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  • The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin I/II
    • Volume I
    • Volume II
  • The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras
  • The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings
  • The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism

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Opening of the Eyes, The | Dictionary of Buddhism | Nichiren Buddhism Library
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  • Ōama

    [大尼] (n.d.)

  • Ōbaku school

    [黄檗宗] ( Ōbaku-shū)

  • Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind, The

    [観心本尊抄] ( Kanjin-no-honzon-shō)

  • object of devotion of the essential teaching

    [本門の本尊] ( hommon-no-honzon)

  • observation of the mind

    [観心] ( kanjin)

  • ocean-imprint meditation

    [海印三昧] ( kaiin-zammai)

  • Ocean of Meditation on the Buddha Sutra

    [観仏三昧海経] (Chin Kuan-fo-san-mei-hai-ching;  Kambutsu-sammai-kai-kyō)

  • offering

    [供養] ( kuyō)

  • Ōhara Discourse

    [大原問答・大原談義] ( Ōhara-mondō or Ōhara-dangi)

  • old translations

    [旧訳] ( kuyaku)

  • om

    [唵] (;  on)

  • Omosu Seminary

    [重須談所] ( Omosu-dansho)

  • once-returner

    [斯陀含・一来] ( sakridāgāmin; Pali sakadāgāmin;  shidagon or ichirai)

  • On Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra

    [唱法華題目抄] ( Shōhokke-daimoku-shō)

  • one Buddha vehicle

    [一仏乗] ( ichi-butsujō)

  • one chapter and two halves

    [一品二半] ( ippon-nihan)

  • one-eyed turtle

    [一眼の亀] ( ichigen-no-kame)

  • one great reason

    [一大事] ( ichidaiji)

  • One Hundred Records of the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai, The

    [国清百録] (Chin Kuo-ch’ing-pai-lu;  Kokusei-hyakuroku)

  • One-Hundred-Verse Treatise, The

    [百論] (Chin Pai-lun;  Hyaku-ron)

  • oneness of body and mind

    [色心不二] ( shikishin-funi)

  • oneness of delusion and enlightenment

    [迷悟不二・迷悟一体] ( meigo-funi or meigo-ittai)

  • oneness of good and evil

    [善悪不二] ( zen’aku-funi)

  • oneness of life and its environment

    [依正不二] ( eshō-funi)

  • oneness of living beings and Buddhas

    [生仏不二・生仏一如] ( shōbutsu-funi or shōbutsu-ichinyo)

  • oneness of the Person and the Law

    [人法一箇] ( nimpō-ikka)

  • On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land

    [立正安国論] ( Risshō-ankoku-ron)

  • one vehicle

    [一乗] ( ekayāna;  ichijō)

  • one vehicle teaching

    [一乗法] ( ichijō-hō)

  • One Who Can Endure

    [能忍] ( nōnin)

  • Ōnichi-nyo

    [王日女] (n.d.)

  • Onjō-ji

    [園城寺]

  • On Refuting the Five Priests

    [五人所破抄] ( Gonin-shoha-shō)

  • On Repaying Debts of Gratitude

    [報恩抄] ( Hō’on-shō)

  • On Taking the Essence of the Lotus Sutra

    [法華取要抄] ( Hokke-shuyō-shō)

  • On the Formalities

    [化儀抄] ( Kegi-shō)

  • On the Four Stages of Faith and the Five Stages of Practice

    [四信五品抄] ( Shishin-gohon-shō)

  • On the Peaceful Practices of the Lotus Sutra

    [法華経安楽行義] (Chin Fa-hua-ching-an-lo-hsing-i;  Hokekyō-anrakugyō-gi)

  • Opening of the Eyes, The

    [開目抄] ( Kaimokū-sho)

  • opening the near and revealing the distant

    [開近顕遠] ( kaigon-kennon)

  • opening the provisional and revealing the true

    [開権顕実] ( kaigon-kenjitsu)

  • opening the three vehicles and revealing the one vehicle

    [開三顕一] ( kaisan-ken’ichi)

  • opposite shore

    [彼岸] ( higan)

  • ordinary person

    [凡夫] ( prithag-jana or bāla;  bompu or bombu)

  • ordination platform

    [戒壇] ( kaidan)

  • original Buddha

    [本仏] ( hombutsu)

  • original enlightenment

    [本覚] ( hongaku)

  • original vows

    [本願] ( pūrvapranidhāna;  hongan)

  • Ornament of Mahayana Sutras, The

    [大乗荘厳経論] ( Mahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra; Chin Ta-ch’eng-chuang-yen-ching-lun;  Daijō-shōgonkyō-ron)

  • Ōta Jōmyō

    [大田乗明] (1222–1283)

  • other shore

    [彼岸] ( higan)

  • Oto

    [乙] (n.d.)

  • outflows

    [漏] ( āsrava;  ro)

  • Outside-the-Mountain school

    [山外派] (Chin Shan-wai-p’ai;  Sangai-ha)

  • Outstanding Principles of the Lotus Sutra, The

    [法華秀句] ( Hokke-shūku)

  • Ōwa Debate

    [応和の宗論] ( Ōwa-no-shūron)

  • ox-headed demons

    [牛頭] ( goshīrsha;  gozu)

  • ox-head sandalwood

    [牛頭栴檀] ( goshīrsha-chandana;  gozu-sendan)

  • ox-head sandalwood

    [牛頭栴檀] ( goshīrsha-chandana;  gozu-sendan)

Opening of the Eyes, The [開目抄] ( Kaimokū-sho): One of Nichiren’s five or ten major writings. It consists of two volumes and was completed at Tsukahara on Sado, an island in the Sea of Japan, in the second month of 1272. According to Nichikan (1665–1726), the twenty-sixth chief priest of Taiseki-ji temple, in this work Nichiren reveals his identity as the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law who possesses the three virtues of sovereign, teacher, and parent. Thus he says it reveals the object of devotion in terms of the Person, while The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind, written in 1273, reveals the object of devotion in terms of the Law. The Opening of the Eyes begins with the words: “There are three categories of people that all human beings should respect. They are the sovereign, the teacher, and the parent” (220). In the concluding part, Nichiren says, “I, Nichiren, am sovereign, teacher, and father and mother to all the people of Japan” (287). Because in this statement Nichiren identifies himself with the three virtues the Buddhas possess, it is viewed as his declaration that he is the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law. He also states: “On the twelfth day of the ninth month of last year [1271], between the hours of the rat and the ox [11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.], this person named Nichiren was beheaded. It is his soul that has come to this island of Sado and, in the second month of the following year, snowbound, is writing this to send to his close disciples” (269). “This person named Nichiren” means the ordinary person Nichiren. “It is his soul that has come to this island of Sado” is taken to mean that the individual who arrived alive at Sado was Nichiren in his true identity—the Buddha Nichiren.
  The title The Opening of the Eyes means to open the eyes of the people and awaken them to the three virtues of the Buddhism of the harvest and finally to those of the Buddhism of sowing, severing their blind attachment to the provisional teachings. In doing so, Nichiren discusses the relative superiority of the lifetime teachings of Shakyamuni (with the doctrine known as the fivefold comparison), determines the superiority of the Lotus Sutra over all other sutras, and reveals the Mystic Law, the teaching for attaining Buddhahood in the Latter Day of the Law. He says: “The doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life [i.e., the Mystic Law] is found in only one place, hidden in the depths of the ‘Life Span’ chapter of the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra. Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu were aware of it but did not bring it forth into the light. T’ien-t’ai Chih-che alone embraced it and kept it ever in mind” (224). Based on this passage, Nichikan later established the doctrine of the threefold secret teaching. In his work known as The Actions of the Votary of the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren writes: “I began to put into shape a work in two volumes called The Opening of the Eyes, which I had been working on since the eleventh month of the previous year. I wanted to record the wonder of Nichiren, in case I should be beheaded” (772). The Opening of the Eyes, which was intended for posterity, was given to Shijō Kingo, a lay disciple who had accompanied Nichiren to the execution site at Tatsunokuchi and resolved to die there by his side. See also fivefold comparison; threefold secret teaching.


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