the mortal flesh of us ordinary people who embrace the Lotus Sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Gongyo and Daimoku
Gongyo is a daily activity in which we purify and prime our hearts and minds. It is starting the "engine" for our day's fresh start. It's like grooming ourselves before we set out for the day.
Gongyo is a solemn ceremony. When we do gongyo, we open wide the doors of the treasure house within (our life);we mine the dynamic wellspring of life force that lies dorman in the vast inner reaches of our being;we tap an inexhaustible source of wisdom, compassion and courage.
Chanting daimoku established a foundation of good fortune in young people's lives. If you establish a solid foundation now,there is no limit to the size of the structure you can build upon it later. Many things contribute to building that doundation. Diligent application to one's studies helps build that foundation, as does exercising to develop physical fitness and stamina.
But our inner state of life lies at the core of our mental and physical well-being. Buddhist practise is the only means by which we can strengthen,purify and develop our inner life.
We have to exercise our inner life condition through daimoku. When our inner condition of life changes,our minds and bodies also change. They will be refreshed and revitalized.
Daimoku charge our batteries. If we take care to regularly charge our batteries, then we'll always be full of energy and vitality. If we fail to keep our batteries charged,we won't have energy when we need it most and as a result may be defeated by our environment.
Why do we chant?
The spirit to seat oneself before the Gohonzon is in itself very important. Those who have the spirit to continue to challege themselves in this way are most respectworthy. Buddhism teaches the principle of "earthly desires are enlightenment". "Earthly desires" refers to suffering and to the desires and cravings that cause suffering,while "enlightenment" refers to attaining a vast and expansive state of absolute happiness.
Hence, when we chant daimoku,all the problems and suffering are turned into energy for happiness,into fuel for advancement. The wonderful thing about faith in the Daishonin's Buddhism is its capacity to tranform people's lives from the direst suffering into the greatest possible happiness, and turn the most daunting problem into a source of growth and a foundation for human greatness.

Extracted from Jan 2008:Issue 13,Wings

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