is the being that appeared to Nichiren as a beautiful woman, but
disappeared from his sight in the form of a snake, twenty feet long,
covered with golden scales and armed with iron teeth. It is now deified
under the name meaning the Great God of the Seven Faces, and is
identified with the Hindoo deity Siva.

Another idol usually seen in the Nichiren temples is Mioken. Under this
name the pole star is worshipped, usually in the form of a Buddha with a
wheel of a Buddha elect. Standing on a tortoise, with a sword in his
right hand, and with the left hand half open--a gesture which symbolizes
the male and female principles in the physical world, and the
intelligence and the law in the spiritual world--Mioken is a striking
figure. Indeed, the list of glorified animals reminds us somewhat of the
ancient beast-worship of Egypt. In the Nichiren hierology, it is as
though the symbolical figures in the Book of Revelation had been deified
and worshipped. It is evident that all the creatures in that Buddhist
chamber of imagery, the Hokké Ki[=o], that could possibly be made into
gods have received apotheosis. The very book itself is also worshipped,
for the Nichirenites are extreme believers in verbal inspiration, and
pay divine honors to each jot and tittle of the sutra, which to them is
a god. They adore also the triad of the three precious ones, the Buddha,
the Rule or Discipline, and the Organization; or, Being, Law, and
Church. The hideous idol, Fudo, "Eleven-faced," "Horse-headed,"
"Thousand-handed," or girt in a robe of fiery flame, is believed by
Buddhists to represent Avalokitesvara; but, in recent times he has been
recognized, detected and recaptured by the Shint[=o]ists as Kotohira.
The goddess Kishi, and that miscellaneous assortment or group known as
the Seven Patrons of Happiness, which form a sort of encyclopaedia or
museum of curiosities derived from the cults of India, China and Japan,
are also components of the amazing menagerie and pantheon of this sect,