4 Simple Ways to Embrace the Gohonzon

Gosho: Persecution by Sword and Staff

"As you crave food when hungry, seek water when thirsty, long to see a lover, beg for medicine when ill or as a beautiful woman desires powder and rouge, so should you put your fiat hint he Lotus Sutra. If you do not, you will regret it later."

When you are hungry, no one has to tell you, “Eat, you’ll feel better.” The impulse is to go get food arises from within you of its own accord. And when you are thirst, you don’t tell yourself, “If I don’t think about it, maybe it’ll go away.” If possible, you stop whatever you’re doing, and drink some water. When you are deeply in love, then waking or sleeping, you will always have that person in your thoughts; he or she is the only man or woman in the world for you. And when you are ill or injured, getting well takes immediate priority over everything. People with obscure diseases often exhaust their financial resources seeking medicine or doctors to relieve their pain. Moreover, people blessed with good looks naturally want to make the most of them. A great beauty may willingly spend hours in front of a mirror, determining the precise shade of make-up that will set off her looks to best advantage.
With each of these examples, Nichiren Daishonin teaches us something about the ideal attitude in faith that we should strive for. It is indeed great if we can turn to the Gohonzon immediately, spontaneously, and wholeheartedly under any circumstances, without being told to by anyone.

I feel this passage also indicates that we can confidently pray to the Gohonzon for the fulfilment of any desire whatsoever.

• “As you crave food when hungry, seek water when thirsty” might be read as indicating the most basic needs of the human being that must be met if one is to survive. 
• “Long to see a lover” could be said to represent more complex desires, involving emotional and spiritual needs as well as physical ones. 
• “Beg for medicine when ill” might be said to stand for problems – things that need to be corrected or resolved. 
• And “as beautiful woman desires powder and rouge” could be said to represent desires to fulfil our potential and enhance the meaning of our existence. 

In this way the Daishonin teaches us that faith in the Gohonzon can benefit people in every aspect of live. No matter how big or how small or what it may concern, nothing is outside the scope of the Gohonzon’s beneficial power.

Source: George M Williams, Vice President SGI