Daisaku Ikeda, the Lotus Sutra, and Nichiren on attachments

"The fundamental cause of people’s unhappiness lies in their tendency to develop attachments of various kinds. Attachments are fetters on one’s heart—earthly desires, cravings and so on. In the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings, Shakyamuni taught people the path for freeing themselves from such attachments. The spirit of the Lotus Sutra, however, is not to eradicate earthly desires. When we base ourselves on the Buddhist Law, we can transform earthly desires—just as they are—into enlightenment. This is the principle of “earthly desires are enlightenment.” It’s not a matter of eradicating attachments but of seeing them clearly. Rather than causing us to abandon our earthly desires and attachments, our Buddhist practice enables us to discern their true nature and utilize them as the driving force to become happy. The truth is that we could not in fact eradicate our attachments even if we so wished." -- Daisaku Ikeda

"However, there is a difference if one chants the daimoku while acting against the intent of this sutra. There are various stages in the practice of this sutra [and various forms of slander exist accordingly]. Let me sum them up by quoting from volume five of The Annotations on “The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra”: “In defining the types of evil, The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra states briefly, ‘Expound among the wise but not among the foolish.’ One scholar enumerates the types of evil as follows: ‘I will first list the evil causes and then their effects. There are fourteen evil causes: (1) arrogance, (2) negligence, (3) wrong views of the self, (4) shallow understanding, (5) attachment to earthly desires, (6) not understanding, (7) not believing, (8) scowling with knitted brows, (9) harboring doubts, (10) slandering, (11) despising, (12) hating, (13) envying, and (14) bearing grudges."* -- Nichiren Daishonin

*The Fourteen Slanders are found in Chapter 3 of the Lotus Sutra