Soka Gakkai Wins Libel Suit

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) SOKA GAKKAI WINS LIBEL SUIT AGAINST NICHIREN SHOSHU PRIEST

On Aug. 28, the Saitama's Kawagoe District Court in Japan ruled that remarks made by a Nichiren Shoshu priest constituted willful defamation of the Soka Gakkai. The Soka Gakkai filed suit against Kosho Mizushima of Noan-ji Temple in April 2001 over the defendant's reported statements made to his parishioners during an Aug. 8, 2000, sermon. He claimed the Soka Gakkai had murdered Hiroe Clow, a witness in the Seattle Incident trial who passed away in 1997 from terminal cancer, because it feared that [her statements that the current Nichiren Shoshu chief administrator, Nikken Abe, had purchased sexual favors from a prostitute in Seattle, United States in 1963] would be exposed as a fabrication.

He further asserted that the life of another Soka Gakkai witness, former Seattle police officer Ronald Sprinkle, was also in danger. The district court magistrate Shigeki Komiyama ruled that Rev. Mizushima's statements clearly constituted libel against the plaintiff and ordered the defendant to pay for damages. The Tokyo District Court ruled in 2001 that Nikken Abe had indeed procured the services of prostitutes in Seattle.

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.

TOWARD A JOURNEY OF FAITH WITHIN

Praying physically before the Dai-Gohonzon is no guarantee that one's faith will remain pure and correct. This is our personal responsibility. The fact is that although the priesthood today has direct access to the Dai-Gohonzon, they have deviated from the correct spirit of faith. Perhaps their complacency in believing that possessing the Dai-Gohonzon alone gives them special status in the world of faith is what caused their faith to deteriorate. Because the current priesthood distorts Nichiren Buddhism in its efforts to shore up the high priest's authority, choosing not to see the Dai-Gohonzon exactly accords with its intent and spirit. If Nichiren Daishonin resides¸as the Dai-Gohonzon ([Nichiren Shoshu publication] 100 Questions and Answers, p. 10), as the priesthood says, Nichiren Daishonin would then certainly wish us to practice as he taught, rather than violate the spirit of his teachings simply to see him in person.

Through many of his writings, as discussed throughout this article, the Daishonin makes it clear that much unhappiness results from the search for happiness outside. It may be worthwhile to quote the Daishonin once again as he admonishes us against the tragic foolishness of a poor man who spends night and day counting his neighbor's wealth but gains not even half a coin (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 3). Those who believe that they must participate in the pilgrimage of Nichiren Shoshu are as if counting their neighbor's wealth in vain. They are participating in the illusion conjured by the priesthood that their happiness is to be found outside themselves -- in the physicality of the Dai-Gohonzon and the approval of the high priest.

Without consciously and clearly rejecting this misconception of happiness, it would be virtually impossible to accept the truth of happiness as expounded by the Daishonin. Each attempt to search for happiness outside begins with the assumption that people are incapable of building their own happiness and ends with its prefixed failure followed by self-disparagement that they are not good enough, thus reinforcing their original assumption. So this vicious cycle continues until their assumption turns into their conviction.

The true path to happiness, on the other hand, begins with the conviction that we are entirely capable of building our own happiness and proceeds inward to discover and experience our innate Buddhahood. Each time we challenge ourselves along this path, we deepen our faith in Buddhahood and become better prepared for the next obstacle. In this way, our lives become a joyful journey of self-discovery in which our happiness grows in the depth of our self-confidence and in the expanse of our compassion for others. Therefore, we may begin this inward journey of faith by rejecting the erroneous idea that happiness, enlightenment or Buddhahood can only be found elsewhere, and replacing it with the conviction that our lives are much stronger and more beautiful than we ever thought.

This concludes this series.