Supreme Virtue

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) 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.

THE SUPREME VIRTUE FOR A BELIEVER LIES IN FAITH IN THE LAW

The current Nichiren Shoshu priesthood, led by High Priest Nikken, promotes absolute faith in and strict obedience to the High Priest (Dai-Nichiren: The Correct Way of Faith in Nichiren Shoshu, special edition, pp. 13-14) -- a teaching that was never intended by Nichiren Daishonin and Nikko Shonin. The priesthood claims: Even if one possesses a traditional Gohonzon, if the person worshipping it slanders the High Priest¸there will be no benefit ([Nichiren Shoshu publication] 100 Questions and Answers, p. 15). Put simply, the priesthood regards our obedience to the high priest as more important than our faith in the Gohonzon.

The priesthood also declares: The supreme fundamental principle of Nichiren Buddhism is that it is indeed because we obey the instruction of the High Priest, the only person upon whom the Heritage of the Law has been bestowed and to whom it has been entrusted, that Nichiren Buddhism is correctly transmitted to us. Faith in Nichiren Shoshu means keeping a strict watch over slander, and we must always know that it is only the High Priest, the protector of the Heritage of the Law, who can judge whether or not the manner of teaching and the contents of a teaching are consonant with Nichiren Buddhism, and it is he who judges what is correct and incorrect. It follows that if a person is shown that he has made an error by the priesthood, the fundamental attitude of faith in Nichiren Shoshu is one through which that person sincerely repents of and confesses his error, and thereby eradicates the wrong (Dai-Nichiren: The Circumstances Surrounding the Soka Gakkai Problem, special edition, p. 21).

According to Nichiren Shoshu, the high priest is the only person who can understand the Daishonin's writings. The paramount concern for believers, therefore, lies not in their seeking and studying the Daishonin's teachings, but in their obedience to the high priest. Once a believer is found guilty of slander by the priesthood, his or her only recourse is to
epent and confess. The supreme virtue for a believer, according to Nichiren Shoshu, lies in obedience to the high priest, and thus the greatest sin is to disobey him.

These views contradict the Daishonin's fundamental teaching, as he states: What is most important is that, by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo alone, you can attain Buddhahood. It will no doubt depend on the strength of your faith. To have faith is the basis of Buddhism (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 832). Contrary to the priesthood's claim, the Daishonin clearly states here that the supreme virtue for a believer lies in faith in the Law and in the realization of one's supreme potential of Buddhahood. Obedience to religious authority belongs to Nichiren Shoshu, but not to the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin.

Furthermore, the Daishonin stresses believers' practice and study as expressions of and sustenance for faith in the Gohonzon: Believe in the Gohonzon, the supreme object of devotion in all of Jambudvipa. Be sure to strengthen your faith¸. Exert yourself in the two ways of practice and study. Without practice and study, there can be no Buddhism (WND, p. 386). These statements by the Daishonin, and many more like them, make clear that our faith in the Gohonzon, supported by individual practice and study, is the foundation of his Buddhism. Nowhere in his writings does he state that our absolute faith in and strict obedience to the High Priest are essential to our happiness.

The priesthood's attempt to subordinate faith in the Gohonzon to obedience to the high priest -- thereby obscuring the essential teaching of the Daishonin's Buddhism -- clearly amounts to slander of the Law. When we recognize this transgression against Buddhism, it is important to withdraw our support from those who promote it. In this regard, the Daishonin says: It is the way of the great devil to assume the form of a venerable monk¸. Whatever they may say, however cleverly they may try to deceive you into discarding the Lotus Sutra, do not assent to it (WND, 81). Here the Daishonin warns us that the influence of authority, especially that of clergy, often works to dissuade us from faith in the Gohonzon, which is the Lotus Sutra of the Latter Day of the Law. The Daishonin urges us neither to condone nor to support such a negative influence.

Three in a series.

2) THE SAME REASON NOW AND THEN: IS THE SGI CONTRADICTING ITS PAST STANCE TOWARD THE HIGH PRIEST AND PILGRIMAGE?

This article appears in the June issue of Living Buddhism.

Currently, Nichiren Shoshu does not allow SGI members, at least officially, on the grounds of the head temple. The priesthood, however, has been long promoting SGI members to join the temple's parish by stressing the benefit of praying directly to the Dai-Gohonzon or by condemning one's unwillingness to visit the head temple not only as a sign of apostasy but also as a cause for karmic retribution. For example, the priesthood asserts: If you don't know the source, or don't seek to understand the source, you may become arrogant and unable to attain enlightenment. This is the reason for tozan as a fundamental practice in True Buddhism. In Nichiren Shoshu, the source of faith and benefit is the Dai-Gohonzon, found at the Head Temple, Taiseki-ji (The Group Tozan Handbook, p. 3). The priesthood also claims: However, if one's faith becomes cut off from the Dai-Gohonzon of the High Sanctuary and from the teaching of the lifeblood of the entity of the Law, then no matter how sincerely one chants to the Gohonzon in one's own home, there will be no benefit. On the contrary it will only result in the a ccumulation of negative karma (100 Questions and Answers, p. 4).

It is true that before the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood excommunicated the SGI in 1991, the SGI had long supported the high priest and stressed pilgrimage to the head temple widely among its membership. After the excommunication, however, the SGI has been publicly pointing out High Priest Nikken's distortion of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism, and it now discourages its members from going to the head temple.

Is the SGI contradicting itself? Not at all. Up until 1991, the SGI respected and supported the high priest based on one essential assumption: that the office of high priest is vested with the responsibility to protect the integrity of the Daishonin's Buddhism and the believers who are sincerely working to spread it widely. The SGI believed that the successive high priests had done so to the best of their ability, despite their occasional frailties.

In 1991, however, this basic assumption and trust of the priesthood was betrayed when the priesthood unilaterally acted to disband the SGI, culminating in its excommunication in November of that year. The priesthood, furthermore, started to promote a doctrine of absolute faith in and strict obedience to the High Priest in order to silence any criticism (Dai-Nichiren: The Correct Way of Faith in Nichiren Shoshu, special edition, pp. 13Â14).

Clearly this absolute authority of the high priest derived neither from the Daishonin nor Nikko Shonin, both of whom always stressed Buddhist teachings themselves rather than clerical authority.

When the high priest seemed to be trying to fulfill his responsibility, the SGI supported him. When the head temple was not actively opposing the spread of the Daishonin's Buddhism, the SGI promoted pilgrimage. Now the high priest and the rest of the priesthood not only neglect their responsibility but also act in opposition to it. The SGI, therefore, does not support the high priest in his attempt to distort the Daishonin's teaching, nor does it promote pilgrimage to the head temple in support of the priesthood's aim to further disseminate its misleading teaching.

The Daishonin stressed the integrity of Buddhism as the basis of our Buddhist practice. As he wrote, Since the Buddha preached in his last testament to rely on the Law, not the person, you must not believe in anyone who does not preach according to the sutra, no matter how eminent he may be (Gosho Zenshu, p. 9). Foreseeing the possibility of doctrinal error by the high priest, Nikko Shonin also wrote, Do not follow even the high priest if he goes against the Buddha's Law and propounds his own views (GZ, 1618). In his warning against a high priest's erroneous views must have been his wish to protect the office of high priest from the high priest himself.

The SGI supported the high priest and promoted pilgrimage to the head temple because of its commitment to protect the integrity of the Daishonin's teaching. Now, exactly for the same reasons, the SGI condemns the high priest's error and discourages pilgrimage to the head temple, which the priesthood uses to support the high priest's erroneous teaching. The SGI followed the teachings of the Daishonin and Nikko Shonin before 1991 in its support of the high priest and pilgrimage, because that equated to protecting the Daishonin's Buddhism and its wide spread. Since 1991 the SGI is still following the teachings of the Daishonin and Nikko Shonin in its opposition to pilgrimage and the high priest, who has turned against Buddhism. The SGI may seem to be taking an opposite course of action then and now, but the reason behind its stance toward the priesthood has been the same all along†protecting the Daishonin's Buddhism and working to spread it to the best of its ability.

SOKA SPIRIT IN THE PUBLICATIONS

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

June Living Buddhism, page 40: Refuting the Pilgrimage of Nichiren Shoshu: Selected Passages from Nichiren Daishonin's Writings is a collection of quotes from the Daishonin that elucidate why going on Nichiren Shoshu's pilgrimages goes against the Daishonin's intent.