Essential of the Gohonzon

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) NEWS: COURT RULING AGAINST ANTI-SOKA GAKKAI TABLOID

On June 27, the Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court ruling that found publisher Shinchosha, its tabloid weekly Shukan Shincho and freelance anti-Soka Gakkai journalist Masao Otsukotsu guilty of libel. The lower court had ruled in December 2001 in favor of the Soka Gakkai in the Soka Gakkai's lawsuit against the three.

At issue were two July 1999 Shukan Shincho articles that alleged the Soka Gakkai sought to exploit a metropolitan government urban redevelopment plan by buying out real estate in the Nishi-Shinjuku district of Tokyo and then reselling the land at elevated prices. The Tokyo District Court ruled that the defendants' allegations were unsubstantiated and willfully defamatory. Furthermore, the court upheld the Dec. 3, 2001 ruling and ordered a published retraction of the articles and payment of 5 million yen (approximately $41,600) in damages.

2) A JOURNEY OF FAITH WITHIN: THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS OUTSIDE LEADS TO UNHAPPINESS INSIDE

In this serialized article, which appears in the June issue of Living Buddhism, SGI-USA Study Department Vice Leader Shin Yatomi revisits the issue of pilgrimage, and discusses the meaning of faith in the Dai-Gohonzon.

PROTECTING THE ESSENTIAL TEACHING OF THE GOHONZON

To go on a pilgrimage to the head temple at this time would be to lend support to the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood, which trivializes the importance of faith in the Gohonzon in order to strengthen the high priest's authority. This would entail not only lending spiritual support to the priesthood's slander, but material support as well, because participants in pilgrimage are required to make a financial contribution to the head temple. Nichiren Daishonin stresses the importance of refraining from making financial contributions to misguided priests: Now if all the four kinds of Buddhists within the four seas and the ten thousand lands would only cease giving alms to wicked priests and instead all come over to the side of the good, then how could any more trouble rise to plague us, or disasters come to confront us? (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 23).

Our decision not to make a pilgrimage to the head temple is not merely passive resistance to the priesthood's erroneous teaching; rather, it is a courageous act to protect the integrity of Nichiren Buddhism, a cause that will enable us to accumulate good fortune and benefit. Our courageous stand to Just say no! to the priesthood's attempt to promote obedience to the high priest over faith in the Gohonzon will protect the Daishonin's essential teaching on the Gohonzon.

The Daishonin often stresses in his writings that we can eradicate our negative karma from the past through he blessings obtained by protecting the Law (WND, 305). Those who protect the Gohonzon are bound to be protected by the Gohonzon and enjoy its immeasurable and beneficial power. As the Daishonin wrote to Lady Nichinyo, A woman who makes offerings to such a Gohonzon invites happiness in this life, and in the next, the Gohonzon will be with her and protect her always (WND, 832). By not participating in a pilgrimage, we can protect the essential teaching of the Gohonzon, which amounts to protecting and nurturing the Gohonzon within our lives, that is, our own Buddhahood.

No matter how sincere we may be in our desire to see the Dai-Gohonzon, if we were to go on a pilgrimage to the head temple at this time, our action would support the priesthood's misleading teachings. Supporting those who attempt to confuse or distort the truth of Buddhism is to commit what the Daishonin calls the offense of complicity in slander and thus to share responsibility for their slanderous actions (WND, 461).

Sincerity is important, but it should be tempered with reason and understanding. Otherwise, it could be easily exploited by those with self-serving intentions and become a cause for our misery and suffering. Some associate sincerity with naivete and innocence, and knowledge and experience with pride or arrogance. Genuine sincerity, however, is tested by experience and fortified with knowledge and understanding. This is why the Daishonin cautions us, Though one may perform meritorious deeds, if they are directed toward what is untrue, then those deeds may bring great evil, but they will never result in good (WND, 1134).

In the same regard, Nikko Shonin admonishes us, You must not be seated together with slanderers of the Law for fear of committing the offence of complicity (Gosho Zenshu, 1618). To participate in a pilgrimage sponsored by the priesthood, which has been twisting Nichiren Buddhism for self-serving ends, is to be lost in the woods of confusion in our journey to find happiness.

Four 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.

July 5 World Tribune, page 11: In his article Setting the Record Straight about July 3, Mentor-and-Disciple Day, Mark Koral describes first Soka Gakkai president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi's determination to protect Nichiren Daishonin's teachings in spite of the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood's insistence on accepting the Shinto talisman.