Reference Materials 2. Soka Spirit: The Best Start

Matilda Buck
SGI North America Vice Women's Leader

I deeply respect the guests and new members who come to our SGI-USA meetings. They are, consciously or unconsciously, seekers of a fundamental truth and a way to use it to better their lives. Even to better the world.

When I began my own search in 1972, I wasn’t thinking in terms of world peace; I just wanted a happy family, which seemed like an impossible goal. I began chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo because I was so desperate to climb out of a dark cave of unhappiness.

As a new SGI member, I heard a lot about Daisaku Ikeda, much of it connected to the opening that year of the Grand Main Temple, the sanctuary for the Dai-Gohonzon on the grounds of the head temple in Japan. Under Mr. Ikeda’s leadership, the lay organization was responsible for having the temple designed, financed and constructed, and I am proud to have been a part of that monumental effort. I went with several hundred American members to see it for myself. During that trip, and on a later visit he made to the United States, SGI President Ikeda met with and touched the lives of many American members.

But I was not one of them. Time after time, I heard members talk about meeting and speaking with President Ikeda, describing his compassion and his care. I began to feel left out, sort of like the girl who doesn’t get invited to the prom.

Then, during President Ikeda’s visit to the United States in 1974, I was invited to a small dinner with him in La Jolla, Calif., my hometown. I walked into the restaurant and found our dinner party in a tiny, makeshift room that held only about 10 people. As I entered, President Ikeda was speaking very strongly to two Nichiren Shoshu priests assigned to the two (at that time) American temples.

“You keep referring to ‘your’ temple,” he said firmly. “Never forget that this temple was built by the efforts of sincere members. It is not your temple.”

This was my first personal encounter with President Ikeda. Although I grasped his keen awareness of each member’s contribution and the conviction to make sure it was never overlooked, still I did not entirely understand the significance of that event. Then, in 1991, when he and the SGI were excommunicated from Nichiren Shoshu, I finally realized I had witnessed something important—the legacy of the Soka Gakkai presidents to stand firm in ensuring the correct spirit of Nichiren Buddhism.

Last month, 30 years after that encounter, I sat in that same restaurant with my large and very happy family, something that seemed unobtainable in the beginning of my Buddhist practice. I felt deep appreciation for that 1974 encounter, which had imprinted on my heart the awareness that respecting, protecting and humbly exerting ourselves for members is a sure way to practice with the same spirit as Nichiren Daishonin.

I am convinced that my Buddhist practice within the SGI organization has enabled me to change my tendency toward despair and dissolution, which once described the history of my family. I am happy to share this conviction with new members and guests. I want to convey the importance of understanding the definitive times in which we find ourselves. Humanity’s evolution is at a critical point. Will we survive and create a great step toward a just and peaceful world, or will we destroy ourselves?

This is also a pivotal moment in the history of Buddhism. Will the great empowering and egalitarian teaching of the Lotus Sutra prevail? Will Nichiren Daishonin’s teaching, which gives every human being access to enlightenment, be spread correctly? I believe that 30-plus years ago, President Ikeda was pointing out the very thing that eventually led to the clear separation between the SGI and Nichiren Shoshu.

Since 1991, the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood has claimed the absolute authority of the high priest and has designated themselves the only qualified interpreters of Nichiren Daishonin’s teachings. This perception of priestly superiority over believers has driven the temple away from the Daishonin’s true intention.

Here are the Daishonin’s words from one of his most important works, “The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life”: “Shakyamuni Buddha who attained enlightenment countless kalpas ago, the Lotus Sutra that leads all people to Buddhahood, and we ordinary human beings are in no way different or separate from one another. To chant Myoho-renge-kyo with this realization is to inherit the ultimate Law of life and death. This is a matter of the utmost importance for Nichiren’s disciples and lay supporters, and this is what it means to embrace the Lotus Sutra” (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, p. 216).

Contrast these words with this excerpt from the temple’s own publication in which High Priest Nikken Abe writes: “Currently, the Ikeda Soka Gakkai has proclaimed that ‘the true Law has spread throughout the world and has formed a tremendous flowing river.’ I have also learned that the organization has announced ‘how important it is to befriend the people of the world and to be well liked by them,’ and ‘how essential it is to respect other religions and cultivate a mutual understanding.’ These considerations represent the frivolous utterances of those who do not know the true teachings of Buddhism” (November 2003 Nichiren Shoshu Monthly, p. 6).

I present this contrast because, to a newcomer, the fact that we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to the Gohonzon, just as Nichiren Shoshu followers do, could seem to be the same act. The difference lies in the fundamental recognition and practice of Nichiren Daishonin’s intention for humanity’s emancipation. The difference enables us to truly work with his intention for world peace. The difference is that it brings about our individual human revolution, leading us on our individual path to happiness. That’s why it is so important that we explain to our newcomers about Soka Spirit and the history of the evolution from Nichiren Shoshu.

How tragic it would be for even one person to have found the great means of bringing forth Buddhahood only to be diverted to another, seemingly similar, path that is incapable of leading that individual to his or her deepest happiness.

Someone once suggested that it’s in our DNA to look for a sage, for mystic answers, for a cleric who “understands all.” Nichiren Daishonin teaches the practice of awakening our innate Buddhahood and living with the vow of a Buddha to help all people to the Buddha state. This is the greatest teaching for the times we are in. Many people bringing forth their great human potential, developing their life state, will fundamentally change society; in other words, it is the solution to the problem of how to achieve true world peace.

Reflecting back on that dinner in 1974, I can see that President Ikeda has been consistent and unwavering in his commitment to humanity. In 2003, he said: “Nichiren Daishonin inscribed the Gohonzon so that we who live in this evil age of the Latter Day can activate our Buddha nature and bring forth the splendid flower of our humanity, our inherent enlightened nature. He bequeathed us the Gohonzon and taught that all people are equally worthy of the highest respect. We of the SGI have put this teaching into practice in our daily lives, and by doing so we have shared with the world the way to deeply respect the lives of all human beings” (November 2003 Living Buddhism, p. 26).

Let us take the utmost care in helping our new members off to the best-informed start.

(Originally published in the World Tribune, May 28, 2004)