voice. This is because a sutra embodies the Buddha’s teachings conveyed by his voice.
However, the Daishonin goes on to explain that the kind of sutra used to consecrate an image will determine the nature of the spiritual aspect that the image manifests. He concludes that, since the Lotus Sutra embodies the Buddha’s true spiritual aspect, when the Lotus Sutra is used to “open the eyes” of a Buddha image, that image will become equal to the living Buddha. This accords with the principle of the attainment of Buddhahood by plants, “plants” here representing all insentient life.
This concept of the enlightenment of plants in turn derives from the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, which teaches that all life—insentient and sentient—possesses the Buddha nature.
Subsequently the Daishonin sharply attacks the use of True Word rituals to open the eyes of Buddha images. He points out that using distorted teachings such as those of the True Word to consecrate images will cause demons or devils to occupy them—that is, it will bring forth not the Buddhahood but the diabolical nature inherent in the insentient life of the image, causing
suffering for individual believers and disaster for the land in which they live.
In the final section, the Daishonin touches on the subject of prayers for the deceased. The idea of the spirit departing from the dead person’s body and a demon taking its place actually stems from popular folk belief. The Daishonin employs it to make readily understandable to his contemporaries the concept that the religious conduct of the living has an influence on the lives of those who have passed away. In this context, he explains two levels of enlightenment: the realization of the non-birth and non-extinction of all phenomena and the attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form. Both can of course be achieved while one is alive, but since the subject of this letter is the enlightenment of insentient beings, the Daishonin explains both in terms of the deceased—death being life’s insentient phase—as represented by the dead person’s remains. In the text, “a wise person [who simply] extols the Lotus Sutra” is anyone but “a wise person enlightened to the Lotus Sutra” that specifically indicates Nichiren Daishonin. The Daishonin embodied his perfect enlightenment to the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in the form of the Gohonzon.
1. A Buddha is said to possess the markings of a wheel of the Law on the sole of each foot. The “unseen crown of his head” is also often cited as a protuberant knot of flesh resembling a topknot on the crown of the Buddha’s head. The top of the Buddha’s head is said to be invisible, indicating his inconceivably great wisdom, the boundlessness of his enlightened life, and so forth.
2. The category of visible and noncoextensive physical attributes is the first of the three categories of physical attributes enumerated in The Heart of the Abhidharma. “Non-coextensive” here means that the physical attributes in this category cannot simultaneously occupy the same space. The
second category is that of invisible and non-coextensive physical attributes, and the third, invisible and coextensive physical attributes. Mention of this third category immediately follows in the text.
3. According to The Dharma Analysis Treasury, all sounds and voices including the Buddha’s pure and far-reaching voice fall under the category of invisible and noncoextensive physical attributes. However, the Daishonin assigns the Buddha’s pure and far-reaching voice to the category of invisible and coextensive physical attributes, probably to emphasize that it embodies the Buddha’s teaching.
4. “The common teachings on wisdom”
