“The three groups of shomon disciples accumulated good fortune since sanzen jintengo [before being guaranteed enlightenment), and those who received the seed and reached enlightenment on hearing the first chapter of the Lotus Sutra accumulated good fortune since Gohyaku jintengo. How possibly could those who first received the seed during the lifetime of the Buddha all without exception achieve enlightenment in a mere two-thousand years? [They couldn't!] The reason is this: the effectiveness of Shakyamuni’s teachings begins at Kuon Ganjo, but ends with the two-thousand years of the Former and Middle Days of the Law. … Therefore the people of the Latter Day of the Law all innately have yet to possess the seed and so are of the capacity to receive the original seed of enlightenment directly.”--Nichikan’s Rokkan-sho, p.110
“The Lotus Sutra is like the seed, the Buddha like the sower, and the people like the field.” — The Essentials for Attaining Buddhahood.
“Now in the two thousand years of the True and Counterfeit [Dharmas] when they kept and relied upon the Lesser Vehicle and Provisional Great Vehicle, and practices putting one’s merit [effort] into them, in general there was benefit. Even so, although everyone who practiced those various sutras thought that they obtained the benefit by the various sutras upon which they relied, when we inquire on the meaning by the Hokekyo, they had not one bit of benefit. What is the reason why? It being when the Buddha was in the world they formed a connecting condition with the Hokekyo but it depended upon whether or not there was maturation or not in their capacities. Those whose capacities of the Perfect Teaching are pure and matured in the time [when the Buddha] was in the world attained Buddhahood. Those whose faculties and capacities were faint and inferior [or not yet mature] backslid to the True Dharma [era] and took their realization from the Jomyo [Vimalakirti], Shiyaku, Kan[muryoju]kyo, Ninno hannya kyo and so on, just as when [the Buddha] was in the world. And so in the True Dharma [era] was jointly possessed together of the three, teaching, practice and realization.
“In the Counterfeit Dharma [era] there was teaching and practice but no realization. Now on entering the Latter Dharma there are the teachings, but there is no practice or realization. There is not one person of those who formed the connecting condition when the Buddha was in the world. The two capacities of the Provisional and Real [Teachings] are all gone. At this time for the two [types] of people who are of the rebellious [sins] and blasphemy of the present era for the first time one takes Namu Myoho renge kyo of the ‘Chapter of the Measure of Life’, the Essence of the Hommon as the laying down of the seed (or, as the Buddha Seed). “‘This good, excellent medicine now I leave here. You should take and swallow it. Do not worry that you will not be cured’” refers to this.
It is as when long ago in the Counterfeit Dharma [era] of the past Buddha Ionno when there was not one person who knew the Great Vehicle, the Bodhisattva Fukyo came forth and chanted the Twenty-four Characters which the Master of Teachings had preached. Those who heard those Twenty-four Characters not lacking one person also [later] encountered the Great Being (Mahasattva) Fukyo and obtained benefit. This then was because they made the previous hearing of the Dharma the laying down of the seed (geshu).
Now it is also like this. That was the Counterfeit Dharma; this is the polluted evil Latter Dharma. That was a practicer of the First (Elementary) Following Joy [level]; this is a worldling of the Name {Identity]. That was the laying down of seed of the Twenty-four Characters; this is only the Five Characters [of the Daimoku]. Although the times of obtaining the Way (tokudo: Buddhahood) are different, their ultimate meaning of Attaining Buddhahood would be completely the same.” (STN, v. 2, 1479-1480) Kyogyosho Gosho
“Though the people who say the Nembutsu, keep the precepts and so on are many, the persons who rely upon the Hokekyo are few. The stars are many but they do not illuminate the great sea. Grasses are many but they do not form the pillars of the Imperial Palace. Though Nembutsus are many, they are not the Way to become a Buddha. Though one keeps the precepts they do not form the seed for going to the Pure Land. It is only the Seven Characters ‘Namu Myoho renge kyo’ that are the seed for becoming a Buddha. Though, when I said this, people were jealous and did not adopt it, the late Lord Ueno by his believing it has become a Buddha.” (STN, v. 2, 1603) — Gosho unknown by me
There are two processes and two general types of people, according to Nichiren Daishonin: Those who received the seeds of Buddhahood in the past, those in the Higher Six Worlds; and those who never received the seeds, those in the Lower Four Worlds. For those who have already received the seeds, the Daimoku functions to water the seeds. For those who never received the seeds, hearing the Daimoku [Law] is the seed and practicing the Daimoku is the water. He states, “But many who neither received the seeds of Buddhahood nor formed ties with the Buddha in past existences…” and further along, “The sutra explains that all bodhisattvas, persons of the two vehicles, and human and heavenly beings received the seeds of Buddhahood numberless major world system dust particle kalpas ago.” Therefore, when he asserts, “If people do not possess innate Buddha wisdom, how could the Buddha say he wanted to open it? One must understand that Buddha wisdom is inherent in all human beings.” [Even those in the Four Lower Worlds who do not possess the Buddha seeds]. How do we reconcile these seemingly diverse teachings? The only way we can resolve the contradictions is that the the Buddha-nature is the FIELD of good fortune synonymous with Buddha wisdom in all beings but without the Buddha seeds and water of Myoho renge kyo, the field will lie fallow and Buddhahood will never open [manifest].
The following is the specific principle which Nichiren Daishonin taught us to bring forth when not engaged in formal debate:
“The people throwing sticks at Never Disparaging are Buddhas training Never Disparaging.” -- mistaken SGI member
No. Shakyamuni Buddha [Never Disparaging], the Original Eternal Buddha, is the one and only Buddha who has been enlightened since time without beginning and the one who has been training and guiding all others to Buddhahood. This is an integral part of Nichiren’s enlightenment and the enlightenment of all Buddhas throught the Ten Directions and Three Existences. Shakyamuni Buddha trained himself in the remotest past.
Shakyamuni Buddha of India too is the Original Buddha throughout time and space, the sower of the seeds of Buddhahood in the wasteland of people’s lives since time without beginning. The Original Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni always and exclusively practices the True Law and has been doing so since time without beginning.
Nichiren writes in the Opening of the Eyes:
“Thus, in the various sutras other than the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni does not assemble those Buddhas who carry out different austerities and practices and who possess the three bodies nor does he identify them as emanations of himself. Only in the Hoto chapter of the Lotus Sutra does he do so. This chapter then, is intended as an introduction to the Juryo chapter that follows later. Shakyamuni Buddha who was believed to have attained enlightenment for the first time only some forty and more years previously, calls together Buddhas who had become enlightened as long ago as one or even ten kalpas in the past, and declares that they are emanations of himself. This is a far cry indeed from the Buddha’s usual preaching on the equality of all Buddhas [in their Dharma bodies], and in fact a cause of great astonishment. If Shakyamuni had attained enlightenment for the first time only some forty years earlier, there could hardly have been so many beings in the ten directions who had received his instruction. And even if he was privileged to possess emanations, there would have been no benefit in his showing them to his listeners. T’ien-t’ai, describing what went on in the astonished minds of the assembly, stated: “It was evident to them that Shakyamuni Buddha possessed numerous emanations. Therefore, they understood that he must have attained enlightenment in the far distant past.”
I have collected 98 additional passages of proof but it is difficult to save those who are deaf to the teachings of this Sutra..
Question: What is the Meaning of Original Buddha or Original Teacher?
Answer: Original Teacher means that no matter how eminent, wise, or knowledgeable one may be, no matter how diligent one is in carrying out the Six Paramitas (Six Perfections), and no matter how long one practices the Six Paramitas, there is no way that one could come up with, let alone reveal, Myoho renge kyo independently of Shakyamuni Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha, in the history of the universe, was the one unique individual capable of doing so. Nichiren realized this, taught this, and reverenced Shakyamuni Buddha for His astronomical feat of autonomous self-practice. That is why He, rather than any other individual, is revered as the person of the Gohonzon (Ninpo-Ika or Oneness of Person and Law).
We owe our very Enlightenment to this Buddha and this Buddha alone. The arrogance of those who misconstrue Shakyamuni Buddha’s and Nichiren Daishonin’s words for their own aggrandizement is cause to fall into the Lower Worlds and to remain there for a very long time. How can one follow someone who is so blind to the manifest reality that someone had to give them the Five Characters that they pay homage to? Daisaku Ikeda didn’t come up with the formula Myoho renge kyo. The High Priest didn’t come up with this formula, nor did you, Patrick. Even Nichiren Daishonin didn’t realize and expound the Lotus Sutra in the infinite past. It was Shakyamuni Buddha who taught Nichiren Daishonin and the other Bodhisattvas of the Earth the Lotus Sutra in the remote past. It was Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha who planted the seed of Myoho renge kyo in our Buddha-nature, the seed that, when watered with a correct faith and practice, grows into the magnificent tree of the Supreme Enlightenment of Myoho.
Some NST member stated: “Now I know you find it hard to accept that Mahayana did not come from Gautama. Sorry to break the news to you. If you choose to worship a man, that contradicts Buddhism and is not what Nichiren meant.”
Reply: Gautama, the flesh and blood man himself, is Mahayana. You are another one who reads what Nichiren says but states “what he meant.” You are no different than he who you revile, Daisaku Ikeda.
“Answer: ‘One: Japan and so on to the whole of Jambudvipa should uniformly take the Master of teachings Lord Shakya of the Original Doctrine as the Object of Worship.” — Repaying Debts of Gratitude
This is the Great Secret Law of the Object of Worship. The Great Secret Law of the Invocation is Namu Myoho renge kyo. The Third Secret Law is that of the High Sanctuary which I will leave for the moment. A chair can not stand on two legs. You arbitrarily throw out the Great Secret Law of the Object of Worship because it grates on your sensibilities. Suck it up or create a new religion, like Ikeda. Isn’t that precisely what you are doing? That is why we of the modern Jumonryu are great. We preserve Nichiren Daishonin’s religion for those who wish to practice his way and we could give a rats petutey what you or anyone else thinks. Change the teachings and we will attack you with everything at our disposal. Start your own religion. See how many people follow you. You don’t even have one ten millionth the charisma of Ikeda nor one ten trillion the experience of the Daishonin, yet you would undermine the Great Man and his teachings. Shame on you. Unity for the sake of unity, at what expense? In the future, the teachings of the modern Jumonryu will prove to perfectly fit the capacities of all people. Yours and Ikeda’s will fall by the wayside because it is not based on the Enlightenment of the Buddha nor Nichiren but merely on your self satisfied understanding. You think many haven’t heard the correct teachings through the Kempon Hokke? We are coming up on one million views. Whether readily embracing the Daimoku through our efforts or despising the Daimoku for them, they form a relationship to the Sutra. They will attain Buddhahood.
“This is one of the most important points in the Lotus Sutra. The doctrine of the sowing of the seed and its maturing and harvesting is the very heart and core of the Lotus Sutra. ALL THE BUDDHAS OF THE THREE EXISTENCES AND THE TEN DIRECTIONS have invariably attained Buddhahood through the seeds represented by the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo. The words Namu Amida Butsu are not the seeds of Buddhahood, nor can the mantras or the five precepts act as such seeds. One must be perfectly clear about this point, because this is the fault referred to as being mixed.” -- Akimoto Gosho
Since this is so, Shakyamuni Buddha’s Myoho renge kyo has neither beginning nor end and Nichikan was deluded. The Nichiren Shoshu reveres a deluded man and the Soka Gakkai chants to a deluded man's Gohonzon. Through the Lotus Sutra Buddhist principles of the oneness of teacher and disciple and the onenesss of person and the environment, the Nichiren Shoshu and Soka Gakkai members are deluded.
This teaching by Nichiren makes no sense within the logic of Mahayana Buddhism.
ReplyDeleteTraditional orders like Nichiren Shu, Honmon Butsuryu Shu, Kempom Hokke Shu, etc., and secular organizations like Rissho Kossei kai, Reyukai, etc., were influenced by Meiji revisionism from the conclusions of people like Asai Yorin, Nissen Shonin, and several other thinkers influenced by a certain tendency that came to exist in Japan to reject its own Buddhist tradition and interpret it from the structures of an Indian Buddhism surviving in Tibet.
This causes these revisionist entities by mixing the "keys" of Tibetan interpretation with the structures of Sino-Japanese Mahayana thought to make gross mistakes in understanding this Buddhism. And this is something that is not particular to Nichiren Buddhism, but that reached many teachers and lineages in all schools that arose during the Kamakura period, such as Jodoshu, Jodoshinshu, Sotozenshu, rinzaizenshu, etc., but which should not be addressed in this comment.
The speech about Eternal Shakyamuni as the only Buddha has several problems in itself, of which I can comment:
1. It is not the teaching of the Lotus Sutra itself.
- In the Sutra, the terms "Eternal Buddha", "Original Buddha", "Eternal Shakyamuni", etc. are never used. In the chapters of the ceremony on the air, Shakyamuni says that he reached enlightenment in "gohyaku jitengo", however, in addition to other chapters he narrates his previous existences before reaching enlightenment.
For example, in chapter 22 Shakyamuni tells the story of the bosatsu "Never-despising", a disciple of a Buddha and who practiced only the verse of dignity to practitioners. In the Sutra it is said that he was attacked by sticks and stones, swords and sticks, and when he was about to die, he heard from heaven millions of verses of the Lotus Sutra that had been preached by his master, the Buddha king of amazing sound, and so it reached enlightenment.
Then honmon's Shakyamuni says, "That bosatsu was me!"
Now, how could Shakyamuni be at the same time the Original Buddha, without principle, and exist a previous state in which Bosatsu was a disciple of other Buddhas?
This conception of an Eternal Buddha does not exist in the Lotus Sutra, it was derived by the Tientai school from the teachings of the Nirvana Sutra that teaches about the Tathagatagarbha, the immanent nature of Buddha. However, at the Tientai-Tendai school, the Eternal Buddha is not the honmon's Shaykamuni but the Vairocana Buddha, as it says in the "Teachings collected from the tendai school": Question- What is the last enlightenment in Perfect Teaching? Answer: It is the realization of the Buddha Vairocana's self-forged reward body.
2. This teaching turns Nichiren into an exponent of a Hinayan or non-Buddhist teaching.
- The main difference between the Hinayana doctrine and the Mahayana doctrine is found in the way in which both understand Voidness, and in the existential and soteriological implications of these understandings.
The path to enlightenment that Shakyamuni taught can be summed up basically in the four considerations (satipathana): of the body, of the sensations, of the mind and of the mental phenomena. Buddhist meditation consists of shi-kan, stopping and seeing, that is, calming mental turmoil and contemplating reality. As methods of "stopping" Shakyamuni taught several doctrines, but as practices of contemplation they all come down to these four considerations, that is, understanding that the body, sensations, mind and worldly phenomena do not inherently have any "self", that is it is called "atman emptiness", and it is the stage in which the hinayana teachings conclude their observations.
However, the Mahayana path proceeds beyond the simple analysis of dharmas and the "emptiness of atman", that is, it analyzes the very validity of dharmas as objects of apprehension, generating an understanding of the "emptiness of dharmas"
The implications of this are as follows:
ReplyDeleteIn the hinayana view, all dharmas are empty of a "self" and therefore are suffering and lead to samsara, but they have real existence beyond experience. Thus, there is a fundamental difference between Nirvana and Samsara, that is, between an enlightened and a Common Mortal. This distinction exists both on an ontological (essential) and an epistemological (experimental) level, and the path to Hinayan liberation consists in transforming the level of experience (epistemological), gradually eliminating all dharmas that make existence possible, thus equaling the fundamental (ontological) level at which all dharmas have been eliminated. This process takes many ages to be carried out by gradually progressing through the four levels of enlightenment, from what entered the current to the level of Arhat.
In the Mahayana view, in turn, the dharmas are analyzed and it is observed that they do not exist apart from the experience itself, that is, the dharmas besides being empty of a "self" are empty of their own existence beyond observation, they they do not exist without the action of experimenting, that is, at the experimental level the difference between Nirvana and Samsara is simply the distinction of the very function that they perform. That is, ignorance exists only as long as there is ignorant activity, once that activity is broken, ignorance ceases and it becomes enlightenment. Thus, the Mahayana position says that at the level of experience there is division between Nirvana and Samsara, but at the essential level, in the final analysis, there is no distinction, all are essentially empty as well as empty space (space and what it contains are merged to the point of not differentiating what it is and what is contained). Hence the Mahayana phrase: "worldly desires are enlightenment, birth-death is nirvana". In this way the Mahayana's enlightenment can be quickly achieved, in a single instant, suddenly, and the main example of this is the case of the dragon king's daughter in the 12th chapter of the Lotus Sutra who in a single moment of her mind overcomes her animal condition, female, becomes human, male, accumulates all the merits of the practice and attains the supreme enlightenment conquering the 32 marks and becoming a Buddha, without however leaving his apparent form of animal, female and common mortal.
The error present in the medieval Tendai school (mistaken hongaku) was not to consider the epistemological distinction between a Buddha and ordinary Mortals, and to generalize ontological equality, and the Nichiren teaching, really grounded, is a criticism of this tendency, but still a Mahayana exhibition (correct hongaku).
When these modern schools defend the Eternal character of Buddha Shakyamuni, they create a fundamental distinction between Buddha and ordinary mortals, that is, they fall into the Hinayan teaching, and a more extreme position even makes them fall into the error of Brahmanism of conceiving a body-mind eternal, atman, in the person of Shakyamuni.
CONCLUSION: These revisionist schools (NS, HBS, KHS, RKK, etc.) really present their arguments convincingly using some of Nichiren's texts that are considered authentic and rejecting others as apocryphal, but in doing so they are saying that Nichiren made gross mistakes of interpretation of the Mahayana meaning and the Lotus Sutra itself that he defended, falling into the limited teachings of hinayana or even the error of brahmanism. If Nichiren's correct teaching is really the one demonstrated by these schools, then Nichirenism should be considered a Hinayan, or even non-Buddhist school, and those who aspire to achieve enlightenment should sincerely abandon him and follow the teachings of the Jodo schools, Zen, Tendai, etc.
ReplyDeleteAn interpretation by Nichiren that puts him in accordance with the Mahayana teachings needs to understand that the Original Buddha cannot be a specific person, as this is to fall into the hinayana teaching or the mistakes of non-Buddhist teachings, but to be the Dharma himself whose name is "Lotus Sutra". The person of Shakyamuni, both the one who achieved enlightenment in boddhigaya and the one who achieved enlightenment in Gohyaku Jitengo, and other Buddhas of the three bodies would be only provisional manifestations of the Lotus Sutra, that is, functions of the Dharma, as taught in Nichiren's apocryphal teaching "Shoho jisso sho". Since Shakyamuni entered parinirvana and his lineage was lost after the murder of Shishibodai, the 24th patriarch of Buddhism, no sensitive being born today would be able to establish a relationship with Shakyamuni and receive the seeds of enlightenment directly from him, so this time it is called "the end of Dharma", so the Original Buddha, the Lotus Sutra, by his compassion, can enable the beings of that era to establish a relationship with him from the manifestation of another provisional function, Bodhisattva Jogyo. Jogyo Bosatsu, when analyzed from the point of view of function (epistemological), would be the bodhisattva who would spread the Buddha seed at the time of the end of the Dharma, but if analyzed from the essential (ontological) point of view, he would be a provisional manifestation of the Buddha Original. This is why Nichiren is considered the Original Buddha in schools derived from Nichikan Shonin and Taisekiji Tradition. It is not the 5 aggregates of Nichiren who are the Buddha, but his activity (function) as Jogyo Bosatsu that identifies him as the Original Buddha.
From the point of view taught by these Fujist schools, it is valid to abandon all other teachings and embrace the Lotus Sutra only. However, if we accept that this conception present in writings considered apocryphal is false, then it makes no sense, the best teaching based on the Mahayana Sutras (including the Lotus Sutra) should be to chant the Name of Buddha Amida, as in the schools of Chinese Buddhism, Tendai and Jodo.
You really don't understand the concept of emanation, the paradox of two but not two and one but not one, nor the greatness of Nichiren. Study Nichiren and you will enlighten yourself:
ReplyDeletehttp://markrogow.blogspot.com/2019/09/never-refuted.html
http://markrogow.blogspot.com/2019/09/never-refuted.html
"This is why Nichiren is considered the Original Buddha in schools derived from Nichikan Shonin and Taisekiji Tradition. It is not the 5 aggregates of Nichiren who are the Buddha, but his activity (function) as Jogyo Bosatsu that identifies him as the Original Buddha."
ReplyDeleteYour statement is untrue since you fail to point out that Nichiren, his disciples and his believers are all emanations of the Original Buddha, Shakyamuni of the Juryo Chapter.
Nichiren never taught what you teach, as demonstrated by his writings. Doesn't that make you an extremely evil man for altering the teachings of Nichiren?