Dream Interpretation Jackal

The jackal has a reputation of being tenacious but cowardly -feeding off others. Dreaming of a jackal may suggest that you are being used by a friend who is building her/his career at your expense and may leave yours in the dust. The same dream could portray some of your personality features, if you are the one who uses others. Be careful, you might lose friends.

Source: Dream-Land, http://www.dream-land.info

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Jackal, Meaning of Dreams about Jackal, Dream Interpretation Jackal)

Definition and meaning of The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath - [Social Studies]

The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck portraying the plight of migrant agricultural workers in California during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.

(Source: The Social Studies Center at Texas University )

Also see these pages:  Social Studies, Social Studies Sitemap, History, History Sitemap

Definition and meaning of The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath - [Social Studies]

The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck portraying the plight of migrant agricultural workers in California during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.

(Source: The Social Studies Center at Texas University )

Also see these pages:  Social Studies, Social Studies Sitemap, History, History Sitemap

Planetesimal Hypothesis A modification of the nebular hypothesis -- put forward by Lockyer and See, and developed by Chamberlin and Moulton in the early 20th century -- according to which the nebulae from which planets originated were not gaseous but made up of a multitude of planetesimals or solid bodies varying in size from a mere particle up to a planetoid.

According to theosophy, at a certain later stage in the formation of worlds there does take place such a concretion of large bodies out of small bodies and out of cosmic dust; but a particular and minor phase in the physical stage of development is far from a complete account of the origin of the solar system.

It ignores all ultraphysical conditions, and therefore has to begin by assuming nine-tenths of the whole process, such as the eternity of physical matter, and the independent existence of such abstractions as gravitation, inertia, etc.

(See also: Planetesimal Hypothesis, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Definition and meaning of Atmosphere

Atmosphere - [World Geography]

The atmosphere is the envelope of gases, aerosols, and other materials that surrounds Earth and is held close by gravity. Water vapor, clouds, dust, meteor debris, salt crystals, and pollutants contribute to the atmosphere's mass, which is concentrated within a layer that extends about 12 miles from Earth's surface. The gases are nitrogen (78 percent), oxygen (20 percent), argon (.93 percent), and carbon dioxide (.03 percent).

(Source: The Social Studies Center at Texas University )

Also see these pages:  Social Studies, Social Studies Sitemap, History, History Sitemap

Definition and meaning of Atmosphere

Atmosphere - [World Geography]

The atmosphere is the envelope of gases, aerosols, and other materials that surrounds Earth and is held close by gravity. Water vapor, clouds, dust, meteor debris, salt crystals, and pollutants contribute to the atmosphere's mass, which is concentrated within a layer that extends about 12 miles from Earth's surface. The gases are nitrogen (78 percent), oxygen (20 percent), argon (.93 percent), and carbon dioxide (.03 percent).

(Source: The Social Studies Center at Texas University )

Also see these pages:  Social Studies, Social Studies Sitemap, History, History Sitemap

Life Span of the Thus Come One chapter

(Jpn.: Nyorai-juryo-hon)

Abbreviated as the "Life Span" chapter. The sixteenth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, in which Shakyamuni Buddha reveals that he originally attained enlightenment in the far distant past rather than in his present life in India as his listeners generally thought.

The chapter title "The Life Span of the Thus Come One" means the duration of Shakyamuni's life as a Buddha, that is, how much time has passed since he originally attained Buddhahood. T'ien-t'ai (538-597) of China ranks it as the key chapter of the essential teaching, or the latter fourteen chapters of the sutra.

The chapter opens with three exhortations and four entreaties, in which the Buddha three times admonishes the multitude to believe and understand his truthful words, and the assembly four times begs him to preach. Shakyamuni then says, "You must listen carefully and hear of the Thus Come One's secret and his transcendental powers." He proceeds to explain that, while all heavenly and human beings and asuras believe that he first attained enlightenment in his present lifetime under the bodhi tree, it has actually been an incalculable length of time since he attained enlightenment. He then offers a dramatic description of the magnitude of this immeasurably long period. He describes taking a vast number of worlds, grinding them to dust, and then traversing the universe, dropping a particle each time one passes an equally vast number of worlds. Having exhausted all the dust particles, one takes all the worlds traversed, whether they have received a dust particle or not, and grinds them to dust. Then Shakyamuni says: "Let one particle represent one kalpa. The time that has passed since I attained Buddhahood surpasses this by a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a million nayuta asamkhya kalpas."

Commentaries on this chapter refer to this cosmically immense period as "numberless major world system dust particle kalpas." In the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni thus refutes the view that he attained enlightenment for the first time in this life in India and reveals his original attainment of enlightenment in the remote past. T'ien-t'ai refers to this in The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra and The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra as "opening the near and revealing the distant," "casting off the transient and revealing the true," and "opening the transient and revealing the true." Here, "the transient" means Shakyamuni's transient status, and "the true" means his true identity. From his original attainment of Buddhahood, Shakyamuni declares, he has constantly been here in this saha world preaching the Law, appearing as many different Buddhas and using various means to save living beings. Though he says that he enters nirvana, he merely uses his death as a means to arouse in people the desire to seek a Buddha. He then illustrates this idea with the parable of the skilled physician and his sick children. In the parable, the children of a skilled physician have accidentally swallowed poison. Having lost their senses, they refuse the medicine their father offers them as an antidote. The father then goes off to a remote place and sends a message informing his children he has died. Shocked to their senses, the children take the medicine their father has left for them and are cured. The Buddha is compared to the father in this parable, living beings to the children who have drunk poison, and the Buddha's entry into nirvana to the father's report of his own death-an expedient means to arouse in people the aspiration for enlightenment. The chapter concludes with a verse section, which restates the important teachings of the preceding prose section.

In Profound Meaning, T'ien-t'ai interprets the "Life Span" chapter as revealing the three mystic principles of the true cause (the cause for Shakyamuni's original attainment of enlightenment), the true effect (his original enlightenment), and the true land (the place where the Buddha lives and teaches). He interprets the passage "Originally I practiced the bodhisattva way ... " as indicating the stage of non-regression, or the eleventh of the fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice, which he explained as the true cause that enabled Shakyamuni to attain Buddhahood. In answer to the question of what Shakyamuni practiced in order to reach the stage of non-regression, Nichiren (1222-1282) identified it as the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

(See also: Life Span of the Thus Come One chapter, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Vishnu (Sanskrit). The second person of the Hindu Trimurti (trinity), composed of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. From the root vish, "to pervade". in the Rig -Veda, Vishnu is no high god, but simply a manifestation of the solar energy, described as "striding through the seven regions of the Universe in three steps and enveloping all things with the dust (of his beams ".) Whatever may be the six other occult significances of the statement, this is related to the same class of types as the seven and ten Sephiroth, as the seven and three orifices of the perfect Adam Kadmon, as the seven "principles" and the higher triad in man, etc., etc. Later on this mystic type becomes a great god, the preserver and the renovator, he "of a thousand names - Sahasranama ".

(See also: Vishnu, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

ENLIGHTENMENT (bodhi, Sanskrit) -

1. universal consciousness;; traditionally compared to a mind full of light like the moon in a cloudless sky or a mirror without any dust on it.

2. awareness that you are a manifestation of one Infinity, always moving according to yin and yang and the Order of the Universe. (Michi Kushi)

3. seeing not an alienated world to be gotten out of but a realized world in which we know that all plays a part. (Gary Snyder)

4. enlightenment experiences are described as; aha experience, awareness, born-again, conversion, cosmic-consciousness, convictional event, deep knowing, divine intervention. Eureka, felt shift, flash point, gestalt formation, getting it, gift of the guru, gnosis, grace, greater reality, illumination, inner feeling, inner voice, insight, awareness, left-right brain shift, miracle, moment of clarity, moment of truth, mystical experience, peak experience, quantum leap, religious experience, satari, spiritual awakening, sudden decision, surrender, transformation, turning point

(See also: ENLIGHTENMENT, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Meteorites [from Greek meteoros above the earth, applied to celestial bodies, meteorological phenomena, and shooting stars]

Masses of stone or various minerals that have fallen on earth from interplanetary space. Planets are surrounded by veils or continents of meteoric stones and dust, and there is a continual fall of it upon the surface of planets. Some meteorites are in swarms orbiting around the sun, and are encountered by the earth periodically.

Blavatsky says that "they were used in the Mysteries for purposes to which we now apply the magnet" (IU 1:282). According to Herodotus, in Babylonia, Thebes, and Lycia, "the priestesses developed the prophetic vision in themselves by pressing one of these sacred stones against their heads and bosoms" (ibid., 331). Also The Mahatma Letters (p. 162) states that "all our temple knives are made of this 'heavenly' iron, which reaches us without having undergone any change -- the magnetism of the earth keeping them in cohesion."

(See also: Meteorites, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Teacher of the true effect

(Jpn.: honga-myo-no-kyoshu)

In Nichiren's teachings, Shakyamuni Buddha. In the "Life Span" (sixteenth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni reveals the true effect, the Buddhahood he attained numberless major world system dust particle kalpas ago. He alludes to the cause of that enlightenment only with the words "Originally I practiced the bodhisattva way," and does not clarify the teaching or Law that he practiced to attain Buddhahood.

Shakyamuni Buddha is called the teacher of the true effect because he revealed his original enlightenment as a result already achieved-as an effect-and did not specify its cause. Nichiren defined the true cause that enabled Shakyamuni and all other Buddhas to attain enlightenment as the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo; he is therefore called the teacher of the true cause.

(See also: Teacher of the true effect, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Teacher of the true cause

(Jpn.: honnin-myo-no-kyoshu)

In Nichiren's teachings, the Buddha who expounds the fundamental Law, or the true cause, that enables all people to attain Buddhahood.

In the "Life Span" (sixteenth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni reveals the true effect, or the Buddhahood that he attained numberless major world system dust particle kalpas ago. He does not, however, fully clarify the true cause of, i.e., the practice that led to, his enlightenment. Hence, he is called the teacher of the true effect. In contrast, Nichiren taught that Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the Law implicit in the "Life Span" chapter and is the cause of enlightenment for all people. Because he clarified the true cause for attaining Buddhahood, he is called the teacher of the true cause, and his Buddhism, the Buddhism of the true cause, or the Buddhism of sowing that implants the seeds of enlightenment in the lives of those who practice it.

(See also: Teacher of the true cause, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Definition and meaning of agricultural pollution:

agricultural pollution - the liquid and solid wastes from all types of farming, including runoff from pesticides, fertilizers and feedlots; erosion and dust from plowing, animal manure, carcasses, crop residues and debris

(Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) )

Also see these pages: Oceanography, Oceanography Sitemap, Coral Reef, Environment, Sustainability, Climate Change,

Definition and meaning of nictitating membrane:

nictitating membrane - a semi-transparent membrane which can be drawn across the eye in birds, reptiles and many mammals. It functions to either moderate the effects of strong light or to sweep away dust and similar particles from the surface of the eye

(Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) )

Also see these pages: Oceanography, Oceanography Sitemap, Coral Reef, Environment, Sustainability, Climate Change,

Ectoplasm (from Greek ektos without + plasma a thing formed)

Used by observers interested in psychic research and kindred subjects to denote the filmy matter which appears at times to exude from the body of a medium. Inasmuch as purported photographs have been shown representing this matter in close proximity to the body of a medium, and even as clearly issuing from it, it is quite evident that physical or quasi-physical matter must be associated with this ectoplasm.

When this ectoplasm is genuine (for it may of course be simulated for a photograph), it occurs because the constitution of the medium is loosely knit together and thus an exudation becomes possible from the medium's linga-sarira or model-body upon which the physical body is built.

In cases of genuine ectoplasmic projection, because of the peculiar, exceptional magnetic and vital condition surrounding a medium's body, atoms are also drawn to the medium by electromagnetic attraction, such as molecules of air or dust particles of physical and pranic substance with which the air is laden. These tiny particles of often invisible physical substance fuse with the exuding material from the linga-sarira of the medium, giving it substance and even the appearance of physical matter.

Thus when the ectoplasm is touched, it feels warm and vital; occasionally even a throbbing sensation may be felt due to the pulse-beat coming from the heart of the medium.

(See also: Ectoplasm, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Sarpa-rajni (Sanskrit) [from sarpa serpent + rajni queen]

The queen of the serpents;

"the Aitareya-Brahmana calls the Earth Sarparajni, . . . Before our globe became egg-shaped (and the Universe also) 'a long trail of Cosmic dust (or fire mist) moved and writhed like a serpent in Space.' The 'Spirit of God moving on Chaos' was symbolized by every nation in the shape of a fiery serpent breathing fire and light upon the primordial waters, until it had incubated cosmic matter and made it assume the annular shape of a serpent with its tail in its mouth -- which symbolises not only Eternity and Infinitude, but also the globular shape of all the bodies formed within the Universe from that fiery mist. The Universe, as well as the Earth and Man, cast off periodically, serpent-like, their old skins, to assume new ones after a time of rest " (SD 1:74).

"The Earth is said to cast off her old three skins, because this refers to the three preceding Rounds she has already passed through; the present being the fourth Round out of the seven. At the beginning of every new Round, after a period of 'obscuration,' the earth (as do also the other six 'earths') casts off, or is supposed to cast off, her old skins as the Serpent does . . ." (SD 2:47).

Also, certain verses of the Rig-Veda dealing with this subject.

(See also: Sarpa-rajni, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Seventh Round The final manifested round in the evolutionary life cycle of the life-waves coursing around a planetary chain. While little can be said regarding the condition of mankind in the seventh round, humans of the seventh round will have successfully become one with their sixth principle (buddhi); and as the seventh principle (atman) will be predominant in the seventh round, life on earth should then be glorious beyond present understanding. Only in the seventh root-race and in the seventh round will human beings truly and finally have become fully evolved septenary beings: then will they have attained the evolutionary status of dhyani-chohanship.

As each of the six previous rounds developed a cosmic element-principle, the seventh element will come into manifestation; we can obtain some conception of its nature by calling it adi-tattva. "Earth will reach her true ultimate form -- (inversely in this to man) -- her body shell -- only toward the end of the manvantara after the Seventh Round" (SD 1:260). Long before the earth shall have reached her seventh round, our moon, the earth's mother, will have dissolved into cosmic ether and dust. In its turn, long after the seventh round, the earth will be a moon to the planetary chain-to-be.

As the hosts of monads complete their cycling on the seven manifested globes of a planetary chain, one by one (commencing with globe A) each globe enters the state of pralaya, and the forces and higher substances comprising each globe are transferred to a laya-center, there to remain in statu quo until the time strikes for the new planetary chain to come into manifestation. These laya-centers are the focal points respectively for the birth of the globes of the new chain.

(See also: Seventh Round, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Earthly desires are enlightenment

(Jpn.: bonno-soku-bodai)

A Mahayana principle based on the view that earthly desires cannot exist independently on their own; therefore one can attain enlightenment without eliminating earthly desires. This contrasts with the Hinayana view that extinguishing earthly desires is a prerequisite for enlightenment.

According to the Hinayana teachings, earthly desires and enlightenment are two independent and opposing factors, and the two cannot coexist; while the Mahayana teachings reveal that earthly desires are one with and inseparable from enlightenment. This is because all things, even earthly desires and enlightenment, are manifestations of the unchanging reality or truth-and thus are non-dual at their source.

The Universal Worthy Sutra, an epilogue to the Lotus Sutra, states, "Without either cutting off earthly desires or separating themselves from the five desires, they can purify all their senses and wipe away all their offenses."

T'ien-t'ai (538-597) says in Great Concentration and Insight, "The ignorance and dust of desires are enlightenment, and the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana."

In The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, Nichiren (1222-1282) states: "The idea of gradually overcoming delusions is not the ultimate meaning of the 'Life Span' chapter of the Lotus Sutra. You should understand that the ultimate meaning of this chapter is that ordinary mortals, just as they are in their original state of being, are Buddhas," and, "Today, when Nichiren and his followers recite the words Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, they are burning the firewood of earthly desires, summoning up the wisdom-fire of enlightenment."

(See also: Earthly desires are enlightenment, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Enlightenment of plants

(Jpn.: somoku-jobutsu)

Also, enlightenment of insentient beings. The enlightenment of grass, trees, rocks, the land itself, or anything else that has neither emotion nor consciousness.

The doctrine that insentient beings can attain Buddhahood derives from T'ien-t'ai's doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life. One of the component principles of this doctrine is the realm of the environment, or the insentient objective world.

The doctrine teaches the mutually inclusive relationship of living beings and their environments, or that of sentient and insentient beings, thereby revealing that both manifest the same state of life. Therefore, when living beings manifest the state of Buddhahood, their environment simultaneously manifests the state of Buddhahood as well.

In The Diamond Scalpel, Miao-lo (711-782) refuted the arguments of Ch'eng-kuan, the fourth patriarch of the Chinese Flower Garland (Hua-yen) school, who asserted that insentient beings do not possess the Buddha nature. Miao-lo wrote, "A plant, a tree, a pebble, a speck of dust-each has the Buddha nature, and each is endowed with cause and effect and with the function to manifest and the wisdom to realize its Buddha nature."

(See also: Enlightenment of plants, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Attainment of Buddhahood in the remote past

(Jpn.: kuon jitsujo)

Shakyamuni's original attainment of enlightenment in the inconceivably remote past as related in the "Life Span" (sixteenth) chapter of the essential teaching (latter fourteen chapters) of the Lotus Sutra. In this chapter, Shakyamuni discloses that he actually attained enlightenment in the distant past. He then illustrates in rather awe-inspiring detail the cosmic proportions of the time that has elapsed since then, the magnitude of which is abbreviated as "numberless major world system dust particle kalpas." Nothing Shakyamuni had taught until this point challenged people's basic assumption that he had attained enlightenment in his present lifetime after sitting in meditation under the bodhi tree near Gaya, India.

This is the assumption upheld in the theoretical teaching (first fourteen chapters) of the Lotus Sutra and in the other sutras. Through this revelation in the "Life Span" chapter, however, Shakyamuni demolishes the belief that he attained enlightenment for the first time in his present lifetime. The "Life Span" chapter says: "In all the worlds the heavenly and human beings and asuras all believe that the present Shakyamuni Buddha, after leaving the palace of the Shakyas, seated himself in the place of meditation not far from the city of Gaya and there attained supreme perfect enlightenment. But good men, it has been immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of nayutas of kalpas since I in fact attained Buddhahood."

(See also: Attainment of Buddhahood in the remote past, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Sowing maturing and harvesting

(Jpn.: shu-juku-datsu)

The three-phase process by which a Buddha leads people to Buddha-hood. In The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra, T'ien-t'ai (538-597) set forth this concept based on the Lotus Sutra, comparing the process of people attaining Buddhahood to the growth of a plant. In the first stage, "sowing," the Buddha plants the seeds of Buddhahood in the lives of the people, just as a gardener sows seeds in the soil. Nichiren (1222- 1282) states in The Essentials for Attaining Buddhahood, "The Buddha is like the sower, and the people like the field". In the second stage, the Buddha nurtures the seeds he has planted by helping the people practice the teaching and leading them gradually to Buddhahood. This stage is compared to the gardener's care for the sprouting and growth of a plant and is called "maturing." In the third and final stage, the Buddha leads the people to reap the harvest of enlightenment, enabling them to attain Buddhahood. This is comparable to the gardener reaping the fruit of a plant and is called "harvesting."

The process of sowing, maturing, and harvesting is described as taking place over countless kalpas. From the viewpoint of the essential teaching (latter half ) of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni first planted the seeds of enlightenment in the lives of his disciples numberless major world system dust particle kalpas in the past. He then nurtured them as the sixteenth son of the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence major world system dust particle kalpas in the past and later as the Buddha in India by preaching the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings and the theoretical teaching (first half ) of the Lotus Sutra. He finally brought them to fruition, or enlightenment, with the "Life Span" (sixteenth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra. Seen from this perspective, Shakyamuni's essential teaching was expounded for the purpose of reaping the harvest of enlightenment and accordingly is called the teaching of the harvest. The pre-Lotus Sutra teachings and the theoretical teaching, through which Shakyamuni nurtured his disciples' capacity for enlightenment, are regarded as the teaching of maturing. As a whole, Nichiren refers to Shakyamuni's teachings as the Buddhism of the harvest.

In The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind, Nichiren states: "He Shakyamuni planted the seeds of Buddhahood in their lives in the remote past numberless major world system dust particle kalpas ago and nurtured the seeds through his preaching as the sixteenth son of the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence major world system dust particle kalpas ago and through the first four flavors of teachings the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings and the theoretical teaching in this life. Then with the essential teaching he brought his followers to the stage of near-perfect enlightenment and finally to that of perfect enlightenment" (369-70). In the same work, Nichiren writes: "The essential teaching of Shakyamuni's lifetime and that revealed at the beginning of the Latter Day are both pure and perfect in that both lead directly to Buddha-hood. Shakyamuni's, however, is the Buddhism of the harvest, and this is the Buddhism of sowing. The core of his teaching is one chapter and two halves, and the core of mine is the five characters of the daimoku alone". Though "one chapter and two halves" indicates that Shakyamuni planted the seeds of Buddhahood in the lives of his followers, the teaching of sowing is "hidden in the depths of the 'Life Span' chapter" of the Lotus Sutra. More specifically, it is hidden in the sentence "Originally I practiced the bodhisattva way."

Nichiren referred to the hidden teaching as "the seed of Buddhahood, that is, the three thousand realms in a single moment of life" in The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind (365). In The Opening of the Eyes, he writes: "This is the doctrine of original cause and original effect. It reveals that the nine worlds are all present in beginningless Buddha-hood and that Buddhahood is inherent in the beginningless nine worlds. This is the true mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, the true hundred worlds and thousand factors, the true three thousand realms in a single moment of life". This indicates the eternal Mystic Law that enables people to reveal Buddhahood from their beginningless nine worlds. Originally Shakyamuni practiced the bodhisattva way as a common mortal with this Law as his teacher and thus realized and manifested his inherent Buddhahood.

In contrast with Shakyamuni's Buddhism, Nichiren identified his teaching as the Buddhism of sowing and defined the daimoku of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as the teaching for planting the seeds of enlightenment. Because Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the law of the simultaneity of cause and effect, it contains within it all three stages of sowing, maturing, and harvesting. The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra refers to two types of people: those who received the seeds of Buddhahood and have good roots and those who do not. According to Nichiren, people in the Latter Day of the Law never received the seeds of Buddhahood from the Buddha in the past and must therefore first receive the seeds of Buddhahood in their lives. Then they can complete the whole process of maturing and harvesting in this lifetime. Nichiren established the object of devotion called the Gohonzon, embodying in it the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as a means for people to plant the seeds of Buddha-hood in their lives and reap the fruit of Buddhahood. In Nichiren's teaching, the practice for doing so involves chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with faith in the Gohonzon.

See: Teacher of the true effect, Teacher of the true cause

(See also: Sowing maturing and harvesting, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)