Question: what is an "Eye Opening Ceremony?" Do I need one? Who can to it?
Answer: An Eye Opening is simply a ceremonial ritual designed to consecrate a “Focus of Devotion” (gohonzon). All wisdom traditions and religions have some version of it. These rituals are designed and performed to bring forth and focus one’s clear intention.
Once an object has had a consecration ceremony it becomes the embodiment of the intention and a sacred holy object. It should be treated and handled as such. How one continues to interact with such an object indicates one’s inner spiritual aspect. This is all about intentionality and clarity.
All provisional manifestations only exist in the surrounding context of the environment, times and culture. However one directs their intention (good or bad) changes things. The act of observation changes the observed phenomena. Phenomena, objects, contexts, situations even people are changed through intention.
The stronger one’s focus and sharper one's clarity the more effective the consecration becomes. While anyone can do it, and sometimes a beginner’s mind and enthusiasm is perfectly suited for doing it, usually they done by people with training and experience, because ideally the ceremony is constructed within the context of the purpose.
One wouldn’t use a Catholic ritual to consecrate a gohonzon and likewise one wouldn’t use the Lotus Sutra to consecrate an image of Christ on a Cross. The two rituals are simply two entirely different constructs and meaning. Again this is all about clarity. While there are many paths up the mountain, mixing maps is going to get one lost.
Until one’s faith in the Lotus Sutra and Sacred Title is deep, solid and fully internalized, their understanding of the Perfect Teaching of the Lotus Sutra and The Three Thousand Realm in a Single Thought Moment fully realized and understood, they would be best served seeking out a knowledgable teacher to help them. Caveat, just because someone wears a robe, has a title, or has been practicing a long time, doesn't mean they have the sufficient qualities to perform the ceremony. Hence why the purity of a beginners mind is sometimes best suited for the ceremony. This is a great example of the benefit of a wholesome sangha who one can reach out to for healthy respectful none coercive advice and counsel.
For Dharma Flower Buddhists (nee Nichiren), we use the Lotus Sutra as our focal point, our lens to bring forth our clear intention of Bodhicitta. Dharma Flower Buddhists (and Tendai) are using the profound teaching of The Three Thousand Realms in a Single Thought Moment, which teaches that even inanimate objects possess buddha nature, as ritual basis for why we believe that a scroll or statue can actually be the living body of the Buddha.
From the Lotus Sutra:
‘After my passing, those who desire to pay homage to my entire body should erect a single great stupa.’ Whenever the Dharma Flower Sutra is expounded in any of the lands of the ten directions, that buddha will employ the transcendent powers of his vow to cause that stupa containing his entire body to spring forth there. You should erect a stupa, Adorn it, and make it beautiful With every sort of offering. When such places are occupied by these buddha children, They are in use by the Buddha himself."
“Therefore, after the passing of the Tathagata, you should single-mindedly receive, embrace, read, recite, expound, copy, and practice it as taught. In every land where it is received, embraced, read, recited, expounded, copied, or practiced as taught, and in every place where a volume of the sutra is present, whether in a garden, in a grove, under a tree, in a monastery, in a layperson’s house, in a palace, on a mountain, in a valley, or in the wilderness, you should erect a stupa to pay homage to it. Why is this? Let it be known that this place is indeed the place of the Way. Here, the buddhas attain Supreme Perfect Awakening. Here, the buddhas roll the Dharma Wheel. And here, the buddhas enter parinirvana.”
Nichiren wrote:
WND 1, #11, p.85
The Buddha possesses thirty-two features. All of them represent the physical aspect. Thirty-one of them, from the lowest, the markings of the thousand-spoked wheel on the sole of each foot, up to the unseen crown of his head, belong to the category of visible and non-coextensive physical attributes. They can therefore be depicted in tangible form, such as pictures or statues. The remaining feature, the pure and far-reaching voice, belongs to the category of invisible and coextensive physical attributes. It therefore cannot be captured either in a painting or in a wooden image. The Epilogue to the Mahaparinirvana Sutra state that both the living Buddha and a wooden or painted image made of him after his passing bestow equal benefit.
When one places a sutra in front of a wooden or painted image of the Buddha, the image becomes endowed with all thirty-two features. When the Lotus Sutra is placed before an image possessing thirty-one features, the image never fails to become the Buddha of the pure and perfect teaching. It is for this reason that the Universal Worthy Sutra, referring to the Buddha of the Lotus Sutra, explains, “A Buddha’s three types of bodies are born from this correct and equal sutra.” The correct and equal sutra in this phrase does not mean the sutras of the Correct and Equal period; it indicates the Lotus Sutra. The Universal Worthy Sutra also states, “This great vehicle sutra is the eye of the Buddhas. It is through this sutra that the Buddhas are able to acquire the five types of vision.
“One’s thoughts are expressed in one’s voice. The mind represents the spiritual aspect, and the voice, the physical aspect. The spiritual aspect manifests itself in the physical. A person can know another’s mind by listening to the voice. This is because the physical aspect reveals the spiritual aspect. The physical and spiritual, which are one in essence, manifest themselves as two distinct aspects; thus the Buddha’s mind found expression as the written words of the Lotus Sutra. These written words are the Buddha’s mind in a different form. Therefore, those who read the Lotus Sutra must not regard it as consisting of mere written words, for those words are in themselves the Buddha’s mind.
For this reason, T’ien-t’ai in his commentary states: “When the Buddha begins preaching after repeated entreaties from his listeners, he expounds the heart of his teaching. The heart of his teaching is the Buddha’s mind, and the Buddha’s mind is itself the Buddha’s wisdom. The Buddha’s wisdom is extremely profound. In this commentary, T’ien-t’ai uses the term “Buddha’s mind” to indicate that the sutra, itself a physical entity, actually embodies the Buddha’s spiritual aspect. Because the Lotus Sutra manifests the Buddha’s spiritual aspect, when one embodies that spiritual aspect in a wooden or painted image possessing thirty-one features, the image in its entirety becomes the living Buddha. This is what is meant by the enlightenment of plants.
It is for this reason that T’ien-t’ai states, “All things having color or fragrance are manifestations of the Middle Way.” Commenting on this, Miao-lo adds: “However, although people may admit that all things having color or fragrance are manifestations of the Middle Way, they are nevertheless shocked and harbor doubts when they hear for the first time the doctrine that insentient beings possess the Buddha nature.”
Endeavor to be clear what you want to do, and then set yourself upon that path with total commitment.
With respect,
Nichiryu Mark White Lotus
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