A battle between the warring Mara Devils

The proof that the Buddha is the Buddha is that what he says is true. Being a True Sage, his predictions have come true. He predicted the advent of the Votary of the Lotus Sutra in the Jinriki Chapter of the Lotus Sutra and the Votary's practice and travails, particularly in the 13th (Exhortation to Hold Firm) and 20th (Bodhisattva Neverdespise) Chapters. Every single aspect of these predictions were realized by Nichiren Daishonin, without a single exception. He lived out every single character, word, line, passage, and principle expounded in the Lotus Sutra. If not for the Daishonin, the Buddha's words would have been proven to be false. How could we believe today, if it weren't for the Daishonin?

The number of major persecutions befalling the Daishonin, number 5: Broken hand at Matsubagayatsu; sword cut to the forehead at Komatsubaru; exile to Izu: exile to Sado; attempted execution at Tatsunokuchi. In addition, three of his disciples were beheaded at Atsuhara. The number of minor persecutions number in the hundreds, including being hit in the face with the wooden scroll containing the fifth volume of the Lotus Sutra (which predicts that the votary will be attacked with swords and staves). Likewise, the historicity and the actuality of the events of the Daishonin's life, bears out the Lotus Sutra's assertions.

Nichiren too was a Great Sage. He predicted the Mongol invasion and internecine warfare. He remonstrated with the shogun more than a dozen times and with Hei-no-seimon, the equivalent of J. Edgar Hoover, who personally arrested him several times. Nichiren Daishonin never killed so much as an ant or a beetle intentionally, he was a strict vegetarian, and he was arguably, the most learned Buddhist scholar of his time.

He was not only hated and vilified by the authorities but by the people affiliated with the established Buddhist sects (almost everyone). It is said that even children on the street spit at him and called him names and he had, at most, a core of two hundred faithful disciples and believers. Despite these difficulties, actually and more correctly, because of these difficulties, the Daishonin was able to write more than 700 essays and a dozen treatises on the Lotus Sutra, ensuring the posterity of his teachings. He overcame every persecution and obstacle. No one could be more fortunate than Nichiren Daishonin. He died reciting the Sutra after realizing every prediction in the Sutra.

Now, even though SGI likes to cite their propagation efforts as actual proof of the validity of their teachings, particularly, Toda's realization of 750,000 households and the SGI having spread to "192" countries, since its teachings are neither the Daishonin's nor those of the the Lotus Sutra, how can these events be counted as actual proof of the SGI's validity? As an example, in America, the fact that 600,000 people were introduced to SGI Buddhism and only 35,000 or so people remain and the fact that the vast majority of those having left are completely turned off to the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, is powerful actual proof of the non-validity of the SGI teachings. However, the actual proof that is most revealing [as to the validity or lack of therein of the SGI], is the extent to which it's teachings deviate from the teachings of the Lotus Sutra and the Daishonin. Changing and altering the Three Treasures, the Three Great Secret Laws, the concept of master and disciple, the texts to be studied, and placing the sangha of the SGI above the Law and the Buddha, are such heretical and slanderous actions, that even if the SGI were to count a member from every household in the entire world among it's adherents, no merit whatsoever accrues. Actual proof is also the schism between the SGI and the Nichiren Shoshu which, through the eyes of the various orthodox Nichiren schools, is a battle between the warring Mara devils. This is powerful actual proof for the other Nichiren schools who are gaining adherents through the relative and absolute truths of their messages. The coming millenium is a fortuituous time in which to practice the Daishonin's Buddhism. The counterfeit and the true will come to light and the Great Pure Law will, without fail, supplant the counterfeit Law. We will make great strides and there will be many new disciples and believers in Japan and abroad.