The following was published in the December 2021 Living Buddhism, pp. 26–27.
The Three Great Secret Laws represent core principles of Nichiren Daishonin’s teaching. They are: 1) the object of devotion of the essential teaching, 2) the daimoku of the essential teaching and 3) the sanctuary of the essential teaching. Here, “essential teaching” refers to Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and not to the essential teaching defined as the latter 14 chapters, of the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren established these three essential principles to enable people in the Latter Day of the Law to attain Buddhahood. They are called secret because they are implicit in the text of the “Life Span,” the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, and remained hidden or unknown until Nichiren revealed them.
The Three Great Secret Laws represent Nichiren’s embodiment of the Wonderful Law, to which he was enlightened, in a form that all people can practice and gain access to within their own lives.
The object of devotion refers to the Gohonzon, which embodies the teaching of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. The daimoku of the essential teaching refers to the chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to the Gohonzon. The sanctuary of the essential teaching is the place where the Gohonzon is enshrined and Buddhist practice is carried out.
Nichiren associated the Three Great Secret Laws with three kinds of discipline in Buddhism known as the three types of learning—precepts, meditation and wisdom (see The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, p. 142). Specifically, the object of devotion corresponds to meditation, the sanctuary to precepts and the daimoku to wisdom.
Our understanding of the Three Great Secret Laws evolved following the SGI’s spiritual independence from the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood. The priesthood taught that the Three Great Secret Laws are 1) the Gohonzon inscribed in 1279, 2) the daimoku chanted to that Gohonzon and 3) the place where that Gohonzon is enshrined, which is Nichiren Shoshu’s head temple in Fujinomiya City, Japan. Implicit in this understanding is that only those who can chant to a particular Gohonzon in a particular location can access the Three Great Secret Laws and fully reveal their enlightened nature. This explanation of this core principle cannot be found in Nichiren Daishonin’s writings.
In 2014, the Soka Gakkai revised its Rules and Regulations [Chapter 1, Article 2] to clarify the essence of faith and practice of the Soka Gakkai, returning to the original spirit of Nichiren Buddhism. Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada said of this revision:
All Gohonzon—script or character mandalas of the Ten Worlds—inscribed by the Daishonin himself for all humanity, as well as transcriptions thereof, are equally the object of devotion of the essential teaching, embodying the fundamental Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo chanted to the object of devotion of the essential teaching is the daimoku of the essential teaching, and the place where that daimoku is chanted is the sanctuary of the essential teaching. (December 12, 2014, World Tribune, p. 2)
The Three Great Secret Laws composes the concrete expression of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the Law inherent in all life and the universe. Nichiren revealed this principle to enable all people to have the ability to bring forth the power of this Law from within their lives.
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