Priests Visited Minobu School

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: NICHIREN SHOSHU JUNIOR PRIESTS VISIT MOUNT MINOBU

Twenty Nichiren Shoshu junior priests recently visited the Nichiren school of Mount Minobu, Japan, as well as the head temples of two other Nichiren schools.

The behavior of Hakiri Sanenaga, the provincial lord in the Minobu area, and various actions in opposition to Nichiren Daishonin's will taken by priests at Kuon-ji temple there, were key reasons why second high priest Nikko Shonin left Minobu, carrying with him the Dai-Gohonzon and the Daishonin's ashes. The Mount Minobu school does not recognize Nichiren Daishonin as the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law. In his 26 Admonitions, Nikko states: Priests should not visit slanderous temples or shrines ... even if only to have a look around. To do so would be a pitiful violation [of Nichiren Buddhism]. (For more on this article of the 26 Admonitions, see Justice Chronicle issues 87 and 89).

On Aug. 7, starting early in the morning on a chartered bus, the Nichiren Shoshu junior priests went to Kuon-ji temple at Mount Minobu, where they were given a guided tour of the major buildings and facilities.

Inside the Soshido (Hall of the Founding Master) of the Mount Minobu School, the Nichiren Shoshu priests lined up and chanted together. The Soshido has within it a statue of Nichiren Daishonin, which is used as a de facto object of devotion there, rather than the Gohonzon.

A Nichiren school priest at Kuon-ji stated, As distinct from their behavior up to now, the priests from Taiseki-ji visited us and actually entered the buildings. ... That's because they have become independent [from the Soka Gakkai]. ... We can go and visit them, and they can come and visit us.

A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF THE RECENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TAISEKI-JI AND MOUNT MINOBU,1994-97:

November 1994: Eight priests from the Mount Minobu Nichiren school visit Nichiren Shoshu's head temple Taiseki-ji for raining.

June 1995: The high priest of another Nichiren school temple, at Ikegami in Tokyo, visits Taiseki-ji. He and his party are formally received as honored guests by senior Nichiren Shoshu priests.

July 1995: Kisoji Yanagisawa, head of the Hokkeko, Nichiren Shoshu¡s lay organization, secretly visits the Mount Minobu Nichiren School temple.

September 1997: 30 Minobu Nichiren school priests visit Taiseki-ji.

2) LET'S STRIVE TO FULFILL OUR ORIGINAL VOW

This is an excerpt from a speech by SGI President Ikeda, given at a conference for representatives of the Kansai Region, held in Osaka, Japan, Jan. 24, 1994. It originally appeared in the March 21,
1994, issue of the World Tribune.

WE MUST ALWAYS MAKE PRAYER THE FOUNDATION

What is the key point in faith? It is to fix our gaze on the future and advance straight ahead.

Nichiren Daishonin instructs Sairen-bo, who had become his disciple while he was in exile on Sado Island, as follows: The votary of the Lotus Sutra, if he neither backslides in faith nor acts falsely and, with full devotion to the Lotus Sutra, practices as it prescribes, will surely obtain supreme blessings and good fortune -- not only in the next lifetime but in this lifetime, too  in preventing misfortune and prolonging his natural life span. Our great wish for kosen-rufu will then be fulfilled (Gosho Zenshu, p. 1357).

By ot backsliding in faith, the Daishonin is saying that we must never become cowardly or allow doubt or hesitation to undermine our determination.

President Toda taught: It is when one's faith has fallen into force of habit that one is backsliding. Faith means practical activities geared to helping one change quickly and for the better.

It is of no value to be caught up in the past, or to be always nursing feelings of regret or self-reproach. For one cannot advance if one is always looking backwards. Our faith is for the present and the future. And, for the sake of the present and the future, it is our inner determination in faith right now that counts.

Also, if one sees evil but says nothing, then one is acting falsely. If one fails to condemn the evil of those who against the True Law, then ones become an accomplice to their actions and incurs the same offense.

It is important that, in addition to praying and making tenacious efforts, one possess the great confidence to place one's full trust in the Gohonzon. This is what the Daishonin means by devotion. When we sincerely devote ourselves to the Mystic Law, boundless wisdom and energy well forth in our lives. The impossible becomes possible.

We must always make prayer the foundation. One who forgets to pray and becomes preoccupied with methodology will spin his or her wheels in vain and become deadlocked.

President Toda said: We in the Soka Gakkai have faith! We have the Gohonzon! Everything has resulted from the benefit of this Gohonzon.

Even if you have the Gohonzon, if you lack faith then you will receive no benefit. Although the priests of Nichiren Shoshu have the Gohonzon, they are completely lacking in faith. As for Nikken, he doesn't believe in the Gohonzon and is actively destroying correct faith.

Two in a series.