The Significance of Gojusandan 五重三段 and Honzon 本尊 in the Kanjin honzon-shō 観心本尊抄

Abstract

In the Kanjin-honzon-shō, when the appearance of the honzon 本尊 （the principle image） is presented, the image of the Buddha entrusting the Lotus Sūtra to the bodhisattvas risen from the earth （jiyu 地涌） is referred to as the core of the image. In order to explain this appearance in detail, Nichiren explains it in terms of gojusandan 五重三段 （three sections for the preaching the life of the Buddha, three sections for the ten scrolls, three sections for the shaku-mon 迹門, three sections for the hon-mon 本門, and three sections for the hon-pō 本法）.

The significance of the gojusandan is that it reveals the three-stage portion of the hon-pō from among all the sūtras as the central portion of the sūtra 正宗分. In other words, the image of salvation in the Latter Days of the Law, to which the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra is entrusted, is the very image of the honzon that actively shows such salvation.