SGI member Kitt: If your faith is pure...it wouldn't matter what the piece of paper is inside the Butsudan. As long as you continue to chant with a heart that is pure and a seeking spirit, you will continue to enlighten your life.
Mark: This is a common delusion of those who do not have a correct object of worship. However, for arguments sake, let's say this is true, at least until the practitioner becomes aware of the truth. At the stage of practice (not yet aware of the truth) your faith may remain pure regardless of the object of worship, even believing that Nichiren Daishonin is the Original Eternal Buddha. The moment that you are made aware of the truth through the Lotus Sutra, the writings of Nichiren Daishonin, through a friend, or through one's own awakening [the moment that you learn the truth that the object of worship is not a representation of Nichiren but rather the Master of Teachings Lord Shakyamuni of the Original Doctrine], should you persist in your mistaken belief, it then becomes impossible to maintain a pure faith by the principle of "two differing thoughts".
So yes, until you know the truth, you may continue to accrue merit and virtue (benefit) even with a mistaken belief or a mistaken object of worship but once you know the truth, if you persist in embracing a lie, your merits and virtue will wither and die.
My question would be how one could chant with a "a heart that is pure and a seeking spirit" while associating with the organization that issues the piece of paper one believes is a true object of worship because one was "told this, by the leaders of the organization" who issued the piece of paper?
ReplyDeleteIt comes across more like: We, the SGI have co-opted the life condition of Nichiren to fulfill our deepest desires. The more one seeks to understand the meaning of the "object of worship" the greater the opportunity for SGI to corrupt her heart with their own *mind*.
The only scenario I can imagine where a pure heart and seeking spirit would pull benefit from a counterfeit object of worship, is; if someone were to pick up a cast off set of Nichiren's Gosho and a gohonzon at a flea market, take them home and create his own altar,based on determining that he was in possession of an "enlightenment kit".This person must never seek any outside source for greater understanding or look for information on line. Is there such a person? WE will never know...
I know of no one who received gohonzon from the SGI USA, who did not already have a teacher who would naturally direct him/her toward the corrupt views that fueled the propagation efforts of the SGI.
The truth is more likely somewhere in the experiences of all who entertained doubts and were admonished for having them, but continued striving on their own until they encountered the truth and developed the courage to act on it.
~Katie
"One becomes a votary of the Lotus Sutra by virtue of one’s practice in past existences. It is karmic relationships that determine which among the many trees are made into images of the Buddha. It is also because of karma that some become statues of Buddhas of the provisional teachings."
ReplyDeleteLikewise, I believe, it is do to karma that one first encounters the false teachings of SGI or NST.