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1. Do We Need to Visit the Dai-Gohonzon to Receive Benefit?
High Priest Nikken and his colleagues plotted to destroy the Soka Gakkai.
Kryssi Staikidis
New York City
As we know, High Priest Nikken and his colleagues plotted to destroy the Soka Gakkai, the organization that has been faithfully carrying out the true Buddha's will and intent, thus attempting to disrupt the progress of kosen-rufu. The head temple under the current high priest's control has now completely lost the spirit of the Daishonin and has become a place of slander of the Law.
The Daishonin established the Dai-Gohonzon for all humanity. It is the object of devotion dedicated to the happiness of all people, bestowed by the Daishonin on humankind as a whole. Because Nichiren Shoshu's current high priest has trampled on this far-reaching compassion of the Daishonin, cutting off access to the Dai-Gohonzon, he is arrogantly treating the Gohonzon as his personal possession.
In Buddhism, lending support to slanderous priests or monks is called complicity in slander and results in sharing the same negative causes as such priests. Therefore, visiting the head temple under these conditions becomes a cause for unhappiness in our lives.
In addition Nichiren Shoshu says, "There is absolutely no benefit in refusing to visit the Dai-Gohonzon...and worshipping just a household Gohonzon, which is a transcription of that Dai-Gohonzon" (100 Questions and Answers, p. 9). This idea that one cannot attain Buddhahood unless one prays directly to the Dai-Gohonzon, as Nichiren Shoshu insists, is simply not to be found in any of the Daishonin's teachings and in fact runs counter to their spirit.
The Gohonzon we pray to each day in our homes or at our SGI community centers is endowed with exactly the same power of the Law inherent in the Dai-Gohonzon, both reflecting our inherent Buddha nature. Those who assert that one must visit a particular place to receive benefit are in effect turning on its head the very spirit of Nichiren Buddhism. The Daishonin's teachings exist to relieve the suffering of, and bring happiness to, all people throughout the world.
(Originally published in the World Tribune, June 7, 2002)
