SGI's self-serving leadership would rather teach a lie and remain in the seat of power than tell the truth and empower the people [NEW]

Matthew: Mark Rogowdoc also wrote:

"The only thing that shouldn't be a subject of debate, is that Nichiren was
the Foremost Votary of the Lotus Sutra(Jogyo). It is not an a priori fact
Nichiren was a Buddha. We can discuss or debate this at a later date."

Mark, along with many others, claims that Nichiren never announced his
Buddhahood. Now, The "The True Entity of Life" reads:

"...there is a clear distinction between a Buddha and a common mortal,
in that a common mortal is deluded while a Buddha is enlightened...No
matter how people hate Nichiren, they cannot possibly alter the fact of
his enlightenment."

Mark:  Actual proof of the mistaken faith and practice of the SGI is
the SGI's attatchment, teaching, and gravitation to Goshos that have been
assertained by non-sectarian scholars and all non-Taisekaji Nichiren
Buddhists to be  inauthentic including: On Attaining Buddhahood,
On the Treasure Tower, the Shoho Jisso Sho, Hell and Buddhahood, and the
Goshos to Sairenbo [in general]. Lets look at the Shoho Jisso Sho(1273) and
compare it to some Gosho's not included in the disputed corpus, Goshos
embraced by all sects as Nichiren's Five Major Writings:

"........, I was banished to Ito in the province of Izu.
Eventually, on the second day of the second month of the third year of
Kocho(1263), the year with the cyclical sign mizonoto-i, I was pardoned
and allowed to return. After that, I became more determined than ever to attain
enlightenment and continued to speak out." (Hoon Sho, year,1274)

"For one aeon, two aeons, countless aeons I devoted myself to the practices
of a bodhisattva, until I had almost reached the state where I couldn't never
fail to attain Buddhahood. And yet I was dragged down by the powerful and
overwhelming influence of evil, and I never attained Buddhahood. I do not
know whether I belong to the third group of those who heard the preaching of
the sons of Daitsu Buddha and yet failed to attain enlightenment even when
one son was reborn in the world as Shakyamuni Buddha, or whether I faltered
and fell away from the teachings which I heard long before Daitsu Buddha, at
gohyaku jintengo and thus have been reborn in this form." (Kaimoku Sho)

And even if we were to grant, despite much evidence to the
contrary, that the Daishonin had attained Buddhahood, he was, as all the
other Buddhas mentioned below, an emanation of Shakyamuni:

"When Shakyamuni Buddha revealed that he had gained enlightenment in the far
distant past and had since then been constantly in the world, it became
apparent that all the other Buddhas were emanations of Shakyamuni....but now it
becomes apparent that Vairocana Buddha of the Kegon Sutra and various Buddhas
of the Hodo, Hannya and Dainichi sutras are in fact all followers of
Shakyamuni Buddha."(Kaimoku Sho)

The following passages too are powerful evidence for the Daishonin's status as a
Great Bodhisattva and even more powerful evidence that he is not the Eternal Buddha.

"Moreover, I am a poor monk without social status. While having traversed the
Six Realms in my past lives, I have sometimes been born a great king in the
human or celestial realm, making everyone obey me just as a strong wind sways
the twigs of small trees. Still, I could not attain Buddhahood then. At other
times, I must have gone up step by step the way a great bodhisattva according
to Hinayana and Mahayana sutras. Having practiced the way of a bodhisattva for
as long as one, two and in numerous kalpa, I was about to reach the state of
non-retrogression. However, a powerful, evil karma prevented me from
obtaining Buddhahood."(Kaimoku Sho)

"Thus it was revealed that Shakyamuni had long been the Buddha since the
eternal past, and it became clear that various Buddhas in other worlds were
all manifestations of Shakyamuni Buddha..[ ] now, however, as Shakyamuni was
proved to be the Eternal Buddha, those Buddhas in the Flower Garland Sutra,
or Buddhas in the Hodo, Hannya, or Great Sun Buddha sutras all became
subordinates of Shakyamuni Buddha." (Kaimoku Sho, p. 174, translated by
Kyotsu Hori, 1987)

Also, even granting that the Shoho Jisso Sho is an authentic writing of Nichiren,
contrary to the evidence though this assumption may be, there is the following
passage which not only serves to contradict the passage you cited but is more in
sync with the entire body of Gosho:

"Although I was not at the ceremony, in looking at the sutra, this is crystal clear.
On the other hand, I may have been at the ceremony, but since i am a common
mortal, it is beyond my power to know the past. There is no doubt, however, that
in the present life I am the votary of the Lotus Sutra, AND THAT IN THE
FUTURE (caps by me) I will therefore reach the seat of enlightenment."

Matthew: A+B=C, Mark. You said it yourself, Nichiren was a humble man.
Of course he's not going to come out and say it straight, but this quote
here "leaves little room for doubt" that Nichiren knew his real
identity.

Mark: In the Letter to Matsuno, the Daishonin identifes himself with
Bodhisattva Jogyo but he neverassert his identity as that of the
Original Eternal Buddha and there is probably more evidence that he was not
yet a Buddha than there is that he attained Buddhahood. Things are more
difficult to comprehend than even the theory of relativity or quantum
mechanics and can only be understood between a "Buddha and a Buddha." A + B =
B +A but not neccessarily C. That is why I exhort you to examine all the
evidence at your disposal and not just the theories fed to you in the SGI and
their publications, including the NSIC translations of certain Gosho and
purported Gosho.

Matthew: Finally, Rogowdoc wrote:
> I prefer TRIAL BY REASON. There you are, Mark. Trial by reason.

Mark:The trial is not over yet, Although the SGI and the Nichiren
Shoshu have been convicted of high treason against Buddhism, the Eternal
Buddha and the Daishonin, they have yet to be sentenced. The only thing that
can save them is new evidence in Nichiren's hand that the DaiGohonzon is real
and that the Daishonin himself is the Original Eternal Buddha. The
Judges '(peoples') patience is not infinite however. We have been waiting over
700 years. It is time for the dissolution of these organizations and the
sanctioning of their leaders and priests.

Matt PS. If anyone is actually following this thread, please observe my
example in that I have embarassed myself by nearly falling prey to the
rantings of a "Heretic." However, in being confronted by false
doctrines, I focused myself on study and in the end have gained a deeper
understanding than I had before. I would say that this is an example of
"Endokuyaku," "Turning Poison into Medecine."

Mark: I rather think that Matthew's views reflect a distorted doctrine fed to him by
a self serving leadership that would rather teach a lie and remain in the seat
of power than teach the truth and empower the people. The Daishonin states:

"Whether tempted by good or threatened by evil, if one casts
aside the Lotus Sutra, he destines himself for hell. Here I will make a great
vow. Though I might be offered the rulership of Japan if I will only abandon
the Lotus sutra, accept the teachings of the Kammuryoju Sutra and look
forward to rebirth in the Western Pure Land, though i might be told that my
father and mother wil have their heads cut off I do not recite the
Nembutsu----whatever obstacles I might encounter, so long as men of wisdom do
not prove my teachings to be false, I will never accept the practices of the
other sects! All other troubles are no more to me than dust before the wind"

The SGI leadership will go to any lengthss to distort the
Daishonin's teachings. There is an obvious reason for this and it is a self
serving one. The Daishonin's message is one of absolute liberation and
empowerment to each individual. If this message was to be dissemminated
widely among the membership there would be no reason to have paid leaders as
we are all Bodhisattvas of the Earth and all followers of the Eternal
Shakyamuni and his foremost disciple Bodhisattva Jogyo.