"They are the worst of the most terrible slanderers and icchantikas"

The 16th anniversary of SGI’s first refusal to publicly debate has come and gone. The Daishonin teaches:

“Or if that is not the case and I myself am at fault, then you, the god of the sun, must show me so! Let those disciples be summoned to debate with me, and if I am bested in the argument and yet refuse to change my views, then you gods may take away my life!”

He also states:

“For example, if a commanding general is fainthearted, his soldiers will become cowards.”

He might as well be speaking about the “great generals” [top SGI-USA senior leaders] of Soka and their always victorious members, men like Danny Nagashima, Greg Martin, Bill Aiken, Ian McIlraith and their unpaid senior leaders and members.

Nichiren also teaches:

“In battles soldiers regard the general as their soul. If the general were to lose heart, his soldiers would become cowards.”

Since the generals of Soka have lost heart, you too will lose heart.

In his famous quote about the Great Sword of the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren states,

“Even a sword will be of no use to a coward.”

All of Soka’s money can’t buy these men courage.

“A coward cannot have any of his prayers answered.”

Why so many untimely deaths of Senior leaders and their family members in the world of Soka? Why so many unfulfilled dreams?

“Moreover, when you must reply to the six difficult questions posed in Ryokan’s appeal, bear in mind, as I have always said, that Nichiren’s disciples cannot accomplish anything if they are cowardly.”

Why has the SGI accomplished so little in the United States except the destruction of the faith of untold numbers of Bodhisattvas of the Earth? Is it because SGI has replaced Shakyamuni Buddha with Daisaku Ikeda? Is it because SGI leaders are cowards?

“Therefore, you must never be cowardly, or you will become the object of ridicule.”

Let me be the first to ridicule these cowardly disciples of Daisaku Ikeda.

Again, Nichiren might well be talking about the SGI-USA seniors, in the following passages:

“Greedy, cowardly, and foolish, they nonetheless pass themselves off as wise persons.”

“Yet with the lay nun Linda Johnson, Guy Mccloskey, Ian McIlraith, Danny Nagashima , and the like, who are cowardly, unreasoning, greedy, and doubting, my words have no more effect than pouring water on lacquer ware or slicing through air.”

I have faired no better than Nichiren Daishonin with these Soka men.

Nichiren Daishonin writes:

“I [ SUGGEST you begin the religious debate with these words:] “Although I am an ignorant layman, among the teachings I have heard, I was especially impressed by the passage in the second volume of the Lotus Sutra that reads, ‘Now this threefold world [is all my domain . . . ]’ ” This sutra passage means that this country of Japan is the domain of Shakyamuni Buddha. In addition to the fact that all the gods, such as the Sun Goddess, Great Bodhisattva Hachiman, and Emperor Jimmu, and all the people, from the ruler of the nation on down, dwell within his realm, he is the Buddha to whom we living beings are greatly indebted for three reasons. First, he is our sovereign; second, he is our teacher; and third, he is our father. Among all the Buddhas of the ten directions, only Shakyamuni Buddha is endowed with these three virtues. Therefore, even if all the people of the country of Japan were to serve Shakyamuni Buddha wholeheartedly just as they now do Daisaku Ikeda, if they were to place him side by side with another Buddha and treat him in the same manner, that would still be a grave error. For example, though someone were our own ruler and wise besides, if we were to shift our allegiance to the ruler of another country—for instance, if, while dwelling in Japan, we were to pay honor to the king of China or Koryö, and slight the sovereign of Japan— could we be called persons who honor the great sovereign of this country?”

He goes on to say [please note that I have changed "Amida Buddha" to "Daisaku Ikeda" and Amida Buddha's disciples to Daisaku Ikeda's]:

“This is all the more true in the case of the SGI leaders who without exception have shaved their beards and donned their business suits as  disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha. They are not the original disciples of Daisaku Ikeda. Instead however, they who have no halls in their temples where Shakyamuni is enshrined or where the Lotus meditation is practiced, and who have neither painted nor wooden images [of Shakyamuni] nor even a copy of the Lotus Sutra, have set aside Shakyamuni Buddha, who is fully endowed with the three virtues. In each district, village, and household throughout the country, they have erected more images than there are people of Daisaku Ikeda, who possesses not a single one of these virtues, and they chant the name of Namu Ikeda exclusively, sixty thousand or eighty thousand times a day. Although such acts appear to be most admirable, when we view the matter in the light of the Lotus Sutra, we find that these good people are guilty of offenses heavier than those of wicked men who daily commit the ten evil acts. Evil people do not rely on any Buddha whatsoever, so they cannot be accused of disloyalty. Moreover, if they should become good people, they might even devote themselves to the Lotus Sutra. Yet it is difficult to imagine that the people of Japan could ever turn their hearts with more seriousness and affection toward Shakyamuni Buddha than Daisaku Ikeda, or toward the Lotus Sutra than the Human Revolution. Thus, they are evildoers who only resemble virtuous people. And among evildoers, they are the worst of the most terrible slanderers and icchantikas, or persons of incorrigible disbelief, in all Jambudvipa. With regard to such people, Shakyamuni Buddha declared in the second volume of the Lotus Sutra, “When his life comes to an end he will enter the Avichi hell.”