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Saturday, November 3, 2018

The only rule: Chant Namu Myoho renge kyo until the last moment of life

It is predicted in the Lotus Sutra and in the writings of Nichiren Daishonin that, in this age when the Pure Law will be lost, the Great Pure Law will appear. We are curtailing our sleep and our worldly pleasures for the sake of the Great Pure Law. Turning to the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin for guidance.

I have been criticized that I create enmity, that people are turned off to Nichiren Shonin’s Buddhism by my criticisms of the Soka Gakkai, the Nichiren Shoshu, the provisional Buddhist sects, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Others say, I don’t get the deeper meaning of what Nichirin Daishonin was teaching. I hear all sorts of criticisms from Nichiren Buddhists, Zennists, Tibetians, Islamists, and Christians. The fact is, if you study the Lotus and Nirvana Sutras and the writings of Nichiren Daishonin, you come to no other conclusion than our's and Nichiren Daishonin's. These religions and philosophies are the cause of the world’s strife and the people’s suffering.

 Nichiren Daishonin’s teaches:

“But for your person as a householder the essence is for you to chant ‘Namu Myoho renge kyo’ with no other thought and also make offerings to the monks. And also, if it is in accord with the sutra text, one should also ‘expound it according to their strength,’ shouldn’t one?” [Reply to Lord Matsuno]

Nothing else is required of us. If our strength is such, we may do street conversions, as did Nichiren Daishonin. If we are only able to share Namu Myoho renge kyo with our family and friends, that too is in accord with the teachings. If we have lots of money and wish to construct a temple and hire a true priest, that too is a viable practice of the Lotus Sutra. If one has the money and the strength to rent a stadium every week and fill it with 10,000 people chanting the Daimoku then, you too are a Bodhisattva of the Earth. If you don’t have the strength to do assertive or aggressive practice then you may do the gentle practices towards those who are receptive. If you just have the strength, for one reason or another, to talk to the cat or bird, then tell the cat or bird of the Lotus Sutra. If you are blind, deaf and unable to speak, then believe in Namu Myoho renge kyo.

When you are old and ill, just chant the Daimoku from your hospital bed and if you are not married and have the strength, tell the nurse caring for you that, thanks to the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, "I can still recognize a beautiful woman". There are no rules except that found in the Lotus Sutra and Gosho: There are no rules save for one, chant Namu Myoho renge kyo throughout your life".

Question: The SGI fills stadiums with people who chant Nam[u] Myoho renge kyo. How can you say they are not practicing as the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin teach.

Answer: Another passage from reply to Lord Matsuno [also known as The Fourteen Slanders] reads, “Those who have obtained a human body. which is difficult to receive, and who happen to have left the household life, who have studied the Buddha Dharma and do not attack those who blaspheme against the Dharma but vainly spend their nights and days in disporting and idle talk are beasts who have put on the skin of Dharma Teachers. Though they borrow the name of ‘Dharma Teachers’ to make their way through the world and nourish themselves, there is not one instance of their turning out to be Dharma teachers. They are Thieves who steal the name of ‘Dharma teachers’. They should be ashamed.”

The good monks to whom Nichiren Daishonin is referring are those monks who “attack” those people and religions who slander the Dharma. The good monks are those who do not cherish bodily life but only follow the Supreme Way, not sparing their bodily life.

The Soka Gakkai leaders [priests], on the other hand, fail to follow these injunctions, slandering honest monks who desire and are satisfied with little while failing to attack those who slander the Dharma. They are those “making their way through the world, nourishing themselves.” Interfaith is not the practice of the Lotus Sutra nor is enriching oneself from the Dharma.

Question: How do you know that your faith and practice is correct?

Answer: It is is an impossibility that everyone having such divergent views are all correct. There is only One Vehicle, not two or three. We follow The Succession Through the Scrolls of the Lotus Sutra and the writings of Nichiren Daishonin. We turn to the Lotus Sutra and the writings of Nichiren Daishonin for guidance, not persons of the first, second, third, and fourth ranks, those SGI leaders and Nichiren priests who fail to preach with Sutra in hand.

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