Email

 Gohonzon is the object of devotion in Nichiren Buddhism. In Japanese, go means worthy of honor and honzon means object of fundamental respect. Nichiren defined the universal Law permeating life and the universe as Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and embodied it in the form of a mandala. In the Gohonzon, a scroll on which are written Chinese and Sanskrit characters, Nichiren symbolically depicted the life state of Buddhahood, which all people possess.

The Dai-Gohonzon was inscribed by Nichiren Daishonin for the happiness of all humanity and is the basis of our faith. The SGI has always upheld the validity of the Dai-Gohonzon, even during these years when we have not been able to see it. It is enshrined in Taisekiji, the center of Nichiren Shoshu, the priest-run organization that excommunicated the SGI many years ago. In Buddhism, lending support to slanderous priests or monks is called complicity in slander and results in sharing the same negative causes as such priests. Therefore, visiting the head temple under these conditions becomes a cause for unhappiness in our lives.

In these pages, we examine various questions concerning the Dai-Gohonzon (see the buttons at left) and our relationship to it. 

This work has been compiled by individual SGI members and is solely our personal opinion, based on years of practice and study.