The Voice Chanting Daimoku

The Voice Chanting Daimoku

Reaches the Bodhisattvas of the Ten Directions

By Daisaku Ikeda

Next I would like to reply to the question whether there is any value in chanting daimoku and reciting sutra passages without understanding their meaning.

Of course it is better if you understand their meaning. That will strengthen your commitment to the Law. But if you understand and yet fail to practice, it’s all of no use. Not only that, but you can’t understand the real depth of the teachings through reason alone.

Birds, for example, have their own language, their own speech. People don’t understand it, but other birds do. There are many examples among humans as well — codes, abbreviations, or foreign languages are well understood by experts or native speakers but unintelligible to others.

In the same way, the language of gongyo, of chanting daimoku, reaches the Gohonzon and the realms of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the three existences and the ten directions. We might call it the language of the realms of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

That’s why the voice of gongyo and daimoku directed to the Gohonzon, whether we understand it or not, reaches all the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and heavenly deities. They hear it and say, "Excellent, excellent!" in response, rejoicing and praising us, and the entire universe envelops us in light.