Editing Nichiren (section)

==== Gohonzon ====
[[file:Great Mandala by Nichiren (Honmanji).jpg|thumb|Great Mandala by Nichiren, Honmanji, [[Kyoto]]]]
The chanting of the daimoku is to be done while contemplating the daimandara 大曼荼羅 ("great [[mandala]]") or gohonzon 御本尊 ("revered object of worship").<ref name=":0" /> Japanese Buddhists often had a personal shrine with an object of worship (honzon), which could be a painting, mandala or statue. These objects were often held to embody the powers of the Buddhas. Nichiren created a unique honzon style in the form of a calligraphic mandala (in Chinese characters and two Siddham glyphs) representing the entire cosmos, specifically centered around the ''Lotus Sutra''{{'}}s ceremony in the air above [[Vulture Peak]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web |title=The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon |url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/101 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222001014/http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/101 |archive-date=22 December 2017 |access-date=20 July 2018 |work=Nichiren Buddhism Library |publisher=Soka Gakkai}}</ref><ref name="Collinson2000" />{{rp|354}}

Nichiren inscribed many of these mandalas as personal honzon for his followers. More than 120 of them survive in Nichiren's own hand with his signature.<ref name=":0" /> Nichiren drew on earlier visual representations of the ''Lotus Sutra'' and was also influenced by contemporary figures like [[Myōe]] and [[Shinran]] who also created calligraphic honzon for their disciples. Since these did not require expert painters or expensive materials to make, they could be made in larger numbers for wide dissemination.<ref name=":0" />

Nichiren's gohonzons contain the daimoku written vertically in the center. It is flanked by the names of Śākyamuni and [[Prabhutaratna|Prabhūtaratna]] Buddha, as well as the names of various bodhisattvas (especially prominent being the [[Bodhisattvas of the Earth|four bodhisattvas of the earth]]), deities, and other beings. These figures also represent ''ichinen sanzen'', the mutual inclusion of the ten realms. Thus, the great mandala embodies the entire cosmos and its interfusion with Buddhahood.<ref name=":0" /> In other words, the gohonzon symbolizes the non-duality between our world and the sacred realm of the original Buddha of the ''Lotus Sutra'', where the Sutra is being taught eternally.<ref>Montgomery 1991, pp. 132-33.</ref>

According to Stone, the logic of this mandala is influenced by [[Vajrayana|Esoteric Buddhist]] [[Deity yoga|yogas]], in which the yogi visualizes their unity with the Buddha realm.<ref name=":0" /> However, for Nichiren, the unity of oneself and the Buddha is not achieved through yogic means, but mainly through faith. As Stone explains, "by chanting the daimoku, the devotee "enters" the mandala, the realm of the original buddha’s awakening, and participates in the enlightened reality that it depicts."<ref name=":0" />