Sacred Relics Capable of Manifesting Miracles
There are no words to respond to Christianity's assertion that all Japanese Buddhism is a lower-class religion worshiping idols such as hypothetical, imaginary and fabricated conceptual Buddhas. Likewise, why are Buddhists who venerate idols looked down upon with such disdain?
We can offer two reasons.
Reason One
Idol Buddhas are images of Buddhas who do not exist. These images of non-existent Buddhas are "false images." In short, false images of Buddhas are imitations. Can a sutra spoken by a false Buddha masquerading as the real Buddha be called the teaching of the true Buddha? No, it is not the teaching of the Buddha. Instead it is a teaching given by a human being pretending to be the Buddha. Regardless of his genius or intelligence, he is still, in the end, just a human being. He is not a Buddha.
This Buddhism venerates idols or imitation images of the Buddha and the reading of sutras of imitation Buddhas. No wonder these heavily rational Western religions are disdainful of Japanese Buddhism.
Reason Two
Is there any effect of praying to idols of Buddhas that do not exist?
Early Christians refer to the remains of Jesus Christ as “Holy Relics” and regard them as objects of the highest devotion. They also venerate the remains of other saints. For example, the right elbow of the well-known Saint Francisco Xavier is venerated as a holy relic in the main sanctuary of the Jesuit Order. In other words, we can say that the right elbow of Saint Xavier is a central object of veneration in the Jesuit Order. In the same way, the Holy Relics of Jesus Christ can also be considered a central object of veneration in Christianity.
So why do Christians hold holy relics in such reverence?
It is because they manifest miracles.
Let me explain.
The Roman Catholic Church, for example, has a system of bestowing titles such as Blessed or Saint. Blessed is the title given to someone recognized as either a martyr or a confessor. A martyr is one who dies in defense of his or her faith. A confessor is one who avows his or her Christian faith in the face of opposition or who exercises a heroic degree of Christian virtue then bringing about a posthumous miracle. The Vatican makes an official declaration only after it conducts an exhaustive investigation and completes a thorough deliberation based on strict predetermined criteria. In most cases, the Church elevates its blessed to saints after many more years of careful investigation.
This second phase of the investigation which determines sainthood is known as the canonical investigations. These official inquiries are even more stringent than the first.
One criterion for sainthood is that the candidate, either through a relic (a bodily remain or an object in his or her possession) or direct intervention, must have produced another miracle after his or her beatification. Remember, holy relics are revered because of their ability to manifest various miracles.
Why, then, do relics have the ability to cause miracles?
The spirit of the saint, which lies in the spiritual world, responds to our prayers by descending into this realm through an object it had a close association with. We could also say that the object calls the spirit of the saint to itself. This is how saints advent to create miracles.
Corporeal remains of the saint such as flesh or bones are considered the most venerable relics. These produce the greatest miracles. The next are objects that he or she wore on his or her body. What happens when one worships hypothetical, imaginary Buddhas? When one venerates a real saint or the real Buddha, miracles occur. What happens when one prays to a false one?
Christians view Japanese Buddhists as poor figures, bowed in front of idols like uncivilized people intently praying for miracles. If we were to find an equivalent to the Holy Relics of Christianity in Buddhism, it would naturally be the sacred remains of the Buddha. The genuine remains of the Buddha are the holiest relics of Buddhism. The genuine relics of the Buddha should be the highest object of worship or honzon in Buddhism because they represent the real Buddha.
I previously noted that the dharma alone is insufficient while the Buddha is essential. True Buddhist dharma requires the Buddha and the dharma. When the genuine relics of the Buddha are properly venerated, they give power and divine protection to practitioners and believers. This is how true dharma is attained. It is impossible to realize Jobutsu-ho by oneself without this divine protection. Indeed, I was only able to achieve complete liberation through the divine protection of the Buddha.
There is no way an idol of the Buddha can manifest this sort of marvelous occurrence. Believing it can is nothing more than emotionally blind faith. This is why Christianity and Islam look down upon the Japanese Buddhism that prays before false images as an inferior religion of idol worship.
This seems like a logical conclusion.