Your group is a cult, a rouge sect that once had a priest. You secretly wish to become the straw man you caricature Ikeda as. Apologize to the SGI and to Daisaku Ikeda.
The mandlebrot effect of your life-state is painting legs on the snake, or rather, cults on the Bodhisattvas. Give up your heretical cult and apologize to Ikeda Sensei!
commentary on the lotus sutra - chant namu myoho renege kyo with the same mind and faith as the leader of the bodhisattvas of the earth(nichiren not ikeda).
rita, find us one place in an authentic gosho that says nam and not namu. it can't be done. you lose.
There is no character in the Japanese language for the sound M. So you are building strawmen again. You can only use Ma, Mi, Mu, Me or Mo to represent M and so we always use MU if there is no U sound like in Tim you white it Timu. In Home Run you say, Homu Ranu.
Because William can't intelligently discuss the real teachings he makes a big deal [video] about a stinking SGI community center bell. That may not seem strange to you, a brainwashed Ikedabot who thinks his leaders defecate candy canes but to a Bodhisattva of the Earth, it is strange.
Only Namu Myoho renge kyo is correct because Namu Myoho renge kyo is the personal name of the Supreme Law. Neither Nam Myoho renge kyo, Namo Miao Fa Lien Hua Ching, Namas Saddharma pundarika sutra nor Devotion to the Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Wonderful Dharma is the name of the Supreme Law.
Even were Nichiren to have written the Daimoku in brail, it is written Namu Myoho renge kyo. Nichiren never wrote Nam Myoho renge kyo, not once in thirty years, not on his Gohonzons nor in his writings.
“And when the two characters for Namu are prefixed to Myoho-renge-kyo, or the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law, we have the formula Namu-myoho-renge-kyo.” -- The Opening of the Eyes
"The jewels of this jeweled vehicle are the seven precious substances which adorn the great cart. The seven jewels are precisely the seven orifices in one's head, and these seven orifices are precisely the [seven characters] na-mu-myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo, the essential Dharma for the Final Dharma Age." -- Mounting This Jeweled Vehicle, They Directly Arrive at the Place of Enlightenment
Nichiren on discarding even a single character of the Lotus Sutra:
"A single character of the Lotus Sutra is like the great earth, which gives rise to all things. A single character is like the great ocean, which contains the water from all rivers. A single character is like the sun and moon, which illuminate all four continents.
“Now the Latter Day of the Law, is the time when the seven characters of Namu Myoho renge kyo-the heart of the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra that Shakyamuni Buddha who had achieved enlightenment in the remote past, along with the bodhisattvas Jogyo, Muhengyo and the others is to propogate-will alone spread throughout the country.”
"In the first five hundred years of the Former Day of the Law following the Buddha’s passing, only Hinayana teachings spread, while in the next five hundred years, provisional Mahayana teachings spread. The thousand years of the Middle Day of the Law saw the rise of the theoretical teaching. In the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law, only the essential teaching spreads, but even so, the theoretical teaching should not be discarded. Nowhere in the entire Lotus Sutra do we find a passage suggesting that we should discard the first fourteen chapters, which comprise the theoretical teaching. When we distinguish between the theoretical and the essential teachings on the basis of the threefold classification of the entire body of the Buddha’s teachings, the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings were to be spread in the Former Day, and the theoretical teaching, in the Middle Day, but the Latter Day is the time to propagate the essential teaching. In the present period the essential teaching is primary, while the theoretical teaching is subordinate. But those who therefore discard the latter, saying it is not the way to enlightenment, and believe only in the former, have not yet understood the doctrine of Nichiren’s true intention. Theirs is a completely distorted view."
"Thus a single word of this Lotus Sutra is as precious as a wish-granting jewel, and a single phrase is the seed of all Buddhas."
"Again, a single character equals innumerable others, for the validity of the sutra was attested to by the Buddhas of the ten directions. The treasures bestowed by a single wish-granting jewel equal those bestowed by two such jewels or by innumerable jewels. Likewise, each character in the Lotus Sutra is like a single wish-granting jewel, and the innumerable characters of the sutra are like innumerable jewels. The character myō was uttered by two tongues: the tongues of Shakyamuni and Many Treasures. The tongues of these two Buddhas are like an eight-petaled lotus flower, one petal overlapping another, on which rests a jewel, the character of myō.
The jewel of the character myō contains all the benefits that the Thus Come One Shakyamuni received by practicing the six pāramitās in his past existences: the benefits he obtained through the practice of almsgiving by offering his body to a starving tigress and by giving his life in exchange for that of a dove;9 the benefits he obtained when he was King Shrutasoma who kept his word, though it meant his death, in order to observe the precepts;10 the benefits he obtained as an ascetic called Forbearance by enduring the tortures inflicted upon him by King Kāli;11 the benefits he obtained as Prince Earnest Donor and as the ascetic Shōjari, and all his other benefits. We, the people of this evil latter age, have not formed even a single good cause, but [by bestowing upon us the jewel of myō] Shakyamuni has granted us the same benefit as if we ourselves had fulfilled all the practices of the six pāramitās. This precisely accords with his statement “Now this threefold world is all my domain, and the living beings in it are all my children.” Bound as we common mortals are by earthly desires, we can instantly attain the same virtues as Shakyamuni Buddha, for we receive all the benefits that he accumulated. The sutra reads, “Hoping to make all persons equal to me, without any distinction between us.” This means that those who believe in and practice the Lotus Sutra are equal to Shakyamuni Buddha."
"Therefore, a single word from one of these kings can destroy the kingdom or insure order within it. The edicts handed down by rulers represent a type of pure and far-reaching voice. Ten thousand words spoken by ten thousand ordinary subjects cannot equal one word spoken by a king."
"Similarly, though we gather together all the various sutras, such as the Flower Garland Sutra, the Āgama sutras, the Correct and Equal sutras, the Wisdom, Nirvana, Mahāvairochana, and Meditation sutras, they could never equal even a single character of the Lotus Sutra."
"Shakyamuni Buddha and the written words of the Lotus Sutra are two different things, but their heart is one. Therefore, when you cast your eyes upon the words of the Lotus Sutra, you should consider that you are beholding the living body of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni."
"The characters of this sutra are all without exception living Buddhas of perfect enlightenment. But because we have the eyes of ordinary people, we see them as characters. For instance, hungry spirits perceive the Ganges River as fire, human beings perceive it as water, and heavenly beings perceive it as amrita. Though the water is the same, it appears differently according to one’s karmic reward from the past."
The blind cannot see the characters of this sutra. To the eyes of ordinary people, they look like characters. Persons of the two vehicles perceive them as the void. Bodhisattvas look on them as innumerable doctrines. Buddhas recognize each character as a golden Shakyamuni. This is what is meant by the passage that says, “[If one can uphold this sutra], one will be upholding the Buddha’s body.”1 Those who practice with distorted views, however, are destroying this most precious sutra. You should simply be careful that, without differing thoughts, you single-mindedly aspire to the pure land of Eagle Peak. A passage in the Six Pāramitās Sutra2 says to become the master of your mind rather than let your mind master you. I will explain in detail when I see you.
“Now this Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law I have been speaking of represents the true reason why all Buddhas make their advent in the world and teaches the direct way to the attainment of Buddhahood for all living beings. Shakyamuni Buddha entrusted it to his disciples, Many Treasures Buddha testified to its veracity, and the other Buddhas extended their tongues up to the Brahmā heaven, proclaiming, ‘All that you [Shakyamuni] have expounded is the truth!’ Every single character in this sutra represents the true intention of the Buddhas, and every brushstroke of it is a source of aid to those who repeat the cycle of birth and death. There is not a single word in it that is untrue."
"Even if one were to prepare a feast of a hundred flavors, if the single flavor of salt were missing, it would be no feast for a great king. Without salt, even the delicacies of land and sea are tasteless."
“The Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law, before which I bow my head, in its single case, with its eight scrolls, twenty-eight chapters, and 69,384 characters, is in each and every one of its characters the true Buddha who preaches the Law for the benefit of living beings.”
"Every single character in this sutra represents the true intention of the Buddhas, and every brushstroke of it is a source of aid to those who repeat the cycle of birth and death. There is not a single word in it that is untrue."
"If one discards one word or even one brushstroke of the sutra, the offense is graver than that of one who kills one’s parents ten million times over, or even of one who sheds the blood of all the Buddhas in the ten directions."
I can supply dozens more similar passages.
Were believers to chant together, some chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo and others chanting Nam Myoho renge kyo, what a discordant mess it would be. Some chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo and others chanting Nam Myoho renge kyo is one of the principle causes of Nichiren faith disunity. One may spout all the theoretical reasons in the world why Nam Myoho renge kyo is equally correct but reality and actuality trumps them all.
Throwing out the character Mu is to throw out a golden Buddha from the heart of the Lotus Sutra. Perhaps the SGI should remove the character Mu from their Gohonzons as they have from Nichiren's writings?
Nichiren never wrote Nam and despite the argument that the Japanese/Chinese rules of grammar would not support writing Nam, I am sure the Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutra would have found a way to explain how to divorce the characters from their generally accepted pronunciation were Nam the correct pronunciation. Do you really think that Nichiren wanted some of his disciples to chant Nam and others to chant Namu? The other part of the argument is derived from the fact that Japan's and more generally East Asia's great vowel shift occurred in the 14th century. Therefore, during the time of Nichiren, everyone pronounced every Sino-Japanese character. There will never be unity in the Nichiren community unless both the recitation of the Daimoku and our doctrines are uniform. Nichiren praised Saicho for his attempts at unifying the Buddhist community and he will praise those from Eagle Peak who strive to accomplish same.
Addendum 2 from the Kempon Hokke archives
"NAM" AND "NAMU"
In the 13th Century, Japanese was pronounced as it was written, therefore we can assume that Nichiren chanted "Namu". Since the 3rd Century AD, a large number of Chinese words were incorporated into the Japanese language. These words were pronounced in Japanese approximately as they were in Chinese, but subsequently their pronunciation was modified considerably. In Nichiren's day, however, all syllables were pronounced . In Chinese, "nam mu" is pronounced as two syllables (roughly, "nan woo"). In the Muromachi Period (1333-1528), pronunciation underwent great change. It is only from this time that we can see the dropping of the final "u" in Japanese words.
Coincidentally, in this same time period (1350-1550) there appeared in our own language the "Great Vowel Shift" (so named by the Danish linguist, Otto Jespersen d.1943) wherein pronunciation of the vowels in Middle English were changed dramatically and consonants were dropped (as a sound) in many words, but were retained in spelling. (i.e. "walking" used to be pronounced "wa-l-king", etc.)
Perhaps once Nichiren was dead, Mara wanted to bring chaos into the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra (as he sought to bring chaos into Shakyamuni's teachings, once Shakyamuni had died), so he set up conditions for a worldwide shift in pronunciation, just to lessen the effects of the "good medicine for Mappo" (i.e. the Daimoku), Funny thing is, only Taisekiji adopted the practice of a six-syllable Daimoku. Most other Nichiren sects kept the "nam mu". We are discussing a linguistic point here, but the real reason for chanting "Nam mu myo ho renge kyo" is doctrinal, not linguistic. To remove a kanji from the chant is insane as well as uncalled for.
> . Do you really think that Nichiren wanted some of his disciples to chant Nam and others to chant Namu? > For all those earnest intentions, over 40 divisions of believers all fighting for the pie. Pity.
"I, Nichiren, as the leader of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth, have indeed inherited these Three Great Secret Laws from the teacher, the Great Enlightened One and World Honored One, face to face, at a time two thousand and some odd years ago in the past. What, I, Nichiren, teach and practice is the exact, true, Three Great Secret Laws of Ji found in the Juryo chapter. The teaching that I propagate has not been altered in the slightest respect, even in form that which I inherited at Eagle Peak."
The fact that so many Taisekeji believers defend "nam" so blindly is suspicious. The usual response would be,"Namu" is correct, but we chant "nam", because we have been led to believe that it is the same as "namu"." Instead, American Taisekiji-ites are rabid about sticking to "nam", come hell or high water! These same people don't know if Taisekeji is telling the truth or not, since Americans don't know Japanese language. But they actually get into screaming matches over this point, instead of thinking about what might have been the "correct" chant in Nichiren's day, when Japanese was pronounced as it was written.
They are like fundamentalist Christians, when they are told that their bible is radically altered from the texts of Christianity, as they existed in 1st Century Palestine. The doctrine of Nichiren is that the Daimoku is seven Chinese characters, (and at that time, the Chinese pronunciation would be seven syllables, no omissions), the object of worship is the gohonzon (which is basically the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the "ceremony in the air", revealing the original eternal Shakyamuni Buddha's life and land.. There is no doctrine of a "Dai-Gohonzon" housed at Taisekeji.....ALL of Nichiren's gohonzons were the supreme mandala. The Taisekeji mandala isn't even in Nichiren's handwriting!
It's an obvious forgery. The "kaidan" is still a mystery (that's Nichiren's 3rd "great secret law".) It's certainly not and never was the "Sho Hondo", which was a sprawling replica of the 1964 Olympic Games auditorium in Tokyo.
Dropping the "mu" character in the Daimoku of Taisekeji seems to have made the other deceptions (so-called "dai-gohonzon", sho-hondo, many forged texts and documents, etc.) so easy to accept. Any one who chants "nam mu" eventually starts questioning Taisekeji doctrine, almost as if the full Daimoku awakens them from the hypnotic spell of Taisekiji. Weird, isn't it? But it holds true, under the "actual proof" criteria. If you chant "nam mu", you awaken from the Taisekeji "dream". That's the "doctrinal" mystery. How can one simple make so much difference? Yet it does. Perhaps it's as if you call out for "Bob Smith", but he only answers to "Robert Smith", so he never hears you calling him, because he doesn't respond to "Bob", never. Some imposter named "Bob" might even respond to the "abbreviated" call, who knows? After all, it's a fake honzon, posing as an authentic Nichiren gohonzon at Taisekeji. To perpetrate that kind of deception, the author must have been capable of great cunning and treachery. The real author may be Mara himself, who can assume the form of a "golden buddha", as Shakyamuni warned.
You do not have to be a part of this Rogow Cult. I would like to share some profound words of Ikeda Sensei with you. I have no expectation that you will heed or understand them, much less show appreciation:
"History is created by people. Each individual is a key protagonist in that endeavor. Instead of relying on others, we must enact our own great drama of creativity. Then we can break through the shell of our limited self, advancing and improving ourselves day after day."
Creating history doesn't have to mean using and abusing people to suit your own ends, it only leads to the road of rack and ruin as what is happening to those who stumble upon the treacherous Gakkai Road that only leads to a dead end if your lucky enough to make it that far
what happened to mister williams? how come he has been written out of the history of nsa/sgi in the fictions human rev. why did the fat man steal what gmw had built? no fair lying.
Very profound Rita. I thought history was created by antelopes. Ikeda: "Rely on yourself as long as you rely on me." He is indeed a master of double speak.That's why SGI members are confused.
Namu is chinese,not japanese.it is a transliteration from sanskrit. If one looks at a kogo dictionary or kokugo dictionary they will see the correct pronunciation. The shoshu changed the pronunciation to suit their needs. They change many pronunciations and create new concepts that based on the doctrines of the various sects. 信恵本化沙門
Your group is a cult, a rouge sect that once had a priest. You secretly wish to become the straw man you caricature Ikeda as. Apologize to the SGI and to Daisaku Ikeda.
ReplyDeleteRita san,
ReplyDelete若し貸して日本人だろ。そうだたら良く日蓮の正しい御書を読んで下さい。それからバンドラさんもと面白い。まだ僧侶いる。
信恵 本化沙門
No Rita. Here lies the Rouge Buddha sect:
ReplyDeletehttps://rougebuddha.wordpress.com/
Like the Kempon Hokke, is the SGI becoming the cult of the magic bell?
ReplyDeleteThe mandlebrot effect of your life-state is painting legs on the snake, or rather, cults on the Bodhisattvas. Give up your heretical cult and apologize to Ikeda Sensei!
ReplyDeletecommentary on the lotus sutra - chant namu myoho renege kyo with the same mind and faith as the leader of the bodhisattvas of the earth(nichiren not ikeda).
ReplyDeleterita, find us one place in an authentic gosho that says nam and not namu. it can't be done. you lose.
I wonder why the Rogow Buddhist sect thinks someone ringing a bell 3 times is strange?
ReplyDeleteThere is no character in the Japanese language for the sound M. So you are building strawmen again. You can only use Ma, Mi, Mu, Me or Mo to represent M and so we always use MU if there is no U sound like in Tim you white it Timu. In Home Run you say, Homu Ranu.
ReplyDeletearbitrary opinion. nichiren only chanted and wrote namu myoho renege kyo.
DeleteEnergetic...
Deleteふざけんじゃねえんだよ。馬鹿馬鹿しい。古語辞典を見た事有るのか？
信恵本化沙門
Because William can't intelligently discuss the real teachings he makes a big deal [video] about a stinking SGI community center bell. That may not seem strange to you, a brainwashed Ikedabot who thinks his leaders defecate candy canes but to a Bodhisattva of the Earth, it is strange.
ReplyDeleteThe Importance of the Character Mu
ReplyDeleteOnly Namu Myoho renge kyo is correct because Namu Myoho renge kyo is the personal name of the Supreme Law. Neither Nam Myoho renge kyo, Namo Miao Fa Lien Hua Ching, Namas Saddharma pundarika sutra nor Devotion to the Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Wonderful Dharma is the name of the Supreme Law.
Even were Nichiren to have written the Daimoku in brail, it is written Namu Myoho renge kyo. Nichiren never wrote Nam Myoho renge kyo, not once in thirty years, not on his Gohonzons nor in his writings.
“And when the two characters for Namu are prefixed to Myoho-renge-kyo, or the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law, we have the formula Namu-myoho-renge-kyo.” -- The Opening of the Eyes
"The jewels of this jeweled vehicle are the seven precious substances which adorn the great cart. The seven jewels are precisely the seven orifices in one's head, and these seven orifices are precisely the [seven characters] na-mu-myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo, the essential Dharma for the Final Dharma Age." -- Mounting This Jeweled Vehicle, They Directly Arrive at the Place of Enlightenment
Nichiren on discarding even a single character of the Lotus Sutra:
"A single character of the Lotus Sutra is like the great earth, which gives rise to all things. A single character is like the great ocean, which contains the water from all rivers. A single character is like the sun and moon, which illuminate all four continents.
“Now the Latter Day of the Law, is the time when the seven characters of Namu Myoho renge kyo-the heart of the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra that Shakyamuni Buddha who had achieved enlightenment in the remote past, along with the bodhisattvas Jogyo, Muhengyo and the others is to propogate-will alone spread throughout the country.”
"In the first five hundred years of the Former Day of the Law following the Buddha’s passing, only Hinayana teachings spread, while in the next five hundred years, provisional Mahayana teachings spread. The thousand years of the Middle Day of the Law saw the rise of the theoretical teaching. In the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law, only the essential teaching spreads, but even so, the theoretical teaching should not be discarded. Nowhere in the entire Lotus Sutra do we find a passage suggesting that we should discard the first fourteen chapters, which comprise the theoretical teaching. When we distinguish between the theoretical and the essential teachings on the basis of the threefold classification of the entire body of the Buddha’s teachings, the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings were to be spread in the Former Day, and the theoretical teaching, in the Middle Day, but the Latter Day is the time to propagate the essential teaching. In the present period the essential teaching is primary, while the theoretical teaching is subordinate. But those who therefore discard the latter, saying it is not the way to enlightenment, and believe only in the former, have not yet understood the doctrine of Nichiren’s true intention. Theirs is a completely distorted view."
"Thus a single word of this Lotus Sutra is as precious as a wish-granting jewel, and a single phrase is the seed of all Buddhas."
cont...
"Again, a single character equals innumerable others, for the validity of the sutra was attested to by the Buddhas of the ten directions. The treasures bestowed by a single wish-granting jewel equal those bestowed by two such jewels or by innumerable jewels. Likewise, each character in the Lotus Sutra is like a single wish-granting jewel, and the innumerable characters of the sutra are like innumerable jewels. The character myō was uttered by two tongues: the tongues of Shakyamuni and Many Treasures. The tongues of these two Buddhas are like an eight-petaled lotus flower, one petal overlapping another, on which rests a jewel, the character of myō.
ReplyDeleteThe jewel of the character myō contains all the benefits that the Thus Come One Shakyamuni received by practicing the six pāramitās in his past existences: the benefits he obtained through the practice of almsgiving by offering his body to a starving tigress and by giving his life in exchange for that of a dove;9 the benefits he obtained when he was King Shrutasoma who kept his word, though it meant his death, in order to observe the precepts;10 the benefits he obtained as an ascetic called Forbearance by enduring the tortures inflicted upon him by King Kāli;11 the benefits he obtained as Prince Earnest Donor and as the ascetic Shōjari, and all his other benefits. We, the people of this evil latter age, have not formed even a single good cause, but [by bestowing upon us the jewel of myō] Shakyamuni has granted us the same benefit as if we ourselves had fulfilled all the practices of the six pāramitās. This precisely accords with his statement “Now this threefold world is all my domain, and the living beings in it are all my children.” Bound as we common mortals are by earthly desires, we can instantly attain the same virtues as Shakyamuni Buddha, for we receive all the benefits that he accumulated. The sutra reads, “Hoping to make all persons equal to me, without any distinction between us.” This means that those who believe in and practice the Lotus Sutra are equal to Shakyamuni Buddha."
"Therefore, a single word from one of these kings can destroy the kingdom or insure order within it. The edicts handed down by rulers represent a type of pure and far-reaching voice. Ten thousand words spoken by ten thousand ordinary subjects cannot equal one word spoken by a king."
"Similarly, though we gather together all the various sutras, such as the Flower Garland Sutra, the Āgama sutras, the Correct and Equal sutras, the Wisdom, Nirvana, Mahāvairochana, and Meditation sutras, they could never equal even a single character of the Lotus Sutra."
"Shakyamuni Buddha and the written words of the Lotus Sutra are two different things, but their heart is one. Therefore, when you cast your eyes upon the words of the Lotus Sutra, you should consider that you are beholding the living body of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni."
"The characters of this sutra are all without exception living Buddhas of perfect enlightenment. But because we have the eyes of ordinary people, we see them as characters. For instance, hungry spirits perceive the Ganges River as fire, human beings perceive it as water, and heavenly beings perceive it as amrita. Though the water is the same, it appears differently according to one’s karmic reward from the past."
cont...
The blind cannot see the characters of this sutra. To the eyes of ordinary people, they look like characters. Persons of the two vehicles perceive them as the void. Bodhisattvas look on them as innumerable doctrines. Buddhas recognize each character as a golden Shakyamuni. This is what is meant by the passage that says, “[If one can uphold this sutra], one will be upholding the Buddha’s body.”1 Those who practice with distorted views, however, are destroying this most precious sutra. You should simply be careful that, without differing thoughts, you single-mindedly aspire to the pure land of Eagle Peak. A passage in the Six Pāramitās Sutra2 says to become the master of your mind rather than let your mind master you. I will explain in detail when I see you.
ReplyDelete“Now this Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law I have been speaking of represents the true reason why all Buddhas make their advent in the world and teaches the direct way to the attainment of Buddhahood for all living beings. Shakyamuni Buddha entrusted it to his disciples, Many Treasures Buddha testified to its veracity, and the other Buddhas extended their tongues up to the Brahmā heaven, proclaiming, ‘All that you [Shakyamuni] have expounded is the truth!’ Every single character in this sutra represents the true intention of the Buddhas, and every brushstroke of it is a source of aid to those who repeat the cycle of birth and death. There is not a single word in it that is untrue."
"Even if one were to prepare a feast of a hundred flavors, if the single flavor of salt were missing, it would be no feast for a great king. Without salt, even the delicacies of land and sea are tasteless."
“The Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law, before which I bow my head, in its single case, with its eight scrolls, twenty-eight chapters, and 69,384 characters, is in each and every one of its characters the true Buddha who preaches the Law for the benefit of living beings.”
"Every single character in this sutra represents the true intention of the Buddhas, and every brushstroke of it is a source of aid to those who repeat the cycle of birth and death. There is not a single word in it that is untrue."
"If one discards one word or even one brushstroke of the sutra, the offense is graver than that of one who kills one’s parents ten million times over, or even of one who sheds the blood of all the Buddhas in the ten directions."
I can supply dozens more similar passages.
Were believers to chant together, some chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo and others chanting Nam Myoho renge kyo, what a discordant mess it would be. Some chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo and others chanting Nam Myoho renge kyo is one of the principle causes of Nichiren faith disunity. One may spout all the theoretical reasons in the world why Nam Myoho renge kyo is equally correct but reality and actuality trumps them all.
Throwing out the character Mu is to throw out a golden Buddha from the heart of the Lotus Sutra. Perhaps the SGI should remove the character Mu from their Gohonzons as they have from Nichiren's writings?
cont...
Addendum 1
ReplyDeleteNichiren never wrote Nam and despite the argument that the Japanese/Chinese rules of grammar would not support writing Nam, I am sure the Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutra would have found a way to explain how to divorce the characters from their generally accepted pronunciation were Nam the correct pronunciation. Do you really think that Nichiren wanted some of his disciples to chant Nam and others to chant Namu? The other part of the argument is derived from the fact that Japan's and more generally East Asia's great vowel shift occurred in the 14th century. Therefore, during the time of Nichiren, everyone pronounced every Sino-Japanese character. There will never be unity in the Nichiren community unless both the recitation of the Daimoku and our doctrines are uniform. Nichiren praised Saicho for his attempts at unifying the Buddhist community and he will praise those from Eagle Peak who strive to accomplish same.
Addendum 2 from the Kempon Hokke archives
"NAM" AND "NAMU"
In the 13th Century, Japanese was pronounced as it was written, therefore we can assume that Nichiren chanted "Namu". Since the 3rd Century AD, a large number of Chinese words were incorporated into the Japanese language. These words were pronounced in Japanese approximately as they were in Chinese, but subsequently their pronunciation was modified considerably. In Nichiren's day, however, all syllables were pronounced . In Chinese, "nam mu" is pronounced as two syllables (roughly, "nan woo"). In the Muromachi Period (1333-1528), pronunciation underwent great change. It is only from this time that we can see the dropping of the final "u" in Japanese words.
Coincidentally, in this same time period (1350-1550) there appeared in our own language the "Great Vowel Shift" (so named by the Danish linguist, Otto Jespersen d.1943) wherein pronunciation of the vowels in Middle English were changed dramatically and consonants were dropped (as a sound) in many words, but were retained in spelling. (i.e. "walking" used to be pronounced "wa-l-king", etc.)
Perhaps once Nichiren was dead, Mara wanted to bring chaos into the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra (as he sought to bring chaos into Shakyamuni's teachings, once Shakyamuni had died), so he set up conditions for a worldwide shift in pronunciation, just to lessen the effects of the "good medicine for Mappo" (i.e. the Daimoku), Funny thing is, only Taisekiji adopted the practice of a six-syllable Daimoku. Most other Nichiren sects kept the "nam mu". We are discussing a linguistic point here, but the real reason for chanting "Nam mu myo ho renge kyo" is doctrinal, not linguistic. To remove a kanji from the chant is insane as well as uncalled for.
cont...
>
Delete. Do you really think that Nichiren wanted some of his disciples to chant Nam and others to chant Namu?
>
For all those earnest intentions, over 40 divisions of believers all fighting for the pie. Pity.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Gosho "REPLY TO OTA KINGO" (4/8/81)
"I, Nichiren, as the leader of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth, have indeed inherited these Three Great Secret Laws from the teacher, the Great Enlightened One and World Honored One, face to face, at a time two thousand and some odd years ago in the past. What, I, Nichiren, teach and practice is the exact, true, Three Great Secret Laws of Ji found in the Juryo chapter. The teaching that I propagate has not been altered in the slightest respect, even in form that which I inherited at Eagle Peak."
The fact that so many Taisekeji believers defend "nam" so blindly is suspicious. The usual response would be,"Namu" is correct, but we chant "nam", because we have been led to believe that it is the same as "namu"." Instead, American Taisekiji-ites are rabid about sticking to "nam", come hell or high water! These same people don't know if Taisekeji is telling the truth or not, since Americans don't know Japanese language. But they actually get into screaming matches over this point, instead of thinking about what might have been the "correct" chant in Nichiren's day, when Japanese was pronounced as it was written.
They are like fundamentalist Christians, when they are told that their bible is radically altered from the texts of Christianity, as they existed in 1st Century Palestine. The doctrine of Nichiren is that the Daimoku is seven Chinese characters, (and at that time, the Chinese pronunciation would be seven syllables, no omissions), the object of worship is the gohonzon (which is basically the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the "ceremony in the air", revealing the original eternal Shakyamuni Buddha's life and land.. There is no doctrine of a "Dai-Gohonzon" housed at Taisekeji.....ALL of Nichiren's gohonzons were the supreme mandala. The Taisekeji mandala isn't even in Nichiren's handwriting!
It's an obvious forgery. The "kaidan" is still a mystery (that's Nichiren's 3rd "great secret law".) It's certainly not and never was the "Sho Hondo", which was a sprawling replica of the 1964 Olympic Games auditorium in Tokyo.
Dropping the "mu" character in the Daimoku of Taisekeji seems to have made the other deceptions (so-called "dai-gohonzon", sho-hondo, many forged texts and documents, etc.) so easy to accept. Any one who chants "nam mu" eventually starts questioning Taisekeji doctrine, almost as if the full Daimoku awakens them from the hypnotic spell of Taisekiji. Weird, isn't it? But it holds true, under the "actual proof" criteria. If you chant "nam mu", you awaken from the Taisekeji "dream". That's the "doctrinal" mystery. How can one simple make so much difference? Yet it does. Perhaps it's as if you call out for "Bob Smith", but he only answers to "Robert Smith", so he never hears you calling him, because he doesn't respond to "Bob", never. Some imposter named "Bob" might even respond to the "abbreviated" call, who knows? After all, it's a fake honzon, posing as an authentic Nichiren gohonzon at Taisekeji. To perpetrate that kind of deception, the author must have been capable of great cunning and treachery. The real author may be Mara himself, who can assume the form of a "golden buddha", as Shakyamuni warned.
Rogow is rambling into his keyboard due to his guilty conscience. Down with the Rogow Cult!
ReplyDeleteNam myoho renge kyo
refute it with the teachings rita. can't do it? why not? sgi cult cannot speak of the real teachings. too sad.
ReplyDeleteYou do not have to be a part of this Rogow Cult. I would like to share some profound words of Ikeda Sensei with you. I have no expectation that you will heed or understand them, much less show appreciation:
ReplyDelete"History is created by people. Each individual is a key protagonist in that endeavor. Instead of relying on others, we must enact our own great drama of creativity. Then we can break through the shell of our limited self, advancing and improving ourselves day after day."
Creating history doesn't have to mean using and abusing people to suit your own ends, it only leads to the road of rack and ruin as what is happening to those who stumble upon the treacherous Gakkai Road that only leads to a dead end if your lucky enough to make it that far
Deletewhat happened to mister williams? how come he has been written out of the history of nsa/sgi in the fictions human rev. why did the fat man steal what gmw had built? no fair lying.
ReplyDeletewhat happened to mister williams?>> Masayasu is dead. Surprised you didn't read the obituary in the Tribune.
Deletego back to sleep o g.
DeleteYawn
Deletegood boy !
DeleteStill stuck in your corner, huh?
Deleteany corner church in the country will say the same thing. grow up rita.
ReplyDeleteVery profound Rita. I thought history was created by antelopes. Ikeda: "Rely on yourself as long as you rely on me." He is indeed a master of double speak.That's why SGI members are confused.
ReplyDeleteNamu is chinese,not japanese.it is a transliteration from sanskrit. If one looks at a kogo dictionary or kokugo dictionary they will see the correct pronunciation. The shoshu changed the pronunciation to suit their needs. They change many pronunciations and create new concepts that based on the doctrines of the various sects.
ReplyDelete信恵本化沙門