Blessings of the Lotus Sutra

The Justice Chronicle, provided by Soka Gakkai International-USA, is a free monthly e-mail in support of the Soka Spirit movement. Soka Spirit is the SGI's educational effort to create value and deepen our understanding of Nichiren Buddhism through increased awareness of issues surrounding the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood and the spiritual foundation of the SGI movement.

1) MISREADING TO MISLEAD

[This article appeared in the June issue of Living Buddhism.]

A passage often quoted by the priesthood to promote pilgrimage is the following from Nichiren Daishonin's writing A Cluster of Blessings: Now this place, too, is like that. It is the place of the cluster of blessings where the Buddha and bodhisattvas dwell. The blessings of the Lotus Sutra, which I have recited over these many years, must be vaster even than the sky. Thus, by having come here frequently year after year, it is certain that within this lifetime you will eradicate the karmic hindrances you have accumulated since the beginningless past (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p.
1070).

With a narrow interpretive translation of this passage, the priesthood claims: It is an immense mistake to think that if one simply prays to the Gohonzon, it is unnecessary to make either pilgrimage to the Head Temple or visits to the local temple. In 'Reply to Shijo Kingo' (Japanese, Shijo Kingo-dono Gohenji), the Daishonin explains to Shijo Kingo that the act of making a Tozan pilgrimage carries the source of the great benefit of extinguishing the evils which we have committed as a result of our slanders of the Law since time without beginning. 'Now making a pilgrimage to this place where I live contains all of the accumulated blessings of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. And it is certain that making such a pilgrimage will, in this lifetime, extinguish all of the evils that one has committed since time without beginning.' It is the work of devils which makes one disobey these kinds of golden words¸. ([Nichiren Shoshu publication] Dai-Nichiren: The Correct Way of Faith in
Nichiren Shoshu, special edition, pp. 6-7).

The priesthood's translation of this passage requires some comments. First of all, it must be noted that there are no words in the original Japanese text that correspond to making a pilgrimage in the first sentence as in the priesthood's translation. This place is the subject of the first sentence, not making a pilgrimage. Furthermore, the unmarked omission of the second sentence  which reads The blessings of the Lotus Sutra, which I have recited over these many years, must be vaster even than the sky -- seems intended to divert the reader's attention from the Daishonin's emphasis on his faith in and practice of the Lotus Sutra as the source of the blessings of the place where he dwelled. Last, the original Japanese word sankei, which the priesthood translates as making such a pilgrimage in the last sentence, indicates a personal visit to a shrine or temple, not an established institution of religious practice as suggested by the use of the word pilgrimage here. There is a fine line between translation and interpretation, and the priesthood here seems to go too far on the side of interpretation in its eagerness to justify its claim.


The priesthood quotes the above passage from The Place of the Cluster of Blessings out of context and makes a significant leap in logic. In the beginning of this letter, the Daishonin tells Shijo Kingo: In any event, there can be no doubt about your enlightenment in your next life (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 1069). Then he recalls Kingo's dedicated efforts to support and protect the Daishonin over the years. Reminiscing about the time of the Tatsunokuchi Persecution, for example, the Daishonin writes: You were even prepared to give your life had I in fact been executed. In what lifetime could I possibly forget it? (WND, p. 1069). From the context of the letter, it becomes clear that the Daishonin is telling Kingo that he will eradicate the karmic hindrances¸ because of his selfless dedication over the years. Furthermore, the Daishonin stresses that Mount Minobu is he place of the cluster of blessings because he is a votary of the Lotus Sutra (WND, p. 1070), not the other way around.

As in many other writings, the Daishonin emphasizes the action of a practitioner as a votary of the Lotus Sutra; he does not indicate in any way an inherent sacredness of the place. Taking this passage out of context and drawing the conclusion that we can eradicate our negative karma by making a pilgrimage to the head temple -- this can only be described as a distortion of the Daishonin's intent behind this letter to Shijo Kingo.


2) CHERISH THOSE WHO WORK FOR KOSEN-RUFU

This is an excerpt from a speech given by SGI President Ikeda at the Shimane Prefecture leaders meeting on Sept. 9, 1991, two months before Nichiren Shoshu's excommunication of the SGI. It originally appeared in the November 1991 Seikyo Times.

THE PRIESTHOOD APPROVED OF VARIOUS SLANDERS

The 59th high priest, Nichiko Shonin, discussed slander of the Law, If you outwardly admonish slanderous acts and inwardly accept slanderous acts, you are a monster (Comments on Nichiu Shonin's On the Formalities of True Buddhism).

Strictly prohibiting slanderous acts is the fundamental spirit of the Taiseki-ji school since the days of Nichiren Daishonin and Nikko Shonin.

In his Twenty-six Admonitions, Nikko Shonin strictly warned against any act that violates the Law. However there were, and still are, many cases in which the priesthood, while loudly pronouncing the strict prohibition against slander, in reality approved of various slanderous situations.

For instance, at one point in its history, Nichiren Shoshu officially built statues of Shakyamuni as the object of worship [which obviously contradicted the Daishonin's teaching]. In 1943, the priesthood attempted to force the Soka Gakkai to accept the Shinto talisman. I will not go into detail today.

After World War II, when the Soka Gakkai was reconstructed and nationwide propagation activities were being promoted, numerous slanderous situations, which had been accepted by the priesthood, surfaced. This resulted in the removal of heretical objects of worship.

One such example was the Myofuku-ji temple incident. Myofuku-ji temple is said to have been founded by Nichizon, a disciple of the second high priest, Nikko Shonin. Even though it was such a time-honored Nichiren Shoshu temple, it allowed a shrine with heretical statues such as those of Jizo to remain in its precinct for 650 years. [Jizo (Skt Kshitigarbha) is a bodhisattva, introduced to eighth-century Japan, who became the object of a popular cult after the 12th century.]

In early 1253, Myofuku-ji's youthful chief priest, who had been awakened to the graveness of the cause of slander through carrying out propagation activities with a Soka Gakkai member, tried to remove these statues from the temple grounds. At the time, the families who had financially supported the temple violently opposed the idea, contending: These statues have been approved by the successive chief priests for centuries. How dare you say now that it is not right to have these statues on the temple grounds? In addition to the Myofuku-ji case, there were reportedly many other similar cases in the northeastern part of Japan, where slanderous objects of worship were kept for years and later removed. (Incidentally, the chief priest of the Myofuku-ji temple later deviated from correct faith and is now a Shoshinkai priest).

Five in a series.


SOKA SPIRIT IN THE PUBLICATIONS

This section highlights articles published in the World Tribune and Living Buddhism related to the Soka Spirit movement.

June 19 World Tribune, page 12: Youth Discuss Soka Spirit in Philadelphia describes a gathering of SGI-USA youth from Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern Zones, who discussed such topics as establishing true friendships and the mentor-disciple relationship.